Tag: Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem

Blessed Bartolo Longo

Today is the liturgical memory of Blessed Bartolo Longo (1841-1926).

Blessed Bartolo is dear to the Knights and Dames of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. To date, he’s only lay member of the Order to be beatified. He’s an example for us because of his practice of constant prayer, active charity, and love for the most needy. From the Italian City of Pompeii, a city that he helped regenerate thanks to the grace of recitation of the Rosary, Blessed Bartolo continues to inspire initiatives of prayer and charity worldwide.

Let’s ask him to intercede for the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Blessed Bartolo Longo, pray for us.

CT EOHSJ Mass for St Pius X

Mass for the liturgical memorial of St Pius X, pope and former grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Several members of the EOHSJ in Connecticut met for Mass and dinner.

Father Robert Turner, pastor of St Ambrose Parish (North Branford, CT) and a Knight Chaplain offered Mass and preached.

Meeting to worship the Lord in friendship

On Thursday, May 30, the traditional day for the feast of Corpus Domini, in some quarters, Corpus Christi, four members of the Eastern Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem met at the Georgetown Oratory in Redding, CT, for a solemn Mass and procession for Corpus Domini. It was a beautiful Mass: sacred music, preaching, ars celebrandi, servers and the faithful.

The Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem assembled as possible to give witness to the reality of the Eucharistic Lord, his friendship with us and our friendship with each other. The witness to our salvation is Eucharistic and crucial to our living faith today as it demonstrates what we hold to be true and what we hold to be real.

The principal celebrant and homilist Father Michael Clark preached using one of Flannery O’Connor‘s reflections on the Eucharist, where she responds to a friend claiming to be a Catholic and that the Eucharist was a “pretty good symbol.” O’Connor said, “If it’s just a symbol, to hell with it.”

This sentiment remains today among many Catholics: the Eucharist is a pretty good symbol. Well, I should say O’Connor’s response remains clear and correct. Reduction of the Eucharist to an aesthetic or worse, to ethics, makes the Eucharist a mere subjective experience renouncing the objectivity of what Jesus did on Holy Thursday, and what the churches have taught based on experience and the reality of revelation and Tradition. Symbolic presence alone is weak and irritating.

We were also reminded that O’Connor was a communicant of this Georgetown Oratory for a brief period in her life.

The picture has Charles, Ruth and PAZ. Missing was Oratorian Brother Paul. A few more members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre were slated to be there but circumstances of life changed their plans.

National Eucharistic Pilgrimage begins in New Haven

Members of the CT – North East Area represented the Order of Malta in New Haven CT with members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at the launch of the Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Procession for the National Eucharistic Revival Pilgrimage. Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne, Archbishop of Hartford, celebrated the sacred Liturgy. Following Mass the congregation formed a procession in the Church’s neighborhood.

The group photo was taken in the basement of St. Mary’s Church, the founding location of the Knights of Columbus, with Father Peter J. Langevin, KHS, Chancellor of the Diocese of Norwich, and Father Joseph MacNeil, Parochial Vicar at Blessed McGivney Parish (New Haven, CT).

This fourth route will journey through the major cities of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Mid-Atlantic states to the Indianapolis Convention on July 17. One of the traveling Pilgrimage vans, which was parked at the Blessed MIchael McGivney Pilgrimage Center, contains the Tabernacle to securely transport the Blessed Sacrament for travelling Adoration .

Order of Holy Sepulchre meets in Waterbury

Today, members of Connecticut’s Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem met at the historic Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (Waterbury, CT) for Sunday Mass and then for a festive dinner given by Msgr. John Bevins. It was a beautiful time to gather and share friendship. (more were able to make to dinner than to Mass due to other commitments.)

Our Lady of Palestine: Queen of the Land and of our hearts

Today is a solemn feast for those of us who are members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Today is a perfect day to pray for peace in the Holy Land through Mary’s intercession. Prayers for the ministry of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre throughout the world.

Because we follow the Lex Orandi tradition, the following prayer is the opening collect for the Mass.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father,
we humbly ask you, through the
intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Palestine, to help us overcome all the difficulties
which face us in this Holy Land,
the land which your Son has made Holy;
for it is in this land where our Savior took flesh
and brought the entire world to Redemption.
We beseech you Father,
strengthen us in faith, service, and perseverance so that we may be witnesses
to that unending act of love,
you who live and reign forever and ever.

Prayer for peace in the Holy Land

Queen of peace, Chosen daughter of a land still devastated by wars, hatred and violence.

We confidently address our plea to you: Do not allow Jesus to cry at the sight of the Holy City which did not understand the gift of peace may, once again, fall into indifference and political calculation. Look at the afflictions of so many mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, victims of destructive energies that are blind and without a future. Inspire ways of dialogue, a vigorous will in solving problems and a collaboration of certain hope. Don’t let us ever to get used to oppression, to consider the struggles as inevitable and the victims they produce as collateral.

Make sure that the logic of aggression does not prevail over good will and that the solution of many problems is not considered impossible. Just like with Your prayer in the midst of the Disciples on Pentecost, obtain from the Almighty that situations, even if apparently insurmountable in the Holy Land, find ways of happy solution.
AMEN.

Fernando Cardinal Filoni
Grand Master of the Holv Sepulchre of Jerusalem

Blessed Bartolo Longo

Memory of Bartolo Longo is liturgically honored today. Blessed Bartolo Longo (1841-1926) has been so far the only lay person of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem to be lifted to the altar. He quite dear to the Knights and Dames of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, and to me both as a devotee to the Rosary and to the Order.

Longo is an example for our members of constant prayer, active charity, and love for the most needy. From Pompeii, a city that he helped regenerate thanks to the grace of recitation of the Rosary, the Blessed continues to inspire initiatives of prayer and charity worldwide.

Since my baptismal parish is named for Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii, Blessed Bartolo’s relic hangs in a stairwell (not an ideal place) but at least we remember him.

Prayer to Blessed Bartolo Longo

Blessed Bartolo Longo, you who dedicated your life to Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us and intercede for our needs. You who have known despair and suffering, help us to find hope and peace in difficult times.

You who have spread the devotion to the Rosary around the world, teach us to love this prayer and meditate on the mysteries of the life of Jesus and Mary. You who founded the city of Pompeii as a center of Marian devotion, protect and bless it always.

Blessed Bartolo Longo, you who lived your life in the service of others, help us imitate your example of charity and dedication. You who have been raised to the honours of the altars, pray for us and obtain the grace we need. Amen.