May 15, 2010

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Curriculum, Third Saturday, May 15, 2010, Our Lady of the Valley Parish, Caldwell, Idaho at 11:00 a.m.

From St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Patriarch, A.D. 444*

In a homily, after repeating the Blessed Virgin Mary's title of Mother of God, St. Cyril salutes her: "Hail, O Mary, mother of God, rich treasure of the world, inextinguishable lamp, crown of virginity, sceptre of the true doctrine, temple which cannot fall, the residence of him whom no place can contain, Mother and Virgin, by whom He is who cometh Blessed in the name of the Lord. hail Mary, who in your virgin womb contained Him who is immense and incomprehensible: You through whom the whole blessed Trinity is glorified and adored, through whom the precious cross is honored and venerated over the whole world, through whom heaven exults, the angels and archangels rejoice, the devils are banished, the tempter is disarmed, the creature that was fallen is restored to heaven, and comes to the knowledge of the truth, through whom holy baptism is instituted, through whom is given the oil of exultation, through whom churches are founded over the whole earth, through whom nations re brought to penance. And what need of more words? Through whom the only begotten Son of God has shone the light to those who sat in darkness and in the shade of death, &c.--What man can celebrate the most praiseworthy Mary according to her dignity?"

*p. 155, Vol. I, Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Alan Butler, (1885, John Murphy & Co).

I. DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

from, "The Pillars of Dominican" "Dominican Spirituality for the Laity"

Once St. Dominic had a vision of heaven and there he saw members of all the religious orders except his own. He began to weep. Our Lord asked him why he was weeping. St. Dominic told Him that it was because he saw no member of his Order there in heaven. Our Lord motioned to his mother; she opened her beautiful blue mantle and Dominic could see under it a vast multitude of Dominicans. This is related chapter 7 of a dictation called The Miracles of St. Dominic taken around 1280 A.D. from Blessed Sister Cecilia Cesarini (1200-1290 A.D.; fd. June 8), who in 1220 received the habit from St. Dominic himself, and heard this story from his own lips. (St. Dominic: Biographical Documents, ed. by Francis C. Lehner, O.P., Washington, D.C., 1964: The Thomist Press, p. 175) For Dominicans it has always been one of the favorite incidents in the life of our founder. Consequently we like to think of ourselves as being in a special way under the mantle of Mary our Mother. This is fitting, since a deep devotion to her has always been a hallmark of our Order -- one of its pillars, you might say.

It began with St. Dominic himself, who was especially devoted to her and used to pray for long periods before her altar. We are told that one of the ways of his prayer was to say one Hail Mary after another and as he did so he would genuflect at each one. He also joyously accepted the change in religious garb that our Lady had given to Blessed Reginald of Orleans (1180-1220 A.D.; fd. Feb. 12). Before that time St. Dominic and his first companions had worn the clothing of the canons regular which he had been when he was in Osma. It consisted of a white robe or tunic and a surplice. After Blessed Reginald had decided to join the new Order he fell deathly ill. St. Dominic prayed fervently for his recovery. Shortly after, our Blessed Mother along with St. Cecilia (third c.) and St. Catherine of Alexandria (martyred around 310 A.D.) appeared to him and anointed him with a heavenly perfume. She then showed him a long white scapular and told him it was to be a part of the Dominican habit. He was completely cured and was clothed in the new habit by St. Dominic himself. Ever since then the scapular has been the essential part of our habit and is specially blessed. This is brought out beautifully in the ceremony of reception of novices of the Lay Dominicans. As the Chaplain put it on you he said:

Receive this scapular of our Order, the pledge of Our Blessed Mother's love for us. Wear it as a sign of your pledge to persevere in bearing witness to the Truth and to lead a virtuous life according to The Rule and the customs of our Order. (Statutes for Lay Dominicans, Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, June 2001, Appendices, p. 9)

(N.B. Of the Order, Mary is the principal patroness <fd. Jan. 1>, St. Dominic <fds. May 24 and Aug. 8> the principal patron. Mary Magdalene <July 22> and Catherine of Alexandria <Nov. 25> are the secondary co-patrons, the former because she preached the Resurrection to the Apostles, the latter because she is the patroness of philosophers. St. Cecilia <Nov. 22> is the patroness of music and of musicians, and thus of the music St. Dominic loved in the liturgy.)

Another devotion to Mary that is precious to Dominicans is the singing of the Salve Regina after night prayer. The singing of this beautiful hymn was started by Blessed Jordan of Saxony (1185-1237 A.D.; fd. Feb. 13) when he was Provincial of the Province of Lombardy, and who would later succeed St. Dominic as Master of the Order. As he himself tells it in his little book History of the Beginnings of the Order of Preachers, chapter 120, one of the brothers in the house at Bologna, where St. Dominic died and is buried, was plagued by a most savage demon that almost drove him mad and created all kinds of disturbance in the house. Blessed Jordan then decided that they should sing the Salve Regina after Compline or Night Prayer. The brother was freed from his tribulation, so the practice spread to the rest of the Province and from there to the entire Order and it is still our practice today. Then Blessed Jordan goes on to say:

A certain man, both religious and trustworthy, has told me that, in spirit, he often saw the Mother of our Lord prostrate before her Son praying for the security of the whole Order, as the friars were singing: "Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us." I mention this so that the brethren reading it may be inspired to even greater devotion in praising the Virgin. (St. Dom.: Biogr. Documents, p. 82)

Every Dominican saint and blessed has had a tender and loving devotion to our Blessed Mother. The Friars make their vows to Mary. You, as Dominican Laity, make your promises in honor of Mary. Those of you who have made your profession can surely remember saying:

To the honor of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of St. Dominic, I (name), before you (name), the Prior of this Chapter and Father (name), the religious assistant, representing the Master of the Order of Preachers, promise to live according to the Rule of the Dominican Laity for (one year, or, three years, or, my whole life). (Statutes, Append., p. 12)

It is understandable, then, that we Dominicans can and should feel that our Blessed Mother has a special affection for our Order. For devotion to her is a basic characteristic of it and has been so from the very beginning.

The crowning glory of Dominican devotion to our Blessed Mother is the Rosary, the greatest and most widely used popular devotion in the Church. Unfortunately, there is not a shred of evidence that Our Lady gave it to St. Dominic in its present form despite that painting which shows Mary doing just that.

It seems that the originator of the Rosary generally in the form in which we have it today was a Dominican named Alan de la Roche who lived from 1428 to 1475. I say "generally" because, first of all, the Hail Mary, as it was recited by St. Dominic and Alan de la Roche consisted only of the first part of the one we say. The second part of it, beginning with "Holy Mary, Mother of God" was not added officially until 1568. Secondly, only in 1600 did it take its present form of fifteen mysteries. Saint Pope Pius V, a Dominican of course, helped greatly to popularize it by attributing to the Rosary the victory of Battle of Lepanto, one of the most crucial naval engagements of all time, at which the sorely outnumbered Catholic fleet defeated the Turks as they sailed to invade Europe. This victory occurred on Oct. 7, which happened to be the first Sunday of the month, in 1571. As the fleet sailed to head off the Turks, St. Pius V asked the Rosary Confraternity of Rome to be constantly reciting the Rosary in our church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (around the corner from the Parthenon), and directed the Romans at large to say it in processions, while he himself was praying it in his private chapel. Afterwards, he established the feast of Our Lady of Victory, which later on became the feast of the Holy Rosary (Oct. 7, but celebrated in Dominican churches on the first Sunday of October.)

Even though the Rosary as we have it today was developed over a long period of time, we can say in a very real sense that St. Dominic was responsible for it because it was he who established the principles from which it flowed. We have already noted his tender and fervent devotion to our Lady. We noted also Dominic's physical involvement in his prayer by repeating the Hail Mary as he genuflected each time he said it. In our chapter on meditation, we have also talked about his emphasis on the importance and value of meditation in our spiritual life. In his efforts to bring back into the Church the Albigensians with their condemnation of all matter and their consequent denial that Jesus had a true body, he naturally focused his preaching on the mysteries of the Incarnation. The Rosary is a perfect combination of all these elements. The physical one is the holding of the beads in our hands, letting them slip through our fingers as we say the Our Father's, Hail Mary's and Glory Be's. Other religions use a string of beads as calming device. They do that for us, but they do more. They are also timers, meaning that in the time it takes us to say one Our Father, ten Hail Mary's and one Glory Be, we meditate on a major mystery of our Lord's life, death and resurrection. The Rosary is one of the greatest meditation methods ever devised. One decade of the Rosary does not take long but yet in that brief time we are brought into contact with our Lord's saving mysteries. The announcement of these mysteries is the brief homily on the Incarnation. It is traditional in the Order to speak of the Rosary not only as a way of contemplating but also as a method of preaching:

Since the Marian Rosary is a way to contemplate the mysteries of Christ and a school for developing evangelical life, it should be regarded as a form of preaching appropriate for the Order in which the teaching of the faith is conveyed in the light of the Blessed Virgin Mary's participation in the mystery of Christ and of the Church. (Constitutions O.P., no. 126)

What a beautiful devotion the Rosary is, one that helps us to grow in our Catholic life. This is exactly what St. Dominic wanted for the faithful to whom he sent his children to preach the Truth. As Father Benedict Ashley, O.P. in his book, The Dominicans, says, "His devotion to the Blessed Virgin established in the Order the tradition that eventually took a popular from in the holy rosary." (p. 12) It is thus no surprise that the Rosary in its current form comes from Dominicans and that the Holy See has entrusted the Order of Preachers to promote it.

Indeed, everywhere they went, the Friars established the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. It is richly blessed by many indulgences by the Holy See. There is one in the western United States with its head-quarters in Portland, OR. It issues a publication every two months called Light and Life. Each issue contains a section called "Theology For The Laity", which is excellent. To join the Rosary Confraternity all you have to do is to write to the Dominican Rosary Center, P.O. Box 3617, Portland, OR, 97208‑3617. You can also contact them at rosary@teleport.com.

Michelangelo had a brother who was a Dominican Friar. He also carved, as a beginner in the art of sculpture, one of the angels on the tomb of St. Dominic in Bologna. Michelangelo's Dominican connections may explain why the magnificent mural, called the Last Judgement, which he painted on the wall of the Sistine chapel, carries a striking message. In the middle of the left half, a man leans over and pulls up into heaven by means of a Rosary two men who have taken hold of it as they were falling down into hell. This is, in one of the world's great masterpieces of art, the expression of the painter's belief that the Rosary has the power to save souls. We as Dominicans continue to be firmly convinced of this today. Let each one of us, then, use the Rosary as a means of drawing us and others closer to Christ by meditating on His sacred mysteries, the events which alone even today bring about salvation.