St. Cyprian 252 A.D.
Original full quote: “Does anyone who strives
against the Church and resists her think that he is in the
Church, when the blessed Apostle Paul teaches this same
thing and sets forth the sacrament of unity saying, ‘One
body and one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God’? (cf. Eph 4:4-6)” St. Cyprian
of Carthage, A.D. 252, The Unity of the Church, ch.
4, in The Fathers of the Church: Vol. 36, Saint Cyprian,
tr. and ed. Roy J. Deferrari, The
Catholic University of America Press (Washington,
D.C.: 2007, 3rd reprinting, 1st
paperback reprint of 1958 original), p. 99.
“Let our light shine forth in good works and glow.” St.
Cyprian, 252 A.D. Original full quote:
“Let our light shine forth in good works and glow, so that
it may lead us from the night of this world to the light of
eternal brightness.” St. Cyprian of
Carthage, A.D. 252, The Unity of the Church,
ch. 27, in The Fathers of the Church: Vol. 36, Saint
Cyprian, tr. and ed. Roy J. Deferrari,
The Catholic University of America
Press (Washington, D.C.: 2007, 3rd reprinting, 1st
paperback reprint of 1958 original), p. 121.
Spring/Summer
“Rome has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us
after having been announced
to men by the apostles.”
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3:3:2.
“We
have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served
Mary as we ought.”
St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, tr. Fr.
Frederick Faber, TAN Books (Rockford, IL: est. 1985), p. 6.
“[Mary] paid
the debt of the first mother.”
St. John of
Damascus, c. 749 A.D. De fide orthodoxa, IV, 14, in The
Fathers of the Church: Vol. 37, St. John of Damascus:
Writings, tr. Frederic H. Chase, Jr., The Catholic
University of America Press (Washington, D.C.: 1999, reprint
of 1958 original), p. 364.
“Late have I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new!”
St. Augustine, 400 A.D. Confessions, X, 27.
“Planted and
built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith”
Col 2:7
Corpus Christi
“The common
spiritual good of the whole Church is contained in the
Eucharist.”
Original full quote: “The highest place belongs to the
sacraments whereby man is sanctified: chief of which is the
sacrament of the Eucharist, for it contains Christ himself.”
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Benzinger Brothers
1947 edition, p. 2378.
“The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
are of one and the same substance.”
St. Augustine, On the Trinity, I, 4, 7.
Pentecost
“The Holy Spirit is a substantial power
proceeding from the Father.”
Original full quote: “The Holy Spirit is a
substantial power found in its own individuating personality
proceeding from the Father.” St. John of Damascus, c. 749
A.D., De fide orthodoxa, I, 6, in The Fathers of the Church:
Vol. 37, St. John of Damascus: Writings, tr. Frederic H.
Chase, Jr., The Catholic University of America Press
(Washington, D.C.: 1999, reprint of 1958 original), p. 174.
Ascension
“The Son sits corporeally with his Flesh
glorified together with the Father.”
Full original quote: “What we call the
right hand of the Father is the glory and honor of the
Godhead in which the Son of God existed as God and
consubstantial with the Father before the ages and in which,
having in the last days become incarnate, He sits
corporeally with his flesh glorified together with Him, for
He and His flesh are adored together with one adoration by
all creation.” St. John of Damascus, c. 749 A.D., De fide
orthodoxa, IV, 2, in The Fathers of the Church: Vol. 37, St.
John of Damascus: Writings, tr. Frederic H. Chase, Jr., The
Catholic University of America Press (Washington, D.C.:
1999, reprint of 1958 original), p. 336.
“Man’s highest
dignity is both a free and easy gift from God.” Full
original quote: “We are compelled to cherish more what we
are to be, when it is permitted us to know and to condemn
what we were. Nor for this is there need of a price either
in the way of bribery or labor, that man’s highest
dignity or power may be achieved with elaborate effort.
It is both a free and easy gift from God.”
St. Cyprian (246 A.D.),
To Donatus, ch. 14, in The Fathers of the Church: Vol. 36, St. Cyprian,
Treatises, tr. and ed.
Roy J. Deferrari, The Catholic
University of America Press (Washington, D.C.: 2007,
reprint of 1958 original), p. 20.
Easter Triduum
“By his resurrection, he called us to new
life” Full original quote: By his death he offered for
us the one truest possible sacrifice, and thereby purged,
abolished, and destroyed whatever there was of guilt, for
which the principalities and powers had a right to hold us
bound to payment of the penalty; and by his resurrection
he called to new life us who were predestined, justified
us who were called, glorified us who were justified (cf.
Rom 8:30). - St. Augustine, The Trinity, Book 4, ch.
3, 17, ed./tr. Edmund Hill, O.P., New City Press (Hyde Park,
NY: 2002), p. 165.
“Hatred of evil attends the good man.” – St. Clement
of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, ch. 8; in
Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings
of the Fathers Down To A.D. 325, Vol. 4: Clement of
Alexandria Vol. 1, ed. Alexander Roberts and James
Donaldson, Elibron Classics series, 2006 (orig. 1867: T&T
Clark, Edinburgh), p. 160.
Lent
“It
is not as we are, however, that God loves us, but as we are
going to be.” – St. Augustine, The Trinity, Book 1, ch. 3, 21,
ed./tr. Edmund Hill, O.P., New City Press (Hyde Park, NY:
2002), p. 81
“It is necessary for our minds to be purified.”
– St. Augustine, The Trinity, Book 1, ch. 1, 3,
ed./tr. Edmund Hill, O.P., New City Press (Hyde Park, NY:
2002), p. 66.
Winter
“Speech is the fruit of the mind.”
– St. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 2,
ch. 5; in Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of
the Writings of the Fathers Down To A.D. 325, Vol. 4:
Clement of Alexandria Vol. 1, ed. Alexander Roberts and
James Donaldson, Elibron Classics series, 2006 (orig. 1867:
T&T Clark, Edinburgh), p. 219.
“What will be that glory… to rejoice with the just and with
the friends of God in the kingdom of heaven, in the delight
of the immortality that will be given! To receive there what
the eye has not seen nor ear heard, what has not entered
into the heart of man!”
– St. Cyprian, Letter to the People of Thibar, in
The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. 1, 579, ed. William
A. Jurgens, The Liturgical Press (Collegeville, MN: 1970),
p. 231.
“Contemplation is the reward of faith”
– St. Augustine, The Trinity, Book 1, ch. 3, 17,
ed./tr. Edmund Hill, O.P., New City Press (Hyde Park, NY:
2002), p. 77.
“In that small infant lay hid something great”
– St. Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea, Commentary on
the Four Gospels, vol. 1, part 1., at Mt. 1, 2, Wipf &
Stock Publishers (Eugene, OR: 2005) p. 63; quoting
Pseudo-Augustine.
2010
Advent
“A man who was not God would not be able to redeem the
others”, St.
Anselm, 1100 a.d. This is from: “God became man for the reason that – as
has been shown in the little work frequently mentioned
[i.e., Cur Deus homo] – a man who was not God would
not be able to redeem the others.” St. Anselm, De
conceptu virginali, 17, in Anselm of Canterbury: Why
God Became Man, The Virgin Conception and Original Sin,
tr. F.S. Schmitt, O.S.B, ed. Joseph M. Colleran, Magi Books
(Albany, New York: 1969), p. 193.
“Release
from evils is the beginning of salvation.”
St. Clement of
Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, ch. 6; in
Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings
of the Fathers Down To A.D. 325, Vol. 4: Clement of
Alexandria Vol. 1, ed. Alexander Roberts and James
Donaldson, Elibron Classics series, 2006 (orig. 1867: T&T
Clark, Edinburgh), p. 132.
The quote, “The Lord lovingly guides us to
that life which is best” is taken from this beautiful
sentence: “Now, it is incumbent upon us to return His love,
who lovingly guides us to that life which is best; and to
live in accordance with the injunctions of His will.” St.
Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, ch. 3;
in Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the
Writings of the Fathers Down To A.D. 325, Vol. 4:
Clement of Alexandria Vol. 1, ed. Alexander Roberts and
James Donaldson, Elibron Classics series, 2006 (orig. 1867:
T&T Clark, Edinburgh), p. 119.
Fall
“The face of God is the Word by Whom God is made known.” St.
Clement of Alexandria,
The Instructor,
Book 1, ch. 7; in
Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings
of the Fathers Down To A.D. 325, Vol. 4:
Clement of Alexandria Vol.
1, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson,
Elibron Classics series, 2006 (orig. 1867: T&T Clark,
Edinburgh), p. 152.
“[The] wine and the bread… become[s] the Eucharist of the
blood and the body of Christ.” St. Irenaeus of Lyon, c. 180
A.D. From Against Heresies, V, 2, 3, in Irenaeus
of Lyons, ed. and tr. Robert M. Grant, Routledge (New
York, NY, 2005), p. 164.
Summer
“The knot of Eve’s disobedience was
loosed by Mary’s obedience.” St. Irenaeus of Lyon, c.
180 A.D. From Against Heresies, III, 22, 4, in
Irenaeus of Lyons, ed. and tr. Robert M. Grant,
Routledge (New York, NY, 2005), p. 141.
