Saturday of the Second Week of Easter
ST. PIUS V
John, Chapter 6, verse 19-20:
19 When they had rowed about
three or four miles, they saw Jesus’ walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they
began to be AFRAID 20 but he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”
After rowing three or four miles they must have been exhausted and
there must have been no wind, for surely any sailor would have used the wind if
it was blowing. The conditions on the sea that night had to have been unnerving
but there must have been some light from the moon as they had seen our Lord nevertheless,
they were afraid. Then He said,
“It is I” or literally “I AM” which was the name of God which no pious Jew was allowed
to even say!
I wonder if they were thinking of the words of the Torah,
“The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the
surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the
waters.” (Genesis 4:2)
When they had seen and heard Christ. They must have known at
that point that here was the messiah because they believed. Immediately they
arrived on shore and Christ spoke on the “Bread of Life” discourse stating”
Whoever eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last
day.” (John 6:54).
At this saying all but these 12 walked away because they believed!
We too are like the Apostles in that boat, the boat which we call
the Holy Catholic Church. Let us resolve like the Apostles to believe,
follow the precepts of our church and row three or four miles if we must.
St. Pius V and Lepanto, 1571: The Battle that Saved Europe[1]
The clash of civilizations is as old as history, and equally as old is the blindness of those who wish such clashes away; but they are the hinges, the turning points of history. In the latter half of the 16th century, Muslim war drums sounded, and the mufti of the Ottoman sultan proclaimed jihad, but only the pope fully appreciated the threat. As Brandon Rogers notes in the Ignatius Press edition of G. K. Chesterton's poem "Lepanto": Pope Pius V "understood the tremendous importance of resisting the aggressive expansion of the Turks better than any of his contemporaries appear to have. He understood that the real battle being fought was spiritual; a clash of creeds was at hand, and the stakes were the very existence of the Christian West." But then, as now, the unity of Christendom was shattered; and in the aftermath of the Protestant revolt, Islam saw its opportunity.
The Ottoman Empire, the seat of Islamic power, looked to
control the Mediterranean. Corsairs raided from North Africa; the Sultan's
massive fleet anchored the eastern Mediterranean; and Islamic armies ranged
along the coasts of Africa, the Middle and Near East, and pressed against the
Adriatic; Muslim armies threatened the Habsburg Empire through the Balkans. The
Ottoman Turks yearned to bring all Europe within the dar al-Islam, the
"House of Submission" — submissive to the sharia law. Europe, as the
land of the infidels, was the dar al-Harb, the "House of War." But
the House of War was a house divided against itself. The Habsburg Empire was
Europe's bulwark against Islamic jihad, but its timbers were being eaten away
by the Protestants who diverted Catholic armies and even cheered on the
Mussulmen, whom they saw as fellow enemies of the pope in Rome. In 1568, the
emperor Maximilian, of the Austrian half of the Habsburg Empire, had agreed to
a peace treaty with the Turk; and the Danube was reasonably, temporarily,
quiet. In Spain, the other great pillar of the Habsburg Empire was Philip II.
And for him, things were not quiet at all. We think of Philip II as dark and
brooding, and so he was — to the degree that it is surprising to remember that
he was blue-eyed and fair-haired. But the lasting image, especially to those of
English (even Catholic English) blood, is Chesterton's sketch; as King Philip
is in his "closet with the Fleece about his neck":
The
walls are hung with velvet that is black and soft as sin, and little dwarfs
creep out of it and little dwarfs creep in . . . And his face is as a fungus of
a leprous white and grey Like plants in the high houses that are shuttered from
the day . . .
As a ruler, Philip was harsh, saturnine, and austere. He
embodied a scrupulousness that went beyond a personal failing to become a public
vice, where there was no room for charity and far too much room for plotting’s
and calculations, which, though they always had the protection of the Faith as
their goal, were too admixed with lesser, baser metals than the gold of the
monstrance. Philip's knights had ranged into the New World and were carving out
a vast empire, its extent virtually beyond imagining, whence came gold and
other treasures. That, Philip knew, was the future. But to his immediate north
was the menace.
Europe Divided
Philip was no friend of the Mohammedan, and the Mussulmen
remained a persistent threat to Spain's possession of Naples and Sicily.
Spanish vessels clashed throughout the Mediterranean with Barbary corsairs. At
that very moment, Spanish infantry were suppressing the Morisco revolt of
apparently unconverted Moors. But Philip trusted that Spain was well equipped
to defeat the Mussulmen. That was old hat. But Protestantism was something
relatively new. It was treason and heresy. And, though Philip would not have
been so eloquent, it was worse:
The
North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes, And dead is all the
innocence of anger and surprise, And Christian killeth Christian in a narrow
dusty room, And Christian dreadeth Christ that hath a newer face of doom, And
Christian hateth Mary that God kissed in Galilee . . .
Where the Austrian Habsburgs hoped against hope for
conciliation with their own violent, Teutonic Protestants, Philip II trusted to
his renowned Spanish infantry. They had the answer that Protestantism deserved.
