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Saints Marcellinus and Peter

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June 2: Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Martyrs—Optional Memorial

Quote:
Here lie the bodies of Saints Marcellinus the priest and Peter the exorcist, who by a marvelous inspiration, with the help of the Lord, have brought many unbelievers to the knowledge of the true faith, have taught them the commandments of the law, and at last, by the command of the impious tyrant, have deserved to be crowned with the palm of martyrdom. ~Epitaph written by Pope Saint Damasus I

Reflection: On February 23, 303, Roman Emperor Diocletian issued an edict that initiated a fierce persecution of Christians. The edict mandated the destruction of Christian churches and scriptures, revoked all legal rights of Christians, and called for the confiscation of their property. In 304, Diocletian ordered the arrest of clergy, forcing them to offer sacrifices to the Roman gods or face imprisonment, torture, and death. These abuses continued under Diocletian and his co-emperors until 311 when Galerius issued an edict of toleration toward Christians. The exact number of Christians who suffered martyrdom during this period is unknown, but it might have been in the thousands. Today’s saints were among the first Christians to receive the crown of martyrdom during that period.

There is very little information available about Marcellinus and Peter. It is believed that both were Roman clergy, with Marcellinus being a priest and Peter an exorcist. Both are included in the Roman Canon of the Mass, alongside other early martyrs and saints.

The little we know about these martyrs comes to us from Saint Damasus I, who served as pope from 366–384. As a child, Damasus heard the story of the martyrdom of Saints Marcellinus and Peter from the mouth of one of the executioners who later became a Christian. After their arrest, Marcellinus and Peter were likely given a sham trial, found guilty, and then offered the chance to gain their freedom by burning incense to the Roman gods. They refused. While in prison, the two men preached the Gospel to other prisoners and jailers. To put an end to their evangelization, orders were given to take them to a secret location in a nearby forest, where they were ordered to dig their graves. They did so joyfully, and were then beheaded and buried in that secret location to prevent other Christians from venerating their tombs.

After Marcellinus’ and Peter’s deaths, their stories became well known. Some time later, through divine providence, two holy women named Lucilla and Firmina were directed to the burial site. They took the saints’ bodies and buried them in what is today called the Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter. These catacombs hold thousands of graves, primarily of Christians, and once also served as a secret place of Christian worship.

In 313, Emperor Constantine the Great issued the Edict of Milan, legalizing Christianity and calling for benevolent treatment of Christians. As part of his efforts to help Christianity grow, Constantine sent his mother, Saint Helena, on a journey to the Holy Land to bring back relics of Christ’s Passion. Constantine also built many churches in various holy places. One of those churches is the Basilica of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, built over their catacombs. When Saint Helena died, Constantine built a mausoleum for her next to the basilica, which became her resting place for centuries. As a result, devotion to Saints Marcillinus and Peter became widespread.

At the start of the ninth century, a German monk named Eginhard, who had previously been a secretary to Emperor Charlemagne, requested relics of martyrs from Pope Gregory IV. In response, Pope Gregory sent the relics of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, and a monastery was constructed in their honor in Seligenstadt. After they were buried there, many miracles were said to have taken place.

Although we know little about the details of their lives, the veneration of these early saints has been widespread, and their names continue to be invoked today every time the Roman Canon is used in the Mass. What is certain is that the courage of these saints in the face of death has inspired countless Christians for many centuries. As Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). In many ways, everyone who has been inspired by the martyrdom of Saints Marcellinus and Peter can be considered their friends. Though they died long ago, the “friendship” of their witness endures.

As we honor these martyrs, ponder your own call to lay down your life selflessly for others. Dying to yourself—living sacrificially and selflessly—is no easy task. But when the grace of God is alive in your life, you will discover that you are given the courage you need to be a witness to Christ. Pray for the same courage that Marcellinus and Peter had, so that your sacrificial love will make you friends to others who need your witness.

