tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34314630510467833102024-03-13T11:05:59.775-07:00In Persona Christi Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam"A man offers his humanity to Christ, so that Christ may use him as an instrument of salvation, making him, as it were, another Christ. In our world is there any greater fulfillment of our humanity than to be able to re-present every day in the Person of Christ, ("in persona Christi"), the redemptive sacrifice, the same sacrifice which Christ offered on the cross?" Holy Father John Paul IIMemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-69108138546841565852009-11-22T12:35:00.000-08:002009-11-22T12:47:14.581-08:00The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian ConscienceI have no words to describe how happy I am or even how to thank all those who worked on this and have been the original signers. This is what we have been praying for. I have watched, in one hour, the number of people signing going over over a thousand in that short of time. From the bottom of my heart, I thank everyone originally, and all those who are joining. <br /><br />Please click on the banner to add your signature:<br /><br /><a href="http://manhattandeclaration.org"><img src="http://manhattandeclaration.org/linksin/manhattan_declaration220x55trans.png" alt="The Manhattan Declaration" longdesc="U.S. Religious Leaders Release Historic Declaration" width="220" height="55" style="border:none" /></a><br /><br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=<br />Below from: http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2009/11/manhattan-declaration58-a-call-of-christian-conscience<br /><br />Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience<br />Nov 20, 2009<br />One hundred forty-eight Signatories<br /><br />Preamble<br /><br />Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.<br /><br />While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.<br /><br />After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible but also the literature and art of Western culture. It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country. Christians under Wilberforce’s leadership also formed hundreds of societies for helping the poor, the imprisoned, and child laborers chained to machines.<br /><br />In Europe, Christians challenged the divine claims of kings and successfully fought to establish the rule of law and balance of governmental powers, which made modern democracy possible. And in America, Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement. The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class.<br /><br />This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes—from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination.<br /><br />Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good. In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.<br /><br />Declaration<br /><br />We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image. We set forth this declaration in light of the truth that is grounded in Holy Scripture, in natural human reason (which is itself, in our view, the gift of a beneficent God), and in the very nature of the human person. We call upon all people of goodwill, believers and non-believers alike, to consider carefully and reflect critically on the issues we here address as we, with St. Paul, commend this appeal to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.<br /><br />While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, claims our attention, we are especially troubled that in our nation today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions.<br /><br />Because the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as a union of husband and wife, and the freedom of conscience and religion are foundational principles of justice and the common good, we are compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act in their defense. In this declaration we affirm: 1) the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life; 2) marriage as a conjugal union of man and woman, ordained by God from the creation, and historically understood by believers and non-believers alike, to be the most basic institution in society and; 3) religious liberty, which is grounded in the character of God, the example of Christ, and the inherent freedom and dignity of human beings created in the divine image.<br /><br />We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence. It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season. May God help us not to fail in that duty.<br /><br />Life<br /><br />So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27<br /><br />I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10<br /><br />Although public sentiment has moved in a pro-life direction, we note with sadness that pro-abortion ideology prevails today in our government. The present administration is led and staffed by those who want to make abortions legal at any stage of fetal development, and who want to provide abortions at taxpayer expense. Majorities in both houses of Congress hold pro-abortion views. The Supreme Court, whose infamous 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade stripped the unborn of legal protection, continues to treat elective abortion as a fundamental constitutional right, though it has upheld as constitutionally permissible some limited restrictions on abortion. The President says that he wants to reduce the “need” for abortion—a commendable goal. But he has also pledged to make abortion more easily and widely available by eliminating laws prohibiting government funding, requiring waiting periods for women seeking abortions, and parental notification for abortions performed on minors. The elimination of these important and effective pro-life laws cannot reasonably be expected to do other than significantly increase the number of elective abortions by which the lives of countless children are snuffed out prior to birth. Our commitment to the sanctity of life is not a matter of partisan loyalty, for we recognize that in the thirty-six years since Roe v. Wade, elected officials and appointees of both major political parties have been complicit in giving legal sanction to what Pope John Paul II described as “the culture of death.” We call on all officials in our country, elected and appointed, to protect and serve every member of our society, including the most marginalized, voiceless, and vulnerable among us.<br /><br />A culture of death inevitably cheapens life in all its stages and conditions by promoting the belief that lives that are imperfect, immature or inconvenient are discardable. As predicted by many prescient persons, the cheapening of life that began with abortion has now metastasized. For example, human embryo-destructive research and its public funding are promoted in the name of science and in the cause of developing treatments and cures for diseases and injuries. The President and many in Congress favor the expansion of embryo- research to include the taxpayer funding of so-called “therapeutic cloning.” This would result in the industrial mass production of human embryos to be killed for the purpose of producing genetically customized stem cell lines and tissues. At the other end of life, an increasingly powerful movement to promote assisted suicide and “voluntary” euthanasia threatens the lives of vulnerable elderly and disabled persons. Eugenic notions such as the doctrine of lebensunwertes Leben (“life unworthy of life”) were first advanced in the 1920s by intellectuals in the elite salons of America and Europe. Long buried in ignominy after the horrors of the mid-twentieth century, they have returned from the grave. The only difference is that now the doctrines of the eugenicists are dressed up in the language of “liberty,” “autonomy,” and “choice.”<br /><br />We will be united and untiring in our efforts to roll back the license to kill that began with the abandonment of the unborn to abortion. We will work, as we have always worked, to bring assistance, comfort, and care to pregnant women in need and to those who have been victimized by abortion, even as we stand resolutely against the corrupt and degrading notion that it can somehow be in the best interests of women to submit to the deliberate killing of their unborn children. Our message is, and ever shall be, that the just, humane, and truly Christian answer to problem pregnancies is for all of us to love and care for mother and child alike.<br /><br />A truly prophetic Christian witness will insistently call on those who have been entrusted with temporal power to fulfill the first responsibility of government: to protect the weak and vulnerable against violent attack, and to do so with no favoritism, partiality, or discrimination. The Bible enjoins us to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to speak for those who cannot themselves speak. And so we defend and speak for the unborn, the disabled, and the dependent. What the Bible and the light of reason make clear, we must make clear. We must be willing to defend, even at risk and cost to ourselves and our institutions, the lives of our brothers and sisters at every stage of development and in every condition.<br /><br />Our concern is not confined to our own nation. Around the globe, we are witnessing cases of genocide and “ethnic cleansing,” the failure to assist those who are suffering as innocent victims of war, the neglect and abuse of children, the exploitation of vulnerable laborers, the sexual trafficking of girls and young women, the abandonment of the aged, racial oppression and discrimination, the persecution of believers of all faiths, and the failure to take steps necessary to halt the spread of preventable diseases like AIDS. We see these travesties as flowing from the same loss of the sense of the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life that drives the abortion industry and the movements for assisted suicide, euthanasia, and human cloning for biomedical research. And so ours is, as it must be, a truly consistent ethic of love and life for all humans in all circumstances.<br /><br />Marriage<br /><br />The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:23-24 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians 5:32-33 In Scripture, the creation of man and woman, and their one-flesh union as husband and wife, is the crowning achievement of God’s creation. In the transmission of life and the nurturing of children, men and women joined as spouses are given the great honor of being partners with God Himself. Marriage then, is the first institution of human society—indeed it is the institution on which all other human institutions have their foundation. In the Christian tradition we refer to marriage as “holy matrimony” to signal the fact that it is an institution ordained by God, and blessed by Christ in his participation at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. In the Bible, God Himself blesses and holds marriage in the highest esteem.<br /><br />Vast human experience confirms that marriage is the original and most important institution for sustaining the health, education, and welfare of all persons in a society. Where marriage is honored, and where there is a flourishing marriage culture, everyone benefits—the spouses themselves, their children, the communities and societies in which they live. Where the marriage culture begins to erode, social pathologies of every sort quickly manifest themselves. Unfortunately, we have witnessed over the course of the past several decades a serious erosion of the marriage culture in our own country. Perhaps the most telling—and alarming—indicator is the out-of-wedlock birth rate. Less than fifty years ago, it was under 5 percent. Today it is over 40 percent. Our society—and particularly its poorest and most vulnerable sectors, where the out-of-wedlock birth rate is much higher even than the national average—is paying a huge price in delinquency, drug abuse, crime, incarceration, hopelessness, and despair. Other indicators are widespread non-marital sexual cohabitation and a devastatingly high rate of divorce.<br /><br />We confess with sadness that Christians and our institutions have too often scandalously failed to uphold the institution of marriage and to model for the world the true meaning of marriage. Insofar as we have too easily embraced the culture of divorce and remained silent about social practices that undermine the dignity of marriage we repent, and call upon all Christians to do the same.<br /><br />To strengthen families, we must stop glamorizing promiscuity and infidelity and restore among our people a sense of the profound beauty, mystery, and holiness of faithful marital love. We must reform ill-advised policies that contribute to the weakening of the institution of marriage, including the discredited idea of unilateral divorce. We must work in the legal, cultural, and religious domains to instill in young people a sound understanding of what marriage is, what it requires, and why it is worth the commitment and sacrifices that faithful spouses make.<br /><br />The impulse to redefine marriage in order to recognize same-sex and multiple partner relationships is a symptom, rather than the cause, of the erosion of the marriage culture. It reflects a loss of understanding of the meaning of marriage as embodied in our civil and religious law and in the philosophical tradition that contributed to shaping the law. Yet it is critical that the impulse be resisted, for yielding to it would mean abandoning the possibility of restoring a sound understanding of marriage and, with it, the hope of rebuilding a healthy marriage culture. It would lock into place the false and destructive belief that marriage is all about romance and other adult satisfactions, and not, in any intrinsic way, about procreation and the unique character and value of acts and relationships whose meaning is shaped by their aptness for the generation, promotion and protection of life. In spousal communion and the rearing of children (who, as gifts of God, are the fruit of their parents’ marital love), we discover the profound reasons for and benefits of the marriage covenant.<br /><br />We acknowledge that there are those who are disposed towards homosexual and polyamorous conduct and relationships, just as there are those who are disposed towards other forms of immoral conduct. We have compassion for those so disposed; we respect them as human beings possessing profound, inherent, and equal dignity; and we pay tribute to the men and women who strive, often with little assistance, to resist the temptation to yield to desires that they, no less than we, regard as wayward. We stand with them, even when they falter. We, no less than they, are sinners who have fallen short of God’s intention for our lives. We, no less than they, are in constant need of God’s patience, love and forgiveness. We call on the entire Christian community to resist sexual immorality, and at the same time refrain from disdainful condemnation of those who yield to it. Our rejection of sin, though resolute, must never become the rejection of sinners. For every sinner, regardless of the sin, is loved by God, who seeks not our destruction but rather the conversion of our hearts. Jesus calls all who wander from the path of virtue to “a more excellent way.” As his disciples we will reach out in love to assist all who hear the call and wish to answer it.<br /><br />We further acknowledge that there are sincere people who disagree with us, and with the teaching of the Bible and Christian tradition, on questions of sexual morality and the nature of marriage. Some who enter into same- sex and polyamorous relationships no doubt regard their unions as truly marital. They fail to understand, however, that marriage is made possible by the sexual complementarity of man and woman, and that the comprehensive, multi-level sharing of life that marriage is includes bodily unity of the sort that unites husband and wife biologically as a reproductive unit. This is because the body is no mere extrinsic instrument of the human person, but truly part of the personal reality of the human being. Human beings are not merely centers of consciousness or emotion, or minds, or spirits, inhabiting non-personal bodies. The human person is a dynamic unity of body, mind, and spirit. Marriage is what one man and one woman establish when, forsaking all others and pledging lifelong commitment, they found a sharing of life at every level of being—the biological, the emotional, the dispositional, the rational, the spiritual—on a commitment that is sealed, completed and actualized by loving sexual intercourse in which the spouses become one flesh, not in some merely metaphorical sense, but by fulfilling together the behavioral conditions of procreation. That is why in the Christian tradition, and historically in Western law, consummated marriages are not dissoluble or annullable on the ground of infertility, even though the nature of the marital relationship is shaped and structured by its intrinsic orientation to the great good of procreation.<br /><br />We understand that many of our fellow citizens, including some Christians, believe that the historic definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is a denial of equality or civil rights. They wonder what to say in reply to the argument that asserts that no harm would be done to them or to anyone if the law of the community were to confer upon two men or two women who are living together in a sexual partnership the status of being “married.” It would not, after all, affect their own marriages, would it? On inspection, however, the argument that laws governing one kind of marriage will not affect another cannot stand. Were it to prove anything, it would prove far too much: the assumption that the legal status of one set of marriage relationships affects no other would not only argue for same sex partnerships; it could be asserted with equal validity for polyamorous partnerships, polygamous households, even adult brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters living in incestuous relationships. Should these, as a matter of equality or civil rights, be recognized as lawful marriages, and would they have no effects on other relationships? No. The truth is that marriage is not something abstract or neutral that the law may legitimately define and re-define to please those who are powerful and influential.<br /><br />No one has a civil right to have a non-marital relationship treated as a marriage. Marriage is an objective reality—a covenantal union of husband and wife—that it is the duty of the law to recognize and support for the sake of justice and the common good. If it fails to do so, genuine social harms follow. First, the religious liberty of those for whom this is a matter of conscience is jeopardized. Second, the rights of parents are abused as family life and sex education programs in schools are used to teach children that an enlightened understanding recognizes as “marriages” sexual partnerships that many parents believe are intrinsically non- marital and immoral. Third, the common good of civil society is damaged when the law itself, in its critical pedagogical function, becomes a tool for eroding a sound understanding of marriage on which the flourishing of the marriage culture in any society vitally depends. Sadly, we are today far from having a thriving marriage culture. But if we are to begin the critically important process of reforming our laws and mores to rebuild such a culture, the last thing we can afford to do is to re-define marriage in such a way as to embody in our laws a false proclamation about what marriage is.<br /><br />And so it is out of love (not “animus”) and prudent concern for the common good (not “prejudice”), that we pledge to labor ceaselessly to preserve the legal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman and to rebuild the marriage culture. How could we, as Christians, do otherwise? The Bible teaches us that marriage is a central part of God’s creation covenant. Indeed, the union of husband and wife mirrors the bond between Christ and his church. And so just as Christ was willing, out of love, to give Himself up for the church in a complete sacrifice, we are willing, lovingly, to make whatever sacrifices are required of us for the sake of the inestimable treasure that is marriage.<br /><br />Religious Liberty<br /><br />The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1<br /><br />Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. Matthew 22:21<br /><br />The struggle for religious liberty across the centuries has been long and arduous, but it is not a novel idea or recent development. The nature of religious liberty is grounded in the character of God Himself, the God who is most fully known in the life and work of Jesus Christ. Determined to follow Jesus faithfully in life and death, the early Christians appealed to the manner in which the Incarnation had taken place: “Did God send Christ, as some suppose, as a tyrant brandishing fear and terror? Not so, but in gentleness and meekness..., for compulsion is no attribute of God” (Epistle to Diognetus 7.3-4). Thus the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the example of Christ Himself and in the very dignity of the human person created in the image of God—a dignity, as our founders proclaimed, inherent in every human, and knowable by all in the exercise of right reason.<br /><br />Christians confess that God alone is Lord of the conscience. Immunity from religious coercion is the cornerstone of an unconstrained conscience. No one should be compelled to embrace any religion against his will, nor should persons of faith be forbidden to worship God according to the dictates of conscience or to express freely and publicly their deeply held religious convictions. What is true for individuals applies to religious communities as well.<br /><br />It is ironic that those who today assert a right to kill the unborn, aged and disabled and also a right to engage in immoral sexual practices, and even a right to have relationships integrated around these practices be recognized and blessed by law—such persons claiming these “rights” are very often in the vanguard of those who would trample upon the freedom of others to express their religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife.<br /><br />We see this, for example, in the effort to weaken or eliminate conscience clauses, and therefore to compel pro- life institutions (including religiously affiliated hospitals and clinics), and pro-life physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other health care professionals, to refer for abortions and, in certain cases, even to perform or participate in abortions. We see it in the use of anti-discrimination statutes to force religious institutions, businesses, and service providers of various sorts to comply with activities they judge to be deeply immoral or go out of business. After the judicial imposition of “same-sex marriage” in Massachusetts, for example, Catholic Charities chose with great reluctance to end its century-long work of helping to place orphaned children in good homes rather than comply with a legal mandate that it place children in same-sex households in violation of Catholic moral teaching. In New Jersey, after the establishment of a quasi-marital “civil unions” scheme, a Methodist institution was stripped of its tax exempt status when it declined, as a matter of religious conscience, to permit a facility it owned and operated to be used for ceremonies blessing homosexual unions. In Canada and some European nations, Christian clergy have been prosecuted for preaching Biblical norms against the practice of homosexuality. New hate-crime laws in America raise the specter of the same practice here.<br /><br />In recent decades a growing body of case law has paralleled the decline in respect for religious values in the media, the academy and political leadership, resulting in restrictions on the free exercise of religion. We view this as an ominous development, not only because of its threat to the individual liberty guaranteed to every person, regardless of his or her faith, but because the trend also threatens the common welfare and the culture of freedom on which our system of republican government is founded. Restrictions on the freedom of conscience or the ability to hire people of one’s own faith or conscientious moral convictions for religious institutions, for example, undermines the viability of the intermediate structures of society, the essential buffer against the overweening authority of the state, resulting in the soft despotism Tocqueville so prophetically warned of.1 Disintegration of civil society is a prelude to tyranny.<br /><br />As Christians, we take seriously the Biblical admonition to respect and obey those in authority. We believe in law and in the rule of law. We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral. The biblical purpose of law is to preserve order and serve justice and the common good; yet laws that are unjust—and especially laws that purport to compel citizens to do what is unjust—undermine the common good, rather than serve it.<br /><br />Going back to the earliest days of the church, Christians have refused to compromise their proclamation of the gospel. In Acts 4, Peter and John were ordered to stop preaching. Their answer was, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Through the centuries, Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is not only permitted, but sometimes required. There is no more eloquent defense of the rights and duties of religious conscience than the one offered by Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Writing from an explicitly Christian perspective, and citing Christian writers such as Augustine and Aquinas, King taught that just laws elevate and ennoble human beings because they are rooted in the moral law whose ultimate source is God Himself. Unjust laws degrade human beings. Inasmuch as they can claim no authority beyond sheer human will, they lack any power to bind in conscience. King’s willingness to go to jail, rather than comply with legal injustice, was exemplary and inspiring.<br /><br />Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.<br /><br />Dr. Daniel Akin President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, NC)<br /><br />Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola Primate, Anglican Church of Nigeria (Abika, Nigeria)<br /><br />Randy Alcorn Founder and Director, Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM) (Sandy, OR)<br /><br />Rt. Rev. David Anderson President and CEO, American Anglican Council (Atlanta, GA)<br /><br />Leith Anderson President of National Association of Evangelicals (Washington, DC)<br /><br />Charlotte K. Ardizzone TV Show Host and Speaker, INSP Television (Charlotte, NC)<br /><br />Kay Arthur CEO and Co-founder, Precept Ministries International (Chattanooga, TN)<br /><br />Dr. Mark L. Bailey President, Dallas Theological Seminary (Dallas, TX)<br /><br />His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop Basil Essey The Right Reverend Bishop of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America (Wichita, KS)<br /><br />Joel Belz Founder, World Magazine (Asheville, NC)<br /><br />Rev. Michael L. Beresford Managing Director of Church Relations, Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn. (Charlotte, NC)<br /><br />Ken Boa President, Reflections Ministries (Atlanta, GA)<br /><br />Joseph Bottum Editor of First Things (New York, NY)<br /><br />Pastor Randy & Sarah Brannon Senior Pastor, Grace Community Church (Madera, CA)<br /><br />Steve Brown National radio broadcaster, Key Life (Maitland, FL)<br /><br />Dr. Robert C. Cannada, Jr. Chancellor and CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary (Orlando, FL)<br /><br />Galen Carey Director of Government Affairs, National Association of Evangelicals (Washington, DC)<br /><br />Dr. Bryan Chapell President, Covenant Theological Seminary (St. Louis, MO)<br /><br />Scott Chapman Senior Pastor, The Chapel (Libertyville, IL)<br /><br />Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, CO<br /><br />Timothy Clinton President, American Association of Christian Counselors (Forest, VA)<br /><br />Chuck Colson Founder, the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview (Lansdowne, VA)<br /><br />Most Rev. Salvatore Joseph Cordileone Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CA<br /><br />Dr. Gary Culpepper Associate Professor, Providence College (Providence, RI)<br /><br />Jim Daly President and CEO, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, CO)<br /><br />Marjorie Dannenfelser President, Susan B. Anthony List (Arlington, VA)<br /><br />Rev. Daniel Delgado Board of Directors, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference & Pastor, Third Day Missions Church (Staten Island, NY)<br /><br />Dr. James Dobson Founder, Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, CO)<br /><br />Dr. David Dockery President, Union University (Jackson, TN)<br /><br />Most Rev. Timothy Dolan Archbishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of New York, NY<br /><br />Dr. William Donohue President, Catholic League (New York, NY)<br /><br />Dr. James T. Draper, Jr. President Emeritus, LifeWay (Nashville, TN)<br /><br />Dinesh D’Souza Writer & Speaker (Rancho Santa Fe, CA)<br /><br />Most Rev. Robert Wm. Duncan Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America (Ambridge, PA )<br /><br />Joni Eareckson Tada Founder and CEO, Joni and Friends International Disability Center (Agoura Hills, CA)<br /><br />Dr. Michael Easley President Emeritus, Moody Bible Institute (Chicago, IL)<br /><br />Dr. William Edgar Professor, Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia, PA)<br /><br />Brett Elder Executive Director, Stewardship Council (Grand Rapids, MI)<br /><br />Rev. Joel Elowsky Drew University ( Madison, NJ)<br /><br />Stuart Epperson Co-Founder and Chariman of the Board, Salem Communications Corporation ( Camarillo, CA)<br /><br />Rev. Jonathan Falwell Senior Pastor, Thomas Road Baptist Church (Lynchburg, VA)<br /><br />William J. Federer President, Amerisearch, Inc. (St. Louis, MO)<br /><br />Fr. Joseph D. Fessio Founder and Editor, Ignatius Press (Ft. Collins, CO)<br /><br />Carmen Fowler President & Executive Editor, Presbyterian Lay Committee (Lenoir, NC)<br /><br />Maggie Gallagher President, Institute for Marriage and Public Policy and a co-author of The Case for Marriage (Manassas, VA)<br /><br />Dr. Jim Garlow Senior Pastor, Skyline Church (La Mesa, CA)<br /><br />Steven Garofalo Senior Consultant, Search and Assessment Services (Charlotte, NC)<br /><br />Dr. Robert P. George McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)<br /><br />Dr. Timothy George Dean and Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School at Samford University (Birmingham, AL)<br /><br />Thomas Gilson Director of Strategic Processes, Campus Crusade for Christ International (Norfolk, VA)<br /><br />Dr. Jack Graham Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church (Plano, TX)<br /><br />Dr. Wayne Grudem Research Professor of Theological and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary (Phoenix, AZ)<br /><br />Dr. Cornell “Corkie” Haan National Facilitator of Spiritual Unity, The Mission America Coalition (Palm Desert, CA)<br /><br />Fr. Chad Hatfield Chancellor, CEO. And Archpriest, St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (Yonkers, NY)<br /><br />Dr. Dennis Hollinger President and Professor of Christian Ethics, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (South Hamilton, MA)<br /><br />Dr. Jeanette Hsieh Executive VP and Provost, Trinity International University (Deerfield, IL)<br /><br />Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr. Senior Pastor, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church (Newport Beach, CA) and Chairman of the Board, Christianity Today International (Carol Stream, IL)<br /><br />Rev. Ken Hutcherson Pastor, Antioch Bible Church (Kirkland, WA)<br /><br />Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr. Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church (Beltsville, MD)<br /><br />Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse President, American Orthodox Institute and Editor, OrthodoxyToday.org (Naples, FL)<br /><br />Jerry Jenkins Chairman of the board of trustees for Moody Bible Institute (Black Forest, CO)<br /><br />Camille Kampouris Publisher, Kairos Journal<br /><br />Emmanuel A. 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Pillmore CEO, Pillmore Consulting LLC (Doylestown, PA)<br /><br />Dr. Everett Piper President, Oklahoma Wesleyan University (Bartlesville, OK)<br /><br />Todd Pitner President, Rev Increase<br /><br />Dr. Cornelius Plantinga President, Calvin Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, MI)<br /><br />Dr. David Platt Pastor, Church at Brook Hills (Birmingham AL)<br /><br />Rev. Jim Pocock Pastor, Trinitarian Congregational Church (Wayland, MA)<br /><br />Fred Potter Executive Director & CEO, Christian Legal Society (Springfield, VA)<br /><br />Dennis Rainey President, CEO, & Co-Founder, FamilyLife (Little Rock, AR)<br /><br />Fr. Patrick Reardon Pastor, All Saints’ Antiochian Orthodox Church (Chicago, IL)<br /><br />Bob Reccord Founder, Total Life Impact, Inc. 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Robert Sirico Founder, Acton Institute (Grand Rapids, MI)<br /><br />Dr. Robert Sloan President, Houston Baptist University (Houston, TX)<br /><br />Charles Stetson Chairman of the Board, Bible Literacy Project (New York, NY)<br /><br />Dr. David Stevens CEO, Christian Medical & Dental Association (Bristol, TN)<br /><br />John Stonestreet Executive Director, Summit Ministries (Manitou Springs, CO)<br /><br />Dr. Joseph Stowell President, Cornerstone University (Grand Rapids, MI)<br /><br />Dr. Sarah Sumner Professor of Theology and Ministry, Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, CA)<br /><br />Dr. Glenn Sunshine Chairman of the history department of Central Connecticut State University (New Britain, CT)<br /><br />Luiz Tellez President, The Witherspoon Institute (Princeton, NJ)<br /><br />Dr. Timothy C. Tennent Professor, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (South Hamilton, MA)<br /><br />Michael Timmis Chairman, Prison Fellowship and Prison Fellowship International (Naples, FL)<br /><br />Mark Tooley President, Institute for Religion and Democracy (Washington, D.C.)<br /><br />H. James Towey President, St. Vincent College (Latrobe, PA)<br /><br />Juan Valdes Middle and High School Chaplain, Flordia Christian School (Miami, FL)<br /><br />Todd Wagner Pastor, WaterMark Community Church (Dallas, TX)<br /><br />Dr. Graham Walker President, Patrick Henry Univ. (Purcellville, VA)<br /><br />Alexander F. C. Webster Archpriest, Orthodox Church in America and Associate Professorial Lecturer, The George Washington University (Ft. Belvoir, VA)<br /><br />George Weigel Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center (Washington, D.C.)<br /><br />David Welch Houston Area Pastor Council Executive Director, US Pastors Council (Houston, TX)<br /><br />Dr. James White Founding and Senior Pastor, Mecklenberg Community Church (Charlotte, NC)<br /><br />Dr. Hayes Wicker Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church (Naples, FL)<br /><br />Mark Williamson Founder and President, Foundation Restoration Ministries/Federal Intercessors (Katy, TX)<br /><br />Dr. Craig Williford President, Trinity International University (Deerfield, IL)<br /><br />Dr. John Woodbridge Research professor of Church History & the History of Christian Thought, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, IL)<br /><br />Don M. Woodside Performance Matters Associates (Matthews, NC)<br /><br />Dr. Frank Wright President, National Religious Broadcasters (Manassas, VA)<br /><br />Most Rev. Donald W. Wuerl Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.<br /><br />Paul Young COO & Executive VP, Christian Research Institute (Charlotte, NC)<br /><br />Dr. Michael Youssef President, Leading the Way (Atlanta, GA)<br /><br />Ravi Zacharias Founder and Chairman of the board, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (Norcross, GA)<br /><br />Most Rev. David A. Zubik Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, PAMemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-67050903291824308242009-05-25T09:45:00.001-07:002009-05-25T10:12:11.329-07:00St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor of The Church, May 25<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnEDIqbNs7E64HRw_95yjYLOac0SGpbaRHTSNDVOkDMjVrBi9mBjqoAaSoTRUa1wFcsohDquVZHDZ-RTMdXCkrnN6CAk-SZ2J8mjtOarmIW5Aq5i0E_9TuZ-YsBr7oRqw5uItmZyONNU/s1600-h/St.+Bede+the+Venerable+2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 114px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnEDIqbNs7E64HRw_95yjYLOac0SGpbaRHTSNDVOkDMjVrBi9mBjqoAaSoTRUa1wFcsohDquVZHDZ-RTMdXCkrnN6CAk-SZ2J8mjtOarmIW5Aq5i0E_9TuZ-YsBr7oRqw5uItmZyONNU/s320/St.+Bede+the+Venerable+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339805003463484898" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Kc9GjoQ89xzsxBUcmKKUfbd0ea0N47EPUjGxo-jK3AqWvpT8tlZ6I-yiKGioMDUG4aUszgLwtD1Pue47086k1ypwn9aYkuYxKmzMv9h0NuHP5kpETwP5OHR_AUofAVEPddqpqrWNEtk/s1600-h/Bede+the+Venerable+1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Kc9GjoQ89xzsxBUcmKKUfbd0ea0N47EPUjGxo-jK3AqWvpT8tlZ6I-yiKGioMDUG4aUszgLwtD1Pue47086k1ypwn9aYkuYxKmzMv9h0NuHP5kpETwP5OHR_AUofAVEPddqpqrWNEtk/s320/Bede+the+Venerable+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339803975980007762" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">“And I pray thee, loving Jesús, that as Thou hast graciously given me to drink in with delight the words of Thy knowledge, so Thou wouldst mercifully grant me to attain one day to Thee, the fountain of all wisdom and to appear forever before Thy face.” - St. Bede the Venerable<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Born in 672 in Wearmouth, England; died May 25, 735 in Benedictine abbey of Sts. Peter and Paul in Wearmouth. Declared Doctor of the Church in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII.<br /><br />Bede entered the local Benedictine monastery when he was seven years old, and was educated and lived there until his death at the age of 63. He was ordained a deacon at 19 and a priest at 30. He was an avid man of letters who spent all his life serving the Lord through learning, teaching and writing. The majority of his work was commentary on Holy Scripture, which he endeavored to accomplish in full conformity with the teachings of the Fathers of the Church. He subordinated all his studies to the service of the interpretation of Scripture, which was for him the apex of all learning. He also completed works on mathematics, poetry, astronomy, philosophy, and music – he was a composer of several important early works of Gregorian plain chant.<br /><br />Bede’s most enduring accomplishment, however, is in the field of history. He is known as the “Father of English history,” due to his great work, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Virtually nothing is known about pre-8th century England from sources other than his book, the driving theme of which is the manner in which violence and savagery have been constantly overrun by the spiritual, doctrinal, and cultural unity of the Church. At the time of Bede’s writing, all of England had been finally united under Christianity.<br /><br />Bede was much loved and admired by his fellow monks in the monastery in which he lived all his life and rarely ever left, and it is said that the title ‘venerable’ was accorded him while he was still alive. On his death, Cuthbert, one of his disciples said of him, “I can with truth declare that I never saw with my eyes or heard with my ears anyone return thanks so unceasingly to the living God.”<br /><br />(Catholic News Agency, May 25, 2009)<br /><br />Venerable Bede is the earliest witness of pure Gregorian tradition in England. His works "Musica theoretica" and "De arte Metricâ" (Migne, XC) are found especially valuable by present-day scholars engaged in the study of the primitive form of the chant.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbour. - Saint Bede the Venerable<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />“We have not, it seems to me, amid all our discoveries, invented as yet anything better than the Christian life which Bede lived, and the Christian death which he died” (C. Plummer, editor of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History).MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-51481704329654906032009-05-19T19:12:00.000-07:002009-05-19T19:28:08.783-07:00Year of The Priests June 19, 2009-2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqYF8OLBXoWJIlAirA83IQ3SuCQftzV9ETd3XniWsHWf_x4JMH6hnRt-Hmw3EpyxnNUQa_pT0p8XC3z_ZTfR1rYr4K2HhgzN1SylxU295OzCxdAE3jSOZ1yO57Oaq_4aYPvX1GPDrnRs/s1600-h/JesusatGethsemani.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqYF8OLBXoWJIlAirA83IQ3SuCQftzV9ETd3XniWsHWf_x4JMH6hnRt-Hmw3EpyxnNUQa_pT0p8XC3z_ZTfR1rYr4K2HhgzN1SylxU295OzCxdAE3jSOZ1yO57Oaq_4aYPvX1GPDrnRs/s320/JesusatGethsemani.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337726559046440898" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLetqy-OPVvfgn_m_zRxQcxMY7W8GZU_Zd57qKDPJ71c10_h3k3gnYlIx6Ji0WUQ-50gMpMxPMh4xd1q1vvQ5mTyI4lS058bvU4FFWMCiqiuP7upx8DfeJBwAHGeCjTONtmdDgGnSwMc/s1600-h/holy+father+arms+stretched+out.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 283px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLetqy-OPVvfgn_m_zRxQcxMY7W8GZU_Zd57qKDPJ71c10_h3k3gnYlIx6Ji0WUQ-50gMpMxPMh4xd1q1vvQ5mTyI4lS058bvU4FFWMCiqiuP7upx8DfeJBwAHGeCjTONtmdDgGnSwMc/s320/holy+father+arms+stretched+out.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337725549187986002" /></a><br />The Year of Priesthood<br /><br />Dear Priests,<br /><br /> The Year of Priesthood, announced by our beloved Pope Benedict XVI to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the death of the saintly Curé of Ars, St. John Mary Vianney, is drawing near. It will be inaugurated by the Holy Father on the 19th June, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests. The announcement of the Year of Priesthood has been very warmly received, especially amongst priests themselves. Everyone wants to commit themselves with determination, sincerity and fervour so that it may be a year amply celebrated in the whole world – in the Dioceses, parishes and in every local community – with the warm participation of our Catholic people who undoubtedly love their priests and want to see them happy, holy and joyous in their daily apostolic labours. <br /> <br />It must be a year that is both positive and forward looking in which the Church says to her priests above all, but also to all the Faithful and to wider society by means of the mass media, that she is proud of her priests, loves them, honours them, admires them and that she recognises with gratitude their pastoral work and the witness of the their life. Truthfully priests are important not only for what they do but also for who they are. Sadly, it is true that at the present time some priest have been shown to have been involved in gravely problematic and unfortunate situations. It is necessary to investigate these matters, pursue judicial processes and impose penalties accordingly. However, it is also important to keep in mind that these pertain to a very small portion of the clergy. The overwhelming majority of priests are people of great personal integrity, dedicated to the sacred ministry; men of prayer and of pastoral charity, who invest their entire existence in the fulfilment of their vocation and mission, often through great personal sacrifice, but always with an authentic love towards Jesus Christ, the Church and the people, in solidarity with the poor and the suffering. It is for this reason that the Church is proud of her priests wherever they may be found. <br /> <br />May this year be an occasion for a period of intense appreciation of the priestly identity, of the theology of the Catholic priesthood, and of the extraordinary meaning of the vocation and mission of priests within the Church and in society. This will require opportunities for study, days of recollection, spiritual exercises reflecting on the Priesthood, conferences and theological seminars in our ecclesiastical faculties, scientific research and respective publications. <br /> <br />The Holy Father, in announcing the Year in his allocution on the 16th March last to the Congregation for the Clergy during its Plenary Assembly, said that with this special year it is intended “to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends”. For this reason it must be, in a very special way, a year of prayer by priests, with priests and for priests, a year for the renewal of the spirituality of the presbyterate and of each priest. The Eucharist is, in this perspective, at the heart of priestly spirituality. Thus Eucharistic adoration for the sanctification of priests and the spiritual motherhood of religious women, consecrated and lay women towards priests, as previously proposed some time ago by the Congregation for the Clergy, could be further developed and would certainly bear the fruit of sanctification. <br /><br /> May it also be a year in which the concrete circumstances and the material sustenance of the clergy will be considered, since they live, at times, in situations of great poverty and hardship in many parts of the world. <br /><br /> May it be a year as well of religious and of public celebration which will bring the people – the local Catholic community – to pray, to reflect, to celebrate, and justly to give honour to their priests. In the ecclesial community a celebration is a very cordial event which expresses and nourishes Christian joy, a joy which springs from the certainty that God loves us and celebrates with us. May it therefore be an opportunity to develop the communion and friendship between priests and the communities entrusted to their care. <br /><br /> Many other aspects and initiatives could be mentioned that could enrich the Year of Priesthood, but here the faithful ingenuity of the local churches is called for. Thus, it would be good for every Dioceses and each parish and local community to establish, at the earliest opportunity, an effective programme for this special year. Clearly it would be important to begin the Year with some notable event. The local Churches are invited on the 19th June next, the same day on which the Holy Father will inaugurate the Year of Priesthood in Rome, to participate in the opening of the Year, ideally by some particular liturgical act and festivity. Let those who are able most surely come to Rome for the inauguration, to manifest their own participation in this happy initiative of the Pope. <br /><br /> God will undoubtedly bless with great love this undertaking; and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the Clergy, will pray for each of you, dear priests. <br /><br />Cláudio Cardinal Hummes<br />Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo<br />Prefect, Congregation for the Clergy.MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-15982261502658194172009-05-05T16:38:00.000-07:002009-05-05T17:12:13.629-07:00ENGLISH CARTHUSIAN MARTYRS<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbKwltlamxWFZwjHkeLebLGTFK5cNK_cNlWtYR2tGU34TxL53-I6xYj5KkX-hCzl4d-daSkKSxYAgAF8ukahMmW-M5mGxAHufuFL8pHEuWzapatOpR78zbgDjq-x55GtWYIC9SE99yds/s1600-h/Carthusian+Ruin.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 143px; height: 94px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbKwltlamxWFZwjHkeLebLGTFK5cNK_cNlWtYR2tGU34TxL53-I6xYj5KkX-hCzl4d-daSkKSxYAgAF8ukahMmW-M5mGxAHufuFL8pHEuWzapatOpR78zbgDjq-x55GtWYIC9SE99yds/s320/Carthusian+Ruin.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332496392772118130" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIYe68O21k7itdyvDTGQjysHQD0jvaVH1GnXFZIyTMbogbP5aSxqnGE-0vV6YXsy_pVVD6BcJ8cicURXs1ly_ph0jiTH9C9uSqkIaUkcVF6vkW0W2BijCKpp6PJGzb1Oio2dM_ShakJo/s1600-h/Carthusian+medieval+monks.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 95px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIYe68O21k7itdyvDTGQjysHQD0jvaVH1GnXFZIyTMbogbP5aSxqnGE-0vV6YXsy_pVVD6BcJ8cicURXs1ly_ph0jiTH9C9uSqkIaUkcVF6vkW0W2BijCKpp6PJGzb1Oio2dM_ShakJo/s320/Carthusian+medieval+monks.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332496236893889906" /></a><br />Roman Calendar : May 4<br />Carthusian Calendar : May 4<br /><br />The Carthusian Martyrs of the English Reformation suffered martyrdom between 1535-1540 during the reign of King Henry VIII. In all, eighteen Carthusians were beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 along with a large group of English and Welsh Martyrs of the Reformation. On October 25, 1970 Pope Paul VI canonized a representative group of forty martyrs of the English Reformation, of which three, John Houghton, Robert Lawrence, and Augustine Webster were Carthusians.<br /><br />What follows is a list of the fifteen Beatified Carthusian Martyrs of the English Reformation:<br /><br />1. Blessed Humphrey Middlemore, vicar of the London Charterhouse, executed at Tyburn, London, on June 19, 1535.<br /><br />2. Blessed William Exmew, procurator of the London Charterhouse, executed at Tyburn, London, on June 19, 1535.<br /><br />3. Blessed Sebastian Newdigate, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, executed at Tyburn, London, on June 19, 1535.<br /><br />4. Blessed John Rochester, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, exiled by the government to the Charterhouse of St Michael at Hull in Yorkshire, executed at York on May 11, 1537, by being hanged in chains from the city battlements until dead.<br /><br />5. Blessed James Walworth, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, exiled by the government to the Charterhouse of St Michael at Hull in Yorkshire, executed at York on May 11, 1537, by being hanged in chains from the city battlements until dead.<br /><br />6. Blessed William Greenwood, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 6, 1537.<br /><br />7. Blessed John Davy, deacon, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison on June 8, 1537.<br /><br />8. Blessed Robert Salt, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 9, 1537.<br /><br />9. Blessed Walter Pierson, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 10, 1537.<br /><br />10. Blessed Thomas Green (perhaps alias Thomas Greenwood), choir monk of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 10, 1537.<br /><br />11. Blessed Thomas Scryven, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 15, 1537.<br /><br />12. Blessed Thomas Redyng, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on June 16, 1537.<br /><br />13. Blessed Richard Bere, choir monk of the London Charterhouse and former Abbot of Glastonbury, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on August 9, 1537.<br /><br />14. Blessed Thomas Johnson, choir monk of the London Charterhouse, died of starvation in Newgate Prison, London on September 20, 1537.<br /><br />15. Blessed William Horne, laybrother of the London Charterhouse, hanged, disembowelled, and quartered at Tyburn, London on August 4, 1540.<br /><br />http://www.angelfire.com/nv2/monastic2/carthusian/martyrs.html<br /><br /><br />+++ +++ +++<br /><br /><br />Died 1535-40; beatified in 1886, by Pope Leo XIII, 18 Carthusian monks who were put to death in England under King Henry VIII for maintaining their allegiance to the Pope.<br /><br />The Carthusians, founded by St. Bruno in 1054, are the strictest and most austere monastic order in the western Church. They live an austere hermitic life, their ‘monastery’ actually being a number of hermitages built next to each other.<br /><br />When Henry VIII issued his “Act of Supremacy” declaring that all who refused to take an oath recognizing him as head of the Church of England committed an act of high treason, these 18 Carthusians refused and were sentenced to death.<br /><br />http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=227<br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The first to die were the Carthusian prior of London, John Houghton, and two of his brothers, Robert Lawrence and Augustine Webster, who were hanged, drawn and quartered, on May 4, 1535. The prior is said to have declared his fidelity to the Catholic Church and forgiven his executioners before dying. <br /><span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /> <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Carthusians were the first martyrs to die under the reign of Henry VIII. Two more were killed on June 19 of that year and by August 4, 1540, all 18 had been tortured and killed for refusing to place their allegiance to the king before their allegiance to the Pope.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-70970186392556401812009-05-05T05:35:00.000-07:002009-05-05T06:22:32.149-07:00May 5th -- Feast of the English MartrysENGLAND-MARTYRS May-5-2005<br /><br />Catholic, Anglican bishops honor first English martyr of Reformation<br /><br />By Simon Caldwell<br />Catholic News Service<br /><br />LONDON (CNS) -- In a show of religious unity, a Catholic bishop and an Anglican bishop commemorated the death of the first English martyr of the Protestant Reformation.<br /><br />Anglican Bishop Richard Chartres of London and Catholic Auxiliary Bishop George Stack of Westminster led an ecumenical service May 4 in memory of St. John Houghton, one of 18 Carthusian monks killed by King Henry VIII in the 16th century. It was the first time the two churches celebrated the ceremony together.<br /><br />The service was held on the grounds of the former London Charterhouse, the monastery where St. John served as abbot. The two bishops unveiled a commemorative stone on the site of the cloister.<br /><br />Bishop Chartres, explaining why Anglicans would honor Catholic martyrs, described King Henry as a "monster of egotism" with "messianic pretensions" similar to Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin.<br /><br />"We salute the courage and discernment of those who said 'no,'" he said. "We are honoring martyrs who deserve to be remembered with thanksgiving by the whole church."<br /><br />Inside the church, Bishop Stack compared St. John to the late Archbishop Oscar A. Romero of San Salvador, who was gunned down in 1980 for speaking out against human rights abuses in El Salvador.<br /><br />"We who today give thanks to the witness of these Carthusian martyrs and the martyrs of every age may not be called upon to die for the faith that we profess, but there is no doubt that, whatever our Christian tradition, each of us who believe are challenged to live for that faith by Jesus Christ, the king of martyrs who gave his life as a ransom for all of us," he said.<br /><br />Red roses, each representing a martyr, were then placed into a model of the "Tyburn Tree," the triangular London gallows where 105 Catholics were executed during the Reformation.<br /><br />St. John was the first of four priests hanged May 4, 1535, after they were convicted of treason for refusing to take the oath of the Act of Supremacy, the law that made the king the supreme leader of the Church of England.<br /><br />St. Thomas More, watching their departure from the window of his cell in the Tower of London, remarked to his daughter, Margaret, how the men went "to their deaths as cheerfully as bridegrooms to their marriage."<br /><br />St. John was said to have remained conscious throughout an ordeal that involved partial hanging and disembowelment.<br /><br />Two other Carthusian abbots, St. Robert Lawrence and St. Augustine Webster, and a Brigittine monk, St. Richard Reynolds, were executed in the hours that followed.<br /><br />Afterward, King Henry ordered one of St John's arms to be nailed over the main entrance of the Charterhouse as a warning to others.<br /><br />Within five years, six more Carthusians were executed and nine others tied to posts and starved to death in London's Marshalsea Prison.<br /><br />St. John, St. Robert, St. Augustine and St. Richard were among 40 English and Welsh martyrs canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970. May 4 is the feast of the English and Welsh martyrs.<br /><br />+++ +++ +++<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />BLESSEDS</span><br /><br />Under King Henry VIII<br /><br /> * Cardinal: John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 22 June, 1535.<br /> * Lord Chancellor: Sir Thomas More, 6 July, 1535.<br /> * Carthusians: John Houghton, Robert Lawrence, Augustine Webster, 4 May, 1535; Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew, Sebastian Newdigate, 19 June, 1535; John Rochester, James Walworth, 11 May, 1537; Thomas Johnson, William Greenwood, John Davye, Robert Salt, Walter Pierson, Thomas Green, Thomas Scryven, Thomas Redyng, Richard Bere, June-September, 1537; Robert Horne, 4 August, 1540.<br /> * Benedictines: Richard Whiting, Hugh Farringdon, abbots, 15 November, 1539; Thomas Marshall (or John Beche), 1 December, 1539; John Thorne, Richard James, William Eynon, John Rugg, 15 Nov., 1539.<br /> * Doctors of Divinity: Thomas Abel, Edward Powell, Richard Fetherstone, 30 July, 1540.<br /> * Other secular priests: John Haile, 4 May 1535; John Larke, 7 March, 1544.<br /> * Other religious orders: Richard Reynold, Brigittine (4 May, 1535); John Stone, O.S.A., 12 May, 1538; John Forrest, O.S.F., 22 May, 1538.<br /> * Laymen and women: Adrian Fortescue, Knight of St. John, 9 July, 1539; Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, 28 May, 1541; German Gardiner, 7 March, 1544.<br /><br />Under Queen Elizabeth<br /><br /> * Martyrs connected with the Excommunication: John Felton, 8 Aug., 1570; Thomas Plumtree p., 4 Jan., 1571; John Storey, D.C.L., 1 June, 1571; Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, 22 Aug., 1572; Thomas Woodhouse p., 13 June, 1573.<br /> * First martyrs from the seminaries: Cuthbert Mayne, Protomartyr of Douai College, 29 Nov., 1577; John Nelson p., and S.J. before death, 3 Feb., 1578; Thomas Nelson, church student, 7 Feb., 1578; Everard Hanse p., 31 July, 1581.<br /> * Martyrs of the Catholic Revival: Edmund Campion, S.J., Ralph Sherwin, Protomartyr of the English College, Rome, Alexander Briant p., and S.J. before death, 1 Dec., 1581; John Payne p., 2 April, 1582; Thomas Ford p., John Shert p., Robert Johnson p., 28 May, 1582; William Filby p., Luke Kirby p., Lawrence Richardson p., Thomas Cottom p., and S.J. before death, 30 May, 1582.<br /> * York martyrs: William Lacey p., Richard Kirkman p., 22 Aug., 1582; James Thomson p., 28 Nov., 1582; William Hart p., 15 March, 1583; Richard Thirkeld p., 29 May, 1583. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />VENERABLES</span><br /><br />Under King Henry VIII (12)<br /><br /> * 1537-38: Anthony Brookby, Thomas Belchiam, Thomas Cort, Franciscans, thrown into prison for preaching against the king's supremacy. Brookby was strangled with his own girdle, the others died of ill treatment.<br /> * 1539: Friar Waire, O.S.F., and John Griffith p. (generally known as Griffith Clarke), Vicar of Wandsworth, for supporting the papal legate, Cardinal Pole, drawn and quartered, (8 July) at St. Thomas Waterings; Sir Thomas Dingley, Knight of St. John, beheaded, 10 July, with Bl. Adrian Fortescue. John Travers, Irish Augustinian, who had written against the supremacy; before execution his hand was cut off and burnt, but the writing fingers were not consumed, 30 July.<br /> * 1540-1544: Edmund Brindholme p., of London, and Clement Philpot l., of Calais, attainted for having "adhered to the Pope of Rome", hanged and quartered at Tyburn, 4 Aug., 1540; Sir David Gonson (also Genson and Gunston), Knight of St. John, son of Vice-Admiral Gonson, attainted for "adhering" to Cardinal Pole, hanged and quartered at St. Thomas Waterings, 1 July, 1541; John Ireland p., once a chaplain to More, condemned and executed with Bl. John Larke, 1544; Thomas Ashby l., 29 March, 1544. <br /><br />Under Queen Elizabeth<br /><br /> * 1583: John Slade l., 30 Oct., Winchester, with John Bodley l., 2 Nov., Andover.<br /> * 1584: William Carter l., 11 Jan., Tyburn; George Haydock p., with James Fenn p., Thomas Hemerford p., John Nutter p., John Munden p., 12 Feb., Tyburn; James Bell p., with John Finch l., 20 April, Lancaster; Richard White l., 17 Oct., Wrexham.<br /> * 1585: Thomas Alfield p., with Thomas Webley l., 6 July, Tyburn; Hugh Taylor p., with Marmaduke Bowes l., 26 Nov., York. From this time onwards almost all the priests suffered under law of 27 Elizabeth, merely for their priestly character.<br /> * 1586: Edward Stransham p., with Nicholas Woodfen p., 21 Jan., Tyburn; Margaret Clitherow l., 25 March, York; Richard Sergeant p., with William Thompson p., 20 April, Tyburn; Robert Anderton p., with William Marsden p., 25 April, Isle of Wight; Francis Ingleby p., 3 June, York; John Finglow p., 8 Aug., York; John Sandys p., 11 Aug., Gloucester; John Adams p., with John Lowe p., 8 Oct., Tyburn, and Richard Dibdale p., 8 Oct; Tyburn; Robert Bickerdike p., 8 Oct., York; Richard Langley l., 1 Dec., York.<br /> * 1587: Thomas Pilchard p., 21 March, Dorchester; Edmund Sykes p., 23 March, York; Robert Sutton p., 27 July, Stafford; Stephen Rowsham p., July or earlier, Gloucester; John Hambley p., about same time, Chard in Somerset; George Douglas p., 9 Sept., York; Alexander Crowe, 13 Nov., York.<br /> * 1588: Nicholas Garlick p., with Robert Ludlum p. and Richard Sympson p., 24 July, Derby; Robert Morton p., and Hugh Moor l., in Lincoln's Inn Fields; William Gunter p., Theatre, Southwark; Thomas Holford p., Clerkenwell; William Dean p., and Henry Webley l., Mile End Green; James Claxton p.; Thomas Felton, O.S.F., Hounslow. These eight were condemned together and suffered on the same day, 28 Aug. Richard Leigh p., Edward Shelly l., Richard Martin l., Richard Flower (Floyd or Lloyd) l., John Roche l., Mrs. Margaret Ward, all condemned with the last, and all suffered 30 Aug., Tyburn. William Way p., 23 Sept., Kingston-on-Thames; Robert Wilcox p., with Edward Campion p., Christopher Buxton p., Robert Windmerpool l., 1 Oct., Canterbury; Robert Crocket p., with Edward James p., 1 Oct., Chichester; John Robertson p., 1 Oct., Ipswich; William Hartley p., Theatre, Southwark, with John Weldon (vere Hewett) p., Mile End Green, Robert Sutton l., Clerkenwell, and Richard Williams (Queen Mary priest, who was more probably executed in 1592, and his name, erroneously transferred here, seems to have pushed out that of John Symons, or Harrison), 5 Oct., Halloway; Edward Burden p., 29 Nov.,York; William Lampley l., Gloucester, day uncertain.<br /> * 1589: John Amias p., with Robert Dalby p., 16 March, York; George Nichols p., with Richard Yaxley p., Thomas Belson l., and Humphrey Pritchard l., 5 July, Oxford; William Spenser p., with Robert Hardesty l., 24 Sept., York.<br /> * 1590: Christopher Bayles p., Fleet Street, with Nicholas Horner l., Smithfield, and Alexander Blake, l., 4 March, Gray's Inn Lane; Miles Gerard p., with Francis Dicconson p., 30 April, Rochester; Edward Jones p., Conduit, Fleet Street, and Anthony Middleton p., 6 May, Clerkenwell; Edmund Duke p., with Richard Hill p., John Hogg p., and Richard Holliday p., 27 May, Durham.<br /> * 1591: Robert Thorpe p., with Thomas Watkinson l., 31 May, York; Monford Scott p., with George Beesley p., 2 July, Fleet Street, London; Roger Dicconson p., with Ralph Milner l., 7 July, Winchester; William Pikes l., day not known, Dorchester; Edmund Jennings p., with Swithin Wells l., Gray's Inn Fields; Eustace White p., with Polydore Plasden p., Brian Lacey l., John Masson l., Sydney Hodgson l., all seven, 10 Dec., Tyburn.<br /> * 1592: William Patenson p., 22 Jan., Tyburn; Thomas Pormort p., 20 Feb., St. Paul's Churchyard, London; Roger Ashton l., 23 June, Tyburn.<br /> * 1593: Edward Waterson p., 7 Jan. (but perhaps of the next year), Newcastle-on-Tyne; James Bird l., hanged 25 March, Winchester; Joseph Lampton p., 27 July, Newcastle-on-Tyne; William Davies p., 21 July, Beaumaris.<br /> * 1594: John Speed l., condemned for receiving a priest, 4 Feb., Durham; William Harrington p., 18 Feb., Tyburn; John Cornelius, S.J., with Thomas Bosgrave l., John Carey l., Patrick Salmon l., 4 July, Dorchester; John Boste p., Durham, with John Ingram p., Newcastle-on-Tyne, and George Swallowell, a convert minister, tried together, they suffered 24, 25, and 26 July, Darlington; Edward Osbaldeston p., 16 Nov., York.<br /> * 1595: Robert Southwell p., S.J., 21 Feb., Tyburn; Alexander Rawlins p., with Henry Walpole p., S.J., 7 April, York; William Freeman p., 13 Aug., Warwick; Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, 19 Oct., Tower of London.<br /> * 1596: George Errington, gentleman, William Knight l., William Gibson l., Henry Abbott l., 29 Nov., York.<br /> * 1597: William Andleby p., with Thomas Warcop l., Edward Fulthrop l., 4 July, York.<br /> * 1598: John Britton l., 1 April, York; Peter Snow p., with Ralph Gromston l., 15 June, York; John Buckley O.S.F., 12 July, St. Thomas Waterings; Christopher Robertson p., 19 Aug., Carlisle; Richard Horner p., 4 Sept., York;<br /> * 1599: John Lion, l., 16 July, Oakham; James Dowdal, l., 13 Aug., Exeter.<br /> * 1600: Christopher Wharton p., 28 March, York; John Rigby l., 21 June, St. Thomas Waterings; Thomas Sprott p., with Thomas Hunt p., 11 July, Lincoln; Robert Nutter p., with Edward Thwing p., 26 July, Lancaster; Thomas Palasor p., with John Norton l., and John Talbot l., 9 Aug., Durham.<br /> * 1601: John Pibush p., 18 Feb., St. Thomas Waterings; Mark Barkworth, O.S.B., with Roger Filcock, S.J., and Anne Linne, 27 Feb., Tyburn; Thurstan Hunt p., with Robert Middleton p., 31 March, Lancaster; Nicholas Tichborne l., with Thomas Hackshot l., 24 Aug., Tyburn;<br /> * 1602: James Harrison p., with Anthony Battie or Bates l., 22 March, York; James Duckett l., 19 April, Tyburn; Thomas Tichborne p., with Robert Watkinson p., and Francis Page, S.J., 20 April, Tyburn.<br /> * 1603: William Richardson p., 17 Feb., Tyburn.<br /><br />Under James I and Charles<br /><br />1604: John Sugar p., with Robert Grissold l., 16 July, Warwick; Lawrence Bailey l., 16 Sept., Lancaster; 1605: Thomas Welborne l., with John Fulthering l., 1 Aug., York; William Brown l., 5 Sept., Ripon; 1606: Martyrs at the time of the Powder Plot: Nicholas Owen, S.J., day unknown, Tower; Edward Oldcorne, S.J., with Robert Ashley, S.J., 7 April, Worcester. From this time to the end of the reign the martyrs might have saved their lives had they taken the condemned oath of allegiance. 1607: Robert Drury p., 26 Feb., Tyburn; 1608: Matthew Flathers p., 21 March, York; George Gervase, O.S.B., 11 April, Tyburn; Thomas Garnet, S.J., 23 June, Tyburn. 1610: Roger Cadwallador p., 27 Aug., Leominster; George Napper p., 9 No., Oxford; Thomas Somers p., 10 Dec., Tyburn; John Roberts, O.S.B., 10 Dec., Tyburn; 1612: William Scot, O.S.B., with Richard Newport p., 30 May, Tyburn; John Almond p., 5 Dec., Tyburn; 1616: Thomas Atkinson p., 11 March, York; John Thouless p., with Roger Wrenno l., 18 March, Lancaster; Thomas Maxfield p., 1 July, Tyburn; Thomas Tunstall p., 13 July, Norwich; 1618: William Southerne p., 30 April, Newcastle-under-Lyne. 1628: Edmund Arrowsmith, S.J., with Richard Herst l., 20 and 21 Aug., Lancaster.<br />Commonwealth<br /><br />All these suffered before the death of Oliver Cromwell.— 1641: William Ward p., 26 July, Tyburn; Edward Barlow, O.S.B., 10 Sept., Lancaster; 1642: Thomas Reynolds p., with Bartholomew Roe, O.S.B., 21 January, Tyburn; John Lockwood p., with Edmund Catherick p., 13 April, York; Edward Morgan p., 26 April, Tyburn; Hugh Green p., 19 Aug., Dorchester; Thomas Bullaker, O.S.F., 12 Oct., Tyburn; Thomas Holland, S.J., 12 Dec., Tyburn. 1643: Henry Heath, O.S.F., 17 April, Tyburn; Brian Cansfield, S.J., 3 Aug., York Castle; Arthur Bell, O.S.V., 11 Dec., Tyburn; 1644: Richard Price, colonel, 7 May, Lincoln; John Duckett p., with Ralph Corbin, S.J., 7 Sept., Tyburn; 1645: Henry Morse, S.J., 1 Feb., Tyburn; John Goodman p., 8 April, Newgate; 1646: Philip Powell, O.S.B., 30 June, Tyburn; John Woodcock, O.S.F., with Edward Bamber p., and Thomas Whitaker p., 7 Aug., Lancaster. 1651: Peter Wright, S.J., 19 May, Tyburn. 1654: John Southworth p., 28 June, Tyburn.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />THE OATES PLOT</span><br /><br />1678: Edward Coleman l., 3 Dec., Tyburn; Edward Mico, S.J., 3 Dec., in Newgate; Thomas Beddingfeld, 21 Dec., in Gatehouse Prison; 1679: William Ireland, S.J., with John Grove l., 24 Jan, Tyburn; Thomas Pickering O.S.B. 9, May, Tyburn; Thomas Whitbread S.J., with William Harcourt, S.J., John Fenwick, S.J., John Gavin or Green S.J., and Anthony Turner, S.J., 20 June, Tyburn; Francis Nevil, S.J., Feb., in Stafford Gaol; Richard Langhorne l., 14 July, Tyburn; William Plessington p., 19 July, Chester; Philip Evans, S.J., 22 July, with John Lloyd p., 22 July, Cardiff; Nicholas Postgate p., 7 Aug., York; Charles Mahoney, O.S.V., 12 Aug., Ruthin; John Wall, O.S.F., 29 Aug., Worcester; Francis Levinson, O.S.F., 11 Feb., in prison; John Kemble p., 22 Aug., Hereford; David Lewis, S.J., 27 Aug., Usk. 1680: Thomas Thwing p., 23 Oct., York; William Howard, Viscount Stafford, 29 Dec., Tower Hill. The cause of Irish martyr Oliver Plunkett, 1 July, Tower hill, was commenced with the above martyrs. The cause of his beatification is now being actively proceeded with by the Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />The forty-four dilati</span><br /><br />These, as has been explained above, are those "put off" for further proof. Of these, the majority were confessors, who perished after a comparatively short period of imprisonment, though definite proof of their death ex oerumnis is not forthcoming.<br />Under Queen Elizabeth (18)<br /><br />Robert Dimock, hereditary champion of England, was arrested at Mass, and perished after a few weeks' imprisonment at Lincoln, 11 Sept., 1580; John Cooper, a young man, brought up by the writer, Dr. Nicholas Harpsfield, and probably a distributor of Catholic books, arrested at Dover and sent to the Tower, died of "hunger, cold, and stench", 1580; Mr. Ailworth (Aylword), probably of Passage Castle, Waterford, who admitted Catholics to Mass at his house, was arrested, and died after eight days, 1580; William Chaplain p., Thomas Cotesmore p., Roger Holmes p., Roger Wakeman p., James Lomax p., perished in 1584. Cotesmore was a bachelor of Oxford in 1586; of Wakeman's suffering several harrowing details are on record. Thomas Crowther p., Edward Pole p., John Jetter p., and Laurence Vaux p., perished in 1585; John Harrison p., 1586; Martin Sherson p., and Gabriel Thimelby p., 1587; Thomas Metham S.J., 1592; Eleanor Hunt and Mrs. Wells, gentlewomen, on unknown days in 1600 and 1602.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Under the Commonwealth (8)</span><br /><br />Edward Wilkes p., died in York Castle before execution in 1642; Boniface Kempe (or Francis Kipton) and Idlephonse Hesketh (or William Hanson) O.S.B., professed of Montserrat, seized by Puritan soldiery in Yorkshire, and worried to death, 26 July (?), 1644; Richard Bradley S.J., b. at Bryning Hall, Lancs., 1605, of a well-known Catholic family, seized, imprisoned, but died before trial at Manchester, 20 Jan, 1640; John Felton, S.J., visiting another Father in Lincoln, was seized and so badly used that, when released (for no one appeared against him) he died within a month, 17 Feb., 1645; Thomas Vaughan of Cortfield p., and Thomas Blount p., imprisoned at Shrewsbury, d. at unknown date; Robert Cox, O.S.B., died at the Clink Prison, 1650.<br />During the Oates Plot (10)<br /><br />Thomas Jennison S.J., d. after twelve months' imprisonment, 27 Sept., 1679. he had renounced a handsome inheritance in favour of his brother, who, nevertheless, having apostatized, turned king's evidence against him. William Lloyd, d. under sentence of death, Brecknock, 1679. Placid Aldham or John Adland (O.S.B.), a convert clergyman, chaplain to Queen Catherine of Braganza, d. under sentence in 1679. William Atkins, S.J., condemned at Stafford, was too deaf to hear the sentence. When it was shouted in his ear he turned and thanked the judge; he was reprieved and died in bonds, 7 March, 1681. Richard Birkett p., d. 1680 under sentence in Lancaster Castle; but ourmartyrologists seem to have made some confusion between him and John Penketh, S.J., a fellow prisoner (see Gillow, Cath. Rec. Soc., IV, pp. 431-440). Richard Lacey (Prince), S.J., Newgate, 11 March, 1680; William Allison p., York Castle, 1681; Edward Turner, S.J., 19 March, 1681, Gatehouse; Benedict Counstable, O.S.B., professed at Lamspring, 1669, 11 Dec., 1683, Durham Gaol; William Bennet (Bentney), S.J., 30 Oct., 1692, Leicester Gaol under William III.<br />Others put off for various causes (8)<br /><br />John Mawson, 1614, is not yet sufficiently distinguished from John Mason, 1591; there is a similar difficulty between Matthias Harrison, assigned to 1599, and James Harrison, 1602; William Tyrrwhit, named by error for his brother Robert; likewise the identity of Thomas Dyer, O.S.B., has been been fully proved; James Atkinson, killed under torture by Topcliffe, but evidence is wanted of his consistency to the end. Fr. Henry Garnet, S.J., was he killed ex odio fidei, or was he believed to be guilty of the Powder Plot, by merely human misjudgment, not through religious prejudice? The case of Lawrence Hill and Robert Green at the time of the Oates Plot is similar. Was it due to odium fidei, or an unprejudiced error?<br />The prætermissi (242)<br />Martyrs on the scaffold<br /><br />1534: Elizabeth Barton (The Holy Maid of Kent), with five companions: John Dering, O.S.B., Edward Bocking, O.S.B., Hugh Rich, O.S.F., Richard Masters p., Henry Gold p., 1537. Monks, 28.<br /><br />After the pilgrimage of grace and the rising of Lincolnshire many, probably several hundred, were executed, of whom no record remains. The following names, which do survive, are grouped under their respective abbeys or priories.<br /><br /> * Barlings: Matthew Mackerel, abbot and Bishop of Chalcedon, Ord. Præm.<br /> * Bardney: John Tenent, William Cole, John Francis, William Cowper, Richard Laynton, Hugh Londale, monks.<br /> * Bridlington: William Wood, Prior.<br /> * Fountains: William Thyrsk, O. Cist.<br /> * Guisborough: James Cockerel, Prior.<br /> * Jervaulx: Adam Sedbar, Abbot; George Asleby, monk.<br /> * Kirkstead: Richard Harrison, Abbot; Richard Wade, William Swale, Henry Jenkinson, monks.<br /> * Lenten: Nicholas Heath, Prior; William Gylham, monk.<br /> * Sawlet: William Trafford, Abbot; Richard Eastgate, monk.<br /> * Whalley: John Paslew, Abbot; John Eastgate, William Haydock, monks.<br /> * Woburn: Robert Hobbes, Abbot; Ralph Barnes, sub-prior; Laurence Blonham, monk.<br /> * York: John Pickering, O.S.D., Prior.<br /> * Place unknown: George ab Alba Rose, O.S.A.<br /> * Priests: William Burraby, Thomas Kendale, John Henmarsh, James Mallet, John Pickering, Thomas Redforth.<br /> * Lords: Darcy and Hussey.<br /> * Knights: Francis Bigod, Stephen Hammerton, Thomas Percy.<br /> * Laymen (11): Robert Aske, Robert Constable, Bernard Fletcher, George Hudswell, Robert Lecche, Roger Neeve, George Lomley, Thomas Moyne, Robert Sotheby, Nicholas Tempest, Philip Trotter. <br /><br />1538 (7): Henry Courtney, the Marquess of Exeter; Henry Pole, Lord Montague; Sir Edward Nevell and Sir Nicholas Carew; George Croft p., and John Collins p.; Hugh Holland l. Their cause was "adhering to the Pope, and his Legate, Cardinal Pole". 1540 (6): Lawrence Cook O. Carm., Prior of Doncaster; Thomas Empson, O.S.B.; Robert Bird p.; William Peterson p.; William Richardson p.; Giles Heron l. 1544 (3): Martin de Courdres, O.S.A., and Paul of St. William, O.S.A.; Darby Genning l. 1569, 1570 (8): Thomas Bishop, Simon Digby, John Fulthrope, John Hall, Christopher Norton, Thomas Norton, Robert Pennyman, Oswald Wilkinson,laymen, who suffered, like Blessed Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, on the occasion of the Northern Rising. Various Years (6): Thomas Gabyt, O. Cist., 1575; William Hambleton p., 1585; Roger Martin p., 1592; Christopher Dixon, O.S.A., 1616; James Laburne, 1583; Edward Arden, 1584.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Martyrs in chains</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Bishops (2)</span>: Richard Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh, in Tower of London; Thomas Watson, Bishop of Lincoln, in Wisbeach Castle.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Priests in London Prisons (18</span>): Austin Abbott, Richard Adams, Thomas Belser, John Boxall, D.D., James Brushford, Edmund Cannon, William Chedsey, D.D., Henry Cole, D.D., Anthony Draycott, D.D., Andrew Fryer, -- Gretus, Richard Hatton, Nicholas Harpsfield, -- Harrison, Francis Quashet, Thomas Slythurst, William Wood, John Young, D.D.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Laymen in London Prisons (35)</span>: Alexander Bales, Richard Bolbet, Sandra Cubley, Thomas Cosen, Mrs. Cosen, Hugh Dutton, Edward Ellis, Gabriel Empringham, John Fitzherbert, Sir Thomas Fitzherbert, John Fryer, Anthony Fugatio (Portuguese), -- Glynne, David Gwynne, John Hammond (alias Jackson). Richard Hart, Robert Holland, John Lander, Anne Lander, Peter Lawson, Widow Lingon, Phillipe Lowe, -- May, John Molineaux, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, Richard Reynolds, Edmund Sexton, Robert Shelly, Thomas Sommerset, Francis Spencer, John Thomas, Peter Tichborne, William Travers, Sir Edward Waldegrave, Richard Weston.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Priests in York (12)</span>: John Ackridge, William Baldwin, William Bannersly, Thomas Bedal, Richard Bowes, Henry Comberford, James Gerard, Nicholas Grene, Thomas Harwood, John Pearson, Thomas Ridall, James Swarbrick.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Laymen in York (31)</span>: Anthony Ash, Thomas Blinkensop, Stephen Branton, Lucy Budge, John Chalmer, Isabel Chalmer, John Constable, Ralph Cowling, John Eldersha, Isabel Foster, -- Foster, Agnes Fuister, Thomas Horsley, Stephen Hemsworth, Mary Hutton, Agnes Johnson, Thomas Layne, Thomas Luke, Alice Oldcorne, -- Reynold, -- Robinson, John Stable, Mrs. Margaret Stable, Geoffrey Stephenson, Thomas Vavasour, Mrs. Dorothy Vavasour, Margaret Webster, Frances Webster, Christopher Watson, Hercules Welborn, Alice Williamson.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">In Various Prisons:</span> Benedictines (11): James Brown, Richard Coppinger, Robert Edmonds, John Feckinham, Lawrence Mabbs, William Middleton, Placid Peto, Thomas Preston, Boniface Wilford, Thomas Rede, Sister Isabel Whitehead. Brigittine: Thomas Brownel (lay brother). Cistercians (2): John Almond, Thomas Mudde. Dominican: David Joseph Kemys. Franciscans: Thomas Ackridge, Paul Atkinson (the last of the confessors in chains, died in Hurst Castle, after thirty years' imprisonment, 15 Oct., 1729), Laurence Collier, Walter Coleman, Germane Holmes. Jesuits (12): Matthew Brazier (alias Grimes), Humphrey Browne, Thomas Foster, William Harcourt, John Hudd, Cuthbert Prescott, Ignatius Price, Charles Pritchard, Francis Simeon, Nicholas Tempest, John Thompson, Charles Thursley.Priests (4): William Baldwin, James Gerard, John Pearson, James Swarbick. Laymen (22): Thurstam Arrowsmith, Humphrey Beresford, William Bredstock, James Clayton, William Deeg, Ursula Foster, -- Green, William Griffith, William Heath, Richard Hocknell, John Jessop, Richard Kitchin, William Knowles, Thomas Lynch, William Maxfield, -- Morecock, Alice Paulin, Edmund Rookwood, Richard Spencer, -- Tremaine, Edmund Vyse, Jane Vyse.<br />The eleven bishops<br /><br />Since the process of the Prætermissi has been held, strong reasons have been shown for including on our list of sufferers, whose causes ought to be considered, the eleven bishops whom Queen Elizabeth deprived and left to die in prison, as Bonner, or under some form of confinement. Their names are: Cuthbert Turnstall, b. Durham, died 18 Nov. 1559; Ralph Bayle b. Lichfield, d. 18 Nov., 1559; Owen Ogle Thorpe, b. Carlisle, d. 31 Dec., 1559; John White, b. Winchester, d. 12 Jan., 1560; Richard Pate, b. Worcester, d. 23 Nov., 1565; David Poole, b. Peterborough, d. May, 1568; Edward Bonner, b. London, d. 5 Sept., 1569; Gilbert Bourne, b. Bath and Wells, d. 10 Sept., 1569; Thomas Thurlby, b. Ely, d. 26 Aug., 1570; James Thurberville, b. Exeter, d. 1 Nov., 1570; Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York, d. Dec. 1578. <br /><br />(For further information on individuals and more, see http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05474a.htm<br /><br />To see an interesting painting of the English Martrys, please see: http://romanmiscellany.blogspot.com/2007/08/unusual-image-of-english-martyrs.htmlMemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-82976722530621363682009-04-24T05:46:00.000-07:002009-04-24T05:48:25.943-07:00Catholic TV<object width="539" height="303"><embed src="http://www.catholictv.com/_Flash/JWPLayer/player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="539" height="303" flashvars="file=http://www.catholictv.com/_Documents/Video/664/CCount1HQ.flv&repeat=list&fullscreen=true&controlbar=over&skin=http://www.catholictv.com/_Flash/JWPlayer/kleur.swf&enablejs=true&autostart=true"></embed></object>MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-60538796639857454942009-04-21T21:40:00.000-07:002009-04-24T05:49:59.639-07:00Holy Father Canonizes Five on Sunday, April 26, 2009<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih19y0FfMBdK4fuRy_u_C3hwa9H7i916D2o3k_X7GqnrlgwIOGcsOznZAkHfXfhxDKJoADIrER9CxTxA1-Fn7kdIpSVS44YbHggQNtMTVxr_HRJCKssXG9_hflV7etJrxz8KVRZaHPtqA/s1600-h/ppsantos210409.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 198px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih19y0FfMBdK4fuRy_u_C3hwa9H7i916D2o3k_X7GqnrlgwIOGcsOznZAkHfXfhxDKJoADIrER9CxTxA1-Fn7kdIpSVS44YbHggQNtMTVxr_HRJCKssXG9_hflV7etJrxz8KVRZaHPtqA/s320/ppsantos210409.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327371433077156322" /></a><br />Vatican City, Apr 21, 2009 / 10:36 am (CNA).- This coming Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Square and give the Church five new saints.<br /><br />At the 10 a.m. Mass, four Italians and one Portuguese religious brother will be canonized by the Holy Father.<br /><br />The Italians are: Arcangelo Tadini (1846-1912), Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Worker Sisters of the Holy House of Nazareth; Bernardo Tolomei (1272-1348), Italian founder of the Olivetan Benedictine Congregation; Gertrude Comensoli (1847-1903), Italian virgin and foundress of the Institute of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament; and Caterina Volpicelli (1839-1894), Italian virgin and foundress of the Institute of Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart.<br /><br />The list of those to be canonized is rounded out by Nuno de Santa Maria Alvares Pereira (1360-1431), a Portuguese religious of the Order of Friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-91685274305405269332009-04-21T21:11:00.000-07:002009-04-21T21:35:04.529-07:00History of the Knights of Columbus Mexican Martyrs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbmsnEXIDittiZT3Sj1kPA2VmTpHapVPIrGf8zsQ9dcEa2_b0EY-fFQ4-ofBGxuJ_jVsyGjvzEpVnDcTIeMl24FelMS7Aqu9718fiaIS35zDYVuGWev1LqY4hx_5ZIB-XYlrI5Xu8Laig/s1600-h/Sol%C3%A1-Molist_150.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbmsnEXIDittiZT3Sj1kPA2VmTpHapVPIrGf8zsQ9dcEa2_b0EY-fFQ4-ofBGxuJ_jVsyGjvzEpVnDcTIeMl24FelMS7Aqu9718fiaIS35zDYVuGWev1LqY4hx_5ZIB-XYlrI5Xu8Laig/s320/Sol%C3%A1-Molist_150.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327366180984297506" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicYCIwJFL9J-WZMNQKHnHh9Eo2wLm1PpexqmsJjuxmo01bnk5MnxJk2tNjzRA3Mld6s-YIFiypY2Swv-u8kTdHrOcO-BauOFptRzygwqhb78ji8zzw4EVkxyK1Ey7DK9jQdkaLQ49PQoQ/s1600-h/Trinidad-Rangal_150.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicYCIwJFL9J-WZMNQKHnHh9Eo2wLm1PpexqmsJjuxmo01bnk5MnxJk2tNjzRA3Mld6s-YIFiypY2Swv-u8kTdHrOcO-BauOFptRzygwqhb78ji8zzw4EVkxyK1Ey7DK9jQdkaLQ49PQoQ/s320/Trinidad-Rangal_150.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327365865971719202" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzbtiYueXGYfES_D75xHDvd_Bdf6GmsaF8CR_tjI_QbGp9Bqcu7LfgsqGlSaMQSIV5LmQFEicNgrZR4RNPTQdmm4p8zi4QEdv36Q_9C5Yv6EcqR-U2f-aLQ1GiF1geqBfjMaLntoGmeus/s1600-h/Mexican+Marty+PIC+-KC.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzbtiYueXGYfES_D75xHDvd_Bdf6GmsaF8CR_tjI_QbGp9Bqcu7LfgsqGlSaMQSIV5LmQFEicNgrZR4RNPTQdmm4p8zi4QEdv36Q_9C5Yv6EcqR-U2f-aLQ1GiF1geqBfjMaLntoGmeus/s320/Mexican+Marty+PIC+-KC.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327364624473978034" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Above pictures are of: <br />Padre José T. Rangel Montaño, Padre Andrés Solá Molist Two More Knights Beatified<br />and Portrait of the Mexican Martyrs at the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven.<br /><br /><br />The 1920s brought a revolution to Mexico, along with the widespread persecution of Catholics.<br /><br />Missionaries were expelled from the country, Catholic seminaries and schools were closed, and the Church was forbidden to own property. Priests and laymen were told to denounce Jesus and their faith in public; if they refused, they faced not just punishment but torture and death.<br /><br />During this time of oppression and cruelty, the Knights of Columbus did not retreat in Mexico but grew dramatically, from 400 members in 1918 to 43 councils and 6,000 members just five years later. In the United States at the time, the Knights handed out five million pamphlets that described the brutality of the Mexican government toward Catholics. As a result, the Mexican government greatly feared and eventually outlawed the Order.<br /><br />Thousands of men, many of whom were Knights, would not bow to these threats or renounce their faith, and they often paid with their lives. They took a stand when that was the most difficult thing they could do, and their courage and devotion have echoed down through the decades.<br /><br />Here are some of the stories of the Knights of Columbus who joined the ranks of the Mexican Martyrs and were among the 25 victims of religious persecution canonized in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Father Miguel de la Mora de la Mora</span><br /><br />Father Miguel de la Mora de la Mora of Colima belonged to Council 2140. Along with several other priests, he publicly signed a letter opposing the anti-religious laws imposed by the government. He was soon arrested and, with his brother Regino looking on, Father de la Mora was executed without a trial by a single shot from a military officer as he prayed his rosary. It was Aug. 7, 1927.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Father Pedro de Jesus Maldonado Lucero</span><br /><br />Father Pedro de Jesus Maldonado Lucero was a member of Council 2419. Forced to study for the priesthood in El Paso, Texas, because of the political situation in Mexico, he returned home after his ordination in 1918 despite the risk. Captured on Ash Wednesday, 1937, while distributing ashes to the faithful, Father Maldonado Lucero was so savagely beaten that one eye was forced from its socket. He died the next day at a local hospital. His tombstone aptly described this martyr in four words: "You are a priest."<br />Back to Top<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Father Jose Maria Robles Hurtado</span><br /><br />Father Jose Maria Robles Hurtado was a member of Council 1979. Ordained in 1913, he founded the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Guadalajara when he was only 25. On June 25, 1927, he was arrested while preparing to celebrate Mass. Early the next morning, he was hanged from an oak tree, but not before he had forgiven his murderers and offered a prayer for his parish. He went so far as to place the rope around his own neck, so that none of his captors would hold the title of murderer.<br />Back to Top<br /><br />Father Rodrigo Aguilar Alemán<br /><br />Father Rodrigo Aguilar Alemán of Union de Tula in Jalisco was a member of Council 2330. After a warrant was issued for is arrest, he took refuge a the Colegio de San Ignacio in Ejutla, celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments. Rather than escape when soldiers arrived, Father Aguilar Alemán remained at the seminary to burn the list of seminary students, and thus protect them from being known. When the soldiers demanded his identity, he told them only that he was a priest. He was taken to the main square of Ejutla, where the seminary was located. He publicly forgave his killers, and then a soldier gave him the chance to save himself by giving the "right" answer to this question, "Who lives?"<br /><br />Father Aguilar Alemán would be spared if he simply said, "Long live the supreme government."<br /><br />But he replied, "Christ the King and Our Lady of Guadalupe." The noose that had been secured to a mango tree was tightened, then relaxed twice. Each time it was relaxed, he was asked the same question and each time he gave the same response. The third time the noose was tightened, he died.<br />Back to Top<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Father Luis Batiz Sainz</span><br /><br />Father Luis Batiz Sainz was born in 1870, and was a member of Council 2367. On Aug. 15, 1926, at Chalchihuites, Zacatecas, he and three layman -- David Roldan, who was only 19 at the time, Salvador Lara and Manuel Morales -- were put before a firing squad for refusing to submit to anti-religious laws. When Father Batiz Sainz asked the soldiers to free one of the captives, Manuel Morales, who had sons and daughters, Morales wouldn't hear of it.<br /><br />"I am dying for God," he declared, "and God will care for my children." Smiling, Father Batiz Sainz gave his friend absolution and said: "See you in heaven."<br />Back to Top<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Father Mateo Correa Magallanes</span><br /><br />Father Mateo Correa Magallanes, who was a member of Council 2140, was arrested and taken to Durango. While in prison, he was ordered by the commanding officer on Feb. 5, 1927, to hear the confessions of his fellow prisoners. Then the commander demanded to know what they had told him. Of course, Father Correa Magallanes wouldn't violate the seal of confession, and so, the next day, he was taken to a local cemetery and executed by the soldiers.<br />Back to Top<br /><br />Two More Knights Beatified<br /> <br />Padre José T. Rangel Montaño Padre Andrés Solá Molist<br /><br />In 2005, two other Knights, also Mexican Martyrs, were beatified.<br /><br />Father Jose Trinidad Rangel Montaño, a diocesan priest from Leon and member of Council 2484, and Claretian Father Andres Sola Molist, a Spaniard, and member of Council 1963. Both were executed for their faith in Rancho de San Joaquin, Mexico, in April 1927.<br /><br />These men, and many thousands more, paid the ultimate sacrifice for their Catholic faith in Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s. But throughout that period, the Knights of Columbus in Mexico kept the faith and hundreds gave their lives to protect their beliefs, some as martyrs and others in the armed Cristero movement.<br /><br />Always an advocate of peaceful struggle against the government, Pius XI singled out the Knights of Columbus for praise in his 1926 encyclical Iniquis Afflictisque, writing: “First of all we mention the Knights of Columbus, an organization which is found in all states of the [Mexican] Republic and fortunately is made up of active and industrious members who, because of their practical lives and open profession of the Faith, as well as by their zeal in assisting the Church, have brought great honor upon themselves.”<br /><br />Mexican Knights, and the entire Church in Mexico, were consistently supported by the Knights in the United States who, in addition to distributing literature that informed the American people of the plight of the Church in Mexico, also lobbied President Calvin Coolidge to bring pressure to end the persecution.<br /><br />In 1926, Coolidge met with a delegation of Knights including Supreme Knight James Flaherty, future Supreme Knight Luke Hart and Supreme Director William Prout. Coolidge affirmed his administration’s commitment to bringing about a resolution to the problems in Mexico.<br /><br />Though the Knights had been outlawed in Mexico – even the Order’s Columbia magazine was temporarily banned – the Knights of Columbus survived. In 2005, at the centennial convention in Mexico City, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson declared that Mexican Knights are “second to none” in their commitment to “our founding ideals and their devotion to the Catholic faith.”<br /><br />http://www.kofc.org/un/eb/en/news/releases/detail/27808.htmlMemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-85743409475089072082009-04-21T16:24:00.000-07:002009-04-21T16:29:40.987-07:00Catholic Persecution In The 13 Colonies and ForwardTradition In Action<br /><br />Let None Dare Call it Liberty:<br />The Catholic Church in Colonial America<br /><br />Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.<br /><br />Relatively little attention has been paid to the relentless hostility toward the Catholics of our 13 English colonies in the period that preceded the American Revolution. Instead, historians have tended to concentrate only on the story of the expansion of the tiny Catholic community of 1785, which possessed no Bishop and hardly 25 priests, into the mighty organization we see today that spreads its branches from the Atlantic to the Pacific.<br /><br />To show this progress of Catholicism is good and legitimate. But to avoid presenting the persecution the Church suffered in the pre-Revolution colonial period is to offer an incomplete or partial history. It ignores the early story of our Catholic ancestors. It would be like describing the History of the Church only after the Edict of Milan, when the Church emerged from the Catacombs, pretending there had never been a glorious but terrible period of martyrdom.<br /><br />An optimistic view that conflicts with reality<br /><br />It should not be surprising that this cloud of general omission concerning Catholicism in the colonial period (1600-1775) should have settled over the Catholic milieu given the optimistic accounts written by such notable Catholic historians as John Gilmary Shea, Thomas Maynard, Theodore Roemer, and Thomas McAvoy. (1) These historians, whose works provided the foundation for Catholic school history books up until recently (when a different kind of revisionist history is replacing them), only briefly acknowledge and downplay a period of repression and persecution of Catholics.<br /><br />What they have stressed is what might be called the "positive" stage of Catholic colonial history that begins in the period of the American Revolution. This period has been glossed with an unrealistic interpretation that freedom of religion was unequivocally established and the bitter, deeply-entrenched anti-Catholicism miraculously dissolved in the new atmosphere of tolerance and liberty for all. This in fact did not happen.<br /><br />Roots of a bad Ecumenism<br /><br />Here I propose to dispel this myth that America was from its very beginning a country that championed freedom of religion. In fact, in the colonial period, a virulent anti-Catholicism reigned and the general hounding and harrying of Catholics was supported by legislation limiting their rights and freedom.<br /><br /><br /><br />Cardinal James Gibbons was warned by Pope Leo XIII about Americanism<br /> <br />I think it is important for Catholics to know this in order to understand how this persecution affected the mentality of Catholics in America in its early history and generated a liberal way of behavior characterized by two different phases of accommodation to Protestantism:<br /><br />First, both before and especially after the American Revolution, a general spirit of tolerance to a Protestant culture and way of life was made by some Catholics in order to be accepted in society. Such accommodation, I would contend, has continued into our days.<br /><br />Second, to enter the realm of politics and avoid suspicions of being monarchists or “papists,” colonial American Catholics were prepared to accept the revolutionary idea of the separation of Church and State as a great good not only for this country, but for Catholic Europe as well. Both civil and religious authorities in America openly proclaimed the need to abandon supposedly archaic and “medieval positions” in face of new conditions and democratic politics.<br /><br />For these reasons, some hundred years after the American Revolution, Pope Leo XIII addressed his famous letter Testem benevolentiae (January 22, 1889) to Cardinal Gibbons, accusing and condemning the general complacence with Protestantism and the adoption of naturalist premises by Catholics in the United States. He titled this censurable attitude Americanism. Americanism, therefore, is essentially a precursory religious experience of bad Ecumenism made in our country, while at the same time Modernism was growing in Europe with analogous tendencies and ideas.<br /><br />The partial presentation of colonial American history by so many authors helps to sustain that erroneous ecumenical spirit. I hope that showing the historic hatred that Protestantism had for Catholicism can serve to help snuff out this Americanist – that is, liberal or modernist – behavior among Catholics of our country.<br /><br />A long history of anti-Catholicism<br /><br />Although Catholicism was an influential factor in the French settlements of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys and later in the Spanish regions of Florida, the Southwest and California, Catholics were a decided minority in the original 13 English colonies. As we see in the first general report on the state of Catholicism by John Carroll in 1785, Catholics were a mere handful. He conservatively estimated the Catholic population in those colonies to be 25,000. Of this figure, 15,800 resided in Maryland, about 7,000 in Pennsylvania, and another 1,500 in New York. Considering that the population in the first federal census of 1790 totaled 3,939,000, the Catholic presence was less than one percent, certainly not a significant force in the original 13 British colonies. (2)<br /><br /><br /><br />Catholics were not welcome in the original 13 colonies<br /> <br />After several pages dedicated to Lord Baltimore's Catholic colony in Maryland, Catholic history books have tended to begin Catholic history in the United States with that critical year for both the nation and Catholicism - 1789. For 1789 marked both the formation of the new government under the Constitution and the establishment of an organizational structure for the American Catholic Church. The former event came with the inauguration of George Washington in April, the latter with the papal appointment of His Excellency John Carroll as the first Bishop of Baltimore in November.<br /><br />The history of the Catholic Church in America, however, has much deeper and less triumphant roots. Most American Catholics are aware that the spirit of New England's North American settlements was hostile to Catholicism. But few are aware of the vigor and persistence with which that spirit was cultivated throughout the entire colonial period. Few Catholics realize that in all but three of the 13 original colonies, Catholics were the subject of penal measures of one kind or another during the colonial period. In most cases, the Catholic Church had been proscribed at an early date, as in Virginia where the act of 1642 proscribing Catholics and their priests set the tone for the remainder of the colonial period.<br /><br />Even in the supposedly tolerant Maryland, the tables had turned against Catholics by the 1700s. By this time the penal code against Catholics included test oaths administered to keep Catholics out of office, legislation that barred Catholics from entering certain professions (such as Law), and measures had been enacted to make them incapable of inheriting or purchasing land. By 1718 the ballot had been denied to Catholics in Maryland, following the example of the other colonies, and parents could even be fined for sending children abroad to be educated as Catholics.<br /><br />In the decade before the American Revolution, most inhabitants of the English colonies would have agreed with Samuel Adams when he said (in 1768): "I did verily believe, as I do still, that much more is to be dreaded from the growth of popery in America, than from the Stamp Act, or any other acts destructive of civil rights." (3)<br /><br />English hatred for the Roman Church<br /><br />The civilization and culture which laid the foundations of the American colonies was English and Protestant. England's continuing 16th and 17th-century religious revolution is therefore central to an understanding of religious aspects of American colonization. Early explorers were sent out toward the end of the 15th century by a Catholic king, Henry VII, but actual settlement was delayed, and only in 1607, under James I, were permanent roots put down at Jamestown, Virginia. By then, the separation of the so-called Anglican church from Rome was an accomplished fact.<br /><br /><br /><br />The supposed Catholic conspirators plotting to blow up the English Houses of Parliaments were publicly executed. Later, Jesuits were rounded up and killed also.<br /> <br />Rapid anti-Catholicism in England had been flamed by works like John Foxe's Book of Martyrs illustrating some of the nearly 300 Protestants who were burned between 1555 and 1558 under Queen Mary I. The tradition was intensified by tales of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, when a group of Catholics would have supposedly planned to blow up King James but for the scheme’s opportune discovery and failure.<br /><br />International politics were involved too. France and Spain were England's enemies, and they were Catholic. In 1570 Pope St. Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth I and declared her subjects released from their allegiance, which fanned English propaganda that Catholic subjects harbored sentiments of treason. (4)<br /><br />In the 16th century, the English began their long, violent and cruel attempt to subdue the Catholics of Ireland. (5) The English were able “to resolve” any problem of conscience by convincing themselves that the Gaelic Irish Catholic Papists were an unreasonable and boorish people. Maintaining their false belief they were dealing with a culturally inferior people, the English Protestants imagined themselves absolved from all normal ethical restraints. This attitude persisted with their settlers in the American colonies. (6)<br /><br />To these factors should be added the role of the Puritan sect. Its relationship with Catholics in colonial America represented the apotheosis of Protestant prejudice against Catholicism. Even though the so-called Anglican church had replaced the Church of Rome, for many Puritans that Elizabethan church still remained too tainted with Romish practices and beliefs. For various reasons, those Puritans left their homeland to found new colonies in North America. A major Puritan exodus to New England began in 1630, and within a decade close to 20,000 men and women had migrated to settlements in Massachusetts and Connecticut. (7) They were principal contributors to a virulent hatred of Catholicism in the American colonies.<br /><br />The penal age: 1645-1763<br /><br />Evidence of this anti-Catholic attitude can be found in laws passed by colonial legislatures, sermons preached by colonial ministers, and various books and pamphlets published in the colonies or imported from England. (8)<br /><br />By his dress, manner and spirit, the Puritan was an antithesis of the Catholic gentleman of the age<br /> <br />For example, even though no Catholic was known to have lived in Massachusetts Bay in the first 20 years or more of the colony's life, this did not deter the Puritan government from enacting an anti-priest law in May of 1647, which threatened with death "all and every Jesuit, seminary priest, missionary or other spiritual or ecclesiastical person made or ordained by any authority, power or jurisdiction, derived, challenged or pretended, from the Pope or See of Rome." (9)<br /><br />When Georgia, the thirteenth colony, was brought into being in 1732 by a charter granted by King George II, its guarantee of religious freedom followed the fixed pattern: full religious freedom was promised to all future settlers of the colony “except papists,” that is Catholics. (10)<br /><br />Even Rhode Island, famous for its supposed policy of religious toleration, inserted an anti-Catholic statute imposing civil restrictions on Catholics in the colony's first published code of laws in 1719. Not until 1783 was the act revoked. (11)<br /><br />To have an idea of how this prejudice against Roman Catholics was impressed even among the young, consider these “John Rogers Verses” from the New England Primer: “Abhor that arrant whore of Rome and all her blasphemies; Drink not of her cursed cup; Obey not her decrees." This age of penal restriction against Catholics in the colonies lasted until after the American Revolution.<br /><br />Someone recalling a lesson from his Catholic history classes might pose the objection: But what about the exceptions to this rule, that is, the three colonial states of Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania, where tolerance for Catholics existed in the colonial period? Once again, this impression comes from a very optimistic and liberal writing of History rather than the concrete reality.<br /><br />Catholicism in Maryland<br /><br />The "Maryland Experiment" began when Charles I issued a generous charter to a prominent Catholic convert from Anglicanism, Lord Cecil Calvert, for the American colony of Maryland. In the new colony, religious tolerance for all so-called Christians was preserved by Calvert until 1654. In that year, Puritans from Virginia succeeded in overthrowing Calvert's rule, although Calvert regained control four years later. The last major political uprising took place in 1689, when the ‘Glorious Revolution” of William and Mary ignited a new anti-Catholic revolt in Maryland, and the rule of the next Lord Baltimore, Charles Calvert, was overthrown.<br /><br /><br /><br />After the government of Lord Charles Calvert was overthrown in 1689, strong anti-Catholic politics were installed<br /> <br />Therefore, in 1692 Maryland's famous Religious Toleration Act officially ended, and the Maryland Assembly established the so-called Church of England as the official State religion supported by tax levies. Restrictions were imposed on Catholics for public worship, and priests could be prosecuted for saying Mass. Although Catholics generally maintained their social status, they were denied the right to vote or otherwise participate in the government of the colony their ancestors had founded. (12) This barebones history is the real story of the famous religious liberty of colonial Maryland.<br /><br />The Religious Toleration Law of 1649 establishing toleration for all religions in early Maryland has generally been interpreted as resulting from the fact that Cecil Calvert was a Roman Catholic. Catholic American histories commonly presented the foundation of Maryland as motivated by Calvert's burning desire to establish a haven for persecuted English Catholics. On the other side are Protestant interpretations that present Calvert as a bold opportunist driven by the basest pecuniary motives. (13)<br /><br />More recent works have provided a much more coherent analysis of the psychology behind the religious toleration that Calvert granted. That is, Calvert was only following a long-standing trend of English Catholics, who tended to ask only for freedom to worship privately as they pleased and to be as inoffensive to Protestants as possible.<br /><br />A directive of the first Lord Proprietor in 1633 stipulated, for example, that Catholics should “suffer no scandal nor offence” to be given any of the Protestants, that they practice all acts of the Roman Catholic Religion as privately as possible, and that they remain silent during public discourses about Religion. (15) In fact, in the early years of the Maryland colony the only prosecutions for religious offenses involved Catholics who had interfered with Protestants concerning their religion.<br /><br />As a pragmatic realist, Calvert understood that he had to be tolerant about religion in order for his colony, which was never Catholic in its majority, to be successful. It was this conciliatory and compromising attitude the Calverts transplanted to colonial Maryland in the New World. Further, the Calverts put into practice that separation of Church and State about which other English Catholics had only theorized.<br /><br />Catholicism in New York<br /><br />Neither the Dutch nor English were pleased when the Duke of York converted to Roman Catholicism in 1672. His appointment of Irish-born Catholic Colonel Thomas Dongan as governor of the colony of New York was followed by the passage of a charter of liberties and privileges for Catholics. But the two-edged sword of Dutch/ English prejudice against the "Romanists" would soon re-emerge from the scabbard in which it had briefly rested.<br /><br /><br /><br />Jacob Leisler fanned anti-Rome fears to take power in New York and then issued arrests for all "papists"<br /> <br />After the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688, the virulently anti-Catholic Jacob Leisler spread rumors of “papist” plots and false stories of an impending French and Indian attack upon the English colonies, in which the New York colonial Catholics were said to be aligned with their French co-religionists. Leisler assumed the title of commander-in-chief, and by the end of the year he had overthrown Dongan and taken over the post of lieutenant governor of the colony as well. His government issued orders for the arrest of all reputed “papists,” abolished the franchise for Catholics, and suspended all Catholic office-holders. (16) The government after 1688 was so hostile to Catholics, noted Catholic historian John Ellis, "that it is doubtful if any remained in New York." (17)<br /><br />That very fact made all the more incongruous the severity of measures that continued to be taken against Catholics, which included the draconian law of 1700 prescribing perpetual imprisonment of Jesuits and “popish” messengers. This strong anti-Catholic prejudice persisted even into the federal period. When New York framed its constitution in 1777, it allowed toleration for all religions, but Catholics were denied full citizenship. This law was not repealed until 1806. (18)<br /><br />The myth of religious toleration of Catholics in New York relies concretely, therefore, on that brief 16-year period from 1672 to 1688 when a Catholic was governor of the colony.<br /><br />Catholicism in Pennsylvania<br /><br />Due to the broad tolerance that informed William Penn's Quaker settlements, the story of Catholics in Pennsylvania is the most positive of any of the original 13 colonies. William Penn's stance on religious toleration provided a measured freedom to Catholics in Pennsylvania. The 1701 framework of government, under which Pennsylvania would be governed until the Revolution, included a declaration of liberty of conscience to all who believed in God. Yet a contradiction between Penn's advocacy of liberty of conscience and his growing concern about the growth of one religion – Roman Catholicism – eventually bore sad fruit.<br /><br /><br /><br />Penn imposed restrictions on the rights of Catholics<br /> <br />To replace the liberal statutes that provided almost unrestricted liberty of conscience and toleration for those who believed in Christ, officials were required to fulfill the religious qualifications stated in the 1689 Toleration Act, which allowed Dissenters their own places of worship, teachers and preachers, subject to acceptance of certain oaths of allegiance. The act did not apply to Catholics, who were considered potentially dangerous since they were loyal to the Pope, a foreign power. Catholics were thereby effectively barred from public office. (19)<br /><br />Despite the more restrictive government imposed by Penn after 1700, Catholics were attracted to Pennsylvania, especially after the penal age began in neighboring Maryland. Nonetheless, the Catholic immigrants to Pennsylvania were relatively few in number compared to the Protestants emigrating from the German Palatinate and Northern Ireland. A census taken in 1757 placed the total number of Catholics in Pennsylvania at 1,365. In a colony estimated to have between 200,000 and 300,000 inhabitants, the opposition against the few Catholics living among the Pennsylvania colonists is testimony to an historic prejudice, to say the least. (20)<br /><br />Even in face of incessant rumors and several crises (e.g. the so-called “popish plot” of 1756), no extreme measures were taken and no laws were enacted against Catholics. A good measure of the prosperity of the Church in 1763 could be attributed to the Jesuit farms located at St. Paul's Mission in Goshehoppen (500 acres) and Saint Francis Regis Mission at Conewago (120 acres), which contributed substantially to the support of the missionary undertakings of the Church. (21) The history of the Jesuits has been called that of the nascent Catholic Church in the colonies, since no other organized body of Catholic clergy, secular or regular, appeared on the ground till more than a decade after the Revolution. (22)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> 1. Theodore Maynard, The Story of American Catholicism, 2 vol. (NY: 1941); Theodore Roemer, The Catholic Church in the United States, (St. Louis, London: 1950); John Gilmary Shea, The History of the Catholic Church in the United States, 4 vol. (New York, 1886-1892).<br /> 2. Thomas T. McAvoy, A History of the Catholic Church in the United States, (Notre Dame, London, 1969), 50-1.<br /> 3. Ibid., 387.<br /> 4. James Hennesey, S.J., American Catholics: A History of the Roman Catholic Community in the United States, (New York, Oxford: 1981), 36-7.<br /> 5. Peter Mancall, Envisoning America: English Plans for the Colonization of North America 1580-1640, (Boston/New York: 1995), 8-11.<br /> 6. "The Ideology of English Colonization: From Ireland to America" in Colonial America, Essays in Politics and Social Development, eds. Stanley N. Katz and John M. Murrin, (New York: 1983), 47-68.<br /> 7. Jay P. Dolan, The American Catholic Experience: A History from Colonial Times to the Present, (New York: 1985), 70-1.<br /> 8. A useful collection of quotations and sources was gathered by Sister Mary Augustina Ray in her 1936 work, American Opinion of Roman Catholicism in the Eighteenth Century (New York: 1936).<br /> 9. Ibid., 27.<br /> 10. Francis Curran, S.J., Catholics in Colonial Law, (Chicago: 1963), 54.<br /> 11. Patrick Conley and Matthew J. Smith, Catholicism in Rhode Island, the Formative Era, (Providence: 1976), 7-9.<br /> 12. Ellis, Catholics in Colonial America, 315-359.<br /> 13. Alfred Pearce Dennis, "Lord Baltimore's Struggle with the Jesuits, 1634-1649" in Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1900, 2 vols., (Washington: 1901), I, 112; C. E. Smith, Religion Under the Barons Baltimore, (Baltimore: 1899).<br /> 14, Kenneth Campbell, The Intellectual Struggle of the English Papists in the Seventeenth Century: The Catholic Dilemma, (Lewiston, Queenston, 1986).<br /> 15. Solange Hertz, The Star-Spangled Heresy: Americanism. How the Catholic Church in America Became the American Catholic Church, (Santa Monica, 1992), p. 33<br /> 16. John Tracy Ellis, Catholics in Colonial America, (Baltimore, Dublin: 1965), 344-46; 367-8;<br /> 17. Ibid., p. 363.<br /> 18. Ibid., 360-370.<br /> 19. Sally Schwartz, "A Mixed Multitude": The Struggle for Toleration in Colonial Pennsylvania, (New York, London: 1987), 17-19, 31-34; Joseph J. Kelley, Jr., Pennsylvania: The Colonial Years 1681-1776, (Garden City, New York: 1980), 15-16.<br /> 20. Ellis, Catholics in Colonial America, 370-80.<br /> 21. Joseph L. J. Kirlin, Catholicity in Philadelphia, (Philadelphia, 1909), 18.<br /> 22. Thomas Hughes, The History of the Society of Jesus in North America: Colonial and Federal, Vol. 1, (London, New York, Bombay, and Calcutta: 1907, 2nd ed. 1970).<br />http://www.traditioninaction.org/History/B_001_Colonies.htmlMemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-15716462558906718422009-04-20T19:05:00.000-07:002009-04-20T19:15:49.537-07:00300+ Jesuit Martyrs of the 20th Century<p>More than 300 Jesuits died during the 20th century for love of God and their fellow human bings. Some of them were murdered; others died as a result of maltreatment; others were simply made to "disappear" by terrorist regimes who regularly hide their victims. All of them form part of our martyrology for the twentieth century. </p><p>The Second Vatican Council declared that the excellence of martyrdom was rooted in the degree of identificaton with Jesus Christ which motiviated a person to give his life for others. </p><p>At the end of the millennium Pope John Paul II commissioned a Martyrology for the 20th century, so that we might not forget the witness of love of God and neighbor which so many men and women of our time have given with their lives and with their deaths.<br /></p><p>+++ +++ +++</p><h3 style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Victims of racial and xenophobic hatred</h3><b style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"></b><table width="85%" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="8"><tbody><tr><td><p style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><b>Murdered during the Boxers' Revolution in China</b></p> <ul><li>Bl Fr Modeste Andlauer (1847-1900) 19-6-1900: Ouy<br /></li><li>Bl Fr Remi Isoré (1852-1900) 19-6-1900: Ouy<br /></li><li>Bl Fr Paul Denn (1847-1901) 20-7-1901: Tchou-Kia-Ho<br /></li><li>Bl Fr Léon Ignace Mangin (1857-1901) 20-7-1901: Tchou-Kia-Ho </li></ul> <p style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><b>Armenia</b></p> <ul><li>Fr Pierre Aghadjanian (1875-1916) 6-9-1916<br /></li><li>Fr Jean Balian (1867-1915) ?-?-1915 </li></ul> </td></tr><tr><td valign="middle"> <hr /> <h3 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" align="center">Victims of anti-religious persecutions</h3> <hr /> </td></tr><tr><td> <p style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><b>Mexico</b></p> <ul><li>Bl Fr Miguel Agustín Pro (1891-1927) 23-11-1927<br /></li></ul> <center><span style="font-size:-2;">(The following are currently being considered for beatification)</span></center> <p style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><b>China</b></p> <ul><li>Fr Tomás Esteban (1879-1933?) ?-?-1933?-: China<br /></li><li>Fr Ismael Avito Gutiérrez Lucio (1895-1932) 18-5-1932: China<br /></li><li>Fr Dositeo López Pardo (1899-1934) ?-11-1934: China<br /></li><li>Fr Joseph Sontag (1899-1938) 8-4-1938: China<br /></li><li>Mr Andrés Fong (1908-1942) 25-1-1942: China<br /></li><li>Fr Joseph He (?-1-41?) 22-11-1941? : China<br /></li><li>Fr Chrétien Homo (1910-1946?) ?-?-1946? : China<br /></li><li>Fr Ricardo Ponsol (1879-1940) 18-10-1940: China </li></ul> <p style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><b>Spain</b></p> <ul><li>Fr José María Alegre Jiménez (1865-1936) 10-11-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Bartolomeo Arbona Estades (1862-1936) 29-11-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Br Juan Bautista Arconada Pérez (1890-1934) 7-10-1934: Oviedo<br /></li><li>Fr Ramón Artigues Sirvent (1902-1936) 20-7-1936: Lérida<br /></li><li>Fr Francisco Audí Cid (1872-1936) 3-11-1936: Tortosa<br /></li><li>Fr Jesús Ballesta Tejero (1903-1936) 8-8-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Narciso Basté Basté (1866-1936) 15-10-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Luis Boguñá Porta (1893-1936) 14-8-1936: Gerona<br /></li><li>Fr Pablo Bori Puig (1864-1936) 29-9-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Constantino Carbonell Sempere (1866-1936) 23-8-1936: Gandía<br /></li><li>Fr Andrés Carrió Bertrán (1876-1936) 26-8-1936: Alicante<br /></li><li>Fr Manuel De La Cerda y De Las Bárcenas (1900-1936) 4-12-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Olegario Corral García (1871-1936) 28-12-1936: Santander<br /></li><li>Fr Fé1ix Cots Oliveras (1895-1936) 21-7-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Br José Ignacio Elduayen Larrañaga (1884-1936) 7-8-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Juan Bautista Ferreres Boluda (1861-1936) 29-12-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Br Pedro Gelabert Amer (1887-1936) 23-8-1936: Gandía<br /></li><li>Fr Juan Gómez Hellín (1899-1936) 2-10-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Manuel González Hernández (1889-1936) 8-9-1936: Ciudad Real<br /></li><li>Br Ramón Grimaltos Monllor (1861-1936) 23-8-1936: Gandia<br /></li><li>Fr Darío Hernández Morató (1880-1936) 29-9-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Br Domingo Ibarlucea Iregui (1906-1936) 8-9-1936: Ciudad Real<br /></li><li>Br Felipe Iriondo Amundaráin (1869-1936) 21-7-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Br Lorenzo Isla Sanz (1865-1936) 25-7-1936: Tarragona<br /></li><li>Fr Manuel Luque Fontanilla (1856-1936) 29-8-1936: Almería<br /></li><li>Br José Llatje Blanc (1893-1936) 5-9-1936: Tortosa<br /></li><li>Br Constantino March Batlles (1877-1937) 16-3-1937: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Emilio Martínez Martínez (1893-1934) 7-10-1934: Oviedo<br /></li><li>Fr Braulio Martínez Simón (1852-1936) 25-7-1936: Tarragona<br /></li><li>Fr Marcial Mayorga Paredes (1902-1936) 15-10-1936: Santander<br /></li><li>Fr Miguel Mendoza Reig (1889-1936) 1-9-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr José Muñoz Albiol (1904-1936) 15-10-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Jaime Noguera Baró (1901-1937) 14-2-1937: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Alfonso Payán Pérez (1877-1936) 30-8-1936: Almería<br /></li><li>Fr Manuel Peypoch Sala (1870-1936) 29-7-1936: Manresa<br /></li><li>Fr José Romá Carreres (1895-1936) 21-7-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Juan Rovira Oriandis (1877-1936) 3-11-1936: Tortosa<br /></li><li>Br Pascual Ruiz Ramírez (1901-1936) 7-8-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Br Vicente Sales Genovés (1888-1936) 29-9-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Br José Sampol Escalas (1899-1936) 27-8-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr José SAnchez Oliva (1891-1936) 9-9-1936: Ciudad Real<br /></li><li>Br Antonio Sanchiz Martínez (1906-1936) 9-9-1936: Ciudad Real<br /></li><li>Fr Martín Santaella Gutiérrez (1873-1936) 26-8-1936: Almería<br /></li><li>Fr Alfredo Simón Colomina (1877-1936) 29-11-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Tomás Sioar Fortiá (1866-1936) 19-8-1936: Gandía<br /></li><li>Br José Tarrats Comaposada (1876-1936) 28-9-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Francisco Javier Tena Colom (1863-1936) 26-8-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Ricardo Tena Montero De Espinosa (1877- 1936) 8-9-1936: Azuaga<br /></li><li>Fr Joaquín María Valentí De Marti (1884- 1936) 14-8-1936: Gerona<br /></li><li>Fr Ignacio de Velasco Nieto (1890-1936) 24-9-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr José Vergés De Trias (1898-1936) 14-8-1936: Gerona<br /></li><li>Fr Demetrio Zurbitu Recalde (1886-1936) 20-10-1936: Barcelona </li></ul> <center><span style="font-size:-2;">(The following are not currently being considered for beatification)</span></center> <ul><li>Br Catarino Abril Marín (1881-1936) 23-8-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Ismael Accensi Cid (1894-1936) 3-8-1936: Tortosa<br /></li><li>Br Diego Aguilera (1912-1938) 29-3-1938: Córdoba<br /></li><li>Br Juan Bautista Andrada Salvador (1898-1936) 25-10-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr José del Arco (1889-1936) 27-12-1936: Santander<br /></li><li>Br José Manuel Arín Dorronsoro (1887-1936) 26-11-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Angel Armiñana Silvestre (1902-1936) 3-10-1936: Alicante<br /></li><li>Fr Leopoldo Barba Caballero (1870-1936) 18-9-1936: Málaga<br /></li><li>Fr Juan ● Fr Beamonte García (1895-1936) 7-8-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Manuel Berdún (1879-1937) 15-3-1937: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Paulino Bertrán Sempere (1874-1936) 10-8-1936: Manresa<br /></li><li>Br Tomás Boix Almiñana (1866-1936) 24-8-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Baldomero Bonilla Fernández (1865-1936) 15-10-1936: Murcia<br /></li><li>Fr Ignacio Casanovas Camprubí (1865-1936) 21-8-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Br Ramón Codina Alier (1869-1936) 25-7-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Br José Conti Sala (1865-1936) 9-8-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Br Manuel Darder Palahi (1862-1936) 15-10-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Br Agustín Díaz y Zapata (1869-1936) 27-7-1936: Toledo<br /></li><li>Br José Fabregat Verdú (1893-1936) 8-9-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Agustín Fernández Hernández (1904-1936) 14-8-1936: Gijón<br /></li><li>Fr Manuel Fernández Díaz-Masa (1904-1936) 30-11-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr José F. Ferragut Sbert (1889-1936) 21-9-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Br Vicente Fonfría Geri (1891-1936) 29-10-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Br Tomás Frasno Peñarrocha (1866-1936) 29-7-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Narciso Fuentes Ruiz-Delgado (1875- 1936) 12-8-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Br José Gabarrón Pérez (1868-1936) 13-10-1936: Málaga<br /></li><li>Br José García Molina (1911-1936) 14-8-1936: Málaga<br /></li><li>Fr Zacarías García Villada (1879-1936) 1-10-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Nemesio Gonzalez Alonso (1866-1936) 14-8-1936: Gijdn<br /></li><li>Fr Luis Gordillo Díaz (1898-1936) 23-7-1936: Málaga<br /></li><li>Fr Vicente Guimerá Roca (1869-1936) 30-9-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Joaquín Hernández López (1881-1936) 7-8-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Br Antonio Jiménez Blázquez (1885-1936) 13-10-1936: Málaga<br /></li><li>Fr José Juan Martínez (1867-1936) 26-9-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Martín Juste García (1863-1936) 27-7-1936: Toledo<br /></li><li>Fr Florentino Laria Sampedro (1866-1936) 5-11-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Manuel de Larragan Alfaro (1884-1936) 15-10-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Manuel Mañes Bosch (1887-1936) 25-7-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Juan Martínez García (1902-1936) 19-9-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Jesús Martínez Hernández (1903-1936) 7-11-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Valentino Mayordomo González (1878- 1937) 18-3-1937: Santander<br /></li><li>Br José Mendizdbal Tolosa (1881-1937) 18-5-1937: Santander<br /></li><li>Br Angel Mercader Vatero (1889-1936) 14-8-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Pedro Miró De Mesa (1901-1936) 20-11-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Ramón Molina (1904-1938) 19-3-1938 Andorra<br /></li><li>Br Carlos Moncho Montaner (1868-1936) 3-9-1936: Tortosa<br /></li><li>Fr Jesús Montero Carrión (1887-1936) 10-8-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Inocencio Muñoz Aguilera (1895-1936) 14-8-1936: Málaga<br /></li><li>Br Joaquín Noguera Martínez (1873-1936) 22-8-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Mr José Oortiz Calvo (1911-1936) 8-11-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr José Palacio Molina (1865-1936) 19-8-1936: Alcalahí<br /></li><li>Br Félix Palacios (1877-1936) 27-7-1936: Toledo<br /></li><li>Fr Miguel Pardo De Donlebún (1881-1936) 9-8-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr Luis Perera Canogia (1865-1936) 4-10-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr José Pedromingo Cotayna (1904-1936) 6-12-1936: Guadalajara<br /></li><li>Br José Rallo Pascual (1863-1936) 24-8-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr José Rodríguez De La Torre (1877-1936) 5-10-1936: Málaga<br /></li><li>Mr Gregorio Ruiz Rodríguez (1911-1936) 5-9-1936: Santander<br /></li><li>Fr José Ruiz Goyo (1897-1936) 5-9-1936: Santander<br /></li><li>Fr José Ruiz Pimentel (1887-1936) 15-10-1936: Málaga<br /></li><li>Mr Nicolás Serrano Fernández (1910-1936) 5-9-1936: Santander<br /></li><li>Br José Serres Borrás (1890-1936) 17-9-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Br José Simón Cascales (1873-19:36) 14-8-1936: Valencia<br /></li><li>Fr Pedro Trullás Claramunt (1867-1936) 25-7-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Br José María Valiente Trigueros (1894-1936) 8-11-1936: Madrid<br /></li><li>Fr Ramón Vendrell Vives (1865-1936) 7-8-1936: Tarragona<br /></li><li>Br Ignacio Vila March (1858-1936) 26-9-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr José María Vives Castellet (1882-1936) 3-10-1936: Tarragona<br /></li><li>Br Francisco Vives Masses (1898-1936) 15-9-1936: Barcelona<br /></li><li>Fr José Antonio Yáñez González (1870-1936) 14-8-1936: Gijón<br /></li><li>Fr Gerhard Aben (1901-1945) 1-11-1945: Indonesia<br /></li><li>Fr Gerhard Minderop (1885-1945) 1-11-1945: Indonesia<br /></li><li>Fr Johannes Schouten (1894-1945) 1-11-1945: Indonesia<br /></li><li>Fr Joseph Versteegh (1898-1945) 1-11-1945: Indonesia<br /></li><li>Fr Ludwig Weve (1888-1945) 1-11-1945: Indonesia<br /></li><li>Mr Norbertus Dirdjawewita (1915-1945) 1-11-1945: Indonesia<br /></li><li>Mr Willibrordus Mooi-Wilten (1915-1945) 1-11-1945: Indonesia<br /></li><li>Br Dominicus Widijasoepadma (1914-1945) 1-11-1945: Indonesia<br /></li><li>Mr Herman Bouwens (1920-1948) 20-12-1948 1-11-1945: Indonesia<br /></li></ul> </td></tr><tr><td> <hr /> <h3 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" align="center">Victims of Nazism and their allies</h3> <hr /> </td></tr><tr><td> <ul><li>Fr Alfred Delp (1907-1945) 2-2-1945<br /></li><li>Fr Alois Grimm (1886-1944) 11-9-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Johann Schwingshackl (1887-1945) 28-2-1945<br /></li><li>Fr Johann Steinmayr (1890-1944) 18-9-1944: Brandeburg<br /></li><li>Mr Robert Albrecht (1907-1942) 17-9-1942<br /></li><li>Mr Antonin Malimánek (1916-1945) 13-3-1945<br /></li><li>Fr Frantisek Ulk (1904-1945) 10-3-1945<br /></li><li>Mr Thomas Munk (1924-1945) 23-4-1945<br /></li><li>Fr Alojzij Zuzek (1865-1941) 15-5-1941<br /></li><li>Fr Victor Dillard (1897-1945) 12-1-1945<br /></li><li>Fr Yves de Montcheuil (1900-1944) 11-8-1941<br /></li><li>Fr Stanislaw Bednarski (1896-1942) 16-7-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Br Antoni Bieganski (1900-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Antoni Bielen (1880-1939) ?-?-1939<br /></li><li>Fr Blazej Blajer (1885-1939) ?-11-1939<br /></li><li>Br Jan Binkowski (1867-1941) 22-1-1941: Dachau<br /></li><li>Br Klemens Bobritzki (1911-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Bronislaw Franciszek Bojulka (1895-1939) ?-?-1939<br /></li><li>Mr Franiszek Bok (1882-1939) 20-10-1939<br /></li><li>Mr Jan Borysiak (1914-1939) ?-11-1939<br /></li><li>Fr Jan Brodowski (1910-1939) ?-11-1939<br /></li><li>Mr Stanislaw Bukowy (1910-1942) 22-12-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Br Józef Cag (1912-1945) 13-5-1945: Grossrosen<br /></li><li>Fr Józef Cyrek (1904-1940) 2-9-1940: Auschwitz<br /></li><li>Fr Józef Czudek (1883-1941) 16-2-1941: Dachau<br /></li><li>Mr Julian Czyzycki (1911-1942) 5-12-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Kazimierz Dembowski (1912-1942) 10-8-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Stanislaw Felczak (1906-1942) 9-5-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Br Józef Fus (1906-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Mr Bronislaw Gladysz (1913-1942) 6-5-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Br Adarn Glaudam (1863-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Czeslaw Glowa (1909-1939) ?-11-1939<br /></li><li>Fr Józef Golebiowski (1883-1939) 6-10-1939<br /></li><li>Fr Zbigniew Grabowski (1916-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Blazej Jablonski (1871-1942) 11-12-1942<br /></li><li>Fr Franciszek Kaluza (1877-1941) 19-1-1941: Dachau<br /></li><li>Br Stanislaw Komar (1882-1942) 15-7-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Józef Konewecki (1893-1939) ?-11-1939<br /></li><li>Fr Edward Jan Kosibowicz (1895-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Julian Letowski (1907-1941) 4-3-1941: Auschwitz<br /></li><li>Fr Herman Libinski (1867-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Br Piotr Ludwikowski (1905-1939) 20-10-1939<br /></li><li>Fr Jan Madalinski (1911-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Michal Malinowski (1887-1942) 13-8-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Marian Józef Wojciech Morawski (1881-1940) ?-?-1940: Auschwitz<br /></li><li>Fr Henryk Mroczka (1901-1944) 17-8-1944<br /></li><li>Mr Jerzy Stanislaw Musial (1919-1945) 9-3-1945: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Antoni Niemancewicz (1893-1943) ?-?-1943: Berlin<br /></li><li>Br Bernard Nierowisz (1888-1942) 3-8-1942: Auschwitz<br /></li><li>Br Stanislaw Orzechowski (1904-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Jan Pawelski (1868-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Stanislaw Podolenski (1887-1945) 13-1-1945: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Roman Przystas (1908-1942) 29-9-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Br Wladyslaw Racinski (1914-1941) ?-12-1941: Mauthausen<br /></li><li>Fr Edmund Roszac (1900-1943) 15-7-1943<br /></li><li>Fr Czeslaw Sejbuk (1906-1943) 20-4-1943: Dachau<br /></li><li>Mr Stanislaw Sewillo (1917-1943) 22-3-1943: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Stanislaw Sowa (1886-1944) 13-4-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Karol Sudy (1908-1939) ?-11-1939<br /></li><li>Br Czeslaw Swiecicki (1912-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Mr Stefan Szakola (1912-1942) 15-7-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Boleslaw Szopinski (1880-1941) 18-1-1941: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Adam Sztark (1907-1942) 28-12-1942<br /></li><li>Mr Wladyslaw Antoni Szulc (1910-1941) 27-2-1941: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Franciszek Szymanyak (1916- 1944) 1-8-1944<br /></li><li>Br Stanislaw Tomaszeski (1919-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Br Henryk Trela (1889-1942) 24-7-1942: Mauthausen<br /></li><li>Mr Leon Wasckielis (1909-1942) ?-?-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Br Wojciech Watróbski (1917-1939) ?-11-1939<br /></li><li>Fr Gabriel Weglinski (1906-1940) ?-?-1940: Mauthausen<br /></li><li>Fr Wladyslaw Wiacek (1910-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Mr Bronislaw Wielgosz (1916-1942) 29-4-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Henryk Wilczynski (1915-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Br Julian Wojkowski (1863-1939) ?-11-1939<br /></li><li>Fr Mieczylaw Wroblewski (1912-1944) 2-8-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Edmund Leopold Zabek (1902-1939) ?-11-1939<br /></li><li>Br Jan Zajak (1911-1945) 12-2-1945: Dachau<br /></li><li>Br Eugeniusz Zelezniak (1900-1942) 3-3-1942: Dachau<br /></li><li>Fr Antoni Zwiatopelk-Mirski (1907-1942) 24-12-1942<br /></li><li>Fr Prosper Bernard (1902-1943) 18-3-1943: Canada<br /></li><li>Fr Alphonse Dubé (1891-1943) 18-3-1943: Canada<br /></li><li>Fr Armand Lalonde (1904-1943) 18-3-1943: Canada<br /></li></ul> </td></tr><tr><td> <hr /> <h3 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" align="center">Died in Concentration camps</h3> <hr /> </td></tr><tr><td> <p style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><b>Indonesia</b></p> <ul><li>Mr Constantinus Teurlings (1915-1943) 21-2-1943<br /></li><li>Fr Theodorus Teppema (1899-1944) 31-1-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Hermanus Caminada (1902-1944) 19-4-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Joannes van Rijckeworsel (1876-1944) 21-4-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Mauritius Timmers (1857-1944) 20-5-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Franciscus Sträter (1882-1944) 15-6-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Theodorus Cocx (1887-1944) 17-6-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Antonius van Hoof (1879-1944) 22-9-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Hermanus Jansen (1877-1944) 10-10-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Joannes Sevink (1875-1944) 24-12-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Joannes Bemdsen (1884-1945) 31-1-1945<br /></li><li>Fr Franciscus Oosthout (1875-1945) 16-5-1945<br /></li><li>Fr Josephus Wubbe (1886-1945) 1-8-1945<br /></li></ul> <p style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><b>Micronesia</b></p> <ul><li>Fr Miguel Timoner y Guadera (1892-1944) ?-11-1944<br /></li><li>Fr Luis Blanco y Suárez (1896-1945) 15-1-1945<br /></li><li>Fr Marino De La Hoz (1886-1945) 15-1-1945<br /></li><li>Br Emilio Del Villar y Blázquez (1893-1945) 15-1-1945<br /></li><li>Fr Bernardo de la Espriella y Mosquera (1890-1945)<br /></li><li>Fr Elías Fernández González (1880-)<br /></li><li>Br Francisco Hernández y Escudero (1887-)<br /></li></ul> </td></tr><tr><td> <hr /> <h3 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" align="center">Victims of post-World War II Communist regimes</h3> <hr /> </td></tr><tr><td> <ul><li>Fr Daniel Dajani (1906-1946) 4-3-1946: Albania<br /></li><li>Fr Giovanni Fausti (1899-1946) 4-3-1946: Albania<br /></li><li>Br Gjon Pantaljia (1887-1947) 31-1--1947: Albania<br /></li><li>Fr Ndoc (Antonio) Saraci (1875-1947) 3-5-1947: Albania<br /></li><li>Fr Zef Saraci (1884-1954) 16-9-1954: Albania<br /></li><li>Fr Antonín Zgarbíik (1913-1965) 22-1-1965: Bohemia<br /></li><li>Mr Izidor Bistrovic (1949-1969) 4-12-1969: Croatia<br /></li><li>Fr Franjo Bortas (1903-1947) 7-6-1947: Croatia<br /></li><li>Fr Josip Müller (1893-1945) 28-11-1945: Croatia<br /></li><li>Fr Peter Perica (1881-1944) 25-10-1944: Croatia<br /></li><li>Fr Joze Bric (1907-1945) 21-11-1945: Slovenia<br /></li><li>Bp Lambert Ehrlich (1878-1942) 26-5-1942: Slovenia<br /></li><li>Fr Martin Meglik (1871-1945) 22-2-1945: Slovenia<br /></li><li>Fr Benjamin Jakab (1903-1950) 5-7-1950: Hungary<br /></li><li>Fr Ferenc Kajdi (1884- 1945?) ?-?-1945: Hungary<br /></li><li>Fr Antal Laskay (1909-1945?) ?-?-1945?<br /></li><li>Fr Józef Vid (1898-1952) 18-10-1952: Hungary<br /></li><li>Fr Benediktas Andruska (1884-1951) ?-?-1941: Lithuania<br /></li><li>Fr Joannes Peeperkorn (1898-1947?) ?-?-1947: Lithuania<br /></li><li>Fr Jazeps Püdans (1903-1942) 15-6-1942: Lithuania<br /></li><li>Fr Tadeusz Chabrowski (1909-1941) 9-1-1941: Poland<br /></li><li>Fr Alfons Czyzewski (1897-1953) 16-11-1953: Poland<br /></li><li>Br Kajetan Górski (1879-1942) ?-?-1942: Poland<br /></li><li>Fr Antoni Grzybowski (1904-1943) 20-10-1943: Poland<br /></li><li>Fr Jan Haniewski (1873-1942) ?-2-1942: Poland<br /></li><li>Br Jakub Jagusz (1872-1942) ?-7-1942: Poland<br /></li><li>Fr Kazimierz Konopka (1879-1941) 26-6-1941: Poland<br /></li><li>Fr Mariusz Skibniewski (1881-1939) 28-9-1939: Poland<br /></li><li>Fr Stanislaw Wnek (1859-1944) 27-4-1944: Poland<br /></li><li>Fr Waclaw Zaborowski (1904-1958) 14-5-1958: Poland<br /></li><li>Fr Cornel Chira (1904-1953) 20-8-1953: Romania<br /></li><li>Mr Xavier Robert (1912-?) ?-?-?: China<br /></li><li>Fr Beda Chang (Tsan-) Cheng-Min (1905-1951) 11-11-1951: China<br /></li><li>Fr Joseph Hu Shih-Chao (1908-?) ?-?-?: China<br /></li><li>Fr Andrés Li Shu-Pei (1913-?) ?-?-?: China<br /></li><li>Fr Peter T'Ang Kai-Shan (1906-1957) ?-?-1957: China<br /></li><li>Fr Louis Téteau (1874-1952) 4-5-1952: China<br /></li><li>Fr Antony Wang Che(1912-1953) 17-9-1953: China<br /></li><li>Br Laurentius Chin Lin-Shen (1915-?) ?-?-?: China<br /></li><li>Fr Chrysostomus Chang Szu-Ch'Ien (1910-1961?) ?-?-1961?: China<br /></li><li>Fr Petrus Chang Chin-Shan (1903-1967) ?-?-1967: China<br /></li><li>Fr Stephanus Chou Ju-Yüe (1901-1966?) ?-?-1966?: China<br /></li><li>Fr Aloysius Chu Kuang-Chung (1906-1968) ?-?-1968: China<br /></li><li>Fr Paulus Cheng Wei-Hsien (1903-1970?) ?-?-1970? : China<br /></li><li>Fr Francis-Xavier Chu Shu-Teh (1913-1983) 28-12-1983: China<br /></li><li>Fr Josephus Hsü Ching-Fang (1914-?) ?-?-?: China<br /></li><li>Br Laurentius Ts'Ao Chin-Teh (1893-?) China<br /></li></ul> </td></tr><tr><td> <hr /> <h3 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" align="center">Victims of dictatorial regimes or social movements</h3> <hr /> </td></tr><tr><td> <ul><li>Fr Luis Espinal Camps (1932-1980) 22-3-1980: Bolivia<br /></li><li>Fr João Bosco Penido Burnier (1917-1976) 12-10-1976: Brazil<br /></li><li>Br Vicente Cañas Costa (1939-1987) 6-4-1987: Brazil<br /></li><li>Fr Sergio Restrepo Jaramillo (1939-1989) 1-6-1989: Colombia<br /></li><li>Fr Rutilio Grande García (1928-1977) 12-3-1977: El Salvador<br /></li><li>Fr Ignacio Ellacuría Beascoechea (1930-1989) 16-11-1989: El Salvador<br /></li><li>Fr Amando López Quintana (1936-1989) 16-11-1989: El Salvador<br /></li><li>Fr Joaquín López y López (1918-1989) 16-11-1989: El Salvador<br /></li><li>Fr Ignacio Martín Baró (1942-1989) 16-11-1989: El Salvador<br /></li><li>Fr Segundo Montes Mozo (1933-1989) 16-11-1989: El Salvador<br /></li><li>Fr Juan Ramón Moreno Pardo (1933-1989) 16-11-1989: El Salvador<br /></li><li>Fr Carlos Pérez Alonso (1936-1981?) 2-8-1981?: Guatemala<br /></li><li>Fr Bernard Darke (1925-1979) 14-7-1979: Guyana<br /></li><li>Fr Godofredo Atingal (1922-1981) 13-4-1981: Philippines<br /></li><li>Br Nicolas De Glos (1911-1976) 23-5-1976: Chad<br /></li><li>Br Alfredo Pérez Lobato (1937-1973) 1-12-1973: Chad<br /></li><li>Br John Joseph Conway (1920-1977) 6-2-1977: Zimbabue<br /></li><li>Fr Desmond Donovan (1927-1978?) 15?-1?-1978? : Zimbabue<br /></li><li>Br Bernhard Lisson (1909-1978) 27-6-1978: Zimbabue<br /></li><li>Fr Gerhard Pieper (1940-1978) 26-12-1978: Zimbabue<br /></li><li>Fr Gregor Richert (1930-1978) 27-6-1978: Zimbabue<br /></li><li>Fr Christopher Shepherd-Smith (1943-1977) 6-2-1977: Zimbabue<br /></li><li>Fr Martin Thomas (1932-1977) 6-2-1977: Zimbabue<br /></li><li>Fr Silvio Alvés Moreira (1941-1985) 30-10-1985: Mozambique<br /></li><li>Fr João de Deus Gonçalves Kamtedza (1930-1985) 30-10-1985: Mozambique<br /></li><li>Fr Raymond A. Adams (1935-1989) 12-11-1989: Ghana<br /></li><li>Fr Jean de Boisséson (1910-1988) 29-5-1988: Madagascar<br /></li><li>Fr Patrick Gahizi (1946-1994) 7-4-1994: Ruanda<br /></li><li>Fr Chrysologue Mahame (1927-1994) 7-4-1994: Ruanda<br /></li><li>Fr Innocent Rutagambwa (1948-1994) 7-4-1994: Ruanda<br /></li><li>Bp Christophe Munzihirwa Mwene Ngabo (1926-1996) 29-10-1996: Zaire<br /></li><li>Fr Alban De Jerphanion (1901-1976) 14-3-1976: Lebanon<br /></li><li>Fr Louis Dumas (1901-1975) 25-10-1975: Lebanon<br /></li><li>Fr Nicolas Kluiters (1940-1985) 14-3-1985: Lebanon<br /></li><li>Fr André Masse (1940-1987) 24-9-1987: Lebanon<br /></li><li>Mr Richard Michael Fernando (1970-1996) 17-10-1996: Cambodia<br /></li><li>Fr Thomas Anchanikal (1951-1997) 27-10-1997: India<br /></li><li>Fr Thomas E. Gafney (1932-1997) 14-12-1997: India<br /></li><li>Fr Mathew Mannaparambil (1938-1980) 7-3-1980: India<br /></li><li>Fr Francis Louis Martinsek (1912-1979) 24-3-1979: India<br /></li><li>Fr Herman Rasschaert (1922-1964) 24-3-1964: India<br /></li><li>Fr Eugene John Hebert (1923-1990) 15-8-1990: Sri Lanka<br /></li><li>Fr Tarcisio Dewanto 1965-1999 9-9-99: Dili, East Timor<br /></li><li>Fr Karl Albrecht 1929-1999 11-9-99: East Timor </li></ul> </td></tr></tbody></table><hr width="88%">MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-34695453508594794842009-04-19T00:23:00.000-07:002009-04-19T00:49:48.986-07:00Homily of Holy Father John Paul II - Canonization of St. Faustina<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAJnZWk6XRAIKsa3uRrZqVDuoOXkwKaDDc1eH2xU4uDTaVU1OAX_UxnegnduyesB0chOIJ9oq1SuD7mP1jS9I_BZX0lo3Kh0VpyDlGd26GFEPJTA1Cp-dFn0CJuxa-drdq6scUSki-WN8/s1600-h/PP2+Divine+Mercy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 168px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAJnZWk6XRAIKsa3uRrZqVDuoOXkwKaDDc1eH2xU4uDTaVU1OAX_UxnegnduyesB0chOIJ9oq1SuD7mP1jS9I_BZX0lo3Kh0VpyDlGd26GFEPJTA1Cp-dFn0CJuxa-drdq6scUSki-WN8/s320/PP2+Divine+Mercy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326304871424445842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtynCs1KT9UzCWytbdPSHo0DeaTckSrNJjX_9JFRzss3naSlNgu9JEeDinWmgaa2134KsUFN5uo-a-g3xEiyASCwXGfnT6lBev-vl6oMtLE8sq28PSevLLsGTT8zFWR97wcp-Uik4a4jA/s1600-h/st+faustyna.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtynCs1KT9UzCWytbdPSHo0DeaTckSrNJjX_9JFRzss3naSlNgu9JEeDinWmgaa2134KsUFN5uo-a-g3xEiyASCwXGfnT6lBev-vl6oMtLE8sq28PSevLLsGTT8zFWR97wcp-Uik4a4jA/s320/st+faustyna.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326304369606182194" border="0" /></a><br /><i><b><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:130%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></b></i><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:130%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></b></i><i><b><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:130%;" >HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER </span></b></i></div> <p align="center"> <span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >MASS IN ST PETER'S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION<br />OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA<!--FINE TESTO--></span></p> <p align="center"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" ><i>Sunday, 30 April 2000</i> </span></p><p><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" > </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >1.<i> "Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius"; </i>"Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever" (<i>Ps</i> 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of Easter, as if receiving from Christ's lips these words of the Psalm; from the lips of the risen Christ, who bears the great message of divine mercy and entrusts its ministry to the Apostles in the Upper Room: "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.... Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (<i>Jn</i> 20: 21-23). </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >Before speaking these words, Jesus shows his hands and his side. He points, that is, to the wounds of the Passion, especially the wound in his heart, the source from which flows the great wave of mercy poured out on humanity. From that heart Sr Faustina Kowalska, the blessed whom from now on we will call a saint, will see two rays of light shining from that heart and illuminating the world: <i>"The two rays"</i>, Jesus himself explained to her one day, <i> "represent blood and water"</i> (<i>Diary, </i>Libreria Editrice Vaticana, p. 132).<br /><br />2. <i>Blood and water! </i>We immediately think of the testimony given by the Evangelist John, who, when a solider on Calvary pierced Christ's side with his spear, sees blood and water flowing from it (cf. <i> Jn</i> 19: 34). Moreover, if the blood recalls the sacrifice of the Cross and the gift of the Eucharist, the water, in Johannine symbolism, represents not only Baptism but also the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. <i> Jn</i> 3: 5; 4: 14; 7: 37-39). </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >Divine Mercy reaches human beings through the heart of Christ crucified: <i>"My daughter, say that I am love and mercy personified"</i>, Jesus will ask Sr Faustina (<i>Diary, </i>p. 374). Christ pours out this mercy on humanity though the sending of the Spirit who, in the Trinity, is the Person-Love. And is not mercy love's "second name" (cf. <i>Dives in misericordia,</i> n. 7), understood in its deepest and most tender aspect, in its ability to take upon itself the burden of any need and, especially, in its immense capacity for forgiveness? </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of <i>Sr Faustina Kowalska </i>to the whole Church as a gift of God for our time. By divine Providence, the life of this humble daughter of Poland was completely linked with the history of the 20th century, the century we have just left behind. In fact, it was between the First and Second World Wars that Christ entrusted his message of mercy to her. Those who remember, who were witnesses and participants in the events of those years and the horrible sufferings they caused for millions of people, know well how necessary was the message of mercy. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >Jesus told Sr Faustina: <i>"Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustfully to divine mercy"</i> (<i>Diary, </i>p. 132). Through the work of the Polish religious, this message has become linked for ever to the 20th century, the last of the second millennium and the bridge to the third. It is not a new message but can be considered a gift of special enlightenment that helps us to relive the Gospel of Easter more intensely, to offer it as a ray of light to the men and women of our time. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >3. What will the years ahead bring us? What will man's future on earth be like? We are not given to know. However, it is certain that in addition to new progress there will unfortunately be no lack of painful experiences. But the light of divine mercy, which the Lord in a way wished to return to the world through Sr Faustina's charism, will illumine the way for the men and women of the third millennium. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >However, as the Apostles once did, today too humanity must welcome into the upper room of history the risen Christ, who shows the wounds of his Crucifixion and repeats: <i> Peace be with you!</i> Humanity must let itself be touched and pervaded by the Spirit given to it by the risen Christ. It is the Spirit who heals the wounds of the heart, pulls down the barriers that separate us from God and divide us from one another, and at the same time, restores the joy of the Father's love and of fraternal unity.<br /><br />4. It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church <i>will be called "Divine Mercy Sunday". </i>In the various readings, the liturgy seems to indicate the path of mercy which, while re-establishing the relationship of each person with God, also creates new relations of fraternal solidarity among human beings. Christ has taught us that "man not only receives and experiences the mercy of God, but is also called "to practise mercy' towards others: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy' (<i>Mt</i> 5: 7)" (<i>Dives et misericordia, </i>n. 14). He also showed us the many paths of mercy, which not only forgives sins but reaches out to all human needs. Jesus bent over every kind of human poverty, material and spiritual. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >His message of mercy continues to reach us through his hands held out to suffering man. This is how Sr Faustina saw him and proclaimed him to people on all the continents when, hidden in her convent at £agiewniki in Kraków, she made her life a hymn to mercy: <i>Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo.</i> </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >5. Sr Faustina's canonization has a particular eloquence: by this act I intend today to pass this message on to the new millennium. I pass it on to all people, so that they will learn to know ever better the true face of God and the true face of their brethren. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >In fact, love of God and love of one's brothers and sisters are inseparable, as the First Letter of John has reminded us: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments" (5: 2). Here the Apostle reminds us of the truth of love, showing us its measure and criterion in the observance of the commandments. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >It is not easy to love with a deep love, which lies in the authentic gift of self. This love can only be learned by penetrating the mystery of God's love. Looking at him, being one with his fatherly heart, we are able to look with new eyes at our brothers and sisters, with an attitude of unselfishness and solidarity, of generosity and forgiveness. All this is mercy! </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >To the extent that humanity penetrates the mystery of this merciful gaze, it will seem possible to fulfil the ideal we heard in today's first reading: "The community of believers were of one heart and one mind. None of them ever claimed anything as his own; rather everything was held in common" (<i>Acts </i> 4: 32). Here mercy gave form to human relations and community life; it constituted the basis for the sharing of goods. This led to the spiritual and corporal "works of mercy". Here mercy became a concrete way of being "neighbour" to one's neediest brothers and sisters.<i><br /><br /></i>6. Sr Faustina Kowalska wrote in her Diary: <i>"I feel tremendous pain when I see the sufferings of my neighbours. All my neighbours' sufferings reverberate in my own heart; I carry their anguish in my heart in such a way that it even physically destroys me. I would like all their sorrows to fall upon me, in order to relieve my neighbour"</i> (<i>Diary, </i>p. 365). This is the degree of compassion to which love leads, when it takes the love of God as its measure! </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >It is this love which must inspire humanity today, if it is to face the crisis of the meaning of life, the challenges of the most diverse needs and, especially, the duty to defend the dignity of every human person. Thus the message of divine mercy is also implicitly <i>a message about the value of every human being.</i> Each person is precious in God's eyes; Christ gave his life for each one; to everyone the Father gives his Spirit and offers intimacy. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >7. This consoling message is addressed above all to those who, afflicted by a particularly harsh trial or crushed by the weight of the sins they committed, have lost all confidence in life and are tempted to give in to despair. To them the gentle face of Christ is offered; those rays from his heart touch them and shine upon them, warm them, show them the way and fill them with hope. How many souls have been consoled by the prayer "<i>Jesus, I trust in you",</i> which Providence intimated through Sr Faustina! This simple act of abandonment to Jesus dispels the thickest clouds and lets a ray of light penetrate every life. <i>Jezu, ufam tobie. </i> </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >8. <i>Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo </i>(<i>Ps</i> 88 [89]: 2). Let us too, the pilgrim Church, join our voice to the voice of Mary most holy, "Mother of Mercy", to the voice of this new saint who sings of mercy with all God's friends in the heavenly Jerusalem. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" >And you, Faustina, a gift of God to our time, a gift from the land of Poland to the whole Church, obtain for us an awareness of the depth of divine mercy; help us to have a living experience of it and to bear witness to it among our brothers and sisters. May your message of light and hope spread throughout the world, spurring sinners to conversion, calming rivalries and hatred and opening individuals and nations to the practice of brotherhood. Today, fixing our gaze with you on the face of the risen Christ, let us make our own your prayer of trusting abandonment and say with firm hope: <i>Christ Jesus, I trust in you! Jezu, ufam tobie! </i> </span></p><p align="left"><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" > </span></p>MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-44793220646302989882009-04-12T13:46:00.000-07:002009-04-12T13:57:26.138-07:00FIDES ET RATIO (Faith and Reason) Pope John Paul II<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Just thinking it's time to review this especially for anyone who has not had the priviledge to have read this before:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/JP2FIDES.HTM">http://www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/JP2FIDES.HTM</a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Christ is Risen indeed ! Glorious Easter to all ! And may we all be blessed to live every day with the thanksgiving we have this day</span>.<br /></span></span>MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-83922700256053169212009-04-11T15:13:00.001-07:002009-04-11T15:13:56.716-07:00Pope Benedict’s homily at the Easter vigil<div class="post hentry category-cns" id="post-6890"> <h2><a href="http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/pope-benedicts-homily-at-the-easter-vigil/" rel="bookmark" title="Pope Benedict’s homily at the Easter vigil">Pope Benedict’s homily at the Easter vigil</a></h2><div class="postinfo"> Posted on <span class="postdate">April 11, 2009</span> by Cindy Wooden </div><div class="entry"> <div class="snap_preview">VATICAN CITY — Here is the Vatican’s English translation of Pope Benedict XVI’s homily this evening at the Easter vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica:<br />
Dear Brothers and Sisters,<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_6891" style="width: 179px;"><img alt="POPE HOLDS CANDLE AS HE CELEBRATES EASTER VIGIL" class="size-full wp-image-6891" height="250" src="http://cnsblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/pope-benedict-easter-vigil-2008.jpg?w=169&h=250" title="Pope Benedict XVI at the Easter vigil 2008" width="169" /><div class="wp-caption-text">Pope Benedict XVI holds a candle during last year's Easter vigil. (CNS photo/Giampiero Sposito, Reuters)</div></div>Saint Mark tells us in his Gospel that as the disciples came down from the Mount of the Transfiguration, they were discussing among themselves what “rising from the dead” could mean (cf. Mk 9:10). A little earlier, the Lord had foretold his passion and his resurrection after three days. Peter had protested against this prediction of death. But now, they were wondering what could be meant by the word “resurrection”. Could it be that we find ourselves in a similar situation? Christmas, the birth of the divine Infant, we can somehow immediately comprehend. We can love the child, we can imagine that night in Bethlehem, Mary’s joy, the joy of Saint Joseph and the shepherds, the exultation of the angels. But what is resurrection? It does not form part of our experience, and so the message often remains to some degree beyond our understanding, a thing of the past. The Church tries to help us understand it, by expressing this mysterious event in the language of symbols in which we can somehow contemplate this astonishing event. During the Easter Vigil, the Church points out the significance of this day principally through three symbols: light, water, and the new song - the Alleluia.<br />
First of all, there is light. God’s creation - which has just been proclaimed to us in the Biblical narrative - begins with the command: “Let there be light!” (Gen 1:3). Where there is light, life is born, chaos can be transformed into cosmos. In the Biblical message, light is the most immediate image of God: He is total Radiance, Life, Truth, Light. During the Easter Vigil, the Church reads the account of creation as a prophecy. In the resurrection, we see the most sublime fulfilment of what this text describes as the beginning of all things. God says once again: “Let there be light!” The resurrection of Jesus is an eruption of light. Death is conquered, the tomb is thrown open. The Risen One himself is Light, the Light of the world. With the resurrection, the Lord’s day enters the nights of history. Beginning with the resurrection, God’s light spreads throughout the world and throughout history. Day dawns. This Light alone - Jesus Christ - is the true light, something more than the physical phenomenon of light. He is pure Light: God himself, who causes a new creation to be born in the midst of the old, transforming chaos into cosmos.<br />
Let us try to understand this a little better. Why is Christ Light? In the Old Testament, the Torah was considered to be like the light coming from God for the world and for humanity. The Torah separates light from darkness within creation, that is to say, good from evil. It points out to humanity the right path to true life. It points out the good, it demonstrates the truth and it leads us towards love, which is the deepest meaning contained in the Torah. It is a “lamp” for our steps and a “light” for our path (cf. Ps 119:105). Christians, then, knew that in Christ, the Torah is present, the Word of God is present in him as Person. The Word of God is the true light that humanity needs. This Word is present in him, in the Son. Psalm 19 had compared the Torah to the sun which manifests God’s glory as it rises, for all the world to see. Christians understand: yes indeed, in the resurrection, the Son of God has emerged as the Light of the world. Christ is the great Light from which all life originates. He enables us to recognize the glory of God from one end of the earth to the other. He points out our path. He is the Lord’s day which, as it grows, is gradually spreading throughout the earth. Now, living with him and for him, we can live in the light.<br />
At the Easter Vigil, the Church represents the mystery of the light of Christ in the sign of the Paschal candle, whose flame is both light and heat. The symbolism of light is connected with that of fire: radiance and heat, radiance and the transforming energy contained in the fire - truth and love go together. The Paschal candle burns, and is thereby consumed: Cross and resurrection are inseparable. From the Cross, from the Son’s self-giving, light is born, true radiance comes into the world. From the Paschal candle we all light our own candles, especially the newly baptized, for whom the light of Christ enters deeply into their hearts in this Sacrament.<br />
The early Church described Baptism as fotismos, as the Sacrament of illumination, as a communication of light, and linked it inseparably with the resurrection of Christ. In Baptism, God says to the candidate: “Let there be light!” The candidate is brought into the light of Christ. Christ now divides the light from the darkness. In him we recognize what is true and what is false, what is radiance and what is darkness. With him, there wells up within us the light of truth, and we begin to understand. On one occasion when Christ looked upon the people who had come to listen to him, seeking some guidance from him, he felt compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd (cf. Mk 6:34). Amid the contradictory messages of that time, they did not know which way to turn. What great compassion he must feel in our own time too - on account of all the endless talk that people hide behind, while in reality they are totally confused. Where must we go? What are the values by which we can order our lives? The values by which we can educate our young, without giving them norms they may be unable to resist, or demanding of them things that perhaps should not be imposed upon them? He is the Light. The baptismal candle is the symbol of enlightenment that is given to us in Baptism. Thus at this hour, Saint Paul speaks to us with great immediacy. In the Letter to the Philippians, he says that, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, Christians should shine as lights in the world (cf. Phil 2:15). Let us pray to the Lord that the fragile flame of the candle he has lit in us, the delicate light of his word and his love amid the confusions of this age, will not be extinguished in us, but will become ever stronger and brighter, so that we, with him, can be people of the day, bright stars lighting up our time.<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_6894" style="width: 176px;"><img alt="MAN FILLS GLASS WITH WATER FROM SPRING IN LOURDES" class="size-full wp-image-6894" height="250" src="http://cnsblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/water.jpg?w=166&h=250" title="Water" width="166" /><div class="wp-caption-text">(CNS photo by Nancy Wiechec)</div></div>The second symbol of the Easter Vigil - the night of Baptism - is water. It appears in Sacred Scripture, and hence also in the inner structure of the Sacrament of Baptism, with two opposed meanings. On the one hand there is the sea, which appears as a force antagonistic to life on earth, continually threatening it; yet God has placed a limit upon it. Hence the book of Revelation says that in God’s new world, the sea will be no more (cf. 21:1). It is the element of death. And so it becomes the symbolic representation of Jesus’ death on the Cross: Christ descended into the sea, into the waters of death, as Israel did into the Red Sea. Having risen from death, he gives us life. This means that Baptism is not only a cleansing, but a new birth: with Christ we, as it were, descend into the sea of death, so as to rise up again as new creatures.<br />
The other way in which we encounter water is in the form of the fresh spring that gives life, or the great river from which life comes forth. According to the earliest practice of the Church, Baptism had to be administered with water from a fresh spring. Without water there is no life. It is striking how much importance is attached to wells in Sacred Scripture. They are places from which life rises forth. Beside Jacob’s well, Christ spoke to the Samaritan woman of the new well, the water of true life. He reveals himself to her as the new, definitive Jacob, who opens up for humanity the well that is awaited: the inexhaustible source of life-giving water (cf. Jn 4:5-15). Saint John tells us that a soldier with a lance struck the side of Jesus, and from his open side - from his pierced heart - there came out blood and water (cf. Jn 19:34). The early Church saw in this a symbol of Baptism and Eucharist flowing from the pierced heart of Jesus. In his death, Jesus himself became the spring. The prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of the new Temple from which a spring issues forth that becomes a great life-giving river (cf. Ezek 47:1-12). In a land which constantly suffered from drought and water shortage, this was a great vision of hope. Nascent Christianity understood: in Christ, this vision was fulfilled. He is the true, living Temple of God. He is the spring of living water. From him, the great river pours forth, which in Baptism renews the world and makes it fruitful; the great river of living water, his Gospel which makes the earth fertile. In a discourse during the Feast of Tabernacles, though, Jesus prophesied something still greater: “Whoever believes in me … out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:38). In Baptism, the Lord makes us not only persons of light, but also sources from which living water bursts forth. We all know people like that, who leave us somehow refreshed and renewed; people who are like a fountain of fresh spring water. We do not necessarily have to think of great saints like Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Mother Teresa of Calcutta and so on, people through whom rivers of living water truly entered into human history. Thanks be to God, we find them constantly even in our daily lives: people who are like a spring. Certainly, we also know the opposite: people who spread around themselves an atmosphere like a stagnant pool of stale, or even poisoned water. Let us ask the Lord, who has given us the grace of Baptism, for the gift always to be sources of pure, fresh water, bubbling up from the fountain of his truth and his love!<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_6897" style="width: 260px;"><img alt="GIRL SINGS DURING MASS FOR YOUNG CATHOLICS OF AFRICAN ANCESTRY I" class="size-full wp-image-6897" height="178" src="http://cnsblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/sing.jpg?w=250&h=178" title="GIRL SINGS DURING MASS IN NEW YORK" width="250" /><div class="wp-caption-text">A young girl sings during a Mass in New York (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz, Long Island Catholic)</div></div>The third great symbol of the Easter Vigil is something rather different; it has to do with man himself. It is the singing of the new song - the alleluia. When a person experiences great joy, he cannot keep it to himself. He has to express it, to pass it on. But what happens when a person is touched by the light of the resurrection, and thus comes into contact with Life itself, with Truth and Love? He cannot merely speak about it. Speech is no longer adequate. He has to sing. The first reference to singing in the Bible comes after the crossing of the Red Sea. Israel has risen out of slavery. It has climbed up from the threatening depths of the sea. It is as it were reborn. It lives and it is free. The Bible describes the people’s reaction to this great event of salvation with the verse: “The people … believed in the Lord and in Moses his servant” (Ex 14:31). Then comes the second reaction which, with a kind of inner necessity, follows from the first one: “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord …” At the Easter Vigil, year after year, we Christians intone this song after the third reading, we sing it as our song, because we too, through God’s power, have been drawn forth from the water and liberated for true life.<br />
There is a surprising parallel to the story of Moses’ song after Israel’s liberation from Egypt upon emerging from the Red Sea, namely in the Book of Revelation of Saint John. Before the beginning of the seven last plagues imposed upon the earth, the seer has a vision of something “like a sea of glass mingled with fire; and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb …” (Rev 15:2f.). This image describes the situation of the disciples of Jesus Christ in every age, the situation of the Church in the history of this world. Humanly speaking, it is self-contradictory. On the one hand, the community is located at the Exodus, in the midst of the Red Sea, in a sea which is paradoxically ice and fire at the same time. And must not the Church, so to speak, always walk on the sea, through the fire and the cold? Humanly speaking, she ought to sink. But while she is still walking in the midst of this Red Sea, she sings - she intones the song of praise of the just: the song of Moses and of the Lamb, in which the Old and New Covenants blend into harmony. While, strictly speaking, she ought to be sinking, the Church sings the song of thanksgiving of the saved. She is standing on history’s waters of death and yet she has already risen. Singing, she grasps at the Lord’s hand, which holds her above the waters. And she knows that she is thereby raised outside the force of gravity of death and evil - a force from which otherwise there would be no way of escape - raised and drawn into the new gravitational force of God, of truth and of love. At present she is still between the two gravitational fields. But once Christ is risen, the gravitational pull of love is stronger than that of hatred; the force of gravity of life is stronger than that of death. Perhaps this is actually the situation of the Church in every age? It always seems as if she ought to be sinking, and yet she is always already saved. Saint Paul illustrated this situation with the words: “We are as dying, and behold we live” (2 Cor 6:9). The Lord’s saving hand holds us up, and thus we can already sing the song of the saved, the new song of the risen ones: alleluia! Amen.<br />
</div><div class="postinfo"> Filed under: <a href="http://en.wordpress.com/tag/cns/" rel="category tag" title="View all posts in CNS">CNS</a> </div></div></div>MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-61405723165383684452009-04-11T11:24:00.000-07:002009-04-11T11:27:36.375-07:00O happy fault, that merited to have such and so great a Redeemer!<u><strong><br /> 2002 Missale Romanum</strong></u><br /> <blockquote><p>Exult now O ye angelic throngs of the heavens:<br /> Exult O ye divine mysteries:<br /> and let the saving trumpet resound for the victory of so great a King.<br /> Let the earthly realm also be joyful, made radiant by such flashings like lightning:<br /> and, made bright with the splendor of the eternal King,<br /> let it perceive that it has dismissed the entire world’s gloom.<br /> Let Mother Church rejoice as well,<br /> adorned with the blazes of so great a light:<br /> and let this royal hall ring with the great voices of the peoples.<br /> Wherefore, most beloved brothers and sisters,<br /> you here present to such a wondrous brightness of this holy light,<br /> I beseech you, together with me<br /> invoke the mercy of Almighty God.<br /> Let Him who deigned to gather me in among the number of the Levites,<br /> by no merits of mine,<br /> while pouring forth the glory of His own light<br /> enable me to bring to fullness the praise of this waxen candle.</p><p> Deacon: The Lord be with you!<br /> Response: And with your spirit!<br /> D: Raise your hearts on high!<br /> R: We now have them present to the Lord!<br /> D: Let us then give thanks to the Lord our God!<br /> R: This is worthy and just!</p><p class="MsoNormal">Truly it is worthy and just<br /> to resound forth with the whole of the heart, disposition of mind,<br /> and by the ministry of the voice,<br /> the invisible God the Father Almighty,<br /> and His Only-begotten Son<br /> our Lord Jesus Christ,</p><p class="MsoNormal">Who, on our behalf, resolved Adam’s debt to the Eternal Father<br /> and cleansed with dutiful bloodshed the bond of the ancient crime.</p><p class="MsoNormal">For these are the Paschal holy days,<br /> in which that true Lamb is slain,<br /> by Whose Blood the doorposts of the faithful are consecrated.<br /> This is the night<br /> in which first of all You caused our forefathers,<br /> the children of Israel brought forth from Egypt,<br /> to pass dry shod through the Red Sea.<br /> This is the night<br /> which purged the darkness of sins by the illumination of the pillar.<br /> This is the night<br /> which today restores to grace and unites in sanctity throughout the world Christ’s believers,<br /> separated from the vices of the world and the darkness of sins.<br /> This is the night<br /> in which, once the chains of death were undone,<br /> Christ the victor arose from the nether realm.<br /> For it would have profited us nothing to have been born,<br /> unless it had been fitting for us to be redeemed.<br /> O wondrous condescension of Your dutiful concern for us!<br /> O inestimable affection of sacrificial love:<br /> You delivered up Your Son that You might redeem the slave!<br /> O truly needful sin of Adam,<br /> that was blotted out by the death of Christ!<br /> O happy fault,<br /> that merited to have such and so great a Redeemer!<br /> O truly blessed night,<br /> that alone deserved to know the time and hour<br /> in which Christ rose again from the nether world!<br /> This is the night about which it was written:<br /> And night shall be made as bright as day:<br /> and night is as my brightness for me.<br /> Therefore the sanctification of this night puts to flight all wickedness, cleanses sins,<br /> and restores innocence to the fallen and gladness to the sorrowful.<br /> It drives away hatreds, procures concord, and makes dominions bend.<br /> Therefore, in this night of grace,<br /> accept, O Holy Father, the evening sacrifice of this praise,<br /> which Holy Church renders to You<br /> in the solemn offering of this waxen candle </p><p> by the hands of Your ministers from the work of bees.<br /> We are knowing now the proclamations of this column,<br /> which glowing fire kindles in honor of God.<br /> Which fire, although it is divided into parts,<br /> is knowing no loss from its light being lent out.<br /> For it is nourished by the melting streams of wax,<br /> which the mother bee produced for the substance of this precious torch.<br /> O truly blessed night,<br /> in which heavenly things are joined to those of earth,<br /> the divine to the human!<br /> Therefore, we beseech You, O Lord,<br /> that this waxen candle, consecrated in honor of Your name,<br /> may continue unfailing to dispel the darkness of this night.<br /> And once it is accepted as a placating sacrifice,<br /> may it be mingled with the heavenly lights.<br /> Let the morning star meet with its flame:<br /> that very star, I say, which knows no setting:<br /> Who, having returned from the nether realm,<br /> broke serene like the dawn upon the human race,<br /> and now lives and reigns forever and ever.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>(special thanks to Fr. Z for this)<br /></p></blockquote>MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-21683100478020896222009-04-10T18:32:00.000-07:002009-04-10T18:37:57.445-07:00St. George The Martyr, Feast Day April 23 - Maronite Saints Calendar<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SA17tACkbjA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SA17tACkbjA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />(Prayer in Aramaic, Jesus' Language)<br /><br /><p><i><u><span style="color:#ff0000;">St. George</span></u></i> (d. c. 303). <b>Although he is the patron of England, Portugal, Germany, Aragon, Genoa, and Venice and is venerated in the East as one of the <i>Fourteen Holy Helpers,</i> all that is known of him with any certainty is that he suffered martyrdom at Lydda, Palestine, sometime before the reign of Emperor Constantine and that he may have been a soldier in the imperial army.A great church was erected over his tomb and the dedication of this church is celebrated on November 3rd. The devotion to this saint has spread throughout the East and West; the faithful of all rites and nations count him as one of their own. The Cathedrals of Beirut and Sarba are dedicated to him as are a great number of other sanctuaries throughout Lebanon. He is the patron of England, the army, young people and scouts.</b> </p><p><b>All else is myth and legend that began to appear in the sixth century. The story of his slaying of the dragon does not appear until the twelfth century and became popular after its appearance in the <i>Golden Legend</i> in the thirteenth century. According to it he was Christian knight who came to Sylene in Libya, where a dragon was terrorizing the city. The people were supplying the dragon with a victim at his demand; the latest victim was a princess. George sallied forth, attacked, and subdued the dragon; the princess led it back into the city, and George slew it after the inhabitants agreed to be baptized.</b><br /> <br /><b>A later accretion had him marry the princess. He was known in England as early as the eighth century and had tremendous appeal in the Middle Ages as the patron of knighthood and soldiers, particularly among the Crusaders. "St. George's arms," a red cross on a white background, become the basis of the uniforms of British soldiers and sailors; the red cross appears in the Union Jack; and the Order of the Garter, founded about 1347, is under his patronage. <i>April 23.</i></b> </p><h4> That <i>St. George</i> was a martyr in Palestine about the year 303 is fact; the dragon-slaying is a legend. But the legend has captured the imagination of Christians everywhere. He is a favorite patron of England, and of many other countries, provinces and cities.</h4> <b>St. Peter Damian, an eleventh century Doctor of the Church and great preacher, managed a sermon about St. George without facts and with legend. In part he said:</b> <ul><b>"<i>St. George</i> was a man who abandoned one army for another: he gave up the rank of tribune to enlist as a soldier of Christ. Eager to encounter the enemy, he first stripped away his worldly wealth by giving all he had to the poor. Then, free and unemcumbered, bearing the shield of faith, he plunged into the thick of battle, an argent soldier for Christ.</b><p><b>"Clearly what he did serves to teach us a valuable lesson: if we are afraid to strip ourselves of our worldly possessions, then we are unfit to make a strong defense of the faith.</b> </p><p><b>"As for <i>St. George,</i> he was consumed with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Armed with the invincible standard of the cross, he did battle with an evil king and acquitted himself so well that, in vanquishing the king, he overcame the prince of all wicked spirits, and encouraged other soldiers of Christ to perform brave deeds in his cause... "Dear brothers, let us not only admire the courage of this fighter in heaven's army, but follow his example." (2nd Reading, <i>Liturgy of the Hours</i>).</b></p></ul> <b>A strong witness for Christ, <i>St. George</i> followed Jesus "in suffering death, so may he be ready to help us in our weakness." (Opening Prayer). April 23</b> <p><b><i>May his prayers be with us and defend us.</i> Amen.</b></p><p><b>http://www.opuslibani.org.lb/egliseeng/002/sanct.htm<br /></b> </p>MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-62421634407306479072009-03-29T17:10:00.000-07:002009-03-29T17:41:05.084-07:00April 4 -- Saint Isidore, Bishop of Seville<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbEDX0aXRmwSw8pcPvfJYykWDWYdMfkQbpsP77EZMH3dv-P3lNghmm0qaj_egXbMLGMstuaJ1fakQTc5XmcP8iIHeDWv6gEphZ0BknNc0EEM6nmkksLDbtggJT1mdNMqbhVKY4aipIwM/s1600-h/st_isidorus_home.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 227px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbEDX0aXRmwSw8pcPvfJYykWDWYdMfkQbpsP77EZMH3dv-P3lNghmm0qaj_egXbMLGMstuaJ1fakQTc5XmcP8iIHeDWv6gEphZ0BknNc0EEM6nmkksLDbtggJT1mdNMqbhVKY4aipIwM/s320/st_isidorus_home.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318773366990954242" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy7NOFEJugXDnry2PVQ6yS1ld7yRcTaOPYpLU5hf91j8dIxQpIO9W1vZezht_0EmTNK2mBXR3xHBwWJ-xK4nkclHLJJDlCaosKDBej7o6NCeVYSGMbnGEoAxhnjWOMDKmfhAJwM7zfI7Q/s1600-h/st+isidore+of+seville.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 124px; height: 93px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy7NOFEJugXDnry2PVQ6yS1ld7yRcTaOPYpLU5hf91j8dIxQpIO9W1vZezht_0EmTNK2mBXR3xHBwWJ-xK4nkclHLJJDlCaosKDBej7o6NCeVYSGMbnGEoAxhnjWOMDKmfhAJwM7zfI7Q/s320/st+isidore+of+seville.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318768719048982034" border="0" /></a><br />ST ISIDORE, BISHOP OF SEVILLE-636 A.D.<br />Feast: April 4<br />From his works and those of SS Braulio and Ildefonse, his disciples. His life, compiled by Luke, Bishop of Tuy, in Galicia, in 1236, extant in Mabillon, Saec. Ben. ii., shows not that accuracy and judgment which we admire in the books of that author against the Albigenses: nor is it here made use of.<br /><br />St Isidore is honoured in Spain as the most illustrious doctor of that church, in which God raised him, says St. Braulio,1 to stem the torrent of barbarism and ferocity which everywhere followed the arms of the Goths, who had settled themselves in that kingdom in 412. The eighth great council of Toledo, fourteen years after his death, styles him "the excellent doctor, the late ornament of the Catholic Church, the most learned man, given to enlighten the latter ages, always to be named with reverence." The city Carthagena was the place of his birth, which his parents, Severian and Theodora, persons of the first quality in the kingdom, edified by the example of their extraordinary piety. His two brothers, Leander and Fulgentius, bishops, and his sister Florentina, are also honoured among the saints. Isidore having qualified himself in his youth for the service of the church by an uncommon stock of virtue and learning, assisted his brother, Leander, Archbishop of Seville, in the conversion of the Visigoths from the Arian heresy. This great work he had the happiness to see perfectly accomplished by his indefatigable zeal and labours, which he continued during the successive reigns of the kings Reccared, Liuba, Witeric, Gundemar, Sisebut, and Sisemund. Upon the decease of St. Leander, in 600 or 601, he succeeded him in the see of Seville. He restored and settled the discipline of the church of Spain in several councils, of all of which he was the oracle and the soul. The purity of their doctrine, and the severity of the canons enacted in them, drawn up chiefly by him, are incontestable monuments of his great learning and zeal. In the council of Seville, in 619, in which he presided, he, in a public disputation, convinced Gregory (a bishop of the Acephali) of his error, who was come over from Syria; and so evidently did he confute the Eutychian heresy that Gregory upon the spot embraced the Catholic faith. In 610, the bishops of Spain, in a council held at Toledo, agreed to declare the archbishop of that city Primate of all Spain, as, they say, he had always been acknowledged; which decree King Gundemar confirmed by a law the same year, and St. Isidore subscribed the same. Yet we find that in the fourth council of Toledo, in 633, the most famous of all the synods of Spain, though Justus, the Archbishop of Toledo, was present, St. Isidore presided, not by the privilege of his see, but on the bare consideration of his extraordinary merit; for he was regarded as the eminent doctor of the churches of Spain. The city of Toledo was honoured with the residence of the Visigoth kings.<br /><br />St. Isidore, to extend to posterity the advantages which his labours had procured to the church, compiled many useful works, in which he takes in the whole circle of the sciences, and discovers a most extensive reading, and a general acquaintance with the ancient writers, both sacred and profane. In the moral parts his style is pathetic and moving, being the language of a heart overflowing with sentiments of religion and piety; and though elegance and politeness of style were not the advantage of that age, the diction of this father is agreeable and clear. The saint was well versed in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages.<br /><br />St. Ildefonse says that this saint governed his church near forty years, but cannot mean above thirty-six or thirty-seven. When he was almost fourscore years old, though age and fatigues had undermined and broken into his health, he never interrupted his usual exercises and labours. During the last six months of his life he increased his charities with such profusion that the poor of the whole country crowded his house from morning till night. Perceiving his end to draw near, he entreated two bishops to come to see him. With them he went to church, where one of them covered him with sackcloth, the other put ashes on his head. Clothed with the habit of penance, he stretched his hands towards heaven, prayed with great eagerness, and begged aloud the pardon of his sins. He then received from the hands of the bishops the body and blood of our Lord, recommended himself to the prayers of all that were present, remitted the bonds of all his debtors, exhorted the people to charity, and caused all the money which he had not as yet disposed of to be distributed among the poor. This done, he returned to his own house, and calmly departed this life on the fourth day after, which was the 4th of April, in the year 636, as is expressly testified by Aedemptus, his disciple, who was present at his death. His body was interred in his cathedral between those of his brother, St. Leander, and his sister, St. Florentina. Ferdinand, King of Castile and Leon, recovered his relics from the Moors and placed them in the church of St. John Baptist at Leon, where they still remain.<br /><br />All who are employed in the functions of Martha or of an exterior active life, must always remember that action and contemplation ought to be so constantly intermingled, that the former be always animated and directed by the latter, and amid the exterior labors of the active life, we constantly enjoy the interior repose of the contemplative, and that no employments entirely interrupt the union of our souls to God; but those that are most distracting serve to make us more closely, more eagerly, and more amorously, plunge our hearts in Him, embracing him in himself by contemplation, and In our neighbor by our actions.<br /><br />++++++++++<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Proposed" patron saint of the internet...a prayer prior to logging on:</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Almighty and eternal God,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> who created us in Thy image and bade us to seek after all that is good,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> true and beautiful,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> especially in the divine person of Thy only-begotten Son,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> our Lord Jesus Christ,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> grant we beseech Thee that,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> through the intercession of Saint Isidore,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> bishop and doctor,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> during our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> Through Christ our Lord.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> Amen </span>MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-79322237679516526202009-03-29T09:17:00.000-07:002009-03-29T09:45:11.692-07:00Byzantine St. John Climacus -- March 29 -- "The Ladder of Divine Ascent"<div style="text-align: left;">Special thanks to Deacon David Hess, Byzantine, for keeping me informed of blessings !<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyEoCPsY7IKNFl6juVg9bb0cuuQZIX8u5-ZqavwnN8dJKIno1tQ09CzG24gDIp3JF9nBcD_WX1d7k2sL0IyWIzZ1Ceht3vwqlR5t_D0VEjA8bMTeOuvKjETy_uz5oGJilwUla7bZcMPg/s1600-h/I0719000000F0872AB_sunday_climacus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyEoCPsY7IKNFl6juVg9bb0cuuQZIX8u5-ZqavwnN8dJKIno1tQ09CzG24gDIp3JF9nBcD_WX1d7k2sL0IyWIzZ1Ceht3vwqlR5t_D0VEjA8bMTeOuvKjETy_uz5oGJilwUla7bZcMPg/s320/I0719000000F0872AB_sunday_climacus.jpg" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZJkUAJzdbcqCmpCuuK5Ti7MkRMJKh7ZFIc5NNEPGg-uIJYAAEbAGYgx0iH-auoqpmsQu3dkTfptFb8xYtiysCMKoc4zH4c8aJ1iOk6KHF6ec_oghW_pgmNqyxMZuiou3ZDyTxj2vcZQ/s1600-h/John_Climacus.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 276px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZJkUAJzdbcqCmpCuuK5Ti7MkRMJKh7ZFIc5NNEPGg-uIJYAAEbAGYgx0iH-auoqpmsQu3dkTfptFb8xYtiysCMKoc4zH4c8aJ1iOk6KHF6ec_oghW_pgmNqyxMZuiou3ZDyTxj2vcZQ/s320/John_Climacus.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318647596493532146" border="0" /></a></div>Description of Sun. Of St. John Climacus<br />The memory of this Saint is celebrated on Sunday, March 29th, where his biography may be found. He is celebrated today because his book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, is a sure guide to the ascetic life, written by a great man of prayer experienced in all forms of the monastic polity; it teaches the seeker after salvation how to lay a sound foundation for his struggles, how to detect and war against each of the passions, how to avoid the snares laid by the demons, and how to rise from the rudimental virtues to the heights of Godlike love and humility. It is held in such high esteem that it is universally read in its entirety in monasteries during the Great Fast.<br /><br />He came to the monastery and became a novice when he was about 16 years old, and when he died in 649 he was the monastery's <a href="http://orthodoxwiki.org/Abbot" title="Abbot">abbot</a>.<br /><br />++++++++++++++++<br /><br />"Nothing equals or excels God's mercies. Therefore, he who despairs is committing suicide. A sign of true repentance is the acknowledgment that we deserve all the afflictions, visible and invisible, that come upon us, and ever greater ones. Moses, after seeing God in the bush, returned again to Egypt, that is, to darkness and to the brick-making of Pharaoh, who was symbolical of the spiritual Pharaoh. But he went back again to the bush, and not only to the bush, but also up the mountain. Whoever has known divine vision will never despair of himself. Job became a beggar, but he became twice as rich again."<br /><br /><p>"Repentance is the renewal of baptism. Repentance is a contract with God for a second life. A penitent is a buyer of humility. Repentance is constant distrust of bodily comfort. Repentance is self-condemning reflection, and carefree self-care. Repentance is the daughter of hope and the renunciation of despair. A penitent is an undisgraced convict. Repentance is reconciliation with the Lord by the practice of good deeds contrary to the sins. Repentance is purification of conscience. Repentance is the voluntary endurance of all afflictions. A penitent is the inflicter of his own punishments. Repentance is a mighty persecution of the stomach, and a striking of the soul into vigorous awareness." </p><p>"Let us charge into the good fight with joy and love without being afraid of our enemies. Though unseen themselves, they can look at the face of our soul, and if they see it altered by fear, they take up arms against us all the more fiercely. For the cunning creatures have observed that we are scared. So let us take up arms against them courageously. No one will fight with a resolute fighter." </p><p>"Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards you will honour your patience." </p><p>"He who really keeps account of his actions considers as lost every day in which he does not mourn, whatever good he may have done in it." </p><p>"I consider those fallen mourners more blessed than those who have not fallen and are not mourning over themselves; because as a result of their fall, they have risen by a sure resurrection." </p><p>"But Adam did not wish to say, "I sinned," but said rather the contrary of this and placed the blame for the transgression upon God Who created everything "very good," saying to Him, "The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate." And after him she also placed the blame upon the serpent, and they did not wish at all to repent and, falling down before the Lord God, beg forgiveness of Him. For this, God banished them from Paradise, as from a royal palace, to live in this world as exiles. At that time also He decreed that a flaming sword should be turned and should guard the entrance into Paradise. And God did not curse Paradise, since it was the image of the future unending life of the eternal Kingdom of Heaven. If it were not for this reason, it would have been fitting to curse it most of all, since within it was performed the transgression of Adam. But God did not do this, but cursed only the whole rest of the earth, which also was corrupt and brought forth everything by itself; and this was in order that Adam might not have any longer a life free from exhausting labors and sweat..."<br /></p><p>+++++++++</p><h3 class="post-title entry-title"> </h3> <div class="post-body entry-content"> The following is from The Ladder of Divine Ascent, by Saint John Climacus:<br /><blockquote>Obedience is absolute renunciation of our own life, clearly expressed in our bodily actions. Or, conversely, obedience is the mortification of the limbs while the mind remains alive. Obedience is unquestioning movement, voluntary death, a life free of curiosity, carefree danger, unprepared defence before God, fearlessness of death, a safe voyage, a sleeper's progress. Obedience is the tomb of the will and the resurrection of humility. A corpse does not argue or reason as to what is good or what seems to be bad. For he who has devoutly put the soul of the novice to death will answer for everything. Obedience is an abandonment of discernment in a wealth of discernment.<br />...<br />When motives of humility and real longing for salvation incite us to bend our neck and entrust ourselves to another in the Lord, before entering upon this life, if there is any cleverness and prudence in us, we ought first to question and examine, and even, so to speak, test our helmsman, so as not to mistake the sailor for the pilot, a sick man for a doctor, a passionate for a dispassionate man, the sea for a harbour, and so bring about the speedy shipwreck of our soul. But when once we have entered the arena of piety and obedience, we must no longer judge our good manager in any way at all, even though we may perhaps see in him some slight failings, since he is only human. Otherwise, by sitting in judgment we shall get no profit from our subjection.<br />...<br />It is the property of angels,' he continued, 'not to fall, and even, as some say, it is quite impossible for them to fall. It is the property of men to fall, and to rise again as often as this may happen. But it is the property to devils, and devils alone, not to rise once they have fallen.<br />...<br />He whose will and desire in conversation is to establish his own opinion, even though what he says is true, should recognize that he is sick with the devil's disease. And if he behaves like this only in conversation with his equals, then perhaps the rebuke of his superiors may heal him. But if he acts in this way even with those who are greater and wiser than he, then his malady is humanly incurable.<br />...<br />He who is not submissive in speech, clearly will not be so in act either. For he who is unfaithful in little is also unfaithful in much, and is intractable. He labours in vain, and he will get nothing from holy obedience but his own doom.<br /><br /><br /></blockquote></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-10157989803663784002009-03-24T14:26:00.000-07:002009-03-24T14:26:38.622-07:00British Museum Discovers Relics of 39 Saints -- St. Benedict is One of ThemThe new medieval gallery at the British Museum is full of beautiful images of saints in ivory, stone, gold and wood - but invisible to visitors, it also holds the bones of 39 real saints, whose discovery came as a shock to their curator.<br />
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The relics, packed in tiny bundles of cloth including one scrap of fabric over 1,000 years old, were found when a 12th-century German portable altar was opened for the first time since it came into the British Museum collection in 1902.<br />
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It was in for a condition check and cleaning, before going on display in the gallery that opens tomorrow - but to the amazement of James Robinson, curator of medieval antiquities, when it was opened a linen cloth was revealed, and inside it dozens of tiny bundles of cloth, each neatly labelled on little pieces of vellum.<br />
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The most precious was the relic of St Benedict, an Italian who in the early 6th century was credited as the father of the western monastic tradition, founding monasteries and establishing guiding principles still followed at many monasteries. The relic was wrapped in cloth that was itself an extraordinary object, a piece of silk from 8th or 9th century Byzantium.<br />
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Each Roman Catholic altar-stone is supposed to contain at least one relic of a saint, usually in the form of minute flakes of bone. There was a clue on the back of the museum's altar in a list of names beginning slightly implausibly with John the Baptist, and including saints James, John and Mary Magdalene.<br />
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There are many reliquaries in the gallery, in the form of crosses, pendants and rings, including one owned by a saint, the Georgian queen Kethevan who was executed by Shah Abbas in 1624 for refusing to convert to Islam. Almost all have long since lost their contents in the centuries of religious and political upheaval which scattered them from palaces and monasteries and eventually brought them to the British Museum. A relic of bone fragments was discovered almost 30 years ago in a spectacular lifesize head of St Eustace, but the relic was sent back to Basle cathedral in Switzerland which was forced to sell the golden reliquary in 1830.<br />
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The newly discovered saints will remain in Bloomsbury. Robinson said they were cared for and rearranged into the 19th century, the date of the most recent piece of fabric, but at some point one was lost as there are 40 engraved names but only 39 saintly bundles.<br />
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To view video of curator explaining the discovery: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2009/mar/23/saints-relics-british-museumMemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-68123986701859751712009-03-23T19:45:00.000-07:002009-03-23T22:57:49.057-07:00My Personal Heroes Entry Five -- Cistercians / Trappists<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhMbwweRfU8dhyxJzbIm5Czhcjj_OE_hNDMk2nYsYcfWoKehVkz1FzBGtTuT14E3qiGDbYnn14GMo3L_s4i9I-SUEaLFpIZ_CMfx8sF1gXGz7nKwlDMLaq4nXV6IRKnnrxfKuhQvpSug/s1600-h/st+bernard+of+clairvaux.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 120px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhMbwweRfU8dhyxJzbIm5Czhcjj_OE_hNDMk2nYsYcfWoKehVkz1FzBGtTuT14E3qiGDbYnn14GMo3L_s4i9I-SUEaLFpIZ_CMfx8sF1gXGz7nKwlDMLaq4nXV6IRKnnrxfKuhQvpSug/s320/st+bernard+of+clairvaux.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316626159311197154" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPWasbiB2ryj28B_8UCm0isGc35Rp7PFk3ejWyQ2rrUeaHCxHwuBjUwyVQMQasg8jlzTKJjVbhzBFEaQhWpIn8OxbGxf8rd2C99biRzlybnDn8gjwg2ASw-N8tDUl3JjR76ZXRv8Sm3E/s1600-h/st+benedict+4.gif"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 143px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPWasbiB2ryj28B_8UCm0isGc35Rp7PFk3ejWyQ2rrUeaHCxHwuBjUwyVQMQasg8jlzTKJjVbhzBFEaQhWpIn8OxbGxf8rd2C99biRzlybnDn8gjwg2ASw-N8tDUl3JjR76ZXRv8Sm3E/s320/st+benedict+4.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316624900295963026" /></a><br />I love all of our dear dear Magisterium. I won't even try to imagine what they go through on a daily basis. I dearly dearly love our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. Not that I don't love all the other popes. I do ! But he is has most specifically touched my spirit and my heart. I dearly love all of our religious! But this personal hero number five is for the Cistercians and Trappists. Not much is said about them and yet they are our front line prayer warriors. In silence they carry our weight in prayer more than we know. <br /><br />+++<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Ora et Labora<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span><br /><br /> As Psalm 19 says, “May the spoken words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart win favor in your sight, O Lord.”<br /> <br /><blockquote>John Cassian quote:<br /><br />When all love, all desire, all zeal, all impulse, our every thought, all that we live, that we speak, that we breathe, will be God, then that unity the Father now has with the Son and the Son with the Father will fill our feelings and our understanding.<br /><br />Just as God has loved us with a sincere and pure and unbreakable love, so may we also be joined to God with an unending and inseparable love.<br /><br />Then we shall be united to this same God in such a way that whatever we breathe, whatever we think, whatever we speak may be God.</blockquote> (Conferences, 10.7.2) <br /><br />+++<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lectio Divina<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress. --from an Easter letter by Saint Athanasius.</span><br /><br />Lectio Divina begins with cultivating the ability to listen deeply, to hear “with the ear of our hearts” as St. Benedict encourages us in the Prologue to the Rule. We should allow ourselves to become women and men who are able to listen for the still, small voice of God (I Kings 19:12) In order to hear someone speaking softly we must learn to be silent. We must learn to love silence.<br /><br />+++<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />St. Bernard of Clairvaux<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>: <span style="font-style:italic;">“In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may more surely obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal” (St. Bernard).<br /><br /><br /><br /> </span>MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-86289464477855964922009-03-21T12:48:00.000-07:002009-03-21T12:52:16.457-07:00Taking Another Look at 2005 Homily by then Joseph Cardnial Ratzinger<span style="font-style:italic;">For Electing the Supreme Pontiff<br />Homily of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals, Mass for the Election of the Supreme Pontiff, St. Peter's Basilica, 18 April 2005<br /></span><br />At this moment of great responsibility, let us listen with special attention to what the Lord says to us in his own words. I would like to examine just a few passages from the three readings that concern us directly at this time.<br /><br />The first one offers us a prophetic portrait of the person of the Messiah - a portrait that receives its full meaning from the moment when Jesus reads the text in the synagogue at Nazareth and says, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing" (Lk 4: 21).<br /><br />At the core of the prophetic text we find a word which seems contradictory, at least at first sight. The Messiah, speaking of himself, says that he was sent "to announce a year of favour from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God" (Is 61: 2). We hear with joy the news of a year of favour: divine mercy puts a limit on evil, as the Holy Father told us. Jesus Christ is divine mercy in person: encountering Christ means encountering God's mercy.<br /><br />Christ's mandate has become our mandate through the priestly anointing. We are called to proclaim, not only with our words but also with our lives and with the valuable signs of the sacraments, "the year of favour from the Lord".<br /><br />But what does the prophet Isaiah mean when he announces "the day of vindication by our God"? At Nazareth, Jesus omitted these words in his reading of the prophet's text; he concluded by announcing the year of favour. Might this have been the reason for the outburst of scandal after his preaching? We do not know.<br /><br />In any case, the Lord offered a genuine commentary on these words by being put to death on the cross. St Peter says: "In his own body he brought your sins to the cross" (I Pt 2: 24). And St Paul writes in his Letter to the Galatians: "Christ has delivered us from the power of the law's curse by himself becoming a curse for us, as it is written, "Accursed is anyone who is hanged on a tree'. This happened so that through Christ Jesus the blessing bestowed on Abraham might descend on the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, thereby making it possible for us to receive the promised Spirit through faith" (Gal 3: 13f.).<br /><br />Christ's mercy is not a grace that comes cheap, nor does it imply the trivialization of evil. Christ carries the full weight of evil and all its destructive force in his body and in his soul. He burns and transforms evil in suffering, in the fire of his suffering love. The day of vindication and the year of favour converge in the Paschal Mystery, in the dead and Risen Christ. This is the vengeance of God: he himself suffers for us, in the person of his Son. The more deeply stirred we are by the Lord's mercy, the greater the solidarity we feel with his suffering - and we become willing to complete in our own flesh "what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ" (Col 1: 24).<br /><br />Let us move on to the second reading, the letter to the Ephesians. Here we see essentially three aspects: first of all, the ministries and charisms in the Church as gifts of the Lord who rose and ascended into heaven; then, the maturing of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God as the condition and content of unity in the Body of Christ; and lastly, our common participation in the growth of the Body of Christ, that is, the transformation of the world into communion with the Lord.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Let us dwell on only two points. The first is the journey towards "the maturity of Christ", as the Italian text says, simplifying it slightly. More precisely, in accordance with the Greek text, we should speak of the "measure of the fullness of Christ" that we are called to attain if we are to be true adults in the faith. We must not remain children in faith, in the condition of minors. And what does it mean to be children in faith? St Paul answers: it means being "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Eph 4: 14). This description is very timely!<br /><br />How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true.<br /><br />Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.</span><br /><br />We, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the true man. He is the measure of true humanism. An "adult" faith is not a faith that follows the trends of fashion and the latest novelty; a mature adult faith is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ. It is this friendship that opens us up to all that is good and gives us a criterion by which to distinguish the true from the false, and deceipt from truth.<br /><br />We must develop this adult faith; we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith. And it is this faith - only faith - that creates unity and is fulfilled in love.<br /><br />On this theme, St Paul offers us as a fundamental formula for Christian existence some beautiful words, in contrast to the continual vicissitudes of those who, like children, are tossed about by the waves: make truth in love. Truth and love coincide in Christ. To the extent that we draw close to Christ, in our own lives too, truth and love are blended. Love without truth would be blind; truth without love would be like "a clanging cymbal" (I Cor 13: 1).<br /><br />Let us now look at the Gospel, from whose riches I would like to draw only two small observations. The Lord addresses these wonderful words to us: "I no longer speak of you as slaves.... Instead, I call you friends" (Jn 15: 15). We so often feel, and it is true, that we are only useless servants (cf. Lk 17: 10).<br /><br />Yet, in spite of this, the Lord calls us friends, he makes us his friends, he gives us his friendship. The Lord gives friendship a dual definition. There are no secrets between friends: Christ tells us all that he hears from the Father; he gives us his full trust and with trust, also knowledge. He reveals his face and his heart to us. He shows us the tenderness he feels for us, his passionate love that goes even as far as the folly of the Cross. He entrusts himself to us, he gives us the power to speak in his name: "this is my body...", "I forgive you...". He entrusts his Body, the Church, to us.<br /><br />To our weak minds, to our weak hands, he entrusts his truth - the mystery of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; the mystery of God who "so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3: 16). He made us his friends - and how do we respond?<br /><br />The second element Jesus uses to define friendship is the communion of wills. For the Romans "Idem velle - idem nolle" [same desires, same dislikes] was also the definition of friendship. "You are my friends if you do what I command you" (Jn 15: 14). Friendship with Christ coincides with the third request of the Our Father: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". At his hour in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus transformed our rebellious human will into a will conformed and united with the divine will. He suffered the whole drama of our autonomy - and precisely by placing our will in God's hands, he gives us true freedom: "Not as I will, but as you will" (Mt 26: 39).<br /><br />Our redemption is brought about in this communion of wills: being friends of Jesus, to become friends of God. The more we love Jesus, the more we know him, the more our true freedom develops and our joy in being redeemed flourishes. Thank you, Jesus, for your friendship!<br /><br />The other element of the Gospel to which I wanted to refer is Jesus' teaching on bearing fruit: "It was I who chose you to go forth and bear fruit. Your fruit must endure" (Jn 15: 16).<br /><br />It is here that appears the dynamism of the life of a Christian, an apostle: I chose you to go forth. We must be enlivened by a holy restlessness: a restlessness to bring to everyone the gift of faith, of friendship with Christ. Truly, the love and friendship of God was given to us so that it might also be shared with others. We have received the faith to give it to others - we are priests in order to serve others. And we must bear fruit that will endure.<br /><br />All people desire to leave a lasting mark. But what endures? Money does not. Even buildings do not, nor books. After a certain time, longer or shorter, all these things disappear. The only thing that lasts for ever is the human soul, the human person created by God for eternity.<br /><br />The fruit that endures is therefore all that we have sown in human souls: love, knowledge, a gesture capable of touching hearts, words that open the soul to joy in the Lord. So let us go and pray to the Lord to help us bear fruit that endures. Only in this way will the earth be changed from a valley of tears to a garden of God.<br /><br />To conclude, let us return once again to the Letter to the Ephesians. The Letter says, with words from Psalm 68, that Christ, ascending into heaven, "gave gifts to men" (Eph 4: 8). The victor offers gifts. And these gifts are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Our ministry is a gift of Christ to humankind, to build up his body - the new world. We live out our ministry in this way, as a gift of Christ to humanity!<br /><br />At this time, however, let us above all pray insistently to the Lord that after his great gift of Pope John Paul II, he will once again give us a Pastor according to his own heart, a Pastor who will guide us to knowledge of Christ, to his love and to true joy.<br />Amen.<br /><br />(Vatican translation) http://www.ewtn.com/pope/words/conclave_homily.aspMemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-1957400611250384132009-03-21T12:01:00.000-07:002009-03-21T12:17:11.744-07:00Cardinal Newman Society launched a website, www.NotreDameScandal.comSouth Bend, Ind., Mar 21, 2009 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- On Friday Catholic and pro-life organizations responded to the announcement that the University of Notre Dame, one of the oldest and most prominent Catholic institution of higher education, will have President Barack Obama to deliver a commencement address on May 17.<br /><br />The University of Notre Dame announced on Friday afternoon that President Barack Obama will be the main speaker and the recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree at the University of Notre Dame’s 164th University Commencement Ceremony at 2 p.m. May 17 (Sunday) in the Joyce Center on campus.<br /><br />According to the Notre Dame press release, “Mr. Obama will be the ninth U.S. president to be awarded an honorary degree by the University and the sixth to be the Commencement speaker.”<br /><br />In response to the announcement, the Cardinal Newman Society launched a website, www.NotreDameScandal.com, including an online petition to Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins, CSC.<br /><br />“It is an outrage and a scandal that ‘Our Lady’s University,’ one of the premier Catholic universities in the United States, would bestow such an honor on President Obama given his clear support for policies and laws that directly contradict fundamental Catholic teachings on life and marriage,” the petition reads.<br /><br />Less than an hour after the petition was posted, it already counted with the support of high-profile Catholics such as Philip F. Lawler, Director of the Catholic Culture Project, Fr. C. J. McCloskey III, and Thomas N. Peters, blogger for the American Papist.<br /><br />Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society, also faxed a letter to Bishop John D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, requesting his intervention.<br /><br />Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League's national director Joe Scheidler –himself a Notre Dame graduate- called on Fr. John Jenkins to withdraw the invitation to Obama.<br /><br />“Over the first two months of his administration, Barack Obama has established himself as the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history,” Scheidler said. “My alma mater should not be providing a platform for this president.”<br /><br />“Starting from his first week in office, President Obama has enacted a string of executive orders, appointments and policy decisions that contradict Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life –a teaching that Notre Dame is supposed to uphold,” he added.<br /><br />Scheidler is also calling on concerned Catholics, especially Notre Dame alumni, to contact Fr. Jenkins and urge him to withdraw the Obama invitation.<br /><br />“Father Jenkins cannot expect pro-life Catholics to stand back and allow the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history to make a mockery of Notre Dame's Catholic identity,” Scheidler said.<br /><br />Austin Ruse, President of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) told CNA “the U.S. Bishops are very clear: pro-abortion speakers should not be given platforms or honors by Catholic institutions. Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion president in our history. One wishes that a venerable institution such as Notre Dame could remain stronger on important points of the faith.”<br /><br />Obama's commencement at Notre Dame was confirmed by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. The future address in South Bend was one of three Gibbs mentioned. Obama also plans to speak to graduates at Arizona State University on May 13 and at U.S. Naval Academy on May 22.<br /><br />According to Catholic analyst Deal Hudson, “Notre Dame knows this is going to create a firestorm – why else issue a press release late on Friday afternoon? Perhaps they are imitating the example of their presidential honoree who has been bringing in the weekends with one pro-abortion announcement after another.”<br /><br />“Need I list the reasons why this is a terrible idea? Need I state the obvious reasons why this will feel like a body-blow to millions of Catholics across the country and around the world?” Hudson asks; and recalls that the U.S. bishops’ document “Catholics in Political Life” (2004) states: “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”<br /><br />“No statements or press releases will undo what Notre Dame’s position in the eyes of the world is in response: ‘Doesn’t matter.’ We’ve got THE ONE. So much for the One to whom the school’s namesake gave birth,” wrote National Review columnist Kathryn Jean Lopez.<br /><br />“At Notre Dame, the administration there just made a choice. They took a giant step away from their identity as ‘Catholic.’ They rather be of this world than the one they supposedly exist to bring people toward,” she also wrote.<br /><br />On May 17, Notre Dame will confer degrees on approximately 2,000 undergraduates, 420 MBA students and 200 Notre Dame Law School students.MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-26872711075609274092009-03-21T11:54:00.000-07:002009-03-21T11:59:31.958-07:00“November showed us that 40 years of American Catholic complacency and poor formation are bearing exactly the fruit we should have expected.Detroit, Mich., Mar 21, 2009 / 12:32 pm (CNA).- Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput delivered a speech on Saturday reflecting on the significance of the November 2008 election. Warning that media “narratives” should not obscure truth, he blamed the indifference and complacency of many U.S. Catholics for the country’s failures on abortion, poverty and immigration issues.<br /><br />He also advised Catholics to “master the language of popular culture” and to refuse to be afraid, saying “fear is the disease of our age.”<br /><br />The archbishop’s comments were delivered in his keynote address at the Hands-On Conference Celebrating the Year of St. Paul, which was hosted at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.<br /><br />Having been asked to examine what November 2008 and its aftermath can teach Catholics about American culture, the state of American Catholicism and the kind of Pauline discipleship necessary today, Archbishop Chaput said:<br /><br />“November showed us that 40 years of American Catholic complacency and poor formation are bearing exactly the fruit we should have expected. Or to put it more discreetly, the November elections confirmed a trend, rather than created a new moment, in American culture.”<br /><br />Noting that there was no question about President Barack Obama’s views on abortion “rights,” embryonic stem cell research and other “problematic issues,” he commented:<br /><br />“Some Catholics in both political parties are deeply troubled by these issues. But too many Catholics just don’t really care. That’s the truth of it. If they cared, our political environment would be different. If 65 million Catholics really cared about their faith and cared about what it teaches, neither political party could ignore what we believe about justice for the poor, or the homeless, or immigrants, or the unborn child. If 65 million American Catholics really understood their faith, we wouldn’t need to waste each other’s time arguing about whether the legalized killing of an unborn child is somehow ‘balanced out’ or excused by three other good social policies.”<br /><br />Offering a sober evaluation of the state of American Catholicism, he added:<br /><br />“We need to stop over-counting our numbers, our influence, our institutions and our resources, because they’re not real. We can’t talk about following St. Paul and converting our culture until we sober up and get honest about what we’ve allowed ourselves to become. We need to stop lying to each other, to ourselves and to God by claiming to ‘personally oppose’ some homicidal evil -- but then allowing it to be legal at the same time.”<br /><br />Commenting on society’s attitude towards Catholic beliefs, Archbishop Chaput said, “we have to make ourselves stupid to believe some of the things American Catholics are now expected to accept.”<br /><br />“There’s nothing more empty-headed in a pluralist democracy than telling citizens to keep quiet about their beliefs. A healthy democracy requires exactly the opposite.”<br /><br />Noting the 2008 presidential campaign’s “revealing” focus upon the candidates’ “narratives,” he said the campaign seemed not to involve facts, but rather “story-telling.”<br /><br />“Of course, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with story-telling -- unless the press and other news media themselves become part of the story-telling syndicate; in other words, peddlers of narratives in which facts are not told because they’re true, but rather become ‘true’ because they’re told by those who have the power to create an absorbing narrative,” the archbishop explained.<br /><br />In such a state, he warned, real power does not rest with the people but with those who “shape the structure of our information.” He linked this situation with Pope Benedict’s critique of the “dictatorship of relativism.”<br /><br />The archbishop also connected this relativistic spirit to St. Paul’s appearance at the Aeropagus, recounted in the Book of Acts. At the Areopagus, a prestigious place of debate for Greek philosophers, “Nearly anything was tolerated, so long as no one claimed to have an exclusive and binding claim on the truth,” the archbishop explained.<br /><br />He then quoted Acts 17’s description of the Areopagite mindset: “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.”<br /><br />“It’s worth paying attention to that description. There’s no mention of truth,” he commented, noting that when St. Paul preaches the truth “he’s mocked and despised and his preaching is a failure, at least in the short term.”<br /><br />“Paul’s failure at the Areopagus is a good lesson for the times we face now in America,” the archbishop said. “When Catholics start leading their daily lives without a hunger for something higher than their own ambitions or appetites, or with the idea that they can create their own truth and then baptize it with an appeal to personal conscience, they become, in practice, agnostics in their personal lives, and Sophists in their public lives. In fact, people who openly reject God or dismiss Christianity as obsolete are sometimes far more honest and far less discouraging than Catholics who claim to be faithful to the Church but directly reject her guidance by their words and actions.”<br /><br />Noting that Paul mastered the language of the popular urban culture of his time and used “every technical resource, tool and environment at his disposal,” Archbishop Chaput extensively quoted Pope John Paul II’s 1990 encyclical Redemptoris Missio, which also discussed St. Paul at the Areopagus.<br /><br />“If Paul felt so fiercely compelled to preach the Gospel -- whether ‘timely [or] untimely’ -- to a pagan world, then how should we feel today, preaching the Gospel to an apostate world?” he asked, answering that the love of Christ must “impel” Catholics forward.<br /><br />“Catholics in America, at least the many good Catholics who yearn to live their faith honestly and deeply, can easily feel tempted to hopelessness,” he concluded. “It becomes very burdensome to watch so many persons who call themselves Catholic compromise their faith and submit their hearts and consciences to the Caesars of our day.”<br /><br />But Archbishop Chaput closed by encouraging Christians to remember the words of Jesus:<br /><br />“In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”<br /><br />http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15439MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-45095003578623420782009-03-10T13:54:00.000-07:002009-03-10T14:05:51.472-07:00The Oath Against Modernism by His Holiness St. Pius X<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3H0mrTtdlfysOMm6284RL2V5VPPnzunhjJ5RBd8hXTCp8khHHFit5i0BXJMTHnMAfz4iA6MLDhzSLCcjp30AzPaUIDGLBbCm39GISUWI44Xof5EmRXgXTwNZ9EcBF5O68UvZWAJ78Itw/s1600-h/POPE+PIUS+X.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 111px; height: 117px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3H0mrTtdlfysOMm6284RL2V5VPPnzunhjJ5RBd8hXTCp8khHHFit5i0BXJMTHnMAfz4iA6MLDhzSLCcjp30AzPaUIDGLBbCm39GISUWI44Xof5EmRXgXTwNZ9EcBF5O68UvZWAJ78Itw/s320/POPE+PIUS+X.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311667438779958370" /></a><br />THE OATH AGAINST MODERNISM<br /><br />Given by His Holiness St. Pius X September 1, 1910.<br /><br />To be sworn to by all clergy, pastors, confessors, preachers, religious superiors, and professors in philosophical-theological seminaries.<br /><br />I . . . . firmly embrace and accept each and every definition that has been set forth and declared by the unerring teaching authority of the Church, especially those principal truths which are directly opposed to the errors of this day. And first of all, I profess that God, the origin and end of all things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of reason from the created world (see Rom. 1:90), that is, from the visible works of creation, as a cause from its effects, and that, therefore, his existence can also be demonstrated: Secondly, I accept and acknowledge the external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and especially miracles and prophecies as the surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion and I hold that these same proofs are well adapted to the understanding of all eras and all men, even of this time. Thirdly, I believe with equally firm faith that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ when he lived among us, and that the Church was built upon Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy, and his successors for the duration of time. Fourthly, I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport. Therefore, I entirely reject the heretical' misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously. I also condemn every error according to which, in place of the divine deposit which has been given to the spouse of Christ to be carefully guarded by her, there is put a philosophical figment or product of a human conscience that has gradually been developed by human effort and will continue to develop indefinitely. Fifthly, I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source. By this assent, because of the authority of the supremely truthful God, we believe to be true that which has been revealed and attested to by a personal God, our creator and lord.<br /><br />Furthermore, with due reverence, I submit and adhere with my whole heart to the condemnations, declarations, and all the prescripts contained in the encyclical Pascendi and in the decree Lamentabili, especially those concerning what is known as the history of dogmas. I also reject the error of those who say that the faith held by the Church can contradict history, and that Catholic dogmas, in the sense in which they are now understood, are irreconcilable with a more realistic view of the origins of the Christian religion. I also condemn and reject the opinion of those who say that a well-educated Christian assumes a dual personality-that of a believer and at the same time of a historian, as if it were permissible for a historian to hold things that contradict the faith of the believer, or to establish premises which, provided there be no direct denial of dogmas, would lead to the conclusion that dogmas are either false or doubtful. Likewise, I reject that method of judging and interpreting Sacred Scripture which, departing from the tradition of the Church, the analogy of faith, and the norms of the Apostolic See, embraces the misrepresentations of the rationalists and with no prudence or restraint adopts textual criticism as the one and supreme norm. Furthermore, I reject the opinion of those who hold that a professor lecturing or writing on a historico-theological subject should first put aside any preconceived opinion about the supernatural origin of Catholic tradition or about the divine promise of help to preserve all revealed truth forever; and that they should then interpret the writings of each of the Fathers solely by scientific principles, excluding all sacred authority, and with the same liberty of judgment that is common in the investigation of all ordinary historical documents.<br /><br />Finally, I declare that I am completely opposed to the error of the modernists who hold that there is nothing divine in sacred tradition; or what is far worse, say that there is, but in a pantheistic sense, with the result that there would remain nothing but this plain simple fact-one to be put on a par with the ordinary facts of history-the fact, namely, that a group of men by their own labor, skill, and talent have continued through subsequent ages a school begun by Christ and his apostles. I firmly hold, then, and shall hold to my dying breath the belief of the Fathers in the charism of truth, which certainly is, was, and always will be in the succession of the episcopacy from the apostles. The purpose of this is, then, not that dogma may be tailored according to what seems better and more suited to the culture of each age; rather, that the absolute and immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be believed to be different, may never be understood in any other way.<br /><br />I promise that I shall keep all these articles faithfully, entirely, and sincerely, and guard them inviolate, in no way deviating from them in teaching or in any way in word or in writing. Thus I promise, this I swear, so help me God. . .<br /><br />http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius10/p10moath.htmMemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-7313258257918754992009-02-16T23:24:00.000-08:002009-02-16T23:30:06.428-08:00‘Apostle of the Lepers,’ Spanish Mystic Among 10 To Be Canonized<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O8VR_ANsNlLyNnnTvtXJ4asPDxsXiTz5Q3GnLQjInmC_vuKZbq76NEVOfY-PuVqrej25KaHEhgqDhwnVzgWjywqsS6ulM5Ro6wlEEeZK0_gjtfkfZbs3kdaL1l-ZhaLg6YifHwE_xs4/s1600-h/Saints.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 198px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O8VR_ANsNlLyNnnTvtXJ4asPDxsXiTz5Q3GnLQjInmC_vuKZbq76NEVOfY-PuVqrej25KaHEhgqDhwnVzgWjywqsS6ulM5Ro6wlEEeZK0_gjtfkfZbs3kdaL1l-ZhaLg6YifHwE_xs4/s320/Saints.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303664680039099618" /></a><br />‘Apostle of the Lepers,’ Spanish mystic among 10 to be canonized<br /> <br />Bl. Damian / Bl. Rafael<br /><br /><br />Vatican City, Feb 16, 2009 / 02:11 pm (CNA).- Today the Vatican announced that it will recognize 10 blesseds as saints on February 21 in a ceremony at the Vatican. Among the soon-to-be canonized is Bl. Damian de Veuster, a Belgian missionary who spent much of his life in Hawaii caring for lepers.<br /><br />The ceremony, which is called a consistory, will take place in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall at 11:00 a.m. on February 21 and will officially recognize as saints 10 blesseds who hail from Portugal to Italy.<br /><br />In addition to Bl. Damian, Bl. Rafael Arnáiz Barón, is unique because he died at the young age of 27 of a diabetic coma. He was a member of the Cistercian’s of the Strict Observance and is considered on the greatest mystics of the 20th century.<br /><br />When the Catholic Church canonizes a person, it is a statement by the Church that she believes the person in question lived a saintly life worthy of imitation and that the sainted person is in Heaven.<br /><br />A full list of the blesseds who will be canonized follows.<br /><br />- Blessed Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski, Polish former archbishop of Warsaw and founder of the Congregation of Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary.<br /><br />- Blessed Arcangelo Tadini, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Worker Sisters of the Holy House of Nazareth.<br /><br />- Blessed Francesc Coll y Guitart, Spanish professed priest of the Order of Friars Preachers and founder of the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.<br /><br />- Blessed Jozef Damian de Veuster, Belgian professed priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar (PICPUS).<br /><br />- Blessed Bernardo Tolomei, Italian founder of the Olivetan Benedictine Congregation.<br /><br />- Blessed Rafael Arnaiz Baron, Spanish oblate friar of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance.<br /><br />- Blessed Nuno di Santa Maria Alvares Pereira, Portuguese religious of the Order of Friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.<br /><br />- Blessed Gertrude Comensoli (nee Caterina), Italian virgin and foundress of the Institute of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.<br /><br />- Blessed Mary of the Cross Jugan (nee Jeanne), French virgin and foundress of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor.<br /><br />- Blessed Caterina Volpicelli, Italian virgin and foundress of the Institute of Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart.MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3431463051046783310.post-84645178080502828432009-02-12T09:13:00.000-08:002009-02-12T09:17:36.549-08:00Champion for Catholics -- Jewish Rabbi Yehuda Levin<i>(Please note that throughout the article, there are parenthesis that bear the comments of Fr. Z and many thanks to him for bringing this to our attention)<br />
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<b>Left Wing of the Catholic Church Destroying the Faith Says Orthodox Rabbi</b><br />
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By Hilary White, Rome correspondent<br />
Wednesday February 11, 2009<br />
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ROME, February 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The dissident, leftist movement in the Catholic Church over the last forty years has severely undermined the teaching of the Catholic Church on the moral teachings on life and family, [fantastic!] a prominent US Orthodox rabbi told LifeSiteNews.com. Rabbi Yehuda Levin, the head of a group of 800 Orthodox rabbis in the US and Canada, also dismissed the accusations that the Holy See had not sufficiently distanced itself from the comments made by Bishop Richard Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) on the Holocaust.<br />
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"I support this move" to reconcile the traditionalist faction in the Church, he said, "because I understand the big picture, which is that the Catholic Church has a problem. There is a strong left wing of the Church that is doing immeasurable harm to the faith." [Peter was Jewish. Can Rabbi Levin be Pope after Pope Benedict? Maybe 20 years from now?]<br />
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Rabbi Levin said that he understands "perfectly" why the reconciliation is vital to the fight against abortion and the homosexualist movement. [The man-centered view of the left detaches morals from reality.]<br />
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"I understand that it is very important to fill the pews of the Catholic Church not with cultural Catholics and left-wingers who are helping to destroy the Catholic Church and corrupt the values of the Catholic Church." This corruption, he said, "has a trickle-down effect to every single religious community in the world." [What an admission!]<br />
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"What’s the Pope doing? He’s trying to bring the traditionalists back in because they have a lot of very important things to contribute the commonweal of Catholicism. [YES YES YES!]<br />
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"Now, if in the process, he inadvertently includes someone who is prominent in the traditionalist movement who happens to say very strange things about the Holocaust, is that a reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater and start to condemn Pope Benedict? Absolutely not."<br />
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During a visit to Rome at the end of January, Rabbi Levin told LifeSiteNews.com that he believes the media furore over the lifting of the excommunications of the four bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X is a red herring. He called "ridiculous" the accusations that in doing so Pope Benedict VXI or the Catholic Church are anti-Semitic and described as "very strong" the statements distancing the Holy See and the Pope from Williamson’s comments.<br />
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Rabbi Levin was in Rome holding meetings with high level Vatican officials to propose what he called a "new stream of thinking" for the Church’s inter-religious dialogue, one based on commonly held moral teachings, particularly on the right to life and the sanctity of natural marriage.<br />
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"The most important issue," he said, is the work the Church is doing "to save babies from abortion, and save children’s minds, and young people’s minds, helping them to know right and wrong on the life and family issues."<br />
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"That’s where ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue has to go."<br />
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Although numbers are difficult to determine, it is estimated that the Society of St. Pius X has over a million followers worldwide. The traditionalist movement in the Catholic Church is noted for doctrinal orthodoxy and enthusiasm not only for old-fashioned devotional practices, but for the Church’s moral teachings and opposition to post-modern secularist sexual mores. [And this is why progressivists will fight their reintegration in the mainstream Church.] Liberals in the Church, particularly in Europe, have bitterly opposed all overtures to the SSPX and other traditionalists, particularly the Pope’s recent permission to revive the traditional Latin Mass. [The TLM is the monster under their bed.]<br />
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The Vatican announced in early January that, as part of ongoing efforts to reconcile the breakaway group, the 1988 decree of excommunication against the Society had been rescinded. Later that month, a Swedish television station aired an interview, recorded in November 2008, in which Bishop Richard Williamson, one of the four leaders of the Society, said that he did not believe that six million Jews were killed in the Nazi death camps during World War II.<br />
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At that time, the media erupted with protests and accusations that the Catholic Church, and especially Pope Benedict XVI, are anti-Semitic.<br />
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Rabbi Levin particularly defended Pope Benedict, saying he is the genius behind the moves of the late Pope John Paul II to reconcile the Church with the Jewish community. [HO HO! The libs aren’t going to like that suggestion! They will attack the Rabbi especially on this point, suggesting that it was all JP II and had nothing to do with Card. Ratzinger… who is German, btw.]<br />
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"Anyone who understands and follows Vatican history knows that in the last three decades, one of the moral and intellectual underpinnings of the papacy of Pope John Paul II, was Cardinal Ratzinger.<br />
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"And therefore, a lot of the things that Pope John Paul did vis-à-vis the Holocaust, he [Benedict] might have done himself, whether it was visiting Auschwitz or visiting and speaking in the synagogues or asking forgiveness. A lot of this had direct input from Cardinal Ratzinger. Whoever doesn’t understand this doesn’t realise that this man, Pope Benedict XVI, has a decades-long track record of anti-Nazism and sympathy for the Jews."MemoriaDeihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13826704561653445661noreply@blogger.com2