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TIME CAPSULES

     For time capsule events in Church History for July 31, August 1, and August 2, click on ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

Historical Events in Church Annals for July 31:

432 A.D.


Pope Saint Sixtus III is elected as the 44th successor of Peter following the death of Pope Saint Celestine I. Sixtus was the author of several epistles and upheld the jurisdiction of Rome over Illyria against the Eastern Emperor who wanted it dependent on Constantinople. It was Sixtus who enlarged and embellished the Basilicas of St. Mary Major and St. Lawrence.

448 A.D.


Death of Saint Germanus of Auxerre, bishop and governor of Gaul who baptized thousands of Britons in the army he led against the Picts and Saxons. He died in Ravenna.

1192 A.D.


King Richard the Lionheart retakes Jaffa from the Saladin during the Third Crusade.

1291 A.D.


Beirut falls to the Mameluks, ending the Latin presence forever in Palestine and Syria.

1498 A.D.


Christopher Columbus discovers the island of Trinidad.

1556 A.D.


Death of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, religious founder of the Jesuits. For more see THIS WEEKEND'S LITURGY

Historical Events in Church Annals for August 1:

67 A.D.


Death of Saint Peter the Apostle by inverted crucifixion. This is the date many historians attribute to the great apostle's martyrdom when he was thrown in chains and then opted to be crucified upside down since he didn't feel worthy of being crucified as Jesus had been.

984 A.D.


Death of Saint Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester who, along with Saint Dunstan and Saint Oswald, was responsible for the restoration of monasticism in England. He also is known for translating the rule of Saint Benedict into English.

1096 A.D.


Peter the Hermit, who was chosen to lead the First Crusade after the death of Laszlo, leads his charges into Constantinople on this day.

1107 A.D.


The "lay investiture" controversy is settled by an assembly of bishops, abbots and nobles when the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II and Saint Anselm were reconciled. The former agreed to renounce his right to the investiture of bishops and abbots, and the saint agreed to the clergy paying homage to the king for their temporal possessions. It was upheld by Pope Paschal II.

1754 A.D.


Pope Benedict XIV issues his tenth encyclical Quod Provinciale, intended for the bishops of Albania on the alarming use of Christians taking Muslim names.

1787 A.D.


Death of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop, Religious Founder and Doctor of the Church. For more, see THIS WEEKEND'S LITURGY

Historical Events in Church Annals for August 2:

257 A.D.


Death of Pope Saint Stephen 1, 23rd successor of Peter. He was beheaded during a religious function on his pontifical chair in the Catacombs of St. Callixtus.

640 A.D.


Death of Pope Severinus, 71st successor of Peter, who condemned the monoteletic heresy and because he did so, suffered the retaliation of Heraclius, Byzantine emperor who ordered the sacking of the Basilica of St. John Lateran's and the Lateran Palace.

686 A.D.


Death of Pope John V, 82nd successor of Peter, whose election was due to the interference of the Byzantine Court.

1191 A.D.


During the Third Crusade, the Saladin delivers the first installment of freed prisoners from Acre for the ransom money.

1552 A.D.


Death of Saint Basil the Blessed.

1942 A.D.


Death of Blessed Edith Stein, soon to be a saint. Like Saint Maximilian Kolbe, she was died in the horrific German prison camp of Auschwitz. This Jewish woman converted to Catholicism and became Sister Theresa Bernadetta of Jesus.

Pilgrimages to Our Lady's Shrine in Vietnam meeting fierce opposition from government

     Despite assurances that there would be no religious persecution from the Communist government in Vietnam, their actions prove the opposite, specifically on reports that pilgrimages are being forbidden to the famed Our Lady of La Vang Shrine under pretense of being a national security risk. This comes at a bad time when many Orientals are eagerly looking forward to the ceremonies at the Shrine honoring the Assumption in mid August. While Asians may be forbidden, American Vietnamese can still worship at the shrine in Carthage, Missouri. For more, click on Our Lady of La Vang

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The government of Vietnam, which has offered several recent pledges to respect religious liberty, is showing its true intent by restricting a traditional Catholic pilgrimage, according to the Vatican news agency Fides.

      Fides has noted that in February 1998, a delegation from the Holy See visited Vietnam and negotiated a series of agreements with the Communist government. The Vietnamese prime minister and Communist Party officials promised to allow the appointment of bishops, and to recognize the role of the Catholic Church in addressing "social ills such as drugs, prostitution, and corruption."

