December 9th - St. Peter Fourier and St. Leocadia of Toledo

[Elizabeth]

Saint Peter Fourier
Parish Priest of Mattaincourt,
Reformer of the Canons of Saint Augustine,
Founder of the Canonesses of Notre Dame
(1565-1640)

This priest of God was consecrated to Him before and at his birth by his pious parents, who destined their eldest son for the altars. His aptitude for study, his high stature and beauty added the gifts of nature to those of grace. The young man was noted in particular for his devotion to the Mother of God and his great modesty. It was a surprise to all when he chose to consecrate himself to God in a religious Order which at that time had degenerated from its original fervor, that of the Canons of Saint Augustine. He made application for entrance into the Abbey of Chaumouzey, founded in 1094, situated a short distance from his native village of Mirecourt in Lorraine. There he made the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in 1587, and was ordained a priest in February of 1589.

Before saying his first Mass he passed several months of retreat in the exercises of prayer, penance and tears. He was then sent to complete his theological studies at the university of Pont-au-Mousson, also in Lorraine. There Father Jean Fourier, a relative who was Rector of that University, directed him admirably. His progress in virtue and the sacred sciences placed him high in the opinion of the Cardinal of Lorraine and Bishop of Metz, who desired to have him in his diocese; he offered him a parish where his talents would bring him advancement. But the young priest, wishing to flee all honors, declined, to return to his Abbey.

There hell instigated against him a persecution; he was the brunt of raillery, threats, and intrigues, and an effort was made to poison him, which did not succeed. For two years he lived in the midst of contradictions without complaining in any way to his abbot, who seemed unaware of what was happening; he increased in patience and kindness towards his persecutors. Eventually he was again offered a choice of three parishes, two of which would provide opportunity for advancement, while the third was in a village regarded as incorrigible and backward. It was the last one that he chose. The people there were prosperous but more than indifferent to religion. The Sacraments were neglected and the feast days profaned; the altars were bare and the church was deserted when he arrived.

He began by visiting families and assembling two or three of them to talk to them of the truths of the faith. He did not go to the banquets which followed funerals and weddings, save to offer the prayer of blessing or make a short exhortation. He did not accept a housekeeper, even when his own stepmother offered to assist him. He prayed for the greater part of every night, and never refused to go where he was called, at any time or in any season. So little did he need for himself that he was able to give alms and assistance to the poor. He prayed before Jesus on the altar: You are the principal parish priest, I am only Your vicar. And permit me to say to You, with all the humility of my heart, that You are under obligation to make succeed what I cannot.

He desired to remedy the evils of the times by forming children to virtue; and Providence soon brought to him several young women who offered themselves for the instruction of young girls. Within the space of only a few years, six schools were founded in the region, and before he died, about forty. Blessed Alice LeClerc was the first Sister and first Superior of the Canonesses of Notre Dame, dedicated to the education of young women. For this purpose Saint Peter was obliged to confide his parish to his vicar for a time, to journey and obtain the various permissions and assistance necessary; but it was God's work and all efforts succeeded.

His own parish was gradually being transformed into a model, and priests came to visit it. One of them reported to his bishop the marvels of devotion he had seen in Mattaincourt, and said he had asked the parish priest where he had studied; Saint Peter had answered that he had studied in the fourth — corresponding in America to about the ninth grade. Astonished, the visitor was yet more so when he learned that this modest priest had certainly studied in the fourth, as he had said, but out of horror for vainglory had wanted to dissimulate his years of higher studies.

The bishops were asking him to visit their parishes to preach missions where needed; the holy priest obeyed, amid his increasing tears and penance, as he perceived the vices and ignorance of the populations. He also was concerned to reestablish the discipline and fervor of his own Order, an effort which had failed several times. But in 1621 the Bishop of Toul, Monsignor de Porcelets, entrusted this work to Father Fourier. A house was found to begin the Reform, the vacant ancient Abbey of Saint Remi, and six excellent subjects were sent there under his direction. In four years, eight houses of the Order had adopted the Reform. A General Superior was named; for a time Father Fourier was able to avoid that office, but when the good Superior died, he was obliged to accept its functions. Attacked by the devil, his influence distorted by calumnies, Saint Peter's only response was to spread everywhere devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. More than two centuries before the Miraculous Medal in 1830 and the proclamation of the dogma in 1854, he saw to the distribution of large quantities of a medal he had struck, on which were engraved the words: Mary was conceived without sin.

