15 September - The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Part One)

Double of the Second Class
White Vestments

Pictures and Italic text taken from Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia) (unless otherwise accredited)

Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (Latin: Mater Dolorosa, at times just Dolorosa), and Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to sorrows in her life. 

As Mater Dolorosa, it is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church.

Archetypal Gothic Lady of Sorrows from a triptych 

by the Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece, Alsace, circa 1455

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular Roman Catholic devotion. There are devotional prayers which consist of meditations on her Seven Sorrows. Examples include the Servite Rosary, or the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. Also, there is a corresponding devotion to the Seven Joys of Mary. The term "Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary" refers to the combined devotion of both the Immaculate Heart and the Seven Sorrows of Mary as first used by the Franciscan Tertiary, Berthe Petit.

The Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary which are a popular devotion and are frequently depicted in art. It is a common devotion for Catholics to say daily one Our Father and seven Hail Marys for each of the Seven Sorrows, which are:

The Prophecy of Simeon. (Luke 2:34-35) or the Circumcision of Christ
The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13)
The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple. (Luke 2:43-45)
Mary Meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary.
Jesus Dies on the Cross. (John 19:25)
Mary Receives the Body of Jesus in Her Arms. (Matthew 27:57-59)
The Body of Jesus Is Placed in the Tomb. (John 19:40-42)

These Seven Sorrows should not be confused with the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.

 Madonna in Sorrow, by Titian, 1554

The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows was originated by a Provincial Synod of Cologne in 1413 as a response to the iconoclast Hussites. It was designated for the Friday after the third Sunday after Easter. It had the title: Commemoratio angustiae et doloris Beatae Mariae Virginis. Before the 16th-Century, the Feast was celebrated only in parts of northern Europe.

Earlier, in 1233, seven youths in Tuscany founded the Servite Order (also known as the "Servite Friars", or the "Order of the Servants of Mary"). Five years later, they took up the "Sorrows of Mary, standing under the Cross", as the principal devotion of their Order.

Over the centuries, several devotions, and even Orders, arose around meditation on Mary's Sorrows. The Servites developed the two most common devotions to Our Lady's Sorrows, namely the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows and the Black Scapular of the Seven Dolours of Mary. The Black Scapular is a symbol of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is associated with the Servite Order. Most devotional scapulars have requirements regarding ornamentation or design. The devotion of the Black Scapular requires only that it be made of black woollen cloth.

  Our Lady, who softens evil hearts. Russian icon, 19th-Century

On February 2, the same day as the Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, Orthodox Christians andEastern Catholics commemorate a wonder-working icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God) known as "the Softening of Evil Hearts" or "Simeon's Prophecy."

It depicts the Virgin Mary at the moment that Simeon the Righteous says: "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also...." (Luke 2:35) She stands with her hands upraised in prayer, and seven swords pierce her heart, indicative of the seven sorrows. This is one of the few Orthodox icons of the Theotokos which do not depict the infant Jesus. The refrain "Rejoice, much-sorrowing Mother of God, turn our sorrows into joy and soften the hearts of evil men!" is also used.

The first altar to the Mater Dolorosa was set up in 1221 at the monastery of Schönau. Especially in Mediterranean countries, parishioners traditionally carry statues of Our Lady of Sorrows in processions on the days leading to Good Friday.

No Feast in her honour was included in Pope Saint Pius V's 1570 Tridentine Calendar. Vatican approval for the celebration of a Feast, in honour of Our Lady of Sorrows, was first granted to the Servite Order in 1667.

 Our Lady of Sorrows, El Viso del Alcor, Seville, Spain.

By inserting the Feast into the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints in 1814, Pope Pius VII extended the celebration to the whole of the Latin Church. It was assigned to the third Sunday in September. In 1913, Pope Pius X moved the Feast to September 15, the day after the Feast of the Cross. It is still observed on that date.

Another Feast, originating in the 17th-Century, was extended to the whole of the Latin Church in 1727. It was originally celebrated on Friday in Passion Week, one week before Good Friday. In 1954, it still held the rank of Major Double (slightly lower than the rank of the September 15 Feast) in the General Roman Calendar.

In 1962, the Feast was reduced to a Commemoration.

By 1969 the Vatican had come to consider it a duplication of the 15 September Feast, and the Passion Week Feast was omitted in that year's revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints.

Each celebration was called a Feast of "The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

The 15 September Feast that now combines and continues both of them is known as the Feast of "Our Lady of Sorrows" (Beatae Mariae Virginis Perdolentis). The Sequence known as Stabat Mater may be sung at Mass on that day.

 Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, 1816.

Fernando Estévez de Salas

Parroquia de San Juan Bautista, Villa de La Orotava. 

Dolorosa Estévez from Wikimedia Commons. 

Photo taken by JosuHdez, April 2010

Our Lady of Sorrows, depicted as "Mater Dolorosa" (Mother of Sorrows) has been the subject of some key works of Roman Catholic Marian art. Mater Dolorosa is one of the three common artistic representations of a sorrowful Virgin Mary, the other two being Stabat Mater ("Stood the Mother") and Pietà.

In this iconography, Our Lady of Seven Sorrows is at times simply represented in a sad and anguished mode by herself, her expression being that of tears and sadness. In other representations, the Virgin Mary is depicted with seven swords in her heart, a reference to the prophecy of Simeon, at the Presentation.

Our Lady of Sorrows is the patron saint of:

Slovakia;
the Congregation of Holy Cross;
the village of Mola di Bari and the Molise region of Italy;
the state of Mississippi, USA;
Dolores, in the Philippines;
Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
Mater Dolorosa (Berlin-Lankwitz).

13 September - The Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Text is taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B.
Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.
The Illustration is from Wikimedia Commons

The Virgin in Prayer.

Giovanni Battista Salvi "Il Sassoferrato", 

Jungfrun i bön (1640-1650). 

National Gallery, London. 

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Book of Canticles, vii. 1, 2.

How beautiful are thy first steps, O prince's daughter !

Our eyes are never weary of contemplating in thee the marvel of harmonious sweetness united to the strength of an army.

Blessed child, continue to grow in grace;

   may thy course be prosperous;

   may thy royalty be strengthened and established.

But the Church will not wait till thou be grown up,

   to sing to thee her beautiful antiphon:

First Antiphon of the Third Nocturn of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Rejoice, O Virgin Mary;

   thou alone hast destroyed all heresies throughout the world.

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

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

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

Church of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in Flachsmeer, 

District of Leer, East Frisia, Germany.

Deutsch: Hist. Kirche (kath.) in Flachsmeer, LK Ler, Ostfriesland. 

Author: Frisia Orientalis

Photo: May 2009. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Second Crusade (1146–49)

News came at this time from the Holy Land that alarmed Christendom. Christians had been defeated at the Siege of Edessa and most of the country had fallen into the hands of the Seljuk Turks. The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the other Crusader states were threatened with similar disaster. Deputations of the bishops of Armenia solicited aid from the Pope, and the King of France also sent ambassadors. The Pope commissioned Saint Bernard to preach a Second Crusade and granted the same Indulgences for it which Pope Urban II had accorded to the First Crusade.

There was, at first, virtually no popular enthusiasm for the Crusade, as there had been in 1095. Bernard found it expedient to dwell upon the taking of the Cross as a potent means of gaining absolution for sin and attaining grace. On 31 March, with King Louis present, he preached to an enormous crowd in a field at Vézelay. When Bernard was finished, the crowd enlisted en masse; they supposedly ran out of cloth to make Crosses. Bernard is said to have given his own outer garments to be cut up to make more.

Unlike the First Crusade, the new venture attracted royalty, such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, then Queen of France; Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders; Henry, the future Count of Champagne; Louis’ brother Robert I of Dreux; Alphonse I of Toulouse; William II of Nevers; William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey; Hugh VII of Lusignan; and numerous other nobles and bishops.

But an even greater show of support came from the common people. Bernard wrote to the Pope a few days afterwards, "Cities and castles are now empty. There is not left one man to seven women, and everywhere there are widows to still-living husbands."

Church of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Kurrenberg, Germany. 

