Local Treasure: Church of the Little Flower

“Church of the Little Flower was established in 1926 at the request of a small group of Catholics in the new community of Coral Gables. The Most Reverend Patrick J. Barry, Bishop of St. Augustine, announced that the new Parish was to be named in honor of St. Theresa of Lisieux, also known at “The Little Flower”. Masses were celebrated in the convent library of St. Joseph Academy, a boarding school that the Sisters of St. Joseph had built and opened in the church grounds in 1925, while selflessly served the parish for 65 years.” From the parish website.

The parish was built in Spanish Renaissance style, typical of the architectural preferences of Henry Flagler of St. Augustine.

The nave is decorated from wall to wall with beautiful antique carvings:

Behind the original high altar is a choir loft, the back wall is actually the choir screen:

The parish is also home to precious antique German triptychs:

Detail of a monstrance depicting the four evangelists:

The Curé D’Ars

There is an interesting collection of photographs of St. John Vianney, 100 years post-mortem, over at Idle Speculations. Definitely worth a visit!

World’s Largest Monstrance

This beautiful monstrance used for perpetual adoration is 9 feet wide and features the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Sign. Located at the Church of St. Stanislaus Kostka, Chicago.

Feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin (July 15, 1850 – December 22, 1917) was born in Lombardi, Italy in 1850, one of thirteen children. At eighteen, she desired to become a Nun, but poor health stood in her way. She helped her parents until their death, and then worked on a farm with her brothers and sisters. One day a priest asked her to teach in a girls’ school and she stayed for six years. At the request of her Bishop, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to care for poor children in schools and hospitals. Then at the urging of Pope Leo XIII she came to the United States with six nuns in 1889 to work among the Italian immigrants.

Filled with a deep trust in God and endowed with a wonderful administrative ability, she soon founded schools, hospitals, and orphanages in this strange land and saw them flourish in the aid of Italian immigrants and children. At the time of her death, at Chicago, Illinois on December 22, 1917, her institute numbered houses in England, France, Spain, the United States, and South America.

In 1946, she became the first American citizen to be canonized when she was elevated to sainthood by Pope Pius XII. St. Frances is the patroness of immigrants.

Closer Look: The Globus Cruciger

In use as early as the 5th century, this sphere topped with a cross reminds of Christ’s kingship over the world, and the dominion of the Cross. If you see an image of Christ as Salvator Mundi, you will see Him holding a globus cruciger.

“The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof: the world, and all they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas; and hath prepared it upon the rivers.” -Ps 23

To the Pope of Christian Unity!

Everyday Clerics

“In a secularized and materialistic society, where the external signs of sacred and supernatural realities tend to disappear, it is particularly important that the community be able to recognize the priest, man of God and dispenser of his mysteries, by his attire as well, which is an unequivocal sign of his dedication and his identity as a public minister. The priest should be identifiable primarily through his conduct, but also by his manner of dressing, which makes visible to all the faithful, indeed and to all men, his identity and his belonging to God and the Church.

For this reason, the clergy should wear “suitable ecclesiastical dress, in accordance with the norms established by the Episcopal Conference and the legitimate local custom”. This means that the attire, when it is not the cassock, must be different from the manner in which the laity dress, and conform to the dignity and sacredness of his ministry. The style and colour should be established by the Episcopal Conference, always in agreement with the dispositions of the universal law.

Because of their incoherence with the spirit of this discipline, contrary practices cannot be considered legitimate customs; and should be removed by the competent authority. Outside of entirely exceptional cases, a cleric’s failure to use this proper ecclesiastical attire could manifest a weak sense of his identity as one consecrated to God.” (Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests, 66)

“Clerical attire reminds the priest to appropriate his identity interiorly and gives hope to the people exteriorly that “Christ” is still with them” – Fr. David Toups, Reclaiming Our Priestly Character

All Souls Day

Did your priest(s) wear black today for All Souls’?

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon them.
May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.

Memento Mori

The next two days, the feasts of All Saints and All Souls, we will be praying for all our readers and their deceased loved ones at Mass, Lauds, Vespers and Compline.

Stained Glass, Berne, Switzerland:

Medieval Rood Screens, Norfolk, England:

“Were not the LORD my help,
my soul would soon dwell in the silent grave.
When I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your mercy, O LORD, sustains me.”–Ps. 94

Sedlec Ossuary

“But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, when he shall receive me. Be not thou afraid, when a man shall be made rich, and when the glory of his house shall be increased. For when he shall die he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him. For in his lifetime his soul will be blessed: and he will praise thee when thou shalt do well to him. He shall go in to the generations of his fathers: and he shall never see light.”–Ps 48 (LXX)