      However, the government reserved the right to control activities which might affect "national and social security." And the government is now making the claim that the national pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of La Vang, scheduled for August 13-15, calls for such restrictions.

      The government has now announced that pilgrims from outside Vietnam itself will not be allowed to participate in this year's pilgrimage, which marks the 200th anniversary of a reported apparition of the Virgin Mary at La Vang. Fides reports that police are also trying to persuade Catholics inside Vietnam that they should not participate in the pilgrimage, and tourist agencies are being warned that they should not organize travel plans for the pilgrims. All these restrictions are being attributed to "security reasons."

      Nevertheless, Father Joseph Duong Duc Toai, who is organizing the pilgrimage, expects up to 120,000 participants. The Catholic bishops of Vietnam have continued to encourage pilgrims to join in the celebration, making this event a challenge to the regime. In a January message to the 8 million Catholics of Vietnam, Pope John Paul II also called attention to the importance of the Marian shrine at La Vang in the life of the Church.

Massive restorations continue at the Vatican in preparation for Jubilee 2000

     If one wanted to get a clean photo shot of St. Peter's Basilica these days, they would be sorely disappointed as scaffolding covers the entire facade of the entrance to the massive church. Now word comes that more facades, columns and the stately pillars facing St. Peter's Square are going to undergo the knife with mortar support and sandblast in order to fully prepare the rebeautification project set to be completed by 2000 in time for the great celebrations anticipated throughout the Jubilee year in Rome. For more, click on restoration

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The 284 Bernini columns and the 88 pillars of St. Peter's Square will be undergoing a process of renovation this summer, in a process that is expected to continue through early October.

      The restoration effort is being done by the German firm of Alfred Karcher, a specialist in the field. The same firm has gained prominence by restoring the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin, and the famous statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro. The firm uses an environmentally sensitive approach, using water under pressure to clean off accumulated grime.

      The columns and pillars of St. Peter's Square have been seriously damaged and discolored by pollution. The restoration effort-- which is being done on a complimentary basis-- is intended to restore the building for the Jubilee Year 2000. The Italian firm ENI is already at work on restoration of the facade of St. Peter's Basilica.

Is the war really over in Bosnia?

     Evidence has cropped up that persecutions of Croatians in Bosnia continue even though the war in Bosnia is supposedly over. This comes from the most recent bombing of the Franciscan church and monastery in Sarajevo as well as sacking and ravaging of Croatian homes - Croatians who were forced to flee during the war and returned only to find things in ruins. As they begin to return they are being scared off by the Muslim extremists and Serb rebels who have infiltrated the region. For more, click on Persecution in Bosnia

      SARAJEVO (CWNews.com) - The Croatian representative in the town of Kakanj, where suspected Muslim extremists blew up a Catholic church, said on Wednesday that 14,000 ethnic Croatians out of 18,000 were forced out of Kakanj by Muslims during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the rest of the Croatian population was subjected to persecution.

      Niko Lozancic said that over the last year, there have been numerous terrorist attacks on Croatians in the region. A bazooka was fired on the Franciscan monastery in Kraljeva Sutjeska; Several houses of Croatian refugees who returned to Kakanj were destroyed; A Croatian's shop was attacked; and a house was burned down a month ago. The police have not arrested any suspects, with the exception of one man for murder of a Catholic nun in Kakanj.

      "It was an attempt to scare off returnees," Lozancic said. "I spoke to ordinary people. They asked themselves what will happen to them if even the churches are attacked." Lozancic added that he is still optimistic, since he sees the attacks as the last twitches of Islamic extremists. Muslim returnees in other regions have also been subjected to various forms of harassment and persecution by Croatian extremists where they hold the majority.

Good news and bad news in legislative circles regarding pro-life and gay initiatives

     Legislature took two steps forward and one back in recent legislation when they voted to uphold the ban on partial-birth abortion in Virginia and refuse Federal money to the city of San Francisco for a gay initiative that denies funds to anyone not cooperating with homosexual initiatives in that Sodom of the West Coast. On the negative side, the U.S. Senate voted to require insurance companies to pay for contraceptives in the same manner the impotent prescription medicine Viagra has been approved. For more, click on Legislation .

      RICHMOND, Virginia (CWNews.com) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Virginia's ban on partial-birth abortions will remain in effect while a legal challenge proceeds through the courts.

