EUROPE : SPAIN : END TO ABORTION IN SIGHT WITH 100000 SIGNATURES
AMERICA : OFFICIAL STATS OF CATHOLICS IN USA - 77 MILLION - 22% OF POPULATION
AMERICA : OFFICIAL STATS OF CATHOLICS IN USA - 77 MILLION - 22% OF POPULATION
(IMAGE
GOOGLE) - The trial against Pope Benedict XVI’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele,
concluded Saturday morning, with a guilty verdict and 18 month prison sentence.
However the Holy See Press Office director, Fr. Federico Lombardi, has not ruled
out the possibility of a Papal pardon.
Following the fourth and final hearing the President of the Vatican Court – Judge dalla Torre - read out the verdict finding the defendant guilty of aggravated theft of the Holy Father’s personal and private documents.
Journalists present said the accused listened impassively to the sentence after earlier declaring he did not see himself as a thief and adding he had acted “out of love for the Church and for its leader on earth.” During his final statement to the court, Gabriele confirmed he had acted alone and without accomplices.
The charge of aaggravated theft usually carries a sentence of four years in prison. However the court took into account extenuating circumstances: these include Gabriele’s claim - even if erroneous - that he was acting for the good of the Church and his admission of having wounded the Holy Father.
A partial ban was handed down on any future employment. Should Gabriele remain a Vatican employee he will not be allowed to work in any offices that deal with " judicial, administrative or legal” affairs.
Paolo Gabriele’s lawyer has not ruled out the possibility of appealing the sentence, given what she has described as “holes” in the judicial investigation. However Ms Arrua also described Saturday’s verdict as “balanced”.
For now she said Paolo Gabriele will remain under house arrest in his family home in Vatican City State. The Court must meet again to decide if and when Gabriel will be imprisoned.
The Director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr Federico Lombardi, praised the “total independence” of the Vatican court and the speed with which it arrived at the sentence - which he described as “clement and just”. He also left open the possibility of a pardon by Pope Benedict XVI.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN TO BE A DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
This Sunday, Pope Benedict presides over Mass in St Peter’s Basilica for the opening of the synod on a New Evangelisation for the transmission of the Christian faith. As well as opening this landmark assembly, the Holy Father will also declare German Saint Hildegard of Bingen a Doctor of the Church.
Hildegard who was officially canonized by the Pope in May of this year was an 11th century writer, philosopher and composer.
Participating in Sunday’s celebration will be British composer Stevie Wishart who has created a vespers for the occasion.
She spoke to Lydia O’Kane about the musical arrangement. “The vespers is really one of the forms where we can use her music more than in some of the other Church services, so we’ve really created a vespers where we could perform her Antiphons around the Psalms.”
Speaking about the Mass on Sunday Wishart adds that, “it is a very exciting challenge” hugely rewarding, especially “to honour a composer and a Saint that’s been certainly part of my life and a very important inspiration to me as a composer.”
Following the fourth and final hearing the President of the Vatican Court – Judge dalla Torre - read out the verdict finding the defendant guilty of aggravated theft of the Holy Father’s personal and private documents.
Journalists present said the accused listened impassively to the sentence after earlier declaring he did not see himself as a thief and adding he had acted “out of love for the Church and for its leader on earth.” During his final statement to the court, Gabriele confirmed he had acted alone and without accomplices.
The charge of aaggravated theft usually carries a sentence of four years in prison. However the court took into account extenuating circumstances: these include Gabriele’s claim - even if erroneous - that he was acting for the good of the Church and his admission of having wounded the Holy Father.
A partial ban was handed down on any future employment. Should Gabriele remain a Vatican employee he will not be allowed to work in any offices that deal with " judicial, administrative or legal” affairs.
Paolo Gabriele’s lawyer has not ruled out the possibility of appealing the sentence, given what she has described as “holes” in the judicial investigation. However Ms Arrua also described Saturday’s verdict as “balanced”.
For now she said Paolo Gabriele will remain under house arrest in his family home in Vatican City State. The Court must meet again to decide if and when Gabriel will be imprisoned.
The Director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr Federico Lombardi, praised the “total independence” of the Vatican court and the speed with which it arrived at the sentence - which he described as “clement and just”. He also left open the possibility of a pardon by Pope Benedict XVI.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN TO BE A DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
This Sunday, Pope Benedict presides over Mass in St Peter’s Basilica for the opening of the synod on a New Evangelisation for the transmission of the Christian faith. As well as opening this landmark assembly, the Holy Father will also declare German Saint Hildegard of Bingen a Doctor of the Church.
Hildegard who was officially canonized by the Pope in May of this year was an 11th century writer, philosopher and composer.
Participating in Sunday’s celebration will be British composer Stevie Wishart who has created a vespers for the occasion.
She spoke to Lydia O’Kane about the musical arrangement. “The vespers is really one of the forms where we can use her music more than in some of the other Church services, so we’ve really created a vespers where we could perform her Antiphons around the Psalms.”
Speaking about the Mass on Sunday Wishart adds that, “it is a very exciting challenge” hugely rewarding, especially “to honour a composer and a Saint that’s been certainly part of my life and a very important inspiration to me as a composer.”
EUROPE : SPAIN : END TO ABORTION IN SIGHT WITH 100000 SIGNATURES
Haztoir.org
RELEASE: If you want to change the law on abortion to one that protect the right
to life, you've never been so close. You've never had so
much power to do so.
He signed the zero abortion
manifesto
WRITING -sign the manifesto zero abortion and
invited twenty people in your environment to support it.
You can sign it and spread it
here
We need a million signatures and no much time
to meet them. The draft law this fall will be sent to
Congress.
We already have 90,000 and want to present
the first 150,000 signatures to the Ministry of Justice on 26
September.
Help me to reach 150,000 signatures before
September 26. They will be the first that we will present
to the Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon.
We will then go to the million signatures.
Because we are more than one million Spaniards in favor of
the right to life. You can also contribute to meet the
manifest and support it.
Support the cause of the right to life only
will take you 30 seconds. And spread it among your friends,
30 others. In total, a minute of your time to change an
unjust law by a law that protect unborn children and support their
mothers.
Our politicians have to hear the voice of
Spanish society, which wants to protect the right to life and support the woman
to be a mother.
If we get a million signatures, we will
present them in Congress at the same time as the reform of the abortion
law.
The new law will be as you want it.
It is up to you. You're just two steps
away. Start here:
Sign your declaration of abortion
zero
Sign this petition to President Rajoy.
Can you encourage other people to support
it?
We need 150,000 signatures for a first
delivery to the Minister of Justice, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, on September 26.
We have 90,000 and us missing 60,000 more to reach the
first 150,000 signatures of the #AbortoCero manifesto
Repeal the abortion and pass a law that
protect life and recognizing and supporting motherhood is
possible!
Since 1985, year in which adopted the first
law of abortion in Spain, a million and a half of human lives have been
eliminated.
A new law will not return them life, but yes
it will more worthy our lives and those of our children.
Thank you for inspiring fairer laws. SHARED
FROM HAZTEOIR.ORG
AMERICA : OFFICIAL STATS OF CATHOLICS IN USA - 77 MILLION - 22% OF POPULATION
USCCB RELEASE:
(image source: GOOGLE)
Laity And Parishes
There are 77.7 million1 Catholics in the United
States2 (22% of the U.S. population), and nearly 1.2 billion Catholics
worldwide.3
New Church Members 4
- Infant baptisms: 793,103
- Adult baptisms: 43,692
- Received into full communion: 76,588
Percentage of Ethnic/Racial Groups in the United States5
Hispanic Catholics
- 50.5 million Hispanics live in the United States or 16% of thetotal U.S. population, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.6
- Approximately 39% of U.S. Catholics are Hispanic.7
- 64% of Hispanics who identify as Catholic attend church services regularly.8
- 29 of the nation’s 272 active bishops are Hispanic.9
- 15% of the priests ordained in 2012 are Hispanic.10
- More than 50% of all Catholics in the United States under age 25 are of Hispanic/Latino descent.11
- Since 1960, 71% of the U.S. Catholic population growth has been due to the growth in the number of Hispanics in the U.S. population overall.12
- 68% of Hispanics in the U.S. consider themselves Roman Catholics.13
African American Catholics
- There are 2.5 million African American14 Catholics.
- 798 parishes are predominantly African American, 75 of which have African American pastors. Approximately 225 priests, 400 sisters and 437 deacons are African American.15
- There are 16 (8 active) African American bishops.16
Native American Catholics
There are 4.1 million people who identify themselves as Native American; 493,615 of these Native Americans, or 12% of the total population, are considered Catholic. Currently, there is one Native American bishop in active service in the United States: Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap, of Philadelphia.17Asian and Pacific Islander Catholics
- Asian and Pacific Islanders account for about 2.6% of all Catholics in the U.S. The U.S. Asian Pacific population with the largest number of Catholics is the Filipino community, followed by the Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian and Korean communities.18
- 9% of ordinands in 2012 are of Asian or Pacific Islander background.19
- There are 6 Asian Pacific Islander bishops, one of whom is retired.20
Catholic Parishes
Total number of parishes21 in the U.S: 18,061. There also are 628 pastoral centers and 2,627 missions. And 87 new parishes opened their doors in 2011.Did you know?
- The average number of registered households in U.S. parishes has grown to 1,168. A third of parishes now have more than 1,200 registered households.22
- The average number of weekend Masses per parish has increased from 3.5 in 2000 to 3.8 in 2010.23
- The average number of people attending Mass on a typical weekend at a Catholic parish is 1,110.24
- 40% of the increase in registered parishioners from 2005 to 2010 was among Hispanic Catholics.25
- 15% of parishes had 200 or fewer households in 2010.26
- 29% of parishes celebrate Mass at least once a month in a language other than English. 81% of those Masses are in Spanish. Overall, about 6% of Masses (weekday and weekend) are celebrated in Spanish in the United States.27
- At least 4,800 parishes or about 25% have Hispanic ministry.28
- 37% of parishes indicate that they have some special observance for particular cultural or ethnic groups in the parish.29
- The estimated number of lay ecclesial ministers (lay persons paid in ministry for at least 20 hours per week) in the United States is approximately 38,000 (2.1 per parish). 14% of these are vowed religious and 86% are other lay persons.30
-
Priests1
There are 40,203 diocesan and religious-order priests in the
United States:
- 27,125 diocesan priests
- 12,593 religious-order priests (Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, etc.)
- 485 new priests ordained in 2011
- 39,718 total number of priests in dioceses
Seminarians2
There are 5,015 seminarians enrolled in the United States:- 3,346 enrolled in diocesan seminaries
- 1,669 enrolled in religious-order seminaries
Permanent Deacons3
There are 17,816 men who have been ordained as permanent deacons in the United States.- Vowed Religious4
- Sisters: 55,045
- Brothers: 4,518
Did you know?
- The average age of men ordained to the priesthood is trending younger with the median age for the 2012 class at 31.Two-thirds of the class is between the ages of 25 and 34.5 1
- Almost 3 in 10 ordinands were born outside the United States, with the largest numbers coming from Vietnam, Colombia, Mexico, Poland and the Philippines. On average, ordinands who were born in another country came to the United States in their early 20s. Between 20 and 30% of ordinands for the diocesan priesthood for each of the last ten years were born outside the United States.6
- Before entering the seminary, 6 in 10 ordinands completed
college (61%). - 16% of ordinands entered the seminary with a graduate degree, and 1 in 3 or 29% entered the seminary while in college.7
Religious Retirement
- There are more than 500 religious orders in the United States, each participating in the mission of the Church through prayer and ministries of service.8
- Traditionally, religious worked for modest stipends or maintenance that did not include pension benefits.9
- The average Social Security benefit for religious today is approximately $4,779;10 for other Americans, the average benefit is $13,968.11
- Statistics on the number of
bishops and dioceses are updated on a regular basis on this site.Other
statistics listed here:
ASIA : INDIA : 20 CHRISTIANS ARRESTED FOR BAPTISM
ASIA NEWS REPORT:
by Nirmala Carvalho
Hindu nationalists attacked and beat the Pentecostal community, then the police arrested faithful and pastor. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) demands the Orissa government open an investigation against police. Sajan George, president of the GCIC, "Exploiting anti-conversion laws to persecute minorities."
Mumbai (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Attacked and beaten by Hindu nationalists finally arrested by the local police, because "guilty" of celebrating a baptism. The episode took place in Kanthapada, in the district of Balasore (Orissa), against 20 Pentecostal Christians (of these, 10 were catechumens), October 2 last. For Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the fact is "outrageous," and he demands the chief minister of Orissa "open an investigation into the police officers involved."
A large group of Hindu nationalists belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) were behind the incident. They broke into the middle of the ceremony, beating and insulting the minister Jayaram Marandi and faithful. Shortly thereafter, police from Khantapada station arrived, forcing the 20 Christians to get on to a truck, which brought them in for interrogation. After the arrest, the police deployed a large number of agents to "control" that the village.
Sajan George explains: "To harass, intimidate and arrest these Christian communities, the Hindu nationalists are exploiting the atrocious Orissa Freedom of Religion Act 1997 [Ofra Act 1997, the anti-conversion law of the State, ed], with the connivance and tacit consent of both administration and police. " According to the president of the GCIC, "the state government should stop persecuting those who use the decree against the population and threaten the Constitution, which is based on respect for justice and freedom." On paper, the anti-conversion laws prohibit conversions that occur "through force, coercion or fraud," and thus allow the government to investigate. In fact, they are applied only in cases of Hindus who switch to another religion. Since its implementation, conversions have decreased in number.
After the anti-Christian pogrom in Kandhamal (2008), he adds, "the perception of being under threat grew," because "the presence of the Sangh Parivar [umbrella that collects all the Hindu nationalist groups and movements, ed] has grown," bringing with it "hate campaigns and social boycott against Christians." However, greatest concern and discouragement regard "the extreme slowness of the machinery of justice for the victims of the massacres: while the number released from prison increases, alongside a decrease in convictions, and even those who have been found guilty get bail." The most striking case concerns Manoj Pradhan, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, ultra-nationalist Hindu party), responsible for the killing of a Christian leader in the pogrom. Despite a final sentence of seven years in prison - and trials for three other killings - the man is free on bail.
Meanwhile, another attack took place in Orissa has come to the attention of the GCIC. On 24 September in Krutamgarh (Kandhamal district), 12 Hindu activists of the Bajrang Dal disrupted a prayer service at a Pentecostal Christian community. The attack was particularly violent and the offenders forced the pastor Mantu Nayak to the ground and beat him, resulting in serious head injuries and fractures to both arms. For the moment, the police have arrested eight activists and are looking for others.
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS IT
by Nirmala Carvalho
Hindu nationalists attacked and beat the Pentecostal community, then the police arrested faithful and pastor. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) demands the Orissa government open an investigation against police. Sajan George, president of the GCIC, "Exploiting anti-conversion laws to persecute minorities."
_1006_-_KandhamalOK.jpg)
Mumbai (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Attacked and beaten by Hindu nationalists finally arrested by the local police, because "guilty" of celebrating a baptism. The episode took place in Kanthapada, in the district of Balasore (Orissa), against 20 Pentecostal Christians (of these, 10 were catechumens), October 2 last. For Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the fact is "outrageous," and he demands the chief minister of Orissa "open an investigation into the police officers involved."
A large group of Hindu nationalists belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) were behind the incident. They broke into the middle of the ceremony, beating and insulting the minister Jayaram Marandi and faithful. Shortly thereafter, police from Khantapada station arrived, forcing the 20 Christians to get on to a truck, which brought them in for interrogation. After the arrest, the police deployed a large number of agents to "control" that the village.
Sajan George explains: "To harass, intimidate and arrest these Christian communities, the Hindu nationalists are exploiting the atrocious Orissa Freedom of Religion Act 1997 [Ofra Act 1997, the anti-conversion law of the State, ed], with the connivance and tacit consent of both administration and police. " According to the president of the GCIC, "the state government should stop persecuting those who use the decree against the population and threaten the Constitution, which is based on respect for justice and freedom." On paper, the anti-conversion laws prohibit conversions that occur "through force, coercion or fraud," and thus allow the government to investigate. In fact, they are applied only in cases of Hindus who switch to another religion. Since its implementation, conversions have decreased in number.
After the anti-Christian pogrom in Kandhamal (2008), he adds, "the perception of being under threat grew," because "the presence of the Sangh Parivar [umbrella that collects all the Hindu nationalist groups and movements, ed] has grown," bringing with it "hate campaigns and social boycott against Christians." However, greatest concern and discouragement regard "the extreme slowness of the machinery of justice for the victims of the massacres: while the number released from prison increases, alongside a decrease in convictions, and even those who have been found guilty get bail." The most striking case concerns Manoj Pradhan, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, ultra-nationalist Hindu party), responsible for the killing of a Christian leader in the pogrom. Despite a final sentence of seven years in prison - and trials for three other killings - the man is free on bail.
Meanwhile, another attack took place in Orissa has come to the attention of the GCIC. On 24 September in Krutamgarh (Kandhamal district), 12 Hindu activists of the Bajrang Dal disrupted a prayer service at a Pentecostal Christian community. The attack was particularly violent and the offenders forced the pastor Mantu Nayak to the ground and beat him, resulting in serious head injuries and fractures to both arms. For the moment, the police have arrested eight activists and are looking for others.
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS IT
AFRICA : EGYPT : 2 CHRISTIAN CHILDREN ACCUSED OF BLAPHEMY RELEASED
CISA NEWS REPORT:
CAIRO, October 5, 2012
(CISA) – The Egyptian Prosecutor General on October 4, ordered the release
of two Coptic Orthodox children who had been taken to a juvenile detention in
the southern province of Beni Suef accused of urinating on pages containing
verses of the Koran.
According to lawyer Naguib Gebrail of the Coptic Orthodox community the rapid release of the two boys was facilitated by a direct intervention of President Mohamed Morsi at the urging of his Coptic Orthodox assistant Samir Marcos.
Formally, the detention of the two children did not comply with the international convention on children’s rights signed by Egypt. In fact, the children Nabil Nagui Rizq (10 years old) and Mina Nadi Farag (9 years old) were placed in detention by security forces also to be withdrawn from the anger of the mob who, incited also by a sheikh of the village, had surrounded the local police station to the news of their custody.
“The release of the two boys is good news, but the Egyptian media have not put a strong emphasis on the case,” said to Fides Botros Fahim Awad Hanna, Auxiliary Bishop of Alexandria of the Catholic Copts.
Charges of insulting Islam addressed in particular to the Copts in Egypt have increased since a movie against Mohammed aired on YouTube in recent weeks sparking riots and violence in many Muslim majority Countries. A story that according to Bishop Fahim is full of mystery. “Behind that movie,” said the Bishop to Fides, “there was a political game. We have yet to understand who did it, who financed it, who put it online, and what purpose one wanted to obtain with that operation.”
SHARED FROM CISA NEWS
According to lawyer Naguib Gebrail of the Coptic Orthodox community the rapid release of the two boys was facilitated by a direct intervention of President Mohamed Morsi at the urging of his Coptic Orthodox assistant Samir Marcos.
Formally, the detention of the two children did not comply with the international convention on children’s rights signed by Egypt. In fact, the children Nabil Nagui Rizq (10 years old) and Mina Nadi Farag (9 years old) were placed in detention by security forces also to be withdrawn from the anger of the mob who, incited also by a sheikh of the village, had surrounded the local police station to the news of their custody.
“The release of the two boys is good news, but the Egyptian media have not put a strong emphasis on the case,” said to Fides Botros Fahim Awad Hanna, Auxiliary Bishop of Alexandria of the Catholic Copts.
Charges of insulting Islam addressed in particular to the Copts in Egypt have increased since a movie against Mohammed aired on YouTube in recent weeks sparking riots and violence in many Muslim majority Countries. A story that according to Bishop Fahim is full of mystery. “Behind that movie,” said the Bishop to Fides, “there was a political game. We have yet to understand who did it, who financed it, who put it online, and what purpose one wanted to obtain with that operation.”
SHARED FROM CISA NEWS
AUSTRALIA : CENTENARY OF KATHLEEN COSGRIFF
Centenary Celebrations
for Kathleen Cosgriff
ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE REPORT:
Thursday 4 October
2012
By Veronica F. Cosgriff
MRS Kathleen Cosgriff, the mother of Niddrie Parish
Priest Father Brian Cosgriff, turned 100 years old on Sunday 30
September.
The celebration of this grand event took the form of a Eucharistic Celebration for family and friends in the Chapel at St Joseph´s Home for the Aged (Little Sisters of the Poor) in Northcote, where Kathleen resides, and was followed by a small reception in the hall.
Mrs Cosgriff lived in the hostel at St Joseph´s for 14 years, until recently when her vision deteriorated, and was an extremely active member of the activities and events that took place there.
One of the staunchest Collingwood supporters at St Josephs, Kathleen still follows the football fixture avidly, and submits her footy tips weekly. She also listens attentively to the sports broadcasts to keep up with the news.
Mrs Cosgriff and her husband Michael (who died in 1969) have 11 children, 40 grandchildren and 53 great grandchildren. She and her family have always been faithful members of the Catholic Parishes they have attended including Port Melbourne, Clifton Hill, Preston, and West Preston.
Having reached the grand age of 100, Kathleen is still impressed by the enormous faith her parents instilled in her, the same faith she has shared with her immediate family and her own children over the years, as they have faced the crosses that life brings.
One of her favourite stories about the power of prayer is that she almost died at just two years old from pneumonia. As her life hung in the balance in hospital, her older sisters (just 4 and 8 years older than her) were at home praying Hail Marys for her recovery. 98 years on and she is an excellent example of God´s mercy and love, still going strong.
Her two older sisters are no longer alive, although one did live to be 99 and a half. Kathleen’s younger sister who is 98 is the only remaining member of her immediate family
Of her own 11 children three have predeceased her. Her daughter Marlene died in 1978 at the age of 40, son Bernard died suddenly last year aged 53, and just last month Kathleen lovingly attented the funeral of her daughter Denise, 63, who died after a very short illness.
Kathleen has borne these sad events by placing her trust in God and turning to Him for comfort in her sorrow. She remarked recently that it seemed difficult to reach 100.
Kathleen was not particularly interested in reaching the century a few year back, but with all the support and loving care she has been shown by her family, friends, and in particular by the nuns (The Little Sisters of the Poor) and staff at St Joseph´s Home, she is very excited about this achievement, and continues to leave her life in God´s hands.
Her family and friends are very proud of this wonderful achievement, and they thank God that Kathleen is alert, optimistic and still retains her sense of humour as she puts her faith in God.
Even now she walks the hallways and attends daily Mass, singing hymns and answering the parts of the Mass (even the new revised edition) with gusto.
Kathleen believes that her secret to a long life lies in not drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes.
This article was submitted by Kathleen´s daughter Veronica Frances Cosgriff.
Photo by Veronica Cosgriff: Kathleen Cosgriff, her son Adrian Cosgriff, his son Mark Cosgriff, and his son Ky Cosgriff.
By Veronica F. Cosgriff
MRS Kathleen Cosgriff, the mother of Niddrie Parish
Priest Father Brian Cosgriff, turned 100 years old on Sunday 30
September.The celebration of this grand event took the form of a Eucharistic Celebration for family and friends in the Chapel at St Joseph´s Home for the Aged (Little Sisters of the Poor) in Northcote, where Kathleen resides, and was followed by a small reception in the hall.
Mrs Cosgriff lived in the hostel at St Joseph´s for 14 years, until recently when her vision deteriorated, and was an extremely active member of the activities and events that took place there.
One of the staunchest Collingwood supporters at St Josephs, Kathleen still follows the football fixture avidly, and submits her footy tips weekly. She also listens attentively to the sports broadcasts to keep up with the news.
Mrs Cosgriff and her husband Michael (who died in 1969) have 11 children, 40 grandchildren and 53 great grandchildren. She and her family have always been faithful members of the Catholic Parishes they have attended including Port Melbourne, Clifton Hill, Preston, and West Preston.
Having reached the grand age of 100, Kathleen is still impressed by the enormous faith her parents instilled in her, the same faith she has shared with her immediate family and her own children over the years, as they have faced the crosses that life brings.
One of her favourite stories about the power of prayer is that she almost died at just two years old from pneumonia. As her life hung in the balance in hospital, her older sisters (just 4 and 8 years older than her) were at home praying Hail Marys for her recovery. 98 years on and she is an excellent example of God´s mercy and love, still going strong.
Her two older sisters are no longer alive, although one did live to be 99 and a half. Kathleen’s younger sister who is 98 is the only remaining member of her immediate family
Of her own 11 children three have predeceased her. Her daughter Marlene died in 1978 at the age of 40, son Bernard died suddenly last year aged 53, and just last month Kathleen lovingly attented the funeral of her daughter Denise, 63, who died after a very short illness.
Kathleen has borne these sad events by placing her trust in God and turning to Him for comfort in her sorrow. She remarked recently that it seemed difficult to reach 100.
Kathleen was not particularly interested in reaching the century a few year back, but with all the support and loving care she has been shown by her family, friends, and in particular by the nuns (The Little Sisters of the Poor) and staff at St Joseph´s Home, she is very excited about this achievement, and continues to leave her life in God´s hands.
Her family and friends are very proud of this wonderful achievement, and they thank God that Kathleen is alert, optimistic and still retains her sense of humour as she puts her faith in God.
Even now she walks the hallways and attends daily Mass, singing hymns and answering the parts of the Mass (even the new revised edition) with gusto.
Kathleen believes that her secret to a long life lies in not drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes.
This article was submitted by Kathleen´s daughter Veronica Frances Cosgriff.
Photo by Veronica Cosgriff: Kathleen Cosgriff, her son Adrian Cosgriff, his son Mark Cosgriff, and his son Ky Cosgriff.
shared from ARCHDIOCESE
OF MELBOURNE
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : SAT. OCT. 6, 2012
| Luke
10: 17 - 24
| |
| 17 | The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" |
| 18 | And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. |
| 19 | Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. |
| 20 | Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." |
| 21 | In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. |
| 22 | All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." |
| 23 | Then turning to the disciples he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! |
| 24 | For I tell you that many
prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear
what you hear, and did not hear it." |
TODAY'S SAINT: OCT. 6: ST. BRUNO : FOUNDER CARTHUSIANS , DIED: 1101
St. Bruno
FOUNDER OF THE
CARTHUSIAN ORDER
Feast: October 6
Infor
mation:
Feast Day:
October 6
Born:
1030 at Cologne, Germany
Died:
1101 at Torre, Calabria, Italy
Patron of:
possessed people
Confessor, ecclesiastical writer, and founder of the Carthusian Order. He was born at Cologne about the year 1030; died 6 October, 1101. He is usually represented with a death's head in his hands, a book and a cross, or crowned with seven stars; or with a roll bearing the device O Bonitas. His feast is kept on the 6th of October.
According to tradition, St. Bruno belonged to the family of Hartenfaust, or Hardebüst, one of the principal families of the city, and it is in remembrance of this origin that different members of the family of Hartenfaust have received from the Carthusians either some special prayers for the dead, as in the case of Peter Bruno Hartenfaust in 1714, and Louis Alexander Hartenfaust, Baron of Laach, in 1740; or a personal affiliation with the order, as with Louis Bruno of Hardevüst, Baron of Laach and Burgomaster of the town of Bergues-S. Winnoc, in the Diocese of Cambrai, with whom the Hardevüst family in the male line became extinct on 22 March, 1784.
We have little information about the childhood and youth of St. Bruno. Born at Cologne, he would have studied at the city college, or collegial of St. Cunibert. While still quite young (a pueris) he went to complete his education at Reims, attracted by the reputation of the episcopal school and of its director, Heriman. There he finished his classical studies and perfected himself in the sacred sciences which at that time consisted principally of the study of Holy Scripture and of the Fathers. He became there, according to the testimony of his contemporaries, learned both in human and in Divine science.
His education completed, St. Bruno returned to Cologne, where he was provided with a canonry at St. Cunibert's, and, according to the most probable opinion, was elevated to the priestly dignity. This was about the year 1055. In 1056 Bishop Gervais recalled him to Reims, to aid his former master Heriman in the direction of the school. The latter was already turning his attention towards a more perfect form of life, and when he at last left the world to enter the religious life, in 1057, St. Bruno found himself head of the episcopal school, or écolâtre, a post difficult as it was elevated, for it then included the direction of the public schools and the oversight of all the educational establishments of the diocese. For about twenty years, from 1057 to 1075, he maintained the prestige which the school of Reims has attained under its former masters, Remi of Auxerre, Hucbald of St. Amand, Gerbert, and lastly Heriman. Of the excellence of his teaching we have a proof in the funereal titles composed in his honour, which celebrate his eloquence, his poetic, philosophical, and above all his exegetical and theological, talents; and also in the merits of his pupils, amongst whom were Eudes of Châtillon, afterwards Urban II, Rangier, Cardinal and Bishop of Reggio, Robert, Bishop of Langres, and a large number of prelates and abbots.
In 1075 St. Bruno was appointed chancellor of the church of Reims, and had then to give himself especially to the administration of the diocese. Meanwhile the pious Bishop Gervais, friend of St. Bruno, had been succeeded by Manasses de Gournai, who quickly became odious for his impiety and violence. The chancellor and two other canons were commissioned to bear to the papal legate, Hugh of Die, the complaints of the indignant clergy, and at the Council of Autun, 1077, they obtained the suspension of the unworthy prelate. The latter's reply was to raze the houses of his accusers, confiscate their goods, sell their benefices, and appeal to the pope. Bruno then absented himself from Reims for a while, and went probably to Rome to defend the justice of his cause. It was only in 1080 that a definite sentence, confirmed by a rising of the people, compelled Manasses to withdraw and take refuge with the Emperor Henry IV. Free then to choose another bishop, the clergy were on the point of uniting their vote upon the chancellor. He, however, had far different designs in view. According to a tradition preserved in the Carthusian Order, Bruno was persuaded to abandon the world by the sight of a celebrated prodigy, popularized by the brush of Lesueur--the triple resurrection of the Parisian doctor, Raymond Diocres. To this tradition may be opposed the silence of contemporaries, and of the first biographers of the saint; the silence of Bruno himself in his letter to Raoul le Vert, Provost of Reims; and the impossibility of proving that he ever visited Paris. He had no need of such an extraordinary argument to cause him to leave the world. Some time before, when in conversation with two of his friends, Raoul and Fulcius, canons of Reims like himself, they had been so enkindled with the love of God and the desire of eternal goods that they had made a vow to abandon the world and to embrace the religious life. This vow, uttered in 1077, could not be put into execution until 1080, owing to various circumstances.
The first idea of St. Bruno on leaving Reims seems to have been to place himself and his companions under the direction of an eminent solitary, St. Robert, who had recently (1075) settled at Molesme in the Diocese of Langres, together with a band of other solitaries who were later on (1098) to form the Cistercian Order. But he soon found that this was not his vocation, and after a short sojourn at Sèche-Fontaine near Molesme, he left two of his companions, Peter and Lambert, and betook himself with six others to Hugh of Châteauneuf, Bishop of Grenoble, and, according to some authors, one of his pupils. The bishop, to whom God had shown these men in a dream, under the image of seven stars, conducted and installed them himself (1084) in a wild spot on the Alps of Dauphiné named Chartreuse, about four leagues from Grenoble, in the midst of precipitous rocks and mountains almost always covered with snow. With St. Bruno were Landuin, the two Stephens of Bourg and Die, canons of Sts. Rufus, and Hugh the Chaplain, "all, the most learned men of their time", and two laymen, Andrew and Guérin, who afterwards became the first lay brothers. They built a little monastery where they lived in deep retreat and poverty, entirely occupied in prayer and study, and frequently honoured by the visits of St. Hugh who became like one of themselves. Their manner of life has been recorded by a contemporary, Guibert of Nogent, who visited them in their solitude. (De Vitâ suâ, I, ii.)
Meanwhile, another pupil of St. Bruno, Eudes of Châtillon, had become pope under the name of Urban II (1088). Resolved to continue the work of reform commenced by Gregory VII, and being obliged to struggle against the antipope, Guibert of Ravenna, and the Emperor Henry IV, he sought to surround himself with devoted allies and called his ancient master ad Sedis Apostolicae servitium. Thus the solitary found himself obliged to leave the spot where he had spent more than six years in retreat, followed by a part of his community, who could not make up their minds to live separated from him (1090). It is difficult to assign the place which he then occupied at the pontifical court, or his influence in contemporary events, which was entirely hidden and confidential. Lodged in the palace of the pope himself and admitted to his councils, and charged, moreover, with other collaborators, in preparing matters for the numerous councils of this period, we must give him some credit for their results. But he took care always to keep himself in the background, and although he seems to have assisted at theCouncil of Benevento (March, 1091), we find no evidence of his having been present at the Councils of Troja (March, 1093), of Piacenza (March, 1095), or of Clermont (November, 1095). His part in history is effaced. All that we can say with certainty is that he seconded with all his power the sovereign pontiff in his efforts for the reform of the clergy, efforts inaugurated at the Council of Melfi (1089) and continued at that of Benevento. A short time after the arrival of St. Bruno, the pope had been obliged to abandon Rome before the victorious forces of the emperor and the antipope. He withdrew with all his court to the south of Italy.
During the voyage, the former professor of Reims attracted the attention of the clergy of Reggio in further Calabria, which had just lost its archbishop Arnulph (1090), and their votes were given to him. The pope and the Norman prince, Roger, Duke of Apulia, strongly approved of the election and pressed St. Bruno to accept it. In a similar juncture at Reims he had escaped by flight; this time he again escaped by causing Rangier, one of his former pupils, to be elected, who was fortunately near by at the Benedictine Abbey of La Cava near Salerno. But he feared that such attempts would be renewed; moreover he was weary of the agitated life imposed upon him, and solitude ever invited him. He begged, therefore, and after much trouble obtained, the pope's permission to return again to his solitary life. His intention was to rejoin his brethren in Dauphiné, as a letter addressed to them makes clear. But the will of Urban II kept him in Italy, near the papal court, to which he could be called at need. The place chosen for his new retreat by St. Bruno and some followers who had joined him was in the Diocese of Squillace, on the eastern slope of the great chain which crosses Calabria from north to south, and in a high valley three miles long and two in width, covered with forest. The new solitaries constructed a little chapel of planks for their pious reunions and, in the depths of the woods, cabins covered with mud for their habitations. A legend says that St. Bruno whilst at prayer was discovered by the hounds of Roger, Great Count of Sicily and Calabria and uncle of the Duke of Apulia, who was then hunting in the neighbourhood, and who thus learnt to know and venerate him; but the count had no need to wait for that occasion to know him, for it was probably upon his invitation that the new solitaries settled upon his domains. That same year (1091) he visited them, made them a grant of the lands they occupied, and a close friendship was formed between them. More than once St. Bruno went to Mileto to take part in the joys and sorrows of the noble family, to visit the count when sick (1098 and 1101), and to baptize his son Roger (1097), the future Kind of Sicily. But more often it was Roger who went into the desert to visit his friends, and when, through his generosity, the monastery of St. Stephen was built, in 1095, near the hermitage of St. Mary, there was erected adjoining it a little country house at which he loved to pass the time left free from governing his State.
Meanwhile the friends of St. Bruno died one after the other: Urban II in 1099; Landuin, the prior of the Grand Chartreuse, his first companion, in 1100; Count Roger in 1101. His own time was near at hand. Before his death he gathered for the last time his brethren round him and made in their presence a profession of the Catholic Faith, the words of which have been preserved. He affirms with special emphasis his faith in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and in the real presence of Our Saviour in the Holy Eucharist--a protestation against the two heresies which had troubled that century, the tritheism of Roscelin, and the impanation of Berengarius. After his death, the Carthusians of Calabria, following a frequent custom of the Middle Ages by which the Christian world was associated with the death of its saints, dispatched a rolliger, a servant of the convent laden with a long roll of parchment, hung round his neck, who passed through Italy, France, Germany, and England. He stopped at the principal churches and communities to announce the death, and in return, the churches, communities, or chapters inscribed upon his roll, in prose or verse, the expression of their regrets, with promises of prayers. Many of these rolls have been preserved, but few are so extensive or so full of praise as that about St. Bruno. A hundred and seventy-eight witnesses, of whom many had known the deceased, celebrated the extent of his knowledge and the fruitfulness of his instruction. Strangers to him were above all struck by his great knowledge and talents. But his disciples praised his three chief virtues--his great spirit of prayer, an extreme mortification, and a filial devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Both the churches built by him in the desert were dedicated to the Blessed Virgin: Our Lady of Casalibus in Dauphiné, Our Lady Della Torre in Calabria; and, faithful to his inspirations, the Carthusian Statutes proclaim the Mother of God the first and chief patron of all the houses of the order, whoever may be their particular patron.
St. Bruno was buried in the little cemetery of the hermitage of St. Mary, and many miracles were worked at his tomb. He had never been formally canonized. His cult, authorized for the Carthusian Order by Leo X in 1514, was extended to the whole church by Gregory XV, 17 February, 1623, as a semi-double feast, and elevated to the class of doubles by Clement X, 14 March, 1674. St. Bruno is the popular saint of Calabria; every year a great multitude resort to the Charterhouse of St. Stephen, on the Monday and Tuesday of Pentecost, when his relics are borne in procession to the hermitage of St. Mary, where he lived, and the people visit the spots sanctified by his presence. An immense number of medals are struck in his honour and distributed to the crowd, and the little Carthusian habits, which so many children of the neighbourhood wear, are blessed. He is especially invoked, and successfully, for the deliverance of those possessed.
As a writer and founder of an order, St. Bruno occupies an important place in the history of the eleventh century. He composed commentaries on the Psalms and on the Epistles of St. Paul, the former written probably during his professorship at Reims, the latter during his stay at the Grande Chartreuse if we may believe an old manuscript seen by Mabillon--"Explicit glosarius Brunonis heremitae super Epistolas B. Pauli." Two letters of his still remain, also his profession of faith, and a short elegy on contempt for the world which shows that he cultivated poetry. The "Commentaries" disclose to us a man of learning; he knows a little Hebrew and Greek and uses it to explain, or if need be, rectify the Vulgate; he is familiar with the Fathers, especially St. Augustine and St. Ambrose, his favourites. "His style", says Dom Rivet, "is concise, clear, nervous and simple, and his Latin as good as could be expected of that century: it would be difficult to find a composition of this kind at once more solid and more luminous, more concise and more clear". His writings have been published several times: at Paris, 1509-24; Cologne, 1611-40; Migne, Latin Patrology, CLII, CLIII, Montreuil-sur-Mer, 1891. The Paris edition of 1524 and those of Cologne include also some sermons and homilies which may be more justly attributed to St. Bruno, Bishop of Segni. The Preface of the Blessed Virgin has also been wrongly ascribed to him; it is long anterior, though he may have contributed to introduce it into the liturgy.
St. Bruno's distinction as the founder of an order was that he introduced into the religious life the mixed form, or union of the eremitical and cenobite modes of monasticism, a medium between the Camaldolese Rule and that of St. Benedict. He wrote no rule, but he left behind him two institutions which had little connection with each other--that of Dauphiné and that of Calabria. The foundation of Calabria, somewhat like the Camaldolese, comprised two classes of religious: hermits, who had the direction of the order, and cenobites who did not feel called to the solitary life; it only lasted a century, did not rise to more than five houses, and finally, in 1191, united with the Cistercian Order. The foundation of Grenoble, more like the rule of St. Benedict, comprised only one kind of religious, subject to a uniform discipline, and the greater part of whose life was spent in solitude, without, however, the complete exclusion of the conventual life. This life spread throughout Europe, numbered 250 monasteries, and in spite of many trials continues to this day.
The great figure of St. Bruno has been often sketched by artists and has inspired more than one masterpiece: in sculpture, for example, the famous statue by Houdon, at St. Mary of the Angels in Rome, "which would speak if his rule did not compel him to silence"; in painting, the fine picture by Zurbaran, in the Seville museum, representing Urban II and St. Bruno in conference; the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin to St. Bruno, by Guercino at Bologna; and above all the twenty-two pictures forming the gallery of St. Bruno in the museum of the Louvre, "a masterpiece of Le Sueur and of the French school".
Feast: October 6
Infor
mation:Feast Day:
October 6
Born:
1030 at Cologne, Germany
Died:
1101 at Torre, Calabria, Italy
Patron of:
possessed people
Confessor, ecclesiastical writer, and founder of the Carthusian Order. He was born at Cologne about the year 1030; died 6 October, 1101. He is usually represented with a death's head in his hands, a book and a cross, or crowned with seven stars; or with a roll bearing the device O Bonitas. His feast is kept on the 6th of October.
According to tradition, St. Bruno belonged to the family of Hartenfaust, or Hardebüst, one of the principal families of the city, and it is in remembrance of this origin that different members of the family of Hartenfaust have received from the Carthusians either some special prayers for the dead, as in the case of Peter Bruno Hartenfaust in 1714, and Louis Alexander Hartenfaust, Baron of Laach, in 1740; or a personal affiliation with the order, as with Louis Bruno of Hardevüst, Baron of Laach and Burgomaster of the town of Bergues-S. Winnoc, in the Diocese of Cambrai, with whom the Hardevüst family in the male line became extinct on 22 March, 1784.
We have little information about the childhood and youth of St. Bruno. Born at Cologne, he would have studied at the city college, or collegial of St. Cunibert. While still quite young (a pueris) he went to complete his education at Reims, attracted by the reputation of the episcopal school and of its director, Heriman. There he finished his classical studies and perfected himself in the sacred sciences which at that time consisted principally of the study of Holy Scripture and of the Fathers. He became there, according to the testimony of his contemporaries, learned both in human and in Divine science.
His education completed, St. Bruno returned to Cologne, where he was provided with a canonry at St. Cunibert's, and, according to the most probable opinion, was elevated to the priestly dignity. This was about the year 1055. In 1056 Bishop Gervais recalled him to Reims, to aid his former master Heriman in the direction of the school. The latter was already turning his attention towards a more perfect form of life, and when he at last left the world to enter the religious life, in 1057, St. Bruno found himself head of the episcopal school, or écolâtre, a post difficult as it was elevated, for it then included the direction of the public schools and the oversight of all the educational establishments of the diocese. For about twenty years, from 1057 to 1075, he maintained the prestige which the school of Reims has attained under its former masters, Remi of Auxerre, Hucbald of St. Amand, Gerbert, and lastly Heriman. Of the excellence of his teaching we have a proof in the funereal titles composed in his honour, which celebrate his eloquence, his poetic, philosophical, and above all his exegetical and theological, talents; and also in the merits of his pupils, amongst whom were Eudes of Châtillon, afterwards Urban II, Rangier, Cardinal and Bishop of Reggio, Robert, Bishop of Langres, and a large number of prelates and abbots.
In 1075 St. Bruno was appointed chancellor of the church of Reims, and had then to give himself especially to the administration of the diocese. Meanwhile the pious Bishop Gervais, friend of St. Bruno, had been succeeded by Manasses de Gournai, who quickly became odious for his impiety and violence. The chancellor and two other canons were commissioned to bear to the papal legate, Hugh of Die, the complaints of the indignant clergy, and at the Council of Autun, 1077, they obtained the suspension of the unworthy prelate. The latter's reply was to raze the houses of his accusers, confiscate their goods, sell their benefices, and appeal to the pope. Bruno then absented himself from Reims for a while, and went probably to Rome to defend the justice of his cause. It was only in 1080 that a definite sentence, confirmed by a rising of the people, compelled Manasses to withdraw and take refuge with the Emperor Henry IV. Free then to choose another bishop, the clergy were on the point of uniting their vote upon the chancellor. He, however, had far different designs in view. According to a tradition preserved in the Carthusian Order, Bruno was persuaded to abandon the world by the sight of a celebrated prodigy, popularized by the brush of Lesueur--the triple resurrection of the Parisian doctor, Raymond Diocres. To this tradition may be opposed the silence of contemporaries, and of the first biographers of the saint; the silence of Bruno himself in his letter to Raoul le Vert, Provost of Reims; and the impossibility of proving that he ever visited Paris. He had no need of such an extraordinary argument to cause him to leave the world. Some time before, when in conversation with two of his friends, Raoul and Fulcius, canons of Reims like himself, they had been so enkindled with the love of God and the desire of eternal goods that they had made a vow to abandon the world and to embrace the religious life. This vow, uttered in 1077, could not be put into execution until 1080, owing to various circumstances.
The first idea of St. Bruno on leaving Reims seems to have been to place himself and his companions under the direction of an eminent solitary, St. Robert, who had recently (1075) settled at Molesme in the Diocese of Langres, together with a band of other solitaries who were later on (1098) to form the Cistercian Order. But he soon found that this was not his vocation, and after a short sojourn at Sèche-Fontaine near Molesme, he left two of his companions, Peter and Lambert, and betook himself with six others to Hugh of Châteauneuf, Bishop of Grenoble, and, according to some authors, one of his pupils. The bishop, to whom God had shown these men in a dream, under the image of seven stars, conducted and installed them himself (1084) in a wild spot on the Alps of Dauphiné named Chartreuse, about four leagues from Grenoble, in the midst of precipitous rocks and mountains almost always covered with snow. With St. Bruno were Landuin, the two Stephens of Bourg and Die, canons of Sts. Rufus, and Hugh the Chaplain, "all, the most learned men of their time", and two laymen, Andrew and Guérin, who afterwards became the first lay brothers. They built a little monastery where they lived in deep retreat and poverty, entirely occupied in prayer and study, and frequently honoured by the visits of St. Hugh who became like one of themselves. Their manner of life has been recorded by a contemporary, Guibert of Nogent, who visited them in their solitude. (De Vitâ suâ, I, ii.)
Meanwhile, another pupil of St. Bruno, Eudes of Châtillon, had become pope under the name of Urban II (1088). Resolved to continue the work of reform commenced by Gregory VII, and being obliged to struggle against the antipope, Guibert of Ravenna, and the Emperor Henry IV, he sought to surround himself with devoted allies and called his ancient master ad Sedis Apostolicae servitium. Thus the solitary found himself obliged to leave the spot where he had spent more than six years in retreat, followed by a part of his community, who could not make up their minds to live separated from him (1090). It is difficult to assign the place which he then occupied at the pontifical court, or his influence in contemporary events, which was entirely hidden and confidential. Lodged in the palace of the pope himself and admitted to his councils, and charged, moreover, with other collaborators, in preparing matters for the numerous councils of this period, we must give him some credit for their results. But he took care always to keep himself in the background, and although he seems to have assisted at theCouncil of Benevento (March, 1091), we find no evidence of his having been present at the Councils of Troja (March, 1093), of Piacenza (March, 1095), or of Clermont (November, 1095). His part in history is effaced. All that we can say with certainty is that he seconded with all his power the sovereign pontiff in his efforts for the reform of the clergy, efforts inaugurated at the Council of Melfi (1089) and continued at that of Benevento. A short time after the arrival of St. Bruno, the pope had been obliged to abandon Rome before the victorious forces of the emperor and the antipope. He withdrew with all his court to the south of Italy.
During the voyage, the former professor of Reims attracted the attention of the clergy of Reggio in further Calabria, which had just lost its archbishop Arnulph (1090), and their votes were given to him. The pope and the Norman prince, Roger, Duke of Apulia, strongly approved of the election and pressed St. Bruno to accept it. In a similar juncture at Reims he had escaped by flight; this time he again escaped by causing Rangier, one of his former pupils, to be elected, who was fortunately near by at the Benedictine Abbey of La Cava near Salerno. But he feared that such attempts would be renewed; moreover he was weary of the agitated life imposed upon him, and solitude ever invited him. He begged, therefore, and after much trouble obtained, the pope's permission to return again to his solitary life. His intention was to rejoin his brethren in Dauphiné, as a letter addressed to them makes clear. But the will of Urban II kept him in Italy, near the papal court, to which he could be called at need. The place chosen for his new retreat by St. Bruno and some followers who had joined him was in the Diocese of Squillace, on the eastern slope of the great chain which crosses Calabria from north to south, and in a high valley three miles long and two in width, covered with forest. The new solitaries constructed a little chapel of planks for their pious reunions and, in the depths of the woods, cabins covered with mud for their habitations. A legend says that St. Bruno whilst at prayer was discovered by the hounds of Roger, Great Count of Sicily and Calabria and uncle of the Duke of Apulia, who was then hunting in the neighbourhood, and who thus learnt to know and venerate him; but the count had no need to wait for that occasion to know him, for it was probably upon his invitation that the new solitaries settled upon his domains. That same year (1091) he visited them, made them a grant of the lands they occupied, and a close friendship was formed between them. More than once St. Bruno went to Mileto to take part in the joys and sorrows of the noble family, to visit the count when sick (1098 and 1101), and to baptize his son Roger (1097), the future Kind of Sicily. But more often it was Roger who went into the desert to visit his friends, and when, through his generosity, the monastery of St. Stephen was built, in 1095, near the hermitage of St. Mary, there was erected adjoining it a little country house at which he loved to pass the time left free from governing his State.
Meanwhile the friends of St. Bruno died one after the other: Urban II in 1099; Landuin, the prior of the Grand Chartreuse, his first companion, in 1100; Count Roger in 1101. His own time was near at hand. Before his death he gathered for the last time his brethren round him and made in their presence a profession of the Catholic Faith, the words of which have been preserved. He affirms with special emphasis his faith in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and in the real presence of Our Saviour in the Holy Eucharist--a protestation against the two heresies which had troubled that century, the tritheism of Roscelin, and the impanation of Berengarius. After his death, the Carthusians of Calabria, following a frequent custom of the Middle Ages by which the Christian world was associated with the death of its saints, dispatched a rolliger, a servant of the convent laden with a long roll of parchment, hung round his neck, who passed through Italy, France, Germany, and England. He stopped at the principal churches and communities to announce the death, and in return, the churches, communities, or chapters inscribed upon his roll, in prose or verse, the expression of their regrets, with promises of prayers. Many of these rolls have been preserved, but few are so extensive or so full of praise as that about St. Bruno. A hundred and seventy-eight witnesses, of whom many had known the deceased, celebrated the extent of his knowledge and the fruitfulness of his instruction. Strangers to him were above all struck by his great knowledge and talents. But his disciples praised his three chief virtues--his great spirit of prayer, an extreme mortification, and a filial devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Both the churches built by him in the desert were dedicated to the Blessed Virgin: Our Lady of Casalibus in Dauphiné, Our Lady Della Torre in Calabria; and, faithful to his inspirations, the Carthusian Statutes proclaim the Mother of God the first and chief patron of all the houses of the order, whoever may be their particular patron.
St. Bruno was buried in the little cemetery of the hermitage of St. Mary, and many miracles were worked at his tomb. He had never been formally canonized. His cult, authorized for the Carthusian Order by Leo X in 1514, was extended to the whole church by Gregory XV, 17 February, 1623, as a semi-double feast, and elevated to the class of doubles by Clement X, 14 March, 1674. St. Bruno is the popular saint of Calabria; every year a great multitude resort to the Charterhouse of St. Stephen, on the Monday and Tuesday of Pentecost, when his relics are borne in procession to the hermitage of St. Mary, where he lived, and the people visit the spots sanctified by his presence. An immense number of medals are struck in his honour and distributed to the crowd, and the little Carthusian habits, which so many children of the neighbourhood wear, are blessed. He is especially invoked, and successfully, for the deliverance of those possessed.
As a writer and founder of an order, St. Bruno occupies an important place in the history of the eleventh century. He composed commentaries on the Psalms and on the Epistles of St. Paul, the former written probably during his professorship at Reims, the latter during his stay at the Grande Chartreuse if we may believe an old manuscript seen by Mabillon--"Explicit glosarius Brunonis heremitae super Epistolas B. Pauli." Two letters of his still remain, also his profession of faith, and a short elegy on contempt for the world which shows that he cultivated poetry. The "Commentaries" disclose to us a man of learning; he knows a little Hebrew and Greek and uses it to explain, or if need be, rectify the Vulgate; he is familiar with the Fathers, especially St. Augustine and St. Ambrose, his favourites. "His style", says Dom Rivet, "is concise, clear, nervous and simple, and his Latin as good as could be expected of that century: it would be difficult to find a composition of this kind at once more solid and more luminous, more concise and more clear". His writings have been published several times: at Paris, 1509-24; Cologne, 1611-40; Migne, Latin Patrology, CLII, CLIII, Montreuil-sur-Mer, 1891. The Paris edition of 1524 and those of Cologne include also some sermons and homilies which may be more justly attributed to St. Bruno, Bishop of Segni. The Preface of the Blessed Virgin has also been wrongly ascribed to him; it is long anterior, though he may have contributed to introduce it into the liturgy.
St. Bruno's distinction as the founder of an order was that he introduced into the religious life the mixed form, or union of the eremitical and cenobite modes of monasticism, a medium between the Camaldolese Rule and that of St. Benedict. He wrote no rule, but he left behind him two institutions which had little connection with each other--that of Dauphiné and that of Calabria. The foundation of Calabria, somewhat like the Camaldolese, comprised two classes of religious: hermits, who had the direction of the order, and cenobites who did not feel called to the solitary life; it only lasted a century, did not rise to more than five houses, and finally, in 1191, united with the Cistercian Order. The foundation of Grenoble, more like the rule of St. Benedict, comprised only one kind of religious, subject to a uniform discipline, and the greater part of whose life was spent in solitude, without, however, the complete exclusion of the conventual life. This life spread throughout Europe, numbered 250 monasteries, and in spite of many trials continues to this day.
The great figure of St. Bruno has been often sketched by artists and has inspired more than one masterpiece: in sculpture, for example, the famous statue by Houdon, at St. Mary of the Angels in Rome, "which would speak if his rule did not compel him to silence"; in painting, the fine picture by Zurbaran, in the Seville museum, representing Urban II and St. Bruno in conference; the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin to St. Bruno, by Guercino at Bologna; and above all the twenty-two pictures forming the gallery of St. Bruno in the museum of the Louvre, "a masterpiece of Le Sueur and of the French school".
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
