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PASTORAL VISITS IN ITALY

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15/06/2008 03:34
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008



Posted 6/13/08 in NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT:


BENEDICT XVI'S 10th PASTORAL TRIP IN ITALY:
Puglia awaits the Pope





Interview with Mons Vito De Grisantis
Bishop of Ugento-Santa Maria di Leuca

By ROMA MIMMO MUOLO
Translated from
the 6/11/08 issue of






It all started with a light-hearted exchange a few months after Benedict XVI had become Pope. Receiving the homage of Mons. Vito De Grisantis at the annual plenary assembly of the Italian bishops conference, the Pope remarked to him: "In your diocese, you have a beautiful Marian shrine."

De Grisantis, Bishop of Ugento-Santa Maria di Leuca promptly replied: "Holiness, why don't you come and visit it?"

Said and about to be done. On Saturday, Benedict XVI will enter the Shrine to Santa Maria di Leuca, situated at 'land's end' in southeastern Italy, at the point where the Adriatic Sea joins the Ionian Sea.


At right, Leuca is at the southernmost tip of the Salento peninsula.


Says Mons. De Grisantis, 66, and bishop of the diocese since 2000: "The Holy Father's visit will have several symbolic significances, starting with the particular geographic location of our shrine."


Tell us what this place of worship means for the people of your diocese.
The Basilica of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae ('Blessed Mary at Land's End' - formal title of the Virgin venerated there) is the symbol of our diocese's evangelization. According to a deep-rooted tradition, it was St. Peter himself who debarked on teh coast of Leuca to first announce the Gospel in this part of Puglia.

Then, where there had been once a great temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva (Roman name for the Greek Athena, goddess of wisdom), a shrine to the Virgin Mary was erected.

So for our people, Leuca was the point from which the evangelization of the region began. We are very attached to this shrine which was attacked so many times and destroyed by the Saracens (Muslims), that the present edifice dates to the 18th century. At that time, the bishop had it rebuilt to resemble more a secular edifice than a church, in order to minimize the chances it would be targeted again.


Left, the Basilica is located at the top of the promontory to the left of the lighthouse; right, the Basilica of Santa Maria di Finibus Terrae.


So, among the many symbologies of this papal visit would be 'the return of Peter'.
Yes, we are preparing to welcome the Successor of the Prince of Apostles, so we can be confirmed in our faith and strengthened in our attachment to the Gospel.

In addition, in this shrine that 'masquerades' as a secular building, there is the desire of the diocese to be a Church of the people, of being 'close to home' for our people - where faith is not separate from life but shapes life itself and orients it to higher values.


What are the problems that your diocese must face daily?
Even here, it's the problem of secularization. That is why the Holy Father's visit is very timely. His teaching is profound but at the same time within the grasp of everybody, and it invites us to reflect on the one hand, on an existence that is lived etsi Deus non daretur - as if God does not exist - and on the other, to encourage a new encounter between faith and reason.

We look forward to the Pope's words to confirm us in our commitment and to help us win over the dangers of secularism adn ethical relativism.

Thank God that popular religiosity is so rooted in our people, but we must also help make their attachment to Jesus and the Gospel more profound.


In the past few months since the Pope's visit was announced, you have been emphasizing the economic problems of this part of Salento [Salento is the peninsula that forms the 'heel' of the Italian 'boot'.]
Because that is the other great problem of our region. Unemployment is really becoming an open wound. The crisis in the textile and shoemaking industries has left many families destitute. The Parish priests keep telling me, "We don't know what to do in the face of requests for assistance."

I am visited by many persons who come to tell me of their family emergencies. Then, of course, this means we have an intellectual migration problem, because the young and educated people go to other regions to find work. And that is another form of impoverishment.

From a civilian point of view, we hope the visit will prod all institutions towards more concrete progress, towards solutions that are rooted in the social fabric of the South. I am hoping that the Pope's visit will stimulate the regional, provincial and local governments to work with local institutions for genuine development in the region.


At one time, it was Saracens. Today, you are getting poor people from other countries like Albania disembarking on our shores. So the sea here is a symbol for welcome and solidarity.
That's true. Even if we are not really a target for massive immigration, we have the duty to welcome legal immigrants and to dialog with new residents. Not just Leuca but all of Puglia is called on to do this, so the Pope's visit can only help us to be better at this.



LEUCA'S TRADITIONS:
Peter stopped over on his way to Rome
and St. Luke painted the first Madonna
venerated at the Shrine

by LUIGI RUSSO
Translated from
the 6/11/08 issue of



The Basilica of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae, which will be Pope Benedict's first stop on Saturday, has its roots in the very early years of Christianity.

According to tradition, Leuca was St. {Peter's first stop in Italy on his way to Rome from Jerusalem. It is a tradition supported by a wealth of local 'testimonials': churches, memorial stone tablets, crosses erected along Peter's land route, places commemorating his passage.

There is a Petrine cross in the pine forest next to the Shrine; the churches of St. Peter in Galatina, St. Peter in Giuliano, St. peter in Lama, St. Peter Vernotico, etc.

One of the oldest stone tablets now embedded in the central doorway of the Basilica's atrium reads: "The divine Peter banished the worship of idols from this temple, and in the year 43, his disciples dedicated it to the Virgin Mother of God announced by the Angel. In the year 59, it was designated an episcopal See."

Further, tradition says that some Leuchesi then went to Malta, where the evangelist Luke was carrying out a mission and asked him to paint the Madonna that was first venerated at the shrine. "She had the Baby Jesus on her lap, with his right arm raised in blessing. On one side, was St. Peter genuflecting with the Keys of the Kingdom and the Scriptures in his hand; on the other, St. Paul with the Gospel and a sword."


Left, view of Leuca from below - the Basilica is to the left of the lighthouse on the promontory; right, the image of the Madonna of Leuca.


[For some reason, the Avvenire story about the image is incomplete. Here is what the Shrine website says about it: The image now enshrined at the main altar is the third of its kind. A second image replaced that of St. Luke in the third century but was destroyed during the persecutions of the Emperor Galatius in 293-311. In 1507, the local bishop commissioned a pupil of Titian, Giacomo Palma, to reproduce St. Luke's painting. A fire in 1624 burned the altar and its adornments, but the upper part of the painting showing the faces of Mary and Jesus miraculously survived. That is the part that is still venerated today.]

The church itself was destroyed five times by pirates, Turks and Saracens. Each time, it was rebuilt following the original perimeters.

======================================================================


Interview with Mons. Rocco Talucci
Bishop of Brindisi-Ostuni

By Mimmo Muolo
Translated from
the 6/11/08 issue of






He calls Brindisi 'a city without frongtiers, a door to the Orient, a terrace on the Mediterranean'. Therefore, he would like it to be "always open to the Gospel and to the dialog between faith and reason."

"The Pope's visit will certainly help us," says Archbishop Rocco Talucci on the eve of the much-awaited event. "The expectation is not simply from curiosity. We are convinced that the encounter with the Successor of Peter will be a true grace for the city."

Born in Lucca, Mons. Talucci, 72, has been in Brindisi since 2000, and knows the lights and shadows of his diocese quite well.


What is the face that the Church of Brindisi-Ostuni will show the Pope this weekend?
We are going through a significant phase of our current history, because we must announce the Gospel of hope in a region that is just emerging from a very grave situation. A region that has recently known criminality, illegality, and economic crisis, but has also shown a capacity for hospitality, as when we had to deal with the arrival of 20,000 Albanians at our port. Today, there is a strong sense of a will for rebirth, and the Church is contributing by keeping hope alive.


Benedict XVI's Magisterium often refers to hope. What stimuli do you expect from his addresses?
Several times the Holy Father has also called for a widening of the space for reason. I hope he will make the same appeal in Brindisi, where there is an intellectual ambiance with great potential, but it has been rather indifferent to social challenges as well as to the faith.

But in order for us to turn the page on the problems which plague us (for example, a rather forced industrialization which has not produced the desired results and has not even created the right mentality for development). Everyone needs to contribute. It's not enough to say, "Let's close the door on the past' without laying down the premises for a better future. It's not enough to have culture, if this is not placed in the service of the common good.


So Brindisi hopes to profit from this visit to get it going?
Exactly. If only because this city has in many ways sought to carry out John Paul II's 'Duc in altum' ['Put out into the deep' - Jesus's words to Peter about venturing further after a long night's work without catching any fish; used by John Paul in his Apostolic Letter Novo millennio ineunte]

I wish that this visit can help us to overcome some divisions and mistrusts between Catholics on one side and secular intellectuals on the other. I would like to think it will be an occasion for a reciprocal stimulus - for the intellectuals to undertake dialog with the faith, and for the ecclesial community, to announce the Gospel as a proposition that widesn the horizons of reason.




Ecclesially, what are the motivations for this visit?
Quite a few. Brindisi is a city without frontiers, a doorway to the Orient, a terrace on the Mediterranean. It is also the United Nations headquarters for humanitarian aid to poor nations. We would like Brindisi to be the point from which messages of piece and brotherhood go out to the eastern and southern hemispheres. Therefore, the first reason I see is to promote this vocation of openness and peace.

Then there is the relationship with the Orthodox Christians, in which sense Brindisi is a doorway to the Orient not only at the comemrcial and political levels, but also ecumenically.


You have been holding your diocesan synod. How does the papal visit fit in?
We will still be a Church in synod, after this visit. We have just built a new seminary, which will be ianugrated on Sunday and will be called the Benedict XVI Archiepiscopal Seminary. We wish the local Church to grow in communion and in missionary capacity. So the Pope's visit will certainly give us fresh impetus.

In the early years after 1000, Pope Urban II visited Brindisi and blessed the perimeter on which the Cathedral was later built. After a thousand years, another Successor of Peter is coming back providentially to bless our entire diocesan Church.


You referred to the city's social problems? How has the Church been helping out?
These past few years, we have been trying to apply the gospel of hope in relation to our people's expectations. To the problems of work, the youth, our culture, the environment. We have tried not to neglect any field of civilian living. In this, Christian charity can be an incentive for development, for brotherly solidarity and for social justice.


ST. LAWRENCE OF BRINDISI,
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH, 1559-1619




Clarity in dialog, a commitment to the very least of beings, utter trust in Mary to unify Christians.

From the Adriatic coast looking to the East, an exemplary figure appropriately awaits Benedict XVI - the church's 'Doctor Apostolicus', St. Lawrence of Brindisi, who was a friar-general of the Capuchins, beatified by Pius VI in 1783, canonized in 1881 by Leo XIII, and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by John XXIII in 1959.

At first glance perhaps the most remarkable quality of Lawrence of Brindisi is his outstanding gift of languages. In addition to a thorough knowledge of his native Italian, he had complete reading and speaking ability in Latin, Hebrew, Greek, German, Bohemian, Spanish and French.

He was born Giulio Cesare Russo in Brindisi on July 22, 1559, and died exactly 60 years later on his birthday in 1619. After the early death of his parents, he was educated by his uncle at the College of St. Mark in Venice.

When he was just 16 he entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order in Venice and received the name of Lawrence. He completed his studies of philosophy and theology at the University of Padua and was ordained a priest at 23.

With his facility for languages he was able to study the Bible in its original texts. At the request of Pope Clement VIII, he spent much time preaching to the Jews in Italy. So excellent was his knowledge of Hebrew, the rabbis felt sure he was a Jew who had become a Christian.

In 1956 the Capuchins completed a 15-volume edition of his writings. Eleven of these contain his sermons, each of which relies chiefly on scriptural quotations to illustrate his teaching.

Lawrence’s sensitivity to the needs of people — a character trait perhaps unexpected in such a talented scholar — began to surface early. He was elected major superior of the Capuchin Franciscan province of Tuscany at the age of 31. He had the combination of brilliance, human compassion and administrative skill needed to carry out his duties. In rapid succession he was promoted by his fellow Capuchins and was elected minister general of the Capuchins in 1602. In this position he was responsible for great growth and geographical expansion of the Order.

Lawrence was appointed papal emissary and peacemaker, a job which took him to a number of foreign countries. An effort to achieve peace in his native kingdom of Naples took him on a journey to Lisbon to visit the king of Spain. Serious illness in Lisbon took his life in 1619.

His constant devotion to Scripture, coupled with great sensitivity to the needs of people, present a lifestyle which appeals to Christians today. Lawrence had a balance in his life that blended self-discipline with a keen appreciation for the needs of those whom he was called to serve.

His monumental work was the 'Mariale' - all about Mary, Mother of God - about which scholars have said, "Many have written much about Mary, but none better than he."

When he became superior of the Capuchins, he had the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli built on the site of his natal home in Brindisi.


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 07/07/2008 07:37]
15/06/2008 03:41
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008



Posted 6/13 in NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT:


PUGLIA IS READY FOR THE POPE'S EMBRACE

I - SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA
Under the Virgin's loving look

by LUIGI RUSSO
Translated from
the 6/13/08 issue of




LECCE - Its geographic position makes it an ideal doorway to the Orient. Which today means openness 'to dialog with all the religions of the Mediterranean'.

