Saints of the Day & Pius XII and the Holocaust

Here’s the saint’s calendar for March 31, 2019, and some versions, each focusing on individual saints, all wonderful; for they are the Church Triumphant.

The Catholic Church has many saints and reading about their lives has been a spiritual journey Catholics have been on since the publication of the Golden Legend, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/

From Butler’s Calendar of the Saints listing all of the saints of today. https://web.archive.org/web/20060920180348/http://www.catholic-forum.com/SAINTS/day0331.htm

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints, St. BENJAMIN, Deacon, Martyr. “ISDEGERDES, Son of Sapor III., put a stop to the cruel persecutions against the Christians in Persia, which had been begun by Sapor II., and the Church had enjoyed twelve years’ peace in that kingdom, when in 420 it was disturbed by the indiscreet zeal of Abdas, a Christian bishop, who burned down the Pyræum, or Temple of Fire, the great divinity of the Persians. King Isdegerdes thereupon demolished all the Christian churches in Persia, put to death Abdas, and raised a general persecution against the Church, which continued forty years with great fury. Isdegerdes died the year following, in 421. But his son and successor, Varanes, carried on the persecution with greater inhumanity. The very recital of the cruelties he exercised on the Christian strikes us with horror. Among the glorious champions of Christ was St. Benjamin, a deacon. The tyrant caused him to be beaten and imprisoned. He had lain a year in the dungeon, when an ambassador from the emperor obtained his release on condition that he should never speak to any of the courtiers about religion. The ambassador passed his word in his behalf that he would not; but Benjamin, who was a minister of the Gospel, declared that he should miss no opportunity of announcing Christ. The king, being informed that he still preached the Faith in his kingdom, ordered him to be apprehended, caused reeds to be run in between the nails and the flesh, both of his hands and feet, and to be thrust into other most tender parts, and drawn out again, and this to be frequently repeated with violence. Lastly, a knotty stake was thrust into his bowels, to rend and tear them, in which torment he expired in the year 424.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots106.htm

From Franciscan Media, St. Stephen of Mar Saba, (725 – 794), “A “do not disturb” sign helped today’s saint find holiness and peace.

“Stephen of Mar Saba was the nephew of Saint John Damascene, who introduced the young boy to monastic life beginning at age 10. When he reached 24, Stephen served the community in a variety of ways, including guest master. After some time he asked permission to live a hermit’s life. The answer from the abbot was yes and no: Stephen could follow his preferred lifestyle during the week, but on weekends he was to offer his skills as a counselor. Stephen placed a note on the door of his cell: “Forgive me, Fathers, in the name of the Lord, but please do not disturb me except on Saturdays and Sundays.”

“Despite his calling to prayer and quiet, Stephen displayed uncanny skills with people and was a valued spiritual guide.

“His biographer and disciple wrote about Stephen: “Whatever help, spiritual or material, he was asked to give, he gave. He received and honored all with the same kindness. He possessed nothing and lacked nothing. In total poverty he possessed all things.”

“Stephen died in 794.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-stephen-of-mar-saba/

From a most lovely site, really a daily devotional site offering much more than just saint of the day, Anastpaul https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/

Pius XII and the Holocaust

An excellent article about the pope I consider the greatest in my lifetime, from Catholic World Report.

An excerpt.

In his exhaustive history The Papacy in the Age of Totalitarianism, 1914 to 1958 (Oxford University Press, 2014), Cambridge University historian John Pollard expresses doubt whether the argument over Pope Pius XII’s response to the Holocaust is “a genuine historiographical controversy”—that is, whether it concerns matters of demonstrable historical fact—and concludes instead that it is “a highly political dispute.” Coming from Pollard, no great fan of Pius, that is a telling comment.

It would be unrealistic, then, to suppose next year’s opening of the Vatican archives for the pontificate of Pius XII will finally settle the argument about Pius XII and the Jews. Too many people have too much reputation invested in criticizing the Pope for that to happen.

But the news that the “secret” archives for 1939 to 1958 will finally be available to scholars is welcome just the same. This will move the dispute from the realm of “What if…” and “Suppose that…” at least partly toward matters of documented fact: what was actually said and done.

In announcing the forthcoming opening of the archives last month on the 80^th anniversary of Pius XII’s election, Pope Francis undoubtedly got it right when he said the mass of documentation would provide grounds for praising Pius together with evidence of “tormented decisions…human and Christian prudence, which to some could look like reticence.”

The public claim that the Pope failed to oppose the Holocaust traces its beginning to a 1963 play, The Deputy, by a left-wing German writer named Rolf Hochhuth depicting Pius as a greedy hypocrite. Since then, the same sort of criticism has been repeated by many others.

Some hold that the anti-Pius efforts in part reflected a Soviet disinformation effort undertaken as payback for his successful efforts to prevent a communist takeover in the Italian elections of 1948 and 1950. Still, there are legitimate questions here. Pius XII’s most substantial wartime public comment about the agony of the Jews came in his radio message to the world at Christmas 1942. There he spoke on behalf of “the hundreds of thousands of persons who, without any fault on their part, sometimes only because of their nationality or race, have been consigned to death.”

The anti-Pius response is that he should have said more and said it more often. But the Nazis knew they had been targeted. Hitler said he would “deal with” the Pope, and there was even talk of having him kidnapped. The bishops of Holland, taking their cue from Pius, strongly denounced the Nazis. The result was a step-up in Nazi persecution of Dutch Jews….

Pius XII did what he believed was right, and Jewish leaders after the war praised him lavishly for it, while the chief rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, upon converting to Catholicism in February, 1945, took the baptismal name Eugenio.

That was in honor of Eugenio Pacelli, Pius XII’s name before he was pope.

Retrieved March 29, 2019 from https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/03/28/argument-over-pope-pius-xiis-response-to-the-holocaust-is-political-not-historical/

Saints of the Day & Neo Modernist Method Reviewed

Here’s the saint’s calendar for March 30, 2019, and some versions, each focusing on individual saints, all wonderful; for they are the Church Triumphant.

The Catholic Church has many saints and reading about their lives has been a spiritual journey Catholics have been on since the publication of the Golden Legend, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/

From Butler’s Calendar of the Saints listing all of the saints of today. https://web.archive.org/web/20061005020327/http://www.catholic-forum.com/SAINTS/day0330.htm

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints, St. JOHN CLIMACUS. “JOHN made, while still young, such progress in learning that he was called the Scholastic. At the age of sixteen he turned from the brilliant future which lay before him, and retired to Mt. Sinai, where he put himself under the direction of a holy monk. Never was novice more fervent, more unrelaxing in his efforts for self-mastery. After four years he took the vows, and an aged abbot foretold that he would some day be one of the greatest lights of the Church. Nineteen years later, on the death of his director, he withdrew into a deeper solitude, where he studied the lives and writings of the Saints, and was raised to an unusual height of contemplation. The fame of his holiness and practical wisdom drew crowds around him for advice and consolation. For his greater profit he visited the solitudes of Egypt. At the age of seventy-five he was chosen abbot of Mt. Sinai, and there “he dwelt in the mount of God, and drew from the rich treasure of his heart priceless riches of doctrine, which he poured forth with wondrous abundance and benediction.” He was induced by a brother abbot to write the rules by which he had guided his life; and his book called the Climax, or Ladder of Perfection, [available online at http://www.prudencetrue.com/images/TheLadderofDivineAscent.pdf ] has been prized in all ages for its wisdom, its clearness, and its unction. At the end of four years he would no longer endure the honors and distractions of his office, and retired to his solitude, where he died, in 605.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots105.htm

From Franciscan Media, St. Peter Regalado, (1390 – March 30, 1456), “Peter lived at a very busy time in history. The Great Western Schism (1378-1417) was settled at the Council of Constance (1414-1418). France and England were fighting the Hundred Years’ War, and in 1453, the Byzantine Empire was completely wiped out by the loss of Constantinople to the Turks. At Peter’s death, the age of printing had just begun in Germany, and Columbus’s arrival in the New World was less than 40 years away.

