Aug 1st Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians

URGENT - WE BEG ALL CATHOLICS TO JOIN IN ADORATION ON AUGUST 1st, DAY OF PRAYER, ADORATION AND SOLIDARITY FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ, SYRIA & MIDDLE EAST

Friday, August 1, 2014 This was the day chosen by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) for a worldwide day of Public Adoration of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in supplication for our persecuted brethren in Iraq, Syria, and the Middle East: The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter asks all of its apostolates around the world to dedicate Friday, August 1 to a day of prayer and penance for the Christians who are suffering terrible persecution in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. August 1 is the First Friday of the month and the Feast of St. Peter in Chains, which is celebrated as a Third Class Feast in FSSP houses and apostolates.  It is the feast in which we read of the great power of the persevering prayer of members of the Church: “Peter therefore was kept in Prison. But prayer was made without ceasing by the Church unto God for him.” (Acts 12:5) This feast of our Patron should be an invitation to the faithful to join us in Holy Hours and other fitting prayers to beg the Most Holy Trinity that these members of the Mystical Body may persevere in the faith, and that, like St. Peter, they may be delivered from this terrible persecution. May such a day serve as a reminder to us of the stark contrast that stands between our days of vacation and ease, and their daily struggle for survival as they are killed or exiled from their homes. (Source) It is a day, we believe, chosen wisely by that Fraternity: we please upon all our Catholic brethren, East and West, attached to the Ordinary Form (Mass of Paul VI) or to the Extraordinary Form (Ancient Mass), whatever their theological bent, to join this worldwide prayer day. Whether you consider yourself a more liberal, conservative, traditional, or just plain Catholic, let us join together in this worldwide Adoration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, together with all the Angels and Saints. It is also appropriately chosen because Pastors and Chaplains will have 10 days to prepare properly, to contact projects that help Christians in need and collect all kinds of contributions for the Christians of the Middle East (from Aid to the Church in Need to CNEWA, the Syrian and Chaldean Catholic Churches, and other organizations), and, in particular, to add to their bulletins and convey to their congregations how to participate next Sunday, July 27. Please, spread this initiative around. No need to link to us, or to even mention you saw it here -- just copy, paste, and just let this idea spread around throughout the world, through the web, through social networks, to your family and friends. Bishops, Pastors, priests, join us. First Fridays are a special day of the month, and nothing better next First Friday, August 1, than for all Catholics around the world to join in Adoration before Our Lord to implore his mercy and kindness for our most neglected brethren in Iraq, Syria, and throughout the Middle East.

Nun: The Arabic Letter 'N' A Sign of Genocide

From Rorate Caeli blog:

Nun (ن), the 14th letter of the Arabic alphabet (the equivalent of letter N in our Roman alphabet), is the first letter of the word Nasara (نصارى : Nazarenes), the way Muslims have called Christians since the beginning of their invasion of the Christian world in the 7th century -- Christians under Muslim rule never called themselves thus, since the intent of Muslims was to portray Christians as a contemptible and disobedient sect.

It is the same name of the equivalent letter (נ) in the Hebrew alphabet (also a Semitic language), and it reminds us of the words of Jeremiah, also crying for an exile of his people sent to Mesopotamia:

For the rest of the article and the text of an interview granted by the Syrian (Syriac) Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, Ignace Joseph III Younan, to Sergio Cenofanti of Vatican Radio (in Italian).

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2014/07/nun-sign-of-genocide.html

Church Music versus Utility Music

New Liturgical Movement

Chiesa di San Pancrazio

The church of San Pancrazio is found in central Genoa, in front of the piazza named after the same (St Pancrazio) . A church at the site was first linked to the nearby Benedictine Abbey of San Siro in the 11th century. A document from the 16th century notes that the church had been for centuries endowed by prominent Genoese families including the Calvi and Pallavicini.[1] The present layout dates into the 18th century. In 1684, the church was demolished by the bombardment of ...Genoa by the naval forces of Louis XIV of France. The architect Antonio Maria Ricca designed the present structure. The church was again damaged by aerial bombing during the Second World War. It is now attached to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta as evidenced by the cross above the portal.

The apse frescoes were completed by Giacomo Antonio Boni, while the triptych of the Life of St. Pancreas, attributed to Adrian Ysenbrant, has been reconstructed within a decorative marble main altar.

The sign over the entrance says there is Mass in Latin on Saturday at 1700 hours

On Your Knees, Punk! Bishop says Ditch The Bow

On Your Knees, Punk! Bishop says Ditch The Bow

François-Marie des Bans Commander of St. Remy

François-Marie des Bans, son of Pierre des Bans (1607 /-1685), was born on January 10, 1647 in Mareuil and was baptized 5 years later, on December 10, 1651, to sponsor Beauvillier François, comte de St-Aignan, probably absent in the region at the time of his birth.

Perhaps inspired by the presence of a chapel of the Order of St John of Jerusalem near the family lands, he was presented and received into the Order of Malta on July 8, 1659, probably with letters from the Grand Master.  After a year spent in Malta, he was accepted as member of the Order and spent six months in various campaigns at sea against the Turks and the Barbary pirates before receiving the habit.  For more than 30 years François-Marie served  in the order of Malta in the Mediterranean, best performing his vocation as soldier-monk on Malta and at sea.

Recognized by his peers, he was awarded the commandery of St-Rémy de Verruyes (Deux Sèvres) in 1692. This appointment does not preclude his return some years later in Malta, where he wondered however about his vocation, at the same time still ensuring the management and restoration of his commandery. Returning to St-Rémy and lacking a temperment for administration, François-Marie had to engage in several trials to defend the property of the order.  He left many documents that he signed "Knight brother François de Mareuil". Against his wishes, he was appointed receiver of the Grand Priory of Aquitaine in 1709, and ten years later, Grand Treasurer of France of the order, with the title of bailiff.

On Saturday, August 31, 1720, François-Marie des Bans of Mareuil died after 28 years of loyal service in the commandery of St-Rémy where his body is buried in the chapel.

 



Translated from the French, http://histoiremareuil41.free.fr/chateau_fichiers/desbansfrancoismarie.htm

Order of Malta new leadership council pushes for 'humanitarian diplomacy'

Pope Francis Meeting With Grand Master of Order of Malta

Homily by Msgr Dr Antony Conlon at the Solemn Profession of Fra' John Eidinow – 16th JUNE 2014 at Merton College.

 By Peter Allingham on Thursday, June 19, 2014 at 8:45am

 

“They live together without separate property in one house under one rule, careful to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Never is an idle word or useless deed or immoderate laughter, or a murmur, if it be but whispered, allowed to go unpunished. Draughts and dice they detest. Hunting they hold in abomination, and take no pleasure in the frivolous pastime of hawking. Soothsayers, jesters and story-tellers, ribald songs and stage plays they eschew as insane follies. They cut close their hair, knowing as the apostle says that “it is a shame for a man to have long hair”. They never dress gaily and wash but seldom. Shaggy by reason of their uncombed hair, they are also begrimed with dust, and swarthy from the weight of their armour and the heat of the sun.”

Rather like the passage in Acts which gives a somewhat idealised account of the earliest Christians living like a cooperative, we may accept St Bernard’s commentary on the Hospitallers of the 12th century as somewhat hyperbolic. Nevertheless it is suggestive of that same hard core religious fervour that the often harsh environment of the Middle East has nurtured throughout the centuries. It was their absolutely uncompromising code of honour and militancy that decided Saladin to order the mass execution of surviving Knights of the Temple and the Hospital after the battle of Hattin in 1187. He could not afford to let them live. The religious zeal they exemplified was not uncommon in those days. Few religious orders of the Church have since retained in every case the original observances of their foundation. Social, medical and political concerns have all influenced change. But all that have survived and are flourishing have sought perennially to rekindle the flame of the esprit de corps of their foundation and raison d’etre. While adapting in practical and administrative terms to centuries of social development and scientific advance, they have also preserved the core of evangelical principles and aims that inspired their founders. Not to do so would be to retreat in confusion rather than advance with confidence. But, as Blessed John Henry Newman observed in the nineteenth century when dealing with change and development, the primacy of the absolute over the relative has been increasingly jeopardised if not jettisoned altogether. Much more recently Pope Benedict XVI has also drawn attention to the dangerous temptation to apply solutions of convenience to problematic human conditions. The planned early elimination of patients suffering from distressfully terminal illnesses is but one contemporary example of abandonment of all sense of the sanctity of innocent human life. Regrettably, it is not the only one. It is particularly appropriate in the context of our Order’s historic contribution to medical care and relief of poverty to concern ourselves with such moral issues. We must always consider how we can best defend the religion that motivates us and champion care of the sick, aged, vulnerable and unborn from natural conception to natural death. No member of the Order, worthy of the name, can be indifferent to these concerns. The physical austerities of Outremer may no longer apply but the robust conviction that once inspired them most certainly does.

At every level, to take up the sword and the cross in symbolic gesture is to commit oneself to a crusade of justice, charity, personal sanctity and public witness. You, John, Sir Knight, this evening, publicly declare your vocation to Justice and all that it implies in the long evolution of hospitaller and devotional exercises that your vows imply. We all know from observation of your progress through noviciate and from the manner in which you have allowed yourself to be guided that your preparation has been both thorough and lengthy. No aspect of our religion has been neglected or ignored. Therefore we, your confreres, confidently anticipate both the soundness of your sense of vocation and the diligence with which you will try to live it and fulfil its duties and responsibilities. To do this you will need the structures and signposts of spiritual direction. None of us who is pledged to a vocation of any kind can survive well and indefinitely without governance, guidance and support. That is why The Order has yet preserved the rule and regulation of our affairs beyond the stage when community life still directed our efforts. Linked to charity above all, obedience, fraternal correction and commitment to daily prayer are intrinsic elements of religious life. You will need both courage and at times endurance to fulfil these responsibilities with diligence. Know that you do not face these exigencies in isolation. The prayers of all of us, and where appropriate the counsel of those in whom you confide will aid you. The saints and blessed of the long centuries of the Order’s history also stand ready to intercede for you in the celestial Kingdom. Indefectibly, the sacramental life of a Catholic must be the foundation upon which you build the fortress of your faith, witness and contribution to the work of the Order. Fidelity in this regard will always keep you anchored to orthodox belief and render virtuous your natural qualities. Finally, may you keep before you and seek to imitate the pattern of our Holy Patron, the martyred Precursor of the Lord, who said of himself in regard to his Master, “He must increase and I must decrease.”

The Final Confrontation

“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel.
“We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-too-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it. . . .How many times has the renewal of the Church been brought about in blood! It will not be different this time.”  

– Bicentennial talk given in the United States by the future St. John Paul II, then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Kraków, Poland

 

From the article, The Final Confrontation, read it at The Catholic Thing.