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St. Clement of Rome, first of the Apostolic Fathers of the Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts

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The story and history of Saint Clement.

First, start with the podcast above featuring the son of the Fathers, Mike Aquilina talking about St. Clement, then…

Clemens Romanus was born in Rome in Italy during the time that the Christian faith was being spread and Christians were being persecuted by the Roman Emperors. He is believed to be of Jewish descent and a freeman of Rome. He worked as a tanner during the early part of his life. He was then converted to Christianity and became a disciple of St. Peter and of St. Paul. Following the death of Saint Peter he took over his position and became the fourth Pope and Bishop of Rome continuing to convert Romans from the religion of the old Roman gods to Christianity.

Saint Clement was banished from Rome during the reign of the Emperor Trajan (September 18, 53 – August 9, 117) due to his beliefs and unpopularity with the Roman rabble. He was banished to Chersonesus, which was an ancient Greek colony under Roman rule, in the south western part of Crimea (part of the Ukraine). In Chersonesus he was sentenced to work with other prisoners in a stone quarry where he continued to convert people. The number and success of his conversions attracted the attention of the Roman prefect who sentenced him to death. Clement was he was bound to an anchor and cast into the sea. He died in A.D.100.

How blessed and amazing are God’s gifts, dear friends Life with immortality, splendor with righteousness, truth with confidence, faith with assurance, self-control with holiness And all these things are within our comprehension. Clement of Rome

Basilica of Saint Clement

The Basilica di San Clemente is an early Christian basilica in Rome dedicated to Pope St. Clement. Its beautiful interior is especially notable for its three historical layers.

The main upper church is one of the most richly decorated churches in Rome. The vast majority of its architecture and art dates from its construction in the early 12th century. The entrance is on the left aisle.

The most striking sight is the 12th-century apse mosaic, in a golden-bronze color and featuring a large cross in the center. In the center of the apse is a throne, whose back is part of a martyr’s tomb.

The high altar contains the relics of St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch. Faded frescoes decorate many of the walls, and date from the 6th to 11th centuries. They depict New Testament scenes and lives of several saints.

St. Gregory the Great…with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts

We talk with Mike Aquilina about St. Gregor the Great, a father of the Church.

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St. Gregory the Great…the tradition of the Church considers him one of the four great doctors of the Latin Church. Born in Rome, Italy, in AD 540, St. Gregory was the son of Gordianus, a wealthy senator, and Silvia, who later became a saint. (Saints make saints after all…).

His youth was a troubled one. In his writings he chronicles the perpetual seiges that Rome endured at the hands of the barbarians. Those nasty Lombards! Pillaging, raping, massacring, they would plague the Church and the people of the land for 200 years, you name it..by any standard, they were bad!

Saint Gregory became the Prefect of Rome at the age of thirty, and the people loved him because he was able to keep them safe. A few years later, like his parents, he gave his wealth away. He became a Benedictine monk. But the pope of the time, recalled him to Rome to serve as a deacon and to help the city, which was again attacked by the Lombards.

On the third day of September in 590, after he had first been ordained a priest, Saint Gregory was consecrated Pope and Bishop of Rome, in Saint Peter’s Basilica. He was the first monk to become Pope. The Holy Spirit didn’t waste anytime moving him to service!

Through Saint Leander and his brother, Saint Isidore of Seville, as well as the martyr Saint Hermenegild, Saint Gregory recovered Spain from the Arians. Through Queen Theodelinda, the wife of the Lombard King Agilulf, he was able to begin the conversion of the Lombard nation and the tempering of their ferocious and cruel natures. He won France back and began conversions in England. Saint Gregory was, above all else, a vigilant guardian of the Church’s doctrine, always the mark of a holy Pope. He ordained, early in his pontificate that the first four Ecumenical Councils of the Church should be treated with the respect given to the four Gospels. He worked unceasingly to stamp out heresy. He ordered that at the beginning of Lent the blessed ashes should be placed on the foreheads of the faithful, instead of only the head of the Pope — as had been the custom up to that time — and that the priest should repeat to each one, “Remember man, that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return”. excerpted in part from an article by Sister Catherine Goddard Clark, M.I.C.M.

