Holy Roman Empire surfacing at Nunraw.

Holy Roman Empire surfacing at Nunraw.

After diving into the deeper waters of the historical significance of the Nunraw painted calling, it is only fair to quote from the succinct introduction given by Fr. Michael Sherry's "Nunraw Past & Present", 1950.
The Ceiling. Nunraw's main interest for antiquarians is the painted ceiling executed in tempera and discovered in 1864. Originally it measured 30 feet by18 feet and was composed of 14 strong oaken joists supporting long panels on which the colours had been laid. The ceiling today is somewhat smaller, 20 feet by 17 feet 6 inches, but two other sections are preserved in the National Museum of Antiquities. In each panel the prominent feature is the title and armorial bearings of monarchs who flourished in mediaeval days. The shields give the arms of the kings of Scotland and England, the kings of France, Arragon and the king of Sicily. There are two shields to each panel, the remaining space being filled in by representations of birds, beasts and allegorical figures. In the centre of the ceiling, the words "Gratus Esto"are printed and the monogram "P.C.H." Experts are of the opinion that these letters refer to Patrick Hepburn and Helen Cockburn, his wife, who were owners of Nunraw from 1595 to 1617. Mr. M. R. Apted, M.A., Her Majesty's Inspector of Ancient Monuments, in a recent article (1958) on "painted Ceilings in Scotland," finds corroborative evidence in the symbols used by the painter, some of which can be traced to an emblem book, first published in Lyons in 1557, which was popular and of which a number of editions were published, one in London, 1591, and a final one in Paris in 1622. He is satisfied that "the date of the Nunraw ceiling can be narrowed down to the years following the Union of the Crowns, since one of the emblems depicts the lion and the unicorn seated on either side of the thistle and since the arms of the King of England, although defaced, can be seen to have been quartered with the tressured lion rampant of the Scottish Royal arms." Therefore the date is after 1603 and not later than 1617, when Patrick Hepburn gave Nunraw to his son, John, on the occasion of his marriage to Elizabeth Broun.
I have been finding out some curious comparisons by lining up the parallel Coats of Arms of Nunraw and of St. Macher's Cathedral, Aberdeen.

1. (McRoberts). The crown assigned to the King of Scots is of a different type. Here the royal coat of arms is surmounted by a jewelled circlet of gold, adorned with crosses and fleurs-de-lys, but it has also four arches rising from the circlet, enclosing the top of the crown and carrying an orb and cross over it. This was a new form of crown which was coming into fashion in Christendom. The civil lawyers, imbued with the rising spirit of nationalism,, had been teaching that each individual King was actually an emperor in his own right within his own kingdom. As early as 1469, a Scottish Parliament, in the reign of King James III, had asserted that :”Our Sovereign Lord has full jurisdiction and free empire within his realm”. Such claims to imperial jurisdiction and authority within each kingdom came to be expressed by the use of a crown, enclosed by arches in imitation of the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor. The practice became general and the French phrase “fermer la couronne” - to enclose the crown with arches, came to signify the efforts of a prince to free himself from vassalage to a superior. The French Monarch, Charles VIII adopted the closed crown in 1495. It is usually stated that King Henry VI of England adopted the closed crown in 1485. The King of Scots may have done so at an even earlier date because the closed crown appears on Scottish coins of the year 1483. The question of open and closed crowns was a live topic at the end of the middle ages and it is against such a background that we should view the action of Bishop Elphinstone when he surmounted the tower of his King’s College with a crown closed in the imperial style. And if, as seems probable, the imperial crown over King’s College was gilded then Bishop Elphinstone’s assertion of the independent sovereignty of King James IV would have looked even more spectacular than it does at the present day. The placing of the closed imperial-style crown over the coat of arms of King James V in the Cathedral ceiling was similar eloquent assertion of the independent sovereignty of King James IV’s successor. In the caption added to the coat of arms of the King of Scots, the designer of the ceiling has retained the medieval usage of referring to the royal dignity. The caption read “Regie Celsitudinis” - the coat of arms of "his Royal Highness". It was only at a later date that the imperial style would come into use which referred to a King as "His Majesty".

The Scottish Crown looks like an imperial crown, but there are no pearls on the arches, instead there are two curlicues on each arms. In addition there is a pearl on a gold mounting on the velvet cap in each quarter (so you can see two of them).

2. Comparison the Nunraw and the St Machar’s ceilings of the shield King of England are marked by the interval of some 90 years.
Comment on the 1529 ceiling:
(McRoberts) Only in the fourth place comes the King of England, King Henry VIII, and the coat of arms assigned to him would have been regarded by that monarch as an insult. English Kings were accustomed to quarter the three English leopards with the fleurs-de-lys of France to assert their claim to the French crown. The designer of our ceiling shows scant sympathy for such English pretensions and allows King Henry only the three English leopards.
The later 1607 ceiling shows the faded shield of England as that the King of England, James I. The coat of arms is amply quartered and barred with the full royal credits.

3. Other comparisons raise further questions.
Another domain of Charles V is Sicily.



The corresponding Nunraw version is very difference, assuming the the archaic script indicates Sicily.

There is much scope for research into these Heraldic Shields which our friends in the College Heraldic Club of St. Aloysius might take on board. The 13 November 2007 was a special day for the Petra Sancta Heraldry group and for the whole college. The College Coat of Arms matriculated by the Lord Lyon was officially unveiled by the Archbishop Of Glasgow. This picture was taken to mark the historic occasion.

Holy Roman Emperor - Nunraw Heraldic Ceiling

Holy Roman Emperor and the Kings of Christendom - Coats of Arms.

Heraldic Ceiling St Machar's Cathedral Aberdeen c. 1520

Heraldic Ceiling Nunraw House c.1607

In Nunraw “Past and Present”, the brief history by Fr. Michael Sherry, Nunraw 1946-2003, there is an account of the tempera ceiling painted about 1607. It has always been a subject of interest to visitors. One guest, a young architect from Spain, was interested in the Heraldic Shield of his native Aragon. He found a similar shield in the Ceiling of St. Machar’s, Aberdeen. He thought the Nunraw version was the truer one. This gave us an excellent clue regarding the character of the Nunraw painted ceiling.

The following article is extracted from an excellent paper by Mgr. David McRoberts. This note focuses on the similarity of the Shields on the north side of the St Machar nave, the coats of arms of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Kings of Christendom, and the Nunraw ceiling. It throws so much more light on the understanding of the political, geographical and religious context of this faded work of art which has survived almost 400 years in Nunraw House.

Having discovered this much from two very different Scotiish painted ceilings, there is obviously much more to be learned from other examples such as those of Guthrie, Dunkeld or Dunfermline Foulis Easter and elsewhere.

Scottish Heraldic Ceilings
Taking one particular line of indirect evidence, we might consider the large number of painted ceilings which survive (usually in fragmentary condition) from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries in the churches, palaces, castles and burgh house of Scotland. It would be absurd to imagine that this type of decoration was something which suddenly developed in Scotland in the late sixteenth century. It is only reasonable to assume that these painted ceilings were part of a long-established artistic tradition and, in fact, some surviving fragments of decoration at Guthrie, Dunfermline, Foulis Easter and elsewhere, make it quite clear that richly coloured ceilings were not unusual in medieval Scottish buildings. Some of these ceilings at Guthrie, Dunkeld or Dunfermline for example were painted with scriptural imagery; others we know were resplendent with heraldry. Only two medieval wooden ceilings survive in their entirety in Scottish churches. These two ceilings are both in Old Aberdeen - the ceiling of King's College Chapel and the ceiling of the nave of St Machar's Cathedral. The survival of the ceiling of St Machar's Cathedral is a happy accident for which we should all be grateful, for that ceiling is an extraordinary thing. In the true sense of the word it is quite unique; unique certainly in Scotland, unique in Great Britain, unique in Europe. It is not just a decorated ceiling; it is a vision of the political situation of Scotland and of Christendom at one particular moment in the early sixteenth century, expressed in that picturesque and precise short-hand of history that we call heraldry. - - -

Unusual in a Medieval Church
There are two features of the ceiling of St Machar's which strike one immediately. In the first place it is a flat ceiling. This, as far as we can judge, was unusual in a Scottish medieval church where wooden ceilings were normally given the shape of a barrel vault or of an ogival vault such as that of King's College Chapel. The coffered treatment of this flat ceiling is reminiscent of the splendid renaissance ceilings in the churches and basilicas of Rome and from that source possibly came one of the strands of artistic inspiration which went to the making of this ceiling.

The second feature of the ceiling is its scheme of decoration, and this is what makes it quite unique in Europe. The decoartion of a medieval church had a twofold purpose: to embellish the House of God and to instruct the faithful. Normally the church was decorated with scenes from the Holy Scriptures or from the legends of the saints, so that even the illiterate might gain some knowledge of the teaching of the Holy Scripture or of the virtues of the saints. The obvious duty of the Church was to impart instruction in spiritual things, but the medieval Church did not confine itself within these limitations

