Wed, Octr 17, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog: Medieval, Psalms 1:1-6 , Luke 11:42-46, St Regulus, St Andrews Fife Scotland

Wednesday, October 17, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog: 
Medieval, Psalms 1:1-6 , Luke 11:42-46, St Regulus, St Andrews Fife Scotland

Good Day Bloggers! 
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013

P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.

We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have flaws but we also all have the gift knowledge and free will as well, make the most of it. Life on earth is a stepping to our eternal home in Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...

"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012

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Today's Word:  medieval  me·di·e·val  [mee-dee-ee-vuh]

Origin: 1820–30;  < Neo-Latin medi ( um ) aev ( um ) the middle age + -al¹ . See medium, age

adjective

1.of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or in the style of the Middle Ages: medieval architecture. Compare Middle Ages:

the time in European history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance (from about 500 a.d. to about 1350): sometimes restricted to the later part of this period (after 1100) and sometimes extended to 1450 or 1500.

2. Informal . extremely old-fashioned; primitive.

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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 1:1-6

¹ How blessed is anyone who rejects the advice of the wicked and does not take a stand in the path that sinners tread, nor a seat in company with cynics,
² but who delights in the law of Yahweh and murmurs his law day and night.
³ Such a one is like a tree planted near streams; it bears fruit in season and its leaves never wither, and every project succeeds.
⁴ How different the wicked, how different! Just like chaff blown around by the wind
⁵ the wicked will not stand firm at the Judgement nor sinners in the gathering of the upright.
⁶ For Yahweh watches over the path of the upright, but the path of the wicked is doomed

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Today's Gospel Reading - Luke 11:42-46

Jesus said: But alas for you Pharisees, because you pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and neglect justice and the love of God! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others. Alas for you Pharisees, because you like to take the seats of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted respectfully in the market squares! Alas for you, because you are like the unmarked tombs that people walk on without knowing it!' A lawyer then spoke up. 'Master,' he said, 'when you speak like this you insult us too.' But he said, 'Alas for you lawyers as well, because you load on people burdens that are unendurable, burdens that you yourselves do not touch with your fingertips.

Reflection

• In today’s Gospel the conflictive relation between Jesus and the religious authority of the time continues. Today in the church we have the same conflict. In a determinate diocese the Bishop convoked the poor to participate actively. They accepted the request and numerous began to participate. A great conflict arose. The rich said that they had been excluded and some priests began to say: “the Bishop is doing politics and forgets the Gospel”.

• Luke 11, 42: Alas for you who do not think of justice and love. “Alas for you, Pharisees, because your pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and neglect justice and the love of God. These you should have practiced without neglecting the others”. This criticism of Jesus against the religious heads of the time can be repeated against many religious heads of the following centuries, even up until now. Many times, in the name of God, we insist on details and we forget justice and love. For example, Jansenism rendered arid the living out of faith, insisting on observance and penance and leading people away from the path of love. Saint Theresa of Lisieux, the Carmelite Sister grew in a Jansenistic environment which marked France at the end of the XIX century. After a painful personal experience, she knew how to recover the gratuity of the Love of God with the force which has to animate the observance of the norms from within; because, without the experience of love, observance makes an idol of God.

The final observation of Jesus said: “You should practice this, without neglecting the others”. This observation recalls another observation of Jesus which serves as a comment: “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. In truth I tell you, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, is to disappear from the Law until all its purpose is achieved. Therefore, anyone who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but the person who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you, if your uprightness does not surpass that of the Scribes and Pharisees you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 5,17-20).

• Luke 11, 43: Alas for you, because you like to take the seats of honour. “Alas for you, Pharisees, because you like to take the seats of honour in the Synagogues and to be greeted respectfully in the market squares”. Jesus calls the attention of the disciples on the hypocritical behaviour of some Pharisees. They like to go around the squares with long tunics, and receive the greetings of the people, to occupy the first seats in the synagogues and the seats of honour in the banquets (cf. Mt 6, 5; 23, 5-7). Mark says that they lied to enter into the houses of the widows to recite long prayers in exchange for some money. Such persons will be judged very severely (Mk 12, 38-40). This also happens today in the Church.