The pope had no sympathy for Protestants either, but for him, as for previous
popes, Islam remained the real threat. The pope felt he had many urgent tasks
to attend to, but the vital one was confronting the Islamic challenge. Pope
Pius V, like Philip, was no exemplar of rubicund, jovial Christianity such as
the Italians preferred. He thought the Church had seen too much of that, with
the concomitant slackness in Renaissance morals and an excessive generosity to
Protestant error. He had never known the high life. He was a former shepherd,
an ascetic, a Dominican, and an inquisitor. Though much of a mind with Philip,
he had a finer balanced spiritual core that kept him from Philip's failings.
As a pope, he was a reformer, and brought a monastic purity
to the organization and administration of the Church, to a review of the
religious orders, to educating the faithful, to evangelizing, and to caring for
the poor (which he did personally). If Christendom was split asunder — with even
Philip disputing papal control of the Church in Spain — the pope nevertheless
had the spiritual and temporal authority, the presence of a future saint, to
assemble a Holy League, a fighting force that included Catholic knights not
only from the papal states and the Knights of Malta, but from Italy, Germany,
and Spain; and even from England, Scotland, and Scandinavia, Catholics and
freebooters, gentleman adventurers and convicts condemned to row the galleys.
France, la belle France, would be present in the Knights, but not as a
party itself. The great period of the fleur de lis had passed away with
the end of the Crusader kingdoms. Now the king of France could support no
venture in league with the Habsburgs, whose dominions surrounded him. Worse, he
was quite willing to cut deals with the Mohammedans in order to turn Muslim
corsairs against Genoese and Spaniards and away from Frenchmen (unless they
were Knights of Malta, where Frenchmen of the old school continued to thrive). So,
the French king, from the line of Valois, Charles IX, pleaded exhaustion from
having to fight the Huguenots. Even less willing to cooperate with the pope was
Protestant England, whose Virgin Queen was establishing a cult around herself
and a church subordinate to her will.
The
sad result of French realpolitik and English apostasy was that the sons of
Richard Coeur-de-Lion sat this one out: And the Pope has cast his arms abroad
for agony and loss, And called the kings
of Christendom for swords about the Cross. The cold queen of England is looking
in the glass; The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass . . .
A Rude Awakening for Venice
Others, who might also occasionally yawn at Mass,
nevertheless were enthusiasts for a crusade against the Turk — this was most
especially true of the merchant Republic of Venice. It is one of the many
commonly accepted myths of history that Protestants invented capitalism, but
Venice is proof that Catholic states were exercising their capitalist muscles
centuries before Luther burped into his tankard or Calvin had his first glint
of his predestined salvation and others' predestined damnation.
The Venetians were prime exponents of the capitalist art.
They were, in fact, something like the entrepreneurs of modern Hong Kong, to
the extent that their city was built in a lagoon, the buildings actually
resting on logs; and the Venetians enjoyed great economic success despite
having no natural resources to speak of, save the sea. No one knows exactly
when Venice was founded, but it was during the Roman Empire, perhaps in the
fifth century. By the early Middle Ages, it was an established city-state and
had carved out a commercial and territorial empire — the territory necessary to
protect and extend Venetian commerce. As with all men of commerce, the Venetians'
preferred mode of interaction was trade: They wanted to make money, not war.
But they realized that, as the similarly minded Thomas
Jefferson realized half a millennium later, "Our commerce on the ocean . .
. must be paid for by frequent
war." Still, given the choice, just as Churchill thought "to jaw-jaw
is always better than to war-war," the Venetians thought ka-ching—ka-ching
was better than war-war. As such, crusades called by the pope merely for the
sake of repelling the Mussulmen had no appeal to them. The Mohammedan was a
customer, after all — and the customer is always (at least up to the point of
heresy) publicly right, even if the merchant secretly despises him.
The Venetians, however, had been forced to come to some
sober conclusions about Islamic aggression in the eastern Mediterranean. In
1565, the Ottomans had laid siege to the island of Malta, which was defended by
the Knights Hospitallers (also known as the Knights of St. John; or, given
their new home, the Knights of Malta). For four months the gallant Knights
threw back the besieging Turks, inflicting massive losses on the enemy, who
finally called it quits after the Knights were reinforced by Spain. The
Ottomans hated the Knights but reckoned that Venetian-held Cyprus was easier
pickings, and five years later it was Cyprus that was besieged.
Now Venice, which had ignored previous papal calls to
defend the Mediterranean against Mohammedan raiders, was itself in the firing
line. As was good business practice, the Venetians were not caught unprepared.
Their insurance policy was the Venetian Arsenal, which built and held the
merchant republic's mighty naval forces. The arsenal, however, had caught fire
in late 1569; and in February 1570 the Ottoman mufti Ebn Said, on behalf of
Sultan Selim II, declared a jihad against the Christians on Cyprus. Selim was
known as "the Sot" for his rather un-Islamic drinking habits. He also
had the distinction of having blond hair. Despite his heavy drinking, he, like
Philip II, was not a blond who had more fun. With his harem, free-flowing
alcohol, and access to all the pleasures that the devout expected only to find
in paradise, he tramped his palace in depression and rage against the infidel
and Western decadence. While no soldier or sailor himself, he lent his full
support to every corsair who would attack Western shipping, to every expansion
of the Ottoman navy, and to the siege of Cyprus.
