Dode Church. “Our Lady Of The Meadows”. Prior To Rebuilding In 1902, The Last Mass Was Celebrated Here In 1367. Only Remnant Of A Kent Village Wiped Out In “The Black Death” In 1349.

Dode Church

(Our Lady Of The Meadows),

Kent, England.

Photo: 18 August 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Agw19666.

(Wikimedia Commons)

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

Dode (in Old English, Dowde) was a Village in England that was wiped out by the Black Death in 1349. All that remains is the de-Consecrated Church, which was rebuilt in the 1990s.

Archaeological evidence shows habitation in the Dode area during the time of the Roman Empire.

The Church at Dode was built during the Reign of William II of England at some point between 1087 and 1100. It was built on a man-made mound. The nearby hill is known as “Holly Hill”, which is a corruption of “Holy Hill”, and the lane which leads to the Village is “Wrangling Lane”, showing that the mound could be the site of a meeting place.

The Church stands at the end of a ten-mile-long Easterly-running Ley Line, connecting three Pre-Reformation Churches, two Roman sites, a Bronze Age burial ground, and two of the Medway megaliths - the Coffin Stone and Kit's Coty House.

Dode Church,

Kent, England.

Photo: 18 August 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Agw19666.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Village of Dode was virtually wiped out by The Black Death during the 14th-Century, and its Church last used as a place of Worship in 1367, then de-Consecrated on the orders of Thomas Trilleck, the Bishop of Rochester. It was originally twinned with another Early-Norman Church in Paddlesworth (now Snodland). Kent.

Stones from the Church were used to build a Mediæval Church nearby.

According to local legend, the last survivor of the Black Death at Dode was a seven-year-old girl, known as the Dode Child. It is said that she took refuge in the Church after all the other Villagers were dead, and died within its walls. The Dode Child is supposed to haunt the Churchyard, having first appeared on a Sunday morning each month for several years, and then every seven years.

Dode Church,

Kent, England.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Dowde (or Dode) Church, Kent.

This Norman Church was originally twinned with the Church in Paddlesworth, Kent, and served the Village of Dode. Today, the Church is left virtually isolated down a No-Through Road, with only a few local farms to keep it company. The Village of Dowde no longer exists, as it was wiped out by

the Black Death in the 14th-Century.

Photo: 25 June 2005.

Source: From geograph.org.uk

Author: Hywel Williams

Attribution: Attribution: Hywel Williams.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Following the Black Death, the Village was abandoned, and the Church stood empty for Centuries. In 1901, it was purchased by an antiquarian, George Matthews Arnold, Mayor of Gravesend, Kent. He restored the walls and roof of the Church and, in 1954, the Arnold family returned the building to The Catholic Church. It was re-Dedicated as The Church of Our Lady of The Meadows and Mass was Celebrated there at least once a year.

Painting of George Matthews Arnold in the robes of the 

Mayor of Gravesend. He was a Catholic and purchased 

Dode Church in 1901 and restored the walls and roof.

Artist: John Haynes-Williams (1836–1908).

Date: 1894.

Collection: Gravesham Borough Council

Source/Photographer:

Art UK -https://www.artuk.org/discover/

artworks/george-matthews-arnold-d-1907-88961

(Wikimedia Commons)

Eventually, the building deteriorated again and was vandalised. In 1990, Doug Chapman, a Chartered Surveyor who had worked at Canterbury Cathedral, purchased the Church and began restoring the building, originally with the intention of turning it into a week-end home. Since 1999, it has been Licensed as a Civil Wedding venue.

The Wedding venue hit the British Press in December 2009 because of the snowfall which occurred across the Country. A bride-to-be called BBC Radio Kent for assistance, when she realised that the transport arranged for her wedding would not be able to travel down the narrow lane to Dode.

A number of volunteers stepped forward, providing enough Four-Wheel-Drive vehicles to transport the Wedding Party and their guests, both to the venue at Dode, and then, afterwards, to the Leather Bottle pub, in Cobham, Kent.

J. R. R. Tolkien And The Beauty Of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at,
CATHOLICISM PURE AND SIMPLE

The acclaimed British novelist J. R. R. Tolkien loved The Blessed Mother and considered her the standard for beauty.

