In 1290, she moved to Fontevrault Abbey in the Loire region of France, the Parent Abbey of The Order, where she took her Vows and became a Nun. A richly illuminated Gradual was presented to her upon her Induction. In 1304, she became Abbess. Upon her death in 1342 she bequeathed the Gradual to the Abbey. It survives to this day and is held by the Public Library of Limoges.
The theatre is also often referred to as the Opéra Garnier and historically was known as the Opéra de Paris or simply the Opéra, as it was the primary home of the Paris Opera and its associated Paris Opera Ballet until 1989, when the Opéra Bastille opened at the Place de la Bastille. The Paris Opera now mainly uses the Palais Garnier for ballet.
The Grand Staircase, Palais Garnier Opera House, Paris, France.
Date: 1880.
Source: Garnier, Charles (1880). Le nouvel Opéra, vol. 2, plate 8. Paris: Ducher. INHA.
Another contributing factor is that among the buildings constructed in Paris during the Second Empire, besides being the most expensive, it has been described as the only one that is "unquestionably a masterpiece of the first rank."
The Grand Foyer, Palais Garnier Opera House, Paris, France.
This opinion is far from unanimous however; the 20th-Century French architect, Le Corbusier, once described it as "a lying art" and contended that the "Garnier Movement is a décor of the grave".
The Palais Garnier also houses the Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra de Paris (Paris Opera Library-Museum), although the Library-Museum is no longer managed by the Opera and is part of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The museum is included in unaccompanied tours of the Palais Garnier.
As on Septuagesima Sunday, and on those which follow until Passion Sunday, The Church teaches us "to Celebrate The Paschal Sacrament" by "The Scriptures of both Testaments" (Prayer of Holy Saturday after The Seventh Prophecy).
Through the whole of this week, The Divine Office is full of the thought of Noah. God, seeing man's wickedness was great upon the Earth, said: "I will destroy man, whom I have created"; and He told Noah: "I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt enter into The Ark."
For forty days and forty nights, rain fell on the Earth, while the Ark floated on the waters which rose above the mountain tops and covered them; and, in this whirlpool, all men were carried away "like stubble" (Gradual); only Noah and his companions in The Ark remaining alive.
Then, God remembered them, and, at length, the rain ceased. After some time, Noah opened the window of The Ark and set free a dove, which returned with a fresh olive leaf, and Noah understood that the waters no longer covered the Earth.
And God told him: "Go out of The Ark, thou and thy wife, thy sons and the wives of thy sons, with thee" (Communion). And the rainbow appeared as a sign of reconciliation between God and men.
That Noah's story is related to The Paschal Mystery is shown by the fact that The Church reads it on Holy Saturday [Second Prophecy); and this is how she, herself, applies it, in the Liturgy, to Our Lord and His Church. "The just wrath of The Creator drowned the guilty World in the vengeful waters of The Flood, only Noah being saved in The Ark.
But then the admirable power of love lavéd (washed) the World in blood" [Hymns for The Feast of The Precious Blood]. It was The Wood of The Ark, which saved the human race, and it is that of The Cross, which, in its turn, saves the World.
"Thou, alone," says The Church, speaking of The Cross, "hast been found worthy to be, for this shipwrecked World, The Ark which brings safely into port" [Hymn at Lauds in Passiontide]. "The open door in the side of The Ark, by which those enter who are to escape from The Flood, and who represent The Church, are, as is explained in the Liturgy, a type of The Mystery of Redemption; for, on The Cross, Our Lord had His Sacred Side open and, from this Gate of Life, went forth The Sacraments, giving true life to Souls. Indeed, The Blood and Water, which flow from thence, are symbols of The Eucharist and of Holy Baptism" [Lessons from Saint Chrysostom and Saint Augustine, Matins of The Feast of The Precious Blood].
