DOCSLIB.ORG

“Apostolic Continuity of the Church and Apostolic Succession” Concluding Reflections to the Centro Pro Unione Symposium William Henn, O.F.M

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“Apostolic Continuity of the Church and Apostolic Succession” Concluding Reflections to the Centro Pro Unione Symposium William Henn, O.F.M Louvain Studies 21 (1996) 183-199 “Apostolic Continuity of the Church and Apostolic Succession” Concluding Reflections to the Centro Pro Unione Symposium William Henn, O.F.M. Cap. My aim in the following reflections is not so much to add new data to what was presented in the five excellent papers prepared for the sym- posium held on November 23-24, 1995, at the Centro Pro Unione in Rome on the “Apostolic Continuity of the Church and Apostolic Succession.” Rather, my own reflections will be limited to the following points, which I have attempted to derive directly from the material pre- sented in those papers: I. the importance of the symposium; II. a prin- cipal area of convergence; and III. specific issues which could lead to yet greater convergence. I. Significance of the Theme of the Symposium The report published in 1990 by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches about the responses of the various Christian communities to the Lima document on “Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry,” includes the following observation: For many on both sides of the issue the question of episcopal suc- cession remains the most difficult problem for further dialogue on ministry. Behind this issue lie significant ecclesiological questions. It can, therefore, only be tackled in the framework of a broader, more intensified discussion on ecclesiology …1 The Centro Pro Unione symposium has been a valuable contribution to this discussion, focusing on the ecclesiological theme of the apostolic 1. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry 1982-1990: Report on the Process and Responses, Faith and Order Paper, 149 (Geneva: WCC, 1990) 128. 184 WILLIAM HENN continuity of the Church and, within that context, on the precise topic of apostolic succession. Because one of the defining parameters of the symposium was the Porvoo Common Statement of the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran Churches and the Anglican Churches of Great Britain and Ire- land, the papers of the symposium have also given quite precise atten- tion to the topic of episcopacy. When speaking of the difficulty and complexity of this issue, as does the Report on BEM cited above, one should not overlook the progress which has already been made in reflection about apostolicity. Perhaps an example could illustrate this. Almost thirty years ago, the Roman Catholic theologian Yves Congar wrote an essay entitled “Apos- tolicity of Ministry and Apostolicity of Doctrine,” in which, taking as his point of departure some passages by Luther, Melanchthon and other reformers, he attempted to show that the two dimensions of apostolic- ity entailed in this distinction are rather closely intertwined in patristic and later scholastic writings.2 This could have been considered a bit avant-garde at the time, in that Congar suggested that one could not simply rely on succession in ministry as the sufficient criterion for ensuring apostolicity.3 He provided various witnesses, at one point quot- ing Pope Sixtus III (432-440) to the effect that one cannot truly be con- sidered a successor to the apostles if one does not follow them in the faith which they handed on. Thus, correct faith was often seen as much as a criterion by which bishops were acknowledged to be “in apostolic succession” as was their ordination in a line of ministerial succession. The importance of apostolicity in faith in underscored by the fact that some of those who had fallen into error during the doctrinal debates of the early centuries were in fact ordained bishops of ancient “apostolic” churches. One recalls John Henry Newman's comment that, during the great Arian controversy, “the episcopate, whose action was so prompt and concordant at Nicea … did not … play a good part in the troubles consequent upon the Council; and the laity did.”4 Neither Congar nor Newman made use of these observations to question the legitimacy or even, for them, the necessity of the episcopacy for the Church. But for 2. The full title of this work is “Apostolicité de ministère et apostolicité de doc- trine: Essai d'explication de la Réaction protestante et de la Tradition catholique.” First published in 1967, it was later included among the essays of Y. Congar, Ministères et communion ecclésiale, Théologie sans frontières, 23 (Paris: Cerf, 1971) 51-94. 3. This point also is made in various ways in the symposium papers of Dr. Tan- ner, Professor Tjørhom and Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon. 4. J. H. Newman, “The Orthodoxy of the Body of the Faithful during the Supremacy of Arianism,” in The Arians of the Fourth Century (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1919) 445-468 at 445. CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS TO THE SYMPOSIUM 185 them it seemed clear that an approach to apostolicity which isolated ministry from faith or faith from ministry could never be adequate. If one looks at the rather numerous ecumenical dialogues which have taken up the question of apostolicity during the last thirty years, one can trace a certain shift in the way in which the topic has been framed. Most of the dialogues prior to BEM tended to speak of apos- tolicity within the context of discussing ministry. Since then, there has been a substantial increase in dialogue precisely about ecclesiology and, within that context, about the nature of the whole Church as apostolic.5 This has tended to place the question in a much broader context, the ultimate fruits of which may not yet have come to light. If nothing else, it seems a general point of agreement among divided Christians that Christ's church is and must be apostolic and that its apostolicity needs to be understood in a way which takes into account many factors. II. A Major Convergence Concerning Apostolicity The Porvoo Common Statement accepts this broader vision of apos- tolicity, as does each of the conferences presented during the Centro Pro Unione symposium. Dr. Tanner reflected on the integral unity of the various factors favoring apostolicity as, to take only one example, in her discussion of the organic relation between the elements present in the Chicago/Lambeth Quadrilateral. This more global and integrated understanding appeared also in Professor Tjørhom's five general theses on apostolicity, as well as in his analysis of the Porvoo Common State- ment. Professor O'Collins developed biblical material which principally supported the presence and succession of leadership structures, but this was related and in service to the ongoing continuity of the community 5. A perusal of the indices of the various collections of ecumenical documents under the headings “apostolicity” or “apostle” will, in a general way, verify this observa- tion, although there are some exceptions, such as the relatively early document (1970) from a theological commission set up by the Joint Working Group of the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches which focused on the catholicity and apostolicity of the Church as a whole, and not simply on apostolicity of ministry. The report of this commission was published under the title “Study Document on ‘Catholicity and Apostolicity',” One in Christ 6 (1970) 452-483. Helpful syntheses of the overall ecumenical discussion of apostolicity can be found in F. A. Sullivan, “Apos- tolicity in Ecumenical Dialogue,” in his The Church We Believe In: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1988) 185-209; and H. Schütte, “Apostoli- zität der Kirche – Gabe und Aufgabe,” in his Kirche im ökumenischen Verständnis: Kirche des dreieinigen Gottes (Paderborn/Frankfurt am Main: Bonifatius/Otto Lembeck, 1992) 115-123. 186 WILLIAM HENN as a whole. Metropolitan John gave a very direct and distinctive accent to this principle by arguing from patristic sources that apostolic succes- sion is fundamentally a succession of communities and that succession in episcopal ministry must be understood within this context. Finally, Professor Meyer's theological presentation from the perspective of the Reformation begins precisely with the more global understanding of continuity and proceeds to situate ministerial succession within that context. Here, then, is an important convergence among the symposium papers. It signals that theologians representing the Anglican, Lutheran, Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions would all reject the isolation of any one element of apostolic continuity – such as, for example, faith or ministry – as the sole means or criterion of such continuity. A first consequence of this would appear to be that the divided Christian com- munities already can and do consider each other to be to some degree “apostolic.” This recognition does not eliminate the need to explore the whole mosaic of factors which enter into apostolicity and to seek possi- ble consensus about what they are and how they relate to each other in maintaining the Church as apostolic.6 But this shift from identifying apostolicity in a very restricted way to the more realistic and dynamic view that apostolicity entails many elements and that various communi- ties may express these in various ways and degrees is one of great impor- tance, perhaps the most considerable achievement of ecumenical dia- logue about apostolicity so far. III. Specific Promising Themes In addition to this major convergence, a number of specific issues have been touched upon in the various conferences which can con- tribute to a real advance toward greater consensus about apostolic con- tinuity and apostolic succession. I will discuss below three such issues. 6. A recent ecumenical acknowledgment of the many factors involved in apos- tolicity as well as of the need to more deeply reflect on the way in which they work together is the second part of the “Report of Section II: Confessing the One Faith to God's Glory” of the Fifth World Conference of Faith and Order (Santiago de Com- postela, August 3-14, 1993).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • SAINT LEO the GREAT 440-461 Pope, Doctor of the Church One Of
    SAINT LEO THE GREAT 440-461 Pope, Doctor of the Church th One of only two Popes to be called great, Leo was born in the late 4 century, probably of a Tuscan family. He was at Rome as a deacon under Pope Celestine I and Pope Sixtus III (422-440). As a deacon Leo was quite influential. He informed Celestine I about the Nestorian heresy in 430 and assisted Sixtus III and also Archbishop Cyril of Alexandria. In September of 440 Leo was elected Pope. Leo set about making the Roman church a model for all other churches. He wrote over 96 sermons, in which he stressed almsgiving, fasting and prayer, and also clarified Catholic doctrine, especially on the Incarnation. He was a strong advocate against heresy and convened a council of clergy and laymen to dispute the Manichaean beliefs and reinforce orthodoxy. He personally wrote letters to all of the Italian bishops warning of the false teachings. Leo was an advocate of orthodoxy rather than an original theologian. In 451 the Council of Calcedon was held in Asia Minor and at least 600 bishops attended. Leo sent 3 representatives. Leo’s Tome which he had written was read to the Council. Included in it were his concise definitions of the doctrine of the Incarnation and the two natures of Christ. His statement on the latter later become the Church’s official teaching. However, Leo refused to accept the Council’s decision to recognize the patriarch of Constantinople as primate over the Eastern churches. Leo had a lot of personality and courage.
