550 B.C. The Departure
of the Great Prophet Daniel.
On this day of the last year of king Cyrus King of Babylon,
the great
righteous prophet Daniel Departed. This prophet was from the tribe of
Judah, and from the posterity of king David. He was taken captive along
with the Israelites by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon when he captured
Jerusalem in the year 3398 of the world. He stayed in babylon for
seventy years. This prophet was very young in age, however, he
conducted himself in virtuous life, the Holy Spirit filled him and he
prophesied in Babylon.
In the fourth year of the exile, Nebuchadnezzar the king saw
a dreadful
dream and was extremely frightened. When he woke up, he forgot the
detail of his dream. He gathered all the wise men of Babylon to tell
the king his dream and its meaning. If they failed to tell the king the
dream and its interpretation they would all be killed, among those also
were Daniel and the three young men. Daniel and the young men prayed to
God with supplications to reveal to them the King's dream. God answered
their prayers and revealed to Daniel the dream and its interpretation.
Daniel went to the king and told him his dream and its interpretation.
He also told him about the kings that they are about to rule after him,
and what would happen to every one of them. Nebuchadnezzar was pleased
with Daniel, and fell on his face before him. The king presented Daniel
with great gifts and appointed him over the wise men of Babylon.
After some time had passed, Nebuchadnezzar saw another
dream, and
Daniel interpreted the dream for him. Daniel told the king that because
of his arrogance, God would drive him from among men, to dwell among
the beasts of the wild and would eat grass like oxen for seven years,
and then God would bring him back to his kingdom, and all that happened
to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel also explained to Belshazzar, the son of
Nebuchadnezzar, what the angel of the Lord had written on the wall,
when king Belshazzar drank wine in the gold and silver vessels of the
temple of the Lord. Daniel told the king: " O king, the Most High gave
Nebuchadnezzar your father, a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor...
But when his heart was lifted up in pride, he was deposed from his
kingdom and thrown from his throne into among the animals. And you,
Belshazzar, although you knew all what happened to your father, yet you
also lifted your heart against the Lord of heaven. They brought the
vessels of the house of the Lord before you, and you , your lords,
wives and concubines (mistresses) drank wine from these vessels... Then
the fingers of a Hand were send from the Lord, and His writing was
written: "Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Upharsin..which meant:
Mene means: God has
numbered your days as a king and terminated you
rule. Tekel means: You have been weighed in the balances of the Lord
and was found wanting. Upharsin means: your kingdom has been divided
and given to the Medes and Persians after you. All of them came to pass
and the king was killed with all his lords and the kingdom of the
Chaldeans ended. Darius, king of Persia, ruled after him.
There was an idol in Babylon named "Bael" which king Darius
worshiped.
When Daniel was asked why he did not worship it, Daniel answered: "I do
not worship something that has no life in it." The king said to him:
"He is alive for he eats and drinks every day." Daniel told him that
could not be true. The king was angry and wanted to check the matter
for himself. He put the food and the drinks in the temple of the idol
and closed the door and sealed it. On the next day, he went to the
temple, opened the door and did not find the food nor the drinks. But
Daniel with the help of some of his companions, covered the floor of
the temple with fine ashes, found the feet tracks of those who entered
the temple by night and stole the food and drinks.
The king arrested the seventy priests of the idol Bael,
together with
their wives and children and tortured them until they told him about
the secret entrance to the temple. The king then ordered them all to be
killed and allowed Daniel to destroy the idol and its altar. The people
rebelled against the king and asked him to deliver Daniel to their
hands. The king surrendered to their demands and Daniel was cast into
the den of lions. However God kept Daniel safe and destroyed his
enemies.
Daniel saw in a vision the kingdoms and the kings to come
after him to
rule the world to the end of time. He also saw the glory of God and the
Divinity of Christ the Savior. He prophesied about His coming and His
death, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the abolition of the sacrifice
and the offerings, and all has been fulfilled.
This great prophet remained
in
Babylon for seventy years, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God for ever.
Amen.
|
 St Mary of Egypt St Zosimas monk at a certain Palestinian
monastery on the outskirts of Caesarea
Having dwelt at the monastery since his childhood, he lived
there in
asceticism until he reached the age of fifty-three. Then he was
disturbed by the thought that he had attained perfection, and needed no
one to instruct him. "Is there a monk anywhere who can show me some
form of asceticism that I have not attained? Is there anyone who has
surpassed me in spiritual sobriety and deeds?"
Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said,
"Zosimas, you
have struggled valiantly, as far as this is in the power of man.
However, there is no one who is righteous (Rom 3:10). So that you may
know how many other ways lead to salvation, leave your native land,
like Abraham from the house of his father (Gen 12:1), and go to the
monastery by the Jordan."
Here he met Elders who
were adept in contemplation, and also in their
struggles. Never did anyone utter an idle word. Instead, they sang
constantly, and prayed all night long. Abba Zosimas began to imitate
the spiritual activity of the holy monks. Thus much time passed,
and the holy Forty Day Fast approached. There was a certain custom at
the monastery, which was why God had led St Zosimas there. On the First
Sunday of Great Lent the igumen served the Divine Liturgy, everyone
received the All-Pure Body and Blood of Christ. Afterwards, they went
to the trapeza for a small repast, and then assembled once more in
church.
The monks prayed and made prostrations, asking forgiveness
one of
another. Then they made a prostration before the igumen and asked his
blessing for the struggle that lay before them. During the Psalm "The
Lord is my Light and my Savior, whom shall I fear? The Lord is defender
of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" (Ps 26/27:1), they opened the
monastery gate and went off into the wilderness.
Each took with him as much food as he needed, and went into
the desert.
When their food ran out, they ate roots and desert plants. The monks
crossed the Jordan and scattered in various directions, so that no one
might see how another fasted or how they spent their time. The
monks returned to the monastery on Palm Sunday, each having his own
conscience as a witness of his ascetic struggles.
It was a rule of the
monastery
that no one asked how anyone else had toiled in the desert.
Abba Zosimas, according to
the custom of the monastery, went deep into
the desert hoping to find someone living there who could benefit him.
He walked into the wilderness for twenty days and then, when
he sang
the Psalms of the Sixth Hour and made the usual prayers. Suddenly, to
the right of the hill where he stood, he saw a human form. He was
afraid, thinking that it might be a demonic apparition. Then he guarded
himself with the Sign of the Cross, which removed his fear. He turned
to the right and saw a form walking southward. The body was black from
the blazing sunlight, and the faded short hair was white like a sheep's
fleece. Abba Zosimas rejoiced, since he had not seen any living thing
for many days.
The desert-dweller saw Zosimas approaching, and attempted to
flee from
him. Abba Zosimas, forgetting his age and fatigue, quickened his pace.
When he was close enough to be heard, he called out,
"Why do you flee from me, a
sinful old man? Wait for me, for the love of God."
The stranger said to him,
"Forgive me, Abba Zosimas, but I cannot turn
and show my face to you. I am a woman, and as you see, I am naked. If
you would grant the request of a sinful woman, throw me your cloak so I
might cover my body, and then I can ask for your blessing."
Then Abba Zosimas was terrified,
realizing that she could not have called him by name unless she
possessed spiritual insight.
Covered by the cloak, the
ascetic turned to Zosimas: "Why do you want
to speak with me, a sinful woman? What did you wish to learn from me,
you who have not shrunk from such great labors?"
Abba Zosimas fell to the ground and asked for her blessing.
She also
bowed down before him, and for a long time they remained on the ground
each asking the other to bless. Finally, the woman ascetic said: "Abba
Zosimas, you must bless and pray, since you are honored with the grace
of the priesthood. For many years you have stood before the holy altar,
offering the Holy Gifts to the Lord."
These words frightened St Zosimas even more. With tears he
said to her,
"O Mother! It is clear that you live with God and are dead to this
world. You have called me by name and recognized me as a priest, though
you have never seen me before. The grace granted you is apparent,
therefore bless me, for the Lord's sake." Yielding finally to his
entreaties, she said, "Blessed is God, Who cares for the salvation of
men." Abba Zosimas replied, "Amen." Then they rose to their feet. The
woman ascetic again said to the Elder, "Why have you come, Father, to
me who am a sinner, bereft of every virtue? Apparently, the grace of
the Holy Spirit has brought you to do me a service. But tell me first,
Abba, how do the Christians live, how is the Church guided?"
Abba Zosimas answered her, "By your holy prayers God has
granted the
Church and us all a lasting peace. But fulfill my unworthy request,
Mother, and pray for the whole world and for me a sinner, that my
wanderings in the desert may not be useless."
The holy ascetic replied,
"You,
Abba Zosimas, as a priest, ought to pray for me and for all, for you
are called to do this.
However, since we must be obedient, I will do as
you ask.
The saint turned toward
the East, and raising her eyes to heaven and
stretching out her hands, she began to pray in a whisper. She prayed so
softly that Abba Zosimas could not hear her words.
After a long time, the
Elder
looked up and saw her standing in the air more than a foot above the
ground.
Seeing this, Zosimas threw himself down on the ground,
weeping and
repeating, "Lord, have mercy!"
Then he was tempted by a
thought. He wondered if she might not be a
spirit, and if her prayer could be insincere. At that moment she turned
around, lifted him from the ground and said,
"Why
do your thoughts confuse
you, Abba Zosimas? I am not an apparition.
I am a sinful and unworthy
woman, though I am guarded by holy Baptism."
Then she made the Sign of
the Cross and said, "May God protect us from
the Evil One and his schemes, for fierce is his struggle against us."
Seeing and hearing this, the Elder fell at her feet with tears saying,
"I beseech you by Christ our God, do not conceal from me who you are
and how you came into this desert. Tell me everything, so that the
wondrous works of God may be revealed."
She replied, "It
distresses me, Father, to speak to you about my
shameless life. When you hear my story, you might flee from me, as if
from a poisonous snake. But I shall tell you everything, Father,
concealing nothing. However, I exhort you, cease not to pray for me a
sinner, that I may find mercy on the Day of Judgment.
"I was born in Egypt and
when I was twelve years old, I left my parents
and went to Alexandria. There I lost my chastity and gave myself to
unrestrained and insatiable sensuality. For more than seventeen years I
lived like that and I did it all for free. Do not think that I refused
the money because I was rich. I lived in poverty and worked at spinning
flax. To me, life consisted in the satisfaction of my fleshly
lust.
"One summer I saw a crowd of people from Libya and Egypt
heading toward the sea. They were on their way to Jerusalem for the
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. I also wanted to sail with
them. Since I had no food or money, I offered my body in payment for my
passage. And so I embarked on the ship.
"Now, Father, believe me, I am very amazed, that the sea
tolerated my
wantonness and fornication, that the earth did not open up its mouth
and take me down alive into hell, because I had ensnared so many souls.
I think that God was seeking my repentance. He did not desire the death
of a sinner, but awaited my conversion. "So I arrived in
Jerusalem and spent all the days before the Feast living the same sort
of life, and maybe even worse.
"When the holy Feast of the Exaltation of the Venerable
Cross of the
Lord arrived, I went about as before, looking for young men. At
daybreak I saw that everyone was heading to the church, so I went along
with the rest. When the hour of the Holy Elevation drew nigh, I was
trying to enter into the church with all the people. With great effort
I came almost to the doors, and attempted to squeeze inside. Although I
stepped up to the threshold, it was as though some force held me back,
preventing me from entering. I was brushed aside by the crowd, and
found myself standing alone on the porch. I thought that perhaps this
happened because of my womanly weakness. I worked my way into the
crowd, and again I attempted to elbow people aside. However hard I
tried, I could not enter. Just as my feet touched the church threshold,
I was stopped. Others entered the church without difficulty, while I
alone was not allowed in. This happened three or four times. Finally my
strength was exhausted. I went off and stood in a corner of the church
portico.
