00 21/04/2011 13:32



April 21, MAUNDY THURSDAY


Today's saint:

ST. ANSELM OF CANTEBRURY (ANSELMO D'AOSTA) (b Italy 1033, d England 1109)
Benedictine monk, Abbot, Archbishop of Aosta, Archbishop of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church
Anselm first wanted to be a priest at 15 but his rich father opposed him, and so he spent the next 12 years of his life enjoying life to the full. During a trip to France, he came to the Benedictine monastery of Bec in Normandy, and joined the order at age 27. Within 15 years, he became its abbot, succeeding Lanfranc, who had been his mentor, quickly transforming Bec into a famous monastic school. He also started publishing his philosophical and theological works which were likened to St. Augustine's, in which he sought to analyze and illumine the faith through reason. Meanwhile, Lanfranc had been sent to England to help the English clergy in a much-needed renewal. As Archbishop of Canterbury, he asked Anselm to help him, and when Lanfranc died, Anselm was named to succeed him. It was 1093 and he was 60 years old. He spent the rest of his life fighting to defend Church freedom in England. Twice he was exiled by two kings for his opposition to them. Finally in 1106, King Henry I renounced his right to the conferral of ecclesiastical offices, the collection of taxes and the confiscation of Church properties. Anselm returned to England in triumph, devoting himself to moral formation of the clergy and carrying on his own theological studies. He is considered the father of Christian scholasticism. He died in 1109. He was canonized in 1492 and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1720. Benedict XVI devoted a catechesis to him on Sept. 23, 2009
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090923...
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/042111.shtml


OR today.

At the General Audience, Benedict XVI speaks of the Paschal Triduum:
'Christ brings human poverty to the level of God'
A Page 1 editorial pays tribute to Benedict XVI, 'The simple worker in the vineyard of the Lord', as he begins the seventh year of his Pontificate (translated and posted in the preceding page of this thread), and the OR announces that on April 27, it will issue a 100-page full-color supplement as a tribute to Blessed Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II, Christian and Bishop of Rome. Page 1 international news: The UN asks international aid for 800,000 Libyans in need of humanitarian services; and China raps the US government for putting international investors at risk by its improvident spending.


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

The Holy Father presides at the celebration of

- The morning Chrismal Mass, at St. Peter's Basilica

- The evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, at the Basilica of St John Lateran

The Vatican has already posted the Chrismal Mass homily in all the seven official languages of the Holy See.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 21/04/2012 14:41]