A Liturgical Note For Lent.

Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Wide-angle view of the Altar inside Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome.

Photo: 2008-09-24 (original upload date).(Original text : August 2008).

Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Sfan00_IMG using CommonsHelper.(Original text : I created this work entirely by myself 

using my en:Olympus E-510 and en:Autopano Pro).

Author: Patrick Landy (FSU Guy (talk)). Original uploader was FSU Guy at en.wikipedia

Permission: CC-BY-SA-3.0; Released under the GNU Free Documentation License.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Lent comprises two parts, the first of which commences on Ash Wednesday, which is called in the Liturgy "the beginning of the Holy Forty Days", and ends on Passion Sunday.

The second part consists of the "Great Fortnight" known as Passiontide.

Reckoning four Sundays in Lent, together with Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday, we find thirty-six Fasting Days, to which have been added the four days immediately preceding the First Sunday, in order to reach the number forty, "which originated with the Law and the Prophets and was hallowed by Christ Himself. (Hymn at Matins. Moses, representing the Law, and Elias, the Prophets, only approached Almighty God on Sinai and Horeb (respectively) after purifying themselves by a Fast of forty days.)

The Mass for Ash Wednesday, although under a different name, existed already in the Gregorian Sacramentary.

Bernini's Baldacchino, inside Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.

Photo: 2005.

Source: Taken by Ricardo André Frantz.

Author: Ricardo André Frantz (User:Tetraktys).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Each Mass in Lent has its own Station.

The term "Station" has been borrowed from the Roman Army, because the Christians, enrolled in the Army of Christ, were accustomed to meet at the same hours that the Roman soldiers changed guard at their "Stations".

English: A 5 x 6 segment panoramic image taken by myself 

with a Canon 5D and 70-200mm f/2.8L lens from the dome of Saint Peter's in Rome.

Français: Image panoramique composée de 5 x 6 photos prises par David Iliff à l'aide d'un appareil Canon 5D et une lentille 70-200mm f/2.8L à partir du dôme de la Basilique Saint-Pierre au Vatican.

Photo: April 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Diliff

License: CC-BY-SA 3.0".

(Wikimedia Commons)

This is the origin of the terms Terce, Sext and None, given to the Divine Office and said at the third, sixth and ninth hours. In Lent, Mass was celebrated after None, which was said about three o'clock. Vespers were then sung, after which the Fast was broken. From this, came the present custom in Churches where the Divine Office is sung, of saying Vespers before Lunch (before noon), during Lent. [This copy of The Saint Andrew Daily Missal is dated 1945.]

Français : Façade de la Basilique Saint-Pierre au Vatican.

English: Façade of Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

Deutsch: Fassade des Peterskirche im Vatikan.

Español: Fachada de la Basílica de San Pedro en el Vaticano.

Italiano: Facciata del Basilica di San Pietro in Città del Vaticano.

Photo: September 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT.

(Wikimedia Commons)

As a matter of history, in the course of the year the Pope used to celebrate Solemn Mass in one after another of the great Basilicas, the twenty-five Parish Churches of Rome, and in certain other Sanctuaries, surrounded by all his Clergy and by his people. This was called: "Making The Station". This name, which we still find in the Missal, reminds us that Rome is the centre of Christian worship and stands to us for a Liturgy more than 1,200 years old and formerly carried out with the greatest solemnity.

The twenty-five Parish Churches of Rome, which already existed in the 5th-Century, were called "Titles" (Tituli) and the Parish Priests of Rome, who served them, bore the name of "Cardinals" (incardinati), which means "attached to these Churches". It is for this reason, that in our time each Cardinal is still "Titular" of one of these Sanctuaries.

Français : Nef de la Basilique Saint-Pierre au Vatican.

Deutsch: Kirchenschiff des Petersdom in Vatikan.

English: Nave of Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

Español: Nave de la basílica Basílica de San Pedro en la Ciudad del Vaticano.

Italiano: Navata della basilica Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano. Dentro da cúpula do Basílica de São Pedro em Vaticano.

Photo: September 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Lent, when each day's Mass carries the Indulgences attached to its particular "Station", is one of the most ancient of the Liturgical Seasons and the most important in the whole year.

The Temporal Cycle, which is devoted to the contemplation of the Mysteries of Christ, is brought to bear daily upon the Faithful, while at other Seasons it is more frequently the Feasts of Saints which are kept on the days of the week. And, since the whole Christian life is summed up in the imitation of Christ, this Season, when the Sanctoral Cycle is least in evidence, is particularly fruitful to our Souls. It is only because of their special importance, that the Church gave a place in the Lenten Liturgy, to the Feasts of the Annunciation (25 March) and of Saint Matthias (24 February).

If, as time went on, there were added to these, other Masses in honour of the Saints, it is, nonetheless, precisely in the spirit of this Season to choose by preference to say or hear the Mass of the Feria; for during Lent, the principal Mass of the Day, be it sung or said, ought to be of the Feria on Feasts of the Greater Double or any lesser rite.

Further, on Feasts of superior rite, i.e., of the First Class or Second Class, such as the Annunciation, Saint Joseph, and Saint Matthias, one Mass of the Feria is said, in addition to the Mass of the Day, in Cathedrals, Collegiate Churches, and Monasteries, in order not to interrupt the preparation for Easter.

Consequently, if we wish to make a good Lent, it is important that we should try to assist daily at that Mass in which our Mother the Church dictates to us the thoughts which should occupy our minds during this holy Season.

English: Michelangelo's Pietà in Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

Français : La Pietà de Michel-Ange située dans la Basilique Saint-Pierre, au Vatican.

Photo: 2008.