"Then I realized that it
was my sins that prevented me from seeing the
Life-Creating Wood. The grace of the Lord then touched my heart. I wept
and lamented, and I began to beat my breast. Sighing from the depths of
my heart, I saw above me an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Turning to
Her, I prayed: "O Lady Virgin, who gave birth in the flesh to God the
Word! I know that I am unworthy to look upon your icon. I rightly
inspire hatred and disgust before your purity, but I know also that God
became Man in order to call sinners to repentance. Help me, O All-Pure
One. Let me enter the church. Allow me to behold the Wood upon which
the Lord was crucified in the flesh, shedding His Blood for the
redemption of sinners, and also for me. Be my witness before Your Son
that I will never defile my body again with the impurity of
fornication. As soon as I have seen the Cross of your Son, I will
renounce the world, and go wherever you lead me."
"After I had spoken, I felt confidence in the compassion of
the Mother
of God, and left the spot where I had been praying. I joined those
entering the church, and no one pushed me back or prevented me from
entering. I went on in fear and trembling, and entered the holy
place.
"Thus I also saw the Mysteries of God, and how God accepts
the
penitant. I fell to the holy ground and kissed it. Then I hastened
again to stand before the icon of the Mother of God, where I had given
my vow. Bending my knees before the Virgin Theotokos, I prayed:
"'O Lady, you have not rejected my prayer as unworthy. Glory
be to God,
Who accepts the repentance of sinners. It is time for me to fulfill my
vow, which you witnessed. Therefore, O Lady, guide me on the path of
repentance.'"
"Then I heard a voice from on high: 'If you cross the
Jordan, you will
find glorious rest.' "I immediately believed that this voice was meant
for me, and I cried out to the Mother of God: 'O Lady, do not forsake
me!' "Then I left the church portico and started on my journey. A
certain man gave me three coins as I was leaving the church. With them
I bought three loaves of bread, and asked the bread merchant the way to
the Jordan.
"It was nine o'clock when I saw the Cross. At sunset I
reached the
church of St John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan. After praying
in the church, I went down to the Jordan and washed my face and hands
in its water. Then in this same temple of St John the Forerunner I
received the Life-Creating Mysteries of Christ. Then I ate half of one
of my loaves of bread, drank water from the holy Jordan, and slept
there that night on the ground. In the morning I found a small boat and
crossed the river to the opposite shore. Again I prayed that the Mother
of God would lead me where She wished. Then I found myself in this
desert."
Abba Zosimas asked her,
"How
many years have passed since you began to live in the desert?"
"'I think," she replied, "it is forty-seven years since I came from the
Holy City."
Abba Zosimas again asked, "What food do you find here,
Mother?"
And she said, "I had with
me two
and a half loaves of bread when I crossed the Jordan.
Soon they dried
out and hardened Eating a little at a time, I finished them after a few
years."
Again Abba Zosimas asked, "Is it possible you have survived
for so many
years without sickness, and without suffering in any way from such a
complete change?"
"Believe me, Abba Zosimas,"
the
woman said, "I spent seventeen years in this wilderness (after she had
spent seventeen years in immorality), fighting wild beasts: mad desires
and passions. When I began to eat bread, I thought of the meat and fish
which I had in abundance in Egypt. I also missed the wine that I loved
so much when I was in the world, while here I did not even have water.
I suffered from thirst and hunger. I also had a mad desire for lewd
songs.
I seemed to hear them, disturbing my heart and my hearing.
Weeping and striking myself on the breast, I remembered the vow I had
made.
At last I beheld a radiant
Light
shining on me from everywhere. After a violent tempest, a lasting calm
ensued.
"Abba, how shall I tell you of the thoughts that urged me on
to
fornication? A fire seemed to burn within me, awakening in me the
desire for embraces. Then I would throw myself to the ground and water
it with my tears. I seemed to see the Most Holy Virgin before me, and
She seemed to threaten me for not keeping my vow. I lay
face downward day and night upon the ground, and would not get up until
that blessed Light encircled me, dispelling the evil thoughts that
troubled me.
"Thus I lived in this wilderness for the first seventeen years.
Darkness after darkness, misery after misery stood about me, a sinner.
But from that time until now the Mother of God helps me in everything."
Abba Zosimas again
inquired,
"How is it that you require neither food,
nor clothing?"
She answered, "After
finishing
my bread, I lived on herbs and the things one finds in the desert. The
clothes I had when I crossed over the Jordan became torn and fell
apart. I suffered both from the summer heat, when the blazing heat fell
upon me, and from the winter cold, when I shivered from the frost. Many
times I fell down upon the earth, as though dead. I struggled with
various afflictions and temptations. But from that time until the
present day, the power of God has guarded my sinful soul and humble
body. I was fed and clothed by the all-powerful word of God, since man
does not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding from the
mouth of God (Dt 8:3, Mt.4:4, Luke 4:4), and those who have put off the
old man (Col 3:9) have no refuge, hiding themselves in the clefts of
the rocks (Job 24:8, Heb 11:38). When I remember from what evil and
from what sins the Lord delivered me, I have imperishible food for
salvation."
When Abba Zosimas heard
that the holy ascetic quoted the Holy Scripture
from memory, from the Books of Moses and Job and from the Psalms of
David, he then asked the woman,
"Mother, have you read the
Psalms and other books?"
She smiled at hearing this
question, and answered, "Believe me, I have
seen no human face but yours from the time that I crossed over the
Jordan. I never learned from books. I have never heard anyone read or
sing from them. Perhaps the Word of God, which is alive and acting,
teaches man knowledge by itself (Col 3:16, 1 Thess 2:13).
This is the end of my story. As I asked when I began, I beg
you for the
sake of the Incarnate Word of God, holy Abba, pray for me, a
sinner. "Furthermore, I beg you, for the sake of Jesus Christ our
Lord and Savior, tell no one what you have heard from me, until God
takes me from this earth. Next year, during Great Lent, do not cross
the Jordan, as is the custom of your monastery."
Again Abba Zosimas was amazed,
that the practice of his monastery was known to the holy woman ascetic,
although he had not said anything to her about this.
"Remain at the monastery,"
the woman continued. "Even if you try to
leave the monastery, you will not be able to do so. On Great and Holy
Thursday, the day of the Lord's Last Supper, place the Life-Creating
Body and Blood of Christ our God in a holy vessel, and bring it to me.
Await me on this side of the Jordan, at the edge of the desert, so that
I may receive the Holy Mysteries. And say to Abba John, the igumen of
your community, 'Look to yourself and your brothers (1 Tim 4:16), for
there is much that needs correction. Do not say this to him now, but
when the Lord shall indicate."
Asking for his prayers, the
woman turned and vanished into the depths
of the desert.
For a whole year Elder
Zosimas remained silent, not daring to reveal to
anyone what he had seen, and he prayed that the Lord would grant him to
see the holy ascetic once more.
When the first week of Great Lent came again, St Zosimas was
obliged to
remain at the monastery because of sickness. Then he remembered the
woman's prophetic words that he would not be able to leave the
monastery. After several days went by, St Zosimas was healed of his
infirmity, but he remained at the monastery until Holy Week.
On Holy Thursday, Abba Zosimas did what he had been ordered
to do. He
placed some of the Body and Blood of Christ into a chalice, and some
food in a small basket. Then he left the monastery and went to the
Jordan and waited for the ascetic. The saint seemed tardy, and Abba
Zosimas prayed that God would permit him to see the holy woman.
Finally, he saw her standing on
the far side of the river.
Rejoicing, St Zosimas got
up and glorified God. Then he wondered how
she could cross the Jordan without a boat. She made the Sign of the
Cross over the water, then she walked on the water and crossed the
Jordan. Abba Zosimas saw her in the moonlight, walking toward him. When
the Elder wanted to make prostration before her, she forbade him,
crying out, "What are you doing, Abba? You are a priest and you carry
the Holy Mysteries of God."
Reaching the shore, she said to Abba Zosimas, "Bless me,
Father." He
answered her with trembling, astonished at what he had seen. "Truly God
did not lie when he promised that those who purify themselves will be
like Him. Glory to You, O Christ our God, for showing me through your
holy servant, how far I am from perfection."
The woman asked him to recite both the Creed and the "Our
Father." When
the prayers were finished, she partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
Then she raised her hands to the heavens and said, "Lord, now let Your
servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation."
The saint turned to the Elder
and said, "Please, Abba, fulfill another
request. Go now to your monastery, and in a year's time come to the
place where we first time spoke."
He said, "If only it were
possible for me to follow you and always see
your holy face!"
She replied, "For the Lord's sake, pray for me and remember
my
wrechedness."
Again she made the Sign of the
Cross over the Jordan, and walked over the water as before, and
disappeared into the desert.
Zosimas returned to the
monastery with joy and terror, reproaching
himself because he had not asked the saint's name. He hoped to do so
the following year.
A year passed, and Abba
Zosimas
went into the desert.
He reached the
place where he first saw the holy woman ascetic. She lay dead, with
arms folded on her bosom, and her face was turned to the east. Abba
Zosimas washed her feet with his tears and kissed them, not daring to
touch anything else. For a long while he wept over her and sang the
customary Psalms, and said the funeral prayers. He began to wonder
whether the saint would want him to bury her or not. Hardly had he
thought this, when he saw something written on the ground near her
head:
"Abba Zosimas, bury on this spot the body of humble Mary.
Return to
dust what is dust. Pray to the Lord for me.
I reposed on the first day of
April, on the very night of the saving Passion of Christ, after
partaking of the Mystical Supper."
Reading this note, Abba
Zosimas was glad to learn her name. He then
realized that St Mary, after receiving the Holy Mysteries from his
hand, was transported instantaneously to the place where she died,
though it had taken him twenty days to travel that distance.
Glorifying God, Abba Zosimas
said to himself, "It is time to do what
she asks. But how can I dig a grave, with nothing in my hands?"
Then he
saw a small piece of wood left by some traveler. He picked it up and
began to dig. The ground was hard and dry, and he could not dig it.
Looking up, Abba Zosimas saw an enormous lion standing by the saint's
body and licking her feet. Fear gripped the Elder, but he guarded
himself with the Sign of the Cross, believing that he would remain
unharmed through the prayers of the holy woman ascetic. Then the lion
came close to the Elder, showing its friendliness with every movement.
Abba Zosimas commanded the lion to dig the grave, in order to bury St
Mary's body. At his words, the lion dug a hole deep enough to bury the
body. Then each went his own way. The lion went into the desert, and
Abba Zosimas returned to the monastery, blessing and praising Christ
our God.
Arriving at the monastery,
Abba Zosimas related to the monks and the
igumen, what he had seen and heard from St Mary. All were astonished,
hearing about the miracles of God. They always remembered St Mary with
faith and love on the day of her repose. Abba John, the igumen of
the monastery, heeded the words of St Mary,
and with the help of God corrected the things that were wrong at the
monastery. Abba Zosimas lived a God-pleasing life at the monastery,
reaching nearly a hundred years of age. There he finished his temporal
life, and passed into life eternal.
The monks passed on the life of
St Mary of Egypt by word of mouth
without writing it down.
"I however," says St
Sophronius of Jerusalem (March 11), "wrote down
the Life of St Mary of Egypt as I heard it from the holy Fathers. I
have recorded everything, putting the truth above all else."
"May God, Who works great miracles and bestows gifts on all
who turn to
Him in faith, reward those who hear or read this account, and those who
copy it. May he grant them a blessed portion together with St Mary of
Egypt and with all the saints who have pleased God by their pious
thoughts and works. Let us give glory to God, the Eternal King, that we
may find mercy on the Day of Judgment through our Lord Jesus Christ, to
Whom is due all glory, honor, majesty and worship together with the
Unoriginate Father, and the Most Holy and Life-Creating Spirit, now and
ever and unto ages of ages. Amen."
|
120
-132 St. Theodora
Roman martyr sister of Saint Hermes aid and care to her brother
in prison
Romæ pássio sanctæ Theodóræ,
soróris illustríssimi Mártyris Hermétis,
quæ, sub Hadriáno Imperatóre, ab Aureliáno
Júdice affécta martyrio, sepúlta est juxta fratrem
suum, via Salária, non longe ab Urbe.
