Tag Archives: Christianity

The Bible, Yesterday and Today

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The feast of St. Jerome, the great biblical scholar, is a good time to look at the history of the bible itself. Where does it come from? I happen to be staying today in a place Jerome knew well, the Celian Hill, in Rome.

Our Christian bible comes from two closely related religious traditions: Judaism and Christianity. The first books of any Christian bible come from the Jews, the Jewish scriptures. The rest of the writings found in a Christian bible– gospels, letters– come from Christian writers.

It’s good to remember that before printing was invented in the 15th century, the various writings of the bible were copied on papyri and parchment, materials too limited at first to be bound together in one book. “When you come,” Paul writes to Titus, “bring the cloak I left with Carpus, the papyrus rolls and especially the parchment.” ( Titus 4:13) 

Paul does not have a complete bible, but only individual writings. Luke’s Gospel describes Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth taking a scroll of the Prophet Isaiah to read. Unrolling the scroll, he read a passage from Isaiah, probably in Aramaic or Hebrew, then he rolled back the scroll, handed it an attendant, and began to teach. (Like 4:16-30) Something like this:  

Ancient scroll Byzantine Museum Wiki Commons

That’s how the scriptures were read in early Christian liturgies, from papyri and parchment copies of individual Christian gospels and letters and various books from the Jewish scriptures.

The first Christians read the books of the Old and New Testament in Greek, the language of the Mediterranean world.  Only in the 2nd century did Latin versions of the scriptures begin to appear in Roman North Africa as people began speaking Latin instead of Greek. Versions in other languages, like Syriac, Coptic and Armenian, also appeared as Christianity spread through the world.. Jerome was responsible for the Latin translation.

Codexes or books of the complete Christian Bible appear only towards the 4th century, as printing methods evolved. Only towards the 9th century did complete copies of the Bible become commonplace in the latin Christian world. These complete “books” of scripture were mainly located in a church; some copies might circulate among the wealthy.  

Until the 9th century copies of the scriptures were found in mostly in churches, monasteries, and church libraries of  western and eastern Christianity . Complete copies of the scriptures were marked for use in the liturgies and feasts of the church. Often the scriptures  appeared in lectionaries specifically designed for use in the liturgy. The ordinary Christian heard the Word of God proclaimed and then commented on in a church.

Gospel of Mark. Vulgate

 St. Jerome began his important translation of the scriptures from Greek and Hebrew into latin and wrote his commentaries from 382 till his death in 420.  His translations, known as the vulgate, were sponsored by friends in Rome, especially Pope Damasus, who looked for a fresh translation of the various latin versions currently in use in the western church.

The Roman church then was experiencing a spiritual revival, and Roman Christians, especially women from the wealthy families on the Caelian and Aventine hills, found Jerome writings and translations from the original Greek and Hebrew inspiring. Like all languages, latin was a developing language and Jerome produced the scriptures in a language they appreciated. Some of his wealthy friends produced copies of his translations and commentaries, which they circulated among themselves.                                                                                                                                                

The Roman senator, Pammachius, whom Jerome called “ my old fellow-learner, companion and friend”, was one of the advocates of the new translations. Like other Roman Christians, he hoped to convert the followers of Rome’s traditional religion through the wisdom of the scriptures. What better resource to win them over than fresh translations of the Christian scriptures from the original Greek and Hebrew  and commentaries of a brilliant scholar like Jerome?

Pammachius built an impressive basilica on the Caelian Hill in sight of the Roman Forum, Saints John and Paul. Until then, no Christian church was built in this area in deference to the sensibilities of Rome’s traditional religion firmly established in the temples and monuments of the forum.

Saints John and Paul was the first Christian church to be built in this sensitive area, according to Richard Krautheimer, an expert on Rome’s early Christian churches. The church not only honored two Roman Christian martyrs but it brought the Christian message to the spiritual heart of Rome, the Roman Forum. 

