BOOK ON BENEDICT XVI
Foe the Seventh Anniverary of His Pontificate

Vatican City, 24 April 2012 (VIS) - The "Osservatore Romano" and the Italian newspaper "Il Sole e 24 Ore" are paying homage to the Holy Father for the seventh anniversary of his election with a book entitled "Benedict XVI, Theologian and Pontiff". The volume is being distributed with today's edition of "Il Sole e 24 Ore" and will shortly be available in digital format on the newspaper's website, with addition multimedia content and English and Spanish translations. The Spanish newspaper "La Razon" will place the book on its own website on 26 April.

In the prologue to the work Giovanni Maria Vian, director of the "Osservatore Romano", explains that, for the Holy Father's eighty-fifth birthday and the beginning of the eighth year of his pontificate, it was decided to publish a book bringing together a number of little-known texts on the figure of Benedict XVI. These include a dialogue on secularism and religion between the philosopher Armando Massarenti and the journalist Giuliano Ferrara, some suggestions for reading the works of Joseph Ratzinger by the historiographer Lucetta Scaraffia, and a chronological summary of the life of "the theologian who became pontiff".

This initiative, Vian writes, "aims above all to contribute to an understanding of the person and works of an intellectual who has dedicated, and continues to dedicate his life to the tireless search for truth, engaging in continuous dialogue between faith and reason, and using a language accessible to everyone".

The prayer of Compline has always been treated with special care within the Dominican Order and elsewhere.  Our own house of studies, St. Albert Priory, celebrates that office publicly each night of the academic year, but on Sunday the office is concluded with a processioon out of the chapel along the cloister walkway, to the stature of Our Lady and then, during the O Lumen, into the cloister garden to the statue of St. Dominic in the central coi pond.

Attached to this message is a video of the Salve Procession as celebrated in Ireland.  The music is identical to that of St. Albert Priory.  Click the title of this post to see the link to the video.

Saint Agnes of Montepulciano, O.P., (1268–1317) was born into the noble Segni family in Gracciano, a small village near Montepulciano in Tuscany, Italy, where, at the age of nine, she entered the monastery of the Dominican nuns of the Second Order.

In 1281, the lord of the castle of Proceno, a fief of Orvieto, invited the nuns of Montepulciano to send some of their Sisters to Proceno to found a new monastery.  Agnes was among the nuns sent to found this new community.

In 1288 Agnes, despite her youth at only 20 years of age, was elected as prioress. There she gained a reputation for performing miracles: people suffering from mental and physical ailments seemed cured by her presence. She was reported to have "multiplied loaves", creating many from a few on numerous occasions, recalling the Gospel miracle of the loaves and fishes.

Later about 1306, Agnes established a monastery of Dominican nuns in Gracciano. She presided over this monastery until her death. After her death, her body was said to remain incorrupt, rather than decomposing. It was reported that a perfumed liquid flowed from her hands and feet.

The Dominican friar Raymond of Capua, who later served as confessor to St. Catherine of Siena, wrote an account of Agnes some fifty years later. St. Catherine herself referred to her as "Our mother, the glorious Agnes."

Agnes of Montepulciano was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. Her feast day is the 20 April.

(Source: Wikipedia)

the Word
Dominican Preaching

You will find under the heading of "Other Dominican Blogs" a new listing called Dominican Preaching. It is a link to "the Word", a production of the Order. It gathers regular preachings and reflections from all over. Please do visit "Dominican Preaching" selection and give them a try.  One recent presentation is by Fr. Kieran Healy, OP at McKenzie Bridge, Oregon, a regular contributor.

Stanford University
Campus Ministry

In addition to the "Dominican Preaching" podcasts, we also have the podcasts from Stanford University Campus Ministry.  These links to talks, reflections and homilies are presented for the most recent five instances. Once at their site one can delve into their archives if one desires.

Part One of Thirteen

Br. Gabriel Thomas Mosher, O.P. gives a small group from St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center a faith formation intensive course on the Catholic perspective on Election, Justification, and Sanctification.

Click on title to see video.