Sept. 15 Our Lady of Sorrows/Mater Dolorosa/Our Lady of Solitude

 

Our Lady of Solitude is another aspect of the Sorrowful Mother. Most especially seen in Mary on Holy Saturday, alone following the crucifixion. Devotion under this title developed in Spain and Portugal, where several different statues can be found promoting this title of the BVM. 

Mission Soledad is named after Our Mother of Sorrows under this alternative title of Solitude. (Mission Delores in San Francisco is nicknamed as such based on a creek that used to run nearby, but it is officially named after San Francis of Assisi, however.) Today, Mission Soledad is aptly named, as the archaeological remains and the rebuilt replica chapel sit off isolated by themselves in the midst of farmland.

Sept. 14 Exaltation of the Holy Cross/Santa Cruz -CA Mission

EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, also known as the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, commemorates three historical events: the discovery of the True Cross in 326, its initial exaltation for public veneration in 335, and the recovery of the Cross from the Persians in 628. Nowadays, this feast also celebrates the boundless impact of Christ’s Cross upon all of creation.

We celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on September 14th, because this is the day in 335 when the relics of the true Cross, which had been miraculously rediscovered nine years earlier, were brought outside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem for public veneration. This church (also called the Church of the Resurrection) had just been dedicated the day before.

Early in the fourth century, Saint Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ’s life. She razed the second-century Temple of Aphrodite, which tradition held was built over the Savior’s tomb. During the excavation, workers found three crosses. Legend has it that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch healed a dying woman.  Her son Constantine then built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher on that spot.

To this day, the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox alike, celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the September anniversary of the basilica’s dedication. The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians, who had carried it off 14 years earlier in 614. According to the story, the emperor intended to carry the cross back into Jerusalem himself but was unable to move forward until he took off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim.

The cross is today the universal image of Christian belief. Countless generations of artists have turned it into a thing of beauty to be carried in procession or worn as jewelry. However, to the eyes of the first Christians, it had no beauty. It stood outside too many city walls, decorated only with decaying corpses, as a threat to anyone who defied Rome’s authority—including Christians who refused sacrifice to Roman gods. Although believers spoke of the cross as the instrument of salvation, it seldom appeared in early Christian art unless disguised as an anchor or the Chi-Rho until after Constantine’s edict of toleration in 314.

Although we commemorate these three historical events today, the core of our celebration is not the physical wood of the Cross or the holy sites where Jesus died and was buried. Our primary focus is the infinite love shown through the selfless and perfect Sacrifice of the Son of God and the boundless mercy that has poured forth upon the world as a result. The Cross itself is a cruel instrument of torture and death. The fact that it is now the symbol of God’s perfect love only further magnifies that love and showcases God’s infinite power to use the worst for the best: to use death to bring life and to transform the greatest act of cruelty ever known into the greatest act of mercy ever bestowed upon the world. Today, the cruelty of the Cross is not what is exalted, but the Love that God manifested to humanity by accepting death on the Cross: “Who, though in the form of God, emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. This is the glory of the Cross of Jesus!” (Pope Francis)

“Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.’ For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:13-17).

Stop turning in on ourselves

“Being Christian,” Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event.” The Gospel the liturgy offers us on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross suggests that God wants to enter into a relationship of love with everyone. This is offered in His Son, Jesus, lifted up on the Cross.

Lifting up our gaze to God expresses a very important truth: we are invited to enter back into relationship with Divinity. We need to stop turning in on ourselves, uselessly nurturing a sense of guilt and forgetting that “in whatever our hearts condemn, God is greater than our hearts” (1 John 3:20). Let us lift up our eyes toward the stars (remember Abraham and the promise of many descendants), knowing how to cast every worry onto God.

Wonder and gratitude

Lifting up our gaze should not enkindle fear, but gratitude, because that elevation is the measure of the love with which God loves His children, in God’s Son. It is the Mercy of God, therefore, which, as is the case with Nicodemus, illuminates the darkness of our lives and allows us to continue on our journey.

