#university church of st. mary the virgin | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

slushiepizza · 12 days

Text

Marie and Mother Mary

Relationship : Marie & Milo Greer

Tags : Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Post-Partum Depression, Gender Roles, Catholicism, Motherhood, Italian American Marie Greer

Word Count : 1,510

ao3

Notes and Warnings:

this fic kind of surprised me because I'm not super into the Shaw Pack. But I do find Marie Greer's presence and bits and pieces we know of her character fascinating. I wanted to explore Marie's mind and feelings about being a mother when she's dealing with a gambling husband; and for her to raise someone like Milo Greer- she must've done a great job as a parent.

I took inspiration from my own experiences growing up with Catholicism and specifically in relation to the biblical Mary as a religious figure; and how mothers often find comfort in the thought of a figure who related in their struggles of motherhood and womanhood. It also has a theme of gender roles/ alluding to rigid gender identities because of the circumstances that Marie grew up in.

This fic isn't really... religious per se, and it takes more of a neutral standing while still criticizing how religion could be used to provoke feelings of personal guilt and trauma in someone who grew up in it, while also giving comfort to anyone that needed the universe to say that everything will be okay. If any of the themes may cause distress in you, I do implore you not read this fic, as consuming writing is a vulnerable activity.

The year was 1993. Marie Greer walked into the empty church lot with her baby in her arms. It had been decades since she last stepped on its stone floors. The security guard stationed outside looked at her strangely, but let her in once she asserted that she was there to pray.

She passed the main building for a small garden in the back. There were rows of wooden benches but nobody to be found. Good. Marie didn’t want company at the moment. To call it a garden was an overstatement- it was tiny and cramped, overgrown with vines. In front of the benches, the centerpiece of all the foliage was a statue of the Virgin Mary. Mother Mary, she thought, the double entendre not escaping her.

As soon as she sat down right in front of the statue- Milo wailed inconsolably like he always did.

The baby’s loud cries echoed disturbing whatever peace that was left from the place. Marie sighed, tired and weary, of this. He was an especially sensitive child, smaller than other babies his age. Marie was used to catering to people who’d fuss over the littlest things, Colm had a particular affinity for order and cleanliness whenever he came back from blowing his month’s earnings in a night, after all. The addition of Milo to the family just added more on her plate- she had to catalog every single one of his many allergies, and make sure that the room was never dusty because he’d have a coughing fit otherwise. The replacement of their popcorned ceiling had not been cheap, either, not with Colm leaving barely anything left after his trips to Vegas.

She did this all for love. For him. For her husband. But oftentimes, she felt like there was nothing left of her to give. Dry. Hollow.

She shushed Milo and lightly rocked him in hopes that he’d calm down but to no avail. He thrashed and turned, his nails accidentally scratched her in the arm. Marie winced and tried to soothe him, lightly patting his back. It took thirty minutes of rocking and soothing Milo until the baby went back to sleep.

St. Mary’s weathered ivory-colored face looked down at her, her expression blank and unmoving. Her lips were sculpted into a serene smile. Her pupil-less eyes gazed back at Marie.

Just like any other Italian-American family at the time, church was a routine for Marie growing up. Her mother would dress them in their Sunday’s best and wrangled her and her seven unruly siblings into the building. “Quit fussin’ your pigtails, Marie. I did that real pretty for you,” she’d chide. They’d sit in the back of the church because tardiness ran in that family’s blood like a curse.

Past the twelfth and thirteenth pews, God felt distant.

Marie would follow everything diligently. She stood up when everyone else stood up as the priest lifted the circular white wafer, the body of Christ, above the altar. As a child, her height wouldn’t allow her to catch a single glimpse of it. She’d comfort her younger siblings whenever they’d make a ruckus. But the whole thing- it went one ear out of the other.

She could’ve sworn she tried her best to listen and followed whatever the adults did.

I have greatly sinned, escaped past her lips as she did the same thing she had now, rocking her baby sister in her arms. At the time, she hadn’t even lost her milk teeth.

She stopped going when she married Colm. He was the opposite of the man her mother wanted her to marry, and in retrospect, she felt that it was one of the many reasons she liked him. His mind was raucous, his eyes wild and unmoored. Like nothing was holding him back. Colm used to be an ambitious man- the thrill of being an Investigator for DUMP perfect for his unrested soul.

Marie loved that part of him, the fact that he’d question everything, unbelieving in anything unproven.

He said that he wanted to purge the world of assholes- the unjust, those who hurt others for their own sake. As he turned in empowered criminals in the pursuit of it, he became one himself.

Marie met St.Mary’s gaze- almost challenging her hollow stare. Something surged through her, from the ache in her back settling to her tight diaphragm.

