Archbishop Nesti at the Capuchin General Chapter

Om Monday, Rocco Palmo at Whispers in the Loggia highlighted the opening of the General Chapter of the Capuchins at their College of San Lorenzo da Brindisi (for those who have been to Rome, it is located near where the road from Fiumicino to Rome crosses the Grande Raccordo Annulare, not far from the Salesianum). On the official Chapter website – in the Italian section – there is an account of today’s visit to the Chapter by the Passionist Archbishop Piergiorgio Silvano Nesti (who, I thought, had retired a couple of months ago):
On Wednesday 30 August, punctually as announced, his Excellency Monsignor Piergiorgio Silvano Nesti, Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, arrived at the College and was received by the Minister General and other brothers who were in the atrium at the reception area. The little group then went along the corridor to the crypt for the concelebration of the Eucharist. During the concelebration, the Presule [i.e. the Archbishop] gave the homily.
The website offers his homily as an audio download, but I was unable to open it; I await the arrival of technical assistance from Lanarkshire tomorrow morning. -I wonder did he mention Fra Colombano da Genova, Saint Paul of the Cross’s Capuchin spiritual director.

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Holy Father’s Message of Condolence

Blog-by-the-Sea gives a translation of Pope Benedict’s message of condolence on the death of Father Marie-Dominique Philippe. Here is an extract from it:
The Holy Father asks the Lord to welcome into His Kingdom him who, for long years, guided and formed many people in the school of Christ, in the spirit of the “beloved disciple,” planting in them a deep love of the Church and fidelity to the Successor of Peter. His Holiness gives thanks for Father Marie-Dominique Philippe’s life, entirely given to the Lord and to his brothers, rooted in the meditation of the Word of God, in search for, and passionate contemplation of, the truth. May his testimony give to all those he guided the confidence necessary for the Gospel of Christ to always be proclaimed, welcomed and lived.

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Father Marie-Dominique Philippe O.P., 1912-2006

Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, Dominican and Founder of the Community of Saint John, died peacefully last Saturday morning, 26 August, at the priory of Saint-Jodard; he had suffered a stroke on 20 July. Father Philippe would have been ninety-four on Our Lady’s Birthday, 8 September. May the Lord reward him for his generous, humble and energetic service of Christ.

I had the privilege of taking part in a retreat given by Father Marie-Dominique at Saint-Jodard in 1996, although I had first heard his name from my metaphysics professor, Cardinal Desmond Connell, in 1974. He was a great philosopher and a great saint who has enriched the Church by his teaching and his example. Like a number of the other great figures of twentieth-century French Catholicism, he was close to Marthe Robin, the mystic and stigmatist who from her Foyer de Charité at Chateauneuf-de-Galaure inspired so many currents of renewal in the Church in France and beyond. His brother, Father Thomas Philippe, was another holy and learned Dominican who played a significant role in the spiritual journey of Jean Vanier.

