Admonition XXVIII

Virtue should be concealed or it will be lost

Blessed the religious who treasures up for heaven (Matthew 6:20) the favours God has given him and does not want to show them off for what he can get out of them. God himself will reveal his works to whomsoever he pleases. Blessed the religious who keeps God's marvellous doings to himself.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Admonition XXVII

Virtue and Vice

+ Where there is Love and Wisdom,
there is neither Fear nor Ignorance.

+ Where there is Patience and Humility,
there is neither Anger nor Annoyance.

+ Where there is Poverty and Joy,
there is neither Cupidity nor Avarice.

+ Where there is Peace and Contemplation,
there is neither Care nor Restlessness.

+ Where there is the Fear of God to guard the dwelling,
there no enemy can enter.

+ Where there is Mercy and Prudence,
there is neither Excess nor Harshness.


Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Unearthed: 1968 Vatican Letter to Bishops sent with Pre-Release Copy of Humanae Vitae called for Unity

By John-Henry Westen

OTTAWA, July 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - During the tumultuous years of the 1960's Pope Paul VI published a controversial encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which addressed the issue of birth control in light of the arrival of the birth control pill.

Today LifeSiteNews.com is publishing a recently unearthed letter which was sent to Bishops with a pre-release copy of the encyclical. The letter, dated July 19, 1968, is signed by the late Amleto Giovanni Cardinal Cicognani, who was then-Secretary of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The outright defiance of many priests and even bishops to Pope Paul VI's encyclical - which restated and reinforced the Church's long-time opposition to artificial birth control - is even graver in light of the carefully worded letter the bishops received specifically pointing to the urgent need for unity on the matter.

The letter begins: "When directing me to transmit to Your Excellency the enclosed document, publication of which is imminent, His Holiness strongly recommended that I draw your attention to its importance, and to the necessity of a concerted effort on the part of the entire Catholic Episcopate."

In the letter the Pope can be seen to plead for the world's bishops to stand with him on the matter, which is described as "one of the most delicate questions of Catholic morals."

Regarding the Pope, the letter says, "And now He turns to His Brothers, the Bishops of the Catholic world, asking them to stand beside Him more firmly than ever in this circumstance, and to help Him present this delicate point of the Church's teaching to the Christian people, to explain and justify its profound reasons."

The letter adds, "The Pope counts upon the attachment of His Brothers in the Episcopate to the Chair of Peter, upon their love for the Church, upon their concern for the true good of souls."

Beyond the disunity amongst some of the hierarchy over the encyclical, the most glaring failure of the Catholic Episcopate was their unwillingness to transmit the teaching to the Catholic faithful. Yet in the letter a specific request to do so was made of the bishops.

"Finally," concluded the letter, "it is necessary that both in the confessional and in the pulpit, in the press and by other means of social communication, every necessary pastoral effort be made that no ambiguity exists among the faithful or in public opinion concerning the Church's position in this serious matter."

In many cases the Catholic hierarchy has completely ignored this instruction, such that many of the faithful are unaware of the Church's longtime and steadfast teaching on the grave immorality of the use of artificial contraception. However, with the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae having taken place this past Friday, many in the Church are hoping for and taking steps to ensure there is a renewed effort to instruct Catholics in the teaching of the encyclical.

See the full letter online here:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08072905.html

See the full 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae here:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08072509.html

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Vatican Cardinal: Damage to the Church from the Dissent on Paul VI Contraception Doc Continues Today
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08072507.html

"Heaps of Empirical Evidence" Vindicate Pope Paul VI's Dire Warnings 40 Years Ago About Contraceptive Culture
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08072506.html

One Last Time - Canada's Greatest Defender of Humanae Vitae Calls on Bishops to Reject Dissenting Document
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08072508.html

Admonition XXVI

Religious should be respectful towards the clergy

Blessed is that servant of God who has confidence in priests who live according to the laws of the holy Roman Church. Woe to those who despise them. Even if they fall into sin, no one should pass judgement on them, for God has reserved judgement on them to himself. They are in a privileged position because they have charge of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which they receive and which they alone administer to others, and so anyone who sins against them commits a greater crime than if he sinned against anyone else in the whole world.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Admonition XXV

True love

Blessed that friar who loves his brother as much when he is sick and can be of no use to him as when he is well and can be of use to him. Blessed that friar who loves and respects his brother as much when he is absent as when he is present and who would not say anything behind his back that he could not say charitably to his face.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Order of the Brothers of Penance

Carried away by the force of his preaching, great numbers of people adopted the new rule of penance according to the form instituted by St. Francis which he called the "Order of the Brothers of Penance." The way of penance is common to all those who are on the road to heaven and so this way of life includes members of both sexes, clerics and lay-folk, married or single. How meritorious it is in the eyes of God is clear from the numerous miracles worked by some of those who followed it.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
CHAPTER IV - 7

