St. Benedict Medal's Exorcism Power

During his life, St. Benedict of Nursia was known to work many miracles using the power of the Holy Cross. Among these included his heroic flight from temptations and miraculous escapes from traps set to kill him.

Saint Benedict became known for his power over the Devil, with the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ as his efficacious instrument to make the Devil flee.

The Medal of St. Benedict is based on this tradition.

St. Benedict was an incredibly important saint for the Church, most notably because he was the founder of Western monasticism. Because of his uncommon sanctity and miraculous powers, men gathered around him as disciples.

Benedict paved the way for these men to consecrate themselves to a secluded, disciplined, communal life of prayer, work, fasting, and penance dedicated solely to the worship of God. He organized them together under a single Rule to increase their spiritual effectiveness.

So, it is not hard to see why Saint Benedict was often a specific target of the Devil.

The St. Benedict medal as we commonly know it today (the Jubilee medal) was first made in 1880 to commemorate the fourteenth centenary anniversary of St. Benedict’s birth by the Archabbey of Monte Cassino, the most important monastery established by the Saint in the 6th century.

The meaning of the symbols used on the medal were at one time a mystery until an ancient manuscript was discovered, as described below:

 According to the Catholic Encyclopedia,

 “It is doubtful when the Medal of St. Benedict originated. During a trial for witchcraft at Natternberg near the Abbey of Metten in Bavaria [a Benedictine monastery established in the 8th century] in the year 1647, the accused women testified that they had no power over Metten, which was under the protection of the cross. Upon investigation, a number of painted crosses, surrounded by the letters which are now found on Benedictine medals, were found on the walls of the abbey, but their meaning had been forgotten.

Finally, in an old manuscript, written in 1415, was found a picture representing St. Benedict holding in one hand a staff which ends in a cross, and a scroll in the other. On the staff and scroll were written in full the words of which the mysterious letters were the initials. Medals bearing the image of St. Benedict, a cross, and these letters began now to be struck in Germany, and soon spread over Europe. They were first approved by Benedict XIV in his briefs of 23 December, 1741, and 12 March, 1742.”

 This—combined with accounts of the Saint triumphing over traps the Devil set for him—is how the symbols on the St. Benedict medal became propagated as a form of protection against, and exorcism of, evil.

FRONT OF THE MEDAL

·         Above the chalice and the raven in the center, on either side of Saint Benedict:

Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti

(Cross of the Holy Father Benedict)

 Words around the perimeter of the medal:

Ejus in obitu nro praesentia muniamur

(May we at our death be fortified by his presence)

BACK OF THE MEDAL

 Initials on the cross in the center:

C. S. S. M. L. – N. D. S. M. D.

Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux

(The Holy Cross be my light)

Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux

(Let not the dragon be my guide)2

  Circles by the four corners of the cross:

C S P B

Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti 

(Cross of the Holy Father Benedict)

 Initials around the perimeter:

V R S N S M V – S M Q L I V B

Vade Retro Satana, Nunquam Suade Mihi Vana—Sunt Mala Quae Libas, Ipse Venena Bibas

(Step back, Satan, do not suggest to me thy vanities —evil are the things thou profferest, drink thou thy own poison)

 And at the top: Pax

(Peace)

In Defense of Western Civilization

Everything you should know--but PC professors won't teach--about our Western heritage
Western civilization is the envy of the globe. It has given to the world universally accepted understandings of human rights (rooted in Judeo-Christian principles), created standards for art, music, and literature that have never been equaled, and originated political and social systems that have spread all across the planet.

Unfortunately, the fog of political correctness now obscures these and other truths about Western civilization. Leftists and Islamic jihadists find common cause in assailing Western "colonialism," "imperialism," and "racism" as its defining characteristics. Guilt-ridden Western leaders and public figures speak of their cultural patrimony in disparaging terms they would never dare to use about a non-Western culture. And in the academy, "multicultural"-minded professors flatter students into believing they have nothing really to learn from Sophocles or Shakespeare.