    [Show full text]
  • Bulletin 8-1-2021
    Saint Florian Under the Care of the Discalced Carmelite Friars 1233 South 45 Street, West Milwaukee, WI 53214-3615 August 1, 2021 ~ Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time PARISH STAFF WEEKEND MASSES Under the Care of the Discalced Carmelite Friars Saturday (Anticipated) ...................... 4:00 p.m. Phone ................................. 414-383-3565, extension 2 Sunday .............................................. 8:00 a.m. Email ................................. [email protected] DAILY MASSES (in the Main Church at this time) Maintenance: Joseph Rivest M, T, Th and F .................................. 5:00 p.m. Secretary: Jacqueline Wick followed by Euch. Ad. & Ben. ......... until 6:45 p.m. ST. FLORIAN PARISH OFFICE Wednesday ....................................... 8:00 a.m. 1210 South 45 Street, West Milwaukee, WI 53214-3614 followed by Euch. Ad. & Ben. ..... until 9:30 a.m. Phone ....................................... 414-383-3565, ext. 0 Saturday ............................................ 8:00 a.m. Fax ........................................... 414-383-2708 with Confessions at ....................... 8:30 a.m. Email ....................................... [email protected] Evening before Holy Day (Anticipated) Website ................................... www.stflorian.org ...................................................... 7:00 p.m. (No 5:00 p.m. Daily Mass on Anticipated Holy Days) PARISH OFFICE HOURS Holy Day .......................................... 8:00 a.m. Monday through Thursday 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
    [Show full text]
  • Aeterna Dei Sapientia
    AETERNA DEI SAPIENTIA ENCYCLICAL OF POPE JOHN XXIII ON COMMEMORATING THE FIFTEENTH CENTENNIAL OF THE DEATH OF POPE ST. LEO I: THE SEE OF PETER AS THE CENTER OF CHRISTIAN UNITY NOVEMBER 11, 1961 To the Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Local Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See: Commemorating the fifteenth centenary of the death of St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church. Venerable Brethren Health and Apostolic Benediction God's eternal wisdom "reacheth from end to end mightily and ordereth all things sweetly." (1) Its light shone with exceptional brilliance in the soul of Pope St. Leo I, for it would seem to have burned into it the very image of itself; so fearless the moral courage displayed by this Pope— "the greatest among the great," as Our later predecessor Pius XII rightly called him (2)-yet so gentle his fatherly concern. 2. The wisdom of his government, the wealth and scope of his teaching, the loftiness of his mind, his unfailing charity—these are the things which St. Leo the Great brought to enhance the fame of Peter's See, to which Almighty God in His providence has also raised Us. And now, on this fifteenth centenary of his death, We feel it incumbent upon Us to highlight his virtues and his immortal merits, confident that these can be of great spiritual value to us all, and increase the prestige and promote the spread of the Catholic Faith. Life-long Brilliance 3. Wherein, then, lies the true greatness of this Pope? In moral courage?—in that moral courage which he showed when, at the River Mincius in 452, with no other armor to protect him than his high-priestly majesty, he boldly confronted the barbarous king of the Huns, Attila, and persuaded him to retreat with his armies across the Danube? That was certainly an heroic act and one which accorded well with the Roman pontificate's mission of peace.
