Good Friday 2024 Photopost (Part 2)

Once again, we are very grateful to all those who contributed to this series, which is close to ending. Don’t forget that next week we have the Rogations and the Ascension, and we will be glad to include photos of both of those celebrations in our Pentecost photopost series, so you can send yours in to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org. Keep up the good work of evangelizing through beauty!

Epiphany of Our Lord – St Petersburg, Florida (Ukrainian Greek-Catholic)

Procession with the shroud at Vespers of Good Friday

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Ss Catherine of Siena and Francis of Assisi, Patron Saints of Italy

When an American pilgrim visits the ancient cities of Italy today, he may easily fail to realize that his own country is older than the modern state of Italy by nearly a century. From the fall of the Roman Empire until the mid-19th century, the Italian peninsula was divided into many countries, of varying size and importance, and the Pope himself ruled a fairly large one, with Rome as its capital. This country, variously called the Papal State or States of the Church, was the last to be conquered, in 1870, by the north Italian kingdom of Savoy, the consummation of the movement known as the “Risorgimento.” Perhaps even less well known today are the fiercely anticlerical character of the Savoyard government, and the long state of cold war that existed between it and the Church after the fall of the Papal State. For nearly 60 years, in fact, neither would officially recognize the other, and for much of that period, Catholics were forbidden under pain of excommunication from participating in the public life of Italy.

This unhappy situation was ended by the Lateran Pacts of 1929, whereby the Church formally recognized the Kingdom of Italy, which in turn recognized the sovereignty of the Pope over a tiny fraction of his former domains, the modern State of Vatican City. It was not however Pius XI, the Pope then reigning, who gave to modern Italy Saints Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena as her Patron Saints, but rather his successor, Pius XII. His decree to that effect was issued less than 3 months before the war that came after the War to End All Wars; prescient perhaps of the new catastrophe awaiting the peoples of Europe, including the Italians, Pope Pius writes of his choices:

Francis, poor and humble, truly the image of Jesus Christ, gave unlimited examples of the life of the Gospel to the very turbulent men of his age, and by establishing his three orders, opened to them a swift way towards the correction of morals both private and public, and to the true sense of the Catholic faith. In the same way did the most vigorous and devout virgin Catherine effectively work to encourage and establish harmony between the cities and towns of her land … (Licet commissa nobis, June 18, 1939.)

In this video, we see Pope Pius’ visit to the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where the body of St Catherine rests under the high altar, shortly after the proclamation of the new Patron Saints. It is very much in the style of its times, and sadly rather blurry, but documents a truly moving display of popular devotion. In the second half, we hear the music of the Capella Sistina, directed by Lorenzo Perosi, (again, very much in the style of its times), followed by the voice of the Pope himself, as he calls Saint Catherine “Mother of her people, Angel of Peace,” and prays that she and Francis will protect Italy and lead her to God.

I have long thought that the choice of Francis and Catherine as joint Patrons of Italy was a particularly inspired one on the part of Pius XII, not only for their individual importance as Saints, but also as representatives of two religious orders whose impact on the fortunes of nearly every Italian city can hardly be overstated. A great part of the history of the Renaissance in particular is the history of the Franciscans and Dominicans, and of their patrons and parishioners, commissioning art works for their innumerable churches. Today, the Renaissance is too frequently spoken of as it were solely a Florentine affair, and the vital role of the Franciscans within it too easily forgotten. Much of the inspiration for the art of that period comes from St Francis and his love of creation, not for its own sake, but inasmuch as he saw every part of it as an expression of God’s love and mercy.

It was this that lead Franciscans scientists and others associated with the Order, (Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon are the most famous examples), to investigate how light, the beginning of creation, enables us to see and know the rest of it; and this in turn lead to the rediscovery of perspective in painting. Likewise, St Francis’ love for and interest in the created order also inspired the search for a more realistic depiction of it, leading Italian painting away from the hieratic styles of the low Middle Ages. It is not a coincidence that so much of the great Italian art of the 14th and 15th centuries is found in churches built by Franciscans, from the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi to the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Nor is it mere chance that one of the greatest Italian painters of all time, Fra Angelico, was a Dominican friar.

Of the innumerable images of St Francis in the basilica in Assisi, surely one of the most beautiful is the so-called Sunset Madonna, by Pietro Lorenzetti. This is a fresco on a west-facing wall in the left transept of the lower church; it is called “the Sunset Madonna” because there is a window directly opposite it, through which the rays of the setting sun illuminate it for about an hour at the end of each day. The fresco was painted around 1320 above an altar (now removed) dedicated to St John the Evangelist, who is seen on the right side. One of the donors is depicted beneath him, in prayer before a Crucifix, and his wife was probably in the part now missing on the left side; the donor may very well have been named John, which was also St Francis’ baptismal name.

The traditional story about the arrangement of the remaining figures is that the Christ Child is asking his Mother, “Which of My Saints loves Me the most?”, to which the Madonna answers by pointing at St Francis, as if to say “He does.”

An Altarpiece of St Peter Martyr

For the feast of St Peter Martyr, here are some pictures of a particularly elaborate altarpiece dedicated to him. This was originally painted for the church of St Dominic in the Italian city of Modena by the workshop of the brothers Agnolo and Bartolomeo degli Erri, the third generation of painters in their family. They also did altarpieces for the same church dedicated to Ss Dominic, Thomas Aquinas and Vincent Ferrer. As has happened to so many works of its kind, this one was later removed from its original frame; it is now in the museum of the Palazzo della Pilotta in Parma. (All images from this page of Wikimedia Commons, by Sailko, CC BY-SA 4.0; unfortunately, close up photos are available for only some of the panals.  

