Servant and Steward

The Custody of the Holy Land - which has its origins in 1217 when Saint Francis of Assisi decided to send some of his friars to walk where the Lord Jesus himself lived, died, and rose - today celebrates a day of great joy as Father Francesco Patton, O.F.M. succeeds Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, O.F.M. in his new ministry as Custos:

As he takes up this vital office in the service of the Church, Father Patton said he is filled with both "trepidation" and "great confidence" because "I believe in the value of obedience and so I believe that the will of God passes through very concrete human mediations, such as the willingness to take up this service as requested by the Order."

The work of the Custos is of great importance, not only for the Holy Land but for Christians everywhere. The Custody of the Holy Land describes his ministry as follows:

The main task of the Custos, in addition to animating the life of the friars, is to coordinate and direct the reception of pilgrims who come to the Holy Land for pilgrimage and pray at the shrines of our Redemption. This task was bestowed by the Holy See over 600 years ago. The term used at those times to designate this task was "custody" of the holy places, from which derived the terms still in use "Custody" and "Custos ".

The first and most important role of the Custos, therefore, is to receive the pilgrims at the Holy Shrines, offering them spaces of prayer and making available hostels for those who cannot afford expensive hotels.

The Custos ensures that friars are available to receive and talk with pilgrims at the holy places. His jurisdiction includes all the Catholic Christian sanctuaries. He ensures their economic support in order that this important function is fulfilled.

Another mission that the Custos assumes is to coordinate information about the Holy Land and instill in the Christians of the world the "loving care" for these sites: archaeological excavations at the holy places, publication of ancient pilgrimages and above all, the study of the Bible through geography and history of these same sites where the events took place. For this reason the Custody has set up the SBF, FAI, FPP, to name a few. These activities depend mainly on the Custos who sponsors such initiatives.

Another important task the Custos undertakes is to care for and sustain, in agreement with the local church, the Christian presence in the Holy Land through various initiatives. This includes ministry to schools and parishes and is done in conjunction with the local church [more].

I congratulate Father Patton and invite you to remember him and his ministry in your daily prayers.

05 June 2016

Would you like to help a couple adopt a child?

When I made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land two Christmases ago with Steve Ray (which I highly recommend!), his daughter Charlotte and her husband Wes were on the same pilgrimage.

Yesterday, Steve invited us to do "something nice & Prolife" on his blog, Defenders of the Catholic Faith, by buying a piece of Wes and Charlotte's adoption puzzle. The idea behind it is both simple and clever, as Charlotte explains on her blog, Finding Baby Sorrill:

Wes and Charlotte Sorrill

We have customized a 252 piece puzzle. I actually painted it by hand, uploaded to photoshop for the text (I have terrible handwriting) and then had the image printed on a puzzle!

Each piece will represent someone who donated to help us bring home our baby!

Each puzzle piece is a minimum donation of $25!

You may want to be represented on 1 piece of our puzzle or many pieces!

Your name will be written on the back of each piece that you represent.

Once the puzzle is finished it will be framed in a double sided glass frame and hung in our sweet baby's nursery. It will forever be a cherished piece of art and reminder of who was part of our journey with us [more]!

Adopting a child is an expensive endeavor because of the many legal requirements and fees. This is a creative way to help pay those costs and to involve other members of the Body of Christ in the process. If you can help, please do!

Islamic State in West Africa (formerly Boko Haram) Ongoing Updates - June 2016

19 June 2016

UPDATE (06-20-16): Nigerian officials discover 'spiritual book' used by Boko Haram for indoctrination

16 June 2016

UPDATE (06-17-16): 700 Boko Haram members surrender
Nigeria's Boko Haram opens radio station

12 June 2016

Civil Defence Arrests Major Boko Haram Recruiter in Borno

11 June 2016

UPDATE (06-12-16): Four women killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria

10 June 2016

UPDATE (06-11-16): Boko Haram: 130 killed as Chad, Niger troops fight insurgents in Bosso

9 June 2016

UPDATE (06-10-16): Chad Deploys 2,000 Soldiers to Niger after Boko Haram Raid of Military Base

4 June 2016

UPDATE (06-05-16): Nigerian troops kill Boko Haram's most feared butcher, 18 others
UPDATE (06-05-16): Boko Haram attack kills 32 in Niger
UPDATE (06-05-16): Nigerian military uncovers fresh plot of Boko Haram
UPDATE (06-05-16): Nigerian military uncovers plot by Boko Haram to bomb Nigeria during Ramadan

Rome Reports on Father Tolton

Rome Reports posted a brief story about the Cause for the Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Father Augustus Tolton yesterday.