Gutenberg Bible. New York Public Library. Wiki commons

Jerome’s latin translations of the scriptures, the vulgate, remained the scriptures western Christians read until the printing press revolutionized communication in the western world in the 15th century. The Gutenberg Bible, an edition of the latin vulgate printed in the 1450s, ushered in the mass production of bibles. No longer for a few, the bible became available for all.

The Protestant Reformation benefitted especially from new versions of the scriptures quickly produced in the languages of western Europe. The Catholic Church reacted defensively, fearing that the faithful, uninstructed in the scriptures, would question the traditional teachings of faith. Instead of a biblically grounded spirituality fostered by the flow of printed bibles, the church turned to a spirituality nourished by devotions.

Thanks to the work of Catholic biblical scholars in the last century following in the footsteps of  St. Jerome, the Catholic Church recognized the importance of the scriptures at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965 ). In its Constitution on Divine Revelation the church professed her veneration for the scriptures “just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body.” 

The scriptures are “together with sacred tradition, the supreme rule of faith… Therefore, like the Christian religion itself, all the preaching of the Church must be nourished and regulated by Sacred Scripture.” They are “the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life.” (DV 21)

“Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful. That is why the Church from the very beginning accepted as her own that very ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament which is called the septuagint; and she has always given a place of honor to other Eastern translations and Latin ones especially the Latin translation known as the vulgate. But since the word of God should be accessible at all times, the Church by her authority and with maternal concern sees to it that suitable and correct translations are made into different languages, especially from the original texts of the sacred books. And should the opportunity arise and the Church authorities approve, if these translations are produced in cooperation with the separated brethren as well, all Christians will be able to use them. “ (DV 22)

The council also decreed that a treasure of scripture be available in the liturgy of the church.  

 St. Jerome and later scripture scholars were recognized at the Second Vatican Council,  but the task of creating a biblical spirituality in the Catholic Church remains to be done. For Jerome it was not an easy task. His letters reveal that in his day critics strongly questioned his scholarly efforts.  Even prominent teachers like St. Augustine were not altogether in favor of Jerome’s new translations, but favored versions they were used to. 

Fostering a biblical spirituality today is not an easy task. St. Jerome, pray for us.

For a history of the Bible, see the Bible: A Global History, by Bruce Gordon, , Basic Books, New York 2024

Saint Vincent Strambi, CP: September 24

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Saint Vincent Strambi

Today the Passionists celebrate the feast of St. Vincent Strambi, CP (1745-1824). He was chosen to be bishop of Marcerata during the tumultuous years when Napoleon moved to take over Italy, the papacy and the Catholic Church. Strambi was an heroic supporter of the pope and fought for the freedom of the church.

To understand most saints you have to understand the times in which they lived. They’re antidotes for the poison of their time. Vincent Strambi lived in poisonous, challenging times..

In 1789, following the French Revolution, a Reign of Terror struck the church in France, religious orders were suppressed, priests and religious were imprisoned, exiled, put to death. Word of the terror quickly reached Italy and Rome; the defenseless Italian peninsula would be a likely target for France’s fierce revolution and Napoleon.

Pope Pius VI asked for prayers that Rome be spared, and he called on Vincent Strambi, then acknowledged as Rome’s best preachers, to prepare the people for a blow sure to come. In packed churches and piazzas in Rome Strambi promised that God would not abandon his people. The Roman people gained strength from his words.

In 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy demanding heavy tribute from the Pope and the Papal States. The murder of the French General Duhot in Rome gave him the pretext for invading the city, deposing and imprisoning the pope and declaring the Papal States a Republic. Religious houses were suppressed, their goods systematically confiscated. Strambi, a well-known opposition figure, fled to Monte Argentario, a Passionist sanctuary on the Mediterranean Sea.

In 1799 Pius VI died in exile. Some historians of the time saw the papacy ended. Pius VI was succeeded by Pius VII who, in 1801, appointed Strambi bishop of Macerata and Tolentino, two important cities in the Papal States along Italy’s Adriatic coast, poverty-stricken from years of political and military turmoil. 