Deutsch: katholische Kirche St. Bernhard in Kürrenberg

Author: GFreihalter

Photo: April 2011. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Bernard then passed into Germany, and the reported miracles which multiplied almost at his every step undoubtedly contributed to the success of his mission. Conrad III of Germany and his nephew, Frederick Barbarossa, received the Cross from the hand of Bernard. Pope Eugenius came in person to France to encourage the enterprise. As in the First Crusade, the preaching inadvertently led to attacks on Jews; a fanatical French monk named Radulphe was apparently inspiring massacres of Jews in the Rhineland, Cologne, Mainz, Worms, and Speyer, with Radulphe claiming Jews were not contributing financially to the rescue of the Holy Land.

The archbishop of Cologne and the archbishop of Mainz were vehemently opposed to these attacks and asked Bernard to denounce them. This he did, but when the campaign continued, Bernard travelled from Flanders to Germany to deal with the problems in person. He then found Radulphe in Mainz and was able to silence him, returning him to his monastery.

The last years of Bernard's life were saddened by the failure of the Second Crusade he had preached, the entire responsibility for which was thrown upon him. Bernard considered it his duty to send an apology to the Pope and it is inserted in the second part of his "Book of Considerations." There he explains how the sins of the Crusaders were the cause of their misfortune and failures. When his attempt to call a new Crusade failed, he tried to disassociate himself from the fiasco of the Second Crusade, altogether.

Interior of Church of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Rome.

Chiesa di San Bernardo alle terme, nel quartiere Castro Pretorio, a Roma. Interno. 

Author: gaspa

Photo: August 2006. 

(Wikimedia Commons). 

The death of his contemporaries served as a warning to Bernard of his own approaching end. The first to die was Abbot Suger in 1152, of whom Bernard wrote to Eugenius III: "If there is any precious vase adorning the palace of the King of Kings, it is the soul of the venerable Suger". Conrad III and his son, Henry, died the same year. From the beginning of the year 1153, Bernard felt his death approaching. The passing of Pope Eugenius had struck the fatal blow by taking from him one whom he considered his greatest friend and consoler.

Bernard died at age sixty-three on 20 August 1153, after forty years spent in the cloister. He was buried at Clairvaux Abbey, but, after its dissolution in 1792 by the French revolutionary government, his remains were transferred to Troyes Cathedral.


PART NINE FOLLOWS

12 September - The Most Holy Name of Mary

Italic text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Greater-Double.
White Vestments.

Our Lady of Ushaw,

Ushaw College, County Durham, England

Author: Zephyrinus

Photo: April 2010.

The Virgin in Prayer.

Giovanni Battista Salvi "Il Sassoferrato", 

Jungfrun i bön (1640-1650). 

National Gallery, London. 

(Wikimedia Commons)

Just, as a few days after Christmas, we celebrate the Holy Name of Jesus, so, after the Nativity of Mary, we glorify her Holy Name. Eight days after the birth of The Virgin, according to the custom of the Jews, her holy parents, inspired by God, say Saint Jerome and Saint Antoninus, gave her the name of Mary.

Wherefore, during the Octave of the Nativity, the Liturgy gives a Feast in honour of this Holy Name.

Spain, with the approval of Rome, in 1513, was the first to celebrate it, and, in 1683, it was extended to the whole Church by Pope Innocent XI, to thank Mary for the victory  which John Sobieski, King of Poland, had just gained against the Turks, who besieged Vienna and threatened the West.

"The Name of The Virgin", says the Gospel, "was Mary." The Hebrew name of Mary, in Latin, Domina, means Lady, or sovereign; for the authority of her son, Lord of the world, makes her a sovereign from her birth, in fact as well as in name. Whence, as we call Jesus "Our Lord", we say of Mary that she is "Our Lady". 

To pronounce her name, is to proclaim her power.

Let us offer the Holy Sacrifice to God to honour The Most Holy Name of Mary and to obtain by her intercession her continued protection (Postcommunion).

Fr Hugh Thwaites, SJ, (R.I.P.) reading Pope Saint Pius X's encyclical "Pascendi Gregis"

This Article can be found at the Blog, A TINY SON OF MARY

LISTEN to Fr Hugh Thwaites, SJ, (R.I.P.) reading Pope Saint Pius X's encyclical "Pascendi Gregis".

Pope Saint Pius X.

Español: San Pío X. Oleo sobre tela, siglo XX. 

Colección privada del Colegio Pío Latino. 

