Today the Popes gives the Pallium - So what is the pallium?

Pope Benedict imposing the pallium

On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul the Holy Father gives the sacred pallium to the world's newest archbishops. What is the pallium? Where does it come from? What does it signify.

The word pallium is Latin for a traditional Roman cloak made from wool. It is a garment that only the Pope can confer and signifies the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop and also the special communion that the recipient shares with the Pope and the Church of Rome. The earliest reference to the pallium derives from the reign of Pope Marcus (died 336) who conferred the pallium on the bishop of Ostia.

The pallium is still made from lamb's wool. In fact, the lambs are  are a gift from Trappist monks. The wool is then given to the nuns of the convent of Saint Agnes who weave the wool into the pallia. (The Latin word for "lamb" is agnus and this has long been a pun associated with Saint Agnes.) The connection with sheep also recalls "Christ the Good Shepherd" who carries the wandering sheep upon His shoulders. Similarly, the pallium is a reminder to the archbishop that he too should be a good shepherd ever mindful of the straying sheep. He is called to carry the sheep on his shoulders.

Last of all, the finished pallia are then placed over the relics of Saint Peter in the Vatican. Thus, each pallium is a third class relic of Saint Peter. So the Archbishop, when he wears his pallium is wearing a relic of Saint Peter! 

So the pallium has a twofold symbolism. First is symbolizes that the archbishop carries the sheep on his shoulders. Second, it signifies his union with Saint Peter's successor, the Bishop of Rome.

The Papal Oath of a Greek Pope Saint

Pope Saint Agatho

Author of the Papal Oath

Pope Saint Agatho (reigned 678-681) is interesting for two reasons. The first is that Pope Agatho was ethnically Greek. He would make a fine patron saint for Greek Catholics who honor both the papacy and the Greek patrimony.*

The second interesting fact about Pope St Agatho is that was the author the Papal Oath that popes have recited when assuming the duties of Saint Peter as the Vicar of Christ on earth.

Why did Saint Agatho write a papal oath? Pope Saint Agatho’s predecessor, Pope Honorius (reigned 625-638) had tolerated the monothelite heresy (the false belief that Christ has only one will – a divine will). This papal toleration of heresy had led to confusion within the Catholic Church, and Pope St Agatho wanted to ensure that all future Popes would manfully defend the one true Faith, without which it is impossible to please God.

Here is the text of the Papal Oath authored by Pope Saint Agatho:

I vow to change nothing of the received Tradition, and nothing thereof I have found before me guarded by my God-pleasing predecessors, to encroach upon, to alter, or to permit any innovation therein;

To the contrary: with glowing affection as her truly faithful student and successor, to safeguard reverently the passed-on good, with my whole strength and utmost effort;

To cleanse all that is in contradiction to the canonical order, should such appear;

To guard the Holy Canons and Decrees of our Popes as if they were the Divine ordinances of Heaven, because I am conscious of Thee, whose place I take through the Grace of God, whose Vicarship I possess with Thy support, being subject to the severest accounting before Thy Divine Tribunal over all that I shall confess;

I swear to God Almighty and the Savior Jesus Christ that I will keep whatever has been revealed through Christ and His Successors and whatever the first councils and my predecessors have defined and declared.

I will keep without sacrifice to itself the discipline and the rite of the Church. I will put outside the Church whoever dares to go against this oath, may it be somebody else or I.

If I should undertake to act in anything of contrary sense, or should permit that it will be executed, Thou willst not be merciful to me on the dreadful Day of Divine Justice.

Accordingly, without exclusion, We subject to severest excommunication anyone -- be it ourselves or be it another -- who would dare to undertake anything new in contradiction to this constituted evangelic Tradition and the purity of the Orthodox Faith and the Christian Religion, or would seek to change anything by his opposing efforts, or would agree with those who undertake such a blasphemous venture.

Source: Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum (Migne's Patrologia Latina 1005, S. 54)

   * There have been a number of Greek Popes:

Pope Agatho
Pope Anterus
Pope Dionysius
Pope Eleutherus
Pope Innocent VIII
Pope John VI
Pope John VII
Pope Sixtus II
Pope Telesphorus
Pope Theodore I
Pope Zachary
Pope Zosimus

It’s interesting to think that if a Greek Catholic should be elected to the Chair of Saint Peter as Pope, he would de facto conform to the Latin Rite – though he would also be free to celebrate the Eastern liturgies since Holy Father is “pan-ritual” by virtue of his universal jurisdiction over all rites.

