Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 to his death in 1963. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was one of thirteen children born to a family of sharecroppers who lived in a village in Lombardy, he was ordained to the priesthood on 10 August 1904 and served in a number of posts, as nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him as the Patriarch of Venice. Roncalli was unexpectedly elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after 11 ballots. Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council, the first session opening on 11 October 1962, his passionate views on equality were summed up in his statement, "We were all made in God's image, thus, we are all Godly alike."John XXIII made many passionate speeches during his pontificate.
He made a major impact on the Catholic Church, opening it up to dramatic unexpected changes promulgated at the Vatican Council and by his own dealings with other churches and nations. In Italian politics, he prohibited bishops from interfering with local elections, he helped the Christian Democratic Party to cooperate with the socialists. In international affairs, his "Ostpolitik" engaged in dialogue with the Communist countries of Eastern Europe, he reached out to the Eastern Orthodox churches. His overall goal was to modernize the Church by emphasizing its pastoral role, its necessary involvement with affairs of state, he dropped the traditional rule of 70 cardinals, increasing the size to 85. He used the opportunity to name the first cardinals from Africa and the Philippines, he promoted ecumenical movements in cooperation with other Christian faiths. In doctrinal matters, he was a traditionalist, but he ended the practice of automatically formulating social and political policies on the basis of old theological propositions.
He did not live to see the Vatican Council to completion. His cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God. On 5 July 2013, Pope Francis – bypassing the traditionally required second miracle – declared John XXIII a saint, based on his virtuous, model lifestyle, because of the good which had come from his having opened the Second Vatican Council, he was canonised alongside Pope John Paul II on 27 April 2014. John XXIII today is affectionately known as the "Good Pope" and in Italian, "il Papa buono". Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born on 25 November 1881 in Sotto il Monte, a small country village in the Bergamo province of the Lombardy region of Italy, he was the eldest son of Giovanni Battista Roncalli and his wife Marianna Giulia Mazzolla, fourth in a family of 13. His siblings were: Maria Caterina Teresa Ancilla Francesco Zaverio Maria Elisa Assunta Casilda Domenico Giuseppe Alfredo Giovanni Francesco Enrica Giuseppe Luigi Luigi His family worked as sharecroppers, as did most of the people of Sotto il Monte – a striking contrast to that of his predecessor, Eugenio Pacelli, who came from an ancient aristocratic family long connected to the papacy.
Roncalli was nonetheless a descendant of an Italian noble family, albeit from a secondary and impoverished branch. In 1889, Roncalli received both his First Communion and Confirmation at the age of 8. On 1 March 1896, Luigi Isacchi, the spiritual director of his seminary, enrolled him into the Secular Franciscan Order, he professed his vows as a member of that order on 23 May 1897. In 1904, Roncalli completed his doctorate in Canon Law and was ordained a priest in the Catholic Church of Santa Maria in Monte Santo in Piazza del Popolo in Rome on 10 August. Shortly after that, while still in Rome, Roncalli was taken to Saint Peter's Basilica to meet Pope Pius X. After this, he would return to his town to celebrate mass for the Assumption. In 1905, Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi, the new Bishop of Bergamo, appointed Roncalli as his secretary. Roncalli worked for Radini-Tedeschi until the bishop's death on 22 August 1914, two days after the death of Pope Pius X. Radini-Tedeschi's last words to Roncalli were "Angelo, pray for peace".
The death of Radini-Tedeschi had a deep effect on Roncalli. During this period Roncalli was a lecturer in the diocesan seminary in Bergamo. During World War I, Roncalli was drafted into the Royal Italian Army as a sergeant, serving in the medical corps as a stretcher-bearer and as a chaplain. After being discharged from the army in early 1919, he was named spiritual director of the seminary. On 6 November 1921, Roncalli travelled to Rome. After their meeting, Pope Benedict XV appointed him as the Italian president of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Roncalli would recall Benedict XV as being the most sympathetic of the popes he had met. In February 1925, the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri summoned him to the Vatican and informed him of Pope Pius XI's decision to appoint him as the Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria. On 3 March, Pius XI named him for consecration as titular archbishop of Areopolis, Jordan. Roncalli was reluctant about a mission to Bulgaria, but he would soon relent.
