CSVF Blog

You have made them princes over all the earth; they declared your fame to all generations; for ever will the nations declare your praise.

From Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

As the commemorative feast of the dedication of the archbasilica of the Lateran is kept by the whole Western church, so also is that of the other greater patriarchal basilicas at Rome, St Mary Major on August 5, and St Peter’s and St Paul’s together on this day, November 18th. Amongst all the places which the blood of martyrs has rendered illustrious, that part of the Vatican Hill which was consecrated with the blood and enriched with the relics of the Prince of the Apostles has always been the most venerable. “The sepulchres of those who have served Christ crucified,” says St John Chrysostom, “surpass the palaces of kings; not so much in the greatness and beauty of the buildings (though in this also they go beyond them) as in other things of more importance, such as the multitude of those who with devotion and joy repair to them. For the emperor himself, clothed in purple, goes to the tombs of the saints and kisses them; humbly prostrate on the ground he beseeches the same saints to pray to God for him; and he who wears a royal crown looks on it as a great privilege from God that a tentmaker and a fisherman, and these dead, should be his protectors and defenders, and for this he begs with great earnestness.” The martyrdom of St Peter took place according to tradition at the circus of Caligula in Nero ’s gardens on the Vatican Hill, and he was buried nearby. It is held by some that in the year 258, to avoid desecration during the persecution of Valerian, the relics of St Peter, together with those of St Paul were translated for a time to the obscure catacomb now called St Sebastian’s; but they came back to their original resting-place, and in 323 the Emperor Constantine began the building of the basilica of St Peter over the tomb of the Apostle. For nearly twelve hundred years this magnificent church remained substantially the same, a great papal establishment gradually growing up between it and the Vatican Hill. This was made the permanent residence of the popes on their return from the exile at Avignon, and by the middle of the fifteenth century the old church was found to be inadequate. In 1506 Pope Julius II inaugurated a new building designed by Bramante, whose erection was carried on over a period of a hundred and twenty years, undergoing many alterations, additions and modifications at the hands of various popes and architects, especially Paul V and Michelangelo. The new basilica of St Peter, as we see it today, was consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on November 18, 1626, the day of its original dedication. The high altar was set up over the Apostle’s resting-place, which until 1942 had been inaccessible for many centuries. Though St Peter’s must always yield in dignity to the cathedral of St John Lateran, it has nevertheless for long been the most important church of the world, both in fact and in the hearts of Catholic Christians.

The martyrdom of St Paul took place some seven miles from that of St Peter at Aquae Salviae (now called Tre Fontane) on the Ostian Way. He was buried about two miles therefrom, on the property of a lady named Lucina, in a small vault. Early in the third century, according to Eusebius (Hist. eccl., ii, 25, 7), a Roman priest, Caius, refers to the tombs of SS. Peter and Paul: ” I can show you the trophies [tombs] of the apostles. If you go to the Vatican or on the road to Ostia you will see the trophies of those who founded this church.” Constantine is said to have begun a basilica here too, but the great church of St Paul Outside-the-Walls was principally the work of the Emperor Theodosius I and Pope St Leo the Great. It remained in its primitive beauty and simplicity till the year 1823, when it was consumed by fire. The whole world contributed to its restoration, non-Christians as well as non-Catholics sending gifts and contributions. During the course of the work the fourth-century tomb was found, with the inscription PAULO APOST MART: To Paul, apostle and martyr; it was not opened. The new basilica, on the lines of the old one, was consecrated by Pope Pius IX on December 10, 1854, but the annual commemoration was appointed for this day, as the Roman Martyrology records. “We do not”, says St Augustine, “build churches or appoint priesthoods, sacred rites and sacrifices to the martyrs, because, not the martyrs, but the God of the martyrs, is our God. Who among the faithful ever heard a priest, standing at the altar set up over the body of a martyr to the honour and worship of God, say in praying: We offer up sacrifices to thee, Peter, or Paul, or Cyprian? We do not build churches to martyrs as to gods, but as memorials to men departed this life, whose souls live with God. Nor do we make altars to sacrifice on them to the martyrs, but to their God and our God.”

Lord,
you give your Church the protection of the apostles.
From them it first received the faith of Christ.
May they help your Church to grow in your grace
until the end of time.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

No Comments »

All the world will recognize you as my disciples
when they see the love you have for one another.

From Catholic Online:

St. Elizabeth was born in Hungary in 1207, the daughter of Alexander II, King of Hungary. At the age of four she was sent for education to the court of the Landgrave of Thuringia, to whose infant son she was betrothed. As she grew in age, her piety also increased by leaps and bounds. In 1221, she married Louis of Thuringia and in spite of her position at court began to lead an austerely simple life, practiced penance, and devoted herself to works of charity.

Her husband was himself much inclined to religion and highly esteemed her virtue, encouraging her in her exemplary life. They had three children when tragedy struck - Louis was killed while fighting with the Crusaders. After his death, Elizabeth left the court, made arrangements for the care of her children, and in 1228, renounced the world, becoming a tertiary of St. Francis. She built the Franciscan hospital at Marburg and devoted herself to the care of the sick until her death at the age of 24 in 1231.

St. Elizabeth is the patron saint of bakers, countesses, death of children, falsely accused, the homeless, nursing services, tertiaries, widows, and young brides. Her symbols are alms, flowers, bread, the poor, and a pitcher.

For more on St. Elizabeth’s short but remarkable life, click here.

Father,
you helped Elizabeth of Hungary
to recognize and honor Christ
in the poor of this world.
Let her prayers help us to serve our brothers and sisters
in time of trouble and need.

We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

No Comments »

O God, the Lord of the sciences, we praise and bless you with all our hearts and voices, for you have raised up a great teacher from among our fathers.

Today the Dominican Order celebrates with particular solemnity one of its own, St. Albert the Great, the medieval bishop and scholar renowned for his expertise in nearly all the intellectual disciplines, including natural science, philosophy, and theology.  St. Albert was the teacher of another Dominican great, St. Thomas Aquinas.

From the Dominican Ordo:

Albert of Lauingen was born in Swabia (Germany) at the beginning of the thirteenth century.  While a student at the University of Pavia he was attraced to the Order by Blessed Jordan of Saxony.  From 1242 until 1249 he taught at the University of Paris where Thomas Aquinas was one of his students.  Albert helped to introduce Aristotelian physics as interpreted by Jewish and Arabian philosophers into Western thought.  From 1248 he taught at Cologne and served as provincial of Germany (1254-1257).  Together with Saint Bonaventure he defended the right of the Mendicant Orders to teach at in the universtities.

