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Church in Algeria postpones beatification of its 19 martyrs

Church in Algeria postpones beatification of its 19 martyrs
Many want more time to show that it's not only about honoring Christians, but also Algerian imams who died opposing Islamic fundamentalism 

Anne-Bénédicte Hoffner
Algeria
June 21, 2018



The martyrs. (Image by Thomas Georgeon)

Since the publication last January of a decree on the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie of Oran and his 18 companions who were killed in Algeria in the 1990s, the Church of Algeria has been mulling over the details of the celebration itself.

The bishops and vicars-general have recognized that their proposal to have a celebration in autumn 2018 in Oran is no longer realistic because of “organizational deadlines.”

On June 18 they met in Algiers with the apostolic nuncio and discussed the issue of holding the beatification of the 19 martyrs, including the seven monks of Tibhirine, who were murdered in the 1990s and recognized as martyrs by the Vatican on Jan. 27.

“Until now, we had been awaiting a response from the Holy See on the proposals we had made to celebrate it in Oran in autumn 2018,” they wrote in a joint message distributed among members of the Church of Algeria. “Today, the organizational deadlines no longer make this proposed date realistic.”

More time needed

“This gives us the opportunity to have more time to associate more broadly everyone concerned with the success of this celebration: the Holy See, the religious congregations, families, public authorities and local communities,” the bishops added. “The decision on the date for this celebration, therefore, cannot be made before this autumn. We shall inform you as soon as we decide,” they said.

Since Rome issued the beatification decree only in January, the bishops have realized that there is not enough time to organize such a large celebration in Algeria.

In principle, beatifications are celebrated in the country where future saints had lived.

In this case, it would be particularly meaningful to hold it where the 19 martyrs lived and chose to remain at the side of their Algerian and Muslim friends, despite the threat. They include Bishop Claverie and the Tibhirine monks, as well as four white fathers, a Marist priest and six nuns from different congregations (Our Lady of the Apostles, Augustine Missionaries, Little Sisters of the Sacred Heart and Little Sisters of the Ascension).

Many threats

But the Algerian political and religious context complicates matters. The Catholic Church is numerically very week, and even if it sees itself today as a “national” body, it is still often viewed as a foreign entity in this Muslim-majority country.

Moreover, the authorities emphasise that “national reconciliation” following a decade of violence between the military and the Islamists -- which claimed the lives of some 150,000 Algerians (though the exact number of victims is unknown) -- had led to obscuring the memory of the bloody years. And, finally, 2019 is a presidential election year.

Questions have also surfaced within the Church of Algeria concerning the date, place and details of the celebration.

Many want more time to show that it’s not only about honoring “Christians killed by Muslims, but (Christians killed) with Muslims”. They also want to include the witness of all those — journalists, teachers and even Algerian imams — who paid with their lives for their opposition to Islamic fanaticism.

A special time for Algeria

“The choice of celebrating the beatification in Algeria makes a great deal of sense, but it is also more complicated,” said Bishop Jean-Paul Vesco OP of Oran.

“That will necessarily have an impact on the celebration itself. We want it to be in the colors and dimensions of the Algerian Church and see that it centers on the Algerian Muslims,” he added.

“This is a moment for the church (the Universal Church, the Church of Algeria and the religious congregations concerned), a moment for the country and a moment for perspectives … We feel we need time to make sure they coincide...”

Additionally, the Vatican has still not indicated whether the pope will accept the invitation to visit Algeria, which the country’s bishops extended during an audience with him on Sept. 1, 2017.

In late April, the Algerian Ambassador to the Holy See, Abdelhamid Senouci Bereksi, had announced to the major Arabic-language daily Echourouk that his country had “given its agreement” to the idea.

“The [pope’s] visit is important and that’s why it must be welcomed by all Algerians, because there is a humanitarian element and sign of tolerance connected to it and will offer a positive image of our country,” he had said.

