I know this is old, but I love it so much!
Members of the FSSP transform an ugly novus ordo altar in one proper for TLM celebration.
La métamorphose d'un autel
Uploaded by CHRIST-REDEMPTEUR
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Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Blessed Andrew of Peschiera
Today is Bl. Andrew Grego's memorial in the Traditional Calendar.
In the new (current) calendar it is celebrated 19 January.
Blessed Andrew was born at Peschiera, Italy in 1400 and entered the Order in a reformed priory of the Congregation of Lombardy. Itinerant. preaching was his life's ministry, especially in the Valtelline region of the Italian Alps where he laboured for forty-five years. Travelling on foot and living with the poor, he reconciled many to Christ. He died at the priory of Morbegno on January 18, 1485.
Bl. Andrew Grego is one those shining examples of struggle and humility in his vocation. From the earliest age he was unquetionably loyal to his father and endured ridicule from his family for his piety. He wanted to be a hermit, but decided to enter a monastery after his father died. His brothers were meriless in their derision yet he would beg their forgiveness for having annoyed them!
He was only 15 when he received the Dominican habit then sent to the convent Florence, Italy. From there he became the great missionary and preacher he was for the rest of his life. He traveled the alps struggling against both inclement weather and dangerous heretics to preach Christ and rescue many from heresy.
He was a miracle worker in life as well as at his tomb, but it's been said that "probably his greatest miracle was his preaching, which produced such fruits in the face of great obstacles."
First Vespers:
Ant. Strengthen by holy intercession, O Andrew, confessor of the Lord, those here present, have we who are burdened with the weight of our offenses may be relieved by the glory of thy blessedness, and may by thy guidance attain eternal rewards.
V. Pray for us, Blessed Andrew.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Blessed Marcolinus of Forli
Today is the feast day of Bl. Marcolinus in the traditional calendar.
His feast day is celebrated in the new calendar on 27 January.
Marcolino Amanni entered the Dominicans at age 10. He occupies a place unique in Dominican annals because he was almost purely contemplative . There is outwardly little to record of Blessed Marcolino, except that for 70 years he kept the Dominican Rule in all its rigor. That is a claim to sanctity that can be made by very few, and is of itself enough to entitle him to canonization. He did accomplish the reform of several convents that had fallen from their primitive fervor, but this he did by his prayers and his example rather than by teaching or preaching.
It is related that Marcolino was most at home with the lay brothers, or with the neighborhood children who enjoyed talking to him. He seldom went out of his cell, and could not have engaged in any active works; neither did he leave any writings. His work was the unseen labor presided over by the Holy Spirit, the work of contemplation. "To give to others the fruits of contemplation," is the Dominican motto and one might be curious to know how Blessed Marcolino accomplished this. In order to understand the need for just such a type of holiness, it is well to remember the state of the Church in the 14th century. Devastated by plague and schism, divided and held up to scorn, preyed upon by all manner of evils, the Church militant was in need, not only of brave and intelligent action, but also of prayer. Consistently through the centuries, God has raised up such saints as could best avert the disasters that threatened the world in their day, and Marcolino was one answer to the need for mystics who would plead ceaselessly for the Church.
The interior life of Marcolino was not recorded by himself or by others. He lived the mystical life with such intensity that he was nearly always in ecstasy and unconscious of the things around him. Some one of his brothers recorded that he seemed "a stranger on earth, concerned only with the things of heaven." Most of his brethren thought him merely sleepy and inattentive, but actually he was, for long periods, lost in converse with God. Some had heard him talking earnestly to the statue of Our Lady in his cell; some fortunate few had heard Our Lady replying to his questions, with the same simplicity.
At the death of Marcolino, a beautiful child appeared in the streets, crying out the news to the little town that the saintly friar was dead. As the child disappeared when the message was delivered, he was thought to have been an angel. Many miracles were worked at the tomb of Marcolino. One was the miraculous cure of a woman who had been bedridden for 30 years. Hearing of the death of the blessed, she begged him to cure her so that she could visit his tomb (Attwater2, Benedictines, Dorcy).
