|
Saints
Apr 1, 2015 21:41:56 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Apr 1, 2015 21:41:56 GMT
And as we move towards Good Friday, it's no harm to reflect on a saint who accepted suffering for the sake of love. The small light may help us to understand the lesser. The righteous shall shine like the sun - O send us more light!
|
|
|
Saints
May 3, 2015 17:16:52 GMT
Post by hibernicus on May 3, 2015 17:16:52 GMT
Our saint for this month is Margaret Clitherow, the martyr of York, commemorated with the other martyrs of England and Wales on 4 May though she suffered on 25 March 1586. She was arrested for harbouring priests and having Mass said in her house, and when she refused to plead (because it would have involved further penalties for her friends and family) she was crushed to death. A brief account of her life and witness: www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/CLITHER.htmI chose to use the contemporary print by Richard Verstegan rather than later imaginary portraits because it brings home what she suffered, and because Verstegan's implication in the Marian persecution and in violent resistance to continental Protestantism is a reminder that our martyrs were victims in a continent-wide wave of religious violence, for which Catholics as well as Protestants share the blame. This does not mean that we should forget or be ashamed of our own martyrs because we also respect those who died for truth as they saw it, however mistakenly. And let what St Margaret sacrificed for the sake of the Mass and the priesthood rekindle our awareness of their value, at a time when so many admitted to the priesthood make haste to dishonour it and throw it off. Pray for our priests, thatthey may remain faithful to the trust given to them.
|
|
|
Saints
Jun 2, 2015 20:51:38 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jun 2, 2015 20:51:38 GMT
This month's saint may be a bit controversial - St Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei. I included him because I find him both exciting and enigmatic. I am NOT a member of Opus Dei in any capacity, though I know some very good people who are; and I have been doing some sporadic reading on Opus Dei spirituality over the last couple of years and was surprised to find that it is quite profound. The idea of sanctification through everyday work can be developed in all sorts of directions (both good and bad) but its central idea is divine filiation - being a son/daughter of God - in a manner which is much more reminiscent of Eastern Orthodox spirituality than of the mainstream of the Latin Church; but Escriva combined this with a concern for legal and institutional structures which is quite subtle and very Latin indeed. (It seems from the first volume of his official biography that he got this from working in late 20s/early 30s Madrid, where there were a lot of archaic overlapping jurisdictions and exemptions which don't survive in a mission church such as we had here in Ireland.) I find a lot of the OD literature frustrating because it is clearly written for people who are familiar with OD and take it for granted, rather than being addressed to people who know little or nothing and need convincing. (This is very noticeable in the later bits of the official biography once OD is up and running; the earlier bit tracing his development is interesting.) Escriva seems to have been an extremely charismatic man, capable of relating easily to people but also of turning them off. The eulogists state he had a temper but play it down; I suspect some of the critics (who lived with him for long periods) are correct in their description of his rages (though I might note that an angry exchange can hurt one participant more deeply than the other intends or perhaps realises, and that different people react to them in different ways - I know this from my own experience.) I wonder from the description of his occasional periods of lassitude and inaction combined with others of frenetic activity and enthusiasm whether he might have been bipolar to some extent. (This is not meant to denigrate him; everyone has their own particular temperament, a wide variety thereof, and sanctity lies in what we make of them.) There is also a fine line between self-importance and a selfless belief in the importance of one's mission, and the second may easily be mistaken for the first by observers. I begin to see what Dawn Eden meant when she said that when she first converted she was approached both by Opus Dei and by the Legionaries of Christ, and although she joined neither she realised after some reading that while Escriva's spirituality was difficult but eventually rewarding, Maciel's was at the greeting-card level (which doesn't say much for the writers Maciel was discovered to have plagiarised it from.) Anyone else out there got any positive or negative thoughts on St Josemaria?
|
|
|
Saints
Jun 2, 2015 21:02:07 GMT
Post by maolsheachlann on Jun 2, 2015 21:02:07 GMT
I have a very high opinion of St. Josemaria and he is a big inspiration to me. I know several members of Opus Dei, including an Opus Dei priest, I have a deep admiration for all of them. One of the most enthusiastic members of our Irish Chesterton Society, until she could no longer come to meetings due to her advancing age, was in fact the first female member of Opus Dei in Ireland. I am not a member, nor do I feel any pull in that direction. (I have yet to encounter the lay association I would like to join, if any.)
I admit that I have only read about St. Josemaria from Opus Dei sources-- I have a biography translated from Spanish, actually a very badly written biography with no logical sequence but still full of very inspirational anecdotes about St. Josemaria. I read it regularly.
I think the secret of his charisma is what so many of his admirers and friends said-- that they had never met anyone with a more supernatural outlook on life. He seemed utterly rooted in prayer, and devoted to making all life and work a form of prayer. He enjoined his followers to "turn the prose of life into heroic verse", and that is an inspirational thought. There was also a certain naivety (if I may put it that way) to his faith-- he had a child-like devotion to Our Lady, St. Joseph and the Pope which is very touching.
I have encountered many negative comments about Opus Dei. Even my own father is very distrustful of them and seemed rather suspicious of me mentioning Opus Dei friends so often. I don't get it. Maybe I'm naive. They are sometimes seen as elitist, I don't know the ins and outs of that. There is a touching story in the biography where St. Josemaria was congratulated by an acquaintance when an Opus Dei member became a cabinet minister and Josemaria hastened to point out that he was proud of all his spiritual children, whether street sweepers or cabinet ministers.
Surely we can judge such a figure from his fruits? I have read that St. Josemaria was responsible for a colossal number of priestly vocations, perhaps more than any other historical figure.
His books, The Way and the Furrow and others, are available online, and very easy reading as they are composed of aphorisms. I often browse them.
|
|
|
Saints
Jun 5, 2015 22:55:44 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jun 5, 2015 22:55:44 GMT
I put up St Catherine of Siena as a saint of the month last year, but have only now got round to reading something serious about her - Sigrid Undset's biography, republished by Ignatius Press in 2009. (Undset was a Dominican tertiary, as was Catherine.) It certainly is a remarkable story - Catherine was a strange mix of asceticism so extreme, and starting at such an early age, that you would think at first glance she was insane, with, in actual fact, a great deal of forceful courage, humane concern - including palpable humility - and common sense. I really need to write more about her before making up my mind. The book was the work of Undset's old age (it was published after her death) and one interesting feature is her emphasis on the figure of Catherine's mother, who loved her daughter but apparently never quite came to terms with her actions, and who lived to a great age, surviving many of her numerous children and grandchildren. Part of the source of this emphasis was that Undset had outlived two of her own three children - a mentally handicapped daughter died shortly before the outbreak of WW2, and in 1940 one of her sons was killed resisting the German invasion of Norway. There are some intriguing psychological insights. A piece on Undset and Catherine is here: www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/1559/listening_to_the_experts.aspx
|
|
|
Saints
Jun 25, 2015 19:15:33 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jun 25, 2015 19:15:33 GMT
|
|
|
Saints
Aug 2, 2015 22:20:09 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Aug 2, 2015 22:20:09 GMT
For various reasons, personal and other, I never got round to posting a reflection on St Thomas More, who was last month's saint. I hope to return to him sometime. In the meantime here is an interesting recent CRISIS article (though I fear it downplays the extent to which St Thomas's pursuit of heretics was not just "legally required" but involved personal initiative on his part, it does a good job in highlighting what is at stake when Hilary Mantel demonises him and whitewashes Thomas Cromwell). www.crisismagazine.com/2015/why-thomas-more-is-the-patron-saint-of-statesmen
|
|
|
Saints
Aug 2, 2015 22:24:15 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Aug 2, 2015 22:24:15 GMT
This month's saint is St Clare of Assisi - she's the patron saint of television (which is highly relevant as we've started a lively thread on the impact of television recently, and which might give her some link to the Internet as well) and when I was younger I lived near a Poor Clare convent and often attended Mass in their chapel.
|
|
|
Saints
Oct 13, 2015 20:13:58 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Oct 13, 2015 20:13:58 GMT
This month's saint is St Teresa of Avila, whose 500th anniversary is being celebrated by the Carmelites this year; renowned for her combination of intense mysticism and hard-headed practicality and for her reform of religious life - something that is badly needed at present. A couple of years ago we had St Edith Stein, whose conversion was deeply influenced by Teresa's writings and who became a Carmelite; and the disciple is not greater than the mistress.
|
|
|
Saints
Oct 16, 2015 19:26:10 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Oct 16, 2015 19:26:10 GMT
|
|
|
Saints
Oct 27, 2015 19:58:57 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Oct 27, 2015 19:58:57 GMT
Here's a nice piece on Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St Therese of Lisieux, who have just been canonised. BTW the illness which St Louis Martin suffered in his later years was in fact dementia (one of his daughters delayed entering the convent to look after him until he died) and only now does it occur to me that I should have invoked him in reference to something which has been on my mind for the last few years: www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2015/10/a-family-of-saints
|
|
|
Saints
Nov 28, 2015 21:11:29 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Nov 28, 2015 21:11:29 GMT
|
|
|
Saints
Feb 2, 2016 21:02:58 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Feb 2, 2016 21:02:58 GMT
The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is on February 11th, so after Louis and Zelie Martin, we have another nineteenth-century French saint, St Bernadette. I remember reading some nineteenth-century Irish Conservative newspapers, and coming across sneers at Lourdes for having such an impoverished, dialect-speaking child of the gutter at its centre. God has concealed the mysteries of the Kingdom from the great and wise, and revealed them to the poor and humble. Something for us all to ponder, and not complacently.
|
|
|
Saints
Feb 19, 2016 23:59:16 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Feb 19, 2016 23:59:16 GMT
The CATHOLIC HERALD has a nice piece on St Louis de Montfort, which should be of interest to anyone involved with Montfortian Marian spirituality (notably the Legion of Mary). One interesting little detail is that as a young priest he was assisted by a former mistress of Louis XIV. I assumed this would be Louis de la Valliere (generally known to have been pious) and was amazed to discover it was Athenais de Montespan, who notoriously got involved in some very sinister occult practices when trying to hold on to the king's favours. This is a good reminder never to despair of God's grace. catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2016/02/12/louis-de-montfort-a-saint-whose-life-was-the-stuff-of-hollywood/
|
|
|
Saints
Mar 16, 2016 20:19:55 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Mar 16, 2016 20:19:55 GMT
|
|