The Beatification of the Venerable John Paul II

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday. It's still Saturday here in the central United States, but over in Rome, it's dark and the ceremonies will be getting underway in a few hours. In checking Wikipedia to make sure I am spelling 'beatification' right, I see that the Holy Father's article has already been updated, granting him the title of 'blessed'!

Tomorrow the Holy Father will be beatified and will be only one step away from sainthood. The cause for the canonization of the Holy Father has been a contentious one and especially so now that the penultimate step is here. The five-year waiting period before any cause could begin was waived in his case, this beginning early what was already a shortened process due to the reforms instituted by John Paul himself.

Stipulating John Paul's personal holiness, the question boils down to what is the vocation of the supreme pontiff? Is it to be a teacher? An administrator? A combination of the two? This blog is of course about the Vatican and the business of governing the Church, right or wrong. With that viewpoint in mind, it's hard to ignore John Paul's deficiencies as an administrator. I do agree with those who say that electing bishops can be a crap shoot and that the Holy Father did as well as he could in promoting better men over time to help right the Church. At the same time though, his choices for his personal assistants in Rome cannot be ignored. First and foremost, there was Ratzinger. Much can be forgiven thanks to the astute choice of the German as prefect of CDF. On the other hand, there is Cardinal Sodano at the Secretariat of State and others like him who are not so easy wave off as outliers.

The wide acclamation following John Paul's death is not to be ignored, but at the same time, would five years of waiting have hurt his cause if it was truly meant to be? There is much out there waiting to see a final resolution that bears heavily upon John Paul II's legacy as the vicar of Christ. I don't doubt that John Paul II walks with the angels, but for us men and women on earth, prudence is a virtue.

The Canonization of John Paul II

Damian Thompson at his blog Holy Smoke takes a look at a post by a law student named Eric Giunta at RenewAmerica.

Thompson includes long excerpts of Giunta's column, including:

Though Catholics and others are loathe to admit it of an otherwise beloved Pope, John Paul II oversaw a church which deteriorated in both its inner and outer life. His callous indifference toward the victims of priestly sexual abuse in refusing to meet personally with a single one of them, and his stubborn refusal to compel the resignation from office of any of the bishops who aided, abetted, and covered-up the abuse, are testamentary to his utter failure: not as a Catholic or a theologian, but as a Pope.

And so on. Read the entire thing at RenewAmerica, but that's the gist. After the long excerpts, Thompson concludes with the following:

I don’t endose these views: in fact, it seems perfectly obvious that the reign of John Paul II was one of slowly growing orthodoxy in the Church, nurtured by his Catechism and a series of magnificent encyclicals. And those Catholics who want to draw a sharp distinction between the agendas of John Paul and Benedict are overlooking the fact that the theological direction of the last pontificate owed an enormous amount to the current Holy Father, who would be horrified by Giunta’s article.

Yet this debate is clearly gathering pace. JPII loyalists are also on the warpath. (George Weigel is using the Maciel scandal as a stick with which to beat this administration, not the last one.) So I’d be interested in your views.

Though Mr. Thompson is right that a lot of good that we're seeing now began first during the pontificate of John Paul II through the continued influence of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, I think that Mr. Thompson ignores by painting over Giunta's comments as just more anti-JPII rhetoric that Giunta's points deserve at the very least direct refutation since they aren't dealing necessarily with /theology/. John Paul II was by most accounts an indifferent administrator at best. Whether that in itself is grounds for blocking canonization I cannot say, but that indifference certainly had consequences that we're living with and cleaning up to this day.

This comment left by Hamish McGlobbie contains the best advice:

I think we could wait 20 years or so before rushing to canonize anyone. Presumably it is God who decides whether they go fast-track to Heaven, rather than a Vatican committee, and it will be easier to make such evaluations when we have had more time. JP2 = good guy? (yes). JP2 = saint? (hard to tell).

Cardinal Newman's Cause

Cardinal Newman's cause is coming along. I was glancing through the website for bits of material and decided to share with you all.

The current process for canonization is a bit too streamlined and modernized for my tastes, but the venerable Cardinal Newman is I would say more than worthy of being raised to the altars.

The 29th

As part of the class, we had to memorize the prologue, either for recitation or copying down. Middle English is hard.

Here bygynneth the Book of the tales of Caunterbury.

1 Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote,
2 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
3 And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
4 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
5 Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
6 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
7 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
8 Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
9 And smale foweles maken melodye,
10 That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
11 So priketh hem Nature in hir corages-
12 Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
13 And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
15 And specially, from every shires ende
16 Of Engelond, to Caunturbury they wende,
17 The hooly blisful martir for the seke
18 That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.

For the edification of ye humble souls, here is a blog that deals with all things ecclesiastical in England. The journalist, good Mister Thompson, is reported to be resented by certain parties due to his journalistic efforts. Enjoy.

The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

Father Z. has pictures up. I hope he won't mind if I borrow one to stick up here.



According to Zadok the Roman, the statue of St. Peter once again wore its triple tiara today after an absence of several years.

Here are details of the feast at New Advent.

The Epiphany

Adoration of the Magi by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Wikipedia)

We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountains, moor and mountains
Following yonder star

O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy Perfect Light
(Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr., 1857)

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.'" Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage."

After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. (Matthew 2:1-12, NAB)

The birthday

St. Telesphorus

The old calendar
Vigil of the Epiphany, St. Telesphorus

From Catholic Encyclopedia:

St. Telesphorus was the seventh Roman bishop in succession from the Apostles, and, according to the testimony of St. Irenæus [...], suffered a glorious martyrdom. Eusebius [...] places the beginning of his pontificate in the twelfth of Hadrian's reign (128-129), his death in the first year of the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-139). These statements, however, should be compared with Lightfoot, [...] Harnack, [...] 70 sq. In the fragment of the letter of Irenæus of Lyons to Pope Victor concerning the celebration of Easter [...] Telesphorus is mentioned as one of the Roman bishops who always celebrated Easter on Sunday, without, however, abandoning church fellowship with those communities that did not follow this custom. None of the statements in the "Liber pontificalis" and other authorities of a later date as to liturgical and other decisions of this pope are genuine. In the Roman Martyrology his feast is given under 5 January; the Greek Church celebrates it on 22 February.

The new calendar
General: Feria
USA: St. John Neumann

From the Catholic Encyclopedia article on the see of Philadelphia:


St. John Neumann

The fourth Bishop of Philadelphia, John Nepomucene Neumann, was consecrated 28 March, 1852. (See NEUMANN, JOHN NEPOMUCENE, VENERABLE.) Ten churches sprang up during the first year of his episcopate. The constant topic of his exhortations was the necessity of parish schools. Failing to bring the contumacious trustees of Holy Trinity to their senses, he undermined their influence by putting up the church of St. Alphonsus. On 19 Oct., 1854, he left for Rome to assist at the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and he returned in March, 1855. On 26 April, 1857, the Rt. Rev. James Frederick Wood was consecrated in the cathedral of Cincinnati as coadjutor to the Bishop of Philadelphia. Bishop Wood was acknowledged by the financial world as thoroughly acquainted with every phase of the banking business, which had been the occupation of his earlier years. At a meeting of the clergy, Bishop Neumann announced that the work of completing the cathedral had been committed to his coadjutor. In October, 1857, he held his last synod: there were 114 priests present, and 32 had been excused from attendance.

St. Thomas Becket

On his feast day in the cold northern winter, let us look to spring and a merry literary jaunt to visit the hooly blisful martir.

Here bygynneth the Book of the tales of Caunterbury.

1 Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote,
2 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
3 And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
4 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
5 Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
6 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
7 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
8 Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
9 And smale foweles maken melodye,
10 That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
11 So priketh hem Nature in hir corages-
12 Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
13 And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
15 And specially, from every shires ende
16 Of Engelond, to Caunturbury they wende,
17 The hooly blisful martir for the seke
18 That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.