The Black Madonna
The candles burn all night, the fumes
from the flames
darken her face, her eyes and skin.
The living see her in flashes of light but
it is rare.
The dead are often surprised by her
power,
her gravitational pull.
More will come, more will rise from their
beds,
riding on ocean waves,
riding on clouds blown from the other
side
of the known world.
Many are startled by her love.
She was once just a rumor, a fairy tale
told to children in nursery school.
The candles burn all night, the fumes
from the flames
darken her face, her eyes and skin.
More will come, more will rise from their
beds.
Will James
Will James
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The Woman in Dark Clothes
(for
Edith Stein)
She
adored Husserl, the depths of his thought.
But
philosophy was not enough for her.
She
became a student of love.
We
breathe in the ashes of those burned
in
the ovens of Auschwitz .
Flowers
bloom out of the dust.
She
walks with us in the darkness.
She
is familiar with it.
She knows the way out.
They
were not aliens from another planet.
They
put their human faces on just like us
before
they dropped Zyklon B in a hole
in
the roof and waited for the bodies to fall.
That
they shared in our common humanity
somehow
made monsters of us all.
But
why should we feel responsible
for
their crimes,
when
we barely recognize our own?
But
the stain remains just the same.
It
will take all of human history to recover
from
that loss.
We
breathe in the ashes of those burned
in
the ovens of Auschwitz .
Flowers
bloom out of the dust.
She
walks with us in the darkness.
She
is familiar with it.
She
knows the way out.
Will James
Will James
“As a child of the Jewish people who, by the grace of God, for the
past eleven years has also been a child of the Catholic Church, I dare to speak
to the Father of Christianity about that which oppresses millions of Germans.
For weeks we have seen deeds perpetrated in Germany
Everything that happened and continues to happen on a daily basis originates
with a government that calls itself 'Christian.' For weeks not only Jews but
also thousands of faithful Catholics in Germany, and, I believe, all over the
world, have been waiting and hoping for the Church of Christ to raise its voice
to put a stop to this abuse of Christ's name.” ―Edith Stein, Letter to Pope
Pius XI (1933)
Letter to her Prioress at Carmel
JM
Drente-Westerbork, Barracks 36, August 6, 1942
Dear Mother,
A Mother Superior from one of the convents arrived last evening
with suitcases for her child and now offers to take some short letters along.
Early tomorrow a transport leaves (Silesia Czechoslovakia
What is most necessary: woolen stockings, two blankets. For Rosa all the warm underwear and whatever was
in the laundry; for us both towels and wash cloths. Rosa also has no toothbrush, no Cross and no
rosary. I would like the next volume of the breviary (so far I have been able
to pray gloriously). Our identity cards, registration cards (as Jews), and
ration cards.
A thousand thanks, greetings to all, Y.R.’s grateful child,
B.
(P.S.) 1 habit and aprons, 1 small veil.
The letter of August 6, 1942 , was the final letter. On Friday, August
7, at the railway station in Schifferstadt , Germany
The transport carrying Edith and Rosa Stein arrived at Auschwitz on Sunday, August 9. All the women and
children as well as most of the men were immediately gassed. They were buried
in a mass grave.
“It was Edith Stein’s complete calm and self-possession that
marked her out from the rest of the prisoners. There was a spirit of
indescribable misery in the camp; the new prisoners, especially, suffered from
extreme anxiety. Edith Stein went among the women like an angel, comforting,
helping, and consoling them. Many of the mothers were on the brink of insanity
and had sat moaning for days, without giving any thought to their children.
Edith Stein immediately set about taking care of these little ones. She washed
them, combed their hair, and tried to make sure they were fed and cared for.”
Paterson die 26 Novembris, 1905
FR. EDUARDUS BLECKE, O.F.M.
Provinciae SS. Nominis Jesu Minister
Provincialis
✠ PATRITIUS JOANNES
Archiep. Philadelphien.
Die 8 Decembris, 1905
TO THE
MOST REVEREND
Father Denis Schuler
THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH SUCCESSOR OF
SAINT FRANCIS AS MINISTER GENERAL
OF THE FRIARS MINOR
THE CANTICLE OF THE SUN
Of the several "cantica in vulgari" which St. Francis
composed, the only one that has come down to us, as far as is known, is the
"Praises of the Creatures," or, as it is now more commonly called,
"The Canticle of the Sun." Celano, who alludes to this laud, says of
St. Francis that he was of the race of Ananias, Azarias and Misael, inviting all
creatures with him to glorify Him who made them. 1 It is
this side of St. Francis’ thoughts which finds expression in the Canticle; and
in this particular order of ideas modern religious poetry has never produced
anything comparable to this sublime improvisation into which have passed alike
"all the wealth of the Saint's imagination and all the boldness of his
genius." 2 Tradition
tells us that Fra Pacifico had a hand in the embellishment of this laud, 3 about
which a whole controversial literature has grown. 4 Some
light may perhaps be thrown on this delicate question in the new critical
edition of the Canticle promised by Luigi Suttina.
The Canticle appears to have been composed toward the close of the
year 1225 in a poor little hut near the Monastery of San Damiano, whither St.
[paragraph continues]Francis had retired on account of his infirmities, and, if we may
believe the tradition which finds formal expression in theSpeculum
Perfectionis, two strophes were subsequently added by the Saint to the
original composition,—the eighth strophe upon the occasion of a feud between
the Bishop and the magistrates of Assisi, and the ninth one when the Saint recognized
the approach of death. M. Renan, with what Canon Knox Little 1 calls
"his characteristic inaccuracy," asserts that we do not possess the
Italian original of the Canticle, but have only an Italian translation from the
Portuguese, which was in turn translated from the Spanish. 2 And
yet the original Italian text exists, as M. Sabatier notes, 3 not
only in numerous MSS. in Italy and France, notably in the Assisi MS. M
338 4 and at
the Mazarin Library, 5 but
also in the Book of the Conformities.
The Canticle is accepted as authentic by Professors Boehmer and
Goetz in their recent works on the Opuscula of St. Francis. If
it does not figure in the Quaracchi edition, the reason is that the Bibliotheca
Franciscana Ascetica Medii Ævi, of which the Opuscula forms part, is
confined to works written in Latin, and hence M. Sabatier's animadversions on
the "theological preoccupations" of the Quaracchi editors are
altogether aside the mark.
The text of the Canticle here translated is that of the Assisi MS.
338 (fol. 33), from which the version
given in the Conformities (pars. 2, fol.
ii) 1 differs
only by some unimportant variants. The following is an attempt to render
literally into English the naïf rhythm of the original Italian, which
necessarily disappears in any formal rhymed translation:
Most high, omnipotent, good Lord,
Praise, glory and honor and benediction all, are Thine.
To Thee alone do they belong, most High,
And there is no man fit to mention Thee.
Praise be to Thee, my Lord, with all Thy creatures,
Especially to my worshipful brother sun,
The which lights up the day, and through him dost Thou brightness give;
And beautiful is he and radiant with splendor great;
Of Thee, most High, signification gives.
Praised be my Lord, for sister moon and for the stars,
In heaven Thou hast formed them clear and precious and fair. p. 153
Praised be my Lord for brother wind
And for the air and clouds and fair and every kind of weather,
By the which Thou givest to Thy creatures nourishment.
Praised be my Lord for sister water,
The which is greatly helpful and humble and precious and pure.
Praised be my Lord for brother fire,
By the which Thou lightest up the dark.
And fair is he and gay and mighty and strong.
Praised be my Lord for our sister, mother earth,
The which sustains and keeps us
And brings forth diverse fruits with grass and flowers bright.
Praised be my Lord for those who for Thy love forgive
And weakness bear and tribulation.
Blessed those who shall in peace endure,
For by Thee, most High, shall they be crowned.
Praised be my Lord for our sister, the bodily death,
From the which no living man can flee.
Woe to them who die in mortal sin;
Blessed those who shall find themselves in Thy most holy will,
For the second death shall do them no ill.
Praise ye and bless ye my Lord, and give Him thanks,
And be subject unto Him with great humility.
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