One new order worthy of consideration is the Brigittini Servitores Sanctissimi Salvatoris (Brigittine Servitores of the Most Holy Savior) who are located adjacent to the FSSP parish in Tyler, TX. They have a website here. The group is still very small and new. They describe themselves thusly:
Essentially contemplatives, they engage in an apostolate of assisting
the Holy Father and bishops to implement “Ecclesia Dei Adflicta” and
Summorum Pontificum, while living a life centered on the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass and the full Divine Office in the 1962 Rite (sic: Missal).
They promote the public recitation of the Divine Office by helping
the Catholic faithful to appreciate and to recite it correctly and to
promote its public recitation also promoting Latin literacy through
seminars, formal courses of instruction, and correspondence courses.
They correspond with priests, religious and laity interested in the
traditional Latin liturgy and in the work of the Servitores, also
disseminating information regarding churches, parishes, and religious
orders using the Traditional Latin liturgy and other pertinent
information for the promotion of the same. They also organize days of
recollection and conferences for Catholics interested in the traditional
Latin liturgy.
You can contact the Brigittini Servitores as shown below:
Sister Margarita O.S.s.S.
Residentia Geatus Vilmos Apor
PO Box 4025 Tyler TX 75712 USA
The Brigittines were once widespread across northern Europe but many of their monasteries were destroyed during the Protestant uprising several hundred years ago. Let us pray for an increase in their numbers.
INTROIT Sap. 1:7
The Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world, alleluia! and that which contains all things has knowledge of His voice, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Ps. 67:2. Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee before Him.
V. Glory be . . .
COLLECT - O God, who this day instructed the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that through the same Holy Spirit we may always be truly wise and rejoice in His consolation. Through our Lord . . .
LESSON Acts 2:1-11
When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming: and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire: and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost: and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: "Behold, are not all these that speak Galilean? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God."
GRADUAL Ps. 103:30
Alleluia, alleluia! V. Ps. 103:30.
Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. Alleluia! (Here all kneel.)
V. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
SEQUENCE
All kneel during the first verse
Holy Spirit, come and shine
On our souls with beams divine
Issuing from your radiance bright.
Come, O Father of the poor,
Ever bounteous of your store,
Come, our heart's unfailing light.
Come, Consoler, kindest, best,
Come our bosom's dearest guest,
Sweet refreshment, sweet repose.
Rest in labor, coolness sweet,
Tempering the burning heat,
Truest comfort of our woes.
O divinest light, impart
Unto every faithful heart
Plenteous streams from love's bright flood.
But for your blest Deity,
Nothing pure in man could be;
Nothing harmless, nothing good.
Wash away each sinful stain;
Gently shed your gracious rain
On the dry and fruitless soul.
Heal each wound and bend each will,
Warm our hearts benumbed and chill,
All our wayward steps control.
Unto all your faithful just,
Who in you confide and trust,
Deign the sevenfold gift to send.
Grant us virtue's blest increase,
Grant a death of hope and peace,
Grant the joys that never end.
Amen. Alleluia!
GOSPEL John 14:23-31
At that time, Jesus answered and said to him: "If any one love me, he will keep my word. And my Father will love him and we will come to him and will make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my words. And the word which you have heard is not mine; but the Father's who sent me. "These things have I spoken to you, abiding with you. But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled: nor let it be afraid. You have heard that I said to you: 'I go away, and I come unto you.' If you loved me you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass: that when it shall come to pass, you may believe. I will not now speak many things with you. For the prince of this world: cometh: and in me he hath not any thing. But that the world may know that I love the Father: and as the Father hath given me commandments, so do I. Arise, let us go hence."
OFFERTORY Ps. 67:29-30
Make lasting what You have wrought in us, O God; in Your temple in Jerusalem let the kings offer presents to You, alleluia!
SECRET - Bless our offering, O Lord, and cleanse our hearts by the light of the Holy Spirit. Through our Lord . .
COMMUNION
Acts 2:2, 4
Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, alleluia! And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began speaking of the wondrous deeds of God, alleluia, alleluia!
POST COMMUNION -May the coming of the Holy Spirit cleanse our hearts, and, as a heavenly dew, water them to bring forth good fruit. Through our Lord . . .
I wish to present some images from the Confirmations and the Pontifical Low Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Kansas City, Missouri, from Saturday, May 11, 2013.
58 confirmands (32 young men and 26 ladies) knelt before Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais to receive the Holy Ghost and become Soldiers of Christ. Please join me in praying for all of them.
Today is the Vigil for Pentecost, and tomorrow we will celebrate the Descent of the Holy Spirit and the foundation of the Church. Pentecost marks the completion of the work of redemption, the fullness of grace for the Church and its children, and the gift of faith for all nations.
Fast and Abstain on the Vigil of Pentecost
Today's preparation should not be underestimated. Catholics should fast and abstain from meat today in order to better conform themselves to celebrate this High Holy Day of Pentecost. The Vigil of Pentecost has been a day of required fasting and abstinence for centuries and it was kept as such even through the early 1960s.
The days of obligatory fasting as listed in the 1917 Code of Canon Law were the forty days of Lent (including Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday until noon); the Ember Days; and the Vigils of Pentecost, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, All Saints, and Christmas.
On January 28, 1949, the United States bishops issued modified regulations on abstinence in America again after receiving a ruling from the Sacred Congregation of the Council. Partial abstinence replaced complete abstinence for Ember Wednesdays, Ember Saturdays, and the Vigil of Pentecost.
By 1962, the laws of fasting and abstinence were as follows as described in "Moral Theology" by Rev. Heribert Jone and adapted by Rev. Urban Adelman for the "laws and customs of the United States of America" copyright 1961: "Complete abstinence is to be observed on all Fridays of the year, Ash Wednesday, the Vigils of Immaculate Conception and Christmas. Partial abstinence is to be observed on Ember Wednesdays and Saturdays and on the Vigil of Pentecost. Days of fast are all the weekdays of Lent, Ember Days, and the Vigil of Pentecost."
Shortly after the close of the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI issued an apostolic constitution on fasting and abstaining on February 17, 1966, called Paenitemini, whose principles were later incorporated into the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Paenitemini allowed the commutation of the Friday abstinence to an act of penance at the discretion of the local ordinaries and gave authority to the episcopal conferences on how the universal rules would be applied in their region. Abstinence which previously began at age 7 was modified to begin at age 14. Additionally, the obligation of fasting on the Ember Days and on the remaining Vigils was abolished.
The Mass for Pentecost was formerly celebrated during the night and has
since been anticipated. It seems that the Vigil was modeled on that of
Easter. As was observed on Holy Saturday, a vigil was kept during the night of
Pentecost Sunday to prepare for the Sacrament of Baptism. The Feast of
Whitsun - the term Whitsunday is another name for Pentecost, alluding to
the white vestments of the neophytes - is as ancient as that of Easter.
The Saturday following the Octave of Pentecost officially begins the
Season After Pentecost. For the special prayers and readings for the pre-1955 Vigil of Pentecost, click here.
While the Novus Ordo calendar unfortunately only has 2 octaves,
traditional Catholics will be familiar with the idea of multiple
overlapping Octaves. The practice of celebrating an Octave, while not
only traced to the time spent by the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin
Mary awaiting the Paraclete also has its origins in the Old Testament
eight-day celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:36) and
the Dedication of the Temple (2 Chronicles 7:9). Very truly, Christ did
not come to abolish the Old Law but to fulfill it.
This is one of the most important celebrations in the Church's liturgical year. I've prepared for this day through the Original Novena. The Feast of Pentecost (i.e., Whitsunday) is one of the principal feasts in the life of the Church. After tomorrow's Feast (and the subsequent Octave), we will conclude Pascaltide and begin the Season after Pentecost.
Collect for the Vigil of Pentecost from the 1962 Missal:
Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that the splendor of Thy brightness may shine forth upon us, and the light of Thy light may, by the illumination of the Holy Ghost, confirm the hearts of those who have been born again by Thy grace. Through our Lord...in the unity of the same Holy Ghost
Born on the Feast of Pentecost in 1540, St. Paschal lived a quiet start to his life, just as our Lord did. His name Paschal refers to "the Pasch (Passover) of the Holy Ghost" which is the Spanish term for Pentecost. Until the age of 20, Paschal (1540-92) tended flocks on the hills of Aragon. He would carry a book with him and beg passersby to teach him the
alphabet and to read, and as he toiled in the fields he would read
religious books.
