F.SS.R. Seminarians in America, assisting in a Texan Cathedral

Br. Jean Marie, F.SS.R.
as Subdeacon

Br. Ivan Maria, F.SS.R.
as M.C.

This Solemn Mass was celebrated
by Father Albert Laforet
the Rector of St. Mary's Cathedral,
Austin, Texas.

[Our thanks go to The New Liturgical Movement blog]

The Passing of another Confessor, Bishop Yao of China

Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. —

Underground Catholic Bishop Leon Yao Liang 姚良主教,

the auxiliary bishop of Xiwanzi 西灣子 in Hebei 河北, died on December 30, 2009. He was 87. We have not yet learned of any funeral arrangements for his burial because the news of his death appears to have been tightly controlled by the Chinese authority..

Bishop Yao was born in 1923 in Gonghui Village 公會村, Zhangbei County 張北縣 . He was ordained a priest in 1946. After ordination, he was assigned to various churches as assistant pastor. He was restricted in the region of Xiwanzi for his priestly duty by the Communist regime in the early 1950's, earning his livelihood from vegetable farming and from selling fire wood. In 1956, he was forced to enter labor camp, and in 1958, was sentenced to life imprisonment. His "crime" was to be in communion with the Pope and with the universal Catholic Church. He was finally released from the prison in 1984 after 28 years in labor camps and prison. He was ordained a bishop on February 19, 2002 under a mandate from the Vatican.

In the meantime, we learned that three underground Catholic priests from Xuanhua 宣化, Hebei, Fathers Zhang Cunhui 張存惠 age 46, Zhang Zhanglin 張章林 age 45, and Liu 劉 (??) age 32 disappeared in June 2009. They are believed by the local Catholic community to have been kidnapped by the Government's agent and are now detained in an unknown location. Underground bishop of Xuanhua, Bishop Zhao Kexun 趙克勛, is now hiding under a government arrest warrant. Other priests are under intense pressure form the government to join the Catholic Patriotic Association, which is an independent government sponsored religious agent independent from the Vatican.

Bishop Yao, pray for us!

Epiphany, Feast of His Manifestation

Apertis thesauris suis*
obtulerunt Magi Domino
aurum, thus et myrrham, alleluia.
Opening their treasures*
the Magi offered the Lord,
gold, frankincense and myrrh, alleluia.

Rejoice in the Lord, my dearly beloved brethren;
again I say, rejoice.
For it is but a few days since the solemnity of the birth of Christ,
and the world is already illumined by the feast of His manifestation.
On this day the world acknowledges
Him who was born of a Virgin on the former feast.

known to believers

The Word made flesh so ordained His manifestation
that as a newborn Infant He would be known to believers,
but hidden from persecutors.

hidden from persecutors

Already on Christmas
the heavens were resplendent with the glory of God,
and the sound of His truth went forth to all the earth
when an army of Angels
appeared to the shepherds as messengers of the newborn Saviour,
and the guiding star began leading the Magi to adore Him.

Then it was that the birth of the true King shone over the world,
from the rising of the sun even to its setting.
For, through the Magi
both the East learned the truth of this great event,
and the Roman Empire was not left in ignorance.
[Sermon 2, Pope Saint Leo the Great]

Blessed Feast of the Epiphany to All!

MMX

Partial Lunar Eclipse
Photographed on Papa Stronsay,
First Vespers of the Octave of Christmas,
[7.00 p.m. New Year's Eve 2009]

At the Gate of the Year
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
"Give me a light
that I may tread safely into the unknown."
And he replied,
"Go into the darkness
and put your hand into the Hand of God
that shall be better to you than a light
and safer than a known way."

[Quoted by, H.M. King George VI
Christmas Message 1939]

Into the Darkness
A Lunar Eclipse
stands as a solar landmark
at the Gate of the Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ
MMX
and at the opening of the second decade of the century.
More we cannot say!
Let us put our hands into the Hand of God.

The House of Bread

Dominus dixit ad me...
The Lord hath said to me:
Thou art my Son, this day I have begotten Thee...
The First Mass of Christmas in honour of God the Son,
eternally begotton of the Father,
was celebrated in Our Lady's chapel, Stronsay.
The weather was calm.
We made the trip in our boat the Stella Maris through easy waters.
Carols at 11.00 p.m.

