Mary Page News items give insight into our interest areas,
our outreach, and the many ways people honor Our Lady. We welcome your input
and your comments.
In preparation for the liturgical celebrations of The
Month of November, especially the feast of the Presentation of Mary in
the Temple, Mary Page offers a variety of resources inviting study,
reflection and meditation.
In his Apostolic Letter on the Rosary (Rosarium Virginis Mariae) John Paul II
expresses the desire "that during the course of this year the Rosary should
be especially emphasized and promoted in the various Christian Communities.
I therefore proclaim the year from October 2002 to October 2003, "The
Year of the Rosary." (RVM,3).
Resonating with the Pope's
wish, The Mary Page introduces a new feature called Rosary
Markings. The
purpose of this feature is to broaden our understanding and to deepen our love
for the rosary, mindful that "to recite the Rosary is nothing other
than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ" (RVM,3). Rosary
Markings will explore various facets of the rosary, namely its history, theology
and spirituality. This seems to be a worthwhile endeavor since "the
Rosary, reclaimed in its full meaning, goes to the very heart of Christian life;
it offers a familiar yet fruitful spiritual and educational opportunity for
personal contemplation, the formation of the People of God, and the new
Evangelization." (idem).
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We have posted a reflection, Evangelization
with Mary, written by our Director, Fr. Johann
G. Roten, under Meditations.
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Thesis Defense
Fr. Frank Leo, Jr., a student at the International Marian
Research Institute, successfully defended his S.T.D. thesis, The Virgin Mother in the
Treatises of Fra Girolamo Savonarola, on November 16,
2002 in the Marian Library Reading Room.
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Alumni Update
Michael Duricy, IMRI graduate and long-time webmaster for the Mary Page, is
now an independent filmmaker. He recently co-produced a documentary
short, Journey to Point Pleasant, with Robert Leach. The production
has been aired several times on Dayton-area cable access stations and is next
slated to air on CATV [channel 23 on the Miami Valley Cable Council network] on November 24 at 11:40 p.m. and November 25 at 10:00 p.m. MVCC serves the
Kettering, Oakwood, Centerville and Bellbrook areas. Readers in the
Athens, Ohio area may catch the cablecast on AMAC channel 23 on November 18 at
6:30 p.m. and November 21 at 4:30 p.m. We are also expecting
cablecasts on Yellow Springs TV in the near future. For further details on the film,
see the thorough review written by A&E Assistant Editor, Patrick Hunt, for
the 10/25 issue of U.D.'s Flyer News.
Mr.
Duricy is now certified for Field production at Dayton Access Television.
Expect A/V projects related to UD and ML/IMRI in the future. Presently,
his research database of films with content related to Mary and his streaming
versions of the Marian Library's documentary video are available through the
Mary Page web site.
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New
Exhibit
The Marian Library is currently exhibiting GOD BLESS
AMERICA: Artistic Variations on 9-11,
by John Solowianiuk. This exhibit will run from October 7 thru November 22,
2002; hours 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday or by special arrangement
[call (937) 229-4214].
Digitized photos of the items on display in the Marian Library can be seen
under Current Exhibit
in our Gallery section.
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Major
Exhibit Coming Next Year
A rare collection of art from the Vatican will be coming to UD during its
short tour. "The Mother of God: Art Celebrates Mary" will
arrive in Sept. 2003 for a two month stay in the Roesch Library first-floor
gallery and seventh-floor Marian Library Gallery.
The
multicultural exhibition includes pieces dating from the fourth century to the
20th century.
The works include a variety of mediums such as oil on
canvas and copper; tempera; gold on panel-carved sections of sarcophagi in
marble; and statuary in wood, bronze, ivory, lead and soapstone. The
artists are from several different ethnic backgrounds. Cultures of Africa,
China, Korea, Greece, Central Europe, Russia, Brazil, and the Solomon Islands are
represented. The 38-piece collection is housed
in the Vatican Museums, although many of the pieces are in areas only accessible
to scholars for study.
Aside from an extended stay at the John Paul II cultural
center in Washington, D.C., the exhibit has rarely been seen by the
public. The cost of transporting, insuring, and securing the art will be
provided through private donations.
The works are put into six categories: Eve and Mary, The
Incarnation, The Theotokos (Mother of God), Images of Prayer, Mary in Cultures
Around the World, and Walking with Mary in the Third Millennium. The
sections are introduced by writings from Pope John Paul II.
