The Hanscom Family Weblog

On this day (22nd)…

0431 Council of Ephesus (3rd ecumenical council) opens
0816 Stephen IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1559 In England, Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer Book was issued. During her 45-year reign, Elizabeth I rejected the Catholic faith, adopting instead the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church.
1745 Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: ‘I am often weary of this world, and want to leave it on that account; but it is more desirable to be drawn, rather than driven out of it.’
1750 Clergyman Jonathan Edwards was dismissed from his Congregational pulpit in Northampton, MA, after serving there 23 years. Maintaining his ultra- conservative theology, Edwards had grown to become administratively too inflexible for his congregation.
1772 Slavery outlawed in England
1848 Barnburners (anti-slavery) party nominates Martin Van Buren for Pres
1865 The society known today as the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) was first organized. Its purpose is to provide information about the archaeology, the history and the people of the Holy Land.
1870 Scholars began translation work on the English Revised Version of the Bible. Released in 1881, the ERV became the textual basis for the American Standard Version (ASV), first published in the United States in 1901.
1978 Neo-Nazis call off plans to march in Jewish community of Skokie, Ill

On this day (23rd)…

1415 Bohemian reformer and martyr Jan Hus wrote in a letter: ‘It is difficult to…esteem it all joy in various temptations. It is easy to talk about…but difficult to fulfill it.’
1683 William Penn signs friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape indians
in Pennsylvania; only treaty “not sworn to, nor broken”
1738 Birth of Samuel Medley, English Baptist clergyman and author of the hymn, ‘O Could I Speak the Matchless Worth.’
1775 Anglican hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: ‘True religion is not a science of the head so much as an inward and heartfelt perception…. Here the learned have no real advantage over the ignorant.’
1967 Paul VI issued the encyclical ‘Sacerdotalis Caelibatus,’ reaffirming the Catholic Church’s requirement of celibacy with the priesthood.

June 22

On this day in 1535, Roman Catholic John Fisher was beheaded at the Tower of London. Fisher was the only bishop who did not sign a document that declared Henry VIII of England’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon unlawful.

June 22

On this day in 1559, Queen Elizabeth’s Book of Common Prayer was issued (a revision of Second Prayer Book of Edward VI).

June 23

On this day in 1988, Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning established a new unit at the Church Center known as Refugee/Migration Ministries.

Feast Day (22nd):

St. Alban, protomartyr of Britain, 303.

St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, confessor, 431.

Feast Day (23rd):

St. Etheldreda, or Audry, virgin and abbess of Ely, 679.
St. Mary of Oignies, 1213.

June 22

Aaron, monk [GTZ: St. Malo]
Achatius and ten thousand companions, martyrs [GTZ: Salzburg, France]
Alban, martyr (protomartyr of England) [BLS; GTZ: England, Scotland, Skandinavia, France; PRI: England]

Albinus, martyr [GTZ: Cologne, Trier]
Consortia, virgin [GTZ: Cluny, Arles, Lyon]
James, (the Less), apostle [GTZ]
John Fisher, bishop, martyr [common]
Julian (Levite), martyr [GTZ: Augsburg, Chur, Freising, Strassburg]
Paulinus, bishop (of Nola), confessor [common; GTZ: Mainz, Orden, France; 6082, in red]
Riquardus, martyr (sometimes bishop, confessor) [WTS (Bruges)]
Rotrudis, virgin [GTZ: Tournai, St. Andrews]
Ten thousand martyrs [GTZ; HCC]
Thomas More, martyr [MR]

June 23

Avitus, priest, confessor [GTZ: Metz]
Etheldreda, virgin [GTZ; PRI: England (as queen)]
Ediltrudis, virgin [GTZ: Trier]
Mary (of Oignies) [BLS]
John the Baptist (Vigil of Nativity) [common]

On This Day (22nd)

Eusebius
Paulinus of Nola
Thomas More
Anti-Fascist Day (Croatia)

In History

1633 - Holy Office in Rome forces Galileo to recant his view that earth is not centre of the universe
1825 - British Parliament abolishes feudalism
1976 - Canadian parliament abolishes capital punishment
1987 - 8,000 peace protesters form 10-mile human chain around US air base at Okinawa, Japan
1990 - Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled in Berlin
2002 - Earthquake in northwestern Iran

On This Day (23rd)

Marie of Oignies
St John’s Eve Midsummer (Catholic)
United Nations Public Service Day

In History

1863 - Treaty between William Penn (Quaker) and Lenni Lenape tribe in Shakamaxon, Pennsylvania
1941 - Lithuanians attempt independence from Soviet Union, before Nazi occupation
1942 - First selections for gas chambers at Auschwitz
1956 - Nasser is elected president of Egypt
1961 - Treaty banning military use of Antarctic comes into force
1985 - Air India flight 182 bombed by terrorists off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard
1991 - Moldova becomes independent

Jun 22 - St. Alban, First Martyr Of Great Britain

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/jun_22_-_st._alban_first_martyr_of_great_britain#7683

ST. ALBAN

St. Alban has the honour of being regarded as the first British martyr. The bloody persecution of Dioclesian, which raged in other parts of the Roman empire with such terrible fury that Dioclesian declared the Christians exterminated, was kept in check in Gaul and Britain by Constantius, who governed those provinces with almost regal authority. But some few are alleged to have suffered, and among these St. Alban was first. He sheltered a priest, whose name was Amphibalus, who is said to have converted him; and when he could conceal him no longer, he assisted his escape by changing clothes with him. For this act Alban was brought before the governor, condemned, and beheaded.

The execution took place at Verulam, and in remembrance of the martyr, the name of Verulam was changed to St. Alban’s. Ingulphus tells us, in his History of the Abbey of Croyland, that Offa, king of Mercia, ‘founded a monastery of Black Monks at the city of Verulam, in honour of God and of St. Alban, the protomartyr of the English,’ in the year 793. In time, this became one of the richest and most beautiful abbacies in England, and its superior was in 1154 invested by Pope Adrian IV. with the privilege of taking the first place among the mitred abbots in parliament. Of its original grandeur some idea, though but a faint one, may still be acquired by a survey of the church, which continues to be used as a parochial place of worship.

When we view the ancient and still surviving grandeur of the church of St. Alban’s and its appurtenances, it becomes a curious reflection that great doubts now exist whether St. Alban himself ever had an existence.

Saint Alban

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Alban

ALBAN
FIRST MARTYR OF BRITAIN (22 JUNE 304)

There were probably Christians in the British Isles already in the first century. However, Alban is the first recorded Christian martyr. The traditional date of his death is 304, during the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian; but many scholars now date it as around 209, during the persecution under the Emperor Septimius Severus. Alban was a pagan, and a soldier in the Roman Army. He gave shelter to a Christian priest who was fleeing from arrest, and in the next few days the two talked at length, and Alban became a Christian. When officers came in search of the priest, Alban met them, dressed in the priest’s cloak, and they mistook him for the priest and arrested him. He refused to renounce his new faith, and was beheaded. He thus became the first Christian martyr in Britain. The second was the executioner who was to kill him, but who heard his testimony and was so impressed that he became a Christian on the spot, and refused to kill Alban. The third was the priest, who when he learned that Alban had been arrested in his place, hurried to the court in the hope of saving Alban by turning himself in. The place of their deaths is near the site of St. Alban’s Cathedral today.

Readings:

Psalm 31:1-5
Wisdom 3:1-9
1 John 3:13-16
Matthew 10:34-42

Preface of a Saint (3)

PRAYER (traditional language)

Almighty God, by whose grace and power thy holy martyr Alban triumphed over suffering and was faithful even unto death: Grant to us, who now remember him with thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to thee in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Alban triumphed over suffering and was faithful even unto death: Grant to us, who now remember him with thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

by James Kiefer

A short history of St. Alban may be found at St. Alban’s Cathedral website.

BLESSED BASIL HOPKO
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2010

Blessed Basil Hopko is considered one of the many priests and religious martyred by Communism. He was born in Slovakia to poor parents. His father died when he was a year old and his mother left for the United States when he was four in seach of work.

He remained in Europe and was an excellent student. He wanted to join his mother in the United States and pursue his vocation to the priesthood there, but his poor health did not permit him to travel.

He was ordained in 1929 and served as a parish priest in Prague, with a spcial mission to the poor, the unemployed and students. In 1947, he was named auxiliary bishop of Prjashev. Three years later, he was arrested by Communist officials and tortured.

He was given a trial and sentenced to 15 years for “subversive activity.” His health failed as he was continually tortured. In 1964, he was transferred to a home for seniors. There, he was kept under guard but managed to minister to a group of 120 nuns who had been imprisoned in the home as well.

Though his eparchy was restored in 1968, officials did not permit him to resume his leadership. A Slovak bishop was appointed in his place. He never recovered from his health and died in 1976. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003 in the Slovak Republic.

Jun 23 - Martyr Agrippina Of Rome

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/jun_23_-_martyr_agrippina_of_rome#7679

22 Jun 1535
Thomas More, Martyr

On the Roman calendar, John Fisher and Thomas More are remembered on 6 July, the date of More’s death. In Anglican circles, they are often remembered three months later, together with their fellow martyr William Tyndale, and I have followed this custom. I accordingly note them only briefly here.

John Fisher was born in 1469, enrolled at Cambridge University in 1483, ordained in 1491, and in 1502 became chaplain to Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII. With her money and his ideas, they greatly altered Cambridge, restoring the teaching of Greek and Hebrew, bringing Erasmus over as a lecturer, and endowing many chairs and scholarships. In 1504 Fisher was made Chancellor of Cambridge and Bishop of Rochester. In 1527 he became chaplain to the new king, Henry VIII, and confessor to the queen, Catherine of Aragon. He stood high in the favor of Henry, who proclaimed that no other realm had any bishop as learned and devout.

Thomas More was born in 1478, studied law and was called to the Bar in 1501. He spent four years at the London Charterhouse (monastery of the Carthusian monks), considering becoming a priest or monk or friar. In 1505 he married Jane Colt, who eventually bore him three daughters and a son, but died in 1511. A few weeks after her death, More married a widow, Alice Middleton, with a son and a daughter of her own. The second marriage produced no offspring, but Alice made a good home for the six children already there, plus others whom More took in as students or as foster children. He was noted for giving his daughters far more education than most women, even in the upper classes, received. His friends included Erasmus and Colet, and other scholars who desired moderate reforms in the Church but were set against any break with the Papacy. Henry VIII, who became king in 1509, recognized More’s learning and integrity, and appointed him to numerous public offices, including finally that of Lord Chancellor of England.

Trouble arose for both Fisher and More when Henry determined to seek a declaration that his marriage with Catherine was null on grounds of consanguinity. Fisher and More disagreed with him, and would not yield, either on the question of the annulment, nor later, when they were required to acknowledge the King as the final authority on ecclesiastical questions in England. Henry had them imprisoned, and finally beheaded, Fisher on 22 June 1535 and More on 6 July 1535.

PRAYER (traditional language):

O Almighty God, who didst give to thy servants Jan Huss, John Fisher, and Thomas More boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of the same our Lord Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language):

Almighty God, who gave to your servants Jan Huss, John Fisher, And Thomas More boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

22 June 2010
St. Thomas More
(1478-1535)

His belief that no lay ruler has jurisdiction over the Church of Christ cost Thomas More his life.

Beheaded on Tower Hill, London, July 6, 1535, he steadfastly refused to approve Henry VIII’s divorce and remarriage and establishment of the Church of England.

Described as “a man for all seasons,” More was a literary scholar, eminent lawyer, gentleman, father of four children and chancellor of England. An intensely spiritual man, he would not support the king’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Nor would he acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, breaking with Rome and denying the pope as head.

More was committed to the Tower of London to await trial for treason: not swearing to the Act of Succession and the Oath of Supremacy. Upon conviction, More declared he had all the councils of Christendom and not just the council of one realm to support him in the decision of his conscience.

June 23, 2010
St. John Fisher
(1469-1535)

John Fisher is usually associated with Erasmus, Thomas More and other Renaissance humanists. His life, therefore, did not have the external simplicity found in the lives of some saints. Rather, he was a man of learning, associated with the intellectuals and political leaders of his day. He was interested in the contemporary culture and eventually became chancellor at Cambridge. He had been made a bishop at 35, and one of his interests was raising the standard of preaching in England. Fisher himself was an accomplished preacher and writer. His sermons on the penitential psalms were reprinted seven times before his death. With the coming of Lutheranism, he was drawn into controversy. His eight books against heresy gave him a leading position among European theologians.

In 1521 he was asked to study the problem of Henry VIII’s marriage. He incurred Henry’s anger by defending the validity of the king’s marriage with Catherine and later by rejecting Henry’s claim to be the supreme head of the Church of England.

In an attempt to be rid of him, Henry first had him accused of not reporting all the “revelations” of the nun of Kent, Elizabeth Barton. John was summoned, in feeble health, to take the oath to the new Act of Succession. He and Thomas More refused because the Act presumed the legality of Henry’s divorce and his claim to be head of the English Church. They were sent to the Tower of London, where Fisher remained 14 months without trial. They were finally sentenced to life imprisonment and loss of goods.

When the two were called to further interrogations, they remained silent. Fisher was tricked, on the supposition he was speaking privately as a priest, and declared again that the king was not supreme head. The king, further angered that the pope had made John Fisher a cardinal, had him brought to trial on the charge of high treason. He was condemned and executed, his body left to lie all day on the scaffold and his head hung on London Bridge. More was executed two weeks later.

National Columnists Day

When : Always June 23rd

National Columnists Day recognizes the importance and value of newspaper columnists!

The Origin of Columnists:

The National Society of Newspaper Columnists created National Columnists Day. It was established on April 18th, in memory of the day columnist Ernie Pyle was killed in World War II.

1498 Jews are expelled from Nurenberg Bavaria by Emperor Maximillian
1607 1st Protestant Episcopal parish in America established, Jamestown
1633 Galileo Galilei is forced by Inquisition to “abjure, curse, &
detest” his Copernican heliocentric views
1639 Birth of Increase Mather, early American theologian. He published nearly 100 books, and is credited with helping end executions for witchcraft in colonial America.
1821 Birth of Henry W. Baker, compiler of ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’ Ä the unofficial Anglican church hymnal. He also authored the hymn based on Psalm 23: ‘The King of Love My Shepherd Is.’
1821 The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church was formally constituted in New York City. Nineteen clergymen were present, representing six African-American churches from New York City; Philadelphia; New Haven, CT and Newark, NJ.
1943 Federal troops put down racial riot in Detroit 30 dead
1963 Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) succeeds John XXIII. In Rome, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected Pope Paul VI, the 261st pontiff of the Catholic Church.
1968 Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth wrote in a letter: ‘Faith in God’s revelation has nothing to do with an ideology which glorifies the status quo.’

