Thursday, September 29, 2011

Michaelmas - Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, 29 September


Saint Michael the Archangel,
Defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the
Wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him,
We humbly pray.
And do thou,
O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
By the Power of God,
Cast into Hell
Satan and all the evil spirits
which prowl about the world,
Seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.




From the Medieval Saints Yahoo Group:

The Dedication of Saint Michael the Archangel, Michaelmas Day
Hebrew "Mikha El," (Who is like unto God?), Venerated by Jews, Christians and Muslims

Commemorated September 29: the dedication of the sanctuary which was built on Monte Gargano in honor of the apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel. This feast is very ancient.

Also commemorated on May 8th a lesser feast is observed to commemorate the appearance of St. Michael on the summit of Mount Gargano in Apulia during the time of Pope Gelasius (492-6).

Devotion to Michael was common in the East during the fourth century and the Western Church began to observe the feast sometime in the fifth century. In the offertory anthem of the mass for the dead, St. Michael is charged with the care of all departed souls, "holy standard bearer, introduce them to the holy light, which thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed."

St. Michael's Day, or Michaelmas is one of the Medieval Quarter days. The celebration was marked by harvest festivals, hospitality, costumes, music and dancing. Many popular traditions grew up around the day, which coincided with the end of harvest and the end of the fiscal year.

Patronage: champion of the Jewish people, against temptations, ambulance drivers, artists, bakers, bankers, banking, battle, boatmen, coopers, danger at sea, dying people, emergency medical technicians, EMTs, England, fencing, Germany, greengrocers, grocers, haberdashers, hatmakers, hatters, holy death, knights, mariners, milleners, paramedics, paratroopers, police officers, radiologists, radiotherapists, sailors, security forces, security guards, sick people, soldiers, Spanish police officers, storms at sea, swordsmiths, watermen, protector of the Nile

In art, he is shown as an angel with a sword raised, standing over the devil or a dragon; holding a balance, a pair of scales, which he uses to weigh the souls; "Quis ut Deus" is often inscribed on Saint Michael's shield.





St. Michael the Archangel
http://www.stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/id183.htm

The Church has never canonized angels. If we pay liturgical honors to the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, we give them the title saint because they have always been in heaven.

All three archangels are now venerated in a common feast on September 29, which used to be St. Michael's feast alone. Because the new common feast seems to diminish his importance, let us consider him a little more at length in connection with his other feastday, the Apparition of St. Michael, formerly observed on May 8.

The name Michael means, of course, "Who is like God?" He is represented as perhaps the chief angel in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Several early apocryphal writings do the same. While these writings are not accepted as scriptures by the Church, they nevertheless testify to popular devotion to the "generalissimo" of the heavenly hosts.

Michael was regarded as the protector of the Israelites, especially in the days of their captivity in Babylon. "Michael, the great prince," the Old Testament prophet Daniel calls him, "guardian of your people." (Dn,12:1). In the New Testament Book of Revelation, St. John speaks prophetically of the ultimate victory of Michael and his regiments against the army of the great dragon, Satan. After a mighty struggle, Michael casts the enemy down to earth. (Rev.,12:7-9). Thus St. Michael, protector of Israel, was also hailed as the protector of the New Testament's People of God.

Churches dedicated to St. Michael in the Mideast date from as early as the fourth century. In the West, the cult of Michael became widespread, particularly after his alleged apparition around AD 500 in a cave in Mount Gargano, southeast Italy. The archangel revealed to the local bishop, St. Lawrence of Siponto, that he should erect a shrine there in honor of the archangel himself and all other angels. This St. Lawrence did, and the "Mount Santangelo" soon became a noted place of pilgrimage.

St. Michael also figures in the annals of Pope St. Gregory the Great. During the pestilence that struck Rome in the year 590, Gregory organized a great penitential procession about the streets of the Eternal City to beg God to withdraw the plague. Tradition says that when the march passed by the massive tomb of Emperor Hadrian, St. Michael appeared on its summit sheathing his sword, and the epidemic ceased. Today Hadrian's fortified tomb is called the Castel SantAngelo - Castle of the Holy Angel - and for centuries it has been topped by a statue of St. Michael, dressed in the armor of a Roman soldier, returning sword to scabbard. In Rome, therefore, St. Michael is considered both healer and defender.

The other major Western shrine of the Archangel is the famous Mont St. Michel, a rocky outcropping off the coast of Normandy, France, where the bishop of Avranches established a Benedictine monastery in AD 708; again, we are told, on the advice of the Archangel Michael. In Cornwall, too, near the city of Penzance, there is a little offshore island resembling Mont St. Michel, which in medieval times was likewise the site of a Benedictine monastery that became an English place of pilgrimage.

Pope Leo XIII had the soldier-angel in mind when he ordered that a prayer to St. Michael and several other prayers be recited by priest and faithful at the end of every low Mass. The date of this order was 1884 - an era in which Germany was engaged in a stern persecution of the Catholic Church. Vatican II cancelled the rule, but the invocation to the Archangel is still appropriate - indeed, necessary in our troubled times:

"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do you, O prince of the heavenly host, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and the other evil spirits who roam through the world seeking the ruin of souls."


--Father Robert F. McNamara

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Michaelmas(se)
http://www.camlann.org/michelmas.htm

In the middle ages, Michaelmas(se) celebrated the end of the harvest. It marked the official end of the farming and accounting year. This was an important time, when manor books were closed out, rents paid, a new reeve (the chief officer of the village) was chosen, and storehouses stocked for the winter ahead. Celebration of this holiday traditionally was symbolized with "glofe, gees, and gyngeuer." The glove represented the open-handedness and generosity of the lord of the village, goose eaten for good luck in the coming year ("If you eat goose on Michelmasse day, you will never want money all year"), and ginger, believed to provide protection against infection. The harvest feast paid the laborers for their boon work with meat, fish, ale and good bread.

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More on St. Michael at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j093sdMichael_9-29.htm




Links:
Patron Saints Index - St. Michael

Women for Faith & Family - St. Michael and All Angels

Variations of St. Michael Prayer

Pictures of St. Michael

Recipe - Michaelmas Goose with Traditional Potato & Apple Stuffing

St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall

Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy

Skellig Michael, Ireland

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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Perry Stays on Message: Attacks President Zero on Jobs, Economy; Romney Detracts from Message by Attacking Perry and Texas on Jobs

Just another reason why I will NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, EVER vote for that effete, liberal, establishmentarian, pro-abort, government-health-care-mandating piece of RINO $h!+, Mitt Romney.

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Friday, September 16, 2011

Jimmy Carter Would Be “Very Pleased” to See Romney as GOP Nominee

Well, at least somebody other than Al Gore is excited at the prospect of Dullard Flipp Rhyno becoming the GOP nominee.

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Thursday, September 15, 2011

"Sweet Thing"














And I will stroll the merry way
And jump the hedges first
And I will drink the clear
Clean water for to quench my thirst
And I shall watch the ferry-boats
And they'll get high
On a bluer ocean
Against tomorrow's sky
And I will never grow so old again
And I will walk and talk
In gardens all wet with rain

Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
My, my, my, my, my sweet thing

And I shall drive my chariot
Down your streets and cry
'Hey, it's me, I'm dynamite
And I don't know why'
And you shall take me strongly
In your arms again
And I will not remember
That I even felt the pain.
We shall walk and talk
In gardens all misty and wet with rain
And I will never, never, never
Grow so old again.

Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
My, my, my, my, my sweet thing

And I will raise my hand up
Into the night time sky
And count the stars
That's shining in your eye
Just to dig it all an' not to wonder
That's just fine
And I'll be satisfied
Not to read in between the lines
And I will walk and talk
In gardens all wet with rain
And I will never, ever, ever, ever
Grow so old again.

Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
Sugar-baby with your champagne eyes
And your saint-like smile....


Thank you, Sarah, my "Sweet Thing", for the 10 happiest years of my life. Happy 10th Anniversary.

I love you!

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Monday, September 12, 2011

Hey, Santorum, Call Your Bishop ...

... and ask him what he thinks about a border fence.

I have to laugh at all these candidates with ABSOLUTELY NO EXPERIENCE on actual immigration issues scoffing at the governor of a border state who knows how idiotic is the concept of a 2000-mile wall along the Mexican border from Brownsville to Tijuana. The two guys from Texas (Perry & Paul) know how unworkable it is, while a couple of Yankees from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts act like "experts" on the matter.

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Pawlenty Reveals True Establishment RINO Colors; Gets Upstaged by Jindal

Heh. Loser.

Also, Romney's Social Security scare-mongering gambit fails to pay off, as Perry continues to poll ahead by double digits (faring even more strongly among seniors). Double heh.

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Thursday, September 08, 2011

Digest of Today's Posts (8 September 2011)

Mark Steyn: Perry Right, Romney Wrong on Social Security

I Genuinely Despise Mitt Romney

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Mark Steyn: Perry Right, Romney Wrong on Social Security

[SERIOUS CONTENT WARNING - I am in one of those moods UPDATE: Okay, mood has passed, so I've edited for content]

It's bad enough for a Republican (albeit a flip-flopping, pandering, pro-abort, health-care-mandating, Rockefeller RINO fraud) to resort to the demogogic Social Security scare tactics of the left in attacking another Repubican primary opponent, but I honestly NEVER thought I'd see the day when National Review would actually defend such nonsense. [REDACTED]

Fortunately, not every contributor at National Review has been coopted into pro-Romney hackery. Apparently, it takes a politically correct socialist "paradise" like Canada to produce a conservative intellectual with the clarity of thinking and ability to concisely cut through all the crap to get to the heart of the obvious truth of the sort that was once the hallmark of National Review, before it became a polical organ of the eastern establishment GOP:
... The fact that Rick Perry’s statement of the obvious is even “controversial” is testament to how diseased our public discourse is. Nevertheless, Maggie concludes by saying we should cut everything else until we’ve “fully funded Social Security for the next 50 years”:
A pension plan with an army. From a libertarian perspective, is that so bad?
Assuming that’s a serious question, I’ll rise to the bait. Taxing young people ever more onerously to prop up entitlements for older generations who enjoyed all the benefits of a prosperous America their grandchildren will never know is a great way to sever what little is left of the social compact...

