Friday, December 14, 2012

Fri, Dec 14, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog: Tradition, Isaiah 48:17-19, Psalms 1:1-6, Matthew 11:16-19, St John the Cross, Avila Spain


Friday, December 14, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog:

Tradition, Isaiah 48:17-19, Psalms 1:1-6, Matthew 11:16-19, St John the Cross, Avila Spain


Good Day Bloggers!  Happy Advent!
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.

The world begins and ends everyday for someone. The "Armageddon" is a pagan belief inspired by the evil one to create chaos and doubt in God. Trust in God, for He creates, He does not destroy and only God knows the hour of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ's second Coming, another chance at eternal salvation.  Think about how merciful God truly is as he keeps offering us second chances. He even gives the evil one a multitude of chances to atone. Simply be prepared by living everyday as a gift: Trust in God; Honor Jesus Mercy through the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist; and Utilize the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: 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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December 2, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:

Dear children, with motherly love and motherly patience anew I call you to live according to my Son, to spread His peace and His love, so that, as my apostles, you may accept God's truth with all your heart and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you. Then you will be able to faithfully serve my Son, and show His love to others with your life. According to the love of my Son and my love, as a mother, I strive to bring all of my strayed children into my motherly embrace and to show them the way of faith. My children, help me in my motherly battle and pray with me that sinners may become aware of their sins and repent sincerely. Pray also for those whom my Son has chosen and consecrated in His name. Thank you." 


November 25, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:

“Dear children! In this time of grace, I call all of you to renew prayer. Open yourselves to Holy Confession so that each of you may accept my call with the whole heart. I am with you and I protect you from the ruin of sin, but you must open yourselves to the way of conversion and holiness, that your heart may burn out of love for God. Give Him time and He will give Himself to you and thus, in the will of God you will discover the love and the joy of living. Thank you for having responded to my call.” ~ Blessed Virgin Mary


November 02, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:

"Dear children, as a mother I implore you to persevere as my apostles. I am praying to my Son to give you Divine wisdom and strength. I am praying that you may discern everything around you according to God’s truth and to strongly resist everything that wants to distance you from my Son. I am praying that you may witness the love of the Heavenly Father according to my Son. My children, great grace has been given to you to be witnesses of God’s love. Do not take the given responsibility lightly. Do not sadden my motherly heart. As a mother I desire to rely on my children, on my apostles. Through fasting and prayer you are opening the way for me to pray to my Son for Him to be beside you and for His name to be holy through you. Pray for the shepherds because none of this would be possible without them. Thank you." ~ Blessed Virgin Mary


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Today's Word:  Tradition  tra·di·tion  [truh-dish-uh nl]


Origin:  1350–1400; Middle English tradicion  < Old French  < Latin trāditiōn-  (stem of trāditiō ) a handing over or down, transfer, equivalent to trādit ( us ), past participle of trādere  to give over, impart, surrender, betray ( trā-,  variant of trāns- trans- + -ditus,  combining form of datus  given; see date1 ) + -iōn- -ion

noun
1. the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice: a story that has come down to us by popular tradition.
2. something that is handed down: the traditions of the Eskimos.
3. a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting: The rebellious students wanted to break with tradition.
4. a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices.
5. a customary or characteristic method or manner: The winner took a victory lap in the usual track tradition.
 


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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
6 For Yahweh watches over the path of the upright, but the path of the wicked is doomed.


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Today's Epistle -   Isaiah 48:17-19

17 Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh your God and teach you for your own good, I lead you in the way you ought to go.
18 If only you had listened to my commandments! Your prosperity would have been like a river and your saving justice like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants would have been numbered like the sand, your offspring as many as its grains. Their name would never be cancelled or blotted out from my presence.



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Today's Gospel Reading - Matthew 11: 16-19


'What comparison can I find for this generation? It is like children shouting to each other as they sit in the market place: We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn't dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn't be mourners. 'For John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, "He is possessed." The Son of man came, eating and drinking, and they say, "Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.'
Reflection
• The leaders, the wise, are not always pleased when someone criticizes or challenges them. That happened in the time of Jesus and happens today also, both in society and in the Church. John the Baptist, saw, criticized, and was not accepted. They said: “He is possessed by the devil!” Jesus, saw, criticized and was not accepted. They said: “He has lost his head!”, “Crazy!” (Mk 3, 21). “He is possessed by the devil!” (Mk 3, 22), “He is a Samaritan!” (Jn 8, 48), “He is not from God!” (Jn 9, 16). The same thing happens today. There are some persons who hold on to what has always been taught and they do not accept another way of explaining or of living faith. Then they invent reasons and pretexts so as not to adhere: “It is Marxism!”, “It is against God’s Law!”, “It is disobedience to tradition and to the teaching of the Church” and they complain for the lack of coherence of the people. They always invent some pretext so as not to accept the message of God which Jesus announced. In fact, it is relatively easy to find arguments and pretexts to refute those who think in a way different from ours.

• Jesus reacts and renders public their incoherence. They considered themselves wise, but they were like children who wish to amuse the people on the square and they rebel when people do not move according to the music that they play. Or those who consider themselves wise without really having anything truly wise. They only accepted those who had the same ideas as they had. And thus, they themselves, because of their incoherent attitude, condemned themselves.
  
Personal questions
• Up to what point am I coherent with my faith?
• Do I have a critical conscience regarding the social and ecclesiastical system which, some times, invents reasons and pretexts to legitimize the situation and to prevent any change?
  

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



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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane





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Saint of the Day:  St John of the Cross


Feast Day:  December 14
Patron Saint:  contemplative life; contemplatives; mystical theology; mystics; Spanish poets



John of the Cross, O.C.D.,
John of the Cross, O.C.D., (San Juan de la Cruz) (1542[1] – 14 December 1591), was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite friar and priest, born at Fontiveros, Old Castile.

John of the Cross was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, as a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He is also known for his writings. Both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the soul are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all Spanish literature. He was canonized as a saint in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII. He is one of the thirty-five Doctors of the Church.

He was born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez[2] into a Jewish converso family in Fontiveros, near Ávila, a town of around 2,000 people.[3][4] His father, Gonzalo, was an accountant to richer relatives who were silk merchants. However, when in 1529 he married John's mother, Catalina, who was an orphan of a lower class, Gonzalo was rejected by his family and forced to work with his wife as a weaver.[5] John's father died in 1545, while John was still only around seven years old.[6] Two years later, John's older brother Luis died, probably as a result of insufficient nourishment caused by the penury to which John's family had been reduced. After this, John's mother Catalina took John and his surviving brother Francisco, and moved first in 1548 to Arevalo, and then in 1551 to Medina del Campo, where she was able to find work weaving.[7][8]

In Medina, John entered a school for around 160[9] poor children, usually orphans, receiving a basic education, mainly in Christian doctrine, as well as some food, clothing, and lodging. While studying there, he was chosen to serve as acolyte at a nearby monastery of Augustinian nuns.[7] Growing up, John worked at a hospital and studied the humanities at a Jesuit school from 1559 to 1563; the Society of Jesus was a new organization at the time, having been founded only a few years earlier by the Spaniard St. Ignatius Loyola. In 1563[10] he entered the Carmelite Order, adopting the name John of St. Matthias.[7]

The following year (1564)[11] he professed his religious vows as a Carmelite and travelled to Salamanca, where he studied theology and philosophy at the prestigious University there (at the time one of the four biggest in Europe, alongside Paris, Oxford and Bologna) and at the Colegio de San Andrés. Some modern writers[citation needed] claim that this stay would influence all his later writings, as Fray Luis de León taught biblical studies (Exegesis, Hebrew and Aramaic) at the University: León was one of the foremost experts in Biblical Studies then and had written an important and controversial translation of the Song of Songs into Spanish. (Translation of the Bible into the vernacular was not allowed then in Spain.)

Joining the Reform of Teresa of Jesus


Statues representing John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, in Beas de Segura
John was ordained a priest in 1567, and then indicated his intent to join the strict Carthusian Order, which appealed to him because of its encouragement of solitary and silent contemplation. A journey from Salamanca to Medina del Campo, probably in September 1567, changed this.[12] In Medina he met the charismatic Carmelite nun, Teresa of Jesus. She was in Medina to found the second of her convents for women.[13] She immediately talked to him about her reformation projects for the Order: she was seeking to restore the purity of the Carmelite Order by restarting observance of its "Primitive Rule" of 1209, observance of which had been relaxed by Pope Eugene IV in 1432.

Under this Rule, much of the day and night was to be spent in the recitation of the choir offices, study and devotional reading, the celebration of Mass and times of solitude. For the friars, time was to be spent evangelizing the population around the monastery.[14] Total abstinence from meat and lengthy fasting was to be observed from the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14) until Easter. There were to be long periods of silence, especially between Compline and Prime. Coarser, shorter habits, more simple than those worn since 1432, were to be worn.[15] They were to follow the injunction against the wearing of shoes (also mitigated in 1432). It was from this last observance that the followers of Teresa among the Carmelites were becoming known as "discalced", i.e., barefoot, differentiating themselves from the non-reformed friars and nuns.

Teresa asked John to delay his entry into the Carthusians and to follow her. Having spent a final year studying in Salamanca, in August 1568 John traveled with Teresa from Medina to Valladolid, where Teresa intended to found another monastery of nuns. Having spent some time with Teresa in Valladolid, learning more about this new form of Carmelite life, in October 1568, accompanied by Friar Antonio de Jesús de Heredia, John left Valladolid to found a new monastery for friars, the first for men following Teresa's principles. The were given the use of a derelict house at Duruelo (midway between Avila and Salamanca), which had been donated to Teresa. On 28 November 1568, the monastery,[16] was established, and on that same day John changed his name to John of the Cross.

Soon after, in June 1570, the friars found the house at Duruelo too small, and so moved to the nearby town of Mancera de Abajo. After moving on from this community, John set up a new community at Pastrana (October 1570), and a community at Alcalá de Henares, which was to be a house of studies for the academic training of the friars. In 1572[17] he arrived in Avila, at the invitation of Teresa, who had been appointed prioress of the Monastery of the Visitation there in 1571.[18] John become the spiritual director and confessor for Teresa and the other 130 nuns there, as well for as a wide range of laypeople in the city.[7] In 1574, John accompanied Teresa in the foundation of a new monastery in Segovia, returning to Avila after staying there a week. Beyond this, though, John seems to have remained in Avila between 1572 and 1577.[19]

Drawing of the crucifixion, by John of the Cross, which inspired Salvador Dali
One day at some point between 1574 and 1577, while praying in the monastery of the Incarnation in Ávila, in a loft overlooking the sanctuary, John had a vision of the crucified Christ, which led him to create his famous drawing of Christ "from above." In 1641 this drawing was placed in a small monstrance, and kept in Avila. This drawing inspired the artist Salvador Dali's 1951 work, Christ of Saint John of the Cross.

