Blog by-the-Sea

Two Comments I Liked on the Personal Ordinariate for Anglo-Catholics

At the Forward in Faith National Assembly held yesterday and today in the U.K., Bishop Andrew Burnham, the Anglican Bishop of Ebbsfleet (one of the Church of England's traditional Anglo-Catholic "Flying Bishops"), attributed Pope Benedict's new offer of a personal ordinariate for Anglicans becoming Catholics in part to the prayers of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, saying that it is her "shower of roses".  Also crediting the prayers of Our Lady of Walsingham and soon-to-be-blessed John Henry Newman, he called it "the miracle that seems to be springing up in our midst":

Listen here.

Anglican Bishop Andrew Burnham (who, I suppose, is soon to become Catholic Father Burnham) is not alone in crediting St. Thérèse.  Jack Smith at the Catholic Key Blog quotes from two other Anglican clergy who also credit St. Thérèse for this development, occurring so soon after her relics visited England (September 16 to October 16, 2009).  Hat tip American Papist. 

Also, Jeffrey Steenson, formerly an Episcopal Church bishop, and now a Catholic priest, wrote about the announcement on MercatorNet (hat tip Canterbury Tales).  He said this about his hope for the Episcopalians he necessarily left behind when he became Catholic:

"One thing has continued to trouble me in this journey, and that is the remembrance of the people left behind. . . . who hunger and thirst for something more, for whom the Catholic Church is a very intimidating but compelling presence. They must overcome misunderstandings about what the Catholic Church teaches, and fears about what it might mean to live in the Catholic Church. Patient pastoral work can resolve much of this, and I rejoice that the Holy Father has opened this door for them. "

Pope Benedict Calls Attention to the "Little Way"

In his farewell address as he left his summer home in Castel Gandolfo yesterday, the feast day of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Holy Father called attention to the "little way" of St. Thérèse, saying: "Her testimony shows that only the word of God, received and understood in its concrete demands, becomes a source of renewed life. To our society, often permeated by a rationalist culture and widespread practical materialism, little Thérèse of Lisieux points out, as the answer to the great questions of life, the "little way," which looks instead to the essential of things."  He called on people to follow her example. Zenit has an English translation of the text.

Beatification of Zélie and Louis Martin

French Catholic daily La-Croix reports on today's beatification of Zélie and Louis Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and provides a photo and the French text of Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martin's homily from the beatification.

According to La-Croix, between 12,000 and 15,000 people attended today's beatification at Lisieux's basilica.  It was the second time in history that a married couple has been beatified.  In his homily, Cardinal Saraiva Martin, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said that in a time of crisis for the family, the family has in the Martin couple a true model.  He also offered them as a model for people who face illness and death, as Zélie died of cancer, leaving Louis to live on through the trial of cerebral arteriosclerosis.  He said that they teach us to face death, abandoning ourselves to God.

Maureen O'Riordan's blog on  St. Thérèse of Lisieux includes a page on the beatification where you can download an English translation of the homily.  There you can also find much more about the beatification.  A 19 minute video from the beatification is on Daily Vision from the KTO broadcast.  The KTO TV website offers an online video on demand of the entire 3-hour Beatification Mass.

Resources for Sunday's Beatification of Zélie and Louis Martin

Here are links for two webites with excellent resources about Zélie and Louis Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who are to be beatified this coming Sunday.

Maureen O'Riordan's Thérèse of Lisieux website has compiled some useful information for Sunday's beatification.  The site's resources include a Press Kit and Maureen's own article with discussion points for group conversation, as well as a downloadable article by Fr. Antonio Maria Sicari about the Martins.

Another St. Thérèse of Lisieux website has The Story of a Family (adapted from an earlier article) by Fr. Raymond Zambelli and a page with short lives of each of the Martin parents and other articles, as well as the homily of Cardinal Saraiva Martins on the 150th anniversary of the wedding of Zélie and Louis Martin, July 13, 2008.

A Feast Day and an Upcoming Beatification

I didn't have time to prepare anything for the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila this year, for the first time since the blog began.  I can't believe it!  But most of my posts are actually written over the week-end, and I barely had time last week-end to get my post on the ongoing synod up to date, so I didn't have time to write anything new about St. Teresa.  Please see the category page on St. Teresa of Avila for posts about her from the past.

Meanwhile, if you want to watch the beatification of the parents of St. Teresa's fellow Discalced Carmelite St. Thérèse of Lisieux this coming Sunday, the three-hour Beatification Mass will be broadcast live on the French Catholic KTO TV.  It begins at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, October 19, 2008 in Lisieux, which will be 1:00 a.m. in California.  There were a few things that I got up in the middle of the night to watch when I was younger, so I thought I would mention the live broadcast for European readers and for those in the U.S. who would get up to watch it.