Saint John and the Bed Bugs

Saint John being boiled alive at the Latin Gate

He miraculously survived the torture unharmed

The apocryphal "Acts of John" by the second-century "novelist" and heretic Leucius Charinus make for an interesting read. The various "acts" of Leucius contain errors and were never accepted by Catholic Christians. However, these various works of Leucius Charinus do confirm certain apostolic traditions that conform to Catholic tradition (e.g. Thomas going to India, John being boiled in oil but surviving, etc.)

I was scanning the "Leucian" Acts of Saint John the other day, and I came across an interesting hiatus in the narrative. Saint John, spending the night in a deserted inn, is attacked by bed bugs. Saint John commands the bugs to leave him alone. His companions laugh at the circumstances. It's a quaint little story and so I include here for your pleasure:

Now on the first day we arrived at a deserted inn, and when we were at a loss for a bed for John, we saw a droll matter. There was one bedstead lying somewhere there without coverings, whereon we spread the cloaks which we were wearing, and we prayed him to lie down upon it and rest, while the rest of us all slept upon the floor. But he when he lay down was troubled by the bugs, and as they continued to become yet more troublesome to him, when it was now about the middle of the night, in the hearing of us all he said to them: I say unto you, O bugs, behave yourselves, one and all, and leave your abode for this night and remain quiet in one place, and keep your distance from the servants of God. And as we laughed, and went on talking for some time, John addressed himself to sleep; and we, talking low, gave him no disturbance (or, thanks to him we were not disturbed) Acts of John, 60.

Again, the Leucian Acts of John are not be trusted; however, I wonder whether such an odd hiatus could might bear some historicity since it is such a strange event and it has nothing to do with the general narrative. We'll never know.

Saint John, pray for us. 

Do you know why St John the Baptist couldn't drink Beer?

When I was studying the Synoptic Gospels, I became particularly intersted in the "aramaisms" (Aramaic phrases transliterated in Greek) found in the Gospels.

I came across this interesting Aramaic word in Luke:

"For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink [σικερα]; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit." (Luke 1:15)

In Aramaic sikera or שכרא means "beer" and it derives from the Akkadian shikaru meaning fermented barley water, i.e. beer.

This means that Saint John the Baptist never enjoyed a glass of wine or even a beer. A small price to pay for being the greatest man "born of women" (cf. Luke 7:28).

So if you start up a micro-brewery, don't name it after this holy prophet, he has little experience in the craft or pleasure of beer.

St. John the Baptist, pray for us.

Vigilantius: Mailman Heretic

St Jerome

June 22 commemorates Saint Paulinus of Nola - one of the richest men of the 5th century who gave everything away to serve Christ.

An interesting fact is that Suplicius Severus (the famous biographer of Saint Martin of Tours) shared letters back and forth with Saint Paulinus. The "mailman" who delivered these messages was a man named Vigilantius. Later, Vigilantius carried correspondence between Saint Jerome and Saint Paulinus.

This very same Vigilantius later became the subject of Saint Jerome's famous treatise "Contra Vigilantium." Vigilantius was a proto-Protestant of sorts who cast scorn on devotion to the saints, relics, and celibacy. Saint Jerome's treatise is not for the faint-hearted. He spares nothing in insulting and belittling the heresies of Vigilantius. It's an interesting read. In the Latin, Jerome employs a number of Latin puns against Vigilantius, which are pretty clever.

Anyway, it's interesting to think of the heretic Vigilantius as an insider with some of the greatest Christians of that era.

St Thomas More in Five Easy Points

Saint Thomas More

Feast Day June 22

Martyred 1535

Thomas More (February 7, 1478 – July 6, 1535) in five easy points:

1. Sir Thomas More was an English lawyer, philosopher, author,   "Renaissance man", and Lord Chancellor to King Henry VIII.
2. More was an ardent opponent of Protestantism and directed his attention against the heresies of Martin Luther and William Tyndale.
3. St Thomas More wrote the political treatise Utopia in 1516. "Outopia" is Greek for "Nowhere."
4. As chancellor of England, he silently opposed King Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy which placed the king as "head" of the Church of England. More was imprisoned in the Tower of London until he was convicted of "treason" and martyred by decapitation in 1535.
5. Thomas More was beatified in 1886. He was canonized with John Fisher as a Catholic saint in 1935.

