FEAST OF ST ALPHONSUS LIGUORI
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THE OLD ROMAN Vol. I Issue IX W/C 02 July 2020
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WELCOME to this forty-seventh 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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The Old Roman is now on Facebook as a centralising online presence to facilitate unity and fellowship among Old Romans across the globe! There's also an Old Romans Group for people to meet each other, share prayer requests, events, news and information! Daily Mass and other broadcasts are now also broadcast live through The Old Roman page and posts from various other Old Roman pages can be shared on it also, so that a "one stop shop" is available for people to easily find the broadcasts and other information. A new logo (above) is also proving popular and instantly recognisable. Just click on the links to see for yourself and if you've a Facebook profile it couldn't be easier to sign up for updates to your newsfeed and join the Old Romans group!
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"In condemning us, you condemn the Church of all times. For what is there that she believed and taught that we also do not believe?" St. Edmund Campion, Martyr
In just thirty years time (2053) we Old Romans - Deo volente - will celebrate two hundred years of fidelity to the Catholic and Apostolic Faith. Two hundred years of remaining faithful to the perennial liturgy and teachings of the universal Church. During this time the words of St Paul to the Corinthians have surely described us, "In the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armour of justice on the right hand and on the left; By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet known; As dying, and behold we live; as chastised, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things." 2 Corinthians 6:8-10
As we so often observe, there is nothing like the present time to justify our Old Roman fidelity to authentic Catholic Tradition, most especially as scandal after scandal afflicts contemporary Rome. This week, Bishop Eduardo Maria Taussig, the Bishop of San Rafael, Argentina, backed by the Vatican, has closed down his diocesan seminary because priests connected to the seminary refused to follow his directive that Holy Communion be only administered to people in the hand!
Although the practise of receiving communion in the hand has become commonplace in the contemporary Roman Communion since its illicit introduction in the 1960s, the Catholics of San Rafael have remained faithful to the traditional practice of receiving communion on their tongues while kneeling. After Fr. Alejandro Miguel Ciarrocchi, the rector of the diocesan seminary, defended the right of his seminarians to receive the Blessed Sacrament according to the traditional norms, Bishop Taussig retaliated by dismissing him from his post. Then, as other priests were also administering communion according to the traditional preferences of their parishioners, Taussig shut down the seminary itself.
Father José Antonio Álvarez, spokesman for the Diocese of San Rafael, blamed the clergy of this diocese for their “undisciplined reaction” and said that the order to shut the seminary had come from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy. “In accordance with instructions from the Holy See, it has been decided to close the seminary... The measure taken by the Congregation for the Clergy, which is just the dicastery of the Holy Father that has jurisdictions over these cases, takes into consideration that due to the undisciplined reaction of a good portion of the clergy of the diocese, at this moment, this diocese is not able to put together a group of teachers who will conform to the church's discipline,” Álvarez stated.
A document issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on 25 March 2004 states clearly in Redemptionis Sacramentum that a Catholic “always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue,” a right that cannot simply be taken away. Dr. Peter Kwasniewski has argued that a bishop oversteps his authority in denying Catholics this right. “Many bishops are abusing their authority right now because…they’re supposed to uphold Canon Law and Canon Law is really clear that the faithful have the right to receive communion on the tongue. That's it,” he said in a July 2020 interview with The John-Henry Westen Show. Last month, twenty-one Austrian doctors told their country’s Bishops’ Conference that receiving Communion on the tongue is “safer” than in hand.
Vaticanista, Marco Tossati former Vatican editor of La Stampa (from 1981 to 2008) reports that Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has written to Bishop Taussig; "I can understand your disappointment in seeing that, despite the relentless work of ultra-modernist indoctrination that has been carried out in the past few decades, there are still courageous priests and clerics who do not place the obeisance of the episcopal court ahead of the respect that is owed to the Blessed Sacrament; and I can imagine your vexation in seeing that that the lay faithful and even entire families – from what has been called “the Vendée of the Andes” – are following the good shepherds, of whom the Gospel says “the sheep recognize his voice,” and not the mercenaries who have “no concern for the sheep” (Jn 10: 4,13)."
Referring to another shocking revelation made this week, Archbishop Viganò points out the hypocritical attitudes of today's modernist bishops, "The press relates that in the Diocese of Basel [Switzerland], in the church of Rigi-Kaltbad, a woman wearing sacred vestments regularly simulates the celebration of the Mass, in the absence of an ordained priest, omitting only the words of the Consecration. I wonder whether Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel will distinguish himself with the same zeal that you have, having recourse to the Roman Dicasteries to punish in an exemplary way the sacrilegious simulation of the Mass. I fear however that the inflexibility you have demonstrated in punishing the priests who have dutifully disobeyed you will not be emulated in Switzerland. Certainly, if a priest had celebrated Mass in the Tridentine Rite on that same altar in Rigi-Kaltbad, the arrows of the Ordinary would not have delayed to shoot him down, but a woman who “celebrates Mass” abusively and sacrilegiously is today considered a negligible thing, just like exposing the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar to desecration."
Archbishop Viganò is making the point, "But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." St. Matthew 5:37 Likewise those maintaining authentic Old Roman tradition strive in this present time of chaos to present the orthodox Faith as it has always been, in order to enable people to receive the same Gospel received by the Apostles and that has saved generations of Saints for centuries. Old Roman TV is assisting this endeavour by currently airing programmes focusing on the basics that are so rarely taught anymore. "Vocations" on Monday's, though aimed at those discerning vocations to religious life or the Sacred Ministry, discusses basics in Christian spirituality that will benefit any viewer. Late Night Catechism broadcast on Wednesdays is currently focused on "The Passions", understanding the reasons why we sin in order to prevent ourselves from sinning. Even Friday Night LIVE is on the endeavour including excerpts from the theatrical show "Late Nite Catechism" which presents the basics and principles of Catholic piety and theology in a humorous yet accessible and reverential way.
Despite trials and tribulations Old Romans have persisted to the present day. We need to remain steadfast in these chaotic times if it be God's will we reach our bicentennial. This requires Old Romans everywhere to educate themselves in the Faith in order to provide a locus of stability for Catholics struggling against the ever-decreasing circles of despair and confusion abounding in contemporary Rome. As Rome unravels however, more and more Catholics seeking authentic Tradition are finding their way to our Communion, but we all need to be able to provide the comfort of not just a welcome but of surety, affirming their finding a firm foundation upon which to build their salvation in Christ.
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Expressions of interest are invited from those discerning a vocation to the Old Roman priesthood or Religious life. The retreat will be conducted online via video conferencing with both group and individual private conferences and consultations. To register interest simply click on the poster above! |
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Perfection is founded entirely on the love of God: 'Charity is the bond of perfection;' and perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God's.
Saint Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori, C.Ss.R. (27 September 1696 – 1 August 1787), was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian.