Never Lose Sight Of The Good Example That We Are To Give To Others

While St. Francis was in Siena for treatment of his eyes, he lived in a cell where an oratory was built after his death out of veneration for him. Lord bonaventure, who had given the brothers the land on which the friary was erected, said to blessed Francis one day: "What do you think of this friary?" The blessed Francis answered: "Do you want me to tell you haw the friaries of the brothers should be built?" "Why certainly," he answered. The saint said to him:

"When the brothers arrive in a city where they do not yet have a residence, and they find someone who wants to give them a piece of land to build a friary with a garden and the necessary space, they must first of all decide that the area is adequate, and not exceed it; they must never lose sight of the holy poverty that we have promised to observe nor of the good example that we are to give to others."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 14

Admonition XXIV

Blessed that person who is just as unassuming among his subjecs as he would be among his superiors. Blessed the religious who is always willing to be corrected. A man is a faithful and prudent servant (Matthew 24:25) when he is quick to atone for all his offenses, interiorly by contrition, exteriorly by confessing them and making reparation.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Admonition XXIII

Blessed that religious who takes blame, accusation, or punishment from another as patiently as if it were coming from himself. Blessed the religious who obeys quietly when he is corrected, confesses his fault humbly and makes atonement cheerfully. Blessed the religious who is in no hurry to make excuses, but accepts the embarrassment and blame for some fault he did not commit.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Greater Pleasure To The Lord And The Blessed Virgin

Another time, when St. Francis was staying at St. Mary of the Portiuncula, a poor woman whose two sons were in the Order came to the friary to ask blessed Francis for an alms; for, that year she had nothing to live on. Blessed Francis said to Brother Peter Catanii who at that time was minister general: "Can we find something for our mother?" (For he said that the mother of a brother was his mother and the mother of all brothers of the Order.) Brother Peter answered: "We have nothing in the house we can give her, especially in view of the fact that we would have to give her a rather sizable alms to carry her through. However, there is a New Testament in the church from which we read the lessons at ains." In those days, the brothers had no brevaries and only a few psalters. Blessed Francis answered: "Give our mother the New Testament; she will sell it to take care of her needs. I firmly believe that we will give greater pleasure to the Lord and to the Blessed Virgin his mother by giving it to her than by reading it." And so they gave it to her.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia 56

Admonition XXII

The talkative religious

Blessed that religious who never says anything just for what he can get out of it. He should never be hasty in his words (Proverbs 29:20) or open his heart to everyone, but he should think hard before he speaks. Woe to that religious who does not keep the favours God has given him to himself; people should see them only through his good works, but he wants to tell everybody about them, hoping he will get something out of it. In this way he has received his reward, and it does not do his listeners any good.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Catholic Cardinal: Global Warming Hysteria a 'New Religion'

A cardinal in the Catholic Church says the hysteria over man-made climate change is akin to a “new religion” and a symptom of “pagan emptiness.”

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia, has been the target of criticism in his country for expressing doubts about the validity of man-made global warming.

In an interview that appeared in The Catholic World Report, he said: “Right now, the mass media, politicians, many church figures, and the public generally seem to have embraced even the wilder claims about man-made climate change as if they constituted a new religion.

“These days, for any public figure to question the basis of what amounts to green fundamentalist faith is tantamount to heresy.”

Cardinal Pell called long-term weather forecasting “notoriously imprecise,” and pointed to predictions in the 1970s that the planet was about to enter a new ice age because of global cooling.

He said some of the more “hysterical and extreme” claims about impending climate change “appear symptomatic of a pagan emptiness, of a Western fear when confronted by the immense and basically uncontrollable forces of nature…

“It’s almost as though people without religion, who don’t belong to any of the great religious traditions, have got to be frightened of something. Perhaps they’re looking for a cause that is almost a substitute for religion.”

As for Al Gore’s message of doom about climate change, Cardinal Pell noted that there are “significant errors” in his film “An Inconvenient Truth,” and added: “Few of us have the scientific knowledge to question the wild claims Gore has made — other than some grains of common sense.”

Admonition XXI

The happy and the silly religious

Blessed that religious who finds all his joy and happiness in the words and deeds of our Lord and uses them to make people love God gladly. Woe to the religious who amuses himself with silly gossip, trying to make people laugh.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Okay, American Catholic Bishops, Now It's Your Turn!

Washington, DC (23 July 2008) – In a move that is capturing the attention of the pro-life world, Catholic bishops in the Philippines are leading massive resistance to the "culture of death" by holding a nationwide rally July 25. The Church-led movement is swiftly gaining momentum to fight a bill that would usher in birth control, sex education and, eventually, abortion in the Philippines.

"This is inspiring," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League. "These bishops are leading Catholics in a crusade that will mean life or death for millions of people. May their fight ignite our American bishops to take up their staffs to fight the evil – the abortive assault on children and families – that permeates our world."

On the anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical "Humanae Vitae," which condemned artificial birth control, Filipino priests, nuns, seminarians and laity will rally en masse against the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008.

The legislation would create a new agency called the Commission on Population, which would institutionalize artificial birth control, implement sex education for students as early as the fifth grade and pave the way for legalized abortion.

The rally is the latest strike against the population-control legislation in a country that is 85 percent Catholic. Bishops are denying the Eucharist to politicians who favor the anti-life legislation as well as advising voters that a politician's stance on population control should form the basis of their voting decisions.

The executive director of the Filipino bishops' Commission for Family and Life, Fr. Melvin Castro, stated that the bill, if passed, would promote "laxity of morality" and the "culture of death" in the Philippines, according to Life Site News.

Seek First The Permission Of The Bishop

The brothers must go and find the bishop of the city and say to him, "Lord, a certain person has decided for the love of God and the salvation of his soul to give us the land necessary to build a friary. The first thing we are doing is coming to you, since you are the father and master of the souls of all the flock entrusted to you, and therefore of ours and those of our brothers who will live in this place. With the blessing of the Lord and yours, we wish to found a house there."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 15

Although Absent In Person, St. Francis Is Present In Spirit

With his companions, Francis now went to live in an abandoned hut near Assisi....While they were still loving there, St. Francis went into Assisi on Saturday because he was to preach as usual in the cathedral the following morning. There he spent the night praying in a shelter in the garden belonging to the canons of the cathedral, as was his custom. In person he was separated from the friars, but then about midnight, as some of them were praying and others slept, a fiery chariot of extraordinary brilliance came in the door of the hut and turned here and there three times about the room. It was surmounted by a globe of light which looked like the sun and lit up the darkness. Those who were awake were dumbfounded, while the others woke up terrified; they could feel the light penetrating their hearts just as it lit up the room, and their consciences were laid bare to one another by force of its brightness. As they read one another's hearts, all realized simultneously that their father who was absent from them in person was present with them in spirit under the appearance of this vision.

Bonaventure, Major Life
CHAPTER IV - 5

Be Devoted To Continual Prayer Or To Preaching?

Brother Masseo replied that Christ had answered both Brother Sylvester and Sister Clare and her companion and revealed that, "He wants you to go about the world preaching, because God did not call you for yourself alone but also for the salvation of others."

And then the hand of the Lord came over St. Francis. As soon as he heard this answer and thereby knew the will of Christ, he got to his feet, all aflame with divine power, and said to Brother Masseo with great fervor: "So let's go - in the name of the Lord!"

Saint Francis of Assisi
Little Flowers of St. Francis - 16

Admonition XX

The virtuous and humble religious

Blessed the religious who has no more regard for himself when people praise him and make much of him than when they despise and revile him and say he is ignorant. What a man is before God, that he is and no more.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Wear Nothing But The Habit Next To Your Skin

For the first friars, and those who followed them for a long while, afflicted their bodies beyond measure by abstinence from food and drink, by vigils, by cold, by coarse clothing, and by manual labour. They wore iron bands and breast-plates, and the roughest of hair shirts. So the holy Father, considering that the friars might fall ill as a result of this - as had already happened in a short time - gave orders in Chapter that no friar should wear anything but the habit next to his skin.


Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 27

Traditional Nun's Habits

Women who satisfy their vanity in their dress can never put on the life of Jesus Christ; moreover they even lose the ornaments of their soul as soon as this idol enters into their heart.


Saint Padre Pio

Woe To ThoseWho Maintain Only An Outward Show And Pretence Of Religious Life

Blessed Francis used to say, 'The time is coming when this Order, so dear to God, will be brought into such disrepute by the bad example of evil friars that its members will be ashamed to appear in public. But those who come to receive the habit of the Order in those days will be guided solely by the workings of the Holy Spirit: flesh and blood will not contaminate them, and they will be truly blessed by God. And although no noble works will be done by them because the love that enables the Saints to labour so fervently will have grown cold, they will be assailed by tremendous temptations. But those who are found worthy in those days will be better than their predecessors.

'But woe to those who maintain only an outward show and pretence of the Religious Life, who congradulate themselves, trusting in their own cleverness and knowledge, and are shown to be good for nothing.'

Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 70

Interesting. But what about those after Vatican II who removed their habits and threw them into the dung heap?

Franciscans Beware!

There is a contract between the world and the brothers: the world must provide for their needs. When they break faith and withdraw their good example, the world will withdraw its hand in just censure.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, Second Life
CHAPTER XL : 70

We Take Our Cells With Us

Wherever we are or wherever we are going, we have our cell with us. For Brother Body is the cell, and the soul is the hermit who dwells in it, meditating there and praying to God. Therefore, if the soul does not preserve quiet and solitude in its own cell, of what profit is a cell made by hands?

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 80

Admonition XIX

The happy and unhappy religious

Blessed the religious who refers all the good he has to the Lord and God. He who attributes anything to himself hides his master's money (Matthew 25:18) in himself, and even what he thinks he has shall be taken away. (Luke 8:18).

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Portiuncula Indulgence: August 2, 2008

Portiuncula Indulgence - August 2, 2008
(PORZIONCULA or PORZIUNCOLA).

A town and parish situated about three-quarters of a mile from Assisi. The town, numbering about 2000 inhabitants and officially known as Santa Maria degli Angeli, has grown up around the church (basilica) of Our Lady of the Angels and the adjoining Franciscan monastery. It was here that on 24 Feb., 1208, St. Francis of Assisi recognized his vocation; here was for the most part his permanent abode, after the Benedictines (of the Cluny Congregation from about 1200) had presented him (about 1211) with the little chapel Portiuncula, i.e. a little portion (of land); here also he died on Saturday, 3 October, 1226. According to a legend, the existence of which can be traced back with certainty only to 1645, the little chapel of Portiuncula was erected under Pope Liberius (352-66) by hermits from the Valley of Josaphat, who had brought thither relics from the grave of the Blessed Virgin. The same legend relates that the chapel passed into the possession of St. Benedict in 516. It was known as Our Lady of the Valley of Josaphat or of the Angels -- the latter title referring, according to some, to Our Lady's ascent into heaven accompanied by angels (Assumption B.M.V.); a better founded opinion attributes the name to the singing of angels which had been frequently heard there. However this may be, here or in this neighbourhood was the cradle of the Franciscan Order, and on his death-bed St. Francis recommended the chapel to the faithful protection and care of his brethren. Concerning the form and plan of the first monastery built near the chapel we have no information, nor is the exact form of the loggia or platforms built round the chapel itself, or of the choir for the brothers built behind it, known. Shortly after 1290, the chapel, which measured only about twenty-two feet by thirteen and a half, became entirely inadequate to accommodate the throngs of pilgrims. The altar piece, an Annunciation, was painted by the priest, Hilarius of Viterbo, in 1393. The monastery was at most the residence, only for a short time, of the ministers-general of the order after St. Francis. In 1415 it first became associated with the Regular Observance, in the care of which it remains to the present day. The buildings, which had been gradually added to, around the shrine were taken down by order of Pius V (1566-72), except the cell in which St. Francis had died, and were replaced by a large basilica in contemporary style. The new edifice was erected over the cell just mentioned and over the Portiuncula chapel, which is situated immediately under the cupola. The basilica, which has three naves and a circle of chapels extending along the entire length of the aisles, was completed (1569-78) according to the plans of Jacob Barozzi, named Vignola (1507-73), assisted by Alessi Galeazzo (1512-72). The Doric order was chosen. The basilica forms a Latin cross 416 feet long by 210 feet wide; above the middle of the transept rises the magnificent cupola, flanked by a single side-tower, the second never having been finished. In the night of 15 March, 1832, the arch of the three naves and of the choir fell in, in consequence of an earthquake, but the cupola escaped with a big crack. Gregory XVI had all restored (1836-40), and on 8 Sept., 1840, the basilica was reconsecrated by Cardinal Lambruschini. By Brief of 11 April, 1909, Pius X raised it to a "patriarchal basilica and papal chapel". The high altar was therefore immediately rebuilt at the expense of the Franciscan province of the Holy Cross (also known as the Saxon province), and a papal throne added. The new altar was solemnly consecrated by Cardinal De Lai on 7 Dec., 1910. Under the bay of the choir, resting against the columns of the cupola, is still preserved the cell in which St. Francis died, while, a little behind the sacristy, is the spot where the saint, during a temptation, is said to have rolled in a briar-bush, which was then changed into thornless roses. During this same night the saint received the Portiuncula Indulgence. The representation of the reception of this Indulgence on the façade of the Portiuncula chapel, the work of Fr. Overbeck (1829), enjoys great celebrity.

The Portiuncula Indulgence could at first be gained only in the Portiuncula chapel between the afternoon of 1 Aug. and sunset on 2 Aug. On 5 Aug., 1480 (or 1481), Sixtus IV extended it to all churches of the first and second orders of St. Francis for Franciscans; on 4 July, 1622, this privilege was further extended by Gregory XV to all the faithful, who, after confession and the reception of Holy Communion, visited such churches on the appointed day. On 12 Oct., 1622, Gregory granted the same privilege to all the churches of the Capuchins; Urban VIII granted it for all churches of the regular Third Order on 13 Jan., 1643, and Clement X for all churches of the Conventuals on 3 Oct., 1670. Later popes extended the privilege to all churches pertaining in any way to the Franciscan Order, even to churches in which the Third Order held its meetings (even parish churches, etc.), provided that there was no Franciscan church in the district, and that such a church was distant over an Italian mile (1000 paces, about 1640 yards). Some districts and countries have been granted special privileges. On 9 July, 1910, Pius X (only, however, for that year) granted the privilege that bishops could appoint any public churches whatsoever for the gaining of the Portiuncula Indulgence, whether on 2 Aug. or the Sunday following (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, II, 1910, 443 sq.; Acta Ord. Frat. Min., XXIX, 1910, 226). This privilege has been renewed for an indefinite time by a decree of the S. Cong. of Indul., 26 March, 1911 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, III, 1911, 233-4). The Indulgence is toties-quoties, that is, it may be gained as often as one wishes (i.e. visits the church); it is also applicable to the souls in purgatory.

While the declarations of the popes have rendered the Portiuncula Indulgence certain and indisputable from the juridico-canonistic standpoint, its historical authenticity (sc. origin from St. Francis) is still a subject of dispute. The controversy arises from the fact that none of the old legends of St. Francis mentions the Indulgence, and no contemporary document or mention of it has down to us. The oldest document dealing with the Indulgence is a notary's deed of 31 October, 1277, in which Blessed Benedict of Arezzo, whom St. Francis himself received into the order, testifies that he had been informed by Brother Masseo, a companion of St. Francis, of the granting of the Indulgence by Honorius III at Perugia. Then follow other testimonies, for example, those of Jacob Cappoli concerning Brother Leo, of Fr. Oddo of Aquasparta, Peter Zalfani, Peter John Olivi (d. 1298, who wrote a scholastic tract in defence of this indulgence about 1279), Blessed John of Laverna (Fermo; d. 1322), Ubertinus of Casale (d. after 1335), Blessed Francis of Fabriano (d. 1322), whose testimony goes back to the year 1268, etc. In addition to these rather curt and concise testimonies there are others which relate all details in connection with the granting of the Indulgence, and were reproduced in numberless books: e.g. the testimony of Michael Bernardi, the letters of Bishop Theobald of Assisi (1296-1329) and of his successor Conrad Andreae (1329-37). All the testimonies were collected by Fr. Francesco Bartholi della Rossa in a special work, "Tractatus de Indulgentia S. Mariae de Portiuncula" (ed. Sabatier, Paris, 1900). In his edition of this work, Sabatier defends the Indulgence, although in his world-famous "Vie de S. François" (Paris, 1894), he had denied its historicity (412 sqq.); he explains the silence of St. Francis and his companions and biographers as due to reasons of discretion etc. Others seek to accord more weight to the later testimonies by accentuating their connection with the first generation of the order; others again find allusions to the Indulgence in the old legends of St. Francis. On the other hand, the opponents regard the gap between 1216 and 1277 as unbridgable, and hold that the grounds brought forward by the defenders to explain this silence had vanished long before the latter date. No new documents have been found recently in favour of the authenticity of the Indulgence.

[Note: The norms and grants of indulgences were completely reformed by Pope Paul VI after the Second Vatican Council in his Apostolic Constitution "Indulgentiarum Doctrina" (1967), and the Portiuncula Indulgence was again confirmed at that time. According to the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, the Catholic faithful may gain a plenary indulgence on 2 August (the Portiuncula) or on such other day as designated by the local ordinary for the advantage of the faithful, under the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff), by devoutly visiting the parish church, and there reciting at least the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. The Indulgence applies to the cathedral church of the diocese, and to the co-cathedral church (if there is one), even if they are not parochial, and also to quasi-parochial churches. To gain this, as any plenary indulgence, the faithful must be free from any attachment to sin, even venial sin. Where this entire detachment is wanting, the indulgence is partial.]

Sources
VITALIS, Paradisus seraphicus: Portiuncula sacra (Milan, 1645); GROWELS, Hist. crit. sacrae indulgentiae B. Mariae Angelorum (Antwerp, 1726); Acta SS., II, Oct., 545 sqq.; ANNIBALI DE LATERA, Dissertationes critico-historicae (Rome, 1784); AMEDEO DA SOLERO, Gloria della sacra Porziuncula, ossia compendio storico di S. Maria degli Angeli (Perugia, 1858); BARNABE D'ALSACE (MEISTERMANN), La Portioncule ou hist. de Ste-Marie des Anges (Foligno, 1884), Ital. tr. (Foligno, 1884); German tr. (Rixheim, Alsace, 1884); new Ital. ed. Sta Maria degli Angeli (1895); SABATIER, Etude critique sur la concession de l'Indulgence de la Port. in Revue hist., LXII (Paris, 1896), 282-318 (for the authenticity of the origin of the Indulgence); PAULUS, Die Bewilligung des Portiuncula-Ablasses in Die Katholik, I (Mainz, 1899), 97-125 (for); IDEM, Ibid., II (1901), 185-7 (against the authenticity of the origin of the Indulgence); SATURNINO (MENCHERINI) DA CAPRESE, L'addio di S. Francesco alla Verna etc. (Prato, 1901), with documents; D'ALENCON in Etudes francisc., XI (Paris, 1903), 585 sqq.; FALOCI, Gli storici della Porziuncula in Misc. francesc., X (Foligno, 1906), 65 sqq., 97 sqq., 129 sqq., 161 sqq.; KIRSCH, Die Portiuncula-Ablass in Theolog. Quartalschr., LXXXVIII (Tübingen, 1906), 81-101; 211- 91, published separately (Tübingen, 1906), against; IDEM, Litt. Beilage d. Koln. Volkztg., LXIX, n. 10 (5 March, 1908), against; VAN ORTROY in Anal. Bolland., XXI (1902), 372-80, doubtful; XXVI (1907), 140-1, against; LEMMENS, Die altesten Zeugnisse fur d. Portiunkulaablass in Die Katholik, I (1908), 169-84, 253-67, for; HOLZAPPEL, Die Entstehung d. Port. Ablasses in Archiv. francisc. hist., I (Quaracchi, 1908), 31-45, for; BIHL in Archiv. francisc. hist., I, 653 sqq.; FIERENS, De Geschiedkundige Oorsprong van het Aflaat van Portiunkula (Ghent, 1910), re-edited critically all desirable documents, for. See also bibliography, FRANCIS OF ASSISI, SAINT.

About this page
APA citation. Bihl, M. (1911). Portiuncula. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved July 17, 2008 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12286a.htm

MLA citation. Bihl, Michael. "Portiuncula." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 17 Jul. 2008 .

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of the Angels, pray for us.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Admonition XVIII

Compassion for one's neighbor

Blessed the man who is patient with his neighbor's shortcomings as he would like him to be if he were in a similar position himself.

San Francisco Condemns Catholic Church!

Major U.S. city officially condemns Catholic Church
Instructs members to defy 'Holy Office of Inquisition'


Posted: July 15, 2008
8:48 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily


San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Bridge

A San Francisco city and county board resolution that officially labeled the Catholic church's moral teachings on homosexuality as "insulting to all San Franciscans," "hateful," "defamatory," "insensitive" and "ignorant" will be challenged tomorrow in court for violating the Constitution's prohibition of government hostility toward religion.

Resolution 168-08, passed unanimously by the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors two years ago, also accused the Vatican of being a "foreign country" meddling with and attempting to "negatively influence (San Francisco's) existing and established customs."

It said of the church's teaching on homosexuality, "Such hateful and discriminatory rhetoric is both insulting and callous, and shows a level of insensitivity and ignorance which has seldom been encountered by this Board of Supervisors."

As WND reported earlier, Resolution 168-08 was an official response to the Catholic Church's ban on adoption placements into homosexual couple households, issued by Cardinal William Levada of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican.

The board's resolution urged the city's local archbishop and the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Francisco to defy the Vatican's instructions, concluding with a spiteful reminder that the church authority that issued the ban was known 100 years ago as "The Holy Office of the Inquisition."

The resolution also took a shot at Levada, the former archbishop of San Francisco, saying, "Cardinal Levada is a decidedly unqualified representative of his former home city, and of the people of San Francisco and the values they hold dear."

Read entire article:

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=69693

Admonition XII

How to know the spirit of God

We can be sure that a man is a true religious and has the spirit of God if his lower nature does not give way to pride when God accomplishes some good through him, and if he seems all the more worthless and inferior to others in his own eyes. Our lower nature is opposed to every good.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Richmond Catholic Community Charismatic Prayer Group Meeting July 20th

The Richmond Catholic Community Charismatic Renewal Prayer Group will be meeting this Sunday, July 20th, from 7:00-9:00 P.M. in the basement of Seton East.

Everyone is invited to attend!

Franciscan Associates Meeting July 19th

The monthly meeting of the Richmond Catholic Community Franciscan Associates will be this Saturday, July 19th at 11:30 in the basement of Seton West.

Everyone is invited to attend!

Seek Out Lonely Places In The Wilderness

Francis learned in his prayer that the presence of the Holy Spirit for which he longed was granted more intmately, when he was far from the rush of worldly affairs. Therefore, he used to seek out lonely places in the wilderness and go into abandoned churches to pray at night.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
CHAPTER X - 3

Parresia: A Quality Of A Monk To Perform Miracles

Athanasius Comments: "For Anthony did not heal by issuing commands, but by praying and calling upon the name of Christ, so that it was evident to everyone that it was not he who did this, but the Lord manifesting His compassion to men and, through Anthony, was healing those who suffered."

Vita Antonii 83-84

Beware Of Setting A Bad Example

At the close of Chapters, our Father always used to bless and absolve all the friars of the Order, both present and to come, and in fervor of his love he often did so out of Chapter. But he used to warn the brethren that they must beware of setting a bad example, and he cursed all who by their bad example caused people to speak ill of the Order and life of the friars, since the good and holy friars are put to disgrace and great distress by such behavior.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 87

Archbishop Raymond L. Burke: A Modern-Day Hero

On this past June 27th, Pope Benedict XVI appointed me to the office of prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. With the appointment, which took effect at noon in the Vatican (5 a.m. in St. Louis) on the same day, I ceased to be the Archbishop of St. Louis. In the afternoon of June 27th, the College of Consultors of the archdiocese, in accord with Church law, met and elected Bishop Robert J. Hermann to the office of archdiocesan administrator. As archdiocesan administrator, Bishop Hermann will govern the archdiocese, until the new archbishop is appointed. From my very close work with Bishop Hermann, over the past four years and five months, I can assure you that the governance of the archdiocese is in the best of hands. It is in the hands of a bishop of deepest faith and prayer.

Since I have regularly written a column for you in our archdiocesan newspaper, when I was your archbishop, I wanted to write to you, one last time, now no longer as your archbishop but as your former archbishop who continues to love you very much. I write simply to say "Thank you" and "Farewell."

As I commented during the news conference on the day of the announcement of my new appointment, my years of service in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, even though they have been relatively brief, have been years of intense grace for me. I have encountered in St. Louis a remarkable depth of Catholic faith, strongly connected with the apostolic tradition and lived practically in the homes of the faithful.

The strong Catholic faith of the Archdiocese of St. Louis is manifested in a host of ways. Some examples are Eucharistic adoration in almost all of the parishes and its extension through enthronement of the Sacred Heart in many homes, a strong archdiocesan seminary enrolling an ever growing number of archdiocesan seminarians, a long-standing and vigorous exercise of the apostolate of the respect for human life, a generosity to the Annual Catholic Appeal, which is unparalleled in the Church throughout our nation; multiple agencies of Catholic Charities and a Saint Vincent de Paul Conference in practically every parish; and the deeply-rooted practice of making great sacrifices to provide a Catholic-school education for the children and young people, including the children and young people with special needs. These are just some examples.

The New Evangelization and Controversy

As archbishop, building upon the strength of Catholic life in the Archdiocese, I tried to lead you in the new evangelization which is so needed in the totally secularized society in which we live. Your response has been dedicated and generous. In thanking you for your response to my pastoral leadership in carrying out the new evangelization, I urge you to continue to teach, to celebrate in prayer and the sacred liturgy, and to live in practice our Catholic faith with new enthusiasm and new energy, with the enthusiasm and energy of the first disciples of our Lord and of the first missionaries to our part of the world.

During my service in the Archdiocese and as I am now leaving you, the secular media have focused very much on the controversies which have marked my years in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. While the controversies have been difficult for us all, I did not shrink from them, when I knew the integrity of our Catholic faith, worship, and practice was at stake. Our society, which esteems, above all, political correctness, views negatively anyone who is in the eye of a controversy over questions of faith and morals. Yet, in the Church, we know that we, like our Divine Master, are destined to be a "sign of contradiction" (Luke 2:34). It is not by chance that our most esteemed religious symbol is the crucified Christ.

If a totally secularized society is not uncomfortable with the way we teach and pray and live, then we are not putting the truth of our faith into practice. While we must always speak the truth with love (Ephesians 4:15), we must speak the truth. A society which prefers the comfort of confusion and error will not be pleased. But what alone matters for us is that we be pleasing in the eyes of God. Thank you for holding fast to the truth of our Catholic faith, for praying and worshiping with the great devotion and fervor, and for witnessing to the truth of the faith in your attitudes, words, and actions.

Never Refuse Anyone Who Asks "For The Love Of God!"

One of the expressions we use in ordinary speech always moved Francis profoundly whenever he heard it, and that was, "For the love of God." As soon as he would hear these words, they would excite him, work upon him, and enkindle him, as if an inner chord had been plucked by them. And he kept faithfully till his death the promise he made to himself when he was still living a worldly life, that he would never refuse a poor person who begged anything "for the love of God." 

Saint Francis of Assisi

Celano, Second Life - 196 

Of Detraction

Once, when Francis heard a certain brother blacken the reputation of another, he turned to Brother Peter of Catana, the vicar, and spoke this terrible sentence: "Disaster confronts the order, unless these slanderers are checked. Quickly the sweetest savor of the many begins to take on a horrible stench, unless the mouths of the stinking are closed."

Saint Francis of Assisi

Celano, Second Life

CHAPTER CXXXVIII

Admonition XI

No one should be scandalized at another's fall

Nothing should upset a religious except sin. And even then, no matter what kind of sin has been committed, if he is upset or angry for any other reason except charity, he is only drawing blame upon himself.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

Admonition X

Exterior mortification

Many people blame the devil or their neighbour when they fall into sin or are offended. But that is not right. Everyone has his own enemy in his power and this enemy is the lower nature which leads him into sin. Blessed the religious who keeps this enemy a prisoner under his control and protects himself against it. As long as he does this no other enemy, visible or invisible, can harm him.

Saint Francis of Assisi

The Admonitions

We Are To Speak Evil To None

The friars are to speak evil to none (Titus 3:2); there must be no complaining, no slander; it is written, "Wisperers and detractors are people hateful to God" (Romans 1:29).

Saint Francis of Assisi
THE RULE OF 1221
CHAPTER 11

Franciscan University of Steubenville Pledges Fidelity To The Magisterium

Schools like the Franciscan University of Steubenville and Florida’s Ave Maria University and Kansas’s Benedictine College are all bursting at the seams with students wanting to study in the light of the 2,000 year old Catholic faith.

Professors of Theology and religious studies at these institutions, along with only a handful of others across the country, all pledge fidelity to the Magisterium and teaching authority of the Catholic Church--and students and parents love it.

Joel Recznik, Franciscan University’s dean of Enrollment Management said that he attributes the enrollment boom, in part, to the university’s vibrant teen summer conference series, but also to the fact that “the word is getting out about Franciscan University’s commitment to integrate the Catholic faith into the daily university experience; classroom, residence hall life, campus ministry.”

Have Franciscans Abandoned St. Francis All Together?

St. Francis used to say that nothing is more important than the salvation of souls, and he often offered as proof the fact that the Only-begotten of God deigned to hang on the cross for souls.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Celano, Second Life

CHAPTER CXXXI : 172

OF CHARITY

Admonition IX

Charity

Our Lord says in the Gospel, Love your enemies (Matthew 5:44). A man really loves his enemy when he is not offended by the injury done to himself, but for love of God feels burning sorrow for the sin his enemy has brought on his own soul, and proves his live in a practical way.

Saint Francis of Assisi

The Admonitions

The Penance For Idle Words At The Portiuncula

Another time, at St. Mary of the Portiuncula, the man of God, considering how much profit from prayer flows away because of idle words after prayer, ordained this remedy against the fault of idle words, saying, "If any of the brothers utters an idle or useless word, he shall be bound to say a Pater Noster for each idle word. But thus I want it, that if he himself is first to admit the guilt of his fault, he shall say a Pater Noster for his own soul; if he is accused of his fault first by another, he shall offer the prayer for the soul of that other."

Saint Francs of Assisi

Celano, Second Life

CHAPTER CXIX : 160

Planting A Garden

St. Francis even said that the brother gardener ought to reserve a place in a corner for a beautiful small garden where he would put all kinds of aromatic herbs and flowering plants so that in their season they might invite all men who looked at them to praise God.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 46

Admonition VIII

Beware the sin of envy

When a man envies his brother the good God says and does through him, it is like committing a sin of blasphemy, because he is really envying God, who is the source of every good.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions

A Rapture Of Contemplation

St. Francis would never let any call of the Spirit go unanswered; when he experienced it, he would make the most of it and enjoy the consolation afforded him in this way for as long as God permitted it. If he was on a journey, and felt the near approach of God's Spirit, he would stop and let his companions go on, while he drank in the joy of this new inspiration; he refused to offer God's grace an ineffectual welcome( 2 Dorinthians 6:1). He was often taken out of himself in a rapture of contemplation, so that he was lost in ecstacy and had no idea what was going on about him, while he experienced things which were beyond human understanding.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
CHAPTER X : 2