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Events this weekend in Church History

      Sunday is the date in 618 when Pope Saint Deusdedit I, the 68th successor of Peter, died. He was a heroic and holy pontiff who administered to the plaguestricken and lepers and who was the first to use seals of lead for Papal Bulls and Pontifical Decrees. For other time capsule events that happened in Church history on November 6th through November 8th, click on MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES

Historical Events in Church Annals for November 6:

505 A.D.


Death of Saint Illtyd, Hermit Monk who had converted after being a fierce warrior during the Jutes-Anglo Saxon wars after the Romans had left Britain.

558 A.D.


Death of Saint Leonard, godson of King Clovis. He is considered the "Apostle of the Franks."

1406 A.D.


Death of Pope Innocent VII, 204th successor of Peter. Born in Sulmona as Cosma de' Migliorati he was elected on November 11, 1404. He was a man of great culture, having enlarged the faculties of Greek and Medicine, but of weak character and failed to achieve any lasting results in his efforts to solve the schism and the difficult conditions in which the Papal States found themselves.

1876 A.D.


Death of Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli who had played a key role in Pope Pius IX's policies and the dissolution of the Papal States and the establishment of Vatican City.

Historical Events in Church Annals for November 7:

680 A.D.


Pope Saint Agatho organizes the 6th Ecumenical Council, also known as Constantinople III in which the conciliar body condemned Monotheletism and set a censure on Honorius.

1771 A.D.


Death of Blessed Anthony Baldinucci, an Italian priest whose missions attracted throngs so large they had to be conducted outside. He trusted all and his trust in mankind was paid off in countless conversions of sinners.

Historical Events in Church Annals for November 8:

397 A.D.


Death of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop who is one of the patron saints of France. He was a great intercessor with kings, emperors and popes on behalf of his flocks and fought heresies with every ounce of his breath. Though his feast day is celebrated on November 11, he died on this day late in the fourth century.

618 A.D.


Death of Pope Saint Deusdedit I, 68th successor of Peter who was elected on October 10, 615. With heroic abnegation he tendced lepers and the plaguestricken as a humble Supreme Pontiff. He was the first to use seals of lead for Papal Bulls and pontifical decrees. His is the oldest pontifical seal preserved in the Vatican.

1308 A.D.


Death of Blessed John Duns Scotus, Scottish Franciscan and theologian who was a professor and prolific writer. He died at Cologne. Because he adhered to the philosophies of Aristotle and Saint Augustine and not the more popular Saint Thomas Aquinas some of the Dominicans equated the word "Duns" with "dunce" which forever has meant one who is not a smart pupil. Scotus was anything but a dunce.

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     This weekend we observe the First Friday and First Saturday of November. All Masses are celebrated in the Liturgy of Ordinary Times with the exception of the optional Mass on Saturday when we commemorate the Observance of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday. Sunday is the second-to-last Sunday in Ordinary Time with the Thirty-second Sunday. Monday begins a full week of feasts with the observance of the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. For the liturgies, readings, meditations and vignettes on the above feasts for this weekend, click on LITURGY

Friday November 6:
Thirty-first Friday in Ordinary Time
FIRST FRIDAY

Green vestments

First Reading: Philippians 3: 17-21; 4: 1
Psalms: Psalm 122: 1-5
Gospel Reading: Luke 16: 1-8

Saturday November 7:
Thirty-first Saturday in Ordinary Time and Observance of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday
FIRST SATURDAY

Green or white vestments

First Reading: Philippians 4: 10-19
Psalms: Psalm 112: 1-2, 5-6, 8-9
Gospel Reading: Luke 16: 9-15

      Honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary is a custom first promoted by the Benedictine Monk Saint Alcuin back in the days of Charlemagne (see archives December 23, no. 25 issue). He composed different formulas for Votive Masses for each day of the week, with two set aside to honor Our Lady on Saturday. This practice caught on with great enthusiasm and eventually the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday became the Common of the Blessed Virgin. This Mass was a favorite with retired priests and those whose sight was failing for most had memorized this Mass and were able to say it by heart without having to read the Lectionary or Sacramentary. One reason Saturday was dedicated to Mary was that Saturday held a special meaning in Mariology. First of all, as Genesis accounts for, God rested on the seventh day. In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was Saturday. Jesus, Son of God rested in the womb and then, when He became incarnate, in the loving arms of Mary from birth until she held His lifeless body at the foot of the Cross. Thus the God-head rested in Mary. It was also on Saturday after Good Friday that Jesus gave His Mother a special gift and reward for keeping her faith in His Divinity intact by making an exceptional appearance to her. Thus, because of these reasons, the devotion spread by St. Alcuin and other liturgies that evolved within the Church, Saturday took on a special Marian significance. Saturday took on even more significance in honoring Mary when Our Lady imparted to visionary Lucia in her third apparition at Fatima on July 13, 1917, "Our Lord wishes that devotion to my Immaculate Heart be established in the world. If what I tell you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace; the war will end...I ask the consecration of the world to my Immaculate Heart and Communion of reparation on the First Saturday of each month...If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace...In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph, and an era of peace will be conceded to humanity." As we draw nearer to that wonderful event, it is more important than ever to honor Mary's request on the First Saturday as well as each Saturday that her feast is commemorated in the Church calendar, not to mention responding to her call daily with the Rosary and attending Daily Mass, nourished by her Divine Son present body and blood, soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament. It is in the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary where she remains in the background in the liturgy of the Word so that her Divine Son's words and His Presence take the spotlight as He should while Mary remains the chief intercessor before the Holy Trinity as she should and serves as the ideal for all Catholics to strive for, as we should. The Dictionary of Mary states quite succinctly, "Through these liturgical acts, (honoring Mary on Saturday) Christians exalt the person of Mary in the action that renews the sacrifice of Christ and in the action that prolongs His prayer."

SUNDAY November 8:
THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Green vestments

First Reading: 2 Machabees 7: 1-2, 9-14
Psalms: Psalm 17: 1, 5-6, 8, 15
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2: 16-17; 3: 1-5
Gospel Reading: Luke 20: 27-38

Monday November 9:
Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

White vestments

First Reading: 1 Kings 8: 22-23, 27-30 or Ephesians 2: 19-22
Psalms: 1 Chronicles/Paralipomenon 29: 10-12
Gospel Reading: John 2: 13-22

      Known as "Christianity's first cathedral" and the "mother of all churches", the Lateran Basilica was the first church built by the Emperor Constantine after the Edict of Milan in 313. In 314 Constantine gave Pope Saint Miltiades the old palace on Monte Celio which had formerly been land owned by the patrician Laterani family. Constantine also decreed that the popes should live in the Lateran palace which was called the Patriarchate. It would remain the pontifical residence until the 15th Century, but the basilica itself would be in peril throughout the centuries. The successor to Pope Miltiades was Pope Saint Sylvester I who officially consecrated the basilica in 324 and dedicated it to Christ the Savior with Constantine's blessings. Eighty some years later the barbarian Alaric sacked the basilica; likewise the pagan Genseric in 455. It was the great Pope Saint Leo the Great who rebuilt it in 460. Three centuries later a devastating fire swept through the basilica and it was left to Pope Hadrian I in 785. A little over a century later an earthquake rocked Rome and practically destroyed the entire basilica. In 909 Pope Sergius III rebuilt the basilica and dedicated it to Saint John the Baptist. It was also dedicated to the other St. John - Saint John the Evangelist by Pope Lucius II in 1144. During the papacy of Pope Clement V the basilica was again heavily damaged by fire in 1308. No sooner was it rebuilt then another fire swept through in 1360 while Pope Innocent VI, the 199th in the line of Peter, was pontiff. It was so devastating that when Pope Gregory XI returned from exile in Avignon in the 1370's, he moved both the residential palace and the head of the See from the Caelian Hill to Vatican Hill which the Roman Senate had donated to the Pope. While the Lateran Basilica laid in ruins Gregory gave special prominence to Saint Mary Major Basilica for gaining a jubilee indulgence since people could not go on pilgrimage to the Lateran Basilica at that time. It was left to Pope Sixtus V to have the ruins of the Lateran torn down and in its place replaced them with late-Renaissance structures which he commissioned architect Domenico Fontana to construct. The only structure not torn down was the Pope's private chapel which was saved. Sixtus was known as the builder of churches and urban renewal projects. He also had the Holy Stairs (Scala Santa), which had been brought to Rome from Jerusalem by Saint Helena in the 4th Century, moved from the old palace residence to the entrance of the Sancta Sanctorum (Pope's private, holy chapel). This staircase was believed to be the one Jesus ascended in the palace of Pontius Pilate. In 1645 Pope Innocent X commissioned one of the leading Baroque architects Francesco Borromini to complete the interior of St. John Lateran's by the Jubilee Year of 1650. Nearly eighty years later later Pope Clement XII held a competition among architects to submit the best design for a new facade of the Lateran Basilica. Italian master Alessandro Galilei completed the work in 1735. The exterior of the Basilica today is a tribute to his work which aptly depicts a huge statue of Jesus holding the Cross of Redemption, the cross which Helena found and which her son saw miraculously in the sky on the eve before his victory and ultimate conversion. Flanking Our Lord at the top of the columned flat roof are a 15 gigantic statues of Saints and Doctors of the Church. The main bronze door into the church was the original one that closed the senate house and was built by the Emperor Julius Caesar in 44 BC. The magnificent massive statues of the apostles, chiseled by Italian master Gian Lorenzo Bernini, consume most of the columned side walls of the interior of the Basilica.

     There have been five Ecumenical Councils held over the centuries at the Lateran Basilica and numerous diocesan synods. The Lateran Pacts signed by and Benito Mussolina on February 11, 1929 which defined the territory and status of the State of Vatican City was signed at the Basilica. Sadly, the devastation of this magnificent structure was not limited to the middle centuries, for on July 27, 1992 a bomb, planted by the Italian Mafia in retaliation of Pope John Paul II's stand against the crime organization, exploded at the Roman Vicariate of the Basilica, causing great damage. It was restored in January of this year and it was of special significance when our present Holy Father celebrated Holy Thursday liturgy there this past Lent, symbollically washing the feet of priests who had been chosen from all over the world in the Pope's display of what Jesus asks: to be the servant of the servants. The November 9th date for celebrating the feast of the Dedication of this great Basilica evolves from early in the 1100's when almost all the churches dedicated to Jesus chose this date to celebrate a miraculous event that happened in Beirut, Lebanon prior to the Nicene Council there in 787. The phenomenon occurred when a crazed man struck a statue of Our Lord with a sword and the statue, though made of stone, bled profusely as blood poured out in torrents. It was not until 1565, that Pope Pius IV decreed it be celebrated throughout the Church. Since this was the first church of Christianity, it is considered the "mother of churches throughout the world" and served as the seat of Christianity for a thousand years.

     In honor of the Observance of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday, say the special Prayer of Our Lady - the Hail Mary.

---

WORLDWIDE

NEWS & VIEWS

with a Catholic slant provided by
Catholic World News Service

HEADLINES:

Vatican sets Papal Itinerary for Saint Louis stop in January

     The Holy See late this week released the Holy Father's 24-hour itinerary for his short Papal Visit to St. Louis, Missouri where Archbishop Justin F. Rigali will welcome the Pope arriving from Mexico City on Tuesday, January 26 shortly after 12 p.m. A special youth service will be held that afternoon at the old Kiel Center. Pope John Paul II will leave the next day after a morning Mass at the spacious TWA Dome, home of the Rams NFL team. His Holiness will meet with the American Bishops for a short time after that and conduct Vespers from the stately old St. Louis Cathedral before heading back to Rome after his 4-day visit to Mexico City to officially close the Synod of the Americas. For more, click on Papal Visit

      WASHINGTON (CWNews.com) -- A Mass in the Trans World Dome and an encounter with young people at the Kiel Center arena will be the highlights of the January visit by Pope John Paul II to St. Louis.

      The Holy Father will arrive at Lambert airport shortly after noon on January 26. After a welcoming ceremony he will then travel to the residence of Archbishop Justin Rigali, and then to the Kiel Center-- home of the professional ice-hockey team, the St. Louis Blues-- for a prayer service aimed at young people from the central United States. The following morning he will preside at Mass at the Trans World Dome, return to the archbishop's residence for a meeting with American bishops, and then lead a Vespers service at the St. Louis cathedral before heading back to Lambert for his return flight to Rome.

Vatican expresses optimism for Papal Visit to Jerusalem in 2000

     If the fragile peace accord between Israel and Palestine holds up, it will enhance the possibility of the Holy Father visiting the Holy Land during the Jubilee year as he has expressed so many times. Despite this optimism, there still remains tension between the Vatican and Israeli government over the latter's occupation of the Holy City of Jerusalem which the Holy See believes should be an open city. The recent remarks by the Israeli ambassador over the beatification process of Pope Pius XII did not sit well with Vatican authorities and relations remain strained over the Holocaust with Jews and Catholics at odds over the memory of Auschwitz. For more, click on Holy Land

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The Wye Plantation peace accord, signed by Israel and Palestine on October 23, has raised hopes for a papal pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the year 2000, the Vatican's chief foreign-affairs official told reporters today.

      In an off-the-cuff exchange with reporters, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran said that the new agreement opens the way to new possibilities for peace. While Pope John Paul has frequently voiced his desire to visit the Holy Land, the archbishop continued, "everything depends on the peace process and the application of the Wye Plantation accord." He observed that while the agreement itself is a positive sign of the "good will of the leaders of the people in the Holy Land."

      Questioned about his widely publicized statement that the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem is "illegal," Archbishop Tauran responded, "That has always been our position." The archbishop made that statement at a symposium on the future of the Holy City, organized by Jerusalem's Patriarch Michel Sabbah. Since the purpose of that symposium was to clarify the situation in Jerusalem for the benefit of "the bishops of the world's great nations-- especially in the West," the Pope and the Secretary of State agreed that it would be a good time to set forth the official position of the Holy See, he said. "We are repeating what is affirmed in the United Nations resolutions," he added; "We are not alone in taking this position."

Fox's Ally McBeal takes cheap shots with Catholic bashing as the latest sport among TV producers

     Arresting television fare it is not, but the producers and star Callista Flockhart could be arrested for the cheap shots the writers of the weekly series "Ally McBeal" have taken at Catholics with an episode denigrating priests, nuns and the Church that aired last week. William Donohue, the Church's media watchdog and head of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights decried the latest attacks that so debase the religious life. He was the crusader who helped give the irreverant, modernist "Nothing Sacred" the boot last year. That was ABC; now he has to contend with that outrageous mogul Rupert Murdoch and his network which airs "Ally McBeal." For more, click on Ally's not well.

      NEW YORK (CWNews.com) - A Catholic anti-defamation group and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Wednesday both protested the Monday night broadcast of an episode of Fox's "Ally McBeal" TV show which portrayed nuns having sex and a priest videotaping confessions.

      The Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights said the November 2 and September 28 episodes made crude jokes about celibacy, the sanctity of the sacraments, and the pedophile priests. Monday's show featured a nun who sued the Catholic Church after being dismissed for breaking her vows. At one point, Ally McBeal jokes that "nuns are not supposed to have sex except with other nuns." The nun said at one point: "A priest has sex with a boy, he gets transferred. .. At least my lover was of legal age."

