Blogs
Mary in the News: Jan. 16, 2018
By Michael Duricy
Read recent items about Mary in both Catholic and secular news. Also, see International Marian Research Institute news and updates.
Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute Features
Updates
The Marianist religious in the Dayton area are closing their celebrations of the Bicentennial of the Marianist Sisters and the Society of Mary on Saturday, January 20, 2018 at 4:30 p.m. with the celebration of the Eucharist in the Frericks Center on the campus of the University of Dayton. The Eucharist will be followed by a social in the Frericks Center with a special preview of the show, Spectacle, which will be the spring musical at UD. Spectacle is a musical written about the foundation of the Marianist family (our own Nicolas Cardilino is one of the co-authors). Although registration is not essential, it is appreciated to help plan the social.
Mary in Media: Books, Films, Music, etc.
Announcement from the Marianum about two new books
The Dean and the Faculty of the Marianum invite you on January 19, 2018 at 4 p.m. to the Marianum at Via Trenta Aprile, 6 00153 Rome, Italy for the presentation of two books by Alberto Valentini: The Infancy Gospel of Matthew; and An Easter Proofreading of the Origins of Jesus.
From the Marian Treasure Chest
Brother John Samaha, S.M., sent us the text below.
The Message of Chaminade? by Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.
The Marianist Family (Society of Mary, Daughters of Mary Immaculate, and Marianist lay communities) celebrate its founder with public veneration on January 22, the feast of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade. The Marianist founder was proclaimed worthy of public veneration in recognition of the holiness of his life when Saint John Paul II beatified him on September 3, 2000.
The beatification of Bl.essed William Joseph Chaminade culminated a process of investigation begun in 1909. Pope Paul VI in 1973 declared him "Venerable." The miracle required for beatification was the cure of Elena Otero of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1991. This miracle granted through the intercession of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade was approved in 1998. Elena Otero was present at her intercessor's beatification.
William Joseph was born in Périgueux, France, near Bordeaux on April 8, 1761. He was the fourteenth of the fifteen children of Blaise Chaminade, a cloth merchant, and Catherine Bethon. In 1771, he entered the minor seminary program at the College of Mussidan. After ordination in 1785, he and two older brothers who were priests assumed the administration and taught at the College of Mussidan.
With the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 his peaceful life turned into the stuff from which the plots of adventure movies are developed. Refusing to swear allegiance to the Civil Constitution, which rejected papal authority and aimed to establish a national church, Chaminade was driven into hiding to avoid exile or the guillotine. Fleeing to the larger city of Bordeaux with a price on his head, he disguised himself as a peddler to continue ministering to the underground Church. Numerous hair-raising experiences and narrow escapes from capture caused him to muse that several times only the thickness of a board shielded him from the guillotine.
As the revolution waned, Chaminade emerged from hiding only to be forced into exile at Zaragoza, Spain, in 1797 for three years. There he worked to support himself and spent many hours in prayer at the great shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar, where he was inspired with a vision for the re-evangelization of France. A special message from Mary helped him conceive of a family of religious and laity that would participate with Mary in her apostolic mission to bring Jesus to others.
While in exile, Chaminade's prayer and discussions about restoring the faith in his homeland convinced him to emphasize the concept of mission: his future collaborators would be a religious family in permanent mission, employing new forms of apostolate.
When Blessed William Joseph returned to Bordeaux in 1800, he opened an oratory and immediately attracted interested faithful, especially youth, to worship services and to educational discussions. Within a year he formed a group of clerics and laity which became the nucleus for his famous and influential apostolic sodality consecrated to Mary Immaculate. From this, grew the Daughters of Mary Immaculate founded in 1816, followed by the Society of Mary in 1817. These religious congregations were to be the animators of the laity brought into the Marianist Family.
Chaminade was reading the signs of the times and responding with imagination to adapt the Gospel to new needs. New circumstances required new approaches. He was heralding the age of Mary and leading into the age of the laity. This apostolic genius said simply that he was looking for a new fulcrum for the lever that moves the modern world.
As the work of the Marianists developed in the establishment and management of Christian schools and teacher training colleges, and the formation of lay-managed faith communities, the Society of Mary reached out to North America. In 1849 the first Marianists came to Ohio in the USA and laid the foundations for the present University of Dayton the following year.
After a long, arduous and fruitful life that touched many persons and works, Blessed William Joseph Chaminade was taken to his everlasting home with God on January 22, 1850.
His legacy is a rich, apostolic Marian spirituality of living and working in union with Jesus and Mary. Recognized as the nineteenth-century apostle of Mary, he is acknowledged as the most noteworthy Mariologist of the first half of the nineteenth century. He had the facility of relating doctrine to ministry and mission, and showed the relevance of Mary's role in the life of Christians. As Jesus chose Mary to cooperate with him in the salvation of the human race, Mary asks each Christian to participate in her apostolic mission to bring the grace of redemption to each person. His was an applied, pastoral theology inviting us to live fully our baptismal commitment.
A favorite Gospel dictum was Mary's message to the servants at the marriage feast of Cana, "Do whatever he tells you." (Jn 2:5), because Blessed William Joseph Chaminade firmly believed that we are all missionaries of Mary. He directed his followers to do everything under Mary's guidance. We are the lengthened shadow of Chaminade.
Marian Events
Theme: Eya Concert
Location: Immaculate Conception Chapel, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio
Date: Thursday, January 25, 2018
Time: 7:00 p.m.
The Marian Library is kicking off its seventy-fifth anniversary year with the vocal ensemble Eya and a performance of medieval music interpreted for women’s voices. Please join us! The concert is free, but tickets are required.
Click here for more information.
Mary in the Catholic Press
Pope Asks Mary's Aid to Women in Prison (Zenit website) January 16, 2018
Pope Francis asked that Mary intercede on behalf of those imprisoned during his January 16, 2018, visit to the Female Central Penitentiary of Santiago. The visit is part of his January 15-22, apostolic journey to Chile and Peru.
The Holy Father also recalled the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John, the story of the woman caught in adultery: "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone." And he talked of the three things that greeted him on his arrival at the facility: mother, children, flowers.
"Many of you are mothers and you know what it means to bring a new life into the world," the Pope said. He went on to proclaim that motherhood is a gift and can never be a problem. And he asked the residents to care for the future, not only for themselves but for their children....
Mary in the Secular Press
The director and editors of All About Mary under the auspices of the International Marian Research Institute do not necessarily endorse or agree with the events and ideas expressed in this feature. Our sole purpose is to report on items about Mary gleaned from a myriad of papers representing the secular press.
The Marian Library Acquires Seven Works by Eric Gill (University of Dayton website) December 14, 2017
The Marian Library recently acquired six wood engravings and one woodcut by artist, Eric Gill. Gill, who lived from 1882 - 1940 in England, was a sculptor, typeface designer and author as well as printmaker, well-known particularly for the typeface "Gill Sans." His art is associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. With works scattered across the world in many prominent museums' permanent collections including the Tate, British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he is undoubtedly recognized as a great and influential artist....
Each work is pictured in the gallery.
Click here to read the complete article.