#pope gregory xvi

[stairnaheireann]

St Valentine

There are many versions of the Legend of St Valentine, but a few things are known. That he was a priest martyred (as in beheaded) on 14th February, in either 269 AD or 270 AD by the Roman Emperor Claudius II, also known as Claudius the Cruel. Among Valentine’s crimes was secretly marrying Christian lovers. Claudius, being a sexist as well as a tyrant, decided that those pesky women were the…

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#Ashford Castle #Carmelite Church #Claudius II #Claudius the Cruel #Co. Mayo #Dublin #Father John Sprat #Pope Gregory XVI #St. Valentine #White friar Street

[akacatholicism]

Against "liberty of conscience"

Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, 1832:

14. This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it. “But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error,” as Augustine was wont to say. When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin.

#indifferentism #liberty of conscience #catholic #mirari vos #pope gregory xvi #censorship #freedom to publish

[streetsofdublin]

I LIKE THIS POST BOX - HAVE A GOOD ST VALENTINE DAY

Throughout the centuries since Valentine received martyrdom there have been various basilicas, churches and monasteries built over the site of his grave

DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN VISIT THE SAINT HERE IN DUBLIN Throughout the centuries since Valentine received martyrdom there have been various basilicas, churches and monasteries built over the site of his grave. Therefore, over the years, many restorations and reconstructions took place at the site. In the early 1800’s, such work was taking place and the remains of Valentine were discovered along…

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#Fotonique #Fr Spratt #Infomatique #Ireland #John Spratt #Pope Gregory XVI #post box #Reliquary #Shrine #Sony A7RIV #St Valentine&039;s Day #the remains of Saint Valentine #Valentine #Whitefriar Street Church #William Murphy

[ultramontanism]

Pope Gregory XVI, 1832: Mirari Vos:

15. Here We must include that harmful and never sufficiently denounced freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to the people, which some dare to demand and promote with so great a clamor. We are horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books, pamphlets, and other writings which, though small in weight, are very great in malice. We are in tears at the abuse which proceeds from them over the face of the earth. Some are so carried away that they contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them is sufficiently compensated by the publication of some book which defends religion and truth. Every law condemns deliberately doing evil simply because there is some hope that good may result. Is there any sane man who would say poison ought to be distributed, sold publicly, stored, and even drunk because some antidote is available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and again?

16. The Church has always taken action to destroy the plague of bad books. This was true even in apostolic times for we read that the apostles themselves burned a large number of books.[23] It may be enough to consult the laws of the fifth Council of the Lateran on this matter and the Constitution which Leo X published afterwards lest “that which has been discovered advantageous for the increase of the faith and the spread of useful arts be converted to the contrary use and work harm for the salvation of the faithful.”[24] This also was of great concern to the fathers of Trent, who applied a remedy against this great evil by publishing that wholesome decree concerning the Index of books which contain false doctrine.[25] “We must fight valiantly,” Clement XIII says in an encyclical letter about the banning of bad books, “as much as the matter itself demands and must exterminate the deadly poison of so many books; for never will the material for error be withdrawn, unless the criminal sources of depravity perish in flames.”[26] Thus it is evident that this Holy See has always striven, throughout the ages, to condemn and to remove suspect and harmful books. The teaching of those who reject the censure of books as too heavy and onerous a burden causes immense harm to the Catholic people and to this See. They are even so depraved as to affirm that it is contrary to the principles of law, and they deny the Church the right to decree and to maintain it.

#freedom to publish #catholic #free press #the index #mirari vos #pope gregory xvi #fifth lateran council #pope leo X #council of trent #clement XIII #censorship

[justana0kguy]

2023 SEPTEMBER 03 Kiwi Father's Day Sunday

"Courage, and don't be afraid. Arm yourselves with the Most Holy Cross, which is the salvation and the life of Christians; let say what is meant, and be firm in your holy resolution. Believe, and trust in Christ, sweet Jesus. Remain in the holy and sweet love of God. Forgive me, forgive me; may the crucified Jesus be with you. Sweet Jesus, Jesus love."

