All the Sisters of
the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary
had now left Stykkishólmur.
In their place we now have a community of a Congregation
founded only twenty-five years ago in Argentina
who are attracting many vocations:
the Sisters of the Servants of the Lord
and the Virgin of Matara
To mark the change we have replaced the picture of the
remarkable Mosaic of Saint Francis at the main door
of the Hospital with a photograph of the Chapel
and the adjacent parts of the Convent -
taken under the light of the Midnight Sun!
To find the current sermon, and the archive,
use either the language buttons below,
or the Google Translator Gadget
lower down on the left hand side:
Íslenska – Polski – English ‒ Français – Spanish – Portuguese
Á hverjum sunnudegi og stórhátíðum
Niedziele Zwykłe, Uroczystości
For Each Sunday and Major Feast Day
Pour chaque dimanche et solennité
We are experimenting with Spanish and Portuguese Translations
For both we are having to fall back on automatic translations
by the new Google translation programmes, which seem to be better
than those of the Google translation gadget
For both of these, CLICK on the language buttons above!
Clicking on these language buttons will take you to the Index
to all of the Sermons since the foundation of this Web-site:
Icelandic, Polish and English from Fourth Sunday in Advent 2004;
French regularly since Twenty-Fourth Sunday of this Year.
The newest Sermon is at the top of the Lists
We invite to experiment with the Google Translation Gadget
It provides an instant translation in many other languages of the first half of our admittedly very full front page:
most of the European languages (including those which use the Cyrillic script), also Greek and Hebrew together with Arabic and some Asiatic languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Philippino).
The TRANSLATION OF ALL THE SERMONS now proves to be very simple:
Go to the translation Gadget and select the language of which you want a translation; then go to the Google print-out which is produced very quickly; CLICK ON the English language button (if it has not already been translated into your language of choice; that will give you a translation of the English language Index - in all of these actions an English original of the titles or the current sentences will accompany the Mouse movements;
you will have in fact added another index of your own choice language to the Archive!
So you just CLICK ON the index designation of the Sermon you want; they remain in the same order, with the most recent at the top!
In the same way, you can have translations of all the materials provided through Links: "CLICK HERE!" starts the translation of the piece which you select,
(How to reach the materials provided in the bottom half of the front page remains problematic for the moment.)
In the same way you can have translations of the back page, by clicking on either link: "Photograph of Stykkishólmur".
To avoid confusion we leave the Translation Gadget on the most recent and current sermon in English (Quick Link: "CLICK HERE!").
>
At the bottom of this page, Poems and Links to Stykkishólmur Videos
(Click on "Poems" or "Videos")
Besides these Sermons
please look through the materials below on this page
which contains texts from Pope Benedict XVI,
and also browse through the many links provided on the back page
(for which, click on photograph of Stykkishólmur, either here,
or near the bottom of this page)
It will be a good idea to publish regularly good sermons on the internet, particularly in different languages. These will guide the faithful to integrate the proclamation of the Good Message in their daily life. May the Lord bless this initiative and make it fruitful !
in Christ,
+Péter Bürcher Bishop of Reykjavik
The psalmist speaking of the Truth that comes to us from the apostles, sings,
"Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world" (Ps.19v.4). I commend the apostolic work on the Internet of our brother Edward Booth OP and pray for Christ's blessing on him on all who use this web site.
John Farrell OP Prior Provincial
Icelandic Translations by Thorkell Örn Ólason
Polish Translations by Ewa Kondraciuk
Pour les Français et les Francophones d’où qu’ils viennent.
Nous avons pris conscience que nous recevons des visites par des internautes francophones.
Vous êtes naturellement les bienvenus.
Vous trouverez la traduction française des homélies pour dimanches et solennités.
Le lien se trouve sous la photographie du haut, parmi les autres liens linguistiques.
Si vous considéreriez de faire cette tâche chaque semaine,
ou si vous connaissez un autre qui le veut,
priez d'écrire au rédacteur par Email:
booth.edward@gmail.com.
ou vous pouvez prendre contact avec lui par un appel "Skype-In"
par téléphone
Pour le moment utilisez le "Google Translation Gadget"
which will translate the sermons from the English when you utilise the
English language button after having sought the French version -
or the versions of any other language - on the "gadget"
We should be happy to consider the possibility of having translations in other languages
5th Sunday of the Year:
After Jesus had preached from Peter's boat at Capernaum, Our Lord suggests that they should cast off and go to the nearby deeper water - where they catch a great weight of fish; Peter senses the divinity in him
When we were looking for paintings to illustrate this theme, the most evident illustrated the other miraculous catch at the direction of the Risen Christ from Saint John's gospel - and then this one appeared, which evidently is based on the occasion of the gospel, and is based pn the most intimate of Peter's confessions of faith. Probably it is a section of a larger painting.
Nevertheless the painting series by the French artist Betrand Bahuet of the Life of Saint Peter, which dates from the 1990s, remains a firm favourite which we have used more than once, and we have decided to add it because the thematic of fishing is the same, and we ought to have an interest in presenting modern Christian art, because otherwise we shall remain cocooned in the past - and there are modern artists who modern and relevant, and, like the renaissance artists at their best, present us with thoughtful and spiritually perceptive art.
This wall painting of Saint Paul was discovered in the catacomb of Saint Thecla.
which is not far from the Basilica of Saint Paul-outside-the-Walls
The dust and incrustations of centuries were removed by a lazar apparatus
For an article on it from the (London) Times-On-Line
click on this web-site address:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6597914.ece
Material on Saint Paul brought together
for the Pauline Year
At the request of Bishop Pierre Bürcher of Reykjavik, this web-site offered its own materials.
They included come thoughts on all of the references to him in the Acts of the Apostles, thoughts on all of his Epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews, and other materials
including discourses of Pope Benedict XVI.
We are retaining them here for the use of visitors to the web-site.
They will be kept here, identifiable from the Logo for the year (above).
They are on a linked page: CLICK HERE!
It is all ordered chronologically according to its date of inclusion, and can be found on this list by using the command "Find". Clicking on the title will take you to the document itself.)
3 February: General Audience
of the Holy Father
ON ST. DOMINIC
"He Always Spoke With God and About God"
Dear brothers and sisters,
Last week I presented the luminous figure of Francis of Assisi; today I would like to speak to you of another saint who, in the same period, made an essential contribution to the renewal of the Church of his time. It is St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, known also as the Dominican Friars.
His successor in the leadership of the order, Blessed Giordano di Saxony, gives a complete portrait of St. Dominic in the text of a famous prayer: "Inflamed by zeal for God and supernatural ardour, by your limitless charity and the fervour of a vehement spirit, you consecrated yourself wholly with the vow of perpetual poverty to apostolic observance and to evangelical preaching." It is in fact this essential feature of Dominic's witness that is underlined: He always spoke with God and about God. In the life of saints, love of the Lord and of neighbour, the seeking of God's glory and the salvation of souls always go together.