He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. A prolific writer, he published nine editions of his Moral Theology in his lifetime, in addition to other devotional and ascetic works and letters. Among his best known works are The Glories of Mary and The Way of the Cross, the latter still used in parishes during Lenten devotions.
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IN THIS WEEK'S EDITION...
The Old Roman View...
THE LITURGY
- ORDO w/c Sunday 02 August 2020
- RITUAL NOTES...
- THE LITURGICAL YEAR IXth Sunday Post Pentecost- Dom Prosper Gueranger
- CONCERNING THE MASS St Alphonsus Liguori - the Mass Propers
- ON THE TRANSFIGURATION - Bishop Richard Challoner
- A SERMON FOR St Alphonsus Liguori & Sunday IX Post Pentecost - Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD
- THIS WEEK'S FEASTS... St Alphonsus Liguori, The Finding of St Stephen, St Dominic, Our Lady of the Snow, The Transfiguration, St Cajetan, St Cyricaus, Largus & Smaragdus, St John Marie Vianney
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 TV Broadcast Schedule
Old Roman Culture...
- Rosary Guild taking orders...
- Old Roman Catholicism in the history of the Church
- VIDEO Old Romans Unscripted
- VIDEO Late Night Catechism
- VIDEO "Wondering bishop"
- VIDEO Old Roman Vocations
- VIDEO Catholic Unscripted
Of your charity... prayer requests
Old Roman Mass Directory
Old Roman Clerical Directory
Vocations Info
The Old Roman Subscription Form
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JUST PRESS PLAY TO WATCH ORtv LIVE!
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New programmes coming soon to Old Roman TV... "Eternal Rome" explores and explains the history of Old Roman Catholicism and "Contra Mundum" a series of conferences looking at the practical application of the Gospel to Christian life.
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The IXth Sunday Post Pentecost
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Introit for the Ninth Sunday Post Pentecost
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ORDO w/c Sunday 02 August 2020
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Watch our NEW format show airing at 6.15pm British Summer Time via Facebook on Saturday evenings offering comment and observations on topical issues and apologetics for Old Roman Catholicism. See below for this week's episode!
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This new programme will take a retrospective look at the lives of some of the most popular and well known Saints.
So often our introduction to the Saints is limited to their artistic portrayal... how they are depicted in art, stained glass, icons or statuary, prayer cards or paintings. Our appreciation of the Saints is often limited to the hagiographies, florid or reverential biographies detailing their worth as extraordinary human beings but perhaps obfuscating an appreciation for their real life heroic virtues and efforts for the Faith.
Saints Alive will peel away the symbolic iconography and artistic representations to reveal the reality of their existence. The programme will explore the times they lived in, the social and political context, what everyday living was like and what impact their witness and testimony made during and immediately after their lifetimes.
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THE LITURGICAL YEAR
Ninth Sunday Post Pentecost - Dom Prosper Gueranger OSB
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The lamentation over Jerusalem’s woes is, in the Western Church, the subject of today’s Gospel; and it gave its name to this ninth Sunday after Pentecost, at least among the Latins. We have already observed that it is easy to find, even in the Liturgy as it now stands, traces of how the early Church was all attention to the approaching fulfillment of the prophecies against Jerusalem, that ungrateful City, upon which our Jesus heaped his earliest favors. The last limit put by mercy upon justice has, at length, been passed. Our Lord, speaking of the ruin of Sion and its Temple, had foretold that the generation that was listening to his words should not pass until what he announced should be be fulfilled. The almost forty years accorded to Juda, that he might avert the divine wrath, have had no other effect than to harden the people of deicides in their determination of not accepting Christ as the Messiah. As a torrent which, having been long pent back, rushes all along the fiercer when the embankment breaks, vengeance at length burst on the ancient Israel; it was in the year 70 that was executed the sentence himself had passed, when delivering up his King and God to the Gentiles, he cried out: His blood be upon us and upon our children!
Even as early as the year 67, Rome irritated by the senseless insolence of the Jews, had deputed Flavius Vespasian to avenge the insult. The fact of this new General being scarcely known was, in reality, the strongest reason for Nero’s approving of his nomination: but to the hitherto obscure family of this soldier, God reserved the empire, as a reward for the service done to divine justice by this Flavius and his son Titus. Later on, Titus will see and acknowledge it—that it is not Rome, but God himself, who conducts the war and commands the legions. Moses, ages before, had seen the nation, whose tongue Israel could not understand, rushing, like an eagle, upon his chosen people and punishing them for their sins. But no sooner has the Roman eagle reached the land where he is to work the vengeance, than he finds himself visibly checked by a superior power; and his spirit of rapine is held back, or urged on, just precisely as the prophets of the Lord of hosts had spoken it was to be. The piercing eye of that eagle, as eager to obey as it was to fight, almost seemed to be scrutinizing the Scriptures. It was actually there that he found the order of the day for the terrible years of the campaign.
As an illustration of this, we may mention what happened in the year 66. The army of Syria, under the leadership of Cestius Gallus, had encamped under the walls of Jerusalem. Our Lord intended this to be nothing more, in His plan, than a warning to his faithful ones, which he had promised them when foretelling the events that were to happen. He had said: When ye shall hear of wars, and seditions, and rumors of wars, be not terrified; these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet presently. But, when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army, then know, that the desolation thereof is at hand. The Jews had been, for years, angering Rome by their revolts; but she bore with it all, if not patiently, contemptuously; but when, in one of these seditions, Roman blood had been spilled, then she was provoked, and sent her legions. Her army, however, had first of all to furnish Jesus’ disciples with a sign; he had promised them that this sign should consist in her compassing of Jerusalem, then withdrawing for a time; this would give the Christians an opportunity of quitting the accursed city. The Roman proconsul had his troops stationed so near to Jerusalem that it seemed as though he had but to give the word of command, and the war would be over; instead of that, he gave the strange order to retreat, and throw up the victory which he might have for the wishing it. Cestius Gallus seemed to men to have lost his senses; but no, he was following, without being aware of it, the commands of heaven: Jesus had promised an escape to his loved ones; he fulfilled his promise by this unwitting instrument.
Vespasian himself had scarcely started for Judea, when he met with one of those divine adjournments which all the Roman tactics were several times powerless to resist; the hour marked for them to act had not come, so they must wait, however reluctantly. The pre-ordained counsel of the Most High decreed that before all these things which men were to bring about—before the already broken scepter of the ancient alliance should have entirely disappeared in the flames enkindled by the Jews themselves—the establishment of the New Testament was to be solidly set up among the Gentiles, and be solemnly confirmed by the blood of the Apostles, its witnesses. It was on the 29th of June, in the year 67, that Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom in the City of Rome; that Rome was thus made the Mother-Church, and the reign of the Messiah, whom Israel rejected, was promulgated to the whole world, and with an evidence which only the voluntarily blind could resist. Though Vespasian had opened the campaign against Judea in the spring of that year 67, yet he had to wait for the glorious confession of these two Princes of the Apostles; that triumph secured, the impatient legions might rush to victory as soon as they pleased. For forty-seven long days, they had been kept, by some power, staring at the citadel of Jotapata, which it was so easy for them to take, and which would make them masters of Galilee; the 29th of June had had its apostolic triumph in Rome. Vespasian was then at liberty to do what he so long wished to do, and on that 29th of June, he did it—he took Jotapata.
