Signs, Seasons, Days and Years — 7

There is a Sarum Breviary located in the library of Wake Forest University, North Carolina. This breviary was published in 1555 and contains a calendar not unlike that which we might expect to find in a more modern Latin breviary. In this calendar are found the dates on which the sun enters each constellation of the Zodiac, just as in the Papa Stronsay Calendar.

This page from a Sarum Rite breviary printed in 1555 gives the date that the sun enters Aquarius: Sol in aquario.

The "Aberdeen breviary" was edited by the eminent and highly respected Bishop William Elphinstone and was printed in 1507.  At the appropriate place in every month can be seen the words “Sol in…” and then the name of the sign of the zodiac for that month — exactly as is found in the Papa Stronsay Calendar, which you can purchase at the bottom of this post.

The calendar page for March in the Aberdeen breviary.  It marks the date on which the sun enters the constellation of Aries: Sol in ariete. 

The Papa Stronsay calendar for 2015 also gives the date on which the sun enters each of the twelve constellations of the Zodiac, just like the old Aberdeen breviary and the Sarum Rite breviary shown above: Sol in Ariete.

Showing the sun entering the constellation of Aries, I think it is a good place to again remind ourselves of the words of Pope St Leo the Great:

"In the fifth century there was a controversy between Rome and Alexandria about what the latest possible date for Easter could be.  According to Alexandrian tradition, it was April 25.  Pope St. Leo the Great (440-461) criticized this very late date by pointing out that, according to the Bible, Easter should fall in the first month, and the first month did not mean April, but the time when the sun is passing through the first part of the Zodiac — the sign of Aries.  The constellation in the heavens seemed to speak, in advance and for all time, of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (Jn I:29), the one who sums up in himself all the sacrifices of the innocent and gives them their meaning.  The mysterious story of the ram, caught in the thicket and taking the place of Isaac as the sacrifice decreed by God himself, was now seen as the pre-history of Christ.  The fork of the tree in which the ram was hanging was seen as a replica of the sign of Aries, which in turn was the celestial foreshadowing of the crucified Christ." - Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 99-100

"And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." Gen. 1:14




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Signs, Seasons, Days and Years — 6

The Hunterian Psalter (or York Psalter) was produced in England sometime around A.D. 1170 and is now part of the collection of Glasgow University Library.  Besides very many deeply religious and devotional pieces of artistic decoration, the astronomical Zodiac sign for each month is also exquisitely illustrated in a roundel on every calendar page.

The Zodiac sign of Sagittarius in the Hunterian Psalter.  It is hard to dismiss the use of the Zodiac as untraditional in the Catholic Church when documents as far back as A.D. 1170 clearly show it being used to track the passing of time.

The illustration of the Zodiac sign of Gemini in the  Hunterian Psalter.

Keep watching this space for more great examples of the Catholic Church using the Zodiac constellations through the ages!

"And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." Gen. 1:14




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Signs, Seasons, Days and Years — 5

Isabella Breviary was given to Queen Isabella I of Castile (Isabella the Catholic) as a gift on the occasion of the double marriage of her children.  It was composed in the late 1480s in Bruges in the Dominican style.  Here is an extract from the Wikipedia article on the Isabella Breviary:

A page from the calendar of the Isabella Breviary.  Note the Zodiac sign of Virgo in the top right of the page. 

“Besides the feast days, the calendar contains also the computistical entries necessary to determine the day of the week corresponding to a given calendar date. In the first column one can find the golden number and in the second the Dominical letter. In the third column the date is expressed in the according to the Roman calendar with kalendae, nonae and idus. Also the date on which the sun enters a zodiacal sign is indicated in the calendar.  In the heading for each month the number of days and lunar days is given and the length of day and night is indicated.”

Again notice the miniature illustration of the Zodiac sign of Sagittarius in the top left corner, as well as the indication of the date on which the sun enters the sign of Sagittarius: Sol in Sagittario.

