CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: MON. MAY 3, 2010: HEADLINES-
VATICAN: POPE: TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF CARDINAL LUIGI POGGI
AFRICA: SUDAN: CHURCH MAKES PREPARATIONS FOR YOUTH REFERENDUM-
AMERICA: MEXICO: BISHOP´S COMMITTEE EMPHASIZES PROTECTION OF LIFE-
ASIA: INDONESIA- GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZES CATHEDRAL AS PROTECTED BUILDING-
AUSTRALIA: CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCES TO MEET IN SYDNEY-
EUROPE: ENGLAND: GREATNESS OF CATHOLIC WRITERS-
VATICAN
POPE: TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF CARDINAL LUIGI POGGI
VATICAN CITY, 4 MAY 2010 (VIS REPORT) - The Pope has sent a telegram of condolence for the death of Cardinal Luigi Poggi, archivist and librarian emeritus of Holy Roman Church. The cardinal died in Rome this morning at the age of 92.
In the telegram, addressed to the late cardinal's brother and sister, the Holy Father recalls his "many years of solicitous collaboration with the Holy See, especially as nuncio in various countries, then as archivist and librarian of Holy Roman Church, always and everywhere giving a much-appreciated example of fervent priestly zeal and faithfulness to the Gospel".
At the altar of the Cathedra in the Vatican Basilica at 5.30 p.m. on Friday 7 May Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at the funeral Mass with other members of the college.
At the end of the ceremony, the Pope will address those present and administer the rites of "Ultima Commendatio" and of "Valedictio".
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IMAGE SOURCE http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/index.asp
POPE CONGRATULATES RABBI EMERITUS ELIO TOAFF
VATICAN CITY, 4 MAY 2010 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has sent a message of congratulation to Elio Toaff, former rabbi of Rome, for his ninety-fifth birthday, which fell yesterday 3 May. The Message was read out by Msgr. Georg Gaenswein, personal secretary of the Pope, in the course of the inaugural ceremony of the Elio Toaff Foundation for Hebrew Culture.
"I think", the Holy Father writes, "using the expressions of the Psalm, how the Lord restored your soul, leading you along the right path, even through the darkest valley, at the time of the persecution and extermination of the Jewish People. The Lord, in His mysterious plans, wished you to have a unique experience of His salvation, becoming a sign of hope for the rebirth of many of your brothers and sisters.
"I am particularly happy to recall", the Pope adds, "your commitment to promoting fraternal relations between Catholics and Jews, and the sincere friendship that bound you to my venerated predecessor Pope John Paul II".MESS/ VIS 20100504 (180)
THIRD MEETING OF COUNCIL FOR MIDDLE EAST SYNOD
VATICAN CITY, 4 MAY 2010 (VIS) - The pre-synodal council of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East met in Rome from 23 to 24 April, according to a communique released yesterday.
The meeting was attended by: His Beatitude Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon; Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples; Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue; Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches; His Beatitude Antonios Naguib, patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, Egypt; His Beatitude Ignace Youssif III Younan, patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians, Lebanon; His Beatitude Gregoire III Laham B.S., patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites, Syria; His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, Lebanon; His Beatitude Fouad Twal, patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins; Archbishop Ramzi Garmou of Tehran of the Chaldeans and president of the Iranian Episcopal Conference, and Bishop Luigi Padovese O.F.M. Cap., apostolic vicar of Anatolia, Turkey. His Beatitude Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Iraq, was unable to participate.
Following a greeting and introductory talk by Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, the work focused on the reports of the individual members concerning the situation of the Church in the social and political context of the Middle East, and especially on the preparation of the "Instrumentum laboris", the working document of the Special Assembly which is due to take place from 10 to 24 October on the theme: "The Catholic Church in the Middle East. Communion and Witness. Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul".
"The Special Assembly for the Middle East has a dual objective", reads the communique: "confirming and strengthening Christians in their identity through the Word of God and the Sacraments, and fomenting ecclesial communion between the particular Churches in order to enable them to offer authentic Christian witness in their contacts with other Churches and ecclesial communities. Hence the urgent need for a convinced ecumenical commitment 'that they may be one, that the world may believe'.