June 21

On this day in 1607, English settlers celebrated the first recorded Holy Communion at the Jamestown settlement in Virginia.

Feast Day:

St. Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata, and martyr, 379 or 380;
St. Aaron, Abbot in Brittany, 6th centnry;
St. Meen, Mevenus, or Melanus, Abbot in Brittany, about 617;
St. Leufredus, or Leufroi, abbot, 738;
St. Ralph, Archbishop of Bourges, confessor, 866;
St. Aloysius, or Lewis Gonzaga, confessor, 1591.

June 21

Aaron, abbot [BLS]
Alban, martyr [GTZ; WTS (Bruges)]
Aloysius Gonzaga, confessor [common]
Eusebius (of Samosata), bishop, martyr [BLS]
Eusebius, bishop (of Caesaria), confessor [GTZ: Sens]
Florence [PCP (Paris), as Florent]
Leufred, abbot (at Evreux), confessor [BLS; GTZ: England, Paris, Rouen, Norway; PCP (Paris)]
Mevennus, abbot [BLS; GTZ: Brittany]
Ralph, monk, bishop (of Bourges) [BLS]

On This Day

Martin of Tongres
Aloysius Gonzaga
World Humanist Day

In History

1908 - Women’s Suffrage rally in London attracts 500,000 people
1919 - Unemployed veterans killed by police in Winnipeg General Strike
1858 - Charles Darwin receives paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that confirms theory of evolution
1948 - Columbia Records introduces the first long-playing vinyl record album
1964 - Three civil right workers killled by Ku Klu Klan in Mississippi
1964 - Section 28 (outlawing ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in the UK) is repealed in Scotland

Jun 21 - Martyr Julian Of Tarsus In Cilicia

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/jun_21_-_martyr_julian_of_tarsus_in_cilicia#7682

21 Jun 1931
Onesimos Nesib, Translator and Missionary

Frumentius, Missionary (27 Oct 380)

(From the Lutheran Calendar)

Onesimos, was born in about 1855, in western Ethiopia. He was captured by slave traders and brought to the coast. There Swedish missionaries bought him, freed him, educated him, and converted him. He belonged to the Oromo people, the largest linguistic group in Ethiopia, and he proceeded to translate the Bible into Oromo, and returned to his homeland to minister to the Oromo people. He died there on 21 June 1931.

[NOTE: In earlier drafts of this BIO, I wrote “Galla” rather than “Oromo.” However, I have been informed by a correspondent from the Oromo Liberation Front that the word “Galla” means “uncultured” in the Amhara language (that of the dominant minority in the country), and is rejected by the people in question. I have not the expertise to evaluate the political situation in Ethiopia, but report that both terms are used, so that a reader who encounters a reference somewhere to the Galla, and another to the Oromo, will understand that the references are to the same people and language.]

It should be noted that the country of Ethiopia was already officially Christian. In the fourth century, the great theologian and bishop Athanasius of Alexandria in Egypt consecrated the Syrian Frumentius (dates approximately 300-380) as Bishop of Ethiopia, and he established the Christian Church in that land. (His commemoration is 1 August in Ethiopia, and 27 October in the West.) By this century, however, because of changes of language, there was no longer any translation of the Scriptures in a language understood by the people, and the religious education of the people (not through any conspiracy) was very sketchy. If my memory is correct, a modern translation was produced around 1950 by order of the Emperor Haile Selassie, which had to be printed from photocopies of an original written by the Emperor in his own hand, since otherwise the people refused to accept it.

Prayer (traditional language)

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank thee for thy servant
Frumentius, by whom thy Church was first planted in Ethiopia,
and for thy servant Onesimos Nesib, whom thou didst call to
minister to the Oromo people of Ethiopia, and to furnish them
with the Scriptures in their own tongue. Raise up, we beseech
thee, in this and every land evangelists and heralds of thy
kingdom, that thy Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches
of our Savior Jesus Christ; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for
ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Frumentius, by whom your Church was first planted in Ethiopia, and for your servant Onesimos Nesib, whom you called to minister to the Oromo people of Ethiopia. Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA
MONDAY, JUNE 21, 2010

St. Aloysius had a great desire to serve and know God as a young boy but his family life was not always aligned with his desire. He was born into a noble Italian family and his father was a compulsive gambler. He grew up in a castle and was trained from a very young age to be a soldier and courtier. Despite the exigencies of his family, he taught catechism to poor boys.

He encountered many holy people in his lifetime, receiving first Communion from St. Charles Borromeo and studying under St. Robert Bellarmine. As a teen, he suffered from kidney disease which he considered a blessing as it left him with time for prayer.

At 18 he signed away his legal claim to his title and his family’s lands, and entered the Jesuits. He died shortly thereafter of the plague at the age of 23, having devotedly cared for plague victims in Rome in the outbreak of 1591.

He was canonized in 1726 and is the patron saint of youth, AIDS patients and AIDS caregivers.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga
(1568-1591)

The Lord can make saints anywhere, even amid the brutality and license of Renaissance life. Florence was the “mother of piety” for Aloysius Gonzaga despite his exposure to a “society of fraud, dagger, poison and lust.” As a son of a princely family, he grew up in royal courts and army camps. His father wanted Aloysius to be a military hero.

At age seven he experienced a profound spiritual quickening. His prayers included the Office of Mary, the psalms and other devotions. At age nine he came from his hometown of Castiglione to Florence to be educated; by age 11 he was teaching catechism to poor children, fasting three days a week and practicing great austerities. When he was 13 years old he traveled with his parents and the Empress of Austria to Spain and acted as a page in the court of Philip II. The more Aloysius saw of court life, the more disillusioned he became, seeking relief in learning about the lives of saints.

A book about the experience of Jesuit missionaries in India suggested to him the idea of entering the Society of Jesus, and in Spain his decision became final. Now began a four-year contest with his father. Eminent churchmen and laypeople were pressed into service to persuade him to remain in his “normal” vocation. Finally he prevailed, was allowed to renounce his right to succession and was received into the Jesuit novitiate.

Like other seminarians, Aloysius was faced with a new kind of penance—that of accepting different ideas about the exact nature of penance. He was obliged to eat more, to take recreation with the other students. He was forbidden to pray except at stated times. He spent four years in the study of philosophy and had St. Robert Bellarmine as his spiritual adviser.

In 1591, a plague struck Rome. The Jesuits opened a hospital of their own. The general himself and many other Jesuits rendered personal service. Because he nursed patients, washing them and making their beds, Aloysius caught the disease himself. A fever persisted after his recovery and he was so weak he could scarcely rise from bed. Yet, he maintained his great discipline of prayer, knowing that he would die within the octave of Corpus Christi, three months later. He was 23.

Alban Heruin (Solstice) (Northern Hemisphere) Celticism

Litha - Summer Solstice (Northern Hemisphere) Paganism

Summer Solstice

When : June 21, 2010; June 21, 2011, June 20, 2012; June 21, 2013

Summer Solstice is sometimes referred to as “Midsummer” Litha”. It’s the longest day of the year. The amount of daylight only goes down from here….for the next six months (more on that later). Summer Solstice is the meteorological start of summer. It’s time to enjoy vacations, great weather, pools, baseballs, and everything else that goes along with the favorite season of kids and most adults. Grab your favorite beverage and enjoy the season, because for many of us it is all too short.

1529 Clement VII and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V signed the Peace of Barcelona, which ended attacks on Rome by the Lutheran armies.
1567 Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique
1599 The Synod of Diamper reunited a native church in India with Rome. Discovered in 1498 by Portuguese explorers, this isolated pocket of worshipers traced their Christian origins back to the missionary efforts of the Apostle Thomas.
1776 Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: ‘A Christian is not of hasty growth…but rather like the oak, the progress of which is hardly perceptible, but in time becomes a deep-rooted tree.’
1779 Birth of Dorothy Ann Thrupp, English devotional writer and author of the hymn, ‘Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us.’ 1871 Ku Klux Klan trials began in federal court in Oxford Miss
1885 A band of Moravian missionaries landed on the shores of Alaska and founded the Bethel Mission. During the first year of their mission work among the, eskimoes, winter temperatures outside their makeshift housing plummeted to 50 degrees below zero! 1895 1st female doctor of science earned (Caroline Willard Baldwin)
1926 Mordecai W Johnson becomes 1st black president of Howard University

June 20

On this day in 1989, Newark Bishop John Shelby Spong inaugurated a new diocesan ministry, called Oasis, which focuses on the needs of gay and lesbian people.

Feast Day:

St. Silverius, pope and martyr, 538.
St. Gobain, priest and martyr, 7th century.
St. Idaberga, or Edburge, of Mercia, virgin, about 7th century.
St. Bain, Bishop of Terouanne, or St. Omer, about 711.

June 20

Bain, bishop (of Thérouanne) [common]
Crispinus and Crispinianus, martyrs [GTZ: Winchester (Passion); Osnabrück (Translation)]
Crispinus and Vitalis, martyrs [GTZ: Metz, Verdun, Lyon]
Deodatus, bishop (of Nevers), confessor [GTZ: Basel, Strassburg]
Edward, king (of England), martyr (Translation) [GTZ: England]
Gemma, virgin, martyr [GTZ: Saintes]
Genulf, bishop (of Cahors), confessor [GTZ: Albi, Bourges]
Gobain, martyr [BLS]
Idaberga (Edberge) [BLS]
Latuinus, bishop (of Séez) [GTZ: Séez]
Leotfredus (Leufredus) [PCP (Paris)]
Maximinus, bishop (of Tongres [and Trier]), martyr [GTZ: Trier]
Regina, virgin, martyr [GTZ: Paderborn only; HCC]
Silverius, pope, martyr [BLS; GTZ: Orden; PRI]
Stephen, protomartyr (Translation) [GTZ: Châlons-sur-Marne]
Vitalis, martyr [WTS (Bruges)]

ST. ALBAN
SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010

St. Alban was the first Christian martyr in Britain, and he is the patron saint of converts and torture victims. He came to the faith in an interesting way. As a soldier, he sheltered a persecuted priest and was converted in the process.

In an effort to help the priest escape, he changed clothes with him. But Alban was caught and ordered to renounce his faith. When he refused, he was tortured and beheaded. But not before the first executioner, who was to kill him, heard Alban’s testimony and converted on the spot. After refusing to kill Alban, he was executed as well.

Finally, when the priest learned that Alban was arrested in his place, he turned himself in, hoping to save Alban’s life. But that wasn’t the case. The priest was killed as well. The executions took place in the early 4th century.

St. Alban’s Cathedral now stands near the execution site. The town where he was born was also renamed after him.

St. Paulinus of Nola
(354?-431)

Anyone who is praised in the letters of six or seven saints undoubtedly must be of extraordinary character. Such a person was Paulinus of Nola, correspondent and friend of Augustine, Jerome, Melania, Martin, Gregory and Ambrose.

Born near Bordeaux, he was the son of the Roman prefect of Gaul, who had extensive property in both Gaul and Italy. Paulinus became a distinguished lawyer, holding several public offices in the Empire. With his Spanish wife, Therasia, he retired at an early age to a life of cultured leisure.

The two were baptized by the saintly bishop of Bordeaux and moved to Therasia’s estate in Spain. After many childless years, they had a son who died a week after birth. This occasioned their beginning a life of great austerity and charity, giving away most of their Spanish property. Possibly as a result of this great example, Paulinus was rather unexpectedly ordained a priest at Christmas by the bishop of Barcelona.

He and his wife then moved to Nola, near Naples. He had a great love for St. Felix of Nola, and spent much effort in promoting devotion to this saint. Paulinus gave away most of his remaining property (to the consternation of his relatives) and continued his work for the poor. Supporting a host of debtors, tramps and other needy people, he lived a monastic life in another part of his home. By popular demand he was made bishop of Nola and guided that diocese for 21 years.

His last years were saddened by the invasion of the Huns. Among his few writings is the earliest extant Christian wedding song.

TRANSLATION OF KING EDWARD

In the Middle Ages it sometimes happened that, from miracles wrought at the tomb of some holy person, he had a posthumous increase of reputation, making it necessary or proper that his remains should be deposited in some more honourable or convenient place. Then was effected what was called a translation of his body, usually a ceremony of an impressive character, and which it consequently became necessary to celebrate by an anniversary. Thus it happens that some saints enjoy a double distinction in the calendar: one day to commemorate their martyrdom or natural death, another to keep in memory the translation of their bodies.

The unfortunate young Saxon King Edward, a victim to maternal jealousy, has a place in the calendar (March 18), on account of his tragical end. The removal of his body from its original tomb at Wareham, to Salisbury Cathedral, three years after his decease, was commemorated on another day (June 20th), being that on which the translation was performed (anno 982). It was probably rather from a feeling for the early and cruel death of this young sovereign, than from any reverence for his assumed sanctity, that The Translation of King Edward was allowed to maintain its place in the reformed Church of England calendar.

World Refugee Day

Father’s Day

When: Third Sunday in June

A day to honor Dad. NO. Better still, it is a day to enjoy time with Dad and appreciate all he does for you. What Dad really wants is healthy, happy and successful kids. And, he wants you to spend a few moments with him on Father’s Day. Today’s life style is busy for both dads and kids. So, a little time with dad on Father’s day is just what he wants.

A Father is more than the biological paternal source of our being. It is the person who cares and provides for us. It is the man who helps to set the standards, the family values and the example. So add to this group, step fathers and other men who willingly and eagerly accept and cherish the role. Whether biological, adopted or informally, if they are the father figure to you, give him some recognition today and don’t hesitate to call him “Dad”.

0325 The month-long Council of Nicea closed. Known as the first ecumenical council in the history of the Church, it formulated the Nicene Creed and established the method for calculating Easter.
1566 Birth of James VI of Scotland. Upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, he ascended the English throne as James I. He is best remembered for authorizing the publication known today as the ‘King James Version’ (KJV) of the Bible.
1862 Slavery outlawed in US territories
1865 All slaves in Texas freed
1910 In Spokane, Washington, under sponsorship of the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA, Father’s Day was observed for the first time.
1961 US Supreme Court struck down a provision in Md’s constitution
requiring state office holders to believe in God
1968 50,000 participate in Solidarity Day March of Poor People’s Campaign
1969 State troopers ordered to Cairo Ill, to quell racial disturbances
1977 Pope Paul VI makes 19th-cen bishop John Neumann 1st US male saint. As fourth Bishop of the Philadelphia Diocese, Neumann is remembered for developing the parochial school system.
1987 The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring public schools to teach creationism if they taught evolutionism. The court ruled that the state law violated the First Amendment.

