How Charlemagne Discovered the Relics of Saint Anne the Mother of Mary

From http://cantuar.blogspot.ie/2012/07/how-charlemagne-discovered-relics-of.html

On Easter AD 792, Charlemagne discovered the relics of Saint Anne with the help of a deaf handicapped boy. It's a wonderful tale for this feast day of Saint Anne.

Below is the account, preserved in the correspondence of Pope Saint Leo III, concerning the discovery of the relics of Saint Anne in the presence of the Emperor Charlemagne.

Fourteen years after Our Lord’s death, Saint Mary Magdalen, Saint Martha, Saint Lazarus, and the others of the little band of Christians who were piled into a boat without sails or oars and pushed out to sea to perish — in the persecution of the Christians by the Jews of Jerusalem — were careful to carry with them the tenderly loved body of Our Lady’s mother. They feared lest it be profaned in the destruction, which Jesus had told them was to come upon Jerusalem. When, by the power of God, their boat sur vived and finally drifted to the shores of France, the little company of saints buried Saint Anne’s body in a cave, in a place called Apt, in the south of France. The church, which was later built over the spot, fell into decay because of wars and religious persecutions, and as the centuries passed, the place of Saint Anne’s tomb was forgotten.

The long years of peace, which Charlemagne’s wise rule gave to southern France, enabled the people to build a magnificent new church on the site of the old chapel at Apt. Extraordinary and painstaking labor went into the building of the great structure, and when the day of its consecration arrived [Easter Sunday, 792 A.D.], the beloved Charlemagne, little suspecting what was in store for him, declared himself happy indeed to have jour neyed so many miles to be present for the holy occasion. At the most solemn part of the ceremonies, a boy of fourteen, blind, deaf and dumb from birth — and usually quiet and impassive — to the amaze ment of those who knew him, completely distracted the at tention of the entire congrega tion by becoming suddenly tremendously excited. He rose from his seat, walked up the aisle to the altar steps, and to the consternation of the whole church, struck his stick re soundingly again and again upon a single step.

His embarrassed family tried to lead him out, but he would not budge. He contin ued frantically to pound the step, straining with his poor muted senses to impart a knowledge sealed hopelessly within him. The eyes of the people turned upon the em peror, and he, apparently in spired by God, took the matter into his own hands. He called for workmen to remove the steps.

A subterranean passage was revealed directly below the spot, which the boy’s stick had indicated. Into this pas sage the blind lad jumped, to be followed by the emperor, the priests, and the workmen.

They made their way in the dim light of candles, and when, farther along the pas sage, they came upon a wall that blocked further ad vance, the boy signed that this also should be removed. When the wall fell, there was brought to view still another long, dark corridor. At the end of this, the searchers found a crypt, upon which, to their profound wonderment, a vigil lamp, alight and burning in a little walled recess, cast a heavenly radiance.

As Charlemagne and his afflicted small guide, with their companions, stood be fore the lamp, its light went out. And at the same moment, the boy, blind and deaf and dumb from birth, felt sight and hearing and speech flood into his young eyes, his ears, and his tongue.

“It is she! It is she!” he cried out. The great emperor, not knowing what he meant, nevertheless repeated the words after him. The call was taken up by the crowds in the church above, as the people sank to their knees, bowed in the realization of the presence of something celestial and holy.

The crypt at last was opened, and a casket was found within it. In the casket was a winding sheet, and in the sheet were relics, and upon the relics was an inscrip tion that read, “Here lies the body of Saint Anne, mother of the glorious Virgin Mary.” The winding sheet, it was noted, was of eastern design and texture.

Charlemagne, over whelmed, venerated with pro found gratitude the relics of the mother of Heaven’s Queen. He remained a long time in prayer. The priests and the people, awed by the graces given them in such abundance and by the choice of their countryside for such a heavenly manifestation, for three days spoke but rarely, and then in whispers.

The emperor had an exact and detailed account of the miraculous finding drawn up by a notary and sent to Pope Saint Leo III, with an accom panying letter from himself. These documents and the pope’s reply are preserved to this day. Many papal bulls have attested, over and over again, to the genuineness of Saint Anne’s relics at Apt.

St. James, the Muslim Moorslayer

Spero News July 25, 2012:

On the 23rd of May in the year of our Lord 844, near a place called Clavijo in the Rioja region of Spain, legend recalls that a miracle occurred that would alter the tide of history then washing over the Iberian peninsula.  José González de Tejada, a Spanish historian of the 19th century, wrote “It was at that time that Saint James appeared, mounted on a strong and beautiful white horse. The sight of him enlivened the Christians and so terrified the infidels who then cowardly turned their backs and retreated, leaving the field covered with Moorish corpses and running with rivers of their blood that, it is said, flowed to the Ebro River some two leagues away from that place.”
This image of the apostle of Jesus, James the Greater – so-called because he was the first of that time to heed the call of the Lord – would serve the resurgent Catholics of Spain well in their centuries of struggle against Muslim Moorish occupation. Muslims had come to Spain in 711 at the invitation of a Spanish Christian prince who had made war on a fellow Christian. Having established a foothold across the Strait of Gibraltar, the Moors would then advance and then cover the entire Iberian peninsula south of the Pyrenees and drive into France, only to finally break against the iron wall of Frankish infantry led by Charles Martel in 732 near Poitiers on the outskirts of Paris. Once the Moors retreated south of the Pyrenees, Spain and Portugal would become a prize to be contested by Muslims and Christians for centuries. The Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne himself would lead a crusade into Spain, only to retreat and come to grief over the death of his lieutenant Roland at the hands of renegade Basques.
The figure of a saint mounted on a white charger gave wings to Spanish resistance to Moorish occupation. Saint James himself was a martyr, killed by his own people over religious differences. But the mounted hero of the battle of  came to symbolize the beginnings of an Hispanic nationalism that was to carry Spain ultimately to its unification under the Catholic Monarchs Fernando and Isabel and their endorsement of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to what he thought was the Spice Islands. The crusades against the Moors throughout Spain for nearly eight centuries became known as the Reconquest, since it was agreed that Muslim usurpers must be thrown back to Morocco from whence they came. Since Spain was occupied with its own crusades, very few Spanish knights and crusaders apart from some from Catalonia were to follow their English, French and German confreres to the Holy Land. And that Spanish Reconquest, with its religious and secular motivations, was to continue under the guise of conquest in the Americas like a relentless tidal wave that swept both pitiless Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru, and pious and humane Friar Bartolomé de las Casas, to their destinies in a new land where Spain would be remembered for the implacable fervor of its sons, for good and for ill.
‘James’, in the Castilian and Catalonian languages, is rendered variously as ‘Jaime’, ‘Jaume’, ‘Jacobo’, and ‘Yago’. It is the last of these names that the patron of Spain and its furious knights became known. ‘Santiago’ is, of course, ‘Saint James’ and it is Santiago by which he is known in Spanish history. The bones of the Apostle James are found in the cathedral at at Santiago de Compostela, which has been a place of Christian pilgrimage rivaled only by Rome and the Holy Land for more than 1000 years.  The saint’s name was invoked during the centuries of fighting between Moors and Christians: ‘¡Santiago y cierra España!’ – Saint James and Spain, charge!  This was the battle cry that had its origins at the Battle of Clavijo and that would be famously shouted at the Battle of Navas de Tolosa in 1212 when rival kings and princes of the Iberian peninsula joined forces against the Almohad Caliph Muhammad al-Nasr.
Orders of knights were established in Spain both to protect pilgrims to Santiago deCompostela, and to do battle with the Moors. At the bloody battle at Navas deTolosa, the Knights of Saint James, the Knights of Calatrava, and the Templar Knights were heavily engaged and suffered great losses, only adding to their renown and mystique. The Knights of Saint James ‘Los Caballeros de Santiago’ became among the most prominent of Spanish cavalry, and later figured in the Conquest of the Americas – as evidenced by the many cities and towns in the Americas bearing the name ‘Santiago’. The legendary appearance of Saint James was the beginning of the Jacobean tradition, that through the centuries has become a peaceful pilgrimage of those seeking spiritual and corporeal health, walking along the Camino de Santiago – the Road to Saint James.
A great deal of ink, as well as blood, has been spilt since the alleged appearance of Saint James with sword in hand and astride a white horse, some twelve centuries ago.  It is said that the Moors also saw the vision, and cried “Allah has come to the aid of Santiago!” – the heaven-sent mounted knight thereafter known as SantiagoMatamoros, Saint James the Moorslayer.  History and legend, religion and the affairs of state, were forged into a story that would sustain and unify an embattled Hispanic nation for centuries, giving it a character that would last well into the 20thcentury.
It has long been said, and repeated by balladeers, chroniclers and historians, that King Ramiro of Asturias, the son of Alfonso the Chaste, had refused to render a nefarious tribute to the Moors that had been imposed by long before. According to legend, the Kingdom of Asturias had long suffered under what became known as the annual Tribute of One Hundred Maidens. This was a tribute of Christian souls sent to pacify the Emir of Córdoba,  that included not only the 100 unmarried girls, but also more than 50 women. Shamed by this sacrifice to the minotaur in Cordoba, Ramiro decided to do battle instead.
Uniting the entire region, Ramiro gathered a powerful army that he hurled against the Moors at Albelda de Iregua, near Logroño – the capital of La Rioja. The Moors proved to be nearly matchless opponents, having been reinforced by levies from Morocco. These encircled Ramiro’s forces, who were then thrown back towardsClavijo where they took refuge at the castle there. On the night of his defeat, Ramiro had a dream which promised a victory against the Moors arrayed around him. Assured of being accompanied by the heavenly knight Santiago, Ramiro and his men went to battle on the next day, defeating the Moors at a place that has ever after been known as the Field of Slaughter.
Just a day later, while Moorish and Christian corpses still littered the ground, Ramiro declared in the nearby town of Calahorra that all Christians should go as pilgrims to the shrine of Saint James at Compostela in gratitude for what appeared to be a victory sent from God.  Linking the martial victory to Christian religion in 1270, King Alfonso the Wise wrote in his General Chronicle the words of Saint James in Ramiro’s dream before the Battle of Clavijo, “’Know that Our Lord Jesus Christ divided among the Apostles all of the provinces of the earth. And to me he gave only Spain to guard. King Ramiro, strengthen your prayer and be strong and firm in your deeds, knowing that I am Saint James. And it will come true tomorrow that you will have victory over all of those Moors, with God’s help.’”
So the legend began. When it seemed that the Moors would carry the day, a brilliant Santiago appeared on his white horse and wielding an enormous sword that decapitated 70,000 Muslims at once, thus earning a humble Jewish fisherman of the 1st century, James the son of Zebedee, the sobriquet of Moorslayer.
Invocations of Saint James, an apparent atomic weapon of the medieval age, only multiplied after his brilliant sword was unsheathed at Clavijo. And it was Spain as an entity that also emerged from the forge of battle. Spain, which remains divided by mountains and valleys, language and custom, was unified at least while disparate kingdoms such as Aragon, Asturias, Navarra, Catalonia, and Valencia were killing Muslim Moors.  It was at the Battle of Coimbra in 1064 that Santiago again intervened in favor of Christian Iberians when the troops of Fernando I  of Leon encountered a Moorish army in Portugal. It was there that the battling of Christians against Muslims became known as a Crusade to rid European soil of Islam. Thus, gradually, Catholic religion became an identifying identity long before the Castilian language would become the Spanish lingua franca by the 15th century and the Age of Discovery.
Oddly enough, it was a Mozarab – a Christian of Moorish or Jewish ancestry – who urged him to seize Coimbra.  Sisnando Davidiz became the count of Coimbra and ruled during the apogee of Mozarabic culture on the peninsula. Known for fostering relative peace with Muslim neighbors to the south of the city,  he nonetheless hedged his bets and fortified the region with peerless castles. His bones rest in the cathedral of Coimbra, but are not noted for visits from pilgrims, despite his efforts in the cause of Santiago.