... Whether or not, as Maggie says, 25-year-olds vote for Social Security, more and more Americans understand that we have looted the future to bribe the present, and that Social Security is Exhibit A in that indictment.
Exactly. Romney would rob your children to satiate his desperate yearning to be in the White House. I expect that from Democrats and leftists. Not people claiming to be "conservative". That makes him worse than Obama in my book.

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I Genuinely Despise Mitt Romney

I've long detested Romney, and didn't think he could fall any lower in my estimation. I was wrong.

Let me make myself perfectly clear (in case I haven't been up until now): I will NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, EVER vote for this flip-flopping, pandering, pro-abortion (YES, HE IS), health-care mandating, Rockefeller RINO fraud. If I knew with absolute certainty that my vote would be the difference in his beating Obama, I STILL wouldn't vote for that fraud Romney.

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Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Another Reminder, Just In Case I Haven't Been Abundantly Clear on This Before ...

... I will NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, EVER vote for that fraudulent, flip-flopping piece of RINO shit, Mitt Romney.

If I knew for a fact that my vote would make the difference in Romney defeating Obama, I STILL wouldn't vote for that fraud. I'm not sure I can adequately express just how much I truly despise Mitt Romney, but the fact that I'd be willing to countenance the possible re-election of Obama than to sully myself by casting a vote for Romney comes pretty close to revealing the low esteem in which I hold him.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Romney to Criticize "Career Politicians" in Shot at Perry [UPDATED]

Romney's "Winning" Message to Voters? "I Worked With Ted Kennedy to Pass RomneyCare"

"Pro-Life" Fraud Romney Refuses to Sign Pro-Life Pledge

Romney: ‘‘I’m Also Unemployed’’

Paperback Romney vs. Hardback Romney

Just Another One of My Occasional Reminders ...

Mitt Romney: Pro-Choice? Who, Me?

Time for Yet Another Periodic Reminder to the GOP Power Brokers and Pundits ...

Is Mitt Romney the REAL WINNER of the Massachusetts Special Election?

Have I Mentioned Lately ...

Regarding Mitt Romney, My Sentiments Exactly

A Theory [UPDATED]

Why Does Kmiec Criticize McCain for Positions on Which He Gave Romney a Pass?

You Stay Classy, Mitt

The Anchoress: "Convince Me of the Merits of Mitt"

Romney's Free Ride On Abortion

Romney and the Florida GOP Debate

InsideCatholic: "Why Mitt Romney Is the Best Choice for Catholic Conservatives"

Sam Brownback Says Mitt Romney Needs to Address Abortion Change

Massachusetts Conservatives Back Brownback Over Romney

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Thursday, September 01, 2011

Digest of Today's Posts (1 September 2011)

  • So, Let Me See If I Have This Right ...

  • Why Some Portions of the Old Testament Are Binding on Christians and Others Are Not

  • Labels:

    So, Let Me See If I Have This Right ...

    ... so-called GOP "insiders" believe that, in this center-right country (that is actually more "right" than these GOP "insiders" would care to admit), an inexperienced hard-core leftist with an Arabic name can be elected President a mere 7 years after 9/11, but the experienced, longest-serving Governor of the 2nd-largest state with a record of economic growth and job creation can't get elected against a weak, hard-left President responsible for the worst economy since the Great Depression and the biggest deficits in history?

    Yeah, right. Methinks the GOP "insiders" are full-of-shit Romneybots.

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    Why Some Portions of the Old Testament Are Binding on Christians and Others Are Not

    A MUST READ post at The American Catholic from my friend, Don McClarey regarding the Council of Jerusalem and why some Old Testament proscriptions are still binding on Christians while others are not:
    ... It is a good question and sometimes confuses Catholics and non-Catholics. The answer to the question is in the very earliest history of the Church. After the ascension of Jesus, the apostles went about the great task of making “apostles of all the nations”, and Christianity began to spread among Jew and Gentile alike. The question quickly arose as to whether Gentile converts would have to be circumcised (the males only of course!) and follow all of the Jewish laws regarding ritual purity...

    [...]

    Tensions over the issue of whether Gentile Christians should be required to follow all of the Jewish ritual purity laws, were settled doctrinally once and for all at the Council of Jerusalem in 49 AD which issued these decrees:

    20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

    21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

    The Gentiles were therefore not to be required to live like Jews. They were required to follow the ten commandments and the major teachings of the Old Testament, but the laws of ritual impurity were not to apply to Christians...


    [Read the whole thing]
    My Comments:
    I don’t believe I have ever seen this issue explained more clearly and concisely. This should be a “must read” and a “must link” throughout St. Blog’s.

    Save this one away in your favorites, folks. Keep it handy to access for whenever the topic inevitably rears its head. As Don says in the comments, "The Old Testament laws and their applicability to Christians is an issue that keeps coming up in current debates and Catholics need to know that the answer is a pretty simple one."

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