• Luke 11, 44: Alas for you, unmarked tombs. “Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, because you are like whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of corruption” (Mt 23,27-28). The image of “whitewashed tombs” speaks of itself and does not need any comments. Through this image, Jesus condemns a fictitious appearance of persons who are correct, but interiorly there is the complete negation of what they ant to appear to be on the outside. Luke speaks about unmarked tombs: Alas for you, because you are like those unmarked tombs that people walked on without knowing it. “. Anyone who walks on or touches a tomb becomes impure, even if the tomb is hidden under the ground. This image is very strong: on the outside the Pharisee seems to be just and good, but this aspect is deceitful because inside there is a hidden tomb, that without people being aware spreads a poison that kills, communicates a mentality that leads people away from God , suggests an erroneous understanding of the Good News of the Kingdom. It is an ideology which makes of God a dead idol.

• Luke 11, 45-46: Criticism of the Doctors of the Law and response of Jesus: A lawyer then spoke up and said: “Master, when you speak like this you insult us too!" In his response Jesus does not turn back, rather he shows clearly that the same criticism is also for the Scribes: “Alas for you lawyers as well , because you load on people burdens that are unbearable, burdens that you yourselves do not touch with your fingertips!” In the Sermon on the Mountain, Jesus expresses the same criticism which serves as a comment: “The Scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore, do and observe what they tell you, but do not be guided by what they do , since they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them?” (Mt 23, 2-4).

Personal questions

• Hypocrisy maintains an appearance which deceives. Up to what point does my hypocrisy reach? How far does the hypocrisy of our Church go?
• Jesus criticized the Scribes who insisted in the disciplinary observance of the minute points of the law, as for example the to pay the tithe of mint and rue and all forts of garden herbs and forget the objective of the Law which is the practice of justice and the love. Can this criticism also apply to me?

Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.

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Saint of the Day:  St. Regulus

Feast Day:  October 17
Patron Saint:  Aberdeen Breviary

Saint Regulus or Saint Rule (Old Gaelic: Riagal) was a monk^[1] of Patras who, in the fourth century, according to a Scottish legend that became current during the twelfth century (National Archives of Scotland), fled to Scotland with the bones of Saint Andrew, and deposited them at St Andrews. His feast day in the Aberdeen Breviary is October 17.

Saint Regulus^[2] was galvanized into action by a visionary dream that Emperor Constantine had decided to remove Saint Andrew's relics from Patras to Constantinople.^[3] Warned by an angel, he was to move as many bones as far away as he could to the 'ends of the earth' for safekeeping.

He was shipwrecked on the shore of Fife at the spot called Kilrymont, which is now St. Andrews, and was welcomed by a Pictish king, Hungus or Angus, who was actually of the eighth or ninth century. The monastery claimed to have three fingers of the saint's right hand, the upper bone of an arm, one kneecap, and one of his teeth. Within the grounds of the cathedral is the tower of St Regulus, which is all that remains of a late pre-Norman church.

The legend served to authenticate the apostle Andrew as patron saint of Scotland. "The Regulus legend was publicised by Scottish kings, nobles and churchmen from the 12th century onwards for political reasons. Scottish independence had come under threat from England since the late 11th century, and the Scottish Church was contesting a claim to primacy by the archbishop of York. In the medieval world precedence was important. By promoting the story of Saint Andrew's choice of Scotland in the 4th century, the Scots acquired a top-rank patron saint, a separate identity from England, and a date for the supposed foundation of the Scottish Church, predating the conversion of England and Ireland to Christianity by several centuries." (National Archives of Scotland)

References

1. ^ In some versions he was the bishop; in some modern retellings Patras is confused with Patmos.
2. ^ His name is simply the personification of the "rule" under which a monastery is organized. He is also venerated as "Saint Rule" and in Scots as Saint Riaghail.
3. ^ Andrew's relics continued to be venerated at Constantinople; after Constantinople was sacked in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, the relics at Constantinople were taken to the cathedral of Amalfi in Italy. They were returned by the Vatican to Patras in 1964.

 

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Today Snippet: St Andrews, Scotland

St Andrews (Scots: Saunt Aundraes; Scottish Gaelic: Cill Rìmhinn) is a former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. The town is home to the University of St Andrews, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Britain's most prestigious. The University is an integral part of the burgh, and during term time students make up approximately one third of the town's population. St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife.

There has been an important church in St Andrews since at least the 8th century, and a bishopric since at least the 11th century. The settlement grew to the west of St Andrews cathedral with the southern side of the Scores to the north and the Kinness burn to the south. The burgh soon became the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland, a position which was held until the Scottish Reformation. The famous cathedral, the largest in Scotland, now lies in ruins.