He was named bishop of Ratisbon in 1260, but after two years he resigned because he considered himself unworthy.  He continued his teaching at Wurzburg, Strasbourg and Cologne.  In his attempts to blend the wisdom of the saints with human knowledge he was a distinguished writer and teacher, but he was even more distinguished in his life of holiness and his pastoral charity.  He had a deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Virgin Mary, who according to legend led him to the Order of Preachers.  Because of his writings he is called “the Great” and the “universal doctor.”  He died at Cologne on November 15, 1280.  In 1459 Pius II declared him a doctor of the Church; in 1931 Pius XI declared him a saint; and Pius XII named him patron of those involved in the natural sciences.

For more on St. Albert’s life and thought, click here and here.

One of the stained glass windows in the nave of the church is dedicated to St. Albert.  Click here for a view and an explanation of its iconography.  Of particular note are the two figures that flank St. Albert—Aristotle and St. John the Evangelist—who represent the heights of knowledge attainable by the human mind through the distinct but not opposed paths of reason and revelation.  Albert and his student Aquinas remain icons of the Catholic task to reconcile the seeming contradictions between faith and reason.

Besides being a famous scholar, St. Albert was also a saint.  His expertise in prayer and the science of the blessed was the pearl of great price in his crown of intellectual achievement.  Below is a brief instruction he once gave on the proper preparations necessary for fruitful prayer.  He shares with is readers the fruit of his own experience.  This passage is one of the options for the second lesson in today’s Office of Readings.

From the treatise On the Manner of Praying
attributed to Saint Albert the Great

We should prepare ourselves for prayer.  This preparation is of two kinds: remote and immediate.

Similarly remote preparation is of two kinds: interior and exterior.  Interior preparation consists of three things.  First, there is the purification of the conscience: If our hearts do not reprove us, we have this confidence in God: that God hears us whenever we ask for anything.  Secondly, there is the humbling of the mind, for the Lord hears the cry of the humble and does not spurn their petition.  Thirdly, there is the forgiveness of injuries: Whenever you stand to pray, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may in turn forgive you your trespasses.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

I was hungry and you have me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was homeless and you took me in.  Now I tell you this: When you did these things for the most neglected of my brothers, you did them for me.

It rarely occurs in the United States that we celebrate the feast day of one of our compatriots.  Our nation is still young, and so is the Church here.  The roots of truth and grace must plunge deeper into our soil before many more of our own are raised to honors the altar.  

But today we commemorate not only a fellow citizen, but in a sense a fellow New Yorker, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.  An Italian by birth, Mother Cabrini brought her Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to the United States in the late nineteenth century, landing in New York City in 1889.  Rooted in prayer and a deep spirit of sacrifice, Mother Cabrini traveled all over North and South America, establishing schools, convents, and other centers of service to the poor and immigrants.  She died in Chicago in 1917, and her relics are enshrined here in Manhattan.

If it weren’t for the cloudy skies and rain, today would be the perfect day for a pilgrimage to the northern tip of the island.

Here’s more on Mother Cabrini’s life from the Catholic Information Network:

St Frances-Xavier (Maria Francesca) Cabrini was born on July 15th, 1850, in the old Lombard town of Santangelo.

She was the youngest of an exemplary Catholic family, although her father’s cousin, Agostino Depretis, was an enthusiast for Mazzini, a prominent anti-clerical, and subsequently prime minister of the new Italian government.

Although a delicate, shy child, she was very intelligent, hard-working, obedient, yet with an iron will and precociously devout, given to prayer, and from very early years an enthusiast for the foreign missions, above all those in China. This inclination needs stressing in view of her later career, for until ordered by Leo XIII to labor elsewhere her life’s resolve and ideal was to enter some religious institute with convents in the far east.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

The life and death of St. Josaphat recall two tales of Christian history that still today remain in strict tension: 1) the tragedy of sin and division in the Church, and 2) the efficacy of Christ’s prayer that the Church be one.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

The saint’s birth occurred in a gloomy period for the Ruthenian Church. Even as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century the Florentine Union had become a dead-letter; in the case of the Ruthenian Church, complete demoralization followed in the wake of its severance from Rome, and the whole body of its clergy became notorious alike for their gross ignorance and the viciousness of their lives. After the Union of Berest’ in 1596 the Ruthenian Church was divided into two contending parties — the Uniates and those who persevered in schism — each with its own hierarchy. Among the leaders of the schismatic party, who laboured to enkindle popular hatred against the Uniates, Meletius Smotryckyj was conspicuous, and the most celebrated of his victims was Josaphat.

Although of a noble Ruthenian stock, Josaphat’s father had devoted himself to commercial pursuits, and held the office of town-councilor. Both parents contributed to implant the seeds of piety in the heart of their child. In the school at Volodymyr Josaphat — Johannes was the saint’s baptismal name — gave evidence of unusual talent; he applied himself with the greatest zeal to the study of ecclesiastical Slav, and learned almost the entire casoslov (breviary), which from this period he began to read daily. From this source he drew his early religious education, for the unlettered clergy seldom preached or gave catechetical instruction. Owing to the straitened circumstances of his parents, he was apprenticed to the merchant Popovyc at Vilna. In this town, remarkable for the corruption of its morals and the contentions of the various religious sects, he seemed specially guarded by Providence, and became acquainted with certain excellent men (e.g. Benjamin Rutski), under whose direction he advanced in learning and in virtue.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

This blessed bishop loved Christ with all his strength and had no fear of earthly rulers; though de did not die a martyr’s death, this holy confessor won the martyr’s palm.

The life of St. Martin of Tours captured the imagination of the early Church. Devotion to him spread like wildfire throughout the ancient world, and in the Middle Ages it reached fever-pitch.  Because of his popularity, Martin’s hagiography is extensive.  Even today, accounts of his life run longer than the perfunctory paragraph we ordinarily find given to the saints in modern collections of their lives.    

In St. Martin we discover major themes of the Christian life writ large—conversion, reconciliation, and peace.  His life demonstrates the gentleness of God’s work in human souls.  This gentle work then manifests itself in the gentleness of the transformed soul.  ”Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Mt 5:9).

