St. Joan Video

I received this in my email from TAN. The video mentions a few St. Joan movies. "The Passion of John of Arc" silent film is one of my all time favorites. The George Bernard Shaw one I've heard is not very good.

St. Joan has of late become one of my favorite saints. Enjoy this video!

Review: A Year With the Church Fathers

You've probably seen some advertisements for this book around the internet and in print. St. Benedict Press and Mike Aquilina have done a great job with this daily devotional.

I was just telling someone yesterday that I don't have much "need" for modern yet-to-be-approved private revelations because I haven't learned all I can from approved sources. The Church Fathers are one of those and this book is a great introduction to them.

Let's first of all judge it by the cover, which we are told never to do. We have here a very beautiful rendition of the highly flexible, soft, leather-feel, DuoTone/Ultrasoft material. It is comfortable to hold and the two-tone cover is a nice touch. If this were a Bible I would prefer a solid color.

The picture below shows its flexibility.

I don't know if this was intentional or not but the book has a near-semi-yapp cover on it. There is certainly a generous over hang. Intentional or not, it will help keep the guilt edges from getting marked up.

Below: Back cover.

The embossing on the cover is great as usual with S.B. Press. When I saw this book it reminded me of all those protestant devotionals you see when you walk into a book store. "God's Promises", "My Utmost..." "Purpose Driven Life" (etc) and now we have a decent looking Catholic one with some real meat to it.

Below: One thing I would change about the book construction is the thick pages. It seems they were going for completely opaque, and to do that you use thicker paper. But here it causes the book to be somewhat stiff. This will work itself out when you use it I suspect. Just go easy on it for a while.

I'm not a fan of glossy pages. I would also change this. But the page layout is good for a daily devotional. That's good advice on the page isn't it? And from St. John Chrysostom - the golden mouth!

You can see above there is a topic for the day, a short explanation, an excerpt from a Church Father, a short meditation, and a closing prayer. This may be a good way to begin the practice of mental prayer for ordinary Catholics. Not having read the whole thing yet, I can't vouch for all of the text but Mr. Aquilina is a well known and trusted apologist. I have his book "The Mass of the Early Christians" and enjoyed it.

You can purchase the book here.

St. Hermenegild - What would we have done?

I was particularly impressed with today's saint on the traditional calendar. Here is Lesson iii from Matins this morning. I wonder, what would any of us done in this situation? Receive the Eucharist even though consecrated by an Arian? Could we even be sure of its validity? What of those in other schismatic communities? What would St. Hermenegild have to say about receiving from them?

From the book of Dialogues of St. Gregory, Pope

King Hermenegild, son of Leovigild, King of the Visigoths, was converted from the Arian heresy to the Catholic faith by the preaching of the venerable Leander, Bishop of Seville, one of my oldest and dearest friends. His father, an Arian, tried to persuade him to return to that heresy, both by gifts and by threats. And when Hermenegild repeatedly answered that he never could abandon the true faith, after having once known it, the father, in a fit of displeasure, deprived him not only of his right to the throne, but of all his property. And he had him put into close confinement, with chains on his neck and hands. Then the youthful King Hermenegild began to despise the earthly kingdom, and ardently to long for the heavenly kingdom; lying fettered, and wearing a hairshirt, he asked almighty God to strengthen him. But when the feast of Easter came, in the dead of night, his unbelieving father sent, as the price of his favor, an Arian bishop to him, to offer him reception of sacrilegiously consecrated Communion at the hands of said bishop. But this man, who had given himself to God, rebuked the Arian bishop when he came, as he deserved, and repudiated his bad faith with fitting reproaches. The bishop, therefore, returned to the Arian father who, being angry, immediately sent his officers to kill the unflinching Confesor of God in the place where he was imprisoned.

Taken from the Roman Breviary in English, 1964 Benziger Brothers Edition

Happy St. Patrick's Day

On Sunday my parish had a St. Patrick's Day party. We've never had one before but our new pastor is from Ireland so the parish had a great deal of fun with it. We had "Irish (American)" food, singing, performing acts, and a visit from our former Bishop Timlin who mingled with the folks and gave his blessing. "I never miss a party," he said. It was a great boost for the congregation to have him there and we were all very grateful.

I figure I am about 1/3 Irish. My father is 1/2 Irish and 1/2 German. My mom is part English, part Irish, and part Welsh. On my mom's side we've traced the tree back 800 years with extensive research. (without Ancestry.com...this was done in the 90s) The last person on the tree has no last name - so that was the end.

Btw, I believe the Breastplate of St. Patrick makes for a good morning prayer. A healthy devotion to St. Patrick would be a nice gift right now for the suffering Church in Ireland. Just a thought.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

St. Ignatius of Antioch

Today in the traditional Roman calendar is the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch. I had the opportunity a few days ago to attend his feast in a local Melkite Greek-Catholic Monastery. Growing up, we always heard of the early Christian martyrs in Rome but never discussed them in any great detail as Presbyterians. We knew people were killed for Christ, but that was it. It wasn’t until I was 26 and interested in the Church did I read of St. Ignatius or those like him.

From today’s Matin’s reading (scraped from DivinumOfficium.com)

From the book of St. Jerome, Presbyter (priest), on the Ecclesiastical writers.

Ignatius was the third Bishop of Antioch after the Apostle Peter. When Trajan stirred up his persecution, he was condemned to be devoured by wild beasts, and sent to Rome in chains. When on his journey thither he arrived at Smyrna, where Polycarp, the disciple of John, was Bishop, he wrote an Epistle to the Ephesians, another to the Magnesians, a third to the Trallians, and a fourth to the Romans and after leaving Smyrna, he addressed a further Epistle to the Philadelphians, and another to the Smyrnians, along with a private Epistle to Polycarp, to whose care he commended the Church of Antioch. In this last he quoteth a passage regarding the Person of Christ from the Gospel, which I have recently translated.

“It is fitting that, as we have made mention of a man of so much importance, we should also note briefly the Epistle which he addressed to the Romans. I am on my way, saith he, from Syria to Rome, and am already fighting with beasts on sea and on land all the way. I may say I am chained day and night to ten leopards, for indeed the soldiers, who have charge of me, are no better. The more courteous I am to them, the worse they use me. But still their wickedness is good schooling for me, though I know that my mere sufferings cannot in themselves gain me justification. I earnestly wish for the beasts which are to devour me; at any rate, I pray they may put me out of pain quickly, and ( fly on me willingly, that I be not like some other Martyrs, whose bodies the animals have refused to touch. If I find that they will not come on, I will run at them as quick as I can, to make them devour me. Let me be, my little children I know what is good for me.

I feel now that I am beginning to be Christ's disciple; I desire none of those things which are seen, if so be I may find Christ Jesus. I care not that there come upon me fire, or cross, or wild beasts, or breaking of my bones, or sundering of my members, or destruction of my whole body, yea, or all the torments of the devil, if only so be I may win Christ. “

When he was brought condemned to the theatre, and heard the roaring of the beasts which were to devour him, he felt so strong an eagerness to suffer, that he cried out I am Christ's wheat, and so let the beasts' teeth be my mill, that I may be ground, and be found to make good bread. He suffered in the eleventh year of Trajan. What was left of his body lieth at Antioch, in the graveyard outside the gate which leadeth toward Daphne.