ALGERIA / Bishop Pierre Claverie, OP: a beatification rich in meaning

Bishop Pierre Claverie, OP: a beatification rich in meaning

On Friday, 26 January 2018, the Holy Father Francis received in audience His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. During the audience, the Supreme Pontiff authorized the same Congregation to promulgate the Decrees for the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie, OP, Bishop of Oran and the 18 companions, men and women religious, killed in hatred of the Faith in Algeria from 1994 to 1996

Pope Francis has decided to beatify “Bishop Pierre Claverie and his eighteen companions”, victims of the violence in Algeria in the late 1990s. Pierre Claverie, murdered on the 1^stof August 1996, was the last of the nineteen victims of the Church of Algeria, who died during the Black decade that claimed the lives of more than 150,000 Algerians. This Beatification has a powerful meaning.

-         A life to encounter others

Pierre Claverie is someone who has spent his life as a man trying to encounter the other whom he had ignored all his youth. “We were not racist, only indifferent, ignoring the majority of the inhabitants of this country… I was able to live twenty years in what I now call a 'colonial bubble', without even seeing others”, he wrote with lucidity evoking his youth in colonial Algeria where he was born. His whole life was devoted to making up for this first missed encounter, his whole life was inhabited by a real “passion for the other”.  In the cosmopolitan and globalized world which is now ours, this challenge of the encounter is more pertinent than ever. While the globalization of the economy and social networks have bought men together, murderous identities are resurfacing, barriers are emerging between people, seeming to slow down the progress of the post-war (UN, Europe, etc.). Pierre Claverie reiterates the happiness that there may be in the encounter of the other, the different. It is a powerful message for countries tempted to shut their doors as migrants are knocking at their doors.

-         The Muslim is also a brother in humanity

Today the other who is scary is often the Muslim. There are objective reasons for this: the rise of a political Islam, the horrors of al-Qaeda and Daech, the suffering of the Christians of the East, the weight of the clichés in the media. But the fear of the Muslim is often irrational, visceral and prevents a real encounter. The Church of Algeria had to make a real conversion after the political independence of the country in 1962. While its presence was hardly justified by the small number of faithful, it wanted to put itself at the service of the Algerian people and become a Church of encounter. Bishop Henri Teissier, former Archbishop of Algiers, close friend and confidant of Pierre Claverie, even called it “a church for Muslim people”. “The keyword of my faith today is dialogue; not by tactics nor by opportunism, but because dialogue is constitutive of the relationship of God to men and men to each other”, written by Pierre Claverie who disliked the superficial dialogue of convenience. True dialogue, in his eyes, is demanding, it supposes to recognize the uniqueness of the other and to want to enrich our differences. The passion of his life was to discover what the next Muslim Algerian could teach him, including the search for God. Without syncretism, without easy unanimity.

-         The taste of friendship and a plural, non-exclusive humanity

Coming from a Mediterranean background, Pierre Claverie had a warm temperament which allowed him to make beautiful friendships. Learning the Arabic language, he had particularly sought to “learn Algeria”, to be part of it and feel like his Algerian friends. He did it with passion during the decades after independence where everything was to be built in this country. There he put all his talents and his whole heart, engaging in projects of solidarity and development. But he did it also in the dark hours, when violence fell on the country, killing all those who had the taste of what he calls “a plural, non-exclusive humanity”, an Algeria where difference is perceived as a richness and not as a threat. Refusing the caution that his friends advised him, Pierre Claverie had publicly declared his solidarity with the Algerians, writers, artists, intellectuals, who fought for an open and plural Algeria. The destiny of the Algerian women was particularly close to his heart. He paid for it with his life. This beatification is not, therefore, a way of setting the Christian victims apart from a tragedy that has left tens of thousands dead. This should be on the contrary, as Bishop Jean-Paul Vesco, successor of Pierre Claverie in Oran, said, an opportunity to celebrate the loyalty of a Church which has wanted to remain in solidarity at the time of the ordeal and therefore to celebrate the friendship with the Algerians.

