180 St. Addal
Converted Turkey disciple of Christ sent by St. Thomas to court of King
Abgar the Black, 2nd century Osroene ruler
A disciple of Christ
sent by St.
Thomas to the court of King Abgar the Black, the second century
Osroene ruler.
Legendary accounts claim Abgar wrote to Christ asking Jesus to cure him
of an intolerable and incurable illness. Abgar's court was in Edessa in
Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Addal cured Abgar and converted the king
and his people to the faith. One of these was Addai, who became Addal's successor.
Addal is also supposed to have sent another disciple, Man, to various
sites along the Tigris River. It is known that Addal did missionary
work around Edessa toward the end of the second century. Both Addal and
Man have been venerated in the Syrian and Persian churches since that
era. Addal is recorded as a martyr for the faith.<>
SS. ADDAI AND MARI
Bishops
There
were inhabitants of Mesopotamia present when St
Peter and his companions preached at Pentecost, and for all that we
know the
first East Syrian Christians were
made
at that time, but the actual date of the introduction of Christianity
into
those parts, among the Edessene Jews, is unknown. There is evidence of
a
Christian colony at Edessa in the second century, but it was probably
not till
the coining of the Sassanid dynasty that the faith began to spread from
there
over Mesopotamia, Adiabene and Persia. Local ecclesiastical tradition,
however,
attributes their evangelization to the apostle St Thomas, and more
particularly
to St Addai, St Aggai and St Man. The story of how they came to Edessa,
combined from the narratives of Eusebius and of a Syriac document
called The Doctrine of Addai (written C.
400), is as follows.
At the time when our
Lord was still incarnate upon earth there reigned in Osroene a king
called
Abgar the Black, who lived at Edessa. He suffered from some incurable
disease
and, having heard of the miracles of healing of our Lord, he sent to
Him a
letter by the hand of his secretary, Hannan. In it he addresses Christ
as “the
good Physician” and asks Him to come to Edessa and heal him, professing
to
believe, in consequence of the reported wonders, that, “either thou art
God,
who hast come down from Heaven, or else the Son of God, who brings all
these
things to pass”. Hannan found our Lord in the house of Gamaliel, “Chief
of the
Jews”, and He replied to Abgar that, “Happy art thou who hast believed
in me
without having seen me, for it is written that they who see me shall
not
believe and they who see me not shall believe. As for my coming to you,
I am
about to return to my Father, all for which I was sent into the world
being
finished. But when I shall have ascended to Him I will send thee one of
my
disciples, who shall heal thee of thy sickness and bring thee and thine
to
eternal life.”
According
to
Eusebius our Lord wrote out this message Himself and it was accordingly
greatly
reverenced throughout Christendom during the middle ages; it is said to
have
been used as an amulet in England before the eleventh century. The
Syriac
document states that Hannan also brought back to Abgar a portrait of
our Lord
which he had painted (later, “not-made-by-human-hands"), and
which as the Holy Mandylion is famous in Christian
iconography.
After the Ascension,
the apostle Thomas accordingly sent one of the seventy-two disciples,
Addai
(Thaddeus), to the court of King Abgar. He lodged at the house of a
Jew,
Tobias, and when he was brought before the king he healed him of his
disease,
and spoke to him of the faith of Christ. Addai converted Abgar and
multitudes
of his people, among others the royal jeweller, Aggai, whom he made
bishop and
his successor, and Palut, whom he ordained priest on his deathbed.
In due course St
Aggai was martyred and Palut had to go to Antioch to be consecrated by
Serapion, who in his turn had been made bishop by Pope St Zephyrinus at
Rome.
Quite apart from any other consideration, this last statement throws
the whole
of the legend into confusion, for it is known that there was a
Serapion, Bishop
of Antioch, who was at least contemporary with St Zephyrinus, and was,
moreover, contemporary with another Abgar, who was a Christian king of
Edessa
between about 179 and 213, and
probably the first; so Serapion
could not have consecrated a convert of one of the Seventy-two.
The most, then, that
can be said of St Addai is that he was perhaps a missionary in Edessa,
before
the end of the second century. St Man is an even less satisfactory
person, for
there are serious doubts of his existence at all. According to his late
“acts”
he was a disciple of St Addai, who sent him to Nisibis; he preached
there and
took up the work of Jonas the prophet at Ninive, then he went down the
Tigris,
until he began “to smell the smell of the apostle Thomas”, and died
near
Seleucia-Ctesiphon, after consecrating as its bishop Papa bar Aggai,
another
certainly historical personage, the first katholikos of the East Syrian
churches—but at the beginning of the fourth century.
Wherever
he went St
Man made numerous converts, destroyed temples, built churches and
founded
monasteries, on a scale familiar in spurious legends but rarely, if
ever, found
in sober history. Nevertheless, SS. Addai and Man, nebulous as
they now are,
have from early ages been venerated as the evangelists of the lands
around the
Tigris and Euphrates, and still are by their successors, the Catholic
Chaldeans
and the Nestorians of Iraq and Kurdistan; they are referred to as “the
Holy
Apostles”, and the principal anaphora of
the eucharistic liturgy of those Christians bears this name.
The two
primary sources are
Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, bk
i, ch. 13; and the Doctrine of Addai, Syriac
text with Eng. trans., edited by G. Phillips (1876). The
authenticity of the
letters exchanged between Abgar and our Saviour was formerly very
warmly
defended, e.g. by the Abbé Paulin
Martin in the Revue des Sciences Ecclésiastiques for
1888— 1889 (several articles), as against Tixeront, R.
Duval, R.
Lipsius, and others. On the Armenian version and its bearings on the
controversy, consult P. J. Dashian, “Zur Abgar Sage”, three articles in
the Vienna Oriental Journal for 1890. Modern
opinion tends strongly to regard the whole incident as apocryphal, see e.g. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der
altkirchlichen Literatur, vol. i, pp. 569 seq. and p. 443; and Dictionnaire
de la Bible, Supplement, cc. 540—542. Cf. however,
Casartell in The Dublin
Review for April 1889, and H. Thurston in The Month, September
1192, pp. 39—61. See also DCB., s.v., Abgar and
Thaddeus, and DHG., s.v., Abgar; and F. C. Burkitt, Early Eastern Christianity (1904), cap.
i.
|
St.
Memmius First
bishop of Chalons-sur-Marne famous for miracles worked before and
after his death Cataláuni, in Gállia, sancti
Mémmii, civis Románi, qui, a sancto Petro Apóstolo
consecrátus illíus civitátis Epíscopus,
pópulum sibi commíssum ad Evangélii
veritátem perdúxit.