The exhibition puts emphasis on the mission of the Marian
Library/International Marian Research Institute, which is serving as the
host. It will be the second exhibit in a biennial series of international
art here at UD.
Source: "Rare Vatican art to make its way to
campus" by Meghan Roberts, published on p. 7 in Flyer News for September 27, 2002.
For more information see also the article
by Pamela Gregg in the August 22 issue of U.D.'s Campus Report.
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International Marian Research Institute
Course Schedule
The schedule
of IMRI courses for Fall 2002 - Fall 2003 is now available for view.
Courses for the Fall 2002 term completed on November 15.
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Personal thoughts and reflections
about Mary
from our readers
We've added a section to our Research and
Publications section showing selected personal comments from our readers about
the Virgin Mary. Click here
to see comments received within the past month. From this page, feel free
to submit your own personal thoughts on Mary.
We also encourage our readers to submit their
opinions on various styles of Marian Art through an on-line
art survey.
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MARIAN X: A CINCINNATI TRADITION
A concert of "Advent and Marian Music for the Journey" will be held
on Sunday, December 8, 2002 at 7:00 p.m. in Mother of God Church at 119 West 6th
Street in Covington, Kentucky. Their second concert will feature Pärt,
Vaughn-Williams, a new Magnificat by Robert Campbelle, and Charpentier's Messe
de Minuit pour Nöel. A local tradition, this concert always
celebrates beautiful music in a grand setting. Tickets: $12.
To reserve tickets, call Justin at 859-441-4715. For general or concert
information, call Chris Miller at 859-491-2363. For periodic updates visit http://home.fuse.net/cincinnaticamerata.
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You are invited to help us pray for our
Prayer Corner intentions. Please take a look! This site has
been updated and enhanced and now allows users to directly submit prayer
requests or to volunteer as a prayer partner for these intentions!
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Weeping Madonna - Perth/Australia (kath.net)
In the Australian village of Rockingham a weeping statue of Our Lady [see
left] is
causing some excitement according to the Australian media. Archbishop Barry
Hickey announced that there is no natural explanation for the tears from which
emanate a strong rose odor. Thousands of pilgrims visited the site on the first
Sunday of October. Many waited up to four hours to see the statue. Patty Powell,
the owner of the statue, said that the Madonna started to shed tears last March
and since August continues to do so without interruption.
From ZENIT
Papal Address on Psalm 86(87)
John Paul II Refers to Jerusalem, Mother of All Nations.
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 13, 2002 (Zenit.org)
Here are excerpts of John Paul II's address at the general audience, in which he
commented on Psalm 86[87], a hymn to Jerusalem, mother of all nations.
* * *
1. The song of Jerusalem, city of peace and universal mother, which we have
just heard is, unfortunately, in contrast with the historical experience that
the city is living. However, the task of prayer is to sow trust and generate
hope. …
This ecclesial reading of the Psalm opens, in the Christian tradition, to its
re-reading in a Mariological key. For the Psalmist, Jerusalem was a real
"metropolis," namely, a "mother-city," in whose interior the
Lord himself was present (see Zephaniah 3:14-18). In this light, Christianity
sings of Mary as the living Zion, in whose womb the Incarnate Word was generated
and, as a consequence, the children of God are regenerated. The voices of the
Church Fathers -- from Ambrose of Milan to Athanasius of Alexandria, from
Maximus the Confessor to John Damascene; from Cromazio of Aquileia to Germanus
of Constantinople -- are in accord in this Christian rereading of Psalm 86[87].
Now we will listen to a teacher of the Armenian tradition, Gregory of Narek
(circa 950-1010), who in his Panegyric to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary,
addresses the Virgin thus: "Taking refuge under your most worthy and
powerful intercession, we are protected, O Holy Mother of God, finding relief
and repose under the shadow of your protection as if we were protected by a
well-fortified wall: ornate wall, studded gracefully with most pure diamonds; a
wall enveloped by fire, and therefore impregnable to the assault of robbers;
sparkling flaming wall, unreachable and inaccessible to cruel traitors; a wall
surrounded on all sides, according to David, whose foundations were laid by the
Most High (see Psalm 86[87]:1,5); potent wall of the heavenly city, according to
Paul (see Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 12:22), where you welcome all as inhabitants,
because through the corporeal birth of God you rendered the children of the
earthly Jerusalem children of the Jerusalem above. Therefore, their lips bless
your virginal womb and all confess you as dwelling and temple of Him who is of
the same essence as the Father. Justly, then, the saying of the said prophet is
fitting for you: 'You were for us a house of refuge and help against the
torrents in the days of anguish' (see Psalm 45[46]:2)" ("Testi Mariani
del Primo Millennio" [Marian Texts of the First Millennium], IV, Rome,
1991, p. 589).
