The Home Fires

Just as the cloister is built, arranged, adorned, to enable the individual religious to live his live more easily, so in Catholic concept, should be the Catholic home. There should be in it emblems of religion, especially a figure of the Crucified; that supreme emblem of unselfishness should adorn the walls of the home and be set over the marriage bed. There should be figures of the saints, prayer books, Catholic books, Catholic newspapers, holy water. People may laugh at these things. They may say: 'But we have parted with all that. That is no longer possible. Why will you force on us the superstitions of an older age?' We say, 'well, has it changed for the better? What is your married life like after all? Have you now found happiness? Has the world found happiness by removing these sacred things? Is the married life easier because they have forgotten the Holy Family? Is the married life easier with Nazareth forgot? 'Holy water and the old-fashioned gadgets, what have these to do with us?' Well their purpose is to remind you of the sanctity of the room where you live...


Sounds like it could have been written in the post-vatican II period right? Well it was actually written in 1930 in London by the excellent Domincan Fr. Bede Jarrett.

Preparing for the Day of Persecution

A letter from St. Cyprian

The contest of faith

As we do battle and fight in the contest of faith, God, his angels and Christ himself watch us. How exalted is the glory, how great the joy of engaging in a contest with God presiding, of receiving a crown with Christ as judge.

Dear brethren, let us arm ourselves with all our might, let us prepare ourselves for the struggle by innocence of heart, integrity of faith, dedication to virtue.

The blessed Apostle teaches us how to arm and prepare ourselves: Put round you the belt of truth; put on the breastplate of righteousness; for shoes wear zeal for the Gospel of peace; take up the shield of faith to extinguish all the burning arrows of the evil one; take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

Let us take this armor and defend ourselves with these spiritual defenses from heaven, so that we may be able to resist the threats of the devil, and fight back on the evil day.

Let us put on the breastplate of righteousness so that our hearts may be safeguarded, proof against the arrows of the enemy. Let our feet be protected by the shoes of the teaching of the Gospel so that when we begin to trample on the serpent and crush it, we may not be bitten and tripped up by it.

Let us with fortitude bear the shield of faith to protect us by extinguishing all the burning arrows that the enemy may launch against us.

Let us wear on our head the helmet of the spirit to defend our ears against the proclamations of death, our eyes against the sight of accursed idols, our forehead so that God’s sign may be kept intact, our lips so that our tongue may proclaim victoriously its faith in Christ its Lord.

Let us arm our right hand with the sword of the spirit so that it may courageously refuse the daily sacrifices, and like the hand—mindful of the Eucharist—that receives the body of the Lord, stretch out to embrace him, and so gain from the Lord the future prize of a heavenly crown.

Dear brethren, have all this firmly fixed in your hearts. If the day of persecution finds us thinking on these things and meditating upon them, the soldier of Christ, trained by Christ’s commands and instructions, does not begin to panic at the thought of battle, but is ready for the crown of victory.

St. John's Church, Byblos Lebanon

Commanderie de la Romagne

Commanderie de la Romagne which was part of the Grand Priory of Champagne. It was originally a Templar fortification became property of the Order of Malta in the early 14th century. In 1595 after the Battle of Fontaine Francais, King Henry IV installed his camp here. He was welcomed by the Grand Prior of Champagne, Philibert de Foissy. St. John's Gate, the large archway, is part of the building where the drawbridge was once stored. It has been restored to host guests in period style rooms. For more information visit http://www.romagne.com/home.htm

Church of St. Andre in Luz-Saint Sauveur

The village of Luz-Saint-Sauveur in the Haute Pyrenees. The Church of St. Andre was built in the late 11th century by the St. Andre family and dedicated to the apostle of the same name.

In the 14th century the family gave the Church to the knights of St. John who used it to provide sanctuary to pilgrims on the Camino of St. James. The knights built the circular rampart to protect the townspeople from the "bandits Aragonais" who roamed the region. The tower was used as a munitions depot.

