Now is the season of angels

[Weedy]

Now is the season of angels

Now is the season of angels,
Of wondrous signs in the skies,
While in the cold and the darkness,
Below in a manger lies Jesus.
--Bea Lotz
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December 10th - Translation of The Holy House of Loreto
(1291, 1294)

Towards the end of the 13th century, the terrible news reached Europe
that the Holy Land was lost to the Christians, who during two
centuries had been able to maintain the Latin kingdom there by virtue
of their repeated Crusades. But at the time the Church was deploring
this painful loss, a new joy was given them: the holy house of
Nazareth--site of the birth of the Mother of God, of Her early
education and of the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel of the wondrous
news of the Incarnation of the Son of God--had been found, transported
miraculously, near Tersatz in Dalmatia (Yugoslavia) on May 10th of the
year 1291. Between Tersatz and nearby Fiume, the residents of the
region beheld one morning an edifice, in a location where never had
any been seen before. After the residents of the region talked among
themselves of the remarkable little house surmounted by a bell tower,
and which stood without foundations on the bare ground, describing its
altar, an ancient statue of Our Lady, and other religious objects
which their wondering eyes had seen within it, another surprise came
to astound them once more.

Their bishop suddenly appeared in their midst, cured from a lingering
illness which had kept him bedridden for several months. He had prayed
to be able to go see the prodigy for himself, and the Mother of God
had appeared to him, saying, in substance: “My son, you called Me; I
am here to give you powerful assistance and reveal to you the secret
you desire to know. The holy dwelling is the very house where I was
born... It is there that when the announcement was brought by the
Archangel Gabriel, I conceived the divine Child by the operation of
the Holy Spirit. It is there that the Word was made flesh! After My
decease, the Apostles consecrated this dwelling, illustrated by such
elevated mysteries, and sought the honor of celebrating the August
Sacrifice there. The altar is the very one which the Apostle Saint
Peter placed there. The crucifix was introduced by the Apostles, and
the cedar statue is My faithful image, made by the hand of the
Evangelist Saint Luke... Your sudden return to health from so long an
illness will bear witness to this prodigy.” Nicolas Frangipane,
governor of the territory of Ancona, was absent, but when the news was
carried to him, he returned from a war in order to verify its
authenticity. He sent to Nazareth, at the eastern limits of the
Mediterranean Sea, the bishop and three other persons, to examine the
original site of the house. Indeed the house was no longer there, but
its foundations remained and were found conformable in every detail of
dimension and substance, to the stones at the base of the house now in
Dalmatia. The testimony of the delegates was drafted according to
legal formalities, and confirmed by a solemn oath.

Then, after 3 years spent in Dalmatia, the house disappeared. Paul
Della Selva, a holy hermit of that period and of the region of Ancona,
wrote: “During the night of December 10th, a light from heaven became
visible to several inhabitants of the shores of the Adriatic Sea, and
a divine harmony woke them that they might contemplate a marvel
exceeding all the forces of nature. They saw and contemplated a house,
surrounded by heavenly splendor, transported through the air.” The
angelic burden was brought to rest in a forest, where again the local
residents were able to contemplate the signal relics which it
contained. The antique Greek crucifix mentioned by Our Lady was made
of wood, and attached to it was a canvas on which the words Jesus of
Nazareth, King of the Jews, were painted. The cedar statue of the
Virgin had been painted also; she wore a red robe and a blue cloak and
held the Infant Jesus in Her arms. His right hand was raised in
blessing; His left hand held a globe, symbol of His sovereign power.

The story was far from ended. The house moved again, after robbers
began to intercept pilgrims coming through the forest to visit the
marvel. Twice more it rose from its place, the first time coming to
rest on a private terrain, which became then a source of dispute
between two brothers; and finally on a hilltop where a dusty and
uneven public road became its permanent site. For centuries the people
of Dalmatia came across the sea on pilgrimage, often crying out to Our
Lady and Her House to come back to them! Finally in 1559, after one
such visit by 300 pilgrims, the Sovereign Pontiff had a hospice built
at Loreto for families who preferred to remain near the house, rather
than return to a land deprived of its sacred presence.

The reddish-black stones of the house are a sort entirely foreign to
Italy; the mortar cementing them is again entirely different from the
volcanic-ash-based substance used in that country. The residents of
the region put up a heavy brick wall to support the house, which was
exposed to the torrential rains and winds of the hilltop and was
completely without foundation. But no sooner was that wall completed,
than they came back one morning to find it had moved away from the
house, as if to express its reverence, to a distance which permitted a
small child to walk around it with a torch in hand. The Author of the
miracle wanted it to be well understood that He who had brought it
without human assistance, was capable also of maintaining it there
where He had placed it, without human concourse.

The episodes concerning the Translation of the Holy House, all duly
verified, were consigned in documents borne to Rome to the Sovereign
Pontiffs at various epochs. Pope Sixtus IV declared that the house was
the property of the Holy See, and assigned duties to specified
personnel named to be its custodians. Pope Leo X accorded the
indulgence applicable to the visit of several churches of Rome also to
a pilgrimage to Loreto. Eventually a magnificent basilica was built
around the house, which within the basilica was itself enhanced by a
white marble edicule. Pope Clement IX in 1667, placed the story of the
House in the Roman Martyrology for the 10th of December under the
title: At Loreto, in the territory of Ancona, translation of the Holy
House of Mary, Mother of God, in which the Word was made flesh. Pope
Benedict XIV, a prodigious scholar before he became Pope, established
the identity of the house with that of Nazareth, against its
detractors, and later worked for the embellishment of the August
sanctuary. The feast of Our Lady of Loreto is observed in many
provinces of the Church, inscribed in the Proper of their dioceses by
their bishops.

Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul
Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14;

Saint Quote:
Let us endeavor to show ourselves full of compassion towards the
faulty and the sinful. If we do not show compassion and charity to
these, we do not deserve to have God show it towards us.
--St. Vincent de Paul

Bible Quote:
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful
noise to him with psalms. (Psalms 94:2)


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Prayer To The Holy Ghost

Holy Spirit, come into my heart; draw it to Thee by Thy power, O my
God, and grant me charity with filial fear. Preserve me, O ineffable
Love, from every evil thought; warm me, inflame me with Thy dear love,
and every pain will seem light to me. My Father, my sweet Lord, help
me in all my actions. Jesus, love, Jesus, love (St. Catherine of
Siena).