He then became a Franciscan Brother and spent the rest of his years mainly as doorkeeper in various friaries of Spain. St. Paschal chose to work in poverty as he said, "I was born poor and am resolved to die in poverty and penance." All through his life he was animated with a burning love for the Holy Eucharist, a love so intense that it enabled him to speak triumphantly to heretics about the most obscure mysteries of the Faith. He was a mystic and contemplative, and he had frequent ecstatic visions. He would spend many nights before the altar in prayer. At the same time, he sought to downplay any glory that might come from this piety. He passed from earth to Heaven in 1592. He was beatified by Pope Paul V and canonized by Pope Alexander VIII.
Pope Leo XIII declared him patron of all Eucharistic confraternities and congresses. Christian art usually depicts him wearing the Franciscan habit and bearing a monstrance, signifying his devotion to the Holy Eucharist. During the Red Terror at the time of the Spanish Civil War his grave was desecrated and his relics burned by anticlerical leftists.
Collect:
O God, who didst adorn blessed Paschal Thy Confessor with a wonderful love for the holy Mysteries of Thy Body and Blood: mercifully grant that we too may be worthy to receive the rich spiritual graces which he received from this divine banquet; who lives and reigns with God the Father...
Today the Holy Church celebrates the life of St. Ubadlus, Bishop of Gubio and Confessor. Born to noble parents, St. Ubaldus lived a pious childhood. After his father died while Ubadlus was still quite young, the boy became a canon regular for the local Cathedral.
He felt a vocation to become a monk, and entered to the Monastery of St. Secondo in the same city, where he remained for some years. Recalled by his bishop, he returned to the cathedral monastery, where he was made prior. Having heard that at Vienna Blessed Peter de Honestis some years before had established a very fervent community of canons regular, to whom he had given special statutes which had been approved by Paschal II, Ubald went there, remaining with his brother canons for three months, to learn the details and the practice of their rules, wishing to introduce them among his own canons of Gubbio.
After being consecrated Bishop of Gubio by Pope Honorius II, he returned to his people and became a perfect pattern of all Christian virtues and a
powerful protector in all their spiritual and temporal needs. It is said that St. Ubaldus helped prevent Frederick Barbarossa from sacking Gubio when the bishop went out on the road to plead with Frederick.
He died of natural causes after a long and painful two year illness in 1160.
At the solicitation of Bishop Bentivoglio, Pope Celestine III canonized him in 1192. His power, as we read in the Office for his feast, is chiefly manifested over the evil spirits, and the faithful are instructed to have recourse to him "contra omnes diabolicas inequities".
The power St. Ubaldus possessed against evil spirits was evident. The
Church moves in a spirit world--good angels are all about, while
constant vigilance is exercised against Satan and his devils. The
liturgy contains a considerable number of exorcisms and adjurations.
Then there are a series of sacramentals directed against the power of
evil spirits; for example, holy water, palms, candles. Hold these
sacramentals in highest esteem. — Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
Similarly, Dom Gueranger writes in the Liturgical Year:
In order to honour her eternal High Priest, the Church presents to him this day the merits of a pontiff who, after his mortal career, was admitted into a happy immortality. Ubaldus, here on earth, was the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. Like his divine Master, he received the holy anointing of priesthood; he was a mediator between God and man; he was the shepherd of a flock; and now he is united with our Risen Jesus, the great Anointed, the Mediator, the Shepherd. In proof of his influence in heaven, Ubaldus has had given to him a special power against the wicked spirits who lay snares for our perdition. It has frequently happened that the simple invocation of his name has sufficed to foil their machinations. The Church has fixed this day as his feast with the view of encouraging the faithful to have recourse to his protection.
Collect:
Help us, O Lord, and stretch out Your right hand in compassion to save us from the wickedness of the devil, through the intercession of Your blessed confessor bishop Ubaldus. Through Our Lord . .