"The forthcoming Synod will also be a precious opportunity to examine the religious and social situation, in order to give Christians a clear sense of being active witnesses of Christ in the context of a Muslim-majority society. This will involve profound reflection on the current situation, a situation rendered difficult by conflicts and instability which cause the exodus of people, including no small number of Christians".
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THIRTY SWISS GUARD RECRUITS TO BE SWORN IN ON THURSDAY
VATICAN CITY, 4 MAY 2010 (VIS) - In the San Damaso Courtyard of the Vatican Apostolic Palace at 5 p.m. on Thursday 6 May, thirty new recruits will be sworn in as members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard in the presence of members of the Roman Curia, diplomatic representatives, and civil and religious authorities from Switzerland. William Kloter, the new major of the Swiss Guard, will also be taking the oath.
The day will start at 7.30 a.m. with Mass for the Swiss Guards, their families and friends celebrated by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. in St. Peter's Basilica. At 8.30 a.m. Daniel Rudolf Anrig, commander of the Swiss Guard, will place a laurel wreath at the monument in the courtyard of the Swiss Guard barracks commemorating the 147 members of the corps who lost their lives protecting Pope Clement VII from the onslaught of the troops of Emperor Charles V during the Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527. Archbishop Fernando Filoni, substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, will then confer military decorations on certain members of the Guard.
Among those present at this year's swearing-in ceremony will be Doris Leuthard, president of the Swiss Confederation, and Peter Stutz, chief-of-staff, who will represent the Swiss army. Also participating as guest of honour will be the council of the Canton of San Gallen. The town band of the city of Uzwil will play a concert in the courtyard of the barracks on 7 May.
The swearing-in ceremony is celebrated every year on 6 May to commemorate the death of the 147 Swiss Guards who died during the Sack of Rome.GSP/ VIS 20100504 (290)
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
VATICAN CITY, 4 MAY 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed as members of the Academic Council of the Holy See's Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Universities and Ecclesiastical Faculties (AVEPRO): Fr. Slwomir Nowosad, vice-rector for research and international relations, and professor of moral theology at the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland; John L. Davies, professor emeritus of the Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford, England; Peter Jonkers, professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of Tilburg, Netherlands; Donald McQuillan, former director of the Irish Universities Quality Board, and Emanuela Stefani, director of the Conference of Italian University Rectors. On Saturday 1 May it was made public that the Holy Father elevated the apostolic administration of Comores (area 2,033, population 800,000, Catholics 6,000, priests 6, religious 14) to the rank of apostolic vicariate, with the new name of Archipelago of the Comores and the same territorial configuration as before. He appointed Fr. Charles Mahuza Yava S.D.S., provincial superior of the Salvatorian province of Africa, as the first apostolic vicar of the new vicariate. The bishop-elect was born in Sandoa, Democratic Republic of Congo in 1960 and ordained a priest in 1993.
IN MEMORIAM
VATICAN CITY, 4 MAY 2010 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:
- Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer O.S.B., president emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, on 30 April at the age of 98.
- Cardinal Tomas Spidlik S.J. on 6 April at the age of 90.
- Archbishop William Donald Borders, emeritus of Baltimore, U.S.A., on 19 April at the age of 96.
- Bishop Edmund Joseph Fitzgibbon S.P.S., emeritus of Warri, Nigeria, on 17 April at the age of 85.
- Bishop Norman Francis McFarland, emeritus of Orange in California, U.S.A., on 16 April at the age of 88.
AFRICA
SUDAN: CHURCH MAKES PREPARATIONS FOR YOUTH REFERENDUM
All Africa report. The Catholic Church in Sudan is engaging in a massive civic education exercise targeting the youth ahead of the country's 2011 referendum, newly appointed executive secretary for the social communication has said.
speaking during the ongoing AMECEA youth workshop in Tanzania Joseph Kadidol said that in return these youth "are supposed to enlighten other people on how to vote in the referendum."
