Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Act of Reparation

It is Shrove Tuesday, a day of reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus. Fr. Mark says:
An integral part of our life at Silverstream Priory is the Act of Reparation (amende honorable) that we make every day after Holy Mass.

The original text, that is the source of the prayer we use today, dates back to those days of the thirteenth century when the Cathars and Albigensians were ravaging the south of France with their virulent heresies. Raymond of Toulouse, a Cathar, assassinated his brother Baudouin, who held fast to the Catholic faith. Baudouin had a daughter, Jeanne, who, to make reparation for her uncle's homicidal crimes, enclosed herself in a little house built against the wall of the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne; there she lived as a recluse. Peering through the hagioscope (a little window giving a view of the altar) of her cell, Jeanne adored the Most Holy Sacrament. Jeanne of Toulouse would be one of the first souls to practice day and night adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar in a spirit of reparation. When Jeanne died, the Act of Reparation that she had written on parchment was placed in her hand and buried with her. Each time her body was exhumed, the parchment of the Act of Reparation was seen to be intact in her hand. (Read entire post.)
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