The Sons of The Most Holy Redeemer wish Her Majesty
a very happy ninetieth birthday,
and a happy ninety-first year !
21 April 2016 was the 90th birthday of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II. In celebration of this wonderful occasion, over 1000 Beacons were lit across The United Kingdom, starting at 7.00 p.m., with The Queen lighting the first.
Not wanting to be left out in giving honour to our earthly Sovereign, Papa Stronsay officially registered with The Pageant Master to host a Beacon. The Beacon was lighted atop one of the Papa Stronsay Pier Towers. The time assigned by The Pageant Master for the lighting of the Papa Stronsay Beacon was 8.30 p.m.
Br Peter Mary, F.SS.R. was nominated to light the Beacon,
The Abbey of Dulce Cor (Latin for "Sweet Heart"), better known as Sweetheart Abbey (Gaelic:An Abaid Ur), or New Abbey Pow, was a CistercianMonastery, Dedicated to Saint Mary The Virgin, and was Founded in 1275 in what is now the Town of New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, eight miles (thirteen km) South of Dumfries, near to The River Nith, in South-West Scotland. It was Suppressed in 1624. The Mother House was Dundrennan Abbey.
The Abbey, located on the banks of The River Pow, was founded by Dervorguilla of Galloway, daughter of Alan, Lord of Galloway, in memory of her husband, Baron John de Balliol. After his death, she kept his embalmed heart, contained in a Casket of Ivory and Silver, with her for the rest of her life, and it was buried alongside her when she died. In line with this devotion to her Late-Husband, she named the Abbey "Dulce Cor" (Latin for "Sweet Heart"). Their son, also John, became King of Scotland, but his reign was tragic and short.
Under the first Abbot, Henry, the Abbey was built in deep-red, local sandstone in The Early-English Style. It was Founded as a Daughter House to the nearby Dundrennan Abbey; thus, this novum monasterium (new Monastery) became known as the "New Abbey Pow".
The immediate Abbey precincts extended to thirty acres (120,000 m2) and sections of the surrounding wall can still be seen. The Abbey Church, Dedicated to Saint Mary The Virgin,, measures 203 feet (sixty-two m), and the Central Tower rose to a height of ninety-two feet (twenty-eight m).
The entrance to Sweetheart Abbey,
through the much-altered Archway in the Abbey precincts, which extended to thirty acres.
Date: 5 September 2006 (original upload date). Photo taken by Ron Waller August 2006.
The Abbot of Sweetheart was a member of The First Estate and sat ex officio in The Parliament. The Cistercian Order — whose members were commonly known as The White Monks because of the White Cowl which they wore over their Religious Habit — built many great Abbeys after their establishment around 1100. Like many of their Abbeys, the New Abbey's interests lay not only in Prayer and Contemplation, but in the farming and commercial activity of the area, making it the centre of local life.
During The First War of Scottish Independence, King Edward I of England resided at the Abbey in 1300, while campaigning in Galloway. After fifty years of warfare in the region, however, the Abbey was left in a dilapidated state. The Bishop of Galloway bemoaned Sweetheart’s "outstanding and notorious poverty". Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas (1328-1400), often referred to as Archibald the Grim, became a major benefactor of the Abbey and financed wholesale repairs and the rebuilding of the Abbey complex. The depredations suffered by the Abbey in subsequent periods, however, caused the graves of the Foundress and her husband to be lost. The Abbey continued in quiet obscurity until it was eventually suppressed in The Scottish Reformation.
Starting in 1565, the Scottish Crown placed the Aabbey under a series of Commendatory Abbots. The last Cistercian Abbot was Gilbert Broun, S.O.Cist. (+ 1612), who continued to uphold The Catholic Faith long after The Reformation. He was charged several times with enticing to "papistrie", from 1578 to 1605, until finally he was arrested in 1605, in spite of the resistance of the whole countryside, and transported to Edinburgh, where he was tried and sentenced to exile. In 1624, the last of the Monks died and the Abbey buildings and land passed into the hands of Sir Robert Spottiswoode, son of The Archbishop of Saint Andrews, who assumed the Title of Lord of New Abbey.
When, in 1633, King Charles I established The Diocese of Edinburgh, he pleaded with Spottiswoode to relinquish the lands of New Abbey, which he wanted to grant to the new Diocese. Though Spottiswoode agreed, he was not paid for the lands, and when the Royal Grant to the Diocese was cancelled, the King restored the Estate back to Spottiswoode in 1641. He was soon forced into exile, however, so the Estate continued in possession of The Crown.
The village, which stands next to the Ruins, today, is now known as New Abbey. At the other end of the Main Street is Monksmill, a Corn Mill. Although the present buildings date from the Late-18th-Century, there was an earlier Mill built by, and for, the Monks of the Abbey which serviced the surrounding farms.
The Abbey Ruins dominate the skyline, today, and one can only imagine how it, and the Monks, would have dominated Early-Mediaeval Life, as farmers, agriculturalists, horse and cattle breeders. Surrounded by rich and fertile grazing and arable land, they became increasingly expert and systematic in their farming and breeding methods. Like all Cistercian Abbeys, they made their mark, not only on the Religious Life of the district, but on the ways of local farmers, and influenced agriculture in the surrounding areas.
On Wednesday, 13 April 2016, The European Centre For Law And Justice (ECLJ) was invited by the EPP Working Group on Bioethics and Human Dignity to expose the reality of Neo-Natal Infanticide in France and in Europe.
We are proud to present you today THE VIDEOOF THIS CONFERENCE, which includes four Testimonies of Physicians and Midwives, telling their shocking stories about Infanticide.
This video may have a significant impact on people by revealing Criminal Practices all over Europe.
We encourage you to share this video as broadly as possible to your family, friends and others.
The European Centre For Law And Justice will keep fighting to bring light on this Dark Reality, and we hope to make another video soon as we investigate further.
We call again upon Medical Staff, and families who witnessed these practices, to testify by answering this E-Mail or sending an E-Mail to: c.foltzenlogel@eclj.org.
May the courage of these people, that we thank again for their precious help, arouse the courage of others, so that we may denounce and put an end to these Evil Practices.
From Left to Right:
Miroslav Mikolášik, MEP,
(Co-President of The Inter-Group on Bioethics of The European Parliament (PPE, Slovakia)),
Claire de La Hougue,
Grégor Puppinck.
The European Centre For Law And Justice is an International, Non-Governmental Organisation dedicated to The Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Europe and World-Wide. The European Centre For Law And Justice holds Special Consultative Status before The United Nations/ECOSOC, since 2007.
The European Centre For Law And Justice engages legal, legislative, and cultural issues by implementing an effective strategy of advocacy, education, and litigation. The European Centre
For Law And Justice advocates, in particular, the protection of Religious Freedoms and the dignity
of the person with The European Court of Human Rights and the other mechanisms afforded by
The United Nations, The Council of Europe, The European Parliament, The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and others.
The European Centre For Law And Justice bases its Action on “The Spiritual and Moral Values which are the common heritage of European peoples and the true source of individual freedom, Political Liberty and The Rule of Law, principles which form the basis of all genuine democracy” (Preamble of The Statute of The Council of Europe).
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, unless otherwise stated. Saint Mark the Evangelist. Feast Day 25 April. Double of The Second-Class. Red Vestments.
Saint Mark, the Disciple of Saint Peter, is one of The Four Evangelists (Collect) who wrote, under the inspiration of The Holy Ghost, an abridgement of The Life of Jesus. His narration begins by the mission of Saint John the Baptist, whose "voice was heard in the desert"; he is represented with a Lion lying at his feet, because the Lion, one of the four symbolical animals in the vision of Ezechiel (Epistle), makes the desert re-echo with its roaring.
He was one of the seventy-two Disciples (Gospel). He went to Egypt, where he was the first to announce Christ at Alexandria. The Preaching of the Gospel, which his Martyrdom confirmed, made him to enter into Glory (Secret), where Saint John shows him to us as one of the four symbolical animals who attend The Triumph of The Immolated Lamb.
His body was taken to Venice, whose Patron he is since the 9th-Century A.D. Rome possesses a Church Dedicated to Saint Mark, where a Station is held on the Monday of The Third Week in Lent.
Let us profit by the teaching of Saint Mark, who wrote the Gospel of Christ and Preached it, and let us have recourse to his Prayers (Collect).
English: Venetian merchants, with the help of two Greek Monks,
Roman Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, unless otherwise stated. The Station is at Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome. Violet Vestments.
The Ancient Custom of Blessing the Fields, Rogation Sunday, Hever, Kent , England.
The Church celebrated, yesterday (25 April), two Solemnities, which have nothing in common: The Greater Litanies, so called on account of their Roman origin, and the Feast of Saint Mark, which is of later date. The word "Litany" means "Supplication".
In ancient Rome, on 25 April, used to be celebrated the pagan feast of Robigalia. It consisted, principally, of a Procession, which, leaving the City by the Flaminian Gate, went to the Milvian Bridge and ended in a suburban Sanctuary situated on the Claudian Way.
There, a ewe was sacrificed in honour of a god or goddess of the name Robigo (god or goddess of frost). The Greater Litany was the substitution of a Christian, for a pagan, ceremony. Its itinerary is known to us by a convocation of Saint Gregory the Great. It is, approximately, the same as that of the pagan Procession.
All the Faithful in Rome betook themselves to the Church of Saint Laurence-in-Lucina, the nearest to the Flaminian Gate. Leaving by this Gate, the Procession made a Station at Saint Valentine's, crossed the Milvian Bridge, and branched off to the Left towards the Vatican.
After halting at a Cross, it entered the Basilica of Saint Peter for the celebration of the Holy Mysteries.