“Peter came from a wealthy and pious family in Valladolid, Spain. At the age of 13, he was allowed to enter the Conventual Franciscans. Shortly after his ordination, he was made superior of the friary in Aguilar. He became part of a group of friars who wanted to lead a life of greater poverty and penance. In 1442, he was appointed head of all the Spanish Franciscans in his reform group.

“Peter led the friars by his example. A special love of the poor and the sick characterized Peter. Miraculous stories are told about his charity to the poor. For example, the bread never seemed to run out as long as Peter had hungry people to feed. Throughout most of his life, Peter went hungry; he lived only on bread and water.

“Immediately after his death on March 31, 1456, his grave became a place of pilgrimage. Peter was canonized in 1746.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-peter-regalado/

From a most lovely site, really a daily devotional site offering much more than just saint of the day, Anastpaul https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/

Modernist Method Reviewed

Chris Ferrara in Fatima Perspectives does an excellent job.

An excerpt.

Sandro Magister has taken a leading role in exposing the acute phase of the neo-Modernist fever that has gripped the Church during the current pontificate.  How disappointing, then, to see this renowned commentator on matters Catholic bestow glowing praise for a book by one Giorgio Jossa which, to quote Magister, “tries to give an historically-based answer to the question that John the Baptist issued to Jesus: ‘Are you he who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ and that Jesus himself posed to the disciples: ‘But you, who do you say that I am?’”

What does Magister mean, and what does Jossa mean, by a “historically-based” answer to the question of who Christ is?  There is only one answer to the question: He is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, and that answer is not to be found in, but rather beyond, outside and prior to all history: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Jn. 1:1)

The so-called “search” for the “historical Jesus” — a pet project of the Modernists — is part of the “historico-critical method” whose inevitable tendency is to demystify divine revelation by reducing the divinely inspired sacred text to a mere historical document to be placed alongside other historical documents, and thus to reduce the Gospel of Christ to a mere chronicle of the “historical” comings and going of a controversial man for analysis on that level.

And that is exactly what Jossa does.  One does not have to read the book to know his method, which he confesses:  The “historical Jesus,” says Jossa (quoted by Magister), “is situated before and beside the Christ of faith, as a different interpretation of him…”

The usual Modernist rubbish. There is no “interpretation” of Jesus apart from the divine Jesus, true God as well as true man, whose own divinity He proclaims in the Gospel: “Before Abraham was born, I am (Jn. 8:58)”… He that seeth me seeth the Father also (Jn. 14:9).”

But not according to Jossa: “Jesus does not affirm that he is the Messiah. Nor does he deny it…. It is up to John to decide if he is the Messiah, and we do not know if John did this.”

Nonsense. Jossa is here referring to the standard Modernist trope that John did not know Christ was the Messiah because, as recounted in 11 Matthew, Christ tells two of John’s disciples to “relate to John what you have heard and seen.  The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them.”

To quote the Haydock Commentary: “John the Baptist had already, on several occasions, declared that Jesus was the Messias. (John 1) He could not then doubt of it himself, but sent his disciples to take away their doubt.”

Retrieved March 27, 2019 from https://fatima.org/news-views/fatima-perspectives-1288/

Saints of the Day & Ancient House Churches

Here’s the saint’s calendar for March 29, 2019, and some versions, each focusing on individual saints, all wonderful; for they are the Church Triumphant.

The Catholic Church has many saints and reading about their lives has been a spiritual journey Catholics have been on since the publication of the Golden Legend, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/

From Butler’s Calendar of the Saints listing all of the saints of today. https://web.archive.org/web/20061014210755/http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/day0329.htm

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints, St. JONAS, BARACHISIUS, and their Companions, Martyrs. “KING SAPOR, of Persia, in the eighteenth year of his reign, raised a bloody persecution against the Christians, and laid waste their churches and monasteries, Jonas and Barachisius, two brothers of the city Beth-Asa, hearing that several Christians lay under sentence of death at Hubaham, went thither to encourage and serve them. Nine of that number received the crown of martyrdom. After their execution, Jonas and Barachisius were apprehended for having exhorted them to die. The president entreated the two brothers to obey the king of Persia, and to worship the sun, moon, fire, and water. Their answer was, that it was more reasonable to obey the immortal King of heaven and earth than a mortal prince. Jonas was beaten with knotty clubs and with rods, and next set in a frozen pond, with a cord tied to his foot. Barachisius had two red-hot iron plates and two red-hot hammers applied under each arm, and melted lead dropped into his nostrils and eyes; after which he was carried to prison, and there hung up by one foot. Despite these cruel tortures, the two brothers remained steadfast in the Faith. New and more horrible torments were then devised under which at last they yielded up their lives, while their pure souls winged their flight to heaven, there to gain the martyr’s crown, which they had so faithfully won.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots104.htm

From Franciscan Media, St. Ludovico of Casoria, (March 11, 1814 – March 30, 1885), “Born in Casoria, near Naples, Arcangelo Palmentieri was a cabinet-maker before entering the Friars Minor in 1832, taking the name Ludovico. After his ordination five years later, he taught chemistry, physics, and mathematics to younger members of his province for several years.

“In 1847, he had a mystical experience which he later described as a cleansing. After that, he dedicated his life to the poor and the infirm, establishing a dispensary for the poor, two schools for African children, an institute for the children of nobility, as well as an institution for orphans, the deaf, and the speechless, and other institutes for the blind, elderly, and for travelers. In addition to an infirmary for friars of his province, he began charitable institutes in Naples, Florence, and Assisi. He once said, “Christ’s love has wounded my heart.” This love prompted him to great acts of charity.

“To help continue these works of mercy, in 1859 he established the Gray Brothers, a religious community composed of men who formerly belonged to the Secular Franciscan Order. Three years later, he founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth for the same purpose.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-ludovico-of-casoria/

From a most lovely site, really a daily devotional site offering much more than just saint of the day, Anastpaul https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/

Ancient House Churches

Wonderful article about the early days of Mass, from Community in Mission Blog.

An excerpt.

The Catholic Faith was illegal in the Roman Empire prior to 313 A.D., when the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan permitting it to flourish publicly. Prior to that time, Church buildings as we know them today were rare – Mass was usually celebrated in houses.