      The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request for a temporary injunction by the abortion clinics and abortionists contesting the constitutionality of the law approved earlier this year. The lawsuit, which claims the law is vague, goes to trial on August 18. The ruling is the first time a federal appeals court allowed the law to remain in effect while it is being challenged.

      A state lawyer said the law is easy to understand and clearly states what procedures will trigger it. In partial-birth abortion, the abortionist delivers the baby through the birth canal, feet first, until only his head remains inside. He then pierces the baby's neck, suctions out his brain, collapses the head, and finishes delivering the now-dead baby

      In Washington The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to ban the use of federal money to implement a homosexual rights ordinance in San Francisco that requires employers doing business with the city to provide health and other benefits to same-sex partners of employees.

      The provision, sponsored by Rep. Frank Riggs, R-California, was narrowly approved 214-212 as an amendment to a wide-ranging appropriations bill, and must survive a House-Senate conference committee that will reconcile differences in funding bills. Riggs said the amendment protects private businesses and charities run by religious groups from being forced to adopt policies they find objectionable.

      Critics said the bill is a "bigoted, mean-spirited attack" on homosexuals, and undermines local autonomy. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said the city has negotiated with Catholic Charities and reached a compromise, which other businesses could also negotiate. But the Salvation Army has already shut down programs serving the needy rather than compromise its principles. "The Salvation Army, which refused to buckle to city policy, forfeited $3.5 million of its $18 million budget," said Riggs, because it didn't want to comply with the city ordinance.

      The bad news was that the US Senate on Wednesday joined the House of Representatives in approving a bill that requires most heath insurance plans for federal employees to cover prescription contraceptives for women.

      The measure, part of the $29.9 billion Treasury Department funding bill, was approved by a voice vote and a final vote on the overall bill was expected on Thursday. The provision's sponsors, Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said they hope this is only the first step to requiring all health insurance in the country to cover contraceptives. "This step sends a signal to insurers nationwide -- prescription contraceptive coverage is a long overdue provision for health plans," Snowe said after the vote.

      The House approved a similar bill two weeks ago. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, and other Republicans said they decided against fighting the provision in the Senate because they have a better chance to block it when a House-Senate conference committee writes a compromise bill later this year. The newly-approved bill provides exceptions for health care plans that do not cover any prescriptions or plans run by religious groups that object to contraception, most notably the Catholic Church.

      The Senate also approved an amendment by Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, that bans the same health care programs from paying for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life. A similar provision has been in place every year since 1984, except in 1993 and 1994.

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.

WEEKEND LITURGY

     This weekend we celebrate two influential saints with the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits on Friday and on Saturday the feast of a bishop and Doctor of the Church: Saint Alphonsus Liguori. For the liturgies, readings, meditations and vignettes of the above saints for the weekend of the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, click on LITURGY

Friday, July 31, 1998

Friday July 31:
Feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest and Religious Founder

White vestments

First Reading: Jeremiah 26: 1-9
Psalms: Psalm 69: 5, 8-10, 14
Gospel Reading: Matthew 13: 54-58

      The founder of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, was born in Guipuzcoa, Spain in 1491, the youngest of eleven children. Saint Ignatius Lopez of Loyola did not realize what great mission God had in store for him until, while recovering from a battle injury at Pamplona in 1521, he began reading "The Life of Christ" by Ludolph of Saxony. It was during this time that two people came into his life that would alter the course of history and his life forever. First, the heresy of the monk Martin Luther who Ignatius realized had to be thwarted; and secondly, through prayer for direction, Our Lady appeared to him in a vision requesting he make a pilgrimage to Montserrat where the famous Madonna statue resided at the Benedictine Abbey. Shortly after she imparted the the idea of his now famous and simple Spiritual Exercises which he made a first draft of in 1522. His life would reflect the course of the Jesuits which he was about to found. After a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he returned to study Latin at the University of Alcala in Spain but was imprisoned on the false charges of being an illuminist. He fled to Salamanca where again he was prosecuted through a kangaroo court and jailed. Freed seven years later, he journed to Paris where he completed his studies. Then in 1534, four years after the Diet of Augsburg, Ignatius gathered six companions including his friend Saint Francis Xavier in the chapel at Montmartre to form the Society of Jesus, vowing poverty and chastity, and offering themselves to the Holy Father as he wished to use them. Though they had intended to go to the Holy Land to preach the Gospel, political circumstances prevented this journey. It was to be providential as Ignatius was ordained in 1538 and two years later the Jesuits were approved by Pope Paul III in his papal bull Regimini Militantes Ecclesiae. Raised to be a soldier, Ignatius truly became a "soldier of Christ" as did his Order of which he became the first Superior General in 1551, a year after the definitive Constitution of the Jesuits had been approved by Pope Jules III. During a general meeting of the Society in 1556, Ignatius, at the age of 65, passed away peacefully. From the beginning the Jesuits had dedicated their ministry to defending the Pope and fighting the heresies that threatened Holy Mother Church. While Martin Luther was effecting millions of defectors from Holy Mother Church, God raised up a man who would conversely convert millions more through his Society's commitment of imparting thorough knowledge of the One, True Faith.