At Chalons in France, St. Memmius, a Roman citizen,
who was consecrated bishop of that city by St. Peter the Apostle, and
brought to the truth of the Gospel the people committed to his care.
ST. MEMMIUS, IN FRENCH MENGE, FIRST BISHOP AND APOSTLE OF
CHALONS, ON THE MARNE.
THE Catalaunian plains,
according to Jornandes, one hundred leagues in length, and seventy in
breadth, famous for the defeat of Attila, and other great victories,
gave name to the whole province of Champagne, and were the theatre of
the apostolic labours of St. Memmius the first bishop and apostie of
Chalons, in tne decline of the third century. Flodoard is our voucher
that he was contemporary with St. Sixtus, bishop of Rheims in 290. He
is honoured on the 5th of August, the day of his death. His relics,
after several translations, are deposited in a rich shrine of silver
gilt together with those of his sister St. Poma, and famous for many
miracles. St. Gregory of Tours relates that when he was travelling
through Chalons his servant fell dangerously ill of a fever: St.
Gregory, prostrate before the tomb of St. Memmius, prayed earnestly for
his recovery, and the next morning the youth found himself perfectly
well.(l) St. Memmius's two immediate successors, Donutian and Domitian,
are also honoured among the saints, and their relics enshrined in the
basilic of St. Memmius.
Likewise St. Elasius and his brother and successor
Laudomerus, or Lumier, the thirteenth and fourteenth bishops of Chalons
from 565 to 590, are honoured, the former on the 19th of August, the
latter on the 2nd of October, though he died on the 30th September.
The
Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints By
Alban Butler Published by J. Duffy, 1866
Item notes: v.8 Original from the University of Michigan
Digitized Jun 14, 2007
Saint Gregory of Tours relates also
called Menge and Meinge. He
founded the see after working as a missionary in the district.
Memmius of
Châlons-sur-Marne B (RM) (also known as Menge, Meinge)
Died September 30. In the province of Champagne, where Attila the Hun
was finally defeated, Saint Memmius labored to spread the Good News.
Although he was not a disciple of Saint Peter, as is sometimes claimed,
he was the apostle and first bishop of Châlons at the end of the
3rd century. Memmius's relics are enshrined in silver gilt in the
Basilica of Saint Memmius together with those of his sister, Saint
Poma, as well as those of his two immediate successors, Saints Donatian
and Domitian, and Saints Elaphius (13th bishop) and Leudomerus (14th
bishop).
Memmius was famous for the miracles he worked
before and after his
death. Saint Gregory of Tours relates that as he was travelling through
Châlons, his servant fell dangerously ill. Gregory prostrated
himself in prayer on his servant's behalf in front of the tomb of Saint
Memmius. The next morning the youth was perfectly recovered
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth) .
|
235 The Martyr
Pontius lived during the III
Century, the son of a pagan Roman senator named Marcus and his wife
Julia.
While with child, Julia had gone with her husband to the pagan temple
of Jupiter. The devil, inhabiting the temple, shouted from the lips of
the pagan priest that the boy in Julia's womb would destroy Jupiter and
his pagan temple. When the boy was born, his mother wanted to kill him
out of fear of the prediction, but his father opposed this and the
child was left to live. He was named Pontius, and he grew up sharp of
mind and keen for study. On his way to the pagan school Pontius
happened to go past an house, where Christians were making the morning
Divine-services. Hearing the words of the psalm which the Christians
were singing: "pagan idols be silver and gold, the works of the hands
of men..." (Ps. 113: 12 [115: 4]). Pontius became very interested in
this verse and he paused at the gate. Pope Pontian, who was making the
service, invited Pontius and his companion Valerian to come in. After
the service, the pope talked for a long while with the youths,
revealing to them the Gospel teachings, and after a certain while he
baptised them. Saint Pontius in turn likewise converted his father to
Christ, whom Pope Pontian also baptised, together with his whole
household. And after the death of his father, Saint Pontius, then 20
years old, was appointed by the emperor Alexander Severus (222-235) as
a senator, to take the place of his deceased father. In the Senate and
the surroundings of the emperor, Saint Pontius enjoyed universal esteem
for his good nature, sound sense and fairness. Under the successor to
the emperor Alexander Severus -- Maximian (235-238), Pope Saint Pontian
finished his life as a martyr (+ 235). |
|
257 SS Pope Antherus
(Bishop of Rome in place of Pope Saint Pontian), and successor was Pope Saint Fabian (Fabius),
who as a presbyter fearlessly gave burial to the bodies of martyrs.he too soon accepted suffering and death
for Christ (+ 236).
Pope Saint Fabian loved Saint Pontius as though he were his own flesh
and blood son. Saint Pontius distributed with Saint Fabian all his
substance on the needs of the poor. After the perishing of impious
Maximian, the new emperor Gordian (238-244) did not persecute
Christians, and thereafter in turn the emperor Philip (244-249)
together with his co-regent son Philip was persuaded by the
conversations and preaching of Saint Pontius to believe in Christ and
to accept Baptism from holy Pope Fabian. With the permission of the
emperors, Saints Pontius and Fabian threw down the statue of Jupiter at
the pagan temple and on this place built a church. For 4 years the
Church of Christ dwelt in peace and tranquility. But then Decius
(249-251) ascended the throne, having organised a rebellion and
murdered the emperor Philip and his son. And during this time Sainted
Fabian, Pope of Rome (+ 250), accepted death for Christ. But Saint
Pontius left Rome for the city of Cimelum (on the border of Italy and
Gaul-France) and lived there like a stranger. During the time of the
emperor Valerian (253-259), cruel torturers were sent out with full
authority to all ends to seek out and kill all Christians. And thus
Claudius and Anubius arrived in the city of Cimelum for this purpose.
Saint Pontius fearlessly confessed himself a Christian and refused to
offer sacrifice to idols. They shackled him in irons and threw him in
prison. From the very beginning of the torture the saint calmly
admonished the torturers, that the Lord would bring to naught the
torture and they would see the power of God. And indeed, as soon as the
servants attempted to tie Saint Pontius to the rack, it fell apart to
pieces, and the torturers fell to the ground as though dead.
"Be convinced, O man of little faith, in the power of my
Lord", -- said Saint Pontius to Claudius, but on the advice of Anubius
he gave Saint Pontius over to be devoured by two bears in the circus.
The wild beasts, while not touching the saint, fell instead upon their
keepers and tore at them. The spectators began to shout: "God only is
the Christian God, in Whom believeth Pontius". By order of the
torturers a bon-fire was built, but it burnt out, and the saint
remained alive, and even his clothes did not burn. The crowd shouted
all the more strongly: "Great is the God of the Christians!" Saint
Pontius then was sentenced to beheading by the sword, and the execution
was made out beyond the city in the year 257. The body of Saint Pontius
was given burial at the place of execution by his comrade and friend
Valerian. |
303 St.
Emygdius patron
against earthquakes.