His nomination as apostolic visitor was made official on 19 Marc
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, or ROCOR until 2007 part of True Orthodoxy's Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, ROCA also referred to as Karlovatsky Synod, or "Karlovatsky group", or the Synod of Karlovci, is since 2007 a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church. The ROCOR was established in the early 1920s as a de facto independent ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Eastern Orthodoxy as a result of some of the Russian bishops having lost regular liaison with the central church authority in Moscow due to the Russian Civil War and subsequent exile, a situation, effectively institutionalised by their rejection of the Moscow Patriarchate′s unconditional political loyalty to the Bolshevik regime in the USSR formally promulgated by the Declaration of 20 July 1927 of Metropolitan Sergius, deputy Patriarchal locum tenens. Metropolitan Antony, of Kiev and Galicia, was the founding First Hierarch of the ROCOR. After decades of separation, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia signed the Act of Canonical Communion with the Moscow Patriarchate on 17 May 2007, restoring the canonical link between the churches effecting a split with the much diminished Russian Orthodox Church Abroad which remained within the True Orthodoxy movement.
The jurisdiction has around 400 parishes worldwide and an estimated membership of over 400,000 people. Of these, 232 parishes and 10 monasteries are in the United States, with 92,000 adherents and over 9,000 regular church attendees. ROCOR has 13 hierarchs, with male and female monasteries in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Western Europe and South America. In May 1919, at the peak of the military success of the White forces under Gen Anton Denikin, in the Russian city of Stavropol, controlled by the White Army a group of Russian bishops organised an ecclesiastical administration body, the Temporary Higher Church Administration in South–East Russia. On 7 November 1920, Patriarch of Moscow, his Synod, the Supreme Church Council in Moscow issued a joint resolution No. 362 instructing all Russian Orthodox Christian bishops, should they be unable to maintain liaison with the Supreme Church Administration in Moscow, to seek protection and guidance by organizing among themselves. In November 1920, after the final defeat of the Russian Army in South Russia, a number of Russian bishops evacuated from Crimea to Constantinople occupied by British and Italian forces.
After learning of the decision of Gen Pyotr Wrangel to keep his army, it was decided to keep the Russian ecclesiastical organisation as a separate entity abroad as well. The Temporary Church Authority met on 19 November 1920, aboard the ship Grand Duke Alexader Mikhailovich, presided over by Metropolitan Antony. Metropolitan Antony and Bishop Benjamin were appointed to examine the canonicity of the organization. On 2 December 1920, they received permission from Metropolitan Dorotheos of Prussia, Locum Tenens of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, to establish "for the purpose of the service of the population and to oversee the ecclesiastic life of Russian colonies in Orthodox countries a temporary committee under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate". On 14 February 1921, Metropolitan Antony settled down in the town of Sremski Karlovci, where he was given the palace of former Patriarchs of Karlovci. In the course of the subsequent few months, at the invitation of Patriarch Dimitrije of Serbia, the other eight bishops of the THCAA, including Anastasius and Benjamin, as well as numerous priests and monks, relocated to Serbia.
On 31 August 1921, the Council of Bishops of the Serbian Church passed a resolution, effective from 3 October, that recognised the THCAA as an administratively independent jurisdiction for exiled Russian clergy outside the Kingdom of SHS as well as those Russian clergy in the Kingdom of SHS who were not in parish or state educational service. With the agreement of Patriarch Dimitrije of Serbia, between 21 November and 2 December 1921, the "General assembly of representatives of the Russian Church abroad" took place in Sremski Karlovci, it was renamed the First All-Diaspora Council and was presided over by Metropolitan Anthony. The Council established the "Supreme Ecclesiastic Administration Abroad", composed of a patriarchal Locum Tenens, a Synod of Bishops, a Church Council; the Council decided to appoint Metropolitan Anthony the Locum Tenens, but he declined to accept the position without permission from Moscow and instead called himself the President of the SEAA. The Council adopted a number of resolutions and appeals, the two notable ones being addressed to the flock of the Russian Orthodox Church ″in diaspora and exile″ and to the International Conference in Genoa.