Here is a brief biography of St. Martin posted at Catholic Online:

When Sulpicius Severus first metMartin of Tours he was stunned. Not only did the bishop offer him hospitality at his residence — a monk’s cell in the wilderness instead of a palace — but Martin washed Sulpicius’ hands before dinner and his feet in the evening. But Sulpicius was just the kind of person Martin showed the greatest honor to — a humble manwithout any rank or privilege. People of nobility and position were turned away from his abbey by chalk cliffs, out of fear of thetemptation to pride. From that visit, Sulpicius became Martin’s disciple, friend, and biographer. Little is known of many of the saints who died in the early years of Christianity but thanks to Sulpicius, who wrote his first biography of Martin before the saint died and who talked to most of the people involved in his life, we have a priceless record of Martin’s life.

Born in 315 or 316 in Pannonia, a Roman province that includes modern Hungary, Martin came into a world in transition. Christians were no longer persecuted by the Roman empire but Christianity was still not accepted by all. Martin’s father, an Roman army officer who had risen through the ranks, remained faithful to the old religion and suspicious of this new sect, as did Martin’s mother. Therefore it was Martin’s own spiritual yearning and hunger that led him to secretly knock on the door of the local Christian church and beg to be made a catechumen – when he was ten years old. In contemplative prayer, he found the time to be alone with God that he ached for. In the discussion of the mysteries, he found the truth he hoped for.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Day after day Peter proclaims to the whole Church:
You are Christ, the Son of the living God.

During his 21-year reign on the Throne of St. Peter, Leo triumphed over numerous theological, ecclesiastical, and political crises.  He was the first of the popes to receive the title magnus—“the great.”

In the political sphere, Leo, together with officials of the Western Empire, had to struggle against the increasingly disastrous effects of the barbarian invasions.  In one instance, as pastor of the Universal Church, Leo traveled to the northern Italian battlefields of Attila the Hun, where he successfully convinced the invader to leave Italy and spare the city of Rome.  The event is depicted above.  Later, Leo again had to use his diplomatic skill, a seemingly native talent for this aristocrat, against the Vandals.  They sacked Rome in 455, but Leo convinced them to cease their plundering and leave. 

In the theological realm, Leo is remembered most for his famous “Tome,” a letter he wrote against the heresy of Eutyches, a monk who taught erroneously that after the incarnation there existed in Christ only one nature, the divine nature. Eutyches held in fact that Christ was born from two natures, from the divine and human natures, but he also argued in effect that after the incarnation the human was consumed by and confused within the divine, such that only the divine nature remained distinct in Christ.  The politics surrounding the condemnation of the monophysite (”one nature”) heresy were incredibly complicated, but Leo’s letter emerged at the Council of Chalcedon (451) as the agreed orthodox articulation of the Catholic faith.  Below are two passages from the tome that encapsulate the Leonine teaching.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

I am the gate, says the Lord;
whoever enters by me will be saved and will find pleasure, alleluia.

A day after celebrating all Dominican saints, the Order prays and offers sacrifice for all Dominican souls.

Continuous commemoration of the dead constitutes a integral feature of Dominican piety.  In our priories, death anniversaries of the brethren are recalled daily, and the De profundis psalm is recited for those being remembered.  In this spiritual work of mercy, imploring the graces of the Paschal Mystery for the deceased sons and daughters of St. Dominic, Dominicans are constantly reminded of their own mortality and eventual participation in this same mystery.  In this way, daily prayer for the dead prompts the Dominican to greater care for his own salvation as well as that of his brothers.

Join us in prayer to day as we commend the souls of all the deceased of the Order to the love and mercy of the Father.

De Profundis
Psalm 129

Out of the depths I cray to you O Lord;
Lord hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication:

If you, O Lord, mark iniquities,
Lord, who can stand?

But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.

I trust in the Lord;
my soul trusts in His word:

My soul waits for the Lord;
More than sentinels wait for the dawn.

More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the Lord.

For with the Lord is kindness
and with Him is plenteous redemption:

And He will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
and let perpetual light shine upon the.

V. From the Gates of Hell
R. Deliver their souls, O Lord.

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And also with you.

Let us pray:
O God, creator and redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the souls of your servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins, that they may obtain by our loving prayers the forgiveness which they have always desired. Who live and reign forever. Amen.

V. May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.

No Comments »

Through his holy grace, Christ has raised up saints in the Order of Our Father Dominic throughout the world.  We ask to be aided by their merits and to be commended to God by their prayers.

Each year, just a few days after the Church Universal honors all of the glorified in heaven, the Order of Preachers celebrates a feast in honor of all the saints and blesseds who wore the habit of St. Dominic. As their brothers and sisters in religion, we Dominicans again place ourselves under their heavenly patronage and protection.  Join us in praying to the Dominican saints for the preservation and growth of the Order.

O God, fountain of all holiness,
you deigned to enrich your Church with the many gifts of the saints of the Order of Preachers.
Grant that we, who venerate them in this celebration on earth,
may follow in their footsteps and join the in the eternal festival of heaven.

We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

LITANY OF DOMINICAN SAINTS AND BLESSEDS

Lord, have mercy.     Lord have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.     Christ have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.     Lord have mercy.
Christ, hear us.     Christ graciously hear us.

God, the heavenly Father     . . . have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world
God, the Holy Spirit
Holy Trinity, one God

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Once upon a time, the Order celebrated all of its Far Eastern martyrs on this day. To give them greater individual attention, the calendar now has three feasts for these holy witnesses, distinguishing them by country.  On January 15, we remember St. Francis de Capillas and the martyrs of China.  On November 24, we commemorate St. Ignatius Delgado and the martyrs of Vietnam.  Today, we celebrate the feast of Blessed Alfonsus Navarete and the Dominican martyrs of Japan.

The Dominican Ordo instructs us: “Alfonsus Navarrete, a Spanish Dominican, was beheaded at Omura on June 1, 1617.  In 1622, nine Spanish Dominicans were burned to death at Nagasaki.  During the years 1614-1632 more than a hundred Spanish and native Japanese Dominicans—novices, cooperator brothers, and tertiary and confraternity members—were martyred.”