Feast Day:

Saints Gervasius and Protasius, martyrs, 1st century.
St. Die or Deodatus, Bishop of Nevers and Abbot of Jointures, 679 or 680.
St. Boniface, Archbishop of Magdeburg, Apostle of Russia and martyr, 1009.
St. Juliano Falconieri, virgin, 1340.

June 19

Boniface, bishop, martyr [BLS: Russia]
Deodatus, bishop (of Nevers), confessor [BLS; GTZ: Nevers, Toul]
Gervasius and Protasius, martyrs [common; 6082, in red]
Juliana Falconieri [BLS]
Margaret, queen (of Scotland) (Translation) [GTZ: Scotland]
Romuald, abbot, confessor [MR; GTZ: Camaldoensians]
Sebastian Newdigate, martyr [BLS]

ST. ROMUALD
SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2010

St. Romuald was a much-loved Benedictine monk, known for his holiness in life. He was born to a noble Italian family in Ravenna in the mid-10th century. He spent a wasted and wild youth but had a conversion after he witnessed his father kill a man in a duel. In order to atone for the crime, he became a Benedictine monk.

He lived a holy life and in 996 was named abbot. He founded the Camaldolese Benedictince, estabishing monasteries throughout central and nothern Italy and trying to evangelize the slavs.

He lived mostly in seclusion, especially in the last years of his life. He died June 19, 1027 due to several afflications. His body was found incorrupted when it was exhumed. He was canonized about 550 years later.

St. Romuald
(950?-1027)

After a wasted youth, Romuald saw his father kill a relative in a duel over property. In horror he fled to a monastery near Ravenna in Italy. After three years some of the monks found him to be uncomfortably holy and eased him out.

He spent the next 30 years going about Italy, founding monasteries and hermitages. He longed to give his life to Christ in martyrdom, and got the pope’s permission to preach the gospel in Hungary. But he was struck with illness as soon as he arrived, and the illness recurred as often as he tried to proceed.

During another period of his life, he suffered great spiritual dryness. One day as he was praying Psalm 31 (“I will give you understanding and I will instruct you”), he was given an extraordinary light and spirit which never left him.

At the next monastery where he stayed, he was accused of a scandalous crime by a young nobleman he had rebuked for a dissolute life. Amazingly, his fellow monks believed the accusation. He was given a severe penance, forbidden to offer Mass and excommunicated, an unjust sentence he endured in silence for six months.

The most famous of the monasteries he founded was that of the Camaldoli (Campus Maldoli, name of the owner) in Tuscany. Here he founded the Order of the Camaldolese Benedictines, uniting a monastic and hermit life.

His father later became a monk, wavered and was kept faithful by the encouragement of his son.

PASCAL

A mind of singular strength and keenness, united to a fragile and sensitive body, afflicted with disease and tormented by austerity, constituted Blaise Pascal. As soon as he could talk, he amazed every one by his precocious intelligence. He was an only son, and his father, a learned man, and president of the Court of Aids in Auvergne, proud of his boy, resigned his office, and went to reside in Paris, for the more effectual prosecution of his education. He had been taught something of geometry, for which. he shewed a marvellous aptitude; but his instructors, wishing to concentrate his attention on Latin and Greek, removed every book treating of mathematics out of his way. The passion was not thus to be defeated. On day Blaise was caught sitting on the floor making diagrams in charcoal, and on examination it was discovered that he had worked out several problems in Euclid for himself. No check was henceforth placed on his inclination, and he quickly became a first-rate mathematician. At sixteen he produced a treatise on Conic Sections, which was praised by Descartes, and at nineteen he devised an ingenious calculating machine. At twenty-four he experimentally verified Torricelli’s conjecture that the atmosphere had weight, and gave the reason of Nature’s horror of a vacuum.

There is no telling what might have been the height of his success as a natural philosopher, had he not, when about twenty-five, come under overpowering religious convictions, which led him to abandon science as unworthy of the attention of an immortal creature. The inmates of the convent of Port Royal had received the Augustinian writings of Bishop Jansen with fervent approval, and had brought on themselves the violent enmity of the Jesuits. With the cause of the Port Royalists, or Jansenists, Pascal identified himself with his whole heart, and an effective and terrible ally he proved. In 1656, under the signature of Louis de Montalte, he issued his Lettres Eerites a un Provincial par un de ses Amis, in which he attacked the principles and practices of the Jesuits with a vigour of wit, sarcasm, and eloquence unanswerable. The Provincial Letters have long taken their place among the classics of universal literature by common consent.

Jansenism has been defined as Calvinism in doctrine united to the rites and strictest discipline of the Church of Rome; and Pascal’s life and teaching illustrate the accuracy of the definition. His opinions were Calvinistic, and his habits those of a Catholic saint of the first order of merit. His health was always wretched; his body was reduced to skin and bone, and from pain he was seldom free. Yet he wore a girdle armed with iron spikes, which he was accustomed to drive in upon his fleshless ribs as often as he felt languid or drowsy. His meals he fixed at a certain weight, and, whatever his appetite, he ate neither more nor less. All seasonings and spices he prohibited, and was never known to say of any dish, ‘This is very nice.’ Indeed, he strove to be unconscious of the flavour of food, and used to gulp it over to prevent his palate receiving any gratification. For the same reason he dreaded alike to love and to be loved. Toward his sister, who reverenced him as a sacred being, he assumed an artificial harshness of manner—for the express purpose, as he acknowledged, of repelling her sisterly affection. He rebuked a mother who permitted her own children to kiss her, and was annoyed when some one chanced to say that he had just seen a beautiful woman.

He died in 1662, aged thirty-nine, and the examination of his body revealed a fearful spectacle. The stomach and liver were shrivelled up, and the intestines were in a gangrenous state. The brain was of unusual size and density, and, strange to say, there was no trace of sutures in the skull, except the sagittal, which was pressed open by the brain, as if for relief. The frontal suture, instead of the ordinary dovetailing which takes place in childhood, had become filled with a calculus, or non-natural deposit, which could be felt through the scalp, and obtruded on the dura mater. Of the coronal suture there was no sign. His brain was thus enclosed in a solid, unyielding ease or helmet, with a gap at the sagittal suture. Within the cranium, at the part opposite the ventricles, were two depressions filled with coagulated blood in a corrupt state, and which had produced. a gangrenous spot on the duvet mater. How Pascal, racked with such agonies from within, should have supplemented them by such afflictions from without, is one of those mysteries in which human nature is so prolific. Regarding himself as a Christian and a type of others, well might he say, as he often did, ‘illness is the natural state of the Christian.’

In his last years Pascal was engaged on a Defence of Christianity, and after his death the fathers of Port Royal published the materials he had accumulated for its construction, as the Pensees de Pascal. The manuscripts happily were preserved,—fragmentary, elliptical, enigmatical, interlined, blotted, and sometimes quite illegible though they were. Some years ago, M. Cousin suggested the collation of the printed text with the autograph, when the startling fact came to light that The Thoughts the world for generations had been reading as Pascal’s, had been garbled in the most distressing manner by the original editors, cut down, extended, and modified according to their own notions and apprehensions of their adversaries. In 1852, a faithful version of The Thoughts was published in Paris by M. Ernest Havet, and their revival in their natural state has deepened anew our regret for the sublime genius which perished ere its prime, two hundred years ago.

THE FÊTE DIEU

This day is kept by Roman Catholics as one of their highest festivals; it is held as a celebration of the name of God, when the people bring their offerings to him as the King of Heaven. The consecrated host is carried through the open air, the whole population turning out to do honour to it, and kneeling as it passes by.

Such processions as we see in the streets on this day are evidently borrowed from heathen times: the paintings’ which cover the Egyptian temples show us how that people worshipped their god Isis in procession; and the chisel of Phidias, on the bas-reliefs of the Parthenon, has preserved the details of the Greek great festival in honour of Minerva, established many hundred years before Christ. First came the old men, bearing branches of the olive tree; then the young men, their heads crowned with flowers, singing hymns; children followed, dressed in their simple tunics or in their natural graces. The young Athenian ladies, who lived an almost cloistral life, came out on this occasion richly dressed, and walked singing to the notes of the flute and the lyre: the elder and more distinguished matrons also formed a part of the procession, dressed in white, and carrying the sacred baskets, covered with veils. After these came the lower orders, bearing seats and parasols, the slaves alone being forbidden to take part in it. The most important object, however, was a ship, which was moved along by hidden machinery, from the mast of which floated the peplus, or mantle of Minerva, saffron-coloured, and without sleeves, such as we see on the statues of the goddess; it was embroidered, under the direction of skilled work-women, by young virgins of the most distinguished families in Athens. The embroideries represented the various warlike episodes in heroic times. The grand object of the procession was to place the peplus on Minerva’s statue, and to lay offerings of every kind at the foot of her altar.

From these customs the early Christians adopted the practice of accompanying their bishop into the fields, where litanies were read, and the blessing of God implored upon their agricultural produce. Greater ceremonies were afterwards added; such as the carrying of long poles decorated with flowers, boys dressed in sacred vestments, and chanting the ancient church canticles. In the dark ages of superstition we find they advanced still further, and processions ‘en chemise’ were much in fashion: it was a mark of penitence which the people carried to its utmost limit during times of public calamity. Such were those in 1315, when a season of cold and rain had desolated the provinces of France: the people for five leagues round St. Denis marched in procession—the women barefoot, the men entirely naked—religiously carrying the bodies of French saints and other relics.

St. Louis himself, in the year 1270, on the eve of his departure to the last crusade he shared in, and which resulted in his death, went bare-foot from the palace to the cathedral of Notre Dame, followed by the young princes his children, by the Count D’Artois, and a large number of nobles, to implore the help of heaven on his enterprise. Our king, Henry the Eighth, when a child, walked barefoot in procession to the celebrated shrine of Our Ladye of Walsingham, and presented a rich necklace as his offering. In later days he was only too glad to strip this rich chapel of all its treasures, and dissolve the monastery which had subsisted on the offerings of the pious pilgrims. That such processions became anything but religious, we may easily gather from the sermons that were preached against them: ‘Alack! for pity!’ says one, ‘these solemn and accustomable processions be now grown into a right foul and detestable abuse, so that the most part of men and women do come forth rather to set out and shew themselves, and to pass the time with vain and unprofitable tales and merry fables, than to make general supplications and prayers to God. I will not speak of the rage and furor of these uplandish processions and gangings about, which be spent in rioting. Furthermore, the banners and badges of the cross be so irreverently handled and abused, that it is marvel God destroy us not in one day.’

To pass on now to a description of the modern procession of the Fete Dieu, such as may be seen in any of the cities of Belgium, or even in more splendour in the south of France, Nismes, Avignon, or Marseilles. On rising in the morning, the whole scene is changed as by magic from the night before: the streets are festooned andgarlanded with coloured paper, flowers, and evergreens, in every direction. Linen awnings are spread across to give shelter from the darting rays of the sun. The fronts of the houses are concealed by hangings, sometimes tastefully arranged by upholsterers, but more frequently consisting of curtains, coverlids, carpets, and pieces of old tapestry, which produce a very bizarre effect. The bells are ringing in every church, and crowds are meeting at the one from which the procession is to start, or arranging themselves in the rows of chairs which are prepared in the streets; others are leaning out of the windows, whilst the sellers of cakes and bonbons make a good profit by the disposal of their tempting wares.

Children Alter at the FÊTE DIUE

But the distant sound of the drum is heard, which announces the approach of the procession: first come some hundreds of men, women, and children belonging to various confreries, which answer in some degree to our sick and burial clubs, each preceded by the head man, who is adorned with numerous medals and ribbons. The children are the prettiest part: dressed in pure white muslin, their hair hanging in curls, crowned with flowers, and carrying baskets of flowers ornamented with blue ribbons. Some adopt particular characters; four boys will carry reed pens and large books in which they are diligently writing, thus personating the four evangelists; there are many virgins, one in deep black, with a long crape veil, a large black heart on her bosom, pierced with silver arrows: those boasting of the longest hair are Magdalens. The monks and secular clergy follow the people, interspersed with military bands and other music.

Near the end appears, like a white cloud, a choir of girls in long veils, crowns, and tarlatan dresses—satisfying, under a pretext of devotion, the most absorbing passion of women—love of the toilette; then, lastly, comes the canopy and dais under which the priest of the highest Tank walks, carrying the Holy Sacrament, ‘Corpus Christi.’ This is the most striking part: silk, gold, velvet, and feathers are used in rich profusion. The splendid dresses of the cardinals or priests who surround it; the acolytes, in white, throwing up the silver censers, filling the air with a cloud of incense; the people coming out of the crowd with large baskets of poppies and other flowers to throw before it, and then all falling on their knees as it passes, while the deep voices of the clergy solemnly chant the Litany, form a very picturesque and striking scene. After the principal streets have been visited, all return to the church, which is highly decorated and illuminated: the incense ascends, the organ resounds with the full force of its pipes; trombones, ophicleides, and drums make the pillars of the nave tremble, and the host is restored to its accustomed ark on the high altar.

As you walk through the streets during the week you will see at every corner, and before many porte-cocheres, little tables on which poor children spread a napkin and light some tapers, adding one or two plaster figures of the Virgin or saints; to every passer-by they cry, ‘Do not forget the little chapel.’ These are a remnant of the chapels which in former days were deco-rated with great pomp to serve as stations for the procession, where Mass was said iii the open air. The religious tolerance which has been pro-claimed by the French laws has much lessened the repetition of these ceremonies in Paris since 1830; and perhaps the last great display there was when the Comte d’Artois, afterwards Charles the Tenth, walked in the procession to the ancient church of St. Germain l’Auxerrois carrying a lighted taper in his hand.

World Sauntering Day

When : Always June 19th

World Sauntering Day is a day to saunter here and there, wherever you go.

You can spend your life walking through life, jogging through life, or being dragged through life. But, life is far more enjoyable, if you saunter through it. Its doubly true if you saunter with a friend or loved one.

Sauntering is not a walk, jog, trot, or run. Sauntering is a form of strolling. Sauntering is a very casual, yet stylish, form of movement from point A to Point B. The dictionary defines sauntering as walking along slowly, happily and aimlessly. Now, doesn’t this sound like a grand way to get around?

On World Sauntering Day, practice your sauntering technique. Saunter everywhere you go.

The Origin of World Sauntering Day:

This day was created in the 1970’s by W. T. Rabe at Mackinac Island, Michigan while he was the Public Relations Director for a hotel on the island. Rabe was well known for his publicity stunts.

