THE OLD ROMAN Vol. II Issue XIV W/C 6th December 2020
|
|
|
The Second Sunday of Advent
|
|
WELCOME to this fourteenth edition of Volume II 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.
|
|
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!
|
|
|
MENU
NEW HYPERLINKS FOR
EASE OF NAVIGATION!
|
|
|
IN THIS WEEK'S EDITION...
Click on the hyperlinks to navigate
The Old Roman View - the meaning of Advent by the Primus
THE LITURGY
|
|
|
|
LIVE every Wednesday at Old Roman TV 6pm GMT+1
An opportunity to spend an hour before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration and intercession. Offered in reparation for the sins of the Church, for the apathy of Christians, for the lack of faith and the sacrileges and blasphemies committed daily against the Holy Name and the Gospel and abuses against the Blessed Sacrament and the holy Mass. Rosary and reflections on the Sunday themes.
|
|
Advent is a time for renewal, an opportunity to refocus and re-orientate our lives back to God. The Messianic themes of the season referring to both the past i.e. the first coming and the future i.e. the second coming, invite us to concentrate on God's Will for us now, in the present moment.
The collect of the First Sunday pleads, "Excita, quaesumus, Domine" imploring God to "stir us" up with His power, and the Second Sunday, "Excita, Domine corda nostra" begs God to "stir up our hearts"; the liturgy is clearly suggesting that it is we who need to be motivated! Together with the apostle's exhortation for us on the First Sunday "to rise from sleep" (Romans 13:11-14), and on the Second Sunday, "that you may abound in hope" (Romans 15:4-14) it is clear the impetus is on us to realise our salvation is indeed "nearer than when we first believed"!
To realise our salvation requires us to live and fulfil God's Will for our lives and that means to become in Christ His true heirs, the children of God and citizens of His kingdom. In other words, to realise the significance of our baptism i.e. our redemption and sanctification and to live our vocations purposefully and committedly.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2)
St Paul elucidates here the purpose of our lives as Christians mirroring Christ, that by virtue of our baptism the living of our lives would become “spiritual worship.” Our baptism in Christ enables us to, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” The aim of all human life in God’s eyes is that Christ would be made to look as valuable as He is. Worship means using our minds and hearts and bodies to express the worth and dignity i.e. the glory of God and all He is for us in Jesus.
St Paul’s answer to how we turn all of life into worship is that we must be transformed. Not just our external behaviour, but the way we think and feel - our minds, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Meaning to change the way we perceive, approach and appreciate life, no longer senselessly and dimly as we did before we received God's grace, but now as enlightened beings sharing in the knowledge and experiencing the wisdom of God through His divine revelation of Himself in Christ and in His teachings.
The prophet of the Messiah, Isaiah reminds us too how to alter our understanding and appreciation, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9) So often we try to bend God's Will to our own! So often we try to impose our worldview on Him! Yet the key to dealing with life - imperfect and disappointing as it so often may appear - is not to think of it as our own to possess and control; but rather as something to let go and offer up, i.e. to sacrifice.
Scripture is clear. Our raison d'être in life is to become like God. Made in His image we are to become like Him after the example of Christ in His Incarnation. Jesus literally shows us how, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him." (John 14:6,7) Not only can we become like God, we can see God in Christ - a man, fully human as we are, yet also God.
The commemoration of the Nativity enables us to contemplate this truth; that God became like one of us in the Incarnate Christ. Recalling the miracle of Bethlehem we remember the fragility and vulnerability of humanity in the Christ-child; we become sentimental and coo over the Bambino as we do any new-born baby. But what we mustn't do is allow ourselves to miss the actual point of the Incarnation; that we can become like God after Christ. Not in terms of becoming god-like - omnipotent and omniscient - but in His essence and true nature, i.e. caritas (charity/love). St John, the apostle of charity, elucidates beautifully for us how we may become like God Who is love:
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:7-12)
As we hear and are deliberately reminded at the end of nearly every Mass in the Last Gospel (John 1:1-14), through our baptism we became "born of God" (John 1:13) having "believed in His Name" (v.12) i.e. come to faith in Christ, and this is made possible because Christ became one of us. So in turn, this is how we become like God, through charity, loving as Christ taught, commands and loves us; "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." (John 13:34) In this way God's love that binds Himself in tri-unity, created us in love to love and sent His love manifested in Christ to teach us and show us how to love like He loves! "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." (1 John 4:16) This is how knowledge of God's abiding presence is realised, through us becoming like Him for each other (1 John 4:12). Everyone who sees us, should see God in Christ in us.
This is why we need to follow St Paul's advice and remember Isaiah's sage admonition (above) and cooperate with God's grace received through baptism to change and transform us into likenesses of Him. Imagine if every Christian worldwide were striving to do this. God would be known and knowable. In and through US! That's why it matters how we behave, how we think, what we do and say, how we think and how we approach life.
Christ came to die. Being perfect human it is likely He would not otherwise have died. His death was not only necessary for our redemption, but necessary for us to live as God wants us to live. If Christ being perfect and thus untainted by sin, had lived without the curse of Adam - which is death - to limit His existence; then we would never have the opportunity ourselves to develop and grow into God's likeness. While it might seem immediately desirable that Jesus should be among us always, as He was incarnate; without His absence, we would never develop the impetus necessary to change ourselves. Likely we would die still in our sin. For like the mustard seed and the grain of wheat, Christ had to die that we might live and grow.
Instead we have the real presence of Christ not quite in His incarnate form, but in the Eucharistic species are His incarnate essence i.e. body, blood, soul and divinity. In this wise does He fulfil His promise to us, "and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matthew 28:20) and in us ourselves who become like Him, i.e. like God. We receive the Sacrament of His love because of the Cross, the altar of Calvary, where Christ as both priest and victim offers the ultimate act of worship to God in sacrifice of Himself for love of God and us.