At Rome, the passion of St. Theodora,
sister of the illustrious martyr Hermes. She underwent martyrdom
in the time of Emperor Adrian, under the judge Aurelian, and was buried
at the side of her brother, on the Salarian Way, a short distance from
the city.
According to the Acta of Pope
St.
Alexander (r 105-115), she was the sister of Saint Hermes and was martyred some
time after her brother. She had given aid and care to her brother
during his difficult time in prison.
Theodora of Rome M (RM) Died 132. According to the Acta of Pope
Alexander I, Theodora buried Saint Hermes, her brother, after assisting
him in prison and as he was tortured. She was herself martyred some
months later. Brother and sister were buried side by side
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
|
180 St. Philip of
Gortyna authorship of a now lost treatise against the Gnostics
Bishop of Gortyna, Crete. Little is known about him except for his
authorship of a now lost treatise against the Gnostics.
|
180
St. Melito Bishop of
Sardis in Lydia, Asia Minor powerful gift of prophecy as attested by
Saint Jerome and Eusebius
180 ST MELITO, Bishop OF SARDIS
EUSEBIUS and other ecclesiastical writers greatly commend the writings
of St Melito, Bishop of Sardis in Lydia, who during the second
century wrote an Apology for Christianity addressed to the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius and many other works, theological and ethical. Eusebius
and St Jerome give the titles or the subjects of a number of these
writings, but of the books themselves little has survived but a few
fragments. According to Tertullian, who was rather disdainful of his
oratorical diction and style, St Melito was regarded as a prophet by
many people. His name occurs in some of the old martyrologia, but
beyond the fact that he was unmarried and was said to have ruled his
conduct by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, nothing whatever is known
of his life or death.
Owing to the similarity between the names of Sardis and Sardinia, St
Melito has often been confused with a fictitious namesake reputed to
have been a pupil of St Boniface, the first bishop of Cagliari, and to
have suffered martyrdom in Sardinia under Domitian.
There is
a very full
article on Melito, concerned of course principally with the writings
attributed
to him, in DTC., vol. x, cc. 540—547, to which the writer, E. Amann,
appends a
full bibliography. See also G. Salmon in DCE., vol. iii, pp. 894—900,
and
Bardenhewer, Altkirchliche Literatur, vol.
i, pp. 546—557.
He was praised by Eusebius and had the gift of prophecy.
Melito had a
great reputation as an ecclesiastical writer, authoring an Apologia for
Christianity to Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He was also revered by
Tertullian as a prophet.
Melito of Sardis B (AC). Bishop Melito of Sardis, Lydia,
was an ecclesiastical writer of the period of the apologists. There are
some writings attributed him that are now believed to have been
composed by an unknown writer. Nevertheless, he was endowed with a
powerful gift of prophecy, which led to the surname of "the Prophet,"
as attested by Saint Jerome and
Eusebius (Attwater2, Benedictines, Husenbeth).
SAINT MELETION, THE BISHOP OF SARDIS IN ASIA MINOR
Meletion was a celebrated shepherd of the second-century Church.
Governing with great ability, he endeavored to gather all the books of
Sacred Scripture into a single Codex. By his meekness and piety,
Meletion again labored to restore peace in the Church of Laodicea,
which arose over the controversy regarding the celebration of Pascha
(The Feast of the Resurrection). Besides this, he defended Christianity
against the pagans. He traveled to Rome about the year 170 A.D. and
submitted to Emperor Marcus Aurelius a written Apologia (Defense) of
the Faith and of the Christian Church. St. Meletion, this learned,
pious and zealous man, died peacefully in the Lord in the year 177
A.D.
|
255 St.
Venantius
Bishop martyr prelate serving Dalmatia, Croatia
Eódem die sancti
Venántii, Epíscopi et
Mártyris. The same day, St.
Venantius, bishop and martyr.
Executed during the persecutions of the Church by the Roman
Empire.
His
relics were translated from Split (Spalato), Dalmatia, to the Lateran
Basilica in Rome under Pope John IV (r. 640-642).
Venantius of Spalato BM (RM).
Saint Venantius was a
Dalmatian bishop whose body was brought to the Lateran at Spalato by
Pope John IV in 641 (Benedictines).
|
 3rd v. The Martyrs
Gerontius and Basilides suffered martyrdom for Christ in
the
third century
They were beheaded by the sword.
Sts. Victor and Stephen
Two martyrs executed in Egypt probably Alexandria
In Ægypto
sanctórum Mártyrum Victóris
et Stéphani. In Egypt, the holy
martyrs Victor and Stephen.
Victor and Stephen MM
(RM). Egyptian martyrs
(Benedictines).
St. Quintian and
Irenaeus 2 Armenian martyrs whose Acts are no longer extant.
In Arménia
sanctórum Mártyrum
Quinctiáni et Irenǽi. In Armenia,
the holy martyrs Quinctian and Irenæus.
Quintian and Irenaeus MM
(RM)
Date unknown. Armenian martyrs about whom
nothing else is known (Benedictines).
Constantinópoli
sancti Macárii Confessóris, qui, sub Leóne
Imperatóre, pro assertióne
sanctárum Imáginum, in exsílio vitam
finívit.
At Constantinople, under
Emperor Leo,
St. Macarius, confessor,
who ended his life in exile for defending the veneration of sacred
images.
St John Shavteli
of
Salosi, Bishop of Gaenati, Georgia
283 Martyrs
Chrysanthus and Daria 19 March/1
April
Saints Chrysanthus
and Daria (and with them Claudius,
Hilaria, Jason and Maurus) suffered in Rome in the year 283. Saint
Chrysanthus was the son of a distinguished senator, received a
brilliant education and from his young years came to love books. Having
bought the Gospel and the Apostolic epistles, he read them with
interest. The height of the Gospel teaching captivated him, but much in
these books he could not understand.
By God's Providence, Chrysanthus became acquainted with a
priest, who
explained the Christian faith to him in detail. Having studied the
Gospel more deeply and having been imbued with the ideal of Christian
morality, Chrysanthus renounced the pagan errors of his family and
accepted Holy Baptism. Chrysanthus burned with a desire to introduce
other pagans also to the Christian faith, and therefore he began
diligently and fearlessly to preach the Good Tidings.
His father, a staunch pagan, having learned of his son's
baptism and
desiring to turn him away from Christianity, put him in a dungeon and
began to kill him by hunger and cold. But the sufferings only
strengthened Chrysanthus' faith. Then the father, hoping by this to
return the son to paganism, freed Chrysanthus from prison and married
him to the maiden Daria - a priestess at the pagan temple of Athena.
But instead of this, Chrysanthus shortly converted Daria to
Christianity, and she was baptized.
When Chrysanthus' father died, the home of the young spouses
became an
abode for newly-converted Christians. After some time, the Tribune
Claudius was informed that Chrysanthus and Daria were preaching
Christianity. Claudius gave them over to tortures, but, seeing the
steadfastness and miracles of the martyrs, he himself came to believe
in Christ with his wife, Hilaria, and their sons, Maurus and Jason.
For this, by order of the emperor, Claudius was drowned with
a stone
around his neck, while his sons had their heads chopped off by the
sword.
Their mother, Hilaria, died on
their grave, before they could give her over to tortures. Chrysanthus
and Daria, after terrible tortures, were buried alive in the earth.
Subsequently, on the day
of the commemoration of Saints Chrysanthus and
Daria, many Roman Christians would gather for prayer in a cave near the
place of their righteous death. Pagans, having learned of this, blocked
up the cave, and those gathered in it perished from hunger. Among those
who perished in the cave are named the Presbyter Diodorus and the
Deacon Marianus.
|
5thv to
6th v
Saint Tewdric prince of Glamorgan is discussed in the Book of Llan Dav,
written much later, Hermit (AC)
(also known as Theodoric) feast day is sometimes listed as January 3.
Saint Tewdric, prince of Glamorgan, is discussed in the Book of Llan
Dav, written much later. According to this source, in his later years
he resigned his position in favor of his son Meurig in order to become
a hermit at Tintern. During an invasion of the Saxons, he placed
himself at the head of his people. In the ensuing battle, he was
mortally wounded by a lance. Tewdric was buried at Mathern, near
Chepstow, formerly called Merthyr Tewdrig, where the church still bears
his name. He is the reputed founder of the churches at Bedwas Llandow
and Merthyr Tydfil. In the early 17th century, Bishop Francis Godwin of
Llandaff found the saints bones, including a badly fractured skull in
the church at Mathern (Farmer).
|
622 St.
Walericus
Benedictine founder missionary abbot under St. Columbanus His time was
entirely occupied with preaching, prayer, reading, and manual labor
miracles
Apud Ambiánum, in Gállia, sancti Waleríci
Abbátis, cujus sepúlcrum crebris miráculis
illustrátur.
At Amiens in France, Abbot St. Valery,
whose tomb is well known for its frequent miracles.
also called Valery. He served under St.
Columbanus at the
famed
monastery of Luxeuil, in France, and was the founder of the monastic
community of Leuconay, on the Somme River.
620 ST WALARICUS, or VALÉRY, Abbot
ST WALARICUS or Valéry, whose body William the Conqueror caused
to be publicly exposed that the saint might obtain a favourable wind
for his English expedition, was born in a humble home in the Auvergne.
Somehow he learned to read, and he is said to have procured a psalter,
the contents of which he committed to memory while tending sheep. His
uncle one day took him to visit the monastery of Autumo, but when the
time came for returning, the boy insisted upon staying behind; so there
he was allowed to remain and to continue his education, though it is
doubtful whether he ever took the habit there.
Some years later he left to enter the abbey of St Germanus near
Auxerre, but his sojourn does not seem to have been a protracted one.
It was not unusual in those days for monks voluntarily to go from one
monastery to another; some indeed were vagrants by nature who could
never settle anywhere, but many of them were men striving after
perfection, who were only eager to find a director capable of assisting
them to attain their goal. Of this number was Walaricus. The renown of
St Columban and of the life led by his followers at Luxeuil determined
him to seek out the great Irishman and to place himself under his rule.
With him went his friend Bobo, a nobleman who had been converted by him
and who had abandoned his possessions to join him. At Luxeuil, where
they found the leader and the spiritual life they sought, they settled
down happily. To Walaricus fell the duty of cultivating part of the
garden. The flourishing condition of his allotment, when the rest of
the estate was being devoured by insects, was regarded as miraculous,
and is said to have induced St Columban, who already had a high opinion
of him, to profess him after an unusually short novitiate.
When King Theodoric expelled the abbot from his monastery, allowing
only the Irish and the Bretons to accompany him, Walaricus, not wishing
to remain on at Luxeuil without St Columban, obtained leave to join a
monk called Waldolanus, who was about to start on a mission of
evangelization. Receiving permission to settle in Neustria, they
preached freely to the people, and Walaricus’s eloquence and miracles
gained many converts. It was not long, however, before he began to feel
again the call to retire from the world, but this time he thought it
his vocation to be a hermit. By the advice of Bishop Berchundus he
chose a solitary spot near the sea, at the mouth of the river Somme,
where he proposed to live in solitude but he could not remain hidden.
Disciples discovered him and cells sprang up around, which developed
into the celebrated abbey of Leuconaus. St Walaricus would occasionally
issue forth to preach missions in the countryside, and so successful
were his efforts that he is said to have evangelized not only what is
now known as the Pas-de-Calais, but the whole eastern shore of the
English Channel.
Tall and ascetic-looking, the holy man was noted for his singular
gentleness which tempered the stern Rule of St Columban with excellent
results. Animals were attracted to him: birds perched on his shoulders
and ate from his hand, and often the good abbot would gently warn off
an intruding visitor with the words, “Do let these innocent creatures
eat their meal in peace”.
After ruling his monastery for six years or more, St Walaricus passed
to his rest about the year 620. Numerous miracles reported after his
death quickly spread his cultus, at least two French towns,
St-Valéry-sur-Somme and St-Valéry-en-Caux, being named
after him. King Richard Coeur-de-Lion transferred his relics to the
latter town, which is in Normandy, but they were afterwards restored to
St-Valéry sur-Somme, on the site of the abbey of Leuconaus.