"O God, Who by water didst wash away the crimes of the guilty World, and, by the overflowing of the deluge didst give a figure of regeneration, that one and the same element might, in a Mystery, be the end of vice and the origin of virtue: Look, O Lord, on the face of Thy Church and multiply in her Thy regenerations, opening the fonts of Baptism all over the World for the renovation of the Gentiles" [Blessing of the Baptismal Font on Holy Saturday].
"In the days of Noah," says Saint Peter, "eight Souls were saved by water, whereunto Baptism, being of the like form, now saveth you also."
On Maundy Thursday, when the Bishop Blesses The Holy Oil from the olive tree, which is to be used for The Sacraments, he says: "When of old, the crimes of the World were atoned for by the waters of The Flood, a dove, foreshadowing the gift to come, announced by an olive branch, the return of peace to the Earth.
And this indeed is made clear by its effects in latter times: When the waters of Baptism, having washed away all guilt of sin, the unction of the oil makes us joyous and serene." The Blood of Christ is The blood of The New Covenant, which Almighty God has made with man, through His Son. "Thou," cries The Church, "Who, by an olive branch, didst command the dove to proclaim peace to the World."
Peace is often mentioned in The Mass, which is The Memorial of The Passion: "Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum." And we shall find the Collect for Easter Friday, speaking of The Paschal Sacrament, as The Seal of Reconciliation between God and man.
Above all, however, in his Divinely-Appointed Mission as father of all succeeding generations, Noah is a figure of Christ [Sixth Lesson of Septuagesima Sunday]; he was truly the second father of the human race and he remains the type of life continually renewed. We are told in the Liturgy that the olive branch, by means of its foliage, is a symbol of the prosperous fertility bestowed by Almighty God upon Noah when he came forth from The Ark, and The Ark, itself, is called by Saint Ambrose, in today's Office, the "seminarium," or nursery, that is, the place containing the seed of life which is to fill the World.
Now, Christ, much more than Noah, was the second Adam, peopling the World with a race of believing Souls, faithful to God. On Holy Saturday, in The Prayer following The Second Prophecy, which is concerned with Noah, The Church humbly asks Almighty God to "peacefully effect," by His Eternal Decree, "the work of human Salvation," and to "let the whole World experience and see that, what was fallen, is raised up; what was old, is made new," and that "all things are re-established, through Him from Whom they received their first being, Our Lord Jesus Christ".
It was through The Word that God made the World in the beginning (Last Gospel), and it is by the Preaching of His Gospel that Our Lord came to bring men to a new birth. "Being born again," says Saint Peter, "not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by The Word of God, Who liveth and reigneth for ever . . . And this is The Word, which, by the Gospel, hath been preached unto you".
From this, we can see why today's Gospel is taken from The Parable of The Sower, for "the seed is The Word of God". If, in Noah's days, men perished, Saint Paul tells us, it was because of their unbelief, while, at the same time, it was by Faith that Noah "framed The Ark . . . by the which he condemned the World, and was instituted heir of the justice which is by Faith".
In the same way, those who believe in Our Lord's words will be saved.
According to Saint Augustine's exposition, "as there were three floors in The Ark, so there are three different Spiritual Harvests". In today's Epistle, Saint Paul recounts all that he did and suffered in the course of preaching The Faith to the Gentiles and, indeed, he, The Apostle to the Gentiles, was the outstanding preacher of the World.
He is the "Minister of Christ", that is, the one whom God had chosen to unfold to all Nations the good news of The Incarnate Word. "Who will grant me", cries Saint John Chrysostom, "to walk around Saint Paul's body, to embrace his tomb, to behold the dust of that body which filled up what was lacking in Christ's sufferings, which bore the marks of his wounds, which everywhere spread abroad, like good seed, the preaching of the Gospel ? [In The Office for The Octave of Saint Peter and Saint Paul].
The Roman Church has fulfilled this desire, in the case of her own children, by making a Station on this day to the Basilica of Saint Paul-without-the-Walls. "Through the Church's Neophytes", we read in the Liturgy, "the Earth is renewed, and thus renewed, she brings forth fruit, as it were, from the dead ! [Easter Monday at Matins].