The Muslim Onslaught
The Turks came on with 70,000 men, including their shock
troops, the praetorian guard of the sultan, the Janissaries — Christian youths
taken as taxation from their families, trained up in the art of war, converted
to Islam, and given the power of the sword and the possibility of advancement.
The Catholic defenders of Cyprus were frightfully outnumbered — by about 7 to 1
— but then again, the Knights of Malta had faced even stiffer odds. The two key
points in Cyprus were Nicosia and Famagusta. The city of Nicosia held out for
nearly seven weeks.
Finally, reduced to 500 soldiers, it surrendered, expecting
the civilians to be spared, even as the Christian troops were enslaved. Instead,
the Muslim attackers butchered every Christian they could find — 20,000
victims, murdered regardless of rank, sex, or age, save perhaps for 1,000 women
and children who would be sold as slaves.
The Mussulmen knew something about commerce, too, and those
with an eye for harem-flesh tried to spare the most valuable Europeans. That
left the former Crusader fortress of Famagusta as the only defensible point on
the island. Inspired by the Turks' display of severed Venetian heads from
Nicosia, the Christian soldiers put up a stiff defense and were at one point
resupplied by gallant Venetian sailors. But the man most devoted to the relief
of Famagusta was Pope Pius V. It was his incessant diplomacy that finally
brought together the forces of the papal states, the Knights of Malta, Venice,
its smaller rival Genoa, the Savoyards, and, most important, Spain and its
possessions Naples and Sicily to form the Holy
League.
The pope did not punish Venice for its failure to support previous papal calls to combat. He was above such pettiness. He only wanted to restore Christendom. He knew, however, that there were national and personal rivalries and hatreds aplenty within his League, and it would take enormous tact to hold the League together and lead it to victory against the Turk and to the relief of Cyprus. For the brave defenders of Famagusta, it was too late. In August 1571, after ten months of resistance, the Venetian commander Marco Antonio Bragadino gave in to civilian pressure and opened negotiations with the Turks. Terms were agreed: The garrison would be exiled, the people spared. The troops were disarmed and boarded transports — and then they and their commanders were slaughtered. But for Marco Antonio, the Mohammedans reserved a special torture. He was not killed immediately. Instead, his nose and ears were severed, and, as T. C. F. Hopkins has it in Confrontation at Lepanto:
He was pilloried in Famagusta and
dragged around the Ottoman camp in nothing but a loincloth and a donkey's
saddle and made to kiss the ground in front of Lala Mustapha's tent. The
Ottoman soldiers were encouraged to throw garbage and excrement on him, and to
mock his misery, and to pull hairs from his beard . . . Lala Mustapha himself
came out to spit on the Venetian and to empty his chamber pot over the old
man's head . . . And even that was not the end of it. Marco Antonio — still,
for the moment, alive — was flayed, skinned like a trophy, and then his corpse
was stuffed and sent to the sultan, who had the prize stored in a warehouse of
other human trophies — a slave prison.
Don Juan Takes to the Sea
But for this outrage, the pope had an answer, and he had
found the man to deliver it. Among all the courageous, experienced, jostling
commanders in his unruly Holy League, he chose a handsome 24-year-old. The
young man, raised on tales of chivalry, was a student of war and an experienced
commander, with a track record of victory against the Moriscos. He was also the
bastard son of the late, great Charles V, which gave him good bloodlines as
bastards go. He was Don Juan of Austria. Don Juan was also the half-brother of
Philip II, who treated him with the cold, brooding calculation one might
expect, and an apparent jealousy that one might not. Philip was pleased that
Don Juan's elevation affirmed Spain's leading role in the Holy League. But he
did everything he could to tie Don Juan's authority to his other Spanish
commanders and thus to himself. When the decks were readied for action,
however, such constraints had of necessity fallen away, and Don Juan the
swashbuckler took full command.
Where,
risen from a doubtful seat and half-attainted stall, The last knight of Europe
takes weapons from the wall, The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird
has sung, That once went singing southward when all the world was young, In
that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid, Comes up along a winding road the
noise of the Crusade.
His first victory was keeping the Venetians, the Genoese,
and the Spaniards from killing each other. His second was more important:
Against urgings of caution from some of his commanders — most especially the
Genoese Admiral Giovanni Andrea Doria — Don Juan of Austria pressed his fleet
forward to the attack. Andrea Doria had reason to fear. If defeating the
Turkish fleet required the united naval force of Christendom, what chance had
this cobbled-together coalition of fractious rivals commanded by a 24-year-old
who, though he had fought corsairs, had sought instruction in commanding so
huge a fleet from Don Garcia de Toledo? Don Garcia had once been renowned as a
tough old naval warrior, but having run afoul of Philip II, he had been forced
into retirement, his reputation blackened. Don Juan, however, trusted him, and
believed his advice would be unsullied by Spanish politicking. And Don Juan,
fortunately, was right, for in the words of Jack Beeching in The Galleys at
Lepanto, he "had the fate of the civilized world placed in his
hands."
