Abbey-Roads2

Gay-ing the saint…

How did this come to be? For centuries, classical painters took the martyrdom of St. Sebastian for their subject in art. It became an opportunity to paint the male nude, exercising the pagan notions of the beauty and excellence of the human body, without censure from the Church.

The saint is always represented devoutly accepting martyrdom, often heroically gazing ecstatically towards heaven. There is absolutely no connotation of eroticism in these more ancient depictions of the saint. He was, after all, a young soldier of athletic build, hence his patronage of athletes, soldiers and policemen, as well as inspiration to young boys and men. (For an in-depth view of St. Sebastian in art, go to “Iconography of St. Sebastian” - be careful of the 20th century content however.)

Unfortunately, modern artists, as well as writers, have ascribed a homoerotic dimension to the iconography of St. Sebastian, which is nothing less than sacrilegious, if not blasphemous. Naturally, throughout the ages, some painters may have been interested in the male nude from a homoerotic impulse, indeed, perhaps these men themselves were homosexuals. However, I do not believe for a minute they thought of Sebastian as either gay or the patron saint of gays, as modern gay people like to claim.

I’m convinced the modern claims by gay people that Sebastian is their patron, and myths concocted to prove he was gay, emanate from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The writings of Thomas Mann, Oscar Wilde, as well as the art of Aubrey Beardsley, seem to attest to this “coming out” party in literary and artistic circles. Of course there is evidence throughout the ages of homosexuality in society and the arts, nevertheless, the 20th century must be understood as the time in modern history that the subculture eventually became a more or less socially acceptable behavior.

Since the 1930’s gay people have been claiming historical personages as their own. Therefore, it is not surprising, in the later half of the 20th century, icons and patron saints have been re-scripted to enhance the spiritual vacuum of gay people’s lives. (Visit this site purporting to promote saints who were gay.)

Contemporary images of the saint are often vulgar, if not pornographic, reflecting the highly sexualized aspect of gay culture. It seems to me, St. Sebastian is a safe way to eroticize religious devotion, while for the most part avoiding the ultimate blasphemy of likewise representing Christ in the various aspects of His Sacred Passion. Of course, that is not to say that this has not already been done. It has.

As Catholics, abiding in communion with the Saints, we must preserve the authentic veneration of the saints, clarifying why they are saints, and protest any political force who would mock or defame, or use our brothers and sisters in glory to promote a life of sin, much less, sell a product.

A homosexual may indeed take St. Sebastian as his patron, provided he does not impute this sin to the saint, and looks to the martyr for strength to overcome his disordered inclination.

The feast of St. Sebastian is January 20th, shared with St. Fabian.

Some celebrate today as the feast day of the humble lay brother, St. Charles of Sezze, others celebrate on the 7th of January - I believe the difference may be attributed to older Franciscan calendars in use by the three different groups, OFM, Capuchin, Conventual. It works for me that his feast is today.

Following after the example of the great lay-brother saints, St. Salvatore of Horta, and St. Pascal Baylon, St. Charles exclaims in his autobiography, “Our Lord put in my heart a determination to become a lay brother with great desire to be poor and to beg alms for His Love.”

He died in 1670 and is buried at Rome in the Church of St. Francis.

St. Charles of Sezze also was a writer. He wrote about the moment when the Spirit brought him into “another kind of prayer, more interior and heartfelt”:

“Our Lord started showing me His mercy in this manner when one day I was praying before a painting of the Madonna in the church of the Jesuit Fathers in Sezze… The image became so fixed in my heart and mind that I was completely inflamed with love… I was changed into another person, losing thought and intellect in the divine light. Like one dazed I rested in my enjoyment and my soul was very content.

The change that came over me through this kind of prayer was very great. By the divine grace in it I was interiorly taught to do everything for God, and I came to understand that without divine help our works are really nothing and have no value, even though performed with all possible exactness.”

(Note on the art: I obtained this restored image off an Italian site, hence the writing, “opera dopo il restauro”.)

It is said that St. Charles died of natural causes, but I have adopted him as the patron saint of prostate cancer and afflictions associated with prostate disease. I need him now.

The temptation of St. Anthony in the desert.

I completely forgot that today is the feast of St. Anthony of Egypt. I attribute it to the pain meds I have had to take today for a continuing health problem I have.

St. Anthony, celebrated as the patriarch of Christian monasticism, and the inspiration of all monks, was born around the year 250. He left society, after selling all he possessed and went into the desert to live the ascetic life in solitude. He attracted disciples whom he organized into the first cenobitic communities of monks.

His temptations are intriguing, indicating the way of the solitary is one of combat with the spiritual forces of evil. The Vita, written by St. Athanasius, details his combat with the demons, a subject fascinating painters throughout the ages. An excerpt from Athanasius’ account of the life of St. Anthony:

” But those of his acquaintances who came, since he did not permit them to enter, often used to spend days and nights outside, and heard as it were crowds within clamouring, dinning, sending forth piteous voices and crying, ‘Go from what is ours. What do you even in the desert? You can not abide our attack.’ So at first those outside thought there were some men fighting with him, and that they had entered by ladders; but when stooping down they saw through a hole there was nobody, they were afraid, accounting them to be demons, and they called on Antony. Them he quickly heard, though he had not given a thought to the demons, and coming to the door he besought them to depart and not to be afraid, ‘for thus,’ said he, ‘the demons make their seeming onslaughts against those who are cowardly. Sign yourselves therefore with the cross, and depart boldly, and let these make sport for themselves.’ So they departed fortified with the sign of the Cross. But he remained in no wise harmed by the evil spirits, nor was he wearied with the contest, for there came to his aid visions from above, and the weakness of the foe relieved him of much trouble and armed him with greater zeal. For his acquaintances used often to come expecting to find him dead, and would hear him singing, ‘Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered, let them also that hate Him flee before His face. As smoke vanishes, let them vanish; as wax melts before the face of fire, so let the sinners perish from the face of God;’ and again, ‘All nations compassed me about, and in the name of the Lord I requited them.’ ” - New Advent

St Anthony, pray for us that we may be freed from every enchantment proffered by the world, the flesh, and the devil. By your prayers, make us worthy of the promises of Christ. Pray with us when we pray, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and may those that hate you flee before your Holy Face.” Amen

New World Order 

This image, an extreme anti-semite piece of propaganda from the Nazi era, continues to represent something of the fear and prejudice against Jews today by some uber-traditionalists - mainly those on the fringe of the Roman Catholic Church. (I am not referring to the growing number of Roman Catholics who long for the restoration of the Tridentine rite, and traditional theology and ecclesiology, etc.)

I wrote about such things in the past on the old Abbey-Roads, while the Mel Gibson fracas errupted after his anti-semitic comments during his arrest last year for a DUI. People got mad at me for having stated that I experienced similar hatred concerning Jews in conversations with some more extreme folks who identify themselves as traditional Catholics. In relating my opinion, I stated I believed there was an underlying suspicion of Jews which remains in a portion of the Catholic unconscious. My post was misunderstood by some readers as a sweeping condemnation of all Catholics, and especially traditionalists as being anti-semitic. It was not meant to be that.

Today, at Spirit Daily, which sometimes reads like a Catholic version of tabloid newspapers, Brown posted a link to The Southern Poverty Law Center with an article concerning the attitudes of some extreme traditionalist Catholics towards the Jews as regards the often repeated fear of a Zionist plot to take over the world. (Right or wrong, I usually identify these extremists with, Feeneyites, radical SSPX elements, or sedevacantists, along with many of the Fr. Gruener Fatima people - yet once again - not everyone in these groups!)

My favorite Catholic blog is Roman Catholic Blog- in his post today concerning the same article, he sums up in a few words what I have always tried to express on this subject:

“Part of the problem comes from lumping all the Jews into one category. That isn’t any more accurate than lumping all Catholics into one category, and the potential for confusion and error snowballs from there.

Bottom line: Just as it is unjust to portray all Traditional Catholics as dangerous antisemites, it is equally unjust to make sweeping generalizations about the Jewish people.” Roman Catholic Blog

The article, titled “The Synagogue of Satan” opens with alarming anecdotes that sound much like pre-WWII propaganda against Jews - nevertheless it is contemporary rhetoric (in some circles):

“From a makeshift pulpit inside an Indianna Quality Inn, a baby-faced priest angrily denounces the Jews, saying they mean to “destroy all Christian nations”…The Southern Poverty Law Center

The article goes on from there, reading like an indictment against Traditional Catholicism. Maybe because the source is the Southern Poverty Law Center, the article reminded me of the anti-Catholic rhetoric common in the Southern Bible Belt in the early part of the 20th century. What is reported as traditional Catholic prejuduice against Jews, is exactly that. However, it is not representative of Roman Catholic teaching, especially that which has come down to us from the Second Vatican Council; neither is it representative of the papacy of Benedict XVI, nor his predecessors.

I’m of the opinion that the article, along with the links contained in it - one titled, “The New Crusaders“, may work in well with the contemporary social agenda to discredit the Church and all religion, thus making it the scapegoat for all that ails the world and culture. I cannot say however, that the authors are mistaken in their coverage, it is well researched and well written. Having said that, what is contained in the report may add fuel to the anti-religious sentiment already brewing in the secularist segment of society.

I can’t help but think of the John Lennon lyrics from his song, “Imagine”:

Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

This blog will soon replace the current Abbey-Roads which has been down for several days, reasons as yet unknown. I’m looking forward to posting here from now on, without abandoning my other blogs, Rome-ing Catholics, and Leaflet Missal Blog.

Actually, we’ve never been out to dinner. John Hastreiter is our Church Goods director at the Company I work for. We just have our talks.

When I began working at Leaflet, I already knew John as a customer shopping in his Store - at that time he was just starting the Church Goods dimension of the business. It has grown under his direction - and with his vision - dramatically so.

He’s a very bright man, sophisticated as well as traditionally Roman Catholic - not a trad - he attends the Mass of Paul VI when he has to do so, yet prefers the traditional Mass. He is an invaluable resource for our Company. An incredibly astute young man. He has the ear of many seminarians and priests, and he listens to them as well. He knows his theology, and liturgy. He is very balanced, and I dare say, rather holy and spiritually mature. He’s mellowed over the years, without compromising his values in the least. (Being a husband and a dad will do that for a guy.)

John is married with three beautiful children. His lovely wife is the”heiress” to the Matt family. (I’m kidding - she’s not an heiress, but she is a Matt. So what does that mean? Her relatives publish “The Wanderer” and another relative publishes “The Remnant” - two staunchly Roman Catholic newspapers, both with reputations for being traditional Catholic newspapers - one with a more radical approach than the other, hence the Matt family has this curious reputation…None of it deserved on Karen’s side.) When I understood Karen was a Matt, my first reply was, “But she’s so normal!” As is her entire family - when I met her mother I somehow expected some chapel veiled woman who couldn’t smile - such the opposite. The family simply prefers the solidity of the Tridentine Mass, as well as traditional Catholic upbringing - and the kids (I know her brothers) are living proof that there is nothing odd about traditional Catholics.

Anyway, when I first started at Leaflet, I was convinced that I was a conservative and traditional Catholic, who couldn’t figure out why people had a problem with the post-Vatican II reforms. Certainly I knew of the abuses, and the far out theologies - I kept to the middle - keeping my blinders in place. John first shocked me when he told me that Cardinal Ratzinger was basically a liberal. My jaw dropped - Ratzinger? Liberals hated him. How could this be?

This afternoon we laughed about all of that, while I commented that I had changed so much. (I also remember being shocked when he countered a protest of mine and told me that some bishops and priests were gay - that was before the scandal hit the fan. Sure, I knew gay priests - but bishops? I complained John scandalized me and could also scandalize customers. How stupid was I?) Suddenly, today, John, who never reads blogs, told me that since I have been blogging I have changed even more. I was rather impressed that he noticed. He is a really sharp fellow. What is more impressive, he never batted an eyelash when I couldn’t understand where he was coming from - even when I complained - after he explained to me what had been going on in the Church. He always remained my friend, allowing me time and space to make up my own mind.

Indeed, I have changed. Reading other blogs, getting comments from other bloggers, I have come to realize how terribly important it is for the traditional liturgy to be restored. Through other bloggers, my Catholic faith has been deepened, my understanding of the Church has thus far been expanded, which explains my occasional “It’s too much! Stop the blog, I want to get off!”

I realize as Catholics we can no longer isolate ourselves and content ourselves with a personal piety, pretending there is nothing wrong in the Church, or that people who insist upon the integrity of the liturgy, faith and morals, are creating discord while clinging to an obsolete ecclessiology.

I’ve read home-school blogs that absolutely crush my smug little prejudice that these are somehow weird people who only want a “Little House On The Prairie” type world. Nothing could be further from the truth! I’ve read trad blogs that have so opened my eyes to the issues of liturgy, theology, and ecclessiology that are indeed matters of supreme importance. At the other blogs I visit I have been able to hear other people I would have otherwise ignored, or simply not have heard.

Congratulations to all the good Catholic bloggers, those listed on my sidebar, as well as those I continually discover. Thank God for the Catholic web logs!

And thank God for John Hastreiter and his beautiful Catholic family - he is one of the finest men I know - I love and respect him, despite the fact he is quite my junior.

Salve Regina has an interesting quote from Paul VI on the reform of the liturgy. Holy Father was certainly prophetic in Humane Vitae,,,what about the Mass?

From an allocution at the Wednesday audience by the Servant of God, Pope Paul VI.

” A new rite of the Mass: a change in a venerable tradition that has gone on for centuries. This is something that affects our hereditary religious patrimony, which seemed to enjoy the privilege of being untouchable and settled. It seemed to bring the prayer of our forefathers and our saints to our lips and to give us the comfort of feeling faithful to our spiritual past, which we kept alive to pass it on to the generations ahead.

It is at such a moment as this that we get a better understanding of the value of historical tradition and the communion of the saints. This change will affect the ceremonies of the Mass. We shall become aware, perhaps with some feeling of annoyance, that the ceremonies at the altar are no longer being carried out with the same words and gestures to which we were accustomed…” - finish the allocution at Salve Regina

I venerated Paul VI, I saw him several times. I love him. I think he is a saint.

Although, now I must ask, what was he thinking?

Absolutely Nothin’!” Elaine Benis, “Seinfeld”

Remember that episode from Seinfeld, when Elaine insisted that is what Tolstoy wanted to title “War and Peace”?

The President’s brief address last night concerning troop escalation (they refuse to call it that) in Iraq, was not at all funny. The war is not funny - nothing about our involvement in Iraq is funny. We created the mess, it seems to me we have to clean it up.

The President’s proposal for an increase in military is relying on two things, the willingness of young men and women to enlist, as well as keeping our National Guard troops on extended tours of duty. The later are National Guard troops - meant to protect the homeland, yet they find themselves on foreign soil. These men and women are our co-workers, our neighbors, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, away from family, home, job and country. I am in total awe of our military, their dedication, their courage and generosity, their sheer goodness, as well as their fidelity to duty, God, and Country. Male or female, their virile dedication is awesome. They are daily in my prayers and thoughts. Daily! Even all day!

Curiously, in the workplace, or out and about in daily life, I rarely hear much from others about the war. No one discusses it, except to criticize the President or his cabinet. In the United States, one would never be able to tell we are at war - it’s business as usual. The mindless obsession with celebrity is the only indication that there is some disconnect…something is not right in our society. I think the distraction by media, reality programming, along with celebrity has become an escape for our anti-depressant drug culture these days.

Just as psychedelics, grass and rock were a distraction for the Vietnam Stateside generation. Certainly there were massive demonstrations against the war - which seems to be beginning now with this war - yet on a much, much smaller scale. In the Vietnam era, we were not attacked on our soil, as we were on 9/11 - this experience presents an entirely different dynamic.

Despite the “massive protest” in the Vietnam era, there were many people who just floated by, unaware of what was really going on. Many kids just dropped out - my friends and I were among them. Most of us never participated in rallies - unless there was a rock band, or dope was there. We loved Crosby, Stills and Nash and raised our fists at concerts, but we were usually doped up. Sure, we were against the war in a “didn’t want to go” type of way. A couple of friends did some stuff to protest, and seemed to be really into it, two of them, girls at the time, were pretty much infatuated with a couple of the guys who led the group - the ladies really were not political.

Freaks my age, all grown up and successful, albeit still uber liberal, want and expect massive protests against Bush and the mess we have to clean up (because it really is justice that we do so) while I believe some, along with the media, want to bring back the ’60’s in many ways. Hopefully, we are all much more sensitive to the sacrifices our soldiers are making - learning our lesson on how badly the Vietnam vets were treated, than to discredit those who have died, as well as those fighting in their place; we can’t just bail on those who have died and bring a premature end to our involvement in rebuilding a nation we pretty much destroyed in the first place.

Support the war or not, most people just don’t act like it’s going on at all. It’s a little conflict “over there” someplace, it’s not affecting us. My advice: Skip a few doses of prozac or other antidepressant drugs that keep you happy, really think about what is going on. Turn off American Idol, or Grey’s Anatomy, or whatever veges you out - think and pray about what is taking place in our Country at this time. Stand up for our troops - don’t ever let anyone sell our military short, just because they hate Bush. (I’m not in love with him either!) It doesn’t matter if they are a movie star, a rock star, or some bull-dyke Rosie on morning TV, or Nancy Pelosi, or Teddy (Drunk-Again) Kennedy. Support our men and women in harms way!

I’m ashamed to admit it, but it was 30 years after Vietnam when I realized that some Credence Clearwater and Crosby Stills and Nash songs were about Vietnam. Part of the culture was doped in the ’60’s; and surprise, surprise, more people are medicated today than they were then. “Prozac Nation” don’t ya know.

(And, did you know, if we would have stuck it out in Vietnam, we would have been victorious? We must support our troops! Pray for our troops! )

Pictured, The Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas.

At the end of his life St. Thomas stopped writing, he lived in silence. He had a mystical experience, a revelation, that led him to declare everything he had written was as straw. (Therefore, we may conclude that this painting does not represent Heaven, much less an appropriate entrance into Heaven. No one is going to be comparing notes on what Thomas wrote, nor what anyone else wrote.)

Who does God approve?

Someplace, in the psalms we are told,

“This is the man I approve, the lowly and afflicted…”

I cannot remember which psalm it is, yet we know from Our Lady’s Magnificat that it is the humble the Lord exalts…

“He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

…the rich He has sent away empty.”

Sometimes, the liturgical controversies, the ecclesial conspiracies, the theological speculations…everything that gets religious people going, all of that wearies me.

I so wish I could be like a very simple, and obviously poor old man I would occasionally see at Mass, quietly kneeling in the most profound recollection after everyone else had left the Church. He appeared to be a retired worker, the years of hard labor lined in his face. I recognized that he was probably not a man with university degrees, nor a man of much sophistication, and I could tell he was alone in life. Yet he seemed to me to be very close to God and undistributed by the world or the tumult in the Church. He was united to Jesus, and it radiated from his face, as he knelt, eyes closed, his head slightly uplifted toward heaven.

This is the man God approves.