Afterfeast of the
Transfiguration of our Lord
The Church's hymns today invite us to "ascend the holy mountain" and "with
the eyes of faith," to "behold the radiant Transfiguration of the Lord."
Christ has transformed our fallen human nature and restored its original
beauty "by the burning radiance of His divinity."
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350 St.
Myron Martyred priest at Cyzicus on the Sea of Marmora, in modern Turkey.
He was slain trying to protect his church from a pagan mob.
In Creta sancti Myrónis
Epíscopi, miráculis clari In Crete, St.
Myron, bishop renowned for miracles
Saint Myron, Bishop
of Crete, a wonderworker, in his youth was a family man, and worked as a
farmer. He was known for his goodness, and he assisted everyone who turned
to him for help. Once, thieves burst in upon his threshing floor, and St
Myron himself helped them lift a sack of grain upon their shoulders. By his
generosity the saint so shamed the thieves, that in future they began to
lead honorable lives.
Out of profound respect for the saint, the Cretan people urged him to accept
ordination to the priesthood in his native city of Raucia, and afterwards
they chose him Bishop of Crete.
Wisely ruling his flock, St Myron received from the Lord the gift of wonderworking.
At the time of a flood on the River Triton, the saint stopped its flow and
went upon it as upon dry land, and then he sent a man back to the river with
his staff to command the river to resume its course. St Myron fell asleep
in the Lord at the age of 100, around the year 350. |
St. Eleutherius &
Leonides Two martyrs burned to death in Constantinople.
Item sanctórum Mártyrum
Eleuthérii et Leónidæ, qui per ignem martyrium consummárunt.
Also, the holy martyrs
Eleutherius and Leonides, who underwent martyrdom by fire.
The Martyrs Eleutherius
and Leonides were cast into a fire at a youthful age during one of the persecutions
against Christians.
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| Ten Egyptian Ascetics
On this day we also commemorate, who died at sea, and Two Martyrs of Tyre,
who were dragged over the ground. |
| Transfiguration
The hymns
at Vespers today speak of the sun appearing dim compared to the divine light.
In His compassion for humanity, Christ took on mortal flesh, yet Peter, James
and John saw the radiance of His glory. The incarnate Lord "made Adam's
darkened image to shine again" when He appeared on earth arrayed in the original
beauty of the Image" (Genesis 1:26). |
305 Cyriacus erlitt
vermutlich das Martyrium um 305 unter Diokletian.
Sanctórum Mártyrum Cyríaci Diáconi, Largi et
Smarágdi, qui, cum áliis vigínti Sóciis, passi
sunt décimo séptimo Kaléndas Aprilis. Eórum
córpora, via Salária a Joánne Presbytero sepúlta,
sanctus Marcéllus Papa in prædium Lucínæ, via Ostiénsi,
hoc die tránstulit; quæ póstea, in Urbem deláta,
in Diaconía sanctæ Maríæ in via Lata fuérunt
recóndita.
The holy martyrs Cyriacus, deacon, Largus, and Smaragdus, with twenty
others who suffered on the 16th of March, during the persecution of Diocletian
and Maximian. Their bodies were buried on the Salarian Way by the priest
John, but were on this day translated by Pope St. Marcellus to the estate
of Lucina, on the Ostian Way. Afterwards they were brought to the city
and placed in the church of St. Mary in Via Lata.
Orthodoxe Kirche: 7. Juli Katholische
Kirche: 8. August
Cyriakus erlitt vermutlich das Martyrium um 305 unter Diokletian. In einer
alten Märtyrerliste werden fünf Gefährten genannt, ab dem
13. Jahrhundert werden Largus und Smaragdus angegeben. Cyriacus gehört
zu den 14 Nothelfern.
Ss. Cyriacus, Largus And Smaragdus, Martyrs
The legend of St Cyriacus and his companions is a romance devoid of historical
value. It relates that Cyriacus was a deacon who, with Sissinius, Largus
and Smaragdus, succoured the Christians who were being forced to work on
the construction of the baths of Diocletian. Having been arrested, Cyriacus
cured the emperor's daughter, Artemia, of demoniac possession, and was rewarded
with the present of a house herein he established a place of worship,
the titulus Cyriaci. He was then sent to Persia at the request
of its king, whose daughter suffered in the same way as Artemia, and her
also he cured. After his return to Rome he was apprehended by order of Maximian,
together with Largus and Smaragdus, and on March ib, in company with a score
of others, he Was tortured and beheaded at a spot on the Salarian Way.
On August 8 Pope St Marcellus I translated
the bodies to a burial-place, which received the name of Cyriacus, on the
road to Ostia.
That Cyriacus was an authentic martyr, honoured on this day in Rome
from an early date, is proved from the Depositic Martyrum of 354.
Therein he is said to rest close beside the seventh milestone on the road
to Ostia in company with Largus, Jxmaracdus", and three
others, who are named. Delehaye shows that this Cyriacus has been confused
with another Cyriacus, the founder of the titulus Cyriaci, and that a fictitious
story was later evolved which is best known to us as an episode in the spurious
Acts of Pope St Marcellus.
See on the whole question Delehaye
in CMH, p. 425 (with which cf. ibidem pp.
190 and 431-433); and Duchesne
in Mélanges d'archéologie
a d'histoire, vol. xxxvi, pp. 49-56 .
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St. Marinus elderly
martyr Martyr at Anazarbus, in Cilicia. He is reported as having been quite
elderly.
Anazárbi, in Cilícia, sancti Maríni senis, qui, sub
Diocletiáno Imperatóre et Lysia Præside, cæsus
flagris, in ligno suspénsus ac laniátus, feris tandem objéctus
intériit.
At Anzarba in Cilicia, St. Marinus, an old man who was scourged, racked,
and lacerated, and who died by being exposed to wild beasts, in the time
of Emperor Diocletian and the governor Lysias. |
St.
Severus, priest and confessor At Vienne in France, who undertook a painful
journey from India in order to preach the Gospel in that city, and converted
a great number of pagans to the faith of Christ by his works and miracles.
Viénnæ, in
Gállia, sancti Sevéri, Presbyteri et Confessóris; qui
ex India, Evangélii prædicándi causa, laboriósam
peregrinatiónem suscépit, et, cum ad præfátam
urbem devenísset, ingéntem Paganórum multitúdinem
verbo et miráculis ad Christi fidem convértit.
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420 St.
Hormisdas, a martyr under King Sapor in Persia.
In Pérside sancti Hormísdæ
Mártyris, sub Sápore Rege.
St Hormisdas, Martyr
THE shocking persecution
of Christians carried on by Sapor II, King of Persia, was renewed by Yazdagird
I, the occasion being the burning down of a Mazdaean temple by a priest.
This unhappy man, who brought so much distress on the faithful, was constrained
to admit that persuasion and not violence is the only Christian method, but
this did not mollify the anger of the king. It is not easy, says Theodoret,
to describe or express the cruelties which were then invented against the
disciples of Christ. On the death of Yazdagird the persecution was
carried on by his son Bahram; and Hormisdas (Hormizd) was one of the chief
victims. He was of the nobility among the Persians, son to the governor of
a province. Bahrarn sent for him, and commanded him to renounce Jesus Christ.
Hormisdas answered him, "Nay! This would offend God, and be against charity
and justice; whoever dares to violate the supreme law of the sovereign Lord
of all would easily betray his king, who is only a mortal man. If that be
a crime deserving death, what must it he to renounce the God and ruler of
the universe?" The king at this answer caused him to be deprived of his rank,
honours and goods, and even stripped of clothes to his loin-cloth, and ordered
him to look after the camels of the army. Some time after Bahram saw Hormisdas
all sunburnt and covered with dust, and calling to mind his former position
and the high office of his father, he was filled with pity; so he sent for
him, ordered a gown to he given him, and said, "Now lay aside your obstinacy,
and renounce the carpenter's Son". The saint pulled off the gown and threw
it away, saying, "Why should you have thought that I should so easily be
tempted to abandon the law of God? Take back your present." The king, incensed
at his boldness, sent him back to his camels. It is not known when and how
St Hormisdas suffered martyrdom.
See the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. ii, where
the passage of Theodoret, bk v, ch. 39, is quoted at length. See also Assemani,
Bibliotheca orientalis, vol.
iii, pt 2, p. 384. There seems to be a reference to this St Hormisdas in
the Martyrology of Rabban Sliba on September 1 for which cf. the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxvii (1908),
p. 193 .
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650
St. Leobald Benedictine abbot Benedictine abbot also called Leotlebod. He
was abbot of Fleury Abbey, now called Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire, France.
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678 St. Mummolus
abbot Benedictine abbot of Fleury, also called Mommulus. He brought some
relics of Sts. Benedict and Scholastica from Monte Cassino to France, thus
starting the name given to Fleury, SaintBenait-sur-Loire
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680 St. Ternatius Bishop
of Besancon, France He actively supported the monastic movement and sponsored
charitable projects. Ternatius was revered for his holiness.
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7th v. St. Ellidius
Patron saint of Himant, Powys, Wales, and a church in Scilly Isles of England.
Also called Illog.
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796 St. Gedeon bishop
The thirteenth bishop of Besancon, France. He served six years.
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815 St. Emilian
opposition Iconoclasts Bishop of Cyzicus, an island in the sea of Marmara,
Turkey. He died in exile because of his opposition to the Iconoclasts.
Cyzici, in Hellespónto, sancti Æmiliáni Epíscopi,
qui, pro sacrárum Imáginum cultu a Leóne Imperatóre
multa passus, demum in exsílio vitam finívit.
At Cyzicum, on the Hellespont, St. Aemilian, bishop, who ended
his life in exile after having suffered much from Emperor Leo for the veneration
of holy images.
Saint Emilian,
Bishop of Cyzikus, lived during the reign of the Iconoclast emperor Leo the
Armenian (813-820). He was summoned together with other bishops to the court
of the emperor, who insistently urged the bishops to refrain from the veneration
of holy icons. St Emilian was the first to tell the emperor firmly that the
question of the veneration of holy icons ought to be discussed and decided
only within the Church by its spiritual leaders, and not at the imperial
court. In the year 815 he was sent to prison for the Orthodox Faith, where
he died as a confessor.
Aemilianos von Kyzikos Orthodoxe Kirche: 8. August
Aemilianos war im 9. Jahrhundert Bischof von Kyzikos. Als Kaiser Leo V. der
Armenier (813-820) 815 den Bildersturm (= Ikonoklaste von 730 bis 842) erneuerte
(wohl um Frieden mit den muslimischen Nachbarreichen zu halten, in denen
Gottesbilder strikt verboten waren) und die Bischöfe seines Reiches
aufforderte, die Ikonen zu vernichten, wurde er von mehreren Bischöfen
aufgesucht, die ihn aber nicht umstimmen konnten. Aemilianos gab Leo zu bedenken,
dass die Frage der Ikonenverehrung nur innerhalb der Kirche diskutiert und
nicht von einem weltlichen Gericht entschieden werden könne. Aemilianos
wurde deshalb 815 gefangengesetzt. Er starb im Gefängnis.
Mit Aemilianos standen vor dem Kaiser der Bischof von Nikomedien, Theophylaktus,
der Bischof von Synada, Michael, der Bischof von Sardes, Euthymios sowie
die Bischöfe Joseph von Thessaloniki und Eudoxios von Amorion
.
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1091 St. Altman Bishop
of Passau; apostolic delegate; studied in Paris, ordained,
became the ranking priest at the Paderborn Cathedral School; went to Aachen
royal chaplain of Emperor Henry II; 1064 pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
captured by Muslim Saracens in Palestine; released journeyed home 1065;;
became involved in Pope Gregory VII's
efforts to halt simony and clergy marriages; driven out of his diocese because
of this controversy; founded the Augustinian abbey
at Gottweig, Austria; reformed the religious institutions of the
region;
St. Altman Bishop and apostolic delegate, born in
Westphalia, Germany about 1020. He
studied in Paris, was ordained, and then became the ranking priest at the Paderborn Cathedral School.
From there he went to Aachen and became the royal chaplain of Emperor Henry
II. In 1064, Altman went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and was
captured by the Muslim Saracens in Palestine. He was released and journeyed
home in 1065 facing renewed dangers; became involved in Pope Gregory VII's efforts to halt simony and
clergy marriages.
Upon his arrival home, Altman was named the bishop of Passati
because of the patronage of Empress Agnes. Altman founded the Augustinian
abbey at Gottweig, Austria, and generally reformed the religious institutions
of the region. He then became involved in Pope Gregory VII's efforts to halt simony and
clergy marriages.
Altman was driven out of his diocese because of this controversy.
He went to Rome and was appointed apostolic delegate to Germany. In 1081,
he returned to Passau but was driven out again. Altman spent the remaining
years of his life in the abbey at Gottweig, Austria.
St Altman, Bishop of Passau
St Altman was born at Paderborn during the first quarter of the
eleventh century, and studied at Paris. After being ordained he was appointed
Canon and master of the Cathedral-school at Paderborn, then provost of the
chapter of Aachen and chaplain to the Emperor Henry III, and confessor and
counsellor of the Dowager Empress Agnes. In 1064 he took part in a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which numbered seven thousand persons (according
to a monk who was there) and was led by several archbishops and bishops,
and the adventure was a most unhappy one. Having safely traversed Europe
and Asia Minor with no more than the misfortunes inevitable to so long a journey
on horseback, they were attacked by Saracens in Palestine and sustained a
siege in an abandoned village ; lack of food forced them to surrender, and
they might all have been massacred but for the intervention of a friendly
emir. Though they eventually reached Jerusalem they were not able to visit
many of the other holy places because of the enmity of the Saracens, and
by the time the pilgrimage reached home again it had lost nearly half of
its members, dead from hardship, sickness and murder. It was happenings of
this sort which contributed, thirty years later, to the institution of the
crusades.
Immediately on his return Altman was nominated
to the see of Passau, and he set himself energetically to govern a large and
deteriorated diocese. For the increase of learning, the care of the poor,
and proper carrying out of divine worship he looked particularly to regular
clergy; at Göttweig he founded an abbey of Augustinian canons, put the
same at Sankt Pölten in the place of secular canons, and introduced
the Cluniac reform at Kremsmunster. In these works he had the help of the
Empresses Agnes and Bertha, and the Emperor Henry IV was a benefactor of
the see; but St Altman soon found himself in conflict with that monarch.
When in 1074 Pope St Gregory VII renewed
the pontifical decrees against simony and married clergy, Altman read out
the letter in his cathedral. It was very ill received, he had to escape from
the ensuing uproar, and found himself opposed in the matter of celibacy by
a strong party led by his own provost. The bishop's chief supporters were
the Augustinian canons, but the rebels invoked the help of the emperor; Altman
did his best to enforce the decree, excommunicated the provost, and, when
in the following year the pope forbade lay investiture, definitely ranged
himself against Henry. He was driven from his see, and went to Rome. He had
some scruples as to whether he held his own see simoniacally, as he had received
it by favour of the Empress Agnes; but St Gregory VII confirmed him in it
and appointed him delegate apostolic for Germany.
St Altman
returned to his see in 1081, but was turned out again almost at once he spent
the remaining years of his life in exile but maintained a footing in the
eastern part of his diocese, from whence he exercised a great
influence. He had lost all his revenues and was in great poverty, but
for all that his charity to the poor did not abate, and in a time of famine
he sold his furniture to relieve the suffering. Nor did the disturbance
of his rule and his long banishment entirely spoil his work; a Canon of Göttweig
who wrote an account of him not long after his death says that when he was
appointed bishop many of his churches were of wood, and so were his priests;
he had stone churches built and, though it was more difficult to reform the
clergy than their buildings, he had inspired many priests with an enthusiasm
for Celibacy and a contempt for riches. St Altman was an important figure
in the early history of canons regular in addition to the foundations mentioned
above he instituted them at Sankt Florian, at St Nicholas's in his cathedral
city, and other places. He died in 1091, and his cultus was approved by Pope Leo XIII.
There are two lives printed in
the Acta Sanctorum. The older of
these (re-edited in MGH., Scriptores,
vol. xii, pp. 226-243) was written some fifty years after Altman's death
by a canon of Gottweig. The second for the greater part adds no new facts,
but fills some lacunae in
the narrative towards the end. An excellent German translation of the earlier
document, with abundant notes, has been published by A. Fuchs, Des heilige Altmann (1929). See also
Hans Hirsch "Die Vita Altmanni" in Jahrbuch
für Landeskunde von Nieder-österreich, vols.
xv and xvi, pp. 348-366; and A. Stonner, Heilige des deutschen Frühzeit, vol. ii (1935).
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12th v. St
Gregory, Iconographer of the Caves among the number of iconographers who
had come from Constantinople to Kiev to embellish the Great Church of the
monastery, dedicated in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos.
A colleague of St Alypius of the Caves (August 17). In the "Accounts of the
holy Iconographers" it says that he painted (wrote) many wonderworking icons
throughout the Russian Land.
In the Ninth Ode of the Canon of the Service of the Synaxis of the Kiev Caves
Monastics, Venerated in the Near Caves (September 28), St Gregory is called
a "Byzantine." This probably means that he was among the number of iconographers
who had come from Constantinople to Kiev to embellish the Great Church of
the monastery, dedicated in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos
.
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1190 Bd Joan of Aza,
Matron praise is due in her own right; to beauty of soul she added beauty
of body, and both were handed on to the greatest of her sons
The mother of St Dominic is said to have been born in the castle
of Aza, near Aranda in Old Castile; nothing is known of her childhood,
but doubtless her marriage took place when she was very young, according
to the custom of the time and country. Her husband was Felix, perhaps de
Guzman, who was warden of the small town of Calaruega in the province of
Burgos, of which Dante writes in speaking of St Dominic: "Happy Calaroga
I there where the gentle breeze whispers and wanders among the young flowers
that bloom over the garden of Europe, near that shore where the waves break
and behind which the great sun sinks at evening."
Here they lived and here were born to them four children,
Antony, who became a canon of St James and sold all that he had that he might
serve the poor and sick in a hospital; Bd Mannes, who followed his younger
brother, Dominic; and an unknown daughter, whose two sons became preaching
friars.
The greatest of these children was a child of promise, for when Antony
and Mannes were already grown up and clerics, Joan wished for another son
and prayed to that end in the abbey-church of Silos; and a vision of St Dominic
of Silos is said to have appeared to her in sleep, telling her that a son
would be born to her and that he would be a shining light to the Church:
and she in thankfulness determined that he should be baptized Dominic.