We are
told that a life of St Walaricus was
written by Raginbertus, who became abbot of Leuconaus not long after
the death
of the saint. It was formerly believed that this document was
preserved in
substance by a later writer, who re-edited it in a new setting and in a
more
correct style. Bruno Krusch, however, seems to have proved that this
later life
dates only from the eleventh century and is a fabrication which borrows
freely
from other hagiographical materials which have nothing to do with
St
Walaricus. See MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol.
iv, pp. 157—175 where a more critical text than that of the Bollandists
and
Mabillon may also be found. For some criticisms of B. Krusch’s edition
see Wattenbach
Levison, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im
Mittelalter Vorzeit und Karolinger, vol. (1952),
Walaricus of Leucone, Abbot (RM) (also known as
Valéry,
Walericus) Born in Auvergne, France; died in Leucone, Picardy, France,
on December 12, c. 622; feast of his translation is December 12.
Valéry discovered Benedictine life at Issoire,
developed it at
Auxerre, fructified it at Luxeuil under Saint Columbanus, and
multiplied it with missionary work at Leuconnais (Leuconay), in the
Somme region of northern France.
Born into a peasant family in the Auvergne, Valéry
tended his
father's sheep in his childhood, which gave him plenty of time to
develop his prayer life. Out of an ardent desire to grow in spiritual
knowledge, he learned to read at an early age and memorized the
Psalter. Dissatisfied with his life as a shepherd, he took the monastic
habit in the neighboring monastery of St. Antony's at Autumo.
His fervor from the first day of monastic life led him to
live the rule
perfectly. Sincere humility permitted him to meekly and cheerfully
subjected himself to everyone. Seeking a stricter rule, he migrated to
the more austere monastery of St. Germanus, where he was received by Bishop Saint Anacharius of Auxerre.
He was drawn to Luxeuil by the reputation of the penitential lives of
its monks and the spiritual wisdom of Saint Columbanus. There he spent
many years, always esteeming himself an unprofitable servant and a
slothful monk, who stood in need of the severest and harshest rules and
superiors. Next to sin, he dreaded nothing so much as the applause of
men or a reputation of sanctity. At Luxeuil he also distinguished
himself as a horticulturalist--the preservation of his fruit and
vegetables against the ravages of insects that destroyed most other
crops was considered miraculous.
When Saint Columbanus was banished from Luxeuil by King
Theodoric, the
monastery was placed in Valéry's hands until he was sent by Saint Eustasius with his fellow-monk
Waldolanus to preach the Gospel in Neustria. There King Clotaire II
gave them the territory of Leucone in Picardy, near the mouth of the
river Somme. In 611, with the permission of Bishop Bertard of Amiens,
they built a chapel and two cells. Saint Valéry by his preaching
and the example of his virtue, converted many and attracted fervent
disciples with whom he laid the foundation of a monastery.
His fasts he sometimes prolonged for six days, eating only
on the
Sunday; and he used no other bed than twigs laid on the floor. His time
was entirely occupied with preaching, prayer, reading, and manual
labor. By this he earned something for the relief of the poor, and he
often repeated to others, "The more cheerfully we give to those who are
in distress, the more readily will God give us what we ask of him."
When Valéry died, cures were claimed at his tomb and
a cultus
developed, which eventually spread to England during the Norman
Conquest. William the Conqueror exposed Valéry's relics for
public veneration. He was invoked for a favorable wind for the
expedition in 1066, which sailed from Saint-Valéry
Valéry is honored
at Chester Abbey in England and in France,
where a famous monastery arose from his cells. His vita was carefully
written in 660, by Raimbert, second abbot of Leucone after him. King
Richard the Lion Hearted had his relics restored to
Saint-Valéry-en-Caux; however, his original abbey later
recovered them. Two towns in the Somme district are called Saint-
Valéry after him, and there are several dedications to him in
England as well (Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer,
Husenbeth).
|
7th v. St.
Caidoc
&
Fricor Irish missionaries in northern France converts was
Saint Ricarius
One of their converts was Saint
Ricarius. Their relics are in the parish of Saint-Riquier near
Amiens, France.
In some lists Fricor is called Adrian.
Caidoc and Fricor (Adrian) HH (AC) 7th century; they had four feast
days at Centula: January 24, March 31, April 1, and May 30. The
Irishmen Caidoc and Fricor evangelized the country of the Morini in
Picardy, northern France, beginning about 622. Among the souls they won
for Christ was the nobleman Riquier (Saint Ricarius), who intervened
when some locals to offense to their preaching and took them into his
home. Riquier became a fervent Christian, who engaged in penitential
austerities and eventually was ordained. In 625, Riquier founded
Centula based on the Rule of Columbanus, another Irishman. Their relics
are still venerated at the parish church of Saint-Riquier in the
diocese of Amiens, although they rested in Centula until the 17th
century. Saints Caidoc and Fricor joined Riquier's community and
remained there until they were buried in Saint Riquier's church
(Benedictines, D'Arcy, Fitzpatrick2, McCarthy, Montague, O'Hanlon).
|
644 Saint Berhard B Berhard saintly bishop who
had a great affection for Saint Valéry
and who tried to have him buried in his cathedral in Amiens
(Encyclopedia)
|
7th v. St. Dodolinus bishop of
Vienne, in Dauphine, France
No details of his ministry have survived.
Dodolinus of Vienne B (AC) 7th century. Bishop Saint Dodolin of
Vienne's feast is celebrated in the Dauphiné (Benedictines,
Encyclopedia).
|
666 Saint
Leuconus B 18th bishop of Troyes, who founded Notre-Dame-des-Nonnains
(Encyclopedia).
|
9th v. St. Cellach abbot of
lona, Scotland archbishop of Armagh, Ireland
The abbot of lona, Scotland, and the archbishop of Armagh, Ireland.
Also called Ceilach and Keilach, he was the founder of the monastery of
Kells.
|
Ardpatrícii,
in Momónia Hibérniæ província, sancti Celsi
Epíscopi, qui beátum Malachíam in
Episcopátu præcéssit.
At Ard-Patrick in Munster, a province
of Ireland, Bishop St. Celsus, who preceded blessed Malachy in that
bishopric.
|
Marcella A
little shepherdess of the Auvergne Date unknown.(Encyclopedia)
|
 830 St.
Macarius
the
Wonder-Worker monk known for miracles
Constantinópoli sancti Macárii Confessóris,
qui, sub Leóne Imperatóre, pro assertióne
sanctárum Imáginum, in exsílio vitam
finívit.
At Constantinople, under Emperor Leo,
St. Macarius, confessor, who ended his life in exile for defending the
veneration of sacred images.
830 ST MACARIUS THE WONDER-WORKER became celebrated for his miracles of
healing
MACARIUS the Wonder-worker was a native of Constantinople. He received
an excellent education, showing special aptitude for the study of the
Holy Scriptures, “the whole of which”, we read, “he ran through in a
short time”. Afterwards, leaving the city, he betook himself to the
monastery of Pelekete where he dropped his baptismal name of
Christopher to assume that of Macarius. A model monk, he was chosen
abbot and soon became celebrated for his miracles of healing. Crowds
flocked to Pelekete to be cured of diseases both of body and of mind.
The patriarch of Constantinople, St Tarasius, who had received many
reports of his sanctity and miracles, greatly desiring to see him,
dispatched to be his escort the patrician Paul, who had once been cured
by the abbot and whose wife had recently been restored to health by him
after she had been given over by the physicians. When the two saints
met, Tarasius gave Macarius his blessing and, before allowing him to
return, ordained him priest. He was not destined to remain long at
peace in his cloister. The Emperor Leo the Armenian attacked in turn
all the prominent supporters of the cultus of holy images, and Macarius
was tortured in various ways and kept in prison until the emperor’s
death. His successor, Michael the Stammerer, released the saint and
tried by promises and threats to win him over. Finding, however, that
he remained inflexible, the emperor banished him to the island of
Aphusia off the shore of Bithynia, where on August 18 he died in exile;
the precise year is unknown.
A Greek
life of St Macarius by the monk Sabas
was edited in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol.
xvi (1897), pp. 140—163. Its historical character is confirmed by
certain
letters of Theodore Studites. See the Analecta
Bollandiana, vol. xxxii (1913), pp. 270—273 and cf. Échos
d’Orient, (1898), pp. 274—280. April i seems to have been the
day of his translation.
Abbot and victim of persecution by Iconoclast heretics. He
was born
Christopher at Constantinople. and became a monk at Pelekete Monastery,
taking the name Macanus. Elected abbot, he was called the Wonder-Worker
because of his prodigious miracles. Two Iconoclast emperors of
Constantinople exiled him. Emperor Leo V banished him for a time and
then Emperor Michael II sent him to Aphusia Island on the coast of
Bythinia, where he died on August 18.
Macarius the Wonder-Worker, Abbot (RM) Born in Constantinople; died on
Aphusia Island, Bithynia, on August 18, c. 830.
"To you, O Master, who loves all mankind I hasten on rising from sleep.
By your mercy I go out to do your work and I make my prayer to
you. Help me at all times and in all things. Deliver me
from every evil thing of this world and from pursuit by the
devil. Save me and bring me to your eternal kingdom, For you are
my Creator,
You inspire all good thoughts in me.
In you is all my hope and to you I give glory, now and forever."
--Saint Macarius
Piously baptized Christopher in Constantinople, he took the name
Macarius upon becoming a monk at Pelekete nearby. Eventually he was
elected abbot and became known for the miracles he wrought.
Macarius was ordained by Patriarch Tarasius of Constantinople, was
imprisoned and tortured for his opposition to the iconoclasm proclaimed
by Emperor Leo the Armenian, and was released by Leo's successor,
Emperor Michael the Stammerer. When he refused Michael's demands that
he support the iconoclastic heresy, he was exiled to the island of
Aphusia off the coast of Bithynia and died there (Attwater2,
Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
Saint Macarius was born at Constantinople in 785. While still a child,
he lost his parents. The saint fervently read the Scriptures and came
to realize that earthly things are temporary and perishable, and that
heavenly things are permanent and imperishable. Therefore, he decided
to devote his life entirely to God. He entered the Pelekete monastery
in Bithynia, where at the time the igumen was the renowned ascetic, St
Hilarion (March 28). After the death of St Hilarion, St Macarius
was unanimously chosen as igumen by the brethren. During the reign of
the Byzantine Emperors Leo V the Armenian (813-820) and Michael II the
Stammerer (820-829), St Macarius suffered as a confessor for the
veneration of holy icons. He was sent to the island of Aphousia, where
he died in about the year 830.
|
Apud Ambiánum, in Gállia,
sancti Waleríci Abbátis, cujus sepúlcrum crebris
miráculis illustrátur.
At
Amiens in France, Abbot St. Valéry,
whose tomb is well known for its frequent miracles.
|
1053
VENERABLE
PROCOPIUS, THE CZECH establishing the Monastery of St. John the
Forerunner by the Sazava river
Procopius was born in Hotish, today's Czech Republic. He was ordained a
priest and retreated to a mountain to live according to the model of
eastern hermits. The Duke (Herceg) Ulrich accidentally came upon
Procopius and assisted him in establishing the Monastery of St. John
the Forerunner by the Sazava river. This holy man died in the year 1053
A.D.
|
1132 St. Hugh of
Grenoble Benedictine bishop amazing modesty took upon himself all the
sins of others the cross he carried was heavy laden holy and redemptive a great reputation for miracles
Gratianópoli,
in
Gállia, sancti Hugónis Epíscopi, qui multis annis
in solitúdine vitam exégit, et miraculórum
glória clarus migrávit ad Dóminum.
At Grenoble in France, Bishop St. Hugh, who
spent many years of his life in solitude, and departed for heaven with
a great reputation for miracles.
1132 ST HUGH, Bishop OF GRENOBLE
ST HUGH was born at Châteauneuf, near Valence in the Dauphine, in
the year 1052. His father, Odilo, after being twice married, became a
Carthusian, and died at the age of 100, receiving viaticum from his son
in whose arms he passed away. After an education begun in Valence and
completed with distinction in foreign centres of learning, Hugh was
presented to a canonry in the cathedral of Valence though still a
layman—such benefices at that period being often conferred on young
students without orders. Very young, good-looking, and extremely
bashful, he soon won all hearts by his courtesy and by the modesty
which led him to conceal and underrate his talents and learning. The
bishop of Die, another Hugh, was so charmed by his namesake when he
came to Valence that he insisted upon attaching him to his household.
The prelate soon proved the young Canon’s worth by entrusting him with
some difficult negotiations in the campaign then directed against
simony; and in 1080 he took him to a synod at Avignon, called to
consider, amongst other matters, the disorders which had crept into the
vacant see of Grenoble. The council and the delegates from Grenoble
severally and collectively appear to have looked on Canon Hugh as the
one man who was capable of dealing with the disorders complained of;
but though unanimously elected it was with the greatest reluctance that
he consented to accept the office. The legate himself conferred on him
holy orders up to the priesthood, and took him to Rome that he might
receive consecration from the pope. The kindness of the reception he
met emboldened the young bishop elect to consult St Gregory VII about
temptations to blasphemy which sometimes beset him, causing him great
distress and, as he considered, rendering him unfit for the high office
to which he was called. The pontiff reassured him, explaining that God
permitted these trials to purify him and render him a more fitting
instrument for the divine purposes. These particular temptations
continued to assault him until his last illness, but he never yielded
to them in any way.
The Countess Matilda gave the twenty-eight-year-old bishop his crozier
and some books, including the De officiis ministrorum of St Ambrose and
a psalter to which were appended the commentaries of St Augustine.
Immediately after his consecration. St Hugh hurried off to his diocese,
but he was appalled by the state of his flock. The gravest sins were
committed without shame; simony and usury were rampant; the clergy
openly flouted the obligation to celibacy; the people were
uninstructed; laymen had seized church property and the see was almost
penniless. It was indeed a herculean task that lay before the saint.
For two years he laboured unremittingly to redress abuses by preaching,
by denunciations, by rigorous fasts and by constant prayer. The
excellent results he was obtaining were patent to all but to himself:
he only saw his failures and blamed his own incompetence. Discouraged,
he quietly withdrew to the Cluniac abbey of Chaise-Dieu, where he
received the Benedictine habit. He did not remain there long, for Pope
Gregory commanded him to resume his pastoral charge and return to
Grenoble. Coming out of his solitude, like another Moses from the
mountain, he seemed—so men declared—to preach with greater fervour and
success than before. It was to St Hugh of Grenoble that St Bruno and
his companions addressed themselves when they decided to forsake the
world, and it was he who granted to them the desert called the
Chartreuse which gave its name to their order. The bishop became
greatly attached to the monks it was his delight to visit them in their
solitude, joining in their exercises and performing the most menial
offices. Sometimes he would linger so long in these congenial
surroundings that St Bruno was constrained to remind him of his flock
and of his episcopal duties. These periods of retreat were the bright
oases in a hard and anxious life.
With the clergy and the common people St Hugh was most successful, but
the nobles continued to withstand him to the end. Moreover, for the
last forty years of his life he suffered almost unremittingly from
headaches complicated by gastric trouble, and was tormented by severe
temptations. Nevertheless occasionally he was granted sensible
spiritual consolations which filled his heart with joy. During his
sermons it was not unusual to see the whole congregation in tears,
whilst individuals would be moved to make public confession on the
spot. Of sin he had the utmost horror, and his loathing of detraction
was so great that he disliked the duty of listening to official reports
and closed his ears to the news of the day. Temporal things always
seemed to him dull and irksome as compared with the heavenly things on
which his heart was set. He besought pope after pope to release him
from office. One and all refused point-blank. Honorius II, to whom he
pleaded his age and infirmities, replied that he preferred to retain
him as bishop of Grenoble—old and ill— rather than have any younger or
stronger man in his place.
A generous almsgiver, St Hugh in a time of famine sold a gold chalice
as well as rings and precious stones from his church treasury; and rich
men were stirred by his example to give liberally to feed the hungry
and supply the needs of the diocese. Although at the end of life his
soul was further purified by a lingering illness of a very painful
character, Hugh never uttered a word of complaint, nor would he speak
of what he endured. His only concern was for others. His humility was
all the more striking because everyone approached him with the utmost
reverence and affection. In reply to someone who asked, “Why do you
weep so bitterly—you who never offended God by any wilful sin?” he
replied, “Vanity and inordinate affections alone are enough to damn a
soul. Only through God’s mercy can we hope to be saved, and should we
ever cease to implore it?”
A short time before his death he lost his memory for everything but
prayer, and would recite the psalter or the Lord’s Prayer without
intermission. St Hugh died on April 1, 1132, two months before
attaining the age of eighty, having been a bishop for fifty-two
years. Pope Innocent II canonized him two years later.
The main
authority for the life of St Hugh is
the Latin biography by Guigo, prior of the Grande Chartreuse, who died
only
five years after the saint himself. This life is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i, and
elsewhere. See also Albert du Boys, Vie
de St Hugues (1837); Bellet in the Bulletin
Soc. Archéol. Drôme (1894), xxviii, 5-31 and Marion, Chartulaire de l’Eglise de Grenoble (1869). Hugh is
reckoned
amongst ecclesiastical writers chiefly on the strength of this
cartulary, or
collection of charters, copies of which, accompanied by curious
historical
notes, are preserved in Grenoble Library. The bishop is often
associated with
St Bruno as co-founder of the Grande Chartreuse.
b. 1053 Benedictine bishop of Grenoble, France, patron of
St. Bruno. He
was born in the Dauphine region and became a canon of the cathedral in
Valence. In 1080, while attending a synod in Avignon, Hugh was named
bishop of Grenoble. He attempted a massive reform of the diocese, but,
discouraged, retired to Chaise Dieu Abbey, and became a Benedictine.
Pope St. Gregoiy VII ordered him back to Grenoble. Hugh gave St. Bruno
Hugh of Grenoble, OSB B (RM) Born near Valence in the
Dauphiné,
France, in 1052; died in Grenoble, France, on April 1, 1132; canonized
by Pope Innocent II in 1134.
What an amazing modesty Saint Hugh possessed! You may shrug
your
shoulders, of course. The 20th century is without modesty and doesn't
appreciate it. There is something about the modesty of Saint Hugh that
governed and colored his life, yet repels and confounds us. We have
lost the taste for that virtue in a world where we live like haggling
beasts: industrious, envious, quarrelsome, wretched beasts!
By contrast Saint Hugh
took to heart Saint Paul's admonition: "Let love
be sincere . . . love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one
another in showing honor. . . . do not be haughty but associate with
the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation" (Romans 12:9, 16).
And again Paul urges: "Do nothing out of selfishness or vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves. . . ."
(Philippians 2:3). the land on which the
Grande Chartreuse was founded, thus starting the Carthusians. Hugh died
on April 1 and was canonized by Pope Innocent II.
 When Hugh of
Grenoble was born at Châteauneuf, the French churchmen were very
undisciplined. He was the son of the second marriage of Odilo, a knight
of excellent reputation, who later became a Carthusian monk. His father
lived to the venerable age of 100, before he died in his son's arms
after having received viaticum from him. Odilo's goodness inspired his
son to greatness. As a youth, Saint Hugh was a pupil of Saint Bruno at
Rheims. He later studied in the best foreign centers for education.
Detail from "St. Hugo of Grenoble in the Carthusian
Refectory"
By Francisco de Zurbarán; Museo de Bellas Artes,
Seville
Courtesy of the Web Gallery of Art
Good looks and a diffident manner, added to his abilities,
seem to have
helped Hugh's swift rise in ecclesiastical office. He won all hearts
through his courtesy and modesty that led him to underrate his own
talents and learning. Hugh, though a layman, was made a canon of
Valence Cathedral at age 25, and set out to reform the church. Bishop
Hugh of Die soon saw the young man's zeal and appointed the young man
to his household. This bishop was particularly keen to stamp out simony
(that is sale for personal gain of positions in the church) and Hugh
played a huge part in his campaign. In 1080, the bishop took Hugh
to a council at Avignon. One of the purposes of the council was to sort
out the disorders that had arisen in the diocese of Grenoble, whose
bishop had just died.
To Hugh's surprise, the
participants decided that this 27-year-old was
by far the best person to be consecrated bishop. He protested that he
was only a layman. "But I repeat to you that I am not worthy of
it!" sighed Hugh.
"What fairy tale is this that you're telling me?" asked the
papal
legate, Bishop Hugh of Die. "Who is asking you to act on your own
strength? Count first on God, who will give you help."
Nevertheless, the bishop ordained him and then took him to
Rome where
the pope consecrated Hugh as bishop though he was barely 30.
Hugh discovered that diocese of Grenoble was in a far worse
state than
he had imagined. Although the clergy had taken vows of celibacy, many
of them lived more or less openly with women. Influential laymen had
seized most of the property of the church. Hugh manfully set about
putting matters aright. He was unpopular with the nobility, whose
confiscation of church property the bishop dealt with firmly. Only
Hugh, however, failed to see the excellent results of his policies. Two
years after his consecration, believing that he had vainly opposed
these disorders, as well as simony and usury, through sermons, threats,
example, fast, and prayers, Hugh left the city and withdrew to the
abbey of Chaise- Dieu (Cluniac).
This was the first of several times he despaired because of
his lack of
progress and went to live as a monk. "But I repeat to you that I can't
do anything that's good and worthwhile!" he complained gently to those
who wanted him to give up this sudden Benedictine vocation and his
seeming lack of faith. Each time the pope insisted that he must take up
the struggle again.
"Very well, granted. You can't do anything, my son," Pope
Saint Gregory
VII said to him, "but you are bishop, and the sacrament can do
everything." Each time Hugh obeyed. This first time it took a year of
discussion before Hugh returned to Grenoble with a crushing sense of
his unworthiness and inferiority.
Bishop Hugh of Grenoble sustained the papacy in its dispute
with
Emperor Henry V, and was persecuted for his loyalty. Grenoble was in
the emperor's territory, but his flock rallied to his support.
It was then, in 1084, that Saint Bruno and his companions
came in
search of silence, solitude, and a perpetual conversation with God on
the fringes of the scandals of the world. Hugh was waiting for them. He
rolled up his cassock and, like a guide, led them through the craggy
rocks of the desert called the Chartreuse. He gave this land to the
monks who built there the famous monastery of Grande Chartreuse.
The charter Hugh gave them still exists.
Hugh knew the way to the Grande Chartreuse very well, and
often visited
the monks. He came so often, in fact, and liked it so much that Saint Bruno often had to send him
away, reminding him of his flock and episcopal duties. When he visited
them in their solitude, Hugh would join in their exercises and perform
the most menial tasks. Hugh saw himself as a bad bishop and wanted
nothing more than to stay in the monastery. Hugh's close association
with the Carthusians has ensured the custom that the diocesan bishop
was always expected (contrary to other monastic orders) to guide and
cherish Charterhouses in their diocese.
During his 52-year
episcopacy, Hugh vainly tendered his resignation to
each pope--Gregory VII, Gelasius II, Calixtus II, Honorius II, Innocent
II, and others--and they refused him because of his outstanding
ability. He never ceased imploring them to release him from the duties
of his episcopal office up to the day of his death. During his last,
painful illness he was tormented by headaches and stomach disorders
that resulted from his long fasts and vigils, yet never complained. For
a short time before his death, he lost his memory for everything but
prayer, and would recite the Psalter and the Our Father unceasingly.
It was this humility--which once almost became a blasphemy
against
Divine Providence--that unwittingly made Hugh such a good bishop. Out
of the fear and shame that he was better nourished, housed, and dressed
than the poor, he sold his ring, other jewels, furs, a golden chalice,
and ornaments to raise money and gave it to those in need. His
generosity stirred other rich men to liberally follow his example.
