Contemporary biblical illiteracy.

San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 932, f. 2v
Description: Bishop Roger Niger accompanied by two clerics.

San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 1163, f. 13v
God the Father with symbols of the four Evangelists in the corners

Timothy Verdon is participating at the synod of bishops as an expert. He was born in New Jersey (USA) in 1946, and studied history of art at Yale University. He is a priest and art historian, professor at Stanford University and the director of Florence's diocesan office for catechesis through art since 1964.

On Sunday, October 12, 2008, "L'Osservatore Romano" published an article by the Father Verdon where he explains in artistic, liturgical, and theological terms the loss of meaning that the Sacred Scriptures have suffered in the modern and contemporary age.

An English translation of the article is published in Sandro Magister

Sandro Magister sees it as a development of Pope Benedict XVI`s lecture at the Collège des Bernardins, on September 12, 2008.

The importance of monastries and monasticism to the history and development of culture in Western Europe is discussed.

"In the history of Christianity, the cultural fruits of monasticism have not been limited to the monks, because the silence and withdrawn life of the monasteries, instead of keeping away the mass of the faithful, has attracted them, and monastic history confirms the fascination that monks have always raised in large segments of society.

Long before Alcuin taught or Anselm wrote, the citizens of Alexandria in Egypt went into the desert to listen to the abbot St. Anthony, and the Romans brought their children to St. Benedict. Even when the golden age of monastic culture began to fade, beginning in the 13th and 14th century, the ideal of a solitude filled with prayer would remain the paradigm for the active religious orders of the late Middle Ages, and for the laity to whom they preached.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the formal achievements of the monks – their art and architecture, their liturgical and devotional practices, their organizational structures and methods of education, agriculture, and trade – shaped the cultural awareness of Europe. Even more, monastic life itself, considered a creative and free decision, was deeply imprinted in the imagination of Christians, to the point that some of the most fundamental aspirations of our civilization can be interpreted only in the light of the monastic "enterprise."

In all of this, it is important to grasp the twofold role of the imagination. On the one hand, monastic life requires an effort of the imagination in those who embrace it by becoming monks; on the other, it requires an effort of imagination in those who do not become monks, in Christian society in general.

The man or woman who gives up the legitimate goods of life, withdrawing in order to seek God in silence and prayer, needs a significant capacity of social and moral "imagination" in order to persevere in believing in "what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, but God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9): this passage is, in fact, cited in the rule of St. Benedict ( 4:77). Above all in the sometimes problematic relationship with his confreres, in addition to the faith it is also the imagination that permits the monk to feel that "whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me" ( Matthew 25:40; cf. Regula 36:3).

By a similar act of imagination, those who do not enter the monastery have chosen, over centuries, to consider the monks "wise men" and "prophets" rather than dangerous dissidents at the margin of society. From the thousands of people who went to the abbot Anthony in the Egyptian desert, seeking a word, to the hundreds of thousands who today read Thomas Merton, Christians have believed that the solitude of the monks does not imply disdain for others, and that from their silence can emerge a wisdom at the service of man.

Moving in its simplicity, this trust suggests the most important function of monasticism in the imaginative life of Christians, that of a "symbol" that transmits sanctity to those who approach it. The visitors to a monastery, like the monks themselves, have the impression that, in the contemplative recollection of the cloister, places and things take on something of the intentionality and dedication of the inhabitants of those places.

The objects, even the humble ones, suddenly are perceived as signs that reveal the solidarity between man and the sacred, steps on the ladder reaching from earth to heaven. Precisely in this spirit, St. Benedict says that even the ordinary implements of the monastery must be treated as if they were sacred vessels for the liturgy (Regula 31:10).

This is a sacramental way of seeing, in which the surface of things becomes transparent in order to reveal an infinite perspective, granting power to images. A depiction of the Last Supper in a monastic refectory, like the one by Leonardo da Vinci at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, is not only a decoration, but also a functional object that communicates and nourishes the faith from which it emerges.

The practical choices in the formal genesis of the work, which normally are part of the history of art, are interwoven here with other choices, not aesthetic, but existential."

“They think Penny has Down syndrome.”

Amy Julia Becker, a master-of-divinity candidate at Princeton Theological Seminary. She is also a writer and mother in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

Her daughter, Penny, was born at 5:22 p.m. on December 30, 2005.

Two hours later, a nurse called her husband out of the room. When he returned, he took her hand and said, “They think Penny has Down syndrome.”

In a remarkable article published in the November issue of First Things, Mrs Becker discusses her feelings at the time and since and her own development as a result of having a child with Down Syndrome.

To Read or not to read

''The Streets, Morning'', illustration by George Cruikshank for ''Sketches by Boz'', p. 68, London: Chapman and Hall (1839).

Eleanor Bourg Donlon in First Things discusses why nowadays the classics of English literature are no longer being actively taught as before, despite the fact that reading often and reading well are prerequisites for achievement in areas far beyond literature and literacy alone.

In particular she discusses the present teaching of the works of Charles Dickens.

"With all of this said, there are three basic rules that must be established before one encounters Dickens. First, one ought not to read a three-volume novel expecting it to be short. Second, one should not expect the deep, dark secret of a Victorian thriller to be anything less than utterly predictable (this caution is reiterated, in particular, to a group of young students of my acquaintance who seriously expected the deep, dark secret of Wilkie Collins’ Woman in White to be that the villain was really a werewolf). And third, one should not read Dickens hoping he will not introduce a cast of thousands.

How then should Dickens be taught? As with all of literature, he must be taught with affection, with enthusiasm, with patience, and with a taste for eccentricity. A more fitting introduction for young minds might be found in the reckless youthful energy of Nicholas Nickleby, with its hero who descends to fisticuffs in defense of a downtrodden drudge or attacks strangers in defense of his sister’s virtue. It is perhaps easier to relate to the trials and tribulations of young Oliver Twist than to sympathize with Pip. The death of Nancy is far more dramatically accessible than that of Sydney Carton, and with the former there is the advantage of a cast of colorful, evocative characters—Fagin, Bill Sikes, Nancy, Jack Dawkins, Charlie Bates, and, above all, Bulls-Eye, unite to make the novel one of Dickens’ greatest achievements.

We need to recover the lost art of enjoyment—enjoyment that is not simply mind-numbing intoxication or drooling appreciation of a television hero.

Through the classics, a proper appreciation for virtue (classical and moral) may be effectively cultivated.

In other words, students should put down Pride and Prejudice and read Mansfield Park instead. Teachers should so infuse their students with sympathy for little Paul Dombey that they bawl their eyes out at his death. They should learn together to value the full depth of the character of Fagin—not as a kindly old man (as some film studios have attempted to portray him), but as a creature of deliberate, calculating wickedness. And they should empathize with Nicholas Nickleby’s righteous indignation at the infamous treatment of his beloved sister, Kate.

When they are finished, they may be able to appreciate Mr. Darcy for his full worth, and the character of Sydney Carton will become ever more wonderful. They may even feel the spontaneous urge to pick up Our Mutual Friend on a quiet Sunday afternoon."

