Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2014 - Litany Lane Blog:
Thanksgiving, Psalms 100, Revelations 18:1-23 19:1-9, Luke 21:20-28, Pope Francis's Daily Catechesis, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Mount Sinai, Saint Catherine's Monastery, History of Thanksgiving, Catholic Catechism Part Three: Life in Christ Section Two: The Ten Commandment Chapter Two: Tenth Commandment Article 10:2 The Desires of the Spirit, Recharge Heaven Speaks to Young Adults
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, reason and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in
Heaven. The Seven Gifts of
the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, wonder and awe (fear of the
Lord) , counsel, knowledge, fortitude, and piety (reverence) and shun
the seven Deadly sins: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and
gluttony...Its your choice whether to embrace the Gifts of the Holy Spirit rising towards eternal light or succumb to the Seven deadly sins and 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 the Darkness, Purgatory or Heaven is our Soul...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...~ Zarya Parx 2013
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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Prayers for Today: Thursday in Ordinary Time
Rosary - Luminous Mysteries
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Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)
Pope Francis Daily Catechesis:
November 26, 2014
(2014-11-26 Vatican Radio)
Pope Francis called on a “haggard” and “lonely” Europe to recover its role as a world protagonist, its identity as a defender of the transcendent dignity of man, the poor, the migrant, the persecuted, the old and the young, to recover its soul: Christianity.
In a lengthy address– the first of two on his one day visit to the heart of Europe – he told members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg that a two-thousand-year-old history links Europe and Christianity, “not free of conflicts or errors, but driven by the desire to work for the good of all”. This “is our present and our future. It is our identity”, he said
The Pope also urged Europe’s 500 million citizens to see the Union’s problems – economic stagnation, unemployment, immigration, rising poverty levels and a growing polarization - as a “force for unity” to overcome fears and mutual mistrust.
“Dignity” he said was the pivotal concept in the process of rebuilding which followed the Second World War and led to the European project. Today it remains central to the commitment of the European Union. But Pope Francis warned, often the concept of human rights is misunderstood and misused.
He pointed to tendency to uphold the rights of the individual, “without regard for the fact that each human being is part of a social context wherein his or her rights and duties are bound up with those of others and with the common good of society itself”.
Transcendent human dignity – the Pope continued - means regarding human beings not as absolutes, but as beings in relation. He spoke of a Europe rampant with the disease of loneliness a direct result of the trend towards individualism. He said the economic crisis has worsened this pervasive loneliness and nourished a growing mistrust in people towards institutions considered aloof and bureaucratic.
The Pope spoke of the unsustainable opulence of selfish lifestyles amid indifference to the poorest of the poor, where technical and economic questions dominate political debate, to the detriment of genuine concern for human beings.
This – the Pope noted –reduces human life to being a “cog in a machine” which, if no longer useful, can be “discarded with few qualms, as in the case of the terminally ill, the elderly who are abandoned and uncared for, and children who are killed in the womb”. This – Pope Francis said quoting Benedict XVI - is the great mistake made “when technology is allowed to take over”; the result is a confusion between ends and means”.
The future of Europe – added Pope Francis - depends on the recovery of the vital connection between openness to God and the practical and concrete ability to confront situations and problems.
The Pope said Christianity is not a threat to secular Europe but rather an enrichment. He said religions can help Europe counter “many forms of extremism” spreading today that are often “a result of the great vacuum of ideals which we are currently witnessing in the West”.
Here he decried the “shameful and complicit silence” of many while religious minorities are being “evicted from their homes and native lands, sold as slaves, killed, beheaded, crucified or burned alive”.
Pope Francis went on to observe that the motto of the European Union is United in Diversity, but unity, does not mean uniformity. Keeping democracy alive in Europe means avoiding the many globalizing tendencies to dilute reality.
Keeping democracies alive is a challenge in the present historic moment, he continued, but it must not be allowed to collapse under the pressure of multinational interests which are not universal. It means nurturing the gifts of each man and woman; investing in families, the fundamental cell and most precious element of any society; in educational institutes; in young people today who are asking for a suitable and complete education to help them to look to the future with hope instead of disenchantment.
In areas such as the ecology Europe has always been in the vanguard, the Pope said, while noting that today “millions of people around the world are dying of hunger while tons of food are discarded each day from our tables”.
He also spoke of the need to promote policies that create employment, but above all “restore dignity to labour by ensuring proper working conditions” while avoiding the exploitation of workers and ensuring “their ability to create a family and educate their children”.
On the issue of migration Pope Francis called for a united response decrying the lack of a coordinated EU wide effort to adopt policies that assist migrants in their countries of origin and that promote a just and realistic integration: “We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery!” he decried to lengthy applause.
Pope Francis concluded: “The time has come for us to abandon the idea of a Europe which is fearful and self-absorbed, in order to revive and encourage a Europe of leadership, a repository of science, art, music, human values and faith as well. A Europe which contemplates the heavens and pursues lofty ideals. A Europe which cares for, defends and protects man, every man and woman. A Europe which bestrides the earth surely and securely, a precious point of reference for all humanity!
Reference: Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2014 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed 11/26/2014
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Liturgical Celebrations to be presided over by Pope: 2015
Vatican City, spring 2014 (VIS)
The following is the English text of the intentions –
both universal and for evangelization – that, as is customary, the Pope
entrusted to the Apostleship of Prayer for 2015.
January
Universal: That those from diverse religious traditions
and all people of good will work together for peace.
Evangelization: That in this year
dedicated to consecrated life, religious men and women may rediscover the joy
of following Christ and strive to serve the poor with zeal.
February
Universal: That prisoners, especially the young, may be
able to rebuild lives of dignity.
Evangelization: That married people who are separated may
find welcome and support in the Christian community.
March
Universal: That those involved in
scientific research may serve the well-being of the whole human person.
Evangelization: That the unique
contribution of women to the life of the Church may be recognized always.
April
Universal: That people may learn to respect creation and
care for it as a gift of God.
Evangelization: That persecuted
Christians may feel the consoling presence of the Risen Lord and the solidarity
of all the Church.
May
Universal: That, rejecting the culture of indifference,
we may care for our neighbours who suffer, especially the sick and the poor.
Evangelization: That Mary’s
intercession may help Christians in secularized cultures be ready to proclaim
Jesus.
June
Universal: That immigrants and refugees may find welcome
and respect in the countries to which they come.
Evangelization: That the personal
encounter with Jesus may arouse in many young people the desire to offer their
own lives in priesthood or consecrated life.
July
Universal: That political responsibility may be lived at
all levels as a high form of charity.
Evangelization: That, amid social
inequalities, Latin American Christians may bear witness to love for the poor
and contribute to a more fraternal society.
August
Universal: That volunteers may
give themselves generously to the service of the needy.
Evangelization: That setting aside
our very selves we may learn to be neighbours to those who find themselves on
the margins of human life and society.
September
Universal: That
opportunities for education and employment may increase for all young people.
Evangelization: That catechists may
give witness by living in a way consistent with the faith they proclaim.
October
Universal: That human trafficking, the modern form of
slavery, may be eradicated.
Evangelization: That with a
missionary spirit the Christian communities of Asia may announce the Gospel to
those who are still awaiting it.
November
Universal: That we may be open to
personal encounter and dialogue with all, even those whose convictions differ
from our own.