Source: Edited version of (cloned object out of background) 

Image:Michelangelo's Pieta 5450 cropncleaned.jpg).

Author: Stanislav Traykov

(Wikimedia Commons)

To show that the spirit of Penance of the Septuagesima Season has become still more prominent, the Church not only suppresses the Gloria and the Alleluia, and puts her Priests in Violet Vestments throughout this Holy Forty Days, but she deprives the Deacon and Sub-Deacon of their Dalmatic and Tunicle, symbols of joy, and silences the organs in the Churches. Accompanying the Chant remains merely tolerated, and ceases after the Gloria on Maundy Thursday. Further, after the Postcommunions, is said a "Prayer Over The People", following the humble cry: "Bow down your heads before God."

In former times, during this Season, the sittings of the Law Courts and all wars were suspended in the Christian commonwealth. It was also a "Closed Time" for marriages and still is in our days, in the sense that, at this time of the year, the Church does not allow the Solemn Blessing to be given to the bridal pair.

Angels Bridge and Basilica di San Pietro (view at night).

Photo: May 2004.

Source: Own work.

Author: Andreas Tille

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the ages when Faith was at its strongest, the Church exhorted married couples to practise continence throughout the whole period of this "Solemn Fast".

"Behold, now is the acceptable time: Behold, now is the day of salvation. Let us commend ourselves in much patience, in frequent Fastings, by the armour of justice of the power of God. Let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God in much patience, in many Fastings" (Response at Matins for the First Sunday of Lent).

Basilica of The Twelve Apostles, Rome. (Part Two)

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

The Lenten Station is held at the Basilica of The Twelve Apostles on Friday of Ember Week in Lent.

The Apse in the Church of The Twelve Apostles, Rome.

Photo: August 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Luc.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Melozzo da Forlì painted, on the Ceiling of the great Chapel, the Ascension of Our Lord. According to Giorgio Vasari, "the figure of Christ is so admirably foreshortened as to appear to pierce the vault; and, in the same manner, the Angels are seen sweeping through the field of air in two opposite directions." This painting was executed for Cardinal Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, about the year 1472. During the dramatic renovation of the Church, it was removed and placed in the Quirinal Palace in 1711, where it is still seen, bearing this inscription: "Opus Melotii Foroliviensis, qui summos fornices pingendi artem vel primus invenit vel illustravit". Several heads of the Apostles, which surrounded it, and were likewise cut away, were deposited in the Vatican palace.

The twelve Chapels in total, with three domed ones on each side, are adorned with marbles and fine paintings; the painting in the first Chapel, to the right, is by Nicola Lapiccola; and that in the next by Corrado Giaquinto. The Chapel of Saint Anthony contains eight fine marble Columns, and a painting by Benedetto Luti.

The first Chapel, on the right-hand side, is the Chapel of the Immaculate. It has a 15th-Century Madonna, donated by Cardinal Bessarion (1403–1472).

English: The Ceiling of the Basilica of The Twelve Apostles, Rome.

Español: Roma. SS. Apostoli, bóveda. Baciccio, Caída de los ángeles rebeldes.

Photo: May 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: MiguelHermoso

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Chapel of the Crucifixion, on the right-hand side, is divided into a Nave and two Aisles. The eight Columns are from the 6th-Century Church. The tomb of Raffaele della Rovere (died 1477), brother of Pope Sixtus IV and father of Pope Julius II, is found in the Chapel on the left side of the Crypt. It was designed by Andrea Bregno.

The Confessio was constructed in 1837. During its construction, the relics of Saint James and Saint Philip, which were taken from the Catacombs in the 9th-Century to protect them from invaders, were rediscovered. The wall paintings are reproductions of ancient Catacomb paintings. An inscription explains that Pope Stephen IV walked barefoot in 886 A.D. from the Catacombs to the Church carrying the relics on his shoulders. The other Chapels were decorated 1876-1877.

Pope Clement XIV (1769–1774) is buried in the last Chapel on the left side, near the door of the Sacristy. His Neo-Classical tomb is by Antonio Canova, made in 1783-1787. Besides the statue of that Pope, there are two uncommonly fine figures of"Temperance" and "Clemency". This was the first major work that Canova did in Rome.

The High Altar, Santi Apostoli, Rome.

Photo: July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: SteO153

(Wikimedia Commons)

Beyond the Sacristy is the Chapel of Saint Francis, painted by Giuseppe Chiari. On the Altar of the following Chapel, the second Chapel on the left has an Altarpiece from 1777 by Giuseppe Cades, depicting Saint Joseph of Cupertino. The two Columns of verde antico, green marble, are the largest known in that type of stone. The "Descent of the Cross", on the Altar of the last Chapel, is a famous work of Francesco Manno.

On the second Pillar, on the left side, is the epitaph of Cardinal Bessarion, and a 16th-Century portrait of him. His mortal remains were moved here in 1957.

For a short time, the Basilica housed the tomb of Michelangelo, before its transportation to the Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze. Upon the death of James Francis Edward Stuart, his body lay in repose here in 1776 before he was buried with his wife at Saint Peter's Basilica.

THIS ENDS THE ARTICLE ON THE BASILICA OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES, ROME.

Basilica of The Twelve Apostles, Rome. (Part One)

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

The Lenten Station is held at the Basilica of The Twelve Apostles on Friday of Ember Week in Lent.

Français : Basilique des Saints-Apotres à Rome.

English: Basilica of The Twelve Apostles, Rome.

Photo: August 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: LPLT.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles (Italian: Santi XII Apostoli, Latin: SS. XII Apostolorum) is a 6th-Century Roman Catholic Parish and Titular Church and Minor Basilica in Rome, Italy, dedicated originally to Saint James and Saint Philip and, later, to all Apostles. Today, the Basilica is under the care of the Conventual Franciscans, whose headquarters in Rome are in the adjacent building.

