The Feast of St Peter and St Paul

El Greco. (1590-1600).Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. 

***This is a cross-post from the Life of Christ site.***

Background

This site (The Life of Christ) was established in 2019 to provide a platform for presenting and illustrating the life of Christ. This was in response to an idea which seemed to speak from the last line of the motto I had adopted in the same year (see below and at the end of each post):

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

I have, D.G., so far produced three versions:

• The first Life followed the format of The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the remarkable artist James J Tissot (1897). The posts began on the 14th of October 2019 and concluded on the feast of the Ascension, the 21st of May 2020.
• The second Life followed the work of l'Abbé Constant Fouard:  La Vie de N-S Jésus-Christ (1880). The first post was published on the feast of Corpus Christi (11th of June 2020) and the series concluded on the 4th of October 2020.
• The third Life followed the Gospel of St Mark, making extensive use of a work by Madame Cecilia published in 1904 entitled The Gospel according to St Mark. This Life opened on the Feast of St Mark (25th April 2022) and concluded on the 26th of June 2022.

St Peter and St Paul

It seems highly propitious that the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul should fall so swiftly after the conclusion of our series based on the Gospel of St Mark, who was so close to St Peter. I pray, accordingly, that the feast will serve as a suitable launching point for a new series on the Acts of the Apostles, in which St Peter and St Paul feature so prominently. Apart from the natural continuity this offers to the series on the Life of Christ Our Lord, I am also keen to explore my patron saint's life after the Ascension; I have, moreover, long felt a desire to look more closely into the life and writings of St Paul.

Exposition in the chancel of Corpus Christi.
Andy Scott. CC BY-SA. 2018.

The image here shows the chancel of Corpus Christi Church in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. The statues of St Peter and St Paul are set in elevated niches on either side of the altar. Like the rest of the interior, these statues have been extensively and richly restored since the days when I first  knew the church.

Following treatment in King’s College Hospital for an injury received in the Brixton riots in April 1981, I was making my way back home across London when I stumbled by chance upon this church. I decided to pop inside and, quite providentially, I was just in time for Mass. There was an almost palpable atmosphere of reverence and I was especially impressed by the solemn demeanour and dignity of the priest, Father Henry Dodd. I was to return many times and the church was to play an important part in my family, albeit for a tragically brief period of time.

Fr Dodd was especially impressive in his sermons where, without any notes, he displayed a powerful eloquence and an effortless erudition - so much so that some of his expressions remain with me to this day. He had a particularly strong devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Blessed Lady. One Saturday each month he led devotions which included all the mysteries of the most Holy Rosary, interspersed with readings and hymns, and which finished with Benediction. This devotion was nicknamed the "Mariathon."

In praying that St Peter and St Paul will, on this their feast day, extend their help to this project, I offer the work to our gentle Queen and Mother, with a petition that she present it as an act of reparation to her Divine Son so as to heal the wounds, repair the damage and undo the scandal caused by sins against His Most Sacred Heart and against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour

 

On today's great Marian feast, I have posted this image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help taken from a prayer card which recalls the Redemptorist Mission during Lent 1984 to the church of Our Lady and St Joseph (Balls Pond Road, N1).

Please remember in your prayers Fr Kay, the good and holy Parish Priest in that era, as well as the two Redemptorist priests, Fr Creech and Fr Gallagher.

On a personal note, I offer the Memorare to Our Blessed Mother with special intentions for the members of my family:*

MEMORARE, O piissima Virgo Maria, non esse auditum a saeculo, quemquam ad tua currentem præsidia, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia, esse derelictum. Ego tali animatus confidentia, ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro, ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto. Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despicere; sed audi propitia et exaudi. Amen.

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

*E, E, K, P, T, E & E; E & A

P.S. Ten years ago to this day, I was in the Brompton Oratory and was present when Fr John Hunwicke said Mass at the Lady Altar. This was his first Mass in full communion. For a summary, see his Liturgical Notes blogspot for today's date.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Queenship of Mary

This is the Image of our Queen

The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin. Velasquez, c1635.
Museo del Prado.

This is the image of our Queen

who reigns in bliss above;

of her who is the hope of men,

whom men and angels love.

Most holy Mary, at thy feet

I bend a suppliant knee;

in this thy own sweet month of May,

do thou remember me.

The homage offered at the feet

of Mary’s image here

to Mary’s self at once ascends

above the starry sphere.

Most holy Mary, at thy feet

I bend a suppliant knee;

in all my joy, in all my pain,

do thou remember me.

How fair so ever be the form

which here your eyes behold,

its beauty is by Mary’s self

excell’d a thousandfold.

Most holy Mary, at thy feet,

I bend a suppliant knee;

in my temptations each and all,

do thou remember me.

Sweet are the flow’rets we have culled,

this image to adorn;

but sweeter far is Mary’s self,

that rose without a thorn.

Most holy Mary, at thy feet

I bend a suppliant knee;

when on the bed of death I lie,

do thou remember me.

O Lady, by the stars that make

a glory round thy head,

and by the pure uplifted hands,

that for thy children plead;

when at the Judgement seat I stand,

and my dread Saviour see,

when waves of night around me roll

and hell is raging for my soul;

do thou remember me.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Constant mutual charity

Today's Epistle

Lord, save me! J-J Tissot

Lesson from the first letter of St. Peter the Apostle
1 Pet 4:7-11.

Beloved: Be prudent and watchful in prayers. But above all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without murmuring. According to the gift that each has received, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let it be as with words of God. If anyone ministers, let it be as from the strength that God furnishes; that in all things God may be honored through Jesus Christ our Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

Lectio
Léctio Epístolæ beáti Petri Apóstoli
1 Pet 4:7-11

Caríssimi: Estóte prudéntes et vigiláte in oratiónibus. Ante ómnia autem mútuam in vobismetípsis caritátem contínuam habéntes: quia cáritas óperit multitúdinem peccatórum. Hospitáles ínvicem sine murmuratióne: unusquísque, sicut accépit grátiam, in altérutrum illam administrántes, sicut boni dispensatóres multifórmis grátiæ Dei. Si quis lóquitur, quasi sermónes Dei: si quis minístrat, tamquam ex virtúte, quam adminístrat Deus: ut in ómnibus honorificétur Deus per Iesum Christum, Dóminum nostrum.
R. Deo grátias.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

St Mark the Evangelist : A New Life

This is cross-posted from our sister blog The Life of Christ Our Lord. There you will be able to follow the Gospel according to St Mark, starting on his feast day, with illustrations by J-J Tissot and notes form Madame Cecilia's Scipture Manual. 

The Light of the World. Holman Hunt. c1850.
St Paul's Cathedral, London.

"Let therefore our chief endeavour be to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ"

1. He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness,[1] saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ, which teach us to imitate His life and manners, if we would be truly enlightened, and delivered from all blindness of heart. Let therefore our chief endeavour be to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ.

2. The teaching of Christ exceeds all the doctrines of holy men; and he that hath the Spirit will find therein the hidden manna. But it happens that many, who often hear the Gospel of Christ, are yet but little affected, because they have not the Spirit of Christ. But whosoever would fully and feelingly understand the words of Christ, must endeavour to conform his life wholly to the life of Christ.

 

1. Qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris dicit Dominus. Hæc sunt verba Christi, quibus admonemur quatenus vitam eius et mores imitemur, si volumus veraciter illuminari, et ab omni cæcitate cordis liberari. Summum igitur studium nostrum, sit in vita Jesu meditari.

2. Doctrina Ejus omnes doctrinas Sanctorum præcellit, et qui spiritum haberet absconditum ibi manna inveniret. Sed contingit quod multi ex frequenti auditu Evangelii parvum desiderium sentiunt, quia spiritum Christi non habent. Qui autem vult plene et sapide verba Christi intelligere, oportet ut totam vitam suam illi studeat conformare.

[Book I, the Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis]

 [1]   I am the light of the world: he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Ego sum lux mundi : qui sequitur me, non ambulat in tenebris, sed habebit lumen vitae. John viii. 12.

It has become my custom to recite these words as a preamble to evening prayer, lighting a candle  at the very instant the word illuminari is uttered. At this point, I sometimes recall Christ's words in the Sermon on the Mount:

But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.

Tu autem cum oraveris, intra in cubiculum tuum, et clauso ostio, ora Patrem tuum in abscondito : et Pater tuus, qui videt in abscondito, reddet tibi. [Matth. vi 6]

 

Meditating on the Life of Jesus Christ

St Mark. Guido Reni. 1621. BJU, Greenville, SC, USA.

I have explored the Life of Christ in a previous series of posts, the last of which concluded in October 2020. The previous posts were based on the work in words and pictures of  l'Abbé Constant Fouard and J-J Tissot

The final line of my adopted motto (see end of post) is Ad Jesum per Mariam, and it seems that our Blessed Mother is inviting me to approach her Son Jesus through a new study, but from the perspective of my patron saint, Peter the Apostle. There is widespread agreement amongst commentators that St Mark's gospel has a particularly close connection to St Peter.[2] This, together with the providential occurrence of the the feast of St Mark today, persuaded me to explore the life of Christ as set out by St Mark, relying on a work by Madame Cecilia published in 1904 entitled The Gospel according to St Mark. I am familiar with her work because in the 1980's I acquired several hard copies in her series of scripture manuals. I gave them away but I have found a number of versions online (see Archive.org.)

[2] Papias (Eusebius, Church History III.39) asserts not later than A.D. 130, on the authority of an "elder", that Mark had been the interpreter (hermeneutes) of Peter, and wrote down accurately, though not in order, the teaching of Peter.

A short life of St Mark

Son of Mary who lived in Jerusalem...

Mark's mother was a prominent member of the infant Church at Jerusalem; it was to her house that Peter turned on his release from prison; the house was approached by a porch (pulon), there was a slave girl (paidiske), probably the portress, to open the door, and the house was a meeting-place for the brethren, "many" of whom were praying there the night St. Peter arrived from prison (Acts xii:12-13).

Peter spoke of Mark as his "son"

Mark may have been the young man who fled naked from Gethsemane [Mark xiv 51-52]

Cousin to Barnabas

Paul, Barnabas & Mark visit Antioch

Paul, Barnabas & Mark visit Pamphylia

Barnabas & Mark visit Cyprus (last mention in Acts)

AD 68: Present during Paul's last imprisonment, in Rome; 

Martyred in Alexandria

Relics transferred to Venice

Detail from the Venetian flag, showing the Lion of St Mark and the words:
"Peace be to thee Mark, my Evangelist." Tradition has it that St. Mark's
remains were transferred from Alexandria (where he suffered martyrdom)
to Venice where they are reserved in the
Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark. 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia!

It is with due acknowledgement to Michael Martin and his website, Treasury of Latin Prayers, that I reproduce his entry on the the Easter hymn of joy, the Regina Cæli:

Our Lady of Perpetual help. Papa Stronsay 2021.

The author is unknown, but the hymn has been found in manuscripts dating from the  9th and 12th centuries. One possible author in that time period is Pope Gregory V (+998). There is, however, a remarkable story attributing its composition to St. Gregory the Great. In 596, at Easter time, a plague was ravaging Rome. St. Gregory the Great called for a procession to pray for an end to the pestilence. He led the procession personally, holding the icon of Our Lady said to have been painted by St. Luke.  

The angel of Castel Sant'Angelo.  von Verschaffelt.

As he passed the Castle of Hadrian, voices could be heard from on high singing the Regina Cæli. The Pope responded in a loud voice with: "Ora pro nobis Deum. Alleluia!" 

At that moment an angel appeared and from that day the pestilence vanished. 

To commemorate this miracle, the name of the castle was then changed to Sant' Angelo and the words of the Regina Cæli were inscribed upon the roof of the Church of Ara Cœli.

Here is the hymn. The traditional concluding versicle and collect, which are not part of the original antiphon, are also given below.

REGINA cæli, lætare, alleluia:
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,
Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia.

Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

 

O QUEEN of heaven rejoice! alleluia:
For He whom thou didst merit to bear, alleluia,
Hath arisen as he said, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.

V. Gaude et lætare, Virgo Maria, alleluia,
R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. Because the Lord is truly risen, alleluia.

Oremus

Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi, mundum lætificare dignatus es: præsta, quæsumus; ut, per eius Genetricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuæ capiamus gaudia vitæ. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Let us pray

O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; grant, we beseech Thee, that through His Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam

Good Friday : An Act of Contrition

Mater Dolorosa. J-J Tissot.

Deus meus, ex toto corde pœnitet me omnium meorum peccatorum, eaque detestor, quia peccando, non solum pœnas a Te iuste statutas promeritus sum, sed præsertim quia offendi Te, summum bonum, ac dignum qui super omnia diligaris. Ideo firmiter propono, adiuvante gratia Tua, de cetero me non peccaturum peccandique occasiones proximas fugiturum. Amen.

Oh my God, from all my heart I am sorry for all my sins, and I detest them, not only because in sinning, I deserve the penalties that you have justly established, but especially because I have offended Thee, who art the greatest good, and worthy beyond all my love. Therefore I firmly purpose, with the help of Thy grace, from henceforth to sin no more and flee the next occasions of sinning. Amen.

Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee. J-J Tissot

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam