Quadregesima Sunday. The First Sunday Of Lent. Lenten Station at The Papal Arch-Basilica of Saint John Lateran.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,

unless stated otherwise.

Quadregesima Sunday.
First Sunday of Lent.

Station at Saint John Lateran.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Semi-Double.

Privilege of The First Class.

Violet Vestments.

"And behold, Angels came and ministered to Him".

English: Papal Arch-Basilica of Saint John Lateran.

Main façade of the Arch-Basilica of Saint John Lateran,

Rome, Italy, by Alessandro Galilei, 1735.

Latin: Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris et Sanctorum Iohannes Baptistae et

Evangelistae in Laterano. Omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput

Italiano: Facciata principale della Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano (Roma),

progettata da Alessandro Galilei (1735).

Français: Façade principale de la basilique Saint-Jean-de-Latran (Rome)

par Alessandro Galilei, 1735.

Photo: 2006/09/07.

Source: Own work.

Author: Jastrow

(Wikimedia Commons)

Originally, The Forty Days of Lent were counted from this Sunday. The Liturgical gathering of "The Station" takes place today, as it has since the 4th-Century A.D., at Saint John Lateran, which is The Patriarchal Basilica of The Bishops of Rome. At its first Consecration, it was Dedicated to "Saint Saviour", a name which calls to mind the Redemption accomplished by Our Blessed Lord.

Immediately after His Baptism, Our Lord began to prepare for His Public Life by a Fast of Forty Days in the mountainous desert which stretches between Jericho and the mountains of Judea. [Tradition tells us that Our Lord took shelter in the grotto on the highest peak of all, known as Mount of the Quarantine.] It was there that He was tempted by Satan, who wished to discover whether The Son of Mary was, in reality, The Son of God (Gospel of The Mass of The Day).

As in the case of Adam, Satan addresses his first attack to the senses. Our Lord is hungry and the tempter suggests to Him that He should turn stones into bread. In the same way, he tries, during these Forty Days, to make us give up on our Fasting and mortification. This is the concupiscence of the flesh.

English: Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Vatican.

With its length of 400 feet, this Basilica ranks fifteenth among the largest Churches in the World.

Français: Basilique Saint-Jean-de-Latran, Vatican, située à Rome, Latium, Italie. Avec sa longueur de 121,84 mètres, cette Basilique se classe au 15è rang parmi les plus grandes églises au monde.

Photo: September 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tango7174

(Wikimedia Commons)

The devil had promised our first parent that he should be as God. Now, he takes Our Lord to the pinnacle of the Temple and tries to induce Him to let Himself be carried by the Angels through the air, amidst the applause of the crowds below. Satan tempts us by Pride, which is opposed to the spirit of Prayer and meditation on God's Word. This is the Pride of Life.

Finally, just as he had promised Adam a knowledge which, like that of God Himself, should enable him to know all things, so Satan assures Jesus that he will make Him Ruler over all Created Things, if He will fall at his feet and worship him. In the same way, the devil seeks to attach us to Temporal goods, when we ought, by Alms and Works of Charity, to be doing good to our neighbour. This is the concupiscence of the eyes, or Avarice.

Since the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, Our Lord made use of the 90th Psalm against Satan, and this is the theme of the whole Mass and is found again and again in The Office of The Day. "His Truth shall cover thee with a shield," says the Psalmist. This Psalm is, therefore, the ideal Psalm for Lent as a special time of warfare against the devil.

English: Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Vatican.

The Choir and Apse.

The mosaics in the dome are a 19th-Century rebuilding of

Jacopo Torriti's works, dating back to the 13th-Century.

Français: Basilique Saint-Jean-de-Latran, Vatican, située à Rome, Latium, Italie.

Chœur et abside. La mosaïque du dôme est une réfection du XIXè siècle de l'œuvre

de Jacopo Torriti remontant au XIIIè siècle.

Photo: September 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tango7174

(Wikimedia Commons)

Again, the Eleventh Verse: "He hath given His Angels charge over Thee, to keep Thee in all Thy ways," recurs in Vespers-like refrain during the whole Season. We find the entire Psalm in the Tract, which reminds us of the old custom of singing Psalms during certain parts of The Mass.

Some of its Verses make up the Introit, with its Verse, the Gradual, the Communion and the Offertory, which last was formerly composed, in today's Mass, of three Verses instead of one, following the order of the threefold temptation as recorded in the Gospel.