The Cardinal Priest of the Titulus XII Apostolorum is Angelo Scola. Among the previous Cardinal Priests are Pope Clement XIV, whose tomb by Canova is in the Basilica, and Henry Benedict Stuart.

Built by Pope Pelagius I to celebrate a Narses victory over the Ostrogoths, and dedicated by Pope John III to Saint John the Apostle and Saint Philip the Apostle, the Basilica is listed as 'Titulus SS Apostolorum' in the Acts of the Synod of 499 A.D. Santi Apostoli was ruined by the earthquake of 1348, and left abandoned.

English: View of the Church from the Vittoriano

Italian: Santi Apostoli, Roma, dal Vittoriano.

Photo: December 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Pippo-b

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1417, Pope Martin V, whose Colonna family owned the adjacent Palazzo Colonna, restored the Church, while the facade was built at the end of the same century by Baccio Pontelli. It was frescoed by Melozzo da Forlì, whose wall-paintings at Santi Apostoli were renowned for their innovative techniques of foreshortening and came to be regarded as Melozzo's masterpiece.

Pope Clement XI instigated dramatic renovations of the Church. Melozzo's frescoes were either destroyed or moved partly to the Quirinal and partly to the Vatican Museums. A new Baroque interior was designed by Carlo Fontana and Francesco Fontana, and was completed in 1714. The Church was later restored again, with the facade completed by Giuseppe Valadier in 1827.

This Church has three Naves, divided by a row of Corinthian Pillars, supporting the Ceiling, on the middle of which was painted, in 1707, the Triumph of the Order of Saint Francis, by Baciccio. There are also frescoes of the Evangelists by Luigi Fontana. The use of perspective is very good, and the Angels appear to come out of the Vault. Above the Sanctuary is a fresco from 1709 by Giovanni Odazzi, representing the "Fall of Lucifer and his Angels".

Artist: Giovanni Battista Gaulli (8 May 1639 – 2 April 1709), also known as Baciccio.

Title: Apotheosis of the Franciscan Order.

Date: 1707.

Current location: Basilica Santi XII Apostoli, Rome

Source: Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork

(Wikimedia Commons)

To the right of the High Altar are the tombs of Count Giraud de Caprières (died 1505) and Cardinal Raffaele Riario (died 1474), tentatively attributed to Michelangelo. To the left, is a monument to Cardinal Riario, by the School of Andrea Bregno and possible designed by Andrea Bregno, himself. There is also a Madonna by Mino da Fiesole.

On the wall, to the right of the Portico of the ancient Church, is an antique bas-relief of an eagle, surrounded by an oak crown, that it holds in its talons. Opposite, is the monument of the engraver, Giovanni Volpato, executed and erected by his friend and countryman, Antonio Canova. It consists of a large bas-relief, representing "Friendship", in the form of a woman weeping before the bust of the deceased Volpato.

On a Pier of the Nave, on the right-hand side, near the first Chapel, is enshrined the heart of Maria Klementyna Sobieska, wife of the Old Pretender, James Francis Edward Stuart. Her tomb is in Saint Peter's Basilica. Her monument is by Filippo della Valle. Her husband used to pray here every morning. James III was Laid In State here in 1766, before he was buried with his wife at Saint Peter's.

Basilica Santi XII Apostoli, Rome.

Photo: 10/12/2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Lalupa

(Wikimedia Commons)

PART TWO FOLLOWS.

Minor Basilica of Santa Sabina, Rome. (Part Two).

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

The Minor Basilica of Santa Sabina is the Lenten Station for next Wednesday, Ash Wednesday. His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, will be in attendance.

English: Basilica of Saint Sabina, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Français : Basilique Sainte-Sabine, Rome, Latium, Italie.

Photo: September 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tango7174

(Wikimedia Commons)

With the departure of Aquinas for Paris in 1268, and the passage of time, the pedagogical activities of the Studium Provinciale at Santa Sabina were divided between two campuses. A new Convent of the Order at the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva had a modest beginning in 1255 as a community for women converts, but grew rapidly in size and importance after being given to the Dominicans in 1275.

In 1288, the theology component of the Provincial curriculum was relocated from the Santa Sabina Studium Provinciale to the Studium Conventuale at Santa Maria sopra Minerva, which was redesignated as a Studium Particularis Theologiae.

Thus, the Studium at Santa Sabina was the forerunner of the Studium Generale at Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The latter would be transformed in the 16th-Century into the College of Saint Thomas (Latin: Collegium Divi Thomæ), and then, in the 20th-Century, into the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum, sited at the Convent of Saints Dominic and Sixtus.

English: Santa Sabina, Roma.

Česky: Interiér baziliky Santa Sabina, Řím.

Photo: February 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Rumburak

(Wikimedia Commons)

Following the curriculum of studies laid out in the Capitular Acts of 1291, the Santa Sabina Studium was re-designated as one of three Studia Nove Logice, intended to offer courses of advanced logic covering the Logica Nova, the Aristotelian texts recovered in the West only in the second half of the 12th-Century, the Topics, Sophistical Refutations, and the First and Second Analytics of Aristotle. 

This was an advance over the Logica Antiqua, which treated the Isagoge of Porphyry, Divisions and Topics of Boethius, the Categories and On Interpretation of Aristotle, and the Summule Logicales of Peter of Spain. Milone da Velletri was Lector at the Santa Sabina Studium in 1293.

In 1310, the Florentine, Giovanni dei Tornaquinci, was Lector at Santa Sabina. In 1331, at the Santa Sabina Studium, Nerius de Tertia was Lector, and Giovanni Zocco da Spoleto was a student of Logic.

