Thursday, May 10, Fifth Week in Easter
ST. JUAN DE AVILA (Spain, 1500-1569), Priest, Apostolic Preacher, Author and Mystic
In the news recently because of a report that Benedict XVI may proclaim him a Doctor of the Church at the WYD celebration in Madrid this August, the saint was born Juan de Ávila [De Avila is his family name, and not an honorific of place, therefore the English translation 'John of Avila' is wrong; the real 'John of Avila' is better known as John of the Cross (John of the Cross] - in Almodóvar del Campo, near Toledo (Spain) in 1500, of Jewish 'converso' descent. Before becoming a priest, he studied philosophy at the University of Salamanca, and later at the University of Alcala, where one of his teachers was the future Saint Domingo de Silos. From the beginning, he was a powerful preacher and came to be known as the Apostle of Andalusia because he evangelized in the region as the Church launched the Counter-Reformation. He was a strong advocate for the reform of the clergy and his writings were very influential in the Council of Trent. Juan de Avila linked the priesthood closely to the Eucharist and regarded holiness as the preeminent quality of a priest - conformity to Christ as Good Shepherd and High Priest. To this end, he recommended painstaking selection of candidates followed by rigorous spiritual and intellectual formation within a community. He was a friend of San Juan de la Cruz (John of the Cross ) (1542-1591) and a spiritual adviser to St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), St Francisco Borja (Francis Borgia))1510-1572), and St Pedro Alcantara (1499-1562). His collected works were first [published in 1618 and soon translated into other languages. His best known works are the "Audi Fili", translated to English as early as 1620, considered one of the best tracts on Christian perfection, and his "Spiritual Letters" to his disciples, Though he was beatified in 1893, he was not canonized until 1970, when he also became the patron of Spanish diocesan clergy. He is one of the Spanish saints named as patrons of WYD 2011, along with Blessed John Paul II. At WYD 2011 last August, Benedict XVI announced he would proclaim Juan de Avila a Doctor of the Church, becoming the fourth Spaniard to earn this distinction (after Isidro de Sevilla, Teresa de Avila and Juan de la Cruz).
Readings for today's Mass:
usccb.org/bible/readings/051012.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
The Holy Father met with
- Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Sainthood. New decrees approved.
- Delegation from the Latin American Jewish Congress. Address in Spanish.
= Community of the Pontificio Collegio Spagnolo of Rome. Address in Spanish.
Anglicans and Catholics conclude
groundbreaking meeting in Hong Kong
May 10, 2012
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, or ARCIC 3, has concluded a week long meeting hosted by the Anglican mission to seafarers in Hong Kong.
At the conclusion of the May 4th to 10th meeting, the two teams of theologians and Church leaders issued a joint statement saying ARCIC has carried forward considerably its work in response to the mandate given it by the Catholic Church and Anglican Communion and has sharpened its focus in terms of the two questions of Communion and ethical decision making.
The communiqué stresses that participants are also very keen to promote the reception of ARCIC work and so they intend to contact national groups of Anglicans and Catholics to share with them the work of the Commission and to hear their ideas about practical ecumenism on the ground.
The Commission invited an outside observer from the Greek Catholic Church who greatly helped with his contribution on the broader aspects of understanding the Church as Communion. The participation of Very Rev Dr. Peter Galadza, a married Ukrainian Catholic priest from the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies in Ottowa, Canada, marked the first time ARCIC has sought experience from outside its mandate to deepen its understanding of the concept of Catholicity.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/05/2012 22:20]