tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53738238917961335702024-03-14T18:17:29.402+11:00capdox blogWhat's happening on the capdox site ... and other occasional musings.Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-79152277029292177212014-10-12T20:14:00.001+11:002014-10-12T20:14:30.157+11:00Important news about CAPDOX<span style="background-color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The material from</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="color: #916626; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><strong>CAPDOX</strong></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">has been integrated into the website of the Capuchin Friars of Australia.</span></span><div>
<span style="background-color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f9cb9c;"><span mce_style="font-size: 12pt;" style="color: #373b35; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span mce_style="color: #000000;" style="color: black;">After 1 November 2014, v</span></span><span mce_style="color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">isitors to the Capdox URL will be redirected to the website of the Capuchin Friars in Australia (</span><span mce_style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://www.capuchinfriars.org.au/index.php/capdox" mce_href="https://www.capuchinfriars.org.au/index.php/capdox" style="color: #323630;"><span mce_style="color: #0000ff;" style="color: blue;"><span mce_style="font-size: 12pt;" style="font-size: 12pt;">https://www.capuchinfriars.org.au/index.php/capdox</span></span></a></span><span mce_style="color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">). </span></span></div>
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<span mce_style="color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;" style="background-color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
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<span mce_style="color: #000000; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;" style="background-color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span mce_style="color: #ff0000;" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="font-weight: bold;">On 1 February 2015 the www.capdox.com URL will be shut down</span></span><span mce_style="color: #000000; text-align: justify;">.</span></span></span></div>
Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-61954484128409846852014-06-11T09:56:00.001+10:002014-06-11T09:56:08.964+10:00<h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #783f04;">A Method of Prayer Combining Spirit and Mind</span></div>
<span lang="EN-AU"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #783f04;"> by Silvestro da Rossano</span></div>
</span></h2>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Translated by Patrick Colbourne OFM Cap</span></span></h4>
<span style="color: #783f04;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;">Silvestro Franco da Rossano</span> (+ 1596)
belongs to the ranks of the devout and popular Capuchin preachers of the later
part of the sixteenth century who were anxious to launch or revitalize
devotional or charitable initiatives. He stepped aside from the position of
being “a learned man who was a good and accomplished preacher” who “displayed a
great zeal for the Christian doctrine contained in the feasts, he established
confraternities, and helped them after they had been set up and praised and
recommended them in his preaching”. (cf. <i>I
Frati Cappuccini,</i> vol II, section I, doc. 56) In fact it was this aspect of his apostolic
commitment that made the greatest impression on those who knew him. Above all
else he preached about devotion to the most precious blood that had been shed
by the Incarnate Word. He never missed an opportunity to emphasise this. He
promoted this devotion in the Confraternities that he tried to establish in
various cities where he preached. He did this in <st1:city w:st="on">Piacenza</st1:city>
in 1570, in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Florence</st1:city></st1:place>
in 1572 and in Fermo in 1573. To this end he composed appropriate rules and
norms and wrote booklets and spiritual leaflets containing an explanation of
“the method” for carrying out this pious practice.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.fraticappuccini.it/new_site/images/archivio/personaggi/caapIsec/32-fr-silvestrofranco_da_rossano_procuratoreg(1538-1596).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://www.fraticappuccini.it/new_site/images/archivio/personaggi/caapIsec/32-fr-silvestrofranco_da_rossano_procuratoreg(1538-1596).jpg" height="400" width="266" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The librarians within the Order mention a
particular work, which was printed in Florence in 1573 and which bore the title: <i>Twelve Devout
Considerations Concerning the Twelve Times That The Most Precious Blood of Our
Saviour Jesus Christ was Shed</i>. However, up to the present time no
copy of this edition has been found. However, one of his booklets bearing the
title <i>A Method
for Contemplating and Performing the Devotion to the Most Precious Blood</i>,
by F. Silvestro, a Capuchin, is listed in the <i>Index</i> in Parma in 1580. This work
is probably more genuine, original and close to the style of the Capuchins who
lived in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Calabria</st1:place></st1:state>.
We do not know the reason for this prohibition. There is a booklet which was
printed in Venice in 1613 which contains in a very simple and clear manner at
least an abbreviated version, if not the whole, of this text, in the form of
prayer intentions for each of the twelve times that the Blood of Christ was shed.
This text bears the title: <i>A Brief Method for
Praying Prompted by the Shedding of the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ</i>.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was precisely his activity as the advocate among
the people of the spirituality of the devotion towards the Passion and the
Blood of Chris that made him develop a more extensive teaching on the practice
of mental prayer. In an explanatory letter to the General Inquisitor in Venice,
Father Ludovico da Rimini, a Dominican, dated 31 July 1574, he personally
explained this connection: “Because I had taught the devotion to the precious
blood of Jesus the Saviour, as Your Reverence knew and approved, I was asked to
write down some points regarding that devotion and concerning the frequency of
prayer to exercise, perform and sustain this devotion”.</span></span>Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-1136517049756565272014-04-18T14:49:00.000+10:002014-04-18T14:49:13.923+10:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://modeoflife.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/resurrection2007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://modeoflife.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/resurrection2007.jpg" height="345" width="400" /></a></div>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">The mercy of the Father - His absolute fidelity to His own love - love that is stronger than death</span></h1>
<h1>
<o:p></o:p></h1>
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Dear Friends,<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Paschal Mystery is
Christ at the summit of the revelation of the inscrutable mystery of God. It is
precisely then that the words pronounced in the Upper Room are completely
fulfilled: "He who has seen me has seen the Father."<sup><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></sup>In fact, Christ,
whom the Father "did not spare" for the sake of man and who in His
passion and in the torment of the cross did not obtain human mercy, has
revealed in His resurrection the fullness of the love that the Father has for
Him and, in Him, for all people. "He is not God of the dead, but of the
living."<sup><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></sup>In
His resurrection Christ has revealed the God of merciful love, precisely
because He accepted the cross as the way to the resurrection. And it is for
this reason that-when we recall the cross of Christ, His passion and death-our
faith and hope are centered on the Risen One: on that Christ who "on the
evening of that day, the first day of the week, . . .stood among them" in
the upper Room, "where the disciples were, ...breathed on them, and said
to them: 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'"<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here is the Son of God, who
in His resurrection experienced in a radical way mercy shown to Himself, that
is to say the love of the Father which is more powerful than death. And it is
also the same Christ, the Son of God, who at the end of His messianic mission -
and, in a certain sense, even beyond the end - reveals Himself as the
inexhaustible source of mercy, of the same love that, in a subsequent
perspective of the history of salvation in the Church, is to be everlastingly
confirmed as more powerful than sin. The paschal Christ is the definitive
incarnation of mercy, its living sign in salvation history and in eschatology.
