Post by Séamus on Jul 26, 2020 7:32:09 GMT
On the feast of St Declan last week I learnt,via a quick flash on news services, that thirteen Sisters in a single Michigan convent had passed away within a month, reportedly of covid19.
A columnist recently remarked that the illness has displayed a renewed interest in the elderly worldwide. Whatever one thinks of all the rules and restrictions,the vulnerability of aged care institutions whenever something like this appears can't be denied,but one can't help feeling that a certain irreplaceability coming from the dynamics of change adds salt to the wounds these days also- particularly obvious in the case of women religious. I'm not sure how the Felician Sisters are going,but a future generation is never assured in congregations,with parallels running through many areas in today's society.
Tying in with the desecularization of Hagia Sophia, HungaryToday ran a story this week about Eastern Saint, Piroska,born in modern Hungarian territory who had put away and empress' life to become a nun. The monastery she founded is now Zeyrek Mosque and had never been secularized into a museum at all. A mosaic of her,still wearing her viceregal finery, currently graces Sophia's walls for now. A worse case scenario would see western nations also left with depictions of consecrated persons,and pictures alone.
In Raphael's version of the Transfiguration he unusually painted also the event's sequel,the cure of the demonic boy,with the artist deciding to make a mysterious woman a central figure. It's probably for artistry's sake, but the idea of a nameless lady who seems to understand both sides is worth meditation. Figures such as Héloïse and the author of Letters of a Portuguese Nun stand as historical reminders of religious as people of their time,maybe not called to be quite as worldly as these and possibly not called to concentrate on world-engaging to the extent that institutes have in our era, yet there's something in the event of a convent of ladies who had long given up the world being half wiped out that catches attention.
For some reason I often remember two characters in a Dickens novel whenever a chapel, priest, missionary,etc appears in a major disaster or act of violence. Our Mutual Friend's Mr Headstone was one of the most dark and unfortunate of the creations of the author, who decided to make Bradley's life irremediable, while Miss Peecher continued her life remarkably untouched by the drama around her, despite her fondness for Headstone and his final gesture to her. Catholicism will often seem to be a Miss Peecher,removed or intermediate in the dramas that others deem so necessary;other times,like the Felician Sisters (RIP) to be an unfortunate Bradley Headstone,in the thick of everything
A columnist recently remarked that the illness has displayed a renewed interest in the elderly worldwide. Whatever one thinks of all the rules and restrictions,the vulnerability of aged care institutions whenever something like this appears can't be denied,but one can't help feeling that a certain irreplaceability coming from the dynamics of change adds salt to the wounds these days also- particularly obvious in the case of women religious. I'm not sure how the Felician Sisters are going,but a future generation is never assured in congregations,with parallels running through many areas in today's society.
Tying in with the desecularization of Hagia Sophia, HungaryToday ran a story this week about Eastern Saint, Piroska,born in modern Hungarian territory who had put away and empress' life to become a nun. The monastery she founded is now Zeyrek Mosque and had never been secularized into a museum at all. A mosaic of her,still wearing her viceregal finery, currently graces Sophia's walls for now. A worse case scenario would see western nations also left with depictions of consecrated persons,and pictures alone.
In Raphael's version of the Transfiguration he unusually painted also the event's sequel,the cure of the demonic boy,with the artist deciding to make a mysterious woman a central figure. It's probably for artistry's sake, but the idea of a nameless lady who seems to understand both sides is worth meditation. Figures such as Héloïse and the author of Letters of a Portuguese Nun stand as historical reminders of religious as people of their time,maybe not called to be quite as worldly as these and possibly not called to concentrate on world-engaging to the extent that institutes have in our era, yet there's something in the event of a convent of ladies who had long given up the world being half wiped out that catches attention.
For some reason I often remember two characters in a Dickens novel whenever a chapel, priest, missionary,etc appears in a major disaster or act of violence. Our Mutual Friend's Mr Headstone was one of the most dark and unfortunate of the creations of the author, who decided to make Bradley's life irremediable, while Miss Peecher continued her life remarkably untouched by the drama around her, despite her fondness for Headstone and his final gesture to her. Catholicism will often seem to be a Miss Peecher,removed or intermediate in the dramas that others deem so necessary;other times,like the Felician Sisters (RIP) to be an unfortunate Bradley Headstone,in the thick of everything