From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The service of the poor is to be preferred to all else   
      
   The service of the poor is to be preferred to all else, and to be   
   performed without delay. If at a time set aside for prayer, medicine   
   or help has to be brought to some poor man, go and do what has to be   
   done with an easy mind, offering it up to God as a prayer. Do not be   
   put out by uneasiness or a sense of sin because of prayers interrupted   
   by the service of the poor: for God is not neglected if prayers are   
   put aside, if God's work is interrupted in order that another such   
   work may be completed. Therefore, when you leave prayer to help some   
   poor man, remember this — that the work has been done for God. Charity   
   takes precedence over any rules, everything ought to tend to it above   
   all; since it is itself a great lady, what it orders should be carried   
   out. Let us show our service to the poor, then, with renewed ardor in   
   our hearts, seeking out above all any abandoned people, since they are   
   given to us as lords and patrons.   
   --St. Vincent de Paul   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   November 9th - The Dedication of the Basilica of St John Lateran   
    325 AD   
      
   The Basilica of Saint John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome. It was   
   built during Constantine’s reign and was consecrated by Pope Saint   
   Sylvester I in 324. That church and the adjoining palace were   
   destroyed during the “Babylonian Captivity”, or Avignon Papacy.  The   
   current structure Pope Innocent X commissioned in 1646.   
      
   One of Rome¹s most imposing churches, the Lateran¹s towering facade   
   is crowned with 15 colossal statues of Christ, John the Baptist, John the   
   Evangelist and 12 doctors of the Church. Beneath its high altar rest   
   the remains of the small wooden table on which tradition holds St.   
   Peter himself celebrated Mass.  As the cathedral of the Bishop of   
   Rome, containing the papal throne (Cathedra Romana), it ranks above   
   all other churches in the Roman Catholic Church, even above St.   
   Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.   
      
   The basilica itself stands over the remains of the Castra Nova equitum   
   singularium, the ‘new fort’ of the imperial cavalry bodyguard. The   
   fort had been established by Septimius Severus in 193, but following   
   the victory over Maxentius (whom the Equites singulares augusti had   
   fought for) at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge by Constantine I the   
   guard were abolished and the fort demolished. Substantial remains of   
   the fort lie directly beneath the basilica nave. The rest of the   
   Basilica site was occupied during the early Roman Empire by the palace   
   of the gens Laterani. The Laterani served as administrators for   
   several emperors; Sextius Lateranus was the first plebeian to attain   
   the rank of consul. One of the Laterani, Consul-designate Plautius   
   Lateranus, became famous for being accused by Nero of conspiracy   
   against the emperor. The accusation resulted in the confiscation and   
   redistribution of his properties.   
      
   The Lateran Palace fell into the hands of the emperor when Constantine   
   I married his second wife Fausta, sister of Maxentius. Known by that   
   time as the “Domus Faustae” or “House of Fausta,” the Lateran Palace   
   was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine. The actual   
   date of the gift is unknown but scholars believe it had to have been   
   during the pontificate of Pope Miltiades, in time to host a synod of   
   bishops in 313 that was convened to challenge the Donatist schism,   
   declaring Donatism as heresy. The palace basilica was converted and   
   extended, eventually becoming the cathedral of Rome, the seat of the   
   popes as bishops of Rome.   
      
   Every pope from Miltiades occupied the Lateran Palace until the reign   
   of the French Pope Clement V, who in 1309 decided to transfer the   
   official seat of the Catholic Church to Avignon, a papal fief that was   
   an enclave within France.  How and why that happened is a, some say   
   very, long story I will spare you at the moment.   
      
   During the Avignon papacy, the Lateran Palace and the basilica began   
   to decline. Two destructive fires ravaged the Lateran Palace and the   
   basilica, in 1307 and again in 1361. In both cases, the Avignon papacy   
   sent money to their bishops in Rome to cover the costs of   
   reconstruction and maintenance. Despite the action, the Lateran Palace   
   and the basilica lost their former splendor.   
      
   When the Avignon papacy formally ended and the Bishop of Rome again   
   resided in Rome, the Lateran Palace and the basilica were deemed   
   inadequate considering the accumulated damage. The popes took up   
   residency at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere and later at   
   the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Eventually, the Palace of the   
   Vatican was built (adjacent to the Basilica of St. Peter, that already   
   existed at the Vatican since the time of Constantine), and the papacy   
   moved in; the papacy remains there today.   
      
   This feast was later made a universal celebration in honor of the   
   basilica in reflection of the basilica’s primacy in the world as   
   mother church.  The words: “Sacrosancta Lateranensis ecclesia omnium   
   urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput” are incised in the main   
   door, meaning “Most Holy Lateran Church, of all the churches in the   
   city and the world, the mother and head.” This feast was established   
   as a sign of love for and union with the See of Saint Peter for the   
   entire Universal Church.   
      
   The square in front of the Lateran Palace has a red-granite obelisk,   
   the largest in the world, commissioned by Pharaoh Thuthmose III and   
   completed by his grandson Thutmose IV in Karnak, and placed in the   
   Circus Maximus before being re-erected in its current place.  Truly,   
   suggestive of, to me, King of Kings.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   God sometimes gives a certain union of heart and tender love for our   
   neighbor, which is one of the greatest and most excellent gifts that   
   His divine bounty bestows on man.   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his   
   commandments are not burdensome. [1 John 5:3]  RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
    Daily Thoughts and Prayers for Our Beloved Dead   
      
   "Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because   
   the hand of the Lord hath touched me" Job. 19-21.   
      
   EIGHTH DAY   
   Despite the sorrowful farewells and vows of undying remembrance, the   
   dead are all too soon universally forgotten.  "Forgotten is all my   
   life, which never a word recalls; forgotten is my name which no one   
   utters; forgotten is my tomb, which no one visits; forgotten is my   
   death, which no one morns.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)