The Tyburn Nuns of Riverstone: A beautiful life given to God

It’s heaven on earth,” Mother Marie Pierre says when asked why she loves praying before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

“It’s like the closest you can be to God on earth.

“The idea of adoration is not just praying for yourself or asking for things, but it’s going out of yourself to love. In fact we’re all called to love. It’s like being close to the fountain of Love.”

As a Tyburn nun, Eucharistic adoration is the focus of Mother Pierre’s entire life. She is Mother Prioress at Tyburn Priory in Riverstone, 48 km north-west of Sydney, Australia.

There she lives on a large rural property with seven other nuns, a lame rabbit named Lizzie, four chickens and three alpacas, who help to keep the grass short.

The nuns are an eclectic group, varying in age, personality and ethnic background, with two from the Philippines, a Nigerian, a New Zealander, a German and several Aussies.

Mother Pierre entered the order at the age of 29 because she wanted to spend more time with the Eucharist. She tried another contemplative order but found it didn’t satisfy.

“I realised I needed something closer to the Blessed Sacrament, more centred on the Eucharist,” the now 55 year-old said.

One day in her homeland of New Zealand, she came across a booklet on the Tyburn nuns at the back of a church. After reading it she knew the life it described was what she had been searching for.
“It was everything I’d ever longed for,” she said.

The booklet told the story of French woman, Mother Marie Adele Garnier, foundress of the Tyburn Nuns, also known as the Benedictine Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre.

Founded in Paris in 1898 by Mother Garnier, the order follows the Rule of St Benedict and aims to glorify the Trinity through daily Mass, the Divine Office, perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and daily prayer for the Pope, the Church and the whole human race.

Today there are Tyburn monasteries in England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Italy, France and Australia.

The mother house is in London at Tyburn—the site where more than 100 Catholics were martyred during the English Reformation.

The current Mother General is Chinese-Australian, Mother Marella Aw.

“Our life is very simple but it’s according to the Rule of St Benedict, which is work and prayer – a very balanced life, a family life,” Mother Pierre said.

The Priory at Riverstone also has a guest house for those who want to experience the peace and quiet of a Benedictine monastery.

Mother Pierre says the guest house is an apostolate, an “overflow” from the sisters’ life of prayer … “so people can come and share our life of worship and share the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.”

The sisters acquired the chickens and rabbit for the sake of 90 year-old Mother Cyril – former Prioress at Riverstone – who loves animals.

Mother Cyril grew up in Germany and escaped the Nazi regime during WWII.

She avoided signing a mandatory document at school swearing allegiance to Hitler by pretending she needed to go to the bathroom, then putting her head down and running for her life, eventually hiding under a bed in the hospital where her father worked.

Although she can’t speak much anymore and is hard of hearing, Mother Cyril’s face glows with peace and joy.

Each nun spends at least an hour before the Blessed Sacrament every day, and two hours of night-time adoration during the week.

A typical day sees them rise at 4.30am to pray the first office of the day together – Nocturne – in the chapel. They return to the chapel six more times throughout the day to pray the entire Liturgy of the Hours. Bedtime is usually after the last office of the day—Compline at 7.30pm.

In between prayer, adoration and meals, they engage in various forms of work in the laundry, kitchen, garden and general cleaning of the priory. There is also time for reading and recreation.

Talking is kept to a minimum in order to maintain inner peace and on-going dialogue with the Lord.
This is one aspect of the life that vivacious Mother Vianney — originally from Sydney — says she struggled with after entering in 1987 at age 53.

“I’ve got good tenure—I’ve only been 86 for two months,” she joked with a cheeky grin, when asked her age.

“I had always lived my own life and done my own thing … it took a long time to realise what obedience is. I came to appreciate obedience very much in the end,” she said.
“And silence, I’m not good at silence to this day. You can tell. Hopeless! They tried to tame me,” she laughed.

Mother Vianney discerned a vocation to religious life four years after her husband passed away. Her three adult sons were happy for her to enter, she said, as they thought she would only stay in the monastery for a short while. Eventually, however, they accepted that she was happy there.

She’s says she “just knew” once she visited the Priory that it was where she wanted to be.
Mother Vianney’s main occupation is answering the multitude of correspondence the sisters receive.
“It’s quite a big job. Lots and lots of letters come in. Lots of prayer requests and people like to tell their troubles to someone and have somebody say, ‘I understand’,” she said.

