BELLUM CONTRA HÆRÉTICOS

Sancte Norberte, Episcope Confessor, ora pro nobis!

The Premonstratensians (Norbertines) are quite known for wearing all white, including the zucchetto and the biretta

Having renounced the very conspicuous ecclesiastical prebends, and distributed the patrimony to the poor, he embarked on a very austere kind of life, feeding only once a day, in the evening, and with Lenten foods, walking barefoot and in a tattered robe, despite the winter rigour. So powerful in his deeds and words, he led countless numbers of heretics to faith, sinners to penance, enemies to peace and harmony. Being in Laon, asked by the bishop not to leave his diocese, a deserted place called Prémontré, not far from Soissons, was chosen; and there, gathering thirteen companions, he instituted the Premostratensian Order, under a rule given to him by Saint Augustine in a miraculous vision. But as the fame of his holiness grew more and more, and many disciples went to him every day, his order was confirmed by Pope Honorius II and other Supreme Pontiffs, and after he had built many monasteries, it spread wonderfully. Called to Antwerp, he destroyed the detestable heresy of Tanchellinus. He was famous for the spirit of prophecy and miracles. Finally created, albeit reluctant, Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1126, he constantly defended ecclesiastical discipline and especially celibacy. In the council of Reims, he very well supported Pope Innocent II, and, having gone to Rome with other bishops, he repressed the schism of Pietro Pierleoni (antipope Anacletus II). Finally, this man of God, full of merits and of the Holy Spirit, fell asleep in the Lord in Magdeburg, on the 6th of June of the year of grace 1134. He was buried in the local Norbertine abbey; later, in 1627, his remains were transferred to the Norbertine abbey of the Strahov Monastery in Prague where they still rest today. He was canonized by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.

SAINT NORBERT, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR Norbert, born in 1080 in Xanten (Rhineland), near Cologne, from very noble parents, during childhood, he received a very distinct education, and was then placed in the emperor's court. One day while riding, accompanied by a servant, he was surprised by a hurricane. Like St. Paul on the road to Damascus, he heard a voice calling him to the service of the Holy Church. At the same time the thunderbolt broke out and knocked him to the ground. Getting up, he felt the desire to consecrate himself to God. Therefore, despising the attractions of the world, he ascribed to the ecclesiastical militia. Initiated to sacred orders, and ordained a priest by Frederick Archbishop of Cologne in 1112, he took off his soft and splendid clothes, and covered himself with a cloak of skin, he devoted himself entirely to preaching the word of God.

"Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.” – St. Augustine

To represent the Trinity, the triangle was taken from geometry, which with its figure indicates the divine unity in which the three corners are inscribed, image of the three persons in God. The clover also served to designate the mystery of the Trinity, as well as three circles linked with the motto Unity written in the space left free in the center of the intersection of the circles; it was also represented as a head with three distinct faces on a single head, but in 1628 Pope Urban VIII forbade the reproduction of the three Persons in such a monstrous way. - A miniature from this era represents the very similar Father and Son. The same halo, the same tiara, the same hair, a single cloak: moreover they are united by the Book of divine Wisdom which they hold together and by the Holy Spirit who unites them with the tips of the outstretched wings. But the Father is older than the Son; the beard of the first is flowing, of the second it is short; the Father wears a garment without a belt and the terrestrial globe; the Son has an alb with a belt and stole since He is a priest. The solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity owes its origin to the fact that the ordinations of the Saturday of the Four Tempora were celebrated in the evening and continued until the following day, Sunday, which had no liturgy of its own. - Like this day, so the whole year is consecrated to the Most Holy Trinity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost the votive Mass composed in the seventh century in honor of this mystery is celebrated. And since it occupies a fixed place in the liturgical calendar, this Mass was considered constituting a special feast in honor of the Most Holy Trinity. The Bishop of Liege, Stephan, born around 850, composed the office which was retouched by the Franciscans. But this festival had its real beginning in the X century and was extended to the whole Church by Pope John XXII in 1334. So that we may ever be protected from all harm. (Prayer), on this day with the liturgy we make a solemn profession of faith in the holy and eternal Trinity and in its indivisible unity (Secreta); moreover, we devoutly thank our God who mercifully created and redeemed us and made us his with Baptism. To the Introit. God reveals his intimate life to us, showing us that his one divine nature is common to three distinct Persons. The Son possesses it because the Father gives it to him with an act of knowledge that proceeds from divine intelligence, and the Holy Spirit possesses it because the Father and the Son communicate it to him through love that proceeds from their will. And divine mercy is manifested in this that we are called to participate in this good which belongs to God, knowing him as he knows himself and loving him as he loves himself. To the Epistle. In the Psalms and Hymns, the same praise is addressed to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; blessings, ritual ceremonies, Sacraments are accompanied or followed by a prayer to the Most Holy Trinity.

Thus says the Roman Church at the hour of Prima: “Now the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance.” (Athanasian Symbol). “Immediately after celebrating the advent of the Holy Spirit, we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity in the Sunday office that follows, says St. Rupert in the twelfth century, and this place is well chosen because immediately after the descent of this divine Spirit, preaching and belief began, and, in Baptism, faith and confession in the name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit”. The dogma of the Most Holy Trinity is affirmed in the whole liturgy. It is in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit that begins and ends Mass and the Divine Office, and that the sacraments are conferred. All the Psalms end with the Gloria Patri, the Hymns with the Doxology and the Prayers with a conclusion in honour of the three divine Persons. In the Mass it is remembered twice that the Sacrifice is offered to the Most Holy Trinity. The dogma of the Trinity shines also in the churches. Our fathers loved to see a symbol in the admirably proportioned height, width and length of the buildings; in their main and secondary divisions: the sanctuary, the choir, the nave; the galleries, the three-light windows, the glazed windows; the three entrances - under the triple door of the basilica that St. Paulinus raised over the tomb of St. Felix had this inscription placed: “You enter this church through a triple arch: these three doors affirm the faith in the Trinity "-, the three doors, the three rooms, the pediment (formed in a triangle) and, at times, the three towers or bell towers. Everywhere, down to the details of the ornament, the repeated number three reveals a pre-established plan, a thought of faith in the Most Holy Trinity. Christian iconography reproduces this thought in different ways. Until the XII century, God the Father is represented by a blessing hand that rises among the clouds, and often surrounded by a halo: this hand signifies the omnipotence of God. In the thirteenth and XIV centuries the face and bust of the Father can be seen; since the XV century the Father is represented by an old man dressed like the Pontiff. - Until the XII century God the Son is represented by a cross, a lamb or a graceful young man as the pagans represented Apollo. From the XI century to the XVI century Christ appeared in full strength and bearded; from the XIII century he carries his cross, but it is often still represented by the Lamb. - The Holy Spirit was first represented by a dove, whose outstretched wings often touch the mouth of the Father and the Son, to signify that it proceeds from both. From the XI century he was represented for this in the form of a child. In the XIII century he is an adolescent, in the XV a mature man like the Father and the Son, but with a dove over His head or in His hand to distinguish him from the other two people. After the XVI century, the dove regains the exclusive right it originally had to represent the Holy Spirit.

FEASTS OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY The Holy Spirit, of which reign started with the feast of Pentecost, come to tell to our souls once again in this second part of the year (from the Trinity to Advent – 6 months), what Jesus has taught us in the first (from Advent to the Trinity – 6 months). The fundamental dogma to which he is the head of all things in Christianity is of the Most Holy Trinity, from which all things are through Him (Epistola) and to which must return those who were baptized in His name (Evangelium).