thanks for featuring bishop finnemann. i am an ex-SVD seminarian & the bishop has been one of my "patron saints" ever since i read about him in a book published by the SVD. in fact, i have his picture as a young priest in front of me right now and i keep a laminated copy of his picture as a bishop similar to the one you posted in my wallet. one building at christ the king seminary is named after him. your angle on the rejected japanese soldier is new to me. however, all the rest is in keeping with my source. i can't find it now, but it's a blue book (i think the title is "a martyr of mindoro"). anyway, what struck me in his life is his use of flaggelation as a means of mortification. i know that the church doesn't "encourage" this anymore. but, i think the spirit of mortification is & should be revived in the church. "Coincidentally," because of his practice of physical mortification, the torture he received became for him like just an extension of his uniting of himself with the sufferings of Christ. i could imagine him offering all these for his flock, the people of mindoro and his torturers, the japanese soldiers themselves. oh, as far as i remember, he asked his superiors in manila to relieve him of his post because of the mounting harassment he was receiving from the japanese, but was told to be where his flock was as a good shepherd. from then on, he resolved to stick to it ... even unto death. bishop william (wilhelm) t. finnemann, svd, pray for the filipino people that we may once more arouse in us the warrior archetype, the spiritual warrior of the lord to have the grace of fortitude / manly courage to stand up for what is right and moral. amen.
thanks for featuring bishop finnemann. i am an ex-SVD seminarian & the bishop has been one of my "patron saints" ever since i read about him in a book published by the SVD. in fact, i have his picture as a young priest in front of me right now and i keep a laminated copy of his picture as a bishop similar to the one you posted in my wallet. one building at christ the king seminary is named after him. your angle on the rejected japanese soldier is new to me. however, all the rest is in keeping with my source. i can't find it now, but it's a blue book (i think the title is "a martyr of mindoro"). anyway, what struck me in his life is his use of flaggelation as a means of mortification. i know that the church doesn't "encourage" this anymore. but, i think the spirit of mortification is & should be revived in the church. "Coincidentally," because of his practice of physical mortification, the torture he received became for him like just an extension of his uniting of himself with the sufferings of Christ. i could imagine him offering all these for his flock, the people of mindoro and his torturers, the japanese soldiers themselves. oh, as far as i remember, he asked his superiors in manila to relieve him of his post because of the mounting harassment he was receiving from the japanese, but was told to be where his flock was as a good shepherd. from then on, he resolved to stick to it ... even unto death. bishop william (wilhelm) t. finnemann, svd, pray for the filipino people that we may once more arouse in us the warrior archetype, the spiritual warrior of the lord to have the grace of fortitude / manly courage to stand up for what is right and moral. amen.
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