Threats to the Right to Life

The Times has a number of disturbing stories.

In `Abortion ship' off Spanish coast it was reported that a flotilla of anti-abortion campaigners threatened to gate-crash a “death party” and prevent a Dutch “abortion ship” from docking in the Spanish port of Valencia

After picking up six passengers the ship,the Aurora, run by the Dutch “pro-choice” group Women on Waves, steamed out into international waters 12 miles from the shore to escape Spanish jurisdiction.

In 'Second-class life' not enough for injured rugby star Daniel James it is reported that Dan James, aged 23 years, of Nuneaton Rugby Club, who was paralysed in a training accident travelled to Switzerland to end his life

"The parents of a young rugby player who travelled to a Swiss clinic to kill himself after he was paralysed in a training accident said he was living “a second-class existence”.

Daniel James, 23, who played for England schoolboys had travelled to a euthanasia clinic last month with his parents, Mark and Julie.

The student was left paralysed from the chest down after his spine was dislocated when a scrum collapsed during training with Nuneaton Rugby Club in March 2007.

But his condition is not believed to have been terminal and he is reported to have made some progress in regaining use of his fingers.

Mr and Mrs James said today that their son had tried “several” times to kill himself before he “gained his wish”. They described their son as “an intelligent young man of sound mind” who was “not prepared to live what he felt was a second-class existence”.

Daniel had several operations and spent eight months rehabilitating in hospital before returning to his parents’ £600,000 home in Sinton Green, near Worcester. He died at the Dignitas clinic on September 12. "

HILARIOUS - MCCAIN OBAMA ROAST in NYC for the ALFRED E. SMITH CHARITY MEMORIAL - BOTH CANDIDATES DOING STAND UP COMEDY AND HAVI

What a pity this man is unlikely to be the next President of the United States....

HILARIOUS - MCCAIN OBAMA ROAST in NYC for the ALFRED E. SMITH CHARITY MEMORIAL - BOTH CANDIDATES DOING STAND UP COMEDY AND HAVI

Part 2 of a wonderful performance. Unfortunately our elections are not anywhere as much fun.

Thirty Years Ago Today.....

The conclave to elect John Paul I's successor began on October 14, and ended two days later, on October 16, after eight ballots

He became the 264th Pope according to the chronological List of popes. At only 58 years of age, he was the youngest pope elected since Pope Pius IX in 1846

Pope John Paul II received ecclesiastical investiture with the simplified Papal inauguration on 22 October 1978

St Ignatius of Antioch, Martyr (c. 35 AD - Died: c. 106-110 AD)

Sandro Botticelli (b. 1445, Firenze, d. 1510, Firenze)
San Barnaba Altarpiece (detail)
c. 1488
Tempera on wood
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
On the left of the Virgin is St John the Baptist, St Ignatius of Antioch as a bishop, and the archangel St Michael.

No Church Father has expressed the longing for union with Christ and for life in him with the intensity of Ignatius (c. 35 AD - Died: c. 106-110 AD). The commandments to Love and to be united were central to his message.

He was sentenced to die by the Emperor Trajan in the Colosseum. The Roman authorities hoped to make an example of him and thus discourage Christianity from spreading. They failed in all respects.

In AD 106 - 110 the lions tore him to pieces and devoured him, leaving only a few of the larger bones and his heart.

In AD 637 his relics were translated to St. Clement's at Rome, where they now rest.


At his General Audience in St Peter`s Square on Wednesday 14th March 2007, Pope Benedict spoke about Saint Ignatius of Antioch

"Dear Brothers and Sisters,

...Today, we will be speaking of St Ignatius, who was the third Bishop of Antioch from 70 to 107, the date of his martyrdom. At that time, Rome, Alexandria and Antioch were the three great metropolises of the Roman Empire. The Council of Nicea mentioned three "primacies": Rome, but also Alexandria and Antioch participated in a certain sense in a "primacy".

St Ignatius was Bishop of Antioch, which today is located in Turkey. Here in Antioch, as we know from the Acts of the Apostles, a flourishing Christian community developed. Its first Bishop was the Apostle Peter - or so tradition claims - and it was there that the disciples were "for the first time called Christians" (Acts 11: 26). Eusebius of Caesarea, a fourth-century historian, dedicated an entire chapter of his Church History to the life and literary works of Ignatius (cf. 3: 36).

Eusebius writes: "The Report says that he [Ignatius] was sent from Syria to Rome,and became food for wild beasts on account of his testimony to Christ. And as he made the journey through Asia under the strictest military surveillance" (he called the guards "ten leopards" in his Letter to the Romans, 5: 1), "he fortified the parishes in the various cities where he stopped by homilies and exhortations, and warned them above all to be especially on their guard against the heresies that were then beginning to prevail, and exhorted them to hold fast to the tradition of the Apostles".

The first place Ignatius stopped on the way to his martyrdom was the city of Smyrna, where St Polycarp, a disciple of St John, was Bishop. Here, Ignatius wrote four letters, respectively to the Churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralli and Rome. "Having left Smyrna", Eusebius continues, Ignatius reached Troas and "wrote again": two letters to the Churches of Philadelphia and Smyrna, and one to Bishop Polycarp.

Thus, Eusebius completes the list of his letters, which have come down to us from the Church of the first century as a precious treasure. In reading these texts one feels the freshness of the faith of the generation which had still known the Apostles. In these letters, the ardent love of a saint can also be felt.

Lastly, the martyr travelled from Troas to Rome, where he was thrown to fierce wild animals in the Flavian Amphitheatre.

No Church Father has expressed the longing for union with Christ and for life in him with the intensity of Ignatius. We therefore read the Gospel passage on the vine, which according to John's Gospel is Jesus. In fact, two spiritual "currents" converge in Ignatius, that of Paul, straining with all his might for union with Christ, and that of John, concentrated on life in him. In turn, these two currents translate into the imitation of Christ, whom Ignatius several times proclaimed as "my" or "our God".

Thus, Ignatius implores the Christians of Rome not to prevent his martyrdom since he is impatient "to attain to Jesus Christ". And he explains, "It is better for me to die on behalf of Jesus Christ than to reign over all the ends of the earth.... Him I seek, who died for us: him I desire, who rose again for our sake.... Permit me to be an imitator of the Passion of my God!" (Romans, 5-6).

One can perceive in these words on fire with love, the pronounced Christological "realism" typical of the Church of Antioch, more focused than ever on the Incarnation of the Son of God and on his true and concrete humanity: "Jesus Christ", St Ignatius wrote to the Smyrnaeans, "was truly of the seed of David", "he was truly born of a virgin", "and was truly nailed [to the Cross] for us" (1: 1).

Ignatius' irresistible longing for union with Christ was the foundation of a real "mysticism of unity". He describes himself: "I therefore did what befitted me as a man devoted to unity" (Philadelphians, 8: 1).

For Ignatius unity was first and foremost a prerogative of God, who, since he exists as Three Persons, is One in absolute unity. Ignatius often used to repeat that God is unity and that in God alone is unity found in its pure and original state. Unity to be brought about on this earth by Christians is no more than an imitation as close as possible to the divine archetype.

Thus, Ignatius reached the point of being able to work out a vision of the Church strongly reminiscent of certain expressions in Clement of Rome's Letter to the Corinthians. For example, he wrote to the Christians of Ephesus: "It is fitting that you should concur with the will of your Bishop, which you also do. For your justly renowned presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted as exactly to the Bishop as the strings are to the harp. Therefore, in your concord and harmonious love, Jesus Christ is sung. And man by man, you become a choir, that being harmonious in love and taking up the song of God in unison you may with one voice sing to the Father..." (4: 1-2).

And after recommending to the Smyrnaeans: "Let no man do anything connected with Church without the Bishop", he confides to Polycarp: "My soul be for theirs who are submissive to the Bishop, to the presbyters and to the deacons, and may my portion be along with them in God! Labour together with one another; strive in company together; run together; suffer together; sleep together; and awake together as the stewards and associates and servants of God. Please him under whom you fight, and from whom you receive your wages. Let none of you be found a deserter. Let your Baptism endure as your arms; your faith as your helmet; your love as your spear; your patience as a complete panoply" (Polycarp, 6: 1-2).

Overall, it is possible to grasp in the Letters of Ignatius a sort of constant and fruitful dialectic between two characteristic aspects of Christian life: on the one hand, the hierarchical structure of the Ecclesial Community, and on the other, the fundamental unity that binds all the faithful in Christ.

Consequently, their roles cannot be opposed to one another. On the contrary, the insistence on communion among believers and of believers with their Pastors was constantly reformulated in eloquent images and analogies: the harp, strings, intonation, the concert, the symphony. The special responsibility of Bishops, priests and deacons in building the community is clear.

This applies first of all to their invitation to love and unity. "Be one", Ignatius wrote to the Magnesians, echoing the prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper: "one supplication, one mind, one hope in love.... Therefore, all run together as into one temple of God, as to one altar, as to one Jesus Christ who came forth from one Father, and is with and has gone to one" (7: 1-2).

Ignatius was the first person in Christian literature to attribute to the Church the adjective "catholic" or "universal": "Wherever Jesus Christ is", he said, "there is the Catholic Church" (Smyrnaeans, 8: 2). And precisely in the service of unity to the Catholic Church, the Christian community of Rome exercised a sort of primacy of love: "The Church which presides in the place of the region of the Romans, and which is worthy of God, worthy of honour, worthy of the highest happiness... and which presides over love, is named from Christ, and from the Father..." (Romans, Prologue).

As can be seen, Ignatius is truly the "Doctor of Unity": unity of God and unity of Christ (despite the various heresies gaining ground which separated the human and the divine in Christ), unity of the Church, unity of the faithful in "faith and love, to which nothing is to be preferred" (Smyrnaeans, 6: 1).

Ultimately, Ignatius' realism invites the faithful of yesterday and today, invites us all, to make a gradual synthesis between configuration to Christ (union with him, life in him) and dedication to his Church (unity with the Bishop, generous service to the community and to the world).

To summarize, it is necessary to achieve a synthesis between communion of the Church within herself and mission, the proclamation of the Gospel to others, until the other speaks through one dimension and believers increasingly "have obtained the inseparable Spirit, who is Jesus Christ" (Magnesians, 15).

Imploring from the Lord this "grace of unity" and in the conviction that the whole Church presides in charity (cf. Romans, Prologue), I address to you yourselves the same hope with which Ignatius ended his Letter to the Trallians: "Love one another with an undivided heart. Let my spirit be sanctified by yours, not only now, but also when I shall attain to God.... In [Jesus Christ] may you be found unblemished"

And let us pray that the Lord will help us to attain this unity and to be found at last unstained, because it is love that purifies souls. "

Christian Classics Ethereal Library have the letters of St Ignatius in translation here

St Teresa and Her Big Brother

Luis Juárez, ca.1585-1638
St. Teresa and Her Brother Rodrigo on Their Way to the Land of the Moors, first half 17th century.
Oil on canvas
Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones, Churubusco.

When Teresa was six, she slipped away from her home with her older brother Rodrigo, aged ten. Both intended to go to the Land of the Moors to teach the Gospel - and to seek the glory of martyrdom. Teresa appears to have been the driving force behind the attempt to go away, buoyed up as she was by the stories of the saints in which she immersed herself as well as thoughts of the Reconquest of Spain and her mother`s stories of chivalry.

They passed through the Adaja Gate; but when they had crossed the bridge, they were met by one of their uncles, who brought them back to their mother

In her Autobiography, St Teresa wrote:

"4. One of my brothers was nearly of my own age; and he it was whom
I most loved, though I was very fond of them all, and they of me. He
and I used to read Lives of Saints together. When I read of martyrdom
undergone by the Saints for the love of God, it struck me that the
vision of God was very cheaply purchased; and I had a great desire to
die a martyr's death,--not out of any love of Him of which I was
conscious, but that I might most quickly attain to the fruition of
those great joys of which I read that they were reserved in Heaven; and
I used to discuss with my brother how we could become martyrs. We
settled to go together to the country of the Moors, begging our
way for the love of God, that we might be there beheaded; and our
Lord, I believe, had given us courage enough, even at so tender an age,
if we could have found the means to proceed; but our greatest
difficulty seemed to be our father and mother.

5. It astonished us greatly to find it said in what we were reading
that pain and bliss were everlasting. We happened very often to talk
about this; and we had a pleasure in repeating frequently, "For ever,
ever, ever." Through the constant uttering of these words, our Lord was
pleased that I should receive an abiding impression of the way of truth
when I was yet a child.

6. As soon as I saw it was impossible to go to any place where people
would put me to death for the sake of God, my brother and I set about
becoming hermits; and in an orchard belonging to the house we
contrived, as well as we could, to build hermitages, by piling up small
stones one on the other, which fell down immediately; and so it came to
pass that we found no means of accomplishing our wish. Even now, I have
a feeling of devotion when I consider how God gave me in my early youth
what I lost by my own fault. I gave alms as I could--and I could but
little. I contrived to be alone, for the sake of saying my prayers
--and they were many--especially the Rosary, to which my mother had a
great devotion, and had made us also in this like herself. I used to
delight exceedingly, when playing with other children, in the building
of monasteries, as if we were nuns; and I think I wished to be a nun,
though not so much as I did to be a martyr or a hermit."

(The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, Written by Herself. Translated from the Spanish by David Lewis [Third Edition] 1904, Chapter 1)




On November 2, 1535, at the age of 20, Teresa and her brother again ran away from home to pursue religious vocations. Teresa entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation at Avila. Alonso de Cepeda, her father, resigned himself to her decision. A year later, Teresa was professed and took the habit.

Both siblings were born on the same date: 28th March.

Rodrigo de Cepeda, four years older than the Saint, entered the army, and, serving in South America, was drowned in the Rio de la Plata St. Teresa always considered him a martyr, because he died in defence of the Catholic faith. Before he sailed for the Indies, he made his will, and left all his property to the Saint.

St Teresa of Ávila

François Pascal Simon (4 May 1770 - 11 January 1837)
St Theresa. 1827.
Oil on canvas, 172 x 93 cm
Infirmerie Marie-Thérèse, Paris

St. Teresa's monastic cell at the Convento de la Encarnación, Ávila

In art, the image of The Transverberation of St Teresa was very popular and very common.

Of the Transverberation, or piercing of the heart which occurred around the year 1560, she wrote:

"I saw close to me toward my left side an angel in bodily form […] in his hands [was] a large golden dart and at the end of the iron tip there appeared to be a little fire. It seemed to me this angel plunged the dart several times into my heart and that it reached deep within me. When he drew it out, I thought he was carrying off with him the deepest part of me; and he left me all on fire with great love of God. The pain was so great that it made me moan, and the sweetness this greatest pain caused me was so superabundant that there is no desire capable of taking it away."

The classic of this image is of course Bernini’s Transverberation in the Cornaro Chapel, in the left transept of the Church of S. Maria della Vittoria in Rome.

On 12th March 1662, St Teresa, was canonised in a ceremony which at the same time canonised Francis Xavier, Isidore of Seville, Ignatius of Loyola, and Philip Neri. Banners depicting each of the figures hung in the crossing of St Peter`s. St Teresa’s banner bore a depiction of the Transverberation.

But it cannot be all ecstasy and delight.

Shortly before her death, St Teresa wrote in May 1582 to a sister in her order who had complained of felings of spiritual "dryness" after a period of spiritual "ecstasy" or delight. She explained:

"God is leading you as though you were someone he already has within his palace, who he knows will never leave and to whom he desires to give more and more bay which you can merit....

Prize being able to help God carry the cross and don't be clinging to delights. for it is the trait of mercenary soldiers to want their daily pay at once. Serve without charge, as the grandees do the king."

Apparitions

Programmes which are preceded by publicity designed to attract viewers should be ignored and avoided. There is always the "off switch"

The latest is a five part series on the BBC called Apparitions.


The headline is entitled; "The BBC is likely to face a Christian backlash over a new drama series featuring a graphic murder, homosexual sex and the exorcism of Mother Teresa"

The headline should of course be: "The BBC hopes that it will face a Christian backlash over a new drama series featuring a graphic murder, homosexual sex and the exorcism of Mother Teresa."

Its the viewing figures of course.

The blurb from The Telegraph continues:

"The series, which has been likened to a horror film, depicts a man possessed by the devil and being skinned alive in a gay sauna.

Another episode shows a father threatening to sexually assault his daughter while in another, Mother Teresa is seen on her death bed.

In other scenes blood drips from the eyes of those supposed to be possessed by the Devil.

The series, called Apparitions, was the idea of the actor Martin Shaw, who also stars in it as a Roman Catholic priest.

He said he realised the programme would be controversial but added: "I'm not going to pretend this is the most positive show on Earth. We're talking about the end of all things but the message is that love conquers all.

"It doesn't show a wholly positive message, otherwise it would be Songs Of Praise and people would switch off. It is going out at nine, an acknowledged watershed."

When asked whether the Mother Teresa scene depicted her being exorcised, he said: "She was exorcised before she died.

"I don't think that's as unusual as it sounds. The Catholic Church would say, and I agree, that the more holy they are, the more likely they are to come under attack.

"Christ spent 40 days in the desert and was hideously attacked by Satan. The scene is not against Mother Teresa or her message."

The six-part series features Shaw playing Father Jacob, a priest running a Roman Catholic seminary in London. "

From the blurb it sounds a very boring series. Demons, ghouls and exorcisms. Not terribly original. After the Exorcist, and the other follow ups, is it really terribly exciting anymore ?


They can show Catholic priests as heads of seminaries doing everything under the sun and I really would not turn a hair.

But why pick on Mother Teresa to sell a programme ? Many have been profoundly affected by her life, her actions and her words - for the better. Surely some things can be left untouched. Many non-Catholics, secular humanists, agnostics and atheists have a profound admiration for her work. Why cheapen and tarnish her achievements ?

The explanation offered by Martin Shaw is risible.

If one does protest, the BBC benefits.

If one does not protest, one is acquiescing in a wrong.

What is one supposed to do ?

Chapel of Light: The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Bourbourg

Font at The Chapel of Light with surrounding niche scultpures

In May 1940, the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Bourbourg was hit by a German plane.

Most of the church was eventually repaired. However the Gothic choir was sealed off and lay unrepaired- until now.

In 1999, the British sculptor, Sir Anthony Caro was commissioned to restore the Choir.

The Daily Telegraph reports on the opening of the Chapel of Light which is:

"An extraordinary fusion of Gothic architecture and contemporary sculpture - of soaring stone arches, and monumental works in steel, wood and terracotta - it is the largest religious commission for a major artist in Europe since Matisse created the Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence on the French Riviera, between 1948 and 1951.

Its unveiling also marks the culmination of a nine-year struggle - a mini-war, if you like - between the forces of tradition and modernity that at one time threatened to inflict as damaging a blow to the project as a crashed German fighter.

Some 18 miles from Calais, Bourbourg is a sleepy town with a population of just 7,000, that seems to come to life only on market day, when the streets around the main square are clotted with stalls selling clothes and farm produce.

The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste stands just off the square, the heart of the town. Its foundations date from Roman times, the choir from the 13th century, the nave from the 15th. There is a bell from 1548 that is said to be one of the most important in France."


"Caro's first thought was to create a series of sculptures that would reflect the region's history of conflict in both the First and Second World Wars. 'All the names that one drives by in this area are so extraordinary,' he says. 'Ypres, Armentières, Dunkirk… But the bishop wasn't terribly keen on the idea of doing anything about the wars. I think he felt they'd rather had enough of that.'

Inspiration arrived in the person of a Dominican priest, Fr Philippe Maillard, who visited Caro's studio early in the project. 'He said, well you've got the font there, why don't you do something to do with water?'

Responding to that idea, Caro has created a series of nine sculptures, collectively known as The Creation, which stand in the niches behind the font: The Deep, Sea Creatures, Galapagos, The Seashore, Watering Hole, Waterfall, In the Undergrowth, Beside the River and Fruits.

Alonso Cano

Alonso Cano (1601-1667)
St John the Evangelist on Patmos
1646-50
Oil on canvas, 218 x 153 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

In view of the present Synod on Scripture, perhaps an appropriate painting.

Alonso Cano is the most celebrated draughtsman among all the classical Spanish painters. He is sometimes called the Spanish Michelangelo.

He was almost an exact contemporary of Velázquez. Like Velázquez, he was a pupil of Francisco Pacheco in Seville.

The Counter-Reformation in Spain enforced the strictest antihumanist thinking. Providence controlled man’s fate, not man. Counter-Reformation painting was also to promote hyperrealism in the service of mysticism

As well as a painter, he was an accomplished architect, and sculptor

He was impetuous, volatile and had an ungovernable temper.

He was married twice. His second wife was found murdered. He was suspected and put under the rack and the torture. He survived and was acquitted.

He took holy orders and was made Residentiary of Grenada.

From 1652 he worked mainly in Granada, where he designed the façade of the cathedral (1667), one of the most original works of Spanish Baroque architecture.

The cathedral has several of Cano's works in painting and sculpture, including a polychrome wooden statue of the Immaculate Conception (1655) that is sometimes considered his masterpiece.

For those interested in the theories of Pacheco they may wish to consult Art in Theory By Charles Harrison, Paul Wood, and Jason Gaiger especially Chapter 1 where there are lengthy extracts from The Art of Painting ( Arte de la pintura) on Google books in the preview section.

India's Shame: A National Disgrace

People sleep at Tikabali relief camp in Orissa (from The Hindu, India)

This house was burned during Hindu mob attacks in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. As many as 4,000 Christian homes in the region have been burned. (By Biswaranjan Rout -- Associated Press)

The Times in a welcome editorial castigates the Indian federal government its lack of effective action in not intervening in the state of Orissa.

There, since August 24, according to the Roman Catholic Church in India, 300 Christian villages have been destroyed in Orissa, 4,400 houses burnt, 50,000 people made homeless and 59 Christians killed and 18,000 injured. Churches and schools have been destroyed and in one particularly brutal attack a nun was seized and raped while local police stood by without intervening.

Churches have also been attacked in six other states, largely in the south, but even in Delhi Christians have been threatened.


"Delhi should crack down swiftly on the violence against Christians

For months, armed thugs in one state of eastern India have been burning churches, rampaging through villages and subjecting terrified Christians to forcible conversion to Hinduism. The violence has been instigated by nationalist Hindu groups that are targeting poor and weak Christian communities in a campaign aimed at halting conversions, driving out “alien” influences and reasserting the political supremacy of India's majority religion. ...

The violence is directly linked to Hindu nationalist groups determined to assert their power in the run-up to India's next general election, which must be held within the next seven months. Extremists have been steadily gaining power, with the oldest, the Rashtriya Swaytamsevak Sangh, (RSS) playing a shadowy role in rallying Hindu nationalist support behind its main political vehicle, the BJP party, the main national opposition to the ruling Congress-led coalition. Allied groups such as the VHP or Bajrang Dal preach the same intolerant message, with the ultimate aim of overthrowing India's secular Constitution and restricting or eliminating the rights of the large Muslim minority and of Christians, who account for 2.5 per cent of the population.

Despite the denunciations of Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, who called the Orissa violence a “national shame”, the federal Government has proved unwilling or unable to intervene. The state government, controlled by the BJP and its allies, has made little effort to halt the attacks, and local police are far from impartial. But Delhi is reluctant to impose presidential rule. And though middle-class Indians look with distaste at the quasi-fascist rallies and demagogic incitments of the RSS and its offshoots, a ban on their activities would be unworkable: the “Hindutva” movement is now so strong throughout India that it could easily sidestep restrictions.

But reasons are not excuses. The attacks on the Christians are a national disgrace, the more despicable because many were once lower-caste Hindus who changed their faith to escape a life of servitude and humiliation. Unless this persecution is quickly halted, its scale could grow and spread. The 2002 massacre of 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat exposed the ever-present danger of communal violence when exploited by demagogues.

Dr Singh should need no prompting from the Vatican or concerned Christian groups in the West. An effective federal police force should be sent to Orissa and swiftly deployed. Instigators should be arrested and curfews imposed. And all India should resist this attempt to destroy the very basis of its polity and prosperity: its democracy and diversity. Without tolerance, both count for little"

The Word of God

The weekly edition of L`Osservatore Romano in English carries a major feature on the opening of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God at the Vatican.

“Only the Word of God is the foundation of all reality,” the Pope said on the opening day of the Synod of Bishops on 6 October.

Pius Wars: Ready for Sainthood?

More on the Pius Wars

Pope Pius XII: 50 years on

On 9th October 2008, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII. (see above)

He took the opportunity to say that:

"The historical debate on the figure of the Servant of God Pius XII, which has not always been the calmest, has prevented us shining a light on all the aspects of his multifaceted Pontificate...

There was a great multitude of speeches, addresses and messages delivered to scientists, doctors, and representatives of the most varied categories of workers, some of which even today still possess an extraordinary relevance and continue to be a concrete point of reference."

The debate over what Pope Pius XII did or did not do during the Second World War in relation to people of the Jewish faith, while very important, has overshadowed his teachings.

The canard that he was somehow Hitler`s Pope has made his important teachings unattractive for many.

The debate over Pius`s role or acts in the Second World War is often confusing. No sooner is one charge successfully refuted then another bit of evidence "emerges" which brings forward another charge.

One work which may be of use to those trying to assess the evidence for themselves is The Pius War. Edited by Joseph Bottum, David G. Dalin, and William Doino Jr. Lexington Books. 282 pages. $29.95. (2004)

The book deals with those authors who have been critical of Pope Pius XII's handling of the Holocaust.

In his Introduction, Bottum may surprise the reader with this summary at the end of his opening paragraph: "It [the Pius War] was a long and arduous struggle, vituperative and cruel, but, in the end, the defenders of Pius XII won every major battle. Along the way, they also lost the war."

The editors also provide an extensive annotated bibliography of many books, articles and other items pertaining to Pius XII and the Holocaust.

One reviewer of the book wrote:

"The leitmotif running throughout the volume -- that attacks on Pius’ reputation as a leader of outstanding moral courage are ill-informed, pseudo-historical and often derived from wells of anti-Christian animus -- is eminently supported by a mountainous reserve of primary and secondary source material."

In an elegant section entitled, "The Words of Eugenio Pacelli [Pius XII]," Doino provides nearly 15 pages of documentation of Pacelli’s (largely unknown) forceful and very pointed statements against anti-Semitism, racism, Hitler, Nazism, and the Holocaust -- both before and after he became Pope -- forever demolishing the charge that he was "silent" in the face of evil. Most welcomingly too, Doino does not confine himself to English speaking historians but points to works by French, Italian and German historians.

Pope John XXIII

Giacomo Manzú, 1908-1991
“Portrait of Pope John XXIII,” 1962,
Bronze, 105 x 79 x 75 cm
The Vatican Museums, Vatican City

On the eve of the feast of Blessed Pope John XXIII Father Thomas Rosica, CSB in Zenit provides an interesting anecdote about Pope John XXIII and members of his family.

"Several years ago I had signed up to celebrate Mass at the resting place and altar of Blessed John XXIII. A few of our young staff from Salt and Light Television were with me. When we arrived for the celebration, the young Italian priest who preceded me at the altar had already gone "overtime."

The priest had a group of young adults with him and they were peering into the glass casket holding the remains of Papa Giovanni. It was annoying to watch them take their blessed time, meaning we would have less time at the altar! We waited patiently, knowing that our group would only have 25 minutes to celebrate this Mass.

As the Italian priest left the altar, he walked over to me and apologized for being late. He then said something that sounded odd. "Sorry Padre, but we don't get to come here often and my cousins and I wanted to just be close to 'zio' for a while!"...

We went on with our own celebration and it had to be the fastest Mass I ever celebrated. Guards reminded us that we had to be out of there in 23 minutes.

When we returned to the papal sacristy and unvested, I signed the register and noticed that just above my name was the signature of a priest named "Giovanni Roncalli." I asked the guardian if this was true. "Certo," he said. Padre Giovanni is the great-nephew of "il buon Papa" and he is in charge of youth ministry in Bergamo!"

The People of the Book

Chief Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen (R) is greeted by Pope Benedict XVI

On Monday 6th October 2008, Shear Yashuv Cohen, Chief Rabbi of Haifa, addressed the world Synod of Bishops in the Vatican on "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church"

There is a full Report of his speech in Zenit

It was a historic occasion: the first time a Jewish Rabbi had been invited to address a plenary session of the Synod of Bishops.

Dressed in a dark suit, a black yarmulke on his gray wispy hair, and in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI, the Rabbi said, that his standing "here before you is very meaningful. It brings with it a signal of hope and a message of love, co-existence, and peace for our generation, and for generations to come."

He described at length the central place of the Holy Scriptures in the practice of the Jewish Religion.

He also discussed how important the Holy Scriptures are in the life of the State of Israel

However he warned the Fathers of forthcoming dangers which affect the State of Israel and members of the Jewish faith:

"I feel I cannot conclude my address without expressing our deep shock at the terrible and vicious words of the president of a certain state in the Middle East, in his speech last month at the United Nations General Assembly. The false and malicious accusations, the threats and the Anti-Semitic incitement, have brought back to us the painful memory of the tragedy of our people -- the victims the Holocaust, which we hope and pray will never happen again. We hope to get your help as Religious Leaders -- as well as the help of the entire free world -- to protect, defend and save Israel, the one and only sovereign state of the “People of the Book” from the hands of its enemies."

He concluded his speech thus:

"May I conclude by praying with the famous words taken from the prophecy of the Prophet Isaiah, regarding the days to come: “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters over the sea." (Isaiah 11:6-9)

May we be blessed to have it happen in our own days. Amen!"

The historic address was followed by an address of Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, a Jesuit, a former rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and former secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, on The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible He said there were two topics of discussion:

"Two distinct and complementary themes can be found in this title, which correspond to two questions. The first is: How is the Jewish people presented in the Christian Bible, that is to say in the Old Testament and in the New? The second question is: What place do the “Sacred Scriptures” of the Jewish people occupy in the Christian Bible? "

He went on:

"“On the practical level of exegesis, Christians can, nonetheless, learn much from Jewish exegesis practiced for more than two thousand years, and, in fact, they have learned much in the course of history.” ...“it is to be hoped” by Christian exegetes “ that Jews themselves can derive profit from Christian exegetical research” "

He concluded:

"... the New Testament is “in serious disagreement with the vast majority of the Jewish people”, because “it is essentially a proclamation of the fulfilment of God's plan in Jesus Christ (announced in the Old Testament), puts it in serious disagreement with the vast majority of the Jewish people who do not accept this fulfilment.[...] Although profound, such disagreement in no way implies reciprocal hostility. The example of Paul in Rm 9:11 shows that, on the contrary, an attitude of respect, esteem and love for the Jewish people is the only truly Christian attitude in a situation which is mysteriously part of the beneficent and positive plan of God.”

“Dialogue is possible, since Jews and Christians share a rich common patrimony that unites them. It is greatly to be desired that prejudice and misunderstanding be gradually eliminated on both sides, in favor of a better understanding of the patrimony they share and to strengthen the links that bind them”

In this direction, complete docility to the Word of God urges the Church to progress."

However it is to be hoped that the Pope`s commemoration of the death of Pope Pius XII today will not stop the progress of Catholic-Jewish relations. But the issue of Pope Pius XII is a very divisive issue which for many people of the Jewish faith is an extremely painful one.

Rabbi Cohen has said in Haareetz that "I did not know [the anniversary commemorations] happened during the same meeting. If I had known ... I might have refrained from coming because we feel that the pain is still here,"

"I have to make it very clear that we, the rabbis, the leadership of the Jewish people, cannot as long as the survivors still feel painful agree that this leader of the Church in a time of crisis should be honored now. It is not our decision. It pains us. We are sorry it is being done,"

Cohen said only God knows if Pius spoke out enough against the Holocaust: "God is the judge ... he knows the truth".

Counter-Reformation Art

Francisco Pacheco 1564-1654
La Virgen del Rosario/ The Virgin of the Rosary
Oil on canvas 108 x 82 cm.
Iglesia de la Magdalena. Sevilla. España

Francisco Pacheco 1564-1654
Don Diego González de Mendoza
Oil on canvas 23 x 18 cm.
Private collection. Sevilla. España.

Diego Velázquez (1599-1660)
Portrait of Francisco Pacheco del Río (1564-1654) 1619
Oil on canvas. (40x36 cm).
Museo del Prado, Madrid

From 21st October 2009 to 24th January 2010, The National Gallery in London will be presenting an exhibition entitled The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture 1600 - 1700

‘The Sacred Made Real’ will explore how painters and sculptors in 17th Century Spain ("the hyper-realists") combined their skills to create arrestingly real depictions of the saints, the Immaculate Conception and the Passion of Christ and other scenes firmly within the canons of the Spanish Counter-Reformation Church.

In addition to important canvases by Velázquez, Zurbarán and Cano, the exhibition features sculptures carved by Gregorio Fernández, Juan Martínez Montañés and Pedro de Mena and polychromed by Francisco Pacheco and Alonso Cano. The exhibition will allow comparison between the sculptures and the paintings.

Pacheco is not considered to be a great painter, but he is remembered for his theoretical work Arte de la pintura. The book is the most important contribution to Spanish artistic theory in the 17th century

In 1616 Pacheco was appointed Veedor del Oficio de Pintores by the municipal government of Seville, and in 1618 the Tribunal of the Inquisition named him Veedor de Pintura Sagrada, in which position he was required to inspect and censor the work of his colleagues in Seville.

Velázquez and Alonso Cano were his pupils. Velázquez also became his son-in-law.

His Arte de la pintura, was published in 1649, five years after his death. In the book he assembled a number of earlier theoretical treatises, as well as describing his own views, which were profoundly influenced by Counter-Reformation ideology.

His decision to write the work probably stemmed from the discussions that took place in Seville among the circle of noblemen, clerics, humanists, artists and literary figures that used to gather in his studio.

The most distinguished of its members was Fernando Enríquez de Ribera, 3rd Duque de Alcalá, but it also included the poet Francisco de Rioja, the antiquarian and collector Rodrigo Caro, the Jesuit priest Juan de Pineda and the poet and painter Juan de Jaureguí (c. 1566–1641).

The appendix contains an extensive description of "acceptable"iconographic formulae. This was intended to ensure the most orthodox portrayal of every religious subject and was scrupulously based on scriptural texts

Pacheco’s views on art were far more influential than his painting.. His theoretical writings were greatly respected by the painters of his own generation, as well as by later artists.

Escaping Criticism

Pere Borrell del Caso, (1835-1910)
Escapando de la crítica/ Escaping Criticism, 1874
Oil on canvas 76 x 62
Banco de España, Madrid

A celebrated example of a trompe l’oeil

A boy appears to be frantically leaping out of the captivity of his picture frame.

In advance of art criticism, this boy (the painting itself) appears to escape his (its) frame.

Pere Borrell del Caso was a painter of portraits and religious scenes. To an extent he was influenced by the Nazarenes. He founded a small academy in Barcelona.

Worldwide Rosary For The Unborn

Mulier Fortis reports on the project by the St. Michael the Archangel Organisation

On Saturday, 18th October, between 9am and 10am, everyone is being asked to pray a rosary for the intention of an end to the surgical and non-surgical killing of unborn babies.

Portraits

Jan van Eyck, (before c. 1395 – before July 9, 1441)
Margaret, the Artist’s Wife 1439
Oil on wood, 32,6 x 25,8 cm
Groeningemuseum, Bruges. KMSKA

From 15th October 2008, The National Gallery in London has an exhibition entitled Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian

Its exhibits will demonstrate the dramatic rise of portraiture in the Renaissance and will feature works by the great masters of Northern and Southern Europe, including Raphael, Titian, Botticelli, Van Eyck, Holbein, Dürer, Lotto, Pontormo and Bellini.

Portraiture reached its height at the Renaissance.

Why is there interest in the portraits of people long dead and about whom there is very little known ?

The Renaissance did not invent portraiture. Portraits go back to at least Ancient Egypt.

But for some reason there was an explosion in demand and in supply of portraits in Europe at the time of the Renaissance.

Part of the answer may lie in the specific detail and realism of the portrait depiction. The increase in wealth. The increase in education. The rise of individualism.

Now almost five, six hundred years later, we can not be but fascinated by the persons behind the images and wonder who they were and what they were like. Do we see something of ourselves in these images ?

The portrait of the Margaret, the wife of the famous painter Jan van Eyck can not fail to be a major exhibit. Especially as it will apparently be displayed beside the portrait of the person who may be her husband, the artist himself. There is something fascinating in the idea that after nearly six hundred years, the images of the long dead husband and wife will be briefly re-united. (even although the paintings were painted six years apart)

As regards Margaret, not much is known.

Margaret was born in 1406. Van Eyck married her in 1431. After the marriage of his master and patron, Philip the Good, van Eyck decided to settle down too. He bought a house in Bruges and that year married Margaret.

She was to bear him at least two children, giving birth in 1434 and 1435

One of the children was a daughter, who years later became a nun in the convent of Maeseyck. At the christening of this child the duke was sponsor, and this was but one of many distinctions by which Philip the Good rewarded his painter's merits.

One critic (E. Dahnens, 1980) has suggested that van Eyck`s The Lucca Madonna and Child may be a likeness of the artist`s wife, Margaret and one of their new born children. However the theory seems to lack concrete evidence.

The portrait of Margaret is still in its original frame.

The panel incorporates the mock-chiselled 'speaking' inscription: my husband Johannes finished painting me in the year 1439 on 15 June / my age was thirty-three.

This is followed by the artist's own motto in Greek characters, als ikh kan (to the best of my ability).

It is thought that the portrait was painted for presentation to the Bruges Guild of Painters together with one of the artist himself (now lost). For many centuries it was in the possession of the Guild Corporation (until the French Revolution).

She is shown in her best finery. She wears a dress with a thick fur-lined collar. reflecting her husband's financial success. She is wearing a veil of seven layers of cloth. Her hair is dressed in a new horn head-dress, edged with small braids and tightly packed into a patterned net. The effect is to suggest a person of wealth.

Like the artist, she appears small in stature.

It does not flatter like some of his other commissions. But there is a delicacy in the execution and colour.

Sadly, the marriage only lasted ten years and was terminated by the death of the artist who is buried in the Church of Saint-Donatian, in Bruges

The Beauty of the Miniaturist

Simon Bening (1483-1561)
Flemish, probably Bruges,
Villagers going to Church
about 1550
Tempera colors and gold paint on parchment
2 3/16 x 3 3/4 in.
MS. 50, RECTO
The Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Simon Bening (1483-1561)
Flemish, probably Bruges,
Gathering Twigs
about 1550
Tempera colors and gold paint on parchment
2 3/16 x 3 3/4 in.
MS. 50, VERSO

The miniature have probably been cut from the lower border of the calendar of a book of hours

Simon Bening was one of the most celebrated painters of Flanders in the 1500s

He worked for many international royal and important patrons

The reputation of this Flemish illuminator was such that he even won praise from Georgio Vasari in his 'The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects', first published in 1550

His daughter, Levina Teerlinc, about 1510/20-76 accompanied her husband to England and was part of the Royal household. She was first mentioned in Henry VIII's household records in 1546, as Levina Teerlinc. Initial payments to Levina Teerlinc were one-off and for work as a 'Paintrix'. Later she was a gentlewoman to both Mary I and the young Princess Elizabeth. She continued in royal service, living in Stepney, London through the reigns of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I until her death in 1576.

Rosaries: a Gang symbol ?

The Dallas Morning News reports that last month Dallas school officials told Tabitha Ruiz that she must remove or conceal the rosary she often wears around her neck because it is considered a gang symbol and violated the school district's dress code.

Ms Ruiz, 16, claimed the policy violated her religious freedom.

Following the threat of legal action by Ms Ruiz, officials have reversed course and decided to allow students to display rosaries at school

Christians take on Big Brother

Italian TV (RAI) is hosting a marathon session of the reading of the Bible(from the beginning: Genesis, to the very end: Apocalypse) from Sunday 5th October to Saturday 11th October.

It is taking place at the Bailica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome.

The Pope started the first reading. The Secretary of State (Bertoni) will finish with the last reading from the Book of Apocalypse.

More than 1200 people from different backgrounds, religions, ages will take their turn to read.

Included will be Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelicals, and members of the Bible Society in Italy. For certain parts of the Old Testament, members of the Jewish community will also participate.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the event after reciting the Angelus with thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on 5th October 2008. He said, “This event is a fitting accompaniment to the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God.

“The Word of God can thus enter into homes to accompany the lives of families and single persons: a seed that, if properly welcomed, will not fail to bear abundant fruit."

The website of the event (in Italian) is La Bibbia Giorno e notte (The Bible: Day and Night)

Much better than Big Brother !

Sketchbook

Jacopo Bellini 1400-1470
St Francis kneeling on the banks of a stream receiving the Stigmata, a friar reading on the other bank,
From The Jacopo Bellini album 1440-1470
Paper Leadpoint
415 millimetres x 336 millimetres
The British Museum, London

From the sketchbook of the Venetian artist Jacopo Bellini

A Book of Devotion: BL MS Egerton 1821

Psalter and Rosary of the Virgin (from f. 27), in two versions, and other devotional texts, including a litany
Date c. 1480- c. 1490
Parchment: BL MS Egerton 1821
Language Latin and English
The British Library, London

It is thought that this Book of Devotion was intended for use by a woman in Kent: the litany includes ‘S. Augustine of Canterbury and all the saints of that monastery’, along with many women including Elizabeth of Spalbeck and Mary of Oignies

The British Library website comments on this book:

"The most remarkable example of a book of devotion that may show signs of having received that devotion in a direct physical form [such as kissing or touching] is Egerton 1821, an English product of around 1490.

It begins with three pages, each painted black, on which large drops of blood trickle down. The third page has been thoroughly worn. I am not absolutely certain this is the result of kissing, and part of it has been rubbed and smudged rather than merely kissed, but I think it very well could have been partially erased by kissing.

The black and blood-spattered pages are followed by seven uncoloured pages, on the first of which is a pasted-in woodcut of the Virgin feeding the Christ child, surrounded by verses from the rosary. This is followed by excerpts from the rosary likening the Virgin in turn to five lilies."

Saint Daniele Comboni (1831-1881)

Bishop Daniele Comboni died in Khartoum on 10th October 1881, aged only 50.

His work "The Plan for the Rebirth of Africa" was first regarded as crazy and foolhardy but later came to be regarded as effective and a valid means for the proclamation of the Gospel and the liberation of the African continent.

He established , in 1867 and 1872 respectively, two missionary Institutes of men and of women: these become known more widely as the "Comboni Missionaries" and the "Comboni Missionary Sisters", also known as the "Verona Fathers and Sisters".

He was in the forefront in the struggle against the pernicious Slave Trade, and on consolidating the missionary activity carried out by Africans themselves.

His life story can be seen on the Vatican website here and on the Comboni Missionaries site here

Left wing politics in the United Kingdom

Normally I try to keep out of political commentary, especially about party politics in the United Kingdom.

However Father Ray Blake in his post "New Labour- Anti-Catholic" presents an extremely disturbing story about a Labour Party MEP, Mary Honeyball, who is one of the MEPs for a large part of London.

On 20th May she wrote an anti-Catholic piece for the Guardian in which she questioned whether Roman Catholics should be discriminated against in public life. For the piece see here: Cardinals' sins - Gordon Brown has allowed his authority to be undermined by the three Catholics in his cabinet

This led to the resignation of a prominent Labour activist reported in the Catholic Herald: see Labour activist quits post over anti-Catholicism

The MEP issued a statement denying that she was "anti-Catholic" and put forward her welcoming of the Government`s commitment to abolish the discriminatory Act of Settlement as proof. (Hmmmmmmmmm!)

However on 25th July 2008 again in The Guardian, she criticised Pope Benedict XVI for refusing to address the European Parliament.

See the article entitled: Pope on the ropes:Benedict XVI won't address the European parliament because of our 'militant secularism'. What a foolish and self-defeating stance

On the resignation of Ruth Kelly from the Cabinet a few days ago, the MEP issued a scathing personal attack on Ms Kelly. See The Catholic Herald 1st October 2008

In her latest attack, Ms Honeyball said: "It appears that Ms Kelly is at last doing the decent thing and going, because she cannot support the HFE Bill due to come before the House of Commons soon for its third reading.

"It is well known that Kelly not only opposed but forced a free vote during the second reading on three of the Bill's most important clauses: screening embryos for diseases to allow saviour siblings, the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos for vital medical research and ending the requirement for a father in IVF treatment.

"All this is, of course, entirely in line with the Catholic Church's attitude. Kelly put her religion before the wishes of those who elected her during the second reading of the Embryology Bill. Her decision to go means that this, thankfully, will not happen again,"

The MEP is clearly unfit to hold any kind of public office.

October and the Rosary

Albrecht Dürer 1471-1528
Feast of the Rose Garlands 1506
Oil on wood 162 × 194,5 cm
National Gallery, Prague

October is of course the month of Mary and the Rosary.

This painting was commissioned by a Confraternity of the Rosary in Venice in the sixteenth century, before the Reformation.

In France, this painting is known as La Vierge de la fête du rosaire (The Virgin of the Feast of the Rosary), which is probably preferable to the English title.

Unfortunately the painting has been badly damaged through the Ages and it has also suffered from bad restoration processes during that time. At one time in the eighteenth century it was sold at auction for a florin.

There are three copies of the painting in other hands and institutions. The original is now in Prague.

The work was completed during Dürer`s second stay in Venice. He painted himself into the picture. In the top right, he is man with blonde hair staring at the viewer, in the midst of what appears a German landscape. The detail above shows the figure in greater detail.

He is holding a sheet of paper.

On the paper is written: EXEGIT QUINQUE MESTRI SPATIO ALBERTUS DURER GERMANUS MDVI. (`Albrecht Dürer, a German, produced it within the span of five months. 1506.')

It is thought that it was commissioned for merchants in the German colony in Venice, possibly for the Confraternity of the Blessed Rosary (founded in Augsburg in 1476). It was to be an altarpiece in the church of S. Bartolomeo near the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, the social and commercial centre of the German colony

It depicts an ideal congregation of the Brotherhood of the Rosary.

St Dominic (traditionally the initiator of the Rosary) is the saint to the left of the Madonna

Beside the figure of Dürer is probably Leonhard Vilt of Regensburg, a printer active in Venice and founder of the Brotherhood of the Rosary in Venice.

On the knee of the Madonna is the "signature" of Dürer: a fly.

There is a fascinating part of the website for The National Gallery of Prague simply on this important painting.

The painting marks the end of the Fifteenth century Medievalism and the beginning of the new style of the Sixteenth Century Renaissance.

The Rosary attained many devotees throughout Europe in the Fifteenth Century. There was a sudden emergence and explosion in brotherhoods across the Holy Roman Empire and in Italy. Venice's confraternity was established in 1480.

The lack of superfluous detail in the painting concentrates the viwer`s attention on the religious theme of the painting. The variety of gestures of the figures in the painting gives rise to an impression of movement. The variety of expressions of the figures and the interaction of the figures create not a tableau but a complex scene depicting a vibrant society. The figures are naturalistic. The balance and composition remind one of the influence of Venetian painting especially Giovanni Bellini. Perhaps this is not surprising. The principal formal models for the piece were wroks by Bellini: the Pala Barbarigo of 1488 and the San Zaccaria altarpiece of 1505. There is a monumentality to the figures which prefigures the style of the Cinquecento.

Dürer expressed his satisfaction that the picture had silenced all of the Italian artists who had criticised his painting technique and, above all, his use of colour. It is clear from the surviving correspondence that he placed considerable importance on this altarpiece. He spent a lot of time on this painting. He made innumerable studies. Twenty one studies of wash on blue paper survive.

The painting was well received from the beginning. The earliest Italian source of 1548/49 refers to Dürer's painting as one of the artistic highlights of Venice along with the horses of San Marco and pictures by Giorgione and Titian.