CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD: WED. NOV. 17, 2010

CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD: WED. NOV. 17, 2010: HEADLINES-

VATICAN: POPE: ON ST. JULIANAN AND APPEAL FOR CONDEMNED WOMAN -

ASIA: AFGHANISTAN: MAN ARRESTED FOR CHRISTIAN FAITH -

EUROPE: GERMANY: MEDIEVAL GRAFFITI OF NUNNERY SHOWS WORK OF APPRENTICES -

AMERICA: MEXICO: ARCHDIOCESE SPEAKS AGAINST MURDER -

AFRICA: EGYPT: FORCED CONVERSIONS TO ISLAM -

AUSTRALIA: PRIEST CLEARED OF CHARGES -
TODAY'S SAINT: NOV. 17: ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY -

TODAY'S GOSPEL: NOV. 17: Matthew 25: 31 - 40 -

VATICAN: POPE: ON ST. JULIANAN AND APPEAL FOR CONDEMNED WOMAN
ST. JULIANA OF CORNILLON HELPED TO INSTITUTE CORPUS CHRISTI VATICAN CITY, 17 NOV 2010 (VIS REPORT) - In today's general audience, celebrated in St. Peter's Square, the Pope focused his attention on St. Juliana of Cornillon who contributed to instituting the Feast of Corpus Christi. Born in the Belgian city of Liege towards the end of the twelfth century, Juliana was orphaned at the age of five "and entrusted to the care of the Augustinian nuns of the convent-lazaretto of Mont-Cornillon". Later she also took the Augustinian habit and went on to became prioress of the convent. The Pope explained how the Belgian saint "possessed great culture, ... and a profound sense of the presence of Christ, which she experienced particularly intensely in the Sacrament of the Eucharist". At the age of sixteen she had a vision which convinced her of the need to establish a liturgical feast for Corpus Christi "in which believers would be able to adore the Eucharist so as to augment their faith, increase the practice of virtue and mend the wrongs done to the Blessed Sacrament", said the Holy Father. Juliana "confided [her revelation] to two other fervent adorers of the Eucharist " and the three together "formed a kind of 'spiritual alliance' with the intention of glorifying the Blessed Sacrament". "It was", Pope Benedict continued his catechesis, "Bishop Robert Thourotte of Liege who, following some initial hesitation, accepted the proposal made by Juliana and her two companions and instituted, for the first time, the Solemnity of Corpus Domini in his diocese. Other bishops later imitated him and established the same feast in the areas under their pastoral care". Juliana, said the Pope, "had to suffer the harsh opposition of certain members of the clergy, including the superior upon whom her convent depended. She therefore chose to leave Mont-Cornillon with a number of companions and for ten years, between 1248 and 1258, was accommodated in various houses of Cistercian nuns". At the same time "she zealously continued to spread Eucharistic devotion. She died at Fosses-La-Ville in Belgium in 1258". The Holy Father recalled how "in 1264 Urban IV chose to institute the Solemnity of Corpus Domini as a feast for the Universal Church on the Thursday following Pentecost" and, by way of personal example, "himself celebrated the Solemnity of Corpus Domini in Orvieto, the city in which he was then residing". And the cathedral of Orvieto still houses "the famous corporal with traces of the Eucharistic miracle which had befallen at Bolsena the preceding year, 1263". "Urban IV asked one of the greats theologians in history, St. Thomas Aquinas who was with the Pope at that time in Orvieto, to write the texts for the liturgical office of this great feast, ... as an expression of praise and gratitude to the Blessed Sacrament". "Although following the death of Urban IV the celebration of Corpus Domini was restricted to certain regions of France, Germany, Hungary and northern Italy, in 1317 Pope John XXII reintroduced it for the whole Church". "Joyfully I wish to affirm that there is a 'Eucharistic springtime' in the Church today", said the Holy Father. "How many people remain in silence before the Tabernacle sustaining a dialogue of love with Jesus! It is consoling to know that many groups of young people have rediscovered the beauty of prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I pray that this 'Eucharistic springtime' may become increasingly widespread in parishes, and especially in Belgium, homeland of St, Juliana". "Recalling St. Juliana of Cornillon, let us too renew our faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. ... Faithfully encountering the Eucharistic Christ at Sunday Mass is essential for our journey of faith, but let us also seek to visit the Lord frequently, before His presence in the Tabernacle. ... By gazing at Him in adoration the Lord draws us to Him, to His mystery, in order to transform us as He transforms the bread and wine".AG/ VIS 20101117 (660) IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES NOV. 17

PAPAL APPEAL FOR ASIA BIBI VATICAN CITY, 17 NOV 2010 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience the Holy Father, with reference to the situation of Christians in Pakistan, pronounced the following words: "Over these days the international community is, with great concern, following the situation of Christians in Pakistan, who are often victims of violence or discrimination. In particular, I today express my spiritual closeness to Ms Asia Bibi and her family while asking that, as soon as possible, she may be restored to complete freedom. I also pray for people who find themselves in similar situations, that their human dignity and fundamental rights may be fully respected". Asia Bibi is a Pakistani Christian who, following a discussion with some Muslim colleagues, was accused by the latter of having pronounced offensive words against the Prophet Mohammed and denounced to the local imam. The imam asked the police to intervene and an investigation began which, a few days later, led to the arrest of Asia Bibi on the accusation of violating code 295 of the penal code, which provides for the death penalty for blasphemy.AG/ VIS 20101117 (190)

POPE RECALLS ITALIAN EARTHQUAKE OF 1980 VATICAN CITY, 17 NOV 2010 (VIS) - During his greetings to faithful at the end of his general audience today, the Pope addressed a group of Italian pilgrims from the region of Basilicata, who have come to Rome in the company of their local bishops priests and civil authorities to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the earthquake that devastated southern Italy in 1980. "During that dramatic event", said the Holy Father, "the wounds of which are still deep and open in the minds and hearts of those dear peoples, much generous aid came from many parts of Italy. At the local level, everyone undertook to implement the necessary measures. In particular, I would like to highlight the efforts made by the Church, which was able to offer, as well as material aid, the light of hope of the risen Christ, at a time of distress and darkness. My hope is that today's meeting, as well as the memory of the paternal visit made at that time by Servant of God John Paul II, may revive in Christian people the gift of faith, and the joy of sharing it in the great family of the Church".AG/ VIS 20101117 (210)

MASS FOR VICTIMS OF ATTACK AGAINST CATHEDRAL IN BAGHDAD VATICAN CITY, 17 NOV 2010 (VIS) - In the Vatican Basilica at 5 p.m. on 25 November, at the initiative of the Syrian-Catholic Church in Rome, a Mass will be held in memory of the priests and faithful who died in an attack against their cathedral in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on 31 October, according to a communique published today. The Eucharist - which members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See have also been invited to attend - will be celebrated by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.OP/ VIS 20101117 (110)

