The Faith Theological Symposium at Ampleforth got underway last evening with a talk from Fr Stephen Dingley on the incarnation and the Church, followed after supper by Fr Chris Findlay-Wilson's talk on Teresa Higginson and devotion to the Sacred Head of Jesus. Teresa was an English mystic whose cause was introduced at Rome. It came to a halt because of a "non expedit" from the Holy Office, related to the devotion to the Sacred Head. Given the fact that the Divine Mercy devotion has been rehabilitated, it would be possible to get the cause going again if there is enough interest. To find out more about her, see the Teresa Higginson website.
Devotion to the Sacred Head is a complement to the Sacred Heart devotion. Just as jansenism was countered by devotion to the human and divine love of Christ, so the intellectual assault of modernism is countered by devotion to the human and divine wisdom of Christ.
Not much time to blog, obviously, though the IT Dept at Ampleforth this afternoon gave me a guest account to access the internet via their network via wifi which is most helpful. Here are a few photos...
Fr Stephen Brown
Fr David Standen
Canon Luiz Ruscillo
2 comments:
It is interesting to hear about this devotion, Father. A couple years ago, I was involved in a reading group at Rutgers University in New Jersey, organized by the campus Episcopal chaplaincy. We read mostly C.S. Lewis, but one other book we read was "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle.
The primary force of evil in the story is a bodiless telepathic brain that controls the people of its planet. The power of this brain is eventually overcome by pure love.
I brought up the point in our discussion of the book that, while there are devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary -- the organ of the heart being the typical representation of love -- there was no counterpart devotion to the Sacred Brain of Jesus. I don't remember what came of that train of thought, but I find it interesting in light of this devotion you mention to the Sacred Head of Jesus. I suppose, as you say, it is focused on His wisdom rather than His intellect.
Hiccups in such matters are often providential, wouldn't you say, Father? The 17th century devotion to the Sacred Heart suffered a setback, in that the book written by Pere Jean Croiset SJ was put on the index in 1704 for technical reasons, after 13 years' successful circulation. This was the book written at the request of and approved by Our Lord, according to St Marguerite Marie, but its banning was also foretold.
The ban remained until the hierarchy was reestablished after Turkish domination in Bosnia and Hertzogovinia , and Mgr Stadler was appointed first Archbishop of Sarajevo in 1882. He decided to consecrate his Archdiocese to the Sacred Heart, chose Pere Croiset's book and translated it himself, only to be told by the Sacred Congregation of the Index that it was banned! Mgr Sadler requested a reexamination of the work, and it was found to be without error and without need for any change (as Our Lord, according to St Marguerite Marie, had decreed).
Perhaps it is time to venerate Head, Heart and Mercy!
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