The last occasion to use the Holy Father's 2012 Christmas card...
Monday after Epiphany, January 7
Today is Christmas Day - the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord - in the Orthodox world
and Eastern Churches who celebrate liturgical feasts according to the Julian calendar.
ST. RAMON PENYAFORT (Raymond Penafort) (Catalonia, 1175-1275)
Dominican, Bishop and Confessor
One of the most brilliant in the great constellation of saints who lived in the 12th and 13th
centuries, Ramon was born into a noble family related to the royal family of Aragon. He was
educated in Bologna where by age 20, he was teaching theology and philosophy, while earning
doctorates in canon and civil law. He was called back to Spain to tutor the man who would
become King James I of Aragon. In 1222, having met St. Dominic, he joined the Dominican order
and became well-known for his preaching against the Moors. His reputation in the law drew the
attention of Pope Gregory IX who called him to Rome to be his chaplain and confessor, and to
compile all the decrees of previous Popes and Councils, resulting in the monumental Gregorian
Decretals, published in 1231, which remained the basic reference on canon law until the
present Code of Canon Law was promulgated in 1917. He returned to Spain in 1236. At age 60,
he was named Archbishop of Tarragona but he resigned after two years to return to working
within the Dominican Order. Shortly after that, he was elected Superior General of the order,
to succeed St. Dominic. He reformed the order and then resigned, devoting the remaining 35 years
of his life to preaching against heresy and the Moors, and seeking to convert Jews and Muslims.
It is said he convinced Thomas Aquinas to write the Summa contra Gentiles, often called
a missionary manual on the truths of the Catholic faith and the errors of the infidels. Raymond
died peacefully in Barcelona at the age of 100, and is buried in the Cathedral there.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010713.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
The Holy Father met today with
- The diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican for the traditional exchange of New Year greetings and
the Pope's always-anticipated 'state-of-the-world' address.
In the afternoon, he is meeting with two of the newly-ordained Arcbishops and their families:
- Mons. Angelo Zani, Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Edcation
- Mons. Georg Gaenswein, Prefect of the Pontifical Household
The Vatican released the text of the Holy Father's videomessage, delivered in French, to the Catholic Church
in Cambodia on the occasion of a National Congress on the Second Vatican Council held in Phnom Penh on January 5-7.
The English translation of the text has been provided.
@Pontifex 1/7/13:
ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS GREETINGS
Sorry I have been unable to update my Orthodox Christmas montage from last year.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 07/01/2013 22:33]