1146 B. C. Samuel,
dedicated to service of the Lord before birth, prophet; the 15th and last of the Judges of Israel
In Judæa sancti Samuélis Prophétæ, cujus sacra
ossa (ut beátus Hierónymus scribit) Arcádius Augústus
Constantinópolim tránstulit, et prope Séptimum collocávit.
In Judea, the holy prophet Samuel, whose holy relics
(as is related by St. Jerome) were taken to Constantinople by Emperor Arcadius,
and deposited near Septimum.
Samuel, who was dedicated to the service of the Lord
before his birth, became a prophet. He anointed the first two kings of Israel,
Saul and David. During his lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the
Philistines. Every year, Samuel used to go on a circuit judging for Israel
between Ramah, Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpeh. He lead Israel against the Philistines
in Mizpeh.
In the Old Testament, the Lord was instructing the children
of Israel in dreams and visions to His prophets and priests. There were
several periods during which the children of Israel did evil in the eyes
of the Lord by worshipping idols. During those periods the word of the Lord
became rare and there were not many visions. The Lord also delivered them
to the hands of their enemies until they repented and returned to Him.
He then gave them prophets and judges to lead
them to His way and to rescue them from their oppressors.
The Prophet Samuel was the fifteenth and last of the Judges of Israel,
living more than 1146 years before the Birth of Christ. He was descended
from the Tribe of Levi, and was the son of Elkanah from Ramathaim-Zophim
of Mount Ephraim. He was born, having been besought from the Lord through
the prayers of his mother Hannah (therefore he received the name Samuel,
which means "besought from God"). Even before birth, he was dedicated to
God. Her song, "My heart exults in the Lord," is the Third Ode of the Old
Testament (1 Sam/1 Kings 2:1-10).
When the boy reached the age of three, his mother went with him to Shiloh
and in accord with her vow dedicated him to the worship of God. She gave
him into the care of the High Priest Eli, who at this time was a judge over
Israel. The prophet grew in the fear of God, and at twelve years of age he
had a revelation that God would punish the house of the High Priest Eli,
because he did not restrain the impiety of his sons. Eli's whole family was
wiped out in a single day.
The prophecy was fulfilled when the Philistines, having slain in battle
30,000 Israelites (among them were also the sons of the High Priest, Hophni
and Phinees), gaining victory and capturing the Ark of the Covenant. Hearing
this, the High Priest Eli fell backwards from his seat at the gate, and
breaking his back, he died. The wife of Phinees, upon hearing what had happened
in this very hour, gave birth to a son (Ichabod) and died with the words:
"The glory has departed from Israel, for the
Ark of God is taken away" (1 Sam/1 Kgs 4: 22).
Upon the death of Eli, Samuel became the judge of the nation of Israel.
The Ark of God was returned by the Philistines on their own initiative. After
returning to God, the Israelites returned to all the cities that the Philistines
had taken. In his old age, the Prophet Samuel made his sons Joel and Abiah
judges over Israel, but they did not follow the integrity and righteous
judgment of their father, since they were motivated by greed.
Then the elders of Israel, wanting the nation of God to be "like other
nations" (1 Sam/1 Kgs 8: 20), demanded of the Prophet Samuel that they have
a king. The Prophet Samuel anointed Saul as king, but saw in this a downfall
of the people, whom God Himself had governed until this time, announcing His
will through His chosen saints. Resigning the position of judge, the Prophet
Samuel asked the people if they consented to his continued governance, but
no one stepped forward for him.
After denouncing the first king, Saul, for his disobedience to God, the
Prophet Samuel anointed David as king. He had offered David asylum, saving
him from the pursuit of King Saul. The Prophet Samuel died in extreme old
age. His life is recorded in the Bible (1 Sam/1 Kgs; Sirach 46:13-20).
In the year 406 A.D. the relics
of the Prophet Samuel were transferred from Judea to Constantinople.
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During
Papacy of St. Theophilus. [COPTIC] Commemoration of the Great Sign, the Lord had
Manifested
On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the great miracle
which God performed during the papacy of St. Theophilus, the twenty-third
pope of Alexandria. There was in the city of Alexandria, a Jewish man whose
name was Philexinos. He was very rich, feared God and practiced the Law
of Moses. There was also in the city two poor Christian men, one of them
blasphemed saying, "Why do we worship Christ and remain poor, while this
Jewish man Philexinos is very rich?" The other man answered him saying, "The
possessions of this world are nothing before God, for if it was, He would
not give it to the worshippers of idols, adulterers, thieves, and murderers.
The prophets were poor and persecuted, as also the apostles were, and the
Lord said, 'the least of these my brethren'" (Matthew 25:40). Satan, the
enemy of good, would not permit that man to accept any of the words of his
friend. The rebellious friend went to Philexinos the Jew and asked him to
accept him as his servant. Philexinos replied, "It is not lawful for me to
employ anyone unless he believes in my faith, but if you want alms, I can
give some to you." This miserable man replied, "Take me to your house, and
I will adopt your faith and I will do whatsoever you command me."
Philexinos took him to the synagogue and the chief of the Jews asked him
before all the Jewish congregation saying, "Is it true that you have denied
your Christ and become a Jew like us?" He replied, "Yes," and that debased
man rejected Christ the Lord before the Jewish congregation. Thus to poverty
in money he added poverty in Faith. Then the chief of the Jews commanded
them to make for him a cross of wood. They gave him a reed, on the top of
which was a sponge full of vinegar, and a spear. Then they said to him, "Spit
upon this cross, offer to him this vinegar, and pierce the cross with this
spear and say, 'I pierce you O Christ.'" That debased man did everything
as they commanded him. When he pierced the honorable cross with his sinful
hand, blood and water flowed forth, and ran down on the ground. Then this
apostate dropped dead instantly, and dried up like a rock.
Great fear fell upon all those who were present, many of them believed
and cried, saying, "One is the Lord God of the Christians, and we believe
in Him." Then they took the blood, and anointed their faces and eyes with
it. Philexinos took also some of the blood and sprinkled it on his daughter
who was born blind, and she saw straightway. He believed as well as his household,
and many others of the Jews. Afterwards, they informed Pope Theophilus about
this incident. He took Abba Kyrellos (Pope Kyrellos I), many of the priests
and people, and went to the synagogue of the Jews, where he saw the cross,
the blood and water. The Pope took the blood and water, blessed himself
and also blessed the people. He wiped the blood from the floor, and laid
it in a vessel for blessing. He ordered the wooden cross carried to the
church. Afterwards those present confessed their faith before the Pope who
baptized them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and
blessed them. Then they went to their homes giving thanks to the Lord Christ
and glorifying his Holy Name.
Glory be to our God forever.
Amen
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75 St. Amadour
witness martyrdom
of Sts. Peter Paul miracles happening at the site
ST AMADOUR is honoured in Quercy and the Limousin as
founder of the shrine of our Lady now known as Rocamadour, and as the first
hermit of Gaul. There is in fact nothing whatever known about him, neither
of the events ol his life nor the age in which he lived, nor even that he
ever existed. His legend was first
written some time after the discovery at Rocamadour in 1166
of an incorrupt body. The hypothesis that St Amadour was an early solitary
in the valley of Alzou and gave his name to the spot is not supported by
a shadow of evidence.
According to the fiction, Ainadour was a servant of
the Holy Family: afterwards married St Veronica. Driven from Palestine by
persecution, they landed in Gaul and, under the direction of St Martial
(who lived not in the first but in the third century), evangelized the neighbourhood
of Bordeaux and Cahors. Amadour was sent to Rome to report Martial's
progress to St Peter, where he was present at the martyrdom of the Apostles;
on his return he continued his preaching, founded monasteries, and, after
the death of Veronica, retired to his lonely cell in Quercy where he built
the chapel of our Lady which became the great sanctuary.
In the fifteenth century a fresh
turn was given to this legend when St Amadour was gratuitously identified
with the Zaccheus of St Luke xix. The finding of the incorrupt body of
St Amadour" is remembered in the popular saying, "With skin and bones like
Amadour."
The curious and manifestly incredible
legend of St Amadour, owing to popularity of the shrine and pilgrimage of
Rocamadour, has attracted much attention in France. The subject has been
critically and soberly dealt with by E. Rupin, first in his monograph Roe-Amadour;
étude historique et archéologique
(1904); and then in his Légende
de Saint Amadour (1909). In this last he replied convincingly
to the booklet Notre-Dante de Roc-Amadour
(1908) written by an uncritical assailant, J. T. Layral.
Cf. also the article of E. Albe, "La vie et les miracles de S. Amator" in
the Analecta Bollandiana, vol.
xxviii (1909), pp. 57-90. In this the fictitious character of the
whole tradition is made apparent by another line of argument.
Hermit of legend, also called Amator. Tradition records that
he was a servant in the house of the Holy Family. He is supposed to have
married St. Veronica, going with
her to Gaul (modern France) where they spread the Christian faith around
Bordeaux. Amadour is also recorded as having gone to Rome to witness the martyrdom
of Sts. Peter and Paul. He returned to Gaul and after the death of
St. Veronica he became a hermit at Quircy, France, where he built a shrine
to the Blessed Virgin Mary. A shrine called Rocamadour did exist and was
a great pilgrimage site at one time.
Communal chief town of the canton
of Gramat, district of Gourdon, Department of Lot, in the Diocese
of Cahors and the ancient province of Quercy. This village by the wonderful
beauty of its situation merits the attention of artists and excites the
curiosity of archæologists; but its reputation is due especially to
its celebrated sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin which for centuries has attracted
pilgrims from every country, among them kings, bishops, and nobles.
A curious legend purported to explain the origin of this
pilgrimage has given rise to controversies between critical and traditional
schools, especially in recent times. According to the latter, Rocamadour
is indebted for its name to the founder of the ancient sanctuary, St. Amadour,
who was none other than Zacheus of the Gospel, husband of St. Veronica,
who wiped the Saviour's face on the way to Calvary. Driven forth from Palestine
by persecution, Amadour and Veronica embarked in a frail skiff and, guided
by an angel, landed on the coast of Aquitaine, where thy met Bishop St.
Martial, another disciple of Christ who was preaching the Gospel in the
south-west of Gaul. After journeying to Rome, where he witnessed the martydoms
of Sts. Peter and Paul, Amadour, having returned to France, on the death
of his spouse, withdrew to a wild spot in Quercy where he built a chapel
in honour of the Blessed Virgin, near which he died a little later. 
This marvellous account, like most other similar legends, unfortunately
does not make its first appearance till long after the age in which the chief
actors are deemed to have lived. The name of Amadour occurs in no document
previous to the compilation of his Acts, which on careful examination and
on an application of the rules of the cursus to the text cannot be judged
older than the twelfth century. It is now well established that St. martial,
Amadour's contemporary in the legend, lived in the third not the first century,
and Rome has never included him among the members of the Apostolic College.
The mention, therefore, of St. martial in the Acts of St. Amadour would
alone suffice, even if other proof were wanting, to prove them a forgery.
The untrustworthiness of the legend has led some recent authors to suggest
that Amadour was an unknown hermit or possible St. Amator, Bishop of Auxerre,
but this is mere hypothesis, without any historical basis. Although the
origin of the sanctuary of Rocamadour, lost in antiquity, is thus first set
down along with fabulous traditions which cannot bear the light of sound
criticism, yet it is undoubted that this spot, hallowed by the prayers of
innumerable multitudes of pilgrims, is worthy of our veneration. After the
religious manifestations of the Middle Ages, Rocamadour, as a result of
war and revolution, had become almost deserted. Recently, owing to the zeal
and activity of the bishops of Cahors, it seems to have revived and pilgrims
are beginning to crown there again
The Black Madonna of Rocamadour
Rocamadour owes its origin to St Amadour, who, according to
tradition, chose the place as a hermitage for his devotions to the Virgin
Mary. This famous place of pilgrimage, is most strikingly situated. Its buildings
rise in stages up the side of a cliff on the right bank of the Alzou (Dordogne
- France), which here runs between rocky walls 400 ft. in height. Flights
of steps ascend from the lower town to the churchesa group of massive buildings
half-way up the cliff. The chief of them is the church of NotreDame (1479),
containing the wooden figure of the Madonna reputed to have been carved
by St Amadour.
Rocamadour (250 km east from Bordeaux) became as important
pilgrimage place in the Christian West as Santiago de Compostella, thanks
to the progress of the Marian cult and thanks to the discovery, in 1166,
of the body of St. Amadour. Tradition records that he was a servant in the
house of the Holy Family. St. Amadour, who was none other than Zacheus of
the Gospel, husband of St. Veronica, who wiped the Saviour's face on the
way to Calvary. Driven forth from Palestine by persecution, Amadour and
Veronica embarked in a frail skiff and, guided by an angel, landed on the
coast of Aquitaine, where thy met Bishop St. Martial, another disciple of Christ who was preaching
the Gospel in the south-west of Gaul. After journeying to Rome, where he
witnessed the martydoms of Sts. Peter and Paul, Amadour, having returned
to France, on the death of his spouse, withdrew to a wild spot in Quercy
where he built a chapel in honour of the Blessed Virgin, near which he died
a little later. The shrine, called Rocamadour, sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin,
has attracted pilgrims for centuries from every country, among them kings,
bishops, and nobles.
Reports of miracles happening at the site spread rapidly. King
Henry Plantagenet was one of the first pilgrims to come to Rocamadour to
find a miraculous cure. St. Louis IX of France followed in the next century,
and Rocamadour became as important as Mont St. Michel as a pilgrimage destination.
Few people know that Rocamadour has thus become the second most visited
site in France – after Mont St. Michel’s 12th century monastery.
Today’s visitors is advised to avoid the traditional activity
of climbing up the 216 stone steps on one’s knees, but instead to sign up
for a guided walking tour on one’s feet. This fascinating tour will take
you to four of the seven medieval chapels built into the rock, one of which
contains the mysterious Black Madonna, venerated for over a thousand years.
You’ll hear wonderful legends of how the body of St. Amadour was miraculously
preserved for 1100 years; how the ancient bell rings itself when a miracle
occurs at sea; how the sword in the rock you see in front of you is really
the famous sword of Roland...Near the tomb of St. Amadour is the Church
of the Black Madonna and the Mircaulous Bell.
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Saint Philip was Bishop of Heraclea,
and suffered martyrdom with Sts Severus, Memnon, and thirty-seven others
in Thrace during the third century. He was thrown into a fiery oven
after his hands and feet were amputated.
Marytrs of Thrace; a group of 37 martyrs who suffered in Thrace,
in modem northern Greece.
In Thrácia sanctórum
trigínta septem Mártyrum, qui, sub Præside Apelliáno,
pro Christi fide, mánibus pedibúsque præcísis,
in camínum ardéntem injécti sunt.
In Thrace,
in the time of the governor Apellian, thirty-seven holy martyrs, who had
their hands and feet cut off for the faith of Christ, and were cast into
a burning furnace.
Ibídem sanctórum
Mártyrum Sevéri, et Memnónis Centuriónis; qui,
eódem mortis génere consummáti, victóres abiérunt
in cælum.
Also, holy martyrs
Severus, centurion Memnon, who, suffering the same kind of death, went victoriously
to heaven.
Their names are Orion,
Antilinus, Molias, Eudemon, Silvanus, Sabinus, Eustathius, Straton, Bosua
of Byzantium, Timothy, Palmatus, Mestus, Nikon, Difilus, Dometian, Maximus,
Neophytus, Victor, Rinus, Satorninus, Epaphroditus, Cercanus, Gaius, Zoticus,
Cronion, Anthony, Horus, Zoilus, Tyrannus, Agathon, Panstenus [Parthenias],
Achilles, Panthyrias, Chrysanthus, Athenodorus, Pantoleon, Theosebius, Genephlius
of Philippopolis.
Their feet and hands were sliced off and then they were cast
into a furnace.
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300 Romæ beáti
Porphyrii, qui fuit homo Dei, et sanctum Mártyrem Agapítum
erudívit in fide et doctrína Christi.
At Rome, blessed Porphyry, a man of God, who instructed
the holy martyr Agapitus in the faith and doctrine of Christ.
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310 St. Lucius martyr Martyrs with companions in Cyrene, Ptolemais,
Africa
In Cypro sancti Lúcii
Senatóris, qui, perspécta constántia Theodóri,
Cyrenénsis Epíscopi, in martyrio pósiti, ad Christi
fidem est convérsus, et ad eam étiam Digniánum Præsidem
pertráxit; cum eóque Cyprum proféctus, ibi, cum álios
Christiános pro confessióne Dómini coronári vidéret,
ultro se ipsum óbtulit, et cápitis obtruncatióne eándem
martyrii corónam proméruit.
In Cyprus, St.
Lucius, senator, who was converted to the faith on seeing the constancy of
Theodore, bishop of Cyrene, during his martyrdom. He also converted
the governor Dignian, with whom he set out for Cyprus, where, seeing other
Christians crowned for the confession of the Lord, he offered himself voluntarily,
and merited the same crown of martyrdom by beheading.
Martyr Lucius, a senator, was beheaded by the sword on
the island of Crete in the year 310 for confessing his faith in Christ. |
362 St. Heliodorus Persian martyr King Shapur II deported 9,000 Christians but kept 300 for torture
and death.
