Thursday, January 21
Third photo from left, St Agnes by El Greco.
ST. AGNES [Agnese] OF ROME (291-304), Virgin and Martyr
Born to a Christian family of the Roman nobility in the time of Diocletian, she is said
to have refused, at age 12-13, to marry the son of a Roman Prefect, who punished her
by having her dragged through the streets to a brothel. Legend has it that her hair
grew to cover her nakedness, and that those who tried to rape her were struck blind.
Finally, she was led to be burned at the stake, but the wood would not burn. She died
either by being beheaded or stabbed in the throat. She was buried in the catacomb that
bears her name. She is depicted with a lamb because her name resembles Agnus, the
Latin word for lamb, but it really comes from the Greek word that means 'chaste'. Every
year on her feast day, two lambs are brought from the Trappist abbey of Tre Fontane in
Rome to the Vatican, to be blessed by the Pope. Their wool is used to weave the palliums
that will be conferred by the Pope on the new metropolitan bishops named during the year.
The teenage saint is one of only seven women saints named in the Canon of the Mass.
Readings for today's Mass:http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/012110.shtml
OR today.
The Pope's catechesis on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity:
Progress and problems in the ecumenical journey
Other Page 1 stories: The commentary 'Bad faith and disinformation' by French intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy
attacking the media for their biased reporting that makes scapegoats of Pius XII and Benedict XVI (translated
and posted on this thread earlier); a serious aftershock Wednesday throws Haitians into new panic, even as
the situation continues to be chaotic, eight days since the major earthquake; Nigerian bishop says new conflicts
in central Nigeria are ethnic and political in nature, not religious. In the inside pages, a report on the Jan. 18-20
meeting of the bilateral commission of the Vatican and the Grand Rabbinate of Israel on the protection of the
environment.
THE POPE'S DAY
The Holy Father met today with:
- Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
- Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian bishops' conference (CEI)
- Mons. Javier Echevarría Rodríguez, of Opus Dei.
At 12:30 in the Urban VII Chapel, the Pope blessed two lambs traditionally brought to him on
the Feast of St. Agnes (see note on the saint above):
Pope names laywoman to #3 post
at Council for Justice and Peace
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY, Jan. 21 (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has named a laywoman undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, marking the first time in more than 20 years that a woman has served as undersecretary of a pontifical council.
The appointment of Flaminia Giovanelli was announced by the Vatican today. At the justice and peace council, she succeeds Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Fla., who held the position until 2006. The post has been vacant since then.
Giovanelli, 61, is a political scientist, who has worked at the council since 1974. As a council official, she had been responsible for issues dealing with development, poverty and labor from the point of view of Catholic social teaching.
The last woman to serve as undersecretary of a pontifical council was Rosemary Goldie, an Australian, who held the position from 1966-76 at the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Giovanelli will not be the highest-ranking woman at the Vatican, though. Salesian Sister Rosanna Enrica serves as undersecretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
In a statement Jan. 21, Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the justice and peace council, said the appointment of Giovanelli "demonstrates the concern of the Church for the promotion of the dignity and rights of women in the world," which is one area of special concern to his office.
Giovanelli was born in Rome and went to high school in Brussels, Belgium. She earned a political science degree from La Sapienza University in Rome, a diploma from the librarian program at the Vatican Library and a degree in religious studies from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
Since 2006, she has served on the Joint Working Group of the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 21/01/2010 19:03]