Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 20, 18 May 1922, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR. May 21, Sunday. —Fifth Sunday after Easter. ~ 22, Monday.—Of the Feria. „ 23, Tuesday.—Of the Feria. „ 24, Wednesday.—Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Chirstians. , 25, Thursday.—Feast of the Ascension. Holiday of Obligation. ~ 26, Friday.—St. Philip Neri, Confessor. ~ 27, Saturday.—St. Bede, Confessor and Doctor. •P FEAST OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, HELP OP CHRISTIANS. This feast was instituted by Pope Pius VII. at the beginning of last century. Napoleon, in his ambitious attempt to become autocrat of the world, found a formidable obstacle in the opposition of the Supreme Pontiff, 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 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 the present feast to be celebrated. Under the title of “Help of Christians,” the Blessed Virgin Mary has been selected as patron of the Catholic Church in Australasia. FEAST OF THE ASCENSION OF OUR BLESSED LORD. Christ risen from the dead remained 40 days on earth instructing His Apostles, and proving beyond doubt the truth of His Resurrection. At the end of that time Ho ascended into Heaven from Mount Olivet, in full view of His Apostles. Thus He secured for His sacred humanity ' the happiness and glory which He had merited by His sufferings, and at the same time opened to us the gates of Heaven. From the time of the Apostles this event has been commemorated in the Church by a special feast. ST. BEDE, CONFESSOR AND DOCTOR. St. Bede, commonly called Venerable Bede, was born not far from Newcastle-on-Tyne, in 673. Piety and learning were in him equally conspicuous. Mabillon writes of him: “Whoever applied himself to the study of every branch of literature, and also to the teaching of others, more than Bede? Yet who was more closely united to Heaven by the exercises of piety and religion?” “To see him pray,” says an ancient writer, “one would think ho left himself no time to study; and when we look at his books, we wonder how he could have found time to do anything else but write.” The works of Venerable Bede 1 include several commentaries on the Sacred Scriptures, and a history of the Catholic Church in England, which have earned for him the title of Doctor of the Church, conferred on him by the late Pope. Venerable Bede died in 735.