~ Saint Catherine of Siena, Eighth letter to Pope Gregory XI

#bible #gospel #further reading #Saint #Catherine of Siena #Eighth Letter to Pope Gregory XVI #God #Lord #Jesus #Christ #courage #don't be afraid #arm #self #holy #cross #salvation #life #Christians #sweet #love

[restless-historian]

There are three types of Ukrainian artists. Those who were killed by russia, those who were repressed by russia and those whose legacy was stolen by russia. Armenian-Ukrainian artist Ivan Aivazovsky belongs to the third category. So here I present 6 fun  facts about his life.

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1. For almost an entire life he lived in the city of Feodosia in Crimea. He loved the city and was its patron, he financed museums, galleries and the development of the city. 

For example, when the ancient Armenian church of Surb-Sarkis burned down, the restoration was carried out at the personal expense of Ivan Aivazovsky. From year to year, the painter donated the author's icons to the Church of St. Sergius - "Walking on Water" (1888; oil on canvas, 70 x 50), "The Last Supper" (1890; oil on canvas, 44 x 60), "The Virgin and Child ” (1891; oil on canvas; 125 x 103 cm), “Prayer for the Chalice” (1897; oil on canvas; 94 x 72).

Feodosia. Moonlit night, Ivan Aivazovsky, 1852, 29x36cm, oil on canvas, private collection

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2. History and archeology were his huge hobbies. He even participated in archeological digs. Though he hated reading.

Chumaks leisure, Ivan Aivazovsky, 1885, oil on canvas,  Belarusian National Arts Museum

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3. He created his marine landscapes not on the coast but in his workshop from memory.

The Ninth Wave, Ivan Aivazovsky, 1850, 221x322cm, oil on canvas, State russian museum

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4. He was the first Ukrainian artist to be exhibited in the Louvre. 

View of the island of Capri, Ivan Aivazovsky, 1845, 40x57cm, oil on canvas, Kyiv National Art Gallery

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5. Pope Gregory XVI (Gregorius PP. XVI; 1765-1846) unexpectedly wished to purchase a painting by an artist from Feodosia for the Vatican. So, at the beginning of 1841, the marinist repeated the seascape in his own way and, kneeling down, personally presented it to the Pontiff. Touched by the artist's noble gesture, in the late autumn of 1841, the governor of St. Peter personally awarded the Ukrainian Armenian with the Order of St. Sylvester and the Golden Militia.

Chaos. Creation of the world, Ivan Aivazovsky, 1841

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In 2023, during the bloody occupation of the Ukrainian city of Kherson by russians, not only were thousands of civilians tortured and killed, but numerous museums were also robbed. Three paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky were stolen from the Kherson National Museum of Art, along with thousands of artefacts from all over the country. The stolen paintings are: "The Storm Subsides," "The Sea," and "View of the City of Odesa." Reminder: Such actions are a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Support Ukraine!

In Ukrainian text states: STOLEN! Ivan Aivazovsky, View of the City of Odesa, oil on canvas

In Ukrainian text states: STOLEN! Ivan Aivazovsky, The Storm Subsides, oil on canvas

In Ukrainian text states: STOLEN! Ivan Aivazovsky, The Sea, oil on canvas

#art #art history #painting #artwork #museum #sea #ivan aivazovsky #ukrainian art #ukraine #support ukraine #russia is a terrorist state

[eternal-echoes]

“As an illustration of the fraternal respect with which Christians and Muslims can work together, I would like to quote some words addressed by Pope Gregory VII in 1076 to a Muslim prince in North Africa who had acted with great benevolence towards the Christians under his jurisdiction. Pope Gregory spoke of the particular charity that Christians and Muslims owe to one another “because we believe in one God, albeit in a different manner, and because we praise him and worship him every day as the Creator and Ruler of the world.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO TURKEY - MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS DIRECTORATE, 28 November 2006

#Catholic #Christianity #quotes #Pope Benedict

[catenaaurea]

Now, however, We want you to rally to combat the abominable conspiracy against clerical celibacy. This conspiracy spreads daily and is promoted by profligate philosophers, some even from the clerical order. They have forgotten their person and office, and have been carried away by the enticements of pleasure. They have even dared to make repeated public demands to the princes for the abolition of that most holy discipline. But it is disgusting to dwell on these evil attempts at length. Rather, We ask that you strive with all your might to justify and to defend the law of clerical celibacy as prescribed by the sacred canons, against which the arrows of the lascivious are directed from every side.

Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (15 August 1832)

#not catechism

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (March 18)

On March 18, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Cyril of Jerusalem, a fourth-century bishop and Doctor of the Church whose writings are still regarded as masterful expressions of Christian faith.

St. Cyril is also remembered for his exhaustive Biblical knowledge and his endurance in the face of misunderstanding and opposition.

Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, who likewise celebrate him as a saint on March 18, also remember him on May 7 — the date of a miraculous apparition said to have occurred soon after his consecration as a bishop.

What we know of Cyril's life is gathered from information concerning him from his younger contemporaries — Epiphanius, Jerome and Rufinus, as well as from fifth-century historians — Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret.

Cyril was most likely born in Jerusalem around the year 315, shortly after the legalization of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.

Although that legalization put a stop to many of the persecutions that threatened the Church for two centuries, it indirectly gave rise to a number of internal controversies — both in regard to theology and the jurisdiction of bishops in which Cyril would find himself involved.

Cyril received an excellent education in classical Greek literature as well as the Bible.

He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Maximus of Jerusalem and succeeded him as bishop in 348.

During his early years as a bishop, most likely around 350, he delivered a series of lectures to new initiates of the Catholic Church.

Twenty-four of the lectures have survived and are studied today.

In a 2007 general audience, Pope Benedict XVI praised the saint for providing an “integral form of Christian instruction involving body, soul, and spirit.”

"St. Cyril's teaching," the Pope said, remains emblematic for the catechetical formation of Christians today."

In 351, three years after Cyril became the Bishop of Jerusalem, a large cross-shaped light appeared for several hours in the sky over the city — an event that many interpreted as a sign of the Church's triumph over heresy.

It could also, however, be understood as a sign of the suffering the new bishop would undergo in leading his flock.

Unlike many other Eastern bishops and priests of the fourth century, Cyril did not allow his classical learning to lead him away from believing in the full humanity and divinity of Christ.

However, the man who consecrated Cyril as a bishop, Archbishop Acacius of Caesarea, was an ally of the Arians who claimed that Jesus was a creature and not God.

Because of his connection to the archbishop, Cyril himself was unjustly suspected of heresy by many of his brother bishops.

But he also found himself at odds with Archbishop Acacius, who claimed to have jurisdiction over the birthplace of the Church.

Altogether, these disputes led to Cyril being exiled from Jerusalem three times in the course of 20 years. 

Cyril first took refuge with Silvanus, Bishop of Taraus. He appeared at the Council of Seleucia in 359 in which the semi-Arian party was triumphant.

Acacius was deposed and Cyril seems to have returned to his see. But the emperor was displeased at the turn of events.

In 360, Cyril and other moderates were again driven out and only returned at the accession of Julian in 361.

In 367, a decree of Valens banished all the bishops who had been restored by Julian, and Cyril remained in exile until the death of the persecutor in 378.

In 380, St. Gregory of Nyssa came to Jerusalem on the recommendation of a council held at Antioch in the preceding year.

He found the Faith in accordance with the truth and expressed admiration of his pastoral efforst, but the city was a prey to parties and corrupt in morals. 

In 381, Cyril participated in the Second Ecumenical Council, which condemned two different forms of Arianism and added statements about the Holy Spirit to the Nicene Creed of 325.

Cyril of Jerusalem died in 387. He was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1883.

#Saint of the Day #St. Cyril of Jerusalem

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 2.28

202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty. 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes. 1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés. 1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh. 1835 – Elias Lönnrot signed and dated the first version of the Kalevala, the so-called foreword to the Old Kalevala. 1844 – A gun explodes on board the steam warship USS Princeton during a pleasure cruise down the Potomac River, killing six, including Secretary of State Abel Upshur. President John Tyler, who was also on board, was not injured from the blast. 1922 – The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. 1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America. 1947 – February 28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the death of an estimated 28,000 civilians. 1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history. 1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit. 1966 – A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett. 1969 – The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco. 1974 – The British election ended in a hung parliament after the Jeremy Thorpe-led Liberal Party achieved their biggest vote. 1975 – In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people. 1983 – The final episode of MAS*H airs, with almost 110 million viewers. 1985 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers. 1986 – Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm. 1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh starting a 51-day standoff. 1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 1,100 deaths. 1997 – A Turkish military memorandum resulted with collapse of the government in Turkey. 2001 – The 2001 Nisqually earthquake, having a moment magnitude of 6.8, with epicenter in the southern Puget Sound, damages Seattle metropolitan area. 2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, 97 people are killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in the Gulbarg Society massacre. 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415. 2023 – Two trains collide south of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people and leaving 58 missing and 85 injured.

#Events

[lawrenceop]

HOMILY for The Baptism of the Lord (A)

Isaiah 42:1-4. 6f; Ps 29; Acts 10:34-38; Matt 3:13-17

The other time that St Matthew tells of a voice being heard from heaven, it declares: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (17:5). We hear the exact same declaration today, but there is an interesting difference. Today, at the start of Jesus’s public ministry we’re not explicitly being told to listen to Christ. Rather, we’re presented today with Christ, our God, who has come to listen to us. As Ven. Louis of Grenada observes, Christ spent thirty years in silence – we know nothing of his so-called ‘hidden life’ – and then, from his Baptism onwards, three years of preaching. In this way, Christ shows us that he “valued the silence of recollection”, and I would add, he spends this time observing us, listening to us, coming to understand our human condition and human experience.

For at Christmas, we celebrated the Incarnation of Christ; God’s eternal Word taking flesh, being born as a baby. And as such, the Word is helpless, needy, and wordless if not silent. Thus, God humbled himself to share in our humanity; he comes to listen to us, becoming one with us. And today, on the last day of Christmas, we see the depths to which Christ shares in our humanity. By descending into the waters, a symbol of death, we see a prefiguration of the death that Jesus will choose to undergo in order to ‘listen’ to what it is to be mortal. And also, in humbling himself even to accepting John’s baptism of repentance, Christ shows that he chooses to identify himself with sinful humanity. So, our God chooses to humble himself to become Man, and not just to stand apart from us as a perfect human being, but to stand alongside us sinners; standing with sinful humanity in the Jordan, joining us in the waters of repentance. 

As the late great Pope Benedict XVI said: “Jesus loaded the burden of all mankind’s guilt upon his shoulders: he bore it down into the depths of the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners. His inaugural gesture was an anticipation of the Cross.” So, Christ identifies with sinners for our sake, in order to save us from sin. For as St Gregory Nazianzen says: “What has not been assumed has not been healed”.

However, we note that Jesus also says to John, more specifically, that he comes to be baptised in order to “fulfil all righteousness” (Mt 3:15). So, it is for God’s sake, for the sake of his justice, in other words, that he comes to the Jordan. Hence we hear in Isaiah that God’s faithful servant comes to fulfill God’s righteousness; to “bring forth justice to the nations” (Isa 42:1). So when Christ comes to the Jordan he does this, not by sitting in judgement, but by lowering himself into the river and listening to us, to our experience. For, as Isaiah says, the reed has been bruised by sin, the wick burns dimly. And so Christ doesn’t come to break us or extinguish the light. On the contrary, God’s justice and holiness is served when he comes to heal the wounds of sin and to fan our wavering love into an ardent flame. And this, too, is why Jesus comes to the Jordan to be baptised: For Jesus comes, like the doctor, to listen to us and to observe our symptoms but, more importantly, he also comes to cure our diseases; to heal and vivify. And what he prescribes is baptism. Or, to be more, precise, Christ himself is the cure. For our fundamental disease is sin which cuts us off from the life of God.

