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

16 August, 2026

Neuschwanstein Castle, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany. King Ludwig II Of Bavaria’s Creation. (Part Six).



Photo: 31 July 2013.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the
Attribution:
© Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de
(Wikipedia)



The Throne Hall, Neuschwanstein Castle.
Photograph by Joseph Albert 1886. 
Postcard published 1890 - 1900. 
Detroit Publishing Co. Print No. 17479.
Date: 1886.
Source:
Photochrom from Photoglob AG Zürich (PZ, 17479); Views of Germany in the Photochrom Print Collection. This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsca.00180.
Author: Josef Albert (1825–1886).
(Wikimedia Commons)


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

Initially, a modest Study was planned instead of the great Throne Hall, and projected Guest Rooms were struck from the Drafts to make room for a Moorish Hall, which could not be realised due to lack of resources. Completion was originally projected for 1872, but repeatedly deferred.[33]

Neuschwanstein, the symbolic Mediæval Knight’s Castle, was not King Ludwig II’s only huge construction project. It was followed by the Rococo-Style “Lustschloss of Linderhof Palace” and the Baroque Palace of Herrenchiemsee, a monument to the era of absolutism.[8] 

“Linderhof”, the smallest of the projects, was finished in 1886, and the other two remain incomplete. All three projects together drained his resources. 



The view from Neuschwanstein Castle.
Blick von Neuschwanstein.
Date: Unknown.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the 
Author: Lokilech.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The King paid for his construction projects by private means and from his Civil List income. Contrary to frequent claims, the Bavarian Treasury was not directly burdened by his buildings.[30][34] From 1871, Ludwig had an additional secret income in return for a political favour given to Otto von Bismarck.[nb 6]

The construction costs of Neuschwanstein in the King’s lifetime amounted to six million German Gold Marks (equivalent to forty-seven million Euro in 2021),[35] almost twice the initial cost estimate of three million Marks.[34] 

As his private means were insufficient for his increasingly escalating construction projects, the King continuously opened new lines of credit.[36] 

In 1876, a Court Counsellor was replaced after pointing out the danger of insolvency.[37] By 1883, the King already owed seven million Marks,[38] and, in Spring 1884 and August 1885, debt conversions of seven million Marks and six million Marks, respectively, became necessary.[36]



as seen from Mary’s Bridge.
Photo: 27 July 2011.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the 
Creative Commons Attribution-
(Wikimedia Commons)

Even after his debts had reached fourteen million Marks, King Ludwig II insisted on continuation of his architectural projects; he threatened suicide if his creditors seized his Palaces.[37] 

In early 1886, Ludwig asked his Cabinet for a credit of sox million Marks, which was denied. In April 1886, he followed Bismarck’s advice to apply for the money to his [Editor: Bismark’s] Parliament.

PART SEVEN FOLLOWS.
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Westminster. Rouen. Chinon. Poitiers. The Four Centres Of Power For Henry II Plantagenet. Mediæval King Of England 1154 – 1189. Friend And Foe Of Thomas à Becket. (Part Five).





Soundtrack from Simon Schama’s
“A History of Britain”,
which included King Henry II's reign.
Sung by Emma Kirkby (Soprano)
Music by John Harle.
Available on YouTube


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

[It remains to be seen whether the British Government will now (2025) rename these two Royal Navy Ships (posthumously) as, indeed, they renamed the about-to-be Christened Submarine “Agincourt” to “Achilles”. All this was to avoid embarrassing the French !!!]

The first HMS Poictiers was a 74-Gun Third-Rate, launched in 1809. She participated in an action where she rescued HMS Frolic by capturing the USS Wasp in 1812. Poictiers was broken up in 1857.

The second HMS Poictiers was a 2,380 ton Battle-Class Destroyer, launched in April 1946, but broken up soon after.



The first decisive victory of a Christian army over a Muslim power, the Battle of Tours, was fought by Charles Martel’s men in the vicinity of Poitiers, France, on 10 October 732 A.D. For many historians, it was one of the World’s pivotal moments.

Eleanor of Aquitaine frequently resided in the Town of Poitiers, which she embellished and fortified, and, in 1199, entrusted with Communal Rights. In 1152, she married the future King Henry II of England in Poitiers Cathedral.


During the Hundred Years' War, the Battle of Poitiers, an English victory, was fought near the Town on 19 September 1356. Later in the War, in 1418, under duress, the Royal Parliament moved from Paris to Poitiers, where it remained in exile until the Plantagenets finally withdrew from the Capital in 1436. During this interval, in 1429, Poitiers was the site of Joan of Arc’s formal inquest.


