Thursday, January 13
ST. HILAIRE (HILARY) OF POITIERS (France, 315-368), Bishop, Writer, Doctor of the Church
Benedict XVI, in October 2007, synthesized the saint's life this way: Born around the year 310, baptized when he was about thirty-five,
he became Bishop of Poitiers some eight years later. In opposition to the Arians, who believed Jesus was a created being, Hilary dedicated
his life to defending our faith in the divinity of Christ. While exiled to Frigia, because of the stance he took against the Arians at the Synod
of Béziers, he began his most important work, De Trinitate. In this text he demonstrates how both the old and new testaments clearly attest
the divinity of the Son and his equality with the Father with whom he shares one nature. In his De Synodis Hilary maintained a conciliatory
spirit with those who used deficient theological formulations, while leading them to accept fully the Nicean creed. In 360 he returned home,
took up his pastoral duties, and continued to write. The influence of his teaching spread and many were strengthened in their resistance to
Arian thought, realising that Christ is our Saviour precisely because he is true God and true man. Fundamental to Hilary’s insight was the
importance of our Trinitarian baptismal faith. Let us join him in praying to the Lord that we remain faithful to this confession, and always
bear joyful witness to our baptismal call!" St. Hilary has been called 'Hammer of the Arians' and 'Athanasius of the West'.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/nab/readings/011311.shtml
OR today.
Illustration: St. Caterina of Genoa, polychrome statue, 17th-century, Church of Santa Caterina in Genoa.
At the General Audience, the Holy Father introduces St. Catherine of Genoa, who wrote about
'The golden thread that draws man to God'
Other Page 1 stories: The never-ending emergency for the tens of thousands of children left homeless by the Haiti earthquake one year ago; Japan comes to the aid of the euro-zone by buying bonds from distressed countries; Tunisian police called out to quell street uprisings by youth demanding food and work that has been going on in Tunisia and neighboring Algiers since last week; and a major exhibit on Italy's great 20th century master Amedeo Modigliani. In the inside pages, the Italian lower House overwhelmingly approves a resolution directing the government to exert pressure where necessary to counteract anti-Christian persecution abroad; and a story on the pastoral plan, presented to the Holy Father last week by Cardinal Vingt-Trois, that was drawn up by the bishops of France seeking to make up for the country's decline in priestly vocations.
PAPAL EVENTS TODAY
The Holy Father met today with
- Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education (Seminaries and Study Institutes)
- Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City state and of the Vatican Governatorate
- Mons. Joseph Werth, S.J., Bishop of the Church of the Transfiguration in Novosibirsk (Russia),
Ordinary for Byzantine-rite faithful in Russia
- H.E. Martin Bolldorf, Ambassador of Austria, on farewell visit
The Holy Father has named Mons. Leopoldo Girelli, till now Apostolic Nuncio in Indonesia, to be the Nuncio to
the New Apostolic Nunciature in Singapore. Simultaneously, he will be the Apostolic Delegate to Malaysia and Brunei
and the non-resident Pontifical Representative to Vietnam.
- The Anglophone news agencies have now picked up Andrea Tornielli's pre-announcements of the developments in John Paul II's
cause for beatification.
- Meanwhile, much ado in the blogosphere about what the Pope never said about baptismal names as if he had actually said
what the media have cavalierly and falsely attributed to him.
- And from Kathnet, this absurd and therefore even more outrageous report: The European Union has apologized to the Conference of Catholic Episcopal Conferences of Europe, which protested the fact that the school calendars printed by the EU for 2010-2011 contains all the major religious holidays of Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Sikhs, but not a single Christian holiday, not even Christmas and Easter. Sorry, but an apology won't do! It was obviously a deliberate decision - you don't just overlook including any Christian holiday in a calendar for a continent that is still 90% nominally Christian! Exhibit #957 if anyone wants to prosecute for the hardline Christianophobia that infests the EU bureaucrats who run the continent from Brussels!
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/01/2011 23:47]