The bishops of the Papal States were largely responsible for temporal as well as spiritual affairs and Bishop Strambi became a champion of the poor in his diocese. He lived sparingly himself, without signs of wealth or position. The poor were constantly on his mind. “Don’t you hear the cries of the poor?” he said one day to the treasurer of his seminary, looking out his window.The education of poor children interested him especially and he urged his priests to care for them.

In sermons Strambi constantly looked to the Passion of Jesus for wisdom in the struggles of the time. His devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus was influenced, at least in part, from reflection on the bloodshed the Napoleonic Wars brought to millions in Europe. Almost 4 million died as warfare rose to a level never seen before. Their blood was precious to God.

On May 5, 1809, after occupying Rome and most of the Papal States. Napoleon declared the region under French control and the temporal power of the pope abrogated. On June 6, 1809 Pius VII placed notices on church doors throughout Rome excommunicating anyone cooperating with the French.  July 6, the French general Radet arrested the pope and brought him north to Savona.

Napoleon then demanded bishops sign an oath of loyalty to his new government. Refusal meant exile and imprisonment, signing was an act of disloyalty to the pope. 

“I am ready for prison and for death. I am with the pope,” Strambi declared. On September 28,1808 he left his diocese under guard for northern Italy where he remained for 5 years under house arrest.

After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814 the church’s exiled leaders returned. Bishop Strambi returned to his diocese in May, 1814;  immediately the pope asked him to come to Rome to preach a nine day “retreat of reconciliation” in late July and early August. Not all met the French invasion heroically.

In 1816 a typhoid epidemic followed invading armies. Food shortages and inflation spread through the bishop’s diocese. He opened hospitals for the dying and sought supplies for his suffering flock. 

Physically frail from birth, Bishop Strambi became increasingly ill and found it harder to manage his diocese. By 1814, the world too had changed. The Papal States had no bishops in the long chaotic period of the Napoleonic invasion and new forces demanding change came to power. Strambi recognized it was too much for him.

In 1823 he asked the new pope, Leo XII, to allow him to retire. The pope accepted his resignation on one condition, that he come and live with him as an advisor in the Quirinal Palace, then the pope’s residence in Rome. A local commentator said of the departing bishop: “ He was a man who lived a holy life, giving alms to all and content with only the necessary for himself. We are sorry to see him go, for we lose a good pastor. The cries of the poor are especially loud, for they lose one who cared for and sustained them.”

Vincent died in Rome on January 1, 1824, having offered his life to the Lord in place of that of the pope who was seriously ill. 

Pope Leo ordered the process for his canonization 8 days after his death. He was declared a Saint in 1950 and his relics now rest in Macerata, the city where he was a zealous pastor for twenty-two years.

Before becoming a bishop, Vincent was a forceful preacher and catechist of Passionist missions and retreats. He was also the first biographer of St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists.

St. Vincent Strambi’s room, Saints John and Paul Monastery, Rome

With the help of the Holy Spiirt, I on my part will do all I can that the living image of Jesus crucified be imprinted in the hearts of each of you. I do this gladly, not counting the cost. I consider myself fortunate to give my lifeblood so that Christ might be formed in you. I can say, like the apostle, that because of my love for you, I want to share with you “not only God’s message, but our very lives, so dear have you have become to us.”

I urge you, then, to look attentively on the Image of the Crucified, the bishop of your souls, on his throne of grace. In that way I shall fulfill my obligation to announce to you the death of the Lord, an obligation arising from my profession in the Congregation of the Holy Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. I shall do all I can to urge you all to fulfill your duty to love him who first loved us, who offered himself on the altar of the cross for us, who shed his blood for us. 

( Letter to the people of Marcerata on becoming their bishop)

St. Dominic: August 8

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fra-angelico-st-dominic-featured-w740x493

St. Dominic, who’s feast is August 8th, is a saint universally celebrated in the Catholic Church. Why is he universally celebrated?

