For All the Saints: Perpetua and Felicity

Anyone who has studied the history of the early church has likely heard of Perpetua and Felicity and perhaps has read the classic text, The Passion of St. Perpetua, St. Felicitas, and their Companions. I think I read that account in college and then again in seminary.

The saints, martyred in 203, are honored today of Roman Catholic and Protestant calendars and on February 1 on the Orthodox calendar. The Orthodox site has this account:

"Perpetua, Felicity, Saturus, Saturninus, Secundus and Revocatus were all young catechumens living near Carthage. Perpetua was of noble birth; Felicity (Felicitas) was her slave. All were arrested under Emperor Valerian's persecution and sent to Carthage. Perpetua had a young child still at the breast, which she asked to take with her.

"The holy martyrs appeared before the tribunal and joyfully received their sentence of condemnation to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. Felicity, who was eight months pregnant, was concerned that her martyrdom might be postponed because of her pregnancy, but at the prayers of her friends, she went into labor three days before the games. As she groaned in labor, a jailer mocked her, telling her that the pain she felt was nothing to the pain that she would feel in the arena. The Saint replied, 'Here I suffer for myself; then there will be Another with me, who will suffer with me; and my sufferings will be for Him!' When she gave birth, she entrusted her newborn child to the care of a Christian couple and prepared for her end.
 
"On the day of the games, the brothers and sisters in Christ entered the arena together. The men were soon killed by the beasts, but Perpetua and Felicity, though mauled, remained alive. The impatient persecutors ordered that they be beheaded. Walking to the center of the arena, the two spiritual sisters exchanged the kiss of peace and gave up their souls to God."

Here is another account: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=48

Landscape: Israëls

Jozef Israëls, "De zandschipper" ("The Sand Bargeman"), 1887.  From: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/SK-A-2984

Landscape: Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer, "View of Delft" (1660–61).

Merton and Praise

I like this essay by Thomas Merton in hisConjectures of a Guilty Bystander (New York: Doubleday & Co, 1966), 121-122. His reference to authors I and my classmates once had to read caught my eye, then I appreciated his evocation of praise.

"The greatness of the Old Testament is beginning to be fully evident in some of the fine Old Testament theologies written by Protestant scholars like Von Rad, Eichrodt, and others. The universe of the Old Testament is a praising universe, of which [humanity] is a living and essential part, standing shoulder to shoulder with the angelic hosts who praise Yahweh: and praise is the surest manifestation of true life. The characteristic of Scheol, the realm of the dead, is that there is no praise in it. The Psalms then are the purest expression of the essence of life in this universe: Yahweh is present to His people when the Psalms are sung with triumphant vigor and jubilation... This presence and communion, this coming into being in the act of praise, is the heart of Old Testament worship as it is also of monastic choral praise. Living praise is the fullness of man's being with God and 'the mystery of the spirit' (Von Rad). But it also has a historical dimension: faith in the power of Yahweh and in His great works of mercy as well as in His promises makes history present to the singer as a theological reality and fact (again Von Rad). The theological realization of these great acts of the Lord is felt and experienced in their beauty; the magnificent power of the radiance of the Lord revealed in His saving acts takes hold entirely on the worshiper. Hence the 'transported' quality of the Psalms which we priests miss entirely when we simply mumble our way through the breviary, with no taste left for words like cantate, jubilate, exultate... Jubilate: it is a joy one cannot contain. Where is that in our liturgy today? This is the true liturgical shout of triumph, the triumph we know when divine and angelic beauty possess our whole being, in the joy of the risen Christ!...

"The beauty of God is best praised by the [ones] who reach and realize their limit knowing that their praise cannot attain to God..."

A Jewish author might say that Merton overlooks the importance of Torah and mitzvot, even purer a reflection of life's essence and purpose. Merton writes as a Roman Catholic author involved daily in worship and liturgy as well as work and reflection.

A Year's Music: Britten's "Rejoice in the Lamb"

Here is a piece that I've loved for a long time---yet another LP that I purchased at the old Chapel Square Mall in New Haven, CT in 1981 or 1982, during my div school days.

Benjamin Britten's cantata is based on Christopher Smart's poem Jubilate Agno, which in turn was written in praise of God while Smart was in an asylum. The cantata is for four soloists, choir, and organ and premiered in 1943.

Here is the text, selected from Smart's much longer poem: http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~tan/Britten/lambtext.html

There are several versions on YouTube; here is part 1 (with a link to part 2), with Choir of King's College, Cambridge, conducted by Sir David Willcocks.

For All the Saints: John and Charles Wesley

On the ELCA calendar, John and Charles Wesley are honored today as renewers of the church; they are honored tomorrow (March 3) in the Anglican communion. Here is a good site about them: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Wesley.htm

For All the Saints: David of Wales

With a little Welsh ancestry, I was interested in today's saint, David (c. 500 - c. 589), bishop of Mynyw and patron saint of Wales. Today is the Welsh holiday St. David's Day.

The Roman Catholic site has this information: "It is known he became a priest, engaged in missionary work and founded many monasteries, including his principal abbey in southwestern Wales. Many stories and legends sprang up about David and his Welsh monks. Their austerity was extreme. They worked in silence without the help of animals to till the soil. Their food was limited to bread, vegetables and water.

"In about the year 550, David attended a synod where his eloquence impressed his fellow monks to such a degree that he was elected primate of the region. The episcopal see was moved to Mynyw, where he had his monastery (now called St. David's). He ruled his diocese until he had reached a very old age. His last words to his monks and subjects were: 'Be joyful, brothers and sisters. Keep your faith, and do the little things that you have seen and heard with me.'

"St. David is pictured standing on a mound with a dove on his shoulder. The legend is that once while he was preaching a dove descended to his shoulder and the earth rose to lift him high above the people so that he could be heard. Over 50 churches in South Wales were dedicated to him in pre-Reformation days."

According to his Wikipedia page, "'Do ye the little things in life' ('Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd') is today a very well known phrase in Welsh."