Pardon the pun – it’s a little late and it seemed a good title at the time.  And mea culpa, I should have posted this earlier than now.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr.  In lieu of laying out her story here, I direct you to Fr. Z’s most thorough post on the subject.  As one who gave her life rather than betray her vow of virginity, her intercession is needed more than ever these days.  I thought some small quote from Dom Gueranger would not be out of place here.

Dear Child! innocent even in the capital of pagan corruption, and free of heart even amidst a slavish race, we see the image of our Emmanuel in thee.  He is the Lamb; and thou art simple, like him:  he is the Lion of the Tribe of Juda; and like him thou art invincible.  Truly these Christians, as the pagans said, are a race of beings come from heaven to people this earth!  A family that has martyrs and heroes and heroines like thee, brave Saint! that has young virgins, filled, like its venerable pontiffs and veteran soldiers, with the fire of heaven, and burning with ambition to leave a world they have edified with their virtues, is God’s own people, and it can never be extinct.  Its martyrs are to us the representation of the divine virtues of our Lord Jesus Christ.  By nature they were as weak as we; they had a disadvantage which we have not – they had to live in the very thick of paganism, and paganism had corrupted the whole earth; and notwithstanding all this, they were courageous and chaste.

Have pity on us and help us, O thou, one of the brightest of these great Saints!  The love of Jesus is weak in our hearts.  We are affected and shed tears at the recital of thy heroic conduct; but we are cowards in the battle we ourselves have to fight against the world and our passions.  Habitual seeking after ease and comfort has fastened upon us a certain effeminacy:  we are ever throwing away our interest upon trifles; how can we have earnestness and courage for our duties?  Sanctity! we cannot understand it; and when we hear or read of it, we gravely say that the Saints did very strange things and were indiscreet, and were carried away by exaggerated notions!  What must we think, on this thy feast, of thy contempt for the world and all its pleasures, of thy heavenly enthusiasm, of thy eagerness to go to Jesus by suffering?  Thou wast a Christian, Agnes!  Are we too Christians?  Oh! pray for us that we may love like Christians, that is, with a generous and active love, with a love which can feel indignant when asked to have less detachment from all that is not God.  Pray for us, that our piety may be that of the Gospel, and not the fashionable piety which pleases the world, and makes us pleased with ourselves.  There are some brave hearts who follow thy example; but they are few; increase their number by thy prayers, that so the Divine Lamb may be followed, whithersoever he goeth in heaven, by a countless number of virgins and martyrs.

I know it’s late in the day, but this story is just too wonderful not to share.  If you don’t pray the Office of Readings (and if you don’t, I can’t recommend it to you enough, but that’s another post) you may not have heard this story of a meeting between St. Scholastica and her brother, St. Benedict.  This comes from Dialogues by St. Gregory the Great.

Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedict, had been consecrated to God from her earliest years.  She was accustomed to visiting her brother once a year.  He would come down to meet her at a place on the monastery property, not far outside the gate.

One day she came as usual and her saintly brother went with some of his disciples; they spent the whole day praising God and talking of sacred things.  As night fell they had supper together.

Their spiritual conversation went on and the hour grew late.  The holy nun said to her brother: “Please do not leave me tonight; let us go on until morning talking about the delights of the spiritual life.”  “Sister,” he replied, “what are you saying?  I simply cannot stay outside my cell.”

When she heard her brother refuse her request, the holy woman joined her hands on the table, laid her head on them and began to pray.  As she raised her head from the table, there were such brilliant flashes of lightning, such great peals of thunder and such a heavy downpour of rain that neither Benedict nor his brethren could stir across the threshold of the place where they had been seated.  Sadly he began to complain:  “May God forgive you, sister.  What have you done?”  “Well,” she answered, “I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen.  So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery.”

Reluctant as he was to stay of his own will, he remained against his will.  So it came that they stayed awake the whole night, engrossed in their conversation about the spiritual life.

It is not surprising that she was more effective than he; since, as John says, God is love, it was absolutely right that she could do more, as she loved more.

Three days later, Benedict was in his cell.  Looking up to the sky, he saw his sister’s soul leave her body in the form of a dove, and fly up to the secret places of heaven.  Rejoicing in her great glory, he thanked almighty God with hymns and words of praise.  He then sent his brethren to bring her body to the monastery and lay it in the tomb he had prepared for himself.

Their minds had always been united in God; their bodies were to share a common grave.

It is rare, indeed, when someone is comes out on the higher end of a comparison with Saint Benedict.  If she saw fit to implore God only to extend a spiritual conversation, how ought we to implore him in matters great and small, and ask for her intercession in all our causes!

I was going to write this long, winding post all about the saint whose feast we celebrate today, St. Agnes.  But then I read Fr. Z’s post and he pretty much covered everything you could want to know.  A couple of other links that could be of interest:

• St. Agnes on Wikipedia
• St. Agnes on Domestic Church
• St. Agnes in the Catholic Encyclopedia
• Argent’s post on St. Agnes

In this day and age when so many have lost grasp of the beauty and value of virginity – indeed, sexual purity in any form – she is a saint the world definitely needs.  May we learn from her example how to love the Lord completely and not be drawn from Him by anyone.  St. Agnes, ora pro nobis!

So many people forget there is a real person, and a real story, behind Santa Claus.  Today we celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas of Myra.  I could give you my own short blurb on his story, but I’ll leave you to read through some of the below on your own.  If you have children and have never told them the story of St. Nicholas, today is certainly a great day to start.  The saints have much to teach us, and it is only to our own detriment should we not pay them attention.

• St. Nicholas at Catholic Culture.
• St. Nicholas at Wikipedia.
• The St. Nicholas Center.
• His entry in the Patron Saints Index.
• His entry on Catholic Online.
• His entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

I realize it is very late in her feast day, but such is life these days for me. I was struck, for what reason I still know not, today by something in the readings for Mass. Mary Magdalene wasn’t going to the tomb to see the resurrected Jesus, she was going to finish preparing the body for a proper burial. Since it’s late I’ll make the point brief – she didn’t get it right away either.

We often think of St. Thomas as the doubter, but yet here (albeit obviously earlier) we are shown as if in a caption that nobody really understood what was going on right away. Even after all the time they spent with Jesus they still didn’t understand. That is not to condemn the Apostles or any of the disciples in any way – the whole of the reality that Jesus came to fulfill was, and in many ways still is, far beyond the normal imagination of your everyday human. I very often try to tell those in our RCIA program “it’s okay – you’re not supposed to just understand it right away”. Normally we use Peter in the walking on the water episode or Thomas after Jesus appears to the Apostles to illustrate the idea that fides quarens intellectum also requires time, and that’s perfectly okay. Now I get to have one more example to add to the list. Yet another example of how the Gospels continue to talk to us in different ways no matter how many times we read them.

Dr. Paul Camarata of the SaintCast podcast really outdid himself this time. As impressive as it was, I couldn’t help but wonder two things: 1) how many times did he have to record it in order to get them all right and 2) how long did he practice to be able to speak that long on one breath? Most impressive.

H/T The Curt Jester.

I was going to write a snazzy little post on the First Roman Martyrs whom we honor today, but then I read Mike Aquilina’s post on the subject. I can’t compete, the guy rocks. Instead let me just add this little snip from Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints- a gift to me from my grandmother:

Many martyrs who suffered death under Emperor Nero (r. 54-68) Owing to their executions during the reign of Emperor Nero, they are called Neronian Martyrs, and they are also termed the Protomartyrs of Rome, being honored by the site in Vatican City called the Piazza of the Protomartyrs. These early Christians were disciples of the Apostles, and they endured hideous tortures and ghastly deaths following the burning of Rome in the infamous fire of 62. Their dignity in suffering, and their fervor to the end, did not provide Nero or the Romans with the public diversion desired. Instead, the faith was firmly planted in the Eternal City.

I just love how that was worded. It is examples like this that give me a little hope. If they can withstand what was asked of them maybe, just maybe, I can withstand the little cross I have to bear if only I can find a way to cooperate with the grace offered me.

More Papal pictures from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, courtesy of Keith (again). It’s still hard to believe the Pope was here just such a short time ago.

Being the optional memorial of St. Louis Marie de Montfort and conveniently exactly 33 days from the Marian feast of the Visitation, today is a perfect day to start the preparation for the Consecration to Jesus through Mary. At least, that’s what I’m doing. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the layout done by the folks at Fish Eaters and also the Friends of Our Lady for providing an up-to-date schedule to confirm for me that today was the appropriate day to start. Reading de Montfort’s True Devotion has already been an incredible experience – it could very well have been written in the present day. Pray, pray, pray.

Today’s feast has always had somewhat of a personal connection for me, what with being named Peter and all. Long before I knew even what the Catholic Church was or how many different denominations had come and gone over the years I knew there was something special about this man with whom I shared a name. The very first time I read Matthew 16:18 – “[a]nd so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” – I knew it was this Church I had been seeking.

There are a veritable plethora of resources to which I could point you, dear reader, regarding the importance of the office (and hence the chair – think of it as representative of the office) of Peter and his successors. If you don’t know them already first look at these Bible verses, then hit up some of the deeper Catholic resources. Catholic Answers is a great resource, as are Catholic-Pages and Catholic Culture. But let’s move on to those Bible verses:

First, Luke 22:31-32:

“Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.”

There are further examples of Peter having the lead in the company of the Apostles:

• In Matthew 16:16 we see Peter correctly identify Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, leading to the statement of Jesus with which I started this post. Jesus’ reply is extraordinarily telling: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” Peter has been confirmed by the Father for a special mission.
• In Acts 1:15 and following we find Peter taking the lead of the Apostles in the appointment of Matthias, the successor to Judas. This is a perfect example of the role of the Pope – to strengthen and to lead; Peter calls for the appointment, the Church prays and acts as one.
• In Acts 2 we have Pentecost. Indeed, the tongues of fire came to rest on “all of them”, but in Acts 2:14-40 we see Peter is the one who speaks for the Apostles giving what could be called the first homily.

If nothing else, these should whet your appetite even if you are one who does not believe in the primacy of the office of Peter. While I’m not much of an apologist, these arguments and the host more that follow from them are enough for me to know this much: Jesus founded a Church with himself as its immovable cornerstone and grafted Peter into Himself that he and his successors might become a rock of stability in all that would come to face the Church. It is, simply, something only God would have thought to do.

Image source.

Just as we’ve all been hearing about how Pope Benedict has been slowing down the process for beatification and canonization, VIS tells us:

“This evening in the cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins C.M.F., president of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided at a Mass marking the third anniversary of the death of Sister Lucia dos Santos. Following the ceremony he announced that the Holy Father Benedict XVI, benevolently accepting a request presented by Bishop Albino Mamede Cleto of Coimbra and shared by many bishops and faithful throughout the world, has waived the five-year waiting period established by canonical norms (art. 9 of “Normae servandae”) and granted that, just three years after the death of Sister Lucia (known to the world as one of the three seers of Fatima), the diocesan stage of the cause for her beatification may begin”.

I have to admit, I’m not exactly upset over this at all. I do think the normal five-year waiting period is a very good idea, but there are cases where it may not be necessary. Further, it’s not like we’ll be going from this opening to canonization in a short time – just the diocesan stage can take years. Fatima, I think, still has a particular role to play in the coming years. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!