In the same spirit, the liturgy of Eastertide places on our lips the words of
the Psalm: <i>Misericordias Domini in
aeternum cantabo</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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These words of the Church
at Easter re-echo in the fullness of their prophetic content the words that
Mary uttered during her visit to Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah: "His
mercy is...from generation to generation." At the very moment of the
Incarnation, these words open up a new perspective of salvation history. After
the resurrection of Christ, this perspective is new on both the historical and
the eschatological level. From that time onwards there is a succession of new
generations of individuals in the immense human family, in ever-increasing
dimensions; there is also a succession of new generations of the People of God,
marked with the Sign of the Cross and of the resurrection and
"sealed" with the sign of the Paschal Mystery of Christ, the absolute
revelation of the mercy that Mary proclaimed on the threshold of her
kinswoman's house: "His mercy is...from generation to generation." <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSUObltIRpG-xDt0uQHnKao9Dd5ND8SRW8sOMHEgxMjJJsmyq6xyw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="101" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSUObltIRpG-xDt0uQHnKao9Dd5ND8SRW8sOMHEgxMjJJsmyq6xyw" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Mary is also the one who
obtained mercy in a particular and exceptional way, as no other person has. At
the same time, still in an exceptional way, she made possible with the
sacrifice of her heart her own sharing in revealing God's mercy. This sacrifice
is intimately linked with the cross of her Son, at the foot of which she was to
stand on Calvary. Her sacrifice is a unique sharing in the revelation of mercy,
that is, a sharing in the absolute fidelity of God to His own love, to the
covenant that He willed from eternity and that He entered into in time with
man, with the people, with humanity; it is a sharing in that revelation that
was definitively fulfilled through the cross. No one has experienced, to the
same degree as the Mother of the crucified One, the mystery of the cross, the
overwhelming encounter of divine transcendent justice with love: that
"kiss" given by mercy to justice. No one has received into his heart,
as much as Mary did, that mystery, that truly divine dimension of the
redemption effected on Calvary by means of the death of the Son, together with
the sacrifice of her maternal heart, together with her definitive
"fiat." (John Paul II, </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Dives in
misericordia</i><span style="text-align: justify;">, 8...9)</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Br. Paul</div>
Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-27412587695643531972014-01-26T06:40:00.005+11:002014-01-27T04:48:16.850+11:00Towards PCO VIII<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the first meeting of the Preparation Committee, the Capuchin Friars prepare for their Eighth Plenary Council of the Order...<i>La grazia di lavorare </i>(On the grace of working ... or in other words <i>On our work as gift of the Lord</i>). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ofmcap.net/pls/ofmcap/v3_s2ew_consultazione.mostra_pagina?id_pagina=1424">For the previous PCO's</a>.....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Committee (or Commission) is headed by Br. Stefan Kozuh, the Vicar General of the Capuchin Fraternity worldwide. In <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l-pL3sgPC5w">his video message</a> he extends this invitation to the Capuchin Brothers: </span><br />
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Dear brothers, I send
you warm greetings and best wishes for the New Year, this time not only in my
name, but also in the name of the members of the Preparatory Commission for the
VIII Plenary Council of the Order.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Right at the
beginning of this year we have begun to work, responding to the request of the
General Minister, to prepare this important event of reflection and inspiration
for the Order, which will take place next year, in 2015. Our meeting focused in
a particular way on preparing a working tool for the whole Order and also for
you, the friar listening to me, such that the reflection on what we are and how
we work should help us to live better and work with more fervor, enthusiasm,
and also effectiveness.</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">We touched on certain
points and aspects of work such as work as it strengthens our belonging to the
Order, work as the fullness of personal identity, work as a means of
support—for we must earn for ourselves our daily bread, work as an
identification with the simple people around us, work and not excessive
activity, work as means for formation—in the first stages but not only, and
work as personal initiative and expression of fraternity.</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">In these days all of
this is being developed as well as materials prepared which will be sent to the
provinces and custodies to then arrive in all the fraternities. I ask you now,
brother, to participate with much openness, with creativity, coming at these
reflections with a prophetic gaze that will help, as the result of your work,
the members of the Plenary Council that will gather in October-November of next
year, but first of all will help you, brothers, you and the fraternity to
reflect—not only—but perhaps also to find other ways, effective and prophetic,
to work in this time. Keep up the good work!</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Cari fratelli, un
carissimo saluto e un cordiale augurio di un Buon Anno, questa volta non solo
nel mio nome personale, ma anche nel nome dei membri della Commissione
preparatoria dell’VIII° Consiglio Plenario dell’Ordine.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="IT" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: IT; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Proprio all’inizio di
questo anno abbiamo cominciato a lavorare, rispondendo alla richiesta del
Ministro generale, per preparare questo importante evento di riflessione, e
anche ispirazione per l’Ordine che avverrà nell’anno prossimo, 2015. La nostra
riunione era centrata in modo speciale per preparare uno strumento di lavoro
per tutto l’Ordine, anche per te fratello che mi ascolti, perché la riflessione
su quello che siamo e come lavoriamo ci aiuti a vivere meglio e lavorare con
più fervore, più entusiasmo, anche più efficacia.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="IT" style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: IT; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Abbiamo toccato alcuni
punti, alcuni aspetti di lavoro come lavoro che ci da forza alla nostra
appartenenza all’Ordine; lavoro come pienezza di mia identità personale; lavoro
come un mezzo di sostentamento – perché dobbiamo guadagnarci il nostro pane
quotidiano; lavoro come identificazione con la gente semplice che ci circonda;
lavoro e non attivismo; lavoro come mezzo di formazione – nelle prime tappe e
non solo; lavoro come iniziativa personale e espressione di fraternità.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span lang="IT" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In questi giorni si sta
sviluppando tutto questo, si sta preparando un materiale che sarà mandato alle
province, custodie, e poi arriverà anche nella tua fraternità. Ti chiedo già
ora, fratello, di partecipare con molta apertura, con creatività, con uno
sguardo profetico a queste riflessioni che aiuteranno, come risultato del
vostro lavoro ai membri del Consiglio plenario che si radunerà in
ottobre-novembre dell’anno prossimo, ma prima di tutto aiuteranno a Voi,
fratelli, a Te e alla tua fraternità per riflettere – ma non solo – chissà,
anche per trovare altri modi, efficaci e profetici, di lavorare in questo
tempo. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Buon lavoro!</span></blockquote>
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<br />Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-24039952518304212002013-11-22T18:29:00.004+11:002013-11-22T18:29:57.672+11:00Spiritual Rosaries by Mattia da Salò<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="IT">From <i>I Frati Cappuccini. Documenti e
testimonianze del primo secolo, </i> Vol.
</span>III/1 pp. 768 - 805, <span style="color: #990000;">edited by. <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Costanzo Cargnoni</span></span> OFM Cap, and
<span style="color: #990000;">translated by <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Patrick Colbourne</span></span> OFM
Cap.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.capdox.com/files/Rosaries.pdf">Download the Text here</a>.</div>
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Mattia da Salò genuinely
lived what he wrote. If his other works appear to be more sophisticated because
their style is scholarly, heavy, meditative and wide ranging, the little work
that is presented here represents a more personal summary of the substance of
his method of prayer, reduced as one might say today, to the simplest little
crumbs.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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In a letter dated 4<sup>th</sup>
January 1595 that was addressed to Orazio Mancini, the author himself speaks
about this work. (<i>I Frati Cappuccini</i> part
II pp. 984-986). In his book <i>La Filotea</i> (part II, ch 1)recommended it
immediately next to the writings of St Bonaventure His Brother, Giovanni da
Salò, who was the editor of this small pocket edition, explained the whole
history of the work and how it was used by the author and famous people such as
St Charles Borromeo and the great influence that it exercised in the Order both
for the formation of young novices and students and how it was used by St
Serafino da Montegranaro who “being inspired by God, - as his most ancient biographer
reported – memorised certain <i>Rosaries</i>
composed by Father Mattia da Salò a very devout Capuchin religious, and had
many copies made of them, which he distributed to many devout souls… To the
great astonishment of all he had memorised these lengthy passages of various
meditations so well that he was able to recite them unflinchingly without the
slightest error.” (Cf. AO 18 [1900] 238a in the note).<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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It might be well to let
Giovanni da Salò speak as he has faithfully and accurately documented all the
important facts in the Prologue:<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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“St Charles of happy
memory, asked Father Mattia, who is the author of this little book, for a
devout work on prayer (concerning which he knew that he was well versed and in
whom he had great trust) and he sent back his Practices of Mental Prayer. The
Saint replied that he held the Practices in esteem (indeed during one of his
Councils he had exhorted fathers of families to read them to their servants on
feast days) but that he was looking for something more brief, easy and lively
because of the many, weighty activities which distracted and tired his mind and
which did not permit him to enter into long meditation to be stirred by them.
The author replied: “I have written some Rosaries to keep the mind on the path:
perhaps they will serve your purpose”. He sent them to him. The Saint told him
subsequently that he was very pleased with them and had derived great profit
from them. In addition to this Giussanti alludes to them in Book VIII chapter 5
of his History of the Saint stating that he frequently meditated on the Passion
of Our Lord, for which he had a special devotion, breaking it up into various
points, and that he had made a book with illustrated pages of the mystery of
the Passion, to have them at hand to look at as a help to his memory concerning
the things on which he wanted to meditate. At the time of his death several
volumes were found containing points such as these.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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A similar exchange took
place between the author and Cardinal Morosini, Bishop of Brescia, who
appreciated the Rosaries, which he copied with his own hand. He said later on
that he did not uses more than twelve points during an exercise, keeping them
close at hand to keep his mind recollected, attentive and on the subject and
ready to continue the act of prayer with relish.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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When the Bishop of Ascoli
was gathering information concerning the sanctity and reputed miracles of
Brother Serafino da Montegranaro, a Capuchin, when the city of Ascoli was
requesting the Pope to beatify him, he found that the Brother held the Rosaries
in such esteem and practiced them so much that he knew them off by heart (for
he could not read) and that he carried them around so that he could give them
to people as the occasion arose.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Various young Capuchins
were content to perform them, to such an extent that they knew where a
particular point was when they were suddenly asked for it. For example: that
the fourth point of the third decade of the sixth Rosary dealt with the love
out of which the Saviour freely sent the Spirit from God to us. They stated
that they spent three hours each night in fasting and praying without being
distracted and that this made them feel delighted and that they would have
spent more time if obedience had permitted. They were translated into Latin for
the novices in Bohemia.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Likewise they were also
fruitfully communicated to other religious Prelates and secular friends who had
asked the author for advice as to how to pray easily and well.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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It would seem that he only
communicated them in writing to satisfy those who were devout and that when
this happened they regarded them as more valuable and put them into practice
with more passion and profit. He never wanted them to be printed. Now that he
is dead here they are in print for the common good after they had already been
reviewed and updated by him a few years ago.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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With respect to the author,
whether he was ill or involved in work, in seventy years of religious life he
was never known to have omitted to perform the two house of mental prayer that
the Capuchin Order laid down for each day. During these periods, for example at
Easter and Christmas and on other Solemnities he meditated (often easily in
tears) on the Lord’s Passion and Birth, chewing over the points using the beads
of the Rosaries as they were gleaned from the texts of the Gospels. Desiring
that the entire world should meditate on them he was never satisfied with
preaching them using the voice, print or the pen. We know from those in whom he
confided that he always remained steady to such an extent that he dealt with
existing external duties with a mind that was agile, detached and active, and
that he also practiced the method of the Preparation for Mass which he had
suggested to others (which God willing will be printed and can soon be seen in
Practices 66 and 67 in part four) according to which he accompanied Christ and
the Church Triumphant and Militant and the mystical members of the Church, who
are the saints, in continually offering the Passion of Christ Himself to the
divine Majesty for the glory of God.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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He held this exercise of
prayer in regard for another reason: and he used to say that the matters that
he treated with God in prayer were so important that he did not want the
foolishness of children (this is how he used to refer to external matters no
matter how serious they were) to take precedence over the cross. In fact in the
Order he always joyfully carried his cross of austerity, toil, government or
sickness etc., which was clear proof that he frequently meditated on the
Passion and indicative of outstanding purity and a Christian frame of mind.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Much might be said
concerning the origin and utility of this little work, which at first sight
might appear to be dry, by way of a brief introduction, but it needs to be read
right through and put into practice, keeping in mind that habitual usage makes
it easier to overcome many obstacles, that individuals have different tastes so
that each one should be led by the Holy Spirit; bearing in mind what our Father
St Francis taught that anyone who takes any subject other than Christ the
Saviour as the object of their prayer is exposed to the deceptions of the devil
and to falling. Above all try to discipline yourself and place yourself on the
cross if you wish to acquire a suitable taste for contemplation.” (<i>Spiritual
Rosaries</i>, 6-12).<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-8226386517121128792013-11-19T09:28:00.004+11:002013-11-19T09:28:52.310+11:00One of these days...One of these days I shall get this Blog business sorted....Apologies for the ugly appearance of today's post,Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-80035188382330362972013-11-19T09:22:00.001+11:002013-11-19T09:22:19.356+11:00Update to layout and contents of "A Scurrilous Letter to Pope Paul III. A Transcription and Translation of Ms 469 (f.101r – 129r) of the Vadianische Sammlung of the Kantonsbibliothek of St. Gallen."<h3 style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">by Br. Paul Hanbridge OFM Cap</span></h3>
<div style="color: #373b35; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This study was completed in 2010 and introduces a transcription and English translation of a ‘Letter’ in VS Ms 469. The document is titled: <em>Epistola invectiva Bernhardj Occhinj in qua vita et res gestae Pauli tertij Pont. Max. describuntur</em>. The study notes other versions of the letter located in Florence. It shows that one of these copied the VS469, and that the VS469 is the earliest of the four Mss and was made from an Italian exemplar. An apocryphal document, the ‘Letter’ has been studied briefly by Ochino scholars Karl Benrath and Bendetto Nicolini, though without reference to this particular Ms. The introduction considers alternative contemporary attributions to other authors, including a more proximate determination of the first publication date of the Letter. Mario da Mercato Saraceno, the first official Capuchin ‘chronicler,’ reported a letter Paul III received from Bernardino Ochino in September 1542. Cesare Cantù and the Capuchin historian Melchiorre da Pobladura (Raffaele Turrado Riesco) after him, and quite possibly the first generations of Capuchins, identified the1542 letter with the one in transcribed in these Mss. The author shows this identification to be untenable. The transcription of VS469 is followed by an annotated English translation. Variations between the Mss are footnoted in the translation. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #373b35; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">To do this study it was necessary to locate and transcribe the relevant manuscripts, as well as Karl Benrath's published transcription in “Lettera a Paolo III, documento sconosciuto del secolo xvi” in</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"> </span><em style="color: black;">Rivista Cristiana</em><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">2(1874) 257-272, 289-302. A synoptic view of the transcriptions permits a comparison of Benrath's transcription and mine, (so that the reader may check <i>my</i> transcription errors). The synoptic also identifies quickly some of the content variations evident in the Mss.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #373b35; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This updated file includes both the study and the synoptic presentation of the Mss and may be found under the HISTORY tab on the Capdox homepage, <a href="http://www.capdox.com/alt/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=38&Itemid=89">or go there directly from here</a>.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Capdox relies on the honesty of the user. This material should not be copied or quoted without acknowledgement.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #373b35; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">PH</span></span></div>
Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-47032791983182643072013-11-07T12:12:00.000+11:002013-11-07T12:12:01.771+11:00<h2>
<span style="color: #660000;">The Theatre of Paradise</span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #783f04;">by Mattia da Salò</span></span></h3>
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<h2>
</h2>
<h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">From the extract edited by <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Costanzo Cargnoni</span> and his introduction, <i>I Frati Cappuccini. </i><i><span lang="IT">Documenti
e testimonianze del primo secolo, </span></i><span lang="IT">Vol.III/1,
pp. 737-768, and translated by Br <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Patrick Colbourne</span>
O.F.M.Cap.</span></span></span></h4>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="IT"><a href="http://www.capdox.com/alt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=141:the-theatre-of-paradise&catid=37:spirituality&Itemid=56">Go to CAPDOX</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="IT"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Even though no young Doctoral candidate has as yet taken this for the
subject of his Thesis, as the Dominican Friar Innocenzo Coloso hoped in 1963,
the spiritual treatise The Theatre of Paradise or meditations on the glory of
Heaven by Mattia da Salò, which was printed after his death in Salò in 1620 by
his Brother Giovanni Bellintani da Salò, is “one of the most attractive,
original and profound books” that has been written concerning life in Heaven.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0cm;">Containing 150 meditations, it deals with considerations of the glory of
Heaven as man’s ultimate destiny, the nature of God, the union of man with God
in heaven, the absolute and comparative attributes of the Most Holy Trinity and
above all the glory of the Incarnate Word, which is treated in 45 meditations
which are spread out over considerations of the excellence of His humanity, the
nature of His virtues, the sanctity of His soul, the dignity and glory of His
body. They go on to deal with the Saints, the Virgin Mary, Angels and men, the
Saints as Christ’s Mystical Body, the adornments of the soul, the happiness in
our feelings, divine sonship and the inheritance that comes with it, admiration
and joy, praise, humility, thanksgiving and the vision of God, the state of
blessedness which the Saints receive from Christ’s humanity, the contentment of
creatures and the sufferings of the damned: a fruitful, vast and profound
panorama of theological doctrine, with many touches of Bonaventure and Scotus,
that astound the reader.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">When he published the third and fourth parts of his <i>Practice of Mental Prayer</i>, which dealt with the last four
things, in 1607, explained the origin of these meditations on the glory
of heaven: “I thought”, he wrote, “that there was not much that could be
written since the subject is so far removed from what we know about. However, I
soon expanded my treatment as I realised that one section would be needed to
treat these matters and hell as had been required when I treated death and
judgement. Because of this I realised that I had to take up my pen again, and
rely on the help that God’s goodness would provide for me to treat divine
glory. I planned to treat the topics using an appropriate number of
considerations, and a simpler style in this fourth section. Thus as I had used
one hundred and fifty consideration in the first part, I set out to accomplish
the present work with the intention of restricting myself to the extent that
simple people could understand the material which is extremely rich by its
nature and for the most part very far removed from the grasp of our bodily
senses. Because it was beyond me to do this I decided to compose something else
which was easier and clearer and that is what I have tried to do…If this is
pleasing to God we publish the one hundred and fifty considerations once again
with a chapter or two on contemplation, which we have entitled The Theatre of
Paradise.” (From the Introduction to the Fourth part). This project was
finalised by his brother Giovanni.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">The structure of the individual meditations is the same for all and they
are set out in a series of three steps or acts similar to that in The Practice
of Mental Prayer: preamble, mediation and action. However, the content is much
more elaborate, to suit (as the author says) those who only want to use the
book for reading and not as an specific “tool for meditating”, as they would
have done with the popular edition of the first part of the Practice , where,
“so that the intellect would have more scope for meditation and to carry out
other actions, I had tried to use few words by simply stating the concepts”,
indicating, “ the individual acts of the practices by the use of numbers.”
However, “ for those who only want to read these two things seemed to be a
bother with so many numbers being a nuisance, making the content, which could
have been expressed in a few words, appear dry and glossed over without any
feeling.”</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">The structure of the individual meditations is the same for all and they are set out in a series of three steps or acts similar to that in <i>The Practice of Mental Prayer</i>: preamble, mediation and action. However, the content is much more elaborate, to suit (the author says) those who only want to use the book for reading and not as a specific tool for meditating, as they would have done with the popular edition of the first part of <i>The Practice</i>, where, so that the intellect would have more scope for meditation and to carry out the other actions, I had tried to use few words by simply stating the concepts, indicating the individual acts of the practices by the use of numbers. However, for those who only want to read these two things seemed seemed to be a bother with so many numbers being a nuisance, making the content, which could be been expressed in a few words, appear dry and glossed over without any feeling.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; text-indent: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">For these reasons and to accommodate the wishes of these “readers” in
the last two parts of his Practice of Mental Prayer, Mattia da Salò explained
the content at greater depth by means of a more articulate treatment. In spite
of this compromise, this “mediocrity” as he called it, he was convinced that
the meditations would be useful to both souls who wanted to pray as well as to
those who only wanted to read, “hoping that the result would be that the
readers would gradually bec</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 0cm;">ome people of prayer and progress from reading to
praying.” (From the Introduction to the Third Part.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 0cm;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 0cm;">We have chosen five "practices" from these splendid meditations to give the modern reader a taste of what they contain. Even in the linguistic traditions of the seventeenth century, the depth of the theological concepts that Bellintani knew how to translate into vibrant piety and devotion for himself and for others justly deserves the judgement passed on him by Francesco Panigarola, and Oservant Friar Minor. "Father Mattia could be numbered among the holy Fathers of the Church." He really was "a great theoretician of the method of meditation - writes Innocenzo Colosio- and he remains an incomparable master in balancing and harmonising the use of the various human faculties in such a delicate exercise and difficult exercise as mental prayer.</span></div>
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Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-5572364417328650782013-08-29T17:46:00.001+10:002013-08-29T17:46:34.257+10:00<h2>
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mattia da Salò</span></h2>
<h3>
<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #783f04;">The Practice of Mental Prayer</span></b></h3>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;">translated by Br. Patrick Colbourne OFM Cap</span></h4>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.capdox.com/alt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=140:mattia-da-salo&catid=37:spirituality&Itemid=56">New on Capdox</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
There is general consensus among scholars
that <i>The Practice of Mental Prayer</i> is
Bellintani’s ascetical masterpiece. What is more, it is also one of those
works similar to The Contempt of the
World by Innocent III, <i>The Dialogue of
Divine Providence</i> by Catherine of Siena, <i>The Treatise on Purgatory</i> by Saint Catherine of Genoa, <i>The Spiritual Combat</i> by Scupoli that
seems to epitomise a era of spiritual writings.
In fact while it is regarded as one of the most ripe fruits of the
Capuchin Italian sixteenth century and, perhaps, the most mature product of a
particular kind of spirituality, on a broader scale it represents the
pre-eminently apostolic aspect of the new Franciscan reform which seems to
capture and fully exemplify its two outstanding characteristics: contemplative
solitude and preaching the Gospel.<br />
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Bellintani’s<span lang="EN-AU"> work,
which is presented as a method and guide for mental prayer was generally
accepted by popular piety as one of the most widely read and enjoyed ascetical
works by the Christian community. This is substantiated by the number of
editions which continued to be published into the seventeenth century and by
translations into French, Latin and Spanish which in all numbered about fifty.
What is more it was recommended by Saint Charles Borromeo, prescribed for
Confraternities of Penance by the Archbishop of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Avignon</st1:city></st1:place>, Francesco M. Taugi, praised by the
Spirituals of the day, used by prayer groups during the Forty Hours and flicked
through by everyone.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU"> In
the author’s mind the entire work is made up clearly and logically of four
parts, following a broad design which, beginning from God’s infinite and
blessed essence and the benefits bestowed on man, reflects on the whole of the
economy of salvation by means of the mystery of all the earthly events of
Christ’s life, the Church and its source of grace in the Sacraments, and then
the universal eschatology in the fundamental truths of the last things, which
are clearly spelt out in the New Testament. It resembles d gigantic round of
frescoes in which the entire story of God’s love for man is reviewed from the
first instant of life in time to the vision of a blessed eternity at the end of
time that exceeds our wildest dreams.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"> This
vast vision which </span>Bellintani<span lang="EN-AU"> conceived from the start was only brought to completion through
successive stages that were developed side by side with the continual
responsibilities of preaching and teaching and responsibilities in Italy and
beyond. Thus the first part, which concludes with Christ’s burial, was
published for the first time in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Brescia</st1:city></st1:place>
in 1573 and was dedicated to the Bishop of that city, Domenico Bollani. This
part consists of an important theoretical introduction concerning meditation,
its value and usefulness and how it is practised. It consists of eight little
chapters followed by fifty two meditations or “practices”. As Petrocchi wrote,
this consists of “splendid pages for the study of sixteenth century piety” and
the method of Capuchin affective prayer. Even though in a later edition in 1584
Bellintani revised this first part adding corrections and improving the
theological development and structure of the treatment, we preferred to
reproduce the first Brescian edition, since it is a better reflection of “the
first fervour or discovery”, and is more spontaneous and personal and, indeed,
little known since scholars have referred to the second edition which was
revised by the author and published in this century (fifty years ago) by the
Capuchin Umile da Genova.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"> “The
theological system of Mattia da Salò – to quote Petrocchi once again – is
centered on the exertion which is applied when praying, on prayer as an
exercise, on the importance of the intellect and the will in the practice of
the acts of prayer in so far as the intellect is involved in understanding and
thinking about the divine mysteries and the will stimulates emotions with
regard to the circumstance in the mysteries which are being meditated upon by
the intellect and the temperament of the person who is at prayer”. However, the
solid theological foundation is dealt with “briefly as an easy and useful
method” because this spiritual book is intended to be “a practical instrument
for carrying out mental prayer”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"> The
question is raised of how virtues may be acquired through prayer and the whole
problem of Christian “virtue” is discussed throughout the introduction since
prayer is “the quickest way” to acquire virtue. The concrete example is Christ
and the instructive model is the Our Father, which also exemplifies the order
to be observed when praying. The Holy Spirit is the inner instructor. The
method and written rules are the exterior tutor which the spiritual person sees
as the way of submission to being taught by the Holy Spirit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"> Rather
than insisting on generic rules, Bellintani proposes to unfold all the acts of
prayer individually and in an orderly fashion and to teach the practice of the
exercise in a concrete manner, in a restrained and friendly manner suitable for
the time of apprenticeship. Therefore he is not concerned with vocal prayer,
but stresses the rules of mental prayer. He divides these into three parts:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"> 1) Preparation: in general and in
particular (remote and proximate), which consists in being on guard against
sin, purification of the heart, repentance and making an effort to cultivate
energetic attention; 2) meditation, which is the longest part, split into
various points to assist the mind in paying attention like eating so many
mouthfuls of food that need to be chewed well one by one in order to extract
flavour and taste in order to light the fire of emotion in the will; 3) action,
by means of which once the will has been watered by holy meditation, this
produces automatically, by the strength of the Holy Spirit, “emotions”, “acts”,
or “operations” in which divine love abides. These emotions burst forth into
acts which are produced by love, which is dynamically active and passive,
active and passive at the same time, during which the soul is “drawn to God”,
which stirs a deep desire to delight in the Divine will and to make all people
honour God, in a intertwining and subsequent exchange of unspeakable delight
which he calls “connection” and “disconnection”. It is here that mental prayer
glides into contemplation and the pure act of love, and the state of union with
God.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"> The
shades of meaning in this teaching are so numerous that it is difficult to
explain them in a short space of time. Bellintani, however, hurries on to deal
with rules in well laid out exercises of meditation. By way of an example we
have chosen some of these practices, really just a few, but a sufficient number
so that the reader may grasp the whole dynamic and logic of this popular and
influential “practice of mental prayer”.</span></div>
Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-74096420774536203502013-07-30T09:07:00.001+10:002013-07-30T09:09:00.534+10:00World Youth Day 2013<img src="http://humanitas.cl/web/images/Imagenes%20desde%20marzo%202013/1.jpg" />Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-90997852284392878422013-06-25T20:55:00.000+10:002013-06-25T20:55:06.568+10:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TGHMjHu3g3o/Ucl29AiWYbI/AAAAAAAAAX4/_l8gl89BhMc/s1600/stampb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TGHMjHu3g3o/Ucl29AiWYbI/AAAAAAAAAX4/_l8gl89BhMc/s1600/stampb.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-32548828348519290702013-06-11T21:27:00.000+10:002013-06-11T21:27:15.275+10:00AmendmentsThe text <b>The Soul's Deliberations and Prayers</b> has been amended. The last prayer was omitted on the version recently published on Capdox.Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-84113133180587309822013-05-29T21:24:00.004+10:002013-05-29T21:24:36.351+10:00More on the header images on the capdox homepageNow there are more sets of images for the cycle of header images on the home page that include Australian scenes. I would be happy to hear what you think about their suitability and quality, etc... ilico@ozemail.com.auPaul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-1091638401182730452013-05-29T21:18:00.000+10:002013-05-29T21:29:27.682+10:00The Soul's Deliberations and Prayers<h1>
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Francesco da Fognano</span></span></h1>
<h3>
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-weight: normal;">Introduction by Costanzo Cargnoni OFM Cap</span></h3>
<div>
Translated by Br Patrick Colbourne O.F.M.Cap.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<span lang="EN-AU">Francsco Visani (+ 1579) who was born in Fognano near Brisighella,
in the Province of Bologna, was one of the best examples of preachers of the
second half of the sixteenth century in Italy. In the tradition passed on in by
the Order’s chronicles he was outstanding for his zeal for reform of morals,
especially with regard to the curbing of luxury and provocative women’s
fashions, as well as in his assistance to the poor in time of famine by
devising novel ways of helping them. He also collaborated in the reform of many
monasteries of nuns and inspired and founded certain Sodalities, such as those
of Weavers and of Mariners at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Rimini</st1:city></st1:place>.