Saint Peter Fourier died in exile as an effect of the difficulties and political problems of the 1630's; he found shelter in a province which was at that time under the Spanish crown, and there he died in 1640. His spiritual sons, his spiritual daughters, the good people of Gray in Bourgogne, who had welcomed him and whom he had served admirably during an epidemic of the pestilence, all wanted the honor of possessing his mortal remains. But so did also the parish of Mattaincourt. To the reformed Order of Saint Augustine this privilege was granted officially, but the pious women of Mattaincourt, blocking the church door, would not permit the Canons to resume their journey with the coffin, after they had stopped in his former parish for a day or so. His heart had already been left to the parish of Gray. Miracles have abounded at his tomb, as they did during his lifetime, by his prayers. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1897.

Saint Leocadia of Toledo
Virgin and Martyr
(† 303)

Saint Leocadia was the fervent daughter of an illustrious Christian family of Toledo, apprehended and martyred in 303 by an order of Dacian, the cruel governor under Diocletian.

When Dacian arrived in Toledo, she was soon denounced. Summoned before his tribunal, she replied to his contemptuous words concerning the true religion that she considered herself infinitely happy to serve God and His Son Jesus Christ, and that nothing whatsoever would be able to make her renounce her religion. She was flogged until covered with blood, then imprisoned with threats. She went to the prison with joy, consoling the Christians along the route who deplored her condition, telling them to rejoice in the grace she received to suffer for her Lord and Spouse. It was in this prison that she heard of the incredibly cruel martyrdom inflicted on her compatriot, Saint Eulalia, and she was so grieved by these cruelties, and by the condition of the true servants of God in those days, that she prayed to be retired from this world. Her prayer was heard, and she expired peacefully there on December 9, 303, kissing a cross which the touch of her hand imprinted on the hard rock of the prison wall.

A church was built over her tomb, in which several archbishops of Toledo chose to be buried. Two other famous churches in Toledo bear her name, one built over the site of the prison, and the other at that of the paternal home. Saint Leocadia is honored as the principal patroness of the city. Her relics were kept in that church with great respect, until during the incursions of the Moors, they were conveyed to Oviedo, and again elsewhere, then they were eventually carried back to Toledo with great pomp, and placed in the great church there on the 26th of April, 1589.

[Stone]

December 9 – Second Day within the Octave of the Immaculate Conception
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

Let us consider how the immaculate Mary came into this world nine months after her Conception, and how each day of her life gave man fresh reason to hope for the great promises made him by God. Let us admire the fullness of grace which God has given to her, and contemplate the respect and the love wherewith the holy Angels look upon her as the future Mother of Him who is to be their Head and King, as well as ours. Let us follow this august Queen to the Temple of Jerusalem, where she is presented by her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne. When but three years of age, she was initiated into all the secrets of divine love. “I always rose at midnight (thus she spoke of herself, in a revelation to St. Elizabeth of Hungary) and went before the Altar of the Temple, where I besought of God that I might observe all the commandments of his Law, and be enriched with those graces which would render me pleasing to his Majesty. I most earnestly prayed him, that I might live to see that most holy virgin who was to bring forth into this world his own divine Son. I asked him to grant me to enjoy the use of my eyes that I might see her, of my tongue that I might praise her, of my hands that I might serve her, of my feet that I might go her errands, and of my knees that I might adore the Son of God resting in her arms.”

