22nd November

“After a period of discernment, Bishop Gattinara agreed to clothe Paul in the black tunic and let him begin his ‘penitential life’. Paul got hold of some of the rough wool cloth called arbagio worn by poor people in the country around Genoa. According to his sister Teresa, it was the bishop who paid for it. After Paul had had the cloth dyed black so as to look like what he had seen in the vision, Teresa herself made the tunic. It was like a large sack with sleeves, gathered at the waist with a belt made from the same cloth. The course wool would be uncomfortable next to his skin. The sign he had seen in the vision, the white cross with the name of Jesus under it, he would not be able to wear until many years later. Instead, he would wear a crucifix on his breast.

The date set for Paul to receive the tunic was 22 November. He had thought of the twenty first, feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, a feast which spoke to him about giving oneself to God, but as the following day was a Friday, decided to wait until then in honour of the Passion of Christ.”

(As A Seal Upon Your Heart, The Life of St. Paul of the Cross, Founder of the Passionists by Fr. Paul Francis Spencer, C.P., p. 35)

Passionists in Portugal

Feast of the Presentation of Mary

The Feast of the Presentation – Catholic Communications, Archdiocese of Sydney (Australia)  here

Passionist Church of the Presentation

This painting of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, by the eighteenth-century Neapolitan painter Sebastiano Conca, was commissioned by the Grazi family for Saint Paul of the Cross’s new Church of the Presentation on Monte Argentario. (Thanks to Fr. PF @ Laus Crucis)

Sebastiano Conca (b Gaeta, 8 Jan 1680; d Naples, 1 Sept 1764). Italian painter and draughtsman. He was one of the most successful painters working in Rome in the first half of the 18th century and was celebrated throughout Europe. He painted altarpieces and frescoes, creating an accomplished style that mediates between the grandeur of the late Baroque and the academic manner of Carlo Maratti. His smaller easel paintings were eagerly sought after by collectors throughout Europe. Conca was also an able draughtsman, working in a free and fluent style.

Read more about Sebastiano Conca  here

Feast of the Presentation of Mary

Saint Vincent Mary Strambi gives this account of the devotion of St. Paul of the Cross to the Presentation of Mary:

He prepared himself for the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the temple… by a fervent novena.  He desired that the religious community of the Retreat of Monte Argentario, whose church is dedicated under the title of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, would make this novena with him, using the following ritual: After the Blessed Sacrament had been exposed for adoration and the appropriate prayers had been said, Psalm 65, Cry out with joy to God, all the earth, O sing to the glory of his name, was to be sung.  In this psalm Paul recognised the way in which God had led him.  The psalm also reminded him of the exceptional graces he had obtained through the Blessed Virgin, who had always helped and protected him….  On the day of the feast, he seemed to be totally penetrated by a spirit of tender devotion.  Even on his deathbed, he recalled: “The day of the Presentation was always a most holy and solemn day for me.”

Homily on the Feast of the Presentation   here

St. Paul of the Cross and the Feast of the Presentation  here

The Feast of the Presentation and the Passionists  here

The Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary  here