Dominic was born in Spain, in Caleruega, around 1170. He belonged to a noble family of Old Castille and, supported by an uncle priest, he was educated in a famous school of Palencia. He was distinguished immediately for his interest in the study of sacred Scripture and for his love of the poor, to the point of selling books, which in his time constituted a good of great value, to help victims of famine with what he collected.
Ordained a priest, he was elected canon of the chapter of the cathedral in his native diocese, Osma. Although this appointment could represent for him some motive of prestige in the Church and in society, he did not interpret it as a personal privilege, or as the beginning of a brilliant ecclesiastical career, but as a service to render with dedication and humility. Is not perhaps the temptation to a career, to power, a temptation to which not even those who have a role of leadership and governance in the Church are immune? I recalled this a few months ago, during the consecration of some bishops: "We do not seek power, prestige or esteem for ourselves. [...] We know how in civil society and often also in the Church things suffer because many people on whom responsibility has been conferred work for themselves rather than for the community" (Homily, Cappella Papale per l'Ordinazione episcopale di cinque Ecc. mi Presuli, Sept. 12, 2009).
The bishop of Osma, who was named Diego, a true and zealous pastor, very soon noticed the spiritual quality of Dominic, and wished to make use of his collaboration. Together they went to Northern Europe to carry out diplomatic missions entrusted to them by the king of Castille.
While travelling, Dominic became aware of two great challenges for the Church of his time: the existence of people who were not yet evangelized, in the northern limits of the European continent, and the religious scourge that weakened Christian life in southern France, where the action of some heretical groups created disturbance and a falling away from the truth of the faith. Missionary work on behalf of those who do not know the light of the Gospel and the work of re-evangelization of the Christian community thus became the apostolic goals that Dominic intended to pursue. It was the Pope, to whom Bishop Diego and Dominic went to ask advice, who requested the latter to dedicate himself to preaching to the Albigensians, a heretical group which held a dualistic concept of reality, that is, of two equally powerful creative principles, Good and Evil. This group, consequently, had contempt for matter as coming from the principle of evil, even rejecting marriage, and reaching the point of denying the incarnation of Christ, the sacraments in which the Lord "touches" us through matter, and the resurrection of bodies. The Albigensians esteemed a poor and austere life -- in this sense they were even exemplary -- and they criticized the wealth of the clergy of that time.
Dominic accepted this mission enthusiastically, which he carried out precisely with the example of his poor and austere existence, with the preaching of the Gospel and with public debates. He dedicated the rest of his life to this mission of preaching the Good News. His sons would fulfil St. Dominic's other dreams: the mission ad gentes, that is, to those who did not yet know Jesus, and the mission to those who lived in the city, especially in the universities, where new intellectual tendencies were a challenge for the faith of the well-educated.
This great saint reminds us that a missionary fire must always burn in the heart of the Church, which drives incessantly to take the first proclamation of the Gospel and, where necessary, to a new evangelization: Christ is, in fact, the most precious good that men and women of all times and all places have the right to know and to love! And it is consoling to see how also in the Church of today there are so many -- pastors and lay faithful, members of old religious orders and of new ecclesial movements -- that with joy spend their life for this supreme ideal: to proclaim and witness the Gospel!
Other men associated themselves to Dominic Guzmán, attracted by the same aspiration. Thus, gradually, from the first foundation of Tolosa, was born the Order of Preachers. Dominic, in fact, in full obedience to the directives of the Popes of his time, Innocent III and Honorius III, adopted the ancient Rule of St. Augustine, adapting it to the needs of apostolic life, which led him and his companions to preach, moving from one post to another, but returning, later, to their own monasteries, places of study, prayer and community life. In a particular way, Dominic wished to highlight two values considered indispensable for the success of the evangelizing mission: community life in poverty and study.
First of all, Dominic and the Friars Preachers presented themselves as mendicants, that is, without vast properties of land to administer. This element rendered them more available for study and itinerant preaching and constituted a concrete witness for the people. The internal government of the Dominican monasteries and provinces was structured on the system of chapters, which elected their own superiors, confirmed later by major superiors; hence, an organization that stimulated fraternal life and the responsibility of all the members of the community, exacting strong personal convictions. The choice of this system stemmed precisely from the fact that the Dominicans, as preachers of the truth of God, had to be consistent with what they proclaimed. Truth studied and shared in charity with brothers is the most profound foundation of joy. Blessed Giordano of Saxony said of St. Dominic: "He received every man in the great bosom of charity and, because he loved everyone, everyone loved him. He made a personal law for himself of being joyful with happy persons and of weeping with those who wept" (Libellus de principiis Ordinis Praedicatorum autore Iordano de Saxonia, ed. H.C. Scheeben, [Monumenta Historica Sancti Patris Nostri Dominici, Romae, 1935]).
In the second place, with a courageous gesture Dominic wished that his followers acquire a solid theological formation, and he did not hesitate to send them to the universities of the time, even though not a few ecclesiastics regarded with diffidence these cultural institutions. The Constitutions of the Order of Preachers give great importance to study as preparation for the apostolate. Dominic wanted his friars to dedicate themselves to study, sparing no effort, with diligence and compassion -- to study founded on the soul of all theological learning, that is, on sacred Scripture, and respectful of the questions posed by reason.
The development of culture imposes on those who carry out the ministry of the Word, at various levels, to be well prepared. Hence I exhort all, pastors and laity, to cultivate this "cultural dimension" of faith, so that the beauty of the Christian truth can be better understood and faith can be truly nourished, reinforced and also defended. In this Year for Priests, I invite seminarians and priests to appreciate the spiritual value of study. The quality of the priestly ministry depends also on the generosity with which one applies oneself to the study of revealed truths.
Dominic, who wished to found a religious Order of Preachers-Theologians, reminds us that theology has a spiritual and pastoral dimension, which enriches the spirit and life. Priests, consecrated persons and also all the faithful can find a profound "interior joy" in contemplating the beauty of the truth that comes from God, truth that is always up-to-date and always living. Hence, the motto of the Friars Preachers -- contemplata aliis tradere -- helps us to discover a pastoral yearning in the contemplative study of such truth, by the need to communicate to others the fruit of one's contemplation.