My daughter is currently reading “The Lord Of The Rings” for the second time. As she progresses, I’m trying to point out to her some of the interesting Catholic trivia hidden within it.

For instance, did you know that the date when Frodo finally destroys The Ring is March 25 ? That day happens to be The Feast of The Annunciation, the day on which Christ was conceived and began the process of overthrowing evil once and for all.

Or, did you know that Lembas (the special Elven bread) is strangely similar to The Eucharist ? These allusions to Catholicism aren’t surprising. After all, Tolkien was a committed Catholic whose Faith was central to the way he viewed the World.

He says: “Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, 

I put before you the one great thing to love on Earth: The Blessed Sacrament.”

With “The Lord Of The Rings”, he didn’t set out to write a specifically Catholic novel, but later admitted that it did turn out to be “a fundamentally Religious and Catholic Work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.”

My favourite bit of Catholicism, that seeps through into the books, is the appearance of The Blessed Virgin Mary. The elf, Galadriel, isn’t strictly speaking an analogy for The Blessed Virgin - meaning she isn’t simply a character that’s Mary in disguise - but she shares a number of characteristics with Mary.

Tolkien considered Galadriel the “greatest of elven women,” in the same way we might consider Mary to be the greatest of all Saints. Galadriel is a Queen, a Mother, and often appears as a Miraculous Helper. Sometimes, she is referred to simply as: “The Lady of Light”.

These are clear references to The Blessed Virgin. Mary shares all of these characteristics. She often appears to those in need to offer aid, which is why one of her Titles is “Mother of Perpetual Help.”

The most interesting image of Galadriel occurs in “The Two Towers”, when she appears as an apparition to Sam and offers assistance. Tolkien writes: Far off, as in a little picture drawn by elven-fingers, he saw Lady Galadriel standing on the grass in Lorien, and gifts were in her hands. “And you, Ringbearer”, he heard her say, remote but clear, “for you, I have prepared this.”

She then reminds Sam that he has a Miraculous Light, that will cast out The Darkness and all The Evil Creatures who dwell in it. Sam uses it, and he and Frodo are saved.

Tolkien really loved Mary. He even translated The Hail Mary into an elven language. Above all, he considered her to be the standard for beauty, which is why he describes Galadriel as surpassingly beautiful.

In a letter to a Priest friend, Father Robert Murray, who had pointed out the similarities between Mary and Galadriel, Tolkien writes: “I think I know exactly what you mean . . . by your references to Our Lady, upon which all my own small perception of beauty, both in majesty and simplicity, is founded.”

That’s an audacious claim, to say that Mary is the foundation upon which all other beauty is built. What does he mean by this ? He probably doesn’t mean that she is the most physically beautiful woman who has ever lived. He’s referring to an inner beauty, a beauty of Soul.

This is why he talks about her Majesty, which in The Catholic Tradition is based in her humble obedience to God’s call, and her simplicity, by which he means her life as intensely focused on Love, alone, suffering no complicating distractions. Mary’s physical beauty is a reflection of her beautiful Soul.

Yes, Tolkien’s claim is shocking at first, but it’s a truly Catholic claim. For instance, the Venerable Fulton Sheen says something similar:

“Mary’s beautiful purity must have been such that it attracted less the eyes than the Souls of men . . . It is very likely that a human eye, looking on Mary, would scarcely have been conscious that she was beautiful to the eye. Just as corrupt men are made pure in thought by the sight of an innocent child, so all fleshly thoughts would have been left behind, by one vision of The Immaculate Mother.”

 

He’s saying the same thing as Tolkien, that her simple beauty becomes the foundation for purifying the minds of those of us who look to her. If our lives are made beautiful, if our Souls begin to glow with love, it is because we first saw the beauty of our spiritual Mother.

The way Tolkien describes Mary’s beauty, helps us to define what it really is. It has nothing to do with physical looks or flattering clothes; it has everything to do with the way the Soul shines through and makes a person beautiful inside and out.

Beauty is pure, innocent, graceful, and transcendent. It is radiant with love. If we, too, would be beautiful, the first place to adorn is our Interior Life. In this, we can have no better example than The Blessed Virgin.

(Source: Michael Rennier).

Liturgical Worship. (Part One).

All Illustrations previously published on Zephyrinus’ Blog.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,

unless stated otherwise.

“When you Pray, say: Father”. This is the name that from all eternity God the Son gives to His Father, the name that Our Lord invariably pronounced with respect and love, the name He silently repeats in The Blessed Sacrament, and that we find constantly on the lips of His Bride, The Church.

“You have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba (Father)”. The Holy Ghost, as it were, flows forth from the Word in the sacred humanity of Christ and in The Church, bearing us all to The Father on the waves of His Divine Love.

This fount of living water, which springs up in our hearts unto life eternal, is doubtless the private Prayer with which The Holy Ghost may inspire us, and in which we are led by Him to have recourse to God as children to their Father, but the principal and official Prayer whereby The Holy Ghost inspires His Church is that which we call the Liturgy.

In this Prayer, all members of Christ’s mystical body bear an authentic part in that infinite Worship of Adoration that its Head ceaselessly renders to God: “Always living to make intercession for us”, as the Apostle tells us.

Thus the word of The Master is realised: “The hour cometh when the true adorers shall Adore The Father in spirit and in truth”, which Saint Anselm explains as meaning that they will render a filial Worship to God in The Holy Ghost and in union with Christ The Son of God.

PART TWO FOLLOWS.

Where The King And Queen Were Martyred, France's Catholicism Is Confirmed.

Text and Illustrations: RORATE CÆLI

Catholicism in France is safe. 

Its future is sound and bright. 

The one million Catholics lining the streets 

of Paris for the Successor of Saint Peter show 

its immense and renewed vitality.

And with a Catholic France in her heart, 

a Christian Europe is certain, 

no matter what difficulties may come.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto !

“Ombra Mai Fu”. Composer: George Frideric Handel. Sung By: Mayaan Licht.

“Ombra Mai Fu”.

Composer: George Frideric Handel.

Sung By: Mayaan Licht.

Available On YouTube

HERE

Feast Day Of The Holy Martyrs Cyprian And Justina. Taken From The Roman Breviary Of 1879 (Summer). 26 September. Red Vestments.

Text from The Roman Breviary.

Translated out of Latin into English by
John, Marquess of Bute, K.T.
Volume II.
Summer.
1879.

Feast Day Of The Holy Martyrs Cyprian And Justina.

   26 September.

Simple.

All from The Common Office for a Simple Festival of Many Martyrs, (page 841,) except the following.

Prayer throughout the Office.

O Lord, let the succour of Thy Blessed Martyrs Cyprian and Juliana never fail us, since Thou never ceasest to look in mercy upon any unto whom Thou dost grant the stay of such helpers.

Through Our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of The Holy Ghost, one God, World without end.

Amen.

Mattins.

Second Lesson.

Cyprian was firstly a warlock and lastly a Martyr. A certain young man having a violent lust after a Christian maiden named Justina, employed him to excite her to join in his lewdness, by dint of incantations and philters.

Cyprian thereupon asked counsel of the devil, how he might best gain that end.

But the devil answered him that these arts are only thrown away upon true worshippers of Christ.

This answer troubled Cyprian, and he began to repent heartily of the course of life he had hitherto led.

And then he forsook his arts magic, and gave himself wholly up to the Faith of the Lord Christ.

Third Lesson.

For this cause, he and the virgin Justina were arrested together, beaten with blows and scourging, and cast into prison, if haply they might change their mind.

Being brought out of the prison, but still standing fast in their Christian Religion, they were dipped in a vessel full of hot pitch, fat, and wax, and in the end beheaded, at Nicomedia, [on 26 September in the year of Our Lord 304 A.D.]

Their bodies were thrown out, and lay unburied for the space of six days, at the end of which time some sailors took them secretly by night on board a ship and carried them to Rome.

They were first buried on the farm of the noble Lady Rufina, but afterwards brought into the City, where they lie hard by the Baptistery in the Church of [the Saviour, built by] Constantine.

Saint Cyprian, Martyr. Saint Justina, Virgin And Martyr. Feast Day 26 September. Red Vestments.

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

Saint Cyprian and Saint Justina.
   Martyrs and Virgin.
   Feast Day 26 September.

Simple.

Red Vestments.

English: Saints Cyprian and Justina (honoured in

The Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy

as Christians of Antioch, Pisidia, who, in 304 A.D., during

The Persecution of Diocletian, suffered Martyrdom at

Nicomedia (modern-day İzmir, Turkey) on

26 September, the date of their Feast).

Български: Икона на Свети Киприан и Юстина. 

Икона подарена от моето семейство, на храм „Св.Св. Кирил и Методий“.

Photo: 26 October 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Biso

(Wikimedia Commons)

"At Nicomedia,", says The Roman Martyrology, "the birth in Heaven of the Holy Martyrs Cyprian and Justina. This Virgin, after having endured many tortures under The Emperor Diocletian and the Judge Eutholmus, converted to Christ, Cyprian the Magician, who had tried to seduce her by his incantations.

Both were Martyred in 304 A.D. Their bodies, after having been exposed to wild beasts, were taken away during the night by some Christian mariners, who carried them to Rome. Later, they were buried in the Basilica of Constantine (Saint John Lateran), near the Baptistry."

Mass: Salus autem. The Third Mass for Several Martyrs.
Secret: Munera. From The Second Mass for Several Martyrs.
Postcommunion: Præsta. From The Second Mass for Several Martyrs.

Arch-Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome.

Saint Cyprian and Saint Justina

are buried in this Arch-Basilica.

Photo: 21 April 2015.

Source: Own work.

Author: Livioandronico2013

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Cyprian. Martyr. Saint Justina. Virgin And Martyr. Feast Day 26 September. Red Vestments.

English: 

Church of Saint Cyprian and Saint Justina, 

South Tyrol, Italy.

Deutsch: Die Zypriankirche ist, wie die Tierser 

Pfarrkirche St. Georg, im 13. Jahrhundert entstanden 

und den Heiligen Cyprian und Justina von Antiochia 

geweiht. Sie wurde um 1583 umgestaltet. Das Fresko 

an der Außenseite stammt aus dem 17. Jahrhundert.

Photo: 30 September 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: H.Helmlechner

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from “The Liturgical Year”.
   By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
      Volume 14.
      Time After Pentecost.
      Book V.

“Whosoever ye bet, that are seduced by the mysteries of the demons, none of you can equal the zeal I once had for these false gods, nor my researches into their secrets, nor the vain power they had communicated to me, to Cyprian, who from my infancy was given up to the service of the dragon in the citadel of Minerva.

“Learn from me the deceitfulness of their illusions. A Virgin has proved to me that their power is but smoke. The king of the demons was arrested at the door of a mere child, and could not cross the threshold.

“He who promises so much is a liar. A woman makes sport of the boaster who vaunted he could shake Heaven and Earth. The roaring lion becomes a startled gnat before the Christian Virgin Justina”.

Cyprian, who was first a magician and afterwards a Martyr, attempted, by charms and spells, to make Justina, a Christian Virgin, consent to the passion of a certain young man.

Cyprian consulted the devil as to the best way to succeed, and was told in reply that no art would be of any service to him against the true disciples of Christ.

This answer made such so great an impression on Cyprian, that, grieving bitterly over his former manner of life, he abandoned his magical arts, and was completely converted to the Faith of Christ Our Lord.

Accused of being a Christian, he was seized together with the Virgin Juliana, and they were both severely scourged. They were then thrown into prison to see if they would change their mind; but, on being taken out, as they remained firm in the Christian Religion, they were cast into a cauldron of boiling pitch, fat, and wax.

Finally, they were beheaded at Nicomedia. Their bodies were left six days unburied; after which, some sailors carried them secretly by night to Rome.

They were first buried on the estate of a noble lady, named Rufina, but afterwards were Translated into the City and laid in Constantine’s Basilica, near the Baptistery.

He who sought to ruin thee, is now, O Virgin, thy trophy of victory; and for thee, O Cyprian, the path of crime turned aside into the way of salvation.

May you together triumph over Satan in this age, when spirit-dealing is seducing so many faltering, faithless Souls.

Teach Christians, after your example, to arm themselves, against this and every other danger, with The Sign of 

The Cross; then will the enemy be forced to say again: 

“I saw a terrible sign and I trembled;

“I beheld The Sign of The Crucified, 

and my strength melted like wax”.

Grace After Meals. (Post Prandium). Benedictio Mensæ.

“Grace”.

Date: 1918.

Minnesota State photograph by 

Eric Enstrom. Published in the United States.

Author: Eric Enstrom.

Collection: Bovey.

Source:

http://thecatholicspirit.com/commentary/

twenty-something/snapshots-of-grace-

capturing-the-sacred-in-daily-life/

(Wikimedia Commons)

HAVE YOU SAID “THANK YOU”, TODAY ?

From: Saint Catharine’s College, Cambridge.
Available On YouTube
HERE

BENEDICTIO MENSÆ.

(PRAYER AT THE TABLE).

POST PRANDIUM.

(GRACE AFTER MEALS).

Benedictus sit Dominus in donis Suis. 

Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini, 

qui fecit coelum et terram. 

Sit nomen Domini benedictum. 

Agimus tibi gratias, Omnipotens Deus, 

pro fundatore caeterisque Benefactoribus nostris, 

et pro universis beneficiis Tuis, 

qui vivis et regnas 

Deus in saecula saeculorum. 

Amen. 

Deus conservet Ecclesiam, 

Regem, Principes, Regnum, 

Veritatem et Pacem.

Amen.

Grace Before Meals. (Ante Prandium). Benedictio Mensæ.

“Suspense”.

Author: Creator:Charles Burton Barber.

Date: 1894.

Source/Photographer: Repro from artbook.

(Wikimedia Commons)

HAVE YOU SAID “THANK YOU”, TODAY ?

Light of Christ Academy Montessori.

“Benedictio Ante Mensam”.

Available On YouTube

HERE

BENEDICTIONES MENSÆ.

(PRAYERS AT THE TABLE).

ANTE PRANDIUM.

(GRACE BEFORE MEALS).

The Senior Clergy or Person present 

opens with the Prayer.

“Oremus”.

(“Let us Pray”).

“Benedicite”.

(“Blessing”).

Response: “Benedicite”.

Benedic, Domine, nos et hæc tua dona,

quæ de tua largitate summus sumpturi.

Per Christum Dominum nostrum.

Amen.

Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts,

which we are about to receive,

through Thy bounty.

Through Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Earl Of Shrewsbury. Earl Of Waterford. Earl Talbot. (Part Eight).

Arms of Talbot-Chetwynd.

Quarterly: 

1st and 4th: Gules, a Lion Rampant 

within a Bordure Engrailed Or (for Talbot).

2nd and 3rd: Azure, a Chevron 

between three Mullets Or (for Chetwynd).

Date: 25 June 2017.

Source: Own work.

This File is licensed under the 

Creative Commons Attribution-

Share Alike 4.0 International Licence.

Author: Wikimandia.

(Wikimedia Commons)

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

Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, 7th Earl of Waterford, 13th Baron Talbot, 16th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 12th Baron Furnivall (1552–1616);

Edward Talbot, 8th Earl of Shrewsbury, 8th Earl of Waterford (1561–1617);

George Talbot, 9th Earl of Shrewsbury, 9th Earl of Waterford (1567–1630);

John Talbot, 10th Earl of Shrewsbury, 10th Earl of Waterford (1601–1654);

Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury, 11th Earl of Waterford (1623–1667);

Charles Talbot, 12th Earl of Shrewsbury, 12th Earl of Waterford (1660–1718). (Created Duke of Shrewsbury in 1694).

Duke of Shrewsbury (1694):

Also Marquess of Alton;

Charles Talbot, Duke of Shrewsbury, Marquess of Alton, 12th Earl of Shrewsbury, 12th Earl of Waterford (1660–1718).

Earls of Shrewsbury. Second Creation (1442. Reverted):

Gilbert Talbot, 13th Earl of Shrewsbury, 13th Earl of Waterford (1673–1743);

George Talbot, 14th Earl of Shrewsbury, 14th Earl of Waterford (1719–1787);

Charles Talbot, 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, 15th Earl of Waterford (1753–1827);

John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, 16th Earl of Waterford (1791–1852);

PART NINE FOLLOWS.