Prayer: Saints Marcellinus and Peter, you bravely laid down your lives for the sake of the Gospel and, in doing so, spiritually befriended all those who would be inspired by your witness. Please pray for me, that I too may have the courage to bear witness to Christ by living selflessly and sacrificially for others, so that God’s grace and mercy may be poured out on them through my witness. Saints Marcellinus and Peter, pray for me. 

Margaret Clitherow

 

25Mar

Margaret Clitherow

Feast Day: March 25
Venerated: December 8, 1929
Beatified: December 15, 1929
Canonized: October 25, 1970

Margaret was born in 1555 in England. She was raised as a Protestant, a member of the Church of England, but after her marriage to John Clitherow, she made the decision to become Catholic. It was a brave decision, because Margaret lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who wanted to rid England of all Catholics and the practice of the Catholic faith.

Margaret’s husband did not become Catholic, but he supported her decision. John even paid the fines Margaret was charged for not attending Protestant services in their local church. Margaret had two hiding places built in their home. One was a small room, large enough for several priests to hide from the authorities looking to arrest any members of the clergy. The other secret place in Margaret’s house was a small cupboard. In it she kept the sacred vessels, including a chalice and paten and vestments—anything a priest would need to celebrate the Eucharist.

Catholics came secretly to Margaret’s house for celebrations of the Mass and for the reception of the other Sacraments. We believe that Margaret and John’s three children were baptized there as infants. The home was searched often because the authorities suspected that Margaret was breaking the laws against Catholics.

Margaret made plans to send her oldest son to France so that he could receive a Catholic education. This, too, was a crime. Someone reported Margaret, and she was arrested in 1586 for harboring priests. She refused to admit that she had broken any laws. Margaret was found guilty and sentenced to death at the age of 30.

Margaret’s great faith was an inspiration to all three of her children. Her daughter, Anne, became a nun, and her two sons, Henry and William, both became priests.

In 1970 Pope Paul VI canonized St. Margaret as a saint for her courage and faith. She is sometimes referred to as the “Pearl of York.”

We can show our respect for her by thanking God that we are free to live openly as Catholics. We can also pray for anyone who is persecuted for their belief in Jesus and the Church.

Blessed Margaret Pole

 

Blessed Margaret Pole

Margaret was born into the ruling dynasty in 1473, at Farleigh Hungerford, in Somerset. Her father, the Duke of Clarence, was brother to both Edward IV and Richard III. This meant that all her life she was seen as a threat to the ruling monarchs, as she had a legitimate claim to the throne and was therefore a potential figurehead in any revolt against the crown. Indeed as soon as the Tudors came to power they imprisoned Margaret's brother, the Earl of Warwick, and eventually executed him. The Tudors sought to defuse her potential threat by keeping her close to them, marrying her to Sir Richard Pole, who was related to Henry VII, and keeping her close at court. Margaret became lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon, beginning a lifelong friendship, and she became governess to Princess Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine. At first Henry favoured Margaret, restoring to her lost family lands and titles, but this came to an end at the time of his divorce from Catherine. Her loyalty to Catherine, and to Mary, as well as to her Catholic faith, brought her into conflict with the King at the time of his divorce and remarriage to Anne Boleyn. If her own opposition to Henry’s behaviour, and her position as a possible contender for the throne when the Tudor dynasty was looking shaky were not enough, her son Reginald Pole was needling the King from overseas and encouraging opposition to him. This made Margaret’s position very dangerous indeed. Although the King described her as ‘the holiest woman in England’ she was arrested on the grounds of treason, and imprisoned for some time at Cowdray in 1538-9, although she never faced trial and there was no credible evidence against her. In spite of this she was executed in 1541, at the age of 70. Reportedly the inexperienced executioner took ten blows to sever her head.

When her son Reginald Pole, now a cardinal, heard of his mother's death, he is reported to have said: "Hitherto I have thought myself indebted to the divine goodness for having received my birth from one of the most noble and virtuous women in England; but from henceforth my obligation will be much greater, for I understand that I am now the son of a martyr. May God be thanked and praised. We must rejoice, because now we have one more patron to intercede for us in Heaven." 

Margaret Pole was beatified with other martyrs of penal times in 1886.

In many ways Margaret’s world and life are very far from ours. But there is something about her that speaks to us still. She was a married woman, trying to be a faithful and supportive wife and mother. She was caught up in circumstances beyond her control, but she refused to go with the flow, refused to sell out for a quiet life. When so many people were turning their backs on the truth to gain the King’s favour, she refused to do so. Even in her old age, when she might have been tempted to succumb to ‘anything for a quiet life’ she declined to do so. When we are tempted not to speak the truth, to allow our silence to imply we agree with what people around us are saying, not to rock the boat, to go along with the culture of the day, however misguided and self-serving it may be, we should remember the quiet dignity of this elderly woman and call on her help:

Blessed Margaret Pole, Pray for us!

Hildebert of Lavardin

 

Hildebert of Lavardin ( * 1056 - † 1133 )

 

Archbishop of Tours

 

Hildebertus Cenomannensis, Hildebertus de Lavertino, Hildebert of Lavardin. Hildebert, one of the most distinguished Latin poets of the entire Middle Ages, saw the light of the world at the castle of Lavardin near Montoire-sur-Loire. His father, also called Hildebert, was the servant of Solomon of Lavardin, and his mother bore the name of Beresindis. Hildebert was made a student of Berengar of Tours, to whom he composed an epitaph; Unfortunately nothing is reported to us about Hildebert's literary career. He appears first (after 1085) as a scholar of the cathedral school of Le Mans; In 1091, he was promoted to Archidiakonus by Bishop Hoël, and after his death (July 1096), he was elected by the bishops of Le Mans in an ambivalent election. The lord of Le Mans, Élie de la Flèche, agreed, the feudal lord, William the Red of England, rejected them; It was not until Christmas that the consecration could take place. When, three years later, the king came to Le Mans after the second feud against Élie de la Flèche, he led Hildebert to England in a kind of captivity, because the bishop refused to settle the towers of his cathedral The king claimed that his troops had been shot. The death of William (August 2, 1100) gave Hildebert freedom. He used it for a trip to Rome, asked for his removal from Paschal II, but returned home with rich resources for the expansion of his cathedral (Pentecost, 1101).

 

Kupferstich des 18. Jh.

 

A fictitious representation of the frontispiece of issue 1708

In 1112 Hildebert was imprisoned in Nogent-le-Rotrou by Hubert, Truchess of Count Rotrou du Perche, and held in custody until March 1113. In 1116, in Le Mans, just as Hildebert took his second trip to Rome, Henry of Lausanne, asked for permission to preach in the diocese, and took the opportunity to stir it up against the absent bishop. When Hildebert returned for Pentecost, the fanatical sectarian escaped from the city to Saint-Calais and soon from the Sprengel, but the prelate had long to do until the waves which had excited him had softened.

 

On 25 April 1120, Hildebert experienced the pleasure of conjoining the essentially completed cathedral; In 1123 he traveled a third time to Rome to Calixt II, and in all likelihood lived according to the Laterankonzile of this year. Certainly his presence at the Council of Chartres in 1124. After the death of Gislebert of Tours, he was unanimously elected successor by the clergy and the people of the Archbishopric. For a long time he hesitated whether he should accept the election; An order of the pope and the recognition of the King of France put an end to his wavering. Even these last years of Hildebert were not without disturbances; They brought him into conflict with the king, who claimed the right to forgive the dignities of the parish; With the bishop of Dol, who raised claims on the Metropolitan dignity over the Breteno dioceses. In the Roman schism of 1130, Hildebert assumed a position to be awaited; In February he consecrated a chapel of the convent of Redon; On the eighteenth of December, he went to Tours, seventy-seven years old. See Hildebert's life Dieudonné, Hildebert de Lavardin, évèque du Mans, archévèque de Tours (1056 to 1133). Sa vie, ses lettres. Paris 1898.

 

From Hildebert's poetic works, we have only one complete (unfortunately, complete) edition, which was published by Beaugendre (1708), which was re-edited by Bourassé in 1854 (Migne EP, p. 171); Both editors have given Hildebert things which the author has never written without justification and proof, and often without the attempt of such a man. This led Hauréau to his exemplary investigations: Les Mélanges Poëtiques d'Hildebert de Lavardin, Paris, 1882. Only a few disappearing under Hildebert's lyric poems can be counted among the hymns (in a broad sense). This little is found in Anal. Hymn L, 408-422. If we have little in Hymns from Hildebert, then only a few whole books of hymns and poems will weigh up this. If he had only had the Oratio ad ss. Trinitatem, a poem with its theological depth in the first part and the depth of feeling in the last sections would suffice to count him forever to the best hymnos of all tongues. A German translation can be found in my book: The Church of the Latins in their Songs, Kempten, 1908, p. 86.

 

(Guido Maria Dreves, Clemens Blume, A Thousand Thousand Latin Hymn-poetry, Part One,

ST PETER DAMIAN’S THEOLOGY OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE: Gordon Mursell, Former Anglican Bishop of Stratford

 

TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE-DOWN: ST PETER DAMIAN’S THEOLOGY OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE: Gordon Mursell, Former Anglican Bishop of Stratford

 

 

 

There is a paradox at the heart of Peter Damian’s theology of the spiritual life, which is nowhere clearer than in his view of the world, and of the nature of human beings. On the one hand, he makes it clear that our existence in this world is transitory in the perspective of eternity: “if we were to compare the immense space of time in which God existed before the world was, and that in which he will continue to exist after its end, with the tiny amount of time from the beginning of the world to its end, it would be less than if you were to throw a handful of water into the sea.”  And he accepts St Paul’s sober view of human fallenness: all human beings have sinned, and Christ died for all. As a monk he persistently refers to himself as “Peter the monk and sinner (Petrus peccator monachus)”, even after being made bishop.  Yet, on the other hand, precisely in making this latter point he insists on the universal scope of Christ’s redeeming work: “the blood of Christ is the redemption of all the world (sanguis Christi redemptio totius est mundi).”  Note his wording: Christ died for all the world, not just for the Church, or even for all humanity. And here is one aspect of the paradox: this transitory world, a world from which Damian counsels his audience to flee to the spiritual safety of the monastery (or, better still, the hermitage), is precisely the world for which Christ gave his life. This paradox is not new: it informs the understanding of “the world” to be found in the Johannine writings in the New Testament: in them we find that, whilst Christ prays to the Father to deliver his disciples from the world and warns those disciples of the hostility the world will direct at them,  he also declares that “God so loved the world (not “the people of God”, or even “all humanity”) that he gave his only Son…God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him”; and Christ goes on to pray that his disciples may reproduce in their common life the mutual indwelling and love of the Father and the Son, “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

 

The world, then, in the sense of the created order, is (for Peter Damian as for the evangelist John) both transitory and hostile - and yet Christ died for it, not just for a small number of the elect or even just for all humanity.  And the paradox is further heightened by Damian’s understanding of the human person: each fragile, sinful individual is at the same time a microcosm of “the world”, in that each person contains the four fundamental elements believed to be constitutive of the created order – and he takes that classical Greek view of the human person further in maintaining that each Christian is a “little church” (quasi quaedam minor ecclesia), since each is capable of receiving all the sacraments by which Christ’s redemptive work becomes efficacious in individual human lives.  Elsewhere he writes of the human person as “a lesser world (minori mundo)”, reproducing within his or her interior life the conflict that Damian believes to exist at the heart of the created order.  

Prayer To St Rita

 

Rita of Cascia

Prayer To St Rita

Dear St. Rita,
during your entire life on earth
you found your happiness by following the will of our heavenly Father.

Help me to be as trusting of God in all His plans for me.
Help me this day to give myself to Him as you did,
without limit, without fear, without counting the cost.

Help me to be generous in serving the needs of others,
patient in all difficulties,
forgiving toward all who injure me.