“Père Marie-Do”, as he was affectionately known, had celebrated the seventieth anniversary of his ordination on 30 June this year at Ars. On that occasion, the Catholic news agency Zenit issued the following bulletin:
ARS, France, JULY 4, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The founder of the Community of St. John was able to preside at a Mass of thanksgiving for 70 years of priesthood. During the celebration on Friday [30 June] for Dominican Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, a message from Benedict XVI was read. In it, the Pope united himself to the religious’ “thanksgiving” and prayed that “God may make fruitful the work given to him to accomplish in his priestly faithfulness to the call of Christ.” The Holy Father ended the message with the desire that Father Philippe “might continue his priestly life in the peace and joy of one who has left everything for the Kingdom.”
On the following day, Father Jean-Pierre-Marie, prior general of the Community of St. John, warmly welcomed Cardinal Franc Rodé, for the ordination of 14 priests and eight deacons. Cardinal Rodé, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, addressed the ordinands in his homily. “Your spirituality,” he said, “is that of St. John — you put all your priestly and religious life under his protection in order to live according to his grace and to accomplish the missionary work entrusted to the Church by Jesus today. Your love for St. John leads naturally to Mary, whom you venerate as your Mother and Protector. Your founder, the ‘dear Father Philippe’ — as Pope Benedict XVI called him last February — never ceases to introduce you into the mystery of Mary. She is the model of consecrated life and the Mother of the priesthood.” Cardinal Rodé underlined the fruitfulness of the consecration that the first brothers of the community made to Mary on Dec. 8, 1975. “From the beginning, the community has consecrated itself to Mary by the beautiful prayer of St. Louis de Montfort, in order to live a life totally given to Jesus, a life of adoration and study, a life fraternal and poor and lived in religious obedience,” the cardinal said. “It is from this that your family is born, family of brothers and sisters, family both apostolic and contemplative, may it grow and spread throughout the world to bear witness to the Gospel of our Lord in the footsteps of St. John the Theologian.”
At the end of the ceremony, Father Philippe addressed his thanks to Cardinal Rodé for coming and in return the cardinal thanked him “for what he had done for the Church, for from his heart totally given to the Lord, and his intelligence open to the truth and to the Holy Spirit, a new community is born in the Church. In its vigor, its youth and its freshness it carries the word of the Gospel to the world. Father Philippe, the Church is profoundly thankful for what she owes you, and she owes you a lot!”
Last Feb. 15, Benedict XVI received members of the ecclesial community, celebrating its 30th anniversary, in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Community of St. John comprises 930 men (half of whom are priests or deacons) and active and contemplative women religious, as well as more than 3,000 lay oblates of more than 34 nationalities. It is present in 21 countries. The Brothers of St. John are recognized as a religious congregation, under the bishop of the Autun Diocese, in France, where their motherhouse is located.

The Funeral Mass for Father Marie-Dominique Philippe O.P. will be celebrated by Cardinal Philippe Barbarin in the Cathedral of Lyons on Saturday, 2 September at 10.30 a.m.

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Blessed Dominic

Today is the feast of Blessed Dominic (Barberi) of the Mother of God. Father Gary, at The Passionist Charism, has been posting on Dominic throughout the month of August (-at the bottom of the page, click on previous entries to see some more posts on Blessed Dominic). In his homily for Dominic’s beatification, Pope Paul VI quoted Newman’s words: He had a great love for England. Here is an extract from a letter Dominic wrote from Paliano to Ambrose Phillipps on Saint Patrick’s Day, 1836:
Honoured Sir,
I have received a letter from Father Angelo McMahon, the Carthusian Monk, whom I knew in Rome, and who is now residing in the Great Chartreuse of Grenoble in France. This Reverend Father tells me that you are desirous of receiving letters from me, as also of seeing a house founded for us Passionists in England…. But is there hope, my dear Sir, that I shall see you on this earth? Is there hope that I shall cross the sea, and convey my body to that island whither, twenty-two years ago, I sent my heart? Ah! beloved England, shall I one day see thee? And shall I see thee brought back to the one fold of the Catholic Church? I hope it; twenty-two years I have cherished this hope; I have never abandoned it, and hope never to abandon it for the time to come. I have endeavoured to interest in this object all the good souls which I have met in these parts, and I have found many so fervent, that they willingly offer themselves as victims to the Divine Goodness, ready to suffer all that a creature can suffer without offending God, provided God will show mercy on the nations separated from the Church, and especially on our dear England. Of these souls I have found many; and one of them, a few days ago, not a little reanimated my hopes by telling me still to be expecting the time fixed by Divine Providence, and not to fear, because God and the Blessed Virgin take thought for that island efficaciously, and I shall one day be satisfied. O my God, when will be that day? When, when? Ah, my dear Sir, let us pray that it may be soon.

Blessed Dominic died at Reading on Monday, 27 August, 1849 at three o’clock in the afternoon. The words he repeated again and again during his last hours were Fiat voluntas tua – Thy Will be Done.

For an account of his life, click here

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Wikipedia

Someone pointed out to me that there was no article on Saint Paul of the Cross on Wikipedia. I’ve made a beginning this evening. Feel free to add to it here.

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Die Grosse Stille

Yesterday I went to Edinburgh to the see film Die Grosse Stille (Into Great Silence). Having been inside both the Grande Chartreuse and Parkminster, I was interested in seeing Philip Gröning’s extended meditation on the Carthusian Life. I was also curious about how he could hold an audience’s attention for nearly three hours with hardly a word being spoken. This audience included an assortment of arty-types (-the film was shown as part of the Edinburgh Film Festival), some German-speakers (-it was advertised by the Goethe Institute), and several excited Catholics (-they were thrilled to be seeing inside the Grande Chartreuse).

One of the things for which the Carthusians are famous (apart from the liqueur) is their ability to discourage visitors. The only sign at the entrance to the Grande Chartreuse says On ne visite pas le Monastère. When the film was coming to Edinburgh, I told other members of our (Passionist) community the story of the film director who, wanting to make a movie about the Carthusians, wrote to the Grande Chartreuse and received a reply saying that they were not ready yet and that maybe in ten or fifteen years time, he could come and make his documentary; I then told them how, sixteen years later, he received a letter saying “We’re ready; come and make the film”. Each person I told had the same reaction: they waited for the punch-line, as they thought this was just another in the long line of jokes about “silent monasteries” – so much so that I had great difficulty convincing some of them that the story is actually true.

As for the film itself, the two and three-quarter hours passes without seeming long (in stark contrast to the great 21st century bore, The Da Vinci Code). There was a strong sense of being outside of everyday time; the days and nights followed each other with the rhythm of the liturgy; the bell announced for us, as it does for the monks, the movement from one moment to the next. The repetition of written texts and what followed them gave some sense of the relentlessness (and maybe also the monotony) of the invitation to follow Christ (even if the part about “following” was missing from the English version of the biblical text).
The extent to which Philip Gröning was permitted to film everyday life was perhaps surprising, but then, contemplatives tend to be much more relaxed and uninhibited than those religious who have to present themselves to the outside world every day and who are, consequently, probably more used to performing. The monks allowed themselves to be filmed in the most natural and uncompliacted of ways.

Although the spoken word was kept to a minimum, this was certainly not a “silent movie”. Sound was such a powerful element of the film: the wind rustling the leaves, drips of water falling off a dish, a shovel striking the crisp snow. It became clear that those who speak less are able to hear more, to listen to more. And of course, monks are very noisy people: feet stepping, doors closing, books being opened – everything was done with a thud; I was reminded of the Abbott of Fontgombault pounding his way across the choir as he sprinkled the monks with Holy Water after Compline to mark the beginning of their Great Silence.

So what were these Carthusians like? What did they communicate? They reminded me of the words of Dom Bruno, who was novice master in Parkminster, who said to me of his charges: “I like the wild ones; they stand a better chance of staying.” These men of the Grande Chartreuse were all individuals; the portrait shots conveyed something the different characters or temperaments, and so too did the interiors of their cells: on the wall of one “oratory” alcove, there were about five pictures, including an icon and a picture of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux; on another there was simply a small, dark crucifix against a bare wooden wall. These were not mindless fanatics, robbed of all uniqueness, but simple men living profound lives (and doing so without losing their sense of fun).

At the end of the film, everyone left the cinema in silence; when we reached the outside, one of my companions turned to me and said, “Can we talk now?” What better way to express this film’s success? On the way home, we discussed what the impact of such an extraordinary film, including the words spoken at the end, could be on an unbeliever or someone who has not yet found the way to God. No doubt the Carthusians will find out.