Forty-thousand dead, strewed on the steeps of the hills, and heaped up as high as the walls, showed the Romans what desperate resistance they were to expect from Jewish fanaticism. Of all the male defenders or inhabitants of Jotapata, only two survived; one of these was Josephus, a chief leader in the Jewish forces, and historian of these cruel wars. The women and children were spared. But some short time later on, another fortress, Gamala, was attacked; it overhung a chasm. When one half of the besieged had been slain, and it was evident that further resistance was impossible, the survivors, assembling together the women and children, threw them and themselves down the rock, and five-thousand was their number. When the legions stood looking around, at the close of that day’s work, they could see but a desert and death.
In every part of the unhappy Galilee, blood was flowing in torrents, and the flames of burning villages lighted up the horizon. It was hard to recognize this as the land where Jesus had spent the years of his childhood; or as the scene of his first miracles, and of those teachings of His, which were ever borrowing some exquisite parable or other from the sight of the pretty hills and fertile vales of that then favored country. The arm of God was now pressing with all its weight on this land of Zabulon and Nephtali, on which, first, so brightly shone the light of salvation, as we sang on Christmas Night. So again this time, it was the first to be visited by God. But these were unhappy times; and the visit was no longer that of the divine Orient opening out to the world the paths of peace. He was hid behind the tempest, and darted the fiery arrows of destruction on the ungrateful country that had refused to welcome him in the weakness of human flesh, which nothing but his mercy had led him to assume. They cried out, on the day of my vengeance, (says this rejected King of Israel), but there was none to save them; they cried to me their Lord, but I heard them not: and I will break them as small as dust, and scatter them before the wind; I will bring them to nought, like the dirt in the streets.
Terrible lesson, all this! The Church learned it, and never forgot it:—the lesson that no blessing, no past holiness, is, of itself, a guarantee that the place thus favored will not afterwards draw down on itself desecration and destruction! She saw, and trembled as she saw, these events of the first age of her history. She beheld violence and every sort of crime profaning the paths that had been trodden by the feet of her adorable Master, and the hills where he had passed whole nights in prayer and praise to his Eternal Father. She one day witnessed even the pure waters of the Lake of Genesareth fearfully polluted; those waters that had so oft reflected the features of her divine Spouse, as when he walked on their glassy surface, or sat in Peter’s barque superintending those mystery-meaning fishings of his Apostles. The event we here allude to was that of six thousand Jewish insurgents—hemmed in between God’s wrath and their Roman pursuers—reddening with their blood this Sea of Tiberias, where once Jesus had spoken to the storm and quelled it: their livid carcasses were thrown back by the waves on the shore where our Lord had uttered woe to the cities that had witnessed his miracles, and yet were not converted.
And souls, too, on whom God heaps his choicest favors, inviting them thereby to a closer union with himself—they too have a lesson to learn from all this. Woe to them if, through indifference or sloth, they neglect to correspond with their graces! Woe to them, if they imitate the cities on the Lake of Galilee, by greedily accepting the honor done them, but never producing the fruits of holiness which should follow such signal and frequent gifts of heaven. The Prophet Amos couples these forgetful careless souls with the cities which our Lord had treated with such partiality, and which yet remained apathetic and worldly; and he tells us what this slighted Benefactor will say to both: You only have I known of all the families of the earth! therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities! Shall two walk together, except they be agreed?
As to Israel, the highly favored above all people, but who would not agree with the Jesus that so loved him—he was visited with chastisements exactly corresponding to his crimes. In the spring of the year 68, an officer under Vespasian scoured the left banks of the Jordan, driving the terrified Israelites before him. They fled in thousands towards Jericho, where they hoped to find refuge; but the river had so flooded the country round the city that entrance was impossible; the wretched fugitives were overtaken and slain by the Roman troops which came up. The Ark of the Covenant had once opened there a miraculous passage to the Tribes of Israel; but even had it been there now, how was it to protect such unworthy descendants of the Patriarchs?—descendants, that is, who broke the Covenant made by God with the sons of Jacob? A frightful massacre, a merciless mowing down of human beings, followed; and at what a place! the very place where, forty years before, St. John the Baptist had seen the axe laid to the root of the tree, and foretold the wrath to come upon this brood of vipers, who called themselves children of Abraham, and would not do penance. A countless multitude drowned themselves in the Jordan; that is, they found death in the very stream to which our Savior had imparted sanctification by his own being baptized in it, and which was endued by Him with the power to give life to the world. But Israel had chosen the kingdom of the prince of this world, in preference to that of the divine giver of life. The number of those who perished in that holy stream was so great that the heap of their dead bodies made it impossible vessels to sail in the river; and this fearful obstacle continued until such time as the current had swept the corpses down to the Dead Sea, and scattered far into that dismal lake of malediction that hideous jetsam of the Synagogue. Had not our lord said that Sodom’s guilt was less than theirs?
Rome and her legions were masters, in the north, of Galilee and Samaria; in the East and West, of the banks of the Jordan and of the Mediterranean coast; and the conquest of Idumæa completed the circle of iron and fire that was to shut Jerusalem in. Roman garrisons held Emmaus, Jericho, and all the fortified positions round the Jewish capital. Having, as God’s instrument, chastised so many other ungrateful cities, Vespasian was preparing to lay siege to the most guilty of all, when Nero’s fall, and the events which followed it, drew the attention, both of himself and the whole world, from Judea.
The last years of the tyrant had witnessed frequent “earthquakes in divers places,” and “plagues,” and “signs in the heavens;” but when he died, there came risings of nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. The entire West was in arms; and the East herself was attracted towards Rome by the immense political commotion of the year 69. From the heights of Atlas to the Euxine Sea, and from the Humber to the Nile, provinces and people were each striving for the mastery. Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian—each proclaimed Emperor by their respective armies—sent their rival legions from Britain and the Rhine, from Illyria and the Danube; they met at Bedriac for mutual slaughter. In one thing alone they that survived were unanimous: friends or foes, all must lay Italy waste. Rome was taken by the Romans; while on the undefended frontiers, appeared Suavians, Sarmatians, and Dacians. The Capitol and Jupiter’s temple in flames excited the Gauls to declare their independence, and Velleda to stir up Germany to revolt. The old world was gradually disappearing beneath the universal anarchy and war.
Circumstances, then, suddenly seemed favorable to Jerusalem; they gave her a fresh invitation to atone for her crimes. But as we shall see when commenting this Sunday’s Gospel, she made no other use of them than to multiply her sins, and treat herself with greater cruelty than the Romans would have done.
In the Mass of this Sunday, which is their Ninth of Saint Matthew, the Greeks read the episode of Jesus’ walking upon the waters.
