Transcript Document 7205040

Pilgrimage:
A Way of Life in the
Church Fathers
Dr. Ann T. Orlando
11 October 2008
Outline
 Introduction
to the Church Fathers
 Pilgrimages
 St.
Augustine on Pilgrimage and
Prayer
The Church Fathers:
Why Are They So Important?
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Shaped our Christian understanding
Doctrine (orthodoxy)
 Practice (orthopraxy)
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Did so by adhering to message of Scripture
Christology
 Trinitarian Theology
 Liturgy and Sacraments
 Morality
 Ecclesiology

As Readers of the Magnificat…
 Christian
spirituality promoted by the
Church Fathers
 Prayer
in morning and evening
 Prayers at Mass
 Pilgrimage
Who Are the Church Fathers?
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St. Vincent of Lerins (d.450,
Feast 24 May) first suggest
criteria for ‘Church Father’
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Student of St. Augustine
Reflected on great
theologians of the preceding
centuries
St. Vincent considered one
of the Fathers
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Antiquity
Orthodox Doctrine
Ecclesial Approval
Holiness of Life
Antiquity
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Period Begins: Pope St. Clement of Rome
(d.98, Feast 23 November)
Period Ends: more problematic
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All men of Roman Empire and late antiquity
All Church Fathers are venerated through the
centuries by Orthodox and Catholic Churches
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Pope St. Gregory Great, d. 603, Feast 9
November
St. Maximus the Confessor, d.662, Feast 13
August
St. John of Damascus, d. 787, Feast 4
December
In this period no distinction between
Orthodox and Catholic Church
Often divided into two periods
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Time of Martyrdom
After the Conversion of Constantine, 312
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www.roman-empire.net/
Orthodoxy
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What they taught was in keeping
with Church doctrine
Most Church Fathers were
bishops
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Primary concern leading people of
God
Defending the faith against heresies
The Fathers may have been the
first to succinctly express doctrine
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Pope St. Leo Great (d. 461, Feast
November 9)
Christology: Jesus Christ one person,
two natures
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Pope St. Gregory and
St. Augustine
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Bowes Museum
Ecclesial Approval
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Fathers are recognized by the Magisterium
Subsequent theologians relied on Church
Fathers
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St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274, Feast January 28)
Look in CCC for many, many references to
Church Fathers
Holiness of Life
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Church Fathers have a
reputation for leading holy lives
and leading others in holiness
In the first three centuries, this
often meant witnessing in blood
as martyrs
In later encouraging growth in
spirituality; growth of
monasticism
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St. Patrick (d. 461, Feast March 17)
St. Benedict of Nursia (d. 547,
Feast July 11)
St. Scholastica (d. 547, Feast
February 10)
Pilgrimages
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Abbey of Monte Cassino
Early Christian Pilgrimages
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Initially, pilgrimages were short
journeys to burial site of martyrs
After the time of persecution, large
pilgrimages to far away holy sites
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Jerusalem
Rome
Earliest account of a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem (4th C) by Egeria
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Recounts the Holy Week liturgies in
Jerusalem
Fourth Century Account of
Adoration of Cross on Good Friday
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The bishop duly takes his seat in the chair, and a table covered
with a linen cloth is placed before him; the deacons stand round
the table, and a silver-gilt casket is brought in which is the holy
wood of the Cross. The casket is opened and (the wood) is taken
out, and the wood of the Cross is placed upon the table. Now,
when it has been put upon the table, the bishop, as he sits, holds
the extremities of the sacred wood firmly in his hands, while the
deacons who stand around guard it. It is guarded thus because
the custom is that the people, both faithful and catechumens,
come one by one and, bowing down at the table, kiss the sacred
wood and pass through - Egeria
But What Is Proper Understanding
of Pilgrimage?
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Are journeys to far away holy places necessary
for Christian life?
Does simply being in a holy place make you
holy?
Church Fathers Develop Cautions
About Pilgrimages As Journeys
www.svspress.com/images/svspressicons/l-icon237.jpg
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St. Gregory of Nyssa (d. 394, Feast March 9)
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Place does not make a Christian holier
“Change of place does not bring one closer to
God, but where you are, God will come
toward you.”
Gregory himself does go on a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, but need proper attitude
Most important pilgrimage is the interior one
to God
Gregory is a brother of one of four ‘Greek’
Doctors of Church
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St. Athanasius (d.373, Feast May 2)
St. Basil of Caesarea (d. 379, Feast January 2)
St. Gregory Nazianzus (d. 390, Feast January
2)
St. John Chrysostom (d. 407, Feast Sept. 13)
Pilgrimage and
St. Augustine of Hippo
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St. Augustine comes to
understand our entire Christian
life as a pilgrimage
The genuine pilgrim life begins
at Baptism
The goal of the Christian
pilgrim is eternal happiness
with God
St. Augustine is baptized by St. Ambrose
Benozzo Gozzoli, 1465
Who Was St. Augustine
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Born in North Africa (354)
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St. Monica (d. 387, Feast August 27)
Died as Bishop of Hippo (430, Feast
August 28)
Wrote some of our most import
Christian theological works
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Confessions
City of God
On the Trinity
On Christian Teaching
On Free Choice of Will
In almost all of these works, he
describes our life as a pilgrimage
A journey to Jerusalem or Rome
should be seen as the metaphor for the
real pilgrimage of life
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The earthly Jerusalem is a sign of the
heavenly Jerusalem
One of four Latin Fathers
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St. Ambrose (d. 397, Feast December
7)
St. Jerome (d. 420, Feast September 30)
Pope St. Gregory the Great (d. 604,
Feast March 12)
Enduring influence on theologians
and philosophers in subsequent
centuries up to our own
More references to Augustine in
CCC than any other theologian
“The greatest Father of the Latin
Church”

Benedict XVI, St. Augustine of Hippo (1), General
Audience 9 January 2008
Pilgrimage in the Confessions
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Confessions tells the story of
Augustine’s turn from and return
to God
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As a young man he rejected the
Catholic faith of his mother,
Monica
Ambitious for sex, fame and wealth
In searching for the Truth, he
finally returns to the Catholic
Faith
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He comes to see the importance of
his life as a pilgrimage to God,
Not as a consumer of temporal
things
www.saintaugustinedc.org/html/photos/architecture/augustine_and_monica_window_254x611_low
src50.jpg
The End of Monica’s Pilgrimage
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In the Confessions Augustine describes Monica’s peaceful
and holy death.
At the end he writes:
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My Lord, my God, inspire your servants, that all who read
this book may remember Monica your servant and Patrick
her husband, … May they remember with devout affection
my parents in this transient light, my kith and kin under you,
our Father, in our mother the Catholic Church, and my fellow
citizens in the eternal Jerusalem. For this city your pilgrim
people yearn. Confession IX.37.
Augustine: In Pilgrimage Together
as the People of God
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Pilgrimage as a way of life
Social enterprise
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We travel together
We support each other
Everyone belongs to one of
two cities
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City of God, the Church, on
pilgrimage
City of this world
heritage.villanova.edu/images/hippo2.jpg
Pilgrimage and The City of God
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Pilgrimage companions are found in
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The Church itself is on pilgrimage
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Family
Friends
Church
Without regard to custom or manners
With concern one for the other
In unceasing prayer together
“For witness the prayer of the whole city of God in its pilgrim
state, for it cries to God by the mouth of all its members, Forgive
us our debts as we forgive our debtor “ City of God XIX.27
But how can people active in the world pray properly?
Letter 130, To Proba
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Written by Augustine
c.411
Proba
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Fresco, ancient aristocratic Roman
woman
Wealthy Roman widow
living in North Africa
Mother of Roman consuls
She wrote to Augustine
asking him about how to
pray
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/images/roman_women_woman.jpg
Wealth and the Good Life in
Letter 130, To Proba
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Proba’s request fills Augustine with joy
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Proba should act as though the things of the world do
not matter to her
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Temporal goods do not make us happy;
Temporal goods should be in service of the moral life
Happiness comes from
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Happy because Proba realizes that wealth is not source of
security
What makes us good
Increases love of God and neighbor
Prayer should be our guide on our pilgrim way to that
Prayer in Letter 130, To Proba
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aquinasrcia.blogspot.com/2005/04/week-18-prayer-p-673-725.html
Even when busy in the
world the desire to pray is
a prayer
Pray in short prayers so as
not to lose focus
Pray to make ourselves
open to God’s response
Augustine closes by asking
Proba to pray for him.
Where to Learn More
About Church Fathers
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Pope Benedict XVI General Audiences
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From 7 March 2007 through 25 June 2008, the Pope devoted most
audience talks to the Church Fathers
All mentioned in this presentation
Some (The Greek and Latin Fathers) had two each
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Available on Vatican website, www.vatican.va
Spe Salvi has many references to Church Fathers
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Except Augustine, with whom the Pope spent five audiences
Letter to Proba
But the best way to know the Fathers is to read them
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Augustine, The Confessions
Treatises, Books, Homilies, Letters, Poems, Songs
Meditations in the Magnificat