Archive for the ‘martyr’ Category

Recalling Fr. Damien of Molokai, Hawaii

February 25, 2009

Vatican announced that Fr. Damien de Veuster (1840-1889), the late 19th century Belgian priest who selflessly ministered to leprosy-stricken people in a settlement in Kalaupapa, Hawaii will be declared saint on October 11, 2009. Considered a “martyr of charity,” Fr. Damien served the quarantined patients in Molokai, Hawaii where he contracted Hansen’s disease (leprosy) until he died at the age of 49.

“Damien’s life was suffused with horror, yet he refused to be broken by it and refused to permit his little flock to be swept into despair. He ran foot races for the sports-loving lepers, even though some of them had no feet. He formed a band, even though some had few fingers to play the instruments. One witness reported two organists who played at the same time, managing ten fingers between them.”—Damien, the leper (www.ewtn.com/library/)

A protector of those shunned by society because of disease affliction, the Roman Catholic priest and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a missionary religious group, was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 4, 1995. He had been identified as a champion of the outcasts—those with HIV-AIDS, leprosy, and other contagious diseases.

The remembrance of Fr. Damien is timely as the Catholic Church observes Ash Wednesday on February 25, 2009, the onset of lent, the days of fasting, penance, and reconciliation. (Photo Credit: Hawaii State Archives x 2 PD) =0=

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Recalling Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream”

January 19, 2009

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.”—Martin Luther King, Jr. (08/28/63)

Today, January 19, 2009, is a federal holiday in USA honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (MLK,) the martyred black Baptist minister who was a preeminent pillar of the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. His heroism is celebrated on the third Monday of the first month of the year, proximate to his birthday on January 15.

Known for his “ I have a dream” speech which galvanized blacks to pursue it’s relentless fight against racism and discrimination, MLK is remembered today coincident to the White House ascendancy of the first black President: Barack Obama. During the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” Dr. King delivered the inspiring speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps Lincoln Memorial during a rally of about 250,000 people.

To remember and pay homage to eloquent black leader who dared to dream and presently enjoys an 86% positive approval rating across demographic groups in USA (Rassmussen Polls, January 2009,) the full text of “I have a dream” may be accessed and viewed at:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

Delivered more than half a century ago, the speech remains a unique barometer on how far United States has gone in improving its track records on civil rights, justice, and race relations. Admirable strides have been made to realize MLK’s cause, but there are still much to accomplish in the name of liberty, justice, and equality that USA and all nations of the world should do. (Photo Credits: Martin Luther King PD; traqair)=0=

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Para sa mga burak sa Heidelberg: An pagrumdom ki Rizal kan sarong taga-Baao

December 30, 2008

A Diciembre 30, amo a ka-aldowan ka pagka-badil ki Jose P. Rizal, kanatong heroe nacional na guinadan ka mga Kastila, 112 taon ng naka-agui. Sa pagrumdom ka guinibo ni Rizal para sa liberasyon ka Pilipinas, rumdumon ta an saiyang pamosong tula—Para sa mga burak ka Heidelberg—sinurat niya kan siya nasa Alemanya, Europa.

Galin sa Paris, Francia si Dr. Rizal— nag-anad mag-bulong ka mga helang sa mata. Siya tinukduan ni Prof. Otto Becker sa Alemanya. Amo’dto kan siya nagsurat para sa kagayonan ka mga burak sa Heidleberg—habang namatean niya a kalipungawan kan pamilyang harayo, banwaan na saiyang ‘di maling’wan. Dae nag-haloy, pakatapos ka nobela niyang Noli Me Tangere, si Rizal nagpuli sa Manila.

Sadi a magayon na paguiromdom ni P.B. Robosa (taga-Baao) ki Rizal. Sa color ka tataramon ka lugar sa Rinconada, Bicol, a amio ka burak ni Rizal magdanay man lugod kanato. Magka-igua man lugod kita ka pag-makulog sagkod pagkamoot na hanggang ngowan kaipuhan ka banwaan.

Para sa Mga Burak sa Heidelberg(To the Flowers of Heidelberg)
Ni Jose Rizal
Itinaga Baao ni P.B. Robosa

Pasadto kamo banwaan ko, dayuhan na burak
tagak sa raran kin mga nagbabaklay, iwinarak,
sa lomlom ka sirong kin azul na kalangitan,
sadto na an mga payaba ko pinag-iiningatan
iluyap ninyo, pagarang-arang kanakong rogan,
kining arayo pero di nalilingaw sa mga binayaan

Pasadto kamo, ag mabareta bago magliwanag,
kung kamo ka sirang ka aldow ibinubuklad,
sa pangpang ag agnow ka Neckar na ararom
sadto siya nakatindog, nang-guiguiromrom
pamumula sa tagsibol, darang kolor na magayon

Ipa-ngusip ninyo kun pag-abot ka saking ramrag,
ayaton kaninyo an hamot na kaninyong ambag,
habang luway na pina-iirongog “o ika, payaba ko”
siya man nagririmo-rimo, sa itaas ninyo tinotono,
kantang pagkaboot, sa sadiring bisara nya guinibo

Kun su silaw ka ramrag aboton na su kaitaasan,
tuktok Koenigsthul kalayuwan kin kaliwanagan,
namumulaag na silaw ka aldow mang-guisong na,
sa patag, kadlagan ag kakahoyan nanbubuway na,
ining lagalag, sabat man tulos an silaw na dara,
na sadto banwaan man nya, minabulos biyaya.

Isabi ninyo ku kamo luway na pinili ag pinutlan,
ku sya nag-agi-agi sa sadit ag matulid na a-agian,
sa rugbang torreng tuda ko panahon na nakaagi,
sa Neckar na may kadlagan, malimpoy na sabi.
Sabiyon su kanyang mga panambitan ag sinabi
pauno kamo luway-luway, tinulid, ingat na inani,
sadto kanyang libro isinuksuk ag pinagkahigo,
sa mga lumang pahina, kamo niyang itinatago.

Hatudan, hatudan, magayon na burak kin Rhine,
an biyong pagka-boot ko sa ngamin na nabootan,
katoninongan sa banwaan kong kinamondagan,
sa kababaihan-katangihan, kusog sa kalalakihan.
Ipagtaratara diaday, sa mga payaba kong marhay
sa ngamin, kabilugang banal, pauulian ka buway

Pag-abot sa baybayon kan pinayabang banwaan
matam-is na arok na pinamate di paglingawan,
ipatiprak sa pakpak kin angin na nakapalibot
tanganing su ngamin na inonra, ginalang, binoot,
mamate sa mga pisngi ninda–arok kong pina-abot.

Tibaad makaabot kamo sa banwaan kong tinubuan
dara pa gayon ag tinkad ninyong kolor na namasdan,
ta arayo kamo sa ragang kinabuklatan, nang-alisngaw,
namarong na amot, tibaad dagos nang naoda, nanlasaw.
An hamio ninyo, kalag ninyong tunay, di maisusuway,
di malilingangawan kan langit kun sari kamo nabuway.
baaohistoricalsociety.blogspot.com

December 30, 2008 marks the day our national hero Jose P. Rizal was executed by the Spanish colonizers some 112 years ago. In remembrance of his martyrdom for the liberation of our country, let’s remember one of his famous poems—To the Flowers of Heidleberg which he wrote when he was in Germany.

Under the tutorship of Prof. Otto Becker, Rizal continued his advanced studies as an eye doctor there. It was about that time when he wrote the beautiful poem about the flowers of Heidelberg and his nostalgia for his family and his native land. It did not take long, after he finished the final chapters of his novel Noli Me Tangere, that he went home and met his death.

From Baao, Camarines Sur, here’s P. B. Robosa’s beautiful translation of the poem. The words carry inexplicable emotions and images that only a wonderful Bicol dialect can express. May the scent of Rizal’s flowers suffuse us— his bravery and patriotism inspire us, as we celebrate his martyrdom.


To the Flowers of Heidelberg

by Jose P. Rizal

Go to my country, go foreign flowers!
Planted by the traveller on his way,
And there beneath that sky of blue
That over my beloved towers,
Speak for this traveller to say
What faith in his homeland he breathes to you.

Go and say… say that when the dawn
First drew your calyx open there
Beside the River Neckar chill,
you saw him standing by you, very still,
Reflecting on the primrose flush you wear.

Say that when the morning light
Her toll of perfume from you wrung,
While playfully she whispered, “How I love you!”
He too murmured here above you
Tender love songs in his native tongue.

That when the rising sun the height
Of Koenigstuhl in the early morn first spies;
Is pouring life in the valley, wood, and grove,
He greets the sun as it begins to rise,
Which in his native land is blazing straight above.

And tell them of that day he staid
And plucked you from the border of the path,
Amid the ruins of the feudal castle,
By the River Neckar, and in the silvan shade.
Tell them what he told you
As tenderly as he took
Your plants leaves and pressed them in a book,
Where now its well worn pages close enfold you.

Carry, carry, flowers of Rhine,
Love to every love of mine,
Peace to my country and her fertile land,
Virtue to her women, courage to her men,
Salute those darling once again,
Who formed the sacred circle of our home.

And when you reach the shore,
Each kiss I press upon you now,
Deposit on the pinions of the wind,
And those I love and honor above and adore
Will feel my kisses carried their brow.

Ah, flowers, you may fare through,
Conserving still, perhaps, your native hue;
Yet, far from fatherland, heroic loam
To which you owe your life,
The perfume will be gone from you;
For aroma is your soul; it cannot roam
Beyond the skies which saw it born, nor e’er forget.
“I embrace you”
Rizal’s letter to Friedrich Ullmer (the son of Pastor Ullmer, Wilhelmsfeld) from 1887 (Photo Credits: Bill Barber; Sinaglaya; Bill Barber; Donnamarijne; Bill Barber; Bill Barber)

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