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On 20 May 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte, about to be crowned King of Italy, ordered the façade to be finished by Pellicani.
In his enthusiasm, he assured that all expenses would fall to the French treasury, which would reimburse the Fabbrica for the real estate it had to sell.
Though the re-imbursement was never paid, it still meant that finally, within only seven years, the Cathedral’s façade was completed.
Pellicani largely followed Buzzi’s project, adding some Neo-Gothic details to the upper windows. As a form of thanksgiving, a statue of Napoleon was placed at the top of one of the Spires. Napoleon was crowned King of Italy at the Duomo.
In the following years, most of the missing Arches and Spires were constructed. The Statues on the Southern Wall were also finished, while, during 1829 – 1858, new Stained-Glass Windows replaced the old ones, though with less aesthetically significant results.
English: Stained-Glass Window commissioned by Pope
The last details of the Cathedral were finished only in the 20th-Century: The last Portal was inaugurated on 6 January 1965. This date is considered the very end of a process which had proceeded for generations, although, even now, some uncarved blocks remain to be completed as statues.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, unless stated otherwise.
Saint Paulinus. Bishop And Confessor. Feast Day 22 June.
Double.
White Vestments.
Saint Paulinus of Nola.
English: Gothic-Revival Stained-Glass Window,
Linz Cathedral, Austria.
Deutsch: Linzer Dom ( Oberösterreich).
Neogotisches Buntglasfenster mit Darstellung
des heiligen Paulinus von Nola.
Photo: 14 March 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Wolfgang Sauber.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Paulinus, born in 353 A.D. of a very distinguished Roman family at Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, distinguished himself in his studies and became a Senator at the age of twenty-five.
Elected a Consul, he established his residence at Nola, Campania, Italy, near the tomb of Saint Felix, the Martyred Priest, whose Feast The Church Celebrates on 14 January, where he was suddenly touched by Grace and, soon after, Baptised.
Following the example of Christ, "Who, being Rich, made Himself Poor" (Epistle), and Who counselled the practice of The Virtue of Poverty (Gospel), he abandoned his great riches and, at this price, bought The Kingdom of Heaven.
Having separated from his wife, who also gave herself to God, he became a Priest. Later, he was Bishop of Nola (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion).
His former friends blamed him: “He is content with the approval of Jesus”. Soon afterwards, the Goths ravaged Campania and utterly despoiled the Rich of Rome, who gained no merit thereby, whereas Saint Paulinus, who had abandoned his riches voluntarily for Christ’s sake, is rewarded a hundredfold hereafter in Eternal Life.
He died in 431 A.D., at the age of seventy-eight, and was buried near Saint Felix at Nola.
Along with fellow Saints, Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three named Martyrs recorded at an early date from Roman Britain (“Amphibalus” was the name given much later to the Priest he was said to have been protecting).
He is traditionally believed to have been beheaded in Verulamium (modern Saint Albans) sometime during the 3rd- or 4th-Century A.D., and has been celebrated there since ancient times.
Alban lived in Roman Britain, but little is known about his religious affiliations, socio-economic status, or citizenship. According to the most elaborate version of the tale found in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, in the 3rd- or 4th-Century A.D., (see dating controversy below), Christians began to suffer “cruel persecution”, and Alban was living in Verulamium.[2]
However, Gildas says he crossed the River Thames before his Martyrdom, so some authors place his residence and Martyrdom in, or near. London.[3]
Both agree that Alban met a Roman Catholic Priest fleeing from persecutors and sheltered him in his house for a number of days. The Priest, who later came to be called Amphibalus, meaning “cloak”, in Latin, Prayed and “kept watch” day and night, and Alban was so impressed with the Priest’s Faith and piety that he found himself emulating him and soon converted to Christianity.
Stained-Glass Window of Saint Alban (Proto-Martyr of England) and Saint George (Patron Saint of England) in the South Wall of Sandhurst Church, Berkshire, England. The Window is a War Memorial to The Fallen of Sandhurst in
Eventually, it came to the ears of an unnamed “impious Prince” that Alban was sheltering the Priest. The Prince gave orders for Roman soldiers to make a strict search of Alban’s house. As they came to seize the Priest, Alban put on the Priest’s cloak and clothing and presented himself to the soldiers in place of his guest.[2]
Alban was brought before a judge, who just then happened to be standing at an altar, offering sacrifices to “devils” (Bede’s reference to pagan gods).
When the judge heard that Alban had offered himself up in place of the Priest, he became enraged that Alban would shelter a person who “despised and blasphemed the gods,”[2] and, as Alban had given himself up in the Christian’s place, Alban was sentenced to endure all the punishments that were to be inflicted upon the Priest, unless he would comply with the pagan rites of their religion.
Alban refused, and declared: “I worship and adore the true and living God Who created all things.” (The words are still used in Prayer at Saint Alban’s Abbey).
The enraged judge ordered Alban to be scourged, thinking that a whipping would shake the constancy of his heart, but Alban bore these torments patiently and joyfully. When the judge realised that the tortures would not shake his Faith, he gave orders for Alban to be beheaded.[2]
Alban was led to execution, and presently came to a fast-flowing river that could not be crossed (believed to be the River Ver). There was a bridge, but a mob of curious towns people, who wished to watch the execution, had so clogged the bridge that the execution party could not cross.
Filled with an ardent desire to arrive quickly at Martyrdom, Alban raised his eyes to Heaven, and the river dried up, allowing Alban and his captors to cross over on dry land.
The Nave, Saint Albans Cathedral.
The North Wall (Left) features a mix of Norman Arches dating back to 1077 and Arches in the Early-English Style of 1200.[18]
The astonished executioner cast down his sword and fell at Alban’s feet, moved by divine inspiration and Praying that he might either suffer with Alban or be executed for him.[2][4]
The other executioner hesitated to pick up his sword and, meanwhile, Alban went about 500 paces to a gently sloping hill, completely covered with all kinds of wildflowers, and overlooking a beautiful plain. (Bede observes that it was a fittingly beautiful place to be enriched and sanctified by a Martyr’s blood.)[2]
When Alban reached the summit of the hill, he began to thirst and Prayed God would give him water. A spring immediately sprang up at his feet. It was there that his head was struck off, as well as the head of the first Roman soldier, who was miraculously converted and refused to execute him.
The Wallingford Screen of circa 1480. The statues are Victorian replacements (1884–1889) of the originals, destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when the Screen was also damaged.[30] Statues of Saint Alban
However, immediately after delivering the fatal stroke, the eyes of the second executioner fell out of his head and dropped to the ground, along with Alban’s head, so that this second executioner could not rejoice over Alban’s death.[2]
In later legends, Alban’s head rolled downhill after his execution, and a well sprang up where it stopped.[5] Upon hearing of the Miracles, the astonished judge ordered further persecutions to cease, and he began to honour the Saint’s death.[2]
Saint Albans Cathedral now stands near the believed site of his execution, and a well is at the bottom of the hill, Holywell Hill.[5]
The earliest mention of Alban’s Martyrdom is believed to be in Victricius’s “De Laude Sanctorum” (The Praise of Saints), circa 396 A.D. Victricius had just returned from settling an unnamed dispute among the Bishops of Britain.[6]
He does not mention Alban by name, but includes an unnamed Martyr, who, “in the hands of the executioners told rivers to draw back, lest he should be delayed in his haste.”[6] The account closely resembles Alban’s Martyrdom, and many historians have concluded that this may be a reference to Alban, making it the earliest surviving reference to a British Saint.
The foundational text concerning Alban is the “Passio Albani”, or the “Passion of Alban”, which relates the tale of Alban’s Martyrdom, and Germanus of Auxerre’s subsequent visit to the site of Alban’s execution.
World-first technology used to restore colour to
Saint Albans Cathedral’s 15th-Century Wallingford Screen.
This “Passio” survives in six manuscripts, with three different recensions, referred to as T, P, and E,[8] the oldest of which dates to the 8th-Century A.D.[9] The T manuscript is in Turin, the P manuscript is in Paris and the E manuscripts (of which there are four) are at The British Library and Gray's Inn, both in London, and Autun (France) and Einsiedeln (Switzerland).
The “Passio” is very likely the source text of the more well-known accounts found in Gildas and Bede.
Another early text to mention Alban is the “Vita Germani”, or “Life of Saint Germanus of Auxerre”, written about 480 A.D., by Constantius of Lyon.[10] The text only very briefly mentions Alban, but is an important text concerning his nascent cult.
According to the “Vita”, Germanus visited Alban’s grave shortly after defeating the Pelagian heresy in Britain and asked Alban to give thanks to God on his behalf.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, unless stated otherwise.
The Ecclesiastical Year begins on The First Sunday of Advent and ends on the Saturday following The Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost.
It is composed of Liturgical Seasons, or Times.
THE TEMPORAL CYCLE, or, PROPER OF THE TIME, reveals
Our Lord to us in the Traditional setting of the
great mysteries of our Holy Religion.
Simultaneously with this TEMPORAL CYCLE, is a secondary one, called THE SANCTORAL CYCLE, or, PROPER OF THE SAINTS, because it is composed of all the Feasts of those Blessed Souls in which the work of the redemption is already accomplished.
This Circle, or Cycle, is divided into two parts:
That of Christmas and that of Easter.
Both of the Cycles containing these two great Feasts
are divided into three periods:
The time before the Feast;
The time during the Feast;
The time after the Feast.
Thus having for its aim:
To prepare the Soul for the Feasts;
Then to allow the Soul to Celebrate the Feasts with Solemnity;
And, finally, to prolong the Feast for several weeks.
Advent is comprised of four weeks, during which,
with the Patriarchs and Prophets, we long for the Advent,
or coming, of Our Lord.
Christmas brings before our eyes:
The Birth of The Word Incarnate, Who is born in us by Grace;
And The Epiphany, or His Manifestation to the World.
The Time After Epiphany includes from one to five Sundays;
it recalls to us the hidden life of Christ at Nazareth, and manifests to us His Divinity.
This Cycle depends upon the Easter Moon
and begins between 18 January and 22 February.
Nine weeks lead us up to the Great Feast of Easter.
These weeks are divided into three periods:
Septuagesima.
During three weeks, brings before us the Public Life of Our Lord and, with Lent, which follows it, gives us a summary of it.
Lent.
Which begins on Ash Wednesday, represents by forty days
of Penance, the forty days’ Fast of Our Lord in the desert,
in which we participate.
Passiontide.
Which comprises the last two weeks of Lent and brings home to us the last sufferings of Christ and His Death on The Cross. That, with Him, we may die to our sins.
Paschaltide.
Permits us to participate in the greatest of all the Feasts.
It is at Easter, with its Privileged Octave, that our Soul,
risen with Christ, lives with Him during forty days,
whilst He Founds The Church and then ascends to Heaven
on Ascension Day.
The Feast of Pentecost closes this period with the
descent of The Holy Ghost into our Souls.
The Time After Pentecost.
Shows us during twenty-four weeks the fruits of holiness which The Holy Ghost and The Blessed Sacrament cause to develop in The Church and her Saints to the end of the World.
This last event is brought before us on
the Last Sunday After Pentecost.
The Feast of Easter, the centre of the year, is
always Celebrated on the Sunday after the fourteenth day
of the March Moon. This day is counted only from the
twenty-first of March.
If it is Full Moon before the twenty-first of March,
the Paschal Moon will be the following one; hence,
the difference sometimes of a month.
In other words, the extreme dates for the Celebration of Easter are the twenty-second of March and the twenty-fifth of April.
In 1890, Pope Leo XIII established a Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes (Feast Day 11 February).
In 1907, Pope Saint Pius X extended the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes to The Universal Church.
In 1913, Pope Saint Pius X raised the Feast of The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady (Feast Day 15 September) to the Rank of a Double of the Second-Class.
In 1911-1912, Pope Saint Pius X transformed the Church’s Liturgical Calendar in such a way as to give the Christological Cycle preponderance over the Sanctoral Cycle, and, thereby, restore all things in Christ.
Pope Benedict XV (Reigned 1914-1922) extended the Feast of Saint Ephrem (Feast Day 18 June) to the whole Church, at the same time giving him the Title of Doctor of The Church. He also ordered the use of the new Preface of Saint Joseph and the new Preface of The Dead.
Pope Benedict XV extended to the Universal Church the following Feasts:
The Feast of The Holy Family (Feast Day Sunday within the Octave of The Epiphany);
The Feast of Saint Gabriel (Feast Day 24 March);
The Feast of Saint Raphael (Feast Day 24 October);
Where desired, the Feast of The Blessed Virgin Mary, (Mediatrix of All Graces) (Feast Day 31 May);
Where desired, the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus (Feast Day Thursday within Octave of The Sacred Heart).
Pope Pius XI (Reign 1922-1939) instituted the following Feasts:
The Feast of Christ The King
(Feast Day last Sunday of October);
The Feast of the Maternity of Our Lady
(Feast Day 11 October).
Pope Pius XI (Reigned 1922-1939) drew up a new Divine Office and a new Mass for the Feast of The Sacred Heart (Feast Day Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi), which he enriched, in 1929, with a Privileged Octave of the Third Order.
Text from “The Liturgical Year”. By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B. Volume 12. Time After Pentecost. Book III.
Let the heavens rejoice; let the Island of Saints exult; and let all the Universe shout with her a song of victory. For now, indeed, has Earth been everywhere em-Purpled with the Blood of Testimony.
Alban, Proto-Martyr of fruitful England, seals today the conquest of the far West. Already, doubtless, even from the earliest days, Albion had yielded abundant flowers beneath the footsteps of the Spouse, whose giant stride had reached even unto her.
Later on, Eleutherius and Lucius had added the fresh charm of other plants to this new garden, wherein, far away from sterile Juda, the Man-God could forget the haughty disdain of the daughter of Sion.
Jesus loves, indeed, flower-beds exhaling the fragrance of confession and of praise; but still flowers of peace may not alone form the diadem of this powerful Son of the God of armies.
The beauty He received from His Mother was enhanced by the Blood shed by Him in the great battle, and to obtain favour in His own eyes, the bride, too, is called upon to mingle her own brilliant Purple with the glistening Whiteness of His lilies.
Glory, then, to our Proto-Martyr ! Glory to him by whom Albion, fully arrayed for the nuptials of The Lamb, advances side by side with the most illustrious Churches, and takes her seat with them at the banquet of the strong !
From the heights of Heaven, the glorious Choir of Apostles and the White-Robed army of Martyrs are thrilling with joy, as in the brightest days of the three hundred years’ struggle, prolonged, perchance, on purpose to give ancient Britain a chance of sharing in their triumph.
Persecution was nearing its close; and even from British soil, the last to be touched by the tidal wave of Martyrs’ Blood, would deliverance come.
On 22 June 303 A.D., Alban, our new Stephen, died, breathing a Prayer for his murderers, beside the banks of a tributary of The River Thames; on 25 July 306 A.D., Constantine, having just escaped the snares of Galerius, was proclaimed at York, and he started thence to unfurl the Standard of Salvation to the whole World.
Later on, to the victorious combats of The Cross succeeded heresy’s contesting struggle to wrest from God Nations already won to His Christ in Holy Baptism. Whilst The East was going astray in misconceptions of The Incarnate Word, The West was carping at Doctrines concerning Free Will and Grace, a fatal stumbling-block which would be thrown in again at a more distant epoch.
Pelagius, the heretic here in question, was condemned by The Church, and the stone of error hurled against her gave but a passing shock.
The tomb of Alban was the curbing point of Hell’s efforts at that time, and here ended the final troubles caused by the Pelagian attack. Saint Lupus of Troyes and Saint Germanus of Auxerre, sent from the Continent to maintain the cause of Grace, ascribed to our British Martyr the whole honour of their victory, whereby Peace was given to The Western Church.
To show that this second defeat of Hell’s power was indeed the completion of that which a Century previously had ended the era of blood, these two Holy Bishops respectfully opened the glorious tomb, and united to the remains of our noble Alban some Relics of the Apostles and Martyrs, the fruit of whose triumph had just been definitely sealed.
For a thousand years were the depths of the abyss closed; years of power, years of honour for Alban, Venerated alike by each successive Race that lived on our British shore. The Anglo-Saxons outstripped the Britons in the magnificence of the structure they raised on the site of the Church formerly built over the Martyr’s tomb in the first era of his victory.
The Danes even considered his holy body to be their noblest conquest; and under the Normans, the Abbey, Founded by Offa of Mercia, beheld Popes and Kings concert together in raising its prerogatives and glory to the highest pitch.
No Monastic Church on this side of the Channel would compare with Saint Alban’s in its privileges; and just as Alban is counted England’s first Martyr, so was the Abbot of his Monastery held first in dignity among all Abbots of this realm.
For a thousand years, Alban too reigned with Christ. At last, came the epoch when the depths of the abyss were to be let loose for a little time, and Satan, unchained, would once again seduce Nations.
Vanquished formerly by the Saints, power was now given him to make War with them, and to overcome them in his turn. The disciple is not above his Master: Like his Lord, Alban, too, was rejected by his own.
Hated without cause, he beheld the illustrious Monastery destroyed, that had been Albion’s pride in the palmy days of her history; and scarce was even the Venerable Church itself saved, wherein God’s athlete had so long reposed, shedding benefits around far and near.
But, after all, what could he now do, in a profaned Sanctuary, in which strange Rites had banished those of our forefathers, and condemned the Faith for which the Martyrs had bled and died ?
So, Alban was ignominiously expelled, and his ashes scattered to the winds.
Text from “The Liturgical Year”. By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B. Volume 12. Time After Pentecost. Book III.
“Oh, how exceeding great is the glory of Aloysius, son of Ignatius ! Never could I have believed it, had not my Jesus shown it to me. Never could I have believed that such glory was to be seen in Heaven !”
Thus cries out Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, whose memory we were celebrating a month ago; she is speaking in ecstasy. From the heights of Carmel, whence her ken may reach beyond the heavens, she reveals to Earth the splendour wherewith the youthful hero of this day shines amidst the celestial phalanxes.
Yet, short was the life of Aloysius, and it had offered nothing to the superficial gaze of a vast majority, save the preliminaries, so to say, of a career broken off in its flower before bearing fruit of any kind.
Ah !, God does not take account of things as men do; of very slight weight are their appreciations in His judgement ! Even in the case of Saints, themselves, the mere fractional number of years, or brilliant deeds, goes far less to the filling up of a lifetime, in His view, than does love.
The usefulness of a human existence ought surely to be measured by the amount produced in it of what is lasting. Now beyond this present time charity remains along, fixed for ever at the precise degree of growth attained during this life of passage.
Little matters it, therefore, if without any long duration or any apparent works, one of God’s Elect has developed in himself a love as great as, or greater than, some others have done, in the midst of many toils, be they never so holy, and throughout a long career admired of men.
English: Saint Aloysius Gonzaga at Prayer.
Français: Tableau “Saint-Louis de Gonzague priant”.
Alsace, Bas-Rhin, Abbatiale Saint-Étienne de Marmoutier.
The illustrious Society that gave Aloysius Gonzaga to holy Church owes the sanctity of her members and the benedictions poured upon their works to the fidelity she has ever professed to this important truth, which throws so much light on the Christian life.
From the very first age of her history, it would seem that Our Lord Jesus, not content with allowing her to assume His own Blessed name, has been lovingly determined so to arrange circumstances in her regard that she may never forget wherein her real strength lies, in the midst of the actively militant career which He has especially opened before her.
The brilliant works of Saint Ignatius her Founder; of Saint Francis Xavier, the Apostle of The Indies; of Saint Francis Borgia, the noble conquest of Christ’s humility; manifested truly wondrous holiness in them, and to the eyes of all; but these works had no other spring or basis than the hidden virtues of that other glorious triumvirate, in which, under the eye of God alone, by the sole strength of contemplative Prayer, Saint Stanislaus Kostka, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, and Saint John Berchmans, rose to such a degree of love, and consequently to the sanctity of their heroic fathers.
The ceiling of the Cappella dell’Immacolata
(Chapel of The Immaculate Conception) is located in
Monte Isola, which is part of the Lombardy region in Italy.
The ceiling is richly decorated by stucco work and by the representation of Saint Charles Borromeo, Founder of the Oblates, and of Aloysius Gonzaga, protector of the youth, in the act of adoring Our Lady with The Child Jesus.
Again, it is by Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, the depositary of the secrets of the Spouse, that this Mystery is revealed to us. In the rapture, during which the glory of Aloysius was displayed before her eyes, she thus continues, while still under the influence of The Holy Ghost: “Who could ever explain the value and the power of interior acts ? The glory of Aloysius is so great simply because he acted thus interiorly.
“Between an interior act and that which is seen, there is no comparison possible. Aloysius, as long as he dwelt on Earth, kept his eye attentively fixed on The Word; and this is just why he is so splendid. Aloysius was a hidden Martyr; whosoever loveth Thee, my God, knoweth Thee to be so great, so infinitely lovable, that keen indeed is the Martyrdom of such a one, to see clearly that he loves Thee not so much as he desireth to love Thee, and that Thou art not loved by Thy creatures, but art offended !”
To love God, to allow His grace to turn our heart towards infinite Beauty, which alone can fill it, such is then the true secret of highest perfection.
Who can fail to see how this teaching of today’s Feast answers to the end pursued by The Holy Ghost ever since His coming down at our glorious Pentecost.
The Coat-of-Arms of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga’s family
is the historic Arms of the House of Gonzaga, the ruling dynasty of Mantua, Italy.
Blazon.
Argent, a Cross Pattée Gules,
between four Eagles displayed Sable,
affronted two and two;
Overall (in escutcheon):
Quarterly —
1 & 4: Gules, a Lion Argent Crowned Or (Lombardy);
2 & 3: Barry of six Or and Sable (the Ancient Arms of Gonzaga).
This is the form used by the Marquises and Dukes of Mantua, the Senior Line to which Saint Aloysius belonged through the Gonzaga of Castiglione delle Stiviere Branch.
What each Element means:
Silver field with Red Cross Pattée —
The Imperial Grant of 1433 from Emperor Sigismund, when The Gonzaga became Marquises of Mantua.
Four Black Eagles — Imperial Eagles,
marking the family’s status as Imperial Vicars.
In Escutcheon with Lion of Lombardy —
Symbol of their Territorial authority in Lombardy.
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