Wednesday, February 29, First Week of Lent
Panel shows the Cathedral of Worcester which Oswald built.
ST. OSWALD OF WORCESTER (AND YORK) (d 992, England), Bishop and Confessor
A Dane by birth, St. Oswald studied in the household of his uncle, Archbishop Odo of Canterbury, who sent him to France to study. After being ordained a priesT, he returned to England in 959, he was later made Bishop of Worcester (962), by St. Dunstan. In this office, he worked hard to eliminate abuses and built many monasteries, including the famous abbey of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire. In 972, St. Oswald became Archbishop of York, although he also retained the See of Worcester in order to promote his monastic reforms which were under attack by the King of Mercia. In addition to striving to improve the morals of his clergy, this holy man also labored to increase their theological knowledge - he himself wrote two treatises and several synodal decrees. St. Oswald was associated for most of his public life with St. Dunstan and St. Ethelwold and when he died in 992 popular veneration joined his name to theirs. He has been revered ever since as one of the three saints who revived English monasticism.
Readings for today's Mass: usccb.org/bible/readings/022912.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
The Holy Father is on retreat (Day 4).
No major announcements from the Vatican today, other than one appointment of an auxiliary bishop in Brazil and pre-travel instructions for the media reps who will be travelling with the Holy Father to Mexico and Cuba.
Meanwhile, a historic
milestone today
for BXVI
Anura Guruga, who runs a fascinating POPES AND THE PAPACY site has been building up to this day for weeks. Graphics and figures cited here are from his site
popes-and-papacy.com/wordpress/
(and for now, I take his calculations on trust, because I don't have the time to go and do all the calculations myself, and because his site, which deals with a lot of these numerical comparisons, has been going on for years with no one disputing his computations, if that's any indication.)
Today, February 29, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI (#266) has lived 31,000 days - the same number of days that John Paul II lived on earth.
So, on Feb. 29, a leap year day, Benedict has reached John Paul II’s age at his death. Since 1400, John Paul II was the 6th oldest Pope when he died. Today, Benedict XVI ties him for that place, but tomorrow, the current Pope becomes the 6th oldest, and John Paul II slips down to #7.
And by October 31, 2012, Deo volente, B16 will become the 5th oldest.
Guruga put together the following chart of Benedict's 84+ years so far:
AD MULTOS ANNOS, SANCTE PATER!
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 29/02/2012 23:24]