The universe is created by thought consciousness which manifests in physical reality through a geometric blueprint that we call Sacred Geometry. It repeats in cycles giving the illusion of linear time so we can experience emotions. The term "sacred geometry" is used by archaeologists, anthropologists, and geometricians to encompass the religious, philosophical, and spiritual beliefs that have sprung up around geometry in various cultures during the course of human history. It is a catch-all term covering Pythagorean geometry and neo-Platonic geometry, as well as the perceived relationships between organic and logarithmic curves.

Reality is based on 12 spiraling cones/tones around a central source of creation.

Astronomy

Astronomy, is the science that deals with the origin, evolution, composition, distance, and motion of all bodies and scattered matter in the universe. It includes astrophysics, which discusses the physical properties and structure of all cosmic matter.

Astronomy is the most ancient of the sciences, having existed since the dawn of recorded civilization. Much of the earliest knowledge of the celestial bodies is often credited to the Babylonians. They are thought to have recognized a number of prominent constellations as early as 3000 BC and to have developed a calendar based on the regularity of certain astronomical events some centuries thereafter.

In ancient Greece and other early civilizations, astronomy consisted largely of astrometry, measuring positions of stars and planets in the sky. Later, the work of Kepler and Newton paved the way for celestial mechanics, mathematically predicting the motions of celestial bodies interacting under gravity, and solar system objects in particular.

Historically, amateurs have contributed to many important astronomical discoveries, and astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can still play an active role, especially in the discovery and observation of transient phenomena.

Modern astronomy as practised is not to be confused with astrology, the belief system that states that people's destiny and human affairs in general are correlated to the positions of celestial objects in the skies. Although the two fields share a common origin, they are quite different; astronomers employ the scientific method, while astrologers do not.

Astrology

Astrology refers to any of several traditions or beliefs in which knowledge of the apparent positions of celestial bodies is held to be useful in understanding, interpreting, and organizing knowledge about reality and human existence on earth. All traditions are based on the relative positions and movements of various real and construed celestial bodies as seen at the time and place of the birth or other event being studied. These are chiefly the Sun, Moon, planets, Ascendant & Midheaven axes, and the lunar nodes. A practitioner of astrology is called an astrologer, or sometimes an astrologist.

Many of those who practice astrology believe the positions of certain celestial bodies either influence or correlate with people's personality traits, important events in their lives, and even physical characteristics.

Astrology is not considered to be a science, but is more appropriately an art, and is separate from astronomy, the scientific study of outer space.

The eyes are the windows to the soul.

The eye is a lens which allows us to see and become consciously aware of our experience in third dimension.

The eye has a pupil. We are pupils/students in a university experiencing through the lens of time - virtual reality.

Many people are now dreaming or meditating and see An Eye that is either opened or closed. Aliens eyes - the eyes of the Grays = Lens of Time. The large alien head is a metaphor for consciousness expanding when you 'move' into the 'eye'.

To understand that the eye is the window to the soul - there are 2 techniques you can use - alone or with one other person. Alone ... stand in front of a mirror in the dark. Shine a flashlight below your face pointing upward. Now stare at the eyes in the mirror and you shall see your image change into many people - some may not be human - all of whom are aspects of your soul experiencing in other grids. To do this with another person ... sit across from the person in a dimly lit - or dark room. Place the flashlight below your face again. This will enable the other person to see you in other lives and tell you what they see as they look through the windows of your soul.

They may also see themselves in that lifetime with you. Next repeat this by looking into the other person's eyes. It is important not to move while doing this form of scrying. To truly be skilled at this - you will take the other person - or yourself - to their 'soul spark' of light. It is the flicker of light - white - blue - purple - that you sometimes see in the periphery of your field of vision - for only a second. Always remember - your experience here is just that ... a second.

The third eye is the 6th chakra. As it begins to activate and open - it is a common experience that one sees an eye - or eyes- looking back at them. Your perspective in - dreams - of colors - your personal life and relationships yes - will be seen through a 'new light.' You are moving into a higher frequency that enables you to expand your consciousness and see reality on many levels and dimensions. This can be a quantum leap in perception and can be life changing as you discard patterns that no longer work in higher frequency. Your total perception changes in this acceleration of time.

The opening of the eye - is symbolic of a time of awakening - the evolution of consciousness -- the activation of your DNA = 11:11 digtal alarm going off in your brain. The opening of the eye - Iris - Isis - I - can be the physical eye or what is called the 'third eye' - which looks up and out - has a lens and is the pineal gland.

The camera slows down the action allowing us to experience events as linear in nature - when indeed they are not. Exploring in linear time allows us to experience emotions through an electromagnetic field - duality - polarity - love vs. fear. We see balance as we awaken and remember that we are souls sparks - the twinkling lights you see - who are in a physical form that is evolving back to its original creation. Pole Shifts.

There is much symbology linked with the image of the 'eye' - all linking to the eye as a metaphor for the source of creation - God - Eye of God. The eye - as you know - is oval shaped.

Everything in our reality is created by the patterns of sacred geometry. We begin wth a sphere - the egg - female. The separation of the sphere - creates an oval opening - the vesica pisces - opening - shape of the eye.

From the ancient Egyptian Mystery Schools Teachings we find Horus - The Eye of Horus all is created by sacred geometry - patterns that repeat in loops - fibonacci spirals - the movement of consciousness in a cone shaped manner . Horus - Hours - Time - Thoth and Isis - Eye - 'I'

Martyrology

By martyrology is understood a catalogue of martyrs and saints arranged according to the order of their feasts, i. e., according to the calendar. Since the time when the commemorations of martyrs, to which were added those of bishops, began to be celebrated, each Church had its special martyrology. Little by little these local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring Churches, and when the era of martyrs was definitively closed, those were introduced who had shone in the community by the sanctity of their life and notably by the practice of asceticism.

Asceticism

The word asceticism comes from the Greek askesis which means practice, bodily exercise, and more especially, atheletic training. The early Christians adopted it to signify the practice of the spiritual things, or spiritual exercises performed for the purpose of acquiring the habits of virtue.

It is prompted by the desire to do the will of God, any personal element of self-satisfaction which enters the motive vitiating it more or less. Its object is the subordination of the lower appetites to the dictates of right reason and the law of God, with the continued and necessary cultivation of the virtues which the Creator intended man to possess.

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Devotion to Our Blessed Lady in its ultimate analysis must be regarded as a practical application of the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. Seeing that this doctrine is not contained, at least explicitly in the earlier forms of the Apostles' Creed, there is perhaps no ground for surprise if we do not meet with any clear traces of the cultus of the Blessed Virgin in the first Christian centuries. The earliest unmistakable examples of the "worship" -- we use the word of course in the relative sense -- of the saints is connected with the veneration paid to the martyrs who gave their lives for the Faith. From the first century onwards, martyrdom was regarded as the surest sign of election. The martyrs, it was held, passed immediately into the presence of God. Over their tombs the Holy Sacrifice was offered (a practice which may possibly be alluded to in Revelation 6:9) while in the contemporary narrative of the martyrdom of St. Polycarp (c. 151) we have already mention of the "birthday", i.e. the annual commemoration, which the Christians might be expected to keep in his honour. This attitude of mind becomes still more explicit in Tertullian and St. Cyprian, and the stress laid upon the "satisfactory" character of the sufferings of the martyrs, emphasizing the view that by their death they could obtain graces and blessings for others, naturally and immediately led to their direct invocation.

A further reinforcement, of the same idea, was derived from the cult of the angels, which, while pre-Christian in its origin, was heartily embraced by the faithful of the sub-Apostolic age. It seems to have been only as a sequel of some such development that men turned to implore the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. This at least is the common opinion among scholars, though it would perhaps be dangerous to speak too positively. Evidence regarding the popular practice of the early centuries is almost entirely lacking, and while on the one hand the faith of Christians no doubt took shape from above downwards (i.e. the Apostles and teachers of the Church delivered a message which the laity accepted from them with all docility) still indications are not lacking that in matters of sentiment and devotion the reverse process sometimes obtained. Hence, it is not impossible that the practice of invoking the aid of the Mother of Christ had become more familiar to the more simple faithful some time before we discover any plain expression of it in the writings of the Fathers. Some such hypothesis would help to explain the fact that the evidence afforded by the catatcombs and by the apocryphal literature of the early centuries seems chronologically in advance of that which is preserved in the contemporaneous writings of those who were the authoritative mouthpieces of Christian tradition.

Be this however as it may, the firm theological basis, upon which was afterwards reared the edifice of Marian devotion, began to be laid in the first century of our era. It is not without significance that we are told of the Apostles after the Ascension of Christ, that "all these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren" (Acts 1:14). Also attention has rightly been called to the fact that St. Mark, though he tells us nothing of our Christ's childhood, nevertheless describes Him as "the son of Mary" (Mark 6:3), a circumstance which, in view of certain known peculiarities of the Second Evangelist, greatly emphasises his belief in the Virgin Birth.

The same mystery is insisted upon by St. Ignatius of Antioch, who, after describing Jesus as "Son of Mary and Son of God", goes on to tell the Ephesians (7, 18, and 19) that "our God, Jesus Christ, was conceived in the womb of Mary according to a dispensation of the seed of David but also of the Holy Ghost," and he adds: "Hidden from the prince of this world were the virginity of Mary and her childbearing and likewise also the death of the Lord -- three mysteries to be cried aloud". Aristides and St. Justin also use explicit language concerning the Virgin Birth, but it is St. Irenaeus more especially who has deserved to be called the first theologian of the Virgin Mother. Thus he has drawn out the parallel between Eve and Mary, urging that, "as the former was led astray by an angel's discourse to fly from God after transgressing His word, so the latter by an angel's discourse had the Gospel preached unto her that she might bear God, obeying His word. And if the former had disobeyed God, yet the other was persuaded to obey God: that the Virgin Mary might become an advocate for the virgin Eve. And as mankind was bound unto death through a virgin, it is saved a through virgin; by the obedience of a virgin the disobedience of a virgin is compensated" (Irenaeus, V, 19). No one again disputes that the clause "born of the Virgin Mary" formed part of the primitive redaction of the Creed, and the language of Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, etc., is in thorough conformity with that of Irenaeus; further, though writers like Tertullian, Hevidius, and possibly Hegesippus disputed the perpetual virginity of Mary, their more orthodox contemporaries affirmed it.

It was natural then that in this atmosphere we should find a continually developing veneration for the sanctity and exalted privileges of Mary. In the paintings of the catacombs more particularly, we appreciate the exceptional position that she began, from an early period, to occupy in the thoughts of the faithful. Some of these frescoes, representing the prophecy of Isaias, are believed to date from the first half of the second century. Three others which represent the adoration of the Magi are a century later. There is also a remarkable but very much mutilated bas-relief, found at Carthage, which may be probably assigned to the time of Constantine.

More startling is the evidence of certain apocryphal writings, notably that of the so-called Gospel of St. James, or "Protevangelion." The earlier portion of this, which evinces a deep veneration for the purity and sanctity of the Blessed Virgin, and which affirms her virginity in partu et post partum, is generally considered to be a work of the second century. Similarly, certain interpolated passages found in the Sibylline Oracles, passages which probably date from the third century, show an equal preoccupation with the dominant role played by the Blessed Virgin in the work of redemption (see especially II, 311-12, and VIII, 357-479). The first of these passages apparently assigns to the intercession "of the Holy Virgin" the obtaining of the boon of seven days of eternity that men may find time for repentance (cf. the Fourth Book of Esdras, vii, 28-33). Further, it is quite likely that the mention of the Blessed Virgin in the intercessions of the diptychs of the liturgy goes back to the days before the Council of Nicaea, but we have no definite evidence upon the point, and the same must be said of any form of direct invocation, even for purposes of private devotion.

The Age of the Fathers

The existence of the obscure sect of the Collyridians, whom St. Epiphanius (d. 403) denounces for their sacrificial offering of cakes to Mary, may fairly be held to prove that even before the Council of Ephesus there was a popular veneration for the Virgin Mother which threatened to run extravagant lengths. Hence Epiphanius laid down the rule: "Let Mary be held in honour. Let the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be adored, but let no one adore Mary" (ten Marian medeis prosknueito). Nonetheless the same Epiphanius abounds in the praises of the Virgin Mother, and he believed that there was some mysterious dispensation with regard to her death implied in the words of Revelations 12:14: "And there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the desert unto her place." Certain it is, in any case, that such Fathers as St. Ambrose and St. Jerome, partly inspired with admiration for the ascetic ideals of a life of virginity and partly groping their way to a clearer understanding of all that was involved in the mystery of the Incarnation, began to speak of the Blessed Virgin as the model of all virtue and the ideal of sinlessness. Several striking passages of this kind have been collected.

• "In heaven", St. Ambrose tells us, "she leads the choirs of virgin souls; with her the consecrated virgins will one day be numbered."
• St. Jerome (Ep. xxxix, Migne, P. L., XXII, 472) already foreshadows that conception of Mary as mother of the human race which was to animate so powerfully the devotion of a later age.
• St. Augustine in a famous passage (De nat. et gratis, 36) proclaims Mary's unique privilege of sinlessness
• In St. Gregory Nazianzen's sermon on the martyr St. Cyprian (P.G., XXXV, 1181) we have an account of the maiden Justina, who invoked the Blessed Virgin to preserve her virginity.

• Thus in the hymns on the Nativity (6) we read: "Blessed be Mary, who without vows and without prayer in her virginity conceived and brought forth the Lord of all the sons of her companions, who have been or shall be chaste or righteous, priests and kings. Who else lulled a son in her bosom as Mary did? Who ever dared to call her son, Son of the Maker, Son of the Creator, Son of the Most High?"
• Similarly in Hymns 11 and 12 of the same series, Ephraem represents Mary as soliloquizing thus: "The babe that I carry carries me, and He hath lowered His wings and taken and placed me between His pinions and mounted into the air, and a promise has been given me that height and depth shall be my Son's" etc.

In any case, the evidence of the Syriac manuscripts proved beyond all question that in the East before the end of the sixth century, and probably very much earlier, devotion to the Blessed Virgin had assumed all those developments which are usually associated with the later Middle Ages. In some manuscripts of the "Transitus Mariae" -- dating from the late fifth century -- we find mention of three annual feasts of the Blessed Virgin:

• one two days after the feast of the Nativity,
• another on the 15th day of Iyar, corresponding more or less to May, and
• a third on the 13th (or 15th) day of Ab (roughly August), which probably is the origin of our present feast of the Assumption.

Often here in Rome she appears to the people who confess her in prayer, for she has appeared here on the sea when it was troubled and raised itself and was going to destroy the ship in which they were sailing. And the sailors called on tke name of the Lady Mary and said: 'O Lady Mary, Mother of God, have mercy on us,' and straightway she rose upon them like the sun and delivered the ships, ninety-two of them, and rescued them from destruction, and none of them perished.

She appeared by day on the mountain where robbers had fallen upon people and sought to slay them. And these people cried out saying: 'O Lady Mary Mother of God, have mercy on us.' And she appeared before them like a flash of lightning, and blinded the eyes of the robbers and they were not seen by them" (ib., 49).

There is also confirmatory evidence for such a feast to be found in the hymns of Balai, a Syriac writer of the beginning of the fifth century; for not only does this writer use the most glowing language about Our Lady, but he speaks in such terms as these: "Praise to Thee Lord upon the memorial feast of Thy Mother" (Poem 4, p. 14, and Poem 6, p. 15). Another clear testimony is that of St. Proclus, who died Patriarch of Constantinople, and who in 429 preached a sermon in that city, at which Nestorius was present, beginning with the words "The Virgin's festival (parthenike panegyris) incites our tongue today to herald her praise." In this, we may further note, he describes Mary as

handmaid and Mother, Virgin and heaven, the only bridge of God to men, the awful loom of the Incarnation, in which by some unspeakable way the garment of that union was woven, whereof the weaver is the Holy Ghost; and the spinner the overshadowing from on high; the wool the ancient fleece of Adam; the woof the undefiled flesh from the virgin, the weaver's shuttle the immense grace of Him who brought it about; the artificer the Word gliding through the hearing" (P.G., LXV, 681).

Turning to another Eastern land, we find a very remarkable monument of Marian devotion among the Coptic Ostraca (p. 3), dated to about A. D. 600. This fragment bears in Greek the words: "Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, because thou didst conceive Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer of our souls". This oriental variant of the Ave Maria was apparently intended for liturgical use, much as the earliest form of the Hail Mary in the West took the shape of an antiphon employed in the Mass and Office of the Blessed Virgin. Relatively late as this fragment may seem, it is the more valuable because the direct mention of the Blessed Virgin in our earliest liturgical form is of rare occurrence. None such, for example, is found in the prayer-book of Serapion, or in the liturgy of the Apostolic Constitutions, or in the fragments of the Canon of the Mass preserved to us in the Ambrosian treatise "De Sacramentis". Certain Syriac hymns by Cyrillon as (c. 400) and especially by Rabnlas of Edessa (d. 435) speak of Mary in terms of warm devotion; but as in the case of St. Ephraem there is a certain element of uncertainty regarding the authorship of these compositions. On the other hand the dedication of many early churches undoubtedly afford an indication of the authoritative recognition at this period extended to the cultus of the Blessed Virgin. Already at the beginning of the fifth century St. Cyril wrote: "Hail to thee Mary, Mother of God, to whom in towns and villages and in island were founded churches of true believers" (P.G., LXXVII, 1034). The Church of Ephesus, in which in 431 the Ecumenical Council assembled, was itself dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Three churches were founded in her honour in or near Constaninople by the Empress Pulcheria in the course of the fifth century, while at Rome the Church of Santa Maria Antiqua and Santa Maria in Trastevere are certainly older than the year 500. Not less remarkable is the ever increasing prominence given to the Blessed Virgin during the fourth and fifth centuries in Christian art. In the paintings of the catacombs, in the sculptures of sarchophagi, in the mosaics, and in such minor objects as the oil flasks of Monsa, the figure of Mary recurs more and more frequently, while the veneration with which she is regarded is indicated in various indirect ways, for example by the large nimbus, such as may be seen in the pictures of the Crucifixion in the Rabulas manuscript of A.D. 586 (reproduced in THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, VIII, 773). As early as 540 we find a mosaic in which she sits enthroned as Queen of Heaven in the centre of the apex of the cathedral of Parenzo in Austria, which was constructed at that date by Bishop Euphrasius.

The Early Middle Ages

With the Merovingian and Carlovingian developments of Christianity in the west came the more authoritative acceptance of Marian devotion as an integral part of the Church's life. It is difficult to give precise dates for the introduction of the various festivals, but it has already been pointed out in the article CALENDAR that the celebration of the Assumption, Annunciation, Nativity and Purification of Our Lady may certainly be traced to this period. Three of these feasts appear in the Calendar of St. Willibrord of the end of the seventh century, the Assumption being assigned both to 18 January, after the practice of the Gallican Church, and to August (which approximates to the present Roman date), while the absence of the Annunciation is probably due only to accident. Again we may quite confidently affirm that the position of the Blessed Virgin in the liturgical formula of the Church was by this time securely established. Even if we ignore the Canon of the Roman Mass which had taken very much the form it now retains before the close of the sixth century, the "praefatio" for the January festival of the Assumption in the Gallican Rite, as well as other prayers which may safely be assigned to no later date than the seventh century, give proof of a fervent cultus of the Blessed Virgin. In poetic language Mary is declared not only marvellous by the pledge which she conceived through faith but glorious in the translation by which she departed" (P. L., LXII, 244-46), the belief in her Assumption being clearly and repeatedly taken for granted, as it had been a century earlier by Gregory of Tours. She is also described in the liturgy as "the beautiful chamber from which the worthy spouse comes forth, the light of the gentiles, the hope of the faithful, the spoiler of the demons, the confusion of the Jews, the vessel of life, the tabernacle of glory, the heavenly temple, whose merits, tender maiden as she was, are the more clearly displayed when they are set in contrast with the example of ancient Eve" (ib., 245). At the same period numberless churches were erected under Mary's dedication, and many of these were among the most important in Christendom. The cathedrals of Reims, Chartres, Rouen, Amiens, Nîmes, Evreux, Paris, Bayeux, Séez, Toulon etc., though built at different dates, were all consecrated in her honour. It is true that the origin of many of these French shrines of Our Lady is impenetrably shrouded in the mists of legends. For example, no one now seriously believes that St. Trophimus at Arles dedicated a chapel to the Blessed Virgin while she was still living, but there is conclusive evidence that some of these places of pilgrimage were venerated at a very early date. We learn from Gregory of Tours (Hist. Fr., IX, 42) that St. Rhadegund had built a church in her honour at Poitiers, and he speaks of others at Lyons, Toulouse, and Tours. We also possess the dedication tablet of a church erected by Bishop Frodomund in 677 "in honore almae Mariae, Genetricis Domini", and as the day named is the middle of the month of August (mense Augusto medio), there can be little doubt that the consecration took place upon the festival of the Assumption, which was at that time beginning to supplant the January feast. In Germany the shrines of Altötting and Lorch profess to be able to trace their origin as places of pilgrimage to remote antiquity and though it would be rash to pronounce too confidently, we may probably feel safei in assigning them at least to the Carlovingian period.

In England and Ireland the evidence that from the earliest period Christianity was strongly leavened with devotion to Mary is very great. Bede tells us of the church consecrated to the honour of Our Lady at Canterbury by St. Mellitus, the immediate successor of Augustine; we also learn from the same source of many other Mary churches, e.g. Weremouth and Hexham (this last dedication being due to the miraculous cure of St. Wilfrid after invoking the Mother of God), and Lastingham near Whitby, while St. Aldhelm, before the end of the same seventh century, informs us how the Princess Bugga, daughter of King Edwin, had a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin on the feast of her Nativity:

Istam nempe diem, qua templi festa coruscant,
Nativitate sua sacravit Virgo Maria.

Absidem consecrat Virginis ara.

Probably the earliest vernacular poetry in the West to celebrate the praise of Mary was the Anglo-Saxon; for Cynewulf, slightly before the time of Alcuin and of Charlemagne, composed most glowing verses on this theme; for example to quote Gollancz's translation of "the Christ" (ii, 214-80):

Hail, thou glory of this middle-world!
The purest woman throughout all the earth.
Of those that were from immemorial time
How rightly art thou named by all endowed
With gifts of speech! All mortals throughout earth
Declare full blithe of heart that thou art bride
Of Him that ruleth the empyral sphere.

To speak in detail of all that we find in the writings of Aldhelm, Bede, and Alcuin would be impossible; but it is well to note the testimony of an Anglican writer with regard to the whole period before the Norman Conquest. "The Saint," he says, "most persistent!y and frequently invoked, and to whom the most passionate epithets were applied, trenching upon the Divine prerogatives, was the Blessed Virgin. Mariolatry is no very modern development of Romanism"; and he instances from a tenth-century English manuscript now at Salisbury, such invocations as "Sancta Redemptrix Mundi, Sancta Salvatrix Mundi, ora pro nobis"; The same writer after referring to prayers and practices of devotion known in Anglo-Saxon times, for example the special Mass already assigned to the Blessed Virgin on Saturdays in the Leofric Missal, comments upon the strange delusion, as he regards it, of many Anglicans, who can look upon a Church which tolerated such abuses as primitive and orthodox.

Not less remarkable are the developments of devotion to the Mother of God in Ireland. The calendar of Aengus at the beginning of the ninth century is very remarkable for the ardour of the language used whenever the Blessed Virgin's name is introduced, while Christ is continually referred to as "Jesus Mac Mary" (i.e. Son of Mary). There is also besides certain Latin hymns, a very striking Irish litany in honour of the Blessed Virgin, which as regards the picturesqueness of the epithets applied to her, yields in nothing to the present Litany of Loreto. Mary is there called "Mistress of the Heavens, Mother of the Heavenly and earthly Church, Recreation of Life, Mistress of the Tribes, Mother of the Orphans, Breast of the Infants, Queen of Life, Ladder of Heaven." This composition may be as old as the middle of the eighth century.

The Later Middle Ages

It was characteristic of this period, which for our present purpose may be regarded as beginning with the year 1000, that the deep feeling of love and confidence in the Blessed Virgin, which hitherto had expressed itself vaguely and in accordance with the promptings of the piety of individuals, began to take organized shape in a vast multitude of devotional practices. Long before this date a Lady altar was probably to be found in all the more important churches -- St. Aldhelm's poem on the altars takes us back to before the year 70 and many records testify that at such altars paintings, mosaics, and ultimately sculptures reproduced the figure of the Blessed Virgin to delight the eyes of her clients. The famous seated figure of the Madonna with the Divine Infant at Ely dated from before 1016. The statue of the Blessed Virgin at Coventry, round the neck of which Lady Godiva's rosary was hung, belongs to the same period. Even in Aldhelm's day Our Lady was besought to hearken to the prayers of those who bent the knee before her shrine.

Audi clementer populorum vota precantum
Qui . . . genibus tundunt curvato poplite terram.

It was especially for such salutations that the Ave Maria, which probably first became familiar as an antiphon used in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, won popular favour with all classes. Accompanying it each time with a genuflection, such as tradition averred that the Angel Gabriel himself had made, Mary's clients repeated this formula before her images again and again. As it was destitute at first of its concluding petition, the Ave was felt to be a true form of salutation, and in the course of the twelfth century came into universal use. To the same epoch belongs the wide popularity of the Salve Regina, which also seems to have come into existence in the eleventh century. Though it originally began with the words "Salve Regina Misericordia" without the "Mater", we cannot doubt that something of the vogue of the anthem was due to the immense diffusion of the collections of Mary-stories (Marien-legenden) which multiplied exceedingly at this time (twelfth to fourteenth century), and in which the Mater Misericordia motif was continually recurrent. These collections of stories must have produced a notable effect in popularising a number of other practices of devotion besides repetitions of the Ave and the use of the Salve Regina, for example the repetition of five salutations beginning "Gaude Maria Virgo," the recitation of five psalms, the initials of which make up the word Maria, the dedication of the Saturday by special practices to the Blessed Virgin, the use of assigned prayers, such as the sequence "Missus Gabriel," the "O Intemerata," the hymn "Ave Maris Stella," etc., and the celebration of particular feasts, such as the Conception of the Blessed Virgin and her Nativity. The five Gaudes just mentioned originally commemorated Our Lady's "five joys" and to match those joys spiritual writers at first commemorated five corresponding sorrows. It was not until late in the fourteenth century that seven sorrows or "dolours" began to be spoken of, and even then only by exception.

In all these matters the first impulse seems to have come very largely from the monasteries, in which the Mary-stories were for the most part composed and copied. It was in the monasteries undoubtedly that the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin (see PRIMER) began to be recited as a devotional accretion to the Divine Office, and that the Salve Regina and other anthems of Our Lady were added to Compline and other hours. Amongst other orders the Cistercians, particularly in the twelfth century, exercised an immense influence in the development of Marian devotion. They claimed a very special connection with the Blessed Virgin, whom they were taught to regard as always presiding unseen at the recitation of Office. To her they dedicated their churches, and they were particular in saying her hours, giving her special prominence in the Confiteor and frequently repeating the Salve Regina. This example of a special consecration to Mary was followed by other later orders, notably by the Dominicans, the Carmelites, and the Servites. Indeed, almost every such institution from this time forward adopted some one or other special practice of devotion to mark its particular allegiance to the Mother of God. Shrines naturally multiplied, and although some, as already noted, are in their origin of later date than the eleventh century, it was at this period that such famous places of pilgrimage arose as Roc Amadour, Laon, Mariabrunn near Klosterneuburg, Einsiedeln etc., and in England, Walsingham, Our Lady Undercroft at Canterbury, Evesham, and many more.

These shrines, which as time went on multiplied beyond calculation in every part of Europe, nearly always owed their celebrity to the temporal and spiritual favours which it was believed the Blessed Virgin granted to those who invoked her in these favoured spots. The gratitude of pilgrims often enriched them with the most costly gifts; crowns of gold and precious gems, embroidered garments, and rich hangings meet us at every turn in the record of such sanctuaries. We might mention, to take a single example, that of Halle, in Belgium, which was exceptionally rich in such treasures. Perhaps the commonest form of votive offerings took the shape of a gold or silver model of the person or limb that had been cured. For example Duke Philip of Burgundy sent to Halle two silver statues, one representing a knight on horseback, the other a foot-soldier in gratitude for the cure of two of his own bodyguard. Often again the special vogue of a particular shrine was due to some miraculous manifestation which was believed to have occurred there. Blood was said to have flowed from certain statues and pictures of Our Lady which had suffered outrage. Others had wept or exuded moisture. In other cases, the head had bowed or the hand been raised in benediction.

Without denying the possibility of such occurrences, it can hardly be doubted that in many instances the historical evidence for these wonders was unsatisfactory. That popular devotion to the Blessed Virgin was often attended with extravagance and abuse, it is impossible to deny. Nevertheless we may believe that the simple faith and devotion of the people was often rewarded in proportion to their honest intention of paying respect to the Mother of God. And there is no reason to believe that these forms of piety had on the whole a delusive effect, and fostered nothing but superstition. The purity, pity, and motherliness of Mary were always the dominant motive, even the "Miracle" of Max Reinhardt, the wordless play which in 1912 took London by storm, persuaded many how much of true religious feeling must have underlain even the more extravagant conceptions of the Middle Ages.

The most renowned English shrines of Our Lady, that of Walsingham in Norfolk, was in a sense an anticipation of the still more famous Loreto. Walsingham professed to preserve, not indeed the Holy House itself, but a model of its construction upon measurements brought from Nazareth in the eleventh century. The dimensions of the Walsingham Santa Casa were noted by William of Worcester, and they do not agree with those of Loreto. Walsingham measured 23 ft. 6 in. by 12 ft. 10 in.; Loreto, 31 ft.3 in. by 13 ft. 4 in.

In any case the homage paid to Our Lady during the later Middle Ages was universal. Even so unorthodox a writer as John Wyclif, in one of his earlier sermons, says: "It seems to me impossible that we should obtain the reward of Heaven without the help of Mary. There is no sex or age, no rank or position, of anyone in the whole human race, which has no need to call for the help of the Holy Virgin." So again the intense feeling evoked from the twelfth to the sixteenth century over the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is only an additional tribute to the importance which the whole subject of Mariology possessed in the eyes of the most learned bodies of Christendom. To give even a brief sketch of the various practices of Marian devotion in the Middle Ages would be impossible here. Most of them -- for example the Rosary, the Angelus, the Salve Regina etc. and the more important festivals -- are discussed under separate headings. It will be sufficient to note the prevalence of the wearing of beads of all possible fashions and lengths, some of fifteen decades, some of ten, some of six, five, three, or one, as an article of ornament in every attire; the mere repetition of Hail Marys to be counted by the aid of such Pater Nosters, or beads, was common in the twelfth century, before the time of St. Dominic; the motive of meditating on assigned "mysteries" did not come into use until 300 years later. Further, we must note the almost universal custom of leaving legacies to have a Mary-Mass, or Mass of Our Lady, celebrated daily at a particular altar, as well as to maintain lights to burn continually before a particular statue or shrine. Still more interesting were the foundations left by will to have the Salve Regina or other anthems of Our Lady sung after Compline at the Lady altar, while lights were burned before her statue. The "salut" common to France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries formed only after development of this practice, and from these last we have almost certainly derived our comparatively modern devotion of Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Breaking of the Bread

The name given to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar in its twofold aspect of sacrament and Sacrifice of Mass, and in which Jesus Christ is truly present under the bread and wine. Other titles are used, such as "Lord's Supper" (Coena Domini), "Table of the Lord" (Mensa Domini), the "Lord's Body" (Corpus Domini), and the "Holy of Holies" (Sanctissimum), to which may be added the following expressions, and somewhat altered from their primitive meaning: "Agape" (Love-Feast), "Eulogia" (Blessing), "Breaking of Bread", "Synaxis" (Assembly), etc.; but the ancient title "Eucharistia" appearing in writers as early as Ignatius, Justin, and Irenćus, has taken precedence in the technical terminology of the Church and her theologians. The expression "Blessed Sacrament of the Altar", introduced by Augustine, is at the present day almost entirely restricted to catechetical and popular treatises. This extensive nomenclature, describing the great mystery from such different points of view, is in itself sufficient proof of the central position the Eucharist has occupied from the earliest ages, both in the Divine worship and services of the Church and in the life of faith and devotion which animates her members.

The Church honors the Eucharist as one of her most exalted mysteries, since for sublimity and incomprehensibility it yields in nothing to the allied mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation. These three mysteries constitute a wonderful triad, which causes the essential characteristic of Christianity, as a religion of mysteries far transcending the capabilities of reason, to shine forth in all its brilliance and splendor, and elevates Catholicism, the most faithful guardian and keeper of our Christian heritage, far above all pagan and non-Christian religions.

The organic connection of this mysterious triad is clearly discerned, if we consider Divine grace under the aspect of a personal communication of God. Thus in the bosom of the Blessed Trinity, God the Father, by virtue of the eternal generation, communicates His Divine Nature to God the Son, "the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father" (John 1:18), while the Son of God, by virtue of the hypostatic union, communicates in turn the Divine Nature received from His Father to His human nature formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary (John 1:14), in order that thus as God-man, hidden under the Eucharistic Species, He might deliver Himself to His Church, who, as a tender mother, mystically cares for and nurtures in her own bosom this, her greatest treasure, and daily places it before her children as the spiritual food of their souls. Thus the Trinity, Incarnation, and Eucharist are really welded together like a precious chain, which in a wonderful manner links heaven with earth, God with man, uniting them most intimately and keeping them thus united. By the very fact that the Eucharistic mystery does transcend reason, no rationalistic explanation of it, based on a merely natural hypothesis and seeking to comprehend one of the sublimest truths of the Christian religion as the spontaneous conclusion of logical processes, may be attempted by a Catholic theologian.

The modern science of comparative religion is striving, wherever it can, to discover in pagan religions "religio-historical parallels", corresponding to the theoretical and practical elements of Christianity, and thus by means of the former to give a natural explanation of the latter. Even were an analogy discernible between the Eucharistic repast and the ambrosia and nectar of the ancient Greek gods, or the haoma of the Iranians, or the soma of the ancient Hindus, we should nevertheless be very cautious not to stretch a mere analogy to a parallelism strictly so called, since the Christian Eucharist has nothing at all in common with these pagan foods, whose origin is to be found in the crassest idol- and nature-worship. What we do particularly discover is a new proof of the reasonableness of the Catholic religion, from the circumstance that Jesus Christ in a wonderfully condescending manner responds to the natural craving of the human heart after a food which nourishes unto immortality, a craving expressed in many pagan religions, by dispensing to mankind His own Flesh and Blood. All that is beautiful, all that is true in the religions of nature, Christianity has appropriated to itself, and like a concave mirror has collected the dispersed and not infrequently distorted rays of truth into their common focus and again sent them forth resplendently in perfect beams of light.

