#hermanncohen — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 23 August: Hermann Cohen

Before ascending again into heaven, [Jesus Christ] appointed his representative on earth; he founded his visible Church, and within his Church he also established the pontifical kingship in the person of Peter.

He said to Peter: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And remember, I am with you—and with your successors—always, to the end of the age” [Matt. 28:18–20]. “Whoever listens to you listens to me” [Luke 10:16]. Whatever is done against you, I regard as done against me. Whoever insults you insults me; “whoever is not with me is against me” [Matt. 12:30]; “whoever welcomes you welcomes me” [Matt. 10:40].

Therefore, my brothers, whoever insults the Vicar of Jesus Christ attacks Jesus Christ himself; and whoever opposes the sovereignty of God’s Vicar on earth declares himself, like Satan, against the King of kings himself! Qui non est mecum, contra me est!—“Whoever is not with me is against me!” [Matt. 12:30].

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Speech, 10 November 1860 (excerpt)

Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint Sacrement 2020, Qui nous fera voir le bonheur? : sermons et autres textes, ed. S-M Morgain, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Featured image: This glorious image from Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome was captured by photographer Edgar Chaparro. Image credit: Edgar Chaparro / Unsplash (Stock photo)

Quote of the day, 22 July: Hermann Cohen

The reason why our master does not always allow us to hear his voice is because he wishes to be sought after. There is nothing he wants more than someone who has been attracted like the Magdalene and questions the whole of creation saying, ‘Where is my God.’ We must long for Jesus as the thirsty deer longs for living water.

A second reason is that we are kept humble. If we always enjoyed consolation, we would surely swell with pride—we who are nothing and worse—sinners. How good of the Lord not to throw us off but rather to support us in spite of all our faults.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Various spiritual counsels

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: AI-generated image (Midjourney), Mary Magdalene Runs to the Tomb at Dawn, created in an impressionist style inspired by Richard Miller (educational use).

Quote of the day, 9 March: Hermann Cohen

Let us serve Jesus for His own sake. Let us say that it is good for us to be deprived of joy here below—to be humiliated and tested—and that Jesus always grants us far more than we deserve. We must love Jesus crucified; we must love His Cross. The glory of Tabor awaits us in heaven.

As for your husband’s wish to go to places of worldly amusement, I repeat that so long as you go only out of obedience and contrary to your own inclination, you need fear nothing. I would also advise that, whenever you can do so prudently, you allow some obstacle to arise—some legitimate pretext that prevents you from going. I believe it will be pleasing to our Lord if He sees you wisely arranging matters so that an outing of this sort comes to nothing.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Avis spirituels

Note: Join us as we pray the official Prayer for the Beatification of the Servant of God Father Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, Hermann Cohen.

Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint Sacrement 2020, Qui nous fera voir le bonheur? : sermons et autres textes, ed. S-M Morgain, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: This drawing of Father Augustine-Mary (Hermann) Cohen, O.C.D. is based on a portrait of the Servant of God that appeared in Dr. Boissarie’s medical documentation, Les grandes guérisons de Lourdes (The Great Healings of Lourdes). Father Cohen’s story appears in the section devoted to “Diseases of the Eyes.” Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission)

Quote of the day, 20 January: Hermann Cohen

Holy Communion! That is my safeguard, and I ask only one thing of this great God, so full of love: that He grant me, at the hour of death, that inestimable grace of being able to receive Communion—the holy viaticum of the poor traveler!

Oh! it already seems to me that I see it, that delightful and ardently desired hour, when the chains that hold me captive far from my God will finally fall into dust.

Ah! it seems to me that I see it, that final hour, that hour of love! Yes—there, in my poor little cell, lying on the hard floor, surrounded by my Carmelite brothers, who will exhort me to weep for my faults and to lift up my heart to God, and who will sing the hymns of our homeland!…

And then I hear footsteps in the distance, and as it were plaintive voices chanting in cadence; it is a procession… it advances, it draws near to my narrow retreat. Oh my brothers, quickly, I beg you, scatter flowers along my path; it is my Beloved—it is Jesus, my Spouse, who is coming to fetch me!… He Himself!

Great God! You deign to descend into the hovel of this wretched and unworthy sinner! From where does this favor come to me? Unde hoc mihi? (Why has this happened to me? Lk 1:43). What! My God, You enter under my humble roof to visit me and to give me the kiss of peace—and I would fear Your justice?

But do You not Yourself come to reassure me by Your gentle embraces, and does not the priest, in showing You to me, say: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world… Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my wretched dwelling; but say only the word, and my soul shall be saved.”

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Death Before the Eucharist (1860)

Note: On January 9, 1871, Hermann Cohen contracted smallpox while anointing two prisoners of war in Spandau—likely through a small scratch on his finger—and his condition steadily worsened. By January 13, he was confined to bed, already entrusting the work he had begun to others and expressing a calm readiness to be taken by God. On January 15, after a seizure, he received the last rites with visible joy and peace, renewed his Carmelite vows, and joined in the Te Deum, Salve Regina, and De Profundis, before bidding farewell to his brothers and requesting burial at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin. As his strength failed further, he told the sister caring for him, “So I am going to die. May God’s holy will be done; besides, if I were cured, I would have to witness distressful things.” He gave his final blessing to those around him and died quietly on the morning of January 20, 1871, at the age of forty-nine—a true martyr of charity, having laid down his life in loving service, and yielding his generous soul into the arms of eternal love.

Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint Sacrement 2020, Qui nous fera voir le bonheur? : sermons et autres textes, ed. S-M Morgain, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Featured image: A Discalced Carmelite nun in Valladolid receives Holy Communion on Saint Teresa’s feast day in 2016. Image credit: Angel Cantero, Iglesia en Valladolid / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #death #Eucharist #HermannCohen #ServantOfGod

Quote of the day, 29 December: Hermann Cohen

We love happiness, and Jesus Christ—true happiness, the only happiness possible—is not loved.

We love riches, and Jesus Christ, the inexhaustible treasure of the Father, abundance itself, eternal superabundance, is not loved.

We love pleasure, and Jesus Christ, the purest of delights, is not loved.

Whence then, my brothers and sisters, comes a contradiction so glaring, so revolting?

Ah! It is because He is not known. If you knew Him, my brothers and sisters, you would all love Him.

We study and examine everything—except Jesus, whom we ought to know above all. Jesus Christ is not known.

At this thought, the hermit leaves his retreat, the missionary crosses the seas, the martyr ascends the scaffold. And what do they seek? They seek to make people happy by leading them to know Jesus Christ.

Who, then, is Jesus Christ? From where does He come? Who is His Father, His homeland?

To this question, the prophet Isaiah, seized by holy enthusiasm, cries out: Generationes eius quis enarrabit? —
“Who shall ever recount His sublime generation?” (Who could have imagined his future, Is 53:8).

Let us attempt it nevertheless, my brothers and sisters. And whatever modern Jews may say—those who, in disputing the mysteries of the Trinity, appeal to this text of Moses: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord” (Dt 6:4).

Let us answer them: God is infinitely simple—simple in essence, simple in substance, simple by His infinite nature; yet He is also infinitely good, and goodness, by its very nature, seeks to impart itself.

Since, therefore, the goodness of God is infinite, it must necessarily impart itself in an infinite manner. Yet it cannot do so with the creature, since the creature is finite.

It is therefore necessary that God impart Himself to Himself in an ineffable and infinite manner. And this He does by imparting His essence, His nature, to distinct persons—without separating it, without dividing it—while remaining one and the same God.

It is thus, my brothers and sisters, by this blessed necessity of imparting Himself infinitely, that God begets His only Son, His beloved Son.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Le bonheur n’est qu’en Dieu (Sermon, Saint-Sulpice, 1854)

Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint Sacrement 2020, Qui nous fera voir le bonheur? : sermons et autres textes, ed. S-M Morgain, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Photo by Burkay Canatar on Pexels.com

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #DivineSimplicity #HermannCohen #IncarnationOfChrist #JesusChrist

Quote of the day, 7 December: Hermann Cohen

We love happiness—yet Jesus, the only true happiness, is not loved!

We love riches—yet Jesus, the inexhaustible treasure of the Father, Jesus the abundance, the eternal superabundance, is not loved!

We love pleasure—yet Jesus, the delight of heaven, the sweetest of all joys, is not loved!

We love honors—yet Jesus, the glory of the elect, the immortal splendor of all who desire to be truly great—Jesus is not loved!

We love a simple flower on the roadside—yet Jesus, the flower blossoming from the purest and most beautiful of virgins, Jesus, the fragrant bloom from the shoot of Jesse, is not loved!

Weep, O mountains; let the hills pour forth torrents of tears—for the One who made you so beautiful, Jesus, is not loved!

Servant of God Augustine of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Excerpt from Sermon 14 (1861–1863)

Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint Sacrement 2020, Qui nous fera voir le bonheur? : sermons et autres textes, ed. S-M Morgain, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: A honeybee gathers pollen on a purple flower. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com (Stock photo)

#attachments #augustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #hermannCohen #jesusChrist #love

Quote of the day, 10 November: Hermann Cohen

Yes, my God! Yes, my Jesus! I declare it: this life was mine, before I knew you; before I loved You. Yes, my brethren, I have experienced it; and may my bitter experience serve as a warning to you….

Never finding the happiness I sought, I was ever fleeing from that which pursued me, until, one day… I enter a church…

The priest at the altar raises in his hands a small white disc…

I gaze upon the Sacred Host, and I hear these words: Ego sum Via, Veritas et Vita—I am the Way, the Truth, the Life!

Great God, but can it be?…

Yes, Saul, on his way to Damascus, whither he was hastening as a rapacious wolf to ravage the Christian flock, fell to the ground on hearing this same voice: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!” [Acts 9:4]…

“Lord, what am I to do?”

Do you not see, my brethren? Order is restored. He stretches out his hands, his arms, his heart, his soul, his will, his whole being, towards this true and only end, the will of God. See how he’s converted! May we do likewise.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Homily on Repentance
From Life of the Reverend Father Hermann by Abbé Charles Sylvain

Note: Father Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, OCD (Hermann Cohen) was born in a wealthy Jewish family in Hamburg on 10 November 1820. His life’s journey took him from Hamburg to Paris as a student of Franz Liszt and his career as a successful, internationally recognized concert pianist. In May 1847, he experienced a dramatic conversion when he substituted for a musician friend as music director for the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.  Two years later, Cohen entered the Discalced Carmelite friars in Le Broussey, France, took the name Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, and went on to exercise a rich and fruitful priestly ministry.