The Battle Begins
The Turks had an estimated 328 ships, of which 208 were
galleys, the rest being smaller supporting craft. Aboard them were nearly
77,000 men, including 10,000 Janissaries, but also 50,000 oarsmen, many of them
Christian slaves. At Don Juan's command were 206 galleys, along with 40,000
oarsmen and sailors, and more than 28,000 soldiers, knights, and gentleman
adventurers. He also had the blessings of the pope and the papal banner; the
ministrations of Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Capuchins who
accompanied the fleet, the prayers of the faithful; and the rosaries that were
pressed into the hands of every Christian oarsman. The Catholic armada had been
spotted by Muslim spy ships (painted entirely black so that they cruised
through the night unnoticed). They reported that the Christians would be no
match for the Ottoman fleet.
On October 7, 1571, Don Juan's lookouts raised the alarm as
the Christian ships entered the Gulf of Patras. The Ottomans, from their naval
base at Lepanto in the adjacent Gulf of Corinth, had formed a battle line, its
front arrayed in three "battles," as were the Christians (though the
battle had started before Andrea Doria, commanding the Catholic right flank,
could bring his ships fully in line). Ahead of Don Juan's three battles was a
wedge of galleasses — slower, less maneuverable gunships that made up for their
lack of mobility with their unrivaled firepower. The battle was met, the
galleasses drawing first blood, splintering Turkish decks and Turkish men.
But the Ottomans sailed around them, the goal, to grapple
with the Catholic ships and turn the battle into a floating melee of Muslim
scimitars, bows, and muskets against Catholic swords, pikes, and arquebuses.
Cannons erupted, arrows rained on the Christians, and arquebuses spat back
balls of lead. When the ships closed, grappling hooks threw them together; the
Christians hurled nets to repel boarders and followed up with gunfire. Still,
the fighting closed to hand-to-hand aboard decks. Catholics turned swivel guns
on the enemy ships, and the Turkish bowmen fired dark volleys of arrows that
claimed the life of Agostini Barbarigo, commander of the Catholic left wing,
whose eye was pierced when he raised his visor to issue orders.
Ottoman ships tried to turn the left flank of the Christian
line, and while they appeared to succeed, the Catholic ships responded — amid a
blinding hail of cannon blasts, arrows, grenades, and gunfire — in pinning the
Muslim ships against Scropha Point. There, against the shoals, the Muslim
vessels were trapped — and, at first, the Mohammedans fought with the ferocity
of trapped animals. But more Catholic ships joined the battle, and what had
been the right of the Ottoman line began to splinter, the Christian slaves on
the Ottoman ships revolted, and Ottoman captains and crews, sensing disaster,
beached their ships, hoping to escape to shore.
By early afternoon, the Catholic left had emerged
victorious. At the head of the Catholic center was Don Juan aboard the flagship
Real. For him, and for the Muslim commander Ali Pasha, the battle was a
joust. They fired shots to announce their presence one to the other, and then
drove to the clash, using their galleys as steeds. The ships crashed together,
Don Juan in the lead, and everywhere the line erupted with explosions of
cannons, bombs, gunfire, and the clash of swords and battle axes, while
silent-flying deadly arrows thudded into timber and men. It appeared that in
this violent shipyard scrum, Don Juan's ship and men were getting the worst of
it — despite the handsome hero's pet monkey hurling Ottoman grenades back at
the enemy — until Marco Antonio Colonna, commander of the papal galleys, rammed
his own flagship into Ali Pasha's.
The surging Catholic forces, in what had become an infantry
battle fought across ships' decks, swept the Muslims aside. Ali Pasha himself
was killed and beheaded, and when Don Juan waved away the present of the
severed head, it was tossed overboard. The Holy League's banner was raised
aloft the captured Ottoman flagship, and Ali Pasha's banner — the sultan's own
undefeated standard made of green silk and with the prophet's name threaded
through it 28,900 times in gold — was Don Juan's. On the right flank, Andrea
Doria was engaged in a battle of maneuver that was anti-climactic to the
battles on the Catholic left and center, save for the fact that in being drawn
away from guarding the center battle's right flank, he allowed the Turks to
pour through the gap. Some Catholic ships — without orders — pulled out of Andrea
Doria's battle to plug the gap. But they were too few, and were forced to such
desperate heroics as firing their own powder magazines.
The Muslim lunge was then directed at the flagship of the
Knights of Malta, who, like so many of their brave fellows before, fought to
the death against overwhelming odds. (There were, perhaps, six survivors. The
sources vary; six is a high guess. The one certain survivor was the Knights'
commander, Pietro Giustiniani, though five times wounded by arrows and twice by
scimitars.) Andrea Doria, having hardly distinguished himself thus far, wheeled
around and chased away the remaining Ottoman raiders who were commanded by
Uluch Ali Pasha, an Italian turned Barbary corsair. Uluch Ali had his prize —
the Knights of Malta's banner — and he knew how to skedaddle when necessary. A
realist, he knew the bigger battle was lost.
