A Brave Bishop in England at the National Shrine

I am in Walsingham and missed the Mass at noon where Bishop Davies gave this homily. However, here is the text from the website.

Letters and Homilies

‘The Future of Humanity Passes by Way of the Family’

Homily for the National Association of Catholic Families

National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham

“The future of humanity passes by way of the family”

 We gather during this celebration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. We rejoice with many today not only in the Queen’s constitutional role carried out with unfailing dedication but also in her Christian witness of faith and prayer. However, it is significant that a family stands always at the centre of our constitution, at the heart of our national life. The Crown passes by way of a family! It was, of course, in this Norfolk countryside almost a millennium ago that a simple house was built to remind all generations of the centrality and holiness of the family revealed by God’s plan in the Holy Family of Nazareth. True, it was a monarch, King Henry VIII, not noted for his reverence for marriage, who saw both house and shrine destroyed four centuries ago. Yet Walsingham has now visibly returned in its Catholic and Anglican witness. Here we will always be reminded in Blessed John Paul II’s unforgettable words that, “the future of humanity passes by way of the family” (Familaris Consortio n. 86). It is a self-evident truth which too often is obscured in our consciousness today that the future of humanity, the future of society, depends on the family.

The Deputy Prime Minister was recently reported as saying he could not understand why Christians and other people of faith saw a legal redefinition of marriage as a matter of conscience: it would not he claimed impinge on religious freedoms. Experience, of course, might make us cautious of such assurances, even those given by a Deputy Prime Minister, that this agenda will not threaten religious freedom. However, our concern is not only with religious freedom but also with the enormous good which marriage represents as foundational to family-life. Today we see a government, without mandate, disposing of any credible consultation, seeking to impose one of the greatest acts of “social engineering” in our history by uprooting the legal definition of marriage. Marriage lies at the very foundation of the family. For all generations to follow one generation of politicians is setting out to demolish in the name of an “equality agenda” the understanding of marriage that has served as the timeless foundation for the family. The government is seeking to do this at the very moment when marriage as an institution has been more weakened than ever before. Yet it asks: why are people of faith concerned?

One of England’s greatest and clearest thinkers the now Blessed John Henry Newman famously distinguished what he called “notional assent” from “real assent.” It seems that most people in public life give a notional assent to the value of the family as that first and vital cell of society – and never more so than in those moments of social disturbance such as the riots of last summer. However, what is needed is not just a notional agreement to the importance of family but a real assent to the place of the family in our society as securing the well-being of generations to come. This involves the recognition of what marriage uniquely is. A recognition comes not only from faith but from reason which clearly sees that it is from the family that “citizens come to birth and it is with within the family that they find the first school of the social virtues which are the animating principle of the existence and development of society itself” (Familaris Consortio n 42). In this way it is in the family that the future of society will be decided. So far from weakening and confusing the foundation of the family we invite our political leaders to give back to the institution of marriage and the family the recognition and confidence it deserves.

Here in Walsingham where across so many centuries of our history the sacredness of marriage and family were recognised in the example of the Holy Family of Nazareth, we wish to affirm in the words of Blessed John Paul II that “the Creator of all things has established marriage as the beginning and basis of human society” (Familaris Consortio 42)). May the gift of marriage and the family be held sacred by us all for the sake of every generation to come.

Amen.

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us and for your priests, seminarians, and for my readers today

This post is a bit later as usual as I was travelling and stupidly forgot that the Queen's Jubilee has created four days of limited train and virtually no bus services.

However, I am in the north, in the Holy Shrine of Walsingham, which is the National Shrine of England. The town is a mixture today of Anglo-Catholics, Catholics and even some Presbyterian group which is against the procession and protestant services (I can't use the term Mass), which are happening. The protesters are pointing out that the Bible does not support the Eucharist, devotion to Mary, or all the lovely statues here. Well, if Presbyterians look at Tradition seriously, they would not be Presbyterians.

The police are out in force, which is a really odd thing to see in Walshingham. I am not worried about the Presbyterians getting violent, although they are very zealous.

Christianity comes and goes, flowing in and out of Walsingham, the shrine which even Henry could not completely destroy despite the martyrs, whose blood was shed here.

Every Catholic, at least once in his or her lifetime, should visit Walsingham. I was here last year as well. The Anglican shrine sadly causes some confusion, as Catholics go there thinking it is the Catholic shrine, which is out on the outskirts.

The Anglican shrine even has so-called holy water.

What is most wonderful to me is that the Ordinariate in England is dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham. I am making this little pilgrimage for all my Ordinariate friends, my son, the priests who are on my prayer list. and for your, dear readers. May God bless you all.

I just finished the Consecration to Mary of St. Louis de Montfort again. Pray I can get to Confession. It is not as easy as one would like in Walsingham.

