July 31: Ignatius Is Dead

St. Ignatius

Ignatius, by nation a Spaniard, was born of a noble family at Loyola, in Cantabria. At first he attended the court of the Catholic king, and later on embraced a military career. Having been wounded at the siege of Pampeluna, he chanced in his illness to read some pious books, which kindled in his soul a wonderful eagerness to follow in the footsteps of Christ and the saints. He went to Montserrat, and hung up his arms before the altar of the Blessed Virgin; he then watched the whole night in prayer, and thus entered upon his knighthood in the army of Christ. Next he retired to Manresa, dressed as he was in sackcloth, for he had a short time before given his costly garments to a beggar. Here he stayed for a year, and during that time he lived on bread and water, given to him in alms; he fasted every day except Sunday, subdued his flesh with a sharp chain and a hair-shirt, slept on the ground, and scourged himself with iron disciplines. God favored and refreshed him with such wonderful spiritual lights, that afterwards he was wont to say that even if the Sacred Scriptures did not exist, he would be ready to die for the faith, on account of those revelations alone which the Lord had made to him at Manresa. It was at this time that he, a man without education, composed that admirable book of the Spiritual Exercises.

However, in order to make himself more fit for gaining souls, he determined to procure the advantages of education, and began by studying grammar among children. Meanwhile he relaxed nothing of his zeal for the salvation of others, and it is marvelous what sufferings and insults he patiently endured in every place, undergoing the hardest trials, even imprisonment and beatings almost to death. But he ever desired to suffer far more for the glory of his Lord. At Paris he was joined by nine companions from that University, men of different nations, who had taken their degrees in Arts and Theology; and there at Montmartre he laid the first foundations of the order, which he was later on to institute at Rome. He added to the three usual vows a fourth concerning missions, thus binding it closely to the Apostolic See. Paul III first welcomed and approved the Society, as did later other Pontiffs and the Council of Trent. Ignatius sent St. Francis Xavier to preach the Gospel in the Indies, and dispersed others of his children to spread the Christian faith in other parts of the world, thus declaring war against paganism, superstition, and heresy. This war he carried on with such success that it has always been the universal opinion, confirmed by the word of pontiffs, that God raised up Ignatius and the Society founded by him to oppose Luther and the heretics of his time, as formerly he had raised up other holy men to oppose other heretics.

He made the restoration of piety among Catholics his first care. He increased the beauty of the sacred buildings, the giving of catechetical instructions, the frequency of sermons and of the sacraments. He everywhere opened schools for the education of youth in piety and letters. He founded at Rome the German College, refuges for women of evil life, and for young girls who were in danger, houses for orphans and catechumens of both sexes, and many other pious works. He devoted himself unweariedly to gaining souls to God. Once he was heard saying that if he were given his choice he would rather live uncertain of attaining the Beatific Vision, and in the meanwhile devote himself to the service of God and the salvation of his neighbor, than die at once certain of eternal glory. His power over the demons was wonderful. St. Philip Neri and others saw his countenance shining with heavenly light. At length in the sixty-fifth year of his age he passed to the embrace of his Lord, whose greater glory he had ever preached and ever sought in all things. He was celebrated for miracles and for his great services to the Church, and Gregory XV enrolled him amongst the saints; while Pius XI, in response to the prayers of the episcopate, declared him heavenly patron of all Spiritual Exercises.

Excerpted from The Liturgical Year, Abbot Gueranger O.S.B.

Patron: Basque country; Jesuit Order; Jesuits; retreats; soldiers; Spiritual Exercises (by Pope Pius XI).

Symbols: Book; chausible; Holy Communion; a rayed IHC or IHS; heart with crown of thorns; sword and lance upon an altar; book with words Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam.

Things to Do:

• Learn more about St. Ignatius and the Jesuit Order and/or read this biography by John Farrow, St. Ignatius of Loyola.
• If you have never done so, consider making the Spiritual Exercises. You can find it online here or you may purchase a copy from Catholic First.
• The Jesuits at Georgetown have a collection of St. Ignatius' Letters and Instructions to his fellow Jesuits. Much of his spiritual teaching is found in his letters and is considered an important source of Jesuit spirituality. If you are interested in reading them click here.
• St. Ignatius founded his Society to give the greatest possible service to the Church and to the Pope. In addition to vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, Jesuits take a special vow of loyalty to the Pope. Today would be a good time to say a prayer for Pope Francis.
• In the Spiritual Exercise, St. Ignatius strongly recommends making a daily examination of conscience. If this is not part of your schedule today would be a good time to start.

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2015-07-31

Battle of Stiklestad - Death of King St.Olaf

A sad day for Norwegians.  Our king is dead . . .