The story, frankly, isn't all that good - both in terms of content and technical quality - and the reason for the story at this time is unclear. Still, it is good to see that his cause is still in the news as we wait for the process to unfold in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

In seventeen more days I'll be able to make a pilgrimage back to Father Tolton's grave when I return home from Rome.

04 June 2016

Travels in England: The Round Table and King Arthur's Grave

A meme has been going round on Facebook over the last few days that several friends have shared with me:

Though I am a great fan of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and I have been since I was a boy, I find this meme to be something of a groaner. The timing of the meme, however, is interesting, because it was only a few days ago that I visited the Great Hall at Winchester to see the Round Table that hangs there.

Part of the beauty and the appeal of the Arthurian legends is the manner in which this body of literature has been - and continues to be - adapted in different times and places for various means and purposes. As the Matter of Britain grew and expanded, new elements were introduced by particular authors.

The Round Table, for instance, perhaps the most politically important element of Arthuriana, was, so far as we can tell, introduced into the corpus in 1155 by Robert Wace in his "translation" of Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain. Concerning the Round Table, Wace writes:

Arthur fashioned the Round Table

Of which many tales are told

There sit his knights,

Each one equal to the next:

The sit equally at the Table

And are equally served.

None of them can boast

That he sits ahead of the next.

None has a favored position,

And none is excluded.

Sir Thomas Malory (if memory serves, though it may have been Chrétien de Troyes) would later say instead that the Round Table was not made by King Arthur, but received as a wedding gift from Guinevere's father, King Leodegrance, though the symbolism given to the Round Table by Robert Wace was retained.

Hanging today in the Great Hall at Winchester is a Round Table that, although repainted by order of King Henry VIII around 1516, the table itself dates between 1250 and 1350 and was likely constructed by order of either King Edward I (who sought to make use of the Arthurian Legends to his advantage) or of King Edward II. This Round Table measures some eighteen feet in diameter and weighs 1.3 tons:

From Winchester, I made my way to Glastonbury where, in 1191, the monks of Glastonbury Abbey - one of the finest in England - claimed to have discovered the lost (and previously forgotten) grave of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere.

Gerald of Wales relates what was found in his De Instructione Principis, written about 1223:

However, Arthur’s body, which the fables allege was like a fantastic thing at the end, and as it were moved by the spirit to far away places, and not subject to death, in our own days was discovered at Glastonbury between two stone pyramids erected in the holy cemetery, hidden deep in the ground by a hollow oak and marked with wonderful signs and marvels, and it was moved into the church with honor and committed properly to a marble tomb. Whence a leaden cross with a stone underneath, not above as it usually is in our day, but rather lower nailed on the side, (which I have seen, and in fact I have traced these sculpted letters - not projecting and protruding, but carved into the stone) contains the words: “Here lies buried the famous King Arthur with Guinevere, his second wife, in the isle of Avalon.”

At the time, not everyone accepted the claim of the monks and some viewed it as an utter deception, a belief held by many - though not all - historians and archeologists today. in fact, Graham Phillips claimed last month to have discovered two possible locations for King Arthur's grave in Shropshire (I'm a bit skeptical of his claims, but I haven't yet read his book and my skepticism is greatly increased by looking at the titles of his books).

Several decades later, King Edward I ordered the exhumation of the mortal remains and their re-interment in a marble tomb in the sanctuary of the great abbey on Easter Tuesday in 1278, as Adam of Domerham recounts:

[T]he lord king had the tomb of the famous king Arthur opened. Wherein in two caskets painted with their pictures and arms, were found separately the bones of the said king, and those of Queen Guinevere, which were of marvelous beauty...on the following day...the lord king replaced the bones of the king and the queen those of the queen, each in their own casket, having wrapped them in costly silks. When they had been sealed they ordered the tomb to be placed forthwith in front of the high altar, after the removal of the skulls for the veneration of the people.

After King Henry VIII ordered the "dissolution" of the abbeys in 1536, the Glastonbury Abbey - with the graves - was destroyed in 1539 and the bones lost to history, though the leaden cross discovered with the bones survived. We know John Leland saw it about 1540 and William Camden seems to have used it for an illustration in a work printed in 1607. In the early 1700s, the cross was in the keeping of William Hughes of Wells Cathedral, though what happened to it afterward is uncertain.

Ecclesiastical footwear

For as long as I can remember I have disliked shoes rather strongly and have often said they must have come from the devil. Whenever I enter my office and sit at my desk, the first thing I do is kick off my shoes. Sometimes I wonder if the only drawback of the diocesan or secular priesthood - as opposed to the religious priesthood - is that sandals and flip-flips are not generally acceptable footwear with the cassock or black suit, though they are often acceptable - at least - with the religious habit.