Since 1989, Mons. Giuseppe Stendardo has been the parish priest and rector of the Marian shrine at Leuca. Saturday afternoon, he will welcome the Pope to the Basilica.

Benedict XVI will be arriving along the Cristoforo Colombo seaside boulevard after landing by helicopter at Punto Ristola, the southernmost tip of Italy.





"Our sanctuary," says Mons. Stendardo, has a great and long history. We have testimony that Marian devotion began here as early as 43 A.D., although it was not consecrated as such until 3443 by Pope Julius I."



The Basilica is located on an ancient temple to the goddess Minerva. The transformation, according to tradition, followed St. Peter's passage through Leuca, where he is believed to have first stopped over on his way to Rome from Jerusalem.

Thus, a stone tablet now embedded in one of the basilica's doorways says: "The worship of idols having been banished from this temple by the divine Peter, his disciples dedicated it in the year 43 to the Virgin Mother of God to whom the Angel made the Annunciation. In the year 59, it was designated an episcopal see."

The Shrine of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae is the heart of Benedict XVI's visit to the diocese of Ugento-Santa Maria di Leuca, an event that has been the object of much attentive preparation and participation.



"We have distributed the prayer to the Virgin Mary drawn from the encyclical Spe salvi, and this has accompanied the pilgrimage of the image of Our Lady from February 17 to the middle of May in all 43 parishes of the diocese. There has been great participation everywhere not only in welcoming the image but also in the prayer vigils and catecheses held in connection with its pilgrimage," says Mons. Stendardo - proof, he says, of the great devotion to Mary in the region.



"Although we are quite remote, being at the extreme end of the 'boot'," he adds, "most of the tourists who come to Puglia come to this shrine. Just on the basis of the tourist buses that in the parking lot adjoining the shrine, we have calculated that more than a million pilgrims visit us each year. Not only from Italy but all of Europe."

Preparation for the Pope's visit had an aspect that is cultural and , he notes. At the diocesan level, there was a cycle of lectures on the magisterium of Benedict XVI focused on his two encyclicals and his recent discourses on the social and civilian problems of our time.


Diocesan publications for the visit.

"The Holy Father will find," says Mons. Stendardo, "a diocese that is enthusiastic, who finds in his words the guidance and the courage to help the live the realities of today in the light of the Gospel. His visit will certainly reinforce the renewal of the Holy Spirit which has been evident in our communities. I think this will consolidate our faithful in the apostolic tradition, of which the Pope is the highest symbol."


LEUCA TO GREET THE POPE WITH
A HUNDRED THOUSAND FLOWERS

by Antonio Della Rocca
Translated from
Corriere del Mezzogiorno
June 13, 2008

And olive branches. Which they have chosen for two reasons - it's the plant that best represents the Salento peninsula [the 'heel' of the Italian boot], as well as that which was most associated with the earthly passage of Jesus Christ.

A stylized olive branch will also be on the chasuble that Benedict XVI will wear for the Mass, created by stylist Pino Cordella of Lecce. Even the chalice will be of olive wood, created for the occasion by Salentini artists Marco Simone and Niki Corrado.

And the hundred thousand flowers, all white - carnations, roses and gladioli - have been donated by the floriculturists of Taviano and Laverano. Landscape artist Piero Tunno will arrange them around the altar platform with appropriate greenery.

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Leuca tomorrow afternoon will be an explosion of 'salentinita' in what the Bishop of the diocese says will nevertheless be a composed celebration befitting the Pope.

Mons. Vito De Grisantis says they expect at least 40,000 persons at the Holy Father's Mass in two sectors - one around the altar in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae and a second one, in the streets leading from the tourist port and marina towards the shrine.

"We also expect people to greet the Holy Father from their windows as his motorcade passes through," said Mons. De Grisantis. "We encourage everyone to celebrate and express their joy for this visit."

The diocese has collected some 30,000 euros in the past few months to give to the Pope towards a hospitality center for Christian, Muslim and Jewish youths in the Holy Land.

The Pope is expected to arrive by helicopter at the military marina in Punto Ristola around 4:30 in the afternoon.



II- BRINDISI
Spiritual preparation since December
for the Pope's visit

by ANGELO SCONOSCIUTO
Translated from
the 6/13/08 issue of




BRINDISI - "In the words of the angel of the Lord to the shepherds of Bethlehem, I announce to you, with great joy, that His Holiness Benedict XVI will visit our Church of Brindisi-Ostuni".

As the Cathedral bells pealed in celebration at noontime on Christmas Eve 2007, Mons. Rocco Talucci made the official announcement of the Pope's visit which comes to pass tomorrow and Sunday.

"God is visiting our Church this way to give vigor to its synodal journey, so that we might continue with new impulse along the path of saintliness, and that we might grow in our mission "to illuminate all men by announcing the Gospel to every creature'," he said.

From December 24 onward, then, the diocesan spiritual preparation began alongside physical preparations by church and civilian authorities for a welcome worthy of the Vicar of Christ.

Brindisi had been looking forward to a Papal visit since 2000, when Mon. Talucci, shortly after he was installed as bishop, presented a formal request to the Secretariat of State. But John Paul II's health ultimately did not make it possible.

But Archbishop Talucci renewed the invitation after Benedict XVI was elected. He had occasion to speak to the Pope directly about it during the ad-limina visit of the bishops from Puglia. He recalls that they had discussed the generosity with which Brindisi had welcomed thousands of immigrants who had fled Eastern Europe, particularly Albania, for a better life.

The spiritual preparation has since taken the diocese through several stages marked by prayer vigils, community reflection on the Gospel and a study in depth of some aspects of the Pope's Magisterium.

The spiritual preparations were also linked strongly to the Feast of St. Peter's Chair, followed by the Lenten observance, and monthly Eucharistic adoration. The Diocesan Synod opened on Maundy Thursday.

Mons. Talucci's Easter message said: "The Successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ today is Benedict XVI, who will be coming here as a bearer of hope: social hope to realize peace and justice, moral hope to build a civilization of love, spiritual hope for a renewal of life. This promise is concretized at Easter, in which we live and feel our hope, gift of the Resurrection, which has permeated history, resulting in those Christian roots that have generated spiritual goodness and social justice through the centuries, making the Church a conscience for the world, and the world a place in which to experience love."

The last phase of the spiritual preparation started June 5 in all the 60 parishes of the diocese leading up to the celebration of Pentecost, with parish discussions among the faithful on the encyclical Spe salvi.

Mons. Talucci says that beyond the Pope's visit, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29 will mark yet another occasion for the diocese of Brindisi to manifest its spiritual closeness to the Successor of Peter.



In Brindisi, major concern
for Papal security

by Marcello Orlandisi
Translated from
Corriere del Mezzogiorno
June 13, 2008


BRINDISI - Since September 11, 2001, the port of Brindisi has been one of those strategic areas under constant and special surveillance.

And when a Pope sets foot here tomorrow for the first time in a thousand years, the threshold of vigilance is set very high indeed. Especially since the Pope will be speaking from the port area on the sea, which is so much a part of the Christian history of this city.

One gathers that at least 700-800 security personnel of the first line will be keeping an eye along the Pope's routes and critical areas.

Starting Saturday at 8 pm - the helicopter landing area on Via Spalato, the route to he Piazza Lenio Flacco for the formal welcome, and the area around the Cathedral and the Bishop's palace. Then Sunday, the area of Sant'Apollinare where the Mass will be celebrated, followed by the noonday Angelus. As well as all the crossings and bridges approaching Brindisi, the port basins and the docks.

The same number of men and women will be deployed as emergency and first aid personnel, including firemen, civil protection and hospital units. Six area hospitals are part of the emergency plan, and the entire security task force draws from local, provincial and regional policemen. Most of them will be operating in plain clothes. Selected squads of sharpshooters will be deployed on strategic rooftops along the Pope's route.

Motorboats of the police and coast guard will be patrolling the waters up to two miles offshore, and the port itself will be closed from Friday midnight till 6 p.m. on Sunday, after the Pope will have left Brindisi.

Starting Friday, security squads specializing in sea and land operations were to be deployed. The Aeronautics Corps of the Italian armed forces is in charge of securing landing zones, while the Army will be in charge of perimeter security.



15/06/2008 03:56
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008





PASTORAL VISIT OF
HIS HOLINESS, BENEDICT XVI,
TO SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA AND BRINDISI
June 14-15, 2008





P R O G R A M


VISIT TO SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA

Saturday, June 14, 2008

ROME
15.00 Depart the Vatican for Ciampino airport.


GALATINA-LEUCA

15.30 Depart Ciampino for Galatina

16.30 Arrival at Fortunato Cesari military airport in Galatina
- Transfer to helicopter for Leuca

16.50 Arrival at Leuca-Punta Ristola -
Welcome by civilian and church authorities.

The Papal motorcade proceeds to the Basilica of Santa Maria di Leuca, along the Cristoforo Colombo
seaside boulevard passing by the tourist port.

17.15 Arrival at the Basilica Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Leuca.
- Prayer by the Holy Father
- Preparation for Holy Mass

17.30 Start of the Eucharistic celebration
- Greeting by Mons. Grisantis, Bishop of Ugento-Santa Maria di Leuca
- HOMILY BY THE HOLY FATHER.

19.15 Depart for Punta Ristola

19.30 Helicopter leaves for Brindisi





VISIT TO BRINDISI

Saturday, June 14

20.00 Arrival at heliport in via Spalato.
Welcome by civil and diocesan authorities.
- The civilian authorities will then precede the papal motorcade to go towards the city center.
- The Holy Father will transfer to a Popemobile to proceed to Piazale Flacco.

20.30 PIAZZALE LENIO FLACCO
- Festive welcome by the youth of the city
- Welcome and encounter with the city faithful.
- Addresses by the Italian government representative and the mayor
- GREETING BY THE HOLY FATHER

21.15 The Holy Father then proceeds to the Bishop's Palace where he will spend the night
.




15/06/2008 04:01
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008



Posted earlier in NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT:




The pastoral visit to Santa Maria di Leuca and Brindisi:
Benedict XVI in the Salento region,
an area that needs development

Editorial signed by
Carlo di Cicco, Deputy Editor
Translated from
the 6/14/08 issue of




Benedict XVI is going back to Puglia. A short visit which brings back memories of the first one - to Bari on May 29, 2005, a few weeks after he became Pope.

Then, it was to close the National Eucharistic Congress, and it was the new Pope's first opportunity to address the Church of Italy [of which he is the Primate], during which he indicated some directions that his Petrine ministry would take - in favor of ecumenism, listening to the Oriental and Orthodox churches, and dialog with present-day culture.

The visit this time to Santa Maria di Leuca and to Brindisi is a return to those themes in the context of the two local churches, which are both distinguished by a strong pastoral commitment in the face of social crisis.

The Salento region is undergoing specific difficulties linked to the underdevelopment of southern Italy. Jutting out into the Mediterranean, its most attentive inhabitants like to point out that it is like a bridge linking East and West, through which passed, in remote times, pilgrims going to and from the Holy Land, coming from all of Europe, as well as new people who came to Italy with new hopes and new ideas in a context of integration and reciprocal respect.

In fact, it was in Leuca, according to tradition, that the Apostle Peter first set foot in Italy at the dawn of Christianity in Europe. Perhaps it was for this reason that Pope Benedict XVI, before proceeding to Brindisi, which was originally the only city on the itinerary, welcomed the invitation to visit the Shrine of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae in Leuca, which he visits today as the Successor of Peter.

Benedict XVI arrives in a region in which the regional society adn economy are in great difficulty not only because of present worldwide conditions, but as noted by the two bishops concerned - those of the dioceses of Brindisi-Ostuni and of Ugento-Santa Maria di Leuca - also because of historical disadvantages that have not been overcome.

In this context, the provincial council of Lecce recently approved unanimously a resolution of greeting and welcome for the Holy Father, "a sign," says provincial president Giovanni Pellegrino, "of respect as well as of a common interest to construct around the Pope's visit an unequivocal and strong sentiment of fraternal solidarity."

"The Salento region," Pellegrino adds, "is a land of hospitality, not only with its tourist structures, but also, many facilities designed to welcome migrants fleeing their countries. It is a land that has given the best of itself when in recent years, it opened its doors to men, women and children coming from Albania and other Eastern European countries, to the point where it was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. That is why in the Salento, the different foreign communities that are present in the region are assimilating without particular problems - in an atmosphere if tolerance, respect and profitable coexistence.".

While the diocese of Brindisi which the Pope is visiting Sunday is now aiming for renewal in the light of its diocesan synod, the diocese of Ugento does not forget that it is also the land of Don Tonino Bello, the bishop who was a friend of the poor, and was president of Pax Christi. He has left these parishes a profound and unforgettable legacy that has now led to the opening of his beatification process on the diocesan level.


15/06/2008 04:07
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008










15/06/2008 04:20
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008



Posted earlier in NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT:










Pope begins two-day tour
of impoverished southern Italy




SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA, Italy, June (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday praised the work of the Roman Catholic Church in southern Italy as he began a two-day visit to the impoverished Apulia region.

Tradition holds that it was here that Saint Peter, the disciple of Jesus considered the founder of the Christian Church, arrived from Palestine and headed to Rome to begin the evangelisation of Europe.

"This promontory between Europe and the Mediterranean, between West and East, reminds us that the Church has no borders, that it is universal," said the 81-year-old Pontiff.

Benedict also hailed the "generosity" of the port city of Brindisi that for years took in thousands of refugees from the former Yugoslavia and Albania.

The German-born Pope celebrated an open-air Mass attended by several thousand people under a hot sun at a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary overlooking the sea in this town at the tip of the heel of Italy's "boot."

"Here as in all of southern Italy, Church communities are places where the young generation can learn hope, not as a Utopia but as the tenacious confidence in the force of good," the Pope said.

"For the Church, geographical, cultural, ethnic and even religious borders are an invitation to evangelisation," he said.

Local bishop Vito De Grisantis, greeting the Pope, stressed the "need for rapid social, civil and economic development" in southern Italy, "especially to help families and young people for whom unemployment is an ever more serious problem."

The Pope replied: "In a context in which individualism is more and more encouraged ... the first service of the Church is to educate in the social sense, towards paying attention to those around you, to solidarity and sharing."

He added: "The Church can have a positive influence, especially on the social level," because it fosters "open and constructive human relationships, respectful of the service of the humblest and the weakest."

Later Saturday, at a vigil with young people in nearby Brindisi, the Pope warned against "the temptation of easy profits."

The Church and several humanitarian groups offered "refuge and help, despite the economic difficulties that continue to affect this region in particular," he said.

The Pontiff was set to celebrate another open-air mass in Brindisi on Sunday.












Pope says Church role in politics
'for the good of all'

By Robin Pomeroy




SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA, Italy, June 14 (Reuters) - The Catholic Church has a vital role to play in shaping social policies but does not seek to usurp secular authorities, Pope Benedict said on Saturday.

In a homily to pilgrims in southern Italy, the Pope said the Church's role in politics -- where it often speaks out against abortion, gay marriage and embryo research -- was not intended to take the place of western secular ways of government.

"The Christian community cannot and does not want ever to substitute the legitimate and right competencies of institutions," the Pope told pilgrims at the start of a two-day visit to one of Italy's most economically depressed areas.

He spoke at an open-air Mass on a cliff 100 meters (330 feet) above the Mediterranean Sea at one of the southernmost points of the Italian mainland.

A day after strolling through the Vatican Gardens with U.S. President George W. Bush, with whom he sees eye-to-eye on many moral issues, the Pope said the Church had the role of "supporting (governments) in their work and always proposes cooperating with them for the good of all."

The Church often comes under fire from left-wing politicians in Italy, Spain and some other predominantly Catholic countries who accuse it of interfering in domestic affairs.

After the April election of a new conservative government, former foreign minister Massimo D'Alema warned the Church against succumbing to "the demoniacal temptation of seeking power" by forging a pact with new Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Benedict, wearing gold and cream vestments as he celebrated the mMss, said the Church's role in influencing policy-making was especially important in societies where individualism, rather than the common good, is championed.

"Good wins out," he said in his homily. "And, if at times it can seem to be defeated by bullying and cunning, in reality it continues to operate in silence and discretion, bearing fruit in the long term," he told the crowd of some 5,000 people who packed a small square.

Berlusconi himself has said his government is in favor of the Church. "The activity of the government can only please the Pope and his Church," he said earlier this month.

But Berlusconi's policies have not always coincided with the Vatican's views.

The Church has expressed concerns about a current government crackdown on immigration and Benedict's predecessor John Paul II was against the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which was supported by Berlusconi.

Among the local dignitaries to welcome the Pope to the seaside town of Santa Maria di Leuca was Nichi Vendola, an openly gay communist who is governor of Puglia, the "heel" of Italy.





15/06/2008 12:13
 
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Sunday, June 15th 11 am BST
What a beautiful Mass this morning! It moved me very much, perhaps more than the Mass in Genoa. Papa seemed to me to be on top form and to be enchoying everything - the great welcome was overpowering. Lots of banners. The music for the Mass was, I thought, quite in keeping with the occasion - it's a setting we have in our church many Sundays and is certainly one of the holier settings. Most of it was in Latin, too, except for the Kyrie, obviously.

Note: the faithful who received Holy Communion from Papa again knelt at a prie dieu and received on the tongue. So this wasn't something that was reserved for Corpus Christi.

I loved the vestments, though the exact colours are difficult to discern on EWTN. The obvious green of the season, worn by all the clerics except for Papa and his deacons, did clash a bit with Papa's own colour, which appeared to me to be a lovely shade of gold/green/lime. I liked it, anyway!

I feel on Cloud Nine now! Papa - come to England! PLEASE!!!!! We need that injection of holiness. The Italians are lucky to have had ten Papal visits.

05/07/2008 22:41
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008



Forgive me, but I did not realize I failed to post the rest of the Leuca-Brindisi items here from NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT. Let me do that now because, now the visit to Cagliari is on us....



6/15/2008 9:30 PM
TERESA BENEDETTA
Post: 13946

Thanks as ever to Caterina for her prompt videocap montages from the Mass in Brindisi, which I have used here in slightly edited form. Here is a translation of the Holy Father's homily:







HOMILY AT THE MASS IN BRINDISI, 6/15/08


Dear brothers and sisters,

At the center of my visit to Brindisi, we celebrate on the Lord's day the mystery which is the source and summit of the entire life of the Church.

We celebrate Christ in the Eucharist, the greatest gift from his human and divine heart, the Bread of Life broken and shared so that we may become one with Him and among ourselves.

I greet affectionately all of you who have assembled in this place which is so symbolic - the port - which evokes the missionary voyages of Peter and Paul. With joy I see so many young people who animated last night's vigil, preparing themselves for the Eucharistic celebration. I also greet those of you are taking part spiritually through radio and television.

I address a particular greeting to the pastor of this beloved Church, Mons. Rocco Talucci, thanking him for the words he said at the start of the Mass. I greet the other bishops of Puglia who are here with us in fraternal communion of feelings.

I am particularly happy at the presence of Metropolitan Gennadios, to whom I extend my heartfelt greeting, which also goes to all our Orthodox brothers and those of other confessions, from the Church in Brindisi which, through its ecumenical vocation, invites us to pray and commit ourselves to work for the full unity of all Christians.

I greet and acknowledge the civilian and military authorities who are taking part in this liturgy, wishing them all the best in their service.

My affectionate thoughts go out to the priests and deacons, religious men and women, and all the faithful. I have a special greeting for the patients in the hospitals and those who are in prisons, whom I assure of remembrance in my prayers.

May the grace and peace of the Lord be on everyone and on the whole city of Brindisi!

The Biblical texts, which we heard on this eleventh Sunday in ordinary time, help us to understand the reality of the church: The first Reading (cfr Ex 19,2-6a) evokes anew the alliance reached on Mount Sinai during the exodus from Egypt; the Gospel (cfr Mt 9,26-10,8) tells of the calling and the mission given to the twelve Apostles.

We find presented here the 'constitution' of the Church. How can we not take note the implicit invitation addressed to every community to renew itself in its own vocation and its own missionary impulse?

In the first Reading, the sacred author narrates God's pact with Moses and Israel on Sinai. It is one of the great stages in the history of salvation, one of those moments that transcend history itself, in which the boundary between the Old and New Testaments disappears and the perennial plan of the God of the Alliance reveals itself: the plan to save all men through the sanctification of a people, whom God proposes to make his "special possession, dearer to me than all other people" (Ex 19,5).

In this perspective, the (Jewish) people are called to become 'a holy nation', not only in the moral sense, but first and above all, in its ontological reality itself, in its essence as a people.

How one should understand the identity of this people would be gradually manifested in the course of salvific events that take place in the Old Testament, and is then fully revealed in the coming of Jesus Christ.

Today's Gospel presents us with a decisive moment for that revelation. In fact, when Jesus called twelve apostles, he wanted to refer symbolically to the tribes of Israel, going back to the sons of Jacob.

Thus, placing himself at the center of his new community of Twelve, he made it understood that he had come to bring to fulfillment the plan of the celestial Father, even if it would not be till Pentecost that the new face of the Church would emerge - when the Twelve, 'filled with the Holy Spirit', would proclaim the Gospel, speaking in all languages (acts 2,3-4).

At that time, the universal Church would be manifested, assembled in one Body of which the risen Christ is the Head, and at the same time, sent by him to all nations to the very ends of the earth (cfr Mt 28.20).

The style of Jesus is unmistakable: it is a style characteristic of God who likes to fulfill the greatest things in poor and humble ways. The solemnity of the accounts of the Alliance in the Book of Exodus gives way in the Gospel to humble, discreet gestures which nonetheless contain the enormous potential for renewal.

It is the logic of the Kingdom of God, which is not by chance represented by the small seed that becomes a great tree (cfr Mt 13,31-32).

The Pact of Sinai was accompanied by cosmic signs which terrified the Israelites. But the beginnings of the Church in Galilee were devoid of any such manifestations, reflecting the gentleness and compassion of the heart of Christ, but also pre-announcing another battle - that against the great confusion brought on by the forces of evil.

To the Twelve, as we heard, Christ "gave the power over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness" (Mt 10,1). The Twelve would cooperate with Jesus in establishing the Kingdom of God, that is, his beneficial Lordship as the bearer of life - life in abundance for all mankind.

God who is Love triumphs. This work of Christ is always silent - it is not spectacular. It is precisely in the humility of being the Church, of living the Gospel each day, that the great tree of true life grows.

It is with these humble beginnings that the Lord encourages us, so that even with the humility of the Church today, in the poverty of our life, we can see his presence and thus have the courage to walk forward to him, and to make his love present on earth, the love which is the power for peace and for true life.

This then is God's plan: to spread to mankind and the entire cosmos his life-generating love. It is not a spectacular process. It is humble, but it carries with it the power of the future and of history.
It is a plan that God wishes to realize respecting our freedom, because love, by its very nature, cannot be imposed.

The Church is therefore, in Christ, the space for welcoming and mediating the love of God. In this context it appears clearly how the holiness and mission of the Church are two faces of the same coin: only insofar as it is holy - that is, filled with divine love - can the Church fulfill its mission, and it is precisely in the light of this task that God has chosen and sanctified it as his special possession.

Therefore our first duty in helaing this world is to be saintly, conforming ourselves to God. In this way, a sanctifying and transforming force comes from us which can act on others and on history.

It is this pairing of 'holiness-mission' - holiness is always a force which transforms others - against which your ecclesial community, dear brothers and sisters, measures itself at this time, in undertaking its current diocesan Synod.

In this respect, it is useful to reflect that the twelve Apostles were not perfect men who were chosen fro their moral and religious reproachlessness. Yes, they were believers, full of enthusiasm and zeal, but marked at the same time by their human limitations, sometimes even grave ones.

Jesus did not call them because they were already saintly, complete, perfect, but so that they could become saints, so that they could be transformed in order that they themselves could transform history. Exactly as it is for us. And for all Christians.

In the second Reading, we heard it synthesized by the Apostle Paul:
"God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Rm 5,8). The Church is a community of sinners who believe in the love of God and allow themselves to be transformed by him, and thus by becoming saintly themselves, they sanctify the world.

In the light of this providential Word of God, I have the joy today of confirming the path your Church has taken. It is a path of sanctity and of mission, about which your Archbishop has invited reflection in his recent pastoral letter; it is a path that he has amply verified in the course of his pastoral visits to the parishes and which he now intends to promote through the diocesan Synod.

Today's Gospel suggests to us what the style of mission should be, that is, the interior attitude that must translate into the life we live. It cannot be other than Jesus's own style: that of 'compassion'.

The evangelist proves it, calling attention to how Christ looked at the crowds: "At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd" (Mt 9,,36).

After having called the Twelve, we find this attitude again in the command he gave them to "go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 10,6). In these statements, one senses Christ's love for his people, especially for the 'little' ones and the poor.

Christian compassion has nothing to do with piousness and volunteerism. Rather, it is synonymous to brotherly solidarity and sharing, and inspired by hope. Were not Jesus's words to the Apostles - "As you go, make this proclamation: 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Mt 10,7) - born of hope?

This is hope, one that is based on the coming of Christ, and which ultimately coincides with his person and the mystery of the salvation be brought - in which he is the Kingdom of God, and that was news for the world - as recalled in the theme of the fourth National Convention of the Italian Church in Verona: "The risen Christ is the hope of the world."

Inspired by the hope in which you will be saved, even you, brothers and sisters in this ancient Church of Brindisi, are signs and instruments of compassion, of Christ's mercy.

To the Bishop and the priests, I repeat with fervor the words of the divine Teacher: "Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give" (Mt 10,8).

This mandate is addressed even today to you, in the first place. The Spirit which acted in Christ and the Twelve is the same one that works in you and which allows you to fulfill among your people, in this territory, the signs of the Kingdom of love, justice and peace which will come, or rather, already are in the world.

But the mission of Jesus is shared in different ways by all the members of the People of God, by grace of Baptism and Confirmation. I think of the consecrated persons who profess vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. I think of Christian spouses and you, the lay faithful, who are engaged within the ecclesial community and in society as individuals or in associations.

Dear brothers and sisters of Brindisi, follow the path you have undertaken in this spirit. May your patrons, Saint Leucius and Saint Oronzo, who both arrived in the second century from the Orient to irrigate this land with the living water of thr Word of God, continue to watch over you.

May the relics of St. Theodore of Amasea, venerated in the Cathedral of Brindisi, remind you that to give one's life for Christ is the most effective way of preaching.

May St. Lawrence, son of this city who became, in the footsteps of St. Francis, the apostle of peace in a Europe torn by wars and discord, obtain for you the gift of authentic brotherhood.

I entrust you all to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of hope and Star of evangelization. May the Blessed Virgin help you to remain in the love of Christ so that you may bring others abundant fruits for the glory of God the Father and for the salvation of the world. Amen.










At the conclusion of the Holy Mass celebrated in Sant'Apollinare wharf at the Port of Brindisi, the {ope led in the recitation of the Angelus. Here are the words he said before the prayers:



REMARKS BEFORE THE ANGELUS

Dear brothers and sisters,

Before concluding this celebration, I express my acknowledgment to all those who prepared it with such care, animating it with music and song. I thank all those who organized my trip and are contributing so that everything may proceed in the best way. I refer to the various local authorities, the forces of order, volunteers, and you, dear inhabitants of Brindisi.

I invite everyone now, as I do every Sunday, to join me in praying the Angelus.

The place where we find ourselves - the port - is laden with pregnant symbolic significance. Every port speaks of welcome, of refuge, of security; it represents the hoped-for goal after navigation, perhaps long and difficult. But it also means departures, projects and aspirations, for the future.

In particular, the port of Brindisi has a front-line role in communications towards the Mediterranean world and the Middle East, and because of this, it also hosts a base of the United Nations which carries out an important function on the humanitarian level.

From this very evocative place, not far from a place named 'good morning' (Calimera) in Greek, I wish therefore to renew the Christian message of cooperation and peace among all peoples, especially among those who face the Mediterranean sea, ancient cradle of civilization, and those of the Near and Middle East.

And I am pleased to do so with the words that I used two months ago in New York, addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations: "The action of the international community and its institutions, provided they respect the principles that underlie the international order, should never be interpreted as an undesired imposition and a limitation on sovereignty. On the contrary, it is indifference or non-intervention that bring real damage. What is needed is a more profound search for ways to forestall and control conflicts, exploring every possible diplomatic way and paying attention to the faintest signs of dialog or desire for reconciliation" (L'Osservatore Romano, 4/20/08, O. 8).

From this piece of Europe that juts out into the Mediterranean, between East and West, we turn once again to Mary, the Mother who shows us the way - Odegitria - giving us Jesus, the Way of peace. We invoke her ideally with all the titles with which she is venerated in teh shrines of Puglia, and in particular here, from this ancient port, we pray to her as the 'port of salvation' for every man and for all mankind.

May her maternal protection always defend your city and region, Italy, Europe and the whole world from the tempests that threaten the faith and true values, and may she allow the young generations to set forth without fear to face the journey of life with Christian hope. Mary, port of salvation, pray for us!

After the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father left the Port of Brindisi and returned by car to the Bishop's Palace, where he had lunch with the bishops of Puglia.


05/07/2008 22:43
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008



6/15/2008 11:31 PM
TERESA BENEDETTA
Post: 13947


Pope gives Communion the traditional way
during his visit to southeastern Italy




I do not know why AFP has so far not carried this story in its English service.






BRINDISI, Italy, June 15 (Translated from AFP French service) - After rehabilitating the 'Tridentine' mass and the reapparition of lace albs, Benedict XVI today took another step in returning to traditional liturgical practices by giving Communion to faithful who knelt to receive it at an open-air Mass before some 70,000 persons in this port city of southern Italy.

This practice fell into disuse over the past 40 years following the liturgical reform of 1969-1970 in which receiving Communion in the hands while standing before the Mass celebrant became common practice with the new form of the Mass (now called the ordinary form).

The Pope first gave Communion this way in public at the Mass on the Solemnity of Corpus Domini last May 22 in front of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, although it did not get much notice because the public was much more limited.

Those chosen beforehand to receive Communion from the Pope himself knelt at a prie-Dieu set in front of the Pope. [What this report does not mention is that the same practice was followed at the Papal Mass in Santa Maria di Leuca yesterday.]


Communion in Leuca yesterday.
The implication now is that the faithful may choose which way he or she prefers to receive Communion. [Personally, I can say that I have never had any problem presenting myself to the priest kneeling down for Communion all these years, although there was a much-publicized incident of a California priest not only refusing to give Communion to someone who knelt to receive it but also audibly chastised her on the spot for not doing it the way 'everyone else does'.]

Kneeling for Communion, which was never prohibited, had remained an exclusive practice at parishes where the traditional Mass was still performed (or had been allowed by indult to be performed).

By his actions, Benedict XVI apparently wants to set an example for the whole church and his priests.

"We Christians kneel only before the Blessed Sacrament (the Host) because we know and believe that we are in the presence of the one true God," he said on May 22.

"I am convinced it is urgent to give Communion to the faithful directly on the tongue without them touching it" and "to revive kneeling at the moment of Communion as a sign of respect," he added.

The liturgical modifications introduced by Benedict XVI in the past several months have favored a return to some practices which had fallen into disuse after the post-Vatican II liturgical reforms.

In Brindisi today, the Pope issued "a message of peace and cooperation to all peoples", particularly 'those of the Near and Middle East'.

"From this very evocative place, I wish to renew the Christian message of cooperation and peace among all peoples, particularly among those who live along this sea [the Mediterranean], ancient cradle of civilizations, and the other nations of the Near and Middle East," he said in his homily this morning.

Brindisi, on the Adriatic coast, is the site of the United Nations depot for emergency humanitarian aid administered by the World Food Program.

It was chosen following the arrival there of thousands of Albanians in search of better living conditions and refugees from the former Yugoslavia fleeing the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

The Pope paid tribute to the work of the UN in Brindisi and 'the important role it plays on the humanitarian level.'

He renewed the conviction he expressed at the United Nations in New York last April that it was legitimate for the international community to intervene in case of crisis, saying that "it is indifference or non-intervention which cause real damage."

Before the Angelus prayers at noon today, the Pope addressed himself "to all the peoples of the world" from "this piece of Europe on the Mediterranean, a bridge between East and West," without citing any specific situation.

On his arrival in Brindisi Saturday night, the Pope, in an address to a youth assembly, praised the 'generosity' of the people of Brindisi towards the tens of thousands of refugees "from Croatia and Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia."

This port city deployed an excess of security measures for the Pope. All the streets in the center of the city were closed to regular traffic since Saturday morning, and Coast Guard boats patrolled the waters along the portside esplanade where the Pope celebrated Mass this morning.

In his homily, the Pope also emphasized the Church's social commitment in the name of "Christ's love for the 'little' people and the poor."

"Christian compassion," he said, "has nothing to do with piousness or volunteerism - rather, it is synonymous to brotherly solidarity and sharing and inspired by hope."


=====================================================================



And here is a story about the fabric used for the Pope's chasuble today, which was in the style of St. Philip Neri. Its a translation of an item in the website of the Archdiocese of Brindisi-Ostuni's office of cultural assets, and it can be fully appreciated now that we have seen the chasuble. Unfortunately, none of the pictures available so far can show us the details of the fabric pattern described below.


Note the dalmatic and stole under the chasuble.


FABRIC SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED FOR THE CHASUBLE
OF POPE BENEDICT XVI ON HIS VISIT TO BRINDISI

Technical Description
by Maria Pia Pettinau Vescina
(Historian of old fabrics)
Office of Ecclesiastical Cultural Assets
Archdiocese of Brindisi-Ostuni
www.brindisiweb.com/arcidiocesi/

The fabric, executed masterfully by Angelo De Negri of the Giuseppe De Negri textile factory in Caserta, is absolutely and surprisingly faithful in terms of the design to the original reliquary fabric used for the relics of San Teodoro d'Amasea, patron saint of the city of Brindisi.

[NB: A special note on the site explains:]

On November 9, 1225, feast of St. Theodore, the wedding took place, in the Basilica Cathedral of Brindisi, between the very young queen of Jerusalem, Isabelle of Brienne, and the Lord of the West, Emperer Frederick II of the Swabians [what is now the Baden-Wuerttemberg area of Germany).

For the occasion, the remains of St. Theodore of Amasea were brought to Brindisi by way of a gift from the Eastern queen to her new subjects, wrapped in a reliquary fabric.

On the occasion of the visit to Brindisi of His Holiness Benedict XVI, for both the chasuble tobe worn by the Pontiff as well as the stoles to be worn by the priests, a copy of that reliquary fabric now kept in the Diocesan Museum of Brindisi has been made to order
.

Its principal value lies in its relation to the devotional history and tradition of Brindisi.

It was woven using green silk thread as warp, and green linen thread with mustard yellow silk thread for the woof.

It was decided to use the yellow silk instead of the original idea to use gold lurex as a substitute for the gold filigree thread in the original reliquary fabric. The lurex idea was discarded because the shininess of the synthetic would have made the resulting fabric look theatrical and therefore 'fake' for a sacred garment to be used by the Holy Father in a liturgical rite of absolute solemnity.

Using the yellow silk in the woof, with the overall green scheme, results in a changeable shade of green [but in certain lighting, the yellow dominates), and also brings out with better relief the multi-lobed rosettes enclosing the gryphons of the design. [It was explained in an earlier article that the rosette stands for the Mystical Rose, Christ, and the mythological gryphons - half-lion, half-eagle - for the dual nature of Christ].



Photos show the composition and detail of the pattern woven into the fabric.

Green is the liturgical color on the Sunday of the papal Mass in Brindisi, and dominates the parallel rows of rosettes, as well as the stellate corollas of the rosettes, and the geometrical play of four-lobed circles forming crosses that adorns the space between the rosettes.

The same fabric is used as borders to trim the chasubles of the concelebrants, executed in green satin with a monochrome pattern repeating the daisylike main pattern of the Holy Father's chasuble.

Much attention has been paid to the stylistic unity of all the liturgical garments that are appropriate to the solemnity of the occasion without being ostentatious.

We hope that the Holy Father will accept the gift of the chasuble crafted specially for him, as a lasting and meaningful souvenir of his visit to Brindisi.

[The site also describes the silver chalice commissioned for the Papal Mass, based on an 18th-century ostensorium carried on Corpus Christi processions and found in the Diocesan Museum of Brindisi. Its main design element is the pelican - which the Fathers of the Church considered the most striking symbol for the Eucharist, because the pelican feeds its young with the blood that gushes from tearing open its chest. Until he became Pope, Joseph Ratzinger's cardinal ring, a gift from his brother Georg, featured a pelican engraved on its gemstone (onyx?).]

======================================================================

ANSA has this picture of the Holy Father presenting Bishop Talucci with his customary gift of a chalice for the host diocese, at the start of the Mass this morning. The principal deacon's dalmatic is made of the same material as the Pope's chasuble. The Holy Father's dalmatic and the chasubles worn by the concelebrants were in green-on-green patterned satin.





05/07/2008 22:44
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008



6/16/2008 2:43 AM
TERESA BENEDETTA
Post: 13948


MEETING WITH THE CLERGY OF PUGLIA

So far, we have photos of the Pope arriving for the meeting held in the Cathedral of Brindisi, and one after the meeting, but not the meeting itself. The Vatican did not release any texts from today except the Pope's Angelus remarks, but according to an Italian news agency report, the Holy Father called on the clergy to strengthen their pastoral ministry by basing it on assiduous prayer and a continuing cultural, theological and spiritual formation.

He asked them to be missionaries of God's love and to make their parishioners experience the joy of belonging to Christ.


The Pope is flanked by Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, emeritus Archbishop of Palermo and a native of the Salento region, and by the Bishop of Brindisi-Ostuni, Mons. Vito Talucci.




The note which precedes the text of the Holy Father's address posted by the Vatican (on June 16) says:

In the afternoon, before leaving the Bishop's Palace, the Pope greeted some of the organizers of this papal visit. He then proceeded to the Cathedral of San Lorenzo for a meeting with the clergy of Puglia, scheduled for 4:45 p.m.

The Holy Father first spent some moments in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and then, after a greeting from the Archbishop of Brindisi-Ostuni, Mons. Vito Talucci, the Pope addressed the assembled clergy with these words (translated here):


ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY OF PUGLIA

Dearest priests, deacons and seminarians,

I am happy to extend my heartfelt greeting to all of you who are gathered in this beautiful Cathedral which has been re-opened for use after restorations undertaken last November.

I thank the Archbishop, Mons. Vito Talucci, for the warm message of greeting that he addressed to me in your name, and for all his gifts.

I thank the priests, to whom I wish to express my satisfaction for the vast and detailed pastoral work that they are carrying out. I greet the deacons, the seminarians, and all who are here, and express to you my joy at being surrounded by so many souls consecrated to the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Here, in this Cathedral which is the heart of your diocese, we all feel ourselves at home, united by the bond of Christ's love. Here, we wish to render grateful thanks to the memory of all who spread Christianity in these lands. Brindisi was one of the first cities of the Western world to welcome the Gospel, which reached here through the Roman consular routes.

Among the evangelizing saints, I think of St. Leucius, Bishop, of St. Oronzo, of St. Theodore of Amasea and St. Lawrence of Brindisi, who was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by John XXIII. Their presence continues to be very much alive in the hearts of the people and visible in many monuments in your city.

Dear brothers, seeing you gathered in this Church, in which most of you received your diaconal adn priestly ordinations, I am reminded of the words that St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the Christians of Ephesus: "Your venerable college of priests, worthy of God, must be harmoniously united to the Bishop, as the strings are to the zither. In this way, in the accord of your feelings and the perfect harmony of your fraternal love, you raise a concert of praise to Jesus Christ."

And the sainted bishop adds: "May each of you learn to be a part of the choir - in the harmony of concord and in unison with the word of God heard through Jesus Christ, in the single voice that sings the praises of the Father, he will listen to you" (Letter to the Ephesians, 4).

Be persevering, dear priests, in the quest for such a unity of intentions and of reciprocal assistance, so that your fraternal love and the unity of your pastoral work may be an example and a stimulus for your communities.

This has been the main objective of the pastoral visits made to the parishes by your Archbishop which he completed last March. Precisely because of your generous collaboration, those visits were not merely a juridical compliance but an extraordinary occasion of ecclesial and formative value.

I am sure that it will bring its fruits, so that the Lord may give abundant growth to the seeds sown with love in thr souls of the faithful.

With my presence today, I wish to encourage you to place yourselves with ever increasing disposition in the service of the Gospel and the Church. I know that you have been working with zeal and intelligence, without sparing your energies, for the purpose of spreading the happy news of the Gospel.

Christ, to whom you have consecrated your lives, is with you! In him, we all believe; to him, we entrust our lives; it is He we wish to proclaim to the world. Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (cfr Jn 14,6) - may this be the theme of our thoughts, the subject of our speech, the motive for our life.

Dear brother priests, in order that yours may be a strong and vigorous faith, it must be nourished, as you well know, by assiduous prayer. Be models of prayer, become masters of prayer.

Your days must be marked by periods of prayer during which, following the example of Jesus, you may undertake a regenerating dialog with the Father.

I know it is not easy to be faithful to these daily appointments with the Lord, especially these days when the rhythm of life has become frenetic, and our daily cares absorb us increasingly more. Still, we must convince ourselves: the moment of prayer is the most important in the life of a priest - it is when divine grace acts most effectively, bestowing a fecundity on our ministry.

Prayer is the first service we can render to our community. That is why the periods of prayer should have a true priority in our life. I know how many things press on us: in my case, an audience, documents to study, a meeting, always something else.

But if we are not in interior communion with God, then we cannot give anything to others. That is why God is the first priority. We should always reserve the time necessary to be in a communion of prayer with our Lord.

Dear brothers and sisters, I also wish to rejoice with you for the new Archiepiscopal Seminary which was inaugurated last November by my Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

On the one hand, it expresses the present of the Diocese, constituting a point of arrival for the work carried out by the priests and parishes in the sectors of youth ministry, catechetical instruction, and religious motivation for families.

On the other hand, the Seminary is an investment in the future that is more valuable than ever because it assures, through patient and generous work, that the Christian communities will not lack for pastors of souls, masters of faith, zealous leaders and witnesses of Jesus's love.

Besides being the seat of your formation, dear seminarians, who are the true hope of the Church, your Seminary is also a place for keeping up to date [with the faith] and of continual formation for young people and adults who wish to offer their contribution to the cause of the Kingdom of God.

The attentive preparation of seminarians and the permanent ongoing formation of priests and other pastoral workers constitute priority concerns for the Bishop, to whom God has entrusted the mission of leading, as a wise Pastor, the People of God who live in this city.

Another occasion for the spiritual growth of your community is the diocesan Synod, the first after Vatican-II and after the unification of the dioceses of Brindisi and Ostuni. It is the occasion for relaunching the apostolic commitment of the entire diocese, but it is, above all, a privileged time for communion, which helps to rediscover the value of fraternal service, as indicated by the Biblical icon which you chose that shows the washing of the feet (cfr Jn 13,12-17), with the words of Jesus who says, "Just as I did" (John 13,5).

If it is true that the Synod - every Synod - is called to establish laws, to issue norms that are appropriate and adequate for an organic pastoral ministry, which can inspire and stimulate renewed commitment to evangelization and evangelical witness, it is also true that it should reawaken in every baptized person that missionary yearning which constantly inspires the Church.

Dear brother priests, the Pope assures you of a special place in his prayers so that you may continue along the path of authentic spiritual renewal that you have been taking with your respective communities.

May you be helped in this task by the experience of 'being together' in faith and reciprocal love, as the Apostles had with Christ in the Cenacle. It was there that the divine Teacher taught them by opening their eyes to the splendor of truth, and where he gave them the sacrament of unity and love: the Eucharist.

In the Cenacle, at the moment of the washing of the feet, it emerged clearly that service is one of the fundamental dimensions of Christian life. It is therefore the task of the synod to help your local Church, in all its components, to rediscover the sense and the joy of service - a service out of love.

This is important above all for you, dear priests, who are configured to Christ 'leader and pastor', always ready to serve his flock. Be cognizant and joyous for the gift you have received. Be generous in carrying out your ministry. Sustain yourself with assiduous prayer and a permanently continuing cultural, theological and spiritual formation.

As I renew to you my expression of sincere appreciation and my most heartfelt encouragement, I invite you and the entire diocese to prepare yourselves for the Pauline Year, which will start soon.

It could be an occasion for relaunching a generous missionary effort, for a more profound proclamation of the Word of God - heard, meditated and translated into a fruitful apostolate - just as it was for the Apostle of the Gentiles. Conquered by Christ, Paul lived completely for him and for his Gospel, spending his existence in it to the point of martyrdom.

May you be aided by Our Lady, Mother of the Church and the Patron of listening. May you be protected by the patron saints of this beloved land of Puglia. Be missionaries of God's love, so that every parish may experience the joy of belonging to Christ.

As a token of divine grace and of the gifts of his spirit, I gladly impart to each and everyone the Apostolic Blessing.










Earlier, the Holy Father had lunch with all the bishops of Puglia at the Bishop's Palace. ANSA reports that the lunch was prepared by teachers at the hotel and restaurant training academy of Brindisi and consisted of: spinach shoots, orechiette [a pasta] with ricotta, smoked goose breast au gratin, stuffed artichokes, and ice cream glazed with orange-flavored chocolate.

On his way to the airport to return to Rome, the Pope's motorcade was to pass by Brindisi's new minor seminary, which Cardinal Bertone inaugurated last November.


The Benedict XVI Seminary.

It was Bishop Talucci's decision to locate the new seminary in a working-class area near the port, and to name it the Benedict XVI Seminary as of today. [It is the second training institution named for Benedict XVI - the first being the Benedict XVI University for Philosophical and Theological Studies at Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria.]




05/07/2008 22:47
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008



6/17/2008 2:22 PM
TERESA BENEDETTA
Post: 13960


Because it does not come out on Mondays, L'Osservatore Romano carries its full coverage of the Holy Father's visit to Santa Maria di Leuca and Brindisi this weekend in today's double issue for June 16-17.


Ad orientem, even in geopolitics

With eyes turned to the East
by Mario Ponzi
Translated from
the June 16-17 issue of




With his thoughts turned to the East, Benedict XVI, from the port of Brindisi - 'thrusting out to the Mediterranean' - invoked peace and cooperation among peoples in his Angelus message on Sunday.

He spoke of hospitality, brotherly solidarity, and compassion that is not piousness, in calling on the international community, as he did at the United Nations in April, to look for "ways to prevent and control conflicts, exploring every possible diplomatic means", paying attention even to 'the faintest signs of dialog'.

Although he did not say so, the Pope was certainly referring to the political situation in the Near and Middle East, but neither did he overlook all the factors that threaten the faith as well as the great human values of human life - family, love and brotherly solidarity - in today's world.

These ware the themes the Pope touched on during the visit which concerned a setting much broader than the local region he was addressing.

For Benedict XVI, it was a 'return' to Puglia. He was here as the newly-elected Pope in May 2005 to close the National Eucharistic Congress.

This time, he came as a concerned pastor, aware of the difficulties faced by a population that - perhaps due to atavistic omission - feels the effects of Italy's current economic crisis more than any other part of the country.

He has no practical solutions to offer, and he says so to the civilian authorities present: "The Christian community cannot and would never wish to undertake the legitimate and obligatory competencies of public institutions", but he proposes Christ and his message of love as a key to solving problems.

The first part of this pastoral visit took place 'at the feet of the Mother of Christ' - in the Shrine of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae in Leuca, which has been the repository of confidences and hopes for the people of Puglia who have sought comfort and hope from the "Mother of last recourse', as a holy man of the area, Fr. Tonino Bello, called her.

In Leuca, Benedict opened his dialog with the people of Puglia, a joyous people rich with an old faith which has not weakened despite their daily cares.

The Pope speaks to them of the human aspects of social policy in a time of uncertainty and questions.

"Good triumphs," he reminds them, "and even if sometimes it may seem overcome by cunning, it continues to work in silence", which is the way of social renewal.

"To start over from Christ" is the message he left in Leuca, what he called 'an advance post' of the Church with a 'particular calling to be a bridge between peoples and cultures.'

Later that night, to the citizens and particularly the youth of Brindisi, he would urge the normality of a life inspired by love, to have hope that is not utopian but realistic, to guard against falling prey to false promises and artificial Paradises.

"Only love, authentic love," he told them, "is the key to every hope" because it is rooted in God. But he also reminded them that Christ, though merciful, is demanding and will not take half measures.

The Pope was interrupted many times by cheering youth, chanting his name, and he often had to bring their attention back to his message - Christ and his Gospel - improvising from his prepared text to explain himself better in 'the logic of the Kingdom of God".

A concept he brought up in his homily on Sunday morning - a logic born out of "Jesus's unmistakable style...characteristic of God who does great things in simple humble ways".


The embrace of a people
in celebration

by Mario Ponzi
Translated from
the June 16-17 issue of




Beyond every expectation. The enthusiasm and affection shown for Pope benedict XVI by the people of Puglia who came to Brindisi truly went beyond all expectations. Even Archbishop Rocco Talucci was surprised and could not hide his happy wonder.

Crowds on either side of the street followed the Popemobile in the few kilometers between the landing place for the helicopter had brought him to Brindisi and the center of the city where he would address its citizenry for the first time.

Among the crowds that Saturday were children and toddlers - more than a hundred of them - children of families belonging to the Neo-Catechumenal Way who came to Brindisi to show their gratitude to the Holy Father for having approved the statues for their movement.

Approaching Brindisi by helicopter, the first sign of the port city's welcome was the powerful illumination that outlined the main buildings of a city rich in history and opening out to sea. From the air, the lights gave the idea of large arms opened wide for an embrace, and even if this was inadvertent, it anticipated what took place later in via Lenio Flacco, where the entire city of Brindisi appeared to have converged for the nighttime meeting with Benedict XVI.

The Pope was welcomed by the Archbishop of Brindisi-Ostuni, Mons. Rocco Talucci, along with the civilian authorities who had welcomed him earlier in Santa Maria di Leuca, joined now by the Mayor of Brindisi, Domenico Mennitti.

But above all, there were the young people, whose festive mood set the tone for the entire assembly. They had been waiting for hours, organized in prayer groups and carrying procession candles.

To start off the encounter with the Pope, welcome remarks by the Italian Minister for Regional Affairs Raffaele Fitto, by Mayor Mennitti and by a young man belonging to the local Catholic Action, in representation of the youth. They expressed the concerns and hopes, doubts and certainties, that preoccupy the city and the region today.

The youth representative said they dream of "an extrovert Church, capable of going forth to meet the man of today and to accept him with all his questions".

The Pope's address was interrupted by prolonged applause and repeated ovations, as he described to them the 'style' of a Church that does go forth to meet the man of today - a humble style that follows Jesus, the one answer to all questions.

It was later than expected when the Holy Father was finally able to proceed to the Bishop's Palace where he was to spend the night.

The Pope's Sunday program started in the Bishop's Palace, when he met with about twenty Benedictine and Carmelite cloistered nuns. The Holy Father stressed the centrality of prayer in the life of every religious and the particular importance that he attaches to the prayers offered by cloistered communities for the intentions of the
Church and the Pope.

Meanwhile, a huge crowd had already assembled for Mass at Sant'Apollinare wharf in the port of Brindisi. Once again, young people stood out. Many of them had spent the night in a prayer vigil on the site.

As many as 70,000 people coming from all parts of Puglia had gathered. For hours, special trains and dozens of buses had been unloading pilgrims outside the city, since city streets were closed to regular traffic for the occasion.

It was significant that among those present was Metropolitan Gennadios Zervos, the Greek Orthodox primate for Italy and Malta. Though this was not the only ecumenical touch in the day's Mass.

The chalice commissioned for the Pope's use was crafted by a silversmith of the Orthodox community in Ioannina, Greece. And the Greek community of Brindisi, who have an Orthodox parish dedicated to St. Nicholas of Bari, were celebrating Pentecost Sunday, according to their calendar, and chose to come to the papal Mass for the occasion.

Concelebrating with the Pope were all the bishops and priests of Puglia and even some priests from Albania.

Archbishop Talucci introduced an innovation when, after the Pope's homily, he asked the Holy Father "to confirm with the authority of the Successor to the First Apostle, the baptismal faith of our local Church, which is experiencing in this celebration the highest and most significant stage of its current diocesan synod."

At Communion, all those who received the Sacrament from teh Pope knelt to receive it on the tongue. [As in Leuca the day before, a prie-Dieu had been provided for the purpose.]

Later, after the Pope had delivered his Angelus message calling for peace and reconciliation among the peoples of the Mediterranean, especially those of the Near and Middle East, some 50 white carrier pigeons were released from a cage near the altar.

In the afternoon, before leaving back for Rome, the Holy Father visited teh Cathedral of Brindisi, where he met with the priests, religious and seminarians of the diocese. This too, was a joyous gathering, marked by informality and trust.

Then Benedict XVI was treated to yet another crowd phenomenon. Once again, Brindisini turned out to line both sides of the four-kilometer route between the Cathedral and the airport to bid him farewell.

The embrace from the people of Brindisi confirmed a proposal made by the Mayor the night before when he told the Pope that the city would erect a column in the center of Piazza Lenio Flacco to perpetuate the memory of the visit as a 'firm point of departure' for a renewal of the city.

The Pope appeared very touched by the affection showed by the people of Puglia. He told the bishops after lunch with them on Sunday, "I am going back to Rome much comforted."



05/07/2008 22:50
 
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PASTORAL VISIT TO LEUCA AND BRINDISI, June 14-15, 2008



There were a couple of good wrap-up stories of the Salento trip in the regional newspapers of southeastern Italy that I hope to post in translation before long....



[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/08/2008 08:55]
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PASTORAL VISIT TO CAGLIARI (SARDINIA), Sunday, September 7, 2008

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF OUR LADY OF BONARIA AS PATRONESS OF SARDINIA


Posted earlier today in NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT:



The Archdiocese of Cagliari, capital of the Italian island-region of Sardinia (Sardegna), has released
the program for the Holy Father's pastoral visit on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008.


PASTORAL VISIT TO CAGLIARI
Sunday, September 7, 2008





09:30 Arrival at Elmas airport, Cagliari.

10:30 Eucharistic Concelebrazion presided by the Holy Father
in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria
NB: No other Mass will be celebrated this day in the diocese.

13:30 Lunch at the Sardinian Regional Seminary
with the bishops of Sardinia and the papal entourage.

16:30 Travel from the Seminary to the Catehdral of Cagliari
for private prayers

18:00 Meeting with the youth at Largo Carlo Felice

19:30 Departure for Rome from Elmas airport




Elements of the banner for the visit that I put together for the Forum:



The papal visit logo.



Poster showing the Holy Father, the facade of the Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria,
and the image of the Madonna of Bonaria.




Seal of the Archdiocese and full facade of the Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria.
The site banner for the shrine reads "Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria, Cagliari.
Supreme Patroness of Sardinia, Protector of Sailors".



Logo for the centenary of the papal decree that
declared our lady of Bonaria the patron saint
of Sardinia. "Behold your mother, Sardinia!"

=====================================================================

THE POPES AND SARDINIA

Benedict XVI will be the third Pope to set foot on Sardinia, during which he will add yet another Marian shrine to the list of those he has visited as Pope (Czestochowa, Altoetting, Ephesus, Loreto, Aparecida, Mariazell, Savona, Genoa, Leuca, plus Lourdes in September).


But the shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria has been associated with all the Popes of modern times, according to a brief history available from its website:


Pius IX, Pius X, Pius XI.


Pius IX decreed the coronation of the Madonna on April 24, 1870. 5th centenary of the arrival of the image – recalled 15 years alter with a reconsecration of the Shrine.

On Sept. 13, 1907, Pope Pius X proclaimed Our Lady of Bonaria as Supreme patroness of Sardinia.

On April 22, 1926, the present Church was inaugurated and given the title of Minor Basilica by Pius XI.


Pius XII, John XXIII, and Paul VI.

On April 24, 1958, the Shrine celebrated the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of Our Lady as Sardinia’s Supreme Patroness. Vatican Radio and RAI broadcast the words of Pope Pius XII to more than 100,000 faithful who had gathered in front of the Basilica for the celebratory Mass.

On December 7, 1960, the Shrine reopened to worship with a new altar after months of restoration. A letter from John XXIII was read for the occasion.

On April 24, 1970, sixth centenary of the arrival of the miraculous image in Cagliari, Pope Paul VI became the first Pope to visit Sardinia.



On October 20, 1985, John Paul II celebrated Mass for some 130,000 faithful in front of the Shrine of Our Lady,on the third and last day of a three-day pastoral visit to Sardinia.


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/07/2008 01:21]
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PASTORAL VISIT TO CAGLIARI (SARDINIA), Sunday, September 7, 2008

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF OUR LADY OF BONARIA AS PATRONESS OF SARDINIA


THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF BONARIA,
QUEEN OF ALL SAILORS






According to tradition, Cagliari had been a malaria-infested region. An old monk foretold that the name of the city would be changed to Bon-aria instead of "bad-air," the designation it then had.

The prophecy was fulfilled on the 24th of April in 1370 WHEN an unexpected storm raged against a Spanish sailing boat carrying people and goods, just off the harbor of Cagliari. The captain ordered the sailors to throw away everything on board when the ship started to sink, while the passengers invoked the Blessed Virgin Mary to save them. The jettisoned cargo included a heavy chest now preserved in the cathedral sanctuary.

It was the last to be thrown into the sea and, oddly it did not sink but floated on the waves. At its passage, clouds disappeared from the sky and the storm stopped. Following the box toward the coast, the sailors managed to reach shore safe and sound on Bonaria beach.

They tried to open the chest but could not, so they called the “Mercedari” monks of the convent near the Bonaria hill: they easily managed and, to their surprise, they found a statue of Our Lady carrying the Infant. The Child held a ball in his left hand and reaches out to grasp a candle standing on a ship model held by his mother.



They called it “Nostra Signora di Bonaria” (Our Lady of Bonaria) and, from that day, the name was connected to the sanctuary and the Basilica was built afterwards.

In Wales, Our Lady of Cardigan, an image that is believed to date back to the 12th century, is a similar image also called the Virgin of the Taper.



And in their list of other places where Our Lady of the Taper is venerated, they include Cagliari, with the following observation:

The most notable is at Cagliari in Sardinia, where in 1370 a Catalonian ship foundered offshore, and a statue of Our Lady of the Taper was brought to land. A church was built for it on a headland, and named Santa Maria di Bonaria (of the good air), for people said its presence had cleared the place of a pestilential atmosphere. Spain controlled Cagliari, and its sailors adopted Santa Maria di Bonaria as their shrine.

Ransomer priests cared for it. They were great seafarers, as their vocation was to rescue Christian captives from the Moors. They became chaplains to the Spanish navy, and sailed with Columbus, bringing their devotion with them. They founded a shrine in Cuba. Others, named La Candelaria, are to be found in Tenerife, Guatemala and Rio de Janeiro. Buenos Aires was once called Santa Maria de los Buenos Aires (Spanish, in the plural form, for BonAria).

We do not know how the devotion transferred to Barcelona and Cagliari. In the 1320's and 1330's Catalonian sailors had thronged British waters. Did they come to Cardigan, see the shrine and copied it?




Interior of the Shrine in Cagliari.


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/07/2008 01:14]
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Posted earlier in NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT:


Updates from the the Archdiocese of Cagliari:



The Pope's embrace of Sardinia:
A Sunday with the Pope in Cagliari
September 7, 2008





THE POPE'S PROGRAM
IN CAGLIARI





Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008

09.30 Arrival at Elmas apirport
10.00 Arrival at the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria
10.30 Eucharistic Concelebration presided by the Holy Father
13.30 Lunch with the Bishops of Sardinia
at the Sardinian Pontifical Regional Seminary
17.00 Encounter with priests, seminarians and the theological faculty
at the Cathedral of Cagliari
18.00 Encounter with young people
at Largio Carlo Felice
19.00 Departure from Elmas airport for Rome.




A special issue of the archdiocesan newspaper is the best pre-visit publication thus far of the various diocesan preparations for the Holy Father's pastoral visits in Italy. I will post translations of some of the background articles as I am able to.



A note on the cover (translated):

'Veni per Mariam' - 'Come for Mary' - is deliberately intended to allude to different 'comings'. The first true coming is that of Jesus, who came on earth through Mary, his Mother. Pilgrims, especially those who do not know Latin, will think about themselves - "I have come for her, to see her. Mary has brought me here."

But who has come or will come? The photo composition shows Pope Benedict XVI and Our Lady of Bonaria. Christ and the Pope - both are coming, one in the other, and Mary is their way and their sanctuary.


Information includes other at-a-glance presentations like these:


An overview of the Church in Sardinia:



Locations and quick overview of Marian shrines in Sardinia:



The presentation only shows the major shrines. The accompanying articles says there are 345 churches and shrines dedicated to Mary in Sardinia, under a great variety of titles, often 'unique and surprising".



The youth do their part
to prepare for the visit


The youth poster: The Pope in Sardinia...is meeting you as well!


On the eve of the Pope's visit, a full day's program:



YOUTH PROGRAM FOR THE PAPAL VISIT

Saturday, Sept. 7
The youth together


10:00 Registration and welcome
Fiera Campionaria (Fair grounds)
11:00 Program begins -
- Catecheses and other group activities
- Lunch
- Pep talks and testimonials
17:00 Via delle Beatitudine*
19:30 Dinner
21:00 Prayer vigil at the Cathedral of Cagliari
- Confessions
- Eucharistic Adoration


Sunday, Sept. 8
The Pope and the youth together


10:00 Papal Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria
16:00 Festivities while awaiting the Pope
at Largo Carlo Felice
18:00 The Holy Father meets the youth of Sardinia


*The Via delle Beatitudine (Way of the Beatitudes) is an unusual preparatory activity by the youth of the Diocese. Following a route from Viale Buoncammino to the Cathedral of Cagliari, participants make eight stops for meditation and prayer - each stop dedicated to one of the Beatitudes described by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. At the Cathedral, participants may proceed to Confession.

The Way of the Beatitudes will be held Thursday to Saturday (Sept. 4-6) at 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Participating froups may start at their convenience.








Gold for the Pope
in Cagliari

by Mario Girau
Translated from



CAGLIARI, August 14 - A golden chalice-and-paten set represent the 'first fruits' of the earth from Sardinia and of Sard labor that will be presented to the Pope on September 7.

Benedict XVI will use them to offer - in the Eucharistic sacrifice - the problems, the expectations, the hopes, the joys and the sacrifices of this island's population.

The 'chalice of the Sards' was presented yesterday at a news conference by Archbishop Giuseppe Mani who made official the smallest detail of the Pope's day in Cagliari next month.

The Pope's 10 hours in the city will give extreme joy above all to three categories of the faithful - seminarians, centenarians, and some gravely ill persons - about 300 persons in all, who will be able to see the Supreme Pontiff up close at the Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria.

"Let us all prepare ourselves," said the Archbishop, inviting everyone to participate, "so that our encounter with the Pope may be a decisive moment for our faith."

The golden chalice and paten, fashioned at the goldsmith shop of Lorenzo Pagnini in Arezzo in Tuscany, are now the official symbols of a Sardinia that is waiting, as it did 100 years ago, to be entrusted once again to the protection of Our Lady of Bonaria.

The centenarians (almost 70 of them in the diocese of Cagliari alone), said Mons. Mani, "are living testimonies to the protection of Mary during the difficult century just past and one of the many gifts that the Lord has made to our land."

And it was from the earth that 350 grams of gold were extracted from some 58 tons of rock by tireless mechanical sieves and then presented as an ingot by Sardinia Gold Mining to the Archbishop of Cagliari when he made a pastoral visit to Furtei, the gold mine site.

The ingot, along with 1200 more grams of gold were then sent to Arezzo, where the raw gold was transformed into gold leaf, worked into Sard-style filigree, and decorated with amethysts, aquamarines, agates and onyxes. A work of art which, at current prices, has a market value of about 50,000 euros.

Mons. Mani also said that the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household has given its final 'piacet' (approved) to the Pope's Cagliari program.

After landing at Elmas military airbase around 9 a.m., the Pope will ride in a closed car to City Hall, where he will transfer to the Popemobile en route to the Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria. He is expected to get there around 10:15.

He will be greeted at the front steps by Cagliari Mayor Emilio Floris. He will then proceed to vest for Mass in the confessional area of the adjoining convent of the Mercedarians (the Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of Captives established in 1218 by St. Peter Nolasco in Barcelona, to redeem Christians captured by the Muslim).

The Pope will preside at the Eucharistic concelebration at an altar in front of the Basilica facing the Piazza dei Centomila. He will start by placing a boat-shaped golden candleholder, symbolizing the Church of Sardinia, and lighting a candle symbolizing the faith of the Sards, in the right hand of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Bonaria, also known as Our Lady of the Taper.



The statue has been venerated in Cagliari since it was found in the flotsam of a shipwreck off the coast in 1370.

After the Mass, the Holy Father will proceed to the regional seminary where he will meet 95 seminarians as well as another 80 or so students of 10 other seminaries on the island.

He will then lunch with bishops of Sardinia, after which he will take his customary post-luncheon walk followed by a brief rest.

At 5 p.m., the Pope will proceed to the Cathedral of Cagliari to speak to diocesan priests and religious. His last event in Cagliari will be an encounter with the youth at 6 p.m.

"As the Vicar of Christ," said Mons. Mani, "the Holy Father is coming to confirm us in the faith, and as Successor to Peter and Bishop of Rome, he will make us feel one with all who believe in Christ throughout the world."


17/08/2008 11:27
 
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AN INTRODUCTION TO SARDINIA




Small enough to be classified as an island but big enough to be a universe unto itself, Sardinia lies about 120 miles west of the Italian peninsula.

Its coastline is probably Europe's most spectacular. Its waters teem with fish and shellfish. Its broad valleys turn into golden oceans of wheat in summer. Its rugged mountains, pocked with caves, are home to large flocks of sheep that feed on pungent wild herbs and produce a cheese your palate will never forget.

Nestled into its silent olive groves are some of the continent's oldest archeological remains, dating back to 1700 BC. Its people speak a language incomprehensible to all other Italians, celebrate more saints' days than anyone else in the nation, and love to dress up in elaborate costumes at the drop of a finely-embroidered hat.

But Sardinia is not for the faint-hearted. In summer, the heat can be blistering. Winter winds are some of the most vicious in the Mediterranean.

Hotels and restaurants can be either outrageously expensive or dismally primitive. Public transportation is unreliable and moves at a snail's pace. Even getting to the island can be arduous, especially in summer when ferries and planes are packed.

Sardinia is for adventurers, for those of us who like to feel we've accomplished something when we travel, those who want to push just a little bit farther than the crowd, those who are intrigued, not frightened, by civilizations that initially may seem inexplicable.

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily). The area of Sardinia is 24,090 square kilometres (9,301 sq mi). The island is surrounded (clockwise from north) by the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands. Sardinia is a constitutional part of Italy, with a special statute of regional autonomy under the Italian Constitution.

Around the beginning of the nuragic age circa 1500 BC the island was first called Hyknusa (Latinized Ichnusa) by the Mycenaeans, probably meaning island (nusa) of the Hyksos, the people who had just been expelled by Ahmose I of Egypt circa 1540 BC. Sandalyon was another name, probably due to its shape, resembling a footprint. Its present name is Sardinia, after the Shardana (whose invasion of Egypt was defeated by Ramesses III circa 1180 BC).

Sardinia has been inhabited for many thousands of years. In 1979 human remains were found that were dated to the 150,000 BC. In 2004, in a cave in Logudoro, a human phalanx was found that was dated to circa 250,000 BC.

In prehistory the inhabitants of Sardinia developed a trade in obsidian, a volcanic glass used for the production of stone age tools, and this activity brought Sardinians into contact with most of the Mediterranean people. Dried grapes, recently found in several locations, have been DNA tested and proved to be the oldest grapes in the world, dating back to 1200 BC.

From Neolithic times until the Roman Empire, the Nuragic civilisation developed on the island. It is speculated that, along with other peoples, the Shardana people from the eastern Mediterranean settled in Sardinia.

According to some linguistic studies, the town of Sardis (in Lydia) would have been the starting point from which the original would have reached the Tyrrhenian Sea, dividing into what were to become the Sardinians and the Etruscans.

The density, extensiveness, and sheer size of the architectural remains from the Neolithic period all point to a considerable population of the island. Early contact with Crete is indicated from archaeological recovery on Sardinia. Beginning around 1000 BC, Phoenician mariners established several ports of trade on the Sardinian coast.

In 509 BC, war broke out between the native Nuragic people and the Phoenician settlers. The settlers called for help from Carthage (Phoenician settlers themselves having originally populated Carthage), and the island became a province in the Carthaginian Empire.

After Carthage was defeated by the Roman Republic in the First Punic War (239 BC), Rome eventually annexed Corsica and Sardinia without resistance from the overstretched Carthaginians.

In the course of the next centuries, Sardinia became part of the short-lived kingdom of the Vandals in North Africa, then reconquered by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. After the Muslim conquest of Sicily in 832, the Byzantines were unable to effectively defend their most distant province, and the provincial judge assumed independent authority, eventually gleading to four independent monarchies, at various times falling under the sway of Genoa and Pisa. In the 13th century, it came under James II of Aragon (Spain) and in the next century, was repopulated by invaders from Catalonia, so when the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon merged, Sardinia too became part of the newly-created nation of Spain.

Under Spanish domination, Sardinians were regularly employed on the royal Spanish fleet. On October 7 in 1571, at the Battle of Lepanto, Sardinian mariners on board the admiral ship of Infante Don Juan of Austria, half brother of Philip II, boarded the Turkish admiral ship, overpowered the crew, and beheaded a Turkish admiral. The sight of the admiral's head on a spear reportedly put such fear into the Turks that they abandoned the fight and surrendered completely to the Christians.

In 1718 Sardinia became an 'independent' vassal kingdom under the House of Savoy, the rulers of Piedmont. In 1847 King Carlo Alberto, ordered the fusion of Sardinia with his other continental States, ending a five-century autonomy. This lasted until 1948 when Italy adopted the present republican constitution. In 1860, Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy, King of Sardinia, also became the first King of a united Italy. In 1948, Sardinia was granted constitutional autonomy as a region.

Sardinia is a generally mountainous island with a few coastal plains. The island's mountains are divided into three ranges; the highest peaks are in the middle section of the island. Punta La Marmora in the Gennargentu mountain range, at 6,016 feet (1,834 m), is the highest point in Sardinia.

Sardinia has few major rivers; the largest river on the island is the Tirso, which has a length of 94 miles (151 km) and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The island has a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and very mild winters.

Along with the Veneto, Sardinia is one of two Italian regions whose inhabitants have been recognized as a popolo, i.e., a distinct people) by constitutional law).

Although Italian is the official language, Sardinian is widely spoken in the rural areas, with a long oral tradition, especially in poetry and folk songs.


05/09/2008 03:12
 
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8/27/2008 9:57 PM
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The Vatican today released the official program of the Holy Father's visit to Cagliari in Sardinia on Sept. 7. It confirms the official program released by the Diocese of Cagliari earlier.






PASTORAL VISIT OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
CAGLIARI, SARDINIA - September 7, 2008



PROGRAM

ROME- CIAMPINO

08.30 Departure from Ciampino airport for Cagliari.


CAGLIARI

09.30 Arrival at Cagliari-Elmas airport.

10.00 Visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria

10.30 EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION in front of the Basilica of Bonaria
- Homily by teh Holy Father.

12.00 TNE ANGELUS
- Remarks by the Holy Father.

12.45 Visit to the Chapel of the Regional Seminary of Cagliari.

13.30 Lunch with the Bishops of Sardinia at the Seminary.

16.30 Greeting members of the Organizing Committee for the visit, at the Seminary.

17.00 MEETING WITH PRIESTS, SEMINARIANS AND THE THEOLOGICAL FACULTY OF SARDINIA,
at the Cathedral of Cagliari.
- Address by the Holy Father.

18.15 MEETING WITH THE YOUTH at Piazza Yenne.
- Address by the Holy Father.

19.30 Depart from Cagliari-Elmas airport for Rome-Ciampino.


ROME-CIAMPINO

20.30 Arrive at Ciampino airport.






05/09/2008 03:16
 
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8/31/2008 3:54 AM
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The Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria in Cagliari.


Benedict XVI's Marian destination in Sardinia:
Where sailors stopped to see where the wind blew

by Mario Ponzi
Translated from
the 8/31/08 issue of





The subtle Marian weft that traverses the Magisterium of Benedict XVI - underlined by Archbishop Fernando Filoni,
deputy Secretary of State, in an interview after the Pope's visit to Santa Maria di Leuca and Brindisi - will soon
be enhanced by another highlight.

As we know, on September 7, the first Sunday of the month, the Pope will go to Cagliari to venerate the image of
Our Lady of Bonaria, thus concluding the celebrations for the centenary year of the proclamation of the Virgin
as the Supreme Patroness of Sardinia.



The celebrations began in September 13, 2007, the day on which, 100 years earlier, Pope Pius X conferred the title
on the 'Lady of the Sards'.

The story of this Marian statue, which has been the focus of more than seven centuries of the anxieties, concerns
and hopes of the peoples of the sea around Sardinia, is not unlike many that have been handed down in every corner
of the earth where there is a special place in the hearts of the faithful for the Mother of God.

Rivers of words are still being gathered these years in valuable volumes - the last just off the press, edited by
the committee for the centenary of the Marian Basilica - to tell the story with an abundance of details. So there is
nothing new to add that has not already been said or written.

But what is striking is that between the lines of the different authors who have undertaken the narration -
almost all of them strictly Sard - appears a Marian devotion that is truly rooted in the soul of the Sardinian
people, to the point of constituting the vital fabric of their most profound religious sentiments.

It is worth recalling an episode, remote in time but extremely significant in this respect. In the annals of
the island, one reads that on March 7, 1632, the three orders of the Sard Parliament established in 1421 assembled
in the Cathedral of Cagliari.

On that occasion, their members, in the name of the inhabitants of the island, pledged to remain faithful to
the truth of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. And this happened exactly 222 years before the dogma of
the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed by the Church.

Even today, this Marian vein profoundly characterizes the ultra-millennial faith of the Sards. The course of time,
the daily confrontation with atavistic problems that have never been resolved, the stupefaction in the din of
a modernism which has not succeeded in undermining very ancient roots -- which, even if wounded, continue
to provide vital lymph for the new generations - have not weakened the genuineness of the affection that links
the Sards to their "Lady of the Good Air (Bonaria)".

There is not a single embarkation leaving the port of Cagliari that does not carry an image of the Madonna of Bonaria.
Perhaps they no longer carry out the old rite of coming to the shrine before taking out to sea, in order to seek
the protection of the Virgin, or to find out the direction of the wind just beyond the port according to
the indications of a mysterious little boat that hangs from the ceiling in a corner of the church. But in the heart
of every sailor, that rite replays itself every time their prow points to the open sea.

From the sea 700 years ago came the beautiful wooden sculpture, carved from a carob trunk, 156 centimeters high
(about five feet one-and-a-half inches) - which shows the Virgin holding the Infant Jesus. It was around this statue
that the shrine of Bonaria was built.

The story is interwoven with that of the Mercedari order who have been on the hill of Bonaria since the 1300s.
They were first brought there by the Sard noble Carlo Catalano who, during a mission in Spain, had occasion to know
and appreciate the work of these priests, who were pledged to ransom Christians from slavery and captivity by
gathering alms and goods in kind to buy their liberty.

In 1335, King Alfonso of Aragon gave them the chapel which he had built on the hill of Bonaria to thank God
for his victory over the Pisans, whom they now controlled from the island.

And it was due to the zeal of a historical Mercedari, Fr. Francesco Sulis, that the report has come down to us
of that event which marked the journey of faith for the island of the four Moors.

In Father Sulis's account, written in 1867, he tells of a Spanish ship headed for Italy which found itself
in the midst of a furious tempest just off the Sardinian coast. It was a boat of light tonnage and the gigantic
waves would surely have swallowed it if the captain had not ordered all the cargo tossed overboard and whatever
else was not necessary for navigation.

After the last item was thrown off - an enormous chest - the sea calmed down. To their amazement, the sailors
noted that the chest was the only object that had not sunk. They tried in vain to recover it, but the chest
started to 'navigate' by itself, drawing the ship in its wake towards shore, without anyone controlling it.

It landed at the foot of the hill of Bonaria, where in the meantime, a small crowd had gathered to watch what
was happening at sea. Then, summoned by a boy, some Mercedari priests from the nearby convent came to the shore.
For them, it was a natural thing to bring the chest in.

Only then did they notice that the emblem of their order was inscribed on the chest. They brought it to
the convent on the hill and they opened it easily. Inside, they found the statue of the Madonna. They showed it to
the crowd which had grown by now. Everyone fell to their knees. It was the first act of veneration towards
Our Lady of Bonaria.

The events that followed have since been countless - of repeated miracles and the growth of popular devotion,
of the construction of a temple increasingly more worthy of housing the image, up to the pontifical proclamation
whose centenary is being marked.

The people of the sea, in particular, have a very special devotion to Our Lady of Bonaria. This became even more
marked after, one day, in front of the main altar of the old Basilica, there appeared a small ivory boat
hanging from a cord right in front of the statue of the Madonna.

It was said to be an ex-voto [offering in fulfilment of a vow] left by an anonymous pilgrim in thanks for being
saved from a shipwreck. The boat appeared to indicate by the position of its prow the direction which the wind
was blowing beyond the port. That was how sailors started passing by the Basilica first to check wind conditions
before heading out to sea. The indication appeared to be correct all the time. No one ever saw it move, but
nonetheless it always pointed in the right direction according to where the wind was blowing.

That boat still hangs there. Does it continue to indicate the wind direction? Perhaps. What it definitely tells
is the story of a profound devotion. That of the people of the sea of Sardinia.



05/09/2008 03:25
 
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9/2/2008 4:57 PM
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Vatican team in Cagliari
for pre-visit check

Translated from

September 1, 2008



Mons. Marini with local monsignors Konrad Krajewski and Stefano Sanchirico.


The Pope's master of liturgical ceremonies, Mons. Guido Marini, and the head of Vatican security, Inspector-General Domenico Giani, began a visit today to check out local preparations for the visit of Benedict XVI on Sunday, September 7, to mark the Centenary of the proclamation of Our Lady of Bonaria as the Supreme Patroness of Sardinia.

Welcomed by the rector of the Shrine of Bonaria, Fr. Salvatore Mura, the Vatican team attended a meeting at the adjoining Convent of the Mercedari, which had housed Paul VI and John Paul II on their visits to Sardinia.

They then made inspections of all the places to be used for the papal Mass in the great square in front of the Shrine.

The Holy Father will enter the Basilica, to be greeted by the Mercedari community led by their worldwide superior, Fr. Giovaninno Tolu.

The Pope will vest himself for the Mass in a special room next to the old sacristy of the shrine, while the concelebrating bishops will use the Basilica's monumental sacristy.



A historic journey for all Sards
by Paolo Figus
Translated from

August 31, 2008


Fortunately, Sardinia is not only a budget in the red or controversy within a lacerated Partito Democrata [the national party established by leftist Catholics last February, which lost massively to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right party], rising unemployment or work stoppages.

For at least a day, next Sunday, Cagliari will be the true capital of the Mediterranean and will have the eyes of Italy on it.

Pope Benedict XVI is coming and he will celebrate Mass in front of the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria, at which at least 150,000 are expected - a sea of pilgrims joined in prayer.

Even Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - who has always been at home in Sardinia [he owns vacation homes on the island] - will be present, making September 7 even more extraordinary in the history of the island.

The last papal visit here was by Papa Wojtyla. In October 1985, he spent three days here, travelling from Oristano to Nuoro, from Sassari to Cagliari, to his final encounter with the young people in Via Roma.

John Paul II, his smiling face as yet unmarked by later sufferings, was seen by miners in Monteponi, shook hands with thousands of Sardinians, prayed together with an overflow crowd in front of the shrine of Bonaria.

It was an unforgettable event which will be reprised Sunday, 23 years later. The times have changed, and the world has changed.

The fall of the Berlin wall and of Communism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, horrifying attacks like those on the Twin Towers of New York, the culture of death of suicide bombers, ethnic conflicts, the violent resurgence of Islamist fundamentalism. This is the world that challenges Joseph Ratzinger, Pope since April 2005.

His mission follows that of John Paul II which was marked by intercontinental travels, numerous encyclicals and meetings with the youth - with the object of keeping the Christian faith alive and to reaffirm the constant presence of the Church especially on the part of all who suffer.

Benedict XVI arrives in Cagliari less than a week before he leaves for Paris and Lourdes for the 150th jubilee of the Marian apparitions to Saint Bernadette Soubirous.

Cagliari and all of Sardinia welcome him with open arms not just as Pope but as a leading player in our times. At a time when values are endangered, when social contrasts are erupting and faltering economies have created many new poor, the Church has taken on a central role, as a cohesive force that is above conflicts and hatred, and a bulwark of confidence in the future and hope for a better, more bearable life in the face of daily worries.

This is what the Catholic Church affirms, as Benedict XVI often reminds us. Guardian of the faith by definition [people often forget that is one of the primary functions of the Pope], he is often criticized for his orthodox positions, yet they are exactly the same positions, to the letter, as those of Papa Wojtyla.

No to abortion, No to divorce, no to euthanasia are fundamental principles of Catholic teaching, and no Successor of Peter can teach otherwise.

There are those who love and admire Benedict XVI for his intransigence in tyring to prevent a total collapse of values, and there are those who see his presence in Italian life as excessive and restrictive not only for his influence on practical life but also on Italian politics.

But the charisma of his personality and his office, the greatness that he represents, are undeniable signs that Sardinia will be able to see up close on Sunday, applauding, praying and listening to him. And awaiting a message as strong and clear as that which Papa Wojtyla left us in 1985: "Take life in your hands and make of it a masterwork."

05/09/2008 03:28
 
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9/4/2008 12:39 AM
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Benedict XVI's visit is a message
to all the dioceses of Sardinia

by Mons. Ignazio Sanna
Archbishop of Oristano (Sardinia)
Translated from
the 9/3/08 issue of








On September 7, the ecclesial community of Sardinia will ideally be in Cagliari to welcome Benedict XVI who comes to venerate Our Lady of Bonaria, Supreme Patroness of the island.

A visit by the Pope, even if it is to only one city, is an exceptional event which can only inspire participation, communion and devotion.

The ten hours he will spend in the diocese of Cagliari will certainly not allow the Pontiff to be in touch with the total ecclesial and civilian reality of the island.

He will have just enough time to celebrate the Eucharist at the Shrine, to meet the clergy and seminarians at the Cathedral and to greet the youth at Largo Carlo Felice.

But the message he will address to this representation will also be addressed to the people of God who live and work in the ten dioceses of Sardinia. And it is a message we shall receive with gratitude and sincere devotion.

On the last day of the World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney, the Pope asked the gathered youth, and through them, the faithful around the world, to allow the Spirit "to penetrate the hard crust of our indifference, of our spiritual exhaustion, of our blind conformism to the spirit of our time."

He continued:
"Strengthened by the Spirit and drawing from a rich vision of the faith, a new generation of Christians is called on to contribute to building a world in which life is welcomed, respected and lovingly cared for, not rejected or feared as a threat and therefore destroyed.

"A new era in which love is not greedy nor selfish, but pure, faithful and sincerely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, a love which promotes their good and radiates joy and beauty.

"A new era in which hope liberates us from superficiality, apathy and selfishness which mortify our souls and poison human relations."

The Pope encourages us to cultivate the life of the spirit and prayer, in order to be able to respond effectively to the challenges of our cultural time, too compromised by consumerism and by a prevalent materialistic attitude; so that we may give preferential attention to spirituality, to give a spiritual supplement to human activities and to the efforts of civilian institutions.

It is possible that in the exercise of our Christianity, which calls for continual evangelical motivation, we may get tired and disappointed, because perhaps we do not get to see the immediate fruits of our labor.

The Christian life of our community, in fact, presents many shadows, alongside many lights and beautiful testimonials of generosity and faithfulness. The choices and orientations of faith are made on emotional impulse, or on the influence of what surrounds us, or by habit - they do not always have definitive motivations and cannot always withstand testing nor temptation. And the religious traditions of our people are disappearing slowly, even unconsciously.

The Pope's visit will help us see with the eyes of God the spiritual currents in our church communities. With him, the faithful of Sardinia wish to be optimistic, to ask the Lord to come down to us. They wish to overcome the exhaustion of Christianity, to abandon ritualistic and devotional practices which are empty, to purify their love of God of superstition, returning to the missionary impulse of the early church, which opened its heart to God in prayer and listening to his Word, in brotherly union and sharing of bread (Acts 2,42).

The early Christians were ready to announce the Gospel with their life, sharing the expectations and hopes of the common people, participating in their experiences both happy and sad, and helping them to see the colors of heaven in the things of earth.

In a world which shows no need for God, the Pope reminds us that God is the Lord of history. To a religious pluralism that tends to homogenize religious sentiment with the Christian faith, he reminds us that Jesus is not a teacher of morals but the only Savior of mankind, and that the Catholic Church is the only Church of Christ.

To a world that seeks to reduce the religious experience to sentimentalism, irrationality and superstition, he reminds us of the reasonableness of our faith and the spiritual life of a people of God who pray and think.

To a world that is undergoing an eclipse of differences, in which night is no different from day, good from bad, man from woman, family from cohabitation, the Pontiff reminds us that man cannot change the order that God has imposed on the nature of things.

To those who theorize on organizing society 'as though God did not exist', he opposes the task of behaving 'as if God did exist'. Science, technology and reason have their own laws, but these are never in opposition to God's law.

The Pope never tires of denouncing the terrible tragedy of rupture between the Gospel and culture, not to mention the cultural pluralism that is now dominant, thanks to various notions of man and the world, of diverse ideals about human fulfillment which relativize and often even marginalize the Christian proposition.

Now, the Christian ideal is no longer the model which gives a face to society and to an age. It has become only one of so many concepts that all lay claim to validity but which dispute the defense and promotion of non-negotiable values, such as life, the family, freedom of education, as a form of authoritarianism and fundamentalism.

Many cultural values of a clearly Christian matrix - such as freedom, equality, brotherhood, the dignity of the human being - have been detached from their source to acquire their own immanent and rationalistic justification. On the one hand, this has facilitated their universalization, but on the other, as such, they do not have and do not guarantee consistency.

Meanwhile, the values that derive from radical culture - the exaltation of pleasure and desire, practical atheism, and exaggerated subjectivism - are enlarging their sphere of influence to undermine the secure and stable bases of social organization.

One aspect on which the words of Benedict XVI will be particularly illuminating is educating religious sentiment. Popular religiosity is very widespread among our people and is almost the custodian of traditions of faith and piety. But in order for it to continue being a valid school of prayer and manifestation of faith, it must also be animated always by the Word of God.

Among the many words that have been proposed to give significance to the actions of our daily life, one must know how to distinguish between those that are true and authoritative from those that are false and deceptive.

Only the Word of God does not deceive. And it is never the same thing, it always says something new and different, and like the scribe of the Gospel, always draws from its treasury both new and old things (Mt 13,52).

It must be borne in mind that religiosity as such is always linked to the needs of the spirit, to attitudes of subordination to the divine, that often border on ritualism and superstitious practices.

These improper attitudes often coalesce around many shrines, and as much as they may gratify hopes, expectations and sentiments, they often remind us of Jesus's severe attitude when he chased away the vendors from the temple (Mt 21, 12-3).

In order to give new spiritual vigor and a solid Biblical foundation to popular devotion, so that it does not merit Jesus's reproach, then we should pay more attention to the Word of God and ultimately, purify even our prayer practices.

"Praying," Benedict XVI wrote in Spe salvi, "does not mean stepping out of history and retiring to the private corner of one's own happiness. The right way to pray is a process of interior purification which makes us ready for God, and therefore, ready for others. In prayer, man should learn what he can truly ask of God, what is truly worthy of God. He must learn that one cannot pray against others. He should learn that he cannot ask for superficial and convenient things which he desires for the moment, the small but mistaken expectations that lead us away from God. He must purify his desires and his hopes."



Pre-visit coverage in Unione Sarda. Headline reads:
An army of volunteers for the Pope:
A thousand young people to help welcome pilgrims
.
. \


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