Author: Jpvt1979

(Wikimedia Commons) 

8 September. Feast of The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Italic Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Non-Italic text and Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless stated otherwise .

Double of the Second Class with a Simple Octave.
White Vestments.

The Church of The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Tschagguns, Austria.

Tschagguns is a community in the Montafon Valley, Austria. 

It is situated in the Westernmost federal state of Vorarlberg, Austria. 

Tschagguns ist eine Marktgemeinde in der Region Montafon im Bundesland Vorarlberg im äußersten Westen Österreichs. Im Bild: Pfarrkirche Unsere Liebe Frau Mariä Geburt. 

Author: Nikater

Photo: August 2011. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

The Nativity of Mary, or Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary by her parents Saint Anne and Saint Joachim.

Tradition celebrates the event as a liturgical Feast in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and in most Anglican liturgical calendars on 8 September, nine months after the solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, celebrated on 8 December.

The Eastern Orthodox equivalent, The Nativity of the Theotokos, pertains to the birth of the Virgin Mary in the Orthodox perspective.

This Feast, like that of the Assumption of Mary, originated in Jerusalem. It began in the 5th-Century as the Feast of the Basilica Sanctae Mariae ubi nata est, now called the Basilica of Saint Anne. 

In the 7th-Century, the Feast was celebrated by the Byzantines and at Rome as the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Feast is also celebrated by Syrian Christians on 8 September and by Coptic Christians on 9 May (1 Bashans).

The Feast is also included in the Tridentine Calendar for 8 September.

The Church of The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 

in the Borough of Media, Pennsylvania, United States of America.

Author: Smallbones

Photo: December 2010. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

The scene was frequently depicted in art, as part of cycles of the Life of the Virgin. Late-Mediaeval depictions are often valuable records of domestic interiors and their fittings - at this period the setting was often in a wealthy household.

Apostolic tradition places Mary's birthplace either in the Church of Saint Anne in Jerusalem, or in Tzippori, Israel, where Saint Anne once lived.

The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Mezőkovácsháza, Hungary. 

Magyar: A mezőkovácsházi római katolikus templom. Épült 1878–79-ben. 

Author: Burrows

Photo: August 2009. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

This very ancient Feast was already solemnised in the 7th-Century, and Pope Innocent IV, to fulfil the vow made by the Cardinals before the election of his predecessor, Pope Celestine IV, gave it an Octave at the First Council of Lyons in 1245.

This date, September 8, served to fix that of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December.

Mary is inseparable from Jesus in the Divine Plan, wherefore the Liturgy applies to her what Holy Scripture says of the eternal Wisdom which is the Word "by whom all was made".

Like Christ, the Virgin presides over the whole work of creation, for, having been chosen of all eternity to give us the Saviour, it is she, with her Son, whom God had chiefly in view when He created the world.

Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Double of the Second Class with a Simple Octave.

White Vestments.

This Illustration is taken from the HOLY CARD HEAVEN Blog.

NATIVITE DE LA SAINTE VIERGE.

EXALTATION DE LA SAINTE CROIX.

Les enfants de Marie sont surtout et toujours les enfants de la croix.

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

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

Altar of Saint Bernard in the North Transept of Ebrach Abbey, Germany.

Author: Mattana

Photo: June 2012. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

In 1139, Bernard assisted at the Second Council of the Lateran, in which the surviving adherents of the schism were definitively condemned. About the same time, Bernard was visited at Clairvaux by Saint Malachy, Primate of All Ireland, and a very close friendship formed between them. Malachy wanted to become a Cistercian, but the Pope would not give his permission. Malachy would die at Clairvaux in 1148.

Contest with Abelard

Towards the close of the 11th-Century, a spirit of independence flourished within schools of philosophy and theology. This led for a time to the exaltation of human reason and rationalism. The movement found an ardent and powerful advocate in Peter Abelard. Abelard's treatise on the Trinity had been condemned as heretical in 1121, and he himself had thrown his book into the fire. 

However, Abelard continued to develop his teachings, which were controversial in some quarters. Bernard, informed of this by William of St-Thierry, is said to have held a meeting with Abelard, intending to persuade him to amend his writings, during which Abelard repented and promised to do so. 