As noted above, the highly Catholic Isabella Breviary notes the date on which the sun enters each constellation of the Zodiac, just as the Papa Stronsay calendar does. See the image of the 2015 Papa Stronsay Calendar below to witness over 500 years of Catholic tradition in action!

 In the Papa Stronsay Calendar, the date on which the sun enters each constellation of the Zodiac is marked: Sol in Sagittario.

Keep watching this space for more great examples of the Catholic Church using the Zodiac constellations through the ages!

"And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." Gen. 1:14




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Signs, Seasons, Days and Years — 4

Ancient astronomers and keepers of time divided the annual course of the Sun across the 12 Zodiac constellations into 12, 30 degree segments. In a year, the Sun moves across the Zodiac to complete a 360 degree circuit. The Sun takes about a month to move from one Zodiac constellation to the next. A reason why a year is divided into 12 months. The Moon takes 29.5 days to complete a cycle from Full Moon to the next. Another reason why a month, on average, is 30 days.

The Zodiac therefore is not a superstitious method of predicting the future by looking at the stars, but rather a perfectly wonderful, God-given method of telling the time and calculating the date.  By looking at the image, you can see that you could just as easily say Pisces as you could March; after all, March is named after the Pagan god of war, Mars.

Keep watching this space for some great examples of the Catholic Church using the Zodiac constellations through the ages!

"And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." Gen. 1:14




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Signs, Seasons, Days and Years — 3

During a moon-cycle, the Moon moves across the 12 Zodiac constellations. The first astronomers divided the monthly orbit of the Moon into 28 different sections called 'lunar mansions'. Each 'mansion' is approximately one day of the lunar cycle, or about 12.2 degrees of the Moon's 360 degree circuit. This 28 division of the Moon cycle can be divided into four phase periods of the Moon. How 7 days was determined to be a week, correlates with the 7 day moon phase division of 28.

This is important as is demonstrates that the constellations of the Zodiac are not the same thing as astrology.  They are simply part of the intricate calendar designed by God.  This is why, in keeping with the ancient tradition of the Church, the Papa Stronsay calendar tracks not only the sun's progress through the constellations of the Zodiac, but the lunar calendar as well! Order your Papa Stronsay Calendar below.

More to come, so watch this space!

"And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." Gen. 1:14





You can order the Calendar right here and now:

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Signs, Seasons, Days and Years — 2

The Papa Stronsay Calendar is out now to order, and it can be purchased at the bottom of this post.  In the promotional video, also found below, the sun's course through the constellations of the Zodiac is mentioned as being marked on the calendar.  The Zodiac is these days associated almost entirely with superstitious astrology, but the Zodiac is not astrology.

Timekeeping was devised by identifying and measuring the movement of the Sun and Moon across the Zodiac constellations.  A 360 degree system plots and times the course of the Sun in a year. The coordinate system can be easily divided by 60, 30 and 15.  A minute has 60 seconds. An hour 60 minutes. One day of 24 hours divided by 2 is 12.  The stars move towards the west one minute in distance, every minute, or one degree every four minutes.  The sun and stars move fifteen degrees in one hour.  Fifteen degrees multiplied by the four which it takes to complete one degree gives us sixty minutes.  Thus the very time which we daily read from our wrist-watch is determined by tracking the motion of the sun and stars across the sky.

More to come, so watch this space!

"And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." Gen. 1:14





You can order the Calendar right here and now:

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Signs, Seasons, Days and Years — 1

There has recently been a question regarding the Papa Stronsay Calendar, which you can purchase at the bottom of this post.

The question regards the signs of the Zodiac which are marked on the calendar.  The Zodiac does not mean astrology.  Astrology is a superstitious system of divining which is condemned by the church.  With the signs of the Zodiac we simply track the sun through the constellations of the Zodiac during the year.  The sun takes very nearly one month exactly to transit one constellation.  Thus it is simply marking the months.  Nothing whatever to do with predicting the future.


It is a venerable method of time-keeping and has been used by the Church since the beginning.

"In the fifth century there was a controversy between Rome and Alexandria about what the latest possible date for Easter could be.  According to Alexandrian tradition, it was April 25.  Pope St. Leo the Great (440-461) criticized this very late date by pointing out that, according to the Bible, Easter should fall in the first month, and the first month did not mean April, but the time when the sun is passing through the first part of the Zodiac — the sign of Aries.  The constellation in the heavens seemed to speak, in advance and for all time, of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (Jn I:29), the one who sums up in himself all the sacrifices of the innocent and gives them their meaning.  The mysterious story of the ram, caught in the thicket and taking the place of Isaac as the sacrifice decreed by God himself, was now seen as the pre-history of Christ.  The fork of the tree in which the ram was hanging was seen as a replica of the sign of Aries, which in turn was the celestial foreshadowing of the crucified Christ." - Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 99-100

Scholars show Pope Gregory XIII a chart of the Sun against the Zodiac to indicate the location of the Sun throughout a year.  This great pontiff was responsible for the reform of the calendar into form we have today.

The Zodiac is profoundly bound up with Catholicism.
More to come, so watch this space!

"And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." Gen. 1:14





You can order the Calendar right here and now:

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Be not faithless, but believing. (Jn. 20:27)

 

A relic of the Wood of the True Cross.

As we know, 3rd May, was the old Feast of the finding of the Holy Cross.  Back in the 1970s it was fashionable to attempt to erode and destroy the faith of the Catholic people by telling them that there are now so many relics of the True Cross to be found in the world, that if they were all brought together in one place, there would be far more wood than the Cross of Jesus Christ could possibly have been constructed from.  The conclusion that these rationalistic destroyers of Faith wish you to draw, is that much of the wood claimed to be of the True Cross, is in fact counterfeit and not really the True Cross at all. Having heard this, how could you ever know if the relic you have before you is real nor not? Perhaps it is a piece of the True Cross, but then again, perhaps it is also one of the medieval forgeries the above mentioned wise professors have told us about?  How could you know?

Well fortunately there is an answer.  It would appear that the purveyors of these dangerous ideas had neglected to study what the Fathers of the Church had to say on the matter.  Let us turn our eyes to St Paulinus of Nola.

Paulinus was born of rich and noble parents at Bordeaux, France in the year 354 AD.  Remember that this is but 42 years since the battle of Milvian Bridge during which the Emperor Constantine saw a vision of the Cross in the sky with the words “In hoc signo vinces”, In this sign, conquer, and 31 years since the Edict of Milan, in which the Emperor Constantine freed the Christian religion from persecution within the Roman Empire.  Paulinus’s family being a rich one with numerous estates throughout the empire, was given a broad education.  Remarkably he was only 25 years old when he was made Suffect Consul by the Emperor Gratian, and at 28 he was made governor of the province of Campania.

The Roman Emperor Gratian.

After the death of his wife, Therasia, he was made bishop of Nola.  St Paulinus received high praise from such great minds as St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Martin of Tours and St. Ambrose.  By all this we can understand that St Paulinus of Nola was no fool.  To rise so high in both the secular and ecclesiastical hierarchy demonstrates a sharp mind and sound judgment, not blown by every wind that might catch him.  Knowing this we should not take lightly the words he addresses to Severus in his 32nd letter.  Speaking of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem he writes:

St Paulinus of Nola

“Every year during the Lord’s Pasch the bishop of that city [Jerusalem] brings it [the True Cross] out to be venerated by the people; he leads them in this show of respect.  Only on the day when we celebrate the mystery of the Cross Itself is that source of mysteries brought out to mark the holy and solemn occasion; but occasionally devout pilgrims who have come there merely for that purpose beg that it be shown to them as reward for their long journeying.  It is said that this request is granted only by the kindness of the bishop; and it is likewise by his gift alone that these tiny fragments of sacred wood from the Cross are made available to win great graces and blessings.

"Indeed this cross of inanimate wood has living power, and ever since its discovery has lent its wood to the countless, almost daily, prayers of men.  Yet it suffers no diminution; though daily divided, it seems to remain whole to those who lift it, and always entire to those who venerate it.  Assuredly it draws this power of incorruptibility, this undiminishing integrity, from the Blood of that Flesh which endured death yet did not see corruption.”

The Mass of the Five Wounds

Salisbury Cathedral

The Sarum rite of Mass was one of the rites of celebrating Mass in use in England before the reformation.  It is more properly called the Rite of Salisbury and originated as the Rite used in the Cathedral of that place.  One Mass in particular was extremely popular with the English people: the Mass of the Five Wounds.  In the Sarum missal, just before the text of this Mass is related the story of how it came to be:

"S Boniface the pope was sick, even unto death; and he urgently besought God to prolong his life in this world. God sent to him S Raphael the Archangel with the Office [the word Officium can also mean the Introit] of the Mass of the Five Wounds of Christ, saying to the Pope “Get up and write this Office, and you shall say it five times; and straightway you will receive health. And what priest soever shall devoutly celebrate this Office for himself or for another sick person five times, he shall receive health and grace, and in the future shall possess life eternal, provided he perseveres in good. And in whatsoever tribulation a man shall be set in this world, if he procures from a priest that this Office be said for him five times, without doubt he shall be set free. And if it shall be said for the soul of one departed, immediately after it shall have been completely said, that is, five times, his soul shall be loosed from pains”. 

Pope S Boniface therefore, hearing these things, immediately got up in the place where he lay sick, and conjured him [the angel] by Almighty God that he should depart from him without any danger to himself, and should straightway give a sign who he was, and for what purpose he had come to him. He [the Angel] at once said that he was the archangel Raphael sent to him from God, and promised that the things listed above would without doubt be ratified. Pope s Boniface then confirmed the Office by his apostolic authority, granting to all, truly confessed and penitent, who should say it for the fifth time, a seventh part of the remission of all their sins. And likewise, he loosed in the Lord forty days of mortal sins and one year of venial sins to all who should procure the aforesaid office to be said."

Salisbury Cathedral

It's all in the detail

One of the many details found on the image of The Bonnie Prince is His brooch.  He is pictured wearing the Hunterston Brooch. The Hunterston Brooch is an ancient Scottish brooch dating from about the year 700 A.D. It is dated by its artistic similarity to the Lindisfarne Gospels.  You can click the images below to enlarge them.

Godly Kings of the Past

Last Sunday was the feast of St Michael the Archangel, traditionally called Michaelmas.  In the secular, anti-religious society in which we live today, it is easy to forget the Catholic times in which our forefathers dwelt.

King Æthelred II of England reigned from 18th March 978 until 23rd April 1016.

 A Gold coin struck during Æthelred's reign shows the King wearing his armour.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in the year A.D. 1014, King Æthelred enacted the following law:

"That every Christian who is of age, fast three days on bread and water, and raw herbs before the feast of St Michael, and let every man go to Confession and to church barefoot. Let every priest with his people go in procession three days barefoot, and let everyone’s commons for three days be prepared without anything of flesh, as if they themselves were to eat it, both in meat and in drink, and let all this be distributed to the poor. Let every servant be excused labour these three days that he may better perform his fast or let him work what he will for himself. These be the three days, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next before the feast of St Michael. If any servant break his fast let him make satisfaction with his hide (bodily stripes), let the poor free man pay thirty pence, the king’s thane 130 shillings; and let the money be divided to the poor."

King Æthelred II upon his throne.

If only the rulers of our times were so concerned for the things of God!

A Little Piece of History

It is always a thrill to think of the centuries and millennia that have gone into making the venerable Liturgy we have today; how many saints, holy monks, nuns, priests and lay folk have sanctified themselves while celebrating or assisting at this Liturgy.

