Option C: christian, catholic, conservative in the deep southPosts RSS Comments RSS
Apparently, St. Paul is buried there, according to scientists and as reported by FoxNews.com. Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the scientific team’s carbon dating, saying, “This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul.” Benedict announced the findings at a service in the basilica to mark the end of the Vatican’s Pauline year, in honor of the apostle.
Many non-Catholics object to our use of the title “queen of heaven” in reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary. They do so because in the Old Testament, a false goddess – apparently Ishtar, the Assyro-Babylonian fertility goddess – was called the “queen of heaven” (see Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-19, and 44:25). Using the title when speaking of Mary, they reason, means that Catholics worship Mary as a pagan goddess. Obviously, this would be a wrong thing to do.
But take heart! The good news is that Catholics neither (a) consider Mary to be a goddess nor (b) worship her.
Catholics think that it is appropriate to call Mary the “queen of heaven” for two reasons:
But does the title’s pagan usage make it inappropriate to apply in a Christian context? By all means no! Just because the title was applied to a false queen of heaven in the Old Testament does not mean that the title cannot be used for the true queen of heaven.
There is strong Biblical precedent for this in the title “king of kings”. In the Old Testament, two rulers who were no friend of God’s people were called “king of kings”:
In spite of the pagan use of “king of kings”, we appropriately apply the title to Jesus Christ, our ultimate and true King of Kings, in 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14 and Revelation 19:16.
So we see from Scripture that it is certainly appropriate to call the Blessed Virgin Mary “Queen of Heaven.”
I ran across this inspiring quote today and thought I’d share it:
“The Lord has turned all our sunsets into sunrise, and through the cross brought death to life.” - St. Clement of Alexandria (from his work Exhortation to the Heathen)
Last Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI canonized five saints: Italian Blesseds Arcangelo Tadini (1846-1912), Bernardo Tolomei (1272-1348), Gertrude Comensoli (1847-1903) and Caterina Volpicelli (1839-1894), and the Portuguese Blessed Nuno de Santa Maria Alvares Pereira (1360-1431). The Vatican lists bios, but not all have been translated to English yet. I’ll try to post them as they are available.
*Update: April 29*
I promised links to their bios. Here are three that are in English so far:
Looking for information about St. Nicholas, the 4th Century Bishop of Myra and original Santa Claus? Look no further than the St. Nicholas Center website. On top of the interesting historical information, there are several crafts for the kiddies: coloring, cards, and even instructions on how to turn chocolate Santas into the real St. Nicholas. Cute!
My family and I attend St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, so when I was in our local Catholic bookstore recently, I picked up a coin featuring an image of that saint. St. Catherine is the patron saint of several causes, including firefighters, nurses, sick people, and a few other things as well.
Based on the typo on the coin I bought (see the picture), I think we can adopt her as the patron saint of Toyota minivan drivers as well (Sienna, as opposed to Siena).
An online resource explains patron saints for us:
Patron saints are chosen as special protectors or guardians over areas of life. These areas can include occupations, illnesses, churches, countries, causes — anything that is important to us…
Recently, the popes have named patron saints but patrons can be chosen by other individuals or groups as well.
So I’m unofficially naming St. Catherine of “Sienna” as the patron saint of minivan drivers, especially of Toyota Sienna drivers. My family drives a Sienna, as do quite a few other parishioners and parents who bring their kids to our parish school. Every time we get behind the wheel, we can reflect on her life and ask her to pray for us!
In celebration of the feast day of St. Ignatius of Antioch — student of St. John the Apostle — check out these awesome free mp3 audiobooks of his letters. Joe McClane from The Catholic Hack podcast recorded all seven of Ignatius’ letters, penned in A.D. 107 on his way to martyrdom. These are among the most powerful writings from the early church outside of the New Testament. The quotes I use in the “random quotes” part of this blog’s sidebar are lifted from Ignatius’ epistles.
These audio recordings are free, but Joe put a lot of work into them, so make a donation if you are able. Enjoy!
I know that Harry Potter’s pet owl Hedwig died a heroic death in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but I didn’t realize that she’d been canonized…or that today was her feast day.
Today, Sister Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception was canonized. She is the first officially recognized female saint from India. Please disregard the VOA News article’s inaccurate headline saying the pope “created” India’s first female saint. Obviously, God created her. And the Church’s canonization process discovers that a person is in heaven, then adds them to the official list (or “canon”) of saints that we know are there. The canonization process doesn’t put them in heaven or “create” saints. (The media rarely get religion right.)
The Travel section of today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution featured an article about a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France. This town is the site where the young Bernadette Soubirous saw several visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1858. While the Catholic Church was initially skeptical, her claims were eventually recognized as worthy of belief following a canonical investigation, and the apparition is now known as Our Lady of Lourdes. St. Bernadette was canonized in 1933.
The AJC article does not present what I think is one of the most fascinating facts of Bernadette’s story – she is one of the Incorruptables, a group of Catholic saints whose bodies have remained free from normal decomposition.
Bernadette died in 1879 at the age of 35. Exhumation is a normal part of the investigation when a person is being considered for canonization. About 30 years after her death, Bernadette’s body was exhumed with startling results:
Bishop Gauthey of Nevers and the church exhumed the body of Bernadette Soubirous on September 22, 1909, in the presence of representatives appointed by the postulators of the cause, two doctors, and a sister of the community. They found that although the crucifix in her hand and the rosary had both oxidized, her body appeared “incorrupt” — preserved from decomposition. This was cited as one of the miracles to support her canonization. They washed and reclothed her body before burial in a new double casket.
The Church exhumed the corpse a second time on April 3, 1919. The body still appeared preserved, however, her face was slightly discolored possibly due to the washing process of the first exhumation.
In 1925, the church exhumed the body for a third time. They took relics, which were sent to Rome. A precise imprint of the face was molded so that the firm of Pierre Imans in Paris could make a light wax mask based on the imprints and on some genuine photos. This was common practice for relics in France, as it was feared that although the body was uncorrupted, the blackish tinge to the face and the sunken eyes and nose would make an unpleasant impression on the public. Imprints of the hands were also taken for the presentation of the body. The remains were then placed in a gold and crystal reliquary in the Chapel of Saint Bernadette at the mother house in Nevers. The site is visited by many pilgrims and the body of Saint Bernadette to this day remains intact despite being nearly one hundred and thirty years old.
Check out these photos of St. Bernadette’s body — and keep in mind that she died in 1879. Amazing!
Do not have Jesus Christ on your lips, and the world in your heart…
— , Epistle to the Romans, 7
