Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - Litany Lane Blog:
Autonomous, Hebrew 6:10-20, Psalms 111:1-10, Mark 2:23-28,St Vincent of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Spain, Cape St Vincent Portugal, Catholic Catechism Chapter 1:1:2:3- In Brief
Good Day Bloggers! Happy Mardi Gras!
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. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone 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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January 02, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children, with much love and
patience I strive to make your hearts like unto mine. I strive, by my example,
to teach you humility, wisdom and love because I need you; I cannot do without
you my children. According to God's will I am choosing you, by His strength I am
strengthening you. Therefore, my children, do not be afraid to open your hearts
to me. I will give them to my Son and in return, He will give you the gift of
Divine peace. You will carry it to all those whom you meet, you will witness
God's love with your life and you will give the gift of my Son through
yourselves. Through reconciliation, fasting and prayer, I will lead you.
Immeasurable is my love. Do not be afraid. My children, pray for the shepherds.
May your lips be shut to every judgment, because do not forget that my Son has
chosen them and only He has the right to judge. Thank you."
December 25, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
Our Lady came with little Jesus in her arms and she did not give a message, but little Jesus began to speak and said : “I am your peace, live my commandments.” With a sign of the cross, Our Lady and little Jesus blessed us together.
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."
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Today's Word: autonomous au·ton·o·mous [aw-ton-uh-muhs]
Origin: 1790–1800; < Greek autónomos with laws of one's own, independent, equivalent to auto- auto-1 + nóm ( os ) law, custom + -os adj. suffix
adjective
1. Government .
a. self-governing; independent; subject to its own laws only.
b. pertaining to an autonomy.
2. having autonomy; not subject to control from outside; independent: a subsidiary that functioned as an autonomous unit.
3. Biology .
a. existing and functioning as an independent organism.
b. spontaneous.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 111:1-10
1 Alleluia! I give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart, in the meeting-place of honest people, in the assembly.2 Great are the deeds of Yahweh, to be pondered by all who delight in them.
4 He gives us a memorial of his great deeds; Yahweh is mercy and tenderness.
5 He gives food to those who fear him, he keeps his covenant ever in mind.
9 Deliverance he sends to his people, his covenant he imposes for ever; holy and awesome his name.
10 The root of wisdom is fear of Yahweh; those who attain it are wise. His praise will continue for ever.
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Today's Epistle - Hebrews 6:10-20
10 God would not be so unjust as to forget all you have done, the love that you have for his name or the services you have done, and are still doing, for the holy people of God.
11 Our desire is that every one of you should go on showing the same enthusiasm till the ultimate fulfilment of your hope,
12 never growing careless, but taking as your model those who by their faith and perseverance are heirs of the promises.
13 When God made the promise to Abraham, he swore by his own self, since there was no one greater he could swear by:
14 I will shower blessings on you and give you many descendants.
15 Because of that, Abraham persevered and received fulfilment of the promise.
16 Human beings, of course, swear an oath by something greater than themselves, and between them, confirmation by an oath puts an end to all dispute.
17 In the same way, when God wanted to show the heirs of the promise even more clearly how unalterable his plan was, he conveyed it by an oath
18 so that through two unalterable factors in which God could not be lying, we who have fled to him might have a vigorous encouragement to grasp the hope held out to us.
19 This is the anchor our souls have, reaching right through inside the curtain
20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever, of the order of Melchizedek.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Mark 2:23-28
It happened that one Sabbath day he was taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples began to make a path by plucking ears of corn. And the Pharisees said to him, 'Look, why are they doing something on the Sabbath day that is forbidden?' And he replied, 'Have you never read what David did in his time of need when he and his followers were hungry - how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the loaves of the offering which only the priests are allowed to eat, and how he also gave some to the men with him?' And he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath; so the Son of man is master even of the Sabbath.
Reflection
• The Law exists for the good of persons. One day on the Sabbath, the disciples passed by a cornfield and they opened a path by plucking ears of corn. In Matthew 12, 1 it is said that they were hungry. Quoting the Bible, the Pharisees criticized the attitude of the disciples. It would be a transgression of the law of the Sabbath (cf. Ex 20, 8-11). Jesus responded quoting the Bible also to indicate that the arguments of the others have no meaning, no reason for being. He recalls that David himself did something which was prohibited, because he took the sacred bread of the temple and gave it to the soldiers to eat because they were hungry (I Sam 21, 2-7). And Jesus ends with two important phrases (a) the Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath, (b)) The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath!