Recommended Movie, Man for All Seasons about St Thomas More:

Criticism: Did Mary Really Give the Rosary to Saint Dominic? (Pope Leo XIII answers)

"Mary instituting the Holy Rosary 

through St Dominic" by Murillo

Catholic tradition states the Blessed Virgin Mary directly and personally instituted the Holy Rosary through Saint Dominic. A previous post described the traditional account of "How Mary Gave the Rosary to Saint Dominic." In this second post we examine the historical-critical objection claiming that the Rosary was an organic development of medieval piety and that Mary did not directly give the Holy Rosary to St Dominic. 

I'll reveal my hand up front: I think this modern claim is incorrect and too simplistic. It's perfectly reasonable to believe that Mary gave the Holy Rosary to Saint Dominic. Here's why...

First, let's examine the modernist argument against the Marian origin of the Holy Rosary. Some moderns hold that the traditional account depicting Mary giving the Rosary directly to St Dominic is a pious etiological myth. This myth, they say, allegorizes the origin of the Rosary with the Dominican order. The "true" story, the moderns claim, is that the Rosary was a gradual and historical development. They say that since the Dominicans popularized the Rosary devotion, the traditional myth personifies the Dominicans in the person of Dominic. So then, the moderns allege that the Blessed Virgin Mary did not directly give the Rosary to Dominic. Rather, the Dominicans popularized the devotion and so Mary "sort of" gave the Rosary to the world through the "sons of Dominic," i.e. the Dominicans.

These moderns observe that the practice of praying Our Father's and Hail Mary's on beads is a practice that predates Saint Dominic, and that this "Rosary" gradually evolved. This fact, they claim, further substantiates the conclusion that the Holy Rosary is not a revealed gift given directly to Dominic by the Blessed Virgin Mary herself.

While it is certain that many (East and West) prayed on beads prior to Saint Dominic, the original claim is that the Holy Rosary as a collection of 150 Hail Mary's with the 15 Mysteries (Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious) was literally and historically given to Saint Dominic by the Immaculate Mother herself.

Summary of points so far:

1) Moderns claim that the tradition of Mary giving the Rosary to Dominic is an etiological myth.

2) It is true: praying Our Fathers and Hail Marys on beads predates Saint Dominic (in fact, the word "bead" comes from the word "bid" meaning "pray" or "ask").

3) The key to this debate is realizing that the Holy Rosary is not merely praying on beads, but praying the 150 Hail Mary's with the 15 corresponding mysteries.* It is this special combination of 150 Hail Mary's with the 15 mysteries that constitutes the Rosary and it is this "combination" of vocal and mental prayer that Mary gave to St Dominic.

What does the Catholic Church say?

Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Octobri mense, teaches that the Rosary does in fact have its origin from the Immaculate Mary herself "by her command and counsel" to Saint Dominic. Pope Leo XIII teaches: 

“That the Queen of Heaven herself has granted a great efficacy to this devotion is demonstrated by the fact that it was, by her command and counsel, instituted and propagated by the illustrious St. Dominic, in times particularly dangerous for the Catholic cause.”

Pope Leo XIII also clarified that this original institution of the Holy Rosary by Mary included the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries, which he calls the "great mysteries of Jesus and Mary, their joys, sorrows, and triumphs.” 

In his Supremi Apostolatus Officio, Pope Leo XIII again confirms the supernatural origin of the Holy Rosary of Saint Dominic:

Great in the integrity of his doctrine, in his example of virtue, and by his apostolic labors, he proceeded undauntedly to attack the enemies of the Catholic Church, not by force of arms, but trusting wholly to that devotion which he was the first to institute under the name of the Holy Rosary, which was disseminated through the length and breadth of the earth by him and his pupils. Guided, in fact, by divine inspiration and grace, he foresaw that this devotion, like a most powerful warlike weapon, would be the means of putting the enemy to flight, and of confounding their audacity and mad impiety. Such was indeed its result. Thanks to this new method of prayer—when adopted and properly carried out as instituted by the Holy Father St. Dominic—piety, faith, and union began to return, and the projects and devices of the heretics to fall to pieces.

