December 14th - Blessed Melanie Calvat and St. Nicasius and his Companions

[Elizabeth]

Blessed Melanie Calvat
Seeress of La Salette, Virgin
(1831-1904)

Born on November 7, 1831, in Corps, France, Françoise Melanie Calvat was the fourth of ten children born to Pierre Calvat, an honest stonemason and sawyer, and Julie Barnaud, a lightheaded woman who disgracefully mistreated Melanie. Put out of the house at the age of three, the little girl took refuge in the woods, where a beautiful little Child (the Child Jesus) visited her, calling her the sister of My Heart. He consoled and instructed her, and was her only friend throughout her childhood. At the age of three, she was stigmatized and favored with the vision of Our Lady, who promised to watch over her as Mother and Mistress. The occupation of shepherdess was imposed upon her at the tender age of six, and Melanie suffered much affliction with love and patience. 1846 found her, now fourteen years old, watching her master's cows in La Salette, located a few kilometers from Corps. This is where the Mother of God chose to appear to her and to Maximin Giraud to transmit Her Message. After the Apparition, the two children were placed as boarders in the Sisters of Providence convent in Corps, where an inquiry concerning the Apparition took place.

The life of Melanie was not a tranquil one. She entered religion in her native village of Corps at the age of twenty, but was soon exiled from France by her bishop, who arranged for her to be accompanied to Darlington, England by an English prelate. There she was sequestered in a Carmel for several years, until released from its vow of cloister by the Holy Father Pius IX, that she might be free to accomplish her mission. Melanie was able to publish the Secret, as the Virgin had commanded, only in 1872 and 1873, in Italy, with an Imprimatur of Cardinal Sforza, Archbishop of Naples, and with the approbation of Pope Pius IX. When she completed the Secret by adding an account of the Apparition from beginning to end in 1878, Pope Leon XIII, reading her narration, said, This document must be published. Included in it is the urgent appeal of Our Lady, summoning the Apostles of the Latter Times, who will have lived in contempt of the world and themselves, in silence, prayer and mortification, in chastity and union with God, in suffering and unknown to the world. She calls them to come forth, to combat, in these days of woe. The brochure was again printed in 1879, with the Imprimatur of Monsignor Zola, bishop of Lecce near Naples, who had protected and assisted Melanie in his diocese. Her life was one of constant miraculous help from Heaven amid unceasing contradictions; her soul, hidden behind a very modest exterior which only the holy consecrated souls of her time could penetrate, was one of beautiful innocence and of a sanctity far from ordinary.

The bishops of France resisted the Secret with, at times, a real fury, because its warnings as to the political ambitions of Napoleon III and the regrettable state of the clergy in general, were not to their liking. Melanie was called insane, she was calumniated, refused possession of a terrain in France willed legally to the Order of the Mother of God which she represented; refused Holy Communion at times; she was exiled from certain dioceses when she returned from Italy for a few years. Eventually, after prolonged efforts to establish the Order of the Mother of God both in Italy and in France, she again went to Italy, where she died in 1904. She had foretold: The spirit of La Salette can be transported. And when the hour has sounded, the Blessed Virgin will be able to resurrect La Salette and accomplish Her Work... The Blessed Virgin's words are not sterile like those of men... Her Work will be done. Men and devils can do nothing against Her. She will triumph. Men can resist the call of grace and Her appeal, but She can transport Her great light and show it to others. Let us await Her help and Her hour.

Martyrs

(5th century)

In the fifth century an army of Vandal barbarians from Germany, while ravaging part of Gaul, plundered the city of Rheims. Nicasius, its holy bishop, an emissary of peace, justice and charity, had foretold this calamity to his flock; for the city of Rheims, which for a long time had been docile to his word, little by little was seen by the afflicted pastor to be sinking into vice and corruption. He endeavored to waken them to penance: Weep, lament in sackcloth and ashes, unfortunate flock, for God has numbered your iniquities, and if you do not do penance, dreadful punishments are going to come upon you! But his words were unheeded.

When Saint Nicasius saw the enemy at the gates and in the streets, forgetting himself and solicitous only for his spiritual children, he went from door to door encouraging everyone to patience and constancy, and awakening in each breast the most heroic sentiments of piety and religion. By endeavoring to save the lives of his flock, he exposed himself to the sword of the infidels, who indeed slew him, while he was praying on his knees the words of a Psalm: Lord, my soul has been as though fastened to the earth; Lord, give me life, according to Your word! Florens, his deacon, and Jocond, his lector, were massacred by his side. His sister Eutropia, a virtuous and beautiful virgin, fearing she might be reserved for a fate worse than death, boldly cried out to the infidels that it was her unalterable resolution to sacrifice her life rather than her faith or her virtue. In reply, they dispatched her with their cutlasses, and continued their massacre.

Then, suddenly, a strange and terrible noise was heard in the Church of Notre-Dame, and the alarmed barbarians took flight without taking time to pillage the houses or burn the city, or even take the booty they had already amassed.

When the city's inhabitants who had fled to the mountains of the region felt it was safe to return, having seen an unexplained flame above the place of the torment and heard what seemed to be an angelic concert in that area, they went with the intention of piously burying the remains of the slain, and they found there Saint Nicasius, their bishop, his assistants, and Saint Eutropia. Many miracles occurred at their tomb.

