Stabat Mater Menevia

Stabat Mater Menevia
We praise you O Lord and we bless you, for by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world

Monday 12 March 2012

Masses for April

Palm Saturday March 31st,  Sacred Heart, Morriston 5pm - will be a Missa Cantata

Sunday 8th April, St Therese of Lisieux, Sandfields 5pm

Sunday 15th April, St Benedict's, Clydach 2pm followed by Divine Mercy devotions & Benediction

Sunday April 22nd St Joseph's Cathedral, Swansea 12 noon

Sunday April 29th St Benedict's, Sketty, 3pm

This Lent, introduce a friend to the Confraternity of the Holy Cross

We have around 50 members comprising people who are supporters of Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

You do not have to be totally "Latin" just attend those Masses that you wish to and say each day the Confraternity prayer:

We adore Thee O Christ and we praise Thee; because by The Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

There are no subscriptions and no demands on your time. The Confraternity is the Latin Mass group for the Diocese of Menevia and operates with the full knowledge of our Bishop, Thomas Burns.

If you would like to introduce a friend or friends, please send me their email address and we will send then details of Mass venues and timings.

Thank you 

Email Richard Collins at r.collinsassoc@btinternet.com

Thursday 8 March 2012

Holy Mass next Sunday....

...will be at the Church of St Therese of Lisieux!

                   Sunday 11th March at 5pm, Sandfields, Nr Port Talbot,
                                     courtesy of Father Paul Brophy.



Govern by all Thy Wisdom, O Lord,
so that my
soul may always be serving Thee as Thou dost
Will,
and not as I may choose.
Do not punish me, I beseech Thee,
by granting that which I wish
or ask if it offended Thy Love,
which would always live in me.
Let me die to myself,
so that I may love Thee.
Let me live to Thee,
Who art in Thyself,
the True Life.

Dear St. Therese,
guide me in your Little Way,
so that I may ascend to the heights and
happiness of
Heaven.

Monday 5 March 2012

A historical note for Confraternity members

Courtesy of Last Welsh Martyr Blog

 

FORTY MARTYRS OF ENGLAND AND WALES

 
Who are the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales? They are a group of Catholic martyrs executed by the authorities during the Reformation. More than 600 Catholics, priests, laymen and women, are known to have died during the persecutions of the 16th and 17th centuries. Some offences were so trivial as to be almost unbelievable to us today. For instance, there were those who were executed for obtaining a papal license to marry. Then there was one Thomas Bosgrave. Bosgrave met on the road a priest named John Cornelius who was being taken away by the priest hunters. The priest had been hastily dragged off and was bareheaded. Thomas Bosgrave offered his cap to the priest and for this he was immediately arrested. Several months later Thomas Bosgrave was executed - for offering his cap to a priest!

The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales were selected from the hundreds who gave their lives for the Catholic Faith. As early as 1642 the first steps were taken to initiate the canonical process but owing to the ongoing persecutions the process had to be suspended. After the restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850 the Cause was resumed. Eventually, on 15th December 1929, Pope Pius XI beatified 136 of the martyrs. At last, after long and careful investigation and deliberation, three Carthusians, one Brigittine, thirteen secular priests, ten Jesuits, three Benedictines, two Franciscans, one Augustinian, four laymen and three laywomen were canonised by Pope Paul VI on 25th October 1970. Collectively, they are known as the "Forty Martyrs of England and Wales".

Before concluding this post, I think it right to remind ourselves that this unfortunate period of English history was a time of great upheaval in the country. It was a time of turmoil, suspicion, mistrust and of fear. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Protestants, Catholics and Non-Conformists all suffered for their religious beliefs, depending on who was in power at the time. Under Catholic Queen Mary hundreds of Protestants were burnt at the stake. Her father, Henry VIII, executed all who had the temerity to oppose him, notwithstanding their religious beliefs! Thank God we live in saner times, at least in this country. Surely it behoves us to pray for those who live in countries where to be a Christian still marks one out for persecution and death.