TURKISH PRESIDENT HAS REPORTEDLY INVITED POPE FRANCIS TO HAGIA SOPHIA – ST. FRANCIS AND A MONASTERY IN VENICE

July 21 is always a day I celebrate with joy as it was the date I was baptized! I could not know at the age of three weeks that a whole new life was starting for me but, as I grew and learned about the faith and received my First Communion and so much more, I realized it was the greatest treasure of my life.

TURKISH PRESIDENT HAS REPORTEDLY INVITED POPE FRANCIS TO HAGIA SOPHIA

A report in the Greek City Times, citing the Anadolou Agency, says that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has invited Pope Francis to visit Hagia Sophia. The article was entitled “Turkey Invites Pope Francis to Hagia Sophia.”

“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan invited the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State, Pope Francis to visit Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom),” the report started. “According to Ibrahim Kalin, spokesperson for the Turkish presidency, Turkey has invited everyone to the mosque, including Pope Francis.” https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/07/21/turkey-invites-pope-francis-to-hagia-sophia/

If you recall, on July 12, the second Sunday in July that traditionally marks the International Day of the Sea, at the Angelus Pope Francis mentioned this after the Marian prayer, extending “an affectionate greeting to all those who work at sea, especially those who are far from their loved ones and their country.”

Then, speaking somewhat hesitatingly in obviously pained extemporaneous remarks, he said: “And the sea carries me a little farther away in my thoughts: to Istanbul. I think of Saint Sophia, and I am very saddened.” He did not mention Turkey’s president by name or use the word ‘mosque’ but it was President Erdogan who, on July10 announced the decision to turn the museum commonly known as Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.

Hagia Sophia was built 1500 years ago – in 537 – as a basilica by the Byzantine Christian Emperor Justinian and dedicated to Divine Wisdom – thus the name Hagia Sophia. After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the basilica was converted into a mosque and the city was renamed Istanbul. In 1934, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, turned Hagia Sophia into a museum, which later became a UNESCO world heritage site.

Reactions around the world to the July 10 decision ranged from disappointment to condemnation, and people immediately looked to the Vatican for a statement. Negative reaction poured in from Orthodox leaders, the European Union and the World Council of Churches, to name a few.

The WCC told Turkey’s president in a letter of “the grief and dismay of the World Council of Churches and of its 350 member churches in more than 110 countries, representing more than half a billion Christians around the world at the step you have just taken. By deciding to convert the Hagia Sophia back to a mosque you have reversed that positive sign of Turkey’s openness and changed it to a sign of exclusion and division.”

And then Sunday, July 12, we heard Pope Francis say with sadness, “And the sea carries me a little farther away in my thoughts: to Istanbul. I think of Saint Sophia, and I am very saddened.”

FRANCIS AND A MONASTERY IN VENICE

I now know what new place I will visit the next time I’m in Venice!   What a great story this is about St. Francis and a beautiful Venetian island! To whet your appetite….

 “When Francis returned to Venice, after a months-long sea journey aboard a cargo ship, he was at the height of his fame as a preacher. Thousands were inspired by his invitation to give up worldly possessions and live a life of penance, brotherly love, and peace.  (photo Aleteia)

Upon his arrival in Venice, hundreds of believers were gathered to meet him. But Francis realized he first needed a moment of quiet, reflection and prayer before returning to his worldly mission. Thanks to a small rowboat, he made his way to a tiny island inside Venice’s Lagoon, located between the islands of Burano and Sant’Eramo, now known as “St. Francis of the Desert.”

To read more and be inspired: https://aleteia.org/2020/04/23/the-island-where-saint-francis-took-refuge-to-reflect/?utm_campaign=NL_en&utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=NL_en

 

 

ST. BENEDICT’S MOTTO, “ORA ET LABORA,” IS ALIVE AND WELL IN BREVNOV

ST. BENEDICT’S MOTTO, “ORA ET LABORA,” IS ALIVE AND WELL IN BREVNOV

On Thursday July 26, my second full day in Prague, I was privileged to visit the Benedictine monastery of Brevnov on the outskirts of Prague with my new friends from the bishops’ conference, along with our guide, Benedictine Father Ales.

Brevnov, the first monastery on Bohemian land, was founded in 993 (!) by Duke Boleslav and by Prague’s second archbishop, St. Adalbert. It kept its Romanesque features until the the mid-13th century and was one of the most significant institutions of the land, eventually becoming a “parent” monastery to others.

Over the centuries, with political vicisstudes, conflicts and economic downturns, the monastery struggled and its members, even for brief periods, had to leave for other convents. There were years when the priests returned, years of rebuilding and prosperity that alternated with years of struggle and hardships.

The brewery – the brewers, the malt, some tasting, the hops –

Much of what you see today at Brevnov, the many buildings used for the hotel, the restaurant, and the brewery and the many rooms available for academic groups and for pilgrims and retreats date from the 17th century.

The earliest foundations – 

From the 1950s under the communists to the 1990 return of buildings to the Benedictines, the main convent was the seat of the State Secret Police! This happened in many instances for Church property in the communist years – sometimes total destruction, sometimes partial devastation and more often ecclesiastical buildings were confiscated to use for prisons, hospitals or offices of communist officials.

The grounds –

This is all important to know when we look at the post-communist years, from 1990 on, when parishes, monasteries, convents, dioceses with their buildings and offices – all had to do enormous rebuilding, both material and spiritual.

Rooms and halls open to groups for study, retreats, etc.

Father Ales, in addition to spending hours with us and explaining every nook and cranny of Brevnov as well as the spiritual and material rebuilding, gave me a small booklet on the history of this monastery. I was still grappling with the fact I was spending the day at a living, breathing, working monastery that was 1,025 years old!

The booklet noted that, among the vicissitudes of history, “certain forms of monastic life have changed throughout the centuries. The monks had to react to the changes in society in which their convents belonged and where they were active. There is, however, one significant constant: the day of the monks is now, as it was a thousand years ago and in compliance with the Rule of St. Benedict, divided between prayer (public liturgy, ie, the Mass and the Divine Office, as well as private prayer) and work.”

The church of St. Margaret –

Today, in addition to the St. Adalbert hotel, the great restaurant and the brewery and a small publishing house, the monastery is a fully functioning parish of St. Margaret.

I immensely enjoyed my visit to this Benedictine monastery and so wished that I could have just registered at the hotel to spend a few days in the calm and peace of this abbey and the Czech countryside.

Here we are, over a post prandial coffee, reflecting on our memorable visit to Brevnov monastery –

I focus on monasteries, the ones that I visited in the Czech Republic, because, in case you did not know it, staying at a monastery in most European nations is an eminently doable possibility for travellers. Your mind will whirl with ideas if you start an Internet search on this possibility!

But start here, near Prague, at Brevnov monastery!

THE MANY THREADS OF A TAPESTRY CALLED PRAGUE

THE MANY THREADS OF A TAPESTRY CALLED PRAGUE

I have only been back from magnificent, historical Prague, capital of the Czech Republic for two days but the memories, the visits, the sightseeing, the long wonderful conversations with new friends, the relaxing and delicious meals but especially the people are embedded deep in my mind and my heart.

This is a land that has been marked by Christianity for over 1000 years and I touched only the tip of this special iceberg

My first morning in Prague, I spent two wonderful hours with Cardinal Dominik Duka, archbishop of Prague, whose fascinating life story, especially the years under communism, could be made into a film.

As a seminarian and priest in the then Czechoslovakia, he was forced to work in various factories, at one point he was a locksmith, at another he worked in the design department of an automobile factory. He spent some time in prison and one cell-mate was the playright and dissident Vaclav Havel, who served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then as the first president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003.

Cardinal Duka spoke to me of the physical and spiritual rebuilding in the new Czech Republic that had to be done after the fall of the Berlin Wall and communism in 1989. Churches and schools, convents and monasteries had to be physically repaired or rebuilt. The Church had to re-build many of its services and pastoral ministries as well – those for families, vocations, youth, education to name but a few.

He emphasized two aspects of Church life – one was the very strong pro-life movement in his nation, citing in particular last spring’s 10,000-person March for Life in Prague. He also emphasized the importance and impact of Caritas in Czech society – an NGO in the Czech Republic and very respected by the government. Caritas has over 7,000 employees and large numbers of volunteers throughout the country. One of their big annual events is Christmas dinner in the archbishop’s place for 300 poor people and the cardinal plays an important role that day.

Photos from my first evening in Prague, a walk through the Franciscan Garden to a restaurant for dinner with Stanislav Zeman, the archbishop’s spokesman:

The restaurant –

As I mentioned Friday in my column, I visited two monasteries – the Benedictine monastery of Brevnov – founded in 993! – and the Premonstratensian monastery of Zeliv, about 85 kilometers from Prague, founded in 1139 by Prague’s Archbishop Otto and Prince Sobeslav.

I chose to visit the monasteries not only because of their amazing history but because of how they survived the darkest period of their lives, the communist decades, to come back and become thriving religious communities, closely linked to the cities and towns nearby.

I immensely enjoyed my time at the monasteries but my joy was doubled when I discovered my new friends from the Czech Bishops Conference had never been to either place!

Both were fully functioning monasteries up to the communist years when they were forced to close, the religious sent away (or imprisoned or in forced labor) and became offices for communist officials or, for example, Zeliv served as a prison from 1950 to 1956 and after that became a psychiatric hospital until 1990!

Today both Zeliv and Brevnov are fully functioning and financially autonomous monasteries – places of prayer, of course, but they have restaurants and small hotels and spaces for seminars and meetings, etc. Zeliv even has a terrific brewery!

I will be doing separate stories with photos on each of these monasteries, as I will of my visit with Cardinal Duka (once I listen to our 90-minute taped conversation!), and I’ll post photos of the city, the Charles Bridge, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Our Lady Victorious church with its celebrated statue of the Infant of Prague!

Pix from my hotel balcony – the Jalta (prounounced Yalta) Boutique Hotel – that overlooks the famous Wenceslas Square which, as you can see, is not a square at all! It is a long, very wide boulevard with a broad meridian that has pathways, gardens, play areas for children and cafes. This is flanked by several lanes for traffic on either side and the street side houses hotels, restaurants, stores and offices.

St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle

I fully intend to return someday and that might even be this fall for a surprising reason. I learned something quite astonishing when I had dinner with Cardinal Duka’s spokesman, Stanislav, the night of my arrival….a fact the cardinal mentioned the next day when he was my host for two hours in the archbishop’s residence.

How many of you know that the former Eastern European country of Czechoslovakia was born in Washington, D.C. in 1918!? The Czech and Slovak peoples will jointly celebrate this 100th anniversary and many events have taken place, are underway or will take place in October this year, the actual anniversary month. Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, in what has been called “the velvet revolution,” a revolution without bloodshed.

The First Republic was declared on October 28, 1918, when novelist Alois Jirásek read the proclamation of the independence of Czechoslovakia in front of the Saint Wenceslas statue on Wenceslas Square. That will be the principal day of celebrations this year.

What has been called the Washington Declaration was drafted in the U.S. by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and American sculptor Gutzon Borglum and presented to the U.S. government on October 17, published in Paris on October 18, and read at the statue of St. Wenceslas in the square named for him on October 28.

The wesbite of the U.S. embassy to the Czech Republic tells the story nicely:

The year 2018 marks the centennial of the founding of Czechoslovakia and the formal beginning of U.S.-Czech diplomatic relations, and the U.S. Embassy in Prague will proudly celebrate the occasion throughout the year. We will mark 100 years of U.S.-Czech relations by supporting projects focused on the U.S.-Czech friendship and history, and by participating in events around the country that highlight the U.S.-Czech partnership.

There are many U.S. links to the founding of the Czechoslovakian state. The United States hosted Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, along with other prominent Czechs and Slovaks, for the signing of the Pittsburgh Agreement on May 31, 1918 – the first step towards the establishment of the independent state of Czechoslovakia.

After Germany and Austria proposed peace negotiations in October, 1918, Masaryk issued a declaration of Czechoslovak independence while in the United States. Masaryk was then elected the first president of Czechoslovakia on November 14, 1918 and used the U.S. constitution as a model for the first Czechoslovak Constitution.

Masaryk also had strong personal links with the United States through his marriage to an American citizen, Charlotte Garrigue (whose name he took as part of his own), and through his lectures at the University of Chicago in 1902 and 1907.