The exterior of the Church, with its large windows made of selenite, not glass, looks much as it did when it was built in the 5th-Century.

English: Interior of Santa Sabina.

Français : Interieur de l'église de Santa Sabina, Aventin, Rome.

Photo: 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Ursus

(Wikimedia Commons)

The wooden door of the Basilica is generally agreed to be the original door from 430 A.D. - 432 A.D., although it was apparently not constructed for this doorway. Eighteen of its wooden panels survive, all but one depicting scenes from the Bible. Most famous among these is one of the earliest certain depictions of Christ's Crucifixion, although other panels have also been the subject of extensive analysis because of their importance for the study of Christian iconography.

Above the doorway, the interior preserves an original dedication in Latin hexameters.

The Campanile (bell tower) dates from the 10th-Century.

The original 5th-Century Apse mosaic was replaced in 1559 by a very similar fresco by Taddeo Zuccari. The composition probably remained unchanged: Christ is flanked by a good thief and a bad thief, seated on a hill, while lambs drink from a stream at its base. The iconography of the mosaic was very similar to another 5th-Century mosaic, destroyed in the 17th-Century, in Sant'Andrea in Catabarbara. An interesting feature of the interior is a framed hole in the floor, exposing a Roman-era temple column that pre-dates Santa Sabina.

Italiano: Santa Sabina all'Aventino: dettaglio del portone intagliato del VI sec.

English: Basilica of Santa Sabina all'Aventino. 

Detail from the carved Portal dating back to the 6th-Century.

Photo: April 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Talmoryair

(Wikimedia Commons)

This appears to be the remnant of the Temple of Juno, erected on the hilltop site during Roman times, which was likely razed to allow construction of Santa Sabina. The tall, spacious Nave has 24 Columns of Proconnesian marble with perfectly-matched Corinthian Columns and Bases, which were re-used from the Temple of Juno.

Saint Dominic, Pope Saint Pius V, Saint Celsus, Saint Hyacinth and Saint Thomas Aquinas are among those who have lived in the Monastery adjacent to the Church. The interior Cells, for the Dominican Friars, are little changed since the earliest days of the Order of Preachers. The Cell of Saint Dominic is still identified, though it has since been enlarged and converted to a Chapel. Also, the original dining room still remains, in which Saint Thomas Aquinas would dine when he came to Rome.

THIS ENDS THE ARTICLE ON THE MINOR BASILICA OF SANTA SABINA.

"The scandal and anxiety of the Devout and Orthodox, among the Faithful, were considered with derision and superciliousness by the Modernists . . . "

This Article, which is full of merit in Zephyrinus's view, can be found on RORATE CAELI 

at http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com

Obedience and the Power of the Modernists: Understanding the resurgence of Modernism in the past 50 years.

Fr. Giovanni Cavalcoli, O.P.

The return of Modernism that has characterized these 50 years since the end of the Second Vatican Council can be divided into two periods which reveal the tenacity, the strength and power of persuasion that this plot against the Church, has produced operating within Her and accomplishing the “work of auto-demolition”, that Paul the VI had spoken about.

The first period is characterized by the famous chaotic and disordered contestations of 1968 and, at that same time, the wild, uncontrolled spreading of heretical doctrines in dogma and morals among seminarians, youth, priests, religious and theologians. The bishops, taken by surprise, and not wanting to be labeled “prophets of doom” or pre-conciliar conservatives, more or less allowed them free rein, at times with the formula ad experimentum (“Let’s see how it goes.”); as if the truth of a doctrine depended on the success it meets.

Since there was some ‘success’ in numerous cases, “Let’s see if it works”, which was before - was adopted, taken for granted and not to be questioned. Those who tried to question it, whatever authority they had, perhaps in the name of the precedent Magisterium or Tradition, were subjected to public derision as “anti-conciliarists.”

The disobedience to the Magisterium and to the Pope himself, either openly or covertly in the name of an unspecified “spirit of the Council” began to be a habit which spread among the faithful, intellectuals and people, the clergy, theologians and moralists. [Thus] the so-called “Catholic dissent” was born, and Paul VI spoke about “a parallel Magisterium”.

Heretical and modernist ideas, especially those along Protestant lines, started to be taught freely, tranquilly and with impunity in Catholic schools and were also found in the publications and press of many so-called “Catholic” publishers. The scandal and anxiety of the devout and orthodox among the faithful, were considered with derision and superciliousness by the modernists – those so-called “progressives” increasingly sure of themselves and convinced they were the new Church of the future and modernity: “in the heart of the world”, in “the Church of the poor” in “the Church of dialogue”, guided directly by the Spirit, truly evangelical, attentive to the “Word of God” and the “signs of the times” and so on.

Throughout this first period, the modernists had the opportunity of becoming more and more dominant in social communications, thus infiltrating into families, in culture - schools, universities, workplaces, parishes, movements, academic environments and Catholic education, seminaries and religious institutes, thus forming an entire generation of new priests, new religious, new leaders, new bishops and even new cardinals. All of this in the face of extremely weak resistance on the part of good pastors and the Holy See, itself weakened and contaminated through ultra-recommended infiltrators by ambitious prelates of dubious orthodoxy.

What was the catastrophic outcome of all this? We see it today before our eyes, growing in proportions, and it could have been but figured out - as it had indeed been figured out and foreseen by those many clear-sighted “prophets of doom”. (We should better say: the “unheeded sentinels”). Or let us say more simply, it was foreseen by those endowed with common sense: that gradually from the modernists and false teachers, free to spread their errors, there would have risen (as indeed it has) a generation or a category holding ecclesiastical power at various levels, more or less ruthless or convinced, more or less oscillating and double-crossing, imbued with their own ideas and therefore, not only able to spread modernist ideas, but order their implementation, subject to disciplinary sanctions, in the name of “obedience” or even, persecution against those that wanted to remain faithful to the Church’s Magisterium.