    [Show full text]
  • Saint Peter Chrysologus
    Saint Peter Chrysologus In 380 AD, Saint Peter Chrysologus was born in When Pope Leo I ascended the Chair of Saint Peter in 440 Imola, which is in modern day Bologna Italy, during the AD after the death of Pope Sixtus III that same year, Peter reign of Roman Emperor Thedosius I, who would be the Chrysologus would become a close confidant of the new last Roman Emperor to reign over the entire Empire. Pope. Peter Chrysologus would for his entire lifetime be After the death of Theodosius I in 395 AD, the reign in fiercely loyal to the Church and a defender of its authority. the West fell to Emperor Honorius. It was against this In 448, Eutyches came to Bishop Peter to gain his backdrop which Peter, who as an adult converted to support in a dispute with the Church where he had been Catholicism and was baptized and educated by Cornelius, deposed of his priestly office and excommunicated. the Bishop of the Diocese of Imola. Peter would Eutyches had previously become well known at the eventually be ordained a deacon of the Church by Bishop Council of Ephesus in 432 for his opposition to Nestorius, Cornelius. who had taught that Christ’s two natures, human and In 423, Emperor Honorius died, and was divine, were bound together by one will, as opposed to the succeeded by Emperor Valentinian III. orthodox view that Christ had two wills, both human and Peter was becoming well known for his short, but divine. While as a priest, Eutyches had been hailed for inspiring sermons, and Emperor Valentinian III would his stance against Nestorianism, he had embraced the become both a fan of Peter and his sermons.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gains of August
    @Contra Mundum@ Volume XVIII, Issue 1 August 2015 The Congregation of St. Athanasius A Congregation of the Pastoral Provision of Pope John Paul II for the Anglican Usage of the Roman Rite http://www.locutor.net THE GAINS OF AUGUST Wherefore seeing we also our Blessed Savior was born into are compassed about with the world. so great a cloud of witnesses, We can think of this month as let us lay aside every weight, one of plenitude and growth, and the sin which doth so one filled with a richness of easily beset us, and let us saints and feasts, and indeed run with patience the race augustus actually derives its that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1 meanings from the notion of ‘growth’3 or ‘increase’, the stem augere ‘ In 27 BC the Roman Senate conferred of to make something ’ the special epithet augustus grow cf. augment and more ‘majestic, sublime’ on Gaius distantly augur and auxiliary. So in English we have two Octavianus, the grandnephew, homographs which differ in adopted son and heir of Julius meaning, pronunciation and Cæsar, whose name he also had stress: the month of Aúgust and incorporated into his own. The the adjective augúst. The Coronation of the Virgin, apse mosaic Senate did this out of gratitude (Jacopo Torriti, sæc.XIII) from Santa Maria The Assumption of the Most Blessed and in recognition of Octavian’s Maggiore. Virgin occupies the very center having restored stability to the of the month of August, as a octave day of the Assumption to empire after the fifteen years of major feast and holyday of the feast of the Immaculate Heart of war and civil strife which had obligation.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Free at ISBN 978‑1‑909646‑72‑8 (PDF Edition) DOI: 10.14296/917.9781909646728
    Ravenna its role in earlier medieval change and exchange Ravenna its role in earlier medieval change and exchange Edited by Judith Herrin and Jinty Nelson LONDON INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH Published by UNIVERSITY OF LONDON SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU First published in print in 2016 (ISBN 978‑1‑909646‑14‑8) This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution‑ NonCommercial‑NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY‑ NCND 4.0) license. More information regarding CC licenses is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Available to download free at http://www.humanities‑digital‑library.org ISBN 978‑1‑909646‑72‑8 (PDF edition) DOI: 10.14296/917.9781909646728 iv Contents Acknowledgements vii List of contributors ix List of illustrations xiii Abbreviations xvii Introduction 1 Judith Herrin and Jinty Nelson 1. A tale of two cities: Rome and Ravenna under Gothic rule 15 Peter Heather 2. Episcopal commemoration in late fifth‑century Ravenna 39 Deborah M. Deliyannis 3. Production, promotion and reception: the visual culture of Ravenna between late antiquity and the middle ages 53 Maria Cristina Carile 4. Ravenna in the sixth century: the archaeology of change 87 Carola Jäggi 5. The circulation of marble in the Adriatic Sea at the time of Justinian 111 Yuri A. Marano 6. Social instability and economic decline of the Ostrogothic community in the aftermath of the imperial victory: the papyri evidence 133 Salvatore Cosentino 7. A striking evolution: the mint of Ravenna during the early middle ages 151 Vivien Prigent 8. Roman law in Ravenna 163 Simon Corcoran 9.