It is noteworthy that his only spiritual work was printed for the Sodality of
The Lord’s Body of Magdalene “in via <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">S.
Donato</st1:address></st1:street>”, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Bologna</st1:city></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<a href="http://www.capdox.com/alt/images/stories/own/francis%20zubaran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="francis zubaran" border="0" height="200" src="http://www.capdox.com/alt/images/stories/own/francis%20zubaran.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<span lang="EN-AU">As we read in the Dedication, this work was intended to be “a way of
practising a spiritual life that would teach you to direct your life in all the
things that are most necessary for carrying on a Christian existence and which
will promote divine life more strongly. The work will be understood better the
more what is contained in it is put into practice.”<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<i><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<span lang="EN-AU">Nevertheless Francesco da Fognano composed it out of ideas taken
from his sermons for his personal use. After the manuscript had fallen into the
hands of a “bookseller”, named Girolomo Veneziano, he had it printed “for the
special use of the Sodality”, as we read in the publisher’s caption on the
cover, when Pellegrino Bonardo of Bologna published it. It is easy to conclude
that if he offered it to The Sodality of the Body of the Lord, this
“bookseller” would have been one of their most fervent and devoted members.
This is also clear from what he wrote to “the brothers and sisters of the Sodality”
when he presented the content of the book and its author: “… This spiritual
work teaches how to enkindle love of Our Lord and of our neighbour, and
prepares a person for all the virtues and how to avoid vices and sin and the
pains of hell, and acquire eternal life. Here in a short time anyone who wants
to be equipped with virtue and holy morals and who wants to know how to control
his frail life can learn excellent and necessary things. Even more, this short
and useful work ought to be embraced by all, especially those who want to live
a Christian life, particularly members of Sodality of the Body of the Lord
because it was written by a Capuchin Friar. It is known that these Friars
definitely live a harsh life and set a good example to the world.”<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<span lang="EN-AU">The work is comprised of 40 “deliberations of the soul”, as the
author expresses it, or forty topics for meditation, which, covering a wide
range of considerations concerning being aware of God and His gifts, focus on
the person of Jesus Christ and the mysteries of his life, his sayings and deeds
as a teacher of virtue and holiness. The concluding meditations deal with love
of neighbour and the spiritual life in practice, above all with respect to
sorrow for sin and the celebration of Confession and Communion which overcome
all vice and sin.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<span lang="EN-AU">The method of meditation is very affective and practical. The texts
are divided into two parts: the first contains “the conversation of the soul”,
which is set out in an affective style indicating various points on which the
soul dwells in order to kindle love; the second part is made up of a prayer
that summarises these thoughts.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextFirstIndent">
<i><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></i></div>
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Following
the order set out in the work (as contained in the index), the pages that have
been chosen here are deliberations: n. 3, 5, 13, 20, 26, 38, and 39. Note the
author’s consummate familiarity with Sacred Scripture, which he quotes in very
simple and plain and yet incisive words. The word of God flows out in tiny
thoughts that are suitable for simple people and are effective in bring them to
love Jesus Christ and the spiritual life.</span><br />
<div>
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-5376089752001937312013-05-22T13:51:00.003+10:002013-05-22T13:51:38.957+10:00What are the new header images about?The new set of header images does not reflect any Franciscan or Capuchin theme. Instead, they depict a few aspects of life in Italy. A second set of Italy images is in preparation. There will also be a set of Australian images.Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-19939835140204998292013-05-21T17:04:00.002+10:002013-05-21T17:04:16.462+10:00capdox urlThe capdox blog URL is: <a href="http://capdox.blogspot.com.au/">http://capdox.blogspot.com.au/</a><br />
<br />Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-18485343341946834472013-05-21T16:57:00.001+10:002013-05-21T16:58:22.999+10:00some capdox housekeepingFor quite some time (about three years), the software for the header module on the capdox site has been malfunctioning. The problem has been repaired with a software update and now the module functions correctly.<br />
Visitors can now see a greater variety of header images on the homepage.<br />
I usually change the selection of images once a week.<br />
Here's a sample.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_p7kCXOvLTU/UZsaBhH_d8I/AAAAAAAAAXM/LATn58NHXjA/s1600/it6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_p7kCXOvLTU/UZsaBhH_d8I/AAAAAAAAAXM/LATn58NHXjA/s400/it6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7OSi50aD-cs/UZsaG0noJ-I/AAAAAAAAAXU/yYOUmtJdXhQ/s1600/it20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7OSi50aD-cs/UZsaG0noJ-I/AAAAAAAAAXU/yYOUmtJdXhQ/s400/it20.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-36276549152392772222013-04-03T04:46:00.000+11:002013-04-03T05:02:06.172+11:00Bernardino Da Balvano<h2>
The Mirror of Prayer</h2>
<div>
Translated by Bro. Patrick Colbourne OFM Cap</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU">Bernardino da Balvano (+ c. 1568/70) was an
outstanding missionary and preacher who worked predominantly in the region of <st1:place w:st="on">Southern Italy</st1:place>. Many small booklets which inspired
popular piety over a long period of time were the result of his pastoral
activities. The content and diversity of topics in these writings are to be
found in a condensed fashion in his most important and most prolifically
published booklet entitled </span><span lang="EN-AU">The Mirror of Prayer which appeared in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Messina</st1:city></st1:place> in 1553 and was reprinted fourteen
times within the space of about seventy years. It is a charming little pocket
edition the product of both the concrete spiritual and apostolic experience of
its author. In thirty-three very compact short chapters, as well as a final
appendage (which in our opinion was a separate little work, entitled The
Seven Rules for Good Living, which is
mentioned by his biographers), the subject of interior prayer that leads to the
gift of mystical experience through meditation on the mysteries of Christ is
set out with great clarity, simplicity and emotion. However, it is not so much
an authoritative and abstract lecture as it is a very practical manual in which
the essential theoretical directives are passed on plainly and applied by means
of concrete and realistic exercises that can be easily assimilated by the
reader. It is this “practical quality” which makes the work popular in
character and worthy of a spiritual guide and a true master of prayer.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-AU"><a href="http://www.capdox.com/alt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=137:bernardino-da-balvano&catid=37:spirituality&Itemid=56" target="_blank">Go to the Capdox article and document</a></span></div>
</div>
Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-1847519382862240062013-02-22T17:27:00.000+11:002013-02-22T17:27:46.480+11:00A Scurrilous Letter to Paul III - textSome time ago the essay <i>A Scurrilous Letter to Paul III</i> was posted on Capdox (<a href="http://www.capdox.com/alt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=128:scurrilous-letter&catid=38:essays&Itemid=89" target="_blank">here</a>). For some reason, I overlooked the supplementary text containing the full transcription of the relevant manuscripts. As of today, that oversight is remedied.<br />
This second document is in A3 landscape format and weighs in at 481 kb.<br />
In synoptic layout, Benrath's slightly abbreviated transcription is compared with the two Guicciardini (Florence) Mss and the Sant Gallen Ms.<br />
<br />
This letter is an example of a strident politicization of historiography. The author slanders Paul III, not so much for theological, but political reasons, while taking advantage of the scandal of Bernardino Ochino's flight to Geneva as well as his popular authority. The circulation of this letter would not have enhanced the reputation of the Capuchin Fraternity. Ochino's story demonstrates that a hermetically sealed demarcation between Catholic and "Lutheran" or Protestant, or between <i>spirituali </i>(evangelicals) and <i>intransigenti </i>in Italy in the 1530's and 1540's is inadequate. Such a polarised view will gain traction later.<br />
Your comments (of whichever streak) are welcome, on this blog, or via <a href="mailto:admin@capdox.com" target="_blank">email</a>.Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-60820629464588782013-02-17T06:56:00.001+11:002013-02-22T17:31:03.304+11:00Capuchins in Australia - revamped website The website of the Capuchin Friars in Australia is changing. You can visit the site <a href="http://www.capuchinfriars.org.au/" target="_blank">here</a>.Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-48243706062844879202012-12-31T22:08:00.004+11:002013-01-01T16:03:13.667+11:00Contemplative Prayer, Intercession and the Liturgy of the Hours<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vwADQDTS3WU/UOFwadbZ3sI/AAAAAAAAAW0/zsmXMejI-T4/s1600/capchoir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vwADQDTS3WU/UOFwadbZ3sI/AAAAAAAAAW0/zsmXMejI-T4/s640/capchoir.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-AU">Contemplative Prayer, </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-AU">the Liturgy of the Hours </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="line-height: 97%;">and the Ministry of Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours</span></span></span></h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.capdox.com/alt/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=38&Itemid=89" target="_blank">Find it here</a></div>
<br />
Relying on the General Instruction of the
Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical documents, I wish to offer some
reflections on the Liturgy of the Hours as intercession<span class="MsoEndnoteReference">.</span> What is happening in the Liturgy of the
Hours? How do the psalms fit into this happening? Then I would like to offer
some suggestions to help when praying the psalms.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue;">A Happy and Holy New Year to one and all!</span></h2>
<br />
<br />Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-73872137589773896402012-12-24T05:24:00.000+11:002012-12-24T05:24:05.476+11:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Wishing you a Grace-filled and Holy Christmas 2012!</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mi-AeJ7YLAU/UNY3GAOcoEI/AAAAAAAAAWg/sG9qLbkXW9I/s1600/AAA12famC-w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mi-AeJ7YLAU/UNY3GAOcoEI/AAAAAAAAAWg/sG9qLbkXW9I/s1600/AAA12famC-w.jpg" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #660000;">Br. Paul Hanbridge ofm cap</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #660000;">96 Catherine Street</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #660000;">Leichhardt, NSW 2040</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #660000;">Australia</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span></div>
Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-23554197750265199272012-12-10T10:16:00.002+11:002012-12-10T11:03:45.536+11:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Cardinal Gasparo Contarini - a transcribed collection of published correspondence</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-izJL_0ySSpA/UMUY4ShSjvI/AAAAAAAAAV4/N_WTs7qoQRI/s1600/contarini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-izJL_0ySSpA/UMUY4ShSjvI/AAAAAAAAAV4/N_WTs7qoQRI/s1600/contarini.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.capdox.com/alt/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=40&Itemid=84" target="_blank">Go to Capdox to download</a> (<b>6.6 Mb</b> in PDF read/print only.)</div>
<div>
Unless you may be an insomniac, I would not recommend this monumental volume as bed-time reading.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Should you wish to have a bound hard copy (approximately AUS$150 plus postage), please <a href="mailto:ilico@ozemail.com.au" target="_blank">contact me</a> for a more precise quote and other details.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span lang="EN-GB">This annotated assembly of letters is accidental, a side-effect - the unintended consequence (at
first) of another project. As a student of the beginnings of the Capuchin Friars,
a need to understand those beginnings within a broader social and ecclesial
setting has become ever more apparent. The testimonies of other contemporary
witnesses and participants in the times
help contextualised the turbulent, early years of the Capuchin fraternity. My
reading focussed upon a specific question: What was happening in the church and
in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>
in the decade up to 1542 which so decided or polarised approaches toward church
reform? The observations made by protagonists in this drama are especially
valuable. At least one representative sample might help profile that situation.
Numerous publications of some of his letters are available. With the experience and contacts he gained as
a non-cleric Venetian envoy, and as a papal legate; his involvement in official
attempts at Church reform; his association – if not friendship – with such
reform minded persons as Vittoria Colonna and Bernardino Ochino (just to mention
a few) made Cardinal Gasparo Contarini an ideal candidate. And so, I began to
read his published letters, and to <i>transcribe</i>
them for later reference. Thus this project
was born.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span lang="EN-GB">This
volume may be a unique research tool. It assembles in chronological order, for
the first time, most of the published epistolary of the Venetian Cardinal,
Gasparo Contarini (1487-1542).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<h4>
The Selection
of texts</h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span lang="EN-GB">The
compilation is not a ‘register’ of Contarini’s known letters, a task undertaken by others some years ago.<span style="font-family: Bitstream Vera Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB">Using the bibliographies of his
various modern biographersI
have tried to locate and transcribe Contarini’s <i>published</i> correspondence, a small percentage of his actual output.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The various
collections of letters relate to time periods (his time at the court of Carlo
V; <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Regensburg</st1:place></st1:city>, 1541; <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bologna</st1:place></st1:city>, 1542) or
to persons (Giustiniani and Querini, Reginald Pole, Ercole Gonzaga).
Some letters exist in various copies or versions. Some have been published more
than once. Editors have wanted to present their material under various aspects,
while attempting a more accurate transcription by correcting the errors of
earlier editions in their selection and deciphering of the manuscripts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The
collection assembled here is not a critical edition of Contarini’s
letters. None of the letters in this volume
is direct transcription by me from any manuscript. As copies of published
versions, I have reproduced inevitably flawed transcriptions and am confident I
have contributed my own errors also.
Even after proof reading I probably did not identify, and therefore
remedy, all my mistakes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">In many
cases, editors of some of his published correspondence chose to summarise
letters, in part or in full. This often resulted in extracts - sometimes
fragmentary with snippets from the letters heavily punctuated by editorial
comment and summaries. And sometimes the commentaries are punctuated by
snippets from the letters. Since I wish to let the letter writers to speak for
themselves, I have tried to reproduce texts in their integrity and to omit hybrid
renditions by supplementing text from an available version published prior. In
the footnotes I alert the reader to these amalgamations. Unfortunately
sometimes only the large extracts are available.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span lang="EN-GB">The
collection is not an <i>opera omnia</i> of
Contarini’s works, just letters, to him or by him. Some of the passages,
though, are not letters. The long reports he gave to the Venetian senate of his
embassies to the court of a young Carlo V, the Holy Roman Emperor, and that of
Clement VII take up a a number of pages.
Since these reports are not always easy to come by, I have included them
here. There is also a version of his
treatise on justification by faith produced when he was Legate to the Colloquy
at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Regensburg</st1:place></st1:city>
in 1541. One of his later instructions for good preaching is here too. The
temptation to include more material from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Regensburg</st1:place></st1:city>,
material not written by him, was strong. My only concession to the impulse is
the inclusion Carlo V’s declaration to close the Regensburg Colloquy. An
appendix contains a few letters regarding Ascanio Colonna’s rebellion in 1541.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span lang="EN-GB">For many
readers the largest obstacle to an effortless comprehension may be the fact
that I have left all the letters in their original languages, either Latin or
Italian from the sixteenth century. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span lang="EN-GB">So many
limitations - and given that the source material for this collection is already
published in various earlier editions,</span><span lang="EN-GB"> why bother to present them again
here?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">First of
all, for a few letters, it has been possible to identify their authors more accurately.
There is the case of the letter dated <st1:date day="17" month="5" w:st="on" year="1541"><st1:date day="17" ls="trans" month="5" w:st="on" year="15">17 May 15</st1:date>41</st1:date>
and written from the French court to Contarini. In the published version, the
eighteenth century editor has Ercole Gonzaga as its author. Gonzaga, in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>, could
not have been the author. The letter was from the pen of Girolamo Dandino.
Another example: Morandi’s edition includes letters dated 2, 9, 12 and <st1:date day="29" ls="trans" month="6" w:st="on" year="15">29 June 15</st1:date>41 –
also from the French court to Contarini. Morandi names Niccolò Ardinghelli as
the author. Ardinghelli, still <i>en route</i>
to the French court, was not the author, but Girolamo Capodiferro. These
corrections were aided by the ability to compare letters in one published
collection with those in other collections.</span><span lang="EN-GB"> In this way, a compilation of all
the published letters in chronological sequence enables the letters to shed
factual interpretative light on each other. A more comprehensive collection can
be more useful than a smaller collection, given that there are so many editions
that target a particular period in Contarini’s life and output. Like tiles in a
mosaic, each edition fills its space in the overall picture: whether the
picture be a portrait of the person (Contarini and his correspondents), or a
panorama of the rapid, profound and unprecedented change in the European social
landscape in the first half of the sixteenth century. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br clear="all" />
(Excerpt from the Preface)<br />
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Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-80288788281697122172012-11-12T21:47:00.002+11:002012-11-13T08:21:20.793+11:00Presentation of a New Translation<h2>
<span lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Bonaventure's <i>De perfectione vitae ad sorores</i></span></span></h2>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As prayer is the spiritual teac</span><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5373823891796133570" name="maestra"></a>her of
the friars, and so that the spirit of devotion not grow cold in the friars but
burn continuously and ever more intensely on the altar of their heart, and
indeed just as the Seraphic Father desired that the
true spirit<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5373823891796133570" name="truespiritualfriar"></a>ual friar to pray always...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The substance of this passage from chapter three of the Capuchin Constitutions of 1536 recurs in all the versions of the Constitutions down to modern times prior to 1968. The Constitutions of 1968 (n.40) and 1975 (n.41) have instead:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In order to keep the spirit of prayer in us from becoming lukewarm and rather have it grow steadily in fervour, we need to apply ourselves daily to the practice of prayer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Then in 2002, taking up the 1968 text, the Constitutions restore the reference prayer as the spiritual teacher:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">52.3 Moreover, that the spirit of prayer may never grow cold within us but be ever more inflamed from day to day, we must give ourselves to its exercise in our daily lives...</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">52.6 Mental prayer is the spiritual teach of the brothers who, if they are true and spiritual lesser brothers, prayer ever more interiorly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Perhaps it could be argued that the content of this particular passage has been somewhat impoverished since 1968.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A connection exists between the earlier version of this passage and Saint Bonaventure's accommodation of the text of </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Leviticus 6,12-16 in <i>De perfectione vitae ad sorores,</i> presented here, and <i><span lang="EN-AU">De sex aliis seraphim</span></i>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As one source used in the formulation of the first Capuchin Constitutions, and as an authentic work of Bonaventure, one rarely translated to English, <span style="color: #cc0000;">capdox</span> offers a new English translation completed in November 2012. <a href="http://www.capdox.com/alt/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=37&Itemid=87&limitstart=9" target="_blank">Go to capdox</a>.</span><br />
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Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373823891796133570.post-78604033641869594452012-08-12T10:22:00.000+10:002012-08-12T10:27:25.911+10:00General Chapter of the Capuchin Franciscan Friars<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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The General Chapter of the Capuchin Franciscan Friars is about to celebrated in Rome, 20 August - 22 September. Please remember the brothers in your prayer. <a href="http://www.capitulum2012.info/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">Goto to the Chapter website</a>.</div>Paul Hanbridgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236207108736356138noreply@blogger.com0