With Abdiso, Dausa, and Mariahle, martyrs of Persia.
The Martyrs Heliodorus and Dosa suffered for Christ in Persia under the
emperor Sapor II, in the year 380.
|
406 In Judæa sancti
Samuélis Prophétæ, cujus sacra ossa (ut beátus
Hierónymus scribit) Arcádius Augústus Constantinópolim
tránstulit, et prope Séptimum collocávit.
In Judea, the
holy prophet Samuel, whose holy relics (as is related by St. Jerome) were
taken to Constantinople by Emperor Arcadius, and deposited near Septimum. |
470 St. Maximus
Abbot Founder a disciple of St. Martin of Tours
In castro Cainóne, in Gállia, sancti Máximi Confessóris,
qui éxstitit discípulus beáti Mártini Epíscopi.
At Chinon, St. Maximus, confessor, disciple of the
blessed bishop Martin.
called Mesme. Maximus founded Chinon Abbey in Tours.
|
651
St Oswin, Martyr; a monastery at Gilling; incursion prayers over
the body of St Oswin, whose shrine was made illustrious by miracles, was
translated to Tynemouth
When his father Osric, King of Deira, was killed by the British Cadwallon
in 633, the young Oswin was taken into Wessex for safety, where he was baptized
and educated; but after the death of the great prince St Oswald in 642 he
returned to the north and took possession of his kingdom. He governed it
with virtue, prudence and prosperity.
The Venerable Bede relates how, having rebuked St Aidan for giving away to a beggar a
horse the king had given him, Oswin accepted Aidan's correction and apologized.
Whereupon Aidan said to his attendants in the Irish language, which the
king and his courtiers did not understand, that he was assured so humble
and so good a king would not live long, because the nation was not worthy
of such a ruler. His prediction was soon verified.
Oswin incurred the jealousy of his cousin Oswy, King of Bernicia,
the two felt out, and Oswy declared a state of open warfare. Oswin, seeing
his own weakness and being desirous to spare human blood (or, as St Bede says,
from simple prudence, but doubtless for both considerations), dismissed his
forces at a place called Wilfaresdon, near Catterick. Attended with
one faithful he retired to Gilling, near Richmond in Yorkshire, which estate
he had lately bestowed on one Hunwald.
Oswy ordered his reeve, Ethelwin, to find Oswin and kill him. Hunwald
treacherously betrayed his guest; Oswin and his thegn were slain together,
and buried at Gilling.
Queen Eanfleda, daughter to St Edwin and wife of Oswy, founded
a monastery at Gilling, in which prayers might be ever offered up for both
kings. It was afterwards destroyed by the Danes, before whose incursions
the body of St Oswin, whose shrine was made illustrious by miracles, was
translated to Tynemouth. Here it was lost sight of during the Danish
troubles, but in 1065 a monk of Tynemouth discovered it in consequence of
a vision, and it was accordingly enshrined again in the year 1100.
We know little of St Oswin beyond
what is told us in Bede's Ecclesiastical
History, bk iii, ch 14. There is, however, a twelfth-century life
with two homilies and some liturgical matter. This has been used by Plummer
in his notes to Bede. See also Stanton's Menology, pp. 401-403 .
|
685
St Philibert, Abbot; founder; miracles
In
Hério ínsula sancti Philibérti Abbátis.
In the island of Hermoutier, St. Philibert, abbot.
He was born about 608 in Gascony. His father, Philibaud,
having received holy orders, was made bishop of Aire, and the young Philibert
was educated under the eyes of his father, who sent him to the court of Dagobert
I. Here the example and instructions of the chancellor, St Ouen, made so deep an impression on
him that at the age of twenty years he took the habit in the abbey of Rebais,
founded by Ouen. He was appointed successor to St Aile in the government of this house,
but left it on finding some of the monks refractory, and his own inability
through inexperience to deal with them.
After having visited many monasteries to study various observances,
he retired into Neustria, where Clovis II gave him ground in the forest
of Jumièges. Here he founded a monastery in 654, and the community
of Jumièges increased in a short time to a large number of monks.
He also built a monastery for women, at Pavilly. St Philibert, having some
business at the court, boldly reproached Ebroin, mayor of the palace, for
his many acts of injustice. This brought on him the vengeance of that minister,
who slandered him to St Ouen; in consequence Philibert was imprisoned for
a time at Rouen and obliged to quit Jumiêges.
The saint then retired to Poitiers, and afterward to the little
island of Herio, on the coast of Poitou, where he founded a monastery later
called Noirmoutier. He likewise founded the priory of Quincay, near
Poitiers, the government of which he gave to St Achard, whom he afterwards
made abbot of JumiIges. These he peopled with monks from his first
foundation. He had a further responsibility put upon him when Ansoald,
Bishop of Poitiers, founded a monastery at Luçon, which he put under
the supervision of St Philibert,
who was remembered for his concern for the spiritual and temporal welfare
of the lay neighbours of his various houses.
There is an early life of St Philibert
which has been printed both by Mabillon and in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. iv.
But the best text and the most valuable contribution to the subject is that
of R. Poupardin, Monuments de l'histoire
des abbayes de Saint-Philibert (1905), which contains a discussion
of the authorship and recensions of the life, as well as the record of the
miracles of St Philibert, and much supplementary matter .
|
852
St. Leovigild and Christopher Martyrs of Cordoba, Spain
Córdubæ, in Hispánia, sanctórum Mártyrum
Leovigíldi et Christóphori Monachórum, qui, in Arabum
persecutióne, pro Christiánæ fídei defensióne
in cárcerem conjécti, ac mox, cervícibus abscíssis,
igni tráditi, martyrii palmam adépti sunt.
At Cordova, during the persecution of the Arabs, the
holy martyrs Leovigild and Christopher, monks, who were thrust into prison
for the defence of the Christian faith, and soon after, being beheaded and
cast into the fire, thus obtained the palm of martyrdom.
Put to death under the ruler
of Cordoba, Abd al-Rahman II. Leovigild a priest and Christopher a monk.
Martyrs of Córdoba From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The hagiography of the forty-eight Martyrs of Córdoba was developed
in Christian Spain, describing in detail their executions for capital violations
of Muslim law in al-Andalus. They were the most important new saints in
Iberia in the 9th century. The martyrdoms instanced by Eulogius took place between 851 and 859;
with few exceptions, the Christians invited execution by committing public
offenses: some martyrs appeared before the Muslim authorities to denounce
Mohammed; others, Christian children of Islamic-Christian marriages, publicly
proclaimed their Christianity (Coope 1995). The lack of an interested chronicler
after Eulogius' own martyrdom has given a misimpression that there were
fewer episodes later in the 9th century.
Historical background
In 711 CE, a Muslim army from North Africa had invaded Visigoth Christian
Spain. Under their leader Tariq ibn-Ziyad, they landed at Gibraltar and
brought most of the Iberian Peninsula under Islamic rule in an eight-year
campaign. The Iberian Peninsula was called al-Andalus by its Muslim rulers.
When the Umayyad Caliphs were deposed in Damascus in 750, the dynasty relocated
to Córdoba, ruling an emirate there; consequently the city gained
in luxury and importance, as a center of Iberian Muslim culture.
Once the Muslims conquered Spain, they governed it in accordance with
Islamic shariah law. Christians and Jews were treated as dhimmis, or protected
persons subject to a poll tax. Under many traditional interpretations of
shariah, including those then current in al-Andalus, blasphemy against Islam,
whether by Muslims or dhimmis, and apostasy from Islam were all grounds
for the death penalty.
Though four Christian basilicas
and numerous Christian monasteries mentioned in Eulogius' martyrology remained
open, the Christian population was gradually becoming assimilated. Notably
Reccafred, Bishop of Cordoba, taught the virtues of toleration and compromise
with the Muslim authorities. To the scandal of Eulogius, whose texts are
the only source for these martyrdoms, and who was venerated as a saint from
the 9th century, the bishop sided with Muslim authorities against the martyrs,
whom he regarded as fanatics. The closures of monasteries begins to be recorded
towards the middle of the 9th century. The monk Eulogius encouraged the
martyrs as a way to reinforce the faith of the Christian community. He composed
tractates and a martyrology to justify the self-immolation of the martyrs,
of which a single manuscript, containing his Documentum martyriale, the three books
of his Memoriale sanctorum and his
Liber apologeticus martyrum,
was preserved in Oviedo, in the Christian kingdom of Asturias in the far
northwestern coast of Hispania.
There the relics of Saint Eulogius were translated in 884
.
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960 Saint Edbert King of Northumbria became a Benedictine
monk
successor of St. Ceolwulph He reigned for two decades and then became
a Benedictine monk at York.
St Edbert Of Lindisfarne
Bishop who always gave ten per cent of what he had to the poor. When the
body of St CUTHBERT was found in an amazing state of preservation Saint
Edbert Saint had it displayed on high in a church to invoke veneration
.
|
1148 WILLIAM OF ST. THIERRY: CANTOR OF LOVE
Theologian and mystic, and so called from the monastery of which he was
abbot, b. at Liège about 1085; d. at Signy about 1148. William came
of a noble family, and made his studies at the Benedictine Monastery of Saint
Nicaise at Reims, together with his brother Simon. Here both embraced the
religious life, and were raised to the abbatial dignity, Simon of St. Nicolas-aux-Bois,
Diocese of Laon, and William at St-Thierry near Reims in 1119. Prior to
this William had known St. Bernard, and had formed with him a close intimacy,
which lasted for life. His greatest desire was to live with the saint at
Clairvaux, but the latter disapproved of the plan and imposed on him the
duty of remaining in charge of the souls which Providence had confided to
him. However after having assisted (1140) at St-Médard near Soissons
at the first general chapter of the Benedictines, where he suggested wise
regulations, William, on the pleas of long infirmities and more and more
attracted to a life of retirement, resigned his dignity as abbot (1135),
and withdrew to the Cistercian abbey at Signy (diocese of Reims); he did
not venture to retire to Clairvaux lest his friend Bernard would refuse to
accept his abdication. Here, amid almost constant suffering, he divided his
free time between prayer and study. According to a contemporary annalist
his death occurred about the time of the council held at Reims under Pope
Eugenius; this council took place in 1148, and his death should be placed
in this year or the preceding. The necrology of his abbey dates it 8 September.,
in any case it was prior to that of St. Bernard (20 August, 1153).
Besides his letters to St. Bernard, William wrote several works which
he himself enumerates, somewhat incorrectly, in one of his letters. Among
them are: "On the solitary life" (De vita solitaria); "On the contemplation
of God" (De Deo contemplando), modelled on the "Confessions" and "soliloquies"
ofSt. Augustine ; "The nature and dignity of Divine love" (De natura et
dignitate amoris), the sequel to the preceding; "The Mirror of Faith" (Speculum
fidei); "The Enigma of Faith" (Aenigma fidei); "On the Sacrament of the
Altar" (De sacramento altaris liber), setting forth against the monk Rupert
his views on the manner of the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist;
"Commentaries on the Canticle of Canticles" (complete), the first according
to the conferences of St. Bernard, the second according to St. Ambrose,
the third according to St. Gregory the Great; "Commentary on the Epistle
of St. Paul to the Romans".
William was the first to deal with the errors of Abelard and to urge St.
Bernard against him. He wrote "The Dispute against Abelard" (Disputatio
adversus Petrum Abelardum), in which are arranged under twelve heads the
errors which were condemned by the Council of Sens; the "Disputation of
the Fathers against the dogma of Abelard" (Disputatio catholicorum Patrum
adversus dogmata Petri Abelardi) was a reply to Abelard's apology; "On the
errors of Guillaume de Conches" (De erroribus Guillelmi de Conchis) was
a defence of the true idea of the Trinity. To these works should be added
a life of St. Bernard, of which William wrote only the first chapters. His
works were first printed by Tissier in "Bibliotheca Cisterciensis", IV (Bonofonte,
1669), and republished in P.L., CXXX (Paris, 1885).
VATICAN CITY, 2 DEC 2009 (VIS) - William of St. Thierry was the subject
of the Holy Father's catechesis during his general audience, celebrated this
morning in St. Peter's Square.
William, a friend and admirer of Bernard of Clairvaux, was born
in Liege between the years 1075 and 1080. A member of a noble family, he was
educated in the most famous schools of the time and later entered the Benedictine
monastery of Saint-Nicaise in Reims. He subsequently became abbot of the
monastery of Saint-Thierry where, however, he was unable to reform the community
as he wished and abandoned the Benedictines to enter the Cistercian abbey
of Signy. There he wrote a number of important works of monastic theology.
"De natura et dignitate amoris" (The nature and the dignity of
love) contains, the Pope explained, one of William's fundamental ideas,
which also holds true for us today: "The principal force that moves the
human soul is love. ... The truth is that only one task is entrusted to
each human being: learning to love sincerely, authentically and freely.
But only at the school of God can this task be achieved and can man attain
the end for which he was created".
"Learning to love is a long and arduous path", said the Holy Father.
"In this journey people must impose an effective asceticism upon themselves
... in order to eliminate any disordered affections ... and unify their
lives with God - source, goal and power of love - until reaching the summit
of spiritual life, which William defined as 'wisdom'. At the end of this
ascetic itinerary, we experience great serenity and sweetness".
William likewise attributes considerable importance "to the emotional
dimension" because "our heart is made of flesh and when we love God, Who
is Love, how can we not express our human feelings in this relationship with
the Lord? ... The Lord Himself, becoming man, chose to love us with a heart
of flesh".
For this Cistercian monk, love "illuminates the mind and enables
a better and more profound understanding of God and, in God, of people and
events". Love "produces attraction and communion to the point of effecting
a transformation, an assimilation, between the lover and the loved. ...
And this holds true, above all, for knowledge of God and of His mysteries,
which surpass our mind's capacity to understand. God is known if he is loved",
Benedict XVI affirmed.
He concluded by quoting from the "Epistola aurea" addressed to
the Cistercians of Mont-Dieu, a summary of William of St. Thierry's ideas
on the subject of love: "The image of God present in man impels him towards
resemblance; that is, towards an ever fuller identification between his will
and the divine will. This perfection, which William calls 'unity of spirit',
cannot be achieved through individual effort, ... but by the action of the
Holy Spirit which ... purifies and ... transforms into charity all the desire
for love present in the human being. ...In this way ... man becomes by grace
what God is by nature".
AG/WILLIAM OF ST. THIERRY/...VIS
091202 (520)
|
1153 St. Bernard
of Clairvaux Abbot and Doctor of the Church eminently endowed with the gift of miracles
In território Lingoniénsi deposítio sancti Bernárdi,
primi Clarævallénsis Abbátis, vita, doctrína
et miráculis gloriósi, quem Pius Octávus, Póntifex
Máximus, universális Ecclésiæ Doctórem
declarávit et confirmávit.
In the territory of Langres, the death of St. Bernard,
first abbot of Clairvaux, illustrious for virtues, learning, and miracles.
He was declared and confirmed doctor of the Universal Church by the Sovereign
Pontiff, Pius VIII.
August 20, 2009 St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153)
Man of the century! Woman of the century! You see such terms applied to
so many today—“golfer of the century,” “composer of the century,” “right tackle
of the century”—that the line no longer has any punch. But the “man of the
twelfth century,” without doubt or controversy, has to be Bernard of Clairvaux.
Adviser of popes, preacher of the Second Crusade, defender of the faith,
healer of a schism, reformer of a monastic Order, Scripture scholar, theologian
and eloquent preacher: any one of these titles would distinguish an ordinary
man. Yet Bernard was all of these—and he still retained a burning desire
to return to the hidden monastic life of his younger days.
In the year 1111, at the age of 20, Bernard left his home to
join the monastic community of Citeaux. His five brothers, two uncles and
some 30 young friends followed him into the monastery. Within four years a
dying community had recovered enough vitality to establish a new house in
the nearby valley of Wormwoods, with Bernard as abbot. The zealous young man
was quite demanding, though more on himself than others. A slight breakdown
of health taught him to be more patient and understanding. The valley was
soon renamed Clairvaux, the valley of light.
His ability as arbitrator and counselor became widely known. More and
more he was lured away from the monastery to settle long-standing disputes.
On several of these occasions he apparently stepped on some sensitive toes
in Rome. Bernard was completely dedicated to the primacy of the Roman See.
But to a letter of warning from Rome he replied that the good fathers in
Rome had enough to do to keep the Church in one piece. If any matters arose
that warranted their interest, he would be the first to let them know.
Shortly thereafter it was Bernard who intervened in a full-blown schism
and settled it in favor of the Roman pontiff against the antipope.
The Holy See prevailed on Bernard to preach the Second Crusade throughout
Europe. His eloquence was so overwhelming that a great army was assembled
and the success of the crusade seemed assured. The ideals of the men and
their leaders, however, were not those of Abbot Bernard, and the project
ended as a complete military and moral disaster.
Bernard felt responsible in some way for the degenerative effects of the
crusade. This heavy burden possibly hastened his death, which came August
20, 1153.
Comment: Bernard’s life in the
Church was more active than we can imagine possible today. His efforts produced
far-reaching results. But he knew that they would have availed little without
the many hours of prayer and contemplation that brought him strength and
heavenly direction. His life was characterized by a deep devotion to the Blessed
Mother. His sermons and books about Mary are still the standard of Marian
theology.
Quote: “In dangers, in doubts,
in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart
from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may more
surely obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps.
With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall
never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception;
while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection y ou have
nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she
shows you favor, you shall reach the goal” (St. Bernard).
St Bernard third son of Tescelin Sorrel, a Burgundian
noble, and Aleth, daughter of Bernard, lord of Montbard. He was born in
1090 at Fontaines, a castle near Dijon, a lordship belonging to his father.
His parents had seven children, namely, Bd Guy, Bd Gerard, St Bernard, Bd
Humbeline, Andrew, Bartholomew and Bd Nivard. They were all well educated,
and learned Latin and verse-making before the sons were applied to military
exercise and feats of arms.
Bernard was sent to Châtillon on the Seine, to pursue a complete
course of studies in a college of secular canons. He even then loved
to be alone, largely at first because of shyness; his progress in learning
was far greater than could be expected from one of his age; and he was soon
alert to listen to what God by His holy inspirations spoke to his heart.
One Christmas-eve, while waiting with his mother to set out for
Matins, he fell asleep and seemed to see the infant Jesus newly born in the
stable at Bethlehem; from that day he had a most tender devotion towards that
great mystery of love and mercy, the manhood of Christ.
When he was seventeen his mother died. Bernard was
greatly attached to Aleth and her loss was a heavy blow; he was in danger
of becoming morbidly despondent, till he was rallied out of his
brooding and inertia by his lively sister
Humbeline.
Bernard made his appearance in the world with all the advantages
and talents which can make it attractive to a young man, or which could
make him loved by it. His personal attractiveness and wit, his affability
and sweetness of temper, endeared him to everybody; in these very advantages
lay his chief danger, and for a time there was serious risk of his becoming
lukewarm and indifferent. But he began to think of forsaking the world
and the pursuit of letters, which greatly attracted him, and of going to
Citeaux, where only a few years before SS. Robert, Alberic and Stephen Harding
had established the first monastery of that strict interpretation of the
Benedictine rule, called after it "Cistercian".
He wavered for some time in his mind, and one day in great
anxiety he went into a church by the road and prayed that God would direct
him to discover and follow His will. He arose steadily fixed in the
resolution of following the severe Cistercian life. His friends endeavoured
to dissuade him from it; but he not only remained firm-he enlisted four
of his brothers as well, and an uncle.
Hugh of Macon (who afterward founded the monastery of Pontigny,
and died bishop of Auxerre), an intimate friend, wept bitterly at the thought
of separation, but by two interviews was induced to become his companion.
Nor were these the only ones who, with apparently no previous thought of
the religious life, suddenly decided to leave the world for the austere life
of Citeaux. Bernard induced in all thirty-one men to follow him-he
who himself had been uncertain of his call only a few weeks before.
It is a happening unparalleled
in Christian history.
Bernard's eloquent appeals were irresistible;
mothers feared for their sons, wives for their husbands, lest they came
under the sway of that compelling voice and look. They assembled at Châtillon,
and on the day appointed for their meeting Bernard and his brothers went
to Fontaines to take farewell of their father and beg his blessing.
They left Nivard, the youngest brother, to be a comfort to him in his old
age. Going out they saw him at play with other children, and Guy said
to him, "Adieu, my little Nivard! You will have all the estates and lands
to yourself." The boy answered, "What! you then take Heaven, and leave
me only the earth. The division is too unequal." They went away;
but soon after Nivard followed them, so that of the whole family there only
remained in the world the old father and his daughter, Humbeline.
The company arrived at
Citeaux about Easter in 1112 and the abbot, the English St Stephen, who
had not had a novice for several years, received them with open arms. St
Bernard was then twenty-two. He entered this house with the desire
to die to the remembrance of men, to live hidden and be forgotten, that
he might be occupied only with God. After three years the abbot, seeing
the great progress which Bernard had made and his extraordinary abilities,
ordered him to go with twelve monks to found a new house in the diocese
of Langres in Champagne. They walked in procession, singing psalms, with
their new abbot at their head, and settled in a place called the Valley of
Wormwood, surrounded by a forest. These thirteen monks grubbed up a
sufficient area and, with the assistance of the bishop and the people of
the country, built themselves a house.
This young colony lived through a period of extreme and grinding
hardship. The land was poor and their bread was of coarse barley;
boiled beech leaves were sometimes served up instead of vegetables.
Bernard at first was so severe in his discipline, coming down upon the smallest
distractions and least transgressions of his brethren, whether in confession
or in chapter, that although his monks behaved with the utmost humility
and obedience they began to be discouraged, which made the abbot sensible
of his fault. He condemned himself for it to a long silence. At length he
resumed his preaching, and provided that meals should be more regular, though
the food was still of the coarsest.
The reputation of the house and of the holiness of its abbot soon
became so great that the number of monks had risen to a hundred and thirty
and the name of the valley was changed to Clairvaux, because it was situated
right in the eye of the sun. Bernard's aged father Tescelin and the young
Nivard followed him in 1117, and received the habit at his hands.
The first four daughter-houses of Citeaux became each a mother-house to
others, and Clairvaux had the most numerous offspring, including Rievaulx
and, in a sense, Fountains in England.
In 1121 Bernard wrought his first miracle, restoring,
while he sang Mass, power of speech to a certain lord that he might confess
his sins before he died, three days after, having made restitution for numerous
acts of injustice. It is related that other sick persons were cured instantaneously
by his making the sign of the cross upon them; and we are also told that
the church of Foigny was infested with flies till, by Bernard saying he "excommunicated"
them, they all died. The malediction of the flies of Foigny became a proverb
in France.
The contemporary William of Saint-Thierry gives a most unpleasant
account of the weakness of Bernard's stomach (which was aggravated by insufficient
and unsuitable food), and in consideration of his ill-health the general
chapter dispensed him from work in the fields and ordered him to undertake
extra preaching instead. This led to his writing a treatise on the Degrees of Humility and Pride, the first
of his published works. It includes a study of character which, says the
Abbé Vacandard, "the most expert psychologist would not disavow".
Notwithstanding St Bernard's
love of retirement, obedience and Church's needs frequently drew him from
his cell. Like several other great saints who had in a supreme degree
the gift of contemplation and wished only to live alone with God in the
retirement of a monastery, he had for years on end to be about his Father's
business in active and public, even political, affairs. In 1137 he
wrote that his life was "over-run in all quarters with anxieties, suspicions,
cares, and there is scarcely an hour that is left free from the crowd of
discordant applicants, from the trouble and care of business. I have
no power to stop their coming and cannot refuse to see them, and they do
not leave me even the time to pray."
So great was the reputation of his character and powers that princes
desired to have their differences determined by him and bishops
regarded him decisions with the greatest respect, referring to him important
affairs of their churches. The popes looked upon his advice as the greatest
support of the Holy See, and all people had a profound respect and veneration
for his person and opinion. It was said of him that he was "the oracle
of Christendom".
For Bernard was not only a great monastic founder, theologian
and preacher, he was also a reformer and "crusader" he never refused what
presented itself to him as a challenge, whether it came from the abbey of
Cluny or from an antipope, from the philosopher Abelard or the call to the
Second Crusade.
And he was a hard hitter;
to an ecclesiastic in Languedoc
he wrote:
"You may imagine that what belongs
to the Church belongs to you while you officiate there. But you are
mistaken: for though it be reasonable that one who serves the altar should
live by the altar, yet it must not be to promote either his luxury or his
pride. Whatever goes beyond bare nourishment and simple plain clothing
is sacrilege and theft."
After the disputed papal election of 1130 the cause
of Pope Innocent II took St
Bernard up and down France, Germany and Italy. On one of his returns
to Clairvaux he took with him a new postulant, a canon of Pisa, Peter Bernard Paganelli, who was to become
a beatified pope as Eugenius III;
for the present he was put to stoke the fire in the monastery calefactory.
After the general acknowledgement of Innocent
II Bernard was present at the tenth general council in Rome, the second
of the Lateran, and it was at this period that he first met St Malachy of Armagh; the ensuing friendship
between the two lasted until Malachy's death in Bemard's arms nine years
later. All this time Bernard had continued diligently to preach to
his monks whenever he was able, notably those famous discourses on the Song of Songs.
In 1140 he preached for the first time in a public pulpit, primarily
to the students of Paris. They are the two most powerful and trenchant
of his discourses preserved to us, in which he says much of "things hellish
and horrible"; they effected some good and a number of conversions among
the students, who were at first superior to their fervent "evangelicalism".
<> But no sooner was the trouble of the papal schism
over than he was involved in the controversy with Abelard. If St Bernard
was the most eloquent and influential man of his age, the next was the brilliant
and unhappy Peter Abelard, who was
moreover, of far wider learning. The two were bound to come into collision,
for they represented two currents of thought which, not necessarily opposed,
were not yet properly fused: on the one hand, the weight of traditional
authority and "faith not as an opinion but a certitude"; on the other, the
new rationalism and exaltation of human reason. St Bernard himself has since
been grievously criticized for his unrelenting pursuit of Abelard: but it
seemed to him he had detected in Abelard vanity and arrogance masquerading
as science, and rationalism masquerading as the use of reason, and his ability
and learning made him the more dangerous. St Bernard wrote to the
pope: "Peter Abelard is trying to make void the merit of Christian
faith, when he deems himself able by human reason to comprehend God entirely-
the man is great in his own eyes."
THEOLOGICAL DEBATE AND DEFENCE
OF THE FAITH
VATICAN CITY, 4 NOV 2009 (VIS) - Benedict XVI dedicated his
catechesis during this morning's general audience to the twelfth-century debate
between St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Abelard, proponents, respectively, of
the monastic and scholastic approaches to theology.
The Pope began by recalling that theology "is the search for a
rational understanding (in as much as that is possible) of the mysteries
of Christian revelation, which are believed by faith, ... the faith that
seeks intelligibility". Yet, "while St. Bernard ... places the emphasis
on ... faith, Abelard ... insists ... on understanding by reason.
"For Bernard", the Holy Father
added, "faith itself is endowed with an intimate certainty, founded on the
testimony of Scripture and on the teaching of the Fathers of the Church.
... In cases of doubt or ambiguity, faith is protected and illuminated by
the exercise of ecclesial Magisterium". Thus, for the abbot of Clairvaux,
"theology has a single goal, that of promoting the living and intimate experience
of God".
"Abelard, who among other things introduced the term
'theology' as we understand it today, ... originally studied philosophy then
applied the results achieved in this discipline to theology". He had a "religious
spirit but a restless personality, and his life was rich in dramatic events:
he challenged his teachers and had a child by a cultured and intelligent
woman, Eloise. ... He also suffered ecclesiastical condemnations, although
he died in full communion with the Church to whose authority he submitted
with a spirit of faith".
"An excessive use of philosophy rendered Abelard's Trinitarian
doctrine dangerously fragile", said the Pope. "Likewise, in the field of
morals his teaching was not without ambiguity as he insisted on considering
the intention of the subject as the only source for describing the goodness
or malice of moral acts, ignoring the objective moral significance and value
of actions.
"This aspect", Benedict XVI went on, "is highly relevant for our
own age, in which culture often seems marked by a growing tendency to ethical
relativism. Nonetheless, we must not forget the great merits of Abelard,
... who made a decisive contribution to the development of scholastic theology.
... Nor must we undervalue some of his insights such as, for example, his
affirmation that non-Christian religious traditions already contain some
form of preparation to welcome Christ, the Divine Word.
"What can we learn from the confrontation ... between Bernard and
Abelard and, more generally, between the monastic and scholastic approaches
to theology?" the Holy Father asked. "Firstly", he went on, "I believe it
shows the usefulness and need for healthy theological discussion within
the Church, especially when the questions being debated have not been defined
by the Magisterium, which, nonetheless, remains an ineluctable point of
reference".
"In the theological field there must be a balance between what
we may call architectonic principles, which are given to us by the Revelation
and which, hence, always maintain their priority and importance, and interpretative
principles suggested by philosophy (that is, by reason), which have an important
function, but only an instrumental one. When this balance fails, theological
reflection risks becoming marred by error and it is then up to the Magisterium
to exercise that necessary service to truth which is its task".
"The theological dispute between Bernard and Abelard concluded
with a full reconciliation. ... What prevailed in both men was that which
we must have to heart whenever a theological controversy arises: that its,
defending the faith of the Church and ensuring the triumph of truth in charity".
AG/BERNARD ABELARD CONTROVERSY/...VIS 091104 (600)
Probably about the beginning of the year 1142 the first
Cistercian foundation was made in Ireland, from Clairvaux, where St Malachy
had put some young Irishmen with St Bernard to be trained. The abbey
was called Mellifont, in county Louth, and within ten years of its foundation
six daughter-houses had been planted out.
At the same time Bernard was busied in the affair of the
disputed succession to the see of York, set out in the account of St William
of York (June 8), in the course of which Pope Innocent II died. His third successor,
within eighteen months, was the Cistercian abbot of Tre Fontane, that Peter Bernard of Pisa to whom reference
has been made, known to history as Bd Eugenius
III.
St Bernard wrote a charming letter of encouragement to his former
subject, addressed:
"To his most dearly loved father
and master, Eugenius, by the grace of God Sovereign Pontiff, Bernard, styled
Abbot of Clairvaux, presents his humble service." But Bernard was also rather
frightened, for Eugenius was shy, retiring, not accustomed to public life;
and so he wrote also to the college of cardinals, a letter beginning: "May
God forgive you what you have done. You have put back among the living
a man who was dead and buried. You have again surrounded with cares
and crowds one who had fled from cares and crowds. You have made the
last first, and behold! the last state of that man is more perilous than
the first."
Later he wrote for Pope Eugenius's guidance the longest
and most important of his treatises, De
consideratione, impressing upon him the various duties of his office,
and strongly recommending him always to reserve time for self-examination
and daily contemplation, applying himself to this still more than to business.
He proves to him that "consideration" serves to form and to employ in the
heart all virtues. He reminds the pope that he is in danger of falling,
by multiplicity of affairs, into a forgetfulness of God and hardness of
heart: the thought of which made the saint tremble for him, and tell
him that his heart was already hardened and made insensible if he did not
continually tremble for himself; for if the Pope falls, the whole Church
of God is involved.
In the meantime
the Albigensian heresy and its social and moral implications had been making
alarming progress in the south of France. St Bernard had already been called
on to deal with a similar sect in Cologne, and in 1145 the papal legate,
Cardinal Alberic, asked him to go to Languedoc. Bernard was ill, weak
and hardly able to make the journey, but he obeyed, preaching on the way.
Geoffrey, the saint's secretary, accompanied him, and relates many miracles
to which he was an eye-witness. He tells us that at Sarlat in Périgord,
Bernard, blessing with the sign of the cross some loaves of bread which
were brought, said, By this shall you know the truth of our doctrine,
and the falsehood of that which is taught by the heretics, if such as are
sick among you recover their health by eating of these loaves". The
bishop of Chartres, who stood by, being fearful of the result, said, "That
is, if they eat with a right faith, they shall be cured". But the
abbot replied, "I say not so; but assuredly they that taste shall be cured,
that you may know by this that we are sent by authority derived from God,
and preach His truth". And a number of sick persons were cured by
eating that bread.
Bernard preached against the heresy throughout Languedoc; its supporters
were stubborn and violent, especially at Toulouse and Albi, but in a very
short time he had restored the country to orthodoxy and returned to Clairvaux.
But he left too soon, the restoration was more apparent than real, and twenty-five
years later Albigensianism had a stronger hold than ever.
Then came St Dominic.
On Christmas-day, 1144, the SeIjuk Turks had captured Edessa,
centre of one of the four principalities of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem,
and appeals for help were at once sent to Europe, for the whole position
was in danger. Pope Eugenius commissioned St Bernard to preach a crusade.
He began at Vezelay Palm Sunday 1146, when Queen Eleanor and many nobles
were the first to take the cross, and were followed by such large numbers
of people, moved by the monk's burning words, that the supply of badges was
exhausted and he had, to tear strips off his habit to make others. When he
had roused France, he wrote letters to the rulers and peoples
of western and central Europe, and then went in person into Germany. First
he had to deal with a half-crazy monk, called Rudolf, who in his name was
inciting the people to massacre Jews, and then made a triumphant journey
through the Rhineland, confirming his appeals by an amazing succession of
miracles, vouched for by his companions.
Emperor Conrad III took the cross from him, and set out with an army in
the May of 1147, followed by Louis of France. This, the second, crusade
was a miserable failure; Conrad's forces were cut to pieces in Asia Minor
and Louis did not get beyond laying siege to Damascus. Its ill success
was in no small measure due to the crusaders themselves, of whom a great
part were led by no other motive than the prospect of plunder, were lawless,
and committed every kind of disorder in their march. To those who were
led by motives of sincere penance and religion, these afflictions were trials
for the exercise of their virtue, but the ascetical exercise was dearly
bought. This unfortunate expedition raised a storm against St Bernard,
because he had seemed to promise success. His answer was that he confided
in the divine mercy for a blessing on an enterprise undertaken for honour
of the divine name, but that the sins of the army were the cause of its
misfortunes further, who could judge extent of its success or failure, and
"how is it that the rashness of
mortals dares reprove what they cannot understand".
Early in the year 1153 St Bernard
entered on his last illness. He had long dwelt in Heaven in desire,
though this desire he by humility ascribed to weakness: "The saints ", said
he, "were moved to pray for death out of a desire of seeing Christ; but
I am forced hence by scandals and evil. I confess myself overcome
by the violence of the storm for want of courage."
For a time he mended a little in the spring, and was called
on for the last time to leave Clairvaux to succour his neighbour. Inhabitants
of Metz having been attacked by the duke of Lorraine, were vehemently bent
on revenge. To prevent shedding of more blood the archbishop of Trier
went to Clairvaux, and implored Bernard to journey to Metz in order to reconcile
the parties that were at variance. At this call of charity he
forgot his infirmity and made his way into Lorraine, where he prevailed
on both sides to lay aside their arms and accept a treaty which he drew
up.
Back at Clairvaux, his illness returned with more grievous symptoms.
When he received the last sacraments and his spiritual children assembled
about him in tears, he comforted and encouraged them, saying that the unprofitable
servant ought not to occupy a place uselessly, that the barren tree ought
to be rooted up. His love for them inclined him to remain till they
should be gathered with him to God; but his desire to enjoy Christ made
him long for death. "I am straitened between two", he cried, "and what to
choose I know not. I leave it to the Lord; let Him decide."
And God took him to Himself, on August 20, 1533; he was sixty-three
years old, had been abbot for thirty-eight, and sixty-eight monasteries had
been founded from Clairvaux-Bernard may indeed be counted among the founders
of the Cistercian Order, who brought it out of obscurity into the centre
of western Christendom.
He was canonized in 1174;
in 1830 formally declared a doctor of the Church:
Doctor mellifluus,
the Honey-sweet Doctor, as he is now universally called.
St Bernard "carried the twelfth century on his
shoulders, and he did not carry it without suffering"; he was during his
life the oracle of the Church, the light of prelates, and the reformer of
discipline; since his death he continues to comfort and instruct by his writings.
The great French lay scholar of the seventeenth century, Henry
Valois, did not hesitate to say his writings are the
most useful for piety among all the works of the fathers of the Church,
though he is the youngest of them in time, and Sixtus of Siena, the convented
Jew, said, "His discourse is everywhere sweet and ardent: it so delights
and warms that from his tongue honey and milk seem to flow in his words,
and a fire of burning love to glow from his breast ".
To Erasmus he was "cheerful, pleasant, and vehement in moving the
passions", and in another place "He is Christianly learned, holily eloquent,
and devoutly cheerful and pleasing".
From Pope Innocent II to Cardinal Manning, from Luther to Frederic
Harrison, Catholics and Protestants of eminence have recognized the sanctity
of St Bernard and greatness of his writings, in which he is equally gentle
and vigorous; his charity appears in his reproaches, he reproves to correct,
never to insult.
He had so meditated on the Holy Scriptures that in almost every
sentence he borrows something from their language, and diffuses the marrow
of the sacred text with which his own heart was filled. He was well
read in the writings of the fathers of the Church, especially SS. Ambrose
and Augustine, and often takes his thoughts from their writings and by a new
turn makes them his own.
Though he lived after St Anselm,
the first of the scholastics, and though his contemporaries are ranked in
that class, yet he treats theological subjects after the manner of the ancients.
On this account, and for the great excellence of his writings, he is himself
reckoned among the fathers. Although he is the last among them in
time, he is one of the greatest to those who desire to study and to improve
their hearts in sincere religion.
Almost all
the principal materials for the life of St Bernard have been printed in
the Latin Patrology of Migne,
vol. 185. The most important source, known as the Vita prima -the best text is that of
Waitz in MGH., Scriptores, vol.
xxvi-is made up of five sections by different authors, his contemporaries,
i.e. William of Saint-Thierry, Arnold of Bonneval and Geoffrey of Auxerre,
supplemented by a collection of the miracles. There are other accounts of
his life by Alan of Auxerre, John the Hermit, etc., and a good deal of more
or less legendary matter in later compilations, notably the Exordium magnum of Conrad of Eberbach,
and the Liber miraculorum of Herbert.
All these sources as well as the saint's correspondence have been very carefully
discussed by G. Buffer in his Vorstudien
(1886) and in the first chapter of E. Vacandard's Vie de Saint Bernard (1910), which last
book still remains the most authoritative biography. More popular
lives such as those by G. Goyau (1927), F. Hover (1927), and A. Luddy, Life and Teaching of St Bernard (1927),
are numerous but the accuracy of the rather bulky work last named cannot
always be relied upon. Many non-Catholic biographies or histories, notably
those of J. Cotter Morison (1877), R. S. Storrs (1893), Watkin Williams (1935),
and G. G. Coulton (Five Centuries of Religion,
vol. i) aluo pay tribute to St Eernard'u greatnen. E. Gilson's Mystical Theology of St Bernard appeared
in English in 1940. J. Leclercq's St Bernard
mystique (1948) includes 200 pp. of passages from his writings. Dom
Leclercq worked on a critical edition of the saint's works. See also the
recueil of the Assoc. Bourguignonne
des Societes Savantea, St Bernard et son
temps (2 vols., 1928); and cf D. Knowles, The Monastic Order in England (1949).
An English translation of the saint's letters by the Rev. B. Scott James,
and a valuable volume of biographical material in French, Bernard de Clairvaux, ed. by Dom Jean
Bouton, were published in 1953, among other relevant works.
St. Bernard, St. Bernard
was born of noble parentage in Burgundy, France, in the castle of Fontaines near
Dijon. Under the care of his pious parents he was sent at an early age to
a college at Chatillon, where he was conspicuous for his remarkable piety
and spirit of recollection. At the same place he entered upon the studies
of theology and Holy Scripture.
After the death of his mother, fearing the snares and temptations
of the world, he resolved to embrace the newly established and very austere
institute of the Cistercian Order,
of which he was destined to become the greatest ornament. He also persuaded
his brothers and several of his friends to follow his example. In 1113,
St. Bernard, with thirty young noblemen, presented himself to the holy Abbot,
St. Stephen, at Citeaux.
After a novitiate spent in great fervor, he made his profession
in the following year. His superior soon after, seeing the great progress
he had made in the spiritual life, sent him with twelve monks to found a
new monastery, which afterward became known as the celebrated Abbey of Clairvaux.
St. Bernard was at once appointed Abbot and began that active life which
has rendered him the most conspicuous figure in the history of the 12th century.
He founded numerous other monasteries, composed a number of works and undertook
many journeys for the honor of God. Several Bishoprics were offered him,
but he refused them all. The reputation of St. Bernard spread far and wide;
even the Popes were governed by his advice. He was commissioned by Pope Eugene III to preach the second Crusade.
In obedience to the Sovereign Pontiff he traveled through France and Germany,
and aroused the greatest enthusiasm for the holy war among the masses of
the population. The failure of the expedition raised a great storm against
the saint, but he attributed it to the sins of the Crusaders. St. Bernard was eminently endowed with the gift
of miracles. He died on August 20, 1153.
Pope Encourages Personal Relationship
With Christ Points to Example of St. Bernard of Clairvaux
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 21, 2009 (Zenit.org).
Only Jesus is "joy to the heart,"
says Benedict XVI, citing words from St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The Pope
reflected today during the general audience on this 12th century saint,
highlighting his personal relationship with Christ.
According to the Holy Father,
"in a more than decisive way, the abbot of Clairvaux configures the theologian
to the contemplative and the mystic. Only Jesus -- insists Bernard in face
of the complex dialectical reasoning of his time -- only Jesus is 'honey
to the mouth, song to the ear, joy to the heart.'" Ideas like this one, noted
the Pontiff, won the saint his traditional title: "Doctor Mellifluus: his
praise of Jesus Christ, in fact, 'runs like honey.'" Benedict XVI observed
that "the abbot of Clairvaux does not tire of repeating that only one name
counts, that of Jesus the Nazarene. 'Arid is all food of the soul,' [the
saint] confesses, 'if it is not sprinkled with this oil; insipid, if it is
not seasoned with this salt. What is written has no flavor for me, if I have
not read Jesus.' And he concludes: 'When you discuss or speak, nothing has
flavor for me, if I have not heard resound the name of Jesus.'"
The Pope said Bernard's concept
of true knowledge of God consists in a
"personal, profound experience of Jesus Christ and of his love. And
this, dear brothers and sisters," he said, "is true for every Christian: Faith
is above all a personal, intimate encounter with Jesus, and to experience
his closeness, his friendship, his love; only in this way does one learn to
know him ever more, and to love and follow him ever more. May this happen
to each one of us."
JOHN OF SALISBURY: NATURAL
LAW MUST INSPIRE POSITIVE LAW
VATICAN CITY, 16 DEC 2009 (VIS) - Benedict XVI focused his catechesis
during this morning's general audience on the figure of John of Salisbury,
a philosopher and theologian born in England towards the beginning of the
twelfth century.
Educated in Paris and Chartres, John of Salisbury acted as counsellor
to various archbishops of Canterbury at whose service he placed his vast
knowledge and diplomatic skills. One of these was Thomas Becket whom John
followed into exile in France when that archbishop fell into dispute with
King Henry II who wished to affirmed his authority over the Church and thus
limit her freedom. As an elderly man, John was appointed bishop of Chartres,
where he remained until his death in 1180.
The Pope mentioned John of Salisbury's two principal works: the
"Metaloghicon" (In defence of logic) and the "Policraticus" (The man of government).
In the first of these John expresses the view that "believers and theologians
who study the treasure of the faith deeply also open themselves to the practical
knowledge which guides everyday actions; in other words, to moral laws and
the exercise of virtue".
The central thesis of the "Policraticus" is that there exists "an
objective and immutable truth, the origin of which is in God, a truth accessible
to human reason and which concerns practical and social activities. This
is a natural law from which human legislation, and political and religious
authorities, must draw inspiration in order to promote the common good".
This natural law is characterised by a property "which John calls 'equity',
by which he means giving each person his rights. From here arise precepts
which are legitimate to all peoples and which cannot under any circumstances
be abrogated".
"The question of the relationship between natural law and positive
law, as mediated by equity, is still of great importance", said Benedict
XVI. "Indeed, in our own time, and especially in certain countries, we are
witnessing a disquieting fracture between reason, which has the task of discovering
the ethical values associated with human dignity, and freedom, which has
the responsibility of accepting and promoting those values.
"Perhaps", he added, "John of Salisbury would remind us today that
the only 'equitable' laws are those that defend the sacredness of human
life and reject the legitimacy of abortion, euthanasia and unrestrained
genetic experimentation; the laws that respect the dignity of marriage between
a man and a woman, that are inspired by a correct understanding of the secularism
of the State - a secularism that must always include the safeguarding of
religious freedom - and that seek subsidiarity and solidarity at the national
and international level.
"Otherwise", the Holy Father concluded: "we would end up with what
John of Salisbury defined as the 'tyranny of the prince' or, as we would
say, 'the dictatorship of relativism', a relativism which, as I said some
years ago, 'recognises nothing as definite and has as its ultimate measure
only the self and its own desires'". AG/JOHN OF SALISBURY/...
VIS 091216 (510)
|
1155 St. Bernard of Valdeiglesias Patron saint of Candelada, Spain; a monk at Valdeiglesias,
possibly a Cistercian.
|
1158 St. Ronald
martyr warrior chieftain fulfilling the pledge by erecting the cathedral
of St. Magnus at Kirkwall.
In the Orkney Islands, Scotland. According to tradition, he
made a vow to build a church, fulfilling the pledge by erecting the cathedral
of St. Magnus at Kirkwall. Ronald
was later murdered by a group of rebelling warriors and was venerated as
a martyr at Kirkwall.
|
| 1180 St. Herbert Hoscam Archbishop Patron saint of Conze, Italy. He was English
by birth but served as prelate
of the Basilicata area. |
Apud montem Senárium, in Etrúria,
natális sancti Manétti Confessóris, e septem Fundatóribus
Ordinis Servórum beátæ Maríæ Vírginis;
qui, eídem hymnos dicens, exspirávit. Ipsíus autem
ac Sociórum festum prídie Idus Februárii celebrátur.
St. Manetto On Mount Senario in Tuscany, the birthday of,
confessor, one of the seven founders of the Order of the Servites of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, who died as he was repeating a hymn to her. His
feast, with that of his companions, is kept on the 12th of February.
|
1866
Bd Mary De Mattias, Virgin, Foundress of The Sisters Adorers of The Precious
Blood
When Mary de Mattias began the work that was to develop into a congregation
for adoration of the Precious Blood of Christ and the education of children
she met a requirement of her time, which needed, in the words of Pope Pius
XI, "a general reform, especially by way of better instruction of minds
and a renewed purifying of habits".
Born in 1805, Mary was the eldest of the four children of a lawyer,
John de Mattias, and Octavia de Angelis his wife, who lived at Vallecorsa
on the borders of Lazio and Campania. Shortly after her seventeenth
birthday St Caspar del Bufalo gave
a mission in the parish church, which was the occasion of her hearing a
definite call to some special work for the good of souls. Within a
little time she had come to know the Venerable
John Merlini, disciple of St Caspar and his successor at the head
of the Missioners of the Precious Blood; he became her director and
adviser, and remained so for the rest of her life.
In 1834 Mary accepted an invitation from her bishop, Mgr Lais,
who was also the administrator of Anagni, to take charge of a school at
Acuto in that diocese. She went there determined not simply to be
a school-mistress but to establish a religious house as well. In the following
year came her first recruit, Anne Farrotti, they committed themselves to
foundation of a congregation under the inspiration of the example of Canon
del Bufalo's missioners.
Mary had already begun to extend her activities from school-children
to older girls and to married women. Six more recruits soon followed.
Mary de Mattias, like St Lucy Filippini, had a great gift of easy and convincing
speech, which she used to much advantage in her catechetical and biblical
instructions and in the girls' and women's societies that she organized;
and at the end of 1837 she began to conduct "spiritual exercises" for mothers
of families, which were a great success. This evoked the inevitable unfavourable
comment and invoking of I Corinthians xiv 34 (though they were not in fact
held in the church), but after due inquiry Bishop Muccioli approved.
When women began to attend the May devotions in the school the parish-priest
objected and put a stop to it but Mary was vindicated by the rural dean,
much to the joy of the mothers.
The canonical process of her beatification makes it plain that
Mary's eloquence really was such: she loved quiet and silence, "She
was not loquacious".
In 1840 a second school was taken over, under the auspices of the
Missioners of the Precious Blood, in Mary's old home at Vallecorsa, and
other foundations followed, the work for adult women and girls increasing
at the same time. Between 1847 and 1851 two houses were founded in
Rome itself through the interest of a Russian widow, Princess Zena Volkonska;
and there two English prelates, Mgr George Talbot and Mgr (later cardinal)
Edward Howard, became her good friends. It is recorded of an English member
of the congregation that Mother de Mattias had gently to rebuke her for
her endless boasting about English politeness "Calvary is the school of good
manners ", she said.
The rapid expansion of the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood
of course did not take place without difficulties and disappointments, so
many trials for the faith and spiritual integrity of Mother de Mattias.
But at last hat robust energy began to tire and her health to weaken, and
she died at Rome on August 20, 1866, in her sixty-first year. At the
time of her beatification in 1950 her congregation had nearly 400 establishments,
many of them in the United States and other countries, including schools
of all grades and kinds.
The first biography of Bd Mary de Mattias was by Don Merlini.
A full official life was published in Rome in 1950, written by a Benedictine,
Dame M. Eugenia Pietromarchi .
|
1912 1890 Wilhelm und Katharina
Booth Anglikanische
Kirche: 20. August
William Booth wurde am 10.04.1829 in Nottingham geboren. Mit
15 Jahren entschied er sich für Christus und trat den Methodisten bei.
1854 wurde er ordiniert und 1861 begann er seine Tätigkeit als selbständiger
Evangelist. Am 2. Juli 1865 hielt er eine erste Versammlung in Whitechapel.
Dieser Tag gilt als Gründungstermin der Heiilsarmee. Botth wurde der
erste General de Heilsarmee, sein Sohn Bramwell und seine Tochter Evangeline
folgten ihm nach. William Booth starb am 20.08.1912 in London.
Catherine Mumford, Tochter eines methodistischen Laienpredigers, wurde
am 17.01.1829 in Ashbourne geboren. 1852 lernte sie ihren künftigen Ehemann
kennen. Beide engagierten sich für christliches soziales Handeln. Catherine
war auch in der Frauenbewegung aktiv und forderte, daß auch Frauen
predigen dürften. Obwohl ihr Ehemann diese Forderung ablehnte, predigte
Catherine ab 1860. Sie engagierte sich für Fabrikarbeiterinnen und Prostituierte,
evangelisierte mit ihrem Mann in der Heilsarmee und zog acht Kinder auf.
Sie starb am 4.10.1890 in Clacton-on-Sea.
Biographie
Catherine Booth (Wikipedia)
Biographie
William Booth (Wikipedia) |
Mary Mother of GOD
August 20 - Saint Bernard of Clairvaux - Doctor of the Church (d. 1153) "Full of Heavenly Dew
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.