Friday, December 4
ST. JOHN DAMASCENE (John of Damascus) (676-749)
Monk, Theologian, Poet and Writer, Doctor of the Church
Often called 'the last of the Church Fathers', he was born to a prominent Arab Christian family in Damascus
and lived under Muslim rule all his life. After serving an Umayyad Caliph as a tax official, he entered the Mar
al Saba monastery in Jerusalem. He is best known for his writings against Iconoclasm (the image-destroyers)
but his interests ranged from theology and philosophy to law and music. Besides writing treatises defending
the Christian faith, he wrote hymns which are still sung today in Eastern Christian churches. He is one of
the ten 'Doctors of the Early Church', the group of Church doctors recognized after the eight great doctors
of the Western and Eastern Churches.
OR today.
Illustration: The Shrine of St. Anthony in Padua.
The only Papal news in this issue is the Holy Father's message for the World Day of the Sick on Feb. 11,
2010. There is a Page 1 feature on St. Anthony of Padua in connection with the reopening today of the
Cappella dell'Arca housing his mortal remains at his Shrine in Padua, after a two-year structural
restoration of the 16th-century high Renaissance chapel. Other Page 1 stories: Europe's Central Bank
says anti-crisis measures should remain in place to shore up a recovering economy; immigrant labor
will become even cheaper due to the crisis; a terrorist bomb kills three in Damascus; and four Somali
government ministers are killed in a terrorist attack in Mogadishu by Muslim rebels.
THE POPE'S DAY
At 9 a.m. today, the Holy Father attended the first of the Advent Sermons by the Preacher
of the Royal Household in the Redemptoris Mater chapel of the Apostolic Palace.
Later, he met with
- His Beatitude Anastas, Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and All Albania, with his delegation.
Address in English.
- Bishops of Brazil (South Sector-3&4) on ad limina visit.
At 5 p.m. today, the Holy Father will be honored with a performance of Bach's 'Christmas Oratorio'
by the Augsburg Cathedral Boys' Choir and the Residenz Chamber Orchestraof Munich at the Sistine
Chapel. The presentation is a tribute to the Pope from the President of Germany, Horst Koehler, to mark
the 60th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany and the 20th since the Fall of the Berlin wall.