The former, adopted with a majority of votes (but not unanimously, Metropolitan Eulogius Georgiyevsky being the most prom
Liturgical colours
Liturgical colours are those specific colours used for vestments and hangings within the context of Christian liturgy. The symbolism of violet, green, gold, black and other colours may serve to underline moods appropriate to a season of the liturgical year or may highlight a special occasion. There is a distinction between the colour of the vestments worn by the clergy and their choir dress, which with a few exceptions does not change with the liturgical seasons. In the Roman Rite, as reformed by Pope Paul VI, the following colours are used. On more solemn days, i.e. festive, more precious, sacred vestments may be used if not of the colour of the day. Such vestments may, for instance, be made from cloth of gold or cloth of silver. Moreover, the Conference of Bishops may determine and propose to the Apostolic See adaptations suited to the needs and culture of peoples. Ritual Masses are celebrated in their proper colour, in white, or in a festive colour. Masses for Various Needs, on the other hand, are celebrated in the colour proper to the day or the season or in violet if they bear a penitential character.
Votive Masses are celebrated in the colour suited to the Mass itself or in the colour proper to the day or the season. Some particular variations: Blue, a colour associated with the Virgin Mary, is permitted for the feast of the Immaculate Conception in Spain and in some dioceses in Portugal and South America. In the Philippines, it is authorised for all feasts of the Virgin Mary, a practice followed in some other places without official warrant. There have been uses of blue in place of violet for the season of Advent despite the fact that this practice is not authorized under liturgical law. White or cloth of gold was traditionally used for the Novena from 16 to 24 December according to a Spanish custom abolished in that country in the 1950s, but still observed in the Philippines. White is used for East Asian Masses for the dead, as white is the traditional colour of mourning in many of the region's cultures. Furthermore, if not enough vestments of the proper colour are available, white may be used for all concelebrants.
Violet or black are permitted on national holidays honoring military dead. For example in Canada, they are used on Remembrance Day. Gold or silver may be worn on more solemn occasions in the dioceses of the United States. The Roman Missal, as revised by Pope John XXIII in 1962, was authorised for use as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite by Pope Benedict XVI by the 2007 motu proprio entitled Summorum Pontificum. Pope John XXIII's revision of the Missal incorporated changes that he had made with his motu proprio Rubricarum instructum of 29 July 1960; the following are the differences between its rules for liturgical colours and the rules: Pope Pius X raised the rank of Sundays of ordinary time, so that on those that fell within octaves green was used instead of the colour of the octave, as had been the rule. The rules on liturgical colours before the time of Pope Pius X were those indicated in the edition of the Roman Missal that Pope Pius V promulgated in 1570, except for the addition of feasts not included in his Missal.
The scheme of colours in his Missal reflected usage that had become fixed in Rome by the twelfth century. The Byzantine Rite, used by all the member churches of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Byzantine Lutheran Churches and the Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine Rite, does not have a universal system of colours, with the service-books of the Byzantine tradition only specifying "light" or "dark" vestments in the service books. In the Greek tradition, maroon or burgundy are common for solemn feast days, a wide variety of colours are used at other times, the most common of which are gold and white. Slavic-use churches and others influenced by Western traditions have adopted a cycle of liturgical colours; the particulars may change from place to place, but generally: The colours would be changed before Vespers on the eve of the day being commemorated. During Great Feasts, the colour is changed before the vespers service that begins the first day of a forefeast, remains until the apodosis.
Under Western influence, black is used in the Slavic churches for funerals, weekdays of Great Lent, Holy Week as a sign of penance and mourning, but in the second half of the 20th century, the ancient white became more common, as a sign of the hope of the Resurrection. According to the Russian Orthodox Church's Nastol'naya Kniga Sviashchenno-sluzhitelia, up to eight different liturgical colours may be used throughout the year. Exact usage of these colours varies, but the following are the most common uses; the Coptic tradition, followed by the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church, only uses white vestments, with gold and silver being considered variations of white. The only exception is during Passion Week when black is used. Nonetheless, trimmings of red, gold or blue may be found on some vestments; the liturgical tradition of Ethiopia, followed by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Catholic Church, embraces a wide variety of liturgical colours. In Eritrea, similar traditions are followed.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, uses the same colour scheme as that of the Anglicans and their Scandinavian Lutheran counterparts, but with the use of gold only for the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday services, with Holy Week using scarlet in place of crimson. Both the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod use a similar system, but with purple being the primary colour for both Advent and Lent (with blue being the alternate colour fo
Church of Sweden
The Church of Sweden is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with 6.0 million baptised members at year end 2017 it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden. It is the largest Lutheran denomination in Europe and the third-largest in the world after the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. A member of the Porvoo Communion, the Church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, it is composed of thirteen dioceses, divided into parishes. It is an open national church which, working with a democratic organisation and through the ministry of the church, covers the whole nation; the Primate of the Church of Sweden is the Archbishop of Uppsala — Antje Jackelén, Sweden's first female archbishop. Today, the Church of Sweden is an Evangelical Lutheran church, it is liturgically and theologically "high church", having retained priests and the Mass during the Swedish Reformation. In common with other Evangelical Lutheran churches, the Church of Sweden maintains the historical episcopate.