Evangelization: That pastors of the
Church, with profound love for their flocks, may accompany them and enliven
their hope.
December
Universal: That all may experience the mercy of God, who
never tires of forgiving.
Evangelization: That families,
especially those who suffer, may find in the birth of Jesus a sign of certain
hope.
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2014 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed 11/27/2014.
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November 2, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: "Dear children; Anew, in a motherly way, I am calling you to love; to
continually pray for the gift of love; to love the Heavenly Father above
everything. When you love Him you will love yourself and your neighbor.
This cannot be separated. The Heavenly Father is in each person. He
loves each person and calls each person by his name. Therefore, my
children, through prayer hearken to the will of the Heavenly Father.
Converse with Him. Have a personal relationship with the Father which
will deepen even more your relationship as a community of my children –
of my apostles. As a mother I desire that, through the love for the
Heavenly Father, you may be raised above earthly vanities and may help
others to gradually come to know and come closer to the Heavenly Father.
My children, pray, pray, pray for the gift of love because 'love' is my
Son. Pray for your shepherds that they may always have love for you as
my Son had and showed by giving His life for your salvation. Thank you."
October 25, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: “Dear children! Today I call you to open yourselves to prayer. Prayer works miracles in you and through you. Therefore, little children, in the simplicity of heart seek of the Most High to give you the strength to be God’s children and for Satan not to shake you like the wind shakes the branches. Little children, decide for God anew and seek only His will – and then you will find joy and peace in Him. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
October 2, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: "Dear children, I love you with a motherly love and with a motherly patience I wait for your love and unity. I pray that you may be a community of God’s children, of my children. I pray that as a community you may joyfully come back to life in the faith and in the love of my Son. My children, I am gathering you as my apostles and am teaching you how to bring others to come to know the love of my Son; how to bring to them the Good News, which is my Son. Give me your open, purified hearts and I will fill them with the love for my Son. His love will give meaning to your life and I will walk with you. I will be with you until the meeting with the Heavenly Father. My children, it is those who walk towards the Heavenly Father with love and faith who will be saved. Do not be afraid, I am with you. Put your trust in your shepherds as my Son trusted when he chose them, and pray that they may have the strength and the love to lead you. Thank you." - See more at: http://litanylane.blogspot.com/2013/11/tuesday-november-12-2013-litany-lane.html#sthash.1QAVruYo.bk3E9rXR.dpuf
October 25, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: “Dear children! Today I call you to open yourselves to prayer. Prayer works miracles in you and through you. Therefore, little children, in the simplicity of heart seek of the Most High to give you the strength to be God’s children and for Satan not to shake you like the wind shakes the branches. Little children, decide for God anew and seek only His will – and then you will find joy and peace in Him. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
October 2, 2013 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message to the World: "Dear children, I love you with a motherly love and with a motherly patience I wait for your love and unity. I pray that you may be a community of God’s children, of my children. I pray that as a community you may joyfully come back to life in the faith and in the love of my Son. My children, I am gathering you as my apostles and am teaching you how to bring others to come to know the love of my Son; how to bring to them the Good News, which is my Son. Give me your open, purified hearts and I will fill them with the love for my Son. His love will give meaning to your life and I will walk with you. I will be with you until the meeting with the Heavenly Father. My children, it is those who walk towards the Heavenly Father with love and faith who will be saved. Do not be afraid, I am with you. Put your trust in your shepherds as my Son trusted when he chose them, and pray that they may have the strength and the love to lead you. Thank you." - See more at: http://litanylane.blogspot.com/2013/11/tuesday-november-12-2013-litany-lane.html#sthash.1QAVruYo.bk3E9rXR.dpuf
Today's Word: thanksgiving Thanks·giv·ing [thangks-giv-ing]
Origin: 1525-35; thank + -s3+ giving. "the giving of thanks," from thanks (n.) + present participle of give (v.). In the specific sense of "public celebration acknowledging divine favors" thanksgiving dates from 1630s (the first one in America was held October 1621 by Plymouth Colony Pilgrims in appreciation of assistance from members of the Massasoit tribe and celebration of the first harvest); though Thanksgiving Day itself is not attested until 1670s.
1. the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially to God.
2. an expression of thanks, especially to God.
3. a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness.
4. a day set apart for giving thanks to God.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 100:2-5
2 serve Yahweh with gladness, come into his presence with songs of joy!3 Be sure that Yahweh is God, he made us, we belong to him, his people, the flock of his sheepfold.
4 Come within his gates giving thanks, to his courts singing praise, give thanks to him and bless his name!
5 For Yahweh is good, his faithful love is everlasting, his constancy from age to age.
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Today's Epistle - Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9
1 After this, I saw another angel come down from heaven, with great authority given to him; the earth shone with his glory.
2 At the top of his voice he shouted, 'Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, and has become the haunt of devils and a lodging for every foul spirit and dirty, loathsome bird.
21 Then a powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, 'That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen again.
22 Never again in you will be heard the song of harpists and minstrels, the music of flute and trumpet; never again will craftsmen of every skill be found in you or the sound of the handmill be heard;
23 never again will shine the light of the lamp in you, never again will be heard in you the voices of bridegroom and bride. Your traders were the princes of the earth, all the nations were led astray by your sorcery.
1 After this I heard what seemed to be the great sound of a huge crowd in heaven, singing, 'Alleluia! Salvation and glory and power to our God!
2 He judges fairly, he punishes justly, and he has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her prostitution; he has avenged the blood of his servants which she shed.'
9 The angel said, 'Write this, "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb," ' and he added, 'These words of God are true.'
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Today's Gospel Reading - Luke 21:20-28
Ordinary Time
Opening prayer
Lord,
increase our eagerness to do your will
and help us to know the saving power of your love.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
increase our eagerness to do your will
and help us to know the saving power of your love.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel reading - Luke 21:20-28
Jesus said to his disciples: 'When you
see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you must realise that it will
soon be laid desolate. Then those in Judaea must escape to the
mountains, those inside the city must leave it, and those in country
districts must not take refuge in it. For this is the time of
retribution when all that scripture says must be fulfilled. Alas for
those with child, or with babies at the breast, when those days come!
'For great misery will descend on the land and retribution on this
people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive to
every gentile country; and Jerusalem will be trampled down by the
gentiles until their time is complete. 'There will be signs in the
sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the
turmoil of the ocean and its waves; men fainting away with terror and
fear at what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be
shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.'
Reflection
• In today’s Gospel we have the
continuation of the Apocalyptic Discourse which gives two signs, the
7th and the 8th, which should take place before the end of time or
better before the coming of the end of this world in order to give
place to the new world, to the “new Heavens and the New Earth” (Is 65,
17). The seventh sign is the destruction of Jerusalem and the eighth is
the upsetting of the old creation.
• Luke 21, 20-24. The seventh sign: the destruction of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was for them the Eternal City. And now it was destroyed! How can this fact be explained? Is it possible that God is not aware of this? It is difficult for us to imagine the trauma and the crisis of faith that the destruction of Jerusalem caused in the communities both of the Jews and of the Christians. Here it is possible to make an observation on the composition of the Gospel of Luke and of Mark. Luke writes in the year 85. He uses the Gospel of Mark to compose his narrative on Jesus. Mark writes in the year 70, the same year in which Jerusalem was surrounded and destroyed by the Roman armies. This is why Mark writes giving an indication to the reader: “When you see the appalling abomination set up where it ought not to be – (and here he opens a parenthesis and says) “let the reader understand!”) (he closes the parenthesis) - then those in Judaea must escape to the mountains” (Mk 13, 14). When Luke mentions the destruction of Jerusalem, for the past fifteen years Jerusalem was in ruins. This is why he omits the parenthesis of Mark and Luke says: “When you will see Jerusalem surrounded by the army, then you must realize that it will soon be laid desolate. Then those in Judaea must escape to the mountains, those inside the city must leave it, and those in country districts must not take refuge in it; for this is the time of retribution when all that Scripture says must be fulfilled. Alas for those with child, or with babies at the breast, when those days come. For great misery will descend on the land and retribution on this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive to every gentile country; and Jerusalem will be trampled down by gentiles until their time is complete”. Hearing Jesus who announces persecution (6th sign) and the destruction of Jerusalem (7th sign), the readers of the persecuted communities in the time of Luke concluded saying: “This is our day! We are in the 6th and 7th signs!”
• Luke 21, 25-26: The eighth sign: changes in the sun and in the moon. When will the end come? At the end, after having spoken about all these signs which had already been realized, there was still the following question: “God’s project is very much advanced and the stages foreseen by Jesus are already being realized. We are in the sixth and the seventh stages, how many stages or signs are still lacking until the end arrives? Is there much lacking?” The response is now given in the 8th sign: "There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the turmoil of the ocean and its waves; men fainting away with terror and fear at what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken”. The 8th sign is different from the other signs. The signs in heaven and on earth are an indication of what is taking place, at the same time, at the end of the old world, of the ancient creation, it is the beginning of the coming of the new Heaven and the new earth. When the shell of the egg begins to crack it is a sign that the novelty is about to appear. It is the coming of a New World which is provoking the disintegration of the ancient world. Conclusion: very little is lacking! The Kingdom of God is arriving already!
• Luke 21, 27-28: The coming of the Kingdom of God and the appearance of the Son of Man. “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect; hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand”. In this announcement, Jesus describes the coming of the Kingdom with images taken from the prophecy of Daniel (Dn 7, 1-14). Daniel says that, after the misfortunes caused by the kingdoms of this world, the Kingdom of God will come. The kingdoms of this world, all of them, had the figure of an animal: lion, panther, bear, and ferocious beast (Dn 7, 3-7). These are animal signs which dehumanize life, like it happens with the neo-liberal kingdom, today! The Kingdom of God then appears with the aspect of the Son of Man, that is, with a human aspect (Dn 7, 13). It is a human kingdom. To construct this kingdom which humanizes is the task of the persons of the community. It is the new history that we have to take to fulfillment and which brings together people from the four corners of the earth. The title Son of Man is the name that Jesus liked to use. In the four Gospels this name appears more than 80 times (eighty)! Any pain which we bear from now, any struggle in behalf of life, any persecution for the sake of justice, any birth pangs, are a seed of the Kingdom which will come in the 8th sign.
Personal questions
• Persecution of the communities,
destruction of Jerusalem. Lack of hope. Before the events which today
make people suffer, do I despair? Which is the source of my hope?
• Son of Man is the title which Jesus liked to use. He wants to humanize life. The more human it is the more divine as Pope Leo the Great said. Am I human in my relationships with others? Do I humanize?
• Son of Man is the title which Jesus liked to use. He wants to humanize life. The more human it is the more divine as Pope Leo the Great said. Am I human in my relationships with others? Do I humanize?
Concluding prayer
For Yahweh is good,
his faithful love is everlasting,
his constancy from age to age. (Ps 100,5)
his faithful love is everlasting,
his constancy from age to age. (Ps 100,5)
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 Catherine of Alexandria
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| Saint Catherine of Alexandria 1530 |
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine (Greek: ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνα ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς) is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius.
According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of fourteen, and converted hundreds of people to Christianity. Over 1,100 years following her martyrdom, St. Joan of Arc identified Catherine as one of the Saints who appeared to her and counseled her.[3]
The Orthodox Church venerates her as a Great Martyr, and celebrates her feast day on 24 or 25 November (depending on the local tradition). In the Catholic Church she is traditionally revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In 1969 the Catholic Church removed her feast day from the General Roman Calendar;[4] however, she continued to be commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on November 25.[5] In 2002, her feast was restored to the General Roman Calendar as an optional memorial.
Life
According to the traditional narrative, Catherine was the beautiful
daughter of the pagan King Costus and Queen Sabinella, who governed Alexandria. Her superior intelligence combined with diligent study left her exceedingly well-versed in all the arts and sciences, and in philosophy. Having decided to remain a virgin
all her life, she announced that she would only marry someone who
surpassed her in beauty, intelligence, wealth, and dignity. This has
been interpreted as an early foreshadowing of her eventual discovery of Christ.
"His beauty was more radiant than the shining of the sun, His wisdom
governed all creation, His riches were spread throughout all the world."[1] Though raised a pagan, she became an ardent Christian in her teenage years, having received a vision in which the Blessed Virgin Mary gave her to Christ in mystical marriage.
As a young adult, she visited her contemporary, the Roman Emperor Maxentius, and attempted to convince him of the moral error in persecuting Christians for not worshipping idols. The emperor arranged for a plethora of the best pagan philosophers and orators
to dispute with her, hoping that they would refute her pro-Christian
arguments, but Catherine won the debate. Several of her adversaries,
conquered by her eloquence, declared themselves Christians and were at
once put to death.[6]
Torture and martyrdom
Catherine was then scourged and imprisoned, during which time over 200 people came to see her, including Maxentius' wife, the Empress; all converted to Christianity and were subsequently martyred.[7]
Upon the failure of Maxentius to make Catherine yield by way of
torture, he tried to win the beautiful and wise princess over by
proposing marriage. The saint refused, declaring that her spouse was Jesus Christ, to whom she had consecrated her virginity. The furious emperor condemned Catherine to death on the spiked breaking wheel, but, at her touch, this instrument of torture was miraculously destroyed.[6] Maxentius finally had her beheaded.
Burial
A tradition dating to about 800 states that angels carried her corpse to Mount Sinai,[8] where, in the 6th century, the Eastern Emperor Justinian had established what is now Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt (which is in fact dedicated to the Transfiguration).
The main church was built between 548 and 565, and the monastery became
a major pilgrimage site for devotees of Catherine and the other relics and sacred sites there. Saint Catherine's Monastery survives, and is a famous repository of early Christian art, architecture and illuminated manuscripts that remains open to tourists and visiting scholars.
Historicity
Donald Attwater dismisses the "legend" of St. Catherine, citing the
lack of any "positive evidence that she ever existed outside the mind of
some Greek writer who first composed what he intended to be simply an
edifying romance."[9]
Harold T. Davis confirms that "assiduous research has failed to
identify Catherine with any historical personage" and has theorized that
Catherine was an invention inspired to provide a counterpart to the
story of the slightly later pagan philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria (c. AD 350–370–March 415).[10][11]
Another possibility for the inspiration of St. Catherine, comes from the writer, Eusebius, who wrote around the year 320, that the Emperor had ordered a young Christian woman, Dorothea of Alexandria,
to come to his palace to become his mistress, and when she refused, he
had her punished, by having her banished, and her estates confiscated.[12]
The earliest surviving account of St. Catherine's life comes over 500 years after the traditional date of her martyrdom, in the menologium attributed to Emperor Basil I (866), although the rediscovery of her relics at Saint Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai was about 800,[13]
and presumably implies an existing cult at that date (the common name
of the monastery developed after the discovery). The monastery was built
by order of Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565), enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush ordered to be built by Helena, the mother of Constantine I,
at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush; the
living bush on the grounds is purportedly the original. It is also
referred to as "St. Helen's Chapel." The site is sacred to Christianity
and Islam.
In her book The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe
(Ashgate 2007), Christine Walsh devotes Chapter 2, "The Historical
Katherine", to the question of Katherine's historical existence. In
Chapter 8, "Conclusion", she writes in summary "As we have seen, the
cult of St Katherine of Alexandria probably originated in oral
traditions from the 4th-century Diocletianic Persecutions
of Christians in Alexandria. There is no evidence that Katherine
herself was a historical figure and she may well have been a composite
drawn from memories of women persecuted for their faith. Many aspects of
her Passio are clearly legendary and conform to well-known hagiographical topoi."[14]
Medieval cult
Saint Catherine was one of the most important saints in the religious culture of the late Middle Ages, and arguably considered the most important of the virgin martyrs, a group including Saint Agnes, Margaret of Antioch, Saint Barbara, Saint Lucy, Valerie of Limoges and many others. Her power as an intercessor was renowned and firmly established in most versions of her hagiography,
in which she specifically entreats Christ at the moment of her death to
answer the prayers of those who remember her martyrdom and invoke her
name.
The development of her medieval cult was spurred by the reported rediscovery of her body around the year 800 at Mount Sinai, with hair still growing and a constant stream of healing oil issuing from her body.[13] There are several pilgrimage narratives that chronicle the journey to Mount Sinai, most notably those of John Mandeville and Friar Felix Fabri.[15] However, the monastery at Mount Sinai was the best-known site of Catherine pilgrimage, but was also the most difficult to reach. The most prominent Western shrine was the monastery in Rouen
that claimed to house Catherine's fingers. It was not alone in the
west, however, accompanied by many, scattered shrines and altars
dedicated to Catherine, which existed throughout France and England.
Some were better known sites, such as Canterbury and Westminster, which claimed a phial of her oil, brought back from Mount Sinai by Edward the Confessor.[16] Other shrines, such as St. Catherine's Hill, Hampshire
were the focus of generally local pilgrimage, many of which are only
identified by brief mentions to them in various texts, rather than by
physical evidence.[17]
St. Catharine's College, Cambridge was founded on St Catharine’s Day (November 25) 1473 by Robert Woodlark (the then-provost of King's College Cambridge) who sought to create a small community of scholars who would study exclusively theology and philosophy.
Wodelarke may have chosen the name in homage to Catherine of Valois, mother of Henry VI of England,
although it is more likely that it was named as part of the Renaissance
cult of St Catharine, who was a patron saint of learning. At any rate,
the college was ready for habitation and formally founded on St
Catharine’s Day, 1473
Saint Catherine also had a large female following, whose devotion was less likely to be expressed through pilgrimage. The importance of the virgin martyrs as the focus of devotion and models for proper feminine behavior increased during the late middle ages.[18] Among these, St. Catherine in particular was used as an exemplar for women, a status which at times superseded her intercessory role.[19] Both Christine de Pizan and Geoffrey de la Tour Landry point to Catherine as a paragon for young women, emphasizing her model of virginity and "wifely chastity."[20] From the early 14th century the Mystic marriage of Saint Catherine
first appears in hagiographical literature and, soon after, in art. In
the Western church, concerns over the authenticity of her legend began
to reduce her importance in the 18th century.[21]
Her principal symbol is the spiked wheel, which has become known as the Catherine wheel, and her feast day is celebrated on 25 November by most Christian churches. However, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates it on 24 November. The exact origin of this tradition is not known. In 11th-century Kyivan-Rus, the feast day was celebrated on 25 November. Saint Dimitry of Rostov in his Kniga zhyttia sviatykh (Book of the Lives of the Saints), T.1 (1689) places the date of celebration on 24 November. A story that Empress Catherine the Great did not wish to share her patronal feast with the Leavetaking of the feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos
and hence changed the date is not supported by historical evidence. One
of the first Roman Catholic churches to be built in Russia, the Catholic Church of St. Catherine, was named after Catherine of Alexandria because she was Catherine the Great's patron.
The 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia describes her historical importance as follows:
Ranked with St Margaret and St Barbara as one of the fourteen most helpful saints in heaven, she was unceasingly praised by preachers and sung by poets. It is believed that Jacques-Benigne Bossuet dedicated to her one of his most beautiful panegyrics and that Adam of St. Victor wrote a magnificent poem in her honour: Vox Sonora nostri chori.
In many places her feast was celebrated with the utmost solemnity,
servile work being suppressed and the devotions being attended by great
numbers of people. In several dioceses of France it was observed as a Holy Day of Obligation up to the beginning of the 17th century, the splendour of its ceremonial eclipsing that of the feasts of some of the Apostles.
Numberless chapels were placed under her patronage and her statue was
found in nearly all churches, representing her according to medieval iconography with a wheel, her instrument of torture.
Meanwhile, owing to several circumstances in his life, Saint Nicholas of Myra was considered the patron of young bachelors and students, and Saint Catherine became the patroness of young maidens and female students. Looked upon as the holiest and most illustrious of the virgins of Christ after the Blessed Virgin Mary,
it was natural that she, of all others, should be worthy to watch over
the virgins of the cloister and the young women of the world. The spiked wheel having become emblematic of the saint, wheelwrights and mechanics
placed themselves under her patronage. Finally, as according to
tradition, she not only remained a virgin by governing her passions and
conquered her executioners by wearying their patience, but triumphed in
science by closing the mouths of sophists, her intercession was implored by theologians, apologists, pulpit orators, and philosophers.
Before studying, writing, or preaching, they besought her to illumine
their minds, guide their pens, and impart eloquence to their words. This
devotion to St. Catherine which assumed such vast proportions in Europe after the Crusades, received additional éclat in France in the beginning of the 15th century, when it was rumoured that she had spoken to Joan of Arc and, together with St. Margaret, had been divinely appointed Joan's adviser.[6]
In art
Devotion to Saint Catherine remains strong amongst Orthodox Christians.
With the relative ease of travel in the modern age, pilgrimages to
Saint Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai have increased. Pilgrims to
her monastery on Mt Sinai are given a ring, which has been placed on the
relics of the saint as an evlogia (blessing) in remembrance of their visit.
Catherine is very frequently depicted in art, especially in the late Middle Ages, which is also the time that the account of St. Catherine's Mystical Marriage
makes its first literary appearance. She can usually be easily
recognised as she is richly dressed and crowned, as befits her rank as a
princess, and often holds or stands next to a segment of her wheel as
an attribute. She also often carries either a martyr's palm
or the sword with which she was actually executed. She often has long
unbound blonde or reddish hair (unbound as she is unmarried). The vision
of Saint Catherine of Alexandria usually shows the Infant Christ, held
by the Virgin, placing a ring (one of her attributes) on her finger,
following some literary accounts, although in the version in the Golden Legend he appears to be adult, and the marriage takes place among a great crowd of angels and "all the celestial court",[22] and these may also be shown.
She is very frequently shown attending on the Virgin and Child, and is usually prominent in scenes of the Master of the Virgo inter Virgines,
showing a group of virgin saints surrounding the Virgin and Child.
Notable later paintings of Catherine include single figures by Raphael (National Gallery) and Caravaggio (Madrid), Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum).
Contemporary media
- A movie project about Catherine, called Katherine of Alexandria, began production in January 2010 and is due for release in 2014.[23]
Notes
- Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Accessed 30 December 2006.
- http://www.catholicculture.org/lit/calendar/day.cfm?id=330
- Williard Trask, Joan of Arc: In Her Own Words (Turtle Point Press, 1996), 99
- Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 147
- Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
- "Clugnet, Léon. "St. Catherine of Alexandria." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 1 May 2013". Newadvent.org. 1908-11-01. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
- "Saint Catherine of Alexandria". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
- "Foley O.F.M., Leonard. ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast,(revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media, ISBN 978-0-8617-887-7". Americancatholic.org. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
- Mateus Soares de Azevedo (25 April 2005). Ye shall know the truth: Christianity and the perennial philosophy. World Wisdom, Inc. p. 324. ISBN 978-0-941532-69-3. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- Harold Thayer Davis, Alexandria: The Golden City (Principia Press of Illinois, 1957), p 441
- Allen, pp. 214-217
- "EWTN's Saints and other Holy People Home". Ewtn.com. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
- S.R.T.O d'Ardeene and E.J. Dobson, Seinte Katerine: Re-Edited from MS Bodley 34 and other Manuscripts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), xiv.
- Christine Walsh, The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe (Burlington:Ashgate Publishing Company, 2007) p 143
- John Mandeville, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1964); Felix Fabri, The Wanderings of Felix Fabri (New York: AMS Press, 1971), 217.
- Christine Walsh, "The Role of the Normans in the Development of the Cult of St. Katherine" in St. Katherine of Alexandria: Texts and Contexts in Western Medieval Europe eds. Jacqueline Jenkins and Katherine J. Lewis (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2003), 31; Katherine J. Lewis, "Pilgrimage and the Cult of St. Katherine of Alexandria in Late Medieval England" in St. Katherine of Alexandria: Texts and Contexts in Western Medieval Europe eds. Jacqueline Jenkins and Katherine J. Lewis (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2003),44.
- Lewis, "Pilgrimage and the Cult of St. Katherine", 49-51.
References
- Allen, Prudence, The concept of woman: the Aristotelian revolution, 750 BC-AD 1250, 1997 (2nd edn.), Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 0-8028-4270-4, ISBN 978-0-8028-4270-1
- John Bugge, Virginitas: An Essay in the History of the Medieval Ideal (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1975), 132; Katherine J. Lewis, The Cult of St. Katherine of Alexiandria in Late Medieval England (Rochester: The Boydell Press, 2000), 229; Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England c. 1400-c. 1580 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 174.
- Katherine J. Lewis, "Model Girls? Virgin-Martyrs and the Training of Young Women in Late Medieval England" in Young Medieval Womeen eds. Katherine J. Lewis, Noel James Menuge and Kim M. Phillips (New York: St. Martin's PRess, 1999).
- Christine de Pizan, The Treasure of the City of Ladies trans. by Sarah Lawson (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 146; Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies trans. by Rosalind Brown-Grant (New York: Penguin Books, 1999), 203; Rebecca Barnhouse, The Book of the Knight of the Tower (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 126, 193.
- Allen, 217
- Life of St "Katherine" in William Caxton's English version of the Golden Legend.
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587685/
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Today's Snippet I: Mount Sanai, Egypt
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| summit of Mount Sinai |
Geography
Mount Sinai is a 2,285-metre (7,497 ft) moderately high mountain near the city of Saint Catherine in the Sinai region. It is next to Mount Catherine (at 2,629 m or 8,625 ft, the highest peak in Egypt). It is surrounded on all sides by higher peaks of the mountain range.Geology
Mount Sinai's rocks were formed in the late stage of the Arabian-Nubian Shield's (ANS) evolution. Mount Sinai displays a ring complex that consists of alkaline granites intruded into diverse rock types, including volcanics. The granites range in composition from syenogranite to alkali feldspar granite. The volcanic rocks are alkaline to peralkaline and they are represented by subaerial flows and eruptions and subvolcanic porphyry. Generally, the nature of the exposed rocks in Mount Sinai indicates that they originated from different depths.Religious significance
The biblical Mount Sinai was one of the most important sacred places in the Abrahamic religions. According to Bedouin tradition, it was the mountain where God gave laws to the Israelites. However, the earliest Christian traditions place this event at the nearby Mount Serbal, at the foot of which a monastery was founded in the 4th century; it was only in the 6th century that the monastery moved to the foot of Mount Catherine, following the guidance of Josephus's earlier claim that Sinai was the highest mountain in the area.Orthodox Christians settled upon this mountain in the third century AD. Georgians from the Caucasus moved to the Sinai Peninsula in the Fifth Century, and a Georgian colony was formed there in the Ninth Century. Georgians erected their own churches in the area of the modern Mount Sinai. The construction of one such church was connected with the name of David The Builder, who contributed to the erecting of churches in Georgia and abroad as well. There were political, cultural, & religious motives for locating the church on Mount Sinai. Georgian monks living there were deeply connected with their motherland. The church had its own plots in Kartli. Some of the Georgian manuscripts of Sinai remain there, but others are kept in Tbilisi, St. Petersburg, Prague, New York, Paris, or in private collections.
Suggested locations
Modern scholars differ as to the exact geographical position of Mount Sinai and the same has long been true of scholars of Judaism. The Elijah narrative appears to suggest that when it was written, the location of Horeb was still known with some certainty, as Elijah is described as travelling to Horeb on one occasion, but there are no later biblical references to it that suggest the location remained known; Josephus only specifies that it was within Arabia Petraea (a Roman Province encompassing modern Jordan, southern modern Syria, the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Saudi Arabia with its capital in Petra), and the Pauline Epistles are even more vague, specifying only that it was in Arabia, which covers most of the south-western Middle east.The Sinai Peninsula
Map of Sinai Peninsula with country borders shown.
Unlike these Christian traditions, Bedouin tradition considered Jabal Musa, which lies adjacent to Mount Catherine, to be the biblical mountain, and it is this mountain that local tour groups and religious groups presently advertise as the biblical Mount Sinai; this claim goes back to the time of Helena of Constantinople. Evidently this view was eventually taken up by Christian groups as well, as in the 16th century a church was constructed at the peak of this mountain, which was replaced by a Greek Orthodox chapel in 1954.
According to textual scholars, in the JE version of the Exodus narrative, the Israelites travel in a roughly straight line to Kadesh Barnea from the Yam Suph (literally meaning "the Reed Sea", but considered traditionally to refer to the Red sea), and the detour via the south of the Sinai peninsula is only present in the Priestly Source. A number of scholars and commentators have therefore looked towards the more central and northern parts of the Sinai peninsula for the mountain. Mount Sin Bishar, in the west-central part of the peninsula, was proposed to be the biblical Mount Sinai by Menashe Har-El, a biblical geographer at Tel Aviv University. Mount Helal, in the north of the peninsula has also been proposed.
Edom/Nabatea
The Siq, facing the Treasury, at the foot of Jebel al-Madhbah
Based on a number of local names and features, in 1927 Ditlef Nielsen identified the Jebel al-Madhbah (meaning mountain of the Altar) at Petra as being identical to the biblical Mount Sinai; since then, as well as a number of scholars, a number of amateur investigators such as Graham Phillips, Andrew Collins, and Chris Ogilvie-Herald have also made the identification. The biblical description of a loud trumpet at Sinai fits the natural phenomenon of the sound of a volcano erupting or the loud trumpeting sound caused by wind being funnelled down the Siq the local Bedouins refer to the sound as the trumpet of God.[ The dramatic biblical descriptions of devouring fire on the summit, would fit with the fact that there have been many reports and sightings of plasma phenomena at al-Madhbah over the centuries; the pre-requisite that storm conditions exist before plasma phenomena usually occur would fit with the storm-like biblical description of thunder, lightning, and a thick cloud.
The valley in which Petra resides is known as the Wadi Musa, meaning valley of Moses, and at the entrance to the Siq is the Ain Musa, meaning spring of Moses; the 13th century Arab chronicler Numari stated was Ain Musa was the location where Moses had brought water from the ground, by striking it with his rod. The Jebel al-Madhbah was evidently considered particularly sacred, as the well known ritual building known as The Treasury is carved into its base, the mountain top is covered with a number of different altars, and over 8 metres of the original peak were carved away to leave a flat surface with two 8 metre tall obelisks sticking out of it; these obelisks, which frame the end of the path leading up to them, and are now only 6 metres tall, have led to the mountain being colloquially known as Zibb 'Atuf, meaning penis of love in Arabic. Archaeological artifacts discovered at the top of the mountain indicate that it was once covered by polished shiny blue slate, fitting with the biblical description of paved work of sapphire stone; biblical references to sapphire are considered by scholars to be unlikely to refer to the stone called sapphire in modern times, as sapphire had a different meaning, and wasn't even mined, before the Roman era. Unfortunately, the removal of the original peak has destroyed most other archaeological remains from the late Bronze Age (the standard dating of the Exodus) that might previously have been present.
Mount Sinai in culture
In Classical rabbinical literature, Mount Sinai became synonymous with holiness; as it was said that when the Messiah arrives, God will bring Sinai together with Mount Carmel and Mount Tabor, rebuild the Temple upon the combined mountain, and the peaks would sing a chorus of praise to God.References
- Joseph J. Hobbs, Mount Sinai (University of Texas Press) 1995, discusses Mount Sinai as geography, history, ethnology and religion.
- Sinai Geology". AllSinai.info.
- "Mount Sinai, Egypt". Places of Peace and Power.
- New Advent, The Catholic Encyclopedia
- The Lost Mountain, 1956-12-03, TIME
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Today's Snippet II: Saint Catherine's Monastery
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| Saint Catherine's Monastery |
Christian traditions
According to tradition, Catherine of Alexandria was a Christian martyr sentenced to death on the wheel. When this failed to kill her, she was beheaded. According to tradition, angels took her remains to Mount Sinai. Around the year 800, monks from the Sinai Monastery found her remains.Though it is commonly known as Saint Catherine's, the monastery's full official name is the Sacred Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai. The patronal feast of the monastery is the Transfiguration. The monastery has become a favorite site of pilgrimage.
History
 |
| Bell tower at Saint Catherine's Monastery |
The monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565), enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush (also known as "Saint Helen's Chapel") ordered to be built by Helena, the mother of Constantine I, at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush. The living bush on the grounds is purportedly the one seen by Moses. Structurally the monastery's king post truss is the oldest known surviving roof truss in the world.[3] The site is sacred to Christianity and Islam.
A Fatimid mosque was built within the walls of the monastery, but it has never been used since it is not correctly oriented towards Mecca.
During the seventh century, the isolated Christian anchorites of the Sinai were eliminated: only the fortified monastery remained. The monastery is still surrounded by the massive fortifications that have preserved it. Until the twentieth century, access was through a door high in the outer walls. From the time of the First Crusade, the presence of Crusaders in the Sinai until 1270 spurred the interest of European Christians and increased the number of intrepid pilgrims who visited the monastery. The monastery was supported by its dependencies in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Crete, Cyprus and Constantinople.
Manuscripts and icons
The monastery library preserves the second largest collection of early codices and manuscripts in the world, outnumbered only by the Vatican Library. It contains Greek, Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Hebrew, Georgian, and Aramaic texts.In May 1844, Konstantin von Tischendorf visited the monastery for research and discovered the Codex Sinaiticus, dating from the 4th Century, at the time the oldest almost completely preserved manuscript of the Bible. It left the monastery in the 19th century for Russia, in circumstances that are now disputed. It was later bought by the British Government from Russia and is now in the British Library. Prior to September 1, 2009, a previously unseen fragment of Codex Sinaiticus was discovered in the monastery's library.
In February 1892, Agnes Smith Lewis identified a palimpsest in St Catherine's library that became known as the Syriac Sinaiticus and is still in the Monastery's possession. Agnes and her sister Margaret Dunlop Gibson returned with a team of scholars that included J. Rendel Harris, to photograph and transcribe the work in its entirety. As the manuscript predates the Codex Sinaiticus, it became crucial in understanding the history of the New Testament.
The Monastery also has a copy of the Achtiname, in which the Prophet Muhammad is claimed to have bestowed his protection upon the monastery.
The most important manuscripts have since been filmed or digitized, and so are accessible to scholars. A team of imaging scientists and scholars from the USA and Europe is using spectral imaging techniques developed for imaging the Archimedes Palimpsest to study more than one hundred palimpsests in the monastery library.
Works of art
The complex houses irreplaceable works of art: mosaics, the best collection of early icons in the world, many in encaustic, as well as liturgical objects, chalices and reliquaries, and church buildings. The large icon collection begins with a few dating to the 5th (possibly) and 6th centuries, which are unique survivals, the monastery having been untouched by Byzantine iconoclasm, and never sacked. The oldest icon on an Old Testament theme is also preserved there. A project to catalogue the collections has been ongoing since the 1960s. The monastery was an important centre for the development of the hybrid style of Crusader art, and still retains over 120 icons created in the style, by far the largest collection in existence. Many were evidently created by Latins, probably monks, based in or around the monastery in the 13th century.References
- Forsyth, G. H.; Weitzmann, K. (1973). The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai - The Church and Fortress of Justinian: Plates. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-472-33000-4.
- Soskice, Janet (1991). Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Found the Hidden Gospels. London: Vintage. ISBN 978-1-4000-3474-1.
- Sotiriou, G. and M. (1956-8). Icones du Mont Sinaï. 2 vols (plates and texts). Collection de L'Institut francais d'Athènes 100 and 102. Athens.
- Weitzmann, K. (1976). The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mihnt Sinai: The Icons, Volume I: From the Sixth to the Tenth Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Weitzmann, K.; Galavaris, G. (1991). The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai. The Illuminated Greek Manuscripts, Volume I. From the Ninth to the Twelfth Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-03602-0.
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Today's Snippet III: History of Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving
Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada.
Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday of November
in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada.
Because of the longstanding traditions of the holiday, the celebration
often extends to the weekend that falls closest to the day it is
celebrated. Several other places around the world observe similar
celebrations. Historically, Thanksgiving had roots in religious and
cultural tradition. Today, Thanksgiving is primarily celebrated as a
secular holiday.
Prayers
of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost
all religions after harvests and at other times. The holiday's history
in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from the
Protestant Reformation.
It also has aspects of a harvest festival, even though the harvest in
New England occurs well before the late-November date of the holiday
In
the English tradition, days of thanksgiving and special thanksgiving
religious services became important during the English Reformation in
the reign of Henry VIII
and in reaction to the large number of religious holidays on the
Catholic calendar. Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52
Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work and
sometimes pay for expensive celebrations. The 1536 reforms reduced the
number of Church holidays to 27, but some Puritans, the radical
reformers of their age, wished to completely eliminate all Church
holidays, including Christmas and Easter.
The holidays were to be replaced by specially called Days of Fasting or
Days of Thanksgiving, in response to events that the Puritans viewed as
acts of special providence.
Unexpected disasters or threats of judgement from on high called for
Days of Fasting. Special blessings, viewed as coming from God, called
for Days of Thanksgiving. For example, Days of Fasting were called on
account of drought in 1611, floods in 1613, and plague in 1604 and 1622.
Days of Thanksgiving were called following the victory over the Spanish
Armada in 1588, and following the deliverance of Queen Anne in 1705. An
unusual annual Day of Thanksgiving began in 1606 following the failure
of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, and developed into Guy Fawkes Day.
In the United States
The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth By Jennie A. Brownscombe (1914)
In the United States, the modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition is
commonly, but not universally, traced to a poorly documented 1621
celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest.
In
later years, religious thanksgiving services were declared by civil
leaders such as Governor Bradford who planned a thanksgiving celebration
and fast in 1623.
The practice of holding an annual harvest festival like this did not
become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s.[11]
Pilgrims
and Puritans who began emigrating from England in the 1620s and 1630s
carried the tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with
them to New England.
Several days of Thanksgiving were held in early New England history
that have been identified as the "First Thanksgiving", including Pilgrim
holidays in Plymouth in 1621 and 1623, and a Puritan holiday in Boston in 1631.
Thanksgiving
proclamations were made mostly by church leaders in New
England up until 1682, and then by both state and church leaders until
after the American Revolution.
During the revolutionary period, political influences affected the
issuance of Thanksgiving proclamations. Various proclamations were made
by royal governors, John Hancock, General George Washington, and the
Continental Congress, each giving thanks to God for events favorable to
their causes.
As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the
first nation-wide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November
26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by
acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of
Almighty God".
According
to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim
Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual
services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574,
while they were staying in Leiden.
Every year, the President of the United States will "pardon" a
turkey, which spares the bird's life and ensures that it will spend the
duration of its life roaming freely on farmland.
Debate about first celebrations
The traditional representation of where the first Thanksgiving was
held in the United States, and even the Americas, has often been a
subject of boosterism
and debate, though the debate is often confused by mixing up the ideas
of a Thanksgiving holiday celebration and a Thanksgiving religious
service. According to author James Baker, this debate is a "tempest in a
beanpot" and "marvelous nonsense."
Local boosters in Virginia, Florida, and Texas promote their own colonists, who (like many people getting off a boat) gave thanks for setting foot again on dry land.—Jeremy Bangs
These
claims include an earlier religious service by Spanish explorers in
Texas at San Elizario in 1598, as well as thanksgiving feasts in the
Virginia Colony. Robyn Gioia and Michael Gannon of the University of
Florida argue that the earliest Thanksgiving service in what is now the
United States was celebrated by the Spanish on September 8, 1565, in
what is now Saint Augustine, Florida. A day for Thanksgiving services
was codified in the founding charter of Berkeley Hundred in Charles City
County, Virginia in 1619.
According to Baker, "Historically, none of these had any influence
over the evolution of our modern holiday. The American holiday's true
origin was the New England Calvinist
Thanksgiving. Never coupled with a Sabbath meeting, the Puritan
observances were special days set aside during the week for thanksgiving
and praise in response to God's providence."
Fixing the date of the holiday
The
reason for the earlier Thanksgiving celebrations in Canada has
often been attributed to the earlier onset of winter in the north, thus
ending the harvest season earlier.Thanksgiving in Canada did not have a
fixed date until the late 19th century. Prior to Canadian Confederation,
many of the individual colonial governors of the Canadian provinces had
declared their own days of Thanksgiving. The first official Canadian
Thanksgiving occurred on April 15, 1872, when the nation was celebrating
the Prince of Wales' recovery from a serious illness. By the end of the
19th century, Thanksgiving Day was normally celebrated on November 6.
However, when World War I ended, the Armistice Day holiday was usually
held during the same week. To prevent the two holidays from clashing
with one another, in 1957 the Canadian Parliament proclaimed
Thanksgiving to be observed on its present date on the second Monday of
October. Since 1971, when the American Uniform Monday Holiday Act took
effect, the American observance of Columbus Day has coincided with the
Canadian observance of Thanksgiving.
Much
like in Canada, Thanksgiving in the United States was observed on
various dates throughout history. From the time of the Founding Fathers
until the time of Lincoln, the date Thanksgiving was observed varied
from state to state. The final Thursday in November had become the
customary date in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 19th century.
Thanksgiving was first celebrated on the same date by all states in
1863 by a presidential proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. Influenced by
the campaigning of author Sarah Josepha Hale,
who wrote letters to politicians for around 40 years trying to make it
an official holiday, Lincoln proclaimed the date to be the final
Thursday in November in an attempt to foster a sense of American unity
between the Northern and Southern states. Because of the
ongoing Civil War and the Confederate States of America's refusal to
recognize Lincoln's authority, a nationwide Thanksgiving date was not
realized until Reconstruction was completed in the 1870s.
On
December 26, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the national
Thanksgiving Day from the last Thursday in November to the fourth
Thursday. Two years earlier, Roosevelt had used a presidential
proclamation to try to achieve this change, reasoning that earlier
celebration of the holiday would give the country an economic boost.
Timeline:
The History of the Origin of Thanksgiving in United States of America:
1619 – On December 4th, a group of English settlers landed about 20 miles upstream from Jamestown (the Colony of Virginia). Their charter required that a “day of thanksgiving” be observed every year on the day of their arrival. After several years, this site was abandoned.
1621 – The Pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony celebrated a “harvest festival” with Massasoit (Great Sachem) and the people of the Pokanoket tribe, one of the tribes of the Wampanoag nation. Their feast consisted of waterfowl, wild turkeys, fish, and deer as well as corn, squash, and beans which Native Americans had taught the Pilgrims to cultivate.
1777- The first Thanksgiving Proclamation was given by the Second Continental Congress in 1777. The Declaration of Independence had been issued the previous year and it was a time of great peril for the newly formed United States of America;
The First U.S. Thanksgiving Proclamation 1777 : God Bless America
"FOR AS MUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the
superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude
their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such
farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in
his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties
of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution
of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our
unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been
pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the
Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:
It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth "in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost."
It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth "in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost."
1789 – President George
Washington proclaimed and created the first Thanksgiving for the United
States of America for “…Thursday, the 26th day of November next…”
1863 – During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863. Since this date, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.
1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a law establishing the day of Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November.
1863 – During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863. Since this date, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.
1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a law establishing the day of Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November.
Observance in North America
Canada
Canadian Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day (Canadian French: Jour de l'Action de grâce),
occurring on the second Monday in October, is an annual Canadian
holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season. Although the
original act of Parliament references God and the holiday is celebrated
in churches, the holiday is mostly celebrated in a secular manner.
Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in all provinces in Canada, except
for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
While businesses may remain open in these provinces, the holiday is
nonetheless, recognized and celebrated regardless of its status.
"There
is no compelling narrative of the origins of the Canadian Thanksgiving
day." Though there were no permanent English settlements in Canada until
the early eighteenth century, the origin of the first Canadian
Thanksgiving is often traced back to 1578 and the explorer Martin
Frobisher who had been trying to find a northern passage
to the Pacific Ocean. Frobisher's Thanksgiving celebration was not for
harvest but was in thanks for surviving the long journey from England
through the perils of storms and icebergs. On his third and final voyage
to the far north, Frobisher held a formal ceremony in Frobisher Bay in
Baffin Island (present-day Nunavut) to give thanks to God and in a
service ministered by the preacher Robert Wolfall they celebrated
Communion.
The
origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are also sometimes traced to the
French settlers who came to New France with explorer Samuel de Champlain
in the early 17th century, who celebrated their successful harvests.
The French settlers in the area typically had feasts at the end of the
harvest season and continued throughout the winter season, even sharing
their food with the indigenous peoples of the area.
As
settlers arrived in Canada from New England, late autumn
Thanksgiving celebrations became common. New immigrants into the
country, such as the Irish, Scottish and Germans, also added their own
traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the U.S. aspects of
Thanksgiving (such as the turkey or what were called guineafowls
originating from Madagascar), were incorporated when United Empire
Loyalists began to flee from the United States during the American
Revolution and settled in Canada.
Thanksgiving
is now a statutory holiday in most jurisdictions of Canada, with the
Atlantic provinces of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador,
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia being the exceptions
Global observances known as Thanksgiving
Germany
The Harvest Thanksgiving Festival (Erntedankfest)
is an early October, German festival. The festival has a significant
religious component to it but also, like its North American counterpart,
includes large harvest dinners (consisting mostly of autumn crops) and
parades. The Bavarian beer festival Oktoberfest generally takes place within the vicinity of Erntedankfest.
Grenada
In
the West Indian island of Grenada,
there is a national holiday known as Thanksgiving Day which is
celebrated on October 25. Even though it bears the same name, and is
celebrated at roughly the same time as the American and Canadian
versions of Thanksgiving, this holiday is unrelated to either of those
celebrations. Instead the holiday marks the anniversary of the U.S.-led
invasion of the island in 1983, in response to the deposition and
execution of Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.
Korea
In Korean culture, the festival of Chuseok is celebrated typically around Fall,
and fills a similar social role as Thanksgiving, though the origins and
traditions are different. In English translations, Chuseok is often
described as "Korean Thanksgiving" as well.[33]
Japan
Labor Thanksgiving Day (勤労感謝の日 Kinrō Kansha no Hi)
is a national holiday in Japan.
It takes place annually on November 23. The law establishing the
holiday, which was adopted during the American occupation after World
War II, cites it as an occasion for commemorating labor and production
and giving one another thanks. It has roots in an ancient harvest
ceremony celebrating hard work.
Liberia
In the West African country of Liberia,
which beginning in 1820, was colonized by free blacks from the United
States (most of whom had been formerly enslaved), Thanksgiving is
celebrated on the first Thursday of November.
The Netherlands
Many
of the Pilgrims who migrated to the Plymouth Plantation had resided in
the city of Leiden from 1609–1620, many of whom had recorded their
birth, marriages and deaths at the Pieterskerk.
To commemorate this, a non-denominational Thanksgiving Day service is
held each year on the morning of the American Thanksgiving Day in the
Pieterskerk, a Gothic church in Leiden, to commemorate the hospitality
the Pilgrims received in Leiden on their way to the New World.
Norfolk Island
In
the Australian external territory of Norfolk Island, Thanksgiving is
celebrated on the last Wednesday of November, similar to the pre-World
War II
American observance on the last Thursday of the month. This means the
Norfolk Island observance is the day before or six days after the United
States' observance. The holiday was brought to the island by visiting
American whaling ships.
References
- Baker, James W. (2009). Thanksgiving: the biography of an American holiday. UPNE. pp. 1–14. ISBN 9781584658016.
- The fast and thanksgiving days of New England by William DeLoss Love, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Cambridge, 1895
- Kaufman, Jason Andrew "The origins of Canadian and American political differences" Harvard University Press, 2009, ISBN 0-674-03136-9 p.28
- Davis, Kenneth C. (Nov 25, 2008). "A French Connection". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
- "The First Thanksgiving Proclamation — 20 June 1676". The Covenant
- "Thanksgiving Day". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
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Catholic Catechism
Part Three: Life in Christ
Section Two: The Ten Commandments
Chapter Two: Tenth Commandment
Article 10:2 The Desires of the Spirit
CHAPTER TWO
YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS
YOURSELF
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Love one another as I have loved you."1 Jn 13:34
2196
In response to the question about the first of the commandments, Jesus says:
"The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind, and with all your strength.' the second is this, 'You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than
these."2 Mk 12:29-31; cf.
⇒ Deut 6:4-5; ⇒ Lev
19:18; ⇒ Mt 22:34-40;
⇒ Lk 10:25-28
The apostle St. Paul reminds us of this: "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."3 Rom 13:8-10
The apostle St. Paul reminds us of this: "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."3 Rom 13:8-10
Article 10
THE TENTH COMMANDMENT
You shall not covet ... anything that is your neighbor's....
You shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his
manservant, or his maidservant,, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is
your neighbor's.
II. The Desires of the Spirit
2541
The economy of law and grace turns men's hearts away from avarice and envy. It
initiates them into desire for the Sovereign Good; it instructs them in the
desires of the Holy Spirit who satisfies man's heart.
The God of the promises always warned man against seduction by what from the beginning has seemed "good for food . . . a delight to the eyes . . . to be desired to make one wise."329
The God of the promises always warned man against seduction by what from the beginning has seemed "good for food . . . a delight to the eyes . . . to be desired to make one wise."329
2542
The Law entrusted to Israel never sufficed to justify those subject to it; it
even became the instrument of "lust."330 The gap between
wanting and doing points to the conflict between God's Law which is the
"law of my mind," and another law "making me captive to the law
of sin which dwells in my members."331
2543
"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law,
although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe."332 Henceforth,
Christ's faithful "have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires"; they are led by the Spirit and follow the desires of the
Spirit.333
329 ⇒ Gen 3:6.
330 Cf. ⇒ Rom 7:7.
331 ⇒ Rom 7:23; cf. ⇒ 7:10.
332 ⇒ Rom 3:21-22.
333 ⇒ Gal 5:24; cf. ⇒ Rom 8:14, 27.
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RE-CHARGE: Heaven Speaks to Young Adults
To all tween, teens and young adults, A Message from Jesus: "Through you I will flow powerful conversion
graces to draw other young souls from darkness. My plan for young men
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the stirring in your soul as you read these words. I am with you. I
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It Forward...
Reference
- Recharge: Directions For Our Times. Heaven Speaks to Young Adults. recharge.cc.
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