Founding of Christendom: St. Cecilia post 22

These hundred years of turmoil were punctuated with persecutions. One of the most famous of the time was Cecilia.

St. Cecilia is the patroness of musicians and Church music because during her martyrdom, she sang to God.

As we have said before, not too much is clear about this early part of Church history. We have pieced together as well as we could the story of St. Cecilia.

St. Cecilia’s feast day is celebrated on November 22nd.

The Mass of Saint Cecilia prays:

“Arise, soldiers of Christ, throw away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

 
She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the
Canon of the Mass. She is thought to have died in the mid to late 230’s AD, since she is linked with Pope Urban, who died 230 AD. Who was succeeded by a string of martyred popes, during this persecution.

Cecilia was given in marriage to a pagan youth named Valerian. She had been a Christian since childhood, doing penances and fasting, while invoking the saints, and angels, to guard her virginity. Making a vow of virginity to Jesus before her parents had betrothed her; she begged that her parents wouldn’t marry her off. Some mistakenly say when telling her story, that she was betrothed to an angel. But this is silly. She, like all consecrated virgins in the Church, was betrothed to Jesus Christ.  The angel in the story was just her protector. Angels do not marry.
Mark 12:25
“For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”

Social Studies: John J. Mearsheimer -- International Politics

 

Here are three talks on international politics. Very interesting

Founding of Christendom: A 100 Years of Turmoil -- Post 21

 

 

After the death of the Roman Emperor, Marcus Arealius,180 AD, his son, Cammodus, inherited the throne. Commodus was not a stable person.  One good thing he did was he temporarily  halted Christian persecution. While his father never ordered a direct persecution of Christians, he did allow it to happen– usually by local rulers. Commodus’ leniency  resulted in the release of Christians from the mines in Sardinia, among whom was a future pope.

Cassius Dio, a first-hand witness, describes Emperor Commodus as: "not naturally wicked but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived. His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the better [virtuous] life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which soon became second nature."

Apologetics : Where is the Catholic Chuch refereced in the Bible?

Technical terms were still being developed when the New Testament was being written, and defined  later for precision. For example The word for priest derives from the Greek presbyteros, which means elder or senior, although in the early Christian presbyteros could refer to a bishop or a priest. The English word  "priest" is a derivative of the word presbyter.

The word ‘catholic’ itself is not found in the Bible. However “KAΘ OΛHC” (pronounced as ‘kath oles’) is found in the  of Acts 9:31.

A three word phrase from Acts 9:31 is “EKKΛHCIAI KAΘ OΛHC” (pronounced as “ekklesiai kath oles”) which is Koine Greek for “church all over” or “church universal.” Swap those words around and you get “universal church.” This is exactly what the word  Catholic means, the Universal Church, i.e The Catholic Church. We will cover this more below.

While of course this reference isn't definitive but is does circumstantially point to the origins of the term "Catholic" for the true Church.

Deposit of the Faith: Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant

 

Founding of Christendom: Against Heresy Post 20

 

We have already heard of St. Irenaeus. He had traveled to Rome, with St. Polycarp, to discuss the date of Easter with the pope. This has been a debate between the western Church and the eastern Church. Both have good reasons for celebrating Easter at different dates.

The problem was resolved with a compromise– the western Church would continue their tradition of celebrating Easter always on a Sunday, and the eastern Church would continue their tradition of celebrating it on the date according to their calendar.

Founding of Christendom: Saint Apollonius the Apologist and Martyr Post 19

Apollonius, martyr (185 AD) and defender of the faith, produced one of the most priceless documents of the early Church. He defended Chritianity before the Roman Senate.  Apollonius was a Roman senator who was denounced as a Christian by one of his servants. He was arrested and brought to trial.

The Praetorian prefect, Sextus Tigidius Perenis, arrested him, also putting the slave to death– the informer. Perennis demanded that Apollonius denounce the faith, and when he refused, the case was remanded to the Roman senate. Apollonius wrote out his defense in one of the most eloquent documents defending Chritianity. Despite his articulate defense, Apollonius was condemned and beheaded.

The account in the Roman Martyrology (feastday 21 April) is as follows:

    “At Rome, commemoration of Saint Apollonius, philosopher and martyr. Under the Emperor Commodus, he defended, before the Prefect Perennius and the Senate, the cause of the Christian faith in a finely argued address, and then, after being condemned to death, confirmed it by the witness of his blood.”

Here is a good account this relatively unknown
saint from ucatholic: