St. John Damascene,
Patristic Father and
One of the Thirty-three Doctors of the Church:
Doctor of Christian Art and Doctor of the Assumption
c. 676-749

Feast Day: March 27 [Trad.]

Whenever we look at traditional Catholic art we can thank St. John Damascene. We can thank him again when we look at the Crucifixes on our walls, or when in church we see the stained-glass windows, the paintings on the walls, the statues in their niches. All these have nourished Catholic our devotion.

St. John Damascene is the outstanding champion of sacred images. As such he is also the champion of that article in the Creed which says, "I believe in the Communion of Saints."

We often recite the Creed without thinking about each article: the precious summary of truths takes only a few moments to recite. Yet every article in it has been defended sometimes not just by verbal apologetics -----by pens dipped in ink-----but by swords that dripped blood. Men will always defend what they hold to be most precious.



Doctor of Christian Art

The Eastern Roman Emperor Leo III, the Isaurian [717-741], violently attacked a particular part of Catholic teaching on the Communion of Saints. In 726 A.D. he forbade all his subjects to keep any images, or icons, as the Greeks called them. He ordered the icons in the churches to be destroyed. A few years later, he threatened Pope Gregory II: "I will send an army to break your idols and to take you prisoner." Leo's son, Constantine V [741-775], continued the persecution. The monks were the strongest defenders of icons; many were Martyred and many monasteries were burned down. The large church of the Blessed Mother in Constantinople was stripped of its icons and repainted. People said it then looked like a bird cage or a fruit shop.

The periods of image-breaking or "iconoclasm" lasted 116 years, until the great triumphal procession when icons were carried through the streets of Constantinople on February 19, the First Sunday of Lent in 842 A.D.

Early in the controversy, about 729 A.D., St. John Damascene [St. John of Damascus] wrote three apologias defending the use of images. In these, he gave such a classical expression of the truths involved that nobody has ever had to improve upon it. He has supplied all the arguments from reason, from the past history of the Church, and from Sacred Scripture. If we wish to explain the use of statues, medals and holy pictures to ourselves or others, we need look no further.

St. John entered the conflict, not to win an argument, but to safeguard the truth. "Conquest is not my object," he said. "I raise a hand which is fighting for the truth -----a willing hand under Divine guidance."
He felt strongly the implied charge by the image-breakers that the Church could have been wrong in the past to allow the use of images.

It is supreme error to think that the Church does not know God as He is, that she degenerates into idolatry, for if she declines from perfection in but one aspect, it is as an enduring mark on a beautiful face, destroying by its unsightliness the beauty of the whole. A small thing is not small when it leads to something great, nor indeed is it a thing of no matter to give up the ancient tradition of the Church held by our forefathers, whose conduct we should observe and whose faith we should imitate.

St. John Damascene said that the repeated commands given to the Jews not to make an image referred to the making of an image of the invisible God, lest they sink into idolartry, which they were prone to. Besides until Christ, God was invisible in His Person. But, says St. John, "We have passed the stage of infancy and reached the perfection of manhood. We receive our habit of mind from God and know what may be imaged and what may not."

"Especially since the invisible God took on flesh," says St. John, "we may make images of Christ, Who was visible, and picture Him in all His activities, His birth, Baptism, transfigura tion, His sufferings and Resurrection." St. John also asks the pointed question why God, Who forbids the making of images to adore, would also command the making of the Ark of the Covenant and the cherubim above the Ark if His previous prohibition were to be absolute. Many times St. John insists that we pay an altogether particular honor to God alone, called latria.

St. John Damascene ably demonstrates why it is good to have images:

"We proclaim Him [God] also by our senses on all sides, and we sanctify the noblest sense, which is that of sight. The image is a memorial, just what words are to a listening ear. What a book is to those who can read, that an image is to those who cannot read. The image speaks to the sight as words to the ear; it brings us understanding. Hence, God ordered the Ark to be made of imperishable wood, and to be gilded outside and in, and the tablets to be put into it, and the staff and the golden urn containing the manna, for a remembrance of the past and a type of the future. Who can say these were not images and far sounding heralds?" [1, 17]

Therefore, St. John Damascene sums up, "You see that the law and everything it ordained and all our own worship consist in the consecration of what is made by hands, leading us through matter to the invisible God." [2, 23]

Acts 6 and 7 of the seventh General Council [Nicaea II of 787 -----Source #3, p. 60] name St. John Damascene, along with St. Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, and St. George of Cyprus as worthy of eternal memory for their defense of sacred images. The same three men had been singled out by the Council of the Iconoclasts held in 753 in the Palace of the Hieria near Constantinople, and anathematized. Constantine V further ordered St. John to be publicly cursed or anathematized once a year. It is not without good cause that St. John Damascene is called the "Doctor of Christian Art."

A river flows through Damascus which the ancients called Chrysorrhoas, or the golden-flowing. This epithet has also been given to St. John Damascene, "who is called Chrysorrhoas because of the golden and shining grace of the Spirit which flowed in both his words and his manner of life."

Not too much can be said with certainty regarding the details of St. John Damascene's life. He was born in Damascus of a good Christian family. His father, Sergius, was a tax collector for the Mohammedan Caliph of Damascus. St. John was also known by the surname of Mansur, after his grandfather, who had held a more important job under the Caliph. St. John Damascene succeeded his father as tax collector, but retired, perhaps before 715 A.D., to the Monastery of St. Sabbas, south of Jerusalem as one goes toward the Dead Sea. He was ordained a priest by John V, Patriarch of Jerusalem, before 726. His sermons on the Assumption of Our Lady indicate that he was called upon to preach for special occasions. "Suffer me now to revert again to her praises. This is in obedience to your orders, most excellent pastors, so dear to God." [Sermon 2].

But St. John was primarily the monk, praying, leading an ascetical life, studying and writing. The traditional date for his birth is 676 A.D. He died sometime between 743 and 753; the most accepted date is December 4, 749. He was buried at the Monastery of St. Sabbas, where his empty tomb can be seen today. His relics were transferred to Constantinople, very likely by the time of the 14th century.

The original Life of St. John Damascene by John V, Patriarch of Jerusalem, tells about the cutting off of his hand. By forging a letter, the Emperor Leo III convinced the Caliph that St. John was plotting against him. Leo was smarting under the Damascene's strong defense of images. The Caliph, believing the Emperor, had St. John's hand cut off as a punishment. But St. John prayed to the Blessed Virgin, reminding her, "This hand often wrote hymns and canticles in praise of thee, and many times offered the Sacred Body and Blood of thy Son in thy honor for the salvation of all sinners." He continued his prayer all night. Then Mary appeared to him and said, "Be comforted, my son, in the Lord. He can restore thy hand Who has made the whole man from nothing." Then she took the hand from where it had been hung in the monastery, and in a moment it was restored to his arm.

In Eastern Christendom, St. John of Damascus has the stature which St. Thomas Aquinas enjoys in the West. He has summed up for them philosophy, doctrine and morals. His original work on morals is not extant, but it has come down to us in two shortened sections known as the Sacred Parallels. These are a collection of sayings for guidance in moral and ascetic living, taken from Scripture and the Fathers.
His work known as the Fount of Knowledge [also called Fount of Wisdom] is, however, a truly original synthesis of philosophy and dogma. It is St. John's greatest work. Its latest English translator says: "The Fount of Knowledge not only contains much that is original and a fresh viewpoint on many things, but is in itself something new. It is the first real Summa Theologica." [Frederick Chase, Jr., Vol. 37 in Fathers of the Church series, p. xxvi].

The third and most important part of the Fount is known as the Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith in100 chapters. It was translated into Latin at the request of Pope Eugene III. Its powerful influence on the West can be surmised from the large number of Latin manuscript copies still in existence. Peter the Lombard used it and may have owed much to it, and St. Thomas Aquinas quotes from it.

St. John Damascene is especially clear in writing about the Incarnation, and the greatest of those who wrote about Christ in later ages owe him a considerable debt. St. John's words are precise and clear.

"Christ was in all things and above all things, and at the same time He was existing in the womb of the Holy Mother of God, but He was there by the operation of the Incarnation. And so He was made flesh and took from her the first fruits of our clay, a body animated by a rational and intellectual soul, so that the very Person of God the Word was accounted to the flesh . . . And so we confess that even after the Incarnation He is the one Son of God, and we confess that the same is the Son of Man, one Christ, one Lord, the Only-begotten Son and Word of God, Jesus our Lord. And we venerate His two begettings
-----one from the Father before the ages and surpassing cause and reason and time and nature, and one in latter times for our own sake, after our own manner, and surpassing us."

St. John on why God creates a man He knows will be lost:

"Being comes first, and afterwards, being good or evil. However, had God kept from being made those who through His goodness were to have existence but who by their own choice were to become evil, then evil would have prevailed over the goodness of God. Thus, all things which God makes He makes good, but each one becomes good or evil by his own choice."

The Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith ends with a chapter on the resurrection of the body. St. John asks those who say this resurrection from the dust is impossible to consider how the body is formed in the first place from a little drop of seed that grows in the womb.

"And so, with our souls again united to our bodies, which will have become incorrupt and put off corruption, we shall rise again and stand before the terrible judgment seat of Christ. And the devil and his demons, and his man, which is to say, the Antichrist, and the impious and sinners will be given over to the everlasting fire . . . And those who have done good will shine like the sun together with the Angels unto eternal life with our Lord Jesus Christ, ever seeing Him and being seen, enjoying the unending bliss which is from Him, and praising Him, together with the Father and the Holy Ghost, unto the endless ages of ages. Amen.

Litany of the Holy Name of Mary

Litany of Pope Saint Pius X

Litany of St. Francis de Sales

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father in Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the World, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Saint Francis, admirable bishop, pray for us.
Saint Francis, beloved of God, pray for us.
Saint Francis, imitator of Jesus Christ, pray for us.
Saint Francis, filled with the gifts of the Lord, pray for us.
Saint Francis, favorite of the Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint Francis, most devout of the saints, pray for us.
Saint Francis, burning with love for the Cross of Christ, pray for us.
Saint Francis, most closely united to the divine will, pray for us.
Saint Francis, vessel of election, pray for us.
Saint Francis, light of the Church, pray for us.
Saint Francis, perfect model of religious, pray for us.
Saint Francis, source of wisdom, pray for us.
Saint Francis, defender of the Catholic Faith, pray for us.
Saint Francis, good shepherd of thy people, pray for us.
Saint Francis, incomparable preacher, pray for us.
Saint Francis, scourge of heresy, pray for us.
Saint Francis, salt of the earth, pray for us.
Saint Francis, model of justice, pray for us.
Saint Francis, mirror of humility, pray for us.
Saint Francis, despiser of the world, pray for us.
Saint Francis, lover of poverty, pray for us.
Saint Francis, type of sweetness, pray for us.
Saint Francis, conqueror of carnal passions, pray for us.
Saint Francis, terror of devils, pray for us.
Saint Francis, merciful support of penitents, pray for us.
Saint Francis, refuge of sinners, pray for us.
Saint Francis, providence of the poor, pray for us.
Saint Francis, consoler of the afflicted, pray for us.
Saint Francis, example of perfection, pray for us.
Saint Francis, ark of holiness, pray for us.
Saint Francis, imitator of the purity of the angels, pray for us.
Saint Francis, cherub of wisdom, pray for us.
Saint Francis, seraph of love, pray for us.p
Saint Francis, our holy patriarch, pray for us.
Saint Francis, our sweet light, pray for us.
Saint Francis, our mighty protector, pray for us.
Saint Francis, our guide in the ways of God, pray for us.
Saint Francis, our refuge, pray for us.
Saint Francis, emulator of the angels, pray for us.
Saint Francis, imitator of the Apostles, pray for us.
Saint Francis, sharer in the glory of the martyrs, pray for us.
Saint Francis, glory of holy confessors, pray for us.
Saint Francis, teacher and director of virgins, pray for us.
Saint Francis, glorious fellow citizen of all the saints, pray for us.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Pray for us, O blessed Francis de Sales, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

O God, by Whose gracious will the blessed Francis, Thy confessor and bishop, became all things unto all men for the salvation of their souls, mercifully grant that being filled with the sweetness of Thy love, we may, through the guidance of his counsels and the aid of his merits, attain unto the joys of life everlasting.  Amen.

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory Be...

Quote:“The U.S. drug giant, which has a history of successfully developing vaccines, had adopted a different strategy from rivals Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, using a more traditional approach of focusing on shots based on weakened viruses.”

Taken from the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia

A secular opinion piece...

Quote:“Trump ran for president on a vision of America where whiteness is valued at the expense of everything else. In the White House, he gave white supremacists, members of the extreme right and conspiracy theorists their most powerful platforms yet… he had whipped a dangerous element of our country into a frenzy. His supporters began planning their insurrection, making plans to march on the Capitol and ‘stop the steal.’ Removing Trump from office is essential, and I believe he should be impeached. Members of Congress who joined him in subverting our democracy should resign, and those who conspired with the domestic terrorists should be expelled immediately. But that alone won’t remove white supremacy and extremism from America. There are changes elected leaders should pursue immediately, including advocating new criminal laws at the state and federal levels that hold white supremacists accountable and tracking the activities of extremists…Twitter and other companies made the right decision to stop Trump from using their platforms, but they will have to do more to stop the spread of violent speech and conspiracy theories.”

Quote: “Let’s be real for once. When members of the press and law openly call for child confiscation, reeducation camps and punishments for the side they don’t like. Then we live in a banana republic.”

Quote:“The only way to stop Big Tech and put an end to the social media CEOs’ hatred of and hostility to all-things-conservative is for consumers to rally in one huge mass and mount an immediate boycott of all these platforms. But the chance of that happening, seriously, is slim. Slim to none, actually. Big Tech will only be stopped from its takeover of free speech if citizens fight in a way that hits hard at the pocketbooks. But the reality is most citizens are unaware of Big Tech’s power, others are unconcerned.”

‘Let Us Break the Chains’: Cuban Priests Urge Rise Against Communism

Quote:A lack of free thought and censorship have encouraged an incoherence between what is thought, said, and done. On the other hand, the near impossibility of living without engaging in something illegal makes the “black market” an indispensable ally for survival and an environment dominated by theft, bribery, and even blackmail. The “every man for himself” atmosphere, where anything goes, shows a corruption that permeates almost all social strata. Added to this is the sense that we are constantly being spied on, that we could “fall into disgrace.”