[At the end of the audience, the Pope gave this summary in English:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters.
Psalm 86 sings of Jerusalem, the city of peace and spiritual home of the
nations. Christian tradition sees in this Psalm a description of the new
Jerusalem, the Holy City coming down from heaven (see Revelation 21: 2, 10). The
Church Fathers have also read the Psalm in the light of Mary, who gave birth to
the Incarnate Word and is thus the mother of all the redeemed. May God's
children everywhere turn always to the Blessed Virgin in trusting hope as they
journey to their true home, the heavenly Jerusalem. …
From L’Osservatore
Romano
From L’Osservatore Romano November 6, 2002
On November 1 the Holy Father commented on the solemnity of All Saints before
he prayed the Angelus with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square. He recalled
nine saints he canonized this past year as models and examples of all the saints
for us. He also recalled Our Lady and said, "We look to the Blessed Virgin
Mary resplendent in glory in heaven whom Christ crowned Queen of Angels and
Saints. To her, the ‘sign of certain hope and comfort’ (Lumen Gentium,
n. 68), the pilgrim Church raises her eyes in the desire of being joined one day
to the triumphant church in our heavenly fatherland. To the Blessed Virgin Mary
we entrust all the faithful departed so that eternal happiness may be granted to
them."
The Holy Father preached the homily at the Mass October 25 for the opening of
the academic year of the ecclesiastical universities and faculties of Rome. At
the end he said, "May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Seat of Wisdom, always watch
over your academic communities and over each one of you. May she obtain from the
Holy Spirit, an abundance of wisdom, knowledge and intelligence for you so that,
as St. Paul says in his Letter to the Ephesians, you may be able to ‘comprehend
with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to
know the love of Christ which surpasses all understanding, that you may be
filled with all the fullness of God’ (Eph 3, 18-19)." At the beginning of
the Mass, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski thanked the Holy Father for the Letter on
the Rosary. He noted that the Church proclaims the Good News through the
cultivation of knowledge and the study of revelation and the Rosary can help to
keep the focus on the mystery of Christ.
On October 19 the Holy Father addressed the participants of the Plenary
Assembly of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church.
He underlined the contribution of art in its various forms to the new
evangelization and said the mediation of art is extremely helpful to the Church
in communicating all of the aspects of the message entrusted to her. He invoked
the maternal intercession of Mary, the tota pulchra, as he imparted his
blessing.
From L’Osservatore Romano October 30, 2002
Before the Angelus on October 27 the Holy Father commented on the Rosary as a
sure method for learning how to contemplate the face of Christ. "From Jesus’
conception until his resurrection and ascension into heaven, the Mother kept the
gaze of her immaculate heart on her divine Son: a wonderful, penetrating,
sorrowful, and radiant insight. It is this Marian look full of faith and love,
that the individual Christian and the ecclesial community make their own when
they recite the Rosary," the Pope said. He stressed the Rosary as a means
of opening hearts and minds to peace. He said, "Today, let us particularly
beg the intercession of the Mother of God, so much loved by the Russian people,
who, in these last few days, have suffered so much. While we pray for the
victims of the recent painful ordeal, let us pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary so
that such acts may not be repeated."
On the occasion of Monsignor Luigi Giussani’s 80th birthday on
October 15, the Holy Father sent him a warm Message of congratulations and best
wishes. The student movement he founded in Milan in 1954 became in 1969 the
"Communion and Liberation" Movement and Fraternity. The Pope said,
"I renew to you my heartfelt sentiments of esteem and affection. With you I
would like to embrace with a single glance these 80 years to entrust them to
Mary, our heavenly Mother, whom you have been careful to point out to everyone
as the favourable path for meeting Jesus and serving him faithfully."
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The director and editors of Mary Page under the auspices of the International Marian Research
Institute do not necessarily endorse or agree with the events and ideas expressed in this feature.
Our sole purpose is to report on items about Mary gleaned from a myriad of papers representing
the secular press.
Not posted this week. Expect an update to this section next
week.
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Our Mary Page web site is updated frequently.
Please stop in again and see what's new.
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November 15, 2002
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