Giving us a better glimpse into the life of Blessed Alfonsus, we read this at Catholic Online:

A native of Valladolid, Spain, Alphonsus Navarette, a Dominican missionary priest, came to Nagasaki, Japan after serving in the Philippines. He established for the Japanese Catholic laity three confraternities dedicated to nursing the sick and to rescuing babies left to die by their pagan parents. On one occasion, Father Alphonsus courageously protected and defended several Japanese Catholic women threatened by a vicious pagan mob. While experiencing an ecstasy, he was inspired to travel to Omura to encourage the Catholics suffering persecution there. The Catholics of Omura flocked to Father Alphonsus and to the Augustinian priest Ferdinand Ayala, a native of Ballesteros, Spain, who had previously served in Mexico. The two priests were soon arrested by the pagan authorities. Thereafter, the laity’s continued attempts to visit Father Alphonsus and Father Ferdinand prompted the authorities to execute both priests. At their execution, Leo Tanaca, a Japanese lay catechist affiliated with the Jesuits, was beheaded for his faith together with them.

Click here for an account of Blessed Alfonsus’ martyrdom published in Dominican Missions and Martyrs of Japan, a wonderful little book written by Fr. Bertrand Wilberforce, OP.

Holy Martyrs of Japan, pray for us!

No Comments »

Let us proclaim the greatness of the Lord who with heavenly gifts has raised up Martin, his humble servant.

From the Dominican Ordo:

Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579 of John, a Spanish nobleman, and Anna Velasquez, a freed slave.  As a boy he studied medicine which later, as a member of the Order, he put to good use in helping the poor.  Martin was received as a servant at the priory of the Holy Rosary in Lima where he was finally admitted to profession as a co-operator brother in 1603.  In his life of prayer Martin was especially devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and to the passion of our Lord.  He was noted for his care of the poor and the sick.  He died at Lima on November 3, 1639.

For today’s Office of Readings, the Dominican Ordo offers several options for the second lesson, including this excerpt from Blessed Humbert of Romans’ commentary on Dominican life, On Regular Observance.  Here Humbert reflects on the fuga mundi, the flight from the world, which as a religious served as the foundation of Martin’s relationship with Christ.

To more perfectly reach the end you desire, [dear brothers], consider carefully to what you have come in leaving the world.

Break your wills and realize that you are dead to the world.

Cast from your hearts idle thoughts, unworthy affections, bad intentions, violent actions, useless sadness, self-centered love, and individual feelings. Before the eyes of God be fearful of such thoughts, which you would blush to carry into action before human eyes.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Just as Jesus died and rose again, so will the Father bring with him those who have died in Jesus.  Just as in Adam all men die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

It is often argued by liturgists that the Church has long struck a sour note when celebrating today’s Feast of All Souls.  They claim that excessive focus on the punishments of Purgatory have produced liturgical practices that undermine the Church’s confidence in the mercy of Christ.  Two examples these liturgists regularly cite are the wearing of black vestments at funerals and the chanting of the Dies irae.  Accordingly, liturgical reformists after the Second Vatican Council sought to promote the wearing of white or violet at funerals (though black is not forbidden), and they succeeded in eliminating the Dies irae from the order of Masses for the Dead.  Though sensible from the perspective of one form of “pastoral sensitivity,” these reforms have not been without their critics.

Behind the liturgical debates surrounding funerals and the Feast of All Souls lies a deeper theological discussion.  For long it has indeed remained difficult when pondering the Christian mysteries to strike the right balance in emphasis between the justice and the mercy of Christ.  In our prayer and preaching, we cannot promote the good of one divine attribute at the expense of the other.  Either way, the results are not good for us.  Divine justice without mercy is a horrific prospect, and mercy without justice nullifies our freedom and the responsibility we bear for our actions.  In the last section of his encyclical Spe salvi, Pope Benedict XVI makes a bold attempt at explaining how Christ’s justice and mercy are rightly united. 

Even before the Council, however, artists were trying in their own way to achieve this balance through their craft.  I offer two examples here.  First, in text and melody, the Gregorian Dies irae fixates on what appears to be God’s overwhelming justice.  Only at the end of the poem does Christ’s mercy appear, and some argue too little too late to help mitigate the fear elicited by the rest of the poem.  In any event, because of its use in the liturgy, the Dies irae shaped the Catholic imagination—and thereby Catholic art—for centuries.

Second, in Faure’s Requiem we witness an attempt by one composer to give justice to the mercy of Christ.  In the Pie Jesu movement, Faure takes the last two lines of the poem—”Lord, all pitying, Jesus blest, grant them thine eternal rest”—and fashions a union of music and text that has become a hallmark of Christian prayer.  In it, we hear the very sweetness of Christ’s mercy, and the humility of the soul seeking his pardon.

Distinct in shape and form, these two pieces work best when put together, not when heard at the same time, of course, but when held together in individual minds and hearts.  Each conveys to us different aspects of the singular mystery of Christian salvation.  I include both here to assist your All Souls Day prayer.

After the break you’ll find the text of the Dies irae in Latin and English.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Let us all rejoice in the Lord and keep a festival in honor of all the saints.
Let us join with the angels in joyful praise to the Son of God.

When pondering the mystery of today’s feast, St. Bernard of Clairvaux asked himself a classic question, and in the movements of his soul he discovered the classic answer.  From the second lesson of today’s Office of Readings:

Why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this feasday mean anything to the saints?  What do they care about earthly honors when their heavenly Father honors them by fulfilling the faithful promise of the Son?  What does our commendation mean to them?  The saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs.  Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them.  But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning.

Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself.  Wee long to share in the citizenship of heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed, to join the assembly of patriarchs, the ranks of the prophets, the council of apostles, the great host of martyrs, the noble company of confessors and the choir of virgins.  In short, we long to be united in happiness with all the saints.  But our dispositions change.  The Church of all the first followers of Christ awaits us, but we do nothing about it.  The saints want us to be with them, and we are indifferent.  The souls of the just await us, and we ignore them.

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

O Christ, hear us.
O Christ, graciously hear us.

O God the Father of heaven.  Have mercy upon us.
O God the Son, Redeemer of the world.  
O God the Holy Ghost.  
O Holy Trinity, one God.

Holy Mary.  Pray for us.
Holy Mother of God.  
Holy Virgin of virgins.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Today the Dominican Order honors three of its “blessed” members: Blessed Benvenuta Bojani, Blessed Peter Higgins, and Blessed Terence O’Brien.

Blessed Benvenuta Bojani (1255-1292)

From the Dominican Ordo:

Blessed Benvenuta was born on May 4, 1255, at Cividale del Friuli.  She became a member of the Sisters of Penance and devoted herself to a life of penance for the conversion of sinners.  Through the intercession of Saint Dominic she was healed of a serious illness and devoted the remainder of her life to prayer and even greater penance.  She died on October 30, 1292.

Lord,
you gave Blessed Benvenuta
the gifts of penance, prayer, and humility.
Through self-denial and contemplation on heavenly things
may we too live in the Spirit
and find rest and glory in you, the one God.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Today we celebrate the feast of two apostles, Simon the Zealot and Jude Thaddeus.  They are usually listed as a pair, as for example in the Roman Canon. Their relics lie together in St. Peter’s in Rome.

History provides little reason for their close association in the tradition, although in the Middle Ages the two apostles were believed to be brothers, nephews of St. Joseph and therefore first cousins of the Lord.  This legend and the reason St. Jude is usually depicted with an image of Christ are recounted in the Golden Legend, a medieval collection of saints’ lives authored by the Dominican Jacob of Voragine.

Simon Cananean and Judas Thaddeus were brethren of James the Less and sons of Mary Cleophas, which was married to Alpheus.  And Jude was sent of Thomas to the king Abgarus of Edessa after the ascension of our Lord.  And it is read in the History Scholastic that the said Abgarus sent an epistle unto our Lord Jesus Christ in this manner.

Abgarus, the son of Euchania, to Jesus, blessed Saviour, which appeareth in the places of Jerusalem, sendeth salutation.  I have heard of thee, and that the healths and recoverings that thou makest and dost, be without medicines and herbs, and that thou makest the blind to see by thine only word, and the lame to go, the mesels to be cured and made whole, and the dead bodies to live again.  Which things heard of thee, I ween in my courage that thou art one of two, that is that thou art God that art descended from heaven for to do this, or that thou art the son of God that dost such things.  Wherefore I pray thee by writing that thou wilt travail so much as to come to me and heal me of my malady, of which I have long been vexed.  And I have heard say that the Jews murmur against thee and lie in await against thee.  Come therefore to me, for I have a little city, but it is honest, and shall shall well suffice to us both.

Our Lord Jesus answered him by writing in these words:

Blessed art thou that hast believed in me when thou hast not seen me.  It is written of me, that they that see me not shall believe in me, and they that see me shall not believe.  Of that thou hast written to me that I shall come to thee, me behoveth to accomplish that which I am sent for, and after to be received of him from whom I am sent.  When I am ascended, I shall send to thee one of my disciples to heal thee and quicken thee.

This is written in Historia Ecclesiastica.  And when Abgarus saw that he might not see God presently, after that it is said in an ancient history, as John Damascene witnesseth in his fourth book, he sent a painter unto Jesus Christ for to figure the image of our Lord, to the end that at least that he might see him by his image, whom he might not see in his visage.  And when the painter came, because of the great splendour and light that shone in the visage of our Lord Jesus Christ, he could not behold it, ne could not counterfeit it by no figure.  And when our Lord saw this thing he took from the painter a linen cloth and set it upon his visage, and emprinted the very phisiognomy of his visage therein, and sent it unto the king Abgarus which so much desired it.

[. . .]

Also it is read in the History Ecclesiastic that when our Lord was ascended into heaven, Thomas the apostle sent Thaddeus, that was Jude, unto the king Abgarus according to the promise of our Lord.  And when he was come to him, and had told to him that he was messenger of our Lord Jesus Christ, which had promised to send him one, then Abgarus saw in the visage of Thaddeus a marvellous and godly brightness.  And when he had seen it he was all abashed and afeared, and worshipped our Lord saying: “Verily, thou art the disciple of Jesus Christ, Son of God, which sent to me word that he would send to me some one of his disciples that should heal me and give to me life.” To whom Thaddeus said: “If thou believest in the Son of God thou shalt have all the desires of thine heart.”  And Abgarus said: “I believe on him, verily . . .”  And as it is read in some places and books, that Abgarus was leper, and Thaddeus took the epistle of our Saviour, and rubbed and frotted therewith the visage of Abgarus, and anon he received full health.

For the old Catholic Encyclopedia articles on Saints Simon and Jude, click here and here.

Father,
you revealed yourself to us
through the preaching of your apostles Simon and Jude.
By their prayers,
give your Church continued growth
and increase the number of those who believe in you.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

No Comments »

Blessed Peter was born at Palermo in 1399 and attended the University of Bologna to pursue the study of law.  However, he gave up a promising legal career and entered the Order, making his profession in 1423 at Fiesole in the priory of San Domenico where Saint Antoninus was prior.  He himself served as prior in several houses and was a zealous promoter of regular observance, the life of study and the ministry of preaching.  Pope Eugene IV summoned him to serve at the Council of Constance in 1439.  He returned to Sicily where he continued to foster the reform of the Order and died there on March 3, 1452.  (Dominican Ordo)

Below is Sr. Mary Jean Dorcy’s entry (St. Dominic’s Family) on today’s Dominican blessed—a lawyer, diplomat, preacher, and patron of Palermo:

Peter Geremia was born in Palermo, in Sicily.  Unusually gifted, he was sent early to the University of Bologna, where he passed his studies brilliantly and attracted the attention and praise of all.  On the brink of a successful career as a lawyer, he was brought up short by and event which changed his life.

Having retired one night, he was pleasantly dreaming of the honors that would soon come to him in his work, when he heard a knock at the window.  As his room was on the third floor, and there was nothing for a human being to stand on outside his window, he sat up, in understandable fright, and asked who was there.  A hollow voice responded that he was a relative who had just died, a successful lawyer who had wanted human praise so badly that he had lied to win it, and now was eternally lost because of his pride.  Peter was terrified, and acted at once upon the suggestion to turn, while there was still time, from the vanity of public acclaim.  he went the next day to a locksmith and bought an iron chain, which he riveted tightly around him.  He began praying seriously to know his vocation.

Continue Reading »

No Comments »

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace . . .”

St. Francis of Assisi is often remembered for his “Peace Prayer.”  The desires he expressed therein, which he also modeled by his way of life, have become the guiding principles of peace movements around the world.  Even St. Francis’ hometown has become associated with the struggle for peace.  Within the past few decades, for example, two major interreligious conferences have gathered there, each led by a pope, protesting the use of religious faith as a pretext for war. Compared to his hometown, however, the poverello himself remains the principal symbol nonviolence and fraternity.  Peace and prayer gardens abound worldwide that contain some image of St. Francis.  (His statue is often put in birdbaths, too, though arguably for different reasons.)

Considering St. Francis’ reputation as a man of peace, one might find it surprising that several of his sons stand out in history because of their military prowess.  It’s true.  A few Franciscans are remembered in Europe as military heroes.

One of these fighting Franciscans is Blessed Marco d’Aviano (1631-1699), who was beatified just a few years ago by Pope John Paul II.  Bl. Marco, a Capuchin friar and the reputed inventor of cappuccino, served as the spiritual advisor to the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I. As papal legate to the imperial court, he helped unify the ‘Holy League’ armies of Austria, Poland, Venice, and the Papal States, which under the direction of King Jan Sobieski of Poland defeated the Ottoman Turks at the famous Battle of Vienna. Continuing in his role as a military advisor, Bl. Marco was instrumental in the later liberations of Buda and Belgrade.

Another of these military sons of St. Francis is St. John of Capistrano, whose feast we celebrate today.

In his early life, John became a lawyer and politician.  His secular career, however, was short lived.  Suffering imprisonment while brokering peace between two warring parties led John to consider the religious life.  Having never consummated his marriage, John obtained a release from his vows and subsequently entered the Franciscan Order.  

John studied theology under St. Bernadine of Siena and became a renowned preacher and reformer all over central Europe.  The crowds that gathered to hear his preaching would often grew to tens of thousands of souls.  John was also an indefatigable opponent of heresy.  In his preaching he fought principally against the errors of the Hussites.

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Muslim armies began moving westward toward Vienna and Rome.  Christian cities lying in their path fell under their domination.  At the age of 70, John preached a crusade against the Muslim seige of Belgrade, and the soldiers who volunteered he personally led to victory. Together with the armies of John Hunyadi, John’s troops freed Belgrade from the Muslim threat.

Though he survived the fight, John contracted the plague while on the battlefield. He died three months later. John was canonized in 1724.

Lord, you raised up Saint John of Capistrano to give your people comfort in their trials.  May your Church enjoy unending peace and be secure in your protection.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

The holy evangelists searched the wisdom of past ages.  Through their gospels they confirmed the words of the prophets.

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, the only gospel writer known not to have met the Lord.  This is an interesting point to consider when pondering the fact that Luke is one of the more prolific evangelists.  He composed not only his Gospel but also the Acts of the Apostles.  

Because he is of Greek origin and a relative late-comer to the apostolic community, Luke, when he preaches Christ, feels compelled to tell more of the already traditional kerygma.  He must explain how from the very beginning Christ’s life and work bore the marks of a universal mission.  Only Christ’s universal focus could justify the fact that Luke, a gentile, would eventually come to share in the mission of the Apostles and serve the Church as an evangelist.  Luke is careful to emphasize this universality in his Gospel.  

To “incarnate” the point, Luke speaks not only of the universal ministry of Christ, but he also chronicles exactly how non-eyewitnesses and non-Jews like himself were brought into contact with the grace and truth of the Risen Christ.  Hence the Acts of the Apostles, in which Luke traces the sometimes crooked lines of grace that connect the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus to his conversion through the preaching of St. Paul.  Of course, Luke’s own conversion is not the only one that prompted his writing.  In the Acts of the Apostles Luke delights in the story of every conversion to Christ and the continuous building up of the Church.

Click here for more details of St. Luke’s life and an excellent introduction to his writings.

Father, you chose Luke the evangelist to reveal by preaching and writing the mystery of your love for the poor.  Unite in heart and spirit all who glory in your name, and let all nations come to see your salvation.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

The seven letters we have written by St. Ignatius of Antioch serve to link us to the Church’s apostolic age.  They were written by the holy bishop during his transport to Rome under imperial arrest.  As the last testaments of his faith, these letters provide us a candid look at the life of the Church at the end of the first century. Perhaps to our surprise, we find the Church described by Ignatius very similar to the Church that exists today.  Given, however, that the essentials of the faith cannot and do not change, this continuity shouldn’t be very surprising.

Tradition has it that, with St. Polycarp, St. Ignatius was a disciple of the elderly St. John, the Beloved Disciple.  Tradition also tells us that St. Peter himself designated Ignatius as his successor in Antioch.  We know that as bishop Ignatius excelled in preaching the faith and protecting his flock from persecution, though his early successes under Domitian were not repeated under Trajan.  The latter had Ignatius arrested and tried for his seemingly subversive activity.  Found guilty of atheism, Ignatius was sentenced to die in the arena, not in his native Syria but in Rome.  In transit to the imperial capital, Ignatius wrote letters to the Christian communities lining his route.  Seven of these letters survive.

LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

LETTER TO THE MAGNESIANS

LETTER TO THE TRALLIANS

LETTER TO THE ROMANS

LETTER TO THE PHILADELPHIANS

LETTER TO THE SMYRNAEANS

LETTER TO POLYCARP

For many readers, Ignatius’ letter to the Romans is the most poignant.  Part of it is included in today’s Office of Readings.  In the letter Ignatius discusses with the Roman Christians the looming bloody spectacle of his martyrdom, and he begs them not to intervene on his behalf.  He is ready to die for the faith.  More accurately, he is ready to conform himself to Christ’s cross by offering a “eucharistic” sacrifice of himself to the Father.

I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not standin my way.  I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness.  Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God.  I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread.  Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim to God.

Later in the letter Ignatius reveals the source and inspiration of his desire for martyrdom.  It is the Eucharist.  In Ignatius, therefore, we witness a life spent celebrating the sacrament of the Lord’s death now bearing its most precious fruit. He desires his life to end in a manner worthy of the sacrament.  He wants to die imitating the mystery it conveys.

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way.  I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth . . . I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world.  I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish. 

