1. Death and Resurrection Experience, Easter 2008
The joy and peace of the
Risen Lord be with you all this Eastertide. I experienced
in a very real and painful way the Death-Resurrection story
this Easter. It happened as follows. I visited Rome for
eight days in early March to carry out some research in the
Christian Brothers Generalate Archives and to seek some
advice from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints about
how best to proceed in the case of an alleged cure through
the intercession of Blessed Edmund Rice. Br Tony Twomey,
the Immersion Director of the Christian Brothers’
European Province, who lives in Community with me at Edmund
Rice House, North Richmond Street, Dublin 1, travelled out
to Rome with me. Tony has the onerous task of introducing
groups of teachers and senior pupils from the
Brothers’ schools in Ireland and England to projects
for the poor and down-and-outs in Africa, India and South
America, but this was his first visit to Rome. In whatever
free time I had, I helped to introduce him to the wonders
of the Eternal City. What made it all the more interesting
for him was that he knew that one of his nieces, Mary
Collins (29) from Athy, Co. Kildare, was travelling out to
Rome for the St Patrick’s Weekend, just after our
return to Dublin, and he keenly looked forward to
discussing the Roman visit with her.
Mary and three female companions, best friends since their
student days studying science at University College Dublin
(UCD), travelled to Rome on Saturday, 15 March, and
attended the Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Basilica
the following morning. Mary sent a text message that the
girls were having a memorable visit. They planned to go out
to a good restaurant for a special meal together on Monday,
the night of St Patrick’s Day, and were due to fly
home the next morning. Imagine Br Tony’s horror on
the morning of 18 March when word filtered through that
Mary and a pal of hers, Liz Gubbins from Limerick (28),
were mindlessly killed by a drunken driver at a pedestrian
crossing in Rome the previous night. The other two girls in
the party had left to walk to their nearby hotel just five
minutes previously. The families were shattered. The bodies
of Mary and Liz were returned to Ireland on Good Friday.
Mary’s remains were removed to Athy Parish Church on
Easter Sunday Evening, and the funeral was after 11.00 a.m.
Mass next morning. A huge crowd attended. Liz’s
funeral followed in Limerick a day later. We supported Tony
as best we could, however inadequately, and attended the
various ceremonies. Our prayer now, through the
intercession of Blessed Edmund, is that both girls
celebrate the Resurrection with Christ in heaven and that
the Good Lord bring comfort and healing to the grieving
families and survivors. Death and Resurrection, Easter
2008.
Bishop
Lee celebrates the Mass of Dedication
2. The
“New” Mount Sion
The new
Blessed Edmund Rice Chapel and Edmund Rice International
Heritage Centre have been officially opened at Mount Sion
in Waterford.
The Bishop of Waterford and
Lismore, Dr. William Lee, was chief celebrant together with
Bishop Laurence Forristal and Bishop Michael Russell at a
Mass of Dedication of the new Chapel on Sunday February
3rd. Parish Priest, Fr William Ryan, acted as Master of
Ceremonies.
The ceremony was attended by large
numbers of Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers and
many students from secondary schools in Waterford. Music
was provided by The Edmund Rice Choral Society.
Featured in the Chapel are the four
sculptures in wood by well known Irish Liturgical Artist,
Fergus Costello - the altar, the ambo, the tabernacle and
the scriptorium. Fergus also designed the tomb in stone and
glass which contains the remains of Blessed Edmund.
Four of the windows contain images of the
four evangelists, created by Brother Joe Connolly, and the
Celtic designs were produced by Michael Daniels.
On Friday February 8th, An Taoiseach, Mr.
Bertie Ahern, TD, opened the new Centre and prayed at the
tomb of Blessed Edmund Rice. The Opening of the Heritage
Centre was also attended by Mayor of Waterford, Ms. Mary
O’Halloran. .
The Tomb of Blessed
Edmund
3. New Leadership Team
of the Christian Brothers
Brother Philip Pinto was re-elected
Congregation Leader at the Christian Brothers’
six-yearly General Chapter at Kunnar, Kerala, South India,
in March 2008. For the first time ever in the
Brothers’ more than two-hundred-year history, there
is no Irishman on the Congregation’s Leadership Team,
and the first African-born Councillor has been elected onto
the Team. This is the Holy Spirit speaking to us to reflect
on the more international membership of what Blessed Edmund
Rice initiated in Waterford in 1802. As heretofore, the new
CLT will be based in Rome, but will need to travel all five
continents to visit where the Christian Brothers and their
ministries are located. We pray the blessing of Blessed
Edmund on them as they take up their leadership role.
The membership of the new Team is as follows:
Br Philip Pinto, India: Congregation Leader
Br Jack Mostyn, USA: Deputy Leader
Br Francis Hall, UK: Councillor
Br Victor Kamara, Africa: Councillor
Br Peter Dowling, Australia: Councillor.
4. International ER Novena
2008
It is that time of year again when our
thoughts focus on preparation for Blessed Edmund’s
Feastday, Monday, 5 May. Everyone will have their own
special intentions, but an underlying one is that Blessed
Edmund will soon become ‘Saint Edmund Rice’. We
are also conscious in this ‘Year of Vocations’
of praying for new vowed members of Blessed Edmund’s
two Congregations, the Presentation Brothers (FPM)
and the Christian Brothers (CFC), and for an
increase in the membership of the Edmund Rice
Network (ERN) - those who draw their inspiration from
Blessed Edmund and who are linked with the two
Congregations as Associate Members and/or Co-Workers.
This year, Br Donatus Brazil FPM (the Vice-Postulator) and
myself, Br Donal Blake CFC (Postulator), at our March
meeting, have selected two families, the McGowans from
Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the Walshes from Montreal,
Canada, as a special focus for our International Novena.
There is much suffering and illness in both families and we
request our International Associates to storm Heaven during
the Novena through the intercession of Blessed Edmund for a
restoration of good health and happiness to all concerned.
This year’s International Novena runs from Saturday,
26 April, to Sunday, 4 May. Please make an effort to attend
Holy Mass on Monday, 5 May, the Feast Day of Blessed
Edmund.
If anybody should need the text of the special Edmund Rice
Mass, this is available for downloading on the Christian
Brothers’ Roman Website: http://www.edmundclt.org
Scroll down the lefthand side to ‘From the
Postulator’s Desk’. Click, and
‘Edmund’s Feastday Mass’ appears beneath
it. Click to open.
What follows is the text from the leaflet being used in
Ireland. Download this, if you so choose, or use your own
selection of Edmund Rice prayers which are available on the
fore-mentioned Website. Scroll down the lefthand side and
click on ‘Prayer Resources’. Various choices
appear. Click on ‘Edmund Rice Occasions’.
Blessed
Edmund Rice
International
Novena
2008
Saturday,
26 April - Sunday, 4 May
Feast
Day : Monday, 5 May
The McGowan Family, Belfast
Martha, Paul and Cillian
Martha, a highly successful business woman and a niece
of Br. Colm Moloughney (Waterford), suffers from MS.
Her son, Cillian, was born with Down’s Syndrome.
Paul is a psychologist and has now taken on the role
of full-time carer of his wife and son.
The
Walsh Family, Montreal, Canada
Bill,
a brother of the late Br. Martin Walsh FPM,
suffers from cancer. He and his wife, Patricia,
now in their seventies, are both quite ill.
Healing Prayer
O God, you
inspired Blessed Edmund Rice to follow your Son
in a life of dedicated service of the poor and
of all in need of a truly Christian education.
Grant through his intercession the petition I now make:
That the McGowan Family, Belfast,
and the Walsh Family, Montreal,
may be restored to full health and
happiness.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blessed Edmund Rice Prayer
O God, we
thank you for the life of Blessed Edmund Rice.
He opened his heart to Christ present in those
oppressed by poverty and injustice.
May we follow his example of faith and generosity.
Grant us the courage and compassion of Blessed Edmund
as we seek to live lives of love and service.
Grant that soon Blessed Edmund will be declared
a saint of your Church.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blessed Edmund Rice, pray for us.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Live Jesus in our hearts forever.
SOME SAYINGS OF BLESSED EDMUND RICE
“But let us do ever so little for God,
we will be sure He will never forget us.”
“Were we to know the merit and value of only going
from one street
to another to serve a neighbour for the love of God,
we should prize it more than silver and gold.”
“One thing you may be
sure of, that whilst you work for God,
whether you succeed or not, He will amply reward
you.”
“The will of God be done in this and everything we
undertake.
“Have courage;
the good seed will grow up in the children’s hearts
later one.”
“O God, did we even now rightly begin to serve you,
your loving heart would take us all to its final
embrace.”
“Cast all your cares into the arms of Divine
Providence.”
5. Tribute to Br
Aidan Quinlan
Br Aidan Quinlan has been and still is a
great devotee of Blessed Edmund Rice. Even before Edmund
Rice was beatified by Rome on 6 October 1996, Br Aidan,
from his base in St Mary’s, Baldoyle, Co. Dublin,
promoted a “League of Prayer” in honour of his
hero. Month after month he sent out a monthly
‘Newsletter’ that included historical snippets
from the lives of Edmund and the early Brothers, and
articles outlining the progress of Edmund’s Cause
towards Canonisation and recording both requests for, and
answers to, prayers through the intercession of Blessed
Edmund.
This was in addition to his sterling work in the
Brothers’ former African Office, which among other
things involved the sending of a weekly newsletter to Irish
Brothers working in Africa. This office is now transferred
to Zambia, and St Mary’s, Baldoyle, out of which
Aidan worked is being transformed into a building site,
preparatory to being absorbed as a much-needed extension to
St Patrick’s Nursing Home next door for elderly and
sick Brothers. Aidan himself has been quite ill of late,
and the pressure of meeting monthly deadlines was becoming
burdensome. It has been decided to call a halt to his
‘Newsletter’, at least in its present format.
In the meantime, gratitude is being expressed on all sides,
not least by many elderly readers, for Br Aidan’s
gallant attempts over the years to spread devotion to
Blessed Edmund through the ministry of the pen. We salute
you, Aidan, and I’m sure that Blessed Edmund is proud
of you.
6. The late Brother Fabian O’Donohue FPM
Brother
Fabian, RIP
They came in
large numbers from near and far and from many walks of life
to pay their respects to Br. Fabian O Donohue a real
‘Gentleman of the Presentation’ whose funeral
Mass was celebrated in Christ the King Church,
Turner’s Cross, Cork on Saturday February 23rd. Br
Fabian, you will recall, was one of the two people we
prayed for during last year’s Novena. The other
person, Linda Loughran, is still seriously ill. So let us
keep up our prayers.
The chief celebrant at
the Mass was Fr. Kerry Murphy O Connor PP who spoke of
Fabian as ‘mirror of God’s love’ to young
and old and especially to the poor and vulnerable. The
Greenmount school choir enhanced the requiem liturgy.
Former colleagues from the various schools in which Fabian
taught were at hand to offer words of appreciation and
condolence to his family who travelled in large numbers
from his home place in Ballinagun, Kilrush,
Co.Clare.
‘He had an elegant athletic
walk, his long fingers seemed to offer him balance as he
moved lightly and with purpose. I’m told that he
moved similarly on the football field. His visits home to
Ballinagun were like Christmas even if the only gift he
brought was himself. He was a second father to me’.
With these words his nephew John spoke of Fabian in an
eloquent eulogy after Mass.
A tribute from
another Clareman, Br. Pat Madigan cfc came from New Mexico
stating: “all Claremen have reason to be proud of
Fabian”. It is very appropriate that he is laid to
rest in the Blessed Rice Cemetery in Mt.St.Joseph next to
another great Clareman Br. Basil Daly.
His
coffin was laden with bouquets of flowers from family and
friends who wanted to say a sincere ‘thank you’
to their friend. Among them were two bouquets from
‘Right of Place’, the group representing those
who suffered institutional abuse – an eloquent
statement of gratitude to one who always listened
respectfully and did not judge.
Br.
Fabian’s playing colleagues from Nemo Rangers formed
a guard of honour and took turns in carrying his coffin. A
sports profile and appreciation by Plunkett Carter from
Greenmount appeared on the Cork Evening Echo and a
minute’s silence was observed before the All Ireland
Club semi-final game at Ennis which Nemo Rangers proceeded
to win in style.
In the words of an old
friend, Brother Mark McDonnell, CFC, writing from India,
"It gives one confidence in the dynamic of religious life
when it offers men like Fabian as exemplars of what the
fruits of a good religious life can
be”.
May he rest in peace.
7. A New Edmund Rice
Prayer Book?
Over the past
twenty or more years, people in different parts of the
world, sometimes working independently, have produced
prayers and reflections of various kinds centred on Blessed
Edmund – prayers for favours, prayers for his
Canonisation, litanies, novenas, Morning and Evening
Prayers, meditations, liturgies, suggested Mass Readings,
etc. It has been suggested to me recently that it might be
a good idea to collect these prayers into one single prayer
book for devotees of Blessed Edmund. I agree with these
sentiments, and I now propose, with your help, to produce
such a collection that would then become widely available.
How can you help, I hear you asking. Search your prayer
books, shelves, etc., and forward to me in whatever format
you consider most convenient examples of what you find. I
appeal in a special way to secretaries and archivists
working in provincialates, regional houses, novitiates and
houses of formation. I also include individuals who may
have collected items of devotion. Please pop examples of
what you have into an envelope or as an attachment by
e-mail and forward same, before 1 June 2008,
Birthday of Blessed Edmund, to:
Br Donal Blake CFC,
Edmund Rice Postulator,
Edmund Rice House,
North Richmond Street,
Dublin 1,
Ireland.
Tel. +353-1-8230097 [Dublin 01-8230092]
postulatorcfc@gmail.com
If you are reluctant
to permanently part with what you send, please remind me of
this, and I will ensure that the items are returned to you!
8. Alleged Cure in Cork
City
I mentioned
in a recent communication about an alleged cure in Cork
City granted through the intercession of Blessed Edmund
Rice to Betty, a married woman. It involves recovery from
an operation for the removal of a tumour on the brain,
where little hope of survival had been held out by the
surgeon. A first-class relic of Blessed Edmund was applied
to the affected area by Betty’s husband, a long-time
devotee of Blessed Edmund. Today, Betty is alive and well.
I recently met the family at an impressive Edmund Rice
Prayer Meeting at the Presentation Brothers’ Mount St
Joseph in Cork, attended by about sixty people. The family
gave public testimony to the intervention of Blessed Edmund
in their lives.
The case has now moved a step forward. I got the family and
the Brothers involved to write a preliminary account of
what had occurred. I then submitted this, during my March
visit to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome,
to Monsignor Robert Sarno, an expert in such matters. Such
officials are by nature cautious, but he accepted that the
case was “promising”. He then advised me on how
best to proceed. This will involve collecting copies of the
medical records, interviewing the family doctor, the
surgeon, nursing assistants, family members of the patient
in greater detail, etc., writing up all of this material
under prescribed headings … and then getting a more
expert preliminary opinion from a panel of the Congregation
for the Causes of Saints in Rome. Then, if the verdict is
still positive, I need to approach the Bishop of Cork to
set up a Miracle Tribunal to examine under oath all the personnel involved in the alleged
cure. Informally, the Diocese has told me that they have
never had any experience of organising such a tribunal, and
they will be very reliant on what I, the Postulator, and Br
Donatus, the Vice-Postulator, can tell them concerning
procedures. There is no guarantee that everybody involved
will co-operate with such an intricate procedure. It will
also involve a new medical examination of Betty. All going
well, it will take about two years minimum. Then, I, or
somebody working on my instructions, will need to write up
a detailed Miracle
Positio for the
Congregation of Saints. So, if you see me with a faraway
look in my eyes over the next few years, you will know why!
Please pray that the Cork case will be successful. Only
then, of course, Edmund can be canonised.
The following report by Br Clement McCarthy FPM gives a
touching account of how the relic was made available:
“It was approaching bedtime when I received a
telephone call from Brother Nessan O’Mahony, a
Christian Brother who resides with his community about a
mile from our residence, Mount St Joseph. Knowing that our
Presentation Community possessed a first-class relic of
Blessed Edmund Rice, he asked if he could borrow it for a
friend Michael whose wife Betty was gravely ill in the Cork
University Hospital after a serious brain tumour operation.
I agreed they could have the relic and asked them to come
and collect it.
While on my way to the Community Chapel where we keep the
relic, it occurred to me that when they arrived in a matter
of minutes I would invite Nessan and Michael to join me in
prayer in the Chapel at the Blessed Edmund Shrine. Both
gladly agreed and we went to the Shrine where I already had
candles lighting. I was meeting Michael for the first time.
He was very distraught and overwhelmed by grief as he told
me of the serious illness of his wife Betty at the local
hospital. Michael said his wife was greatly disturbed and
agitated after the serious operation. I got the impression
that Betty’s condition was life-threatening –
hence Michael’s recourse to the intercession of
Blessed Edmund Rice whom he trusted with great conviction.
After Michael lit a special candle for Betty, all three of
us prayed with great devotion and fervour and much faith,
believing that through the intercession of Blessed Edmund
Betty would be healed. After some time I placed the relic
on Michael’s head at a place corresponding to the
place on Betty’s head where the operation had taken
place. Together we recited the prayer to Blessed Edmund and
the special prayer for healing.
As I reflect back now, I recall this as a great faith
experience for me, as I feel it was also for Michael and Br
Nessan. As Michael and Br Nessan set out on their journey
to Betty at the Cork University Hospital I could not help
observing how calm, confident, peaceful and hopeful Michael
had become.
A few days later Michael and Br Nessan returned with the
good news that Betty was recovering. They joined with our
regular Thursday night Divine Mercy Prayer Group to say
thanks. Michael gave a touching testimony to all present
attributing the improved health of his wife Betty to the
powerful intercession of Blessed Edmund Rice.”
I leave you to reflect on this remarkable account by
Brother Clement, and I remind you once again about my
request for various Edmund Rice prayers, etc., which I hope
to receive by Edmund’s Birthday on 1 June. Please
join in the Annual International Novena, 26 April – 4
May, in preparation for the Feast of Blessed Edmund on 5
May. Please remember, in addition to your own intentions,
the McGowan Family, Belfast, and the Walsh Family,
Montreal, during the Novena. God bless you and yours and
may Blessed Edmund guide you in your life choices.
Br Donal Blake CFC,
Edmund Rice Roman Postulator,
Edmund Rice House,
North Richmond Street,
Dublin 1,
Ireland.
01-8230097 (+353-1-823 0097)
postulatorcfc@gmail.com
4 April 2008
---From the
Postulator’s Desk: Christmas 2006
Father, Son and Spirit, and (2) the
Terrestrial Trinity of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I’m
sure that, after 1789, the picture recalled for Edmund the
tragedies in his own little family, the death of his young
wife and the chronic illness of his little daughter. It
directed his attention, too, at Christmas time, to that
other Family, for whom ‘there was no room in the
inn’, when it was most needed. Across the world, in
our day, the problem is still recurring.
Text of Edmund Rice
Mass
[Available for
Downloading on CLT Websites (CFC,
FPM)]
A frequent request I get is to supply a full text for a
Mass for the Feast of Blessed Edmund Rice (5 May). There
are certain guidelines, insisted on by the Congregation for
Divine Worship, that apply worldwide in the case of a Mass
for a new Blessed. The rules applying to a new
Saint
give scope for more
diversity. Shortly after the Beatification in 1996, copies
of a suitable Mass were printed and distributed to various
Edmund Rice Centres around the world, previous permission
having been obtained from the Congregation for Divine
Worship for the use of a special Collect in honour of
Blessed Edmund. These now appear to be all but exhausted.
To remedy this deficiency, I have, on advice received, now
made available for downloading ‘Mass for the
Feast Day of Blessed Edmund Rice, 5 May’
(in
English)’. This will be available from early in the
New Year on the Websites of both the Christian Brothers and
Presentation Brothers (www.edmundclt.org
and www.presentationbrothers.com
. I may be able, in time, to
cajole some of my friends to provide other language
versions of this Mass, Irish (Gaelic), Spanish, Italian,
etc., as required.
As many of you may know, there is a selection of optional
Scripture Readings in the Common of Holy Men and Women
(formerly called the Common of Confessors) in the
Lectionary. I have put a selection of these together,
supplying two versions of the official Edmund Rice prayer,
and including some Scripture texts used by Cardinal Cahal
Daly in his First Official Mass of Blessed Edmund offered
in St Peter’s Basilica, Rome, on the morning after
the Beatification. I have also included the Bidding Prayers
(Prayers of Petitions) used at the Mass of Thanksgiving
concelebrated by members of the Irish Hierarchy at Tallaght
Stadium, Dublin, on 20 October 1996. You may wish to
compose your own? The late Pope John Paul II delivered a
short sermon on Blessed Edmund on the morning of the
Beatification. I have included this as a Post-Communion
Reflection. I have included the titles of some hymns that
may be evocative of what the liturgy is trying to portray.
Fr Liam Lawton, the well-known Irish composer of church
music, wrote the score of a wonderful Mass – THE
SACRED STORY - in honour of Edmund., including the
haunting Pity Then
the Child, evoking memories of Edmund’s
‘special’ daughter, Mary. Your local Edmund
Rice Centre should be able to direct you to where the CD is
available. Please contact me with suggestions
[postulatorcfc@gmail.com]. In the meantime, check the
Websites for the arrival of the text of the Edmund Rice
Mass.
Deaths of Dr Leo
Bertley in Montreal, Canada, and Ms. Sonia George in St
Lucia, West Indies
Two stalwarts among the
Presentation Associates and Edmund Rice Promoters died very
recently, Dr Leo Bertley in Canada and Ms. Sonia George in
the West Indies. May
they rest in peace with Blessed Edmund in the presence of
our compassionate God. I am grateful to Br Donatus Brazil
FPM, Vice-Postulator, for the information.
Dr Leo Bertley
was the Edmund Rice Promoter
for the Presentation Brothers in Canada. He was a former
pupil of Presentation College, San Fernando, Trinidad, and
always spoke very highly of his former teachers, especially
Brothers Bartholomew, Jerome and Matthew. A gifted history
lecturer, Leo graduated with a PhD from Concordia
University, Montreal, and was Professor of History at
Vanier College, St Laurent. He retained an enduring
devotion to Blessed Edmund Rice from his schooldays and
wrote a history of the Presentation Brothers’
contribution to education in the West Indies. He was very
active as Edmund Rice Promoter in Canada. He spoke at many
functions organised by the Presentation Brothers around the
world. He attended the Bicentenary Celebrations at the RDS
in Dublin in 2002. He died after a long struggle with
cancer. We extend sincere sympathy to his wife, June, and
his four children and grandchildren.
Ms. Sonya
George, St Lucia, West
Indies, died unexpectedly a few months ago. Like Leo, she
had served the Cause long and faithfully for many years.
Sonia was a dedicated teacher and School Principal. She was
Island Commissioner of the Girl Guides in St Lucia and
attended several world jamborees. On her
‘retirement’, Sonia reached out all the more to
the young, the aged, the poor and the sick. She was one of
the founding members of the Presentation Associates in St
Lucia. Her last act of kindness before her sudden death was
to participate in the celebrations of a centenarian at the
Marian Home for the Elderly. May her gentle and generous
spirit rest in peace.
It is only with great difficulty that we deign to attempt
to fill their shoes. It behoves the rest of us in the
Edmund Rice Network to work all the harder and to pray for
all former members. May Blessed Edmund welcome Leo and
Sonya to heaven and may they form with him a growing band
who will intercede for us and for the Cause we all cherish.
ER International
Novena 2007?
As the year 2006 draws to a close, our
thoughts recall the year that is almost over and reach
forward to the New Year 2007. A few favours received
through the intercession of Blessed Edmund looked
promising, and maybe, we thought, we had the required
miracle! On examination, however, they failed to supply the
type of detail required by the Congregation for Saints. Let
us keep praying, and the required miracle will come in
God’s time. 2006 marked the foundation 200 years ago
of Blessed Edmund’s second foundation in the Diocese
of Waterford and Lismore, that in Carrick-on-Suir, Co.
Tipperary. The event was duly honoured locally during the
year. The Christian Brothers now host an Earth Spirituality
Centre at Carrick-on-Suir, Brú na Cruinne.
They handed over to lay
management a few years ago - but still under the Trust of
the Brothers - their local primary and secondary
schools. 2006 also marked the centenary of the
Christian Brothers’ arrival in New York, USA, in All
Saints’ Parish, the springboard for a long list of
parish schools, regional high schools and colleges across
the US from New York to Hawaii and from Seattle to Miami.
The celebrations are still on-going. Next year commemorates
the bicentenary of Edmund’s third foundation, that at
Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. The Christian Brothers have left
a vibrant primary and secondary school as an Edmund Rice
legacy to this West Waterford town. Dungarvan will,
undoubtedly, celebrate in an appropriate way.
Which brings me to next year’s Novena! Br Donatus and
myself, at a recent meeting in Cork, gave some thought to
materials and texts we might use in the near future. But
what of Special Intentions for 2007? While everybody is
free to organise Masses, Triduums, Novenas, etc., locally,
what we really want for the International Novena is a
number (or even one) central intention that would unite us,
wherever we may be around the planet, in this annual
outpouring of prayer for Edmund’s Canonisation. Send
in your suggestions immediately, with names of
beneficiaries [project or sick person] to either Br Donatus
Brazil FPM(Vice-Postulator) in Cork (jdb1802@yahoo.com)
or to myself in Rome (postulatorcfc@gmail.com).
Communication: New
E-Mail Address
Those of us
who use e-mail frequently are reminded of glitches and what
can go wrong from time to time, even in advanced
technology. I have experienced some problems of late.
Certain messages were being blocked and a number of people
contacted me about e-mails that purportedly were sent by me
but of which I knew nothing! In other words,
‘hackers’ had been at work and had penetrated
my ‘address book’. So now you know, if you
received rather weird messages from me in the recent past!
I have been reliably informed that a change of e-mail
address is, in the short term, the best solution, and a
change to the new Google service (gmail) was recommended as
being more secure. We’ll see. So, as from now, I can
be contacted at
postulatorcfc@gmail.com (My old address will remain as a standby
until 20 January, but after that, it will be the new
address only) . Sorry about that.
New Premises for
Edmund Rice Centre, Dublin
Until very
recently, the Edmund Rice Centre in Dublin occupied a few
rooms in Marino. With the growth of teacher training at
Marino Institute of Education (MIE), all the space in the
buildings there was needed for teacher training purposes.
Two floors of Edmund Rice House (founded by Edmund Rice in
1828), the Christian Brothers’ Monastery at North
Richmond Street, that in the 1960s housed 44 Brothers, were
refurbished and the Edmund Rice Centre was transferred
there. The Centre, which has splendid offices and meeting
rooms, was officially opened by An Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Mr Bertie Ahern TD, and
was blessed by Fr Liam Rigney PP. The Centre, under
Director Donal O’Callaghan, caters for the Edmund
Rice Camps, the Edmund Rice Awards, Developing World
Immersion, Voluntary Youth Programme, Network
Communications, Faith Development, Special Projects, and
Vocations Promotion.
Appointment to
College of Postulators
Becoming
a Roman Postulator is a rather formal, not to say
formidable, undertaking nowadays. In September 2003, I came
to Rome to prepare for my role as Roman Postulator for the
Edmund Rice Cause (having previously worked as a researcher
on the Cause in Rome, 1981-86). I completed a course in
Italian at the Augustinianum
in September/ October. On 2
November 2003, on supplying a copy of my CV, I was accepted
for the compulsory four-month course conducted by
the Lateran
University for
all new personnel working at the Congregation for the
Causes of Saints, whether as Postulators, Relators, Researchers,
Scrittori, or
whatever. The Course consisted of a series of lectures in
Italian on the Theology, History and Procedures of
Beatification and Canonisation. The lectures were delivered
four afternoons a week, from 4.00 to 6.00 p.m., November
2003 – March 2004. A viva voce examination was conducted in March 2004.
Subsequent to this, on the recommendation of Br Philip
Pinto CFC, Congregation Leader, Christian Brothers, and of
Br Andrew Hickey FPM, Congregation Leader, Presentation
Brothers, and on the payment of an enrolment fee, I was
accepted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (CCS)
as the official Postulator for the Edmund Rice Cause on 30
April 2004. Subsequently, in consultation with Br Philip
Pinto CFC and Br Andrew Hickey FPM, I appointed Br Martin
Kenneally FPM as Vice-Postulator on 6 November 2004. On Br
Martin being subsequently elected Congregation Leader of
the Presentation Brothers in July 2005, I appointed (again
in consultation with the CFC and FPM Congregation Leaders),
Br Donatus Brazil FPM as Vice-Postulator in October 2005,
thus maintaining the Bi-Congregational involvement of
Blessed Edmund Rice’s Teaching Congregations.
Then followed a step I hadn’t anticipated. On 23
October 2006, on the recommendation of Fr Fernando Rojo
OSA, Assistant to the General of the Augustinians and
Chairman of the College of Postulators, I was appointed a
member of the College of
Postulators, with
consultative status for Causes pursued through the medium
of English. At present, most Causes are written in Italian,
French or Spanish. Fr Paul Molinari SJ, who had been Chair
for many years has just resigned. The new Secretary is
Brother Rodolfo FSC, Via Aurelia, Postulator General of the
De La Salle Congregation . My post which is honorary covers
the following areas:
(a) to attend a series of meetings during
the year with officials of the Congregation for Causes
where a two-way consultation on best practice takes place;
(b) to present to the Cong. for Causes the proposals and
collective wishes of the College of Postulators;
(c) to deepen the knowledge of members re the observance of
the Norms laid down;
(d) to apply the knowledge so shared to the Causes in which
we are involved;
(e) to share this knowledge with colleagues new to Rome and
with those working at diocesan level (on their visits to
Rome), when they seek advice on how best to proceed with
the Causes in hand;
(f) occasionally to read drafts of new Causes being
prepared [in my case, in the English Language] and to offer
constructive criticism to their compilers;
(g) To pray that the Church will be well served by the
Causes being presented, and, each November, to pray for
deceased Postulators.
To date, I have responded to queries about the following
Causes of Foundresses of Religious Congregations: Nano
Nagle – Presentation Sisters (PBVM), Catherine
McAuley – Sisters of Mercy (RSM), Mary Aikenhead
– Religious Sisters of Charity (RSC), Marie Madeleine
de Bonnault d’Houet (FCJ), in addition to my on-going
work on Blessed Edmund Rice. So I don’t spend
all
my time viewing the sights of
Rome!
Possibility of
Three-Congregation Plaque at Doneraile Parish Church, Co.
Cork?
There are very few places, apart from the possibility of
Cork City, where all three religious congregations that constitute
the Nagle Rice Family are publicly honoured by one
monument. However, recent research would suggest that
Doneraile, a small town in North Cork, could merit such a
memorial. Read the following Rationale and tell me what you
think!
RATIONALE
Doneraile, the small
North Cork town on the River Awbeg, has many connections
with the foundation stories of all three Congregations that
constitute the Nagle Rice
Family: The
Presentation
Sisters (PBVM),
the Christian
Brothers (CFC),
and the Presentation Brothers
(FPM):
(1) The Venerable Nano
Nagle, the original
inspiration of the whole movement, was born a mere five
miles away in neighbouring Ballygriffin,
Killavullen, where there is a Heritage Centre honouring
Nano.
(2) The former Presentation
Convent in Doneraile,
founded in 1818, was the first such foundation in
Nano’s native Diocese of
Cloyne.
(3) Four members of Blessed Edmund
Rice’s North Monastery in Cork
City, founded 1811,
were natives of Doneraile, as explained below.
(4) The two Leonard
brothers,
John Baptist
Leonard and Patrick Joseph
Leonard, after
initial hesitation about the way forward, accepted the
Papal Brief of 1820, and both died members of the
pontifical congregation of Christian
Brothers, of which
Blessed Edmund Rice was first Superior General.
(5) The two Riordan
brothers,
Michael Augustine
(Austin) Riordan and Charles Bernard
Riordan, remained
under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of
Cork, removed to the
new South Monastery
from the North Monastery, and
both died members of the diocesan congregation
of Presentation Brothers of which Blessed Edmund was founder and
initial inspiration in 1802 in Waterford.
(6) Michael Augustine
Riordan was the
founding Superior of the South Monastery
after his secession from the
North Monastery in 1827. This secession led the way to
the separate development of
the Presentation Brothers.
(7) Michael Augustine was the
Estate
Architect/Surveyor of Lord Doneraile’s St Leger
Estate which
encompassed the neighbouring towns of Doneraile and
Buttevant. He went on
to become the architect of many
churches and other ecclesiastical
buildings, including
the pre-Emancipation Parish
Church of Our Lady’s Nativity, Doneraile
(1827), built on the
site of a previous Penal Day temporary chapel.
(8) A parish fund for Church Renovation
was set up in Doneraile Parish in the 1970s, with
the
proposal to replace the 1827 Parish
Church. When
structural engineers examined the building in the 1980s,
they discovered that the original building was structurally
sound (a tribute to its architect, Br Michael Augustine
Riordan). So instead of replacement, the parish
concentrated on restoration and
enhancement of the
existing building.
(9) In the sanctuary of the Parish
Church, on the
right-hand side, stands an impressive large stained glass
window of the Presentation of Our
Lady, a memorial to
Doneraile’s famous priest-author, Canon
Sheehan. On the other
side is a matching window dedicated to Christian
Education:
“Suffer the Little Children to come unto me”.
(10) The Presentation Convent,
with its Primary and Secondary School, survived until the early 1990s. When
the Sisters left, the Community
Cemetery, containing
the remains of over 100 Sisters, was tastefully transferred
for greater security to the local Public Cemetery at
Oldcourt, Doneraile. The Primary School
continues to serve as the
parish’s Girls’ Primary School, under the
auspices of the Diocese of
Cloyne. The
secondary
school has been
subsumed into the new Voluntary Co-Ed
secondary School,
the Nagle
Rice, whose very title
honours Doneraile’s connection with the Founders of
the Nagle Rice movement that began during the Penal Days of
the late 18th
and early
19th
centuries.
(11) The Christian
Brothers arrived in
Doneraile in 1870 and established both a primary and
secondary school. The primary school
continues as a Catholic
diocesan primary school for boys. The secondary school
is absorbed into the new
Catholic Voluntary Co-Ed Secondary School, the
Nagle Rice
School.
(12) Suggestion:
A commemorative plaque
should be erected,
either inside or outside the Parish Church, commemorating
the local connection with all three Congregations of the
Nagle Rice inspiration. Groups, such as the
tri-congregational Tóir and Ballyvalloo, visiting nearby
Ballygriffin,
the birthplace of Nano Nagle, could now extend their visit
to include Doneraile Parish Church (established 1827), with
its associations with all three religious
congregations: the Presentation
Sisters, the Presentation Brothers and the Christian
Brothers. I’m
sure that the Parish Priest would welcome such a monument.
The cost of the plaque could be shared by all three
congregations.
This idea is only in the early stages of consideration .
What do you think? All suggestions to me in Rome! The fact
that I am a native of Doneraile is only coincidental!
The next edition of ‘From the Postulator’s
Desk’ will contain details of the International
Novena for 2007 and some new suggestions concerning our
devotion to Blessed Edmund. If there are events concerning
the spread of devotion to Blessed Edmund in your part of
the world, please let me know and I will publicise them.
Sometimes, unfortunately, I am the last to know.
Finally, a Very Happy Christmas 2006 and a Prosperous New
Year 2007 to all our readers. May the Christ Child reign in
your homes and communities and may Blessed Edmund guide you
in your joys and sorrows. Be in touch.
PS. Because
of the vagaries I have experienced recently in e-mail
messages reaching/not reaching other parts of the world, I
am sending copies of this document to (1) Edmund Rice
Promoters world-wide and, as a back-up, to (2) Provincial
and Regional Houses everywhere. If you hear of a problem,
please get in touch, by phone or snail-mail if necessary.
Grazie!
Br Donal Blake CFC
Edmund Rice
Roman Postulator
Congregation Historian
0039 06 3321 0363
postulatorcfc@gmail.com
Christmas 2006