Vatican Pressures Underground Chinese Bishop to Join Patriotic Association

As reported on October 29, 2009, "Sources told AsiaNews that after years in police custody Mgr An Shuxin [an underground bishop who was imprisoned for ten years] was torn about joining the CPCA [Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association]. Vatican and local sources confirm that the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples (Propaganda Fide) put pressure on him . . . in the end, he obeyed the Vatican. Still, he was against joining the CPCA, an organisation that has arrested bishops and priests and shut down religious shrines, underground seminaries and communities for many years."

And despite the fact that he joined, the Patriotic Association "continues to monitor his movements, preventing him from taking part in conferences and meetings". . .

Meanwhile, three underground Chinese bishops, including Bishop Jia Zhiguo, remain "disappeared".

Read the rest of the story at Asia News.

Image:
Artistic depiction of the Chinese Martyrs (martyred 1648-1930)

Foliage and Form in Church Flower Arrangements - Part 1

This is the first part of a two-part post on foliage and form in church flower arrangements relying on Katherine Morrison McClinton's 1944 book, Flower Arrangement in the Church.

McClinton recognizes that since flowers in the sanctuary are first and foremost an offering to God, their arrangement must be worthy of that offering. She is also alert to the secondary purpose of church flowers, which is to ennoble the viewer and lift his or her heart and mind to God. A proper presentation is integral to that purpose as well:

"[F]lowers for church must be seen at a distance. Therefore, the effect should be bold and clear cut." . . .

"To be sure that flowers are effective at a distance you must not only give the flowers form but also the bouquet itself must have shape and mass. A massed arrangement of many flowers is the best type of arrangement. Also, because you want a certain dignity and formality in the church, the mass arrangement which has a formal balance is the best. Mass arrangements based on the triangle or oval are more traditional; however, you can arrange a massing of flowers with a structure line that leads [the eye to] the center [of the altar]. A certain severity of line is necessary if your design is to carry at the back of the church. Also, the color must be well defined.

"There are three types of mass arrangements especially suitable to church decoration: the massed triangle, the massed oval, and the massed vertical. Which type you choose will depend upon the vases obtainable, upon the space to be occupied by the flower arrangement, and to a certain extent upon the architectural lines of the church itself. For narrow spaces and all narrow vases and Gothic architecture, the massed vertical or triangle may seem more suitable. . . .

"If the flowers which you are using do not have interesting leaves, or if the leaves wilt easily, you can improve the arrangement by picking off the leaves and substituting more distinctive foliage. There are many leaves from both garden and house plants that can be used. Among the foliage that is particularly decorative are the leaves of the iris, gladiolus, and yucca, all of a tall, pointed contour; funkia [also known as hosta], canna, rubber plant, and magnolia leaves, which are large and heavy in effect; and pandanus, coleus, croton, caladium, and begonia leaves, which are especially colorful, as well as shapely. Of course, certain greenery, such as huckleberry, eucalyptus, magnolia, and ivy is most useful, and even cypress, and sword ferns can often be used as background material to set off a few blossoms. . . .

"It is well to remember that a mass arrangement does not mean a thick tight mass of flowers stuffed into a vase. A mass arrangement should have definite lines and should not be flat or even on the top or at the sides. Avoid this by using flowers with stems of various lengths grouped around the center primal stalk. The middle center mass should be strong and full, and tied close to the vase. These factors are applicable to massed oval as well as to the massed triangle arrangement."

To be continued . . .

Source:
McClinton, Katherine Morrison; Flower Arrangement in the Church (Morehouse-Gorham Co., New York, 1944, 1958 edition); pp. 48-51.

Image:
Canna "Auguste Ferrier", from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.
(Canna's decorative foliage is one of those recommended by McClinton for use in church flower arrangements.)

Queen Dagmar and the Bishop

Readers might remember the earlier post on Dagmar (ca. 1189-1212/ 1213), Denmark's beloved medieval Catholic Queen. A charming ballad tells that through Dagmar's effort Bishop Valdemar of Schleswig was freed. He had been imprisoned for more than a decade in order to thwart his efforts to become the ruler of Denmark.

Image:
Herman Wilhelm Bissen's sculpture of Queen Dagmar, from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.

Gabriel García Moreno and His King

Today, the last Sunday in October, is the Feast of Christ the King in the traditional calendar. It is a good time to remember Gabriel García Moreno (1821-1875), the President of Ecuador. He was born on Christmas Eve, and died on the Feast of the Transfiguration, martyred because of his zeal for Christ the King.

García Moreno was a descendant of Spanish nobility. Prior to serving as President, he was a journalist and a lawyer. As President, he was responsible for a large number of reforms throughout Ecuadorian society. He promoted universal literacy and, under his leadership, Ecuador excelled in science and education.

An ardent Catholic, García Moreno was instrumental in the consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1873. For the consecration, he commissioned a painting depicting Christ with his Sacred Heart, holding a globe and scepter -- symbols of Christ's Kingship.

García Moreno's Catholicism so enraged the Masonic secret societies that after he was re-elected for a third term they marked him for death. There had already been a failed attempt to assassinate him and during the time leading up to his death he received many warnings. He wrote to Pope Pius IX, "What happiness if your benediction should obtain for me from Heaven the grace of shedding my blood for Him, who being God was willing to shed His blood for us upon the Cross!" To others, he said, "The enemies of God and the Church can kill me, but God does not die."

On August 6, 1875, García Moreno left the Cathedral of Quito where he had been praying before the Blessed Sacrament and was shot and attacked with machetes on the steps outside. His last words were "Dios no Muere!" (God does not die), which echoed his earlier statement that the evildoers could kill him but not his God. His left arm was severed and his right hand cut off. On his person were found a relic of the True Cross, scapulars of the Passion and the Sacred Heart, his Rosary, and a copy of The Imitation of Christ. Written on the last page of the book was the private rule of life that he adhered to.

An academic-type lecture by Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro detailing the life of Gabriel García Moreno and his many reforms can be purchased online for $1.50 as an mp3 download from Keep the Faith.

Image:
Gabriel García Moreno, from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.

Fr. De Smet and the Flathead Indians

It is well known that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church" (Tertullian). One way in which the seed of the martyrdom of St. Isaac Jogues and the other North American Martyrs bore fruit was in the form of a band of Catholic Iroquois who many decades later encountered and evangelized the Flathead Indians of the Rocky Mountain area of North America.

The Flatheads had an oral tradition prophesying the arrival of black-robed, pale-faced men. Once the Iroquois clarified this oral tradition for the Flatheads, their desire for the Faith was so great that they made several long and arduous expeditions to St. Louis, Missouri, pleading with the bishop to send them a priest. Finally, the bishop sent them Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Belgian Jesuit. What ensued is a most remarkable story, told in two beautiful audio sermons, available for free mp3 download via these links:

The Flathead Indians and the Black Robes - Part I

The Flathead Indians and the Black Robes - Part II

Image:
Photograph of Fr. De Smet from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.

A Rosary Confraternity Treasure at Brandeis Special Collections

In March of this year (2009), the Special Collections Department of the Brandeis University Libraries posted on its "Spotlight" a beautiful early 18th century illuminated Rosary Confraternity document:

"The most significant artistic aspect of the manuscript is the presence of a fine illuminated miniature in the upper margin. There, the floral border includes an elaborate central medallion (6 x 8 cm.) surrounded by additional floral patterns, which contain an image of Mary holding the infant Christ, flanked by St. Dominic and an unidentified female Dominican saint. Mary is depicted hooded and crowned, robed in blue and pink, holding a rosary in her right hand while in her left she holds the infant Christ. Christ, with a celestial halo, is clothed in red and also holds, in his left hand, a rosary. The pair is shown elevated within a third large rosary, of which each bead is represented as a pink rose . . . . St. Dominic . . . is represented kneeling below and to the left of Mary and Jesus, tonsured and in the black and white Dominican habit, left hand lifted to the Virgin and Child and right hand clasped to his chest, with the traditional iconography of a dog carrying a torch visible at his feet, looking out from behind his robes."

At the linked page, one can read the entire explanatory text and view the document, including close-ups of its various details. (Click the photographs to enlarge them.)

Source:
Rutledge, Adam; "Charter of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary," Brandeis Special Collections Spotlight, March 29, 2009.

Image:
Rose Duchesse de Brabant, from Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.

The Ninth Rose

Here is a chapter entitled "The Ninth Rose" from The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis de Montfort (1673 -1716). St. Louis is chilling in his condemnation of anyone who diminishes devotion to the Holy Rosary. He says that a person who discourages others from joining the Rosary Confraternity is an "enemy of souls":

"It is very wicked indeed and unjust to hinder the progress of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. God has severely punished many of those who have been so benighted as to scorn the Confraternity and have sought to destroy it.

"Even though God has set his seal of approval on the Rosary by many miracles, and though it has been approved by the Church in many papal bulls, there are only too many people who are against the holy Rosary today. Such are free-thinkers and those who scorn religion, who either condemn the Rosary or try to turn others away from it.

"It is easy to see that they have absorbed the poison of hell and that they are inspired by the devil; for no one can condemn devotion to the holy Rosary without condemning all that is most holy in the Catholic faith, such as the Lord's prayer, the Hail Mary and the mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and his holy Mother.

"These freethinkers, who cannot bear to have people saying the Rosary, often fall into an heretical state of mind without realizing it and come to hate the Rosary and its mysteries.

"To have a loathing for confraternities is to fall away from God and true piety, for our Lord himself has told us that he is always in the midst of those who are gathered together in his name. No good Catholic would neglect the many great indulgences which the Church has granted to confraternities. Finally, to dissuade others from joining the Rosary Confraternity is to be an enemy of souls, because the Rosary is a means of avoiding sin and leading a good life.

"St. Bonaventure says in his 'Psalter' that whoever neglects our Lady will die in his sins. What, then, must be the punishment in store for those who turn people away from devotion to her?"

Source:
de Montfort, St. Louis-Marie Grignion, The Secret of the Rosary. (The entire book is available for download as a zip file. Scroll to the bottom of the linked page.)

Image:
Rose from the rose garden in Mainz, Germany, from Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.

We Offer Thee Our Roses

Today, October 7, is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Here is a beautiful Marian anthem for the occasion:

Hymn to Our Lady of the Rosary

"Queen of the Holy Rosary! Oh, bless us as we pray
And offer thee our roses, in garlands day by day;
While from our Father's garden, with loving hearts and bold,
We gather to thine honor buds white, and red, and gold.

"Queen of the Holy Rosary! Each mystery blends with thine
The sacred life of Jesus in every step divine.
Thy soul was His fair garden, thy virgin breast his throne,
Thy thoughts His faithful mirror, reflecting Him alone.

"Sweet Lady of the Rosary! White roses let us bring,
And lay them round thy footstool before our Infant King.
For nestling in thy bosom God's Son was fain to be,
The child of thy obedience, and spotless purity."

Here is a short history of the celebration by Jordan Aumann, O.P.:

"This feast derives from the feast of St. Mary of Victory, instituted by the Dominican Pope Pius V after the defeat of the Turkish fleet at Lepanto on October 7, 1571 [the first Sunday of October in 1571]. Pope Gregory XIII made it obligatory for Rome and for the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary in 1573. In 1716 Pope Clement XI inscribed the feast in the Roman Calendar for the first Sunday in October. The Dominicans also celebrated this feast on the first Sunday of October.

". . . . The title of this feast was changed from Holy Rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary in 1960."

And, here is a more detailed early history from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia:

"Apart from the single defeat of the Albigensian heretics at the battle of Muret in 1213 which legend has attributed to the recitation of the Rosary by St. Dominic, it is believed that Heaven has on many occasions rewarded the faith of those who had recourse to this devotion in times of special danger. More particularly, the naval victory of Lepanto gained by Don John of Austria over the Turkish fleet on the first Sunday of October in 1571 responded wonderfully to the processions made at Rome on that same day by the members of the Rosary confraternity. St. Pius V thereupon ordered that a commemoration of the Rosary should be made upon that day, and at the request of the Dominican Order Gregory XIII in 1573 allowed this feast to be kept in all churches which possessed an altar dedicated to the Holy Rosary. In 1671 the observance of this festival was extended by Clement X to the whole of Spain, and somewhat later Clement XI after the important victory over the Turks gained by Prince Eugene on 6 August, 1716 (the feast of Our Lady of the Snows) at Peterwardein in Hungary, commanded the feast of the Rosary to be celebrated by the universal Church. . . . Leo XIII has since raised the feast to the rank of a double of the second class and has added to the Litany of Loreto the invocation 'Queen of the Most Holy Rosary'. On this feast, in every church in which the Rosary confraternity has been duly erected, a plenary indulgence toties quoties is granted upon certain conditions to all who visit therein the Rosary chapel or statute of Our Lady. This has been called the 'Portiuncula' of the Rosary."

Sources:
Aumann, Jordan, O.P.; and Lodi, Enzo; Saints of the Roman Calendar (Alba House, New York, 1992), p. 302.

Dolan, Dominic, O.P. (Ed.); The Rosarian’s Handbook of the Society of the Rosary Altar (Marchbanks Press, New York, 1942), p. 94 (source for the hymn).

The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.

All material from The Rosarian's Handbook used with the kind permission of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph.

Image:
Jacopo de mino Montepulciano's, "The Coronation of the Virgin", from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.

A Procession for Rosary Sunday

The Rosarian's Handbook (1942) describes a procession for Rosary Sunday to be sponsored by the Rosary Altar Society.

Before the procession, the priest blesses the roses with a special blessing. According to the handbook, the blessing, reserved to the Dominican Order, was granted to the Rectors of the Rosary Confraternity. After the blessing, the priest distributes the blessed roses at the communion rail to the members of the Rosary Altar Society and to all the faithful who then venerate the roses. (Or, the Rosary roses are blessed in advance and distributed as dried petals wrapped in special envelopes.)

After the distribution of the roses, the procession begins:

"The cross-bearer and two acolytes head the procession, starting at the main sanctuary gates. They are followed by the choir boys.

"The large banner of the Rosary Altar Society -- carried by an altar boy -- follows the choir.

"Then the children symbolizing living Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Be to the Fathers fall in line after the bearer of the Society banner.

"The Our Father is symbolized by a young man wearing dark clothes with a white shoulder sash imprinted with black lettering 'Our Father'.

"The Hail Mary is symbolized by girls wearing shoulder sashes, imprinted with silver block lettering 'Hail Mary'.

"The 'Glory be to the Father' is symbolized by three baby boys (suggesting Our Lord's words 'whose angels are ever before the face of the Father in heaven'). All three of the children carry on the right shoulder one long white cloth band or ribbon printed in gold lettering 'Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.' Since the Trinity is symbolized by the triangle -- a three-cornered or triangular head crown of gilded material may be worn by each of the boys.

"Either the five mysteries or the entire fifteen mysteries according to local resources are interpreted by small banners ornamented with the particular mystery or gospel scene depicted on a print and surrounded by floral designs. The bottom of each banner should be fringed.

"The Joyful Mysteries carry the white color motif, the Sorrowful Mysteries violet, and the Glorious Mysteries gold.

"Thus the first decade of the Holy Rosary -- the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the ever Blessed Virgin Mary -- would be portrayed in a living way by a child in white dress carrying the processional banner depicting Mary being addressed by the Archangel Gabriel. The banner carrier is followed by one young man with the Our Father imprinted on his white sash.

"Ten girls in white dresses and with white shoulder sashes lettered in silver, 'Hail Mary' typify the decades of ten Hail Marys.

"Following these girls and walking in single file, three baby boys in white suits, holding the white cloth, lettered with the 'Glory be to the Father,' etc., as stated before.

"Each decade follows the same routine. If instead of the children, circumstances favor the use of Rosarian members as symbols of prayer in the living procession of the Most Holy Rosary, this usage will be according to approved tradition.

"The route of the procession is usually around the aisles of the church, although when permitted by public goodwill it may be around the streets of the square on which the church building is located. This matter is left entirely to the discretion of the Rector of the Rosary Confraternity.

"In the last position of the Rosary Procession walks the celebrant wearing surplice, white stole and white cope.

"When the procession is finished the celebrant stands before the step of the Rosary Altar Shrine, and sings:

"V. Dignare me laudare te, Virgo Sacrata.
R. Da mihi virtutem contra hostes tuos.
V. Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii, ora pro nobis.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
V. Dominus vobiscum.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

"OREMUS: Deus, cuius Unigenitus per vitam, mortem et resurrectionem suam nobis salutis aeternae praemia comparavit, concede, quaesumus, ut haec Mysteria Sanctissimo Rosario Beatae Mariae Virginis recolentes: et imitemur quod continent, et quod promittunt assequamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

"The function will then be closed with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and the singing of the Te Deum, or Holy God, We Praise Thy Name."

Source:
Dolan, Dominic, O.P. (Ed.); The Rosarian’s Handbook of the Society of the Rosary Altar (Marchbanks Press, New York, 1942), pp. 90-93.

All material from The Rosarian's Handbook used with the kind permission of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph.

Image:
Caravaggio's, "Madonna of the Rosary" (St. Dominic receiving the Rosary from the Virgin), from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.

To Light and Guard, to Rule and Guide

Here is the favorite old picture of a guardian angel and the favorite old prayer to one's guardian angel, whose feast is today, October 2:

The Guardian Angel Prayer
(in Latin and English)

"Angele Dei,
qui custos es mei,
me tibi commíssum pietáte supérna,
illúmina, custódi, rege et gubérna.
Amen."

"Angel of God, my guardian dear
to whom God's love commits me here.
Ever this day (or night) be at my side
to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen."

The feast dates from 1411, when in Valencia, Spain, it was introduced in honor of the guardian angel of that city. It was added to the Roman Calendar in 1608. Devotion to the guardian angels, however, dates back much further.

Image:
Leiber's "Guardian Angel", from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.