Every Parish Priest Celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Mass: Exsurge, quare obdormis.
Collects: As on Septuagesima Sunday.
Preface: Of The Holy Trinity. On weekdays, The Common Preface.
Saint Andrew, of the noble family of Corsini, was born at Florence, and, from his birth, was Consecrated to The Blessed Virgin. His mother dreamed that she had given birth to a wolf, which, on entering into The Carmelite Church, was suddenly changed into a lamb.
Her son, indeed, led a dissolute life in his youth. But Jesus exerted His redeeming power over him and Andrew entered The Carmelite Order and soon became its Head in Tuscany (Communion).
Having thus turned to good use the talents with which God had favoured him, he rose to a still-higher dignity (Gospel) and, as Bishop of Fiesole, he had a share in The Priesthood of Christ, and accomplished His work of reconciling Souls, with God.
Thus, having been sent to Bologna, as Papal Legate, by Pope Urban V, he succeeded by his great prudence in extinguishing the burning hatred which had armed the citizens against each other (Epistle). The Blessed Virgin foretold him his death, which occurred in 1373.
Made wolves by sin, let us, like Saint Andrew Corsini, become lambs by Penance, in order that, "following in the footsteps of this Holy Confessor, we may obtain the same rewards" (Collect).
Mass:Státuit. Of a Confessor Bishop.
The Church of Santa Maria del Carmine,
Florence, Italy,
which contains the Corsini Chapel.
This File: 9 July 2006.
User: Sailko.
(Wikimedia Commons)
English: The Corsini Chapel,
Church of Santa Maria del Carmine,
Florence, Tuscany, Italy.
Français: Église Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Toscane, Italie. La chapelle Corsini.
Corsini was born in Florence on 30 November 1302, a member of the illustrious Corsini family. Wild and dissolute in youth, he was startled by the words of his mother about what had happened to her before his birth, and, becoming a Carmelite Friar in his native City, began a life of great mortification. He studied at Paris and Avignon.
On his return, Corsini became the "Apostle of Florence". He was regarded as a prophet and a wonderworker. After being elected to The Office of Bishop of Fiesole, which he did not want, he fled. He was discovered by a child at The Charterhouse at Enna, and was subsequently compelled to accept the honour.
English: Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Tuscany, Italy.
The Vault over the entire Nave, with the Apse on the Left and the main entrance on the Right.
Français: Église Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Toscane, Italie.
La voûte au-dessus
de la nef dans son intégralité, l'abside étant sur la gauche et l'entrée principale sur la droite.
Corsini redoubled his austerities as a Bishop, was lavish in his care of the poor, and was sought for everywhere as a peacemaker, notably at Bologna, whither he was sent, as Papal Legate, to heal the breach between the nobility and the people.
After twelve years in the Episcopacy, Corsini died in his native Florence in 1373, at the age of seventy-one. In 1675, after his Canonisation, the members of the Corsini family had The Corsini Chapel built in The Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Florence, Italy, to provide his Remains a more suitable resting place.
The Corsini Chapel, Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome.
San Giovanni-in-Laterano is the Cathedral Church of Rome.
In 1373, while Corsini had been Celebrating The Midnight Mass of Christmas Eve, The Blessed Virgin appeared to him and told him he would leave this world on The Feast of The Epiphany. It came to pass, as the vision had told him, and he died on that day.
Miracles were so multiplied at his death that Pope Eugene IV permitted a public devotion to him, immediately. It was only in 1629 that Pope Urban VIII formally confirmed this. His Feast is kept on 4 February, in The Carmelite Order, and in the Cities of Florence and Fiesole.
HOLLYWOOD, California, January 31, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — The Official Movie Trailer for the highly anticipated “Paul, Apostle of Christ” has been released.
The film, directed by Andrew Hyatt, chronicles the Apostle’s last days, which were spent in a Roman prison, awaiting execution under Emperor Nero.