After the birth of her boy, Mary couldn’t cook or clean. All she did was stay in bed. Her sister came by to help take care of the house while Colm stepped outside as usual. She said that it was normal, her body had been through hell, after all. But the heavy feeling, the heaviness that settled in her chest persisted for the next two months.

Marie hated feeling helpless- her house a mess, and her baby cried constantly. She was a woman of action, and stagnation shackled her, leaving her trapped. Her visit to the psychiatrist- and the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual- had told her that it was depression with a postpartum onset. She told the doctor that she refused to accept that she was a ‘bozo who was sick in the head’ and that she will cure herself with a margarita and a sorely needed hair perm alongside a fresh coat of manicure.

And look where that got her. Crying in front of a statue in church.

She still stared at the other Mary, the statue’s size and height caused her to look like she was looking down on whoever prayed in the confined space, guiding them iin a time of need. With that, for once, Marie realized that she was angry.

She wasn’t stuck to her mattress, fatigued, and lacked energy because of sorrow- she was so angry, the weight of her job description as wife, mother, woman, wolf, dog, bitch- Marie weighed down on her like anchors. She was angry, at the fact that Colm was nowhere to be found throughout all this, angry at her mother- for making her a mother to her own siblings when she was barely a child, angry at the fact that she couldn’t even love her child properly because she no longer had any love left in the hollow of her heart.

The emotions had clawed the insides of her ribs and caused her to let out heavy breaths- she was a dog panting for air when there was none.

“When does it get easier,” she demanded to the Mother of all Mothers through gritted teeth. “Tell me, Mary,” she begged, desperate, as tears started to roll down her face. “Tell me!”

“When does being a mother ever get any easier?”

Her voice was a whisper, barely audible, as she started to sob and heave quietly.

A soft breeze blew past the branches of the trees that surrounded her. It moved the leaves and allowed them to move gently back and forth. The statue still looked down at her, hand slightly outstretched in a supposed kind, helpful gesture. Ants crawled from the crack in the marble, they moved past Mary’s dress down to the hem, circling around her exposed foot, past the head of the sneak that was crushed triumphantly under her toes.

Marie sank into her seat, tired. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, sniffling. Unbecoming of her, she thought. She’d rather die than let anyone see her like this. But there was a comfort between women, she supposed. Damage from rain stained Mary’s cheek like tears- not unlike the thick mascara that currently ran down her own. The air was comfortable, easy, and Marie felt light. It reminded her of the 80s. Of girls in the bathroom of the disco, talking someone out of calling their past lovers as they applied lipstick and passed cigarettes between one another.

“I guess,” she sniffed. “I guess you know better, right?” she stared into a picture that hung on a distant wall. In it, St. Mary cried as she held Jesus' dying body. “He didn’t give you a hell of a good time either,” her voice cracked pathetically.

Girl, tell me about it, Marie imagined the statue said. The Virgin Mary had the voice of her best friend in college. Is that not what being a mother is? The pain so bad, it feels like you’re splitting in two? Going through all seven hells for your baby’s sake?

“Why do we even put ourselves through this,” she chuckled sardonically. “If I wanted to go through pain, I’d rather just listen to Colm talk about whatever fish he caught on the weekend.”

Mary didn’t answer, and Marie understood. Milo opened his big eyes in her arms and reached up to her with tiny hands. He giggled, light and oblivious to the puffiness of Mary’s face and the swell of her eyes. She cooed at him and held up a finger. Milo wrapped his hand around it, gentle.

St. Mary’s serene smile was still plastered on her face, her hand outstretched in the air between them.

#redacted audio #redacted asmr #marie greer #milo greer #redacted milo #redacted marie

55 notes · View notes

tinyshe · 2 months

Text

On the crucifix

O Lord, in order to honor St. Joseph as he deserves, Thou hast taken him body and soul to Heaven to Crown him with glory, thus signifying to the world, both visible and invisible, that Thou hast made Joseph Thy foster-father, the supreme steward of all Thy possessions.

Large beads

After saying the above prayer, skip to the large bead and say the following prayer, which will be said on each of the large beads.

We beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may find aid in the merits of the Spouse of Thy Most Holy Mother, so that what we cannot obtain by ourselves may be given us through his intercession, who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

Small beads

For each decade of small beads, it is customary to meditate on events in the life of Joseph, similar to what the Oblates of St. Joseph list on their website.

Betrothal to Mary (Mt 1:18).

Annunciation to Joseph (Mt 1:19-21).

Birth and Naming of Jesus (Mt 1:22-25).

Flight into Egypt (Mt 2:13-15).

Hidden Life at Nazareth (Mt 2:23; Lk 2:51-52).

