From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Appreciating God's Grace   
      
      Be grateful, therefore, for the least gift and you will be worthy   
   to receive a greater. Consider the least gift as the greatest, the   
   most contemptible as something special. And, if you but look to the   
   dignity of the Giver, no gift will appear too small or worthless. Even   
   though He give punishments and scourges, accept them, because He acts   
   for our welfare in whatever He allows to befall us.   
      He who desires to keep the grace of God ought to be grateful when   
   it is given and patient when it is withdrawn. Let him pray that it   
   return; let him be cautious and humble lest he lose it.   
   Imitation of Christ:-- a Kempis Bk II   Ch 10   
      
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   27 August – Bl Dominic Barberi of the Mother of God C.P.   
      
    Apostle to England – Passionist Priest, Theologian, Confessor,   
   Teacher, Spiritual Director, Writer, Missionary, Evangelist – born on   
   22 June 1792 at Viterbo, Italy and died at 3pm on 27 August 1849 at   
   Reading, Berkshire, England of a heart attack. Patronage – England. St   
   Dominic was an Italian, a member of the Passionist Congregation and   
   was extremely prominent in spreading Catholicism in England. He was a   
   very positive influence on and instrumental in, the conversion of   
   Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890).   
      
   Dominic was born to a poor family of Italian farmers in 1792. He was   
   orphaned at the tender age of eight and an uncle and aunt raised him   
   in the town of Merlano. Young Dominic was not sent to school but   
   instead was taught to shepherd sheep. But the child always found time   
   to pray as he tended the sheep and he also diligently taught himself   
   to read and write.   
      
   When Napoleon closed all the religious houses in Italy, Dominic became   
   acquainted with several Passionists living in exile near his town.   
   During this time, Dominic experienced a divine message to join the   
   Passionists and one day go to England.   
      
   Dominic had promised God that if he were not drafted, he would become   
   a Passionist. Dominic’s uncle and aunt had also planned a marriage for   
   him. But just before the arranged marriage was to take place, he   
   slipped away and instead entered the nearby Passionist monastery at   
   Vetralla. Dominic studied eagerly, for he had a brilliant mind. He was   
   ordained in Rome on 1 March 1821. For the next 19 years he shared the   
   life and ministries of the Passionists in Italy but his heart was in   
   England.   
      
   Mission in England   
   In 1833, Dominic became a delegate to the General Chapter. In this   
   capacity, he was able to plant the seed to send missionaries to   
   England.  By the time of the 1839 General Chapter, changes in the   
   Congregation were afoot. The new General Superior was the charismatic   
   Father Anthony Testa. By April of 1840, Father Testa decided that   
   Dominic should go to England, though he worried for Dominic’s failing   
   health. He sent him with three companions to Belgium to make a   
   foundation in that country with the hope that from Belgium the mission   
   to England could be realised. Dominic established the first Passionist   
   monastery outside of Italy in 1840, at Ere in Belgium.   
      
   Finally, the time came to establish the first Passionist residence in   
   England. Father Dominic and a companion went to England and obtained a   
   house at Aston Hall in Staffordshire. One of his first ministries was   
   the celebration of the 1842 Holy Week services.   
      
   While in Italy and later in Belgium, Barberi had always kept up a keen   
   interest in the Oxford Movement. In 1841 a letter by John Dobree   
   Dalgairns appeared in L’Univers explaining the position of the   
   Anglican High Church party. Barberi decided to respond to this letter   
   in the mistaken belief that it represented the views of the entire   
   faculty of Oxford University. (Dalgairns was an undergraduate when he   
   wrote the letter.) Barberi’s “Letter to University Professors at   
   Oxford” describes his long hopes for the conversion of England and his   
   belief that the men of Oxford would be instrumental in such a   
   conversion. The letter, through the help of Ignatius Spencer,   
   eventually ended up in the hands of Dalgairns, who was residing with   
   John Henry Newman at Littlemore. Barberi repudiated the Anglican claim   
   that the 39 Articles could be interpreted in a Catholic light. In   
   their continued correspondence Dalgairns and Barberi debated the   
   Catholic position and Dalgairns requested copies of the Passionist   
   Rule and Dominic’s ‘The Lament of England’. Eventually Dalgairns was   
   received into the Catholic Church by Barberi at Aston in September   
   1845.   
      
   In October of that same year Barberi visited Littlemore, where Newman   
   made his confession to him. Newman relates in his “Apologia” how   
   Barberi arrived soaked from the rain and was drying himself by the   
   fire when Newman knelt and asked to be received into the Catholic   
   Church. This event is marked by a sculpture in the Catholic Church of   
   Blessed Dominic Barberi at Littlemore. Two of Newman’s companions at   
   Littlemore were also received, and Barberi celebrated Mass for them   
   the following morning. Subsequently, Newman and Barberi always took   
   note of each other’s careers. Dominic felt immensely blessed to have   
   received the famous Anglican into the Catholic Church. “What a   
   spectacle it was for me to see Newman at my feet! All that I have   
   suffered since I left Italy has been well compensated by this event. I   
   hope the effects of such a conversion may be great.”   
      
   English vocations were few but Dominic was deeply consoled by the   
   arrival of Father George Spencer who received the habit on 5 January   
   1847. Spencer was a convert of some years and already ordained, when   
   Dominic came to England in 1841. Now as a fellow Passionist, he proved   
   a great comfort to Dominic and the Passionists. A little note of   
   interest – Venerable Ignatius Spencer of St Paul (1799-1864) born as   
   Hon George Spencer, was a son of the Second Earl Spencer. He converted   
   from Anglicanism to the Roman Catholic Church, entered the Passionist   
   Order in 1841 at the age of 31, scandalising some in the Victorian   
   society and spent his life working for the conversion of England to   
   the Catholic faith. He is also known as the ‘Apostle of Prayer for   
   England’ and the great-great uncle of Princess Diana (died 1997).   
      
   In August, 1849, Dominic was returning to Aston Hall from London.   
   About five miles from Reading, Dominic got desperately sick. He was   
   taken off the train to be attended by a doctor but there was not a   
      
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