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Merry Christmas from All of Us at OnePeterFive!

See you next year!

34 thoughts on “Merry Christmas from All of Us at OnePeterFive!”

      • From the Franciscan breviary:
        A sermon of St Fulgentius of Ruspe
        The armour of love
        Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal King. Today we celebrate the triumphant suffering of his soldier.
        Yesterday our king, clothed in his robe of flesh, left his place in the virgin’s womb and graciously visited the world. Today his soldier leaves the tabernacle of his body and goes triumphantly to heaven.
        Our king, despite his exalted majesty, came in humility for our sake; yet he did not come empty-handed. He brought his soldiers a great gift that not only enriched them but also made them unconquerable in battle, for it was the gift of love, which was to bring men to share in his divinity. He gave of his bounty, yet without any loss to himself. In a marvellous way he changed into wealth the poverty of his faithful followers while remaining in full possession of his own inexhaustible riches.
        And so the love that brought Christ from heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven; shown first in the king, it later shone forth in his soldier. Love was Stephen’s weapon by which he gained every battle, and so won the crown signified by his name. His love of God kept him from yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbour made him pray for those who were stoning him. Love inspired him to reprove those who erred, to make them amend; love led him to pray for those who stoned him, to save them from punishment. Strengthened by the power of his love, he overcame the raging cruelty of Saul and won his persecutor on earth as his companion in heaven. In his holy and tireless love he longed to gain by prayer those whom he could not convert by admonition.
        Now at last, Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he delights in the glory of Christ, with Stephen he exults, with Stephen he reigns. Stephen went first, slain by the stones thrown by Paul, but Paul followed after, helped by the prayer of Stephen. This, surely, is the true life, my brothers, a life in which Paul feels no shame because of Stephen’s death, and Stephen delights in Paul’s companionship, for love fills them both with joy. It was Stephen’s love that prevailed over the cruelty of the mob, and it was Paul’s love that covered the multitude of his sins; it was love that won for both of them the kingdom of heaven.
        Love, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defence,- and the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him, and brings him to his journey’s end.
        My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your progress in it, make your ascent together.

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          • Years ago I had a prayer card with Mother Seton’ Christmas letter.
            I’s an amazing Christmas message. We thibk we have problems.
            I had that card for over 50 years and lost it somewhere.
            She had one tough life.
            Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Story
            Mother Seton is one of the keystones of the American Catholic Church. She founded the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity. She opened the first American parish school and established the first American Catholic orphanage. All this she did in the span of 46 years while raising her five children.
            Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton is a true daughter of the American Revolution, born August 28, 1774, just two years before the Declaration of Independence. By birth and marriage, she was linked to the first families of New York and enjoyed the fruits of high society. Reared a staunch Episcopalian, she learned the value of prayer, Scripture and a nightly examination of conscience. Her father, Dr. Richard Bayley, did not have much use for churches but was a great humanitarian, teaching his daughter to love and serve others.
            The early deaths of her mother in 1777 and her baby sister in 1778 gave Elizabeth a feel for eternity and the temporariness of the pilgrim life on earth. Far from being brooding and sullen, she faced each new “holocaust,” as she put it, with hopeful cheerfulness.
            At 19, Elizabeth was the belle of New York and married a handsome, wealthy businessman, William Magee Seton. They had five children before his business failed and he died of tuberculosis. At 30, Elizabeth was widowed, penniless, with five small children to support.
            While in Italy with her dying husband, Elizabeth witnessed Catholicity in action through family friends. Three basic points led her to become a Catholic: belief in the Real Presence, devotion to the Blessed Mother and conviction that the Catholic Church led back to the apostles and to Christ. Many of her family and friends rejected her when she became a Catholic in March 1805.
            To support her children, she opened a school in Baltimore. From the beginning, her group followed the lines of a religious community, which was officially founded in 1809.
            The thousand or more letters of Mother Seton reveal the development of her spiritual life from ordinary goodness to heroic sanctity. She suffered great trials of sickness, misunderstanding, the death of loved ones (her husband and two young daughters) and the heartache of a wayward son. She died January 4, 1821, and became the first American-born citizen to be beatified (1963) and then canonized (1975). She is buried in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
            Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Story
            Mother Seton is one of the keystones of the American Catholic Church. She founded the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity. She opened the first American parish school and established the first American Catholic orphanage. All this she did in the span of 46 years while raising her five children.
            Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton is a true daughter of the American Revolution, born August 28, 1774, just two years before the Declaration of Independence. By birth and marriage, she was linked to the first families of New York and enjoyed the fruits of high society. Reared a staunch Episcopalian, she learned the value of prayer, Scripture and a nightly examination of conscience. Her father, Dr. Richard Bayley, did not have much use for churches but was a great humanitarian, teaching his daughter to love and serve others.
            The early deaths of her mother in 1777 and her baby sister in 1778 gave Elizabeth a feel for eternity and the temporariness of the pilgrim life on earth. Far from being brooding and sullen, she faced each new “holocaust,” as she put it, with hopeful cheerfulness.
            At 19, Elizabeth was the belle of New York and married a handsome, wealthy businessman, William Magee Seton. They had five children before his business failed and he died of tuberculosis. At 30, Elizabeth was widowed, penniless, with five small children to support.
            While in Italy with her dying husband, Elizabeth witnessed Catholicity in action through family friends. Three basic points led her to become a Catholic: belief in the Real Presence, devotion to the Blessed Mother and conviction that the Catholic Church led back to the apostles and to Christ. Many of her family and friends rejected her when she became a Catholic in March 1805.
            To support her children, she opened a school in Baltimore. From the beginning, her group followed the lines of a religious community, which was officially founded in 1809.
            The thousand or more letters of Mother Seton reveal the development of her spiritual life from ordinary goodness to heroic sanctity. She suffered great trials of sickness, misunderstanding, the death of loved ones (her husband and two young daughters) and the heartache of a wayward son. She died January 4, 1821, and became the first American-born citizen to be beatified (1963) and then canonized (1975). She is buried in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

