Our Lady of the Atonement (Latin: Domina Nostra Adunationis) is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary first invoked by Father (Louis) Paul T. Wattson, S.A. and Mother Lurana White, S.A, the founders of the Society of the Atonement. The feast day of Our Lady of the Atonement is July 9, and is observed as an optional memorial in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter in the USA.
In June 1899, Episcopal priest Rev. Lewis T. Wattson professed his vows as a Friar of the Atonement, taking the name Paul James Francis. In 1901, Fr. Paul initiated for his Friars of the Atonement devotion to the Blessed Mother invoked under the title, “Our Lady of the Atonement”, [1] adapting prayers to Our Lady of Sorrows. That same year, he and Society of Atonement co-founder, Mother Lurana White, established the Rosary League of Our Lady of the Atonement. In the early 1900s, Wattson was a popular preacher in Episcopal churches, and Mother Lurana edited a small magazine called Rose Leaves from Our Lady’s Garden at Graymoor. This brought a greater awareness of the devotion to the Episcopalian community. The title became popular common among Anglicans and Anglo-Catholics who have a similar devotion in their liturgical traditions. In 1909, the Society of the Atonement entered into communion with the Catholic Church.
In 1919, the title was formally approved by Pope Benedict XV. In the September 1932 issue of The Lamp, Father Paul wrote, "When we, therefore, give to our Blessed Mother the title of 'Our Lady of the Atonement', we mean 'Our Lady of Unity.'" [2]
Her image was painted by Giovanni Martini in 1929, and by Mother Margaret Mary Nealis in 1933. Stained glass windows at the St. Francis Chapel at Graymoor also depict Our Lady of the Atonement. The Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement have a shrine to Our Lady of the Atonement near the entrance to Graymoor. [3] The feast day of Our Lady of the Atonement, July 9, was approved by the Holy See in 1946.
Our Lady of the Atonement is depicted wearing a golden crown or a crown of 12 stars and a blue tunic. The red mantle signifies the Precious Blood of Jesus. She holds in her arms the Christ Child who holds a cross in his right hand.
The Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Atonement in Baguio, Philippines is named in honour of this devotion. Begun by CICM Missionaries and consecrated in 1936, the Cathedral survived the Allied carpet bombing of the city towards the end of the Second World War. It is the see of the Bishop of Baguio.
In 1983, Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas was founded as an Anglican Use parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio, under the 1980 Pastoral Provision of Pope John Paul II. [4] The Pastoral Provision authorizes establishment of personal parishes in dioceses of the United States for Episcopalian converts who had entered into full communion with the Catholic Church, but wished to preserve liturgical aspects of Anglican worship. [5] In March 2017, the parish became part of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. [6] Atonement Academy is its parochial school.
The Anglican Use, also known as Divine Worship, is a use of the Roman Rite celebrated by the personal ordinariates, originally created for former Anglicans who converted to Catholicism while wishing to maintain "aspects of the Anglican patrimony that are of particular value" and includes former Methodist converts to Catholicism who wish to retain aspects of Anglican and Methodist heritage, liturgy, and tradition. Its most common occurrence is within parishes of the personal ordinariates which were erected in 2009. Upon the promulgation of Divine Worship: The Missal, the term "Anglican Use" was replaced by "Divine Worship" in the liturgical books and complementary norms, though "Anglican Use" is still used to describe these liturgies as they existed from the papacy of John Paul II to present.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an ecumenical Christian observance in the Christian calendar that is celebrated internationally. It is kept annually between Ascension Day and Pentecost in the Southern Hemisphere and between 18 January and 25 January in the Northern Hemisphere. It is an octave, that is, an observance lasting eight days.
The Society of the Atonement, also known as the Friars and Sisters of the Atonement or Graymoor Friars and Sisters, is a Franciscan religious congregation in the Catholic Church. The friars and sisters were founded in 1898 by Paul Wattson and Lurana White as a religious community in the Episcopal Church. The religious order is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the Marian title of Our Lady of Atonement.
The Book of Divine Worship (BDW) is an adaptation of the American Book of Common Prayer (BCP) by the Catholic Church. It was used primarily by former members of the Episcopal Church within Anglican Use parishes of the Pastoral Provision and the Personal Ordinariates. It has been replaced by a new book to be used worldwide, titled Divine Worship: The Missal.
The Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) is an organization created in 1969 which seeks to make ecumenical progress between the Anglican–Catholic dialogue. The sponsors are the Anglican Consultative Council and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
The Pastoral Provision is a set of practices and norms in the Catholic Church in the United States, by which bishops are authorized to provide spiritual care for Catholics converting from the Anglican tradition, by establishing parishes for them and ordaining priests from among them. The provision provides a way for individuals to become priests in territorial dioceses, even after Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus established the Personal Ordinariates, a non-diocesan mechanism for former Anglicans to join the Church.
Anglican Papalism, also referred to as Anglo-Papalism, is a subset of Anglo-Catholicism with adherents manifesting a particularly high degree of influence from, and even identification with, the Roman Catholic Church. This position has historically been referred to as Anglican Papalism; the term Anglo-Papalism is an American neologism and it seems not to have appeared in print prior to the 1990s. Anglican Papalists have suggested "that the only way to convert England is by means of an 'English Uniate' rite". Anglican Papalists have historically practiced praying the Dominican rosary, among other Marian devotions, Corpus Christi procession, as well as the reservation of and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
Our Lady of Walsingham is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus venerated by Catholics and High Church Anglicans associated with the Marian apparitions to Richeldis de Faverches, a pious English noblewoman, in 1061 in the village of Walsingham in Norfolk, England. Lady Richeldis had a structure built named "The Holy House" in Walsingham which later became a shrine and place of pilgrimage.
Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, is a large family of liturgical rites and uses of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church sui iuris of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once dominated. Its language is now known as Ecclesiastical Latin. The most used rite is the Roman Rite.
Centro Pro Unione is a ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, a Franciscan Anglican community founded in 1898 by Fr. Paul Wattson, SA, Servant of God, and [https://www.atonementfriars.org/mother-lurana-inspiring-devotion-to-our-lady-of-the-atonement/ Mother Lurana White, SA, and welcomed into full communion with the Church of Rome in 1909 by St. Pius X. Among the charisms of the Congregation of the Atonement is the promotion of unity among all Christians. The Centro Pro Unione fulfills this particular vocation.
Anglican Marian theology is the summation of the doctrines and beliefs of Anglicanism concerning Mary, mother of Jesus. As Anglicans believe that Jesus was both human and God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, within the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglican movement, Mary is accorded honour as the theotokos, a Koiné Greek term that means "God-bearer" or "one who gives birth to God".
Paul Wattson, SA, born as Lewis Thomas Wattson, was an American priest who co-founded the Society of the Atonement with Mother Lurana White, and the Christian Unity Octave in The Episcopal Church. He was later received into the Catholic Church and is remembered as an advocate for ecumenism.
A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate, is a canonical structure within the Catholic Church established in order to enable "groups of Anglicans" and Methodists to join the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their liturgical and spiritual patrimony.
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales is a personal ordinariate in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church immediately exempt, being directly subject to the Holy See. It is within the territory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, of which its ordinary is a member, and also encompasses Scotland. It was established on 15 January 2011 for groups of former Anglicans in England and Wales in accordance with the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus of Pope Benedict XVI, which was supplemented with the Complementary Norms of Pope Francis in 2013.
The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or personal ordinariate of the Catholic Church for Anglican converts in the United States and Canada. It allows these parishioners to maintain elements of Anglican liturgy and tradition in their services. The ordinariate was established by the Vatican in 2012.
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross is a personal ordinariate of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church primarily within the territory of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference. It is organized to serve groups of Anglicans who desire full communion with the Catholic Church in Australia and Asia. Personal ordinariates, like military ordinariates and dioceses, are immediately subject to the Holy See in Rome. The motto of the ordinariate is Mea Gloria Fides. The current apostolic administrator is Anthony Randazzo, who succeeded the second ordinary, Carl Reid, in 2023.
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas, is a Catholic church that serves as the cathedral of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.
Divine Worship: The Missal (DW:TM) is the liturgical book containing the instructions and texts for the celebration of Mass by the former Anglicans within the Catholic Church in the three personal ordinariates of Great Britain, United States and Canada, and Australia. The rite contained in this missal is the Anglican Use, a liturgical use of the Roman Rite Mass with elements of Anglican worship. It was approved for use beginning on the first Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2015.
Albert Julius duBois was an influential American Anglo-Catholic priest during the 20th century.
Lurana Mary Francis White (1870-1935) was a Roman Catholic nun, a convert from the Episcopal Church, and co-founder of the Society of the Atonement. This founding was an unusual example of a woman who, in the words of congregation historian Father Charles LaFontaine, "had the distinction of founding a religious community on equal terms with a man."