But, once out of Bernard's presence, he reneged. Bernard then denounced Abelard to the Pope and cardinals of the Curia. Abelard sought a debate with Bernard, but Bernard initially declined, saying he did not feel matters of such importance should be settled by logical analyses.

The Choir of Ebrach Abbey, Germany.

Author: Mattana

Photo: June 2012. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Bernard's letters to William of St-Thierry also express his apprehension about confronting the pre-eminent logician. Abelard continued to press for a public debate, and made his challenge widely known, making it hard for Bernard to decline. In 1141, at the urgings of Abelard, the archbishop of Sens called a Council of Bishops, where Abelard and Bernard were to put their respective cases. so Abelard would have a chance to clear his name.

Bernard lobbied the prelates on the evening before the debate, swaying many of them to his view. The next day, after Bernard made his opening statement, Abelard decided to retire without attempting to answer. The Council found in favour of Bernard and their judgment was confirmed by the Pope. Abelard submitted without resistance, and he retired to Cluny Abbey to live under the protection of Peter the Venerable, where he died two years later.

Cistercian Order and Heresy

Bernard had occupied himself in sending bands of monks from his overcrowded monastery into Germany, Sweden, England, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, and Italy. Some of these, at the command of Pope Innocent II, took possession of Three Fountains Abbey, from which Pope Eugenius III would be chosen in 1145.

Pope Innocent II died in the year 1143. His two successors, Pope Celestine II and Pope Lucius II, reigned only a short time, and then Bernard saw one of his disciples, Bernard of Pisa, and known thereafter as Eugenius III, raised to the Chair of Saint Peter.

Detail of the Altar of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux,

The North Transept, Ebrach Abbey, Germany.

Author: Mattana

Photo: June 2012. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Bernard sent him, at the Pope's request, various instructions, which comprise the Book of Considerations, the predominating idea of which is that the reformation of the Church ought to commence with the sanctity of the Pope. Temporal matters are merely accessories; the principles, according to Bernard's work, were that piety and meditation were to precede action.

Having previously helped end the schism within the Church, Bernard was now called upon to combat heresy. Henry of Lausanne, a former Cluniac monk, had adopted the teachings of the Petrobrusians, followers of Peter of Bruys and spread them in a modified form after Peter's death.

Henry of Lausanne's followers became known as Henricians. In June 1145, at the invitation of Cardinal Alberic of Ostia, Bernard travelled in Southern France. His preaching, aided by his ascetic looks and simple attire, helped doom the new sects. Both the Henrician and the Petrobrusian faiths began to die out by the end of that year. 

Soon afterwards, Henry of Lausanne was arrested, brought before the bishop of Toulouse, and probably imprisoned for life. In a letter to the people of Toulouse, undoubtedly written at the end of 1146, Bernard called upon them to extirpate the last remnants of the heresy. He also preached against the Cathars.

PART EIGHT FOLLOWS

The Long List of September Martyrs of the French Revolution, Blessed John du Lau and Companions

The Long List of September Martyrs of the French Revolution, Blessed John du Lau and Companions

This Article was taken from the Blog, NOBILITY.ORG

The Massacre at the Abbaye Prison, near St. Germain des Pres, 

engraved by Reinier Vinkeles and Daniel Vrydag.

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

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

Altar of Saint Bernard in the North Transept of Ebrach Abbey, Germany.

Author: Mattana

Photo: June 2012. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Ebrach Abbey, Germany.

Author: Mattana

Photo: June 2012.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the year 1128, Bernard of Clairvaux participated in the Council of Troyes, which had been convoked by Pope Honorius II, and was presided over by Cardinal Matthew, Bishop of Albano. The purpose of this Council was to settle certain disputes of the bishops of Paris, and regulate other matters of the Church of France.

The bishops made Bernard Secretary of the Council, and charged him with drawing up the synodal statutes. After the Council, the bishop of Verdun was deposed. It was at this Council that Bernard traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, who soon became the ideal of Christian nobility. He later praised them in his De Laude Novae Militiae.

Again, reproaches arose against Bernard, and he was denounced, even in Rome. He was accused of being a monk who meddled with matters that did not concern him. Cardinal Harmeric, on behalf of the Pope, wrote Bernard a sharp letter of remonstrance stating: "It is not fitting that noisy and troublesome frogs should come out of their marshes to trouble the Holy See and the cardinals."

Bernard answered the letter by saying that, if he had assisted at the Council, it was because he had been dragged to it by force. In his response Bernard wrote: "Now, illustrious Harmeric, if you so wished, who would have been more capable of freeing me from the necessity of assisting at the Council than yourself? Forbid those noisy troublesome frogs to come out of their holes, to leave their marshes . . . Then your friend will no longer be exposed to the accusations of pride and presumption".

This letter made a positive impression on Harmeric, and in the Vatican.

Altar of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Ebrach Abbey, Germany. 

Die Abteikirche der ehemaligen Zisterzienserabtei in Ebrach. 

Author: Thomas Mirtsch. 

Photo: June 2012. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

Bernard's influence was soon felt in provincial affairs. He defended the rights of the Church against the encroachments of kings and princes, and recalled to their duty Henri Sanglier, archbishop of Sens and Stephen of Senlis, bishop of Paris.

On the death of Pope Honorius II, which occurred on 14 February 1130, a schism broke out in the Church by the election of two popes, Pope Innocent II and Pope Anacletus II.

Innocent II, having been banished from Rome by Anacletus, took refuge in France. King Louis VI convened a national Council of the French bishops at Étampes, and Bernard, summoned there by consent of the bishops, was chosen to judge between the rival popes. He decided in favour of Innocent II. This caused the pope to be recognized by all the great powers.

He then went with him into Italy and reconciled Pisa with Genoa, and Milan with the Pope. The same year, Bernard was again at the Council of Reims, at the side of Innocent II. He then went to Aquitaine, where he succeeded for the time in detaching William X of Aquitaine, Count of Poitiers, from the cause of Anacletus.

In 1132, Bernard accompanied Innocent II into Italy, and, at Cluny, the Pope abolished the dues which Clairvaux used to pay to that abbey. This action gave rise to a quarrel between the White Monks and the Black Monks, which lasted 20 years.

Statue of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, kneeling before Christ on the Cross, in Bamberg, Germany.

Bamberg, Alter Ebracher Hof, Bernhardskreuz von 1738 von Daniel Friedrich Humbach.

Photo: Andreas Praefcke. 

September 2008. 

(Wikimedia Commons) 

In May of that year, the Pope, supported by the army of Emperor Lothair III, entered Rome, but Lothair, feeling himself too weak to resist the partisans of Anacletus, retired beyond the Alps, and Innocent sought refuge in Pisa in September 1133.

Bernard had returned to France in June and was continuing the work of peace-making which he had commenced in 1130. Towards the end of 1134, he made a second journey into Aquitaine, where William X had relapsed into schism.

Bernard invited William X to the Mass which he celebrated in the Church of La Couldre. At the Eucharist, he "admonished the Duke not to despise God as he did His servants".

William yielded and the schism ended. Bernard went again to Italy, where Roger II of Sicily was endeavouring to withdraw the Pisans from their allegiance to Innocent. He recalled the city of Milan to obedience to the Pope, as they had followed the deposed Anselm V, Archbishop of Milan.

For this, he was offered, and he refused, the archbishopric of Milan. He then returned to Clairvaux. Believing himself at last secure in his Cloister, Bernard devoted himself with renewed vigour to the composition of the works which would win for him the title of "Doctor of the Church".

He wrote at this time his sermons on the Song of Songs. In 1137, he was again forced to leave his solitude, by order of the Pope, to put an end to the quarrel between Lothair and Roger of Sicily. At the Conference,  held at Palermo, Bernard succeeded in convincing Roger of the rights of Innocent II. He also silenced the final supporters who sustained the schism. Anacletus died of "grief and disappointment" in 1138, and, with him, the schism ended.


PART SEVEN FOLLOWS

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

This Article is taken from the Blog, HOLY CARD HEAVEN, 

which I heartily recommend to all Readers of ZEPHYRINUS.

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.

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). 

Photo: Andreas F. Borchert

(September 2009).

(Wikimedia Commons) 

PART SIX FOLLOWS

Kyrie

Cologne Cathedral, Interior

Germany
Author: Thomas Robbin
Photo: September 2004
(Wikimedia Commons)