-         A life given for love

The meaning of this testimony must therefore be clear: the 19 “martyrs” of the Church of Algeria are not beatified because they were murdered, but first because they chose, in times of danger, to remain in complete freedom, despite the risks, “beside the sick friend, holding his hand, placing a wet cloth on his forehead”, as Pierre Claverie wrote after the death of the monks. It is the testimony of love for Christ, for the Church and for the Algerian people that they have given, that the Church wants to recognize, to celebrate by using them as examples for the universal Church where all those who are on the path need role models who can show them the way.

-         Role models for our time

To beatify together these nineteen witnesses of faith and love is rich in meaning. Pierre Claverie, Christian of Chergé, brother Christophe have written a lot of the meaning of their life. Most of the others, especially the nuns, have lived their testimony in discretion and humility, but it is absolutely the same testimony that is given. The Church therefore offers us as examples of the men and women whom we can feel close to. These are role models of holiness for our time.

It is a grace for the entire Church. We hope that Algeria is thus encouraged in its work of healing and reconciliation.

Summary Biography 

Pierre Claverie was born in Bab el-Oued the 8^th of May 1938, in colonial Algeria. His family resided in this country for five generations.

When he left for France in 1958, in the middle of the “battle of Algiers”, to begin his university studies, he becomes aware of having lived until then in a colonial bubble, ignoring the other, the Algerian Muslim, seen only through clichés. An intense deep search leads him to religious life in the Dominican Order.

At the end of his studies in philosophy and theology, he returns to Algeria in July 1967 and finally discovers “his” country. He learns Arabic and is passionate about discovering a newly independent country, learning the Arabic language and making many Algerian friends.

For 15 years, he is with Bishop Henri Teissier, one of the closest collaborators of Cardinal Duval, who understood that the new mission of the Church in Algeria was not to be a Church of Embassy, a survival of the past, but a church for Algeria, an Algerian Church. Its mission is not to convert Muslims, but to accompany a country that is being rebuilt and to live with the Algerians the adventure of friendship and encounter.

His clarity of analysis of situations and his spiritual depth earned him to be chosen on the 5^th of June 1981 as the Bishop of Oran, a small diocese according to the size of its faithful Christians, but very rich in nationalities who live in a special way in profound harmony with the Algerian society. When the violence descends on the country, Pierre Claverie chooses to put the structures of his diocese even more at the service of the needs of the Algerian population.

At the time of the violence of the 1990s, he made the choice to speak, in solidarity with his Algerian friends - intellectuals, artists, women - who campaign for an open, non-exclusive Algeria. His own experience allows him to speak eloquently about the meaning of encounter and friendship. In the spring of 1996, he publishes Lettres et messages d’Algérie.. His courageous words went beyond the borders and this led to his assassination on the 1^st of August 1996, a few weeks after the assassination of the Trappist monks of Tibhirine who are today beatified with him. At his funeral, the massive population of Oran came to weep for “their” Bishop.

The wish of the Church of Algeria is that this beatification enhances the friendship that these witnesses of faith wanted to live with their Algerian friends.

fr Jean-Jacques PERENNES, OP

Bibliography :

1- The works of Pierre Claverie

Pierre CLAVERIE, Lettres et messages d'Algérie, Paris, Karthala, 1996, 222 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE and the bishops of Maghreb, Le Livre de la Foi, Révélation et Parole de 

Dieu dans la tradition chrétienne, Paris, Cerf, 1996, 157 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Donner sa vie, six jours de retraite sur l’Eucharistie, Cerf, 2003,  112 p. (Italian translation : Dare la propria vita, Meditazioni sull'Eucaristia, Edizione Dehoniane, Bologna, 2005, 126 p. ; Polish translation : Oddać życie, Beata Stefaniak, W drodze, Poznań, 2005, 142 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Il est tout de même permis d’être heureux, Lettres familiales 1967-

1969, edition presented, drawn up and annotated by Eric Gustavson, Cerf, 2003, 688 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Petit traité du dialogue et de la rencontre, Cerf, 2004, 166 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Je ne savais pas mon nom. Mémoires d'un religieux anonyme, Cerf, 2006, 181 p. (Italian translation : Non sapevo il mio nome. Memorie di un religioso anonimo, Bologna, Edizioni Dehoniane, 2008, 174 p.)

Pierre CLAVERIE, Cette contradiction continuellement vécue. Lettres familiales 1969-1975, Paris, Cerf, 2007, 800 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Un vescovo racconta l'Islam, a cura di Alberto Ambrosio, ESD, Bologna, 2007,149 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Humanité plurielle, Paris, Cerf, 2008, 336 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Marie la vivante. Sept jours de retraite avec Marie, Paris, le Cerf, 2008, 218 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Petite introduction à l'islam,  Paris, Cerf, 2010, 120 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Quel bonheur d'être croyant. Vie religieuse en terre algérienne, Paris, Cerf, 2012, 304 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Là où se posent les vraies questions, Lettres familiales 1975-1981, Paris, Cerf, 2012, 782 p.

Pierre CLAVERIE, Una voz entre dos orillas, Salamanca, Editorial San Esteban, 2012, 254 p.

2- The works on Pierre Claverie :

Jean-Jacques PERENNES, Pierre CLAVERIE, un Algérien par alliance, Paris, Cerf, 2000, 391 p. (Italian translation :Vescovo tra i musulmani, Pierre Claverie, martire en Algeria, Città nuova, 2004, 396 p. ; Arabic translation : Pierre Claverie, Djazaïri bel intima', Beyrouth, Ed. Paulistes, 2005, 517 p. ; American translation : A Life Poured out: Bishop Claverie of Algeria, Orbis books,  New York, 2007, 286 p. ; German translation in progress)

Patrick VINCIENNE, Prier quinze jours avec Pierre Claverie, Paris, Nouvelle Cité, 2011, 126 p. (translated in Arabic : Nsalli 15 yaoum ma’a Pierre Claverie eskof wahran el chahid, Aïn Kawa-Erbil,  2015, 115 p.

(28 January 2018)

ST. IGNATIUS of LOYOLA

HAPPY FEAST OF ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA!!!!!

Le monde des autres n'est pas un jardin de délices...

"Le monde des autres n'est pas un jardin de délices. Il est une provocation permanente à la lutte, à l'adaptation et au dépassement. Il réintroduit constamment le risque et la souffrance là où nous touchions à la paix. Aussi l'instinct d'auto-défense réagit-il en le refusant. Les uns l'oublient, suppriment toute surface de contact. Les autres s'y font, avec des personnes, des objets maniables et utilisables, les pauvres du philanthrope, les électeurs du politicien, les enfants de celui-ci, les ouvriers de celui-là : l'égocentrisme s'étourdit d'illusions altruistes. Un autre réduit son entourage à être pour lui un simple miroir. Une sorte d'instinct travaille ainsi à perpétuellement nier et appauvrir l'humanité autour de nous." 

-Emmanuel Mounier, Le personnalisme (1949)

CARMEL: Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace, (m)

Feastday:

Sunday, July 23, 2017

This feast concludes the octave of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. We honor Mary as Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace since she is the Mother of the Son of God, the Author of Grace.

‘The Blessed Virgin Mary was eternally predestined, in the context of the Incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. As decreed by divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving Mother of the divine Redeemer, His associate, uniquely generous, and the Lord’s humble servant. She conceived, bore, and nourished Christ; presented Him to the Father in the Temple; and was united with Him in His suffering as He died on the cross. In a completely unparalleled way she cooperated, by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity, with our Savior’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is Mother to us all in the order of grace’ (Lumen Gentium, the Constitution on the Church, 61).

PRAYER

God of eternal wisdom, in Your providence You willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should bring forth the Author of Grace, and take part with Him in the mystery of man’s redemption. May she obtain for us grace in abundance and bring us to the haven of everlasting salvation. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Blessed Annette Pelras, OCD - Martyr of Compiegne

Annette Pelras : bienheureuse martyre, native du Lot

Morte sur l’échafaud sous le Régime de la Terreur.