          • Before I say goodbye I’d like to relate what NY Proestants did yaers ago to help the Irish deal with their famine in the 1800’s.
            I read this in the Irish Voice years ago by Tom Deignan

            THIS past Monday, March 31, acclaimed Irish writer Joseph O’Connor gave a talk at the Tenement Museum on Orchard Street, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The basis of the talk was a new project which he will release this summer.

            O’Connor is writing a book about the Moore and Meehan families, Irish immigrants who actually lived in the building which, today, houses the museum.

            O’Connor is one of the great historical novelists working today. His works include a panoramic look at a coffin ship, Star of the Sea, and his recent epic novel of the Irish in the U.S. Civil War, Redemption Falls.

            So, we can expect his book about the Moores and the Meehans to be very good.

            The Moores and Meehans lived on the Lower East Side in the 1860s, just a few years after the worst horrors of the Famine. Perhaps they came over in Black ’47. One thing we do know is that they survived.

            And – a hot new debate is suggesting – perhaps they survived thanks to the good deeds of New York’s Protestant community.

            Huh? Didn’t the rich WASPs look down their noses at the Irish, and help arrange the election of nativist mayors such as James Harper, who wanted to boot all the Irish Catholics out of Manhattan?

            And didn’t the poor WASPs regularly damage, even destroy, New York’s Catholic churches, as symbols of the Irish?

            All true enough. But writer Peter Duffy has ignited a new debate about New York’s Protestants and the Irish.

            In an opinion article published in The Wall Street Journal on St. Patrick’s Day, Duffy wrote, “The Irish Catholics of New York should do something that would’ve been unthinkable even a few years ago — raise a toast to the Protestants.”

            Duffy notes that while “the city’s WASP establishment had been far from friendly to the rising numbers of Irish Catholics who had arrived here over the previous decades,” they donated money and other assistance once the Famine worsened in 1846 and 1847.

            Duffy continues, “On Monday evening, February 15, 1847, a large crowd gathered at the Broadway Tabernacle, a Congregation-alist church on Worth Street. They were there ‘for the purpose of affording relief of the Irish people,’ according to an account in the Freeman’s Journal and Catholic Register, an Irish Catholic newspaper published in New York.”

            According to Duffy, the local Famine relief committee reported that it had collected over $68,000 in a month – “the equivalent of more than $1.5 million in today’s money.” John Jacob Astor gave $500, while “a few poor Christians in Brooklyn” offered $10.

            Duffy is right to note that “considering Ireland’s scarred history, the Protestant response is perhaps most noteworthy.”

            And certainly the days of thinking of the Brits and New York Orangemen as merely seething haters of all things Irish and Catholic should be long past.

            Still, Duffy – the author, most recently of The Killing of Major Denis Mahon: A Mystery of Old Ireland (HarperCollins) – might lead this debate into unfortunate places. Consider a letter written to The Wall Street Journal a few days after Duffy’s piece appeared.

            Rabbi Marc D. Angel, Rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York wrote, “I would like to add that the Jewish community of New York also was involved in Irish Famine relief efforts.”

            Certainly no good deed should go unnoticed. Yet, this all comes close to creating the impression that the Irish were greeted with a wave of interdenominational benevolence.

            And yet, New York, in fact, was a hell for most Famine Irish. Which is to say, it was a vast improvement when compared to their ravaged, native island.

            Duffy acknowledges that donations dried up as the Famine worsened, in part because of “disastrous British relief policies.” He adds, however, “this doesn’t absolve New York’s Irish from recognizing the generosity shown to them by a historical enemy.”

            Fair enough. But it is also fair to say that the Famine Irish could have said: “Keep your money, but get these stone-throwing bigots out of my face.”

            At the time of the Famine, the tensions between Protestants and Catholics were not “historic.” They could not have been more current and urgent.

            So, Duffy’s points are valid. But it’s not exactly a crime of history that the Famine relief efforts of John Jacob Astor and New York Protestants were insufficiently recognized. At least they had assistance to give.
            ————————————————–

            God bless the US and God bless your work to save the church.

          • This was just in the paper and it shows how thinks have chaged here in Ireland in 100 years.
            A Christmas Eve ransacking at the Cork Examiner
            In 1920, a mob raided the newspaper’s offices after the publication of a controversial pastoral letter
            by Dean Ruxton

            IRISH TIMES

            The offices of the Irish Examiner – then the Cork Examiner – were empty, save for a caretaker left in charge of the building and a handful of employees cleaning up. It was Christmas Eve, and with no paper due in the morning, staff had gone home for the evening.
            Just after 8pm, as the doors were being shut for the night, a gang of men armed with revolvers, sledge hammers and explosives arrived at the gates and forced their way into the building in Cork city.
            The mob, about 30 in number, cut the telephone wires. Two stood guard over the caretaker, and the rest “went quickly to the printing room and bombed the machine used in connection with the printing of the evening edition of the Examiner – the Echo”, according to an Irish Times report three days later, on December 27th, 1920.
            “In a few moments the machine was in flames, the inking cylinders burning fiercely, together with the electric motor,” reads the report.
            With the machine destroyed, the raiders – dressed in civilian clothing, but “slightly disguised” with scarves covering their faces – moved quickly, crossing a footbridge to the main machine room. They set upon two of the newspaper’s rotary machines, taking sledge hammers to the mechanism: “In this way vital parts of the machinery were smashed to pieces, and great damage was done.”
            After indulging in what the paper described as a “wanton orgy of destruction” for about half an hour, the attackers “left as silently and as rapidly as they had entered”.
            “Before taking their departure, however, they laid nearly half a dozen sticks of gelignite in the interior of one machine, but, fortunately, the means of exploding them was defective, and the gelignite was found unexploded: otherwise the damage would have been much greater.”

            The damage to the machines was “not irreparable” and the fire was not as serious as intended by the mob, partly owing to the failure of the last dose of gelignite to ignite. The blaze was quickly put out by the fire brigade.
            The raiders had not long left when the police arrived from Union Quay barracks; a small shoot-out ensued and one man was “slightly wounded”.
            ‘Orders of the Irish Republic’
            A motive was clear from the outset. An account from the Press Association’s Cork correspondent, printed in the same edition of The Irish Times, said that on entering, one of the mob announced it was acting “under the orders of the Irish Republic”.
            The paper’s supposed crime against the Republic had been made just days before, when it published a pastoral letter by the Catholic Bishop Daniel Cohalan of Cork, who had condemned violence of all sides of the War of Independence and issued a threat of excommunication.
            Bishop Cohalan served from 1916 to 1952, and in that time witnessed both the War of Independence and Civil War. Cork in particular saw significant loss of life.
            In late 1920 and amid the War of Independence, murders, acts of violence and inevitable reprisal became common. In November 1920 Republican forces carried out an ambush at Kilmichael, which sparked further killings and violence on the part of the Crown.
            On the night of December 11th, 1920, following the killing of a British soldier in another ambush at Dillons Cross, Crown forces intentionally burned the centre of Cork city, looting shops and setting fire to large sections of Patrick’s Street. The City Hall and the Carnegie Library on Anglesea Street were completely destroyed. The damage was estimated to have cost about £2 million and led to the loss of some 2,000 jobs in the city.
            The next morning, during his Sunday homily at the Cathedral, Bishop Cohalan issued a decree of excommunication on any perpetrators of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, ambush and arson.
            Writing in Irish Theological Quarterly in 2002, Padraig Corkery points out that the bishop had previously supported the goal of Irish independence as a “just cause” and “argued that the British mode of government had ‘no sanction in the moral law’ and judged continued British presence to be an act of injustice and oppression against the Irish people.”
            Unpopular
            In a move that proved unpopular with the public and other Catholic priests, the pastoral letter issued and read a week later at all Masses in the Diocese did not distinguish the perpetrators by political alignment.
            The letter, published on December 20th in the Cork Examiner, said the chain of reprisal murders had “become like a devils’ competition in feats of murder and arson between members of the Volunteer Organisation and agents of the Crown.” The bishop sought to instil “patience” among those resisting the British government.
            “I would ask you to consider what has the country gained politically by the murder of policeman and by the burning of barracks and of historical or costly buildings?” he asked, adding that “the killing of policemen was morally murder and politically of no consequence, and the burning of barracks was simply the destruction of Irish property.”
            Corkery’s paper notes Bishop Cohalan was the only Irish bishop to issue a decree of excommunication on those involved in violence during that period. Violence in the diocese would continue; just days after the bishop’s first pronouncement, a parish priest at Drunmanway, Canon Thomas Magner was shot dead, alongside a farmer’s son, by British forces.
            Another newspaper, the Freeman’s Journal, was attacked by arsonists on Christmas morning, hours after the assault on the Examiner. The fire was started by a group of men who were admitted early in the morning by a housekeeper. Little lasting damage was done before the fire brigade extinguished the flames, though The Irish Times reported that “electric wires were, however, fused, and candles were used by the clerks on duty last night”

            Despite the attack, the Cork Examiner published on Tuesday, December 28th, reporting the story of the ransacking on page four of its morning edition.
            In total, the report says, three machines were smashed.
            “Much consequential damage was done by water, and that the fire did not get any hold is due to the tact and courage with which the few employees on the premises at the time got the hoses ready to play, the promptitude with which the fire brigade under Capt Hutson arrived, and the excellent way in which they did their work.”

        • On the Byzantine calendar, Dec. 27th is the Feast of Stephen. This is the Kontakion of the Feast:

          Yesterday the Master came to us in the flesh, and today the servant takes leave of the flesh. Yesterday the King was born in the flesh, and today His subject is stoned to death. The first of the martyrs, Stephen, dies for His sake.

          It probably came from the sermon of St. Fulgentius or maybe St. Fulgentius was quoting the Kontakion. I’ll do some digging and get back to you.

          Reply
  1. Merry Christmas Steve and everyone who contributes to 1P5!

    As a funny side note, did everyone see the photo of the topless woman trying to steal Baby Jesus from the Vatican nativity scene today? Not sure that the people actually minded her presence there — she fit right into the bawdy theme. The poor gendarme with his flowing black cape just seemed to add to the hilarity of the spectacle.

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/12/25/topless-female-activist-tries-to-swipe-baby-jesus-statue-from-vatican-nativity-scene.html

    Reply
  2. Merry Christmas to all my fellow “rigid”, “self-absorbed, Promethean, neo-Pelagian” “rosary counters”.

    May 2018 be the year we finally see the back of Frankenpope, the Insult Generator.

    Reply
    • Christ is born! Glorify Him!

      Dear Friend,

      Please pray for the Pope and those who have colluded with him to welcome sin into the temple. All our souls are on the line in the battle of this earthy pilgrimage, but none will be so sternly judged as the shepherds who have themselves scattered the sheep. Please pray for all concerned: tears of repentance for those who have been seduced by the devil; thanksgiving for those who are upholding the truth in love, even at personal cost.

      Your brother in Christ and the Holy Family,

      Clinton

      Reply
  3. Happy and Holy Christmas to all the 1P5 community, from us here in a group of islands at the bottom of the South Pacific on the outer fringes of civilisation – otherwise known as New Zealand. God Bless you all, and may 2018 be a year of Orthodoxy.
    Don Beckett., Tu

    Reply

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