22nd Sunday after Pentecost

(II Class)

Let us remember today that we must render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, which means observing the law of justice, and render to God the things that are God's, which means that the soul made in the image of its Creator must render to Him the tribute of adoration and obedience.

Sunday was another full day. We arose early to visit another small Italian town, Cascia. This town houses the incorrupt body of St. Rita, as well as a famous Eucharistic miracle. We were there for a short time, and then it was back to Norcia where we attended the first Mass offered by Fr. Benedict. After another lengthy lunch it was time to make the journey home. It was a long, amazing weekend. Please keep Fr. Benedict and all the monks in Norcia in your prayers!

As always, we have uploaded our pictures into albums, Norcia and Cascia. We will also have them linked on the sidebar shortly.

Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(II Class)
To commemorate in the liturgy the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus (held in 431), which vindicated the title of Theotokos or "Mother of God" for our Lady, Pope Pius XI in the year 1931 instituted this feast to be observed by the whole Church as a double of the second class.

Saturday morning, John got up for Lauds which were sung in the very house (now crypt of the Basilica) in which Ss. Benedict and Scholastica were born. After breakfast a group of us went to sample what we were told was the best cappucino in town (it was very good), and to take a tour of Norcia. The town itself is very small, but the center is a busy Piazza, with two Churches, a fortress, and various shops surrounding it, and a large statue of St. Benedict in the center.

Next up was the ordination. The entire ceremony was beautiful. Afterwards we were blessed by the newly ordained Pater Maria Benedictus Nivakoff, O.S.B. The luncheon following the ordination was a huge, 5 course meal. After arriving in Norcia we learned that while a few people come to Norcia because it is the birthplace of St. Benedict, it is known to the secular world for the outstanding quality of its food, in particular the prociutto. We have never been to such a meal as this, and at the end of it the Prior of the monastery approached us and said he hoped we had enjoyed it, because we were going to do the same thing the next day following Fr. Benedict's first celebration of Mass.

The remainder of the day was free-time. We wandered the streets, looking for a shot glass, which we never found. We did however find an abundance of shops selling prociutto! They were all marked by at least one, although quite often several, boars's heads mounted on the outside wall. Once it got dark the ITI group gathered on the steps of a church and sang songs from many different countries, while the children danced.

St. Francis Borgia

Confessor (III Class)

After the death of his wife, St. Francis, Duke of Gandia and Viceroy of Catalonia, renounced his high position in order to enter the Society of Jesus. He was the third General of his Order and died at Rome in 1572.

Our trip for the priestly ordination of Br. Benedict began bright and early Friday morning, starting with Divine Liturgy at 5:00 AM. About 35 students, priests and families from the ITI drove 12 hours to Norcia, Italy, the birthplace of St. Benedict. Once there we were warmly greeted by the Benedictine monks of Norcia, and shown to our rooms at the Benedictine nuns's convent. Part of the rule of St. Benedict is to greet all guests as you would greet Christ, and the monks and nuns seem to take this seriously. We were shown incredible hospitality for our entire stay.

St. John Leonardi

Confessor (III Class)

This holy priest of Luna in Tuscany founded the Congregation of Regular Clergy called "of the Mother of God," and other Institutes. He died at Rome on October 9, 1609. St. John Leonardi was beatified by Pope Pius XI. Pius XII extended his feast to the whole Catholic world in 1940.

This evening we're busy packing our things for the weekend in Norcia. The Monastery of San Benedetto (where we'll be for the weekend) has an excellent website that you really should take a look at. On their home page there are pictures in which you can see (bottom left) our friend who will be ordained to the holy priesthood on Saturday. Below, the piazza.

St. Bridget

Widow (III Class)

St. Bridget, a descendant of the royal house of Sweden, was married to prince Ulfo. After the death of the latter, she founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior, commonly called Bridgettines. She died at Rome in 1373.

