Today is the birthday of Pope Francis (above), who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, today in 1936. As a child, he loved playing football (he was taught by nuns) and also loved to dance the tango (probably not taught by nuns). As a young man he worked as a bar bouncer, a janitor and a lab technician. One day, on his way to meet friends, he stopped off at his parish church to say a prayer. A new priest was there, and as they talked and then prayed together during confession, the 17 year-old Bergoglio had a surprising and life-changing encounter with God. It was the beginning of his lifelong experience of being chosen by the love of God, despite his sense of unworthiness.
‘Something strange happened to me in that confession. I don’t know what it was, but it changed my life. I think it surprised me, caught me with my guard down… From that moment on, for me, God is the One who te primerea – “springs it on you.” You search for Him, but He searches for you first. You want to find Him, but He finds you first.’ Pope Francis (speaking as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in 2010)
King Henry VIII of England was excommunicated by Pope Paul III today in 1538. The original reason the Pope gave for taking this step was Henry’s determination to discard his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and take a second wife. But when Henry went on to destroy the shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury, and abolish the monasteries – an operation masterminded by Thomas Cromwell, his chief minister – these actions were added to the Pope’s bull of excommunication.
‘He has since gone to still further excesses, having dug up and burned the bones of St Thomas of Canterbury and scattered the ashes to the winds, (after calling the saint to judgment, condemning him as contumacious, and proclaiming him a traitor), and spoiled his shrine. He has also spoiled St Augustine’s monastery in the same city, driven out the monks and put in deer in their place.’ Pope Paul III, bull of excommunication against Henry VIII
Today is the first of seven days when the O antiphons are sung in the Western Church, in preparation for Christmas. These short prayers to Jesus, each beginning with a cry of ‘O’, are inspired by the prophecies of Isaiah about the coming of the Messiah. All of them appear in the hymn, ‘O come, O come, Immanuel’. The seven prayers address Jesus by the titles given in Isaiah: O Wisdom, O Lord, O Root of Jesse, O Key of David, O Dayspring, O King of the Nations, and O Emmanuel. They have been sung at this time of year since the early centuries of the Church.
‘O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel; you open and none can shut; you shut and none can open: come and free the captives from prison, and break down the walls of death.’ Fourth O antiphon
The English crime writer Dorothy L Sayers died today in 1957. She is remembered as the creator of Lord Peter Wimsey, the aristocratic sleuth who stars in her detective stories, and also as a fine translator of Dante’s Divine Comedy, which she had almost completed when she died. Her 12-part radio drama on the life of Jesus, The Man Born to Be King, created controversy among Christians when it was broadcast in 1941-42, because Jesus spoke in modern English rather than in the hallowed tones of the King James Bible.
‘He was executed by a corrupt church, a timid politician, and a fickle proletariat led by professional agitators. His executioners made vulgar jokes about Him, called Him filthy names, taunted Him, smacked Him in the face, flogged Him with the cat, and hanged Him on the common gibbet – a bloody, dusty, sweaty, and sordid business. If you show people that, they are shocked. So they should be.’ Dorothy Sayers, Introduction to The Man Born to be King
John Greenleaf Whittier, the American Quaker poet who wrote and lobbied for the abolition of slavery, often at great personal cost, was born today in 1807. A number of his poems were adapted in the 20th century as hymns, most famously, ‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind’, which entered the hymn book in 1924.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.
John Greenleaf Whittier, ‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind’
Image: Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0