BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

See preceding page for earlier items posted today, 4/17/12.




Tuesday, April 17, Second Week of Easter

ST. BENEDICT JOSEPH (Benoit Joseph) LABRE (b France 1748, d Rome 1783), 'The Beggar Saint', Patron of Pilgrims and of the Homeless
One of the least remarked coincidences is that for years before April 16 became the feast day for Bernadette Soubirous, it was the feast day of Benedict Joseph Labre, who died
in Rome 144 years before Joseph Ratzinger was born on the same day, and who would take the name Benedict XVI when he became Pope. But their life stories could not have been
more different. The saint who prefigured the Pope's names is one of the most extraordinary saints in modern times. The eldest of 18 children in a prosperous family near Boulogne,
he was educated by his uncle, a parish priest. But his education was not deemed suitable for him to be accepted by the Trappists, Carthusians and Cistercians. At age 16, he decided
he would leave everything behind and live his life as a pilgrim, walking on foot from shrine to shrine, living on alms and sharing what little he had with other beggars - the classic
'Fool for Christ' well-known in the Orthodox traditions. He eventually based himself in Rome, where he lived in the Colosseum, and came to be known as the 'beggar of Rome' as well
as 'the saint of the 48 hours' because of his devotion to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. He was also increasingly sick due to malnutrition. One day, he dragged himself to attend
Mass at Santa Maria dei Monti near the Colosseum. He collapsed in the church and was taken to a nearby home where he died. He was only 35. At the news of his death, children
In the neighborhood went around shouting 'The saint is dead!' His wake at Santa Maria dei Monti lasted through the rest of Holy Week, attracting throngs of Romans. His cult was
IMmediate, and within a year, he was being written about as far as London, and his confessor had written a biography of him, in which he recounts at least 136 miraculous cures
in the first three months after he died. He was beatified in 1869 and canonized in 1881. His remains are venerated in Santa Maria dei Monti.
Readings for today's Mass:http://usccb.org/bible/readings/041712.cfm


AT THE VATICAN TODAY

No events announced for the Holy Father.
But the Vatican has released the transcriptions of his homily yesterday at the Pauline Chapel and
his remarks to the Bavarian delegation who came to Rome to greet him on his 85th birthday.
Both were said extemporaneously - each is so beautiful and very moving that I wish everyone could read it in German
as he said it. Translations posted in subsequent posts below.




Additionally, both Andrea Tornielli and Jose Luis Restan have now posted their jubilee commentaries about the Pope.
In addition, Tornielli has a side story - I don't know if it qualifies as an update - about the FSSPX Superior-
General's confidential letter to his bishops and other members saying that nothing can be assumed as a foregone
conclusion until the FSSPX actually gets a response from the Vatican.


And just because I really find this cover montage particularly poignant and infinitely endearing, let me indulge myself by re-posting it here from the preceding page where it comes with an editorial from the German-language monthly VATICAN-Magazin.