Mary Page News
November 24, 2000
Mary Page News items give insight into our interest areas, our outreach, and the myriad ways people honor Our Lady. We welcome your input and your comments.
Features
Call for Papers: Marian Spirituality
The Mariological Society of American issues a "Call-for-Papers." The conferences will be delivered at the Society's annual meeting, May, 2001, and printed in Marian Studies, 2001 (vol. 52). The Society is undertaking a three-year program on Marian Spirituality – the witness and experience of the Marian influence in the life of the Church, of religious movements, and of individuals.
The first year's program (2001) will deal with Marian Spirituality, especially the concept of mediation, during the patristic and early medieval periods. Papers are requested on the Scriptural and doctrinal foundations of Marian spirituality, and on witness of early Eastern and Western writers (e.g., Augustine, Ildephonse of Toledo, Severus of Antioch, John Damascene, Germanus of Constantinople, the monastic writers) and the hymns and prayers of the period.
A precis should be submitted by December 31, 2000. For more information, contact Fr. Thomas A. Thompson, S.M., The Marian Library/IMRI, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH 45469-1390. (FAX 937- 229-4258; Tel: 937-229-4214.
"Your Sicily has a great natural and cultural heritage" and "Of this patrimony, there is no doubt that the most precious legacy is faith in Christ and love for his Blessed Mother,." the Holy Father said in his October 18 message to the young people of Sicily as they prepared to make a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Tears in Syracuse. The Pope's message appeared in L'Osservatore Romano on November 1.
On October 7 the Holy Father addressed the bishops who had come to Rome to celebrate their Jubilee, L'Osservatore Romano said on October 18.. The Pope concluded his remarks, in which he reminded the prelates that all their pastoral activity has the sanctification of the faithful as "its ultimate goal" and that their ministry will be for them an outstanding means of sanctification, with the following words: "We are sustained in our efforts by the closeness of Mary, the Mother whom Christ gave to us from the Cross, saying to the beloved Apostle, 'Behold, your Mother' (Jn 19:26). To her, Regina Apostolorum, we entrust our Churches and our lives, opening ourselves with trust to the adventure and challenges of the new millennium."
Before concluding the Mass he celebrated on Sunday, October 15, in St. Peter's Square for the Jubilee of Families, the Holy Father led the recitation of the Angelus, which he introduced with two announcements: that a delegation led by Cardinal Lopez Trujillo would take a golden rose that the Pope had blessed as a gift to Our Lady of Loreto, and that the next World Meeting of Families would be held in 2003 in Manila. Reported by L'Osservatore Romano on October 18.
"May the Mother of the Redeemer, Seat of Wisdom, watch over you and the demands of this academic year," Pope John Paul II said in his homily October 20 to the professors and students of Rome's ecclesiastical universities, who had gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for the annual Mass at the opening of the academic year, L'Osservatore Romano said on October 25.
"As Sisters of Notre Dame...we, like Mary, give prophetic witness to Jesus and to his way of life," Sr. Mary Sarah Braun, S.N.D., said in an article in L'Osservatore Romano on October 18 describing "the joy of embracing the people of the small Philippine island of Guimaras." Four Sisters of Notre Dame had been sent to assist the people of Guimaras with a community-based health program which includes catechesis and faith formation. The Sisters arrived on October 1 of the Great Jubilee Year, which marked 150 years since their congregation's founding. "The social situation into which the sisters will bring this good news is very similar to that which existed in Europe at the time when their congregation was founded. The population of Guimaras is predominantly rural with 75 percent living in poverty," Sister Braun wrote.
Crèches International: Dayton Art Institute
During the past four years The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute has been instrumental in fostering the true meaning of the Advent/Christmas season. Each year, nativity sets collected from around the world have been on display at the University of Dayton and at Gallery St. John (1998 & 1999) at the Marianist provincial center in Dayton.
For the first time this year, thirty of the crèches will be on display at The Dayton Art Institute. The collaboration for this project involved over a year of planning and preparation for the special exhibit, The Christmas Story. The nativity sets in their unique cultural settings will be on view between November 21, 2000, and January 7, 2001.
The selection of the crèches comprises entirely new displays as well as some beloved selections of previously exhibited at the University of Dayton. Simultaneously, sets new and old will be at The Marian Library's museum. Previous years' exhibits can be viewed on Mary Page in our gallery section:
New Society: Friends of the Crèche
In December, 1999, a small group of lovers of Christmas Nativities met in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of starting an organization with the following goals:
We wish you a blessed Thanksgiving!
The editors of Mary Page wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving and a blessed beginning of the Advent season. May Mary's Magnificat inspire your own gratitude toward God as it inspires us in our thankfulness for the good people and things he has wwrought to bless our existence.
New Exhibit: Georgia Armstrong Askew
![[Clothed
with the Sun]](/mary/gallery/images/askew212t.jpg)
This marvelous exhibit has been on display at The Marian Library/International Marian Research
Institute since mid-November. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties and Thanksgiving
break, we have been unable to post it on Mary Page. Here is sample of what to look forward to
– a work entitled, Clothed with the Sun.
Commentary on Mary in various news articles from November 7 - 18, 2000.
The director and editors of Mary Page 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.
A retired teacher convicted of defacing a controversial painting of the Madonna got off without jail time, the New York Daily News said on November 15. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber gave Dennis Heiner, 73, a conditional discharge and a $250 fine for squirting white paint on artist Chris Ofili's elephant dung-decorated work, "The Holy Virgin Mary," at the Brooklyn Museum of Art last December. The New York Post story on the same date reported that Justice Farber expressed concerns that the sentence wasn't strong enough to deter others but community service would take Heiner away from his aged, blind wife, whom he cares for, and that no amount of sensitivity training would convince Heiner what he did was wrong. "This was a crime committed not out of hate but out of love for the Virgin Mary," Farber said.
Faith No. 3, depicting a pilgrim kneeling before a painting of the Virgin Mary in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Poland, appeared in the London Independent on November 8. The image has had a reputation for shedding tears since 1640 and the picture comes from "Faith," a book of photographs by Mike Abrahams Network Photographers.
Sisters Erica and Tina perform as the contemporary gospel duo Mary Mary. "Those two names represent both sides of the fence," Tina told the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot on November 13. "The perfect woman - the Virgin Mary - then Mary Magdalene, who represents the world and people who don't have a relationship with God. When she met Jesus, he didn't hate on her. She was changed because of that. The two names represent how anyone can be changed by his love." The sisters, whose debut album "Thankful" reached No. 22 on the Billboard R&B chart, performed at the Hampton Coliseum November 16.
"Mystique of Mary," a concert that delves into the treasure trove of Marian art music, is to be performed during Advent by the David York Ensemble, the Oregonian said on November 17. The program includes three different Magnificats, by Antonio Vivaldi, Arvo Part and Ralph Vaughan Williams; works by Tomas Luis de Victoria and Morten Lauridsen which share the text "O Magnum Mysterium;" interpretations of "Ave Maria," by Franz Schubert, J.S. Bach, Charles Gounod, Anton Bruckner and Serge Rachmaninoff; two pieces based on the text "Ave Maria Stella," by Victoria and Otto Olsson, and David York's own "Mary's Song," using W. H. Auden's poem of the same name as its text. York is the conductor and founder of the 32-voice group formerly known as the Concord Choir.
"All We Know of Love," a novel by Katie Schneider in which the heroine leaves home to pursue her dream of becoming an artist on the advice of the Virgin Mary, "is not a religious book, but it is spiritual," Valerie Ryan wrote in the Seattle Times on November 12. "Schneider writes of Jo's search for a way into her spiritual and creative center in faultless prose, lit by faith, hope and love," Ryan said.
The Queen was expected to pray the Church of England's controversial new liturgy for the first time November 14 at a service in Westminster Abbey, the London Daily Telegraph said that day. Common Worship comes into use across Church of England parishes as the new service book on December 3, the first Sunday in Advent, and replaces the 1980 Alternative Service Book. The most disputed line of the new service, which took seven years to draft, would be spoken aloud by the Queen and the rest of the congregation: "He came down from heaven, was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man." The evangelicals opposed the original draft, "was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary," claiming it elevated the Virgin Mary to God-like status.
The Pope has agreed to return one of Russia's most precious icons to the city it was taken from following the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Sunday Mirror and The News of the World both reported on November 12. The mayor of Kazan said the Pope told him that the icon of the Virgin Mary, known as the Mother of God of Kazan, would be returned before 2005, when the city celebrates the 1000th anniversary of its founding. The mayor said the Vatican bought the icon after the 1917 Revolution.
Churchgoers are raising funds to restore their memorial honoring Tyneside's war dead, the Newcastle UK Evening Chronicle said on November 11. Produced almost 80 years ago by Glasgow artist Fra Newbery, the painting shows a Northumberland fusilier alongside a Roman soldier and a Norman knight as well as the Virgin Mary, Jesus and Tyneside's High Level bridge.
Steeped in legend and crammed with holy relics, including a part of Moses' rod, a piece of manna and drops of the Virgin Mary's milk, Glastonbury Abbey drew Christian pilgrims by the thousands before it was ransacked and destroyed during the Reformation. Pilgrims still flock there to pray in the abbey ruins and marvel at the sacred thorn bush that blooms at Christmas as well as Easter. But today's Christians share the ancient market town in Somerset with druids, witches, shamans, occultists, astrologers, pagan priestesses and others, the Toronto Star said on November 18. Glastonbury has been transformed into a new-age mecca, a center for religions that were ancient when Christianity was born. And while the "alternative" and Christian communities try to work together as much as possible, relations are sometimes strained.
Items Revisited
Marian Concert by the Cincinnati Camerata
Begin thinking of Advent
The first Sunday evening in December, December 3, 2000, there will be a Marian Concert by the Cincinnati Camerata in Covington, Kentucky. The following e-mail concerning this event was sent to the Mary Page editors.
This promises to be an exciting event. There is a prelude by a local composer entitled, "Serenade for Mary", followed by a procession singing the "Ave Maris Stella" chant. Next on the program is the Bach Cantata for the 1st Sunday in advent " Wachet Auf " with full orchestra, the middle of the program is all Marian: chants, 15th c. , new music, a Magnificat by Pachelbel, and a beautiful Ave Maria by Bruckner. The program rounds out with The Four Christmas Motets by Poulenc.The concert is at Mother of God Church , 119 west 6th street, Covington,Kentucky (just across the river from Cincinnati) on Sunday, December 3rd, 7:00pm . The ticket price is $10.00 at the door. For more info. please call 859-491-2362.
A Devotee's Mary – The Collection of May Fought
![[popular devotion,
1900's]](/mary/gallery/images/fought17.jpg)
The Saturday, November 11, 2000, edition of the Dayton Daily News featured the Fought exhibit, A Devotee's Mary. The excellent article brought many additonal visitors to the Marian Library. As a result, the exhibit will continue until after the New Year in 2001.
See more at: Current Exhibit
The Life of Mary: Visitation – Magnificat Song
The Mary Page theme for this news brief about the Blessed Mother is culled from magisterial documents since Vatican II. The theme covers various aspects of Mary's life. Mary is a real, historical person who lived in Nazareth 2000.
The example from magisterial writings below is derived from the document Redemptoris Mater (RM).
The Virgin Mother is constantly present on this journey of faith of the People of God towards the light. This is shown in a special way by the canticle of the "Magnificat," which, having welled up from the depths of Mary's faith at the Visitation, ceaselessly re-echoes in the heart of the Church down the centuries. ... proved by its daily recitation in the liturgy of Vespers and at many other moments of both personal and communal devotion. [RM 35] [text Lk 1:46-55 given] In these sublime words, which are simultaneously very simple and wholly inspired by the sacred texts of the people of Israel, (89) Mary's personal experience, the ecstasy of her heart, shines forth. In them shines a ray of the mystery of God, the glory of his ineffable holiness, the eternal love which, as an irrevocable gift, enters into human history. Mary is the first to share in this new revelation of God and, within the same, in this new "self-giving" of God. In her exultation Mary confesses that she finds herself in the very heart of this fullness of Christ. She is conscious that the promise made to the fathers, first of all "to Abraham and to his posterity for ever," is being fulfilled in herself. She is thus aware that concentrated within herself as the mother of Christ is the whole salvific economy, in which "from age to age" is manifested he who, as the God of the Covenant, "remembers his mercy." {RM 36]
You are invited to help us pray for our prayer corner intentions.
The intentions of the Holy Father for November 2000:
For more information on these intentions, see: Apostleship of Prayer
Mary Page, maintained by The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute,
Dayton, Ohio 45469-1390, was last modified Thursday, 16-Aug-2001 13:09:31 EDT by J. M.
Frisk. Please send any comments to
Johann.Roten@udayton.edu.
You are visitor
#
URL for this page is http://www.udayton.edu/mary/news00/20001124.html
Return to November 10, 2000