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Saints
Mar 15, 2012 23:06:28 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Mar 15, 2012 23:06:28 GMT
I assumed it was a simple "Protestants in the north and east, Catholics in the south and west" divide, at least until the resettlement of expellees after WWII confused the sectarian geography - but I see I was mistaken. The Holy Roman Empire certainly was complicated.
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Saints
Mar 20, 2012 13:07:35 GMT
Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Mar 20, 2012 13:07:35 GMT
I assumed it was a simple "Protestants in the north and east, Catholics in the south and west" divide, at least until the resettlement of expellees after WWII confused the sectarian geography - but I see I was mistaken. The Holy Roman Empire certainly was complicated. This is a pretty good rule of thumb re: Germany. But there were German Catholic populations in the east - in Silesia, Pomerania and there was a number in East Prussia and former Danzig. There were also mixed areas, such as Hesse (including Frankfurt). Much of the current Land of Hesse was once part of Bavaria and is mixed. And as I said, Austria has both Lutheran and Calvinist minorities who are German-speaking and ethnically Austrian (if such a thing exists - seems to me that the Austrian national identity emerged separately from that of the Germans as a result of the career of a particular Austrian who identified to closely with Germany). Thinking out loud, I suspect Austria might also have a Hussite minority but I expect these to be of Czech origing. Anyway, I'll echo your comment - the Holy Roman Empire was indeed complicated as is the German nation - if indeed Germany is a single nation. My experience of Germany is mainly in the south and in Austria, and I wonder if there is a single entity named Germany. To keep to the point prompted in this discussion - the diversity of the White Rose as a small cross-section of mainly southern Germans shows how different Germans can be.
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Saints
Apr 28, 2012 23:05:43 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Apr 28, 2012 23:05:43 GMT
Today (Saturday) is the feast-day of St Peter Chanel, protomartyr of the Marist congregation, who was killed in Polynesia in 1841. (The Marists, like the Spiritans, are a C19 French missionary foundation whose Irish work has been mainly educational.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Chanel As the child of poor peasants he resembles so many French - and Irish - priests who went out to spread the Gospel light across the world. Request his intercession for Fr Forde SM, who formerly assisted in St KEvin's but can no longer do so because of old age, for Fr Sean Fagan SM who has his own troubles, and for all the MArist Congregation in Ireland, past and present.
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Saints
May 25, 2012 21:41:00 GMT
Post by hibernicus on May 25, 2012 21:41:00 GMT
Today is the feast of St Bede, patron saint of historians, whom I have discussed on this thread before. I like to attend Mass on his feast, but I was not able to do so today. Instead I have added to my posts a legend in his honour (it is a phrase from one of his biblical commentaries, which has been placed above his tomb in Durham Cathedral) and below I give a shortened version of the letter of his disciple Cuthbert describing his last days, which is a moving account of a holy Christian death. Pray that God may grant us all such faith and keep us faithful till the end: www.ewtn.com/library/mary/stbede.htmTo his most beloved in Christ, and fellow-reader Cuthwin, his school-fellow Cuthbert wishes eternal salvation in our Lord. Your small present was very acceptable, and your letter gave me much satisfaction, wherein I found what I greatly desired, that masses and prayers are diligently said by you for Bede, the beloved of God, our late father and master. For the love I bear him, I send you in few words an account of the manner in which he departed this world, understanding it is what you desire. He began to be much troubled with a shortness of breath about two weeks before Easter, yet without pain: thus he lived cheerful and rejoicing, giving thanks to Almighty God every day and night, nay every hour, till the day of our Lord's Ascension, which was the 26th of May. He daily read lessons to us his scholars; the rest of the day he spent in singing psalms; he also passed all the night awake in joy and thanksgiving, only when he was interrupted by a short slumber; but awaking, he repeated his accustomed exercises, and ceased not to give thanks to God, with his hands expanded. O truly happy man! He sung that sentence of St. Paul: It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; and much more out of holy writ. Being well skilled in English verses he recited some things in our tongue. He said in English: "No man is too wise to consider what good or evil he has done, before the necessary departure": that is, to examine the state of his soul sufficiently before his death. He also sung anthems according to his and our custom; one of which is: "O glorious King, Lord of Hosts, who triumphing this day didst ascend above all the heavens, leave us not orphans; but send down the Father's Spirit of truth upon us: Alleluia." When he came to that word, "leave us not," he burst into tears, and wept much; and an hour after he began to repeat the same anthem he had commenced, and we hearing it, grieved with him. By turns we read, and by turns we wept; nay, we always wept even when we read. In such joy we passed the fifty days, and he rejoiced much, and gave God thanks because he deserved to be so infirm. He often repeated that God scourgeth every son whom he receiveth; and much more out of the scripture; also that sentence of St. Ambrose: 'I have not lived so as to be ashamed to live among you; nor am I afraid to die, because we have a good God.' During these days, besides the daily lessons he gave, and the singing of psalms. He composed two works for the benefit of the church; the one was a translation of St. John's gospel into English, as far as those words: But what are these among so many? the other, some collections out of St. Isidore's book of notes; for he said, 'I will not have my scholars read a falsehood after my death, and labor without advantage.' On Tuesday before the Ascension he began to be much worse in his breathing, and a small swelling appeared in his feet; but he passed all that day pleasantly, and dictated in school, saying now and then, 'Go on quickly; I know not how long I shall hold out, and whether my Maker will soon take me away.' To us he seemed very well to know the time of his departure. He spent the night awake in thanksgivings. On Wednesday morning he ordered us to write speedily what he had begun. After this, we made the procession according to the custom of that day, walking with the relics of the saints till the third hour, (or nine o'clock in the morning;) then one of us said to him: 'Most dear master, there is still one chapter wanting. Do you think it troublesome to be asked any more questions?' He answered: 'It is no trouble. Take your pen and write fast.' He did so. But at the ninth hour (three in the afternoon) he said to me: 'Run quickly; and bring all the priests of the monastery to me.' When they came, he distributed to them some pepper-corns, little cloths or handkerchiefs, and incense which he had in a little box, entreating every one that they would carefully celebrate masses and say prayers for him; which they readily promised to do. They all wept at his telling them, they should no more see his face in this world; but rejoiced to hear him say: 'It is now time for me to return to him who made me, and gave me a being when I was nothing. I have lived a long time; my merciful Judge most graciously foresaw and ordered the course of my life for me. The time of my dissolution draws near. I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. Yes; my soul desires to see Christ my king in his beauty.' Many other things he spoke to our edification, and spent the rest of the day in joy till the evening. The above-mentioned young scholar, whose name was Wilberth, said to him: 'Dear master, there is still one sentence that is not written.' He answered, 'Write quickly.' The young man said: 'It is now done.' He replied: 'You have well said; it is at an end: all is finished. Hold my head, that I may have the pleasure to sit, looking towards my little oratory where I used to pray; that while I am sitting I may call upon my heavenly Father, and on the pavement of his little place sing, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.' Thus he prayed on the floor, and when he had named the Holy Ghost, he breathed out his soul. All declared that they had never seen any one die with such great devotion and tranquillity; for so long as his soul was in his body, he never ceased, with his hands expanded, to give thanks and praise to God... END OF EXTRACT Here is the account of Bede from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopaedia, by the great Fr Herbert Thurston SJ en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/The_Venerable_Bede
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Saints
May 28, 2012 22:08:30 GMT
Post by hibernicus on May 28, 2012 22:08:30 GMT
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Saints
May 29, 2012 2:45:35 GMT
Post by worldpeace on May 29, 2012 2:45:35 GMT