Help me to learn more deeply the great mystery of the Cross of Jesus,
so that by embracing it as you did,
I may come to experience its power to heal and to save. Amen.

Petition Prayer I

O Powerful St. Rita,
rightly called Saint of the Impossible,
I come to you with confidence in my great need.
You know well my trials,
for you yourself were many times burdened in this life.
Come to my help, speak for me, pray with me,
intercede on my behalf before the Father.
I know that God has a most generous heart
and that he is a most loving Father.
Join your prayers to mine
and obtain for me the grace I desire:

(Share your request…)

You who were so very pleasing to God on earth
and are so much more now in heaven,
I promise to use this favour, when granted,
to better my life, to proclaim God’s mercy,
and to make you more widely known and loved. Amen.

Petition Prayer II

Holy Patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, so humble, pure and patient, whose pleadings with thy Divine Spouse are irresistible, obtain for me from thy Crucified Christ my request: (Share your request…).

Be kind to me, for the greater glory of God, and I promise to honour thee and to sing thy praises forever.

O Glorious St. Rita, who didst miraculously participate in the sorrowful Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, obtain for me the grace to suffer with resignation the troubles of this life, and protect me in all my needs. Amen.

Traditional Prayer of Intercession

Glorious St. Rita, O Holy Patroness of those in need, your intercession with our Lord is most powerful. Through the favours obtained by your prayers, you have been called the Advocate of the Hopeless and even of the Impossible. St. Rita, humble and pure; patient and compassionate lover of Christ Crucified! We have confidence that everyone who has recourse to you, will find comfort and relief. Listen to our petitions and show your power with God on our behalf. Obtain our petitions for us, if they are for the greater glory of God, and for our good. We promise, if our petitions are granted, to make known your favour, and to glorify God for His gift. Relying on your merits and power before the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we ask of you: (Share your request…)

Obtain for us our request:

– by the singular merits of your childhood,
– by your perfect union with the Divine Will,
– by your heroic sufferings during your married life,
– by the consolation you experienced at the conversion of your husband,
– by the sacrifice of your children rather than see them grievously offend God,
– by your miraculous entrance into the convent,
– by your severe penances and thrice daily bloody scourging,
– by the suffering caused by the wound you received from the thorn of the Crucified Saviour,
– by the divine love which consumed your heart,
– by that remarkable devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, on which alone you existed for four years,
– by the happiness with which you  parted from your trials to join your Divine Spouse,
– by the perfect example you gave to people of every state of life.

Pray for us, O Holy St. Rita, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us Pray: Heavenly Father, in Your infinite love and mercy, you heed the prayer of Your beloved servant, Saint Rita. You graciously grant favours through her intercession, which are considered impossible to human foresight, skill and efforts. Relying on her compassionate love, we ask You to assist us in our trials and difficulties. Let unbelievers know that you are the helper of the humble, the defence of the helpless, and the strength of those who trust in You. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

… St Rita of Cascia, Pray for Us …

 

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart,

Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being loved,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being extolled,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being honored,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being praised,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being preferred to others,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being consulted,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being approved,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being despised,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of suffering rebukes,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being calumniated,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being forgotten,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being ridiculed,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being wronged,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being suspected,

Deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I 

may decrease,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be chosen and I set aside,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be praised and I go unnoticed,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be preferred to me in everything,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may become holier than I, provided that I may 

become as holy as I should,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

Spes Aedificiandi POPE JOHN PAUL II APOSTOLIC LETTER

 

 

Spes Aedificiandi

POPE JOHN PAUL II

APOSTOLIC LETTER

ISSUED MOTU PROPRIO

PROCLAIMING

SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN

SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA AND

SAINT TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS

CO-PATRONESSES OF EUROPE

 

