Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
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Sunday, May 30, 2021DEAR FAMILY
HAPPY FEAST OF THE BLESSED TRINITY
This weekend we celebrate the feast of the Blessed Trinity. God is a Father to us; He is a Brother to us; He is a Consoler and a Guide to us. We are not called to understand the Trinity, (we never will!), but to live the life of the Trinity, the life of sharing, the life of unity, the life of communion.
I hope and pray that our parish community live the life of the Blessed Trinity. As you know I belong to the Order of the Most Holy Trinity. Here I have written a short history of the Order. Please keep all the Trinitarian members in your prayers.
Rev. Binoy Akkalayil Lucka, O.SS.T
Pastor
The Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives: A Redeeming Presence in the Broken World
The Scripture, the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, present God as a liberator and Redeemer. The tradition of the Catholic Church presents lives of men and women who responded to the redemptive mission of God in their own space and time and St. John de Matha, a master of theology at the University of Paris was divinely inspired to found the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives. He accepted the challenging call of the Redeemer-God to continue His redemptive mission by ransoming the captives of his time.
During the celebration of his First Mass, on January 28, 1193, St. John de Matha had a vision during the consecration as he elevated the Host. He saw Christ between two chained captives, one a Christian holding a red and blue cross on a staff and the other a Moor. Others in attendance also experienced the same vision. It is depicted in a mosaic above the ancient entrance to Saint Thomas in Formis in Rome, which was commissioned by St. John de Matha in the year 1210, and which remains to this very day. He, with the assistance of the hermit St. Felix of Valois, discerned that their call was to found a community dedicated to ransoming the Christian captives from their Muslim captors. On December 17, 1198, the Rule of the Order was approved by Pope Innocent III, who placed the community under his protection, thus allowing it to function in various dioceses and civil jurisdictions without the limitations experienced by communities given only the approval of a local bishop. The nascent community did not take long to attract members and benefactors. Within eleven years more than two dozen religious houses had been founded and flourishing Confraternities of laity had been established. In addition to the ransoming of captives, the Order concerned itself with establishing, in collaboration with the Trinitarian laity, hospices for the sick, the poor and pilgrims. The first house of the Order was established at Cerfroid, France.
The thirteenth century was a time of tremendous expansion for the Order. On the eve of its centenary, the Order had more than two hundred religious houses. During the fourteenth and first half of the fifteenth centuries, the Order faced difficulties due to the Papal Captivity in Avignon, the Papal Schism, the Bubonic Plague, and tensions with the Mercedarians, which had been founded in the early 13th century and also engaged in the ransoming of captives. The sixteenth century saw a decline in the total number of houses in the Order. The houses in Greece and Palestine were closed for reasons unknown to us. The Trinitarian houses in England were taken from the Order as a result of King Henry VIII’s legal wrangling which led to the dissolution of the monasteries in that country. Similar fates befell the Order’s houses in Scotland and Ireland. The religious wars in France caused a number of Trinitarian houses to be liquidated. By the end of the century, there were about one hundred and fifty houses in the Order.
It is to St. John Baptist of the Conception that the Order owes its continued existence. On August 20, 1599, Pope Clement VIII granted papal approbation to the Congregation of the Reformed and Discalced Brothers of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity. The community was charged with following the primitive Rule of St. John de Matha.
The eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were a period of profound loss and decline. The Order almost did not survive. It began with the suppression of many houses by Emperor Joseph II of Austria. The houses of Eastern and Central Europe were suppressed, with the exception of those in formerly Polish lands then occupied by Russia. The French Revolution (1789-1799) brought about the demise of the Order in France. Shortly thereafter, the Napoleonic invasion led to the loss of most Trinitarian houses in Italy. Masonic forces in the governments of Portugal made it difficult for religious communities to exist, and thus many Trinitarians were transferred out of the country and the houses were closed. In Spain, a decree in 1835 which caused the confiscation of religious properties led to the departure of the religious and the loss of all houses of the Order. The remaining houses in formerly Polish territory were suppressed by the Russian Czars Nicholas I in 1832 and Alexander II in 1865.
The rebirth of the Order began with the reopening of the house in Italy in 1820 and it spread to Spain, France, Argentina, the United States, Canada and Madagascar. The Trinitarian presence continues to expand and now includes Bolivia, Congo, India, Korea and Poland. Since the eighth centenary of the Order, greater emphasis has been placed on reclaiming our historic charism. Thus, while retaining our traditional ministries in parishes, schools, hospitals and prisons, the Order is dedicating itself anew to assisting those who are persecuted because of their faith in Christ.
A Trinitarian presence is a loving presence; a Trinitarian presence is a giving presence; a Trinitarian presence is a healing presence. This is what Jesus did and what John De Matha envisaged in the Rule and mosaic of the Order. The world needs the work of redemption. The Church wants the Trinitarians and above all people who are under various kinds of bondages seek for the Trinitarians’ presence. Let us practice the Trinitarian relationship of the love and the unity in our families.