Side-by-side with this Psalm, the Epistle, certainly dating from the time of Pope Saint Leo, sounds one of the characteristic notes of Lent. There, Saint Paul borrows a Text of Isaias: "In an accepted time, have I heard thee, and in the Day of Salvation have I helped thee." "Behold," says the Apostle, "now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the Day of Salvation" (Epistle and First Nocturn).

The Decorated Ceiling

of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran,

Rome, Italy.

Photo: March 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Grenouille vert

(Wikimedia Commons)

On this, Saint Leo comments: "Although there is no Season of the Year which is not rich in Divine Gifts and in which we, by God's Grace, do not find immediate access to His Mercy; nevertheless, at this time, when the return of the day on which we are redeemed summons us to fulfill all the duties of Christian piety, the Souls of Christians must be stirred with more zeal for spiritual progress, and possessed of a very great confidence in Almighty God.

In this manner, with pure Souls and bodies, shall we celebrate this Mystery of The Lord's Passion, Sublime beyond all others. True, we ought always to be in The Divine Presence, just as much as on The Easter Feast. But, because this spiritual vigour is the possession of only a few, while, on the other hand, the weakness of the flesh leads to any very severe observance being relaxed, and on the other, the varied occupations of this life share and divide our interest, it necessarily happens that the dust of the world soils the hearts, even of Religious themselves.

The Cloisters at Saint John Lateran.

Photo: August 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Kodiak

(Wikimedia Commons)

This Divine Institution has been planned with great profit to our Salvation, in a manner that the exercises of these Forty Days may help us to regain the Purity of our Souls, making up, in a way, for the faults of the rest of the Year, by Fasting and pious deeds.

However, we must be careful to give no-one the least cause of complaint or scandal, so that our general behaviour may not be inconsistent with our Fasting and Penance. For it is useless to reduce the nourishment of the body unless the Soul departs from sin" (Second Nocturn).

In this "acceptable time" and in these "Days of Salvation", let us purify ourselves with The Church (Collect), "in Fastings, in Chastity," by zeal in hearing and meditating on The Word of God and by Charity unfeigned (Epistle).

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

Mass: Invocábit me.

Preface: For Lent.

The Roman Station Liturgy.

The Minor Basilica of Santa Sabina, Rome, Italy,
where the first Lenten Station is kept on Ash Wednesday.
Illustration: THE PONTIFICAL NORTH AMERICAN COLLEGE

This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at,
THE PONTIFICAL NORTH AMERICAN COLLEGE


The Roman Station Liturgy.

This information comes largely from "The Urban Character of Christian Worship", 
by Rev. John Baldovin, S.J. 

Each year, The North American College follows the ancient Tradition of The Roman Stational Liturgy.

All are invited to join us for the Celebration of Mass each day.

Mass will begin each day at 0700 hrs, with the exception of Mass on Ash Wednesday, which begins at 0645 hrs. Please note that we do not Celebrate either Sunday Mass or The Paschal Triduum at the Station Churches.

The Schedule of Station Churches can be seen at

THE NORTH AMERICAN PONTIFICAL COLLEGE


History.

Our modern observance of The Stational Liturgy traces its roots back to the practice of The Bishop of Rome Celebrating the Liturgies of The Church Year at various Churches throughout the City of Rome, a Tradition dating back as far as the Late-2nd-Century A.D. or Early-3rd-Century A.D.

One reason for this was practical: With The Church in Rome being composed of diverse groups from many cultures, regular visits by The Bishop of Rome (The Pope) served to unify the various groups into a more cohesive whole.

Another reason, particularly following the legalisation of Christianity in 313 A.D., which permitted public Worship, was to commemorate certain Feast Days at Churches with a special link to that Celebration. Therefore, Good Friday came to be Celebrated at the Basilica of The Holy Cross-in-Jerusalem, and Christmas, at Saint Mary Major, where a Relic of The Manger was Venerated.

In time, the original Churches in the City, known as Tituli (singular: Titulus), because they often bore the name of the donor, took on an additional significance as the places that held the Relics of The Martyrs and the memory of the early history of The Church in this City.

As time passed, the schedule of these Stational Visits, which had earlier followed an informal order, took on a more formalised structure. By the last half of the 5th-Century A.D., a fairly-fixed Calendar was developed, having the order of the places at which the Pope would say Mass with the Church Community on certain days throughout the year.

In the weeks before the beginning of Lent, the three large Basilicas outside-the-Walls were visited, forming a ring of Prayer around the City before The Season of Lent began. During Lent, the various Stations were originally organised so that the Masses were held in different areas of the City each day. During The Octave of Easter, The Stations form a Litany of The Saints, beginning with Saint Mary Major, on Easter Sunday, and continuing with Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Laurence, The Apostles, and The Martyrs.

The Liturgy of these Masses had several elements, many of which developed over time. According to the structure of The Late-First-Millennium, the people would gather in mid-afternoon, with the Pope, at one Church, known as the Collectum. There, after some Prayers, the group would move in Procession to the Statio, at which Mass would be said. The use of the term Statio, for this ending point, has a connection with the practice of Fasting on these days.

The Christians of this time made a comparison of their Fasting and Prayer during Lent with the Guard Duty of Soldiers, seeing their actions as something to be approached with a similar seriousness of purpose. The term Statio came to be applied to The Eucharistic Celebrations that took place on Fasting Days. Later, the term Statio came to be used for all Churches at which the major Liturgical Celebration in the City was to be held on a certain day.

The order of The Stations, originally organised in the 5th-Century A.D., would undergo several changes over the following three Centuries. The current order was essentially fixed by the time of The Council of Trent. Over the last several Centuries, two of the original Stations have been lost, although most older Liturgical Books still list their name as the Station for their original day.

The Church of Saint Augustine has taken the place of Saint Tryphon, an older Church which once stood on a nearby site. The second lost Church is that of Saint Cyriacus, which originally stood near The Baths of Diocletian. Having fallen into ruin, its Stational Day was transferred to Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata, possibly because a Monastery, also Dedicated to Saint Cyriacus, once stood behind this Church.

The other Churches have not passed the Centuries without their difficulties, either; many have been destroyed and rebuilt; some fell into ruins, being saved only when on the verge of final collapse; all have been modified in various ways throughout the ages. Yet, what remains through all the changes is the memory of those past Christians who Worshipped at these places.

While other Cities, such as Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Milan, once had similar Stational Liturgies, Rome is the only City in which these continue in some regular form. Therefore, just like The Writings of The Fathers of The Church and The Art of The Early Christian Era, The Stational Cycle comes down to us as a Monument of The Early Church, a living connection to those days when the witness of The Martyrs was still fresh and The Echo of The Apostles’ voices could still be heard in the City’s streets.

Saturday After Ash Wednesday. Lenten Station Was At The Church Of Saint Tryphon (Now At The Church Of Saint Augustine).

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

Saturday after Ash Wednesday.

Station at Saint Tryphon's

   (now at Saint Augustine's).

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.

English: The Church of Saint Augustine, Rome.

Italiano: San'Agostino, Rome.

Photo: October 2005.

Source: Own Work.

Author: Lalupa.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Station at Rome was, previously, at The Church of Saint Tryphon, who died a Martyr in The East. This Church having been destroyed, The Station was removed, under Pope Clement VIII, to a neighbouring Church, that of Saint Augustine. [Editor: The Church Commemorates The Feast Day of Saint Tryphon on 10 November.]

The High Altar,

Sant'Agostino, Rome.

Photo: July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: SteO153

Permission: CC-BY-SA-2.5

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saturday is the day of rest, which symbolises The Eternal Sabbath (Epistle of The Mass of The Day). To reach it, we must, during Lent, struggle by "Solemn Fast" (Collect of The Mass) and by Works of Charity (Epistle) against our passions, of which the rough sea and the contrary winds, spoken of in the Gospel, are a figure.

In this hard struggle, Jesus will come to our aid (Postcommunion), as He did to The Apostles and "heal our bodies and our Souls by Fasting." (Collect), as He healed all the sick in the country of Genesareth.

Mass: Audívit Dóminus.
Preface: For Lent.

The Altar and Tomb of Saint Monica of Hippo,

at Sant'Agostino in Campo Marzio Church, Rome.

Photo: March 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Bocachete

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Sant'Agostino is a Church in Rome, Italy, not far from Piazza Navona. It is one of the first Roman Churches built during The Renaissance. The construction was funded by Guillaume d'Estouteville, Archbishop of Rouen and Papal Chancellor. The façade was built in 1483 by Giacomo di Pietrasanta, using Travertine taken from The Colosseum. It is a fine, plain work of The Early-Renaissance Style.

The most famous work of art, presently in the Church, is The Madonna di Loreto, an important Baroque painting by Caravaggio. The Church also contains a Guercino canvas of Saints Augustine, John the Evangelist and Jerome; a fresco of The Prophet Isaiah by Raphael; and the statues of The Virgin and Child, by Andrea Sansovino and of The Madonna del Parto (Our Lady of Childbirth) by his pupil, Jacopo Sansovino. The latter sculpture is reputed by Tradition to work miracles and was, according to a legend, based on an ancient statue of Agrippina holding Nero in her arms.

In 1616, the 17th-Century Baroque artist, Giovanni Lanfranco, decorated The Buongiovanni Chapel (in the Left Transept) with three canvasses and a ceiling fresco of The Assumption. The Church also houses Melchiorre Caffà's sculpture "Saint Thomas of Villanova Distributing Alms", completed by his mentor, Ercole Ferrata. Pietro Bracci designed and sculpted the polychromatic tomb of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali (1741).

English: "Madonna di Loreto",

by Caravaggio.

Deutsch: Altargemälde der Cavaletti-Kapelle in Sant' Agostino in Rom,

Szene: Madonna der Pilger.

Artist: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.

Date: 1603 - 1605.

Current location: Church of San'Agostino, Rome.

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.

DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202.

Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

Permission: [1]

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church contains the tomb of Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine, and that of Fiammetta, lover of Cesare Borgia and a famous courtesan.

Sant'Agostino was once noted for the presence of a number of courtesans and prostitutes in its Congregation.

The Titulus S. Augustini is held by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard since 2006. Furthermore, it is The Station Church of The First Saturday in Lent.

Stations Of The Cross. Every Friday During Lent. When Was The Last Time You Followed The Way Of The Cross ?

Taken from: FR. Z's BLOG

This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at, FR. Z's BLOG

Since it is a Friday of Lent, a First Friday, do please Pray The Act of Reparation.

Here also are my audio projects of The Way of The Cross.

What we need right now is PRAYER, especially at the end of this hard week. And remember to

GO TO CONFESSION !!!

Also, these days, we especially need to Pray for Priests, which includes Bishops and everyone up the hierarchy

There are many Priests, today, who  – for one reason or another  –  are failing in their duty to teach with clarity what The Church has always taught.

There are other Priests who are becoming discouraged and afraid concerning what might befall them if they remain clear and faithful. Yet other Priests are mired in sins. And always there are those Priests who are infirm, old, nearing their judgment.

Hence, this year, I’ve added a new version, The Way Of The Cross For Priests from The Benedictines of Silverstream Priory. HERE.

Would you consider getting copies of this for your Priests where you are ?

They also have beautiful Altar Cards HERE.

 In my reading, I left out the references to the Scripture passages which are quoted, for they would not be read in a public recitation. I urge you, however, to obtain a hard copy so that, if you wish, you can find them. Even more, I urge you Lay People to get a copy and then Pray with it for Priests.

Below are readings of The Via Crucis, The Way of The Cross, composed by
Joseph Card. Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, for the 2005 Good Friday observance at The Colosseum in Rome.
Saint Alphonus Liguori.
Blessed John Henry Newman.
Saint Francis of Assisi (according to the method . . . )
Silverstream Priory – The Way Of The Cross For Priests.

There are two versions of "The Way" by Saint Alphonsus Liguori. One is plain with just my voice. The other is the same voice recording, but with The Gregorian Chant Sequence Stabat Mater interlaced between The Stations.

There are two versions of "The Way", by Saint Alphonsus Liguori. One is plain, with just my voice. The other is the same voice recording but with the Gregorian chant Sequence Stabat Mater interlaced between The Stations.

The Way Of The Cross For Priests [ 24:00 ] Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download (80)

Stations of the Cross - Joseph Ratzinger (Good Friday 2005) [ 1:05:40 ] Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download (28051)

Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori [ 35:43 ] Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download (14045)

Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori (with chant) [ 34:16 ] Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download (23256)

Stations of the Cross by Bl. John Henry Newman [ 50:42 ] Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download (7490)

Stations of the Cross according to the method of St Francis of Assisi [ 42:43 ] Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download (268)

You can gain a Plenary Indulgence, under the usual conditions of Confession and Communion, within a few days of the work, and detachment even from Venial Sin. From The Handbook of Indulgences:

63. Exercise of The Way of The Cross (Viae Crucis exercitium).

A Plenary Indulgence is granted to The Faithful, who make the pious exercise of The Way of The Cross.

