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THE OLD ROMAN Vol. I Issue XL W/C 7th June 2020
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WELCOME to this fortieth edition of “The Old Roman” a weekly dissemination of news, views and information for and from around the world reflecting the experience and life of 21C “Old Romans” i.e. western Orthodox Catholics across the globe.
CONTRIBUTIONS… news items, magazine, devotional or theological articles, prayer requests, features about apostolates and parish mission life are ALL welcome and may be submitted via email. Submissions should be sent by Friday for publication the following Sunday.
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Let us represent the cherubim in mystic harmony, mystic harmony,
praise the Father, Son and Spirit,
raise our three-fold song, raise our three-fold song,
praise the Trinity, praise the Trinity, raise our three-fold song to the Trinity,
Let us now cast aside, cast aside, let us cast aside all this earthly life,
cast aside, cast aside, cast aside, all this earthly life.
Amen.
King of all, we may receive God the King, we may receive Him!
He who in glory enters in with mighty hosts of angels,
with mighty hosts of angels. Alleluia!
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IN THIS WEEK'S EDITION...
The Old Roman View...
THE LITURGY
- ORDO w/c Sunday 7th June 2020
- RITUAL NOTES... Trinity
- THE LITURGICAL YEAR Trinity Sunday
- VIDEO Introit: Benedícta sit sancta Trínitas
- CONCERNING THE MASS Trinity Sunday - Dom Prosper Gueranger
- MEDITATIONS FOR EVERYDAY OF THE YEAR - Bishop Richard Challoner
- A SERMON FOR Trinity Sunday - Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD
- THIS WEEK'S FEASTS... SS Primus & Felicianus, St Margaret of Scotland, St John of Sahagun, St Anthony of Padua, St Basil the Great
CORONAVIRUS
- Update Info Links
- Policy Document
- Supporting those in isolation
- Staying in touch
- Advice for those self-isolating
- Practical advice for staying at home
- VIDEO Bi-vocation and COVID19
VOX POPULI
Voices from around the Communion on "Coronavirus impact" and "The Old Roman"
- How to worship online - Metropolitan Jerome of Selsey
- Schedule of Old Roman worship broadcasts
Old Roman Culture...
- VIDEO Old Romans Unscripted Ep.12 "Morality or Chaos" - Fr Thomas Gierke OSF and Archbishop Jerome of Selsey
- VIDEO Old Romans Unscripted Ep.13 "Spiritual growth" - Bishop Kelly & Archbishop Lloyd
- VIDEO Late Night Catechism "Who am I?"- Archbishop Jerome of Selsey
- VIDEO "Wondering bishop"... Archbishop Jerome of Selsey "thinking aloud"
- VIDEO Catholic Unscripted - Gavin Ashenden & Fr Peter Kloss examine Pentecostal & Marian issues.
Of your charity... prayer requests
Old Roman Mass Directory
Old Roman Clerical Directory
Vocations Info
The Old Roman Subscription Form
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The fundamental truth on which everything in the Christian religion rests, is the dogma of the Holy Trinity from whom all comes (Epistle), and to whom all baptized in His name must return (Gospel).
In the course of the cycle, having called to our minds in order, God the Father, Author of creation, God the Son, Author of redemption, and God the Holy Ghost, Author of our sanctification, the Church today, before all else, recapitulates the great mystery by which we acknowledge and adore the Unity of Nature and Trinity of Persons in almighty God (Collect).
The dogma of the Holy Trinity is affirmed, in the liturgy, on every hand. It is in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that we begin and end the Mass and Divine Office, and that we confer the Sacraments. All the Psalms end with the Gloria, the Hymns with the Doxology, and the Prayers by a conclusion in honor of the three Divine Persons. Twice during the Mass we are reminded that it is to the Holy Trinity that the Mass is being offered.
A votive Mass in honor of the Holy Trinity was composed in the seventh century, and in the eleventh century the Abbey of Cluny established the custom of using it for a feast of the Holy Trinity on this Sunday. Bishop Stephen of Liege composed its office in the tenth century. The feast was officially adopted by the Roman liturgy in 1334 at Avignon by Pope John XXII and was later promoted in rank by St. Pius X.
That we may ever be armed against all adversity, let us today, with the liturgy, make our solemn profession of faith in the Holy and Eternal Trinity and His indivisible Unity.
Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, OSB, 1945
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ORDO w/c Sunday 31st May 2020
Click on the underlined hyperlinked text to information about the Saint/stational church or the Mass Propers for any given day…
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OFFICE |
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N.B. |
S
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07.06
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TRINITY SUNDAY
Com. Sunday I Pentecost
(W) Missa “Benedicta sit“ |
d.i
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2a) Pentecost I
Gl.Cr.Pref.Trinity
PLG Pent I |
M
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08.06
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Feria II Dom. I Post Pentecost
(G) Missa "Dómine, in tua"
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s.d |
2a) the Saints
3a) the Church
Gl.Pref.Trinity |
T
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09.06
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Ss Primus & Felician, Mm
(R) Missa "Sapiéntiam Sanctórum"
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s.d |
2a) the Saints
3a) the Church
Gl.Pref.Trinity |
W
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10.06
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St Margaret of Scotland, Q&W
(W) Missa “Cognóvi, Dómine"
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s.d
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2a) the Saints
3a) the Church
Gl.Pref.Trinity |
T
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11.06
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CORPUS CHRISTI
(W) Missa “Cibávit eos" |
d.i
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Gl.Sq.Cr.Pref.Nativity
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F
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12.06
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Feria Corpus Christi Octave
Com. St John a Facundo
SS. Basilides, Cyrinus,
Nabor & Nazarius, Martyrs
(W) Missa “Cibávit eos" |
s.d
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2a) St John
3a) SS Basilides Co
Gl.Sq.Cr.Pref.Nativity
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S
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13.06
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Feria Corpus Christi Octave
Com. St Anthony of Padua
(W) Missa “Cibávit eos" |
s.d
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2a) St Anthony
Gl.Sq.Cr.Pref.Nativity
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S
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14.06
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SUNDAY IN THE OCTAVE
OF CORPUS CHRISTI
Sunday II Post Pentecost
Com. St Basil the Great
(W) Missa “Factus est“ |
s.d
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2a) of the Octave
3a) St Basil
Gl.Sq.Cr.Pref.Nativity
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RITUAL NOTES
- WHITSUN This is a double of the first class with closed octave. No other feast may displace it, nor occur during the octave. Feasts may be commemorated during the octave, except on Monday and Tuesday.
- At the verse of the Great Alleluia, Veni sancte Spiritus etc., all genuflect. At Low Mass the celebrant genuflects as he says these words. At High or sung Mass he does not genuflect then, but goes to kneel (between the ministers) on the edge of the foot-pace while they are sung by the choir. The sequence Vent sancte Spiritus follows.
- Matins has only one nocturn. At terce the hymn Veni creator Spiritus is said, instead of Nunc sancte nobis Spiritus. The hymn Veni creator Spiritus is also the vesper hymn. Whenever this is sung, all kneel during the first verse. The hymn should be intoned by the celebrant.
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Watch our NEW show airing at 6.15pm British Summer Time via Facebook on Saturday and Sunday evenings offering comment and observations on topical issues and apologetics for Old Roman Catholicism. See below for this week's episodes!
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THE LITURGICAL YEAR
Trinity Sunday
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On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Apostles received, as we have seen, the grace of the Holy Ghost. In accordance with the injunction of their divine Master, they will soon start on their mission of teaching all nations and baptizing men in the name of the Holy Trinity It was but right, then, that the solemnity which is intended to honour the mystery of One God in Three Persons should immediately follow that of Pentecost, with which it has a mysterious connection. And yet it was not till after many centuries that it was inserted in the Cycle of the Liturgical Year, whose completion is the work of successive ages.
Every homage paid to God by the Church’s Liturgy has the Holy Trinity as its object. Time, as well as eternity, belongs to the Trinity. The Trinity is the scope of all Religion. Every day, every hour, belongs to It. The Feasts instituted in memory of the mysteries of our Redemption centre in It. The Feasts of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints are but so many means for leading us to the praise of the God who is One in essence, and Three in Persons. The Sunday’s Office, in a very special way, gives us, each week, a most explicit expression of adoration and worship of this mystery, which is the foundation of all others and the source of all grace.
This explains to us how it was that the Church was so long in instituting a special Feast in honour of the Holy Trinity. The ordinary motive for the institution of Feasts did not exist in this instance. A Feast is the memorial of some fact which took place at some certain time, and of which it is well to perpetuate the remembrance and influence. How could this be applied to the mystery of the Trinity? It was from all eternity, it was before any created being existed, that God liveth and reigneth, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If a Feast in honour of that Mystery were to be instituted, it could only be by the fixing some one day in the Year whereon the Faithful would assemble for the offering a more than usually solemn tribute of worship to the Mystery of Unity and Trinity in the one same divine Nature.
The idea of such a Feast was first conceived by some of those pious and recollected souls, who are favoured from on high with a sort of presentiment of the things which the Holy Ghost will achieve, at a future period, in the Church. So far back as the 8th Century, the learned monk Alcuin had had the happy thought of composing a Mass in honour of the mystery of the blessed Trinity. It would seem that he was prompted to this by the Apostle of Germany, Saint Boniface. That this composition is a beautiful one, no one will doubt that knows, from Alcuin’s writings, how full its author was of the spirit of sacred Liturgy; but after all, it was only a votive Mass, a mere help to private devotion, which no one ever thought would lead to the institution of a Feast. This Mass, however, became a great favourite, and was gradually circulated through the several Churches; for instance, it was approved of for Germany by the Council of Selingenstadt, held in 1022.
In that 11th Century, however, a Feast properly so called of Holy Trinity had been introduced into one of the Churches of Belgium,—the very same that was to have the honour, later on, of procuring to the Church’s Calendar one of the richest of its Solemnities. Stephen, Bishop of Liége solemnly instituted the Feast of Holy Trinity for his Church, in 920, and had an entire Office composed in honour of the mystery. The Church’s law, which now reserves to the Holy See the institution of any new Feast was not then in existence; and Riquier, Stephen’s successor in the See of Liége, kept up what his predecessor had begun.
The Feast became gradually adopted. The Benedictine Order took it up from the very first. We find, for instance, in the early part of the 11th Century, that Berno, the Abbot of Reichnaw, was doing all he could to propagate it. At Cluny, also, the Feast was established at the commencement of the same Century, as we learn from the Ordinarium of that celebrated Monastery, drawn up in 1091, and where we find mention of Holy Trinity day as having been instituted long before.
Under the pontificate of Alexander the Second, who reigned from 1061 to 1073, the Church of Rome, which has frequently sanctioned the usages of particular Churches, by herself adopting them, was led to pass judgement upon this new institution. In one of his Decretals, the Pontiff mentions that the Feast was then kept in many places; but that the Church at Rome had not adopted it; and for this reason—that the adorable Trinity is, every day of the year, unceasingly invoked by the repetition of the words: Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto; as, likewise, by several other formulas expressive of praise.
Meanwhile, the Feast went on gaining ground, as we gather from the Micrologus; and in the early part of the 12th Century, we have the learned Abbot Rupert, who may just be styled a Doctor in liturgical science, explaining the appropriateness of that Feast’s institution in these words: “Having celebrated the solemnity of the coming of the Holy Ghost we, at once, on the Sunday next following, sing the glory of the Holy Trinity; and rightly is this arrangement ordained, for after the coming of that same Holy Spirit, the faith in and confession of the name of Father Son and Holy Ghost immediately began to be preached, and believed, and celebrated, in Baptism.”
In our own country, it was the glorious Martyr, St. Thomas of Canterbury, that established the Feast of Holy Trinity. He introduced it in his Archdiocese in the year 1162, in memory of his having been consecrated Bishop on the first Sunday after Pentecost. As regards France, we find a Council of Arles, held in 1260, under the presidency of Archbishop Florentinus, solemnly decreeing, in its sixth canon, the Feast of Holy Trinity to be observed with an Octave. The Cistercian Order, which was spread throughout Europe, had ordered it to be celebrated in all its Houses, as far back as the year 1230. Durandus, in his Rationale, gives us grounds for concluding that, during the 13th Century, the majority of the Latin Churches kept this Feast. Of these Churches, there were some that celebrated it not on the first, but on the last Sunday after Pentecost; others kept it twice—once on the Sunday next following the Pentecost Solemnity, and a second time on the Sunday immediately preceding Advent.
It was evident from all this that the Apostolic See would finally give its sanction to a practice whose universal adoption was being prompted by Christian instinct. John the Twenty-second, who sat in the Chair of St. Peter as early as the year 1334, completed the work by a Decree wherein the Church of Rome accepted the Feast of Holy Trinity, and extended its observance to all Churches.
As to the motive which induced the Church, led, as she is in all things, by the Holy Ghost, to fix one special day in the Year for the offering a solemn homage to the blessed Trinity, whereas all our adorations all our acts of thanksgiving, all our petitions, are ever being presented to It—such motive is to be found in the change which was being introduced at that period into the liturgical Calendar. Up to about the year 1000. the Feasts of Saints marked on the general Calendar and universally kept were very few. From that time, they began to be more numerous; and there was evidence that their number would go on increasing. The time would come when the Sunday’s Office, which is specially consecrated to the blessed Trinity, must make way for that of the Saints, as often as one of their Feasts occurred on a Sunday. As a sort of compensation for this celebration of the memory of God’s Servants on the very day which was sacred to the Holy Trinity, it was considered right that once, at least, in the course of the Year a Sunday should be set apart for the exclusive and direct expression of the worship which the Church pays to the great God, who has vouchsafed to reveal himself to mankind in his ineffable Unity and in his eternal Trinity.
