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Saints
Jun 3, 2019 18:56:07 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jun 3, 2019 18:56:07 GMT
Edward Feser argues that St Justin Martyr exemplifies a combination of intellectually rigorous apologetic and willingness to endure martyrdom for the truth which is the only possible basis for evangelicalism. (Remember the early Irish Church's definition of martyrdom included exile and other disagreeable tasks for the benefit of the poor and suffering - as Newman put it - "let them preach barefoot in our industrial towns and be stoned and insulted as the apostles were, and then I'll believe". www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/06/01/the-unapologetic-apologist-five-lessons-from-st-justin-martyr/
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Saints
Feb 2, 2020 20:54:36 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Feb 2, 2020 20:54:36 GMT
Have recently been reading four little books on the Reformation-era English seminary priests and martyrs by the early C20 English Benedictine martyrologist Dom Bede Camm. More (eloquent) panegyric than analysis, though there is some very nice typology - St Margaret Clitherow as the widow who sheltered the prophet Elijah, for example. Certainly a very moving set of memorials. Two little observations: - He tends to gloss over the involvement of some of his heroes in the Marian persecution of Protestants -and in his biography of William Cardinal Allen, who founded Douai College and did great service to the Church, Camm's discussion of Allen's treatise defending the English Catholics against accusations of treason fails to note that it explicitly defends the Marian burnings of Protestants for heresy. - In a book THE BRAVE DAYS OF OLD, based on a work written by a Spanish bishop who conversed with many English students in Spain, Camm describes how a group of boys who had been planning to go to Ireland from England and thence to escape to the Continent were arrested and marched back to London. On the way they chanted Latin hymns. The locals in the towns they passed through, who after 50 years of religious upheaval had little understanding of Catholicism other than a few half-remembered terms, remarked "Now they are singing Mass/ Vespers/ Evensong", depending on the time of day (morning, afternoon, evening). Camm remarks that this story shows the surprising speed with which religious knowledge can be lost if not renewed. Sadly, this is a very relevant tale for Ireland in our own times.
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Saints
Apr 6, 2020 23:54:39 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Apr 6, 2020 23:54:39 GMT
In case anyone has ever wondered where the famous blind Dublin street singer Michael Moran got the name Zosimus, it was from reciting a narrative poem about St Mary of Egypt and the monk Zosimus who was led by divine inspiration to meet her in the desert and give her viaticum. Here is the original seventh-century story as told by Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem; Mary of Egypt has traditionally been more popular in the East than the West. As I write it suddenly struck me that the monk Zossima in THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV of course derives his name from the same story. From Dublin street-singers to Dostoevsky, our Christian heritage goes so deep and is so easily ignored: www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/keep-christianity-weird-sunday-st-mary-of-egypt/
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Saints
Apr 7, 2020 9:20:49 GMT
via mobile
Post by maolsheachlann on Apr 7, 2020 9:20:49 GMT
In case anyone has ever wondered where the famous blind Dublin street singer Michael Moran got the name Zosimus, it was from reciting a narrative poem about St Mary of Egypt and the monk Zosimus who was led by divine inspiration to meet her in the desert and give her viaticum. Here is the original seventh-century story as told by Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem; Mary of Egypt has traditionally been more popular in the East than the West. As I write it suddenly struck me that the monk Zossima in THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV of course derives his name from the same story. From Dublin street-singers to Dostoevsky, our Christian heritage goes so deep and is so easily ignored: www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/keep-christianity-weird-sunday-st-mary-of-egypt/ I've just finished reading The Brothers Karamazov. Never made the link with Zosimus. It shows a remarkable antipathy towards the Catholic Church, which is seen as temporizing and power-hungry, chopping the ideals of Christianity into a legalistic code. The famous Grand Inquisitor chapter dramatizes, through a piece of fiction written by one of the brothers, that the Catholic Church would put Christ to death if he returned! However, the most Christian of the brothers argues that most Catholics are not like that. It's funny how this perception of Catholic rationalism vs. Orthodox mysticism endures today. I like Dostoyevsky, though. It is interesting that the conflict of his time between the Slavophiles (pious, traditional, insular) vs. the liberals (irreligious, idealizing Western Europe, besotted with "experts" and formal education) is almost perfectly mirrored in the USA and elsewhere today. I personally know one American progressive who follows soccer-- I suspect it is because he sees soccer as more European and therefore progressive than the more popular American sports. The loss of street balladry is a terrible thing.
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Post by hibernicus on Aug 4, 2020 20:37:46 GMT
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Saints
Dec 18, 2020 1:55:17 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Dec 18, 2020 1:55:17 GMT
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Saints
Feb 21, 2021 22:12:15 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Feb 21, 2021 22:12:15 GMT
I have been occupying myself on recent Sundays with reading a couple of translations of biblical commentaries by St Bede, which I bought when I visited the Bede's World heritage centre in Jarrow a few years ago. It is fascinating to get an insight into patristic/early mediaeval ways of reading the Bible with reference to symbolism and salvation history as well as the literal sense. The editor of one of these volumes (on the Apocalypse) mentions that several Fathers and commentators believed the Second Coming would take place around 500 AD - that there was an expectation resembling the better-known one associated with 1000 AD. (Bede of course is writing in the early C8.) This is interesting because it places St Patrick's statement in his writings that he was preparing the way for the Second Coming by bringing the Gospel to the remotest ends of the earth where it had previously been unknown (modelling himself on St Paul's similar statement about his proposed mission to Spain). Given that St Patrick was writing in the mid-to-late C5 (given the hypothetical assignment of his arrival to 432 and his death to 461 or 489) he is clearly operating on the basis of a fairly widespread expectation that the Second Coming would take place within a few decades. Idon't point this out to patronise such a great Saint, but to note that where he and others like him were mistaken in their expectations we ought to be extremely cautious in speculating on the day of the Lord's return, or our current place in salvation history. Whether the Second Coming is tomorrow or many millennia in the future, we must all face our Particular Judgement in a few decades, and we should strive to help each other and preach in words and deeds as if we were indeed evangelising the final generation.
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 24, 2021 21:50:13 GMT
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Saints
May 31, 2021 22:20:28 GMT
Post by hibernicus on May 31, 2021 22:20:28 GMT
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Saints
Jun 1, 2021 20:59:53 GMT
Post by Beinidict Ó Niaidh on Jun 1, 2021 20:59:53 GMT
I don't think anyone would doubt Savonarola's sincerity - it's his methodology that would drag him down.
Were you aware that the Venerable James II (& VII) is also a Servant of God? Seems there was a genuine movement of prayer after the King died in exile in St Germain in 1701. But as with Fra Savonarola, there seems to be little progress in the cause.
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Saints
Jun 1, 2021 22:49:45 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Jun 1, 2021 22:49:45 GMT
I did know about James II (he became very pious and austere in his last years - he visited La Trappe and believed losing his kingdom was divine punishment for his sins). His Cause would have two obstacles as compared to Savonarola: (a) The Dominican Order to some extent supplies an institutional base for promoters of Savonarola's rehabilitation - there's no equivalent for James II. (b) When attempts were made by some English Catholics in the 1930s to revive the Cause of Henry VI of England, the British government made formal diplomatic representations against it to the Vatican on the grounds that this was subordinating the British monarchy to the Papacy, even though Henry VI unquestionably died in communion with Rome and is far less politically controversial than James II. Attitudes have changed since the 1930s, but not as much as that.
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Saints
Mar 17, 2022 21:20:14 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Mar 17, 2022 21:20:14 GMT
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Saints
Apr 2, 2022 23:54:31 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Apr 2, 2022 23:54:31 GMT
An account of the life of the Ukrainian martyr-bishop Blessed Nicholas Charnetsky. One thing the article doesn't mention is that he participated in the 1932 Eucharistic Congress at Dublin and soon afterwards in the laying of the foundation stone for Liverpool RC Cathedral; his celebrations of te Ukrainian Rite at both events aroused considerable interest. His intercession might also be requested for our own Redemptorists: www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/04/02/martyr-of-communisms-blessed-nicholas-charnetsky/
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Saints
Feb 12, 2023 17:33:41 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Feb 12, 2023 17:33:41 GMT
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Saints
Feb 16, 2024 0:12:12 GMT
Post by hibernicus on Feb 16, 2024 0:12:12 GMT
At present the Secular Oratory at St Kevin's meets every first Sunday afternoon of the month in the church hall - Vespers and Benediction in the church are followed by prayers and a talk (in a series) on the life of St Philip Neri. A few months back the talk included some anecdotes about the tricks St Philip played on his disciples to teach them humility. One of these involved sending a disciple with a very large vessel to buy a very small amount of wine with inconvenient change, and leaving him to face the increasingly indignant wineseller. Now it seems to me that whatever its benefits to the soul of the disciple, this was very unfair to the wineseller, who was given a great deal of trouble and distraction. I'm not saying that St Philip was not a saint, or that he acted wrongly in this instance (he may have been acting on knowledge not included in the account). What I am saying is that the fact that something was done by a saint does not automatically make it appropriate for imitation.
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