[Stone]

December 14 – Seventh Day Within the Octave of the Immaculate Conception
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

Let us consider how our Blessed Lady, having arrived at the house of her holy cousin Elizabeth, rendered her every possible service with the greatest love, favored her with the sweet and holy conversations, assisted at the glorious Birth of St. John the Baptist, and at length returned home to her humble dwelling at Nazareth. But that we may the better enter into these divine mysteries, let us again listen to the Seraphic St. Bonaventure:

“When, therefore, her time was expired, Elizabeth gave birth to a son, whom our Lady took up, and with all diligence did what was required. The babe looked into Mary’s face like one that knew her; and as she gave him unto his mother, he turned his head towards Mary, for he fain would be in her arms again. Mary, on her part, delighted in nursing this holy babe, and fondled him, and kissed him with great joy. Consider the honor that is here given unto John. Never had a child such arms as these to carry him. Many other privileges are related as being granted unto him; but for this present, I must needs pass them by.
”Now, on the eighth day, the child was circumcised, and was called John. Then was the mouth of Zachary opened, and he prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel! Thus were made, in that house, the two most beautiful Canticles, namely the Magnificat and the Benedictus. Meanwhile, our Lady going aside, lest she should be seen by those that had come together for the ceremony, listened attentively to the Canticle of Zachary, which prophesied of her Son, and most prudently pondered in her heart upon all these things. At length, when the time came for her to return home, she bade Elizabeth and Zachary farewell, and giving John her blessing, she returned unto Nazareth. Recall to thy mind, in this her second journey, all that was told thee of her poverty. She returned to her house, where she would find neither bread, nor wine, nor those things which were needed. She had no property, nor money. She had been, now these three months, living with persons who were very rich, but now she returns unto her poor cottage, and has to procure her livelihood by the labor of her hands. Do thou sympathize with her, and learn to love poverty.”

 

Sequence in Honor of the Blessed Virgin
(Taken from the ancient Roman-French Missals)

Ave, Virgo gloriosa,
Cœ jubar, mundi rosa,
Cœlibatus lilium.

Hail, O glorious Virgin! brightness of the heavens, rose of the world, lily of purity.

Ave, gemma pretiosa,
Super solem speciosa,
Virginale gaudium.

Hail, precious gem! more beauteous than the sun, and joy of pure souls.

Spes reorum, O Maria,
Redemptoris Mater pia,
Redemptorum gloria.

Thou art the sinner’s hope, O Mary! thou art the holy Mother of our Redeemer, and the consolation of us whom he redeemed.

Finis lethi, vitæ via;
Tibi triplex Hierarchia
Digna dat præconia.

Thou didst stay the reign of death, thou didst commence the reign of life. To thee, O Mary, the triple Hierarchy sing their praises.

Virga Jesse florida,
Stella maris lucida,
Sidus veræ lucis.

Hail! flowery stem of Jesse, bright Star of the Sea, source that broughtest to us Him that is our true light.

Fructum vitæ proferens,
Et ad portum transferens
Salutis, quod ducis.

Thou bearest the Fruit of life, and he whom thou leadest will not miss the port of salvation.
Florens hortus, ægris gratus,
Puritatis fons signatus,
Dans fluenta gratiæ.

O flowery garden, so sweet to the sick! O sealed fount of purity, that gavest us Jesus the author of grace.

Thronus veri Salomonia,
Quem præclaris cœ donis
Ornavit Rex gloriæ.

Thou throne of the true Solomon, enriched by the King of glory with the best of heaven’s gifts.

O regina pietatis,
Et totius sanctitatis
Flumen indeficiens.

O merciful Queen! thou art the rich unfailing stream of all sanctity.

In te salva confidentes,
Salutari sitientes
Potu nos reficiens.

Have pity on us who trust in thee, and refresh our thirsty souls with thy efficacious prayers.

Ad te flentes suspiramus.
Rege mentes, invocamus,
Evæ proles misera.

Hear our sighs, O Mary! and suffer not us, poor children of Eve, to go astray.

Statum nostræ paupertatis,
Vultu tuæ bonitatis,
Clementer considera.

Look with thy eye of love on our many wants: compassionate our poverty.

Cella fragrans aromatum
Apotheca charismatum Salutaris.

Vessel of every fragrance, and Mother and treasury of divine grace.

Tuam nobis fragrantiam
Spirans, infunde gratiam
Qua ditaris.

Breathe thy fragrance into our souls, and obtain for us the riches of grace.

Dulcis Jesu Mater bona,
Mundi salus, et Matrona
Supernorum civium.

Beautiful Mother of our sweet Jesus! the world received its Savior through thee, and the heavenly citizens call thee Queen.

Pacem confer sempiternam,
Et ad lucem nos supernam
Transfer post exilium. Amen.

Obtain for us that peace which has no end, and after this our exile, that light which is divine. Amen.

 

Prayer for the Time of Advent
(The Mozarabic Breviary - Friday of the Second Week of Advent, Capitula)

Dominator desiderabilis, Domine Jesu Christe, quasi ignis conflans ab scoriis peccaminum nos absterge: et quasi aurum purum argentumque purgatum, nos effice; tuoque inspiramine, ad quærendum te jugiter, corda nostra succende; ut ad te ardenter nostra desideria anhelent, tibique conjungi tota aviditate festinent. Amen.

O King, whom our hearts desire, Lord Jesus Christ, come, we beseech thee, cleanse us as a furnace of fire from the dross of our sins, and make us like gold that is pure, and like silver that is without alloy. Inflame our hearts, by thy inspiration, that they seek thee unceasingly: so may our desires long with all ardor after thee, and pant with all eagerness to be united with thee. Amen.