Thursday 29 August 2013

Condolence: Dom Ambrose's funeral at Mt St Bernard

Southey_Ambrose_w400
Dom Ambros

Peter,
Thank you for the kind memories of Dom Ambrose.
....
Donald 


----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Peter ....
To: Donald <......
Sent: Wednesday, 28 August 2013, 15:46
Subject:
Dom Ambrose's funeral at Mt St Bernard

 Dear Donald,
. . .
I . . . am very sorry to be missing Dom Ambrose's funeral at Mt St Bernard. I would definitely have attended. I was actually at the Community Mass there last Saturday. I noticed for the first time that Dom Ambrose was not in his usual place, but in a wheel chair behind the altar. He often came to the back of the shop on a Saturday morning for a few minutes after Mass. I had the pleasure of sharing the same birthday as him, a little coincidence that we sometimes laughed about. I also helped him occasionally with some computer work, especially when he was librarian for a few years. He was a really good man, and will be missed. May he rest in peace.
. . .
Peter


Wednesday 28 August 2013

The Beheading of St John the Baptist 29 August



Thursday, 29 August 2013   

John the Baptist - 
The Beheading of St John the Baptist
Is 49:1b-2
The Lord called me before I was born, from my mother’s womb he pronounced my name.
He made my mouth a sharp sword, and hid me in the shadow of his hand.
He made me into a sharpened arrow, and concealed me in his quiver.

From a homily by St. Bede the Venerable, priest
(Hom 23: CCL 122, 354, 356-357)
Precursor of Christ in birth and death
As forerunner of our Lord’s birth, preaching and death, the blessed John showed in his struggle a goodness worthy of the sight of heaven. In the words of Scripture: Though in the sight of men he suffered torments, his hope is full of immortality. We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendour of his own blood. We do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord.
There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say: I am the truth? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ.
Through his birth, preaching and baptising, he bore witness to the coming birth, preaching and baptism of Christ, and by his own suffering he showed that Christ also would suffer.
Such was the quality and strength of the man who accepted the end of this present life by shedding his blood after the long imprisonment. He preached the freedom of heavenly peace, yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men; he was locked away in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light of life and deserved to be called a bright and shining lamp by that Light itself, which is Christ. John was baptised in his own blood, though he had been privileged to baptise the Redeemer of the world, to hear the voice of the Father above him, and to see the grace of the Holy Spirit descending upon him. But to endure temporal agonies for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men as John; rather it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy would be his reward.
Since death was ever near at hand through the inescapable necessity of nature, such men considered it a blessing to embrace it and thus gain the reward of eternal life by acknowledging Christ’s name. Hence the apostle Paul rightly says: You have been granted the privilege not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake. He tells us why it is Christ’s gift that his chosen ones should suffer for him: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

Concluding Prayer:  O God, it was your will that John the Baptist should be your Son’s forerunner in both birth and death. 
    Just as he fell a martyr, witness to truth and righteousness,  
    so may we fight fiercely to proclaim your teaching.   
Through our Lord . . .



Saint Augustine, bishop, confessor and doctor, Memorial

Breviary

Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Wednesday of the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

SECOND READING

From the Confessions of Saint Augustine, bishop
(Lib. 7, 10, 18; 10, 27: CSEL 33, 157-163, 255)

O eternal truth, true love, and beloved eternity

Urged to reflect upon myself, I entered under your guidance into the inmost depth of my soul. I was able to do so because you were my helper. On entering into myself I saw, as it were with the eye of the soul, what was beyond the eye of the soul, beyond my spirit: your immutable light. It was not the ordinary light perceptible to all flesh, nor was it merely something of greater magnitude but still essentially akin, shining more clearly and diffusing itself everywhere by its intensity. No it was something entirely distinct, something altogether different from all these things: and it did not rest above my mind as oil on the surface of water, nor was it above me as Heaven is above the Earth. This light was above me because it has made me; I was below it because I was created by it. He who has come to know the truth knows this light.

O Eternal truth, true love and beloved eternity. You are my God. To you do I sigh day and night. When I first came to know you, you drew me to yourself so that I might see that there were things for me to see, but that I myself was not yet ready to see them. Meanwhile you overcame the weakness of my vision, sending forth most strongly the beams of your light, and I trembled at once with love and dread. I learned that I was in a region unlike yours and far distant from you, and I thought I heard your voice from on high: “I am the food of grown men; grow then, and you will feed on me. Nor will you change me into yourself like bodily food, but you will be changed into me.”

I sought a way to gain the strength which I needed to enjoy you. But I did not find it until I embraced the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who is above all, God blessed for ever. He was calling me and saying: I am the way of truth, I am the life. He was offering the food which I lacked the strength to take, the food he had mingled with our flesh. For the Word became flesh, that your wisdom, by which you created all things, might provide milk for us children.

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

DOM AMBROSE SOUTHEY funeral Mass

     http://www.ocso.org/net/drcty_m.htm
 

Funeral rites for Dom Ambrose

Funeral rites for DOM AMBROSE SOUTHEY
Abbot General of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance
from 1974 to 1990

We are advised that the funeral Mass for Dom Ambrose will be celebrated at the monastery of Mount Saint Bernard this Thursday, 29 August, at 11.00 a.m. The Mass will be presided by Mgr Malcolm McMahon, O.P., Bishop of the diocese of Nottingham (Great Britain), in the presence of Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, Abbot General of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance.

All Trappist communities are especially united in prayer with the brothers of Mount St Bernard, to bid a last adieu to one who devoted himself for so many years to the service of the brothers and sisters of the Order.

Sunday 25 August 2013

Night Office J.H. Newman 25 August 2013 Ephes. 4:24

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Vigils. Second Reading  From a sermon by John Henry Newman  

http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume5/sermon13.html
A Word in Season, Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours VI
Augustinian Press 1995

Sermon 13. The State of Salvation Seasons - Epiphany

"That ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Ephes. iv. 24.
[Note 1] {178} THESE words express very strongly a doctrine which is to be found in every part of the New Testament, that the Gospel covenant is the means of introducing us into a state of life so different from that in which we were born, and should otherwise continue, that it may not unfitly be called a new creation. As that which is created differs from what is not yet created, so the Christian differs from the natural man. He is brought into a new world, and, as being in that new world, is invested with powers and privileges which he absolutely had not in the way of nature. By nature his will is enslaved to sin, his soul is full of darkness, his conscience is under the wroth of God; peace, hope, love, faith, purity, he has not; nothing of heaven is in him; nothing spiritual, nothing of light and life. But in Christ all these blessings are given: the will and the {179} power; the heart and the knowledge; the light of faith, and the obedience of faith. As far as a being can be changed without losing his identity, as far as it is sense to say that an existing being can be new created, so far has man this gift when the grace of the Gospel has its perfect work and its maturity of fruit in him. A brute differs less from a man, than does man, left to himself with his natural corruption allowed to run its course, differ from man fully formed and perfected by the habitual indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Hence, in the text, the Apostle speaks of the spiritual state which Christ has bought for us, as being a "new creature in righteousness and true holiness." Elsewhere he says, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. Elsewhere, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Elsewhere, "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Elsewhere, "We are buried with Him by baptism into death; that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." [2 Cor. v. 17. Rom. xii. 2. Col. iii. 3. Rom. vi. 4.]

What then is this new state in which a Christian finds himself, compared with the state of nature? It is worth the inquiry.

Now, first, there ought to be no difficulty in our views about it so far as this: that there is a certain new state, and that a state of salvation; and that Christ came to bring into it all whom He had chosen out of the world. Christ "gave Himself for our sins (says St. Paul), that {180} He might deliver us from the present evil world." He "hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." He came "to gather together in one the children of God, which are scattered abroad." "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." [Gal. i. 4. Col. i. 18. John xi. 52; i. 12.] 

This is most clear. There can be no doubt at all that there is a certain state of grace now vouchsafed to us, who are born in sin and the children of wrath, such that those who are to be saved hereafter are (to speak generally) those, and those only, who are placed in that saving state here. I am not going on to the question, whether or not there is a visible Church; but I insist only on this, that it has not seemed fit to Almighty God to transplant His elect at once from this world and from a state of nature to the eternal happiness of heaven. He does not suffer them to die as they were born, and then, on death, change them outwardly and inwardly; but He brings them into a saving state here, preparatory to heaven;—a state which the Catechism calls a "state of salvation;" and which St. Luke denotes, when he says, "The Lord added daily to the Church such as should be saved;" [Acts ii. 47.] that is, persons called to salvation, placed in a saving state.
No one ought to deny this; though in this day, when all kinds of error abound, some persons seem to have taken up a notion that the world was fully reconciled all at once by Christ's death at the very time of it, and wholly transferred into a state of acceptance; so that there is no new state necessary now for those who shall {181} ultimately be benefited by it; that they have but to do their duty, and they will be rewarded accordingly; whereas it does certainly appear, from such texts of Scripture as have been quoted, that there is a certain state, or kingdom of Christ, into which all must enter here who shall be saved hereafter. We cannot attain to heaven hereafter, without being in this new kingdom here; we cannot escape from the miseries and horrors of the Old Adam, except by being brought into this Kingdom, as into an asylum, and there remaining.

And further, this new state is one of "righteousness and true holiness," as the text speaks. Christ brings us into it by coming to us through His Spirit; and, as His Spirit is holy, we are holy, if we are in the state of grace. Christ is present in that heart which He visits with His grace. So that to be in His kingdom is to be in righteousness, to live in obedience, to breathe, as it were, an atmosphere of truth and love.

Now it is necessary to insist upon this also: for here again some men go wrong; and while they go so far as to acknowledge that there is a new state, or kingdom, into which souls must be brought, in order to salvation, yet they consider it as a state, not of holiness and righteousness, but merely or mainly of acceptance with God. It has been maintained by some persons, that human nature, even when regenerate, is not, and cannot be, really holy; nay, that it is idle to suppose that, even with the aid of the Holy Spirit, it can do any thing really good in any degree; that our best actions are {182} sins; and that we are always sinning, not only in slighter matters, but so as to need pardon in all we do, in the same sense in which we needed it when we were as yet unregenerate; and, consequently, that it is vain to try to be holy and righteous, or, rather, that it is presumptuous.
Now, of course it is plain, that even the best of men are full of imperfections and failings; so far is undeniable. But, consider, by nature we are in a state of death. Now, is this the state of our hearts under the Gospel? Surely not; for, while "to be carnally minded is death," "to be spiritually minded is life and peace." I mean, that the state of salvation in which we stand is not one in which "our righteousnesses are" what the prophet calls "filthy rags," but one in which we can help sinning unto death,—can help sinning in the way men do sin when left in a state of nature. If we do so sin, we cease to be in that state of salvation; we fall back into a state resembling our original state of wrath, and must pass back again from wrath to grace (if it be so), as we best may, in such ways as God has appointed: whereas it is not an uncommon notion at this time, that a man may be an habitual sinner, and yet be in a state of salvation, and in the kingdom of grace. And this doctrine many more persons hold than think they do; not in words, but in heart. They think that faith is all in all; that faith, if they have it, blots out their sins as fast as they commit them. They sin in distinct acts in the morning,—their faith wipes all out; at noon,—their faith still avails; and in the evening,—still the same. Or they remain {183} contentedly in sinful habits or practices, under the dominion of sin, not warring against it, in ignorance what is sin and what is not; and they think that the only business of a Christian is, not to be holy, but to have faith, and to think and speak of Christ; and thus, perhaps, they are really living, whether by habit or by act, in extortion, avarice, envy, rebellious pride, self-indulgence, or worldliness, and neither know nor care to know it. If they sin in habits, they are not aware of these at all; if by acts, instead of viewing them one and all together, they take them one by one, and set their faith against each separate act. So far has this been carried, that some men of name in the world have, before now, laid it down as a great and high principle, that there is no mortal sin but one, and that is want of faith; and have hereby meant, not that he who commits mortal sin cannot be said to have faith, but that he who has faith cannot be said to commit mortal sin; or, to speak more clearly, they have, in fact, defined a state of salvation to be nothing more or less than a state in which our sins are forgiven; a state of mere acceptance, not of substantial holiness. Persons who hold these opinions, consider that the great difference between a state of nature and a state of salvation is, that, in a state of nature when we sin, we are not forgiven (which is true); but that, in a state of salvation, when we sin, our sins are forgiven us, because we are in that state. On the other hand, I would maintain from scripture, that a state of salvation is so far from being a state in which sins of every kind are forgiven, that it is a state in which there are not sins of every kind to forgive; and that, if {184} a man commit them, so far from being forgiven by his state, he falls at once from his state by committing them; so far from being justified by faith, he, for that very reason, has not faith whereby to justify him. I say, our state of grace is a state of holiness; not one in which we may be pardoned, but in which we are obedient. He who acts unworthily of it, is not sheltered by it, but forfeits it. It is a state in which power is given us to act rightly, and therefore punishment falls on us if we act wrongly.
This is plain, from Scripture, on many reasons; of which I will here confine myself to one or two.

This then is the Christian's great aim, viz. not to come short after grace given him. This forms his peculiar danger, and his special {186} dread. 

Of course he is not secure from peril of gross sin; of course he is continually defiled with sins of infirmity; but whereas, how to be forgiven is the main inquiry for the natural man, so, how to fulfill his calling, how to answer to grace given, how to increase his Lord's money, how to attain, this is the great problem of man regenerate. Faith gained him pardon; but works gain him a reward.

...for the complete Sermon, see Link
  http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume5/sermon13.html

Raymond Homily Sunday, 25 August 2013


Fr. Raymond


Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 13:22-30.

"Sir, will there be only a few saved?" v. 30 ...


Sun 21 C 2013
“Sir, will there be only a few saved?” Jesus’ answer to this awkward question more or less amounted to: “That’s none of your business”.

We can presume that the reason for this was that if the answer was ‘yes, only a very few will be saved’ then we would all be very much discouraged and even perhaps despairing, knowing that we could hardly call ourselves exceptionally virtuous.  On the other hand, if the answer was ‘no, the vast majority of souls will be saved’ then we might become presumptious and not bother trying to live a very good life since we could be reasonably sure that we were in much the same boat as most people and therefore sure of salvation.

But Jesus points to ‘the narrow door’ and indicates that we must strive, we must try hard, to enter there.  Jesus sums it up in another place where he says that ‘ the kingdom of God suffers violence and it is the violent who conquer it’.  The attitude to the kingdom of heaven that Jesus wants us to adopt is not one of numbers; how many will be saved? but one of striving; one of trying to love the Lord our God with all our mind and heart and soul; one of longing and hope.  Christian tradition depicts the virtue of Hope as an anchor that the soul casts up into the clouds to catch a hold of heaven for us so that we can haul ourselves up there by it.
The more we hope for it the more surely do we attain it.


Saturday 24 August 2013

The Death of Dom Ambrose (90) R.I.P Saturday 24 August 2013

Funeral rites for Dom Ambrose

Funeral rites for DOM AMBROSE SOUTHEY
Abbot General of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance
from 1974 to 1990

We are advised that the funeral Mass for Dom Ambrose will be celebrated at the monastery of Mount Saint Bernard this Thursday, 29 August, at 11.00 a.m. The Mass will be presided by Mgr Malcolm McMahon, O.P., Bishop of the diocese of Nottingham (Great Britain), in the presence of Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, Abbot General of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance.

All Trappist communities are especially united in prayer with the brothers of Mount St Bernard, to bid a last adieu to one who devoted himself for so many years to the service of the brothers and sisters of the Order.



The Death of Dom Ambrose


THE DEATH OF DOM AMBROSE SOUTHEY
 Abbot General of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance
 1974 to 1990

  D. AmbroseD. Ambrose

In the late morning of August 24, 2013, Dom Ambrose Southey died.

Dom Ambrose was born in Whitley Bay (Great Britain). He entered Mount Saint Bernard in 1940 and made solemn profession in 1945 and was ordained a priest in 1948.

He studied Canon Law in Rome from 1951 until 1953. He was named Prior of Mount Saint Bernard and elected abbot of that Community, 9 July, 1959.

He was elected Abbot General of the Order May 7, 1974, and remained in office until the General Chapter of 1990. During that Chapter Dom Ambrose presented his resignation from the ministry of Abbot General.
Later he was named Superior ad nutum of Bamenda Abbey (Cameroun) which he served from 1993 until 1996, and Superior ad nutum of Scourmont Abbey (Belgium) 1996 until 1998. Dom Ambrose later accepted the ministry of Chaplain for the Community of Vitorchiano and remained there until he returned definitively to his community of Stability, Mount Saint Bernard.

He was 90 years old, had been in monastic life for 71 years and 64 years a priest when the Lord called him.

Dom Ambrose is remembered for his generous personal service to all our Communities and his interest in developing the Constitutions of the Order.

D. Ambrose - 2013    
 D. Ambrose - 2013



  1.  
    We are very sorry to announce the death of Dom Ambrose, who died this morning. He was a very dear member of our community: one-time abbot, as well as Abbot General of the OCSO between 1974 and 1990. He was 90 years old. Please pray for him. You can read more about him on the Order's website:
    http://www.ocso.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=655%3Adeces-de-dom-ambrose&catid=37%3Ageneral-news&Itemid=77&lang=en

SAINT BARTHOLOMEW Apostle Feast - a best Blogspot

Saturday, 24 August 2013
SAINT BARTHOLOMEW
Apostle
Feast
This morning I asked for the best blog of Bartolomew, "Bartholomew colour in the Leonardo Last Supper, the best Blogspot Saturday, 24 August 2013".
In our the Leonardo Tapestry, Batrolomew is BLUE.
And to joy, the first Blogspot to come up, Bella Maria Mom . .: Catholic Art Saturday/The Last Supper.
And many thanks to her.

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2011

Catholic Art Saturday/The Last Supper

“The Last Supper” is a 15th century mural painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci began work on The Last Supper in 1495 and completed it in 1498.
Copied from Catholic Icing: "This painting is supposed to be the instant that Jesus says to the disciples "Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me" (Matthew 26:21). Ask your children what they think of the apostle's reactions. Then go over these things:
The apostles are all reacting, but Christ is the calm in the midst of the storm.
There are many symbols of the trinity in the painting- 3 windows behind Jesus, Jesus' arms make him the shape of a triangle, and the apostles are all seated in groups of 3.
In the first group of 3, the apostles all seem surprised- Andrew to the point that his hands are in a "stop" gesture. Bartholomew has stood up so quickly his legs are still crossed.
Peter is holding a knife, foreshadowing his upcoming violence at the garden of Gethsemane.
Judas is holding a bag- symbolizing the bag of silver he will betray Jesus for. His face is utter shock at Jesus' knowledge of his plan.
John seems to be "swooning". The most asked picture about this painting is "Why does John look that way?"
Doubting Thomas, with his finger in the air, indeed looks doubtful!
James the greater seems stunned with his arms in the air, while Philip seems to request an explanation.
Matthew and Jude both look to Simon for an explanation, while he seems unable to provide one."
 
The Last Supper was originally created for Da Vinci’s patron, Duke Ludovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d'Este. The Last Supper can be found at the wall of the dining hall at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy, where it covers the entire back wall. Right below Jesus' feet is the doorway to another room.
Read more details here.
Our Sacristy Tapestry of Leonardo's  Last Supper

Friday 23 August 2013

Our Lady's August 02, 2013 Message

Subject: Medjugorje - Our Lady's August 02, 2013 Message to Mirjana
Peace to all! Below, please find the English translation of Our Lady's
August 02, 2013 message given to Mirjana  
 
Our next mailing will be Our Lady's August 25, 2013 message given to Marija.
God Bless!
Steve and Ana Shawl
The Medjugorje Web
http://www.medjugorje.org
---------------------------------

Medjugorje - Our Lady's August 02, 2013 Message to Mirjana

"Dear children, If only you would open your hearts to me with complete
trust, you would comprehend everything. You would comprehend with how much
love I am calling you; with how much love I desire to change you, to make
you happy; with how much love I desire to make you followers of my Son and
give you peace in the fullness of my Son. You would comprehend the
immeasurable greatness of my motherly love. That is why, my children, pray
because through prayer your faith grows and love is born, the love along
which even the cross is not unendurable because you do not carry it alone.
In union with my Son you glorify the name of the Heavenly Father. Pray, pray
for the gift of love, because love is the only truth: it forgives
everything, it serves everyone and it sees a brother in everyone. My
children, my apostles, great is the trust that the Heavenly Father has given
you through me, His handmaid, to help those who do not know Him, that they
may reconcile with Him and follow Him. That is why I am teaching you love,
because only if you have love will you be able to respond to Him. Again I am
calling you to love your shepherds and to pray that, at this difficult time,
the name of my Son may be glorified under their guidance. Thank you."


For all Our Lady's messages: http://www.medjugorje.org/messagesall.htm

Thursday 22 August 2013

The Coronation of the Virgin Annibale Carracci 22 August Memory

NEWS: 22nd August our special memory of the Laying of the Foundation Stone.
D.O.M. Foundation Stone in Cloister
22 Aug 2013 in deep mist
 Br. S... Asked - D.O.M. Latin Deo Optimo Maximo (to God, the best and the greatest)  

In the DGO (Daily Gospel) of 22 Aug 2013, the illustration displayed  the not viewed before.
The painting was rather  putting off!
For that reason it asks more questions.
Paradoxical, as with the language; "the angels’ arms have verisimilitudinous musculature, as does the Father.  Father and Son are essentially draped nudes, each with a winding cloth that would fall to the floor if they were to stand up.  This shows off their bodies, and Annibale’s technique.  The Son’s muscles are even more life-like than those of the Father and the angels, which makes sense, since he is the one who actually had functioning muscles on earth." The spiritual is more to the understanding in the BGO Commentary from Pope Pius XII.

The Link of the 'Queenship of Mary', below, gives new art enlightenment.

http://dailygospel.org/main.php?language=AM&module=saintfeast&localdate=20130822&id=142&fd=1
The coronation of the Virgin  Annibale Carracci
Queenship of Mary – the best Link
In the Baroque era the scene narrowed down again to present just the main actors.
Annibale Carracci, Coronation of the Virgin,
after 1595, New York, Metropolitan Museum
 

Velazquez, Coronation of the Virgin,
1641-1644, Madrid, Prado



Annibale Carracci
The Coronation of the Virgin
After 1595
Mary is being crowned simultaneously by Son and Father, with the Holy Spirit hovering above the crown.  The Father is made to look like classical representations of Zeus, and he holds a sceptre; he seems little older than the Son.  The three seated figures are on a circular ledge with a back that rises to about shoulder height.  Above them are saints in multitudinous tiers that form a half-dome above the three main figures, perhaps influenced by Dante.  A similar portrait of Heaven as the inside of a sphere is seen in Saraceni’s Paradise.
Below the figures is another modified half-dome of what seem to be fearful figures looking up in supplication.  That they are singing is suggested by open mouths and the hymn-book in the hands of the one in the centre.  The book has the same extraordinarily long leaves seen being used by the heavenly choir in The Vocation of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (Guercino, 1650, in the Metropolitan).  

Like the Carracci Lamentation, the Coronation explores relationships among masses and colours.  The half-dome of saints is somewhat undifferentiated, so that from a few steps away it seems like one orange mass occupying the upper fifth of the painting.  In the big central area we again see big broad sweeps of colour – Mary’s blue cloak, the white cloths draped over Son and Father.  Similarly, Carracci’s brushwork eschews fine details; instead, he achieves representation by the way he puts down one layer of paint over the other.  There is plenty of body to see, and it is carefully observed: the angels’ arms have verisimilitudinous musculature, as does the Father.  Father and Son are essentially draped nudes, each with a winding cloth that would fall to the floor if they were to stand up.  This shows off their bodies, and Annibale’s technique.  The Son’s muscles are even more life-like than those of the Father and the angels, which makes sense, since he is the one who actually had functioning muscles on earth.

"... It developed from the fervent language in early medieval accounts of Mary's bodily assumption into Heaven, in particular Gregory of Tours' Glory of the Martyrs (6th century) and a sermon incorrectly attributed to Saint Jerome. In the latter, Mary enters Heaven as a "glorious queen" and "celestial legions" lead her to her throne". 

Commentary from Pope Pius XII.
QUEENSHIP OF MARY
Memorial
        According to ancient tradition and the sacred liturgy the main principle on which the royal dignity of Mary rests is without doubt her Divine Motherhood. In Holy Writ, concerning the Son whom Mary will conceive, We read this sentence: "He shall be called the Son of the most High, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end,"[Lk I, 32, 33] and in addition Mary is called "Mother of the Lord"; from this it is easily concluded that she is a Queen, since she bore a son who, at the very moment of His conception, because of the hypostatic union of the human nature with the Word, was also as man King and Lord of all things. So with complete justice St. John Damascene could write: "When she became Mother of the Creator, she truly became Queen of every creature." Likewise, it can be said that the heavenly voice of the Archangel Gabriel was the first to proclaim Mary's royal office.