Other mysteries that can be substituted for these mysteries are the “Finding of Jesus in the Temple,” the “Death of St. Joseph” and the “Coronation of St. Joseph in Heaven.”

On each small bead the following prayer is recited.

Hail Joseph, Son of David, thou whose holiness surpasses that of all Angels and Saints, blessed art thou amongst men, thou who wert chosen to be the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary of whom was born Jesus. Glorious Saint Joseph, now reigning body and soul in Heaven, protector of the Universal Church, pray for us poor sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Similar to the typical Rosary, each decade is completed with a “Glory Be.”

#catholic #prayer #st joseph #saint joseph rosary

11 notes · View notes

everydaycatholicism · 1 month

Text

Blessed Bartolo Longo

Blessed Bartolo Longo was born on February 10, 1841 in Latiano, Italy to a wealthy and devout Catholic family. In 1951 when his mother died he became estranged from the Catholic Church. When he went away to university to study law he fell in with Satanists eventually being ordained a Satanic priest. "He participated in séances, fortunetelling and orgies." The more he experimented in the occult the more Bartolo became depressed. "His life was marked with extreme depression, paranoia, hatred, confusion and nervousness." In his darkest moments Bartolo experienced visions of his deceased father begging him to return to God. Bartolo sought the help of Professor Vincenzo Pepe who convinced him to abandon Satanism. Professor Pepe introduced him to a Dominican priest by the name of Fr. Alberto Radente who heard Bartolo's confession and brought him back to the church. One day he had a mystical experience... having pondered his condition he felt a deep despair come over him and almost committing suicide. Bartolo at that moment remembered the words of Fr. Alberto Radente that if he sough salvation to promulgate the Rosary. A promise made by the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary devoutly. On March 25, 1871, Longo became a Third Order Dominican and took the name Br. Rosario in honor of the Rosary. Bartolo married a wealthy widow named Countess Mariana di Fusco. The two founded a confraternity of the Rosary. Bartolo died on October 5, 1926 in Torre Annunziata, Italy. Pope St. John Paul II beatified him on October 26, 1980 calling him the "Apostle of the Rosary.

Source: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/blessed-bartolo-longo-the-ex-satanist-who-was-freed-through-the-rosary

#Bartolo Longo #Catholicism #Catholic #Saints

8 notes · View notes

anastpaul · 5 months

Text

Our Morning Offering – 2 December – O Virgin Most Pure, Wholly Unspotted

Our Morning Offering – 2 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – First Saturday of the Month O Mary, Mother of God(O Virgin Most Pure, Wholly Unspotted)By St Ephrem of Syria (306-373)Father and Doctor of the Church O Virgin most pure, wholly unspotted,O Mary, Mother of God,Queen of the universe,thou art above all the saints,the…

View On WordPress

#marianprayerofstephrem #omarymotherofgod #ovirginmostpurewhollyunspotted #stephrem

11 notes · View notes

whataniceone2 · 1 year

Photo

Photo of University Church of St. Mary the Virgin from Carfax, Oxford. Nice cloud :)

#wano #myphoto #photographers on tumblr

37 notes · View notes

swanoopdev · 5 months

Text

THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (21/11/2023)

In her poem MAN-GOD, Volume I, a mystic and an Italian author Maria Valtotra narrates her conversation with Jesus about the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a dramatic manner. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, little Mary, at the age of 3 expresses her desire to be presented and dedicate her life in the temple. It was little Mary, who was keener in spending her entire life in the presence of her creator. Though there is no historical evidence, but traditionally believed that barren Joachim and Anne, had promised to present their first-born child in the temple if they bear a child. It has been done when Mary was a little child. This traditional practice has been followed in the Eastern Church since 6th century. In 16th the century it became a feast of the universal Church.

Though it cannot be proven historically, yet Mary’s presentation has an important theological purpose. It continues the impact of the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the birth of Mary. It emphasizes that the holiness conferred on Mary from the beginning of her life on earth continued through her early childhood and beyond. From the beginning of her life, she dedicated herself to God. She herself became a greater temple than any other man-made temple on earth. God came to dwell in her in a marvelous manner and sanctified her for her unique role in God’s saving work. At the same time, the magnificence of Mary enriches her children. They—we—too are temples of God and sanctified in order that we might enjoy and share in God’s saving work

The Gospel reading of today is taken from St. Matthew 12:46-50 looks strange to the readers as it literally shows degradation in Mother-Son relationship of Mary and Jesus. We must read this passage, keeping Jesus as someone who wanted to build the kingdom God that is beyond human understanding. Jesus did want to limit himself only on blood relationship, rather he wanted to embrace the whole universe as one family. His biggest mission was nothing but to establish the reign of God. Everyone is expected to be included in this extended family of Jesus, provided they listen to the word of God and follow them. In this condition, Mary is the first person on earth to be included in Jesus ‘universal family, because she not only listened to the word of God, but bore it in her womb and pondered over it (“and his mother kept all these things in her heart” Lk. 2: 51).