Asculi, in Picéno, sancti Emygdii, Epíscopi et
Mártyris; qui, a sancto Marcéllo Papa Epíscopus
ordinátus et illuc ad prædicándum Evangélium
missus, ibídem, in confessióne Christi, sub
Diocletiáno Imperatóre, martyrii corónam
accépit.
At Ascoli in Piceno, St. Emygdius, bishop and
martyr, who was consecrated bishop by Pope St. Marcellus, and sent
thither to preach the Gospel. He received the crown of martyrdom
for the confession of Christ under Diocletian.
Bishop and martyr, also called Emidius. He was
a pagan of Trier, Germany, who became a Christian. While
visiting Rome, he destroyed a pagan temple. Pope St. Marcellus I or
Marcellinus sent him to Ascoli Piceno. There he suffered
martyrdom with Eupolus, Germanus, and Valentius. This tradition is
untrustworthy. Emygdius’ relics are in Ascoli. He is a patron against
earthquakes.
|
 304 St.
Afra Martyr and
penitent daughter of the king of
Cyprus Martyr and penitent
Augústæ Vindelicórum natális sanctæ
Afræ Mártyris, quæ, cum esset pagána, per
doctrínam sancti Narcíssi Epíscopi ad Christum est
convérsa, et, cum ómnibus domus suæ membris, ab
eódem Epíscopo baptizáta; póstmodum vero,
ob Christi confessiónem igni trádita, martyrium suum,
septem diébus ántequam beáta Hilária mater
ac tres ancíllæ eódem cruciátus
génere coronaréntur, felíciter explévit.
At Augsburg, the birthday of St. Afra, martyr, who
being a pagan, was converted to Christ by the teaching of St. Narcissus
the bishop, and being baptized with all her household, was given over
to the flames for the sake of Christ. Seven days later her mother
Hilaria and three handmaids were also crowned by enduring the same kind
of torment.
Martyr and penitent, listed in some records as
the daughter of the king of Cyprus. Afra was caught up in the
persecutions of Emperor
Diocletian in Roman Augsburg. She is listed in the Martyrology
Hieronymianum. Afra possibly operated a brothel in Augsburg or served
as a prostitute in the temple of Venus, living with her mother,
Hilaria, and serving women Eunomia, Eutropia, and Digna. When the
persecutions started in Augsburg, Bishop Narcissus of Gerona, Spain,
arrived in the city and took lodging with Afra and Hilaria, not knowing
their profession. His holiness attracted the women, who converted. When
officials came looking for the bishop, Afra hid him under a pile of
flax. Afra and her household were baptized, and her uncle Dionysius was
ordained as a bishop. Arrested, Afra was burned to death, tied to a
tree on the small island of Lech. She was buried in Augsburg and her
mother erected a chapel for her tomb. Soon after, Hilaria and her
serving women were burned alive in their house. Afra's remains were
buried in a church named after her. Pilgrims visited her shrine as
early as 565. In 1012, the Benedictine monastery of St. Ulrich and St.
Afra displayed her sarcophagus. The Acts of Afra give an account of her
martyrdom.
304
ST AFRA, MARTYR
THE persecution of
Diocletian was carried on with great cruelty by his colleague Maximian
in those
provinces which fell to his share in the division of the empire. At
Augsburg,
in Rhaetia, according to her “acts”, the officers apprehended a woman
called
Afra, known to have formerly been a common prostitute. A later
embroidery says
she was converted by St Narcissus, bishop of Gerona in Spain, of whom
nothing
is certainly known.<>
When she was brought
to trial the judge, by name Gaius, who knew who she was, said,
“Sacrifice to
the gods; it is better to live than to die in torments”. Afra replied,
“I was a
great sinner before I knew God; but I will not add new crimes, or do
what you
command me.”. “I am informed”, said Gaius, “that you are a
prostitute.
Sacrifice therefore, as you are a stranger to the God of the Christians
and
cannot be accepted by Him.” Afra replied, “My Lord Jesus Christ has
said that
He came down from Heaven to save sinners. The gospel says that a sinful
woman
washed His feet with her tears and obtained pardon, and that He never
rejected
the outcasts but welcomed them to eat with him.” When he found that she
could
not be moved, declaring, “Let the body which has sinned suffer; but I
will not
ruin my soul by false worship”, the judge passed sentence, and the
executioners
carried her to an island in the river Lech. There they stripped her and
tied
her to a stake; and whilst they were heaping vine branches about her
and
setting fire to them, Afra was heard to say, “I thank thee, Lord Jesus
Christ,
for thy goodness in receiving me, a burnt offering for thy name’s
sake: thou
didst offer thyself upon the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the
whole
world; I offer myself a victim to thee, who livest and reignest with
the Father
and the Holy Ghost world without end. Amen.” Having spoken these words
she gave
up her spirit, being suffocated by the smoke.
Three
servants of the martyr, Digna, Eunomia and
Euprepia, who had lived disorderly lives
with their mistress, but were converted and baptized at the same time,
watched
her triumph. With Hilaria, the martyr’s mother, they came in the night
and
carried away the body, which they buried in a sepulchre. Whilst Hilaria
and her
attendants were still within the tomb, Gaius was informed of what they
had
done. He therefore dispatched soldiers with an order to persuade the
whole
company to offer sacrifice, and if they refused to burn them alive
without any
other formality. The soldiers used both mild words and threats; but
finding all
to no purpose they filled the vault with thorns and branches, shut the
door,
and having set fire to the wood, left them to be roasted to death.
The
existence of a
martyr called Afra, who suffered at Augsburg and was venerated there
from early
times, seems established; but the value of the acta from
which the above relation is taken is a matter of dispute.
According to some scholars they are worthless; others claim that the
part which
narrates her trial and martyrdom is an expanded version of an earlier
historical narrative, while the separate story of her being a harlot,
her
conversion, and the execution of her mother and servants is an
invention of the
Carlovingian era. St Afra is referred to by Venantius Fortunatus, and
she is
still venerated at Augsburg and elsewhere in Germany.
The two
Latin texts of most importance have both been
edited by B. Krusch in MGH., Scriptores
Merov., vol. iii, pp. 55—64 and vol. vii, pp. 192—204.
Much discussion has centred round the question whether the
original text of the acta is really a
Merovingian document as Duchesne contended, or, as Krusch believed, was
only
elaborated out of the notice in the “Hieronymianum”—“In provincia Retia
civitate Augusta Afrae veneriae.” A. Bigelmair, A. Poncelet and 0.
Riedner
support Krusch, but in CMH., p. 423, an
opposite view is taken ; there are fuller bibliographical
references in
the same notice.
Romæ pássio
sanctórum Mártyrum vigínti trium, qui, in
persecutióne Diocletiáni, via Salária
véteri, cápite obtruncáti sunt, et, ad clivum
Cucúmeris, ibídem sepúlti.
At Rome, during the persecution of
Diocletian, the martyrdom of twenty-three holy martyrs, who were
beheaded on the Salarian Way, and buried at the foot of Cucumer Hill.
|
346 St. Paris Bishop
of Teano, Italy born in Greece
Apud Theánum, in Campánia,
sancti Páridis Epíscopi. At Teano in
Campania, St. Paris, bishop.
Bishop of Teano, Italy. Biographical accounts
about
him are quite extravagant, with many legends.
Paris of Teano B (RM). The veneration of Saint Paris in his diocese of
Teano near Naples has led to many embellishments to his true vita. He
is said to have been born in Greece (Benedictines, Encyclopedia) . |
350 St.
Cassian of Autun Egyptian
Famed for miracles
Augustodúni beáti
Cassiáni Epíscopi. At Autun, blessed
Cassian, bishop.
Successor of St. Reticius as bishop of Autun, France. He
served from
314 until his death. Famed for miracles, Cassian was identified by a
biographer as being an Egyptian. |
362
Eusignius of
Antioch old soldier (110) in the army of Constantius Chlorus refusal to
sacrifice to the gods M (RM)
Antiochíæ sancti Eusígnii mílitis, qui,
annum agens centésimum décimum, cum Constantíni
Magni fidem, sub quo militáverat, Juliáno
Apóstatæ exprobráret, eúmque ut
pátriæ pietátis desertórem
redargúeret, ab eódem jussus est cápite cædi.
At Antioch, St. Eusignius, a soldier, who, at the
age of one hundred and ten years, because he reproached Julian the
Apostate for forsaking the faith of Constantine the Great, under whom
he had served, and for having degenerated from his ancestor's piety,
was beheaded at his command.
Saint Eusignius was a old soldier in the army of
Constantius Chlorus.
At the age of 110, he was commanded to sacrifice to the gods by Julian
the
Apostate. Upon his refusal, he was scourged and beheaded in Antioch,
Syria (Benedictines).
|
374
Nonna of Nazianzen,
Matron 3 children became saints Saint Gregory Nazianzen Caesarius of
Nazianzen and Gorgonia(RM)
Eódem die sanctæ Nonnæ, quæ fuit mater
beatórum Gregórii Nazianzéni, Cæsárii
et Gorgoniæ.
On the same day, St. Nonna, mother of Saints Gregory
Nazianzen, Caesarius, and Gorgonia.
A Christian, Saint Nonna married Gregory, a magistrate of
Nazianzus,
Cappadocia, who was a member of the Hypsistarians, a Jewish-pagan
group, and converted him to Christianity. He became a priest and then
bishop and is Saint Gregory Nazianzen the Elder. Their three children
all became saints: Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Caesarius of Nazianzen, and
Gorgonia. But each followed a different path to sanctity because she
was a good mother who realized that God's plan was different for each
of them and encouraged them to follow His calling. Caesarius was a
court physician, Gregory a monk and bishop, and Gorgonia a wife and
mother.
Nonna is the model of a perfect Christian mother who is dissatisfied
with simply bringing her children into the world and preparing them to
live in it. She desired that they all be brought to heaven. Her son
Gregory wrote: "My father was in truth a second Abraham and was a man
of the highest virtue...My mother was a worthy companion for such
a man and her qualities were as great as his. She came from a pious
family, but was even more pious than they. Through in her body she was
but a woman, in her spirit she was above all men...Her mouth knew
nothing but the truth, but in her modesty she was silent about those
deeds which brought her glory. She was guided by the fear of God..."
(Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
St.
Nouna Wife
of St. Gregory of Nazianzus
Wife of St. Gregory of Nazianzus. A Christian, she was responsible for
converting Gregory to the Christian faith. He was originally a member
of the Hypsistorians, a Jewish pagan group. All of their children
became saints: Gregory Nazianzus the Younger, Caesarius of Nazianzus,
and Gorgonius.
374 ST NONNA, MATRON
NONNA was born
towards the end of the third century and, although she was brought up a
Christian, married Gregory, the magistrate of Nazianzus in
Cappadocia, who was
a member of a Judaic-pagan sect called the Hypsistarians. However, this
was a
case of a “ mixed marriage” turning out for the very best, and the
resulting
family was one of the most famous and brilliant saintly families of
Christian
history. By her shining example St Nonna converted her husband, and he
became a
priest, and then a bishop: in those days the now universal law that a
bishop
must be single or a widower was not yet everywhere in force; he is
moreover
venerated as a saint and is known as St Gregory Nazianzen the Elder.
They had
three children, all of them saints, and the eldest, St Gregory
Nazianzen the
Divine, became one of the greatest of the doctors of the Church; in his
writing
he often refers to the devoted and virtuous life of his mother Nonna.
The next
child was a girl, St Gorgonia, who married and had three children. The
third
was St Caesarius, a physician by profession. St Nonna outlived two of
her
children: Gorgonia died in her arms, and she heard the funeral sermons
preached
for her and Caesarius by Gregory the Younger which have continued to be
the
admiration of succeeding ages. She survived her husband only a few
months and
died at a considerable age in 374: a valiant woman, whose children rose
up and
called her blessed, whose husband praised her.
A
sufficient account of St Nonna is given in the Acta
Sanctorum, August, vol. ii, and in
DCB., vol. iv, p. 50.
|
 435
Dedication of
St. Mary Major first church in Rome dedicated to Mary the Mother of God
Romæ, in Exquíliis, Dedicátio Basílicæ
sanctæ Maríæ ad Nives.
At Rome, on the Esquiline, the Dedication of the
Basilica of St. Mary of the Snows.
There are three basilicas in Rome in which the holy father
celebrates
Mass on different feasts: Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter's on Vatican
Hill, and Saint Mary Major, which was the first church in Rome
dedicated to Mary the Mother of God. It was founded by Pope Liberius in
the 4th century, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin by Pope Saint
Sixtus III about 435. The church is sometimes called, Saint Mary ad
Nives (of the Snow), because a miraculous snow fell upon the area in
summer about the time a patrician named John had a vision of the Virgin
requesting the building of the church. He donated the money for its
building.
In the church the Holy Manger of Bethlehem with a silver image of the
baby Jesus is on display in a large subterranean chapel. Touching this
presumed relic excited the religious fervor of such saints as Jerome
and Paula when it was still at Bethlehem (Husenbeth).
THE DEDICATION OF
THE BASILICA OF ST MARY MAJOR“OUR LADY OF THE
SNOW”
THIS feast
celebrates the dedication of the third of the patriarchal basilicas
within the
walls of Rome, to which at first the name of” Liberian Basilica” was
given,
because it was founded in the time of Pope Liberius, in the middle of
the
fourth century it was restored and consecrated under the title of the
Virgin
Mary by Sixtus III, about the year 435, and is now generally known as
St Mary
Major (Santa Maria Maggiore Great St Mary’s), because it is in both age
and
dignity the first church of the City among those dedicated to God in
honour of
our Lady. In the liturgical books it is called St Mary ad
Nives, or “of the Snow”, from a popular tradition that the
Mother of God chose this place for a church under her invocation by a
miraculous fall of snow upon this spot in summer and by a vision in
which she
appeared to a patrician named John, who munificently founded and
endowed this
church in the pontificate of Liberius at the site thus indicated on the
Esquiline Hill. No mention is found of this miracle until some hundreds
of
years later, and it is now everywhere recognized as a myth. A
commission for
the reform of the Breviary recommended to Pope Benedict XIV in 1742
that its
old name of “Dedication of St Mary” should be restored to the feast;
this has
not been done yet, except in the Benedictine calendar (1915). This
basilica has
sometimes also been known by the name of St Mary ad
Praesepe, from the alleged relic of the crib or manger of
Bethlehem, in which Christ was laid at His birth.
See
H. Grisar, Analecta Romana
(1900), p. 70,
and the same writer’s Geschicte Roms
und der Päpste (1901),
p. 153, n. 1; as well as Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, vol.
i, pp. 232, 235, and CMH., p. 418. Stress is rightly
laid upon the
fact that no mention is made of any miraculous fall of snow in Sixtus
III’s
inscription for the dedication of the basilica. Though the original has
now
perished, its text is well known, and has been reprinted, for example,
from De
Rossi’s Inscriptiones Christianae, vol.
ii, pp. 75, 98, 139, in Duchesne’s footnote; see under St Sixtus III
herein, on
August 19.
August 5, 2008 Dedication of St. Mary Major
Basilica
First raised at the order of Pope Liberius in the
mid-fourth century, the Liberian Basilica was rebuilt by Pope Sixtus
III shortly after the Council of Ephesus affirmed Mary’s title as
Mother of God in 431. Rededicated at that time to the Mother of God,
St. Mary Major is the largest church in the world honoring God through
Mary. Standing atop one of Rome’s seven hills, the Esquiline, it has
survived many restorations without losing its character as an early
Roman basilica. Its interior retains three naves divided by colonnades
in the style of Constantine’s era. Fifth-century mosaics on its walls
testify to its antiquity.
St. Mary Major is one of the four Roman basilicas known as patriarchal
cathedrals in memory of the first centers of the Church. St. John
Lateran represents Rome, the See of Peter; St. Paul Outside the Walls,
the See of Alexandria, allegedly the see presided over by Mark; St.
Peter’s, the See of Constantinople; and St. Mary’s, the See of Antioch,
where Mary is supposed to have spent most of her life.
One legend, unreported before the year 1000, gives another name to this
feast: Our Lady of the Snows. According to that story, a wealthy Roman
couple pledged their fortune to the Mother of God. In affirmation, she
produced a miraculous summer snowfall and told them to build a church
on the site. The legend was long celebrated by releasing a shower of
white rose petals from the basilica’s dome every August 5.
Comment: Theological debate
over Christ’s nature as
God and man reached fever pitch in Constantinople in the early fifth
century. A chaplain to Bishop Nestorius began preaching against the
title Theotokos, “Mother of God,” insisting that the Virgin was mother
only of the human Jesus. Nestorius agreed, decreeing that Mary would
henceforth be named “Mother of Christ” in his see. The people of
Constantinople virtually revolted against their bishop’s refutation of
a cherished belief. When the Council of Ephesus refuted Nestorius,
believers took to the streets, enthusiastically chanting, “Theotokos!
Theotokos!” Quote: “From the earliest times the Blessed Virgin is
honored under the title of Mother of God, in whose protection the
faithful take refuge together in prayer in all their perils and needs.
Accordingly, following the Council of Ephesus, there was a remarkable
growth in the cult of the People of God towards Mary, in veneration and
love, in invocation and imitation...” (Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church, 66).
|
544 St.
Venantius Bishop of Viviers, France
He was the subject of a
dubious biography, written in the twelfth century.
Venantius of Viviers B (AC). Saint Venantius is one of the
most
celebrated ancient bishops of Viviers, France. He life was not recorded
until the 12th century and is worthless as a historical document
(Benedictines).
|
 642 St. Oswald King and martyr son of
Ethelfrid, Ggrandson of Ida,
Kingdom of Northumbria in 547 founder set up a cross of wood as his standard --
the first Christian symbol ever raised in Bernicia; limbs
incorrupt in 12th century: see also August 09th
In
Anglia sancti Oswáldi Regis,
cujus gesta sanctus Beda Venerábilis commémorat.
In
England, St. Oswald, king, whose life is related by St. Venerable Bede.
b., probably, 605; the second of seven brothers, sons of
Ethelfrid, who was grandson of Ida, founder of the Kingdom of
Northumbria in 547. Oswald's mother was Acha, daughter of Ella or Alla,
who, after Ida's death, had seized Deira and thus separated it from the
Northern Bernicia.
642 St Oswald Of
Northumbria,
Martyr
After death of King St Edwin in the year 633 in
battle against
Penda and Cadwailon, Oswald, nephew of Edwin, prepared to regain
possession of both parts of Northumbria; he had received Christianity
with his whole heart and, far from forsaking Christ as his unhappy
brothers had done to court the favour of his subjects, he wished to
bring them to the spiritual kingdom of divine grace.
While
Cadwallon ravaged the Northumbrian provinces, Oswald assembled what
troops he was able, and marched confidently, though with a small force,
against his enemy. In 634 battle was joined some three miles
south of Hexham, near Rowley Burn. The evening before the
engagement, the king caused a great wooden cross to be made, and he
held it up whilst the hole dug in the earth to plant it in was filled
up round the foot. When it was fixed, St Oswald cried out to his
army (in which only a handful of individuals were Christians), "Let us
now kneel down, and together pray to the almighty and only true God
that He will mercifully defend us from our enemy; for He knows that we
fight in defence of our lives and country".
