Muñequitos Monasticos: Trinitarian Sisters

In in the feminine wing of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity you have a congregation and institutes of  the Trinitarian Sisters of Valence, the Trinitarian Sisters of Rome, the Trinitarian Sisters of Valencia,  the Trinitarian Sisters of Madrid, the Trinitarian Sisters of Mallorca, and the Trinitarian Sisters of Seville. They are spread around the world, serving as either contemplatives or active sisters. Habits vary, with white being the principle color, the exception being the gray habit of the congregation of Valence. From what I have seen it looks like most have a habit that utilizes the Order's red and blue cross. I also noticed that the cut of the scapulars some communities use are different, with one type looking like the Carmelite style habit and the other with a round neck line. The caricature below is based on a sister from the Trinitarian Sisters of Rome, such as the sisters that look after the Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine in Euclid, Ohio.

Trinitarian Friars post here

The Boys of Summer are Here!

Dick Rudolph's Grip on Ball, Boston NL, Library of Congress

Sort of. Over in Japan the Seattle Mariners are playing the Oakland Athletics in a regular season series. The rest of Major League Baseball is stuck in Spring Training for another week.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks! ...and some Beer!. Well, not yet, I'll have to wait a week and a half,  Lent will be over, then BEER! The rest of MLB catches up with Seattle and Oakland too.

Ave gratia plena Dominus tecum

And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. - Luke 1:38

I'm Spiritual... and Religious

Do you know what religion is? It is a school in which every soul must be trained, smoothed and polished by the Holy Spirit, who acts as a physician to our souls until, well smoothed and polished, they can be united and joined to the will of God. . .Religion is an infirmary for the spiritually sick, who wish to be cured and must therefore undergo the pains of surgery.  - St. Pio of Pietrelcina

A few months ago when the "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus" video came out, inciting all kinds of counter videos, I thought of this quote by St. Padre Pio.

Clip Art XX

This is based on a cross I saw on the ceiling in the Chapel of the Nailing to the Cross at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. No, I didn't actually go there, I spent about 2 to 3 hours on a virtual tour created by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. It's pretty cool, here's the link Holy Sepulchre Virtual Tour.

Muñequitos Monasticos: Norbertines

The Canons Regular of Prémontré, the fellows that look like a gang of popes when they are together because their habits look similar to the Pope's ordinary dress. They are nick named the Norbetines after their founder, but are also known as the Premonstratensians (say that 3 times really fast), in Britain they are known as the White Canons. They were founded 1120 in Prémontré, which is in Northeast France, near Laon, but the order's founding abbey doesn't exist anymore.  Like other the Canons Regular they follow the rule of St. Augustine but since each abbey is autonomous their practices and apostolates vary.  They have their own style of Gregorian chant and even their own form of the Liturgy. You can find Norbertines around the world but are mostly concentrated in Europe. There also exist canonesses, usually called Norbertine Sisters, located mostly in Europe, with some communities in Russia and the USA.

The shoulder cape has a symbolic hood attached that is big enough to hold a can of soda (as J. P. Sonnen of the blog Orbis Catholicus Secundus says). Scapulars vary, they can be with or without buttons, another variation is a blue sash used by canons and canonesses in Hungary. They also use a white biretta with or a white zuchetto, although I haven't seen many current photos with them using said head gear. 

Canonesses of Prémontré here

Laetare Sunday

The origin of this Sunday's name;

 laetamini cum Hierusalem et exultate in ea omnes qui diligitis eam gaudete cum ea gaudio universi qui lugetis super eam. ut sugatis et repleamini ab ubere consolationis eius ut mulgeatis et deliciis affluatis ab omnimoda gloria eius- Isaias 66:10-11

Lamentably most parishes probably won't be singing the introit that is based on this part of Scripture.

What it sounds like in the simple English chant form:

Here it is in Latin:

Halfway through.

An Easpag Pádraig

St. Patrick was kidnapped at the age of 16 by Irish raiders somewhere on the west coast of Brittain, but no one knows the exact place because "Bannavem Taburniae", which according to St. Patrick is his birth place, doesn't exist anymore. Six years later he was able to return to Brittian, eventually becoming a priest and consecrated a bishop. He returned to Ireland to evangelize the Irish people. As a result of Patrick's ministry, Ireland became a bastion for the Church with it's monasteries being great repositories of education and sending Irish throughout the world to spread the Faith.

The Original Latin: Rideat autem et insultet qui uoluerit, ego non silebo neque abscondo signa et mirabilia quae mihi a Domino monstrata sunt ante multos annos quam fierent, quasi qui nouit omnia etiam ante tempora saecularia.

Gaelic: An té ar mhian leis é bíodh sé ag magadh agus ag maslú, ní fhanfaidh mise im thost ná ní cheilfidh mé na comharthaí agus na hiontais a thaispeáin an Tiarna dom blianta móra sar ar tharla siad, mar is dual dó siúd arbh eol dó gach ní fiú roimh aimsir an tsaoil seo. 

Translation: Those who wish may laugh and insult. But I will not be silent, nor will I hide the signs and wonders which the Lord has shown me even many years before they came about. He knows all things even before the beginning of time. - Saint Patrick, Confessio. 

Happy St. Patrick's day everyone and all the places that have St. Patrick as their patron, especially Ireland, Nigeria, and Loiza, Puerto Rico.

Sanctus Patricius, ora pro nobis.

Päpstlichen Schweizergarde

I once entertained the idea of being a Pontifical Swiss Guard, it was something the appealed to me, but I didn't meet some of the requirements. I had the Catholic part covered, the irreproachable reputation (I guess), was a male, and celibate. Unfortunately I missed the mark with my nationality and military training (both being American and not Swiss). The kicker though, the dagger in my heart, was that I wasn't tall enough. What a drag, I bet I could have been uber formidable with a halberd.

The fellow above is a Hellebardier (Halberdier, equivalent to a Private) wearing the Gala uniform which is supplemented with a black or silver morion helmet for special occasions. For Easter, Christmas and at the swearing-in ceremonies additional armor is worn. For everyday duties they wear an all blue uniform. I'm not sure if Corporals or Vizekorporal wear the same uniform as the Hellebardiers, but I'm assuming they do. Drummers were a yellow-black uniform when they are performing. Wachtmeisters (Sergeants) and Feldwebel (Sergeant Majors) wear a black and dark red version of the uniform. The officers have their own thing going on.

Don't let the 17th century weapons fool you, the Swiss Guard are not just human adornments filling a ceremonial role, they are actual a highly trained security force that utilize modern small arms manufactured by Heckler & Koch and SIG Sauer.

Monastery Construction

Here is the Abbot's quarters

Here is the Brewery

I've started to assign functions to the other buildings, next up is the gate house.

Muñequitos Monasticos: Las Jerónimas

A previous installment of the Muñequitos Monasticos showcased the Iberian Hieronymite brothers, here you have the nuns. These contemplative sisters were founded when groups of women that lived consecrated lives of prayer and penance were incorporated into the Order by Fray Pedro de Guadalajara.

Order of Hieronymite brothers post here

João Cidade Duarte

St. John of God. He was born in Portugal, but somehow wound up in Spain when he was 8 or 9. He worked as a shepherd boy and around the age of 22 joined a company of foot soldiers in the forces of Charles V. After his tenure as a soldier he went on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and afterwards resolved to live a life of atonement. He returned to Portugal and found out his mother had died and his father had become a Franciscan friar, so he returned to Spain.

As a former soldier with no trade skills he had a hard time finding employment so he wound up a shepherd again.  As a shepherd he time time to pray and reflect and  realized the harm he caused in his life and set out to make up for it. He intended to go to North Africa to ransom or to take the place of captured Christians, but actually wound up selling religious books and pictures in Granada.

 He was sent to an insane asylum for acting insane, and St. John of Avila had to talk him out of it and get him released. He made his house a hospital and half-way house for the poor, sick, and those he found in houses of ill repute. He gained the approval of the bishop, who asked him to don a habit to show the bishop's support. From all this was born the Hospitaller Order of John of God.

He is a patron of nurses, hospitals, hospital workers, sick people, dying people, book binders, booksellers, publishers, printers, against alcoholism and body ills.

Some of his representations are St. John with an alms box around his neck, him washing Christ's feet, a pomegranate, or a crown of thorns.

Sancti Joánnis de Deo, ora pro nobis

Nicolette Boilet

In the old calender March 6 is the feast of St. Colette, February 7 being the new date. St. Colette was born in either 1380 or 1381 in Corbie, Picardy, France. Accounts of her story vary, so this is a mish mash of info. After her parents died she was left to the care of the Benedictine Abbot of the abbey where her father worked.. Most accounts have her joining the Beguines, and some other accounts have her also joining the Benedictines and Urbanist Poor Clares, with her finally receiving the habit of the Third Order Franciscans. She became a recluse or anchoress, depending on the source, and left her hut/cell when she was told by Our Lord in a vision to restore the Poor Clares their original austerity. She walked to Nice and appealed to Peter de Luna also known as the antipope Benedict XIII. At that time there was schism, one that St. Collect helped St. Vincent Ferrer heal. 18 monasteries of the Colettine Poor Clare reform were established in St. Colette's life time and she even instituted a short lived Franciscan Friar reform that was absorbed into the Observant branch of the Friars Minor.

She is a patron against the death of parents and Corbie, France.

Some of her representations are birds, a lamb, Poor Clare nun walking on a stream or a woman being carried into heaven by an angel.

Sanctæ Colétæ, ora pro nobis.

Dread Pirate Westley

Last year I posted about The Six Fingered Sword, the rapier carried by Inigo Montoya in the movie adaptation of William Goldman's The Princess Bride. I mentioned the Dread Pirate Roberts/Man in Black/Westley the Farm Boy version, here is a picture of the hilt:

Photo from Amazon.com

Monastery Progress

Here you have a tower, all cool monasteries have towers, and the gate. I'm currently working on the brewery.

Muñequitos Monasticos: Crosiers

The Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross, founded by Blessed Theodore de Celles and his companions in the early 13th century.  He was made a canon of the cathedral of Liege but after preaching against the Albigensian in southern France he renounced his position as a canon and moved to Huy. It was there that he and his companions applied for confirmation of his community's founding, no doubt he was influenced by the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre he encountered during the Third Crusades. They adopted the Rule of St. Augustine, placing them in the ranks of other orders that use the rule such as the Norbertines, Dominicans, Mercedarians, Trinitarians and of course the Augustinians.

Today the Crosiers can be found in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Congo, Germany, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and the United States serving as priest and/or in various ministries.