Sept. 11 Franciscan example of service & sacrifice

Mychal Fallon Judge, OFM (May 11, 1933-Sept. 11, 2001)

was an American Franciscan friar and Catholic priest who served as a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. While serving in that capacity, Father Judge was killed, becoming the first certified fatality of the September 11 attacks.

Saints called “the Great”

 Saints given the appellation “the Great”

[An unofficial title given by popular acclamation, not an official proclamation of the Church. Note the one female saint, although Mary is acknowledged as "Blessed be the Great Mother of God" and so might be included in this list as well.]

James the Great-er/Major: one of the Twelve, as opposed to James the Less

Anthony the Great (c.251-356): father of monasticism

Basil the Great (330-379) honored on January 2^nd w/Gregory of Nazianzen; brother to Gregory of Nyssa: Byzantine Greek theologians

Armenians:

Nerses I the Great (c.310-373)patriarch

Isaac the Great (c.345-439) catholicos leader

Euthymius the Great (377-473) monk

 

Arsenius the Great (c.354 -c.455) Orthodox Egyptian monk

Bruno the Great (925-65) archbishop of Cologne, Germany

Albert Magnus (1193-1280) philosopher, scientist, teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas and Scholasticism

Gertrude the Great (1256-1301) German Cistercian nun, mystic and stigmatist

Popes

Leo I (reigned 440-461)

Gregory I (c.540 – reigned 590-604)

Nicholas (c.800 - reigned 858-67)

?! John Paul II (1920 - reigned 1978 -2005)

In studying about Pope Saint Gregory the Great during Tuesday morning "Coffee with the Saints," the question of how many "Great" saints came up! And here is the list in answer!

Sept. 7 BL. Frederic Ozanam

Blessed Frederic Ozanam (1813-53: age 40)

Sept. 7 or 9

            Serving the poor taught Frederic something about God that he could not have learned otherwise. Since his sense of the dignity of each poor person was so close to the thinking of Saint Francis of Assisi, it is appropriate to include him among Franciscan saints, even though he is considered within the Vincentian family. Ozanam was a French literary scholar, lawyer, journalist, and equal rights advocate. He was recognized as a skilled writer, orator, thinker, social activist, and model of faith oriented toward outward action.

            Born Antoine-Frederic to Jean and Marie Ozanam in Milan, Italy, he was the fifth of 14 children, only three of whom reached adulthood. The family returned to Lyons, France, when Frederic was still quite young.  Reading and prayer did not seem to help when he began having doubts about his faith during his teenage years. He took long walks with Father Noirot of Lyons College, discussing and clarifying matters. His father wanted him to become a lawyer. So in 1831 Frederic began to study law at the University of the Sorbonne in Paris, earning his degree and then teaching at the University of Lyons. His passion was for literature, however, and he actually wrote an excellent book entitled Franciscan Poets of the Thirteenth Century. He did go on to receive a doctorate degree in literature. The philosophical literature and atmosphere of that era were very anti-Catholic, a hostility he encountered at the Sorbonne.

            In order to counter unjust tirades and encourage open debate on campus on topics relating to faith and society, as a student, Frédéric helped establish a discussion club, called a “Society of Good Studies.” When challenged to do more than just talk, Frédéric formed a small charitable group to meet the needs of the impoverished communities around Paris, providing food, clothing, and firewood to the poor. It also sought to nurture the spiritual life of its members. The group quickly grew and spread across the French countryside. Within two years in 1833, a formal rule was established for the organization. The charity served anyone in need, whether they were Catholic or not, a position which was uncommon at that time. It was officially named the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a worldwide organization that continues to this day.

            On June 23, 1841, he married Amelie Soulacroix and returned to the Sorbonne to teach literature. In 1846, Frédéric and his family spent a year in Italy in an attempt to restore his poor health due to consumption.  After the revolution of 1848, the French government asked Frédéric and his coworkers to supervise government aid to the poor. 

            Frédéric then started a newspaper, The New Era, dedicated to securing justice for the poor and the working classes. In his writing, Frédéric referred to the poor man as “the nation’s priest,” and said that the hunger and sweat of the poor formed a sacrifice that could redeem the people’s humanity. In his writings, he dwelt upon important contributions of historical Christianity, and maintained especially that the Catholic Church had been the most potent factor in establishing Western civilization.  

