Tomb of St Philip Found

The following article was taken from PressTV. The above photo shows the ruins.

Archeologists have found the tomb of St. Philip the Apostle, one of the 12 original disciples of Jesus Christ, in the southwestern province of Denizli in Turkey.

The tomb was discovered at the ruins of a recently unearthed church in the ancient Turkish city of Hierapolis (Pamukkale), said Italian professor and archaeologist Francesco D'Andria.

Headed by D'Andria, the archeological team found the burial chamber of St. Philip while working to excavate the newly discovered church in the city, the Voice of Russia reported.

“The structure of the tomb as well as inscriptions found on it proves that it belongs to Saint Philip the Apostle, who also died a martyr,” D'Andria stated.

According to the New Testament, Jesus had 12 special followers, called “Apostles”, including Simon Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Mathew, James (son of Alpheus), Jude, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot.

The tombs of several of the Apostles have previously been found, with Saint Peter's being in Rome, Saint Andrew's in Greece, Saint John and Saint Bartholomew's in Turkey, and Saint Thomas's in India.

As in the above article, the Bible always lists Philip fifth, after Peter, boagnerges (james and john), and Peters brother Andrew. Below is a short biography on the saint taken from here:

St. Philip The Apostle was born at Bethsaida, Galilee and martyred 80 AD at Hierapolis, Phrygia. Little is known of him, but he is mentioned as one of the Apostles in Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:14 and in Acts 1:13. He is also mentioned in John as a man gifted for asking questions everyone else is afraid to ask. A man who is careful and also level headed.

Jesus Himself called Philip the day after He called Sts. Peter and Andrew. Philip was present at the miracle of the loaves and fishes where he had a brief dialogue with Jesus. Philip was also the apostle approached by the Hellenistic Jews from Bethsaida to have him introduce them to Jesus. Philip was present, as were the other Apostles, at the wedding in Cana. It was Philip, who just before the Lord’s passion, asked, “Lord, show us the Father and it will be enough for us.” No further mention of Philip is made in the New Testament beyond his listing as one of the apostles awaiting the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room.

According to tradition, Philip preached in Greece and in the year 80 AD was crucified upside down at Hierapolis in Phrygia by the Emperor Domitian. Philip’s relics were taken to Rome and placed in the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles.
Since the 15th Century, Saint Philip is portrayed as an apostle holding a long cross or a staff with a small cross on it. The staff is similar to the staves used by Saint Michael and Saint Margaret in overcoming dragon like demons and likely refers to the Golden Legend’s incident in the Temple of Mars. St. Philip is the patron saint for hatters, Luxembourg, Uruguay and pastry chefs.

The Golden Legend - a compilation of stories and legends about saints tells it's story about Saint Philip. The following extract is taken from theartofpainting.be

Philip preached for twenty years in Scythia. After that time the pagans thrust Philip before a statue of Mars and forced him to sacrifice to the god. Then a huge dragon emerged from the base of the statue. The dragon killed the pagan priest’s son, who tended the fire for the sacrifice, and slew two tribunes whose men held Philip in chains. The dragon infected the bystanders with the stench of its breath so that all became ill. Philip then said to the people that they had to worship the true Lord, for the dragon to disappear and the sick to be cured. The suffering cried out that if they would but be cured they would smash the statue of Mars. Philip commanded the dragon into the desert; he cured the sick and even brought the three men that had been mortally wounded by the dragon back to life. All the people present then accepted Philip’s faith.

When Philip was eighty-seven years old the infidels seized him and nailed him to a cross. The Golden Legend quotes again Isidore, who wrote that Philip was crucified and stoned at Hierapolis in Phrygia. Philip was buried there together with his daughters.

Filippino Lippi brings this story to life in the Strozzi Chapel of the church of Santa Maria Novella of Florence in 1502. Again from the theartofpainting.be:

The fresco ‘Saint Philip at the Temple of Mars’ is an excellent example of how well the Middle Age and Renaissance painters knew the apocryphal texts, such as their compilation in the ‘Golden Legend’ of Jacobus de Voragine. All the details of the narrative are shown. We see the statue of the Roman deity Mars, the god of war, in a sumptuous monument. The god holds the Roman symbol of the wolves with his left hand, whereas in the other he brandishes the flame of war high. The statue looks down on Philip, who commands the dragon. The story tells that the dragon broke out from under the temple and indeed, stones are broken from that marble stairs. The dragon is not the huge monster from the Golden Legend, since that would have taken up too much space in the painting and have been too ugly a scene for a refined fresco. But the son of the priest of Mars lies lifeless in the arms of oriental bystanders on the right. Filippino read that the story played in Scythia, so he let his imagination loose on the robes, cloaks, headdresses and even faces of the infidel people that came to sacrifice to the Roman god. Rome is present also on the left of the painting, where a centurion holds the standard of its army.

Filippino chose a scene of action and he painted Philip at the moment of highest drama in the story. Around the soldiers people are either suffering under growing sickness, such as the forefront old man with the white-grey hair, or they are pinching their noses at the stench of the dragon. In the centre, Philip commands the dragon and the miracle, whereas the priest of Mars looks in awe at the slumping body of his son. Lippi made a picture of action, a narrative in a painting, in the very old tradition of church frescoes that wanted to instruct the pious into the wonderful religious stories of the Bible and the lives of the Saints.

The Eye of God!

This photograph (actually, a composite of images) was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. It was originally posted on NASA's website. NASA did not call it the eye of God... but many people who have copied it have.

It is actually the Helix Nebula, described by astronomers as "a trillion-mile-long tunnel of glowing gases." At its center is dying star which has ejected masses of dust and gas to form tentacle-like filaments stretching toward an outer rim composed of the same material.

Our sun might develop like this after several billion years.

It is a beautiful and inspiring image..
but the eye of God...
maybe..
maybe not!

Catholics are to beleive the Bible

"25. Thus St. Jerome is in complete agreement with St. Augustine, who sums up the general belief of Christian antiquity when he says:

Holy Scripture is invested with supreme authority by reason of its sure and momentous teachings regarding the faith. Whatever, then, it tells us of Enoch, Elias and Moses - that we believe. We do not, for instance, believe that God's Son was born of the Virgin Mary simply because He could not otherwise have appeared in the flesh and 'walked amongst men' - as Faustus would have it - but we believe it simply because it is written in Scripture; and unless we believe in Scripture we can neither be Christians nor be saved. "


Taken from:
SPIRITUS PARACLITUS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE BENEDICT XV
ON ST. JEROME
TO ALL THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, AND ORDINARIES
IN UNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE.
Given at St. Peter's, Rome, September 15, 1920,
the seventh year of our Pontificate, Benedict XV

The Bollywood Catholic becomes the Hollywood Catholic

Recently I found out that Frieda Pinto is a Catholic. Who is Frieda Pinto, you say? Well you would have seen her in Slumdog Millionarie, where she won several awards worldwide (as did the movie). To date she has acted in five movies:

1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. You will meet a tall dark Stranger: written and directed by Woody Allen. It features Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch and Naomi Watts.
3. Miral
4. Immortals: an upcoming 2011 fantasy-action film directed by Tarsem Singh and starring Henry Cavill, Freida Pinto, and Mickey Rourke. The film was previously named Dawn of War and War of the Gods before being officially named Immortals and is loosely based on the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur and the Titanomachy.
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Freida worked in modeling, tv adds, hosted a tv show, and took acting lessons all before she appeared in slumdog millionaire. She was born in Mumbai, India, in 1984 to a Mangalorean Catholic family.

Now you may ask, What is a Mangalorean Catholic. Well, its a Catholic from Mangalore... oh, that's in India too. Here's what Wiki says about them:

Mangalorean Catholics are an ethno-religious community of Roman Catholics and their descendants, from the Mangalore Diocese on the southwestern coast of India. They are an Konkani community and speak the Konkani language.

