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| November 14th |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-22-2020, 10:27 AM - Forum: November
- Replies (1)
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Saint Josaphat
Archbishop and Martyr
(1584-1623)
Born in 1584 in Vladimir, a city of ancient Poland, Saint Josaphat was the son of Gabriel Kuncewicz. His was a family of honorable Christians of the Greco-Slavic rite, in use among the Russians. His mother took care to raise him in the fear of God, and in his tender heart formed the first longings for virtue. He was never in any way lightheaded, but separated willingly from the games of his companions to pray. He made excellent progress in his studies, always preferring the sacred branches to the profane, and for thirty years he recited each day, without ever failing even once to do so, a large section of the Divine Office which he learned by heart.
At twenty years of age Josaphat deplored the situation of religion in Poland. In 1596, the Ruthenian Church was divided into two contending parties — the Unionates and those who persevered in schism. He saw divisions growing in the Church, and that few were remaining faithful to the Holy See, to safeguard the true orthodoxy and their eastern rites. He studied philosophy and theology under two famous Jesuits, and decided to enter religious life. When his employer, who was childless and wished to keep him, offered him his commerce as his adopted son, he declined that offer without hesitating, and entered the Convent of the Trinity at Vilna, where Basilian religious submissive to the Holy See were residing. He received the religious habit and was professed in 1604.
Saint Josaphat was ordained a priest and began to preach in various churches of the city, bringing back many dissidents to the Union. He was invited also to preach and govern in various regions of the land; he accepted to become head of a monastery at Bytene. He restored there celebrated sanctuaries, built a convent, and converted, among others, one of the most zealous of the dissidents. In 1614 Josaphat's friend Joseph Routski became Archbishop of the city of Vilna, and recalled his holy former companion to that city, confiding the monastery of the Trinity to him. Saint Josaphat never made harsh reproaches, but corrections warmed by a wholly paternal affection. The conversion of the separated brethren continued through the preaching of the one called by the Uniates The Scourge of the Schismatics, whereas the latter called him The Ravisher of Souls.
He became the Archbishop of Polotsk in 1617 at the age of thirty-eight, on the very day when, six years later, he would earn the consecration of blood, November 12th. He restored five major cathedrals and several lesser ones; he aided the poor, stripping himself often of the most necessary objects or funds. He maintained total frugality in his residence; he recovered certain properties retained unjustly by powerful lords of the region, through his mildness of language in the lawcourts, to which he had recourse for that purpose. But he was soon to acquire, in a certain Melece Smotritski, a formidable enemy, who had himself consecrated, in Russia, Archbishop of the same city as Josaphat, with other aspirants to like authority. Despite the opposition of King Sigismond of Poland, who forbade all his subjects to have any communication with the usurper, the latter won adherents. The people of the city of Vitebsk, a little like those of Jerusalem, who in one week's time changed their hosanna's into tolle's, turned toward the newcomers in large numbers, and in an uprising succeeded in giving eighteen wounds to the head of the Archdeacon of the church, and leaving for dead another official, bathed in his blood.
When their Archbishop went there to calm the tumult in 1623, knowing well that his hour had come, in effect he was most cruelly assassinated and his body profaned; he was in his forty-fourth year. His mortal remains were recovered after five days from the waters of a river, and exposed for nine days, constantly emitting a fragrance of roses and lilies. A councillor of Polotsk, where the body was returned, abandoned the schism merely at the sight of the archbishop's beautiful countenance. Many of the parricides struck their breasts, and did likewise. The Archbishop had gone gladly to his death, offering his life that the schism might end; he had said as much beforehand. Four years after his death the author of the troubles, Smotritski, the false archbishop, after many combats made a decisive step and consecrated his life to penance, prayer and the defense of the Union. Such changes of heart are indeed the greatest of miracles, won by the sanctity of the true servants of God.
About five years after Saint Josaphat's martyrdom his body was found intact, though the clothing had rotted away. Again in 1637 it was still white and supple. A beautiful silver reliquary was made for it, with a life-size image of the reclining Saint surmounting it. The body was again exposed intact in 1767. It was eventually taken to the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome. Pope Leo XIII canonized Saint Josaphat in 1867.
Saint Laurence O’Toole
Archbishop of Dublin, Martyr
(1125-1180)
Saint Laurence was the son of the king of Leinster in Ireland, born about the year 1125. His birth caused such great joy to his father, that in thanksgiving, to honor Christ, he pardoned a vassal who was an enemy and even chose him for sponsor of the child. They were stopped on the way to church by a man who was regarded as a prophet, and who told them in verse that the child would be magnificent on earth and glorious in heaven, and that his name must be Laurence. Though the king had decided otherwise, the infant was indeed given that name of predilection.
When only ten years old, his father delivered him up as a hostage to a rival prince who required this gage of his sincerity when there was a question of a treaty of peace, but who treated the child with great inhumanity, leaving him to suffer hunger and cold and other incommodities until his health was nearly ruined. His father, hearing of this, by menaces obliged the tyrant to put him temporarily in the hands of the Bishop of Glendenoch in the county of Wicklow. The holy youth was soon cured and, by his fidelity in corresponding with the divine grace, he grew to be a model of virtues. When his father came for him, he declared he desired to enter into the service of the Church and remain with the good bishop. To this his father willingly agreed.
On the death of the bishop, who was also Abbot of a monastery of the same city, Saint Laurence was chosen Abbot in 1150, though only twenty years old, and doubting his competence. Nonetheless he governed with a paternal spirit, employing all his revenues during a famine in the province, to procure food for the needy, remedies for the sick, and aid of all kinds for the unfortunate. Never did he use his revenues, even when prosperity returned, for anything but care of the poor, repairs for ruined or decrepit churches or the construction of new ones, and the foundation of hospitals. When the see of Glendenoch became vacant once more in 1161, it was Saint Laurence who was chosen to fill it; and although he could not resolve to accept that new dignity, he was obliged soon afterwards to become Archbishop of Dublin, and he was told that to refuse would be to resist the Will of God.
He established a regular life for the Canons of his cathedral, according to the example of Saint Augustine, and he himself followed all the rules with exactitude, sharing their table, their prayer and their silence. Each year he made a retreat of forty days in a cavern a few miles from the city, fasting on bread, water and vegetables. When he came forth afterwards he preached with so much zeal against the disorders of the province, that even hardened hearts could not resist the force of his words.
About the year 1171 Saint Laurence was obliged, for the affairs of his diocese, to go to England to see the king, Henry II, who was then at Canterbury. He was received by the Benedictine monks of Christ Church with the greatest honor and respect. On the following day, as the holy Archbishop was advancing to the altar to officiate, a maniac, who had heard much of his sanctity and who thought it would be a gift to the Church to make of him another martyr in the likeness of Saint Thomas Becket, struck him a violent blow on the head. All present concluded that he was mortally wounded; but the Saint recovered his senses and asked for some water, which he blessed. He then requested that the wound be washed with it, and the blood was immediately stanched; and the archbishop celebrated Mass. He obtained the offender's pardon from the king. His prayers brought about many miracles, including the return to their senses for those who had become alienated, a miracle rare in the history of religion. After he attended a General Council in Rome in 1179, the Pope made him his legate for all of Ireland, and he visited all its provinces to re-establish ecclesiastical discipline everywhere.
In 1175 Henry II of England became offended with Roderick, the monarch of Ireland, and Saint Laurence undertook another journey to England to negotiate a reconciliation between them. Henry was so moved by his piety, charity and prudence that he granted him everything he asked, and left the whole negotiation to his discretion. Saint Laurence died while still in France, in the city of Eu on the border of Normandy and Picardy. He was unable to make a testament, as this perfect Archbishop had given all he had, and literally had nothing to leave to others. He ended his journey here below on the 14th of November, 1180, and was buried in the church of the abbey at Eu.
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| November 13th |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-22-2020, 09:49 AM - Forum: November
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Saint Stanislaus Kostka
Jesuit
(1550-1568)
Patron of Poland, young students and those with broken bones
Saint Stanislaus Kostka was born in Poland in 1550, of a noble Polish family. At the age of fourteen he was sent with his older brother Paul to study at the Jesuit College in Vienna. Twice a day he would pray at length in the chapel, and he never failed to recite a crown of the Rosary. He avoided the company of students too free in their speech and behavior, and often fasted and inflicted on himself a rude discipline. His love for God did not cease to augment with these practices, and he decided to make a vow to enter the Company of Jesus. He told his confessor of it only six months later, as he wanted it to remain unknown until he would be in a position to carry it out.
He fell ill, and the demon appeared in his room under the form of a black dog which lunged at his throat. The young Saint drove him away with the sign of the Cross; but his illness was growing worse. He was lodged in the residence of a Protestant who would not permit the Blessed Sacrament to be brought to him. Saint Stanislaus remembered having read that those who invoked Saint Barbara never died without the Sacraments, and he begged that she would assist him in his danger and not permit that he die without the Viaticum. His prayer was answered; one night, when his life was despaired of, he saw this beautiful virgin-martyr, accompanied by two Angels, enter his room with the Blessed Sacrament. He was greatly consoled by this favor and another which immediately followed it; the Blessed Virgin also appeared and assured him that God wanted him to enter the Jesuit Society. Soon he felt better and was restored to complete health.
He was still too young to enter the Order in Vienna without his parents' permission; he therefore determined to go to another province where it might be possible. Stanislaus had always been gentle and cheerful, and his sanctity was felt as a reproach by his brother Paul, who had been surveying him constantly and often spoke rudely to him, even going so far as to strike him. Stanislaus nonetheless succeeded in evading him when he left for Augsbourg, dressed as a beggar, to go to Father Peter Canisius, Provincial of Upper Germany, with letters of recommendation he had received from a Father of the Company. His brother, when he realized he had left, pursued him, but even though Stanislaus was on foot, passed him by without recognizing him. A little farther on, Paul's horses refused to advance and he was obliged to return to Vienna.
Saint Peter sent Stanislaus to Rome, a very long distance in those days, over a rugged and dangerous road, where rocks, mountains and rivers made the journey very difficult. Saint Francis of Borgia received him in Rome as a treasure sent by God, and he was clothed in the Jesuit habit in October 1567. His father was very irritated, but the son answered his letters with modesty and firmness, and continued to apply himself to every practice that might lead him closer to God and religious perfection. In ten months it is said that he advanced more than many do over a period of fifty or sixty years. During those ten short months he always had Our Lady in his mind, in his heart and on his lips. A custom was introduced for the novices during his sojourn in Rome; they would turn toward Her church of Saint Mary Major and ask, kneeling, for Her benediction; this practice has been conserved in the Roman novitiate ever since that time.
The fervent novice ardently desired to be in heaven on the feast of Her Assumption; he fell ill of a fever on the 9th of August, and it was revealed to him that his desire would be fulfilled. In effect, his holy soul departed to rejoin His Heavenly Mother, when She came to claim him at a little after 3 o'clock on the morning of the 15th of August, 1568. He was eighteen years old. We often see him with the Infant Jesus in his arms, because when Our Lady came to cure him in Vienna with Her Divine Treasure in Her arms, She had placed the Infant Saviour on his bed. Many illnesses were cured at his tomb, and his body was found incorrupt three years after his death. He was soon considered as a Saint in Italy and Poland; in 1604 he was declared Blessed and was canonized in 1726. Paul Kostka wept for long years over his mistreatment of his younger brother, and was about to enter the Society of Jesus himself in 1607, when he died suddenly on November 13th, anniversary of the discovery of the incorrupt remains of Saint Stanislaus.
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Saint Didacus or Diego
Franciscan Confessor
(† 1463)
Saint Didacus was born in Andalusia in Spain, towards the beginning of the fifteenth century. He was remarkable from childhood for his love of solitude, and for conversations concerning holy things. When still young he retired to live with a hermit not far from his village, where he spent several years in vigils, fasting, and manual work. Like the Fathers of the desert, he made baskets and other objects with willow branches and gave them to those who brought alms to the two hermits.
God inspired him to enter into the Order of the seraphic Saint Francis; he did so at the convent of Arrizafa, not far from Cordova. He did not aspire to ecclesiastical honors, but to the perfection and inviolable observance of his Rule — an admirable ideal, the practice of which, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas, is equivalent to martyrdom in merit. He made himself the servant of all his brethren. Any occupation was his choice. All his possessions were a tunic, a crucifix, a rosary, a prayer book and a book of meditations; and these he did not consider as his own and wanted them to be the most worn of all that were in the house. He found ways to nourish the poor who came to the convent, depriving himself of bread and other food given him, and if unable to do so consoled them with such gentle words that they left with profit nonetheless.
At one time he was sent by his superiors to the Canary Islands, and went there joyfully, hoping to win the crown of martyrdom. Such, however, was not God's Will. After making many conversions by his example and holy words, he was recalled to Spain. He was assigned to the care of the sick and when he went to Rome for the Jubilee year of 1450, with 3,800 other religious of his Order, most of whom fell ill there, he undertook to care for them, succeeding in procuring for them all they needed even in that time of scarcity.
Saint Didacus one day heard a poor woman lamenting, and learned that she had not known that her seven-year-old son had gone to sleep in her large oven; she had lighted a fire, and lost her senses when she heard his cries. He sent her to the altar of the Blessed Virgin to pray and went with a large group of persons to the oven; although all the wood was burnt, the child was taken from it without so much as a trace of burns. The miracle was so evident that the neighbors took the child in triumph to the church where his mother was praying, and the Canons of the Church dressed him in white in honor of the Blessed Virgin. Since then, many afflicted persons have invoked the Mother of Heaven there.
After a long and painful illness, Saint Didacus ended his days in 1463, embracing the cross which he had so dearly loved during his entire life. He died having on his lips the words of the hymn, Dulce lignum [Sweet wood - a chant of Good Friday]. His body remained incorrupt for several months, exposed to the devotion of the faithful, ever exhaling a marvelous fragrance. He was canonized in 1588; Philip II, king of Spain, had labored to obtain that grace after his own son was miraculously cured in 1562 by the relics of the Saint, when he had fallen from a ladder and incurred a mortal wound on his head.
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| November 12th |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-22-2020, 09:32 AM - Forum: November
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Saint Martin I
Pope and Martyr
(† 655)
Saint Martin, who occupied the Roman See from 649 to 655, was a native of Toscany, and became celebrated amid the clergy of Rome for his learning and his sanctity. When he was elected Pope, Rome echoed with cries of joy; the clergy, the Senate and the people gave witness to their great satisfaction, and the emperor approved this happy choice. He did not disappoint the hopes of the Church; piety towards God and charity to the poor were his two rules of life. He repaired churches falling into ruin and restored peace between divergent factions, but his greatest concern was to maintain in the Church the precious heritage of the true faith.
For this purpose he assembled in the Lateran Church a Council of a hundred bishops, which condemned the principal heads of the eastern Monothelite heresy, again raising its head. Saint Martin himself sent out an encyclical letter to all prelates, showing that a spurious Credo circulating in the east was erroneous, and excommunicating all who followed it. He incurred the enmity of the Byzantine court and even of two patriarchs, by his energetic opposition to their errors, and the Exarch of Ravenna, representing the oriental Emperor Constant II in Italy, went so far as to endeavor to procure the assassination of the Pope while he stood at the altar in the Church of Saint Mary Major. The would-be murderer, a page of the Exarch, was miraculously struck blind, however, and his lord refused to have any further role in the matter. But the eastern Emperor's successor had no such scruples. After having the holy Pontiff accused of many fabricated misdeeds, he seized Saint Martin — who did not resist or permit resistance, for fear of bloodshed in Rome — then had him conveyed to Constantinople on board a vessel bound for that port. None of his clergy were permitted to accompany him; he was boarded at night in secret.
After a three month's voyage the ship anchored at the island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea, where the Pope was kept in confinement for a year, then finally brought in chains to the imperial city in 654, where he was imprisoned for three months. When he appeared before his judge he was unable to stand without support; but the pitiless magistrate heard his accusers and sentenced him to be chained and dragged through the streets of the city. He bade farewell to his companions in captivity before he left, banished to the present-day Crimea (the Chersonese in those days), saying to them when they wept: Rejoice with me that I have been found worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ. There, where a famine prevailed, he lingered on for four months, abandoned to sickness and starvation but maintaining perfect serenity, until God released him by death from his tribulations on the 12th of November, 655. In a letter he sent from there, which has been conserved, the Pope wrote: For this miserable body, the Lord will have care; He is near. What is there to alarm me? I hope in His mercy, it will not be long before it terminates my career.
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| November 11th - St. Martin of Tours |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-22-2020, 09:07 AM - Forum: November
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Saint Martin of Tours
Missionary Bishop, Apostle of France
(† 397)
Patron of soldiers
Saint Martin, born in Pannonia (Hungary), followed his father, a military tribune in the service of Rome, to Italy. Although he was raised in paganism, he felt nothing but contempt for its cult, and as though he were Christian by nature, he took pleasure only in the assemblies of the faithful, which he attended despite his family's opposition. When he was fifteen years old, he was forcibly enrolled in the Roman armies and went to serve in Gaul, the land he was predestined to evangelize one day. What would become of this young boy, when exposed to the libertinage of the camps? Would his faith not be obliterated? No, for God was watching over His vessel of election.
The most famous episode of this period in his life is his meeting with a poor man almost naked in the dead of winter, and trembling with cold. Martin did not have a penny to give him, but he remembered the text of the Gospel: I was naked, and you clothed Me. My friend, he said, I have nothing but my weapons and my garments. And taking up his sword, he divided his cloak into two parts and gave one to the beggar. The following night he saw Jesus Christ in a dream, clothed with this half-cloak and saying to His Angels: It is Martin, still a catechumen, who covered Me. Soon afterwards he received Baptism.
Disinterested charity, purity, and bravery distinguished the life of the young soldier. He obtained his discharge at the age of about twenty. Martin succeeded in converting his mother, but was driven from his home by the Arians. He took refuge with Saint Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers. After having given striking proofs of his attachment to the faith of Nicea, he founded near Poitiers the celebrated monastery of Ligugé, the first in Gaul. The brilliance of his sanctity and his miracles raised him in 372 to the episcopal throne of Tours, despite his lively resistance. His life thereafter was but a continual succession of prodigies and apostolic labors. His flock, though Christian in name, was still pagan at heart. Unarmed and attended only by his monks, Martin destroyed the heathen temples and groves, and completed by his preaching and miracles the conversion of the people. His power over demons was extraordinary. Idolatry never recovered from the blows given it by Saint Martin.
After having visited and renewed his diocese, the servant of God felt pressed to extend his journeyings and labors beyond its confines. Clothed in a poor tunic and a rude cloak, and seated on an ass, accompanied only by a few religious, he left like a poor missionary to evangelize the countryside. He passed through virtually all the provinces of Gaul, and neither mountains, nor rivers, nor dangers of any description stopped him. Everywhere his undertakings were victorious, and he more than earned his title of the Light and the Apostle of Gaul.
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| November 10th |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-22-2020, 08:43 AM - Forum: November
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Saint Andrew Avellino
Theatine Priest
(† 1608)
After a holy youth devoted to serious studies of philosophy and the humanities in Venice, Lancelot Avellino was ordained priest by the bishop of Naples. He was assigned to the chaplaincy of a community of nuns, sadly in need of reform; his intrepid courage and perseverance finally overcame many difficulties, and regular observance was restored in the monastery. Certain irritated libertines, however, decided to do away with him and, waiting for him when he was about to leave a church, felled him with three sword thrusts. He lost much blood, but his wounds healed perfectly without leaving any trace. The viceroy of Naples was ready to employ all his authority to punish the authors of this sacrilege; the holy priest, not desiring the death of sinners but rather their conversion and their salvation, declined to pursue them. One of them, however, died soon afterwards, assassinated by a man who wished to avenge a dishonor to his house.
He was still practicing law, which he had studied in Naples; one day a slight untruth escaped him in the defense of a client, and he conceived such regret for his fault that he vowed to practice law no longer. In 1556, at the age of thirty-six, he entered the Theatine Order, taking the name of Andrew out of love for the cross. After a pilgrimage to Rome to the tombs of the Apostles, he returned to Naples and was named master of novices in his Community, a duty he fulfilled for ten years. He was also chosen to be Superior of the house there, and then was sent out to found two houses elsewhere, at Milan and Piacenza. At the latter city he again met the opposition of libertines; but the Duke of Parma, to whom letters accusing him were directed, was completely charmed when he met him, and regarded him thereafter as a Saint.
He then became Superior of the Milan foundation, where his friendship with Saint Charles Borromeo took root; the two Saints conversed together often. And Saint Andrew, with his admirable simplicity, confided to the Archbishop that he had seen Our Lord, and that since that time the impression of His divine beauty, remaining with him constantly, had rendered insipid all other so-called beauties of the earth. Petitions were presented to Pope Gregory XIV to make him a bishop, but he declined that honor with firmness, having always desired to remain obedient rather than to command. When his term as superior ended, he was successful in avoiding the government of another Theatine residence for only three years, then became superior at Saint Paul of Naples.
Once when Saint Andrew was taking the Viaticum to a dying person and a storm extinguished the lamps, a heavenly light surrounded him, guided his steps, and sheltered him from the rain. But he was far from exempt from sufferings. His horse threw him one day on a rough road, and since his feet were caught in the stirrups, dragged him for a long time along this road. He invoked Saint Dominic and Saint Thomas Aquinas, who came to him, wiped his face covered with blood, cured his wounds, and even helped him back onto the horse. He attributed such episodes to his unworthiness, believing he was among the reprobate, but Saint Thomas once again came to him, accompanied by Saint Augustine, and restored his confidence in the love and mercy of God.
On the last day of his life, November 10, 1608, Saint Andrew rose to say Mass. He was eighty-eight years old, and so weak he could scarcely reach the altar. He began the Judica me, Deus, the opening prayer, but fell forward, the victim of apoplexy. Laid on a straw mattress, his whole frame was convulsed in agony, while the ancient fiend, in visible form, advanced as though to seize his soul. Then, while the onlookers prayed and wept, he invoked Our Lady, and his Guardian Angel seized the monster and dragged it out of the room. A calm and holy smile settled on the features of the dying Saint and, as he gazed with a grateful countenance on the image of Mary, his holy soul winged its way to God.
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| November 9th |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-22-2020, 08:24 AM - Forum: November
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Saint Theodore the Recruit
Martyr in Asia Minor
(† 306)
Saint Theodore Tyro, one of the most celebrated of the oriental martyrs, was born of a noble family in the East, and enrolled while still a youth in the imperial army. Early in 306, when he had just joined the legion and marched with its soldiers into the Pont, the Roman Emperor issued an edict requiring all Christians to offer sacrifice. The young man was faced with the choice between apostasy and death. He declared before his commander that he was ready to be cut in pieces and offer up every limb to his Creator, who had died for him. Wishing to conquer him by gentleness, the commander left him in peace for a while, that he might think over his resolution.
He profited from his liberty to fortify other confessors for martyrdom, and in his ardor for the downfall of idolatry he set fire to a temple dedicated to the goddess Cybel, called the mother of the gods. He did not attempt to conceal his act, but when arrested admitted at once that he was the author of it, and that he had undertaken it to prevent the sacrileges committed every day in that place of abomination. The judge could not persuade him to renounce this crime and adore the empire's divinities; he therefore had him cruelly whipped and then shut up in a solitary cell with the order to give him nothing to eat and let him die of hunger.
Our Lord visited him during the night and consoled him, and He told his servant He Himself would nourish him invisibly. This visit filled him with such joy that he began to sing; and at the same moment, Angels in white robes appeared in his prison, to sing hymns of joy with him. The jailers and guardians all witnessed this spectacle, as did also the judge Publius who had condemned him, but none of them were touched by it. They gave him an ounce of bread and a flask of water every day, only to prolong his martyrdom. The Saint refused these offerings.
When the authorities made him fine promises and attempted to persuade him to conform, he protested that never would he say one word or make one gesture contrary to the fidelity he owed to his sovereign Lord. He was again beaten and tortured with iron hooks, then burnt with torches, and condemned finally to be burnt alive, to punish him for the fire he had ignited. He made the sign of the Cross, and filled with faith, hope and pure love of God, gave up to Him his beautiful soul, victorious and laden with merits. The year was 304. The Christians saw his soul rise to heaven like a flash of light and fire.
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![[Image: dedication_of_the_lateran_basilica.jpg]](https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/images/dedication_of_the_lateran_basilica.jpg)
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
The Church of the Most Holy Saviour, Rome
The residence of the Popes which was named the Lateran Palace was built by Lateranus Palutius, whom Nero put to death to seize his goods. It was given in the year 313 by Constantine the Great to Saint Miltiades, Pope, and was inhabited by his successors until 1308, when they moved to Avignon. The Lateran Basilica built by Constantine near the palace of the same name, is the first Basilica of the West. Twelve councils, four of which were ecumenical, have assembled there, the first in 649, the last in 1512.
