Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Friday 31 August 2012

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament






CLICK on the Link, above, and be reminded how beautiful it is to go to Benediction.


When was the last time you went to Benediction ?

Why not ask your Parish Priest to start having Benediction ?


Il santissimo Sacramento.

Le très-saint Sacrement.

El santisimo Sacramento.

Allerheiligstes Altarsacrament.

The Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.


Thursday 30 August 2012

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (Part Five)


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.

20 August (Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor)
Double
White Vestments




Coats of Arms of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (left), 
Johannes I. Stantenat of Salem (right). 
Codex Salemitanus IX c, Bl. 18v, 1494. 
Heidelberg, University Library. 
(Wikimedia Commons) 



The little community of reformed Benedictines at Cîteaux, which would have so profound an influence on Western monasticism, grew rapidly. Three years later, Bernard was sent with a band of twelve monks to found a new house at Vallée d'Absinthe, in the Diocese of Langres. Bernard named it Claire Vallée, or Clairvaux, on 25 June 1115, and the names of Bernard and Clairvaux would soon become inseparable.

During the absence of the Bishop of Langres, Bernard was blessed as abbot by William of Champeaux, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne. From that moment a strong friendship sprang up between the abbot and the bishop, who was professor of theology at Notre Dame of Paris, and the founder of the Abbey of St. Victor.

The beginnings of Clairvaux Abbey were trying and painful. The regime was so austere that Bernard became ill, and only the influence of his friend William of Champeaux and the authority of the general chapter could make him mitigate the austerities. The monastery, however, made rapid progress. Disciples flocked to it in great numbers and put themselves under the direction of Bernard. 

His father and all his brothers entered Clairvaux to pursue religious life, leaving only Humbeline, his sister, in the secular world. She, with the consent of her husband, soon took the veil in the Benedictine nunnery of Jully-les-Nonnains. Gerard of Clairvaux, Bernard's older brother, became the cellarer of Citeaux. The abbey became too small for its members and it was necessary to send out bands to found new houses. 

In 1118, Trois-Fontaines Abbey was founded in the diocese of Châlons; in 1119, Fontenay Abbey in the Diocese of Autun and in 1121, Foigny Abbey, near Vervins, in the diocese of Laon. In addition to these victories, Bernard also had his trials. During an absence from Clairvaux, the Grand Prior of Cluny went to Clairvaux and enticed away Bernard's cousin, Robert of Châtillon. This was the occasion of the longest and most emotional of Bernard's letters.





Birnau Pilgrimage Church, Germany: Interior view, with "Honigschlecker" putto (centre) 
Photo: Andreas Praefcke (2005)
Sculptor: Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer (1696 - 1770)
(Wikimedia Commons)




"Honigschlecker" (honey eater) putto in Birnau pilgrimage church, Germany. The putto refers to St. Bernard of Clairvaux who was called doctor mellifluus ("the teacher with words like honey") for his eloquence in preaching. The stucco statue, which was created by J.A. Feuchtmayer around 1750, is one of the best-known, if not the best-known, and an excellent example, of his famous technique to give his stuccos an alabaster-like gloss.


In the year 1119, Bernard was present at the first general Chapter of the Order, convoked by Stephen of Cîteaux. Though not yet 30 years old, Bernard was listened to with the greatest attention and respect, especially when he developed his thoughts upon the revival of the primitive spirit of regularity and fervour in all the monastic orders. 

It was this general Chapter that gave definitive form to the Constitutions of the Order and the regulations of the Charter of Charity which Pope Callixtus II confirmed, 23 December 1119. In 1120, Bernard authored his first work, De Gradibus Superbiae et Humilitatis, and his homilies, which he entitled De Laudibus Mariae

The monks of the abbey of Cluny were unhappy to see Cîteaux take the lead rôle among the Religious Orders of the Roman Catholic Church. For this reason, the Black Monks attempted to make it appear that the rules of the new Order were impracticable. 

At the solicitation of William of St. Thierry, Bernard defended the Order by publishing his Apology, which was divided into two parts. In the first part, he proved himself innocent of the charges of Cluny, and, in the second part, he gave his reasons for his counterattacks. 

He protested his profound esteem for the Benedictines of Cluny, whom he declared he loved equally as well as the other religious orders. Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny, answered Bernard and assured him of his great admiration and sincere friendship. In the meantime, Cluny established a reform, and Abbot Suger, the minister of Louis VI of France, was converted by the Apology of Bernard. 

He hastened to terminate his worldly life and restore discipline in his monastery. The zeal of Bernard extended to the bishops, the clergy, and lay people. Bernard's letter to the archbishop of Sens was seen as a real treatise, "De Officiis Episcoporum." About the same time he wrote his work on Grace and Free Will.






Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, depicted in a 
stained glass window in Saint Aidan's Cathedral, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland. 
A work by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812 - 1852). 
(September 2009).
(Wikimedia Commons) 



PART SIX FOLLOWS


Wednesday 29 August 2012

Kyrie




Cologne Cathedral, Interior
Germany
Author: Thomas Robbin
Photo: September 2004
(Wikimedia Commons)








Requiem Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, New York


This Article can be found on THE SOCIETY OF ST. HUGH OF CLUNY Blog.





Requiem Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel, New York Posted by Stuart Chessman

A Sung Requiem Mass, with absolution at the catafalque, according to the 1962 liturgical books, will be celebrated at 11am on Saturday, 1 September 2012, in New York City.

The Requiem Mass will take place at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, E. 90th Street, between 3rd and 2nd Avenues in Manhattan. 





Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, New York.
Author: Jim.henderson
Photo: April 2010.
(Wikimedia Commons)



The Mass will be offered by Fr. Justin Wylie, a priest of the Holy See’s mission to the United Nations. Fr. Wylie, a noted preacher, will give a sermon after the absolution. Fr. Wylie is a regular celebrant of the Traditional Latin Mass in local New York Churches.

(The Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel is conveniently served by the 4-5-6 subway trains at the E. 86th Street station. The church is also close to the 15, 86, 98, 101, 102, and 103 bus lines.)

Thomas H. Poole designed the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, which was completed in 1892. Its stone exterior is notable for crenellated coping and turrets. Inside, the ornate and spacious interior is decorated with lacy gothic details, galleries on three sides, and beautiful stained glass windows.

Published in Masses

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (Part Four)


Text and Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.

20 August (Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor)
Double
White Vestments




Bernard of Clairvaux, as shown in the church 
of Heiligenkreuz Abbey, near Baden bei Wien, Lower Austria. 
Portrait (1700) with the true effigy of the Saint 
by Georg Andreas Wasshuber (1650-1732), 
(painted after a statue in Clairvaux with the true effigy of the saint). 
Photo taken June 2006 by Georges Jansoone. 
(Wikimedia Commons) 


Following the Christian defeat at the Siege of Edessa, the Pope commissioned Bernard to preach the Second Crusade. The last years of Bernard's life were saddened by the failure of the Crusaders, the entire responsibility for which was thrown upon him.

Bernard died at age 63, after 40 years spent in the cloister. He was the first Cistercian placed on the calendar of saints, and was canonized by Pope Alexander III on 18 January 1174.

In 1830, Pope Pius VIII bestowed upon Bernard the title "Doctor of the Church".





Cîteaux Abbey.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a monk of Cîteaux Abbey, left it to found Clairvaux Abbey in 1115, of which he was the first abbot. His influence in the Cistercian Order, and beyond, is of prime importance. He reaffirmed the importance of strict observance to the Rule of Saint Benedict. 
Author: G CHP
Photo: July 2008. 
(Wikimedia Commons) 


Bernard's parents were Tescelin, Lord of Fontaines, and Aleth of Montbard, both belonging to the highest nobility of Burgundy. Bernard was the third of a family of seven children, six of whom were sons. At the age of nine years, Bernard was sent to school at Châtillon-sur-Seine, run by the secular canons of Saint-Vorles.

Bernard had a great taste for literature and devoted himself for some time to poetry. His success in his studies won the admiration of his teachers. Bernard wanted to excel in literature in order to take up the study of the Bible. He had a special devotion to the Virgin Mary, and he would later write several works about the Queen of Heaven.

Bernard would expand upon Anselm of Canterbury's role in transmuting the sacramentally-ritual Christianity of the Early Middle Ages into a new, more personally held, faith, with the life of Christ as a model and a new emphasis on the Virgin Mary.





The Cloisters at Citeaux Abbey.
L'abbaye de Cîteaux — Cloître de la bibliothèque du XVIe siècle. 
Classée monument historique. Restaurée. 
Author: G CHP
Photo: July 2008. 
(Wikimedia Commons)


In opposition to the rational approach to divine understanding that the scholastics adopted, Bernard would preach an immediate faith, in which the intercessor was the Virgin Mary.

Bernard was only nineteen years of age when his mother died. During his youth, he did not escape trying temptations and, around this time, he thought of retiring from the world and living a life of solitude and prayer.

In 1098, Saint Robert of Molesme had founded Cîteaux Abbey, near Dijon, with the purpose of restoring the Rule of St Benedict in all its rigour. Returning to Molesme, he left the government of the new abbey to Saint Alberic, who died in the year 1109.

In 1113, Saint Stephen Harding had just succeeded him as third Abbot of Cîteaux, when Bernard and thirty other young noblemen of Burgundy sought admission into the Cistercian order.


PART FIVE FOLLOWS


Monday 27 August 2012

Isaiah the Solitary: The Remembrance of God and Praying with Sweetness of Heart


This Article is taken from the Blog, ENLARGING THE HEART, for Friday, 24 August 2012.






Our teacher Jesus Christ, out of pity for mankind and knowing the utter mercilessness of the demons, severely commands us: ‘Be ready at every hour, for you do not know when the thief will come; do not let him come and find you asleep’ (cf Matt. 24:42-43).

[...] Stand guard, then, over your heart and keep a watch on your senses; and if the remembrance of God dwells peaceably within you, you will catch the thieves when they try to deprive you of it.

When a man has an exact knowledge about the nature of thoughts, he recognizes those which are about to enter and defile him, troubling the intellect with distractions and making it lazy.

Those who recognize these evil thoughts for what they are remain undisturbed and continue in prayer to God.

[...] What…is meant by the worship of God?

It means that we have nothing extraneous in our intellect when we are praying to Him: neither sensual pleasure as we bless Him, nor malice as we sing His praise, nor hatred as we exalt Him, nor jealousy to hinder us as we speak to Him and call Him to mind.

For all these things are full of darkness; they are a wall imprisoning our wretched soul, and if the soul has them in itself it cannot worship God with purity.

They obstruct its ascent and prevent it from meeting God: they hinder it from blessing Him inwardly and praying to Him with sweetness of heart, and so receiving His illumination.

As a result the intellect is always shrouded in darkness and cannot advance in holiness, because it does not make the effort to uproot these thoughts by means of spiritual knowledge.

When the intellect rescues the soul’s senses from the desires of the flesh and imbues them with dispassion, the passions shamelessly attack the soul, trying to hold its senses fast in sin; but if the intellect then continually calls upon God in secret, He, seeing all this, will send His help and destroy all the passions at once.

I entreat you not to leave your heart unguarded, so long as you are in the body.

[...] Up to his last breath [a man] cannot know what passion will attack him; so long as he breathes, therefore, he must not leave his heart unguarded, but should at every moment pray to God for His help and mercy.

Isaiah the Solitary (died 489 A.D. / 491 A. D.): On Guarding the Intellect, 12-15, Text from G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware (trans. and eds.) The Philokalia: The Complete Text, vol. I (Faber & Faber, London & Boston: 1979).

Note: The word "intellect", in the Philokalia, translates the Greek "nous", which the translators define as follows:

the highest faculty in man, through which – provided it is purified – he knows God or the inner essences or principles of created things by means of direct apprehension or spiritual perception. Unlike the dianoia or reason, from which it must be carefully distinguished, the intellect does not function by formulating abstract concepts and then arguing on this basis to a conclusion reached through deductive reasoning, but it understands divine truth by means of immediate experience, intuition or ‘simple cognition’ (the term used by St Isaac the Syrian). The intellect dwells in the ‘depths of the soul’; it constitutes the innermost aspect of the heart (St Diadochos). The intellect is the organ of contemplation, the ‘eye of the heart’ (Makarian Homilies).

Sunday 26 August 2012

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (Part Three)



Text and Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.

20 August (Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor)
Double
White Vestments





Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, 
depicted in a Mediaeval manuscript.


Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist (1090 – August 20, 1153) was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian Order.

After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian Order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val d'Absinthe, about 15 km southeast of Bar-sur-Aube. According to tradition, Bernard founded the monastery on 25 June 1115, naming it Claire Vallée, which evolved into Clairvaux.

There, Bernard would preach an immediate faith, in which the intercessor was the Virgin Mary." In the year 1128, Bernard assisted at the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, who soon became the ideal of Christian nobility.

On the death of Pope Honorius II, a schism broke out in the Church. Louis VI of France convened a national Council of the French bishops at Étampes in 1130, and Bernard was chosen to judge between the rivals for pope.




Henry I (Beauclerc), King of England 1100 - 1135,
with whom Bernard of Clairvaux had discussions 
regarding the king's reservations about Pope Innocent II.

After the Council of Étampes, Bernard went to speak with the King of England, Henry I, Beauclerc, about the king's reservations regarding Pope Innocent II. Beauclerc was sceptical because most of the bishops of England supported Anacletus II; he convinced him to support Innocent. 

Germany had decided to support Innocent through Norbert of Xanten, who was a friend of Bernard's. However, Innocent insisted on Bernard's company when he met with Lothair III of Germany. Lothair became Innocent's strongest ally among the nobility. Despite the Councils of Étampes, Wurzburg, Clermont, and Rheims all supporting Innocent, there were still large portions of the Christian world supporting Anacletus.

At the end of 1131, the kingdoms of France, England, Germany, Castile, and Aragon, supported Innocent; however, most of Italy, southern France, and Sicily, with the patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem, supported Anacletus. Bernard set out to convince these other regions to rally behind Innocent.




Anacletus II, previously a monk at Cluny Abbey. 
He was the rival to Innocent II to become Pope.
(Google Images)


The first person, whom he went to, was Gerard of Angoulême. He proceeded to write a letter, called Letter 126. This letter questioned Gerard's reasons for supporting Anacletus. Bernard would later comment that Gerard was his most formidable opponent during the whole schism. 

After convincing Gerard, Bernard traveled to visit the Count of Poitiers. He was the hardest for Bernard to convince. He did not pledge allegiance to Innocent until 1135. After that, Bernard spent most of his time in Italy convincing the Italians to pledge allegiance to Innocent. He traveled to Sicily in 1137 to convince the king of Sicily to follow Innocent. 

The whole conflict ended when Anacletus died on January 25, 1138. In 1139, Bernard assisted at the Second Council of the Lateran. Bernard denounced the teachings of Peter Abelard to the pope, who called a Council at Sens, in 1141, to settle the matter. 

Bernard soon saw one of his disciples elected as Pope Eugenius III. Having previously helped end the schism within the Church, Bernard was now called upon to combat heresy. In June 1145, Bernard travelled in southern France and his preaching there helped strengthen support against heresy.


PART FOUR FOLLOWS.

Prayer for Priests






Illustration taken from
(Google Images)


This prayer was found on a Prayer Card at the back of my local Church.

Rather than leave it to lie there, unseen and unappreciated, I copy it, here, on this Blog, to permit the World to pray for their Priests.

O Jesus, I pray:

for Your faithful and fervent Priests;
for Your unfaithful and tepid Priests;
for Your Priests labouring at home or abroad in distant mission fields;
for Your tempted Priests;
for Your lonely and desolate Priests;
for Your young Priests;
for Your dying Priests;
for the Souls of Your Priests in Purgatory.

But, above all, I recommend to You
the Priests who are dearest to me:

the Priest who baptised me;
the Priest who absolved me from my sins;
the Priest at whose Masses I have assisted
and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion;
the Priests who taught and instructed me;
the Priests to whom I am indebted in any other way.

Jesus, keep them all close to Your heart,
and bless them abundantly,
in time and in eternity.

Amen.

Happy Zephyrinus !!!


Happy Zephyrinus to all readers of this Blog.

Today is the Feast of Saint Zephyrinus, Pope and Martyr.


Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.


26 August. Feast of Saint Zephyrinus, Pope and Martyr.
Simple.
Red Vestments.




Pope Saint Zephyrinus
(199 A.D. - 217 A. D.)


Pope Saint Zephyrinus succeeded Pope Saint Victor on the pontifical throne and, like him, was martyred (Gospel). He abolished the use of wooden chalices, in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice, and ordered them to be replaced by glass chalices. He prescribed that all the Faithful should receive Holy Communion on Easter Day.

He had to defend the dogma of the Unity of God and the Trinity of Persons against the Sabellians. Besides this intestine strife, he had to suffer persecution. God always supported him in his trials, in order to enable him to support the flock of Christ (Epistle).

He died in 217 A.D., after a pontificate of seventeen years.

Friday 24 August 2012

Church of the Sacred Heart, Limerick, is saved by the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest. Thanks be to God.




Church of the Sacred Heart, Limerick


The following Article can be found on RORATE CAELI Blog.

Follow the Link, below:

Church of the Sacred Heart, Limerick, is saved by the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest. Thanks be to God.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (Part Two)


Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.

20 August (Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor)
Double
White Vestments




Vision of Saint Bernard 
(with Saint Benedict and Saint John the Evangelist)
by Fra Bartolomeo (1472 - 1517)
(the Uffizi Gallery, Florence)


Pope Eugenius III, who had been trained by Saint Bernard to the monastic life, solicited and received his counsels. At the Council of Etampes, he put an end to the schism, which, opposing Anacletus to Innocent III, troubled the clergy and people of Rome.

He was consulted by William of Aquitaine, by the Duchess of Lorraine, by the Countess of Brittany, by Henry, son of the King of France, by Peter, son of the King of Portugal, by Louis VI, Louis VII, Conrad, Lothaire and by the Abbot of Saint Denis. He silenced the famous Doctor Abelard at the Council of Laon, and his powerful logic unmasked the errors of Arnold of Brescia and of Peter de Bruys (Gospel).





The Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Author: Chris Wee

Photo: May 2006. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Lastly, he attacked Islam, and, by preaching the Second Crusade at Vezelay, he stirred up the whole of Europe by his overpowering eloquence.

Saint Bernard died at Clairvaux on 20 August 1153 and his body was laid at the foot of the altar of the Blessed Virgin. He left 160 monasteries which he had founded in Europe and Asia. His writings, replete with doctrines inspired by divine wisdom, caused him to be placed among the Doctors of the Church by Pope Pius VIII.

Let us have recourse to the intercession in Heaven of the one who, on Earth, taught us the way of life (Collect). Let us ask him to give us his love for the Mother of God, and let us piously recite the Anthem of the Season, Salve Regina, of which the three last invocations, "O Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary", are attributed to him.


PART THREE FOLLOWS


Tuesday 21 August 2012

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (Part One)


Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.

20 August (Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor)
Double
White Vestments





Saint Bernard of Clairvaux 
(Abbot and Doctor of the Church) 
(1090 - 1153)

The Church is pleased to honour, during the Octave of the Assumption, Saint Bernard, the honey-mouthed Doctor (Doctor Mellifluus), whose principal title of glory is to have celebrated, with ineffable tenderness and ardent piety, in his prayers, his books and sermons, the varied greatness of Mary.

Born in 1091, of a noble Burgundian family, he succeeded, at the age of 22, in winning over to Christ thirty noblemen, who, with him, embraced monastic life at Citeaux. There, the Cistercian Order, a branch of the old Benedictine trunk, acquired a new vigour which enabled it to cover the whole of Europe with its shoots.

"The just", says the Offertory, "shall flourish like the palm-tree, he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus."

And in the famous monastery which Bernard founded a short time afterwards, in the Vale of Clairvaux, on the Left Bank of the Aube, and whose first Abbot he became (Communion), he each day lavished on a community of seven hundred monks the treasures of doctrine and wisdom with which God endowed him and which make his name immortal (Introit, Epistle, Gradual).

An austere monk, a great Christian orator and a learned Doctor, he was the luminary, mentioned in the Gospel, which enlightened the world in the 12th-Century.


PART TWO FOLLOWS


Matins of the Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Marian Anthems


Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.




Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church,

Reichenau Island, Lake Constance, South Germany. 
Hermann Contractus was a monk in this Abbey and is accredited with creating the Marian Anthems of Alma Redemptoris and Ave Regina. 
Photo taken by en:User:Ahoerstemeier (November 2001). 
(Wikimedia Commons) 


There are four main Marian Anthems (you will note that they are in alphabetical order and are used, thus, during the Liturgical Year).


Alma Redemptoris
(From First Vespers of Advent until Second Vespers of 2 February, inclusive.)
The authorship of this Anthem is attributed to Hermann Contractus, a monk of the Abbey of Reichenau (+1054);


and also listen to the ALMA REDEMPTORIS, here.


Ave Regina
(From Compline on 2 February until Maundy Thursday, inclusive.)
The authorship of this Anthem is attributed to Hermann Contractus, a monk of the Abbey of Reichenau (+1054).
The insertion of this Anthem in the Divine Office is attributed to Pope Clement VI (1342 - 1352);




Regina Caeli
(From Compline on Holy Saturday until Trinity Sunday, inclusive.)
The authorship of this Anthem is attributed to Pope Gregory V (+998 A.D.);



Salve Regina
(From First Vespers of Trinity Sunday until Advent.)
This Marian Anthem is attributed to Adhemar de Monteil, Bishop of Le Puy, France, (+1098). The three final invocations were added by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1091 - 1153).



The Angelus







Deutsch: Sixtinische Madonna, Szene: Maria mit Christuskind, 
Hl. Papst Sixtus II. und Hl. Barbara
Current location: Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.
Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. 
DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
Permission: [1]
Madonna and Child by Raphael (1483 - 1520).
(Wikimedia Commons)


Sunday 12 August 2012

Friday 10 August 2012

Worcester Cathedral - Part Three


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.




The High Altar, Worcester Cathedral.
Author: Mattana
January 2008. 
(Wikimedia Commons)


The East End was re-built over the Norman Crypt by Alexander Mason between 1224 and 1269, coinciding with, and in a very similar Early English style to, Salisbury Cathedral. From 1360, John Clyve finished off the Nave, built its Vault, the West Front, the North Porch and the Eastern Range of the Cloister.

He also strengthened the Norman Chapter House, added Buttresses and changed its Vault. His masterpiece is the Central Tower of 1374, originally supporting a timber, lead-covered Spire, now gone. Between 1404 and 1432, an unknown architect added the North and South Ranges to the Cloister, which was eventually closed by the Western Range by John Chapman, 1435–38. The last important addition is Prince Arthur’s Chantry Chapel to the right of the South Choir Aisle, 1502–04.

Worcester Cathedral was extensively restored from 1857 to 1874 by W. A. Perkins and Sir George Gilbert Scott. Most of the fittings and the stained glass date from this time.




Exterior statuary at Worcester Cathedral.
Author: Mattana
January 2008.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Misericords

Thirty-Nine of the Misericords date from 1379 and include a complete set of the Labours of the Months. The subject matter includes biblical stories, mythology and folklore. Three of the misericords are Victorian replacements, such as N-02, Judas in the jaws of Satan.

Bells

The Tower has a ring of twelve bells, plus three semitone bells and a non-swinging bourdon. The current peal of 15 ringing bells were cast in 1928 by John Taylor & Co., of Loughborough, from the metal of the original ring, cast in 1869. The ring is the fifth-heaviest ring of twelve in the world, only the bells in the Cathedrals of Liverpool, Exeter, York and St Paul's, London are heavier. The bells are also considered to be one of the finest-toned rings ever cast. The bells hang in a wooden frame that was constructed in 1869 for the previous ring. Worcester Cathedral is unique in having a purpose-built teaching centre equipped with eight special training bells, linked to computers.

Worcester Cathedral has three choirs: the Worcester Cathedral Choir (the main Choir which has both a boys' and a girls' treble line, which normally work independently); Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir, and the Worcester Cathedral Voluntary Choir.







Two views of the Gothic Nave.
Author: Mattana
January 2008.
(Wikimedia Commons)


All three Choirs were involved in the BBC broadcast of the Midnight and Christmas Morning Services in 2007, with the boys and the girls of the Cathedral Choir, respectively, taking the lead in the two services. Since the 18th-Century, Worcester Cathedral Choir has taken part in the Three Choirs Festival, the oldest music festival in the world.

The composer, Edward Elgar, spent most of his life in Worcestershire. The first performance of the revised version of his Enigma Variations - the version usually performed - took place at the Cathedral during the 1899 Three Choirs Festival. He is commemorated in a stained glass window, which contains his portrait.

Worcester Cathedral has a long history of organs, dating back to at least 1417. There have been many re-builds and new organs in the intervening period, including work by Thomas Dallam, William Hill and most famously Robert Hope-Jones in 1896. The Hope Jones organ was heavily re-built in 1925 by Harrison & Harrison, and then regular minor works kept it in working order until Wood Wordsworth and Co were called in 1978. It was a large four-manual organ with 61 speaking stops. It had a large Gothic Revival case with heavily decorated front pipes as well as two smaller cases either side of the quire.




Gothic Triforium and Clerestory.
Author: Mattana
January 2008.
(Wikimedia Commons)


This organ (apart from the large transept case and pedal pipes) was removed in 2006 in order to make way for a new instrument by Kenneth Tickell, which was completed in the summer of 2008. The Nave has a three-manual Rodgers organ.





Worcester Cathedral. 
View of the Tower from the South-East. 
Author: Philip Halling.
August 2005.
Wikimedia Commons.


Notable organists at Worcester have included Thomas Tomkins (from 1596), Hugh Blair (from 1895), Ivor Atkins (from 1897) and David Willcocks (from 1950). The present organist (from 2012) is Dr Peter Nardone.

Worcester Cathedral is the host of the annual graduation ceremonies for the University of Worcester. These ceremonies are presided over by the Chancellor of the University, and take place over three days in November.


THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON WORCESTER CATHEDRAL.

11 August - Feast of Saint Philomena


Text and illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,
unless otherwise stated.





Statue of Saint Philomena in Molve, Croatia.
Hrvatski: Kip sv. Filomene u Molvama, neočekivano pronađen 2007. 
Author: Fraxinus
Photo: January 2008.


Saint Philomena is, as believed by her devotees within the Catholic Church, a young virgin martyr whose remains were discovered in 1802 in the Catacombs of Priscilla. Three tiles enclosing the tomb bore an inscription that was taken to indicate that her name was (in the Latin of the inscription) Filumena, the English form of which is Philomena.

The remains were removed to Mugnano del Cardinale, in Campania, Italy, in 1805 and became the focus of widespread devotion, with several miracles credited to the Saint's intercession, including the healing of Venerable Pauline Jaricot in 1835, which received wide publicity. Saint John Vianney attributed to her intercession the extraordinary cures that others attributed to himself.

In 1833, a Neapolitan nun reported that, in a vision, Saint Philomena had revealed that she was a Greek princess, martyred at 13 years of age by Diocletian, who was Roman Emperor from 284 A.D. to 305 A.D.

From 1837 to 1961, celebration of her Liturgical Feast was approved for some places, but was never included in the General Roman Calendar for universal use. The 1920 typical edition of the Roman Missal included a mention of her, under 11 August, in the section headed Missae pro aliquibus locis (Masses for some places), with an indication that the Mass to be used in those places was one from the Common of a Virgin Martyr, without any Collect, Proper to the Saint.




Saint Philomena with attributes: palm, whip, anchor and arrows. 
Plaster cast, by Johann Dominik Mahlknecht, 

in the Museum Gherdëina in Urtijëi, Italy. 

Photo taken by Wolfgang Moroder


On 14 February 1961, the Holy See ordered that the name of Saint Philomena be removed from all Liturgical Calendars that mentioned her. Accordingly, the 1962 Roman Missal, the edition whose continued use as an Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite is authorised by the motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, also has no mention of her.

The shrine of her relics, in Mugnano del Cardinale, continues to be visited by pilgrimages from many countries, an Arch-Confraternity in her honour exists, as does popular devotion in various places around the world.

On 24 May 1802, in the Catacombs of Priscilla, on the Via Salaria Nova, an inscribed loculus (space hollowed out of the rock) was found, and on the following day it was carefully examined and opened. The loculus was closed with three terra cotta tiles, on which was the following inscription: lumena paxte cumfi. It was, and is, generally accepted that the tiles were in the wrong order and that the inscription originally read, with the left-most tile placed on the right: pax tecum Filumena ("Peace with you, Philomena"). Within the loculus was found the skeleton of a female between thirteen and fifteen years old. Embedded in the cement was a small glass phial with vestiges of what was taken to be blood. In accordance with the assumptions of the time, the remains were taken to be those of a virgin martyr named Philomena.





France.
Saint Philomena. Cathedral of Notre Dame, Bayeux, 1839, 

by Théodelinde Dubouché. 

Ste Philomène,cath. N-D Bayeux, 1839, par Théodelinde Dubouché. 
(Wikimedia Commons)


The belief that such vials were signs of the grave of a martyr was still held in 1863, when a 10 December decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites confirmed a decree of 10 April 1668. But this view has been rejected in practice since the investigations of Giovanni Battista De Rossi (1822–1894).

In 1805, Canon Francesco De Lucia requested relics for a new altar, and on 8 June obtained the remains, discovered in May 1802 (reduced to dust and fragments), for his Church in Mugnano del Cardinale, where they arrived on 11 August, after being taken from Rome to Naples on 1 July.

In 1827, Pope Leo XII gave to the Church in Mugnano del Cardinale the three inscribed terra cotta slabs that had been taken from the tomb.

In his Relazione istorica della traslazione del sagro corpo di s. Filomena da Roma a Mugnano del Cardinale, written in 1833, Canon De Lucia recounted that wonders accompanied the arrival of the relics in his Church, among them a statue that sweated some liquid continuously for three days.

The spread of devotion to her in France, as well as in Italy, was helped when Saint John Vianney built a shrine in her honour and referred to her often, attributing to her the miracles that others attributed to himself. Another help was the cure of the near-dying Venerable Pauline Jaricot, founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, at Philomena's shrine on 10 August 1835.




Bamberg, Germany, 
Obere Pfarrkirche Unsere Liebe Frau (Obere Pfarre) 

Saint Philomena 

Photo: Andreas Praefcke 
September 2008 
(Wikimedia Commons) 


Another miracle, accepted as proved in the same year, was the multiplication of the bone dust of the Saint, which provided for hundreds of reliquaries without the original amount experiencing any decrease in quantity.Devotion includes the wearing of the "Cord of Philomena", a red and white cord, which had a number of indulgences attached to it, including a plenary indulgence on the day on which the cord was worn for the first time, indulgences that were not renewed in the 1967 general revision of the discipline concerning them.

There was, or is, also, the Chaplet of Saint Philomena, with three white beads in honour of the Blessed Trinity and thirteen red beads in honour of the thirteen years of the Saint's life.

Devotees of Saint Philomena use a truncated version of the rosary in their special devotions to her. The Chaplet has three outer white beads, with thirteen inner red beads that are symbolic for each year of her short lifetime. The prayer suggestion for each is:

“ Hail, O holy Saint Philomena, whom I acknowledge, after Mary, as my advocate within the Divine Spouse, intercede for me now and at the hour of my death. ”

Devotionals are often given to young girls receiving their first Holy Communion or, on the 13th birthday, used primarily as a stepping-stone to practicing devotionals such as the Holy Rosary.




English: Saint Philomena by Amaury-Duval (1808-1885)
Français : Sainte Philomène par Amaury-Duval (1808-1885).

Date: circa 1844 

Author: Baronnet
Wikimedia Commons. 


On 21 December 1833, the Holy Office declared that there was nothing contrary to the Catholic faith in the revelations that Sister Maria Luisa di Gesù (1799–1875), a Dominican tertiary from Naples, claimed to have received from the Saint.

According to Sister Maria Luisa di Gesù, Saint Philomena told her she was the daughter of a king in Greece who, with his wife, had converted to Christianity. At the age of about 13, she took a vow of consecrated virginity. When the Emperor Diocletian threatened to make war on her father, her father went with his family to Rome to ask for peace.

The Emperor fell in love with the young Philomena and, when she refused to be his wife, subjected her to a series of torments: scourging, from whose effects two angels cured her; drowning with an anchor attached to her (two angels cut the rope and raised her to the river bank); being shot with arrows, (on the first occasion her wounds were healed; on the second, the arrows turned aside; and on the third, they returned and killed six of the archers, after which, several of the others became Christians). 

Finally, the Emperor had her decapitated. The story goes that the decapitation occurred on a Friday at three in the afternoon, as with the death of Jesus. The two anchors, three arrows, the palm and the ivy leaf on the tiles found in the tomb were interpreted as symbols of her martyrdom.

In these visions, Saint Philomena also revealed that her birthday was 10 January, that her martyrdom occurred on 10 August (the date also of the arrival of her relics in Mugnano del Cardinale), and that her name "Filumena" meant "daughter of light". (It is usually taken to be derived from a Greek word meaning "beloved".)




English: Magazine cover commemorating the 
centenary of St. Philomena Parish.

Español: Portada de la revista conmemorativa del 

centenario de la Parroquia Santa Filomena
Author: Ceat 700
2008. 
(Wikimedia Commons) 



On 13 January 1837, in the aftermath of the cure of Venerable Pauline Jaricot, Pope Gregory XVI authorized liturgical celebration of Philomena on 11 August or, according to another source, originally on 9 September, first in the Diocese of Nola (to which Mugnano del Cardinale belongs), and soon in several other dioceses in Italy.

On 31 January 1855, Pope Pius IX approved a proper Mass and Office, dedicated to Saint Philomena, with confirmation of the decree Etsi Decimo (Rescript of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, Papal Confirmation of Promotor of the Faith Brief Etsi decimo, as submitted by Rev. Andrea Fratini, 31 January 1855).

On 6 October 1876, Father Louis Petit founded the Confraternity of Saint Philomena in Paris, France. In August 1876, the first issue of "Messenger of Saint Philomena" was published there. In November 1886, the Confraternity was raised to the rank of Arch-Confraternity by Pope Leo XIII. On 21 May 1912, Pope Pius X raised it to the rank of Universal Arch-Confraternity with the Apostolic Brief Pias Fidelium Societates.

