ZEPHYRINUS.

17 July, 2026

The Carmelite Nuns Of Compiègne Face The Guillotine.

English: The Carmelite Nuns of Compiègne face the Guillotine.
Français: Les carmélites de Compiègne face à la guillotine. Illustration extraite de Louis David (o.s.b.), Les Seize Carmélites de Compiègne, leur martyre et leur béatification, 17 juillet 1794 - 27 mai 1906, Paris, H. Oudin, [1906].
Date: 6 July 2013.
Source: Louis David osb, Les Seize Carmélites de Compiègne [...], Paris - Poitiers, Oudin, 1906.
Author: "Une" Carmélite.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Oh, Glorious Martyrs Of Compiègne, Pray For Us ! On 17 July 1794, Eleven Carmelite Nuns, Together With Three Lay Sisters And Two Tertiaries, Were Guillotined. Oh, What A Wonderful Thing The French Revolution Was.

“Dialogues des Carmelites”.
Available on YouTube
HERE

Oh, What A Wonderful Thing The French Revolution Was. Compiègne: "To The Poorest Daughter Of Carmel, Honour Speaks Louder Than Fear."

Illustration: RORATE CAELI

This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at,

RORATE CAELI

Oh, What A Wonderful Thing The French Revolution Was.

Sacred Heart patch of the Vendean Royalist insurgents. Insignia of the Royalist insurgents during the

War in the Vendée (1793). The French motto “Dieu, le Roi” means “God, the King”.

Illustration: FR. Z's BLOG

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

The War in the Vendée (1793; French: Guerre de Vendée)

was an uprising in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately South of the Loire River in Western France.

Initially, the War was similar to the 14th-Century Jacquerie Peasant Uprising, but quickly acquired themes considered by the government in Paris to be Counter-Revolutionary, and Royalist.

The Uprising, headed by the self-styled Catholic and Royal Army was comparable to the Chouannerie, which took place in the area North of the Loire.

The Départments included in the Uprising, called the

Vendée Militaire, included the area between the Loire and the Layon Rivers: Vendée (Marais, Bocage Vendéen, Collines Vendéennes), part of Maine-et-Loire, West of the Layon, and the portion of Deux-Sèvres, West of the River Thouet.

The deficiencies of the Vendean army became apparent. Lacking a unified strategy (or army) and fighting a defensive campaign, from April onwards the army lost cohesion and its special advantages.

Successes continued for some time: Thouars was taken in early May and Saumur in June; there were victories at Châtillon and Vihiers.

After this string of victories, the Vendeans turned to a protracted siege of Nantes, for which they were unprepared and which stalled their momentum, giving the government in Paris sufficient time to send more troops and experienced generals.

Tens of thousands of civilians, Republican prisoners, and sympathisers with the Revolution, were massacred by both armies.

Historians such as Reynald Secher have described these events as “genocide”, but most scholars reject the use of the word as inaccurate. Ultimately, the Uprising was suppressed using draconian measures.

The historian François Furet concludes that the repression in the Vendée “not only revealed massacre and destruction on an unprecedented scale, but also a zeal so violent that it has bestowed as its legacy much of the region’s identity.

The War aptly epitomises the depth of the conflict between Religious Tradition and the Revolutionary foundation of democracy.”

“Dialogues des Carmélites”.
"Salve Regina".
Available on YouTube
HERE

Today is the Anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Carmelites of Compiègne.

The Martyrs of Compiègne were the sixteen Members of The Carmel of Compiègne, France: Eleven Discalced Carmelite Nuns, three Lay Sisters, and two Externs (Tertiaries of The Order, who would handle the Community’s needs outside the Monastery).

During the French Revolution, they refused to obey the Civil Constitution of The Clergy of the Revolutionary government, which mandated the suppression of their Monastery.

They were guillotined on 17 July 1794, during the Reign of Terror and buried in a mass grave at Picpus Cemetery.