Poitiers Castle,
France.
Illustration: EUROSTAR

Rouen is a City on the River Seine in the North of France. It is the Capital of the Region of Normandy. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous Cities of Mediæval Europe,

PART SIX FOLLOWS.
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Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B., Writes Upon Saint Joachim. Confessor. Father Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Feast Day 16 August. White Vestments.



Saint Joachim.
Father of The Blessed Virgin Mary.
Artist: René de Cramer.
“Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium”.
Used with Permission.


Text, unless stated otherwise, is from

This Feast is Celebrated on 16 August, but was formerly Celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave of the Assumption. 

The Monastic Breviary has a Feast of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne.



The following Text is from “The Liturgical Year”.
   By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
   Volume 13.
   Time After Pentecost.
   Book IV.

From time immemorial, the Greeks have Celebrated the Feast of Saint Joachim on the day following Our Lady’s Birthday. 

The Maronites kept it on the day after The Presentation, in November, and the Armenians on the Tuesday after the Octave of The Assumption of The Mother of God. 


Saint Joachim.
Feast Day 16 August.
God hears the Prayers of The Faithful.
Available on YouTube

The Latins at first did not keep this Feast. Later on, it was admitted and Celebrated sometimes on the day after the Octave of The Nativity, 16 September, sometimes on the day following the Conception of The Blessed Virgin, 9 December. 


Thus, both East and West agreed in associating Saint Joachim with his illustrious daughter when they wished to do him honour.

About the year 1510, Pope Julius II placed the Feast of the grandfather of The Messias upon the Roman Calendar with the Rank of Double Major; and, remembering that family, in which the ties of nature and of Grace were in such perfect harmony, he fixed the Solemnity on 20 March, the day after that of Saint Joachim’s son-in-law, Saint Joseph. 

The life of this glorious Patriarch resembled those of the first Fathers of the Hebrew people; and it seemed as though he were destined to imitate their wanderings also, by continually changing his place upon the Sacred Cycle.



Hardly fifty years after the Pontificate of Julius II, the critical “Spirit of The Day” cast doubts upon the history of Saint Joachim, and his name was erased from the Roman Breviary. 

Pope Gregory XV, however, re-established his Feast in 1622 as a Double, and The Church has since continued to Celebrate it. 

Devotion to Our Lady’s father continuing to increase very much, the Holy See was petitioned to make his Feast a Holiday of Obligation, as it had already made that of his spouse, Saint Anne. 


In order to satisfy the devotion of the people without increasing the number of Days of Obligation, Pope Clement XII in 1738 transferred the Feast of Saint Joachim to the Sunday after The Assumption of his daughter, The Blessed Virgin Mary, and restored it to the Rank of Double-Major.

On 1 August 1879, the Sovereign Pontiff, Leo XIII, who received the name of Joachim in Baptism, raised both the Feast of his glorious Patron and that of Saint Anne to the Rank of Doubles of The Second Class.

The following is an extract from the Decree “Urbi et Orbi”, announcing this final decision with regard to the said Feasts: 



“Ecclesiasticus teaches us that we ought to praise our fathers in their generation; what great honour and veneration ought we then to render to Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, who begot The Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and are on that account more glorious than all others”.

“By your fruits are you known,” says Saint John Damascene, “you have given birth to a daughter who is greater than the Angels and has become their Queen.” Now since, through the Divine Mercy, in our unhappy times the honour and veneration paid to The Blessed Virgin is increasing in proportion to the increasing needs of the Christian people, it is only right that the glory which surrounds their Blessed Daughter should redound upon her happy parents. 

May this increase of devotion towards them cause The Church to experience still more their powerful protection.
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Saint Roch. Confessor. Feast Day 16 August. White Vestments.




Saint Roch.
Artist: Francesco Francia (1447 - 1517).
Date: 1502.
Credit Line: Gift of George R. Hann, 1965.
Source/Photographer: 
This File is made available under the 
(Wikimedia Commons)


Text from “The Liturgical Year”.
   By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
   Volume 13.
   Time After Pentecost.
   Book IV.

Three years of famine, three months of defeats, three days of pestilence: The choice given to the guilty David between these three measures of expiation shows them to be equivalent before the Justice of God.

The terrible scourge, which makes more havoc in three days than would famine or a disastrous war in months and years, showed in the 14th-Century that it kept its sad pre-eminence; the Black Death covered the World with a mantle of mourning, and robbed it of a third of its inhabitants.


Doubtless the World had never so well merited the terrible warning: The Graces of Sanctity poured in profusion on the preceding Century had but checked for a while the defection of the Nations; every embankment being now broken down, entrance was given to the irresistible tide of schism, reform, and revolution, by which the World must die.

Nevertheless, God has Mercy so long as life lasts; and while striking sinful mankind, He gave them at the same time the Saint predestined to appease His vengeance.

At his birth, he appeared marked with “The Cross”. When a young man, he distributed his goods to the Poor, and, leaving his family and Country, became a Pilgrim for Christ’s sake.


Going to Italy to visit the Sanctuaries, he there found the Cities devastated by a terrible plague. Roch took up his abode among the dead and dying, burying the former, and healing the latter with the Sign of The Cross.

Himself stricken with the evil, he hid himself so as to suffer alone and a dog brought him food. When, cured by God, he returned to Montpellier, his native Town, it was only to be there seized as a spy and thrown into prison, where he died after five years.

Such are Thy dealings with Thy Elect, O Wisdom of God !


But, no sooner was he dead, than prodigies burst forth, making known his origin and history, revealing the power he still enjoyed of delivering from pestilence those who had recourse to him.

The reputation of his influence, increased by fresh benefits at each visitation of plague, caused his cultus to become popular; hence, although the Feast of Saint Roch is not universal, this short notice was due for him.
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Saint Joachim. Father Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Feast Day 16 August. White Vestments.


Saint Joachim.
   Father of The Blessed Virgin Mary.
   Confessor.

Double of The Second-Class.

White Vestments.


Saint Joachim.
Father of The Blessed Virgin Mary.
Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
Artist: René de Cramer.
“Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium”.
Used with Permission.


The first paragraph is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

Joachim ("he whom YHWH has set up", Hebrew: יְהוֹיָקִים Yəhôyāqîm, Greek Ἰωακείμ Iōākeím) was the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, The Mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the apocryphal Gospel of James. Joachim and Anne are not mentioned in the Bible.

Text and Illustrations: The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Desiring to associate the name of Joachim with the triumph of his Blessed Daughter, The Church has Transferred his Feast Day from 20 March to the day following The Assumption.

Pope Leo XIII, whose Baptismal name was Joachim, in 1879 raised Saint Joachim's Feast, and that of Saint Anne, to the Rank of Double of The Second-Class.

"Joachim and Anne," says Saint Epiphanes, "earned Divine Favour by an irreproachable life and merited that their union should bear for its beautiful fruit, The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Temple and Mother of God. Joachim, Anne, and Mary, offered manifestly together a sacrifice of praise to The Holy Trinity. The name of Joachim signifies preparation of The Lord. Is it not he, in fact, who prepares the Temple of The Lord, The Blessed Virgin ? " [Fourth Lesson at Matins.]


Wherefore, the Introit and Gradual enhance the Virtues of this great Confessor and recall the frequent Almsgiving of the Saint, for, according to Tradition, he divided what he had into three parts, of which the first was given to the Temple and its Ministers, the second to the Poor, and the third was all he kept for himself.

"Most Blessed Couple," says, in his turn, Saint John of Damascus, "the whole Creation is in your debt. For it is through you that it has been enabled to offer The Creator a present above all presents, the chaste Mother, who alone was worthy of The Creator. Rejoice, Joachim, for unto us a Son is born of thy daughter." [Fifth and Sixth Lessons at Matins.]

And the Gospel selected shows us the Royal Lineage of this Son, for, by his marriage with Mary, daughter of Joachim (or Heliachim), Joseph, son of Jacob, made Jesus the legal heir of David.


As Grace perfects nature without destroying it, it may be affirmed that Joachim, united like Saint Joseph and Saint Anne by a very intimate tie to The Mother of God and her Son, is called to exercise his perpetual patronage (Collect) with regard to The Church, The Body of Christ, or with regard to our Souls, of which Mary is Mother.

Let us, on this day, offer to God The Holy Sacrifice in honour of The Holy Patriarch, Joachim, father of The Virgin Mary, in order that his Prayer, added to that of his spouse and of their Blessed Child, may obtain the full remission of our sins and eternal glory (Secret).

Mass: Dispérsit.
Creed: Is Said.
Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. “Et te in Assumptióne”.


THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL.


THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

Available (in U.K.) from

Available (in U.S.A.) from

Available (in Ireland) from

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15 August, 2026

Cathedral And Metropolitan Church Of Saint Stephen And All Saints, Vienna, Austria. (Part Three).



English: 
Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of 
Saint Stephen and All Saints, Vienna, Austria.
Deutsch: 
Dom-und-Metropolitankirche zu 
Sankt Stephan und allen Heiligen, 
Wien, Österreich.
Photo: 8 October 2017.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the 
(Wikimedia Commons)


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

Duke Rudolf IV, the Founder, Albert II’s son, expanded the Choir again to increase the Religious clout of Vienna. On 7 April 1359, Rudolf IV laid the cornerstone for a Westward Gothic extension of the Albertine Choir in the vicinity of the present South Tower. 

This expansion would eventually encapsulate the entirety of the old Church and, in 1430, the edifice of the old Church was removed from within as work progressed on the new Cathedral. 


The South Tower was completed in 1433, and Vaulting of the Nave took place from 1446 to 1474. The Foundation for a North Tower was laid in 1450, and construction began under Master Mason Lorenz Spenning, but its construction was abandoned when major work on the Cathedral ceased in 1511.


Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna.
Organ playing during Holy Mass.
May 2023.
Available on YouTube

In 1365, just six years after beginning the Gothic extension of the Albertine Choir, Rudolf IV disregarded Saint Stephen’s status as a mere Parish Church and presumptuously established a Chapter of Canons befitting a large Cathedral.


This move was only the first step in fulfilling Vienna’s long-held desire to obtain its own Diocese; in 1469, Emperor Frederick III prevailed upon Pope Paul II to grant Vienna its own Bishop, to be appointed by the Emperor. 

Despite long-standing resistance by the Bishops of Passau, who did not wish to lose control of the area, the Diocese of Vienna was Canonically established on 18 January 1469, with Saint Stephen’s Cathedral as its Mother Church. 


In 1722, during the Reign of Emperor Charles VI, Pope Innocent XIII elevated the See to an Archbishopric.[3]

During World War II, the Cathedral was saved from intentional destruction at the hands of retreating German forces when Wehrmacht Captain Gerhard Klinkicht disregarded orders from the City Commandant, “Sepp” Dietrich, to “fire a hundred shells and reduce it to rubble”.[4] 


Photo: 30 June 2007.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the 
Author: Andrew Bossi
(Wikimedia Commons)

PART FOUR FOLLOWS.
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The Time After Pentecost (Part Three) And A Historical Note.



Illustrations: Zephyrinus,
unless stated otherwise.


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

The last scene of the Apostolate of Saint Andrew was Achaia, where he died a Martyr at Patras.

Saint Thomas took himself to Persia and India, where he was put to death at Calamina.

Saint James the Less, brother of Saint Jude, and Bishop of Jerusalem, was stoned to death about 62 A.D. by order of The High Priest, Hanan II.



In the division of the Apostolate, Scythia fell to Saint Philip. He converted this Country and then went to Hierapolis in Phrygia, where he was crucified and stoned.

According to The Breviary, Saint Bartholomew traversed that part of India which lies beyond The Ganges, this region falling to him by lot. He then directed his steps towards Armenia, where he was skinned alive and beheaded.

A Tradition assigns Ethiopia to the author of the first Gospel, Saint Matthew, who was Martyred while Celebrating The Holy Mysteries.


“The Taking Of Christ”.
Artist: Caravaggio (1571–1610).
Date: 1602.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The East was assigned to Saint Jude, brother of Saint James the Less, who wrote a Catholic Epistle and who died a Martyr like Saint Simon the Canaanite.

Saint John had fixed his Seat at Ephesus, from whence he governed the Churches of Asia Minor. It was there that he wrote his Gospel and probably, as Preface and Introduction to it, his First Epistle.


The Fourteen Auxiliary Saints.
The name of “Auxiliary Saints” is given to a group of fourteen Saints particularly noted for the efficacy of their intercession. They are often represented together.
Artist: René de Cramer.
“Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium”.
Used with Permission.

Brought to Rome, under Emperor Domitian, he was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil (Feast 6 May) and emerged unscathed. He was then banished to Patmos. He died at Ephesus under Emperor Trajan in 100 A.D. or 101 A.D.

With very few exceptions, such as Saint Gregory the Wonderworker (Feast 17 November), Saint Mary Magdalen (Feast 22 July), Saint Martha (Feast 29 July), Saint Petronilla (Feast 31 May), the Saints of the first four Centuries A.D., in The Roman Calendar, suffered Martyrdom.

[Editor: The Epistles and Gospels referred to in this Article are those read on Sundays After Pentecost.]

This concludes the Article on The Time After Pentecost.
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