Victory at Lepanto
Not only was the battle lost for the Turk, but so were 170
of his galleys and 33,000 men killed, wounded, or captured, as well as 12,000
liberated Christian slaves. Lost was a generation of experienced Ottoman bowmen
and seamen; and though a mighty fleet could, and indeed was, rebuilt, and
though the sultan was committed to renewing the jihad by sea — or if not by
sea, then by land — the threat of the Ottoman Turks dominating the
Mediterranean was finished.
Domino Gloria! Don John of
Austria Has set his people free!
Catholic losses were 7,500 dead — though many of these were
knights and noblemen — and another 22,000 wounded (including Miguel de
Cervantes). Pope Pius V, who had commanded the faithful to pray the rosary for
victory, was convinced that it was prayer that had turned the tide. The Battle
of Lepanto became the feast day of Our Lady of Victory, later of Our Lady of
the Rosary. Don Juan, a hero to the last, gave his portion of the captured
booty to the Catholic wounded who had not been able to pillage for themselves,
and redoubled his generosity by adding to their treasure the 30,000 ducats
awarded him by the city of Messina. He also made gifts of two captured banners:
The imperial Ottoman banner went to the pope; the fabulous green silk banner
went to Philip II, along with his after-action report. He gave credit to
everyone else and little to himself, though he had been wounded in the
hand-to-hand fighting. Don Juan was everything a parfait gentil knight
should be — and, alas, as is often the case of the good and noble, died young,
felled by fever; a romantic hero, a devoted and faithful Catholic and soldier
(but one appalled at his half-brother's brutality in the Netherlands), in love
with the charming Marguerite de Valois, whose blood was royal but whose
character was far less admirable than his own. Still, Don Juan showed that
chivalry could indeed live and breathe, even in the thinner air of a Europe no
longer unified by the Catholic ideals that gave birth to chivalry.
And so:
Cervantes
on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath…Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.) And he sees
across a weary land a straggling road in Spain, Up which a lean and foolish
knight forever rides in vain, And he smiles, but not a Sultans smile, and
settles back the blade . . .(But Don
John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)
Today, Christendom is even more divided, and certainly more
deracinated and less confident, than it was in Don Juan's time, but there are
still fighting men, the valiant core of that civilization, who even now patrol
the dusty villages of Afghanistan and the dirty streets of Mesopotamia. The
enemy smiles as "suicide bombers" smile, but our fighting men — some
holding rosaries (the very same as I have, made by a Marine Corps mom) — smile
with thoughts of sweethearts, wives, and children; of football and cold beers
by warm fires; and of Christmas. They are the inheritors of the men who saved
Europe at Lepanto; and they are the men who will, with God's grace, save the
West again. So, in honor of Don Juan, of Lepanto, of who we are as Catholics,
let us pray for them, for their safety and for their victory. St. George, St.
Michael, Our Lady, pray for them — and for us.
Walpugisnacht[2]
The last day of April was a druidic feast marking the beginning of summer and revels of witches. The evening of St. Walburga's feast day is known as Walpurgisnacht. Though the saint had no connection with this festival, her name became associated with witchcraft and country superstitions because of the date. Feast Day Cookbook gives some explanations in these crossovers and a recipe for Maibowle. St. Walburga's feast is no longer on the General Roman Calendar.
The last day of April was
first celebrated as a druidic feast of some importance in honor of spring's
return, and bonfires were lighted to frighten away the spirits of darkness
which might prevent the arrival of the joyous goddess of the springtide. For
Christians it became the feast of Saint Walburga, the daughter of a Saxon king
of the eighth century, who went to Germany at the call of her uncle, Saint
Boniface, to aid in the work of evangelizing the Germanic tribes and remained
to found and rule monasteries and convents. The Abbess of Heidenheim was given
great veneration in the Low Countries and Germany during her lifetime and was
honored after her death for her learning and the many miracles she wrought. But
the observance of her feast, or rather its eve, Walpurgisnacht, came to
be held with many of the pagan tradition’s peculiar to the day, so that it grew
to resemble the celebration of Halloween. At its best, it is the night when
protection is invoked against murrains of fields and crops and the spirits of
evil; at its worst, it is a night when witches ride and dark deeds are done.
The original pagan feast,
celebrated as the Eve of Beltane in the British Isles, was accompanied by
lighting of new fires and feasting on certain foods retained by later customs
in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. We are told that Beltane Cakes, large and
scalloped, were set against hot stones to bake while a caudle (custard) was
eaten, and beer and whiskey consumed. Many customs were connected with these
cakes, among them that the person drawing a piece blackened by the fire became
the "carline" who must be sacrificed to the fire. Later in Wales when
cakes were cooked on ordinary stoves, light and dark oatmeal cakes were made,
and the one who drew the dark cake was required to jump three times through the
flames of the lighted bonfire.
We have been unable to
trace any authentic recipes for Beltane Cakes, and everyone knows how to make a
custard or caudle. However, on this eve one might well anticipate the day to
come by brewing the first Maibowle.
Activity
Source: Feast Day Cookbook by Katherine Burton and
Helmut Ripperger, David McKay Company, Inc., New York, 1951
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION TWO I. THE CREEDS
CHAPTER ONE-I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER
Article 1 "I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER
ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH"
Paragraph
6. MAN
355 "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
created him, male and female he created them." Man occupies a unique
place in creation: (I) he is "in the image of God"; (II) in his own
nature he unites the spiritual and material worlds; (III) he is created
"male and female"; (IV) God established him in his friendship.
I. "IN THE IMAGE OF GOD"
356 Of all visible creatures only man is "able to
know and love his creator". He is "the only creature on earth
that God has willed for himself", and he alone is called to share, by
knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this end that he was created,
and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity:
What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly, the incalculable
love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with
love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a
being capable of tasting your eternal Good.
357 Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the
dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of
self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering
into communion with other persons. and he is called by grace to a covenant with
his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature
can give in his stead.
358 God created everything for man, but man in turn was
created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him:
What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honor? It is man that
great and wonderful living creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all
other creatures! For him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of
creation exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that he did
not spare his own Son for the sake of man. Nor does he ever cease to work,
trying every possible means, until he has raised man up to himself and made him
sit at his right hand.
359 "In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made
flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear."
St. Paul tells us that the human race takes its origin from
two men: Adam and Christ. . . the first man, Adam, he says, became a living
soul, the last Adam a life-giving spirit. the first Adam was made by the last
Adam, from whom he also received his soul, to give him life... the second Adam
stamped his image on the first Adam when he created him. That is why he took on
himself the role and the name of the first Adam, in order that he might not
lose what he had made in his own image. the first Adam, the last Adam: the
first had a beginning, the last knows no end. the last Adam is indeed the
first; as he himself says: "I am the first and the last."
360 Because of its common origin the human race forms a unity, for
"from one ancestor (God) made all nations to inhabit the whole
earth":
O wondrous vision, which makes us contemplate the human race
in the unity of its origin in God. . . in the unity of its nature, composed
equally in all men of a material body and a spiritual soul; in the unity of its
immediate end and its mission in the world; in the unity of its dwelling, the
earth, whose benefits all men, by right of nature, may use to sustain and
develop life; in the unity of its supernatural end: God himself, to whom all
ought to tend; in the unity of the means for attaining this end;. . . in the
unity of the redemption wrought by Christ for all.
361 "This law of human solidarity and charity", without
excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures and peoples, assures us that
all men are truly brethren.
II. "BODY AND SOUL BUT TRULY ONE"
362 The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at
once corporeal and spiritual. the biblical account expresses this reality in
symbolic language when it affirms that "then the LORD God formed man of
dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living being." Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by
God.
363 In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to
human life or the entire human person. But "soul" also refers to
the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that
by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the
spiritual principle in man.
364 The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of
God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual
soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body
of Christ, a temple of the Spirit:
Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his
very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world.
Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise
their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason, man may not
despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to
hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last
day
365 The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to
consider the soul to be the "form" of the body: i.e., it is
because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living,
human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather
their union forms a single nature.
366 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created
immediately by God - it is not "produced" by the parents - and also
that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at
death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.
367 Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul
for instance prays that God may sanctify his people "wholly", with
"spirit and soul and body" kept sound and blameless at the Lord's
coming. The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a
duality into the soul. "Spirit" signifies that from creation man
is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised
beyond all it deserves to communion with God.
368 The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the
heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person
decides for or against God.
III. "MALE AND FEMALE HE CREATED THEM"
Equality and difference willed by God
369 Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by
God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in
their respective beings as man and woman. "Being man" or "being
woman" is a reality which is good and willed by God: man and woman possess
an inalienable dignity which comes to them immediately from God their Creator. Man
and woman are both with one and the same dignity "in the image of
God". In their "being-man" and "being-woman", they
reflect the Creator's wisdom and goodness.
370 In no way is God in man's image. He is neither man nor woman.
God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the
sexes. But the respective "perfections" of man and woman reflect something
of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and
husband.
"Each for the other" - "A unity in two"
371 God created man and woman together and willed each for the
other. the Word of God gives us to understand this through various features of
the sacred text. "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make
him a helper fit for him." None of the animals can be man's partner. The
woman God "fashions" from the man's rib and brings to him elicits on
the man's part a cry of wonder, an exclamation of love and communion:
"This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." Man
discovers woman as another "I", sharing the same humanity.
372 Man and woman were made "for each other" - not that
God left them half-made and incomplete: he created them to be a communion of
persons, in which each can be "helpmate" to the other, for they are
equal as persons ("bone of my bones. . .") and complementary as
masculine and feminine. In marriage God unites them in such a way that, by
forming "one flesh", they can transmit human life: "Be
fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." By transmitting human life
to their descendants, man and woman as spouses and parents co-operate in a
unique way in the Creator's work.
373 In God's plan man and woman have the vocation of
"subduing" the earth as stewards of God. This sovereignty is not
to be an arbitrary and destructive domination. God calls man and woman, made in
the image of the Creator "who loves everything that exists",249 to
share in his providence toward other creatures; hence their responsibility for
the world God has entrusted to them.
IV. MAN IN PARADISE
374 The first man was not only created good but was also
established in friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with
the creation around him, in a state that would be surpassed only by the glory
of the new creation in Christ.