The person who designed the ceiling of St. Machar's Cathedral set out to educate the citizens of Aberdeen, and the theme of his instruction was unusual in a medieval church. What he has in fact given us is a comprehensive, illustrated lecture on the contemporary politics of Christendom about the year 1520 - a lecture given with a strong bias in favour of the Scottish Nation. This lesson in politics is as easily understood by us in the twentieth century as it was by the sixteenth century Aberdonians. The ceiling gives a panoramic view of the European community of nations at one of the most critical and dramatic moments of its evolution. The months occupied in the construction of this ceiling, between 1519 and perhaps 1522, saw the climax of the Lutheran revolt in Germany which was to destory the traditional concept of Europe as a united spiritual and political entity. This ceiling records that traditional unity just at the moment when it was about to disappear forever. - - -

Pope and Emperor
Here in this heraldic ceiling of St Machar’s then, we have an excellent example of how the churchmen and scholars of Aberdeen transmitted to the general public new political ideas which were developing on the European mainland. There is no place here for fanciful coats of arms of Julius Caesar, or Juda Maccabeus, or Alexander the Great or Prester John. The ceiling depicts a real practical and everyday world and, because it depicts a real world situation, the Aberdeen ceiling betrays a strong interest in nationalist sentiment. This is simply a reflection of reality because the growth of nationalist sentiment and the emergence of independent nation-states was the really significant political development of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

National rivalries had always been present in one form or another in medieval Christendom. The medieval ideal of the unity of Christendom visualised all Christian peoples of the west as united in one Holy Roman Empire where the supreme spiritual and political power was vested in Pope and Emperor as twin vicars of Christ, each exercising spiritual or political power in the name of God. This ideal never really materialised because Pope and Emperor never agreed on the limits of their separate authorities. Very often for good motives, and not infrequently for other motives, Pope and Emperor quarreled. - - -

Forty-eight shields, arranged in three series of sixteen coats of arms
These features become evident as one examines the coats of arms on the Cathedral ceiling. The general appearance of the heraldic ceiling can be described quite simply. Its heraldic decoration consists of forty-eight shields, arranged in three series of sixteen coats of arms, running the length of the ceiling from east to west. As is fitting in a church, the principal series of coats of arms is that of the Holy Church and this row of shields occupies the central axis of the composition. The line of shields along the south side of the ceiling, which is heraldically the dexter or the more important side, depicts the coats of arms of the King of Scots and the nobility of Scotland. Along the north side of the nave, which is the heraldic sinister side, lesser in importance and dignity, we have the coats of arms of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Kings of Christendom.

Basic to the whole scheme of decoration is the idea that the essential source of unity in Europe was the Christian Church. The Church is central to the whole concept of Christendom, so here it occupies the centre of the scheme of decoration. In spite of the German attacks made on the medieval Church which, in the year 1520 when the ceiling was being made, were reaching their climax, the papacy was still regarded as the supreme spiritual power in Christendom and accordingly the coat of arms of the Pope stands at the head of the ecclesiastical dignitaries. Above this shield is the traditional threefold crown of the papacy, the tiara, and behind the shield are the keys of gold and silver, representing the promise of Christ to Peter. “And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven”. Medieval imagery had translated this promise into two real keys, one of gold, the other of silver; in Milton’s description of St Peter the symbolism of the two metals is made clear :
"Two massy keys he bore of metals twain, The golden opes, the iron shuts amain." - - -

Coats of arms - Emperor and Kings of Christendom
Of the two lines of shields, which run parallel to the central ecclesiastical series, that which runs along the north side of the nave displays the coats of arms of the Emperor and the Kings of Christendom. At the date when our ceiling was being constructed, Christendom was in turmoil as medieval life was giving way to the modern world. The ceiling shows something of the relationship of Scotland with each of the other nations of Christendom at this crossroads of European history.

The dominant figure in early sixteenth-century European politics was the Holy Roman Emperor, the secular equivalent and often the rival of the papacy. The ceiling acknowledges the pre-eminence of the Emperor, whose coat of arms leads off the series of European potentates. The Emperor’s shield bears the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire. The shield is surmounted by the characteristic Byzantine crown and it is described by the caption : “Imperatorie Maiestatis” declaring that this is the coat of arms of “his Imperial Majesty”. This is the only place in the ceiling where the term "Majesty" occurs because at that time this title was reserved exclusively to the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The person who wore the imperial crown at that particular time was the Emperor Charles V. The designer of our ceiling has very sensibly depicted the official coat of arms of the Emperor (the double-headed eagle) and not the personal coat of arms of Charles V. Charles V had acquired so many kingdoms, territories and titles by inheritance, by marriage, by conquest, that his personal coat of arms, with its multiplicity of quarterings and bearings, is the most complicated and elaborate in the whole range of European Heraldry. Charles V bestrode the European political scene like a veritable colossus. In addition to the imperial title, he is the owner of another three shields in this heraldic series of monarchs - Spain, Aragon and Sicily, so that altogether he occupies more than one quarter of this series of European kingdoms. When our ceiling was being constructed about 1520, Charles V who had inherited all the fearful problems of Europe and Spanish America, was as yet only twenty years of age. Over the next thirty-six years, he was to be engaged in almost continual warfare, against France, against the Turks, against the papacy, against the Protestant princes of Germany. One is not surprised that finally he abdicated in favour of his son and retired to a Spanish monastery to nurse his gout, mend his clocks and say his prayers.

The order in which the other monarchs of Christendom are arranged illustrates their various relationships with the Scottish nation. As Scotland’s traditional ally in Europe, the shield with the fleurs-de-lys of France is placed immediately after the Emperor. Next in turn comes the coat of arms of the King of Spain - Leon and Castile, one of the hereditary domains of Charles V. Only in the fourth place comes the King of England, King Henry VIII, and the coat of arms assigned to him would have been regarded by that monarch as an insult. English Kings were accustomed to quarter the three English leopards with the fleurs-de-lys of France to assert their claim to the French crown. The designer of our ceiling shows scant sympathy for such English pretensions and allows King Henry only the three English leopards. There follow the lesser kingdoms and dukedoms of Christendom and, in the last place, there is the delightful inclusion of the pot of lilies and

fret of salmon of the city of Old Aberdeen. This series of coats of arms outlines the full range of secular authority in Christendom from the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, through the kings and princes of Europe down to the town council of Old Aberdeen. It was a hierarchical arrangement of jurisdiction which medieval men would have fully understood and appreciated for the medieval world was an orderly society in which every institution had its correct and proper place. - - -

Bird’s-eye view of the political state of Christendom
The whole ceiling is a superb bird’s-eye view of the political state of Christendom and of the political aspirations of the Scottish nation in the years 1519 to 1521 when medieval values were giving place to the modern world and for the historian this ceiling is an authentic document of absorbing interest.

King of Scots
Apart from the fact that the series of coats of arms of the king and nobles of Scotland is given precedence over the Emperor and monarchs of Christendom, the feature of greatest interest here is the crown placed over the royal coat of arms of King James V. In the series of European monarchs on the north side of the ceiling, each royal coat of arms is surmounted by a simple open crown - a jewelled circlet of gold ornamented with fleurs-de-lys. This was the normal type of crown in medieval Europe and as used here it suggests that each and all of these monarchs are subject to the overall jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Emperor.

The crown assigned to the King of Scots however is of a different type. Here the royal coat of arms is surmounted by a jewelled circlet of gold, adorned with crosses and fleurs-de-lys, but it has also four arches rising form the circlet, enclosing the top of the crown and carrying an orb and cross over it. This was a new form of crown which was coming into fashion in Christendom. - - -

November Month of the Holy Souls

November Month of the Holy Souls
Remembrance Sunday.

There have been some very sad deaths recently, one that of an eight year old boy.
At such moments we are vividly aware of those who have died.
In the month of the Holy Souls some familiar remembrance Hymns are very moving.
As we think of those who have no one to pray for them, the third verse of the Hymn, - They are waiting for our petitions – below are particularly poignant.
The Catholic observance of All Soul’s Day and the Month of the Holy Souls is now re-in forced by the fairly universal Remembrance Sunday of all the Churches.

Souls in Purgatory

They are waiting for our petitions silent and calm
Their lips no prayer can utter, no suppliant psalm.
we have made them all too weary with long delay
For the souls in their still agony, good christian pray.
Requiescant in pace, requiescant in Pace.

For the soul thou holdest dearest let prayers arise
The voice of love is mighty and will pierce the skies.
Waste not in selfish weeping one precious day
But speeding thy love to heaven, good christian pray.
Requiescant in pace, requiescant in Pace.

For the soul by all forgotten, even its own,
By its nearest and its dearest, left all alone,
Whisper a "De profundis", or gently lay
Alms in some beggar's outstretched palm, good christian pray.
Requiescant in pace, requiescant in Pace.

For the soul that is nearest heaven that sees the gate,
Now ajar and the light within and yet must wait,
Ere the angels come to convey it in bright array
For the eager soul so near to joy, good christian pray.
Requiescant in pace, requiescant in Pace.

The soul that most loved Our Lady, for Our Lady's love,
Speed with thy supplication to its home above,
And our Mother in benediction, her hand will lay
Tenderly on thy bowed-down head, good christian pray.
Requiescant in pace, requiescant in Pace.

For the love of the Heart of Jesus, they love it too,
By all the sweet affections that once they knew,
As thou hopest in thy utomost need to find thy stay
In the prayers of those who loved thee once, good christian pray.
Requiescant in pace, requiescant in Pace.

Our loving lips can cry aloud the pleading word
Through all that silent kingdom unknown, unheard.
O canst thou turn from their bitter want coldly away
Kneel humbly at the altar's foot, christian, and pray.
Requiescant in pace, requiescant in Pace.

The accompanying pictures of 12th Station, The Crucifixion, of the Way of the Cross on the South Avenue were taken by friend of the community. On the bark of the beech tree, immediately above the cross, an outline of the figure of the Cross seems to give the pictorial image for that meditation of the Crucifixion.

ALL SAINTS

SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS 2007.
Br. Barry Community Sermon

The word bridge does not occur in the Bible, at least not in the King James version nor, as far as I can make out, in the Jerusalem Bible. No doubt this is a reflection of the undeveloped state of technology in the Israel of biblical times compared to the civilizations that surrounded it.

Still, it is surprising that Divine Providence should omit such a basic religious symbol from the source book of Christianity. The bridge as a symbol is widespread in the religions of the world. Just one example, no self-respecting Zen Buddhist meditation garden is without its bridge. Divine Providence would wait for thirteen hundred years after the time of Christ’s life on earth before bringing the symbol of the bridge into the Church’s spiritual treasury. Surprisingly, perhaps, it would make use of a woman to do so. Less surprisingly, a woman from the land of those master bridge builders – the Romans.

St. Catherine of Siena, in the book which she dictated shortly before her death, uses the allegory of the bridge to stand for Christ. Christ the Bridge re-unites heaven and earth. But from where did St. Catherine get the inspiration for so powerful an idea. Was it the bridge in the city of Florence over the River Arno which she lived close by to for some time, a bridge already centuries old in her day ?

Or was it the even more famous bridge at Avignon with its twenty two arches ? St. Catherine visited the Pope in Avignon the year before she began composing her book. All this goes to show simply that the saints are products of their time and place, the society in which they live, the culture they grow up in. Someone has written ‘ Christ does not substitute himself for the personal life of his saint, a saint’s personal characteristics are not overlaid, smudged out or distorted by his sanctity’. These personal characteristics will to a large extent be shaped by cultural background.

St. Catherine’s countryman St.Philip Neri is known for his joy. Yet even this joy was learned. One of his biographers describes the Florence St.Philip grew up in as ‘ a joyous culture which had spread from the aristocrats to the most humble citizen’ and the most popular preacher in Florence when St. Philip was a boy, by name of Arlotto, was famous for his buffoonery. St. Philip himself tells us that this man had a great influence on him.

Or take St.Therese of Lisieux of whom Thomas Merton said, no doubt with tongue in cheek, that the greatest wonder of her life was that God could raise up a saint out of a nineteenth century, French, petite-bourgeois, provincial town. Be that as it may, St. Therese would surely never have come to sanctity if she had tried to be anything other than a child of that particular background.
The fact of the matter is that she learned the deep faith that was the basis of her sanctity from her mother.

Of course, the feast of All Saints is principally about the countless unknown saints whose names do not appear in the various calendars. Many of them would be unknown not just because those in the society around them might not be too interested in virtue and goodness and not just because their faults and weaknesses may have hid their sanctity from others but also because they would have shared much of the general attitude of their own time. For instance, how many holy men and women of the past accepted unquestioningly the institution of slavery. Pope John Paul the Second once said ‘even the experiences of great saints are not free of the limitations which always accompany the human reception of God’s voice’. The unknown saints too are children of their time.

Today’s feast can hardly be separated from tomorrow’s commemoration of All Souls nor indeed from the whole month of November, the month of the dead. Both liturgies point towards heaven, specifically as the goal of human life. There is no simpler natural symbol of heaven than that of light shining in darkness. It is the primordial religious symbol of the human race. So it is most appropriate that remembering the dead should often be associated with the lighting of candles, although not in this community. All Saints has its candles as well. It is true that this is only the usual Lauds and Vespers candles of a solemnity but this is the first Solemnity since the summer on which it is dark at Vespers time. The winter darkness closes in and the human spirit instinctively looks around for the perpetual light.

A line from today’s Mass instructs us that ‘today we rejoice in the saints of every time and place’. In doing so we thereby give some sort of credit to the multitude of societies and cultures that were the cradle of their humanity. This is one of the ways that the following declaration in the Second Vatican Council’s ‘Gaudium et Spes’ is realised: ‘the Christian community feels itself closely linked with the human race and its history’.

In summary, the saints are products of their time and place. The saints are human. The feast of All Saints directs us towards heaven.

Halloween – All Hallows

Halloween – All Hallows

Regaled in fancy costumes, two of the Guesthouse helpers went off this evening to the Childrens’ Halloween Party at Immaculate Heart Parish, Balornock. They were to put in a surprise appearance for the celebration.

The Celts, Scots & Irish, are credited with inventing Halloween. They hollowed out turnips to make lamps, and the ancestors thus processed to light the way of the spirits back to where they came from. Celtic Christianity has carried on the tradition with the spirituality and sense of the presence of God and Mary and all the saints hovering and helping in human life.

The Halloween the Scots and Irish brought to America has been returned from across the Atlantic in the multiplied commercialism of the annual celebration.

The parallel boom in Celtic spirituality serves somewhat to give us a better perspective.

“Will only a few be saved?” in the Gospel reading this morning is the kind of question that theologians love.

As always, prayer is a step ahead of theology. The opening prayer could not have been better on target with the answer;
“praised be to you, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no power of good which does not come from your covenant
and no promise to hope in that your love has not offered”.

To give the theologians their due, Hans Urs von Balthasar, regarded by Paul VI as one of the greatest theologian of our time, wrote a book called “Dare we hope that all will be saved?” His answer was a resounding, not only dare we hope, but we are obliged to hope, that all will be saved. St. Augustine seems to have got himself on to a sidetrack stating he knew there were people in hell.

Von Balthasar is clear on the fact that if we say we know there are people in hell, we are saying more than we know, or if we say we know there is no one in hell, that also is more than we know. His conclusion comes out of his weighty considerations, “We don’t know, but we hope”.

St Aloysius Pupils Orchestra Rehearsal

St Aloysius Pupils Orchestra Rehearsal

October 29-30. Visit by members of St. Aloysius College pupils, orchestra.

Most of those attending Mass this morning were the pupils from the orchestra group of St. Aloysius College. So I decided to use the Memorial of St Alphonsus Rodriguez, Jesuit Laybrother.

Another Alphonsus (Ligouri) was doctor of the Church, another, Alonso Rodriguez (also Jesuit), wrote volumes on the ascetical life. Alphonsus the Jesuit Laybrother was noted for his great humility.

Today’s Gospel words, ‘The kingdom is like a mustard seed planted in the ground’, leads to the thought that to genuinely know our own selves we need to be humble.

Oracle of Delphi is often credited with the secret, “Know thyself”. Basic to St Augustine, St. Bernard and Fathers of the Church, a young priest gave this quotation his own spin, “Was it Socrates or his first cousin once removed who said that each of us would do well to know ourselves?”

“The story is told of the woman tourist in Germany. The guide took a group through Beethoven's house. He showed them the piano on which the genius had composed his Moonlight Sonata. A woman in the group immediately sat down and played some bars from the sonata. The guide told the group that Paderewski had recently been shown the piano. The woman gushed, "And I wager he sat down and played just as I did." Archly the guide said, "No, Madam, he said he was not worthy to touch those keys."

Budding musicians take note.

Royal Mail Christmas Stamps

Royal Mail Christmas Stamps
- issue 6 November 2007

The Royal Mail has published a booklet on the coming Christmas Stamps. The good news is the return of the sacred art in the Christmas Mail. Last year’s images were of snowmen Santa Clauses and reindeer.

Congratulations to the Royal Mail for putting Christ back into Christmas.

After much effort I failed obtain the advertised productions Online. In the end this was only possible by Ordering by phone.

The Royal Mail provides its own commentary on the new stamps as follows.

“This year’s Christmas stamps mark a return to a religious theme with traditional Italianate representations of angels created by Italian illustrator Marco Ventura who works on gesso coated paper. The two Madonna stamps were produced in reaction to a popular demand for stamps bearing an overtly Christian image and will be reissued in future years.

The two Madonna & Child stamps feature two classic paintings of the image. 2nd class - William Dyce, c. 1827. In pearly light, the sweet faced young Madonna cradling her child before a limpid landscape, clearly shows the influence of Renaissance art, particularly of the young Raphael. Dyce led the way and in turn became a supporter of the radical group of young English painters, the Pre-Raphaelites. 1st Class - The Madonna of Humility, Lippo di Dalmasio, c. 1390-1400. Extensive damage and centuries of repairs have dimmed but not eclipsed the grace of The Madonna, crowned with 12 stars, against a disc of golden light, recalling Saint John’s vision of the Woman of the Apocalypse, “clothed with the sun”, in the Book of Revelation”.

Pray for Hamish

Abbot Raymond asks for prayers for Hamish

Dear Associate,

I wish to share with you a very personal letter which I am sending off to a close relative of mine who has just been diagnosed as having a terminal illness.

Mon. 28th Oct.

Dear Hamish,

It was good to hear you on the phone the other day in spite of the bad news. I hope you don’t mind if I take the opportunity to write some words of encouragement.

There is a verse of the Psalms which is very appropriate for you at this time. If you can read it with faith as being truly God’s word, with all the power and meaning that that implies, then I am sure you will find great comfort and support in it. The verse is:“Be strong! Let your heart take courage, and hope in the Lord”

When God says: “Be strong!” His word creates the power it is asking you to stir up in yourself.

When he says: “Let your heart take courage”, He himself plants that courage in your heart. You only have to open it to him.

When he says: “..and hope in the Lord.” He isn’t asking you to hope that he will heal you or will do this, or that for you. He just means you simply to hope in himself, without any conditions. And he assures us that “Your hopes will not be disappointed”.

Your strength and courage come from him in just the same way as they come from your family, from Nadia and the kids.

So dear Hamish, I pray that you will enter fully into the mystery of God’s powerful word.

With love and blessings and prayers.

Raymond

_____________________________________
“Be strong! Let your heart take courage, and hope in the Lord”

Our Lady of Vallarpadom
Miraculous Shrine,Kerala, India

Catholic Students Union, Edinburgh University Chaplaincy.

Catholic Students Union, Edinburgh University Chaplaincy.
The Dominicans have had the care of the Chaplaincy at St. Albert's since 1931.
Fr. Tim Calvert OP and Br. John Martin McGowan OP joined some 20 CSU members for a weekend Retreat.
At the concluding Mass they were present at the Abbey Church for the Community Concelebrated Mass.

Afterwards the group foregathered at the foot of the Cross in front of the Church for a photo call with Abbot Raymond.

NUNRAW MONKS

NUNRAW MONKS

Abbot Raymond Jaconelli was interviewed by SCOTTISH CATHOLIC OBSERVER’S columnist MARY McGINTY as part of a series on the Religious Life.

Friday October 19 2007

CISTERCIANS

- now, first of all, whenever you begin to undertake and good work, beg God with moist earnest prayer to bring it to completion.

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A LIFE OF simple prayer and work. That is how the abbot of Nunraw describes the calling to the monastic life. "The main work of the monk is prayer; he doesn't have any external apostolate such as parish work", says Dom Raymond Jaconelli. "It focuses on the prayer life of the Church and of the monk as an individual.

"Prayer is a living, growing relationship with God and is a rich, rewarding experience always opening into new horizons," Dom Jaconelli goes on. "People who don't pray haven't a clue what they are missing. The psalms cover the gamut of human need -of longing and aspiration - and in that way we pray for the needs of the world."

In the heart of the Lammermuir Hills, Nunraw Abbey is a few miles from Haddington, near Edinburgh, but it is far from the cynicism and the material constraints of secular life. Life in Nunraw is unfettered and unencumbered by the false promises of materialism.

Although Christ did not instigate religious orders it was just a matter of time before God's will led to the formation of monastic life. By the 3rd century monks were emerging in Egypt and Syria, with Basil among the monastic 'greats' giving the life the first of its rules in the 4th century.

The Cistercian order was founded in the early 12th century in France, coming to Scotland in 1136 and establishing an abbey at Melrose. The current Nunraw abbey was established in 1946 and its buildings constructed in 1952-69 with the help of many volunteers. Where once it was home to 60 monks, today there are just 15. They live by the Rule of St Benedict with the customs of the Cistercian order.

School groups are regularly welcomed to Nunraw. A student recently asked: "When you have lived your monastic life, what do you have to show for it? Dom Jaconelli replied: "The world is full of achievers in business, politics, and in professional lives but that does not make them great in God's eyes. A lot can be hard-hearted, proud, arrogant, and greedy. It is not what you become in life -as society understands it- but what you achieve in God's eyes."

It is the withdrawal from the outside world that allows the monks to be at its service. In times of disaster while the strick­en await aid the prayers of the monks are with them. "The help that can reach [people] is often limited by funds available, by political barriers, and by transport," the abbot explained. "But the people's need is immediate and only prayer can answer that. It is instant and it goes to the heart of where it is needed. It is a help that is not available through material resources.

"So in that way," he stated, "we see ourselves as living and praying for the world."

An austere life it may be but it is fulfilling. Possessed of a warm and cheerful nature, Dom Jaconelli clearly finds great satisfaction in it. He is full of humour, recalling anecdotes as he talks. His vocation at the age of 18 was an obvious one, which he readily embraced, wanting God to be the main focus of his life. He remembers fondly the life he enjoyed when he joined the monastery. In a large community the heavy fieldwork was shared and provided a rhythm to their lives.

Today the work of the farm is carried out by machinery-with the monks spending hours driving a tractor.

Farming methods," said the abbot, "have been the biggest change in Cistercian life."

The monk does not join to become a priest; rather he is answering the call to monastic life. In time the abbot may call him to the priesthood, seen as enrichment. Fr Jaconelli said that because it came through the abbot he was surer of his priestly voca­tion than if he had looked for it himself.

The 3.15am rise to begin the day's prayer is compensated for by going to bed early. "With the best will in the world once the working day has begun the cattle have to be fed and the dinner has to be cooked," said Fr Jaconelli. "Praying through the night is a long tradition of monastic life-it is one time you are going nowhere and you have nothing to do; you are free for the Lord."

The Benedictine rule of silence applies in its various forms throughout the day. Since the mechanisation of the farm the monks no longer use sign language during periods of complete silence. With the men operating machinery and requiring permission to speak, sign language was no longer appropriate.

Following the rule of St Benedict, hospitality is the apostolate of the Cistercians. As Benedict states in his rule: "Let all guests be received like Christ Himself, for He will say: I was a stranger and you took me in."

A guesthouse is not an extra in the life of a monastery but an integral part of it. For those who stay at Nunraw guesthouse, it may be a short experience but one that leaves a lasting mark. Couples arrive regularly with their children who, in their turn, bring their families.

Atlas Martyrs.

In 1996 the Cistercians suffered a devastating blow when seven monks were taken hostage in Algeria and killed two months later. In the same year a community in Zaire was forced to flee its monastery. Throughout the world in almost 100 com­munities of monks and over 60 of nuns, the order is called to the Cistercian life.

Whether or not they are in perilous situa­tions or in the 'martyrdom of the humdrum,' the Cistercians are witness to the mystery that God is love.

Permission of Ian Dunn, Editor, SCO

NOVEMBER AND THE HOLY SOULS

The Abbot receives a lot of mail from varied sources. On his desk he found a Newsletter from an unknown shrine in France. It was from the "The World Centre of Prayer for the Souls of Purgatory", Our Lady of Montligeon. It was a reminder of the approaching Month of the Holy Souls.

Abbot Raymond, Tuesday Chapter evening Talk
NOVEMBER AND THE HOLY SOULS

Some people find the doctrine of Purgatory hard to understand, however, when properly understood there is nothing more obvious than the need for a "Purgatory".

When we die, we may be very sorry for our past sins, in which case they will certainly be forgiven.

But the problem is, not the sins that have to be forgiven, but the origin and source of those sins.

If our sins were merely a baggage that we had to dump in order to enter heaven, that would be no problem. But our sins of pride came from a spirit that was proud, and that spirit has to be humbled, and that will be painful.

Our unkindness and the pain we have caused others came from an unkind and uncharitable spirit and that spirit has to be broken, and that will be painful.

Our selfish behaviour came from a spirit that was inward looking and selfish and that selfishness has to be split open and that will be painful.

So when we come before God it is not so much a question of merely being forgiven but of being purified and changed.

It is not because we have sinned that we cannot enter Heaven but because, and in so far as, we are yet sinners that we need to be purified to enter there.

That is Purgatory.

God bless

Fr Raymond

Will God not answer them?

Abbot Raymond, Sunday morning Chapter Talk

Will he not answer them? Will he delay?

Will he not answer them? Will he delay? These are the key phrases in today’s gospel teaching on prayer.

As so often, the Jerusalem Bible text differs from the great majority of other English translations, and, in this case, it differs also from the Latin. Six other translations, and the Latin, and therefore very likely the Greek, have the sense:

“Will God not answer them? Will he delay? No, indeed! He will certainly answer them! He will not delay!”

The J.B. on the other hand says not “He will not delay” but almost the opposite: “Even if he delays”. That is the more rational approach, because our experience tells us that he does seem to delay – and that delay can be for a very long time.

But I think that, though this is a rational interpretation, it is far from a theological one; as so often, Jesus is proposing one of his many hard, hard, sayings. The very point Jesus is proposing to our faith is that not only will God answer but that his answers are always speedy, dare we even say: instant. God doesn’t say: “Well, just give me a bit of time. Let me think about it first before I make finally make up my mind”.

The rational approach sees no visible tangible answer and therefore presumes that there has been no answer. But the theological and spiritual approach, the approach of faith, presumes a mystery here; it lives by mystery; it breathes mystery. It always presumes on the invisible realities of our relationship with God. It trusts in the inner, hidden answer, which never fails. It trusts in the answer of grace, an answer infinitely more real and powerful and fruitful than the answer that is tangible and passing.

Is that not why Jesus concludes this teaching with the sigh: “Can the Son of Man find any faith on this earth?