Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 21, 21 May 1903, Page 31

Friends at Court

QLEANINOS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR. Muj 21, Sunday.— Bleßsed Virgin Mary, Help of Chris- „ 25, Alond.iy.-fc3^Grcgory VII., Pope and Confes- " o-' «, uo , sday ,-~~ St - hll 'P Neii - Confessor. , 2,, Uednosdav —St John I, Pope and Martyr. „ 28 Jhiirsday— Octave of the Ascension. " s!' I1I 1 ' 1 * h \, Boniface IV.. Pope and Confessor. „ JO, Saturday.— Vigil of Pentecost. Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians. This feast was instituted by Pope Pius VII. at the SS f I n!nf lff tht h USt centur -V- Napoleon, in his ambitious attempt to become autocrat oi the world, found a formidable obstacle in the opposition of the Supreme Ponlill, who refused to surrender the patrimony of the Church, or to allow the French Emperor to control the management of ecclesiastical affairs. As a consequence oi his urmness Pius Vll. was detained in captivity for seve.al >ears. In gratitude for his liberation, which seemed an answer to the prayers of the Church, invoking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin on his behalf he ordered the pi csent feast to be celebrated. Under the title oi Help of Christians,' the Blessed Virgin Mary ChlrclTof S Aus^iasia PrinCiPal Patr ° n ° f the Catholi? St. Gregory VII., Pope and Confessor. St Gregory, or Kildebrand as he was called before his elation to the Papacy, was a native of Italy Of the gtoat men who have sat in the chair of Peter he" was one oi the greatest. He was a strenuous reformer of abuses and a fearless upholder of the rights of the Church against the encroachments of the civil power Imprisoned by a rebellious nobie whose crimes he had consul ed, besieged in the castle of St. Angelo by Henry •IV of Germany rescued by the Norman Duke of Calabria, he died in exile at Salerno, AD. 1085 after a Pontilieate of nearly twehe \ears. St. Philip Neri, Confessor. St Philip Neri. the founder of the Congregation of the Ouitory, was borne at Florence in 1513, and died at Koine in 1. -,95 He established (J548) the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity, destined to take care of foleign pilgrims Ha\ ing been ordained priest (1551) he de\oted himself to the education of childien, and for this woik associated himself with other ecclesiastics who w<>ie called Oratoi lans He soon formed a Congregation or these associates, whose statutes were appro\ed by Giegm\ XIII in 157."). * St John 1., Pope and Martyr. St John was chosen to succeed Pope Hormisdas in .>L\'s Cast mto puson by the Arum king of the Goths no succumbed to the haidships mllicted upon him (A D* .>!!(>) ' St Boniface IV , Pope and Confessor. S( Honnace governed the Church for nearly seven \eais His ckath occui red in Gil. Vigil. The (lay thai immediately precedes a feast is called a -\igil oi wauh, because m ancient times the faithful assembled m tl,e chinches on the e\e ol the solemnities and p.issed thi-iem a pa 1 1 of the night in praising God by singing 1 salnis and leading Holy Scripture. Several abuses having ciejt into these nocturnal assemblies the Clnich Mippiessed them, with the exception of the 'vigil ol (. hi islnias r J he ollice conunenced 'eneially about nine o'clock m the e\ening, and ended about one o'clock in the morning The Chinch has instituted the fast of the ■vigils ol ceitam gieat feasts, in order that detaching oui selves thiough penanre and moi tidcation from the inoidinate lo\e which we have for our body, we may elevate o/iisclxes more easily to spiritual and divine things and celebrate moie worthily the great mysteries ol lehgion li the Mgil of a least falls on a Sunday as accoid.ng to the aiioslolic constitutions, it is not 'permitted to fast on this day, because it is a day of rejoicing, the fast is advanced and kept on Saturday Some \iyils aie celebiated without fasting, like that of Kpiphany and of the Ascension, the icason why the ( h.nch has not preset ibc-d fasting on these days is because ii apfK\us incompatible with the )<>v with which the Ilnth and Resurrection of Christ inspire us. Tho vigils of feasts aie fast da\ s of obligation