July 29:  Today is the Feast Day of St. Martha and King St. Olaf of Norway.

The Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King St. Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes in A.D. 1030.

King St. Olaf of Norway. He was a son of King Harald Grenske of Norway. According to Snorre, he was baptized in 998 in Norway, but more probably about 1010 in Rouen, France, by Archbishop Robert. In his early youth he went as a viking to England, where he partook in many battles and became earnestly interested in Christianity. After many difficulties he was elected King of Norway, and made it his object to extirpate heathenism and make the Christian religion the basis of his kingdom.

He is the great Norwegian legislator for the Church, and like his ancestor (Olaf Trygvesson), made frequent severe attacks on the old faith and customs, demolishing the temples and building Christian churches in their place. He brought many bishops and priests from England, as King Saint Cnut later did to Denmark. Some few are known by name (Grimkel, Sigfrid, Rudolf, Bernhard). He seems on the whole to have taken the Anglo-Saxon conditions as a model for the ecclesiastical organization of his kingdom. But at last the exasperation against him got so strong that the mighty clans rose in rebellion against him and applied to King Cnut of Denmark and England for help. This was willingly given, whereupon Olaf was expelled and Cnut elected King of Norway. It must be remembered that the resentment against Olaf was due not alone to his Christianity, but also in a high degree to his unflinching struggle against the old constitution of shires and for the unity of Norway. He is thus regarded by the Norwegians of our days as the great champion of national independence, and Catholic and Protestant alike may find in Saint Olaf their great idea.

After two years’ exile he returned to Norway with an army and met his rebellious subjects at Stiklestad, where the celebrated battle took place 29 July, 1030. Neither King Cnut nor the Danes took part at that battle. King Olaf fought with great courage, but was mortally wounded and fell on the battlefield, praying “God help me”. Many miraculous occurrences are related in connection with his death and his disinterment a year later, after belief in his sanctity had spread widely. His friends, Bishop Grimkel and Earl Einar Tambeskjelver, laid the corpse in a coffin and set it on the high-altar in the church of St. Clement in Nidaros (now Trondhjem).

Olaf has since been held as a saint, not only by the people of Norway, but also by Rome. His cult spread widely in the Middle Ages, not only in Norway, but also in Denmark and Sweden; even in London, there is on Hart Street a St. Olave’s Church, long dedicated to the canonized King of Norway. In 1856 a fine St. Olave’s Church was erected in Christiania, the capital of Norway, where a large relic of St. Olaf (a donation from the Danish Royal Museum) is preserved and venerated. The arms of Norway are a lion with the battle-axe of St. Olaf in the forepaws.

http://nobility.org/2013/07/29/olaf-haraldson/
http://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/olav.html
http://365rosaries.blogspot.com/…/july-29-saint-olaf-of-nor…
http://www.lifesiteministries.org/…/st-olaf-lfr-haraldsson-…
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php…

Why You Should Wear Pants Today

This is an interesting story about the word “pants” and why you should wear some today . . .

July 27:  Feast of St. Pataleone (Pantalone)

San Pantaleone or Pantalone was a Christian doctor martyred during the reign of Diocletion.  Pantalone was a popular saint in Venice because his name resembles the Venetian battle cry “Piante Lione” which translates as “Plant the Lion” which reflects the lion as the symbol of Venice conquering its enemies. 

The name Pantalone became attached to a stock comedic character in Italian comedies, and this saint therefore gave his name to this character in the commedia dell'arte,   Pantalone, a silly, wizened old man (Shakespeare's "lean and slippered Pantaloon") who was a caricature of Venetians wore distinctive trousers that covered his legs instead of the more common breeches that exposed the lower leg.  This character was portrayed as wearing trousers rather than knee breeches, and so became the origin of the name of a type of trouser called "pantaloons," which was later shortened to "pants."

To honor this saint and celebrate the creation of pantaloons, you should drink this cocktail which was very popular during Prohibition:

                Ants in the Pants Cocktail

                                1 oz. gin

                                ½ oz. Grand Marnier

½ oz. sweet vermouth

1 dash lemon juice

You can also celebrate with a French wine knows as Saint-Pantaleon-les-Vignes which takes its name from an old Benedictine abbey in Provence.

Be sure to toast by shouting, “Piante Lione!”

Wearing pants while drinking and toasting today is optional!!

Coode's Rebellion

July 27:  Coode’s Rebellion

How Protestants Seized Control Of the Catholic Colony Of Maryland

The colony of Maryland was named for Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Calvert Family was Catholic and held the charter for the colony given by Catholic King Charles II of England.

The Calvert Family welcomed all religions to the colony including the new Quaker religion who had been prosecuted by the Church of England much as Catholics had been under Elizabeth I.

However, by 1688 the majority of the people in the colony were Protestants who far outnumbered Catholics in “Our Lady’s Colony.”

Protestants in Maryland were not happy that their government did not celebrate when Catholic King Charles II was overthrown and replaced by Protestants William and Mary.

John Coode spread a story that Jesuits were training the native Indians to kill and drive out all Protestants in Maryland, and he formed the “Protestant Associators.”

On July 27, 1689, John Coode led 700 men to seize the colony’s state house, and officials surrendered without a fight.

By August 1, 1689, Coode and the Protestant Associators controlled the colony and its legislature.

Quickly, the  legislature passed laws banning the practice of Catholicism and public Masses, and forbid Catholics to vote or hold public office.

Over in England, William and Mary revoked the royal charter given to the Calvert Family.

Not until the American Revolution could Catholics openly practice their faith or have full rights of citizenship in the colony they had founded in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The 7 Sleepers of Ephesus

The story is one of the many examples of the legend about a man who falls asleep and years after wakes up to find the world changed.

It is told in Greek by Symeon Metaphrastes in his "Lives of the Saints" for the month of July. 

Gregory of Tours did it into Latin.

There is a Syriac version by James of Sarug (d. 521), and from the Syriacthe story was done into other Eastern languages.

There is also an Anglo-Norman poem, "Li set dormanz", written by a certain Chardry, and it occurs again in Jacobus de Voragines's "Golden Legend" (Legenda aurea) and in an Old-Norse fragment.

Of all these versions and re-editions it seems that the Greek form of the story, which is the basis of Symeon Metaphrastes, is the source.

The story is this: 

Decius (249-251) once came to Ephesus to enforce his laws against Christians — a gruesome description of the horrors he made them suffer follows — here he found seven noble young men, named Maximillian, Jamblichos, Martin, John, Dionysios, Exakostodianos, and Antoninos (so Metaphrastes; the names vary considerably; Gregory of Tours has Achillides, Diomedes, Diogenus, Probatus, Stephanus, Sambatus, and Quiriacus), who were Christians. The emperor tried them and then gave them a short time for consideration, till he came back again to Ephesus.

They gave their property to the poor, took a few coins only with them and went into a cave on Mount Anchilos to pray and prepare for death. 

Decius came back after a journey and inquired after these seven men. They heard of his return and then, as they said their last prayer in the cave before giving themselves up, fell asleep. The emperor told his soldiers to find them, and when found asleep in the cave he ordered it to be closed up with huge stones and sealed; thus they were buried alive. But a Christian came and wrote on the outside the names of the martyrs and their story.

Years passed, the empire became Christian, and Theodosius [either the Great (379-395) or the Younger (408-450), Koch, op.cit. infra, p. 12], reigned. In his time some heretics denied the resurrection of the body. While this controversy went on, a rich landowner named Adolios had the Sleepers' cave opened, to use it as a cattle-stall.

Then they awake, thinking they have slept only one night, and send one of their number (Diomedes) to the city to buy food, that they may eat before they give themselves up. Diomedes comes into Ephesus and the usual story of cross-purposes follows. He is amazed to see crosses over churches, and the people cannot understand whence he got his money coined by Decius.

Of course at last it comes out that the last thing he knew was Decius's reign; eventually the bishop and the prefect go up to the cave with him, where they find the six others and the inscription. Theodosius is sent for, and the saints tell him their story. Every one rejoices at this proof of the resurrection of the body.

The sleepers, having improved the occasion by a long discourse, then die praising God. The emperor wants to build golden tombs for them, but they appear to him in a dream and ask to be buried in the earth in their cave. The cave is adorned with precious stones, a great church built over it, and every year the Feast of the Seven Sleepers is kept.

Koch (op. cit.) has examined the growth of this story and the spread of the legend of miraculously long sleep.

Aristotle (Phys., IV, xi) refers to a similar tale about sleepers at Sardes; there are many more examples from various countries (Koch, pp. 24-40, quotes German, British, Slav, Indian, Jewish, Chinese, and Arabian versions). 

Frederick Barbarossa and Rip Van Winkle are well-known later examples.

The Ephesus story is told in the Koran (Sura xviii), and it has had a long history and further developments in Islam (Koch, 123-152), as well as in medieval Christendom (ib., 153-183). 

Baronius was the first to doubt it (Ann. Eccl. in the Acta SS., July, 386, 48); it was then discredited till modern study of folk-lore gave it an honoured place again as the classical example of a widely spread myth.  

The Seven Sleepers have feasts in the Byzantine Calendar on 4 August and 22 October. 

