Egwin of Worcester

Today is the Feast of Mary, the Blessed Mother, of Bethlehem. Remember also that January the first, New Year’s Day, is the Feast of Mary Mother of God, a Holy Day of Obligation, get up and sober up you need to get to Church this Friday morning. It is also:

Saint Egwin of Worcester
Also known as
Egwin of Evesham

memorial
30 December

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Our Saint today was descended from nobility and joined the Benedictine order at a very young age. He was elevated to become the Bishop of all of the Shire of Worchester….where the sauce comes from, here in America we pronounce it wooster-sheer sauce, use it when you make hamburgers…it adds a very nice flavor, it is also a principle ingredient in most cheese dishes, particularly Welsh Rabbit, which has no rabbit in it, but I digress….

The Diocese of Worchester needed cleaning up and Egwin did so, but the general opinion was he went a bit too far, and began alienating clergy and religious….he wouldn’t allow ordained deacons to wear appropriate collar and gray shirt at wake services and so forth plus other, less egregious disciplinary items. To give everyone a chance to cool off, and show his repentance for any harm done, he locked his feet in shackles and threw the key into the River Avon. All shackled up like that he made a penitential pilgrimage to Rome. Nice way to get a Roman Holiday on the diocese though, right? Anyhoo, when he got to Rome the key was miraculously found in the belly of a fish he bought in the market.

He founded a Benedictine monastery on the site where the Blessed Mother appeared to a local shepherd, in Evesham, England. I think She told the herdsman she didn’t like sharing her feast day like this……

Born
7th century England

Died
30 December 717 of natural causes

Thomas Beckett

 

Saint Thomas a Becket

Also known as

 Thomas Beckett

 Thomas of Canterbury

 

Memorial

29 December

 

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Our saint is probably the most famous saint from the Middle Ages.  He is also is one of my 13 personal protectors.  Thomas was a deacon but not really too serious about it.    He was educated as a civil and canon lawyer.   His real avocation at the time was to hang out with his drinking buddy, King Henry II of England; Thomas was in the King’s inner circle and even called him by his informal nickname “Hal.”   Eventually Hal named Tom Chancellor of England.

 

When the position of the Archbishop of Canterbury became vacant, The King figured he could expand his power base over the church by having his pal Tom, appointed to the post.  Back in the day it was common for deacons to be made bishops, even Popes (Sixtus II comes to mind offhand among others).   Deacons were the “Eyes and Ears” of the bishop so they generally knew the inner workings of their diocese so it was a natural succession.       

 

So this lowly deacon and man’s man was reluctantly ordained on 2 June 1162 as a bishop, and appointed archbishop of Canterbury on 3 June 1162.   Unfortunately for King Hal the Holy Spirit had other plans and Thomas took his vows and new job very very seriously.    He opposed the King's interference in ecclesiastical matters. King Hal was not at all pleased. 

 

 

On 29 December 1170 the King muttered “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest” a man at arms nearby overheard this and took it as an official request.   Tom was murdered after vespers in the Cathedral at Canterbury by a bunch of king’s men.   The area where Tom was offed is marked in the cathedral to this day.

Following Becket's death, the monks prepared his body for burial and discovered that he had worn a hairshirt under his archbishop's garments a sign of penance. 

Not long after, the faithful throughout Europe began venerating Becket as a martyr, and in 1173 barely three years after his death he was canonized by Pope Alexander III.

The following year, July 1174, King Henry humbled himself with public penance at Saint Thomas's tomb in Canterbury as well as at the church of Good Saint Dunstan's.

As an interesting footnote here, my late brother in law, Beek-Bop-o-Roo, was into genealogy.   He was bored one day….So he started looking at The Whip’s family tree.    It turns out she is related to King Edward I of England.   Edward I was the son of King Henry III, who was the son of King John, who was the brother of Richard the Lionhearted, who was the son of King Henry II…the guy who had Tom Beckett killed…..The Whip’s family offed my saint……

 

Born

21 December 1118 at London, England

Died

murdered on 29 December 1170 in the Cathedral at Canterbury, England

Canonized

21 February 1173 by Pope Alexander III

Patronage

 clergy

 Exeter College Oxford

 Portsmouth, England

 secular clergy

Representation

 archbishop with a wounded head

 archbishop holding an inverted sword

 archbishop kneeling before his murderers

 archbishop being murdered in church

archbishop with a sword through his head

 crosier with a battle-axe head at the top

 

The excommunication scene from the movie Becket…..I get chills, and a little scared:

 

Thomas a Becket: Lord Gilbert, Baron of England by the grace of his majesty, King Henry II, seized upon the person of a priest of the Holy Church and unlawfully did hold him in custody. Furthermore, in the presence of Lord Gilbert, and by his command, his men seized upon this priest when he tried to escape and put him to death. This is the sin of murder and sacrilege. In that Lord Gilbert has rendered no act of contrition or repentance, and is at the moment, at liberty in the land, we do, here and now, separate him from the precious body and blood of Christ, and from the society of all Christians. We exclude him from our Holy Mother Church and all her sacraments, in heaven, or on Earth. We declare him excommunicate and anathema. We cast him into the outer darkness. We judge him damned with the devil and his fallen angels and all the reprobate, to eternal fire and everlasting pain! 

[slams candle to the ground]

Monks: [chanting] So be it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9efh_EOHqU

Holy Innocents

Holy Innocents
Memorial

28 December (Roman Catholic; Church of England; Lutheran Church)

the feast is sometimes known as Childermas or Children’s Mass

Profile

This story always upset me as a child and still bothers me as an adult. The evil of Herod and the way life, particularly innocent helpless life, was valued so insignificantly is a crime and a sin of humanity. This Feast is celebrated in The Coventry Carol:

Herod the king in his raging
Set forth upon this day
By his decree, no life spare thee
All children young to slay
All children young to slay

This day honors the children slaughtered by Herod the Great when he tried to kill the infant Christ. When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the Magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the Magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet: “A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.” - Matthew 2:16-18. They gave their lives, in their innocence, for Christ. They are one of only two non Christian Groups formally honored as saints, the other being the Macabees.

In Spain and Hispanic America, December 28 is a day for pranks, equivalent to April Fool's Day in many countries. Pranks are known as inocentadas and their victims are called inocentes. Various Catholic countries had a tradition (no longer widely observed) of role reversal between children and their adult educators, including boy bishops, perhaps a Christianized version of the Roman annual feast of the Saturnalia (when even slaves played 'masters' for a day). This is also the day when the “King of the Fools’ would have been crowned. In some cultures it is said to be an unlucky day, when no new project should be started.

In addition, there was a medieval custom of refraining where possible from work on the day of the week on which the feast of "Innocents Day" had fallen for the whole of the following year until the next Innocents Day. This was presumably mainly observed by the better-off.

Patronage
babies
children’s choir
choir boys
foundlings
The unborn
The defenseless

Glory to God in the highest…

I want to wish you and your loved ones all the blessings of the season. I will remember you all in my prayers as I do throughout the year.

Wow…I was looking at my Christmas post from a year ago. We’ve been through a lot this year. Lots of anxiety, stress and secular problems. In all this, let’s remember, our God became one of us, he will be with us always even to the end of the age. Christ is still king, scripture is still true, and the Eucharist is still real.

“…Suddenly with the angel there was a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest…and on Earth, peace good will toward men.’”

Happy Christmas to all…and to all a good night…..

Ischirione of Alexandria

Saint Ischirione of Alexandria

Also known as
Ischyrion

memorial
22 December

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Our Saint for today was an early Church Martyr during the reign of Emperor Decius and his widespread persecution. Ischirione refused to sacrifice to idols so they Impaled him on a sharp Pole. If they had tried to do the same with a dull German maybe he would have fared better. You bet your dupa; Poles are pretty tough.

Died
c.250 in Alexandria, Egypt

Peter Canisius

Saint Peter Canisius

Also known as
Hammer of Protestantism
Peter Kanis
Peter Kannees
Peter Kanys
Petrus Canisius
Petrus Kanis
Second Apostle of Germany

memorial
21 December

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Our Saint today was the son of a wealthy burgomeister, or the burgo of a wealthy sonomeister….. He was sent to the best of schools and was an excellent student, studying an eclectic variety of academia, including: art, civil law and theology. He got a degree in Education and a Master’ degree by the age of 19. As you all know the University system, like the Scientific Method was invented by Our Church so back in the day, all the educators in these secular and religious subjects were religious. Peter’s best friends were monks and clerics.

Drawn to learning and education he joined in the Jesuits after attending a retreat conducted by Saint Peter Faber. He traveled and taught throughout Europe at major universities and everywhere. He travelled and worked with Saint Ignatius of Loyola who was his spiritual director, how much better can you do than that…I ask you?

In addition to his university and teaching duties he worked in hospitals and prisons and preached in Germany and Austria. During Mass one day he received a vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and after this vision he offered all his work to the Sacred Heart. He led the Counter-Reformation in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and Switzerland, and his work led to the return of Catholicism to Germany. He wrote a Catechism for the instruction in the faith of all especially Children. It went through 200 editions during his life, and was translated into 12 languages; in some places catechisms were referred to as Canisi.

He founded colleges, and attended conclaves in the faith, he even spoke at the Council of Trent on the Eucharist. In his travels he was once visiting Fribourg, Switzerland. While there Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, the city’s patron saint, appeared to Our Saint in a vision. Santa told Peter it was time to stop travelling. Canisius did what he was told, he spent the rest of his life there. He died on this date of natural causes; he was interred before the high altar of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Fribourg.

He was proclaimed one of the 36 Doctors of the Church in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. His spiritual director, Ignatius of Loyola, is not…..go figure.

Patronage

Catholic press
Germany
writers of catechisms
Representation
with his catechism and other books
teaching a group of children

O Antiphons!

 Every year I get real excited when 17 December rolls around because we begin the O Antiphons; Advent is winding down and Christmas is almost here!  

The O Antiphons are the antiphons used during the second half of Advent from 17 December  until 23 December for Vespers (Evening Prayer) in the Divine Office at the Magnificat, and the alleluia verses on the same days for Mass.

They are referred to as the "O Antiphons" because the title of each one begins with the interjection "O".    Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture.

·        December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

·        December 18: O Adonai (O Lord)

·        December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)

·        December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)

·        December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)

·        December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)

·        December 23: O Emmanuel (O With Us is God)

The first letters of the titles taken backwards form a Latin acrostic of "Ero Cras" which translates to "Tomorrow, I will be [there],” mirroring the theme of the antiphons.

Bean

Today is Beethoven’s Birthday but it is also the feast of:

Saint Bean
memorial
16 December

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Bean was a 10th-11th century bishop in Scotland. That’s all I have. It is said he tried to become a sailor but was refused, as there was no need for a Navy Bean at the time. He had a brother who went to Ireland and was later known as a Green Bean. I will avoid further bad jokes about his name.

Died

1012 of natural causes

Unofficial Patronage:
Against Borborygmy, eructation and flatulence
High Fiber and protein rich foods still low in fat

Virginia Centurione Bracelli

Saint Virginia Centurione Bracelli

memorial
15 December

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Our Saint for today was the young daughter of a overbearing father who eventually became the Doge (like a king) of Genoa. My mother’s family comes from Genoa, I love their salami and polenta so it was a natural fit for today. Her mother was a pious person and Virginia felt a call to the religious life at an early age…but her position as the “Dogearincess” of Genoa made her a valuable political pawn. At the tender young age of 15 her father arranged a marriage to an influential fellow who was also a drinker, and a gambler. They had two daughters. Her husband proved to be not much of a father or a husband, big shock there right? After only 5 years of marriage Virginia was widowed probably because of her husband’s dissolute lifestyle; she was only 20 years old…with 2 small children.

Virginia cared for her children, and dedicated her free time to prayer and charity. Once her daughters were married, our saint dedicated her life to charity full time, caring for the sick, aged, and abandoned children. War in the region led to many orphans, and refugees Virginia turned her house into a safe place and eventually a hospital. The refuge grew as wars, plague and all the rest swept over Genoa. Virginia worked closely with the young in her care to make sure they could become self-sufficient, particularly young women. Soon the government helped out with some support for the hospital.

When Virginia retired she still worked as a humble sister, doing chores on the grounds and begging for alms for the Institute. Eventually she was called back to administer the joint when it continued to grow and get away from the folk in charge, they needed her genius, spirit and spark to keep the place going. She was more importantly a spiritual sparkplug for the region; negotiating peace between warring families, encouraging devotions and prayer, and patronage for Genoa to our Blessed Mother. Toward the end of her days Virginia began to have visions.

Born
2 April 1587 in Genoa, Italy

Died
15 December 1651 in Genoa, Italy of natural causes

John of the Cross

Saint John of the Cross
Also known as
• Doctor of Mystical Theology

Memorial
• 14 December

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Our Saint today is a well known and depressing Spanish mystic and Doctor of the Church. John was a Carmelite lay brother who lived more strictly than their order required. Then he was persuaded by Saint Teresa of Avila to begin the discalced or barefoot reform within the Carmelite Order, he took the name John of the Cross. He tried to make the Monks live MORE austerely.

He became the master of novices and as you may have guessed initially; his reforms did not set well with some of his brothers. Can you imagine telling these guys who sit on stones, work and pray all day, eating bread and water that they have to give up their high living?

Eventually he was made Vicar-general of Andalusia, Spain. His reforms revitalized the Order. He was a great spiritual writer. He wrote the poem Dark Night of the Soul where ones journey to God is portrayed as a journey at night through three stages ending in unity with Him. John’s writing is pretty heavy, and very depressing at times, but interestingly, many of those we would call Holy People, like Mother Theresa, pass through these dark, spiritually flavorless periods in their faith journeys.

Born
• 24 June 1542, Spain

Died
• 14 December 1591, Spain of natural causes

Patronage

• contemplative life
• contemplatives
• mystical theology
• mystics
• Spanish poets

Pope Miltiades

Pope Saint Miltiades

Also known as
Melchiades

memorial
10 December

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Our Saint today was the Pope during the time that Constantine the Great finally made it legal for Christians to exist; February 313. He suffered a lot before this, so even though he sort of died naturally, some consider him a martyr.

It is not known for certain, but he may have been the Pope when the Church was given the Lateran Palace which became the Church Headquarters and Papal residence.

In his writings, Saint Augustine of Hippo mentions him very favorably, with that reference what more can be said?

Born
Africa

Died
11 January 314 at Rome, Italy

Ethelgiva of Shaftesbury

Saint Ethelgiva of Shaftesbury
Also known as
• Æthelgifu of Shaftesbury

memorial
• 9 December

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Our saint today was a beautiful princess, who became a Nun. With her father’s help, King Alfred the Great, she founded and served as first abbess of Shaftesbury Abbey in Dorset, England.

In London my favourite street is named Shaftesbury Avenue (Near Covent Garden and the British Museum, the Pasty Place closed I'm told). My favourite Underground line is still the Jubilee line though……and my favourite Underground Station? Goodge Street, …..but I digress

Died
896

Immaculate Conception

 

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.   This Feast is a Holy Day of Obligation.   YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

 

The Immaculate Conception is possibly the most misunderstood concept among Catholics,   I would guess that if you ask 9 out of 10 Catholics to explain "The Immaculate Conception" they will explain to you the Virgin Birth of Jesus.    In fact it has diffused down to popular vernacular.   As in this simulated dialogue between two idiots:  

 

"She has a baby but no husband,"

"Maybe it was an Immaculate Conception."

"Ha Ha ha ha."    

 

Several years ago my daughter worked for Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of New York, at least ostensibly a Catholic Organization....I'm so proud because she had to correct two superiors who were confusing the Immaculate Conception with the Virgin Birth of Jesus.  After her educating the two biddies these mopes began to disagree with her as she must be wrong.    Thomas Aquinas calls this condition invincible ignorance.    

    

To add to this confusion the Gospel for today is the Annunciation when the Angel Gabriel tells the Virgin she will give birth although she has not been with a man.   This Gospel is chosen to demonstrate Mary’s specialness today.  

 

The Immaculate Conception is a feast of the Blessed Mother.   The concept of the Immaculate Conception is that, from the beginning of time Mary was chosen to be the Mother of God, so because of this unique calling her soul was prepared from the beginning and as such her soul was conceived without the stain of Original Sin…the sin we all share...the sin of Adam and Eve.     The Word was made flesh only when she agreed to be the "Handmaiden of the Lord" actually, her obedience to the will of God negated the disobedience of Eve.     

 

 

As Gabriel said: "Hail Mary...Full of Grace...."  (Ave Maria....Gratia Plena).   If she were “Full of Grace” as the Angel says, then there is no room in her soul for sin (grace displaces sin)…..like a glass of water filled to the brim you can’t even put a drop of water in the glass without it overflowing.