All the
soldiers did as he commanded, and that same night Oswald had a vision
wherein St Columba of Jona
appeared to stretch his cloak over his sleeping troops and to promise
them victory on the morrow.
And so it fell out. God blessed
Oswald's faith and the superior forces of Cadwallon were muted and
himself killed in the battle. It was a happy omen, says St Bede, that
the place where this cross was set up was called in English Hefenfelth,
that is. "Heaven field" (though doubtless in fact it was given that
name later), because there was erected the first heavenly trophy of
faith: before that time no church or altar was known to have been
raised in the kingdom of the Bernicians. This cross of St Oswald
was afterwards very famous.
In St
Bede's time little chips of it were steeped in water, and drunk
by sick persons, or sprinkled upon them, and many recovered their
health. After death of King Oswald, the monks of Hexham used to
come to the place on the day before the anniversary of his death, there
to sing the night-office and to celebrate Mass the next
morning. A church was built on the spot some time before
Bede wrote.
St Oswald immediately set himself to restore good
order
throughout his dominions, and plant in them the faith of Christ.
Naturally enough he looked not to Canterbury but to
Scotland, where he had received the faith himself,
for help in this task, and asked for a bishop and assistants by whose
preaching the people whom he governed might be grounded in the
Christian religion and receive baptism.
St Aidan, a
native of Ireland and a
monk of Iona, was chosen for the arduous undertaking, and he by his
mildness repaired the mischief done by another monk, sent before him,
whose harshness had alienated many from the gospel which he professed
to preach. The king bestowed on Aidan the isle of Lindisfarne for
his episcopal see, and, before the bishop could sufficiently speak the
English language, he would himself be his interpreter and explain his
sermons and instructions to the people.
"From that time many of
the Scots [Irish] came daily into Britain and preached the word with
great devotion to those provinces of the English over which King Oswald
reigned...Churches were built in a number of places; the people gladly
gathered to hear the gospel; money and land were given by the king to
build monasteries; and the English, high and low, were instructed by
their Scottish teachers in the rules and observance of regular
discipline, for most of them that came to preach were monks" (Bede).
Oswald, whilst he
was governing his temporal kingdom, was intent
to labour and pray also for an eternal crown; and by reason of his
praying and giving thanks at all times, it is said that whenever he was
sitting he would have his hands on his knees turned upwards, toward
Heaven. The kingdom of Northumberland then extended
as far as the Firth of Forth, and so great was his power that the other
kings of England recognized in him some sort of nominal overlordship
(bretwalda), so that St Adamnan,
in his life of St Columba,
styles him" Emperor of all Britain". Bede gives the following
example of the charity of this great king amidst his prosperity.
One Easter day, whilst he
was sitting down to dinner, an officer came
in and told him there was a multitude of poor people at his gate,
asking alms. The king sent them a large silver dish full of meat,
and ordered the dish to be broken into small pieces and distributed
among them. Upon this, St Aidan,
who happened to be at table, taking him by the right hand, said, "May
this hand never perish." After St Oswald's death his right arm was
cut off and remained incorrupt at least till the time of Simeon of
Durham (d.c. 1135), when it was kept at the minster of
Peterborough.
St Oswald married Cyneburga, daughter
of Cynegils, the first Christian king of Wessex; he stood sponsor for
him at his baptism. They had one child, a son, Ethelwald, who
became king of Deira and was little credit to his father.
When St Oswald had reigned some years war
broke out with the pagan Penda of Mercia. Penda again allied
himself with the Welsh and the struggle lasted until a decisive battle
was fought at Maserfield (probably Oswestry in Shropshire). St
Oswald met him with an inferior force, and was killed in the
battle. When he saw himself surrounded with his enemies, he
offered his last prayer for the souls of his soldiers, and it became a
proverb: "O God, be merciful to their souls, as said
Oswald when he fell."
He was slain in the
thirty-eighth year of his age, on August 5, 642.
His
relics were eventually distributed to various places and St Bede
chronicles some of the many miracles of which they were the occasion;
nor is it to be wondered at that the sick should be healed by him when
dead, for while he lived he never ceased to provide for the poor and
infirm.
St Oswald was formerly remembered as one of
the great national heroes of England, and his veneration extended to
Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, northern Italy, Bohemia, southern Germany
and Switzerland, where he is patron of Zug. His memory is now
somewhat dim but his feast is observed in several English dioceses and
in Argyll (with a proper Mass) on August 9; and at Meissen and Trier.
He is named in the Roman Martyrology on the 5th.
We know little of St Oswald
beyond what has
been recorded in Bede's Ecclesiastical
History, bk iii, but C. Plummer gives (vol. ii, p. 161) a list
of subsequent lives of the holy king. That by Drogo
(eleventh century) is printed in the Acta
Sanctorum, August,vol. ii; that by Reginald of Durham may be
found in Arnold's edition of Simeon of Durham (Rolls Series). Plummer
points out in detail (pp. 159-160) how widespread was the cultus of St Oswald in central
Europe. Plummer's notes upon Bede's text are also valuable, as
well as those in the edition of Mayor and Lumby (1881). For the
Swiss cultus, see E. P.
Baker`s article in Archaeologia,
vol. xciii (1949), pp. 103-123, and for northern Italy, the same writer
in Archaeologia, vol. xciv
(1951), pp. 167-194.
The years of Oswald's youth were spent at home, as
long as his father reigned, but when, in 617, Ethelfrid was slain in
battle by Redwald, King of the East Angles, Oswald with his brothers
fled for protection from Edwin, their uncle, Acha's brother, to the
land of the Scots and were cared for at Columba's Monastery at Hii, or
Iona. There they remained until Edwin's death in the battle of
Heathfield (633). Eanfrid, his elder brother, then retuurned to accept
the Kingdom of Deira, whilst Osric, cousin of Edwin, received Bernicia.
The kingdom was thus again divided and both parts relapsed into
paganism. In the following year Osric was slain in battle, and Eanfrid
treacherously murdered by the British king, Cadwalla. Oswald thereupon
came down from the North, and in 635 a small but resolute band gathered
round him near the Roman Wall at a spot seven miles north of Hexham,
afterwards known as Hevenfelt, or Heaven's Field. Here, encouraged by a
vision and promise of victory from St. Columba, who shrouded with his
mantle all his camp, Oswald set up a cross of wood as his standard --
the first Christian symbol ever raised in Bernicia -- and gave battle
to the Britons, who were led, probably, by Cadwalla. The Britons were
completely routed, and thenceforth could only act on the defensive.
Oswald's victory reunited the Northumbrian Kingdom not only because he
delivered it from the humiliating yoke of the Mercians and Britons, but
also because on his father's side he was a descendant of Ida of
Bernicia and on his mother's of the royal house of Ella of Deira. Thus
united, Northumbria could not fail to become the chief power in a
confederation against Penda of Mercia and the Britons of Wales.
Oswald was thoroughly grounded in the principles of the
Christian religion, and, though but twelve nobles with whom he returned
from exile were Christians, far from abandoning his faith, his first
care was to spread it among the Bernicians, thus confirming the
political union effected by Edwin with a religious union unknown
before. Edwin, it is true, had himself received the Faith in 627,
through the influence of his wife Ethelburga, sister of the Kentish
King, who had brought St. Paulinus to the North, but his example was
followed only by the people of Deira.
Oswald, brought up in Columba's monastery at Iona, naturally
looked to the North for missionaries. The first preacher who set forth
soon returned, having found the Northumbrian people too barbarous and
stubborn. Then Aidan was sent, "a man of singular meekness, piety and
moderation", established his episcopal see at Lindisfarne, in 635.
Oswald's zealous co-operation with the monk-bishop soon filled the land
with churches and monasteries, and the church at York, begun by Edwin,
was completed. Moreover, his wonderful humility in the midst of
success, his charity, and his piety soon had their effect in turning
his subjects from Woden to Christ. We are told that the king in his
Court acted as the interpreter of the Irish missionaries who knew not
the language of his thanes.
It was Oswald's work to add to the warlike glory of his father
Ethelfrid and the wise administration of his uncle Edwin the moral
power of Christianity, and to build up a great kingdom. Edwin had
gathered the whole English race into one political body and was
overlord of every English kingdom save that of Kent. The Venerable Bede
(III, 6) says that Oswald had a greater dominion than any of his
ancestors, and that "he brought under his sway all the nations and
provinces of Britain, which are divided into four languages, namely the
Britons, the Picts, the Scots, and the English". He had great power in
the North-West, as far south as Chester and Lancashire, and was
probably owned as overlord by the Welsh Kingdom of Strath Clyde, as
well as by the Picts and Scots of Dalriada. In the East he was supreme
in Lindsey, and the words of Bede seem to imply that he was overlord of
Mercia, which was still ruled by Penda; but this could have been
scarcely more than nominal. The West Saxons in the South, influenced by
the fear of Penda, readily acknowledged Oswald, their allegiance being
strengthened, in 635, by the conversion of King Cynegils, of Wessex, at
whose baptism Oswald stood sponsor, and whose daughter he married. Both
sovereigns then established Bishop Birinus at Dorchester.
This vast supremacy, extending from north to south, and broken only by
Penda's kingdom in Mid-Britain and that of the East Angles, led Adamnan
of Hii to call Oswald "The Emperor of the whole of Britain".
Christianity seemed to be forming a network round the pagan Penda of
Mercia. The kingdom of the East Angles, which was still Christian, but
acknowledged Penda as overlord, was necessary to Oswald to maintain the
connection between his dominions in the north and the south. War was
therefore inevitable. At the battle of Maserfeld, said to be seven
miles from Shrewsbury, "on the border of Wales, near Offa's dyke",
Oswald was slain on 5 Aug., 642, and thus perished "the most powerful
and most Christian King" in the eighth year of his reign and in the
flower of his age. His last words were for the spiritual welfare of his
soldiers, whence the proverb: "God have mercy on their souls, as said
Oswald when he fell." His body was mutilated by Penda, and his limbs
set up on stakes, where they remained a full year, until they were
taken away by Oswy and given to the monks at Bardney in Lindsey. In the
tenth century some of the bones were carried off by Ethelred and
Ethelfleda of Mercia to St. Peter's, Gloucester. His head was taken
from the battlefield to the church of St. Peter in the royal fortress
at Bamborough, and was afterwards translated to Lindisfarne, where, for
fear of the Danes, it was placed in 875 in the coffin of St. Cuthbert,
which found its resting place at Durham in 998. It was in the coffin at
the translation of St. Cuthbert in 1104, and was thought to be there
when the tomb was opened in 1828. His arm and hand (or hands) were
taken to Bamborough and perhaps afterwards removed to Peterborough, and
were still incorrupt in the time of Symeon of Durham, early in the
twelfth century. Reginald gives an account of his personal appearance:
arms of great length and power, eyes bright blue, hair yellow, face
long and beard thin, and his small lips wearing a kindly smile.
|
751
St.
Abel Irish Archbishop and
Benedictine abbot noted
churchman, accompanying St. Boniface on his missions to the European
Continent
Abel was probably
born in Ireland, and was a
noted churchman, accompanying St. Boniface
on his missions to the European Continent. He was chosen
as archbishop of Remis by Pope St.
Zachary, a nomination
ratified by the Council of
Soissons in 744. However, a usurper named Milo occupied the see
and would not relinquish it. Abel retired to a monastery at Lobbes, and
was installed as abbot. He died there in the "odor of sanctity ." |
St.
Cantidius Martyr of Egypt with Cantidian and
Sobel.
Item sanctórum Mártyrum Ægyptiórum
Cantídii, Cantidiáni et Sobélis.
Also the holy martyrs Cantidius, Cantidian, and
Sobel, Egyptians.
|
863
St. Theodoric Fr Bishop
Bishop of Cambrai-Arras, France, from about 830.
Theodoric of Cambrai B (AC). Bishop of Cambrai-Arras from about 830 to
863 (Benedictines) .
|
1016
St. Gormcal Irish abbot
of the monastery of Ardoilen in Galway
An Irish abbot of Ardoilen
Abbey, in Galway, Ireland. He participated the monastic renaissance of
that
era. Gormgal (Gormcal) of Ardoilen, Abbot (AC) Died 1016. An
Irish abbot of the monastery of Ardoilen in Galway (Benedictines).
|
1123 Sainted Theoktist, Bishop of Chernigov, prior to entering
upon the cathedra-chair, pursued an ascetic life at the Kievo-Pechersk
monastery.
He was among the number of the great startsi-elders, healing by prayer
the Monk Nikita, afterwards Sainted Bishop of Novgorod (Comm. 31
January). In the year 1103 Saint Theoktist was made hegumen of the
Kievo-Pechersk monastery. In the year 1108 he built on the means of
pious prince Gleb Vseslavich a stone refectory. Saint Theoktist
particularly insisted, that the name of the Monk Theodosii (Feodosii,
Comm. 3 May), be included in the synodikon of the saints of all Russia.