Commandery de Bures, France

The Commandery de Bures was another sub-priory of the Hospitaller Grand Priory of Champagne which was originally a property of the knights Templar. It was in the position of the Order of St. John from 1317 until it was confiscated under the French Revolution. In 1958 the owner of the property was searching for Templar treasure by using explosives and destroyed much of the structure. In 2006 the current owner began restoration efforts. The red roof building in the background is the chapel of the commandery and now the parish church. The first picture is a guard room of the Hospitallers. For additional pictures of the site visit, http://www.christaldesaintmarc.com/la-commanderie-des-templiers-de-bure-c883337

Commandery d'Epailly, France

The Commandery of Epailly was originally a property of the knights Templar but was given to the Order of St. John after the Templars were suppressed. It was fortified by the Hospitallers during the 14th and 15th Centuries. It was part of the Grand Priory of Champagne. The Hospitallers first  Grand Prior was Jean de Montagny. It is now a historical monument of the French government.

Church of St. John the Baptist in Hospital de Orbigo, Spain

The town of Hospital de Orbigo, Spain is on the Camino of Compostela and it's main church, the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista once belonged to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.

Church of St. Nicholas in Portomarin Spain

From the wikipedia entry

The Church of San Xoán (or Saint Nicholas) of Portomarín is a temple-fortress of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, in the Galician town of Portomarín, Spain.

Features

It is an unusual Late Romanesque temple as it is designed to be both a church and a castle and so has architectural characteristics of both buildings. As a church it has one barrel vaulted nave, a semicircular apse and all the typical decorations of Romanesque churches; these include a carved portal with archivolts, rose windows and carved capitals. As a castle its perimeter is surrounded by merlons, it has four defense towers (one at each corner) while behind it lies an adarve, a defensive street. The north west tower currently has a stork´s nest with two young (2011). The church was relocated to its current position from the valley in the 1960s when the river was flooded to form a reservoir.

Strategic importance

View from the apse.

It is situated on the principal route of the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela, where other Templar and Knight Hospitaller churches and castles were constructed as a result of the effort of the Hospital Orders to protect the way to the tomb of Santiago; others include the churches of Torres del Río, Eunate and the Castle of Ponferrada.

Feast of St. Pantaleon

THANKSGIVING FOR THE VICTORY OF THE LIFTING OF THE SEIGE OF RHODES.

H/T to the Conventual Church of St. John of Jerusalem blog for the following,

The end of the Siege, with the Ottoman camp on the distance, and the Grand Master's army having recaptured the Tower of Italy. On this day in the year 1480, the Turks were defeated by Grand Master Pierre d'Aubusson at the lifting of the Siege of Rhodes. D'Aubusson, who was 57 at the time of the siege, was one of the most accomplished Grand Masters ever to lead the Order. A man of fine presence, a polished diplomat, a Cardinal, and as the siege was to show, a courageous leader in war.

The besieging Ottoman army was made up of 170 ships and 100,000 men, under the command of Gedik Ahmed Pasha. Grand Master d'Aubusson's small garrison was reinforced by 500 knights from France, and 2,000 soldiers under the command of the Grand Master's brother Antoine.

On this last decisive day of the battle, on which the Turks managed to capture the tower of the Langue of Italy, the battle rose to a frenzy during which 4,000 Turks were slain. The Hospitallers finally reached the tent of the Grand Vizier and captured the holy standard of Islam. Defeated, the Ottoman fleet finally left on 27th August. Safety for Christian sea traffic in the Mediterranean was thus assured, until the fall of Rhodes in 1522.

The Victory is commemorated within the Order this day in a Mass contained in a Missal of 1659 of the Domus SS Joannis et Cordulae in Cologne.

Feast of the 1st Class

ORATIO

Deus in te sperântium fortitudo, adesto precibus nostris : quas tibi cum gratiarum offerimus actione : pro Victoria Magistro nostro, ac ejus exercitui, contra hostes Fidei Christianæ Turcos, per te mirabiliter Rhodi concessa : suppliciter deprecantes: ut solitâ tuæ pietatis clementiâ muniti, dextrâque tuæ potentiæ defensi : ab hostium infidiis, omníque adversitate protegâmur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

SECRETA

Hostias tibi Domine placationis et laudis offerimus, suppliciter exorantes : ut qui nos de Fidei tuæhostibus triumphare fecisti : clementer ab inimicorum infidiis, et omni periculo salves et munias. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum. Qui vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

POSTCOMMUNIO

Sumptis redemptionis nostræ muneribus, quæsumus Omnipotens Deus : eorum celebratione tuæ protectionis auxilium : et famulum tuum N. Hospitalis Hierosolomitani Magistrum, cum suo Exercitu, gratias de Triumphis Turcarum hostium fidei, nomini tuo sancto referentem : ab omni inimicorum incursu, cunctisque adversitatibus liberes semper et protegas. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.