For those who will be sound asleep at the time of the beatification, KTO will almost surely have the complete video available for later viewing.  I will watch for it and let you know when it is available on the KTO website.

Actually, I had a plane ticket and was planning to be there, but that trip has been postponed a few months.  May God bless all who are able to attend!

St. Thérèse de Lisieux Documentary

These are four parts of a French video about St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whose feast day is October 1.  The videos are from a documentary including photographs and dramatizations related to the saint's life.  The documentary is about 35 minutes long altogether.  View them here, or start at the first one here, and the next one will start automatically at the end of each.  I don't know if this is also available in English.  If so, I could not find it.

SAINTE THERESE DE LISIEUX  (PART1)
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SAINTE THERESE DE LISIEUX (PART 2/4)
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SAINTE THERESE DE LISIEUX ( PART 3/4)
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SAINTE THERESE DE LISIEUX ( PART 4/4)
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Beatification of St. Thérèse's Parents Scheduled for Mission Sunday

The time and place has now been announced for the beatification of the Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.  The announcement was made yesterday by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins in Alençon, France, where there was a special celebration of the 150th anniversary of the marriage of the Martin parents.  Cardinal Martins is the Vatican's Prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.  The beatification of Louis and Zélie Martin will be held on Mission Sunday, October 19, in Lisieux.

Zenit has articles about the announcement in French and English.  Maureen O'Riordan, who brought the date and location to my attention in her comment to my earlier post, also has an announcement on her website about St. Thérèse and her parents.  Maureen's site has more information about the lives of the Martin parents and about St. Thérèse, and it is sure to be a good source of information about the upcoming beatification.  In French, the website of the Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux has more information about the Martin family and the cause for their beatification.

Mission Sunday is important to the life of St. Thérèse because of her desire to be a missionary and her role in supporting missionaries through prayer.  She is a universal co-patron saint of missions.  St. Thérèse was declared a Doctor of the Church on October 19, 1997 by Pope John Paul II.  His homily from that occasion explains why he chose Mission Sunday to proclaim her a Doctor of the Church:

"Thérèse Martin, a discalced Carmelite of Lisieux, ardently desired to be a missionary. She was one, to the point that she could be proclaimed patroness of the missions. Jesus himself showed her how she could live this vocation: by fully practising the commandment of love, she would be immersed in the very heart of the Church's mission, supporting those who proclaim the Gospel with the mysterious power of prayer and communion. Thus she achieved what the Second Vatican Council emphasized in teaching that the Church is missionary by nature (cf. Ad gentes, n. 2). Not only those who choose the missionary life but all the baptized are in some way sent ad gentes.

"This is why I chose this missionary Sunday to proclaim St Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face a doctor of the universal Church: a woman, a young person, a contemplative."

Benedit XVI Has Approved the Beatification of St. Thérèse's Parents

La-Croix (through AFP) has reported that Pope Benedict XVI today signed the decree of the "miracle of the child" allowing the beatification of the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.  The announcement was made in a statement released today by the Diocese of Séez.  The diocesan announcement says that the announcement appeared at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon in L'Osservatore Romano.

St. Thérèse's parents' bodies were exhumed in Lisieux on May 28 in preparation for placing them in the basilica in September.  They were previously declared to be venerable in 1994.

According to the diocese, which apparently is drawing from the Vatican's article in L'Osservatore Romano, the time and place of the beatification will be announced on July 13.  That is the 150th anniversary of the marriage of St. Thérèse's parents, Louis and Zélie Martin.

"Latest on the Beatification of St. Thérèse's Parents"

The General House of the Teresian Carmel issued a news item today on the latest on the beatification of St. Thérèse's parents, with a description of the miracle that may allow their beatification later this year.

Other news stories added to the news page of the Discalced Carmelite General House include an update on Carmelites in Kenya, news about provincial chapters scheduled for this year, information on Carmelite publications from French-speaking Africa, and a brief history of Carmelites in Kuwait.

To receive their news by e-mail twice a month, you can sign up online.

A Tribute for the 80th Anniversary of St. Thérèse as Patroness of Missions

Dámaso Zuazua, O.C.D., the General Secretary of Missions for the Discalced Carmelite Curia, has written a tribute to St. Thérèse of Lisieux, posted on the webpage of the Curia's Secretariat for Missions.  The news article titled "Eightieth Anniversary of St. Thérèse as Patroness of Missions," honors this past week's anniversary of the decree published on December 14, 1927 declaring that St. Thérèse of Lisieux was the special patroness of both men and women missionaries. She was given this title “equal to St. Francis Xavier."

The tribute calls her title as Patroness of Missions the "most attractive" of her various titles, discusses the history of the title, and also provides information about that vocation and charism, and about St. Thérèse's thoughts on mission.