Monday, May 27, 2013, Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Extreme left, a portrait of Augustine in a medieval manuscript; next to it, an icon showing Gregory the Great(left) and Augustine.
ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY (b Italy early 6th-century, d England ca 605)
Benedictine Monk, Missionary, Bishop, 'Apostle of England'
Augustine led the 'Gregorian Mission', one of 40 monks sent by Pope Gregory the Great to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons. Eventually, they
landed in Kent, where contrary to the hostility they expected, they were welcomed by King Ethelred, a pagan married to a Christian. He set them
up in Canterbury and were allowed to carry out their mission freely. In fact, he himself converted. Augustine was consecrated a bishop in France
and went back to establish his See in Canterbury. Soon they set up the Sees of London and Rochester as well, as well as a school for missionaries.
Problems arose from the hostility between the Christianized Britons, who also insisted on retaining Celtic customs, and the Anglo-Saxons. However,
following Pope Gregory's advice, Augustine and his missionaries "purified rather than destroyed pagan temples and customs, and transformed their
feasts into Christian feasts". Before Augustine died, he named one of his fellow missionaries, who would eventually become St. Lawrence of Canterbury,
to succeed him. Upon his death, Augustine was quickly revered as a saint.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052713.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
Pope Francis met with
- Mons. Zygmunt Zimowski, President of the Pontifical Council for Ministry to Healthcare Workers
- Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, C.S., Emeritus President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See
(and Papal Legate overseeing the Legionaries of Christ)
- Mons. Lúcio Andrice Muandula, Bishop of Xai-Xai (Mozambique) and President of the Mozambique bishops' conference.
One year ago...
Benedict XVI celebrated Pentecost Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Calling it the feast of the 'baptism of the Church', the Holy Father said Pentecost was also the feast of human unity, understanding and sharing, in which man invokes the Holy Spirit of unity and truth. At the Regina caeli later, he announced that on Oct, 7, 2012, at the opening Mass of the Ordinary Assembly of the Bishops' Synod on the New Evangelization, he would formally proclaim Saints Juan de Avila (Spain) and Hildegarde von Bingen (Germany) Doctors of the Church, bringing the numbe of these exalted saints to 35. They are the first Doctors of the Church proclaimed by him. The Vatican also released the text of the message sent by Benedict XVI to His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos Patriarch of the Assyrian Church, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of his episcopal consecration. (Benedict XVI himself was to celebrate the next day, May 28, the 35th anniversary of his episcopal consecration as Archbishop of Munich-Freising).
As I re-posted Benedict XVI's Pentecost homily of 2012 last Pentecost Sunday (which came one week earlier in 2013), I am re-posting here his words at the Regina caeli.
REGINA CAELI
May 27, 2012
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's words :
Today we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, which brings the period of Easter to an end, fifty days after the Sunday of the Resurrection.
This solemnity reminds us and makes us relive the outpouring of teh Holy Spirit ont he Apostles and other disciples who were gathered in prayer with the Virgin Mary at the Cenacle (cfr Acts 2,1-11).
Jesus, resurrected and having ascended to heaven, send his Spirit to the Church so that every Christian may take part in his divine life and become a valid witness for him to the world.
The Holy Spirit, bursting into history, defeats its aridity, opens hears to hope, stimulates and favors in us the interior maturation of our relationship to God and to our neighbor.
The Spirit, who "had spoken through the prophets", with the gifts of wisdom and knowledge, continues to inspire men and women who are committed to the search for the truth, proposing original ways of knowing and of appreciating in depth the mystery of God, of man, and of the world.
In this context, I am happy to announce that on October 7, at the start of the Ordinary Assembly of the Bishops' Synod, I shall proclaim St. Juan de Avila and St. Hildegarde von Bingen Doctors of the universal Church.
These two great witnesses to the faith lived in very different historical periods and cultural environments.
Hildegarde was a Benedictine nun in the heart of Germany's Middle Ages, an authentic teacher o theology and profound scholar of the natural sciences and of music.
Juan de Avila, a diocesan priest during the Spanish Renaissance, took part in the turmoil of the cultural and spiritual renewal of the Church and of society at the dawn of the modernity.
But the sanctity of their lives and the profundity of their teaching make them perennially relevant: the grace of the Holy Spirit, in fact, projected them into that experience of penetrating comprehension of divine revelation and of an intelligent dialog with the world that constitute the permanent horizon of the life and activity of the Church.
Especially in the light of the Church's drive for a new evangelization, to which the Synodal Assembly will be dedicated, and on the eve of the Year of Faith, these two figures - saints and Doctors of the Church - are of relevant importance and topicality.
Even in our day, through their teaching, the Spirit of the Risen Lord continues to make his voice heard and to illuminate the journey that leads to that Truth which alone can make us free ad give full meaning to9 our life.
As we pray the Regina caeli together, let us invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary so she may obtain for the Church that she be powerfully animated by the Holy Spirit to bear witness to Christ with evangelical directness and to open herself ever more to the fullness of truth.
After the prayers, he said:
This morning, in Vannes, France, Mother St-Louis, born Louise-Élisabeth Molé, founder of the Sisters of Charity of St. Louis, who lived between the 18th and 19th centuries, was proclaimed Blessed. Let us give thanks to God for this exemplary witness to love for God and neighbor...
In English, he said:
...Next Friday, I will go to Milan to be with families from all over the world celebrating the Seventh World Meeting of Families. I ask you to join me in praying for the success of this important event, and that families may be filled with the Holy Spirit, rediscover the joy of their vocation in the Church and the world, and bear loving witness to the faith. Upon all of you, I invoke God’s abundant blessings!
Today's issue of OR carries a full page advertisement for the latest volume of Joseph Ratzinger's Collected Writings (Opera Omnia) translated into Italian. It is the volume dedicated to his writings about the priesthood. It takes its title, "Announcers of the Word and Servants of your Joy", from the Bible verse Joseph Ratzinger chose as the motto on his ordination to the priesthood in 1951.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 28/05/2013 03:19]