Today we celebrate the life of St. John Baptist de la Salle. Born April 30, 1651, St. John would live until Good Friday, April 7, 1719. He would be remembered especially as the founder of the Brothers of Christian Charity. This order, despite its former greatness, has fallen considerably since Vatican II.
La Salle received the tonsure at the young age of eleven and was named canon of Rheims Cathedral when he was fifteen. He was sent to the College des Bons Enfants, where he pursued higher studies and, on July 10, 1669, he took the degree of Master of Arts. When De La Salle had completed his classical, literary, and philosophical courses, he was sent to Paris to enter the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice on October 18, 1670. His mother died on July 19, 1671, and on April 9, 1672, his father died. This circumstance obliged him to leave Saint-Sulpice on April 19, 1672. He was now twenty-one, the head of the family, and as such had the responsibility of educating his four brothers and two sisters. He completed his theological studies and was ordained to the priesthood at the age of 26 on April 9, 1678. Two years later he received a Doctorate in Theology.
De La Salle became involved in education little by little, without ever
consciously setting out to do so. He lived in a time when society was
characterized by great disparity between the rich and the poor. Jean
Baptiste de la Salle believed that education gave hope and opportunity
for people to lead better lives of dignity and freedom.
In 1685, he founded what is generally considered the first normal school — that is, a school whose purpose is to train teachers — in Rheims, France.
Although good teaching was important to John Baptist, spiritual formation was more so; and, in the face of a rampant Jansenism, he was advocating frequent and even daily Communion. When his foundation was firmly rooted and oriented, he resigned as superior, living thereafter as the humblest of his subjects. He died two years later, on Good Friday.
He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII on May 24, 1900, and was inserted in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1904. Because of his life and inspirational writings, he was proclaimed as the Patron Saint of Teachers on May 15, 1950, by Pope Pius XII
Collect:
O God, You inspired the holy confessor John Baptist to teach the poor and to lead the young in the path of truth, and then founded a new congregation in Your Church through him. May his intercession and example fill us with zeal to glorify You by the saving of souls, so that we may also share his reward in Heaven. Through Our Lord . . .
The theme of this month's Holy Cross Seminary Newsletter resolves on prayer and the necessity to place prayer first in our lives - even before our apostolic works. The full newsletter is below but I quote from it now to highlight some noteworthy sections:
Prayer is work and it is the work of God. Man was.
created in order to share in the divine occupation of.
glorifying God in his life on earth and in heaven.
Nonetheless, man may, and must, apply himself to the.
vicissitudes of life in a prayerful manner, as is befitting.
the talents God has given him.
What a work prayer is! It is a work we do not take on alone. Christ was sent to dwell among us for this reason – to pray for
us and to pray with us. Christ is our success. If we refuse to work with Him, our prayer becomes restless, we seek distractions
from His loving and piercing gaze, and we avoid prayer for some other good work. This temptation to ignore prayer for good
works is the fallacy of activism. Activity becomes a replacement for prayer and may accomplish some good, but for others who
will profit from the work – for such an activist is not growing, but is spiritually undeveloped and therefore risks losing his soul.
St. Paul illustrates this danger: But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should
become a castaway (I Corinthians 9:27).
How many misguided souls made spiritual dwarves are caught up in busy-work and not the work of adoring God as He
wishes? Such a soul has no recollection and fails to purify his intentions in his activities, which become more and more for the
glory of the worker. By contrast, the true apostolate is genuine when the apostle is “pre-occupied” with, and steeped in, the life of
prayer.
St. Pius X, in Hærent Animo (his 1908 Encyclical on priestly holiness, §27) says: There are some who think, and even declare openly,
that the true measure of the merits of a priest is his dedication to the service of others; consequently, with an almost complete disregard for the cultivation of the virtues which lead to the personal sanctification of the priest (these they describe as passive virtues), they assert that all his energies and fervour should be directed to the development and practice of what they call the active virtues. One can only be astonished by this gravely erroneous and pernicious teaching.
The 1917 Code of Canon Law directs Bishops to ensure that their clergy adhere to a regimen that fosters holiness of life and
“success” in the ministry, beginning with frequenting the Sacrament of Penance, daily mental prayer, regular visits to the Blessed Sacrament, the
daily Holy Rosary and examination of conscience and the spiritual retreat.
Many of us Catholics may have a difficult time articulating the reason why our Lord ascended into Heaven? Why did He have to ascend in order to accomplish His divine mission of redemption? What exactly is the effect of His Ascension? The reason that we fail to understand the answer is one of the chief reasons why we neglect to adequately celebrate the Ascension and Ascensiontide.
Why Did Our Lord Ascend into Heaven?
The answer to this fundamental question is found in the Preface for the Ascension, a Preface found in the Traditional Roman Rite but abandoned in the Novus Ordo.
It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation that we should at all time and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God; through Christ or Lord. Who after His resurrection appeared and showed Himself to all His disciples; and while they beheld Him, was lifted up into heaven, so that He might make us partakers of His Godhead. And therefore with angles and archangels, with thrones and dominations, and with all the heavenly hosts, we sing a hymn to Thy glory, saying without ceasing...
The answer to our question is underlined above - "so that He might make
us partakers of His Godhead." Our Lord ascended for us. He ascended so that we might become divine.
Jesus ascended into heaven. His Divinity had never been absent; but, by Ascension, His Humanity was also enthroned there, and crowned with the brightest diadem of glory. This is another phase of the mystery we are now solemnizing. Besides a triumph, the Ascension gave to the sacred Humanity a place on the very throne of the eternal Word, to whom it was united in unity of Person. From this throne, it is to receive the adoration of men and of angels. At the name of Jesus, Son of Man, and Son of God—of Jesus who is seated at the right hand of the Father almighty—“Every knee shall bend, in heaven, on earth and in hell.”
Dom Gueranger elsewhere reflects as to why the Ascension is always mentioned in the Canon of the Mass. Here he expresses similar noteworthy sentiments:
The feast of the Ascension shows us the work of God in its completion. Hence it is that the Church, in her daily offering of the holy sacrifice, thus addresses the eternal Father: the words occur immediately after the consecration, and contain the motives of her confidence in the divine mercy: ‘Wherefore, O Lord, we Thy servants, as also Thy holy people, calling to mind the blessed Passion of Christ Thy Son our Lord, His Resurrection from the dead, and His admirable Ascension into heaven, offer unto Thy most excellent Majesty a pure, holy, and unspotted Host.’
It is not enough for man to hope in the merits of his Redeemer’s Passion, which cleansed him from his sins; it is not enough for him to add to the commemoration of the Passion that of the Resurrection, whereby our Redeemer conquered death; man is not saved, he is not reinstated, except by uniting these two mysteries with a third: the Ascension of the same Jesus who was crucified and rose again.
Heaven was not opened until our Lord's Ascension:
It was fitting that Christ, the conqueror of death, would be the first to open the gates of Heaven. He did so not on the day of His Resurrection but 40 days later when He opened Heaven, led the souls of the just from the Limbo of the Fathers (e.g. Adam, Eve, Moses, Isaiah, et cetera) into Heaven, and He took His seat at the right hand of the Father. For the first time in world history, human flesh had entered Heaven.
As St. Thomas Aquinas stated in the Summa:
"Ascending on high, He led captivity captive," because He took with Him to heaven those who had been held captives by the devil—to heaven, as to a place strange to human nature. captives in deed of a happy taking, since they were acquired by His victory
Reflection from Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: "In the Ascension the Savior did not lay aside the garment of flesh with
which He had been clothed; for His human nature would be the pattern of
the future glory of other human natures, which would become
incorporated to Him through a sharing of His life. Intrinsic and deep
was the relation between His Incarnation and His Ascension. The
Incarnation or the assuming of a human nature made it possible for Him
to suffer and redeem. The Ascension exalted into glory that same human
nature that was humbled to the death." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Life of
Christ)
Today the Holy Church celebrates the feastday of St. Robert Bellarmine (4 October 1542 – 17 September 1621), who was one of the most notable Catholics during the Catholic Counter Reformation. His saintly example and teachings helped preserve the Church against the heresies of the Protestants.
St. Robert Bellarmine was born the third of ten children of Vincenzo Bellarmine and Cinzia Cervini, a family of nobles, albeit poor ones. His mother, a niece of Pope Marcellus II, was dedicated to almsgiving, prayer, meditation, fasting, and mortification. It was these traits that Robert would be famous for one day. In this manner, may we see the importance of faith active in the family life.
Robert suffered assorted health problems all his life. Educated by Jesuits as a boy, he later joined the Jesuits on September 20, 1560, despite the opposition of his father who wanted Robert to enter politics. The young Robert studied at the Collegio Romano from 1560 to 1563, Jesuit centers in Florence, Italy in 1563, then in Mondovi, Piedmont, the University of Padua in 1567 and 1568, and the University of Louvain, Flanders in 1569.
He was ordained to the priesthood on Palm Sunday, 1570 in Ghent, Belgium. He served as a Professor of Theology at the University of Louvain from 1570 to 1576. At the request of Pope Gregory XIII, he taught polemical theology at the Collegio Romano from 1576 to 1587. While there he wrote Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei adversus hujus temporis hereticos, the most complete work of the day to defend Catholicism against Protestant attack.
He served as the Spiritual director of the Roman College from 1588, and he taught Jesuit students and other children while he wrote a children‘s catechism, Dottrina cristiana breve. Shortly thereafter he wrote a catechism for teachers, Dichiarazione piu copiosa della dottrina cristiana.
St. Robert was the confessor of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga until his death, and then St. Robert worked for the boy‘s canonization. In 1590 he worked in France to defend the interests of the Church during a period of turmoil and conflict. He served as a member of the commission for the 1592 revision of the Vulgate Bible as well as the rector of the Collegio Romano from 1592 to 1594. Thereafter, he was the Jesuit provincial in Naples, Italy from 1594 to 1597, followed by the role of Theologian to Pope Clement VIII from 1597 to 1599.
He is most well known for his role as examiner of bishops and consultor of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition in 1597; he was strongly concerned with discipline among the bishops. Created a Cardinal-priest on March 3, 1598, by Pope Clement VIII, he continued to live an austere life in Rome, giving most of his money to the poor. At one point he used the tapestries in his living quarters to clothe the poor, saying that “the walls won’t catch cold.”
He helped Saint Francis de Sales obtain formal approval of the Visitation Order. He was graced with the honor of being named Archbishop of Capua, Italy on March 18, 1602. He served in the two conclaves of 1605.
Concerning the controversy over Galileo, St. Robert Cardinal Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church, as well as Pope Urban VIII, welcomed Galileo’s research; they
even presented him with medals and gifts. They wholeheartedly welcomed
his hypothesis; however, when Galileo began to promote it as truth
without providing concrete evidence, trouble arose with the Catholic
Church. That matter is a separate issue. He wrote Tractatus de potestate Summi Pontificis in rebus temporalibus adversus Gulielmum Barclaeum in opposition to Gallicanism. He opposed action against Galileo Galilei in 1615, and established a friendly correspondence with him, but was forced to deliver the order for the scientist to submit to the Church.
He served as an elector in the conclave of 1621 and was considered for Pope. Instead, he would serve as the Theological Advisor to Pope Paul V as well as the Head of the Vatican library and the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Rites. He also bore the role of Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Index.
He died on September 17, 1621. He was canonized in 1930 and one year later proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on September 17, 1931.
His remains, in a cardinal's red robes, are displayed behind glass under a side altar in the Church of Saint Ignatius, the chapel of the Roman College, next to the body of his student, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, as he himself had wished.
Collect:
O God, the source of all good, grant us Your inspiration that we may have proper thoughts, and Your guidance that we may carry them into practice. Through Our Lord . . .
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Matthew is a Third Order Dominican from Chicago and an expert on Catholicism, with an emphasis on Traditional Fasting. He has written for "A Catholic Life" since 2005. Matthew is a Certified Catechist and is a speaker available to address your next parish or Catholic conference gathering. Matthew spends his leisure time traveling, teaching, writing, and enjoying Catholic culture. He is also a writer for "Catholic Family News" and "The Fatima Center." Please contact Matthew directly regarding advertising requests for A Catholic Life or in regard to speaking engagements.
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