      Father Gregory Coiro, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, called the jokes "insulting and demeaning" to the Church and all Catholics. "You read these lines from 'Ally McBeal' and you'd really have to stretch the imagination to say there's no anti-Catholicism here," he said. "A person who would think this is not anti-Catholic would probably go to a minstrel show."

      Father Coiro had previously acted as a script consultant for another controversial show, ABC's short-lived "Nothing Sacred" which had been the subject of complaint by groups including the Catholic League.

Holy See turns attention to South America

      Events concerning Argentina, Chile and Guatamala occupied much of the Holy See's attention late this week topped by the presentation of the 1999 Path of Peace Foundation Prize to the President of Argentina Carlos Saul Menem by the Vatican's representative to the UN and founder of the award Archbishop Renato Martino. Also, reporters hounded the Holy See about reports that the Vatican would intervene in the matter of former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet who was arrested in Europe. Many Chileans fear reprisal if Pinochet returns to their country. Meanwhile, the Holy Father received the new ambassador to Guatamala and urged him to uphold the values Christ and His Church teach. He also encouraged the ambassador not to cover up the crimes of the government and, no doubt, talked about the cover-up currently going on that has framed an innocent priest for the murder of a human rights bishop last April that was committed by employed soldiers of the Guatamalan government. For more, click on South America .

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- President Carlos Saul Menem of Argentina has been awarded the 1999 prize of the Path to Peace Foundation. The organization explained that the award was a recognition for Menem's "defense of human life and the family, as well as his action as leader of Argentina in favor of world peace."

      The prize will be presented to Menem in June 1999 by Archbishop Renato Martino, the Vatican's permanent representative at the United Nations and the founder and president of the Path to Peace Foundation. The foundation-- a non-profit organization which is independent of the Holy See-- was set up in 1991 to help finance the Vatican mission at the UN and the Pope's efforts to promote peace throughout the world. Previous recipients of the annual award have been Boutros Boutros-Ghail, the former UN secretary general (1993); the late King Baudouin of Belgium (1994); former Philippine President Corazon Aquino (1995); former Polish President Lech Walesa (1996); former Nicaraguan President Violetta Chamorro (1997); and Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera (1998).

      Confirming an earlier statement by the Chilean government, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran today said that the Holy See will not play a mediating role in the case of General Augusto Pinochet "at this time."

      Rumors of Vatican intervention in the case of the former Chilean dictator began to circulate in the Italian press last week when a top Chilean government official, vice-chancellor Mariano Fernandez, met privately with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Reporters persistently questioned Archbishop Tauran about those rumors today when he appeared at a press conference on an unrelated issue.

      The archbishop pointed out that Cardinal Sodano had once been the apostolic nuncio in Chile, and recently took the time to visit that country again. The visit by Fernandez, he said, had merely offered the prelate a change to "talk about the situation in that country," he concluded.

      Finally, as he accepted the diplomatic credentials of the new Guatemalan ambassador to the Holy See, Pope John Paul II today called on the Central American nation to "overcome the interests of party and class" and to uphold "the Christian conception of life."

      The Pope told the new ambassador, Sergio Ivan Bucaro Hurtate, that a just society should offer every citizen an active role in the social and political process. He said that children should have access to educational and health- care services, the poor should be given an opportunity to share in the bounty of the earth, and the many different ethnic groups that make up the population of Guatemala should live "in harmony and mutual respect."

      In a reference to the ongoing investigation of human-rights abuses committed under the country's former military regime, the Pope also said that the people of Guatemala need to know the truth about the regime's crimes-- a need which is part of the people's "aspiration that they might no longer live with oppression, insecurity, and fear."

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site. CWN is not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provides this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

"The false witness will perish, but he who listens will finally have his say. "

Proverbs 21: 28

November 6-8, 1998 volume 9, no. 218   DAILY CATHOLIC