Dominic, who lived at the beginning of the 13th century, faced the Albigensians , a gnostic movement strongly entrenched around Toulouse in France that was drawing believers away from the church.  Dominic gathered preachers to bring the teaching of the gospel to the area. Preaching the gospel, according to Dominic, meant not only to understand your faith, but to know what those who differ from you believe. He  established communities of followers, the Dominicans, near universities such as Paris and Bologna.

They were to study and pray. Study and prayer and a simple life would help them know the truth and bring it to their world. His community still has that vital role in the church today.

The prayers for Dominic’s feast ask that the gifts of study and prayer and a simple life remain in the church. We need people who think and pray and preach.

One of Dominic’s biographers mentions something about him that’s true of all the saints, I think.  Saints look redeemed. Dominic’s face was joyful,  which came from a joyful heart and a soul at peace. He believed God was with him.

“He was a man of great equanimity, except when moved to compassion and mercy. And since a joyful heart animate the face, he displayed the peaceful composure of a spiritual man in the kindness he manifested outwardly and by the cheerfulness of his countenance.”

That same “cheerfulness of countenance” seems to be what people remark about Pope Francis. That doesn’t mean smiling continuously, but that joy is our “default,” it’s the attitude usually there.  Fra Angelico seems to capture  the  peacefulness of Dominic in his portrait of the saint. (above)

St. Alphonsus Liguori: August 1

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Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) was born near Naples, Italy, into a noble family. He began life as a lawyer but gave up law to become a priest and devote himself to bringing the gospel to the poor. His sermons and instructions were simple. “I never preached a sermon that the poorest old woman in the congregation didn’t understand,” he claimed. In 1732 he founded the Redemptorists, the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer. 

A prolific writer, poet and musician, Alphonsus authored a series of devotional books on Mary and important works on moral theology.  He advocated leniency and mercy towards people, steering a course between severity and laxity.  In hearing confessions, he said he never denied anyone absolution. We can see why he’s an example for pastoral workers today.

 In 1762, he became bishop of Sant Agata dei Goti, a small diocese near Naples, where he worked to reform the clergy and renew its people in their faith. In 1775 he resigned his bishopric because of his health, but continued writing religious and devotional tracts till his death in 1787. In 1816 he was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI. Pope Pius IX declared him a doctor of the church in 1871.

“Hasn’t God a claim on our love? From all eternity God has loved us. ‘ I first loved you. You had not yet appeared in the light of day, nor did the world yet exist, but already I loved you. From all eternity I have loved you.’

God gave us a soul endowed with memory, intellect and will; he gave us a body equipped with the senses; it was for us that he created heaven and earth and all things. The truth is the eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son. 

  By giving us his Son, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might spare us, he bestowed on us at once every good: grace, love and heaven; for all these goods are certainly inferior to the Son. He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for all of us: how could he fail to give us along with his Son all good things?”

The prayer for his feast day points out it’s our turn to do what Alphonse’s did:

O God who constantly raise up in your church new examples of virtue, grant that we may follow so closely in the footsteps of the Bishop Saint Alphonsus in his zeal for souls as to attain the same rewards that are his in heaven.

Magnifica humanitas

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INTRODUCTION

1. Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together. Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era, of guiding history to become a place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted and fraternity is made possible. Yet every era also runs the risk of creating an inhumane and more unjust world. Whenever humanity is in danger of marring its true identity, we Christians lift our eyes to the Incarnate God, knowing that it is “only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear.” [1] In Jesus Christ, this humanity in its grandeur becomes the Way, the Truth and the Life, opening the path for each of us to grow toward fullness.