International Jugglers Day and World Juggler’s Day

When :

International Juggler’s Day - always April 18th

World Juggler’s Day - Saturday Closest to June 17th

International Jugglers Day and World Juggler’s Day celebrates the skill of juggling, and those talented people who can juggle many balls and objects at a time. Common objects include: balls, clubs, swords, plates, rings, and flaming sticks. The best jugglers can juggle up to ten balls at a time.

Juggling is a skill and form of entertainment that has been around for thousands and thousands of years. Some of the earliest recorded history supplies proof that juggling was around during the early days of civilized Man. Juggling is primarily entertainment. It is most well documented in Medieval times in Europe. It remains popular today. It can be most frequently seen when the circus comes to town.

Some might suggest that office workers are juggles, as they multi- task and keep several “balls” (projects) going at the same time.

Celebrate Juggling Day by watching a juggler at work. Better still, get several balls and give juggling a try. ‘Ya never know, you just might be a talented juggler!

Origin of “Jugglers Day”:

According to Juggler James Reid: “World Juggling Day was originally established in the mid 1980’s as “National Juggling Day” by the International Jugglers’ Association(IJA).”

Do to the lack of documentation, we are uncertain why there is both an International Juggler’s Day and a a World Juggler’s Day.

Juneteenth (Milwaukee, Wisconsin & Texas)

Emancipation Day (Texas)

653 St Martin I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
676 Deusdedit III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1703 Birth of John Wesley, English founder of Methodism. The systematic disciplines of the ‘Holy Club,’ which John and his brother Charles founded, elicited the nickname ‘Methodies’ from their critics.
1822 In New York City, the first elders of the newly founded African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church were ordained.
1846 Iowa College was chartered in Davenport under the joint sponsorship of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches. The school changed location in 1859 and was later renamed Grinnell College.
1859 Birth of J. Wilbur Chapman, Presbyterian pastor and evangelist who authored a number of hymns, including ‘One Day When Heaven Was Filled with His Praises.’
1963 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: ‘Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave it with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.’

June 17

On this day in 1993, members of the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) approved by a substantial margin the first stage of legislation to allow the ordination of women to the priesthood.

Feast Day:

Saints Nicander and Marcian, martyrs, about 303;
St. Prior, hermit in Egypt, 4th century;
St. Avitus, or Avy, abbot, near Orleans, about 530;
St. Botulph, abbot of Ikanho, 655;
St. Molingus, or Dairchilla, bishop and confessor in Ireland, 697.

June 17

Antidius, bishop (of Besançon), martyr [GTZ: Besançon]
Apollinaris, bishop (of Valence), confessor (Translation) [GTZ: Valence]
Arsacius, bishop, confessor (Translation) [GTZ: Freising]
Avitus, abbot, confessor [BLS; GTZ: Trier, France; PCP (Paris)]
Botulph, abbot, confessor (and Adulph) [BLS; GTZ: Scandinavia, England, Sleswig; PCP (Paris)]
Cyria and Musca, virgins [GTZ: Aquileia]
Five Saints, martyrs [GTZ: Hildesheim]
Gundulf, bishop, confessor [GTZ: Bourges, Sens]
Herveus, abbot, confessor [GTZ: Brittany]
Nectanus, martyr [GTZ: Exeter]
Molingus (Dairchilla) [BLS]
Nicander and Marcian, martyrs [BLS; 6082, in red]
Prior, hermit [BLS]
Quiriacus, bishop (of Jerusalem), martyr [GTZ: Bremen; WTS (Bruges), with Julitta]
Romanus, bishop (of Rouen), confessor (Translation) [GTZ: Rouen]
Veredemus, bishop (of Avignon) [GTZ: Arles]

On This Day

St Botolph (England)
St Hypatius of Bithynia (Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic)

In History

1839 - Hawaiian Islands edict of toleration towards Catholics
1953 - Workers’ uprising in East Berlin
1963 - US Supreme Court stops imposition of Lord’s Prayer and Bible verses in public schools
1972 - Five White House operatives arrested over Watergate break-in
1987 - Dusky Seaside Sparrow extinction is another biodiversity blow
1991 - End of racial classification of all South Africans at birth

ST. ALBERT CHMIELOWSKI
THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2010

Founder of the Albertine Brothers and Sisters, and one of the saints who inspired the vocation of the young Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II.

Saint Albert was born on August 20, 1845 in Igolomia, Poland (near Kraków) as Adam Hilary Bernard Chmielowski. Born into a wealthy and aristocratic family, Adam was the oldest of four children.

Actively involved in politics from his youth, Adam lost a leg fighting in an insurrection against Czar Alexander III at age 18. In Krakow, he became a popular artist and his talent in the subject led him to study in Warsaw, Munich, and Paris.

A kind and compassionate person, Adam was always deeply aware of human suffering, and felt called to help those in need. Realizing that God was calling Him to a life of service, he returned to Krakow in 1874, determined to dedicate his talents to the glory of God. Instead of continuing his work as an artist, he decided to care for the poor and became a Secular Franciscan, taking the name Albert.

In 1887, Albert founded the Brothers of the Third Order of Saint Francis, Servants of the Poor, known as the Albertines or the Gray Brothers. Then, in 1891, he founded a community of Albertine sisters, known as the Gray Sisters.

The Albertines organized food and shelter for the poor and homeless of any age or religion. Albert preached on the great crisis that results from a refusal to see and aid the suffering individuals in society.

In 1949, Pope John Paul II, who was at the time Father Karol Wojtyla, wrote a well-received play about Albert called Our God’s Brother. John Paul II later said that he found great spiritual support for his own vocation in the life of St. Albert, whom he saw as an example of leaving behind a world of art, literature, and theater to make a radical choice for the priesthood.

Brother Albert died on Christmas Day, 1916. He was canonized on November 12, 1989 by Pope John Paul II. The Church celebrates St. Albert’s feast day on June 17.

Jun 17 - Holy Father Botolph, Abbot Of The Monastery Of Ikanhoe

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/podup/saintoftheday/june_17_-_holy_father_botolph_abbot_of_the_monastery_of_ikanhoe

JOHN WESLEY

The founder of Methodism was, as is well known, the son of a clergyman of the Established Church, and became such himself, attaining his thirty-fifth year without doing anything remarkable, beyond a missionary excursion to the American Indians. Being in London on the 24th of May 1738, he went, ‘very unwillingly’ to a meeting in Aldersgate Street where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. Listening to the reader, ‘at about a quarter before nine o’clock,’ light flashed upon his mind, and he was converted. Until that evening, he used to say, that although a teacher of others, he had never known what Christianity really was.

Following the example of Whitefield, he commenced preaching in the open air, and his life henceforward was consecrated to religious labours among the people. His early efforts were directed to supplement the services of the Church of England, but gradually he superseded them. He built chapels, organized a ministry and worship, allowed laymen to preach, and at last found himself at the head of a great and independent religious community, which in 1790 numbered 76,000 in Great Britain and 57,000 in America. Wesley died in London on the 2nd of March 1791, in his 88th year, and the 65th of his ministry, and was buried in the yard of the Methodist chapel in the City Road.

It would be difficult to find in the whole circle of biography a man who worked harder and longer than John Wesley. Not an hour did he leave unappropriated. For fifty years he rose at four in the morning, summer and winter, and was accustomed to preach a sermon at five, an exercise he esteemed ‘the healthiest in the world.’ This early devotion, he said, ‘is the glory of the Methodists. Whenever they drop it they will dwindle away to nothing.’ Travelling did not suspend his industry. “Though I am always in haste,’ he says of himself, ‘I am never in a hurry, because I never undertake any more work than I can go through with perfect calmness of spirit. It is true I travel 4000 or 5000 miles in a year, but I generally travel alone in my carriage, and am as retired ten hours a-day as if I were in a wilderness. On other days, I never spend less than three hours, and frequently ten or twelve, alone.’ In this way he found time to read much and to write voluminously. In eating and drinking he was very abstemious. Suppers he abhorred, and sometimes for years he never tasted animal food. Once for three or four years he lived almost exclusively on potatoes. From wine, beer, and spirits he habitually abstained, preferring water.

Throughout his long life he enjoyed nearly uninterrupted health. He could sleep at will, and he owns that he never lost a night’s sleep from his childhood. His fine health he attributed to his regular habits, his temperance, and to the frequent changes of air he experienced in travelling; also to his serene temper; he had a thousand cares resting upon him, but they never worried him. ‘I feel and grieve,’ he writes, ‘but by the grace of God I fret at nothing.’ To the end of his life his complexion was fresh, his walk agile, his eye keen and active. A curious and pleasant picture he left in the memory of many who saw him in the street in his old age, and noted his lithe little figure, his long hair, white and bright as silver, his radiant countenance, his active pace and energetic air. He died painlessly, not of disease, but healthily worn out.

Order and method pervaded all his doings. At the middle of 1790 he closed his cash-book with. these words written in a tremulous hand:

‘For upwards of seventy-six years I have kept my accounts exactly: I will not attempt it any longer, being satisfied that I save all I can and give all I can; that is, all I have.’

This was strictly true. From his youth up he lived on a trifle yearly, and gave the balance of his income away. When at Oxford he had £30 one year; he lived on £28, and gave £2 away. Next year having £60, he lived on £28, and gave away £32. The third year he had £90, and the fourth £120, yet he still limited himself to £28, and made alms of the rest. It is said that in the course of his life he gave away not less than £30,000. This great sum was chiefly derived from the sale of his writings. He was his own printer and bookseller, and managed his trade with economy and success.

Marvellous were Wesley’s powers as a leader and administrator. Never general drilled a more heterogeneous army, and never was general more reverentially obeyed. He exacted no service which he did not in his own person exceed. Who could work more than he worked? who spare himself less? His example gave life and inspiration to all who came near him. His strong will and his quick, decisive intellect naturally raised him to kingship, and gathered around him willing and joyful subjects. The constructive force and order of his own mind were reflected in the organization of Methodism, and in the increase and permanence of that community we discern the highest testimony to the vigour and sagacity of his character.

His failures usually arose from the misapplication of those qualities by which he triumphed. As instances we may take Kingswood school and his marriage. At Kingswood, near Bristol, he set up a boarding-school for the sons of his preachers, who, being seldom at home, could not supervise the education of their children. Wesley devised the discipline of the school, and ordered that each day should be divided into three parts; eight hours for sleep, from eight at night to four in the morning, eight hours for study, and eight for meals and—play, no, play John Wesley could see no use for; amusement was proscribed at Kingswood. The hours not spent in sleep and study were to be used for prayer, self-examination, singing, and working in the garden in fine, and in the house in wet weather. The boys were never to be left alone, but always under the eye of a master who was to keep them busy and from idle talk. There were no holidays, and no vacations allowed, because a week from school might undo the good habits they were forming. It is needless to say that Kingswood school would not work, and gave Wesley endless trouble. He changed masters, and expelled some scholars for ‘incorrigible wickedness,’ but in vain. The rules were perpetually broken, and he never appears to have had a glimpse of the fact that he was striving after the impossible.

Of the nature of boyhood he had no conception, and why he could not turn out rows of juvenile Wesleys, caring for nothing but work and devotion, was by him set down to any cause but the right one. In his forty-eighth year he married Mrs. Vizelle, a widow with four children and a fortune. Her money Wesley would not touch, but had it settled upon her. Some time before he had published Thoughts on a Single Life, in which he extolled celibacy, and advised the unmarried, who found it possible, to remain single; alleging that he was a bachelor because he thought he could be more useful in that state. It was a sad day when he changed his mind, and fell in love with Mrs. Vizelle. He stipulated with her that he should not preach one sermon nor travel one mile the less after marriage than before; ‘if I thought I should,’ said he, ‘well as I love you, I should never see your face more.’ With these views, what could a wife be to him but an incumbrance?

At first she conformed to his ascetic habits and travelled with him, but soon she grew tired of his rigid and restless life, and of the society of the humble Methodists to whom she was introduced. She began to grumble, but Wesley was far too busy to attend to her wails; then she grew jealous, opened his letters, followed him from town to town as a spy, and plagued him in every way, openly and secretly, that her malice could contrive. ‘By her outrageous jealousy and abominable temper,’ says Southey, ‘she deserves to be classed in a triad with Xantippe and the wife of Job, as one of the three had wives.’ Wesley, however, was not a man to be henpecked. ‘Know me,’ said he, in one of his letters to her, ‘and know yourself. Suspect me no more, asperse me no more, provoke me no more: do not any longer contend for mastery, for power, money, or praise: be content to be a private insignificant person, known and loved by God and me… . Of what importance is your character to mankind? If you were buried just now, or if you had never lived, what loss would it be to the cause of God?’ After having been a thorn in his flesh for twenty years, she left his house, carrying off his journals and papers, which she never returned. He simply states the fact in his diary, saying he knew not what the cause had been, and adds, ‘Non eam reliqui, non dimisi, non revocabo,—I did not forsake her, I did not dismiss her, I will not recall her.’ She lived ten years after her flight, and, in 1781, died at Camberwell, where a stone in the churchyard attests that ‘she was a woman of exemplary virtue, a tender parent, and a sincere friend,’ but it mercifully says nothing of her conjugal life.

St. Joseph Cafasso
(1811-1860)

Even as a young man, Joseph loved to attend Mass and was known for his humility and fervor in prayer. After his ordination he was assigned to a seminary in Turin. There he worked especially against the spirit of Jansenism, an excessive preoccupation with sin and damnation. Joseph used the works of St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus Liguori to moderate the rigorism popular at the seminary.

Joseph recommended membership in the Secular Franciscan Order to priests. He urged devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and encouraged daily Communion. In addition to his teaching duties, Joseph was an excellent preacher, confessor and retreat master. Noted for his work with condemned prisoners, Joseph helped many of them die at peace with God.

St. John Bosco was one of Joseph’s pupils. Joseph urged John Bosco to establish the Salesians to work with the youth of Turin. Joseph was canonized in 1947.

World Day to Combat Desertification & Drought

Bunker Hill Day

THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

On a hill eighty-seven feet high, once called Breed’s Hill, but now known as Bunker Hill, on the peninsula of Charlestown, north of Boston, Massachusetts, rises a granite obelisk 220 feet in height, built to commemorate the first important battle in the American War of Independence.

Three distinguished generals. Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, with 12,000 veteran British troops, and a formidable fleet, occupied Boston. They were besieged by an undisciplined crowd of colonists, without arms, ammunition, supplies, or organization. On the morning of the 17th of June 1775, the British officers in Boston, and on the ships in the harbour, saw to their astonishment a breastwork on Bunker Hill, which had been thrown up in the night, and was every moment growing stronger, so as to threaten their position in a serious manner. This was the work of about fifteen hundred Yankees, under Colonel Prescott.

No time was to be lost. The ships in the harbour and a battery on Copp’s Hill opened fire; but those were not the days of Armstrong artillery. General Howe took 3000 infantry, and crossed over to Charlestown in boats to storm the works. It was a fine summer day, and the hills, spires, and roofs of the city were covered with spectators. Soon a fire, bursting from the wooden houses of the village of Charlestown, added to the grandeur of the spectacle.

1539 German Reformer Martin Luther declared: ‘Faith justifies not as a work, nor as a quality, nor as knowledge, but as assent of the will and firm confidence in the mercy of God.’
1654 Queen Christina, a convert to Roman Catholicism, abdicated her Swedish throne to devote the remainder of her life to religion and art.
1752 Death of Joseph Butler, Anglican theologian. His 1736 ‘Analogy of Religion’ demonstrated the strong probability for the existence of a caring God over against that of a disinterested Creator Deity.
1804 Anglican missionary to Persia, Henry Martyn wrote in his journal: ‘My soul, alas, needs these uneasinesses in outward things, to be driven to take refuge in God.’
1833 Anglican-turned-Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman, while traveling on a ship from Italy to France, penned the words to the hymn, ‘Lead, Kindly Light, Amid the Encircling Gloom.’
1955 Pope Pius XII ex-communicated Argentine Pres Juan Peron
1970 Race riots in Miami Florida
1971 Racial disturbance in Jacksonville Florida

June 15

On this day in 1215, King John signed the Magna Carta, which begins, “The Church of England shall be free.”

June 16

On this day in 1701, King William III issued a charter establishing The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts an organisation able to send priests and schoolteachers to America “to help provide the church’s ministry to the colonists.” This organization is now known as USPG: Anglicans in World Mission.

Feast Day:

Saints Ferreolus, or Fargeau, and Ferrutius, martyrs, 211 or 212;
Saints Quiricus, or Cyr, and Julitta, martyrs, 304;
St. Aurelian, Archbishop of Arles, confessor, 552;
St. John Francis Regis, confessor, 1640.

June 16

Aurelianus, bishop (of Arles), confessor [BLS; GTZ: Arles]
Aureus and Justina, martyrs [GTZ: Mainz, Cologne, Trier; HCC]
Benno, bishop [GTZ: Meissen]
Elzearus, count (of Arian), confessor (Translation) [GTZ: Apt]
Ferreolus, priest, and Ferrutius, deacon, martyrs (at Besançon) [BLS; GTZ: Metz, Genf, Lausanne, Fritzlar, France; PCP (Paris)]
Leguntius and Frominius, bishops (of Metz) [GTZ: Metz]
Martialis, bishop, confessor [GTZ: Domininicans]
Quiricus and Julitta, martyrs [BLS; GTZ; PCP (Paris)]
Quirinus, martyr (Translation) [GTZ: Freising]
Richard, bishop (of Chichester), confessor (Translation) [GTZ: Salisbury]
Verolus, priest, confessor [GTZ: Langres]
Vitus and Modestus, martyrs [WTS (Bruges)]
William, abbot (at Roskild), confessor [GTZ: Sleswig, Scandinavia]

GEORGE BERKELEY and
JOSEPH BUTLER
BISHOPS and THEOLOGIANS (1753, 1752)

George Berkeley (pronounced /’barkli/) (12 March 1685 – 14 January 1753), also known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne), was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called “immaterialism” (later referred to as “subjective idealism” by others). This theory contends that individuals can only know directly sensations and ideas of objects, not abstractions such as “matter”. The theory also contends that ideas are dependent upon being perceived by minds for their very existence, a belief that became immortalized in the dictum, “esse est percipi” (“to be is to be perceived”). His most widely-read works are A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (1713), in which the characters Philonous and Hylas represent Berkeley himself and his older contemporary John Locke. In 1734, he published The Analyst, a critique of the foundations of infinitesimal calculus, which was influential in the development of mathematics.

— more at Wikipedia

George Butler was born in 1692 and ordained in 1718. In 1726 he published Fifteen Sermons, preached at the Rolls Chapel in London, which chiefly dealt with human nature and its implications for ethics and practical Christian life. He maintained that it is normal for a man to have an instinct of self-interest, which leads him to seek his own good, and equally normal for him to have an instinct of benevolence, which leads him to seek the good of others individually and generally, and that the two aims do not in fact conflict.

He served as parish priest in several parishes, and in 1736 was appointed chaplain to Queen Caroline, wife of King George II. In the same year he published his masterpiece, The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Cource of Nature (often cited simply as “Butler’s Analogy”), a work chiefly directed against Deism, of which more will be said below. Appended to the main work was a treatise, Of the Nature of Virtue, which establishes him as one of the foremost British writers on ethics, or moral philosophy.

When the Queen died in 1737, Butler was made Bishop of Bristol. (In England at that time, bishoprics and parish churches were supported each by a separate source of income that had been established for it perhaps centuries earlier, and in consequence the funding was very unequal. Bristol, being the lowest paid of all bishoprics, was where a new bishop usually started. Later, he might be promoted to another diocese. The Reform movement of the 1830’s and its aftermath have remedied this situation.) However, George II had been impressed with him earlier, and in 1746 he was called back to court and the next year offered the post of Archbishop of Canterbury. He refused the post, but in 1750 he became Bishop of Durham (in the north of England, near the Scottish border, and well known even then as having a tradition of bishops whose speeches and writings attract public attention). He died there on 16 June 1752.

And now to return to the subject of Butler and Deism.

In the early 1700’s, Deism was a religion rapidly gaining ground in intellectual circles in England and France. Not all who called themselves Deists were agreed on the tenets of the system, but in general it may be said that a Deist believed in God, and believed that God had revealed himself in two ways: “the starry heavens above us, and the moral law within us,” as Kant put it. An examination of the physical world made it clear that it had been designed by some great intelligence. Our conscience, or moral faculty, made it clear that certain actions are wrong, and will surely be punished, here or hereafter. Thus, Deists believed in God the Creator and Judge, in the Moral Law, and in immortality, with rewards and punishments to come.

What a Deist emphatically did not believe was that God had revealed himself through prophets, visions, angels, miracles, inspired writings, and the like. Thus, a Deist was not a Christian, or a Jew, or a Moslem, or a Zoroastrian, or…. In the historical context, what chiefly mattered was that he was not a Christian. In speaking of Christianity, some Deists used conciliatory language, saying that the essence of Christianity was Christ’s ethical teaching, which confirmed the teachings of the moral faculty, and so there was no real disagreement. Others were more assertive, and spoke at length of all the harm that had been done by false prophets (on their view the only kind). The second half of Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason is an example of this. In particular, he complained that the Old Testament often represents God as approving or commanding harsh, cruel, unjust, or murderous conduct; and that the New Testament claim that salvation comes only through Jesus is inconsistent with the idea of a just God, since justice means rewarding good deeds and punishing wicked ones. Paine believed that he had found many contradictions in the Bible, as well as historical inaccuracies and morally unacceptable teachings, and he did not hesitate to say so. (I am guilty of an anachronism here, in that Paine wrote in the 1790’s, long after Butler was dead. I simply refer to him because he is the example that most readers of this list will find most familiar and most accessible. He represents in extreme form a point of view that had existed long before him, and which by his own time was in retreat, thanks in large measure to Butler.)

Butler’s reply to the Deist objections to Christianity could be summarized in a single quote from Origen. “Those who believe the Author of Nature to be also the Author of Scripture must expect to find in Scripture the same sorts of difficulties that they find in Nature.” Thus, for example, the Deists would say:

The Bible says that God visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. In view of that teaching, can any decent man be a Christian?
Butler’s reply would be:

According to Deists, we have a sufficient revelation of God in Nature, which he created. But in Nature, we find that a sexually promiscuous father may give syphilis to his children and grandchildren. If a pregnant woman abuses her body in various ways, her child is likely to have a low birth weight, lowered intelligence, and other problems. If we consult the Book of Nature to learn about God, we conclude that he visits the iniquities of the fathers on the children. In view of that teaching, can any decent man be a Deist?
He would then add that it is not a simple matter of finding that both Bible and Nature portray God as wicked, in which case it is better to repudiate both Christianity and Deism and adopt atheism as the only moral position. Rather, we find that God has so made the world that our actions affect others as well as ourselves. A world in which no one could hurt anyone would also be a world in which no one could help anyone. Now a world in which every thinking being had a planet all to himself would be a world without the possibility of injustice between man and man, but it would also be a world without the possibility of gratitude between man and man (do I really have to explain that Butler normally uses the word “man” in a gender-inclusive sense?), and it is not clear that it would be a better world than the one we have.

Again, the Deist complains bitterly against the doctrine that salvation is ours only through the action of Christ, and that the normal way, at least, of being saved is through faith in Christ. This seems unfair to the virtuous pagan, not to mention the virtuous atheist. The gist of Butler’s reply is the same. He would say:

Consider the following speech:

I am an atheist, and I figure that I am great shape. I have all my bets covered. I can do anything I want, while my Christian friends are hemmed in by all kinds of silly restrictions. Sometimes they say to me: “But suppose that there is a God after all. Then your choice doesn’t make sense in the long run.” I reply that it makes perfect sense. If there is a God, he is not going to blame me for acting on my sincere convictions. He is supposed to be fair, and it is not fair to penalize someone for an honest mistake. Therefore, if there is a God, I am going to be right up there in heaven along with the Christians, so I haven’t lost anything. And if, as I suppose, there is no God, then I am certainly better off not spending all that time and money on religion, and being otherwise hemmed in. So, as aforesaid, I have all the possibilities covered. Now, some of my friends have said that I ought not to be so sure that I have nothing to worry about if there is a God. But I say that if the Universe is ruled by a Being who is so unfair that he would punish someone for an honest mistake, then I want nothing to do with such a being. He is mean, and nasty, and unjust, and I defy him. So there!

Compare it with another speech:

Here I sit in my chemistry lab, with a nice cup of coffee in front of me, to which I have just added a spoonful of sugar, and which I am now about to drink. My lab partner has just said, “Stop! Don’t drink that coffee. I was watching, and instead of adding sugar from the sugar jar, you added cyanide from the cyanide jar which is just next to it. If you drink it, it will surely kill you.” But I shall pay no attention to this warning. I do not think that I am likely to make that sort of stupid mistake. Besides, if by any chance I am wrong, and this really is cyanide, I am in no danger, because I truly and sincerely believe that this is sugar. I am a chemist, and I have great faith in the Laws of Chemistry. I know that it is the Laws of Chemistry that enabled life to originate and evolve in the first place. (Some chemists have given reasons for supposing that, given the Laws of Chemistry, the development of life on any planet at a suitable distance from its sun is inevitable.) I owe my life to the Laws of Chemistry. I know that those laws are pro-life, that they are on my side. The suggestion that those laws would penalize me for an honest mistake, for acting on a sincerely held belief, is ridiculous and blasphemous. If the Laws of Chemistry are really as unjust as that, then I defy the Laws of Chemistry. So there!

Having mentioned the two speakers, Butler makes his point:

It is most perverse of a Deist to complain that Christians do not believe in a God who forgives honest error. If a Deist really got his views of God from a study of Nature, as he claims, he would find no reason to suppose that God makes any distinction whatever, as to consequences, between an act committed in honest error and the same act committed in wilful cussedness. The Laws of Chemistry, which God created, make no such distinction. Why should the Deist believe that God does? And why should he demand that the Christian believe that God does? In fact, we do have some grounds for supposing that God is gracious to those who do wrong out of honest error or ignorance (see Luke 23:34 and 1 Timothy 1:13), but we find these grounds in the study of Scripture, not in the study of Nature.

Again, the Deist objects:

We are agreed that God is Love, and that he cares for all those whom he has made. But the Bible describes him as slaying the first-born of Egypt, and commanding the Israelites to slay everyone in the city of Jericho, right down to the new-born babe. Does the Bible reveal a God of Love?

Butler replies:

Nature shows us entire towns destroyed by earthquakes or volcanos, or plague. Worse, every human eventually dies. Why is it consistent with the goodness of God to decide that everyone in Pompeii is to die now, and cause a volcano to kill them, but not consistent with the goodness of God to decide that everyone in Jericho is to die now, and order Joshua to kill them? We are agreed that there is a life after death, and that makes it easier to see that ending Jones’s life on Tuesday is not necessarily inconsistent with Jones’s longterm best interest. It may seem implausible that everyone in Pompeii, or everyone in Jericho, or everyone on the 747 that crashed, was at precisely that stage in his life where it was best for him to move on, but as long as we do not claim to be omniscient, we can hardly say that we know that it would have been better for some of them to live longer. What is certainly true is that this is no more a problem for the Christian than for the Deist.

It may seem that Butler, by proving that Deism has as many problems as Christianity, is simply encouraging Deists to become Atheists. He would say:

Deists and Christians both have reason to believe in God. Both have seen that without God the world simply does not make sense. Both see many things, in Nature or the Scriptures or both, that are not what we would expect from a good and powerful God. We wonder about the reasons for them. Sometimes we can make a plausible guess at the reasons. Sometimes we cannot begin to guess at why God caused or permitted some event, and yet we continue to believe that there is a good reason. Is this irrational? Why should it be thought so? I believe in what we may conveniently refer to as the laws of physics. When I see a good stage magician at work, he does things that I cannot explain in terms of the laws of physics. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that there is a perfectly good natural explanation for them. Faced with a choice between believing that Nature is in fact lawless and supposing that that there is some way that I have overlooked of sneaking the rabbit into the hat, even though I cannot begin to guess what it is, I opt for the latter every time. Likewise, faced with a death (for example) that seems to serve no purpose, and forced to choose between supposing that there is no God and supposing that God knows more than I do, I opt for the latter every time, because the latter gives me a universe with a few unsolved (by me) puzzles in it, but the former gives me a universe fundamentally without meaning.

Incidentally, the above are not quotations from Butler. They are my attempts to express the gist of Butler’s arguments. One of the frustrating things about reading Butler, for me, is that he almost never uses examples or illustrations to bring an argument to life. Everything is stated in terms of general principles, and left there. This, plus the total lack of any devotional atmosphere, can make the book, in one sense, very dry reading. On the other hand, many of his sayings are perceptive, insightful, and memorable. I suspect that most readers of Butler will find themselves often pausing to make a check-mark in the margin (not, of course, if reading a borrowed copy) or reading a remark several times so as to remember it and quote it when appropriate.

In its own day, the book had a tremendous influence. David Hume, a radically skeptical philosopher, who did not admire most Christian apologists, admired Butler, and unsuccessfully sought permission to dedicate his own work to Butler.

Readings:

Psalm 119:89-96
Isaiah 6:6-10
Acts 13:38-44
John 3:11-16

Preface of a Saint (1)

PRAYER (traditional language)

Holy God, source of all wisdom: We give thanks for thy servants George Berkeley and Joseph Butler, who by their life and work strengthened thy Church and illumined thy world. Help us, following their examples, to place our hearts and minds in thy service, for the sake of Jesus Christ; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
.
PRAYER (contemporary language)

Holy God, source of all wisdom: We give thanks for your servants George Berkeley and Joseph Butler, who by their life and work strengthened your Church and illumined your world. Help us, following their examples, to place our hearts and minds in your service, for the sake of Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

George Berkeley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley

Joseph Butler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Butler

ST. LUTGARDIS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2010

St. Lutgardis is the patron saint of the blind and physically disabled people. Born in the 12th century, she came to her vocation, in part, due to her father’s bad business sense. Her father lost her dowry in a failed business venture and sent her to a Benedictine convent at the age of 12.

A few years later, she received a vision of Christ showing her his wounds, and at age 20 she became a Benedictine nun. Her visions continued and she is said to have levitated and dripped blood from her head when meditating on the Passion.

Seeking a stricter life, she joined the Cistercians and displayed the gifts of healing, prophecy, spiritual wisdom and teaching on the Gospels.

She accepted the blindness that afflicted her for the last 11 years of her life as a gift that helped reduce the distractions of the outside world. In her last vision, Christ told her when she was to die, the day after the Feast of the Holy Trinity, June 16, 1246. She was 64.

Jun 16 - St. Tikhon (Tychon), Bishop Of Amathus In Cyprus

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/jun_16_-_st._tikhon_tychon_bishop_of_amathus_in_cyprus#7618

June 16, 2010
St. John Francis Regis
(1597-1640)

Born into a family of some wealth, John Francis was so impressed by his Jesuit educators that he himself wished to enter the Society of Jesus. He did so at age 18. Despite his rigorous academic schedule he spent many hours in chapel, often to the dismay of fellow seminarians who were concerned about his health. Following his ordination to the priesthood, he undertook missionary work in various French towns. While the formal sermons of the day tended toward the poetic, his discourses were plain. But they revealed the fervor within him and attracted people of all classes. Father Regis especially made himself available to the poor. Many mornings were spent in the confessional or at the altar celebrating Mass; afternoons were reserved for visits to prisons and hospitals.

The Bishop of Viviers, observing the success of Father Regis in communicating with people, sought to draw on his many gifts, especially needed during the prolonged civil and religious strife then rampant throughout France. With many prelates absent and priests negligent, the people had been deprived of the sacraments for 20 years or more. Various forms of Protestantism were thriving in some cases while a general indifference toward religion was evident in other instances. For three years Father Regis traveled throughout the diocese, conducting missions in advance of a visit by the bishop. He succeeded in converting many people and in bringing many others back to religious observances.

Though Father Regis longed to work as a missionary among the North American Indians in Canada, he was to live out his days working for the Lord in the wildest and most desolate part of his native France. There he encountered rigorous winters, snowdrifts and other deprivations. Meanwhile, he continued preaching missions and earned a reputation as a saint. One man, entering the town of Saint-Andé, came upon a large crowd in front of a church and was told that people were waiting for “the saint” who was coming to preach a mission.

The last four years of his life were spent preaching and in organizing social services, especially for prisoners, the sick and the poor. In the autumn of 1640, Father Regis sensed that his days were coming to a conclusion. He settled some of his affairs and prepared for the end by continuing to do what he did so well: speaking to the people about the God who loved them. On December 31, he spent most of the day with his eyes on the crucifix. That evening, he died. His final words were: “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

He was canonized in 1737.

International Day of the African Child

1715 Robert Norden became licensed pastor of the Baptist congregation in Prince George County — the first Baptist church organized within the American colony of Virginia.
1940 Auschwitz, largest of the Nazi concentration camps, was first opened near Krakow, Poland. Before its liberation by the Allies in 1945, over 3 million Jews would be exterminated there. On this day in 1940, the first transport of Polish political prisoners arrived at Auschwitz, which became Nazi Germany’s largest concentration, extermination, and slave-labour camp, where more than one million people died.
1956 President Eisenhower signed a congressional resolution which added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. The last phrase now reads: ‘…one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’
1966 The Vatican announced that its ‘Index of Prohibited Books’ (created by Pope Paul IV in 1557) had been abolished.
1984 The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution opposing the ordination of women for ministry in the Baptist Church.

June 14

On this day in 1837, William Chatterton Dix, Anglican hymnist, was born in Bristol, England

June 14

On this day in 1889, The Christian Social Union was founded. This organization within the Church of England addressed social injustice, which flourished in the latter part of the nineteenth century and continued into the early twentieth century. Through the work of “slum priests,” it became attached to the Oxford Movement. Its leaders included Henry Scott Holland, dean of St. Pauls and, briefly William Temple, later Archbishop of Canterbury.

Feast Day:

St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea, confessor, 379;

Saints Rufinus and Valerius, martyrs.
St. Docmael, or Toel, confessor, 6th century;
St. Nennus, or Nehemias, abbot, 7th century.
St. Psalmodius, hermit, 7th century;
St. Methodius, confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople, 846.

June 14

Anianus, bishop (of Orléans), confessor (Translation) [GTZ: France]
Basil (the Great), bishop (of Caesarea), confessor [common; WTS (Bruges), in red]

Dogmael [BLS: Brittany]
Eliseus, prophet [GTZ: Carmelites]
Etherius, bishop (of Vienne) [GTZ: Vienne]
Mansuetus, bishop (of Toul), confessor (with Remacle) (Translation) [GTZ: Toul]
Methodius, bishop (of Constantinople) [BLS]
Nennus (Nehemias) [BLS]
Protus, martyr [GTZ: Aquileia]
Psalmodius [BLS]
Rigobert, bishop (of Reims), confessor (Translation) [GTZ: Reims]
Rufinus and Valerius, martyrs (at Soissons) [BLS; GTZ: Bremen, Paderborn, France; HCC, without Rufinus; PCP (Paris), as Valerien]
Rusticus, martyr [GTZ: Trier]

On This Day

Elisha,
Methodios I of Constantinople

In History

1648 - Margaret Jones hanged in Boston for witchcraft

Basil of Caesarea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_of_Caesarea

BASIL THE GREAT
BISHOP, THEOLOGIAN (14 JUNE 379)

(Basil died on 1 January 379. He is accordingly commemorated on that day in the East. The traditional Western date is 14 June, the anniversary of his consecration. The Roman usage has recently adopted 2 January.)

Basil was born in Caesarea of Cappadocia, a province in what is now central Turkey (more or less directly north of the easternmost part of the Mediterranean, but with no seacoast). He was born in 329, after the persecution of Christians had ceased, but with parents who could remember the persecutions and had lived through them. He originally planned to become a lawyer and orator, and studied at Athens (351-356), where two of his classmates were Gregory of Nazianzus (who became a close friend) and the future Emperor Julian the Apostate. When he returned home, the influence and example of his sister Macrina led him to seek the monastic life instead, and after making a tour of the monasteries of Egypt in 357, he founded a monastic settlement near his home. He remained there only five years, but the influence of his community was enormous. Whereas in the West there are numerous monastic orders (Benedictines, Carthusians, etc.), in the East all monks are Basilian monks. His Longer Rules and Shorter Rules for the monastic life remain the standard. Basil expresses a definite preference for the communal life of the monastery over the solitary life of the hermit, arguing that the Christian life of mutual love and service is communal by its nature. In 367-8, when Cappadocia suffered a severe and widespread famine, Basil sold his family’s very extensive land holdings in order to buy food for the starving, persuading many others to follow his example, and putting on an apron to work in the soup kitchen himself. In this crisis, he absolutely refused to allow any distinction to be made between Jew and Christian, saying that the digestive systems of the two are indistinguishable. He also built a hospital for the care of the sick, housing for the poor, and a hospice for travelers.

These were the years between the First Ecumenical Council (Nicea, 325) and the Second (Constantinople, 381), years in which it was uncertain whether the Church would stand by the declaration made at Nicea that the Logos (the “Word” — see John 1:1) was fully God, equally with the Father, or seek a more flexible formula in the hope of reconciliation with the Arians, who declared themselves unalterably opposed to the Nicene wording. Basil had been ordained priest in 362 in order to assist the new Bishop of Caesarea, whom he succeeded in 370. (Since Caesarea was the capital, or metropolis, of the province of Cappadocia, its bishop was automatically the metropolitan of Cappadocia, which included about fifty dioceses (bishoprics). A metropolitan was roughly what we would call an archbishop, although in ancient terminology an “archbishop” was one step above a metropolitan.) By that time, an Arian emperor, Valens, was ruling. Basil made it his policy to try to unite the so-called semi-Arians with the Nicene party against the outright Arians, making use of the formula “three persons (hypostases) in one substance (ousia),” thus explicitly acknowledging a distinction between the Father and the Son (a distinction that the Nicene party had been accused of blurring), and at the same time insisting on their essential unity.

When the emperor Valens passed through Caesarea in 371, he demanded the theological submission of Basil, who flatly refused. The imperial prefect expressed astonishment at Basil’s defiance, to which Basil replied, “Perhaps you have never met a real bishop before.” Valens retaliated by dividing the province of Cappadocia into two provinces, with the result that the Arian Bishop of Tyana became metropolitan of the new province of Western Cappadocia. Basil responded by going political. He ramrodded his brother Gregory of Nyssa and his friend Gregory of Nazianzus into bishoprics that they did not want, and for which they were totally unsuited, so that he would have the votes of those bishoprics when he needed them. (Neither Gregory ever quite forgave him for this.) His interests were not exclusively theological: he denounced and excommunicated those who owned houses of prostitution, he worked to secure justice for the poor against those who oppressed them, and he severely disciplined clergy who used their office to accumulate money or to live too well at the expense of the faithful.

His most famous writings include the Hexaemeron (“The Six Days”), a series of nine sermons on the days of creation, in which he speaks of the beauties of the created world as revelations of the splendor of God. His Against Eunomius defends the deity of Christ against an Arian writer, and his On the Holy Spirit speaks of the deity of the Third Person of the Trinity, and the rightness of worshipping Him together with the Father and the Son. In his Address to Young Men (originally written for his nephews), he urges Christians to make themselves acquainted with pagan philosophy and literature, arguing that this will often lead to a deeper understanding of Christian truth. His personality comes through most clearly in his letters, of which more than three hundred have been preserved. Some deal with points of theology or ethics, some with canon law, and many simply with everyday affairs. Ten times a year the Eastern churches use the Liturgy of St Basil rather than the more usual Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. It differs chiefly in having a more elaborate Anaphora (the prayer of consecration offered over the bread and wine), expressing some of his characteristic turns of thought, probably dating back to his time and used by him, and possibly composed by him personally.

Basil died in 379, shortly after the death in battle of the Arian Valens removed the chief threat to the Nicene faith to which Basil had devoted his life. He was mourned by the entire city, and the weeping crowds at his funeral included Christians, Jews, and pagans. He is counted (with the two Gregories) as one of the three Cappadocian Fathers, and (with Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom) as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs. In the West, he is reckoned (with Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, and Athanasius) as one of the Four Greek (Eastern) Doctors of the Undivided Church. (The Four Latin (Western) Doctors are Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great.)

Readings:

Psalm 139:1-9
Ezekiel 22:23-30
1 Corinthians 2:6-13
Luke 10:21-24

Preface of Trinity

PRAYER (traditional language)

Almighty God, who hast revealed to thy Church thine eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like thy bishop Basil of Caesarea, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Almighty God, who has revealed to your Church your eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like your bishop Basil of Caesarea, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who live and reign for ever and ever.

Jun 14 - St Methodios, Patriarch Of Constantinople

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/jun_14_-_st_methodios_patriarch_of_constantinople#7621

ST. METHODIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE
MONDAY, JUNE 14, 2010

St. Methodius worked for unity and reconciliation in the Eastern Church and had served as the Patriarch of Constantinople for the last five years of his life.

Born in Syracuse, he first felt the call to enter religious life while in Constantinople, where he had gone to seek a position at court. He left for the island of Chinos, where he built a monastery and started a monastic community.

However, his time at the monastery was short-lived since he was summoned by the Patriarch of Constantinople to help govern the diocese and create unity after a debate broke out on the use of icons in worship. While in Rome, seeking the Pope’s help, he was exiled for seven years. But he returned as patriarch in 842 and continued to work for unity.

St. Albert Chmielowski
(1845-1916)

Born in Igolomia near Kraków as the eldest of four children in a wealthy family, he was christened Adam. During the 1864 revolt against Czar Alexander III, Adam’s wounds forced the amputation of his left leg.

His great talent for painting led to studies in Warsaw, Munich and Paris. Adam returned to Kraków and became a Secular Franciscan. In 1888 he took the name Albert when he founded the Brothers of the Third Order of Saint Francis, Servants to the Poor. They worked primarily with the homeless, depending completely on alms while serving the needy, regardless of age, religion or politics. A community of Albertine sisters was established later.

Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1983 and canonized him six years later.

World Blood Donor Day

World Sea Turtle Day

Flag Day

National Nursing Assistants Day

When : First day of National Nursing Assistants Week

National Nursing Assistants Day honors Nursing Assistants.

According to the website of the Network of Career Nursing Assistants:

This day is set aside each year to recognize longevity of service, special contributions to care practices and accomplishments of the nursing assistants who have made caring their life career including members of the National Twenty Year Club.

1739 English founder of Methodism John Wesley stated in his journal: ‘I look upon all the world as my parish.’
1799 Richard Allen (1760-1831), first African- American bishop in the U.S., was ordained a deacon of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.
1850 Birth of David C. Cook, pioneer developer of Sunday School curriculum. In 1875, Cook founded the David C. Cook Publishing Co., headquartered today in Elgin, Illinois.
1918 Brazil’s first Pentecostal Church was established by missionaries Daniel Berg and Adolf Gunnar Vingren. The new congregation was registered as an ‘Assembly of God’ church.
1936 The Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) was organized in Philadelphia. In 1938 the denomination changed its name to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
1944 1st Serbian Orthodox cathedral in US, Cathedral of St Sava, NYC
1963 JFK says segregation is morally wrong & that it is “time to act”

June 11

On this day in 1888, Maxwell J. Blacker, Anglican priest and hymn translator, died in Westminster, England.

