All posts by Anne Tschanz

Men's communities

Setting Captives Free

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o de m capturedI seem to overdo posts on the Mercedarians but I love their fourth vow: to offer themselves as “ransom” in place of someone who is in danger of losing the faith. The picture to the right depicts The Martyrdom of Saint Serapion by Francisco de Zurbarán. Hung by ropes, he is obviously at the end of his life. A beautiful picture of self-sacrifice resembling Christ’s image on the Cross.

Serapion was born in Ireland and entered the army of King Richard the Lion-Hearted. While fighting with the Christians as they were battling the Moslem army in Spain, he met St. Peter Nolasco and the Mercedarians. He joined their “army” and received the habit in 1222.

spencer o de m
Fr. Spencer (center)

Serapion was captured in Algeria during his fourth redemption of a Christian held captive by the Moors. In this month when many of us are saying the Novena to St. Andrew, Serapion is a fitting martyr for he was nailed to an X-shaped cross, like Saint Andrew’s cross, and savagely dismembered. The barbarian and cruel King of Algiers, Selín Benimarin, was the one who gave the Church and the Mercedarian Order this martyr on November 14, 1240.

The Mercedarians carry on their work today focusing their priestly ministry specifically at the service of those in danger of losing their faith from modern forms of captivity. They are celebrating the ordination to the priesthood of Fr. David Michael Spencer, O de M, who was ordained in November 17th. (Click here to see ordination video). Father Spencer is parochial vicar of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Philadelphia.

 

 

Cloistered life

Men and Women Who Can Awaken the World

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superiorsLast week, Pope Francis announced that 2015 would be a year dedicated to consecrated life. Needless to say, we at the Institute on Religious Life are very excited!

The Holy Father made the announcement during the 82nd General Assembly of the Union of Superior Generals in Rome. Although a brief meeting with the Union was planned, the Holy Father spent an estimated three hours answering questions from the 120 participants.

According to the Holy See Press Office, the first questions to the Pope dealt with the mission and identity of consecrated life. “A radical approach is required of all Christians, but religious persons are called upon to follow the Lord in a special way: They are men and woman who can awaken the world,” the Pope said.

“Consecrated life is prophecy. God asks us to fly the nest and to be sent to the frontiers of the world, avoiding the temptation to ‘domesticate’ them. This is the most concrete way of imitating the Lord.”

The Holy Father said that the formation of religious must be founded on four fundamental pillars: spiritual, intellectual, communitarian and apostolic. The aim, he said, “is to form religious persons with a tender heart, not acid, not like vinegar. We are all sinners, but not corrupt. Sinners are to be accepted, but not the corrupt”.

The Holy Father concluded the meeting by thanked participants for their years of service to the Church and announced 2015 as a Year dedicated to consecrated life. “Thank you for what you do and for your spirit of faith and your service. Thank you for your witness and also for the humiliations through which you have had to pass.”

 

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

The Lord Giveth, The Lord Taketh Away

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Sr. Veronica
Sr. Veronica

On November 23, 2013, the Capuchin Poor Clares of Wilmington, DE, as well as family and friends had the joy of witnessing Sr. Veronica de Jesus Amaya’s First Religious Profession. Sr. Veronica’s reception of the black veil, which replaced her white one, symbolized her total consecration to Jesus Christ and her death from the world.

Posted on the internet a day later, was the recording of the death of Sr. Maria Imelda Valencia, OSC Cap., a sister in the same monastery who died on November 4 at age 81.

Sr. Imelda entered the Capuchin Poor Clares in Mexico at the young age of thirteen and learned how to make hosts, sew vestments, play the organ, cook for the community and do laundry. Sr. Leticia writes that, 800 years after St. Clare:

Sr. Maria Imelda
Sr. Maria Imelda

Maria Imelda followed the dream of Clare to live her life totally and exclusively for God.  She wanted to embrace in her arms the God made flesh, and wanted His crucified body to be comforted by her friendship and love.  In her prayer, she was more in touch with humanity than most of us.  God let her hear the cry of the poor and the suffering.  They became loud in her silence.  Their pain became real for her.  Jesus was continuing His Passion in the sufferings of humanity, especially the least among us.  She comforted Jesus in His sorrow by raising up to the Father all those who needed grace in their lives.

Sr. Maria Imelda thought she would live and die in her convent in Mexico. But when volunteers were asked in 1986 to travel to America to begin a new foundation near the Capuchin friars, Sister Maria Imelda, at age 54 was one of eight sisters to embark on the journey. As Sr. Leticia writes:

Sr. Imelda never had the facility to learn English; nevertheless, she found an incredible joy and peace in her new home in Delaware.  As St. Augustine says, “In His will is our peace”.  Can you imagine never understanding a word the preacher is saying, or participating in a conversation, always needing a translator?  What sacrifice!  But for Sr. Imelda, it was just another way of dying to herself so that Christ will rise.

May she rest in the peace of her Spouse whom she longed to see.

Liturgical Year, Saints

The Miraculous Medal is Miraculous!

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Grave of Alphonse
Grave of Alphonse

Today is the Feast of the Miraculous Medal and tomorrow we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Catherine Laboure who propagated the devotion. It testifies to the power of the Miraculous Medal that an “inanimate” object gets its own feast day!

One of the most famous converts due to Our Lady’s intercession via the Miraculous Medal is Alphonse Ratisbonne (1814-1884). While I was living in Jerusalem at Ecce Homo Convent (run by the Sisters of Sion) on a sabbatical from my computer job, I visited the Sisters of Sion’s convent in Ein Karim. While wandering through their incredible garden of Eden of fruits and foliage, I stumbled across Alponses’ grave in a remote corner of the garden. How did his remains get there? I was so driven to find out that I ended up writing a book called “A Spiritual Pilgrimage to France.”

Anyway, Alphonse, a Jewish non-believer, was dared by a friend while visiting Rome to wear a Miraculous Medal and to pray the Memorarae twice a day. He did so and while in the Basilica of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte had a vision of the Blessed Mother and was instantly converted. His brother Theodore, a Catholic convert and priest, had the joy of announcing in the Basilica of Notre Dame des Victoires in Paris that his brother had become “a fully believing Catholic.” This is the same Church that filled St. Therese of Lisieux with delight as she made her journey to Rome before her entrance into Carmel. Sant’Andrea delle Fratte is also the Church where St. Maximilian Kolbe celebrated his first Mass, at the very altar where Alphonse experienced his vision. We at the IRL are privileged to be housed at Marytown, the National Shrine of St. Maximilian, a great proponent of the Miraculous Medal. Life is full of twists and turns and coincidences.

Ecce Homo Covent Chapel
Ecce Homo Covent Chapel

To wind things back up, Alphonse after his conversion became a Catholic priest and with his brother Theodore co-founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion and came to the Holy Land to bring the Good News to the Jewish people. He built Ecce Homo convent on the Via Dolorosa, run by the Sisters of Sion, which today is a pilgrim house and hosts a biblical studies program. I was there as a volunteer for three months, an experience I highly recommend.

Alphonse died in Ein Karim and was buried inside the walls of the Sisters of Sion’s convent. His room at Ecce Homo is left as it was when he was alive. Maybe if you ask the sisters, you can have a private viewing.

God bless all who wear the Miraculous Medal with faith. May the Blessed Mother be their protectress and intercessor for all their needs, all through their lives.

News, Women's Communities

Carrying the Divine Message

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tallonOn November 13, 2013, Mother Mary Teresa Tallon’s cause for sainthood was approved by the US bishops during their assembly in Baltimore. Mother Mary Teresa is the foundress of the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate who conduct door-to-door, person-to-person ministry in New York, New Jersey, Phoenix, Nigeria and the Philippines.

This kind of evangelization is just the sort that Pope Francis loves. It is a face-to-face meeting with suffering humanity. As one person in England said on the internet: “In all my years, I never knew of a person to person ministry. Let alone an order of nuns, dedicated to this cause….Truly, she is a beacon of light to behold in this universe. Deo gratias.”

pvmiAn example of the kind of work they do can be found in their latest newsletter. Sr. Mary Vivian had corralled a large group of children, ages fourth grade through eight, whose parents had been lax in instructing them in the Faith. Amongst the group who would be receiving their first Holy Communion was Emmy. When the big day came, she came alone; no family bothered to come with her and she was in her every day clothes. If the sisters had known, they would have bought her a special dress to wear. But Emmy didn’t mind. She thanked Sister Mary Vivian for introducing her to God and gave her a little pin that she had bought at a dollar store that said: “Mary.”

