Br. Roberto Genuin of the Province of Venice elected General Minister of the Friars Minor Capuchin. He was elected at the 85th General Chapter of the Order. Genuin succeeds Br. Mauro Jöhri of Switzerland. The term of office is six years.
Tag: Capuchin
Criminal escapes Capuchin friary
I laughed and laughed and laughed this morning when I read the story of a criminal serving his sentence with Capuchin friars pleading to be sent back to prison… because Capuchin life is too hard, he claimed! The reason for the humor is that Capuchins aren’t too known for their austerities today in North America; the Capuchin order may be strict only in a few places in the world but…may be this is a wake up call to the Friars Minor Capuchin (and others)…
I got this story via a friend:
Austere existence: A convicted criminal serving out his sentence in a Sicilian monastery run by Capuchin monks has escaped for the second time and asked to be sent back to prison because life there was too tough .
Thief David Catalano, 31, was sent to a Santa Maria degli Angeli community run by Capuchin monks in Sicily last November.
But he found their austere lifetstyle too tough to handle and soon escaped. After a short while on the run he was caught by police and sent back.
On Monday he fled for the second time in six weeks, only to swiftly turn himself in at a police station and beg officers to send him back to jail in the nearby town of Nicosia.
He told the stunned policemen: ‘Prison is better than being at that hostel run by monks.’
A police spokesman said: ‘Catalano arrived out of the blue and said there was no way he could stay on with the monks.
‘He said it was too tough and he wanted to go back to prison, so we happily obliged and he is now back behind bars serving the rest of his sentence.
‘Life with the monks can be pretty tough – there are no mod cons and they are up early and go to bed early. There are no luxuries at the hostel and the monks run a very austere regime.’
The Santa Maria degli Angeli community is based in a monastery near Enna on the island of Sicily.
‘He said it was too tough and he wanted to go back to prison, so we happily obliged and he is now back behind bars’
It has been run as a halfway house by the Capuchin friars for more than 12 years with around 60 prisoners accommodated there as they near the end of their sentences.
Raniero Cantalamessa re-confirmed Preacher Apostolic by Pope
Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa has been re-confirmed Preacher Apostolic by Pope Francis. A letter dated July 18, 2013 from the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Father Raniero of the decision by the Pope: “I now have the pleasure to inform you that his Holiness Pope Francis, who knows your depth of mind and heart, confirmed you as preacher of the Pontifical House.”
Friar Raniero was appointed preacher of the Pontifical House by Blessed John Paul II on June 23, 1980, He was subsequently re-confirmed by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, October 29, 2005. Raniero is a member of the Province of the Marches in Italy.
You can visit the website of Raniero Cantalamessa published in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese at www.cantalamessa.org.
The office of Preacher Apostolic was established in 1555 by Pope Paul IV as one among many ways to reform the Roman Curia because the Preacher Apostolic would speak about theological matters as well as points of spiritual and ministerial discipline. Members of various religious families had the ministry of Preacher Apostolic until 2 March 1753 when Pope Benedict XIV gave the ministry perpetually to the Capuchin Franciscans. The Capuchin order was known then as a keen “example of Christian piety and religious perfection , the splendor of doctrine and Apostolic zeal.”
Father Raniero is a popular speaker and has authored several books.
Religious life 2012: Profession of vows, entrances and ordinations
The promise of the hundredfold of the Lord is evident in the lives we lead; how we live our Baptism ought to be evident and with those who have responded to the Lord’s call to follow Him more closely in the Christian life in which we live more intensely by through the consecrated life.
As Pope Benedict said,
It is no less challenging to follow Christ today, It means learning to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus, growing close to him, listening to his word and encountering him in the sacraments; it means learning to conform our will to his. This requires a genuine school of formation for all those who would prepare themselves for the ministerial priesthood or the consecrated life under the guidance of the competent ecclesial authorities. The Lord does not fail to call people at every stage of life to share in his mission and to serve the church in the ordained ministry and in the consecrated life (48th World Day of Vocations, 2011).