What does the feast of the Presentation of Mary in the temple mean you personally?

Can you imagine the days of your baptism and confirmation in the church?

How do you prepare yourself to be part of extended family of Jesus?

PRAYER:

Lord my God, we thank you for the gift of our Blessed Mother, the first temple of God. We thank you for reminding us of our baptism and confirmation (to some of us our religious consecration and ordination). Make us worthy day by day that we may listen to your word and keep them in our day to day living, so that we become members of your extended family as Mary did. Bless and complete us in Jesus’ name, Amen.

#homily #prayer #catholic

8 notes · View notes

thepastisalreadywritten · 7 months

Text

On October 7, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the yearly feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Known for several centuries by the alternate title of “Our Lady of Victory,” the feast day takes place in honor of a 16th-century naval victory, which secured Europe against Turkish invasion.

Pope St. Pius V attributed the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was invoked on the day of the battle through a campaign to pray the Rosary throughout Europe.

The feast always occurs one week after the similar Byzantine celebration of the Protection of the Mother of God, which most Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics celebrate on October 1 in memory of a 10th-century military victory, which protected Constantinople against invasion after a reported Marian apparition.

Pope Leo XIII was particularly devoted to Our Lady of the Rosary, producing 11 encyclicals on the subject of this feast and its importance in the course of his long pontificate.

In the first of them, 1883's “Supremi Apostolatus Officio,” he echoed the words of the oldest known Marian prayer (known in the Latin tradition as the “Sub Tuum Praesidium”), when he wrote:

“It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary."

“This devotion, so great and so confident, to the august Queen of Heaven,” Pope Leo continued, “has never shone forth with such brilliancy as when the militant Church of God has seemed to be endangered by the violence of heresy … or by an intolerable moral corruption, or by the attacks of powerful enemies.”

Foremost among such “attacks” was the Battle of Lepanto, a perilous and decisive moment in European and world history.

Troops of the Turkish Ottoman Empire had invaded and occupied the Byzantine empire by 1453, bringing a large portion of the increasingly divided Christian world under a version of Islamic law.

For the next hundred years, the Turks expanded their empire westward on land and asserted their naval power in the Mediterranean.

In 1565, they attacked Malta, envisioning an eventual invasion of Rome. Though repelled at Malta, the Turks captured Cyprus in the fall of 1570.

The next year, three Catholic powers on the continent – Genoa, Spain, and the Papal States - formed an alliance called the Holy League, to defend their Christian civilization against Turkish invasion.

Its fleets sailed to confront the Turks near the west coast of Greece on 7 October 1571.

Crew members on more than 200 ships prayed the Rosary in preparation for the battle — as did Christians throughout Europe, encouraged by the Pope to gather in their churches to invoke the Virgin Mary against the daunting Turkish forces.

Some accounts say that Pope Pius V was granted a miraculous vision of the Holy League's stunning victory.

Without a doubt, the Pope understood the significance of the day's events, when he was eventually informed that all but 13 of the nearly 300 Turkish ships had been captured or sunk.

He was moved to institute the feast now celebrated universally as Our Lady of the Rosary.

“Turkish victory at Lepanto would have been a catastrophe of the first magnitude for Christendom,” wrote military historian John F. Guilmartin, Jr., “and Europe would have followed a historical trajectory strikingly different from that which obtained.”

#Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary #Our Lady of Victory #Our Lady of the Rosary #Battle of Lepanto #Holy League

7 notes · View notes

jbaileyfansite · 1 year

Text

Old Jonathan Bailey’s interview with the OxfordMail (2013)

BROADCHURCH star Jonathan Bailey has paid tribute to his former English teacher for inspiring his acting career.

The 25-year-old former Oxford schoolboy, who played newspaper reporter Olly Stevens in the smash-hit crime thriller, also said reading his own local newspapers – the Oxford Mail and The Wallingford Herald – helped him prepare for the role.

Mr Bailey, from Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, near Wallingford, fondly remembers reading Shakespeare in the sixth form at Oxford’s Magdalen College School with Dr David Brunton, who died in March 2007 after falling from the tower of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin Church in High Street.

Mr Bailey, who is now playing Cassio in the National Theatre production of Othello, told the Mail: “He was a brilliant man who taught us Othello for A-Level. I’d read it out loud in class with him playing Iago, so it is a fitting tribute to a fantastic teacher that I’m now playing Cassio.”

