Serra GB Focus June 2021
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Serra GB focus June 2021 “Thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church”. Matt 16:18 To foster and promote vocations to the ministerial priesthood in the Catholic Church as a particular vocation to service, and to support priests in their sacred ministry. To encourage and affirm vocations to consecrated religious life in the Catholic Church. To assist its members to recognize and respond in their own lives to God’s call to holiness in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. Consider joining our Serran apostolate contact the editor Alex Duncan: [email protected] Under the patronage of the His Eminence Most Reverend Vincent Cardinal Nichols For more information visit: www.serragreatbritain.org.uk 1 What did you do to pass time during Solemnity of the Sts. Peter and Paul lockdown? June 29th As we look back over this past year and now perhaps see the possibility of an escape from this dreadful pandemic, we can recall with gratitude that we have survived to tell the tale. It is also with great sadness that we remember and pray for those not so fortunate, those who have lost loved ones or indeed still suffering the Covid effects. During lockdown when we were obliged to be indoors many would have found a daily routine which would certainly have helped, daily mass and spiritual communion online usually part of that routine. Summer is now with us and we can at least get outside, go to church and enjoy some freedom to wander our streets, There are two statues some 5.5 mtrs high standing either countryside and have some normality back in our lives. side of the steps leading to the basilica as if protecting this magnificent basilica, the largest in the world, and our faith. For Ella and me, last Christmas, we were gifted with St Peter on the left, St Paul on the right. many jigsaws one of which was the interior dome of St Peter’s Basilica looking above the baldacchino on the In St Peter’s right hand the apostle is holds two keys, one main altar. The Jigsaw, some 1500 pieces rated as gold key is gold plated, representing the power to bind and loose and difficult, addictively took some two weeks for us to in heaven, the spiritual authority, The other is silver plated. complete. representing the power to bind and loose on earth, the temporal authority. They are symbols of the power promised to him by Christ at Caesarea of Philippi. In his left hand is the scroll bearing the words ET TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI CAELORUM' (“I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven ") St Paul with his 2.8 mtr long sword in his right hand, a reminder of the means of his martyrdom. His left holding a book. On the book is the inscription, in Hebrew reading: "I can do all things in him who strengthens me", recalling the text from Paul's Letter to the Philippians. It certainly passed the time and brought back some great Veneration of the two great Apostles, Peter and Paul, has its memories of our many visits to Rome and St Peter’s. roots in the very foundations of the Church. They are the Indeed, just sitting back and gazing at this towering solid rock on which the Church is built. They are at the dome designed by Michelangelo and the two meter high origin of our faith and will forever remain her protectors lettering round the copula which reads “Thou art Peter and her guides. To them Rome owes her true greatness, for and upon this rock I will build my Church” and cornered it was under God's providential guidance that they were led by the mosaic medallions of the four Evangelists, the to make the capital of the Empire, sanctified by their authors of the good news of Our Lord. martyrdom, whence should radiate the preaching of the Gospel. St. Peter suffered martyrdom under Nero, in A.D. 66 or 67. He was buried on the hill of the Vatican where excavations have revealed his tomb under the main altar on the very site of Peter's Basilica. St. Paul was beheaded in the Via Ostia on the spot where now stands the basilica bearing his name. Down the centuries Christians in their thousands have gone on pilgrimage to the tombs of these Apostles. In the second and third centuries the Roman Catholic Church already stood Thoughts of past visits to Rome reminded us of the pre-eminent by reason of her apostolicity, the infallible Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul on 29th June. truth of her teaching and her two great figures, Sts. Peter and Paul. …. Alex 2 St Junipero Serra; our patron saint, 1713 – 1784 Serra learned the Otomí language and used a visual