IN MEMORIAM VATICAN CITY, 17 NOV 2010 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks: - Bishop Petros Hanna Issa al-Harboli of Zaku of the Chaldeans, Iraq, on 3 November at the age of 64. - Bishop Nikol Joseph Cauchi, emeritus of Gozo, Malta, on 15 November at the age of 81. - Bishop John Jerome Cunneen, emeritus of Christchurch, New Zealand, on 9 November at the age of 78. - Bishop Romualdas Kriksciunas, former apostolic administrator of the diocese of Panevezys, Lithuania, on 2 November at the age of 80. - Bishop Mateus Feliciano Tomas of Namibe, Angola, on 30 October at the age of 52.
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ASIA: AFGHANISTAN: MAN ARRESTED FOR CHRISTIAN FAITH
Asia News report: Said Musa was arrested on 31 May. He is set to appear before a judge without legal counsel and without knowledge of the charges against him. Many fear he might be made an example to show that Sharia is the law of the land.Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – An Afghan national, in prison since May because of his religion, will be put on tried this Sunday. However, he has been denied legal counsel. Local sources say no one knows what charges will be laid against him when he goes before a judge.The authorities arrested Said Musa, 45, on 31 May, a day after a local station, Noorin TV, broadcast images of Christians praying after being baptised. This was followed by a wave of arrests against Christians in what local sources describe as a manhunt. Apparently, Said Musa is the only Christian to go on trial.Leaving Islam for another religion is a capital offence under Afghanistan’s Islamic law, despite the fact that the Taliban lost power in 2001.In June, the authorities forced Musa to abjure his Christian faith publicly, on television, but still kept him in prison without informing him of the charges against him.In prison, Musa said he was a follower of Jesus, local sources report.Last month, Musa was able to get a letter out, addressed to the world’s Churches, to US President Barack Obama and the chiefs of NATO forces in Afghanistan.In it, he wrote that he was “physically and verbally abused” by his captors and other prisoners at Ouliat Prison in Kabul.He alluded to the lack of justice he faced, saying that the prosecutor had given the judge a false report about him and had demanded a bribe.Local Christians, human rights observers and religious freedom monitors fear that Musa might be made an example to show that Sharia rules in Afghanistan rather than international agreements.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Afghan-Christian-to-go-to-trial-on-Sunday-for-his-faith-20015.htmlan-to-go-to-trial-on-Sunday-for-his-faith-20015.html
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EUROPE: GERMANY: MEDIEVAL GRAFFITI OF NUNNERY SHOWS WORK OF APPRENTICES
THELOCAL REPORT: Historians in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia announced on Tuesday that they have deciphered mysterious 500-year-old graffiti left in an old abbey attic. The etchings are likely practice drawings made by handwork apprentices.For years people working in the former St. Katherina Church near Langerwehe had noticed the enigmatic drawings, but it wasn’t until 2009 that the LVR regional authority for monument preservation began closely examining their origins, spokeswoman Sabine Cornelius told The Local.They were surprised to find that the forty-by-two-metre plaster wall bore the tentative marks of young apprentices in the 15th century.“There are 42 different hammers etched into the wall, and one can clearly see which variety,” Cornelius said.Among them are stone-cutting, carpentry and slate hammers, in addition to repeated attempts at creating geometric shapes – but no words. Click here for a gallery of the graffiti.“It is very possible that the young apprentices were using the hammers as a kind of signature because they couldn’t write,” Cornelius told The Local.The apprentices were likely at the nunnery near Aachen during late-Gothic renovations which happened under Abbess Margarete von Fleck between 1492 and 1506. During that time the outer wall disappeared into an attic of a building addition, likely creating an ideal practice canvas.“These were something spontaneous not meant for posterity, and in this sense it is really particularly appealing,” Cornelius said. “It’s a look into the working conditions back then. You see that some drawings, for instance rosettes, are quite perfect and probably created by the master, and then there are the clumsy attempts at imitation by students.”According to a statement by the project’s lead historian, Dr. Ulrike Heckner, the drawings are an unusually personal and well-preserved testimony from people often overlooked by history. “Only rarely does historic graffiti from handworkers survive, hence the plaster etchings are an especially precious and unique document of the everyday life and working world in the late Middle Ages,” she said. http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20101116-31213.html
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AMERICA: MEXICO: ARCHDIOCESE SPEAKS AGAINST MURDER
CNA REPORT - The communications office of the Archdiocese of Xalapa, Mexico has told public officials that Mexicans need to see results in the fight against violence in the country. The office's statement came a week after a local incoming mayor was killed.The office issued Nov. 14 statement expressing the archdiocese’s indignation and repudiation of “all criminal acts that take the lives of innocent people, filling the lives of many families with sadness and uncertainty.”It also expressed solidarity with the family members of the mayor-elect of the city of Juan Rodriguez Clara. Incoming Mayor Gregorio Barradas Miravete was kidnapped and killed along with two other officials on Nov. 8.The archdiocese expressed hope that the government “will take up the lack of security with renewed determination.” The statement called for “honest police officers who are properly trained and compensated.” It also said new efforts must be made to create jobs and combat poverty.“We are willing to support any initiatives that are oriented toward personal and social re-invigoration and that will help form new men and women,” the statement indicated. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/archdiocese-speaks-out-against-murder-of-mayor-elect-in-mexico/
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AFRICA: EGYPT: FORCED CONVERSIONS TO ISLAM
Agenzia Fides REPORT – Bishop of Luxor: “Attempts are made to force Christian girls to convert to Islam”"What occurred was an incident between two young people that was overplayed to make Christians look bad,” Fides was told by Bishop Joannes Zakaria, Bishop of the Catholic Copts of Luxor, Egypt, whose diocese includes the village of al-Nawahid in Qena (southern Egypt), where Muslim extremists burned homes and businesses of Christian Copts after rumors spread of a romance between a Christian boy and a Muslim girl. "Fortunately, in this case, the police intervened swiftly and immediately imposed a curfew, preventing incidents that would have caused more serious damage," said Bishop Zakaria."It was a situation between to young people that turned into a pretext to attack Christians. We have reason to believe, instead, that there is a plan to force Christians to convert, especially girls, who are the most vulnerable," continues Bishop Zakaria. "We are aware of several incidents of young Muslims who spot Christian girls and try to make them convert to Islam by force," says the Bishop of Luxor. "Similar incidents have occurred from Alexandria to Aswan.""As Christians of Egypt, we feel very close to our brothers in faith persecuted in Iraq. Sunday, November 14, I celebrated a Mass here in Luxor for the souls of the people who died October 31 in the attack on the Syrian Catholic Church of Our Lady of Deliverance in Baghdad. The Mass was attended by many of the faithful,” said Bishop Zakaria."It is the cross we bear with serenity, even with pain in our heart, because it allows us to share in the sufferings of Christ the Redeemer," says the Bishop of Luxor.http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=27822&lan=eng
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AUSTRALIA: PRIEST CLEARED OF CHARGES
CATH NEWS REPORT: Bishop Michael Malone has announced that an independent investigation by the Church has cleared the way for Father Peter Brock to return to ministry, according to a press statement.In 2009, allegations of abuse against Fr Brock were dropped by the Newcastle Local Court. He has always maintained his innocence to the allegations, made in September 2007.When the charges were later dropped in 2009, the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle was obliged to conduct its own probe of the matter as "the allegations were serious and demanded a thorough impartial investigation". It concluded in October this year, said Bishop Malone."On advice from my Child Protection Officer and others, there is no barrier to Fr Peter's return toministry."After more than three years of anxious waiting Fr Peter is understandably bruised by his experience. He and I are grateful to his family and friends for their loving support of him duringwhat has been a traumatic experience."By his own choice, Fr Peter will ease back into ministry in a quiet way. He is free to celebrateMass. Initially, he will focus his considerable talents on ministry to adults and supporting ourclergy."Please continue to keep him and his family in your prayers. I am disappointed at the time it hastaken to arrive at this result." http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=24216
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TODAY'S SAINT: NOV. 17: ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY
St. Elizabeth of HungaryPRINCESS OF HUNGARYFeast: November 17Information:Feast Day:November 17Born:1207 at Presburg, HungaryDied:17 November 1231, Marburg, GermanyCanonized:1235, Perugia, ItalyMajor Shrine:Elisabeth Church (Marburg)Patron of:hospitals, nurses, bakers, brides, countesses, dying children, exiles, homeless people, lacemakers, tertiaries and widowsAlso called St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, born in Hungary, probably at Pressburg, 1207; died at Marburg, Hesse, 17 November (not 19 November), 1231. She was a daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary (1205-35) and his wife Gertrude, a member of the family of the Counts of Andechs-Meran; Elizabeth's brother succeeded his father on the throne of Hungary as Bela IV; the sister of her mother, Gertrude, was St. Hedwig, wife of Duke Heinrich I, the Bearded, of Silesia, while another saint, St. Elizabeth (Isabel) of Portugal (d. 1336), the wife of the tyrannical King Diniz of that country, was her great-niece. In 1211 a formal embassy was sent by Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia to Hungary to arrange, as was customary in that age, a marriage between his eldest son Hermann and Elizabeth, who was then four years old. This plan of a marriage was the result of political considerations and was intended to be the ratification of a great alliance which in the political schemes of the time it was sought to form against the German Emperor Otto IV, a member of the house of Guelph, who had quarrelled with the Church. Not long after this the little girl was taken to the Thuringian court to be brought up with her future husband and, in the course of time, to be betrothed to him. The court of Thuringia was at this period famous for its magnificence. Its centre was the stately castle of the Wartburg, splendidly placed on a hill in the Thuringian Forest near Eisenach, where the Landgrave Hermann lived surrounded by poets and minnesingers, to whom he was a generous patron. Notwithstanding the turbulence and purely secular life of the court and the pomp of her surroundings, the little girl grew up a very religious child with an evident inclination to prayer and pious observances and small acts of self-mortification. These religious impulses were undoubtedly strengthened by the sorrowful experiences of her life. In 1213 Elizabeth's mother, Gertrude, was murdered by Hungarian nobles, probably out of hatred of the Germans. On 31 December, 1216, the oldest son of the landgrave, Hermann, who Elizabeth was to marry, died; after this she was betrothed to Ludwig, the second son. It was probably in these years that Elizabeth had to suffer the hostility of the more frivolous members of the Thuringian court, to whom the contemplative and pious child was a constant rebuke. Ludwig, however, must have soon come to her protection against any ill-treatment. The legend that arose later is incorrect in making Elizabeth's mother-in-law, the Landgravine Sophia, a member of the reigning family of Bavaria, the leader of this court party. On the contrary, Sophia was a very religious and charitable woman and a kindly mother to the little Elizabeth. The political plans of the old Landgrave Hermann involved him in great difficulties and reverses; he was excommunicated, lost his mind towards the end of his life, and died, 25 April, 1217, unreconciled with the Church. He was succeeded by his son Ludwig IV, who, in 1221, was also made regent of Meissen and the East Mark. The same year (1221) Ludwig and Elizabeth were married, the groom being twenty-one years old and the bride fourteen. The marriage was in every regard a happy and exemplary one, and the couple were devotedly attached to each other. Ludwig proved himself worthy of his wife. He gave his protection to her acts of charity, penance, and her vigils and often held Elizabeth's hands as she knelt praying at night beside his bed. He was also a capable ruler and brave soldier. The Germans call him St. Ludwig, an appellation given to him as one of the best men of his age and the pious husband of St. Elizabeth. They had three children: Hermann II (1222-41), who died young; Sophia (1224-84), who married Henry II, Duke of Brabant, and was the ancestress of the Landgraves of Hesse, as in the war of the Thuringian succession she won Hesse for her son Heinrich I, called the Child; Gertrude (1227-97), Elizabeth's third child, was born several weeks after the death of her father; in after-life she became abbess of the convent of Aldenburg near Wetzlar.Shortly after their marriage, Elizabeth and Ludwig made a journey to Hungary; Ludwig was often after this employed by the Emperor Frederick II, to whom he was much attached, in the affairs of the empire. In the spring of 1226, when floods, famine, and the pest wrought havoc in Thuringia, Ludwig was in Italy attending the Diet at Cremona on behalf of the emperor and the empire. Under these circumstances Elizabeth assumed control of affairs, distributed alms in all parts of the territory of her husband, giving even state robes and ornaments to the poor. In order to care personally for the unfortunate she built below the Wartburg a hospital with twenty-eight beds and visited the inmates daily to attend to their wants; at the same time she aided nine hundred poor daily. It is this period of her life that has preserved Elizabeth's fame to posterity as the gentle and charitable Cheatelaine of the Wartburg. Ludwig on his return confirmed all she had done. The next year (1227) he started with the Emperor Frederick II on a crusade to Palestine but died, 11 September of the same year at Otranto, from the pest. The news did not reach Elizabeth until October, just after she had given birth to her third child. On hearing the tidings Elizabeth, who was only twenty years old, cried out: "The world with all its joys is now dead to me."The fact that in 1221 the followers of St. Francis of Assisi (d. 1226) made their first permanent settlement in Germany was one of great importance in the later career of Elizabeth. Brother Rodeger, one of the first Germans whom the provincial for Germany, Caesarius of Speier, received into the order, was for a time the spiritual instructor of Elizabeth at the Wartburg; in his teachings he unfolded to her the ideals of St. Francis, and these strongly appealed to her. With the aid of Elizabeth the Franciscans in 1225 founded a monastery in Eisenach; Brother Rodeger, as his fellow-companion in the order, Jordanus, reports, instructed Elizabeth, to observe, according to her state of life, chastity, humility, patience, the exercise of prayer, and charity. Her position prevented the attainment of the other ideal of St. Francis, voluntary and complete poverty. Various remarks of Elizabeth to her female attendants make it clear how ardently she desired the life of poverty. After a while the post Brother Rodeger had filled was assumed by Master Conrad of Marburg, who belonged to no order, but was a very ascetic and, it must be acknowledged, a somewhat rough and very severe man. He was well known as a preacher of the crusade and also as an inquisitor or judge in cases of heresy. On account of the latter activity he has been more severely judged than is just; at the present day, however, the estimate of him is a fairer one. Pope Gregory IX, who wrote at times to Elizabeth, recommended her himself to the God-fearing preacher. Conrad treated Elizabeth with inexorable severity, even using corporal means of correction; nevertheless, he brought her with a firm hand by the road of self-mortification to sanctity, and after her death was very active in her canonization. Although he forbade her to follow St. Francis in complete poverty as a beggar, yet, on the other hand, by the command to keep her dower she was enabled to perform works of charity and tenderness.Up to 1888 it was believed, on account of the testimony of one of Elizabeth's servants in the process of canonization, that Elizabeth was driven from the Wartburg in the winter of 1227 by her brother-in-law, Heinrich Raspe, who acted as regent for her son, then only five years old. About 1888 various investigators (Börner, Mielke, Wenck, E. Michael, etc.) asserted that Elizabeth left the Wartburg voluntarily, the only compulsion being a moral one. She was not able at the castle to follow Conrad's command to eat only food obtained in a way that was certainly right and proper. Lately, however, Huyskens (1907) tried to prove that Elizabeth was driven from the castle at Marburg in Hesse, which was hers by dower right. Consequently, the Te Deum that she directed the Franciscans to sing on the night of her expulsion would have been sung in the Franciscan monastery at Marburg. Accompanied by two female attendants, Elizabeth left the castle that stands on a height commanding Marburg. The next day her children were brought to her, but they were soon taken elsewhere to be cared for. Elizabeth's aunt, Matilda, Abbess of the Benedictine nunnery of Kitzingen near Würzburg, took charge of the unfortunate landgravine and sent her to her uncle Eckbert, Bishop of Bamberg. The bishop, however, was intent on arranging another marriage for her, although during the lifetime of her husband Elizabeth had made a vow of continence in case of his death; the same vow had also been taken by her attendants. While Elizabeth was maintaining her position against her uncle the remains of her husband were brought to Bamberg by his faithful followers who had carried them from Italy. Weeping bitterly, she buried the body in the family vault of the landgraves of Thuringia in the monastery of Reinhardsbrunn. With the aid of Conrad she now received the value of her dower in money, namely two thousand marks; of this sum she divided five hundred marks in one day among the poor. On Good Friday, 1228, in the Franciscan house at Eisenach Elizabeth formally renounced the world; then going to Master Conrad at Marburg, she and her maids received from him the dress of the Third Order of St. Francis, thus being among the first tertiaries of Germany. In the summer of 1228 she built the Franciscan hospital at Marburg and on its completion devoted herself entirely to the care of the sick, especially to those afflicted with the most loathsome diseases. Conrad of Marburg still imposed many self-mortifications and spiritual renunciations, while at the same time he even took from Elizabeth her devoted domestics. Constant in her devotion to God, Elizabeth's strength was consumed by her charitable labours, and she passed away at the age of twenty-four, a time when life to most human beings is just opening.Very soon after the death of Elizabeth miracles began to be worked at her grave in the church of the hospital, especially miracles of healing. Master Conrad showed great zeal in advancing the process of canonization. By papal command three examinations were held of those who had been healed: namely, in August, 1232, January, 1233, and January, 1235. Before the process reached its end, however, Conrad was murdered, 30 July, 1233. But the Teutonic Knights in 1233 founded a house at Marburg, and in November, 1234, Conrad, Landgrave of Thuringia, the brother-in-law of Elizabeth, entered the order. At Pentecost (28 May) of the year 1235, the solemn ceremony of canonization of the "greatest woman of the German Middle Ages" was celebrated by Gregory IX at Perugia, Landgrave Conrad being present. In August of the same year (1235) the corner-stone of the beautiful Gothic church of St. Elizabeth was laid at Marburg; on 1 May, 1236, Emperor Frederick II attended the taking-up of the body of the saint; in 1249 the remains were placed in the choir of the church of St. Elizabeth, which was not consecrated until 1283. Pilgrimages to the grave soon increased to such importance that at times they could be compared to those to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela. In 1539 Philip the Magnanimous, Landgrave of Hesse, who had become a Protestant, put an end to the pilgrimages by unjustifiable interference with the church that belonged to the Teutonic Order and by forcibly removing the relics and all that was sacred to Elizabeth. Nevertheless, the entire German people still honour the "dear St. Elizabeth" as she is called; in 1907 a new impulse was given to her veneration in Germany and Austria by the celebration of the seven hundredth anniversary of her birth. St. Elizabeth is generally represented as a princess graciously giving alms to the wretched poor or as holding roses in her lap; in the latter case she is portrayed either alone or as surprised by her husband, who, according to a legend, which is, however, related of other saints as well, met her unexpectedly as she went secretly on an errand of mercy, and, so the story runs, the bread she was trying to conceal was suddenly turned into roses.
SOURCE http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/E/stelizabethofhungary.asp
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TODAY'S GOSPEL: NOV. 17: Matthew 25: 31 - 40
Matthew 25: 31 - 4031"When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,33and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.34Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'37Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink?38And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee?39And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?'40And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'
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CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD: TUES. NOV. 16, 2010

CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD: TUES. NOV. 16, 2010: HEADLINES-

VATICAN: POPE: COUNCIL MEETS IN TEHRAN FOR INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE -

AMERICA: USA: ARCHBISHOP DOLAN PRESIDENT OF CONFERENCE -

EUROPE: ENGLAND: ARCHBISHOPS OFFER CONGRATULATIONS ON ROYAL ENGAGEMENT -

ASIA: PHILIPPINES: BISHOPS LAUCH ROSARY CRUSADE FOR LIFE -
AFRICA: GUINEA: TENSIONS FOLLOWING ALPHA CONDE VICTORY -

AUSTRALIA: JANET BUHAGIAR OF ST. VINCENT'S TO BUSINESS WOMAN -

TODAY'S SAINT: NOV. 16: ST. GERTRUDE THE GREAT -

TODAY'S SAINT: NOV. 16: ST. MARGARET OF SCOTLAND -

VATICAN: POPE: COUNCIL MEETS IN TEHRAN FOR INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

CONCLUSIONS OF INTER-RELIGIOUS MEETING IN TEHRAN VATICAN CITY, 16 NOV 2010 (VIS REPORT) - The Centre for Inter-Religious Dialogue of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation (Tehran, Iran) and the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue held their seventh colloquium in Tehran from 9 to 11 November under the joint presidency of Mohammad Baqer Khorramshad, president of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation, and of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. At the end of the meeting the participants (seven in the delegation led by Mohammad Baqer Khorramshad and six in the delegation led by Cardinal Tauran), agreed upon the following: (1) Believers and religious communities, based on their faith in God, have a specific role to play in society, on an equal footing with other citizens. (2) Religion has an inherent social dimension that the State has the obligation to respect; therefore, also in the interest of society, it cannot be confined to private sphere. (3) Believers are called to co-operate in the search for common good, on the basis of a sound relation between faith and reason. (4) It is necessary for Christians and Muslims as well as all believers and persons of good will, to co-operate in answering modern challenges, promoting moral values, justice and peace and protecting the family, environment and natural resources. (5) Faith, by its very nature, requires freedom. Therefore, religious freedom, as a right inherent to human dignity, must always be respected by individuals, social actors and the State. The cultural and historical background of each society which is not in contradiction with human dignity should be taken into consideration in applying this fundamental principle. (6) Education of the young generation should be based on the search for truth, spiritual values and promotion of knowledge. The participants also emphasised the necessity of continuing on the path of a genuine and fruitful dialogue. The next colloquium will take place in Rome in 2012.OP/ VIS 20101116 (330) IMAGE SOURCE GHETTY IMAGES: NOV. 15: PRIVATE AUDIENCE WITH CHILDREN

VATICAN TELEVISION ACQUIRES NEW OUTSIDE BROADCASTING UNIT VATICAN CITY, 16 NOV 2010 (VIS) - "New technologies at the service of the communications of the Holy See" was the theme of a press conference held this morning to present the new high-definition outside-broadcasting equipment which the Vatican Television Centre (CTV) will now be using. Participating in today's conference, held in the Holy See Press Office, were Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and of the administrative board of the Vatican Television Centre; Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Vatican Television Centre; Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, and Gildas Pelliet, managing director of Sony Italia. Archbishop Celli highlighted the fact that the lorry containing the CTV outside broadcasting unit is being inaugurated just a few days before the Pontifical Council for Social Communications' newly renewed website "Pope2you" comes online. The aim of the website, which has existed for some time, "is to accompany the thousands of young people from every continent who wish to follow the Pope closely, listening to his words and, in some way, entering into dialogue with him. The site has thus far had some five million hits", he said. "The second project we have begun working upon is the creation of a new portal which will bring together, also using multimedia technology, the various sources of news within the Vatican", said Archbishop Celli. In his remarks Fr. Lombardi explained how the new equipment "certainly represents the biggest investment made by the CTV in recent years, and perhaps in its entire history, ... which began in the year 1983 by order of John Paul II. This is, then, a good opportunity to recall the goals and functions of this institution of social communications of the Holy See, and the criteria it follows in its activities. "The mission of CTV", Fr. Lombardi added, "as its statute says, is to ensure the tele-visual recording of the Holy Father's activities and of other important events that take place within the Vatican, ... and to create an archive of all these images, both as a source of documentation and in order to produce information services, documentaries, etc. All this, of course, is to serve the mission of the Church, making the Holy Father's activities and teaching better known". Doing this task well, he went on, "requires operational skill and a quality product, in keeping with advances in tele-visual communications and, more generally, in the modern use of video, for example on the internet. If we failed to maintain an adequate level ... we would effectively hinder the diffusion of the Pope's image, and hence of his message". For this reason CTV has greatly increased its live coverage over recent years, and currently "makes an average of 200 live broadcasts every year", said Fr. Lombardi. These include the great celebrations in St. Peter's Square, the Angelus, general and special audiences, and concerts in the Paul VI Hall or in the basilicas. The director of the Vatican Television Centre also pointed out that the majority of quality documentaries are now produced in high-definition, and that an increasing number of television channels are using this system. For this reason, he explained, CTV's move to the system "was a necessary step ... we could not fail to make, for otherwise the image of the Pope would gradually have disappeared from television screens over the coming years". The cost of the operation has been met from three sources: Sony, which offered favourable terms of payment; a notable contribution from the Knights of Columbus, and the resources which CTV has been earmarking for this purpose over recent years, thanks to its annual budget surplus. For his part Carl Anderson explained how the new high-definition outside-broadcasting unit "represents the most recent development in the long history of the Catholic Church's work in mass communication". The Knights of Columbus, he said, "is so happy to be able to support the great communications work of the Vatican" in the hope of reaching "to the farthest corner of this city, Italy and the world". Gildas Pelliet explained how the new mobile unit, "a lorry 13.9 metres long, ... is divided into four operational areas: audio cabin, equipment room, primary and secondary director's cabin, and camera control. The sixteen television cameras all have high-definition fibre optic connections".OP/ VIS 20101116 (730)

CONSISTORY: COURTESY VISITS TO NEW CARDINALS VATICAN CITY, 16 NOV 2010 (VIS) - The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has announced that in St. Peter's Basilica at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday 20 November, Pope Benedict XVI will hold an Ordinary Public Consistory for the creation of twenty-four new cardinals. Also in St. Peter's Basilica, at 9.30 a.m. on Sunday 21 November, Solemnity of Christ the King, the Holy Father will preside at a concelebrated Mass with the new cardinals, during which he will give them their ring of office. The programme for the courtesy visits to the new cardinals has also been published; they will be held from 4.30 to 6.30 p.m. on 20 November, in the following locations: PAUL VI HALL: Atrium: Cardinals Jose Manuel Estepa Llaurens, Kazimierz Nycz, Raul Eduardo Vela Chiriboga, Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, Antonios Naguib, Raymundo Damasceno. Hall: Cardinals Paolo Romeo, Domenico Bartolucci, Elio Sgreccia, Donald William Wuerl, Reinhard Marx, Medardo Joseph Mazombwe, Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don. PALAZZO DELLA CANONICA - FABRIC OF ST. PETER'S: Cardinal Walter Brandmuller. APOSTOLIC PALACE: Sala Regia: Cardinals Gianfranco Ravasi, Angelo Amato. Hall of Blessings: Cardinals Robert Sarah, Francesco Monterisi, Fortunato Baldelli, Kurt Koch, Velasio De Paolis, Paolo Sardi. Sala Ducale: Cardinals Mauro Piacenza, Raymond Leo Burke.OCL/ VIS 20101116 (210)

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS VATICAN CITY, 16 NOV 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Sosthene Ayikuli Udjuwa, diocesan administrator of Mahagi-Nioka, Democratic Republic of Congo, as bishop of the same diocese (area 18,490, population 1,705,486, Catholics 975,688, priests 86, religious 121). The bishop-elect was born in Faradje, Democratic Republic of Congo in 1963 and ordained a priest in 1993.
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AMERICA: USA: ARCHBISHOP DOLAN PRESIDENT OF CONFERENCE

USCCB REPORT: U.S. Bishops Elect Archbishop Dolan New President, Archbishop Kurtz Vice President, Bishop Bransfield Treasurer, Also Vote on Chairs-Elect of Six CommitteesBALTIMORE (November 16, 2010) — The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) elected Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York as their new president and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky vice president at their annual Fall General Assembly. Archbishop Dolan, who succeeds Cardinal Francis George of Chicago as president of the USCCB, was elected 128-111 on the third ballot in a run-off with Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona. Archbishop Kurtz was elected 147-91 on the third vice presidential ballot in a run-off with Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap., of Denver. Archbishop Dolan and

Archbishop Kurtz begin their three-year terms as president and vice president at the conclusion of this week’s meeting.The bishops elected Bishop Michael Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia to serve as USCCB treasurer-elect of the USCCB in a 123-114 vote over Bishop Paul Bradley of Kalamazoo. As Archbishop Kurtz is vacating the office of treasurer to assume the vice presidency, the bishops affirmed by acclamation that Bishop Bransfield assume the office immediately.The bishops voted for the chairmen-elect of six committees who will begin their three-year chairmanships in November 2011. The bishops elected:Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for Military Services to chair the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance in a 138-105 vote over Bishop Randolph Calvo of Reno, Nevada.Bishop Joseph McFadden of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to chair the Committee on Catholic Education in a 120-118 vote over Coadjutor Bishop David O’Connell of Trenton, New Jersey.Bishop Denis J. Madden, auxiliary bishop of Baltimore, to chair the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs in a 125-113 vote over Bishop Ronald Gainer of Lexington, Kentucky.Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, to chair the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis in a 137-102 vote over Bishop Paul Coakley of Salina, Kansas.Bishop Daniel Conlon of Steubenville, Ohio, to chair the Committee on Child and Youth Protection, in a 146-92 vote over Bishop Patrick Zurek of Amarillo, Texas.Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore to chair the Committee on International Justice and Peace in a 145-93 vote over Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, New York.http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2010/10-211.shtml
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EUROPE: ENGLAND: ARCHBISHOPS OFFER CONGRATULATIONS ON ROYAL ENGAGEMENT
IND. CATH. NEWS REPORT: Archbishop Vincent Nichols,and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams have both expressed their happiness at the news of the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The couple, who are both 28, will marry in spring or summer 2011, before Miss Middleton moves in with her husband in Wales while he continues to serve with the RAF air-sea rescue service.Lambeth Palace said Dr Williams was "delighted" at the news. Archbishop Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, said: "I was delighted to hear the news of the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton. My congratulations to both of them and I wish them every happiness in their married life together. http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=17126
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ASIA: PHILIPPINES: BISHOPS LAUCH ROSARY CRUSADE FOR LIFE
Asia News report: Card Ricardo Vidal launches the ‘Rosary Christ Crusade’. The message by the archbishop of Cebu is now available around the world online. It urges Catholics to place in God’s trust the destiny and life of millions of Filipinos threatened by a birth control bill now before the Filipino Congress.Manila (AsiaNews) – The Catholic Church and the Filipino government are still at loggerheads over a birth control bill currently before Congress. Card Ricardo Vidal, archbishop of Cebu, and other prelates have posted a message on YouTube urging Catholics around the world to recite a rosary for life and the family. Their goal is to have a million prayers, sent by e-mail or regular post, to force the Filipino Congress to abandon the draft bill. Dubbed ‘Rosary Christ Crusade’, the initiative was launched on 31 October at the parish level and is set to last until 16 January 2011.Not all Catholics agree with the hard line taken by the bishops. For them, the Church hierarchy should accept the government’s offer of mediation, after the latter said it was ready to eliminate those parts viewed as pro-abortion.For his part, Card Vidal said on YouTube that with “this movement [. . .] we offer authentic offerings [. . .] to God, to the Blessed Mother [. . .] for the sake of our country”.Other prelates have followed the archbishop of Cebu and released their own message. They include Mgr Paciano Basilio Aniceto, archbishop of San Fernando, head of the Episcopal Commission for life and the family, who describes the bill as a great danger because it spreads a culture of death.The debate over the Reproductive Health bill has lasted for four years. The law bans abortion, but promotes family planning. It encourages couples to have only two children and favours voluntary sterilisation. Medical professionals who do not uphold the law could be fined or jailed.The Church and Catholic associations are instead in favour of the Natural Family Programme (NFP), which aims at encouraging a culture based on responsibility, love and Christian values.This Saturday, Catholic lay organisations and pro-life associations will hold a prayer vigil in Lipa City (Batangas) to protest against the bill and show their support for the bishops’ media campaign. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Bishops-launch-a-million-rosaries-against-abortion-law-20008.html
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AFRICA: GUINEA: TENSIONS FOLLOWING ALPHA CONDE VICTORY
Agenzia Fides REPORT -Guinea experiencing tensions and hopes following Alpha Conde victory“Despite the tensions of the last hours and the loss of one life, we can say that the situation in society has not degraded and there is hope for the nascent democracy of Guinea," Fides has been told by a source from the Church of the Republic of Guinea, where yesterday, November 15, the Electoral Commission proclaimed the victory of Alpha Condé, in a second round of presidential elections. Condé, historic opponent of the various regimes that have ruled the country, got 52.5% of the vote against the 47.4% of his opponent, Cellou Dallein Diallo. In the Peul-majority neighborhoods of Conakry, Diallo's supporters (Diallo is Peul), took to the streets in protest for alleged fraud. Diallo, who has appealed to the Supreme Court, however, urged the population to remain calm. "One good thing is that the army was not deployed to patrol the streets. Instead, only the police intervened to quell the riots, firing into the air," says the source of Fides. "There are tensions mainly in the Peul-majority areas, partly diluted by the preparations for the Muslim festival of Eid al Adha," continues our source. "All in all, the situation could degenerate into chaos, but Guinean society has stood the test of the first truly democratic vote in the history of the country. This opens up good prospects for the presidential ballot to be held in Ivory Coast, because the two countries are very close and what happens in one has influence over the other." Politically, Conde was able to overturn the result of the first round, which had seen him finish second behind Diallo. "Diallo had reached an electoral agreement with the third in the first round, Sydia Touré, who has a good following in Guinea's Forest Region (on the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone), which had promised to transfer the votes of his supporters to Diallo. However, the voters of the Guinean Forest Region voted en masse for Condé, confounding the predictions of the vigil." "The Peuls are the only group, of the four ethnic groups in the country, that has never seen a President of its ethnic background. We hope that in the name of national unity, the new head of state be able to find a way to adequately represent this group in the new government," concludes the source of Fides.http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=27817&lan=eng
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AUSTRALIA: JANET BUHAGIAR OF ST. VINCENT'S TO BUSINESS WOMAN