• The Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath. For more than five-hundred years, since the time of the Babylonian captivity to the time of Jesus, the Jews had observed the law of the Sabbath. This secular observance became for them a strong sign of identity. The Sabbath was rigorously observed. At the time of the Maccabees, toward the end of the second century before Christ, this observance had reached a critical point. Attacked by the Greeks one Sabbath, the rebellious Maccabees preferred to allow themselves to be killed rather than to transgress the law of the Sabbath using arms to defend their own life. For this, one thousand persons died (I Mac 2, 32-38). Reflecting on the massacre the Maccabee leaders concluded that they should resist and defend their own life, even on the Sabbath (I Mac 2, 39-41) Jesus used the same attitude: to consider the law of the Sabbath in a relative way in favour of the human life, because the law exists for the good of human life, and not vice-versa!
• The Son of Man is also the Lord of the Sabbath! The new experience of God as Father/Mother makes Jesus, the Son of Man, to have the key to discover the intention of God who is at the origin of the Law of the Old Testament. For this reason, the Son of Man is also the Lord of the Sabbath. Living with the people of Galilee during thirty years and feeling in his own person the oppression and the exclusion to which so many brothers and sisters were condemned in the name of the Law of God, Jesus perceives that this could not be the significance of that law. If God is Father, then he accepts all as sons and daughters. If God is Father, then we should be brothers and sisters to others. And this is what Jesus lived and preached, from the beginning to the end. The Law of the Sabbath must be at the service of life and of fraternity. If was precisely because of his fidelity to this message that Jesus was condemned to death. He disturbed the system, he was uncomfortable for them, and the system defended itself, using force against Jesus, because he wanted the Law itself to be at the service of life and not vice-versa.
• Jesus and the Bible. The Pharisees criticized Jesus in the name of the Bible. Jesus responds and criticizes the Pharisees using the Bible. He knew the Bible by heart. At that time, there were no printed Bibles as we have today! In every community there was only one Bible, hand written which remained in the Synagogue. If Jesus knew the Bible so well, it means that during 30 years of his life in Nazareth, he participated intensely in the life of the community, where the Scripture was read every Saturday. We still lack very much in order to have the same familiarity with the Bible and the same participation in the community!
Personal questions
• Saturday is for the human being and not vice-versa. Which are the points in my life which I have to change?
• Even without having the Bible at home, Jesus knew it by heart. And I?
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: Saint Vincent of Saragossa (Zaragoza)
Feast Day: January 22
Patron Saint: Order of the Deacons of the Catholic Diocese of Bergamo (Italy)
Saint Vincent of Saragossa, also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon, is the patron saint of Lisbon and Valencia. His feast day is 22 January in the Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Communion and 11 November in the Eastern Orthodox Churches. He was born at Huesca and martyred under the Emperor Diocletian around the year 304.
He was born at Huesca but lived in Saragossa. Vincent served as the deacon of Valerius of Saragossa, the city's bishop. Imprisoned in Valencia for his faith, and tortured on a gridiron — a story perhaps adapted from the martyrdom of another son of Huesca, Saint Lawrence— Vincent, like many early martyrs in the early hagiographic literature, succeeded in converting his jailer. Though he was finally offered release if he would consign Scripture to the fire, Vincent refused.
The earliest account of Vincent's martyrdom is in a carmen (lyric poem) written by the poet Prudentius, who wrote a series of lyric poems, Peristephanon ("Crowns of Martyrdom"), on Hispanic and Roman
martyrs. Prudentius describes how Vincent was brought to trial along
with his bishop Valerius, and that since Valerius had a speech
impediment, Vincent spoke for both, but that his outspoken fearless
manner so angered the governor that Vincent was tortured and martyred,
though his aged bishop was only exiled.
According to legend, after being martyred, ravens
protected St. Vincent's body from being devoured by vultures, until his
followers could recover the body. His body was taken to what is now
known as Cape St. Vincent;
a shrine was erected over his grave, which continued to be guarded by
flocks of ravens. In the time of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula,
the Arab geographer Al-Idrisi
noted this constant guard by ravens, for which the place was named by
him كنيسة الغراب "Kanīsah al-Ghurāb" (Church of the Raven). King Afonso Henriques (1139–1185) had the body of the saint exhumed in 1173 and brought it by ship to the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon. This transfer of the relics is depicted on the coat of arms of Lisbon.[1]
Legacy and veneration
Three elaborated hagiographies, all based ultimately on a lost 5th-century Passion, circulated in the Middle AgesThough Vincent's tomb in Valencia became the earliest center of his cult, he was also honoured at his birthplace and his reputation spread from Saragossa. The city of Oviedo in Asturias grew about the church dedicated to Vincent. Beyond the Pyrenees, he was venerated first in the vicinity of Béziers, and at Narbonne. Castres became an important stop on the international pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela when the relics of Vincent were transferred to its new abbey-church dedicated to Saint Benedict from Saragossa in 863, under the patronage of Salomon, count of Cerdanya.
The Mosque was build in honour of Vincent, by the Catholic bishops of
Visigothic Iberia, when they succeeded in converting King Reccared and
his nobles to Trinitarian Christianity. When the Moors came in 711, the church was razed, and its materials incorporated in the Mezquita, the "Great Mosque" of Córdoba.
The Cape Verde island of São Vicente, a former Portuguese colony,
was named in his honour. St Vincent in the Caribbean was named by
Columbus, since it was “discovered” on 22 January, the feast day of the
patron saint of Portugal, Vincent of Saragossa.
The 15th century Portuguese artist Nuno Gonçalves depicted him in his Saint Vincent Panels. A small fresco cycle of stories of St. Vincent is in the apse of the Basilica di San Vincenzo near Cantù, in northern Italy.
Vincent is also the patron of vintners and vinegar-makers.
In Valencia, Spain, there is a long road called Calle San Vicente
Mártir, or in English, Saint Vincent the Martyr Street named after the
aforementioned saint. There is also a small town on Madeira Island named after this saint, São Vicente. Saint Vincent is the patron of the Order of the Deacons of the Catholic Diocese of Bergamo (Italy).
References
- ^ Purcell, Mary (1960). Saint Anthony and His Times. Garden City, New York: Hanover House. pp. 44–45.
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Today's Snippet I: Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain
Zaragoza (Spanish pronunciation: [θaɾaˈɣoθa]), also called Saragossa in English,[1] is the capital city of the Zaragoza province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It is situated on the Ebro river and its tributaries, the Huerva and the Gállego, near the centre of the region, in a valley with a variety of landscapes, ranging from desert (Los Monegros) to thick forest, meadows and mountains.
On 1 September 2010 the population of the city of Zaragoza was 701,090,[2] within its administrative limits on a land area of 1,062.64 km² (410.29 sq mi), ranking fifth in Spain. It is the 35th most populous municipality in the European Union. The population of the metropolitan area was estimated in 2006 at 783,763 inhabitants. The municipality is home to more than 50 percent of the Aragonese population. The city lies at an elevation of 199 metres.
Zaragoza hosted Expo 2008 in the summer of 2008, a world's fair on water and sustainable development. It was also candidate for the European Capital of Culture in 2016.
The city is famous for its folklore, a renowned local gastronomy, and landmarks such as the Basílica del Pilar, La Seo Cathedral and the Aljafería Palace. Together with La Seo and the Aljafería, several other buildings form part of the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Fiestas del Pilar are among the most celebrated festivals in Spain.
Culture
Zaragoza is linked by legend to the beginnings of Christianity in Spain. According to legend, the Virgin Mary appeared miraculously to Saint James the Great in the first century, standing on a pillar. This legend is commemorated by a famous Catholic basilica called Nuestra Señora del Pilar ("Our Lady of the Pillar").
The event, called "Las Fiestas del Pilar", is celebrated on October
12, which is a major festival day in Zaragoza. Since it coincided in
1492 with the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, that
day is also celebrated as El Día de la Hispanidad (Columbus Day, literally Hispanic Day) by Spanish-speaking people worldwide.
"El Pilar" lasts for nine days, with all kinds of activities: from
the massively attended Pregon (opening speech) to the final fireworks
display over the Ebro, there are bands, dances, procession of gigantes y
cabezudos (carnival figures made of papier mache), concerts,
exhibitions, the famous "vaquillas" bulls and the bull festival. Some of
the most important features are the Ofrenda de Flores (Flower offering)
to the virgin on the 12th, when an enormous cloak is made of the
flowers
History
Roman Caesaraugusta
The Sedetani, a tribe of ancient Iberians, populated a village called Salduie, Salduba in Roman sources. Later on, Augustus founded there a city called Caesaraugusta to settle army veterans from the Cantabrian wars. The foundation date of Caesaraugusta
has not been set with total precision, though it is known to lie
between 25 BC and 12 BC. The city did not suffer any decline during the
last centuries of the Roman empire and was captured peacefully by the
Goths in the 5th century.
Moorish Saraqusta
In 714 the Berbers and Arabs took control of the city, renaming it
Saraqusta (سرقسطة), a corruption of the original Roman name. It later
became part of the Emirate of Cordoba.
It grew to become the biggest Muslim controlled city of Northern Spain
and as the main city of the Emirate's Upper March, Zaragoza was a hotbed
of political intrigue. In 777 Charlemagne was invited by Husayn, the Wali
(governor) of Zaragoza, to take the submission of the city but having
marched an army to the city gates he found Husayn to have had a change
of heart and was forced to give up after a month-long siege of the city,
facing Basque attacks on his rear guard on his withdrawal. Four years later Emir Abd ar-Rahman I sent an army to reestablish firm control over the city. Husayn's family rebelled again in 788, and the head of the Banu Qasi was killed trying to put down the insurrection. Subsequent rebellions were launched there by Matruh al-Arabi (789), Bahlul Ibn Marzuq (798) and Amrus ibn Yusuf (802), who reached an accord with the Emir and retained control of the city. In 852, control of the city was awarded to Musa ibn Musa
of the Banu Qasi, but following a defeat at Christian hands in 861 he
was deprived of the city by the Emir, only for it to be retaken by his
son Isma'il a decade later. Muhammad ibn Lubb ibn Qasi rebelled against
the Emir in 884, and according to chronicler Ibn Hayyan he sold Zaragoza to Raymond of Pallars, but it was immediately retaken by the Emir and in 886 was given to the Banu Tujibi.
In spite of a 17-year siege by the Banu Qasi, the Banu Tujibi continued
to hold the city, growing in power and autonomy, until in 1018 they
broke from Cordoban control and founded an independent Taifa state.
Taifa of Zaragoza
From 1018 to 1118 Zaragoza was one of the taifa kingdoms, independent Muslim states which emerged in the eleventh century following the destruction of the Cordoban Caliphate. During the first three decades of this period, 1018–1038, the city was ruled by the Banu Tujibi. In 1038 they were replaced by the Banu Hud, who had to deal with a complicated alliance with El Cid of Valencia and his Castilian masters against the Almoravids,
who managed to bring the Taifas Emirates under their control. After the
death of El Cid his kingdom was overrun by the Almoravids, who, by
1100, had managed to cross the Ebro into Barbastro, which brought Aragon into direct contact with them. The Banu Hud stubbornly resisted the Almoravids and ruled until they were eventually defeated by them in May 1110.
The last sultan of the Banu Hud, Abd-al-Malik Imad ad-Dawla, the last king of Zaragoza, forced to abandon his capital, allied himself with the Christian Aragonese under Alfonso the Battler and from that time the Muslims of Zaragoza became military regulars within the Aragonese forces.
Aragonese era
In 1118 the Aragonese conquered the city from the Almoravids and made it the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon. After Alfonso's death without heirs in 1134, Zaragoza was swiftly occupied by Alfonso VII of León and Castile, who vacated it in 1137 only on condition it be held by Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona as a fief of Castile.