In the Roman Martyrology they are commemorated as Sts. Maximianus, Malchus, Martinianus,Dionysius, Joannes, Serapion, and Constantinus on 27 July.

Happy National Scotch Day!

NATIONAL SCOTCH DAY

National Scotch Day is celebrated annually on July 27th.

Scotch whisky, often simply called Scotch, is malt whisky or grain whisky made in Scotland. Scotch whisky must be made in a manner specified by law.

All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distilleries began introducing whisky made from wheat and rye in the late 18th century. Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: single malt Scotch whisky, single grain Scotch whisky, blended malt Scotch whisky (formerly called “vatted malt” or “pure malt”), blended grain Scotch whisky, and blended Scotch whisky.

All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three years. Any age statement on a bottle of Scotch whisky, expressed in numerical form, must reflect the age of the youngest whisky used to produce that product. A whisky with an age statement is known as guaranteed-age whisky.

The first written mention of Scotch whisky is in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 1495. A friar named John Cor was the distiller at Lindores Abbey in the Kingdom of Fife.

Many Scotch whisky drinkers will refer to a unit for drinking as a dram.  Source -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_whisky

CELEBRATE

Post on social media using #ScotchDay to encourage others to join in paying it forward.

HISTORY

The origins of National Scotch Day are still being researched.  Any updates will be posted here.

http://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-scotch-day-july-27/

About Anne

Happy Feast of St. Anne – the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus.

Did you know?

-          The cult of St. Anne developed in the East and came to the West with the Crusaders returning from the Holy Land.

o   Anne and her husband, Joachim, who prayed to God for children and were rewarded with a daughter whom they named Miriam (the Blessed Virgin Mary).

o   The popularity of St. Anne grew as she became the patron of grandmothers, housewives, pregnant women, broom-makers, lace-makers, and miners (to name just a few).

o   She is also invoked by spinsters and maidens to find them a mate.

o   “I beg you, holy mother Anne, Send me a good and loving man.”

o   The vigil of St. Anne’s Day (St. Anne’s Eve) was a great celebration for matchmaking and debutante balls.

o   Both Johann Strausses composed “Anne Polkas” for these festivals.

o   Following an old saying that “All Annes are beautiful,” these events would be called a “Festival of All Annes” meaning of all beautiful ladies.

o   Fireworks would light the summer sky, and music and dancing would fill the air.

-          Forchheim, Germany has an annual 10-day “Annafest” that attracts up to 500,000 visitors, and the town breweries make a special Annafest Bier.

-          You can buy Anne beer steins via the Internet for your own Annafest.

-          So, toast today with a beer and say this toast, “We beg you, holy mother Anne, send our Christian maidens a good and loving man” while listening to some Anne Polkas.

-          South Africa has a St. Anna wine. 

-          France has a Domaine Saint-Anne wine, a Boise Sainte-Anne, and a Clos Sainte-Anne wine, and a Chartogne-Taillet brut champagne Cuvee Sainte-Anne in a magnum size.

-          Spain has a Monasterio de Santa Ana wine.

-          Argentina makes a Casa de Campo Torrontes wine.

-          Italy makes a Villa Sant’ Anna wine, and a fine Chianti named for St. Anne is produced in Tuscany.

From Drinking With Saints

Brothers James & John: Cousins of Jesus? Nephews of Mary?

James and John were brothers and fisherman possibly working with Peter.   Their mother was Salome who may have a sister of the Virgin Mary which makes James and John cousins of Jesus.

James was the first apostle to be killed, but his younger brother, John, who was most favored by Jesus was not martyred.  

John lived to be an old man on the Island of Patmos where he wrote the Book of Revelation.  John’s feast day is December 27.

July 25:   St. James (the Greater)

This James is the brother of John the Evangelist. The two were called by Jesus as they worked with their father in a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had already called another pair of brothers from a similar occupation: Peter and Andrew. “He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him” (Mark 1:19-20).

James was one of the favored three who had the privilege of witnessing the Transfiguration, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in Gethsemani.

Two incidents in the Gospels describe the temperament of this man and his brother. St. Matthew tells that their mother came (Mark says it was the brothers themselves) to ask that they have the seats of honor (one on the right, one on the left of Jesus) in the kingdom. “Jesus said in reply, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We can’” (Matthew 20:22). Jesus then told them they would indeed drink the cup and share his baptism of pain and death, but that sitting at his right hand or left was not his to give—it “is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father” (Matthew 20:23b). It remained to be seen how long it would take to realize the implications of their confident “We can!”

The other disciples became indignant at the ambition of James and John. Then Jesus taught them all the lesson of humble service: The purpose of authority is to serve. They are not to impose their will on others, or lord it over them. This is the position of Jesus himself. He was the servant of all; the service imposed on him was the supreme sacrifice of his own life.

On another occasion, James and John gave evidence that the nickname Jesus gave them—“sons of thunder”—was an apt one. The Samaritans would not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to hated Jerusalem. “When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?’ Jesus turned and rebuked them…” (Luke 9:54-55).

James was apparently the first of the apostles to be martyred. “About that time King Herod laid hands upon some members of the church to harm them. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also” (Acts 12:1-3a).

This James, sometimes called James the Greater, is not to be confused with James the Lesser (May 3) or with the author of the Letter of James and the leader of the Jerusalem community.

http://ucatholic.com/saints/james-the-greater/

Sons of Thunder

Who was the first apostle to be martyred?  How was he related to Jesus?   Who was his brother?  Why did Jesus call them “Sons of Thunder?”

Why is he venerated in Spain?   Why is he called Santiago?  Why haven’t you walked the Camino de Santiago?   Why do pilgrims wear a scalloped shell? 

July 25:  Feast of St. James the Greater (Older)

In Spain, he is called El Senor Santiago, the patron saint of horsemen and soldiers, and his great shrine at Santiago de Compostela in that country has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries. He is one of those that Jesus called Boanerges, "son of thunder," the brother of John the Evangelist and the son of Zebedee the fisherman from Galilee.

St. James the Greater and his brother John were apparently partners with those other two brothers, Peter and Andrew, and lived in Bethsaida, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. How and where James first met Jesus, we do not know; but there is an old legend that makes Salome, his mother, a sister of Mary, and if this were the case, he would have known Jesus from childhood.

Along with Peter and his brother John, James was part of the inner circle of Jesus, who witnessed the Transfiguration, were witnesses to certain of His miracles, like the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and accompanied Him to the Garden of Gethsemani. Like his brother, he was active in the work of evangelization after the death of Jesus, and one legend, very unlikely, even has him going to Spain after Jesus' resurrection.

His prominence and his presence in Jerusalem must have been well known, for scarcely a dozen years after the Resurrection, he became involved in the political maneuverings of the day and was arrested and executed by King Herod Agrippa. This was followed by the arrest of Peter also, so his death must have been part of a purge of Christian leaders by Agrippa, who saw the new Christian movement as a threat to Judaism.

Jesus had foretold this kind of fate when He prophesied that James and his brother John would "drink of the same chalice" of suffering as Himself. The two brothers had asked to be seated at the right of Jesus and at His left in His kingdom, and Jesus told them that they would be with Him in a far different way than they expected.

James's death is the only biblical record we have of the death of one of the Apostles, and he was the first of that chosen band to give his life for his Master.

Excerpted from The One Year Book of Saints by Rev. Clifford Stevens

Patron: Against arthritis; against rheumatism; Antigua, Guatemala; apothecaries; blacksmiths; Chile; Compostela, Spain; druggists; equestrians; furriers; Galicia, Spain; Guatemala; horsemen; knights; laborers; Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Nicaragua; pharmacists; pilgrims; Pistoia, Italy; rheumatoid sufferers; riders; soldiers; Spain; Spanish conquistadors; tanners; veterinarians.

Symbols: Cockle shell; dark-bearded man holding a book; dark-bearded man holding a scroll; dark-bearded man holding a sword; dark-bearded man with a floppy pilgrim's hat, long staff, water bottle, and scallop shell; elderly, bearded man wearing a hat with a scallop shell; key; man with shells around him; mounted on horseback, trampling a Moor; pilgrim with wallet and staff; pilgrim's hat; pilgrim's staff; scallop shell; sword.

Things to Do:

• Learn more about St. James.
• It is traditional in Spain to make a yearly pilgrimage to St. James of Compostela on July 24.Read more about this custom. From Catholic Culture's Library: Pilgrimage To The Stars and Cycling through time on the Camino de Santiago.
• Read about Santiago de Compostela, the third largest shrine in all of Christendom.
• Learn more about the pilgrimage to St. James.
• Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Galicia and final destination of the famous pilgimage way is certainly among Spain's most beautiful cities. You can take a virtual tour and learn all about this area of the world here.
• Watch this Spanish news broadcast of the faithful bringing flowers for Our Lady of the Pillar on October 12 during the celebration of the feast at the cathedral, notice the open devotion and enthusiam offered to Our Lady. Tradition says that Mary appeared to St. James before her Assumption. Read more about the apparition here.
• Plan your own pilgrimage to a nearby shrine. Pope John Paul II said, "To go in a spirit of prayer from one place to another, from one city to another, in the area marked especially by God's intervention, helps us not only to live our life as a journey, but also gives us a vivid sense of a God who has gone before us and leads us on, who himself set out on man's path, a God who does not look down on us from on high, but who became our traveling companion." Read this letter and try to incorporate its spirit into your pilgrimage.

A Giant Of A Man

July 25:  Feast of St. ChristopherSt. Christopher, one of the "Fourteen Sainted Helpers," has been highly venerated since ancient times in both the Eastern and Western Churches. The older martyrologies say that he suffered death for Christ; in more recent centuries piety has woven garlands of legend about his name. Christopher has become a giant who wished to enter the service of the most powerful of lords. He first thought that the emperor qualified; later he selected the devil, and finally he discovered Christ to be the most powerful Sovereign over all the world. From then on he served Him with greatest fidelity.

Because Christopher was of giant stature, he practiced charity by carrying pilgrims across a certain river. Once a child asked to be taken across. He complied as usual. While carrying the child on his shoulders through the river, it became heavier and heavier, and finally he could hardly support it. Then the revelation was made: "You are carrying the Lord of the world!" It was Christ (Christopher means "Christ-carrier").

The legend has the nature of a symbol. Bishop Vida gives the following exposition: "Because you, O Christopher, always carried Christ in your heart, the artists place Christ on your shoulders. Because you suffered much, they paint you standing deep in the waters. And because you could not accomplish this without being large of stature, they have made you a giant, bigger than great temples; therefore do you live under the open heavens during the greatest cold. And since you conquered all that is difficult, they have given you a blossoming palm as traveling staff."

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Archers; automobile drivers; automobilists; bachelors; boatmen; bus drivers;, cab drivers; floods; fruit dealers; fullers; hailstorms; holy death; lorry drivers; mariners; market carriers; motorists; porters; Rab, Croatia; sailors; storms; sudden death; taxi drivers; toothache; transportation; transportation workers; travellers; truck drivers; truckers; watermen.

Symbols: Giant; torrent; tree; man with Christ on his shoulders.

Was there really a St. Christopher?

St. Christopher

St. Christopher (3rd c.) is a highly popular saint, though little is known about him with certainty.

According to one legend, the prayers of a pagan king's wife to the Blessed Virgin were answered and she gave birth to a healthy son named Offerus and dedicated the child to the pagan gods. He grew in exceptional size and strength and endeavored to serve only the strongest and most courageous of masters.

At first he served a heathen king, but soon realized that the king feared the Devil. He then served the Devil, but saw that the Devil feared the symbol of the Cross. He then decided to serve Christ, who must be the strongest master of all.

Offerus found a hermit who instructed him in the faith, baptized him, and gave him a new name, Christopher, or "Christ-bearer." From then on Christopher determined to serve Christ by using his great physical strength to assist travelers crossing a treacherous river.

One day he helped a small child cross the river. But as he carried this child across the raging waters, he felt his burden becoming heavier, as if the weight of the whole world was upon his shoulders. When he spoke of this to the child, the child replied that he carried not only the whole world, but Him who made it. He also told Christopher that his service was pleasing to Him.

The Child Jesus worked a miracle by turning Christopher's staff into a tree. Due to this miracle many converted to Christianity, which caused Christopher to be put into prison where he was tortured and beheaded for refusing to worship the pagan gods.

St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers.

His feast day is July 25th.

Santiago Matamoros (St. James the Moor-Slayer)

Feast of Santiago (James) Matamoros (Moor Slayer)

July 25

Time to Slay the Infidel Muslims!

Jacob the fisherman evolved into the archetypal hero of Western culture. From Sant’ Iago Matamoros (killer of the Moors) to Sant’ Iago Mataindios (killer of Indians) to Sant’ Iago Mataespañois (killer of Spaniards) – everyone wanted him as their hero!

In Mexico City there is a carving from the altarpiece of the Church of Santiago Tlatelolco showing him as Santiago Mataindios - the Indian-slayer.

And although Christianity and the Catholic religion were taken to the Americas by the Spaniards, when Mexico fought to obtain its independence from Spain in 1810, Sant’ Iago was exalted as Santiago Mataespañois - the slayer of Spaniards! 

In Peru, during an indigenous uprising in 19th-century they adopted Santiago as its champion, using the "Matamoros" iconography of “Santiago Mataespañois” that in Peru had come to be associated with a pre-Columbian deity who drove out evil forces.

There is a mid-19thC silver statue of Santiago Mataespañois in the Museum of Pilgrimages in Santiago de Compostela.

http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/spain2005/mataespanoisSantiago.html

 

Where is St. James the Greater?

The Church of Santiago de Compostella, Spain.

This famous Catholic Church dedicated to St. James the Muslim-Slayer (Santiago Matamoros) houses the glorious Apostle's Holy Relics.