Cath News report: The head of St Vincent de Paul in the Northern Territory has been named as Australia's top young business woman in the 2010 Telstra Australian Business Awards, said a media release.As CEO of St Vincent de Paul, Janet Buhagiar almost doubled revenue and increased services to remote communities and in-housing, training and employment, and youth mentoring.One of her major business achievements was winning private developer support and government funding for a $5.8 million project to build two-bedroom units on Society land to house 20 families. In addition, Ms Buhagiar raised more than $60,000 through a corporate 'sleeping rough' fundraiser to fund whitegoods for the units.Telstra Chief Marketing Officer and Telstra Business Women's Awards Ambassador, Kate McKenzie, said Ms Buhagiar's career achievements made her an outstanding choice for the prestigious Award."Janet Buhagiar is an inspirational role model for other business women in Australia and an example of the extraordinary talent that the Awards program has recognised since its inception sixteen years ago," she said."She is an engaging, confident, articulate and personable woman with achievements spanning both the public and not for profit sector. She has demonstrated a high level of risk in her career and had a positive impact on St Vincent de Paul on both a business and cultural level."http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=24200
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TODAY'S SAINT: NOV. 16: ST. GERTRUDE THE GREAT
St. Gertrude the GreatBENEDICTINE AND MYSTIC WRITERFeast: November 16Information:Feast Day:November 16Born:6 January 1256 at Eisleben, GermanyDied:November 17, 1302, Helfta, GermanyCanonized:received equipotent canonization, and a universal feast day declared in 1677 by Pope Clement XIIPatron of:nuns, travellers, West IndiesBenedictine and mystic writer; born in Germany, 6 Jan., 1256; died at Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony, 17 November, 1301 or 1302. Nothing is known of her family, not even the name of her parents. It is clear from her life (Legatus, lib. I, xvi) that she was not born in the neighbourhood of Eisleben. When she was but five years of age she entered the alumnate of Helfta. The monastery was at that time governed by the saintly and enlightened Abbess Gertrude of Hackerborn, under whose rule it prospered exceedingly, both in monastic observance and in that intellectual activity which St. Lioba and her Anglo-Saxon nuns had transmitted to their foundations in Germany. All that could aid to sanctity, or favour contemplation and learning, was to be found in this hallowed spot. Here, too, as to the centre of all activity and impetus of its life, the work of works—the Opus Dei, as St. Benedict terms the Divine Office—was solemnly carried out. Such was Helfta when its portals opened to receive the child destined to be its brightest glory. Gertrude was confided to the care of St. Mechtilde, mistress of the alumnate and sister of the Abbess Gertrude. From the first she had the gift of winning the hearts, and her biographer gives many details of her exceptional charms, which matured with advancing years. Thus early had been formed between Gertrude and Mechtilde the bond of an intimacy which deepened and strengthened with time, and gave the latter saint a prepondering influence over the former.Partly in the alumnate, partly in the community, Gertrude had devoted herself to study with the greatest ardour. In her twenty-sixth year there was granted her the first of that series of visions of which the wonderful sequence ended only with life. She now gauged in its fullest extent the void of which she had been keenly sensible for some time past, and with this awakening came the realization of the utter emptiness of all transitory things. With characteristic ardour she cultivated the highest spirituality, and, to quote her biographer, "from being a grammarian became a theologian", abandoning profane studies for the Scriptures, patristic writings, and treatises on theology. To these she brought the same earnestness which had characterized her former studies, and with indefatigable zeal copied, translated, and wrote for the spiritual benefit of others. Although Gertrude vehemently condemns herself for past negligence ( Legatus, II, ii), still to understand her words correctly we must remember that they express the indignant self-condemnation of a soul called to the highest sanctity. Doubtless her inordinate love of study had proved a hindrance alike to contemplation and interior recollection, yet it had none the less surely safeguarded her from more serious and grievous failings. Her struggle lay in the conquest of a sensitive and impetuous nature. In St. Gertrude's life there are no abrupt phases, no sudden conversion from sin to holiness. She passed from alumnate to the community. Outwardly her life was that of the simple Benedictine nun, of which she stands forth preeminently as the type. Her boundless charity embraced rich and poor, learned and simple, the monarch on his throne and the peasant in the field; it was manifested in tender sympathy towards the souls in purgatory, in a great yearning for the perfection of souls consecrated to God. Her humility was so profound that she wondered how the earth could support so sinful a creature as herself. Her raptures were frequent and so absorbed her faculties as to render her insensible to what passed around her. She therefore begged, for the sake of others, that there might be no outward manifestations of the spiritual wonders with which her life was filled. She had the gift of miracles as well as that of prophecy.When the call came for her spirit to leave the worn and pain-stricken body, Gertrude was in her forty-fifth or forty-sixth year, and in turn assisted at the death-bed and mourned for the loss of the holy Sister Mechtilde (1281), her illustrious Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn (1291), and her chosen guide and confidante, St. Mechtilde (1298). When the community was transferred in 1346 to the monastery of New Helfta, the present Trud-Kloster, within the walls of Eisleben, they still retained possession of their old home, where doubtless the bodies of St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde still buried, though their place of sepulture remains unknown. There is, at least, no record of their translation. Old Helfta is now crown-property, while New Helfta has lately passed into the hands of the local municipality. It was not till 1677 that the name of Gertrude was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology and her feast was extended to the universal church, which now keeps it on 15 November, although it was at first fixed on 17 November, the day of her death, on which it is still celebrated by her own order. In compliance with a petition from the King of Spain she was declared Patroness of the West Indies; in Peru her feast is celebrated with great pomp, and in New Mexico a town was built in her honour and bears her name. Some writers of recent times have considered that St. Gertrude was a Cistercian, but a careful and impartial examination of the evidence at present available does not justify this conclusion. It is well known that the Cistercian Reform left its mark on many houses not affiliated to the order, and the fact that Helfta was founded during the "golden age" of Citeaux (1134-1342) is sufficient to account for this impression.Many of the writings of St. Gertrude have unfortunately perished. Those now extant are:—The "Legatus Divinae Pietatis",—The "Exercises of St. Gertrude";—The "Liber Specialis Gratiae" of St. Mechtilde.The works of St. Gertrude were all written in Latin, which she used with facility and grace. The "Legatus Divinae Pietatis" (Herald of Divine Love) comprises five books containing the life of St. Gertrude, and recording many of the favours granted her by God. Book II alone is the work of the saint, the rest being compiled by members of the Helfta community. They were written for her Sisters in religion, and we feel she has here a free hand unhampered by the deep humility which made it so repugnant for her to disclose favours personal to herself. The "Exercises", which are seven in number, embrace the work of the reception of baptismal grace to the preparation for death. Her glowing language deeply impregnated with the liturgy and scriptures exalts the soul imperceptibly to the heights of contemplation. When the "Legatus Divinae Pietatis" is compared with the "Liber Specialis Gratiae" of St. Mechtilde, it is evident that Gertrude is the chief, if not the only, author of the latter book. Her writings are also coloured by the glowing richness of that Teutonic genius which found its most congenial expression in symbolism and allegory. The spirit of St. Gertrude, which is marked by freedom, breadth, and vigour, is based on the Rule of St. Benedict. Her mysticism is that of all the great contemplative workers of the Benedictine Order from St. Gregory to Blosius. Hers, in a word, is that ancient Benedictine spirituality which Father Faber has so well depicted (All for Jesus, viii).The characteristic of St. Gertrude's piety is her devotion to the Sacred Heart, the symbol of that immense charity which urged the Word to take flesh, to institute the Holy Eucharist, to take on Himself our sins, and, dying on the Cross, to offer Himself as a victim and a sacrifice to the Eternal Father (Congregation of Rites, 3 April, 1825). Faithful to the mission entrusted to them, the superiors of Helfta appointed renowned theologians, chosen from the Dominican and Franciscan friars, to examine the works of the saint. These approved and commented them throughout. In the sixteenth century Lanspergius and Blosius propagated her writings. The former, who with his confrere Loher spared no pains in editing her works, also wrote a preface to them. The writings were warmly received especially in Spain, and among the long list of holy and learned authorities who used and recommended her works may be mentioned :—St. Teresa, who chose her as her model and guide,—Yepez,—the illustrious Suarez,—the Discalced Carmelite Friars of France,—St. Francis de Sales,—M. Oliver,—Fr. Faber,—Dom Gueranger.The Church has inserted the name of Gertrude in the Roman Martyrology with this eulogy: "On the 17th of November, in Germany (the Feast) of St. Gertrude Virgin, of the Order of St. Benedict, who was illustrious for the gift of revelations."
SOURCE http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/G/stgertrudethegreat.asp
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TODAY'S SAINT: NOV. 16: ST. MARGARET OF SCOTLAND

