Sunday, May 31, 2009

Pentecost (Whitsunday)

From www.newadvent.org, the Catholic Encyclopedia.

A feast of the universal Church which commemorates the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, fifty days after the Resurrection of Christ, on the ancient Jewish festival called the "feast of weeks" or Pentecost (Exodus 34:22; Deuteronomy 16:10). Whitsunday is so called from the white garments which were worn by those who were baptised during the vigil; Pentecost ("Pfingsten" in German), is the Greek for "the fiftieth" (day after Easter).
Whitsunday, as a Christian feast, dates back to the first century, although there is no evidence that it was observed, as there is in the case of Easter; the passage in 1 Corinthians 16:8 probably refers to the Jewish feast. This is not surprising, for the feast, originally of only one day's duration, fell on a Sunday; besides it was so closely bound up with Easter that it appears to be not much more than the termination of Paschal tide.
That Whitsunday belongs to the Apostolic times is stated in the seventh of the (interpolated) fragments attributed to St. Irenæus. In Tertullian (On Baptism 19) the festival appears as already well established. The Gallic pilgrim gives a detailed account of the solemn manner in which it was observed at Jerusalem ("Peregrin. Silviæ", ed. Geyer, iv). The Apostolic Constitutions (Book V, Part 20) say that Pentecost lasts one week, but in the West it was not kept with an octave until at quite a late date. It appears from Berno of Reichenau (d. 1048) that it was a debatable point in his time whether Whitsunday ought to have an octave. At present it is of equal rank with Easter Sunday. During the vigil formerly the catechumens who remained from Easter were baptized, consequently the ceremonies on Saturday are similar to those on Holy Saturday.
The office of Pentecost has only one Nocturn during the entire week. At Terce the "Veni Creator" is sung instead of the usual hymn, because at the third hour the Holy Ghost descended. The Mass has a Sequence, "Veni Sancte Spiritus" the authorship of which by some is ascribed to King Robert of France. The colour of the vestments is red, symbolic of the love of the Holy Ghost or of the tongues of fire. Formerly the law courts did not sit during the entire week, and servile work was forbidden. A Council of Constance (1094) limited this prohibition to the first three days of the week. The Sabbath rest of Tuesday was abolished in 1771, and in many missionary territories also that of Monday; the latter was abrogated for the entire Church by Pius X in 1911. Still, as at Easter, the liturgical rank of Monday and Tuesday of Pentecost week is a Double of the First Class.
In Italy it was customary to scatter rose leaves from the ceiling of the churches to recall the miracle of the fiery tongues; hence in Sicily and elsewhere in Italy Whitsunday is called Pascha rosatum. The Italian name Pascha rossa comes from the red colours of the vestments used on Whitsunday. In France it was customary to blow trumpets during Divine service, to recall the sound of the mighty wind which accompanied the Descent of the Holy Ghost. In England the gentry amused themselves with horse races. The Whitsun Ales or merrymakings are almost wholly obsolete in England. At these ales the Whitsun plays were performed. At Vespers of Pentecost in the Oriental Churches the extraordinary service of genuflexion, accompanied by long poetical prayers and psalms, takes place. (Cf. Maltzew, "Fasten-und Blumen Triodion", p. 898 where the entire Greco-Russian service is given; cf. also Baumstark, "Jacobit. Fest brevier", p. 255.) On Pentecost the Russians carry flowers and green branches in their hands.
Sources
KELNEER, Heortology (St. Louis, 1908); HAMPSON, Medii viæ kalendarium, I (London, 1841) 280 sqq.; BRAND-ELLIS, Popular Antiquities, I (London, 1813), 26 sqq.; NILLES, Kalendarium Manuale, II (Innsbruck, 1897), 370 sqq.
About this page
APA citation. Holweck, F. (1912). Pentecost (Whitsunday). In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Retrieved May 31, 2009 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15614b.htm
MLA citation. Holweck, Frederick. "Pentecost (Whitsunday)." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.
31 May 2009 .
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Wm Stuart French, Jr. Dedicated to Brenda Eileen Metcalfe French.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Cardinal Compares Abortion and Contraception to the Holocaust

LifeSiteNews.com May 27, 2009:
Martinez Sistach, the Cardinal Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain, said in a recent interview that abortion and abortifacient contraception are attacks on human life, comparing them to the mass murder of Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Commenting on the murder of unborn children inside their mothers' wombs, Sistach observed that "the Bible teaches us that man and woman were created in the image and likeness of God. To touch a man or a woman is to touch God. To kill a human being is to kill God. Historically, we have seen barbarities like the Holocaust."
Society, he said, "should respect human life however it is, because all of us have limitations. If not, only some people could live, because we are in an egoistical and hedonistic society."
Remarking on the proposal by the ruling Spanish Socialist Worker's Party to allow adolescents as young as 16 to have an abortion without their parents' knowledge or consent, Sistach said that "society should make laws that promote life," and asked "how can someone have an abortion at 16 years of age without the consent of the parents, without them knowing?"
He also asked the Spanish government to act for the benefit of society, instead of merely pursuing votes. "I ask all politicians, who have a very noble and necessary task … not to think only about elections and votes."
The comments, which were made during an interview with the Catalonian broadcaster Catalunya Informacio, were widely reported in Spain as an attack on the government's planned reform of the nation's abortion law. If passed it will allow abortion on demand during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, and dramatically lower the age of consent for the procedure.
The government is also proposing allowing the abortifiacient "morning after pill" to be sold in pharmacies without a prescription.
The proposals have sparked massive public protests, and a recent opinion poll indicated that a strong plurality of Spanish women and men are opposed to the new abortion legislation. The more conservative People's Party is making it a major issue in the upcoming elections for the European Parliament.