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Saint Alphonsus Liguori
Bishop and Doctor of the Church (1696-1787)
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Saint Alphonsus was born of noble parents near Naples, in 1696. His spiritual formation was entrusted to the Oratorian Fathers of that city, and from his boyhood Alphonsus was known as a very devout little Brother of the Minor Oratory. At the early age of sixteen he became a doctor in civil law; and entering this career with ardor, he met great success and renown. A mistake, however, by which he lost an important case, showed him the vanity of human fame and glory. He decided to abandon the legal profession at the age of twenty-seven, to labor for the glory of God alone. Alphonsus' father long opposed his decision, but as a man of virtue consented at last.
Saint Alphonsus was ordained a priest in 1726, and he soon became as renowned a preacher as he had been a lawyer. His father stopped in a church to pray one day, and amazed, heard his son preaching; he suddenly saw clearly how God had marvelously elevated his son, and was filled with joy, saying: My son has made God known to me! As for Alphonsus, he loved and devoted himself to the most neglected souls in the region of Naples. He was a very perfect confessor, and wrote a manual which has been used ever since for the instruction of those who administer the sacrament of Penance. A musician of the first rank, Saint Alphonsus gave up his instruments to devote himself more perfectly to his apostolic labors; he nonetheless composed joyous religious hymns for the poor folk he heard singing in the streets, that they might glorify God and not waste their voices and efforts in vain and worldly songs.
To extend and continue his work, he later founded the missionary Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, for the evangelization of the poor. At the age of sixty-six he became Bishop of Saint Agatha, a suffragan diocese of Naples, and undertook the reform of his diocese with the zeal of a Saint. He made a vow never to waste a moment of time, and, though his life was spent in prayer and work, he also composed a vast number of books. These volumes were filled with such great science, unction, and wisdom that in 1871 he was declared by Pius IX a Doctor of the Church. Saint Alphonsus wrote his first book at the age of forty-nine, and in his eighty-third year had published about sixty volumes; at that time his director forbade him to continue writing. The best known of his books is his volume entitled The Glories of Mary, by which he exalts the graces and narrates the wondrous deeds of mercy of the Mother of God for those who invoke Her.
Very many of these books were written in the half hours snatched from his labors as a missionary, as a religious Superior, and finally as a Bishop, often in the midst of unrelenting bodily and mental sufferings. With his left hand he would hold a piece of marble against his aching head, while his right hand wrote. Yet he counted no time lost which was spent in charity. He did not refuse to maintain a long correspondence with a simple soldier who asked for his advice, or to play the harpsichord in his declining years, while he taught his novices to sing spiritual canticles. He lived in times of religious laxity, and met with many persecutions and disappointments. During his last seven years he was prevented by constant sickness from offering the adorable Sacrifice, but he received Holy Communion daily, and his love for Jesus Christ and his trust in Mary's prayers sustained him to the end. He died in 1787, in his ninety-first year.
Reflection: Let us do with all our heart and attention the duty of each day, leaving to God the result as well as the care of the future.
Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
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St Alphonsus Liguori, Confessor; Commemoration of Sunday IX Post Pentecost & St Stpehen I of Rome, Martyr: Missa “Os justi“
INTROIT Psalm 118: 95-96
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, wherefore He hath anointed me, to preach the gospel to the poor, He hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart. (Ps. 77: 1) Attend, O My people, to My law: incline your ear to the words of My mouth. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Repeat The Spirit of the Lord…
COLLECT
God, Who through blessed Alphonsus Mary, Thy confessor and bishop, fired with zeal for souls, didst cause Thy Church to bring forth a new progeny, we beseech Thee that, being taught by his wholesome precepts, and strengthened by his example, we may be enabled happily to come unto Thee. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever. R.Amen.
Commemoration of Sunday IX Post Pentecost
Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy suppliant people: and that Thou mayest grant their desire to those that seek, make them to ask such things as shall please Thee. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever.
Commemoration of Pope St. Stephen I
Let us pray. O Eternal Shepherd, do Thou look favorably upon Thy flock,which we beseech Thee to guard and keep for evermore through the Blessed Stephen Thy Martyr and Supreme Pontiff, whom Thou didst choose to be the chief shepherd of the whole Church. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever.
R.Amen.
EPISTLE 2 Timothy 2: 1-7
Lesson from the Epistle of blessed Paul the Apostle to Timothy. Dearly beloved, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, and the things which thou hast heard of me before many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also. Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with worldly business: that he may please Him to Whom he hath engaged himself. For he also that striveth for the mastery, is not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth, must first partake of the fruits. Under stand what I say: for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things.
GRADUAL/ALLELUIA Psalm 118: 52, 53, 5
I remembered, O Lord, Thy judgments of old, and I was comforted; a fainting hath taken hold of me because of the wicked that forsake Thy law. V. (Ps. 39: 11) I have not hid Thy justice within my heart. I have declared Thy truth and Thy salvation. Alleluia, alleluia. V. (Eccl. 49: 3, 4) He was directed by God unto the repentance of the nation, and he took away the abominations of wickedness: and he directed his heart toward the Lord; and in the days of sinners he strengthened godliness. Alleluia.
GOSPEL Luke 10: 1-9
At that time, The Lord appointed also other seventy-two; and He sent them two and two before His face into every city and place whither He Himself was to come. And He said to them, “The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send laborers into His harvest. Go, behold I send you as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way. Into whatsoever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house: and if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall return to you. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Remove not from house to house. And into what city soever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you; and heal the sick that are therein; and say to them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”
OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Proverbs 3: 9, 2
Honor the Lord with thy substance, and give Him of the first of all thy fruits. Do not withhold him from doing good who is able: if thou art able, do good thyself also.
SECRET
O Lord Jesus Christ, burn our hearts thoroughly with the heavenly fire of this sacrifice for an odor of sweetness, Thou Who didst grant to blessed Alphonsus Mary both to celebrate these mysteries and, through them, to offer himself to Thee a holy victim. Who livest and reignest, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever. R.Amen.
Commemoration of Sunday IX Post Pentecost
Grant to us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may worthily frequent these Mysteries: for as often as the memorial of this Victim is celebrated, the work of our redemption is wrought. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever.
Commemoration Secret of Pope St. Stephen I
Let us pray. In Thy loving kindness, we beseech Thee, Lord, be moved by the offering of our gifts and enlighten Thy Church: that Thy flock may prosper everywhere and the shepherds, under Thy guidance, may be rendered acceptable to Thee. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever.
R.Amen.
PREFACE of the Blessed Trinity
It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God. Who, together with Thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, art one God, one Lord: not in the oneness of a single Person, but in the Trinity of one Substance. For what we believe by Thy revelation of Thy glory, the same do we believe of Thy Son, the same of the Holy Ghost, without difference or separation. So that in confessing the true and everlasting Godhead, distinction in persons, unity in essence, and equality in majesty may be adored. Which the angels and archangels, the cherubim also and seraphim do praise: who cease not daily to cry out, with one voice saying:
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Ecclus. 50: 1, 9
A great priest, who ín his life propped up the house, and in his days fortified the temple as a bright fire, and frankincense burning in the fire.
POSTCOMMUNION
God, Who didst cause blessed Alphonsus Mary, Thy confessor and bishop, faithfully to dispense and preach this divine mystery, grant, by his merits and prayers, that Thy faithful may both frequently receive it, and, receiving it, praise it forever. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, For ever and ever. R. Amen.
Commemoration of Sunday IX Post Pentecost
May the communion of Thy Sacrament, we beseech Thee, O Lord, bring to us cleansing and grant us unity. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God For ever and ever.
Commemoration Postcommunion of Pope St. Stephen I
Let us pray. Since Thy Church has been nourished by the sacred repast, govern her in Thy clemency, we beseech Thee, O Lord, so that under the guidance of Thy mighty rule she may enjoy greater freedom and abiding integrity of religion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever. R.Amen.
PROPER LAST GOSPEL Luke 16: 41-47
At that time, when Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace: but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee on every side and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee; and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone, because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation.” And entering into the temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein, and them, that bought, saying to them: “It is written, ‘My house is the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves’.” And He was teaching daily in the temple.
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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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ON THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD
ST. MATTHEW XVII.
Consider first, how our Lord, taking with him Peter, James, and John, brought them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them; so that ‘his face did shine on the sun, and his garments became white as snow. And there appeared to them Moses and Elias, talking with him, (concerning his decease that he should accomplish in Jerusalem,’) Luke ix. 31. Now Peter being transported with the glory of this vision, cried out, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. And as he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and lo! a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him,’ Matt. xviii. This transfiguration of our Lord, full of lessons and instructions for us, is honoured by the church in the festival of this day, with a particular view to the raising up the thoughts and hopes of her children, in the midst of the hardships and labours of their mortal pilgrimage, to the eternal repose and glory of their heavenly country, that blessed Jerusalem which the true Israelites must never forget; though constrained as yet by a miserable captivity to sit down and weep upon the banks of the rivers of Babylon, and lament their distance from the house of God in Sion.
Consider 2ndly, in this mystery of the transfiguration of our Lord, how wonderfully he was here pleased to confirm our faith, as well by the joint testimonies of the law and the prophets bearing witness to the gospel, represented by the glorious apparition of Moses and Elias with Christ; as by the testimony of God himself in all the three persons, by the voice of the father, by the glory of the Son, and by the manifestation of the Holy Ghost in the bright cloud. See how he was pleased by the same glory of this transfiguration to encourage all his followers to bear with patience the afflictions, labours, crosses, and persecutions of this life, in hopes of a share in that eternal glory of which he has given us as it were a sketch in this mystery, ever remembering that of the apostle, 2 Cor. iv. 17. ‘that our present tribulation, which is momentary and light, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.’ But O, let us take along with us that other lesson also, which we are taught by the voice of the heavenly father, in the transfiguration of our Lord, that the true way to a happy eternity, and to all good, is ever to hear and obey the Son of God.
Consider 3rdly, how St. Peter, being out of himself with the joy of this vision, was desirous to be always in the same happy situation, and always enjoying the like glory; and therefore he cried out, ‘Lord,it is good for us to be here;’ not knowing, saith St. Luke, what he said, ch. x. 33. Because though it was inconceivable delightful to see and enjoy (though for a short time) the least glimpse of heavenly light and glory, yet as this present life was not to be the time of enjoyment, but of labours and of sufferings; and the Son of God himself was to enter into his glory by labours and sufferings (Luke xxiv. 26,) it was inordinate to desire here for a continuance of that which was reserved for hereafter, and for such only as should be entitled to it by labours and sufferings. Learn from hence, O my soul, with regard to divine consolations, and such like favours, that though thou art to receive them, when given, with humility, gratitude, and love –admiring the goodness and bounty of God, who is pleased thus to look down upon thee the most unworthy of sinners – yet art thou not to set thy heart upon them, nor to be disturbed and discouraged when they are taken away; for merit and perfection consists not in them, but in working, suffering, and loving; and for the time of this mortal life, ordinarily speaking, it is far better for thee to be with the Lord upon Mount Calvary, than upon Mount Thabor.
Conclude, instead of being eager after these transitory consolations, which at the best are but as small drops of water that fall from the clouds of heaven to refresh us for a moment in this dry desert through which we are now travelling, to aspire continually after that great overflowing river above, which gives joy without end to the city of God; and which alone is capable of quenching thy thirst and satisfying thy soul.
Meditations for everyday in the year
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A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
St ALPHONSUS LIGUORI & SUNDAY IX POST PENTECOST
Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD
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Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Alfonso de Ligouri, as well as commemorating the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. St. Alfonso de Ligouri was born in Naples at the end of the seventeenth century. He initially trained as a lawyer and seemed on course for a successful legal career. However, after losing a legal case on one occasion, he decided to abandon his earlier worldly ambitions and instead pursue a vocation for ordination. As a priest he was noted for his sanctity of life, his asceticism and his charity. Drawn to ministry among both the urban and rural poor, he founded the Redemptorist order, modelled on the example of those first disciples who were sent out to proclaim the Kingdom of God in the towns and villages in first century Palestine. He is said to have made a vow never to waste any time, and his life was a productive one. He was noted for his direct preaching style. He wrote works of moral theology, in which he sought to steer a middle course between excessive rigorism and excessive laxity. He was mindful of the principle that the salvation of souls is the highest law, and that the Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath. He also wrote many devotional treatises and hymns, many of which are still in use today such as “O bread of heaven within the veil Thou dost my very God conceal.” After he was consecrated a bishop he was not overcome by delusions of grandeur about his new position, but continued to live as one who was a servant of the servants of God. Despite ill health his life was a long one and he died in 1787.
It is appropriate that today’s Gospel is from St. Luke’s account of the sending out of the seventy two into the towns and villages, since the Redemptorist order took this example as its model. The disciples were sent out as sheep among wolves. The harvest was plentiful, but the labourers were few and they were to pray the lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. They were to travel light and not to waste time. They were to be entirely devoted to the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God, future in its fullness, when God’s will would finally be done on earth as it is in heaven, was now present in the person of Jesus himself, in his words and mighty works. His coming was the coming of the Kingdom of God to men, whether they would hear or whether they were to forbear, as the prophet Ezekiel had put it. To accept him was to accept God, to reject him was to reject God. Consequently, the same applied to the disciples who were sent out in his name. To receive them was to receive Jesus, to reject them was to reject Jesus. Time was short and eternity pressed near. Their response to the proclamation of the coming of the Kingdom of God in the person of Jesus would determine their eternal destiny.
Some responded. Most did not. In the final crisis as Jesus approached Jerusalem for the Passover at which he met his death St. Luke records (in the Gospel for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost which we are commemorating today) that he wept over the city that was rejecting his message of peace. “If thou also hadst known, and that in this day, the things that are to thy peace: but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round, and straighten thee on every side: and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children which are in thee; and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone, because thou hadst not known the time of thy visitation” (Luke 19:41-44).
The coming of the Kingdom of God meant blessedness for those with eyes to see it. But for those who refused it, their blood would be required. Unless they repented, they would all in like manner perish (Luke 13:3,5). “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killedst the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather the chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not?” (Matthew 23:37-38). As Jesus said to the women who lamented his crucifixion “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.. For if in the green wood they do these things what shall be done in the dry” (Luke 23:28, 31).
After the manner of the Hebrew prophets before him Jesus foresaw terrible judgement on the nation that repudiated him, a coming clash with Rome in which the sins of the Jewish nation would meet their retribution. He foresaw a coming crisis in which he himself would die, and his followers would suffer severe persecution, culminating in a final clash with Rome in which the nation would be destroyed and the temple left in ruins. There would be judgement on the nation that repudiated him, and vindication for himself and his followers. As in the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, the murder of the son and heir leads to the husbandmen being removed from the stewardship of the vineyard (Mark 12:1-12). For all they that took the sword shall perish with the sword (Matthew 26:52).
As with the Hebrew prophets before him, the warnings of disaster were not simply prudential political wisdom. It hardly took a prophet to foresee that the tiny Jewish nation would come off worst if it took on the might of the Roman Empire. Rather, it was a spiritual judgement on the nation that had repudiated Jesus’ message of peace. True prophecy in the biblical sense was not so much foresight (though it indeed contained predictions of the future), but insight into what would happen if the prophet’s message were repudiated. The prophet Jeremiah had experienced terrible conflict of the soul, as he foresaw the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. In like manner Jesus wept as he foresaw the judgement of the nation at the hands of the Romans. But the nation knew not the time of her visitation.
“If thou also hadst known, and that in this day, the things that are to thy peace”. This message speaks especially to us today. As the nation mostly then repudiated Jesus’ message of peace, so it does now. This nation and the Western world in general have repudiated the Christian faith for the false gospel of the advertising industry, the culture of entertainment and celebrity, and the managerial culture of political correctness. It now finds itself confronted by the threat of militant Islam, but this nation and the Western world in general is too secularised internally to combat this. Even worse, much of modern Western Christianity has compromised with this apostasy, and even sought to emulate it. Traditional doctrine and liturgy have been largely set aside for contemporary fads and fashions. We have forgotten that, as G. K. Chesterton put it, it is not the role of the Church to move with the world, rather it is to move the world. As St. Paul put it, “Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
At the time of the fall of the western part of the Roman Empire at the hands of the barbarians, the Christian Church constituted the one element of continuity after the collapse of the old civilisation. It provided the basis for the new civilisation of Christendom. Now that Christendom has itself fallen it is our task to form part of the remnant that is left.
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THIS WEEK'S FEASTS
& COMMEMORATIONS
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The Finding of Saint Stephen’s Relics
August 3 (415)
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This second festival in honor of the holy protomartyr Saint Stephen was instituted by the Church on the occasion of the discovery of his precious remains. His body had long lain concealed under the ruins of an old tomb in Caphargamala, a place twenty miles from Jerusalem, where there was a church served by a venerable priest named Lucian.
In the year 415, on the 3rd of December, the priest was sleeping on his cot in the baptistry, where he habitually retired in order to guard the sacred vessels of the church. Being half awake, he saw a tall, comely old man of venerable aspect, clothed in white and gold, who approached him and called him by his name three times, bidding him go to Jerusalem and tell Bishop John to come and open the tombs where his remains and those of certain other servants of Christ lay. This act would permit God to open the gates of His clemency to many souls, the visitor affirmed. Lucian asked his name, and he replied, I am Gamaliel, who instructed Saint Paul in the Law. Gamaliel then said they would also find the tomb of Saint Stephen, protomartyr, and of Nicodemus, who came to visit Jesus at night and who, when driven out of Jerusalem by the authorities, had been sheltered by himself in his country residence at the present site. This vision was twice repeated, and on the third visit, the priest was reproached for his delay. He was promised that the discovery would cause a current famine to cease.
After the third vision, Lucian went to Jerusalem and laid the whole affair before Bishop John, who directed him to go and search himself for these relics. And Gamaliel appeared again, this time to a holy monk of the same region, to indicate the exact site where the inhabitants of the village should dig. There indeed were found three coffins or chests with the respective names engraved on them; and without opening these, Lucian sent immediately to acquaint Bishop John with the discovery. The bishop was at the Council of Diospolis, and, taking with him the bishops of Sebastis and of Jericho, he journeyed to Caphargamala.
Upon the opening of Saint Stephen's coffin the earth trembled, and there came from the coffin an agreeable scent. There was at that moment a vast multitude of people assembled at the burial place, among whom were many persons afflicted with various maladies; seventy-three recovered their health instantly. They kissed the holy relics, and then the chests were closed again. The bishop left the relics of Gamaliel and Nicodemus for the village, and consented to leave a small portion of Saint Stephen's relics there; then, amid the singing of psalms and hymns, the rest of them were carried to the Church of Sion in Jerusalem. They were later transferred to a magnificent church built in his honor in that city, towards the end of the fifth century. The greater part of the relics are presently in Rome.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 9
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St Dominic
August 4 Founder (1170-1221)
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Saint Dominic de Guzman was born in Spain in 1170. As a student, he sold his books to feed the poor during a famine, and offered himself to ransom a slave. At the age of twenty-five, after taking the religious habit he became acting Superior of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine in Osma, and was soon offered an episcopal chair at Compostella. He answered as afterward he also answered many times: God has not sent me to be a bishop, but to preach. He accompanied his prelate to southern France on a commission for the king of Castille. There his heart was well-nigh broken by the ravages of the Albigensian heresy, a variant of ancient Manicheanism, and the source of devastating wars in southern France. His life from that time on was devoted to the conversion of heretics and the defense of the Faith.
In the year 1199, while he was still a Canon Regular of Saint Augustine and was preaching near the Spanish coasts, he was taken captive, with all his audience and a Brother in religion, by a band of pirates. They placed the prisoners in their galleys at the oars. When a furious storm broke, the young Saint exhorted the disciples of Mohammed to think seriously of their souls, to open their eyes to the truth of Christianity, and above all, to invoke the Mother of God. They did not listen until his third exhortation, at a moment when it was clear the ship and passengers could not be saved. They swore to him then that if the God of Christians preserved them by the intercession of His Holy Mother, they would dedicate themselves to their service. Immediately the storm ceased, and the pirates kept their word.
When in his 46th year, and with six companions, he began the great Order of Preaching Friars, this Order with that of the Friars Minor, founded by his contemporary friend Saint Francis of Assisi, was the chief means God employed to renew Christian fervor during the Middle Ages. In addition, Saint Dominic founded his Second Order for nuns for the education of Catholic girls, and his Third Order, or Tertiaries, for persons of both sexes living in the world. God abundantly blessed the new Order, and France, Italy, Spain, and England welcomed the Preaching Friars. Our Lady took them under Her special protection. During a debate with the heretics, a book by the Saint, defending Her Immaculate Conception, was thrown into the flames along with one by the heretics, to see whether one might be spared. Saint Dominic's was not injured, and many heretics were converted.
It was in 1208, while Saint Dominic knelt in the little chapel of Notre Dame de La Prouille, and implored the great Mother of God to save the Church, that Our Lady appeared to him and gave him the Rosary, bidding him to go forth and preach it. During the famous battles in southern France against the Albigensians, with his rosary in hand he revived the courage of the Catholic armies, led them to victory against overwhelming numbers, and finally subdued the heresy. His nights were spent in prayer; and, though all beheld him as an Angel of purity, before morning broke he would scourge himself to blood. His words rescued countless souls, and three times raised the dead to life. At length, on August 6, 1221, at the age of fifty-one, he gave up his soul to God.
Reflection: God has never refused me what I have asked, said Saint Dominic. How could God refuse to respond to the single intention of His Saints, which is His own — the salvation and sanctification of souls? Saint Dominic has left us the Rosary that we may learn, with Mary's help, to ask what pleases God, and then to pray easily and simply with the same trust.
Les plus illustres captifs, by Rev. Fr. Calixte de la Providence, Trinitarian (Delhomme et Briguet: Lyons, 1892), Vol. I; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
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The Dedication of Saint Mary of the Snows
(435)
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There are in Rome three patriarchal churches in which, on different feast days, the Pope officiates. These are the Basilicas of Saint Peter on the Vatican Hill, Saint John Lateran, and Saint Mary Major on the Esquiline Hill. The last-named, the Liberian Basilica, was founded in the time of Pope Liberius, in the fourth century; it was consecrated to the Virgin Mary by Sixtus III in the year 435, under the title of Saint Mary ad Nives, or at the snow, because the Mother of God Herself chose, and indicated by a miracle, its site to be that of Her first church in Rome.
In the fourth century a patrician by the name of John and his pious spouse had no children; already advanced in age and without heirs, they resolved to consecrate their wealth to the Most Blessed Virgin. They prayed in order to know how the Queen of Heaven would like them to use their fortune. On August 5, 366, She appeared to each of them in a dream and told them that Her Divine Son's and Her own will was that their wealth be employed in the construction of a church on Mount Esquiline, at a place which in the morning they would find covered with snow. They consulted together when the dawn broke, and went to the Pope at once to tell him what God had made known to them. He himself had had a similar dream and could not doubt that this was a celestial prodigy. He assembled the clergy and people, and all went in procession towards the indicated place, to verify the reality of the marvel. When they arrived on the hilltop, they saw an area covered with snow, extending over a space sufficient to build a vast church. It was built at the expense of the noble couple with great magnificence, and given the name of Saint Mary of the Snows.
The same Basilica is sometimes entitled Saint Mary ad Praesepe, of the Manger, from the holy crib or manger of Bethlehem, in which the Infant Jesus was laid at His birth. It was transported to Rome and kept in a sumptuous subterranean chapel of the church. Today this Basilica bears the name of Saint Mary Major, because it is, both by its beauty and its antiquity, the first of the numerous Roman churches dedicated to Mary.
Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Lives of the Saints for Every Day of the Year (Reprint of the work of John Gilmary Shea, with Appendix including recently canonized Saints) (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1955).
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The Transfiguration of Our Lord
(32)
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Our divine Redeemer, being in Galilee the summer before His sacred Passion, took with Him Saint Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, Saint James and Saint John, and led them to the heights of a solitary mountain. Tradition assures us that this was Mount Tabor, which is exceedingly high and beautiful, and in those days was covered with green trees and shrubs. It rises alone in the midst of a vast plain of Galilee.
It is here that the God-Man appeared in His glory. While Jesus prayed, He permitted the glory which was always due to His sacred humanity — and of which for our sake, not to alarm us, He deprived it — to diffuse its brilliance over His whole body. His face was transfigured and shone as the sun, and His garments became white as snow. Moses and Elias were seen in His company by the three apostles on this occasion, and were heard discoursing with Him of the death which He was to suffer in Jerusalem. The three were wondrously delighted with this glorious vision, and Saint Peter cried out to Christ, Lord, it is good for us to be here! Let us make three tents, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias.
While Saint Peter was speaking, suddenly there came a bright cloud from heaven, emblem of the presence of God's majesty, and from out of this cloud was heard a voice which said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him. By these words, God made known that in Christ they must recognize the One He had foretold to Moses, saying: I will raise up from among them a Prophet like you; I will put My words in His mouth, and He will tell them all I command Him. If anyone does not want to hear the words that this Prophet will speak in My Name, it is to Me that he will have to answer for it. (Deut. 18:18-19) When the Jews asked John the Baptist if he was the Prophet, this was the Expected One they referred to. The apostles understood perfectly now what these words meant; the prophecy was known to all who listened to the Scriptures read each week in their synagogues. Hearing this voice, they were nonetheless seized with a sudden fear, and fell upon the ground; but Jesus, going to them, touched them, and bade them rise. They immediately did so, and saw no one but Jesus standing there in His ordinary state. This vision happened during the night. As they went down the mountain early the next morning, Jesus forbade them to tell anyone what they had seen, before He had risen from the dead.
Reflection: From the contemplation of this glorious mystery we ought to conceive a true idea of future happiness. If this idea enters our souls, we will think nothing of the difficulties or labors we meet with here, but will regard with great indifference all the goods and evils of this life, provided we obtain our portion in the kingdom of God's glory.
Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
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Saint Cajetan of Thiena
August 7 Founder (1480-1547)
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Saint Cajetan was born in 1480 at Vicenza near Venice in Italy, of the pious and noble family by the name of Thiena. His great-uncle, who bore the same name as himself and was a Canon of Padua, was considered to be the prince of the theologians of his century; and several prelates and cardinals, as well as governors of Milan and Naples, were of the same line. His parents dedicated Cajetan to our Blessed Lady. From childhood he was remarked for his obedience, his temperance, and his charity towards the poor.
A distinguished student, a veritable model for all his peers, he desired a higher perfection and left his native town, where he was in honor, to seek obscurity in Rome. There, however, Pope Julius II, perceiving his merit, named him an apostolic protonotary, a high office. He joined a certain Congregation or Confraternity known as that of Divine Love and, working with its members, introduced frequent Communion in their midst, and elsewhere through their influence. The Pope saw to his ordination, and he then offered many fervent Masses. About that time, on Christmas Eve at the Church of Saint Mary Major, when he entered the church he saw the Holy Mother; She came to him and placed Her divine Infant in his arms. It was also Saint Cajetan who later would introduce the Forty Hours' Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, as an antidote to the heresy of Calvin.
He returned to Vicenza when his mother died, and began to seek out the sick poor and transport them to the Hospital of the Incurables or of Mercy, with which he had united the Congregation of Divine Love, established in that city also. He served the sick in the hospital himself. He placed himself under the direction of a holy Dominican priest, Father John Baptist de Crema, who not long afterwards told him he should go to Venice. His obedience was perfect in this sacrifice, which cost not only himself but those in his hospital many tears. At Venice too, he was needed in a hospital; and the Venetians in those days of luxury and licence, soon reformed what was not correct in their conduct to follow his holy examples.
To renew the lives of the clergy, in 1524, with Paul Caraffa, then Bishop of Theata or Chieti in the kingdom of Naples, who later would become Pope Paul IV, and with two other fervent Christians, Saint Cajetan founded the first group of Regular Clerics, since known as Theatines. All had deeply regretted the state of the Church at that time, and with ardor they devoted themselves to preaching, to the administration of the sacraments and the careful execution of the Church's rites and ceremonies.
When the Germans, under Constable Bourbon, sacked Rome, Saint Cajetan was barbarously scourged to extort from him imaginary riches; his only wealth was his good works, which he had long since securely stored in heaven. When the Saint was on his deathbed, resigned to the Will of God, happy to suffer to satisfy his love, and eager for death to attain to life, he again beheld the Mother of God, radiant with splendor and surrounded by ministering seraphim. Turning Her countenance full of majesty and sweetness upon him, She said, Cajetan, My Son calls you. Let us go in peace. Worn out with toil and sickness, he went to his reward in 1547.
Reflection: Imitate Saint Cajetan's devotion to our Blessed Lady, by invoking Her aid before every work.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 9; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
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Saint Cyriacus and his Companions
August 8 Martyrs († 303)
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Saint Cyriacus, born of a noble patrician family, embraced the Christian religion and gave all his wealth to the poor. He was ordained a deacon at Rome, under Pope Marcellinus. Diocletian was emperor at that time, assisted by Maximian, his favorite. The latter decided to build a beautiful palace for the emperor, with magnificent baths, and to make the Christians work at the construction. Among the new slaves were elderly gentlemen and persons of the highest rank, clerics and priests. The labor was hard and the food scanty. A Roman nobleman desired to relieve the sufferings of these laborers and sent four Christians with alms and encouragements; these were Saint Cyriacus, Saint Sisinius, Saint Largus and Saint Smaragdus. They pursued their charities at the risk of their lives, and they worked vigorously alongside those who were growing very weak. When Maximian heard of it, he had Saint Sisinius and an old gentleman whom he had helped, decapitated.
Saint Cyriacus was well known to Diocletian, who was fond of him. Suddenly Diocletian's daughter became possessed by a furious demon, and she announced that only Cyriacus could deliver her. Diocletian sent for him, and he cured her. She became a Christian like her mother, who is today Saint Serena. A short time later the daughter of the king of Persia also became possessed, and cried out like Diocletian's daughter that she could be delivered only by Cyriacus, who was in Rome. A message was sent to Diocletian, who asked his wife to persuade the deacon to go to Persia for this purpose. He did so with his two remaining Christian companions, and again cast out the demon, thus bringing about the conversion of the king, his family and four hundred persons, whom he baptized. The three confessors returned to Rome, having refused all compensation for their services, saying that they had received the gifts of God gratuitously and wished to share them gratuitously, not deriving profit from them. The barbarous Maximian, hearing of their return in 303, had them seized, imprisoned and tortured, and finally decapitated with twenty other courageous Christians. Their bodies were first buried near the place of their execution on the Salarian Way, but were later removed to the city. An abbey in France, at Altorf in Alsace, possesses relics of Saint Cyriacus and bears his name.
Reflection: To honor the martyrs and duly celebrate their feasts, we must learn their spirit and study to imitate them according to our state of life. We must, like them, resist evil, subdue our passions, suffer afflictions with patience, and bear with others without murmuring or complaining. The cross is the ladder by which we must ascend to heaven.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 9; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894)
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Saint John Vianney
Curé of Ars, Confessor (1786-1859)
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It has been said of more than one person, of more than one Saint, that they were the prodigies of their century. This is perhaps true of no one more than of the Curé of Ars. This man, who was so remarkably humble, for about thirty years saw the whole world, as it were, attentive to his virtues, the entire Christian world at his feet. He is certainly a marvel of the pastoral apostolate and sanctity.
Born three years before the French Revolution into a humble and profoundly Christian family, at Dardilly near Lyons, he was at first a little shepherd, occupied also with the cultivation of the land. From his earliest years he was noted for his candor, piety, love for the Blessed Virgin, and charity for the poor. He desired to become a priest and reached the altar through his piety rather than through his talents. Lack of schooling during the Revolution had made Latin grammar virtually inaccessible to his best efforts. The bishop asked, however, whether he was pious; and when he heard that he said his Rosary like an Angel, ordained him.
After a few years of parish work as an Assistant Pastor, in 1817 he was placed in charge of the parish of Ars, a small village considered backward and scarcely half-Christian. On his way there, solitary and in poverty, when he saw in the distance the steeple of the church, he knelt and prayed God to bless his ministry. His first concern was to visit his parishioners, and he soon won them over by his far-from-ordinary virtue. To their indifference to religion, then, a profoundly Christian spirit succeeded, and one saw the Lord's day observed to perfection; under the influence of a Saint, the parish of Ars became like a religious community. Word of this transformation passed from one person to another and soon, from many surrounding regions people came to hear him, enter humbly into the confessional, and obtain miracles. These he attributed to Saint Philomena, whose tomb had recently been discovered, and whom he called his dear little Saint. He was very attentive to the beauty of the sanctuary, to the preparation of his sermons, and to the orphanage which he founded; no application was excessive where these were concerned. For himself he was unsparing, sleeping in a damp basement and persecuted there incessantly by the devil. The villagers themselves became aware of his terrible combats with the one he called the grappin — literally a sharp-pronged anchor — the fitting name he gave the ancient enemy.
Ten years later, the reputation of this humble country priest had spread over Europe, and from everywhere there came impious scoffers, unbelievers, and libertines, as well as fervent Christians and those in sorrow; the former were converted by the thousands, the latter consoled and strengthened for their combats. He spent ordinarily from sixteen to eighteen hours daily in the confessional, in winter with his feet on an unheated stone floor; and the rest of his time in preaching, prayer, and teaching catechism in the church. He died at the advanced age of 84, despite his unrelenting penance and long-standing rheumatism, and loved by the whole world.
Reflection: Let us pray for holy priests to bring the world on its knees to its Saviour. No intention is more important than this one. The Curé of Ars will pray with us, if we ask him to do so, and protect the sacerdotal race from the unending, unrelenting dangers which threaten it everywhere.
Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, by Abbé L. Jaud (Mame: Tours, 1950); Life of the Curé of Ars, by Msgr. Francis Trochu (translated from the French).
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