The Association of Hebrew Catholics offers a brief biographical article written by another Jewish convert and Discalced Carmelite, Father Elias Friedman.

We also recommend the official Discalced Carmelite biography of the Servant of God, published in Italian by the Postulator General.

Finally, we provide the official Prayer for the Beatification of the Servant of God Father Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, Hermann Cohen.

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This drawing of Father Augustine-Mary (Hermann) Cohen, O.C.D. is based on a portrait of the Servant of God that appeared in Dr. Boissarie’s medical documentation, Les grandes guérisons de Lourdes (The Great Healings of Lourdes). Father Cohen’s story appears in the section devoted to “Diseases of the Eyes.” Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission)

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #birthday #conversion #HermannCohen #Jewish #ServantOfGod

Quote of the day, 19 September: Hermann Cohen

Now I wish to talk about the devisers of systems, the makers of doctrines, the practitioners of religious novelties. Yes, I have known them, known them only too well, these gentlemen, these prophets of the future. I have myself, to my shame, dogmatized with them, I have used the same zeal and ardor in propagating their new gospels…

But then one day thanks to God’s mercy, I opened the Bible and on the first page of that revered book, I found more light, more peace than in all their ramblings put together. Some verses alone of that divine book scattered my doubts and caused an unexpected and indefectible light to fall on my eyes, sufficient to clarify my understanding.

Servant of God Hermann Cohen

Father Augustine-Mary of the Most Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D.
Human Reason Left to Its Own Devices (excerpt)

Prayer for the beatification of Hermann Cohen

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

About the artwork: The Conversion of Saint Paul, Benvenuto Tisi, called “Il Garofalo” (Italian, 1481–1559), oil on panel, ca. 1525, Yale University Art Gallery.

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #HermannCohen #light #mercy #peace

Quote of the day, 18 August: Hermann Cohen

Faith is acquired through prayer, which, united to faith, imparts peace, love, wisdom, light, freedom—all of which are contained in Jesus Christ.

It is not possible for someone who does not love Jesus Christ to be happy.

We love happiness, and Jesus Christ, our sole happiness, is not loved. We love wealth, and Jesus Christ, eternal sufficiency, is not loved. We love pleasures and celebrity, and Jesus Christ, the most desirable one, splendor of eternal glory, is not loved.

Look, you who now listen to me, how is it that it takes a Jew to come here and beg Christians to adore Jesus Christ?

Sun, refuse to shine, clouds cease to pour down rain, melt away you rocks of granite! Daughters of Sion, holy virgins, take up the discipline, cover yourselves in ashes, weep, fast, keep vigil, Jesus is not loved, because he is not known! We study, we know everything except Him.

And even so, missionaries carry his name to the ends of the earth. Even so, martyrs die on the scaffold.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Sermon in Bordeaux Cathedral, 1852

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: Andrés López, The Sacred Heart of Jesus adored by angels, 1785, oil on copper. Peyton Wright Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. PI 4459B. Source: Ojeda, A 2005-2025, Project for the Engraved Sources of Spanish Colonial Art (PESSCA), viewed 16 August 2025, https://colonialart.org.

#adoration #AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #HermannCohen #loveForGod #martyrs

Quote of the day, 22 June: Hermann Cohen

O adorable Sacrament, intoxicating spring where my parched lips drink deeply the first taste of eternal life! My heart overflows with joy… it needs to bless you and proclaim your praises in hymns of gladness and thanksgiving. For I have learned that my brothers in Paris now enjoy an ineffable happiness: each day they see you open the door of your prison of love, to be exposed before their dazzled eyes and offered to their perpetual adoration!

And the bells of the capital ring out to proclaim you; and the processions unfurl their banners to lead you in triumph; and the chief shepherd establishes in the churches where you are to be adored a solemn and magnificent worship… He invites Christians to adorn your altars; he calls your children to come and sing hymns and canticles to you; he himself presides over this admirable feast, which continues from sanctuary to sanctuary—a feast without end—and thus prefigures that eternal adoration which will be the joy of your elect, crowned in heaven [Rev 5:8–14].

And finally, as if we were witnessing a resurrection of the first centuries of your Church, and to crown the tenderness of his chosen flock, the august and pious Archbishop orders a general Communion for all, lasting three days… At this news, O my God, my chest swells; tears of joy moisten my eyes, and my thoughts carry me to those blessed courts where the multitude of your beloved children comes eagerly to receive, at the foot of your tabernacle, the Bread come down from heaven—the pledge of our immortality! [Jn 6:50]

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Love for Jesus Christ (March 1851, first version)

Note: This excerpt comes from the original handwritten dedication to Love for Jesus Christ, a collection of forty hymns to the Blessed Sacrament composed by Hermann Cohen—then a Carmelite friar and deacon—at the convent in Agen in March 1851. Published under his religious name, Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, this version includes personal and historical references later removed from the printed edition. In it, Cohen celebrates the newly established practice of perpetual Eucharistic adoration in post-revolutionary Paris, uniting his musical vocation with a profound Eucharistic spirituality.

Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint Sacrement 2020, Qui nous fera voir le bonheur? : sermons et autres textes, ed. S-M Morgain, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: This detail from the east window of Corpus Christi Church in Brixton was beautifully captured by photographer Lawrence Lew, O.P. The phrase Laudate Dominum omnes gentes is the opening line of Psalm 117. Blessed Anne of Jesus intoned this psalm when founding the first Carmel in France. Similarly, St. Constance of Compiègne intoned this same psalm as she led the procession of her sister martyrs to the guillotine. Image credit: Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How does the Solemnity of Corpus Christi move you to deeper love or adoration?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #CorpusChristi #Eucharist #HermannCohen #perpetualAdoration

Quote of the day, 24 May: Hermann Cohen

I am at Spandau where you made your First Communion in the sacristy. In this sacristy, I vest every day to say Mass and to preach to the French prisoners.

I have been named Chaplain to the five thousand three hundred [5,300] French prisoners of war who are here. 500 are sick with typhus and dysentery so that I am fully occupied.

Every morning, about 400 of these soldiers are conducted here with their company to my Mass, in such a way that they are all obliged to come and see me in turn.

Then I go to the hospital to minister to the sick, and in the afternoon I go to the barracks to visit those who are well.

Pray hard for their conversion. Those who are well have not all been to confession yet.

Servant of God Hermann Cohen
Father Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D.

Letter to his sister Henrietta
6 December 1870

Note: Hermann Cohen contracted smallpox while ministering to the French prisoners of the Franco-Prussian War who were detained at Spandau prison. He died from the illness on 20 January 1871.

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: Photographer Joerg Euken captured this image of winter in Spandau on 5 December 2016. Image credit: Joerg Euken / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
What would heroic fidelity to my vocation look like in this season of my life?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #chaplain #disease #familyLife #FrancoPrussianWar #HermannCohen #prisonersOfWar

Quote of the day, 16 May: Hermann Cohen

There may still be some who, from deference to the naturally staid, impassive character of the English, would counsel Catholics to maintain a certain reserve in their devotion to Mary, as though, indeed, there were any other than Mary who was to crush the head of error; as though there could be danger or excess where God has so wondrously surpassed Himself: can the love of Catholics for Mary ever rise to such a height, or can they honour her with glory so sublime, as that to which God Himself has chosen to exalt her?

As if this filial homage could be out of place in England, the birth-place of the devotion of the Holy Scapular, the favoured spot to which the Blessed Virgin came, bringing from heaven that pledge of salvation, to bestow it upon a Religious, not of Italy or of Spain, but on an English Saint, born and bred in England, English in his labors, in his mission, and in his election as General of the Carmelite Order.

This preference for England as the scene of that revelation, and the choice of an Englishman, St. Simon Stock, as the receiver of the promise attached to the Scapular is, to my mind, a pledge of the future conversion of that nation.

Servant of God Augustine of the Blessed Sacrament
Hermann Cohen

Lecture at Malines (3 September 1864)

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This close-up photo shows the monumental reliquary of St. Simon Stock in the chapel of the Carmelite priory in Aylesford, England. Image credit: British Province of Carmelites / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Do I believe there can be “danger or excess” in loving Our Lady as God exalts her?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#BlessedVirgin #BrownScapular #CarmeliteOrder #Catholic #Catholics #conversion #England #HermannCohen #Mary #PriorGeneral #scapular #StSimonStock

Quote of the day, 1 April: Hermann Cohen

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me” (John 7:37).

Yesterday, my brothers, I begged alms of you in the name of Jesus Christ. Today I come in the name of Mary to ask for the bread of charity for these little orphans, whom devout women have so graciously welcomed.

I trust that you will not regret the appeal I make to you in the name of the Mother of orphans and the protector of the poor…

In Savoy, there is a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Waters. There, Mary shows herself the protector of all who come to seek healing from the waters of our thermal springs.

Ah! how many have found both life of the soul and life of the body in that blessed sanctuary!

… Would that in every place where people go in search of healing, there might also be a place of pilgrimage and a safeguard—a refuge to preserve the virtue of young girls and to draw them away from pleasures as harmful to the soul as they are to the body…

Yes, all of you, my brothers, who send your dear ones to seek health at the healing springs of our mountains, commend them to Our Lady of the Waters, that she may pour out upon them not only the medicinal waters but also the spiritual waters of grace.

Mary, Queen of the waters of nature and the spiritual waters of grace—this is the theme of my appeal.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

From his “Second appeal on behalf of an orphanage for young girls”

Note: The chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Eaux (Our Lady of the Waters), referenced by Father Cohen, was located approximately 20 km from Aix-les-Bains in Savoy. Founded in 1852 by Abbé Humbert Pillet, a canon of the cathedral of Chambéry, it became a sanctuary where many sought physical and spiritual healing. The shrine was officially inaugurated on 27 July 1856 by Bishop Étienne Marilley of Lausanne and Geneva.

Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint Sacrement 2020, Qui nous fera voir le bonheur? : sermons et autres textes, ed. S-M Morgain, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Warm and serene spring waters by 박정원 (Park Jung Won) via Flickr (Some rights reserved)

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Where do you go to seek healing? Share your story or intentions in the comments.

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #grace #healing #HermannCohen #ServantOfGod #VirginMary #water

Quote of the day, 22 November: Hermann Cohen

“I have finished with the world forever…”

Servant of God Hermann Cohen

At this stage in his story, Hermann Cohen, the recent convert, now intended to clear the debts he had incurred in his gambling days, and these were quite considerable. To achieve this aim, he resumed giving piano lessons.

At the same time, Cohen continued to join his friends in weekly nocturnal adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Since his conversion [May 1847] and even before his baptism [28 August 1847], Cohen had expressed to friends the desire to dedicate his life wholly to God as soon as he was free to do so. It would take him two years to reach that point. It was a difficult period for him.

Cohen became involved with helping the poor through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul founded by his contemporary Frédéric Ozanam. Cohen found this work a great source of inspiration while he prepared to enter a religious order. He subsequently supported the society by making appeals for them and using his musical talents to give fund-raising concerts for the poor.

At this point in his life, Cohen began to compose music for a collection of hymns that were written by a friend of his. These were called, “Praise of Mary.” and turned out to be a successful venture as the hymns proved very popular.

Cohen needed to give a final concert to pay off all his debts. It was a resounding success. Some of his earlier concerts had not been well prepared.

A Marist friend, Father Reculon, who accompanied him to this last concert, tells us that there was thunderous applause at the final curtain. He added that if the audience had known this was the last time they would hear Cohen’s glorious interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, and Chopin, their enthusiasm would have broken all bounds.

As for Cohen, he rejoined his friend in the dressing room of St. Cecilia’s Hall and threw out his arms in the dramatic gesture of the romantic.

“Ah,” he exclaimed, “I have finished with the world forever; with what joy, after my final note, I took my bow and bade it adieu.”

Timothy Tierney, O.C.D.

Chapter 6: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross

Note: Biographer Father Tierney provides details concerning Hermann Cohen’s transition from the concert stage to religious life. Although we don’t know the precise date, Cohen’s writings indicate that his famous conversion took place in May 1847 in the Church of St. Valère. His baptism followed on 28 August 1847 in the Paris chapel of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion.

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: Father Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D., the Servant of God Hermann Cohen seated at the double-manual keyboard. | Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #EucharisticAdoration #farewell #HermannCohen #inspiration #piano #selfDenial #ServantOfGod #vocation

The good Master, our lover, wants to possess my heart for himself alone; and not only my heart, but also my memory, my mind, my thoughts, and my attention. He does not want me to initiate anything, he does not want me to work in his service by preaching or other enterprises.

He wishes me to give myself and remain hidden, silent, forgotten, so that having been in some way a public figure with acclaim from a lot of people, I should now retire into obscurity through self-effacement and disappear as though I were dead so that my life may remain hidden in God with Jesus Christ.

I have never felt called as clearly as this. I enjoy great peace doing this though by nature I am expansive and given to continual activity.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

28 October 1869

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This drawing of Father Augustine-Mary (Hermann) Cohen, O.C.D. is based on a portrait of the Servant of God that appeared in Dr. Boissarie’s medical documentation, Les grandes guérisons de Lourdes (The Great Healings of Lourdes). Father Cohen’s story appears in the section devoted to “Diseases of the Eyes.” Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/10/27/cohen-28oc69/

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #Call #GodAlone #heart #HermannCohen #hidden #mind #ServantOfGod #solitude

I would like you to live totally by the Eucharist. May he be the source of your thoughts, feelings, words and deeds. May he be the light that guides you, your inspiration, your model and your constant preoccupation.

As Magdalen shed tears and poured perfume over the feet of Jesus, may you never tire of offering your prayers, aspirations and gifts before the tabernacle.

I wish the Eucharist to be for you a fire of love, a burning fire, into which you can throw yourself so as to emerge as a flame with love and generosity.

May the altar where Jesus sacrifices himself, also receive your sacrifices, so that with him you may become a victim of love, whose odor of sweetness rises before the throne of the eternal.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Various spiritual counsels (excerpt)

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: First Mass, a photo by Jerome Stevenson, captures a solemn moment between two brothers. One has just been ordained and the other is still a seminarian who has just assisted at his brother’s first Mass. The photo was taken on 24 December 2006 in Rome. Image credit: Jerome Stevenson / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/10/21/cohen-vieeuch/

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #Eucharist #fireOfLove #HermannCohen #Jesus #ServantOfGod #victimOfLove

It appears that in April 1849, Cohen made up his mind to enter the Carmelite Order.

In doing so, he was aware that his friend de Cuers would feel let down by this development; Hermann was leaving him to shoulder responsibility for the nocturnal adoration group on his own. He tried to reassure de Cuers on this point.

And it appears from letters Cohen wrote to his friends that he wished to become a priest precisely to support that movement. After all, Marie-Thérèse Dubouché’s group of adorers of the Blessed Sacrament was affiliated to Carmel, and Cohen had the same idea for a men’s group. From the beginning, he had the needs of the adoration group very much at heart and wanted to ensure its success.

Cohen arrived in Agen at 2:30 p.m. on July 19, the day on which Carmelites keep the vigil of a feast in honour of the prophet Elijah, who has special significance for the order. They were at that moment reciting vespers for the feast.

Dominic [Arbizu y Munarriz, O.C.D.], the superior, interviewed him, and Cohen asked to make an eight-day retreat. He wrote to his friend de Cuers, “St. Teresa will be my mother, the scapular my habit, a room eight feet square my universe. Yes I am so happy for I feel I’m doing God’s will.”

At the end of the retreat, rather than pack up and leave, he approached Dominic.

“I ask a great favour, Father.”

“What is it, my son?” asked Dominic.

“I wish to stay here in Carmel and be clothed in the holy habit.”

“Unfortunately, my son,” replied Dominic, “that is beyond my powers to grant. Our Constitutions and the apostolic decrees formally forbid admittance to the novitiate of someone recently converted from Judaism.”

Not to be put off, Cohen interjected, “Oh, Father, try to get that requirement dispensed; for I know well that God wishes me to be in Carmel.”

“Very well,” said Dominic. “Just go to Le Broussey, and I’ll do what I can.”

Servant of God Hermann Cohen
Father Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D.

Note: Count Raymond de Cuers and Marie-Thérèse Dubouché were Cohen’s colleagues and collaborators in the establishment and eventual expansion of perpetual adoration in Paris in the 1840s. Father Dominic, a friar from Navarre, restored the Discalced Carmelites in France beginning in Bordeaux in 1840, the first foundation since the French Revolution.

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: At the Discalced Carmelite convent at Czerna, Poland, the friars gather with lighted candles to sing the Salve Regina before the image of the Mother of God. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/19/cohen-19jul49/

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #DiscalcedCarmelites #Elijah #friends #HermannCohen #perpetualAdoration #persistance #vocations

My dear friends in Jesus Christ,

I have just received a fresh token of Our Lady’s tender love for her children, and I am really happy to tell you about it.

Since last year, my sight was growing weaker due to fatigue. I spent the last six months in that lovely solitude of the desert in the Carmel at Tarasteix. There I had an unexpected attack of ophthalmia, and I was advised to go to Bordeaux to consult a specialist. About a month before that, I was banned from reading.

The specialist thoroughly examined my eyes and found them in a bad state—it was a complicated case. I was threatened with glaucoma and the loss of my sight. The doctor said inflammation was inevitable, and I would have to undergo an operation to excise the iris—an operation pioneered by Doctor Greafe of Berlin, the same man who treated my brother Louis.

When I left Bordeaux, I had to wear dark glasses with biconvex lenses, a green eyeshade, and take other precautions as well. Any light was unbearable, even that of a candle. It was very painful to try to read anything.

At this point, someone suggested that I make a novena to Our Lady of Lourdes, who had already cured several people of blindness. This suggestion appealed to me and all the more since I did not look forward to an operation, which in any event might not be successful.

I recalled that it was twenty-two years since Our Lady had obtained for me from the Lord of the Eucharist, a cure far more important than that of my bodily eyes.

The novena began on October 24, the feast of St. Raphael who had cured Tobit of his blindness. I bathed my eyes every day in water brought from the miraculous grotto, and I prayed to my Immaculate Mother as did a lot of other people.

On the sixth day of the novena, I walked from our house in Bagnères to Lourdes as I thought this was the best way to do the pilgrimage. In fact, already at Bagnères, I felt an improvement in my eyes each day of the novena as soon as the Lourdes water touched them. I even made a point of checking this improvement through the ophthalmoscope so that the doctor could see that the congestion of the visual organs was gradually diminishing—and I used nothing but Lourdes water.

Finally, the last day, which was the feast of All Saints, I arrived at the grotto itself close to the spring. My pain was gone as well as all the symptoms of the illness.

Since that day, I have been able to read and write as much as I like without glasses and without precautions, without effort and without fatigue. I can look at the sun or at gaslight or candlelight without feeling the slightest discomfort—and I have got my greatest wish—to continue my life as a hermit at our desert.

So, I am completely and totally cured! It is my inmost conviction that this cure is a miracle due to the intercession of Our Blessed Lady.

So for that reason, I need to proclaim in public as much as I can the goodness of the heart of Mary. I ask all of you who love our dear Mother to thank God for me, and I entreat all of you who are suffering to go to her with full confidence because no one has ever invoked her in vain.

Servant of God Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament
(Hermann Cohen)

6 November 1868
Bagnères-de-Bigorre

Note: Translator and editor Fr. Timothy Tierney, O.C.D. noted that medical science confirmed Cohen’s inmost conviction that he was miraculously cured at Lourdes. Here is what Dr. Gustave Boissarie said: “Among the events, which took place between 1868 and 1871, four have caught my attention particularly. One of the first cures to be published in the Annals of Lourdes is that of Father Hermann. Quite ill, he went to Bordeaux to consult a well-known specialist who formally diagnosed the presence of glaucoma and proposed the excision of the iris. On his return from Bordeaux, the illness deteriorated every day.” Dr. Boissarie repeats the train of events mentioned by Cohen himself and concludes, “We are not accustomed to cures as complete and instantaneous as this. They are quite outside the rules and traditions of our art. For my own part, I don’t know how to contest or interpret this happening.”

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This drawing of Father Augustine-Mary (Hermann) Cohen, O.C.D. is based on a portrait of the Servant of God that appeared in Dr. Boissarie’s medical documentation, Les grandes guérisons de Lourdes (The Great Healings of Lourdes). Father Cohen’s story appears in the section devoted to “Diseases of the Eyes.” Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/06/07/cohen-healing/

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #Bordeaux #disease #eyes #healing #HermannCohen #light #Lourdes #OurLadyOfLourdes #reading #ServantOfGod #water

Quote of the day, 2 June: Hermann Cohen

Faith shows us how to find happiness in God and in Jesus Christ God’s son. It is a mystery which pride cannot grasp. But to find Jesus Christ one must watch and pray. Scripture says, “Happy is the one who watches at the doors day and night” [cf. Prov 8:34] that is to say, who watches at the door of his heart to find Jesus Christ.

Faith shows us God’s goodness in Jesus Christ his Son. That’s a mystery which pride cannot penetrate. And the thing that proves that this truth comes from God is the fact that humankind does not invent something which it does not understand!

When I did not believe in Jesus Christ, a time when I was lost in the darkness of error, of night, of deep anguish, Jesus Christ sent peace and calm into my heart and the wisdom that replaced error on the horizon of my understanding. Whatever is not carried on in the world in the name of Jesus Christ cannot be wise for he is the source of wisdom.

The seraphic St. Teresa sought in prayer the eternal light which illumined her. So, pray, ask and you will receive this intoxicating wine of immortality which flows from the winepress of prayer. Raise yourselves to the summit of Carmel.

Take part in the sacred banquet of the poor to which the lowly are invited. Eat the bread, drink the wine which I have prepared for you.

By prayer we humble ourselves, we contemplate the distance which separates us from God. Prayer imparts faith. Look at the makeup of the person of prayer, there you will read peace and contentment. It is by prayer that we become engaged and captivated by the divine will which is true freedom.

Let us not confuse freedom with license. Freedom is the absence of all obstacles that can hamper the will in the accomplishment of good. Those obstacles are our passions. The divine will is directed to goodness and those who bend under the sacred yoke of that joyous will which is true freedom, fly to God in complete openness.

Faith is acquired through prayer which, united to faith, imparts peace, love, wisdom, light, freedom—all of which are contained in Jesus Christ.

Servant of God Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Sermon in Bordeaux Cathedral, 1852 (excerpts)

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This detail from the east window of Corpus Christi Church in Brixton, located in the Archdiocese of Southwark within the London Borough of Lambeth, was beautifully captured by photographer Father Lawrence Lew, O.P. The phrase Laudate Dominum omnes gentes is the opening line of Psalm 117 (or Psalm 116 in the Vulgate). Venerable Anne of Jesus intoned this psalm when founding the first Carmel in France. Similarly, Blessed Constance, the novice from Compiègne, intoned this same psalm as she led the procession of her sister martyrs to the guillotine. Image credit: Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

I have not seen Our Lady but I experience the same sensations at the grotto that I received at my conversion.

Servant of God Hermann Cohen
Augustine-Mary of the Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D.

While Hermann Cohen was engrossed with the foundations at Tarasteix and Lyon in the summer of 1858, his friend, the famous Ultramontane lawyer and journalist Louis Veuillot was on a visit to the health spa at Bagnères. He was extremely influential and something of a prize-fighter in the conservative Catholic cause.

Like Cohen, Veuillot experienced a deep conversion from an irreligious lifestyle some years previously. He passed through Lourdes during the month of July and spoke to the Abbé Peyramale, Bernadette’s parish priest. After initial hostility, the priest had been won over by Bernadette’s sincerity, as had the local bishop and two others.

Veuillot interviewed Bernadette and was deeply impressed with her. He called on Cohen, and they were both disposed to believe in the apparitions. Both were afterward to defend Lourdes—Veuillot in his frequent articles in the Catholic newspaper L’Univers of which he was editor, and Cohen at the grotto itself, by leading the first pilgrimage there.

Accompanied by Abbé Rozies of Tarasteix, on September 20, 1858—just two months after the final apparition—Cohen led hundreds of people in front of the grotto, although it was still enclosed behind barricades and access was forbidden by the civil authorities.

[Renowned Mariologist René] Laurentin writes,

“This musician, a convert from Judaism, whom many called a saint, had stirred up great excitement in Lourdes with his loud and hearty rendition of the Magnificat, and one of the psalms, and then by preaching at the forbidden grotto. He had made an impression on Bernadette. In February 1865, when she received his picture, she announced. ‘I’ve really wished to have this.’”

Timothy Tierney, O.C.D.

Chapter 10, Hermann Cohen and St. Bernadette Soubirous (1858)

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: This stunning image of Our Lady of Lourdes was captured by Pierre Vincent, the official photographer of the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. Image credit: Sanctuaire Notre Dame de Lourdes / Pierre Vincent (Used by kind permission of the photographer)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/30/mdj2024-ep30/

#apparition #AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #conversion #convert #HermannCohen #history #inspiration #Jewish #LouisVeuillot #Lourdes #pilgrimage #StBernadette

There may still be some who, from deference to the naturally staid, impassive character of the English, would counsel Catholics to maintain a certain reserve in their devotion to Mary, as though, indeed, there were any other than Mary who was to crush the head of error; as though there could be danger or excess where God has so wondrously surpassed Himself: can the love of Catholics for Mary ever rise to such a height, or can they honour her with glory so sublime, as that to which God Himself has chosen to exalt her?

As if this filial homage could be out of place in England, the birth-place of the devotion of the Holy Scapular, the favoured spot to which the Blessed Virgin came, bringing from heaven that pledge of salvation, to bestow it upon a Religious, not of Italy or of Spain, but on an English Saint, born and bred in England, English in his labors, in his mission, and in his election as General of the Carmelite Order.

This preference for England as the scene of that revelation, and the choice of an Englishman, St. Simon Stock, as the receiver of the promise attached to the Scapular is, to my mind, a pledge of the future conversion of that nation.

Servant of God Augustine of the Blessed Sacrament
Hermann Cohen

Lecture at Malines (excerpt)

Summary of Teaching and Resources about the Scapular

The term “scapular” is frequently mentioned on the websites of both the Carmelite (O.Carm.) and Discalced Carmelite (O.C.D.) generalates, reflecting its deep spiritual and historical significance within the Carmelite family.

• Symbol of Mary’s Protection: The scapular is a sign of Mary’s motherly love and protection, symbolizing a commitment to live like her, embodying her virtues and dedication to Christ.
• Historical Context: According to tradition, the Brown Scapular devotion began with a vision reported by St. Simon Stock in the 13th century, where Mary promised protection to those who wore it.
• Rituals and Enrolment: The Carmelites have specific rites for blessing and enrolling members in the Scapular, including prayers and rituals that emphasize its significance as a sign of consecration to Mary and unity with the Carmelite Order.
• Spiritual Meaning: The scapular represents a commitment to follow Jesus and emulate Mary’s example, emphasizing openness to God’s will, continuous prayer, and living a life of service and charity.

The Popes Speak About the Scapular

Pope Pius XII: Pope Pius XII highlighted the significance of the Scapular as a “Habit or Garment of Mary.” He emphasized that the Scapular is a sign and a pledge of the protection of the Mother of God. He encouraged the faithful to see in the Scapular a mirror of humility and purity, a lesson in modesty and simplicity, and a symbol of their prayers for divine assistance. He stated, “The Holy Scapular, which may be called the Habit or Garment of Mary, is a Sign and a Pledge of the protection of the Mother of God”​ (Letter of Pope Pius XII on the Scapular)​.

Pope St. John Paul II: Pope St. John Paul II had a lifelong devotion to the Brown Scapular. He wore it from a young age and even during his emergency surgery following the assassination attempt in 1981. He spoke about the Scapular as a symbol of Mary’s constant protection and a call to live a Christian life through prayer, sacraments, and acts of mercy. He stated, “Two truths are evoked by the sign of the Scapular: on the one hand, the constant protection of the Blessed Virgin… on the other, the awareness that devotion to Her… must become a ‘habit,’ that is, a permanent orientation of one’s own Christian conduct”​ (Message of John Paul II to the Carmelite Family)​.

Specific Resources

For those who wish to join the scapular confraternity and learn about the blessing and imposition rituals, the Carmelites (O.Carm.) official website offers comprehensive, authorized resources:

• The Brown Scapular Confraternity
• Rite for the Blessing and Enrollment

Additionally, the Discalced Carmelite friars (O.C.D.) also provide valuable information:

• Catechesis on the Brown Scapular
• The Brown Scapular Explained by a Discalced Carmelite Priest

These resources provide detailed instructions and spiritual guidance for those interested in the scapular devotion.

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: Saint Simon Stock receives the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, ceiling fresco, Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Marostica, Italy. Image credit: isaac74 / Adobe Stock

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/16/mdj2024-ep16/

#BlessedVirgin #BrownScapular #CarmeliteOrder #Catholic #Catholics #conversion #England #HermannCohen #Mary #PriorGeneral #scapular #StSimonStock #TimothyTierneyOCD

You must try to maintain a deep peace in yourself and not allow yourself to become troubled. Ask Jesus to command the winds and the storms and bring about calm and tranquility in inner life. The world cannot give peace. Jesus the Lamb of God has come so that we may have it abundantly.

But of course we shall only have perfect peace in heaven. Here below where we are only in transit, we must keep aspiring to that peace which awaits us in the arms of God. One day we shall fall asleep and rest, as the Psalmist says, in Him who Himself is eternal peace.

Servant of God Hermann Cohen
(Augustine of the Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D.)

Various spiritual counsels

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: Latvian photographer Aleksejs Bergmanis captured this view of sunset above a sea of clouds in October 2017. Image credit: Aleksejs Bermanis / Pexels (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/09/cohen-peace/

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #calm #heaven #HermannCohen #interiorLife #Jesus #LambOfGod #peace #rest #ServantOfGod #storm #world

"I thrill with emotion when I think of it—at Benediction on the Feast of the Epiphany, He suffered Himself, in His measureless mercy, to be carried in my unworthy hands. Judge if I did not tremble, as I placed for Exposition on the Altar, the Creator of the Universe, held in my feeble hands… O, love of God!"
#ServantOfGod #HermannCohen

#Catholic #Carmelite #quotes

"I thrill with emotion when I think of it—at Benediction on the Feast of the Epiphany, He suffered Himself, in His measureless mercy, to be carried in my unworthy hands. Judge if I did not tremble, as I placed for Exposition on the Altar, the Creator of the Universe, held in my feeble hands… O, love of God!"
#ServantOfGod #HermannCohen

#Catholic #Carmelite #quotes

"I thrill with emotion when I think of it—at Benediction on the Feast of the Epiphany, He suffered Himself, in His measureless mercy, to be carried in my unworthy hands. Judge if I did not tremble, as I placed for Exposition on the Altar, the Creator of the Universe, held in my feeble hands… O, love of God!"
#ServantOfGod #HermannCohen

#Catholic #Carmelite #quotes