Even more severe penalties have been inflicted against scholars and theologians who not only remain faithful to sound doctrine, but reveal and denounce the errors and misdeeds of the modernists with names and facts, as well as proof and precise accusations. The modernists are most able at hiding under the appearance of what is true, and are irritated by those who warn the faithful of the hidden dangers and use tones of rebuke against the inventors and diffusers of error.

As far as possible, they strive to ignore these protesters  above all if they have no followers. But when they become aware that the eyes of the faithful have been opened, they resort to threats and violence. Thus, a kind of “reverse” inquisition has come about: today the heretics, are not only seen in a good light, but they even have the audacity (as happened in the 16th century in the Catholic countries overrun by Protestants) due to the nefarious power they have achieved, to obstruct or block those who defend sound doctrine and who want to shield the people of God from the epidemic of lies and falsehoods that are the origins of every kind of moral disorder. Pastors, frequently, because of insufficient theological formation, even if they are good and conscientious, limit themselves to condemning moral errors, but without realizing it, in fact, sometimes they are hostile, in good faith or in fear, towards those theologians who bring to light the theoretical roots of error.

But, the tragic-comic thing that reveals the refined hypocrisy of these modernist Pharisees – is the “scandal” – pure pharisaical scandal – when their snow-white souls are disturbed in seeing or knowing about courageous Catholics who dare to resist or oppose prelates, teachers, educators, superiors or bishops who would like to shut them up or convince them that they are mistaken; they then give orders, or impart invalid prohibitions thus making them inapplicable, forgetting that peremptory order of Scripture: “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy corn on the floor.”, similar to criminal health-care officials who would want to impede doctors in taking care of the sick.

They are the first to disobey the truth and directives of the Gospel as well as the Supreme Pontiff, and they dare to dish out orders which clash with the sound doctrine or moral and judicial principles of the Church. These are the same ones that in 1968 or in its wake, who wailed against “the barons” and “authoritarianism”; they felt authorized to contest the Pope and bishops, and to enlighten them with expressions of such dogmatic rigor as: “the Church of the rich” of despotism and medieval theocracy from the “age of Constantine”, “Baroque triumphalism “, pharisaical legalism, the inquisition, sex phobia, and so forth. Now, instead, they ask for absolute obedience and whoever contradicts them is compared to one that disobeys a divine precept. That is, if they still believe in the true God and do not make a god of themselves, along the lines of the sublime intuition of a certain Gnostic pantheist.

So we have entered the second period, in which we witness more and more frequently, disconcerting and scandalous deeds, where bishops and superiors are especially involved: some forbid the celebration of the Tridentine Mass, others run seminaries in which St. Thomas is substituted for Rahner. Some block the entrance of well-intentioned young men into the seminary or oblige them to adapt if they want to further themselves, while they open wide the door to aspiring modernists, encouraging them in their ambitions. Some are open sustainers of heresies and promote those who agree with them while, in various ways, others persecute Catholics who want nothing other than to be Catholic. Some protect modernist teachers and repress the orthodox ones. We have arrived at the point of favouring the cause of beatification from some absolutely improbable prospects, such as Monsignor Tonino Bello, merely because he reflects a model for the modernist, but other causes are disgracefully obstructed merely because they vex the modernists.

What happens to obedience in these situations? Has not perhaps the meaning been perverted? What good is it to obey superiors who, in their turn, disobey the Church and the Pope? Is it possible that nothing ever happens to the one who disobeys the Pope, while disobeying a modernist superior is [considered] such a terrible thing? Since Modernism is so widespread and prestigious, the seminarian, the priest, the theologian who resist the abuses of the modernist superior end up looking like the disobedient ones.

The power of the modernists today is so strong and the seduction that they exercise is so insidious, that a large dose of courage is needed to resist their arrogance and [one must have] very refined discernment in order to recognize the dangers.

In any case, before deciding whether to continue or not fulfilling one’s duty in fidelity to the Church, against the will or the abuse of power by some superior, it is necessary, above all, to evaluate with prudence and certainty the entity and the quality of the said abuse, and to calculate in advance, with a margin of probability, if the resistance to the unjust measures might cause greater or lesser damage with respect to the sufferings that the faithful might experience.

Resistance to the tyrant is justified from the standpoint of protecting or safeguarding the common good even at the risk of great personal loss. St. Thomas More and St. Thomas Becket accepted death when they realized that their obedience to the king would have caused greater damage to the English Church compared to what would have happened to them in renouncing their own lives.

The salvation of souls, especially if they are many, is a greater good than one’s own personal interests, even if life itself is at risk. It is not possible, nonetheless, to establish a rule that fits every case or situation. In principle, for example, an esteemed and noted theologian, victim of the abuse of power on the part of superiors, can give a good example adapting himself, rather than refusing to submit; it all depends on the circumstances which must be evaluated well.

We have examples in the saints of both these cases. Some suffer patiently, accepting all of the humiliations and even arrive at martyrdom; others availing themselves of their rights, conscious of their innocence and proud in their service to the Church, repulse the unjust treatment with firmness. We have in this regard the example of St. John of the Cross, who escaped from the prison of his superiors, rebels against the Pope.

If on the other hand we are talking about minor penalties, such as exile or defamation or the loss of one’s personal goods, isolation or prison and things of that sort, it might be convenient to accept them, in the hope, that in time, one might be rehabilitated and take up one’s mission once again in freedom. We have many examples of this in the lives of the saints, heroic pastors and other witnesses for Christ.