If for several centuries the Popes have no longer dwelt in the Palace, the primacy of the Basilica is not thereby altered; it remains the head of all churches. Saint Peter Damian wrote that just as the Saviour is the Head of the elect, the church which bears His name is the head of all the churches. Those of Saints Peter and Paul, to its left and its right, are the two arms by which this sovereign and universal Church embraces the entire earth, saving all who desire salvation, warming them, protecting them in its maternal womb.
The Divine Office narrates the dedication of the Church by the Pope of Peace, Saint Sylvester:
It was the Blessed Pope Sylvester who established the rites observed by the Roman Church for the consecration of churches and altars. From the time of the Apostles there had been certain places dedicated to God, which some called oratories, and others, churches. There, on the first day of the week, the assembly was held, and there the Christian people were accustomed to pray, to hear the Word of God, and to receive the Eucharist. But never had these places been consecrated so solemnly; nor had a fixed altar been placed there which, anointed with sacred chrism, was the symbol of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who for us is altar, victim and Pontiff. But when the Emperor Constantine through the sacrament of Baptism had obtained health of body and salvation of soul, a law was issued by him which for the first time permitted that everywhere in the world Christians might build churches. Not satisfied to establish this edict, the prince wanted to give an example and inaugurate the holy labors. Thus in his own Lateran palace, he dedicated a church to the Saviour, and founded the attached baptistry under the name of Saint John the Baptist, in the place where he himself, baptized by Saint Sylvester, had been cured of leprosy. It is this church which the Pontiff consecrated in the fifth of the ides of November; and we celebrate the commemoration on that day, when for the first time in Rome a church was thus publicly consecrated, and where a painting of the Saviour was visible on the wall before the eyes of the Roman people.
When the Lateran Church was partially ruined by fires, enemy invasions, and earthquakes, it was always rebuilt with great zeal by the Sovereign Pontiffs. In 1726, after one such restoration, Pope Benedict XIII consecrated it anew and assigned the commemoration of that event to the present day. The church was afterwards enlarged and beautified by Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII.
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| November 8th |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-22-2020, 08:06 AM - Forum: November
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Saint Godfrey or Geoffrey
Bishop of Amiens
(ca. 1066-1115)
Saint Godfrey was born about 1066 at Molincourt in France of a distinguished Christian family. He arrived late in the lives of his parents, who had begged the prayers of the holy abbot of Mount Saint Quentin, desiring to have a child they could consecrate to God. Their prayers and those of the religious of the monastery of Mount Saint Quentin were answered in the same year. The child was baptized by the Abbot and later confided to him to be educated. Eventually Godfrey's father entered a monastery of Our Lady which he had enriched by his alms; and his mother spent her declining years in various good works.
Godfrey was given the charge of taking care of the sick, and exercised it with such great charity that he was also named hospitaller, to receive the poor at the gate. For assistance in that second duty he had his older brother Odon, who after many years in the military career had come to join him in the religious life. His brother would later die a holy death in the same abbey of Mount Saint Quentin.
When Saint Godfrey was 25 years old his abbot told him to prepare for the priesthood. He received the Sacrament of Holy Orders from the bishop of Noyon, in which diocese the abbey of Mount Saint Quentin is situated. Not long afterwards, the abbey of Our Lady of Nogent, whose abbot was incapacitated by illness, voted to obtain Godfrey in that office, and the abbot of Mount Saint Quentin consented to the sacrifice of his dear spiritual son for that purpose. The pleas of the disciple based on his youth and inexperience were not heeded, and in 1095 he became Abbot of Nogent, where the buildings were crumbling and only six monks and two young novices remained. He renovated the edifices and built a hostelry for pilgrims and the sick poor; and in this hostelry he himself continued to labor on their behalf. Soon the monastery filled up with vocations, drawing even two illustrious abbots from elsewhere, who desired to serve under this master.
When a severe drought was devastating the fields and flocks of the region, the bishop of Soissons, Hugh de Pierrefonds, went to Godfrey to ask his counsel; the holy abbot prescribed a fast in the manner of Ninevah — even the animals were to participate. On the first day of the fast, when the abbot rose to preach in the vast Church of Saint Steven, before the assembled people, the sky suddenly darkened, and so heavy a rain fell that the people were not a little inconvenienced on returning home.
When the aged bishop of Amiens died soon afterwards, its residents chose Godfrey to be their bishop, and went to a legate of the Holy See to ask him to intercede with the abbot to obtain his consent. When this decision was related to Godfrey he would have fled, but the order of the legate prevented his flight. Moreover, he had already had a vision of Saint Firmin, first Bishop of Amiens and martyr, advising him of this forthcoming new responsibility. He therefore submitted to the clear designs of Providence. After Saint Godfrey obtained a beautiful new reliquary for the relics of Amiens' first bishop, the confidence of the people in their patron Saint, Saint Firmin, redoubled. A prayer to him by Saint Godfrey, asking for sunshine on the day of the translation of the relics, was the occasion; a fog so heavy one could scarcely see, lifted, and the sun at once shone brilliantly in the sanctuary.
As bishop he did not cease to take care of the poor and the sick. When some lepers came to him he commanded his cook to prepare food for them; four hours later nothing had yet been done, and he himself went to the kitchen and found a large, prepared salmon which he took to the famished lepers. The cook remonstrated with him, and the Saint told him that it was injustice to allow the poor to die of hunger while unworthy bishops enjoyed food that was too succulent.
When troubles occasioned by the contemporary quarrel over investitures devastated the city of Amiens, the holy bishop thought it well to resign his office and retire to the Grand Chartreuse, and did so. The archbishop of Rheims, however, could not approve such an action, and reproached the residents of Amiens when they brought up the question of a successor. The affair was referred to a Council to be held at Soissons in January of 1115. A letter was sent by the Council to the religious of Saint Bruno, begging them not to retain the bishop of Amiens, but to send him back to his see; and Godfrey with tears resigned himself to obeying the orders of the king and the Council. His declining years were not exempt from sufferings; the city of Amiens was decimated by a fire which spared only the church of Saint Firmin, the episcopal palace and a few houses of the poor. The people had not listened to the exhortations of their bishop when their prevarications enkindled the wrath of God. He died on November 8, 1115, in perfect serenity, having given his farewell blessing to the religious of the monastery of Soissons, where he had been taken, after falling ill during a journey there. His tomb was illustrated by many miracles.
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Four Crowned Martyrs
Laymen, Martyrs
(306)
Patrons of stonemasons, sculptors, and marble workers
The four crowned martyrs were Severus, Severian, Carpophorus, and Victorunus, who were tortured and put to death by order of Emperor Diocletian. The emperor had them beaten with leaded scourges until they died. The bodies were recovered and buried on the Via Lavicana. Later, in 841, Pope Leo IV had their relics translated to a church in Rome: the "Quattro Coronati," on the Coelian hill. The city of Coronado, California is named after the Four Crowned Martyrs. Five other martyrs are also honored on this day: five stone carvers who refused to make idols. Over the centuries, there has been some historical confusion between the group of four martyrs and the group of five martyrs.
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| November 7th |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:44 AM - Forum: November
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November 7th
Saint Willibrord
Apostle of the Frisons,
of Holland, Zealand, Flanders and Brabant
(657-738)
Patron of Holland
Saint Willibrord was born in Northumberland (northeastern England) in 657. His father left the world to enter a monastery, and is honored as a Saint in the monastery of Echternach in the diocese of Treves, and named in the English calendar. When his son was twenty years old he was already wearing the religious habit. Being accustomed to bearing the yoke of the Lord, and finding it light and sweet, he went to Ireland to seek greater perfection and study under Saint Egbert.
When he was thirty years old he desired, with Saint Swidbert and ten other monks of England, to preach the faith in the land of the Frisons, or Vriesland, a province of the Low Countries surrounding the mouth of the Rhine. The Frisons were warriors and had maintained their liberty against the Romans. The Gospel had been preached among them in 678 by Saint Wilfrid, but those efforts had borne little fruit, and the true God was almost entirely unknown among them when the monks arrived.
Willibrord afterwards went on to Rome to ask the papal benediction and authorization to preach the Gospel to the idolatrous nations; he was amply blessed with powers and relics for the churches he would construct. His companion, Saint Swidbert, became the bishop of a group residing near Cologne. The other eleven missionaries preached in the part of Vriesland belonging to the French. Saint Willibrord was recommended for episcopal consecration by Pepin, royal Palace Steward of France; Pope Sergius changed his name to Clement and consecrated him Archbishop of the Frisons in Saint Peter's Church in Rome.
He then returned to Utrecht, where he established his residence and built the Church of the Saviour. He repaired the Church of Saint Martin, which later became the Cathedral of Utrecht. He built and governed until his death the abbey of Echternach in Luxembourg. He baptized the son of Charles Martel, named Pepin, who later became king of France. Charles Martel was a benefactor of the churches founded by Saint Willibrord, and conferred on him sovereignty of the city of Utrecht.
Saint Willibrord preached also in Denmark, where a cruel king reigned at that time; the Saint, seeing invincible obstacles to the propagation of the Gospel, merely bought thirty children of the land, whom he baptized and took back with him to Utrecht. He preached on the island of Walcheren, converted many and established several churches. A blow from a saber which an idolatrous priest gave him there made no wound; and the idolatrous priest became possessed by the demon.
Saint Boniface joined him in 720 and spent three years with him before going to Germany. Saint Bede, English historian, wrote of Saint Willibrord, saying he was a venerable old man who had for thirty-six years been a bishop and was awaiting the rewards of life in heaven, after the generous battles he waged in the spiritual combat. At Utrecht Saint Willibrord founded schools which became famous. He wrought many miracles, and had the gift of prophecy. He labored unceasingly as bishop for more than fifty years, beloved alike of God and of man, and died full of days and good works. This amiable Saint, noted for his gaiety in conversation and his wisdom in counsel, was buried in the monastery of Echternach in Luxembourg.
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| November 6th |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:38 AM - Forum: November
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November 6th
Saint Leonard
Hermit, Patron of captives
(† Second half of the Sixth Century)
Saint Leonard was born towards the end of the fifth century of illustrious parents, residing in the part of the province of Gaul which was then beginning to be called France. Several historians believe that with his brother Saint Lifard, his origins can be traced to the castle of Vendome in the region of Orleans. He belonged to the nation of the Franks, and at the court of Clovis his relatives were dignitaries, baptized at the same time as the king by Saint Remi. That monarch himself stood as sponsor in Baptism for this child of predilection.
As Leonard grew he was so moved by the holy examples of the bishop of Rheims that he renounced the world in order to lead a more perfect life. When Saint Remi had trained Leonard in virtue and conferred on him the tonsure, he began to exercise his charity on behalf of prisoners. Clovis, in response to a prayer of Saint Remi, had already issued an edict that prisoners in Rheims might be freed whenever his royal highness would pass through that city. Leonard asked the kind monarch to grant him personally the right to liberate prisoners whom he would find worthy of it, any time at all.
The reputation of Saint Leonard's goodness and sanctity soon spread, and the sick came to him for healing and alms. He did not fail to teach them also the value of Christian patience and to console them by the divine doctrine. The king desired to attach him permanently to his court, but Saint Leonard, in a discourse brilliant by its humility, replied that he preferred to live in the obscurity Christ had chosen for Himself for so many years, and he retired to a monastery. Saint Maximin, its abbot, saw to it that he was ordained a deacon, which office he accepted out of obedience, but he did not aspire to any additional ecclesiastical dignities. He recognized that his role was not to remain always in the monastery, and departed to preach to the pagans of the province of Limoges. He found on a nearby mountain a forested solitude where he decided to remain, and there he built a cell of branches and considered himself rich in the possession of God, joyous in his freedom to devote himself to meditation, prayer and mortification.
He continued to obtain miracles when solicited by the suffering members of Jesus Christ. The spouse of a king living nearby had a successful delivery of a child by his prayers, when her very life was despaired of; and the king in gratitude gave him a part of the forest to dispose of as he wished. He then built an oratory to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Two disciples joined him in this sanctuary, continuing to pray without interruption when their master went on pilgrimage to the tombs of the Saints.
Soon the sick came to Saint Leonard here also, and prisoners who invoked him from their cells saw their chains break before their eyes. Many came to him afterwards, bringing their heavy chains and irons to offer them in homage. A considerable number wished to remain with him, and he often gave them part of his vast forest to clear and make ready for the labors of the fields, that they might have the means to live an honest life. He continued to be their guardian and father and preached the religion of our Saviour to them; and those who had once been malefactors were transformed by prayer and labor.
Seven families of persons who were his relatives in the north heard of his reputation and decided to come to him and remain with him. He was surprised but encouraged their good resolutions, saying: A fare of dry bread, eaten in the joy of a pure conscience, is of more worth than a house abundantly furnished, where quarrels and divisions prevail. After increasing in holiness until his last days, he died on the 6th of November in the oratory he had dedicated to Our Lady, after having himself transported there, sometime during the second half of the sixth century. Miracles on behalf of prisoners and the sick followed, as they had preceded, his death. The cult of Saint Leonard has remained extremely popular in France ever since; and throughout all of Europe churches and monasteries have been placed under his invocation.
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| November 5th - Fifth Day within the Octave of All Saints |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:33 AM - Forum: November
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November 5 – Fifth Day Within the Octave of All Saints
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger (1841-1875)
![[Image: 111.jpg?w=720&ssl=1]](https://i0.wp.com/sensusfidelium.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/111.jpg?w=720&ssl=1)
And the spirit and the Bride say: Come! And he that heareth, let him say: Come! —Surely I come quickly: Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
While we honor the Church triumphant with our chants, and succor the Church suffering with our prayers, let us also turn our thoughts to the Church militant, during these days when the closing cycle presents her to us as about to complete her work on earth. Now the Church is our model; but especially at the close of our pilgrimage ought we to made her attitude our own. The above-cited dialogue, which will terminate the world’s history, shows clearly the sentiments wherewith the Holy Spirit inspires her in preparation for the final hour.
As the sufferings of the dying man break the last ties that bound him to the life of the senses; so the last social convulsions, however violently they may shake the Church, will eventually disengage her from the trammels of a world, which she will no longer be able to save from ruin. Free, therefore to give herself up to her desires, which had been pent up for ages and kept under control by so many labors, she will have but one word to utter: Come! And in the universal destruction, when the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall hide her light, and the prayers of heaven shall be moved, she will rejoice, knowing that in the midst of that awful night the cry will be heard: Behold the Bridegroom cometh!
Let him that heareth, let everyone of us say also: Come! If we love our Lord, if we would be recognized as members of his dear Church, let us be worthy of that beautiful title; let us see all things with the Church’s eyes; let us appreciate all things, and especially death, according to her heart; let us look upon the last passage, both for our dear ones and for ourselves, as the entrance into the eternal nuptial feast. We know well that if anyone sincerely desires our Lord, our Lord will not be wanting to him. Eve if, after this life, we have yet some debts to pay, if some adornment be wanting to our wedding garment ere we can take our place at the heavenly banquet; the blessed passage, nevertheless, places all the just, at once and entirely, in a state of impeccability, and in the secure possession of eternal love. Such, as we shall have occasion to see, were the sentiments of our forefathers.
Many churches in France, Switzerland, and England, used formerly to sing the following Sequence in honor of the Saints.
Sequence
Christo inclyto candida
Laudes omnibus dantia
Sanctis par hæc sacrata festalia.
To Christ the all-glorious our white-robed choirs sing melody, giving praise to all the Saints on this their sacred festival.
Mariam primum vox sonet nostra,
Per quam nobis vitæ sunt data præmia.
Regina, quæ es mater et casta,
solve nostra per Filium tuum peccata.
First let our voice name Mary, through whom was given to us the gift of life O Queen, who art both Mother and Virgin, through thy Son cancel our sins.
Angelorum concio tota
Et Archangelorum turba inclyta
Nostra diluant jam peccata,
Parando supera cœli gaudia.
May the whole assembly of Angels, and the glorious multitude of Archangels, cleanse away our sins, and prepare us for the supernal delights of heaven.
Tu propheta, præco, lucerna,
Atque plus quam propheta,
In lucida nos pone via,
Mundans nostra corpora.
O thou, who wast prophet, and herald, and lamp, yea and more than a prophet, make us all pure and set us in the path of light.
Apostolorum princeps
Atque cuncta
Juncta caterva,
Jam corrobora
Vera in doctrina
Plebis pectora.
Prince of Apostles, together with all thy colleagues, strengthen the hearts of thy people in true doctrine.
Stephane gloriose
Rutilans in corona,
Sanctorumque Martyrum
Turma valida,
Fortia date corda,
Corpora æque firma,
Sacra ut hostem vincant
Rite spicula.
Glorious Stephen, glittering in thy crown; mighty army of holy martyrs; give us brave hearts and strong bodies, that the darts of our holy faith may duly vanquish the enemy.
Martine inclyte
Et præsulum omnis caterva,
Suscipe nunc pia
Modo nostra clemens precata.
Illustrious Martin, and all the band of holy Pontiffs, kindly receive this day our filial prayers.
Regina Virginum permaxima,
Tu Mater es incorrupta,
Virgo et gravida;
Sacrata Domino est castitas:
Nostras serva animas
Mundaque corpora.
O peerless Queen of virgins, thou art a Mother and yet spotless, a Maiden and yet fruitful; chastity is sacred to our Lord; preserve our souls and bodies pure.
Monachorum veneranda suffragia
Omniumque Sanctorum contubernia
Per precata assidua
Nostra gubernent tempora,
Nosque ducant ad superna
Polorum vera gaudia.
May the venerable suffrages of the Monks, and may the assembly of all the Saints by their prayers, rule our times, and lead us to the true and supernatural joys of heaven.
Subjungant pium agmina
Amen redempta.
Let the ranks of the redeemed add a fervent Amen.
A hymn for the Vespers of the Dead in the Mozarabic Office is taken from the tenth song in the Cathemerinon of Prudentius.
Hymn
Deus ignee fons animarum,
Duo qui socias elementa:
Vivum simul, ac moribundum,
Hominem, Pater effigiasti.
O God, thou fiery source of living beings, who, uniting two elements in one, the mortal and the immortal, didst fashion man, O our Father.
Tua sunt, tua Rector utraque:
Tibi copula jungitur horum;
Tibi, dum vegetata cohærent
Spiritus simul et caro servit.
Both are thine, and thou art their Ruler; their union is linked to thee; and while they live and cleave together, both spirit and flesh serve thee.
Rescissa sed ista seorsum,
Solvunt hominem, perimuntque;
Humus excipit arida corpus,
Animæ rapit aura liquorem.
But when they are rent asunder, dissolution and death come upon men; the dry earth receives his body, while the swift spirit flees to heaven.
Quia cuncta creata necesse est
Labefacta senescere tandem,
Compactaque dissociari,
Et dissona texta retexi.
’Tis the lot of all created things to fail and grow old at last, for compound beings to be dissolved, for the union of dissimilar elements to be unknit.
Hinc maxima cura sepulchris
Impenditur: hinc resolutos
Honor ultimus accipit artus,
Et funeris ambitus ornat.
Therefore is so great care bestowed upon the sepulchers; therefore are the last honors paid to these lifeless limbs, and the funeral pomp does them homage.
Hoc provida Christicolarum
Pietas studet, utpote credens
Fore protinus omnia viva,
Quæ nunc gelidus sopor urget.
Such is the provident piety exercised by Christ’s disciples, believing that all which now lies wrapt in icy slumber, shall suddenly spring to life again.
Qui jacta cadavera passim
Miserans tegit aggere terræ:
Opus exhibet ille benignum
Christo pius omnipotenti.
Whoever, then, in loving pity, shall cover with earth the corpses that lie unburied, does in his piety a kindly deed to Christ himself the Omnipotent.
Quia lex eadem monet omnes
Gemitum dare sorte sub una,
Cognataque funera nobis
Aliena in morte dolere.
Since the common law admonished us that all groan under the same fate, it behooves us to mourn, in a stranger’s death, the loss of one of our kin.
Sequimur tua dicta, Redemptor,
Quibus atra e morte triumphans,
Tua per vestigia mandas
socium crucis ire latronem.
We follow therefore thy words, O Redeemer, when, triumphing over dismal death, thou didst bid the thief, thy fellow-crucified, to tread in thy footprints.
Patet ecce fidelibus ampli
Via lucida jam paradisi;
Licet et nemus illus adire
Homini, quod ademerat anguis.
Lo! now the shining path, that leads to the broad land of Eden, lies open to thy faithful; and man may again enter that beautiful garden, of which the serpent had despoiled him.
Illic precor, Optime Ductor,
Famulam tibi præcipe mentem
Genitali in sede sacrari,
Quam liquerat exsul, et errans.
There, O best of guides! we pray thee, bid the soul thy handmaid be made holy in the place of her creation, which she had quitted as an exile and a wanderer.
Animas, non immemor ob hoc,
Quarum memores sumus ipsi,
Deus, sorde rogamus, piatas,
Erebi rogis fac alienas.
Wherefore be mindful, O God, of the souls, whose memory we cherish; let them, we beseech thee, be cleansed from all stain, and escape the fires of hell.
Sit honor tibi, fons pietatis:
Laus, gloria, summa potestas
Patri, Genito, sive Domino
Orbis Regi; qui Deus unus.
Amen.
Honor to thee, O fount of mercy! Praise, glory, sovereign power, to the Father, to the son, to the Lord who rules the world, one only God. Amen.
The following Preface, which is well inspired and has a ring of the ancient formulæ, is still used in some places in Masses for the Dead.
Preface
Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus; per Christum Dominum nostrum. In quo nobis spem beatæ resurrectionis concessisti; ut dum naturam contristat certa moriendi conditio, fidem consoletur futuræ immortalitatis promissio. Tuis enim fidelibus, Domine, vita mutatur, non tollitur; et dissoluta terrestris hujus habitationis domo, æterna in cœlis habitatio comparatur. Et ideo cum Angelis et Archangelis, cum Thronis et Dominationibus, cumque omni militia cœlestis exercitus, hymnum gloriæ tuæ canimus, sine fine dicentes: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.
It is truly meet and just, right and salutary, that we should always and in all places give thanks to thee, O holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal god, through Christ our Lord. In whom thou hast bestowed on us the hope of a blessed resurrection: so that, although the inevitable sentence of death fills our human nature with sorrow, the promise of a future resurrection consoles our faith. For the life of thy faithful, O Lord, is altered, not taken away; and when this house of our earthly habitation is destroyed, an eternal dwelling is prepared for us in heaven. And therefore with the Angels and Archangels, with the Thrones and Dominations, and with all the host of the heavenly army, we sing a hymn to thy glory, saying without ceasing: Holy, Holy, Holy.
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| November 4th - St. Charles Borromeo |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:26 AM - Forum: November
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Saint Charles Borromeo
Archbishop of Milan
(1538-1584)
Saint Charles Borromeo was born in 1538 in the castle of Arona on the borders of Lake Major, fourteen miles from Milan. He was the son of Count Gilbert Borromeo, a descendant of one of the most ancient families of Lombardy, very famous for its great men. The Count was known for his almsgiving and his rigorous fasts; it was his custom never to eat a meal without first giving alms. The Countess, Charles' mother, was also exceptionally virtuous. Their family was composed of two sons and four daughters, all of whom manifested in their lives the splendor of their Christian heritage. Their maternal uncle, John Angelus of Medici, became Pope Pius IV. Charles was clearly destined for the ecclesiastical vocation; all his preferences in study made it clear.
When he was twelve years old, a paternal uncle willed to him an abbey in commendam; and the child constantly reminded his father that this revenue was the patrimony of the poor. His father wept for joy, seeing his son's solicitude for the just application of his trust.
Count Gilbert died when Charles was twenty years old, and he was obliged to come home from Pavia where he had been studying law; he returned there, however, to complete his doctorate at the university after settling his affairs. One year later, when his maternal uncle became Pope Pius IV, he created Charles cardinal, and after another year nominated him Archbishop of Milan. The Pontiff detained him in Rome, however, seeing his extensive capacities and adding to these offices other administrative duties which ordinarily require the prudence of mature years. No one was disappointed in his services, despite the fact he was maintaining delicate papal relations with other nations, as protector of Portugal and the Low Countries, and was at the head of the Knights of Malta, the Orders of Carmel and Saint Francis, among other duties.
When the Council of Trent (1545-1563) was nearing its conclusion, Saint Charles, who had participated with authority in many of its twenty-five sessions, desired to leave Rome to attend to his diocese of Milan, a duty which his vicar general had carried out until that time. The urgency of the situation there persuaded the Pope to consent regretfully to his departure. Saint Charles intended to put into execution the reforming decrees of the Council, create seminaries and schools and in general restore discipline in the Church of Milan.
As Archbishop of Milan he enforced the observance of the decrees, and thoroughly restored the discipline of his see. Criticism hounded him there, but left him unmoved; he kept with him in his episcopal household of about one hundred persons, a certain priest who delighted in finding fault with whatever he did; he treated him with great consideration, and in his will left him a pension for life. He was very severe with himself, eating only once a day, and limiting himself often to bread and water. When someone suggested he should have a garden at Milan to get some fresh air, he replied that the Holy Scriptures should be the garden of a bishop.
The sermons of Saint Charles produced great fruits among all ranks of the people. When young he had manifested a speech defect with a tendency to speak too fast, but he overcame these handicaps with many efforts. A man who admired him said that he always forgot the orator himself when he preached, so transported was he by the great truths he heard explained, and the longest sermons of Saint Charles seemed short to him. Everywhere the holy Archbishop established schools of Christian doctrine, numbering in all seven hundred and forty, in which over three thousand catechists were employed, presiding over forty thousand students.
Once Saint Charles heard a cardinal who was a bishop of a small diocese say that his diocese was too small to require his constant residence there, as canon law required; Saint Charles said to him with force that the price of one soul is such as to merit the residence and entire time of the greatest of men. He himself visited the most remote corners of his diocese, traveling in mountainous regions amid the greatest dangers, which he regarded as nothing unusual, and unworthy of mention.
Inflexible in maintaining discipline, to his flock he was a most tender father. He would sit by the roadside to teach a poor man the Pater and Ave. During the great plague which broke out in Milan, which he had foretold as a chastisement for the disorders of the Carnival, he refused to leave, asking those who remonstrated with him if it were not more perfect to remain with one's flock than to abandon them in need, and adding that a bishop is obliged to choose what is most perfect. He was ever at the side of the sick and dying. He stripped his palace of literally everything to aid those who had lost their support in their fathers and spouses, even giving away his straw mattress. As he lived, so he died, having governed his church for twenty-four years and eight months. To the heroic sanctity of this faithful copy of the Good Shepherd, many miracles came to testify, through his relics and his intercession. In 1610 he was canonized by Pope Paul V.
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| November 3rd - Within the Octave of All Saints |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:20 AM - Forum: November
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November 3rd
Saint Martin de Porres, Dominican Coadjutor Brother
(1579-1639)
Saint Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru in 1579, during the days when Spanish noblemen and many adventurers were still in the land, fascinated by the lure of the gold and silver which abounded there. He was the natural son of one of these and a young Indian woman. It was not long before his dark complexion caused his father to be ashamed of him and his mother, and to abandon them. Later the father would regret his too rapid decision, and take Martin under his protection.
The young boy often heard himself referred to as a half-breed, and all his life long, his profound humility saw in himself only the magnanimity of God amid the inadequacy of his origins. When his mother could not support him and his sister, Martin was confided to a primary school for two years, then placed with a surgeon to learn the medical arts. This caused him great joy, though he was only ten years old, for he could exercise charity to his neighbor while earning his living. Already he was spending hours of the night in prayer, a practice which increased rather than diminished as he grew older. Until his death he would flagellate himself three times every night, for his own failings and for the conversion of pagans and sinners.
He asked for admission to the Dominican Convent of the Rosary in Lima and was received first as a tertiary. When he was 24, he was given the habit of a Coadjutor Brother and assigned to the infirmary of that convent, where he would remain in service until his death at the age of sixty. His superiors saw in him the virtues necessary to exercise unfailing patience in this difficult role, and he never disappointed them. On the contrary, it was not long before miracles began to happen, and Saint Martin was working also with the sick outside his convent, often bringing them healing with only a simple glass of water. He begged for alms to procure for them necessities the Convent could not provide, and Providence always supplied what he sought.
One day an aged beggar, covered with ulcers and almost naked, stretched out his hand, and Saint Martin, seeing the Divine Mendicant in him, took him to his own bed, paying no heed to the fact that he was not perfectly neat and clean. One of his brethren, considering he had gone too far in his charity, reproved him. Saint Martin replied: Compassion, my dear Brother, is preferable to cleanliness. Reflect that with a little soap I can easily clean my bed covers, but even with a torrent of tears I would never wash from my soul the stain that my harshness toward the unfortunate would create.
When an epidemic struck Lima, there were in this single convent of the Rosary sixty religious who were sick, many of them novices in a distant and locked section of the convent, separated from the professed. Saint Martin is known to have passed through the locked doors to care for them, a phenomenon which was observed in the residence more than once. The professed, too, saw him suddenly beside them without the doors having been opened; and these facts were duly verified by the surprised Superiors. Martin continued to transport the sick to the convent until the provincial Superior, alarmed by the contagion threatening the religious, forbid him to continue to do so. His sister, who lived in the country, offered her house to lodge those whom the residence of the religious could not hold. One day he found on the street a poor Indian, bleeding to death from a dagger wound, and took him to his own room until he could transport him to his sister's hospice. The Superior, when he heard of this, reprimanded his subject for disobedience. He was extremely edified by his reply: Forgive my error, and please instruct me, for I did not know that the precept of obedience took precedence over that of charity. In effect, there are situations where charity must prevail; and instruction is very necessary. The Superior gave him liberty thereafter to follow his inspirations in the exercise of mercy.
In normal times Saint Martin succeeded with his alms to feed 160 poor persons every day, and distributed a remarkable sum of money every week to the indigent — the latter phenomenon hard to explain by ordinary calculations. To Saint Martin the city of Lima owed a famous residence founded for orphans and abandoned children, where they were formed in piety for a creative Christian life. This lay Brother had always wanted to be a missionary, but never left his native city; yet even during his lifetime he was seen elsewhere, in regions as far distant as Africa, China, Algeria, Japan. An African slave who had been in irons said he had known Martin when he came to relieve and console many like himself, telling them of heaven. When later the same slave saw him in Peru, he was very happy to meet him again and asked him if he had had a good voyage; only later did he learn that Saint Martin had never left Lima. A merchant from Lima was in Mexico and fell ill; he said aloud: Oh, Brother Martin, if only you were here to care for me..! and immediately saw him enter his room. And again, this man did not know until later that he had never been in Mexico.
When he died in 1639, Saint Martin was known to the entire city of Lima; word of his miracles had made him known as a Saint to every resident of the region. After his death, the miracles and graces received when he was invoked multiplied in such profusion that his body was exhumed after 25 years and found intact, and exhaling a fine fragrance. Letters to Rome pleaded for his beatification; the decree affirming the heroism of his virtues was issued in 1763 by Clement XIII; Gregory XVI beatified him in 1836, and in 1962 Pope John XXIII canonized him. The poor and the sick will never fail to find in him a friend having great power over the Heart of God.
![[Image: saint_malachy_d_armagh.jpg]](https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/images/saint_malachy_d_armagh.jpg)
Saint Malachy O'More
Primate of Armagh, Ireland
(† 1148)
Born in the late eleventh century of a princely family, in the archiepiscopal city of Armagh, Saint Malachy was raised in the fear and love of God. He seemed to have the virtues of maturity hidden under the appearances of childhood. Praises did not inflate him, and reproaches did not sadden him. He had a horror of idleness, and a command from his preceptors was always like a law for him. He would often separate from his companions to converse in prayer with God. When he was still a young man, he made himself the disciple of a holy hermit who had established a little cell near the cathedral church of Armagh. The archbishop of Armagh made him a deacon of his church, and when at the age of twenty-five he was ordained a priest, commanded him to preach the Gospel and catechize his people. He uprooted vices and corrected abuses, and the archdiocese derived great profit from his ministry.
An episode from the life of Saint Malachy teaches us several truths concerning purgatory. He had a sister who was very worldly, and whom he found indifferent to his efforts to lead her to reflect on the reason for her existence and her last ends. He learned one day that she had died after having manifested regret for her sins, and he offered a Mass for her soul; but he did not think of continuing this practice. After thirty days he heard in a dream that she was standing outside the church and had not eaten for one month. He began again to pray for her, and then in a dream beheld her clothed in a black robe, near the door of the church but unable to enter. He continued his suffrages, and on a third occasion saw her in a robe which was more or less white, having entered the church but unable to approach the altar. The last time he saw her she was within the church, clothed in white and near the altar, in the company of the just. We learn from this how serious our indifference and lack of love for God are; that our prayers are efficacious in relieving our dear ones; and that it is ordinarily a little at a time that souls are delivered from the bonds of their sins and negligence.
Saint Malachy brought about several miracles, and manifested great devotion and zeal in the reconstruction and re-establishment of a monastery whose nine hundred religious had been massacred by pirates; these facts led to his being consecrated Bishop of Connor, a small see whose inhabitants were Christian in name but pagan in practice. The venerable pastor taught the people with patience and warned them with gentleness. He endured many insults and outrages, but finally the hardened hearts were softened and began to listen to his voice and instructions. He remained in this see until a hostile king and his army decimated the city of Connor. At that time, the Archbishop of Armagh was nearing death and named him to succeed him in this metropolitan see, overriding his humility and protestations of insufficient virtue and competence.
Again he had a great deal to suffer in the exercise of his new charge. The see of Armagh, by a longstanding abuse, had been held somewhat like a throne by one single family, and it required on the part of the Saint no little tact and firmness to calm the dissensions caused by his election. Ecclesiastical discipline had been forgotten, and depraved morals everywhere had virtually annihilated faith and piety. The good bishop who had named Saint Malachy had labored to correct the abuses, and hoped his virtuous successor might better succeed in the same post. Nonetheless, two years passed before Malachy could even enter into the city as its archbishop; troops were levied against his entry by the pretender to the same title. Saint Malachy had accepted the office on the condition that he assume the charge only after the death or flight of the false bishop, for he did not want to cause a war and the death of those whose salvation he desired to procure. The pretender and his cousin, with several others of the same lineage, were struck down soon afterwards by the hand of God, and their exemplary chastisements gave great credit to the Saint, and enabled him to make ordinances to countermand the disorders. He divided the diocese and left the larger portion, that of Connor, to a colleague, a very holy man worthy of the charge. He retired to the other part, the new see of Down. There he convoked synods, renewed ancient ordinances and made appropriate ones; everywhere he intimidated sinners and implanted religion and piety.
We must not neglect to mention the famous prophecy of Saint Malachy, in which he assigns to every Pope of the future a motto describing each pontificate, from his own day until the last Pope he mentions, whom he calls Petrus Romanus — Peter the Roman. After the motto attributed to the present Vicar of Jesus Christ (in the year 2000), De Labore Solis, only one, De Gloria Olivae — From the glory of the Olive Tree — separates us from Peter II. The prophecy, which begins with Celestine II (1143-1144), was discovered in 1590 and includes one hundred and eleven mottos. Many a motto has been shown to have a striking exactitude in the description of its subject and his pontificate. Many interpreters have labored to prove the prophecy's accuracy.
Saint Malachy twice made a pilgrimage to Rome to consult Christ's Vicar, the first time returning as a Papal Legate for all of Ireland, amid the joy of his people. The second time, however, he was bound for a happier home; he was taken ill in France at the monastery of Clairvaux, where his great friend and biographer, Saint Bernard, was Abbot. He died there in the monastery where he would gladly have lived, at the age of fifty-four, on the 2nd of November, 1148. Saint Bernard, in his Life of Saint Malachy, narrates many of his miracles, one of which he himself brought about, when he touched the paralyzed arm of a young boy to that of the mortal remains of the bishop, while he was laid out in his coffin at Clairvaux. It was instantly cured.
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| November 2nd - All Souls Day |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:15 AM - Forum: November
- Replies (9)
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November 2nd - All Souls Day
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The Church teaches us that the souls of the just who have left this world with traces of venial sin remain for a time in a place of expiation, where they suffer whatever punishment may be due to their offenses. Even if pardon has been obtained for our sins, satisfaction must be made to God, our Creator, in this world or in the next; for His sanctity has been, as it were, insulted by the self-will of one of His ignoble creatures. The more noble the person offended, the more serious the offense, even according to human laws. It is a dogma of our faith that the suffering souls are relieved by the intercession of the Saints in heaven and by the prayers of the faithful upon earth. To pray for the dead is therefore an act of charity and of piety, certainly obligatory for a Christian who professes to have charity in his heart. We read in Holy Scripture: It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins. (II Maccabees 12:46)
When towards the close of the tenth century, Our Lord inspired Saint Odilon, Abbot of Cluny, to establish in his Benedictine Order a general commemoration of all the faithful departed, the practice was soon afterwards adopted by the entire Western Church and has been continued unceasingly to our day. Let us always bear in mind the departed who have died in the love of God, and offer up our prayers and sacrifices to help expiate for them. By showing this mercy to the suffering souls in purgatory, we gain for ourselves very devoted friends, who will in their turn pray for us. We shall then be entitled to be treated with mercy at our departure from this world, and to share more abundantly in the suffrages of the Church, continually offered for all who have fallen asleep in Christ.
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| November 1st - Feast of All Saints |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:13 AM - Forum: November
- Replies (7)
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November 1st
The Church day by day gives special veneration to one or more of the holy men and women who have helped to establish it by their blood, develop it by their labors, or edify it by their virtues. But, in addition to those whom the Church honors by special designation or has inscribed in her calendar, how many martyrs are there whose names are not recorded! How many humble virgins and holy penitents! How many unknown anchorites and monks, Christian fathers and mothers, young children snatched away in their innocence! How many courageous Christians, whose merits are known only to God and His heavenly court!
Should we forget those who remember us in their intercession? Are not some among them our ancestors? members of our immediate family? our friends and fellow-Christians, with whom we have lived in daily companionship? In fact, all of Heaven is but one family — Our Lord's, as He Himself said: Who is My mother and who are My brethren? And stretching forth His hand towards His disciples, He said, Behold My mother and My brethren! For whoever does the Will of My Father in heaven, is My brother and sister and mother. Today we have the opportunity to thank God, if at other times we forget, for their aid and their love. And today we adore Him with them, for the grace which raised them to their present joy. The Church requires this homage of us, by making this day a holy day of obligation for all. Our place, too, is awaiting us in this home of eternal light, peace and love, if we persevere to the end in the fulfillment of God's holy Will.
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| To American Friends and Benefactors - April 1983 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:08 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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A Message of Importance
To American Friends & Benefactors
From Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
28 April, 1983
Ridgefield, Connecticut
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
What was latent for many years in the relations between most of the priests of the North-East District and the Society of Saint Pius X, and was the object of continual difficulties, has just come out into the open by the support given by these priests to the refusal of the Society’s liturgy by one of the three young priests I ordained at Oyster Bay Cove on November 3, 1982.
Thus, their long-standing disagreement with myself and the Society has now become public rebellion. It is the result of an extremist way of thinking and a tendency to schism in the domain of the liturgy, the papacy, and the sacraments of the reform.
They reject the liturgy which has always been used in the Society and consider it evil, the liturgy of Pope Pius XII, signed by Pope John XXIII, and so, the liturgy preceding the Council. They think and behave as if there is no Pope, suppressing all prayers for the Pope. In practice, they tend to hold almost all the sacraments of the new rites to be invalid.
This radicalism is not the attitude of the Society.
The basic principle of the Society’s thinking and action in the painful crisis the Church is going through is the principle taught by St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica (II, II, q. 33, a.4). That one may not oppose the authority of the Church except in the case of imminent danger to the Faith. Now, there is no danger for the Faith in the liturgy of Pope Pius XII and Pope John XXIII, whereas there is great danger for the Faith in the liturgy of Pope Paul VI, which is unacceptable.
The Society acts on the assumption that Pope John Paul II is Pope and so prays for him and strives to bring him back to Tradition by praying for him, by meeting with those around him, and by writing to him.
The Society does not say that all the sacraments according to the new post-conciliar rites are invalid, but that due to bad translations, the lack of proper intention, and the changes introduced in the matter and form, the number of invalid and doubtful sacraments is increasing. In order, then, to reach a decision in the practical order concerning the doubtfulness or invalidity of sacraments given by priests imbued with the ideas of the Council, a serious study of the various circumstances is necessary.
Many of you know the difficulties to which the attitude of these priests has given rise. Many of you have suffered from it and so will not be surprised by this clarification of the situation.
We regret not being able to come immediately to the assistance of those who wish to stay with the Society, but we will heed the requests of the faithful and, with the grace of God, we will come to your aid and we will keep you united to Rome and to the Church of all time.
So, henceforth, Father Kelly is no longer District Superior; Father Cekada is no longer District Bursar; Father Sanborn is no longer Rector of the Seminary. These priests, and the priests who follow them, and any seminarians who might follow them, are no longer members of the Society of Saint Pius X, as of 27 April 1983. They no longer have any power, nor hold any office in the Society’s name.
Henceforth, if you have any inquiries concerning the Society in the North-East District, contact, at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Ridgefield, Father Richard Williamson, who has been provisionally nominated District Superior, or Father Roger Petit, who has been nominated District Bursar.
Most of the seminarians are remaining with us and we shall, God willing, proceed with ordinations in the first days of November.
We count on your prayers so that we can carry on the work of the Society in the North-East District and especially at the Seminary henceforth entrusted to Father Richard Williamson. We ask you to continue to help us so that we can continue building up the traditional Catholic Church in America. Please pray for the 24 new priests I am going to ordain on June 29th.
May God bless you through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
† Marcel Lefebvre,
Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X
Source
[Emphasis - The Catacombs]
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