Beauty Ever Ancient, Ever New
What can one say about Saint Augustine, the great bishop and doctor of the Church, who died on this day in the year of Our Lord 430, in the midst of the invasion of the Vandals, a barbarian horde which streamed into North Africa (then Roman territory) from the tip of Spain now known as Gibraltar. Augustine wrote on nearly every topic then known, clearly and profoundly. There is an adage that there was not even enough time for the saint to write what we wrote, even in the long span given to him (he died in his 76th year). Perhaps. Most authors in that era used amanuenses, dictating their works to scribbling scribes; or their sermons were copied by others, from listening or memory.
What we do know is that owe an untold debt to Augustine, to his great mind and soul which he put fully at the service of God, His Church and His people. The philosopher Albert North Whitehead once declared that all philosophy was a footnote to Plato, and we may add that all theology is really a footnote to Augustine. Even if he did not get everything precisely right, his principles, thoughts and ideas form the foundation for theology, as well as many of the quotations used by the later Doctor, Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica and other writings.
We know not what would have happened if Augustine had not converted, had not his mother Monica persevered so many years in prayer and supplication for her wayward son, wandering through the mires of his own hedonism (often exaggerated, methinks), and the thickets of Manichaeism and neo-Platonism.
What we do know is that he did eventually find that ‘beauty, ever ancient and ever new’, which in some way he was searching for all along, and his writings (and prayers) have led countless others to the same happy conclusion.
Would that all restless souls find their rest in Him in this chaotic era of the new Vandals, as did Augustine of old.
Ora pro nobis, Augustinus!
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→
Saint Isidore of Seville, the Internet and Industriousness
Today, April 4th, muted this year by Holy Saturday, is the commemoration of Saint Isidore of Seville (560-636) a bishop and doctor of the Church during a tumultuous age, when civilization was crumbling, coming apart at its very seams, which may sound sort of au courant. Then again, the form of this world has always[…]Continue reading→