2. Founded on Christ, the living stone, we experience the powerful and mysterious action of the Holy Spirit, and we believe that every authentic human effort to cooperate with him for the good will be blessed by our heavenly Father, in whom we place our hope. For this reason, we can diligently contribute to every initiative that builds a more just world, and we can call others to collaborate in promoting the integral development of every human being. We wish to engage in dialogue with all men and women of our time, with whom we share in the events, questions and aspirations of humanity. [2] Together with them, we seek to identify new paths for the common good and for promoting a dignified life for all. Indeed, openness to dialogue is an integral part of the Church’s vocation because, constituted in Christ as “a sacrament… of communion with God and of the unity of the entire human race,” [3] she recognizes history as the place where the Gospel challenges and directs human experience.

For more:

https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html

The presentation of the encyclical in on YouTube. Pope Leo’s short summary at the end of the video is worth waiting for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxcXcP6NyRM

A Catholic Church

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Our first reading at Mass today, the letter from the church of Jerusalem to the church in Antioch,  offers an important teaching on the nature of the church. The church of Jesus Christ is meant for all peoples. “I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord.” www.usccb.org

The universality of our church may be a special gift to the world today, when wars are pitting one country against another, when so many countries are closing their borders in fear of foreigners, when nations are looking only to their own interests. 

We’re living in a divided world. It’s longing for a voice reminding  us of our common humanity.  We’re all children of God.                                                                                                                                                  

Our church is called to be a model of what the world should be. A home for all, whatever your race, or color, or place on the social ladder. I think that’s one reason Leo XIV gets the worldwide welcome he does. 

So let’s pray for him and stand with him. What does a pope stand for? He shepherd’s a church that’s a home for all. He proclaims the message of Jesus, God’s only Son. That’s why Pope Leo was chosen, not because he’s an American, but because he’s a missionary at home in the world itself.

On the day of his election, the new pope told the cardinals who elected him to join him in a mission to the world. On the day after, he asked the crowds in St. Peter’s square to join him too on that mission, to follow Jesus Christ and bring his message to all peoples.

 We belong to the Catholic Church. We have to keep our church catholic. We have to be catholic ourselves. 

Take a look at this important summary of Pope Leo’s teaching from the Vatican site. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-05/the-pope-and-the-catecheses-on-the-council.html

Antioch in Syria

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Antioch in Syria is the second important city our readings from Acts of the Apostles recall this week. Capitol of Roman Syria, Antioch was then a center of trade and government, on a sea route linking the Roman world. It would be an obvious place for Peter and Paul to begin their mission to plant the church in new lands.  Luke indicates that others were also part of this mission. 

“Those who had been scattered by the persecution
that arose because of Stephen
went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch,
preaching the word to no one but Jews.
There were some Cypriots and Cyrenians among them, however,
who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks as well,
proclaiming the Lord Jesus.
The hand of the Lord was with them
and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”

Luke sees  the church of Antioch at the center of the church’s missionary activity, replacing Jerusalem destroyed by the Romans in 70.  Here the believers in Jesus were first called “Christians”.

The church grew and prospered in Antioch. By the 2nd century the Christian Church was organized under a respected bishop, Ignatius, who wrote letters to various Christian churches on his way to martyrdom in Rome. By the 4th century Antioch was considered the most important Christian church after Rome and Alexandria. It was one of first Christian centers to have a cathedral, built between 327-341.  Early church councils took place there. St. John Chrysostom was among its many prominent theologians and leaders.

Known today as Antakya, Antioch is a Moslem city in Turkey.  Flattened by earthquakes, its access to the sea, the Orantes River, silted over, the city offers few traces of its ancient commercial power and Christian past, except a collection of Roman mosaics.

Peter and Paul, who feature so prominently in the Acts of the Apostles, would never have accomplished their mission without the “Cypriots and Cyrenians” who first came to Antioch as persecuted believers and “began to speak to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”

Learning from Plants, Trees and Flowers

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I discovered on Google books an old study of plants and trees by Richard Folkard, an English botanist. (Plant Lore, Legends and Lyrics, London 1884)  It’s a treasure of information.

Folkard says that from earliest times people saw religious meaning in plants, flowers and trees. He writes especially about how they were seen in medieval times.

“In the dark ages the Catholic monks , who cultivated with assiduity all sorts of herbs and flowers in their monastic gardens , came in time to associate them with traditions of the Church , and to look upon them as emblems of particular saints . Aware , also , of the innate love of humanity for flowers , they selected the most popular as symbols of the Church festivals , and in time every flower became connected with some saint of the Calendar , either from flowering at the time of the saint’s day , or from being connected with the saint in some old legend…

But it was more especially upon the Virgin Mary that the early Church bestowed their floral symbolism … The poetry no less than the piety of Europe has inscribed to her the whole bloom and colouring of the fields and hedges.  The choicest flowers were wrested from the classic Juno , Venus , and Diana , and from the Scandinavian Bertha and Freyja , and bestowed upon the Madonna , whilst floral offerings of every sort were laid upon her shrines . 

Her husband , Joseph , has allotted to him a white Campanula , which in Bologna is known as the little Staff of St. Joseph . In Tuscany the name of St. Joseph’s staff is given to the Oleander. A  legend recounts that the good Joseph possessed originally only an ordinary staff , but that when the angel announced to him that he was destined to be the husband of the Virgin Mary , he became so radiant with joy , that his very staff flowered in his hand…

A Catholic writer complained that at the Reformation the very names of plants were changed in order to divert men’s minds from the least recollection of ancient Christian piety A  Protestant writer of the last century , bewailing the ruthless action of the Puritans in giving to the ” Queen of Beauty ” flowers named after the ” Queen of Heaven , ” says :’Botany , which in ancient times was full of the Blessed Virgin Mary , is now as full of the heathen Venus .’ ” 

Folkard reminds us that the monks were good catechists. That work of theirs is largely ignored today. If you consult Wikipedia’s listings of trees and plants, there’s  hardly a trace of that Catholic tradition. I wonder if we shouldn’t mine that tradition again as we try to enhance our care of the earth. Clover .spearmint, foxglove, lupine,  campanula, marigolds, cowslip, Lady’s mantel, Lady’s bedstraw are more than a genus and species. They once spoke of the mysteries of God. 

Can we learn from them again?

The Hellenists’ Complaint

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We began reading from the 6th chapter of Luke’s Acts of Apostles last Saturday, which describes  a social problem that never disappears. Some newcomers to Christianity are being treated unfairly. “As the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.”( Acts 6:1) 

If we substitute “Immigrants” for “Hellenists” a more familiar situation emerges in this story.  New-comers are not treated fairly in this story. Probably the poorer song them especially.

The “Hebrews” were the first followers of Jesus, mostly Jews from Galilee. They’re Jewish Christians at home in the Jewish world; they fit into the religious and political Judaism of the time in spite of the friction that came from following Jesus of Nazareth.

They’re the establishment.

In every age immigrants, once they gain a little footing in their new home tend to speak out for their needs. The Hellenists, led by Stephen, began to speak out. Stephen’s fiery words seem to be only about  religious matters, but he’s also criticizing the closed world of Judaism. 

Is it also the closed world of early Jewish Christianity as well? 

Stephen’s criticism cost him his life and initiated the Jewish reaction that led to the expulsion of many of the Christian Hellenists. They become immigrants again but, as Luke notes, they bring the gospel to new peoples.

How did Christianity spread early on? Certainly not to the apostles and  genius of Paul alone. The Acts of the Apostles this week reminds us there were others, like the deacon Philip, who brought the gospel to Samaria. (Wednesday)

Then, there’s the Ethiopian official Philip baptizes. He surely brought the gospel to Africa. (Thursday) There were many others, not just apostles, but immigrants like Stephen, who fulfilled a divine plan they hardly understood. 

We are in the midst of an age of massive immigration, due to wars, climate change, religious discrimination and other issues. We tend to see these issues only in social or political terms.

This week’s readings from Luke remind us there’s more. God’s plan is also being fulfilled in many other ways.