All-powerful and ever-living God, you ennoble your Church with the heroic witness of all who give their lives for Christ.  Grant that the victory of Saint Ignatius of Antioch may bring us your constant help as it brought him eternal glory.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

While the Protestant cries “Sola fide” and “Sola scriptura” were echoing throughout seventeenth-century Europe, a young nun in a French Visitation cloister was preparing to lead–or more accurately was being prepared to lead–a worldwide renewal in devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The revelations given her by Christ served to respond directly to the increasing abstraction of his life and word from the mystery of the Incarnation.  Protestant groups everywhere were succeeding in their attempts to detach Holy Scripture from the Church and her sacraments.  Thus separated, the Word of God risked increasingly erroneous interpretation as it no longer enjoyed communication with its living source, the Risen Christ and the graced life shared by his members.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart returns faithful souls to appreciating the full implications of the Incarnation.  First among these implications is the fact that Christ has offered the Church not only a written account of his preaching, rightly treasured as it is by Protestants, but also his whole living body as the primary instrument of his salvific work.  Consequently, honoring the Sacred Heart reminds us Catholics that before the word was a text, it was spoken by the lips of Christ. And before Christ’s tongue could utter speech, the Eternal Word of God resonated in his heart, even from the first moment it began beating in Mary’s womb.  This heart, eventually pierced for us, remains the source of every good gift in the Church, including the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.  As a result, Christ’s words, spoken and written, point us always to the prior mysteries resting in his heart. The heart then, not the book, has become the chief symbol of God’s merciful love for humanity.  In fact, it is within the mystery of the Sacred Heart that the sacred book of scripture finds its full purpose and meaning.  In other words, it is the full communication we enjoy in the Church with the mysteries of Christ’s sacred humanity that prepares us to hear and interpret his word.  Devotion to the Sacred Heart, therefore, guarantees that the holy scriptures remain securely within the bosom of the Church, the mystical body of Christ, all the while forming and purifying his members.

The following is taken from a letter written by St. Margaret Mary.  In this excerpt we can see prefigurations of the devotion to the Divine Mercy.  More precisely, this doctrine of the Sacred Heart outlines the three stages of spiritual perfection.

It seems to me that our Lord’s earnest desire to have his sacred heart honored in a special way is directed toward renewing the effects of redemption in our souls.  For the sacred heart is an inexhaustible fountain and its sole desire is to pour itself out into the hearts of the humble so as to free them and prepare them to lead lives according to his good pleasure.

From this divine heart three streams flow endlessly.  The first is the stream of mercy for sinners; it pours into their hearts sentiments of contrition and repentance.  The second is the stream of charity which helps all in need and especially aids those seeking perfection to find the means of surmounting their difficulties.  From the third stream flow love and light for the benefit of his friends who have attained perfection; these he wishes to unite to himself so that they may share his knowledge and commandments and in their individual ways, devote  themselves wholly to advancing his glory.

This divine heart is an abyss of all blessings, and into it the poor should submerge all their needs.  It is an abyss of joy in which all of us can immerse our sorrows.  It is an abyss of lowliness to counteract our foolishness, an abyss of mercy for the wretched, an abyss of love to meet our every need.

Lord, pour out on us the riches of the Spirit which you bestowed on Saint Margaret Mary.  May we come to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all human understanding, and be filled with the fullness of God.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Like many in the early Modern period, Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada entered religion after reading the works of the Church Fathers.  The letters of St. Jerome in particular, given to her by her uncle, prompted Teresa to choose what appeared to be the shortest and surest way to God.  She also chose what was closest, the Carmelite monastery in her hometown of Avila.  By today’s standards Teresa’s initial decision to become a nun might appear hastily made, but her subsequent cooperation with God’s grace contributed to the greatest monastic reform movement in modern times.  Teresa, with the assistance of St. John of the Cross, transformed the decadent Carmelite world of the sixteenth century into the rich treasure of contemplative prayer and spiritual teaching that still enriches the Church today.  For example, without St. Teresa, we would not enjoy the patronage of another Carmelite saint and doctor of the Church, St. Therese of Lisieux.  And as a devoté, I cannot fail to mention another modern saint of Carmel, Therese’s contemporary, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity.

Two years ago, Teresa Polk published this excellent post on “Blog by the Sea.”  It includes a biography of St. Teresa and a short bibliography.

When reading St. Teresa’s life, we learn that she sought assistance for her reform from many religious of other orders, including the Order of Preachers.  Teresa’s familiarity with the Dominicans began early in her life.  Her father was devoted to Dominican preaching in Avila, and one of her brothers joined the Order.  As a consequence, Dominicans served as Teresa’s earliest confessors, and she continued to seek their counsel until her death.

Throughout the entire history of the Discalced Carmelites one can trace its close connection to the Order of Preachers.  For instance, in the late nineteenth century, St. Therese and Bl. Elizabeth both had Dominican instructors.  And over the centuries the influence has been mutual.  Dominican catechesis on the spiritual life has been heavily shaped by the experience of Carmel.  Notable in this regard are the spiritual works of the famous Dominican theologian Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange.  His books, especially The Three Ages of the Interior Life, describe Christian perfection from a recognizably Carmelite perspective.

Father, by your Spirit you raised up Saint Teresa of Avila to show your Church the way to perfection.  May her inspired teaching awaken in us a longing for true holiness.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Today the Order of Preachers celebrates the feast of St. Louis Bertrand, patron of novice masters.  A distant relative of St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Louis served many years in his native Spain before dedicating himself to the missions of the New World. After preaching to great success in Colombia, Panama, and the Caribbean, St. Louis returned to Spain and resumed his work forming young Dominicans.  He died in 1581.

During his life, St. Louis maintained a friendship with St. Teresa of Avila.

Canonized just fifty years after his death, St. Louis is remembered for his simplicity of heart, fervent preaching, and zeal for souls, model virtues for every Dominican.

Almighty and merciful God, as you filled the heart of Saint Louis Bertrand with reverent fear for your name, inflame our hearts with that same divine fire.  With both love and reverence may we too serve you faithfully.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Holy Mother and Immaculate Virgin, you are the glorious Queen of the world; may all who celebrate your feast know the help of your prayers.

We owe the origins of today’s Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary to the two saints depicted above.

St. Dominic, seen receiving the Rosary from Mary, images the generations of Dominican friars who have preached devotion to Our Lady and her Rosary.  Early on in its history, the Order of Preachers was charged with promoting this particular form of prayer, teaching the faithful to contemplate the face of Christ through the attentive eyes of his mother.  In response to this mandate, Dominicans established Confraternities of the Holy Rosary all over the world. As an outward sign of its devotion and mission to Mary, the Rosary eventually became a part of the Dominican habit.  It is worn on the left side of the body, where soldiers once carried their swords.