In 1852, poor health again forced Frédéric to return to Italy with his wife and daughter Marie. On his return to France, he died from tuberculosis in Marseilles on September 8, 1853. In his sermon at Frédéric’s funeral, Fr. Lacordaire described his friend as “one of those privileged creatures who came directly from the hand of God in whom God joins tenderness to genius in order to enkindle the world.” Ozanam was buried in the crypt of the church of St. Joseph des Carmes at the Institut Catholique in Paris.

            He was beatified in 1997 by Pope John Paul II during World Youth Day. Because Sept. 8^th is the feast of the Nativity of the BVM, he is alternately honored on either the 7^th or the 9^th by Vincentians and Franciscans. In the sermon during the Mass, the Pope said that Ozanam "is recognized as a precursor of the Catholic Church's social doctrine, whose cultural and religious origins he wanted to know and on which he wrote books which are still in great demand."

QUOTE: “Social welfare reform is to be learned… not in books nor from a public platform but in climbing the stairs to a poor man’s garret, sitting by his bedside, feeling the same cold that pierces him, sharing the secrets of his lonely heart and troubled mind.” –Frédéric Ozanam

Sept. 3 Mother of the Good Shepherd

 

I set up a new Wikipedia page for this particular title of the BVM!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_of_the_Good_Shepherd (external link)

Our Lady, Mother of the Good Shepherd (French: Notre Dame de Brebières), or The Divine Shepherdess (French: Le Divine Bergère) is a title of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. The feast day associated with this title is September 3.

Two Origins

The title is based on a statue found in the town of Albert, Somme, France. The history of this French source of the title dates back to legendary sources in the 12th century of a statue miraculously found by a shepherd.

Saint Colette, a Franciscan Poor Clare, can be credited for helping to spread of the fame of Our Lady of the Divine Shepherd at Brebieres. At age fourteen she was somewhat short and had a delicate constitution. Seeking a remedy through the favor of the Blessed Virgin, Saint Colette prayed to Our Lady of Brebieres. She not only obtained vigor and good health, she also found that several inches were miraculously added to her height.

The devotion also is found in the 18th-century writings of Capuchin Franciscans in Spain: In the year 1703, Brother Isidore of Sevilla, a great popular preacher, was inspired to be accompanied in his mission by a banner with a particular representation of the Virgin Mary: dressed in the humble clothes of a shepherdess, sitting on a rock, under a tree, wearing an ordinary wide-brimmed hat, and with some lambs portrayed around her.

A pious devotion developed around this portrayal of Mary and spread first in Spain and later in Latin America. The devotion to the "Shepherdess of Souls," which popularly became known as the "Divine Shepherdess," expanded rapidly with the creation of many groups of the faithful linked to her throughout Spain. They became known as Mary’s Flock.

The Capuchin province of Central Canada is named after Mary, Mother of the Good Shepherd. To this day, all Capuchin missions around the world are entrusted to Our Lady of the Good Shepherd:

"We entrust this great undertaking to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Good Shepherd, who gave birth to Christ, the light and salvation of all nations, and who, on the morning of Pentecost, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, presided in prayer at the dawn of evangelization."

Feast day

While this feast is not celebrated on the universal calendar of the Catholic Church, some Spanish-speaking countries and the Philippines have various traditions and processions connected to this devotion, in addition to the French devotion. Some would commemorate this title on the Saturday before the Third Sunday of Easter, commonly called "Sunday of the Good Shepherd."

Sept. 1 Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

 

September first is a busy liturgical day!

The Season of Creation begins with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, an ecumenical designation promulgated by Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si '.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles celebrates a co-patron St. Vibiana, the virgin and martyr for whom the former cathedral was named.

Spain, the Philippines, Mexico, and other South American countries honor the Virgen de Los Remedios/Our Lady of Remedies, a devotion originated by the Trinitarian Order. 

Here is the official prayer for this year's season:

(Click to enlarge any image!)