Preparing For The Canonization Of John XXIII And John Paul II

Vatican City, 31 March 2014 (VIS) - This morning a press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office to present the initiatives forming part of the preparations for the canonisations of Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II, to be celebrated on 27 April. The speakers were Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar of His Holiness for the diocese of Rome, along with Msgr. Giulio Dellavite, secretary general for the Curia of Bergamo, Msgr. Walter Insero, head of the Office for Social Communications for the Vicariate of Rome, and Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office.

The initiatives will include a digital platform, the aim of which is to enable the faithful and pilgrims to have access to news and information regarding the ceremonies as well as a series of spiritual reflections on the life and teachings of both popes. Indeed, the official site www.2papisanti.org is an almost-completed portal which offers contacts, sections for press offices, information, videos and images as well as biographical documentation on John XXIII and John Paul II. It will be available in five languages: Italian, English, French, Spanish and Polish.

The application entitled "Santo Subito", which may be downloaded free in both Android and IOS formats (in Italian, English, Spanish and Polish) and whose title draws on the famed saintliness of both Popes even during their lifetimes, will offer logistical information, as well as access to the main news on the canonisations, and will allow material relating to the various liturgical events to be downloaded.

Existing media include:

Official page of the Postulation with content in five languages:

https://www.facebook.com/PapaGiovanniPaoloII

Official Twitter page with content in five languages:

https://twitter.com/santowojtyla

YouTube channel for the Postulation:

https://www.youtube.com/user/adminkarol

Portal: www.karol-wojtyla.org

This latter, developed in 2011 for the beatification of Karol Wojtyla, gives a detailed illustration of the stages in the canonical process leading to the recognition of the saintliness of John Paul II and is available in several languages: Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Romanian.

The parallel project #2popesaints, realised in collaboration with the students of communication sciences from the Roman university LUMSA involves a series of networks enabling young people to get to know the lives, teachings and testimony of faith of the two new saints. There will be a Facebook page entitled 2popesaints; on Twitter, the account @2popesaints; on Instagram, #2popesaints; and on YouTube, 2popesaints. Every day each one of the above will propose a theme relating to both popes in the media, starting from 16 April until the canonisation, and each event will be transmitted live on each network.

On Google+ there will be the possibility of following in a "hangout" the daily briefings during the week leading up to the canonisation. A QR code will also be created to allow rapid access to the site 2popesaints.org. The initiative "Rome connecting to the World", a form of "twinning" between the faithful arriving in Rome and the young people of the city, will make it possible to get to know the most important locations in Rome along with the history of John XXIII and John Paul II, providing information on the Facebook page.

In the diocese of Rome, on 22 April in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Cardinal Agostino Vallini will preside at a meeting addressing young people, with the postulators for the causes of both saints: Msgr. Slavomir Oder (John Paul II) and Fr. Giovangiuseppe Califano (John XXIII). On 26 April, starting at 9 p.m., there will be a "White night of prayer" and the churches throughout the centre of Rome will remain open for prayer and confession in various languages.

Similarly, the diocese of Bergamo will pay homage to XIII with the initiative "Le Opere Segno", a series of activities dedicated to charity, human development and solidarity which affect daily lives. They include an aid project for Haiti to guarantee three years' education in the John XXIII school; an invitation to priests to contribute a month's salary and all the alms collected by the parish communities on 27 April to a fund set up in aid of families afflicted by the economic crisis; and the commemoration, on 12 April, of the publication of the encyclical "Pacem in Terris", to be attended by ambassadors representing the countries where Angelo Roncalli carried out his diplomatic mission as an apostolic nuncio (Bulgaria, Turkey, Greek and France), and which will be presented by Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission.

You can find more information at: www.visnews.org

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Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the Apostle (Goffine's Devout Instructions)

January 25

The history of this conversion is fully given in the epistle taken from the Acts.

The Introit of the Mass is as follows:

"I know Whom I have believed, and I am certain that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day, being a just judge. Lord, Thou hast proved me and known me, Thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up."

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Prayer

O God, Who didst teach the whole world by the preaching of blessed Paul the apostle, grant us, we beseech Thee, that we, who this day celebrate his conversion, may advance towards Thee by his example. Through Christ our Lord, etc.