375 The Church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in
an authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that
our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original "state of
holiness and justice". This grace of original holiness was "to
share in.. . divine life".
376 By the radiance of this grace all dimensions of man's life were
confirmed. As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, man would not have to
suffer or die. The inner harmony of the human person, the harmony between
man and woman, and finally the harmony between the first couple and all
creation, comprised the state called "original justice".
377 The "mastery" over the world that God offered man
from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self.
the first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free
from the triple concupiscence254 that
subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods,
and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.
378 The sign of man's familiarity with God is that God places him
in the garden. There he lives "to till it and keep it". Work is
not yet a burden, but rather the collaboration of man and woman with God
in perfecting the visible creation.
379 This entire harmony of original justice, foreseen for man in
God's plan, will be lost by the sin of our first parents.
IN BRIEF
380 "Father, . . . you formed man in your own
likeness and set him over the whole world to serve you, his creator, and to
rule over all creatures" (Roman Missal, EP IV, 118).
381 Man is predestined to reproduce the image of God's
Son made man, the "image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15), so that
Christ shall be the first-born of a multitude of brothers and sisters (cf Eph
1:3-6; Rom 8:29).
382 "Man, though made of body and soul, is a
unity" (GS 14 # 1). the doctrine of the faith affirms that the spiritual
and immortal soul is created immediately by God.
383 "God did not create man a solitary being. From
the beginning, "male and female he created them" (Gen 1:27). This
partnership of man and woman constitutes the first form of communion between
persons" (GS 12 # 4).
384 Revelation makes known to us the state of original
holiness and justice of man and woman before sin: from their friendship with
God flowed the happiness of their existence in paradise.
Calendar
o Saturday Litany of the Hours Invoking the
Aid of Mother Mary
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: The
lonely and destitute
· Saturday Litany of the Hours
Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Manhood of
the Master-week 10 day 7
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Make reparations to the Holy Face
· Total
Consecration to Mary Day 3
· Novena to the
Holy Face Day 4
[2]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1111
MAY
Flowers in
Mary's month tie us closely to the reawakening earth. The time of Resurrection
and expectant Pentecost is one of buds, blossoms, wildflowers, and greening of
meadows and lawns. Days lengthen and we welcome the warmth of the sun after the
long winter. Jesus is risen and is present in our midst, and so we rise and
ascend with him.
Overview of May[1]
May
is the "month which the piety of the faithful has especially dedicated to
Our Blessed Lady," and it is the occasion for a "moving tribute of
faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world [pay] to the Queen of
Heaven. During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the
home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving
homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God's
mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance" (Paul VI:
Encyclical on the Month
of May, no. 1).
The
entire month of May falls within the liturgical season of Easter,
which is represented by the liturgical color white — the color of light, a
symbol of joy, purity and innocence (absolute or restored).
·
The world is resplendent with Spring's increased
light and new growth. It is Mary’s month in the Easter season and all of nature
rejoices with the Queen of heaven at the Resurrection of the Son she was worthy
to bear. During the remainder of Easter time, let us endeavor through the
prayers of the Holy Liturgy and the Holy Rosary to deepen our gratitude for the
mystery of our Baptismal rebirth in Christ.
·
"The month of May, with its profusion of
blooms was adopted by the Church in the eighteenth century as a celebration of
the flowering of Mary's maidenly spirituality, with its origins in Isaiah's
prophecy of the Virgin birth of the Messiah under the figure of the Blossoming
Rod or Root of Jesse, the flower symbolism of Mary was extended by the Church
Fathers, and in the liturgy, by applying to her the flower figures of the
Sapiential Books-Canticles, Wisdom, Proverbs and Sirach.
·
"In the medieval period, the rose was
adopted as the flower symbol of the Virgin Birth, as expressed in Dante's
phrase, 'The Rose wherein the Divine Word was made flesh,' and depicted in the
central rose windows of the great gothic cathedrals-from which came the
Christmas carol, 'Lo, How a Rose 'ere Blooming.' Also, in the medieval period,
when monasteries were the centers of horticultural and agricultural knowledge,
and with the spread of the Franciscan love of nature, the actual flowers
themselves, of the fields, waysides and gardens, came to be seen as symbols of
Mary…" – John S. Stokes
·
Pentecost, the birth of the Church, is also among
the celebrations of May. Though sprung from the side of Christ on the Cross,
the Church marks as her birthday the descent of the Holy Spirit on Mary and the
Apostles. At the 'birth' of the world, the Holy Spirit — the Breath of God —
was the "mighty wind [that] swept over the waters" (Gen 1:2); at the
birth of the Church, He is present again "like the rush of a mighty
wind" to recreate the world in the image of Christ through His Church
(Acts 2:2).
We, the members of Christ’s Mystical
Body, are the present-day disciples sent by the Holy Spirit to bring Christ to
the world. May we go forth as did Mary, who set out in haste to assist St.
Elizabeth (feast of the Visitation, May 31). Come upon us, O Holy Spirit, so
that, with Mary, we may proclaim the greatness of the Lord who has done great
things for us — for his mercy endures forever!