The head of social communication and media also cited challenges faced by especially catholic media in the Muslim dominated region of the country.
"There is no radio station in Northern Sudan because of political differences." He said that although they have applied for a license to establish a radio station in the area, nothing has been forthcoming.
"Since 2000 to 2010 the Sudanese Catholic Bishop's conference (SCBC) has not been having an executive secretary because the office was burnt in 2002 and they lost everything," added Kadidol.
Just after the announcement of the results of the just concluded elections that saw President Omar Al- Bashir return to power, chaos erupted in Southern Sudan claiming lives.
The spokesman for Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) is denying reports that the party has agreed to accept results of the general elections.
Most Southern Sudanese feel that the elections were influenced and therefore were not fair. To avoid a repeat of the bloodshed the Catholic Church is encouraging youth to embrace peace and reconciliation efforts before the referendum.
He also said that during elections one of the most outspoken Catholic Radio Bakhita was shut down by government because they were reporting the truth about its injustice actions.
Currently Sudan has seven Catholic radio stations.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201005050142.html
AMERICA
MEXICO: BISHOP´S COMMITTEE EMPHASIZES PROTECTION OF LIFE
CNA report: The Mexican Bishops’ Committee on the Family, Youth and the Laity, called on Mexicans this
week “to commit themselves before God” to protecting the “life and dignity of children, and their integrity in the family, the Church and society.”
The statement, signed by Bishop Francisco Chavolla Ramos, was released for Children's Day. The message recalled the value that the Gospel gives to children. “The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, was very severe with those who harm a child, no matter who they are.”
Moreover, the statement indicated, “The Church does not forget that Christ made children the examples and teachers of simplicity, which opens the gates of the Kingdom of God for us.” For this reason, “He commanded us adults to treat them with special importance, respecting in each child the innocence that allows them to contemplate the very Face of God.”
“We discover that the child, all children, are Good News and must embraced, with a thankful heart, by both parents and those of us who have the mission of supporting them.” The statement added that they must be cared for and educated “in the love of a family.”
Bishop Chavolla called for a conversion of heart so that by transforming the family, the Church and society, all Mexican children would be guaranteed the care of which God himself is the guarantor and custodian.
“All of us who form the Catholic Church, as disciples and missionaries, will always fight to promote them, support them and offer them comprehensive education that will prepare them for a decent, full and happy life,” the bishop concluded.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/mexican_bishops_emphasize_the_dignity_of_chidren/
ASIA
INDONESIA- GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZES CATHEDRAL AS PROTECTED BUILDING
UCAN report– The national government has recognized a Catholic cathedral in western Indonesia as a protected building.
The reception declaring protected status was organized to coincide with celebrations marking the 76th anniversary of the cathedral church in Pangkalpinang, capital of Bangka-Belitung province. The government decree declaring the cathedral a protected building took place on Jan. 8.
“In this cathedral, the good values of life have poured in and grown. That is why it has become a significant historic site,” said Karim, a Muslim.
He also recalled that the cathedral produced the first native diocesan priest in Indonesia, Father Mario John Boen, who was ordained in 1935.
In addition, the cathedral also initiated the establishment of the first of several schools on the island.
“This cathedral church has become a place where Catholics from different ethnic backgrounds have grown in their faith. It has united them and brought forth a good change in their lives for a better future,” Karim said.
Father Petrus Sunarto, the cathedral parish priest, told UCA News that as a protected building, the cathedral is officially recognized as having special historical or architectural interest and is therefore protected from demolition or alteration. “If renovation must be done, it should not change the original architecture,” he said. “But we can introduce something like air conditioning or paint the walls,” he added.
