Death of St John the Baptist as told by a child in Dublin.

St John the Baptist, El Greco, c.1600

Back in the 1960s a teacher in an elementary school in a very poor part of Dublin recorded the children telling Bilbe and other faith stories in their own words. They spoke in their own Dublin dialect of English and their very accents tell Irish people that they are poor.

A few years ago the old reel-to-reel tapes of Miss Cunningham, the teacher who had died since, were found and put together as a very successful CD and tape under the title Give Up Yer Aul' Sins, a very Dublin way of saying 'Repent'.

More recently Brown Bag Films made an animated version of these stories, using the original recordings of the children. You can find the story of the death of St John the Baptist, which the Church commemorates today, here.

My parish priest at home in Dublin a few years ago sadly remarked that children there today probably wouldn't know any of these stories.

Gospel
Mk 6:17-29

Herod was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”

Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.

She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias’ own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” He even swore many things to her, “I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom.”

She went out and said to her mother,“What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request, “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”

The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Salome with the head of St John the Baptist, Carlo Dolci 1665-70

Philippine 'Diocese brings back Latin Mass'

Christmas Day 2007. Correction: This Mass was celebrated in Lord of Divine Mercy Parish, Diocese of Cubao, not in Jesus, Lord of Divine Mercy Parish, Diocese of Novaliches as I posted originally. (H/T Pro Deo et Patria for photos and correction).

CBCP News, run by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, carries a story today about the Traditional Latin Mass, no properly called the Extraordinary Form (EF) of the Mass, being celebrated regularly in the Diocese of Parañaque, which consists of three cities in the Metro Manila area and was carved out of the Archdiocese in 2002.

When Pope Benedict's motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, came out in 2007 there wasn't much discussion about it in the Philippines, although some celebrations were reported in the media. The Society of St Pius X has houses in at least two places, Quezon City, Metro Manila, and Iloilo City. On Monday of last week when I went to Iloilo for an ordination I met two SSPX priests as I was getting on the boat for Iloilo, a Frenchman and a Filipino. They were wearing white soutanes with a blue sash. I only exchanged greetings with them.

The CBCP News headline speaks of bringing back the 'Latin Mass'. Quite a few people, even priests older than me - I was ordained in 1967 - refer to what is now called Mass in the Extraordinary Form, or 'TLM' (Tridentine Latin Mass), as many call it. They are unaware that Latin is still the official liturgical language of the Roman Rite. However, hardly anyone I know here has ever been at a Mass of any kind in Latin since the radical changes were introduced. I have celebrated Mass - Novus Ordo - publicly in Latin only twice, in 1981 in a Carmelite Monastery in Iceland, where the nuns were all Dutch, most of them elderly (they've been replaced since by Polish Carmelites), and in a retirement home for Daughters of Charity near Munich in 1988. On the rare occasions when I celebrate Mass alone I sometimes do so in Latin.

In 1990 I attended a TLM, approved by the archbishop, in the church in Dublin where my parents were married. Many in the congregation were young and I was struck by the prayerfulness of those there. For me it was like being at a reconstruction of something from the past in a museum.

However, I wouldn't see it that way now, even though I haven't been at a TLM since. But I hope that the ocasion will arise when I will be able to celebrate an Mass in the Extraordinary Form. When I was ordained we had an 'interim' form, basically the TLM with some vernacular, especially the readings. The Roman Canon could be said aloud but Archbishop John Charles McQuaid of Dublin, where I'm from, decreed that it was to be said quietly, 'for the sake of uniformity', as I recall.

In the larger cities in the Philippines and in most religious houses and Catholic schools English rather than the mother-tongue has replaced Latin. This troubles me at times but it's a complicated issue.

Pro Deo et Patria gives a directory of the TLM in the Philippines, which shows that it is celebrated in a growing number of cities. But I have rarely heard anyone speak about it. One friend of mine in Mindanao was quite upset when some Greek and Latin chants were introduced at one Sunday Mass in his cathedral.

Diocese brings back Latin Mass

MANILA, August 27, 2009—The use of Latin Mass is actively being done in the Diocese of Paranaque with a go signal given by its bishop.

The Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) celebrations in southern Metro Manila are currently hosted by the National Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Villamor Air Base.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass continues to be a Missa Cantata, celebrated at 9:30AM every Sunday at the crypt chapel of the Columbarium.

The Traditional Latin Mass Ministry of the Diocese of Parañaque which celebrates the TLM has adopted the name Societas Liturgiae Sacrae Sancti Gregorii.

The Ministry is composed of the priest-celebrants trained at St. Jerome Emiliani and Sta. Susana Parish (SJESSP), the TLM altar servers of SJESSP, and the Van De Steen Choir.

The Societas LSSG continues to be supported by SJESSP parishioner benefactor, George Balagtas, and its activities coordinated by Marilou Cortes.

Societas LSSG continues to undertake its TLM activities under the directives set by Paranaque Bishop Jesse Mercado and guidelines approved by Fr Grato Germanetto, CRS.
The first celebration of the traditional Mass in the diocese was held on June 29, 2008 on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, at the Church of St. Jerome Emiliani and Sta. Susana Parish in Muntinlupa City.

It will be recalled that in July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued Motu Proprio an Apostolic Letter entitled “Summorum Pontificum” regarding the celebration of the Roman Rite according to the Missal of 1962 and gave guidelines on how to proceed with the so-called Latin Mass. (CBCPNews)

A desperately sad overseas worker story

A desperately sad overseas worker story

Áras an Uachtaráin, the presidential residence, Phoenix Park, Dublin

The Irish Independent reports the story of Eugenia Bratis, 50, only 4'10" tall, who was found brutally murdered in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, very near where I grew up, some weeks ago. For many days the Irish police had no idea who she was, had no leads as to who had stabbed her. They then did something that I don't recall happening before in Ireland: they released a photo of the face of the dead woman, hoping that someone would recognise her.

It turned out that Eugenia was from Romania and had been living in Dublin for about a year, but as a beggar and living rough - sleeping on the streets much of the time. She often begged on O'Connell Bridge, right in the heart of Ireland's capital. Many would have passed her by. There are many such women in Ireland now. After she had been identified it was discovered that she had two teenaged children back home in Timisoara, Romania, and she had been sending home whatever money she managed to get so that they could go to school.

I've used the term 'overseas worker' because a major reason for thousands of Filipinos going overseas to work is to put their children, brothers and sisters and relatives, through school. Poor Eugenia went to Ireland from Romania for the same reason.

O'Connell Bridge, Dublin

We here in the Philippines tend to see the Western world as affluent and for the majority it is, even in these days of recession. But there are still countless people whom the affluence passes by.

Beggar, probably from Romania, on O'Connell Bridge

Here in the Philippines we can relate to Eugenia's efforts to do the best for her children. We can hardly imagine the sadness in her life adn in that of her two children. Please remember them in your prayers.

Timisoara, Romania

Was Saint Monica Irish?

St Monica, Luis Tristán de Escamilla 1616

I posted the following a year ago:

The second reading in the Office of Readings for the feast of St Monica (332-387) always brings a smile to my face and leads me to ask, ‘Was St Monica an “Irish mother”?’ St Augustine’s brother had said to their mother when she was dying that it might be better if she died in her homeland in north Africa, rather than in Italy. The extract from St Augustine’s Confessions goes on: But as she heard this she looked at me and said: ‘See the way he talks’. And then she said to us both: ‘Lay this body where it may be. Let no care of it disturb you: this only I ask of you that you should remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be’.

The latter part of the last quotation appears on innumerable memorial cards and I don’t know of a better request for prayers for the dead. But it’s the ‘See the way he talks’ that makes me smile. Many’s the time I heard my own mother – and other Irish mothers – say, nearly always in a family-type context, ‘Did you ever hear such nonsense?’ It’s the kind of thing that only people intimately related can say to one another, conveying gentle criticism/a reprimand and affection at the same time.

A variation of St Monica’s request is on the memorial card of my own mother, Mary who, like the saint, died at the age of 55: ‘All I ask of you is that you will remember me at Mass and Holy Communion’.

Death of St Monica, Benozzo Gozzoli 1464-65

Tradition Day by Day carries this reading from the Confessions of St Augustine for today:

Remember, Monica, my mother

May Monica, my mother, rest in peace with her husband, before whom and after whom she was given in marriage to no man. She dutifully served him, bringing forth fruit to you with much patience, that she might also win him to you. Inspire, O Lord my God, inspire your servants my brethren, your children my master, whom I serve with my voice, my heart, and my writings, that as many of them as read these words may remember at your altar your handmaid, Monica, together with Patricius, formerly her husband, by whose flesh you brought me into this life, how I know not. May they with a pious affection remember them who were my parents in this transitory light, my brethren under you, our Father in our Catholic mother, and my fellow citizens in the eternal Jerusalem, for which your pilgrim people here below continually sigh from their setting out until their return, so that my mother's last request of me may be more abundantly granted by her through the prayers of many, occasioned by my confessions, rather than through my own prayers.

I was quite astonished some years ago reading an article in a scholarly Catholic magazine published in the USA lamenting that so many Catholic parents weren’t choosing truly Christian names for their children anymore. One example given was ‘Austin’. Clearly, the author was unaware that this is a common variation of ‘Augustine’, used especially in Ireland and in Britain. Indeed, the Augustinian Friars are often referred to in England as ‘The Austin Friars’.

When I was in primary school one of our juvenile jokes was: ‘Who is the patron saint of car manufacturers? St Monica, because she had a Baby Austin’. The ‘Baby Austin’ was a small family car produced very successfully in England between 1922 and 1939. At least we knew who St Monica and St Augustine were. I’m not sure about young people in Ireland today.

Late President Kim a model for Catholics and Koreans: Korean cardinal

KOREA Late President Kim praised as model for Catholics and fellow Koreans
August 25, 2009

SEOUL (UCAN) -- Thomas More Kim Dae-jung will be remembered as a model Christian, Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul said during the former South Korean president's funeral Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral.

Cardinal Cheong presiding at the funeral Mass

"I thank God for giving such a person to Korea," the cardinal said in his homily during the Aug. 22 Mass, held a day before the state funeral. "At the same time, I feel sad at the thought that we may not see a leader like him again."

Speaking to a congregation of about 2,300 people, the cardinal praised the first Korean Nobel laureate, who won the Peace Prize in 2000 for his efforts to reach out to communist North Korea.

"He was a political leader who defined an epoch in Korean history and was an elder for all Koreans," Cardinal Cheong remarked, describing Kim as a champion of human rights, democratization and peace on the Korean peninsula.

"He practiced his faith in his daily life," the Church leader continued. "He regularly attended Sunday Mass even during his busy presidency ... (and prayed) for peace and the reunification of Korea."

Cardinal Cheong urged Koreans to follow Kim's example and heal divisions in society.

Kim, South Korea's first Catholic president, died from heart failure on Aug. 18 at the age of 85. His successor, Roh Moo-hyun, was a baptized Catholic but was not known to practice the faith while in office.

"President Kim was not only a leader for Koreans but also for Catholics in his public expressions of his faith," agreed Anthonia So Kyong-ae, who attended the funeral Mass. "I was happy when he was became Korea's first Catholic president. I hope he rests in peace in the grace of God."

Family members of the late President Kim at the funeral Mass

Kim's state funeral was held at the plaza in front the National Assembly. About 20,000 people came to bid him a final farewell. He was buried later that day in Seoul National Cemetery.

Kim was baptized in 1956 and often spoke about his faith publicly. During his presidential term from 1998 to 2003, he kept close ties with the apostolic nunciature to Korea and the Holy See.

In March 2000, during the Jubilee of the Year 2000 celebrations, he became the first Korean head of state to visit the Vatican. There he invited Pope John Paul II to visit South Korea to promote peace on the peninsula. In 1989, while an opposition party leader, he also had an audience with Pope John Paul, one of the world leaders whose appeals led to Kim's release from detention in 1982 after a military court sentenced him to death two years earlier.

Pope Benedict XVI sent a condolence message following Kim's death to President Lee Myung-bak through Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

"Pope Benedict XVI commends the late President's soul to the mercy and love of Almighty God, and upon all the Korean people who mourn his passing, he cordially invokes the divine blessing of peace and strength," Cardinal Bertone wrote.

First ordination for bishop, 49th for parish

Last Monday, 17 August, I attended the ordination of Fr Lazaro N. Ervite OSA by Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza, auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Jaro, at the Extension Campus Chapel of the University of San Agustin, Sambag, Jaro, Iloilo City. Father Roy, as he is known, spent five years as a Columban seminarian but realized that God was calling him to be an Augustinian friar.

This was the first ordination to the priesthood by Bishop Alminaza he became a bishop on his 49th birthday, the 149th anniversary of the death of St John Vianney, 4 August last year. and the 49th of a priest from the parish of Igbaras, Iloilo, a town of less than 30,000. Its patron is St Rita of Cascia, and Father Roy’s ordination took place on the feast of another Augustinian, St Clare of Montefalco.

Father Ervite is assigned to Colegio San Agustin – Bacolod (CSA-B) as Director for Human Source Development.

Thanks to Elvira 'Babes' Paz for the ordination photos.

SVD and Servite Jubilees in the Philippines

SVD and Servite Jubilees in the Philippines

Seven SVD deacons, plus one other, ordained at San Isidro, Abra, on 27 June by Bishop Leopoldo C. Jaucian SVD of Bangued, Abra.

Tomb of Fr Juan Scheiermann SVD

The photos are from Felmar's Missionary Journey, the blog of Fr Felmar C. Fiel SVD, who has written for Misyon.

Father Scheiermann was one of two SVD priests to arrive in the Philippines on 15 August 1909 and a week later went with Bishop James Carroll of Nueva Segovia to Bangued. Father Scheiermann died from typhoid fever less than five months later on 10 January 1910.

Today Archbishop Edward Adams, Papal Nuncio to the Philippines, was the main celebrant at a Mass in Bangued to commemorate the centennial of the arrival of the first two SVD priests.

CBCPNEWS reports that Superior General Fr Antonio Pernia SVD, the first Filipino to head the congregation, will be the main celebrant at the culminating Mass of the Centennial Year at the first mission station of the SVDs in San Isidro, Abra, where Our Lady of the PIllar is the parish patron.

You can read more about the history of the SVDs in the Philippines in Hearts on Fire, 'The Home of the SVD-PHN'.

There are now three provinces of the SVDs in the Philippines and many Filipino priests and brothers on overseas mission.


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The Servites, whose full name in Latin is Ordo Fratrum Servorum Beatae Virginis Mariae, the Order of the Servant Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are celebrating the Silver Jubilee of their arrival in the Philippines today in Tunasan, Muntinlupa City. They were founded in Florence, Italy, in 1233 by seven prosperous merchants who renounced their wealth and went to live at the top of a mountain in a life of prayer. It would be as if seven well-known businessmen from the financial heart of Makati City were to go to the mountains of Zambales today and do something similar.



St Peregrine (San Peregrino), 1265-1345, an Italian and a Servite friar, 'was regarded as a firebrand in his day' and took part in anti-papal demonstrations. He is the patron of those with cancer. Another patron of persons with cancer is St Ezekiel Moreno OAR, whose feast we celebrated on 19 August. Born in Spain, he was ordained priest in the Philippines and served in Mindoro, which later became an SVD mission, and then was appointed Bishop of Pasto, Colombia. In 1873 St Ezekiel spent some time in Talisay (now Talisay City) just north of Bacolod City, getting treatment. The Recoletos still run the parish there.


May God continue to bless the great missionary work of the SVDs and the Servites in the Philippines and elsewhere and may our Blessed Mother protect them all.