The tradition is further confirmed by the apparition of the Immaculate Mary to Blessed Alan de la Roche:

“My son, you know perfectly the ancient devotion of my Rosary, preached and diffused by your Patriarch and my Servant Dominic and by his spiritual sons, your religious brothers. This spiritual exercise is extremely agreeable to both my Son and to me, and most useful and holy for the faithful.  When my Servant Dominic started to preach my Rosary … the reform in the world reached such heights that it seemed that men were transformed into angelic spirits and that Angels had descended from Heaven to inhabit the earth. … No one was considered a true Christian unless he had my Rosary and prayed it. … The prestige of the holy Rosary was such that no devotion was or is more agreeable to me after the august Sacrifice of the Mass."

As discussed elsewhere, the three apparitions after the Miracle of the Sun also symbolize the three mysteries of the Holy Rosary: Miracle of the Sun Symbolizes Mysteries of the Rosary.

* 15 Mysteries of the Rosary that Mary gave to Dominic

Joyful:

Annunciation

Visitation

Nativity

Presentation

Finding Jesus in the Temple

Sorrowful:

Agony in the Garden

The Scourging

Crowning with thorns

Carrying of the Cross

Crucifixion

Glorious:

Resurrection

Ascension

Pentecost

Assumption

Crowning of Mary

Recommended sermon: Power and Promises of the Holy Rosary

Recommended book: The Secret of the Rosary

Apparition of John the Baptist's Head

I recently came across this painting by Gustave Moreau entitled the "Apparition of the Baptist's Head." 

Does the ghostly apparition of the floating head of John the Baptist have a traditional legend or account, or is this artistic license?

Art majors?

The Trinity Explained by Saint Basil the Great

Below is a beautiful quote from Saint Basil (a Doctor of the Church) on the Holy Trinity:

"The Godhead is common; the fatherhood particular. We must therefore combine the two and say, 'I believe in God the Father.'

The like course must be pursued in the confession of the Son; we must combine the particular with the common and say 'I believe in God the Son,' so in the case of the Holy Ghost we must make our utterance conform to the appellation and say 'in God the Holy Ghost.'

Hence it results that there is a satisfactory preservation of the unity by the confession of the one Godhead, while in the distinction of the individual properties regarded in each there is the confession of the peculiar properties of the Persons."

Saint Basil, Epistle to Amphilochius (Epistle 236:6)

   

Fathers, Give Your Children a Gift: Pray with them the Rosary 365 days for 18 years!

The father of Holy Father John Paul II

He prayed nightly on his knees

Tomorrow is Father's Day. Fathers, consider giving a gift in return. The best gift you could give to your children is to lead them in praying the Rosary every night with your family: for each child that's the Rosary 365 nights a year for 18 years.

• That's 348,210 Hail Mary's with "pray for us...at the hour of death"! (multiply that number times how many children you have)
• Also, praying will become for your children as natural as getting dressed or brushing their teeth.
• When they go to college, they'll have a habit of praying the Rosary.
• They will also have the life of Christ thoroughly memorized because of the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary.
• Everyone in your family who participates in the daily family Rosary can potentially receive a plenary indulgence every day (the usual conditions apply).
• You're family will come together around Jesus and Mary every day - great memories. Blessed John Paul II said that he owes his vocation to seeing his dad praying on his knees every night. How many children have never seen their father on his knees in prayer? Why not make this a daily practice and lead by example?

Happy Fathers Day. Be a father, and hold the spiritual reigns of your home.

ad Jesum per Mariam,

Taylor

PS: Having a hard time establishing the daily Rosary in your home? Here are 12 tips for praying the Family Rosary daily (please click here). 

How to pray like a Simple Friar (Rule of Saint Francis)

How do you pray the Divine Office if you're a thirteenth century illiterate lay brother who cannot read the Latin Psalter?

Saint Francis of Assisi set forth the following custom in his rule of 1223:

Clerics are to perform the divine office according to the rite of the Roman Church, except for the Psalter, and they can have breviaries for that purpose. 

Laymen are to say twenty-four "Our Fathers" at matins; five at lauds; seven each at prime, terce, sext and none; twelve at vespers; and seven at compline. They should also pray for the dead.

Here's the saint's breakdown in a simplified format:

24 for Matins 

5 for Lauds

7 for Prime

7 for Terce

7 for Sext

7 for None

12 for Vespers

7 for Compline

It all makes sense to me except for Lauds. Why only 5 Our Fathers for Lauds? Lauds has more Psalms that Prime, etc. so why so short?

ad Jesum per Mariam,
Taylor

Who were the first Baptists? You'll be surprised!

Saint Justin the Martyr

Saint Justin Martyr explains in his Dialogue with Trypho that there was a first century Jewish sect known as the "Baptists." Saint Epiphanius records that they were a strict subset of the Pharisees (Adversus Haereses 1, 17). According to the latter, these Jews baptized themselves every single day of the year and were also called "Daily Baptists."

Cornelius a Lapide records, "There are some Jews among the Rabbis who practise the same rites even at the present day. But this is to live the life of ducks and fishes, rather than of men." 

Hah!

I believe in one baptism for the remission of sins,

Taylor Marshall

Video: How to Build a Backyard Catholic Shrine

Our family wanted an outdoor shrine to honor Jesus and Mary. So the children and I gathered some scrap wood from our shed and went to work. It was easy to make, and it turned out pretty nice. It was also a fun family project that the children will never forget. Best of all, we have garden shrine! Here's a short step-by-step video showing how we made it.

How Mary Gave the Rosary to St Dominic

In the year 1214 Saint Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, was in anguish because he was failing in his attempt to convert the Albigensian Cathar heretics. St. Dominic attributed this to the deepness and gravity of sinfulness of the heretics and the poor example of Catholics. He went alone in to the forest and wept and prayed continuously for three days to appease the anger of Almighty God. He flogged his body and scourged his flesh. From the fasting, pain, and exhaustion, he passed in to a coma.

Dominic experienced an apparition of Blessed Mother Mary while in the coma, which forever links Saint Dominic and the Rosary. The Immaculate Mary with three angels appeared and asked St. Dominic, "Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?" Dominic's response was Blessed Mary knew better than he because she is a part of our salvation.

Mary responded, "I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter* which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Therefore if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter."

Shortly after this apparition he preached the Holy Rosary to the unconverted Albigenisan heretics. To modify the Paternoster (150 Our Father's) and in compliance with the instruction in the apparition, the design of the Saint Dominic Rosary came in to being. He set apart fifteen mysteries of the rosary, grouped them in to three sets of five decades each.

The groupings were designated as Joyous Mysteries, Sorrowful Mysteries and Glorious Mysteries. This design helped the Albigensian heretics to better understand and to imitate the virtuous life of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Immaculate and Blessed Mary.

* The "Angelic Salutation" is the "Hail Mary" prayer and the Psalter is the 150 Psalms. Thus, she wanted 150 Hail Mary's - which is what the Holy Rosary is - 15 decades of Hail Mary's with 15 corresponding mysteries to contemplate.

Two recommended books on the sweet and Immaculate Mary: one by Saint Louis de Montfort, the other by Saint Alphonsus Liguori. You can't go wrong with either...or both!

Boston Archdiocese and Lifting the Contraception Ban

Here's an interesting article about how Cardinal Cushing and the Archdiocese of Boston assisted in the lifting of the contraception ban in Massachusetts in 1966. Truly sad. This reveals that something has not been quite right since the 1960s. Perhaps the Boston scandal of 2003-2004 was the fruition of the seeds planted in 1966.

An interesting (and sad) read...

Full article:
"Legal Aid: The Last All-Out Ban on Contraceptives was Lifted with the Approval and Assistance of the Archdiocese of Boston"
by Seth Meehan

Pentecost: Vindication of Christ and Prefiguring the Final Judgment

"The Holy Ghost descends in power to vindicate the innocence of Jesus by filling the Church with such surpassing sanctity that it becomes, as it were, a fire prefiguring the final judgment on the enemies of God. The faithful kneel at the invocation of the Holy Spirit, Who at the last day requires the restoration of the Christian soul to the body which has been His mystical temple."

- Francis Xavier Lasance

Twin Saints who transplanted a black man's leg onto a white man (Saints Cosmas and Damian)

The twin brothers Saint Cosmas and Damian (martyred ca. 287) were physicians and early Catholic martyrs born in Cilicia, part of today's Turkey. They practiced medicine for free as an act of Christian charity. Their medical ministries led to many conversions to the Catholic Faith.

They were made famous by a miraculous operation in which they transplanted an Ethiopian's leg onto a white man's body. This miracle is often celebrated in Catholic art depicting the twin saints.