When Dominic died in 1221 in Bologna, the city that declared him its patron, his work had already had great success. The Order of Preachers, with the support of the Holy See, had spread to many countries of Europe to the benefit of the whole Church. Dominic was canonized in 1234, and it is he himself, with his sanctity, who indicates to us two indispensable means for apostolic action to be incisive. First of all, Marian devotion, which he cultivated with tenderness and which he left as precious legacy to his spiritual children, who in the history of the Church have had the great merit of spreading the prayer of the holy rosary, so dear to the Christian people and so rich in evangelical values, a true school of faith and piety. In the second place, Dominic, who took care of some women's convents in France and in Rome, believed profoundly in the value of intercessory prayer for the success of apostolic work. Only in Paradise will we understand how much the prayer of the cloistered effectively supports apostolic action! To each one of them I direct my grateful and affectionate thoughts.
Dear brothers and sisters, may Dominic Guzmán's life spur all of us to be fervent in prayer, courageous in living the faith, profoundly in love with Jesus Christ. Through his intercession, we ask God to enrich the Church always with genuine preachers of the Gospel.
Some French School-girls present at the audience with their
Dominican Sister-Teachers:
Before the final Blessing a group of Jumpers and Tumblers
from the American Circus gave a wonderful performance ...
... of which the Holy Father was very appreciative
Two very good Video Sites which
provide Video Coverage of the events of
the Holy Father
Sigurður Ragnarsson has written to your Editor to recommend two sites.
i) The first is Italian, and posts long excerpts in very high quality pictures within a few days, the language normally being Italian. The source web-site provides this link:
ii) The second is the well-known YouTube whose videos are short, but of high quality.
They have established a "Vatican Section", which is accessible by this address:
http://www.youtube.com/vatican
Icelandic Web-Sites:
Recommendations for two web-sites of Sigurður Ragnarsson
i) We have already strongly recommend Sigurður Ragnasson's web-site:
This web-site is essentially of scientific hagiography [= the Lives of the Saints].
He gives a life of the Saint in Icelandic which is a composition of his own, and adds to it a considerable number of references some of which are to texts of the Saint's writings.
His newest entry is Saint Thorlock. Church Fathers, medieval Saints and modern Saints will be found there, together with carefully selected illustrations. He adds the latest one on the top of the others. I was particularly interested in what he had compiled about Saint Ephraim, the Syrian deacon-Father of the Church. Some of his works in in poetry.
Sigurður tells me that he has lived for many years in Denmark, and that could easily mean that he is not well-known amongst the Icelandic Catholic Community.
ii) He has written to tell me of a second web-site which he opened today - 29 September.
It is another hagiographical site which begins a well-chosen strip photograph with portraits of the four Latin Father of the Church, and continues with some most interesting archaeological sites, ranging from the Faroe Islands to the site of the tomb of Saint John the Evangelist at Ephesus.
The web address is: http://helgisetur.wordpress.com - there is no "www".
He is open to expansion of this site with other cooperators.
The Catholic Archbishop of Westminster (London)
interprets three polychrome statues
from Seventeenth Century spain
now being shown in the national gallery in london
(Just click on the arrow at the bottom left of the display;
you will probably be more comfortable with "full screen" -
the symbol is on the bottom line)
for a further explanation see the national gallery web-site: click here!
THEN CLICk on "VIEW EXHIBITION" ON RIGHT HAND SIDE
CLICK HERE!
a) Recollections
Saint Paul and the Incarnation (December 2008)
Polskie tłumaczenie Ewy Kondraciuk tekstu pt. "Święty Paweł i Wcielenie", które można znaleźć pod angielskim tłumaczeniem na specjalnej stronie. Proszę KLIKNĄĆ na powyższy link. Na stronie, która się otworzy proszę kliknąć na bezpośrednią ZAKŁADKĘ linku na górze strony
The Incarnation of Christ and the Wellsprings of Life (December 2007) CLICK HERE!
The Pasch of Jesus at Jerusalem (March 2007) CLICK HERE!
Shepherds and Kings (December 2006) CLICK HERE!
b) Papers on Philosophy, Theology, Science
God as the Source of Mass = Energy
[Einstein's proposition:
Energy = mass x speed of light squared: E = mc²] CLICK HERE!
A possible Philosophical Ordering for Martin Rees’s Just Six Numbers
[Sir Martin Rees is the English Astronomer Royal. His "six numbers" are five ratios between contrary forces in the formation of the cosmos together with the number '3'. The writer thinks that the Naturphilosophie of Schelling has a number of alignments with the content of modern cosmogony-cosmology which could be helpful in having a comprehension of its vast material] CLICK HERE!
In connection with both of these papers on cosmogony, you may be interested to see the astronomical "Photograph of the Month" taken from CERN Courier many of which are of galaxies and many taken with the Hubble Telescope: CLICK HERE! Then, if that link does not take you directly to this section, click again at this title on the top line of the page.
We have just added a collection of ten photographs of galaxies taken by the Hubble telescope, and voted on by astronomers: CLICK HERE! A closer link is also placed immediately below the section with the astronomical "Photograph of the Month".
Pagan Suffering Servants in Schelling's Philosophy of Mythology
[In proposing the existence of potencies which lie behind the whole mythological process which ended in Christianity as the religion of freedom, Schelling produced a study of comparative religion which reached far beyond the often supposedly objective but factually lifeless studies. His courses of a Philosophy of Mythology in Munich and then in Berlin alternated with courses of a Philosophy of Revelation. In lectures 14-16 of the course prepared by his son-editor for publication in his collected works, we find, written within a philosophical figure different from that of the other lectures by being more historically conceived, his reflections on the analogies between the Suffering Messiah-Servant in the Prophesy of Isaiah and the Greek God Dionysos and the divinised Hercules (with Melkarth his Phoenician counterpart) - all to be interpreted in relationship to the continued functioning of the same potencies.] CLICK HERE!
YOU CAN WATCH AND HEAR THE
GENERAL AUDIENCES
OF THE HOLY FATHER
Your Editor has tried to provide some advice on how to find the TV transmissions of the
In the past your Editor has tried to provide some help to find a Video presentation of the appearances of the Holy Father.
He has recommended in the past to find the
U.S. web-site of Mother Angelica (using as a search guide the initials "EWTN" (Eternal Word Television Net). As the programmes are streamed live, go to the web-site a little before the time the programme begins - calculating the Rome time in relationship to your local time, if you are following the programmes as given on the Vatican web pages.
But the transmissions from "Radio Vaticana" are now much improved, as is the way to find them.
For "Radio Vaticana" (not for the Vatican, and the Vatican link to "Radio Vaticana" does not include a link for video), use the following address:
http://www.radiovaticana.org/
en1/web_tv.asp You can, of course, embed this address in another player - such as "Real", or "VLC" (="Videolan").
29 June: The Holy Father has sent a Letter
to the Catholics of China
The BBC Reports that the Holy Father has sent a 28-page letter to the Catholics of China.