Zaragoza was the scene of two controversial martyrdoms related with the Spanish Inquisition: those of Saint Dominguito del Val, a choirboy in the basilica, and Pedro de Arbués,
head official of the inquisition. While the reality of the existence of
Saint Dominguito del Val is questioned, his "murder" at the hands of
"jealous Jews" was used as an excuse to murder or convert the Jewish
population of Zaragoza.[3]
Zaragoza suffered two famous sieges during the Peninsular War against the Napoleonic army: a first from June to August 1808; and a second from December 1808 to February 1809 (see Agustina de Aragón, Siege of Saragossa (1809)), surrendering only after some 50,000 defenders had died.[4]
Modern history
Despite a decline in the outlying rural economy, Zaragoza has
continued to grow. During the second half of the 20th century, its
population boomed as a number of factories opened in the region. In 1979
the Hotel Corona de Aragón fire killed at least 80. The armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization ETA from northern Spain has been blamed, but officially the fire is still regarded as accidental. ETA carried out the 1987 Zaragoza Barracks bombing
in the city which killed eleven people, including a number of children,
leading to 250,000 people taking part in demonstrations in the city.
Main sights
Near the basilica on the banks of the Ebro are located the city hall, the Lonja (old currency exchange), La Seo (literally "the See" in the Aragonese language) or Cathedral of San Salvador,
a magnificent church built over the main mosque (partially preserved in
the 11th-century north wall of the Parroquieta), with Romanesque apses
from 12th century; inside, the imposing hallenkirche from the 15th to
16th centuries, the Baroque tower, and finally, with its famous Museum
of Tapestries near the Roman ruins of forum and port city wall.
Some distance from the centre of the old city is the Moorish castle (or palace) Aljafería, the most important Moorish buildings in northern Spain and the setting for Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il trovatore (The Troubadour). The Aragonese parliament currently sits in the building.
The churches of San Pablo, Santa María Magdalena and San Gil Abad were built in 14th century, but the towers may be old minarets dating from the 11th century; San Miguel
(14th century); Santiago (San Ildefonso) and the Fecetas monastery are
Baroque with Mudéjar ceilings of the 17th century. All the churches are
Mudéjar monuments that comprise a World Heritage Site.
Other important sights are the stately houses and magnificent palaces
in the city, mainly of the 16th century: palaces of the count of Morata
or Luna (Audiencia), Deán, Torrero (colegio de Arquitectos), Don Lope
or Real Maestranza, count of Sástago, count of Argillo (today the Pablo
Gargallo museum), archbishop, etc.
The most important Zaragoza museums are the Museum of Fine Arts, with
paintings by early Aragonese artists, 15th century, and by El Greco,
Ribera and Goya, and the Camón Aznar Museum, with paintings ranging from
Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Velazquez and Goya to Renoir, Manet and
Sorolla.
On 14 June 2008, the site of Expo 2008 opened its doors to the public. The exhibition ran until 14 September.
Other sights
- Puente de Piedra
- San Ildefonso church
- Santa Engracia Monastery
- San Nicolás de Bari church
- Palacio de Larrinaga
- Santo Tomás de Aquino church
- San Agustín Convent
- Church of Santa Isabel de Portugal
- Casa Solans
- Palacio de los Luna
- Arch of Deán
- Arguillo Palace
- Casino mercantil
- Bullring
- The Giants of Zaragoza
- Jose Antonio Labordeta Park
- San José Bajo Arena
- Casa Rivero Lahoz
- "Quique" Stadium (Home of El Salvador Football Club)
- Sanctuary of Mercy Church - Borja (restored Jesus Fresco)
References
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)
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Today's Snippet I: Cape St Vincent , Portugal
Cape St. Vincent (Portuguese: Cabo de São Vicente, Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈkabu dɨ sɐ̃w̃ viˈsẽtɨ]), next to the Sagres Point, on the so-called Costa Vicentina (Vincentine Coast), is a headland in the municipality of Sagres, in the Algarve, southern Portugal.
This cape is the southwesternmost point in Portugal. It forms the southwestern end of the E9 European Coastal Path, which runs for 5,000 km (3,100 mi) to Narva-Jõesuu in Estonia. Approximately six kilometers from the village of Sagres, the cape is a landmark for a ship traveling to or from the Mediterranean.
The cliffs rise nearly vertically from the Atlantic to a height of 75
meters. The cape is a site of exuberant marine life and a high
concentration of birds nesting on the cliffs, such as the rare Bonelli's eagle, peregrine falcons, kites, rock thrushes, rock pigeons, storks and herons.
History
Cape St. Vincent was already sacred ground in Neolithic times, as standing menhirs in the neighborhood attest. The ancient Greeks called it Ophiussa (Land of Serpents), inhabited by the Oestriminis and dedicated here a temple to Heracles. The Romans called it Promontorium Sacrum
(or Holy Promontory). They considered it a magical place where the
sunset was much larger than anywhere else. They believed the sun sank
here hissing into the ocean, marking the edge of their world.
According to legend, the name of this cape is linked to the story of a martyred fourth-century Iberian deacon St. Vincent whose body was brought ashore here. A shrine was erected over his grave; according to the Arab geographer Al-Idrisi, it was always guarded by ravens and is therefore named by him كنيسة الغراب (Kanīsah al-Ghurāb, meaning "Church of the Raven"). King Afonso Henriques (1139–1185) had the body of the saint exhumed in 1173 and brought it by ship to Lisbon, still accompanied by the ravens. This transfer of the relics is depicted on the coat of arms of Lisbon. The area around the cape was plundered several times by pirates from France and Holland and, in 1587, by Sir Francis Drake. All existing buildings—including the Vila do Infante of Henry the Navigator--fell into ruins because of the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. The Franciscan friars who cared for the shrine stayed on until 1834, when all monasteries were disbanded in Portugal.
Several naval battles were fought in the vicinity of this cape:
- The French Admiral Anne Hilarion de Tourville defeated a large Anglo-Dutch naval fleet commanded by George Rooke escorting a convoy of between 400 and 500 English and Dutch merchant ships on 27 June 1693. The "Smyrna fleet" disaster, as it came to be known, saw 94 of the richly-laden merchant ships either captured or sunk; this event led to the dismissal of two English admirals whose convoy escort had turned back off Ushant, France.
- In 1780, this cape was the site of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (between Britain and Spain).
- Admiral Jervis with Commodore Nelson defeated the Spanish fleet in 1797 at a second Battle of Cape St. Vincent on 14 February 1797.
- In 1833, a Loyalist Portuguese fleet defeated the Miguelites during Portugal's Liberal Wars.
Lighthouse
The present lighthouse was built over the ruins of a 16th century Franciscan convent in 1846. The statues of St. Vincent and St. Francis Xavier had been moved to the nearby church of Nossa Senhora da Graça on Point Sagres.
This lighthouse, guarding one of the world's busiest shipping lanes,
is among the most powerful in Europe (the most powerful being on the
French island of Ushant, off the coast of Brittany); its two 1,000 W
lamps can be seen as far as 60 kilometers away.
References
- The Rough Guide to Portugal - 11th ed., March 2005; ISBN 1-84353-438-X
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part One: Profession of Faith, Chapter 1:1:2:3-In Brief
Article 3
IN BRIEF
134 "All Sacred
Scripture is but one book, and that one book is Christ, because all divine
Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ"
(Hugh of St. Victor, De arca Noe 2, 8: PL 176, 642).
135 "The Sacred
Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are inspired, they are
truly the Word of God" (DV 24).
136 God is the author of
Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by
means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error
his saving truth (cf DV 11).
137 Interpretation of the
inspired Scripture must be attentive above all to what God wants to reveal
through the sacred authors for our salvation. What comes from the Spirit is not
fully "understood except by the Spirit's action' (cf. Origen, Hom. in Ex.
4, 5: PG 12, 320).
138 The Church accepts and
venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the
New.
139 The four Gospels occupy a
central place because Christ Jesus is their centre.
140 The unity of the two Testaments
proceeds from the unity of God's plan and his Revelation. the Old Testament
prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfils the Old; the two shed light
on each other; both are true Word of God.
141 "The Church has
always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the
Lord" (DV 21): both nourish and govern the whole Christian life.
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path"
(⇒ Ps 119:105; cf. ⇒ Is
50:4).
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