Saturday August 1:
Feast of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop, Religious Founder and Doctor of the Church

White vestments

First Reading: Jeremiah 26: 11-16, 24
Psalms: Psalm 69: 14-16, 30-31, 33-34
Gospel Reading: Matthew 14: 1-12

      Continuing in this month rampant with Religious Founders, we celebrate the life of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, who founded the Redemptorists in 1732 in Tuscany near Naples, Italy where he had been born in 1696. Alphonsus lived a long, productive life, dying at the ripe old age of 91. During this time he became known as the patron of moral theologians and confessors, which was posthumously bestowed on him by the Church in 1839 upon his canonization by Pope Gregory XVI and in 1871 Pope Pius IX proclaimed Alphonsus a Doctor of the Church. Alphonsus, a learned man with a law degree, spurned the world and was ordained a priest in 1726 at the age of 30. At first he had designs on becoming an Oratorian but decided against it in favor of remaining a diocesan priest. As Providence would have it, while training missionaries at the local college seminary, Alphonsus met Father Tom Falcoia who was sponsoring an order of nuns. Fr. Falcoia would later become the bishop. While preaching a retreat to Fr. Falcoia's nuns, one of the nuns confided in Fr. Alphonsus a vision she had had about the order. After much prayer Alphonsus discerned this message was from Heaven and, with Fr. Falcoia's consent, set about to fulfill the message which concerned changing the rule and habit. It was the beginning of the Redemptoristines. Pleased with Alphonsus' direction, Bishop Falcoia asked him to begin an order of priests in the same vein. Thus began the Redemptorists or Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer which was approved by Pope Benedict XIV in 1749 despite early dissension and opposition from jealous ecclesiatics. Throughout his lifetime Alphonsus was a master moral theologian, publishing many of his works and inspiring many. In 1762, against his wishes because he would have to relinquish control as Superior General of his congregation, he was consecrated Bishop of Benevento. There he served Holy Mother Church until, at the age of 79 he retired to a village near Naples where he suffered mental, physical and spiritual pangs because of the dissensions within his beloved congregation he had founded. Saddened, but full of trust in God, he handed it all over to Our Lord and died peacefully in 1787.

SUNDAY August 2:
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Green vestments

First Reading: Ecclesiastes 1: 2, 2: 21-23
Psalms: Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-9
Second Reading: Colossians3: 1-5, 9-11
Gospel Reading: Luke 12: 13-21

Monday August 3:
Eighteenth Monday in Ordinary Time

Green vestments

First Reading: Jeremiah 28: 1-17
Psalms: Psalm 119: 29, 43, 68, 79-80, 95, 102
Gospel Reading: Matthew 14: 13-21

     Following is the Prayer from the Preface of the Mass for Saint Ignatius of Loyola:

You called Saint Ignatius to associate himself with Your Son so that, inflamed with love for Him, he would inspire countless souls to seek Your greater glory, to promote greater service to You throughout the world, and to offer Your people a Company marked with apostolic love in Jesus Christ our Lord.

     Following is the Prayer after Communion for the Mass honoring Saint Alphonsus Liguori:

Lord, You made Saint Alphonsus a faithful minister and preacher of this Holy Eucharist. May all who believe in You receive it often and give You never-ending praise.

   Dear children! Today, little children, I invite you, through prayer, to be with Jesus, so that through a personal experience of prayer you may be able to discover the beauty of God's creatures. You cannot speak or witness about prayer, if you do not pray. That is why, little children, in the silence of the heart, remain with Jesus, so that He may change and transform you with His love. This, little children, is a time of grace for you. Make good use of it for your personal conversion, because when you have God, you have everything. Thank you for having responded to my call.

Click here to return to SECTION ONE or SECTION TWO or click here to return to the graphics front page of this issue.

July 31-August 2, 1998 volume 9, no. 149   DAILY CATHOLIC