In Broadchurch, the former Benson Primary School pupil worked opposite top actors including David Tennant and Pauline Quirke.

His character, a junior reporter for the fictional Broadchurch Echo, finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation.

Mr Bailey said: “The Oxford Mail and The Wallingford Herald were of course my inspiration. Growing up in Benson I always read The Wallingford Herald – it was always on the kitchen table. The sense of community that is thrust into the home by local papers is so important.”

The ITV series drew in more than nine million viewers every week and had viewers on the edges of their seats until the murderer was revealed in the final episode, broadcast on April 22.

Filming for a second series is due to start next year.

Mr Bailey, who has also appeared in the popular Oxford detective drama Lewis, said: “In terms of Broadchurch’s success, I am totally shocked. It is great to be a part of something everyone wants to carry on watching.”

Mr Bailey’s father Stuart Bailey, former managing director of Rowse Honey in Wallingford, said: “We believe that it is important to follow your dream and are naturally very proud of Jonathan and what he has achieved. We were totally hooked on Broadchurch and looked forward to watching it every Monday evening.”

He added: “It is great that Jonathan was part of such a popular TV series and that Othello is proving so successful at the National.”

Alan Cooper, who has taught at Oxford’s Magdalen College School for 32 years, said: “Dr Brunton had a brilliant way of making Shakespeare come alive.He would be absolutely delighted. He was always very fond of Shakespeare.He would be thrilled that someone would be able to take that to the theatre.”

Of Mr Bailey, Mr Cooper added: “He is quietly successful. He clearly works hard and is very deserving of success.”

Source

#jonathan bailey #jonny bailey #interviews #interviews:2013 #oxford mail interview #oxford mail

18 notes · View notes

dustedmagazine · 4 months

Text

Christian Carey's year in review

2023 was pretty much an awful year for our world —climate disaster moves ever more quickly, violence abounds and US politics are a disaster. I would not write a thank you card to the universe for many of my own experiences during the year either. However, I am grateful for the extraordinary music I participated in, heard and wrote about: it was a great solace. A few highlights are below:

I composed three new pieces: Solemn Tollings, for microtonal trumpet and trombone, Just Like You for singing violist, and Cracking Linear Elamite for solo guitar. The latter premiered in December at Loft 393 in Tribeca, played by Dan Lippel.

In addition to editing Sequenza 21 and contributing to Dusted, I authored several reviews and a research article for the British journal Tempo. The article was on my research in narratology as a feature of Elliott Carter’s music, which I have been exploring and publishing on since writing my Ph.D. dissertation. It was great for this particular research, of character-types and interactions in the Fifth String Quartet, to finally see the light of day.

After a half-century of banged up and often unreliable used pianos, my wife Kay got me a new Baldwin grand piano for my 50th birthday. Since it has arrived, I have practically lived in it.

Post-pandemic and post-cancer, I began to dip my toe into attending live events. I went to the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, which was a mixed bag. As compensation, the Boston Symphony performances that weekend were excellent. I attended a great concert at the New York Philharmonic in November and another in December. For many years, Kay and I have made a holiday tradition of seeing the Tallis Scholars at St. Mary the Virgin Church in midtown. It was wonderful to return there. The Tallis Scholars’ performance was splendid, featuring a mass by Clemens non Papa.

After the Tallis concert, Kay was in Nashville, where her parents live, for two weeks, spending time with her brother Tom and sister-in-law Aymara, who were visiting from Qatar (Tom teaches at the Carnegie Mellon University campus there and Aymara is a yoga instructor), and celebrating Christmas with her parents. Here in New Jersey, it was just me and the felines, who were (mostly) well-behaved. To keep the holiday blues at bay, I went all out, decorating a natural tree and the house. I played every carol in the hymnal, and enjoyed old holiday standbys: Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, and Mel Torme’s Christmas albums.

youtube

There was much excellent recorded music released this year, and I will not attempt to document it all. Here are twelve records, in no particular order, that I expect will stay with me and be played often in coming years.