Portiuncula Indulgence & Feast of Our Lady of the Angels

From http://www.st-annrcc.com/index.cfm?load=event&event=173

Event Name:  Portiuncula Indulgence & Feast of Our Lady of the Angels
Date(s):  Aug 1, 2012 - Aug 2, 2011
Time:  Starts: 12:00 PM   Ends: 11:59 PM
What is Portiuncula?

The following is an excerpt from Major Life of St. Francis by St. Bonaventure.

” The Portiuncula was an old church dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God which was abandoned . Francis had great devotion to the Queen of the world and when he saw that the church was deserted, he began to live there constantly in order to repair it. He heard that the Angels often visited it, so that it was called Saint Mary of the Angels, and he decided to stay there permanently out of reverence for the angels and love for the Mother of Christ.
He loved this spot more than any other in the world. It was here he began his religious life in a very small way; it is here he came to a happy end. When he was dying, he commended this spot above all others to the friars, because it was most dear to the Blessed Virgin.
This was the place where Saint Francis founded his Order by divine inspiration and it was divine providence which led him to repair three churches before he founded the Order and began to preach the Gospel.
This meant that he progressed from material things to more spiritual achievements, from lesser to greater, in due order, and it gave a prophetic indication of what he would accomplish later.
As he was living there by the church of Our Lady, Francis prayed to her who had conceived the Word, full of grace and truth, begging her insistently and with tears to become his advocate. Then he was granted the true spirit of the Gospel by the intercession of the Mother of mercy and he brought it to fruition.
He embraced the Mother of Our Lord Jesus with indescribable love because, as he said, it was she who made the Lord of majesty our brother, and through her we found mercy. After Christ, he put all his trust in her and took her as his patroness for himself and his friars.”

Today the chapel of Portiuncula is situated inside the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels roughly 5 km from Assisi, Italy.
The Indulgence:
“The Portiuncula indulgence is the first plenary indulgence that was ever granted in the Church. There were indeed indulgences at all times, but they were only partial, and only a partial remission of the temporal punishments could be obtained by them. But, as already remarked, he who gains the Portiuncula indulgence is freed from all temporal punishments and becomes as pure as after holy baptism. This was also the reason why Pope Honorius was astonished when St. Francis petitioned for the confirmation of this indulgence, for such an indulgence, up to that time, had been entirely unknown. It was only after he had come to the conviction that Jesus Christ himself wished it, that he granted the petition of the saint and confirmed the indulgence”
August 2nd is the feast of Portiuncula. A plenary indulgence is available to anyone who will:
1. Receive sacramental confession (8 days before of after)
2. Receive the Holy Eucharist at Holy Mass on August 2nd
3. Enter a parish church and, with a contrite heart, pray the Our Father, Apostles Creed, and a prayer of his/her own choosing for the intentions of the Pope.

The Portiuncula indulgence then is a great grace of which we should avail ourselves every year. Try to gain it. See above all, that you make a humble, contrite and sincere confession, for a good confession is the first and most necessary requisite for the forgiveness of sins and the gaining of the indulgence. Receive Holy Communion with the most profound humility and adoration. Say the prayers for an indulgence with devotion and sentiments of repentance, according to the intention of the Holy Father, and relying on the merits of Jesus Christ, on the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Francis, and the other saints, beseech God with confidence to impart to you the indulgence and to deliver you from all temporal punishments. Promise to be thankful to him for this grace all the days of your life by carefully keeping your conscience free from even small faults. Visit the church several times and after repeating the prayers for an indulgence apply it to the poor souls that they may partake of the grace thereof. Thus the Portiuncula indulgence will be to you a key with which you will open heaven, both for yourselves and for many poor souls.

L’Osservatore Romano attacks the Gates’

See http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/the-vatican/detail/articolo/benedetto-xvi-benedict-xvi-benedicto-xvi-17154/

The Story of Eli: A Moral Tale on the Peril of Poor Parenting and Unfaithful Priestly Ministry

From http://blog.adw.org/2012/07/the-story-of-eli-a-moral-tale-on-the-peril-of-poor-parenting-and-unfaithful-priestly-ministry-2/

In the First Book of Samuel, we see are rather stunning portrait of poor parenting and poor priestly leadership in the person of of High Priest of the Sanctuary at Shiloh, Eli. Consider this line from the Scriptures:

Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was. The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.” Samuel ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”“I did not call you,” Eli said. “Go back to sleep.” …..At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD, because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet. (1 Sam 3:3-5).

Now let me ask you, how could it be that Samuel, a young boy living in the temple of the Lord and under the foster parentage of the High Priest was “not familiar” with the Lord? Some may argue he is but a young boy. Still, he is old enough to speak with Eli, to hear and heed Eli’s instructions. Has Eli told him nothing of the Lord? It would seem so. Ah, but you say, the text has indicated that Samuel knew nothing because the Lord had not yet revealed anything to him. The text seems to root the cause of his unfamiliarity in the Lord rather than Eli. But Eli is still without excuse for it remains true that God reveals himself to us not usually as a voice in the night, or some unusual Theophany. Rather, God reveals himself to us through parents, priests, religious and other elders. For a young and already talking Samuel to be unfamiliar with the Lord while living under the care of the High Priest supposedly ministering in the very House of The Lord is unconscionable. It is a dereliction of duty. Eli has failed thus far as a parent and a priest. Children should be taught of God from their first interactive moments. Among the first things they learn should be Bible stories and prayers. They should be made aware of and become familiar with the “still small voice” of God as he whispers his presence to them.

I have only a few memories of being a very young child of about 5 years of age. But one of the memories I most cherish is how plainly I heard the voice of God and felt his presence. There was a very beautiful statue of the Sacred Heart near my dresser and God surely spoke to me from there and I was familiar with his calming and loving presence. But I could understand what I was experiencing because my parents had made me familiar with the Lord. I knew who it was that was speaking to me in those quiet and calm whispers. It was the Lord. Sadly, as I grew older and the flesh became more alive I lost my ability to hear the “still, small voice” of the Lord. I have sought it ever since my conversion back to the Lord and am only in recent years beginning to experience it again in moments of contemplative prayer.

I knew who spoke to me and had been made familiar with him, but Samuel did not and this is a very serious dereliction of duty on the part of Eli. When asked he finally did tell Samuel of the Lord but Samuel should not have had to ask.

Perhaps you think I am being too hard on Eli or reading into the text a bit. Maybe Eli was a busy man being High Priest and all. Or perhaps I am just plain wrong and Eli was actually a good father figure for Samuel.

A Pattern – But I do not think I am wrong nor am I being too harsh for poor parenting and poor priestly leadership are a pattern for Eli. Consider another story about the two priestly sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas:

Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD. Now it was the practice of the priests with the people that whenever anyone offered a sacrifice and while the meat was being boiled, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand. He would plunge it into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot, and the priest would take for himself whatever the fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. But even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned up first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would then answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.” This sin of the young men was very great in the LORD’s sight, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt……Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear spreading among the LORD’s people. If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?” His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the LORD’s will to put them to death…..Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’ “Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: …those who despise me will be disdained. The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your family line …” ‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day. I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one always. (1 Sam 2:selected verses)

The basic facts are these:

1. The priestly sons of Eli, Hophniand Phinehas, are wicked men. They violate the sacred liturgy and and take more than their portion, a portion that belongs to God. They scandalize the faithful, act unjustly toward them and have illicit sexual relations with the young women assigned to care for the Shrine at Shiloh.
2. But Eli does nothing. When it is called to his attention he gives a verbal rebuke. But he must do more than this. They have acted so scandalously that they must be removed. They are a threat to others by their exploitative and opportunistic behavior. They should have been removed. It is a true fact that we struggled with this very same thing in the clergy sexual abuse scandal of recent years.
3. God rebukes Eli for his weak rebuke and tells him that his weak response indicates that Eli favors his sons more than God and also scorns the sacred liturgy.
4. God cannot allow Eli and his sons to minister at Shiloh any longer. He will bring Eli’s family down and replace him with a priest who is faithful and will do what is in God’s heart and mind. In a word, Eli has been replaced. Samuel will soon enough take up the holy priesthood. Hophni and Phinehas will die soon for their sins, and Eli’s line is at an end.

How has all this happened? Poor parenting and an unfaithful priestly ministry. In failing to raise his children in the fear of the Lord and in failing to punish wrongdoing Eli has brought grave harm upon himself, his family and his sons. In addition, when Samuel was placed in his care he continued with his pattern of failing to preach the Lord and make Samuel familair with him.

This is a moral tale for our times as well. How many young people today have not been raised in the reverential fear of the Lord, have not been raised to be familiar with the Lord, have not been properly disciplined by parents and trained in righteousness? How many of them have not been instructed in God’s ways and have been allowed to fall deep into sinful habits and patterns.

In the Church too some have not at times been willing to discipline where necessary. Sin is often not rebuked from our pulpits, children are poorly instructed in the faith. We celebrate compassion but sometimes to a fault where sin is tolerated and grows very serious in people’s lives. Silence by many clergy and Church leaders in the face of serious sin can and is taken to be tacit approval of sin and has led to a widespread moral malaise. Disobedience in the clergy has sometimes been tolerated. Liturgical norms and the sacred liturgy have often been abused. And yes, as we sadly know there has been abusive and illicit sexual activity too.

Thank God there are signs of revival and renewal in many of these areas in the Church and in some of our families. But the story of Eli is an important moral tale for our times that God wants us to take serious our obligation to raise our children to know the Lord and walk in his ways. Through proper discipline and instruction we are summoned to have our children be familiar with the Lord at the very dawning of consciousness and reason. To fail in this regard is something God takes very seriously. Thank God for good parents, clergy and religious who have done their very best in this regard. Hopefully the story of Eli for most of us is simply an encouragement to do what we are already doing. But for those who fail to take seriously their obligations in this regard it should be seen for what it also is: a warning.

Mark's Gospel Is An Early Memoir of Peter

See http://www.pleaseconvinceme.com/index/Marks_Gospel_Is_An_Early_Memoir_of_Peter

Who Was the Most Influential Saint of His Time?

From http://catholicexchange.com/who-was-the-most-influential-saint-of-his-time/

Reread that headline carefully. The question is not who is the most influential saint of all time, but rather of his or her time. The answer to the former is probably easy. I imagine many of us would tick of one of the following—St. Francis, St. Catherine, St. Patrick, St. Anthony, St. Joseph, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Dominic, to name just a few—it’s a long list. But the second question—who was most influential in his lifetime?—is a bit of a head-scratcher.
Think of your own answer to this question and e-mail me (bealenews@gmail.com) your thoughts before reading further. (Please, in addition to listing your nominee, give a reason. I may post the runners-up in a follow-up, but I’ll keep your names out of it!) I imagine that few of us, including yours truly, would have come up with the answer that noted Catholic historian Warren Carroll does:
Answer: St. Bernard of Clairvaux.
Here’s what Carroll writes of him:
No man before or since who held no office of power throughout his life bestrode his age as did this monk of genius and of leashed but flaming passion, juridically only one of the many hundreds of abbots in the Church, yet the terror and inspiration of emperors and kings, the shield and sword—and where necessary the goad—of Popes. No historical determinist theory, no calculations of material or institutional power and influence can begin to account for St. Bernard of Clairvaux and what he did.
This is high praise, even for a saint, but St. Bernard deserves it. During his life, he launched a sweeping reform of the religious life in Europe, squashed a major anti-trinitarian heresy, nearly single-handedly averted a schism in the Papacy, and sparked a new crusade to Jerusalem, according to Carroll’s account. His achievements do not stop there. St. Bernard, among other things, also drew up the rule for the legendary Knights Templar and was one of the founders of the Cistercian order. He is also credited with writing about ten treatises. And, it is to him, that we owe prayers like the “Memorare” to Mary and hymns such as “O Sacred Head Surrounded.” Indeed, it is hard to think of a saint whose do deeply touched so many different areas of the social, political, and spiritual life of his time.
CE also recommends:

1. A Missionary for our Time: Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
2. From Swordfighter to Saint: Bernard of Corleone

Pope's shock at "senseless violence" in Denver

From http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/EN1/articolo.asp?c=606880

(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict spoke of his shock on Sunday in what he called “the senseless violence” that took place in Aurora Denver in which twelve people were killed and dozens of others injured when a gunman opened fire during a film screening this week. The Holy Father also expressed his sadness at the loss of life in the recent ferry disaster near Zanzibar in which at least 68 people died.

The Pope said he shared the distress of the families and friends of the victims and the injured, especially the children and he assured all of those affected by both tragedies his closeness in prayer.

Pope Benedict was speaking after the recitation of the Angelus in the courtyard of the Papal summer residence at Castelgandolfo in the Roman hills, where he also had words of encouragement for those taking part in the upcoming Olympic Games in London.

“I send greetings to the organizers, athletes and spectators alike, and I pray that, in the spirit of the Olympic Truce, the good will generated by this international sporting event may bear fruit, promoting peace and reconciliation throughout the world. Upon all those attending the London Olympic Games, I invoke the abundant blessings of Almighty God.”

Before the Angelus Pope Benedict took time to reflect on this Sunday’s Gospel in which Jesus is depicted at the “The Good Shepherd”.

The Holy Father explained to the faithful gathered, that God is the Shepherd of mankind who wants to guide us to good pasture, which he said is “the fullness of life.”

The Pope went on to say that in today’s world, “that 's what every father and every mother wants for their children: a good life, happiness, achievement.

Jesus, said Pope Benedict, presents himself as the Shepherd of the lost sheep of Israel.
Among those lost sheep, continued the Pope, are the great Saints Mary of Magdala and Luke the Evangelist.

The Holy Father explained that the deep healing of God works through Jesus, which consists of true peace and the fruit of reconciliation.

Concluding his address the Pope said, that amidst the “evil seed of war, God creates peace.

The Guadalupe Story

The traditional story of Guadalupe, translated from the original Nahuatl language of the Aztecs 

See  http://www.trappistabbey.org/index_Guad_Story.html#1

APPEARANCE OF MARY ESTABLISHING SCAPULAR OCCURRED IN FLURRY OF HOLY WONDERS

From http://www.spiritdaily.com/scapular.htm

There were great holy men and there was much mysticism during the medieval period, particularly in the 1200s. If St. Dominic and St. Francis in themselves were enough to make this a special period, the extraordinary thing was that the episode of great wonders was only beginning. No longer were there only the one-shot sightings of Mary, as was the case most of the time, since her first apparition in Spain (in the first century). 

By the Middle Ages there were plenty of people experiencing multiple or "serial" apparitions and as usual Mary seemed to favor the humble but appeared to people of all persuasion. Among the new seers were Pope Honorius III, Queen Helene of France, and Princess Ermesinde of Luxembourg. The princess's occurrence took place near a clear spring (or clairefontaine) that gave the area its name. Clairefontaine wasn't far from Luxembourg and had been blessed by Saint Bernard on a journey through the area six decades before. Apparently it was known even then as a place of sacred marvels, the sparkling water running past luxuriant foliage in a delightful stream. 

It was in this charming valley that Princess Ermesinde, recovering from the recent death of her husband, was meditating under a tufted oak when she had her vision. It was an experience that would inspire erection of a convent dedicated to the Heart of Jesus. Some say she was dozing, others that she was awake and sitting. Whether a vision or apparition, what she saw was the sky "open" and a woman of incomparable grace descend on a fleecy white cloud. The woman was Mary, holding Jesus. She approached the princess and stationed herself by the stream. Around her was a flock of unearthly white lambs. As they gathered she smiled at the animals and caressed them. On their back they bore unusual and unforgettable black crosses but the most striking feature was the Child, Who was of such beauty that Ermesinde felt there could be no equal in the world.   

While Ermesinde's experience, if it occurred with her eyes closed, in a sleeping state, was technically more a "vision" (and a fleeting one at that, lasting but a few moments), there were many other instances at this same time, at this important historical juncture, that were experienced in a fully wakeful state or that left physical evidence. Such was the case in Spain of a young shepherd named Francisco Alvarez who lived on the outskirts of Alcaraz and whose case typified many of Mary's appearances during this particular period. One afternoon Alvarez, who had a badly crippled arm, was dozing at the foot of an ancient holm-oak when he awoke at the sudden rustling noise of his cattle, which were trying to flee the area. The same thing happened the next day. They were being spooked by something. When Alvarez finally saw why, it took away his breath: A strange and intense light was emanating from the holm-oak and stranger still was the sound of sweet music. (Recall that a holm-oak would later be the site of the Fatima apparitions.)

Overcome, Alvarez fell into sort of a faint and when he recovered noticed that the light was gone -- replaced by a statue of Mary nursing Jesus. The image, which may have been hidden in the tree during the Moslem invasions, spoke to Alvarez, requesting the townsfolk to build a chapel. When the herdsman expressed concern that no one would believe his story, he was told to extend his useless arm and it was immediately healed. That case was more the combination of locution and statue phenomena, which were by far the most frequent manifestations, but of most interest remained visions or apparitions. While visions could be symbolic manifestations or like a dream, apparitions were living images seen with the physical eyes and often Mary was not transparent or ephemeral but a corporeal apparition, meaning she had tangible aspects.
  
She seemed physically present. She could touch a seer. She appeared to a man we know as Blessed Reginald of Saint-Gilles while he was in Rome and anointed his eyes, ears, hands, and feet, which brought him out of a serious illness. She had also appeared to Anthony of Padua in 1221 encouraging him when he was challenged about her Immaculate Conception ("My son, feel assured that I was born without sin") and her visit to Pope Honorius had come in 1226, when she told him to ignore a group of cardinals who were opposed to establishment of the Carmelite Order. 
In like fashion she appeared at least twice to Albert the Great, who as a youth had been an untalented, even "dim-witted" student but who through the Rosary, through beseeching Christ and Mary, was granted the gift of intelligence -- miraculously illumined -- and went on to become an authority on physics, astronomy, chemistry, and biology, such a natural scientist that there were those who would soon compare him to the great Roger Bacon. (He also excelled at philosophy and when he went to Cologne, Thomas Aquinas was among his pupils.) 

In 1225 there was also testimony that Mary had been seen at a grave accompanying a young deceased boy's soul as it sailed skyward and she appeared to a Dutch woman named Lutgardis who experienced stigmata (specks of blood as if from a crown of thorns) on her forehead. The standard apparition was to those whose names were lost to history or who attained the merest of footnotes. In Kiev there was a missionary known as Hyacinth who in 1231 was beginning Mass when word came of an attack by a tribe of Mongols. The Tartars had suddenly burst into the city and their mission was to destroy everything and everybody. There was no choice but to take immediate flight and still dressed in his vestments, Hyacinth grabbed the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle and was ready to leave when he heard an inexplicable voice. It seemed to come from an alabaster statue. "Hyacinth, my son, said Mary. "Are you going to leave me behind to be trampled underfoot by the Tartars? Take me with you."
"How can I?" protested Hyacinth. "Thy image is too heavy!" 
"Take me nonetheless," beseeched Mary. "My Son will lighten the burden." Somehow Hyacinth grabbed the large statue with one arm while carrying the Blessed Sacrament with the other and in that way did he escape the raging flames of Kiev. 

We see then that Mary spoke several ways, sometimes while she was seen, sometimes in a pure locution, sometimes in a nonverbal fashion, and sometimes through statues. Her very presence said that mankind was in great need and again hinted at chastisement. Flame. Fire. Disease. There were already so many warnings. They indicated big trouble as the Church stumbled into worldliness and sexual scandal (more and more notorious in the monasteries) and as society as a whole headed toward the error of materialism, underscored by Mary's tremendous appearance to seven wealthy merchants in Florence. This rarity -- a simultaneous apparition to a group of people -- occurred on August 15, 1233, as the merchants, devout if caught up in money, were in thanksgiving after Communion. It was at that time that each saw a bright light encompassing the Queen of Heaven and her angels. "Leave the world and retire together into solitude in order to fight yourselves," said the Blessed Virgin. "Live wholly for God. You will thus experience heavenly consolations." 

After another apparition in May of 1234 the seven men set up a crude hermitage on Monte Scenario and then on April 13, 1240, which was Good Friday and also the Feast of the Annunciation, Mary appeared a third time bearing a black habit, a book, a scroll, and palms. "Beloved and elect servants, I have come to grant your prayers. Here is the habit which I wish you to wear henceforth. It is black that it may always remind you of the keen sorrows which I experienced through my Son's Crucifixion and death. This scroll bearing the words `Servants of Mary' indicates the name by which you are to be known. This book contains the Rule of Saint Augustine. By following it you will gain these palms in heaven, if you serve me faithfully on earth."

That was the start of the Order of Servites. There was also the Order of Mercy, which was likewise inspired by a simultaneous vision. That case involved three men, Peter of Nolasco, Raymond of Pennaforte (the most competent authority on canon law at that time), and King James I of Aragon in Spain, who all saw Mary on the same night but from what I can tell in different places. According to the literature she instructed them to work together to form an order whose purpose would be the ransoming or rescue of Christians who had been captured by the Moors. The three men heeded her request and one evening as King James sought a location to house the order, he was astonished to see seven unusually bright stars hovering over a hillock. It brought to mind the seven stars representing angels in Revelation 1:16 and all the countryside witnessed it. This was a place called Puig. When James directed workmen to the site, they found another of those hidden images of Mary, shielded in a bell!  

Then there was the great revelation to Simon Stock. This was a classic, corporeal apparition. A holy hermit whose father had been Lord of Kent, Simon at age 47 had entered the Carmelite Order and was sent to the order's very root, Mount Carmel in Israel. Located in the northern part of that country between Megiddo and Tyre, Carmel stood as a testimony to many generations of mankind. There, along the sparkling Mediterranean, its caves had been the habitat for ancestors who began with the prehistoric forebears known as homo erectus and went through the Neanderthal phase and then an Amudian phase linked to the emergence of modern homo sapiens.

It was a treasure trove for archeologists but more important was its spiritual history. Mount Carmel was where Elijah called down the fire, ordered death for the prophets of Baal, and then went up to the top of the mount, telling his servant seven times to look out to the sea. When he finally did the servant saw the unusual sight of "a cloud as small as a man's hand" rising from the water (1 Kings 18:44) in a way that reminds us of the puffs or billows of cloud associated with the Virgin. Indeed, the Carmelites would later claim the cloud (which of course was many centuries before her birth) was Mary's forerunner or "prefigurement," and whether or not that's true it was a very holy place and dedicated to Mary by ancient hermits. Simon was so impressed by the holy men, whose existence was uncovered by the Crusaders, that he joined the order and was soon their leader (based along the Medway River in England). But more than an administrator Simon Stock was a visionary. His most famous apparition and one of the most important in history came during a night of prayer on July 16, 1251, when his cell was flooded with a great light bearing the Blessed Mother, who held the Infant and also a sleeveless brown outer garment that was to be known as the scapular. It was a broad piece of cloth that went around a monk's head and became the Carmelite habit (later modified for laymen as a string with cloth squares). And it too indicated special times. It too indicated the need for protection. And it was protection that Mary promised. As Simon himself recounted, "She appeared to me with a great company, and holding the habit of the order said, 'This will be for you and for all Carmelites a privilege. He who dies in this will not suffer eternal fire.'"

