Wednesday, June 5, 2013, Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Third from right, medieval illustration of the saint's preaching and martyrdom; center photo, John Paul II at Boniface's tomb in Fulda, Germany; next to it, a painting of Boniface's martyrdom.
ST. BONIFACE (born England ca 672, died Germany,754), Benedictine, Missionary, Apostle of the Germans, Martyr
Benedict XVI dedicated a catechesis to the saint on 3/11/09:
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090311...
Boniface was a learned monk who gave up the chance to be an abbot when he was assigned by Pope Gregory II to evangelize the Germanic tribes, where paganism was rife, and Christian teaching was lax for lack of appropriate catechists. He was much aided in his work by a letter of safe conduct from Charles Martel, father of Charlemagne. His mission was characterized by doctrinal orthodoxy and fidelity to the Pope. He established Benedictine convents to facilitate the mission and introduced Benedictine nuns to the work of education. On a mission to the Frisians, he and 53 others were killed while preparing converts for Confirmation. He is buried in Fulda, Germany.
AT THE VATICAN, June 5, 1013
At 9:15 a.m., Pope Francis met at Casa Santa Marta with the participants of a meeting among Catholic charitable
organizations who are assisting needy populations in Syria and neighboring countries of the MIddle East under
the coordination of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. Address in Italian. The Vatican English translation here:
http://attualita.vatican.va/sala-stampa/bollettino/2013/06/05/news/31116.html#TRADUZIONE%20IN%20LINGUA%20INGLESE
At 10:30, he held his weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square,
speaking on the theme "Cultivate and protect creation"
on the occasion of World Environment Day (June 5). Vatican Radio has the report, but not the full translation:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/06/05/popes_general_audience_of_june_5,_world_environment_day_/in2-698611
Apropos, there was actually one small news item about Benedict XVI in this day's news:
Emeritus Pope gets 2012 diocesan prize
for promoting conservation of water resources
Translated from
June 5, 2013
The Diocese of Acqui Terme in the Piedmont region of Italy announced it has given its Grand Prize for 2012 in its Annual Premio Acui Ambienti in recognition of outstanding work for conserving and safeguarding water resources to Joseph Ratzinger, "who, in the course of his mission as Pontiff of the Roman Church, emphasized the importance of conserving the environment in its various aspects".
The jury that awarded the Prize said Benedict XVI's thoughts on the environment are best summarized in the book
Per una ecologia dell’uomo (For an ecology of man), published by the Vatican Publishing House.
Benedict XVI was informed of the prize several weeks before he announced his renunciation of the Papacy. The Bishop of Acqui Terme,
Mons. Pier Giorgio Micchiardi, will accept it in his place.
My addendum:
In March last year, after his Angelus remarks, Benedict XVI said this:
Yesterday, in Marseilles, the VI World Forum on Water was concluded, and next Thursday, the world will mark the World Day of Water, which this year, focuses on the fundamental link between this precious and limited resource with food security.
I hope that these initiatives will contribute to guarantee equitable, sure and adequate access to water for all, thus promoting the rights to life and to nutrition of every human being, and a responsible and mutually supportive use of the goods of the earth for the benefit of present and future generations.
Under Benedict XVI, the Vatican, almost alone of all the countless entities concerned with the environment, has consistently promoted the conservation and sharing of water resources, especially in the poorer countries of Asia and Africa, which are chronically stricken with drought.
Here is a little sidebar about the book whose cover is in the photo above. In 2009, Benedict XVI had said enough in public about man's responsibility to preserve and protect creation that a researcher in Oregon had enough material for her 185-page book:
Author sheds light
on Pope’s 'greenness'
By Emily Smith
Monday, Aug 17, 2009
EUGENE, OREGON - Even some of the most devout Catholics are astonished to learn that Pope Benedict XVI powers his home in Germany by solar panels.
Although snippets of environmentalism have snuck into many of the Pontiff’s speeches and writings, Catholic author Woodeene Koenig-Bricker, 57, of Eugene, was as surprised as anyone to learn of the Pope’s fierce environmental advocacy, which she sheds light on in her new book,
Ten Commandments for the Environment.
The notion of a green papacy is unfamiliar to most, she said. “People expect the Pope to talk about God, sex and marriage,” she said. “So the environment comes as a surprise to people.”
The Pope’s latest encyclical [Caritas in Veritate] touches on his own 10 commandments for the environment, but is hardly succinct, the author said. So, her book serves to enlighten on the Pope’s message and his own history with environmentally sound practices.
For instance, the Vatican set out to become the first carbon-neutral nation-state in the world just more than two years ago. In taking strides toward that goal, it has been outfitted with solar panels and has begun a reforestation project in Hungary.
And, of course, there’s Pope Benedict’s own home in Germany, which, like the Vatican, is heated by solar panels.
For a world leader — and a religious figurehead at that — to lead by example, not just pontificating, sets a new precedent for leadership, she said.
“Yes, he’s a theologian, but he’s also practical,” she said.
The environment was not a burning passion of Koenig-Bricker’s when she and her editor first discussed the Pope’s work as a book idea. But, she said, researching and writing about the green papacy led her to take the Pope’s message to heart.
“It forced me to change my life,” she said.
The Pope’s activism departs from the realm of politics and religion, Koenig-Bricker said, and enters that of morality.
“Care for the environment is truly a moral issue,” she said. “It’s not a religious issue, it’s not a dogmatic issue, but it is a moral issue.”
Although the Pope has given numerous talks on the environment, there has been little publicity of it. As she delved into the Pope’s writings, she was struck by his insistence that nations rich and poor alike have a responsibility to preserve the planet, each other, and all living species.
“I was taken aback a little by the intensity of his message and the extent of it,” she said.
Since humans alone are capable of destroying the environment, she said, the Pope urges that people take on the mission of saving it.
“The Pope makes a point of saying we have a responsibility to all the species on the planet,” she said. “We don’t have the right to force other species into extinction just because we can.”
Koenig-Bricker found the Pope’s message on potable clean water especially moving.
In a place with abundant clean water, she said, it’s easy to forget that people worldwide fight to survive without access to the same.
“Clean drinking water isn’t a privilege, it’s a right,” she said.
Since her research for the book, the writer has become vigilant about her own water waste.
From shutting off the water while she brushes her teeth to installing a sprinkler system to help eliminate excess water runoff in her yard, Koenig-Bricker said conservation has become a priority.
An exhaustive exercise in research, she said writing the 152-page paperback, with its 11 pages of footnotes, felt like preparing a dissertation. But it had its rewards.
“On a real personal level, it was an exciting intellectual stretch,” she said.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/06/2013 23:43]