Annus 66 2018 Fasc. 1 SPICILEGIUM HISTORICUM Congregationis SSmi Redemptoris Congregationis Ssmi Redemptoris Ssmi Congregationis I S T O R I CU M H PICILEGIUM S Collegium S. Alfonsi de Urbe Annus LXVI 2018 Fasc. 1 Collegium S. Alfonsi de Urbe SPICILEGIUM HISTORICUM Congregationis SSmi Redemptoris Annus XLVI 2018 Fasc. 1 Collegium S. Alfonsi de Urbe La Rivista SPICILEGIUM HISTORICUM Congregationis SSmi Redemptoris è una pubblicazione dell’Istituto Storico della Congregazione del Santissimo Redentore DIRETTORE Adam Owczarski SEGRETARIO DI REDAZIONE Emilio Lage CONSIGLIO DI REDAZIONE Alfonso V. Amarante, Álvaro Córdoba Chaves, Emilio Lage, Martin Macko, Adam Owczarski DIRETTORE RESPONSABILE Alfonso V. Amarante SEDE Via Merulana, 31, C.P. 2458 I-00185 ROMA Tel. [39] 06 494901 e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Con approvazione ecclesiastica Autorizzazione del Tribunale di Roma N. 310 del 14 giugno 1985 Ogni collaboratore si assume la responsabilità di ciò che scrive. SIGLE E ABBREVIAZIONI AGHR Archivum Generale Historicum Redemptoristarum, Roma APNR Archivio della Provincia Napoletana CSSR, Pagani (SA) ASV Archivio Segreto Vaticano BAV Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana Bibl. Hist. Bibliotheca Historica CSSR, edita dall’Istituto Storico CSSR, Roma 1955 ss. Acta integra = Acta integra capitulorum generalium CSSR ab anno 1749 usque ad annum 1894 celebratorum, Romae 1899 Analecta = «Analecta CSSR», 1 (Roma 1922) – BOLAND = Samuel J. BOLAND, A Dictionary of the Redemptorists, Roma 1987 CARTEGGIO = S. ALFONSO MARIA DE LIGUORI, Carteggio, I, a cura di G. Orlandi, Roma 2004; Carteggio, II, a cura di G. Orlandi, Roma 2018 Codex regularum = Codex regularum et constitutionum CSSR..., Romae 1896 DE MEULEMEESTER, Bibliographie = Maurice DE MEULEMEESTER, Bibliographie générale des écrivains rédemptoristes, 3 voll., Louvain 1933-1939 DE MEULEMEESTER, Histoire = Maurice DE MEULEMEESTER, Histoire sommaire de la Con- grégation du Très-Saint Rédempteur, Louvain 1958 DE MEULEMEESTER, Origines = Maurice DE MEULEMEESTER, Origines de la Congrégation du Très-Saint Rédempteur. Études et documents, 2 voll., Louvain 1953-1957 Documenta authentica = Documenta authentica facultatum et gratiarum spiritualium quas CSSR Sancta Sedes concessit..., Ratisbonae 1903 Documenta miscellanea = Documenta miscellanea ad regulam et spiritum Congregationis nostrae illustrandum, Romae 1904 Elenchus = Elenchus facultatum et gratiarum spiritualium quibus potitur CSSR..., Monachii 1860 FALCOIA = Tommaso FALCOIA, Lettere a S. Alfonso..., ed. O. Gregorio, Roma 1963 KUNTZ, Annales = Friedrich KUNTZ, Annales CSSR, 3 voll. (mss) in AGHR KUNTZ, Commentaria = Friedrich KUNTZ, Commentaria de vita D. Alphonsi et de rebus CSSR, 21 voll. (mss) in AGHR LETTERE = S. ALFONSO, Lettere, a cura di Friedrich Kuntz e Francesco Pitocchi, 3 voll., Roma 1887-1890 MH = Monumenta Hofbaueriana. Acta quae ad vitam S. Clementis referuntur, 16 voll., Cracoviae - Toruniae - Romae - Innsbruck 1915-1998 MINERVINO I = Francesco MINERVINO, Catalogo dei Redentoristi d'Italia 1732-1841..., (Bibl. Hist., vol. VIII), Romae 1978 MINERVINO II = Francesco MINERVINO, Catalogo dei Redentoristi della Provincia Napoletana 1841-1978, (Bibl. Hist., vol. IX), Romae 1979 Opere ascetiche = S. ALFONSO, Opere ascetiche (edizione critica), 10 voll., Roma 1935-1968 S. Alfonso = «S. Alfonso», 1 (Pagani, 1930) – S. Gerardo = «S. Gerardo», 1 (Materdomini, 1901) – SHCSR = «Spicilegium Historicum CSSR», 1 (Roma, 1953) – StMor = «Studia Moralia», 1 (Roma, 1963) – Storia CSSR = Storia della Congregazione del Santissimo Redentore, Roma 1993 – TANNOIA = Antonio M. TANNOIA, Della vita ed Istituto del venerabile servo di Dio Alfonso M.a Liguori..., 3 voll., Napoli 1798, 1800, 1802 (ristampa anastatica Materdomini 1982) TELLERÍA = Raimundo TELLERÍA, San Alfonso María de Ligorio..., 2 voll., Madrid 1950-1951 SHCSR 66 (2018) 3-20 TERENCE KENNEDY, C.SS.R. DEVOTION TO OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR AND ISLAM1 1. - Islam and its Devotion to Mary; 2. - From Wonder to Welcome; 3. - Change in Attitude; 4. - Christianity and Islam; 5. - Difficulties; 6. - Abrogation; 7. - Knowledge of Christianity in Mecca; 8. - Arab Objections to Christianity; 9. - Opportunities for Dialogue; 10. - A Word of Caution; 11. - The Question of Ori- gins; 12. - The Quranic Texts on Mary; 13. - The Meccan Text; 14. - The Medinan Text; 15. - Christianity and the History of the Islamic Theology of Mary; 16. - Is- lamic Devotion to Mary 1. – Islam and its Devotion to Mary As World War II lurched toward a close of hostilities, US Redemptorist military chaplains crisscrossed the Pacific Ocean. Travelling continuously from one place to another they preached the Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour wherever they could. It took root in Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and New Zealand. The great upsurge in popular piety surprised the missionaries, as if people were meet- ing their true mother for the first time. What happened opened a new horizon for evangelisation. Centuries before Nestorians had brought Christianity to Asia. They sailed to India and journeyed to China along to the Silk Road. In the Middle Ages the Francis- cans returned to China; later Jesuits and other religious orders followed in the wake of the colonial powers. Mary seemed to keep on calling, appealing and stretching out for Asia to em- brace her. The Perpetual Novena occupies a special place in this history. It is a devotion invented in the USA in Saint Louis dur- ing the Great Depression for people in deep material and spir- itual need. It extended the Redemptorists’ own practice of hon- 1 The author would like to thank Prof. Valentino Cottini, Preside of the Pontificio Istituto di Studi Arabi e d’Islamica, Prof. Michael Fuss of the Grego- rian University and Father Ibrahim Seydoo C.Ss.R for their assistance and help- ful insights. 4 Terence Kennedy, C.SS.R. ouring God’s Mother especially on Saturdays to all people, most of all the poor. The service in the church lasts just thirty minutes including, preaching, hymn singing, litanies the reading of peti- tions and thanksgivings written by the devotees, and Benedic- tion of the Blessed Sacrament. At war’s end, the Novena brought numerous conversions to Catholicism in overwhelmingly non- Christian lands. This flow has never ceased. The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour has penetrated deeply into the religious psy- che and imagination of these ancient cultures. Their sacred mother and child images, their inherent reverence for women, had been preparing a place of hospitality to welcome Mary and her divine Child for millennia. 2. – From Wonder to Welcome The spontaneous, joyful manner in which Muslims flocked to the Novena rather bewildered the missionaries. Taken by sur- prise they did not know what to make of it. It soon became clear that perhaps more than other Asian religions Muslims recog- nised their own mother in this icon. They claimed Mary as their very own, affectionately invoking, “Our Lady” along with Catho- lics. In fact, they seemed to think she belonged to them more than to any other group. That was a great enigma. Had not their seminary training warned missionaries that Muslims were here- tics and that their law punished attempted conversion with death? They were quite ignorant of the treasures of the Aramaic Church Fathers, or of the history of the Church’s mission into Central Asia, and more than anything else of Islam. Their “gut- feeling” was that Muslims should not even be in the Church building, suspecting that they doubted Mary’s role in salvation in much the way Protestants do. The pastoral wisdom of Christ’s Gospel prevailed for, “Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mk 9: 40). Consequently, the missionaries welcomed Muslims, and strove never to offend their faith or put anybody’s life in danger through proselytism. The Redemptorists proceeded to made foundations in Iraq, Leba- non and Africa, contacting the Tuareg in the Sahara desert. They became aware that, “Jesus is mentioned by name in the Quran more than Muhammad, and that Mary is mentioned more Devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and Islam 5 times in the Quran than in the New Testament. Both Jesus and Mary play important roles not only in the Quran but also in Mus- lim piety and spirituality”.2 This essay seeks to shed but a little light on this situation, to help in understanding its background without confronting all its important dimensions. The pivotal question would be: how can Catholics and Muslims share devotion for a common mother without a common faith? Further, which Muslim beliefs support such reverent devotion toward Mary? 3. – Change in Attitude The Catholic attitude to Muslims has changed radically. Until the nineteenth century the “magisterial tradition” treated Jews and Muslims not as pagans, idolaters or schismatics, but as heretics who knowing the truth of the Gospel had rejected it. Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Genti- um 16, and the Declaration of the Church’s Relationship to Non- Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate 3 formed the turning point in the Church’s attitude. Historically Christians thought that Mus- lims had drawn upon the Old and New Testaments in order to pervert the truth of the Gospel. The main objection to Muham- mad was that he had changed, “the true tradition in the Qur’an to serve his own personal ends”.3 What triggered this transformed attitude? A new approach with a different conception of both Jews and Muslims flowed from a fresh appreciation of the theological category of “invinci- ble ignorance”. Although its application to non-Christian reli- gions has a long tradition behind it, it only entered the Church’s magisterium in 1854 with Pope Pius IX’s allocution Singulari Quadam.4 It arose from a clear historical sensibility that non- 2 John L. ESPOSITO, The Future of Islam, Oxford University Press 2010, 40. 3 Gavin D’COSTA, “Vatican II on Muslims and Jews”, in The Second Vati- can Council. Celebrating its Achievements and the Future, G. D’Costa and E. J. Harris (eds.), Bloomsbury, London 2013, 107. This essay is an enlightening study of the issue.