As the Sisters said, “Such a touching gift of thanks, from a child who had so little!”

Pray for vocations to this important ministry and for the cause of Mother Tallon whose witness is so needed in our isolated and fractured world. Mother Tallon is buried in Monroe, New York, at the Motherhouse of the Parish Visitors. She is a powerful intercessor, especially for spiritual healings.

“There is another class, so estranged, as to live beyond hearing the message of the Church unless it is carried to them….  Such a mission is the special privilege of the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate….  Carry the divine message of the Gospel to neglectful families.” —Mother Mary Teresa Tallon

General interest, Liturgical Year

Get Ready For Your Christmas Novena!

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st andrew November 30  is the Feast Day of St. Andrew the Apostle, younger brother of St. Peter and martyr of the Church. From the Gospels we know that Andrew was a follower of St. John the Baptist and it was he who led his brother Peter to Christ, telling him, “We have found the Messiah!”(John 1:41).

Tradition tells us that St. Andrew evangelized Turkey, the fringes of Russia, Malta, Cyrpus, Greece and other lands. He was crucified in Patras, Achaia (in Greece) on an x-shaped cross and bound not nailed to it so as to suffer more. His relics (including a finger, part of the skull and his cross) were returned to the Greek Orthodox Church in Patras by the Catholic Church in 1964 and 1980. St. Andrew is the patron saint of Russia and Scotland.

saltire
The Saltire (the Scottish flag with the cross of St. Andrew)

Something new to me is that this is also the day to start the traditional novena prayer to St. Andrew, also known as the Christmas Anticipation Novena or the Christmas Novena. Unlike the typical 9-day novena, this one runs through Christmas Eve. I don’t know the origin of the prayer but it appears to be popular and powerful. The faithful are asked to recite it 15 times a day (all at once or throughout the day as you see fit!). It is a beautiful meditation focusing us on the real meaning of Christmas. Here it is:

Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment at which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayers and grant my desires (mention your request), through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

For those of you who would like to say the prayer with some meditative pictures, check out this YouTube video. The Dominican Nuns in Summit, NJ, also have a little card that you can print out.

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

A Tranquil Oasis

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nazarena-6NazarenaYesterday, Pope Francis met with Camaldolese Nuns at the Monastery of Sant’Antonio Abateas (St. Anthony the Abbot) in Rome as the Church celebrated Pro Orantibus “(For Those Who Pray”) Day. The Camaldolese family is one of the ancient monastic orders in the Church, founded by St. Romuald a thousand years ago. They follow the Rule of St. Benedict (but also check out St. Romuald’s brief Rule) and most but not all of the communities existing today are part of the Benedictine Federation family.

The Holy Father greeted the 21 sisters and celebrated Vespers with them. The monastery was once noted for its resident American anchoress, Sister Nazarena of Jesus, who was born Julia Crotta in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Before entering religious life, she studied music at Yale and received a degree from Albertus Magnus College. She became an anchoress in 1945 and lived for 45 years in a tiny room attached to the chapel.

In sister’s cell was a plank for a bed, a small bathroom, a table and a chair (see old story in newspaper done while she was alive). For food, she lived on bread and water with an occasional grape or boiled carrot as a treat. She had a small window to the outside world and another opening into the chapel when she, unseen, participated in Mass ( a priest gave her daily communion).

When the abbess was asked if Sr. Nazarena was insane, she said, “Sister Nazarena is fully sane and has all her faculties. In a wild, self-seeking world, she has found an oasis that has given her tranquility and made her happy. She is the most serene person I have ever met.” Sister died in 1990 at age 82. Pope Francis went to her cell during his visit.

A book on her life by Thomas Matus is available at Amazon.com.

 

 

 

News, Saints

Here is Peter!

