2013
(Vatican Radio ) Hidden away in the heart of Rome, up an elegant flight of travertine steps lies the imposing Renaissance Church of Saint Augustine.
When on the 28th of August Pope Francis steps into this great Church, which houses a myriad of artistic masterpieces from Raphael to Caravaggio, on a private visit to preside over Holy Mass, he does so on the day the Church remembers Saint Augustine.
But he’ll know too that this Church is linked to mothers in a special way.
First of all to the mother of Saint Augustine, Saint Monica whose feast day is on the eve of the 28th. It is here that her mortal remains were brought in the 13th century, at the request of the Pope of the time, to be entombed in the Chapel of a Church dedicated to her son.
A great mother, born in 332 AD at Tagaste an old Roman City on the road to Carthage, to whom her son Augustine refers throughout his ‘Confessions’, attributing to her his rescue from a wasteful and heretical life. Highlighting the love he had for this mother, today often referred to as the patron saint of ‘mothers of awkward sons’..
A mother, whom according to the Prior General of the Augustinians Father Robert Prevost, Pope Francis has over the years had a special devotion to.
“Many people have a devotion to Saint Monica, including Pope Francis who used to frequent that Church as Cardinal Bergoglio when he would come to Rome. He stayed near there and he would visit the Church and pray especially to Saint Monica whose feast is the 27th of August. So we celebrate both of them one after the other. It’s also a beautiful occasion to understand how significant the relationship between Saint Monica and Saint Augustine was and continues to be”.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
When on the 28th of August Pope Francis steps into this great Church, which houses a myriad of artistic masterpieces from Raphael to Caravaggio, on a private visit to preside over Holy Mass, he does so on the day the Church remembers Saint Augustine.
But he’ll know too that this Church is linked to mothers in a special way.
First of all to the mother of Saint Augustine, Saint Monica whose feast day is on the eve of the 28th. It is here that her mortal remains were brought in the 13th century, at the request of the Pope of the time, to be entombed in the Chapel of a Church dedicated to her son.
A great mother, born in 332 AD at Tagaste an old Roman City on the road to Carthage, to whom her son Augustine refers throughout his ‘Confessions’, attributing to her his rescue from a wasteful and heretical life. Highlighting the love he had for this mother, today often referred to as the patron saint of ‘mothers of awkward sons’..
A mother, whom according to the Prior General of the Augustinians Father Robert Prevost, Pope Francis has over the years had a special devotion to.
“Many people have a devotion to Saint Monica, including Pope Francis who used to frequent that Church as Cardinal Bergoglio when he would come to Rome. He stayed near there and he would visit the Church and pray especially to Saint Monica whose feast is the 27th of August. So we celebrate both of them one after the other. It’s also a beautiful occasion to understand how significant the relationship between Saint Monica and Saint Augustine was and continues to be”.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
CHURCH COLLOQUIUM LOOKS FOR MIGRANT SOLUTIONS IN AUSTRALIA
Church colloquium challenges Australia to find better migrant and refugee solutions
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Monday 27 August 2013FORMER Holy See Ambassador Tim Fischer, Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Paul Gallagher and Bishop Gerard Hanna addressed a crowd of over 100 people at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) Melbourne on Thursday 22 August about the pressing issues of migration and poverty.
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The colloquium was held to honour Bishop Joe Grech, who was a steadfast supporter of migrants and refugees until his untimely death in 2010.
With a particular focus on the Catholic Church’s commitment to refugees and asylum seekers, each speaker brought his own personal experience to bear in their addresses.
Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Gallagher, focused on his diplomatic experience emphasising the need for a realistic, compassionate approach.
“I think that it is clear that the phenomenon (of irregular migration) cannot be eradicated. Refugees and migrants of all categories, like the poor, we will have with us always (cfr. Mt 26:11) and there will always be those whose circumstances are highly irregular. We must seek durable solutions, but we should not be scandalised if we do not find them. The ethical foundation of our response is in the authenticity and integrity of the response itself”, he said.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer noted the importance of education and employment opportunities in raising living standards of migrants and refugees from poorer nations.
“Firstly, we should never forget the power of education to lift the standards of living of migrants and indeed people right around the world be they in Bhutan or Botswana or beyond.”
Bishop Gerard Hanna spoke on the pressures facing developing countries who accept much larger refugee numbers than Australia.
“We ask our neighbours, poor third world countries, to do what we, a very rich first world nation, are selfishly unwilling to do ourselves. We must open our hearts to refugees, listen to their hopes and welcome them into our communities. Solutions must be based in the real world and address the real needs of people”, he said.
The speakers all showed deep concern with developing viable solutions and better policy around the issue of asylum seekers and refugees. Rather than focusing on partisan polics, the speakers looked at the human face of migration, and examined ethical solutions in their addresses.
Photo: Former Holy See Ambassador Tim Fischer, Casamento Photography
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : TUES. AUG. 27, 2013
Memorial of Saint Monica
Lectionary: 426
Reading 11 THES 2:1-8
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters,
that our reception among you was not without effect.
Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated,
as you know, in Philippi,
we drew courage through our God
to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle.
Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives,
nor did it work through deception.
But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel,
that is how we speak,
not as trying to please men,
but rather God, who judges our hearts.
Nor, indeed, did we ever appear with flattering speech, as you know,
or with a pretext for greed–God is witness–
nor did we seek praise from men,
either from you or from others,
although we were able to impose our weight as Apostles of Christ.
Rather, we were gentle among you,
as a nursing mother cares for her children.
With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you
not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well,
so dearly beloved had you become to us.
that our reception among you was not without effect.
Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated,
as you know, in Philippi,
we drew courage through our God
to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle.
Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives,
nor did it work through deception.
But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel,
that is how we speak,
not as trying to please men,
but rather God, who judges our hearts.
Nor, indeed, did we ever appear with flattering speech, as you know,
or with a pretext for greed–God is witness–
nor did we seek praise from men,
either from you or from others,
although we were able to impose our weight as Apostles of Christ.
Rather, we were gentle among you,
as a nursing mother cares for her children.
With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you
not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well,
so dearly beloved had you become to us.
Responsorial Psalm PS 139:1-3, 4-6
R. (1) You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know the whole of it.
Behind me and before, you hem me in
and rest your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
too lofty for me to attain.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know the whole of it.
Behind me and before, you hem me in
and rest your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
too lofty for me to attain.
R. You have searched me and you know me, Lord.
Gospel MT 23:23-26
Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
Monday, August 26, 2013
TODAY'S SAINT: AUG. 27: ST. MONICA, DIED 387
St. Monica
WIDOWED MOTHER OF ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
Feast: August 27
Information: Feast Day: August 27
Born: 322 at Tagaste (Souk Ahrus), Algeria
Died: 387 at Ostia, Italy
Major Shrine: Sant'Agostino, Rome
Patron of: patience, married women, homemakers and housewives, mothers, wives, widows, alcoholics, difficult marriages, disappointing children, victims of adultery or unfaithfulness, and victims of (verbal) abuse
Widow; born of Christian parents at Tagaste, North Africa, in 333; died at Ostia, near Rome, in 387. We are told but little of her childhood. She was married early in life to Patritius who held an official position in Tagaste. He was a pagan, though like so many at that period, his religion was no more than a name; his temper was violent and he appears to have been of dissolute habits. Consequently Monica's married life was far from being a happy one, more especially as Patritius's mother seems to have been of a like disposition with himself. There was of course a gulf between husband and wife; her almsdeeds and her habits of prayer annoyed him, but it is said that he always held her in a sort of reverence. Monica was not the only matron of Tagaste whose married life was unhappy, but, by her sweetness and patience, she was able to exercise a veritable apostolate amongst the wives and mothers of her native town; they knew that she suffered as they did, and her words and example had a proportionate effect.
Three children were born of this marriage, Augustine the eldest, Navigius the second, and a daughter, Perpetua. Monica had been unable to secure baptism for her children, and her grief was great when Augustine fell ill; in her distress she besought Patritius to allow him to be baptized; he agreed, but on the boy's recovery withdrew his consent. All Monica s anxiety now centred in Augustine; he was wayward and, as he himself tells us, lazy. He was sent to Madaura to school and Monica seems to have literally wrestled with God for the soul of her son. A great consolation was vouchsafed her -- in compensation perhaps for all that she was to experience through Augustine -- Patritius became a Christian. Meanwhile, Augustine had been sent to Carthage, to prosecute his studies, and here he fell into grievous sin. Patritius died very shortly after his reception into the Church and Monica resolved not to marry again. At Carthage Augustine had become a Manichean and when on his return home he ventilated certain heretical propositions she drove him away from her table, but a strange vision which she had urged her to recall him. It was at this time that she went to see a certain holy bishop, whose name is not given, but who consoled her with the now famous words, "the child of those tears shall never perish." There is no more pathetic story in the annals of the Saints than that of Monica pursuing her wayward son to Rome, wither he had gone by stealth; when she arrived he had already gone to Milan, but she followed him. Here she found St. Ambrose and through him she ultimately had the joy of seeing Augustine yield, after seventeen years of resistance. Mother and son spent six months of true peace at Cassiacum, after which time Augustine was baptized in the church of St. John the Baptist at Milan. Africa claimed them however, and they set out on their journey, stopping at Civit' Vecchia and at Ostia. Here death overtook Monica and the finest pages of his "Confessions" were penned as the result of the emotion Augustine then experienced.
St. Monica was buried at Ostia, and at first seems to have been almost forgotten, though her body was removed during the sixth century to a hidden crypt in the church of St. Aureus. About the thirteenth century, however, the cult of St. Monica began to spread and a feast in her honour was kept on 4 May. In 1430 Martin V ordered the relics to be brought to Rome. Many miracles occurred on the way, and the cultus of St. Monica was definitely established. Later the Archbishop of Rouen, Cardinal d'Estouteville, built a church at Rome in honour of St. Augustine and deposited the relics of St. Monica in a chapel to the left of the high altar. The Office of St. Monica however does not seem to have found a place in the Roman Breviary before the sixteenth century. In 1850 there was established at Notre Dame de Sion at Paris an Association of Christian mothers under the patronage of St. Monica; its object was mutual prayer for sons and husbands who had gone astray. This Association was in 1856 raised to the rank of an archconfraternity and spread rapidly over all the Catholic world, branches being established in Dublin, London, Liverpool, Sidney, and Buenos Ayres. Eugenius IV had established a similar Confraternity long before.
http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/M/stmonica.asp
Feast: August 27
Information: Feast Day: August 27
Born: 322 at Tagaste (Souk Ahrus), Algeria
Died: 387 at Ostia, Italy
Major Shrine: Sant'Agostino, Rome
Patron of: patience, married women, homemakers and housewives, mothers, wives, widows, alcoholics, difficult marriages, disappointing children, victims of adultery or unfaithfulness, and victims of (verbal) abuse
Widow; born of Christian parents at Tagaste, North Africa, in 333; died at Ostia, near Rome, in 387. We are told but little of her childhood. She was married early in life to Patritius who held an official position in Tagaste. He was a pagan, though like so many at that period, his religion was no more than a name; his temper was violent and he appears to have been of dissolute habits. Consequently Monica's married life was far from being a happy one, more especially as Patritius's mother seems to have been of a like disposition with himself. There was of course a gulf between husband and wife; her almsdeeds and her habits of prayer annoyed him, but it is said that he always held her in a sort of reverence. Monica was not the only matron of Tagaste whose married life was unhappy, but, by her sweetness and patience, she was able to exercise a veritable apostolate amongst the wives and mothers of her native town; they knew that she suffered as they did, and her words and example had a proportionate effect.
Three children were born of this marriage, Augustine the eldest, Navigius the second, and a daughter, Perpetua. Monica had been unable to secure baptism for her children, and her grief was great when Augustine fell ill; in her distress she besought Patritius to allow him to be baptized; he agreed, but on the boy's recovery withdrew his consent. All Monica s anxiety now centred in Augustine; he was wayward and, as he himself tells us, lazy. He was sent to Madaura to school and Monica seems to have literally wrestled with God for the soul of her son. A great consolation was vouchsafed her -- in compensation perhaps for all that she was to experience through Augustine -- Patritius became a Christian. Meanwhile, Augustine had been sent to Carthage, to prosecute his studies, and here he fell into grievous sin. Patritius died very shortly after his reception into the Church and Monica resolved not to marry again. At Carthage Augustine had become a Manichean and when on his return home he ventilated certain heretical propositions she drove him away from her table, but a strange vision which she had urged her to recall him. It was at this time that she went to see a certain holy bishop, whose name is not given, but who consoled her with the now famous words, "the child of those tears shall never perish." There is no more pathetic story in the annals of the Saints than that of Monica pursuing her wayward son to Rome, wither he had gone by stealth; when she arrived he had already gone to Milan, but she followed him. Here she found St. Ambrose and through him she ultimately had the joy of seeing Augustine yield, after seventeen years of resistance. Mother and son spent six months of true peace at Cassiacum, after which time Augustine was baptized in the church of St. John the Baptist at Milan. Africa claimed them however, and they set out on their journey, stopping at Civit' Vecchia and at Ostia. Here death overtook Monica and the finest pages of his "Confessions" were penned as the result of the emotion Augustine then experienced.
St. Monica was buried at Ostia, and at first seems to have been almost forgotten, though her body was removed during the sixth century to a hidden crypt in the church of St. Aureus. About the thirteenth century, however, the cult of St. Monica began to spread and a feast in her honour was kept on 4 May. In 1430 Martin V ordered the relics to be brought to Rome. Many miracles occurred on the way, and the cultus of St. Monica was definitely established. Later the Archbishop of Rouen, Cardinal d'Estouteville, built a church at Rome in honour of St. Augustine and deposited the relics of St. Monica in a chapel to the left of the high altar. The Office of St. Monica however does not seem to have found a place in the Roman Breviary before the sixteenth century. In 1850 there was established at Notre Dame de Sion at Paris an Association of Christian mothers under the patronage of St. Monica; its object was mutual prayer for sons and husbands who had gone astray. This Association was in 1856 raised to the rank of an archconfraternity and spread rapidly over all the Catholic world, branches being established in Dublin, London, Liverpool, Sidney, and Buenos Ayres. Eugenius IV had established a similar Confraternity long before.
http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/M/stmonica.asp
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