Bridget, was born of an aristocratic family in 1303 at Finsta, in the Swedish region of Uppland. She is known above all as a mystic and the foundress of the Order of the Most Holy Saviour. Yet it must not be forgotten that the first part of her life was that of a lay woman happily married to a devout Christian man to whom she bore eight children. In naming her a Co-Patroness of Europe, I would hope that not only those who have received a vocation to the consecrated life but also those called to the ordinary occupations of the life of the laity in the world, and especially to the high and demanding vocation of forming a Christian family, will feel that she is close to them. Without abandoning the comfortable condition of her social status, she and her husband Ulf enjoyed a married life in which conjugal love was joined to intense prayer, the study of Sacred Scripture, mortification and charitable works. Together they founded a small hospital, where they often attended the sick. Bridget was in the habit of serving the poor personally. At the same time, she was appreciated for her gifts as a teacher, which she was able to use when she was required to serve at Court in Stockholm. This experience was the basis of the counsel which she would later give from time to time to princes and rulers concerning the proper fulfilment of their duties. But obviously the first to benefit from these counsels were her children, and it is not by chance that one of her daughters, Catherine, is venerated as a Saint.

 

But this period of family life was only a first step. The pilgrimage which she made with her husband Ulf to Santiago de Compostela in 1341 symbolically brought this time to a close and prepared her for the new life which began a few years later at the death of her husband. It was then that Bridget recognized the voice of Christ entrusting her with a new mission and guiding her step by step by a series of extraordinary mystical graces.

 

Leaving Sweden in 1349, Bridget settled in Rome, the See of the Successor of Peter. Her move to Italy was a decisive step in expanding her mind and heart not simply geographically and culturally, but above all spiritually. In her desire to venerate the relics of saints, she went on pilgrimage to many places in Italy. She visited Milan, Pavia, Assisi, Ortona, Bari, Benevento, Pozzuoli, Naples, Salerno, Amalfi and the Shrine of Saint Michael the Archangel on Mount Gargano. Her last pilgrimage, made between 1371 and 1372, took her across the Mediterranean to the Holy Land, enabling her to embrace spiritually not only the many holy places of Catholic Europe but also the wellsprings of Christianity in the places sanctified by the life and death of the Redeemer.

 

Even more than these devout pilgrimages, it was a profound sense of the mystery of Christ and the Church which led Bridget to take part in building up the ecclesial community at a quite critical period in the Church's history. Her profound union with Christ was accompanied by special gifts of revelation, which made her a point of reference for many people in the Church of her time. Bridget was recognized as having the power of prophecy, and at times her voice did seem to echo that of the great prophets of old. She spoke unabashedly to princes and pontiffs, declaring God's plan with regard to the events of history. She was not afraid to deliver stern admonitions about the moral reform of the Christian people and the clergy themselves (cf. Revelations, IV, 49; cf. also IV, 5). Understandably, some aspects of her remarkable mystical output raised questions at the time; the Church's discernment constantly referred these back to public revelation alone, which has its fullness in Christ and its normative expression in Sacred Scripture. Even the experiences of the great Saints are not free of those limitations which always accompany the human reception of God's voice.

 

Yet there is no doubt that the Church, which recognized Bridget's holiness without ever pronouncing on her individual revelations, has accepted the overall authenticity of her interior experience. She stands as an important witness to the place reserved in the Church for a charism lived in complete docility to the Spirit of God and in full accord with the demands of ecclesial communion. In a special way too, because the Scandinavian countries from which Bridget came were separated from full communion with the See of Rome during the tragic events of the sixteenth century, the figure of this Swedish Saint remains a precious ecumenical “bridge”, strengthened by the ecumenical commitment of her Order.

Who wrote the hymns for the Office of St. Joseph, March 19th?

 

Who wrote the hymns for the Office of St. Joseph, March 19^th?

 

Most often the hymns for the feast of St. Joseph are attributed to the 17^th century Carmelite Fr. Juan Escollar, or to give his professed name, Juan de la Concepcion of the seventeenth century. However, the Liber Hymnarius says the author is Hieronymus Casanate, fuit cardinalis bibliothecarius et archivarius Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae ab anno 1693 usque ad 1700. Anno 1701. I have wondered if these two names refer to the same person, but that seems extremely unlikely. For one thing the Carmelite friar was from Spain and the cardinal was from Italy. However, they were in Rome at the same time. Perhaps a reader knows the answer. Meanwhile here is Fr. Joseph Connelly’s argument for

Juan Escollar’s authorship (Hymns of the Roman Liturgy):

 

Probably the Spanish Carmelite Juan de la Concepcion of the seventeenth century. It is most unlikely that any of hymns 106-108 [Te Joseph, Caelitum Joseph, Iste quem Laeti]were written before the seventeenth century. They are not among the known hymns of the fifteenth or six- teenth centuries, have no place in the breviaries of that time and are not in the Breviary of St Pius V.  (1568). Gerson therefore must be ruled out as a possible author.

 

The Carmelite nun, Sister Clare Mary, was greatly responsible for Clement X raising the rank of St

Joseph's feast on 19 March to that of a double of the second class and providing a revised office for that feast. This office of 1671 was the same as that of the_ oHBreviary of 1568, except for three new antiphons and three new hymns, which were 106-108. Behind the scenes Sister Clare seems to have persuaded the Carmelite friar Juan de la Concepcion, then in Rome, to compose an entirely new office. This office for the Patronage of St Joseph was sanctioned in 1680 for use by the Carmelites and, like the Roman office of 1671, contained these hymns. Later Clement XI composed the present office for 19 March-a masterpiece of composition, as Batiffol rightly says in his History of the Roman Breviary, p. 254, n. 4. The present office of the Solemnity is substantially the same as that of 1680.

 

A Carmelite life of Sister Clare, first published in 1681, and the Jesuit Patrignani's book on devotion

to St Joseph (Florence, 1707) state that Juan composed the office of 1680. The interest of Sister Clare

and the testimony of Patrignani are confirmed in a memorandum drawn up in 1714 by the future Benedict XIV and later inserted by him in his De Servorum Dei Beatijicatione, Bk. IV, Part II, ch. xx, especially sections 17 and 20.

 

No authority asserts explicitly that Juan is the author of all or any of these hymns. But as Patrignani

says that 'L'Uffizio tutto proprio del Santo' was Juan's work, the authorship of the hymns seems to be included in this statement. It is also clear that whatever the date of the composition of the office of 1680, the hymns had certainly been composed by 1671, for they are part of the office approved in that year. Further, as the decree of 1714 does not include hymns among the new elements of Clement XI's office, it must be presumed that Clement is not their author, though he has been claimed as such. The history of devotion to St Joseph seems to point in the seventeenth century to a Spaniard and to a

Carmelite as the composer of these hymns, and Juan is the only person at present known who fits both conditions. A further pointer to his authorship is a similarity of style between these hymns and some that he certainly wrote in honor of St Teresa. The influence of Urban VIII is perceptible in 106 which has many points of resemblance with Martinae celebri.

Anselm Meditatio 3: quoted Rachel Fulton, From Judgement to Passion: 2002

 

Anselm Meditatio 3: quoted Rachel Fulton, From Judgement to Passion: 2002

Christian soul, brought to life again out of the heaviness of death, redeemed and set free from wretched servitude by the blood of God, rouse your mind and remember that you are risen, realize that you have been redeemed and set free. Consider again the strength of your salvation and where it is found. Meditate upon it, delight in the contemplation of it.  Shake off your lethargy and set your mind to thinking over these things.          Taste the goodness of your Redeemer, be on fire with love for your Savior.

 

 

Chew the honeycomb of his words, suck their flavor, which is sweeter than sap, swallow their wholesome sweetness. Chew by thinking, by understanding, swallow by loving and rejoicing. . .  See, Christian soul, here is the strength of your salvation, here is the cause of your freedom, here is the price (premium) of your redemption. You were a bond-slave and by this man you are free. By him you are brought back from exile, lost, you are restored, dead, you are raised. Chew this, bite it, suck it, let your heart swallow it, when your mouth receives the body and blood of your Redeemer. Make it in this life your daily bread, your food, your way-bread, for through this and not otherwise than through this, will you remain in Christ and Christ in you, and your joy will be full. . .  Consider, O my soul, and hear, all that is within me, how much my whole being owes to him! Lord, because you have made me, I owe (debeo) you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe (debeo) you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I owe (debeo) you all my being. . .  I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding. I owe (debeo) you more than my whole self, but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you. Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all yours, too, in love.

 

Anselm Meditatio 3: quoted Rachel Fulton, From Judgement to Passion: 2002

Homily by S. Bernard, Abbot: Sermon 36 on the Canticles

 

 

Homily by S. Bernard, Abbot: Sermon 36 on the Canticles

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

YOU are aware that I propose today to speak of ignorance, or rather, of the various kinds of ignorance; for, if you remember, we distinguished two kinds:   the one in regard to ourselves, the other to God: and I warned you that each was to be avoided, because each was a cause of condemnation. I think we must in the first place inquire whether every kind of ignorance be a cause of condemnation? And it seems to me that this is not the case; that it is not every kind of ignorance that is blamable, since there are many things (they are, indeed, innumerable) of which we are allowed to be ignorant without peril to our salvation. For example, if you are ignorant of some mechanical art, as that of the wheelwright, or mason, would that be an obstacle for your salvation?  How many men there are who have been saved, being acceptable to God in character and actions without having been acquainted even with the liberal arts! How many persons does the Apostle enumerate in the Epistle to the Hebrews who became dear to God, not by their acquaintance with polite literature, but by a pure science and love unfeigned!

 

 

 

I MAY seem to you, perhaps, to speak too severely of knowledge; to blame, as it were, the learned, and to forbid the study of literature. But I would by no means do this. I am not unaware how great are the services that have been rendered to the Church, and are rendered to her continually, by her learned sons, whether in repulsing the attacks of her enemies, or in instructing the simple. Besides, I have read the words of the Prophet: Because thou hast rejected knowledge I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no more priest unto me; and also: They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever, But I know also where I have read: Knowledge puffs up; and again: He that increases knowledge increases sorrow.

 

 

 

BUT it is best to send you to the master. If any man, he says, think that he knows anything, he knows  nothing, if he knows not what he ought to know. You see that he does not praise the person who knows many things if he is still ignorant of the right manner of knowing them, and that in that very point he places the fruit and usefulness of knowledge. What, then, does he understand by the manner of knowing? What else can he mean by it than in what order, with what degree of eagerness, and with what intention and object we ought to acquaint ourselves with all things? In what order? That is to say, so as to acquire first that which is more fitted to the work of our salvation. With what degree of eagerness? By which we learn that we ought to apply ourselves with the greatest ardor and vehemence to make progress in that which excites us the most strongly to the love of God. And lastly, with what intention and object? Not to learn, that is to say, in order to satisfy vain-glory, or to indulge curiosity, or any motive like that, but only for our own edification or that of our neighbor. For there are those who wish to learn merely in order that they may know, and such curiosity is blamable. There are others who wish to desire to learn that they may make merchandise of their knowledge, for example, in order to gain money or honors; and such trafficking is ignoble. But there are others who desire to learn that they may edify others: that is charity. And lastly, there are some who wish to learn that they may themselves be edified: and that is wisdom.

 

 

 

OF all these reasons then, it is in the last two alone that no abuse of knowledge is to be found; in fact, only among those who seek knowledge in order to do good. In short, learn to do good and then act upon it. Perhaps it can be said that he who knows what is right and does not act upon it is a sinner. To put it metaphorically: Food that is eaten and not digested is harmful. Indigestible and badly cooked food begets sickness, and injures the body instead of nourishing it. Likewise, much knowledge is indigestible to the stomach of the mind, which is the memory, unless it has first been cooked in the fire of charity, and has been received and digested by certain spiritual members, namely acts and habits. Refreshment so received will show forth in a man’s life and manners. So, knowledge in a sinner is to compared with food that has become harmful and noisome. Therefore, the holy Doctor of the Church complains both of those who condemn knowledge whatever their manner of life, and those who possessing knowledge of righteousness, still live evil lives.