Holy Thursday Catena

This is an extended meditation of the Fathers on our Lord's example of humility and Peter's pivotal role in clarifying the lesson.

The PDF file may be found here.

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent: "Not one iota or dot"

This weekday's Gospel includes our Lord's teaching that He has come to fulfill the Law and Prophets, not to annul them. Of course, the objection arises, "Why then don't Christians follow the Judaic observances?" What's particularly interesting is that St. Thomas introduces a Manichaean to propose this question. What follows in this part of the Catena Aurea is a very enlightening dialogue between Faustus the Manichaean and St. Augustine about scriptural exegesis and the essence of both old and new laws. It makes for fascinating and edifying reading.

Here is the PDF file. Enjoy!

First Sunday in Lent, Year A: Temptations of the Lord

The PDF file for this Sunday's Catena can be downloaded here.

As always, St. Thomas arranges the Fathers' insights into sections of literal, moral, allegorical and anagogical (eschatological) interpretations.

I have retained the traditional usage of pinnacle to translate the Greek ptereugion, which after all means the same thing as pinnaculum: little wing. It seems to refer to a smaller tower that juts above the main roof. There was one of these on the southeast corner of the temple's outer wall, where, tradition claims, the Apostle James (the less), Jerusalem's first bishop, was thrown to his death. Remigius and the Gloss both describe this as the place where the teachers sat and thus was a status symbol.

Ash Wednesday

The Catena for this day may be found in PDF format by clicking here.

This is an excellent example of St. Thomas's genius for selecting from a great variety of Fathers from both East and West and then stringing them together in one running commentary. There is, however, an interesting section where St. Augustine notes a difference between Latin and Greek editions of St. Matthew's Gospel. I haven't checked this yet myself, but according to Augustine the Greek editions are missing a phrase contained in the Latin editions. But right along St. Augustine's comments, St. Thomas brings in a Greek Father commenting on the phrase!

Baptism of the Lord

A beautiful catena for this feast of our Lord. It includes, as it were, a discussion among the Fathers about the need for Christ to be baptized, not of course on account of any sin of His. As Ambrose puts it: "Like a wise master teaching His doctrines as much by His own deeds as by His words, He Himself did what He commanded all His disciples to do." And the Fathers, both of the East and West, are all of one mind that Christ in hearing "You are my Son, the beloved," did not learn of His divinity then. As Augustine puts it, "Not that Christ was taught what He knew before, but they who stood by heard it, for whose sake the voice came."

Epiphany

This Catena is the longest yet by far and probably the richest in literal exegesis. Questions raised in the course of the commentary include, Were there only three in the Magis' company or is that a symbolic number? Where were they from? How did they get to Bethlehem so quickly if they were from far away? And many more.

3rd Sunday of Advent

In this Sunday's Catena St. Thomas shows us what first appear to be contradictory interpretations of the Fathers on the passage about John the Baptist wanting to know if Christ was "the one who was to come". The apparent argument is over whether John was asking out of ignorance or a kind of Petrine disbelief or from some hidden purpose, or even whether John was referring to Christ's descent into hell. Through the confusion of interpretation Chrysostom shines consistently.

There is a story that when St. Thomas and some companions were approaching Paris and came to an overlook, one of the companions asked him if he too admired the obvious wealth and beauty of the city. St. Thomas replied that while Paris was indeed beautiful, he'd give it all away for a volume of Chrysostom on Matthew's Gospel.

Today we share a glimpse with St. Thomas of that grander view St. John Chrysostom offers us into the heavenly city.

2nd Sunday of Advent

The catena for this Sunday's Gospel is by far the longest I've posted. One reason for this is the length the Fathers go to in meditating on and explaining the details of John the Baptist's life and character.

The translation of the Catena on Matthew seems better than the one on Luke. I've had to correct only a few egregious errors (e.g., fight for the correct flight) and revise fewer passages into smoother, dare I say, more felicitous English.

First Sunday in Advent

In this Sunday's Catena we are introduced to two relatively late Fathers, namely, Rabanus Maurus, a 9th century Benedictine theologian, and Remigius of Auxerre, a 10th century Benedictine teacher. Although St. Thomas uses them only once each in today's Catena, unlike the frequently appearing Chrysostom or Augustine, nevertheless he certainly relied heavily upon their pioneering work of establishing the study of theology as a kind of science.

Christ the King

The Catena for this Sunday's Gospel includes several Fathers discussing the correct interpretation of the passage about the good thief entering into Paradise. Some, according to St. John Chrysostom, argued that the passage proves there is no resurrection.

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Fathers wax eloquent on the end times in this Catena for today's Gospel.

Once again I've had to make several important corrections in the Newman-team translation. For example, denuntiat gets translated as "denounces", when the clear (and ordinary) translation is "announces". Perhaps a 19th century denunciation was less derogatory than today's, but be that as it may, we have certainly lost the sense of the original when the translation reads:

"God denounces the woes that shall forerun the destruction of the world...."

Here is the original:

Perituri mundi praecurrentia mala denuntiat Dominus....

Here is my translation:

"The Lord makes known the evils that will come before the end of the world...."

This is just one of many corrections I've had to make in today's selection.

The Catena Aurea is a work of incredible genius that can be of invaluable help in reconnecting us orphans with our Fathers in faith--if they're allowed to speak to us in our language.

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week's Catena is supplemented with an excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the resurrection. Not to take away at all from the depth of the Father's comments on this Gospel. Just the opposite. The juxtaposition demonstrates how much of our catechesis is an echo of the Fathers.

I was surprised by the number of errors in the Newman-team translation this week. There are always a couple in any given selection, not to mention several infelicitous turns of phrase (by today's standards), but this week's sets a record. Castitas, for example, gets translated as charity. The term "faculty" gets inserted into a sentence, rendering it impossible to understand. What is "faculty discourse"? And so on. I sincerely hope that those who are republishing Newman's translation go over it with a fine toothed comb. Actually, we should, with all due respect to the great work of Newman's team, re-translate the entire Catena.

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

A classic Catena for this Sunday's Gospel, complete with literal, allegorical, anagogical and moral interpretations.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Sunday's Catena is longer than the last few weeks' since the Fathers wax eloquent on the apparent similarities and real differences between pride and humility, as exemplified by the Pharisee and the Publican.

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Once again, the Catena for this Sunday's Gospel is so brief (yet still profound) that I have added another excerpt from one of St. John Chrysostom's homilies on Second Timothy.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week's short catena is again supplemented with an excerpt from one of St. John Chrysostom's homilies on Second Timothy.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Catena for today's Gospel is brief, though profound, and so I've added an excerpt from St. John Chrysostom's first homily on St. Paul's second epistle to Timothy. St. John's marvelous ability to describe the human condition as it is shines right through.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

You can find the pdf version of today's Catena here. It's large print so you can use Adobe Reader's booklet option without the text becoming minuscule.

The Fathers are keen on the recurring theme of the afterlife's finality, which is not a limitation but rather a necessary result of all limitations being removed.

Classes Resume

This Sunday, September 23, our course resumes its study of the Church Fathers commenting on the day's Gospel.

Here is a PDF of Sunday's Catena.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

PDF Catena.