He is known for his magnificent contributions to the Liturgy of the Mass and Office. The “Gregorian Chant” is named in honor of Saint Gregory’s patient labor in restoring the ancient chant of the Church and in setting down the rules to be followed so that Church music might more perfectly fulfill its function.

Saint Gregory the Great died on the twelfth of March, 604, at the age of sixty-four. He was canonized immediately after his death. Later, because of the volume, the extraordinary insight and the profundity of his writings, the depth and extent of his learning, and the heroic holiness of his life, the Church gratefully placed him beside Jerome and Ambrose and Augustine. Saint Gregory the Great became the fourth of the Church’s four great Doctors of the West. –

What would today be like without a little Gregorian Chant in honor of our St. Gregory?

Spiritual Writings:

– Pastoral Rule
– Register of Letters

The altar of St. Gregory the Great at St. Peter’s in Rome. One of my favorite places to pray at the Vatican.

St. Lawrence, THE model for today’s deacon with Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts

Deacon James Keating, of the Institute for Priestly Formation, speaks about “The Role of Deacon” and St. Lawrence

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St. Lawrence of Rome was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.

His story is so touching (click here for a thorough telling). He models the charism of diakonia…genuine “ministry” of the gospel in the heart of the Church. He witnessed to and lived out the command of Our Lord as found in Matthew 25. Oh…to truly know modern day deacons in the order of Lawrence…

Often we see holy cards that depict Lawrence fully vested and holding what looks like a rack from a Weber kettle. But his martyrdom was actually horrific and deserving of deeper reflection. He could have avoided it, given the Roman official what he desired and spared his own life…but he didn’t. The grace he received to bear witness lives for the centuries as a tremendous testimony of faith speaking out in truth and love…no matter what. The image below is by Titian, and is the one I hold in my heart for St. Lawrence.

“In the name of Encouragement….reach out to one another” a reflection with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts

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Msgr. Esseff recounts some of his experiences as he directed retreats for the

Missionaries of Charity Sisters in Italy and Spain. He speaks of his time in Rome during the Synod for the New Evangelization and the Canonization of the Saints on October 21. Be he also shares his experience of hearing about Hurricane Sandy for the first time at the airport on the way home and the subsequent tragedy that has followed in its wake. Msgr. Esseff offers his insights on this moment and the hope that is found in the teachings of Christ. He guides us through a meditation that helps us to see deeply into the heart of the person next to us.

The feast of St. Bridget of Sweden and the Pieta Prayer book – Discerning Hearts

St. Bridget of Sweden…I never knew the power of the revelations to St. Bridget of Sweden until someone “reintroduced” them to me. I say “reintroduced”, because I had bought the Pieta Prayer booklet (where they can be found) back in 1987. I offered them, really, only for a short while before packing the book away. But years later, after seeing how the revelations touched the heart of others, I dug the booklet out and started praying them again (as faithfully as I could). They are very powerful and beautiful. Meditating on the Passion of our Lord with the intensity called for in this particular devotion will change your life…are you ready? How many of you out there have the Pieta prayer book and know the stories of St. Bridget of Sweden?
(oh, be sure not to confuse her with St. Brigid of Kildare…it happens all the time)

Here is the audio mp3 download of the 15 Prayers of St. Bridget

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You can find the text for the prayers here

Here is the chapel in St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome where St. Bridget received the private revelation of the 15 prayers…….

Of course, St. Bridget is more than just her prayers…ordinary woman, extraordinary life!. To learn more about St. Bridget of Sweden, take a look at this:

The feast of St. Bridget of Sweden and the Pieta Prayer book

St. Bridget of Sweden…I never knew the power of the revelations to St. Bridget of Sweden until my friend Denise “reintroduced” them to me. I say “reintroduced”, because I had bought the Pieta Prayer booklet (where they can be found) back in 1987. I offered them, really, only for a short while before packing the book away. But years later, after seeing how the revelations touched the heart of my dear friend, I dug the booklet out and started praying them again (as faithfully as I could). They are very powerful and beautiful. Meditating on the Passion of our Lord with the intensity called for in this particular devotion will change your life…are you ready? How many of you out there have the Pieta prayer book and know the stories of St. Bridget of Sweden?
(oh, be sure not to confuse her with St. Brigid of Kildare…it happens all the time)

Here is the audio mp3 download of the 15 Prayers of St. Bridget

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:38 — 56.4MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Pandora | iHeartRadio | JioSaavn | Podchaser | Gaana | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | Anghami | RSS | More

You can find the text for the prayers here

Here is the chapel in St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome where St. Bridget received the private revelation of the 15 prayers…….