St. James, called the Greater, preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, and Spain. On his return to Jerusalem, Herod condemned him to death: he was beheaded in 42. His body was conveyed to Compostella (field of stars) in Spain, and is venerated by many pilgrims.

Be Thou, O Lord, the Sanctifier and Protector of Thy people: so that defended by the aid of Thine Apostle James, they may please Thee in their manner of life, and serve Thee in peace of soul. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

http://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2007/07/santiago-matamoros-st-james-moor-slayer.html

Feast of St. James the Greater

St. James was the son of Zebedee, a Galilean fisherman, and Salome, a pious woman who tended after Christ. He and his younger brother, St. John (Feast Day: December 27), were called as disciples just after Simon Peter and Andrew were called, and Peter, James and John are often mentioned together in Scripture, having been witness to the raising of Jairus's daughter, the Transfiguration, and Christ's Agony in the garden of Gethsemani.

He and his brother must have been quick to anger and zealous as they came to be called "Boanerges" ("Sons of Thunder") -- a nickname given to them by Jesus Himself. After Our Lord's Ascension, tradition says that St. James's zeal for evangelizing took him to parts of Spain for a time, as St. Paul had wanted to do (Romans 15:24), whereafter he returned to Judea for his martyrdom.

In A.D. 44, Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great who tried to have Baby Jesus killed, set out to do the will of the Jews by dealing harshly with local Christians. St. James was accused, and Herod then "killed James, the brother of John, with the sword." (Acts 12:1-2). Church Historian, Eusebius, tells us that St. James's accuser followed James to martyrdom when he converted after hearing the Saint's confession to Herod.

Here tradition picks up again by telling us that James's relics were translated to Spain (of course, legends grew surrounding the event, one strange and lovely one in particular apparently meant to explain why the cockleshell is St. James's emblem. It is said that when the Saint's relics were being conveyed by ship from Jerusalem and approached the coast of Portugal, a man happened to be riding his horse on the beach. The horse disobediently plunged into the sea, with its rider, making for the boat. They sank, of course, but then rose again, covered with scallop shells, and hence the cockleshell became the symbol of our hero). The relics were entombed and rather forgotten after years of Roman persecution, Vandal and Visigoth invasions, and Muslim attacks -- forgotten, that is, until an early 9th century hermit named Pelayo discovered the tomb -- some say after seeing a star marking the place -- in an area that became known as Compostela, which means "Field of Stars." The King built a cathedral to mark the location (Pelayo's Bishop, Theodomor of Iria, is also buried there, refusing to be buried in his See out of his desire to be near the Saint).

The faithful began to make pilgrimages to the site -- so much so that Compostela became the third greatest place of pilgrimage, just after Jerusalem and Rome -- and still make the pilgrimage today. After making one of the many routes, known as "the Camino," pilgrims attach cockleshells or their facsimile to their hats or clothes as "pilgrim badges," signs that they'd venerated the holy relics. Any year in which St. James's Day falls on a Sunday is called a Holy Year, and a plenary indulgence may be gained by making the pilgrimage (his Feast falls on a Sunday every 6, 5, 6, and 11 years). To gain the indulgence, one must fulfill the usual conditions of plenary indulgences, must intend the pilgrimage for spiritual purposes and must have made the last 63 miles (100 km) on foot or on horse, or the last 125 miles (200 km) on bicycle. Sadly, many -- thousands -- make the pilgrimage for non-Catholic reasons nowadays.

 At the time of the Muslim ("Moorish") invasions mentioned above, a particular battle took place that was to seal St. James ever more closely to Spain, where he is known as "San Tiago." At the Battle of Clavijo in A.D. 841, the Christians had lost and were in retreat when King Ramirez of Leon had a dream in which the Apostle assured him of victory. He relayed his vision to his men, and the next morning he had his trumpeters sound the call to battle. There, on the field, the men saw St. James on a horse adorned with cockleshells, waving a banner. He led the Christians on to a clear victory, and ever since, the Spanish battle-cry has been "Santiago!"

St. James is the Patron of Spain, equestrians, blacksmiths, tanners, veterinarians. He is usually depicted in art with his symbols -- the cockleshell, pilgrim hat, sword, Sacred Scripture -- or on horeseback, usually trampling a Moor. 

Comments About Mohammed by Thomas Aquinas

The Angelic Doctor Saint Thomas Aquinas on Mohammedanism:

"He (Mohammed) seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh urges us. His teaching also contained precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as is not unexpected; he was obeyed by carnal men. As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only such as could be grasped by the natural ability of anyone with a very modest wisdom. Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with doctrines of the greatest falsity.

He did not bring forth any signs produced in a supernatural way, which alone fittingly gives witness to divine inspiration; for a visible action that can be only divine reveals an invisibly inspired teacher of truth.  

On the Contrary, Mohammed said that he was sent in the power of his arms - which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants.

What is more, no wise men, men trained in things divine and human, believed in him from the beginning (1).  Those who believed in him were brutal men and desert wanderers, utterly ignorant of all divine teaching, through whose numbers Mohammed forced others to become his follower's by the violence of his arms.

Nor do divine pronouncements on part of preceding prophets offer him any witness.

On the contrary, he perverts almost all the testimony of the Old and the New Testaments by making them into a fabrication of his own, as can be seen by anyone who examines his law. It was, therefore, a shrewd decision on his part to forbid his followers to read the Old and New Testaments, lest these books convict him of falsity.

It is thus clear that those who place faith in his words believe foolishly."

- Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 1, Chapter 16, Art. 4. Footnote: 1. Sura 21:5, Sura 44:14; Sura 16:103, Sura 37:36

http://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2007/07/santiago-matamoros-st-james-moor-slayer.html

Ko Olina

Ko Olina
O'ahu, Hawai'i

Ko Olina, or “Place of Joy” in Hawaiian, is part of an original royal land division that extended from the waters off Pearl Harbor to the summit of the Waianae Mountains. The area was a sacred place used for rest and relaxation by Hawaiian chiefs, like Kakuhihewa. Kamehameha the Great and his wife Ka’ahumanu were frequent visitors, bathing in the protected water of its reef-sheltered coves, fishing, and participating in religious ceremonies. Hawaii's last monarch, Lili’uokalani, also came to Ko Olina. 

James Campbell, a business pioneer with deep roots here in Hawai‘i, first purchased lands on the Ewa Plain in 1877 and later developed the great plantations on O‘ahu. One of Mr. Campbell’s four daughters, Alice Kamokila Campbell, leased a portion of the land in 1939 to use as her private residence. The beachfront property originally included a thatched Hawaiian house within the lush, tropical surroundings. She named her slice of paradise, “Lanikuhonua,” as she felt it was the place “Where Heaven Meets the Earth.”

Around the turn of the last century, the Oahu Railway passed just inland of Ko Olina, and because of a lack of convenient public transportation, many teenagers from the neighboring camps of the Ewa Plantation caught the train to the pools. 

Lanikuhonua’s place in history continued beyond serving as a playground for Hawaiian royalty. During World War II, Campbell invited the United States Organization (USO) to use Lanikuhonua as an army and navy recreation area. The area was nicknamed “Camp Bell” by the soldiers.

www.hawaiiunveiled.com

Enough Is Enough

My Grandfather watched as his friends died in WW I...

   

My Father watched as his friends died in WW II and Korea ....

   

I watched and waited as my brother and friends fought for and died in Vietnam ....

 

I watched as my friends fought and died in Desert Storm...

 

I watched and waited while my son and friends fought in Iraq ...

 

 

None of them fought for or died for the Mexican Flag...

 

 

Everyone fought for and died for the U.S. Flag!

 

 

In Texas , a student raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole; another student took it down.

 

 

Guess who was expelled... The kid who took it down.

 

 

Kids in high school in California were sent home this year on Cinco de Mayo because they wore T-shirts with the American flag printed on them.

 

 

Enough is enough.

 

 

The below e-mail message needs to be viewed by every American;

 

And every American needs to stand up for America. We’ve bent over to appease the America-haters long
enough... I'm taking a stand...

 

 

I'm standing up because the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in wars for this country, and for the U.S. Flag can't stand
up...

 

 

And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message... Let me make this perfectly clear!

THIS IS MY
COUNTRY! And,
because I make This statement DOES
NOT Mean I'm
against immigration!!!

YOU ARE
WELCOME HERE,

IN OUR
COUNTRY!

 

Welcome!

 

To come
through legally:  

 

1. Get a sponsor!

 

2. Get a place to lay your head!

 

3.Get a job!

 

4.Live By OUR Rules!

 

5.Pay YOUR Taxes!
  And

6.Learn the LANGUAGE like
immigrants have in the past!!

AND

7.Please don't demand that we hand over our lifetime Savings of Social Security Funds to
you.

 

If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone,
Then YOU'RE PART
OF THE PROBLEM !

When will AMERICANS
STOP giving away
THEIR RIGHTS ???

We've gone
so far the other way... Bent over backwards not to offend anyone...

But it
seems no one cares about the

AMERICAN CITIZEN   being offended!

 

WAKE UP America !!!

If you agree...

 

 

Pass this on ...

 

If You don't agree ...

 

Then Just Delete It -