The gaining of the Plenary Indulgence is regulated by the following norms:

The pious exercise must be made before Stations of The Way of The Cross, legitimately erected.

For the erection of The Way of The Cross, Fourteen Crosses are required, to which it is customary to add Fourteen Pictures, or, Images, which represent The Stations of Jerusalem.

According to the more common practice, the pious exercise consists of Fourteen Pious Readings, to which some vocal Prayers are added. However, nothing more is required than a pious Meditation on The Passion and Death of The Lord, which need not be a particular consideration of the individual Mysteries of The stations.

A movement from one Station to the next is required.

I believe that, if you follow The Holy Father’s Way of The Cross on Good Friday, even by television, the Indulgence is available.

If the pious exercise is made publicly and if it is not possible for all taking part to go in an orderly way from Station to Station, it suffices if, at least, the one conducting the exercise goes from Station to Station, the others remaining in their place.

Those who are “impeded” can gain the same Indulgence, if they spend at least one half an hour in pious Reading and Meditation on The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

For those belonging to Eastern Rites, among whom this pious exercise is not practiced, the respective Patriarchs can determine some other pious exercise in memory of The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ for the gaining of this Indulgence.

Meanwhile, from a reader last year . . .

Just a quick note to say thank you for providing your recordings of The Stations of The Cross. I am completely blind and had committed to making this part of my Lenten practices, only to have the Braille display, from which I read promptly, die. I had been struggling to find a recording of Saint Alphonsus’ version.

May God bless you !

If these recordings are helpful to you, please say a Prayer for me, especially if you use The Way Of The Cross For Priests.

. . . Hanged From A Gallows, "Havinge A Holye Water Bucket, A Sprinkle . . . And Such Other Lyke Popyshe Trashe Hangued Aboute Him".

In August, 1549, the Parish Priest of The Church of Saint Thomas the Martyr, Exeter,

Fr. Robert Welsh, was hauled to the top of his own Church Tower, Vested as for Mass,

and hanged from a gallows at the top,

The Church of Saint Thomas the Martyr, Exeter.

Rebuilt and renamed The Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle in 1657.

Illustration: EXETER MEMORIES

Text is from FR HUNWICKE'S MUTUAL ENRICHMENT
unless stated otherwise.

The Asperges and Martyrdom.

In August, 1549, the Parish Priest of The Church of Saint Thomas the Martyr, Exeter, Fr. Robert Welsh, was hauled to the top of his own Church Tower, Vested as for Mass, and hanged from a gallows at the top, "havinge a holye water bucket, a sprinkle . . . and such other lyke popyshe trashe hangued aboute him". The Holy Water bucket related to one of the most "up front" features of his weekly Ministry . . . what we now call (even when, in Eastertide, the formula changes) "The Asperges".

The Procession at the beginning of every Sunday's Parish Mass had just been abolished by Dr. Cranmer. Very probably, the absence of The Asperges at the start of Sunday Mass on Whit Sunday 1549 (the day the First English Prayer Book was ordered to be used) represented the first moment at which the people of England realised, with a fury that mounted as that Mass continued, that they were being robbed of the communal rituals which cemented not only their Religious but their Secular Life; if, indeed, one may distinguish the two.

The Asperges was not just a preliminary to Mass, or (as it is described in the Modern Rite), an optional way of doing (that Post-Conciliar innovation) "The Rite of Penitence"; it was an elaborate Procession, which went around the Church to sprinkle the Altars (themselves, expressions of the intricately-interwoven Common Life of The Mediaeval Christian, with his system of Guilds and Chantries) and the Members of the Congregation.

It, perhaps, went outside and sprinkled the graves of the departed, symbolically bringing into one unity the departed as well as the living. The Holy Water was taken into households and sprinkled to put the Evil Spirits to flight. Eamon Duffy writes of the "emphasis on the location, and maintenance of Blessing, Healing and Peace, within the community". The Congregation, that is to say, was not an atomised association of individuals, who chanced to be in one place, but an organic, living whole.