St. Margaret of ScotlandQUEEN OF SCOTLANDFeast: November 16Information:Feast Day:November 16Born:1045, Castle Réka, Mecseknádasd, in the region of Southern Transdanubia, HungaryDied:16 November 1093, St Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh Castle, Midlothian, ScotlandCanonized:1251 by Pope Innocent IVMajor Shrine:Dunfermline AbbeyPatron of:death of children, large families, learning, queens, Scotland, widowsBorn about 1045, died 16 Nov., 1092, was a daughter of Edward "Outremere", or "the Exile", by Agatha, kinswoman of Gisela, the wife of St. Stephen of Hungary. She was the granddaughter of Edmund Ironside. A constant tradition asserts that Margaret's father and his brother Edmund were sent to Hungary for safety during the reign of Canute, but no record of the fact has been found in that country. The date of Margaret's birth cannot be ascertained with accuracy, but it must have been between the years 1038, when St. Stephen died, and 1057, when her father returned to England. It appears that Margaret came with him on that occasion and, on his death and the conquest of England by the Normans, her mother Agatha decided to return to the Continent. A storm however drove their ship to Scotland, where Malcolm III received the party under his protection, subsequently taking Margaret to wife. This event had been delayed for a while by Margaret's desire to entirereligion, but it took place some time between 1067 and 1070.In her position as queen, all Margaret's great influence was thrown into the cause of religion and piety. A synod was held, and among the special reforms instituted the most important were the regulation of the Lenten fast, observance of the Easter communion, and the removal of certain abuses concerning marriage within the prohibited degrees. Her private life was given up to constant prayer and practices of piety. She founded several churches, including the Abbey of Dunfermline, built to enshrine her greatest treasure, a relic of the true Cross. Her book of the Gospels, richly adorned with jewels, which one day dropped into a river and was according to legend miraculously recovered, is now in the Bodleian library at Oxford. She foretold the day of her death, which took place at Edinburgh on 16 Nov., 1093, her body being buried before the high altar at Dunfermline.In 1250 Margaret was canonized by Innocent IV, and her relics were translated on 19 June, 1259, to a new shrine, the base of which is still visible beyond the modern east wall of the restoredchurch. At the Reformation her head passed into the possession of Mary Queen of Scots, and later was secured by the Jesuits at Douai, where it is believed to have perished during the French Revolution. According to George Conn, "De duplici statu religionis apud Scots" (Rome, 1628), the rest of the relics, together with those of Malcolm, were acquired by Philip II of Spain, and placed in two urns in the Escorial. When, however, Bishop Gillies of Edinburgh applied through Pius IX for their restoration to Scotland, they could not be found.The chief authority for Margaret's life is the contemporary biography printed in "Acta SS.", II, June, 320. Its authorship has been ascribed to Turgot, the saint's confessor, a monk of Durham and later Archbishop of St. Andrews, and also to Theodoric, a somewhat obscure monk; but in spite of much controversy the point remains quite unsettled. The feast of St. Margaret is now observed by the whole Church on 10 June.SOURCE http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/M/stmargaretofscotland.asp.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/M/stmargaretofscotland.asp
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TODAY'S GOSPEL: NOV. 16: Luke 19: 1 - 10

Luke 19: 1 - 101He entered Jericho and was passing through.2And there was a man named Zacchae'us; he was a chief tax collector, and rich.3And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature.4So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.5And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchae'us, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today."6So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully.7And when they saw it they all murmured, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."8And Zacchae'us stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold."9And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.10For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost."
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