This Litany is recited throughout the Church to keep away calamities, and to draw down the Blessing of God on the harvest. "Vouchsafe to grant us to preserve the fruits of the earth, we pray Thee, hear us," is sung by the Procession through the countryside.
The whole Mass shows what assiduous Prayer may obtain, when in the midst of our adversities (Collects, Offertory) we have recourse with confidence to Our Father in Heaven (Epistle, Gospel, Communion).
If the Feast of Saint Mark is transferred, the Litanies are not transferred, unless they fall on Easter Sunday. In which case, they are transferred to the following Tuesday.
The Litany of the Saints is used in connection with:
Holy Mass on The Greater Litanies (25 April);
The Lesser Litanies (Rogation Days);
Holy Saturday;
The Vigil of Pentecost;
Masses of Ordination , before the conferring of Major Orders.
On Saint Mark's and Rogation Days, if the Procession is held, the Litany is preceded by the Antiphon, "Exurge, Domine," (Psalm XLIII. 26), and all invocations are sung by the Cantors and repeated in full by the Choir [i.e., "Doubled"].
If the Procession cannot be held, the invocations are not repeated.
On the Vigils of Easter and Pentecost, the invocations marked with an asterisk (*) in the Missal are omitted; all the remaining invocations are repeated, either there be a Font and a Procession from the Baptistry or not.
At Masses of Ordination, only the first five invocations are repeated.
Rogation Days are, in the Calendar of the Western Church, observed on 25 April (the Major Rogation) and the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday immediately preceding Ascension Thursday (the Minor Rogations).
The first Rogation, the Greater Litanies, has been compared to the ancient Roman religiousfestival of the Robigalia, a ritual involving prayer and sacrifice for crops held on 25 April. The first Rogation is also observed on 25 April, and a direct connection has sometimes been asserted, with the "Christian substitute" following the same processional route in Rome. If Easter falls on 24 April or on this day (the latest possible date for Easter), the Rogations are transferred to the following Tuesday.
The second set of Rogation Days, the Lesser Litanies or Rogations, introduced about 470 A.D. by Bishop Mamertus of Vienne and eventually adopted elsewhere, are the three days (Rogation Monday, Rogation Tuesday and Rogation Wednesday) immediately before Ascension Thursday in the Christian Liturgical Calendar.
The word "Rogation" comes from the Latin verb "rogare", meaning "to ask," and was applied to this time of the Liturgical Year because the Gospel reading for the previous Sunday included the passage, "Ask and ye shall receive" (Gospel of John 16:24). The Sunday itself was often called Rogation Sunday, as a result, and marked the start of a three-week period (ending on Trinity Sunday), when Roman Catholic and Anglican Clergy did not solemnise marriages (two other such periods of marital prohibition also formerly existed, one beginning on the first Sunday in Advent and continuing through the Octave of Epiphany, or 13 January, and the other running from Septuagesima until the Octave of Easter, the Sunday after Easter). In England, Rogation Sunday is called "Chestnut Sunday".
The Faithful typically observed the Rogation Days by Fasting in preparation to celebrate the Ascension, and farmers often had their crops blessed by a Priest at this time. Violet Vestments are worn at the Rogation Litany and its associated Mass, regardless of what colour was worn at the ordinary Liturgies of the day.
A common feature of Rogation Days, in former times, was the ceremony of "Beating the Bounds", in which a Procession of Parishioners, led by the Minister, Churchwarden, and Choirboys, would proceed around the boundary of their Parish and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year. This was also known as 'Gang-Day'.
The reform of the Liturgical Calendar for Latin Roman Catholics, in 1969, delegated the establishment of Rogation Days, along with Ember Days, to the Episcopal Conferences.Their observance in the Latin Church subsequently declined, but the observance has revived somewhat, since 1988, (when Pope John Paul II issued his decree Ecclesia Dei Adflicta) and especially since 2007 (when Pope Benedict XVI issued his Motu Proprio, called "Summorum Pontificum"), when the use of older Rites was encouraged. Churches of the Anglican Communion reformed their Liturgical Calendar in 1976, but continue to recognise the three days before Ascension as an optional observance.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal. Saint George. Martyr. Feast Day 23 April. Semi-Double. [Editor: In England, a Double of The First-Class with an Octave, being The Patron Saint of England.] Red Vestments.
Saint George, born of an illustrious family in Cappadocia [Editor: Modern-day Turkey], was promoted by Emperor Diocletian to the first rank in The Roman Army.
When the Emperor had published, at Nicomedia, his first edict against The Christians, Saint George reproached him for his cruelty. Immediately cast into prison, he was subjected to such atrocious torments that The Eastern Church calls him The Great Martyr. He was beheaded in 303 A.D.
This Patron of armies is Venerated by Greeks and Latins. Rome possesses a Sanctuary erected in his honour, where the Station is held on The Thursday after Ash Wednesday. England chose him for her Patron Saint in the 13th-Century. Therefore, in England, this Feast is a Double of The First-Class with an Octave.