Pope St. Pius V brought this Dominican mission to the apostolic palace.  In 1571, St. Pius implored all of Europe to pray the Rosary for its delivery from invading Turkish armies.  At the Battle of Lepanto, the Christian navy miraculously defeated a larger Islamic fleet.  In thanksgiving, Pius established the Feast of Our Lady of Victory.  It later became the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and Pope Clement XI extended its celebration to the entire Church in 1716.

In 1757, Fr. Augustine Ricchini composed the following hymn to be sung on today’s feast.  It praises Our Lady by summarizing the mysteries of the Rosary.  The following translation of the Te gestientem gaudiis was prepared by Abbot Oswald Hunter-Blair of Fort Augustus Abbey in Scotland.  It can be sung to any long meter tune.

The gladness of thy motherhood,
     The anguish of they suffering,
The glory now that crowns thy brow,
     O virgin mother, we would sing.

Hail, blessed mother, full of joy
     In thy consent, thy visit too;
Joy in the birth of Christ on earth,
     Joy in him lost and found anew.

Hail, sorrowing in his agony–
     The blows, the thorns that pierced his brow;
The heavy wood, the shameful Rood–
     True queen and chief of martyrs thou!

Hail in the triumph of thy Son,
     The quick’ning flames of Pentecost;
Shining a queen in light serene,
     When all the world is tempest-tossed.

O come, you nations, roses bring
     Culled from these myst’ries all divine,
And for the mother of your King
     with loving hearts your chaplets twine.

We lay our homage at thy feet,
     Lord Jesus, thou the virgin’s Son,
With Father and with Paraclete
     Reigning while endless ages run.

Below you’ll find video of the homily I gave this past weekend at Mother of God Monastery in West Springfield, MA.  The Dominican nuns invited me to preach their annual Rosary Sunday celebration.  Recalling several points made by Pope John Paul II in his 2002 Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, I spoke of the Rosary as our means of imitating Mary’s perfect prayer.

O God, whose only-begotten Son, by his life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech you, that in meditating on these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Saint Bruno is the founder of the Carthusian Order, a medieval congregation that caught the public eye recently through the acclaimed documentary Into Great Silence.

Born to a noble family of Cologne in 1030, Bruno excelled in his classical and religious studies at schools both at home and in Rheims.  After completing his education, Bruno taught in Rheims, was ordained to the priesthood, and over time was granted various responsibilities in the diocesan administration of Rheims.  At some point, ecclesiastical politics drove Bruno to seek refuge in the countryside, where he and a few companions happened upon a way of life that combined the solitary observance of hermits with the communal prayer and fraternity of monks. The result was a type of return of western Benedictine monasticism to its eremitical roots in the near eastern deserts of Palestine and Egypt.

After regularizing this way of life in southeast France, at what is today called the Grand Chartreuse, Bruno was called to Rome and reentered the world of church governance.  His learning and erudition were well known, and the pope needed his counsel.  Bruno fulfilled his tasks in the papal court well, but he kept his distance from intrigue and worked quietly out of the spotlight.  While in Rome, Bruno befriended the clergy of Reggio Calabria in southern Italy.  There he helped them to establish a rule of life similar to what he lived in southeast France.  It was among his new disciples in Reggio Calabria that Bruno died in 1101.  

St. Bruno’s two foundations in Italy and France were the first seeds of what would eventually become the Carthusian Order.

For more on the life and spirit of St. Bruno, click here.

Only one Carthusian monastery exists here in the United States.  The Charterhouse of the Transfiguration is located in southern Vermont.

Below you’ll find two rare glimpses of Carthusian life taken from Into Great Silence.  The first shows the monks of the Grand Chartreuse celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi.  In the second an elderly Carthusian shares what he has discovered to be the secret of happiness.

Father, you called Saint Bruno to serve you in solitude.  In answer to his prayers help us to remain faithful to you amid the changes of this world.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

No Comments »

Many Dominican parishes and monasteries still observe the first Sunday of October as “Rosary Sunday,” a feast of the old calendar not carried over into the new.  By maintaining this feast the sons and daughters of St. Dominic continue their centuries-long tradition of promoting devotion to Christ through the daily recitation of the Rosary.  

Six years ago, Pope John Paul II reminded the Church of the privileged place the Rosary enjoys in Western spirituality.  He wrote in Rosarium Virginis Mariae that the Rosary’s uniqueness is rooted in Mary’s singular relationship with Christ. Modeled on the perfect contemplative gaze she maintained on the mysteries of her Son, the Rosary perpetuates Mary’s prayer and enables our participation in it, thus making the Rosary, when prayed well, one of the quickest and surest ways to union with God.  

From paragraph 10 of Rosarium Virginis Mariae:

The contemplation of Christ has an incomparable model in Mary. In a unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ was formed, receiving from her a human resemblance which points to an even greater spiritual closeness. No one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary. The eyes of her heart already turned to him at the Annunciation, when she conceived him by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the months that followed she began to sense his presence and to picture his features. When at last she gave birth to him in Bethlehem, her eyes were able to gaze tenderly on the face of her Son, as she “wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger” (Lk2:7).

Thereafter Mary’s gaze, ever filled with adoration and wonder, would never leave him. At times it would be a questioning look, as in the episode of the finding in the Temple: “Son, why have you treated us so?” (Lk 2:48); it would always be a penetrating gaze, one capable of deeply understanding Jesus, even to the point of perceiving his hidden feelings and anticipating his decisions, as at Cana (cf. Jn 2:5). At other times it would be a look of sorrow, especially beneath the Cross, where her vision would still be that of a mother giving birth, for Mary not only shared the passion and death of her Son, she also received the new son given to her in the beloved disciple (cf. Jn 19:26-27). On the morning of Easter hers would be a gaze radiant with the joy of the Resurrection, and finally, on the day of Pentecost, a gaze afire with the outpouring of the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).

No Comments »

Let us all rejoice in the Lord, and keep festival in honor of our Holy Father Francis. Let us join with the angels in joyful praise to the Son of God.

Gentle God, you granted our seraphic Father Francis the grace of conformity to Christ in poverty and humility.  By walking in the paths he trod may we follow your Son and be joined to you in love and joy.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.