Yesterday, the English section of Vatican Radio posted a few recent photographs of His Holiness Benedict XVI on its Facebook. What most struck me about the photographs is what the Pope Emeritus wore on his feet:

If the Pope Emeritus can wear sandals with his cassock, can I wear sandals with mine? Admittedly, I do not really like that style of sandal, nor do I think socks should be worn with sandals. Still, sandals are much more comfortable than shoes.

One good turn deserves another

A couple of days ago, Father Michael Rapp, one of the priests with the podcast Catholic Stuff You Should Know, very kindly and unexpectedly gave a "shout out" to me on the podcast about love/pride which was uploaded on 2 June 2016. The shout out made a few of my friends back home very excited.

I've listened to the Catholic Stuff You Should Know podcast for several months now, having learned about it because two of the priests who host it live in the Casa here in Rome. Each episode runs about 40 minutes and includes a good bit of banter and an engaging exploration of some topic relating to Catholic life. I highly recommend it to you and you think you'll find it an enjoyable addition to the tedium of driving or exercising.

Media gives greater attention to dead gorilla than beheaded Christians

Since April of 2014 I have maintained an ongoing daily update of news articles regarding the Islamic State. I have done the same with news articles concerning the Islamic State in West Africa (formerly known as Boko Haram) since February 2015.

I have invested much of my time in this way both because reading these stories helps focus my prayers for those suffering so greatly and because most of the media does not adequately or accurately report on the Islamic State. As evidence of this, consider the media coverage given to the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians by the Islamic State on the shores of Libya and the recent killing of a gorilla in the Cincinnati Zoo to keep a child safe:

Since the death of Harambe the gorilla through Thursday morning, the three networks have dedicated a total of 1 hour, 28 minutes, 17 seconds to the story during their morning and evening news shows.

....

In contrast, since February 2015, the networks have offered 14 minutes, 30 seconds total to the 21 Egyptian Christians beheaded by ISIS in Libya [more].

It should be clear every man and woman of good will which of these two situations deserves the greater treatment by the news media. It should also be clear why you cannot trust the news media.

02 June 2016

Papal prayer intentions - June 2016

In addition to praying to the Sacred Heart for priests, please remember the following intentions of the Holy Father Pope Francis in the charity of your prayers through the month of June:

General Intention: That the aged, marginalized, and those who have no one may find – even within the huge cities of the world – opportunities for encounter and solidarity.

Mission Intention: That seminarians and men and women entering religious life may have mentors who live the joy of the Gospel and prepare them wisely for their mission.

01 June 2016

Pope Francis asks prayers for priests

During his General Audience Address yesterday in St. Peter's Square, His Holiness Pope Francis called upon the faithful to pray for their priests throughout the month traditionally devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, saying, "I invite everyone to pray [to] the Heart of Jesus for the entire month of June and to support with closeness and affection your priests so that they always reflect the image of that Heart full of merciful love."

To take up the Holy Father's call, you might consider posting this prayer somewhere were you will see it each day:

Remember, O most loving heart of Jesus, that they for whom I pray are those for whom you prayed so earnestly the night before your death. These are they to whom you look to continue with you in your sorrows when others forsake you, who share your griefs and have inherited your persecutions, according to your word: That the servant is not greater than his Lord. Remember, O heart of Jesus, that they are the objects of the world's hatred and Satan's deadliest snares. Keep them then, O Jesus, in the safe citadel of your sacred heart and there let them be sanctified in truth. May they be one with you and one among themselves, and grant that multitudes may be brought through their word to believe in you and love you.

Biretta tip to the Catholic News Agency for the prayer.

28 May 2016

Bishop Paprocki ordains two priests

Yesterday morning, His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki ordained two new priests for service in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Fathers Paul Bonk and Braden Maher.

Bishop Paprocki shared two pictures from the "glorious day" following the Mass of Ordination via his Twitter account (@BishopPaprocki):

Father Maher, Bishop Paprocki, and Father Bonk

Father Bonk will serve as Parochial Vicar of Our Saviour Parish in Jacksonville St. Alexius Parish in Beardstown, St. Fidelis Parish in Arenzville, and St. Luke Parish in Virginia. He will also serve as Chaplain of MacMurray College in Jacksonville.

Father Maher will serve as Parochial Vicar of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and as Associate Master of Ceremonies to the Bishop.

Congratulations, Fathers Bonk and Maher!

27 May 2016

A pilgrimage to the cell of Saint Thomas More

Life in Rome is beginning to slow done even as it is picking up a bit of speed. By this I mean that our classes have now come to an end and we have a couple of weeks yet to prepare to for our final comprehensive exams (and pack for the long-awaited journey home).

Since we did not have classes last week Wednesday through Friday, I decided to make a second visit to England with the express purpose of visiting the cell in the Tower of London in which King Henry VIII held Saint Thomas More prisoner.

Access to this cell is not part of the usual admission to the Tower complex (because you have to pass through the Governor's house to enter the cell) so I made arrangements for this pilgrimage in advance to take place at 11:00 a.m. a week ago today.

One of the Yeoman Warders gave me a brief tour of the Tower of London before escorting me to Saint Thomas' cell:

We do not know what this cell would have looked like during the fifteen months Saint Thomas was held here, though it likely had many of the pleasantries enjoyed by those of means, such as furniture, wall-hangings, and a rug on the floor. Over the years since his martyrdom, pilgrims are suspected of having chipped away at the walls and the floors for relics to bring him. I suspect the vaulting that still remains gives some indication of what the cell would have been like:

He was certainly not kept in your average dungeon. The Tower of London, after all, was both a royal palace and only housed prisoners of status; commoners - like William Wallace - would never have been housed in the Tower.

Even so, his imprisonment cannot have been easy. After talking a bit about the relationship between King Henry and Saint Thomas, the Yeoman Warder politely excused himself for a few minutes to allow me time for personal prayer. After being alone in the cell for perhaps one minute, I could already feel that even in relative comfort, this would not have been easy. I could hear conversations from the tourists walking by outside the Bell Tower in which he was imprisoned. I could hear birds chirping outside the Tower. I could hear footsteps and voices from the hallway and rooms just outside the cell. What must it have been like to hear the approach of voices and of footsteps for fifteen months, never quite knowing if someone was coming to visit him or to tell him of sentence of death (which, from his writings, he seems to have suspected would be handed down for some time). Just thinking about how hard it must have been for him not to give in simply to be with his loved ones gave me an even greater respect and admiration for this man of truly heroic virtue.

When he was first imprisoned, Saint Thomas had something of a comfortable life in the Tower (as far as prisons go). He had a servant to attend him, plenty of books and writing materials, and could receive visiting family and friends with ease.

We entered through the door on the left. The space in the center was a fireplace.

However, as the weeks turned to months and still the former Lord High Chancellor of England would not affirm King Henry as head of the Church in England, the monarch had one nicety after another taken from Saint Thomas until he was left only with the shirt on his back.

This particular cell was initially built as a cellar and the temperature in the chamber - even today - is noticeably cooler than the hallway and rooms just outside it. Moreover, it is composed of a couple of different areas:

There was a latrine.


This window looks out towards Tower Green, where the executions were held.

From the above window, Saint Thomas may not have been able to see the actual execution of his friend Saint John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and the only Bishop in England to stand against the king, (and who was imprisoned in the cell above Saint Thomas and with whom he communicated by letter) on 22 July 1535, but he certainly would have been able to see the assembled crowds and hear their cheers and cries. Everything he heard and saw must have stayed with him until he was executed two weeks later.

As I stood in his cell contemplating the importance of his witness not only the true dignity and reality of marriage, but also to the independence of the Church, I could not help but recall part of the testimony he gave to Master Secretary Cromwell in the Tower on 2 May 1535:

I do nobody harm, I say none harm, I think none harm, but wish everybody good. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith, I long not to live. And I am dying already, and have since I came here been divers[e] times in the case that I thought to die within one hour, and I thank our Lord I was never sorry for it, but rather sorry when I saw the pang past. And therefore my poor body is at the King's pleasure; would God my death might do him good.

Saint Thomas had spent most every Friday of his adult life - even while serving as Chancellor - in prayer, contemplating the Passion of the Lord and many of his spiritual writings offer us some of the fruit of his prayer. It is this habit of mediating on the Crucified Lord that sustained Saint Thomas in his imprisonment.

After he resigned the office of Lord High Chancellor to retire in peace to his family, Saint Thomas composed his intended epitaph for his grave (to squelch rumors that King Henry forced his resignation), which he concluded with these words:

That he [Thomas] may not have erected this tomb in vain while still alive, and that he may not shudder with fear at the thought of encroaching death, but may go to meet it gladly, with longing for Christ, and that he may find death not completely a death for himself but rather the gateway to a happier life, I beg you, kind reader, attend him with your prayers while he still lives and also when he has done with life.

His mortal remains were never placed within this tomb.

Saint Thomas was beheaded on Tower Green, what today is called Trinity Square Gardens:

Before the executioner's axe struck off his head, Saint Thomas was, as per the custom, to say a few final words. The Paris Newsletter's account of his execution, provides these last words for us, of which I wish to highlight these:

I know well that the reason why you have condemned me is because I have never been willing to consent to the King's second marriage; but I hope in the divine goodness and mercy, that as St. Paul and St. Stephen whom he persecuted are now friends in Paradise, so we, though differing in his world, shall be united in perfect charity in the other. I pray God to protect the King and give him good counsel.

These are truly the words of a saint and show us how to forgive our enemies.

After his execution, Saint Thomas' head was impaled on a pike and displayed on Tower Bridge to serve as a warning to others (his daughter, Margaret, later bribed one of the guards and received his head, which is now buried in the church of Saint Dunstan in Canterbury in the Roper family's vault). Saint Thomas body was hauled back inside the Tower and buried - with 1,500 other bodies - beneath the floor of the Chapel Royal.

Some time later, repairs were ordered to the Chapel Royal and, in order to install a heating system, the bones of these 1,500 executed persons were removed and interred in a common crypt within the Chapel Royal.

Because there was no way to determine which bones belonged to Saint Thomas, a memorial tomb and shrine was built in his honor next to this large crypt:

Beside the memorial hang portaits of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, above the latter's prayer book, which lies open to the Veni Creator Spiritus:

The entire pilgrimage within the Tower to the cell and crypt (including the tour) lasted just one hour, but left a very deep impression on my heart. I am deeply grateful to the Yeoman Warders for their many kindnesses to me and for allowing me to make this pilgrimage.

23 May 2016

San Damiano crucifix to return briefly to the church of San Damiano

In the year 1205, Saint Francis of Assisi entered the church of San Damiano just outside his hometown to pray. Thomas of Celano, the Seraphic Father's biography, relates the pivotal event for us:

Touched by an unusual grace, he discovered that he was different than he had been when he had entered. Even though its lips were only painted, the image of Christ crucified spoke to this man who had been moved in this way - something unheard of over the centuries - and called him by name, "Francis," it said to him, "go and repair my house which, as you can see, is in ruins." The trembling young man was dumbfounded and felt faint, but he was immediately prepared to obey and everything became focused on that order (Second Life, I.VI.10).

Ever since that day, the San Damiano crucifix has been treasured by the Franciscan family and all those who seek to imitate Francis' love of the Crucified Love.

The miraculous image remained in the church of San Damiano for sometime until it was moved inside the Basilica of St. Clare inside the city walls, somewhere between 1257 and 1260, where it has remained until this very day. Next month, however, the San Damiano crucifix will return to the church for it was named for a few days' time:

Assisi, June 15-19, 2016, the Crucifix of San Damiano returns to the place where it spoke to Francis of Assisi.

In this Holy year, Pope Francisco invites everyone to join “in the great mystery of God’s mercy, contemplating the face of Christ.”

To respond to this appeal, the community of Friars Minor of San Damiano and the Poor Clares of proto-monastery of St. Clare, with the patronage of the Diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino and the municipality of Assisi, have desired to return the Crucifix of San Damiano, after almost eight centuries, to its original location.

It should be remembered that the face of Christ displayed in the San Damiano crucifix is the same face as that found on the Veil of Manoppello.

Likewise, if you missed my post exploring the centrality of the Veil of Manoppello with the history (and origin) of the jubilee, be sure to give it a read.

16 May 2016

Il Volto Santo magazine published in English for the first time

For the past one hundred and ten years, the Papal Basilica of the Sanctuary of the Holy Face has published a magazine to promote devotion to the Volto Santo, the Holy Face of Jesus present on a piece of byssus - a cloth made from the silk of mollusks - found by the Apostles Peter and John in the tomb of Christ Jesus (cf. John 20:6). This magazine has now been published in English for the first time.

Under the editorial hand of Mr. Antonio Bini, various articles, stories, and homilies from the past few years have been translated and included in the book titled, The Holy Face: From Manoppello to the World. I am happy to say the two homilies I translated by Archbishop George Ganswein and by Archbishop Edmond Y. Farhat are included in this volume.

On his excellent blog, The Holy Face of Manoppello, Raymond Frost has posted a link to the full text of this special volume. I encourage you to follow his blog for news and photographs of the Volto Santo and to read The Holy Face: From Manoppello to the World. It is hoped that additional English volumes will follow.

In his introduction to The Holy Face, Father Carmine Cucinelli, rector of the basilica, referred to those of us who contributed to the book as "witnesses and disseminators of the Holy Face." Please remember us - and, more importantly, our efforts to make the Holy Face more known - in your prayers.

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09 June 2016

06 June 2016