Post #242

Topics:  The Call of Beauty : U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke Reflects...Feast Day: Felicitas and the Seven Holy Brothers

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To post a comment, ask a question, or submit an article contact me, Mark, at bumpy187@gmail.com.

..and now for the necessaries.

Please note: St. Anthony Catholic Church is one of only two churches 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.

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The Call of Beauty
U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke reflects 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c62iZ4ufOY&list=UUDfNrxA5dMp0co1siQOLrjg

submitted by Larry Bethel

Five years after Pope Benedict liberalized the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass, now known as the extraordinary form, U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke reflects on its significance for the universal church.

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Seven Holy Brothers
 July 10th Martyrs, 3rd Class, Red 
Legend of Felicitas and the Seven Holy Brothers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicitas_of_Rome

Bloggers note: According this source, this Felicitas is not the same as the North African Felicitas who was martyred with Perpetua.

Saint Felicitas (also known as Felicity) is said[8] to have been a rich and pious Christian widow who had seven sons. She devoted herself to charitable work and converted many to the Christian faith by her example. This aroused the wrath of pagan priests who lodged a complaint against her with Emperor Marcus Aurelius. These priests asserted the fire of the gods and demanded sacrifice from Felicitas and her children. The Emperor acquiesced to their demand and Felicitas was brought before Publius, the Prefect of Rome. Taking Felicitas aside, he used various pleas and threats in an unsuccessful attempt to get her to worship the pagan gods. He was equally unsuccessful with her seven sons who followed their mother's example.

Illustration by Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514)

Before the Prefect Publius they adhered firmly to their religion, and were delivered over to four judges, who condemned them to various modes of death. The division of the martyrs among four judges corresponds to the four places of their burial. She implored God only that she not to be killed before her sons, so that she might be able to encourage them during their torture and death in order that they would not deny Christ. According to God's Providence, it so happened. With joy, this wonderful mother accompanied her sons one by one until she had witnessed the death of all seven sons. We are not entirely sure as to how each of them died, but it is said that Januarius, the eldest, was scourged to death; Felix and Philip were beaten with clubs until they expired; Silvanus was thrown headlong down a precipice; and the three youngest, Alexander, Vitalis and Martialis were beheaded. After each execution she was given the chance to denounce her faith. She refused to act against her conscience and so she too suffered martyrdom. Certain communities around the United States still celebrate San Marziale (Saint Martialis/Saint Marshall) with a San Marziale festival typically held on July 10th or near that date. Celebrations were held this year in Philadelphia, PA & Kulpmont, PA.

They suffered and entered into eternal rest in Rome about the year 164 She was buried in the catacomb of Maximus on the Via Salaria, beside St Silvanus. It is said that she died eight times. Once with each of her sons, and finally her own, and their feast day is held on January 25.

[edit]Origin of the legend

The Seven Holy Brothers

The "Acts" that give the above account of the seven martyrs as sons of Felicitas existed, in some form, in the sixth century, since Pope St Gregory I refers to them in his "Homiliæ super Evangelia, book I, homily iii."[9] The early twentieth century Catholic Encyclopedia reported that "even distinguished modern archæologists have considered them, though not in their present form corresponding entirely to the original, yet in substance based on genuine contemporary records." But it went on to say that investigations had shown this opinion to be hardly tenable. The earliest recension of these "Acts" does not antedate the sixth century, and appears to be based not on a Roman i.e. Latin text, but on a Greek original. Moreover, apart from the existing form of the "Acts," various details have been called into question. If Felicitas were really the mother of the seven martyrs honoured on 10 July, it is strange that her name does not appear in the well-known fourth-century Roman calendar.[10]

The tomb of St Silvanus, one of the seven martyrs commemorated on 10 July, adjoined that of St Felicitas; it is quite possible, therefore, that tradition soon identified the seven martyrs of 10 July as the sons of St Felicitas, and that this formed the basis for the extant "Acts."[10]