Mary, in the incarnation of the Immaculate Conception, is the Patron Saint of The United States of America.  Not too shabby when you think about it. 

 

Holy Mary conceived without sin, pray for us; We need it……

Ambrose of Milan

 

Saint Ambrose of Milan

 

Also known as

•              The Honey Tongued Doctor

•              Ambrogio of Milan

•              Ambrosius of Milan

 

Memorial

•              7 December

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As you all probably know by now, my Wife, The Whip, is a convert to the True Faith from Lutheranism.   A few years ago we went on a couple’s religious retreat together, her first retreat of any kind, ever.   She was naturally nervous as she had never been on retreat before and did not know what us cradle Catholics knew (or so she thinks).    Naturally being the  supportive husband I am... I fanned the flames of her fear by implying that the first night of every retreat they gave a written test of Catholic knowledge and the Patron Saint matching column is usually easy.   They ask simple ones like “The Patron Saint of Beekeepers, everyone knows that one…”    well here he is……  

 

Ambrose was born to Roman nobility and was, like the Whip, a convert to Christianity.   During his service as governor of  Milan, Italy he was still a catechumen; studying the faith. As Governor, when the bishop of Milan died, a dispute over his replacement led to violence among the Christians.    Ambrose intervened to calm both sides; he impressed everyone involved so much that though he was still an unbaptized catechumen, he was chosen as the new bishop.   

 

Naturally he resisted, claiming that he was not worthy, but to prevent further violence, he assented, and on 7 December 374 he was baptized, ordained as a priest, and consecrated as bishop all in one day.  This is like being elected as the highest Executive in the land having never served as an executive officer of anything……but maybe I digress.  Our Saint immediately gave away his wealth to the Church and the poor, both for the good it did, and as an example to his flock.

 

He was a noted teacher and preacher, in fact his teachings and preaching led to the conversion of Saint Augustine of Hippo, no less, whom Ambrose instructed, baptized and brought into the Church.     Augustine’s mother, Saint Monica loved Ambrose’s homilies; she said his words were like honey.    Monica’s observation on his preaching led to the nickname “The Honey Tongued Doctor,” this cognomen led to the use of a beehive and bees in his iconography, symbols which also indicate wisdom.    This led to his association with bees, beekeepers, chandlers, wax refiners, etc.  Now you will ace the patron saint matching column on your next retreat……

 

Before the days of the Council of Trent, in 1545 or so, there was a lot of disorder in the Church about the form of our celebrations…even the celebration of Mass had no standard form.  Ambrose fixed that for his jurisdiction in Milan a millennium before the Council of Trent fixed it for the rest of the Church.  He put together and formalized what we call The Ambrosian Rite.  It is different and older than the Rite we are used to almost everywhere else in the west…the Roman Rite.   The Ambrosian Rite is practiced among some five million Catholics in the greater part of the Archdiocese of Milan, Italy, in some parishes of the Diocese of Como, Bergamo, Novara, Lodi and in about fifty parishes of the Diocese of Lugano, in Switzerland.

 

Even though some Church Officials did not like Milan and the rest doing their own thing, particularly after Trent, and threatened to suppress or ban the distinctive Ambrosian Rite it survived; it survived Trent, and even the wild and whacky Vatican II.  It has been reformed after the Second Vatican Council though, partly because then-Pope Paul VI belonged to the Ambrosian "rite," having previously been Archbishop of Milan.   I have never seen it done, but I hear it is beautiful.    Red, not the Roman-Rite green, is the standard color of vestments from Pentecost to the third Sunday of October, and there are a lot of other differences in more than just liturgical colors or the Mass.

 

Ambrose was proclaimed one of the first four Doctors of the Latin Church by Pope Boniface VIII in 1298.

 

Born

•              c.340 in Trier, southern Gaul (modern Germany)

Died

•              Holy Saturday, 4 April 397 at Milan, Italy of natural causes

•              relics at basilica of Milan

Patronage

•              bee keepers

•              bees

•              candlemakers

•              chandlers

•              domestic animals

•              French Commissariat

•              learning

•              schoolchildren

•              students

•              wax melters

•              wax refiners

Representation

•              beehive

•              bees

•              bishop holding a church in his hand

•              dove

•              human bones

•              man arguing with a pagan

•              ox

•              pen

•              scourge