But now, Professor Anthony Esolen--one of the team-teachers of Providence College's esteemed Development of Western Civilization Core Curriculum--has risen to the West's defense. The Politically Incorrect Guide(TM) to Western Civilization takes on the prevailing liberal assumptions that make Western civilization the universal whipping boy for today's global problems, and introduces you to the significant events, individuals, nations, ideas, and artistic achievements that make Western civilization the greatest the world has ever known.

Today--with the West imperiled as never before by the global jihad and threats from China and elsewhere--defending the West has become an urgent imperative: if we don't value what we have and what we have inherited, we will surely lose it. The Politically Incorrect Guideto Western Civilization is an essential sourcebook for that defense.

Available on Amazon: http://ow.ly/HwdaZ 

Alternative to the Cultural Trends Destroying Your Child's Imagination

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolens

“Esolen signals with this book his presence in the top rank of authors of cultural criticism.” —American Spectator

Play dates, soccer practice, day care, political correctness, drudgery without facts, television, video games, constant supervision, endless distractions: these and other insidious trends in child rearing and education are now the hallmarks of childhood. As author Anthony Esolen demonstrates in this elegantly written, often wickedly funny book, almost everything we are doing to children now constricts their imaginations, usually to serve the ulterior motives of the constrictors.

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child takes square aim at these accelerating trends, in a bitingly witty style reminiscent of C. S. Lewis, while offering parents—and children—hopeful alternatives. Esolen shows how imagination is snuffed out at practically every turn: in the rearing of children almost exclusively indoors; in the flattening of love to sex education, and sex education to prurience and hygiene; in the loss of traditional childhood games; in the refusal to allow children to organize themselves into teams; in the effacing of the glorious differences between the sexes; in the dismissal of the power of memory, which creates the worst of all possible worlds in school—drudgery without even the merit of imparting facts; in the strict separation of the child’s world from the adult’s; and in the denial of the transcendent, which places a low ceiling on the child’s developing spirit and mind.

But Esolen doesn’t stop at pointing out the problem; he offers clear solutions as well. With charming stories from his own boyhood and an assist from the master authors and thinkers of the Western tradition, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child is a welcome respite from the overwhelming banality of contemporary culture. Interwoven throughout this indispensable guide to child rearing is a rich tapestry of the literature, music, art, and thought that once enriched the lives of American children.

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child confronts contemporary trends in parenting and schooling by reclaiming lost traditions. This practical, insightful book is essential reading for any parent who cares about the paltry thing that childhood has become, and who wants to give a child something beyond the dull drone of today’s culture.

Available on Amazon

What is Print Awareness? Why is it Important?

1. What is Print Awareness?

Print awareness is a child’s understanding that print has a function. As children develop print

awareness they begin to understand the connection between oral and written language. When

developing print awareness children learn that print carries meaning, is organized in a specific way, and

that there rules for how you read and write.

Several of the many ways children can demonstrate print awareness are:

● When a child holds a book the right way.

● When a child distinguishes between letters and words.

● When a child writes scribbles on paper and ask you to read what they wrote.

2. Why is Print Awareness Important?

Print awareness is important because it represents a group of skills that are necessary for children

to become successful readers. Children begin to develop print awareness as early as infancy and

continue to develop print awareness throughout early childhood. Children from the ages of 3­5 rapidly

develop print awareness when adults engage in activities to build their early literacy skills. Without print

 awareness children will not develop letter­sound correspondence, word reading skills, or the ability to

read and understand text.

3. Print awareness is important because:

● Print awareness is a prerequisite for learning to read.

● Children can rapidly develop print awareness when adults engage in literacy activities with them.

● Without print awareness children will struggle to develop other literacy skills such as letter­sound

correspondence, spelling, and comprehension.

4. What does the Research Say about Print Awareness?

Print awareness is a necessary foundational skill that children must possess in order to become

proficient readers. Print awareness is developed through daily adult/child interactions with print in the

child’s environment and through shared reading experiences. Print awareness can be increased with

structured adult/child shared readings that include an explicit focus on print using both verbal and

nonverbal cues. Research shows that shared reading, with prompts to focus on specific aspects of print,

accelerates pre­literacy skills for children who are typically developing and those who are at­risk for later

reading difficulties.

Research has linked the use of consistent and sustained print referencing during shared reading to

later literacy achievement. Preschool students whose teachers used shared reading with explicit print

references demonstrated higher achievement, in kindergarten and first grade, in the areas of

letter­word ID, spelling, and comprehension than those students whose teachers used a more

traditional approach to shared reading. By embedding explicit print referencing within preschool

curriculums teachers are able to significantly reduce risk for later reading failure for many

students. Using explicit print referencing during shared reading is a particularly powerful strategy for

increasing children's early literacy skills because it requires few resources and can be easily embedded in

existing instruction. And, with little formal training parents/caregivers can increase their child’s print

awareness by engaging in shared reading activities that include print referencing.

5. The Research Says:

● With little formal training parents and caregivers can increase their childs print awareness by

engaging in shared reading activities that include print referencing.

● Teachers, parents, and caregivers are able to significantly reduce risk for later reading failure

when they use explicit print referencing.

● Shared reading, with prompts to focus on specific aspects of print, accelerates print awareness for

both typically developing children as well as children at­risk for later reading failure.

● The consistent and sustained use of print referencing, by preschool teachers, during shared

reading is linked to increased reading achievement in kindergarten and first grade.

6. Examples of how to Increase Print Awareness

Print awareness is best developed by both parents and caregivers as well as teachers. Some

ways to increase children’s print awareness include:

● Reading to a child and talking about the print. This is the first word on this page. I am going to

start reading here, at the top of this page.

● Pointing out print in the child’s environment. Look at this sign, it says welcome.

● Discussing the form and function of letter and words. “This is an uppercase S, how is it

different from this lowercase s? This is the word “to”. We read the word “to” all of the

time, can you help me find the word “to” in this book?

References

Justice, L. M., & Ezell, H. K. (2002). Use of storybook reading to increase print awareness in at­risk

children. American Journal of Speech­Language Pathology, 11(1), 17­29.

Piasta, S. B., Justice, L. M., McGinty, A. S., & Kaderavek, J. N. (2012). Increasing young children’s

contact with print during shared reading: Longitudinal effects on literacy achievement. Child

Development, 83(3), 810­820.

Whitehurst, G. J., Epstein, J. N., Angell, A. L., Payne, A. C., Crone, D. A., & Fischel, J. E. (1994).

Outcomes of an emergent literacy intervention in Head Start. Journal of Educational Psychology,

86(4), 542.

http://www.iowareadingresearch.org/documents/PrintAwareness.pdf

St. Thomas A Becket - December 29th

There is a romantic legend that the mother of Thomas Becket was a Saracen princess who followed his father, a pilgrim or crusader, back from the Holy Land, and wandered about Europe repeating the only English words she knew, “London” and “Becket,” until she found him. According to a contemporary writer, Thomas Becket was the son of Gilbert Becket, sheriff of London. Whatever his parentage, we know with certainty that the future chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury was born on St. Thomas day, 1118, of a good family, and that he was educated at a school of canons regular at Merton Priory in Sussex, and later at the University of Paris.

Early in 1155 Becket became chancellor to the young king Henry II and was soon his trusted adviser; as well as controlling the King’s secretariat, he raised money for the King’s wars, accompanied the King’s armies, conducted diplomatic negotiations, and had charge of the King’s eldest son. In May 1162 Henry recommended Becket to the monks of Canterbury as successor to Theobald; he was consecrated archbishop on June 3 by the bishop of Winchester.

Traditional Proclamation of the Birth of Christ

This traditional translation of the Proclamation of the Birth of Christ comes from the Roman Martyrology, the official listing of the saints celebrated by the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. For centuries, it was read on Christmas Eve, before the celebration of Midnight Mass.

Traditional Proclamation of the Birth of Christ

The twenty-fifth day of December.
In the five thousand one hundred and ninety-ninth year of the creation of the world
from the time when God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth;
the two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood;
the two thousand and fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham;
the one thousand five hundred and tenth year from Moses
and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt;
the one thousand and thirty-second year from David's being anointed king;
in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel;
in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;
the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome;
the forty second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus;
the whole world being at peace,
in the sixth age of the world,
Jesus Christ the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,
desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming,
being conceived by the Holy Spirit,
and nine months having passed since his conception,
was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary,
being made flesh.
The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

The Real Face of Santa Claus

by Ryan Scheel

When you were a child, how badly did you want to sneak downstairs on Christmas Eve and see what Santa really looked like? You probably imagined him with a big white beard, jolly belly, red cheeks, and fur lined coat.

But according to scientific analysis and computer models, Saint Nicholas, the 4th century Bishop of Myra who Santa Claus is based on, would have looked a bit different than the Nordic woodsman of popular culture and more like a 4th century Byzantine Bishop.

According to The Saint Nicholas Center 

Professor Luigi Martino examining skull of St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas’ remains are buried in the crypt of the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy. These bones were temporarily removed when the crypt was repaired during the 1950s. At the Vatican’s request, anatomy professor Luigi Martino from the University of Bari, took thousands of minutely-detailed measurements and x-ray photographs (roentgenography) of the skull and other bones.

Professor of forensic pathology at the University of Bari, Francesco Introna, knew advancements in diagnostic technique could yield much more from the data gathered in the 1950s. So in 2004 he engaged expert facial anthropologist, Caroline Wilkinson, then at the University of Manchester in England, to construct a model of the saint’s head from the earlier measurements.

Using this data, the medical artist used state-of-the-art computer software to develop the model of St. Nicholas. The virtual clay was sculpted on screen using a special tool that allows one to “feel” the clay as it is molded. Dr. Wilkinson says, “In theory you could do the same thing with real clay, but it’s much easier, far less time-consuming and more reliable to do it on a computer.”

Mark Roughley and Caroline Wilkinson explain development of the new image at St. Nicholas Catholic Primary School in Liverpool
Copyright © 2002-2014 St. Nicholas Center

Caroline Wilkinson updated her original 2004 work ten years later, in 2014. This new image incorporates the latest 3D interactive technology and facial reconstruction system as she had further developed it at the University of Dundee and Liverpool John Moores University. Working in the new Face Lab at the School of Art and Design, she and Mark Roughley have produced a more advanced image using the most up-to-date anatomical standards, tissue depth data from the region, and computer graphic imagery techniques. The result is a middle-aged man with a long beard, round head, and square jaw. St. Nicholas also had a severely broken nose that healed asymmetrically.

“This is the most realistic appearance of St Nicholas based on all the skeletal and historical material. It is thrilling for us to be able to see the face of this famous 4th century Bishop,” said Professor Wilkinson. The new image was unveiled at St. Nicholas Catholic Primary School. The school is adjacent to the LJMU’s School of Art and Design. Wilkinson continued, “It was important to us to involve the local children in the reveal of the latest depiction of the face of St Nicholas and I hope that they will think of his face every year on St Nicholas’s feast day.”

The result of the project is the image of a Greek man, living in Asia Minor (part of the Greek Byzantine Empire), about 60-years old, 5-feet 6-inches tall, who had a heavy jaw and a broken nose.

Press reaction to the facsimile tended to imply that good Saint Nicholas had had a brawling past, hence the broken nose. It is more likely, however, that his nose was broken when imprisoned and tortured during the persecution of Christians under Roman Emperor Diocletian.

 From: http://ucatholic.com/blog/the-real-face-of-santa-claus/