These “houses” were usually rather sizable, with a central courtyard or large room that permitted something a little more formal than Mass around the dining room table. I remember being taught (incorrectly) that these early Masses were informal, celebrated facing the people, and had a relaxed, communal atmosphere. In fact, the people didn’t just sit around a table or on the floor in circle – not at all. They sat or stood formally, with everyone faced in one direction: east.

The drawing above shows the layout of an ancient house church (more often called a Domus Dei (House of God)), based on an excavated 3rd century house church in Dura-Europos (located in what is now Syria).

The assembly room is on the left, and a priest or bishop is depicted conducting a liturgy (facing east) at an altar against the east wall. A baptistry is on the right, and a deacon is shown guarding the entrance. The lonely-looking deacon in the back of the assembly hall is there to “preserve good order,” as you will read below.

What is remarkable about these early liturgies is how formal they were despite the less-than-ideal circumstances. The following text is from the Didiscalia, a document written in about 250 A.D. Among other things, it gives rather elaborate details about the celebration of the early Catholic Mass in these “house liturgies.” I have included an excerpt below (in bold italics); my comments are shown in regular italics.

Now, in your gatherings, in the holy Church, convene yourselves modestly in places of the brethren, as you will, in a manner pleasing and ordered with care.

These “house liturgies” were not informal; good order and careful attention to detail were essential.

Let the place of the priests be separated in a part of the house that faces east.

Even in these early house Masses, the sanctuary (where the clergy ministered) was distinct from where the laity gathered. People were not all just clustered around a dining room table.

In the midst of them is placed the bishop’s chair, and with him let the priests be seated. Likewise, and in another section let the lay men be seated facing east. For thus it is proper: that the priests sit with the bishop in a part of the house to the east and after them the lay men and the lay women,

Everyone faced east, laity and clergy. Notice that men and women sat in separate sections, which was the tradition in many churches until relatively recently (the last 150 years or so).

and when you stand to pray, the ecclesial leaders rise first, and after them the lay men, and again, then the women. Now, you ought to face to east to pray for, as you know, scripture has it, Give praise to God who ascends above the highest heavens to the east.

Again, note that Mass was not celebrated facing the people, as some suppose of the early Church. Everyone faced in the same direction: east. The text cites Scripture as the reason for this: God is to the east, the origin of the light.

Retrieved March 27, 2019 from http://blog.adw.org/2019/03/ancient-mass-house-churches-not-informal-many-think/

Saints of the Day & Santa Muerte

Here’s the saint’s calendar for March 28, 2019, and some versions, each focusing on individual saints, all wonderful; for they are the Church Triumphant.

The Catholic Church has many saints and reading about their lives has been a spiritual journey Catholics have been on since the publication of the Golden Legend, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/

From Butler’s Calendar of the Saints listing all of the saints of today. https://web.archive.org/web/20060921230842/http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/day0328.htm

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints, St. Gontran, King. “St. Gontran was the son of King Clotaire, and grandson of Clovis I. and St. Clotildis. Being the second son, whilst his brothers Charibert reigned at Paris, and Sigebert in Ostrasia, residing at Metz, he was crowned king of Orleans and Burgundy in 561, making Chalons his capital. When compelled to take up arms against his ambitious brothers and the Lombards, he made no other use of his victories, under the conduct of a brave general called Mommol, than to give peace to his dominions. The crimes in which the barbarous manners of his nation involved him he effaced by tears of repentance. The prosperity of his reign, both in peace and war, condemns those who think that human policy cannot be modelled by the maxims of the Gospel, whereas nothing can render a government more flourishing. He always treated the pastors of the Church with respect and veneration. He was the protector of the oppressed, and the tender parent of his subjects. He gave the greatest attention to the care of the sick. He fasted, prayed, wept, and offered himself to God night and day as a victim ready to be sacrificed on the altar of His justice, to avert His indignation which he believed he himself had provoked and drawn down upon his innocent people… This good king died on the 23rd of March in 593, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, having reigned thirty-one years and some months.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots103.htm

From Franciscan Media, St. Catharine of Bologna, (September 8, 1413 -March 9, 1463 ), “Some Franciscan saints led fairly public lives; Catharine represents the saints who served the Lord in obscurity.

“Born in Bologna, Catharine was related to the nobility in Ferrara, and was educated at court there. She received a liberal education at the court and developed some interest and talent in painting. In later years as a Poor Clare, Catharine sometimes did manuscript illumination and also painted miniatures.

“At the age of 17, she joined a group of religious women in Ferrara. Four years later, the whole group joined the Poor Clares in that city. Jobs as convent baker and portress preceded her selection as novice mistress.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-catharine-of-bologna/

From a most lovely site, really a daily devotional site offering much more than just saint of the day, Anastpaul https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/

From Tradition in Action, St. John of Capistrano, “Born in 1386 in the city of Capistrano in the Kingdom of Naples, Italy, John entered law school at Perugia where he became a famous jurist and was appointed governor of that city in 1412 at age 26. He entered the Franciscan Monastery of Monte after becoming disillusioned with the world. His superior, Blessed Mark of Bergamo, made strong tests of his late vocation before he was accepted in the Order. For example, once John was ordered to ride through the streets of Perugia on a donkey with his head turned toward the tail of the animal and wearing a cardboard mitre on his head with his worst sins written on it.

“With the support of St. James of the Marches and St. Bernardine of Siena, he overcame all the difficulties and met with great success in his apostolate. He had the friendship and support of four Popes, reformed his Order, led a Crusade, and with his extraordinary gift for preaching evangelized in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Poland.” https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j014sdSt.JohnCapistrano3-28.htm

Here is what the 1962 Roman Missal says about St. John of Capistran, (same John) “This Franciscan preached a crusade which delivered Europe from the Mohammedans in the fifteenth century. He died A.D. 1456.” (p. 1223) The Daily Missal and Liturgical Manual. (2004). To purchase this Missal for your library go to the publisher, Baronius Press: London: https://www.baroniuspress.com/book.php?wid=56&bid=4#tab=tab-1

Santa Muerte

An exploding movement toward this popular folk-saint, as reported in the Catholic Herald, is a reflection of an exploding criminal culture; but it also can help create awareness that the most powerful ministry to criminals is through Catholic tradition presented correctly, from a transformed criminal deeply imbued with it.

An excerpt.

The Archbishop of Santa Fe said recently that people praying to “Saint Death” won’t find the answers they’re looking for.

Archbishop John Wester told the Associated Press recently that Catholics praying to the skeletal figure, popular in Central America, may be fooled into thinking that “Santa Muerte” is an approved devotional practice in the Church.

But the practice of praying to “Saint Death” is not consistent with Catholic teaching, the archbishop said.

“It’s really wrong,” Wester told the AP.

“I think in part, it’s (because) people are looking and searching. It’s a symptom of a search looking for answers.”

“Our devotion is to the God of life,” he added.

In 2013, a Vatican official condemned devotion to “Santa Muerte,” equating it to “the celebration of devastation and of hell.”

“It’s not every day that a folk saint is actually condemned at the highest levels of the Vatican,” Andrew Chesnut, a Santa Muerte expert, told CNA in 2016.

Chesnut is the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of “Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint,” the only English academic book to date on the subject.

Despite her condemnation from on high, Santa Muerte remains increasingly popular among criminals, drug lords and those on the fringe of society, as well as cultural Catholics who maybe don’t know (or care) that she is condemned by the Church.

“She’s basically the poster girl of narco-satanic spirituality,” Chesnut said.

According to Chesnut’s estimates, Santa Muerte is the fastest growing religious movement in the Americas – and it’s all happened within the past 10-15 years.

“She was unknown to 99 percent of Mexicans before 2001, when she went public. Now I estimate there’s some 10-12 million devotees, mostly in Mexico, but also significant numbers in the United States and Central America,” he said.

Part of the attraction to Santa Muerte, as several sources familiar with the devotion explained, is that she is seen as a non-judgemental saint that can be invoked for some not-so-holy petitions.

“If somebody is going to be doing something illegal, and they want to be protected from the law enforcement, they feel awkward asking God to protect them,” Fr. Andres Gutierrez, the pastor of St. Helen parish in Rio Hondo, Texas, explained to CNA in 2016.

“So they promise something to Santa Muerte in exchange for being protected from the law.”

Devotees also feel comfortable going to her for favors of vengeance – something they would never ask of God or a canonized saint, Chesnut said.

Retrieved March 27, 2019 from https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2019/03/25/why-praying-to-santa-muerte-is-really-wrong/

Saints of the Day & The Lost Gutenberg Bible

Here’s the saint’s calendar for March 27, 2019, and some versions, each focusing on individual saints, all wonderful; for they are the Church Triumphant.

The Catholic Church has many saints and reading about their lives has been a spiritual journey Catholics have been on since the publication of the Golden Legend, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/

From Butler’s Calendar of the Saints listing all of the saints of today. https://web.archive.org/web/20061219215535/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/day0327.htm

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints, St. John of Egypt, “Till he was twenty-five, John worked as a carpenter with his father. Then feeling a call from God, he left the world and committed himself to a holy solitary in the desert. His master tried his spirit by many unreasonable commands, bidding him roll the hard rocks, tend dead trees, and the like. John obeyed in all things with the simplicity of a child. After a careful training of sixteen years he withdrew to the top of a steep cliff to think only of God and his soul. The more he knew of himself, the more he distrusted himself. For the last fifty years, therefore, he never saw women, and seldom men. The result of this vigilance and purity was threefold: a holy joy and cheerfulness which consoled all who conversed with him; perfect obedience to superiors; and, in return for this, authority over creatures, whom he had forsaken for the Creator.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots102.htm

From Franciscan Media, Lazarus, “Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, the brother of Martha and Mary, was the one of whom the Jews said, “See how much he loved him.” In their sight, Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.

Legends abound about the life of Lazarus after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters, and others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving as bishop for 30 years.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/lazarus/

From a most lovely site, really a daily devotional site offering much more than just saint of the day, Anastpaul https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/

One of my personal favorites, Tradition in Action, St. John Damascene, “St. John Damascene, 8th century, was the grand vizir of the Caliph of Damascus. While he was holding this office, Emperor Leo the Isaurian began a campaign to destroy the Catholic statues, the beginning of the iconoclast heresy. In 726 he issued his first edict against the veneration of images.

“John Damascene immediately took up his pen to defend this ancient practice of Catholics, just as before he had attacked the heresies of his time. Because of this defense, the hand that wrote it was chopped off , but the Virgin Mary appeared and reattached the hand.

“He retired to the monastery of St. Sabas southeast of Jerusalem and died there as a monk dedicated to prayer and study. He wrote numerous works and beautiful verses. His style was vigorous and polemic. For example, writing against the Emperor he called him a new Mahomet, an enemy of Christ, and despiser of the Saints. He also attacked the sycophant Bishops, calling them slaves of their stomachs, disposed to compromise and lie. https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j172sd_JohnDamascene_3-27.html

Here is what the 1962 Roman Missal says about St. John Damascene, Confessor, Doctor of the Church, “Filled with divine knowledge, he wrote his works against the Iconoclasts in defence of holy images. His right hand, cut off, was miraculously restored. He died A. D. 754.” (p. 1220) The Daily Missal and Liturgical Manual. (2004). To purchase this Missal for your library go to the publisher, Baronius Press: London: https://www.baroniuspress.com/book.php?wid=56&bid=4#tab=tab-1

The Lost Gutenberg Bible

A marvelous story of its recovery ad purchase by devout Catholic, Estelle Doheny, from LithHub, and I just purchased the book from which this excerpt came and it is a great read, enjoying it very much, a booklover’s dream.

Excerpts.

A wooden box containing one of the most valuable books in the world arrives in Los Angeles on October 14, 1950, with little more fanfare—or security—than a Sears catalog. Code-named “the commode,” it was flown from London via regular parcel post, and while it is being delivered locally by Tice and Lynch, a high-end customs broker and shipping company, its agents have no idea what they are carrying and take no special precautions.

The widow of one of the wealthiest men in America, Estelle Betzold Doheny is among a handful of women who collect rare books, and she has amassed one of the most spectacular libraries in the West. Acquisition of the Gutenberg Bible, universally acknowledged as the most important of all printed books, will push her into the ranks of the greatest book collectors of the era. Its arrival is the culmination of a 40-year hunt, and she treasures the moment as much as the treasure.

Estelle’s pursuit of a Gutenberg began in 1911, when she was a wasp-waisted, dark-haired beauty, half of a firebrand couple reshaping the American West with a fortune built from oil. Now 75, she is a soft, matronly figure with waves of gray hair. The auspicious occasion brings a flash of youth to her face, and she is all smiles. But she resists the impulse to rip into the box, leaving it untouched overnight so she can open it with appropriate ceremony the next day.

Estelle has invited one of her confidants, Robert Oliver Schad, the curator of rare books at the Henry E. Huntington Library, to see her purchase, and at noon he arrives with his wife, Frances, and their 18-year-old son, Jasper. Estelle’s secretary, Lucille Miller, escorts the family through the mansion’s Great Hall to the library, and with a sweep of her hand invites the group to sit at the oblong wood table in the center. The Book Room, as Estelle affectionately calls it, is finished in rich redwood and had been her husband’s billiard parlor. Its walls had once featured paintings related to Edward Doheny’s petroleum empire, murals commissioned by the onetime prospector who drilled some of the biggest gushers in the history of oil. Today the room is lined with custom-built shelves for Estelle’s beloved books—her own personal empire, worth as much as Edward’s oil.

Her collection began almost as a lark, sparked by popular lists of books that everyone should own, but now contains nearly 10,000 exceedingly rare volumes available only to the fabulously wealthy and culturally ambitious—gilded illuminated manuscripts glowing with saints and mythical creatures; medieval encyclopedias; and the earliest examples of Western printing, 135 incunabula—books printed before the year 1501. Such seminal works of Western culture as Cicero’s De officiis and Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica rub shoulders with a sumptuous 1477 copy of The Canterbury Tales. This is the million-dollar company the Gutenberg Bible will keep on its shelf.

The two-by-three-foot crate waits at the center of the table, spotlighted by a bronze-and-glass billiard lamp. When Estelle enters the room, accompanied by her companion and nurse, Rose Kelly, the group stands silent. Lucille takes out a pair of scissors and passes it around. Estelle, dressed for the occasion in a pale blue printed silk dress, a gem-studded comb at her right temple, wants everyone to take part, so each person makes a cut in the knotted cord that winds the package.