While the child was yet unborn Bd Joan dreamed "that she bore
a dog in her womb and that it broke away from her with a burning torch in
its mouth wherewith it set the world aflame"; this dog became a symbol of
the Dominican Order and in later ages gave rise to the pun Domini canes, "the watch-dogs of the
Lord".
His godmother at his baptism (or, as some say, Bd Joan again)
likewise had a dream in which the babe appeared with a shining star upon
his forehead, enlightening the world: wherefore is a star often shown upon
images of the saint. Dominic remained under the care of his mother till he
was seven years old, and then was sent to school with his uncle, the parish
priest of Gumiel d'Izan. Other stories are told, but by later writers,
about the saint's infancy.
It has not been given to many mothers of saints to be themselves
beatified, and Joan achieved this distinction by her own virtues and not
by those of her children: it is not unusual for hagiographers to praise the
parents of their heroes, but the mother of St Dominic such praise is due
in her own right; to beauty of soul she added beauty of body, and both were
handed on to the greatest of her sons.
Her cultus dates from
the moment of her death; a hermiitage at Uclés, where she would go
to visit the commandery of the Knights of St James, was called after her,
and likewise a chapel in the cemetery at Calaruega. At the request
of King Ferdinand VII this cultus was
confirmed in 1828.
It is to be feared that the little
we are told concerning Bd Joan does not rest upon a very sound basis of evidence.
See, however, Ganay, Les Bienheureuses
Dominicaines, pp. 13 seq. R. Castano, Monografia de Santa Joanna (1900); Procter,
Dominican Saints, pp. 215-219
and the standard lives of St Dominic .
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1221 St. Dominic
Astronomers Patron studied at the Univ. at Palencia; ordained, appointed
canon at Osma in 1199 became prior superior of the chapter, which was noted
for its strict adherence to the rule of St. Benedict; founded an order devoted
to the conversion of the Albigensians; the order was canonically approved
by the bishop of Toulouse the following year. He failed to gain approval
for his order of preachers at the fourth General Council of the Lateran in
1215 but received Pope Honorius III's approval in the following year, and
the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) was founded; Dominic's concept of
harmonizing the intellectual life with popular need
16th century portrait by Giovanni Bellini.
August 8, 2008 St. Dominic (1170-1221)
If he hadn’t taken a trip with his bishop, Dominic would probably have remained
within the structure of contemplative life; after the trip, he spent the
rest of his life being a contemplative in active apostolic work.
ST. DOMINIC, A TRUE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL
VATICAN CITY, 3 FEB 2010 VIS
In today's general audience, held in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, the Pope
spoke about the life and work of St. Dominic de Guzman, founder of the Order
of Preachers, or Dominican Order.
St. Dominic was born in Caleruega, near the Spanish city of Burgos,
in the year 1170. While still a student he "distinguished himself for his
interest in the study of Sacred Scriptures and his love for the poor". Having
been ordained a priest he was elected as canon of the cathedral of Osma,
however "he did not consider this as a personal privilege, nor as the first
step in a brilliant ecclesiastical career; rather, as a service to be rendered
with dedication and humility. Do not career and power represent a temptation
to which even those who have roles of leadership and government in the Church
are not immune?" the Pope asked.
He then explained how the bishop of Osma "soon noted Dominic's spiritual
qualities and sought his collaboration. Together they travelled to northern
Europe on diplomatic missions...On his journeys Dominic became aware of...the
existence of peoples still un-evangelised,...and of the religious divides
that weakened Christian life in the south of France, where the activity of
certain heretical groups created disturbance and distanced people from the
truth of the faith".
Pope Honorius III asked Dominic "to dedicate himself to preaching
to the Albigensians" and he "enthusiastically accepted this mission, which
he undertook through the example of his own life of poverty and austerity,
through preaching the Gospel and through public discussions".
"Christ", the Pope went on, "is
the most precious treasure that men and women of all times and places have
the right to know and love! It is consoling to see how also in today's Church
there are many people (pastors and lay faithful, members of ancient religious
orders and of new ecclesial movements) who joyfully give their lives for
the supreme ideal of announcing and bearing witness to the Gospel".
As more and more companions joined him, Dominic established
his first house in the French city of Toulouse, from which the Order of Preachers
came into being. "He adopted the ancient Rule of St. Augustine, adapting
it to the requirements of an itinerant apostolic life in which he and his
confreres would move from one place to another preaching, but always returning
to their convents, places of study, prayer and community life".
St. Dominic, the Holy Father continued, "was keen that his followers should
have a solid theological formation, and did not hesitate to send them to
the universities of the time". There they dedicated themselves to the study
of theology, "founded on Holy Scripture but respectful of the questions raised
by reason".
The Pope encouraged everyone, "pastors and lay people, to cultivate
this 'cultural dimension' of the faith, that the beauty of Christian truth
may be better understood and the faith truly nourished, strengthened and
defended. In this Year for Priests, I invite seminarians and priests to respect
the spiritual value of study. The quality of priestly ministry also depends
on the generosity with which we apply ourselves to studying revealed truths".
Dominic died in Bologna in 1221 and was canonised in 1234. "With his sanctity,
he shows us two indispensable means for making apostolic activity more incisive",
the Pope concluded; "firstly, Marian devotion", especially the praying of
the Rosary "which his spiritual children had the great merit of popularising",
and secondly, "the value of prayers of intercession for the success of apostolic
work". AG/ST. DOMINIC/... VIS 100203 (610)
Born in old Castile, Spain, he was trained for the priesthood by a priest-uncle,
studied the arts and theology, and became a canon of the cathedral at Osma,
where there was an attempt to revive the apostolic common life of the Acts
of the Apostles.
On a journey through France with his bishop, he came face to face with the
then virulent Albigensian heresy at Languedoc. The Albigensians (Cathari,
“the pure”) held to two principles—one good, one evil—in the world. All matter
is evil—hence they denied the Incarnation and sacraments. On the same principle
they abstained from procreation and took a minimum of food and drink. The
inner circle led what must he called a heroic life of purity and asceticism
not shared by ordinary followers.
Dominic sensed the need for the Church to combat this heresy, and was commissioned
to be part of the preaching crusade against it. He saw immediately why the
preaching was not succeeding: the ordinary people admired and followed the
ascetical heroes of the Albigenses. Understandably, they were not impressed
by the Catholic preachers who traveled with horse and retinues, stayed at
the best inns and had servants. Dominic therefore, with three Cistercians,
began itinerant preaching according to the gospel ideal. He continued this
work for 10 years, being successful with the ordinary people but not with
the leaders.
His fellow preachers gradually became a community, and in 1215 he founded
a religious house at Toulouse, the beginning of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans).
His ideal, and that of his Order, was to link organically a life with God,
study and prayer in all forms, with a ministry of salvation to people by
the word of God. His ideal: contemplata tradere: “to pass on the fruits of
contemplation” or “to speak only of God or with God. “
Comment: The Dominican ideal,
like that of all religious communities, is for the imitation, not merely
the admiration, of the rest of the Church. The effective combining of contemplation
and activity is the vocation of truck driver Smith as well as theologian Aquinas.
Acquired contemplation is the tranquil abiding in the presence of God, and
is an integral part of any full human life. It must be the wellspring of
all Christian activity.
Born 1170 Son of Felix Guzman and Bl. Joan of Aza, he was born
at Calaruega, Spain, studied at the Univ. at Palencia, was probably ordained
there while pursuing his studies and was appointed canon at Osma in 1199.
There he became prior superior of the chapter, which was noted for its strict
adherence to the rule of St. Benedict.
In 1203 he accompanied Bishop Diego de Avezedo of
Osma to Languedoc where Dominic preached against the Albigensians (heresy)
and helped reform the Cistercians. Dominic founded an institute for women
at Prouille in Albigensian territory in 1206 and attached several preaching
friars to it. When papal legate Peter of Castelnan was murdered by the Albigensians
in 1208, Pope Innocent III launched a crusade against them headed by Count
Simon IV of Montfort which was to continue for the next seven years. Dominic
followed the army and preached to the heretics but with no great success.
In 1214 Simon gave him a castle at Casseneuil and Dominic with six followers
founded an order devoted to the conversion of the Albigensians; the order
was canonically approved by the bishop of Toulouse the following year. He
failed to gain approval for his order of preachers at the fourth General
Council of the Lateran in 1215 but received Pope Honorius III's approval
in the following year, and the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) was founded.
Dominic spent the last years of this life organizing the order,
traveling all over Italy, Spain and France preaching and attracting new members
and establishing new houses. The new order was phenomenally successful in
conversion work as it applied Dominic's concept of harmonizing the intellectual
life with popular needs. He convoked the first general council of the order
at Bologna in 1220 and died there the following year on August 6, after being
forced by illness to return from a preaching tour in Hungary. He was canonized
in 1234 and is the patron saint of astronomers.
St. Dominic
Founder of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican
Order; born at Calaroga, in Old Castile, c. 1170; died 6 August, 1221. His
parents, Felix Guzman and Joanna of Aza, undoubtedly belonged to the nobility
of Spain, though probably neither was connected with the reigning house of
Castile, as some of the saint's biographers assert. Of Felix Guzman, personally,
little is known, except that he was in every sense the worthy head of a family
of saints. To nobility of blood Joanna of Aza added a nobility of soul which
so enshrined her in the popular veneration that in 1828 she was solemnly
beatified by Leo XII. The example of such parents was not without its effect
upon their children. Not only Saint Dominic but also his brothers, Antonio
and Manes, were distinguished for their extraordinary sanctity. Antonio, the
eldest, became a secular priest and, having distributed his patrimony to
the poor, entered a hospital where he spent his life ministering to the sick.