Local Feasts: The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix Of All Graces. 31 May. White Vestments.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

The Blessed Virgin Mary.
Mediatrix of All Graces.
Feast Day 31 May.

(Local Feasts. Feasts kept in some Religious Congregations and in some places).

White Vestments.

Mass: Adeámus cum fidúcia.

Creed: Is said.

Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin: “Et te in Festivitáte”.

Rose Illustration: AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM

The Blessed Virgin Mary.
Mediatrix of All Graces.
Illustration: SHUTTERSTOCK

A Feast and Mass granted by Pope Benedict XV to many Dioceses.

“The Will of God is that we should have everything through Mary,” says Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. The Father has sent us His Son, but His Will was to make His Coming depend upon The Fiat of The Virgin, which He commanded the Angel Gabriel to solicit on the Day of The Annunciation.

The Father and The Son send us The Holy Ghost, but it is through Mary that He comes down to men. On the Day of Pentecost, according to an ancient Tradition, the Heavenly Fire, which descended on the Cenacle, first rested on Mary, and then on the Apostles. This is a figure of what happens every day in The Church, where The Holy Ghost is sent invisibly into our Souls.

“All the Gifts of The Holy Ghost are distributed by Mary to those whom she chooses; whenever she wishes; and as much as she wishes”, says Saint Bernadine of Siena.

The Graces, which The Holy Ghost pours down on us, are due to the Merits of Christ on Calvary; but in order that God may bestow them on the World, it is necessary that Mary should intervene. Having co-operated by her Divine Maternity and by her sufferings at the Foot of The Cross in The Incarnation and Redemption, she has deserved to co-operate when they are continually applied to creatures by The Most High,

“By The Communion of Sorrows and of Will, between Christ and Mary,” says Pope Saint Pius X, “she has deserved to become the dispenser of all the Blessings which Jesus acquired for us by His Blood” (Encyclical, 2 February 1904).

Such is His Will, but it is essential that she should constantly intercede for each one of us. This, she does, relying on The Blood of Christ, by Whom she was herself saved, and Who alone saves us. This actual intervention of Mary plays a preponderating part in the Salvation of the World. It is important that we should realise this, and it is the object of the Feast of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces. A clear idea of the fact may be obtained by simply reading the Texts of The Mass and Vespers.

“Through The Virgin,” says Saint Bernadine of Siena, “Life-Giving Graces flow from Christ, Who is The Head, into His Mystical Body”. “Through her,“ adds Saint Antoninus, “come from Heaven all the Graces granted to the World.” “What all the Saints united to thee may obtain for us by their intercession,” writes Saint Anselm, “thy pleading, alone, may obtain without the help of their Prayers.”

The Maternal Solicitude of Mary, for the whole Human Race, is therefore continual, and it is because of this that, unceasingly, through The Mass, The Sacraments, the hierarchy and other channels of Grace, the Merits of Calvary are applied to our Souls. “We may affirm,” declares Pope Leo XIII, “that, by the Will of God, nothing is given to us without Mary’s Mediation, in such a way that, just as no-one can approach The Almighty Father but through His Son, so no-one, so to speak, can approach Christ but through His Mother.” (Encyclical, 22 September 1891.)

Let us therefore not consider as of small importance the efforts made to establish this point of Doctrine of Mary’s Mediation, since this Doctrine enables us to understand the Divine Plan, and clearly manifests the Mediation of The Son of God, of which it is a corollary.

Mass: Adeamus.
Creed.
Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin: “Et te in festivitáte”.

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

Available (in U.K.) from

CENACLE CATHOLIC BOOKS

Available (in U.S.A.) from

ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS

Available (in Ireland) from

SILVERSTREAM PRIORY

Zephyrinus Supports The Trappist Monks At Scourmont Abbey in Belgium. He Quaffs Their Wonderful “Chimay Beer”. A Heavenly Brew.

English: Trappist Beer.
Brewed at The Trappist Monastery
of Scourmont Abbey in Belgium.
“Chimay Triple”, one of the most common Trappist Beers.
Svenska: Chimay Triple, en av de vanligaste trappistölen.
Photo: 6 June 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Ogräs
(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia, unless stated otherwise.

SCOURMONT ABBEY (Abbaye Notre-Dame de Scourmont) is a Trappist Monastery on the Scourmont Plateau, in the Village of Forges, which is part of Chimay, in the Province of Hainaut, Belgium.

The Abbey is famous for its Spiritual Life and for running THE CHIMAY BREWERY, one of the few producers of Trappist Beer.

LE POTEAUPRÉ CHEESE.

Its round shape, its flowery rind, its creamy and melting texture, its pronounced, frank and clean taste, make this Cheese the cream of Trappist Cheeses.

Illustration: PINTEREST

Life in the Abbey is characterised by Prayer, Reading, and Manual Work, the three basic elements of Trappist life.

Zephyrinus acquires his Heavenly “Chimay Beer” from AMAZON. Delivered straight to the door (but don’t tell Perkins (Chauffeur) or Jeeves (Butler).

“Chimay Trappist Beer” Gift Set.
“Chimay White” is a very rewarding Trappist Triple Beer.
“Chimay Red” is an attractive Copper Beer.
“Chimay Blue” is a Deep Brown in colour.
A High Quality Brew for keen drinkers.
All natural ingredients and suitable for Vegans.
Includes “The Chimay Glass”.
The Scourmont Abbey Brewery states: “The Chimay Glass” is essential: Only this Chalice-shaped glass will allow you to fully experience the aromas and flavour of “Chimay Beer”.
Available from AMAZON

In 1844, Jean-Baptiste Jourdain, the Parish Priest of Virelles, suggested that the wild Plateau of Scourmont was a suitable place for a Monastery. However, all previous attempts to cultivate the barren Plateau had failed. Fr. Jourdain obtained support for the proposed Foundation from Prince Joseph II de Chimay, the Abbot of Westmalle Abbey and Westvleteren Abbey. Six years later, on 25 July 1850, a small group of Monks from Westvleteren Abbey settled on Scourmont and Founded a Priory.

A lot of hard work was required to transform the barren soil of Scourmont into fertile farmland. A Farm was created around the Monastery, as well as a Cheese Dairy and a Brewery. On 24 February 1871, Blessed Pope Pius IX granted the Priory the status of Abbey and it was inaugurated on 7 July 1871.

Since then, other Monasteries have been Founded by Scourmont Abbey, such as Caldey Abbey [4] on Caldey Island in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which was taken over from The Benedictines, who moved to Prinknash Abbey (December 1928) and Notre-Dame de Mokotoin, near Goma (Kivu), former Belgian Congo), now Zaire, (February 1954).

The present Abbey Church dates from 1950.

The famous Beers and Cheeses of Scourmont Abbey are marketed under the Trade Name of “Chimay”, after the Village where the Abbey is located.

Joseph-Marie Canivez, who joined the Community in 1899 and made his Final Vows in 1905, would go on to become a noted Monastic Historian.

The Web-Site of Scourmont Abbey (Notre-Dame de Scourmont Abbey) can be found HERE

Why not do the same as Zephyrinus and support The Trappist Monks at Scourmont Abbey by purchasing their magnificent Beers and Cheeses. See their Web-Site HERE and, also, order from AMAZON

Saint Alexius. Confessor. Feast Day 17 July. White Vestments.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Saint Alexius.
Confessor.
Feast Day 17 July.

Semi-Double.

White Vestments.

English: Saint Alexius.
Polski: św. Aleksy, Człowiek Boży (XVII w.).
Date: 17th-Century.
Source: http://days.pravoslavie.ru/
Images/ii134&393.htm
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Alexius was born at Rome, towards 350 A.D., of a wealthy family; his father being the Senator Euphemian. Guided by The Holy Ghost, he renounced his patrimony and piously visited, as a Pilgrim, the Sanctuaries of The East. He died in the 5th-Century A.D., under the Pontificate of Pope Innocent I.

His body was buried in the Church which bears his name on Mount Aventine, Rome. He is honoured there with Saint Boniface (Feast Day 14 May), to whom the Church had originally been Dedicated.

Mass: Os justi.

English: The Minor Basilica of Saint Boniface
and Saint Alexius, Rome.
Italiano: Santi Bonifacio ed Alessio all'Aventino.
Photo: 1 September 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Σπάρτακος
(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

Saint Alexius, or Alexis of Rome, or Alexis of Edessa, was an Eastern Saint, whose Veneration was later transplanted to Rome. The relocation of the cult, to Rome, was facilitated by the belief that the Saint was a native of Rome and had died there.

This Roman connection stemmed from an earlier Syriac legend, which recounted that, during the Episcopate of Bishop Rabbula (412 A.D. - 435 A.D.), a “Man of God”, who lived in Edessa, Mesopotamia as a beggar, and who shared the alms he received with other poor people, was found to be a native of Rome after his death.

The Greek version of his legend made Alexius the only son of Euphemianus, a wealthy Christian Roman of the Senatorial class. Alexius fled his arranged marriage to follow his Holy Vocation. Disguised as a beggar, he lived near Edessa, in Syria, accepting alms even from his own household slaves, who had been sent to look for him, but did not recognise him, until a miraculous vision of The Blessed Virgin Mary singled him out as a “Man of God.”

English: Chapel of Saint Alexius,
Minor Basilica of Saint Boniface and Saint Alexius, Rome.
Italiano: Chiesa dei santi Bonifacio e Alessio all'Aventino:
cappella di sant'Alessio nel sottoscala.
Photo: 9 January 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lalupa
(Wikimedia Commons)

Fleeing the resultant notoriety, he returned to Rome, so changed that his parents did not recognise him, but, as good Christians, took him in and sheltered him for seventeen years, which he spent in a dark cubby-hole beneath the stairs, Praying and teaching Catechism to children.

After his death, his family found writings on his body, which told them whom he was and how he had lived his life of Penance from the day of his wedding, for the love of God.

Saint Alexius’ cult developed in Syria and spread throughout The Eastern Roman Empire by the 9th-Century A.D. Only from the end of the 10th-Century, did his name begin to appear in any Liturgical Books in the West.

English: Minor Basilica of Saint Alexius
and Saint Boniface, Rome.
Italiano: Santi Alessio e Bonifacio, Rome.
Photo: 11 July 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Panarjedde (FlagUploader).
(Wikimedia Commons)

Since before the 8th-Century A.D., there was, on the Aventine, in Rome, a Church that was Dedicated to Saint Boniface. In 972 A.D., Pope Benedict VII transferred this almost-abandoned Church to the exiled Greek Metropolitan, Sergius of Damascus. The latter erected, beside the Church, a Monastery for Greek and Latin Monks, soon made famous for the austere life of its inmates.

To the name of Saint Boniface, was now added that of Saint Alexius, as Titular Saint of the Church and Monastery, now known as Santi Bonifacio e Alessio.

It is evidently Sergius and his Monks who brought to Rome the Veneration of Saint Alexius. The Eastern Saint, according to his legend a native of Rome, was soon very popular with the folk of that City, and this Church, being associated with the legend, was considered to be built on the site of the home that Alexius returned to from Edessa.

Saint Alexius is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, under 17 July, in the following terms: “At Rome, in a Church on the Aventine Hill, a man of God is celebrated under the name of Alexius, who, as reported by tradition, abandoned his wealthy home, for the sake of becoming poor, and to beg for alms unrecognised.”

English: Minor Basilica of Saint Boniface
and Saint Alexius, Rome.
Italiano: Roma - Chiesa dei Ss. Bonifacio e Alessio.
Photo: October 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: MarkusMark
(Wikimedia Commons)

While the Roman Catholic Church continues to recognise Saint Alexius as a Saint, his Feast Day was removed from the General Roman Calendar in 1969.

The reason given was the legendary character of the written life of the Saint. The Catholic Encyclopedia article, regarding Saint Alexius, remarked: “Perhaps the only basis for the story is the fact that a certain pious ascetic, at Edessa, lived the life of a beggar and was later Venerated as a Saint.”

The Tridentine Calendar gave his Feast Day the Rank of “Simple”, but, by 1862, it had become a “Semi-Double” and, in Rome, itself, a “Double”. It was reduced again to the Rank of “Simple”, in 1955, and, in 1960, became a “Commemoration”.

English: A 1674 theatre programme for Saint Alexis,
The Man of God, presented in Kiev and dedicated to
Tsar Alexis of Russia.
Русский: Театральная программка спектакля "Алексей, человек Божий", поставленного в Киеве в 1674 году в посвящение царю Алексею Михайловичу.
Source: Scanned from И. Л. Бусева-Давыдова. Культура и искусство в эпоху перемен. - М., Индрик, 2008,
ISBN 978-5-85759-439-1 p.109.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)

According to the Rules in the present-day Roman Missal, the Saint may now be Celebrated everywhere on his Feast Day, with a “Memorial”, unless in some locality an obligatory Celebration is assigned to that day.

The Eastern Orthodox Church Venerates Saint Alexius on

17 March. Five Byzantine Emperors, four Emperors of Trebizond, and numerous other Eastern European and Russian personalities, have borne his name; see Alexius.

Westminster Abbey (Part Two).

Buried in Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920,

The Unknown Warrior symbolises all those who died

for their Country in The First World War, particularly

those who have no known grave.

The body, herewith, is that of an unidentified Serviceman disinterred from France. Present at the burial ceremony were leading politicians, senior military figures and members of The Royal Family, led by King George V.

The artist Frank O. Salisbury attended the burial and

made a sketch of the event. He used the sketch as the basis

for this large painting, which hangs in Committee Room 10

in The Houses of Parliament.

Date: 1920.

Source: https://www.parliament.uk/about/art-in-parliament/online-exhibitions/historic-events/first-world-war/burial-of-the-unknown-warrior/

Artist: Frank O. Salisbury

(Wikimedia Commons)

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

Construction of the present Church began in 1245 by King Henry III [15], who selected the site for his burial.[16]

The first building stage included the entire East End, the Transepts, and the Easternmost Bay of the N ave.

The Lady Chapel, built around 1220 at the East End, was incorporated into the Chevet of the new building, but was later replaced. This work must have been largely completed by 1258 – 1260, when the second stage was begun.

Westminster Abbey.
The Ceiling in the Nave.
Photo: 20 September 2010.
Source:
https://web.archive.org/web/20161023171713/
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/67358452
Author: renato agostini
(Wikimedia Commons)

This carried the Nave on an additional five Bays, bringing it to one Bay beyond the Choir. Here, construction stopped about 1269, a Consecration ceremony being held on 13 October,[17] and, because of King Henry’s death, did not resume.

The old Romanesque Nave remained attached to the new building for over a Century, until it was pulled down in the Late-14th-Century and rebuilt from 1376, closely following the original (and by now outdated) design.[18]

Construction was largely finished by the architect Henry Yevele in the reign of King Richard II.[19]

The Coronation of Queen Victoria.
Date: 1839.
Artist: John Martin (1789–1854).
Collection: Tate Britain
Source/Photographer: [1]
(Wikimedia Commons)

King Henry III also commissioned the unique Cosmati Pavement in front of the High Altar; the Pavement was re-Dedicated by the Dean at a Service on 21 May 2010 after undergoing a major cleaning and conservation programme.[20]

Henry VII added a Perpendicular Style Chapel Dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary in 1503 (known as the Henry VII Chapel, or, “The Lady Chapel”). Much of the Stone came from Caen, in France (Caen Stone), the Isle of Portland (Portland Stone) and the Loire Valley region of France (Tuffeau Limestone).[21] The Chapel was finished circa 1519.[18]

In 1535, during the assessment attendant on The Dissolution

of the Monasteries, the Abbey’s annual income was £3,000 (equivalent to £1,950,000 as of 2021).[22][23]

Westminster Abbey Pulpit.
Photo: Circa 1865 - 1885.
Source: Pulpit, Westminster Abbey
Author: Cornell University Library
Permission:
Cornell University Library @ Flickr Commons
(Wikimedia Commons)

Henry VIII assumed direct Royal control in 1539 and granted the Abbey the status of a Cathedral, by Charter, in 1540, simultaneously issuing Letters Patent, establishing the Diocese of Westminster.

By granting the Abbey Cathedral status, Henry VIII gained an excuse to spare it from the destruction or dissolution which he inflicted on most English Abbeys during this period.[24]

The Abbot, William Benson, became Dean of the Cathedral, while the Prior and five of the Monks were among the twelve Canons.[25]

Westminster Diocese was dissolved in 1550, but the Abbey was recognised (in 1552, retroactively to 1550) as a second Cathedral of the Diocese of London until 1556.[26][27][28]

Westminster Abbey Choir.

Available on YouTube

HERE

The already-old expression “robbing Peter to pay Paul” may have been given a new lease of life when money meant for the Abbey, which is Dedicated to Saint Peter, was diverted to the Treasury of Saint Paul’s Cathedral.[29]

The Abbey was restored to The Benedictines under the Catholic Mary I of England, but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559.

In 1560, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a “Royal Peculiar” – a Church of The Church of England responsible directly to the Sovereign, rather than to a Diocesan Bishop – and made it the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter (that is, a non-Cathedral Church with an attached Chapter of Canons, headed by a Dean).[30]

Westminster Abbey.
Outside is a Procession of Knights of the Bath.
This painting of Westminster Abbey by Canaletto was
created shortly after the completion of The West Towers.
Date: 1749.
Collection: Westminster Abbey.
Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art:
(Wikimedia Commons)

In the Early-17th-Century, the Abbey hosted two of the six Companies of Churchmen, led by Lancelot Andrewes, Dean of Westminster, who translated the King James Version of the Bible.[31]

The Abbey suffered damage during the turbulent 1640s,

when it was attacked by Puritan iconoclasts, but was again protected by its ties to the State during the Commonwealth period.

Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658, only to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a gibbet at Tyburn.[32]

Illuminated façade of Westminster Abbey.
Photo: 11 August 2014.
Source: Own work.
Author: Diego Delso
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Abbey’s two West Towers were built between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, constructed from Portland Stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design.

Purbeck Marble was used for the walls and the floors of Westminster Abbey, although the various tombstones are made of different types of Marble. Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the 19th-Century under Sir George Gilbert Scott.[33]

A Narthex (a Portico or Entrance Hall) for the Great West Front was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the Mid-20th-Century, but was not built. A temporary Annexe was constructed outside the Great West Door for the Coronation

of Elizabeth II in 1953.

The Apse, Westminster Abbey.
Photo: 11 March 2016.
Source: All the Fiddly Bits
Author: Garry Knight London, England.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Images of the Abbey, prior to the construction of the Towers, are scarce, though the Abbey’s official Web-Site states that the building had “Towers which had been left unfinished in the Mediæval period”.[34]

In 1750, the top of one of the Piers on the North Side of the Abbey fell down, by earthquake, with the iron and lead that had fastened it.

PART THREE FOLLOWS.