Some Lutheran churches have congregational polity or modified episcopal polity without Apostolic succession, but the historic episcopate is maintained in Sweden and the other Lutheran nations of the Porvoo Communion. The Church of Sweden is known for its liberal position in theological issues the question of homosexuality; when Eva Brunne was consecrated as Bishop of Stockholm in 2009, she became the first lesbian bishop in the world. Despite a significant yearly loss of members, its membership of 5,993,368 people accounts for 59.3% of the Swedish population. Until 2000 it held the position of state church; the high membership numbers are because until 1996 all newborn children were made members, unless their parents had cancelled their membership. 2% of the church's members attend Sunday services. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2009, 17% of the Swedish population considered religion as an important part of their daily life. King Gustav I Vasa instigated the Church of Sweden in 1536 during his reign as King of Sweden.
This act separated the church from its canon law. In 1571, the Swedish Church Ordinance became the first Swedish church order following the Reformation; the Church of Sweden became Lutheran at the Uppsala Synod in 1593 when it adopted the Augsburg Confession to which most Lutherans adhere. At this synod, it was decided that the church would retain the three original Christian creeds: the Apostles', the Athanasian, the Nicene. In 1686, the Riksdag of the Estates adopted the Book of Concord, although only certain parts, labelled Confessio fidei, were considered binding, the other texts explanatory. Confessio dei included the three aforementioned Creeds, the Augsburg Confession and two Uppsala Synod decisions from 1572 and 1593. During the 19th and 20th centuries, a variety of teachings were approved directed towards ecumenism: 1878 development of the Catechism the Uppsala Creed of 1909, preparing for Eucharistic communion with the Church of England the constitutions of World Council of Churches the constitutions of Lutheran World Federation Church of Sweden's official response to the "Lima document" a Council of the Bishops Letter in Important Theological Questions the 1995 Treaty of Communion with the Philippine Independent ChurchIn practice, the Lutheran creed texts play a minor role, instead the parishes rely on Lutheran tradition in coexistence with influences from other Christian denominations and diverse ecclesial movements such as Low Church, High Church and Laestadianism, which locally might be established, but which have little nationwide influence.
During the 20th century the Church of Sweden oriented itself towards liberal Christianity and human rights. In 1957, the church assembly rejected a proposal for ordination of women, but the Riksdag changed the law in spring 1958 and forced the church assembly to accept the new law in autumn 1958. Since 1960, women have been ordained as priests, since 1994, men who oppose collaboration with women priests have not been allowed ordination. A proposal to perform same-sex weddings was approved on October 22, 2009 by 176 of 249 voting members of the Church of Sweden Synod. In 2000 the Church of Sweden ceased to be a state church, but there remains a strong tradition of community connection with churches in relation to rites of passage, with many infants baptized and teenagers confirmed for families without formal church membership. While some Swedish areas had Christian minorities in the 9th century, Sweden was, because of its geographical location in northernmost Europe, not Christianized until around AD 1000, around the same time as the other Nordic countries, when the Swedish King Olof was baptized.
This left only a modest gap between the Christianization of Scandinavia and the Great Schism, however there are some Scandinavian/Swedish saints who are venerated eagerly by many Orthodox Christians, such as St. Olaf. However, Norse paganism and other pre-Christian religious systems survived in the territory of what is now Sweden than that; the Christian church in Scandinavia was governed by the archdiocese of Bremen. In 1104 an archbishop for all Scandinavia was installed in Lund. Uppsala was
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges. He is one of the founders of Early Netherlandish painting and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art; the few surviving records of his early life indicate that he was born around 1380–1390, most in Maaseik. He took employment in the Hague around 1422, when he was a master painter with workshop assistants, employed as painter and valet de chambre with John III the Pitiless, ruler of Holland and Hainaut, he was employed in Lille as court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy after John's death in 1425, until he moved to Bruges in 1429 where he lived until his death. He was regarded by Philip and undertook a number of diplomatic visits abroad, including to Lisbon in 1428 to explore the possibility of a marriage contract between the duke and Isabella of Portugal. About 20 surviving paintings are confidently attributed to him, as well as the Ghent Altarpiece and the illuminated miniatures of the Turin-Milan Hours, all dated between 1432 and 1439.
Ten are dated and signed with a variation of his motto ALS IK KAN, a pun on his name, which he painted in Greek characters. Van Eyck painted both secular and religious subject matter, including altarpieces, single-panel religious figures and commissioned portraits, his work includes single panels, diptychs and polyptych panels. He was well paid by Philip, who sought that the painter was secure financially and had artistic freedom so that he could paint "whenever he pleased". Van Eyck's work comes from the International Gothic style, but he soon eclipsed it, in part through a greater emphasis on naturalism and realism, he achieved a new level of virtuosity through his developments in the use of oil paint. He was influential, his techniques and style were adopted and refined by the Early Netherlandish painters. Little is known of Jan van Eyck's early life and neither the date nor place of his birth is documented; the first extant record of his life comes from the court of John of Bavaria at The Hague where, between 1422 and 1424, payments were made to Meyster Jan den malre, a court painter with the rank of valet de chambre, with at first one and two assistants.
This suggests a date of birth of 1395 at the latest. However, his apparent age in the London probable self-portrait of 1433 suggests to most scholars a date closer to 1380, he was identified in the late 16th century as having been born in Maaseik, a borough of the prince-bishopric of Liège. His last name however is related to the place Bergeijk, due to genealogical information related to the coat-of-arms with three millrinds. Elisabeth Dhanens rediscovered in the quarterly state "the fatherly blazon, in gold, three millrinds of lauric acid", similar to other families that descend from the Lords of Rode in the quarter of Peelland in the'meierij van's-Hertogenbosch', his daughter Lievine was in a nunnery in Maaseik after her father's death. The notes on his preparatory drawing for Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati are written in the Maasland dialect, he had a sister Margareta, at least two brothers, with whom he served his apprenticeship and Lambert, both painters, but the order of their births has not been established.
Another significant, rather younger, painter who worked in Southern France, Barthélemy van Eyck, is presumed to be a relation. It is not known where Jan was educated, but he had knowledge of Latin and used the Greek and Hebrew alphabets in his inscriptions, indicating that he was schooled in the classics; this level of education was rare among painters, would have made him more attractive to the cultivated Philip. Van Eyck served as official to John of Bavaria-Straubing, ruler of Holland and Zeeland. By this time he had assembled a small workshop and was involved in redecorating the Binnenhof palace in The Hague. After John's death in 1425 he came to the attention of Philip the Good c. 1425. His emergence as a collectable painter follows his appointment to Philip's court, from this point his activity in the court is comparatively well documented, he served as court artist and diplomat, was a senior member of the Tournai painters' guild. On 18 October 1427, the Feast of St. Luke, he travelled to Tournai to attend a banquet in his honour attended by Robert Campin and Rogier van der Weyden.
A court salary freed him from commissioned work, allowed a large degree of artistic freedom. Over the following decade van Eyck's reputation and technical ability grew from his innovative approaches towards the handling and manipulating of oil paint. Unlike most of his peers his reputation never diminished and he remained well regarded over the following centuries, his revolutionary approach to oil was such that a myth, perpetuated by Giorgio Vasari, arose that he had invented oil painting. His brother Hubert van Eyck collaborated on Jan's most famous works, the Ghent Altarpiece art historians believe it was begun c. 1420 by Hubert and completed by Jan in 1432. Another brother, Lambert, is mentioned in Burgundian court documents, may have overseen his brother's workshop after Jan's death. Considered revolutionary within his lifetime, van Eyck's designs and methods were copied and reproduced, his motto, one of the first and still most distinctive signatures in art history, ALS IK KAN, a pun on his name, first appeared in 1433 on Portrait of a Man in a Turban, which can be seen as indicative of his emerging self-confidence at the time.
The yea
Pope Paul VI
Pope Saint Paul VI was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in 1978. Succeeding John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms, fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements. Montini served in the Holy See's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954. While in the Secretariat of State and Domenico Tardini were considered as the closest and most influential advisors of Pius XII, who in 1954 named him Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese. Montini became the Secretary of the Italian Bishops' Conference. John XXIII elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1958, after the death of John XXIII, Montini was considered one of his most successors. Upon his election to the papacy, Montini took the name Paul VI, he re-convened the Second Vatican Council, which had automatically closed with the death of John XXIII.
After the Council had concluded its work, Paul VI took charge of the interpretation and implementation of its mandates walking a thin line between the conflicting expectations of various groups within Catholicism. The magnitude and depth of the reforms affecting all fields of Church life during his pontificate exceeded similar reform programmes of his predecessors and successors. Paul VI spoke to Marian conventions and mariological meetings, visited Marian shrines and issued three Marian encyclicals. Following Ambrose of Milan, he named Mary as the Mother of the Church during the Second Vatican Council. Paul VI described himself as a humble servant for a suffering humanity and demanded significant changes from the rich in North America and Europe in favour of the poor in the Third World, his positions on birth control, promulgated famously in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, were contested in Western Europe and North America. The same opposition emerged in reaction to the political aspects of some of his teaching.
Following the standard procedures that lead to sainthood, Pope Benedict XVI declared that the late pontiff had lived a life of heroic virtue and conferred the title of Venerable upon him on 20 December 2012. Pope Francis beatified him on 19 October 2014 after the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession, his liturgical feast was celebrated on the date of his birth on 26 September until 2019 when it was changed to the date of his sacerdotal ordination on 29 May. Pope Francis canonised Paul VI on 14 October 2018. Giovanni Battista Montini was born in the village of Concesio, in the province of Brescia, Italy, in 1897, his father Giorgio Montini was a lawyer, director of the Catholic Action and member of the Italian Parliament. His mother was Giudetta Alghisi, from a family of rural nobility, he had two brothers, Francesco Montini, who became a physician, Lodovico Montini, who became a lawyer and politician. On 30 September 1897, he was baptised with the name Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini.
He attended the Cesare Arici school, run by the Jesuits, in 1916 received a diploma from the Arnaldo da Brescia public school in Brescia. His education was interrupted by bouts of illness. In 1916, he entered the seminary to become a Catholic priest, he was ordained priest on 29 May 1920 in Brescia and celebrated his first Holy Mass in Brescia in the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Montini concluded his studies in Milan with a doctorate in Canon Law in the same year. Afterwards he studied at the Gregorian University, the University of Rome La Sapienza and, at the request of Giuseppe Pizzardo at the Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici. In 1922, at the age of twenty-five, again at the request of Giuseppe Pizzardo, Montini entered the Secretariat of State, where he worked under Pizzardo together with Francesco Borgongini-Duca, Alfredo Ottaviani, Carlo Grano, Domenico Tardini and Francis Spellman, he never had an appointment as a parish priest. In 1925 he helped found the publishing house Morcelliana in Brescia, focused on promoting a'Christian-inspired culture'.
Montini had just one foreign posting in the diplomatic service of the Holy See as Secretary in the office of the papal nuncio to Poland in 1923. Of the nationalism he experienced there he wrote: "This form of nationalism treats foreigners as enemies foreigners with whom one has common frontiers. One seeks the expansion of one's own country at the expense of the immediate neighbours. People grow up with a feeling of being hemmed in. Peace becomes a transient compromise between wars." He described his experience in Warsaw as "useful, though not always joyful". When he became pope, the Communist government of Poland refused him permission to visit Poland on a Marian pilgrimage, his organisational skills led him to a career in the papal civil service. In 1931, Pacelli appointed him to teach history at the Pontifical Academy for Diplomats In 1937, after his mentor Giuseppe Pizzardo was named a cardinal and was succeeded by Domenico Tardini, Montini was named Substitute for Ordinary Affairs under Cardinal Pacelli, the Secretary of State.
His immediate supervisor was Domenico Tardini. Pacelli became Pope Pius XII in 1939 and confirmed Montini's appointment as Substitute under the new Cardinal Secretary of State Luigi Maglione. In that role that of a chief of staff, he met the pope every morning until 1954 and developed a rather close relationship with him. Of his service to two popes he w
Altar cloth
An altar cloth is used by various religious groups to cover an altar. It may be used as a sign of respect towards the holiness of the altar, as in the Catholic Church; because many altars are made of wood and are ornate and unique, cloth may be used to protect the altar surface. In other cases, the cloth serves to beautify a rather mundane construction underneath. Special cloths cover the altar in many Christian churches during services and celebrations, are left on the altar when it is not in use. In the early 20th century the Roman Catholic Church considered only linen or hemp to be acceptable as material for altar cloths, although in earlier centuries silk or cloth of gold or silver were used; the Anglican Communion had similar rules in that period. At that time, the Roman Rite required the use of three altar cloths, to which a cere cloth, not classified as an altar cloth, was added; this was a piece of heavy linen treated with wax to protect the altar linens from the dampness of a stone altar, to prevent the altar from being stained by any wine that may be spilled.
It was the same size as the mensa. Above this were placed two linen cloths. Like the cere cloth, they were made of heavy linen the same size as the mensa of the altar, they acted as a cushion and, with the cere cloth, prevented the altar from being dented by heavy vases or communion vessels placed on top. Instead of two cloths, a single long cloth folded so that each half covered the whole mensa was acceptable; the topmost cloth was a long white linen cloth laid over the two linen cloths. It had the same depth as the mensa of the altar, but was longer hanging over the edges to within a few inches of the floor or, according to some authorities, it should hang 18 inches over the ends of the mensa. On an altar without antependium and consisting of the mensa resting on columns or made after the fashion of a tomb the topmost linen did not have to overhang the edges at the sides, it could be trimmed with lace on the ends and could be ornamented with figures of chalices and the like. Five small crosses might be embroidered on the fair linen - one to fall at each corner of the mensa, one in the middle of the front edge.
These symbolised the five wounds of Jesus. The fair linen should be left on the altar at all times; when removed for replacement, it should be rolled, not folded. It symbolized the shroud. A vesperal cloth, or coverlet, of the same heavy linen as the cere cloth and the linen cloths, of the same length and width as the fair linen, was left on the altar whenever it is not in use, it protects the altar from dust and debris. The present rules of the Roman Rite are much less detailed, stating only: Out of reverence for the celebration of the memorial of the Lord and for the banquet in which the Body and Blood of the Lord are offered, there should be, on an altar where this is celebrated, at least one cloth, white in colour, whose shape and decoration are in keeping with the altar's structure. There are special linens which pertain to the Eucharist: The purificator is a white linen cloth, used to wipe the chalice after each communicant partakes, it is used to wipe the chalice and paten after the ablutions which follow Communion.
The pall is a stiffened square card covered with white linen embroidered with a cross, or some other appropriate symbol. The purpose of the pall is to keep dust and insects from falling into the Eucharistic elements; the corporal is a square white cloth upon which the chalice and paten are placed when the Eucharist is celebrated. It may be edged with fine lace, a cross may be embroidered on it near the front edge, where the Tridentine Mass prescribed that the host be placed. Embroidery in the centre was not used; the manuterge is used by the priest to dry her hands after washing them. The chalice veil: "It is a praiseworthy practice for the chalice to be covered with a veil, which may be either of the colour of the day or white." In the Tridentine Mass, the rubrics for Low Mass form obliged the priest to begin by carrying with him from the sacristy to the altar the chalice, upon, placed the purificator and pall, all of these covered with a chalice veil and surmounted by a burse containing the corporal.
The burse was a folder made of two square pieces of cardboard laid one on top of the other and bound together along one edge to form a hinge. The two pieces were attached with cloth along the two sides adjacent to the hinge, leaving the fourth end open to receive the corporal. At the end of Mass, the priest carried all these back to the sacristy, arranged after the same fashion; the present General Instruction of the Roman Missal does not envisage the use of a burse. In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion all of the linen cloths are white, including their decoration. Other more decorative cloths sometimes used to decorate the front and back of the altar are: The frontal, or Antependium, is the same size as the front of the altar, it is richly made of tapestry, silk or damask. Some frontals are matchless works of art, exhibiting embroidery possible. Other churches opt for a plain frontal. One characteristic is shared by all frontals: they are coloured green, purple, black, gold or of unbleached muslin, are changed according to the colour of the Church year.
Purple or blue for Advent.