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Pope Francis Praying at the Tomb of St. Peter
Pope Francis Praying at the Tomb of St. Peter

The Year of Faith is going out with a bang!

For on Sunday, the bones of St. Peter will be on display for the veneration of the faithful in St. Peter’s Square for the first time in history. This momentous event will take place during the concluding Mass for the Year of Faith on November 24.

It was in 1950 that Pope Pius XII made the announcement that “the tomb of the prince of the apostles” had been found. For those of you who have visited Rome and toured the Scavi (excavations of Peter’s tomb), you know what an emotional impact that this viewing will have on the faithful. I will always remember the goosebumps I had while traveling on the subterranean ancient Roman floors beneath the Vatican crypt and hearing the guide say: Here is Peter!

confessio
Looking down to the tomb of St Peter, over the altar in St. Peter’s

The controversial story of the finding of Peter’s bones is told in a riveting and recently republished book by Fr. James Evangelist Walsh. Whether the bones are truly Peter’s can not be known for certain (though I am convinced), but let us say that the bones were found directly under the altar of St. Peter’s, they are of a robust man 60 or so years of age, the bones were wrapped in purple cloth interwoven with gold-thread (a sign of the  great dignity of the person) and the location of St. Peter’s was built over the awkward location of this tomb. What is known for certain is that pilgrims have venerated this location from the beginnings of the Church.

Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

 

 

News, Vocations, Women's Communities

Straightening the Wayward Path

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visitation e-bookWhat can you buy for 99¢? Probably not even a candy bar! So, it is a tremendous gift to find an e-book available on discerning a vocation for only ninety-nine cents!

Entitled Straightening the Wayward Path, Online Chats about Discernment, this e-book was compiled by the Visitation Sisters from conversations occurring during their weekly discernment chat room called “The Living Jesus Chat Room.” Topics include: discovering and discerning God’s will, signs of a vocation, finding a religious community and other subjects.

Every Sunday evening from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (EST), a Visitandine sister and chat room guests talk about deepening one’s relationship with Jesus Christ. St. Frances de Sales, the founder of the Visitation Order, continues to draw people to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. What he had to say hundreds of years ago is extremely relevant today!

O love eternal,
my soul needs and chooses you eternally!
Ah, come Holy Spirit,
and inflame our hearts with your love!

I just went to Amazon and today at least, the e-book is 99¢ off, that is, it is FREE! Don’t wait!

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

I Have Given My Angels Charge Over You

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pbwatertownToday, the Sister Adorers of the Precious Blood are celebrating the Golden Jubilee of their foundation in Watertown, New York. Bishop Terry LaValley of Ogdensburg will offer Mass in thanksgiving. Seven sisters came to Watertown from their newly built monastery in Manchester, New Hampshire in 1963 at the invitation of Msgr. R. J. McCarthy who had a deep devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus.

The sisters also rejoice today as Sister Mary Pham receives her Habit during this Jubilee Mass at St. Patrick’s Church. Sister Mary was born in Vietnam in 1966 and vividly remembers the explosions of bombs and the firing of guns as Saigon fell to the Communists. Even though her parents had only a grammar school education, they were determined to give their children a good education and a country where they could practice and openly keep their Catholic faith.

So her parents sacrificed their own family life in order to make this happen. Mary and 3 of her siblings became part of the “boat people.” They and 54 others went by river and ocean in two small fishing boats in the hope of reaching Thailand. Mary was in one boat and her 2 brothers and sister were in another. She was teary-eyed as she left her parents, siblings, friends and country for the unknown.

When the reached the ocean, the tiny craft waddled like humpty dumpty in the waves and everyone was sick. When gun shots were fired at the vessel, they became separated from the other boat. Later she learned that it had been captured by the Communist Vietnamese Coast Guard but bribes bought their freedom. After 5 days on the ocean, Mary’s boat reached Thailand and she was taken to a refugee camp. It would be five months before she was reunited with her siblings. All four of them arrived in California in 1981 to live with an aunt. It would not be until 1992 that Mary was reunited with her parents and the rest of her brothers and sisters, the year she graduated from college.

Her vocation story is a whole other story. Sr. Mary says of today, “I would not have the joy of being where I am – or being who I am, today, had I not endured the past.”