today’s holiday: St. Modesto’s Day (2014)

St. Modesto’s Day (2014)

St. Modesto is the patron saint of farmers in Greece. His feast day is celebrated with various rituals in honor of farm animals. In Lemnos, kollyva (cooked wheat berries) and holy water are mixed with their fodder, while in Lesbos, the holy water is sprinkled on the fields to ward off locusts and disease. For horses and oxen, December 18 is a day of rest. The Eastern Orthodox Church reserves this day to commemorate St. Modestus, who was patriarch of Jerusalem from 631 to 634. He is known for a sermon he preached on the bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. More… Discuss

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today’s holidady: Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was first celebrated by the Greeks in about the 8th century and was not adopted by the Roman Catholic Church until the later Middle Ages; no one is quite sure when this festival was first introduced. As related in the apocryphal Book of James, it commemorates the presentation of the three-year-old Mary in the Temple to consecrate her to the service of God. More… Discuss

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This Day in History: French National Assembly Adopts Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790)

French National Assembly Adopts Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790)

The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was an act passed during the French Revolution that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church to the state. Under the act, citizens would elect clergymen and the state would pay their wages. When the National Assembly ordered the clergy to take an oath supporting the Civil Constitution, many refused. The resulting schism within the French church caused many Catholics to turn against the Revolution. What effect did the constitution have on monastic orders? More… Discuss

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