From the womb before the day star I begot Thee.
-Gradual, Psalm 109
The Night Mass was celebrated by Father Anthony Mary who is seen, immediately before Mass, ready to place the Infant Jesus in the manger.

Apparuit gratia Dei Salvatoris nostri...
The grace of God our Saviour hath appeared...
[Epistle: Titus 2]

...et infantem positum in praesepio...
...and the infant lying in the manger...
[Luke 2]

For twenty years now, we have decorated the refectory by laying straw on the floor and placing the image of the Infant Jesus in our midst. This year, as last year, the straw was given to us by our neighbour Mr. Don Peace. The refectory becomes a memorial of the stable of Bethlehem. During the meals over Christmas, we sing carols.

Return to the cell

The Christmas Dawn

The second Mass of Christmas,
the Dawn Mass,
is in honour of the temporal birth of Our Saviour
on Christmas morning.

Dawn Mass
Lux fulgebit hodie super nos...
A light shall shine upon us this day:
for the Lord is born to us.
[Isaias 2]

Dawn Mass
Exalta, filia Sion...
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion:
Behold thy king comes, holy, the Saviour of the world.
[Communion: Zacharias 9]

After the Dawn Masses we left Papa Stronsay for the Mass of the Day in Stronsay.
The sea was quiet.

Puer natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis...
A child is born to us, and a son is given to us...
[Introit: Isaias 9]

The Mass of the Day celebrates the Third Nativity of the Son of God,
which is His nativity for us on the altar in every Mass.
Here, Jesus is born for us under the appearances,
but only the appearances,
of bread.
Thus our little chapel becomes Bethlehem,
(which means the House of Bread,)
for here, in this house, in the tabernacle,
under the sacramental sign of Bread,
Jesus awaits us,
is physically close to us
and
comes to us in Holy Communion.
It is His Third Nativity,
the Sacramental Nativity
that we honour in the Mass of the Day
where a child is really born for us
and a son is truly given to us in every Mass.

Blessing with the image of the Infant Jesus.

Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis:
A sanctified day hath shone upon us
Come ye Gentiles and adore the Lord:
for this day a great light hath descended upon the earth.
Alleluia.
[Alleluia of the Mass of the Day]
After the Mass of the Day the sun appeared.
All is calm. All is bright.
We wish you a blessed continuation
of the Nativity of Our Lord
for the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R. and all on Papa Stronsay.

Christmas Eve

Venite Adoremus!
Come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord!

A Message of Thanks

I was asked by Mr. Pat Seeber
to thank you for the messages of condolence that were received,
and for the prayers that were offered,
at this recent time,
of the passing of Mrs. Monica Seeber into eternity.
That Mrs. Seeber died well is a consolation for us all.
We hear of so many bad deaths,
that a good death warms our hearts with hope.
It is indeed possible to die in the friendship of God.
In this vale of tears what we so long for is:
to live a holy life and to die a happy death.
(Fr. Michel Mary, F.SS.R.)

Our hearts are made for Thee O God,
and they are restless until we rest in Thee.
- St. Augustine

The Passing of Father Anthony Mary's mother

Father's Mom
-19 September, 2009 -
(left click on the photos to see them bigger)

We send our deepest sympathy
to Father Anthony Mary,
to Mr. Pat Seeber,
and to Father Anthony Mary's brothers and sister,
on the passing of
Monica Jeanne Marthe Seeber, R.I.P.,
who died today, 12 December 2009,
in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Pat and Monica
- 54 years of marriage -

The blessed parents
of
a daughter and eight sons.

Monica Jeanne Marthe Seeber

Born in Gent, Belgium, 25 April 1928
Daughter of John and Yvonne Taylor
Married Patrick Leo Seeber,
in Salisbury, S. Rhodesia, 14 May, 1955.

This morning, Saturday, 12 December, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Father Anthony Mary offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass near his dying mother and administerd to her the holy Viaticum. Mrs. Seeber’s beloved husband Pat and daughter Elise were also present. Immediately after Mass they prayed together the chaplet of Divine Mercy and then began the Holy Rosary during which Mrs. Seeber, peaceful and conscious to the very end, passed into her eternity at 11.00 A.M.

Requiem aeternum dona ea, Domine.

Et lux perpetua luceat ea. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace. Amen.

