Venite Prandete

  THE ROMERIA DE EL ROCIO PENTECOST PILGRIMAGE IN ANDALUCIA A pilgrimage to the Hermitage of El Rocio Almonte, in Andalucia in honour of Our Lady of the Dew starts on the second day of Pentecost, finishing on Whitsunday. Our Lady of the Dew has been venerated there at least since the 13th century, although the current ornamentation of the statue dates from 1653. The pilgrims come on horseback and in gaily decorated wagons and the pilgrimage itself becomes a colourful and noisy celebration. On Pentecost Monday the Blessed Virgin is brought from the church and the hermandades, (brotherhoods) carry the statue - the statue is passed from one brotherhood to another. The Hermitage at the site dates from the late 13th century or early 14th century. The statue is theological – Our Lady is looking down at the Christ child – leading us to Christ. The statue is very early but it is dressed in later dressing (16th or 17th century). A site called Spanish Fiestas (from which some of the images a...

  THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION IN VENICE THE WEDDING OF THE SEA The blessings of the Rogation days were sought in regard to the fields and crops (from the Latin, "Rogare", to ask), but they were not confined to the land. The harvest of the sea was blessed, as was the very dangerous profession of fishing, so the Parish would process to the waterside and the fishing boats, the sea would be blessed and prayers offered for a good harvest in teh coming year. The Festa della Sensa (The Feast of the Ascension) is a special feast day for the republic of Venice, commemorating the religious significance of the Ascension, together with secular events in the history of the city. The first is the relief in war from defeat by the Slavs, on 9th May 1000 AD, under Doge Pietro II Orseolo. The second event occurred in 1177 AD, when the Doge, Sebastiano Ziani, welcomed to St Mark’s Basilica the Emperor Federico Barbarossa and Pope Alexander III to conclude a peace treaty that settled a centuries-...

  THE PILGRIMAGE OF LA VIRGEN DE LA CABEZA, SPAIN LAST WEEKEND OF APRIL La Virgen de la Cabeza is a Black Madonna, whose cultus is centred at the Basilica of Nuestra Senora de la Cabeza, located in the Sierra of Andujar, in Spain. Legend tells us that the image was given to Saint Euphrasius by Saint Peter and is said to have been the portrait that Saint Luke painted of the Blessed Virgin. Saint Euphrasius brought the image when he came to Spain in the first century AD. In the 8th century, when Andujar was occupied by Moorish forces the image was hidden at the top of one of the highest and most inaccessible hills of the Sierra Morena, the Cerro del Cabezo. Tradition has it that a shepherd named Juan Alonso de Rivas was watching over livestock belonging to a neighbour. Rivas was an elderly man, suffering from anchylosis and paralysis in his left arm. One night, in August 1227, Rivas began to see strange lights at the top of the Cerro del Cabezo. He also heard the incessant sounds of ...

  GOOD FRIDAY 2nd APRIL Venerating the Cross                                                        Pope Benedict XVI at the Good Friday liturgy Father Weiser (1) observed of Good Friday that it was universally celebrated in the Church as a day of sadness, fasting and prayer. The Apostolic Constitutions (fourth century) called it a ‘day of mourning, not a day of festive joy.” Saint Ambrosius (397 AD), Archbishop of Milan, mentioned Good Friday as a ‘day of bitterness on which we fast.” The early Church, following apostolic tradition, employed the hallowed terms’ Pasch’ (from Hebrew pesach, Passover) both to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Thus Good Friday is called ‘the Pasch of the Crucifixion’ (pascha staurosimon), Easter ‘the Pasch of Ressurection’ (pascha anastasimon).. The first part of the Good Friday service is th...

  HOLY SATURDAY 3rd APRIL Father Weiser’s tells us of the history, customs and liturgy of Holy Saturday: “The original observance of Holy Saturday commemorated Christ’s rest in the tomb. In the early Church there was no service at all during the daylight hours, since the body of the Lord enclosed in the sepulchre shared the fate and humiliations of the human burial. Just as Christ rested in the grave for the whole Sabbath, so the faithful waited in prayer until the evening star announced the beginning of the Easter Vigil. In ancient days a strict fast called ‘the Passion Fast’ was kept until the morning of Easter Sunday; not even children were dispensed from observing it. The Holy Saturday Vigil was restored by Pope Pius XII to night time, leading directly into Easter Sunday. In the early centuries, the catechumens would assemble in the church during the afternoon, the men on one side, the women on the other. After an instruction by the bishop, the priests performed those rites whi...

  THE MAUNDY THURSDAY MASS OF THE LAST SUPPER THE WASHING OF THE FEET Leonardo da Vinci, "The Last Supper" at the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in Milan. Maundy Thursday is so called because of the ceremony of the washing of the feet – which ordinarily takes place after the Homily. The word “Maundy” comes from the directive of Our Lord, set out in the Gospel of St John (13,34), “to love one another as I have loved you” - “Mandatum”, a command. The love we are commanded to bear, to love as Christ loved us, is pointed out by St Paul as a love “even unto death on the Cross” – a selfless abandonment to the love of God and for each other. The Mandatum, the commandment, extends to His loving humility, exemplified by Our Lord in His act of washing the feet of His disciples, the Master in an act of complete servility to the disciples, His students. The symbolism of the washing of the feet is also redolent of the nature of the priestly vocation – one of complete service. Fathe...

  MAUNDY THURSDAY GREEN THURSDAY RECIPES In central Europe, Maundy Thursday is called “Green Thursday” inspired by a tradition of eating green things. The main meal starts with a soup of green herbs, followed by a bowl of spinach with boiled eggs and meat with dishes with various green salads. In the early Church Holy Thursday was not a fasting day - supposedly because the cleaning and bathing required for Easter was viewed as taxing enough to dispense with the fast. It is highly likely actually, that the real reason was that the Holy Days of Good Friday and Holy Saturday were a 'Black Fast", lasting from 3pm on Good Friday until midnight on Holy Saturday. Holy Thursday was therefore a means to set a store of calories to equip the faithful to last the distance. Note too, the boiled eggs; Eggs were given up for Lent; hence their special importance at Easter Sunday, (together with their symbolism of new life). However, eggs do not originate from pagan customs at all, they were p...

  GOOD FRIDAY HOT CROSS BUNS Hot cross buns were first made by Brother Thomas Rodcliffe, a 14th century monk at St Alban’s Abbey who, in 1361, developed the recipe, originally called the ‘Alban bun’ and distributed them to the poor on Good Friday. [That story explains the eating of sweet buns on Good Friday, in case you, like me, never made sense of it. It doesn’t explain, however, why Baker’s Delight sell Hot Cross Buns from Christmas and all through Lent]. The Benedictine monastery of St Albans was dedicated to England’s first saint who was martyred by the Romans. The monastery was originally endowed in 793 AD, the first Abbot appropriately named Wiligod, and by 1163, it was recognised as England’s premier abbey. It did not, of course, survive the reformation -the monastery and all the monastic buildings were destroyed, the offices sequestered, the gold and silver plate seized and the monks banished. The town purchased the monastery church as a parish church (C of E) and the Lady...

  LAETARE SUNDAY - THE GOLDEN ROSE FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT 14th MARCH Golden Rose of Minucchio da Siena (1330) given by Pope John XXIII to Rudolph III of Nidau, Count of Neuchatel. (John XXIII was an anti-Pope and is said to have been "worthless in spiritual things"). Golden Rose of the Basilica of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel - given by Pope Benedict XVI on 15th May 2011. Dom Prosper Gueranger describes the solemnity of Laetare Sunday and its traditions (1): “This Sunday, called from the first word of the Introit, Laetare Sunday, is one of the most solemn of the year. The Church interrupts her Lenten mournfulness; the chants of the Mass speak of nothing but joy and consolation; the organ, which has been silent during the preceding three Sundays, now gives forth its melodious voice; the deacon resumes his dalmatic, and the sub-deacon his tunic; and instead of purple, rose-coloured vestments are allowed to be used. These same rites were practised in Advent, on the third Sunday, c...