2023 Favorite Recordings

Yo La Tengo — This Stupid World (Matador)

Hilary Hahn — Eugène Ysaÿe’s Six Sonatas for Violin Solo, op. 27 (DG)

Morton Feldman — Violin and String Quartet (Another Timbre)

Natural Information Society — Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)

Leah Bertucci — Of Shadow and Substance (Self— released)

Juliet Fraser — What of Words and What of Song (Neos)

Laura Strickling and Daniel Schlosberg — 40@40 (Bright Shiny Things)

Emily Hindricks, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, and Cristian Macelaru perform Liza Lim — Annunciation Triptych (Kairos)

Bozzini Quartet and Konus Quartett play Jürg Frey — Continuité, fragilité, résonance (elsewhere)

Matana Roberts — Coin Coin Chapter Five (Constellation)

Chris Forsyth — Solar Motel (self— released)

John Luther Adams — Darkness and Scattered Light (Cold Blue)

Christian Carey

4 notes · View notes

rratbrain · 2 months

Text

university church of st. mary the virgin, oxford

#oxford #oxbridge #church #st. mary #dark academia #light academia

4 notes · View notes

cruger2984 · 6 months

Text

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT JOHN PAUL II The Patron of Kraków and World Youth Day Feast Day: October 22

"There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already borne for us, and does not now bear with us." -from the Eucharistic Celebration Homily, October 1995

One of the greatest popes in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, and before he became known as John Paul the Great, he was born Karol Józef Wojtyła, on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Kraków Voivodeship, Poland.

When Karol was just eight years old, his happy family life was saddened by the early death of his parents, Karol Wojtyła, a non-commissioned officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army and captain of the Polish Armed Forces, and Emilia Kaczorowska, a schoolteacher who was of distant Lithuanian heritage, as he said: 'At twenty, I had already lost all the people I loved.'

His elder sister Olga had died before his birth, but he was close to his brother Edmund, nicknamed Mundek, who was 13 years his senior. Edmund's work as a physician eventually led to his death from scarlet fever, a loss that affected Wojtyła deeply.

Karol was an athletic youth, often played football as a goalkeeper, and also performed with various theatrical groups and worked as a playwright. During this time, his talent for language blossomed, and he learned as many as 15 languages including English and Esperanto. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, from 1940 to 1944, Karol worked in a limestone quarry and then in Solvay chemical factory.

In order to fulfill his vocation in October 1942 at the height of World War II, he entered the clandestine seminary of Kraków, run by Adam Stefan Sapieha, the archbishop of Kraków, and after finishing his studies at the seminary, he was ordained priest on All Saints' Day - November 1, 1946, a year after the war ended. He was first assigned in a small parish near Kraków, and then he served as professor and chaplain at the Catholic University of Lublin (now John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin). At a very young age, because of his exceptional talents, he became archbishop of Kraków and then Cardinal.

Following the death of John Paul I, ten days after the funeral, at the age of 58, Karol elected as pope on October 16, 1978, and chose the name John Paul II in honor of his predecessor. Having consecrated his papacy to the Blessed Virgin Mary, as his motto says: 'Totus Tuus', meaning 'I am all yours'.

He embarked in a tireless apostolate around the world. The Pilgrim Pope, as he was known, he visited 129 countries, and travelled more than all previous 263 Popes combined. Moreover, he is credited to be the spiritual inspiration behind the fall of Communism in 1991. While visiting Jerusalem in March 2000, John Paul became the first pope in history to visit and pray at the Western Wall. In September 2001, amid post-11 September concerns, he travelled to Kazakhstan, with an audience largely consisting of Muslims, and to Armenia, to participate in the celebration of 1,700 years of Armenian Christianity.

On May 13, 1981, the anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, he was shot and critically wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca, an expert Turkish gunman who was a member of the militant fascist group Grey Wolves, and he miraculously survived the assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square. Ağca was caught and restrained by a nun and other bystanders until police arrived. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Two days after Christmas in 1983, John Paul II visited Ağca in prison. John Paul II and Ağca spoke privately for about twenty minutes.

The pope made two trips to the Philippines: the first on February 18, 1981 where Lorenzo Ruiz is beatified in Manila, to which is the first beatification ceremony to be held outside the Vatican, and in January 15, 1995, during the X World Youth Day, he offered Mass to an estimated crowd of between five and seven million in Luneta Park in the Philippines, which was considered to be the largest single gathering in Christian history. And because of his special relationships with them, he is also known as the 'Pope of the Youth'.

As an extension of his successful work with youth as a young priest, John Paul II pioneered the international World Youth Days. He presided over nine of them: Rome, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Compostella, Częstochowa, Denver (in the state of Colorado), Manila, Paris, and Toronto. The total attendance at these signature events of the pontificate was in the tens of millions. The Great Jubilee of 2000 was a call to the church to become more aware and to embrace his missionary task for the work of evangelization.

During the final days of the pope's life, the lights were kept burning through the night where he lay in the Papal apartment on the top floor of the Apostolic Palace. Tens of thousands of people assembled and held vigil in St. Peter's Square and the surrounding streets for two days. Upon hearing of this, the dying pope was said to have stated: 'I have searched for you, and now you have come to me, and I thank you.'

After a long and painful sickness, John Paul II went home to the Lord, on a sorrowful Saturday, April 2, 2005 at the age of 84, at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. His final words were: 'Pozwólcie mi odejść do domu Ojca. (Allow me to depart to the house of the Father.)'

He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on May 1, 2011, and three years on April 27, 2014 on Divine Mercy Sunday, together with Pope John XXIII, he was canonized a saint by Pope Francis.

#random stuff #catholic #catholic saints #karol józef wojtyła #john paul ii #pope john paul ii #pope st. john paul ii #john paul the great

4 notes · View notes

pyrrhiccomedy · 2 years

Note

Well now I’m curious, what’s the big twist about knowing Mary wasn’t in the gospel of Mark?

So, there is no infancy narrative in the Gospel of Mark. Mark starts with John the Baptist baptizing Jesus when Jesus is 30 years old, and launches straight into his ministry. There's nothing about a virgin birth, and Joseph is never even mentioned. Mary is only mentioned by name once, & that's indirectly, when Jesus is referred to as 'the son of Mary.'

Mark also ends abruptly, compared to the other gospels: when visitors come to Christ's tomb, they are informed that Jesus has risen and can no longer be found within, & that's that. There are no scenes of Christ appearing to anyone after his resurrection.

Mark is also the oldest gospel, by around two decades. Biblical scholars almost universally agree that the gospels of Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source during their composition. (The Gospel of John is a whole, like, other conversation. It's the weirdest gospel. It was also written last, by an author who clearly had a bone to pick with Luke. Don't worry about it.) Mark probably dates from around 65-70 CE; Matthew & Luke from 85-90 CE; & John from 95-110 CE.

Because Heretic is a game made by me (somebody who's studied divinity & the early church) for Emily (a medievalist), I could treat all of this as shared knowledge that didn't need to be explicitly brought up.

So Emily's going along on her little adventure, & she's learning a lot about the eldritch, devouring, hostile Hour named Mother White. Mother White appears in dreams and visions as a radiant, womanly form of soft light who is intuitively understood to be a motherly presence, & so is frequently confused by the Western Europeans who encounter her as the Virgin Mary. Mother White is also a demon of resurrection: teeming with vigorous, unnatural life that rouses the dead to rise again into a second, unwholesome awareness. Blanche, an unwilling agent/child of Mother White's, kept resurrecting the dead during the Plague into abominations against her own will, as the death all around her fueled a putrid aura of irresistible vitality.

Emily put two and two together during a mission to infiltrate the Order of St. Agnes, during which she learned that there is a cult to Mother White which infiltrated the early Church during it's earliest decades: there was no 'Mary,' as the Catholics in 1300s France conceive of her. 'Mary' was introduced to the narrative sometime between 70-85 CE, in order to conceal and spread veneration of Mother White, and prime people to perceive the dead rising again as an act of holiness. 'Mary' is an eldritch abomination, and it is possible that Christ never physically rose at all.

#heretic #dice matters

86 notes · View notes

amokedas · 8 months

Text

Mariam Magdal is Aramaic for Mary Magdalene, Mariam may mean “the joy of God”, “the spirit of Peace” or in certain dialects “princess”, whereas Magdal means ‘She of the watchtower’.

In Malachi’s book from the Old Testament the expression Magdal-eder is known, which means something like “The Exalted One”, “the Protector of the Flock” or “the One Who is elevated and is guarding the others” or a mixture of these. A kind of royal figure who is a leader and a protective light for her subjects. All in all, the name Mary Magdalene could mean “The Spirit of the Exalted Peace”.’

‘The identification of the “sinner” in Luke’s Gospel as a prostitute was determined by Pope Gregory in the year 591. He declared that the unnamed woman in this gospel was indeed Mary Magdalene, the woman “out of whom went seven devils” and he announced that all true believers should regard her as the prostitute who was converted and saved after Yeshua exorcised her of seven evil spirits. If you look at the Greek word for prostitute that Pope Gregory used to describe Mariam – harmatolos – it can be translated in various ways.

From a Jewish perspective it can mean someone who has broken the law. It may also mean someone who has not paid their taxes. The Greek word porin, woman of easy virtue, which is used in other parts of Luke, is not the word used for the “sinner” who washes Yeshua’s feet with her tears and dries them with her hair.

Thus nowhere in the New Testament does it state that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.’ I stopped in order to see if he was bored. ‘Do go on,’ he said, ‘it is very interesting.’ ‘In St Mark’s Gospel, we read of the second time Mariam anoints Yeshua who remarks “Verily I say, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

Unfortunately, it seems that this has not been done in very many Christian congregations. ‘We are also told that Yeshua exorcised seven devils or evil spirits from her. Pope Gregory felt that they were the seven deadly sins.’

‘So much for the Church and its writings. If we take a look at some of the Gnostic and apocryphal writings, the Nag Hammadi scrolls and Pistis Sophia, which might have been among those that Constantine the Great and the bishops decided were heretical in the year 325, there unfolds a totally different story. It was on this same occasion that they decided that “the right faith” should be based on the scriptures, which we know today as the New Testament.

Furthermore, they took steps to make the corrections in the texts which present-day research has finally considered to be just that, corrections. All other non-Christian sources were banned by the synod. It looks, therefore, as if much of the Christian teachings in the churches today are, in many areas, far removed from those of Yeshua two thousand years ago. Quite a thought.

‘We are told in The Gospel of Mary that she was blest with visions and a deeper understanding than Peter. She is the one who teaches and comforts the other disciples. In The Dialogue with the Saviour she is praised not only as a psychic but also as the apostle surpassing all the others.

She was “the woman who knew the universe”. In The Gospel of Phillip it is said that she was the companion of Yeshua: “The companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. He loved her more than all the disciples and often kissed her on the mouth. “There were three who always walked with the lord: his mother, Mary, his sister and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each called Mariam.”

‘Yeshua says in Pistis Sophia: “Where I am my twelve disciples shall be, but Mariam Magdalene and Yohannan, the Virgin, are above all my disciples and above all people who are to receive the unspeakable mystery. And they shall be to my right and to my left. And I am they and they are me. “Mariam, thou blessed one, whom I shall teach the highest mysteries, speak, since you are the one whose heart is closer to Heaven than all your brothers.”’

Peter Fich Christiansen

6 notes · View notes

breakfast-at-timothys · 1 year

Photo

Founded in 1326 by Adam de Brome under the patronage of Edward II, Oriel College (The Provost and Scholars of the House of the Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford, commonly called Oriel College, of the Foundation of Edward the Second of famous memory, sometime King of England), is the 5th oldest constituent college of the University of Oxford, and the oldest of the royal colleges.

As such, Oriel has also been known as King’s College and King’s Hall, and the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom (now His Majesty King Charles III) is the official ’Visitor’ of the College.

The College of the Blessed Mary began with a Provost and just 10 Fellows (called ‘Scholars’), all graduates, who studied Theology, Law and Medicine. Soon after its foundation though, Adam de Brome acquired for the college a property called ‘La Oriole’ on the site of the present Front Quadrangle, and gradually the college came to be called by that name ('La Oriole’ referring to an oratoriolum, or oriel window, forming a feature of the property).

Whilst Oriel remained a small body of graduate Fellows until the 16th century, by the late 18th to early 19th centuries the College is considered to have led the way in reforming academic standards in Oxford and also in a religious revival known as the ’Oxford Movement’. Many great names arrived, among them Dr Thomas Arnold (later Headmaster of Rugby College), and the Blessed John Henry Newman (later Cardinal Newman). By the late 1800s however, Oriel was perhaps better known for prowess at rowing, football and cricket, than in final exams.

The main site of the College incorporates four medieval halls: Bedel Hall, St Mary Hall, St Martin Hall and Tackley’s Inn; the last being the earliest property acquired by the college and the oldest standing medieval hall in Oxford.

The buildings of Oriel College were used as a location for Hugh Grant’s first film, ’Privileged’ (1982), as well as ’Oxford Blues’ (1984), ’True Blue’ (1991) and ’The Dinosaur Hunter’ (2000). Episodes of the television crime series ’Inspector Morse’ were also filmed at the College; though the opera-loving detective’s final scene in ’The Remorseful Day’, the episode in which Morse (played by John Thaw) died, was filmed at Exeter College.

Oriel’s colours are two white stripes on Oxford Blue, (used also on the college scarf, sports clothing and oar blades); and notable people associated with Oriel, include: Sir Walter Raleigh (16th-century explorer); John Keble, E.B. Pusey, and John Henry Newman (later, Cardinal Newman; principal founders of the Oxford Movement); and two Nobel Prize recipients: Alexander Todd (Chemistry) and James Meade (Economics).

Although King Edward II was favourably disposed towards the plans Adam de Brome had formulated for Oriel, the founding of the College coincided with the collapse of Edward’s authority (followed by the King being deposed and murdered), and it was only by dealing with Hugh Despenser, the emerging focus of political power, that Oriel received its ‘royal’ charter on 21 January 1326.

De Brome was the first Provost of the College, and was as energetic in finding the funds to add to its endowment as he was in negotiating the turbulent political situation between the end of the reign of Edward II and the start of Edward III’s.

Adam passed on June 16, 1332. He rests in St Mary’s Church, Oxford.

17 notes · View notes