Advent then is more than just preparing for a commemoration of an historic event, or preparing ourselves for an impending event. Advent is a time to realise in ourselves, in our present reality, what it means to be a child of God, i.e. what it means to be god-like. They who achieve this now, will indeed attain the completeness of perfection promised in the next life. But only if they are willing effectively to die to this life for the sake of realising the next, as Jesus did for us. "For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it." (Matthew 16:25) Only in living sacrificially for God and for each other may our lives become a "living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
By Archbishop Jerome of Selsey
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
|
Chinese Christians in their profound recognition of how God meets us in suffering, provide an example of grace under oppression...
Broadcast on Fridays, "Contra Mundum" looks at the issues affecting 21C Christians today and proposes how to overcome them through faith, hope and charity. Treating contemporary issues frankly, using inspiring testimonies from around the world, Divine Revelation, traditional piety and praxis to encourage, equip and enable Christians to respond to them.
|
|
|
Old Roman TV needs YOUR help!
|
|
|
JUST PRESS PLAY TO WATCH ORtv LIVE!
|
|
ORDO w/c Sunday 6th December 2020
|
|
|
|
|
OFFICE |
|
N.B. |
06.12 |
S |
THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
(V) Missa “Pópulus Sion" |
priv |
2a) BVM
3a) Ecclesiae
noGl.Cr.Pref.Trinity.BD |
07.12 |
M |
St Ambrose of Milan DrBC
Com. Feria II of Advent II
Com. Vigil of the Conception
(W) Missa “In medio” |
d |
2a) Advent II
3a) Vigil of the Conception
Gl.Cr.Pref.Common. |
08.12 |
T |
CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Com. Feria III of Advent II
(W) Missa “Salve sancta” |
dii |
2a) Advent II
Gl.Cr.Pref.BVM.
Missal Supplement* |
09.12 |
W |
In the Octave of the Conception
Com. Feria IV of Advent II
(W) Missa “Salve Sancta” |
sd |
2a) Advent II
3a) Holy Spirit
Gl. Cr. Pref.BVM |
10.12 |
T |
In the Octave of the Conception
Com. Feria V of Advent II
Com. St Melchiades of Rome
(W) Missa “Salve Sancta” |
sd |
2a) Advent II
3a) St Melchiades
Gl. Cr. Pref.BVM |
11.12 |
F |
In the Octave of the Conception
Com. Feria VI of Advent II
Com. St Damasus of Rome C.
(W) Missa “Salve sancta” |
sd |
2a) Advent II
3a) St Damasus
Gl. Cr. Pref.BVM |
12.12 |
S |
In the Octave of the Conception
Com. Sabbato of Advent II
(W) Missa “Salve Sancta” |
sd
|
2a) Advent II
3a) Holy Spirit
Gl. Cr. Pref.BVM |
13.12 |
S |
THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Com. Octave of the Conception
(V/Rosa) Missa “Gaudéte in Dómino” |
priv |
2a) Oct. Conception
3a) Ecclesiae
noGl.Cr.Pref.Trinity.BD |
|
|
Nota Bene
*Conception of the BVM Missal Supplement; as later editions of the Roman Missal contain propers forbidden by Canon 188 of the Codex Iuris Canonici 2017 the more ancient Mass propers are contained in the Missal Supplement.
a) the feast of St Lucy VM Dec 13th is transferred from Sunday to Monday Dec 14th
b) (V/Rosa) it is by custom usual for Rose coloured vestments to be worn this day
c) traditionally in Advent as in Lent, it was customary to only commemorate feast days i.e. the liturgy of the preceding Sunday would be repeated and the saint's day commemorated by the collect. This is certainly a commendable praxis and an option for feasts of double rank or lower at the priest's discretion.
RITUAL NOTES
- The colour of the season in Advent is purple. (Unbleached candles should be used on the altar.)
- The Gloria in excelsis at Mass and Te Deum at Matins are not said, except on feasts. (According to the general rule, when Gloria in excelsis is not said at Mass, Benedicamus Domino instead of Ite missa est concludes Mass.) But Alleluia is said in the office, as usual, and on Sundays at Mass.
- At Mass of the season the ministers do not wear dalmatic and tunicle, but folded chasubles, except on the third Sunday and Christmas Eve. From 17 December (O Sapientia) to Christmas, votive offices and Masses or Requiems are not allowed.
- During Advent the altar is not to be decorated with flowers or other such ornaments; nor is the organ played at liturgical offices. But the organ may be played at non-liturgical services, such as Benediction; and it is tolerated, even at Mass, if the singers cannot sing correctly without it. In this case it should be played only to accompany the voices, not as an ornament between the singing.
- The exceptions to this rule are the third Sunday of Advent (mid-Advent, "Gaudete") and the fourth Sunday of Lent (mid-Lent, "Laetare"). On these two days alone in the year the liturgical colour is rosy (color rosaceus).' On both the ministers wear dalmatic and tunicle, the altar is decorated as for feasts, 4 and the organ is played. On the week-days after the third Sunday (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday), when the Mass is that of Sunday, repeated, the colour is purple, the ministers wear dalmatic and tunicle, the organ is played. The same rule applies to Christmas Eve.
