Topics: Martyrs of the Recusant Era: By Stephanie Mann...More Vietnamese Catholic Oppression: Bulldozers Raze the Church of Tam....The Catafalque: Used for the Absolution of the Dead Without a Body Present...Architecture: St. Anthony Catholic Church...Liturgy 101: Why?...The Traditional Ambrosian Rite of 1954: A Short History and the Rubrics
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The Necessaries
This week Stephanie Mann, author of Supremecy and Survival, Scepter Publishers 2007 (http://www.blogger.com/www.supremacyandsurvival.com) is back with a great article on martyrs of the Recusant Era.
We are still working on those mp3/wav audio files of Fr. Lies' homilies...that should be ready this week.
Here is a site that looks interesting, the Catholic Liturgical Library at http://www.catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm. The site lists its purpose as "...dedicated to providing accurate historical and current information about the liturgies of the Latin (Roman) rite of the Catholic Church. Currently this includes the missal of 1970 (Novus Ordo) and the missal of 1962 (Tridentine)." I haven't had time to investigate it but perhaps you good readers can browse it and give me the 411.
And now the necessary housework: Please note: St. Anthony Catholic Church is the only local church celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass (EFLR) in the Wichita area. Though this blog is loosely centered around this parish and it's members, Venite Missa Est! is by no means, in any way an official voice of, or for, St. Anthony Parish or the Diocese of Wichita. Venite Missa Est is strictly a private layman's endeavor.
Enjoy this weeks post. We are always looking for contributers.
Feel free to contribute thoughts, articles, poems, artwork or anything else for that matter to bumpy187@gmail.com for consideration for next weeks post.
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Margaret Clitherow, Margaret Ward, and Anne Line, Martyrs of the Recusant Era
By Stephanie Mann
During this Year of the Priest, meditation on these three saint’s lives and deaths during the Elizabethan, recusant era in England is especially fruitful. All three women were martyred because they protected priests from capture by the Elizabethan authorities--capture that would have meant imprisonment, torture, and horrifying death--since it was illegal for Catholic priests to be present in England or for Catholics to receive the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, especially Holy Communion.
Margaret Clitherow is also called the Pearl of York. She was a convert to Catholicism, joining the Church when she was eighteen and married for three years to John Clitherow. Their son Henry went to France to study for the priesthood, and John supported both him and Margaret in the practice of their Catholic faith. He paid her fines for not attending Church of England services, for example, and he allowed her to welcome priests in their house to celebrate Mass. In 1586 she was arrested for harboring a priest and she refused to plead either guilty or not guilty to the charge. She did so to protect her children, who would be questioned and perhaps tortured to reveal evidence of her guilt. Under English common law this refusal to plead led to her unique form of martyrdom, being pressed--or crushed--to death. On Good Friday, March 25, 1586, she was laid on the ground with a sharp stone behind her back and her arms outstretched; then a door was placed upon her and nearly 800 pounds of stone gradually added on top of the door. She endured 15 minutes of agony and died with the name of Jesus on her lips. Her other son William also became a priest and her daughter Anne became a nun in Flanders.
Margaret Ward is a virgin martyr: she helped Father William Watson escape from Bridewell Prison. She visited him often enough that the jailer finally allowed her to enter without searching her, so she was able to smuggle in a rope. Father Watson injured himself unfortunately while escaping and was unable to retrieve the rope. Margaret found John Roche to help the injured priest once out of prison and both she and John were arrested; John because he had exchanged clothing with the priest and Margaret because the jailer figured out that she was the last person to visit Father Watson before he escaped. She was held in chains, hung up her hands and scourged as the authorities attempted to force her to tell them where Father Watson went after escaping Bridewell prison. She refused, even though she acknowledged that she helped him. Offered a pardon for attending Church of England services, she again refused and was hung at Tyburn Tree in London on August 30, 1588, along with John Roche.
Anne Line was another convert; she and her brother William Heigham were disinherited and disowned by their Calvinist father. In 1586 she married Roger Line, another disinherited convert. Not long after Anne and Roger married, he and William were arrested for attending Mass and were exiled from England. Roger lived in Flanders and died in 1594. Father John Gerard, author of the famous book Autobiography of an Elizabethan, asked her to manage two safe houses for Jesuits, even though she was rather ill. She was arrested on February 2, 1601, when Father Francis Page was celebrating Mass; he escaped with her help. She was tried on February 26, carried to court in a chair, where she admitted joyfully that she had helped Father Page escape and only regretted that she had not been able to help even more! She was hung in London on February 27 and repeated her statement from court before her execution: "I am sentenced to die for harboring a Catholic priest, and so far I am from repenting for having so done, that I wish, with all my soul, that where I have entertained one, I could have entertained a thousand." Two priests, Father Roger Filcock and Father Mark Barkworth, paid tribute to her before their own executions, drawn, hung, and quartered. There are some literary critics who believe that William Shakespeare wrote “The Phoenix and the Turtle[dove]” as a eulogy for Anne and Roger Line, separated by exile but united in faith and love.
These three women martyrs were canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. The Catholic Church in England remembers them on a separate feast, August 30. In their zeal to receive the Blessed Sacrament, and the other Sacraments of the Catholic Church, they each recognized the preciousness of the priesthood, and thus sacrificed their very lives to protect the priests who served them. We may not have the opportunity to die to protect priests today, but we can at least pray for our priests, sacrifice for them, and support them as they serve us.
--Stephanie A. Mann discussed these saints on the “Son Rise Morning Show” Friday, August 28. The “Son Rise Morning Show” blog publishes pod casts of their programs (for a limited time) at http://sonrisemorningshow.blogspot.com/ She will discuss Our Lady of Walsingham with host Brian Patrick on September 24. For more details, visit her website at www.supremacyandsurvival.com
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More Vietnamese Governement Catholic Oppression
Bulldozers raze the Church of Tam Toa quashing Catholic demands
by Emily Nguyen Asia News
Blogger's note: St Anthony parish, in Wichita, has many Vietnamese parishioners which is why this story is pertinent to this blog. Please pray for our fellow Catholics in this troubled part of our world.
The government has decreed that the ruins of the ancient church will become a public park, having in mind to build a tourist village, and refuse to give it back to the Catholics for sacred use. Criticism from the bishop, who recalls the arrests, beatings, theft against the faithful by the police. On the day of the Assumption, 200 thousand people celebrated Mass at Xa Doi. Another 500 thousand, prevented by police from reaching the meeting place, celebrated Mass along the highway.
Hanoi (AsiaNews) - The standoff between the authorities of Hanoi and the Catholics of the diocese of Vinh (central Vietnam) for the use of the ruins of the church of Tam Toa came to an end on August 20 when city government bulldozers flattened the last shreds of the sacred building, leaving only the bell tower standing.
Days earlier, on 17 August, Ngau Bui Xuan, vice president of the People's Committee of Dong Hoi issued a decree (No 137/TB-UBND) ordering the conversion of the church of Tam Toa in a public park.
The bill is similar to the one issued in the cases of the former Nunciature of Hanoi and for the church of Thai Ha. In all three situations, the Catholics demanded a return to the rightful owners of the land that the government - after they were requisitioned for the public good - wanted to use for private real estate speculation. Faced with the resistance of the Catholics, the government has decided to change the destination of the land (for now) and have turned it into a public park.
In the defence of the sacred use of the Tam Toa church, Catholics were beaten, arrested, and robbed. Two priests were hospitalised and hundreds of thousands of faithful have held prayer vigils and sit-ins.
The church of Tam Toa stands on breathtaking scenery. Fr Claude Bonin who built it in 1887, chose a hill on the shore of Nhat Le river, thinking that it was easier for Catholics to reach the church by using boats. With the economic and building development of the town (Dong Hoi), the zone has become the most expensive in the area.
The greed of the party cadres led them first to determine that the remains of the church must serve as a war memorial (the church had been bombed by the Americans in the '60s). A tourist was to be built village around the ruins of the sacred building (cf. AsiaNews.it, 21/07/2009 Beatings and arrests of priests and faithful in the historic church of Tam Toa).
Already last year government bulldozers had cleared a lot of ground around Tam Toa and many luxury apartments have been built for members of local government. Days ago, after the decree that transform the site into a public park, construction was concluded. According to local witnesses, the Hanoi government, concerned about the publicity the case has received at home and abroad, decreed that the tower was also to be razed. But local authorities want to preserve it as an elegance feature in a future holiday village. This notwithstanding they are in complete agreement with Hanoi to remove all traces of Catholicism from the region.
The office of the Diocese of Vinh has protested against Bui Xuan Ngau’s decree, but in vain.
For the Feast of the Assumption, on 15 August, at least 200 thousand people gathered in Xa Doi for mass. But another 500 thousand were detained by the police for fear of new pressures on the government. Those unable to reach Xa Doi for the celebration decided to celebrate Mass at the edge of the road, on Highway No. 1. The state media described the gesture as "illegal” and of goving rise to “public disorder", but for the locals it was "a wonderful scene, one never seen until now."
