Celebrations for Santa Maria Greca, protector of Corato

Celebrations for Santa Maria Greca, protector of Corato

Yesterday was celebrated the feast of Santa Maria Greca – proclaimed Principal Protector of Corato in 1956 by Pope Pius XII on the occasion of the 3rd centenary of the apparition, as it is stated in the plaque next to the church, but always dear to the people of Corato – organized by the  Archconfraternity of the same name led by Pasquale Nocca.

The sober and planned festivities participated in, besides the preparatory novena,  was particularly Monday night’s prayer vigil in memory of the victims of the rail accident of July 12, 2016, and yesterday’s three Eucharistic celebrations.
One of celebrations, that of 11 am, was presided over by Mons. Giannotti, a vicar general, and was followed by the traditional Supplication to Our Lady at 12 o’clock, when the harmonious sound of the bell, 361 years ago, resounded freeing Corato from the plague.

The Icon of the Protector – to be more precise the wooden board on which the image of the Black Madonna is imprinted with the Greek pastoral and preserved in the crypt of the same name – was taken in procession along the city street after the Eucharistic celebration in the sacred church.

The members of the Sacred Heart Association of Jesus, who opened the procession

The procession, begun by some members of the Association of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, saw a distinguished participation of the faithful who did not just look at it from the edge of the sidewalks, but welcoming the invitation of Father Sergio Pellegrini, parish priest of St. Maria Greca, followed the icon praying Rosary and reflecting on some passages from the writings of Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta.  Also present were representatives of the many Catholic associations in the city and the political authorities.

Music played by Bitonto’s Bass Band also accompanied the return to the Church of the Icon of the Protector, greeted by the festive clapping of hands of her Children, aware of being sinners, as  the Hymn dedicated to her is repeated, but who as children invoke Her prayer of intercession and celestial protection.

The festivities this year also include a clarinet concert by the Quartet Melody, a chamber ensemble formed by four  clarinetists from Corato, who will be playing on Sunday, July 23 in the church of Santa Maria Greca in memory of the victims of the railway disaster.

Domenico Varesano, Vicenzo Di Puppo, Cataldo Taccardo and Vincenzo Catalano – who joined together in January 2016 with the aim of raising the city of Corato’s awarness of music culture – will perform the famous “Pavane for a dead infant” by Ravel Maurice, “Ammerland” By Jacob De Haan, “The Mission (Gabriel’s Oboe)” by Ennio Morricone, “7th Symphony 2nd Movement” by Ludwing van Beethoven, “Oblivion” by Astor Piazzolla, “River Flows in You” by Yiruma.

Meeting Sunday at 8 pm.

AN EXEMPLARY CHAPLIN – FATHER VINCENT CAPODANNO

by Maureen Boyle

There have been countless brave Catholic chaplains serving the U.S. Armed Forces since the Revolutionary War.  One heroic example who is honored every year on the anniversary of his death is Father Vincent R. Capodanno, a Maryknoll priest who was killed in Vietnam on September 4, 1967, as he gave physical and spiritual assistance to the dying Marines of the 1^st Marine Division.  Father Capodanno posthumously received the Congressional Medal of Honor and was officially proclaimed a Servant of God by the Catholic Church in 2006, formerly initiating his cause for sainthood.

The annual memorial Mass for Father Capodanno was celebrated September 6, 2011 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and attended by active-duty and retired members of the armed forces, civilians, and many Catholic military chaplains. 

In his homily, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio pointed out that among the scores of Navy chaplains, only two have received the Medal of Honor:  Jesuit Father Joseph O’Callahan and Father Capodanno.

“They were men who never forgot the specificity of what they brought to others as Catholic priests, and yet still served all who sought their counsel comfort and ministry,” said Archbishop Broglio.  “It is that realization that permitted Father Capodanno to defy logic and remain under fire to minister to those entrusted to his pastoral care.  He knew that he brought them something no other chaplain could:  the healing presence of the risen Lord who entrusted his sacraments, his life, to the Church.”

The archbishop encouraged those in attendance at the Mass to look to Father Capodanno as an example and source of inspiration to all the faithful, especially the Catholic chaplains serving in the armed forces.

“Men and women like Father Capodanno, afire with the love of Christ, challenge us to live the Gospel and to teach all people to live as brothers and sisters.  The quest for peace still stirs our hearts,” he said.

Third Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima – July 13th

Mr. Marto, father of Jacinta and Francisco, noticed that when the third apparition began, a small grayish cloud hovered over the holm oak, the sunlight diminished, and a cool breeze blew over the mountain range, despite it being the height of summer. He also heard something like flies inside an empty jug. The seers saw the customary glare, and then Our Lady over the holm oak.

Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I want you to come here on the thirteenth of next month and to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, for she alone can be of any avail.

Lucia: I would like to ask you to tell us who you are and to perform a miracle so everyone will believe that Your Grace appears to us.

Our Lady: Continue to come here every month. In October, I will tell you who I am and what I wish, and I will perform a miracle that everyone shall see so as to believe.

Lucia then made a number of requests for conversions, cures, and other graces. Our Lady recommended the constant recitation of the rosary; thus they would obtain those graces during the year.

Then she went on: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially when you make a sacrifice, ‘O Jesus, this is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.'”

 The first part—The vision of hell

Lucia writes, “Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.”

The second part—The warning of the chastisement and how to avoid it

The children then looked up at Our Lady, who said to them so kindly and so sadly:

“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc. …”

Communism—”The Errors of Russia”

Communism is an atheistic ideology that ultimately denies God’s natural order and natural law, which God inscribed on the hearts of men. Denying God, Communism attaches divinity status to the Party and to the State. As such, Communism transfers all personal responsibility to the Party and totalitarian state. Denying natural law, Communism rejects the basic rights to private property, and monogamous, indissoluble marriage two indispensable pillars of a free society. Dictatorship is not a chance fact in Communism, but the logical and necessary consequence of its ideology. For strategic reasons, Communism may take on different political forms, including apparently democratic ones, and hide behind varied labels. Already in the 1930’s, the Communist Party launched the so-called policy of the extended hand, in which it showed to the outside world a smiling, friendly face while, Stalin’s iron hand imposed a ferocious, despotic dictatorship in Russia.