I suggest we start a thread on saints (usually but not necessarily of the day). This should consist of original material/reflection rather than reproducing pre-existing material (from Wikipedia or elsewhere). The purpose of venerating saints is that they show how to live the life of the Gospel. This does not mean that they were perfect in every way: I can think of many saints who committed serious errors or misdeeds, or whose charism in retrospect has limitations - St. Joseph Calasanctius' mishandling of child abuse cases within his congregation, St. Robert Bellarmine's role in the condemnation of Galileo, St. Francis De Sales' role in the repression of Huguenots come to mind - but they are saints nonetheless. I remember once reading an apoligist for Sufi Islam (a variety which places emphasis on mystical experience and the veneration of saints) quoting what a old Sufi sheik had told him about the Wahhabi condemnation of the cult of saints. (Wahhabism is the puritanical variety of Islam found in Saudi Arabia, which holds that to venerate individuals is to take away from the honour due to God.) The old man said it is the Devil who wishes the saints to be forgotten, because their lives show how he may be vanquished. Whatever we may think of Islam in general, he was right on this. Today is the feast of St. Philip Neri. I will post on him later. If anyone has any thoughts on him, or on another saint, in the meantime, feel free to post here. 1 Peter 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy
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Saints
May 29, 2012 21:07:27 GMT
Post by hibernicus on May 29, 2012 21:07:27 GMT
Interesting new film about the Mexican Cristero uprising and the martyrs of the 1920s Mexican persecution (many of whom have been beatified by the Church). I doubt if it will make it to cinemas here, and I suspect it may not even get a DVD release - but best to keep an eye out for it just in case brownpelicanla.com/archives/99803
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Saints
Jun 1, 2012 19:39:23 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jun 1, 2012 19:39:23 GMT
Since I use Blessed Frederic Ozanam as my icon, I thought I would link to this post on his life and the work of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, although his feastday is not until September. (NB the author of the blog seems to be a fairly "liberal" Catholic but this is no reason why we should not pay attention when he says something valuable) churchhistorysurprise.blogspot.ie/search/label/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric%20Ozanam The focus of the blog is on his social work - what interested me when I read some contemporary works on Ozanam is that they pay more attention to his work as a Catholic apologist (he was a polyglot of remarkable scholarly gifts and worked for his whole adult life on a history of the Church's role in Western civilisation, completing only fragments before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 40) and his support of a liberal form of ultramontanism (i.e. he opposed the view that unbelievers were necessarily evil rather than misguided - partly because he had an agonising experience of religious doubt as a teenager and thought he overcame it he felt sympathy for those who had passed through it and come out in the wrong direction) and criticised those who thought the only true Catholic position was advocacy of an ancien regime; he felt the church's only safety lay in evangelising the common people as it once turned away from decadent Rome to evangelise the barbarians. This is why the lunatics of "Tradition in Action" denounce him as a modernist and deny the validity of his beatification. One of the inspirations of the SVP was Ozanam's exchanges with Saint-Simonians, members of a socialist sect which argued that the Church had served a positive function in the Middle Ages but was now outdated; the Saint-Simonians asked him why such corporal works of mercy as were performed by the Church in the middle ages were not performed now. One of the major themes of his correspondence is that it is dangerous to think the middle ages or the ages of faith had greater sources of grace available to them than we have now - the same means of attaining sanctity are available now as then if we will only pursue them. (It may be relevant that he was a close friend of Pere Lacordaire, who revived the Dominicans in France, and at one point seriously considered becoming a Dominican himself.) This is a point we should bear in mind when we contemplate the present crisis of the church. Perhaps the most impressive testimony to the spirit of Ozanam which I have come across is a partial English translation of his correspondence by a certain A. Coates in 1886. When I came across it I assumed the editor would have been a Catholic, and was pretty clearly surprised to find he was a Protestant and a pretty decided one too; he remarks that he has removed much of the Catholic language from the letters, not to disguise Ozanam's faith but because he finds it irritating and wants to save space; when he remarks on Ozanam's Eucharistic devotion he is clearly repelled by the Catholic belief in the Real Presence, but at the same time he is impressed by Ozanam's fervour and admits that reception of the Eucharist was indeed a means of grace for him. This bearing witness against his own prejudices says much for the honesty of Mr (or perhaps Miss/Mrs) Coates, and is a striking example of evangelisation by example; let us pray that he may be united with Bl. Frederic in that light which is never quenched.
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Saints
Jun 1, 2012 21:26:04 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jun 1, 2012 21:26:04 GMT
Today, is the feast of St Justin Martyr, the first Christian philospher and one of the patrons of this board. I deeply regret not having got to MAss in his honour. A few links - EWTN Mass (Liturgy of the Word only) for the feast last year - note the New Testament reading is St PAul on the Areopagus preaching about the Unknown God to the Greeks. The sermon is preached by a bishop from SOuth Sudan, where they know a lot about martyrdom: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz75wYVSgEgA tribute to St Justin from an Orthodox blog logismoitouaaron.blogspot.ie/2009/06/with-truth-shiningst-justin-martyr.html
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Saints
Jul 3, 2012 20:39:29 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jul 3, 2012 20:39:29 GMT
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Saints
Jul 6, 2012 20:53:57 GMT
Post by shane on Jul 6, 2012 20:53:57 GMT
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Saints
Jul 14, 2012 22:06:09 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jul 14, 2012 22:06:09 GMT
The saints in the stained glass windows of St Kevin's Church in Harrington Street, Dublin (where the EF Chaplaincy is based) are a slightly odd assortment. I wonder on what principle they were chosen? Did the parish priest just get a job lot from a supplier, or had he some underlying principles in mind? (Some of them seem to have connections with Church worship - St Cecilia and King David - who is also a saint in that he is commemorated in the Church's calendar - for church music, St John Capistrano for preaching, St Charles Borromeo for governance and reform.) Today is the feast of one of them [My blunder; it was 13 July. As you can guess from this, my resolution to resume daily Mass attendance has not yet been put into practice] - Emperor Henry II of Germany, who reigned early in the eleventh century and was the last of the Ottonian dynasty. He was a Benedictine oblate [i.e. equivalent to what used to be called the Third Order in the Franciscans and Dominicans] and observed a vow of mutual chastity with his wife. He is one of the patron saints of Benedictine oblates. Below is a link to a post on him on the blog of Dom Mark Kirby, of the newly established traditional Benedictine monastery in Co. Meath, and another to Wikipedia's account of him. I wonder how he came to be in one of St Kevin's windows. Was the parish priest a Benedictine oblate himself or educated by Benedictines? (Even though there were no Benedictines in Ireland at the time the church was built and the windows installed, some well-to-do Irish Catholics sent their children to Benedictine schools abroad.) HE also raises a question which troubles me, as it does about St Edward the Confessor and some other mediaeval rulers. Was it ever justifiable for a hereditary ruler to take a vow of chastity in the knowledge that this would lead to the extinction of his line and the ravaging of his country by dynastic disputes? (Note I am not saying that St Henry or St Edward were not saints - only that being a saint does not mean all their actions were necessarily well-advised. This week's CATHOLIC HERALD, for example, has an article criticising the Cure D'Ars' extreme hostility to dancing per se, and suggests it derived from memories of the promotion of dances on former Sundays and holydays by the French revolutionary regime in an attempt to displace religious observance.) vultus.stblogs.org/2011/07/saint-henry-emperor-and-benedi.htmlen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
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Saints
Jul 14, 2012 22:15:15 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jul 14, 2012 22:15:15 GMT
Here is an interesting page maintained by Crisis magazine on exemplary Catholics, not all of whom are saints: www.crisismagazine.com/issues/standard-bearersHere, for example, is a piece on the late-mediaeval German sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider, who lived and worked in Wurzburg (which may interst some of our readers). There is an example of his work at the Carmelite shrine at Aylesford in Kent, presented by the film director Brian Desmond Hurst. www.crisismagazine.com/2012/a-sculptor-of-the-interior-lifeEXTRACT Some have wanted the thoughtful sculptor’s participation in this opposition movement [PEASANT'S REVOLT WHICH TEMPORARILY EXPELLED THE PRINCE-BISHOP] to be a sign of his allegiance to Luther’s new gospel, but it was not so. After his death on July 7, 1531, he was duly buried in the Catholic cemetery, and his son’s relief carving on the tombstone shows him holding a rosary and notes that he died on the eve of the feast of Wurzburg’s patron, Saint Killian... END There is even a slightly tongue-in-cheek 'tribute' to the Bad Popes, acknowledging they could have been much worse - though frankly this would have been difficult for some of the tenth-century pontiffs: www.crisismagazine.com/2012/lets-raise-a-glass-to-the-bad-popes
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Saints
Jul 25, 2012 12:25:23 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jul 25, 2012 12:25:23 GMT
Here is a Catholic HERALD blogpost on the six patron saints of Europe [St. Benedict (declared as such by Pope PAul VI; there is a link to the relevant papal brief); SS Cyril and Methodius, apostles of the Slavs; St Bridget of Sweden, St Catherine of Siena, and St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein]. The piece concentrates on why it is appropriate for the last of these to be included among the patrons of Europe. I might add that given that the Holocaust is widely seen as discrediting European civilisation per se and that a common anti-semitic trope was that Jews as such were orientals inherently alien to Europe - shamefully, this view was upheld by Catholics like Chesterton and Belloc as well as by those like Charles Maurras who despised Christianity as a semitic excrescence on Greco-Roman civilisation - so it is particularly fitting to invoke her intercession for Europe.) www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2012/07/25/why-edith-stein-makes-an-excellent-choice-for-patron-saint-of-europe/
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Saints
Jul 27, 2012 20:05:15 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jul 27, 2012 20:05:15 GMT
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