Father Anthony with his Mother, Bishop Fellay and his Father
after his Ordination to the Subdiaconate.
- 31 March, 1990 -

Mrs. Seeber receiving the First Blessing from her priestly son
on his day of Ordination.
Econe, 27 June, 1991,
Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour.

A priest, one evening, made his weary way
Into a graveyard where his mother lay;
And scarcely had he reached the humble mound
Than tears stole out to bless the hallowed ground.
Beside the humble grave the priest then knelt
To tell the sorrow that his heart then felt.
Full many a messenger of sorrow went
To make excuse that yet no monument
Stood guard o’er his mother’s sacred head,
To honour her who lay among the dead.

And then a voice came swiftly from the tomb:
“My monument was builded in my womb;
My greatest laurels, greatest praise were won
The hour that thou became my priestly son.
Behold the mothers that beside me lie,
Whose monuments point proudly to the sky
Of all these honoured mothers, everyone
Would change her tombstone for a priestly son.
Go, then, my son, and never more lament
That o’er my grave there stands no monument;
Return thou to the desert sands of sin,
And win the lost sheep to the fold again;
For all the souls in heav’n whom thou hast sent
Fore’er proclaim thee as my monument.”

Papa Stronsay Calendar

We welcome those who are visiting this blog in order to purchase the Papa Stronsay Calendar.

You can do so by clicking here.

You can read about the calendar and our monastery by scrolling down this page or by clicking here and here.

Monastery Life - The Laundry

Doing the laundry for the community is a daily job in the Monastery.




The clean, dry laundry is folded and sorted.


Each member of the community has a place on the shelves.


Once a week, on a Saturday, the clean laundry is distributed to the community.


The bags of clean laundry are placed in the small antichamber called the 'Ave Maria'.

Fixing up the Charnetsky

The Charnetsky arrived some time ago at Papa Stronsay, but has not done any serious service since it was not really in a suitable condition. Over the last few weeks, Father Anthony and David, a postulant from the United States, have been working to get it up to scratch. See some photos of the progress:


David has an engineering degree which is being put to good use!


Fitting one of the new sampson posts. Squashed in the front of the boat, David screws the nuts...


...while Father Anthony holds the bolts to stop them turning.


Sorting out the wiring...


...and a bit of painting.


There's a little way to go yet, but please God she will serve us well in the future.

Good Response to Calendars

We have had a very positive response to our newly published Papa Stronsay Calendar. The first shipment left the island just over a week ago and the following is a kind message we received by email:
"I just wanted to let you know that we today received "The Catholic" and the beautiful Calendar enclosed with it. I wanted to congratulate you on the excellent production, the very high quality of the photographs, and the tasteful layout. In particular, the photographs for January, February and August are both unusual and revealing, something refreshing to see.
... I wanted to add my voice of encouragement, and urge you to continue to produce this Calendar in future years."
Thank you, we are glad that you liked it!
If you have not yet ordered it is still possible to do so as we printed a few more copies over and above the Catholic subscription list and the already received orders.
To read about our calendar please click here.
To facilitate ordering you can now also purchase a calendar via Ebay by clicking here. Or you can use the button located on the left hand column of this blog.

A Helping Hand

A few weeks ago, a storm tore some of a local fisherman's crab boxes from their mooring in the harbour and took them out to sea. They eventually washed up on the beach on Papa Stronsay and we were asked if we could retrieve them. Local resident, fisherman and friend to the Monastery, Bill Miller, helped with the job.


The boxes were collected and then brought to the pier.


Fr. Anthony Mary, F.SS.R. and Bill sorted out the boxes. 19 boxes were lost all together...


...12 were able to be saved with their precious contents. Bill checks the contents and secures the lid.


About 7 were broken up and the crab lost.


Fr. Anthony untangled the rope...


...and then the boxes were lowered into the waiting boat.


They were then taken and put back in the sea to keep them fresh.


All done!

Newspaper and Calendar Ready to Ship

The latest Catholic is being sent out at present, but it is not too late to subscribe if you have not yet done so. Use the "Subscribe to the Catholic Newspaper" button on the left of this blog to do so. This edition is graced with a beautiful cover image of the virgin martyr St Agnes, and is, as usual, full of interesting articles, illustration and news.
With this edition each reader is also going to receive a copy of the Papa Stronsay Calendar for 2010. If you would like to order further calendars please use the "Order a 2010 Wall Calendar" button, also on the left of this blog, to do so.