    [Show full text]
  • August Feast Days.Pub
    AUGUST 2012 FEAST DAYS Saturday, August 4 — Saint John Mary Vianney Universally known as the Curé of Ars, this simple parish priest heard confessions 12 to 16 hours a day and was renowned as a confessor. Between 1830 and 1845, visitors and pilgrims numbered in the hundreds every day. Marianist history indicates that St. John Vianney had a special regard for the Society of Mary. Sunday, August 5 — Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major Following the declaration of Mary as “God‐bearer” by the Council of Ephesus in 431, Pope Sixtus III erected in Rome the oldest basilica in the West dedicated to the Mother of God. It is called Great Saint Mary’s because it is older and larger than other Roman churches also dedicated to Our Lady. This memorial is superceded by the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Monday, August 6 — Transfiguration of the Lord The story of the Transfiguration is full of symbolic meaning: a divine manifestation on a mountaintop, the appearance of figures representing the law and prophets, God repeating the words from heaven at Jesus’ baptism, and an allusion to Christ’s death and resurrection. August 6 and August 9 are the anniversaries of the atomic explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. As these events are recalled, let us continue to pray for world peace. Friday, August 10 — Saint Lawrence Lawrence suffered martyrdom in the year 258, three days after Pope Sixtus II and three other deacons were killed. He is said to have been burned alive on a gridiron. He cared for the temporal welfare of the Roman church.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lives and Times of the Popes
    in n- COLLEG 17 ts)?='?^^C3 -j^^=r^ = 0" K=7=n £=—=r>- 1 ~> g 1 r> m 1 •;- L^^t^><f EDITION DE LUXE Limited to one thousand numbered and registered sets Set No. SHIMON PETRVS-PPAPA BETHSAIDENSIS > THE LIVES AND TIMES OF THE POPES INCLUDING THE COMPLETE GALLERY OF THE PORTRAITS OF THE PONTIFFS REPRODUCED FROM "EFFIGIES PONTIFICUM ROMANORUM DOMINICI BASAE" BEING A SERIES OF VOLUMES GIVING THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD DURING THE CHRISTIAN ERA RETRANSLATED, REVISED, AND WRITTEN UP TO DATE FROM LES VIES DES PAPES BY THE CHEVALIER ARTAUD DE MONTOR IN TEN VOLUMES NEW YORK THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA NOV 28 1941 Nihil Obstat REMIGIUS LAFORT, S.T.L. CENSOR Imprimatur 9B9BJOHN M. FARLEY, D.D. ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK New York, February i, 1911 Copyright, 1911, by THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA THE LIVES AND TIMES OF THE POPES THE LIVES AND TIMES OF THE POPES 1 SAINT PETER—A.D. 42 SAINT PETER, the Prince of the Apostles, and first of the Christian pontiffs, was originally named Si- mon. His father was a fisherman of Bethsaida, near the Lake of Gennesareth, in Galilee, which was also the birthplace of his brother, Saint Andrew. When Simon was about forty years old his brother presented him to our Sa- viour, who, receiving him as one of his apostles, surnamed him Cephas, which in the Syriac signifies Stone, or Rock. "Upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." By these words our Saviour intimated that, in raising Saint Peter to the dignity of the chief of the apostles, he made that dignity the foundation- stone of his Church.
    [Show full text]
  • Santa Maria Maggiore St Mary Major
    Santa Maria Maggiore St Mary Major Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore is a 5th century papal basilica, located in the rione Monti. and is notable for its extensive Early Christian mosaics. The basilica is built on the summit of the Esquiline hill, which was once a commanding position. (1) (i)! History Ancient times The church is on the ancient Cispius, the main summit of the Esquiline Hill, which in ancient times was not a heavily built-up area. Near the site had been a Roman temple dedicated to a goddess of childbirth, Juno Lucina, much frequented by women in late pregnancy. Archaeological investigations under the basilica between 1966 and 1971 revealed a 1st century building, it seems to have belonged to a villa complex of the Neratii family. (1) (k) Liberian Basilica - Foundation legend - Civil war According to the Liber Pontificalis, this first church (the so-called Basilica Liberiana or "Liberian Basilica") was founded in the August 5, 358 by Pope Liberius. According to the legend that dates from 1288 A.D., the work was financed by a Roman patrician John, and his wife. They were childless, and so had decided to leave their fortune to the Blessed Virgin. She appeared to them in a dream, and to Pope Liberius, and told them to build a church in her honor on a site outlined by a miraculous snowfall, which occurred in August (traditionally in 358). Such a patch of snow was found on the summit of the Esquiline the following morning. The pope traced the outline of the church with his stick in the snow, and so the church was built.