Publié le 16 Août 15 à 7:30

Annette Pelras, une figure chrétienne Lotoise.

En août 2001, était publié un ouvrage sur Annette Pelras, à la mémoire de Romain Masbou, son auteur notoirement connu à Cajarc, préfacé par Mgr Gaidon, évêque de Cahors. Cette parution comportait un chapitre signé de Michel Palis qui l’avait rédigé initialement sous forme d’article publié dans la presse régionale. Il était mentionné « secrétaire des Amis de Villefranche et du bas-Rouergue », ce qui nous permet de dater son écrit en 1976, où il séjournait en Aveyron…Habitant aujourd’hui la maison voisine de la bienheureuse Annette, nous publions sa version des faits sur la tragédie vécue par les carmélites de Compiègne. Nous y ajouterons ultérieurement un document inédit sur la vocation religieuse de sa famille.

Le calvaire de Compiègne

Le destin des Carmélites de Compiègne, exécutée sous la Terreur, en juillet 1794, appartient à l’immortalité figée des drames de l’Histoire.

Adaptée dans l’oeuvre de Mme Gertrude Von Le Fort, « la Dernière à l’échafaud » constitue toujours le plus fidèle et peut-être le plus précieux des documents. Surtout par les sources d’information puisées dans les archives de la bibliothèque de Munich, la description du récit empreint d’atmosphère, de tension et de contraste garde les effets de l’étude sérieuse et colorée d’authenticité.

Entre la lumière des poésies religieuses et les ombres de la sentence, la « Dernière à l’échafaud » inspire « les dialogues des Carmélites » de Georges Bernanos. Voici le chef-d’œuvre d’une littérature contemporaine qui n’interprète pas le témoignage historique mais transpose l’anecdote dans l’univers sublime de la pensée, avec l’intention de glorifier la sainteté des martyrs.

Il n’y a pas beaucoup de mise en scène aussi pathétique, pas beaucoup de roman aussi exaltant et captivant que le mélange de sordide et de grâce évoqué par Bernanos, au sujet du conflit spirituel, dans l’action révolutionnaire.

C’est là, du coup, obéir à une envie de mieux approfondir la biographie d’une religieuse carmélite de Compiègne : sœur Marie Henriette, dite dans le monde, Annette Pelras, née à Cajarc, diocèse de Cahors, le 16 juin 1760.

Grâce à un prêt de manuscrits du curé de Cajarc, il eût été dommage de méconnaître la vie exemplaire d’une enfant du Quercy, célèbre à juste titre.

L’implacable accusation

Au cours des siècles passés, les chrétiens disgraciés, les humbles, les vaincus de la foi romaine avaient su révéler l’intensité des souffrances et les sacrifices de leur existence, voués aux sérénités profondes et mystiques de l’âme. Les religieuses Carmélites de Compiègne, victimes de l’intransigeance de la Terreur, devaient subir les jalousies, les haines et les « arrangements » suicidaires du régime politique. Par décrets établis respectivement le 2 novembre 1789 et le 20 avril 1790, l’Assemblée Nationale disposait des biens ecclésiastiques, devenus propriétés de la Nation, et ordonnait aux Assemblées de district d’établir l’inventaire des biens de chaque couvent. Dès lors, les religieux obéissaient, devenant les auxiliaires d’une disposition révolutionnaire, sinon abdiquaient pour survivre dans la clandestinité. Et ces réfractaires, une fois retrouvés, risquaient des châtiments funestes en punition de leur zèle.

Ce fut le 4 août 1790 que les membres du Directoire du district de Compiègne se présentèrent chez les Carmélites. Ils dressèrent l’inventaire de leur mobilier, titres et papiers, en attendant qu’ils revinssent pour procéder à un interrogatoire. Deux ans plus tard, en septembre 1792, l’État s’appropriait tous leurs biens et chassait les Carmélites de leur couvent. Bien qu’elles fussent séparées dans plusieurs maisons, les servantes de Dieu continuaient à vivre en communauté. Puis, peu à peu, les événements se dégradèrent. Le 12 juillet 1794, les autorités compiégnoises reçurent l’arrêt de la Convention Nationale pour la traduction des religieuses au tribunal révolutionnaire de la capitale. Deux voitures garnies de paille furent réquisitionnées, l’après-midi de ce même jour. Les sœurs, qui venaient d’achever leur lessive, déjeunèrent en silence lorsque le maire et ses adjoints les interpellèrent. Le 13 juillet, les pénitentes arrivèrent à la Conciergerie. Elles appartenaient au groupe de trente-cinq personnes (dont cinq échapperaient à l’échafaud) appelées à comparaître devant le tribunal révolutionnaire, dans la salle de la Liberté, le 17 juillet 1794. La séance était présidée par Toussaint Gabriel Scellier, frère du maire de Compiègne.

« Anne Pelras, renie tes sottes pratiques de religion »

Durant un procès mémorable, une personne se distingua sans en donner la prétention par son caractère ferme et digne de courage. Sœur Marie-Henriette, appelée péjorativement « Pelras » par l’accusateur public, Fouquier-Tinville, proclamait sa joie de mourir en défendant, de manière stoïque, la cause de sa mission. Entrée au Carmel, le 26 mars 1785, ayant accompli la prise d’habit le 8 octobre, et sa profession de foi, un an plus tard, le 22 octobre 1786, on la considérait comme une personne de devoir sur laquelle son entourage pouvait compter : c’était la paysanne élevée dans les solitudes des causses quercynois, née d’une famille de douze enfants dont quatre furent moissonnés en bas âge. Des huit qui restèrent, trois garçons et cinq filles, l’aîné des garçons se fit prêtre et mourut aumônier d’un hôpital à Figeac, les trois filles entrèrent chez les Dames de la Charité de Nevers. On pourrait y voir une coïncidence troublante avec la famille de Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux qui avait embrassé la vie religieuse de la même façon.

À l’ouverture du procès, on rapporte que sœur Marie-Henriette (Annette Pelras), entendant l’accusateur public traiter les Carmélites de fanatiques, le contraignit de s’expliquer sur ce qu’il voulait dire par ce mot. Irrité, le juge vomit contre elle et ses compagnes un torrent d’insultes. L’insolence ne répugna pas notre sœur qui reposa calmement sa question :

« Citoyen, votre devoir est de faire droit à la demande d’un condamné. Je vous demande donc de nous répondre et de nous dire ce que vous entendez par le mot fanatique ? » Elle l’amena à déclarer qu’il entendait par là leur attachement à la religion.

«  Ma Mère et mes Sœurs, vous l’entendez, c’est pour notre attachement à notre sainte religion que nous sommes accusées. Oh ! Quel bonheur de mourir pour son Dieu. »

L’exécution

La sentence de la peine de mort fut prononcée quelques heures plus tard. N’était-ce pas une impression de folie machiavélique qui dominait les débats.

La foule, rassemblée tout au long du parcours conduisant à l’échafaud, gardait un silence pesant des condamnations injustes, avec le passage lugubre des charrettes grinçant de tous les essieux rouillés. Arrivées au pied de l’échafaud, les seize innocentes entonnèrent le « Veni Creator », l’une après l’autre, renouvelant les vœux de religion.

Émissaires du diable, le bourreau et ses valets avaient l’air absent, sans témoigner ni mécontentement ni impatience… On entendit seize fois le choc de la bascule, le bruit de la lunette, la chute du couteau, le 17 juillet 1794… Après sœur Constance, la seconde victime avait été Annette Pelras. « Jamais, dira le Cardinal Villecourt, elle ne parut plus belle que lorsque, montant sur l’échafaud, elle leva pour la dernière fois vers le ciel ses regards étincelants du feu sacré qui embrasait son âme. »

D’après le témoignage de plusieurs personnes dignes de foi, notamment la Révérende Mère Portessau, sur la place de Cajarc, le 17 juillet 1794, Jean-Jacques Pelras, frère de sœur Marie-Henriette, regagnant le domicile familial, fut surpris à une heure avancée de la nuit, de se voir subitement éclairé par une lumière mystérieuse qui l’accompagna dans le corridor, l’escalier et jusque dans sa chambre, alors que les maisons avoisinantes étaient dans une complète obscurité. Ce phénomène, qui l’impressionna vivement, fut aussi remarqué par sa femme. Peu de jours après, apprenant l’exécution de sa sœur, il s’écria : « Pauvre Annette, c’est toi qui es venue me voir ! »

La famille d’Annette Pelras

Parmi les trois sœurs d’Annette Pelras qui entrèrent chez les Dames de la Charité de Nevers, l’une d’elles, la Révérende Mère Émilienne, devint Supérieure générale de cette congrégation. On trouve dans le calendrier religieux à l’usage des Sœurs de la Charité de Nevers, année 1873, une édifiante notice sur la Révérende Mère Émilienne Pelras, digne de louanges, morte en odeur de sainteté. Le même calendrier, année 1872, donne des détails extraordinaires sur la courageuse Sœur Thérèse Pelras, infirmière à l’hospice de Figeac. Nous y consacrerons prochainement un article.

A Chaplet for the Sick, the Dying, and the Departed / FOUR DECADE CHAPLET

This chaplet consists of four decades [forty beads] which refer to the tradition of the forty hours that Jesus is held to have passed, after his crucifixion, liberating the dead from sheol. 

There are also the Five introductory beads prayed as on the Dominican Rosary. 

On the beads between the decades are prayed the acts of Faith, Hope, and Love.***

On the ten small beads of each decade we pray: "Dear Mary, be with us."

Each decade is concluded with: "Hold us in your peace Dear Saviour." 

Concluding prayer:

Hold Us in your Peace
V. Hold us in your peace Dear Saviour.
(All make the sign of the Cross)
In your love Dear Father, and your peace Dear Jesus, please comfort us by your Holy Spirit: in your name we pray.
R. Amen. 

_____________________

***Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe 
that you are one God in three divine Persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
I believe that your divine Son became man 
and died for our sins and that he will come 
to judge the living and the dead. 
I believe these and all the truths 
which the Holy Catholic Church teaches
because you have revealed them 
who are eternal truth and wisdom, 
who can neither deceive nor be deceived. 
In this faith I intend to live and die. 
Amen.

Act of Hope

O Lord God, 
I hope by your grace for the pardon 
of all my sins
and after life here to gain eternal happiness
because you have promised it 
who are infinitely powerful, faithful, kind, 
and merciful. 
In this hope I intend to live and die. 
Amen.

Act of Love

O Lord God, I love you above all things 
and I love my neighbor for your sake 
because you are the highest, infinite and perfect
good, worthy of all my love. 
In this love I intend to live and die. 
Amen.

Prayers excerpted from the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. . . , © Copyright 2005 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 

Prophets of a Future Not Our Own - Cardinal Dearden / 1979 - QUOTED BY POPE FRANCIS, 21 December 2015

Prophets of a Future Not Our Own

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. 

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church's mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own. 

______________

This prayer was first presented by Cardinal Dearden in 1979 and quoted by Pope Francis in 2015. This reflection is an excerpt from a homily written for Cardinal Dearden by then-Fr. Ken Untener on the occasion of the Mass for Deceased Priests, October 25, 1979. Pope Francis quoted Cardinal Dearden in his remarks to the Roman Curia on December 21, 2015. Fr. Untener was named bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, in 1980.

A Chaplet of Our Lady of Mercy - THREE DECADE ROSARY

A Chaplet of Our Lady of Mercy

  (consists of three decades)

Beginning:

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy; our life, our sweetness and our hope! To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us; and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

On the large beads:

Mary, Mother of Grace and Mother of Mercy, hold me (Us / 'name') to your heart.

On the small beads:

Hail Mary (10x)

In conclusion:

You open your loving arms wide before us Most Merciful Mother. Thank you for your love. Amen.

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CARTHUSIAN ORDER - Book Review: "An Infinity of Little Hours"

Book Review: An Infinity of Little Hours
Vivificat! - News, Opinions, Commentary, from a Personal Catholic Perspective ^ | 29 January 2008 | Teófilo 

Posted on 2008-01-29, 6:28:29 PM by Teófilo

Reality, not hagiography. This is the best way to describe An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World's Most Austere Monastic Order, by Nancy Klein Maguire. I think it is appropriate to begin this review by stating from the start what this book is not. This is not the story of five "conventional" holy men although each one was "holy" in a particular and peculiar way. The author did not set out to inspire people to pray, to excite the faith of believers nor to draw a recruiting poster for the Carthusians – although it may indeed increase the faith of some and move them to pray more or to seek admission to this strict order—and that is always good. Nor is this book about the "technique" of contemplative prayer a la Chartreuse, nor a narrative of mystical, ecstatic events. 

An Infinity of Little Hours could be construed as an attempt at dispassionate, anthropological observation but without the jargon that accompanies this science. Nancy Klein Maguire has an obvious interest to find out what makes this tribe of men "tick" and how they coped with their unique circumstances during their travails at the Catholic Church's "most austere monastic order." She relied heavily on personal interviews which she coupled with her extensive research material and exceptional access to the Carthusian Charterhouse in Parksminster, England and her own observations, memories, and imagination to reconstruct for her readers the settings in which the eremitic lives of these five men took place in the early 1960's. As a child born in the mid-1960's who did not witness first hand most of the pivotal events of that decade, I find her reconstruction vivid and credible. She certainly held my attention. 

The five men whose monastic adventure the author narrates came from different backgrounds in Europe, Britain, Ireland, and the United States. Each one brought with them a passion, an idea, a budding vocation, and their own temperament to the task. Of the five, only one remains a Carthusian today but all of them, each in his own way and like former U.S. Marines, remain "Carthusians" to this day, forever marked by their experience. 

I found fascinating Klein-Maguire's description of the inner politics of the Charterhouse. She answered several pedestrian questions I had regarding the relationships forged and the conflicts that arose between men in this rarefied environment. If one is "silent" most of the time, what does one think? What does one do? How does that affect our perceptions of others? The author's findings were very illuminating: worldly concerns, the bread-and-butter issues of lay people, even those with a contemplative bent in the world, disappeared, subsumed in an environment focused on the pursuit of God. "Little things" such as singing in tune in choir, a careless gesture, a sustained, casual gaze on something or someone, a gruff answer, all acquired rich overtones often leading to misinterpretation, ill-will, factionalism and even spiritual, mental, and emotional disaster. Many vocations shipwrecked on these very human stumbling blocks. 

Her description of environmental stresses also caught my attention. The Charterhouse was a cold, damp place most of the year; the clothing and apparel often more a hindrance than an aid to prayer – although I freely concede that my perception is due more to my very American penchant for "improving efficiency" of all things material and spiritual and not from the just appreciation of ascetical practices in the Carthusian context. I mean, if a cell is so cold that it distracts one from prayer, why not get a more efficient wood stove and do away with the 14th century model? If manually cleaning a toilet distracts one from prayer and work, why oppose the installation of flushing toilets? Again, the author proves that when worldly concerns are removed from one's psyche, the mundane is amplified beyond size and reason in one's mind. The lesson I learned was that only those who are able to set aside even the little mundane things can succeed in their Carthusian vocation. Those who cannot will leave sooner or later; no matter how advanced they may be in the ranks of the order. Their subconscious distaste for their lives will burst forth unexpectedly, overtake them, and force them to leave. Finding that out was sobering to me, as I discover the repercussions of that insight in my own non-eremitical quest to seek the face of God...

FROM: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1961722/posts

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