Friday, April 1, Third Week in Lent
Photos at right: Stained-glass showing St Hugh receiving St. Bruno of Cologne in France, and a painting depicting the dream in which he foresaw the arrival of Bruno
and six monks from Germany.
ST. HUGUES (Hugh) DE GRENOBLE (France 1052-1132), Bishop and Reformer
Pious and thoologically facile since childhood, he was a canon, not yet ordained priest, when the Council of Avignon named him bishop
in 1080 and assigned him the diocese of Grenoble during the reforms of Gregory VII, who ordained Hughes personally in 1080.
The Church was battling corruption and violations of celibacy within its own members, lay control of Church property, and general
religious indifference or ignorance. After two years, he wanted to resign and enter a monastery, but the Pope asked him to stay -
and he did for the next 50 years. He was reasonably successful as a reformer, was an eloquent preacher and fearless supporter
of the Papacy. In 1084, he welcomed Bruno of Cologne and six of his companions after seeing them under a banner of seven stars
in a dream. He installed them in the snowy heights of Chartreuse, where they founded the first Carthusian monastery. He died
in 1132 and was canonized just two years after his death.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/040111.shtml]
No papal stories in today's OR.
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
The Holy Father attended the second Lenten sermon by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa at the Redemptorist Chapel.
Afterwards he met with
- Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with
- Mons. Alan Stephen Hopes, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster (London),
- Mons. Keith Newton, Ordinary, Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
- Nine bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church* of India (Group 3) on ad limina visit. Individual meetings.
POPE'S PRAYER INTENTIONS
FOR APRIL 2011
General Intention:
"That through its compelling preaching of the Gospel, the Church may give young people new reasons for life and hope."
Mission Intention:
"That by proclamation of the Gospel and the witness of their lives, missionaries may bring Christ to those
who do not yet know Him."
Vatican financial regulation law
takes effect today
The Vatican Press Office released a lengthy informative note about the Vatican law against money laundering
and financing of terrorist activities which will govern the Vatican bank IOR and all financial activities,
including money transfers of all Vatican entities, starting today.
*
Sad news today for the Siro-Malabar Church:
Syro-Malabar cardinal, 84, passes away
Kochi, India, Apr.1 (ANI) - The Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic church, Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil, passed away at Kochi's Lisi Hospital on Friday afternoon. He was 84 and was ailing for some time from heart disease.
He was the serving Major Archbishop of the Ernakulam-Angamaly region and a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
His Holiness Pope John Paul II nominated Mar Varkey Vithayathil a member of the College of Cardinals on January 21, 2001.
- Vaticanista Andrea Tornielli is leaving Il Giornale after 15 years for La Stampa, where he will join Giacomo Galeazzi in reporting from the Vatican. The move is part of La Stampa's decision to make its presence felt as an outlet for Catholic thinking. Tornielli is also the editor of the online Catholic daily La Bussola Quotidiana, with his friend and mentor Vittorio Messori as editorial director.
On his blog, he says today is his last day at Giornale, and will start formally at Stampa on Monday, April 4. The Turin-based Stampa, begun in 1867, was once owned and edited by the father of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati from 1895 to 1924, when he sold it to Fiat which continues to own the newspaper. Giornalewas once owned by Silvio Berlusconi but he turned it over to his brother when he entered politics.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/04/2011 17:46]