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Showing posts with the label Pope Gregory III

Solemnity of All Saints [All Saints' Day] 2019

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Today the Church celebrates all the saints, canonized and beatified, as well as those known only to God who are in heaven enjoying the beatific vision. During the early centuries the saints venerated by the Church were all martyrs. Later Popes set November 1st as the day for remembering the saints' holy example. The Commemoration of All Saints was first celebrated in the Eastern Church. The feast was initially observed in the West starting in the 8th century. The Roman Martyrology mentions that the current date was first promulgated by Gregory IV (827-844) and that he extended this observance to the whole of Christendom. It seems certain, however, that Pope Gregory III (731-741) preceded him in this. Meanwhile, in Rome, on May 13th, there was the annual commemoration of the consecration of the basilica of St. Maria ad Martyrs (or St. Mary and All Martyrs). This was the former Pantheon, the temple of Agrippa, dedicated to the gods of paganism, to which Boniface IV had translat

Solemnity of All Saints [All Saints' Day] 2017

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Today the Church celebrates all the saints, canonized and beatified, as well as those known only to God who are in heaven enjoying the beatific vision. During the early centuries the saints venerated by the Church were all martyrs. Later Popes set November 1st as the day for remembering the saints' holy example. The Commemoration of All Saints was first celebrated in the Eastern Church. The feast was initially observed in the West starting in the 8th century. The Roman Martyrology mentions that the current date was first promulgated by Gregory IV (827-844) and that he extended this observance to the whole of Christendom. It seems certain, however, that Pope Gregory III (731-741) preceded him in this. Meanwhile, in Rome, on May 13th, there was the annual commemoration of the consecration of the basilica of St. Maria ad Martyrs (or St. Mary and All Martyrs). This was the former Pantheon, the temple of Agrippa, dedicated to the gods of paganism, to which Boniface IV had translat

Saint Boniface, "the Apostle of the Germans"

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June 5th is the memorial of St. Boniface, the 8th century missionary and martyr. The Benedictine monk was chosen by divine Providence to become Germany's great apostle and patron. Boniface's first missionary endeavor was unsuccessful. Before attempting a second he went to Rome for papal authorization. Under the holy bishop Willibrord he converted Frisia (Prussia) within a period of three years. On November 30, 722, Boniface was consecrated bishop by Pope Gregory II. In 724 he turned his attention to the Hessian people, among whom he continued his missionary activity with renewed zeal. On an eminence near the village of Geismar on the Eder, he felled a giant oak that the people honored as the national sanctuary of the god Thor. Boniface used the wood to build a chapel in honor of Saint Peter. This courageous act assured the eventual triumph of the Gospel in Germany. The resident clergy and the priests dwelling at the court, whose unworthy lives needed censure, were consta