So, today, Christ descends into the waters and dies alongside sinners, joining us in the depths. But he also rises out of the waters, and we, too, are called to rise up from our sins, and to rise with Jesus to new life; the sinner becomes a beloved son or daughter of God. Hence when Jesus goes up from the water, St Matthew says that “the heavens were opened”, the Spirit descends, and a divine voice is heard (Mt 3:16f). So, too, in the sacrament of baptism we have died with Christ and rise to new life in him; we are healed of sin and filled with the Spirit of God’s love; heaven is opened to us, and we hear this declaration said about each of us individually: “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased”. Therefore, when Jesus comes to the Jordan and says “thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness” (Mt 3:18), he is speaking of the righteousness he will bring about in us, in all peoples, through baptism and the other sacraments of his Church. 

So, although we’re not told explicitly in today’s Gospel to listen to Christ, in fact, if we’re attentive, there is something we’re being called to listen to today: Christ’s own example, and we’re called to follow him, and to share in his divine life. So Baptism, a vital sacrament that begins our Christian life, is still only the start of a new life, indeed, it inaugurates a new relationship with God. For through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, we can now be called sons and daughters of God. If so, then we need to receive the grace of God the Son, the graces and virtues and gifts that flow from Christ, and which makes us holy as Christ is holy. This requires from each of us a daily, on-going response – a life of faith and prayer in order to sustain and cultivate a living relationship of Faith with Jesus Christ. 

In particular, speaking of the baptism of infants and the role of the parish, Pope Benedict XVI said: “after Baptism [children] must be educated in the faith, instructed in accordance with the wisdom of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church so that this seed of faith that they are receiving today may grow within them and that they may attain full Christian maturity. The Church, which welcomes them among her children must take charge of them, together with their parents and godparents, to accompany them on this journey of growth. Collaboration between the Christian community and the family is especially necessary in the contemporary social context in which the family institution is threatened on many sides and finds itself having to face numerous difficulties in its role of raising children in the faith. The lack of stable cultural references and the rapid transformation to which society is constantly subjected, truly make the commitment to bring them up arduous. Parishes must therefore do their utmost increasingly to sustain families, small domestic churches, in their task of passing on the faith.”

This, in a nutshell, is my hope and my plan and my intention for this parish and for our long-term catechetical plan for St Dominic’s. Please pray for this plan, and for the spiritual renewal and support of our families, and please do what you can to help make this church and this place a living community of the Baptised where we can come to know God, hear his Word, and grow to love God more deeply. Thus the prophet Isaiah says to you and me, to us Christians today, that “I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right; I have taken you by the hand and formed you; I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations.” We can only do this if we are lit up from within by the grace of Jesus Christ, with a burning love for God, and a desire to obey God’s commandments, as a faithful child of God:All this is what Baptism leads to.

#Baptism of the Lord #Baptism #righteousness #holiness #salvation #parish renewal #pastoral #Benedict XVI

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in Irish History | 14 February:

St Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day, is a holiday observed on 14 February. Many churches claim to be Valentine’s final resting place, including the Carmelite Church on Whitefriar Street in Dublin. According to the story told there, the St’s remains were given to Fr John Sprat by Pope Gregory XVI and a shrine still exists there today. 1628 – Valentine Greatrakes, or…

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#irelandinspires #irishhistory #OTD #14 February #Ernie O’Malley #History #History of Ireland #IRA #Ireland #Irish Civil War #Irish History #Irish War of Independence #Kilkenny #Kilkenny Castle #Mary Lee #Sean Treacy #Sinn Fein #St. Valentine #Stardust Ballroom #Today in Irish History #USS Juneau #Valentine&039;s Day

[gone2soon-rip]

POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI (1927-Died New Years Eve,December 31st 2022,at 95).German senior Catholic preist.Born Joseph Ratzinger,he was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II. Benedict chose to be known by the title "pope emeritus" upon his resignation.Ordained as a priest in 1951 in his native Bavaria, Ratzinger embarked on an academic career and established himself as a highly regarded theologian by the late 1950s. He was appointed a full professor in 1958 at the age of 31. After a long career as a professor of theology at several German universities, he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and created a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977, an unusual promotion for someone with little pastoral experience. In 1981, he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important dicasteries of the Roman Curia. From 2002 until his election as pope, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals. Prior to becoming pope, he was "a major figure on the Vatican stage for a quarter of a century"; he had an influence "second to none when it came to setting church priorities and directions" as one of John Paul II's closest confidants.He lived in Rome from 1981 until his death in 2022.His prolific writings generally defended traditional Catholic doctrine, values and liturgy (with his rehabilitation of Tridentine Mass). He was originally a liberal theologian, but adopted conservative views after 1968.During his papacy, Benedict XVI advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increased secularisation of many Western countries. He viewed relativism's denial of objective truth, and the denial of moral truths in particular, as the central problem of the 21st century. He taught the importance of both the Catholic Church and an understanding of God's redemptive love. Benedict also revived a number of traditions, including elevating the Tridentine Mass. He strengthened the relationship between the Catholic Church and art, promoted the use of Latin, and reintroduced traditional papal vestments, for which reason he was called "the pope of aesthetics". He was described as "the main intellectual force in the Church" since the mid-1980s.On 11 February 2013, Benedict announced his resignation, citing a "lack of strength of mind and body" due to his advanced age. His resignation was the first by a pope since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first on a pope's own initiative since Celestine V in 1294. He was succeeded by Francis on 13 March 2013, and moved into the newly renovated Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City for his retirement.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI

#Pope Benedict XVI #Popes #religious leader #Heads of the Catholic Church #Notable Deaths in 2022 #Notable Deaths in December 2022

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINTS ANDREW KIM TAEGON, PAUL CHONG HASANG AND COMPANIONS Feast Day: September 20

"I beg you not to fail in your love for one another, but to support one another and to stand fast until the Lord mercifully delivers us from our trials." -Andrew Kim Taegon

Fr. Andrew Kim Taegon, the seminarian Paul Chong Hasang and 78 lay persons were suffered martyrdom between 1839 to 1846. The Korean Martyrs, as they are known, were either beheaded, strangled, or died under torture. They represent only a fraction of the thousands who died in the persecution that accompanied the evangelization of Korea.

In the late 18th century, Catholicism began to take root slowly in Korea, having been introduced by scholars who visited China and brought back Western books translated into Chinese. In 1836 Korea saw its first consecrated missionaries (members of the Paris Foreign Missions Society) arrive, only to find out that the people there were already practicing Korean Catholics.

Andrew Kim is born in Solmou, Dangjin, Korea on August 21, 1821, his parents were converts and his father was subsequently martyred for practising Christianity, a prohibited activity in heavily Confucian Korea. After being baptized at age 15, Kim studied at a seminary in the Portuguese colony of Macau. He also spent time in study at Lolomboy, Bocaue, Bulacan, where today he is also venerated. He was ordained a priest in Shanghai after nine years (1844) by the French bishop Jean Joseph Jean-Baptiste Ferréol. He then returned to Korea to preach and evangelize. During the Joseon Dynasty, Christianity was suppressed and many Christians were persecuted and executed. Catholics had to practise their faith covertly. Kim was one of several thousand Christians who were executed during this time. In 1846, at the age of 25, he was tortured and beheaded near Seoul on the Han River.

Before Ferréol, the first bishop of Korea, died from exhaustion on February 3, 1853, he wanted to be buried beside Kim, stating: 'You will never know how sad I was to lose this young native priest. I have loved him as a father loved his son; it is a consolation for me to think of his eternal happiness.'

Meanwhile, Paul Chong Hasang is born as Chong Hasang in the year 1795 in Korea, and was the son of the martyr Augustine Jeong Yak-Jong (Augustine Chong) and a nephew of noted philosopher John Jeong Yak-Yong, who were among the first converts of Korea, who wrote the first catechism for the Catholic Church in Korea (entitled 'Jugyo Yoji'). When Yakjong was martyred with Hasang's older brother, Yakjong's wife and the remaining children were spared and went into a rural place. Hasang was seven years old then. When he grew up, Hasang chose to become a servant of a government interpreter; this enabled him to travel to Beijing multiple times, where he entreated the bishop of Beijing to send priests to Korea, and wrote to Pope Gregory XVI via the bishop of Beijing requesting the establishment of a diocese in Korea. This happened in 1825.