It is even more of a thrill when you can put your hands, so to speak, on evidence that much of that Liturgy is the same now as it was all those years ago.

This page of the manuscript Laon 239, written around the year 930, shows part of the Holy Mass for today, Septuagesima Sunday.

When comparing the text of that ancient Mass to the text used in today's celebration you can see that they are exactly the same.

Clearly the interpretation of the chant is a little different today (yes, those markings above the words are the neums of Gregorian Chant!), but the words of the Mass have remained unchanged for over 1000 years! Have a look at the Offertory, for example (highlighted in the manuscript):

Bonum est confiteri Domino et psallere nomini tuo Altissime.

It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to thy name, O most High.

DOMINUS EST - It is the Lord!

Most Rev. Athanasius Schneider, O.R.C.,
consecrated bishop on 2 June, 2006, is
Auxiliary Bishop of Maria Santissima in Astana,
Kazakhstan.

Relying on accurate history and good theology,
the author of DOMINUS EST makes a plea for a return to distributing
Holy Communion to kneeling communicants on the tongue —
the practice now restored at papal liturgies by Pope Benedict XVI.

The book written by Bishop Schneider
is available in English.



Dominus Est – It Is the Lord!
Preface by Cardinal Ranjith.

Originally published in Italian by the Vatican Press,
this book offers readers insights into the sacrality
which ought to surround the distribution
and reception of Holy Communion

The book comes with the endorsement of the then two highest officials
in the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship
and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Link
to buy the book via Internet in the USA
Link
to buy the book in the UK.

"Cristiada" to be released soon.

We hope that we are alerting you
to a suitable Catholic movie
concerning the Mexican War
for
Christ the King.

Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J.
Martyr
(13 January, 1891 - 23 November, 1927)

Blessed Miguel Pro, was a Mexican Jesuit priest,
executed during the persecution of the Catholic Church
and Beatified on September 25, 1988. As Blessed Fr. Pro walked from his cell
to the courtyard and the firing squad,
he blessed the soldiers, knelt and briefly prayed quietly.

Declining a blindfold, he faced his executioners
with a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other
and held his arms out in imitation of the crucified Christ
and shouted out,
"May God have mercy on you! May God bless you!
Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent!
With all my heart I forgive my enemies!"

Before the firing squad were ordered to shoot,
Blessed Father Pro raised his arms in imitation of Christ
and shouted the defiant cry of the Cristeros,
"Viva Cristo Rey!" -
"Long live Christ the King!"

When the initial shots of the firing squad failed to kill him,
a soldier shot him point blank.

Blessed Miguel shot point blank.

+
Cristiada
is a drama film and historic epic,
currently in post-production,
directed by Dean Wright and written by Michael Love.

It is based on the true story of the Cristero War (1926-29),
a rebellion which arose out of
the Mexican government's persecution of Catholics in the 1920s.

Although filmed in Mexico, it is in English.
The film is the directorial debut for Wright,
veteran visual effects supervisor on films including
The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003).
It is projected to be released in 2011.

(Source)

About our brothers.

We hope that it is clear that
the Transalpine Redemptorists
want every Jewish person
to look upon us as their brothers.

We condemn all forms of Antisemitism
including anti-semitic conspiracy theories.

We make our own these words spoken by
Pope Pius XI:

"Mark well that in the Catholic Mass,
Abraham is our Patriarch and forefather.

Antisemitism is incompatible with the lofty thought
which that fact expresses.
It is a movement with which we Christians
can have nothing to do.

No, no, I say to you
it is impossible for a Christian
to take part in Antisemitism.
It is inadmissible.
Through Christ and in Christ
we are the spiritual progeny of Abraham.
Spiritually, we [Christians] are all Semites."

(Pius XI, 6 September 1938.)

With
Pope Benedict XVI
at
Yad Vashem
we say:

The Holocaust,
the Shoah,
was a horrific tragedy of sufferings
that should never be denied, belittled or forgotten.

Cardinal King Henry IX.