June 11

Barnabas, apostle, martyr [common; PCP (Paris), WTS (Bruges), 6082, in red]

Onuphrius, hermit, confessor [GTZ: Basel, Freising, Worms]
Reimbert, bishop (of Bremen), confessor [GTZ: Bremen]
Tochumra, virgin [BLS: Kilmore, Ireland]
Tochumra, virgin [BLS: Tochumra in Munster]

On This Day

Barnabas the Apostle

Bartholomew the Apostle

In History

1345 - Revolt against Byzantine Emperor by political prisoners
1880 - Birth of Jeanette Rankin, pacifist and first US Congresswoman
1936 - International Surrealist Exhibition opens in London
1988 - 100,000 march during 3rd UN Special Session on Disarmament
1963 - Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burns himself over lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam
2008 Canadian PM Stephen Harper makes historic official apology to Canada’s First Nations for past child abuse

Jun 11 - Holy Apostles Bartholomew And Barnabas

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/jun_11_-_holy_apostles_bartholomew_and_barnabas#7564

ST. BARNABAS, APOSTLE
FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2010

St. Barnabas was a Levite Jew from the island of Cyprus. Although his original name was Joseph, the Apostles gave him the name Barnabas, meaning “son of exhortation,” after his conversion.

Barnabas is traditionally believed to have been one of Christ’s 72 disciples, and lived among the Apostles as a successful preacher in the early Church. Luke describes him in the Acts of the Apostles as “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Acts 11:24).

Barnabas acted as mediator between St. Paul and the Apostles after Paul’s conversion, helping the early Church to see the authenticity of his conversion and accept him despite his past as a persecutor of Christians.

Later, Barnabas was sent to Antioch to investigate the conversions of the Gentiles there. He and Paul spent a year instructing the Church in Antioch. After this, he travelled with Paul to preach the Gospel in many cities including Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Although faced with opposition and even persecution, they succeeded in converting many more on this journey, and organized churches in these areas.

At the Council of Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul testified on their work of converting Gentiles and the experience of the new converts, as the early Church debated whether it was necessary for Gentile converts to first become Jewish and be circumcised before being accepted as Christians. The Council ultimately agreed that such measures were not imperative.

When Paul and Barnabas decided to revisit their missions, they strongly disagreed on whether John Mark, another disciple and previous deserter, should be allowed to accompany them. As a result of their disagreement, Paul and Barnabas separated. Barnabas travelled with John Mark to preach in Cyprus.

Little is known about the later life of Barnabas. He is believed to have been stoned to death in Salamis in the year 61.

Barnabas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnabas

BARNABAS THE APOSTLE
(11 JUNE NT)

“Joseph, a Levite, born in Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (son of encouragement), sold a field he owned, brought the money, and turned it over to the apostles.” (Acts 4:36f). This is the first mention we have of Barnabas.

His new name fits what we know of his actions. When Saul (or Paul) came to Jerusalem after his conversion, most of the Christians there wanted nothing to do with him. They had known him as a persecutor and an enemy of the Church. But Barnabas was willing to give him a second chance. He looked him up, spoke with him, and brought him to see the other Christians, vouching for him. Later, Paul and Barnabas went on a missionary journey together, taking Mark with them. Part way, Mark turned back and went home. When Paul and Barnabas were about to set out on another such journey, Barnabas proposed to take Mark along, and Paul was against it, saying that Mark had shown himself undependable. Barnabas wanted to give Mark a second chance, and so he and Mark went off on one journey, while Paul took Silas and went on another. Apparently Mark responded well to the trust given him by the “son of encouragement,” since we find that Paul later speaks of him as a valuable assistant (2 Tim 4:11; see also Col 4:10 and Phil 24).

Readings:

Psalm 112
Isaiah 42:5-12
Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3
Matthew 10:7-16

Preface of Apostles

PRAYER (traditional language)

Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of thy faithful servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well-being of thy Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of your faithful servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well-being of your Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

St. Barnabas

Barnabas, a Jew of Cyprus, comes as close as anyone outside the Twelve to being a full-fledged apostle. He was closely associated with St. Paul (he introduced Paul to Peter and the other apostles) and served as a kind of mediator between the former persecutor and the still suspicious Jewish Christians.

When a Christian community developed at Antioch, Barnabas was sent as the official representative of the Church of Jerusalem to incorporate them into the fold. He and Paul instructed in Antioch for a year, after which they took relief contributions to Jerusalem.

Later, Paul and Barnabas, now clearly seen as charismatic leaders, were sent by Antioch officials to preach to the Gentiles. Enormous success crowned their efforts. After a miracle at Lystra, the people wanted to offer sacrifice to them as gods—Barnabas being Zeus, and Paul, Hermes—but the two said, “We are of the same nature as you, human beings. We proclaim to you good news that you should turn from these idols to the living God” (see Acts 14:8-18).

But all was not peaceful. They were expelled from one town, they had to go to Jerusalem to clear up the ever-recurring controversy about circumcision and even the best of friends can have differences. When Paul wanted to revisit the places they had evangelized, Barnabas wanted to take along John Mark, his cousin, author of the Gospel, but Paul insisted that, since Mark had deserted them once, he was not fit to take along now. The disagreement that followed was so sharp that Barnabas and Paul separated, Barnabas taking Mark to Cyprus, Paul taking Silas to Syria. Later, they were reconciled—Paul, Barnabas and Mark.

When Paul stood up to Peter for not eating with Gentiles for fear of his Jewish friends, we learn that “even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy” (see Galatians 2:1-13).

King Kamehameha Day (Hawaii)

Hug Holiday Day

When : Always June 29th

Hug Holiday Day encourages us to give hugs to those who need them. On this day, people go out and give hugs at senior citizen centers, hospitals, and other places. The focus is upon elderly, sick and invalid, lonely people and anyone who needs the warmth, cheer, and love that a hug provides.

This very special day was created by the “Hugs for Health Foundation”. According to the Foundation:

” Hug Holiday is founded on the premise that hugs, friendship and volunteer support are vital components to the overall senior care plan.”

Celebrate Hug Holiday Day today by:

Giving hugs to those who need one
Joining Hugs for Heath
Making a donation to this or another group

0597 Death of St. Columba (born 521), pioneer missionary to Scotland. From the Isle of Iona, Columba evangelized the mainland of Scotland and Northumbria.

1549 In England, Parliament established a uniformity of religious services and the first Book of Common Prayer, as Anglicanism became the newly established national faith.
1732 Englishman James Oglethorpe received a royal charter to form the American colony of Georgia. It was to be a place of refuge for sectarian Protestant believers, persecuted in England.
1772 1st Protestant church west of Penn (in Ohio) holds communion
1784 John Carroll appointed supervisor of US Catholic Missions. In the first step toward formal organization of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S., Father John Carroll was appointed superior of the American missions by Pius VI.
1834 English Baptist missionary pioneer William Carey died at 73. Having translated portions of Scripture into as many as 25 languages, he is known by some today as the ‘father of modern missions.’
1978 Gutenberg Bible (1 of 21) sells for $2.4 million, London
1978 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) strikes
down 148 year policy of excluding black men from priesthood

June 9

On this day in 1536, the clergy of England agreed to petition for the right to read the Bible.

June 9

On this day in 1549, England’s first Act of Uniformity, passed by Parliament in January, took effect. The act ordered that religious services be consistent throughout the country, using Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer.

Feast Day:

St. Vincent, martyr, 2nd or 3rd century;
Saints Primus and Felicianus, martyrs, 286;
St. Pelagia, virgin and martyr, 311;
St. Columba, or Columkille, Abbot and Apostle of the Picts, 597;

St. Richard, Bishop of Andria, confessor, about 8th century.

June 9

Alexander, martyr [GTZ: Russia]
Columba, abbot, confessor [BLS; GTZ: Scotland]

Edmund, bishop (of Canturbury), confessor (Translation) [GTZ: England]
Ephraim, deacon, Doctor of the Church [MR]
Liborius, bishop (of LeMans), confessor [GTZ: LeMans]
Pelagia, virgin, martyr [BLS]
Primus and Felicianus, martyrs [common]
Richard, bishop (of Andria, Apulia) [BLS]
Vincent, deacon, martyr [BLS
]
On This Day

Aidan of Lindisfarne (Lutheranism),
Columba,

Ephrem the Syrian (Roman Catholic Church and Church of England),
Primus and Felician

In History

1856 - Five hundred Mormons leave Iowa City for Salt Lake City
1984 - 150,000 march in London for nuclear disarmament, protest Cruise missiles

Jun 09 - St. Columba Of Iona

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/jun_09_-_st._columba_of_iona#7566

ST. COLUMBA

A short distance from one of the wildest districts of the western coast of Scotland, opposite the mountains of Mull, only three miles to the south of Staffa, so famous for its stately caverns, lies a little island, which is celebrated as the centre from which the knowledge of the Gospel spread over Scotland, and indeed over all the North, and which, rocky and solitary, and now insignificant as it may be, was a seat of what was felt as marvellous learning in the earliest period of mediaeval civilization. Its original name appears to have been Hi or I, which was Latinized into the, perhaps, more poetical form of Iona, but it is now commonly called I-com-kill, or I of Columba of the Cells, from the saint who once possessed it, and from the numerous cells or monastic establishments which he founded.

Columba was an Irish priest and monk of the sixth century, who was earnest in his desire to spread among the ignorant pagans of the North that ascetic form of Christianity which had already taken root in Ireland. According to Bede, from whom we gather nearly all we know of this remarkable man, it was in the year 565 that Columba left his native island to preach to the Picts, the inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands. Encouraged by their chieftain, his mission was attended with success. The chieftain gave him, as a place to establish himself and his companions, the island of I, which Bede describes as in size, ‘only of about five families, according to the calculation of the English,’ or, as this is explained by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, five hides of land. It is now three miles in length, and not quite a mile broad. Here Columba built a church and a monastery, of which he became abbot, and collected round him a body of monks, under a rule which was remark-able chiefly for the strict enforcement of self-denial and asceticism. Their hours each day were divided between prayer, reading or hearing the Scriptures, and the labours required for producing the necessaries of life, chiefly cultivating the land, and fishing. Others were employed in writing copies of the books of the church service, which were wanted for their own use, or for the religious missions sent out amongst the neighbouring barbarians. The art most cultivated among the early Irish monks appears to have been caligraphy, and Columba himself is said to have been a very skilful penman, and, we may no doubt add, illuminator; and copies of the Psalter and Gospel, still pre-erved in Ireland, are attributed to him.

Such of Columba’s monks at I as were capable, were employed in instructing others, and this employment seems to have best suited their tastes, and education became the great object to which Columba’s successors devoted themselves. For ages youths of noble, and even of royal blood, flocked hither from all parts, not only of Scotland, England, and Ireland, but from Scandinavia, to profit by the teaching of the monks; at the same time, colonies of Columba’s monks went forth to establish themselves in various parts of the Scottish Highlands, and the neighbouring islands, in Iceland, and even in Norway. Bede tells us that, about thirty-two years after he settled in I, or Iona, which would carry us, according to his dates, to the year 597, St. Columba died and was buried in his island monastery, being then seventy-seven years old. The 9th of June is usually assigned as the day of his death. The reputation of Iona as a seat of learning, and as a place of extraordinary sanctity, continued to increase after the death of the founder of its religious establishment, and his memory was held in the most affectionate love. His disciples, or we may say the monks of his order, who formed the Pictish church, became known by the name of Culdees, a Celtic word meaning simply monks.

Their first religious house of any importance on the mainland was Abernethy, the church of which is said to have been built in Columba’s lifetime, and which became the principal seat of royalty and episcopacy in the Pictish kingdom. St. Andrew’s, also, was a foundation of the Culdees, as well as Dunkeld, Dunblane, Brechin, and many other important churches. From the particular position held by Columba towards his disciples in all parts, when Culdee bishoprics were established, all the bishops were considered as placed under the authority of the abbots of Iona, so that these abbots were virtually the Metropolitans of the Scottish church. In the ninth century the Danes, who ravaged with great ferocity the Scottish coasts, repeatedly visited Iona, and so completely destroyed its monks and their monastery, that the island itself disappears from history, until the twelfth century, when, in the reign of William the Lion, it was re-occupied by a convent of Cluniac monks. Long before this the Culdees had lost their character for sanctity and purity of life, and they were now so much degenerated that the Scottish King David I. (who reigned from 1124 to 1153), after an ineffectual attempt to reform them, suppressed the Culdees altogether, and supplied their place with monks and canons of other orders, but chiefly of that of St. Augustine.

Columba

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columba

COLUMBA
ABBOT OF IONA AND MISSIONARY (9 JUNE 597)

In the troubled and violent Dark Ages in Northern Europe, monasteries served as inns, orphanages, centers of learning, and even as fortresses. The light of civilization flickered dimly and might have gone out altogether if it had not been for these convent-shelters.

Columba, a stern and strong monk from Ireland, founded three such establishments. He founded the monasteries of Derry and Durrow in his native Ireland, and the island monastery of Iona on the coast of Scotland. Iona was the center of operations for the conversion of the Scots and Picts, and became the most famous religious house in Scotland. There Columba baptized Brude, King of the Picts, and later a King of the Scots came to this Abbot of the “Holy Isle” for baptism.

[Geographic note: If you look at a map of Scotland, you will see a huge gash across the country from northeast to southwest. This has been slightly augmented by artificial digging to make a shipping canal. As you emerge from the southwest end of the gash, the large island of Mull is on your right. At the southwest tip of Mull lies the tiny island of Iona. [56:19N 6:25W]]

The historian Bede tells us that Columba led many to Christianity by his “preaching and example.” He was much admired for his physical as well as spiritual prowess. He was a strict ascetic and remained physically vigorous and unflagging in his missionary and pastoral journeys throughout his seventy-six years of life. The memory of Columba lives on in Scotland, and Iona, though desecrated during the Reformation, today houses a flourishing ecumenical religious community.
Readings:

Psalm 97:1-2,7-12
Isaiah 61:1-3
1 Corinthians 3:11-23
Luke 10:17-20

Preface of Apostles

PRAYER (traditional language)

O God, who by the preaching of thy blessed servant Columba didst cause the light of the Gospel to shine in Scotland: Grant, we beseech thee, that, having his life and labors in remembrance, we may show forth our thankfulness to thee by following the example of his zeal and patience; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

O God, who by the preaching of your blessed servant Columba caused the light of the Gospel to shine in Scotland: Grant, we pray, that, having his life and labors in remembrance, we may show our thankfulness to you by following the example of his zeal and patience; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

9 Jun 1549
The First Book of Common Prayer

In 1549, under the reign of Edward VI, successor to Henry VIII, the primary language of public worship in England and other areas ruled by Edward was changed from Latin to English, and the first Book of Common Prayer came into use. It was first used on Pentecost Sunday, 9 June 1549, and the occasion is now commemorated “on the first convenient day following Pentecost.” The Book was the work of a commission of scholars, but primarily of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. It was based primarily upon the Latin worship tradition of the Use of Sarum (similar to, but not identical with, the Roman rite used by most Roman Catholics between 1600 and 1950), with some elements taken from the Greek liturgies of the Eastern Church, from ancient Gallican (French) rites, from the new Lutheran order of service, and from the Latin rite of Cologne.