Saint Luke visits him, as is in the Biblical account, and writes the history of The Early Church, recounting the Missionary’s journeys to spread the Gospel that are recorded in The Acts of The Apostles.
The story is fascinating, not only because of Luke’s dangerous Pilgrimage (the Emperor is determined to eliminate Christians), but because of Paul’s amazing transformation.
Originally, Saul was a Jesus-hating Pharisee, the foremost persecutor of Christ's followers in his quest to defend what he believed to be true Judaism. A man of The Law, he was zealous in both condemning Christians (a derogatory term that means “Little Christs”) and in his own self-righteousness under the ritual regulations of The Torah.
Saul breathed “threats and murder” against anyone who believed Jesus was The Messiah, now Risen from Death. As a leading Pharisee, he authorised the stoning to death of Saint Stephen, the first servant in the sect of Judaism, then known as “The Way.”
But, on his bloodthirsty Mission to Damascus to arrest and prosecute Disciples, Saul encountered The Risen One.
“Suddenly, a light from Heaven flashed about him,” the Scripture relates, “and Saul fell to the ground.”
Then, he heard an audible voice calling his name: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me ?” It was Jesus, Who was Crucified and confirmed dead by Roman authorities.
There’s much more to the story, but this epiphany so changed Saul that he devoted the rest of his life to convincing others that Jesus is, indeed, The Messiah. He travelled the World over — more than 10,000 miles by foot and boat — to proclaim the Christ he formerly hated. And his name was changed from Saul to Paul.
Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in "The Passion of The Christ," is cast as Saint Luke. James Faulkner (Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones) is Saint Paul.
“ The name Saul means ‘Great One.’ The name Paul means ‘Little One,’ ” Caviezel told a riveted audience of Fellowship of Catholic University Students at The Leadership Summit 2018. “While making this film, I learned that, by changing one tiny letter, we can become great in the eyes of God. But it requires us to be little, if we wish to be great. This is the way of the Saints; this is the way of the Holy; and this is the way Saul became Saint Paul.”
Hyatt said the only source material for the script was The Bible. He did, however, create a fictional character named Mauritius, a prison warden who is incredulous “how this broken old man can pose such a threat.”
“It will be a very beautiful, emotionally-moving film, with a rather wonderful ending,” Faulkner (Paul) explained. “Redemption is offered and is clear.”
"Paul, Apostle of Christ" will be released in theatres on Holy Wednesday, 28 March 2018.
Caviezel is a devout Catholic, who has called Abortion: “The greatest moral defect of The Western World.” He is also working on a sequel to "The Passion of The Christ", with director Mel Gibson, that focuses on The Resurrection.
Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia, unless otherwise stated.
English: Saint Blaise confronting the Roman Governor.
Scene from The Life of Saint Blaise, Bishop of Sebaste (Armenia).
Martyr under the Roman Emperor Licinius (4th-Century A.D.).
Stained-Glass Window from the area of Soissons, Picardy, France.
Early-13th-Century.
Français: Saint Blaise devant le gouverneur romain : scène de la vie de saint Blaise, évêque de Sébaste en Arménie, martyr sous le règne de l'empereur Licinius (IVe siècle). Vitrail de la région de Soissons (Picardie, France), début du XIVe siècle. Versement de l'Office des biens privés, 1951.
Saint Blaise (Armenian: Սուրբ Բարսեղ, Sourb Barsegh; Greek: Άγιος Βλάσιος, Agios Vlasios), also known as Saint Blase, was a Physician, and Bishop of Sebastea, in historical Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey).
According to The Acta Sanctorum, he was Martyred, by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded. In The Latin Church, his Feast Day falls on 3 February; in The Eastern Churches, The Feast Day falls on 11 February.
The first reference we have to him is in manuscripts of the medical writings of Aëtius Amidenus, a Court Physician at the very end of the 5th-Century A.D., or the beginning of the 6th-Century A.D; There, his aid is invoked in treating objects stuck in the throat.