There could be, in fact, situations that are not so dramatic or because obeying would not cause great harm to the faithful or to the one who is a witness to the faith. In certain cases it is prudent and not cowardly to resign oneself to violence, if this would not cause too much scandal to good people and not too much prejudice to the one persecuted.

Indeed, it might happen, in the case of resistance regarding a successful exercise of his apostolate, that the persecuted may find himself in worse conditions compared to that which he might have conserved by obeying his superior. For this, as we see from history, saintly theologians, bishops and preachers adapted themselves without rebelling against unjust measures, not for the sake of obedience, but for reasons of convenience and in the end to avoid greater vexations.

So, it happens that the truly obedient, i.e. the one who first obeys God and the Church ends up looking like the disobedient one in this climate of such confusion, where it is difficult to distinguish who belongs and does not belong to the Church, since the modernists have diffused such a false concept of Church on account of what they have been able to do by deceit and cunning in imposing their power, giving the impression that they themselves are the renovators of Christianity and the avant-garde in the Church.

Their present arrogance and the impious audacity which guides them in their contempt for true obedience to the Church, under the illusion that they are the winners, will be instead, the weakening factors of their power, because Divine Providence, yes tolerates the wicked, but not beyond a certain limit. God tolerates them because they generate saints: “If there were no persecutors, says St. Thomas, there would be no martyrs.”

But, since God wants to save everyone, while the modernists seriously risk damning themselves, God will certainly not permit this state of affairs to continue much longer and His mighty power of justice and mercy will act in a way that the future of the Church will be brighter, so that She, without being exempt from the cross, may nonetheless walk less afflicted along the path of history.

[Source: Riscossa Cristiana, January 21, 2013. Text and translation: Contributor Francesca Romana.]

God Bless Our Queen.

This Article can be found on "ONCE I WAS A CLEVER BOY" 

at http://onceiwasacleverboy.blogspot.co.uk

Wednesday, 6 February, 2013,

the Sixty-First Anniversary 

of Accession Day.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

(Image:wondrouspics)

Wednesday, 6 February 2013, was the Sixty-First Anniversary of Her Majesty The Queen's 

accession to the throne in 1952. 

An opportunity to express my loyal good wishes and gratitude to Her Majesty for her life and reign, and for providing for all her peoples a very personal and individual centre of stability and continuity.

Long May She Reign !

Minor Basilica of Santa Sabina, Rome. (Part One).

Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

 

Exterior of Santa Sabina, Rome.

Roma, chiesa di Santa Sabina, esterno (fianco destro e abside), dal giardino degli Aranci.

Photo: 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: MM

Permission: PD

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Basilica of Saint Sabina, on the Aventine Hill, in Rome, Italy (Latin: Basilica Sanctae Sabinae, Italian: Basilica di Santa Sabina all'Aventino) is a Titular Minor Basilica and Mother Church of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans. Santa Sabina is perched high above the Tiber river, to the North, and the Circus Maximus to the East. It is a short distance to the headquarters of the Knights of Malta.

Santa Sabina is the oldest extant Roman Basilica, in the eternal city, that preserves its original colonnaded rectangular plan and architectural style. Its decorations have been restored to their original restrained design. Together with the light pouring in from the windows, this makes Santa Sabina an airy and roomy place. Other Basilicas, such as Santa Maria Maggiore, are often heavily and gaudily decorated. Because of its simplicity, Santa Sabina represents the crossover from a roofed Roman forum to the Churches of Christendom. Its Cardinal Priest is Jozef Tomko. It is the Lenten Stational Church for Ash Wednesday.

The entrance doorway to Santa Sabina.

Photo: November 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Lalupa

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church of Santa Sabina was built by Peter of Illyria, a Dalmatian Priest, between 422 A.D. and 432 A.D., near a temple of Juno, on the Aventine Hill in Rome. The Church was built on the site of the 4th-Century house of Sabina, a Roman matron, originally from Avezzano in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Sabina was beheaded under Emperor Vespasian, or perhaps Hadrian, because she had been converted to Christianity by her servant, Seraphia, who was stoned to death. Sabina was later declared a Christian Saint.

Pope Honorius III approved, in 1216, the Order of Preachers, now commonly known as the Dominicans, which was "the first Order instituted by the Church with an academic mission,". Honorius III invited Saint Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, to take up residence at the Church of Santa Sabina in 1220. The official foundation of the Dominican Convent at Santa Sabina, with its Studium Conventuale, the first Dominican Studium in Rome, occurred with the legal transfer of property from Honorius III to the Order of Preachers on 5 June, 1222, though the brethren had taken up residence there in 1220.

Some scholars have written that Honorius III was a member of the Savelli family and that the Church and associated buildings formed part of the holdings of the Savelli, thereby explaining why Honorius III donated Santa Sabina to the Dominicans. In fact, Honorius III was not a Savelli. These scholars may have confused the later Pope Honorius IV, who was a Savelli, and Honorius III. In any case, the Church was given over to the Dominicans and it has since then served as their headquarters in Rome.

Italiano: Roma, Santa Sabina all'Aventino: il portone intagliato del VI sec.

English: Rome, Basilica of Santa Sabina all'Aventino. The carved Portal, dating back to the 6th-Century.

Photo: November 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Lalupa

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1265, in accordance with the injunction of the Chapter of the Roman province of the Order of Preachers at Anagni, Thomas Aquinas was assigned as Regent Master at the Studium Conventuale at Santa Sabina: “Fr. Thome de Aquino iniungimus in remissionem peccatorum quod teneat studium Rome, et volumus quod fratribus qui stant secum ad studendum provideatur in necessariis vestimentis a conventibus de quorum predicatione traxerunt originem. Si autem illi studentes inventi fuerint negligentes in studio, damus potestatem fr. Thome quod ad conventus suos possit eos remittere”.

At this time, the existing Studium Conventuale at Santa Sabina was transformed into the Order's first Studium Provinciale, an Intermediate School between the Studium Conventuale and the Studium Generale. "Prior to this time, the Roman Province had offered no specialised education of any sort;  no arts, no philosophy; only simple Convent Schools, with their basic courses in Theology for resident Friars, were functioning in Tuscany and the meridionale during the first several decades of the Order's life. 

But the new Studium at Santa Sabina was to be a School for the Province," a Studium Provinciale. Tolomeo da Lucca, an associate and early biographer of Aquinas, tells us that, at the Santa Sabina Studium, Aquinas taught the full range of philosophical subjects, both moral and natural.

PART TWO FOLLOWS.

Virtual Reconstruction of Cluny Abbey.

From YouTube: http://youtu.be/XhZG7SjX1Lg

Music by Emmanuel Bonnardot "Venite a Laudare".

Beauvais Cathedral (Part Two).

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

Français : Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais, Oise, Picardie, France. Horloge astronomique.

English: Beauvais Cathedral, Oise, Picardie, France. Astronomical clock.

Photo: September 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tango7174

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the race to build the tallest Cathedral in the 13th-Century, the builders of Saint-Pierre de Beauvais pushed the technology to the limits. Even though the structure was to be taller, the buttresses were made thinner in order to pass maximum light into the Cathedral. In 1284, only twelve years after completion, part of the Choir Vault collapsed, along with a few Flying Buttresses. It is now believed that the collapse was caused by resonant vibrations caused by high winds.

The accompanying photograph shows lateral iron supports between the Flying Buttresses; it is not known when these external tie rods were installed. The technology would have been available at the time of the initial construction, but the extra support might not have been considered necessary until after the collapse in 1284, or even later.

Français : Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais, Oise, Picardie, France. 

Horloge à carillon du XIVè siècle.

English: Beauvais Cathedral, Oise, Picardie, France. 

14th-Century chiming clock.

Photo: September 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tango7174

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the 1960s, the tie rods were removed; the thinking was that they were disgraceful and unnecessary. However, the oscillations created by the wind became amplified, and the Choir partially disassociated itself from the Transept. Subsequently, the tie rods were re-installed  but this time with rods made of steel. Since steel is less ductile than iron, the structure became more rigid, possibly causing additional fissures.

Lateral Supports of Flying Buttresses.

Photo: March 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tvbanfield

(Wikimedia Commons)

The floor plan shows that the original design included a Nave that was never built. Thus, the absence of shouldering support, that would have been contributed by the Nave, contributes to the structural weakness of the Cathedral.

With the passage of time, other problems surfaced, some requiring more drastic remedies. The North Transept now has four large wood-and-steel lateral trusses at different heights, installed during the 1990s, to keep the Transept from collapsing. In addition, the main floor of the Transept is interrupted by a much larger brace that rises out of the floor at a 45-degree angle. This brace was installed as an emergency measure to give additional support to the Pillars that, until now, have held up the tallest Vault in the world.

English: Beauvais Cathedral. Stained-Glass.

Česky: Katwedrála v Beauvais, vitráže

Photo: August 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Sokoljan

(Wikimedia Commons)

These temporary measures will remain in place until more permanent solutions can be determined. Various studies are under way to determine with more assurance what can be done to preserve the structure. Columbia University is performing a study on a three-dimensional model, constructed using laser scans of the building, in an attempt to determine the weaknesses in the building and remedies.

Several of the Chapels contain Mediaeval stained glass windows, made during the 13th- through to the 15th-Centuries. In a Chapel close to the Northern Entrance, there is a Mediaeval clock (14th-15th-Century), probably the oldest fully-preserved and functioning mechanical clock in Europe. In its vicinity, a highly complicated astronomical clock with moving figures was installed in 1866.

THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON BEAUVAIS CATHEDRAL.

Kyrie Eleison (Orbis Factor) from the Gradual of Eleanor of Brittany (Graduel d'Alienor de Bretagne).

Kyrie Eleison (Orbis Factor) from the Gradual of Eleanor of Brittany 

(Graduel d'Alienor de Bretagne).

Suitable Preparation For Lent.

This Article can be found on "CATHOLICISM PURE & SIMPLE"

at http://catholicismpure.wordpress.com

The Composer of "When David Heard" is Eric Whitacre.

The Painting is "David Mourning Absalom"! by Gustave Dore.

The Choir is the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir.

The Conductor is Tionči Bilić.

When David heard that Absalom was slain,

he went up into his chamber over the gate and wept,

and thus he said:

My son, my son,

O Absalom my son,

would God I had died for thee! 

Beauvais Cathedral (Part One).

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

Beauvais Cathedral from the South-East.

Photo: July 2005.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aengineer/40624675/in/set-892135/

Author:James Mitchell

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Cathedral of Saint Peter of Beauvais (French: Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais) is an incomplete Roman Catholic Cathedral located in Beauvais, Northern France. It is the seat of the Bishop of Beauvais, Noyon and Senlis. It is, in some respects, the most daring achievement of Gothic architecture and consists only of a Transept (16th-Century) and Choir, with Apse and seven polygonal Apsidal Chapels (13th-Century), which are reached by an Ambulatory.

The small Romanesque Church of the 10th-Century, known as the Basse Œuvre, much restored, still occupies the site destined for the Nave.