|
|
KEY: A=Abbot A cunctis=of the Saints B=Bishop BD=Benedicamus Domino BVM=Blessed Virgin Mary C=Confessor Com=Commemoration Cr=Creed D=Doctor d=double d.i/ii=double of the 1st/2nd Class E=Evangelist F=Feria Gl=Gloria gr.d=greater-double (G)=Green H=Holy Heb.=Hedomadam (week) K=King M=Martyr mpal=missae pro aliquibus locis Mm=Martyrs Pent=Pentecost P=Priest PP/PostPent=Post Pentecost PLG=Proper Last Gospel Pref=Preface ProEccl=for the Church (R)=Red (Rc)=Rose-coloured s=simple s-d=semi-double Co=Companions V1=1st Vespers V=Virgin v=votive (V)=violet W=Widow (W)=white *Ob.=Obligation 2a=second oration 3a=third oration |
|
|
The Second Sunday of Advent
The Office of this Sunday is filled, from beginning to end, with the sentiments of hope and joy, with which the soul should be animated at the glad tidings of the speedy coming of Him who is her Saviour and Spouse. The interior coming, that which is effected in the soul, is the almost exclusive object of the Church’s prayers for this day: let us therefore open our hearts, let us prepare our lamps, and wait in gladness that cry which will be heard in the midnight: Glory be to God! Peace unto men!
The Roman Church makes the Station today in the Basilica of Holy Cross-in-Jerusalem. It was in this venerable church that Constantine deposited a large piece of the True Cross, together with the Title which was fastened to it by Pilate’s order, and which proclaimed the Kingly character of the Saviour of the world. These precious relics are still kept there; and, thus enriched with such a treasure, the Basilica of Holy Cross in Jerusalem is looked upon, in the Roman Liturgy, as Jerusalem itself, as is evident from the allusions made in the several Masses of the Stations held in that Basilica. In the language of the sacred Scriptures and of the Church, Jerusalem is the image of the faithful soul; and the Office and Mass of this Sunday have been drawn up on this idea, as the one of the day. We regret not to be able here to develop the sublime beauty of this figure; and must proceed at once to the passage which the Church has selected from the Prophet Isaias. There she tells her children how well-founded are her hopes in the merciful and peaceful reign of the Messiah.
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
Old Roman TV are delighted to announce that The Daily Mass is now available to watch LIVE both on Facebook AND YouTube!
|
|
Second Sunday of Advent: Missa “Populus Sion”
For the Second Sunday of Advent numerous references appear to Jerusalem and her people beginning with the Introit “People of Sion” for Jesus Christ will be the deliverer and and the shepherd of the faithful Jews and of the Gentiles. It is the Church’s intent that the faithful be filled with sentiments of hope and joy, for the coming of Jesus is nigh. She asks us to prepare our hearts for the Messiah: Our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ.
In the Epistle for this day, we see St. Paul’s words to the Romans, first prophesied by Isaias: “There shall come forth a root out of the rod of Jesse and a flower shall rise up out of his root.” This root, as St. Jerome explains, is the Blessed Virgin Mary and “by the flower we understand the Lord our Saviour.” Moreover, the epistle is taken from the passage where St. Paul, speaking of this same root of Jesse, exhorts all who are called to the same glory to be “of one mind one towards another according to Jesus Christ.”
In the Gospel, again Isaiah is referenced for the Gentiles will enter Heaven together with the people of God. Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would be known by His miracles, and when John the Baptist himself, as the same prophet predicted, a messenger from Almighty God, sent “to prepare the way” of the Messiah, caused our Blessed Lord to be asked if He were indeed “He Who art to come,” Christ proved His Divine Mission by the miracles worked by Him. “But,” as St. Gregory the Great explains, “after so many wonders the death of Jesus caused great scandal in the hearts of men faithless to God; and Christ Himself forewarned us against this stumbling block to which the Jews fell victim,” and still do.
Holy Mother Church’s counsel is therefore to welcome our Lord in the lowliness of His manger, for then, He will welcome us in His glory when He comes again to judge the world.
INTROIT Isaias 30: 30
People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations: and the Lord shall make the glory of His voice to be heard, in the joy of your heart. (Ps. 79: 2) Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. v. Glory be to the Father…
COLLECT
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the ways of Thine only-begotten Son: that through His coming we may attain to serve Thee with purified minds. Who livest and reignest, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever. R. Amen.
Collect for the Blessed Mother
O God, Who didst will that at the message of an angel Thy word should take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary: grant that we, Thy suppliants, who believe her to be truly the mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee.
Collect for God’s Holy Church
Graciously hear, O Lord, the prayers of Thy Church that, having overcome all adversity and every error, she may serve Thee in security and freedom. 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.
EPISTLE Rom 15: 4-13
Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Romans. Brethren, What things soever were written, were written for our learning: that, through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind one towards another, according to Jesus Christ: that with one mind and with one mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also hath received you unto the honour of God. For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: but that the Gentiles are to glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I confess to Thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to Thy name. And again He saith: Rejoice ye Gentiles, with His people. and again, praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and magnify Him, all ye people. And again, Isaias saith: There shall be a root of Jesse and He that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall hope. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing: that you may abound in hope, and in the power of the Holy Ghost.
R. Thanks be to God.
GRADUAL/ALLELUIA Psalm 49: 2,3, 5
Out of Sion the loveliness of His beauty: God shall come manifestly. V. Gather ye together His saints to Him, who have set His covenant before sacrifices. Alleluia, alleluia.. V. (Ps. 121: 1) I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go unto the house of the Lord. Alleluia.
GOSPEL Matthew 11: 2-10
At that time, when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to Him: Art thou He that art to come, or look we for another? And Jesus, making answer, said to them: “Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them: and blessed is he who shall not be scandalized in Me.” And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea I tell you and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my Angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee.”
R. Praise be to Thee, O Christ.
OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Psalm 89: 7
Thou wilt turn, O God, and bring us to life, and Thy people shall rejoice in Thee: show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and grant us Thy salvation.
SECRET
Be appeased, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by the prayers and sacrifices of our humility: and where we lack pleading merits of our own, do Thou, by Thine aid, assist us. 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.
Secret for the Blessed Virgin Mary
Strengthen in our minds, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the mysteries of the true faith, that, confessing Him Who was conceived of the Virgin to be true God and true man, we may deserve, through the power of His saving resurrection, to attain everlasting joy.
Secret for God’s Holy Church
Protect us, O Lord, who assist at Thy mysteries, that, cleaving to things divine, we may serve Thee both in body and in mind. 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.
PREFACE of the Most Holy 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, ever-lasting God: Who, together with Thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, are 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 Baruch 5: 5; 4: 36
Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high, and behold the joy that cometh to thee from God.
POSTCOMMUNION
Filled with the food of Spiritual nourishment, we humbly entreat Thee, O Lord, that by our partaking of this Mystery, Thou wouldst teach us to despise the things of earth, and to love those of Heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God For ever and ever. R. Amen.
Postcommunion for the Blessed Virgin Mary
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may, by His passion and cross, be brought to the glory of His resurrection.
Postcommunion for God’s Holy Church
O Lord our God, we pray Thee that Thou suffer not to succumb to human hazards those whom Thou hast been pleased to make sharers of divine mysteries. Through the 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.
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
|
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.
|
|
MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR
BY BISHOP CHALLONER
|
|
|
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.
|
|
ON WHAT WE MUST DO TO PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD
Consider first, that the church, in the office appointed for this holy time, frequently puts us in mind of the mission and preaching of St. John the Baptist, and of the manner in which he endeavoured to prepare the people for Christ; to the end that we may learn, from the doctrine of this great forerunner of our Lord, in what dispositions we ought also to be if we would duly prepare the way for him. Now what the Baptist continually preached to the people was; that they should turn from their evil ways, and do penance, because the kingdom of heaven was at hand; that they should bring forth fruits worthy of penance, if they would escape the wrath to come - and this without delay - for that now the axe was laid at the root of the tree, and that every tree that did not bring forth good fruit should be cut up and cast into the fire. That they should not flatter themselves with the expectation of impunity or security, because they had Abraham for their father; for that God was able to raise up from the very stones children to Abraham; and therefore without a thorough conversion from their sins, they were to expect that the kingdom of God, and the grace and dignity of being children of Abraham, (the father of all the faithful,) should be taken away from them and given to the Gentiles. He added, that he baptized them indeed with water unto penance; but that another should come after him that should 'baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire; that his fan was in his hand, and that he should thoroughly cleanse his floor, and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he would burn with unquenchable fire,' Matt. iii. This was the way St. John prepared the people for Christ; and it is by conforming ourselves in practice to these his lessons, at this holy time, that we must also prepare the way of the Lord, and be prepared for him.
Consider 2ndly, that the great theme of the preaching of St. John, in order to prepare the way of the Lord, was the virtue of penance; inasmuch as this was the only means by which sinners could ever effectually be reconciled to God, after actual mortal sin; and therefore this theme was at all times perpetually inculcated by all that were ever sent with commission from God to reclaim unhappy souls that had gone astray from him. It is then by this virtue of penance we also are to prepare the way of the Lord, at this holy time; this is the proper devotion for the time of Advent. Now this virtue of penance, (which always was, always is, and always will be, absolutely and indispensably necessary for the bringing back sinners to God,) implies three things: first, the renouncing and destroying of all our sins, by which we have offended so good a God; secondly, a turning of ourselves to God with our whole heart, and a dedicating ourselves henceforward to him both for time and eternity; and thirdly, an offering of ourselves to him, to make him what satisfaction we can for our past offences, by a penitential life. Christians, this is our great business at this holy time, if we hope to prepare ourselves for Christ; this is the proper exercise for it - to pass over in our mind, in the bitterness of our soul, all our years that have been spent in sin; to bewail and lament every day of this holy season, all our past treasons against the divine majesty; to turn now to God with our whole heart; to offer our whole souls to him; to exercise ourselves in his love, and to enter into new articles with him of an eternal allegiance, with a full determination of rather dying than being any more disloyal to him; and letting not one day pass without offering him some penitential satisfaction for our past guilt, to be united to, and sanctified by the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. O! how happy are they that employ the time of Advent in this manner! O! how willingly will our Lord, at the approaching Christmas, communicate himself to such souls as these.
Consider 3rdly, that at the approaching solemnity of Christmas, the church, by thrice celebrating the sacred mysteries on the same day, commemorates three different births of Christ: his eternal birth from his father; his temporal birth from his mother; and his spiritual birth by which he is born by grace in our souls. Hence the best devotion for the time of Christmas, is that which conduces the most to bring Christ into our souls by this spiritual birth; and consequently the best devotion for the time of Advent is to cleanse and to purify our souls, that he may find nothing in them that may disqualify them for his visits, or hinder him from coming to be spiritually born in us. For he will never come into an unclean soul, nor be born in a mansion where Satan resides. See then, my soul, what measures thou art to take, at this holy time, to prepare thy Inward house for the spiritual birth of this king of glory: 1. Thou must cleanse and purify it from sin and Satan; 2. Thou must adorn it with virtue and piety; and 3. Thou must daily invite thy Lord thither by fervent prayer; thus shalt thou prepare the way of the Lord in the manner that is best pleasing to him.
Conclude to put in practice all these lessons to the best of thy power, at this holy time: an Advent spent in this manner, in devotion and penance, cannot fail of bringing thee a happy Christmas.
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD
|
|
|
Second Sunday in Advent
At that time when John had heard from in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples he said to him: Art thou he that art to co me, or look we for another? And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen, The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the deaf rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them: and blessed is he that shall not be scandalised in me.