Epistle: Acts 9:1-22

In those days: Saul as yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any men and women of this way, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And as he went on his journey, it came to pass that he drew nigh to Damascus; and suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him. And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? Who said: Who art Thou, Lord? And He said: I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad. And he trembling and astonished, said: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? And the Lord said to him: Arise, and go into the city, and there it shall be told thee what thou must do. Now the men who went in company with him stood amazed, hearing indeed a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. But they leading him by the hands, brought him to Damascus. And he was there three days without sight, and he did neither eat nor drink. Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision: Ananias. And he said: Behold I am here, Lord. And the Lord said to him: Arise, and go into the street that is called Strait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth. (And he saw a man named Ananias, coming in and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.) But Ananias answered: Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests, to bind all that invoke Thy name. And the Lord said to him: Go thy way, for this man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My name before the gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and laying his hands upon him, he said: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus hath sent me, He that appeared to thee in the way as thou camest, that thou mayst receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight and rising up he was baptized. And when he had taken meat he was strengthened. And he was with the disciples that were at Damascus for some days. And immediately he preached Jesus in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. And all that heard him were astonished, and said: Is not this he who persecuted in Jerusalem those that called upon this name; and came hither for that intent, that he might carry them bound to the chief priests? But Saul increased much more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt at Damascus, affirming that this is the Christ.

What do we learn from this history?

Not to despise any sinner, nor to despair of his salvation; for, like Paul on the road to Damascus, the greatest sinner may, by the grace of God, be suddenly converted, and become a saint. At the command of God he accepted Ananias as his leader in the way of salvation, and became as zealous for the honor of Christ as he had previously been intent on persecuting Him. In like manner, a convert must shut his eyes to all by which he has heretofore been led astray, and must give heed to that only which God commands.

Gospel: Matthew 19:27-29

At that time Peter said to Jesus: Behold, we have left all things, and have followed Thee; what, therefore, shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen I say to you, that you, who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting. This gospel teaches that he who renounces the world, its pleasures and its riches, shall receive the grace of God, virtues, interior consolation, and eternal happiness, which are a hundredfold, that is, infinitely, more precious than worldly goods.

Prayer

O Saint Paul, great apostle, who, from being an enemy, became the most zealous friend and preacher of Christ, procure for me from Him, I beseech thee, grace at last truly to know Him, Whom I have heretofore so often denied, offended, and, by my sins, crucified anew; to follow Him, and, after thy examples to be henceforth as diligent in doing justice as I have formerly been in practising evil; that I may one day attain to that happiness which thou hast gained. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, etc. Amen.

-- Goffine's Devout Instructions

Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr

  

Virgin And Martyr

Saint Agnes of Rome (also known as Ines; Ines del Campo; Ynez) was a consecrated virgin martyr born in Rome. We have more ancient authority for the story of Saint Agnes than exists in many cases. Saint Jerome wrote of her as being venerated in his day, and her legend is one of the oldeststories of a saint. She had vowed never to marry when very young. At the age of 12 or 13, a young nobleman wanted to marry her, but, she refused since she had consecrated herself to Christ and said that to do so would be an insult to her heavenly Spouse. The young nobleman's father was the Prefect Sempronius, and upon learning Agnes had rejected his son and that she was a Christian, he ordered Agnes to sacrifice to the pagan gods and lose her virginity by rape. She was taken to a Roman temple of Minerva (Athena), and when led to the altar, she made the Sign of the Cross. She was threatened, then tortured when she refused to turn against God. She was tortured by fire, then either decapitated or stabbed in the throat (sources vary) in 254 or 304 (again, sources vary).

Saint Agnes' virginity and heroism are renowned, and her name occurs in the prayer "Nobis quoque peccatoribus," in the Canon of the Mass. The catacombs of Saint Agnes on the Via Nomentana grew up around her crypt there, on a small piece of property owned by her family. The Christians constantly went to pray at her grave. She was the foster-sister of Saint Emerentiana, who was stoned to death by a crowd for praying at her sister's grave, when she admitted the relationship and that she too was a Christian.

As her parents and friends were paying their devotions at her tomb, she appeared to them in a glorified form, and beside her was a lamb whiter than snow. Agnes assured her friends of her perfect happiness, and again vanished, and from that time on, they no longer mourned her.

On Saint Agnes' feast day two lambs are blessed at her church in Rome, and then their wool is woven into the palliums (bands of white wool) which the pope confers on archbishops as symbol of their jurisdiction.