New massacre of Catholics in Africa
The brutal persecution suffered by Christians at the hands of Islamic terrorists continues in Burkina Faso, a West African republic. On July 3 alone, thirty-one people were killed in a night attack. Fourteen of them were in front of the church of the Bourasso community.
In the Diocese of Fada N’Gourma, in the east of the country, five of its sixteen parishes have completely shut down after serious attacks. In another seven parishes, pastoral work is limited to the main church, as most of the access roads to the villages have been blocked by terrorists or are under their control.
Blood of St. Pantaleon liquefies
On July 27, the faithful thronged at the Incarnation Monastery in Madrid to witness a phenomenon that has taken place annually since the seventeenth century: the liquefaction of the blood of St. Pantaleon.
The blood of this 4th-century martyr is contained in a hermetically sealed ampoule, and on the day dedicated to the Saint, the liquefaction is repeated not only in Spain, but also in Ravello, Italy, whose cathedral houses a similar relic.
Reliquary with the Most Precious Blood of Christ recovered
A reliquary containing the Most Precious Blood of Christ, belonging to the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp in France, was recovered intact in the Netherlands over six weeks after it was stolen on the night of June 1 to 2. Arthur Brand, a Dutch detective who specializes in the arts, found it on his doorstep days after receiving an anonymous e-mail, the sender of which claimed to be in possession of the valuable relic.
The receptacle, which measures about thirty centimetres, houses two small vials containing some drops of the Precious Blood of Our Lord, collected by Joseph of Arimathea after lowering the Body of Jesus from the Cross.
Jewels of the Virgin of Chiquinquirá Returned
On July 9, feast of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá, Patroness of Colombia, a ceremony was held at the shrine of this Marian invocation for the restitution of her jewels, stolen last year.
While a Dominican priest read proclamations on the symbolism of each piece, cadets from the National Police School carried them on cushions to the presbytery. There, the jewels were transferred to the hands of high-ranking army and police officers who brought them to the feet of the image, lowered from its usual place, so that the Archbishop of Bogota and President of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Luis José Rueda, could place them upon the miraculous painting. Festive songs and hymns filled the air, led by the choir and orchestra of the Heralds of the Gospel.
In addition to reinstating the crown of Our Lady and of her Divine Son, the sceptre, the rosaries and the half-moon under the feet of the Virgin, the Dominican Fathers also presented Her with a new gift: a globe crowned with the cross, symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s maternal rule over the world.
Historic heritage at stake in Europe
A report published by the French Senate’s Commission on Culture has warned that thousands of the country’s 100,000 religious buildings will have to be sold or demolished unless the government allocates resources to maintain them. More than forty thousand of these buildings date back to before the 20th century, and fifteen thousand of them are protected as historic monuments, but many have suffered deterioration from the elements. Over a century ago, Catholic churches in France were declared the property of the State, which makes the public authorities responsible for their upkeep.
A similar situation exists in Spain, where four hundred religious monuments, including churches and convents of high patrimonial and artistic value, are in ruins, according to the Hispania Nostra Association.
Missionaries of charity expelled from Nicaragua
At the end of June, the Nicaraguan government decreed the urgent country-wide dissolution of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by St. Teresa of Calcutta, and the expulsion from its territory of the eighteen religious sisters who comprised it. On July 6, the police and officials from the General Administration of Migration and Immigration took the sisters to the Costa Rican border, where they were received into the Diocese of Tilarán-Liberia.
The religious, some of them natives of Nicaragua, with others coming from Spain, India, Vietnam, Philippines, Mexico, Ecuador and Guatemala, ran a home for the elderly there, along with performing other pastoral work. The Missionaries of Charity have been operating in Nicaragua since 1988.
Abbey and Chapel Dedicated to St. Michael
Escape Blaze
The heat wave that hit Europe in July caused several forest fires, with the destruction of large tracts of land.
On July 17, the flames consumed one thousand five hundred hectares around the Abbey of Saint-Michel de Frigolet on the southern coast of France, forcing the Premonstratensian monks who live there to evacuate the building, which dates back to the 12th century. Fortunately, the firefighters had the heavenly aid of the monastery’s protective Archangel, and the fire was contained within a short distance of its walls.
The following day, the guardianship of the Prince of the Heavenly Militia was also felt on the west coast of France, where the fire that devastated one thousand seven hundred hectares on Mont Saint-Michel de Brasparts was halted by firefighters only a few metres from a chapel dedicated to him.
US museum hosts exhibition on Notre-Dame
Until September 26, the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. will host an interactive exhibition on the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, one of the most emblematic and visited monuments in the world.
The exhibition, entitled Notre-Dame de Paris: The Augmented Exhibition, offers a walk through the cathedral’s almost millenary history by means of virtual reconstructions, which visually transport visitors through time. They can follow the building of the temple in the Middle Ages, watch the arrival of the Crown of Thorns brought by St. Louis IX in 1241, witness the installation of the spire devised by Viollet-le-Duc, or follow the restoration efforts on the church since the 2019 fire, among other events.
Large panels with never-before-seen photographs, three-dimensional reproductions of the cathedral and its decorative details – including a gargoyle and a life-size statue – and replicas of the stone tiles and stained-glass windows that adorn the sacred building complete the experience for visitors, to the sound of the harmonious chords of Notre-Dame’s organs and bells.