In the year 1110, on 11 February, there was an heavenly apparition at
the Pechersk monastery: a pillar of fire from the ground to the sky
appeared and lightning lighted up all the earth, and at the 1st hour of
the night there was the crash of thunder; the fiery pillar stood over
the stone refectory so that its cross was not visible; afterwards it
proceeded to the church and settled over the grave of the Monk
Theodosii, and then, turning to the East, it disappeared. "This was not
a pillar of fire, but rather an angelic face, -- wrote the Monk Nestor
the Chronicler, -- because an angel appears thus, when there is a
pillar of fire, a flaming, as says the Prophet David: Who maketh His
angels spirits and His servants flames of fire" (Ps. 103 [104]: 4). In
the year 1113 Saint Theoktist was ordained Bishop of Chernigov. The
PriestMartyr Monk Kuksha (Comm. 27 August), enlightening at this time
the Vyatichi, belonging to the Chernigov diocese. On 2 May 1115 Saint
Theoktist participated in the transfer of the relics of holy Princes
Boris and Gleb to Vyshgorod, and later in Chernigov near his cathedral
he consecrated a church in the name of the holy Princes Boris and Gleb,
erected in the year 1120 by prince David of Chernigov. And to the noble
Prince Passion-Bearers Boris and Gleb the saint made a sermon on the
day of their memory. On 6 august 1123, the feast of the
Transfiguration, Saint Theoktist died, and because of the feastday, his
memory is made on 5 August. On one of the lists of the Saints it is
said, that he was buried at the Pechersk monastery. For the memory of
Saint Theoktist believers resort also to 28 September, when he is
remembered in the 9th ode of the Canon of the Sobor-Assemblage of the
Monastic Fathers of the Nearer Caves. |
1628 The Monk Job
of Ushel'sk was a monk of the Solovetsk monastery a saint of God began soon after his death,
because of numerous miracles (in the XVII Century about 50 such were
known of)
His father was named Patrikii Mazovsky.
On 10 November 1608 he was ordained to the dignity of priestmonk by the
Novgorod metropolitan Isidor. In 1614 the Monk Job was sent to the
Mezensk frontier, where at the confluence into the River Mezen' of the
Rivers Ezeg and Vazhka he set up a chapel in honour of the Nativity of
Christ. The first monks gathering to him lived at the homes of their
own lay-kinsmen, so poor was the monastery. After tsar Mikhail
Feodorovich (1613-1645) conferred lands with fishing rights, the monk
built a church and monastic cells. On 5 August 1628, when all the
brethren were off making hay, robbers attacked the monastery. After
terrible tortures in their demands for him to open the monastery
treasury, the robbers beheaded the Monk Job. Finding nothing at all,
they fled. The brethren upon returning buried the body of the
monkmartyr with honour. Local reverence of the Monk Job as a saint of
God began soon after his death, because of numerous miracles (in the
XVII Century about 50 such were known of). The first icon was written
in 1658, and his vita-life in the 1660's. And about this time a chapel
was built over the relics of the monk, and rebuilt afterwards by
blessing of the Kholmogorsk archbishop Athanasii as a church in honour
of the same-name saint Righteous Job the Much-Suffering (Comm. 6 May;
and on this day the Church has established to also remember the Monk
Job of Ushel'sk). On 3 November 1739 the relics of the Monk Job were
witnessed to by archbishop Varsonophii, with in evidence the singing of
a molieben to the saint. Thus there was made his glorification. The
image of the Monk Job is written thus: "Similarly greyed, a beard like
Alexander of Svirsk, in the garb of the monastic schemamonk, and in his
hands a scroll upon which is written: "Fear not those murdering of the
body, the soul they cannot kill"". |
 1960 Saint John the
Chozebite; lived in Bethlehem
near St Sava's Monastery10 yrs;
lived in Bethlehem near St Sava's Monastery; On August 8, 1980 his relics were found
incorrupt and fragrant.
The son of Maxim and Catherine Jacob, was
born July 23, 1913 in the Horodistea district of Moldavia. He was named
for the holy prophet Elias (July 20). In 1914, his father died in the
war, and his mother succumbed to a disease, leaving Elias as an orphan.
His grandmother Maria raised him until he was eleven. She was a nun, so
she was able to educate him in spiritual matters. She died in 1924, so
young Elias went to live with other relatives. He had a great love for
Christ and His Church, and longed for the monastic life.
He entered Neamts Monastery on August 15, 1933 when he was
twenty years old. Here his soul was nourished by the beauty of the
services, the experienced spiritual instructors, and the silence of the
mountains. The young monk loved prayer, vigils, spiritual reading, and
solitude, and soon he surpassed many experienced monks in obedience,
humility, and patience. Seeing his great love for spiritual books, the
igumen made him the monastery's librarian. Elias gave comfort to many
of the brethren by recommending specific books for each one to read.
Then he would advise them to read the book carefully, make their
confession, and not miss the services if they wanted to find peace.
His spiritual efforts attracted the notice of Archimandrite
Valerie Moglan, who recommended that Elias be permitted to receive
monastic tonsure. He was tonsured on April 8, 1936 and received the
name John. From that time, the young monk intensified his spiritual
efforts, conquering the temptations of the demons, and progressing on
the path of salvation.
St John made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with two other
monks in 1936, and they decided to remain there. The monk Damascene
fell ill, however,
and had to be taken back to Romania by the monk Claudius after eight
months.
At first, St John lived in Bethlehem near St Sava's Monastery.
Romanian monks had lived at St Sava's since the sixteenth century, and
John struggled there for almost ten years. He was made librarian of the
monastery, and he fulfilled this obedience for about seven years.
In 1945 St John longed for the peace and solitude of the
desert, and so he went to live as a hermit. He was ordained as a priest
in 1947, and Pilgrims often came to him for Confession, Communion,
and consolation. In his free time he composed religious poems and
hymns.
After five years, he and his disciple went into the desert of Chozeba
near Jehrico. Here they lived in asceticism for eight years in the cave
where, according to Tradition, St Anna had prayed.
St John Jacob died on August 5, 1960 at the age of forty-seven
and was buried in his cave. On August 8, 1980 his relics were found
incorrupt and fragrant. They now rest in the St George the Chozebite
Monastery.
In 1968 and 1970, St John's book SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT was
published in two volumes, with the blessing of Patriarch Benedict of
Jerusalem. St John Jacob was glorified by the Romanian Orthodox Church
in 1992. |
Mary Mother of GOD 
Saints of this Day August 05 Nonis
Augusti 
Quote: Pope
Paul
VI’s 1969 
As
we watch the
spectacle of the world
seeming to self-destruct before our eyes, we can’t help but be saddened
and even frightened by so much evil run rampant. Iraq, Lebanon,
Afghanistan, Somalia, North Korea—It is all a disaster of epic
proportions displayed in living color on our television screens.