St. Joseph Cathedral Church was established on March 19, 1934, but the celebration was annually observed on May 1, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. According to 2008 statistics, the cathedral parish has 45,477 Catholics out of a population of 2.4 million people.
http://www.ucanews.com/2010/05/05/%e2%80%98protected%e2%80%99-cathedral-a-beacon-for-catholics
AUSTRALIA
CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCES TO MEET IN SYDNEY
Cath News report: The Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania will meet in Sydney from May 10-14, gathering prelates from more than a dozen countries around the region.
The event, held once every four years in different countries, will be attended by bishops from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and other countries in the Pacific.
They include the Mariana Islands, Guam, Noumea, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga and Tahiti, with representation from East Timor and the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference.
"The current Executive has worked over the past four years to ensure that this 2010 Sydney meeting, of the Pastors of the Local Churches of Oceania, will further progress our communion, our collaboration and our mutual understanding of the joys, hopes, grief and anguish through which we work in making Jesus Christ better known and loved among the peoples of Oceania, as we walk his way, tell his truth and live his life," said President of the FCBCO Bishop Peter Ingham in a statement.
"The Church in Oceania is diverse and far-reaching, with different challenges in each of its countries. We come together for this Assembly to learn from and support one another as bishops and share the many gifts of our dioceses," he said.
The opening concelebrated Mass at St Mary's Cathedral will be led by Cardinal George Pell and Bishop Peter Ingham will preach. Sessions of the Assembly will be held at Sancta Sophia College at the University of Sydney, the statement said.
Speakers from a number of religious congregations and orders have been invited to give keynote presentations and conduct workshops during the event.
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=21122
EUROPE
ENGLAND: GREATNESS OF CATHOLIC WRITERS
Catholic Herald report. Roy Peachey says it is time to expand the canon of great Catholic writers to include those born outside the western world
Hilaire Belloc and G K Chesterton
Useful as Lewis’s advice undoubtedly is, his assumption that, “all contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook” takes us only so far. Even in the age of the global village, authors from different cultures and continents simply do not think or write in the same way as each other. They may share something of the same outlook but the differences are often more interesting.
We must therefore extend C S Lewis’s argument. Since we all need books to correct the characteristics of our own period, we should read not just old books but books from around the world. We might like to think that, as Catholics, we are particularly aware of the need for catholicity but, in truth, we are as likely as anyone else to become parochial the moment we step inside a bookshop.
Most English language studies of the Catholic novel – and, I would guess, most readers – tend to focus on a very small group of western writers. More often than not that group is based around either Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene or G K Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc and J R R Tolkien. Some critics and readers, it is true, are more daring in considering Bernanos, Mauriac and Undset – after all, it’s hard to ignore two Nobel prize winners entirely – while others read Flannery O’Connor and Rumer Godden. More recent writers like Michael O’Brien, J F Powers and Piers Paul Read may even get a look in.
But very rarely will you see any mention of writers from outside Europe or North America. The only exception is Shusaku Endo, and one suspects that this was largely because he received Graham Greene’s imprimatur. It is perhaps churlish to pick on any one publication as an example of this parochialism but the CTS booklet on 100 Books You Really Should Read is both widely available and fairly representative in this regard. Divided into separate sections on biography, fiction, history, spiritual reading, and theology, teaching and faith, it makes many valuable recommendations and is certainly worth dipping into.
Its lack of geographical range is quite striking. Reading this booklet, it would be easy to believe that the Catholic Church did not extend beyond the confines of Europe or North America. To put it another way, it would be easy to think that the Catholic Church were not catholic at all.
Of the 25 recommended works of fiction, for example, only two (by the Australian novelist Morris West) break the North American and European stranglehold. Not one novel from Asia, Africa, South or Central America is recommended.
Nor do the other sections remedy the booklet’s imbalance: most of the world simply doesn’t feature in the list of recommendations. And yet Catholic authors from all around the globe have produced a wonderful array of writings which may help us to escape what C S Lewis calls the “great mass of common assumptions” that we share with most writers from the Anglophone world.
To do justice to the Catholic Truth Society, whose booklets usually set a very high standard, their authors faced a number of practical difficulties in drawing up their list of recommendations.
A lack of translations into English was perhaps the main problem. Many excellent Catholic novelists, like the Argentinian Manuel Gálvez for instance, still remain to be translated, often, in part, because of their Catholicism. As one critic has pointed out, Gálvez was condemned as “a literary, ideological, conservative, religious dinosaur” at the time of his death in 1962 and only now is his literary reputation being re-evaluated. Other authors have not even got as far as a re-evaluation. The great Chinese writer and critic Su Xuelin found herself effectively marginalised as a woman, an anti-Communist and a Catholic after the Communist victory in 1949. After working for CTS in Hong Kong she moved into exile in Taiwan where she built up a reputation as a formidable scholar.
But, even today her novels – like Ji Xin, a semi-autobiographical account of a young Chinese woman’s conversion to Catholicism – remain out of print and untranslated.
Even when authors do manage to find translators, their more explicitly Catholic works are often neglected. Japan’s leading Catholic novelist, Sono Ayako, has had two of her novels translated into English but her non-fiction work about Maximilian Kolbe can still be read only in Japanese, despite its being described as a “minor classic” by the renowned critic and translator Philip Gabriel.
And so we could go on. Catholics from around the world languish in untranslated neglect because they are neither fashionable enough nor heretical enough to break into the publishing mainstream. But this is not the whole story: a lack of translations does not entirely explain the CTS booklet’s blindspots. There are plenty of Catholic writers from Japan to Trinidad, from Indonesia to Nigeria, whose books have either been translated or were written in English in the first place.
One of the glories of the Catholic Church is its catholicity and we can only benefit from reading widely among our co-religionists, if only because, as C S Lewis put it in that same essay with which we started: “Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction.”
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/f0000563.shtml
TODAY´S SAINTS
St. Philip
APOSTLE
Feast: May 3
Information: Feast Day: May 3
Born: Bethsaida, Palestine
Died: 80 at Hierapolis, Phrygia
St. Philip was of Bethsaida, in Galilee, and called by our Saviour to follow him the day after St. Peter and St. Andrew. He was at that time a married man, and had several daughters; but his being engaged in the married state hindered him not, as St. Chrysostom observes, from meditating continually on the law and the prophets, which disposed him for the important discovery of the Messias in the person of Jesus Christ, in obedience to whose command he forsook all to follow him, and became thenceforth the inseparable companion of his ministry and labors. Philip had no sooner discovered the Messias, than he was desirous to make his friend Nathanael a sharer in his happiness, saying to him:
After our Lord's ascension the gospel was to be preached to the whole world by a few persons, who had been eye-witnesses of his miracles, and were enabled, by the power of the Holy Ghost, to confirm their testimony concerning him by doing the like wonderful works themselves. That this might be accomplished, it was necessary that the disciples should quickly disperse themselves into all parts of the world. St. Philip accordingly preached the gospel in the two Phrygias, as Theodoret and Eusebius assure us from undoubted monuments. St. Polycarp, who was only converted in the year 80, enjoyed his conversation for some time, consequently St. Philip must have lived to a very advanced age. It appears, from a passage of Polyerates, quoted by Eusebius, that he was buried at Hierapolis, in Phrygia, which city was indebted to his relies for its preservation by continual miracles, as is averred by the author of the sermon on the twelve apostles, attributed to St. Chrysostom. An arm of St. Philip was brought from Constantinople to Florence, in 1204, whereof we have an authentic history in the Bollandists. The Orientals keep his festival on the 14th of November; the Latins on the 1st of May, with St. James. His body is said to be in the church of SS. Philip and James, in Rome, which was dedicated to God under their name, in 560. The emperor Theodosius, in a vision, received from St. John the Evangelist, and St. Philip, the assurance of victory over the tyrant Eugenius, the morning before the battle, in 394, as Theodoret relates.
From St. Philip we must particularly learn an ardent love of God, and desire to see the Father. He asked only this favor, because this was his only desire. Is it ours? Do we feel it so perfect as to extinguish all inordinate earthly affections and desires in our breasts? Do we employ the proper means to attain to this happy disposition? To obtain it, let us employ the succor of this apostle's prayers, and by disengaging our hearts from corruption and vanity, become, in desires and affections, citizens of heaven. The pilgrim soul sees herself a stranger here on earth, and discovers nothing in this desert place of her banishment hut an abyss of vanity, and subjects of compunction, grief, and fears. On the other side, looking up to God, she contemplates the magnificence and splendor of his kingdom, which will have no end; its peace, security, sanctity without stain, delights without sorrow, unchangeable and incomprehensible joys; and she cries out in a holy transport: "O joy surpassing all joys, and without which there is no true joy, when shall I possess you? O, sovereign good, discover to me some ray of thy beauty and of thy glory; may my heart be set on flame by thy love, and my soul languish and wade with desire to be united to thee, to behold thee face to face, to sing thy praises night and day, to drink of the plenty of thy house, and of the torrent of thy delights, to be forever confirmed in thy love, and in some measure transformed into thee!" Such a soul seeks to hide herself from the eyes of men, to live unknown to the world; and, in retirement and repose, to apply herself to prayer, all her thoughts being taken up in contemplating the glorious things which are said of the blessed city of her God. All worldly enjoyments and distractions are insupportable to her, and she finds no comfort in this place of banishment but in singing the praises of her God, in adoring and in doing always his will, and in the sweet sighs and tears with which she seeks him, and begs him to reign perfectly in her affections by his grace and love, and to draw her speedily to himself out of this Babylon, in which every object increases her affliction, and inflames her desire, seeming to say to her:
http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/P/stphilip.asp
St. James the Lesser
APOSTLE
Feast: May 3
Information: Feast Day: May 3
St. James, to distinguish him from the other apostle of the same name, the son of Zebedee, was called the Less; which appellation is supposed to have taken its rise, either from his having been called later to the apostleship than the former, or from the lowness of his stature, or from his youth. He is also known by the title of James the Just, a denomination all agree, with Hegesippus and St. Clement of Alexandria, to have been given on account of his eminent sanctity. He was the son of Alpheus and Mary, the sister of the Blessed Virgin and seems to have been born some years before our Lord. Jesus came with his brethren, and probably St. James among the rest, to settle in Capharnaum, at the beginning of his ministry. James and his brother Jude were called to the apostleship in the second year of Christ's preaching, soon after the Pasch, in the year 31. He was favored with an extraordinary apparition of his Master after his resurrection. Clement of Alexandria says, that Christ being risen from the dead, communicated the gift of science to SS. James the Just, John, and Peter, and that they imparted it to the other apostles. We are told by SS. Jerome and Epiphanius, that our Lord, at his ascension, recommended his church of Jerusalem to St. James; in consequence whereof the apostles, before their dispersion, constituted him bishop of that city. It was probably for a mark of his episcopal authority, and as an ensign of his dignity, that he wore on his head a lamina, or plate of gold, as is recounted by St. Epiphanius. Polycrates, quoted by Eusebius, testifies, that St. John did the same: others relate the like of St. Mark. It was probably done in imitation of the Jewish high-priest.St. James governed that church in perpetual dangers, from the fury of the people and their violent persecutions; but his singular virtue procured him the veneration of the Jews themselves. As to his sanctity, Eusebius and St. Jerome give from Hegesippus the following account concerning him: "He was always a virgin, and was a Nazarite, or one consecrated to God. In consequence of which he was never shaved, never cut his hair, never drank any wine or other strong liquor; moreover, he never used any bath, or oil to anoint his limbs, and never ate of any living creature except when of precept, as the paschal lamb: he never wore sandals, never used any other clothes than one single linen garment. He prostrated so much in prayer, that the skin of his knees and forehead was hardened like to camels' hoofs." St. Epiphanius says, that, in a great drought, on stretching out his arms to heaven, he, by his prayers, instantly obtained rain. His eminent sanctity made even the Jews style him the just man: and Origen observes, that Josephus himself gives him that epithet, though it is not to be found now in Josephus' works. The same reverence for his person procured him the privilege of entering at pleasure into the Sanctum or Holy place, namely, that part of the temple where none but the priests were allowed by the law to enter. St. Jerome adds, that the Jews strove, out of respect, who should touch the hem of his garment. In the year 51, he assisted at the council of the apostles, held at Jerusalem, about the observance of circumcision, and the other legal ceremonies of the law of Moses. Here, after having confirmed what St. Peter said, he devised the sentence which the apostles drew up on that occasion. This apostle being bishop of a church, which then chiefly consisted of Jewish converts, tolerated the use of the legal ceremonies, and, together with others, advised St. Paul to purify himself and offer sacrifice. He is the author of a canonical epistle which he wrote in Greek. It is at the head of those called
The oriental liturgy or mass, which bears the name of this apostle, is mentioned by Proclus, patriarch of Constantinople, and by the council in Trullo, and is of venerable antiquity. St. Basil, indeed, testifies, that the words of the sacred invocation in the consecration of the bread and of the cup, were not committed to writing, but learned and preserved by tradition down to the fourth century, which was done on a motive of respect and veneration: but other parts of the liturgy were written. Perhaps St. James gave only general directions about this liturgy, upon whose plan it was afterwards drawn up or enlarged. His singular learning in sacred matters is extolled by St. Clement of Alexandria, and St. Jerome.The Jews, being exasperated at the disappointment of their malicious designs against St. Paul, by his appeal to Caesar, to whom he was sent by Festus, in the year 60, were resolved to revenge it on St. James. That governor, dying before the arrival of his successor, Albinus, this vacancy gave them an opportunity of acting more arbitrarily than otherwise they durst have done. Wherefore, during this interval, Ananus, the high-priest, son of the famous Annas mentioned in the gospels, having assembled the Sanhedrim, or great council of the Jews, summoned St. James and others before it. Josephus, the Jewish historian, says, that St. James was accused of violating the laws, and delivered to the people to be stoned to death. And Hegesippus adds, that they carried him up to the battlements of the temple, and would have compelled him from thence to make a public renunciation of his faith in Christ, with this further view, thereby to undeceive, as they termed it, those among the people who had embraced Christianity. But St. James took that opportunity to declare his belief in Jesus Christ, after the most solemn and public manner. For he cried out aloud from the battlements, in the hearing of a great multitude, which was then at Jerusalem on account of the Passover, that Jesus, the Son of man, was seated at the right hand of the Sovereign Majesty, and would come in the clouds of heaven to judge the world. The Scribes and Pharisees, enraged at this testimony in behalf of Jesus, cried out: "The just man also hath erred." And going up to the battlements, they threw him headlong down to the ground, saying, "He must be stoned." St. James, though very much bruised by his fall, had strength enough to get upon his knees, and in this posture, lifting up his eyes to heaven, he begged of God to pardon his murderers, seeing that they knew not what they did. The rabble below received him with showers of stones, and at last a fuller gave him a blow on the head with his club, such as is used in dressing of cloths, after which he presently expired. This happened on the festival of the Pasch, the 10th of April, in the year of Christ 62, the seventh of Nero. He was buried near the temple, in the place in which he was martyred, where a small column was erected. Such was the reputation of his sanctity, that the Jews attributed to his death the destruction of Jerusalem, as we read in St. Jerome, Origen, and Eusebius, who assure us that Josephus himself declared it in the genuine editions of his history. Ananus put others to death for the same cause, but was threatened for this very fact by Albinus, and deposed from the high-priesthood by Agrippa. The episcopal throne of St. James was shown with respect at Jerusalem, in the fourth century. His relics are said to have been brought to Constantinople about the year 572.
http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/J/stjamesthelesser.asp
TODAY´S GOSPEL
John 14: 6 - 14
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6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him."
8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied."
9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, `Show us the Father'?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.
12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.
13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son;
14 if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.
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