Manes, following in the footsteps of Dominic, became a Friar Preacher, and
was beatified by Gregory XVI.
The birth and infancy of the
saint were attended by many marvels forecasting his heroic sanctity and great
achievements in the cause of religion. From his seventh to his fourteenth
year he pursued his elementary studies tinder the tutelage of his maternal
uncle, the archpriest of Gumiel d'lzan, not far distant from Calaroga. In
1184 Saint Dominic entered the University of Palencia. Here he remained for
ten years prosecuting his studies with such ardour and success that throughout
the ephemeral existence of that institution he was held up to the admiration
of its scholars as all that a student should be. Amid the frivolities and
dissipations of a university city, the life of the future saint was characterized
by seriousness of purpose and an austerity of manner which singled him out
as one from whom great things might be expected in the future. But more than
once he proved that under this austere exterior he carried a heart as tender
as a woman's. On one occasion he sold his books, annotated with his own hand,
to relieve the starving poor of Palencia. His biographer and contemporary,
Bartholomew of Trent, states that twice he tried to sell himself into slavery
to obtain money for the liberation of those who were held in captivity by
the Moors. These facts are worthy of mention in view of the cynical and saturnine
character which some non-Catholic writers have endeavoured to foist upon
one of the most charitable of men. Concerning the date of his ordination
his biographers are silent; nor is there anything from which that date can
be inferred with any degree of certainty. According to the deposition of
Brother Stephen, Prior Provincial of Lombardy, given in the process of canonization,
Dominic was still a student at Palencia when Don Martin de Bazan, the Bishop
of Osma, called him to membership in the cathedral chapter for the purpose
of assisting in its reform. The bishop realized the importance to his plan
of reform of having constantly before his canons the example of one of Dominic's
eminent holiness. Nor was he disappointed in the result. In recognition of
the part he had taken in converting its members into canons regular, Dominic
was appointed sub-prior of the reformed chapter. On the accession of Don
Diego d'Azevedo to the Bishopric of Osma in 1201, Dominic became superior
of the chapter with the title of prior. As a canon of Osma, he spent nine
years of his life hidden in God and rapt in contemplation, scarcely passing
beyond the confines of the chapter house.
In 1203 Alfonso IX, King of
Castile, deputed the Bishop of Osma to demand from the Lord of the Marches,
presumably a Danish prince, the hand of his daughter on behalf of the king's
son, Prince Ferdinand. For his companion on this embassy Don Diego chose
Saint Dominic. Passing through Toulouse in the pursuit of their mission,
they beheld with amazement and sorrow the work of spiritual ruin wrought
by the Albigensian heresy. It was in the contemplation of this scene that
Dominic first conceived the idea of founding an order for the purpose of
combating heresy and spreading the light of the Gospel by preaching to the
ends of the then known world. Their mission having ended successfully, Diego
and Dominic were dispatched on a second embassy, accompanied by a splendid
retinue, to escort the betrothed princess to Castile. This mission, however,
was brought to a sudden close by the death of the young woman in question.
The two ecclesiastics were now free to go where they would, and they set
out for Rome, arriving there towards the end of 1204. The purpose of this
was to enable Diego to resign his bishopric that he might devote himself
to the conversion of unbelievers in distant lands. Innocent III, however,
refused to approve this project, and instead sent the bishop and his companion
to Languedoc to join forces with the Cistercians, to whom he had entrusted
the crusade against the Albigenses. The scene that confronted them on their
arrival in Languedoc was by no means an encouraging one. The Cistercians,
on account of their worldly manner of living, had made little or no headway
against the Albigenses. They had entered upon their work with considerable
pomp, attended by a brilliant retinue, and well provided with the comforts
of life. To this display of worldliness the leaders of the heretics opposed
a rigid asceticism which commanded the respect and admiration of their followers.
Diego and Dominic quickly saw that the failure of the Cistercian apostolate
was due to the monks' indulgent habits, and finally prevailed upon them to
adopt a more austere manner of life. The result was at once apparent in a
greatly increased number of converts. Theological disputations played a prominent
part in the propaganda of the heretics. Dominic and his companion, therefore,
lost no time in engaging their opponents in this kind of theological exposition.
Whenever the opportunity offered, they accepted the gage of battle. The thorough
training that the saint had received at Palencia now proved of inestimable
value to him in his encounters with the heretics. Unable to refute his arguments
or counteract the influence of his preaching, they visited their hatred upon
him by means of repeated insults and threats of physical violence. With Prouille
for his head-quarters, he laboured by turns in Fanjeaux, Montpellier, Servian,
Béziers, and Carcassonne. Early in his apostolate around Prouille
the saint realized the necessity of an institution that would protect the
women of that country from the influence of the heretics. Many of them had
already embraced Albigensianism and were its most active propagandists. These
women erected convents, to which the children of the Catholic nobility were
often sent-for want of something better-to receive an education, and, in
effect, if not on purpose, to be tainted with the spirit of heresy. It was
needful, too, that women converted from heresy should be safeguarded against
the evil influence of their own homes. To supply these deficiencies, Saint
Dominic, with the permission of Foulques, Bishop of Toulouse, established
a convent at Prouille in 1206. To this community, and afterwards to that
of Saint Sixtus, at Rome, he gave the rule and constitutions which have ever
since guided the nuns of the Second Order of Saint Dominic.
The year 1208 opens a new epoch
in the eventful life of the founder. On 15 January of that year Pierre de
Castelnau, one of the Cistercian legates, was assassinated. This abominable
crime precipitated the crusade under Simon de Montfort, which led to the
temporary subjugation of the heretics. Saint Dominic participated in the
stirring scenes that followed, but always on the side of mercy, wielding
the arms of the spirit while others wrought death and desolation with the
sword. Some historians assert that during the sack of Béziers, Dominic
appeared in the streets of that city, cross in hand, interceding for the
lives of the women and children, the aged and the infirm. This testimony,
however, is based upon documents which Touron regards as certainly apocryphal.
The testimony of the most reliable historians tends to prove that the saint
was neither in the city nor in its vicinity when Béziers was sacked
by the crusaders. We find him generally during this period following the
Catholic army, reviving religion and reconciling heretics in the cities that
had capitulated to, or had been taken by, the victorious de Montfort. It
was probably 1 September, 1209, that Saint Dominic first came in contact
with Simon de Montfort and formed with him that intimate friendship which
was to last till the death of the brave crusader under the walls of Toulouse
(25 June, 1218). We find him by the side of de Montfort at the siege of Lavaur
in 1211, and again in 1212, at the capture of La Penne d'Ajen. In the latter
part of 1212 he was at Pamiers labouring, at the invitation of de Montfort,
for the restoration of religion and morality. Lastly, just before the battle
of Muret, 12 September, 1213, the saint is again found in the council that
preceded the battle. During the progress of the conflict, he knelt before
the altar in the church of Saint-Jacques, praying for the triumph of the
Catholic arms. So remarkable was the victory of the crusaders at Muret that
Simon de Montfort regarded it as altogether miraculous, and piously attributed
it to the prayers of Saint Dominic. In gratitude to God for this decisive
victory, the crusader erected a chapel in the church of Saint-Jacques, which
he dedicated, it is said, to Our Lady of the Rosary. It would appear, therefore,
that the devotion of the Rosary, which tradition says was revealed to Saint
Dominic, had come into general use about this time. To this period, too,
has been ascribed the foundation of the Inquisition by Saint Dominic, and
his appointment as the first Inquisitor. As both these much controverted
questions will receive special treatment elsewhere in this work, it will
suffice for our present purpose to note that the Inquisition was in operation
in 1198, or seven years before the saint took part in the apostolate in Languedoc,
and while he was still an obscure canon regular at Osma. If he was for a
certain time identified with the operations of the Inquisition, it was only
in the capacity of a theologian passing upon the orthodoxy of the accused.
Whatever influence he may have had with the judges of that much maligned
institution was always employed on the side of mercy and forbearance, as
witness the classic case of Ponce Roger.
In the meantime, the saint's
increasing reputation for heroic sanctity, apostolic zeal, and profound learning
caused him to be much sought after as a candidate for various bishoprics.
Three distinct efforts were made to raise him to the episcopate. In July,
1212, the chapter of Béziers chose him for their bishop. Again, the
canons of Saint-Lizier wished him to succeed Garcias de l'Orte as Bishop
of Comminges. Lastly, in 1215 an effort was made by Garcias de l'Orte himself,
who had been transferred from Comminges to Auch, to make him Bishop of Navarre.
But Saint Dominic absolutely refused all episcopal honours, saying that he
would rather take flight in the night, with nothing but his staff, than accept
the episcopate. From Muret Dominic returned to Carcassonne, where he resumed
his preaching with unqualified success. It was not until 1214 that he returned
to Toulouse. In the meantime the influence of his preaching and the eminent
holiness of his life had drawn around him a little band of devoted disciples
eager to follow wherever he might lead. Saint Dominic had never for a moment
forgotten his purpose, formed eleven years before, of founding a religious
order to combat heresy and propagate religious truth. The time now seemed
opportune for the realization of his plan. With the approval of Bishop Foulques
of Toulouse, he began the organization of his little band of followers. That
Dominic and his companions might possess a fixed source of revenue Foulques
made him chaplain of Fanjeaux and in July, 1215, canonically established
the community as a religious congregation of his diocese, whose mission was
the propagation of true doctrine and good morals, and the extirpation of
heresy. During this same year Pierre Seilan, a wealthy citizen of Toulouse,
who had placed himself under the direction of Saint Dominic, put at their
disposal his own commodious dwelling. In this way the first convent of the
Order of Preachers was founded on 25 April, 1215. But they dwelt here only
a year when Foulques established them in the church of Saints Romanus. Though
the little community had proved amply the need of its mission and the efficiency
of its service to the Church, it was far from satisfying the full purpose
of its founder. It was at best but a diocesan congregation, and Saint Dominic
had dreamed of a world-order that would carry its apostolate to the ends
of the earth. But, unknown to the saint, events were shaping themselves for
the realization of his hopes. In November, 1215, an ecumenical council was
to meet at Rome "to deliberate on the improvement of morals, the extinction
of heresy, and the strengthening of the faith". This was identically the
mission Saint Dominic had determined on for his order. With the Bishop of
Toulouse, he was present at the deliberations of this council. From the very
first session it seemed that events conspired to bring his plans to a successful
issue. The council bitterly arraigned the bishops for their neglect of preaching.
In canon X they were directed to delegate capable men to preach the word
of God to the people. Under these circumstances, it would reasonably appear
that Dominic's request for confirmation of an order designed to carry out
the mandates of the council would be joyfully granted. But while the council
was anxious that these reforms should be put into effect as speedily as possible,
it was at the same time opposed to the institution of any new religious orders,
and had legislated to that effect in no uncertain terms. Moreover, preaching
had always been looked upon as primarily a function of the episcopate. To
bestow this office on an unknown and untried body of simple priests seemed
too original and too bold in its conception to appeal to the conservative
prelates who influenced the deliberations of the council. When, therefore,
his petition for the approbation of his infant institute was refused, it
could not have been wholly unexpected by Saint Dominic.
Returning to Languedoc at the
close of the council in December, 1215, the founder gathered about him his
little band of followers and informed them of the wish of the council that
there should be no new rules for religious orders. Thereupon they adopted
the ancient rule of Saint Augustine, which, on account of its generality,
would easily lend itself to any form they might wish to give it. This done,
Saint Dominic again appeared before the pope in the month of August, 1216,
and again solicited the confirmation of his order. This time he was received
more favourably, and on 22 December, 1216, the Bull of confirmation was issued.
Saint Dominic spent the following Lent preaching in various churches
in Rome, and before the pope and the papal court. It was at this time that
he received the office and title of Master of the Sacred Palace, or Pope's
Theologian, as it is more commonly called. This office has been held uninterruptedly
by members of the order from the founder's time to the present day. On 15
August, 1217, he gathered the brethren about him at Prouille to deliberate
on the affairs of the order. He had determined upon the heroic plan of dispersing
his little band of seventeen unformed followers over all Europe. The result
proved the wisdom of an act which, to the eye of human prudence at least,
seemed little short of suicidal. To facilitate the spread of the order, Honorius
III, on 11 Feb., 1218, addressed a Bull to all archbishops, bishops, abbots,
and priors, requesting their favour on behalf of the Order of Preachers.
By another Bull, dated 3 Dec., 1218, Honorius III bestowed upon the order
the church of Saint Sixtus in Rome. Here, amid the tombs of the Appian Way,
was founded the first monastery of the order in Rome. Shortly after taking
possession of Saint Sixtus, at the invitation of Honorius, Saint Dominic
began the somewhat difficult task of restoring the pristine observance of
religious discipline among the various Roman communities of women. In a comparatively
short time the work was accomplished, to the great satisfaction of the pope.
His own career at the University of Palencia, and the practical use to which
he had put it in his encounters with the Albigenses, as well as his keen appreciation
of the needs of the time, convinced the saint that to ensure the highest
efficiency of the work of the apostolate, his followers should be afforded
the best educational advantages obtainable. It was for this reason that on
the dispersal of the brethren at Prouille he dispatched Matthew of France
and two companions to Paris. A foundation was made in the vicinity of the
university, and the friars took possession in October, 1217. Matthew of France
was appointed superior, and Michael de Fabra was placed in charge of the studies
with the title of Lecturer. On 6 August of the following year, Jean de Barastre,
dean of Saint-Quentin and professor of theology, bestowed on the community
the hospice of Saint-Jaques, which he had built for his own use. Having effected
a foundation at the University of Paris, Saint Dominic next determined upon
a settlement at the University of Bologna. Bertrand of Garrigua, who had
been summoned from Paris, and John of Navarre, set out from Rome, with letters
from Pope Honorius, to make the desired foundation. On their arrival at Bologna,
the church of Santa Maria della Mascarella was placed at their disposal.
So rapidly did the Roman community of Saint Sixtus grow that the need of
more commodious quarters soon became urgent. Honorius, who seemed to delight
in supplying every need of the order and furthering its interests to the
utmost of his power, met the emergency by bestowing on Saint Dominic the
basilica of Santa Sabina.
Towards the end of 1218, having
appointed Reginald of Orléans his vicar in Italy, the saint, accompanied
by several of his brethren, set out for Spain. Bologna, Prouille, Toulouse,
and Fanjeaux were visited on the way. From Prouille two of the brethren were
sent to establish a convent at Lyons. Segovia was reached just before Christmas.
In February of the following year he founded the first monastery of the order
in Spain. Turning southward, he established a convent for women at Madrid,
similar to the one at Prouille. It is quite probable that on this journey
he personally presided over the erection of a convent in connexion with his
alma mater, the University of Palencia. At the invitation of the Bishop of
Barcelona, a house of the order was established in that city. Again bending
his steps towards Rome he recrossed the Pyrenees and visited the foundations
at Toulouse and Paris. During his stay in the latter place he caused houses
to be erected at Limoges, Metz, Reims, Poitiers, and Orléans, which
in a short time became centres of Dominican activity. From Paris he directed
his course towards Italy, arriving in Bologna in July, 1219. Here he devoted
several months to the religious formation of the brethren he found awaiting
him, and then, as at Prouille, dispersed them over Italy. Among the foundations
made at this time were those at Bergamo, Asti, Verona, Florence, Brescia,
and Faenza. From Bologna he went to Viterbo. His arrival at the papal court
was the signal for the showering of new favours on the order. Notable among
these marks of esteem were many complimentary letters addressed by Honorius
to all those who had assisted the Fathers in their vinous foundations. In
March of this same year Honorius, through his representatives, bestowed upon
the order the church of San Eustorgio in Milan. At the same time a foundation
at Viterbo was authorized. On his return to Rome, towards the end of 1219,
Dominic sent out letters to all the convents announcing the first general
chapter of the order, to be held at Bologna on the feast of the following
Pentecost. Shortly before, Honorius III, by a special Brief, had conferred
upon the founder the title of Master General, which till then he had held
only by tacit consent. At the very first session of the chapter in the following
spring the saint startled his brethren by offering his resignation as master
general. It is needless to say the resignation was not accepted and the founder
remained at the head of the institute till the end of his life.
Soon after the close of the
chapter of Bologna, Honorius III addressed letters to the abbeys and priories
of San Vittorio, Sillia, Mansu, Floria, Vallombrosa, and Aquila, ordering
that several of their religious be deputed to begin, under the leadership
of Saint Dominic, a preaching crusade in Lombardy, where heresy had developed
alarming proportions. For some reason or other the plans of the pope were
never realized. The promised support failing, Dominic, with a little band
of his own brethren, threw himself into the field, and, as the event proved,
spent himself in an effort to bring back the heretics to their allegiance
to the Church. It is said that 100,000 unbelievers were converted by the
preaching and the miracles of the saint. According to Lacordaire and others,
it was during his preaching in Lombardy that the saint instituted the Militia
of Jesus Christ, or the third order, as it is commonly called, consisting
of men and women living in the world, to protect the rights and property
of the Church. Towards the end of 1221 Saint Dominic returned to Rome for
the sixth and last time. Here he received many new and valuable concessions
for the order. In January, February, and March of 1221 three consecutive
Bulls were issued commending the order to all the prelates of the Church.
The thirtieth of May, 1221, found him again at Bologna presiding over the
second general chapter of the order. At the close of the chapter he set out
for Venice to visit Cardinal Ugolino, to whom he was especially indebted
for many substantial acts of kindness. He had scarcely returned to Bologna
when a fatal illness attacked him. He died after three weeks of sickness,
the many trials of which he bore with heroic patience. In a Bull dated at
Spoleto, 13 July, 1234, Gregory IX made his cult obligatory throughout the
Church.
The life of St. Dominic was one of tireless effort in the, service
of god. While he journeyed from place to place he prayed and preached almost
uninterruptedly. His penances were of such a nature as to cause the brethren,
who accidentally discovered them, to fear the effect upon his life. While
his charity was boundless he never permitted it to interfere with the stern
sense of duty that guided every action of his life. If he abominated heresy
and laboured untiringly for its extirpation it was because he loved truth
and loved the souls of those among whom he laboured. He never failed to distinguish
between sin and the sinner. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if this
athlete of Christ, who had conquered himself before attempting the reformation
of others, was more than once chosen to show forth the power of God. The failure
of the fire at Fanjeaux to consume the dissertation he had employed against
the heretics, and which was thrice thrown into the flames; the raising to
life of Napoleone Orsini; the appearance of the annals in the refectory of
Saint Sixtus in response to his prayers, are but a few of the supernatural
happenings by which God was pleased to attest the eminent holiness of His
servant. We are not surprised, therefore, that, after signing the Bull of
canonization on 13 July, 1234, Gregory IX declared that he no more doubted
the saintliness of Saint Dominic than he did that of Saint Peter and Saint
Paul.
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1314 Tolga Icon of the Most
Holy Theotokos appeared on August 8, to the Rostov hierarch Prochorus (Tryphon
in schema); the fiery column, he beheld on it the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos,
suspended in the air; they cleared the forest at that place, and put down
the foundations of a church - Entrance into the Temple
of the Most Holy Theotokos
Going about his diocese, the saint visited the environs of White
Lake and from there traveled along the banks of the Rivers Sheksna and Volga,
to Yaroslavl. Having stopped with the approach of night 7 versts distant
from Yaroslavl, at the right bank of the Volga River there flows opposite
into it the River Tolga.
At midnight, when everyone was asleep, the saint awoke and saw
a bright light illuminating the area. The light proceeded from a fiery column
on the other bank of the river, to which there stretched a bridge. Taking
up his staff, the saint went across to the other bank, and having approached
the fiery column, he beheld on it the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, suspended
in the air. Astonished at the miracle, the saint prayed for a long time,
and when he went back, he forgot to take his staff.
The next day, after serving Matins, when St Prochorus was preparing
to continue his journey by boat, they began to search for his staff, but they
were not able to find it anywhere. The saint then remembered that he had
forgotten his staff on the other side of the river, where he had gone across
on the miraculous bridge. He then revealed what had occurred, and sent servants
across on a boat to the other shore. They came back and reported that in
the forest they had seen an icon of the Mother of God suspended in the branches
of a tree, next to his bishop's staff.
The saint quickly crossed over with all his retinue to the opposite
shore, and he recognized the icon that had appeared to him. Then after fervent
prayer before the icon, they cleared the forest at that place, and put down
the foundations of a church. When the people of Yaroslavl learned of this,
they came out to the indicated spot. By midday the church was already built,
and in the evening the saint consecrated it in honor of the Entrance into
the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, and having installed the icon there
he established a Feast on the day of its appearance. St Prochorus later built
the Tolga monastery near this church. St Prochorus died on September 7, 1328.
The Tolga Icon of the Most Holy
Theotokos is also commemorated on July 18.
|
1310 -1346? Saint Gregory
of Sinai; tonsured a monk on the island of Cyprus; fulfilled his obediences
of cook and baker, then as copyist, surpassing all in reading and knowledge
of Scriptural and patristic books; strictness of his life fasting, vigil,
psalmody, standing at prayer; lived on Crete, afterwards visited Mt. Athos
with its monasteries and ascetics acquiring experience of centuries of monastic
life from the ancient monasteries; after this settle himself in a solitary
place for "hesychia" [stillness doing the Jesus Prayer], a cell for silence
and the unhindered pursuit of mental prayer, combined with hard work
Born around the year 1268 in the seacoast village of Clazomenia
near the city of Smyrna (Asia Minor), of rich parents. In about the year 1290,
he was taken into captivity by the Hagarenes and sent off to Laodicea.After
gaining his freedom, the saint arrived on the island of Cyprus, where he
was tonsured a monk. He set off afterwards to Mount Sinai and there assumed
the great schema. Having fulfilled his obediences of cook and baker, and
then as copyist, surpassing all in reading and knowledge of Scriptural and
patristic books.
The strictness of his life (fasting, vigil, psalmody, standing
at prayer) brought some to astonishment and others to envy. Departing the
monastery, the monk visited Jerusalem. For some time he lived on the island
of Crete, and afterwards he visited Mt. Athos with its monasteries and ascetics.
In this way, he acquired the experience of many centuries of the monastic
life from the ancient monasteries. Only after this did St Gregory the Sinaite
settle himself in a solitary place for "hesychia" [stillness doing the Jesus
Prayer], a cell for silence and the unhindered pursuit of mental prayer,
combined with hard work.
The precious legacy of St Gregory is in his teaching about the
inner life, 15 texts "On Stillness," and 137 texts "On Commandments and Doctrines,"
where he says that "trying to comprehend the commandments through study and
reading without fulfilling them, is like mistaking a shadow of something
for its reality" ("On Commandments and Doctrines," section 22).
He is renowned also as a remarkable hymnographer ("It is Truly
Meet" is ascribed to him), and a canon to the Most Holy Trinity read at Sunday
Vigil, and a canon to the Holy Cross. In a book of canons (from the year
1407) of St Cyril of White Lake (June 9) is found the "Canon of Supplication
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the work of Gregory the Sinaite."
Because of his concern for the spreading of monasticism, the saint
founded several cells on Athos, and also four monasteries in Thrace. St Gregory
the Sinaite died in the year 1310 (some historians suggest the year 1346)
at his so-called "Concealed" ("Parariseia") monastery, founded on Mt. Paroria
on the west coast of the Black Sea for the strict followers of his life.
St Gregory is also commemorated on November 27 (his repose),
February 11, and April 6.
Gregor vom Sinai Orthodoxe Kirche: 6. April und 8. August
Gregor wurde 1268 in der Nähe von Smyrna (Türkei)
geboren. Er war zunächst Mönch in Zypern und pilgerte dann zum
Sinai, wo er in das Kloster eintrat. Er führte eine streng asketische
Lebensweise und erwarb großes Wissen in der Bibel und den Kirchenvätern.
Gregor pilgerte dann über Jerusalem zum Athos, um die Lebensweisen der
Klöster kennenzulernen. Auf dem Athos ließ er sich dann als Hesychast
(Einsiedler, der das immerwährende Gebet betet) nieder. Gregor schrieb
zahlreiche Hymnen und ein Buch über das hesychastische Leben. Er gründete
auf dem Athos und in Thrakien mehrere Klöster. Gregor starb (am 27.11.)
1310 (oder 1346) in seinem Kloster Paroria (das verborgene Kloster) in Mazedonien.
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1566 Sts Zosimas and Sabbatius
of Solovki The Transfer of the Relics of took
place on August 8
Zosimas_of_Solovki.jpg
Sabbatius_of_Solovki.jpg
On the third day of the altar-feast of the Solovki monastery of the Transfiguration
of the Lord.
Second_Translation.jpg
The relics of the saints were transferred into a chapel of the
Transfiguration cathedral, built in their honor.
Beekeepers pray to these saints for an increase of bees.
The Life of St Zosimas is found under April 17; the Life of St Sabbatius
on September 27 .
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1570
Bl. John Felton promoted Pope Martyr of England who promoted the papacy
in London. Born in Bermondsey, London, to a Norfolk line, John nailed a copy
of the Bull of Pope St. Pius V excommunicating Queen Elizabeth I to the doors
of the bishop of London’s residence.
Arrested and imprisoned, he was racked three times before being
martyred in St. Paul’s churchyard. Pope Leo XIII beatified him in 1886.
Bd John Felton, Martyr
On February 25, 1569-70, Pope
St Pius V published a bull, "Regnans
in excelis ", directed against Queen Elizabeth, who was at the time
ostensibly a Catholic. By it she was declared excommunicate, deprived
of the kingdom which she ruled and all her subjects discharged from their
allegiance, because she claimed headship of the Church in England, sheltered
heretics, oppressed Catholics, and coerced her subjects into heresy and repudiation
of the Holy See, contrary to her coronation oath. On the following May 25
citizens of London woke up to find a copy of this bull of excommunication
of their sovereign fastened to the door of the bishop of London's house, adjoining
St Paul's cathedral; it had been put there late on the previous night by
Mr John Felton, a gentleman of a Norfolk family who lived in Southwark.
It was not long before it was discovered who
had done the deed. Searchers in the chambers of a well-known Catholic lawyer
in Lincoln's Inn found a copy of the bull, arrested the lawyer, and racked
him, whereupon he confessed that he had it from Felton. He was at once
seized at Bermondsey, but, although he at once admitted what he had done,
he was not brought to trial for three months; he was kept in prison, Newgate
and the Tower, and three times racked, in the hope that he would confess
to some political intrigue with the Spaniards. But there had been none on
his part: he published the bull as a legitimate pontifical censure for the
queen's religious offences.
When brought to trial at the Guildhall on August 4 he pleaded guilty and
openly declared the supremacy of the Holy See. Four days later he was dragged
to St Paul's churchyard; the scaffold was set up opposite the door on which
the bull had been posted, and at the sight of the barbarous paraphernalia
of execution the martyr was seized with a violent spasm of fear. By an effort
of will more violent he overcame it: he pointed at the bishop's door, saying,
"the supreme pontiff's letters against the pretended queen were by me exhibited
there. Now I am ready to die for the Catholic faith"; to that queen,
as a token of good-will, he sent a valuable ring off his finger; then he
knelt and said the Miserere, commended
his soul to God, and was cast off. The executioner would in pity have let
him hang, but the sheriff ordered that he be cut down alive, and as his heart
was torn out, Mrs Salisbury, his daughter, heard him utter the name of Jesus
twice.
The wife of Bd John Felton had been a personal friend of
the queen, who after her husband's death licensed her to have a priest as
chaplain in her house: there are few enough acts of this sort to Elizabeth's
credit to make this one worth recording, and the circumstance doubtless had
its effect in determining the career of the son, Bd Thomas Felton, then a
babe of two, who eighteen years later followed his father to martyrdom.
John was equivalently beatified
in the decree of 1886. There is no need here to discuss the question
of the bull "Regnans in excelsis"; Bd John suffered for publishing a canonical
act of the Holy See against a supporter of heresy and a persecutor, who proceeded
against him for supporting papal ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Whether that
act was opportune or justifiable under the circumstances is beside the point.
Popes, even when they are saints, as Pius V was, are not immune from errors
of judgement, and it is now the general opinion of Catholics that "Regnans
in excelsis" was a belated attempt to exercise a deposing power already in
fact a dead letter. For the rest, we have the words of another Pope Pius,
to the Academy of the Catholic Religion in 1871 "Though certain popes have
sometimes exercised this deposing power in extreme cases, they did so in
accordance with the public law of the time and by the agreement of Christian
nations, whose reverence for the pope as the supreme judge for Christ extended
to his passing even civil judgement on princes and nations. But the present
state of affairs is entirely different...No one now thinks any more of the
right of deposing princes which the Holy See formerly exercised; and the
Supreme Pontiff even less than anyone?"
A full account is given in B.
Camm, LEM., vol. ii (1905), pp.1-13 cf.
also the introduction, pp. xviii-xx; and see further J. H. Pollen in The Month, February 1902.
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1638 St. Agathangelo Noury
Arabic scholar
Martyr and reformer, a Franciscan missionary, also called Agathangelus;
sent to Aleppo, Syria, where he became known as an Arabic scholar, publishing
Catholic works in Arabic; sent to Cairo -- worked to bring the Coptic Christians
into communion with Rome
He was born Francis at Vendome, France, and entered the Capuchin
monastery in Le Mans. He was ordained a priest in 1625. Agathangelo was sent
to Aleppo, Syria, where he became known as an Arabic scholar, publishing Catholic works in Arabic.
In 1633 he was sent to Cairo and was joined there by Father Cassian
LopezNeto. Together they worked to bring the Coptic Christians into communion
with Rome. Their efforts, including a Coptic Synod, went unrewarded because
the Catholics of Cairo were known for their dissolute life styles. Agathangelo
attempted to excommunicate the more notorious of these Europeans who held
the Church up to ridicule. He and Father Cassian then went to Ethiopia to
establish a mission there. In 1638, both were arrested in Dibarua, near Suakim,
victims of a campaign launched by a Lutheran physician with connections to
the Ethiopian court. King Gondar tried them and found them guilty of interfering
with Ethiopian religious matters. The two were hanged by the cords of their
Franciscan habits. They were beatified in 1905.
BB. Agathangelo and Cassian, Martyrs
The foundation and first direction of the Capuchin missions in
the Levant in the seventeenth century was the work of Father Joseph of Paris
(Joseph Leclerc du Tremblay), known on account of his influence with Richelieu
and Louis XIII as the Grey Cardinal ". Early in 1629
five Capuchins landed at Alexandretta, among them Father Agathangelo of Vendome.
He had been born in that town in 1598, and at the age of twenty-one
entered the Capuchin friary of Le Mans. He was ordained priest in 1625 and
was a preacher in his own country until he was asked to go to Syria.
At Aleppo he ministered to the French and Italian traders and others while
he was learning Arabic, and soon mastered that language sufficiently well
to talk and preach; he cultivated the society of Moslems and dissident
Christians, winning the goodwill of such notables as the immam of the principal
mosque and the superior of the Dervishes, and even explained Christianity
to the Turks, in spite of the forbiddance by the Congregation de Propaganda
Fide of any public preaching among Mohammedans. Fruit of this work was to
induce an atmosphere of tolerance and interest: Father Agathangelo
was too good a missionary to look for any more tangible results before due
time.
In 1630 a Capuchin mission was established at Cairo which did
not prosper, and at the end of 1633 Father Agathangelo was sent there to
take charge. He was joined by three new missionaries from Marseilles, one
of them being Father Cassian of Nantes, a Frenchman by birth but Portuguese
by parentage. He soon became the right-hand man of Father Agathangelo and
entered whole-heartedly into his efforts to bring about a reunion with the
Holy See of the Coptic or native Egyptian church. Agathangelo got into personal
touch with the Coptic bishops; and their patriarch, Matthew, opened all the
dissident churches to him; using powers granted by Rome, he celebrated Mass,
preached, and catechized therein and reconciled a number of individual Copts.
The friars determined to try and gain the influence of the monks also, from
among whom the Coptic bishops were chosen, and in 1636 Father Agathangelo
took with him Father Benedict of Dijon and made the long journey to the monastery
of flair Antonios in the Lower Thebaid.
They were well received
by the monks and made a stay of four months, Father Agathangelo conducting
doctrinal discussions and giving spiritual conferences; of the two books
which he used for the last purpose one was the treatise On the Holy Will
of God, written by the English Father Benedict of Canfield (William Fitch),
the first Capuchin missionary in England in penal times. Two of the community
were reconciled to the Church, and Father Agathangelo left them at the monastery
in the hope that they would draw their brethren after them. This was his
deliberate policy in Egypt, especially as there were no Catholic churches
of the Coptic rite for reconciled dissidents to attend: priests were allowed
to celebrate the Liturgy in, and lay-people to frequent, the dissident churches
whose schism they had repudiated; thus they were not left without ministration
and they might in time leaven the whole. Then Propaganda declared the practice
illicit. Father Agathangelo asked opinion of father custodian of the Holy
Land. "I think", replied the Recollect, that if those eminent prelates had
known the conditions in this country they would never have come
to such a decision; and that is the opinion of all my friars as well."
All the missionaries of Palestine and Egypt agreed,
and Father Agathangelo wrote a long letter to the cardinal prefect giving
theological, canonical and practical reasons for a withdrawal of the decree.
The matter was referred to the Holy Office; there is no record of its reply,
but it was probably favourable, for the successors of Father Agathangelo
at Cairo followed his policy without hindrance.
Unhappily, and not for the only time in history, the great
obstacle to Coptic reunion in a body was the Latin Catholics themselves.
Some years before encouraging negotiations had taken place between the Coptic
patriarch and the consuls of France and Venice, and the French friars did
not hesitate to make the renown and power of his Most Christian Majesty a
point d'appui of their undertaking: Or rather, they wished to. But the parties
to the previous conversations were all dead, and the then consul of France
was a man of such shocking life that his house deserved the name given to
it by Father Agathangelo, a synagogue of Satan. Moreover, the general life
of Europeans in Cairo was such that he had to write to his superiors that,
"the public scandals made the Church so great an object of abomination among
the Copts, Greeks and other Christians that it will be very difficult to
overcome their aversion for the Latins". Even the appointment of a new and
better consul in 1637 did not mend matters. When the synod of the Coptic
patriarch met in the same year to discuss the possibility of reunion, one
of his councillors denounced the proposal because of the scandalous lives
of Catholics in Cairo. "The Roman Church is in this country a brothel", he
exclaimed. Father Agathangelo was present, but could
not deny the truth of what was said; after gently urging that the sins of
individuals, however terrible, could not alter the fact of the truth and
holiness of the Church, he left the assembly and wrote a letter to the cardinal
prefect of Propaganda. After pointing out that for three years he had asked
in vain for authority publicly to excommunicate the worst offenders, he said
he had done his best and could do no more: "I have appealed, I have reproved,
I have threatened...Now my enthusiasm, whether reasonable or indiscreet,
can no longer tolerate that those who have authority should not use it. They
are dumb dogs, who are afraid to bite. Your Eminence will do whatever your
good zeal for God's glory may suggest to you...For the love of our crucified
Lord and His holy Mother may your Lordships find a cure for these enormous
scandals. As for myself, I shall not be held responsible for them before
the judgement-seat of Christ who will judge us all.." A few days later
he left Egypt for Abyssinia with Father Cassian.
A Capuchin mission
for Abyssinia-or Ethiopia, as it is better called-had been planned in 1637,
and Agathangelo and Cassian had been awaiting orders to go and establish
it. For some years Father Cassian had been destined for Ethiopia, and
with this in view had set himself while in Cairo to learn Amharic, the principal
language in use in that country he therefore now took the leading place,
as Father Agathangelo knew little of the language. They were, of course,
fully informed about the dangerous state for Catholics in Ethiopia brought
about by recent political and ecclesiastical events there, and they had made
certain provisions in view of it. What they did not know was that a
certain German Lutheran physician, Peter Heyling, notorious for his hostility
to Catholics, had been at work to upset their plans. Accordingly, when they
got to Dibarua, an unidentified place beyond Suakim, in early summer of 1638,
they were arrested and taken, manacled and on foot, to Goadar.
The day after their arrival they were brought, chained and in
muddy and torn Franciscan habits, before King Basilides and his court.
In reply to his questions Bd Cassian replied, "We are Catholics and religious,
natives of France. We have come to invite you to reunion with the Roman Church.
We are well known to Abuna Mark, who has had a letter from the Patriarch
of Alexandria, and we should like to speak with him." Mark was the newly
elected primate of the dissident Church of Ethiopia, who had been friendly
with Father Agathangelo in Cairo. But Heyling had been talking to him, and
Mark now refused to see the friars, saying, I indeed knew this Agathangelo
in Egypt and he is an evil and dangerous man. He tried to draw the people
there to his religion, and has come to do the same here. I do not wish to
see him. I recommend you to hang them both." A Mohammedan remonstrated with
the archbishop, but he repeated his words, with abuse. Basilides was inclined
to banish the friars, but Peter Heyling with Mark and the king's mother worked
on the mob to demand their death, and so they were sentenced after they had
been given the opportunity to save themselves by abjuring the Catholic faith
in favour of that of the monophysites.
When the two martyrs were brought beneath the trees from which
they were to be hanged there was some delay. "Why are you so slow?
What are we waiting for?" asked Bd Cassian. "We have had to send for ropes",
answered the executioner. "But have we not ropes round our clothes?" And
so they were hanged with the cords of their Franciscan habits. But before
they were dead the traitor Mark appeared before the crowd, crying out, "Stone
these enemies of the faith of Alexandria, or I will excommunicate you!" Volleys
of stones were immediately flung at the swinging bodies, and thus Bd Agathangelo
and Bd Cassian died, the one being forty years old, the other thirty. For
four nights miraculous light was reported to be seen above the bodies, and
Basilides in terror ordered them to be buried; but some Catholics took them
away by stealth and their resting-place is to this day unknown. In 1905,
Agathangelo of Vendome, one of the most remarkable missionaries of the seventeenth
century, and his faithful companion, Cassian of Nantes, were declared blessed
by Pope Pius X.
A sufficient account of these martyrs
is provided in Ladislas de Vannes, Deux
martyrs capucins (1905); and Antonio da Pontedera, Vita e martirio dei BB. Agatangelo e Cassiano (1904).
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1680 Triandaphyllus
The New Martyr , a native of Zagora, Magnesia (in Thessaly), was beheaded
by the Turks at Constantinople for his refusal to reject Christ and accept
Islam. He was only fifteen years old when he received the crown of victory
from Christ.
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1804 Saint Euthymius
was abbot of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in the Davit-Gareji Wilderness.
In the
chronicles of the monastery he is
commemorated as a “man of many labors.”; philosopher theologian outstanding
preacher; dedicated to improving the monastery, rebuilt nearby village of
Khashmi (razed by Dagestani thieves); In Khashmi constructed a mill and planted
a vineyard with a rare variety of grapes; adorned the monastery expanded
the estate surrounding; a great number of theological works were translated,
and many rare books were recopied.
Euthymius_the_Elder.jpg
According to the 19th-century
historian Prince John Bagrationi, Euthymius was a philosopher and theologian
and an outstanding preacher. He dedicated his life to improving the monastery
and rebuilt the nearby village of Khashmi, which had been utterly razed by
Dagestani thieves. In Khashmi he constructed a mill and planted a vineyard
with a rare variety of grapes. He adorned the monastery and expanded the
estate surrounding the complex. At his instruction, a great number of theological
works were translated, and many rare books were recopied. St. Euthymius instructed
several of his pupils in philosophy and theology as well.
After receiving a commission from Bishop Saba of Ninotsminda,
St. Euthymius composed an Akathist hymn to St. Nino the Equal to-the-Apostles
and Enlightener of Georgia.
In 1797 the black plague broke out in Tbilisi and residents fled
from the city. Like true guardian angels, monastics and hermits abandoned
their isolated cells and arrived to minister to the sick and the suffering.
As he had in so many other worthy endeavors, St. Euthymius served as the
leader and inspiration behind these works of mercy.
The pious Euthymius reposed peacefully in the year 1804.
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1909 Bl. Mary MacKillop
first native Australian to be beatified. Born Mary Helen MacKillop in Melbourne,
she was of Scottish ancestry. Concerned with the poor and suffering, Mary
founded the Sisters of St. Joseph and of the Sacred Heart. These sisters were
dedicated to educating children. In 1873, she became Mary of the Cross, and
two years later was elected mother general of her congregation. After many
difficulties, Mother MacKillop received papal approval of her work in 1888
from Pope Leo XIII. When she died on August 8, 1909, in Sydney, there were
one thousand women in her congregation. Pope John Paul II beatified her on
January 19, 1995.
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St. Pa'esa (Athanasia)
Departure of {Coptic}
On this day, St. Pa'esa, departed. She was born in Menouf, to
pious and rich parents. When her parents died, she turned her house into
a shelter for the poor and the sojourner. She accepted everyone that came
to her fulfilling their every need until she ran out of money. Evil people
gathered around her, and turned her mind to the ungodly way. She turned her
home into a house of prostitution. When this news reached the elders of Shiheet,
they sorrowed for her with great sorrow. The elders called upon St. John,
the Short, and asked him to go to her, as an act of mercy, and to aid her
in saving her soul, in turn for the good that she had done for them.
The saint obeyed the elders and asked them to support him with
their prayers. When St. John came to where she lived, he asked her maid to
announce his presence. When the maid informed her, Pa'esa adorned herself,
and called him in. As he was walking, he was saying, "Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. For thou art with
me." (Ps. 23:4) When he sat down, he looked to her and said, "Why did you
belittle the Lord Christ, and do this evil deed?" She trembled, and her heart
was melting from the words of the Saint who bent his head and started weeping.
She asked him, "Why do you weep?" He answered, "Because I see the devils
playing on your face, and therefore I weep for you." She asked him, "Is there
any repentance for me?" He replied, "Yes, but not in this place." She said
to him, "Take me wherever you wish."
Then he took her to one of the convents close by the wilderness
of Shiheet. On their way it became dark. St. John told her to sleep in one
place, while he slept far away from her. When he stood up to pray the midnight
prayer, he saw a pillar of light coming down from heaven to earth, and the
angels of God were carrying the Soul of Pa'esa. When he approached her, he
found that she had departed. Then he knelt down and prayed fervently, with
tears, asking God to reveal to him concerning her fate. He heard a voice
saying, "Her repentance was accepted in the moment that she repented." After
the saint had buried her, he returned to the Elders and told them what had
happened. They all glorified the Lord who accepts the repentants and forgive
their sins.
May her prayers be with us and
Glory be to God forever. Amen.
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The
Fourteen Holy Helpers
This name represents a group of saints, devotion to whom as a body was German
in origin and largely German in diffusion. The idea behind the devotion
is sufficiently indicated by its name, and the theoretical qualification
for inclusion in the group was a real or alleged divine promise to the saint
during life that he or she would have particular intercessory power to help
men in need. The usual fourteen names: ACHATIUS (June 22); BARBARA (December
4; invoked against lightning, fire, explosion, sudden and unprepared death);
BLAISE (February 3 invoked against throat troubles); CATHERINE (November
25 invoked by philosophers, students, wheelers and others); CHRISTOPHER (July
25; invoked by travellers in difficulties); CYRIACUS (August 8); DENIS (October
9; invoked against headache and rabies); ERASMUS (June 2; against colic,
cramp, etc.); EUSTACE (September 20; invoked by hunters); GEORGE (April 23
protector of soldiers); GILES (September 1; invoked against epilepsy, insanity
and sterility); MARGARET (July 20; invoked against possession and by pregnant
women); PANTALEON (July 27; invoked against phthisis); and VITUS (June 15
invoked against epilepsy and his dance").
It will be noticed that all these saints except one (Giles)
were martyrs. Among the other saints included in the group locally
were Dorothy (February 6), Leonard of Noblac (November 6), Magnus of Fussen
and Magnus of Altino (October 6), Oswald (August 5), and Nicholas of Myra
("Santa Klaus"; December 6). All the above will be found referred to herein
under their dates. In France the Helpers are fifteen, the extra one
being our Lady.
This devotion is an example of the medieval popular tendency
to honour the saints more for what they would do for their devotees than
for what they had been in their earthly lives. The cultus became widely
diffused during the fifteenth century ; it spread from the Germanies to Bohemia,
Moravia, Hungary, Italy and France; it does not seem to have reached England
Churches, hospitals and shrines were named after the Holy Helpers, and their
feast was permitted in various places, on August 8 and other dates.
It is still observed at a few places in Germany, and there is a church under
their invocation at Baltimore in Maryland.
The book of H. Weber, Die Verehrung der hl. vierzehn Northhelfer
(1886), supplies abundant information. The Bollandists touch upon the subject
in dealing with St George, Acta Sanctorum,
April, vol. iii, pp. 149-150. See also A. Franz, Die Messe im deutschen Mittelalter, and Zöckler
in the Realencyklopädie
für protestantische Theologie,
vol. xiv, pp. 217-218 .
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Saints of this Day August 08 Sexto Idus Augústi 
7th v. St. Ellidius
Patron saint of Himant, Powys, Wales, and of a church in the
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969
Benedict XVI met with Aram I Catholicos
of Cilicia, the highest authority of the Orthodox
Church. The Pope remembered
the martyrs of the Armenian Church and the Armenian
genocide, without explicitly mentioning it,
and denounced the persecution of Christians in modern times.
Benedict XVI
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.