Who cares about obedience?

Who cares about obedience?

In Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, Cordelia, the youngest daughter of Lord Marchmain, once received a school report saying she "was not only the worst girl in the school, but the worst there had ever been in the memory of the oldest nun."

Cordelia explained, "That's because I refused to be an Enfant de Marie.  Reverend Mother said that if I didn't keep my room tidier I couldn't be one, so I said, Well I won't be one, and I don't believe Our Blessed Lady cares two hoots whether I put my gym shoes on the left or the right of my dancing shoes.  Reverend Mother was livid."

Cordelia's pious older brother, Lord Brideshead, then tells Cordelia, "Our Lady cares about obedience."

I think Bridey got it right.

Source:
Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited (Little Brown, New York, 1944, 1945), p. 91.

The Initiative of Greeting & the Benedicite-Dominus Greeting

Those making the transition to Traditional Catholicism soon perceive its richness and learn that nothing is meaningless or escapes integration into the Catholic worldview. Every gesture and movement of the traditional Latin Mass is so replete with symbolism that its study must be inexhaustible, and the same applies to the liturgical year. Awareness of the constant presence of Heaven and the Communion of Saints challenges and enlarges one's perspective. Even the petty annoyances of daily existence are given meaning as opportunities to unite oneself to the sufferings of Christ and to grow in virtue. A blessed child it is who is reared with the fullness of the true Faith.

One small facet of the wealth of Catholicism can be found in a section on greeting in Dr. Marian Horvat's book, The Catholic Manual of Civility.

First, Dr. Horvat explains:

"Crossing the path of a person of authority or higher dignity, it is the younger or less important person who should offer the first greeting."

Then she goes on to say:

"When Our Lady learned that Elizabeth was with child, she did not delay to make plans to travel from Nazareth to Hebron to congratulate her cousin for this high favor from God. At the meeting, the one who initiated the greeting was the Blessed Virgin, who was younger in age even though she was superior to Elizabeth in dignity: And Mary entered into the house of Zachary and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. (Lk 1:40-41)

"Her words were accompanied by a prodigy of grace: the sanctification of John the Baptist, who leaped with joy in his mother's womb. It is to commemorate and imitate the humility of Mary in this greeting that the laws of certain religious congregations impose on the superiors the initiative of greeting."

That is, because of her Immaculate Conception and Divine Maternity, the Blessed Virgin was superior in dignity to St. Elizabeth. Nevertheless, virtuous woman that she was, she humbly initiated the greeting of her older relative, Elizabeth.

The practice of superiors initiating the greeting as described by Dr. Horvat is depicted in the film The Nun's Story. More than once in the film, the mother superior greets Sr. Luke with "Benedicite", to which Sr. Luke responds, "Dominus".

I have read that the benedicite-dominus greeting originated with the Benedictines.  That is, the younger religious would say to the older religious or to the superior, "Benedicite" (Bless me) and the latter would reply "Dominus te benedicat" (May the Lord bless you).   But in The Nun's Story the greeting is shortened and it is the superior who initiates the greeting, asking to be blessed.

With this traditional practice in mind, every "Good morning" or "Good evening" can become a reminder to reflect in passing on the virtue of humility.

Source:
Horvat, Marian Therese, Catholic Manual of Civility (Tradition in Action, Los Angeles, 2008), p. 100.

Image:
Rembrant's "Visitation", from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.

St. Salaun and His Lily

Here, a few days late, is the story of Salaun, a canonized saint whose feast day is November 1. The setting is 14th century Brittany (a region in northwestern France, on a peninsula between the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay).

According to Baring-Gold, St. Salaun's life was originally recorded by Jean de Langouezenou, a Benedictine monk who was the abbot of Landevenec and a contemporary of Salaun. The original account was lost and so it cannot be determined how much the more recent versions vary from the original. In summary, this is the story:

Salaun (also referred to as Yann Salacin, Solomon, or Salomon) was a poor child from the area of Lesneven. At school, he learned to revere the Blessed Virgin Mary. He learned nothing else.

He would gather flowers in the fields and bring them to the Virgin's altar where he spent hours every day.

He begged his food by the roadside and by knocking at doors. He would plead, "O Lady Virgin Mary! Salaun would like some bread!" He often wandered in a certain wooded area and slept in the trees or in the barns of peasants. He would swing in the branches of the trees singing "Ave Maria".

Once during the disputes between Charles of Blois and the Count of Montfort, some soldiers asked him to which side he belonged and he replied, "Neither to Blois nor to Montfort, but to Mary".

Because he was regarded as a simpleton, he came to be called "The Fool" and the woods he inhabited "Fool's Wood" (Folgoat or Follcoat).

Salaun died on All Saints' Day around 1358 and was buried in a churchyard. From his grave, a tall, pure white lily grew. The grave was opened and it was discovered that the lily sprang from Salaun's mouth. Some accounts say the petals of the lily were inscribed with the phrase he used to cry -- "O Lady Virgin Mary!" Others say they were inscribed with "Ave Maria", written in gold.

A church was erected in the Fool's Wood called "Notre Dame de Folgoat", which portrays the story in a stained glass window. The church became the most popular pilgrimage destination in lower Brittany.

Sources:
Baring-Gold, Sabine; The Lives of the Saints, Vol. 13 (1898), pp. 40-41.
Sedgwick, Anne Douglas; A Childhood in Brittany Eighty Years Ago (1919), pp. 196-197.

Image:
"Lilium Neilgherense", an illustration by Walter Hood Fitch (1817-1892), from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.