It’s an emotional occasion for Lucille, too, a slim, long-limbed woman with center-parted, brown hair that curls up around her cheeks. Never without a pencil tucked behind her ear, she has a subdued beauty that’s easy to miss, a pale, symmetrical face hidden behind her glasses. Lucille has been Estelle’s steady partner in the quest for the Gutenberg, party to every promise, hope, and near miss for nearly 20 years. She almost allows herself to smile as she pulls away the box’s coverings and lifts the lid, but then she sees the shabby mess inside. “I could hardly believe my eyes,” she said later. “It just looked like a bundle of old tattered, torn papers. It was the most carelessly wrapped thing I ever saw.” The precious book has been enclosed without padding, wrapped in thin cardboard and then in dark corrugated paper tied with a heavy cord. Lucille mentally chastises the customs officials in New York who had opened the parcel for inspection and then shoved it back in the box “any old way, and tied a string or two here or there and along it came.”

But as she lifts it out of the last of the wrappings, the Bible appears to be fine. For an expert like Robert Schad, there is no mistaking the original 15th-century binding of age-darkened brown calfskin stretched over heavy wood boards. The copy now in Estelle Doheny’s possession is the first issue of the first edition of the first book printed with movable metal type, in near-pristine condition, its pages fresh and clean. The lozenge and floweret patterns stamped into the leather cover are still sharp and firm to the touch. Five raised metal bosses protect the covers, one ornament in the center and one set in an inch from each of the four corners. Two broken leather-edge clasps are the only reminders that this book, which has presented the Living Word for nearly five centuries, has been opened and closed often enough to wear down the heavy straps….

“I am keeping the book,” Estelle hurriedly writes Ernest Maggs, one of London’s revered book dealers, early the following morning. She dispatches a check for 25,000 pounds sterling, the equivalent then of $70,093.

It is a check that she is delighted to sign. Thanks to a strong US dollar and the recent devaluation of the British pound sterling, she has managed to secure one of Western civilization’s great artifacts at a bargain price. With payment tendered, Estelle Betzold Doheny becomes the first and only woman to purchase a Gutenberg Bible as a private collector. Her deep need to own this holy book not only reflects her faith as a devout Catholic but also reveals her shrewd mind for the bottom line.

She tells Lucille she has never felt richer or more content. The book is a panacea for the deep personal losses she has faced, and, she believes, it is a gift from God. It not only lifts her heart, it changes her very image of herself.

Retrieved March 25, 2019 from https://lithub.com/the-quest-to-acquire-the-oldest-most-expensive-book-on-the-planet/

Saints of the Day & A Powerful Conversion

Here’s the saint’s calendar for March 26, 2019, and some versions, each focusing on individual saints, all wonderful; for they are the Church Triumphant.

The Catholic Church has many saints and reading about their lives has been a spiritual journey Catholics have been on since the publication of the Golden Legend, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/

From Butler’s Calendar of the Saints listing all of the saints of today. https://web.archive.org/web/20061015022930/http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/day0326.htm

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints, St. Ludger, Bishop. “St. Ludger was born in Friesland about the year 743. His father, a nobleman of the first rank, at the child’s own request, committed him very young to the care of St. Gregory, the disciple of St. Boniface, and his successors in the government of the see of Utrecht. Gregory educated him in his monastery and gave him the clerical tonsure. Ludger, desirous of further improvement, passed over into England, and spent four years and a half under Alcuin, who was rector of a famous school at York. In 773 he returned home, and St. Gregory dying in 776, his successor, Alberic, compelled our Saint to receive the holy order of priesthood, and employed him for several years in preaching the Word of God in Friesland, where he converted great numbers, founded several monasteries, and built many churches….St. Ludger was favored with the gifts of miracles and prophecy. His last sickness, though violent, did not hinder him from continuing his functions to the very last day of his life, which was Passion Sunday, on which day he preached very early in the morning, said Mass towards nine, and preached again before night, foretelling to those that were about him that he should die the following night, and fixing upon – place in his monastery of Werden where he chose to be interred. He died accordingly on the 26th of March, at midnight.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots101.htm

From Franciscan Media, St. Catherine of Genoa, (1447 – September 15, 1510), “When Catherine was born, many Italian nobles were supporting Renaissance artists and writers. The needs of the poor and the sick were often overshadowed by a hunger for luxury and self-indulgence. Catherine’s parents were members of the nobility in Genoa. At 13, she attempted to become a nun but failed because of her age. At 16, she married Julian, a nobleman who turned out to be selfish and unfaithful. For a while she tried to numb her disappointment by a life of selfish pleasure.

“One day in confession she had a new sense of her own sins and how much God loved her. She reformed her life and gave good example to Julian, who soon turned from his self-centered life of distraction. Julian’s spending, however, had ruined them financially. He and Catherine decided to live in the Pammatone, a large hospital in Genoa, and to dedicate themselves to works of charity there. After Julian’s death in 1497, Catherine took over management of the hospital.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-catherine-of-genoa/

From a most lovely site, really a daily devotional site offering much more than just saint of the day, Anastpaul https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/

A Powerful Conversion

This convert had everything against him, but still found the Church; a powerful reminder of the power of Mary, from The Catholic Register.

An excerpt.

How Mary Helped Political Commentator Sohrab Ahmari Find the Church

A Register In Person interview about conversion and coming to the Catholic faith.

Patti Armstrong

Political commentator Sohrab Ahmari’s new memoir, From Fire, by Water: My Journey to the Catholic Faith (Ignatius Press, 2019), echoes the words of St. Augustine: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in thee.” Ahmari now rests in the Catholic Church, after a journey that began in Tehran, Iran, under the repressive Ayatollah Khomeini regime.

At 13, in 1998, Ahmari and his mother immigrated to Utah, where he was disappointed that America was not as hedonistic, individualistic or as secular as he had imagined. Two decades of disillusionment in Marxism and postmodern ideologies finally led him to Jesus Christ. He became Catholic in 2016. Ahmari is the op-ed editor of The New York Post and a contributing editor of the Catholic Herald. He previously worked as a columnist and editor with The Wall Street Journal in New York and London.

Ahmari spoke in mid-March with Register correspondent Patti Armstrong about his journey to the Church, not from Islam, “whose religion had left only faint imprints on my soul,” but from atheism and relativism.

How would you describe your relationship with God as a young boy in Iran?

I had a basic natural belief that every human being has a longing for God that was expressed in a very simple way. I turned to this very nondenominational God in the sky to ask for things.

Your parents divorced, yet “played house” for seven years, with your dad spending a few days each week in your home. Your parents and their friends drank alcohol and did not follow sharia (Islamic) law, often bribing officials. Did this duplicity lead to your cynicism of religion?

Yes, the double life at home and outside the home, of hypocrisy living under an Islamic state, made me conclude that religion was nothing more than hypocrisy.

By age 18, you were a card-carrying communist. Why were you eventually turned off by Marxism?

I was turned off by the fact that the orthodox or classical Marxists are incredibly dour and have such blinders about how they see the world, and every event is filtered through a Marxist canon. There are all sorts of experiences they cannot account for and are not even interested in because class struggle and how a society produces things is all they care about. Unfortunately, I didn’t look to see what the people who had debunked Marxism had to say. Instead, I thought, “Okay, what came after Marxism must be the truth.”

If you could speak to the young man that you were two decades ago, what would you tell him?

I wouldn’t have said: “Believe in God because it’s true.” What I would have said is: “Before you discard the classical tradition — and that includes, obviously, the Bible, but also Aristotle and, late classical, Augustine — before you think you’ve triumphed over these things and therefore you don’t even need to bother reading them because, of course, they’re wrong and they’re old, just open it up and see if it speaks to you.” I wish that’s what I would have done. I wish that’s what young people today would do.

You had many mornings of regret following nights of drunkenness when you prayed to God, only to later feel silly and again dismiss such a possibility. What did you pray?

I still knew a few Quranic prayers. Sometimes I would recite those. Sometimes I would pray: “God help me; wipe this away.”

Eventually, I concluded that that voice of the conscience is the imprint of a supreme being. It’s the same voice that says to Adam, “Where are you?” It’s the same voice that tells Cain, “What have you done?” That same voice resounds in every heart: “What have you done?” — every person except Our Lady, of course.

You came to admire Christianity and respect Catholicism, often visiting churches, but for so long “preferred to have God without God.” What held you back?

St. Augustine’s Confessions is full of “not yet.” That was the case with me. I think that is a universal experience, in terms of our relationship with God. We negotiate with him all the time, like, “Get me out of this pinch.” But when it passes, we say to him: “Not yet.”

You credited Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI with your encounter with Jesus and coming to understand that “the fullest freedom is through the cross.” Please explain that.

If you agree that there is a God, then your first and last duty and thing you should most want to do is get to know him. It so happens that he is a cruciform God. He is a God who takes on weakness and humiliation, so if knowing God is freedom, then freedom is also knowing the cross, and hugging it and holding fast to it.

Why was it so easy for you to accept the Catholic devotion to the Blessed Mother?

Because she’s so lovable, first of all. She is the same woman who nourished Jesus and later stood by him in anguish at the foot of the cross. It is a matter of the heart.

And this is an incarnational faith. You can’t say, like our Protestant brothers and sisters do, “Well, there was Mary, and then Jesus was born, and then she doesn’t matter anymore.” That doesn’t make sense.

This woman bore God in her womb, and that is astonishing. If you believe that, then you have to grapple with the fact that she is our link to the Incarnation. It’s through the free consent of Mary that the history of man is rewritten and takes a different course than it had been on.

Retrieved March 25, 2019 from http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/how-mary-helped-political-commentator-sohrab-ahmari-find-the-church

Saints of the Day, Lampstand’s Patron Saint

Here’s the saint’s calendar for March 25, 2019, and some versions, each focusing on individual saints, all wonderful; for they are the Church Triumphant.

The Catholic Church has many saints and reading about their lives has been a spiritual journey Catholics have been on since the publication of the Golden Legend, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/

From Butler’s Calendar of the Saints listing all of the saints of today. https://web.archive.org/web/20061015132052/http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/day0325.htm

St. Dismas, the patron saint of this apostolate, is memorialized today:

The following is from (pp. 108-111) David H. Lukenbill. (2011). The Lampstand Prison Ministry: Constructed on Catholic Social Teaching & the History of the Catholic Church. The Lampstand Foundation: Sacramento, California.

It is however, in the actions of the true criminal hero, St. Dismas, that the honor of the professional criminal was set. Dismas, the Good Thief, is portrayed as finding repentance hanging beside Christ on Calvary, but nothing in the scriptural record of that central moment in human history, as I read it, indicates that it was repentance he was expressing, but that he saw the truth.

Dismas recognized that the man hanging next to him was God. We do not know how he came to see this while so many others witnessing the crucifixion did not. It began perhaps on the Road to Egypt, where Dismas really saw love and innocence in the prototype family that he had perhaps dreamt of, but had not known.

In the act of saving the Holy Family from the robbing and violence characterizing his band of thieves, he acted benevolently for the same reason professional criminals today will not harm children, but will punish harshly—even unto death—those who do.

It was perhaps on the Road to Calvary, as the two thieves and Christ carried their crosses, as Dismas saw how others responded to Christ and him to them.

On the day of crucifixion Dismas saw the truth and remembered the episode on the Road to Egypt, and his words to Christ were: “Jesus, remember me, when you come in your kingly power.” (Luke 23:42)

Dismas might be saying: Remember that I have responded to you honorably, I have not pleaded for my life as Gestas—the other thief hanging on Golgotha—but have accepted my punishment honorably, for it is just. I have realized your innocence and know that while justice is being done with us, it is not being done to you, Jesus, “remember me.”

This is not an unusual response for a professional criminal even today, for among ourselves in the cells and on the streets, we will openly and proudly acknowledge who we are, without remorse, asking for no mercy, and though trying any and everything to escape the consequences, once captured by judge and jury, we will accept our punishment stoically if the opportunity to escape is finally closed.

One of the elements in the hierarchy of evil, something that if a professional criminal expresses he will do, will result in him losing the trust and respect of other criminals, is claiming to desire to live a law-abiding life.

Criminals would react to this as would non-criminals react if a peer expressed becoming a criminal as a desired way of life—although in some circles the expression would only be seen as suspect if the criminal life being sought was one that had little chance of profit or success, so influenced has much of the public become to the blandishments of Hollywood and Marxism where criminals are as often seen as romantic figures than as evil predators.

Dismas saw—in the man hanging beside him—a man/God who was truly walking the talk, and living the truth under the most horrific of circumstances, the Roman crucifixion of criminals.

The decision by Christ to take Dismas into Hell with him—on the way to Paradise—is, from the human perspective Christ still possessed, a good and sound idea, as to take a criminal guide into the deepest lair of criminals, much as priests today might ask a reformed criminal to accompany him to a prison ministry visit, both for a sense-of-safety and credibility.

It is perhaps incongruous to think of Our Lord feeling the need for a guide, but on the other hand, it is congruent with his trepidation expressed in Gethsemane, and even on Golgotha, for he was still a man, subject to the human frailties which he would, however, soon leave behind him.

There are mysteries here I do not understand, but I know each act and each word of the earthy ministry of Christy has eternal meaning and all the books that could be written are being written and they do fill the world, but we are still mystified.

Part of the mystery is why Dismas becomes Christ’s companion on the Road from Calvary to Paradise and in the process, becomes the first canonized saint of the Catholic Church, and in response to this central question, Bishop Sheen (1958) writes.

One would have thought a saint would have been the first soul purchased over the counter of Calvary by the red coins of redemption, but in the Divine plan it was a thief who was the escort of the King of kings into Paradise. If Our Lord had come merely as a teacher, the thief would never have asked for forgiveness. But since the thief’s request touched the reason of His coming to earth, namely, to save souls, the thief heard the immediate answer: “I promise thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43. (p. 395)

(pp. 108-111)  David H. Lukenbill. (2011). The Lampstand Prison Ministry: Constructed on Catholic Social Teaching & the History of the Catholic Church. The Lampstand Foundation: Sacramento, California.

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints, The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, “This great festival takes its name from the happy tidings brought by the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin, concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God. It commemorates the most important embassy that was ever known: an embassy sent by the King of kings, performed by one of the chief princes of His heavenly court; directed, not to the great ones of this earth, but to a poor, unknown virgin, who, being endowed with the most angelic purity of soul and body, being withal perfectly humble and devoted to God, was greater in His eyes than the mightiest monarch in the world. When the Son of God became man, He could have taken upon Him our nature without the cooperation of any creature; but He was pleased to be born of a woman.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots100.htm

From Franciscan Media, Annunciation of the Lord, “The feast of the Annunciation, now recognized as a solemnity, was first celebrated in the fourth or fifth century. Its central focus is the Incarnation: God has become one of us. From all eternity God had decided that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity should become human. Now, as Luke 1:26-38 tells us, the decision is being realized. The God-Man embraces all humanity, indeed all creation, to bring it to God in one great act of love. Because human beings have rejected God, Jesus will accept a life of suffering and an agonizing death: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

“Mary has an important role to play in God’s plan. From all eternity, God destined her to be the mother of Jesus and closely related to him in the creation and redemption of the world. We could say that God’s decrees of creation and redemption are joined in the decree of Incarnation. Because Mary is God’s instrument in the Incarnation, she has a role to play with Jesus in creation and redemption.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/annunciation-of-the-lord/

From a most lovely site, really a daily devotional site offering much more than just saint of the day, Anastpaul https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/

One of my personal favorites, Tradition in Action, St. Dismas, “According to Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon, founder of the Assumptionists, the most beautiful history of St. Dismas was written by St. Anselm in a letter to his sisters meditating on the childhood of the Savior. If this history is at times doubted by modern men, it was nevertheless unanimously accepted during the time of the great Bishop of Canterbury.

“It was the time of the massacre of the Holy Innocents. St. Joseph, Our Lady, and the Divine Infant were fleeing from Herod. Leaving Bethlehem, the Holy Family entered the land of Egypt, which Sacred Scriptures calls the country of sin where God had withdrawn from His people, a country that only the sacrifice of Christ could redeem.

“On this flight into the country of the Devil, Jesus, Mary and Joseph entered a forest inhabited by brigands. Among them was Dismas, a murderer and a thief. However, in the depths of his soul lay some secret graces he had not refused.

“Hidden from sight, waiting for an unsuspecting victim, Dismas saw the approach of a man and a young woman carrying a Child. The three travelers had some baggage, perhaps some of the gifts of the Magi Kings reserved for this long trip. Dismas judged that this unprotected caravan would not offer resistance. The staff of St. Joseph caused him no fear, and he advanced to harm them.

“However, his eyes fell on the Child Jesus and he stopped, marveling at the glorious beauty and majesty of His countenance. Deeply touched, he protected the travelers instead of harming them, and hosted them in his cave. This was the means Divine Providence used to help the Holy Family, in this instance not with an Angel, but by means of a thief who for a moment was transformed into a good Angel.” https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j238sd_Dismas_03_12.html

Here is what the 1962 Roman Missal says about The Annunciation, “This is the great Festival of the Incarnation, commemorating the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel to Our Lady that the Divine Son of God, the Word, would take human nature upon Him in her virginal womb. Its date is determined by that of Christmas Day, and as the day which marked the beginning of the Christmas dispensation it was for many centuries regarded as the first day of the civil year.

“On this day the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, uniting for evermore our human nature to the Divine nature. The Mystery of the Incarnation brings vividly before us the boundless condescension and humanity of God in stooping to our condition in order to be our Saviour. Equally it proclaims the glory and greatness of Mary, who was chosen to give to the Divine Word human flesh and human birth, and so to co-operate with God in the restoration of mankind. Hence her most glorious title of “Mother of God”, which explains all her glories, her sanctity and her honour.” (p. 1217) The Daily Missal and Liturgical Manual. (2004). To purchase this Missal for your library go to the publisher, Baronius Press: London: https://www.baroniuspress.com/book.php?wid=56&bid=4#tab=tab-1

 

 

Saints of the Day

Here’s the saint’s calendar for March 24, 2019, and some versions, each focusing on individual saints, all wonderful; for they are the Church Triumphant.

The Catholic Church has many saints and reading about their lives has been a spiritual journey Catholics have been on since the publication of the Golden Legend, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/

From Butler’s Calendar of the Saints listing all of the saints of today. https://web.archive.org/web/20061012215057/http://www.catholic-forum.com/SAINTS/day0324.htm

From Franciscan Media, St. Oscar Arnulfo Romero, (August 15, 1917 – March 24, 1980), Already considered a saint by the people of El Salvador and elsewhere, Blessed Oscar Romero was recognized as a martyr for the faith in 2015. The time when he was Archbishop of San Salvador was a period of civil unrest and great government-sponsored violence. The voice of the Gospel, Blessed Oscar Romero spoke out for justice.

“The night before he was murdered while celebrating Mass, Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador said on the radio: “I would like to appeal in a special way to the men of the army, and in particular to the troops of the National Guard, the police, and the garrisons. Brothers, you belong to our own people. You kill your own brother peasants; and in the face of an order to kill that is given by a man, the law of God that says ‘Do not kill!’ should prevail.

“No soldier is obliged to obey an order counter to the law of God. No one has to comply with an immoral law. It is the time now that you recover your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the command of sin. . . . Therefore, in the name of God, and in the name of this long-suffering people, whose laments rise to heaven every day more tumultuous, I beseech you, I beg you, I command you! In the name of God: ‘Cease the repression!’” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-oscar-arnulfo-romero/

From a most lovely site, really a daily devotional site offering much more than just saint of the day, Anastpaul https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/

One of my personal favorites, Tradition in Action, St. Gabriel the Archangel, “In the New Testament the only two references of St. Gabriel are the foretelling to Zachary of the birth of St. John the Baptist, and the Annunciation reported by St. Luke (1:26-28). He was delegated by God to deliver that magnificent message to Our Lady.” https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j214sd_Gabriel_03_24.html

Here is what the 1962 Roman Missal says about St. Gabriel the Archangel, “St. Gabriel was chosen by God to announce to Mary that she was to be the Mother of Christ.” (p. 1213) The Daily Missal and Liturgical Manual. (2004). To purchase this Missal for your library go to the publisher, Baronius Press: London: https://www.baroniuspress.com/book.php?wid=56&bid=4#tab=tab-1

 

Saints of the Day & Why the Crucifixion Cross?

Here’s the saint’s calendar for March 23, 2019, and some versions, each focusing on individual saints, all wonderful; for they are the Church Triumphant.

The Catholic Church has many saints and reading about their lives has been a spiritual journey Catholics have been on since the publication of the Golden Legend, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/

From Butler’s Calendar of the Saints listing all of the saints of today. https://web.archive.org/web/20060921163541/http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/day0323.htm

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints, St. Victorian and Others, Martyrs, “Huneric, the Arian king of the Vandals in Africa, succeeded his father Genseric in 477. He behaved himself at first with moderation towards the Catholics, but in 480 he began a grievous persecution of the clergy and holy virgins, which in 484 became general, and vast numbers of Catholics were put to death. Victorian, one of the principal lords of the kingdom, had been made governor of Carthage, with the Roman title of Proconsul. He was the wealthiest subject of the king, who placed great confidence in him, and he had ever behaved with an inviolable fidelity. The king, after he had published his cruel edicts, sent a message to the proconsul, promising, if he would conform to his religion, to heap on him the greatest wealth and the highest honors which it was in the power of a prince to bestow. The proconsul, who amidst the glittering pomps of the world perfectly understood its emptiness, made this generous answer: “Tell the king that I trust in Christ. His Majesty may condemn me to any torments, but I shall never consent to renounce the Catholic Church, in which I have been baptized. Even if there were no life after this, I would never be ungrateful and perfidious to God, Who has granted me the happiness of knowing Him, and bestowed on me His most precious graces.” The tyrant became furious at this answer, nor can the tortures be imagined which he caused the Saint to endure. Victorian suffered them with joy, and amidst them finished his glorious martyrdom. The Roman Martyrology joins with him on this day four others who were crowned in the same persecution. Two brothers, who were apprehended for the faith, had promised each other, if possible, to die together; and they begged of God, as a favor, that they might both suffer the same torments. The persecutors hung them in the air with great weights at their feet.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots098.htm

From Franciscan Media, St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, (November 16, 1538 – March 23, 1606), “Together with Rose of Lima, Turibius is the first known saint of the New World, serving the Lord in Peru, South America, for 26 years. Born in Spain and educated for the law, he became so brilliant a scholar that he was made professor of law at the University of Salamanca and eventually became chief judge of the Inquisition at Granada. He succeeded too well. But he was not sharp enough a lawyer to prevent a surprising sequence of events. When the archdiocese of Lima in Peru required a new leader, Turibius was chosen to fill the post: He was the one person with the strength of character and holiness of spirit to heal the scandals that had infected that area.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-turibius-of-mogrovejo/

From a most lovely site, really a daily devotional site offering much more than just saint of the day, Anastpaul https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/

One of my personal favorites, Tradition in Action, St. Toribio de Mogrovejo, (same person, different spelling) “Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo was born in 1538 in Mayorca, Spain, into a noble family. From childhood, his disposition was turned toward virtue and against sin. He also had a great devotion to the Most Holy Virgin. He prayed her Office and the Rosary every day and fasted on Saturdays in her honor. He had a natural inclination for academics, and studied law at Valladolid and Salamanca. In recognition of his virtue and learning, King Philip II named him chief judge of the Supreme Court of Granada, and head of the Inquisition in the same city. He carried out this office in an exceptional way for five years. In 1580 when the Episcopal See of Lima, Peru, became vacant, the King selected him to fill this position.” https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j013sdSt.Toribior3-23.htm

Why the Crucifixion Cross?

Something I also, as an adult convert, wondered about as all the representations of Christ in my previous church were of the Resurrected Christ.

Great explanation from Aleteia.

An excerpt.

The use of crucifixes by Catholics follows an ancient tradition that honors the supreme sacrifice of Jesus.

While the empty cross is a common Christian symbol shared by all Christian churches, Catholics stand out for their frequent use of the crucifix, a cross that shows the tortured body of Jesus Christ.

Why is that?

The Catholic Church has honored the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross from the earliest days of Christianity. Initially this was done in a veiled way, using symbolic figures to represent Jesus on the cross. Initially the Greek letters tau (T) and rho (P) were interposed, and created an abstract image that looks like someone on the cross.

Also, the early Christians were known to use a dolphin twisted around a trident, symbols borrowed from Greek mythology that were applied to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

However, once Christianity was legalized, artists were able to be more realistic and open, and Christians freely depicted Jesus on the cross. One of the inspirations behind this artistic expression comes from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, where he writes, “We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23).

The purpose of the crucifix has always been to display the immense love Christ has for all humanity and to remind us of the hope of the Resurrection won by that victory of Jesus’ Passion.

St. Augustine in the 4th century offered a perfect summary of why Catholics use a crucifix.

“The death of the Lord our God should not be a cause of shame for us; rather, it should be our greatest hope, our greatest glory. In taking upon himself the death that he found in us, he has most faithfully promised to give us life in him, such as we cannot have of ourselves.

“He loved us so much that, sinless himself, he suffered for us sinners the punishment we deserved for our sins. How then can he fail to give us the reward we deserve for our righteousness, for he is the source of righteousness? How can he, whose promises are true, fail to reward the saints when he bore the punishment of sinners, though without sin himself?

“Brethren, let us then fearlessly acknowledge, and even openly proclaim, that Christ was crucified for us; let us confess it, not in fear but in joy, not in shame but in glory.”

Retrieved March 22, 2019 from https://aleteia.org/2019/03/22/why-do-catholics-use-crucifixes-that-show-jesus-on-the-cross/

Saints of the Day

Here’s the saint’s calendar for March 22, 2019, and some versions, each focusing on individual saints, all wonderful; for they are the Church Triumphant.

The Catholic Church has many saints and reading about their lives has been a spiritual journey Catholics have been on since the publication of the Golden Legend, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/

From Butler’s Calendar of the Saints listing all of the saints of today. https://web.archive.org/web/20061014210654/http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/day0322.htm

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints, St. Catherine of Sweden, Virgin, “St. Catherine was daughter of Ulpho, Prince of Nericia in Sweden, and of St. Bridget. The love of God seemed almost to prevent in her the use of her reason. At seven years of age she was placed in the nunnery of Risburgh, and educated in piety under the care of the holy abbess of that house. Being very beautiful, she was, by her father, contracted in marriage to Egard, a young nobleman of great virtue; but the virgin persuaded him to join with her in making a mutual vow of perpetual chastity….After her mother’s death at Rome, in 1373, Catharine returned to Sweden, and died abbess of Vadzstena, or Vatzen, on the 24th of March in 1381.” http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/lots097.htm

From Franciscan Media, St. Nicholas Owen, (? – 1606), “Nicholas, familiarly known as “Little John,” was small in stature but big in the esteem of his fellow Jesuits. Born at Oxford, this humble artisan saved the lives of many priests and laypersons in England during the penal times (1559-1829), when a series of statutes punished Catholics for the practice of their faith. Over a period of about 20 years, Nicholas used his skills to build secret hiding places for priests throughout the country.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-nicholas-owen/

From a most lovely site, really a daily devotional site offering much more than just saint of the day, Anastpaul https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/

One of my personal favorites, Tradition in Action, St. Catherine of Genoa, “Catherine of Genoa was of the noble Fieschi lineage. She was born in 1447, the last of five children. Catherine’s desire to enter a convent was opposed by her parents, who married her to a Genovese Patrician, Giuliano Adorno, for political conveniences of the family….Ten years later, in a melancholic state she visited her sister, who was a nun, and complained about her frustration with the life she was leading. The young nun advised her to return to God, confess and do penance. No sooner had she made the decision to follow a new path, she fell into ecstasy. A ray of Divine Light pierced her soul and manifested her own sinfulness and, at the same time, she experienced the great love of God. She converted and abandoned the worldly life, entering into a life of close union with God in prayer. Her good example converted her husband, who had ruined them financially…She died on September 15, 1510 and her feast day is March 22.” https://traditioninaction.org/SOD/j270sd_Genoa_3-22.html