Project BLACK MAMBA: Advent

'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Peter Canisius, Priest & Doctor of the Church, S.J. (1521-1597): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. I'm not the guy to spearhead ecumenical initiatives, because I cackled with delight upon being reminded of one of St. Peter Canisius's nicknames, the "Hammer of Protestantism." Heresy must be opposed as St. Peter did it, not with violence or civil sanction, but with firm conviction, carefully reasoned & eloquently articulated.

Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

Staunch defender of the Church [against] reformist Protestants in Europe. He was an educator & opened colleges for the Jesuits. He spread the findings of the Council of Trent to the European archbishops.

Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:

St. Peter Canisius was canonized & declared a Doctor of the Church in 1925. Pope Leo XIII called him the second apostle of Germany, after St. Boniface (5 June). At the age of twenty-three, Peter entered the Society of Jesus & published treatises on the Fathers of the Church. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1546 & became the theologian to the cardinal of Augsburg at the Council of Trent. Called to Rome by St. Ignatius of Loyola (31 July), he was sent to Messina, Sicily, to teach rhetoric. He spent thirty years in Germany working for the renewal of Catholic life. He wrote a Catechism which was written in a persuasive & logical way. St. Peter had a mystical experience of the Sacred Heart. He is an excellent example of how to dialogue with persons outside the Catholic Church.

'Tis also the feast of Saint Anastasius II of Antioch, Bishop & Martyr (died 609, A.K.A. the Younger), martyred by Syrian Jews: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Not to be confused with Pope Anastasius II (died 498).

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings
The Song of Songs, chapter two, verses eight thru fourteen;
or, the Book of Zephaniah, chapter three, verses fourteen thru eighteen(a);
Psalm Thirty-three, verses two & three, eleven & twelve, & twenty & twenty-one;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter one, verses thirty-nine thru forty-five;

or, for the Memorial,
The Second Letter to Timothy, chapter four, verses one thru five;
Psalm Forty, verses eight(a) & nine(a);
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter five, verses thirteen thru nineteen.

Commentary's Today's ordinary Gospel reading is the same as yesterday's, for the Fourth Sunday of Advent. The First Reading should also sound familiar, as it was the same of the First Reading on the Third Sunday of Advent.