By The Grace of God

The phrase Dei Gratia,  is part of the title of the monarch of Great Britain. By the grace of God, she reigns. Now, Americans have a hard time with this overlap of religion and politics. And, this weekend's amazing celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth I, brings out all the pomp and circumstance, religion and nationalism.

The existence of a monarch, who does not represent a political party, is a great symbol of unity for the people of Great Britain.

I find it interesting that the nation is responding so wonderfully to this celebration. For some, it is just a long, four day weekend. For others, it is a real day of celebration.

The countryside lies under miles of bunting. There are parties everywhere, and I hope, on Monday, to witness live the lighting of at least one of the beacons. If any of you saw The Lord of the Rings and the lighting of the beacons, that originated here in England as a warning for invasions. Thousands of beacons will be lit on Monday night as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Here is a link for that. There is an interactive beacon map, which is really cool.

I attended the Jubilee Celebration concert at Sherborne Abbey on Saturday. I lived in Sherborne for three years and love this area so much. I know the Abbey well, as we lived in the precinct area, and I felt quite at home. The Sherborne Chamber Choir, Sherborne Abbey Choir and orchestra, with Conductor Paul Ellis, gave us a superb evening of music. The program included what one might expect at such a  concert:  Parry's "I was Glad" and "Blest Pair of Sirens", Vaughan William's "The Old Hundreth", Walton's "Coronation Te Deum" and "Crown Imperial", Handel's "Zadok the Priest", Orlando Gibbons "O Clap Your Hands", Rutter's "This Is the Day". Mealor's "Ubi Caritas" (this was the first time I have heard this in concert), Elgar's "Coronation Ode", and Britten's arrangment of the "National Anthem".

My house was right behind the Almshouse, which one can see in this picture. Trendle Street is a very, very short street. As to the above music, I am familiar with all of these, except for the Mealor, which was a great introduction to his work, as I did not watch the royal wedding last year, where this piece was introduced. I was glad to hear it for the first time in my old hunting grounds....

Only Anglophiles could handle such an evening of pure monarchism. But, we were all reminded by one of the readings, that it is only by the Grace of God that this present, and all monarchs reign. How appropriate this reading was in this ancient home of the Benedictines, Sherborne Abbey. By the way, some of you may not know that St. Stephen Harding, one of the founders of the Cistercian Order, came from Sherborne.

By the way,the other day I wrote about the engraved windows at Moreton. Laurence Whistler has one at Sherborne Abbey as well. I had forgotten this until I was in the Abbey Saturday night. More connections. I had seen it years ago and knew about both sites, but this window was forgotten by me. Life is full of small threads....

The Treasure Which Is Montacute and Blessed Margaret Pole

I have been visiting a friend I have known since 1991, which is a treat, as she is a very spiritual person and we can talk about God and the Holy Spirit working in our lives.

On Saturday, we went to Montacute, as we both have National Trust Memberships. This is, I think, the fourth time I have been there. Montacute is one of my favorite houses and set of gardens in England. I love this period of history. Out of all the treasures, the real beauty, for me, is the National Portrait Gallery's show of paintings. I love the Long Gallery, the longest in England, and have my "must sees" there. The must sees today included Blessed Margaret Pole, so my week began with her and ended with her. How is that for synchronicity? How blessed was I to start the week in Sussex where Blessed Margaret's Mass was celebrated in the Arundel and Brighton Diocese, and then to see her fantastic painting at Montacute? I did not even know her portrait was there until I visited this time. I wanted to see St. Thomas More's famous portrait, which I did , and I wanted to see Sir Walter Raleigh's and Bess Throckmorton's. I saw the two famous men, but Bess's portrait was not there. However, to see the Last Plantagenet was not an accident. I shall claim her, now, as a personal patron.

I have seen the gardens in several seasons, including winter. Today, the yellow irises were glorious and the famous hedge cut to strange Tudor and Jacobean shapes. Some houses are more peaceful and pleasing than others. Montacute leads my list of peaceful houses and restful gardens, and I highly recommend going soon, as the roses, except for the White Rugosas, have not yet bloomed. My only sligh t disappointment was that there were no sheep in the wilderness area, a first for me there. I wonder, are there no more sheep at Montacute?

Another highlight was the millefleurs tapestry of the 15th century. I cannot help but re-print here an entire article on this outstanding example of the thousand flowers genre of tapestries. I think Blessed Margaret is happy knowing her portrait is in such good company, even though she was definitely not appreciated by the reigning Monarch when she was alive.

The Montacute Tapestry History, heraldry and horticulture Apollo, June 1993

One of the rarest treasures of the National Trust is a millefleurs tapestry of a French knight on horseback at Montacute House in Somerset. The tapestry has nothing to do with Montacute, having arrived there recently and by chance, but the knight was involved in a turning point of European history, and the tapestry made at the end of his life in 1481 celebrates his triumphs in fifteenth century war and politics. The knight has been identified as Jean de Daillon, Seigneur du Lude and Governor of the Dauphine, by the coat of arms in the top left hand of the tapestry - 'Quarterly, in the first and last azure, a cross engrailed argent; in the second and third, gules fretty or, a canton argent charged with a crescent sable; and as an inshield, gules, six escutcheons or.' Jean de Daillon's parents were of noble extraction, the crosses of Daillon he inherited from his father and quartered them with the crescents of his mother's family, but they were not eminent and no text explains why, as a child, Jean came to be a playmate of the dauphin - the future Louis XI. They understood one another well. If Jean of necessity outdid Louis in charm, and Louis was the master of intrigue, they shared the same self-interest. In his letters to Daillon the King repeated what must have been a childhood catchphrase, part affectionate, part cynical, 'Take care of Maitre Jean and I'll take care of Maitre Louis'.

Both men spent their youth as knights at arms. In the 1440's they were in the south suppressing the rebellions of Jean IV d'Armagnac and the Swiss. Daillon's first lordship, however, was gained not by war but by his marriage in 1434 to Renee de Fontaines, which made him Seigneur de Fontaines. In 1445 he became Chamberlain to the dauphin and Captain of Roussillon in the Dauphine. At this point Louis began to feel that his father Charles VII did not appreciate him sufficiently and he grew impatient to be king. Daillon joined his intrigues and was banished from court in 1446. It was around this time that he appropriated the lands and insignia of an ancient Angevin family called Mathefelon. Although the family was not extinct, La Cropte (including Melsay and Leval) fell into Daillon's hands and their arms - six gold escutcheons on a red ground - were added as an inshield to Jean de Daillon's arms. Their first appearance in this form was on the seal of a document dated 1451, and this is how they appear in the Montecute tapestry. In 1457 Daillon, who already had a part of the lands of Lude on the upper Loire, seized the rest from Guy de Carne and became Seigneur du Lude, his chief title from then on. Two years later he married Marie de Laval (the date of his first wife's death is not known) with whom he had two sons, Jacques, who inherited Lude, and Francois who inherited La Cropte, and three daughters Jeanne, Louis and Françoise. Daillon was back at the court of CharlesVII at this time, having left the dauphin in 1452 and made his peace with the king. He was made Captain of a hundred lances and took part in the battle of Castillon which finally drove the English from France and put an end to Henry VI's lingering claims to the French throne. With the restoration of peace Daillon was reorganising the army. Meanwhile Louis was living in Flanders under the protection of Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, both men waiting for Charles VII to die. When he finally did so in 1461, Louis XI was crowned at Rheims and entered Paris in triumph with Philip of Burgundy at his side. But Jean de Daillon took no part in these festivities and had to wait until 1466 before he and Louis XI were reconciled. He then returned to his natural position as Louis' confidant, and earned from him the nickname 'Maitre Jean des habilites.' He managed to achieve a happy balance between the king's interests and his own aggrandisement. Comines described him as 'Monseigneur du Lude who got on so well with the king on all occasions and who so loved doing well for himself.' He was Baillif of Cotentin from 1470-3, Governor of Perche and Alencon, and then Governor of the Dauphine from 1474. That year he also acted as Louis' ambassador to negotiate the Treaty of Perpignan with the king of Aragon (which re-stored Rousillon to neutral status after its occupation by French and Spanish armies). The following year at the opposite end of France he served as ambassador to the Flemish Count of St. Pol, to try and fix this powerful noble's vacillating loyalties away from Burgundy and onto the French side. Louis XI's aim was to restore his war-battered kingdom and to outwit his rivals by intrigue whenever possible rather than force. The degree of his success can be measured by the term 'universal spider' always applied to him by the Burgundian chroniclers. The turning point for Burgandy and France was the 1475 Settlement of Puligny. Charles the Bold remained embroiled on his eastern frontiers and was killed fighting the Swiss at Nancy in January 1477, leaving his vast possessions in the hands of his young daughter Mary. Comines has described in vivid terms the delirious joy with which Louis XI received the news, and the messengers who brought it were led by none other than Jean Daillon himself, 'who knew the king could be generous to those who brought good tidings.' Jean de Daillon did benefit from this turn of events, both personally when the confiscated lands of the Duke of Nemours (Conde, La Ferte-Milon, Luzarches and Domfront) came into his hands, and as a lieutenant of the king as he pursued his campaign against the Flemish border towns. Arras, after much privation, fell in May 1477 and Jean de Daillon Became Lieutenant du Roi for the city and made out of it '20,000 crowns and 2 martens skins.' In nearby Tournai, which had been the independent fief of its archbishop, another intimate of Louis XI led in the troops and Cardinal Archbishop Clugny fled to Bruges. Daillon confided to Comines that he hoped to become Governor of Flanders 'and be made of gold.' This did not happen. Although France annexed Picardy and Artois, Flanders and the Low Countries remained fiercely loyal to the Burgundian connection, and when the Duchess Mary married Archduke Maximillian of Austria in August 1477 their freedom from France was guaranteed. It was at this point that the tapestry was commissioned as a gift from the city of Tounai to Jean de Daillon in repayment for 'certain kindnesses' (one hopes this was not a euphemism for extortion). The first official entry in the archives of Tournai is dated 1 April 1481: To William Desreumaulx, tapestry weaver, who had agreed with Monsieur du Lude, Governor of the Dauphine, to make a tapestry of verdure for a room, the said tapestry being a gift and present made to the said gentleman by the city, in recognition of divers past favours and acts of friendship he has made to the aforesaid city…. on the price of which agreement, it has been ordered to be paid to the said William to advance and expedite the work of the said tapestry the sum of 70 livres. It is likely that the original commission for the tapestry was made some years before the date of this entry in the archives. In 1479 Jean de Daillon left Artois to become Governor of Tours and the work may have slowed down considerably with his departure. But certainly the tapestry was sufficiently advanced in February 1480 to be taken as a model by the magistrates and merchants of Tournai, who then wished to offer to Monseigner du Baudricourt 'a verdure tapestry with silk as good and valuable as that which Monseigneur du Lude has had made in this town.' A further payment to William Desreumaulx refers to the tapestry given to the Lord of Lude 'which he has had made in several and divers pieces measuring no less than 457 square ells', and Jerome de Callonnne was sent as inspector for the magistrates to 'the workers who made the tapestry in several different workshops, where he had to ensure that the materials used I in its making were of the right quality, and received payment for his great pains.' All of which indicates that the Montacute tapestry was originally one of a series. Jean de Daillon never received the tapestry which sanctified his fierce and acquisitive life in art form. He died in Roussillon in 1481, and in December 1482 the Tournai archives recorded receipt of letters from his widow, asking that the tapestry be handed over to Pasquier Grenier on behalf of herself and her children. Delivery was finally made in April 1483 when the Bishop of Sens, brother of the widow, made a visit to Tournai which proved rather expensive for the magistrates, and took possession of the tapestry for his sister. What of the other dramatis personae involved in its making? William Desreumaulx was one of the leading master craftsmen of Tournai, but Pasquier Grenier was a great merchant entrepreneur who first flourished when Philip the Good was Duke of Burgundy. He was based in Tournai and probably contributed greatly to its rise to pre-eminence among the Flemish tapestry towns in the second half of the fifteenth century. Commissions for tapestries from the court and other wealthy patrons were entrusted to him. He could employ the artist designers and distribute the work among ateliers specialising in the style required and offering the best terms. In 1459 he delivered a series of the Life of Alexander the Great, and in 1461 the Passion of Christ. The story of Esther and Le Chevalier de Cygne both followed in 1462. In 1472 he was responsible for the Trojan War series bought by the by the city of Bruges for Duke Charles the Bold. Pasquier Grenier was also a wine merchant, well acquainted with the trade routes of northern Europe and the workings of the great ports of Bruges and Antwerp. He could organise the necessary supplies of wool, silk, gold and silver and could wait - because of his own capital and banking credit - for deferred payment. This procedure had already been established in the golden days of Arras under Duke Philip the Bold (d. 1404) when Hughes Walois and Jean Cosset joined the commerce in wine and tapestry. Each year for twenty years Cosset provided one or several tapestries which he contracted from different workshops. He even set up an atelier at the Duke's fairy-tale palace of Hesdin in Picardy to make a series, 'Douze pairs de France', in situ. The Italian connection was at Bruges in the hands of patron/entrepreneurs such as Giovanni Arnolfini and Tommaso Portinari. As for the English connection, since 1393 when Richard II and his uncles of York, Lancaster and Gloucester all received tapestries from Philip the Bold, the Dukes of Burgundy had wooed the English with tapestries. When the ducal line died out and the French wars were over, Henry VII decided to buy his own tapestries. In September 1486 he gave his protection to 'Paschal and Jean Grenier merchants of Tournai in France' and allowed them to import into England 'cloths of Aras, tapysserie werk and carpets'. In March 1488 he told the Bishop of Exeter, Guardian of the Privy Seal, that he had bought from Jean Grenier '2 alter clothes and 11 pieces of cloth of Arras of the history of Troy', expected at the port of Sandwich, and asked the Bishop to ensure that Grenier had to pay no customs duties. Henry VII's Trojan War tapestries were a copy of those commissioned in 1472 by the city of Bruges for Charles the Bold, which were also organised by Pasquier Grenier and woven in Tounai. The surviving examples show interesting stylistic links with the Montacute tapestry. The richly decorated caparison of Jean de Daillon's horse is very like those of the Greek and Trojan warriors, including the unusual leather cabochon behind the rider on the horse's back. The standard which Daillon carries with it's appropriate ravening wolf and long fluttering pennants corresponds in style to the standards of the Greek warriors - their favoured animal was a lion. Even the monogrammed pennants also appeared in the tapestry of the Fall of Troy, now lost. Fifteenth-century tapestries often contained a monogram, and very few can be easily identified as the initials of the patron. In the Montacute tapestry the 'J' which appears on the pennants and the horse's caparison could well stand for Jean but the 'E' is unlikely to be simply the second letter of his name, any more than it would be in modern initials. Nor does it correspond with either of his wives' initials. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Philip the Good adopted the mysterious monogram EE, which was variously explained as the initials of a lady love, of which he had many, or a secret motto. Possibly it stands for Eques Ecclesiae, in reference to his unfulfilled longing to be a crusader - and by the same token the Montacute initials could be Jean Eques, enhancing the whole atmosphere of the tapestry which, did one not know otherwise, is that of 'a verray parfit gentil knight'. No similar tapestries of a knight on horseback survive, and it is impossible to estimate how many there may once have been. In the inventory of Henry VIII's possessions at Hampton Court is listed 'One odde pece of Tapistrie having on it a man pictured in harneys (armour) on horseback'. And his other collections included two pieces 'having a man armed on horseback with a border of bells at the top' (bells feature in other early sixteenth-century tapestries attributed to Tournai and in the Montacute tapestry they adorn the horse). Pierre de Rohan, Marechal de Gie, had a series of tapestries in his chateau at Verger in one of which he appeared like Daillon, in armour on a superbly decorated horse. The inexplicable initials on the standard and the horse are two 'F's facing one another. The background is not a millefleurs, but is decorated with his insignia - a pilgrim's staff and cockle shell. Armorial tapestries had been in vogue since the beginning of the fifteenth century. The early ones were sometimes simply saddlebags or bedcovers. In Brussels so many knights had ordered armorial tapestries and then proved unable to pay for them that the ateliers were selling them off, until in 1411 an injunction forbade them to do so without the consent of the owners. When the great chancellor of the Dukes of Burgundy, Nicholas Rolin (d. 1462), had his armorial tapestry made the background was covered with the keys of Rolin and the castles of his wife Guigone de Salins, while the centre contained the Lamb of God with the symbols of the Crucifixion. The first known armorial tapestry to feature a millefleurs background was commissioned by Philip the Good from Jehan le Haze of Brussels (an important tapissier like William Desreumaulx of Tournai) and paid for in 1466: 'For 8 pieces of verdure tapestry worked in gold, silver and silk and fine woollen thread; and in the centre of each of the said pieces are the arms and crested helm with wreath and lambrequins of the said seigneur, and in the corner of each the device of monseigneur and four pairs of EE coupled'. Another superb armorial millefleurs that still survives contained the arms of John Dynham (who contrived to serve every English king from Henry VI to Henry VII). It has the order of the garter surrounding his arms and since he received this in 1487 or '88 the tapestry may have been made mark the honour. Although it has its precursors, the tapestry of Jean de Daillon is now unique in combining a millefleurs background with a knight on horseback complete with arms, monogram and insignia. Millefleurs or verdue tapestries were very popular and many survive. They are distinguished by the flower-scattered back-ground which obviates normal perspective and proportions. The style continued into the early sixteenth century and survived alongside more apparently sophisticated tapestries where people move realistically through landscapes and buildings. Millefleurs tapestries vary greatly, from highly stylised flowers repeated in strips to exquisitely individual and botanically identifiable plants. In Brussels in 1476 a dispute between weavers and artists resulted in a transaction whereby weavers established their right to design 'trees, boats, animals and grasses for their verdures', but were obliged to employ professional artists for the rest of the design. No doubt similar rules applied in the other tapestry weaving centres, and rendered possible a degree of mass production in popular lines such as armorial millefleurs. Philip the Good's millefleurs at Berne has the pattern repeated twice, but the flowers are finely observed and recognizable. There is no repetition of the pattern in Jean de Daillon's tapestry, and all but a few of the flowers identifiable. The background teems with heavy-headed poppies and trumpetty daffodils, scillas, wallflowers and thistles, while a few plants appear only once or twice, such as the honeysuckle under the horse's reins, and the fritillary behind its tail. Jean de Daillon as he appears in the chronicles of France was a man of some charm and great greed, but in such a tapestry he can be nothing less than a figure of high romance.

Thank you to http://www.teachingthinking.net/flowersinart/apollo.html

We are soldiers of Christ

The need to destroy evil is the subject of this post. Evil cannot be ignored or tolerated. It must be defined and addressed. In these days of relativism and individualism, false tolerance and the acceptance of evil in our midst, it is difficult to explain to Catholics that they must stand against evil and not merely do nothing.

I had a long series earlier in May on the heresy of Quietism. The opposite is accepting the fact that through Baptism and especially Confirmation, we are all soldiers of Christ.

Sorry, there is no pacifism in the struggle against evil in the Church. Either we are doing something, albeit this could be quiet, yet sustained prayer and fasting, like the call of the contemplatives, or we lose the battles. And, what are these battles? We fight for the salvation of souls. Our soul and those of our families, our friends, our fellow parishioners, those with whom we come into contact make up the battlegrounds against evil and for good. The goal of humanity is eternal life with God.

I am challenging all who read this blog today to ask themselves, each one of you, "What am I doing to combat evil and bring about good in this world, with a view to eternity?"

I am sure we shall be asked a similar question at our particular judgement.

We start with ourselves. We allow God to be God. We open ourselves up to God and His Grace, His Plan, His Love. Then, we step out in Faith, Hope, Love and all the virtues to bring light into the darkness.

Be not afraid.

Visiting England, the land of the martyrs, is inspiring. We are surrounded by the "cloud of witnesses". We know what to do and how to do it. We merely need to say "yes" to God and give Him our lives, daily.

Post-script, script-post on the Sacred Heart

A real post-script, pun intended. I thought of another Sacred Heart thread in my life. My parish was, in Sherborne, Dorset, when the family lived there, Sacred Heart and St. Aldhelm.

And, JonathanCatholic put this prayer on Father Z and I am putting it here--excellent reminder.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, to Thee I consecrate and offer up my person and my life, my actions, trials, and sufferings, that my entire being may henceforth only be employed in loving, honoring and glorifying Thee. This is my irrevocable will, to belong entirely to Thee, and to do all for Thy love, renouncing with my whole heart all that can displease Thee.

I take Thee, O Sacred Heart, for the sole object of my love, the protection of my life, the pledge of my salvation, the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, the reparation for all the defects of my life, and my secure refuge at the hour of my death. Be Thou, O Most Merciful Heart, my justification before God Thy Father, and screen me from His anger which I have so justly merited. I fear all from my own weakness and malice, but placing my entire confidence in Thee, O Heart of Love, I hope all from Thine infinite Goodness. Annihilate in me all that can displease or resist Thee. Imprint Thy pure love so deeply in my heart that I may never forget Thee or be separated from Thee.

I beseech Thee, through Thine infinite Goodness, grant that my name be engraved upon Thy Heart, for in this I place all my happiness and all my glory, to live and to die as one of Thy devoted servants.

Amen.
- St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

More gardens, more flowers

Barrington Court is a Tudor house with a strange background. The best things about it, in my opinion, are a few fireplaces and the Delft Tiles. But, the gardens are magnificent in the late Spring. The roses are spectacular, the irises are iridescent, and the various plants green beyond description.


However, I want to concentrate on one of the most beautiful poppies I have ever seen. This large poppy, a photo found here from another garden, took my breath away.

The famous Gertrude Jekyll, of gardening design fame, had some influence at Barrington Court.

Most may think that high summer is the best time to visit English gardens, but I highly recommend Spring.

Cor Ad Cor Loquitur

As it is the Month of the Sacred Heart, I thought I would highlight several churches which include chapels to that devotion. I have been to all of these churches in my lifetime, most more than once.

The first is, of course, the Gesu in Rome, where the famous Batoni painting, on the right of this blog, holds the honor of being the first depiction of the Sacred Heart. I attended a Mass there said by Blessed John Paul II.

The second is the Church of the Circumcision of the Lord in Valletta, Malta, which has a chapel with an exact copy of the painting. The chapel also holds a letter from St Ignatius of Loyola. The Batoni painting is small, but dynamic. I went there almost daily when I lived in Valletta.

The third is the famous Chapel of the Sacred Heart at the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham, which has yet another depiction of the Batoni painting, but in glass. This has been in England for over 150 years and the chapel is the first ever dedication to the Sacred Heart in England. I was there last week.

The fourth is the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Davenport, Iowa, my hometown, the first Cathedral ever dedicated to that devotion in America. I grew up going there for special feasts and it was my place for daily Mass when I was working.

The fifth is the Brompton Oratory, dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary but containing a chapel of the Sacred Heart. I was married at the Oratory, as it was my parish and I went to daily Mass there..

The sixth is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame, my alma mater. I was there almost daily.

The seventh is the Ordinariate, which although dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham, also honors Newman as a patron, and his hearts from his crest are on their pin. I have many friends in the Ordinariate.

The last connection to the Sacred Heart is not a church, but a person, Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, not only one of my personal patrons, but the subject of my current study, and in the past, as well.

I wonder if I shall think of some other Sacred Heart threads in my life?

It's a small world after all

It's a small world. I just found out that Michael Voris was at Notre Dame when I was, and that I attended his graduation, except I did not know him. I went to the 1983 as my boyfriend at the time was graduating with his doctorate. I was working on my doctorate at the time, which I did not finish there. It is a small world. I wonder how many other orthodox Catholics have graduate from ND? How about a mini-poll?

Gendercide in America-No Protection for Females in the Womb

Yesterday, I could not face writing about this, but I must. The American Democratic Party is now supporting gendercide. The Dems in the House did not get enough votes for the bill banning the selection of girl fetuses for destruction. How are we different than any non-Christian, Marxist society? We are not.

That Planned Parenthood is behind this refusal to ban the murder of females is clear.
If we needed another proof that the feminist movement failed to really help women, here is one test.

Check out this article, from which I take a snippet, the second one below. The Chinese have an army of over one million men. The fact that many men in China cannot find mates, find wives, leads them to a more aggressive life-style. The lack of females in a society not only kills traditional marriage, lowers the birth-rate, but allows a society based on war to develop. Sparta killed their girls. I borrow this photo from The Economist, which in 2010, called any society which supported gendercide, "unbalanced" and full of the "ancient prejudice" against girls and women.


In January 2010 the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) showed what can happen to a country when girl babies don’t count. Within ten years, the academy said, one in five young men would be unable to find a bride because of the dearth of young women—a figure unprecedented in a country at peace.
The number is based on the sexual discrepancy among people aged 19 and below. According to CASS, China in 2020 will have 30m-40m more men of this age than young women. For comparison, there are 23m boys below the age of 20 in Germany, France and Britain combined and around 40m American boys and young men. So within ten years, China faces the prospect of having the equivalent of the whole young male population of America, or almost twice that of Europe’s three largest countries, with little prospect of marriage, untethered to a home of their own and without the stake in society that marriage and children provide.

Sad that the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave should have fallen so low into a barbaric mind-set. From LifeSiteNews, this quotation shows that we are now of the same ilk as China with regards to girls. We have joined the ranks of barbarians.


Tom McClusky, Senior Vice President for Family Research Council Action, said he was “deeply saddened” by PRENDA’s demise.

“That anyone on either side of the political aisle would vote against a bill preventing gendercide in the United States is profoundly troubling,” said McClusky.

“We are heartened that a strong majority of House members voted to ban performing or coercing abortions for the purpose of eliminating unborn babies of an undesired sex – usually, girls,” said NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. “Shamefully, President Obama, and a minority of 168 House members, complied with the political demands of pro-abortion pressure groups, rather than defend the coerced women, and their unborn daughters, who are victimized by sex-selection abortions.”

NRLC pointed out in a release Thursday that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) had warned legislators that it would score the PRENDA vote as a vote against “women’s health.”

“So, for PPFA, abortion for sex selection is just another menu option, except where it is illegal – and PPFA vehemently opposes making it illegal,” said the pro-life group.

The Dream of the Rood at Moreton, Dorset

My most favorite small Anglican church in England is at Moreton, Dorset. St. Nicholas has the fantastic, numinous engraved windows of Laurence Whistler. The original windows were destroyed early in World War II and from 1955 to 1984, these engraved windows were put into place. One must look and take time to examine the details, including the Scriptural references.



I cannot decide which is my favorite, but the Dream of the Rood window is magnificent. I have linked a photo on the poem's title above.  Here are some samples of the windows. And, I include the poem in translation.

Listen! The choicest of visions I wish to tell,
which came as a dream in middle-night,
after voice-bearers lay rest.at 
It seemed that I saw a most wondrous tree
born aloft, wound round by light,5
brightest of beams. All was that beacon
sprinkled with gold. Gems stood
fair at earth's corners; there likewise five
shone on the shoulder-span [ 1 ]. All there beheld the Angel of God [ 2 ],
fair through predestiny [ 3 ]. Indeed, that was no wicked one's gallows,10
but holy souls beheld it there,
men over earth, and all this great creation.

Wondrous that victory-beam--and I stained with sins,

with wounds of disgrace. I saw glory's tree

honored with trappings, shining with joys,15

decked with gold; gems had

wrapped that forest tree worthily round.

Yet through that gold I clearly perceived

old strife of wretches [ 4 ], when first it began

to bleed on its right side. With sorrows most troubled,20

I feared that fair sight. I saw that doom-beacon [ 5 ]

turn trappings and hews: sometimes with water wet,

drenched with blood's going; sometimes with jewels decked.

But lying there long while, I,

troubled, beheld the Healer's tree,25

until I heard its fair voice.

Then best wood spoke these words:

"It was long since--I yet remember it--

that I was hewn at holt's end,

moved from my stem. Strong fiends seized me there,30

worked me for spectacle; cursèd ones lifted me [ 6 ].

On shoulders men bore me there, then fixed me on hill;

fiends enough fastened me. Then saw I mankind's Lord

come with great courage when he would mount on me.

Then dared I not against the Lord's word35

bend or break, when I saw earth's

fields shake. All fiends

I could have felled, but I stood fast.

The young hero stripped himself--he, God Almighty--

strong and stout-minded. He mounted high gallows,40

bold before many, when he would loose mankind.

I shook when that Man clasped me. I dared, still, not bow to earth,

fall to earth's fields, but had to stand fast.

Rood was I reared. I lifted a mighty King,

Lord of the heavens, dared not to bend.45

With dark nails they drove me through: on me those sores are seen,

open malice-wounds. I dared not scathe anyone.

They mocked us both, we two together [ 7 ]. All wet with blood I was,

poured out from that Man's side, after ghost he gave up.

Much have I born on that hill50

of fierce fate. I saw the God of hosts

harshly stretched out. Darknesses had

wound round with clouds the corpse of the Wielder,

bright radiance; a shadow went forth,

dark under heaven. All creation wept,55

King's fall lamented. Christ was on rood.

But there eager ones came from afar

to that noble one. I beheld all that.

Sore was I with sorrows distressed, yet I bent to men's hands,

with great zeal willing. They took there Almighty God,60

lifted him from that grim torment. Those warriors abandoned me

standing all blood-drenched, all wounded with arrows.

They laid there the limb-weary one, stood at his body's head;

beheld they there heaven's Lord, and he himself rested there,

worn from that great strife. Then they worked him an earth-house,65

men in the slayer's sight carved it from bright stone,

set in it the Wielder of Victories. Then they sang him a sorrow-song,

sad in the eventide, when they would go again

with grief from that great Lord. He rested there, with small company.

But we there lamenting a good while70

stood in our places after the warrior's cry

went up. Corpse grew cold,

fair life-dwelling. Then someone felled us

all to the earth. That was a dreadful fate!

Deep in a pit one delved us. Yet there Lord's thanes,75

friends, learned of me,. . . . . . . . . . .

adorned me with silver and gold.

Now you may know, loved man of mine,

what I, work of baleful ones, have endured

of sore sorrows. Now has the time come80

when they will honor me far and wide,

men over earth, and all this great creation,

will pray for themselves to this beacon. On me God's son

suffered awhile. Therefore I, glorious now,

rise under heaven, and I may heal85

any of those who will reverence me.

Once I became hardest of torments,

most loathly to men, before I for them,

voice-bearers, life's right way opened.

Indeed, Glory's Prince, Heaven's Protector,90

honored me, then, over holm-wood [ 8 ].

Thus he his mother, Mary herself,

Almighty God, for all men,

also has honored over all woman-kind.

Now I command you, loved man of mine,95

that you this seeing [ 9 ] tell unto men;

discover with words that it is glory's beam

which Almighty God suffered upon

for all mankind's manifold sins

and for the ancient ill-deeds of Adam.100

Death he tasted there, yet God rose again

by his great might, a help unto men.

He then rose to heaven. Again sets out hither

into this Middle-Earth, seeking mankind

on Doomsday, the Lord himself,105

Almighty God, and with him his angels,

when he will deem--he holds power of doom--

everyone here as he will have earned

for himself earlier in this brief life.

Nor may there be any unafraid110

for the words that the Wielder speaks.

He asks before multitudes where that one is

who for God's name would gladly taste

bitter death, as before he on beam did.

And they then are afraid, and few think115

what they can to Christ's question answer [ 10 ].

Nor need there then any be most afraid [ 11 ]

who ere in his breast bears finest of beacons;

but through that rood shall each soul

from the earth-way enter the kingdom,120

who with the Wielder thinks yet to dwell."

I prayed then to that beam with blithe mind,

great zeal, where I alone was

with small company [ 12 ]. My heart was

impelled on the forth-way, waited for in each125

longing-while. For me now life's hope:

that I may seek that victory-beam

alone more often than all men,

honor it well. My desire for that

is much in mind, and my hope of protection130

reverts to the rood. I have not now many

strong friends on this earth; they forth hence

have departed from world's joys, have sought themselves glory's King;

they live now in heaven with the High-Father,

dwell still in glory, and I for myself expect135

each of my days the time when the Lord's rood,

which I here on earth formerly saw,

from this loaned life will fetch me away

and bring me then where is much bliss,

joy in the heavens, where the Lord's folk140

is seated at feast, where is bliss everlasting;

and set me then where I after may

dwell in glory, well with those saints

delights to enjoy. May he be friend to me

who here on earth earlier died145

on that gallows-tree for mankind's sins.

He loosed us and life gave,

a heavenly home. Hope was renewed

with glory and gladness to those who there burning endured.

That Son was victory-fast [ 13 ] in that great venture,150

with might and good-speed [ 14 ], when he with many,

vast host of souls, came to God's kingdom,

One-Wielder Almighty: bliss to the angels

and all the saints--those who in heaven

dwelt long in glory--when their Wielder came,155

Almighty God, where his homeland was. 

 

Translation copyright © 1982, Jonathan A. Glenn, who I knew at Notre Dame.