Of course, St. Bridget is more than just her prayers…ordinary woman, extraordinary life!. To learn more about St. Bridget of Sweden, take a look at this:

The Holy Roman Martyrs: Then and Now with Mike Aquilina – Could you witness to the faith? – Discerning Hearts

Join Bruce and I as we discuss with Mike Aquilina the powerful and at the same time, poignant witness of the Holy Roman Martyrs

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From Mike’s great website The Way of the Matyrs: ROMAN PROTOMARTYRS

Monday June 30th 2008, 10:23 am
Filed under: Patristics

Today’s the feast of the first Roman Martyrs. Theirs is a story you just have to hear. But first we have to backtrack a little bit.

In July of A.D. 64, during the tenth year of Nero’s reign, a great fire consumed much of the city of Rome. The fire raged out of control for seven days — and then it started again, mysteriously, a day later. Many in Rome knew that Nero had been eager to do some urban redevelopment. He had a plan that included an opulent golden palace for himself. The problem was that so many buildings were standing in his way — many of them teeming wooden tenements housing Rome’s poor and working class.

The fire seemed too convenient for Nero’s purposes — and his delight in watching the blaze didn’t relieve anybody’s suspicions. If he didn’t exactly fiddle while Rome burned, he at least recited his poems. Nero needed a scapegoat, and an upstart religious cult, Jewish in origin and with foreign associations, served his purposes well. Nero, who was a perverse expert at human torment, had some of its members tortured till they were so mad they would confess to any crime. Once they had confessed, he had others arrested.

He must have known, however, that the charges would not hold up. So he condemned them not for arson, or treason, or conspiracy, but for “hatred of humanity.”

To amuse the people, he arranged for their execution to be a spectacle, entertainment on a grand scale. The Roman historian Tacitus (who had contempt for the religion, but greater contempt for Nero) describes in gruesome detail the tortures that took place amid a party in Nero’s gardens.

Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames. These served to illuminate the night when daylight failed. Nero had thrown open the gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or drove about in a chariot. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man’s cruelty, that they were being punished.

That is all we know about the first Roman martyrs. We know none of their names. Tacitus doesn’t tell us why they were willing to die this way rather than renounce their faith. Yet this should be an important question for us to consider. Why did the martyrs do this? What prepared them to face death so bravely? To what exactly did they bear witness with their death?

The answers to these questions (and many more) can be found in the rest of the article, at the archive of Touchstone Magazine. The article originated in a talk I gave in Rome in 2005 on the feast of the Roman Martyrs. It’s called “The Roman Martyrs and Their Mass.”

I also treat the subject in my book The Resilient Church: The Glory, the Shame, & the Hope for Tomorrow.

St. Cecilia, patroness of music…of wordless prayer

St. Cecilia, her story is an extraordinary one of faithfulness, commitment, and love. Some would have you believe it was all “legend,” but the discovery of her incorrupt body in 1599 would bear otherwise. It seems to me the Lord is encouraging us to believe the witness of this courageous virgin martyr.

In St. Cecilia’s in Rome, I had one of the most peaceful and prayerful experiences while on pilgrimage to the “City of the Saints.”

– From The Lives of the Saints by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, M.A., published in 1914 in Edinburgh:

It is said that Saint Cecilia was born of a patrician family in Rome and raised as a Christian. She wore a coarse horsehair garment beneath her clothes of rank, fasted, and vowed herself to God.
Against her will, she was married by her father to a young, pagan patrician named Valerian. While everyone sang and danced at their wedding, Cecilia sat apart, saying only the Psalms. Valerian turned out to be a man of great understanding. On their wedding night, she told Valerian, “I have an angel of God watching over me. If you touch me in the way of marriage, he will be angry, and you will suffer. But if you respect my maidenhood, he will love you as he loves me.”

Valerian replied, “Show me this angel.” She told him that if he believed in the living and one true God and was baptized, he would see the angel. Thus, she persuaded Valerian to respect her vow of virginity.

He was impressed and attracted by his wife’s Christian graces, and so Valerian was baptized by Pope Saint Urban (which would be c. 222-230). When he returned to Cecilia, he found her standing by the side of an angel as she promised. The angel told him: “I have a crown of flowers for each of you. They have been sent from paradise as a sign of the life you are both to lead. If you are faithful to God, He will reward you with the everlasting perfumes of heaven.”

The angel then crowned Cecilia with roses and Valerian with a wreath of lilies. The delightful fragrance of the flowers filled the whole house. At this point, Valerian’s brother, Tiburtius, appeared. He, too, was offered salvation if he would renounce false gods. Cecilia converted him, and he was baptized.

From that time the two young men dedicated themselves to good works. Because of their ardor in burying the bodies of martyred Christians, they were arrested. The prefect Almachius told them that if they would sacrifice to the gods, they could go free. They refused, and Valerian rejoiced when he was handed over to be scourged.

The prefect wanted to give them another chance, but his assessor warned him that they would simply use the interim to give away their possessions so that they couldn’t be confiscated. They were beheaded in Pagus Triopius, four miles from Rome. With them was an officer named Maximus, who had declared himself a Christian after witnessing their fortitude.

Cecilia buried the three and then decided to turn her home into a place of worship. Her religion was discovered, and she was asked to refute her faith. She converted those who were sent to convince her to sacrifice to the gods. When Pope Urban visited her at home, he baptized over 400 people.

In court, Almachius debated with her for some time. She was sentenced to be suffocated to death in the bathroom of her house. The furnace was fed seven times its normal amount of fuel, but the steam and heat failed to stifle her. A soldier sent to behead her struck at her neck three times, and she was left dying on the floor. She lingered for three days, during which time the Christians thronged to her side, and she formally made over her house to Urban and committed her household to his care.

She was buried next to the papal crypt in the catacombs of Saint Callixtus. In 817, Pope Saint Paschal I discovered her grave, which had been concealed from the Lombard invader Aistulf in 756, and translated her body to beneath the main altar of what was later called the titulus Sanctae Caeciliae, which translates as “the church founded by a lady named Cecilia.” In 1599, during the renovation of the church, Cardinal Sfondrati opened her tomb and found her holy remains incorrupt. Even the green and gold of her rich robe had not been injured by time. Thousands had the privilege of seeing her in her coffin, and many have been blessed by miracles. The body disintegrated quickly after meeting with the air.

Under the high altar in Saint Cecilia’s Church is a beautiful marble statue by Maderna portraying the “martyr” bathed in her blood as she fell after the stroke of the sword. A replica of this statue occupies the original resting place of the saint in the Catacomb of Callixtus. Other artists were allowed to paint pictures of her after her tomb was opened.

Until the middle ages, Pope Saint Gregory had been the patron of music and musicians, but when the Roman Academy of Music was established in 1584, it was put under the protection of Saint Cecilia; thus, her patronage of music originated. Dryden wrote a “Song for Saint Cecilia Day” and Pope an “Ode for Music on Saint Cecilia Day.”

Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus are historical characters; they were Roman martyrs, buried in the cemetery of Praetextatus, but nothing else is known of them. Her story was the basis for the Second Nun’s Tale in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

St. Cecilia is regarded as the patroness of music [because of the story that she heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married], and is represented in art with an organ or organ-pipes in her hand.– From The Lives of the Saints by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, M.A., published in 1914 in Edinburgh.

rome_santa_cecilia_in_trastevere_valerian_and_cecilia-150x150

Dear Saint Cecilia, one thing we know for certain about you is that you became a heroic martyr in fidelity to your divine Bridegroom.

We do not know that you were a musician but we are told that you heard Angels sing.

Inspire musicians to gladden the hearts of people by filling the air with God’s gift of music and reminding them of the divine Musician who created all beauty.

Amen.

The story and history of Saint Clement.

Basilica of Saint Clement

Spiritual Writings:

– Pastoral Rule – Register of Letters

– Pastoral Rule
– Register of Letters