The height of Carmelite tensions

The years 1575-77, however, saw a great increase in the tensions among the Spanish Carmelite friars over the reforms of Teresa and John. Since 1566 the reforms had been overseen by Canonical Visitors from the Dominican Order, with one appointed to Castile and a second to Andalusia. These Visitors had substantial powers: they could move the members of religious communities from house to house and even province to province. They could assist religious superiors in their office, and could depute other superiors from either the Dominicans or Carmelites. In Castile, the Visitor was Pedro Fernández, who prudently balanced the interests of the Discalced Carmelites against those of the friars and nuns who did not desire reform.[20]

In Andalusia to the south, however, where the Visitor was Francisco Vargas, tensions rose due to his clear preference for the Discalced friars. Vargas asked them to make foundations in various cities, in explicit contradiction of orders from the Carmelite Prior General against their expansion in Andalusia. As a result, a General Chapter of the Carmelite Order was convened at Piacenza in Italy in May 1575, out of concern that events in Spain were getting out of hand, which concluded by ordering the total suppression of the Discalced houses.[7]

This measure was not immediately enforced. For one thing, King Philip II of Spain was supportive of some of Teresa’s reforms, and so was not immediately willing to grant the necessary permission to enforce this ordinance. Moreover the Discalced friars also found support from the papal nuncio to King Philip II, Nicolò Ormanetto, Bishop of Padua, who still had ultimate power as nuncio to visit and reform religious Orders. When asked by the Discalced friars to intervene, Ormanetto replaced Vargas as Visitor of the Carmelites in Andalusia (where the troubles had begun) with Jerónimo Gracián, a priest from the University of Alcalá, who was in fact a Discalced Carmelite friar himself.[7] The nuncio's protection helped John himself avoid problems for a time. In January 1576 John was arrested in Medina del Campo by some Carmelite friars. However, through the nuncio's intervention, John was soon released.[7] When Ormanetto died on 18 June 1577, however, John was left without protection, and the friars opposing his reforms gained the upper hand.

Imprisonment, writings, torture, death and recognition

On the night of 2 December 1577, a group of Carmelites opposed to reform broke into John’s dwelling in Avila, and took him prisoner.


El Greco's landscape of Toledo depicts the Priory in which John was held captive, just below the old Muslim Alcazar and perched on the banks of the Tajo on high cliffs
John had received an order from some of his superiors, opposed to reform, ordering him to leave Avila and return to his original house, but John had refused on the basis that his reform work had been approved by the Spanish Nuncio, a higher authority than these superiors.[21] The Carmelites therefore took John captive. John was taken from Avila to the Carmelite monastery in Toledo, at that time the Order's most important monastery in Castile, where perhaps 40 friars lived.[22][23] John was brought before a court of friars, accused of disobeying the ordinances of Piacenza. Despite John's argument that he had not disobeyed the ordinances, he received a punishment of imprisonment. He was jailed in the monastery, where he was kept under a brutal regimen that included public lashing before the community at least weekly, and severe isolation in a tiny stifling cell measuring ten feet by six feet, barely large enough for his body. Except when rarely permitted an oil lamp, he had to stand on a bench to read his breviary by the light through the hole into the adjoining room. He had no change of clothing and a penitential diet of water, bread and scraps of salt fish.[24] During this imprisonment, he composed a great part of his most famous poem Spiritual Canticle, as well as a few shorter poems. The paper was passed to him by the friar who guarded his cell.[25] He managed to escape nine months later, on 15 August 1578, through a small window in a room adjoining his cell. (He had managed to pry the cell door off its hinges earlier that day).

After being nursed back to health, first with Teresa's nuns in Toledo, and then during six weeks at the Hospital of Santa Cruz,[26] John continued with reform. In October 1578 he joined a meeting at Almodovar del Campo of the supporters of reform, increasingly known as the Discalced Carmelites. There, in part as a result of the opposition faced from other Carmelites in recent years, they decided to demand from the Pope their formal separation from the rest of the Carmelite Order.[7]

At this meeting John was appointed superior of El Calvario, an isolated monastery of around thirty friars in the mountains about 6 miles away[27] from Beas in Andalucia. During this time he befriended the nun Ana de Jesús, superior of the Discalced nuns at Beas, through his visits every Saturday to the town. While at El Calvario he composed his first version of his commentary on his poem, The Spiritual Canticle, perhaps at the request of the nuns in Beas.

In 1579 he moved to Baeza, a town of around 50,000 people, to serve as rector of a new college, the Colegio de San Basilio, to support the studies of Discalced friars in Andalucia. This opened on 13 June 1579, and he remained there until 1582, spending much of his time as a spiritual director for the friars and townspeople.

1580 was an important year in the resolution of the disputes within the Carmelites. On 22 June, Pope Gregory XIII signed a decree, titled Pia Consideratione, which authorised a separation between the Calced and Discalced Carmelites. The Dominican friar, Juan Velázquez de las Cuevas, was appointed to carry out the decisions. At the first General Chapter of the Discalced Carmelites, in Alcalá de Henares on 3 March 1581, John of the Cross was elected one of the ‘Definitors’ of the community, and wrote a set of constitutions for them.[28] By the time of the Provincial Chapter at Alcalá in 1581, there were 22 houses, some 300 friars and 200 nuns in the Discalced Carmelites.[29]



Saint John of the Cross' shrine and reliquary, Convent of Carmelite Friars, Segovia
In November 1581 John was sent by Teresa to help Ana de Jesus in founding a convent in Granada. Arriving in January 1582, she set up a monastery of nuns, while John stayed in the friars' monastery of Los Martires, beside the Alhambra, becoming its prior in March 1582.[30] While here, he learned of the death of Teresa in October of that year.

In February 1585, John travelled to Malaga and established a monastery of Discalced nuns there. In May 1585, at the General Chapter of the Discalced Carmelites in Lisbon, John was elected Provincial Vicar of Andalusia, a post which required him to travel frequently, making annual visitations of the houses of friars and nuns in Andalusia. During this time he founded seven new monasteries in the region, and is estimated to have travelled around 25,000 km.[31]
 

In June 1588, he was elected third Councillor to the Vicar General for the Discalced Carmelites, Father Nicolas Doria. To fulfill this role, he had to return to Segovia in Castile, where in this capacity he was also prior of the monastery. After disagreeing in 1590-1 with
some of Doria's remodeling of the leadership of the Discalced Carmelite Order, though, John was removed from his post in Segovia, and sent by Doria in June 1591 to an isolated monastery in Andalusia called La Peñuela. There he fell ill, and traveled to the monastery at Úbeda for treatment. His condition worsened, however, and he died there on 14 December 1591, of erysipelas.[7]


Veneration


Reliquary of John of the Cross in Úbeda, Spain
The morning after John’s death, huge numbers of the townspeople of Úbeda entered the monastery to view John’s body; in the crush, many were able to take home parts of his habit. He was initially buried at Úbeda, but, at the request of the monastery in Segovia, his body was secretly moved there in 1593. The people of Úbeda, however, unhappy at this change, sent representative to petition the pope to move the body back to its original resting place. Pope Clement VIII, impressed by the petition, issued a Brief on 15 October 1596 ordering the return of the body to Ubeda. Eventually, in a compromise, the superiors of the Discalced Carmelites decided that the monastery at Úbeda would receive one leg and one arm of the corpse from Segovia (the monastery at Úbeda had already kept one leg in 1593, and the other arm had been removed as the corpse passed through Madrid in 1593, to form a relic there). A hand and a leg remain visible in a reliquary at the Oratory of San Juan de la Cruz in Úbeda, a monastery built in 1627 though connected to the original Discalced monastery in the town founded in 1587.[32]

The head and torso was retained by the monastery at Segovia. There, they were venerated until 1647, when on orders from Rome designed to prevent the veneration of remains without official approval, the remains were buried in the ground. In the 1930s they were disinterred, and now sit in a side chapel in a marble case above a special altar built in that decade.[32]

Proceedings to beatify John began with the gathering of information on his life between 1614 and 1616, although he was only beatified in 1675 by Pope Clement X, and was canonized by Benedict XIII in 1726. When his feast day was added to the General Roman Calendar in 1738, it was assigned to 24 November, since his date of death was impeded by the then-existing octave of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.[33] This obstacle was removed in 1955 and in 1969 Pope Paul VI moved it to the dies natalis (birthday to heaven) of the saint, 14 December.[34] The Church of England commemorates him as a "Teacher of the Faith" on the same date. In 1926, he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI.


Editions of his works

His writings were first published in 1618 by Diego de Salablanca. The numerical divisions in the work, still used by modern editions of the text, were introduced by Salablanca (they were not in John's original writings), in order to help make the work more manageable for the reader.[7] This edition does not contain the ‘’Spiritual Canticle’’, however, and also omits or adapts certain passages, perhaps for fear of falling foul of the Inquisition.

The ‘’Spiritual Canticle’’ was first included in the 1630 edition, produced by Fray Jeronimo de San Jose, at Madrid. This edition was largely followed by later editors, although editions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries gradually included a few more poems and letters.[35]


Literary works

St. John of the Cross is considered one of the foremost poets in the Spanish language. Although his complete poems add up to fewer than 2500 verses, two of them—the Spiritual Canticle and The Dark Night of the Soul are widely considered masterpieces of Spanish poetry, both for their formal stylistic point of view and their rich symbolism and imagery. His theological works often consist of commentaries on these poems. All the works were written between 1578 and his death in 1591, meaning there is great consistency in the views presented in them.

The poem The Spiritual Canticle, is an eclogue in which the bride (representing the soul) searches for the bridegroom (representing Jesus Christ), and is anxious at having lost him; both are filled with joy upon reuniting. It can be seen as a free-form Spanish version of the Song of Songs at a time when translations of the Bible into the vernacular were forbidden. The first 31 stanzas of the poem were composed in 1578 while John was imprisoned in Toledo. It was read after his escape by the nuns at Beas, who made copies of these stanzas. Over the following years, John added some extra stanzas. Today, two versions exist: one with 39 stanzas and one with 40, although with some of the stanzas ordered differently. The first redaction of the commentary on the poem was written in 1584, at the request of Madre Ana de Jesus, when she was prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Granada. A second redaction, which contains more detail, was written in 1585-6.[7]

The Dark Night (from which the spiritual term takes its name) narrates the journey of the soul from her bodily home to her union with God. It happens during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties she meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator. There are several steps in this night, which are related in successive stanzas. The main idea of the poem can be seen as the painful experience that people endure as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God. The poem of this title was likely written in 1578 or 1579. In 1584-5, John wrote a commentary on the first two stanzas and first line of the third stanza of the poem.[7]

The Ascent of Mount Carmel is a more systematic study of the ascetical endeavour of a soul looking for perfect union, God, and the mystical events happening along the way. Although it begins as a commentary on the poem ‘’The Dark Night’’, it rapidly drops this format, having commented on the first two stanzas of the poem, and becomes a treatise. It was composed sometime between 1581 and 1585.[7]

A four stanza work, Living Flame of Love describes a greater intimacy, as the soul responds to God's love. It was written in a first redaction at Granada between 1585-6, apparently in two weeks,[7] and in a mostly identical second redaction at La Penuela in 1591.

These, together with his Dichos de Luz y Amor, or "Sayings of Light and Love," and St. Teresa's writings, are the most important mystical works in Spanish, and have deeply influenced later spiritual writers all around the world. Among these can be named T. S. Eliot, Thérèse de Lisieux, Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), and Thomas Merton. John has also influenced philosophers (Jacques Maritain), theologians (Hans Urs von Balthasar), pacifists (Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan, and Philip Berrigan) and artists (Salvador Dalí). Pope John Paul II wrote his theological dissertation on the mystical theology of Saint John of the Cross.