Today is the Second Sunday in Advent. Last Sunday the lections focused on the second coming of Christ in glorious majesty at the end of history. Today, the lections focus on the nature of his first coming into the world in great humility. The question asked by St. John the Baptist is “Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another?” In his preaching John the Baptist had looked forward to the coming of one who would baptise with the spirit and with fire, who would separate the wheat from the chaff. He had pointed to Jesus as one in whom his hopes would be fulfilled, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He must decrease in order that Jesus might increase. The implication of his question from prison (he had been imprisoned by Herod Antipas) is that the ministry of Jesus in Galilee had taken a different course from the one that he was expecting. Where was the separation of the wheat from the chaff that John had looked forward to? Jesus answered by referring to the fulfilment of the hopes of the prophet Isaiah about the eyes of the blind being opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. In other words, though future in its fullness, the Kingdom of God was now being manifest in Jesus’ words and mighty works. He was indeed the one who would come, the fulfiller of the hopes of Israel, but this was his first coming in great humility to preach the good news to the poor. His final coming in glorious majesty to separate the wheat from the chaff was still to come.
“Blessed is he that shall not be scandalised in me”. The doctrine of the coming of the Messiah into the world not at first in glorious majesty, but in great humility was, as St. Paul put it, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. But why was it such a stumbling block? It was a stumbling block to the Jews because they did not recognise a coming of the Christ into the world in great humility before his final coming in glorious majesty. This is what St. Paul means when he says that the Jews look for signs, in other words signs of the messianic age. For when the messianic age dawned everything would be different. In this present world there was a contradiction between what is (the reality of sin, suffering, disease and death) and what ought to be (the realisation of God’s purposes). The Hebrew prophets therefore looked forward to a new age when God’s purposes for Israel and the world would finally be fulfilled. A new age would dawn and God’s kingdom would finally be established on earth. The nations would come to Jerusalem to hear the Word of the Lord. They would beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears intro pruning hooks. Nation would not take up sword against nation, neither would they train for war any more. Every man would dwell under his own vine and fig tree and no one would make them afraid. How then could Jesus be the promised messiah when the world remained still very much under the thrall of sin, disease and death?
The Christian answer, building on Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel, is that it was indeed the case that the first coming of the Saviour did not fulfil all of the prophecies of the Old Testament for they would not be all fully realised until the final coming of Christ at the end of the age, in that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. But, though future in its fullness, the prophecies of Isaiah about the eyes of the blind being opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped were already being fulfilled, and the good news was that God’s Kingdom was already being inaugurated in the person of his Messiah. In His life, death and resurrection He had defeated the powers of evil, had taken it upon Himself and somehow subsumed it into good. He had inaugurated a final period of grace in which the good news that He preached to Israel would now be preached to all nations so that they would renounce idolatry and turn to the one true God, before the final coming of His kingdom when the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.
If this message was a stumbling block to the Jews it seemed simply foolishness to the Greeks for they looked to enlightenment from philosophy rather than from a crucified Saviour. When St. Paul preached in Athens he seemed to those under the influence of the philosophers to be talking nonsense. Perhaps when he referred to the Greeks who sought wisdom he had in mind this incident and the difficulty he had in getting his message across. The philosophers differed widely among themselves but they all agreed in cultivating a certain detachment from the world of suffering. For the Epicureans (in some ways the forerunners of the modern materialist) the world was without purpose and design. It was therefore best to have as much pleasure as was possible within reason and to put up with the rest of life with all its trials. For the Stoics the universe was governed by a divine principle (Stoicism was essentially pantheistic) and since creation was itself divine nothing was really wrong. It was therefore best to cultivate detachment from things and to cultivate a spirit of self sufficiency, to accept what pleasure one could in moderation and to put up with the rest of life with all its trials by adopting an attitude of detached indifference. For the Platonist this world was only a shadow of the eternal world, so the divine was as far removed as possible from the world of time, of change and suffering. It was therefore best to cultivate a certain detachment from this world, which was only after all a world of shadows, and cultivate the higher wisdom of philosophy.
It is worth emphasising this point because it is sometimes supposed that it was easier for people in the ancient world to accept Christianity than it is for people today. It is often said that people were less sophisticated and sceptical in those days than they are today. In fact, the difficulty the pagan world had with Christianity is that it seemed to people to be more primitive than their own tradition, a “superstition.” The message of a crucified saviour seemed crude and unsophisticated when compared to the enlightened wisdom of the philosophers. Far from being an advance on the age of Christendom into a superior age of enlightenment our age is in fact regressing to the old world of paganism, in which people put their faith in materialism or in pantheism and it is seen as desirable to avoid suffering at all costs, to accept what pleasure one can and to put up with the rest of life with its trials and tribulations.
But for those with eyes to see, the coming of Christ into the world was indeed the fulfilment of the hopes of Israel and of the world. It is the same Christ who came into this world in great humility who will come again in glorious majesty to judge it at the end of time.
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the ways of thine only begotten Son; that through his coming we may attain to serve thee with purified minds, who livest and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
THIS WEEK'S FEASTS
& COMMEMORATIONS
|
|
|
Saint Ambrose
December 7 Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
(340-397)
|
|
|
When in the year 369 Saint Ambrose, the young son of a Roman Senator, was sent by Probus, the Prefect of Italy, to the large province of Liguria Emilia in Italy, the officer said to him, Go and act not as a judge, but as a bishop. Ambrose, though not Christian, had already resisted by his probity the corrupting influence of the Roman youth of his day. In Liguria he showed himself to be clement as directed, and his great erudition also became well known to the inhabitants of the region. In the year 374 he was already governor of the province, at the moment when at Milan, in this same region, a bishop was needed for that great see. Since the heretics in Milan were many and fierce, he went to preserve order during the election of the new prelate. Though he was still only a catechumen, it was the Will of God that the provincial governor be chosen by acclamation. Despite his protestations and his subsequent flight from Milan when they were not accepted, he was found, baptized and consecrated for the archiepiscopal see.
