Tuesday, Oct. 23, 29th Week in Ordinary Time
The saint was the subject of many paintings in the 15th century because of his legendary fame as a preacher and as a soldier. Third from left, he is shown holding up the crucifix in the midst of battle; next to it, with St. Bernardine of Siena (right); and second from right, appearing to San Pedro Alcantara in a vision.
ST. GIOVANNI DA CAPESTRANO (b Italy 1386, d Croatia 1456), Franciscan Preacher and Theologian, Inquisitor, Missionary and Papal Emissary, Army General
More familiarly known as San Juan Capistrano, from the Spanish version of his name, he was born in the diocese of Sulmona and received a thorough education in Perugia, specializing in the law. At the time he was born, one-third of the population of Europe and nearly 40 percent of the clergy had been wiped out by the bubonic plague. The Church was undergoing the Western Schism with two or three Pope claimants at any one time, and the city states of Italy were in constant conflict. Giovanni's talents were such that at 26, he was appointed governor of Perugia and was imprisoned after leading a battle with the powerful Malatesta clan. Resolving to change his way of life, he became a Franciscan novice at age 30, along with the future San Giacomo (James) delle Marche, and was ordained four years later. At this time, the order was in turmoil over the observance of St. Francis's rule and Giovanni fought for strict observance as did Bernardine of Siena; they succeeded in suppressing the heretical Fraticelli and 'Spirituals' of the Order. He and Bernardine were summoned to Rome to answer charges of heresy themselves, but they were absolved by the Commission of Cardinals. From 1420 onwards, he gained great fame all over Italy for his preaching - once in Brescia, he preached to a crowd of 125,000. When he was not preaching, he tirelessly wrote tracts against all kinds of heresy, and later, in defense of papal supremacy. His talents led Popes Eugene IV and Nicholas V to send him on missions to other countries of Europe, during which his preaching was equally acclaimed and instrumental in reviving a dying faith and devotion. As papal emissary, he also acted as Inquisitor to prosecute heretics in Italy and in central Europe. After the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, the Pope commissioned him to preach a crusade in defense of Europe. He concentrated his efforts in Hungary and then with the Great General Junyadi, led the Christian army in an overwhelming victory against the Turks in Belgrade. After this, however, he fell victim to the bubonic plague and died in a village in what is now Croatia. There are two dates given for his canonization - 1690 and 1724 - but his feast was first included in the Roman calendar in 1890. He is the patron saint of military chaplains and of jurists.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102312.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
No events announced for the Holy Father.
The Press Office released the text of the Vatican three-man tribunal's sentence finding ex-valet Paolo Gabriele
guilty of aggravated theft and sentencing him to 18 months in prison. The lengthy text summarizes all the evidence
presented and testimonies heard, as well as the conclusions the judges drew therefrom.
Publication of this lengthy text reiterates most of the facts already disclosed to the public by previous investigative and trial documents, and is, of course, continuing proof of the Vatican effort to be transparent in exposing Gabriele's role in Vatileaks, but it does not add to what we have already been told. It does contain the following observations towards the end that would seem to leave the way open for Gabriele and any others to be investigated for the more serious crimes mentioned:
Regarding the [defendant's] assertions of high moral motives in defense of the Holy Father and the faith, the College (tribunal) must observe that Gabriele's actions actually harmed the person of the Pontiff; the rights of the Holy See; the entire Catholic Church; and Vatican City State; just as his actions were objectively harmful to the rights and interests of persons and the institutions from which the documents were illegally taken and to which they were addressed.
In particular, Gabriele's actions violated not just the fundamental right to the reputation and privacy of all the subjects involved, but even the secrecy of the private acts of a sovereign of state.
Also announced today was that the separate trial of Claudio Sciarpelletti, wno is/was(?)
an IT specialist at the Secretariat of State, will begin on November 3, and that among the witnesses called
by his defense lawyer are Paolo Gabriele himself and Mons. Carlo Polvani, who heads the Information Section
at SecState and was Sciarpelletti's direct superior. He will testify in this capacity and not because of
presumed involvement in Vatileaks. Polvani is the nephew of Mons. Carlo Maria Vigano, Nuncio to the US,
whose denunciatory letters to the Pope and Cardinal Bertone in 2011 were made public in January this year
and constituted the first direct evidence of what came to be known as Vatileaks.
From the traditional blogsite Rorate caeli today:
Rorate has learned and can confirm that Bishop Richard Williamson, one of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and co-consecrated by Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer on June 30, 1988, in Écône, Switzerland, for the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX), has been removed from membership in said society by its Superior General, and can now be considered a former member. The removal comes at the end of an internal procedure that included repeated entreaties by the higher authorities of the Society regarding Williamson's decisions and actions that apparently went unheeded.
Kudos to Mons. Fellay for taking the ultimate disciplinary action. The FSSPX has enough problems without having to deal with a willful egotistic renegade in their midst.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/10/2012 22:40]