August 21, 2010 – 11:54 am
On 21 August 1863, the Sacred Congregation of Rites prohibited the placing of the Blessed Sacrament in what was called a Sacrament House.
For much of Catholic History there were no uniform regulations regarding the placement of the Blessed Sacrament other that the location where the Sacrament was kept be secure and visible. Some churches kept the Blessed Sacrament in the sacristy, some in receptacles above the altar, some in tabernacles on the altar and some in cabinets in walls constructed like a tower called the “Sacrament House”. Sacrament Houses were particularly popular in churches built in medieval Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium.
These towers would be close to the altar but not attached to it. Usually on the north side of the church. The Blessed Sacrament would be kept behind a door of metal lattice so that the faithful could see the reserved Sacrament at all times.
The chief reason why the Sacred Congregation of Rites came to prohibit Sacrament Houses was the desire to move to the common use of tabernacles as the proper location for the placement of the Blessed Sacrament.
Here are some examples of Sacrament Houses.
August 20, 2010 – 8:21 am
On 20 August 1308, Pope Clement V secretly absolved the Knights Templar of the charges brought against them by the Inquisition.
The Knights Templar had been one of the largest of the medieval Catholic military orders and had acquired a great deal of political and financial influence in Europe. French King Philip IV, who owed the Templars a significant amount of money, used rumors about the secret rituals of the Templars to bring charges of heresy against them. He wanted to suppress the Templars in Europe and to obtain their wealth for himself. He brought a good deal of pressure against Pope Clement V to support his attacks against them. In 1307, many Templars in France were forced to give false confessions and burned at the stake.
The Chinon Parchment reveals that Pope Clement V gave the Grand Master of the Templars and other heads of the Templars absolution from the charges of heresy and permission to receive the sacraments. At this time, Clement still hoped to be able to save the Templars from the wrath of Philip IV. However, Philip threatened military action against Clement if he did not dissolve the Templars and at the Council of Vienne in 1312 issued the bull Vox in excelso – which abolished the Order of Templars on the grounds of the many scandalous accusations which had been brought against them. Though, Clement V also noted that his decision to abolish the Templars “[was] not without bitterness and sadness of heart”.
The Chinon Parchment
August 19, 2010 – 7:43 am
While several teenagers in the village of Kibeho, Rwanda claimed to be experiencing visions of the Mother of God and Jesus Christ since 1981, it was on the 19th of August 1982 that the visionaries claimed to experience the most intense visions of rivers of blood, terrible violence and other images which some now believe was a foreshadowing of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
Between the 6th of April and mid-July 1994, at least 800,000 Tutsis and pro-peace Hutus were killed in the Rwandan Genocide. At the school where the visions reportedly took place, dozens of children were hacked to death including some of the visionaries.
Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro, Rwanda approved public devotion linked to the apparitions of Our Lady of Kibeho on the 15th of August 1988 and declared their authenticity on 29th of June 2001.
Among the promising signs [of religious renewal in Rwanda], there is the increase in the devotion to Our Lady of Kibeho, whose apparitions have been recognized by the local Bishop, for the past four years. The central message of these apparitions was conversion while there is still time. After the genocide, this message was understood as a premonition that the Mother of the Word addressed to us, twelve years before the catastrophe. Thus, the Virgin Mary is always next to her Son who gives Himself in sacrifice for the salvation of men, His brothers.
– Bishop Frédéric Rubwejanga of Kibungo, Rwanda
August 18, 2010 – 9:39 am
On 18 August 1792, Prince Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin set sail from Rotterdam, Holland. He would arrive in Baltimore, Maryland on the 28th of October.
Though he was a Russian prince, Demetrius sailed under the name of Smith in order to reduce his expenses and for some time was known as Augustine Smith in the United States. Though he had been born Orthodox, through the influence of his mother he converted to Catholicism in 1787 and when he arrived in the United States he entered into St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore as one of its first students. He would be the first priest to receive all of his orders from tonsure to the priesthood in the United States.
Gallitzin would later travel to Pennsylvania, settling in the town he called Loretto which would become the first English speaking Catholic settlement west of the Allegheny Front. While Gallitzin was suggested for several episcopal positions in Pennsylvania and Ohio, he was never ordained to the episcopate. After his death he was named Servant of God.
Official website for the canonization of Father Gallitzin
August 17, 2010 – 11:13 am
On 17 August 1498, Cesare Borgia became the first man to ever resign from the cardinalate.
Cesare’s father, Pope Alexander VI, had placed many of his children into church offices. Cesare was made bishop of Pamplona when he was 15 and raised to the cardinalate at 18. However, Cesare himself did not desire a church career and when his brother Giovanni mysteriously died, some blamed Cesare for the death, Cesare saw the opportunity to inherit his brother’s position as captain general of the armies of the papacy. Cesare was 23 when he resigned the cardinalate.
With the approval of Pope Alexander VI, Cesare resigned from the cardinalate to pursue a secular and a military career. As long as Alexander VI was pope, Cesare’s position was secure, but with Alexander’s death and the rise of anti-Borgia popes such as Pius III and Julius II – Cesare found himself imprisoned and then exiled.
August 16, 2010 – 10:09 am
On 16 August 944, the miraculous “Image of Christ not made by human hands” also known as the Holy Image of Edessa and the Holy Mandylion was transferred to the city of Constantinople.
The Holy Image is a square of cloth on which was reportedly an image of the face of Christ. It is often called the first icon.
According to Christian legend, King Agbar of Edessa had written Jesus asking him to come to his land to cure him of an illness. Jesus did not go to Edessa but sent him a letter promising that one of his disciples would come and also sent King Agbar the cloth on which Jesus had imprinted and image of his face.
In 944, the forces of the Byzantine Empire lay siege to the city of Edessa, at that time under the control of the Muslims. They Muslims exchanged the Holy Image for 200 Muslim captives and 12,000 pieces of silver. Emperor Romanus I ordered that the Image be brought to Constantinople and it was placed in the Tharossa Church of the Holy Mother of God on the 16th of August.
The Holy Image was later taken from Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade and brought to Paris during the reign of Louis IX. It disappeared during the French Revolution.
More on the Holy Image
August 15, 2010 – 11:12 pm
A long time ago, the Tarasque was a terrible monster terrorizing the people of Nerluc. Today, the Tarasque is a popular figure for the people of Southern France and Northern Spain along with being friend to all children.
Links:
Video of the Tarasque festival [in French]
Photo of La Tarasca by Chosovi
The Tarasque and the Tarascaires
Post card with a child dressed as St. Martha leading the Tarasque
Be sure to check out the CUTH blog for more on the history of the Catholic Church
Also check out the other great podcasts at the Starquest Production Network
Send e-mail questions and comments to catholicunderthehood@gmail.com or leave voice mail at 1 740 936 4354
To listen, just click on the link below:
#242 – The Tarasque
August 15, 2010 – 2:25 pm
On 15 August 1209, the city of Carcassone fell to the armies of Papal legate Arnaud Amaury.
The siege and capture of Carcassone was part of the Albigensian Crusade called by Pope Innocent III. The Albigensians or Cathars inhabited southern France. The Cathars did not accept the doctrine and teachings of the Catholic Church. They believed that there were two forces or gods – one that created the material world and was evil and the other who was pure spirit and was good. Since the good god was pure spirit, they denied the possibility of anything like the incarnation or the crucifixion – good spirit could not join evil matter. They also attacked what they called the corruption of the Catholic Church.
The Albingensians or Cathars did not take these names upon themselves. They were called Cathars [or Pure Ones] or Albigensians [for the French town of Albi where many of the Cathars lived] by others.
The spread of Albigensianism alarmed the Pope and he sent St. Dominic and his followers to call the Albigensians back to orthodox Catholicism. However, these missionary efforts did not meet with much success. After one of the Pope’s legates was murdered by a suspected Cathar, Pope Innocent III called for a Crusade against the Albigensians and promised their land to any who would wage war against them
Several towns were taken by the Crusaders. The Crusaders destroyed the town of Béziers, killing thousands of Cathar and Catholic alike.
While the town of Carcassone was strongly defended, it was full of refugees who had fled the Crusade. It fell on August 15. While the townspeople were not killed, they were forced to leave the town. One source says they were forced to leave the town naked, another says they were forced to leave “in their shifts and breeches”.
While the Crusade officially ended in 1229, the Catholic Church continued to act against the Cathars through the use of the Inquisition.
August 14, 2010 – 1:31 pm
On 14 August 1880, the Cologne Cathedral, the Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria, was finally completed. Construction on the cathedral had begun in 1248, 632 years earlier.
There had been an older cathedral dating back to the 6th century on the site, but this had been torn down in the 9th century to construct a second cathedral. The second cathedral burned down on 30 April 1248.
When construction on the third cathedral began on 15 August 1248, it was intended to house the relics of the Three Kings which had been obtained by the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa. For the next several centuries work on the cathedral was completed bit by bit – first the eastern arm of the cathedral in 1322. The south tower was completed in 1473. Intermittent work continued until the 16th century before ceasing only to be renewed during the 19th century as a result of the Romantic movements attraction to all things medieval. The renewed construction had the support of the Protestant Prussian government who hoped that such assistance would improve relations with its Roman Catholic subjects.
When the cathedral was completed, it inspired a national celebration attended by Emperor Wilhelm I.
During WWII, the cathedral suffered bombing attacks but was not destroyed. Some accounts assert that the twin towers of the cathedral were used by Allied bombers as landmark for guiding their bombing missions.
The cathedral continues to be famous as an example of Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage site.
The Website of the Cathedral
August 13, 2010 – 9:45 am
On 13 August 1099, Pachal II began his papacy, succeeding Pope Urban II.
Paschal’s major concern during his papacy was in upholding the right of the Pope to invest bishops with their authority. Several European rulers sought to place their own supporters in power as bishops so as to ensure that the bishop’s loyalty would be with the secular ruler than with the pope. In this area, Paschal II found himself in conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V and English king Henry I.
Paschal II tried to end the problem of lay investiture by forbidding all bishops from accepting any land or privileges from a secular authority and instead to depend upon alms for their livelihood. However, many bishops enjoyed their estates and rulers like Henry V wanted control over the bishops. Henry V would hold Paschal II in prison for two months until he forced him to grant the emperor the power to invest bishops. Paschal’s concession would in turn lead to great outrage from church reformers and a council held in 1112 would hold that any concessions granted by Paschal II were void because they had been by means of violence. As for Paschal, he felt obliged to keep his promise to Henry. As such the matter of investiture would remain unresolved during Paschal’s papacy.
Paschal II also ordered the rebuilding of the basilica of Santi Quattro Coronati after it had been destroyed by the Normans in 1084 and appointed the first bishop of North America – Erik Gnupsson to the province of Greenland and Vinland [Newfoundland].
Pascal II’s attempt to require bishops to live without secular privileges
catholicunderthehood.com 