It is the Church alone, "the pillar and ground of truth", imbued with and directed by the Holy Spirit, that guarantees to her children through her infallible teaching the full and unadulterated revelation of God. Consequently, it is the first duty of Catholics to adhere to what the Church proposes as the "proximate norm of faith" (regula fidei proxima), which, in reference to the Eucharist, is set forth in a particularly clear and detailed manner in Sessions XIII, XXI, and XXII of the Council of Trent. The quintessence of these doctrinal decisions consists in this, that in the Eucharist the Body and Blood of the God-man are truly, really, and substantially present for the nourishment of our souls, by reason of the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and that in this change of substances the unbloody Sacrifice of the New Testament is also contained. These three principle truths -- Sacrifice, Sacrament, and Real Presence.

In the celebration of the Eucharist, the glorified Christ becomes present under the appearances of bread and wine in a way that is unique, a way that is uniquely suited to the Eucharist. In the Church's traditional theological language, in the act of consecration during the Eucharist the "substance" of the bread and wine is changed by the power of the Holy Spirit into the "substance" of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. At the same time, the "accidents" or appearances of bread and wine remain. "Substance" and "accident" are here used as philosophical terms that have been adapted by great medieval theologians such as St. Thomas Aquinas in their efforts to understand and explain the faith. Such terms are used to convey the fact that what appears to be bread and wine in every way (at the level of "accidents" or physical attributes - that is, what can be seen, touched, tasted, or measured) in fact is now the Body and Blood of Christ (at the level of "substance" or deepest reality). This change at the level of substance from bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is called "transubstantiation." According to Catholic faith, we can speak of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist because this transubstantiation has occurred (cf. Catechism, no. 1376).

Holy Communion & the Holy Grail

The Holy Grail is generally considered to be the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper and the one used by Joseph of Arimathea to catch his blood as he hung on the cross. This significance, however, was introduced into the Arthurian legends by Robert de Boron in his verse romance Joseph d'Arimathie (sometimes also called Le Roman de l'Estoire dou Graal), which was probably written in the last decade of the twelfth century or the first couple of years of the thirteenth. In earlier sources and in some later ones, the grail is something very different. The term "grail" comes from the Latin gradale, which meant a dish brought to the table during various stages (Latin "gradus") or courses of a meal. In Chrétien and other early writers, such a plate is intended by the term "grail." Chrétien, for example, speaks of "un graal," a grail or platter and thus not a unique item. Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival presents the grail as a stone which provides sustenance and prevents anyone who beholds it from dying within the week. In medieval romance, the grail was said to have been brought to Glastonbury in Britain by Joseph of Arimathea and his followers. In the time of Arthur, the quest for the Grail was the highest spiritual pursuit.

In Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, cup or vessel that caught Jesus' blood during his crucifixion. It was said to have the power to heal all wounds. A theme joined to the Christianised Arthurian mythos relates to the quest for the Holy Grail. Thus, some scholars believe the Grail began as a purely Christian symbol. 

Another recent theory holds that the earliest stories that cast the Grail in a Christian light were meant to promote the Roman Catholic sacrament of the Holy Communion. Although the practice of Holy Communion was first alluded to in the Christian Bible and defined by theologians in the first centuries A.D., around the time of the appearance of the first Christianized Grail literature, the Roman church was beginning to add more ceremony and mysticism around this particular sacrament.

Therefore, the first Grail stories may have been celebrations of a renewal in this traditional sacrament.

By Communion is meant the actual reception of the Sacrament of the Eucharist:

• of a purely sacramental reception; that is, when the Eucharist is received by a person capable indeed of the fruits but wanting in some disposition so that the effects are not produced;
• of a spiritual reception, that is, by a desire accompanied with sentiments of charity; and
• of a sacramental and spiritual reception, that is, by those who are in a state of grace and have the necessary dispositions.

It is of this last kind there is question here. For real reception of the Blessed Eucharist it is required that the sacred species be received into the stomach. For this alone is the eating referred to by our Lord (John 6:58). Under the moral aspect will be considered, in reference to Holy Communion: necessity; subject; dispositions. The liturgical aspect will embrace: minister of the sacrament; method of administration.

For the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, who assert that their research ultimately reveals that Jesus may not have died on the cross, but lived to marry Mary Magdalene and father children, whose Merovingian bloodline continues today, the Grail is a mere sideshow.

Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code is likewise based on the idea that the real Grail is not a cup but the earthly remains of Mary Magdalene (again cast as Jesus' wife), plus a set of ancient documents telling the true story of Jesus, his teachings and descendants. In Brown's novel, it is hinted that the Grail was long buried below Rosslyn Chapel just like one tradition claims, but in recent decades its guardians had it relocated to a secret chamber below the Inverted Pyramid in front of the Louvre Museum. Of course, the latter location has never been mentioned in real Grail lore. Yet such was the public interest in even a fictionalized Grail that the museum soon had to rope off the exact location mentioned by Brown, lest visitors inflict any damage in a more or less serious attempt to access the supposed hidden chamber.

The legend of the Holy Grail is the basis of the use of the term holy grail in modern-day culture. This or that "holy grail" is seen as the distant, all-but-unobtainable ultimate goal for a person, organization, or field to achieve. For instance, cold fusion or anti-gravity devices are sometimes characterized as the "holy grail" of applied physics.

Mary Magdalene

"Mary Magdalene was the redeemed sinner who was the first to see Christ after his Resurrection. Through her redemption from sin and her unique knowledge of the Risen Christ, she was regarded by the occult initiates of the Middle Ages as a medium of secret revelation. Those initiates had chosen the planet Venus as her symbol in the cosmos.
     - Henry Lincoln, The Holy Place

"...Long ago her name was ISIS, Queen of the benevolent springs, COME TO ME ALL YOU WHO LABOUR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Others knew her as MAGDALENE with the celebrated vase full of healing balm. The initiated know her to be NOTRE DAME DES CROSS."
     - Le Serpent Rouge

"Mary Magdalene had her surname of Magdala, a castle, and was born of right noble lineage and parents, which were descended of the lineage of kings. And her father was named Cyrus, and her mother Eucharis. She with her brother Lazarus, and her sister Martha, possessed the castle of Magdalo, which is two miles from Nazareth, and Bethany, the castle which is nigh to Jerusalem, and also a great part of Jerusalem, which, all these things they departed among them."
     - Legenda Aurea (published in Genoa in 1275)

"In fact, she was also high priestess of the Temple of Ishtar at Magdala, and as such she would have been the keeper of the doves. Furthermore, she was a Benjamite, the tribe which was ostracized because they were of the line of Cain. So too was Hiram Abiff, architect of the Temple of Solomon."
     - David Wood, Genisis

"In popular Christian tradition she [Mary Magdalene] is a prostitute who finds redemption by apprenticing herself to Jesus. And she figures most noticeably in the Fourth Gospel, where she is the first person to behold Jesus after the Resurrection. In consequence she is extolled as a saint, especially in France - where, according to medieval legends, she is said to have brought the Holy Grail."
     - Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

"The idea that Mary [Jesus' mother] had been an adultress never completely disappeared in Christian mythology. Instead, the character of Mary was split into two: Mary the mother of Jesus, believed to be a virgin, and Mary Magdalene, believed to be a woman of ill repute. The idea that the character of Mary Magdalene is also derived from Miriam the mythical mother of Yeishu, is corroborated by the fact that the strange name 'Magdalene' clearly resembles the Aramaic term mgadla nshaya meaning 'womens' hairdresser'....There was a belief that Yeishu's mother was 'Miriam the women's hairdresser'. Because the Christians did not know what the name 'Magdalene' meant, they later conjectured that it meant that she had come from a place called Magdala on the west of Lake Kinneret. The idea of the two Marys fitted in well with the pagan way of thinking. The image of Jesus being followed by the two Marys is strongly reminiscent of Dionysus being followed by Demeter and Persephone."
     - Hayyim ben Yehoshua, "Refuting Missionaries, Part 1: The Myth of the Historical Jesus"

"...The Magdalene is not, at any point in any of the Gospels, said to be a prostitute. When she is first mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, she is described as a woman 'out of whom went seven devils'. It is generally assumed that this phrase refers to a species of exorcism on Jesus's part, implying the Magdalene was 'possessed'. But the phrase may equally refer to some sort of conversion and/or ritual initiation. The cult of Ishtar or Astarte - the Mother Goddess and 'Queen of Heaven' - involved, or example, a seven-stage initiation [the seven veils]. Prior to her affiliation with Jesus, the Magdalene may well have been associated with such a cult. Migdal, or Magdala, was the 'Village of Doves', and there is some evidence that sacrificial doves were in fact bred there. And the dove was the sacred symbol of Astarte."
     - Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

"As for the Wisdom who is called 'the barren,' she is the mother of the angels. And the companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene. But Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him, 'Why do you love her more than all of us?' The Savior answered and said to them, 'Why do I not love you like her?'"
     - Gospel of Philip

"...The [Gnostic] Gospel of Mary depicts Mary Magdalene (never recognized as an apostle by the orthodox) as the one favored with visions and insight that far surpass Peter's. The Dialogue of the Savior praises her not only as a visionary, but as the apostle who excels all the rest. She is the 'woman who knew the All'."
     - Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels

Annointing with Oil

James 5:14-15 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.

Oil is a product of great utility the symbolic signification of which harmonizes with its natural uses. It serves to sweeten, to strengthen, to render supple; and the Church employs it for these purposes in its rites. The liturgical blessing of oil is very ancient. It is met with in the fourth century in the "Prayer Book of Serapion", and in the Apostolic Constitutions, also in a Syriac document of the fifth or sixth century entitles "Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi." The aforesaid book of Bishop Serapion (d. c. 362) contains the formula for the blessing of the oil and chrism for those who had just received baptism, which was in those days followed by confirmation in such a manner that the administration of both sacraments constituted a single ceremony. In the same book is found a separate form of blessing for the oil of the sick, for water, and for bread. It is an invocation to Christ to give His creatures power to cure the sick, to purify the soul, to drive away impure spirits, and to wipe out sins. In the Old Testament oil was used for the consecration of priests and kings, also in all great liturgical functions, e.g., sacrifices, legal purifications, and the consecration of altars.

Annointing of the Feet

St. John's Gospel makes it almost impossible to deny the identity of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalen. From St. John we learn the name of the "woman" who anointed Christ's feet previous to the last supper. We may remark here that it seems unnecessary to hold that because St. Matthew and St. Mark say "two days before the Passover", while St. John says "six days" there were, therefore, two distinct anointings following one another. St. John does not necessarily mean that the supper and the anointing took place six days before, but only that Christ came to Bethany six days before the Passover. At that supper, then, Mary received the glorious encomium, "she hath wrought a good work upon Me . . . in pouring this ointment upon My body she hath done it for My burial . . . wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached . . . that also which she hath done shall be told for a memory of her." Is it credible, in view of all this, that this Mary should have no place at the foot of the cross, nor at the tomb of Christ? Yet it is Mary Magdalen who, according to all the Evangelists, stood at the foot of the cross and assisted at the entombment and was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection. And while St. John calls her "Mary Magdalen" in 19:25, 20:1, and 20:18, he calls her simply "Mary" in 20:11 and 20:16.

In the view we have advocated the series of events forms a consistent whole; the "sinner" comes early in the ministry to seek for pardon; she is described immediately afterwards as Mary Magdalen "out of whom seven devils were gone forth"; shortly after, we find her "sitting at the Lord's feet and hearing His words." To the Catholic mind it all seems fitting and natural. At a later period Mary and Martha turn to "the Christ, the Son of the Living God", and He restores to them their brother Lazarus; a short time afterwards they make Him a supper and Mary once more repeats the act she had performed when a penitent. At the Passion she stands near by; she sees Him laid in the tomb; and she is the first witness of His Resurrection--excepting always His Mother, to whom He must needs have appeared first, though the New Testament is silent on this point. In our view, then, there were two anointings of Christ's feet--it should surely be no difficulty that St. Matthew and St. Mark speak of His head--the first (Luke 7) took place at a comparatively early date; the second, two days before the last Passover. But it was one and the same woman who performed this pious act on each occasion.

Subsequent history of St. Mary Magdalen. The Greek Church maintains that the saint retired to Ephesus with the Blessed Virgin and there died, that her relics were transferred to Constantinople in 886 and are there preserved. Gregory of Tours (De miraculis, I, xxx) supports the statement that she went to Ephesus. However, according to a French tradition (see SAINT LAZARUS OF BETHANY), Mary, Lazarus, and some companions came to Marseilles and converted the whole of Provence. Magdalen is said to have retired to a hill, La Sainte-Baume, near by, where she gave herself up to a life of penance for thirty years. When the time of her death arrived she was carried by angels to Aix and into the oratory of St. Maximinus, where she received the viaticum; her body was then laid in an oratory constructed by St. Maximinus at Villa Lata, afterwards called St. Maximin. History is silent about these relics till 745, when according to the chronicler Sigebert, they were removed to Vézelay through fear of the Saracens. No record is preserved of their return, but in 1279, when Charles II, King of Naples, erected a convent at La Sainte-Baume for the Dominicans, the shrine was found intact, with an inscription stating why they were hidden. In 1600 the relics were placed in a sarcophagus sent by Clement VIII, the head being placed in a separate vessel. In 1814 the church of La Sainte-Baume, wrecked during the Revolution, was restored, and in 1822 the grotto was consecrated afresh. The head of the saint now lies there, where it has lain so long, and where it has been the centre of so many pilgrimages.

Washing of the Feet

Last Supper, the last meal Christ took with his 12 disciples, is described in all four Gospels (Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-23; John 13:1-30). Knowing his hour had come and that he must leave this world, Jesus ordered the Passover supper be organized in the house of a certain man. (Passover is the Jewish festival celebrating Exodus from the Egyptian imprisonment). 
   

Before the supper Christ “rose from the table, took off his outer garment and, taking a towel, tied it round him. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to wipe them with a towel.

When he came to Simon Peter, Peter protested that the Lord must not wash the feet of his disciples and that he will never let Jesus wash his feet. Jesus replied, 'You do not understand now what I am doing, but one day you will.' 'If I do not wash you you have no part with me.' (John 13: 6-8). After washing their feet Jesus put on his garment and sat down again. (John 13:4-5).

Krishna Washing Radha's Feet

Philosophically speaking, most religious Hindus today will enthusiastically acknowledge the wisdom of all major world religions while arguing that one must remain sincere to one's own faith to reach God. While conversion between Hindu sects has certainly happened in the past, particularly into the bhakti-based sects (those espousing devotion to God as the means for the ultimate salvation of mankind), this phenomenon is largely confined to within Hinduism and reached a peak in activity in the past. Mainstream Hindu thought holds that conversion between religions is contrary to spriritual development and the fundamental unity of all religions is an evident truth, not simply an attempt at easing relations between sectarian groups. This conviction is often given scriptural backing by the following verse from the Rig Veda:

"Ekam Sat Viprah Bahudah Vadanti"

"the wise call the One Truth by many names".

However, some Hindu missionary organisations still exist, most notably the Gaudiya Vaishnava-based 'International Society for Krishna Consciousness' (popularly known as the "Hare Krishna Movement").

The nature of the Supreme Being is described in a variety of ways in the different Hindu traditions. The created universe is variously identified as being identical to the Supreme (advaita), a part of the Supreme (visistaadvaita) or separate from the Supreme (dvaita). These are some of the main schools of thought which have resulted in the emergence of various sects and sub-sects; a whole host of other viewpoints exist which are too numerous to discuss here.

The soul of an individual is known as the Atman and the Supreme Self or Paramatman is the all-pervasive consciousness principle which is identified with Brahman. For the advaitin, experience of God involves understanding the fundamental oneness of Atman and Paramatman; the visistaadvaitin holds that the ultimate realisation is recognising one's insignificance before the Divine while simultaneously understanding that all is a part of the Divine; and for the dvaitin the highest understanding is that the Lord is supreme and the dependence of the whole of creation on Him.

Advaita sects (such as those drawing inspiration from Adi Shankaracharya's teachings) hold that the Supreme Being is ultimately formless, impersonal, all-pervading and wholly beyond human comprehension. The various deities represent the different facets of the Absolute, allowing the Divine to be accessible to humans in personified form through the worship of these deities. However, ultimately the personal conception of God is merely a stepping stone onto the more fundamental experience of Oneness. Visistaadvaita and Dvaita sects (such as those following the teachings of Madhva and Ramanujacharya respectively) hold that the Supreme Being is ultimately a personal God, possessing divine attributes such as grace, mercy, compassion and love for His creation. For these sects, God has a divine form which is perfect and infinitely sublime. The formless, impersonal view of advaita is still seen as important but subordinate to the ultimate personal experience of God. Worship of God in personified form is a very direct form of perceiving the Divine for these sects.

The concept of Divine Incarnation is also widespread in Hinduism. In particular, most sects recognise the Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (the Dasha Avatara). Lord Vishnu is traditionally ascribed the role of preserver and maintainer of the universe, and in this role is believed to have become incarnate in the physical world nine times in the past, with one incarnation left to come (see later). The purpose of these incarnations is laid out in the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna - Himself an incarnation of Vishnu - states that "Whenever dharma(righteousness, religious duty) is threatened, I take on bodily form. To protect dharma, I keep appearing here" (Gita, 4:7).

In fact most groups recognise the importance of the various interpretations outlined here, with distinctions in belief between groups being somewhat blurred nowadays. Mystic union with the Supreme and devotion to God are prominent features in most Hindu theologies.

Karma

Karma and reincarnation are so embedded in Hindu thought that even some of the daughter religions of Hinduism (such as Buddhism and Jainism) have adopted them as cardinal principles. The law of Karma states that all actions have an effect which manifests either in this lifetime or the next. The mainstream belief is that all souls are continually reincarnated in various different bodies depending on the karma accrued in previous lives. The ultimate aim is to break free of the cycle of birth and re-birth (samsara) by freeing oneself from the shackles of karma. One's actions are believed to dictate the body received in the next birth; most sects hold that being born as a human provides the best opportunity for departing from the cycle of re-birth. Good works in one's previous life are believed to cause a future birth in a situation where spirituality is easily cultivated; otherwise the soul is born in a species for which the main aim is sensual enjoyment, keeping the soul entangled in the 'web of samsara'.

Different sects identify the ultimate aim of existence, or moksha, in different ways. For the advaitin the 'endgame' is to experience the mystical underlying oneness of the individual soul and the supreme Brahman. For the dvaitin or visistaadvaitin, the ultimate state is one of servitude to the Supreme Lord for eternity in his divine abode, with a distinction being made between the server and the served (although, fundamentally, the server is a part of the served in visistaadvaita thought). For most sects the way to experience moksha may be through doing good or sacred works, dedicating one's self and all of one's thoughts and deeds to God, or meditating on the nature of God. These three methods of union are related to the various types of Yoga.

The cyclic nature of life is also parallelled in the Hindu view of time. Unlike in the semitic religions, the world is continually 'created' and 'destroyed' by emanation (Kalpa) and withdrawal back into (praLaya), Brahman. Each Kalpa consists of 1000 cycles of four yugas or 'ages', called Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali. A full cycle of the four yugas lasts for 4,320,000 years. In each successive age the amount of truth and goodness in society decreases a quarter-fold; we are currently believed to be in the Kali yuga where evil and dishonesty are supposed to exert three times the influence of goodness in the world. Additionally, a Kalpa is divided into 14 Manvantaras, each presided over by a figure known as a Manu. This figurehead is traditionally the author of the shastras such as the Manu smrti.

These beliefs about Karma and creation are interpreted in many different ways. Some Hindus may hold these doctrines as being literally true; many other Hindus see these teachings as metaphorical - for example, the decrease in goodness in the successive Yugas could be seen as a personal reminder for the present, to uphold dharma (righteousness) even in circumstances where the prevalent climate is adharma (evil, anarchy). The teachings about karma can be seen as reminders that every action is intricately connected with others and that we should therefore aim to be responsible in all our decisions. As with all other features of Hinduism, there is a wide range of opinions on this subject and the debate continues.

The word 'Yoga' means 'Union' in Sanskrit. In the most general terms, Yoga refers to any practice which serves to uncover the fundamental unity of the individual self (atman)and the Universal Self (paramatman), with variations in meaning depending on the philosophical paradigm (advaita, dvaita etc.) adopted. The Bhagavad Gita provides a concise and general description of the various different types of Yoga, and these are elaborated on in the Yogasutra written by Patanjali around the second century B.C.

Karma Yoga means "Yoga through action". The Gita describes this as selfless action, done not for personal gain but offering the fruits of all action to the Supreme.

Jnana Yoga means "Yoga through knowledge". In this school of thought, meditation on the Supreme and empirical analysis allows perception of the Absolute Truth.

Bhakti Yoga means "Yoga through devotion". Definitively described in the Gita, it is the method of union through complete submission of the self in loving devotion to a personal Deity. In contrast to the other types of Yoga, it does not involve renunciation but requires all of a person's faculties to be engaged constantly in devotional activites.

The facets of Yoga known most widely in the West are described here. They are considered to be stepping stones on the path to experience of the ultimate bliss, and incidental benefits of the practice of Yoga are increased flexibility and the development of other powers.

Puja

The malefic planetary conjunctions are the phases in one's life when one's aura gets darkened. Such a person is like one groping in the darkness. His thoughts and activities are misguided. The vibrations radiating from him displease others.

It is possible to reduce the suffering due to the unfavorable position of planets through sincere reliance on God, the One who controls the planets. Puja is the act of showing reverence to a god or another aspect of the divine through invocations, prayers and rituals. An essential part of puja for the Hindu devotee is making a spiritual connection with the divine.

The Indwelling Lord cannot turn a deaf ear to a soulful prayer said with an open heart. There are several pujas which people can do for specific events, such as the starting of a business, or the beginning of a journey. The benefit of this type of puja is to remove obstacles. The pujas are performed on behalf of those who request them by us.

Some of the benefits for doing specific pujas include:

		Obtaining peace and happiness by getting rid of malefic forces.
		Removing troubles that prevent us from starting on a spiritual path or business
		Gaining material abundance, and spiritual prosperity.
		Creating positive vibrations in the house, when starting new ventures such as a new job.
		Removing obstacles if suffering from losses, when starting a new business or investments, when getting married.
		Improving the general health of body and mind, for a speedy recovery from illness.
		Increasing leadership skills, for increased courage and vital energy or to excel in martial arts.

We can enhance the benefit of the puja by doing spiritual practices or by taking certain vows. Some of the commonly observed practices include meditation, fasting, silence, prayer, mantra japa or repeating God's name, charity.

These vows can be done for one day, one week or as long as you wish. The result of these actions is to help purify us and to enable us to imbibe more deeply the spiritual energy invoked by the puja.

Normal Mind

Concentrating Mind

Meditating Mind

Meditation is a three step process that leads to a state of consciousness that brings serenity, clarity, and bliss. As depicted in the first illustration, our "normal" state of mind is actually quite abnormal. We receive sensory stimuli and react in a completely uncontrolled way (although we tell ourselves we have great control). We bounce from one thought to another and follow with our emotional and physical reactions. The same thought can bring about diametrically opposite reactions at different times. For instance, we may see a dog and then start a thought process that reminisces about a pet dog we once had and loved. Emotionally, we then start feeling all warm and cuddly; physically, we feel very relaxed. Another time, we may see the same dog and fear it may attack us and start thinking paranoid thoughts, get fearful and uptight physically.

The second illustration demonstrates Concentration. This is the first step in Meditation and is the start of gaining control over the mind and thereby life. The procedure is deceptively simple and seems like it would be very easy to do, but there are few tasks more difficult to master. The idea is to pick an object/subject to place your attention on and then to focus exclusively on it without diversion. An example of this would be if you decided to focus on love. To start, you would relax your body, sit in a comfortable position, calm your emotions and begin repeating the word "love" over and over. The problem is that your mind has been your master your whole life and won't easily relinquish its position. To trick you back into obedient slavery, your mind will divert your attention, often by giving you a tantalizingly interesting distraction. It usually goes something like this: You're sitting there repeating love, love, love when your mind suddenly adds "I love candy. They sell the candy I love at the 7-11 up the road. I can get into my car and drive there and get that candy. I know it will be delicious when I bite into it ..." and so there you are --- instead of concentrating on love, you're eating an imaginary candy bar at a 7-11. What you are supposed to do is to witness your being distracted and return to concentrating on the object of your meditation. Concentration is well worth persevering in and ultimately liberating, spectacular and a blessing.

The third illustration depicts Meditation. Here we have unbroken attention. The classic description of the difference between Concentration and Meditation is given in the example of pouring oil from a bottle into a bowl. At first the oil drips out a drop at a time. This is concentration. Then the oil comes out in a steady stream. This unbroken pouring out is Meditation. If you really examine the process closer, you would notice that when the oil was coming out drop by drop, each drop caused a splash and the droplettes of the splashing can be considered analagous to the distractions that interrupt our concentration. Once the stream starts becoming steady it flows effortlessly. Similarly, when Concentration flows into Meditation, the attention paid to the object of Meditation becomes deeper and deeper effortlessly and spontaneously, true knowledge about the object presents itself.

Using love as the example again, you would concentrate on love, love, love, love. You might then find your mind filling with thoughts of love -- motherly love, fatherly love, love of country, love of money, qualified love, unqualified love, puppy love. Everything in the universe that love is connected to will come to you. Every feeling of love, every sensation, every thought. And since, as Albert Einstein tells us, everything in the universe is relative to everything else, ultimately your meditation on "love" will connect you to everything. At this point, the unity of the object of your meditation and your mind, as illustrated in the fourth illustration, occurs. This is the state of Contemplation and is the pentultimate state of consciousess. Where we usually are only conscious of our body and ego and consider ourselves apart from the rest of the universe, with the experience of Contemplation we become conscious of the cosmos and know ourselves to be a part of it and realize our unity with all of it. This is Realization, Cosmic Consciousness. It is our birthright and destiny to know this exquisite state first hand and enjoy the Truth, Consciousness, and Bliss that is our eternal true nature. Thus the justification in expending whatever energy is necessary to learn to meditate and to begin to make Meditation an important part of our lives.

Every vibration has a corresponding sound and everything in the universe has a vibration and thus a sound. Each atom, molecule, cell, object, group of objects, even the entire universe, has its own collection of vibrations and unique sound.

When you chant a mantra, you merge with the sound vibration and become at one with the energy wavelength of the object of your mantra. Mantra chanting makes you at one with everyone, everywhere who is chanting that mantra and with everyone who has ever chanted the mantra. All the saints who have ever reached enlightenment through the technique of chanting that mantra connect with you as you connect with the vibration of the mantra. You merge with their essence which has been purified and is holy and you become pure and holy because that divine level of existence vibrates only with holiness, peace, and bliss.

By chanting a mantra, your cells, molecules, atoms, and sub-atomic particles all vibrate in the same wavelength as the mantra. Once attuned with this vibration you connect with everything resonating on that plane of existence. It’s like tuning a radio. At first you may get static, but once you are in the right frequency your reception is perfect. Om is the universal sound. It is within every word and within everything. So when you chant Om, you merge with all energy and all forms, from the sub-atomic to the universal, from the most gross to the most divine. And when you are tuned in perfectly, you will receive holy frequencies clearly and merge and emerge at one with the source of all and live happily ever after.

The symbol AUM is composed of three syllables, namely the letters A, U, M, and when written has a crescent and dot on its top. A few instances of the various interpretations given to it may be mentioned here to convey its meaning.

The letter A symbolises the conscious or waking state (jagratha-avastha), the letter U the dream state (svapna-avstha) and the letter M the dreamless sleep state (susupta-avastha) of the mind and spirit. The entire symbol, together with the crescent and the dot, stands for the fourth state (turiya-avastha), which combines all these states and transcends them. This is the state of samadhi (1).

The letters A, U and M symbolise respectively speech (vak), the mind (manas) and the breath of life (prana), while the entire symbol stands for the living spirit, which is but a portion of the divine spirit.

The three letters also represent the dimensions of length, breadth and depth, while the entire symbol stands for the perfect man (a sthita-prajna), one whose wisdom is firmly established in the divine.

They represent the three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter, while the entire symbol stands for the Creator, who transcends the limitations of time.

They stand for the three gunas or qualities of sattva (goodness), rajas (passion) and tamas (ignorance or darkness), while the whole symbol represents a gunatita, one who has transcended and gone beyond the pull of the gunas.

The letters correspond to the three tenses - past, present and future - while the entire symbol stands for the Creator, who transcends the limitations of time.

They also stand for the teaching imparted by the mother, the father and the Guru respectively. The entire symbol represents Brahma Vidya, the knowledge of the Self, the teaching which is imperishable.

The A, U and M depict the three stages of yogic discipline, namely, asana (2), pranayama (3) and pratyahara (4). The entire symbol represents samadhi (1), the goal for which the three stages are the steps.

They represent the triad of Divinity, namely, Brahma - the creator, Visnu - the Maintainer, and Siva - the Destroyer of the universe. The whole symbol is said to represent Brahman from which the universe emanates, has its growth and fruition and into which it merges in the end. It does not grow or change. Many change and pass, but Brahman is the One that ever remains unchanged.

The letters A, U and M also stand for the mantra 'Tat Twam Asi' ('That Thou Art'), the realisation of man's divinity within himself. The entire symbol stands for this realisation, which liberates the human spirit from the confines of his body, mind, intellect and ego.

After realising the importance of AUM, the yogi focusses his attention on his beloved Deity adding AUM to the name of the Lord. The word AUM being too vast and too abstract, he unifies his senses, will, intellect, mind and reason by focussing on the name of the Lord and adding the word AUM with one pointed devotion and so experiences the feeling and meaning of the mantra.

Pilgrimages

Pilgrimages may be defined as journeys made to some place with the purpose of venerating it, or in order to ask there for supernatural aid, or to discharge some religious obligation.

ORIGIN

The idea of a pilgrimage has been traced back by some (Littledale in "Encycl. Brit.", 1885, XIX, 90; "New Internat. Encyc.", New York, 1910, XVI, 20, etc.) to the primitive notion of local deities, that is, that the divine beings who controlled the movements of men and nature could exercise that control only over certain definite forces or within set boundaries. Thus the river gods had no power over those who kept away from the river, nor could the wind deities exercise any influence over those who lived in deserts or clearings or on the bare mountain-side. Similarly there were gods of the hills and gods of the plains who could only work out their designs, could only favour or destroy men within their own locality (1 Kings 20:23). Hence, when some man belonging to a mountain tribe found himself in the plain and was in need of divine help, he made a pilgrimage back again to the hills to petition it from his gods. It is therefore the broken tribesmen who originate pilgrimages.

Without denying the force of this argument as suggesting or extending the custom, for it has been admitted as plausible by distinguished Catholics (cf. Lagrange, "Etudes sur les relig. sémit., VIII, Paris, 1905, 295, 301), we may adhere to a less arbitrary solution by seeking its cause in the instinctive notion of the human heart. For pilgrimages properly so called are made to the places where the gods or heroes were born or wrought some great action or died, or to the shrines where the deity had already signified it to be his pleasure to work wonders. Once theophanies are localized, pilgrimages necessarily follow. The Incarnation was bound inevitably to draw men across Europe to visit the Holy Places, for the custom itself arises spontaneously from the heart. It is found in all religions. The Egyptians journeyed to Sekket's shrine at Bubastis or to Ammon's oracle at Thebes; the Greeks sought for counsel from Apollo at Delphi and for cures from Asclepius at Epidaurus; the Mexicans gathered at the huge temple of Quetzal; the Peruvians massed in sun-worship at Cuzco and the Bolivians in Titicaca. But it is evident that the religions which centered round a single character, be he god or prophet, would be the most famous for their pilgrimages, not for any reason of tribal returns to a central district where alone the deity has power, but rather owing to the perfectly natural wish to visit spots made holy by the birth, life, or death of the god or prophet. Hence Buddhism and Mohammedanism are especially famous in inculcating this method of devotion. Huge gatherings of people intermittently all the year round venerate Kapilavastu where Gaukama Buddha began his life, Benares where he opened his sacred mission, Kasinagara where he died; and Mecca and Medina have become almost bywords in English as the goals of long aspirations, so famous are they for their connexion with the prophet of Islam.

St. Mary of Egypt

Born probably about 344; died about 421. At the early age of twelve Mary left her home and came to Alexandria, where for upwards of seventeen years she led a life of public prostitution. At the end of that time, on the occasion of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, she embarked for Palestine, not however with the intention of making the pilgrimage, but in the hope that life on board ship would afford her new and abundant opportunities of gratifying an insatiable lust. Arrived in Jerusalem she persisted in her shameless life, and on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross joined the crowds towards the church where the sacred relic was venerated, hoping to meet in the gathering some new victims whom she might allure into sin. And now came the turning-point in her career. When she reached the church door, she suddenly felt herself repelled by some secret force, and having vainly attempted three or four times to enter, she retired to a corner of the churchyard, and was struck with remorse for her wicked life, which she recognized as the cause of her exclusion from the church. Bursting into bitter tears and beating her breast, she began to bewail her sins. Just then her eyes fell upon a statue of the Blessed Virgin above the spot where she was standing, and in deep faith and humility of heart she besought Our Lady for help, and permission to enter the church and venerate the sacred wood on which Jesus had suffered, promising that if her request were granted, she would then renounce forever the world and its ways, and forthwith depart whithersoever Our Lady might lead her. Encouraged by prayer and counting on the mercy of the Mother of God, she once more approached the door of the church, and this time succeeded in entering without the slightest difficulty. Having adored the Holy Cross and kissed the pavement of the church, she returned to Our Lady's statue, and prayed for guidance of her future course.

AVE MARIA!

The Hail Mary (sometimes called the "Angelical salutation", sometimes, from the first words in its Latin form, the "Ave Maria") is the most familiar of all the prayers used by the Universal Church in honour of our Blessed Lady.

It is commonly described as consisting of three parts. The first, "Hail (Mary) full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women", embodies the words used by the Angel Gabriel in saluting the Blessed Virgin (Luke, I, 28). The second, "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb (Jesus)", is borrowed from the Divinely inspired greeting of St. Elizabeth (Luke 1:42), which attaches itself the more naturally to the first part, because the words "benedicta tu in mulieribus" (I, 28) or "inter mulieres" (I, 42) are common to both salutations. Finally, the petition "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen." is stated by the official "Catechism of the Council of Trent" to have been framed by the Church itself. "Most rightly", says the Catechism, "has the Holy Church of God added to this thanksgiving, petition also and the invocation of the most holy Mother of God, thereby implying that we should piously and suppliantly have recourse to her in order that by her intercession she may reconcile God with us sinners and obtain for us the blessing we need both for this present life and for the life which has no end."