In light of today's readings on this Sunday, and Christ bestowing the papal office on Saint Peter, here is the text of Pastor Aeternus, the dogmatic constitution from the First Vatican Council (1879) defining the limits and extent of the pope's authority. It is short, and can be read...
Rose of Lima (+1617), whose birth name was Isabel, was called 'Rose' when a servant saw her face mystically transformed into the beautiful flower soon after she was born. Sure enough, Isabel-Rose would go on to become the first native-born canonized saint of the Americas, renowned even during her...
On 23 August 1939, Nazi Germany and the USSR concluded a non-aggression pact that, in reality, constituted a political and military alliance aimed at bringing Central and Eastern Europe under their joint control. The secret protocol attached to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact provided for the partition of Poland and other...
A blessed memorial of the Queenship of Mary, - as queen of heaven and earth, of angels and men. Although the Church has always celebrated the glories of the Mother of God, this feast was formally instituted by Pope Pius XII on October 11, 1954, in his encyclical Ad...
As a meditation on this Sunday's liturgical theme, here is a reprise of Palestrina's motet Tu Es Petrus, based on Matthew's 16:18-19. The motet was first published in 1572, at the height of the conflict between Catholics and Protestants - the division between them centred on the papacy, and...
With Robert Fagles’ 1996 translation of Homer’s Odyssey fresh in my mind, I went to see Chrisopher Nolan’s new film a couple weeks ago. My biggest takeaway was that the movie wasn’t that “bad” considering all the negative comments leading up to its release, mostly in that it wasn’t...
‘Oh what a tangled web we weave/ When first we practice to deceive’ (Sir Walter Scott, from Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field, 1808)
I had not heard of Jason Arday until last week, and what little I now know of his tragic life and times is disconcerting. Not just,...
Instaruarae omnia in Christo (motto of Pope Saint Pius X)
Saint Pius X (+1914) was the first 'peasant' to be elected Pope in centuries, the bishops of Rome all being chosen from the Italian nobility, trained for the task from youth in elite schools, with few exceptions. Born Guiseppe Melchiorre...
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Two Theological Models in Comparison: Bernard and Abelard
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In my last Catechesis I presented the main features of 12th-century monastic theology and scholastic theology which, in a certain sense, we might call respectively "theology of the heart" and "theology of reason". Among...
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today I would like to talk about St Bernard of Clairvaux, called "the last of the Fathers" of the Church because once again in the 12th century he renewed and brought to the fore the important theology...
(Contributor Kaleb Hammond offers here an intriguing historical analysis of J.R.R. Tolkien's small but significant role in the work on the Jerusalem Bible. His translation of the Book of Jonah - modified by editors, for better or perhaps worse - gives a glimpse not only into the abstruse art...
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
(Video)
Saint John Eudes and the formation of the diocesan clergy
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today is the liturgical Memorial of St John Eudes, a tireless apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary who lived in France in the 17th century that...
A contemporary of his fellow Frenchman, Descartes, Saint John Eudes (+1680) was of quite a different mind and spirit. Rather that meditate like Descartes on whether he existed or not - cogito, ergo sum - Saint John simply accepted the very fact of creation as a gift from the...
August 18th is the traditional feast of Saint Helena, a barmaid in Britain who caught the eye of the co-emperor Constantius Chlorus, who married her. Their son was Constantine the Great, who defeated the pagan Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge 312, and who legalized Christianity the following...
For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples (Is. 56: 7).
In any given region or country, a common language is a source of unity. You may be familiar with the term lingua franca or bridge language, a language used to make communication possible between...
Until her recent elections, Hungary was one of the few nations standing against the tsunami of insanity washing over the rest of Europe, threatening to deluge civilization as we know it. As may be expected in this inverted world.
This may seem ironic, for Hungary for the first millennium of...
Saint Roch (1295 - 1376?) - also known as Rock, or, in Scotland, Rollox, not to be confused with the luxury watch brand which is almost a homophone. Roch, whose feast we celebrate on this August 16th, was a Majorcan confessor, perhaps originally from Montpellier. On a pilgrimage to...
A blessed and glorious solemnity of the Assumption to one and all! A day commemorating the taking up of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heaven at the end of her earthly journey. As Pius XII declared in his 1950 Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, in which this...
In Dante’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy, the poet puts these words in the mouth of St. Bernard of Clairvaux as he gazes on the beauty of Our Lady in Paradise:
O Virgin Mother, daughter or thy Son,
Humble beyond all creatures and more exalted, Predestined turning point of God’s...
On this Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, body and soul, here to help celebrate is a magnificent rendition of the Ave Maria by Felix Mendelssohn. This may seem out of character for the great composer, as he was a 'Reformed Christian' from the...
The philosopher and Carmelite Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta a Cruce was her name in religion), and the Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe were put both put to death at the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, one year apart, in 1941 and 1942, both in the Marian month of August, on...