Some years later, Bishop Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert and two priests were sent. The bishop found Hasang to be talented, zealous, and virtuous; he taught him Latin and theology, and was about to ordain him when a persecution broke out. Hasang was captured and gave the judge a written statement defending Catholicism. The judge, after reading it, said: 'You are right in what you have written; but the king forbids this religion, it is your duty to renounce it.' Hasang replied: 'I have told you that I am a Christian, and will be one until my death.'

After this, Hasang went through a series of tortures in which his countenance remained tranquil. Finally, he was bound to a cross on a cart and cheerfully met his death on September 22, 1839 in Seoul at the age of 45.

During his trip to Korea on May 6, 1984, Pope St. John Paul II canonized Andrew Kim along with the 102 other martyrs, including Paul Chong Hasang.

#random stuff #catholic #catholic saints #korean martyrs #andrew kim taegon #paul chong hasang

[ultramontanism]

Pope Gregory XVI, 1832: Mirari Vos:

14. This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it. “But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error,” as Augustine was wont to say.[21] When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin. Then truly “the bottomless pit”[22] is open from which John saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of which locusts flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation of minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy laws — in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty.

#freedom of conscience #freedom to publish #catholic #pope gregory xvi #st. augustine #indifferentism #mirari vos

[allsoulspriory]

On July 11, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Saint Benedict of Nursia, the sixth-century abbot who gave Christian monasticism its lasting foundation in Western Europe.

For his historic role as the “Father of Western Monasticism,” St. Benedict was declared a co-patron of Europe (along with Saints Cyril and Methodius). St. Benedict is also the patron saint of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate.

In a 2005 general audience, Pope Benedict XVI said St. Benedict was a “powerful reminder of the indispensable Christian roots” of Europe. He cited the monk's instruction to “prefer nothing to the love of Christ,” and asked his intercession “to help us keep Christ firmly at the heart of our lives.”

Born to upper-class parents in modern-day Italy during the year 480, Benedict was sent to Rome to study the humanities. However, he soon became disgusted with the loose morals that prevailed among the students. Withdrawing from the city, he lived briefly with a group of monks, then as a hermit.

The young man spent three years in solitude, facing and overcoming severe temptations through prayer and asceticism. Only after doing so, did he have the confidence to emerge as an organizer of monastic communities. His first monasteries were established in the Anio valley outside Subiaco.

Benedict's monasteries in Subiaco became centers of education for children, a tradition which would continue in the order during his lifetime and beyond. His monastic movement, like its forebears in the Christian East, attracted large numbers of people who were looking to live their faith more deeply.

During 529, Benedict left Subiaco for Monte Cassino, 80 miles south of Rome. The move was geographically and spiritually significant, marking a more public emergence of the Western monastic movement. Benedict destroyed a pagan temple atop the mountain, and built two oratories in its place.

It was most likely at Monte Cassino that the abbot drew up a rule of life, the famous “Rule of St. Benedict,” which emphasised prayer, work, simplicity, and hospitality. Though known as a rule for monks, it is addressed to all those who seek “to do battle for Christ the Lord, the true King.”

Benedict's life was marked by various intrigues and miraculous incidents, which are described in his biography written by Pope St. Gregory the Great. One of the most remarkable was his meeting in 543 with Totila, King of the Goths, in which the abbot rebuked the king's lifestyle and prophesied his death.

St. Scholastica, Benedict's sister, also embraced religious life as a nun. She most likely died shortly before him, around the year 543. In his final years, the abbot himself had a profound mystical experience, which is said to have involved a supernatural vision of God and the whole of creation.

Around the age of 63, Benedict suffered his final illness. He was carried into the church by his fellow monks, where he received the Eucharist for the last time. Held up by his disciples, he raised his hands in prayer for the last time, before dying in their arms.

Although his influence was primarily felt in Western Europe, St. Benedict is also celebrated by the Eastern Catholic churches, and by Eastern Orthodox Christians, on March 14.

#st benedict #frjohnkelmy #paxabbey #allsoulspriory #june 11