It
is a very old tradition to make pilgrimages during the month of May to shrines
dedicated to Mary.
May
is also:[2]
· National
Military Appreciation Month
· National
Barbecue Month
MAY TIMETABLE
May Travel?[3]
·
Carlsbad Caverns National Park Month of May Head to this amphitheater at
Carlsbad Caverns National Park for a grand show: Each May Mexican free-tailed
bats emerge from a large, rocky passage within Carlsbad Cavern in search of a
tasty mix of insects for dinner. In case you’ve happened on this wondrous sight
in southeastern New Mexico with your family (and your kids have questions), a
park ranger gives an informative talk as visitors wait for the bats to come
out.
· Whale Watching,
Stellwagen Bank—May thru October-- Did winter come and go without you
getting a chance to see whales? There’s still time: Between May and September,
more than 400 orcas swim in the waters around Canada’s Vancouver Island. Or
head to the Azores, the Portuguese archipelago about 1,000 miles from Lisbon,
where sperm whales gather from May to October. Closer to home, Stellwagen Bank,
a submerged sandbank between Cape Cod and Cape Ann in Massachusetts, attracts
the endangered North Atlantic right whale to its waters.
·
Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival—May 1-- Take
in the small-town charm of Winchester, VA, in this 6-day celebration of spring.
First held in 1924, the annual festival packs a wallop of more than 30 events
into its lineup: band competitions, dances, parades, carnival, a 10K race, the
coronation of Queen Shenandoah and so much more, attracting crowds in excess of
250,000.
· Cinco de Mayo—May 5 thru May 7--Celebrate Cinco de Mayo (meaning
"fifth of May" in Spanish) right here in the United States.
Nationwide, there are more than 120 official US celebrations, spanning 21
states, in cities such as Cleveland, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta. The holiday
stretches back to the first few years of the American Civil War, when Mexican
American communities sought to commemorate the causes of freedom and democracy.
Head to downtown Denver for one such celebration: Here, members of a Mexican
folkloric dance academy perform at the city’s Civic Center Park.
o
Sedona, Arizona Cinco de Drunko-May 7th
·
Kentucky
Derby-May 7th On your mark, get set … it’s off to Louisville
for the granddaddy of all horse races. In time-honored tradition, the 148th
annual Kentucky Derby -- the first leg of the Triple Crown -- kicks off the
first Saturday in May. Settle into your seat at Churchill Downs racetrack on
Central Avenue, sip a mint julep and enjoy the "Most Exciting 2 Minutes in
Sports."
o
Derby
Day Turf Paradise Arizona
·
Mother’s Day Tea at The Plaza—May
8th Mom is always fussing over you, now’s your chance to turn
the tables -- in style. Treat Mom to afternoon tea at The Plaza’s Tea Room. A
tradition since the hotel opened in 1907, tea at this NYC landmark has inspired
scenes in popular films and novels, including Fitzgerald’s The
Great Gatsby. Mom can enjoy a selection of sandwiches and
savories from the Fitzgerald Tea for the Ages and The New Yorker menus.
o
Acadia
Farms Mother’s Day Tea Arizona
·
Cannes Film Festival—May 17-28-- La
lumière, la caméra, l'action! Slip on some shades, and head to the French
Riviera for the largest annual showcase of cinema in the world. Don’t have a
ticket to events inside the Palais des Festivals et des Congres building where
the festival is held? Pas de probleme! Enjoy open-air shows at the Cinema de la
Plage, and for celebrity sightings show up extra-early outside the Palais. You
may just spot Ang Lee, Nicole Kidman or Steven Spielberg on this year’s red
carpet.
·
Indianapolis
500—May
29-- Rev up for the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Part
of the Triple Crown of Motorsports (with the Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of
Le Mans right behind) this annual race is quite possibly the largest single-day
sporting event in the entire world, attracting roughly 400,000 spectators. Head
to Indianapolis the last weekend in May, and prepare for a high-speed show
around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval circuit.
o RED ROCK RUMBLE May
29th-5 Mile Trail Race, Sedona, Arizona
Iceman’s Calendar
·
May 1st Third
Sunday of Easter-St. Joseph
the Worker
·
May 3rd Feast Sts
Phillip & James Finding of the Cross
·
May 4th MASS
First Wednesday
·
May 6th MASS First
Friday
·
May 7th MASS
First Saturday
·
May 8th Fourth
Sunday of Easter
·
May 10th Tuesday Saint
Damien
·
May 13th Friday Our
Lady of Fatima
·
May 14th Mass Saturday Feast
of St.
Matthias
o
Start Novena to
St. Rita Saint of Impossible causes
·
May 15th Fifth Sunday
of Easter
·
May 22nd Sixth
Sunday of Easter St.
Rita
·
May 23rd Rogation
Monday
· May
24th Rogation
Tuesday
·
May 25th Rogation
Wednesday
·
May 26th Mass Ascension
Thursday
·
May 27th Friday in the Octave of the Ascension
·
May 29th Seventh Sunday
of Easter
·
May 30th MASS St. Joan
of Arc
· May 31st
MASS Feast of
the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
o Day 33 Total Consecration
to Mary
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