Marco Polo reported the place where "Meeser Saint Blaise obtained The Glorious Crown of Martyrdom", Sebastea, the Shrine near The Citadel Mount, was mentioned by William of Rubruck in 1253. However, it appears to no longer exist.
From being a healer of bodily ailments, Saint Blaise became a Physician of Souls, then retired for a time, by Divine Inspiration, to a cavern, where he remained in Prayer. As Bishop of Sebastea, Blaise instructed his people, as much by his example as by his words, and the great virtues and Sanctity of the Servant of God were attested by many Miracles. From all parts, the people came flocking to him for the cure of bodily and spiritual ills.
In 316 A.D., the Governor of Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia, Agricolaus, began a Persecution, by order of the Emperor, Licinius. Saint Blaise was seized. After interrogation and a severe scourging, he was hurried off to prison, and subsequently beheaded. The legendary Acts of Saint Blaise were written 400 years later, in Greek, and are, thus, a Mediaeval record.
Blaise, who had studied Philosophy in his youth, was a Doctor in Sebaste, in Armenia, the City of his birth, who exercised his art with miraculous ability, good-will, and piety. When the Bishop of the City died, he was chosen to succeed him, with the acclamation of all the people. His holiness was manifest through many Miracles: From all around, people came to him to find cures for their spirit and their body; even wild animals came in herds to receive his Blessing.
In 316 A.D., Agricola, the Governor of Cappadocia and of Lesser Armenia, having arrived in Sebastia at the order of the Emperor Licinius to kill the Christians, arrested the Bishop. As he was being led to prison, a mother set her only son, choking to death of a fish-bone, at his feet, and the child was cured straight away. Regardless, the Governor, unable to make Blaise renounce his Faith, beat him with a stick, ripped his flesh with iron combs, and beheaded him.
In many places, on The Day of his Feast, The Blessing of Saint Blaise is given: Two Candles are Consecrated, generally by a Prayer, these are then held, in a crossed position, by a Priest over the heads of The Faithful, or the people are touched on the throat with them. At the same time, the following Blessing is given: "May Almighty God, at the intercession of Saint Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, preserve you from infections of the throat and from all other afflictions".
English: Valentino Rovisi, Saint Blaise, 1780, fresco,
San Biagio Church in Alleghe.
Polski: Chwała św. Błażeja i osiem epizodów z życia
One of The Fourteen Holy Helpers [Editor: Also known as The Fourteen Auxiliary Saints], Blaise became one of the most popular Saints of The Middle Ages. His cult became widespread in Europe in the 11th- and 12th-Centuries and his legend is recounted in the 14th-Century Legenda Aurea. Saint Blaise is The Saint of The Wild Beast.
He is The Patron of The Armenian Order of Saint Blaise. In Italy, he is known as San Biagio. In Spanish-speaking Countries, he is known as San Blas, and has lent his name to many places (see San Blas). In Italy, Saint Blaise's remains rest at the Basilica over the town of Maratea, shipwrecked there during Leo III the Isaurian's iconoclastic Persecutions.
Many German Churches, including the former Abbey of Saint Blasius, in The Black Forest, and the Church of Balve, are Dedicated to Saint Blaise/Blasius.
In Cornwall, England, the Village of St Blazey derives from his name, where the Parish Church is still Dedicated to Saint Blaise. Indeed, The Council of Oxford, in 1222, forbade all work on his Festival. There is a Church Dedicated to Saint Blaise in the Devon, England, Hamlet of Haccombe, near Newton Abbot (also one at Shanklin, on The Isle of Wight, and another at Milton, near Abingdon, in Oxfordshire), one of the Country's smallest Churches. It is located next to Haccombe House, which is The Family Home of The Carew Family, descendants of the Vice-Admiral on board The Mary Rose at the time of her sinking. One curious fact associated with this Church is that its "Vicar" goes by the Title of "Arch-Priest".
In Bradford, West Yorkshire, a Roman Catholic Middle School, named after Saint Blaise, was operated by The Diocese of Leeds from 1961 to 1995. The name was chosen due to the connections of Bradford to the woollen industry and the method whereby Saint Blaise was Martyred (with the wool-comb).
Saint Blaise (Croatian: Sveti Vlaho or Sveti Blaž) is The Patron Saint of Dubrovnik, and, formerly, The Protector of The Independent Republic of Ragusa. At Dubrovnik, Croatia, his Feast Day is celebrated on 3 February, when Relics of The Saint are paraded in Reliquaries. The Festivities begin the previous day, on Candlemas (2 February), when White Doves are released. Chroniclers of Dubrovnik, such as Rastic and Ranjina, attribute his Veneration there to a vision in 971 A.D., to warn the inhabitants of an impending attack by The Venetians.
Saint Blaise (Blasius) revealed The Venetians' pernicious plan to Stojko, a Canon of Saint Stephen's Cathedral. The Senate summoned Stojko, who told them in detail how Saint Blaise had appeared before him, as an old man with a long beard and a Bishop's Mitre and Staff. In this form, the effigy of Blaise remained on Dubrovnik's State Seal and coinage until the Napoleonic era.
In England, in the 18th- and 19th-Centuries, Blaise was adopted as mascot of wool-workers' pageants, particularly in Essex, Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Norwich. The popular enthusiasm for the Saint is explained by the belief that Blaise had brought prosperity (as symbolised by The Woolsack) to England, by teaching the English to comb wool. According to the Tradition, as recorded in printed broadsheets, Blaise came from Jersey, Channel Islands. Jersey was certainly a centre of export of woollen goods (as witnessed by the name jersey for the woollen textile). However, this legend is probably the result of confusion with a different Saint, Blasius of Caesarea (Caesarea being also the Latin name of Jersey).
In iconography, Blaise is represented holding two Crossed Candles in his hand (The Blessing of Saint Blaise), or in a cave surrounded by wild beasts, as he was found by the hunters of the Governor. He is often shown with the instruments of his Martyrdom, steel combs. The similarity of these instruments of torture to wool combs led to his adoption as The Patron Saint of wool combers, in particular, and the wool trade, in general.
English: Saint Blaise Blessing a young child (note the Crossed Candles).
Altarpiece in The Church of Saint Blaise, Alsace, France.
The following Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Saint Blaise. Bishop and Martyr. Feast Day 3 February.
Simple.
Red Vestments.
English: Saint Stephen, Saint Blaise, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Peter, and the donor, Pierre Rup. Swiss wooden Altarpiece, circa 1450. Museum of Fine Arts, Dijon, France.
Français: Saint Etienne Saint Blaise Saint Jean Baptiste Saint Pierre et le donateur Pierre Rup. Suisse vers 1450. Bois. Musée des beaux arts de Dijon (Côte d'Or, France).
Saint Blaise, elected Bishop of Sebastea, Armenia (Introit), had a part in The Redemption of The Saviour. "The sufferings of The Saviour abounded in him" (Epistle), and, after a life of severe Penance, passed among wild beasts in a cave on Mount Argeus, "he gave his life for Jesus" (Gospel). Having suffered the most atrocious torments under Licinius, he was beheaded in 316 A.D.
Like The Redeemer, Saint Blaise healed bodies while healing Souls, wherefore his intercession was often Prayed for. In consequence of his having saved the life of a child, who was dying, choked by a bone which had stuck in his throat, The Church recognises his "prerogative for healing all diseases of the throat". She Blesses two Candles, to this effect, and asks God for all those, whose necks the Candles shall touch, that they may be delivered from throat diseases, or from any other ill, through the merits of this Holy Martyr's passion. He is one of The Fourteen "Auxiliary Saints".
Let us, with Saint Blaise, take part in The Sufferings of The Redeemer, so as to be able with him to take part in His triumph (Epistle).