References

      1. ^ The day is unknown. The parish registers were destroyed by a fire in 1546, and the only serious evidence is an inscription on the font in the church, dated 1689. Midsummer Day is sometimes cited as the date of John’s birth, but since this is also the Feast of St John the Baptist, this may simply be conjecture. See E Allison Peers, Spirit of Flame: A Study of St John of the Cross, (London: SCM Press, 1943), p11
      2. ^ Rodriguez, Jose Vincente, Biographical Narrative. God Speaks in the Night. The Life, Times, and Teaching of St. John of the Cross, Washington D.C.: ICS Publications, 1991, p. 3
      3. ^ CP Thompson, St. John of the Cross: Songs in the Night, London: SPCK, 2002, p27. A statue of John was erected in Fontiveros in 1928.
      4. ^ Norman Roth, Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, pp. 157, 369
      5. ^ Desmond Tillyer, Union with God: The Teaching of St John of the Cross, London & Oxford: Mowbray, 1984, p4
      6. ^ Gerald Brenan, St John of the Cross: His Life and Poetry, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), p4
      7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Kavanaugh, Kieran (1991). "General Introduction: Biographical Sketch". In Kieran Kavanaugh. The Collected Works of St John of the Cross. Washington: ICS Publications. pp. 9–27. ISBN 0-935216-14-6.
      8. ^ Matthew, Iain (1995). The Impact of God, Soundings from St John of the Cross.. Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 3. ISBN 0-340-61257-6.
      9. ^ CP Thompson, St. John of the Cross: Songs in the Night, London: SPCK, 2002, p31
      10. ^ Kavanaugh (1991) names the date as 24 February. However, E Allison Peers (1943), p13, points out that although this, the Feast of St Matthias, is often assumed to be the date, Father Silverio postulates a date in August or September.
      11. ^ At some point between 21 May and October. See E Allison Peers, Spirit of Flame: A Study of St John of the Cross, (London: SCM Press, 1943), p13
      12. ^ E Allison Peers (1943, p16) suggests that the journey was in order to visit a nearby Carthusian monastery; Richard P Hardy, The Life of St John of the Cross: Search for Nothing, (London: DLT, 1982), p24, argues that the reason was for John to say his first mass
      13. ^ E Allison Peers, Spirit of Flame: A Study of St John of the Cross, (London: SCM Press, 1943), p16
      14. ^ Desmond Tillyer, Union with God: The Teaching of St John of the Cross, (London & Oxford: Mowbray, 1984), p.8
      15. ^ Richard P Hardy, The Life of St John of the Cross: Search for Nothing, (London: DLT, 1982), p27
      16. ^ The monastery may have contained three men, according to E Allison Peers (1943), p27, or five, according to Richard P Hardy, The Life of St John of the Cross: Search for Nothing, (London: DLT, 1982), p35
      17. ^ The month generally given is May. E Allison Peers, Complete Works Vol I (1943, xxvi), agreeing with P Silverio, thinks it must have been substantially later than this, though certainly before 27 September.
      18. ^ http://translate.google.com/translate?&u=http%3A%2F%2Ffr.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FJean+de+la+Croix&sl=fr&tl=en
      19. ^ Richard P Hardy, The Life of St John of the Cross: Search for Nothing, (London: DLT, 1982), p56
      20. ^ He is possibly the same Pedro Fernández who became the Bishop of Avila in 1581. It was he who appointed Teresa in 1571 as prioress in Avila, but who also enjoyed good relations with the Carmelite Prior Provincial of Castile.
      21. ^ Bennedict Zimmermann. "Ascent of Mt Carmel , introductory essay THE DEVELOPMENT OF MYSTICISM IN THE CARMELITE ORDER". Thomas Baker and Internet Archive. http://www.archive.org/details/ascentofmountcar00johnuoft. Retrieved 2009-12-11. |pages = 10,11
      22. ^ CP Thompson, St. John of the Cross: Songs in the Night, (London: SPCK, 2002), p.48. Thompson points out that many earlier biographers have stated the number of friars at Toledo to be 80, but this is simply taken from Crisigono's Spanish biography. Alain Cugno (1982) gives the number of friars as 800. However, a document shows that in 1576, 42 friars belonged to the house, with only just over half of them resident, the remainder being absent for various reasons. This is developed in J Carlos Vuzeute Mendoza, ‘La prisión de San Juan de la Cruz: El convent del Carmen de Toledo en 1577 y 1578’, A García Simón, ed, Actas del congreso internacional sanjuanista, 3 vols, (Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León, 1993) II, pp427-436
      23. ^ Peter Tyler, St John of the Cross, (New York: Continuum, 2000), p.28. The reference to the El Greco painting is also taken from here. The Priory no longer exists, having been destroyed in 1936 - it is now the Toledo Municipal car park.
      24. ^ Desmond Tillyer, Union with God: The Teaching of St John of the Cross, (London & Oxford: Mowbray, 1984), p.10
      25. ^ Dark night of the soul. Translation by Mirabai Starr. ISBN 1-57322-974-1 p.8.
      26. ^ Peter Tyler, St John of the Cross, (New York: Continuum, 2000), p.33. The Hospital still exists, and is today a municipal art gallery in Toledo.
      27. ^ CP Thompson, St. John of the Cross: Songs in the Night, London: SPCK, 2002, p117
      28. ^ "Jean de la Croix". http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_la_Croix. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
      29. ^ CP Thompson, St. John of the Cross: Songs in the Night, London: SPCK, 2002, p119
      30. ^ Richard P Hardy, The Life of St John of the Cross: Search for Nothing, (London: DLT, 1982), p90
      31. ^ CP Thompson, St. John of the Cross: Songs in the Night, London: SPCK, 2002, p122. This would have been largely by foot or by mule, given the strict rules which governed the way in which Discalced friars were permitted to travel.
      32. ^ a b Richard P Hardy, The Life of St John of the Cross: Search for Nothing, (London: DLT, 1982), pp113-130
      33. ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 110
      34. ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 146
      35. ^ The Complete Works of Saint John of the Cross. Translated and edited by E Allison Peers, from the critical edition of Silverio de Santa Teresa. 3 vols, (Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1943). Vol I, pp.l-lxxvi

         
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        Today's  Snippet  I:   Avila, Spain


        Avila, Spain

        Ávila (Latin: Abila and Obila) is a Spanish city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León, and is the capital of the Province of Ávila.  It is sometimes called the City of Stones and Saints, and it claims that it is one of the cities with the highest number of Romanesque and Gothic churches (and bars and restaurants) per head in Spain. (Zamora, a city of similar size, claims the greatest number of Romanesque churches in Europe.) It is notable for having complete and prominent medieval city walls, built in the Romanesque style. It The city is also known as "Ávila de los Caballeros", "Ávila del Rey" and "Ávila de los Leales" (Ávila of the Knights, the King and the Loyalists), each of these epithets being present in the city standard. The writer José Martínez Ruiz (Azorín), in his seminal book El alma castellana (The Castilian Soul), described it as "perhaps the most 16th century city in Spain", and it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

        Situation

        Situated 1132 meters (3714 feet) above sea level on a rocky outcrop on the right bank of the Adaja river, a tributary of the Duero, Ávila is the highest provincial capital in Spain. It is built on the flat summit of a rocky hill, which rises abruptly in the midst of a veritable wilderness; a brown, arid, treeless table-land, strewn with immense grey boulders, and shut in by lofty mountains.

        Climate

        Ávila's position results in a Mediterranean climate (Csb, according to the Köppen climate classification), with warm summers and chilly winters with snowfalls, bordering on a cold semi-arid climate (BSk). The hotest month, July, has an average temperature of 19.7 °C (67 °F), and the coldest month, January, has an average of 2.8 °C (37 °F). The average annual precipitation is 400 mm (15.75 in). Annual rainfall is low compared to surrounding areas, implying that it lies in a rain shadow. The Adaja is dry for several months of the year and the city has historically had water supply problems.

        History



        Gate Alcazar
        In pre-Roman times (5th century BC), Ávila was inhabited by the Vettones, who called it Obila ("High Mountain") and built one of their strongest fortresses here. There are bronze age stone statues of boars (known as verracio) nearby.

        Ávila may have been the ancient town known as Abula, mentioned by Ptolemy in his Geographia (II 6, 60) as being located in the Iberian region of Bastetania. Abula is mentioned as one of the first cities in Hispania that was converted to Christianity by Secundus of Abula (San Segundo), however, Abula may alternatively have been the town of Abla.

        After the conquest by ancient Rome, the town was called Abila or Abela. The plan of the city remains typically Roman; rectangular in shape, with its two main streets (cardo and decumanus) intersecting at a forum in the center. Roman remains that are embedded in city walls at the eastern and southern entrances (now the Alcazar and Rastro Gates) appear to have been ashar altar stones.

        By tradition, in the 1st century, Secundus, having travelled via the Roman province of Hispania Baetica, brought the Gospel to Avila, and was created its first bishop.

        After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Ávila became a stronghold of the Visigoths. Conquered by the Arabs (who called it Ābila, آبلة), it was repeatedly attacked by the northern Iberian Christian kingdoms, becoming a virtually uninhabited no man's land. It was repopulated about 1088 following the definitive reconquest of the area by Raymond of Burgundy, son of Alfonso VI of León and Castile. He employed two foreigners, Casandro Romano and Florin de Pituenga, to construct a stone frontier city and creating the walls that still stand.

        The city achieved a period of prosperity under the Catholic Monarchs in the early 16th century, and their successors Charles V and Philip II of Spain, but began a long decline during the 17th century, reducing to just 4,000 inhabitants.

        In the 19th century there was some population growth with the construction of the railway line from Madrid to the French border at Irun and an important junction near the city. In 1936, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the city quickly became part of the area occupied by rebel troops. Growth continued slowly again under Franco, but Ávila has not had a major influence in Spanish society in recent history, apart from the nurturing of politicians such as Adolfo Suárez, the first democratically-elected prime minister Spanish post-Franco, and José María Aznar, prime minister from 1996 to 2004, who represented Ávila in the Cortes but was not from the town.


        The Walls of Ávila

        Its main monument is the imposing Walls of Ávila (11th-14th centuries), the medieval work was started in 1090. The fenced area is of 31 hectares with a perimeter of approximately 2,516 meters, 88 blocks or semicircular towers, 2,500 merlons, paintings by 3 m. thick, an average height of 12 m. and 9 gates. It is the largest fully illuminated monument in the world.

        Cathedral


        Main view of the Cathedral of Ávila
        t was planned as a cathedral-fortress, its apse being one of the turrets of the city walls. It is surrounded by a number of houses or palaces, the most important being: the Palace of the Evening, the Palace of the Infant King, and the Palace of Valderrábanos, which were responsible for the defence of the Puerta de los Leales (The Gate of the Loyal Ones) also known as La Puerta del Peso de la Harina (The Flour Road Gate).

        The construction of the iron-grey granite Gothic Cathedral of Ávila is said to have commenced in 1107 under Alvar Garcia de Estrella. Other historians believe the Cathedral to be the work of the master mason Fruchel in the 12th century, coinciding with the repopulation of the city led by Raymond of Burgundy. The eastern apse, which forms part of the city walls, is half church, half fortress, and it was here that the loyal citizens elevated Alonso VII as their king, hence Ávila del Rey.

        The transept was finished in 1350 by Bishop Sancho de Ávila. The earlier Romanesque parts are made of a striking red-and-white "blood" limestone, while the Gothic parts were built with pure white stone
        • Northern facade: Gothic style at left and added renaissance at right. Porch of the Apostles.
        • Western front: Burgundian style, with two towers forming a covered portal.
        • Interior: Latin cross with three naves, a crossing and ambulatory.
        • Capilla Mayor: Features a monumental altarpiece by Pedro Berruguete.
        • Chapel of San Segundo, the first bishop: Attached to a column of the cruise. Renaissance style.
        • Chapel of Santa Catalina: Made of alabaster.
        • Choir and Rood screen: Renaissance style, decorated with reliefs depicting scenes of saints, carved from limestone. The alabaster tomb of Alonso Tostado de Madrigal, bishop in 1499, shown in the act of writing is in the ambulatory: "so enlightened were his doctrines that they caused the blind to see".
        • Cloister: Access from the Romanesque cathedral by a door on the south aisle. Gothic style.

        Basílica de San Vicente


        Basilica of San Vicente

        According to the legend, the Christian martyrs Vicente, Sabina and Cristeta were martyred during the rule of the Roman Emperor Diocletian; their corpses were buried into the rock and later a basilica was built over their tombs. In 1062 their remains were moved to the monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza a Burgos, but later, in 1175, they were returned in Ávila and the construction of a new basilica was started in the place. Works were repeatedly halted or slowed, and were finished in the 14th century thanks to support of Alfonso X and Sancho IV. The nave and aisles are cross-vaulted. In the former is the Virgen de la Soterraña, patron saint of the city.

        The church is built using rock extracted from quarries of the nearby La Colilla. However, as in all the churches of Avila where this rock is described as sandstone, it is in fact decomposed granite. It is attributed to Giral Fruchal, the architect who introduced the Gothic style in Spain from France. San Vicente is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles ending in semicircular apses, with a large transept, cyborium, atrium and a crypt.
        • In the exterior, notable are the decorated western and southern gates. In the interior, the most renowned attraction is the cenotaph of the titular martyrs, in polychrome stone. It is one of the best examples of Romanesque sculpture.
          Construction began in the 12th century and lasted until the 14th. Its design is attributed to the French master Giral Fruchel, the author himself from the cathedral and pioneer of the Gothic style in Spain.
        • The overall structure is similar to the Latin basilicas. It has a Latin cross plan, three naves, dome, tribunes, three apses, atrium, two towers and crypt.
        • All the facade and the environment where it is located are of great artistic value.
        • Interior: Latin cross room with three naves. The pillars are of a Greek cross with half columns on the heads.
        • Crypt: Consists of three chapels, for the three apses of the church are mainly romanesque and have the best capitals of the monument.
        Highlight the tomb of Saint Peter of the Boat and, above all, the Cenotaph of the Holy Brothers Martyrs, the head of the temple, Saint Vincent of Ávila, and her sisters, along with the torture he suffered in the 4th century, Saint Sabina and Saint Cristeta, (Cenotafio de los santos Vicente, Sabina y Cristeta), one of the most important works of Romanesque sculpture in Spain.

        Convento de San José


        Convento de San José
        The Convento de San José (English: Convent of Saint Joseph) is a monastery of Discalced Carmelite nuns in Ávila, Spain. It is situated not far from the center of the city but outside the medieval walls. TThe Convent of Saint Joseph is the first monastery of Discalced Carmelite nuns founded by Saint Teresa of Jesus. The convent was built in the year of 1562, although the most important architectural element, the church, was built in 1607. The Church was designed by the architect Francisco de Mora (1553-1610). It is a national monument since 1968.

        The Convent of Saint Joseph is a monastery of Discalced Carmelite nuns located in the Spanish city of Ávila, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was the first monastery founded by Saint Teresa of Jesus, who had the support of such important figures as the Bishop of Ávila, Alvaro Hurtado de Mendoza, who was later buried there. It has been a national monument since 1968. The convent was built in the year of 1562, although the church, its most important architectural element, was built only in 1607. The church was designed by the architect Francisco de Mora (1553-1610), who devised a church with a single nave covered with a vaulted ceiling and a dome over the transept. Its main facade, which is set on two levels matches with the top pediment and portal of three arches at the bottom, was one of the most imitated in the religious buildings of the seventeenth century and was adopted as a model of Discalced Carmelite construction. Inside the church is the Chapel of the Guillamas family, which serves as the family crypt.

        The Convent of Saint Joseph has been protected under Spanish law since 1968 when it was designated a national monument. The "Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches" is a World Heritage Site, although the monastery is not one of the extra-muros churches listed in the nomination. The convent currently houses a museum dedicated to Saint Teresa of Jesus, the Museo Teresiano of the Discalced Carmelites.

        Other Historical Churches



        Torreón de los Guzmanes.

        Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Sonsoles.

        Iglesia de San Pedro

        Start date: about 1100.
        It is located outside the city walls in the Plaza de Mercado Grande at the door of the Alcazar. Presents analogous with that of San Vicente.
        Latin cross floor and three naves of five sections. Apsidal chapels: mayor chapel, chapel of the south apse and chapel of the north apse.

        Ermita de San Segundo

        Beautiful hermitage located to the west of Ávila, outside the city walls, on the right bank of the Adaja river. Highlights the sculpted capitals in which the sculptor is the footprint of the apse of San Andrés. Alabaster statue made by Juan de Juni. Popular belief has it that introducing a handkerchief in the tomb and asking for three wishes, the saint granted one. His pilgrimage is celebrated on May 2, being the patron of Ávila.

        Palacio de Don Diego del Águila

        This 16th-century palace is located inside the wall and attached to it as junt walk through the door of San Vicente, defended the access of Muslim troops. Located on a busy street by different arms of the Águila
        family.

        Detail of the Cathedral at dusk, from the street Tomás Luis de Victoria

        Convento de Santa Teresa

        Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás

        Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás is a Dominican convent in the late 15th century. Despite being away from the historic center, is one of the most important monuments of the city.

        Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Sonsoles

        Located 6 km from the capital, is this sanctuary in a beautiful area, housing a restaurant, hostel, picnic areas, playgrounds, etc. There is located the statue of the Virgin of Sonsoles, co-patroness of Ávila and patroness of the fields in the province. It is tradition in this city make pilgrimage to the sanctuary, making a wish to the Virgin and to get to the door barefoot until enter the church.

         

         

         

        Popular celebrations

        The first public festival after the winter cold is the Holy week. The temperature is cold, especially at night, so one should not forget warm clothes.  Ávila holidays are October 15, Santa Teresa de Jesús, and May 2, San Segundo. The festivities take place around October 15 and the Summer Festival in mid-July.

        Holy Week

        Holy Week as celebrated in Ávila is considered of national tourist interest. It is one of the highest expressions of art and wealth as seen in numerous steps of Holy Week along the city walls. Processions have either or fifteen or twelve fraternities.

        Fiestas de Santa Teresa


        Fiestas de Santa Teresa (Procession, 2007).
        The festivities of Santa Teresa last almost the entire month of October. The proclamation is done by the mayor in the Plaza Mayor, accompanied by some celebrity. After the proclamation was organized in the same place a musical performance with renowned singers.

        The festival program includes several musical concerts, a fairground, bullfights, passacaglia, processions of the fan groups, chocolate with churros and liturgical acts naturally focus on the day of the patroness, on 15 October with multitudinous mass presided by Bishop, then celebrated a great procession, headed the image of Santa Teresa with the Virgin of La Caridad, and is accompanied by all the authorities of Ávila, civil and military, and several bands music. The procession takes place between the Cathedral of Ávila and Santa Teresa Church. Takes place the day before the "Procession Girl" from the Iglesian de Santa Teresa to the Cathedral.

        Gastronomy


        Yemas de Santa Teresa.
        Typical dishes of the city and region are "Judías del Barco", "Chuletón de Ávila", "Patatas revolconas" and "Yemas de Santa Teresa". Also worth mentioning is "Hornazo", "Bun stuffed with sausage, bacon, steak and eggs", "Mollejas de ternera" or the "Cochinillo", which can be found in the capital and in Arévalo.

        Hornazo is a Spanish meat pie eaten in the provinces of Salamanca and Ávila. It is made with flour and yeast and stuffed with pork loin, spicy chorizo sausage and hard-boiled eggs. In Salamanca, it is traditionally eaten in the field during the "Monday of the Waters" (Lunes de Aguas) festival. The name of this unique festival supposedly comes from a twisting of the word "enagua," or petticoat, which the prostitutes of the town used to wear under their dresses. During Lent, tradition tells us that the prostitutes of the town were sent to the other side of the Tormes River, so that the men of the town were not distracted during the religious observances. On the Monday of the Waters, the students of the town threw a party on the banks of the river to celebrate the return of the women, and ate hornazo as part of the celebration.

        Yemas de Santa Teresa

        This sweet can always be found in the traditional pastry shop "La Flor de Castilla". In the other bakeries in the city it is produced under the name "Yemas de Ávila", or simply "Yemas", produced as its name indicates from egg yolk.

        Chuletón de Ávila

        This is a grilled T-bone steak, best cooked rare, which can be enjoyed in any hotel in the city. It is made from Avileña-Negra ibérica, an indigenous black cow of excellent meat, whose fame transcends the borders of the province and the country.

        Judías del Barco

        White beans from Barco de Ávila cooked with sausage, chorizo, ear, etc.

        Civil architecture

        Finally, in civil architecture, the Valderrábanos Palace (15th century), the Casa de los Deanes (16th century), the Torreón de los Guzmanes and the Verdugos Palace (15th-16th centuries) are the most important buildings.

        Conference and Exhibition Centre Lienzo Norte

        • In mid-2007, work began on the convention center. In April 2009 the construction was completed, opening its doors since then.
        • The building designed by architect Francisco José Mangado is of modern style. Its extension is constructed of 19,800 m2 (213,125 sq ft), which would add the area corresponding to the neighboring gardens and parking.
        • There is a large symphony hall, large glass galleries, café, restaurant, conference room, catering services, storage, reception, store room, etc.
        • The symphony hall has a capacity for 2,000 guests and the secondary hall for 500. The two conference rooms have each 1,000 seats.

        Museums and sights

        • Museum of Ávila
        • Museum of la Encarnación
        • Museum of Santa Teresa
        • Museum of the Cathedral
        • Museo of Santo Tomás
        • Museum of Oriental Art
        • Museum of Natural Sciences
        • Living Water
        • Hall of Torreón de los Guzmanes
        • Sala de la Diputación
        • Sala del Episcopio
        • Caprotti Museum (future museum located in the Superunda Palace currently under rehabilitation, which will house the work of Italian painter Guido Caprotti (1887–1966), based in Avila from 1916)


        References:

        • Parkinson Keyes, Frances (1957). The land of stones and saints. Doubleday.
        • Rudd, Charles (1905). The Cathedrals of Northern Spain. Boston: L.C. Page & Co. at Project Gutenberg
        • Ford, Richard (1855). A handbook for travellers in Spain. 2. London: John Murray. p. 744.


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