method of teaching religion. Zealous in preaching and in promoting Feast Day 1st July both liturgical and popular devotions, he succeeded in bringing the Pame people to practice the faith in an exemplary way. Economically his mission prospered through the introduction of domestic animals, the fostering of agriculture, and the development of commerce. He also defended Indian rights against non-native settlers in a protracted contest over the valley of Tancama. During building operations on his church, he worked as an ordinary day labourer. He set out in mid-July of 1767 and reached Loreto the following April 1st. Residing at the former Jesuit headquarters he assigned missionaries to the 15 missions between San José del Cabo in the south and Santa María in the north. Serra volunteered in 1768 to join expeditions to Upper California. On March 28, 1769, Serra left the mission Born at Petra, Majorca, Spain, November 24, 1713, the son at Loreto on mule-back, arriving at San Diego on July 1. En of Antonio Nadal Serra and Margarita Rosa Ferrer who spent route, he founded his first mission at San Fernando de their lives as farmers, Junípero Serra was baptized on the Velicatá on May 14. Serra kept a diary of his journey during same day at St. Peter’s Church and was given the name which he suffered greatly from an infirmity in his legs and Miguel José. In Petra, Serra attended the primary school of feet and had to be carried on a stretcher. the Franciscans. At 15-years-old, he was taken by his parents to Palma to be placed in the charge of a cathedral canon, and Serra over the next 15 years founded nine missions: San he began to assist at classes in philosophy held in the Diego, July 16, 1769; San Carlos, Monterey-Carmel, June 3, Franciscan monastery of San Francisco. He was admitted as 1770; San Antonio, July 14, 1771; San Gabriel, September 8, a novice at the Convento de Jesús outside the walls of Palma 1771; This was one of the largest, wealthiest, most on September 14, 1730, and made his profession on productive missions. By 1829, San Gabriel mission had September 15, the following year. He chose the name 25,000 head of cattle, 15,000 sheep, perhaps the largest Junípero in memory of the brother companion of St. Francis. vineyard in Spanish California, and abundant crops of wheat, He studied philosophy and theology at the Convento de San barley, corn, beans, peas, lentils and garbanzos. San Luis Francisco. The date of his ordination to the priesthood is not Obispo, September 1, 1772, San Francisco, October 9, 1776; known, though it probably occurred during the Ember Days San Juan Capistrano, November 1, 1776; Santa Clara, of December 1738. Serra obtained his doctorate in theology January 12, 1777; and San Buenaventura, March 31, 1782. in 1742 from the Lullian University, Palma. He chaired Duns He was present at the founding of Presidio Santa Barbara, Scotus theology at the same university as primary professor April 12, 1782. in January 1749 Serra remained at San Diego until April 14, 1770, when he On April 13, 1749, with Francisco Palóu, Serra sailed for embarked for Monterey. From June 3, 1770, until his death. America. He landed in Vera Cruz, Mexico on December 7, Serra died at Mission San Carlos, August 28, 1784, at the age 1749. Although horses were supplied for the friars, Serra of 70 and is buried in the floor of the sanctuary of the church elected to walk the 250 miles between Vera Cruz and he had built. By the end of 1784, Indian baptisms at the first Mexico City. They reached San Fernando College on nine missions reached the number 6,736, while 4,646 January 1, 1750, spending the previous night at the Shrine of Christianised Indians were living in them. Our Lady of Guadalupe. The cause for Serra’s beatification began in the Diocese of In less than six months, an urgent call came for volunteers Monterey-Fresno in 1934, and the diocesan process was for the Sierra Gorda missions. Serra was among the finished in 1949. On September 25, 1988 he was beatified by volunteers. During his apostolate in Sierra Gorda with the Pope John Paul II. Pope Francis canonized Junipero Serra on Pame Indians between 1750 and 1758, Serra not only September 23, 2015. during a Mass in Washington, DC. oversaw construction of a church, which is still in use, but developed his mission in both religious and economic He is known as the Apostle of California. The Franciscan directions. Under his presidency of the missions, the city names tell the story: San Francisco, Ventura (Saint missionaries of the other four towns also built mission Bonaventure), Our Lady of the Angels (Los Angeles) etc churches.