AUSTRALIA: 40 HOURS OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
AMERICA: CANADA: BISHOPS ASSEMBLY ELECTS PRESIDENT ARCHBISHOP SMITH
EUROPE: BISHOPS WELCOME PROTECTION OF HUMAN EMBRYO
ASIA: PHILIPPINES: TEENAGER PEDRO CALUNGSOD MAY BECOME 2ND SAINT
AFRICA: MADAGASCAR: IMPLEMENTATION OF FEUILLE DE ROUTE
TODAY'S SAINT: OCT. 18: ST. LUKE
TODAY'S GOSPEL: OCT. 18: LUKE 10: 1 - 9
VIS REPORT:
Known as the Great Hallel, this Psalm is a great hymn of praise which was traditionally sung at the conclusion of the Passover meal. As such, it was probably sung by Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper (cf. Mt 26:30). The Psalm takes the form of a litany praising God’s mighty deeds in the creation of the world and in the history of Israel; each reference to God’s saving work is followed by the refrain: “For his steadfast love endures for ever”. It is God’s faithful love, in fact, which is revealed in the ordered beauty of the universe and in the great events of Israel’s liberation from slavery and the pilgrimage of the Chosen People to the land of promise. As we sing this great litany of God’s mighty works, we give thanks that the depth of his steadfast and merciful love was fully revealed in the coming of his only-begotten Son.
The Holy Father went on to say that in Christ, we see clearly “what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, for that is what we are” (1 Jn 3:1). As usual, following the catechesis, the Holy Father greeted pilgrims in several languages, including English:
I offer cordial greetings to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience, especially those from England, Norway, Nigeria, Australia, Indonesia and the United States. My greeting also goes to the members of Legatus visiting Rome on pilgrimage and to the group of Lutheran pilgrims from Iceland. I also welcome the group of Anglican seminarians taking part in a month of study in Rome. Upon all of you I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!
This Wednesday was the latest of more than a dozen reflections on Christian prayer, which the Holy Father began in May of this year.
VATICAN CITY, 18 OCT 2011 (VIS) - A press conference was held this morning in the Holy See Press Office to present the "Day of reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace and justice in the world: Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace", due to take place in the Italian town of Assisi on 27 October.
Participating in today's conference were: Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Bishop Mario Toso, S.D.B., secretary of the same pontifical council; Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue; Fr. Andrea Palmieri, head of the Oriental Section of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Msgr. Melchor Jose Sanchez de Toca y Alameda, under secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and Fr. Jean-Marie Laurent Mazas of the Pontifical Council for Culture, director of the "Courtyard of the Gentiles" initiative.
By calling this Day in Assisi, Benedict XVI wishes to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the historic meeting organised there by John Paul II in 1986. "The world today, as it did twenty-five years ago, needs peace", said Cardinal Turkson. "Following two and a half decades of collaboration and joint witness among religions, it is time to assess the results and to relaunch our commitment in the face of new challenges", he explained. Those challenges include "the financial and economic crisis which is lasting longer than expected, the crisis in democratic and social institutions, food and environmental problems, biblical-scale migrations, indirect forms of neo-colonialism, the scourge of poverty and hunger, unchecked international terrorism, and greater inequality and religious discrimination".
"Once more - and suffice to consider recent events in Egypt and other parts of the world - we must say 'no' to any exploitation of religion. Violence among religions is a scandal which distorts the true identity of religions, it obscures the face of God and distances us from the faith.
"The journey of religions towards justice and peace", the cardinal added, "must be characterised by a joint search for truth. ... Therefore Benedict XVI wishes the 2011 initiative in Assisi ... to be seen as a pilgrimage; the which implies asceticism, purification, convergence towards a more exalted place, and taking on a community responsibility".
The search for truth "is a precondition for knowing one another better, for overcoming all forms of prejudice, and of syncretism which obscures identity". It likewise helps us "to collaborate for the common good" and facilitates our "coming together on the plane of natural reason". It is a prerequisite "for defeating fanaticism and fundamentalism, according to which peace comes about by imposing one's own convictions on others", and for overcoming "the Babel of languages and the laicism which seeks to remove from the human family the One Who is its Beginning and End".
Turning to consider the programme of events for the Day, the cardinal explained that the various delegations will leave Rome by train on 27 October, in the company of the Holy Father. Having arrived in Assisi, they will make their way to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where the delegations will recall the previous meetings there and explore the theme of the Day in greater depth. The Holy Father will also deliver an address. That afternoon, those present in will make a "pilgrimage" to the Basilica of St. Francis, being joined on the last stage by the members of the delegations. Having reached the basilica, everyone will make a solemn renewal of their joint commitment to peace.
More than fifty nations will be represented in Assisi. They will include, apart from many European and American countries, Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, Jordan, Iran,Saudi Arabia, Philippines and many others. "Those which, at this moment in history, perhaps suffer most from problems associated with religious freedom and dialogue between religions", Cardinal Turkson observed.
For his part, Msgr. Melchor Jose Sanchez de Toca y Alameda, under secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, pointed out that the Pope has, for the first time, also invited non-believers to a religious meeting. "This innovative idea of the Holy Father's", he said, "is based on the conviction that men and women, both believers and non-believers, are always searching for God, for the Absolute, and that they are, therefore, all pilgrims travelling towards the fullness of truth".
The Pope's invitation to participate in the Day has been accepted by the French linguist, psychoanalyst, philosopher and writer Julia Kristeva; the Italian philosopher Remo Bodei; the Mexican philosopher Guillermo Hurtado, and the Austrian economist Walter Baier.
AUSTRALIA: 40 HOURS OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese REPORT
19 Oct 2011
Chapel at the Seminary of the Good Shepherd
Men and women from Sydney's Catholic community are invited to participate in 40 Hours for Vocations this weekend in the first of what will become an annual event.
Already more than 94 have registered for this special weekend of prayer with a further 85 expected to sign on as participants over the next three days.
An initiative of the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell in collaboration with the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Homebush and the Archdiocese of Sydney's Vocations Centre, the prayer-filled 40 Hours for Vocations weekend will be held at the Seminary's chapel from 9 pm Friday, 21 October until 1 pm Sunday, 23 October.
"The tradition of 40 hours continuous adoration goes back many centuries and offers us the opportunity to pray over an extended period, awakening our love for, and appreciation of the Holy Eucharist," says Father Anthony Percy, Rector of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd.
This weekend's 40 hours of Eucharistic adoration is dedicated to prayers for those men and women discerning vocations.
Blessed John Paul II encouraged all
Christians in adoration of the Eucharist
"This prayerful time of silence in adoration presents an opportunity for us to spend some time with the Lord in relation to our own vocation, as well as a chance for us to pray for the whole body of Christ; for all the young men and women who are called by Christ to grow in holiness through their vocation to marriage, the priesthood and religious life," says Elizabeth Arblaster, Special Projects Officer for the Archdiocese of Sydney's Vocation Centre.
The program for the 40 Hours for Vocations weekend includes Mass, confession and readings by seminarians studying at the Seminary of the Good Shepherd. Among the readings will be meditations on vocations and the scriptures and writings of Blessed John Paul II.
Beatified in May this year, the first liturgical feast day of the much loved pontiff, Bl John Paul II will be celebrated on Saturday, 22 October.
"It seemed most appropriate to hold our 40 hours on this weekend since Bl. John Paul II inspired so many vocations by the example of his own life, and offered a wealth of teaching which has guided so many of us," says Elizabeth Arblaster.
Fr Anthony Percy
During his life time, Bl John Paul II, who died in 2005, frequently spoke of the great need for Eucharistic Adoration in today's world, describing adoration as a sacrament of love and a personal invitation from Jesus.
"Our communal worship at Mass must go together with our personal worship of Jesus in Eucharistic adoration in order that our love may be complete," Bl John Paul II wrote in his first encyclical, Redeemer of Man.
Throughout his life, he encouraged Christians to regularly visit Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament: "For we are called to abide in the presence of God. In contemplation, Christians will perceive ever more profoundly the mystery at the heart of Christian life," he said.
40 Hours for Vocations is open to both men and women and will take place from 9 pm, Friday 21 October until 1 pm Sunday, 23 October in the chapel at the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Homebush. For detailed program of the weekend, log on tohttp://www.vocationcentre.org.au/importantdates/pdf/Forty%20Hours%20Program.pdf
For additional information and to register, visit the Vocations Centre's Facebook page at:http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=270039273020937
http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/news/latest_news/2011/20111019_4.shtml
AMERICA: CANADA: BISHOPS ASSEMBLY ELECTS PRESIDENT ARCHBISHOP SMITH
| CCCB РCo-Treasurers: from the English Sector, Bishop Douglas Crosby, O.M.I., of |  Mgr Richard Smith, Mgr Paul-Andr̩ Durocher |
Archbishop Smith will succeed Bishop
The newly elected CCCB Vice President was born in
New Evangelization
Mgr
Mgr Robert Le Gall, archevêque de Toulouse, et Mgr Richard Smith
The second day of the Plenary Assembly also included explanations on the CCCB 2010 financial statements and 2012 budget, as well as presentations by the Commission for Doctrine and the Ad HocCommittee on Life and Family. The Commission led a discussion on freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, which began with a reflection by its Chairman Archbishop J. Michael Miller, C.S.B., of
About 75 Bishops from across the country are participating in the Plenary Assembly, which is reviewing pastoral activities of the past year and also provides a forum for them to share their experiences and insights on the life of the Church and on the major events that shape society.
The first day of the annual Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) saw a number of major interventions. These included the report of CCCB President BishopIn his report for 2010-2011, Bishop Morissette focused on the New Evangelization. “It was Blessed John Paul II who proposed this forward-looking approach to the Church already during the 1980s,” he said. “The significance of the Pope’s remarks was echoed at the turn of the millennium in his frequently quoted phrase ‘setting out into the deep’. The New Evangelization will be the topic for next year’s Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, as well as for the upcoming Meeting of the Bishops of the Church in
Bishop Morissette outlined what he considered the foundational elements of the New Evangelization. “These are based on the experiences of the Church over the past generation, and are also evident in our universal, national and diocesan experiences as Church,” he said. “These same elements are apparent in the documents from the Magisterium since the Second Vatican Council, as indicated in the two texts that will be key for our Plenary this year, Sacramentum Caritatis and Verbum Domini. What I wish to do in this report is to link a number of these elements to an overview of what is to come during our Plenary Assembly this week.”
The Plenary began 17 October and continues until 21 October at the Nav Canada Centre,
Following the report of the President, Bishops Noel Simard and Gerald Wiesner, O.M.I., presented the report of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family (www.colf.ca) which gave an account of its work and projects over the past year. Following this, Bishops Claude Champagne, O.M.I., and
New Edition of the English-language Roman Missal
Bishop Morissette pointed out that the preparation and printing of the new Canadian English-language edition of the Roman Missal involved many people and services over many days and nights of work. This included the invaluable collaboration of Canadian Bishops and their dioceses, the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, the English Sector Commission for Liturgy and the Sacraments as well as the National Liturgy Office, and the Conference’s Publications Service. The CCCB President thanked suppliers and staff for working with the CCCB Executive and making it possible for the Missal to be delivered a month earlier than originally scheduled.
The new edition of the Missal becomes obligatory on the First Sunday of Advent, 27 November 2011, at all English-language celebrations of the Mass in
About 75 Bishops from across the country are participating in the Plenary Assembly, which is reviewing pastoral activities of the past year and also provides them a forum in which to share their experiences and insights on the life of the Church and on the major events that shape society.
EUROPE: BISHOPS WELCOME PROTECTION OF HUMAN EMBRYO
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The ECJ had to give a clear legal interpretation of the concept of 'human embryo'. This concept remained not defined in Directive 98/44/EC. The Court now defines a 'Human embryo' as:
* A human ovum, as soon as fertilised if that fertilisation is such as to commence the process of development of a human being.
* A non-fertilised human ovum into which the cell nucleus from a mature human cell has been transplanted
* a non-fertilised human ovum whose division and further development have been stimulated by parthenogenesis.
The Bishops said: "This judgement therefore provides a broad, scientific sound definition of a human embryo.
"Indeed, fertilization marks the beginning of the biological existence of a human being that undergoes a process of development. Therefore the human embryo, at every stage of development, must be considered a human being with potential, and not just a “potential human being”.
"Furthermore, it has to be welcomed that “the removal of a stem cell from a human embryo at the blastocyst stage, entailing the destruction of that embryo “ cannot be patented either.
"Finally, COMECE expects, as a positive consequence of this judgement, the push forward that may now be given to scientific research on alternative sources. These remained till now in the shadow of research on human embryonic stem cells. The use of adult stem cells, stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood and others offer, in some cases already, significant possibilities for regenerative medicine. These methods enjoy wide acceptance both on scientific and ethical grounds.
"This judgement can foster existing and promising fields of research which can combine the respect of human life with efficient and innovative treatments for healing people. Therefore this Judgement of the ECJ has to be welcomed as a milestone in the protection of Human life in EU legislation, that will most likely have a positive impact in concrete Policy fields like the Funding of Research in the EU."
Source: COMECE
ASIA: PHILIPPINES: TEENAGER PEDRO CALUNGSOD MAY BECOME 2ND SAINT
A cardinals’ decision this week to approve a decree for the canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod means his elevation to the sainthood is imminent, a Church official said today.
Calungsod, who was beatified in 2000, is just waiting formal declaration by Pope Benedict XVI.
Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu said the cardinals had voted “unanimously in the affirmative” for Calungsod’s canonization.
He said that after passing investigations made by doctors and theologians, the cause for canonization of Calungsod had also passed the review conducted by the cardinals.
“This means that Blessed Pedro Calungsod has already passed the third and final stage,” Palma said.
He said the declaration will now be submitted to the pontiff.
Another source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it is expected the Pope would formally declare Calungsod a saint before by December.
“I think that would also be the time that the Pope will announce the date of Blessed Calungsod’s canonization ceremony,” the source said.
The teenager from Cebu was martyred in Guam in 1672 with a Spanish Jesuit priest, now Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores.
Palma earlier said the Offices of the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints told him the documents on Calungsod are “number one” on the list.
Calungsod, if canonized, will be the first Visayan saint and second Filipino saint in history following San Lorenzo Ruiz who was canonized in Rome in 1988.
http://www.ucanews.com/2011/10/19/hopes-for-second-filipino-saint/
AFRICA: MADAGASCAR: IMPLEMENTATION OF FEUILLE DE ROUTE
"The various Malagasy political forces reached an understanding on a timetable for implementing the Feuille de route, but everyone interprets it as they wish" says to Fides an editor of Radio Don Bosco, the largest Catholic radio station in the country.
"For example, they all agree on the appointment of the Prime Minister, but with regards to the procedure of the appointment everyone has their own interpretation. The so-called 3 'mouvances' of former President Marc Ravalomanana, Diedier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy say that the Prime Minister must be appointed by them. The other Malagasy political members ask to have their say, presenting a list of three names, and from this list the Premier has to be chosen", says our interlocutor. "The problem is that since the crisis has erupted, the initial 4 'mouvances', the current Head of State (even if contested by the international community) Rajoelina, and the 3 former presidents, other 10 or 12 have been added, further complicating the situation".
With regards to the social crisis the already precarious conditions of the population is becoming more marked. "Poverty is increasing and the spread of diseases due to lack of medicines and medical care is increasing,too. People are sick and would like the political crisis to come to an end", concludes the source of Fides.
TODAY'S SAINT: OCT. 18: ST. LUKE
St. Luke
APOSTLE
Feast: October 18
Information:
Feast Day:
October 18
Born:
Antioch, Turkey
Died:
Greece
Major Shrine:
Padua, Italy
Patron of:
Artists, Physicians, Surgeons
The great apostle of the Gentiles, or rather the Holy Ghost by his pen, is the panegyrist of this glorious evangelist, and his own inspired writings are the highest standing and most authentic commendation of his sanctity, and of those eminent graces which are a just subject of our admiration, but which human praises can only extenuate. St. Luke was a native of Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, a city famous for the agreeableness of its situation, the riches of its traffic, its extent, the number of its inhabitants, the politeness of their manners, and their learning and wisdom. Its schools were the most renowned in all Asia, and produced the ablest masters in all arts and sciences. St. Luke acquired a stock of learning in his younger years, which we are told he improved by his travels in some parts of Greece and Egypt. St. Jerome assures us he was very eminent in his profession, and St. Paul, by calling him his most dear physician, seems to indicate that he had not laid it aside. Besides his abilities in physic, he is said to have been very skillful in painting. The Menology of the Emperor Basil, compiled in 980, Nicephorus, Metaphrastes, and other modern Greeks quoted by Gretzer in his dissertation on this subject, speak much of his excelling in this art, and of his leaving many pictures of Christ and the Blessed Virgin. Though neither the antiquity nor the credit of these authors is of great weight, it must be acknowledged, with a very judicious critic, that some curious anecdotes are found in their writings. In this particular, what they tell us is supported by the authority of Theodorus Lector, who lived in 518, and relates that a picture of the Blessed Virgin painted by St. Luke was sent from Jerusalem to the Empress Pulcheria, who placed it in the church of Hodegorum which she built in her honour at Constantinople. Moreover, a very ancient inscription was found in a vault near the Church of St. Mary in via lata in Rome, in which it is said of a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary discovered there, "One of the seven painted by St. Luke." Three or four such pictures are still in being; the principal is that placed by Paul V in the Barghesian chapel in St. Mary Major.
St. Luke was a proselyte to the Christian religion, but whether from Paganism or rather from Judaism is uncertain; for many Jews were settled in Antioch, but chiefly such as were called Hellenists, who read the Bible in the Greek translation of the Septuagint. St. Jerome observes from his writings that he was more skilled in Greek than in Hebrew, and that therefore he not only always makes use of the Septuagint translation, as the other authors of the New Testament who wrote in Greek do, but he refrains sometimes from translating words when the propriety of the Greek tongue would not bear it. Some think he was converted to the faith by St. Paul at Antioch; others judge this improbable, because that apostle nowhere calls him his son, as he frequently does his converts. St. Epiphanius makes him to have been a disciple of our Lord; which might be for some short time before the death of Christ, though this evangelist says he wrote his gospel from the relations of those "who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word." Nevertheless, from these words many conclude that he became a Christian at Antioch only after Christ's ascension. Tertullian positively affirms that he never was a disciple of Christ whilst he lived on earth. No sooner was he enlightened by the Holy Ghost and initiated in the school of Christ but he set himself heartily to learn the spirit of his faith and to practice its lessons. For this purpose he studied perfectly to die to himself, and, as the church says of him, "He always carried about in his body the mortification of the cross for the honour of the divine name." He was already a great proficient in the habits of a perfect mastery of himself, and of all virtues, when he became St. Paul's companion in his travels and fellow-labourer in the ministry of the gospel. The first time that in his history of the missions of St. Paul he speaks in his own name in the first person is when that apostle sailed from Troas into Macedon in the year 51, soon after St. Barnabas had left him, and St. Irenaeus begins from that time the voyages which St. Luke made with St. Paul. Before this he had doubtless been for some time an assiduous disciple of that great apostle; but from the time he seems never to have left him unless by his order upon commissions for the service of the churches he had planted. It was the height of his ambition to share with that great apostle all his toils, fatigues, dangers, and sufferings. In his company he made some stay at Philippi in Macedon; then he travelled with him through all the cities of Greece, where the harvest every day grew upon their hands. St. Paul mentions him more than once as the companion of his travels, he calls him "Luke the beloved physician," his "fellow labourer." Interpreters usually take Lucius, whom St. Paul calls his kinsman, to be St. Luke, as the same apostle sometimes gives a Latin termination to Silas, calling him Sylvanus. Many with Origen, Eusebius, and St. Jerome say that when St. Paul speaks of his own gospel he means that of St. Luke, though the passage may be understood simply of the gospel which St. Paul preached. He wrote this epistle in the year 57, four years before his first arrival at Rome.
St. Luke mainly insists in his gospel upon what relates to Christ's priestly office; for which reason the ancients, in accommodating the four symbolical representations, mentioned in Ezekiel, to the four evangelists, assigned the ox or calf as an emblem of sacrifices to St. Luke. It is only in the Gospel of St. Luke that we have a full account of several particulate relating to the Annunciation of the mystery of the Incarnation to the Blessed Virgin, her visit to St. Elizabeth, the parable of the prodigal son, and many other most remarkable points. The whole is written with great variety, elegance, and perspicuity. An incomparable sublimity of thought and diction is accompanied with that genuine simplicity which is the characteristic of the sacred penman; and by which the divine actions and doctrine of our Blessed Redeemer are set off in a manner which in every word conveys his holy spirit, and unfolds in every tittle the hidden mysteries and inexhausted riches of the divine love and of all virtues to those who, with a humble and teachable disposition of mind, make these sacred oracles the subject of their assiduous devout meditation. The dignity with which the most sublime mysteries, which transcend all the power of words and even the conception and comprehension of all created beings, ate set off without any pomp of expression has in it something divine; and the energy with which the patience, meekness, charity, and beneficence of a God made man for us are described, his divine lessons laid down, and the narrative of his life given, but especially the dispassionate manner in which his adorable sufferings and death are related, without the least exclamation or bestowing the least harsh epithet on his enemies, is a grander and more noble eloquence on such a theme, and a more affecting and tender manner of writing' than the highest strains or the finest ornaments of speech could be. This simplicity makes the great actions speak themselves, which all borrowed eloquence must extenuate. The sacred penmen in these writings were only the instruments or organs of the Holy Ghost; but their style alone suffices to evince how perfectly free their souls were from the reign or influence of human passions, and in how perfect a degree they were replenished with all those divine virtues and that heavenly spirit which their words breathe.