Contemporary Mangalorean Catholics are descended mainly from Goan Catholic settlers who migrated to South Canara from Goa, a state north of Canara, between 1560 and 1763 throughout the course of the Goa Inquisition, Portuguese–Adil Shahi wars, and the Portuguese–Maratha wars. Gradually they learned the languages of South Canara but retained Konkani as their mother tongue and preserved their lifestyle. Their 15-year captivity at Seringapatam imposed by Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, from 24 February 1784 to 4 May 1799 led to the near extinction of the community. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan the community resettled in South Canara, and gradually prospered under the British.

Although early assertions of a distinct Mangalorean Catholic identity date from the migration period, a developed Mangalorean Catholic cultural identity only emerged following the captivity. The culture of Mangalorean Catholics is a blend of Mangalorean and Goan cultures. After migration, they adopted some aspects of the local Mangalorean culture but retained many of their Goan customs and traditions. The Mangalorean Catholic diaspora is globally concentrated in the Persian Gulf Arab states and the Anglosphere (english language countries).

Now, in some places in India, Catholics and other Christians are not liked. Every so often there is a rise in violence against them by Hindu extremists. Let us hope that her family does not suffer for their faith. I think its a great thing that Freida has gone from Bollywood to Hollywood, however, I hope she keeps her Catholic Identity.

The Vision statement off the website of her high school says:

Carmel of St. Joseph is committed to offer a life-oriented education that is humanizing and liberating, enabling the students to be socially conscious and justice-oriented. Empowerment of the poor and the marginalized will be a priority, and respect for God’s creation will be fostered. The thrust is in the light of a ‘civilization of love’ – the Kingdom of God as envisaged and promoted by the Foundress, Mother Teresa of St. Rose of Lima.

In an April 1st 2011 interview with Jane Gordon Feida speaks about her role in the Film Miral and mentions her Catholic upbringing and her perception of the Holy Land:

Miral tells the story of the Dar al-Tifl orphanage in Jerusalem – and was shot on location in Israel. Freida plays a 17-year-old Palestinian orphan who falls in love with a political activist and is drawn into the conflict.

‘I was brought up as a Catholic in India, and as a child I read all these stories about the birthplace of Jesus. You read stories about the Mount of Olives and you build up this image in your head that the Holy Land is going to be a certain way. When you get there all you see are walls and checkpoints. It was a bit of a surprise but, if you can ignore all that, it is such a beautiful place you want to do something to restore the peace,’ she says.

God Bless you Freida! Hold the Cross High for all the Catholics out there, so that we may have a world with peace!

Are they all yours.. and other fun questions from people who don't like families with more than three kids

I came across this and thought it was so funny. The Twelve days of a large family Christmas. Even if we are in august, we can still enjoy.

No kids allowed

The article on yahoo really concerns me. It was written by Piper Weis on Shine (wed 27 July 2011)- NO-KIDS-ALLOWED MOVEMENT IS SPREADING.

My argument is that there are few fast food restaurants that cater to my six member family. Oh yes, there are six seaters at Ruby Tuesday and TGI Fridays, but the KFC, Burger King, Rituals coffee shops, etc don't accomodate. While I think people without kids should have their space. I think it is sad that there are more and more places in the US that are being "child free" areas. Piper Weis identifies the cause of the movement:

When did kids become the equivalent of second-hand smoke? Blame a wave of childless adults with money to spare. "Empty nesters continue to wield a huge swath of discretionary spending dollars, and population dips in first-world countries mean more childless couples than ever," writes AdWeek's Klara.

and it is becoming more popular (again Piper Weis):

Earlier this month, McDain's, a Pittsburgh area restaurant that banned kids under 6 became a mascot for the no-kids-zone movement. According to a Pittsburgh local news poll, more than half of area residents were in favor of the ban. And now big business is paying attention.

Now compared to past generations my family is not large. Of the 8 grandparents of my wife and I, 5 were from families of 8 or more kids. My wifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gife is one of 4 and I am 1 of 6. So, how do we class the size of our family? Are families with over four no considered large as they are more rare? BabyCenter.com in a 2006 article says that big families never went out of style in the US:

Steve Martin, a sociologist at the University of Maryland crunched the numbers from a 2004 US government survey — the most recent available — he found that 28 percent of women age 35 to 44, who are winding up their childbearing years, have three kids or more. Ten years ago, it was 29 percent. The numbers for younger women haven't budged much, either.

Martin says it's not so much that big families are back, that they never disappeared in the first place. "Large families have consistently been common," he points out. "Two is the norm, but for every 34 mothers who stop at two, there are 28 who have three, four, or more."

I would think that religious people or people without much education would be having larger families, but it is not necessarily so. Again Babycenter.com:

While the percentage of moms having Brady Bunch-sized broods has held steady, the women who make up their ranks have changed somewhat. These days, professional and wealthy moms are having bigger families — traditionally more common among certain religious groups and poorer women with less education, according to government surveys.

Professional moms have twice as many kids at home, on average, than their high-powered counterparts did back in 1977, according to a 2002 report from the Families and Work Institute. And in a 2000 study, sociologist Martin found that college-educated women who put off motherhood until their 30s are suddenly having families almost as big as everyone else's. "That's historically unprecedented," he says.

So I've decided that having four kids is not having a large family. Despite the comments of people who think that it is. I've decided to call my family size "LARGER THAN SMALL" since I cannot find any organization that gives family sizes.

Despite the woes of having a larger than small family, I still love being a father and parent, and we parents will find place for our kids and ourselves. No matter what. Annie from SIX RING CIRCUS relates her crossing the street with just three kids. It's funny, and it's true, and it's a blessing:

Pay attention! Look for cars, did you see that car? You need to stay with me. Hurry up. Come on. Grab your brother, let’s GOOOO. Hustle, hustle, hustle! Move it! Geesh. Stay by mommy…car’s can’t see your short little body. Did you hear me? Are you listening to Mommy? Can’t you walk faster? You don’t need to jump in every puddle. Now your socks are soaked. Get in the van. You two older ones could be more helpful.

POPE PIUS XII saved 11000 jews

There are many who hate the Catholic Church and choose to malign our former Pope, Pius the twelfth. Th article below was published on July 22nd on Zenith News by Jesus Colina: Documents Reveal Pius XII Saved 11,000 Roman Jews

The direct action of Pope Pius XII saved the lives of more than 11,000 Jews in Rome during the Second World War, according to documentation recently discovered by historians.

Pave the Way Foundation representative for Germany, historian and investigative researcher Michael Hesemann, discovered a number of very important original documents in his research of the open archives of Santa Maria dell Anima Church, which is the National Church of Germany in Rome.

The U.S.-based foundation, founded by Jew Gary Krupp, announced the findings in a statement sent to ZENIT.

"Many have criticized Pius XII for remaining silent during the arrest and when trains left Rome containing 1,007 Jews who were sent to the death camp Auschwitz," Krupp stated. "The critics also do not acknowledge Pius XII's direct intervention to end the arrests of Oct. 16, 1943."

"New discoveries prove that Pius XII acted directly behind the scenes to end the arrests at 2:00 p.m., on the very day they began, but who was powerless to stop the ill-fated train," he added.

According to a recent study by researcher Deacon Dominiek Oversteyns, there were 12,428 Jews in Rome on Oct. 16, 1943.

"Pope Pius XII's direct action saved the lives of over 11,400 Jews," Krupp explained. "On the morning of Oct. 16, 1943, when the Pope learned of the arrests of the Jews, he immediately ordered an official Vatican protest with the German ambassador, which he knew would no doubt be fruitless.

"The Pope then sent his nephew, Prince Carlo Pacelli, to meet with Austrian Bishop Alois Hudal. Bishop Hudal, head of the National Church of Germany in Rome, was by some accounts, sympathetic to the Nazi's and had good relations with them. Prince Carlo Pacelli told Hudal that he was sent by the Pope, and that Hudal must write a letter to the German Governor of Rome, General Rainier Stahel, to demand that the arrests stop."

Bishop Hudal's letter to General Stahel stated: "Just now, a high Vatican source [...] reported to me that this morning, the arrest of the Jews of Italian nationality has started. In the interest of a peaceful dialogue between the Vatican and the German military command, I ask you with urgency to give order to immediately stop these arrests in Rome and the surrounding area. The German reputation in foreign countries requires such a measure and also the danger that the Pope would openly protest against it."

The letter was then hand-delivered to General Stahel by a close confidant to Pope Pius XII, German Father Pancratius Pfeiffer, superior general of the Society of the Divine Savior, who personally knew General Stahel.

The following morning, General Stahel responded by telephone: "I forwarded the affair immediately to the local Gestapo and to Himmler personally, Himmler ordered that, concerning the special status of Rome, these arrests are to be stopped immediately."

These events are further confirmed by the testimony obtained during the investigation of relator (high Judge) to the cause of Pius XII, Jesuit Priest Father Peter Gumpel.

Father Gumpel stated that he personally spoke to General Dietrich Beelitz, who was then liaison officer between Kesselring's office and Hitler's command. General Beelitz listened in to the Stahel-Himmler telephone conversation and confirmed that General Stahel used a threat of military failure to Himmler if the arrests were to continue.

Exemptions

An additional document titled "The direct actions to save innumerable persons of the Hebrew nation" states that Bishop Hudal managed -- through his contacts with Stahel and Colonel Baron von Veltheim -- to get "550 religious colleges and institutions to be exempt from inspections and visitations of the German military Police."

Just in one of these places, the Institute of St. Joseph, 80 Jews were being hidden.

The note also mentions the involvement "for a great part" of Prince Carlo Pacelli, the nephew of Pius XII. "The German soldiers were very disciplined and respected the signature of a high German official ... Thousands of local Jews in Rome, Assisi, Loreto, Padua etc. were saved due to this declaration."

Michael Hesemann stated that it is obvious that any public protest by the Pope when the train departed could have triggered the resumption of the arrests.

In addition, Hesemann explains that Pave the Way has on its Web site the original SS order to arrest 8,000 Roman Jews, who were to be sent to the work camp at Mauthausen -- to be held as hostages -- not the death camp in Auschwitz. One may speculate that the Vatican may have felt they could negotiate their release.

We have learned that it was also Bishop Hudal who was acknowledged by the Vatican as actively participating in helping some Nazis war criminals escape arrest after the war's end.

Because of his political position, Bishop Hudal was persona-non-grata at the Vatican and in fact, was chastised in writing by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini (later Pope Paul VI), for even suggesting that Vatican help any Nazi escape arrest.

Gary Krupp, President of Pave the Way, further commented that "Pave the Way has devoted vast resources in order to obtain and post publicly all of this information for historians and scholars. Curiously, none of the most outspoken critics of Pope Pius XII, has bothered to either come to the open Vatican Archives (completely opened since 2006 up to 1939) for original study, or even accessed our restricted free Web site, according to sign in sheets in Rome and our registration records."

Krupp further commented that he has the sincere hope that the scholarly representatives of the Roman Jewish community, research original materials only steps from their homes.

"I believe they will find that the very existence today of what Pope Pius XII called 'this vibrant community' is because of the secret efforts of Pope Pius XII to save every life," said Krupp. "Pius XII did what he could, while under the threat of invasion, death, surrounded by hostile forces and infiltrated by spies."

Elliot Hershberg, chairman of Pave the Way Foundation, added: "In the service of our mission, we are committed to try to bring some resolution to this controversy, which affects over 1 billion people.

"We have used our international connections and trust to obtain and post on our free restricted Web site over 46,000 pages of original documents, original news articles, video eyewitness, and scholarly interviews in order to spoon-feed this documentation to the historians and scholars.

"The international publicity from this project has yielded new documentation almost weekly, which show how we have moved to eliminate the academic logjam that has existed since 1963."