Blogs
In the News: Feb. 3, 2017
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
Pilgrimage to Fatima
From May 11 - 18, 2017 Michael O'Neill will be leading a pilgrimage with Unitours to Fatima for the 100th Anniversary celebration with Pope Francis in Portugal. We will also be stopping at famous Marian sites like Lourdes, Guadalupe (in Spain - the original!), Zaragoza (the site of the first Marian apparition), and Madrid.Celebrating Mass and providing spiritual guidance for the trip will be Father Peter Stryker who has served as the Rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, in Champion, Wisconsin, the first and only Church-approved Marian apparition site in the United States.
Mary in Media: Books, Films, Music, etc.
Latest Issue of the Newsletter for Radio Maria USA Now Available
The February 2017 issue of the Newsletter for Radio Maria is now available online in PDF format [requires Adobe Acrobat Reader]. It includes an article by their new Priest Director, Father Emilio Garreaud.
TOPFrom the Marian Treasure Chest
Brother John Samaha sent us the text below.
What's in the Name, Chaminade? by Brother John Samaha, S.M.
Over the years many have questioned the origin of the name Chaminade and if it has a meaning. Thanks to the dedicated research of Marianist scholars like Father Herbert Kramer and Father Joseph Verrier, we have documented information.
Chaminade is an old family name in southern France. From the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries we find records of persons bearing that name in or near Bordeaux. Several were monks, one an abbot, in the monastery of Ste. Croix at Bordeaux. In those old records the name La Caminada is the precursor of Chaminade. Chaminade became more common in the seventeenth century.
The Meaning of Chaminade
Various historians, archivists, and archaeologists in France have attested to the origin and meaning of the name Chaminade, which evolved from Caminade. The name means presbytery, rectory, priest's house; because in those times few persons besides the bourgeois and the pastor owned a house with a chimney (cheminée in French). Even today in the region around Toulouse, France, the dialect term for rectory is caminade.
Many Chaminade Families in Périgueux
Most of the Chaminade families of Blessed William Joseph's native city resided in the cathedral parish of St. Front, where our Marianist Founder was baptized and spent his early years. Mussidan, where he later studied and taught, was also home to many Chaminade families.
The majority of Chaminade bread-winners were craftsmen, such as shoemakers, tailors, gardeners, farmers, laborers. Some worked in the legal profession. Father Chaminade's father was a window glass worker, and his grandfather was a stone worker.
Cécile Chaminade Not a Relative
For a time some thought that the celebrated composer and pianist, Cécile Chaminade, was a descendant of Father Chaminade's family. But this was found to be erroneous after Father Joseph Verrier pursued the question thoroughly with one of her nieces, Mme. Antoinette Chaminade Lorel, who lived in Monte Carlo.
TOPMarian Events
Event: Mary Teaches Us Discipleship and Redemptive Suffering
Date: February 17-18, 2017
Time: 6:30 - 10 p.m.
Place: Saint Bartholomew Church, 9375 Winton Road, Cincinnati, Ohio
Father David Endres, Father Shannon Collins, MSJB, and Father Timothy Fahey will be among the presenters at this retreat. For more information and to register, call 513-373-2397. Click here for Directions.
Mary in the Catholic Press
The Pope's Homily for the Feast of the Presentation (Zenit) February 3, 2017
When the parents of Jesus brought the Child in fulfillment of the prescriptions of the law, Simeon, "guided by the Spirit" (Lk 2:27), took the Child in his arms and broke out in a hymn of blessing and praise. "My eyes," he said, "have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." (Lk 2:30-32) Simeon not only saw, but was privileged to hold in his arms the long-awaited hope, which filled him with exultation. His heart rejoiced because God had come to dwell among His people; he felt His presence in the flesh....
Let us go back to the Gospel passage and once more contemplate that scene. Surely, the song of Simeon and Anna was not the fruit of self-absorption or an analysis and review of their personal situation. It did not ring out because they were caught up in themselves and were worried that something bad might happen to them. Their song was born of hope, the hope that sustained them in their old age. That hope was rewarded when they encountered Jesus. When Mary let Simeon take the Son of the Promise into his arms, the old man began to sing--celebrating a true "liturgy"--he sings his dreams. Whenever she puts Jesus in the midst of His people, they encounter joy. For this alone will bring back our joy and hope, this alone will save us from living in a survival mentality. Only this will make our lives fruitful and keep our hearts alive: putting Jesus where He belongs, in the midst of His people....
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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.
Four Ways the Traditional Latin Mass Honors Womanhood (One Peter Five website) January 31, 2017
I've had the privilege of being able to attend the traditional Latin Mass for going on nine months now. I can say without hesitation that this transition has been the single best change of my life. I'll forever have an ongoing love story with Catholic tradition, and I've been blessed to discover that nowhere is Catholic tradition manifested with more breathtaking beauty than in the traditional Latin Mass. Here, largely-forgotten rites, prayers, and symbols still exist in all their spiritual strength and efficacy, as they have for the past 1,500 years.
As a woman, the traditional Latin Mass resonates with me in a unique way. "There is something extraordinarily great and mysterious about femininity," Dr. Alice von Hildebrand proclaimed. The woman has been one of the most beautiful mysteries of God's creation since the dawn of time, ever since Adam first beheld his spouse in Eden and exclaimed words of praise with wonder and love....
One of the most striking differences I've found between the traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo is how often the Blessed Virgin is honored in the Old Rite. The Blessed Virgin is the model for all Catholic women; as St. Louis de Montfort described her, "God the Father gathered all the waters together and called them the seas (maria). He gathered all his graces together and called them Mary (Maria)." And the traditional Latin Mass seems to truly grasp Our Lady's sacred and unrepeatable role in salvation history, as well as in our journey through this vale of tears--and it accordingly honors her time after time throughout....
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