Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

   Some treasure from St. Conrad, odhiambo! 

That's a fact

[odhiambo]

The 19th of April is also Pope St. Leo IX's day. ..

He was the son of Count Hugh of Egisheim, and a cousin of Emperor Conrad II.

His mother had a vision of a man in a religious habit, foretelling that her son would be great before God, and giving him the name he bore, 'Bruno'.

Whilst still a youth and at home for his holidays, he was attacked when asleep by some animal, and so much injured that for some time he lay between life and death. In that condition he saw, as he used afterwards to tell his friends, a vision of St. Benedict, who cured him by touching his wounds with a cross.

Before he became Pope he was a soldier and officer in the imperial army.

His given name was common, 'Bruno', but he was known to distinguish him from the others as 'the good Bruno'.

In the year of Our Lord 1021, while still in the military, he was chosen bishop of Toul, France, a position he held for 20 years. Indeed the people begged for him to be their bishop, and he having served there as canon was in line for this office. The see was seen as an insignificant post for one of his talents and lineage, but he persuaded the Emperor to allow him to hold it, happy for its obscurity, though his friends all sorrowed for the loss of his company.

He commanded troops under emperor Conrad II in the invasion of Italy in 1026.

Very disciplined himself, he brought order to the monasteries in his diocese, discipline to the clergy, and the Cluniac reform to many of his houses.

In 1049, after he was chosen 151st Pope he brought his zeal for discipline and reform to the entire Church.

He brought Hildebrand, later Pope Saint Gregory VII, to Rome with him as his spiritual advisor.

He reformed houses and parishes, fought simony, enforced clerical celibacy, and encouraged the use of chant.

He fought to prevent the coming Great Schism between the Eastern and Western churches.

He received the nickname of Pilgrim Pope due to his travels through Europe, enforcing his reforms, insisting that his bishops, clergy, and councils follow suit.

He held synods at Pavia, Rheims, Mainz and Vercelli where he condemned the heresies of Berengarius of Tours, which primarily concerned the Eucharist.

In what was intended to be a joint military expedition with Emperor Henry III, to relieve southern Italy from Norman oppression, he personally led an army to throw them out. However, the Emperor withdrew, and the Pope's army was defeated in the field and he was, with protestations of great respect from the Normans, nevertheless captured.

He spent months in imprisonment at Benevento. There he spent his time well, learning Greek to better understand the writings of the Eastern Church, but his health suffered badly.

He died shortly after his release.

. . .

'Seeing with what solicitude with which I must watch over all the churches, how the undisciplined and hostile nation of the Normans rose against the churches of God with unheard of fury and with an ungodliness worse than that of the pagans, how they slaughtered Christians everywhere and afflicted some of them with new and horrible tortures even unto death, how without any human feeling they spared neither child nor old man nor did they spare the weakness of woman; how they made no distinction between sacred and profane, how they plundered and burned the basilicas of the saints and tore them to the ground, I very often rebuked their perversity, reminding, beseeching, preaching, urging in season and out of season, and I threatened them with the terror of divine punishment.

But as the wise man says, "No one can make straight what God has made crooked" and "The fool is not corrected by words," their malice has become so hardened and obstinate that with every day it has added bad deeds to worse.

Consequently, choosing not only to use the property of others but also to exhaust my own resources in liberating Christ's sheep, I considered it necessary to raise a defensive force from whereever men could be recruited. . .'

Pope St. Leo IX

'Bishop Leo, servant of the servants of God, to the hermit Peter beloved son of Christ, the joy of eternal beatitude. . .

The book which you have published, my son, against the fourfold pollution of carnal contagion, frank in style and even more direct in reasoning, provides indisputable evidence of the intention of your mind to enter the holy fray on the side of the splendid might of shining modesty.

You have smitten wantonness of the flesh by thus striking with the arm of the spirit against obscene desire, clearly delineating the execrable vice by the authority of virtue, which, since it is itself immaculate, allows no uncleanness.'

Pope St. Leo IX, in a reply to St. Peter Damien, praising his book 'Gomorrah', against unnatural vice.

Pope St. Leo IX,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

It's truly wonderful to think of a Pilgrim Pope traveling the world, bringing discipline and strong reform wherever he visited, correcting abuses, bringing the Gregorian Chant. . .

 

[odhiambo]

bringing the Gregorian Chant. . .
 

You know something Shin. I thought a Chant was a Chant, I had no idea there are different types. Gregorian ?
I could not tell one from the other if I heard them all  
How many types are there even?

[susanna]

I'd like to know too.  I like Gregorian and especially like Anglican, but they are all I ever heard. 

  (Isn't there a singing or chanting smiley?)

[odhiambo]

Hi All  

It is Holy Week and our attention at this time of the year is focused on the Lord and His coming Passion and Resurrection.
I feel  it is appropriate to temporarily  halt the  daily postings of Saint of the day until after Easter. Anyone else feels the same way?
Any contrary opinion and why, is welcomed.
I am just looking to be advised on the best way forward.
We have seen already that  we do honour God in his saints. If there is majority opinion that we continue, the saints are waiting  

[martin]

how they made no distinction between sacred and profane

Lord have mercy.   I see this even today.

We have seen already that  we do honour God in his saints. If there is majority opinion that we continue, the saints are waiting 

Either way odhiambo, it's all for the glory of God. 

[odhiambo]

Either way odhiambo, it's all for the glory of God. 

It is indeed martin.
Will continue and in addition, also post something  relevant to the period.
Thanks

[odhiambo]

April 21, 2011

Today is Holy Thursday
Also known as
Maundy Thursday

In the Catholic Church, Holy Thursday is the day that we celebrate the Last Supper. The day that Jesus and His disciples ate the feast of the passover. It was the last meal Jesus ate before He was Crucified . It was eaten in the upstairs room of a house in Jerusalem, believed to have been owned by John Mark and his mother, Mary (Acts 12:12).

The term “ Maundy” never made any sense to me till I learnt that it comes from the Latin word “mandatum,” meaning "command.” This stems from Christ's words in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you."
I am aware that there are other explanations to the origin of the term. The reader is welcome to comment.

During this last meal, Christ instituted the Mass and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
Holy Orders, the sacrament of Apostolic ministry also began with the Last Supper. The Apostles were there; they have been eye witnesses throughout His three year Ministry. Later He will commission them to “…go out and make disciples of all nations….”
This day marks the final part of Holy Week and is the first day of the Triduum, the three days before Easter , during which we commemorate Christ's Passion.

Something else of significance took place at the Last Supper.
Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. This was a profound act of love described only by Saint John, the disciple whom Jesus loved
We know that the disciples at times concerned themselves with the question of “ status”; who is greater than the other, etc.
We learn that in the course of this memorable Last Supper, Jesus “rose from the table, took off his outer garment and tied a towel round his waist. Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel round his waist”
New International Version(13:.4,5).
This was an act expected only of servant slaves and reserved only for them.
The custom then was that when guests arrived, their feet was washed by a slave, not just any slave, but Gentile slaves as Jewish slaves were exempted from foot washing, a task regarded as particularly menial. But Jesus did it. He did it anyway.

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:34-35 New International Version (NIV)

This explained to the Apostles and to us, the significance of His action in washing their feet.
We are to love one another and to serve others.

Have a prayerful Maundy Thursday. 

[odhiambo]

21 April

Today is  also the Feast day of
Saint Anselm (Anselm of Canterbury)
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

This is a very long article so will be posted in two parts.
The account is from "Our Sunday Visitor's encyclopedia of saints
By Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, Stephen Bunson"
Welcome.


Saint Anselm of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury,
Doctor of the Church
Saint Anselm was born in 1033 at Aosta, in Lombardy, Italy. He was born in a wealthy and noble family. Anselm’s father was Gundulf de Candia. He was by birth a Lombard of the House of Candia. It seems that Mr. Gundulf was a very harsh man and treated his son harshly. His mother, Ermenberga of Geneva, on the other hand was a gentle soul, and was regarded as a prudent and virtuous woman.
At the age of fifteen, Anselm wanted to enter a monastery but his father refused to give his consent. Very disappointed and possibly reacting, as teenagers are wont to , he gave up his studies and lived a carefree life. During this period, his mother died and his father's harshness became unbearable. He resolved to leave home. This he did when he turned twenty-three.
He left home, accompanied by a servant; crossed the Alps and wandered through Burgundy and France. After passing nearly three years in Burgundy and France, he came to Normandy and spent some time at a place called  Avranches, before entering the then renown Benedictine Abbey of Bec, as a novice.
 The then prior of the Abbey was his own countryman. His name was   Lanfranc. The year was 1059 and Anselm was twenty-seven years old.
As a Benedictine novice, Anselm submitted himself to the Rule of Saint Benedict, which rule is  said to have shaped his life over the following decade.

In 1063, Lanfranc was made abbot of Caen and Anselm was elected prior of the abbey of Bec. He held this office for fifteen years before he became abbot at the death of Herluin, the abbey's founder, in 1078.
Under Anselm's jurisdiction, Bec became the foremost seat of learning in Europe, attracting students from Italy and elsewhere. It was during his time at Bec that Anselm wrote his first works of philosophy, the Monologion (1076) and the Proslogion (1077–8). These were followed by The Dialogues on Truth, Free Will and Fall of the Devil.