The older usage had grown haphazardly through the centuries, and had added so many complications that it was difficult to follow (the priest often needed to juggle up to a dozen books to get through a single service). The new order pruned and simplified so that only one book other than the Bible was necessary, and so that even the laity could follow the service and participate without difficulty. Moreover, the quality of the English was outstanding. All Christians who worship in English, from Roman Catholics to Southern Baptists and beyond, are in some measure influenced by it, and all to whom it is important that the people of God understand the worship of the Church and take an active part therein have cause to be grateful for the Book of Common Prayer.

At the time, it had its drawbacks. It was resented in non-English-speaking areas ruled from London, such as Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall. If an Erse version had been produced simultaneously, the religious history of Ireland might have been radically different. As it was, the Prayer Book and the English Bible were viewed as part of an attempt to impose the English language upon Ireland. Similar sentiments were common in Wales and Cornwall, but with less drastic consequences.

PRAYER (traditional language)

Almighty and everliving God, whose servant Thomas Cranmer, with Others, did restore the language of the people in the prayers of thy Church: Make us always thankful for this heritage; and help us so to pray in the Spirit and with the understanding, that we may worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Almighty and everliving God, whose servant Thomas Cranmer, with Others, restored the language of the people in the prayers of your Church: Make us always thankful for this heritage; and help us so to pray in the Spirit and with the understanding, that we may worthily magnify your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Psalm 96:1-9 or 33:1-5,20-21
Acts 2:38-42
John 4:21-24

ST. EPHREM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 09, 2010

St. Ephrem is a Doctor of the Church. He was a great writer of homilies, hymns and poems and helped to fight Gnosticism and Arianism by his writings.

Not much is known about his early life. He was born in the fourth century in Mesopotamia (modern-day Syria). Scholars speculate that he may have been the son of a pagan priest. He was brought to the faith by Saint James of Nisibis and was baptized at age 18. He served as a deacon and a preacher and helped to evangelize his city.

In 363, Nisibis fell toPersia and a time of Christian persecution began. Ephrem led an Christian exodus to Edessa, where he founded a theological school. He died there June 9, 373. He is the patron of spiritual directors and spiritual leaders.
June 9, 2010
St. Ephrem
(306?-373)

Poet, teacher, orator and defender of the faith, Ephrem is the only Syrian recognized as a doctor of the Church. He took upon himself the special task of opposing the many false doctrines rampant at his time, always remaining a true and forceful defender of the Catholic Church.

Born in Nisibis, Mesopotamia, he was baptized as a young man and became famous as a teacher in his native city. When the Christian emperor had to cede Nisibis to the Persians, Ephrem, along with many Christians, fled as a refugee to Edessa. He is credited with attracting great glory to the biblical school there. He was ordained a deacon but declined becoming a priest (and was said to have avoided episcopal consecration by feigning madness!).

He had a prolific pen and his writings best illumine his holiness. Although he was not a man of great scholarship, his works reflect deep insight and knowledge of the Scriptures. In writing about the mysteries of humanity’s redemption, Ephrem reveals a realistic and humanly sympathetic spirit and a great devotion to the humanity of Jesus. It is said that his poetic account of the Last Judgment inspired Dante.

It is surprising to read that he wrote hymns against the heretics of his day. He would take the popular songs of the heretical groups and, using their melodies, compose beautiful hymns embodying orthodox doctrine. Ephrem became one of the first to introduce song into the Church’s public worship as a means of instruction for the faithful. His many hymns have earned him the title “Harp of the Holy Spirit.”

He preferred a simple, austere life, living in a small cave overlooking the city of Edessa. It was here he died around 373.

Donald Duck Day

When : Always June 9th

Happy Birthday, Donald. We hope that Daisy Duck bakes you your favorite cake!

Donald Duck Day in honor of Donald Duck’s cartoon debut. Donald first appeared in “The Wise Hen” on June 9, 1934. While Donald is over 70 years old, he doesn’t act a day over 20. Donald is one of Disney’s most famous and popular characters.

Did you Know? Donald has a middle name. Donald F. Duck’s middle name is “Fauntleroy”.

Enjoy Donald Duck Day in front of the television watching Donald, along with all of his family and friends.

The Origin of Donald Duck Day:

0536 St Silverius begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0570 Relgion of Islam (submission) founded in Mecca
0632: Muhammad, the founder of the religion of Islam and of the Muslim community, died in Medina.
1191: At the time of the Third Crusade, Richard I joined the Crusaders in Acre, having conquered Cyprus on his way there.
1504: Michelangelo’s David installed in Florence
Believed to have been installed this day in 1504 in the cathedral of Florence was Michelangelo’s statue of David, commissioned in 1501 and considered the prime statement of the Renaissance ideal of perfect humanity.
1536 Ten Articles of Religion were published by the English clergy, in support of Henry VIII’s Declaration of Supremacy. The Anglican Church had begun defining its doctrinal distinctions, after breaking with Roman Catholicism.
1810 Birth of German composer Robert A. Schumann, who composed the sacred tune CANONBURY, to which is commonly sung the hymn, ‘Lord Speak to Me That I May Speak.’
1942 Unevangelized Fields Mission (UFM) was incorporated in Philadelphia. Today this interdenominational mission agency works in a dozen countries in Latin America, Europe and Africa.
1973 The American Society of Missiology was founded in St. Louis. The ecumenical organization seeks to stimulate an academic interest in Christian missions, and publishes the journal ‘Missiology: An International Review.’
1978 Through the voice of its president Spencer W. Kimball, the Mormon Church reversed a 148-year- long policy of spiritual discrimination against African-American leadership within the denomination.

June 8

On this day in 1536, following Henry VIII’s Declaration of Supremacy, English clergy drew up the Ten Articles of Religion, the first articles of the Anglican Church since its break from Roman Catholicism.

Feast Day:

St. Maximinus, first. Archbishop of Aix, confessor, end of 1st or beginning of 2nd century;
St. Gildard, or Godard, Bishop of Rouen, confessor, 6th century;
St. Medard, Bishop of Noyon, confessor, 6th century;
St. Syra, virgin, of Ireland, 7th century;
St. Clou, or Clodulphus, Bishop of Metz, confessor, 696;
St. William, Archbishop of York, confessor, 1154.

June 8

Audomar, bishop (of Thérouanne), confessor (Translation) [GTZ: St. Omer]
Chlodulph, bishop (of Metz) [BLS]
Elphege, bishop, martyr (Translation) [GTZ: England]
Gildard, bishop (of Rouen), confessor [BLS; GTZ: Metz, France, England; PCP (Paris)]
Marius, hermit [GTZ: Clermont]
Maximinus, bishop (of Aix en Provence) [BLS]
Medard, bishop (of Noyon), confessor [common]
Sabinianus, abbot, confessor [GTZ: Puy]
Syra (of Ireland), virgin [BLS]
Syria, virgin (at Troyes) [GTZ: Troyes]
Trojecia, virgin (at Rodez) [GTZ: Rodez]
William, bishop (of York), confessor [BLS; GTZ: England; PRI: England]

On This Day

Saint Audomar, Bishop of Thérouanne, confessor (Translation day)
Chlodulf of Metz,
Medard,
William of York

In History

793 - Vikings raid abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria

Roland Allen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Allen

ROLAND ALLEN
MISSION STRATEGIST

Roland Allen (December 29, 1868 – June 9, 1947) was born in Bristol, England, Allen was the son of an Anglican priest but was orphaned early in life. He trained for ministry at Oxford and became a priest in 1893. Allen spent two periods in Northern China working for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The first from 1895 to 1900 ended due to the Boxer Rebellion, during which Allen was forced to flee to the British Legation in Beijing. He was chaplain to community throughout much of the siege. After a period back in England, he returned to North China in 1902, but was forced home due to illness. These ‘early experiences led him to a radical reassessment of his own vocation and the theology and missionary methods of the Western churches’.

Allen became an early advocate of establishing Churches which from the beginning would be self-supporting, self-propagating, and self-governing, adapted to local conditions and not merely imitations of Western Christianity. These views were confirmed by a trip to India in 1910 and by later research in Canada and East Africa. It is with this background that Allen wrote his book Missionary Methods which was first published in 1912.

Allen’s approach to Mission strategy for indigenous Churches is based on the study of Saint Paul’s missionary methods as he is convinced that in them can be found the solution to most of the difficulties of the day. He believed it was the recognition of the church as a local entity and trust in the Holy Spirit’s indwelling within the converts and churches which was the mark of Paul’s success. In contrast was Allen’s belief that the people of his day were unable to entrust their converts to the Holy Spirit and instead relied in His work through them.

His views became increasingly influential, though Allen himself became disillusioned with the established churches. He spent the last years of his life in Kenya, establishing a reclusive church of his own devising, centred on an idiosyncratic family rite. Allen died in Nairobi.

Readings:

Psalm 119:145-152
Numbers 11:26-29
2 Corinthians 9:8-15
Luke 8:4-15

Preface of Baptism

PRAYER (traditional language)

Almighty God, by whose Spirit the Scriptures were opened to thy servant Roland Allen, so that he might lead many to know, live and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Give us grace to follow his example, that the variety of those to whom we reach out in love may receive thy saving Word and witness in their own languages and cultures to thy glorious Name; through Jesus Christ, thy Word made flesh, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Almighty God, by your Spirit you opened the Scriptures to your servant Roland Allen, so that he might lead many to know, live and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Give us grace to follow his example, that the variety of those to whom we reach out in love may receive your saving Word and witness in their own languages and cultures to your glorious Name; through Jesus Christ, your Word made flesh, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Jun 08 - Holy Mother Melania The Elder and St. Zosimas Of Phoenicia

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/jun_08_-_holy_mother_melania_the_elder_and_st._zosimas_of_phoenicia#7565

ST. MEDARD, BISHOP
TUESDAY, JUNE 08, 2010

Born about 456 in Salency, France; died June 8, 545 in Noyon, France. Bishop of Noyon.

From his youth St. Medard was known for his piety and learning, quenching his deep hunger for knowledge by studying Sacred Scripture as well as philosophy and the sciences.

His practice of Christian virtue was evident as a youth and his commitment to the poor so pronounced that he had difficulty in walking by a poor man in the street and not giving him what he had, either his cloak or shoes, and one time even his horse.

He was ordained a priest in about 490 and was consecrated bishop of Vermand in 530. He moved the see of Vermand to Noyons a year later because it was a city better defended against invasion, the Huns and Vandals being the threats in that epoch.

Pope Hormisdas appointed Medard to the See of Tournai which he presided over along with that of Vermand, and had great success in converting the remaining pagans in the area to Christ.

Medard died of an illness in 545 at the age of 89 and his cult has been very popular historically in northern France.

St. William of York
(d. 1154)

A disputed election as archbishop of York and a mysterious death. Those are the headlines from the tragic life of today’s saint.

Born into a powerful family in 12th-century England, William seemed destined for great things. His uncle was next in line for the English throne—though a nasty dynastic struggle complicated things. William himself faced an internal Church feud.

Despite these roadblocks, he was nominated as archbishop of York in 1140. Local clergymen were less enthusiastic, however, and the archbishop of Canterbury refused to consecrate William. Three years later a neighboring bishop performed the consecration, but it lacked the approval of Pope Innocent II, whose successors likewise withheld approval. William was deposed and a new election was ordered.

It was not until 1154—14 years after he was first nominated—that William became archbishop of York. When he entered the city that spring after years of exile, he received an enthusiastic welcome. Within two months he was dead, probably from poisoning. His administrative assistant was a suspect, though no formal ruling was ever made.

Despite all that happened to him, William did not show resentment toward his opponents. Following his death, many miracles were attributed to him. He was canonized 73 years later.

CANONIZATION OF THE JAPANESE MARTYRS

The canonization of saints has only been accepted as a dogma of faith by the Church of Rome since the twelfth century, and it was then confined to those who had suffered martyrdom for their religious principles. So rapid, however, was the increase of saints, that it was soon found necessary to place a limit to their admission to the canon: at first bishops were permitted to make them; this privilege was taken away, and the Pope alone had the power; another prudent regulation was that the holy man should have departed this life one hundred years at least before he was canonized, which no doubt prevented many a man, popular in his day, from attaining the honour, when his character was judged by a future generation.

We have in our own day (1862) seen a remarkable example of this ceremony. Pius the Ninth determined to add to the list of saints twenty-three missionaries who had been martyred in Japan during the seventeenth century. Great preparations were made for the event; letters of invitation were written, not only to the Bishops of the Romish church, but also to those of the Eastern churches, and, in spite of the marked repugnance of some of the governments—who feared a political demonstration—the attendance was very large. These ecclesiastics formed the most interesting part of the procession to St. Peter’s. Wearing the dresses of those early Syrian and Armenian churches which had been founded by the Apostles themselves, and the symbols which created so warm a discussion among the Fathers—the stole, the alb, the mitre with crosses, Greek and Latin, the forms of which were heretic or orthodox, according to the judgment of the observer. The procession was similar to the one already described under Easter Day; the only difference, perhaps, was that St. Peter’s was entirely lighted up with wax lights; a mistake, as was generally agreed, there not being sufficient brilliancy to set off the gay colours of the cardinals, the bishops, the bearers of the flabelli, and guarda nobili.

World Ocean Day

Best Friend’s Day

When : Always June 8th

Best Friend Day is a time to enjoy and appreciate your best friend. It’s a day to honor and cherish the relationship.

If you’re lucky, you have a best friend. If you are real lucky, you have a number of best friends. Best friends are very, very special people. You spend countless hours with your best friend going to events and activities, or just hanging out. You share secrets, hopes, dreams, aspirations, and disappointments with your best friend.

Some folks say you can only have one best friend. This author disagrees. You can have a couple at the same time, or several over time. Friends come and go for a variety of reasons. It’s the result of many things, including moving, changing schools or jobs, and more. We hope that you are lucky enough to have a number of best friends over the years.

Celebrate Best Friend Day by: