What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Today the great Sts. Timothy and Titus overshadow all others who are listed in the Roman Martyrology.

2. Hippone Regio in Numidia, sancti Theogenis, martyris, de quo sanctus Augustinus sermonem habuit. .. At Hippo Regius in Numidia (N. Africa), [the feast] of Saint Theogenus, about whom Saint Augustine gave a sermon.

Hmm…. I think not. St. Augustine mentioned St. Theogenus, but he doesn’t really give a sermon about him. And he mentions him in more than one sermon, and a letter also.

Let’s take a look at this fellow.

St. Theogenus was a former bishop of Hippo Regius. He was martyred. He may have been a contemporary of Cyprian and attended the Council of Carthage in 256. The very name "Theo-genus" harks to rebirth in God by baptism. In ancient times, the newly baptized, called infantes, took names which reflected their new state of spiritual rebirth and adoption, their new sonship, e.g., Adeptus, Regeneratus, Renatus, Deigenitus, Theogonus.

The Council of Carthage in 256 seems to have quoted St. Theogenus in Sententiae episcoporum numero 87 de haereticis baptizandis:

Theogenes ab Hippone Regio dixit: Secundum sacramentum dei gratiae caelestis, quod accepimus, unum baptismum, quod est in ecclesia sancta, credimus. ... Theogenus from Hippo Regius said: According to God’s sacrament of heavenly grace, which we received, we believe to be one sacrament, which is in the Holy Church.

In one of Augustine’s newly discovered letters, ep. 26*,1 we find that there was a church of Hippo dedicated to St. Theogenus where a certain Donantius of Suppa, who had fraudulently attempted to get himself ordained a deacon, was placed as Porter, in order to keep him out of trouble, but when Augustine was gone, the priests threw him out. Oh well… moving right along….

In s. 272B shows that on the day of Pentecost, there was a service at the Church of St. Theogenus in Hippo, almost as at a Roman "station", and a passage was read from the Book of Tobit. Theogenus is probably connected with other martyrs, like St. Fructuosus.

In s. 273 St. Theogenus is mentioned among others by St. Augustine in order to make a point about how Christians actually honor God when the honor martyr saints. This is worth reviewing. We have heard the accusations of ignorant protestants about Catholic veneration of saints.

7. And yet, dearly beloved, while those [pagan] gods are in no way at all to be compared to our martyrs, we don’t regard our martyrs as gods, or worship them as gods. We don’t provide them with temples, with altars, with sacrifices. Priests don’t make offerings to them; perish the thought! These things are provided for God; or rather these things are offered to God, by whom all thigs are provided for us. Even when we make the offereing at the shrines of the holy martyrs, don’t we offer it to God? The holy martyrs have their place of honor. Notice please; in the recitation of names at the altar of Christ, their names are recited in the most honored place; but for all that, they are not worshiped instead of Christ.

When did you ever hear it said by me at the shrine of St. Theogenus, or by any of my brethren and colleagues, or by any priest, "I am offering to you, St. Theogenus"? Or, "I’m offering to you, Peter," or "I am offering to you, Paul"? You never did; it doesn’t happen, it is not permitted. And if you should be asked, "Do you, then, worship Peter?" answer what Eulogius answered about Fructuosus: "I do not worship Peter, but I worship God, whom Peter also worships." The Peter loves you. Because if you want to treat Peter as God, you stumble over the rock, and take care you don’t break your foot by stumbling over the rock.

Oh… by the way… today is also the anniversary of the death of St. Paula (+404), the friend and patroness of St. Jerome, living in Jerusalem.

In the Wall Street Journal story I wrote about in another entry the claim was made that "Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung became the first Communist head of state to visit the Holy See."

Blog participant RBrown reminded me of the visit of Mikhail Gorbachev on 1 December 1989, which we both witnessed.  I did some digging and found the front page of the weekly English language edition of L’Osservatore Romano on that visit.  Biretta tip to RBrown for reminding me about that:  o{]:¬)

Something is up with the Holy See and East Asia. Some are taking notice.

There is story in the Wall Street Journal today (my emphasis).

Vietnam and the Vatican
January 26, 2007

The Vatican has been home to many miracles, but yesterday’s was especially striking. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung became the first Communist head of state to visit the Holy See. Diplomatic relations may soon follow. Vietnam’s Catholics and the Church would celebrate such a reconciliation. So would China’s Catholics, to whom such a move might lend hope.

...

So, too, with religious freedom. Crackdowns on Protestants, while still far too common, are starting to ease. Vietnam’s six million Catholics can celebrate Mass, attend religious classes, and do community service without harassment. In an informal arrangement, the Holy See nominates bishops, and the government almost always approves them. The Vatican also maintains a regular dialogue with Hanoi.

We hope Beijing is watching. After a brief period of reconciliation last year, China’s official church reverted to unofficial ordinations and severe crackdowns, saying it didn’t want the Vatican interfering in its "internal affairs." China’s Catholics know that "internal affairs" are those of the soul, not the state. How wonderful—dare we say, miraculous—that Hanoi is moving in that direction.

Sandro Magister put this forth also (my emphasis):

Mission Asia: The Laboratory is South Korea
After the summit on China, the audience with the prime minister of Vietnam: Benedict XVI sees in the Far East the future terrain of the Church’s expansion.

ROMA, January 26, 2007 – For the second time in a few days, Benedict XVI has called everyone’s attention back to the present and future of Christians in East Asia.

On Thursday, January 25 he received (see photo) the Vietnamese prime minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, the first top official of the regime of Ho Chi Minh City ever to visit the Vatican. Vietnam is one of the Asian countries with the highest percentage of Catholics, preceded only by the Philippines. And the Church is especially lively there, in spite of the absence of religious freedom.

A few days earlier, on January 19-20, Benedict XVI had convened a meeting in the Vatican on the Catholic Church in China. ...

There are thought to be more than 12 million Catholics in China today. In 1949, before the advent of Mao Zedong, there were 3 million. Every year about 150,000 new baptized persons are added to their ranks, most of them adults. Many of these come from the professional classes and from the universities.

Another country of the Far East in which the Catholic Church is especially vigorous is South Korea. The faithful there have almost doubled in number over the past ten years, and now make up 10 percent of the population. ...

John Paul II had already indicated Asia to the Church as "our common task for the third millennium." And Benedict XVI is showing that he is very determined to continue along this road.

Today Asia is the continent with the lowest number of Catholics. But with the emergence of great nations like India and China, it will be the axis of the world in the future. ...

[...] South Korea is a laboratory of great importance for the present and future of the Catholic Church in Asia.

Here is today’s entry in the 2005 Martyrologium Romanum for the feast of Sts. Timothy and Titus:

Memoria sanctorum Timothei et Titi, episcoporum, qui, discipuli santi Pauli Apostoli et adiutores eius in apostolatu, alter Ecclesiae Ephesinae, alter vero Cretensi praefuit; quibus inscriptae sunt epistulae, quae sapientes praebent admonitiones pro pastorum et fidelium institutione. ... The memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, who, as disciples of Saint Paul the Apostle and as helpers in his apostolate, presided one of them at the Church of Ephesus and the other at Crete; to them letters were addressed, which the wisely offered suggestions for the instruction of pastors and the faithful.