Thou, O Mary, thou thyself wast this Virgin, who was worthy of the praises of men and Angels! But God had not yet revealed it to thee, and thy heavenly humility forbade thy thinking that the immense dignity, which thou didst so deeply venerate, could ever be thine. Nay, thou wast the first and the only one of the daughters of Israel that had renounced all hope of ever being the Mother of the Messias. To be Mother of the Messias was, indeed, an ineffable honor; but it seemed as though it could only be received on the condition of having another Spouse besides God, and this thou wouldst not suffer; thou wouldst be united to God alone, and thy vow of Virginity which made thee so, was dearer to thee than the possibility of any privilege, which would rob thee even of a tittle of that. Thy marriage with St. Joseph, therefore, was a fresh lustre added to thy incomparable purity, while, in the designs of God, it provided thee with the protection which thy coming honors would soon require. We follow thee, O Spouse of Joseph, into thy house at Nazareth, where is to be spent thy humble life. There we behold thee diligent in all thy duties, the valiant Woman (Proverbs 31:10) of the Scriptures, the object of the admiration of God and his Angels. Suffer us, O Mary! to unite our Advent devotions with the prayers which thou didst offer up for the coming of the Messias; with the veneration wherewith thou didst think upon her that was to be his Mother; and with the inflamed desires wherewith thou didst long for the divine Savior. We salute thee as the Virgin (Isaiah 7:14) foretold by Isaias; it is thyself, O blessed Mother, that deservest the praise and love of the holy people and city, the redeemed of the Lord. (Isaiah 62:12)

Sequence
(Taken from the Cluny Missal of 1523)

Veneremur Virginem
Genitricem gratiæ
Salutis dulcedinem,
Fontem Sapientiæ.

Let us venerate the Virgin, the Mother of Grace, the sweetness of Salvation, the fount of Wisdom.

Hæc est aula regia,
Regina prudentiæ,
Virgo plena gratia,
Aurora lætitiæ.

She is the palace of the King, the Queen of prudence, the Virgin full of grace, the Aurora of joy.

Hæc est melle dulcior
Castitatis lilium;
Jaspide splendidior,
Mœroris solatium.

She is sweeter than honey, the lily of chastity; she is brighter than the jaspar, our solace in sorrow.

O fons admirabilis,
Fidei principium,
Mater admirabilis,
Vas virtutis pretium.

O fountain most admirable, souce whence came the author of our faith, Mother most admirable, precious vessel of virtue.

Tu es regis speciosi
Mater honestissima,
Odor nardi pretiosi,
Rosa suavissima.

Thou art the purest Mother of the beautiful King; thou art the perfume of precious ointment; thou art the sweetest Rose.

Arbor vitæ digna laude,
Stella fulgentissima,
Generosa Mater, gaude,
Virginum sanctissima.

Rejoice, O glorious tree of life, O brightest of stars, O noblest of Mothers, O Virgin most holy!

Tu medela peccatorum,
Regina consilii,
Peperisti florem florum,
Christum fontem gaudii.

Thou the sinner’s help, and Queen of counsel, didst bring forth the flower of flowers, Jesus the source of our joy.

Virga Jesse, lux Sanctorum,
Donatrix auxilii,
Memor esto miserorum,
In die Judicii.

Branch of Jesse, light of the Saints, help of the needy, be mindful of us sinners on the day of judgment.

Tu es mundi gaudium,
Charitatis regula,
Victoris stipendium,
Aromatum cellula.

Thou art the joy of the world, the model of charity, the encouragement to victory, the treasury of every fragrance.

Sit tibi, flos omnium,
Virgo sine macula,
Honor et imperium,
Per æterna sæcula. Amen.

To thee, O sweetest flower, Immaculate Virgin, be queenly honor for ever. Amen.

Prayer From the Gregorian Sacramentary
(In the daily Prayers for Advent)

Exsultemus, quæsumus, Domine Deus noster, omnes recti corde in unitate fidei congregati: ut veniente Salvatore nostro Filio tuo, immaculati occurramus illi in ejus Sanctorum comitatu. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord our God, that all we, who are united with upright hearts in the unity of faith, may rejoice: that so, when thy Son our Savior, shall come, we, being purified, may meet him in the society of his Saints. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.