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Mount Argus 1856-2006

On the Feast of Our Lady’s Assumption, 15 August 1856, Father Paul Mary Pakenham C.P. celebrated Mass in a farmhouse not far from the City of Dublin. With the celebration of a Mass of Our Lady, exactly one hundred and fifty years ago today, he and his companion Brother Seraphim took possession of the future Saint Paul’s Retreat, Mount Argus, the first Passionist house in Ireland. Other members of the new community arrived soon afterwards and in a short time work had begun on a chapel which, when completed, was dedicated to Saint Patrick and Blessed Paul of the Cross (-Saint Paul was not canonised until 1867).

Father Paul Mary died the following year, on 1 March, at just 35 years of age, and left the community without its driving force and inspiration. His companion Father Ignatius Spencer wrote:
It must not be that this foundation, for which, it seemed, he was peculiarly adapted and called, and of which he was, as it were, the corner stone, should fail…. Instead of being disheartened, we should all take new courage, and unitedly resolve that his blessed death shall not be the blasting but the confirmation of all his hopes and ours. This is my feeling. I trust to go on with the part assigned to me in the work with only greater spirit and confidence. I believe from what I see and hear among my remaining companions, this is likewise their mind.

Within months of Paul Mary’s death, two changes would occur in the community which would shape the future of Mount Argus, but in different ways. Father Paul Mary’s vicar (or vice-rector) and friend, Father Osmund (Maguire), was appointed as the new rector and, on 9 July, Father Charles (Houben) arrived form England to join the Mount Argus community. It was Father Osmund who engaged the great Irish architect J.J. McCarthy to design a new monastery,which would also be able to take retreatants, at an estimated cost of £12,000, which at that time was an enormous sum of money.

The monastery, built in Wicklow granite, took four years to finish; Brother John (Walsh) was the Master of Works and Brother Alphonsus (Zeegers) was a very capable Clerk of Works, a role he would also have when Father Osmund moved to Glasgow in 1866 to begin the building of Saint Mungo’s Church. The building of the present church at Mount Argus was not completed until 1878, with the architect, McCarthy, seeing the job through to the end. A new apse with transepts was added to the church and a new wing to the monastery in the 1930s. Here are some photographs I took on a recent visit. Unfortunately, I don’t have one of the facade of the church. I will be at Mount Argus on 3 September for the official 150th Anniversary Mass, and will try to take one then. (I really don’t like the word sesquicentennial.)

This carving of Saint Paul of the Cross on the ambo is one of the panels from the original pulpit which was carved by James Pearse, father of Patrick Pearse and his brother Willie. The Pearse family had a long association with the Passionists and Mount Argus. James Pearse, a convert to the Catholic faith, was instructed by a Passionist (-I think by Father Pius Devine C.P.). Mrs Pearse taught the Irish language under the direction of Father Joseph Smith C.P. (founder of the magazine The Cross); the classes were held in the building at the side gate, which is now the scout hall. On Good Friday night, 21 April 1916, during the Seven Last Words, Patrick and Willie Pearse came to Mount Argus with one of their friends, looking for confession. One of the students, Leo Gribben C.P. (who told me the story before his death in 1976) suggested they should wait until after the service, but they persisted in asking for a confessor, so he brought them into the monastery by the door at the altar of Saint Mary Magdalene (the Magdalene Altar) and found a priest who heard their confessions in the duty room, near the church. On Easter Monday, 24 April, Patrick Pearse proclaimed the Irish Republic at the GPO in what is now O’Connell Street, Dublin.

Saint Gabriel’s Altar (detail)

After the death of Father Paul Mary Pakenham, Father Charles (Houben) of Saint Andrew was transferred to Dublin. Within a short time, he had made a profound impression on the people of Dublin, and indeed of Ireland, with his quiet holiness and his gift of healing. Many miracles were worked through his blessing the sick with the relic of Saint Paul of the Cross. Blessed Charles of Mount Argus, as he is now known, was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 16 October 1988. This arazzo (or banner) was made for Beatification Mass.

Here are some pictures of the tomb of Blessed Charles who, we hope and pray, will be canonised next year. The proposed miracle for canonisation has already been approved by the Medical Commission and the Theological Commission of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Mount Argus has been home to many holy Passionists. The best known is certainly our saint-in-waiting, Blessed Charles, but Father Paul Mary Pakenham lived and died as a saint too, as have many more in the last 150 years. Because we lived so close to them, we perhaps did not always notice or accept their holiness, like the cheeky Passionist student who greeted Father Charles with the words Any miracles today? For the past month, we have had Father Juan Llorente C.P. from Madrid with us in Glasgow learning English (can you believe it?); he was speaking the other day about Father Fabian and Brother Oliver who made a deep impression on him when he visited Mount Argus several years ago. Those of us who have lived there could add other names to the list.
I wish the Passionist Community at Mount Argus every blessing as they celebrate this milestone, and I pray that the future will be just as fruitful for them as the past has been.

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Altötting Photographs (2)

The Capuchins have a long association with Altötting. As well as the new friary beside the Church of Saint Mary Magdalen, there is another community at their original friary and church, built in the 1650s (formerly dedicated to Saint Anne but now known as Saint Conrad’s). Today the church and friary are best known for their association with Saint Conrad of Parzham; the saintly Brother Conrad was the porter at the Altötting friary for about forty years and is remembered for his spirit of prayer and his love for the poor. He died in 1894 and was canonised just forty years later in1934. Here is a fountain-statue of Brother Conrad outside the church.

In his introduction to the Altötting guide book, the former Cardinal Ratzinger wrote: Brother Conrad was canonised when I was a child. In Altötting we were able to share the experience of the celebration of this act carried out by Pope Pius XI in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome. It was unimaginable at that time in our area that a Christian household could be without a figure of the holy porter. We knew of his unwavering patience and also knew that he could look out from his cell up to the sanctuary and that this look, in which his whole life was gathered, conveyed the goodness that allowed him to become holy.

On the outside wall of the church are these statues of Saint Francis and Saint Anthony, on either side of a cross bearing the Instruments of the Passion (the Arma Christi).

A more recent statue of Saint Francis can be seen on the path which leads from Brother Conrad’s home to the Basilica of Saint Anne, which was built later.

Saint Anne’s Basilica is the largest of the churches at Altötting and is the place where all the great pilgrimage celebrations are held.

In the guide book, Pope Benedict refers to this majestic Basilica; he says: My father could tell many a tale about the building of the Basilica, having experienced it first hand and having belonged to Altötting’s male congregation: stories such as how Brother Conrad miraculously managed from heaven to obtain money for the superior Father Josef Anton, when it appeared that things could go no further. This image of Our Lady of Sorrows at the foot of the Cross will give you a sense of the beauty of the Basilica.

The cemetery of the Capuchins at the ide of the Basilica is a silent testimony to the years of dedication of the friars to this shrine and its pilgrims.

In Altötting there is also the provincialate of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Their convent is about five or ten minutes walk from the centre, but the sisters’ chapel is open to the public, and there is Eucharistic Adoration there every day. Nearer the shrine is a convent of what used to be called the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, founded by Mary Ward. In Germany they are usually known as the English Ladies. Above the door of the convent I saw for the first time their new name: Congregatio Jesu. (You can read it in the picture, though, if your eyes are like mine, you will need to enlarge it.

Father Gregor suggested we visit the sisters of the Congegation of Jesus as they have a special Altötting holy picture which they distribute from the convent parlour. We were welcomed by two elderly sisters in a traditional habit who gave each of us a copy of the picture, a prayer-book sized photo of the Madonna Statue from the Chapel of Grace covered with a piece of very fine (transparent) black cloth which has been touched against the Statue. Thank you, Sisters.

As we left Altötting, we saw a large poster advertising the visit of Pope Benedict which will take place on 11 September. I am sure he will be happy to return to this holy place where he often went as a child with his family on less public pilgrimages. It must be strange to return to familiar places in such very different circumstances.

The text at the bottom of the poster quotes the words of Holy Father: Altötting is the Heart of Bavaria and one of the hearts of Europe.

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Altötting Photographs (1)

This picture shows a classic view of the Chapel of Grace (in the centre) and surrounding churches. The nave and its spire were added to the Chapel after the first miracles in the 1400s to accomodate the first groups of pilgrims. The large church to the right is the Collegiate church of Saints Philip and James, which is served by a chapter of canons who are priests of the Diocese of Munich and Freising. The church with the dome, to the left of the Chapel, was built by the Jesuits. It is dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalen. After the supression of the Jesuits in the eighteenth century, it was in the care of the Knights of Malta and then the Redemptorists. It is now in the care of the Capuchins. The building to the left of this church is the so-called Congregation Hall, built for the use of the Jesuit “Congregation” or Sodality of Our Lady.

This is a picture of the Collegiate Church (Stiftskirche) taken from the inside of the cloister. The tower-like chapel in the foreground is the burial place of the canons, whosr bodied are inserted into the wall on the lower level.

In the cloister there are a number of scenes from the Passion of Christ; the figures are about half life-size.

This figure of Christ is in a chapel off the cloister; there is also a chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Opposite the Collegiate is this fine building which houses the pilgrimage office, the parish centre and the residence of the parish clergy. There is a similar, but slightly older, house beside it for the canons.

The Pieta figure in front of the parish house is a war memorial for the people of the town of Altötting.

This picture shows the interior of the “Congregation Hall”; it’s a long way from the Confraternity Room in Mount Argus (-for those who know it).

One of the numerous representations of Our Blessed Lady in the “Congregation Hall”

This bronze of Pope John Paul II on the outside of the “Congregation Hall” recalls his visit to Altötting in 1980

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The Heart of Bavaria

It’s now ten days since I arrived home from Munich and I realise that I haven’t yet put up something about Altötting and other interesting places I visited. I’ve been working this week on some text for a future Passionist Vocations website. While the schools and universities are on holiday, things tend to be quieter than usual here, so I wanted to take advantage of the peace to make some progress on the website, which I have been promising to do for several months. Also, this month I have no trips to Mount Argus (our provincial house) or other houses for meetings. I’ve been enjoying that too

While I was in Munich, I went for a day to Altötting with Father Gregor. I knew that it was a shrine of Our Lady and that Pope John Paul had been there, but I didn’t know any more than that. In fact, it is more like a town of Our Lady than just a shrine. We went there on a weekday and it was not really crowded, but there were still plenty of pilgrims visiting the various holy places.

On the square at the heart of the town is the Gnadenkapelle, the Chapel of Grace, a small octagonal chapel which houses the miraculous image of Our Lady. Father Stefan had given me an English guidebook with a foreword written in January 2005 by Joseph Cardinal Ritzinger whose birthplace, Marktl am Inn, is just a few miles away; he writes:
I am very lucky to have been born near to Altötting and so pilgrimages together with my parents and brother and sister to this place of grace form a part of my earliest and most trasured memories. The most powerful impression was of course made by the Gnadenkapelle (Chapel of Grace), with its mysterious darkness, the preciously dressed black Madonna surrounded by offerings, the quiet prayer of many people, and the way in which people openly wear their crucifixes. The votive tablets bear witness to centuries of suffering, struggles, belief and the experience of mercy; all of this still touches my heart today exactly as it did all those years ago. The presence of a holy and healing grace, the grace of a mother, through which God’s grace is shared with us, can be felt here, comforting and quite real amid the hardships of the world that plague people in childhood, adulthood and old age and seek to be resolved….
I am thankful and glad that, even after the Council, Altötting has stayed as it was and always should be: a place of belief, prayer, a place to renew life in the Sacrament of penance, a place of festive liturgy, a place where we experience the Church as a motherly leading community, a place of hospitality, a place where you can spoil your body.
(In the context of his last remark, the Holy Father will, I’m sure, be happy to know that we had an excellent lunch, and strawberries and ice cream in the afternoon.)

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