The weather was quite fine again today, as it has been fairly regularly of late. Lisa and Katie attended a brief meeting to get all the details for our upcoming weekend trip to Norcia, Italy for the priestly ordination of ITI graduate Br. Benedict. There are about 30 of us making the drive down. We're leaving around 6:00 on Friday and hoping to arrive around 19:00 pm. Then the ordination is Saturday at 11:00, Fr. Benedict's first Mass will be Sunday at 12:00, and we'll be off by 15:00 and hoping to arrive back in Gaming around 3:00 on Monday, just five short hours before Greek class begins. Needless to say, we're quite excited. Bro. Benedict graduated just last year, so we were able to know him all last year; and going to Italy is always an exciting prospect. Although I'm just a touch disappointed that plans to stop for a few hours in Padua on the way there have fallen through. Ah, well...

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

II Class

In its present form the Rosary (according to the accepted tradition) is due to St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Friars Preachers, his objective being to stem the flood of the Albigensian heresy, then spreading far and wide throughout Europe. He propagated this form of prayer in obedience to a revelation received from the Blessed Virgin, to whom he had recourse for this purpose, about the year 1206, and to him we owe the spread of a devotion, which for many centuries has produced the most marvelous results in the Christian world. The decisive defeat of the Turks at the famous battle of Lepanto (1571) and at Belgrade (1716) gave occasion to the institution of this feast and to its extension to the Universal Church.

(Paulo Veronese, Battle of Lepanto, c. 1572)

Be sure to have a look today at G. K. Chesterton's very short and very excellent poem entitled simply Lepanto. After the Holy Rosary itself, the recitation of this poem is perhaps the best way to mark such a great feast day. For spiritual reading during this month dedicated to the Rosary, by the way, I recommend Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical on the Rosary: Fidentem piumque animum. It is quite brief at only seven paragraphs, and is linked permanently under the picture on the sidebar of Mary handing rosaries to Ss. Dominic and Catherine.

In more mundane news, Maria has taken lately to calling her stuffed cow, Uncle Vince. Either because he is the one from whom she received it, or just because she misses him, or...

She was also talking today about her grandparents, and was delighted that they are all coming to visit her this year. She is particularly interested in taking Grandpa to the Café-Konditorei / Bäckerei down the street where they have some excellent pastries. Nana she said could come too, but not Mommy and Daddy.

St. Bruno

Confessor (III Class)
St. Bruno, born at Cologne, retired with six of his friends to one of the desert mountains of Dauphiny in the southeast of France. There he established the first house of the Order of the Carthusians. He died on October 6, 1101.

The picture below of St. Bruno is from the ceiling of our formerly-Carthusian Church. It is the particular honor of his order never to have been reformed. As Pope Innocent XI said of them, Cartusia numquam reformata, quia numquam deformata (the Carthusian [order] has never been reformed, for it has never been deformed). It is a general consensus that the Carthusian Order, from its inception even until now, is the strictest religious order in the Church. The name, by the way, derives from the Chartreuse Mountains in the French Alps wherein Bruno built his first hermitage.

On a related note, I'm informed by the Bad Catholics' Guide to Wine, Whiskey, and Song that the liqueur Chartreuse is an excellent digestif which "gets its pale green color from 130 local herbs and flowers collected by the monks and distilled behind the stone walls of the cloister" (p. 23).

21st Sunday after Pentecost

II Class

God is good towards us: let us be the same towards our brethren. If we pardon our brethren from the bottom of our hearts, our Lord Jesus Christ will remit our debts.

Commemoration of St. Placid and His Companions, Martyrs

St. Placid, when four years old, was committed by his father Tertullus to the care of St. Benedict, who sent him later to Sicily. He was murdered with his monks, out of hatred for the Faith, by heathen pirates in 541.

Here is Maria this morning before Divine Liturgy practising how to look perfectly angelic.

The weather today was absolutely fabulous. After a good hearty brunch we took a long walk around the edges of Gaming. We saw lots of cows, sheep, even a few chickens, and lots of butterflies, one of which Maria is energetically pursuing in the picture below.

St. Francis of Assisi

Confessor (III Class)

The Seraphic Patriarch of Assisi was a man especially raised up by God in the Middle Ages with the mission to reconvert the world to Christ. Francis was born in a stable, and heralded into the world by angelic song; he commenced his work with twelve followers, whom he sent two by two to preach the Gospel. He espoused most high Poverty, and received in his own body the marks of the Sacred Passion on Mount Alvernia. Francis's message of charity, peace, and justice was heard by men and women of every grade of society, and thousands in consequence desired to leave all and follow Francis in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Therefore he founded the Order of Friars Minor, the Second Order or the Poor Clares, and the Tertiaries or Third Order, which bear his name. St. Francis died about sunset on Saturday, October 3, 1226.

We spent the evening quite enjoyably at some friends' house having a mini-Oktoberfest, with Hefeweissen Bier, Lisa's big soft pretzels, and lots of sausages. In regards to the latter, we experienced something quite new to us called Bavarian sausages. They are almost white, incredibly soft, relatively flavorless, and served with sweet mustard. The inspiration for this came when in the course of our regular shopping trip to Scheibbs we noticed that it was "Bavarian week" at Lidl. Every now and then this store sets up a little shelf with foods from a particular country (this is how we obtained some ranch dressing at the end of last year, when they had "American week"). Anyhow, we noticed some little 5-liter kegs of authentic Bavarian beer, and decided to give it a try.

St. Teresa of the Child Jesus

Virgin (III Class)

Mary Frances Martin was born at Alençon of parents most pious and endowed with a comfortable amount of the goods of this world. At the age of fifteen she entered the Carmel of Lisieux, living there in holiness and humility. Her whole ambition was to love God perfectly and to conquer souls for Jesus. She died in the odor of sanctity, promising to "spend her heaven in doing good upon earth" (1873-1897). His Holiness Pope Pius XI declared her Blessed on April 29, 1923, and canonized her on March 17, 1925.

Because today is the feast day of St. Therese on the Byzantine calendar as well as on the traditional Roman calendar, we were able to attend the Divine Liturgy offered today in her honor. The whole institute prayed a novena to St. Therese (our principal patroness) leading up to her Novus Ordo feast day (Oct. 1), and today we received news that the ITI had received an unexpected, very generous, and badly needed donation on October 1st. The school is, of course, desperately trying to raise money for the move to Trumau (more about that here).

This morning I found a new bed for Maria in one of the ITI storage rooms. It's actually a crib, but I took one of the sides off and flipped it up on top in order to make a roof for her. She is quite fond of making "houses" out of blankets. She was quite happy with her new sleeping arrangements, and spent a lot of time playing in her bed before we actually put her to bed. Tonight we'll see if she can make it through the night without falling out of bed onto the floor. It's not much of a fall, but I'm sure it would be a rude awakening.

The Holy Guardian Angels

III Class

God's love for us was not satisfied with giving us His Son, Jesus, for our Redeemer, and Mary for our Advocate; He has been pleased to give us also His Angels to be our guardians: "He hath given His Angels charge over thee: to keep thee in all thy ways" (Ps. 90:2). These holy spirits and princes of heaven are always present with us, and assist us in all our actions. And on this account, out of regard to our guardian Angels, we ought carefully to refrain from every action which can displease them.

Best wishes, (Uncle) Jake!

Commemoration of St. Remigius

Bishop, Confessor

St. Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, in France, converted the Merovingian king Clovis and the Frankish nation. He died in 534.

On the Novus Ordo calendar, today is the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, principal patroness of our Institute. (Her feast day prior to the post-Vatican II liturgical reform was October 3.) In celebration of which the ITI welcomed this evening Bishop Küng of the diocese of Sankt Pölten (in which we are presently located). The good bishop addressed us on the topic of the married vocation in the spirituality of Opus Dei, of which he is a member. The particular characteristic of Opus Dei, of course, is their emphasis on the universal call to holiness, which was also stressed in the teaching of Vatican II. After the lecture there was of course plenty of meats and cheeses, wines and bread, etc., as well as lots of sweets and baked goods left over from a bake sale which raised some 300 Euro this afternoon toward our coming pilgrimage to Lourdes.