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Events Today in Church History

     For events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history today, click on MILLENNIUM MILESTONES: TIME CAPSULES

THIS DAY IN CHURCH HISTORY

Historical Events in Church Annals for September 1:

827 A.D.


Pope Valentine is elected as the 100th successor of Peter. This Roman-born pontiff was beloved by the people, the nobles, and the clergy for his goodness and charity. The beginning of his very brief pontificate was greeted by manifestations of great joy as an indication of his well-known pious character, but alas he would only live 16 days.

1159 A.D.


Death of Pope Hadrian IV, the 169th successor of Peter who was the only English pontiff in the history of the Holy See. He ruled for nearly five years. During his reign he had a historic meeting with the emperor Barbarossa at Sutri in the Italian Alps. The emperor refused to hold the bridle of the Hadrian's mule as is the custom and the Pope refused him the kiss of peace. However, when an agreement was reached between them and Barbarosa repented, Hadrian officially crowned him as Holy Roman Emperor. Barbarossa would later be excommunicated by succeeding Popes.

1271 A.D.


The simple priest Archdeacon Tedaldo Visconti, friend of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Bonaventure, is elected the 184th successor of Peter, becoming Blessed Pope Gregory X. It took three years for him to be elected because of disagreements at the conclave in Viterbo. The people became so impatient that no Pope had been elected, they removed the roof of the conclave and put the cardinals on bread and water until they could come to a decision. Needless to say they did and they chose well. Blessed Gregory convened the 14th Ecumenical Council.

     Today is the Twenty-Second Tuesday in Ordinary Time while tomorrow we stay in the same cycle with the Twenty-Second Wednesday in Ordinary Time. For the readings, liturgy and meditations for both days, click on LITURGY FOR THE DAY.

Tuesday September 1:
Twenty-Second Tuesday in Ordinary Time

Green vestments

First Reading: 1 Corinthians 2: 10-16
Psalms: Psalm 145: 8-14, 17
Gospel Reading: Luke 4: 31-37

Wednesday September 2:
Twenty-Second Wednesday in Ordinary Time

Green vestments

First Reading: 1 Corinthians 3: 1-9
Psalms: Psalm 33: 12-15, 20-21
Gospel Reading: Luke 4: 38-44

     While his feast is superceded by Ordinary Time, today is the feast of Saint Giles, Abbot and Hermit who is the patron saint of the crippled and handicapped. Below a prayer in his honor: :

     We beseech Thee, O Lord, that the intercession of the Blessed Abbot Giles may commend us unto Thee, that we may obtain through his advocacy those things which we cannot of ourselves deserve. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Holy Father encourages all to take the R&R from vacation time and put it to good use in their lives

     During his Sunday Angelus Address from his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo in the hills above Rome, the Holy Father joked with the pilgrims, reminding them that vacations don't last forever and not to be disheartened when they return to work. Rather than getting down that it's over, he encouraged all to remember the values in their lives and fall back on those values - especially the spiritual ones that keep one going. For more, click on Angelus Address.

      CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II offered advice on Sunday for workers or students who may be feeling down at the end of their summer vacations.

      The Holy Father, looking relaxed and jovial in the midst of his own month-long vacation, addressed pilgrims at his summer residence outside Rome. "I try to imagine what passes through the spirit of one who comes back after a period of relaxation, perhaps long desired and now already over," he said, adding that some people often dread "daily reality, with its concreteness, its problems, its heaviness."

      But he also offered a cure. "All this can also be depressing. But there's an antidote against depression," the Holy Father said. "Keep in your heart a great ideal, of authentic values which give sense to your own life." The Pope's own vacation ends in mid-September.

Anglican priest decides one priest in the family is enough.

     An Anglican priest has had enough with his own Church regarding ordaining women. The straw that broke the camel's back? The pending ordination of his own wife, ten years younger. "For better or for worse" is fine, but both spouses can't be priests the husband determined. Therefore he won't stand for it and has said he will convert to Catholicism rather than go along with something that he does not believe in even if it means losing his wife who is determined to go through with being ordained an Anglican priest come hell or highwater this December. For more, click on Anglican Priest.

      LONDON (CWNews.com) - An Anglican priest, upset over his denomination's ordaining of his wife -- and women in general -- as a priest, has announced he will become to Catholic, The Times of London newspaper reported on Friday.