Unwearied then in every pastoral duty, full of sympathy and charity, gentle and condescending in matters of indifference, he was inflexible in questions of principle. He manifested his fearless zeal when it was necessary to brave the anger of the Empress Justina, by resisting and foiling her impious attempt to give one of the churches of Milan to the Arians. He distributed all that he had of gold and silver to the poor, and confided all financial administration of his archdiocese to his brother, Saint Satyrus, who came to reside with him in Milan. To master theology, he studied the Sacred Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church, and conferred with learned Christians concerning the rules of ecclesiastical discipline. He was very active, and took such great care of the catechumens' instruction that no one could surpass him in that duty.
His zeal in rebuking and bringing to penance the great Emperor Theodosius, who in a moment of irritation had cruelly punished a sedition by the inhabitants of Thessalonica, is a well known fact of history. The Saint met him at the door of the cathedral to prevent his entering, and said to him that if he had imitated David in his crime, he must now imitate him in his penance. Later the chastened and humble Emperor said that in his life he had known but one true bishop — Ambrose.
Saint Ambrose was the friend and consoler of Saint Monica in all her sorrows, and in 387 had the joy of admitting to the Church Saint Augustine, her son. He died in 397, full of years and of honors, and is revered by the Church of God as one of her greatest Doctors.
Reflection: Whence came to Saint Ambrose his grandeur of mind, his clearness of insight, his intrepidity in maintaining the faith and discipline of the Church? Whence, if not from his contempt of the world and his fear of God alone?
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); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
December 8th
|
|
|
Holy Mother Church celebrates today the ancient feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. An innovation in 1854 by Pope Pius IX altered the title and Mass of the feast adding the word “Immaculate”, but primitively and more traditionally the feast is known without it and the Mass below is the original offered for centuries by the Church. Before 1854 the term “Immaculata Conceptio” is nowhere found in the liturgical books, except in the invitatorium of the Votive Office of the Conception. The Greeks, Syrians, etc. call it the Conception of St. Anne (Eullepsis tes hagias kai theoprometoros Annas, “the Conception of St. Anne, the ancestress of God”).
The feast speaks to us, by example of the Blessed Virgin, of the uniqueness of our individual creation – God’s conception of us in His eternal mind and His purposing us by our physical conception. Just as Our Lady was intended by God from all time to be the vessel and tabernacle of the Incarnate Word, so too are we each purposed by God to play a role in the salvation of mankind.
The Lesson from the book of Proverbs, describes to us allegorically the concept of Our Lady and thus ourselves, being in the mind of God from all eternity. It speaks to us of holy Wisdom too and thus also of the Ruach Elohim – the dynamic creating force of God alluded to by the author of Sirach (24:3) and St John (1:1) ref the Christ, suggesting that we ourselves were breathed into being “The ruach (wind, breath, mind, spirit) of God is in my nostrils” (Job 27:3) i.e. conceptually from God into reality. Bringing to mind the first great O Antiphon “O wisdom that pours forth from the mouth of the Most High”.
The Gospel from the beginning of St. Matthew’s (1:1–17) reminds us of the lineage and humanity of Mary, deliberately by using the disinherited lineage of King David via Jeconiah and Joseph, inferring how it is through Mary’s lineage given in Luke (3:23–38), that Christ is descended from the line of David.
So today’s feast is all about Mary. How she was purposed by God from all eternity for His will as the mother of the Lord and how similarly, each and everyone of us are purposed for His will in our own time and generation. That we in turn may continue to say with Christ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me (conception/baptism), because he has anointed (chrismation/confirmation) me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Because it is through Him, with Him and in Him that we have our being and our salvation, i.e. that we were purposed and have our purpose.
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
Saint Peter Fourier
December 9 Parish Priest of Mattaincourt,
Reformer of the Canons of Saint Augustine,
Founder of the Canonesses of Notre Dame
(1565-1640)
|
|
|
This priest of God was consecrated to Him before and at his birth by his pious parents, who destined their eldest son for the altars. His aptitude for study, his high stature and beauty added the gifts of nature to those of grace. The young man was noted in particular for his devotion to the Mother of God and his great modesty. It was a surprise to all when he chose to consecrate himself to God in a religious Order which at that time had degenerated from its original fervor, that of the Canons of Saint Augustine. He made application for entrance into the Abbey of Chaumouzey, founded in 1094, situated a short distance from his native village of Mirecourt in Lorraine. There he made the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in 1587, and was ordained a priest in February of 1589.
Before saying his first Mass he passed several months of retreat in the exercises of prayer, penance and tears. He was then sent to complete his theological studies at the university of Pont-au-Mousson, also in Lorraine. There Father Jean Fourier, a relative who was Rector of that University, directed him admirably. His progress in virtue and the sacred sciences placed him high in the opinion of the Cardinal of Lorraine and Bishop of Metz, who desired to have him in his diocese; he offered him a parish where his talents would bring him advancement. But the young priest, wishing to flee all honors, declined, to return to his Abbey.
There hell instigated against him a persecution; he was the brunt of raillery, threats, and intrigues, and an effort was made to poison him, which did not succeed. For two years he lived in the midst of contradictions without complaining in any way to his abbot, who seemed unaware of what was happening; he increased in patience and kindness towards his persecutors. Eventually he was again offered a choice of three parishes, two of which would provide opportunity for advancement, while the third was in a village regarded as incorrigible and backward. It was the last one that he chose. The people there were prosperous but more than indifferent to religion. The Sacraments were neglected and the feast days profaned; the altars were bare and the church was deserted when he arrived.