For a link to this article, written by the BBC Rome Correspondent, David Willey, and dated (in Rome Time) just before Midnight on 29 July, CLICK HERE!
In the left hand column are links to BBC Reports to a previous initiative in January 2007, with which this initiative is clearly related.
An examination of the news pages of the Vatican gives no information about it.
As reported by the BBC, Asia News.it reports a meeting of 'patriotic' Bishops being called today by the Government to discuss how to react to this Papal initiative, which it describes as "soon to be published". For this page of the edition of 30 June (under heading of 'China'), CLICK HERE!
The Letter has been published in two versions of Chinese, in English French and Italian
at midday, 30 June. For the full text as published by the Vatican web-site, CLICK HERE!
Together with this there is i) an 'Explanatory Note': CLICK HERE!
and ii) a short 'Declaration': CLICK HERE!
Viewers may like to know the official Chinese reaction.
For the statement of the spokesman if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, made on 30 June, please CLICK HERE!
Asia News.it reported on 3 July that the Beijing authorities have banned Catholic web-sites from showing the Holy Father's letter, though the ban it is being evaded. Already it is impossible to receive the Vatican web-site in mainland China. This may be due to the compliance of western web-browsers. CLICK HERE!
We recommend our viewers to follow the situation - and many other situations in the whole of Asia - through this excellent and trustworthy web-site.
However, going through the news links provided by "Google News" on 3 July under "Pope China", the situation as reported from China and in western journals is not so uniform: some are more positive about the present situation, some more negative, some are plainly confused. One thing is certain: that the brief statement of the Foreign Office spokesman on 30 June can by no means be considered an answer to the long and detailed letter of the Holy Father.
We recommend viewers, beside consulting Asia News.it on internet, that they should look at the news reports linked through "Google News" through keywords like "Pope China".
Having reviewed the situation at the week-end of 7-8 July, we can report that there has been no dramatic development: no new initiative from the Vatican, and sporadic minor reactions from the Chinese government agencies, but not from the government itself. The impression is given that the underground Church is happy, but circumspect in giving its reactions, and that the government controlled Church has managed to give a few positive reactions to it, but always mindful of the power which the government has over it.
At this stage we can do no better than give a link to the article in Asia News.it on Saturday, entitled "Subdued but predictable reactions in China to Pope’s letter". CLICK HERE!
For the week-end of 14-15 July we can give a reference to an interview by Raphaela Schmid, Director of the Becker Institute for Religions Liberty, entitled "The Pope, China and Church Unity", in "Catholic On-Line" which will up-date the information and references given so far. It is recommended.
But still there has been no at least open major initiative reported from either the Vatican or from Beijing: CLICK HERE!
17 July: a new Bishop for Beijing has been nominated within the state-controlled Church. A Catholic News Service report announces this and reports on how such Bishops have sought an gained approval from the Holy Father: CLICK HERE!
24 July: the Vice-President of the 'Patriotic Association' - the state-promoted organisation which runs the state-tolerated Cathiolic Church, Liu Bainian, gave an interview to the Italian Repubblica, in which he expressed the hope that the Holy Father would visit Beijing. See article in Catholic News Agency (CNA): CLICK HERE!
26 July: AsiaNews.it had an article in which it interpreted a modification of that position, presumably under pressure: "Liu Bainian goes back on his invitation to Pope, and the government talks of “changing times”. For which, CLICK HERE! (Then click on the title for the full article).
The article reports the Chinese Vice-Premier as saying at the fiftieth anniversary of the Patriotic Association: "“The new century, with its new tasks in the new stage, has new demands for the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. There is hope that the association will inherit the outstanding tradition of being patriotic and loving the church, remember its holy mission, and strengthen its work with a spirit that changes with the times”. A strange kind of language for such an important member of the Government. See the reaction of Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, in the same article.
29 July: Zenit, the Rome-based Catholic News Agency, reported that four Chinese priests have been arrested for refusing to join the "Patriotic Association". For the article: CLICK HERE!
[4 August: in parallel with its policy towards the Catholic Church, the Chinese Communist Government has decreed that in future, all reincarnations of Buddha - of which followers consider the Dalai Llama to be one - must be approved. For an article in AsiaNews.it : CLICK HERE!]
10 August: if you go to this page in AsiaNews.it you will find the synopsis of articles on the linkage between the Beijing Olympic games and relations of the People's Republic of China and the Holy See. Notice in particular the Dossier, mentioned in the right hand column. There is also a summary of the present diplomatic situation. CLICK HERE!
30 August: we have been looking for signs of further developments following on the Pope's letter to Chinese Catholics, but there seems to have been no significant development both on the side of the Vatican and on the side of the Chinese government.
However AsiaNews.it does report that a Chinese priest, Father Jiang Sunian, belonging to the unofficial Church has been released after nearly a year's imprisonment. He had been arrested, together with his Vicar General after a visit to Europe, during which both were received by Pope Benedict. Their Bishop is reported as having been confined to the officially recognised Cathedral. For the report, CLICK HERE!
7 September: after a report that the Chinese government and the 'official' Catholic Church were going to press ahead with 40 episcopal ordinations without reference to Rome, AsiaNews.It, regarded as a very reliable source of information, reports on their web-site of this date that an episcopal ordination of an official Bishop, sanctioned by the Pope, will take place on 8 September. As a result of this, many of the underground Church have accepted it as an approval, and have moved out of hiding for the ceremony. CLICK HERE! Google also has a number of links for this story.
21 September: The episcopal ordination of Msgr. Li Shan is described and commented in a further article in AsiaNews.It . It took place with a congregation of 1,000 people, with two government representatives, and also representatives of the Patriotic Association. CLICK HERE!
24 September: The new Bishop of Beijing says "I wish to thank the Holy Father ..." - reported in AsiaNews.it: CLICK HERE!
News on China can always be found on this web-site by clicking the Menu at "China".
2 November: AsiaNews.it reports that the Chinese government has issued a strongly worded warning that the Dalai Lama must not visit the Pope, as his motives are really political.
22 November: AsiaNews.it reports that a Chinese priest has been given a three-year sentence for inaugurating a state-sanctioned Church. CLICK HERE!
7 December: AsiaNews.it has two reports in the recently consecrated Archbishop of Guangzhou the southern Metropolis of China, Mgr. Joseph Gan Jungiu. He was nominated by the Government through the Patriotic Association, but his consecration was deferred until recently. One article concerns the ordination ceremony, the other an interview which he gave on his diocese. Short versions of these articles will be found through the page which you reach if you CLICK HERE! If you then click on the small articles (rather low on the page, and side by side) you will be taken to the longer version.
22 December: Associated Press brings together a number of reports, including the news of a third Episcopal consecration in which there has been an agreement between the Beijing authorities and the Holy Father: CLICK HERE!
More than 120 Islamic Scholars have written a letter to the Holy Father and other Christian leaders,
calling for peace between Christianity and Islam
as representing the spirit of Islam
Here we give you a link to a BBC web-site article, which has a link to the complete text. It is in PDF form, and needs an Adobe Reader.
Raise the size of the type-face to 150% and scroll continuously downwards. Altogether it is 29 pages long. CLICK HERE!
A Response to this letter was written
by the Pontifical Institute
for Arabic and Islamic Studies on 25 October
We give a link to the ZENIT Translation: CLICK HERE!
The Middle East:
Despite the fragility of the Peace
this Sunset seen from Beirut conveys a Sense of Peace
|
|
In so far as the situation in the Middle East remains a matter of concern, where the highly problematic relationship between the Palestinians and Israelis remains unresolved, the situation in the Lebanon has not returned to complete normality, and in view of the importance of the Holy Father's recent visit to Turkey, we retain the links to the news services which can provide information which does not appear in the western press. In particular we continue to draw attention to the Italian new agency which provides a version of its information and dossiers also in English (and Chinese): AsiaNews.it
For Vatican news we give you a link with the weekly English version of the Osservatore Romano (CLICK HERE!),
as also with daily version of the Osservatore Romano (CLICK HERE!). This is in Italian, but it should be possible to block a passage and to obtain a computer translation into other languages through either the Google translation facility (which follows on the Google home page: "Language Tools" - on the right, or through the translation facility of the search-machine "Alta Vista", clearly marked on the opening page.
The Vatican Information Service ("VIS") produces a daily Bulletin at about midday, which contains a resumé of the Holy Father's activities up to the morning of publication. It is distributed freely by Email. You can request a free copy on the English section. CLICK HERE!
For AsiaNews.it (Catholic News Agency: English, Italian, Chinese) CLICK HERE!
For Lebanon: Nahernet (English and Arabic) CLICK HERE!
For Arab World: al Jazeera (English) CLICK HERE!
- also for the Arab World we have added the Dubai-based al Arabiya (English) CLICK HERE!
For Iran - a non-specifically Christian News Agency: Press TV CLICK HERE!
For Israel: The Jerusalem Post (English) CLICK HERE!
- also for Israel we have added the on-line edition of Haaretz which combines a higher quality of journalism and an openness to dissenting opinions: CLICK HERE! .
For the pages on the BBC News "MIDDLE EAST CRISIS In Depth": [CLICK HERE!] .
It includes access to new videos.
For coverage from the US in CBS News (with videos) CLICK HERE!
STOP PRESS on the Iraq Crisis:
al Jazeera of Sunday 15 July reports the Iraq Prime Minister as saying, in disdainful tones, that
"US forces can leave".
Is the American leadership aware of this? CLICK HERE!
If they are not, the world press is aware. On 21 July Google.com produced about 1½ million page references for "Iraq Prime Minister American Forces can leave"
NEW!
ANOTHER STOP PRESS 11 months later.
The US and Iraq are discussing the extension of the American presence after the end of the year, when the current agreement runs out.
The same Prime Minister is involved.
Today, 13 June 2008, it has been announced by the Iraqis that the talks have broken down.
For the BBC News Page CLICK HERE!
EVEN NEWER!
After this statement the Iraqi Prime MInister went to Amman, the Jordanian Capital, where he raised the possibility that Iraq would "ask/demand" the withdrawal of American forces when the current agreement comes to an end - at the end of the year. "Iraq has another option that it may use," Maliki said during a visit to Amman, Jordan. "The Iraqi government, if it wants, has the right to demand that the U.N. terminate the presence of international forces on Iraqi sovereign soil."
From McClatchy internet newspaper of 14 June (HIgh quality reporting with a section on Iran): CLICK HERE!
[For those who do not know about this source, cf its web-page:
"SInce 1857.
The McClatchy Company is the third-largest newspaper company in the United States, a leading newspaper and internet publisher dedicated to the values of quality journalism, free expression and community service. Building on a 151-year legacy of independence, the company's newspapers and websites are steadfast defenders of First Amendment values and advocates for the communities they serve."]
For a web-site article in al-Jazeera, dated 14 June, on the matter,
The McClatchey article of 15 June puts all the factors together, American and Iraqi: "U.S. security talks with Iraq in trouble in Baghdad and [Washington] D.C."
AsiaNews.it carries an informed and positive assessment of the letter written in the name of 138 Moslem leaders and scholars on the need of peaceful relations between Christians and Moslems: CLICK HERE!
An Italian News Agency (AGI) reports that the Iraqi Prime Minister has sent his reassurances to the Holy Father concerning the attacks on Christian Churches (condemned by Iraqi Imans), and invited him to Baghdad: CLICK HERE!
Here is a more recent piece by père Jean-Marie Mérigoux O.P.
on the present situation in Iraq, with some photographs.
(This has been displayed else where on the web-site):
How should we speak of Iraq Today?
Please CLICK HERE!
At the top of the page you will find links to:
1) the English translation;
2) Photographs taken during the visit of père Mérigoux to the Iraqi Catholic community at the Church which they use in Istanbul;
3) the original French text.
We publish here a contribution from Père Jean-Marie Mérigoux O.P.
- the text of a lecture which he gave last October in Toulouse giving valuable information on the Eastern Churches:
Patriarcats d'Orient et culture arabe
[The Eastern Patriarchates and Arabic Culture]
For the moment we give an English translation on a separate page, for which CLICK HERE!
The French original is placed directly beneath it, and can be reached by a short cut, by clicking at the top of the same separate page.
WITH THE HOLY FATHER IN ISTANBUL:
père Jean-Marie Mérigoux O.P. Writes on
"L'Esprit d'ISTANBUL"
Père Mérigoux O.P. has now sent his "Letter to Parents and Friends" to tell them, in some detail, about his visit to Istanbul when the Holy Father was there.
The text of his letter is not short, and will be given here in both French and English,
we are publishing it here on a separate page.
Version Francais / French version: CLIQUEZ ICI!
Traduction Anglaise / English translation: CLICK HERE!
We invite you to see the collection of photographs of Istanbul made by père Jean-Marie's nephew, which are near the top of the back page - which you can find by clicking here.
A New Website has been established for most of the Vatican Museums
including the Art Gallery (Pinacoteca)
and the Sistine Chapel
For the link to the Home Page: CLICK HERE!
For the list of Museums, click next on "Vatican Museums Online"
Note that when you use the "Zoom" device, the image first becomes blurred, and then falls into focus
The Holy Father Articulates the Nature of the Spiritual Experience
which should result from a Visit to the Vatican Museums:
VATICAN MUSEUMS, WHERE FAITH AND ART INTERTWINE
VATICAN CITY, NOV 24, 2006 (VIS) - Yesterday evening, in the Hall of Blessings in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, Benedict XVI received directors and employees of the Vatican Museums, which this year are celebrating their fifth centenary.
In his talk to them, the Holy Father pointed out how so far this year over four million people have visited the Museums, 200,000 more than in 2005. A large part of the visitors "are not Catholics," he said, "and many are not even believers."
"The approach to Christian truth through artistic or socio-cultural expressions, has a greater chance of appealing to the intelligence and sensitivity of people who do not belong to the Catholic Church, and who may sometimes nourish feelings of prejudice or indifference towards her. Visitors to the Vatican Museums, by dwelling in this sanctuary of art and faith, have the opportunity to 'immerse' themselves in a concentrated atmosphere of 'theology by images'."
Pope Benedict then went on to mention "a truth written into the 'genetic code' of the Vatican Museums: that the great Classical and Judeo-Christian civilizations are not in opposition to one another, rather they come together in God's unique plan. Proof of this is to be found in the fact that the earliest origins of this institution may be traced back to a work we could well define as 'profane' - the magnificent sculpture of Laocoon - but that, in reality, in the setting of the Vatican, acquires its full and authentic light. It is the light of human beings formed by God; of freedom in the drama of their redemption, drawn between earth and heaven, between flesh and the spirit. It is the light of a beauty that shines from within the work of art, and brings the spirit to open itself to the sublime, to the place where the Creator encounters the creatures made in His image and likeness."
"The Museum truly shows how Christianity and culture, faith and art, the divine and the human, constantly intertwine. And in this regard, the Sistine Chapel represents the insurmountable pinnacle."
The Pope concluded his talk by stressing the importance of the example Vatican Museums employees show visitors, "offering them a simple but incisive witness of faith. A temple of art and culture such as the Vatican Museums requires the beauty of the works to be accompanied by the beauty of the people who work there: a spiritual beauty that renders the atmosphere truly ecclesial, impregnating it with the Christian spirit."
Would you recognise these men as a group of Carthusian Monks who are pausing in the course of the walk which they must make once a week together, normally on a Sunday?
They belong to the great Carthusian House in France, named "La Grande Chartreuse"
There are other Carthusian houses in the world which are reviving.
They are not monks but hermits: their long cloister is a corridor which links their individual little houses together, where they spend most of their time.
Their life is the life of purest contemplation .
No doubt a special vocation, but the whole Church, and indeed the rest of the world profits from their continual search for God.
After a sixteen year wait, a German film director has been given permission to make a documentary film of the life of these Religious. It is almost entirely silent.
Already it has won recognition and awards. It will be released during February. Its title is
Into Great Silence
If you go to the Home Page for the film (for which CLICK HERE!) you will find on the coloured rectangle on the right a menu with a number of connections. If you pass your mouse over them and click on the different lines they will become defined and clear. We especially recommend clicking on "Links". The links appear on the left hand side of the frame. If you click the one at the top, "Chartreuse", you will find a multi-lingual web-site on the different Carthusian houses.
If you CLICK HERE! you will go to the opening page of "Movie-List"
You will find the link to the Trailer clearly marked at the bottom. The link to the home page of the film company is in the middle; it does not seem to have a link to the home page of the film.
A You-Tube Video with Plainchant
from the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz
near to Vienna CLICK HERE!
This Video has also links to other YouTube Videos of monastic and musical interest.
Note that the music provides a continuous background to an introduction to the Abbey - and it is not correlated to the ceremonies and other views which are introduced.
The style of singing is without any dramatisation which sometimes intrudes: a prayerful, modest and honest way of the choral singing of plainchant.
Pope Benedict XVI visited the Abbey last year during his visit to Austria.
An article from La Croix explains how this Video clip led to the choosing of their choir for the recording of the chant on a CD by a prestigious American recording company. The Holy Father himself was very impressed with their chant during his visit: CLICK HERE!
This page also has a link with the Video-clip.
Your Editor made in late summer 2008 a
Visit to Estonia
and offers you a small collection of photographs which he took
They are on a special page
for which CLICK HERE!
In addition your Editor was moved to write a poem in which he remembered
firstly the Song Festival which he attended just before the end of Communism, named "Bridges of Song", and the Night Song Festival which lasted six hours,
and took place during August.
At the bottom of the page their is a link with a "You-Tube" Video of one of the Songs; there are Videos of other songs which come with this one: CLICK HERE!
For some photographs of the reception offered at
Blackfriars, Cambridge,
on his 50 years of priestly ordination
celebrated on 29 September,
please CLICK HERE!
already published in this web-site,
and brought together here.
For full English original texts and translations, use the links;
here we give some
brief extracts:
"Candlemass":
. . .
Oh, what it contains!
The Godhead and its instantaneous Radiance.
What enhancement it gave to the Presentation,
that a human Mother
should present God to God
(more than “in Templo Templum”!)
and redeem Him
by taking Him back as visible.
Let the pure points of candleflame
be carried
in a universal honour,
whose intensity is infinite
at the root of every one of its points:
a bush-blaze in concentration.
As within the blazing whole,
so within the searing point –
so made by blessing.
. . .
To celebrate the Feast a poem on "Candlemass" (cf the Icelandic "Kyndilmessa")
was written from within the Community in English. It was translated into Polish (by Ewa), into French (by the Editor (with much help, especially by Jeanine Gordon), and into Icelandic (by Þorkell).
All of which are to be found on a special page: CLICK HERE!
"Joseph of Arimathea"
. . .
“It is fulfilled”
cried the voice of the Crucified.
His body passed the limit of living with pain,
his spirit drawn from him and
causing him to die.
The skies darkened more.
Abruptly the jeering stopped;
the passion which drove it was spent.
Spent too the spirits of the disciples,
numbed beyond fear.
From the back of the crowd
two watchers saw the end,
then quietly left.
. . .
These lines are from a poem, written for Good Friday: Joseph of Aramathea. The complete text can be found, in English, Icelandic, Polish and French, by the language buttons, just under the title picture at the top of this page, in each Archive, ordered cumulatively from the top:
see Good Friday 2008
"Zacchaeus in Jerusalem ?"
. . .
Then out: “This is your King!”,
said in mockery.
“Not him but Caesar!”:
obsequiousness plays its role
in pressurising.
Bound, blood-splattered,
crowned with hardened thorns
stuck in his flesh;
and he receives it all
with all the malice behind it,
down to its ancient roots.
Zacchaeus and the other faithful must have thought,
“Where’s that power fled?”
The sudden chill of failure and deception
drops through the air,
and every heart is driven to ebbing faith,
and ever deeper doubt.
Enthusiasm’s attacked from all sides
by questioning and fears,
solace of any kind not found.
What thoughts came to such converts as Zacchaeus
at that moment?
. . .
Another longer poem based on the Passion of Our Lord, Zacchaeus in Jerusalem?, can be found on a separate page in English, Icelandic and Polish versions (links at the top of the page). For this page: CLICK HERE!
"He rises"
. . .
raised himself,
slipped off the shroud,
rolled up the face-cloth,
seeing again yet better:
no human limitation by time and space;
paused at the ledge,
then up,
and with a jubilant shout,
transcendent through
theandric alleluia,
and left –
we know not where
if were a where.
. . .
This is a passage from a poem entitled He rises. The full text is given on a separate page in English, French, Icelandic and Polish. For this, please CLICK HERE!
"Ascending into glory"
A poem specially written for the Solemnity of the Ascension
can be found on a separate page. CLICK HERE!
The original English version is there, and also a French and a Polish
translation.
Here are a few lines from it:
The divine power,
working the eternal will,
brought the earthly life
of the Son of God’s manhood
to an end
in a majestic expression
of the quietude of heavenly glory:
surrounded by disciples
stabilising in their faith.
. . .
"A diptych for Pentecost"
Two poems, in English and in Polish: CLICK HERE!
(Direct access to English; link to Polish)
i) "The Holy Spirit: outgoing, but more within"
Its ending:
. . .
merekapeth:
bird wings flutter, then firm
protectingly.
Its silent eyes,
drooping wings are the ultimate 'Let be'.
Undisturbed,
searching silence,
whilst inning or outing.
ii) "The Incense of Pentecost"
. . .
From where came the wind?
From where came the contrasting form of the fire?
From fire's invisible force?
More firelike than fire?
. . .
"On the unity of infinite totally interpenetrating
all-containing Persons"
Written for the Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity: CLICK HERE!
. . .
But there's an event,
a precedent,
a human witness who understood.
The rest of us could search into that witness,
fumblingly,
acknowledge her and seek her help.
. . .
"On the true Bread of Life and the Temple Bread-Sacrifices"
Written for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi: CLICK HERE!
. . .
What true instinct
drove Melchisedech
to offer bread with fermented wine,
produced by leaven-dust
drawn to the sugared juice
as the grapes ripened to bursting at harvest –
thanks to late showers and night-dews,
which left the vineyard
not quiet but throbbing with bursting energy ?
. . .
links to videos made at Stykkishólmur:
For a twenty-minute video of parts of the Midnight Mass,
at Stykkishólmur, please CLICK HERE!
NEW!
The High Winds upset the usual Firework Display at Stykkishólmur to see in the New Year.
But there was a short and sharp organised Firework Display on the Evening of the Solemnity of the Epiphany, of which we offer you
a five and a half minute Video: CLICK HERE!
AGAIN A NEW VIDEO FROM STYKKISHÓLMUR
- AND AGAIN POETRY READ IN ICELANDIC
"Sigurdur, sonur minn. Dáinn!" [Sigurdur, my son. Dead!]
The poem, which was written by the Chaplain to the Sisters at Stykkishólmur, is read, like the earlier poem, by Gudrún Hanna Ólafsdóttir. It was written spontaneously after his rather unexpected death - though he had been for a long time ill. The Video is a Google Video, and contains much information in a column by the side of the Video screen. CLICK HERE!
We give the text in English and Icelandic on a separate page: CLICK HERE!
In the poem there is a reference to an unforgettable moment when Sigurdur turned Séra David's sermon into a dialogue: not of disagreement, but of sturdy agreement, in which he rose, unstoppably above David's theme. No camera was at hand to record this 'melting moment', which no-one present will ever forget. But a photograph was taken with the Sisters and the Capuchins around Sigurdur - whose face was lit up with pure pleasure (and hence the final lines). Your Editor did his best to attach a photograph of this to the Video, but try as he might, he could not make it attach itself stably. So he had to leave it out. But compare the face of Sigurdur above with the happy, (slightly mischievous?) face in the picture below. God rest him.!
AND NOW A NEW VIDEO FROM STYKKISHÓLMUR ...
"Coredemptrix" (read in Icelandic)
A poem especially written as a meditation after the reading of the Passion on Good Friday,
conceived as representing the thoughts of Mary as 'Coredemptrix'
Translated into Icelandic by Thorkell Örn Ólafson
Read by Guðrún Hanna Ólafsdóttir
Time: 3½ minutes
This was processed and placed on the web far more quickly then expected. But we would like to show it in advance. Here we give you the English and Icelandic texts on a linked page. From Good Friday it will be accessible in all four languages with the language buttons at the top of the page. For the video itself: CLICK HERE!
For English text (above) and Icelandic text (below) of the poem, CLICK HERE!
ANOTHER VIDEO NOW VIEWABLE:
The Paschal Vigil at Stykkishólmur this Easter (2007)
A video was made of the whole Paschal Vigil at Stykkishólmur, filmed by a technician friend, Sumarliði Ásgeirsson. It lasts for an hour and eleven minutes. It is now processed by Google and has been published on the web. It is almost entirely in Icelandic, with some readings in Polish. Because of the interest of a Catholic religious community so near to the Arctic Circle, we hope that you will view it!
As visitors to this web-site will have found out, we have had difficulties with the uploading of the video, but (overnight) they have been overcome, and the correct edition is now available. CLICK HERE!
This was rather ambitious, and there are some technical faults, especially in the first part - some omissions due to a variety of causes. But the Mass from the Gospel onwards seem to be in order.
So please forgive the faults, and look on it as example of honest liturgy, as carried out in a rather remote (but very beautiful) location
AND NOW A THIRD VIDEO FROM STYKKISHÓLMUR
Icelandic May Lambing - Kristin Explains
This twenty-minute video records a visit to the flock of sheep of Kristin Rut Helgadóttir at their small patch in the southern outskirts of Stykkishólmur. It is lambing time, and one of the sheep had given birth to three lambs just three hours before the visit began.
You may well be surprised by many features of Icelandic sheep. Though some hornless sheep are now being bred, both female and male sheep have horns, sometimes four. Their fleeces are not white. Some are various patternings of black and white, but the most attractive are those with a full or partial red or red-brown fleece, and especially those with a delicate light reddish-brown. The ram featured above, 'Glói', will be seen in the video, and the photograph is that which is background to the end of the video.
THIS IS A REPLACEMENT FOR THE ORIGINAL VERSION with a higher definition (150 kbs instead of 50kbs). Higher rates are possible, but the time for downloading would then be too long for many computers. We recommend viewing this and other videos at double the original size: the smaller the picture, the better the definition. CLICK HERE!
..The Solemn Profession of a Dominican Sister at
the Contemplative Monastery
at Estavayer-le-Lac (Canton of Fribourg) in Switzerland
The Monastery of Our Lady of the Assumption has a community of Second Order Dominican Sisters, which was originally located near Lausanne, having been founded in 1280; it is one of the oldest Dominican Monasteries for Sisters. Eventually they were persuaded, because of the dangers, to seek a house which was protected within a walled town. They were given such a house in Estavayer. The house is actually built into the wall, and next to one of the ancient gates of the little town. It is closely bonded to the town, which is picturesque, but also practical. Your editor has known the community for about twenty-five years. There are less of the original Swiss Sisters, but they have been fortunate in receiving a group of young French Sisters who have found a home there.
The solemn profession of one of these Sisters, Sister Anne-Sophie, who comes from Provence, was therefore a event full of promise, and drew a large number of relatives and friends of the Sisters. Her brother is a Dominican of the Province of Toulouse, who is one of a small group of resident priests at the cave, reputedly inhabited by Saint Mary Magdalene for thirty years, as she continued a life of prayer and penance, at La Saint Baume, not far from Marseilles. It is visited by very many pilgrims. The words of a previous chaplain may be quoted: "Whether Saint Mary Magdalene actually lived in that cave, I do not know. But this I do know, that she is present there now"
With a Dominican, Profession is made to the Prior, or Prioress, in a comprehensive vow of obedience, which contains virtually the matters of the other vows.
Archbishop Simon Ntamwana, Archbishop of Gitega, Burundi, was the celebrant who consecrated Sister Anne-Sophie
We add the text of the Profession itself [CLICK HERE}, in French and in English.
And we also add the little video of the essential part, made with a very simple digital camera [CLICK HERE].
We have provided a
YouTube of this video, which is available on www.youtube.com under the title "Dominican Sisters of Estavayer-le-Lac, Switzerland: a Solemn Profession". But you will find a version of it in the Video Player, at the entry immediately below this. You have only click on the little image on the right hand side of the linked Player.
We also show again the video made some years ago of the procession of the Sisters after Compline, singing the Salve Regina and the antiphon to Saint Dominic O spem miram [CLICK HERE].
NOTE: this video has been visited literally thousands of times, mounted by Google,
and is worn out.
Google is no longer accepting new videos, though it continues to display those already uploaded to its site. So there is no question of uploading a new version of the original video, which has been preserved on your Editor's computer.
Particularly because YouTube has now been brought within Google, we have successfully uploaded the video to its site.
So you can go to www.youtube.com and download the video from there. Its title on YouTube is "Dominican Sisters of Estavayer Singing "Salve Regina" and "O Spem Miram"". Or you can play it from this link:
VIDEOS installed on this "Control Player" - Listed left-right; then downwards:
1. "Studio sullo spart...": An Italian medieval musicologist, Giovanni Viannini, sings the "O Spem Miram" - which the Sisters sing in the next Video, and we can follow with him the music from the Dominican Antiphonal.
2. "Dominican Sister ...": Dominican Sisters of Estavayer-le-Lac Sing "Salve Regina", "O Spem Miram"
3. "Dominican Sister ..." Dominican Sisters of Estavayer-le-Lac: a Solemn Profession"
4. "ESTAVAYER LE L...": The Bells of the Catholic Parish Church - "La collégiale" - at Christmas
5. "Dominican Nuns.": a ninety-two year old Sister answers some questions (in French)
TWO NEW VIDEOS OF THE DOMINICAN MONASTERY OF ESTAVAYER-LE-LAC
On a visit there we are prepared two further videos of the Monastery at Estavayer.
The versions now shown are new ones; the faults in the previous ones have been corrected
One is of the Sung Mass of 24 May for the Memorial of the transfer of the relics of Saint Dominic to a worthy grave. This shows the high standard of choir chant at the Monastery.
The other is a visit to the Church of the Sisters with an unscripted commentary:
NOTE: We are using the facilities offered by "GOOGLE VIDEO" for the publication of these videos. This has the great advantages that there is virtually NO DOWNLOADING TIME, AND NO NEED TO CREATE A TEMPORARY FILE.
You can also choose to show them at FULL-SCREEN size by clicking in the little rectangle at the right of the bottom-line.
We invite you to view the symbolic painting "Papa Karol Wojtyla" by Monika Riemenschneider, which is placed on the back page (headed "Photograph of Stykkishólmur"): CLICK HERE!
At the end, in each issue, at the top of the back page, there will be a different photograph of Stykkishólmur (click on these words). Recently the weather was cold and dreary, with snow and sleet and strong winds, with a predominant greyness. But that weather has broken and so we can begin to show some recent photographs of Stykkishólmur. The Atlantic South-West winds have brought and sustained a thaw, with a quite different weather pattern from the normal winter (essentially a frequent reversion to a cold North-East air-stream, and an unequal oscillation with the Atlantic winds until the spring eventually arrives. That means that the cloudscapes are often beautifully clear with the Polar air, and that the frosts are quite heavy. But there is a feeling of spring in the air - which can hardly last as February is normally the period of the highest snowfall. But the storm winds are now more memorable than the previous deep winter snows which lasted into the 1990s. A local person has told me that the last real winter (defined as with snow up to roof-eaves) was 1998. But the change is evident in the photograph (on the back page, taken on the morning of 29 January), with the cloudscapes not typical of winter. We keep on show a powerful pencil sketch by Monika Riemenschneider (whose water-colours on this page may be remembered - some of them have been brought back to be shown again). It relates itself in your editor's mind to a remark about an Icelandic summer spanning the space from "brilliant to terrible", from a long-standing geographer friend, at present staying with his family in New Zealand. We continue to show some of the photographs which we had taken on a visit to England and Switzerland. We also retain another photograph of the entire Saint Francis mosaic at the entrance to the hospital, built by the F.M.M. Sisters in 1936, and beautifully extended thirty years ago. Below them are numerous other items of Catholic and cultural (and even local) interest.
Other links are on the back page, to be reached by clicking on "photograph of Stykkishólmur" above.
You may be interested to buy, or subscribe to
the Icelandic language twice-yearly periodical, of religious and cultural interest.
You will find information at the bottom of the back page. Click here.
THE LATEST NUMBER - 2/2008 - IS ON SALE
THE CONTENTS OF THE NEW NUMBER ARE PLACED WITH THAT INFORMATION ON THE BACK PAGE
Website edited by Father Edward Booth O.P.,
Austurgata 7, IS-340 Stykkishólmur, Iceland.
Email: booth.edward@gmail.com