During the persecution under Diocletian, Cosmas and Damian were arrested by order of the Prefect of Cilicia who ordered them under torture to recant. However, they stayed true to their faith, enduring being hung on a cross, stoned and shot by arrows and finally suffered execution by beheading.

Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian, pray for us.

While we're on the topic of medical doctors, here are the other patron saints of physicians: St. Luke, St. Pantaleon, St. Raphael the Archangel.

Burial of a Saintly Franciscan Priest - Father Alphonsus Mary Sutton

The moral theologian Fr Alphonsus Mary Sutton of the Franciscans of the Immaculate went to his eternal reward last month on May 7, 2011.

If I understand correctly, Father Alphonsus was raised Baptist, but converted to the Catholic Faith as a young man. Ordained in 1957, he joined the Conventual Franciscans and then the Franciscans of the Immaculate in 1990. He enjoyed his 50th priestly anniversary in 2007. He was an expert on his namesake, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church in the realm of moral theology.

Please pray for the repose of his soul. And given the reputation of his profound sanctity, you might even ask him to pray for you.

All holy Franciscans, pray for us.

Mystical Marriage...to Mary? (Alan de la Roche)

St Dominic and Bl Alan de la Roche

Apostles of the Holy Rosary

I have often read of mystical marriage in the lives of virgin female saints. Typically, our Lord Christ appears to a virgin and places ring upon her finger and takers her as His mystical bride.

Mystical marriage occurred with a number of female blesseds and saints: St. Agnes, St. Catherine of Alexandria, Blessed Angela of Foligno, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Colette, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Ricci, St. Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi, St. Veronica Giuliani, and Venerable Maria de Agreda.

However, I was rather surprised to read about a similar mystical marriage of a male to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Blessed Alan de la Roche, that great Apostle of the Holy Rosary (1428-1475), wrote that he experienced a mystical marriage to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Blessed Alan explains that the Virgin placed a ring upon his finger, draped a necklace made of her own hair upon him, and gave him a Rosary.

Is this the only account of a male receiving a mystical marriage to the Blessed Virgin Mary?

Do Roses Flow from Your Mouth?

The chronicles of Saint Francis tell of a young friar who had the praiseworthy habit of saying the Rosary every day before dinner. One day for some reason or other he did not manage to say it. The refectory bell had already been rung when he asked the Superior to allow him to say it before coming to the table, and having obtained the permission he withdrew to his cell to pray.

After he had been gone a long time the Superior sent another Friar to fetch him, and he found him in his room bathed in a heavenly light facing Our Lady who had two angels with her. Beautiful roses kept issuing from his mouth at each Hail Mary; the angels took them one by one, placing them on Our Lady's head, and she smilingly accepted them.

Finally two other friars who had been sent to find out what happened to the first two saw the same lovely scene, and Our Lady did not go away until the whole Rosary had been said.

So the complete Rosary is a large crown of roses and the Rosary of five decades is a little wreath of flowers or a small crown of heavenly roses which we place on the heads of Jesus and Mary. The rose is the queen of flowers, and so the Rosary is the rose of all devotions and it is therefore the most important one.

from Saint Louis de Montfort's Secret of the Rosary, 25.

Four Anathemas Regarding the Papacy

The Catholic Church, at the First Vatican Council in 1870, issued FOUR anathemas regarding heretical opinions regarding the Roman Papacy.

1. The first anathema regards Papal primacy.
2. The second anathema regards that the Peter will have perpetual successors until the end of time and that these successor are the Bishop of Rome. (Incidentally, this is the BEST argument against sedevacantists who allege that the Holy See has been vacant since Pope Pius XII. While we're on the topic, here's a great homily against the heresy of sedevacantism.)
3. The third anathema regards the "full and supreme power of jurisdiction" of the Pope over faith, morals, discipline, and government.
4. The fourth anathema regards the infallibility of the Pope whenever he speaks ex cathedra on faith and morals.

Here is the text of these four anathemas in an outline format so that you can better follow the argument. Remember, the anathema applies to those who affirm the incorrect doctrine on any of the four anathemas below. Incidentally, these canons show that Rome will never back down to the demands of the Russian and Greek Churches who officially believe these errors.

First Anathema

• Therefore if anyone says that
• blessed Peter the apostle was not appointed by Christ the lord as prince of all the apostles and visible head of the whole church militant; or that
• it was a primacy of honour only and not one of true and proper jurisdiction that he directly and immediately received from our lord Jesus Christ himself:
• let him be anathema.

Second Anathema

• if anyone says that
• it is not by the institution of Christ the lord himself (that is to say, by divine law) that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole church; or that
• the Roman pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy:
• let him be anathema.

Third Anathema

• if anyone says that
• the Roman pontiff has merely an office of supervision and guidance, and
• not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole church, and this
• not only in matters of
• faith and morals, but also in those which concern the
• discipline and government of the church dispersed throughout the whole world; or that
• he has only the principal part, but not the absolute fullness, of this supreme power; or that
• this power of his is not ordinary and immediate both over all and each of the churches and over all and each of thepastors and faithful:
• let him be anathema.

Fourth Anathema

• we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA, that is, when,
• in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians,
• in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority,
• he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole church,
• he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals.
• Therefore, such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the church, irreformable. So then, should anyone, which God forbid, have the temerity to reject this definition of ours: 
• let him be anathema.

14 Biblical Names for Jerusalem (and How to Read the Psalms like a Catholic)

Below are fourteen names for Jerusalem. Recall that it is Catholic Tradition to speak of Heaven as the New Jerusalem and so these titles apply also to Heaven, which is the eternal City of God.

Saint Paul identifies the communion of saints in Heaven as "Jerusalem" and as our mother: “But that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother” (Galatians 4:26, D-R).

This is another reason why Catholics refer to the Church as the New Jerusalem and as Holy Mother Church. When Catholic priests, monks, and nuns chant the 150 Psalms of David, they often mentally apply the meaning of "Heaven" or "Church" to those passages that refer to "Jerusalem." Saint Paul's use of allegory in Galatians serves as an interpretive key to reading the Old Testament in a spiritual way.

In the Psalms, Jerusalem = Heaven. David = Christ. Sufferings of David = Sufferings of Christ. Sacrifice = the Mass. Thanksgiving = Eucharist. Priests = Priests. This makes the Psalms one of the most Christological books on the Old Testament and they very heart of New Testament worship.

Below are the various titles of Jerusalem in the Old Testament.

1. The city of David 2 Sam. 6:12

2. The city of the great king Matt. 5:35

3. The holy city Isa. 48:2; 52:1; Matt. 4:5

4. Salem, which means "peace" Gen. 14:18

5. The city of God Ps. 46:4; 48:1; 87:3

6. The city of the Lord of hosts Ps. 48:8

7. The city of righteousness Isa. 1:26

8. The city of truth Zech. 8:3

9. The city of the Lord Isa. 60:14

10. The perfection of beauty Lam. 2:15

11. The joy of the whole earth Lam. 2:15

12. The Lord our righteousness Jer. 23:6; 33:16

13. The Lord is there Ezek. 48:35

14. Ariel, the hearth of God Isa. 29:1

Christ's feet hanging out of the ceiling (Ascension Statue)

Ascension Feet "Statue" 

at Our Lady of Walsingham, England

Father Z has a nice post on the "Ascension and Feet."

Speaking of the topic, here is one of the most clever statues of all time. It's one of my favorites. It depicts our Lord's feet hanging out of the ceiling over the altar as He ascends to Heaven. It's at the Shrine Our Lady of Walsingham in England in the Ascension chapel. 

Please learn more about England's Marian apparition: Our Lady of Walsingham.

Also, check out the new Walsingham Society in Dallas.

Mystical Meaning of St Gabriel's Annunciation to Mary in Hebrew

I recently read about an vision of the Immaculate Mary to Saint Matilde. Mary related her the following information about the annunciation of Saint Gabriel:

"My daughter, I want you to know that no one can please me more by saying the salutation which the Most Adorable Trinity sent to me and by which He raised me to the dignity of Mother of God.

By the word "Ave" (which is the name Eve), I learned that in His infinite power God has preserved me from all sin and its attendant misery which the first woman had been subject to."

In my pride, when I read this, I mocked it. I thought to myself:

"Hah, Ave is the Latin version of the angel's greeting in the Vulgate. In the original Greek version of Luke, Saint Gabriel says, "Chaire," not the Latin "Ave."

I, being prideful, chalked this up to pious superstition. I assumed that Mary would not say something so silly to St Matilde.

How very wrong I was!

