Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 21, 26 May 1904, Page 31

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALEINDAk

May 29, Sunday.— Trinity Sunday. „ 30, Monday.— St. Felix 1., Po>pe and Martyr. „ 31, Tuesday.— Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians. June 1, Wednesday.— St. >E]eut>herius, Pope and Martyr. „ 2, Thursday.— 'Conpus Ohristi. „ 3, Friday.— St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, Virgin. „ 4, Saturday.— St- Francis. Carracciolo, Confessor.

Trinity Sunday

To-day we are not asked to imitate the virtues of some saint, or to contemplate the merciful dealings of God with man. We are taken up, as it were, into the Holy of Holies, and invited to gaze on the radiant perfection of God as the Blessed see Him — one God in Three Divine Presons. Until the fourteenth century this feast was not generally celebrated in the Church, for the reason tJhat all the festivals in the Christian religion are truly festivals of the Holy Trinity, since they are tlhe only means to honor the Blessed Trinity and steps to raise us to It as the tiue arud only term of our worship. As Pape Alexander writes, in tlhe eleventh century :— ' The Roman Church has no particular festival of the Trinity, because she honors it every day, and every hour of the day ; all her offices containing Its praises and concluding with a tribute of glory to It.'

St. Felix 1., Pofpe and Martyr

St. P'elix, a natiJve of Rome, after having occupied the Papal. Throne for five years, received the crown of martyrdom under the Emperor Aurehan in 274.

Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians.

This feast was instituted by Pope Pius VII., at the beginning of tlhe last century. Napoleon, on his ambitious attempt to become autocrat of the world, found a formidable obstacle in the apposition of the Supreme Pontifi, who refused to surrender the patrimony of the Chiurch, or to allow the French Emperor to control the management of ecclesiastical affairs. As a consequence of his firmness, Pius VII. was detained in captivity for several years. 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 tlhe present feast to be celebrated.

St. Eleutherius, Pope and Martyr

St- Eleutherius, a native of Greece, became Pope on the dealh of St. Soter in 177. After a pontificate of fifteen years, St. Eleutherius was maityred in the reign of Commodus.

Corpus Christi

The Latin words ' Corpus Christi ' mean ■' the body of the Lord ' The festival carried out under this title is an outcome of the Church's devotion to the Hidden Lord in the .Sacrament of the Altar. Pious Catholics are ever finding new and beautiful ways of expressing (heir devotion to our Lord in the Sacrament of Ihs Lcvc The first mention we have in history of the solemnity of a feast of Corpus Christi is in 1246, when Robeit, Bishop of Liege, made arrangements to introduce il into his diocese, but death prevented his intentidn being carried into effect. After the Bishop's death the Cardinal Legate Hugh undertook to carry otat his directions, and celebrated the festival for the first time in the year 1217, in the Church of St. Martin at Liege Se\eral bishops followed his example, and the festival was observed in many dioceses, 'before Urban IV., m 1261 finally ordered the celebration by the whole Church This order was confirmed by Clement V. at the Council of Vienna in 1311. and the Thursday after the octave of Pentecost appointed for its celebration. In 1317, Pope John XXII. instituted toe solemn procession

St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi

St. Mary Magdalen de Pa77i was born in Florence in 15G6. She^ was of an illustrious family, which was allied to the Medicis. At the age of 16 she took the \cil She died in 1607, and was canonised in 1669.

St. Francis Carracciolo, Confessor

St Francis was born in the kingdom of Naples, about the middle of t<he sixteenth centtury 1 . On reaching, manhood he became a priest. He spent the remainder of his life in la.bo.ring for the spiritual welfare of tihe working classes and the poor, and was very 7ealoais and successful in his endeavors to reclaim criminals.