Saint Katharine Drexel

Thumbnail image for St Katherine Drexel.jpgThe outline of Katharine Drexel’s life is:

Born in Philadelphia, PA on Nov. 26, 1858

First sister to profess vows as a Sister of the Blessed Sacrament on Feb. 12, 1891

Died on March 3, 1955

Beatified on Nov. 20, 1988

Canonized on Oct. 1, 2000

With the Church we pray,

Ever-loving God, You called Saint Katharine Drexel to teach the message of the Gospel and to bring the life of the Eucharist to the African American and Native American peoples. By her prayers and example, enable us to work for justice among the poor and the oppressed, and keep us undivided in love in the eucharistic community of Your Church.

Saint Katharine’s connection to Maryhelp – Belmont Abbey is that she used a portion of her personal wealth to help build a number of churches, including the abbey church, for the first abbot of Maryhelp, Abbot-bishop Leo Haid. She also visited the abbey. So, we can say that a saint walked on this soil! A sign in the Abbey Basilica narthex commemorates this fact. May Saint Katharine continue to intercede for us and help us to know the Lord.

 

Anniversary of birth and papal election: Pius XII

Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli

Born on March 2, 1876

Ordained priest Easter Sunday, April 2, 1899

Ordained bishop on May 13, 1917

Created Cardinal December 16, 1929

Reigned as the 260th pontiff of the Holy Roman Church

March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958

 


Pius XII.jpgGod, Who, in Thine ineffable providence, didst will that Thy servant Pius XII should be numbered among the high priests, grant, we beseech Thee, that he, who on earth held the place of Thine only-begotten Son, may be joined forevermore to the fellowship of Thy holy pontiffs. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

 

Marygrace Peters, O.P. RIP

Marygrace Peters, OP.jpgToday, I learned of the death of a former professor of mine, Sister Marygrace “Ginger” Peters, OP (on the left in the picture). Sister Marygrace died on Feb 21, 2009 after a long battle with lung cancer.  Of late she was the Prioress General of the Houston Dominican Sisters.

When I was doing studies in St. Louis, MO, I had five classes at Aquinas Institute of Theology, for one of the classes Sister was my Church History professor. At all times Sister Marygrace was a terriffic presence: happy, faithful, positive and prayerful. All what you would expect and cherish in a Dominican sister. Plus, she was a New Englander which was a consolation many times!

May the soul of Sister Marygrace rest in the peace and love of our Lord!

Ring them bells, for the city that dreams
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries
Cross the valleys and streams
For they’re deep and they’re wide
And the world’s on its side
Ring them bells
For the lines they are long
And they’re breaking down the distance
Between right and wrong.

John Donne

Pope Benedict XVI’s prayer intentions, March 2009

B16 in prayer.jpgPrayer is a “dialogue with God” and the “engine of the world,”  Pope Benedict said on Ash Wednesday. He also reminded us that Lent is a journey of conversion that invites all believers to prayer, penitence, and fasting.

 

The general intention

That all nations of our world may grow in appreciation of the dignity and value of women and their roles in society.

 

The missionary intention

That all the bishops, priests, consecrated persons, and laity of the Catholic Church in China may strive to be instruments of unity, communion, and peace, as enjoined by the letter sent to them by Pope Benedict XVI.

Religious film posters exhibit chronicled in NYC


Solome.jpg
“None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when–like the artists of every age–captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you” (John Paul II, Letter to Artists, 1). With this in mind, I think of the various ways the arts of engaged my sense of beauty, how good art has expressed my relationship with God and how impoverished (even oppressive) life would be without the work of artists.

 

Honestly, I rarely think with any degree of seriousness on how religious posters have demonstrated the genius of human creativity much less how this medium has impacted the our sense of living in tension with the Divine. But I believe this is what we have here. The exhibit, “Reel Religion: A Century of the Bible and Film” gives us a strong indication of this impact and what has transpired since the 19th century.

 

The posters belong are a part of Dominican Father Michael Morris‘ (and look here) collection. Morris is a professor of art and religion at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California .

Besides posters there are other memorabilia such as Charlton Heston’s tunic and cape from the 1959 award-winning Ben-Hur and correspondence from directors.

The “Reel Religion” exhibit opened February 6th and will close on May 17th.

 

See a video clip on the subject. 

 

“The Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA) brings to the public an interpretation of art through the lens of biblical religions and an understanding of religion through its artistic manifestations.”

 

A version of this exhibit was seen at St. Louis University’s MOCRA last year.

The Lent Lily

‘Tis spring; come out to ramble

The hilly brakes around,

For under thorn and bramble

About the hollow ground

The primroses are found.

 

And there’s the windflower chilly



Lent lily.jpgWith all the winds at play,

And there’s the Lenten lily

That has not long to stay

And dies on Easter day.

 

And since till girls go maying

You find the primrose still,

And find the windflower playing

With every wind at will,

But not the daffodil,

 

Bring baskets now, and sally

Upon the spring’s array,

And bear from hill and valley

The daffodil away

That dies on Easter day.

 

A.E. Housman (1859-1936)

 

In the Saint Francis garden particularly, but around Belmont Abbey College campus generally, the daffodil, which blooms in Lent, is decorating the landscape. Signs of spring are here which makes one leap for joy. The Housman poem gives voice to the unfolding beauty at this time of year (at least in the south).

Saint Anne Line

A while ago, a friend contacted me and said, “we ought to find out about Anne Line!” She had learned something of her story and wanted to know more. We set out together by car from my house in the southern suburbs and — after, I’m afraid, a couple of dreadful muddles — we eventually arrived at Dunmow in Essex on the other side of London, where Anne, who was martyred in 1601, is honored.

 

She grew up at Dunmow, the daughter of William Heigham, who was a staunch supporter of Calvinist doctrines, and who disowned both her and her brother when they announced their conversion to Catholicism as young adults. Anne married a fellow convert, Roger Line, but their time together was short, as not long after the wedding he was arrested for attending Mass — at that time a serious offense — and exiled. He died abroad in 1594.

 

Anne devoted the rest of her life to harboring priests and making arrangements for them to say Mass. It is thanks to women of her caliber that the Faith was preserved in England, and the risks she took were great. Eventually, she was arrested when she had arranged for Mass to be celebrated by a Jesuit, Father Francis Page, in her house. It was Candlemas Day, 1601. Tried at the Old Bailey, she was hanged on February 27, 1601, affirming her faith and refusing to express regret at having helped a priest.

 

Today, there are two churches in Essex named after Anne Line — both modern and very ugly, but with real devotion to the saint. On our little pilgrimage, we visited both of these, met with great friendliness — cups of tea, warm welcome from clergy and from various parishioners who were about — and realized that there is a genuine local cult that reflects a real gratitude for the gift of the Catholic Faith that has been passed on to us.

 

Joanna Bogle

The Women Saints of Britain