Feast of St Peter and St Paul - 29 June

 

St Peter and St Paul, pray for us!

 

Peter Paul Rubens. St Peter and St Paul.

 

St John's Day - 24 June - Feast of the Baptist and of the Sovereign and Military Order of St John of Jerusalem (Order of Malta)

 

St John the Baptist, pray for us!

 

 

Leonardo da Vinci. St John the Baptist.

His Most Eminent Highness, the Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Fra' Matthew Festing

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The great Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is of ancient origin.

Some - particularly Jansenists and particular types of Protestants - claim that this devotion is a novelty.

It is certainly not novel.

Indeed, the Fathers of the Church already had a devotion to the wounded heart of Jesus as can readily be seen from their writings.

However, by the time of the eleventh and twelfth centuries a special devotion to the Sacred Heart was being developed and cultivated. It was taken up particularly by St Bruno and the Carthusians.

The Cistercians also were much devoted to the heart of Jesus, particularly St Bernard himself.

St Gertrude the Great and St Mechtilde were also great promoters of the devotion as also the learned the author of the "Vitis mystica", thought to be St Bonaventure.

From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the devotion was everywhere practised by individuals and by different religious congregations, such as the Franciscans and the Dominicans.

It was established as a devotion with prayers already formulated and special exercises, found in the writings of Lanspergius (d. 1539) of the Carthusians of Cologne, Louis of Blois (Blosius, 1566), a Benedictine and Abbot of Liessies in Hainaut, John of Avila (d. 1569) and St Francis de Sales, the latter belonging to the seventeenth century.

It was also the symbol (see inset above) of the Grand Catholic and Royal Army of Catholic France against the diabolical forces of the French Revolution that sought to destroy all religion, truth, honesty, justice and true freedom in France.

St Gertrude the Great, Visionary-Apostle of the Sacred Heart

The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was everywhere in evidence, largely due to the Franciscan devotion to the Five Wounds and to the habit formed by the Jesuits of placing the image on their title-page of their books and the walls of their churches.

The Jesuits subsequently became the great defenders of the devotion to the Sacred Heart and were opposed by the mean-minded, narrow, puritanical but revolutionary Jansenists who mockingly called the devotees of the Sacred Heart by the name of Cordicoles or heart-worshippers.

Jansenists, like Bishop Scipione de' Ricci of Pistoia-Prato in Tuscany, later openly embraced the principles of the French Revolution whilst those Catholics who fought against the Revolution frequently adopted the Sacred Heart as their symbol.

The heresiarch Jansenist, Bishop Scipione de' Ricci, the Bishop of Pistoia-Prato

Ricci worked in conjunction with Prince Kaunitz, the Freemasonic Chancellor of State (Prime Minister) of the Holy Roman Empire, who had consolidated himself in the government of the Empire under Empress Maria Theresa, and later under the liberal Modernist heterodox Catholic, Emperor Joseph II.

Joseph's younger brother, Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Tuscany, later himself Emperor for 2 years, was also a willing aider and abetter of Ricci's schemes.
 

Consider the disaster that it was for the Catholic Church, for European civilisation and for the whole world that the Christian Roman Emperor, he who had the most solemn duty to defend the Church and the Papacy and to defend and extend the bounds of Christendom, should have become, himself, a hypocrite, a liar, an heterodox deceiver and destroyer of the Church of Jesus Christ which he was pledged, upon a solemn oath, to defend and who derived all his power and privileges from that same duty.
 

It was the beginning of modern politics - power without responsibility, privilege without duty, desiring the the goods of this world whilst depriving others of them.
 

In short, the very Emperor himself had become the servant of Satan and had paved the ideological way for the devilish totalitarianism that was to come 2 centuries later.
 

Ricci held a famous Synod at Pistoia in which, with the support of the Grand Duke, he tried to impose, experimentally, an early form of liberal Modernist Catholicism upon people and clergy in his diocese.
 

But - the people rose up, locked his Synod members in the Seminary and would not let them out until they had rescinded all the Modernist decrees, even taking off roof-tiles to get them to hurry the rescissions!

Few foresaw that the foolish experiments of the Jansenists and liberal Modernists would lead to them, the Empire and the Grand Duchy being altogether swept away by the tide of revolutionary hatred and violence.

Some Jansenists, after the Terror, returned to the Faith but by then the damage was done.

Ricci did not return until 1805, after he had seen the arrest of Pope Pius VII by Napoleon Bonaparte who compelled him to come to Paris and there to preside at the coronation of the destroyer of Christendom. It finally dawned on Ricci that his experiments had not had a good result.

 

Heterodox Habsburg: HI&RH Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Tuscany was that rare thing, an heterodox Habsburg. He supported Ricci's ill-fated schemes and so prepared the way for his own family's later fall.
 

The faithless disloyalty of these Jansenists, Febronianists, Gallicanists and other liberal Catholics who had lapsed from the Faith, wrought appalling damage to Christendom and eventually led to the complete overthrow of Christendom.

Conversely, the Sacred Heart symbol became one of the great symbols of the defence of the Faith during the French revolutionary period and was used by the many Catholics who rose up against the usurping secularists and revolutionaries, not least in the Vendée region of Western France.

The enemies of the Sacred Heart of Jesus had become, wittingly or not, the prime tools of Satan. That is their legacy - fittingly so, since it is Satan who is primarily opposed to the love of God which is so much a part of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.

 

St John Eudes, Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

St John Eudes (1602-1680) publicly and enthusiastically promoted the devotion and gave it an Office and established a feast for it. St John Eudes was also the apostle of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

On 31 August 1670, the first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated in the Grand Seminary of Rennes in Brittany. Coutances followed suit on 20 October, a day with which the Eudist feast was from then on to be connected.

The feast soon spread to other dioceses, and the devotion was likewise adopted in various religious communities. It gradually came into contact with the devotion begun at Paray-le-monial resulting in a fusion of the two.

Our Lord shows His Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary Alacoque

Eventually the devotion was hallowed by private revelation with the now famous revelations to St Margaret Mary Alacoque in the Visitation convent in Paray-le-monial.

Thereafter the devotion was taken by her confessor and spiritual director, St Claude de la Colombiere SJ, to England where, as chaplain to the English Queen, Mary of Modena, he was able to promote the devotion.

St Claude de la Colombiere SJ, confessor of both St Margaret Mary Alacoque and HRH Queen Mary of England, wife of King James II and VII. He was a great promoter of the Sacred Heart devotion.
 

In 1676 he had been sent to England as preacher to Mary of Modena, Duchess of York, afterwards Queen and wife to King James II and VII, the true Stuart monarch of England, Scotland, Ireland and France.
It is fitting that Mary came from Modena which is not far north of that later centre of Jansenism, Pistoia.

St Claude lived the life of a Religious even in the Court of St. James and was as active a missionary in England as he had been in France. Although encountering many difficulties, he was able to guide Saint Margaret Mary by letter.

HRH Princess Mary of Modena-Este, Duchess of York as wife to the future King James II and VII and thus, later, Queen of England. Her confessor was St Claude de la Colombiere SJ whom she helped to spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in England

Now the Feast is a great one and has an Octave. An external solemnity is also permitted to be celebrated on the Sunday during the Octave.

St Longinus,
the Roman soldier who opened the side of our Lord with a spear but later converted to Christianity - his statue is in St Peter's Basilica

"Unus militum lancea latus ejus aperuit, et continuo exivit sanguis et aqua".

"One of the soldiers with a spear opened His side and immediately there came out blood and water".

[John, 19:34. Communio, Feast of the Sacred Heart]

White Rose Day - the Feast of Queen St Margaret of Scotland and the birthday of our last Catholic king, King James III and VIII

10 June is White Rose Day, the day when Prince James, Prince of Wales (James Francis Edward Stuart; "The Old Pretender" or "The Old Chevalier") was born in 1688, thus occasioning the English Whigs to begin to plot against his father, King James II and VII, our last Catholic King, so as to exclude from the throne all Catholic monarchs.

It is also the Feast Day of Queen St Margaret of Scotland.

King James III and VIII, de jure King, died on 1 January 1766 and, as the son of the deposed King James II and VII, rightfully claimed the English, Scottish and Irish thrones (as James III of England and Ireland and James VIII of Scotland) from the death of his father in 1701, when he was proclaimed King of England, Scotland and Ireland by his cousin Louis XIV of France. Following his death in 1766 he was succeeded by his son Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") in the Jacobite Succession.

At that time, the Kings of England also still maintained their medieval claim to the throne of France (albeit King Louis XIV of France clearly did not recognise that claim).

The White Rose or White Cockade is the symbol of Catholic monarchy all over Europe.

The motto of the family was (in Old French) Aymez Loyauté - "Love Loyalty"- a fitting motto if ever there was one.

God save the House of Stuart!

King James III of England and Ireland and VIII of Scotland - the legitimate Catholic King - when he was a young prince, in armour, wearing the sash of a Knight of the Garter.

The Arms of the House of Stuart

King James III and VIII de jure
King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland

was illegally prevented

by the rich, corrupt, Protestant English Whigs

from occupying his throne

for no other reason than that he was

a faithful and loyal Roman Catholic.

Unlike the Whigs, Jacobites were Crown Unionists, against parliamentary union, but in favour of home rule and subsidiarity and the union of the Crowns, with each of the Three Kingdoms ruling themselves under one Stuart Crown.

Agostino Masucci. 1735. The solemnization of the marriage of Prince James Francis Edward Stewart and Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska at Montefiascone, Italy, 1 September 1719.

The symbol of legitimate Roman Catholic monarchy

is

the White Rose or the White Cockade

There'll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame

by Robert Burns

By yon castle wa' at the close of the day,

I heard a man sing, tho' his head it was grey,

And as he was singing, the tears doon came -

'There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame!'

'The Church is in ruins, the State is in jars,

Delusion, oppressions, and murderous wars,

We dare na weel say't but we ken wha's to blame

There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame!

'My seven braw sons for Jamie drew sword,

But now I greet round their green beds in the yerd;

It brak the sweet heart o' my faithfu' auld dame -

There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame!

'Now life is a burden that bows me down,

Sin I tint my bairns, and he tint his crown;

But till my last moments my words are the same -

There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame!'
 
 

The Jacobite line of succession

 

Here is Irish singer, Mary Black, singing in Gaelic that famous Irish lament for the loss of, and desire for the return of, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender to the throne, and son of King James III and VIII, "My Gallant Darling" - Mo Ghile Mear - the term of endearment by which the loyal Irish called the Prince. Notice how they refer to him as "my Caesar" showing that the Scots and Irish considered the Stuart monarchs to be Ard Ri, that is "High King" or "Emperor" of each Kingdom and of the Three Kingdoms. 

 

 

 

Mo Ghile Mear  Sé mo laoch mo Ghile Mear ‘Sé mo Shaesar, Ghile Mear, Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas féin Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo Ghile Mear. Seal dá rabhas im’ mhaighdean shéimh, ‘S anois im’ bhaintreach chaite thréith, Mo chéile ag treabhadh na dtonn go tréan De bharr na gcnoc is in imigéin. Bímse buan ar buairt gach ló, Ag caoi go cruaidh ‘s ag tuar na ndeor Mar scaoileadh uaim an buachaill beo ‘S ná ríomhtar tuairisc uaidh, mo bhrón. Ní labhrann cuach go suairc ar nóin Is níl guth gadhair i gcoilltibh cnó, Ná maidin shamhraidh i ngleanntaibh ceoigh Ó d’imthigh sé uaim an buachaill beó. Marcach uasal uaibhreach óg, Gas gan gruaim is suairce snódh, Glac is luaimneach, luath i ngleo Ag teascadh an tslua 's ag tuargain treon. Seinntear stair ar chlairsigh cheoil 's líontair táinte cárt ar bord Le hinntinn ard gan chaim, gan cheó Chun saoghal is sláinte d' fhagháil dom leómhan. Ghile Mear ‘sa seal faoi chumha, ‘S Éire go léir faoi chlócaibh dubha; Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas féin Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo Ghile Mear.

He's my champion, my Gallant Darling, He's my Caesar, a Gallant Darling, I've found neither rest nor fortune Since my Gallant Darling went far away. Once I was gentle maiden, But now I'm a spent, worn-out widow, My consort strongly plowing the waves, Over the hills and far away. Every day I'm constantly enduring grief, Weeping bitterly and shedding tears, Because my lively lad has left me And no news is told of him - alas. The cuckoo doesn't sing cheerfully after noon, And the sound of hounds isn't heard in the nut-tree woods, Nor a summer morning in a misty glen Since my lively boy went away from me. Gallant young horseman An appearance without worry or care A grip that's sure and quick in battle Leading the crowd and making us strong Play a tune on music harps Fill the quart measures on the table With high intention, straight and unclouded That life and health will be left to my lion Gallant Darling for a while under sorrow, And Ireland completely under black cloaks; I have found neither rest nor fortune Since my Gallant Darling went far away.

...

Queen Saint Margaret of Scotland

 

Fittingly, 10 June is also the Feast of Queen Saint Margaret of Scotland, ancestress of the Stuart kings.

Here is a summary of her noble life from the Breviarum Romanum, Matins, 2nd Nocturn, readings 4, 5 and 6:

Margarita Scotorum regina, paterno Angliae regum, materno Caesarum sanguine clarissima, illustrior adhuc fuit christiana virtute. Haec in Hungaria nata, ubi pater tunc temporis exsulabat, post exactam summa cum pietate puerilem aetatem, una cum genitore, qui a sancto Eduardo patruo, Anglorum rege, ad paterni regni fastigium vocabatur, in Angliam venit. Mox alternante parentum fortuna ex Angliae littore solvens, vi tempestatis expulsa, seu verius divinae providentiae consilio deducta est in oram maritimam Scotiae. Ibi cum ex matris imperio Malcholmo tertio Scotorum regi, egregiis ejus dotibus capto, nupsisset, sanctimoniae ac pietatis operibus triginta, quibus regnavit annis, toti regno mirifice profuit. Inter regales delicias corpus afflictationibus, ac vigiliis macerans, magnam noctis partem piis precationibus extrahebat. Praeter alia jejunia, quae identidem usurpabat, integros quadraginta dies ante Natalitia festa tanta cum severitate jejunare consuevit, ut ne in gravissimis quidem doloribus intermiserit. Divino cultui addictissima, templa plurima et coenobia partim ex integro excitavit, partim resarcivit, et sacra supellectili, ac largo censu ditavit. Regem conjugem ad meliorem frugem, et ad similia suis exercitationibus opera saluberrimo exemplo traduxit, liberosque omnes tam sancte et feliciter educavit, ut eorum plerique quemadmodum et Agatha mater, et Christina soror, sanctissimum vitae genus amplexi sint Universi demum regni felicitati consulens, a vitiis omnibus, quae furtim irrepserant, populos expurgavit, eisque mores christiana pietate dignos restituit. Nihil tamen aeque in illa mirabile fuit, ac flagrantissima caritas erga proximos, praesertim egenos, quorum numerosis gregibus non modo stipem affatim suppeditare, verum etiam trecentis quotidie materna benignitate dapes praebere, flexis genibus in morem ancillae ministrare, regiis manibus pedes abluere, et pressis etiam osculis ulcera fovere, solemne habuit. His porro aliisque piis sumptibus non regias tantum vestes, et pretiosa monilia distraxit; sed ipsum non semel exhausit aerarium. Toleratis demum ad patientiae miraculum acerbissimis doloribus, animam semestri corporis aegrotatione purgatam Auctori suo sextodecimo Kalendas Decembris reddidit. Quo temporis momento facies ejus diuturni morbi macie ac pallore foedata, insolita quadam venustate refloruit. Miris etiam post mortem prodigiis clara, et Clementis decimi auctoritate in Scotiae patronam accepta, ubique terrarum religiosissime colitur.


"Margaret, Queen of Scots, was most noble by birth, uniting in herself, from her father the blood of the Kings of England and from her mother the most pure blood of the Caesars [of the Holy Roman Empire], but her greatest nobleness was in her brave Christian life. She was born in Hungary, where her father was then an exile, and had passed a religious childhood, when her uncle Saint Edward, the King of England, recalled him to his own royal home, and she came to England with him. A few years after, upon the ruin of her family, she was escaping from England by sea, when the violence of the weather, or, to speak more truly, the Providence of God, caused that the ship should take refuge upon the coast of Scotland. There her extraordinary graces of mind and body so attracted King Malcolm III., that by the advice of his mother, he took her to wife and of Scotland she deserved exceedingly well for the thirty years of her reign, by the holiness of her life and the abundance of her works of mercy. In the midst of kingly dainties, she afflicted her body with hardships and watching, spending a great part of the night in earnest prayer. Besides other fasts which she imposed upon herself, it was her custom to observe one of forty days before Christmas, concerning which fast she was so rigid, that she would not relax it even under sharp suffering. She took great delight in the public worship of God, and founded or renewed a great number of churches and convents, which she enriched at great cost with sacred furniture. Her healthy example drew the King, her husband, to habits of sobriety, and to imitate her in her good works. To all her children she had the happiness of giving a godly education, and several of them, like her mother Agatha and her sister Christina, led notable holy lives. The happiness of the whole kingdom was the object for which she constantly strove, and she successfully rooted out all the vices which had stealthily crept in, and established among the people a standard of living worthy of Christians. The most remarkable feature of her life was the tenderness of her charity toward her neighbour, especially the needy. Of these she would not only order whole flocks to be relieved, but was accustomed to give dinner to three hundred of them every day, treating them with the tenderness of a mother, and waiting upon them on her knees like a maidservant. She held it one of the privileges of her rank to wash their feet with her own Royal hands, and to dress their sores, which latter she would even kiss. To meet the expenses of her charities she sold not only her queenly raiment and her precious jewels, but more than once exhausted her funds entirely. Purified by grievous suffering, which she bore with marvellous patience during an illness of six months, she resigned her soul into the hands of Him Who had created it, upon the 11th day of June. At the moment of death, the bystanders saw her poor worn face, pale and disfigured by continual suffering, flush again with a beauty to which it had long been unused. After her death she became illustrious on account of great signs and wonders. With the approval of Pope Clement X, she was chosen Patroness of Scotland, and her memory is held in profound reverence throughout the whole earth."

Queen Saint Margaret was a great devotee of the holy liturgy of the Church - probably an early form of the Sarum use in her case - and used to hear mass in the morning several times, including Solemn High Mass, every day. She is a very fitting saint for those who love and revere the traditional rites of the Roman Catholic Church.

Queen St Margaret of Scotland, pray for us and for Scotland!

Aymez Loyauté!

+++

The Feast of Corpus Christi

PANGE lingua gloriosi
Corporis mysterium,
Sanguinisque pretiosi,
quem in mundi pretium
fructus ventris generosi
Rex effudit Gentium.

Nobis datus, nobis natus
ex inacta Virgine,
et in mundo conversatus,
sparso verbi semine,
sui moras incolatus
miro clausit ordine.

In suprema nocte coenae
recumbus cum fratribus
observata lege plene
cibis in legalibus,
cibum turbae duodenae
se dat suis manibus.

Verbum caro, panem verum
verbo carnem efficit:
fitque sanguis Christi merum,
et si sensus deficit,
ad firmandum cor sincerum
sola fides sufficit.

Tantum ergo Sacramentum
veneremur cernui:
et antiquum documentum
novo cedat ritui:
praestet fides supplementum
sensuum defectui.

Genitori, Genitoque
laus et jubilatio,
salus, honor, virtus quoque
sit et benedictio:
procedenti ab utroque
compar sit laudatio.
Amen. Alleluia.

SING, my tongue, the Saviour's glory,
of His flesh the mystery sing;
of the Blood, all price exceeding,
shed by our immortal King,
destined, for the world's redemption,
from a noble womb to spring.

Of a pure and spotless Virgin
born for us on earth below,
He, as Man, with man conversing,
stayed, the seeds of truth to sow;
then He closed in solemn order
wondrously His life of woe.

On the night of that Last Supper,
seated with His chosen band,
He the Pascal victim eating,
first fulfills the Law's command;
then as Food to His Apostles
gives Himself with His own hand.

Word-made-Flesh, the bread of nature
by His word to Flesh He turns;
wine into His Blood He changes;-
what though sense no change discerns?
Only be the heart in earnest,
faith her lesson quickly learns.

Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o'er ancient forms departing,
newer rites of grace prevail;
faith for all defects supplying,
where the feeble sense fail.

To the everlasting Father,
and the Son who reigns on high,
with the Holy Ghost proceeding
forth from Each eternally,
be salvation, honour, blessing,
might and endless majesty.
Amen. Alleluia.

Pange Lingua is a hymn written by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) for the Feast of Corpus Christi.

It is also sung on Holy Thursday, during the procession from the church to the altar of repose where the Blessed Sacrament is kept until Good Friday.

The last two stanzas, called separately Tantum Ergo, are sung at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

The hymn expresses the doctrine of transubstantiation, the Thomist expression for the transformation of the elements of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

The other great Eucharistic hymn of St Thomas is Adoro Te also often sung at Benediction.

There are numerous good translations of this famous hymn but I think that of Gerard Manley Hopkins, the Jesuit poet, is one of the more unusual. Here it is:

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at Thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth Himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.

On the cross Thy godhead made no sign to men,
Here Thy very manhood steals from human ken:
Both are my confession, both are my belief,
And I pray the prayer of the dying thief.

I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
Let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.

O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,
Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died,
Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind,
There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.

Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;
Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what Thy bosom ran
Blood whereof a single drop has power to win
All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.

Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,
Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light
And be blest for ever with Thy glory's sight. Amen.

For those who (still) think that the idea of bread turning into Christ's Body is un-Scriptural, here is the proof that it is entirely Scriptural: John 6:47-72.

Below it is reproduced in both English and Greek. Note carefully the words highlighted in bold.

“47 Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 52 If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. 53 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 54 Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 55 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. 56 For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. 57 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. 58 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. 59 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever. 60 These things he said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum. 61 Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it? 62 But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you? 63 If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 64 It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life. 65 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him. 66 And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father. 67 After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him. 68 Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away? 69 And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 70 And we have believed and have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of God. 71 Jesus answered them: Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil? 72 Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him, whereas he was one of the twelve.”

Now for the Greek - transliterated into Roman script so that the connections are more obvious. Again note the words in bold.

"47 amhn amhn legw umin, o pisteuwn ecei zwhn aiwnion. 48 egw eimi o artoV thV zwhV. 49 oi patereV umwn efagon en th erhmw to manna kai apeqanon: 50 outoV estin o artoV o ek tou ouranou katabainwn ina tiV ex autou fagh kai mh apoqanh. 51 egw eimi o artoV o zwn o ek tou ouranou katabaV: ean tiV fagh ek toutou tou artou zhsei eiV ton aiwna: kai o artoV de on egw dwsw h sarx mou estin uper thV tou kosmou zwhV. 52 emaconto oun proV allhlouV oi ioudaioi legonteV, pwV dunatai outoV hmin dounai thn sarka [autou] fagein; 53 eipen oun autoiV o ihsouV, amhn amhn legw umin, ean mh faghte thn sarka tou uiou tou anqrwpou kai pihte autou to aima, ouk ecete zwhn en eautoiV. 54 o trwgwn mou thn sarka kai pinwn mou to aima ecei zwhn aiwnion, kagw anasthsw auton th escath hmera: 55 h gar sarx mou alhqhV estin brwsiV, kai to aima mou alhqhV estin posiV. 56 o trwgwn mou thn sarka kai pinwn mou to aima en emoi menei kagw en autw. 57 kaqwV apesteilen me o zwn pathr kagw zw dia ton patera, kai o trwgwn me kakeinoV zhsei di eme. 58 outoV estin o artoV o ex ouranou katabaV, ou kaqwV efagon oi patereV kai apeqanon: o trwgwn touton ton arton zhsei eiV ton aiwna. 59 tauta eipen en sunagwgh didaskwn en kafarnaoum. 60 polloi oun akousanteV ek twn maqhtwn autou eipan, sklhroV estin o logoV outoV: tiV dunatai autou akouein; 61 eidwV de o ihsouV en eautw oti gogguzousin peri toutou oi maqhtai autou eipen autoiV, touto umaV skandalizei; 62 ean oun qewrhte ton uion tou anqrwpou anabainonta opou hn to proteron; 63 to pneuma estin to zwopoioun, h sarx ouk wfelei ouden: ta rhmata a egw lelalhka umin pneuma estin kai zwh estin. 64 all eisin ex umwn tineV oi ou pisteuousin. hdei gar ex archV o ihsouV tineV eisin oi mh pisteuonteV kai tiV estin o paradwswn auton. 65 kai elegen, dia touto eirhka umin oti oudeiV dunatai elqein proV me ean mh h dedomenon autw ek tou patroV. 66 ek toutou polloi [ek] twn maqhtwn autou aphlqon eiV ta opisw kai ouketi met autou periepatoun. 67 eipen oun o ihsouV toiV dwdeka, mh kai umeiV qelete upagein; 68 apekriqh autw simwn petroV, kurie, proV tina apeleusomeqa; rhmata zwhV aiwniou eceiV, 69 kai hmeiV pepisteukamen kai egnwkamen oti su ei o agioV tou qeou. 70 apekriqh autoiV o ihsouV, ouk egw umaV touV dwdeka exelexamhn, kai ex umwn eiV diaboloV estin; 71 elegen de ton ioudan simwnoV iskariwtou: outoV gar emellen paradidonai auton, eiV ek twn dwdeka."

The numbering is slightly out of sync in the translation but the words are there. Note this: the word for "eat" changes halfway through the discourse.

It changes from phagein, meaning "to eat", to trogon, meaning literally "to munch" (the "w" is a transliteration of the Greek letter Omega which is a long "o"). The verbs are, moreover, inflected according to the context (e.g phage etc) but it is clear that a different verb is being used by our Lord to emphasize what He means.

Why?

Our Lord is emphasizing that we are literally to "eat His flesh" albeit His flesh is in the form of bread and His blood in the form of wine.

Note also that when He refers to the Fathers eating manna in the desert He reverts to phagein to show that such "eating" was different from eating His flesh, albeit a foretaste of what was to come. He then changes back to trogon when referring to eating His own flesh.

Then the Jews say that His words are a "hard saying" and "how can this man give us his flesh to eat" and even many of His disciples "walked with him no more". They clearly understood that He was talking about them literally eating His flesh and they could not accept what He was saying, just as Protestants and others cannot accept it today.

Did our Lord change His teaching then to make it more "acceptable" and "relevant" to the Jews? Not one jot did He change! Instead He asked the Twelve "will you also go away?".

The Twelve, however, stayed and confessed their faith, Simon saying “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life".

Marvellous confession of faith!

What could be clearer? The Catholic belief in the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is the truly Scriptural one - not any other!

Hence St Paul says (1 Cor 11:23-17):

"Brethren, for I myself have received from the Lord (what I also delivered unto you) that the Lord Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke, and said 'Take ye and eat, for this is my Body which shall be given up for you; do this in remembrance of me. For as oft as you shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes. Therefore whoever eats this Bread of drinks this Cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord".

There can simply be no doubt whatever that it is the Catholic doctrine which is the Scriptural doctrine. To believe otherwise is to deceive oneself.

“He gave them the Bread of heaven, Alleluia!"

The Feast of the Holy Trinity

THE FEAST

OF THE ONE, HOLY AND UNDIVIDED

TRINITY

"My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. That which my Father hath given me, is greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father.

I and the Father are one."

[John 10:26-30]

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Whitsun - the Feast of Pentecost

Whitsunday

Pentecost

and the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Church

"And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost…"
[Acts 2:1-4]

Pentecost (from the Greek Pentecoste meaning the 50th day i.e. after Easter) was also called White Sunday (or Whitsunday) because the neophytes again put on their Easter baptismal robes of white and - until the great destroyer, Archbishop Bugnini, abolished the ceremonies in 1955 - a second but slightly smaller version of the Easter Vigil occurred on Whitsun Eve. In Christendom it was for this reason that Pentecost was often called Pascha Rosatum or, in Italian, Pasqua Rossa, meaning Rose-Easter for the flames that descended like roses, for the red vestments and for the recalling of the mystery of Easter.

It is a highly Biblical feast and the Jews themselves had their own pre-figuring Pentecost which occurred 50 days after the Feast of the Passover. They still celebrate it with solemnity to this day.

This was the importance given by our ancestors to the Feast of Pentecost. But modern Catholics have had that privilege curtailed by the destructive work of Archbishop Bugnini, a prelate who was dismissed for Freemasonry by Pope Paul VI, as Bugnini himself admits in his own autobiography.

With a most shameful disregard for hallowed tradition which cannot escape the charge of impiety, Bugnini destroyed these centuries-old traditions and ceremonies.

Pentecost represents the fullness of God’s gift to men. He gave us His only-begotten Son at Christmas; in Holy Week, by the Passion of Christ, He atoned for us purifying and sanctifying us in His own Precious Blood. At Easter, at His Resurrection, and after, at His Ascension, God gloriifes us in His own Son and makes a place for us in Heaven.

Then, having ascended into heaven, God sends us the Holy Ghost to be our Advocate and Comforter in our earthly sojourn. Descending upon the Apostles as tongues of fire, the Spirit of love comes to us to inform our lives with charity, to create the Church as a bark of salvation and to lead us into all truth and holiness.

During Whit week every day at Mass is sung that most beautiful of hymns, the Veni Sancte Spiritus. It is known to tradition as the Golden Sequence, so greatly has it been revered by Catholic tradition. But how often do you hear it sung?

VENI, Sancte Spiritus,
et emitte caelitus
lucis tuae radium.
Come Holy Ghost send down those beams
which sweetly flow in silent streams
from Thy bright throne above.

At Vespers is sung also the better-known Veni Creátor Spíritus:

Veni Creátor Spíritus,
Mentes tuórum vísita:
Imple supérna grátia,
Quæ tu creásti pécora.
Come, O Creator, Spirit blest,
And in our souls take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heavenly aid,
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

Veni Sancte is particularly beautiful and it is a great sadness that so few now know it.

Here is a recording of each by French monks so that the difference can readily be seen. Veni Creator is followed by the sublime Veni Sancte:

Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.

Send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

[Adapted from Psalm 103:30]

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Ascension and the beating of the bounds

Rogation days are days set apart for solemn processions to invoke the mercy of God. The word comes from the Latin rogare “to say or ask” meaning, in this context, to pray to God for good things.

They come at this time because of the Gospel reading for the previous Sunday (the 5th Sunday after Easter, sometimes for that reason called Rogation Sunday) which includes the text from the Gospel of St John 16:24 “Ask and ye shall receive”.

The Rogation days are:

(1) St Mark’s Day on 25 April (the Major Rogation)
(2) The 3 days before the Ascension Day (the Minor Rogations)

The first Rogation, which includes the Greater Litanies, was originally a christianisation of the old Roman pagan feast day of Robigalia, on 25 April, a day to pray for good crops.

The minor Rogations, including the Lesser Litanies, were introduced in 470 by Bishop Mamertus of Vienne and then spread to the rest of the Roman Church. They became a preparation also for the Feast of the Ascension.

These days coincided also with the ceremony of the “Beating of the Bounds” during which a procession led by ministers and choir would proceed round the boundaries of the parish, partly to re-affirm the boundaries but also to pray for the protection of the parish over the forthcoming year. Choir boys and servers would carry canes to "beat" the boundaries at each stopping point.

Absurdly, the Rogation days are yet further ancient and beautiful ceremonies that were done away with by the liturgical wreckers after 1970. They have, of course, come back with the return of the traditional rites.

The ceremony of the Beating of the Bounds can still be seen in the City of London and processions continue to go round the boundaries to the various churches of the City, often escorted by a marching group of one or more of the City TA Regiments.

What diabolical spirit came over the liturgical consilium of Archbishop Bugnini that he even thought to try and get rid of this beautiful, scriptural, ancient liturgical devotion? Yet further evidence, if it were still needed, that a dark and sinister spirit has, these 40 years past, been suffered by weak, vain and worldly prelates to invade parts of the Church.

"Beating the bounds"

"22 So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you. 23 And in that day you shall not ask me any thing. Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto you have not asked any thing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full. 25 These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh, when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father."

[John 16.22-25]

Peccatores, Te rogamus audi nos

 

We sinners, beseech Thee, hear us!

...