“I like the silence. I like the obedience. I didn’t always find it easy but nobody does … I like having a Rule and I like being able to pray when I want by going into my cell and just praying, person to person.”

Sister Mary Agnes, originally from Nigeria, says the “joy in the Lord” she has discovered as a Tyburn nun is simply “too much”.

“It’s so much I cannot express it. It’s too much … When I joined the monastery the kind of inner peace I have, I’ve never had before,” the 50-year-old said, beaming from ear to ear.
She loves the “continual prayer and day and night adoration,” of monastery life.

“Our Lord wants us to console him. He died because of my sin and the sins of the whole earth. I so love to pray, to console Our Lord,” she said.

“I love prayer so much and that is why I’m here.”

Sister Mary Agnes entered the order four years ago at age 47. She said getting up in the middle of the night for adoration is no problem with the help of God.

“If you ask for the grace of God, you’ll see that things are so easy for you … sometimes I say, maybe I’m weak today, but the moment I pray, ‘oh, Father, I’m weak but I want you to fill me up’, and my weakness disappears. I get extra strength. I say, ‘oh, you are wonderful, God’.”

Mother Veronica says even as a little girl growing up in the Philippines she used to be moved to tears when contemplating the suffering of Jesus during his Passion.

“I used to cry and cry and my mother would get upset with me. My heart was filled, like Our Lady.”
She told her mother when she was just nine years old that she wanted to become a nun but her family told her she couldn’t as she wasn’t well educated.

After having a dream about Mother Marie Adele Garnier, in which the Mother Foundress was following her and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, she began to think she definitely had a calling.

She entered the Priory in Riverstone in 2011 aged 50.

“The Lord is guiding me, I can see that. He has showed me things that I cannot explain,” she said.

“When the Lord calls you, you have to answer … I realised it. If I don’t come here, where am I going to go?”

During her time in the Priory Mother Veronica says she has come to realise the importance of prayer.

“God is there to keep you straight away if you call on him,” she said.

“If you don’t pray and your mind is wandering, evil comes in straight away … It’s like when Peter walked on water. Peter has to look at Jesus all the time but when Peter looks at the water because he’s scared, then he sank.”

Mother Marie Pierre said life in the monastery is all about continually saying ‘yes’ to God even when it’s difficult.

“It’s like a purifying of you that brings you into a relationship where it’s only He that matters and His kingdom,” she said.

“I would say it’s one of the greatest graces or gifts that you can be given, to be chosen by God. To have the opportunity to live a consecrated life centred around the Blessed Sacrament.

“It’s a beautiful life but it’s not easy of course, especially in the world today because people don’t understand silence.

“But actually if you can get over that hurdle, then it’s a new opening to hear God and grow closer. It’s a beautiful life, that’s all I can say about it.”

The Tyburn Nuns Of London

The Tyburn Nuns - the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre Order of St Benedict - are an order of cloistered contemplative Benedictine nuns. The aim of the congregation is to glorify the Most Blessed Trinity, finding practical expression in the daily participation in the Holy Mass, the choral celebration of the Divine Office, the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the Monstrance, and in daily prayer for the Holy Father, the Church, the country and for the entire human family.

The nuns live within the monastic tradition of the Church under the Rule of St Benedict, following his instruction ora et labora - pray and work.

Tyburn Convent near Marble Arch, London, is the mother house of the Tyburn Nuns. In recent years the order has grown and spread to Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Africa and France.

The Tyburn Martyrs are the Catholic men and women executed at the Tyburn gallows during the Protestant Reformation. The first was St John Houghton, the prior of the London Charterhouse, who was hanged, drawn and quartered on 4th May 1535 for refusing to take the oath attached to the Act of Succession recognising the progeny of the King Henry VIII and his mistress Anne Boleyn as legitimate heirs to the English throne.

The last Tyburn martyr was St Oliver Plunkett, the Archbishop of Armagh, who was hanged, drawn and quartered on 1st July 1681 after he was falsely accused of conspiring to kill King Charles II under the fabricated plot of Titus Oates. There are 20 canonised saints among the martyrs. They include St Edmund Campion, St Robert Southwell, St John Southworth - as well as two women, St Margaret Ward and St Anne Line.

Lenten Music

Few people today would think of Lent as a season for liturgical music, because Christmas has almost cornered the market. Unsatisfied with its own ample store of tunes, Christmas absorbs other seasonal compositions. Handel's Messiah, no matter what you have heard, is an Easter oratorio, and the "Hallelujah Chorus" celebrates the Resurrection not the Nativity.

Lenten music has its own particular beauty, which may be lost on modern man. Father Robert A. Skeris, chairman of the theology department at Christendom College in Front Royal, attributes this partly to the general degradation of religion and partly on the trivialization of religious expression. "If the liturgy is on the decline, it follows that music will be less of a blessing," he says.

"The idea of penance is not so popular today," Father Skeris remarks dryly. "The tendency is toward horizontal worship. People don't want to be reminded of the suffering Savior, who is of less interest to us."

This is regrettable because "when you look back at musical history, Lent has been an enormous source of inspiration for composers," the birthplace of gems like the hymn "O Sacred Head Now Wounded," and the chanting of the Lord's Passion on Palm Sunday.

Another little-noticed indicator of the times is the censorship of traditional music. In Catholic and Protestant hymnbooks, any words that might upset suburban sensibilities is carefully expunged. The lyrics of "Amazing Grace" used to read, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound/That saved a wretch like me." Now it's "that saved and set me free," lest anyone think that sinners are wretched.

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic," originally sung by Civil War soldiers, may have endured the worst fate. The final line of the last verse, "As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free," inspired men to risk death in battle rather than let the Union perish. In the Catholic missalette used in most parishes, the line reads, "As He died to make all holy, let us live to make all free," thus achieving a perfect combination of political correctness and religious happy-talk.

To call this flight from humility "pagan" is tempting, but incorrect. The ancient pagans were often acutely aware of man's frailty and unworthiness.

In a way, Lenten music began before the Church did. Jesus and the apostles sang Passover hymns on the first Holy Thursday, as testified by the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. The earliest Christians often sang of the passion and death of Christ, although their music is mostly lost.

The High Middle Ages was a rich seedbed of penitential music. The Dies Irae ("Day of Wrath"), attributed to the 13th-century' musician Thomas of Celano, was eventually incorporated into the Requiem Mass in the 16th century. To this day, composers take great delight in using this apocalyptic text as a starting point for. magnificent (and very loud) orchestrations.

Stabat Mater, another popular I medieval hymn written c. 1300, is a meditation on the Virgin Mary watching her Son on the cross. "Who is the man who would not weep, seeing the mother of Christ in such torment?" asks the anonymous author.

Like many similar hymns, Stabat Mater began as plainchant, but enjoys new life in each successive musical era. At the dawn of polyphonic music, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina composed a heartbreakingly beautiful setting of the Stabat Mater for eight voices, one of his finest works.

As Historian Paul Henry Lang writes, "In the eyes of many, church music ended with Palestrina and became history." While he is not a household name, like Beethoven or Mozart, Palestrina played a very significant role in the history of music. Largely because of the deep piety of his works, the Church began to incorporate polyphony in the liturgy. It is impossible not to be enraptured by God's majesty while listening to Palestrina.

Bach's name is inseparable from Lenten music, due to his four oratorios based on the Gospel accounts of the Passion. Two of them are lost, but the St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion are high-water marks for depth and complexity. From the opening notes of the St. John Passion, we are invited to contemplate a world thrown out of balance by sin' and the innocence of the Lamb to be slain; in Bach's own understated way, the trial sequence of the St. John Passion chillingly reminds us of the world's darkness.

Saint Joseph Cafasso ----- A Saint Who Guided Holy Priests

Joseph Cafasso was born in Castelnuovo d’Asti, the same country of St. John Bosco, on Jan. 15, 1811. He was the third of four children. The last, his sister Marianna, would be the mother of Blessed Joseph Allamano, founder of the Missionaries of the Consolata. He was born in a 19th century Piedmont characterized by grave social problems, but also by a great number of saints who were determined to find remedies for them. They were linked among themselves by a total love of Christ and a profound charity toward the poorest: the grace of the Lord is able to spread and multiply the seeds of holiness!

Cafasso did his secondary studies and two years of philosophy at the College of Chieri and, in 1830, he went to the theological seminary where he was ordained a priest in 1833. Four months later he entered the place that for him would be the fundamental and only “stop” of his priestly life: the Ecclesiastical Academy of St. Francis of Assisi in Turin. Having gone there to perfect himself in pastoral ministry, here he brought to fruition his gifts as a spiritual director and his great spirit of charity. The academy, in fact, was not only a school of moral theology where young priests, coming above all from the countryside, learned to confess and to preach, but it was also a true and proper school of priestly life, where presbyters were formed in the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola and in the moral and pastoral theology of the great holy bishop, Alphonsus Mary of Liguori.

The type of priest that Cafasso found in the academy and that he himself contributed to reinforce — especially as rector — was that of the true pastor with a rich interior life and a profound zeal in pastoral ministry: faithful to prayer, committed to preaching and catechesis, dedicated to the celebration of the Eucharist and to the ministry of confession, according to the model embodied by St. Charles Borromeo, by St. Francis de Sales and promoted by the Council of Trent. A happy expression of St. John Bosco synthesizes the meaning of the educational work in that community: “at the Academy one learned to be a priest.”

St. Joseph Cafasso tried to bring about this model in the formation of young priests so that, in turn, they would become formators of other priests, religious and laymen, according to a special and effective chain. From his chair of moral theology he educated them to be good confessors and spiritual directors, concerned with the true spiritual good of the person, animated by great balance in making the mercy of God felt and, at the same time, an acute and lively sense of sin.

St Joseph Cafasso had three main virtues, as St. John Bosco recalled: tranquility, wisdom and prudence. For him, the ministry of confession was the verification of the lessons taught, and he himself dedicated many hours of the day [to hearing confessions]. Bishops, priests, religious, eminent laymen and simple people went to him: To all he was able to give the necessary time. For many, as well, who became saints and founders of religious institutes, he was a wise spiritual adviser. His teaching was never abstract, based only on the books used at that time, but was born of the intense experience of the mercy of God and of the profound knowledge of the human spirit acquired in the long hours spent in the confessional and in spiritual direction: his was a true school of priestly life.

His secret was simple: to be a man of God; to do, in little daily actions, “that which can turn to the greater glory of God and to the advantage of souls.” He loved the Lord totally, he was animated by a well-rooted faith, sustained by profound and prolonged prayer, he lived a sincere charity toward all. He knew moral theology, but he likewise knew the situations and the hearts of people and looked after their best interests, as the Good Shepherd.

Each of those who had the grace of being close to him was transformed into another good pastor and effective confessor. He indicated with clarity to all priests the holiness to be attained precisely in pastoral ministry. Blessed Father Clement Marchisio, founder of the Daughters of St. Joseph, affirmed: “You entered the Academy being a great cheeky youngster and a rash leader, without knowing what it meant to be a priest, and you came out entirely different, fully conscious of the dignity of the priest.” How many priests were formed by him in the academy and then followed spiritually!

Among these — as I already said — emerges St. John Bosco, who had him as spiritual director for a good 25 years, from 1835 to 1860: first as cleric, then as priest and finally as founder. All the fundamental choices of the life of St. John Bosco had St. Joseph Cafasso as their counselor and guide, but in a very specific way: Cafasso never tried to form a disciple in Don Bosco “in his image and likeness” and Don Bosco did not copy Cafasso. He imitated him, certainly, in human and priestly virtues — describing him as a “model of priestly life” — but according to his own attitudes and his own peculiar vocation … a sign of the wisdom of the spiritual teacher and of the intelligence of the disciple: The first did not impose himself on the second, but respected him in his personality and helped him to read the will of God for him.

Credits : Zenit News 

Saint Gonsalo Garcia -- The Friar Saint From Mumbai

Gonsalo Gracia was born of a Portuguese father and a Canarese mother (Konkani-speaking) in Bassein, (Maharastra) East India, about the year 1556 or 1557.

His early training was entrusted to the Jesuits, who brought him up in their college in Bassein Fort. At the age of twenty-four or twenty-five he went to Japan in the company of some Jesuit Fathers who were ordered, in 1580, to join their mission in Japan. He quickly acquired a knowledge of the language; he won the hearts of the people and did great service as a catechist for eight years.

He then left this kind of work and betook himself to Alacao for trading purposes. His business soon flourished and branches were opened in different places. During his frequent visits to Manila he came into contact with the Franciscans, and being drawn more and more towards them he finally joined the Seraphic Order of St. Francis of Assisi as a lay brother. He sailed from the Philippine Islands with other companions in religion under Peter Baptista, 26 May, 1592, on an embassy from the Spanish Governor to the Emperor of Japan.

In Japan, Gonsalo Garcia became the center of attraction as he knew the Japanese language well. He was the official member of Spanish translator of Fr. Peter Baptista. After facing some initial difficulties the Franciscans settled in Japan and began their missionary work in Kyoto, Osaka, etc. The Japanese shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was very friendly with these Franciscans. It was a time when Jesuits were facing lot of opposition in Japan. The people of Japan appreciated the simple way of living adopted by these Franciscan missionaries. It helped them to accelerate their conversion program. Many Japanese, including their landlords accepted the Christian religion. Slowly Japan became the great center of evangelization for the Franciscan missionaries.

After working zealously for the glory of God for more than four years, the Emperor Taiko-Sama, suspecting the missionaries were aiming at the overthrow of his throne, ordered St. Garcia and his companions to be guarded in their Convent at Miaco on 8 December, 1596. A few days afterwards, when they were singing vespers, they were apprehended and with their hands tied behind their backs were taken to prison.

On 3 January, 1597, the extremities of the left ears of twenty-six confessors, St. Garcia amongst the number, were cut off; but were with great respect these were collected by the Christians. On 5 February of the same year, the day of the martyrdom, St. Garcia was the first to be nailed to the cross, which was then erected in the middle of those of his companions. Two lances piercing the body from one side to the other and passing through the heart, whilst the saint was singing the praises of God during the infliction of the torture, put an end to his sufferings and won for Garcia the martyr’s crown.

In 1627 these twenty-six servants of God were declared venerable by Urban VIII; their feast occurs
on 5 February, the anniversary of their sufferings; and in 1629 their veneration was permitted throughout the Universal Church. The people of Bassein practiced devotion towards the saint; after the severe persecution to which Christianity was subjected in that region, from about 1739 he was gradually entirely forgotten until a well-known writer recently undertook to write the history of the place, and drew the attention of the public to St. Garcia Gonsalo.

Owing to the praiseworthy endeavors of a secular priest, and the great interest evinced by the Bishop of Damaun in the promotion of the devotion towards the saint, the feast of St. Garcia is now annually celebrated with great solemnity; and pilgrims from all parts of Bassein, Salsette, and Bombay flock to the place on that occasion.

Saint John De Britto -- The Portuguese Saint Francis Xavier Of Southern India

John de Britto was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1647.

He was dedicated at birth to St. Francis Xavier, and his family was known to the king at that time, King Pedro.

He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of fifteen. In his effort to promote education among the native Indian people as a missionary to Goa, he wandered through Malabar and other regions and even adopted the customs and dress of the Brahmin caste which gave him access to the noble classes. His dress was yellow cotton; he abstained from every kind of animal food and from wine in an effort to be one with the people he wished to serve.

Saint John de Britto was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and martyr, often called ‘the Portuguese St Francis Xavier’ by Indian Catholics.

A terrible illness made him turn for aid to St. Francis Xavier, a Saint so well loved by the Portuguese; and when, in answer to his prayers, he recovered, his mother vested him for a year in the dress worn in those days by the Jesuit Fathers. From that time John’s heart burned to follow the example of the Apostle of the Indies. He gained his wish.

On December 17, 1662, he entered the novitiate of the Society at Lisbon; and eleven years later, in spite of the most determined opposition of his family and of the court, he left all to go to convert the Hindus of Madura.

When Blessed John’s mother knew that her son was going to the Indies, she used all her influence to prevent him leaving his own country, and persuaded the Papal Nuncio to interfere. “God, Who called me from the world into religious life, now calls me from Portugal to India,” was the reply of the future martyr. “Not to answer the vocation as I ought, would be to provoke the justice of God. As long as I live, I shall never cease striving to gain a passage to India.”

For fourteen years he toiled, preaching, converting, baptizing multitudes, at the cost of privations, hardships, and persecutions.

In 1683, John de Britto had to leave India but returned in 1691.

He advised Teriadeven, a Maravese to dismiss the many wives he had and keep only one. However, one of Teriadeven’s wives was the niece of the king. Due to this, John de Britto began to be persecuted. In 1693, he was taken to the capital Ramnad and from there led to Oriyur a small village in Tamil Nadu, where he was tortured and put to death by beheading.

He had wrought many conversions during his life, established many stations, and was famous for his miracles before and after his death.

There is a shrine to Britto in Oriyur, where he is a significant figure revered by the Kallar, Maravar and Agamudayar castes who together are often referred to as the Thevars.

There is only one church In Coimbatore, dedicated to John de Britto located at R S Puram and is one of the largest parishes in the diocese of Coimbatore.

He was beatified in 1853 and was canonized in 1947.
Are you like John de Britto and ready to face the consequences of standing up for the truth?

Credits : Indian Catholic Matters 

Saint Cyril Of Jerusalem -- A Bishop Who Educated His Flock

It is the Christ-given obligation of every Catholic bishop, and the priests and deacons who share in his ministry, to teach, sanctify, and govern all people under their spiritual care. Regarding teaching, the letters of Saint Paul, as well as the writings of early Christian theologians, abundantly attest to the duty of the Apostles and their appointed successors to ensure that false doctrine never infects their flocks. 

The episcopal duty to teach was not a charism or gift of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues, performing miracles, or healing the infirm. Teaching correct doctrine might be aided by the Holy Spirit, but it was first a mandate from the Lord Himself. To not teach, to teach incompletely, or to teach falsely, was for the shepherd to ignore, neglect, or scatter the sheep entrusted to his care and protection.  

Saint, Cyril, the Bishop of Jerusalem in the late fourth century, was a model teacher of right doctrine. He did not just teach teachers what to teach. He did not deputize or delegate others to teach on his behalf. He was the local Father, and, concerned for Christian formation in the household of faith, he personally taught the faith. How do we know this? Two reasons: First, because a holy woman named Egeria went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the 380s. 

She documented her travels in a journal identifying the bishop, known to be Cyril, as the catechist in the domed mausoleum covering the tomb of Christ (part of today’s church of the Holy Sepulchre). Second, we know of Bishop Cyril’s talks because many of them were dutifully recorded and preserved, presumably because of their high caliber. The talks are rich, early testimony to the perennial, consistent doctrines of the Catholic Church.

Egeria states that Cyril taught about Lent and Easter to catechumens and neophytes (the newly baptized) by going through the entire Bible and the Creed, article by article. He taught for three hours each day, every one of the forty days of Lent and during Easter week. In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul wrote, “But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?” (Romans 10:14). Bishop Cyril admirably fulfilled his apostolic duty to teach and to proclaim so that others would know the Lord.

Among the profound teachings of Saint Cyril on the Mass, Baptism, and the Sacraments are his extended reflections on the nature of the Holy Eucharist. He is explicit: “Since He Himself has declared and said of the bread: This is My Body, who shall dare to doubt any more? And when He asserts and says: This is My Blood, who shall ever hesitate and say it is not His Blood?…Do not think it mere bread and wine, for it is the Body and Blood of Christ, according to the Lord’s declaration” (St. Cyril Catechetical Lecture XXII). Cyril notes that if Christ could change water into wine, why could He not change wine into His own Blood? 

Reading these words of Cyril, it is perplexing that any modern Christian could doubt the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. As Blessed Cardinal Newman wrote: “To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant”(An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Introduction, chpt. 5).

He is in many ways a model to all bishops for his zealous yet tender care of souls, especially those preparing to be washed in the saving waters of baptism at Easter. Saint Cyril fortified the content of the Church’s teaching with his personal presence, and by extension, the presence of the Sacrament of Holy Orders in his very person. He is a bishop remote in time, yet near in doctrine. Far removed from us historically, he is still close at our side when we stand to recite the same Creed he recited at every Sunday Mass.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, through your generous dedication to teaching the faith, come to the assistance of all catechists, ordained and lay, to be equally committed to teaching those under their care, in season and out of season, knowing that fidelity to the Lord and His Church is what counts the most.