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

Wednesday 16 July 2014

Ghost Signs.


This Article, on "Ghost Signs", and many other interesting topics, can be found on the excellent Blog


Ghost signs (109): the butcher, the baker ...


Taking the 124 bus from the Excalibur Estate, I travelled along Sandhurst Road, Catford for the first time and found three ghost signs.



The first, on the corner with Muirkirk Road, shows that the barber's/shipping agents used to be a butcher's shop. More precisely, it was 'R. C. Evans, Family Butcher, Purveyor of English & Scotch meat, finest quality, lowest prices'. Evans appears to have occupied the premises long enough for the sign to have been repainted at least once: traces of the earlier lettering show through. 



Nearby Inchmery Road has two signs. The first, sadly, is near-illegible although tantalising traces of the words remain. 



However, the second was rather more exciting. From Sandhurst Road, a large sign for Warner Bros, Hygienic Bakers is visible. Walking down Inchmery Road, though, the side of the building revealed that this building also advertises Hovis. The use of the Hovis logo in conjunction with details of a local baker was characteristic of their campaign, but it's the first one I've seen making use of two walls of a building in this way.




Tuesday 15 July 2014

Pope Benedict XV (Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista Della Chiesa). Papacy From 1914-1922. (Part Five.)


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





English: Pope Benedict XV, circa 1915.
Français: Photo de Benoît XV prise vers 1915.
Photo: Circa 1915.
Source: Library of Congress.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Ratti, a scholar, intended to work for Poland and build bridges to the Soviet Union, hoping even to shed his blood for Russia. Pope Benedict XV needed him as a diplomat, and not as a Martyr, and forbade any trip into the USSR, even though he was the official Papal Delegate to Russia. However, he continued his contacts with Russia. This did not generate much sympathy for him within Poland at the time. He was asked to leave. “While he tried honestly to show himself as a friend of Poland, Warsaw forced his departure after his neutrality in Silesian voting was questioned” by Germans and Poles.

Nationalistic Germans objected to a Polish Nuncio supervising elections, and Poles were upset because he curtailed agitating Clergy. On 20 November, when German Cardinal Adolf Bertram announced a Papal ban on all political activities of Clergymen, calls for Ratti's expulsion climaxed in Warsaw. Two years later, Achille Ratti became Pope Pius XI, shaping Vatican policies towards Poland with Pietro Gasparri and Eugenio Pacelli for the following 36 years (1922–1958).




Pope Benedict XV''s friend,
Cardinal Rampolla, at age 70,
shortly before his death in 1913.
Date: June 1913.
Source: 1914 Book von Waal.
Author: Hofrat Hilsdorf Darmstadt.
(Wikipedia)



In internal Church affairs, Pope Benedict XV reiterated Pope Saint Pius X's condemnation of "Modernist" scholars, and the errors in modern philosophical systems, in his first Encyclical, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum. He declined to re-admit, to Full Communion, scholars who had been Excommunicated during the previous Pontificate. However, he calmed what he saw as the excesses of the anti-Modernist campaign within the Church. On 25 July 1920, he wrote the motu proprio "Bonum sane", on Saint Joseph, and against Naturalism.

In 1917, Pope Benedict XV promulgated the Church's first Code of Canon Law, the preparation of which had been commissioned by Pope Saint Pius X, and which is thus known as the Pio-Benedictine Code. This Code, which entered into force in 1918, was the first consolidation of the Church's Canon Law into a modern Code made up of Simple Articles. Previously, Canon Law was dispersed in a variety of sources and partial compilations. The new Canon Law is credited with reviving Religious Life and providing Judicial clarity throughout the Church. In addition, continuing the concerns of Pope Leo XIII, he furthered Eastern Catholic Culture, Theology and Liturgy, by founding an Oriental Institute for them in Rome.

On 30 November 1919, Pope Benedict XV appealed to all Catholics, worldwide, to sacrifice for Catholic Missions, stating at the same time, in Maximum Illud, that these Missions should foster local culture and not import European cultures. The damage of such cultural imports were particularly grave in Africa and Asia, where many Missionaries were deported and incarcerated, if they happened to originate from a hostile nation.



Copyright-expired-photo of handwriting of Giacomo Della Chiesa.
Date: 1914. (7 September 2008 (original upload date)).
Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia (Original Text: Antol de Waal).
Author: Anton de Waal. Original uploader was Ambrosius007 at en.wikipedia
(Wikimedia Commons)



Pope Benedict was an ardent Mariologist, devoted to Marian Veneration and open to new Theological perspectives. He personally addressed, in numerous Letters, the Pilgrims at Marian Sanctuaries. He named Mary "The Patron of Bavaria", and permitted, in Mexico, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Guadalupe. To underline his support for Mediatrix Theology, he authorised the Feast of "Mary, Mediator of all Graces". He condemned the misuse of Marian statues and pictures, dressed in Priestly robes, which he outlawed 4 April 1916.





Español: Monasterio de Ettal, Baviera, Alemania.
English: Ettal Abbey, Bavaria, Germany,
was raised to the Status of a Minor Basilica
by Pope Benedict XV.
Photo: 22 March 2014.
Source: Own work.
Author: Diego Delso.
(Wikimedia Commons)



During World War I, Benedict placed the world under the protection of The Blessed Virgin Mary, and added the invocation "Mary, Queen of Peace", to the Litany of Loreto. He promoted Marian Veneration, throughout the world, by elevating twenty well-known Marian Shrines, such as Ettal Abbey, in Bavaria, into Basilica Minors (Minor Basilicas). He also promoted Marian Devotions in May, in the spirit of Grignon de Montfort. The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, issued by the Second Vatican Council, quotes the Marian Theology of Benedict XV.




Photo of Joan of Arc's Canonisation Ceremony
The Vatican, 1920.



In his Encyclical on Ephraim the Syrian, Pope Benedict XV depicts Ephraim as a model of Marian Devotion to Our Mother, who, uniquely, was pre-destined by God. Pope Benedict XV did not issue a Marian Encyclical, but addressed the issue of Co-Redemptrix in his Apostolic Letter, Inter Soldalica, issued on 22 March 1918.

As The Blessed Virgin Mary does not seem to participate in the Public Life of Jesus Christ, and then, suddenly, appears at the Stations of his Cross, she is not there without Divine Intention. She suffers with her suffering and dying Son, almost as if she would have died herself. For the Salvation of Mankind, she gave up her rights as the Mother of her Son and sacrificed Him for the reconciliation of Divine Justice, as far as she was permitted to do. Therefore, one can say, she redeemed, with Christ, the Human Race.

During his seven-year Pontificate, Pope Benedict XV wrote a total of twelve Encyclicals. They were:

"Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum", an Appeal for Peace (1 November 1914);
"Humani Generis Redemptionem", on Preaching the Word of God (15 June 1917);
"Quod Iam Diu", on the future Peace Conference (1 December 1918);
"In Hac Tanta", on Saint Boniface (14 May 1919);
"Paterno Iam Diu", on the Children of Central Europe (24 November 1919);
"Pacem, Dei Munus Pulcherrimum", on Peace and Christian Reconciliation (23 May 1920);
"Spiritus Paraclitus", on Saint Jerome (September 1920);
"Principi Apostolorum Petro", on Saint Ephram the Syrian (5 October 1920);
"Annus Iam Plenus", also on Children in Central Europe (1 December 1920);
"Sacra Propediem", on the Third Order of Saint Francis (6 January 1921);
"In Praeclara Summorum", on Dante (30 April 1921);
"Fausto Appetente Die", on Saint Dominic (29 June 1921).





Pope Benedict XV.
Source: Originally from hu.wikipedia.
Author: Original uploader was User:Czinitz
at hu.wikipedia.
(Wikimedia Commons)



His Apostolic Exhortations include;

"Ubi Primum" (8 September 1914);
"Allorché fummo chiamati" (28 July 1915);
"Dès le début" (1 August 1917).
"Maximum Illud", on Activities carried out by Missionaries (November 30, 1919).


The Papal Bulls of Benedict XV include:

"Incruentum Altaris" (10 August 1915);
"Providentissima Mater" (27 May 1917);
"Sedis huius" (14 May 1919);
"Divina disponente" (16 May 1920).


Benedict XV issued nine Breves during his Pontificate:

"Divinum Praeceptum" (December 1915);
"Romanorum Pontificum" (February 1916);
"Cum Catholicae Ecclesiae" (April 1916);
"Cum Biblia Sacra" (August 1916);
"Cum Centesimus" (October 1916);
"Centesimo Hodie" (October 1916);
"Quod Ioannes" (April 1917);
"In Africam quisnam" (June 1920);
"Quod nobis in condendo" (September 1920).



Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum is an Encyclical of Pope Benedict XV, given at Saint Peter's, Rome, on the Feast of All Saints, 1 November 1914, in the first year of his Pontificate. This, his first Encyclical, coincided with the beginning of World War I, which he labelled "The Suicide of Civilised Europe." Pope Benedict XV described the combatants as the greatest and wealthiest nations of the Earth, stating that "they are well-provided with the most awful weapons modern military science has devised, and they strive to destroy one another with refinements of horror. There is no limit to the measure of ruin and of slaughter; day by day, the Earth is drenched with newly-shed blood and is covered with the bodies of the wounded and of the slain."

In light of the senseless slaughter, the Pope pleaded for "Peace on Earth to men of good will," (Luke 2:14), insisting that there are other ways and means whereby violated rights can be rectified.




Tomb of Pope Benedict XV
in the grottoes of St. Peter's Basilica,
Date: 26 May 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: CanonLawJunkie.
(Wikimedia Commons)



The origin of the Evil is a neglect of the precepts and practices of Christian Wisdom, particularly a lack of Love and Compassion. Jesus Christ came down from Heaven for the very purpose of restoring among men the Kingdom of Peace, as He stated: "A new Commandment I give unto you: That you love one another." This message is repeated in John 15:12, in which Jesus says: "This is my Commandment, that you Love one another." Materialism, Nationalism, Racism and Class Warfare are the characteristics of the age, instead, so Pope Benedict XV described:

"Race hatred has reached its climax; peoples are more divided by jealousies than by frontiers; within one and the same Nation, within the same City, there rages the burning envy of Class against Class; and, amongst individuals, it is self-love which is the supreme law, over-ruling everything."

PART SIX FOLLOWS.


Monday 14 July 2014

Saint Bonaventure (1221-1274). Bishop, Confessor, Doctor. Feast Day 14 July.


Text (unless otherwise stated) is taken from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
which states the Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal
with the kind permission of ST. BONAVENTURE PRESS


Saint Bonaventure.
Bishop, Confessor, Doctor.
Feast Day 14 July.


Double.


White Vestments.


Mass: In médio.





English: Saint Bonaventure.
Deutsch: Hl. Bonaventura,
Magyar: Szent Bonaventura angyallal,
Artist: Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664)
Date: Circa 1640-1650.
Current location: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany.
Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002.
ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
Permission: [1]
(Wikimedia Commons)



Saint Bonaventure was born in Tuscany, Italy, in 1221. He entered the Franciscan Order, in consequence of a miraculous cure due to the intercession of Saint Francis of Assisi.

His Master was Alexander of Hales, who used to say of his virginal disciple that one would have thought him preserved from Original Sin.

He was a Doctor at thirty years of age (Collect) and taught at the University of Paris at the same time as Saint Thomas Aquinas, to whom he was closely united. He was awarded the Title of Seraphic Doctor.

Appointed General of his Order, and later a Cardinal of the Church (Communion, Alleluia), he died in 1274 during the General Council of Lyons, where Greeks and Latins vied in admiring his zeal and clear-mindedness which made him the Light of Faith.



Saint Bonaventure.
Date: Circa 1650-1660.
Author: François, Claude (dit Frère Luc).
(Wikimedia Commons)


The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Saint Bonaventure, O.F.M. (Italian: San Bonaventura; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Mediaeval Scholastic Theologian and Philosopher. The seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, he was also a Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was Canonised on 14 April 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV and declared a Doctor of the Church in the year 1588 by Pope Sixtus V. He is known as the "Seraphic Doctor" (Latin: Doctor Seraphicus). Many writings, believed in the Middle Ages to be his, are now collected under the name Pseudo-Bonaventura.

He was born at Bagnoregio in Latium, Italy, not far from Viterbo, then part of the Papal States. Almost nothing is known of his childhood, other than the names of his parents, Giovanni di Fidanza and Maria Ritella.

He entered the Franciscan Order in 1243 and studied at the University of Paris, possibly under Alexander of Hales, and certainly under Alexander's successor, John of Rochelle. In 1253, he held the Franciscan Chair, at Paris. Unfortunately, for Bonaventure, a dispute between Seculars and Mendicants delayed his reception as Master until 1257, where his Degree was taken in company with Thomas Aquinas. Three years earlier his fame had earned him the position of Lecturer on the The Four Books of Sentences — a Book of Theology written by Peter Lombard in the 12th-Century — and in 1255 he received the Degree of Master, the Mediaeval equivalent of Doctor.

After having successfully defended his Order against the reproaches of the Anti-Mendicant Party, he was elected Minister General of the Franciscan Order. On 24 November 1265, he was selected for the Post of Archbishop of York; however, he was never Consecrated and resigned the Appointment in October 1266.





English: Church of San Bonaventura, 
Venice, Italy.
Français: Église San Bonaventura Venise, façade.
Italiano: Chiesa di San Bonaventura Venezia, facciata.
Photo: 15 May 2012.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)



During his tenure, the General Chapter of Narbonne, held in 1260, promulgated a Decree prohibiting the publication of any work, out of the Order, without permission from the higher Superiors. This prohibition has induced modern writers to pass severe judgment upon Roger Bacon's Superiors being envious of Bacon's abilities. However, the prohibition, enjoined on Bacon, was a general one, which extended to the whole Order.

Its promulgation was not directed against him, but rather against Gerard of Borgo San Donnino. Gerard had published, in 1254, without permission, a Heretical work, Introductorius in Evangelium æternum. Thereupon, the General Chapter of Narbonne promulgated the above-mentioned Decree, identical with the "constitutio gravis in contrarium" that Bacon speaks of. The above-mentioned prohibition was rescinded in Roger's favour, unexpectedly, in 1266.

Bonaventure was instrumental in procuring the Election of Pope Gregory X, who rewarded him with the Title of Cardinal Bishop of Albano, and insisted on his presence at the great Second Council of Lyon in 1274. There, after his significant contributions led to a union of the Greek and Latin Churches, Bonaventure died suddenly and in suspicious circumstances. The Catholic Encyclopedia has citations which suggest he was poisoned. The only extant Relic of the Saint is the arm and hand with which he wrote his Commentary on the Sentences, which is now conserved at Bagnoregio, Italy, in the Parish Church of Saint Nicholas.

He steered the Franciscans on a moderate and intellectual course, that made them the most prominent Order in the Catholic Church until the coming of the Jesuits. His Theology was marked by an attempt completely to integrate Faith and Reason. He thought of Christ as the “One True Master”, who offers humans knowledge that begins in Faith, is developed through rational understanding, and is perfected by mystical union with God.




English: Statue of Saint Bonaventure, Woerden, Netherlands.
Nederlands: Beeld Bonaventura, Bonaventurakerk, Woerden, Netherlands.
Source: Originally from nl.wikipedia; description page is/was here.
Author: Original uploader was P.H. Louw at nl.wikipedia
Permission: CC-BY-2.5-NL.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Bonaventure's Feast Day was included in the General Roman Calendar, immediately upon his Canonisation in 1482. It was at first celebrated on the second Sunday in July, but was moved, in 1568, to 14 July, since 15 July, the Anniversary of his death, was at that time taken up with the Feast of Saint Henry.

Bonaventure was formally Canonised, in 1484, by the Franciscan Pope Sixtus IV, and ranked along with Thomas Aquinas as the greatest of the Doctors of the Church by another Franciscan, Pope Sixtus V, in 1587. Bonaventure was regarded as one of the greatest Philosophers of the Middle Ages.

His works, as arranged in the most recent Critical Edition by the Quaracchi Fathers (Collegio S. Bonaventura), consist of a "Commentary on the Sentences of Lombard", in four volumes, and eight other volumes, among which are a "Commentary on the Gospel of Saint Luke" and a number of smaller works; the most famous of which are Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, Breviloquium, De Reductione Artium ad Theologiam, Soliloquium, and De septem itineribus aeternitatis, in which most of what is individual in his teaching is contained.

For Saint Isabelle of France, the sister of King Saint Louis IX of France, and her Monastery of Poor Clares, at Longchamps, France, Saint Bonaventure wrote the Treatise "Concerning the Perfection of Life".





Deutsch: Die figürlichen Fenster der Kathedrale Santa Ana,
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Kanarische Inseln.
Von links nach rechts: Heiliger Martial von Limoges; Heiliger Petrus von Verona, auch genannt Petrus Martyr; Maria mit Jesus; Heilige Anna und Maria; Heiliger Bonaventura.
English: The Stained-Glass Windows of the Cathedral Santa Ana,
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands.
From left to right: Saint Martial of Limoges; Saint Peter of Verona, also known as Saint Peter Martyr; Mary with Jesus; Saint Anna and Mary; Saint Bonaventure.
Français: Vitraux de la cathédrale de Santa Ana, à Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, dans les Canaries.
De gauche à droite : Saint Martial de Limoges, Saint Pierre de Vérone (ou Saint Pierre le Martyr), Marie et Jésus, Marie et Saint Anne, Saint Bonaventure.
Photo: 5 October 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: H. Zell.
(Wikimedia Commons)



The "Commentary on the Sentences" remains, without doubt, Bonaventure's greatest work; all his other writings are in some way subservient to it. It was written superiorum praecepto (at the command of his Superiors) when he was only twenty-seven and is a Theological achievement of the First Rank.

Bonaventure wrote on almost every subject treated by the Schoolmen, and his writings are very numerous. The greater number of them deal with Philosophy and Theology. No work of Bonaventure's is exclusively Philosophical and bears striking witness to the mutual interpenetration of Philosophy and Theology, which is a distinguishing mark of the Scholastic period.

Much of Saint Bonaventure’s Philosophical thought shows a considerable influence by Saint Augustine. So much so, that De Wulf considers him the best representative of Augustinianism. Saint Bonaventure adds Aristotelian principles to the Augustinian Doctrine, especially in connection with the illumination of the intellect, according to Gilson. Saint Augustine, who had imported into the West many of the Doctrines that would define scholastic Philosophy, was an incredibly important source of Bonaventure's Platonism. The Mystic, Dionysius the Areopagite, was another notable influence.

In Philosophy, Bonaventure presents a marked contrast to his contemporaries, Roger Bacon and Thomas Aquinas. While these may be taken as representing, respectively, physical science yet in its infancy, and Aristotelian scholasticism in its most perfect form, he presents the mystical and Platonising mode of speculation, which had already, to some extent, found expression in Hugo and Richard of Saint Victor, and in Bernard of Clairvaux. To him, the purely intellectual element, though never absent, is of inferior interest, when compared with the living power of the affections or the heart.




Stained-Glass Windows,
depicting Saint Bonaventure (Left)
and Saint Thomas Aquinas (Right),
in the Apse, Saint Bonaventure Church,
Raeville, Nebraska, United States of America.
Photo: 31 October 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Ammodramus.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Like Thomas Aquinas, with whom he shared numerous profound agreements in Matters Theological and Philosophical, he combated the Aristotelian notion of the eternity of the world, vigorously. Bonaventure accepts the Platonic Doctrine that ideas do not exist "in rerum natura", but as ideals exemplified by the Divine Being, according to which actual things were formed; and this conception has no slight influence upon his Philosophy.

Due to this Philosophy, Physicist and Philosopher Max Bernhard Weinstein contended that Bonaventure showed strong pandeistic inclinations. Like all the great scholastic Doctors, Bonaventura starts with the discussion of the relations between Reason and Faith. All the sciences are but the handmaids of Theology; Reason can discover some of the moral truths which form the groundwork of the Christian system, but others it can only receive and apprehend through Divine illumination.


To obtain this illumination, the Soul must employ the proper means, which are Prayer, the exercise of the Virtues, whereby it is rendered fit to accept the Divine Light, and Meditation, which may rise even to ecstatic union with God. The supreme end of life is such union, union in contemplation or intellect and in intense absorbing Love; but it cannot be entirely reached in this life, and remains as a Hope for the future.

A master of the memorable phrase, Bonaventure held that Philosophy opens the mind to at least three different routes that humans can take on their journey to God:





English: Saint Bonaventure receives the Envoys of the Byzantine Emperor
Deutsch: Der Hl. Bonaventura empfängt die Gesandten des Kaisers.
Artist: Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664).
Date: Circa 1640-1650.
Current location: Louvre Museum, Paris, France.
Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002.
ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
Permission: [1]
(Wikimedia Commons)



Non-intellectual material creatures he conceived as shadows and vestiges (literally, footprints) of God, understood as the ultimate cause of a world that Philosophical Reason can prove was created at a first moment in time;

Intellectual creatures he conceived of as images and likenesses of God, the workings of the human mind and Will, leading us to God understood as Illuminator of Knowledge and Donor of Grace and Virtue;

The final route to God is the route of being, in which Bonaventure brought Saint Anselm's argument, together with Aristotelian and Neoplatonic metaphysics, to view God as the Absolutely Perfect Being, whose essence entails its existence, an Absolutely Simple Being that causes all other, composite beings to exist.

Bonaventure, however, is not merely a meditative thinker, whose works may form good manuals of devotion; he is a Dogmatic Theologian of High Rank, and, on all the disputed questions of scholastic thought, such as universals, matter, the principle of individualism, or the intellectus agens, he gives weighty and well-reasoned decisions.





English: The Church of Saint Bonaventure, Munich, Germany.
Deutsch: Starnberg, OT Percha, Harkirchener Straße 7. Altenheim St. Josef mit der integrierten Kirche St. Bonaventura. Eine Münchnerin überlies 1895 als Dank für die Pflege eines Angehörigen ihre beiden Landhäuser in Percha den Ursberger Pflegeanstalten.
Photo: 3 November 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: I. Berger.
(Wikimedia Commons)



He agrees with Saint Albert the Great in regarding Theology as a practical science; its truths, according to his view, are peculiarly adapted to influence the affections. He discusses very carefully the nature and meaning of the Divine Attributes; considers universals to be the ideal forms pre-existing in the Divine Mind, according to which things were shaped; holds matter to be pure potentiality, which receives individual being and determinateness from the formative Power of God, acting according to the ideas; and, finally, maintains that the intellectus agens has no separate existence. On these, and on many other points of scholastic Philosophy, the "Seraphic Doctor" exhibits a combination of subtlety and moderation, which makes his works particularly valuable.

In form and intent, the work of Saint Bonaventure is always the work of a Theologian; he writes as one for whom the only angle of vision and the proximate criterion of Truth is the Christian Faith. This fact influences his importance for the history of Philosophy; when coupled with his style, it makes Bonaventure perhaps the least accessible of the major figures of the 13th-Century. This is true, not because he is a Theologian, but because Philosophy interests him largely as a praeparatio evangelica, as something to be interpreted as a foreshadow of, or deviation from, what God has revealed.


In a way that is not true of Aquinas or Albert or Scotus, Bonaventure does not survive well the transition from his time to ours. It is difficult to imagine a contemporary Philosopher, Christian or not, citing a passage from Bonaventure to make a specifically Philosophical point. One must know Philosophers to read Bonaventure, but the study of Bonaventure is seldom helpful for understanding Philosophers and their characteristic problems. Bonaventure, as a Theologian, is something else again, of course, as is Bonaventure the edifying author. It is in those areas, rather than in Philosophy proper, that his continuing importance must be sought.



Sunday 13 July 2014

O Halcyon Days. Redolent Of Sheer Happiness.


This Article can be found, in full, at UNMITIGATED ENGLAND



Illustration: UNMITIGATED ENGLAND


There was one thing we knew as boys. And that was that the illustration on the front of Hornby catalogues and train set boxes would usually bear no relation to the contents. But it didn't matter. It was the whole idea of steam trains that attracted us, and the fact that they were inaccurately rendered in colourfully printed tinplate meant not a jot.

Back in the day we were an 'O' Gauge family, forced by circumstance to watch richer neighbours' or friends' Hornby Dublo electric trains careen around specially constructed baseboards in front parlours. No, we were strictly clockwork, and our battered cheapo 'M' series trains ran amok through hallway and kitchen, and very memorably around the garden.

My brother came back from Leicester market with a huge box full of track, staggering up our cul-de-sac lane shouting "Give me a hand someone". We couldn't believe how far it stretched, right from the bottom of the garden by the empty pond, past the sentinel lupins, across the yard, round the side and front of the house until finally running out of steam at the top of the drive. Almost literally, because one winding would do the lot. I was posted by the front gate, and I can still remember the rush of pleasure as the train approached, my brother having put an apple or biscuit in a truck for me.

Alone and out of sight, I would put my ear to the silvered track to hear the approaching clattering of wheels. We were so into all this we parcelled an abbreviated version with a string handle to take on our holidays to Anderby Creek on the Lincolnshire coast. Rainy days found the trains whirring around the attic of our bungalow.


Saturday 12 July 2014

Pope Benedict XV (Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista Della Chiesa). Papacy From 1914-1922. (Part Four.)


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





English: Pope Benedict XV, circa 1915.
Français: Photo de Benoît XV prise vers 1915.
Photo: Circa 1915.
Source: Library of Congress.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)



The Vatican also rejected the dissolution of Austria–Hungary, seeing in this step an inevitable and eventual strengthening of Germany. The Vatican also had great reservations about the creation of small successor States, which, in the view of Gasparri, were not viable economically and, therefore, condemned to economic misery.

Pope Benedict XV rejected the League of Nations as a secular organisation that was not built on Christian values. On the other hand, he also condemned European nationalism that was rampant in the 1920s and asked for "European Unification" in his 1920 Encyclical Pacem Dei Munus.




English: Arms of pope Benedict XV (Giacomo della Chiesa). Party per bend azure and or,
a Church, the Tower at Sinister, argent, essorée gules, the Tower-Cross of the second,
in Chief or, a demi-eagle displayed issuant sable, langued gules. This blazoning, given in 1915,
differs from the image shown here: (a) the eagle's tongue should be red, (b) the Church Tower
should have a gold Cross, instead of a black flag.
Français: Armoiries du pape Benoît XV : Tranché d'azur et d'or à l'église d'argent couverte de gueules brochant sur le tout, au chef d'or à l'aigle issant de sable.
Source du blasonnement : http://www.araldicavaticana.com/pbenedetto15.htm
Date: 11 August 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Odejea.
(Wikimedia Commons)



The Pope was also disturbed by the Communist Revolution in Russia. The Pope reacted with horror to the strongly-anti-religious policies adopted by Vladimir Lenin's government, along with the bloodshed and widespread famine which occurred during the subsequent Russian Civil War. He undertook the greatest efforts trying to help the victims of the Russian famine. Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, concerns were raised in the Vatican about the safety and future of Catholics in the Holy Land.

In the Post-War period, Pope Benedict XV was involved in developing the Church administration to deal with the new international system that had emerged. The Papacy was faced with the emergence of numerous new States, such as Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Finland, and others.

Germany, France, Italy and Austria were impoverished from the war. In addition, the traditional social and cultural European Order was threatened by Right-Wing Nationalism and Fascism, as well as Left-Wing Socialism and Communism, all of which potentially threatened the existence and freedom of the Church. To deal with these and related issues, Benedict engaged in what he knew best, a large-scale Diplomatic Offensive to secure the Rights of the Faithful in all countries.




English: Pope Benedict XV,
as Cardinal Della Chiesa.
Deutsch: Papst Benedikt XV. als Kardinal.
Date: 1914.
Source: Benedikt XV.
Author: Anton de Waal, 1915.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Pope Leo XIII had already agreed to the participation of Catholics in Local, but not National, Politics. Relations with Italy improved under Pope Benedict XV, who, de facto, reversed the stiff anti-Italian policy of his predecessors by allowing Catholics to participate in national elections. This led to growth of the Partito Popolare Italiano, under Luigi Sturzo.

Anti-Catholic politicians were gradually replaced by persons who were neutral, or even sympathetic, to the Catholic Church. The King of Italy gave signals of his desire for better relations, when, for example, he sent personal condolences to the Pontiff on the death of his brother. The working conditions for Vatican Staff greatly improved and feelers were extended on both sides to solve the Roman Question. Pope Benedict XV strongly supported a solution and seemed to have had a fairly pragmatic view of the political and social situation in Italy at this time. Thus, while numerous traditional Catholics opposed voting rights for women, the Pope was in favour, arguing that, unlike the feminist protagonists, most women would vote conservative and thus support traditional Catholic positions.




English: Joan of Arc enters Orléans (painting by J.J. Sherer, 1887).
Joan was Canonised by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.
Français: Entree de Jeanne d'Arc à Orléans,
1887, Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts.
Source: http://www.dhm.de/ausstellungen/mythen/english/f12.html
Author: Jean-Jacques Scherrer.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Pope Benedict XV attempted to improve relations with the anti-clerical Republican government of France. He Canonised the French national heroine, Saint Joan of Arc. In the mission territories of the Third World, he emphasised the necessity of training native Priests to quickly replace the European missionaries, and founded the Pontifical Oriental Institute and the Coptic College in the Vatican. France re-established diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 1921.

The end of the war caused the revolutionary development, which Benedict XV had foreseen in his first Encyclical. With the Russian Revolution, the Vatican was faced with a new, so far unknown, situation.

Relations with Russia changed drastically for a second reason. The Baltic States and Poland gained their independence from Russia after World War I, thus enabling a relatively free Church life in those former Russian countries. Estonia was the first country to look for Vatican ties. On 11 April 1919, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri informed the Estonian authorities that the Vatican would agree to have diplomatic relations. A Concordat was agreed upon in principle a year later in June 1920. It was signed on 30 May 1922. It guaranteed freedom for the Catholic Church, established Archdioceses, liberated Clergy from military service, allowed the creation of Seminaries and Catholic schools and enshrined Church property rights and immunity.




Copyright-expired-photo of Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII),
in 1917, delivering Papal gifts, from Pope Benedict XV, to Italian Prisoners-of-War.
Source: Pascalina Lehnert.
Author: Feuerreiter.
(Wikipedia)



Relations with Catholic Lithuania were slightly more complicated because of the Polish occupation of Vilnius, a City and Arch-Episcopal Seat, which Lithuania claimed as its own. Polish forces had occupied Vilnius and committed acts of brutality in its Catholic Seminary. This generated several protests by Lithuania to the Holy See. Relations with the Holy See were defined during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI (1922–1939).

Before all other Heads of State, Pope Benedict XV, in October 1918, congratulated the Polish people on their independence. In a Public Letter to Archbishop Kakowski of Warsaw, he remembered their loyalty and the many efforts of the Holy See to assist them. He expressed his hopes that Poland would again take its place in the Family of Nations and continue its history as an educated Christian nation.

In March 1919, he nominated ten new Bishops and, soon after, Achille Ratti as Papal Nuncio, who was already in Warsaw as his representative. He repeatedly cautioned Polish authorities against persecuting Lithuanian and Ruthenian Clergy.




who helped Pope Benedict XV with creating the
new Code of Canon Law in 1917.
Summary: Foto mdel Cardinal Gasparri da nl.wiki
(Wikimedia Commons)



During the Bolshevik advance against Warsaw, he asked for world-wide public Prayers for Poland. Nuncio Ratti was the only foreign diplomat to stay in the Polish Capital. On 11 June 1921, Pope Pius XV wrote to the Polish Episcopate, warning against political mis-uses of spiritual power, urging them again for peaceful co-existence with neighbouring peoples, stating that “love of Country has its limits in justice and obligations.” He sent Nuncio Ratti to Silesia, to act against potential political agitations of the Catholic Clergy.


PART FIVE FOLLOWS.


Friday 11 July 2014

Pope Saint Pius I. Martyr. Feast Day 11 July.


Text taken from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
which states the Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal
(unless otherwise stated) with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press.

Pope Saint Pius I.
Martyr.
Feast Day 11 July.

Simple.

Red Vestments.


Pope Saint Pius I.
Source: http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0010.htm
This File: 18 August 2012.
Comment: Transfered from en.wikipedia by
User:Gikü using CommonsHelper.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Cycle makes us honour, today, a Saint whom "God anointed with His Holy Oil" (Gradual) and whom He invested with the fulness of His Priesthood (Introit, Alleluia) by raising him to the Pontifical Throne after Saint Hyginus in 142 A.D., (others say in 167 A.D.).

He prescribed that the Feast of the Resurrection should only be kept on a Sunday, which, thenceforth, became the Chief of all Sundays.

Pope Saint Pius I established a Baptistry in the house which Saint Pudentiana and Saint Praxedes had placed at his disposal, and where their father, the Senator Pudens, had already received Saint Peter.




Saint Pius I transformed into a Titular Church the adjoining Baths of Novatus, where is held the Station on the Tuesday in the third week of Lent. On account of the stay of the First Sovereign Pontiff, he dedicated it under the Title of Pastor,

To fulfil his Office of Good Shepherd, he feared not to renounce his own life (Gospel), and endured many hardships, which hastened his end, for his Sheep and for Christ, the Supreme Pastor [Third Lesson at Matins]. 

He received, at the same time as the Crown of Martyrdom, the Crown of Life that God has promised to those who love Him (Epistle), and was buried in 150 A.D., on the Vatican.

Mass of a Martyr: Statuit.




The following Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Pope Saint Pius I (died circa 154 A.D.,) was the Bishop of Rome from circa 140 A.D., to his death circa 154 A.D., according to the Annuario Pontificio.

Pope Saint Pius I is believed to have been born at Aquileia, in Northern Italy, during the Late-1st-Century. His father was called "Rufinus", who was also said to be of Aquileia, according to the Liber Pontificalis.

It is stated in the 2nd-Century Muratorian Canon, as well as in the Liberian Catalogue, that he was the brother of Hermas, author of the text known as The Shepherd of Hermas. The writer of that text identifies himself as a former slave. This has led to speculation that both Hermas and Pius were freedmen.



Saint Pius I governed the Church in the middle of the 2nd-Century, during the reigns of the Emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He was the ninth successor of Saint Peter. He decreed that Easter should only be kept on a Sunday. Although being credited with ordering the publication of the Liber Pontificalis, compilation of that document was not started before the beginning of the 6th-Century. He is said to have built one of the oldest Churches in Rome, Santa Pudenziana.

Saint Pius I endured many hardships during his reign. The fact that Saint Justin taught Christian Doctrine in Rome, during the Pontificate of Saint Pius I, and that the Heretics Valentinus, Cerdon, and Marcion visited Rome at the same time, is an argument for the Primacy of the Roman See during the 2nd-Century. Pope Saint Pius I opposed the Valentinians and Gnostics, under Marcion, whom he excommunicated.


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