Anselm occasionally visited England , as part of his duties, to see the abbey's property there, as well as to visit Lanfranc, who, in 1070, had been installed as Archbishop of Canterbury. He made a good impression while there as his kindness won him many English followers. When Lanfranc died in 1089, he was the natural successor as Archbishop.
Upon Lanfranc's death, however, William II of England seized the possessions and revenues of the see, and made no new appointment. He kept the Church in England in a state of anarchy....

[odhiambo]

Saint Anselm of Canterbury-Part 2

....This state of affairs apparently prevailed until 1093 when he was named as Archbishop of Canterbury by the king.
The Church's rule stated that metropolitans could not be consecrated without receiving the pallium ( a sign of his office as metropolitan), from the hands of the pope. Anselm, accordingly, insisted that he must proceed to Rome to receive the pallium, but William would not permit it; he had not acknowledged Urban as pope and maintained his right to prevent a pope's acknowledgment by an English subject. This was at a time the Antipope Clement was disputing the authority of Urban II, who had been recognized by France and Normandy.
The Archbishop who believed in the supremacy of the pope in all matters, insisted on going to Pope Urban, whose authority he had already acknowledged. King William compromised by sending a legate to Rome to receive the pallium. Problems again arose when he tried to bestow it upon Anselm ; Anselm, refused take the pallium from his hand. He however, compromised and agreed he would take it from the alter. Accordingly, in a solemn service at Canterbury on 10 June, 1095 the pallium was laid on the altar by the legate, from where Anselm took it.
Anselm continued to agitate William for reform and the interests of Canterbury. His vision of the Church was one of a universal Church with its own internal authority, which was at odds with William's vision of royal control over both Church and state.
During the next two years, there was no overt dispute between Anselm and William. However, William blocked Anselm's efforts at church reform.
The conflict between these two men came to a head in 1097.
Anselm resolved to proceed to Rome and seek the counsel of the pope because William had refused to fulfill his promise of Church reform, but William denied him permission. The negotiations ended with William declaring that if Anselm left, he would take back the see, and never again receive Anselm as archbishop. If Anselm were to stay, William would fine him and force him to swear never again to appeal to Rome: Anselm was given the choice of exile or total submission. To Anselm, the choice was easy, exile it would be; and exile it was.
As an exile, in October 1097 Anselm set out for Rome. William immediately seized the revenues of the see and retained them until his death, though Anselm retained the archbishopric. Anselm went into exile to defend his vision of the universal Church.
William was killed on 2 August 1100. His successor, Henry I of England, invited Anselm to return, writing that he committed himself to be counseled by Anselm. Henry also had an alterior motive in courting Anselm. He needed his support for the security of his claim to the throne against that of his elder brother.
When Anselm returned, Henry requested that Anselm do him homage for the Canterbury estates and receive from him investiture in his office of archbishop. The papacy had recently banned clerics doing homage to laymen, as well as banning lay investiture; thus started Anselm's conflicts with Henry which eventually ended in a second exile for the archbishop.
Henry refused to relinquish the privilege possessed by his predecessors, and proposed that the matter be laid before the pope. Anselm set out for Rome in 1103. In 1106, the differences were settled and the English king gave up the right to invest bishops and abbots, thus, granting the Church freedom from throne politics and reinforcing papal authority.
Anselm returned to England and served the Church and king. He was regent of England in 1108 while Henry was in Normandy. At the same time, he was becoming the leading phylosopher and theologian of his time, earning the title, “ Father of Scholasticism.” As a theologian, Anselm was said to be a formidable spokesman for the Scholastic movement. He coined the term “Credo ut intelligam” which means, “ I believe in order to understand”
Some of his more recognized works are those already mentioned earlier as well as
Cur Deus Homo? ( Why did God become Man?).
He also wrote for the abolition of slave trading and the importance of priestly celibacy.
Anselm died during Holy Week, specifically on Holy Wednesday, 21 April 1109 at Canterbury, England.
He was canonized in 1494 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1720.

Saint Anselm, Founder of Scholasticism, is called “ one among the noblest worthies in the British Isles”

Saint Anselm,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

Here's a sermon for Maundy Thursday.

St. Anselm of Canterbury, ora pro nobis.

One can read Why did God become Man? here.

It's a splendid read!

[odhiambo]

Thank you Shin 

[odhiambo]

May 22

Today is
Good Friday

On this day we commemorate the passion, the crucifixion and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross .

We adore you, O Christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world. 

[odhiambo]

The LORD says,

“My servant will succeed in his task;
He will be highly honored”
Many people were shocked when they saw him;
He was so disfigured that he hardly looked human.
But now many nations will marvel at him,
And kings will be speechless with amazement.
They will see and understand something they had never known.”

And so I will give him a place of honor,
a place among the great and powerful.
He willingly gave up his life and shared the fate of evil man.
He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven.
Is. 52: 13-15; 53: 12
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