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Friday, March 14, 2025

Commemoration of Saints (March 14)

Solemnities, Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials, and Traditional Dates of Commemoration

Leobinus, bishop
Eutychius, martyr
Matilda, widow [1]

St. Leobinus (d. ca. 558 A.D.) worked at the monastery at Noailles and became a hermit with St. Avitus, before entering an abbey near Lyons in France. When raiders attacked this abbey, he was tortured so that he would reveal the treasures of the abbey. He was left almost dead by the raiders but he recovered and rejoined St. Avitus at Le Perche. After the death of St. Avitus, he continued living as a hermit.

Leobinus was eventually ordained and made abbot of Brou. But he resigned to become a monk at Lerins. He returned to Brou at the advice of St. Caesarius. Soon after, he was appointed bishop of Chartres where he instituted reforms and participated in two councils: one at Orleans and the other at Paris. St. Leobinus died on March 14 after a long illness [2].

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [March 14]

Benedict, Abbot
St. Alexander of Pidna, Priest-Martyr

Today, March 14, the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates St. Benedict of Nursia, abbot. Also commemorated today is St. Alexander of Pidna, Priest-Martyr.

St. Alexander of Pidna was a priest of Pidna, near Thessalonica in Greece. He converted many pagans to the Christian faith, and suffered torture and martyrdom through beheading, during the persecution of Christians in the reign of Emperor Galerius [3].

References: Books, Websites & AI Search Results

[1] Pocket Catholic Dictionary, John A. Hardon
[2] Dictionary of Saints, John J. Delaney
[3] AI Overview for search query, "st alexander of pidna", Google.com, March 14, 2025

Thursday, March 13, 2025

The Signs are in the Times

When the "Signs of the Times" become the "Signs are in the Times"

When the Christian faith began among the early communities in the early centuries, everything was perceived and lived as a whole - with theology and spirituality, doctrine and prayer all integrated in the life of the believers. This synthesis was strengthened by the Cappadocians (St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. Gregory of Nyssa) in the East, and St. Augustine of Hippo in the West. This integration and synthesis continued on into the Medieval times through the Dominican St. Thomas of Aquinas and the Franciscan St. Bonaventure.

As the Catholic faith developed further, the synthesis of theology and the spirituality of prayer began to weaken sometime before the beginning of the Eastern Schism of 1054 A.D. It became even more pronounced during and after the Protestant Reformation. What contributed to this weakening were two trends that "compartmentalized" the faith into theology on one side, and prayer and spirituality on the other. It also contributed to the eventual "forgetfulness" of the significance of the Holy Spirit.

The two trends

First of the trends was the division of dogmatic theology and spiritual theology. The former concentrated on the Church's dogmatic and doctrinal formulations, while the latter (spiritual theology) concerned itself with prayer and the individual Christian's relationship with God.

The second trend consisted in the increasing institutionalization within the Church herself. This created a division between the ecclesiastical members of the Church (the clergy and religious) who are concerned with things of the Spirit, and the lay faithful, who are relegated to temporal and secular concerns.

With the development of these two trends, understanding and living the faith since it was lived as a whole in the early centuries was lost. What was also lost was the full biblical vision of the Holy Spirit as One who renews both the Church, and all things pertaining to secular and temporal realities in the world.

Vatican II's contribution

With the charismatic movement flourishing in the 1960s A.D. and the eventual reformulation of the faith through the Second Vatican Council, the Church began to recapture again the deeper sense of tradition rooted in biblical experience and the teachings of the early Church councils. The Council is aptly described as "a grace of God and a gift of the Holy Spirit". Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Second Vatican Council has begun to integrate once more both experience and doctrine, Church and the world, and the clergy and the lay faithful.

A renewed sense of the Spirit in the world

Vatican II made the Church aware again that the Holy Spirit is present in the world - transforming it and renewing all of life. Because of this renewed understanding and perception, the Church again renewed her responsibility to respond to the needs of the world. Looking at the 'signs of the times', the Church now involves all her members, both clergy and lay faithful, to be actually involved in responsibly taking care of the earth and respecting all forms of life in all its stages.

A world in travail (Rom 8:22ff)

In the time of St. Paul, this holy apostle and missionary already sensed that "the whole creation is still groaning in travail". At the dawn of the third millenium, everyone can sense that what St. Paul said still rings true today. Creation indeed is still groaning in travail as global climactic changes have greatly affected many parts of the world. This reality is causing a renewal of faith in God as the author of all creation. As the Church aptly teaches that we are in the "age of the Spirit", it is but fitting to seek the Holy Spirit who "helps us in our weakness" and "who dost the tongue with power imbue" - especially in these uncertain climatic upheavals.

Sources of this blog post

Dictionary of Theology, by editors Komonchak, Collins, and Lane
Devotions to the Holy Spirit, by Brian Moore, SJ

Commemoration of Saints (March 13)

Solemnities, Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials, and Traditional Dates of Commemoration

Euphrasia, virgin
Mochoemoc, abbot
Gerald of Mayo, abbot
Nicephorus of Constantinople, bishop
Ansovinus, bishop
Heldrad, abbot
Roderic and Solomon, martyrs
Leander of Seville, bishop [1]

Today, March 13, the Catholic Church commemorates 3 abbots, 3 bishops, 2 martyrs and 1 virgin. St. Nicephorus of Constantinople, bishop, is also commemorated today by the Churches using the Byzantine Calendar.

Featured in today's commemoration is St. Leander of Seville (ca. 550-600 A.D.). He was consecrated bishop of Seville in about 584 A.D. Leander devoted himself to combating the Arian heresy in Spain. It was his success in this battle that Gregory the Great advanced him to the episcopate, rewarding him with the archbishop's pallium.

St. Leander of Seville did a lot for the faith of the Church:

he wrote treatises against Arianism
converted many of the Arian bishops
converted most of the Visigoths and the Spanish Suevi to the Catholic faith
presided at the third council of Toledo in 589 A.D.
he held a synod in Seville in 590 A.D.
he was responsible for the reform of the Spanish liturgy
he wrote a rule for nuns
he is considered a doctor of the Church in the local church of Spain [2][3]

To prevent confusion as regards his feast days, Wikipedia.org says in its website that, the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches recognise the feast days for St. Leander of Seville on both 27 February and 13 March. These observances are according to particular circumstances. In the Spanish national liturgical calendar, the feast day of Leander of Seville is also commemorated every 13th of November [4].

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [March 13]

Translation of Relics of our father, Nicephor, Patriarch of Constantinople

In the year 846 A.D., the tomb of St. Nikephoros (also Nicephor or Nicephorus) was opened, and the relics were found incorrupt and fragrant. They were transferred to the Church of the Holy Apostles. Since St. Nicephor was against iconoclasm, he left behind three written works against that heresy. He also wrote two historial works, Breviarum and Chronographia [3][5]