He began by visiting families and assembling two or three of them to talk to them of the truths of the faith. He did not go to the banquets which followed funerals and weddings, save to offer the prayer of blessing or make a short exhortation. He did not accept a housekeeper, even when his own stepmother offered to assist him. He prayed for the greater part of every night, and never refused to go where he was called, at any time or in any season. So little did he need for himself that he was able to give alms and assistance to the poor. He prayed before Jesus on the altar: You are the principal parish priest, I am only Your vicar. And permit me to say to You, with all the humility of my heart, that You are under obligation to make succeed what I cannot.
He desired to remedy the evils of the times by forming children to virtue; and Providence soon brought to him several young women who offered themselves for the instruction of young girls. Within the space of only a few years, six schools were founded in the region, and before he died, about forty. Blessed Alice LeClerc was the first Sister and first Superior of the Canonesses of Notre Dame, dedicated to the education of young women. For this purpose Saint Peter was obliged to confide his parish to his vicar for a time, to journey and obtain the various permissions and assistance necessary; but it was God's work and all efforts succeeded.
His own parish was gradually being transformed into a model, and priests came to visit it. One of them reported to his bishop the marvels of devotion he had seen in Mattaincourt, and said he had asked the parish priest where he had studied; Saint Peter had answered that he had studied in the fourth — corresponding in America to about the ninth grade. Astonished, the visitor was yet more so when he learned that this modest priest had certainly studied in the fourth, as he had said, but out of horror for vainglory had wanted to dissimulate his years of higher studies.
The bishops were asking him to visit their parishes to preach missions where needed; the holy priest obeyed, amid his increasing tears and penance, as he perceived the vices and ignorance of the populations. He also was concerned to reestablish the discipline and fervor of his own Order, an effort which had failed several times. But in 1621 the Bishop of Toul, Monsignor de Porcelets, entrusted this work to Father Fourier. A house was found to begin the Reform, the vacant ancient Abbey of Saint Remi, and six excellent subjects were sent there under his direction. In four years, eight houses of the Order had adopted the Reform. A General Superior was named; for a time Father Fourier was able to avoid that office, but when the good Superior died, he was obliged to accept its functions. Attacked by the devil, his influence distorted by calumnies, Saint Peter's only response was to spread everywhere devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. More than two centuries before the Miraculous Medal in 1830 and the proclamation of the dogma in 1854, he saw to the distribution of large quantities of a medal he had struck, on which were engraved the words: Mary was conceived without sin.
Saint Peter Fourier died in exile as an effect of the difficulties and political problems of the 1630's; he found shelter in a province which was at that time under the Spanish crown, and there he died in 1640. His spiritual sons, his spiritual daughters, the good people of Gray in Bourgogne, who had welcomed him and whom he had served admirably during an epidemic of the pestilence, all wanted the honor of possessing his mortal remains. But so did also the parish of Mattaincourt. To the reformed Order of Saint Augustine this privilege was granted officially, but the pious women of Mattaincourt, blocking the church door, would not permit the Canons to resume their journey with the coffin, after they had stopped in his former parish for a day or so. His heart had already been left to the parish of Gray. Miracles have abounded at his tomb, as they did during his lifetime, by his prayers. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1897.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
Saint Melchiades
December 10th Bishop of Rome
|
|
|
The Church makes a Commemoration today of the holy Pope Melchiades. This illustrious Pontiff, whom Saint Augustine calls the true child of the peace of Jesus Christ, the worthy Father of the Christian people, ascended the papal throne in the year 311, that is, during the very fiercest storm of persecution. It is on this account that he is honoured with the title of Martyr. Though he did not shed his blood for the name of Jesus, yet he shared in the glory of the Martyrs, by reason of the great trials he had to suffer during the persecution, which afflicted the entire Church. It was the same with many of his predecessors. But the Pontificate of Melchiades marks a very important period of the Church, the transition from persecution to peace. As early as the year 312, liberty had been granted to the Christian religion by Constantine. So that Melchiades had the glory of governing the Church at the commencement of her period of temporal prosperity. His name now graces the calendar of the liturgical year, and reminds us of that Peace which will soon descend upon us from heaven.
Deign then, Father of the Christian people, to pray for us to the Prince of Peace, that, in his approaching visit, he may quell our troubles, remove the obstacles to his grace, and reign as absolute Master over our heart, our mind, and our senses. Pray also that Peace may reign in the Holy City and Church of Rome, of which thou wast the Bishop, and which will honour your venerable memory to the end of time: help her by your intercession now that you are face to face with God, and hear the prayers which she addresses to you.
Prayer
Have regard, O almighty God, to our weakness; and as we sink under the weight of our own doings, let the glorious intercession of blessed Melchiades, your Martyr and Bishop, be a protection to us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
– from the book The Liturgical Year: Advent, by the Very Reverend Dom Prosper Gueranger, Abbot of Solesmes, translated from the French by the Revered Dom Laurence Shepherd, Monk of the English-Benedictine Congregation, 2nd edition; published in Dublin Ireland by James Duffy, 15 Wellington-Quay, 1870
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
Saint Eulalia
December 10th Child Martyr († 303)
|
|
|
Saint Eulalia was a native of Merida, in Spain. The daughter of Christian parents, she was taught in her childhood by a very holy priest of that city. She was but twelve years old when the bloody edicts of Diocletian were issued. Her parents, knowing of her vow of virginity and fearing that her zeal would cause her to be a victim of the persecutions, sent her to their house in the country. Eulalia indeed escaped, as they feared, and returned to the city to present herself, with her young companion and Christian friend, Julie, before the cruel Calpurnianus, representing the viceroy of Diocletian. She reproached him for attempting to destroy souls, by compelling them to renounce the only true God.
The officer commanded that she be seized, and at first tried to win her over by flattery. Failing in this, he had her flogged and resorted to threats, causing the most dreadful instruments of torture to be placed before her eyes, and saying to her: All this you shall escape, if you will but touch a little salt and frankincense with the tip of your finger. Provoked by these seducing flatteries, our Saint threw down the idol before her, and trampled upon the cake placed there for the sacrifice. At the judge's order, two executioners tore her tender sides with iron hooks, so as to leave the very bones bare, then tortured her with burning torches, and dragged her by her hair to the site of execution. She said to the cruel persecutor, Calpurnianus, look well at me so that you may recognize me on the day of the Final Judgment, when both of us will appear before Jesus Christ, our common Lord, I to receive the reward of my torments, and you, the chastisement of your inhumanity toward the Christians. She was covered with hot coals; the fire caught in her hair and surrounded her head and face, and she suffocated amid the smoke and flames. The persecutor commanded that her body be left untended for three days, but Providence covered it with a blanket of snow, which seemed to whiten it and give it a marvelous beauty.
The Christians buried Saint Eulalia in Merida. Later her body was transported to Oviedo, Spain, where it was placed in a chapel dedicated to her memory, within the large church. She is the patroness of that city, and many graces have been received when her relics are transported in processions in times of public necessity.
Reflection: The Apostles rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus. (Acts 4:41) Do we bear our crosses with the same spirit?
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); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
Saint Damasus
December 11th Bishop of Rome († 384)
|
|
|
Saint Damasus was born in Rome at the beginning of the fourth century. His father, a widower, had received Holy Orders there and served as parish priest in the church of St. Laurence. Damasus was archdeacon of the Roman Church in 355, when the Pope, Saint Liberius, was banished to Berda; he followed him into exile, but afterwards returned to Rome. On the death of Saint Liberius in 366, our Saint was chosen to succeed him, at the age of sixty-two. A certain Ursinus, jealous of his election and desiring for himself that high office, had himself proclaimed pope by his followers, inciting a revolt against Damasus in Rome, in which 137 persons died. The holy Pope did not choose to resort to armed defense, but the Emperor Valentinian, to defend him, drove the usurper from Rome for a time. Later he returned, and finding accomplices for his evil intentions, accused the holy Pontiff of adultery. Saint Damasus took only such action as was becoming to the common father of the faithful; he assembled a synod of forty-four bishops, in which he justified himself so well that the calumniators were excommunicated and banished.
Having freed the Church of this new schism, Saint Damasus turned his attention to the extirpation of Arianism in the West and of Apollinarianism in the East, and for this purpose convened several councils. He sent Saint Zenobius, later bishop of Florence, to Constantinople in 381 to console the faithful, cruelly persecuted by the Emperor Valens. He commanded Saint Jerome to prepare a correct Latin version of the Bible, since known as the Vulgate; he ordered the Psalms to be sung accordingly. He rebuilt and adorned the Church of Saint Laurence, still called Saint Laurence in Damaso. He caused to be drained all the springs of the Vatican, which were inundating the tombs of the holy persons buried there, and he decorated the sepulchres of a great number of martyrs in the cemeteries, adorning them with epitaphs in verse. Before his death, he consecrated sixty-two bishops.
Saint Damasus is praised by Theodoret as head of the famous doctors of divine grace of the Latin church; the General Council of Chalcedon calls him the honor and glory of Rome. Having reigned for eighteen years and two months, he died on the 10th of December in 384, when he was nearly eighty years old. In the eighth century, his relics were definitively placed in the church of Saint Laurence in Damaso, except for his head, conserved in the Basilica of Saint Peter.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14; The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Principal Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler (Metropolitan Press: Baltimore, 1845), October-December, Vol. IV
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
Saint Finnian or Finan
December 12th Bishop in Ireland († 552)
|
|
|
Among the primitive teachers of the Irish church the name of Saint Finnian is one of the most famous, after that of Saint Patrick. He was a native of Leinster and was instructed in the elements of Christian virtue by the disciples of Saint Patrick. Having an ardent desire to make greater progress, he went over into Wales, where he met and conversed with Saint David, Saint Gildas and Saint Cathmael, three eminent British Saints. After remaining thirty years in Britain, he returned to Ireland in about the year 520, excellently qualified by his sanctity and sacred learning to restore the spirit of religion among his countrymen. Like a loud trumpet sounding from heaven, he roused the insensibility and inactivity of the lukewarm, and softened the most hardened hearts, long immersed in worldly business and pleasures.
To propagate the work of God, Saint Finnian established several monasteries and schools, chief among which was the monastery of Clonard, which he built and which was his ordinary residence. From this school came several of the principal Saints and Doctors of Ireland: Kiaran the Younger, Columkille, Columba son of Crimthain, the two Brendans, Laserian, Canicus or Kenny, Ruadan, and others. The great monastery of Clonard was a famous seminary of sacred learning.
Saint Finnian was chosen and consecrated Bishop of Clonard. Out of love for his flock and by his zeal for their salvation, he became infirm with the infirm and wept with those that wept. He healed souls as well as the physical infirmities of those who came to him for assistance. His food was bread and herbs, his drink, water, and his bed, the ground, with a stone for his pillow. He departed to Our Lord on the 12th of December in 552.
The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Principal Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler (Metropolitan Press: Baltimore, 1845), Vol. IV, October-December
Saint Finnian is also known as Finian, Finan, Fionán, Fionnán or Cluain Eraird in Irish; and also as Vennianus and Vinniaus in its Latinised form.
RETURN TO MENU
|
|
Links to Government websites; remember these are being updated regularly as new information and changes in statuses develop:
|
|
For the ORC Policy Document click below
|
|
|
|