Fr. Welsh, as even his Protestant chronicler acknowledges, "verie patientlie toke his dethe, he hadd benne a good member in his commonwelthe had not the weedes overgrowne the good corne and his foule vices overcomed his vertewes".

His "foule vices", of course, were his brave resistance to the tyranny which was bent on depriving the people of England of their Faith, and, in doing so, of their whole social cohesion. Neither their Worship, nor their "commonwelthe", ever recovered from that most un-Godly, most un-Spiritual, Pentecost of 1549.

The following Text is from EXETER MEMORIES

The grandfathers of the artist, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and British Army Officer, Major-General Charles Gordon (killed, 1885, at Khartoum, The Sudan) are buried in the Church Yard. There is also a Memorial, outside of the Church, which commemorates Grace Darling (Editor: See paragraph, below).

There were still Public Stocks in the Church Yard before The First World War, although, not still in use.

Sources: Kelly's 1897 and The Flying Post.

The following paragraph is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Grace Horsley Darling (24 November 1815 – 20 October 1842) was an English Lighthouse-Keeper's daughter, famed for participating in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked paddle-steamer, Forfarshire, in 1838. The paddle-steamer ran aground on The Farne Islands, off the coast of Northumberland, North-East England; nine members of her crew were saved.

Friday After Ash Wednesday. The Lenten Station Is At The Church Of The Holy Martyrs, John And Paul.

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

Friday after Ash Wednesday.

Station at The Basilica of The Holy Martyrs John and Paul.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.

English: Basilica of The Holy Martyrs, John and Paul, on Mount Coelius, Rome.

Français: Vue d'ensemble de la Basilique Santi Giovanni e Paolo de Rome sur le Celio.

Photo: May 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: LPLT.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Station at Rome was on Mount Coelius, in the Residence that the Christian Senator, Pammachius, in the 5th-Century A.D., transformed into a Parish Church, which bears the Title of Saints John and Paul (Feast Day 26 June). Six frescoes of that period represent the captivity and death of these two Romans, “who, in the same Faith and the same Martyrdom, were truly united as brethren”.

English: Church of The Holy Martyrs, John and Paul, Rome, Italy.

Italiano: SS. Giovanni e Paolo - Roma, Italia.

Photo: July 2006.

Source: Flickr

Author: Patrick Denker

Reviewer: Mac9

(Wikimedia Commons)

Near this Church, is a Hospice for Pilgrims (Xenodochium Valerii). Pammachius, in other directions, spent his whole fortune upon The Poor. The Gospel of this Mass and the Postcommunion also speak of Charity.

The Epistle and the Gospel declare that the external works of Penance, such as Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving, which should be practised during Lent, have no value in the sight of God unless they are accompanied by the spirit of internal sacrifice. This spirit shows itself in works of mercy, done out of consideration for our neighbour, without distinction of friend or enemy and with the sole intention of pleasing God. Let us ask for the spirit of sacrifice and mercy.

Mass: Audivit Dominus.

Go East, Young Man !!!

Illustration: FR. Z's BLOG

Guédelon Castle, France. An Authentic Recreation Of A 13th-Century Mediaeval Castle.

English: Guédelon Castle.

Français: Le château de Guédelon.

Nederlands: Kasteel van Guédelon in augustus 2015.

Date: 16 August 2015.

Source: Own work.

Author: Asmoth.

(Wikimedia Commons)

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

Guédelon Castle is a de novo Castle construction project located in Treigny, France. The object of the project is to build a Castle using only the techniques and materials used in The Middle Ages. When completed in the 2020s, it should be an authentic recreation of a 13th-Century Mediaeval Castle.

In order to fully investigate the technology required in the past, the project is using only period construction techniques, tools, and costumes. Materials, including wood and stone, are all obtained locally. Jacques Moulin, chief architect for the project, designed the Castle according to the architectural model developed during the 12th- and 13th-Centuries by King Philip II of France.

Construction started in 1997, under Michel Guyot,, owner of Château de Saint-Fargeau, a Castle in Saint-Fargeau 13 kilometres away. The site was chosen according to the availability of construction materials: an abandoned stone quarry, in a large forest, with a pond close by. The site is in a rural woodland area and the nearest town is Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, about 5 km to the North-East.

The project has created fifty-five jobs and is now a tourist destination, with more than 300,000 visits each year.

The Web-Site of Guédelon Castle can be found HERE.