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The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:57 pm
by HoodedMan
The liturgical calendar isn't that dull. I find it interesting how the priests wear vestments of different colours, if I remember correctly, during different parts of the year. I love symbolism.

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:10 pm
by Angelique
Exactly. Purple or rose for Advent, purple for Lent, white for the Easter and Christmas seasons, red for some feast days (white for others), and green for Ordinary Time. Which is really a misnomer. The ordered Sundays that don't fall in the Lent, Advent, Easter, or Christmas seasons are anything but what I'd think of as ordinary. ;)

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:27 pm
by HoodedMan
I've also seen gold worn at Christmas, which means it can be worn on Easter as well. I also like seeing black worn on All Souls' Day and funeral masses; it satisfies my love of the dramatic.

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:56 pm
by Angelique
As far as I can see, the popularity of black is waning, with its emphasis on sorrow and mourning as opposed celebrating life and hope.

In fact, I can't remember ever seeing a priest wearing a black chasuble, and I've known some priests who actually discouraged wearing black at funerals.

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:17 pm
by HoodedMan
Ah. Well, I don't see it often but I do see it. And really, I can't see a majority of funeral attenders deciding not to wear black. It's rather a classic.

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:06 pm
by Amamelina
Hey, sorry to interupt the thread. Back to genuflection for one quick moment.

Yes, it's supposed to be on the right knee, but I have never been able to do that right. I actually got "a talking to" from some church ladies because when I kneel, I go from my left leg first. Mainly because, my right leg is stronger and I can get up better if I push from there. (only 27 and I have the body of a 90 year old granny) The lady in church (who was the mom of a friend of mine) said that the left knee down was Satanic. So, after that, my mom talked to a priest. Below is what he said to us.

Father H: The knee you go down on isn't important. What's important is what is in your heart. If, when you kneel or genuflect, you're thanking God, God doesn't care if you use your left knee.

Sorry to interupt. This is a good reference thread, though.

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:05 pm
by Angelique
Nah. The left knee is not satanic. It's just that genuflecting with the right knee has been customarily reserved for honoring God, the left for everyone else. I take greater issue with movies showing people genuflecting before kings or queens on the God-only knee.

I couldn't kneel at all yesterday at Mass. Having a truck door slammed on your leg can kind of put a damper on stuff like that. Nobody cared.

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:29 pm
by wingyding
The majority of 'ordinary time' sundays usually fall in the season of pentecost.
And I've seen a priest wear a black chasuble one two occasions, both of which were funeral services, both for my grandfathers.

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:40 am
by Love das flockige
hi all- wow this is a great thread. and I agree with you, Saint Kurt- this IS a side of Kurt that is seldom explored. :nodyes

I know of another reference to Kurt's faith, during the funky Uncanny X-Men issue 400. When the team first captures a member of the Church of Humanity, Bobby (I think it was either Bobby or Warren) points out the imagery to Kurt, who replies "I know" (the uniforms looked suspiciously like papal vestments). Anyway, so I guess we're covering the liturgical calendar? Is it ok to contribute to the resource? I only ask because I have a friend who is studying to be a priest, and he caught me up on the faith ( he even got me attending Mass again- I don't know why I stopped going)

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 6:05 pm
by Saint Kurt
Wow. I forgot about this thread. It was hard to keep it updated because of the research involved. Contributing resources is good. I'm not the boss of this thread. :)


The liturgical calendar is good. We're in ordinary time now.

Here is a sort of universal Liturgical Calendar:
Image

It represents a complete year of liturgical seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and of course, Ordinary time. (Ordinary doesn't mean "boring" or "plain" in this case, but "counted" or "ordinal" because it is designated by week numbers.)

The liturgical calendar controls everything from what readings and prayers are used for the Mass to what color vestments the priest and altar wear. During ordinary time everything is green. During Advent purple is worn on all 4 Sundays but the 3rd, which is called "Gaudette Sunday" and Rose (or pink) is worn. Purple is worn again during Lent and since it is a time of penance, the Church is "dressed" differently than during the rest of the years. The statues and icons are covered in purple and often the crucifix is covered at well. (Then, during the Easter Vigil mass, these coverings are removed as part of the ceremony.) Christmas and Easter are the "highest holidays" and so gold or white is worn.

Obviously all churches are different. There may be different shades of purple or special vestments used only on certain days of the year (my church has a specific gold chausable that is worn by the priest only during the week of Easter for instance). And then there are other colors, most notably red, which is worn on martyrs' feast days.

There is way more to this topic than just colors and vestments, but I think this is a good start. Catholicism is very orderly when it comes to the counting of time and prayer. Certain things happen at certain times and on certain days. Years ago, during the summer break from school, a friend of mine and I attempted to have "a Catholic Week" in which we showed up at mass and prayed all the various prayers on their prescribed days and times just to see if we could. Even with all the diligence at our command I'd say we ended up at ... like 75% Catholic. It was a difficult schedule to keep.

It makes me think of what Nightcrawler's schedule might have looked like:

6am: Pray Matins
7:30am: Mass
8:15am: Lauds
9am: Breakfast
9:45am: Work out in the Danger Room with Logan
12pm: Angelus
12:05pm: Sext <-- With a t! It's the midafternoon liturgy. Not what you think it is.
1pm: Save humanity
3pm: Chaplet of Divine Mercy
3:30pm: Save humanity some more
5pm: Rosary
6pm: Angelus
6:05pm: Dinner with Chuck
7pm: Vespers
8pm: Practice flying awesome supersonic jets
9:30pm: Compline
10pm: bed

I guess it's not easy being a Catholic super hero.


-e

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 6:10 pm
by Ult_Sm86
This is completely personal, and I don't expect everyone to agree, but I think a characters religion shouldn't always be a focus of his/her's life, unless this said hero is someone like constantine and their religion is profoundly based on their life journey (or heroes journey or general adventures.) Basically...kurt could be catholic, lutheran, mormon, whatever, as long as his "character" is in tact, I don't really give a crap.

Hence why I was so fond to see Chuck do away with it. (As I've said before his method in doing so was questionable but eh?)

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:00 pm
by Angelique
But Austen did not do away with it. He did away with the whole Kurt in the priesthood thing, not Kurt's Catholicism.

SK, loved your list of Kurt's schedule, including the Hours. It's not an easy schedule even if you're not a superhero. I'm just thankful I live close enough to a church that rings the Angelus. Hearing the bells toll every six hours is a good reminder.

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 1:38 pm
by Elfdame
Yeah, I read the schedule to hubby and we laughed sooo hard at the "save the world" stuff.

In my fanfic (which will probably never see the light of day), Kurt and Elise like to pray the Hours together in German (she started phonetically at first but then memorized 'em after so many repetitions) and it gives them a sense of being together even if he's on, say, another planet or in a parallel universe.

My Dad told me that when he had watch duty on a ship in the Pacific (WW2), he would recite the Mass to himself and take comfort knowing that he was in unity with everyone back home doing the same thing. (Also, back then it was in Latin so he understood it even in Japan, just dozed thru the homily since he didn't speak Japanese ... although he still seems to snooze nowadays through homilies in English ...)

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:57 pm
by carnage815
does anyone know a site where i can get a really good picture of Nightcrawler in his clerical collar?

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 11:46 pm
by Saint Kurt
Well...

There's our Gallery here at this site: http://www.nightscrawlers.com/gallery/ I know there are quite a few on there.

And do you want a full body picture or a headshot?

Here's a head shot (also from this site):

Image

Hope those are helpful.

-e

The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ

Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:20 pm
by Amatheya
Just wanted to say a thankyou to you SK for for writing all this. I've never really understood all the Catholic stuff (not much for organised religion me ;) ) but the explanation not only explained a lot but was also quite enjoyable (not to mention making me nearly drop my computer at the "preying to a cracker" crack :LMAO)