The very essence of the Christian Faith consists in the knowledge and adoration of One God in Three Persons. This is the Mystery whence all others flow. Our Faith centres in this as in the master-truth of all it knows in this life, and as the infinite object whose vision is to form our eternal happiness; and yet, we only know it because it has pleased God to reveal himself thus to our lowly intelligence, which, after all, can never fathom the infinite perfections of that God who necessarily inhabiteth light inaccessible. Human reason may of itself come to the knowledge of the existence of God as Creator of all beings; it may, by its own innate power, form to itself an idea of his perfections by the study of his works; but the knowledge of God’s intimate being can only come to us by means of his own gracious revelation.
It was God’s good pleasure to make known to us his essence, in order to bring us into closer union with himself, and to prepare us, in some way, for that face-to-face vision of himself which he intends giving us in eternity: but his revelation is gradual; he takes mankind from brightness unto brightness, fitting it for the full knowledge and adoration of Unity in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. During the period preceding the Incarnation of the eternal Word, God seems intent on inculcating the idea of his Unity, for polytheism was the infectious error of mankind; and every notion of there being a spiritual and sole cause of all things would have been effaced on earth, had not the infinite goodness of that God watched over its preservation.
Not that the Old Testament Books were altogether silent on the Three Divine Persons, whose ineffable relations are eternal; only, the mysterious passages which spoke of them were not understood by the people at large; whereas, in the Christian Church, a child of seven will answer them that ask him, that in God the Three Divine Persons have but one and the same nature, but one and the same Divinity. When the Book of Genesis tells us that God spoke in the plural, and said: Let Us make man to our image and likeness, the Jew bows down and believes, but he understands not the sacred text; the Christian, on the contrary, who has been enlightened by the complete revelation of God, sees under this expression the Three Persons acting together in the formation of Man; the light of Faith develops the great truth to him and tells him that within himself there is a likeness to the blessed Three in One. Power, Understanding, and Will, are three faculties within him, and yet he himself is but one being.
In the Books of Proverbs, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus, Solomon speaks in sublime language of him who is eternal Wisdom; he tells us, and he uses every variety of grandest expression to tell us, of the divine essence of this Wisdom and of his being a distinct Person in the Godhead;—but how few among the people of Israel could see through the veil? Isaiah heard the voice of the Seraphim as they stood around God’s throne; he heard them singing, in alternate choirs, and with a joy intense because eternal, this hymn: Holy! Holy! Holy! is the Lord! but who will explain to men this triple Sanctus, of which the echo is heard here below, when we mortals give praise to our Creator? So again, in the Psalms and the prophetic Books, a flash of light will break suddenly upon us; a brightness of some mysterious Three will dazzle us; but it passes away, and obscurity returns seemingly all the more palpable; we have but the sentiment of the divine Unity deeply impressed on our inmost soul, and we adore the Incomprehensible the Sovereign Being.
The world had to wait for the fullness of time to be completed; and then, God would send into this world his only Son, Begotten of him from all eternity. This his most merciful purpose has been carried out, and the Word made Flesh hath dwelt among us. By seeing his glory, the glory of the Only Begotten Son of the Father, we have come to know that in God, there is Father and Son. The Son’s Mission to our earth, by the very revelation it gave us of himself, taught us that God is eternally Father, for whatsoever is in God is eternal. But for this merciful revelation. which is an anticipation of the light awaiting us in the next life, our knowledge of God would have been too imperfect. It was fitting that there should be some proportion between the light of Faith and that of the Vision reserved for the future; it was not enough for man to know that God is One.
So that we now know the Father, from whom comes, as the Apostle tells us, all paternity, even on earth. We know him not only as the creative power, which has produced every being outside himself; but guided as it is by Faith, our soul’s eye respectfully penetrates into the very essence of the Godhead, and there beholds the Father begetting a Son like unto himself. But in order to teach us the Mystery, that Son came down upon our earth. Himself has told us expressly that no one knoweth the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal him. Glory, then be to the Son, who has vouchsafed to show us the Father! and glory to the Father, whom the Son hath revealed unto us!
The intimate knowledge of God has come to us by the Son, whom the Father, in his love, has given to us. And this Son of God, who in order to raise up our minds even to his own Divine Nature, has clad himself, by his Incarnation, with our Human Nature, has taught us that he and his Father are one;—that they are one and the same Essence, in distinction of Persons. One begets; the other is begotten; the One is named Power; the Other, Wisdom, or Intelligence. The Power cannot be without the Intelligence, nor the Intelligence without the Power, in the sovereignly perfect Being: but both the One and the Other produce a Third term.
The Son, who had been sent by the Father, had ascended into heaven, with the Human Nature which he had united to himself for all future eternity; and lo! the Father and the Son send into this world the Spirit who proceeds from them both. It was a new Gift, and it taught man that the Lord God was in Three Persons. The Spirit, the eternal link of the first Two, is Will, he is Love, in the divine Essence. In God, then, is the fullness of Being, without beginning, without succession, without increase—for there is nothing which he has not. In these Three eternal terms of his uncreated Substance is the Act. pure and infinite.
The sacred Liturgy, whose object is the glorification of God and the commemoration of his works, follows, each year, the sublime phases of these manifestations, whereby the Sovereign Lord has made known his whole self to mortals. Under the sombre colours of Advent, we commemorated the period of expectation, during which the radiant Triangle sent forth but few of its rays to mankind. The world, during those four thousand years, was praying heaven for a Liberator, a Messiah; and it was God’s own Son that was to be this Liberator, this Messiah. That we might have the full knowledge of the prophecies which foretold him, it was necessary that he himself should actually come:—a Child was born unto us, and then we had the key to the Scriptures. When we adored that Son. we adored also the Father who sent him to us in the Flesh. and to whom he is consubstantial. This Word of Life, whom we have seen, whom we have heard, whom our hands have handled in the Humanity which he deigned to assume, has proved himself to be truly a Person, a Person distinct from the Father, for One sends, and the Other is sent. In this second Divine Person, we have found our Mediator, who has reunited the creation to its Creator; we have found the Redeemer of our sins, the Light of our souls, the Spouse we had so long desired.
Having passed through the mysteries which he himself wrought, we next celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit, who had been announced as coming to perfect the work of the Son of God. We adored him and acknowledged him to be distinct from the Father and the Son, who had sent him to us with the mission of abiding with us. He manifested himself by divine operations which are especially his own, and were the object of his coming. He is the soul of the Church; he keeps her in the truth taught her by the Son. He is the source, the principle, of the sanctification of our souls; and in them he wishes to make his dwelling. In a word, the mystery of the Trinity has become to us not only a dogma made known to our mind by Revelation, but moreover a practical truth given to us by the unheard-of munificence of the Three Divine Persons; the Father, who has adopted us; the Son, whose brethren and joint-heirs we are; and the Holy Ghost, who governs us and dwells within us.
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Trinity Sunday
The Introit, Filled with the Holy Ghost, the Church is about to pay the solemn tribute of her gratitude by offering the divine Victim who, by his immolation, merited for us the great Gift—the Spirit. The Introit has been begun by the Choir, and with an unusual joy and enthusiasm. The Gregorian Chant has few finer pieces than this. As to the words, they give us a prophecy, which receives its fulfilment today:—it is taken from the Book of Wisdom. The holy Spirit fills the whole earth with his presence; and as a pledge of his being with us, he gives to the Apostles the gift of tongues.
The Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world, alleluia: and that which contained all things hath knowledge of the voice. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Ps. Let God arise, and his enemies be dispersed: and let them that hate him fly before his face. ℣. Glory, &c. The Spirit, &c.
The Collect, tells us what favors we should petition for from our Heavenly Father on such a day as this. It also tells us that the Holy Ghost brings us two principal graces:—a relish for the things of God and consolation of heart. Let us pray that we may receive both the one and the other, that we may thus become perfect Christians.
O God, who, by the light of the Holy Ghost, didst this day instruct the hearts of the faithful: grant that, by the same Spirit, we may relish what is right, and ever rejoice in his consolation. Through, &c.
LESSON Lesson from the Acts of the Apostles.
When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these, that speak, Galileans? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.
INSTRUCTION Four great events mark the sojourn of man on earth; and each of them is a proof of God’s infinite goodness towards us. The first is the Creation of man and his Vocation to a supernatural state, which gives him, as his last end, the eternal vision and possession of God. The second is the Incarnation of the Divine Word, who, by uniting the Human to the Divine Nature, raises a created being to a participation of the Divinity, and at the same time, provides the Victim needed for redeeming Adam and his race from the state of perdition into which they fell by sin. The third event is that which we celebrate today—the Descent of the Holy Ghost. The fourth is the Second Coming of the Son of God, when he will free his spouse, the Church, from the shackles of mortality, and lead her to heaven, there to celebrate his eternal nuptials with her. In these four divine acts, the last of which has not yet been accomplished, is included the whole history of mankind; all other events bear, more or less, upon them. Of course, the animal man perceiveth not these things; he never gives them a thought. The light shineth in darkness, and darkness doth not comprehend it.
Blessed, then, be the God of mercy, who hath called us out of darkness, into his marvellous light,—the light of Faith! He has made us children of that generation, which is not of flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God. It is by this grace, that we are now all attention to the third of God’s great works—the Descent of the Holy Ghost. We have been listening to the thrilling account given us of his coming. That mysterious storm, that fire, those tongues, that sacred enthusiasm of the Disciples—have told us so much of God’s plans upon this our world! We could not but say within ourselves: “Has God loved the world so much as this?” When our Redeemer was living with us on this earth, he said to one of his disciples: God hath so loved the world, as to give it his Only Begotten Son. The mystery achieved today forces us to complete these words and say: “The Father and the Son have so loved the world, as to give it their own Divine Spirit!” Let us gratefully accept the Gift, and learn what Man is. Rationalism and Naturalism will have it that man’s true happiness consists in his following their principles, which are principles of pride and sensuality:—Faith, on the contrary, teaches us humility and mortification, and these bring us to union with our Infinite Good.
GOSPEL Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John.
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which you have heard, is not mine; but the Father’s who sent me. These things have I spoken to you, abiding with you. But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. You have heard that I said to you: I go away, and I come unto you. If you loved me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes to pass: that when it shall come to pass, you may believe. I will not now speak many things with you. For the prince of this world cometh, and in me he hath not any thing. But that the world may know, that I love the Father: and as the Father hath given me commandment, so do I: Arise, let us go hence.
INSTRUCTION
The coming of the Holy Ghost is not only an event, which concerns mankind at large: each individual of the human race is invited to receive this same visit, which today renews the face of the earth. The merciful design of the sovereign Lord of all things is to contract a close alliance with each one of us. Jesus asks but one thing of us:—that we love him and keep his word. If we do this, he promises us that the Father will love us, and will take up his abode in our soul. He tells us that the Holy Ghost is to come; and he is coming that he may, by his presence, complete the habitation of God within us. The sacred Trinity will turn this poor dwelling into a new heaven, until such time as we shall be taken, after this life, to the abode where we shall see our infinitely dear Guest—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—whose love of us is so incomprehensibly great.
In this same passage of the Gospel, which is taken from his Sermon at the Last Supper, Jesus teaches us, that the Holy Spirit, who this day descends upon us, is sent, indeed, by the Father, but sent in the name of the Son. A little further on, in the same Sermon, Jesus says that it is he himself who sends the Paraclete. These modes of expression show us the relations which exist, in the Trinity, between the first two Persons and the Holy Ghost. This divine Spirit if the Spirit of the Father, but he is also the Spirit of the Son; it is the Father who sends him, but the Son also sends him; for he proceeds from the Two as from one principle. On this great day of Pentecost, our gratitude should therefore be the same to the Son who is Wisdom, as to the Father who is Power; for the Gift that is sent to us from heaven comes from both. From all eternity, the Father has begotten his Son; and when the fullness of time came, he gave him to men, that he might assume our human nature, and be our Mediator and Savior. From all eternity, the Father and Son have produced the Holy Ghost; and when the time marked in the divine decree came, they sent him here upon our earth, that he might be to us—as he is between the Father and the Son—the principle of Love. Jesus teaches us that the mission of the Holy Ghost followed his own, because men required to be initiated into truth by Him who is Wisdom; for could they love what they did not know? But no sooner had Jesus consummated his work, and exalted his Human Nature to the throne of God his Father—than he, together with the Father, sends the Holy Ghost, in order that he may maintain within us that word which is spirit and life, and leads us on to Love.
The Offertory is taken from the 67th Psalm, where David foretells the coming of the Divine Spirit, whose mission it is to confirm what Jesus has wrought. The Cenacle is grander than the Temple of Jerusalem. Henceforth, the Church is to take the place of the Synagogue, and Kings and people will become her submissive children.
Confirm, O God, what thou hast wrought in us, from thy temple which is in Jerusalem kings shall offer presents to thee, alleluia.
The Secret Having before her, on the Altar, the sacred gifts which have been presented to the Divine Majesty, the Church prays, in the Secret, that the coming of the Holy Ghost may be to the Faithful a Fire which may consume all their dross, and a Light which may give them a more perfect understanding of the teachings of the Son of God.
Sanctify, we beseech thee, O Lord, these oblations, and purify our hearts by the light of the Holy Ghost. Through, &c.
The Preface is that of the Holy Spirit.
The Communion-Anthem The words of the Communion-Anthem are from the Epistle; they celebrate the solemn moment of the Descent of the Holy Ghost. Jesus has given himself to the Faithful in the Blessed Sacrament: but it was the Holy Spirit who prepared them for such a favor; who changed the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Divine Victim; and who will assist the Faithful to cooperate with the grace of this holy Communion, which nourishes and strengthens their souls unto life everlasting.
Suddenly there came a noise from heaven, as of a strong rushing wind, where they were sitting, alleluia: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and published the wonderful works of God, alleluia, alleluia.
The Post-Communion Put, by the sacred mysteries, in possession of her Spouse, the Church prays, in the Post-Communion, that the Holy Ghost may abide forever in our souls. She also speaks of that prerogative of the Divine Spirit, whereby he turns our hearts, from being dry and barren of good, into very Edens of fruitfulness. How consoling the thought that our hearts are to be sprinkled with the dew of the Paraclete!
May the pouring forth of the Holy Ghost into our hearts cleanse them, O Lord, and render them fruitful by the inward sprinkling of the dew of his grace. Through, &c.
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How are Old Roman vocations to the Sacred Ministry discerned, formed and realised? If you are discerning a vocation to the Sacred Ministry and are considering exploring the possibility of realising your vocation as an Old Roman or transferring your discernment, this is the programme for you!
Questions are welcome and may be sent in advance to vocations@secret.fyi anonymity is assured.
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MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR
BY BISHOP CHALLONER
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Richard Challoner (1691–1781) was an English Roman Catholic bishop, a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the 18th century. The titular Bishop of Doberus, he is perhaps most famous for his revision of the Douay–Rheims translation of the Bible.
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TRINITY SUNDAY
ON THE THE BLESSED TRINITY
Consider first, that on this day the church sets before the eyes of our souls this principal mystery of the Christian faith, by which we believe one eternal God in three several persons, which we call the mystery of the blessed Trinity, or of three persons in one - three persons in one God. This is the great object of the Christian’s worship. This we ought to adore every day and every hour. Every Sunday in the year might be called Trinity Sunday, because every Sunday is set aside for the worship of this adorable Trinity, our Lord and our God. Yea, all our time belongs to him, and the great sacrifice that is offered daily on millions of altars throughout the world is principally designed to give sovereign adoration, homage, praise, and glory to the most holy Trinity. But then this day is more particularly appointed by the church, (which has now just finished celebrating the other great festivals relating to the mysteries of our redemption and sanctification, wrought by the three divine Persons,) in order to honour in a more particular manner the chief mystery of our religion. Come then, my soul, and come all ye Christian souls with me this day, and let us bow down all our powers to adore this incomprehensible mystery. The more it is above our reach the more worthy it is both of our faith and veneration.
Consider 2ndly, more in particular what our faith teaches us with relation to this mystery. We believe there is but one true and living God, and no more - eternal, incomprehensible, omnipotent, and infinite in all his attributes and perfections. In this one God we believe three distinct persons of the same substance and essence, and perfectly equal in age, in power, in wisdom, and in all perfections - the Father, who has no beginning, and proceeds from no one; the Son, who proceeds from the Father by an eternal and ineffable generation, as his living word and wisdom, the brightness of his glory, and the most perfect image of his person; and the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God, who proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son. We believe that these three are one by having all three the same Godhead; that is, the same divine nature. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God; and yet they are not three Gods, but one God, one Lord, one Almighty in three several Persons. This is the true Christian catholic belief of the mystery of the blessed Trinity essentially necessary for our eternal salvation. Let us, then, make frequent acts of faith concerning this sovereign truth - let us cast down every proud thought that offers to rebel against it - for God himself has taught it, who never can deceive nor be deceived.
Consider 3rdly, that it is not our faith alone, but our lives also, that must render proper homage to this adorable mystery of the eternal Trinity. ‘What will it avail thee to discourse profoundly of the Trinity,’ saith the servant of God, ‘if; through want of humility, thou be so disagreeable to the Trinity?' Humility of mind and heart is the most agreeable homage that man can pay to this infinite majesty. 'Heaven's my throne,’ saith he, Isaia. lxvi. 1,2, 'and the earth my footstool - my hand made all these things - but to whom shall I have respect but to him that is poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembled, at my words?’ Learn also from the epistle of this day, as a part of the homage thou owest to the most sacred Trinity, to adore in silence the depth of the sacred counsels and judgments of God, and the wisdom of his unsearchable ways, and in all events to give glory to him. ‘For of him, and by him, and in him, are all things - to him be glory for ever. Amen.’ Rom. xi. 36.
Conclude to come daily before the throne of the eternal Trinity with thy best homage of faith, love, and humility. Adore the almighty power of the Father, the infinite wisdom of the Son, and the incomprehensible goodness and love of the Holy Ghost. And give up the three powers of thy soul, and thy whole being, without reserve, to be ruled and disposed of for time and eternity by this infinite power, wisdom, and goodness.
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A SERMON FOR TRINITY SUNDAY
Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD
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Today is Trinity Sunday. Since the middle ages the Western Church has marked the end of the Pentecost Octave with the Feast of the Holy Trinity. It is right that a day should be set aside to celebrate this doctrine, for (along with the Incarnation) it is the dogma that marks out Christianity from all other religions.
For many, the nature of God as Trinity seems obscure and unrelated to daily life. In fact, it is derived from God’s revelation of himself, first to the people of Israel and then in the person of Jesus Christ. Whereas other peoples worshipped many gods, the people of Israel worshipped only one God, the maker of all things, visible and invisible. God was utterly transcendent and distinct from the world that he had created and yet also immanent within it. Describing God’s immanence within his creation, they spoke of his Word, his Wisdom, his Glory and his Spirit. God was utterly transcendent from the world he had created and yet nearer to us than we are to ourselves. He spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to a friend, and later he spoke by the prophets. They looked forward to a time when God’s purposes would be fully realised in a more complete revelation of himself.
Finally, his purposes were fully realised in the person of his Son. In many and various ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, and by whom he made the world (Hebrews 1:1-2). What most astonished Jesus’ contemporaries was the authority with which he acted. He went around not simply talking about God, like one of the prophets, but standing in God’s place, acting and speaking for him. He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes (Matthew 7:29). “What manner of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him” (Matthew 8:27). The prophets said, “Thus saith the Lord”, but Jesus said, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, but I say unto you”. He thus said in his own name what the Law of Moses said in God’s name. He was the full, final and definitive revelation of God’s will. In his coming the Kingdom of God is made present. He says that man’s attitude to him will decide God’s attitude to them on the last day. He proclaims rest for the weary and heavy laden, and that he alone truly knows the Father and the Father knows him (Matthew 11:27-30).
Jesus was condemned for blasphemy, for making himself equal with God. Jesus replied that he did not claim anything for himself on his own authority, but everything for what the Father was accomplishing through him. He and the Father are one, utterly identified, for they are one in action, but not identical, for the Father is Father and not Son. “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that he himself doeth… He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which sent him” (John 5:19-23). To have met him is to have been met and judged by God. To have seen him is to have seen the Father (John 14:9).
His coming is the coming of God in person to rescue the human race from sin and death. Through his resurrection and ascension he has been given the name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2: 9-11). Kyrios was the word used to translate God in the Septuagint (the translation of the Bible for Greek speaking Jews), and so in saying that Jesus Christ is Kyrios (Lord) he is shown to be given the divine name and to share in the divine sovereignty.
But this was not just from the resurrection, but from the beginning, for the redeemer is not distinct from the creator. “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him: and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (1 Corinthians 8:6). In other words, he bore the divine name from the beginning. The divine Word, God’s self expression, who was in the beginning with God and indeed was himself God, was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. He fully shared the divine nature and work in both creation and redemption, and indeed was God in his self revelation, and yet the Father remained Father and not Son. They were really related, but really distinct.
Before he was risen, ascended and glorified he promised the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, whom the Father would send in his name. Just as the Father dwelt in him and he in the Father, so the Spirit would be sent from the Father in the name of the Son. It was through the Spirit that his disciples, the Body of Christ on earth, would be enabled to become by grace what he is by nature, “that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4: 6). The Spirit shares in the divine nature of the Father and the Son, yet is distinct from the Father and the Son.
In the work of salvation in time and history God has made himself known in three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, yet there is only one God.
The early Christians had great difficulty in formulating a language that adequately did justice to the Triune God, but it was necessary to do this to guard against errors that denied the Triune God. One error was known as Modalism, in other words there were not three Persons in one God, but rather three modes of being, the Father, God at work in creation, the Son, God at work in redemption and the Holy Spirit, God at work in sanctification. This preserved the unity of God, but failed to account for the distinction between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as revealing not just God’s work in the salvation history, but his own nature. Against Modalism it was necessary to affirm that the Son was eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father.
At the opposite extreme was the error of Arianism, which denied the eternity of the Son, and thus in effect undermined the unity of God, because if the Son were not consubstantial with the Father, then the redeemer was not the creator. That was why at the Council of Nicea in 325 the phrase homoousios, of one substance, was added to the Creed, to assert that the Son was of the same divine nature as the Father. As St. Athanasias said, if the language of one substance was not in the Scriptures it explained the true sense of the Scriptures. St. Athanasias emphasised that the only distinction between the Father and the Son is that the Father is Father, and not Son. They both fully share the divine nature.
It is necessary to uphold the doctrine of the Trinity, not as an exercise in theological speculation, but to safeguard the work of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the work of creation, redemption and sanctification. They are neither three aspects of one God, nor three Gods, but rather three Persons in one God.
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given to thy servants grace, in the confession of the true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of thy Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; grant that by steadfastness in the same faith we may evermore be defended from all adversities, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who livest and reignest with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, without without end. Amen.
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Is the Trinity logically possible...?
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THIS WEEK'S FEASTS
& COMMEMORATIONS
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CORPUS CHRISTI
Thursday 11 June
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The institution of the feast of Corpus Christi happened after a miraculous miracle at the time of St. Thomas Aquinas.
The Church offers us different feasts to celebrate the Eucharist. On Maundy Thursday we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist when Our Lord celebrated the first Mass and the institution of the priesthood. However the main focus of the Holy Week being the Redemption, it was fitting to have a feast dedicated only to the mystery of love which could be celebrated with great joy.
Institution of Corpus Christi
Pope Urban IV instituted the solemnity of Corpus Christi on the Thursday after Pentecost, by the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo (Aug. 11, 1264).
The pontiff made a point of setting an example by celebrating the first solemnity in Orvieto, the town where he was then residing. Indeed, he ordered that the famous corporal with the traces of the Eucharistic miracle that had occurred in Bolsena the previous year, 1263, be kept in Orvieto Cathedral — where it still is today.
Bolsena Miracle
While a priest was consecrating the bread and the wine he was overcome by strong doubts about the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist. A few drops of blood began miraculously to ooze from the consecrated Host, thereby confirming what our faith professes.
St. Thomas Aquinas' Texts
Urban IV asked one of the greatest theologians of history, St Thomas Aquinas — who at that time was accompanying the Pope in Orvieto — to compose the texts of the liturgical office for this feast. They are masterpieces, in which poetry expresses perfectly the theology. These texts give praise and gratitude to the Most Holy Sacrament, while the mind, penetrating the mystery with wonder, recognises in the Eucharist the Living and Real Presence of Jesus, of his Sacrifice of love that reconciles us with the Father, and gives us salvation.
Procession of Corpus Christi
The feast of Corpus Christi is one of five occasions in the year on which a diocesan bishop is not to be away from his diocese unless for a grave and urgent reason.
By tradition, Catholics take part in a procession through the streets of a neighbourhood near their parish following mass and pray and sing. The Blessed Sacrament is placed in a monstrance and is held aloft by a member of the clergy during the procession. After the procession, parishioners return to the church where benediction takes place. Where the Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is not a holy day of obligation, it is assigned to the Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity as its proper day.
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SS Primus & Felicianus
June 9 Martyrs († 286)
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These two martyrs were brothers who lived in Rome, heirs of a family of great wealth, toward the latter part of the third century. It was through the assiduous love of Pope Felix I that they had the happiness, in their mature years, of being converted to the Christian faith; afterwards they encouraged each other for many years in the practice of all good works. They seemed to possess nothing but for the poor, and often, during the persecutions, they spent both nights and days with the confessors in their dungeons, or at the places of their torments and execution. Some they exhorted to persevere; others who had fallen, they raised again. They made themselves the servants of all in Christ, that all might attain to salvation through Him.
Though their zeal was very remarkable, they had escaped the dangers of many bloody persecutions; they had grown old in the heroic exercises of their virtue, when it pleased God to crown their labors with a glorious martyrdom. Primus was about 90 years old, when the pagans raised so great an outcry against the brothers that they were apprehended and put in chains. They were inhumanly scourged and tortured, and then sent to a town twelve miles from Rome to be chastised again, as avowed enemies to the gods, by a prefect who detested the Christians. There they were cruelly tortured to make them renounce their faith, both together and then separately, but the grace of God strengthened each of them. Felicianus was nailed by his hands and feet to a post and left without food or water for three days; Primus was beaten with clubs and burnt with torches. God spared them amidst these tortures, and wild beasts in an arena imitated their God's mercy. Finally, they were beheaded on June 9, 286.
Reflection. A soul which truly loves God regards all things of this world as nothing. The loss of goods, the disgrace of the world, torments, sickness, and other afflictions are bitter to the senses, but appear light to the one who loves God. If we cannot bear our trials with patience and silence, it is because we love Him only in words. One who is slothful and lukewarm complains of everything, and calls the lightest precepts hard, says Thomas a Kempis.
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From the Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints with reflections for every day in the year, June 9th.
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St Margaret Queen of Scotland
June 5 Widow (1046-1093)
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Saint Margaret's name signifies pearl, a fitting name, says Theodoric, her confessor and her first biographer, for one such as she. Her soul was like a precious pearl; a life spent amidst the luxury of a royal court never dimmed its luster or estranged it from Him who had bought it with His blood. She was the granddaughter of an English king; in 1070 she became the bride of Malcolm of Scotland, thereafter reigning as Queen until her death in 1093.
How did she become a Saint in a position where sanctity is so difficult? First, she burned with zeal for the house of God. She built churches and monasteries; she occupied herself by making vestments; she could not rest until she saw the laws of God and His Church observed throughout her realm. Next, amid a thousand cares, she found time to converse with God, ordering her piety with such sweetness and discretion that she won her husband to sanctity like her own. He would rise at night to pray with her; he loved to kiss the holy books she used, and sometimes would take them away with him, bringing them back later to his wife covered with jewels. Lastly, despite Saint Margaret's great virtue, she wept constantly over her sins and begged her confessor to correct her faults.
Saint Margaret did not neglect her duties in the world even if she was not of the world. God blessed this marriage with eight children, six princes and two princesses who did not fail to respond to their mother's teaching and examples. Never was there a better mother; she spared no pains in their education, and their sanctity was the fruit of her prudence and her zeal. And never was there a better queen. She was the most trusted counselor of her husband, who always found her counsels of great utility, and she labored with him for the spiritual and material improvement of the land. Malcolm, after having pacified his domains for several years, saw to the building of the cathedral of Durham and founded a monastery at Dumfermlin.
Living in the midst of all the world's pleasures, Saint Margaret sighed for the true homeland and viewed death as a release. On her deathbed she learned that her husband and their eldest son had been slain in battle. She thanked God for sending this last affliction as a penance for her sins. After receiving Holy Viaticum, she repeated the prayer from the Missal, O Lord Jesus Christ, who by Thy death didst give life to the world, deliver me. And at the words deliver me, says her biographer, her soul took flight to Christ, in 1093, in her forty-seventh year.
Reflection. All perfection consists in keeping a guard upon the heart. Wherever we are, we can make a solitude in our hearts, detach ourselves from the world, and converse familiarly with God, as Saint Margaret did.
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St. Margaret of Scotland, or Margaret of Wessex, was an English princess born in Hungary to Princess Agatha of Hungary and English Prince Edward the Exile around 1045. Her siblings, Cristina and Edgar the Atheling were also born in Hungary around this time.
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St John of Sahagun
June 12 (1430-1479)
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Saint John, one of the greatest preachers Spain has ever known, was born at St. Fagondez, and from his early youth gave signs of his future sanctity. He was the fruit of the ardent prayers of his parents after sixteen years of sterility; God blessed them afterwards with several children. He was entrusted to the Benedictines of the monastery of St. Fagondez for his education. He distributed to the poor virtually all the wealth accruing to him from several benefices, while he himself lived in great poverty; but soon he renounced all of these and obtained from his bishop permission to study theology in Salamanca. As a young priest he was already regarded as a Saint, so ardent was his devotion at Holy Mass. He entered the Order of Saint Augustine soon after he had bestowed on a poor man half of his clothing, and the following night experienced so great an increase in the love of God, that he referred to this as his conversion.
He was a model religious, and soon was entrusted with important offices in his Order — master of novices, definitor for the province, and prior of the convent of the city of Salamanca. He commanded well because he knew so well how to obey. When he observed in himself a slight defect in his obedience, he repaired it with extraordinary penances. Often while offering the adorable Sacrifice with tender piety, he enjoyed the sight of Jesus in glory, and held sweet colloquies with Him. The ineffable bliss of these moments caused him to spend much more time than the other priests in celebrating Holy Mass; and everyone was complaining. It was only when his Superior forbid him to delay in this way that he was obliged to acknowledge the favors he enjoyed.
The power of his personal holiness was seen in his preaching, which produced a complete reformation of morals in Salamanca. He had a special gift for reconciling differences, and was able to put an end to the quarrels and feuds among noblemen, at that period very common and fatal. The boldness shown by Saint John in reproving vice endangered his life. A powerful nobleman, having been corrected by the Saint for oppressing his vassals, sent two assassins to slay him; but the remarkable holiness of the Saint's aspect, result of the peace constantly reigning in his soul, struck such awe into their minds that they could not execute their purpose, and humbly begged his forgiveness. The nobleman himself, falling sick, was brought to repentance, and recovered his health by the prayers of the Saint whom he had endeavored to murder.
Saint John was also very zealous in denouncing the vices of impurity, and it was in defense of holy purity that he met his death. A lady of noble birth but evil life, whose companion in sin he had converted, contrived to administer a fatal poison to the Saint. After several months of terrible suffering, borne with unvarying patience, Saint John went to his reward on June 11, 1479. This painful death and the cause for which he suffered it, have caused several of his historians and panegyrists to say that he won a martyr's crown. A great many striking miracles followed at his tomb and elsewhere, even by the simple invocation of his name. He was canonized in 1690 by Pope Alexander VIII.
Reflection. All men desire peace, but only those enjoy it who, like Saint John, are completely dead to themselves, and bear all things with love for Christ.
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The Lives of the Saints by the Reverend Alban Butler, taken from the fourth edition published in 1954.
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St Anthony of Padua
June 13 (1195-1231)
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Born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195, Fernando de Bouillon was of a noble family related to the famous Godefroy de Bouillon, founder and first sovereign of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, who at the close of the Crusade of 1099 had refused to wear a crown, there where Christ had worn one of thorns.
Favored by nature and grace, Fernand resolved at the age of fifteen to leave the world and consecrate himself to God in the Order of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine. No flattery, threat or caress of his relatives could persuade him to leave that holy refuge. He asked to be transferred to another convent to avoid the family's solicitations, and was sent to Coimbra. Still young, his sanctity became evident through miracles; he cured a poor religious whom the devil was obsessing, by covering him with his cloak.
When this young monk decided, after witnessing the return of the martyred remains of five Franciscans who had gone to Africa, to join that Order so favored with the graces of martyrdom, the Augustinians were desolate but could not prevent his departure, for Saint Francis himself appeared to him in a vision in July 1220, and commanded him to leave. He was then sent by the Franciscans to Africa, but two years later was obliged to return to Italy because of sickness; thus he was deprived of the martyr's crown he would have been happy to receive.
In 1222 Anthony, as he was now called, went with other Brothers and some Dominican friars to be ordained at Forli. There Fra Antonio rose under obedience to preach for the first time to the religious, and took for his theme the text of Saint Paul: Christ chose for our sake to become obedient unto death. As the discourse proceeded, the Hammer of Heretics, the Ark of the Testament, the eldest son of Saint Francis, stood revealed in all his sanctity, learning, and eloquence before his rapt and astonished brethren. He had been serving in the humblest offices of his community; now he was summoned to emerge from this obscurity. And then for nine years France, Italy, and Sicily heard his voice and saw his miracles, whose numbers can scarcely be counted. A crowd to which he was preaching outdoors one day, when the church was too small to hold all who came to hear him, amidst thunder and lightning felt not one drop of water fall upon them, while all around them the rain poured down. And men's hearts turned to God.
We may wonder why we always see Saint Anthony with the Child Jesus in his arms. The account of this heavenly visitation was told only after his death, at the official process concerning his virtues and miracles. It was narrated by the man who witnessed the marvel in question; the Saint himself had never spoken of it. Saint Anthony was in the region of Limoges in France, and was offered hospitality, rest and silence by this businessman of the region, in his country manor. He was given a room apart, to permit him to pray in peace; but during the night his host looked toward his lighted window and saw in the brilliance a little Infant of marvelous beauty in the arms of the Saint, with His own around the Friar's neck. The witness trembled at the sight, and in the morning Saint Anthony, to whom it had been revealed that his host had seen the visitation, called him and enjoined him not to tell it as long as he was alive. The town near Limoges where this occurred remains unknown; the original account of the inquiry does not name it, but says that the man in question narrated it, with tears, after Saint Anthony's death.
After a number of years of teaching of theology, unceasing preaching and writing, Saint Anthony, whose health was never strong, was spending a short time of retreat in a hermitage near Padua. He was overcome one day with a sudden weakness, which prevented him from walking. It progressed so rapidly that it was evident his last days had arrived. He died at the age of thirty-six, after ten years with the Canons Regular and eleven with the Friars Minor, on June 13, 1231. The voices of children were heard crying in the streets of Padua, Our father, Saint Anthony, is dead. The following year, the church bells of Lisbon rang without ringers, while in Rome one of its sons was inscribed among the Saints of God.
Reflection. Let us love to pray and labor unseen, and cherish in the secret of our hearts the graces of God and the growth of our immortal souls. Like Saint Anthony, let us attend to this first of all and leave the rest to God.
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This is the inspiring story of Saint Anthony of Padua (1195-1231). The son of a wealthy Portuguese family, he was initially ordained a priest of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine. In 1221, he took up the habit of a poor Franciscan friar and devoted his life to fervently preaching the Word of God. His extensive knowledge of Sacred Scripture and keen insights into its profound spiritual meaning astonished his hearers. To confirm the efficacy of his words, God gave him the gifts of prophecy and of performing miracles, the most memorable of which he worked in Padua in northern Italy, where he resided for many years. Anthony was declared a Doctor of the Church and is the beloved Patron Saint of the Poor.
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St Basil the Great
June 14 (329-379)
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Saint Basil was born in Asia Minor. Two of his brothers became bishops, and with his mother and his sister, are honored as Saints. He studied with great success in Athens, where he formed a tender and perpetual friendship with Saint Gregory Nazianzen. He then taught oratory. The study of philosophy had already raised him above all worldly ambition, and dreading the honors of the world, he gave up all things to become the father of monastic life in the East. His older sister, Saint Macrina, encouraged him when he abandoned the greater part of his inheritance.
He retired into Pontus, where his sister was Superior of a convent, into which his mother also had entered; there he founded a monastery on the opposite side of the river from the convent, and governed it for four years, from 358 to 362. He founded several other religious houses in the same region, both for men and for women. It was for them that he composed his ascetic works, including his famous Rule, still followed by the monks of the Orient.
He then resigned, leaving his office to his brother, Saint Peter of Sebastus, to retire in prayer. Saint Gregory came to join his friend for a time, in response to his invitation. Ever afterwards, Basil would recall with regret the peace and happiness they had enjoyed, singing Psalms, studying Scripture, keeping vigil in prayer, and disciplining their flesh by manual work. It was only in 363 that this holy hermit was ordained a priest by Eusebius of Caesarea in Cappadocia.
The Arian heretics, supported by the court, were then persecuting the Church, and Basil was summoned from his retirement by his bishop to give aid against them. His energy and zeal soon mitigated the disorders of the Church, and his solid and eloquent words silenced the heretics. On the death of Eusebius, he was chosen Bishop of Caesarea. His commanding character, his firmness and energy, his learning and eloquence, seconded by his humility and the great austerity of his life, made him a model for bishops. He founded in Caesarea a vast hospital, which Saint Gregory called a new city and which remained in existence for long decades. He went there often to console the suffering, and help them to make good use of their pains.
When Saint Basil was summoned by the emperor Valentius to admit the Arians to Communion, the prefect in charge, finding that soft words had no effect, said to him, Are you mad, that you resist the will before which the whole world bows? Do you not dread the wrath of the emperor, nor exile, nor death? No, said Basil calmly; he who has nothing to lose need not dread loss of goods; you cannot exile me, for the whole earth is my home; as for death, it would be the greatest kindness you could bestow upon me; torments cannot harm me; one blow would end both my frail life and my sufferings. The prefect answered, Never has anyone dared to address me thus. Perhaps, suggested Basil, you never before measured your strength with a Christian bishop. The emperor desisted from his commands.
Saint Basil's entire life was one of suffering, both physical and moral; he lived amidst jealousies, misunderstandings and seeming disappointments. But he sowed the seed which bore good fruit in the future generations. He was God's instrument to resist the Arian and other heretics in the East, and to restore the spirit of discipline and fervor in the Church. He died peacefully in 379 at the age of fifty-one, and is venerated as a Doctor of the Church.
Reflection. Fear God, says the Imitation of Christ, and thou shalt not need to fear any man.
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Ever wonder how the Catholic Church became the greatest charitable organization in the world? What was the relationship between the early Church and the State? Join Matthew Leonard and Fathers of the Church expert Mike Aquilina as they discuss the rich history surrounding St. Basil the Great, 4th century Father and Doctor of the Church.
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