He wept when he heard a penitent's confession and when the
disorders of
his retinue were brought to his attention, he blamed himself as though
it were a personal fault. Hugh also founded three hospitals at
Grenoble, built a marketplace, and provided a stone bridge over the
Isere, in addition to restoring the cathedral and Saint Laurence's
Church. For 52 years Hugh labored as bishop of Grenoble, dying at age
79, having restored the diocese both financially and morally.
He took upon himself all the sins of others, and the cross
that he
carried was so heavy laden, so holy, and so redemptive that two years
after his death, he was canonized amid the jubilation of the people and
of his church. By order of Pope Innocent II, Hugh's Carthusian friend
Gigues wrote the saints Life which brings out the attractiveness of
this modest man's character (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines,
Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Walsh).
In art, Saint Hugh is a bishop seeing a vision of seven
stars.
Sometimes he is shown (1) with a lantern; (2) with three flowers; (3)
with Saint Bruno, to whom he entrusted the Grande Chartreuse; or (4)
turning partridges served to Carthusians on a fast day into tortoises
(Roeder). Zurbaran gave Hugh a prominent place in his paintings of the
early Carthusians in the museum of Seville (Farmer). Saint Hugh is
invoked against headache (Roeder).
|
1129
St. Cellach Last
hereditary archbishop of Armagh, Ireland named St. Malachy
Ardpatrícii, in Momónia Hibérniæ
província, sancti Celsi Epíscopi, qui beátum
Malachíam in Episcopátu præcéssit.
At Ard-Patrick in Munster, a province
of Ireland, Bishop St. Celsus, who preceded blessed Malachy in that
bishopric
as his successor when he died on April 1 at
Ardpatrick, in Munster. He
was called Cellach Mc Aedh, a native of Ireland, possibly a Benedictine
of Glastonbury, also called Celsus. Cellach taught at Oxford, England,
until 1106, when he became the archbishop of Armagh at the age of
twenty-six, serving there with distinction.
|
 1194
Hugh of Bonnevaux
possessed singular powers of discernment and exorcism OSB Cistercian,
Abbot (AC)
Gratianópoli, in Gállia, sancti Hugónis
Epíscopi, qui multis annis in solitúdine vitam
exégit, et miraculórum glória clarus
migrávit ad Dóminum.
At Grenoble in France, Bishop St. Hugh,
who spent many years of his life in solitude, and departed for heaven
with a great reputation for miracles.
A nephew of Saint Hugh of Grenoble, Saint Hugh
of Bonnevaux became a
Cistercian monk at Mezières. In 1163, he was made abbot of
Léoncel, and, in 1169, promoted to the abbacy of Bonnevaux. Hugh
possessed singular powers of discernment and exorcism, but he is
chiefly remembered as the mediator between.
1194 ST HUGH OF BONNEVAUX, ABBOT his powers of divination and exorcism
The Mother of Mercy, with a look of great kindness, addressed him,
saying, “Bear yourself like a man and let your heart be comforted in
the Lord; rest assured that you will be troubled no more by these
temptations.”
IN one of his letters St Bernard of Clairvaux mentions with great
praise a novice called Hugh, who had renounced considerable riches and
entered the abbey of Mézières at a very early age against
the wishes of his relations. He was nephew to St Hugh of Grenoble.
Once, when greatly troubled by temptations and longings to return to
the world, he entered a church to pray for light and help. As he raised
his eyes to the altar, he beheld above it a figure which he recognized
to be that of our Lady, and then, beside her, appeared the form of her
divine Son. The Mother of Mercy, with a look of great kindness,
addressed him, saying, “Bear yourself like a man and let your heart be
comforted in the Lord; rest assured that you will be troubled no more
by these temptations.” Hugh afterwards gave himself up to such severe
penances that his health broke down and he seemed to be losing his
memory. He owed his recovery to the wise common-sense of St Bernard,
who ordered him off to the infirmary with instructions that he should
be properly tended and allowed to speak to anyone he liked.
Not long afterwards he was made abbot of Bonnevaux, and in Hugh’s care
the abbey became very flourishing. It was noted that the abbot could
read men’s thoughts and was quick to detect any evil spirit which had
access to the minds of his brethren. The stories that have come down to
us testify to his powers of divination and exorcism. Like so many of
the great monastic luminaries, both men and women, Hugh did not confine
his interests to his own house or even to his order. Moved by what he
felt to be divine inspiration he went to Venice in 1177, there to act
as mediator between Pope Alexander III and the Emperor Frederick
Barbarossa. To him is due the credit of negotiating between them a
peace which has become historic. St Hugh died in 1194, and his ancient
cultus was approved in 1907.
In the Acta
Sanctorum, April, vol. i, certain meagre details have been
collected front
the chroniclers Helinandus, Vincent of Beauvais, etc. On the other hand
in vol.
xi of the Cistercienser-Chronik (1899)
G. Muller has compiled an adequate account, distributed through several
numbers, drawing upon the cartularies of Bonnevaux and Léoncel,
which have been
published by Canon Ulysse Chevalier. And see the unpublished vita in Collectanea O.C.R., vol. vi (1939), pp.
214—218, edited by A. Dimier, and that writer’s St Hugues
de Bonnevaux
|
XII (XIII)
CenturyThe Monk John
Shauteli -- was a
distinguished Gruzinian (Georgian) poet, philosopher and rhetorician
In his youth
he received an excellent education at
the Gelata academy (Western Gruzia), where he studied the works of the
holy fathers, ancient and Arabic history, philosophy and literature.
The saint later accepted monasticism and for many years he asceticised
at the famed Cave monastery of Bardzia (in South Gruzia), in a solitary
cell. Here, adding work upon work, the Monk John led the life of a
strict ascetic, constantly devoting himself to prayerful meditations
about the Trinity, the world-creation, the destiny of man and a deep
insight into the meaning of the Holy Scripture.
In his constant effort he
attained to an high degree of spiritual perfection and he received a
remarkable gift of words, revealed in his poetic creativity.
At the Bardzia monastery
during the years 1210-1214, the Monk John
wrote a remarkable Ode, "Abdul-Messiya" ("Servant of Christ"), in which
he intoned the image of the Christian, faithful to the canons of the
Holy Orthodox Church. In the ode the monk calls himself very much a
"wanderer" and "servant of Christ". Many a prayerful strophe is
dedicated in it to the holy Nobleborn Gruzian emperor Saint David III
the Restorer (+ 1125, Comm. 26 January) and to the holy Nobleborn
Gruzian empress Saint Tamara the Great (+ 1212, Comm. 1 May and on the
Sunday of the Myrh-Bearing Women).
Shota Rustaveli, for whom the Monk John Shauteli was a
literary
predecessor, exclaimed, "For the Abdul-Messiya Shauteli did sing
resounding poetic strophe, -- he was a master in the art!" The
theological significance of the "Abdul-Messiya" is particularly evident
in those strophic verses, where the poet offers up prayers in the Name
of the MostHoly Trinity, to give thanks to the Trinity-Almighty and
Divine Providence, for having vouchsafed mankind salvation in Christ.
Speaking about the array of the world-creation by God, the Monk John
writes, in concurrence with the works of Saint Dionysios the Areopagite
(+ 96, Comm. 3 October), about the Coelestial and Ecclesial Hierarchies.
In another of his works -- "The Song to the Bardzian Mother
of God" --
the Monk John Shauteli eulogised the historical Basian Battle (1204),
in which the Gruzian national military forces, proceeding forth from
the Bardzian monastery, routed a 400,000 strong Musselman army led by
sultan Rukn-ed-din. Thanks to this victory, Gruzia preserved its
independence and remained an outpost of Orthodoxy in the Middle East,
and this undoubtedly contributed to the strengthening of the oneness of
the faith of Byzantium.
The Monk John Shauteli
reposed in extreme old age. His memory from of
old is venerated by the Gruzinian Church.
 14th v. St
Gerontius lived a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery all his life at the
monastery, in ascetic deeds of abstinence, obedience, and prayer
He fulfilled the obedience of canonarch (leader of church
singing).
He spent all his life at the monastery, in ascetic deeds of
abstinence,
obedience, and prayer.
St Gerontius was buried in the Far Caves.
His memory is celebrated also together with the Synaxis of
the Saints
of the Far Caves, on August 28.
|
Abraham_the_Bulgar
 1220 Jacqueline V
Hermit recluse in Sicily reprimanded Pope Innocent III
The Roman orphan Jacqueline lived in a hut in Greece and
passed herself
off as a monk. Later she continued her life as a recluse in Sicily,
where she lived in a tree. She reprimanded Pope Innocent III
(Encyclopedia).
1220 Blessed
Nicholas of Neti Cistercian monk of the community of Santa Maria
dell'Arcu near Neti, Sicily, OSB Cist. (AC) (Benedictines).
1229 The Holy Martyr Abraham the Bulgar,
Vladimir Wonderworker convert from Islam martyred for his faith
lived during the thirteenth century, was descended from the
Kamska
Bulgars and brought up as a Moslem. He was good and kindly towards the
destitute, and when the Lord enlightened him with the light of reason,
he accepted Christianity.
In the city of Bolgara, on the lower stretches of the Volga,
St Abraham
began to preach to his fellow countrymen about the true God. They
seized him and tried to force him to renounce Christ, but the saint
remained firm in his confession. They tortured the martyr fiercely and
for a long while, but he endured everything with unshakable patience.
On April 1, 1229 they quartered the holy Martyr Abraham, and
then cut
off his venerable head. Russian Christians living in the city buried
the saint's body in the Christian cemetery. On March 6, 1230, the
relics of St Abraham were transferred by the Great Prince St George
Vsevolodovich of Vladimir (February 4) to the Dormition cathedral of
the Knyaginin (Princess) monastery. His memory began to be celebrated
from that time.
|
1245 ST GILBERT, BISHOP
OF CAITHNESS “Three maxims which
I have always tried to observe I now commend
to you: first, never to hurt anyone and, if injured, never to seek
revenge secondly, to bear patiently whatever suffering God may inflict,
remembering that He chastises every son whom He receives; and finally
to obey those in authority so as not to be a stumbling-block to others.”
FOR his alleged defence of
the liberty of the Scottish church, when threatened with subordination
to England, St Gilbert was formerly held in honour by his
fellow-countrymen as a great patriot. Born in Moray, he received holy
orders and became archdeacon of Moray. Legend declared that while still
a young man he was summoned with the heads of the Scottish church to a
council at Northampton in 1176. As spokesman for the Scottish bishops
he opposed with fervour and eloquence a proposal that the northern
prelates should be suffragans to the archbishop of York. From the time
that Scotland had received the Christian faith it had been free, he
maintained, and was subject to no outside authority except that of the
pope. It would be iniquitous to place it under an English
metropolitan—especially since the English and the Scots were constantly
at war, He seems to have carried his point. There was, no doubt, an
ecclesiastic named Gilbert who made such a speech, but it is barely
conceivable that he can be the man who was made bishop of Caithness in
1223.
According to the Aberdeen Breviary, St Gilbert was high
steward to several monarchs, and a legend relates that enemies
maliciously burnt the books in which he kept his accounts, hoping
thereby to discredit him, but that the books were restored intact in
answer to his prayers. After the death of Bishop Adam, who was
murdered, King Alexander nominated Gilbert bishop of Caithness, and he
ruled that northern diocese wisely and well for twenty years. He built
several hospices for the poor as well as the cathedral of Dornoch, and
both by preaching and example did much to civilize his flock.
As he lay dying, he said to those who stood by him: “Three
maxims which I have always tried to observe I now commend to you:
first, never to hurt anyone and, if injured, never to seek revenge
secondly, to bear patiently whatever suffering God may inflict,
remembering that He chastises every son whom He receives; and finally
to obey those in authority so as not to be a stumbling-block to others.”
See
Forbes, KSS., pp. 355—356, the Aberdeen Breviary (‘854),
and the DNB.
(vol. xxi,p. 317), with the references there indicated.
|
1367 Blessed Gerard of
Sassoferrato received the Camaldolese habit OSB Cam. (AC)
Born in 1280; died November 18, 1367. At nine years of age,
Gerard
received the Camaldolese habit at the abbey of the Holy Cross in
Sassoferrato. After his ordination, he was entrusted with the pastoral
care of the parish, which he served with untiring zeal (Benedictines). |
 1404 Saint Euthymius
of Suzdal tonsure Nizhegorod Caves under St Dionysius: founded
Savior-Euthymius monastery strict ascetic great man of prayer incorrupt
relics 100 yrs
Born in the year 1316 at Nizhni-Novgorod. From early
childhood he was
taught his letters and received a spiritual upbringing. He received
monastic tonsure at the Nizhegorod Caves monastery under its founder,
St Dionysius (later the Archbishop of Suzdal, commemorated June 26 and
October 15).
The ascetic struggles of St Euthymius were so great that St
Dionysius
advised him to lessen them. In 1352 Prince Boris of Suzdal sought to
establish a men's monastery in his city, and he requested the
Nizhegorod Caves monastery to send a monk to establish the monastery.
The choice of the saintly igumen fell upon St Euthymius. After
the arrival of St Euthymius in the northern part of the city beyond the
Kamenka River, St John of Suzdal (October 15) set up a cross on the
site of the future monastery cathedral before a tremendous crowd of
people. The prince himself began to dig the ground for the foundation,
and St Euthymius made three grave stones for himself, vowing to remain
in the new monastery until the very end of his life.
So, the the Savior-Euthymius monastery was founded, where
soon more
than three hundred monks gathered under the guidance of the saint. The
monastery adopted the cenobitic rule. The saint insisted that each of
the monks be prepared to fulfill whatever obedience they were given. St
Euthymius went often to the Trinity-Sergiev monastery to St Sergius of
Radonezh (September 25 and July 5). St Euthymius was a strict ascetic
and a great man of prayer. He toiled incessantly for the benefit of all
the brethren. St Euthymius died on April 1, 1404.
|
1574 Catherine
Tomás strange phenomena mystical experiences both consoling
/alarming, including gift of prophecy last years of life
continually in ecstasy OSA V (RM)
(also known as Catherine Thomas or Catherine of Palma)
1574 ST CATHERINE OF PALMA, VIRGIN profound trances She also possessed
the gift of prophecy.
THE whole life of Catherine Tomàs—from the moment of her birth
in the little village of Valdemuzza until her death at Palma—was spent
in the Balearic island of Majorca. Her parents died when Catherine,
their seventh child, was seven years old, leaving her unprovided for.
Sad tales are told of the indignities to which she was subjected in the
house of her paternal uncle, to whose custody she was transferred.
Young as she was, she became a regular little drudge whom the very
servants were encouraged to overwork and to slight. Nevertheless she
bore her sufferings with unfailing sweetness and patience. When she was
about fifteen years old, visions of St Antony and of her patroness St
Catherine awoke aspirations after the religious life which she confided
to a holy hermit priest, Thinking that time was required as a test of
her vocation, he replied that she would receive a reply in due course
if she would continue to commend her case to God, as he himself would
do. She meekly agreed, but she had to wait for a long time—a delay
which was the more trying because the unkindness of her relations was
increased by their fear of losing her services. Father Antony, however,
had not forgotten her, although he found it difficult to find a convent
which could afford to take a dowerless girl. As a preliminary step, he
arranged for Catherine to enter the service of a family in Palma where
no hindrances would be placed in the way of her spiritual life. The
daughter of the house taught her to read and write, but soon became her
disciple in religious matters, for Catherine had already advanced very
far on the road to perfection.
Eventually several convents offered to open their doors to Catherine
almost at the same moment, and she elected to join the canonesses of St
Augustine in their convent of St Mary Magdalen at Palma. She was then
in her twentieth year. From the moment of her admission she won the
veneration of all by her sanctity and their love by her humility and
eagerness to serve others. At first there was nothing about the convent
life of Catherine Tomàs to distinguish her from any other holy
nun, but she soon began to be subject to a number of strange phenomena
which are carefully described in the records of her life. Annually, for
thirteen or fifteen days before the feast of St Catherine of
Alexandria, she was observed to lie in a profound trance and always,
after making her communion, she would remain in an ecstasy which
usually lasted for the greater part of the day and occasionally
extended to several days or even to a fortnight. Sometimes she seemed
to be in a cataleptic state, giving no signs of life, but at other
times she would move about with her feet together and her eyes
shut—sometimes holding converse as with celestial spirits and oblivious
of all around, at other times answering quite intelligently questions
that were put to her. She also possessed the gift of prophecy.
- Alternating with these occurrences were severe trials and assaults
from the powers of darkness. Not only did she suffer from evil
suggestions and alarming hallucinations or phantoms, but she was
subjected to physical violence of the most distressing nature. On such
occasions fearful shrieks and sounds were heard by the other nuns who,
however, could never see the attackers although they witnessed the
results and tried to alleviate St Catherine’s sufferings. But she tried
never to allow her experiences to interfere with the punctual discharge
of her duties. The death of St Catherine Tomàs, which she had
foretold, took place when she was forty-one. She was beatified in 1792
and canonized in 1930.Father Antony Castagneda.
The bull
of canonization, which is printed in
the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. xxii
(1930), pp. 371—380, gives a summary of her life and details of the
miracles
approved in the last stages of the process. Early biographies were
written by
Canon Salvador Abrines, who had been her confessor, and by Father Pedro
Caldes.
Both are freely quoted in the documents of the official process, the
earliest
portions of which appear to have been printed in 1669. There was a Ristretto della Vita della Beata Caterina
Tomàs published
in Rome at the time of the beatification.
Born in Valdemuzza, Majorca, Spain, in 1533; died there in
1574;
canonized in 1930; feast day formerly on April 5.
Saint Catherine was an unhappy little girl who was subjected to
indignities in the house of her paternal uncle. Eventually she passed
into the service of the canonesses of Saint Augustine in their convent
of Saint Mary Magdalen in Palma, where she spent the balance of her
life. Her sanctity did not remain hidden for long. She was subjected to
a great number of strange phenomena and mystical experiences that were
both consoling and alarming, including the gift of prophecy. Although
she tried never to allow these experiences to interfere with the
discharge of her duties, during the last years of her life she was
continually in ecstasy (Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
|
1849 BD LUDOVIC
PAVONI, FOUNDER OF THE SONS OF MARY IMMACULATE OF BRESCIA
THIS forerunner of St John Bosco in the education and care of boys,
especially the orphaned and neglected, was born at Brescia in Lombardy
in 1784. His parents were Alexander Pavoni and Lelia Pontecarali, and
the family was of noble descent, with a sufficiency of property to
maintain its position. Ludovic while still young showed a serious
disposition; his sister Paolina said of him that “Ludovic was always a
good religious youngster, while I was always a scamp”; and as a youth
he already outlined his vocation when, during summer holidays at
Alfianello, he played with the peasants’ children and taught them the
catechism. On another occasion he threw his shirt out of the window to
a beggar shivering in the street below. He had a taste and some
capacity for the fine arts and might have become a painter or an
architect, but probably nobody was surprised when he decided to study
for the priesthood. This he did under the Dominicans (all the Lombard
seminaries were closed in consequence of the revolution), and he was
ordained priest in 1807.
Don Pavoni received no benefice, but ministered as required in the
various parishes of Brescia and especially he helped in the several
“oratories” (a combination of boys’ club, Sunday-school and church)
which had been started by the Oratorian father Manelli and others, work
for which he showed a marked ability.
In 1818, when he was only thirty-four years old, he was nominated to a
canonry in Brescia cathedral and was made rector of the parish of St
Barnabas. Adjoining the church was a former Augustinian monastery, of
which a corner served as rectory and the remainder was used as a
military store; and the new rector conceived the project of turning
this building into a “permanent oratory” or institute, that is, a
full-time home wherein boys who were destitute, abandoned or otherwise
in need of care could be looked after, taught a trade and prepared for
the world in a decent family atmosphere. Such a scheme bristled with
difficulties, and Canon Pavoni laid it at the foot of the Crucifix—and
the Figure seemed to say to him, “ Go on!”
Mgr Nava, the bishop, promised his support,* [* At a meeting of the
Brescia Academy held at the Jesuit college there in 1858, Mr Ronchi
acclaimed the holy partnership of Bishop Nays and Canon Pavoni in a
hundred hexameters.] and Pavoni began his institute in a small part of
the monastery that he called “the rat-hole”, choosing printing as the
trade that his boys should learn. The next twenty years is a tale, on
the one hand, of encouraging progress, and, on the other, of maddening
negotiations with the civil authorities with the object, firstly, of
getting the printing-press licensed, and secondly, of obtaining the use
of the whole of the monastery buildings for the growing orphanage.
In those days Lombardy was still under Austrian rule, the French
Revolution and Napoleon were more than living memories, and Joseph II
of Austria (“Our brother the sacristan”), though dead, still spoke.
Among a people agitating for independence the authorities viewed an
Italian printing-press with grave suspicion, if not alarm; as for the
buildings, the Austrian governor, though an admirer of Canon Pavoni,
was a good Josephinist and would not easily release to the Church a
property of which the state had deprived her. And then there were the
ordinary bureaucratic conditions—in quintuplicate. { The institute had
to put up with all sorts of vexations. At the carnival of 1828, a
circus was allowed to camp itself in the courtyard of the monastery.
Fancy trying to keep boys in order with that going on under their
windows.}
The press was licensed in 1823 (it had already been working, whether or
no), but it was not till 1841 that the city council of Brescia granted
the rest of the building required. This gave room for a school of the
“three R’s “ a school of design, and a school of music, which, with
previous building and other work, Canon Pavoni was able to set up
through the generosity of benefactors, of whom his own sister, Paolina
Trivellini, and Bishop Nava were among the foremost, though the
institute was not always free from money troubles.
In 1832 the work of the printing-press attracted favourable notice at
the Brescia Exhibition, and in the following year Pope Gregory XVI
commended the institute as Cosa buona, “A good thing”; but in 1836 a
great strain was put on its resources when there was a cholera epidemic
in Brescia and hundreds of children lost their homes. Among those who
distinguished themselves as nurses at this time was Paola di Rosa,
foundress of the Handmaids’ of Charity (December 15), and it was she
who inspired Mgr Pinzoni to organize a school for deaf-and-dumb boys.
Canon Pavoni was asked to take over the responsibility for this
undertaking, which he did. He also took over the Mercy Orphanage at the
request of the civil governor, and it was this generous action that at
last shamed the city council into conveying the St Barnabas building to
him, freehold and as a gift.
Ludovic Pavoni was a man of middle-height, well and strongly built,
with rather silky hair; his features strongly marked and expressive,
with a mouth that had a smile playing about it. By nature he was hot
and impulsive, and his words came easily and decisively; but he had
schooled himself to patience and calmness, and so gave an impression of
restrained energy. He was what would be called today a man of good
general culture, versatile but well-balanced, neither superficial nor
deeply learned. His ideal of education was a broad one, to dispose a
person in his wholeness to be really good; and it is significant that,
fifty years before “Rerum Novarum”, he grasped the religious
significance of social justice and set an example by his own dealings
with his employees. Some of his boys were literally the scourings of
the streets, and these had to be made good men, good workmen, good
citizens, good Christians. Like St John Bosco after him, Canon Pavoni’s
methods were encouraging and preventive rather than repressive; he
preferred gentleness to severity. “Rigorism “ he said, “keeps Heaven
empty.” For all that, his means of discipline and vigilance might seem
excessive to some; but who will dare say they were unnecessary with
such tough material as some of it was? He aimed at a family and not an
institution (those were the days of Oliver Twist in England), and one
has only to read of some of his actual dealings with his pupils to
detect a holy man at work and to see him “loving the children with all
his heart, and being loved by them”. He was relentless in expelling
really vicious characters, lest their fellows be corrupted—but they
were not left to sink or swim: he continued to watch over them outside
the institute.
If one feels that Rodriguez’s Treatise on Perfection is a rather
unhappy choice of spiritual reading for youths, comfort may be found
elsewhere in the fact that the cook and kitchen staff were considered
of such importance that they were under the immediate control of the
director, and that good food, punctuality and good manners to the boys
were their first duties; nor was a “discreet measure of wine” regarded
as superfluous. Not only that, but Canon Pavoai encouraged play-acting
among his charges’ recreations. This was looking for trouble from the
Menpensants of mid_nineteenth-century Italy, and it required the
presence of the bishop, the seminarists and the pupils of the Jesuit
college at the first performance to confound—but not to silence—the
critics.
It had been for a long time in Ludovic Pavoni’s mind that he ought to
establish a religious society of some kind to carry on the work which
he had begun, and he gradually elaborated a rule and constitutions for
a congregation of priests and of laybrothers who should work at theft
own trades. After long prayer and deep consideration he opened his mind
to Mgr Nava and to Cardinal Angelo Mai; both of them encouraged the
project, and he decided to go ahead in the face of the adverse
criticism of other, less wise, people, some of whom thought that, while
it was all right for religious to teach boys the sciences and letters,
it was not all right for religious to teach boys the fine and useful
arts. Was it not St Teresa who asked to be protected from pious fools:
Premises for a novitiate were acquired at Saiano, a few miles from
Brescia. Canon Pavoni restored the old buildings, established a farm
colony, and transferred his deaf-mutes to Saiano, and in 1844 the Holy
See gave permission for novices to be received. But such things could
not be done in Austrian dominions without a further permission—that of
the civil power; and so it was not till another three
years had passed that the Congregation of Sons of Mary Immaculate was
formally founded. On December 8, 1847, Ludovic Pavoni, already named
superior general, made his religious profession. On the previous day he
had resigned his canonry, and conveyed the title to his house in
Brescia and all his other private property, together with the buildings
at St Barnabas’s and Saiano, to the new congregation as a body; and
with his canonical cross he no doubt put off also the decoration of a
knight of the Iron Crown, which his Imperial Majesty Ferdinand I had
conferred on him in 1844. On which occasion Don Pavoni had remarked
privately, “Why didn’t the emperor send me a sack of flour to make
polenta for my boys instead of this?”
These happy events were not long over when Lombardy was convulsed by a
revolt against Austrian domination. For a year the situation became
daily more threatening; in January 1849 the government imposed a heavy
fine on the city of Brescia; feeling ran so high on both sides that Bd
Ludovic thought it prudent to close his beloved printing works: and on
March 26 the storm broke. The people rose, and the “Ten Days of
Brescia” began. On the following day Bd Ludovic gathered all his
charges together, and in a storm of wind and rain they set out for
Saiano. At Torricelle, where Paolina Trivellini lived, she wanted to
get a carriage for her ageing brother he refused it, “No, I can go on,
on foot like my youngsters”. At length, wet through and worn out, the
sad procession reached its destination, and Father Pavoni went up the
hill to look out over burning Brescia, in the midst of which was the
institute that had been his life’s work for thirty years. At that
moment he felt the first spasm of that weakening of his heart that in a
few days was to end his course.
The rector of St Mary’s, Father Amus, sent him to bed, and Bd Ludovic
obediently went (it was the first time he had enjoyed the refinement of
linen sheets since he was a young man). Daily he weakened, and a week
later, surrounded by his weeping brethren and boys, Bd Ludovic Pavoni
died, in his sixty-sixth year. It was April 1, 1849, Palm Sunday; on
the previous day and night the dying man had heard the roar of guns
bombarding Brescia echoing in the hills around.
The body was buried at Saiano, but afterwards translated to Brescia,
where it now rests in the Immacolata church, and his cause was
introduced at Rome in 1919. Twenty-eight years later, in 1947, Ludovic
Pavoni was solemnly beatified.
There
seems to be nothing about Bd Ludovic
Pavoni except in Italian. A full “life” Un
Apostolo della Gioventu Derelitta, by Canon Luigi Traverso, was
published
at Monza in 1928 this is summarized in a booklet by Giovanni della
Cioppa, Lodovico Pavoni (1946), and a few
misstatements of fact are corrected. A selection of the beato’s
letters (Lettere del
Servo di Dio P. Lodovico Pavoni (1945) should be read by all
attracted by
this sympathetic character, of whom little is known outside his own
country.
|
1913 Saint
Barsanuphius of Optina (Paul I. Plikhanov) a colonel, to be a general,
but became a priest gifts of clairvoyance healing read souls
Born in the city of Samara on July 5,1845, the son of John
and Natalia
Plikhanov. His mother died in childbirth, and his father later
remarried so that his son would have a mother. Although his stepmother
was very strict, she was a real mother to him, and he loved her very
much.
As a descendant of the Orenburg Cossacks, Paul was enrolled
in the
Polotsk Cadet Corps. He completed his studies at the Orenburg Military
School and received an officer's commission. He later graduated from
the Petersburg Cossack Staff Officers' School, and also served at the
headquarters of the Kazan military district and eventually rose to the
rank of colonel.
Once, as he was sick with pneumonia, Paul sensed that he was
about to
die. He asked his orderly to read the Gospel to him, and passed out.
Then he had a vision in which the heavens seemed to open, and he was
afraid because of the great light. His whole sinful life passed before
him, and he was overcome with repentance. A voice told him he should go
to Optina Monastery, but the doctors did not think he would recover.
His health did improve, however, and the colonel visited Optina. In
August 1889 the Elder of the Monastery was St Ambrose (October 10), who
told Paul to set his worldly affairs in order. Two years later, St
Ambrose blessed him to cut all ties to the world and told him to enter
Optina within three months.
It was not easy for the colonel to resign his commission
within the
specified three month period, because obstacles were placed in his way.
In fact, he was offered a promotion to the rank of general, and was
asked to delay his retirement. Some people even tried to arrange a
marriage for him, laughing at his intention to go to the monastery.
Only his stepmother was happy that he wished to become a monk. On the
very last day of the three months he concluded his affairs and arrived
at Optina. However, St Ambrose was already laid out in his coffin in
the church.
St Anatole I (January 25) succeeded Fr Ambrose as Elder, and
he
assigned Paul to Hieromonk Nectarius (April 29) as his cell attendant.
He was accepted as a novice in 1892, and tonsured as a rassophore in
1893. Over the next ten years he advanced through the various stages of
monastic life, including ordination as deacon (1902), and as priest
(1903). The monk Paul was secretly tonsured into the mantiya in
December of 1900 because of a serious illness. When they asked him what
name he wished to receive, he said it did not matter. They named him in
honor of St Barsanuphius of Tver and Kazan (April 11). Although he
recovered, they did not give him the mantiya until December of 1902
after the Liturgy when it was revealed that he had been tonsured on his
sickbed.
On September 1, 1903 Fr
Barsanuphius was appointed to assist Elder
Joseph, the skete Superior, in the spiritual direction of the skete
brethren and the sisters of the Shamordino convent. At the
beginning of the Russo-Japanese war in 1904, Fr Barsanuphius was sent
to the Far East as a military chaplain, where he ministered to wounded
soldiers. The war ended in August 1905, and St Barsanuphius returned to
Optina on November 1, 1905.
Since Elder Joseph had become too old and frail to
administer the
skete's affairs, Fr Barsanuphius was appointed as Superior of the skete
in his place. Fr Barsanuphius soon reestablished order and discipline,
paid off debts, repaired buildings, etc. As Superior, he combined
strictness with paternal concern and tenderness for those under him.
St Barsanuphius, like the other Elders of Optina, possessed
the gifts
of clairvoyance and of healing people afflicted with physical and
spiritual ailments. One of his spiritual sons, Fr Innocent Pavlov,
recalled his first Confession with the Elder. He became fearful because
Fr Barsanuphius seemed to know his innermost thoughts, reminding him of
people and events which he had forgotten. The saint spoke gently and
told him that it was God who had revealed to him these things about Fr
Innocent.
"During my lifetime, do
not tell anyone about what you are experiencing now," he said, "but you
may speak of it after my death."
St Barsanuphius loved
spiritual books, especially the Lives of the
Saints. He often told people that those who read these Lives with faith
benefit greatly from doing so. The answers to many of life's questions
can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints, he said. They teach us
how to overcome obstacles and difficulties, how to stand firm in our
faith, and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious. Although
the Lives of the Saints were widely available, it saddened the Elder
that more people did not read them.
St Barsanuphius commemorated many saints each day during his
Rule of
prayer, and this was not accidental. Each saint, he once explained, had
some particular importance in his life. If, for example, some
significant event took place, he would look to see which saints were
commemorated on that day, then he would begin to commemorate them each
day. Later he noticed that on their Feast Day, they would often deliver
him from some danger or trouble. On December 17, 1891, the
commemoration of the Prophet Daniel and the three holy youths, he left
Kazan and never returned. That was the day he decided to leave the
world, and St Barsanuphius felt that God had delivered him from a
furnace of passions. Just as the three youths were delivered from the
fiery furnace because they would not bow down before idols, the Elder
always believed that he left the world unharmed because he refused to
bow down before the idols of lust, pride, gluttony, etc.
By 1908, St Barsanuphius seemed to fall ill more frequently,
and began
to speak of his approaching death. In April of that year, someone sent
him a package containing the Great Schema. Fr Barsanuphius had long
desired to be tonsured into the Great Schema before his death, but he
had told no one of this except for the archimandrite. Therefore, he
regarded this as a sign that he would soon die.
One night in July 1910, the Elder became so ill that he had
to leave
church during Vigil and return to his cell. The next morning, July 11,
he was so weak that he could not sit up by himself. That evening he was
tonsured into the Great Schema.
Fr Barsanuphius began to
recover, but there were new problems in the
monastery. New monks came in from spiritually lax environments. They
did not understand the ascetical nature of monasticism or the whole
notion of eldership, and so they began to clamor for reform and change.
They wanted to assume positions of authority, and to close the skete.
Because of their complaints, Fr Barsanuphius was removed from Optina
and assigned as igumen of the Golutvinsky Monastery. When he arrived to
take up his duties, Fr Barsanuphius found the monastery in a state of
physical and spiritual decline. Nevertheless, he did not lose heart,
and soon the monastery began to revive. More people began to visit,
once they heard that an Optina Elder had come to Goluvinsky, and the
monastery's financial position also began to improve. However, the
rebellious brethren caused him great sorrow, and he had to expell some
of them
At the beginning of 1913, St Barsanuphius became ill again
and asked
Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow for permission to retire to Optina, but
that was not to be. He fell asleep in the Lord on April 1, and his body
remained in the church of Golotvino until April 6 (which was also
Lazarus Saturday). After the funeral, his body was placed on a train
and sent to Optina for burial. The train arrived at Kozelsk Station on
April 8, and the coffin was carried to Optina by clergy.
The Moscow Patriarchate authorized local veneration of the
Optina
Elders on June 13,1996. The work of uncovering the relics of Sts
Leonid, Macarius, Hilarion, Ambrose, Anatole I, Barsanuphius and
Anatole II began on June 24/July 7, 1998 and was concluded the next
day. However, because of the church Feasts (Nativity of St John the
Baptist, etc.) associated with the actual dates of the uncovering of
the relics, Patriarch Alexey II designated June 27/July 10 as the date
for commemorating this event. The relics of the holy Elders now rest in
the new church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.
The Optina Elders were
glorified
by the Moscow Patriarchate for universal veneration on August 7, 2000.
|
Saint of the Day April 01 Kaléndis
Aprílis. 
550 B.C. The Departure
of the Great Prophet Daniel. Daniel"s_tomb_Susa_Iran
> 
"After finishing
my
bread, I lived on herbs and the things one finds in
the desert. The clothes I had when I crossed over the Jordan became
torn and fell apart. 
St Mary
of Egypt St
Zosimas
monk at a certain Palestinian monastery on the outskirts of Caesarea
1404 Saint
Euthymius of Suzdal tonsure
Nizhegorod Caves under St Dionysius: founded Savior-Euthymius
monastery strict ascetic great man of prayer incorrupt relics 100 yrs
Among the most important titles we have in
the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory
and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of
the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom.
The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our
Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for
the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope
Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City
praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing
the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in
using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require
spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had
its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.