The scenes are as follows:

top left: St Peter as a child, disputing with his uncle and other Cathar heretics; his vesting as a Dominican; praying before an image of the Virgin Mary.

top center: portrait of the Saint

top right: his corporal penances and fasting; at Cesena, he heals a young man who had cut off his own foot to punish himself for striking his mother; the healing of a nun.

middle left: he puts the devil to flight by showing it a consecrated Host; the raising of a dead child; the healing of a dying man

middle center: St Peter praying before a Cross

middle right: he heals a baby that had fallen into a fire; while preaching, he tames a crazed horse, and restores speech to a mute boy; at Milan, he heals a paralyzed woman.

lower left: Pope Innocent IV makes him an inquisitor against the Cathar heresy; he receives a message from the Pope, and causes a very hot sun to dim while he was preaching outdoors, so the faithful would not be discomforted while listening to him; he departs for his mission. 

lower right: his martyrdom; his funeral cortege; miracles at his tomb.

The center middle panel of St Peter and members of the faithful praying before a Crucifix.

First panel, center right: St Peter heals a small child that had fallen into a fire.

Second panel, middle right: he heals a mute boy, and stops a crazed horse.

Third panel, middle right: at Milan, he heals a paralyzed woman. In the background is the church of St Eustorgius in Milan, where his relics have reposed since shortly after his martyrdom in 1252.

First panel, lower right: St Peter is ambushed and assassinated.

Second panel, lower right: his body is taken to Milan for his funeral.

Third panel, lower right: miracles at his tomb.

The Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

Having come in faith to the well, the Samaritan woman beheld Thee, the water of wisdom, and having drunk abundantly thereof, she the renowned one inherited the kingdom that is above forever. (The Kontakion for today in the Byzantine Rite, the Fifth Sunday of Easter, on which is read the Gospel of the Samaritan woman, John 4, 5-42.)

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman, depicted in a 16th fresco in the Stavronikita Monastery on Mt Athos, by Theophanes the Cretan. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

The Ikos Let us hear the venerable mysteries, as John teacheth us the things that happened in Samaria, how the Lord conversed with the woman, asking for water, even He who gathered the waters together, that shareth His throne with the Father and the Spirit, for He the renowned one came seeking His own image forever.

“Aquae Sanctae Terrae”: The Spiritual Signification of the Waters of the Holy Land (Conclusion)

“Aquae Sanctae Terrae”: The Spiritual Signification of the Waters of the Holy Land

A Seminarian from the Midwest

Conclusion: The Devil and the Dead Sea

(Part 1 may be read here, Part 2 here.)

Aerial view of Dead Sea shore (source)

The Dead Sea

Now there is only one more lake in the Holy Land to discuss — the Dead Sea. Its name betrays where it represents on the spiritual map. The Dead Sea represents Hell. The geographic features alone make a strong case for this theory. The Dead Sea, at -1,411 feet below sea level, is the lowest place on earth. Scripture is filled with allusions to Hell being a place where the damned will go down to. The region around the sea can also be odorous due to the high sulfur concentration. The Dead Sea is about nine times saltier than the ocean, and is unable to support any life.[46] The average summer temperatures around the lake are about 105 F, but at times have been recorded over 120 F.

The Dead Sea is also an endorheic lake, which means it has no outlet. This accounts for its high salinity. Whatever minerals the Jordan pumps into it will never leave unless they are physically extracted, which means the lake will only get saltier over time. It is also worth noting that the only entrance into the Dead Sea is from the north, or the top of the lake. This is fitting, because the only way to get to Hell is to go down to it from earth. Lake Hula and the Sea of Galilee, on the other hand, are exorheic lakes, which means they have both an entrance and an exit point. This mirrors how there are entrances at each end of earth and Purgatory. For earth, you can either go up to Purgatory or Heaven, or down to Hell. For Purgatory, there is an entrance coming from earth and an entrance going up to Heaven. Heaven only has a door at the bottom, which Saint Peter faithfully guards, for those coming up from earth or Purgatory.

The Dead Sea also features negatively in the scriptures. In Deuteronomy, the Dead Sea is referred to as the Salt Sea or the Sea of the Arabah, which means Sea of the Desert or Wasteland in Hebrew.[47] Scholars debate the exact locations of Sodom and Gomorrha, but there is a general consensus they were located somewhere on the shores of the Dead Sea. These cities are synonymous for immorality and are fitting symbols for Hell. We also read that God destroys Sodom and Gomorrha with fire and brimstone (which is the same thing as sulfur).[48] Lot’s wife is also turned into a pillar of salt.[49] The Dead Sea and the surrounding region abounds with these two hellish symbols — salt and sulfur. The wicked city Jericho is only seven miles from the Dead Sea.

Debris beside the Dead Sea (source)

Jerusalem is also only about fifteen miles from the Dead Sea which is striking. One may ask why the holy city of Jerusalem is so close to a place that represents Hell? The answer can once again be found in the topography/geography of the landscape. Although relatively close to the Dead Sea and Jericho, Jerusalem towers nearly 4,000 feet above the Dead Sea and sits about 3,200 feet higher than Jericho. Jerusalem is not part of Hell, but is almost its gate. This is fitting because Jerusalem is where Christ triumphed over Satan and Hell.

Through His passion and death, Christ tore down the gates of Hell and harrowed it. Jerusalem and the gates of Hell serve as a counterpoint to Caeserea Philippi and the gates of Heaven. This image of gates is referenced in Matthew’s gospel, “And I say to thee: Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”[50] The gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church because Christ has vanquished them through His passion and death just outside Jerusalem.

The devil’s hatred for water

The final point to note is the Devil’s hatred for water. Although this theory is more speculative, there is evidence to support it. The storm on the Sea of Galilee can be viewed as a challenge from the Devil. He uses water to try to frighten Christ and the Apostles. The Devil is threatened because Christ is on His way to exorcise the Gerasene demoniac (Mark 5). Our Lord is encroaching on what the Devil thinks is his territory. The water in the symbolic Hell (the Dead Sea) is so polluted with salt, it is useless and cannot support life. Moreover, the Dead Sea itself is shrinking at a steady pace.

The real Hell is likely going to be a place without any water. We can deduce this from the story of the rich man in Saint Luke’s gospel. The rich man, languishing in Hell, begs for a single drop of water, “And he cried, and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame.”[51] The Devil hates God and God’s creation and is constantly seeking to destroy it. His favorite way to do this is by stealing souls away from Heaven.

The waters of baptism are a painful reminder to him of souls who are escaping from his grasp and of God’s supreme power. Through baptism, God stamps an indelible mark on a man’s soul. The Devil does all he can to sully this mark, but he cannot erase it. Christ’s side during the passion also sprayed water alongside blood. Saint Thomas says this is appropriate because it signifies the purifying effect of the passion.[52] Water is also used at every Mass which is yet one more small reminder to Satan of his defeat at Calvary.

God is eternal wisdom; nothing He does is arbitrary. The geography of the Holy Land is no exception. Although the historical events that occurred in this region tell us it is important, the land and water themselves tell a story through their physical structure. The physical features of the Holy Land were designed in such a way that they would reflect spiritual places and realities:

• The beautiful region around the Jordan’s headwaters with its fresh mountain air signifies Heaven.
• The malarial swamp of Lake Hula and the scorched land around it, cleared of infidels, represents Purgatory as a place of penance and purgation.
• The sometimes tranquil and sometimes turbulent waters of the Sea of Galilee reflect the many ups and downs we experience in our earthly lives. Christ’s abiding presence, however, always pervades the stormy world. Our Lord is always ready to extend a hand to save us or calm the storm when we call on Him.
• The Jordan River, flowing from its heavenly heights, sanctified by Christ Himself, is a symbol of baptism and the grace which flows down to us on earth. It is a life-giving highway connecting Heaven with earth. It also washes the filth of our sins down to the dregs of Hell.
• Finally, the lifeless Dead Sea, sitting at the lowest place on earth, represents Hell in all its hot and sulfurous misery.

The Jordan and its watershed, therefore, are more than just a sliver of Palestine; they also signify the whole physical and spiritual world.

NOTES

[46] Learning Lesson: A Funny Taste — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, www.noaa.gov/jetstream/ocean/ll-taste.

[47] Deuteronomy 3:17

[48] Genesis 19:24

[49] Genesis 19:26

[50] Matthew 16:18

[51] Luke 16:24

[52] Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, III, q. 76, a. 6, corpus, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province, (New York, NY: Benziger Brothers, Inc., 1947), 2443.

The Legend of Pope Marcellinus

Marcellinus ruled the Roman Church for nine years and four months (really 296-304). By the order of Diocletian and Maximian (during the last and greatest Roman persecution, 303-6), he was seized and brought to sacrifice, and when he did not agree, and for this had to undergo torments of various kinds, out of fear of suffering he offered two grains of incense in sacrifice. This was a cause of great rejoicing for the unfaithful, but great sadness struck the faithful. However, when the head is weak, the members arise strong and take little account of the threats of princes. Then the faithful came to meet the supreme pontiff, and reproved him very greatly, and he, seeing this, submitted himself to be judged in a council of bishops. They said to him, “God forbid that the supreme pontiff be judged by anyone, but undertake your own case, and judge yourself from your own mouth.”

And he, repenting, groaned very much and deposed himself. but nevertheless, all the crowd reelected him . And when the emperors heard this, they had him seized again, and since he would not sacrifice for any reason, they ordered him to be decapitated; and again the wrath of the enemy grew, so that within one month, 17,000 Christians were killed.

An illustration of the story recounted here, from a French translation of the Golden Legend of Bl. Jacopo da Voragine, Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Français 244. The confusion that surrounds this legend is amply demonstrated by the fact that Pope Marcellus is shown in the foreground as he is about to be beheaded, even though this is not how he died, as the Golden Legend itself states very clearly.

Now when Marcellinus was going to be beheaded, he declared himself unworthy of Christian burial, and therefore he excommunicated all those who should presume to bury him; for which reason, his body remained unburied for thirty-five days. After this, the blessed Apostle Peter appeared to his successor Marcellus, saying, “My brother Marcellus, why do you not bury me?” To whom he answered, “Were you not buried long ago, my lord?” But the Apostle replied, “I consider myself as unburied, so long as I shall see Marcellinus unburied.” To this, Marcellus answered, “Do you not know, my lord, that he anathematized any who might bury him?” To which Peter answered, “Is it not written, ‘he who humbles himself shall be exalted’? Go then, and bury him at my feet.” And he immediately went and praiseworthily fulfilled these orders.

Thus far the Golden Legend, which although it was not an official liturgical book, was very often read in the Divine Office in the Middle Ages. And indeed, whatever version of the story was read, it was widely believed and accepted for many centuries that Pope Marcellinus had in fact offered incense to the Roman gods under persecution, but then repented and suffered martyrdom, for the sake of which he is venerated as a Saint, and his feast kept today. The story is told in similar terms in the breviary according to the Use of the Roman Curia, the version of the Divine Office used by the Popes themselves before the council of Trent, which states flat out that “Marcellinus was led forth to offer incense, and did this.”

The legend of St Marcellinus in a Roman breviary printed at Venice in 1481; the statement about his yielding to the persecutors and offering incense is in the middle of the second lesson, in the lower part of the left-hand column.

Moreover, when the Roman Office was revised after the Council of Trent, and published by Pope St Pius V in 1568, the story was revised to include material first popularized by the Donatist heretics in Africa, who believed that if a cleric yielded to the persecutors, his orders were effectively nullified, along with his ability to legitimately impart the sacraments. This version claims to identify the specific location of the council before which Marcellinus had appeared, a town called Sinuessa (about 93 miles to the south-east of Rome). It is now recognized that no such council ever happened, and the story in the breviary was later revised to its current form, which says that Marcellinus was a victim of calumny.

The Life of St Mark the Evangelist in Art

St Mark, whose feast is kept today, is the only evangelist who records that when the soldiers came to arrest Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, “a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and they laid hold on him. But he, casting off the linen cloth, fled from them naked.” (14, 51-52) In keeping with the common ancient practice of authorial anonymity, it has often been supposed that this young man was Mark himself, which would make this his first appearance in sacred history; such a figure often appears in pictures of this scene.

The Arrest of Christ in the Garden, ca 1597, by Giuseppe Cesari (1568-1640), usually known as “Cavaliere d’Arpino – the knight from Arpino”, the birthplace of his father. (He himself was born in Rome.) This is actually a studio copy, now in a museum in Kassel, Germany; the original hangs in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, in the same room as six works by the Cavaliere’s quondam employee, Caravaggio. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

A very ancient tradition, recorded by St Jerome (de Script. Eccl. 8) among others, says that Mark was St Peter’s interpreter, and came with him to Rome. Peter himself mentions this in his first epistle (5, 13): “The church that is in Babylon (i.e. Rome), elected together with you, saluteth you, and so doth my son Mark.” After composing his Gospel, Mark went to Alexandria, where he established the Church, and died in the eighth year of the reign of Nero, 62 AD, being succeeded by a man named Anianus, who is noted in the martyrology on the same day as he.

St Mark Preaching in Alexandria, ca. 1505, by the Venetian painters and brothers Gentile and Giovanni Bellini. The building in the background is an architectural fantasy based on St Mark’s basilica in Venice; the obelisks and minarets, and the clothing of the figures in the foreground, are likely based on descriptions by Venetian merchants who had traveled in the Middle East. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

In the 9th century, merchants from Venice (a city which specialized in pious thievery) stole the body of St Mark from a church in Alexandria, concealing it in their ship amid a load of pork products so that the Muslim custom inspectors would not discover it. This led to the creation of an expanded edition of the evangelist’s legend, by which St Peter first sent him to Aquileia, a town at the head of the Adriatic, where he established a patriarchate which would later be transferred to nearby Grado, and later still to Venice itself. The story has it that on setting foot on the shore of the Venetian lagoon, an angel spoke to him, saying, “Peace to thee, Mark, my evangelist; here thy body shall rest.” Mark then returned to Rome, bringing with him one of his converts, a man named Hermagoras, whom Peter ordained as his replacement so that Mark himself could go off to Egypt.

The Golden Legend of Bl Jacopo da Voragine tells the story that on entering Alexandria, Mark’s sandal broke, so he gave it to a cobbler to fix. The man badly wounded himself with his awl, and swore, “one God!”, at which Mark healed him, converted him, and later ordained him a bishop. This is the very Anianus mentioned above, who built the first church in Alexandria, and then preached the Gospel throughout the Libyan Pentapolis (the region to the west of Egypt, also known as Cyrenaica).

The Healing of Anianus, by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano (1459-1517). Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

Mark in the meantime was seized by the pagan priests while celebrating Mass during Eastertide, and dragged off to prison by a rope around his neck. In prison, he was visited first by an angel, then by the Lord himself, who repeated to him the words he had heard at the future site of Venice, “Peace to thee, Mark, my evangelist; fear not, for I am with thee, to deliver thee.” Just as Christ was left in prison overnight, and His passion resumed in the morning, so also Mark was dragged “in the morning” out of the prison, again by a rope around his neck, and died along the way, saying, “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” The pagans would have destroyed his body, but were driven away by a powerful storm of thunder, lightning and hail; it was then rescued by the Christians, and taken to the church built by Anianus, his successor.

The Martyrdom of St Mark, 1515, by Giovanni Bellini. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.) 

Prior to the despoliation of Venice by Napoleon, the city had seven “Scuole Grandi – Great Schools”, confraternities which sponsored a wide variety of religious, charitable, social and cultural activities. In 1548, the oldest of these, named for Saint Mark, commissioned the painter Jacopo Robusti (1518-94), usually known by the nickname Tintoretto, to do a painting of one of the well-known posthumous miracles of their and their city’s patron, also narrated in the Golden Legend. A slave who had gone to visit Mark’s relics against his master’s orders was to be punished by having his eyes put out, but every instrument by which his master sought to injure him broke, until the master himself was converted, and became a devotee of the evangelist, frequently going to visit the relics himself.

Fourteen years later, three other paintings were commissioned from Tintoretto, which were completed by 1566. One of these represents yet another miracle from the Golden Legend. A Saracen pirate ship attacked a Venetian merchant vessel, but was wrecked by the sea, and all the pirates drowned save one, who called upon the evangelist to save him, promising to be baptized and make a pilgrimage to his tomb in Venice.

Another represents the first Christians of Alexandria recovering the Saint’s body right after his death, as explained above.

The fourth painting is often referred to as “the Finding of the Body of St Mark”, based an error of the Italian art historian Carlo Ridolfi (1594-1658). It actually represents St Mark, the standing figure at the left, performing various miracles in the first church of Alexandria.

“Aquae Sanctae Terrae”: The Spiritual Signification of the Waters of the Holy Land (Part 2)

Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant, 1800, by Benjamin West, (source).

“Aquae Sanctae Terrae”: The Spiritual Signification of the Waters of the Holy Land

A Seminarian from the Midwest

Part 2: The Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River

(Part 1 may be read here.)

The Sea of Galilee

The Jordan’s next stop is at the Sea of Galilee, which lies ten miles south of Lake Hula and sits nearly 1,000 feet lower at about 700 feet below sea level. The Sea of Galilee, and all the land north of the Dead Sea in the Holy Land up to the Jordan headwaters, but excluding Lake Hula, represent the earth on the spiritual map. Within this region, Christ became man to redeem the world. There are many stories within the Old and New Testament, especially at the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, which highlight God’s intervention on earth. These episodes are primarily associated with the importance of Baptism and the necessity of being part of the Church. The region is also culturally diverse despite its small size, enhancing its global character.

Beginning in the Old Testament, the first major reference to the Jordan River comes in the book of Joshua. The Israelites are finally taking the Promised Land. God commands Joshua to have priests of the tribe of Levi carry the Ark of the Covenant into the Jordan River. [20] When the priests enter the swollen Jordan with the Ark, it parts like the Red Sea, and the Israelites cross safely. Joshua then has twelve men, one from each tribe, carry twelve stones out of the river to commemorate the miraculous crossing. [21] He also has them put twelve stones into the river where the priests held the Ark. [22] The Ark of the Covenant’s presence in the Jordan is a sign of God’s power and blessing coming over the river. This event prefigures Christ’s baptism, which forever sanctified the Jordan. To this day, water taken from the Jordan River is treated as ready to use baptismal water and does not need to be exorcised or blessed like regular baptismal water.

The episode also has implications for the priesthood of the Old and New Covenant. The Levites carrying the Ark into the river represent the priests of the old covenant. The twelve men from the twelve tribes represent the Apostles and the New Covenant priesthood. The twelve stones they take from the river also represent the Apostles and are like the twelve precious foundation stones on which God will build the heavenly city in the book of the Apocalypse. [23] The twelve stones that get put into the river represent the burying of the Old Covenant priesthood, indicated by the verse, “And they are there until this present day.” [24] Once everyone has safely crossed the river, the priests lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, “And when they had all passed over, the ark also of the Lord passed over, and the priests went before the people.” [25] This image is also similar to the New Testament sacrament of baptism. Through baptism, a priest leads a soul dead from original sin, into the spiritual promised land of life with Christ.

Naaman the leper

Another Old Testament story featuring the Jordan occurs in the Fourth Book of Kings. As mentioned before, here we read about, Naaman, the leprous Syrian army commander. Desperately Seeking a cure, Naaman takes the advice of a captured Hebrew girl, and visits the prophet Elisha. Elisha tells Naaman to wash in the Jordan seven times. [26] Naaman is unimpressed, but after some convincing from his retinue, he relents and does as Elisha asks. [27]Naaman is cleansed while washing, “And his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean.” [28] The connection between this story and baptism is obvious. The leprosy represents sin. The sacrament of baptism washes away every trace of sin and bestows sanctifying grace on a soul.

Now is an appropriate time to answer Naaman’s original objection. Why must he wash in the Jordan? It is not on account of the Jordan’s physical properties, but because of what the river signifies. The Jordan, flowing down from its mountainous sources, is a physical manifestation of how God’s grace flows down from Heaven to us in the valley of earth below. The Jordan is like a spiritual highway or a channel of grace. Through the sacrament of baptism, invisible and spiritual realities are joined with the visible and material world. By God’s power, men receive sanctifying grace through water. The Jordan and the waters of the Holy Land are the place where God chose to create this unique union and institute the sacrament of baptism. Looking back with New Testament eyes, it is obvious why God had Namaan wash in the Jordan. The cleansing was a prefiguration of baptism. For Naaman, however, this sign was not apparent. Naaman receives a visible and physical healing, yet he is baffled by the means. He only sees the physical reality, the Jordan, a little line on the physical map. Like everything in the Old Testament, Naaman’s story only finds its fulfillment in the New Testament. The sacrament of baptism, which Christ institutes in the New Testament, provides a spiritual and invisible healing. A healing superior to Naaman’s physical healing. Naaman’s story also shows how the Gentiles will eventually come into covenant with God. Therefore, when we look at the Jordan River on the spiritual map, we see it is not just a little line, but is also a symbol of the invisible grace that is flowing down from Heaven in the sacrament of baptism.

Nicolas Poussin, Saint John Baptizing in the River Jordan, 1630s (source)

John the Baptist and Christ

The Jordan also features prominently in the New Testament. In Matthew’s gospel, John the Baptist is in the desert outside Jerusalem, preaching the baptism of repentance to the Jews. It is possible that John was baptizing in the exact same place that Joshua and the Israelites crossed the Jordan River centuries earlier. Joshua crossed the Jordan opposite of Jericho which is the same area where John was baptizing. [29] One can find evidence for this theory in Matthew’s gospel. When the Pharisees and Sadducees come out to investigate what is going on, John chastises them, saying, “Ye brood of vipers, who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance.” [30] The Pharisees and Sadducees represent the rottenness of what the Jewish people have become. John, perhaps looking at the same twelve stones which Joshua removed from the river, continues, “For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” [31] These stones symbolize the Apostles and their mission of making believers of all nations. He also warns of the passing of the Old Covenant when he says, “For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire.” [32] John’s baptisms link the Old and the New Covenant. John’s baptisms were only a representation of the true effect of baptism. They were a ritual cleansing for Jews, which represented the cleansing of sins. John himself says, “I indeed baptize you in water unto penance, but he that shall come after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.” [33] It is the baptism of the New Covenant therefore, which will be truly efficacious and wipe out sins.

It is in this context that Christ also comes to John to receive baptism. Since Christ was sinless, He was not coming to be figuratively cleansed of sins. The Catechism of Trent, citing Saint Augustine, argues that Christ received baptism in order to institute it as a sacrament. [34] Saint Augustine writes, “From the moment that Christ is immersed in water, water washes away all sins” and, “The Lord is baptized, not because He had need to be cleansed, but in order that, by the contact of His pure flesh, He might purify the waters and impart to them the power of cleansing.” [35] Christ’s submerging under water also signifies the time He would spend in the tomb between His death and resurrection. Likewise, when men are baptized, there is also an element of death, burial, and resurrection present. The old man, dead to sin, is buried; and the new man, alive in Christ, rises. This new life in Christ is symbolized by a shining white garment which the Church gives to the newly baptized man.

Mosaic from Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna (source)

Calling of the disciples

After Christ’s baptism, he retires into Galilee. [36] In Christ’s time, the region around the Sea of Galilee was a cross section of the major cultures of the world. Greeks, Romans, and Jews all lived in the region. Travelers from all over the world also passed through Galilee on the Via Maris, a Roman highway connecting the Nile Delta with Damascus. [37] This cultural mishmash is reflected by the names of the different cities and villages found around the Sea of Galilee. There are the Greek names of the Decapolis district (on the southeast shore of the sea) including, Philadelphia, Hippos, and Pella. There are the Latin names of Caesarea Philippi and Tiberias. And of course there are the Hebrew names such as, Chorazin, Capharnaum, Tabgha, and Magdala. The sea itself also goes by different names. In the Old Testament it is called, the Sea of Chinneroth, Kinerot, or Kineret (Hebrew). Saint Luke gives it the Hellenized name, Lake Gennesaret (Lk 5:1). Matthew and Mark refer to it as the Sea of Galilee (Hebrew), naming if after the district it is in. John calls it both the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Tiberias (Latin).

In Mark’s gospel, we read of Christ famously calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be His Apostles while they are fishing. When viewing the Sea of Galilee as a symbol of the earth or the world, the calling gains added significance. In addition to Christ’s words indicating their new vocation, “Come after to me, and I will make you to become fishers of men”, there is also the physical element of Christ calling His first priests to step away from the noise and distractions of the world so they can devote themselves to serving and being with Him. [38]

Perhaps the most famous incident at the Sea of Galilee is the storm at sea depicted in Mark 4 and Matthew 8. Christ is asleep in the boat while His Apostles battle the storm. The boat, the barque of Peter, represents the Church. The stormy sea represents the dangers of the world. Saint Peter Chrysologus gives his vivid interpretation of the scene:

When Christ embarked, in the boat of His Church, to cross the sea of the world, the blasts of the Gentiles, the whirlwinds of the Jews, the tempests of persecutors, the storm clouds of the mob, and the foggy mists of the devils all descended in a fury to make one storm over all the world. [39]

The Apostles, in the midst of their peril, wake our Lord. Christ rises and rebukes the wind and sea. Through this rebuke, Jesus proves He is the master of the world. Evil has no real power. It is only permitted by God to serve some greater purpose. In this passage, Christ uses the storm to test the faith of the Apostles and manifest His power.

Our Lord and Saint Peter’s night time walk on the sea, recounted in Matthew 14, is another classic story. At first, Peter confidently walks out to Christ, but then he sinks into the water. Our Lord quickly comes to the rescue, and gently chides Peter, “O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?” [40] This story teaches us that like Peter, we too can rise above the world and master its perils if we keep our focus on Christ; but when we take our eyes off of Christ, we will sink back into the mire of the world just as Peter did. Jesus, however, is always ready to save us when we call on Him.

Circle of Tintoretto (Lambert Sustris?), Christ at the Sea of Galilee, c. 1570s (source)

Resurrection appearance

The last great event to happen at the Sea of Galilee occurs in John’s gospel after the resurrection. Seven of the Apostles are out fishing on the sea. They have had a bad night, managing to catch no fish. Their fortunes change, however, as night turns to day, and Christ appears on the shore. Our Lord commands them to drop their nets on the right side of the boat. The apostles do as He asks, and immediately their nets are filled with 153 fish. Once they have landed this miraculous catch, John realizes that it is Jesus who is on the beach, and says to Peter, “It is the Lord.” [41] Peter then puts on his tunic, for he was naked (Jh 21:7), and swims to meet Christ on the shore. The rest of the Apostles follow by boat with the miraculous catch. On the beach, Peter proves his three-fold love for Christ, redeeming his three denials. This whole event is rich in meaning and merits unpacking.

The first point of interest is that the Apostles have returned to their old way of life. There is nothing inherently wrong with fishing, but Christ called the Apostles away from this profession for a higher purpose which they seem to have forgotten. Their work is not blessed by God, indicated by the empty night of fishing. Christ, however, brings the morning rays of sun and grace with Him. He tells the Apostles to try dropping their nets on the right side of the boat. When they do so, they catch 153 fish. Our Lord is reminding them of their true vocation, which is to be fishers of men.

Saint Jerome believed the number 153 was significant because that was the number of known fish species at the time. [42] The fish represent all the nations of the world that the Apostles are called to baptize. This idea also aligns with the verse in Matthew which reads, “Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together all kinds of fishes.” [43] Casting the net on the right side indicates the way of salvation, while the left side indicates the way of damnation. [44] When Peter hears that it is Christ on the beach, he puts on his tunic and swims to meet him. This is another image for baptism. By the submersion in water at baptism, a man is purified and prepared to receive Christ. He then receives a white garment to show that He has been clothed by Christ. Both the submersion and the garment are present in this story (Jh 21:7). This is also an undoing of the incident in Genesis where Adam and Eve, unlike Peter, hide from God in the garden because they are ashamed of their nakedness. [45]

All these stories of the Old and New Testaments provide evidence for how the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee are symbols for the world. The events that take place at these bodies of water are also usually associated with images of baptism and the Church, which is fitting because these are the means which aid us on earth in our quest for Heaven.

NOTES

[20] Joshua 3:3

[21] Joshua 4:8

[22] Joshua 4:9

[23] Apocalypse 21:19-20

[24] Joshua 4:9

[25] Joshua4:12

[26] 4 Kings 5:10

[27] 4 Kings 5:11-14

[28] 4 Kings 5:14

[29] Joshua 4:13

[30] Matthew 3:7-8

[31] Matthew 3:9

[32] Matthew 3:10

[33] Matthew 3:11

[34] The Catechism of the Council of Trent, (Charlotte, NC: Tan Books, 2017), 179.

[35] The Catechism of the Council of Trent, 179.

[36] Matthew 4:12-13

[37] Rev. Bargil Pixner, Paths of the Messiah, trans. Keith Myrick, Sam Randall, and Miriam Randal, ed. Ranier Riesner, (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1991), 55.

[38] Mark 1:17

[39] Saint Peter Chrysologus, Fathers of the Church: Saint Peter Chrysologus Selected Sermons and Saint Valerian Homilies, Vol.17, trans. George E. Ganss, S.J. (New York, NY: Father of the Church, Inc., 1953), 62.

[40] Matthew 14:31

[41] John 21:7

[42] George R. Beasley-Murray, World Biblical Commentary: John, Vol. 36, (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1987), 401-402.

[43] Matthew 13:47

[44] Matthew 25:34, 25:41

[45] Genesis 3:10

Good Friday 2024 Photopost (Part 1)

Our Triduum photopost series continues with the ceremonies of Good Friday. There will be at least one more of these before we move on to the Easter vigil and Easter Sunday, and late submissions are always very welcome, so please feel free to send them in to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org, remembering to include the name and location of the church. Once again, our thanks to everyone who contributed!

Assumption Grotto – Detroit, Michigan

Procession with a relic of the True Cross

Oratory of Ss Gregory and Augustine – St Louis, Missouri

Photos by Kiera Petrick

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Bells of Easter, Part 2: Bell-Song of the Risen Christ - Guest Article by Robert Keim

Onec again, we are grateful to Mr Robert Keim for sharing some of his writing with us, this time in a two part article on the subject of the liturgical use of bells. Part 1 of this article, which explores the paschal significance of bells in Old Testament liturgy, may be found here. Mr Keim is a secular brother of the London Oratory of St. Philip Neri, a linguist, and a literary scholar specializing in the poetic and dramatic literature of the English Renaissance. A longtime student of the arts and spirituality of sacred liturgy, he teaches university courses in rhetoric and is pursuing research into the devotional, scriptural, and liturgical culture of medieval England.

Though bells are present in Catholic worship throughout the annual cycle of feasts and fasts, the Church teaches us in her liturgy that they bear a special relationship to the Resurrection of Our Lord: it is only during the days immediately preceding Easter that altar bells are formally prohibited. The stark, jarring sound of their replacement—a wooden clapper known as a crotalus—is an unforgettable feature of the Roman rite’s Triduum ceremonies. It powerfully evokes the dismal, dissonant state of a world that has chosen Barabbas over the divine Musician, and it ensures that the return of sweet-sounding bells on Holy Saturday will be closely associated with Christ’s glorious return to life.

Bells as Heralds of the Resurrection

All four Gospels portray the announcement of the Resurrection as central to its occurrence: “go quickly, and tell his disciples, that he is risen from the dead” (Matthew 28, 7); “he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you” (Mark 16, 7); “they ... returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest” (Luke 24, 8–9); “Mary Magdalene cometh and telleth the disciples, I have seen the Lord” (John 20, 18). There is a sense that the Resurrection is so joyous and wondrous, so momentous, that it cannot be merely believed or experienced or contemplated: it must be proclaimed.

The holy women of Easter Sunday are depicted in this fourteenth-century Italian illumination (tempera, ink, and gold on parchment).

The early Church continued this tradition by giving much prominence to the Resurrection in her preaching. Indeed, the phrase “Christ is risen”—spoken and sung with overwhelming emphasis in the Byzantine Easter liturgy—is an emblem, even a distillation, of all Christian preaching. Bells are also an emblem of Christian preaching. Justin Martyr, for example, interpreted the golden bells of Aaron’s priestly robe as “a symbol of the twelve apostles,” through whose voices “all the earth has been filled with the glory and grace of God and of His Christ.” (Dialogue with Trypho, 42) Gregory the Great similarly wrote that the high priest had to enter the sanctuary “encompassed with bells; that is, he shall have about him the sounds of preaching.” (The Book of Pastoral Rule, 4.)

But bells are not merely symbols of preaching. Rather, they accomplish what they signify, for as Christendom grew, so too did the role of bells as a means of proclaiming the liturgical and sacramental presence of the eternal God. Bells announced the Mass, the Angelus, the hours of the Office, the elevation of the eucharistic Host, the singing of a sequence, the reading of the Gospel, and various events—births, deaths, weddings, etc.—in what we might call the liturgy of daily life.

This fourteenth-century bronze bell includes figures of four Apostles in relief and an abbreviated form of a Latin inscription meaning “Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ rules.”

The Christian community that gathered physically and spiritually around their church had many opportunities, day after day and year after year, to hear the sounds of Resurrection in the pleasing, elevating resonance of bell-song. The effect is strangely powerful. The soul somehow tunes itself to the voice of the bell, and naturally moves in response to its wordless preaching. I say this because I experienced it, when living in a village in Eastern Europe. I suspect that the peasants there, suffering from modernity and pragmatism like the rest of us, have grown somewhat uninterested in their church bells; they probably could not understand how much I love those bells, and long to hear them again.

A Romanian Orthodox church

Bells and the Resurrected Body

Further kinship between bells and Easter lies in the nature of the sound that bells produce. Here we are speaking primarily of “campaniform” or “musical” bells, that is, the refined “bell-shaped” bells that are now iconic elements of church architecture. Bell-founders in the late Middle Ages developed this form through their attempts to make bells more pleasing to the ear and more predictable in pitch.

A late-sixteenth-century Italian example of a campaniform bell.

Musical bells have various characteristics that create an intimate relation with paschal theology. I’ll briefly discuss their unique clarity, their method of use, their extraordinary range, and their special tonal quality. We’ll see that bell-song evokes the four properties of the resurrected body, as taught by St. Thomas: brightness, impassibility, agility, and subtlety.

Brightness: This attribute refers to visible light, but the sound of bells is an acoustic equivalent to the shining splendor of a glorified body. The adjective “bright,” when applied to sound, means “clear and vibrant.” A well-tuned bell produces multiple notes in a harmonic series, and we naturally perceive the resulting sound as bright, clear, and pure. Also, bells are unusual in that one of their natural intervals is a minor third. This adds a plaintive and distinctively spiritual quality to bell-song.

Impassibility: Bells produce exceptionally beautiful sound in response to brute violence. It is as though they are immune to physical harm: we strike the bell, and it sings.

Agility: Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written in the eighth century, informs us that the death of Abbess Hilda was communicated by means of a bell to a certain Sister Begu who was, at the time, thirteen miles away. The occurrence was probably understood as a miracle, but in any case, it is an early indication of a phenomenon that is known even to many modern people, despite catastrophic levels of noise pollution: bells have a singular ability to overcome long distances. It is almost as though the sound of a bell, like Our Lord’s glorified Body, moves freely and effortlessly through physical space. Indeed, the tolling of a great bell is almost a separate and mysterious species of sound; John Senior wrote that “the bell is the strike of silence,” in which “noise is hollowed out.”

Subtlety: A resurrected body is “perfectly within the soul’s dominion,” as St. Thomas says, and the action of a bell is fully within the dominion of its (physical) form. No precision or special technique is required when playing a bell. A crude striking apparatus can be used, and the bell naturally finds the harmonic tonalities determined by its form.

The gleaming, glorified body of Christ in a fourteenth-century Anastasis icon (tempera on wood with gilding).

The Chimes of Heaven and Earth

Bells were integral to the rhythmic, harmonious, poetic life that was made possible by the Resurrection of Our Lord, and which was continually nourished by the liturgical ceremonies of His Church. This way of life was all but extinguished in the West when Christina Rossetti, an Anglo-Catholic poet of the Victorian era, wrote a short poem that is worthy of a few moments’ contemplation.

Earth has a clear call of daily bells,
A rapture where the anthems are,
A chancel-vault of gloom and star,
A thunder when the organ swells:
Alas, man’s daily life—what else?—
Is out of tune with daily bells.
While Paradise accords the chimes
Of Earth and Heaven: its patient pause
Is rest fulfilling music’s laws.
Saints sit and gaze, where oftentimes
Precursive flush of morning climbs
And air vibrates with coming chimes.

Seeking Essayists for Latin Mass and Youth Project

Phillip Campbell, author of the blog Unam Sanctam Catholicam, and of a lot of books, is putting together a book project about young people and their love for the traditional Latin Mass. We are glad to share his post about it, and encourage our readers to consider participating.

Photo by Allison Girone

“I am working on compiling a series of essays from young people on the subject of what the Latin Mass means to them, which will ultimately be published in book form. The goal of this book is to explore the question of why the traditional liturgy is so appealing to the youth.

I am therefore asking for your help to identify young people who would be interested in contributing essays to the project. This post contains all the information about the project for those who might be interested in participating or having their children participate. If you are interested in supporting this endeavor, please read on.

1. Who Can Participate?

Contributors should be:

    (a) Between the ages of 12 and 24

    (b) Regular or semi-regular attendees of the TLM

    (c) Willing and able to cogently write an essay on the subject of the Mass

Participants certainly do not need to be advanced writers, but they should at least be competent writers.

2. What Should Participants Write On?

The general subject of the essay is "What does the Traditional Latin Mass mean to me?" There are a variety of ways to answer the question. For example, participants may write about:

• A narrative of how they discovered the TLM.
• How the TLM has benefited their spiritual lives.
• How the TLM has helped them enter into liturgical worship more fully.
• What they learned about the Catholic faith through the TLM.
• Any personal stories or anecdotes relating to love of the traditional Mass. ~ Anything relating to the place the traditional liturgy plays in their lives

Keep the tone of the essay positive, focused on the beauty, attraction, and transformative power of the traditional liturgy. The narrative should be personal, written in first person voice.

3. How Long Should the Essays Be?

Essays should be 2+ pages single spaced, or 4+ pages double spaced. A little shorter or a little longer is fine, but in general this is the average desired length.

4. When Should Essays Be Completed By?

I am hoping to have all the essays collected by the beginning of July.

5. How Should Essays Be Submitted?

Essays should be submitted as Microsoft Word documents, Google Docs, or Open Office, and emailed to me at uscatholicam@gmail.com. Please do not send PDFs or scans of hand-written essays. I need something in an editable format.

6. Should I Forward This to Others? How Many Essays Do You Need?

I am hoping to collect at least 50 essays. Please feel free to share this post with anyone you think may be interested (although please be selective with whom you send this to; do not simply spam it to huge mailing lists—give some thought to specific individuals of interest and send it to them).

7. Will Essays Be Edited?

Essays will be edited for typos and basic grammar, but the specific narrative and voice of each participant will be preserved.

8. Will Participants Be Identified?

Only by first name, age, and general region (U.S. state, province, or country).

9. How Do Participants Sign Up?

Simply send an email to uscatholicam@gmail.com, let me know the name and age of who will be participating (whether yourself or one of your children) and I will put your name on the list. Please do not sign up unless you or your child are able to meet the criteria listed above, including the deadline. Please include first and last name of the participant and their location. This information will not be made public; it's just for me to keep track internally of who is submitting what.

10. When Will the Book Be Published?

Lord willing, by the end of the summer this year.