      The Rev. Fred Bonham, 61, said his relationship with his wife, Valerie, 51, is in jeopardy or in question, but he said he could no longer accept the ordination of women to the priesthood in the Church of England. Valerie is presently an ordained deacon working in her husband's parish as a curate, but is scheduled to be ordained as priest in December.

      Bonham said he had no problems with having his wife work as an ordained deacon, but he could not accept the ministry of women as priests. Of his wife's desire to become a priest, he said: "You must be tolerant of the other person's convictions. She is doing what she wants to do and I must allow her that freedom."

Satanic rituals tied in with suicides in Columbia priests assert

     Proving the claims Columbian parish priest Father Juan Carlos Jaramillio had made about a professor teaching satanism which the Columbia courts dismissed last week, more priests have come forth this week protesting the recent rash of suicides. They assert that the deaths of six young people as well as 31 other failed suicide attempts are strongly tied in with satanism. They blamed authorities for not investigating the suicides thoroughly and tying in the clues that point to a satanic cult as the culprit. For more, click on satanism.

      BOGOTA (CWNews.com) - Catholic priests of the Colombian town of Belen de Umbria said this week that at least six youths identified as members of a satanic cult have committed suicide since early this year.

      The priests signed a collective letter asking authorities to investigate the deaths as well as the reason why 31 more teenagers -- friends of the six who died -- also attempted suicide but failed. None of the youths have come forward to explain the reasons for their attempts.

      Both the priests and local parents have related the deaths to the "strange Satanic cults" that the group began to celebrate at night at the local cemetery. "It all started as a dumb fashion, wearing black leather clothes and listening to heavy metal music," one of the parents said. In their letter, the priests insisted: "These suicides have been investigated independently, without looking for the connections that relate one to another. An investigation as one single, collective phenomenon has to be made."

      "These kind of situations do not appear spontaneously," the letter said. "So someone has to be held responsible for inducing our kids."

Socialist leader's book absolves Chile Cardinal of involvement in a military coup

     A new book just released reveals that the former Archbishop of Santiago de Chile Cardinal Raul Silva Enriquez did all in his power to keep peace in Chile during the military coup that erupted in the seventies. In fact, the author asserts that Cardinal Enriquez who headed up Caritas in Chile, went out of his way to counsel parties on both sides to work for a peaceful settlement for he could foresee the rapid decomposition of Chilean society because of the greed and power hunger by individuals involved including Socialist head President Salvador Allende and coup leader General Augusto Pinochet. The 91 year-old Cardinal Enriquez was made a red hat by Pope John XXIII in 1962 and retired as Archbishop of Santiago de Chile in 1983. For more, click on Chile perception

      SANTIAGO (CWNews.com) - Chilean Cardinal Raul Silva Enriquez, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile during the 1970s, tried to avoid the military coup of September 11, 1973 that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, a new book by a former Socialist leader said.

      The book, "September 11: Testimonies, Remembrances and a Reflection" was written by Jose Antonio Viera Gallo, a former president of the Socialist Party who escaped political persecution and a possible murder by requesting asylum at the Apostolic Nunciature after Pinochet's coup. Viera Gallo -- now a Senator -- said in his book that Cardinal Silva Enriquez saw the decomposition of Chilean society moving so fast under the Socialist regime of President Salvador Allende, that he believed that a military coup was impossible to avoid.

      "Cardinal Silva talked to me several times and urged me to tell the president (Allende) to call the military leaders and negotiate a peaceful change with them," Viera Gallo said. The book also revealed that Cardinal Silva talked to almost all key political leaders and found that "all of them, including former president Eduardo Frei (the father of the current president of Chile), were convinced that there was no choice but a military coup, since we were facing either a military or a Communist dictatorship."

      The book added that Cardinal Silva, who during the military rule became a harsh critic of Pinochet's violation of human rights, insisted that Allende should negotiate with the military for the end of his own regime. "Do not risk the whole country in just one bet," the cardinal reportedly said. Viera Gallo said that he conveyed the message to Allende, "but he was confident that a large part of the military was loyal to him and that with them and grassroots organizations, the sedition would be defeated."

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site. CWN is not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provides this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

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September 1, 1998 volume 9, no. 171   DAILY CATHOLIC