About the year 56 St. Paul sent St. Luke with St. Titus to Corinth with this high commendation, that his praise in the gospel resounded throughout all the churches. St. Luke attended him to Rome, whither he was sent prisoner from Jerusalem in 61. The apostle remained there two years in chains; but was permitted to live in a house which he hired, though under the custody of a constant guard; and there he preached to those who daily resorted to hear him. St. Luke was the apostle's faithful assistant and attendant during his confinement, and had the comfort to see him set at liberty in 63, the year in which this evangelist finished his Acts of the Apostles. This sacred history he compiled at Rome, by divine inspiration, as an appendix to his gospel, to prevent the false relations of those transactions which some published, and to leave an authentic account of the wonderful works of God in planting his church, and some of the miracles by which he confirmed it, and which were an invincible proof of the truth of Christ's resurrection and of his holy religion. Having in the first twelve chapters related the chief general transactions of the principal apostles in the first establishment of the church, beginning at our Lord's ascension, he from the thirteenth chapter almost confines himself to the actions and miracles of St. Paul, to most of which he had been privy and an eye-witness, and concerning which false reports were spread.
St. Luke did not forsake his master after he was released from his confinement. That apostle in his last imprisonment at Rome writes that the rest had all left him, and that St. Luke alone was with him. St. Epiphanius says that after the martyrdom of St. Paul, St. Luke preached in Italy, Gaul, Dalmatia, and Macedon. By Gaul some understand Cisalpine Gaul, others Galatia. Fortunatus and Metaphrastus say he passed into Egypt and preached in Thebais. Nicephorus says he died at Thebes in Boeotia, and that his tomb was shown near that place in his time; but seems to confound the evangelist with St. Luke Stiriote, a hermit of that country. St. Hippolytus says St. Luke was crucified at Elaea in Peloponnesus near Achaia. The modern Greeks tell us he was crucified on an olive tree. The ancient African Martyrology of the fifth age gives him the titles of Evangelist and Martyr. St. Gregory Nazianzen,St. Paulinus, and St. Gaudentius of Brescia assure us that he went to God by martyrdom. Bede, Ado, Usuard, and Baronius in the Martyrologies only say he suffered much for the faith, and died very old in Bithynia. That he crossed the straits to preach in Bithynia is most probable, but then he returned and finished his course in Achaia; under which name Peloponnesus was then comprised. The modern Greeks say he lived fourscore and four years; which assertion has crept into St. Jerome's account of St. Luke, but is expunged by Martianay, who found those words wanting in all old manuscripts. The bones of St. Luke were translated from Patras in Achaia in 357 by order of the Emperor Constantius, and deposited in the Church of the Apostles at Constantinople, together with those of St. Andrew and St. Timothy. On the occasion of this translation some distribution was made of the relics of St. Luke; St. Gaudentius procured a part for his church at Brescia.St. Paulinus possessed a portion in St. Felix's Church at Nola, and with a part enriched a church which he built at Fondi. The magnificent Church of the Apostles at Constantinople was built by Constantine the Great, whose body was deposited in the porch in a chest of gold, the twelve apostles standing round his tomb. When this church was repaired by an order of Justinian, the masons found three wooden chests or coffins in which, as the inscriptions proved, the bodies of St. Luke, St. Andrew, and St. Timothy were interred. Baronius mentions that the head of St. Luke was brought by St. Gregory from Constantinople to Rome, and laid in the church of his monastery of St. Andrew. Some of his relics are kept in the great Grecian monastery on Mount Athos in Greece.
TODAY'S GOSPEL: OCT. 18: LUKE 10: 1 - 9
| Luke 10: 1 - 9 | |
| 1 | After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come. |
| 2 | And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. |
| 3 | Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. |
| 4 | Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road. |
| 5 | Whatever house you enter, first say, `Peace be to this house!' |
| 6 | And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you. |
| 7 | And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages; do not go from house to house. |
| 8 | Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you; |
| 9 | heal the sick in it and say to them, `The kingdom of God has come near to you.' |
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