I was reading Cornelius de Lapide's commentary on Luke's Gospel, and he made an excellent point. Saint Gabriel would have addressed Mary in Hebrew, and likely would have begun his annunciation with the greeting: חוה pronounced "cha-ve" meaning "Live" as in "Long live the king" or "Viva Papa" or "Viva Christo Rey."

Now then, according to Genesis 3:20, the Hebrew name of Eve is חוה or "cha-va" meaning "living" because, as the Holy Spirit explains, Eve is the "Mother of the Living."

This shows that there is indeed a mystical meaning in the original Hebrew greeting of Gabriel to Mary, and that the Virgin's explanation to St Matilde is linguistically accurate within the limits of Hebraic vocabulary. Moreover, this further links Mary as the New Eve! It also reveals that the Latin Vulgate version captures the original Semitic meaning through an Indo-European root.

This is a huge find and it has made my week!

Chava Miriam! Hail Mary!

Christ gave the Sign of the Cross on Ascension Thursday

Today at the Ascension Mass, our priest recounted how Tradition holds that Christ made the sign of the cross over Mary and the Apostles before he ascended into Heaven. "He lifted up His hands and blessed them" is interpreted as Christ raising his hands over the Apostles and then making the sign of the cross over them. This belief is affirmed by the Church Fathers (e.g. Saint Jerome).

The sign of the cross is of Apostolic origin and it remains in the liturgy and life of the Holy Church of Christ. Father Arthur Tonne provides us with examples:

i. The sign of the cross in some form or other is made about 54 times during Holy Mass.

ii. It is used frequently in the Divine Office or daily prayer of the priest.

iii. It is used in all blessings bestowed by bishop and priest.

iv. It is used in all the sacraments: 14 times in Baptism; 17 times in Extreme Unction. Yes, even in the semi-darkness of the confessional the priest makes the sign of the cross over you.

v. It is used in everything blessed for the service of God—altars, linens, holy water, etc.

Coronation of the Pope on Ascension Thursday

In ancient days, when the liturgy of Roman Church was regal and glorious, a pious custom was observed on Ascension Thursday.

In Rome, Ascension Thursday was always celebrated at the Basilica of Saint Peter (the Vatican). The Holy Father the Pope would celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on the high altar over the tomb of Saint Peter.

After Holy Mass, the Cardinals would gather around the Pope for a coronation ceremony. The cardinals would solemnly crown the Pope as the Vicar of Christ on earth. Then the Pope and the cardinals would go to Saint John Lateran, the Cathedral Church of Rome, the Mother and Mistress of all Churches.

What does all this mean?

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the true King and High Priest of Heaven and Earth. He is the King of Glory. Now Our Lord appointed Saint Peter and gave him a divine name used for God in the Psalms: Rock or Petrus. He also committed to Peter the Keys of the Kingdom and gave to him universal jurisdiction of the entire earth: "whatever you bind on earth." I would like to remind the separated Easterns that Peter was not merely the Patriarch of the West (Christ did not say, "whatever you bind in Europe") but was the Supreme Pontiff over the entire earth.

So then, Ascension Thursday marks the earthly reign of the Saint Peter. When Christ leaves the earth by ascending to the right hand of God the Father, Saint Peter at that moment officially became the "Vicar of Christ on earth." Vicar, of course, means "in the place of," as in "Vice-President."

So Peter is not God. He is not Jesus Christ. He is not even an angel. He is certainly not sinless. However, Peter is the divinely appointed chief of the Church of Christ on earth. He reigns for his Lord in Heaven. This is true for all the Popes who have succeeded Saint Peter in this office.

So then, the cardinals symbolically crowned the Successor of Saint Peter on this day to signify this profoundly biblical truth of Saint Peter's office and role.

Let us pray that our rich liturgical tradition is resurrected to the greater glory of God.

ad Jesum per Mariam

Taylor

PS: There is nothing pompous or audacious about the Pope wearing a crown or papal tri-regnum. The Pope always wears a ceremonial hat (the mitre). It might as well be a hat that properly identifies his authority.

Here's a video of the inaugrual coronation of His Holiness Pius XII:

You are NOT Allowed to Name Your Guardian Angel

Some Catholics practice a devotion of giving personal names to their guardian angels. However, the Holy See does not allow this practice and formally discourages it. According to the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, 216 (under the heading about Devotion to the Holy Angels):

The practice of assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture.

A special thanks to Father Gary Selin and my friend Jordan Low for finding this citation.