The anniversary

of
our Cardinal King Henry IX and I.



The Arms of the Cardinal Duke of York.

On 13 July, 1807,
the soul of
Henry Benedict Mary Clement Thomas Francis Xavier Stuart
entered eternity.
He was a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church.

The Arms of the Stuart Kings.

He was King Henry IX of England, France and Ireland;
and
King Henry I of Scotland.
He is buried in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.

I think that the life of this exiled
King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland,
the last of the Royal House of Stuart,
is most fitting.

The long procession of the Royal Stuarts concludes,
not in a hellish death struggle against the usurper,
but rather with the holy life long sacrifice
of the youngest member of the dynasty,
offered to God.
Henry Stuart
as Prince, heir to the thrones
and legitimate king,
lays down his life in the service of the King of kings
as the Priest-King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland,
Defender of the Faith.

The King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland,
and the Defender of the Faith,
as priest and victim
daily offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
for nearly 59 full years.
He was Prince of the Holy Roman Church for 60 years.

"...our every sacrifice was made for God,
for the Faith,
and for that unshaken loyalty we have ever displayed
towards the Primacy of Peter and the Holy See."

(Henry Cardinal called Duke of York, 4 Nov. 1792.)

A brief sketch of his life:

The Duke of York.

He was born in Rome on 6 March 1725,
the second son of exiled
King James III of England and VIII of Scotland.
On the same day he was baptised by Pope Benedict XIII,
shortly after, as the king's second son,
he was created Duke of York.

In 1745 he went to France to help his brother,
H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales,
(better known as
Bonnie Prince Charlie),
to prepare the Jacobite campaign in Scotland.

In June 1747 Pope Benedict XIV announced his intention
to enroll Prince Henry, Duke of York,
in the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church.

30 June 1747
the Duke of York was tonsured
by Pope Benedict XIV.

In the consistory of 3 July 1747,
the Duke of York was created
Cardinal-Deacon.

1 September 1748, in his 24th year of age,
he was ordained a Priest
and thereafter
daily offered the Sacred Victim
on the altar.

15 May - 6 July 1758,
aged 33 years,
he participated in the conclave to elect
Pope Clement XIII.

2 October, 1758,
the Cardinal Prince was appointed
Titular Archbishop of Corinthus
and consecrated bishop on 19 November 1758,
by Pope Clement XIII.

The following year he was appointed
Cardinal-Priest of S. Maria in Trastevere;
his Arms (above) can still be seen
in that ancient basilica's Lady chapel.

The Cardinal Duke of York.

On 13 July 1761,
46 years to the day before he would leave this world,
he was raised yet higher in the Church
when he was appointed
Archbishop (Personal Title) of Frascati.

On 1 January, 1766
his father King James III of England
and VIII of Scotland died.
The King's eldest son became
King Charles III.

The Cardinal Duke of York became the heir apparent.

15 February - 19 May 1769, aged 43,
he participated in the conclave that elected
Pope Clement XIV.

5 October 1775 - 15 February 1775 aged 49,
he participated in the conclave to elect
Pope Pius VI.

30 January, 1788 H.M. King Charles III,
Bonnie Prince Charlie,
his brother, died.

30 January, 1788,
the Cardinal-Prince, Duke of York,
succeeded to all of his British rights as
King Henry IX of England, France and Ireland;
King Henry I of Scotland;
Defender of the Faith.

(He now used the title
"Cardinal called Duke of York"
in order to indicate that this was no longer his real title.
He changed his arms from those of a second son,
with a crescent in the middle,
to the undifferenced Royal Arms.)

1 December 1799 - 14 March 1800, aged 74,
he participated in the conclave
that elected
Pope Pius VII.

26 September 1803
he was appointed Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia
and Dean of the College of Cardinals
which office he held until his death.

REQUIEM aeternam dona ei, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace. Amen.

And may the souls of all the faithful departed
rest in peace. Amen.

The tomb of the exiled Stuart Kings
St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.