    [Show full text]
  • Expanding the Christian Footprint: Church Building in the City and the Suburbium Dale Kinney Bryn Mawr College, [email protected]
    Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College History of Art Faculty Research and Scholarship History of Art 2017 Expanding the Christian Footprint: Church Building in the City and the Suburbium Dale Kinney Bryn Mawr College, [email protected] Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.brynmawr.edu/hart_pubs Part of the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Custom Citation Kinney, Dale. 2017. "Expanding the Christian Footprint: Church Building in the City and the Suburbium." In I. Foletti and M. Gianandrea (eds.), The iF fth eC ntury in Rome: Art, Liturgy, Patronage, Rome, Viella: 65-97. This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. https://repository.brynmawr.edu/hart_pubs/105 For more information, please contact [email protected]. I libri di Viella Arte Studia Artium Mediaevalium Brunensia, 4 Editorial board: Klára Benešovská, Ivan Foletti (dir.), Herbert Kessler, Serena Romano, Elisabetta Scirocco Ivan Foletti Manuela Gianandrea The Fifth Century in Rome: Art, Liturgy, Patronage With articles by Sible de Blaauw, Olof Brandt, Zuzana Frantová and Dale Kinney viella Copyright © 2017 – Viella s.r.l. All rights reserved First published 2017 ISBN 978-88-6728-211-1 Published with the support of the Department of Art History, Masaryk University, Brno Edited by Adrien Palladino viella libreria editrice via delle Alpi 32 I-00198 ROMA tel. 06 84 17 75 8 fax 06 85 35 39 60 www.viella.it Table of contents Introduction 7 I. New Languages Old Patterns Ivan Foletti God From God.
    [Show full text]
  • October 1 – St. Therese, the Little Flower
    October 1 – St. Therese, the Little Flower Therese died when she was 24, after having lived as cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was an brief edited version of her journal called "Story of a Soul." But within 28 years of her death, the public demand was so great that she was canonized. Therese was born in France in 1873, the pampered daughter of a mother who had wanted to be a saint and a father who had wanted to be monk. The two had gotten married but determined they would be celibate until a priest told them that was not how God wanted a marriage to work! They later had nine children, the five who lived were all daughters. At the age of 11, Therese became so ill with a fever it was thought she was dying. When Therese saw her sisters praying to statue of Mary in her room, Therese also prayed. She saw Mary smile at her and suddenly she was cured. Some people thought she made the whole thing up. At the same time she had developed the habit of mental prayer. She would find a place between her bed and the wall and in that solitude think about God, life, eternity. Her life was never hard as she did little to help at home often times with outbursts of tears and tantrums. Therese wanted to enter the Carmelite convent to join two of her sisters but she was uncertain of handling the rigors of Carmelite life.
    [Show full text]
  • Archbasilica of St. John Lateran
    Archbasilica of St. John Lateran The Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran (Italian: Arcibasilica Papale di San Giovanni in Laterano), com- monly known as St. John Lateran’s Archbasilica, St. John Lateran’s Basilica, and just The Lateran Basil- ica, is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, who is the Pope. It is the oldest and ranks first among the four Papal Basil- icas or major basilicas of Rome (having the cathedra of the Bishop of Rome), and the oldest church in the Next to the formal entrance is the Archbasilica’s claim to be the West.[2][3] It claims the title of ecumenical mother church head Mother Church in the entire world. Note the Laurel wreath and the Papal Tiara. among Roman Catholics. The current archpriest is Agostino Vallini, Cardinal Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome.[4] The President of the French Republic, cur- rently François Hollande, is ex officio the “first and only 2 Lateran Palace honorary canon" of the basilica, a title held by the heads of the French state since King Henry IV of France. Main article: Lateran Palace The large inscription on the façade reads, Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang, a highly abbreviated Latin inscription meaning The archbasilica stands over the remains of the Castra "Pope Clement XII, in the fifth year of his reign, dedi- Nova equitum singularium, the 'new fort' of the imperial cated this building to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saint cavalry bodyguard.
    [Show full text]