Scholar charged with 'misconduct' for his work on gay parenting

From http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=5789

A University of Texas sociologist is being investigated for scientific “misconduct,” after angering gay activists with research suggesting children raised by same-sex couples have more problems as adults.
Professor Mark Regnerus defended his June 2012 findings in an e-mail to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper, saying he worked with a team of “leading family researchers” from “across disciplines and ideological lines” to develop a protocol approved by the university's review board.
Initially, the university promoted Regnerus' study as a “particularly significant” source of information on outcomes in same-sex parenting. It showed that adult children of same-sex households tend to have lower incomes, more physical and mental problems, less stable relationships and higher crime rates.
Published in the Social Science Research journal, the work was criticized by homosexual advocates. The university has now convened a panel to investigate Regnerus' alleged “misconduct,” a category including false or plagiarized work as well as “practices that seriously deviate from ethical standards.”
A July 11 article in the Austin American-Statesman indicated that one of Regnerus' fiercest critics, Scott Rosensweig of the “New Civil Rights Movement” blog, may have played a leading role in the university's decision to investigate.
The blogger, who writes for the gay activist site under the name “Scott Rose,” accused Regnerus of ethical violations in a June 21 letter to University of Texas President Bill Powers.
Rosensweig told the president that Regnerus' study was “designed so as to be guaranteed to make gay people look bad, through means plainly fraudulent and defamatory.”
He also claimed that Regnerus, who got funding from the Witherspoon Institute and the Bradley Foundation for his work, had done the research with “money from an anti-gay political organization.”
The university says it will conclude the investigation within two months and make a decision based on its findings. Regnerus did not respond to a request for comment on the inquiry.
In a June 2012 interview, the sociologist told EWTN News that he approached the research on gay parenting with an open mind.
“I had no idea what the data would reveal,” he said, “but it's revealed far greater instability in the households of parents who've had same-sex relationships.”
His findings, he said, should be evaluated by the standards of “normal science,” not ideology. He described the criticisms being leveled as “disproportionate to the study's limitations,” which could be legitimately critiqued.
Regnerus addressed other criticisms in a series of blog posts that accompanied the publication of his findings. The conservative Witherspoon Institute, he said, “had nothing to do with the study design, or with the data analyses, or interpretations, or the publication of the study.”
The sociologist also said his Catholic beliefs did not compromise the research. “There’s no 'Christian' approach to sampling or 'Catholic' way of crunching numbers,” he remarked.

“Any trained methodologist, data manager, and statistician can locate the same patterns I reported. Others may ask different questions, or follow different decision rules on measures. But that’s normal science.”

Read more: http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=5789#ixzz20uD3mnZH

The saint who refused point blank to accept the Resurrection

From http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/spirituallife/saintoftheweek/2012/07/03/the-saint-who-refused-point-blank-to-accept-the-resurrection/

Thomas, who initially refused point blank to accept the fact of the Resurrection, is very much a saint for our time.
With St Peter, he appears as the most human of the Apostles. In fact the two of them resemble each other in several ways: in their spontaneously generous enthusiasm, in their failures of understanding, and in the final, enduring triumph of their faith.
Mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels only as one of the Twelve, Thomas is far more prominent in St John, where he is also given the name Didymus, Greek for “twin”. Since in Aramaic tau’ma also means “twin”, Thomas Didymus is a tautology. His other half has been lost to history, though there has been wild speculation that he might have been St Matthew.
In John 11, when the disciples are wary of the dangers of returning with Jesus to hostile Judaea, Thomas warms the heart with his gloriously carefree declaration of loyalty: “Let us go too, and be killed along with Him.”
Later, in John 14, when Jesus speaks of going away to prepare a home for his followers, Thomas clearly does not comprehend – but which of us would have done? – what He is talking about.
“But, Lord, we do not know where Thou art going,” he blurts out “how are we to know the way there?” Nor, perhaps, was he greatly enlightened by Jesus’s reply: “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
Again, if we put ourselves into Thomas’s place, what could be more understandable than his doubts about reports of the Resurrection? “Until I have seen the marks of the nails on his hands, until I have put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, you will never make me believe” (Jn 20:25).
Eight days later, in the locked room in Jerusalem, Thomas was granted the proof he had demanded. “Let me have thy finger,” Jesus tells him. “See, here are my hands. Let me have thy hand; put it into my side. Cease thy doubting, and believe.”
Who among us, though, would have been capable of surrendering to the miracle with Thomas’s magnificently unadorned simplicity?
“Thou art my Lord and my God,” he declared.
“And Jesus said to him, Thou hast learned to believe, Thomas, because thou hast seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have learned to believe.” (Jn 20: 26-28).
In that implied rebuke lies the challenge of Christianity.
According to one tradition Thomas subsequently preached in Parthia (the north-east of modern Iran). According to another, he journeyed to India, and was martyred at Mylapore, near Madras.
Much more importantly, though, he lives eternally in that moment of humbled witness to the reality of the Resurrection.