The name of Philomena was not included in the Roman Martyrology, the official List of Saints recognised by the Catholic Church and in which the Saints are included, immediately upon canonisation. In the 1920 Typical Edition of the Roman Missal, Philomena is mentioned, under 11 August (with an indication that the Mass for her Feast Day was to be taken entirely from the Common, so that there was no part, not even the Collect, that was Proper to her) in the section headed "Masses for some places", i.e. only those places for which it had been specially authorised.




Danmarks kyrka (The Danish Church), Diocese of Uppsala, Sweden. 
Statue of Saint Philomena at entrance. 
Author: Håkan Svensson (Xauxa). 
August 2006. 
Wikimedia Commons. 



On 14 February 1961, the Holy See ordered that the name of Saint Philomena be removed from all Liturgical Calendars that mentioned her. This order was given as part of an instruction on the application to Local Calendars of the principles enunciated in the 1960 Code of Rubrics, which had already been applied to the General Roman Calendar.

Section 33 of this document ordered the removal from Local Calendars of fourteen named Feasts, but allowed them to be retained in places that had a special link with the Feast. It then added: "However, the Feast of Saint Philomena, Virgin and Martyr, (11 August) is to be expunged from any Calendar, whatever." This action did not call into question her existence or Sainthood, nor prohibit popular devotion to Saint Philomena. No suspension or prohibition of the Archconfraternity was issued.

The Holy See's instruction to remove the name of Philomena, even from local calendars, followed the raising of questions by certain scholars, whose interest had been drawn to the phenomenon more especially in connection with the revelations of Sister Maria Luisa di Gesù. 

The questions were raised in particular by Orazio Marucchi, whose conclusions won the support of Johann Peter Kirsch, an archaeologist and ecclesiastical historian, who is the author of the article on Philomena in the Catholic Encyclopedia, an article that has won the support of the historian, William Carroll; but, according to Mark Miravalle, the conclusions have been rejected by others.




St. Philomena in St. Sulpitius Church in Heudicourt, Eure. 
Stone, 
19th century, unknown sculptor.

Français : Sainte Philomène, dans l'église saint Sulpice d'Heudicourt (Eure). 

Pierre, XIXe siècle, auteur inconnu. 
Author: Theoliane
June 2010. 
(Wikimedia Commons) 



The rector of the shrine in Mugnano del Cardinale disputes these findings. After reporting the decision of the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1961, as resulting from the studies of scholars, the Italian-language Enciclopedia dei Santi says that there still remain the miracles that occurred and the official recognition that the Church gave in the 19th-Century, the personal devotion to Saint Philomena of Popes and people who were later Canonized, and the widespread general devotion that still persists, particularly at Mugnano del Cardinale in the Diocese of Nola, where pilgrims from all over the world arrive, continually, giving a display of intense popular devotion.

For many, the 1961 withdrawal of Pope Gregory XVI's 1837 authorisation of Liturgical Veneration of Saint Philomena in a limited number of places (which was not an official declaration that she never existed nor that she is not a Saint) merely means that the situation has returned to that existing before 1837, when in many places there was fervent devotion to her, accompanied only by vague speculation about the circumstances of her life and death or by belief in the revelations of the Neapolitan nun. The removal of an individual from the Calendar does not necessarily indicate that he or she is not a Saint.

The website of "The National Shrine of Saint Philomena, Miami, Florida" sees "the action taken in 1960 as the work of the devil in order to deprive the people of God of a most powerful Intercessor, particularly in the areas of purity and faith at a time when these virtues were so much being challenged as they continue to be up until now!"




Saint Philomena's Church, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Because of the Church's location near the riverfront, Saint Philomena's steeple was a well-known landmark on the Cincinnati skyline. 

On July 7, 1915 a tornado damaged the steeple. 

The steeple fell on a building across Pearl Street. 
The Parish was closed in 1954. Records for this Parish are located at the Chancery Office of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, 100 E. 8th St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202.


In his book, "It Is Time to Meet Saint Philomena", Mark Miravalle says that Pope Gregory XVI "Liturgically Canonised Philomena, in an act of the ordinary Papal Magisterium". This contrasts with the usual view that canonisation is an exercise of infallible Magisterium, declaring a truth that must be "definitively held".

The Roman Martyrology contains the names of all the Saints who have been formally canonised, since "with the canonisation of a new Saint, that person is officially listed in the catalogue of Saints, or Martyrology", and "as soon as the beatification or canonisation event takes place, the person's name is technically part of the Roman Martyrology". It does not now contain and in fact never included the name of Philomena, which can be seen to be absent in the 1856 edition, published some twenty years after the 1837 decree.

That Saint Philomena was "never canonised", is stated in the Jesuit publication, "America", and by Michael Williams in "Commonweal".

Of course, lack of canonisation does not mean lack of Sainthood. Canonisation was introduced only after many centuries of the Church's existence, and for that reason none of the Saints mentioned in the Roman Rite Canon of the Mass was ever canonized.

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