St Andrews is also known worldwide as the "home of golf". This is in part because the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, founded in 1754, exercises legislative authority over the game worldwide (except in the United States and Mexico), and also because the famous links (acquired by the town in 1894) is the most frequent venue for The Open Championship, the oldest of golf's four major championships. Visitors travel to St Andrews in great numbers for several courses ranked amongst the finest in the world, as well as for the sandy beaches. The Martyrs Memorial, erected to the honour of Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, and other martyrs of the Reformation epoch, stands at the west end of the Scores on a cliff overlooking the sea.

History

The first inhabitants who settled on the estuary fringes of the river Tay and Eden during the mesolithic (middle stone age) came from the plains in Northern Europe between 10,000 to 5,000 BC. This was followed by the nomadic people who settled around the modern town around 4,500 BC as farmers cleaning the area of woodland and building monuments.  In AD 877, king Causantín mac Cináeda (Constantine I or II) built a new church for the Culdees at St Andrews and later the same year was captured and executed (or perhaps killed in battle) after defending against Viking raiders. In AD 906, the town became the seat of the bishop of Alba, with the boundaries being extended to include land between the River Forth and River Tweed.

The Martyrs Memorial

The establishment of the present town began around 1140 by Bishop Robert on a L-shaped vill, possibly on the site of the ruined St Andrews Castle. According to a charter of 1170, the new burgh was built to the west of the Cathedral precinct, along Castle Street and possibly as far as what is now known as North Street. This means that the lay-out may have led to the creation of two new streets (North Street and South Street) from the foundations of the new St Andrews Cathedral filling the area inside a two-sided triangle at its apex. The northern boundary of the burgh was the southern side of the Scores (the street between North Street and the sea) with the southern by the Kinness Burn and the western by the West Port. The burgh of St Andrews was first represented at the great council at Scone Palace in 1357.

Recognised as the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland, the town now had vast economic and political influence within Europe as a cosmopolitan town. In 1559, the town fell into decay after the violent Scottish Reformation and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms losing the status of ecclesiastical capital of Scotland. Even the St Andrews University were in consideration over a re-location to Perth around 1697 and 1698. Under the authorisation of the bishop of St Andrews, the town was made a burgh of barony in 1614. Royal Burgh was then granted as a charter by King James VI in 1620. In the 18th century, the town was still in decline, but despite this the town was becoming known for having links 'well known to golfers'. By the 19th century, the town began to expand beyond the original medieval boundaries with streets of new houses and town villas being built. Today, St Andrews is served by education, golf and the tourist and conference industry.

Landmarks

West Port

St Andrews was once bounded by several "ports" (the Lowland Scots word for a town gate). Two are still extant: So'gait port (South Street, now called West Port) and the Sea Yett (as The Pends terminates to the harbour). The Category A listed West Port is one of few surviving town 'Ports' in Scotland. The towers were influenced by those seen at the base of the Netherbow Port in Edinburgh. The central archway which displays semi-octagonal 'rownds' and 'battling' is supported by corbelling and neatly moulded passageways. Side arches and relief panels were added to the port, during the reconstruction between 1843–1845.

The tower of Holy Trinity

The Category A listed Holy Trinity (also known as the Holy Trinity Parish Church or "town kirk") is the most historic church in St Andrews. The church was initially built on land, close to the south-east gable of the Cathedral, around 1144 by bishop Robert Kennedy. The church was dedicated in 1234 by Bishop David de Bernham and then moved to a new site on the north side of South Street between 1410–1412 by bishop Warlock. Towards the end of June 1547, this was the location where John Knox first preached in public and to whom returned to give an inflammatory sermon on 4 June 1559 which led to the stripping of both the cathedral and ecclesiastical status. Much of the architecture feature of the church was lost in the re-building by Robert Balfour between 1798–1800. The church was later restored to a (more elaborately decorated) approximation of its medieval appearance between 1907–1909 by MacGregor Chambers. Only the north-western tower and spire with parts of the arcade arches were retained.

View of the cathedral grounds from the top of St Rule's Tower.

To the east of the town centre, lie the ruins of the Category A listed St Andrew's Cathedral. This was at one time Scotland's largest building, originated in the priory of Canons Regular founded by Bishop Robert Kennedy. The Category A listed St Rule's Church, to the south-east of the medieval cathedral is said to date from around 1120 and 1150, being the predecessor of the cathedral. The tall square tower, part of the church, was built to hold the relics of St Andrew and became known as the first cathedral in the town. After the death of Bishop Robert Kennedy, a new cathedral began in 1160 by Bishop Arnold (his successor) on a site adjacent to St Rule's Church. Work on the cathedral was finally completed and consecrated in 1318 by Bishop William de Lamberton with Robert the Bruce (1306–29) present at the ceremony.

St Andrews Castle

The ruins of the Category A listed St Andrews Castle are situated on a cliff-top to the north of the town. The castle was first erected around 1200 as the residence, prison and fortress of the bishops of the diocese. Several reconstructions occurred in subsequent centuries, most notably due to damage incurred in the Wars of Scottish Independence. The castle was occupied, besieged and stormed during The Rough Wooing and was severely damaged in the process.

The majority of the castle seen today dates to between 1549 and 1571. The work was commissioned by John Hamilton (archbishop of St Andrews) in a renaissance style which made the building a comfortable, palatial residence while still remaining well-fortified. After the Reformation, the castle passed to several owners, who could not maintain its structure and the building deteriorated into a ruin. The castle is now administered by Historic Scotland

The apse of the Dominican friary, Blackfriars, can still be seen on South Street (between Madras College and Bell Street). Other defunct religious houses that existed in the medieval town, though less visible, have left traces, as for instance the leper hospital at St Nicholas farmhouse (The Steading) between Albany Park and the East Sands leisure centre.

St Andrews Cathedral

Cathedral of St. Andrews

The Cathedral of St Andrew is a ruined church in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, which was the seat of the Bishops (later Archbishops) of St Andrews from its foundation in 1158 until it fell into disuse after the Reformation. It is currently a monument in the custody of Historic Scotland. The ruins indicate the great size of the building at 350 feet (over 100 metres) long.
The cathedral was founded to supply more accommodation than the older church of St. Regulus (St. Rule) afforded. This older church, located on what became the cathedral grounds, had been built in the Romanesque style. Today, there remains the square tower, 33 metres (108 feet) high, and the quire, of very diminutive proportions. On a plan of the town from about 1530, a chancel appears, and seals affixed to the city and college charters bear representations of other buildings attached. To the east is an even older religious site, the Church of St Mary on the Rock, the Culdee house that became a Collegiate Church.

Work began on the new cathedral in 1158 and continued for over a century. The west end was blown down in a storm and rebuilt between 1272 and 1279. It was dedicated on 5 July 1318, in a ceremony before King Robert I . When intact it had, besides a central tower, six turrets; of these remain two at the east and one of the two at the western extremity, rising to a height of 30 metres (100 feet). A fire partly destroyed the building in 1378; restoration and further embellishment were completed in 1440. In 1559 the building was stripped of its altars and images. Greyfriar (Franciscan) and Blackfriar (Dominican) friars had properties in the town by the late 15th century and possibly as late as 1518.

Sixteenth century

At about the end of the sixteenth century the central tower apparently gave way, carrying with it the north wall. Afterwards large portions of the ruins were taken away for building purposes, and nothing was done to preserve them until 1826. Since then it has been tended with scrupulous care, an interesting feature being the cutting out of the ground-plan in the turf. The principal portions extant, partly Norman and partly Early Scottish, are the east and west gables, the greater part of the south wall of the nave and the west wall of the south transept.

Seventeenth century

At the end of the seventeenth century some of the priory buildings remained entire and considerable remains of others existed, but nearly all traces have now disappeared except portions of the priory wall and the archways, known as the Pends.

St Rule's Tower

St Rule's tower is located in the Cathedral grounds but predates it, having served as the church of the priory up to the early 12th century. The building was retained to allow worship to continue uninterrupted during the building of its much larger successor. Originally, the tower and adjoining choir were part of the church built in the 11th century to house the relics of St Andrew. The nave, with twin western turrets, and the apse of the church no longer stand. The church's original appearance is illustrated in stylised form on some of the early seals of the Cathedral Priory. Legend credits St Rule (also known as St Regulus) with bringing relics of St Andrew to the area from their original location at Patras in Greece. Today the tower commands an admirable view of the town, harbour, sea, and surrounding countryside. Beautifully built in grey sandstone ashlar, and (for its date) immensely tall, it is a land- and sea-mark seen from many miles away, its prominence doubtless meant to guide pilgrims to the place of the Apostle's relics. In the Middle Ages a spire atop the tower made it even more prominent. The tower was originally ascended using ladders between wooden floors, but a stone spiral staircase was inserted in the 18th century.

References

• Lamont-Brown, Raymond (2002). Fife in History and Legend. Edinburgh: John Donald. ISBN 0-85976-567-9.
• Lamont-Brown, Raymond (2006). St Andrews:city by the northern sea. Edinburgh: Birlinn Publishing. ISBN 1-84158-450-9.
• Omand, Donald (2000). The Fife Book.
• Pride, Glen L. (1999). The Kingdom of Fife (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Rutland Press. ISBN 1-873190-49-2

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