Templar Globe

Most spirituality information is concerned with the question of, “what are some of the challenges people face when attempting to live a more spiritual life and how they can overcome them?”

The biggest challenge people face when attempting to live a more spiritual life is that they are going against a lifetime of conditioning and beliefs that have continually reinforced the idea that they are a separate person from all other people, places and things. They have been taught their whole lives to view the world exclusively through their physical senses and to believe in Newtonian physics which tells us that the universe is mechanical and so are we.

Because of this conditioning many people define themselves as a two part being of a body with a mind when in actuality they are a three part being of body, mind and spirit. The body is physical and they can relate to that. The mind is non-physical but works primarily through the brain, which is physical, so they can relate to that. But the spirit is meta-physical and cannot be defined in physical terms so it is often not used in a conscious manner in their decision making process.

So it is the challenge of allowing the spiritual aspect of your being to be part of your conscious life process that keeps people tied to the idea of separation. This is what the spiritual life is all about, being in balance in your mind, body, spirit make-up. Allowing the spirit to be part of your definition of self and using the spiritual aspect of your being for guidance in your life journey. The spirit is the part of you that is eternally interconnected with all of life including your source so it is critical for the spiritual seeker to recognize and understand that their true nature is one of spirit and not one of physicality.

To overcome this conditioning and firmly established belief system requires many aspects of change but in the spirit of triality (pun intended) I will give three that are critical.

1) Find a mentor or several mentors who you resonate with. Use the messages of these mentors to begin the process of understanding and knowing “Who You Really Are.” The spiritual life tells us that we are the best source of our truth but we often need people who are ahead of us on the path to show us the way and give us tools to help our journey of discovery of self.

2) Become a disciple of your Self. Develop the discipline necessary to stay focused on your spiritual journey. This world is full of distractions so it is easy to stray from your path. You need to make it a priority to your Self to begin the process of deep understanding, clarity and total knowledge of your true authentic Self and the true nature of how the universe works.

3) Understand and use the immutable law of the universe known as The Law of Attraction. You bring into your life that which you put your attention on so start putting your attention on your spiritual growth and begin to let go of anything that takes you away from that quest. This may be easier said than done because we are so conditioned to believe what other people tell us and especially what the television tells us. So I would suggest that the first and best thing you can do is to stop watching the television and quit reading the newspaper. Most of the information from these two sources keeps reinforcing the concept of separation and keeps you firmly entrenched in a belief system based in fear instead of love. Love is where you want to go so put your attention on love and stop putting your attention on fear. This is a process but it has to begin somewhere and sometime so let the time be now and the where be right where you are.

My final word, which is actually the most important thing you can do right now, on your spiritual quest is to continue to step into the beingness of love. Begin this process by LOVING YOURSELF UNCONDITIONALLY. You must love yourself first and foremost before you can expect to give your love freely to the world. Be love as much as you possibly can and watch the world change before your very eyes. Love is the answer to every question and love will guide you out of fear and separation and into the absolute truth of unity and oneness. Do this right now, LOVE YOURSELF UNCONDITIONALLY.

Live in love

By Richard Blackstone

Richard Blackstone is an award winning author and international speaker on Love, Oneness & Creation.

 
Cuenta la leyenda que recién inaugurada la iglesia, allá por el año 1162, murió un caballero de la Orden del Temple. Su cuerpo fue llevado hasta los muros de esta enigmática y espectacular construcción y un descuido hizo que el cadáver del caballero se quedara solo durante toda la noche.

Fue entonces cuando los grajos entraron en la iglesia y picotearon el cuerpo hasta dejarlo destrozado. A la mañana siguiente, el prior de la Orden entró en el recinto y comprobó en qué estado habían dejado las aves el cadáver. Gritó, corrió y espantó a los grajos que aún saqueaban el cuerpo, a la vez que lanzaba una maldición para que no volviesen a entrar en el santo lugar. La leyenda asegura que desde entonces nadie ha visto de nuevo a dichas aves sobre el tejado de la Vera Cruz. Sin duda algo más que una iglesia, algo más que un símbolo.

A los pies del Alcázar de Segovia, que dicen que alarga su sombra para proteger sus piedras, encuentro la citada iglesia. Un edificio santo que, al parecer, mandaron construir caballeros templarios en el siglo XII. Una teoría, la de su origen templario, que es la más extendida hasta nuestros días, aunque recientes investigaciones apuntan que su origen podría ser de la Orden del Santo Sepulcro, una congregación castellana que consagró la iglesia en el año 1208.

Contribuye a esta confusión una inscripción en el interior, frente a la portada lateral sur, en el edículo central, que dice: “Los fundadores de este templo sean colocados en sede celestial, y los que se extraviaron les acompañen en la misma. Dedicación de la Iglesia del Santo Sepulcro. En los idus de abril de 1246 –nuestro trece de abril de 1208–”.

Muchas son las teorías sobre este escrito. Muchos sus enigmas. ¿Lo fundaron templarios que luego se extraviaron? ¿Quiénes son los extraviados? ¿Se castigó a los extraviados y por eso el templo pasó a manos de otras personas? Parece que son los caballeros del Santo Sepulcro los que reconocen la labor de los templarios al consagrar la iglesia, pero nada está claro sobre tan encriptado texto. Parece que en esas palabras se recoge el castigo que recibió el Temple… No sería el único cambio de dueños. En 1531, tras unirse las Órdenes del Santo Sepulcro y la de Jerusalén, la iglesia pasó a manos de los caballeros de la Orden de Malta, Rodas y Jerusalén, sus actuales propietarios.

Ocho lados que en realidad son doce

Hiela en Segovia. El aire pesa, como el tiempo. Me apoyo en una cruz de piedra, que torcida mira al horizonte. La iglesia parece que nace del suelo. La luz hace vaho cuando uno intenta penetrar en la iglesia.

Muchas veces se afirma que la Vera Cruz es una iglesia de planta octogonal, típica de la Orden del Temple. En realidad son doce sus lados, con tres ábsides cilíndricos adosados, una sacristía también cilíndrica y una torre de planta cuadrada. Una extraña construcción en la España y Europa de entonces. ¿Por qué doce lados? Un octógono suponía –me explican– un elemento intermedio entre la tierra, que se representaba como un cuadrado, y el cielo, que era un círculo o cúpula. Cuantos más lados tiene un polígono más se aleja del cuadrado –tierra– y más se acerca al círculo –cielo–. Doce son los lados de esta iglesia, algo atípico y que como símbolo viene a hablar de su espiritualidad y cercanía al más allá. De hecho, en la Revelación de San Juan, la Jerusalén Celeste era representada como una ciudad circular provista de doce puertas, agrupadas de tres en tres en los puntos cardinales. La Vera Cruz que observo parece una metáfora de la Jerusalén de San Juan.

Por fuera es una iglesia sugerente, diferente, perdida en el viejo camino que conducía desde Segovia a la población cercana de Zamarramala. Una iglesia que recuerda a otras dos famosas construcciones que entonces se mantenían en pie a miles de kilómetros de distancia, que crecieron en el lugar en el que nace el Sol. Los investigadores creen que la Vera Cruz tiene sus precedentes en la famosa Mezquita de la Roca de Jerusalén y en la basílica del Santo Sepulcro.

Otra vez, como pasa con muchas de las construcciones templarias, encontramos la unión de islam y cristianismo; una vez más, los caballeros del Temple toman parte de la cultura y religión con la que más férreamente lucharon.

El edículo central

De puertas para adentro, la Vera Cruz es un enigma que recuerda a otros lugares parecidos, construcciones antiguas que se supone fueron propulsadas también por los templarios. El mes pasado recogíamos en esta sección los secretos de la ermita de San Baudelio, en Soria. A ambas les une la idea del tronco central. En San Baudelio era una palmera perfectamente detallada en su ramaje. En la Vera Cruz es el símbolo de un fuerte árbol el que sujeta sus muros. La palmera o el árbol son parte de la cultura islámica. La columna del mundo. La unión del cielo y la tierra…

El árbol de la Vera Cruz es sólido y macizo. Un edículo central de doce lados. Parece un templo dentro de otro templo. Nacen aquí dos plantas. Una inferior, en la que la luz entra por cuatro arcos que miran a los cuatro puntos cardinales, es estrecha y baja; una especie de cueva o cripta. Entro, miro el altar, donde las cruces blancas sobre fondo rojo de la Orden de Malta sobresalen sobre el Cristo allí representado. Parece que éste podría ser un lugar de iniciación de los caballeros. Un lugar donde empezar la meditación o cumplir penitencia. Se supone que es inicial allí la meditación o penitencia porque mis pies están pegados a la tierra, como lo estuvieron entonces los de muchos hombres piadosos. El camino para subir al cielo. Principio y fin. Algo parecido a lo que en San Baudelio se conoce como la linterna de los muertos.

Hay también un piso superior. Subo las desgastadas escaleras de piedra que dan la espalda al ábside central. Gastadas por el paso del tiempo, las escaleras al norte y al sur comunican las dos plantas. Allí, arriba, una mesa de piedra se encuentra justo en el centro. Sobre su tabla resbala la mirada hacia el altar, hasta el Cristo. Encima, una bóveda de influencia califal corona la planta. Otra vez el islam. A la izquierda una imagen de San Juan Bautista, columnas de tipo salomónico y pequeñas vetas en la pared por las que entra la luz. También son los arcos de influencia árabe. Parece una sala de reuniones de los hermanos, pero también parece un lugar elevado donde poder acercarse más a Dios, al mundo celestial; un segundo grado en los caballeros que quieren hacer terrenal el cielo. Pero hay una tercera sorpresa: una pequeña celda corona la construcción. Un lugar reservado para la alta meditación, en la que el hermano, en un habitáculo muy pequeño, quedaba casi colgado del cielo, para terminar su contacto con Dios. Se cierra allí el círculo. Muerte y resurrección. Parece una linterna. Ya tengo la similitud que buscaba. Aquí como en San Baudelio existe la linterna de los muertos. Se completa también en mi cabeza la simbología del árbol. Todo él –en su tronco que refleja toda la vida– lleva al caballero desde lo terrenal a lo celestial.

Esta iglesia fue también una perfecta excusa para acabar con la Orden del Temple. Las acusaciones de oscurantismo y adoración a un ídolo pagano fueron algunos de los motivos para llevar a cabo su disolución y ejecutar a muchos de sus caballeros. Y la Vera Cruz forma parte de ese misterio. En realidad, este templo tiene mucho que ver con una iglesia portuguesa de la Orden del Temple: la iglesia de Tomar, otro punto más para pensar que fueron templarios los que levantaron estas enigmáticas piedras.

En esta iglesia, como en tantas otras, cuentan que hay una astilla verdadera de la cruz de Cristo. En Semana Santa, los caballeros de la Orden de Malta escoltan una procesión en la que sale el Lignum Crucis. Dicen que si se juntaran todas las astillas que hay de la cruz de Cristo, se podría construir un palacio de madera. ¿Leyenda o realidad? Si alguna hubiera de ser verdadera, pocos lugares en el mundo parecen tan apropiados como éste. De hecho, otra de sus muchas leyendas relaciona a los caballeros de la Vera Cruz con el milagro de la Cruz de Caravaca, en Murcia. Pero esa es otra historia, otra memoria de las piedras que, si el tiempo nos lo permite, recorreremos en futuras ocasiones.

The OSMTHU welcomes its new members in Slovenia. As we had announced, the Priory of Slovenia met in the Castle of Turjak for a weekend of spiritual retreat and Templar ceremonial.

Prior General Fr+ Marin Zen was the perfect host to the over 100 attendants, including Fr+ Leslie Payne, Prior General of England and Wales and Fr+ Roman Vertovec, Visitor General, both members of the Magisterial Council, as well as members of the Priory of Croatia.

We hope to be able to publish a detailed description of the days events shortly. In the meantime, we give you two photos. In the first we can see Prior Fr+ Zen investing a Knight with the attentive assistance of his officers. In the second we can see Fr+ Vertovec and Fr+ Payne during the gala dinner.

Blue is everywhere, differing shades of sky, sea, the blues aboard the boat and ashore. With a cool drink in my hand, a novel on my lap and the golden hues of a sinking Mediterranean sun, it’s an idyllic picture.

Sailing past islands that have inspired myths and legends, yachting is the perfect way to do the Greek Islands and Turkish coast.

Our host for the holiday are Tussock Cruising, a small company which employs Turkish sailors with cooking expertise. Tussock have a fleet of nine vessels and all of them, from the six man to the 16, are designed to sail the seas. Our seven-day trip includes tours of two Greek Islands, sailing and visits to small Turkish harbours.

Most of the wooden yachts you see these days in Turkish harbours have had their sails stripped off and run on noisy petrol motors. But Tussock pride themselves on the fact they sail and have indeed won the Bodrum Cup on a number of occasions, including that of 2007.

On arrival at Marmaris, where our group board the Grande yacht, we are introduced to the Captain (Ali who led the crew to victory at the Bodrum Cup). Our itinerary for the week is discussed, drinks in hand, and routes are negotiated.

One of the unique points of Tussock is you can choose your route and stop off points with your fellow passengers as long as you are all in agreement.

After a delicious meal and plenty of wine we enter our cabins. They are small but comfortable. If you are expecting luxury you need to look elsewhere but if you’re happy with a bed to sleep in and your own shower, hand-basin and toilet these cabins will do just fine.

After a good night’s sleep – the gentle rocking obviously did the trick – we have a great breakfast of boiled eggs, fruit, cheese, olives, bread and honey, tea and coffee – and set sail for Rhodes.

It takes a few of our group a while to find their sea legs once the sails are up and the course set (my husband included) but luckily anti-seasickness tablets and wristbands are stocked onboard. But it is beautiful sailing with the sails up and a breeze calming down the Mediterranean sun as you sail past cove after cove, craggy rocks and small fishing villages.

Coming into Rhodes it is hard not to be impressed by grand medieval city walls which have housed the Knights Templar, the Ottomans and, more recently, the Italians.

As we come into harbour there is much debate about where the Colossus may have stood but, hungrily, we are more concerned with where to eat.

My husband and I stop at a fish restaurant where we eat delicious sea bass with Greek salad and bread, followed by chocolate cake (not very Greek but very nice) all washed down with local wine and Ouzo.

Wandering around the old town is a magical experience, thousands of people still live in Rhodes old town and it is filled with nooks and crannies, archways over alleyways, all within the city walls. We stop off for a coffee at the music bar and then stroll back to the yacht.

Next morning we get up for a tour of Rhodes, organised by Tussock.

The old town and Lindos are easily the best sights on the island, we take in the old town on the tour, the residents of the Knights Templar are pointed out, and the magnificent walls of the old city, a mix of Eastern and Western architecture, evoke centuries gone by.

Rhodes’ history has been chequered by conquests by the Ottomans and Italians among others, and all have made their mark on the city’s architecture.

After our historical tour we stop for a delicious meal at a taverna in Anthony Quinn Bay (where the actor filmed The Guns of Navarone). Mezze starters lead to a delicious swordfish main course.

Tired but satisfied we head back to the boat and set sail to a secluded cove (back in Turkey) where there is a tiny church built in the shadows of mighty cliffs. After dropping anchor there are plenty of diving opportunities for people to show off their skills and a fabulous area to watch the sun set.

Small swimming bays are an essential part of the Tussock experience and, having sailed these seas for years, the crew know them well. People come here to relax as well as to sight-see and plenty of opportunity is given.

Symi is the next island on our itinerary. The small harbour of Yialos with brightly-coloured houses clustered around the surrounding hills is picture-postcard perfect.

After docking, my husband and I take a stroll, checking out the menus at seafood restaurants we pass, as we make our way to a harbour-side hotel.

The hotel wouldn’t look out of place on Brighton seafront and we decide to sit a while, eat an ice-cream and listen to the sea lapping on the shore.

As the evening follows on, with an aperitif back on the ship to watch the sun setting we then stroll back to one of the restaurants we passed earlier.

We dine in a typical taverna, and have a very pleasant meal with fresh fish, stuffed vine leaves and a tasty aubergine dish in a tangy tomato sauce.

Next day we go on a tour of Symi. One hundred years ago this was one of Greece’s most prosperous islands. There has been virtually no modern concrete construction here, conserving its character.

We travel via bus from Yialos to the Monastery of the Archangel Michael at Panormitis. The interior of Panormitis, which still houses Greek Orthodox priests, is fabulously ornate.

After the dose of culture there follows a trip to another beachfront taverna for a wonderful lunch – plate after plate of fried shrimps, octopus, fish, lamb and salad keep on coming out as our enthusiastic party tuck in.

The next day we visit a Turkish bath on the mainland for the first time. It is definitely a “traditional” experience and, as someone whose only real experiences of massage are being lightly rubbed by immaculately coiffured women, a full on lathering and then rub-down by a hairy Turkish guy and his son is a quick education in real massage. It also sees the end of all of my fake tan.

Our final day is spent swimming in a cove and then a stroll through the culture shock of Marmaris, after all of those quiet bays, before settling down to a final dinner on the boat.

A Tussock holiday is not suitable if you need your own space or if you’re less than enthusiastic about mixing with other people. It is a lesson in communal living which, for some people is fantastic, but which some may find exhausting.

Families hire out individual yachts for reunions, get-togethers and special occasions, as do groups of friends. But Tussock also specialise in themed holidays from cooking trips with celebrity chefs, to painting tours and wine-tasting, in addition to a few cruises for people travelling alone.

If its a proper Mediterranean sailing holiday you’re after, without any of the hassle, Tussock Cruising is ideal.

by Hannah Davies

The term Candlemas (or Candelaia) derives from the late Latin “candelorum” or “candelaram” namely the blessing of candles and it indicates a holiday in astronomical time, coinciding with half winter in the rural cycle, when we approach the end of winter and the beginning of spring. The most famous popular saying about it states: “When we are at Candlemas, we are out of winter, but if it rains or the wind is blowing, we are still within winter” suggesting that if the day of Candlemas does not have good weather, you still have to wait several weeks before the end of the winter and beginning of spring. This is a moment of transition between winter / dark / end and spring / light / Birth: the passage is celebrated through the purification and preparation for the new season.

For the Catholic Church, Candlemas is the Feast of the Purification of Mary, celebrated by the Church and by the faithful on February 2 simultaneously with the presentation of Jesus in the temple which could not take place before 40 days had passed, which is the time required by the Jewish law for the purification of one who has recently given birth to a male.

The first account of the Candlemas in the Holy Land is by Eteria that describes it as a major public holiday. Later, from Jerusalem, the festivities spread throughout the East and particularly to Byzantium. With the Emperor Justinian I it became a public holiday and took the name of Ypapanté (= meeting of the Lord). The origins of Candlemas, however, have distant roots in time.

From Rome, Italy, we descend on Lupercalia which celebrated in the Ides of February, the last month of the year for the Romans, when they used to purify themselves before the advent of the new year to propitiate fertility. In this celebration, dedicated to Fauno Lupercus, two boys of a patrician family were conducted into a cave on the Palatine, consecrated to God, in which priests, having sacrificed goats, mark their forehead with a knife stained with the blood of the animals. The blood was then dried with white wet wool in milk, and then the two couples had to smile. They were dressed in skins of sacrificed animals; and the same skins were then cut into strips which were then used as whips. So dressed and whips in hand, the couple had to run around the base of the Palatine hitting anyone they might encounter, particularly women who voluntarily offered to be purified and whipped to obtain fertility. Another moment of the festival was the ‘februatio’, the purification of the city, where women ran through the streets with lit candles and torches, a symbol of light.

The use of lit torches and candles during the religious procession had two functions: the first, of a spiritual nature, showed the victory of light over darkness, the social presentation of the Divine on earth, and the other of a practical nature, resulted from the need to have visibility in travelling night in the cities where the celebrations took place. The blessing of candles, then as now, is a significant moment in the great procession called Cerorum luminibus coruscans (or “shining through candles and lights”), and it is able to generate in the hearts of the participants a strong sense of communion with the mother of Jesus. Today, the solemn offer of candles to the Pope is done by many Italian cities, as in Trapani, where popular representations recall the purification of Mary, and people bring candles, flashlights and torches to their windows, as it used to happen in Naples. The blessed candles are then kept at home by the faithful and are lit to appease the wrath of God, during violent storms, on waiting for an absent person who does not return or is kept away in serious danger, when attending to a moribund, or anytime you feel the need to invoke divine help.

The character that of a Marian feast was introduced by Pope Sergio. But it will be the Eastern mysticism that sings more profusely in its liturgy about the Virgin’s gesture especially in the antiphonal “, oh Zion, the wedding room, receive Christ your Lord…” sang in response to the first reading of the office readings. This mystical intuition is made possible by following these steps: Christmas is considered the “husband” (antiphon to the Magnificat Vespers first and second readings at antiphon) as the sun is rising on the horizon; and the Church is considered as a bride adorned, its joys are the wedding feast of Christ with the Church. The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, though celebrated for a time “during the year,” is the final point of the Christmas season. The same antiphon, mentioned above, places Mary in the correct position by singing: “… (Oh Zion) hail Mary, gate of heaven, because she holds on her arms, the king of glory, the new light. The Virgin recoils, presenting the Son, born before the first-born star of the morning. Simeon keeps him in the arms, and announces to the people that he is the Lord of life and death, the Saviour of the world “. Towards the eleventh century comes to revelationem antiphon Lumen Gentium that characterizes faith and prayer of the Church in this circumstance, and the song of podsejani Simeon Nunc dimittis.

For this reason the Vatican II Council invites us to understand the intimate nature of these festivities: “The union of the Mother and the Son in redemption occurs upon virginal conception of Christ lasting until his death. And when presented to the temple by offering the gift of the poor, Simeon was heard saying that the son would become a sign of contradiction and that a sword would pierce the soul of the mother, because they revealed the thoughts of many hearts “(LG 57).

Candlemas in some places is called “Day of the bear”. In this particular day, the bear is emerges from hibernation and out of his burrow to see weather and assess whether or not he should put the nose out. A proverb from Piedmont says that if the bear has its dry bed (which would indicate a good weather for that day) for forty days he no longer exits. Another proverb similar to the first, but in this case Southern, argues that if the 2 February the weather is not good, the bear has a chance to stay in winter continues.

The bear was also the main character of some rural rites of February, placed in the rural cycle: at the end of a simulated hunt, the bear is caught and brought inside the country where it is the object of jokes and games. The epilogue can vary either with its release or an escape and return to nature. The character of the bears is played by actors in disguise who should not be recognized until the end of the ritual show.

At Urbiano they celebrate the “feast of the bear”: a few days before the feast, hunters with the face blackened, went in search of bears, (played by a man in costume) who were invariably found the eve of the evening. Hunters, “bear”, and a tamer visited the public houses and inns with the pretext to scare people (and girls), left to become transgressivelly drunk. The day after, the bear appeares in the country and, after the tour of the village, dances with the most beautiful girl before disappearing only to be transformed in a man.

This festival occurs not only in Piedmont and areas in the Alps, but also in other regions (and nations) and, at distant times bears in the party were true animals, led around by a mountaineer who took the bear dancing in the squares of villages around the country. Then he used to disappear. In some countries, to maintain tradition, the bear was then replaced by a masked person that specifically performed the same pantomime.
At Putignano, in Puglia, bear impersonators toured the streets of the country, stopping in the squares: there, with the sound of drums, they danced the tarantella, among those present arranged in a circle. Sometimes, depending on the weather, the bear wouls mimic the act of building his refuge (u pagghiar ‘).

These rites reprised an ancient tradition that celebrated the festival of the return of light for the summer, with the defeat of the forces of darkness and cold. By performing these rituals the symbolism of bears is revealed (they go into a winter hibernation and awaken back in spring), interpreting a primitive force of nature. The bear can also be understood as representing “wild man”. In both representations there is still represent the binomial nature - man.

The number “Forty” in the Bible
The day of Candlemas is connected with the number 40, a number that represents the purification. The Book of Genesis, for instance, tells us that the deluge lasted forty days and forty nights (7.12), and, according to Matthew, chapter 4.2, Jesus’ was fasting in the desert for forty days and forty nights. On the other hand, St. Paul in his writings to the Christians in Corinth, he recalls when he received 40 lashes by the Jews. (2Cor. 11.26)

In the Bible, the number 40, with its precise religious meaning is used many times: Abraham implores to God to save Sodom if there he would find at least 40 righteous people (but had come down to less than ten in the end), and when saved from Esau he had offer 40 cows in sacrifice. In Egypt, Joseph took 40 days to embalm the body of his father, and left Egypt, Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights, and when the tabernacle was built it took 40 silver bases to stand on. The explorers of the land of Canaan arriving to the Promised Land: it took them 40 days, but in return they had 40 years of punishment. Judge Abdon had 40 children, and the philistine persevered for 40 days, according to Samuel (1 Sam. 17.14).

Even the great prophet Elijah remained on Mount Horeb for 40 days and 40 nights and Jonah preached repentance to the inhabitants of Nineveh for 40 days. Therefore really lent 40 days (40 nights) of true inner penance, fasting, is not just a physical stance but spiritual experience.

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Translation with the help of Google Tools from the article published last Friday in Italian sent in by the Priory of Italy at the occasion of the publishing of the video depicting the Candlemas celebration of 2008. We apologise for any mistranslations.

Questo é il video preparato por il Priorato de Italia in occasione della Festività della Candelora lo scorso 2 febbraio 2008.

Il termine Candelora (o Candelaia) deriva dal tardo latino “candelorum” o “candelaram” cioè benedizione delle candele ed indica una festività collocata, nel tempo astronomico, a mezzo inverno e coincidente, nel ciclo agreste/vegetativo, con la fine dell’inverno e l’inizio della primavera; il più famoso detto popolare a riguardo infatti recita: “Quando vien la Candelora, de l’inverno semo fora; ma se piove o tira il vento, de l’inverno semo dentro” suggerendo che se nel giorno della Candelora non si avrà bel tempo, si dovranno aspettare ancora diverse settimane prima della fine dell’inverno e dell’arrivo della primavera. Si tratta di un momento di passaggio, tra l’inverno/ buio/ fine e la primavera/ luce/ nascita: passaggio che viene celebrato attraverso la purificazione e la preparazione alla nuova stagione.

Per la Chiesa Cattolica, la Candelora è la festa della purificazione di Maria, celebrata dalla Chiesa e dai fedeli il 2 di febbraio in simultanea con la presentazione di Gesù al Tempio che non poteva avvenire prima dei 40 giorni,cioè del tempo previsto dalla legge ebrea per la purificazione di una puerpera dopo il parto di un maschio.

La prima testimonianza della festività in Terra Santa é raccontata da Eteria che la descrive come una grande festività pubblica. Successivamente, da Gerusalemme, la festività si diffuse in tutto l’Oriente e in particolare a Bisanzio. Con l’imperatore Giustiniano I divenne giorno festivo e assunse il nome di Ypapanté (= incontro del Signore). Le origini della Candelora, però, hanno radici lontane nel tempo.

In Italia, a Roma, risaliamo ai Lupercalia che si celebravano alle Idi di febbraio, ultimo mese dell’anno per i romani, che servivano a purificarsi prima dell’avvento dell’anno nuovo e a propiziarne la fertilità. In questa celebrazione, dedicata a Fauno Lupercus, due ragazzi di famiglia patrizia venivano condotti in una grotta sul Palatino, consacrata al Dio, al cui interno i sacerdoti, dopo aver sacrificato delle capre, segnavano loro la fronte con il coltello tinto del sangue degli animali. Il sangue veniva poi asciugato con della lana bianca bagnata nel latte, e subito i due giovani dovevano sorridere. A quel punto i due ragazzi dovevano indossare le pelli degli animali sacrificati; con la medesima pelle venivano quindi realizzate delle striscie (dette februa o anche amiculum Iunonis) da usare a mo’ di fruste. Così acconciati e con le strisce in mano, i due giovani dovevano correre attorno alla base del Palatino percuotendo chiunque incontrassero, in particolare le donne che si offrivano volontariamente ad essere sferzate per purificarsi e ottenere la fecondità. Altro momento particolare della festa era la ‘februatio’, la purificazione della città, in cui le donne giravano per le strade con ceri e fiaccole accese, simbolo di luce.

L’uso di fiaccole e candele accese durante la processione sacra aveva due funzioni: la prima, di natura spirituale, indicava la vittoria della luce sulle tenebre, la presentazione sociale del Divino in terra; l’altra di natura pratica, derivava dalla necessità di avere visibilità nell’attraversamento notturno delle città in cui avvenivano i festeggiamenti. La benedizione dei ceri, allora come oggi, è un momento significativo e la grande processione chiamata Cerorum luminibus coruscans (ovvero “risplendente mediante ceri e lumi”), è un grado di generare nei cuori dei partecipanti un forte senso di congiunzione con la madre di Gesù. Ancora oggi, l’offerta dei ceri al Papa viene fatta in forma solenne ed in molte altre città italiane, come a Trapani, si celebrano rappresentazioni popolari che rievocano la purificazione di Maria, o si mettono ceri, torce e fiaccole alle finestre, come si faceva anticamente anche a Napoli. I ceri benedetti sono poi conservati in casa dai fedeli e vengono accesi, per placare l’ira divina, durante violenti temporali, aspettando una persona che non torna o si ritiene in grave pericolo, assistendo un moribondo, e in qualunque momento si senta il bisogno d’invocare l’aiuto divino.

Il carattere mariano della festa fu introdotto da papa Sergio. Ma sarà la mistica orientale a cantare più profusamente nella sua liturgia il gesto della Vergine soprattutto nell’antifona “Adorna, o Sion, la stanza nuziale, accogli Cristo tuo Signore…” che si canta nel responsorio alla prima lettura nell’ufficio delle letture. Questa intuizione mistica è possibile seguendo questo passaggio: a Natale ecco affacciarsi lo “sposo” (antifona al Magnificat dei primi Vespri e seconda antifona all’ufficio delle letture) come sole che si leva all’orizzonte; all’Epifania è la Chiesa che si presenta come una sposa adorna delle sue gioie: è la festa delle nozze della Chiesa con Cristo. La festa della Presentazione del Signore al Tempio, anche se celebrata nel tempo “durante l’anno”, è il punto conclusivo del tempo di Natale. La stessa antifona, che abbiamo ricordato sopra, colloca Maria nella posizione giusta cantando: “… (o Sion) accogli Maria, porta del cielo, perché ella tiene fra le sue braccia il re della gloria, la luce nuova. La Vergine si ferma, presentando il Figlio, generato prima della stella del mattino. Simeone lo tiene fra le braccia, e annunzia alle genti che egli è il Signore della vita e della morte, il Salvatore del mondo”. Verso il secolo undicesimo nasce l’antifona Lumen ad revelationem gentium che caratterizza la fede e la preghiera della Chiesa in questa circostanza, e viene intercalata al cantico di Simeone Nunc dimittis.

Per questo il Vaticano II invita a cogliere l’intima natura della festività: “L’unione della Madre col Figlio nell’opera della redenzione si manifesta dal momento della concezione verginale di Cristo fino alla morte di lui. E quando lo presentò al tempio con l’offerta del dono proprio dei poveri, udì Simeone mentre preannunciava che il Figlio sarebbe divenuto segno di contraddizione e che una spada avrebbe trafitto l’anima della madre, perché fossero svelati i pensieri di molti cuori” (LG 57).

SPIGOLATURE SULLA CANDELORA
La Candelora in alcuni luoghi viene chiamata “Giorno dell’orso”. In questo particolare giorno, l’orso si sveglierebbe dal letargo e uscirebbe fuori dalla sua tana per vedere come è il tempo e valutare se sia o meno il caso di mettere il naso fuori. Un proverbio piemontese in questo senso recita: “se l’ouers fai secha soun ni, per caranto giouern a sort papì”. Ovvero, se l’orso fa asciugare il suo giaciglio (cosa che starebbe a indicare tempo bello per quel giorno) per quaranta giorni non esce più. Un altro proverbio simile al primo, ma meridionale in questo caso, sostiene che se il 2 Febbraio il tempo non è buono, l’orso ha la possibilità di farsi il pagliaio e quindi l’inverno continua.

L’orso era anche protagonista di alcuni riti rurali del mese di febbraio, collocati nel ciclo agreste/vegetativo: al termine di una caccia simulata, l’orso viene catturato e portato all’interno del paese dove viene fatto oggetto di dileggi e di scherzi. L’epilogo può variare dall’uccisione dell’orso alla sua liberazione/fuga e ritorno alla natura. La figura dell’orso è rivestita da qualcuno del luogo che non deve essere riconosciuto fino alla fine della rappresentazione rituale.

A Urbiano si celebra la “festa dell’orso”: qualche giorno prima della ricorrenza, i cacciatori con il volto annerito, andavano alla ricerca dell’orso, che (rappresentato da un uomo travestito) veniva immancabilmente trovato la sera della vigilia. Cacciatori, “orso”, e domatore visitavano le stalle e le osterie con il pretesto di spaventare la gente (e le ragazze) si lasciavano andare a trasgressive bevute. Il giorno dopo, l’orso compariva in paese e, dopo aver fatto il giro della borgata, ballava con la ragazza più bella prima di scomparire per ritrasformarsi in uomo.

Questa festa ricorre non solo in Piemonte e nelle zone dell’arco alpino, ma anche in altre regioni (e nazioni); in tempi più remoti l’orso della festa era vero, portato in giro da un montanaro/domatore che andava da un paese all’altro facendo ballare l’orso nelle piazze. In seguito questo uso scomparve e in alcuni paesi, per mantenere la tradizione, l’orso fu sostituito da una persona appositamente mascherata che ripeteva la stessa pantomima.
A Putignano, in Puglia, chi impersonificava l’orso girava per le vie del paese, fermandosi nelle piazze: lì, al suono di tamburi, si metteva a ballare la tarantella, tra i presenti disposti in cerchio che battevano le mani a tempo e lo punzecchiavano e colpivano con qualche sberla. A volte, a seconda del tempo, l’orso imitava o no l’atto del costruire il suo rifugio (u pagghiar’).

Questi riti riproponevano comunque una tradizione antica che celebrava la festa del ritorno della luce e della bella stagione, con la sconfitta delle forze del buio e del freddo. Nello svolgimento di questi riti traspare la simbologia dell’orso (che con l’inverno va in letargo e si risveglia a primavera), interprete della forza primitiva della natura. L’orso può anche essere accostato alla figura dell’”uomo selvaggio”. In entrambe le raffigurazioni rappresenterebbe comunque il binomio natura - uomo.

IL NUMERO “QUARANTA” NELLA BIBBIA
Il giorno della Candelora fa riflettere sul numero 40, un numero che ovviamente rappresenta la purificazione così come ricorda il libro della Genesi quando racconta che il diluvio è durato quaranta giorni e quaranta notti. (7,12), oppure, come dice Matteo al capitolo 4,2, quando racconta del digiuno di Gesù nel deserto per altrettanti giorni ed altrettante notti. Che dire poi dei ricordi di san Paolo, quando, scrivendo ai cristiani di Corinto, racconta loro di avere ricevuto 40 frustate dai giudei. (2Cor. 11,26)

Nella Bibbia il numero 40, ovviamente col suo preciso significato religioso, ricorre molte volte: Abramo implora Dio di salvare Sodoma se vi avesse trovato almeno 40 giusti (ma dovette scendere a meno di dieci che non furono trovati); e per salvarsi da Esaù dovette offrirgli 40 vacche. In Egitto, Giuseppe impiegò 40 giorni per imbalsamare il corpo del padre; e usciti dall’Egitto, Mosè rimase sul Sinai per 40 giorni e 40 notti; e quando fu costruito il tabernacolo occorsero 40 basi d’argento. Peggio se la videro gli esploratori della terra di Canaan all’arrivo verso la terra promessa: impiegarono 40 giorni, durante i quali se la spassarono, ma ebbero in cambio 40 anni di punizioni. Il giudice Abdon ebbe 40 figli, e il filisteo perseverò nell’insistenza per 40 giorni, come ricorda Samuele (1 Sam. 17,14).

Anche il grande profeta Elia rimase sul monte Oreb per 40 giorni e 40 notti e Giona predicò la penitenza agli abitanti di Ninive per 40 giorni e fu ascoltato. Quaresima dunque davvero 40 giorni (e 40 notti) di vera interiore penitenza, un digiuno non semplicemente corporale ma soprattutto spirituale.

Fr. Vincenzo TUCCILLO KCT, Priorato de Italia

El próximo día 1 de Marzo reunirá la encomienda de Málaga del Priorato de España en ceremonia y investidura a realizar en Marbella. Los miembros del Priorato de España que deseen participar, por favor contacten vuestro Comendador o el Prior General Fr+ Manuel Quintanilla.

El Canciller de la Orden ha confirmado su presencia a los actos.

Rock-and-Rollers and hippies have long had a soft spot for the decorative appeal of William Morris’s Gothic Revival, with its fair-haired maidens in flowing robes and its air of medieval mysticism. So it is not surprising that when Paul Reeves decided in 1973 to break out of designing avant-garde clothes for David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and The Who, he started selling Arts-and-Crafts furniture to some of the most famous musicians of the day, including George Harrison and Roger Daltrey.

Mr Reeves has organised a week-long selling exhibition and an auction at Sotheby’s next month. They will show just what a good eye he has, and how crucial he has been in encouraging furniture collectors to buy British design from the Gothic Revival onwards, a turning point in western architecture and interior design. About 120 items from Mr Reeves’s personal collection will be for sale at fixed prices. Another 120 pieces from other collectors—many of whom originally bought them from Mr Reeves—will be sold at auction.

Many of the period’s best works found their way to America. Mr Reeves helped collectors and museums alike—including the Getty brothers, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Wolfonsian-Florida International University Museum in Miami Beach—build substantial collections of fine 19th- and 20th-century British design, centred around such luminaries as A.W.N. Pugin, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Ernest Race and William Morris.

Mr Reeves initially faced a small market, but as this work has become more popular, prices have risen dramatically. A magnificent Anglo-Japanese sideboard by Edward William Godwin, an architect and designer who built houses for Oscar Wilde and James Whistler, sold last year for nearly £1m ($1.9m) to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Next month’s sale features a number of Godwin pieces, including an ebonised hanging bookcase, estimated at £60,000-80,000, and an ebonised chair, estimated at £10,000-12,000. But the star piece will undoubtedly be “The Quest for the Holy Grail: The Achievement” (pictured), a 25-foot (7.7-metre) tapestry based on the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Designed by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, a leading pre-Raphaelite artist, and woven by William Morris, it represents one of the two artists’ principal collaborations.

William Knox D’Arcy, an Australian mining engineer, commissioned the tapestry in 1890. It was the most important piece in a set of six hangings made for the dining room of his grand house, Stanmore Hall, on the outskirts of London.

It has only been sold twice: once in 1920 after D’Arcy died, when the whole set was sold to the Duke of Westminster, and again in 1978, when the current duke sold three of the hangings, thus breaking up the set. On that occasion, Mr Reeves bought “The Achievement” and one of the other pieces for Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin’s guitarist. The third hanging, which is much smaller than “The Achievement”, was sold again at Christie’s in 2004 for nearly £390,000.

“The Achievement”, which Mr Page is selling because it is too big to fit into his new home, is expected to fetch more than £1m. Nothing like that price has ever been paid for a Burne-Jones tapestry, but there are many reasons why this piece will be eagerly fought over. “The Quest for the Holy Grail” was woven in several editions, one as late as the 1920s.

But only the original set, of which this is the most important piece, retains the lovely details of Burne-Jones’s faces and hands. In the later editions, the shading is far more generic, giving the tapestries a blander look. Even the carpet of flowers in the foreground, which had been traced for the weavers’ guidance by Morris’s assistant, J.H. Dearle, is virtually unrecognisable.

Burne-Jones resented Dearle’s floral foregrounds, complaining that they cluttered up his designs. No one, however, could deny their botanical accuracy. In 1895, soon after the tapestries were completed, D’Arcy’s gardener, a man by the wonderful name of W. Tidy, studied Dearle’s flowers and was able to identify every one: daffodil, saponaira, campanula, dianthus, foxglove, hawkweed, tulip, convolvulus, snowdrop, lychnis, winter aconite, celandine and poppy. Such intricate details make this particular work a glory of its kind.

“The Best of British: Design from the 19th and 20th Centuries” will be on view at Sotheby’s from March 14th. The auction is on March 20th.

in The Economist

It has been controversial for centuries.

The Shroud of Turin, a 4.3-metre linen cloth bearing the hidden image of a crucified man, is held by some to be the burial cloth that covered Jesus - and by others to be an elaborate medieval hoax.

Now a special exhibit at Trinity Western University in Langley will allow local believers and skeptics alike to learn more about the mysterious artifact.

A replica of the shroud will be on display along with 30 museum boards and numerous replicas of the items used in Roman crucifixions.

For Dr. Phillip Wiebe, Trinity Western philosophy professor and shroud expert, the exhibit provides an opportunity to bring together the spiritual and intellectual aspects of his faith.

“We shouldn’t tell people to ‘just believe,’” he said.

“The questions raised by popular culture about faith are legitimate.”

And the shroud raises further questions.

The real Shroud of Turin has been housed in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, for about 500 years.

It is shown to the public just a few times each century and is next scheduled for display in 2025.

The debate over its origin ranges from theories about Jesus to others about Leonardo da Vinci and the Knights Templar, in addition to numerous scientific theories that some critics say have never truly explained the strange markings on the cloth.

In Wiebe’s office at Trinity Western, the seven-foot-tall replica looms over a room laden with books. But its weighty presence pales in comparison to the professor’s life-changing experience when confronted with the real thing.

Wiebe had been lecturing about the shroud for about 20 years before he actually went to view it in 2000.

Standing in awe before the artifact, he heard a voice tell him: “The resurrection is real, Phillip.”

The moment trumped his doubts and led him into deeper belief.

But Wiebe is adamant that intellectual questions about its authenticity must be discussed.

“I insist on not separating the intellectual aspects from the way it touches people,” he said.

“Questions need to be allowed. If we just believe, it produces an inner conflict between the intellect and the heart . . . I feel there’s room for both.”

The display can be viewed at Trinity Western from March 10 to 14. The exhibit belongs to the Vancouver Shroud Association, of which Wiebe is a founding member. A series of lectures on the shroud’s authenticity and significance is also planned.

By Glenda Luymes, The Province, Canada

The Priory of Slovenia will be conducting a seminar for members and an Investiture ceremony in the Castle of Turjak this coming February the 24th.

Recently the Prior of Slovenia, Fr+ Marin Zen, has lead a pilgrimage of the Templars to the Marian Sanctuary of Medugorge where they celebrated mass and chanted the “Non Nobis” in a spontaneous choir that filled the celebration with a true sense of mystic elevation.

 The Magisterial Council will announce very soon the dates and agenda of the next two International Meetings and General Assemblies, to take place in Madrid, Spain in early April and Lubljana, Slovenia, in early June. Members of the Council will be present, but both meetings are to be attended by all Priors and opened to the participation of all regular members of the Order of all ranks.

Photo: Fr+ Marin Zen, Prior General of Slovenia

Thomas is as much to say as abisme or double, or trenched and hewn, he was an abisme profound in humility, as it appeared in the hair that he wore, and in washing of the feet of the poor people, double in prelation that was in word and in ensample, and hewn and trenched in his passion. S. Thomas the martyr was son to Gilbert Beckett, a burgess of the city of London, and was born in the place where as now standeth the church called S. Thomas of Acre. And this Gilbert was a good devout man, and took the cross upon him, and went on pilgrimage into the Holy Land, and had a servant with his knees. And on a Trinity Sunday received he his dignity, and there was at that time the king with many a great lord and sixteen bishops. And from thence was sent the abbot of Evesham to the pope with other clerks for the pall which he gave and brought to him, and he full meekly received it. And under his habit he ware the habit of a monk, and so was he under within forth a monk, and outward a clerk, and did great abstinence making his body lean and his soul fat. And he used to be well served at his table, and took but little refection thereof, and lived holily in giving good ensample.

After this, many times the king went over into Normandy, and in his absence always S. Thomas had the rule of his son and of the realm, which was governed so well that the king could him great thanks, and then abode long in this realm. And when so was that the king did any thing against the franchise and liberties of holy church, S. Thomas would ever withstand it to his power. And on a time when the sees of London and of Winchester were vacant and void, the king kept them both long in his hand for to have the profits of them; wherefore S. Thomas was heavy, and came to the king and desired him to give those two bishopricks to some virtuous men. And anon the king granted to him his desire and ordained one master Roger, bishop of Winchester, and the Earl of Gloucester’s son, bishop of London, named Sir Robert. And anon after S. Thomas hallowed the abbey of Reading, which the first Henry founded. And that same year he translated S. Edward, king and confessor at Westminster, where he was laid in a rich shrine. And in some short time after, by the enticement of the devil, fell great debate, variance, and strife, between the king and S. Thomas, and the king sent for all the bishops to appear tofore him at Westminster at a certain day, at which day they assembled tofore him, whom he welcomed, and after said to them how that the archbishop would destroy his law, and not suffer him to enjoy such things as his predecessors had used tofore him. Whereto S. Thomas answered that he never intended to do thing that should displease the king as far as it touched not the franchise and liberties of holy church.

Then the king rehearsed how he would not suffer clerks that were thieves to have the execution of the law; to which S. Thomas said, that he ought not to execute them, but they longeth to the correction of holy church, and other divers points; to which S. Thomas would not agree. To the which the king said: Now I see well that thou wouldest foredo the laws of this land which have been used in the days of my predecessors, but it shall not lie in thy power, and so the king being wroth departed. Then the bishops all counselled S. Thomas to follow the king’s intent, or else the land should be in great trouble; and in like wise the lords temporal that were his friends counselled him the same, and S. Thomas said: I take God to record it was never mine intent to displease the king, or to take any thing that longeth to his right or honour. And then the lords were glad and brought him to the king to Oxenford, and the king deigned not to speak to him. And then the king called all the lords spiritual and temporal tofore him, and said he would have all the laws of his forefathers there new confirmed, and there they were confirmed by all the lords spiritual and temporal. And after this the king charged them for to come to him to Clarendon to his parliament at a certain day assigned, on pain to run in his indignation, and at that time so departed.

And this parliament was holden at Clarendon, the eleventh year of the king’s reign, and the year of our Lord eleven hundred and sixty-four. At this parliament were many lords which all were against S. Thomas. And then the king sitting in his parliament,in the presence of all his lords, demanded them if they would abide and keep the laws that had been used in his forefathers’ days. Then S. Thomas spake for the part of holy church, and said: All old laws that be good and rightful, and not against our mother holy church, I grant with good will to keep them. And then the king said that he would not leave one point of his law, and waxed wroth with S. Thomas. And then certain bishops required S. Thomas to obey to the king’s desire and will, and S. Thomas desired respite to know the laws, and then to give him an answer. And when he understood them all, to some he consented, but many he denied and would never be agreeable to them, wherefore the king was wroth and said he would hold and keep them like as his predecessors had done before him, and would not minish one point of them. Then S. Thomas said to the king with full great sorrow and heavy cheer, Now, my most dear lord and gracious king, have pity on us of holy church, your bedemen, and give to us respite for a certain time.

 And thus departed each man. And S. Thomas went to Winchester, and there prayed our Lord devoutly for holy church, and to give him aid and strength for to defend it, for utterly he determined to abide by the liberties and franchise, and fell down on his knees and said, full sore weeping: O good Lord, I acknowledge that I have offended, and for mine offence and trespass this trouble cometh to holy church, I purpose, good Lord, to go to Rome for to be assoiled of mine offences; and departed towards Canterbury. And anon the king sent his officers to his manors and despoiled them, because he would not obey the king’s statutes. And the king commanded to seize all his lands and goods into his hands, and then his servants departed from him, and he went to the seaside for to have gone over sea, but the wind was against him, and so thrice he took his ship and might not pass. And then he knew that it was not our Lord’s will that he should yet depart, and returned secretly to Canterbury, of whose coming his meiny made great joy. And on the morn came the king’s officers for to seize all his goods, for the noise was that S. Thomas had fled the land; wherefore they had despoiled all his manors and seized them into the king’s hand. And when they came they found him at Canterbury, whereof they were sore abashed, and returned to the king informing him that he was yet at Canterbury, and anon after S. Thomas came to the king to Woodstock for to pray him to be better disposed towards holy church.

And then said the king to him in scorn: May not we two dwell both in this land? Art thou so sturdy and hard of heart? To whom S. Thomas answered: Sire, that was never my thought, but I would fain please you, and do all that you desire so that ye hurt not the liberties of holy church, for them will I maintain while I live, ever to my power. With which words the king was sore moved, and swore that he would have them kept, and especial if a clerk were a thief he should be judged and executed by the king’s law, and by no spiritual law, and said he would never suffer a clerk to be his master in his own land, and charged S. Thomas to appear before him at Northampton, and to bring all the bishops of this land with him, and so departed. S. Thomas besought God of help and succour, for the bishops which ought to be with him were most against him. After this S. Thomas went to Northampton where the king had then his great council in the castle with all his lords, and when he came tofore the king he said: I am come to obey your commandment, but before this time was never bishop of Canterbury thus entreated, for I am head of the Church of England, and am to you, Sir King, your ghostly father, and it was never God’s law that the son should destroy his father which hath charge of his soul. And by your striving have you made all the bishops that should abide by the right of the church to be against holy church and me, and ye know well that I may not fight, but am ready to suffer death rather than I should consent to lose the right of holy church.

 Then said the king, Thou speakest as a proud clerk, but I shall abate thy pride ere I leave thee, for I must reckon with thee. Thou understandest well that thou wert my chancellor many years, and once I lent to thee £500 which thou never yet hast repaid, which I will that thou pay me again or else incontinent thou shalt go to prison. And then S. Thomas answered: Ye gave me that £500, and it is not fitting to demand that which ye have given. Notwithstanding he found surety for the said £500 and departed for that day. And after this, the next day the king demanded £30,000 that he had surmised on him to have stolen, he being chancellor, whereupon he desired day to answer; at which time he said that when he was archbishop he set him free therein without any claim or debt before good record, wherefore he ought not to answer unto that demand. And the bishops desired S. Thomas to obey the king but in no wise he would not agree to such things as should touch against the liberties of the church. And then they came to the king, and forsook S. Thomas, and agreed to all the king’s desire, and the proper servants of S. Thomas fled from him and forsook him, and then poor people came and accompanied him. And on the night came to him two lords and told to him that the king’s meiny had emprised to slay him. And the next night after he departed in the habit of a brother of Sempringham, and so chevissed that he went over sea.

And in the meanwhile certain bishops went to Rome for to complain on him to the pope, and the king sent letters to the king of France not to receive him. And the King Louis said that, though a man were banished and had committed there trespasses, yet should he be free in France. And so after when this holy S. Thomas came, he received him well, and gave him licence to abide there and do what he would. In this meanwhile the king of England sent certain lords into the pope complaining on the Archbishop Thomas, which made grievous complaints, which when the pope had heard said, he would give none answer till that he had heard the Archbishop Thomas speak, which would hastily come thither. But they would not abide his coming, but departed without speeding of their intents, and came into England again. And anon after, S Thomas came to Rome on S. Mark’s day at afternoon, and when his caterer should have bought fish for his dinner because it was fasting day, he could get none for no money, and came and told to his lord S. Thomas so, and he bade him buy such as he could get, and then he bought flesh and made it ready for their dinner. And S. Thomas was served with a capon roasted, and his meiny with boiled meat. And so it was that the pope heard that he was come, and sent a cardinal to welcome him, and he found him at his dinner eating flesh, which anon returned and told to the pope how he was not so perfect a man as he had supposed, for contrary to the rule of the church he eateth this day flesh.

The pope would not believe him, but sent another cardinal which for more evidence took the leg of the capon in his kerchief and affirmed the same, and opened his kerchief tofore the pope, and he found the leg turned into a fish called a carp. And when the pope saw it, he said, they were not true men to say such things of this good bishop. They said faithfully that it was flesh that he ate. After this S. Thomas came to the pope and did his reverence and obedience, whom the pope welcomed, and after communication he demanded him what meat he had eaten, and he said: Flesh as ye have heard tofore, because he could find no fish and very need compelled him thereto. Then the pope understood of the miracle that the capon’s leg was turned into a carp, and of his goodness granted to him and to all them of the diocese of Canterbury licence to eat flesh ever after on S. Mark’s day when it falleth on a fish day, and pardon withal, which is kept and accustomed unto this day. And then S. Thomas informed the pope how the king of England would have him consent to divers articles against the liberties of holy church, and what wrongs he did to the same, and that for to die he would never consent to them. And when the pope had heard him he wept for pity, and thanked God that he had such a bishop under him that had so well defended the liberties of holy church, and anon wrote out letters and bulls commanding all the bishops of Christendom to keep and observe the same.

And then S. Thomas offered to the pope his bishopric up into the pope’s hand, and his mitre with the cross and ring, and the pope commanded him to keep it still, and said he knew no man more able than he was. And after S. Thomas said mass tofore the pope in a white chasuble; and after mass he said to the pope that he knew by revelation that he should suffer death for the right of holy church, and when it should fall that chasuble should be turned from white into red. And after he departed from the pope and came down into France unto the abbey of Pontigny, and there he had knowledge that when the lords spiritual and temporal which had been at Rome were come home and had told the king that they might in no wise have their intent, that the king was greatly wroth, and anon banished all the kinsmen that were longing to S. Thomas that they should incontinent void his land, and made them swear that they should go to him and tell to him that for his sake they were exiled, and so they went over sea to him at Pontigny and he being there was full sorry for them.

And after there was a great chapter in England of the monks of Citeaux and there the king desired them to write to Pontigny that they should no longer keep ne sustain Thomas the Archbishop, for if they did, he would destroy them of that order being in England. And, for fear thereof they wrote so over to Pontigny that he must depart thence with his kinsmen, and so he did, and was then full heavy, and remitted his cause to God. And anon after, the king of France sent to him that he should abide where it pleased him, and dwell in his realm and he would pay for the costs of him and his kinsmen. And he departed and went to Sens, and the abbot brought him on the way. And S. Thomas told him how he knew by a vision that he should suffer death and martyrdom for the right of the church, and prayed him to keep it secret during his life. After this the king of England came into France, and there told the king how S. Thomas would destroy his realm, and then there told how he would foredo such laws as his elders had used tofore him, wherefore S. Thomas was sent for, and they were brought together. And the king of France laboured sore for to set them at accord, but it would not be, for that one would not minish his laws and accustoms, and S. Thomas would not grant that he should do England against S. Thomas, and was wroth with him and commanded him to void his realm with all his kinsmen. And then S. Thomas wist not whither to go; but comforted his kinsmen as well as he might, and purposed to have gone in to Provence for to have begged his bread.

And as he was going, the king of France sent for him again, and when he came he cried him mercy and said he had offended God and him, and bade him abide in his realm where he would, and he would pay for the dispenses of him and his kin. And in the meanwhile the king of England ordained his son king, and made him to be crowned by the Archbishop of York, and other bishops, which was against the statutes of the land, for the Archbishop of Canterbury should have consented and also have crowned him, wherefore S. Thomas gat a bull for to do accurse them that so did against him, and also on them that occupied the goods longing to him. And yet after this the king laboured so much that he accorded the king of England and S. Thomas which accord endured not long, for the king varied from it afterward. But S. Thomas, upon this accord, came home to Canterbury, where he was received worshipfully, and sent for them that had trespassed against him, and by the authority of the pope’s bull openly denounced them accursed unto the time they come to amendment. And when they knew this they came to him and would have made him to assoil them by force; and sent word over to the king how he had done, whereof the king was much wroth and said: If he had men in his land that loved him they would not suffer such a traitor in his land alive.

And forthwith four knights took their counsel together and thought they would do to the king a pleasure, and emprised to slay S. Thomas, and suddenly departed and took their shipping towards England. And when the king knew of their departing he was sorry and sent after them, but they were on the sea and departed ere the messengers came, wherefore the king was heavy and sorry.

These be the names of the four knights: Sir Reginald Fitzurse, Sir Hugh de Morville, Sir William de Tracy, Sir Richard le Breton. On Christmas day S. Thomas made a sermon at Canterbury in his own church, and weeping, prayed the people to pray for him, for he knew well his time was nigh, and there executed the sentence on them that were against the right of holy church. And that same day as the king sat at meat all the bread that he handled waxed anon mouldy and hoar, that no man might eat of it, and the bread that they touched not was fair and good for to eat.

And these four knights aforesaid came to Canterbury on the Tuesday in Christmas week about Evensong time, and came to S. Thomas and said that the king commanded him to make amends for the wrongs that he had done, and also that he should assoil all them that he had accursed anon, or else they should slay him. Then said Thomas: All that I ought to do by right, that will I with a good will do, but as to the sentence that is executed I may not undo, but that they will submit them to the correction of holy church, for it was done by our holy father the pope and not by me. Then said Sir Reginald: But if thou assoil the king and all other standing in the curse, it shall cost thee thy life. And S. Thomas said: Thou knowest well enough that the king and I were accorded on Mary Magdalene day, and that this curse should go forth on them that had offended the church.

Then one of the knights smote him as he kneeled before the altar on the head. And one Sir Edward Grim, that was his crossier put forth his arm with the cross to bear off the stroke, and the stroke smote the cross asunder and his arm almost off, wherefore he fled for fear, and so did all the monks, that were that time at compline. And then smote each at him, that they smote off a great piece of the skull of his head, that his brain fell on the pavement. And so they slew and martyred him, and were so cruel that one of them brake the point of his sword against the pavement. And thus this holy and blessed Archbishop S. Thomas suffered death in his own church for the right of all holy church. And when he was dead they stirred his brain, and after went in to his chamber and took away his goods, and his horse out of his stable, and took away his bulls and writings, and delivered them to Sir Robert Broke to bear into France to the king. And as they searched his chamber they found in a chest two shirts of hair made full of great knots, and then they said: Certainly he was a good man; and coming down into the churchward they began to dread and fear that the ground would not have borne them, and were marvellously aghast, but they supposed that the earth would have swallowed them all quick. And then they knew that they had done amiss. And anon it was known all about, how that he was martyred, and anon after took this holy body, and unclothed him, and found bishop’s clothing above, and the habit of a monk under. And next his flesh he wore hard hair, full of knots, which was his shirt. And his breech was of the same, and the knots slicked fast within the skin, and all his body full of worms; he suffered great pain. And he was thus martyred the year of our Lord one thousand one hundred and seventy-one, and was fifty-three years old. And soon after tidings came to the king how he was slain, wherefore the king took great sorrow, and sent to Rome for his absolution.

Now after that S. Thomas departed from the pope, the pope would daily look upon the white chasuble that S. Thomas had said mass in, and the same day that he was martyred he saw it turned into red, whereby he knew well that that same day he suffered martyrdom for the right of holy church, and commanded a mass of requiem solemnly to be sung for his soul. And when the quire began to sing requiem, an angel on high above began the office of a martyr: Letabitur justus, and then all the quire followed singing forth the mass of the office of a martyr. And the pope thanked God that it pleased him to show such miracles for his holy martyr, at whose tomb by the merits and prayers of this holy martyr our blessed Lord hath showed many miracles. The blind have recovered their sight, the dumb their speech, the deaf their hearing, the lame their limbs, and the dead their life. If I should here express all the miracles that it hath pleased God to show for this holy saint it should contain a whole volume, therefore at this time, I pass over unto the feast of his translation, where I propose with the grace of God to recite some of them. Then let us pray to this glorious martyr to be our advocate, that by his petition we may come to everlasting bliss. Amen.

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Saint Thomas Becket, 1118–70, English martyr, archbishop of Canterbury, b. London. He is called St. Thomas of Canterbury and occasionally St. Thomas of London.

Note: The Templar Charola (round church) in the Templar Castle in Tomar was dedicated to him.

At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under date of 14 February. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and these two seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way, but at different distances from the city. In William of Malmesbury’s time what was known to the ancients as the Flaminian Gate of Rome and is now the Porta del Popolo, was called the Gate of St. Valentine. The name seems to have been taken from a small church dedicated to the saint which was in the immediate neighborhood. Of both these St. Valentines some sort of Acta are preserved but they are of relatively late date and of no historical value. Of the third Saint Valentine, who suffered in Africa with a number of companions, nothing further is known.

The popular customs associated with Saint Valentine’s Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer’s Parliament of Foules we read:

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers’ tokens. Both the French and English literatures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries contain allusions to the practice. Perhaps the earliest to be found is in the 34th and 35th Ballades of the bilingual poet, John Gower, written in French; but Lydgate and Clauvowe supply other examples. Those who chose each other under these circumstances seem to have been called by each other their Valentines. In the Paston Letters, Dame Elizabeth Brews writes thus about a match she hopes to make for her daughter (we modernize the spelling), addressing the favoured suitor:

And, cousin mine, upon Monday is Saint Valentine’s Day and every bird chooses himself a mate, and if it like you to come on Thursday night, and make provision that you may abide till then, I trust to God that ye shall speak to my husband and I shall pray that we may bring the matter to a conclusion.

Shortly after the young lady herself wrote a letter to the same man addressing it “Unto my rightwell beloved Valentine, John Paston Esquire”. The custom of choosing and sending valentines has of late years fallen into comparative desuetude.

By Herbert Thurston. Transcribed by Paul Knutsen.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV. New York, 1912

Like the unicorn, the white stag (or hart) is the stuff of legends. Its origins lie deep within the ancient Celts and pre-Indo-European cultures. When a rare white stag was spotted, it was always the sign the otherworld was near for man or kingdom.
The white hart also appears when someone is transgressing a taboo, as it does in the Holy Grail legends. The knights of King Arthur often encountered the white hart on their quest for the fabled lost Grail.

Unfortunately, the last white stag in Britain was shot by poachers in October 2007 on the border between Devon and Cornwall. It was found headless. Miraculously, another of these very rare creatures has just been sighted and photographed in the Highlands, but its location is being kept secret for obvious reasons.

What does the advent of yet another white hart portend for Britain and Scotland? Is there bad news to come – recession, falling house prices, or Tony Blair becoming president of Europe? Are we trespassing where we have no business – Iraq and Afghanistan?

Or is it a sign that Scotland is being led to an unexpected victory in the Six Nations? Time will tell. But as the poet Ezra Pound wrote:

When the white hart breaks his cover

And the white wind breaks the morn.

‘Tis the white stag, Fame, we’re a-hunting,

Bid the world’s hounds come to horn!

in The Scotsman

José Ramos Horta, President of East-Timor, Nobel Peace Prize winner and a good friend of the Order was shot yesterday in an attempted coup by rebels. He remains in a serious condition. We ask that all members of the Order and friends include Mr. Ramos Horta in their prayers for a fast and complete recovery.

President Ramos Horta first received a delegation of the Order in 2004 in his capacity as (then) Minister of Foreign Affairs of East-Timor. The delegation was comprising the Master Fr+ Antonio Paris, the Chancellor Fr+ Luis de Matos the Secretary Fr+ Ardino and the member of the Portuguese Parliament Nuno da Camara Pereira. Several plans to include East-Timor in our Order’s priorities for relief campaigns and ethical development projects were laid out and we urge all those interested in cooperating to contact the Chancellery.

From the press:

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East Timor’s enduring tragedy

(The Boston Globe - Editorial) THE PEOPLE of East Timor have suffered plenty enough already. The tiny East Asian nation passed directly from Portuguese to Indonesian control in 1975, after President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger gave Indonesia a green light to invade. A quarter century of genocidal repression followed, until Indonesian forces left in 1999.

more stories like thisThis background makes Sunday’s attempted assassinations of East Timor’s two top leaders all the more desolating. President Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was wounded in an attempted coup; Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, a former resistance leader, was unhurt. The episode sends a warning: The world’s newest independent nation must not be allowed to fail.

East Timor’s political leaders must take primary responsibility for the reforms and reconciliation needed to avoid disintegration. Ramos-Horta was trying. He had met with the leader of the attempted coup, former military police chief Alfredo Reinado, seeking a compromise to end a revolt that began in 2006 with a mutiny by 600 soldiers, mostly from the west of the country.

Some 150,000 people fled their homes then, and many of the displaced have yet to return. They fear criminal gangs as well as clashes between armed groups from the east and west of the country. Efforts to end those conflicts and bring rebellious soldiers back into the fold may be more successful now that Reinado has been killed in the attack on Ramos-Horta. Reinado was not the sole leader of the antigovernment forces, but as Sunday’s flamboyant assassination attempts suggest, he was the most zealous to overthrow East Timor’s elected authorities.

A key for reconciliation is to grant amnesty to those military rebels of 2006 who had legitimate grievances while legally pursuing those who took up arms against the government for criminal purposes.

Both reconciliation and reform may be served if a much wider circle of police and military veterans, including those who fought in the anti-Indonesian resistance, are granted pensions. Pensioned officers will owe their livelihood to the government, and they will yield places for new recruits who may then receive properly professional training.

Above all, the government must seek advice from all quarters as it reforms the security services and governance. The United Nations mission to East Timor can help by devoting enough staff and resources to provide the government with substantial help in consulting with disaffected soldiers or police. Because the United Nations administered East Timor after 1999 and international security forces have been keeping the peace since 2006, a failed state in East Timor would also represent a failure of the international community.

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FACTBOX: Five facts on wounded President Ramos-Horta

(Reuters) - East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta was shot in the stomach on Monday when rebel soldiers attacked his home, a military spokesman said.

Here are five facts about the president of the tiny country, which became independent in 2002, more than a quarter of a century after Indonesia annexed the former Portuguese colony.

* Ramos-Horta, 58, was an anti-colonial journalist and activist when Portugal ruled East Timor, and was seen during that period as a fatigue-wearing rebel with bushy black hair.

* He spent years abroad as a spokesman for East Timor’s struggle for independence from Indonesian occupation. Fluent in not just the country’s Tetum language, but also Portuguese, Spanish, French and English, Ramos-Horta lobbied foreign leaders to highlight East Timor’s plight under Jakarta’s often-brutal rule.

* In 1996, having earned the respect and friendship of a number of foreign leaders and with a high profile as a diplomat, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo. He returned to East Timor in 1999 after two decades abroad.

* Ramos-Horta took over as prime minister in 2006 after the country’s dominant Fretilin party was blamed for failing to control riots that spun into deadly violence in which more than 30 people died.

* He won a resounding victory in presidential elections last May. Outgoing president and former resistance hero Xanana Gusmao then became prime minister after parliamentary elections in July. The pair are generally seen as allies and somewhat more friendly to international investment and the West than Fretilin stalwarts.

Headlines may scream about stoning and hand-chopping, but the main question about sharia law in any western country is whether Islamic courts should judge Muslims in cases such as divorce, inheritance or business.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams caused uproar by suggesting British law adopt some sharia law. Critics decried the idea as barbaric, citing the gruesome punishments meted out in strict Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia.

The archbishop clearly stated in his speech on Thursday that he ruled out such punishments and only wanted some aspects of Muslim personal law, as a way to accommodate Muslims who felt torn between their Islamic and British identities.

But “the devil is in the detail,” as the saying goes.

Sharia law is not a single written code — there are four schools of interpretation for Sunnis, one for Shi’ites and disagreements within them. Men can enjoy more rights than women, a stand that clashes with western concepts of equality.

“Even in a city like Bradford, you have four different schools of sharia law, so which are you going to accept?” Baroness Haleh Afshar, a law professor, told the BBC.

Sharia is a legal code based on the Koran, the sayings of the Prophet Mohammad and centuries of Islamic jurisprudence, or fiqh. It is meant to help Muslims in daily life know what Islam says they can, cannot, should or should not do.

The vast bulk of cases handled by sharia courts — both in Muslim and western countries — judge whether marriage, divorce, inheritance and business cases adhere to Islamic precepts.

Williams suggested that verdicts in such cases be accepted as legal, as long as they do not contradict British civil law and sharia does not become “some kind of parallel jurisdiction.”

SUPERFLUOUS JURISDICTION?

Many routine sharia verdicts would be ruled out under these conditions or be irrelevant to the civil law system, whose demands the defendants would have to comply with anyway.

In a divorce, for example, a couple must end its marriage in a civil court regardless of any other rules its faith imposes. If believers have stricter rules, such as a bar on remarriage in church for divorced Catholics, that is their private matter.

“What Dr Williams is talking about in practical terms is either superfluous … or it runs the risk of compromising his other key principles,” Simon Barrow, director of the British religious think-tank Ekklesia, argued in an analysis.

The principles of equality and individual rights would rule out many sharia verdicts common in Muslim countries.

In many traditional sharia courts, a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man and a daughter has a right to only half the inheritance that a son gets. In child custody cases, men and Muslims usually have priority over women and non-Muslims.

ORTHODOX JEWISH PRECEDENT

While the storm gathered around Williams, several Muslim leaders have thanked him and urged a cooler examination of his proposals, without making clear how they would work.

“His recommendation is confined to the civil system of sharia law and that only in accordance with English law and agreeable to established notions of human rights,” said Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.

Williams noted Orthodox Jewish rabbinical courts in Britain can already have their verdicts recognised by law. But they must comply with British law and can be overturned by a civil court.

Britain requires Orthodox Jews to dissolve a marriage in a “Beth Din” court before they can get a civil divorce. This was to stop husbands from blocking a religious divorce, which means wives cannot remarry in a synagogue.

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor, Reuters, Paris