During the celebration on August 15, the Bishop of Vinh, Msgr. Mary Paul Cao Dinh Thuyen, 83, expressed his sorrow at police violence against Catholics.
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The Catafalque
Courtesy The New Liturgical Movement
......priestly reader sent in the following question:
I have been offering Mass in the usus antiquior only since last September.
My question is: how is one to construct a catafalque for the Absolution after Mass on All Souls?
It is a good question that others may likewise wonder about, and it is nice to see this matter being prepared for. With All Souls Day only 9 weeks away, it is certainly not too soon.
A catafalque is of course what is used for the absolution of the dead without a body present. Here are two examples:
Catafalque for All Souls at St. Francis de Sales Oratory, St. Louis. (Image courtesy of Mark Scott Abeln)
Catafalque setup at Ss. Trinita in Rome. (Image courtesy of John Sonnen)
Before discussing the catafalque itself, a few other notes are in order.
The first point is that one typically sees six candles (though this number does not seem to be formally so defined by the rubrics) and candlesticks used; three on each side of the catafalque, set on the ground.
These candles are of unbleached beeswax. (One will not uncommonly see bleached candles used also today for this purpose, but I would certainly like to make the appeal to our pastors -- or for that matter to parish donors, though please consult your parish priest first to make sure you purchase candles of the right size and type -- to make the investment and purchase some unbleached beeswax candles to use for the occasion of Masses for the Dead. Not only is this best in accord with the rubrics, they, like black as a liturgical colour, lend to somber tone of Masses for the Dead. Unbleached beeswax candles would be used both around the coffin/catafalque, and also for the candles on the altar as well. They might also be used for the candles carried by the acolytes.)
One will also need a black pall.
There 's more at NLM
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St. Anthony Catholic Church
The Architecture
The Architecture
St. Anthony’s attains architectural significance through its being a well executed and preserved ecclesiastical product from the turn of the Century that speaks highly of Roman Catholic aspirations and ideals in Wichita at the time.
Stylistically, St. Anthony’s is a late Victorian Era design that makes sound use of the round, or Roman arch.
Such feature is of substantial historical importance, for it carries on the significant German Heritage of this Parish: this house of worship’s architectural spirit is that of the German Romanesque - a fusion of essential Gothicism with Romanesque forms that were somewhat peculiar to Northern Europe.
Construction of the exterior brick walls is expertly carried out and serves as a model for the brick mason’s art. Also notable is the eclectic wooden steeple/tower centered on the front with its Moorish design implications: perhaps this feature is meant to represent the faith’s universality.
It is realistically assumed that the Franciscan Order, when hiring Louis Piket, the Church architect, chose a designer who; had familiarity with the history of European Church architecture - especially with the Romanesque mode as interpreted in Germany. thus, continuity of regional and ethnical/national heritage was felt appropriate for the Parish of St. Anthony Church by is designer.
Stylistically, St. Anthony’s is a late Victorian Era design that makes sound use of the round, or Roman arch.
Such feature is of substantial historical importance, for it carries on the significant German Heritage of this Parish: this house of worship’s architectural spirit is that of the German Romanesque - a fusion of essential Gothicism with Romanesque forms that were somewhat peculiar to Northern Europe.
Construction of the exterior brick walls is expertly carried out and serves as a model for the brick mason’s art. Also notable is the eclectic wooden steeple/tower centered on the front with its Moorish design implications: perhaps this feature is meant to represent the faith’s universality.
It is realistically assumed that the Franciscan Order, when hiring Louis Piket, the Church architect, chose a designer who; had familiarity with the history of European Church architecture - especially with the Romanesque mode as interpreted in Germany. thus, continuity of regional and ethnical/national heritage was felt appropriate for the Parish of St. Anthony Church by is designer.
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Liturgy 101: Part 1 - Why?
By Donna Conaway
Courtesy Philadelphia Catholic Examiner
At the Last Supper, Jesus broke bread and shared it with his disciples. Today, there are vestments, bells, music, processionals, incense, more music, lots of talking, and then the bread is broken and shared.
Why are we doing all this?
Answer - for many of the same reasons people incorporate other rituals into their lives - to encourage unity, to acknowledge common beliefs, and to raise what can easily become ordinary and routine to the extraordinary and sacred. In addition, rituals help preserve history and protect past events from the manipulations of human imagination.(see Holocaust deniers and moon landing conspiracy)
In spite of the various smells, bells, and whistles now attached to Jesus’ original breaking of bread with his disciples, it is through the observance of ritual that the significance of his actions has been preserved.
One of the most important things to keep in mind when discussing any ritual is to remember who benefits from its observance. God, ever eternal and unchanging, cannot be made greater or lesser as a result of any ritual offered in God’s name. There is nothing humanity can add to God, and nothing humanity can subtract from God. Rituals affect the person(s) engaging in its practice. Any discussion of ritual that assumes it must be done because God needs it is headed down the wrong road leading to nowhere.
In the Catholic Church there is one ritual, the Mass, that unites Catholics the world over. Everything that occurs within the Mass is there for a purpose. The Mass offers Catholics continuity in the sacrifice and message of Christ bringing them into union with each other and with God.
Within the Roman Catholic Church there are two distinct rites of the Mass - the 1962 Missal or Latin (Tridentine) Rite, and the 1970 Missal or Novus Ordo Rite. Despite the sometimes acrimonious debates over which one is “better” and even though some don’t like to admit it, they are both valid Masses.
Catholic liturgy is serious business (at least it should be) and the Church has instituted a host of instructions on how to do it up right. From the architecture of the church itself, to the materials to be used for the altar, to the types of chalices to be used, to the vestments of the priest and altar servers, to the postures and movements of the congregation, the details are spelled out. There is purpose, message, and reason for every element.
The more you learn about what those elements mean, the more is understood about the whole liturgy, and the more that is understood about the liturgy, the easier it is to become fully engaged in it. The more one is fully engaged in the liturgy, the more one becomes fully engaged with God.
In coming weeks this page will present the various elements of the liturgy and a more in-depth study of the Latin and Norvus Ordo Rites of the Mass. If you want to get a head start, the Catholic Liturgical Library is a good resource.
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The Traditional Ambrosian Rite of 1954
A Short History and the Rubrics
Courtesy A Catholic Life
The Ambrosian (Milanese) Rite is named after none other than St. Ambrose, a bishop of Milan from the fourth century Anno Domini (AD), though St. Ambrose did not compose this Rite. Approximately five million Catholics in the greater part of the Archdiocese of Milan, Italy, in some parishes of the Diocese of Como, Bergamo, Novara, Lodi and in about fifty parishes of the Diocese of Lugano, in the Canton Ticino, Switzerland, regularly attend the Ambrosian Rite which differs from the Roman Rite.
Editions of the Ambrosian Missal were issued in 1475, 1594, 1609, 1902 and 1954 with a later post-Vatican II edition unfortunately occurring in 1966, which removed and/or altered many of the priest's inaudible prayers and genuflections. This "revision" also led to the Eucharsitic Prayer being said in the vernacular and the sacred altar being orientated no longer towards the East - as a symbol of watching for the Risen Christ, as the sun also rises in the East - but rather facing the congregation. No longer facing Christ in the Blessed, August Sacrament, the priest would turn his back to the Sacrament. Therefore, for this reason, this article will focus exclusively on the Ambrosian Rite as practiced before the Second Vatican Council.
The Missale Ambrosianum of 1954 (editio quinta post typicam) is presently said on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation in the church of San Rocco al Gentilino in Milan, which the Archbishop of Milan, Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini explicitly permitted beginning on July 31, 1985. Additionally, beginning on October 18, 2008, the Ambrosian Rite of 1952 was permitted on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation in Legnano, a town in the north-west of Lombardy [Source: Sacri Palazzi]
How Does The Ambrosian Rite Differ from the Roman Rite?
Some changes from the Traditional Ambrosian Rite of 1952 and the Roman Rite include the following:
- When the deacon and sub-deacon are not occupied, they take up positions at the north and south ends of the altar facing each other.
- The Prophecy, Epistle, and Gospel are read, in Milan Cathedral, from the great ambon on the north side of the choir, and the procession thereto is accompanied with some state. Such readings in the Tridentine Latin Mass take place generally on the altar with the exceptions of an ordained lector reading the Epistle as well as the chanting of the Gospel at a Pontifical High Mass.
- The offering of bread and wine are done by the men and women of the Scuola di S. Ambrogio.
- The filing past and kissing the north corner of the altar at the Offertory.
- The silent Lavabo occurs just before the Consecration and not in the offertory, which is a clear change from the rubrics of the 1962 Roman Rite.
- The absence of bell-ringing at the Elevation.
- The name of St. Ambrose is added to the Confiteor
- The Fraction is done immediately after the Canon, accompanied by an antiphon called the Confractorium [as was the case in the Roman Rite up until St. Gregory the Great]
- There is no Agnus Dei except in Masses for the Dead
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