The key words for us ought to be “to follow,” “to keep our gaze,” “listening,” “conforming,” and “encountering.” The crux is, to whom do we belong? Of course, I would hope that we could easily say that we belong to Christ and to His Church. But we know that while we may honestly believe this fact, it is not so every day. We say one thing but we don’t always follow and keep our gaze on the Lord. May this be our prayer and our work today!
This is the third year that I have surveyed, in representative manner, some of the US monastic communities and religious orders who have had members profess simple and/or solemn vows, new members who received the habit or have receive ordination to the Order of Deacon or Priest. While the numbers may be sobering, the point is not about numbers as much as to recognize the many testimonies of grace, the rich living of the offer God has made to our sisters and brothers to love and serve Him in religious life. Corrections welcome.
Monastic life
monks
- St Anselm’s Abbey (Washington, DC): 3 novices entered
- St Louis Abbey: 1 monk made a profession of solemn vows; 2 monks ordained deacon
- St Meinrad Archabbey: 1 profession of simple vows; 2 novices entered
- Conception Abbey: 2 ordained deacon and 1 ordained priest
- Marmion Abbey: 5 novices entered; 1 monk ordained priest.
- Glastonbury Abbey: 1 monk made a profession of simple vows
- Monastery of Saint Benedict (Norcia, Italy): 1 monk professed solemn vows
- St Vincent’s Archabbey: 4 profess simple vows; 4 profess solemn vows; 2 ordained deacons, 2 ordained priests
- St John’s Abbey: 2 monks make a profession of solemn vows; 3 professed simple vows
- St Benedict’s Abbey (Atchinson, KS): 1 monk solemn vows, 3 received as postulants, 1 postulant in Brazil
- Belmont Abbey (Charlotte, NC): 1 novice entered; 2 monks profess solemn vows
- St Martin’s Abbey: 1 entered as a novice
- Daylesford Abbey (Norbertines): 1 simple profession, 2 entered the novitiate
- Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Dallas: 2 monks make solemn professions; 2 monks ordained to the Order of Deacon, and 2 ordained to the Order of Priest
- Charterhouse of the Transfiguration (Carthusians in Vermont): 1 novice entered, other juniors in community
nuns
- Abbey of Regina Laudis: 2 entered the postulancy, 2 entered the novitiate, 3 nuns profess simple vows and 2 profess solemn vows
- St Walburga Abbey (Virginia Dale, CO): 2 nuns profess solemn vows
- St Scholastica Priory (Petersham, MA): 2 nuns profess simple vows
- Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles: 4 sisters profess simple vows, 3 novices take the habit, 1 candidate invited.
- Mount St Scholastica Monastery (Atchinson, KS): 2 received as postulants
- Monastery of the Visitation, Mont Deux Coeurs (Tyringham, MA): 1 nun professed solemn vows, 1 novice with 2 postulants entered.
- Valley of Our Lady Monastery (Prairie du Sac, WI): the Cistercian nuns simply professed 1; others entered.
Continue reading Religious life 2012: Profession of vows, entrances and ordinations
Capuchin Friars open 84th General Chapter
Beginning yesterday and for the next five weeks the Capuchin friars are engaged in their 84th General Chapter in Rome. The General Minister, Friar Mauro Jöhri presides over the Capitulars from many nations. The Capuchins have set a wonderful multilingual website to cover the work of the Chapter, pictures included. Walk with the Capuchins in friendship and prayer for a good meeting guided by the Holy Spirit.
The Sacrifice of the Mass opening the Chapter was celebrated and preached by Capuchin Bishop John Corriveau former General Minister. It was reported that Bishop Corriveau, 71, said,
strongly that when his words did not penetrate the heart of his people the Prophet Ezechiel acted with deeds and dramatic actions in his own life. No one understood this way of acting better than Francis of Assisi “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words”. Quoting Blessed John Paul II, he said that the Church’s prophetic response to the individualism of our day is communion: “to make the Church the home and school of communion: this is the great challenge which is laid before us in the millennium that has just begun. If we wish to be faithful to God’s plan and respond to the deep expectations of the world“(NMI, 43). We have been created to live in communion, to be family. Bishop Corriveau also said, the call to Trinitarian communion, which for a Capuchin is a call to fraternity is much more than a slogan. It implies deep conversion of the heart, Only the heart which is fraternal and decidedly relation oriented can offer the secularised world a prophetic word. By way of conclusion he hoped that by keeping our gaze fixed on Christ we would be able to touch the hearts of the men and women of our day. May this Chapter discover once again the relational aspect of our Franciscan inheritance. In this way we will be able to assist the Church to give visible expression to a spirituality of communion. (Capuchin website for the Chapter)
May Our Lady of the Angels, Saints Francis and Clare and all Capuchin saints, pray for the Capuchins and their work for the Church and the Order.
Saint Seraphin of Montegranaro
More of the simple lay friars were made saints than the Capuchin priest friars. I wonder why? But a snippet from a biography on Saint Seraphin may be helpful to get a sense of the man:
In 1556, Felix repeated his request to the provincial minister who admitted him to the novitiate at Jesi, where Felix received the name, Seraphin. Upon his reception into the Order, Seraphin remarked, “I have nothing‹just a crucifix and a rosary‹but with these I hope to benefit the friars and become a saint.”
Although he was not totally illiterate, Seraphin could speak about God more eloquently than any theologian. Even the bishop of Ascoli, the eminent theologian, Cardinal Bernerio, sought Seraphin’s advice in especially difficult cases.
With himself, Seraphin was austere. Only once in his life did he accept a new habit, and then, only out of obedience. For 40 continuous years, all he ate was soup or salad. In keeping with the spirituality prevalent at the time, Seraphin had a personal devotion of serving as many eucharistic liturgies as possible.
Religious life 2011: Profession of vows, entrances and ordinations
About this time of each year I look at the numbers of who professed vows, entered religious life and/or ordained of a select group of religious orders of the mixed, apostolic life and monasteries since Autumn 2010.
Locating the public vocation in Christ and therefore in the Church, we have to note what Pope Benedict has taught:
“The Eucharist is the source of that ecclesial unity for which Jesus prayed on the eve of his passion: “Father… that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17:21). The intense communion favors the growth of generous vocations at the service of the Church: the heart of the believer, filled with divine love, is moved to dedicate itself wholly to the cause of the Kingdom” (World Day of Prayer for Vocation, 2007).
No vocation makes sense without the Eucharist and the ecclesial unity the Eucharist creates. All vocations, are therefore born from an intense desire for unity in Jesus Christ, the Eucharistic Lord.
This year’s vocation stats:
Monastic Life
St Meinrad Archabbey (St Meinrad, IN): 1 novice was given the habit.
Conception Abbey (Conception, MO): 1 monk was ordained to the Order of Deacon; 2 novices were invested.
St Joseph’s Abbey Covington, LA): 2 professed simple vows; 1 entered the novitiate.
Subiaco Abbey (Subiaco, AK): 2 monks professed simple vows; 2 entered the novitiate and 3 men entering the postulancy.
Our Lady of Glastonbury Abbey (Hingham, MA): 1 entered the novitiate.
Prince of Peace Abbey (Oceanside, CA): 1 monk professed solemn vows.
Mount Michael Abbey (Elkhorn, NE): 1 monk ordained to the Order of Deacon and 1 monk ordained to the Order of Priest.
Monastero di San Benedetto (Norcia, Italy): 1 monk professed solemn vows, one ordained to the Order of Deacon and is expected to be ordained to the Priesthood on September 24. The monastery now has 8 solemnly professed monks.
St Louis Abbey (St Louis, MO): 1 postulant entered. The monks also re-elected Abbot Thomas for a 3rd 8-year term of service.
St Vincent Archabbey (Latrobe, PA): 3 monks profess solemn vows; 4 profess simple vows; 7 junior monks renew their temporary vows; 2 monks were ordained deacons.
St John’s Abbey (Collegeville, MN): 1 monk professed solemn vows; 2 professed simple vows; 3 invested as novices; 13 monks in formation.
Belmont Abbey (Our Lady Help of Christians, Charlotte, NC): 1 monk solemnly professed vows.
St Benedict’s Abbey (Atchison, KS): 1 monk professed solemn vows, 2 professed simple vows and 3 were admitted as postulants.
St Mary’s Abbey (Morristown, NJ): 1 monk professed solemn vows, 3 professed simple vows; 1 novice entered.
St Bernard’s Abbey (Cullman, AL): 1 ordained a priest, 1 solemn vows, 1 made simple profession and 1 received into the postulancy.
St Martin’s Abbey (Lacey, WA): 1 monk professed solemn vows and 1 monk was ordained priest.
Abbey of Saint Walburga (Colorado): simply professed 2 nuns in 2011 who join 3 other junior nuns.
Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles (Kansas City-St Joseph, MO) had 3 profess first vows and 2 enter the novitiate. These sisters follow the traditional Liturgy.
St Dominic’s Monastery (Linden, VA): 4 novices, 3 postulants, 2 aspirants. This community is a very young community of women living the vocation of an enclosed Dominican Nun.
The Dominican nuns of Summit, NJ, the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, there are 8 nuns in formation: 3 temporary professed, 4 novices, 1 postulant.
The Carmelite Monks (Cody, WY) had 2 enter the novitiate, a perpetual profession and 2 professed temporary vows.
Daylesford Abbey (Paoli, PA): 1 ordained to the priesthood (December 2010) and 1 ordained priest (September 2011); 1 simple profession.
St Michael’s Abbey (Silverado, CA): 1 canon was ordained to the priesthood and 2 were ordained deacon; 1 professed solemn vows.
Holy Theophany Monastery (Olympia, WA): a novice will be invested with the habit in November. This is monastery is only a few years old and lives according to the Byzantine tradition.
Apostolic religious men
The Capuchin friars of St Mary’s Province (New York-New England) simply professed 2 friars; there will be 5 friars professing solemn vows; 3 were admitted to the novitiate and 4 to the postulancy.
The Capuchin Friars of the Saint Augustine Province simply professed 4 friars.
The Capuchin Friars of the Province of Saint Conrad (Mid-America) 2 novices entered, 1 friar was ordained a deacon and 1 friar was ordained a priest.
Conventual Franciscans: several provinces sponsor a common novitiate in Mishawaka, IN: 5 friars professed simple vows; 7 men received the habit.
Franciscan Friars of the Renewal: 4 friars professed final vows; 5 professed simple vows and 5 postulants entered.
Franciscan Friars, Holy Name Province: 2 were ordained priests; 2 professed solemn vows, 3 entered the novitiate; 5 became postulants.
Congregation of Holy Cross (Notre Dame, IN): 1 professed final vows in the USA, 5 professed final vows in East Africa; 6 professed simple vows in the USA. The same American who professed final vows was ordained to the Order of Deacon.
The Dominicans of the Province of St Joseph: 16 professed simple vows, 9 friars professed solemn vows and 5 ordained priests, 13 entered the novitiate.
The Dominicans of the Province of St Albert the Great: 7 professed simple vows; 6 men were admitted to the novitiate.
Apostolic Women religious
Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Hamden, CT): 1 sister professed perptual vows; 2 entered the first year of the novitiate; joining 3 second year novices; and there are 3 junior professed sisters.
Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (Clyde, MO): 1 sister was received who’s transferring from another Benedictine congregation of sisters.
Sisters of St Benedict (Ferdinand, IN): 2 professed solemn vows; there’s 1 novice and 1 postulant. You may want to read The Sisters’ blog.
The Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia (Nashville): 7 sisters professed perpetual profession; 15 novices made their first profession; 11 sisters renewed their vows for 2 years; 24 postulants were admitted to the novitiate. The sisters have a convent in Australia.
Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist (Ann Arbor, MI): 4 sisters professed perpetual vows; 7 professed simple vow; 18 received the habit for the 1st year of novitiate with a total of 36 novices.
The Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal had 3 sisters enter the postulancy.
Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist (Meriden, CT) 1 sister professed final vows; 1 professed simple vows; there’s 1 novice; 1 sister transferred to the Congregation.
The Sisters of St Francis of the Martyr St George (Alton, IL) 23 junior sisters renewed their vows; 2 professed simple vows, 3 entered the postulant program, 3 entered the 1st year novitiate and 3 moved to the 2nd year novitiate.
Sisters of Life: 5 sisters profess first vows.
Previous blog post: September 9, 2010
Franciscans make a splash today
With today’s appointment of the Archbishop of Philadelphia and Bishop of Savannah, the number of Franciscans serving the Church in the USA as residential bishops went up. Surprisingly we now have two Conventual Franciscans bishops. Currently, Franciscan bishops the dioceses of Boston, Philadelphia, La Crosse and Savannah. Two Capuchins and two Conventuals. If you count Puerto Rico, then there’s the Archbishop of San Juan who is a “normal brown” Franciscan.
The bishops bring to the table, as it were, the gift of the Franciscan charism and an interesting lens by which Christ is made known.
Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare and all Franciscan saints and blesseds, pray for us.
Charles Joseph Chaput 9th Archbishop of Philadelphia, Pope nominates
It is expected that Pope Benedict XVI will nominate Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput, OFM Cap., 66, of Denver, a Native American Indian (Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe), as the 13th Bishop and 9th Archbishop of Philadelphia. He replaces His Eminence, Justin Francis Cardinal Rigali, 76, who has served the Archdiocese since 2003. The Cardinal has been a priest for 50 years, a bishop for 26 years and a cardinal for nearly 8 years.
Charles Joseph Chaput was born in Concordia, Kansas. He entered
the Saint Augustine Province of the Capuchin Franciscans in 1965, professing vows at 21 in 1967.
Chaput earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Saint Fidelis College Seminary in Herman, Pennsylvania, in 1967, and completed Studies in Psychology at Catholic University in Washington DC, in 1969. A year later he earned a Master of Arts in Religious Education from Capuchin College in Washington DC and was ordained to the priesthood on August 29, 1970. By 1971, Father Charles Chaput earned a Master of Arts in Theology from the University of San Francisco.
For several years Father Chaput served the Capuchin mission as a teacher, spiritual director, pastor, and in the administration of his Capuchin province. In 1988, Pope John Paul II nominated Father Charles Chaput as the Bishop of Rapid City, SD. The same Pope appointed him Archbishop of Denver on February 18, 1997.
The new Philadelphia archbishop has been a priest for 41 years and a bishop for 23 years. Archbishop Chaput is one of two Capuchin archbishops and he’ll be the second American Capuchin, on the east coast, –the other being Boston’s Archbishop, Seán Patrick Cardinal O’Malley, OFM Cap.– and the first Native American to be a cardinal; Philadelphia is not expected to forego its cardinalatial status as St Louis and Detroit have done. It is unlikely, however, that Chaput would be given the cardinal’s title for 4 years.
According to the 2010 stats, there are 1.46 million Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
According to the 2006 stats, there are 400 thousand Catholics in the Archdiocese of Denver.
Get to know Archbishop Chaput’s thinking by reading his addresses found here.
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Francis and Saint Clare, Saint John Neumann, pray for Archbishop Chaput and the faithful of Philadelphia.
A New Pentecost: Inviting All to Follow Jesus
The Cardinal-Archbishop of Boston issued a pastoral letter to the Archdiocese on sharing the good news of Jesus Christ: salvation is offered to all. While some of the the pastoral letter, “A New Pentecost: Inviting All to Follow Jesus” is oriented toward the situation of his local church, Seán Patrick Cardinal O’Malley says a number of things that all of us ought to study and incorporate in our situation since by Baptism we are all called to be missionaries of the Gospel. The section of the pastoral given below speaks to our need to work on our own conversion first….
You can read the entire pastoral letter here: A New Pentecost, Cardinal O’Malley.pdf
We can only
share what we have received. In preparing to evangelize, we are called to
conversion, which means continually to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ
individually and as a Church. The Good News nurtures us, makes us grow,
and renews us in holiness as God’s people.
Continue reading A New Pentecost: Inviting All to Follow Jesus