Saturday, September 26, 2015

A Cup of "Americanism"?


A chalice made by a friend of the Pope, or here, 'the personal Argentinian silversmith, of the Holy Father' and given to him by the US Catholic Church.

34 comments:

Edison Frisbee said...

As an American all I can say is "tacky"

Eccles said...

Clearly "United States of America" would be a sillky message to put on a chalice used for sacred purposes, so perhaps it is an acronym: "Ut sanctificetur anima"? Best I can do right now...

The Bones said...

Astonishing really.

Is nothing sacred?

Pelerin said...

Whilst I love the idea of people's donations of jewellery going towards the making of the chalice, I think the inclusion of the American flag, map etc is bordering on the blasphemous - no surely it IS blasphemous?

fzk5220 said...

If it holds at least one pint then it's a winner (in the pubs and bars at least.)

gemoftheocean said...

Edison beat me to it.

Paul Hellyer said...

It seems blasphemous to me. I hate to even look at it.

Sandpiper said...

Revolting. It should be molten down to feed the poor. Truly.

JACK said...

Beats the Marxist crucifix!

MC Man said...

I agree very tacky indeed.

jgh said...

why use the word on the Paten "untie us " surely it would have been better as Unite us

jgh said...

Jerry

Surely the words on the Paten should be Unite us not Untie us

Sadie Vacantist said...

This captures perfectly the crisis more than your piece on the Belgium Cardinal. The American heresy has worsened as a result of WWII and from the fact that America itself has become a client state. The Muslims have worked this out whereas we haven't.

nickbris said...

The Last Supper was The Sabbath Meal and it is and always has been the highlight of the week. Always the best dishes and utensils are brought out to celebrate. That magnificent Chalice,made by the best craftsman to be obtained could not be a better gift from the richest country in the World.

Well done and God Bless America.

John Fisher said...

Just a form of national branding and advertising. You think they could have been subtle about it. Untie us? what does that mean? The gay rainbow flag? Why was that in the clip. With revelation cardinal Danneeles and cabal of corrupt cardinals Mahoney, McCarrick and other gay mafia sympathisers plotted to elected this pope I am deeply troubled.
We all know all men are not created equal and God love humanity and each of us individually and societies corporately. We all know that each of us by degree sin according to our vices. Equality where does that enter the equation?
The USA is founded on a lie for a government without a connection or foundation on true religion is like a body without a soul. There has always been a link between the religion of the people and government. If the government says it does not respect religion then it is a religious cult and will punish those that do not bow to it. Religious tolerance yes but within limits. One cannot tolerate any religion that uses violence as tool as Islam does and must according to its cult founder.

Jacobi said...

I wonder how much it cost?

Gatepost productions said...

Just as well he didn't go to Blackpool. I purposely refrained from mentioning 'Rock of Ages'

JARay said...

I see what you mean 'jgh'. I agree about the words on the Paten. Isn't the motto of the United States "E Pluribus Unum" (From many, One)
Also, whilst on the subject of Latin, I am very familiar with those words of St. Peter which are used at Compline every Sunday, telling us to look out for the devil who wanders around like a lion, seeking whom he can devour, cui resistite fortes IN Fide!

Victor S E Moubarak said...

I hope you respond to this Father.

What was the cup used by Christ in the Last Supper made of? Why is it we use chalices made of gold/silver in Church?

God bless.

Liam Ronan said...

I read an 'explanation' that Bergolio refrained from using the Holy Name of Jesus during his American/UN tour de force because he did not want to alienate those who were non-believers. Apparently that doesn't extend to using 'brand USA' for all the world to see.

Physiocrat said...

Was it made by the Russian Reguspatoff?

Fr Ray Blake said...

Victor.
Presumably it was made of the precious mateerial available, it was after all the Passover, not a common meal. In the ancient Roman Canon the theology is both primitive and complex, we offer to God common substances, which God takes, but we receve from God, 'your altar in Heaven' a divine gift the body and blood of Christ. We use precious vessels because they remind us of that heavenly altar where the Son offers himself eternally to His Father and our Father on our behalf. Hence it is heaven, not the USA or Vatican City State where chalice comes from.

Chloe said...

Anne Catherine Emmerich reckons the Chalice used in the last Supper was the same one used by Melchisadech. Made of precious metal and inlaid with jewels. We are free to believe this or not but I would suggest it may well be likely. He knew what He was giving the Apostles was more precious than anything the World could give. More precious than the whole universe. I doubt is would be in just any old cup.

Victor S E Moubarak said...

Thank you Father.

God bless.

Fr Ray Blake said...

I am quite taken by the idea the 'grail/cup/chalice of Valencia' being the chalice sent out of Rome by St Lawrence and being the chalice Christ hiself used.

But then the Rman Canon says, "He took THIS precious chalice in his holy and venerable hands", either it is a particular chalice or all and every chalice.

Sandpiper said...

That is vulgar.

Paul Hellyer said...

Is nothing sacred?

Paul Hellyer said...

By the way. God is a Catholic.

Our Lady of Good Success-pray for us. said...

It's a perfect marriage of error and modernism. The United States Constitution raised itself above all Divine and natural law. Remember Montini removed the tiara of God's Sovereignty from the institution over which he found himself the superior, in a gesture of obeisance to secular supremacy? "in a dramatic act in November 1963, laying it on the altar of St. Peter's Basilica in a gesture of humility to symbolise the papacy's surrender of any claim to temporal power" it was given to the United States.

Romulus said...

In response to Paul and Bones: Yes, if one's a certain sort of American Catholic, the United States of America is holy, a nation of the elect and an instrument of God. Do not underestimate the civic religion of Americanism. It really is all about us.

Liam Ronan said...

@Romulus,

What does Remus have to say?

John Nolan said...

The over-identification of the Mass with the Last Supper was a product of late medieval theology, was seized on by the Protestants when they devised their Eucharistic services, and was given a new lease of life by 20th century liturgists whose historicity is becoming increasingly regarded as both tendentious and false. As HJA Sire puts it in his excellent book 'Phoenix from the Ashes' (Angelico Press 2015) 'what the earliest history of the Eucharist points to is not a re-enactment of the last Supper but the sacrificial rites of the Temple.'

Father Spike said...

My own reaction to this chalice is that the design is acceptable and even that it is fitting that such a commemorative chalice reflect something of the people who gave it. I would expect that a chalice made for a papal visit to France or Mexico or India would also reflect something of those countries--as it were, offering the "first fruits" for consecration in the one universal Catholic Church. A natural love of country should not be rejected but consecrated, and subordinated to the supernatural and truly universal Kingdom of Christ, who is Lord of all nations.

In a way, for English Catholics and Catholic-minded Anglicans, the restoration of Our Lady's shrine at Walsingham and the remembrance of England as Mary's Dowry is intended as just such a consecration (or re-consecration), carried out by the faithful remnant on behalf of the many who have wandered far from Catholic truth and unity. For French Catholics, the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur on Montmartre in Paris means the same sort of thing: penitent France, acknowledging Christ the King. To dismiss this as mere nationalism and subordination of faith to politics would be a mistake. In both England and France, the faithful remnant of Catholics suffered for this vision of their countries as integral parts of Catholic Christendom.

The problem with this chalice not that it seeks to consecrate American national identity to Christ--all nations should be so consecrated, and thus the faith "inculturated"among every people. The problem is that the oversized "USA"on the chalice and the distasteful inscription "Untie Us"imply an uncritical approval and self-celebration of Americanism as a universal ideal, to which Catholicity is wrongly subordinated. This, as Leo XIII warned in Testem Benevolentiae, is beyond the bounds. Rather than saying, "Untie Us," the inscription should say, "Redeem Us by Thy Precious Blood."

Matthew Roth said...

Fr. Blake, the answer to your question on the text of the Canon's institution narrative is "both/and." If Lawrence died in 258, the Roman Canon would already have been in development, and certainly the institution narrative alone was added to the eucharistic prayers in use across the church sometime between 220 and his death. That would allow for the Canon's anomaly of referring to not just a chalice (which itself is striking) but "this precious chalice," meaning that in the 3rd century the Roman Christians believed they had been given the chalice of Christ at the Last Supper. It also seems that the tradition went beyond Lawrence's lifetime , as Augustine makes reference to it. I think the reference to "this chalice" does refer to every chalice being that the Mass is the same sacrifice of Christ offered discretely by each priest, even if the principle reason is historical in reference to the chalice of the Last Supper being at Rome.

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