History

Work was begun in 1225, under Count-Bishop Miles de Nanteuil, immediately after the third in a series of fires in the old wooden-roofed Basilica, which had reconsecrated its Altar only three years before the fire; the Choir was completed in 1272, in two campaigns, with an interval (1232–38) owing to a funding crisis provoked by a struggle with Louis IX. The two campaigns are distinguishable by a slight shift in the axis of the work and by what Stephen Murray characterises as "changes in stylistic handwriting." 

Under Bishop Guillaume de Grez, an extra 4.9 m was added to the height, to make it the highest-vaulted Cathedral in Europe. The vaulting, in the interior of the Choir, reaches 48 m in height, far surpassing the concurrently-constructed Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Amiens, with its 42 m (138 ft) Nave.

The work was interrupted in 1284 by the collapse of some of the vaulting of the recently-completed Choir. This collapse is often seen as a disaster that produced a failure of nerve among the French masons working in Gothic style; modern historians have reservations about this deterministic view. Stephen Murray notes that the collapse also "ushers in the age of smaller structures associated with demographic decline, the Hundred Years War, and of the 13th-Century."

English: Cathedral of Saint Peter of Beauvais, France.

Français : Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais, Oise, Picardie, France.

Photo: September 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tango7174

(Wikimedia Commons)

However, large-scale Gothic design continued, and the Choir was rebuilt at the same height, albeit with more Columns in the Chevet and Choir, converting the vaulting from quadripartite vaulting to sexpartite vaulting. The Transept was built from 1500 to 1548. In 1573, the fall of a too-ambitious 153-m (502 feet) Central Tower stopped work again. The Tower would have made the Church the second-highest-structure in the world at the time (after St. Olaf's Church, Tallinn). Afterwards, little structural addition was made.

The Choir has always been wholeheartedly admired: Eugène Viollet-le-Duc called the Beauvais Choir "the Parthenon of French Gothic."

Beauvais Cathedral, France.

This building is classé au titre des Monuments Historiques. 

It is indexed in the Base Mérimée, a database of architectural heritage maintained by the French Ministry of Culture, under the reference PA00114502.

Photo: September 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: PMRMaeyaert

(Wikimedia Commons)

Its façades, especially that on the South, exhibit all the richness of the Late-Gothic style. The carved wooden doors of both the North and South Portals are masterpieces, respectively, of Gothic and Renaissance workmanship. The Church possesses an elaborate astronomical clock in Neo-Gothic taste (1866) and tapestries of the 15th- and 17th-Centuries, but its chief artistic treasures are stained-glass windows of the 13th-, 14th-, and 16th-Centuries, the most beautiful of them from the hand of Renaissance artist, Engrand Le Prince, a native of Beauvais. To him, also, is due some of the stained-glass in St-Etienne, the second Church of the town, and an interesting example of the transition stage between the Gothic and the Renaissance styles.

During the Middle Ages, on 14 January, the Feast of Asses was annually celebrated in Beauvais Cathedral, in commemoration of the Flight into Egypt.


PART TWO FOLLOWS.

Canterbury Cathedral (Part Seven).

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

Cloister ceiling, Canterbury Cathedral.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana

(Wikimedia Commons)

The oldest bell in the Cathedral is "Bell Harry", which hangs in a cage, atop the Central Tower, to which the bell lends its name. This bell was cast in 1635, and is struck at 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. every day to announce the opening and closing of the Cathedral, and also, occasionally, for Services, as a Sanctus bell.

The Cathedral library has a collection of about 30,000 books and pamphlets printed before the 20th-Century and about 20,000 later books and serials. Many of the earlier books were acquired as part of donated collections. It is rich in Church history, older theology, British history (including local history), travel, science and medicine, and the anti-slavery movement. The library's holdings are included in the online catalogue of the library of the University of Kent.

In 2006, a new fundraising appeal to raise £50 million was launched to much media attention under the dramatic banner "Save Canterbury Cathedral".

Approach to Canterbury Cathedral. 11.00 a.m, Palm Sunday. 2005.

 Photograph taken from gardens just inside city walls.

Photo: March 2005.

Source: From geograph.org.uk

Author: Elaine Morgan

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Canterbury Cathedral Appeal was launched to protect and enhance Canterbury Cathedral's future as a religious, heritage and cultural centre. Every five years, the Cathedral carries out a major structural review. The last so-called Quinquennial made it very clear that a combination of centuries of weathering, pollution and constant use had taken its toll on the building and there were some serious problems at Canterbury Cathedral that needed urgent action.

Much of the Cathedral's stonework is damaged and crumbling, the roofs are leaking and much of the stained glass is badly corroded. It is thought that, if action is not taken now, the rate of decay and damage being inflicted on the building will increase dramatically with potentially disastrous results, including closure of large sections of the Cathedral in order to guarantee the safety of the million-plus worshippers, pilgrims and tourists who visit the Cathedral every year.

Canterbury Cathedral at dusk. Seen from the Cathedral Gate hotel.

Photo: April 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Adam Bishop

(Wikimedia Commons)

As well as restoring much of the historic fabric of the Cathedral, the appeal aims to fund enhancements to visitor facilities and investment to build on the Cathedral's musical tradition. By November 2008, the appeal had raised more than £9 million. Previous major appeals were run in the 1950s and 1970s.

In the Summer of 2009, stones in the South-West Transept were discovered to have cracked around several iron braces surrounding the Great South Window. The cracks are presumed to be the result of the metal expanding and contracting in hot and cold weather, and have severely compromised the structure of the window. The Transept was closed while scaffolding was erected, and the area immediately in front of the inside of the window was closed off and covered, to maintain access, via the South Door, beneath it. This area was given restoration priority immediately after the structural damage was discovered.

THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL.