44 Saint Thaddeus, Apostle of the Seventy; preached in Syria and Mesopotamia; many miracles;
By descent a Hebrew, and he was born in the Syrian city of Edessa.
The holy Apostle Thaddeus of the Seventy must be distinguished from St Jude,
also called Thaddeus or Levi (June 19), who was one of the Twelve Apostles.
When he came to Jerusalem for a feastday, he heard the preaching of John
the Forerunner. After being baptized by him in the Jordan, he remained in
Palestine. He saw the Savior, and became His follower. He was chosen by the
Lord to be one of the Seventy Disciples, whom He sent by twos to preach in
the cities and places where He intended to visit (Luke. 10: 1).
After the Ascension of the Savior to Heaven, St Thaddeus preached the good
news in Syria and Mesopotamia. He came preaching the Gospel to Edessa and
he converted King Abgar, the people and the pagan priests to Christ. He backed
up his preaching with many miracles (about which Abgar wrote to the Assyrian
emperor Nerses). He established priests there and built up the Edessa Church.
Prince Abgar wanted to reward St Thaddeus with rich gifts, but he refused
and went preaching to other cities, converting many pagans to the Christian
Faith. He went to the city of Beirut to preach, and he founded a church there.
It was in this city that he peacefully died in the year 44. (The place of
his death is indicated as Beirut in the Slavonic MENAION, but according to
other sources he died in Edessa. According to an ancient Armenian tradition,
St Thaddeus, after various tortures, was beheaded by the sword on December
21 in the Artaz region in the year 50).
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3rd v. St. Quadratus
Martyr
Utica bishop taught both clergy and laity to confess Christ
praised by St. Augustine
Item sancti Quadráti Epíscopi.
Also, St. Quadratus, bishop.
France. He was praised by St.
Augustine. The Christians in Utica suffered severely under the Romans,
and Quadratus and most of his flock were martyred and subsequently deeply
revered by St. Augustine and others
in the African Church. 3rd cent. Bishop of Utica in North Africa who
taught both clergy and laity to confess Christ. They were all martyred. St
Quadratus was greatly revered in Africa.
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249 St. Cyriaca Widowed
Roman martyr patroness of St. Laurence church @ Caelian
(Coelian) Hill (one of 7 famous hills of Rome) is called Santa Maria in
Domnica sometimes called Dominica.
Romæ, in agro Veráno,
sanctæ Cyríacæ, Víduæ et Mártyris;
quæ, in persecutióne Valeriáni, cum se súaque ómnia
in Sanctórum ministéria impendísset, demum, martyrium
pro Christo súbiens, vitam quoque ipsam libénter impéndit.
At Rome, in the Agro Verano, St. Cyriaca, widow and
martyr. In the persecution of Valerian, after devoting herself and
all her goods in the service of the saints, she gave up her life by suffering
martyrdom for Christ.
St. Laurence,
deacon and martyr,
used Cyriaca’s villa in Rome to distribute alms to the poor. She was scourged
to death for the faith. The church of St. Mary in Dominica was named after
her.
St. Cyriaca Also called Dominica, this Roman widow of wealth was scourged
to death - apparently for harboring and distributing alms to the persecuted
Christians. [Yonge] (The story of Pudentiana is similar to that of
the this wealthy matron of a century later.)
Domnica is a Latinized version of Cyriaca - both variously being
inferred to mean ?dedicated? to the Lord or the Lord's Day. The Chandlery
book is the only source found which also references this as the site where
the wealthy matron Cyriaca had her palatial home.
St. Domnica is referenced to have died in prison in Cilicia
in the year 286. That date is suspect, although it's known that various
governor's did have general authority to harass Christians regarding their
refusal to follow pagan customs.
Laurence, Almoner of St. Cyriaca The Chandlery book has an abundance of
'legend', including photographs of old paintings, which tie this St. Cyriaca
into the history of St. Laurence. The legend makes enough sense to
be believable but hasn't been substantiated by direct reference in any of
the ancient writings found, so far. One church atop the Caelian (Coelian)
Hill (one of the seven famous hills of Rome) is called Santa Maria in Domnica.
Her martyrdom in 249 would make her a premature victim of the
persecution of Emperor Decius
who assumed power in October, 249, and didn't begin the 7th cycle of persecutions
with an edict against Christians until January 250. In it, he ordered
Bishops put to death and others tortured until they recanted their faith.
(This is the edict St. Cyprian, the
Bishop of Carthage, managed to avoid by retiring to a safe hiding place.
On his return, he took offence at those still alive - obviously for their
not having kept the faith.)
The date of her death makes more sense as 259 - toward the end
of the GREAT persecution (8th) of Valerian begun in 257. Page 199 of
the Clarke book summarizes the final edict:
"... in August, A.D. 258, ... Valerian had sent a new rescript
... ordering that bishops, presbyters, and deacons by summarily put to death;
that senators, men of rank, and Roman knights be deprived of both their rank
and their property, and, if afterwards they presisted in being Christians,
be executed; that matrons lose their property and be banished; that all imperial
officials who have either confessed before or confess now have their property
confiscated, be reduced to slavery, and sent to work on the imperial estates."
Page 185 of the Healy book emphasizes that, "Although the edict
expressly stated that the punishment to be inflicted on Christian matrons
was confiscation and banishment, there were several women of noble birth who
paid the extreme penalty." The supposedly extremely wealthy widow and matron
Cyriaca may have been among them. (The motives of the Empire regarding
confiscation should be obvious. Nowhere does there appear to be evidence
that such confiscations were turned over to those running the "pagan temples"
- the supposed, preferred alternative.)
She must be the "widow" who buried St. Laurence on 'her' "Ager Veran" estate
in 'her' cemetery. It's no coincidence that's the area were the poor
people were buried.
She may be the one who began the process at that location next
to her cemetery.
She can't be the almost 66 year
old female apparently buried along with the Popes and Cecilia in the oldest,
most revered part of Callistus
after 300, unless that dating is late by at least 41 years.
She may have been the matriarch of the extended Cyriac family and highly revered
role model for many other wealthy females of Rome. She may have been
among the wealthy Roman women called 'Lucina' during the persecutions who
seem not to exist other than as references to various clandestine activities
associated with underground burials. Lucina, the light, may have been
the 'pseudonym' given to wealthy female patrons who made the underground burials
possible, primarily through their ownership or control of the land surrounding
Rome where the catacombs were built.
In other words, given that all this activity was illegal, the
real names of the private individuals involved were never used. When
asked where the resources came from, the answer may have been, "from Lucina." (Ask the average citizen
who the Vice-President of the United States is to get an idea of how easy
it would be, even now, to pass off a fictitious name for some individual known
to insiders but not yet to the general populace.)
"DASVMIA QVIRIACE BONE FEMINE PALVMBRA SENe FELlE . . . QVÆ VIXIT
ANNOS LXVI DEPOSITA IIII KAL MARTIAS IN PACE"
"Cyriaca, a member of the noble
Dasumian family, who died at the age of sixty-six years, is called a 'dove
without bitterness'.":
a eulogy that is found on other female graves.
Source: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Roman Catacombs - Catacomb
of Callistus, 4th century.
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255
St. Paternus Martyred Egyptian
Fundis, in Látio, sancti Patérni Mártyris, qui, ab
Alexandría Romam venit ad Apostolórum memórias; et inde
in agrum Fundánum secéssit, atque ibi, cum Mártyrum
córpora sepelíret, a Tribúno comprehénsus est,
et in vínculis exspirávit.
At Fundi in Campania, St. Paternus, a martyr, who came
from Alexandria to Rome to visit the tomb of the apostles. Thence he
retired to the neighbourhood of Fundi, where, being seized by the tribune
while he was burying the bodies of the martyrs, he died in captivity.
From Alexandria. He went to Rome and was
arrested at Fondi, Italy, where he died in prison.
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274
St. Anastasius Cornicularius Martyr Roman tribune
Salónæ, in Dalmátia, sancti Anastásii Corniculárii,
qui, cum vidéret beátum Agapítum constánter torménta
perferéntem, convérsus est ad fidem, et, pro confessióne
nóminis Christi, jubénte Aureliáno Imperatóre,
interémptus, Martyr migrávit ad Dóminum.
At Salona in Dalmatia, St. Anastasius, a law officer,
who was converted to the faith by seeing the fortitude with which blessed
Agapitus bore his torments, and being put to death by order of Emperor Aurelian
for confessing the name of Christ, went to our Lord, a martyr.who was
converted by the death of St. Agapitus.
Anastasius was a Roman tribune,
or cornicularius, hence the name. He suffered martyrdom as a result of his
conversion at Salone, near Rome.
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303
St. Luxorius Cisellus and Camerinus soldier Martyr of Sardinia Sicily, Italy, with
Camerinus and Cisellus
In Sardínia natális sanctórum Mártyrum Luxórii,
Cisélli et Cameríni; qui, in persecutióne Diocletiáni,
sub Délphio Præside, gládio cæsi sunt.
In Sardinia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Luxorius,
Cisellus, and Camerinus, who were put to the sword in the persecution of Diocletian,
under the governor Delphius.
According to the unreliable acta of these martyrs Luxorius was
a Roman soldier who, being able to read, had seen a psalter and was greatly
impressed by its contents. When he read in Psalm 85, "There is none
among the gods like unto thee, 0 Lord, and there is none according to thy
works. All the nations thou hast made shall come and adore before thee,
0 Lord, and they shall glorify thy name ; for thou art great and dost wonderful
things: thou art God alone ", he saw that such a god was none other than the
Christians' God. He made the next verse his own, "Conduct me, 0 Lord,
in thy way and I will walk in thy truth ", clumsily he made the sign of the
cross upon himself, and made his way to a church, and there heard them singing
Psalm 118: "Give bountifully to thy servant, enliven me, and! shall keep
thy words. Open thou my eyes...He borrowed more of the sacred books,
and learned the psalms and the words of the prophets by heart, and when at
last he was permitted to read the gospels his soul was enlightened by faith,
and he believed in Jesus Christ and was baptized.
At that time the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian
broke out and Delphius the prefect began to enforce the imperial decrees in
Sardinia, where Luxorius was stationed. The soldier was one of the first
to be brought before him, and with him two young boys, Cisellus and Camerinus,
still wearing the white garments of baptism. Delphius ordered Luxorius to
deny Christ, and he refused. So he was tied to a post and scourged, and while
this was done he sang psalms, to glorify God, to keep his mind off his own
sufferings, and to put heart into his two small companions. And when
he could not move them, Deiphius had them all three put to death by the sword.
This martyrdom took place at Forum Trajanum.
It is to be feared that we can
be assured of nothing more than the fact of the martyr's existence and early
cultus. The story of the two boy companions
who suffered with Luxorius seems to be a mere embellishment. The place of
martyrdom, Forum Trajanum, makes one think of Rome, but it is the name of
a township in Sardinia now known as Fordingiano. See the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. iv; and CMH.,
pp. 454-455.
They were beheaded. Luxorius was a soldier. Camerinus and Cisellus
were newly baptized youths.
Luxorius, Cisellus and Camerinus Martyrs in Sardinia beheaded
under Diocletian.
Luxorius had been a soldier in the imperial army, the other
two were boys whom he helped to accept martyrdom.
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304 St. Bassa and
Companions Martyrs in Edessa encouraging their bravery and loyalty to the
end her sons remained unharmed from fire, water and beasts. When they
brought her to a pagan temple, she shattered the statue of Zeus miracle of
the whirlpool
Edéssæ, in Syria, sanctórum Mártyrum Bassæ,
ac trium ejus filiórum, id est Theogónii, Agápii et Fidélis;
quos, in persecutióne Maximiáni, pia mater exhórtans,
martyrio coronátos præmísit ad palmam, et, truncáto
cápite, gaudens secúta est cum victória.
At Edessa in Syria, during the persecution of Maximian,
the holy martyrs Bassa, and her sons Theogonius, Agapius, and Fidelis, whom
their pious mother exhorted to martyrdom and sent before her bearing their
crowns. Being herself beheaded, she joyfully followed them and shared
their victory.
Bassa was the wife of a pagan priest. When her sons, Theogonius,
Agapius, and Fidelis were condemned during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian,
Bassa joined them, encouraging their bravery and loyalty to the end.
The Martyress Bassa with her sons Theognios, Agapios and Pistos, lived
in the city of Macedonian Edessa and she was married to a pagan-priest. From
childhood she had been raised in the Christian faith, which she passed on
to her sons. During the time of the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311), the
husband reported to the governor on his wife and children. All of them, in
spite of threats, refused to offer sacrifice to idols. They took the eldest
son, Theognios, and tore at him with iron claws. They flayed the skin of the
lad Agapios from head to chest, but the martyr did not utter a sound. Finally,
they began to torture also the youngest son Pistos. The mother did not hesitate
to encourage them to endure the suffering for Christ. Then they beheaded
the lads. (By one account, the three martyred brothers suffered at Edessa
in Macedonia; by another account -- at Larissa in Thessaly their homeland).
They locked up Saint Bassa in prison and exhausted her with hunger, but an
Angel strengthened her with heavenly food. Under successive tortures she
remained unharmed from fire, water and beasts. When they brought her to a
pagan temple, she shattered the statue of Zeus. Then they threw the martyress
into a whirlpool in the sea. But to everyone's surprise a ship sailed up,
and three radiant men pulled her up (the Monk Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain
suggested, that these were her children, martyred earlier). After 8 days
Saint Bassa came by ship to the governor of the island of Alona, not far
from Kyzika, in the Prepontid or Marmora Sea. After a beating with canes
they beheaded her.
It is known, that around the year 450 there already existed at Chalcedon
a church in honour of the holy Martyress Bassa.
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363 Ss. Bonosus and
Maximian, Martyrs; The Emperor Julian the Apostate commanded the cross and
monogram of Jesus Christ which Constantine had placed on the standard of the
army to be struck off, and had the standards reduced to the form used under
the pagan emperors. There were in the Herculean cohort at Antioch two officers,
zealous Christians, named Bonosus and Maximian, who refused to change their
standard.
Eódem
die sanctórum Mártyrum Bonósi et Maximiáni.
On the same day, the holy martyrs Bononus and Maximian.
The emperor's uncle, Count Julian, commanded them to give their troops
the new ensign, and to worship the same gods which he and the emperor worshipped.
Bonosus answered, "We cannot worship gods which have been made by the hands
of men", and refused to give up the standard to be altered. The comes ordered
him to be tied up, and three hundred lashes to be given him. Under this Bonosus
only smiled, and made no answer when asked if he would obey. The comes then
turned to Maximian, who said, "Let your gods first hear and speak to you,
and then we will worship them". Julian then had them both racked, but
when he asked again if they would obey, they answered, "We cannot obey the
emperor in these matters, because we have before our eyes the invisible God
in whom we trust". Count Julian threatened the martyrs in a second and
a third interrogation, but they answered they were Christians and were determined
to continue such. The comes
was for having them tortured again; but the prefect Secundus, himself
a pagan, absolutely refused to hear of it; Julian therefore condemned
Bonosus and Maximian to be beheaded.
There is tacked on to the narrative of the trial and death of these
martyrs an account of the last days of Count Julian, in its details manifestly
false. He is represented as suffering from a disease as revolting as
it is impossible; his Christian wife tells him in effect that it serves him
right, and urges him to bear the, hand of the Lord gladly; and he dies miserably,
but calling on the name of the one God. Alban Butler takes the opportunity
for a dissertation on the death of a sinner, which is here omitted together
with the occasion of it.
Although the text of this Latin
passia is printed by Ruinart amongst his Acta sincera, we lack any satisfactory
guarantee of its authenticity. There seems to be no oriental cultus, though the martyrs suffered at
Antioch. See, however, P. Allard, Julien
l'Apostat, vol. iii, p. 153. Dom Leclercq, in his collection
Les Martyrs, vol. iii, pp.
99-104, has printed a translation of the whole document.
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480
St. Apollinaris Sidonius Bishop and classical scholar
Arvérnis, in Gállia, sancti Sidónii Epíscopi,
doctrína et sanctitáte conspícui.
In Auvergne in France, St. Sidonius, bishop, noted for
learning and holiness.
Sts_Sidonius_Apollinaris_Clermon_Avitus_of_Clermon_Mamertus_of_Vienne_11_May.jpg
Apollinaris Sidonius (Caius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius) , fl. 455-75,
Latin writer, b. Lyons. He had a minor role in imperial politics and was
bishop of Clermont. Although his panegyric poetry is of little consequence,
his letters are an interesting historical source. Canonized by the Roman
Catholic Church, he is called St. Sidonius.
479 St Sidonius Apollinaris, bishop or clermont
Gaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius, soldier, poet, statesman,
country gentleman, and eventually bishop, was born at Lyons about the year
430, and was of one of the most noble families in Gaul, where his father and
grandfather, both named Apollinaris, had been prefects of the praetorium.
He was educated in arts and learning under the best masters, and was one of
the most celebrated orators and poets of the age in which he lived.
From his letters it is clear that he was always religious, extremely affectionate,
beneficent and compassionate; on the other hand, he was no rigorous censor,
for at a time when Salvian was writing so fiercely of the corruption of southern
Gaul, St Sidonius did not raise his voice in vituperation of the iniquities
of his times.
He married Papianilla, by whom he had a son and three daughters.
Papianilla was daughter of Avitus, who was raised to the imperial throne at
Rome in 455; Sidonius wrote a panegyric in honour of his father-in-law, who
returned the compliment by putting a statue of him among the poets in the
Forum of Trajan. Avitus, a weak person if no worse, was made to resign the
purple after a reign often months, and he died on the road to Auvergne. Majorian,
his successor, captured Lyons and threatened severe treatment for the citizens
but after a time of eclipse and uncertainty Sidonius wrote a panegyric of
him too. The new emperor was slain in 461 by Ricimer the Goth, who
placed the diadem upon the head of Severus. Upon this revolution Sidonius
left the court, and retired to Auvergne. Severus was poisoned by Ricimer
after a reign of four years, and Anthemius was chosen emperor in 467.
Sidonius went again to Rome, on business of his province; and hoping
for a revival of the empire he wrote another very encouraging panegyric. The
feeble emperors of this age were peculiarly susceptible to compliments, and
the poet was made prefect of the city. But his hopes of .Anthemius came to
nothing, the position in Rome was difficult, and he returned to Gaul, to
his wife and family and the enjoyment of his estates.
Sidonius was soon called from these secular
dignities to responsibilities in the Church. The bishopric of Arvernum,
since called Clermont in Auvergne, falling vacant, the people of that diocese
and the bishops of the country demanded that he should fill the episcopal
office; they were conscious not only of his high character and abilities,
but also of the fact that he was the man best qualified to uphold Gallo-Roman
power against the Visigoths. St Sidonius was very unwilling, deploring
his unfitness, but eventually acquiesced; and from that moment he renounced
lighter poetry, which till then had been his delight, to apply himself to
those studies which were more required by his ministry.
He was no stranger to them whilst a layman, and he soon became an authority
whom other bishops consulted in their difficulties; he was always reserved
and unwilling to decide things and referred them to others, alleging that
he was not capable of acting the part of a teacher among the brethren whose
direction and knowledge he himself stood in need of. St Lupus
of Troyes, who had always loved and honoured him, on his being made a bishop
wrote a letter of congratulation and advice, in which among other things he
told him: "It is no longer by show and a stately household that you are to
keep up your rank, but by deep humility of heart. You are placed above others,
but must see yourself as below the meanest and last in your flock. Be
ready to kiss the feet of those whom formerly you would not have thought worthy
to sit at your own. You must make yourself the servant of all."
And so St Sidonius
did. He kept a frugal table, fasted every second day and, though of a delicate
constitution, seemed to carry his austerities to excess. He looked upon
it as a principal duty to provide for the instruction, comfort and assistance
of the poor. In the time of a great famine he maintained at his own charge,
with the charitable help of Ecdicius, his wife's brother, more than four
thousand Burgundians and other strangers who had been driven from their own
country by misery and necessity; and when the scarcity was over he helped
send them to their homes. His reputation was such that, being summoned to
Bourges when that see, which was his metropolitan church, was vacant in 472,
the assembled prelates referred the election of a bishop to him, and he nominated
one Simplicius. He says that a bishop ought to do by humility
what a monk and a penitent are obliged to do by their profession, and he
gives an account of Maximus, Bishop of Toulouse, whom he had before known
as a very rich man of the world he found him in his new spiritual dignity
wholly changed; his clothes, mien and conversation savoured of nothing but
modesty and piety; he had short hair and a long beard; his household stuff
was plain; he had wooden benches, stuff curtains, a bed without feathers,
and a table without a covering; and the food of his household consisted of
pulse more than flesh.
Clermont being threatened by Eurik, King of the Visigoths,
who then controlled the southern provinces of France, the bishop encouraged
the people to oppose them. He put his brother-in-law Ecdicius in charge
of defence; instituted rogation processions to implore the mercy of God.
But in 474 Clermont fell; his previous activities exposed St Sidonius to
reprisals of the conquerors after they were masters of the place, and for
a time he was exiled to a fortress near Carcassone. Here he was lodged next
door to two bad-tempered old women, who made such a noise that he could neithcr
sleep nor read "Never ", complained the poor man, were two such quarrelsome,
restless and abusive chatterers." When he was restored to his see he continued
protection and support of his people, though grievously troubled by the Goths.
He died in peace in 479, or possibly a decade later.
St Sidonius Apollinaris was one of the principal writers
of the beginning of the second age of Christian literature, or he may be
regarded as the last of the Gallo-Roman school. His poetry is inflated
and tiresome, but his letters are a valuable witness to the life of Christian
gentlemen in southern Gaul during break-up of the empire; they were sportsmen,
with taste for literature and the other fine arts, whose Christianity sat
rather lightly upon them but was not insincere. The saint shows us
himself in his secular days in Auvergne joining in the recreations, physical
and intellectual, of his neighbours; looking after his estates and the material
and moral well-being of his slaves; and caring for his children: he
warns his son against loose talk, forbids vaudeville in his house, and declines
an invitation to go fishing because his daughter Severiana has a bad feverish
cold.
Sidonius Apollinaris may at a first glance seem a surprising character
to find in the Roman Martyrology; as Father M. Van Cutsem has written, he
"is one of the many bishops who have reached the honours of the altar because
they left no unhappy memory behind and their anniversary was entered in the
Depositio episcoporum".
The greater part of our information
concerning Sidonius is derived from his letters and other writings. The best
text is that edited in MGH., Auctores Antiquissimi,
vol. via. There is an excellent short biography by Paul Allard in the series
"Les Saints" (1910) and a longer one in two volumes by the Abbe Chaix (1866).
An English version of the letters of Sidonius was published by O. M.. Dalton
in 1915, and another by W. B. Anderson in 1936. An unusually long article
has been devoted to him in DCB., vol. iv, pp. 649-661. See C. E. Stevens,
Sidonius Apollinaris and His Age
(1935).
Caius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius
was born in Lugdunum, about 423. He was from a noble family and received a
brilliant education in the classical style. Entering the military, he married
Papianilla, the daughter of Avitus, who became emperor of the West in 455.
Living at the imperial court, Apollinaris survived the deposition of Avitus
in 456 and subsequently served as the chief senator and prefect of Rome from
468 to 469. He then retired to Gaul, where he carried on a vast correspondence
that gives considerable insight into the political period.
In 469, although unwilling and not yet a priest, Apollinaris
was named bishop of Avernum. He was chosen because of his piety and because
he was considered the only one capable of defending the people against the
invading Goths, under Alaric. Apollinaris assumed the humble lifestyle of
the bishopric and learned so much about ecclesiastical affairs that he was
soon recognized as an authority. He opposed King Euric of the Goths in 474
and was exiled briefly. He was an outstanding orator and poet, and he introduced
the days of public prayer called "Rogation Days." Twenty-four of his letters
and poems survived and are a valuable resource on the period. Apollinaris is considered to be the last representative
of the great classical culture of Rome which was being overrun by the Germanic
invasions.
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541
St. Leontius the Elder Bishop of Bordeaux
France, the predecessor of
Leontius the Younger.
|
600 St. Avitus
I of Clermont Bishop of Clermont
Friend of St. Gregory of Tours. He was the eighteenth bishop
of Clermont, France, and he ordained St. Gregory as a deacon.
|
1135
Bd Humbeline, Matron
Bd Humbeline was born in 1092,
the year after her brother St Bernard, with whom she was always on terms of
intimate friendship. Like him she was of great physical beauty, and
had a lovely voice and was skilled in music; in due course she married a
nobleman of the house of Lorraine, Guy de Marcy. Some years after the
founding of Clairvaux she went to visit Bernard there and in due course arrived,
very stylishly dressed and surrounded by an imposing train of attendants.
When St Bernard was told that the Lady Humbeline had come, and with what array,
he was not at all pleased and refused to see her: he knew his sister
and disapproved of her display, and perhaps thought she was "showing off
", travelling in that style. She at once guessed what had upset him,
or, as tradition says, her brother Andrew told her, roughly enough, and she
sent in a message that if he would come out she would do just as he told
her; and out of enclosure St Bernard accordingly came.
Humbeline's life in the world was mote notable for dancing than
devotion, and it was Bernard's opinion that the balance needed redressing;
he took the opportunity presented, and gently reasoned with her, particularly
reminding her of the virtuous and devoted life of their mother, Aleth.
This had its effect (even a sister would hesitate about arguing with a St
Bernard), and Humbeline went away, considerably chastened.
A few years later this interview at Clairvaux had a more unexpected
result, when Humbeline got her husband's consent to her becoming a nun. She
went to the monastery of the nuns at that fully near Troyes which is called
"les-Nonnains after them; here her sister-in-law Elizabeth was abbess, and
when she left to found a convent near Dijon, Bd Humbeline was appointed in
her place. She practised severe physical austerities and when her nuns urged
her to moderate them she replied, "That is all very well for you, my sisters,
who have been serving God in religion all your lives. But I have lived
so long in the world and of the world that no penance can be too much for
me." In her last illness three of her brothers, Bernard, Andrew and
Nivard, hurried to her bedside, and she died in Bernard's arms in 1135 (or
1136). The cultus of
Bd Humbeline was approved in 1703.
There is no
early life of Bd Humbeline. A short account of her is given in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. iv, and she
stands first in the group of holy women whose history is traced by Henriquez
in his Lilia Cisterciensium (1633)
but almost all lives of St Bernard devote more or less space to his relations
with his only sister.
|
1185 Saint Gilbert
French Benedictine monk
|
1224 St. Abraham
of Smolensk Biblical scholar and monk
1221 St. Abraham of Smolensk
This Abraham has a place apart among the saints of pre-Tartar
Russia. He was born at Smolensk during the later part of the
twelfth century. While a youth he lost his parents, whereupon he gave away
his goods to the needy and became a monk and priest of the Bogoroditskaya
monastery at his birthplace. He was like St Theodosius Pechersky in reverence
for St Sabas and the early monks of Palestine, in his insistence on personal
poverty, and in combining the active with the contemplative life, not only
doing much manual work within the monastery but preaching and helping the
poor and sick outside as well.
Abraham took no part in secular affairs, and further differed from
Theodosius in his studiousness. He copied manuscripts, and became a
learned and industrious interpreter of the Holy Scriptures and an energetic
and vigorous preacher; he was full of zeal for God's house and the beauty
of divine worship, and "strictly forbade talking in church", especially
during the Holy Sacrifice.
More remarkable still, for that
time and place, he celebrated the eucharistic Liturgy every day.
What distinguished St Abraham from his contemporaries was his
sternness and austerity, both in precept and practice: "he slept but little;
kneeling and weeping abundant tears, he beat his breast and called upon God,
imploring the Lord to have mercy on His people and to turn away His wrath."
His preaching was marked by prophetic solemnity and concern with the "last
things"; he was tireless in his calls to repentance and his warnings of the
end of the world and its judgement.* {*St Abraham painted two eikons; both
were concerned with the Last Judgement, the Terrible Judgement as it is called
in Russia.}
The influence St Abraham exerted was very great,
especially among lay people, but his teaching amused the opposition of some
among the clergy and monks; and, after his abbot had forbidden him to teach
and he had suffered "many annoyances" Abraham migrated to the Holy Cross monastery
in Smolensk.
But here things got worse,
and the whole city began to turn against him. There is no doubt that the more
ignorant of the clergy were jealous of his learning and popularity as a spiritual
director, and they stirred up others. Charges were made against St
Abraham "on account of women", of heresy, of claiming to be a prophet, of
reading impious books. Eventually he was arrested, dragged through
a jeering mob, and on successive days brought before two different tribunals:
the first, composed of laymen, acquitted him, and it does not seem certain
that the second, of clerics, found him guilty either. But the bishop of Smolensk,
Ignatius, sent him back to his first monastery and he was inhibited from
celebrating the Holy Mysteries.
There were not wanting those who foretold disaster for
Smolensk because of its mistreatment of an innocent and holy man; and when
the city was afflicted with a serious drought Bishop Ignatius decided to
re-examine the case of Abraham. The result of his deliberations was
to decide that the accusations were all false, and St Abraham was reinstated,
with the request that he should pray for the city. "He had not even
reached his cell", writes Ephrem, "before God sent rain." The persecution
had lasted five years, during which he was "insulted and vilified as if he
were a felon". The bishop asked Abraham's forgiveness for the
injustice to which he had been a party, and after a time made him abbot of
the small monastery of the Mother of God. It was not a very desirable
charge, for the monks were few and old and of poor repute; but St Abraham
gladly accepted it, and there spent the rest of his life in peace.
He again took up his former work of the ministry of the word and
of spiritual wisdom, and died in the year 1221, loved and respected by all.
He had been a monk for fifty years, and was stern and uncompromising to the
last as he "in great humility and sorrow of heart reminded himself with sighs
and groans of the separation of soul from body
The contemporary biographer Ephrem says that at St Abraham's
trial "God softened the hearts of the prince and the rulers, but the abbots
and priests would gladly have eaten him alive". The less ignorant and
malicious among these clergy were probably disturbed by some of St Abraham's
biblical exegesis, for that was his great interest, especially as regards
the "last things" and their practical significance for human souls.
Ephrem repeatedly refers to the divine grace that was given
Abraham "not only to read but to interpret, so that nothing in the sacred
writings could be hidden from him". It is not known what the challenged
speculations were, nor the nature of the unorthodox books St Abraham was accused
of studying, for little of his teaching has come down to us, except one sermon,
on the Heavenly Powers, and it is not certain that that is his, though without
doubt it reflects his spiritual background accurately, a background wherein
mercilessness is regarded as almost the worst of sins and the consummation
of the Last Judgement is the transfiguration of the physical earth.
What remains certain is that many came to St Abraham from the city, and passed
from sin to repentance.
For bibliographical notes
on Russian saints, see under St Sergius on September 25, especially Fedotov's
Russian Religious Mind there
referred to, to which most of the above is indebted. There are in
existence only two detailed vitae of pre-Mongol Russian saints, that of this
St Abraham being one of them.
He who endured many trials in
his lifetime. Born to a wealthy family in Smolensk, Russia, Abraham was orphaned
while young and gave away his inheritance to become a monk. He entered the
Bogoroditskaya Monastery and developed a genuine apostolate for the sick and poor of the
region. A biblical scholar
who lived austerely and preached
on the Last Judgement, Abraham made many enemies in his religious community,
and he eventually withdrew from his monastery and joined the monks of the
Holy Cross. He was not well received there either, and charges of heresy,
immorality, and pride were leveled against him. After separate trials cleared
him of these charges, Abraham was ordered back to Bogoroditskaya Monastery
and was denied his priestly functions by Ignatius, bishop of Smolensk.
However, when the city faced a terrible drought, the citizens
of Smolensk demanded that Abraham be restored.
This clamor for reinstatement led to a second investigation,
one that cleared his name. Bishop Ignatius apologized to the saint for his
treatment. Abraham became the abbot of the Mother of God Monastery where
he received people and was revered for his courage and humility. He remained
in the Mother of God Monastery until his death.
The Monk Avraamii (Abraham) of Smolensk, a preacher of repentance
and the impending Dread Last Judgement, was born in the mid-XII Century at
Smolensk of rich parents, who before him had 12 daughters, and they besought
God for a son. From childhood he grew up in the fear of God, he was often
in church and had the opportunity to read books. The parents hoped that their
only son would enter into marriage and continue their illustrious lineage,
but he sought after a different life. After the death of his parents, having
given away all his wealth to monasteries, to churches and to the destitute,
the saint walked through the city in rags, beseeching God to show him the
way to salvation.
He accepted tonsure in a monastery of the MostHoly Mother of
God, five versts from Smolensk, at the locale of Selischa. Having passed
through various obediences there, the monk fervently occupied himself with
the copying of books, culling spiritual riches from them. The Smolensk prince
Roman Rostislavich (+ 1170) started a school in the city, in which they taught
not only in Slavonic, but also out of Greek and Latin books. The prince himself
had a large collection of books, which the Monk Avraamii made use of. He
had asceticised for more than 30 years at the monastery, when in the year
1198 the hegumen persuaded him to accept the dignity of presbyter. Every
day he made Divine Liturgy and fulfilled the obedience of clergy not only
for the brethren, but also for the laypeople.
Soon the monk became widely known.
This aroused the envy of the brethren, and then of the hegumen also, and
5 years later the monk was compelled to transfer to the Cross-Exaltation monastery
in Smolensk itself. From the offerings by the devout he embellished the cathedral
church of the poor monastery with icons, and with curtains and candle-stands.
He himself inscribed two icons on themes, which most of all
concerned him: on the one he depicted the Dread Last Judgement, and on the
other -- the suffering of the trials of life. Lean and pale from extreme
toil, the ascetic in priestly garb resembled in appearance Saint Basil the
Great. The saint was strict both towards himself, and towards his spiritual
children. He preached constantly in church and to those coming to him in
his cell, conversing with rich and poor alike.
The city notables and the clergy demanded of Bishop Ignatii
to bring the monk to trial, accusing him in the seduction of women and the
tempting of his spiritual children. But even more terrible were the accusations
against him, of heresy and the reading of forbidden books. For this they
proposed to drown or burn the ascetic. At the trial by the prince and the
bishop, the monk answered all the false accusations, but despite this, they
forbade him to serve as a priest and returned him to his former monastery
in honour of the MostHoly Mother of God. A terrible drought occurred in consequence
of God's wrath over the unjust sentence, and only when Sainted Ignatii put
forth a pardon of the Monk Avraamii permitting him to serve and preach, did
the rain again fall on the Smolensk lands.
The bishop Saint Ignatii built a new monastery, in honour of
the Placing of the Robe of the Most Holy Mother of God, and he entrusted
the guidance of it to the Monk Avraamii, and he himself settled into it,
having retired because of age from the diocese. Many were desirous to enter
under the guidance of the Monk Avraamii, but he examined them very intensely
and only after great investigation, so that at his monastery there were but
17 brethren. The Monk Avraamii, after the death of Saint Ignatii, having
become his spiritual friend, -- even moreso than before urged the brethren
to reminisce about death and to pray day and night, that they be not condemned
in the Judgement by God.
The Monk Avraamii died after the year 1224, having spent 50
years in monasticism. Already at the end of the XIII Century there had been
compiled a service to him, conjointly with his student the Monk Ephrem. The
terrible Mongol-Tatar invasion, seen as the wrath of God for sin, not only
did not stifle the memory of the Monk Avraamii of Smolensk, but rather was
a reminder to people of his calling to repentance and recollection of the
dread Last Judgement.
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1348 St. Bernard Tolomeo
Italian monk, founder of Congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Olivet
Senis, in Túscia, beáti Bernárdi Ptolomæi Abbátis,
Congregatiónis Olivetánæ Fundatóris.
At Siena in Tuscany, blessed Bernard Ptolemy, abbot
and founder of the Congregation of Olivetans.
THIS holy founder was born at Siena in 1272 and was baptized
John. He was educated by his uncle, a Dominican friar, and at the local
university; after receiving his doctorate in law he took up public work in
Siena and fulfilled several municipal offices. He was always a devout
man; but he seems to have undergone some sort of sudden "conversion", for
in 1312 instead of a lecture on philosophy he gave a sermon on contempt of
the world, resigned his position and withdrew to a place ten miles from
the city and lived there in solitude. He was joined by two other Sienese,
Ambrose Piccolomini and Patrick Patrizi, and the three lived together in
the desert land between Siena and the woods of Mont Amiata, where all was
ash-coloured, sterile and desolate. The reputation of the sanctity
of their lives was marred by malicious or mistaken rumours (some thought
them mad, others subversive), which caused them to be summoned before Pope
John XXII at Avignon to give an account of themselves. They were able
to demonstrate their orthodoxy to the pope's satisfaction, but he instructed
them to put themselves under one or other of the approved monastic riules.
They thereupon consulted Guy, Bishop of Arezzo, who gave them the Rule of
St Benedict and instructed a Camaldolese monk to clothe them in the monastic
habit-but white instead of the usual black.
John Tolomei, who was recognized as their leader,
took the name of Bernard, their hermitage at Chiusuri was called Monte Oliveto,
and the Benedictine congregation of our Lady of Monte Oliveto came into
existence in 1319. It professed a primitive observance of the rule, to which
a number of austerities (including, at first, total abstinence from wine)
were added, and its success was instantaneous. Within a few years Bd
Bernard had founded a second monastery at Siena, and others followed elsewhere;
their penitential life continued to attract disciples and in 1344 the new
congregation was confirmed by Pope Clement VI.
Some time afterwards a bad epidemic of plague broke out around
Siena, and the Olivetan monks gave themselves up entirely to the care of the
suffering and the burial of the dead; it seemed as if they were miraculously
preserved from contagion, but in August 1348 the first of them was struck
down: it was their founder himself. He died at Monte Oliveto on the
20th, the feast of his patron, St Bernard of Clairvaux. In 1644 the cultus of Bd Bernard Tolomei was confirmed,
and his name appears in the Roman Martyrology with the title "Blessed" ; but
he is venerated by the Olivetans, who still exist as a small independent congregation
of Benedictines, as "Saint", in accordance with the declaration of the Congregation
of Sacred Rites that "he was worthy of veneration among the saints".
The Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. iv, give
a long account of Bd Bernard, though there is no formal biography of early
date. The most valuable contribution to the history of the founder of the
Olivetani is that of Dom Placid Lugano, Origine e primordi dell' Ordine di MontolivetoOrden and Kongregationen des Kath. Kirche,
vol. i, pp. 281-283.
Founder of the congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto,
born at Siena in Tuscany in 1272; died in 1348. He received at baptism the
name of Giovanni, but took that of Bernard out of admiration for the saintly
Abbot of Clairvaux. He was educated by his uncle, Christopher Tolorneo, a
Dominican, and desired to enter the religious life, but his father's opposition
prevented, and he continued his studies in secular surroundings. After a course
in philosophy arid mathematics lie devoted himself to the study of civil
and canon law, and of theology. For a time Bernard served in the armies of
Rudolph of Hapsburg. After his return to Siena he was appointed by his fellow
citizens to the highest positions in the town government. While thus occupied
he was struck with blindness. Having recovered his sight through the intervention
of the Blessed Virgin he retired (1313) to a solitary spot about ten miles
from Siena, where he led a life of the greatest austerity.
The fame of his virtues soon attracted
many visitors, and Bernard was accused of heresy. He went to Avignon and
cleared himself of this charge before John XXII without difficulty. Upon
his return he founded the congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto,
giving it the Rule of St. Benedict. The purpose of the new religious institute
was a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Guido, Bishop of Arezzo, within
whose diocese the congregation was formed, confirmed its constitution, (1319),
and many favours were granted by Popes John XXII, Clement VI (1344), and Gregory
XI. Upon the appearance of the pest in the district of Arezzo, Bernard and
his monks devoted themselves to the care of the sick without any personal
ill effects After having ruled the religious body he had founded for twenty-seven
years Bernard died, at the age of seventy-six. His death was followed by many
miracles and the congregation became a nursery of saints. In 1634 the Congregation
of Rites declared that the Blessed Bernard Tolomeo was deserving of veneration
among the saints. (1903), who, basing his work upon the relatively
early chronicles of Antony de Barga and Alexander da Sesto, has stripped
Bernard's life of its legendary accretion., notably of the story which attribute,
his religious vocation to the miraculous cure of sudden blindness. On the
Olivetani as a reformed congregation see Heimbucher,
|
1641 St Jane Frances
De Chantal, Widow, Co-Foundress of The Order of The Visitation
The father of St Jane de Chantal was Bénigne Frémyot,
president of the parliment of Burgundy. M. Frémyot was left a widower
whilst his children were yet in their infancy; but he took such care of their
education that nothing was wanting for forming them in the practice of every
religious duty and preparing them for life. Jane, who at her confirmation
was called Frances, profited above the rest and was tenderly beloved by her
father, who gave her in marriage when she was twenty to Christopher de Rabutin,
Baron de Chantal, then twenty-seven years old, an officer in the French army
and an accomplished but penitent duellist; on his mother's side he was descended
from Bd Humbeline, whose feast is kept on this same day. The marriage was
solemnized at Dijon, and a few days after Jane Frances went with her husband
to his seat at Bourbilly. She found an estate and household which since the
death of her husband's mother had not been much accustomed to regularity,
and the baroness made it her first care to establish order and good management.
After three children had died soon after birth, they were blessed
with a boy and three girls who throve. Nothing which the world could
afford was wanting to complete their happiness, and they strove to be worthy
of God's blessings. When someone commented on the baroness's modest
clothes -when her husband was away, she replied, "The eyes which I want to
please are a hundred leagues from here"; and the remark of St Francis de
Sales was as true in the early days as when he made it, "In Madame de Chantal
I have found the valiant woman whom Solomon had difficulty in finding in
Jerusalem."
But the happiness of Bourbilly lasted only nine years. One
day in the year 1601 M. de Chantal, in company with a friend, went out shooting;
the circumstances are not known, but accidentally M. d'Auldzy shot him in
the thigh. He survived nine days, during which he suffered great pain from
the efforts of an unskilful surgeon and received the sacraments with edifying
resignation. Madame de Chantal's life, thoughts and actions were bound
up in her beloved husband, and when she was left a widow at twenty-eight her
grief is not to be expressed; for four months she was sunk in dejection, until
she was roused by a letter from her father, who reminded her of her obligations
towards her children. To testify her perfect forgiveness of him who
had been the cause of her husband's death, she did him every good office
in her power, and stood godmother to one of his children. She doubled her
alms, and divided her time between the instruction and care of her children,
her prayers and her work. It was her earnest and continual prayer that
God would show her a truly holy guide, by whom she might be instructed in
what manner she might best accomplish His will. One day when she was speaking
to our Lord on this matter, she saw suddenly a man of the same stature and
features as St Francis de Sales, dressed just as he was the first time she
saw him afterwards at Dijon. Another time, being in a little wood, she
seemed to be trying to get into a church that was near, but in vain.
Here it was given her to understand that divine love must consume all the
rust of self-love in her, and that she should meet with a great many troubles,
both from within and without.
During the
year of her mourning her father sent for her to his house at Dijon, where
she lived with her children until she had to go with them to Monthelon, near
Autun, to live with the old Baron de Chantal, who was then seventy-five.
She gave up her beautiful and deeply-loved Bourbilly for an unprepossessing
chateau, occupied by a vain, fierce and extravagant old man and ruled by an
insolent housekeeper of bad reputation. Jane never let fall a word of
complaint, and, though she was never allowed to take her rightful place in
the house, her compliance in everything was cheerful and agreeable. It happened
in 1604 that St Francis de Sales came to preach the Lent at Dijon, and she
went to stay with her father there that she might have the opportunity of
hearing so celebrated a preacher. She at once recognized him as the
person she had seen in vision and knew him to be the spiritual director she
had long begged of God to send her. St Francis dined frequently at her father's
house, and she gained a great confidence in him. It was her wish to put her
difficulties before him, but she was hindered by a scruple on account of
a vow she had made by the advice of an indiscreet religious, her director,
not to address herself to any other than to himself for spiritual advice.
She, however, took care to profit by the presence of the bishop, and he in
his turn was greatly impressed by and attracted to her. One day, seeing
her dressed better than usual, he said, "Madam, do you wish to marry again?"
"No, indeed, my lord!" she replied. "Very well ", he said with a smile, "but
then you should pull down your flag." She took the hint.
The perplexities about her indiscreet vow being removed, she prevailed
on St Francis after some difficulty to undertake her direction. By his
advice she regulated her devotions and other exercises so as to conform herself
to what she owed to the world whilst she lived in the houses of her father
and father-in-law. In this she was so successful that the significant
remark was made, "Madam prays always, and yet is never troublesome to anybody".
She followed a strict rule of life, devoting much time to her children, and
visited the poor that were sick in the neighbourhood and watched whole nights
by those that were dying.
The sweetness and mildness of her temper showed how she had already
co-operated with the grace of God. Madame de Chantal was by nature strong,
firm and forceful, but there was a certain hardness and rigidity in her character
which was only removed by long years of prayer, suffering and patient guidance.
This was the work, under God, of St Francis de Sales, whom she visited at
Annecy and who corresponded freely with her. He strictly limited
her bodily mortifications, reminding her that St Charles Borromeo, "a man
with a true spirit of liberty acting from charity", did not disdain to drink
toasts with his hearty neighbours, and that St Ignatius Loyola ate meat on
a Friday on the bare word of his doctor, "when a narrow man would have argued
about it for at least three days".
He never allowed her to forget that she was still a woman in the
world, an old man's daughter, and, above all, a mother; he spoke much to her
about her children's upbringing and softened her tendency to over-strictness
in their regard, so that they profited almost as much from his friendship
as their mother did.
For some time various
considerations, including the presence of Carmelite nuns at Dijon, inclined
Madame de Chantal to enter a cloister. When she had talked to St Francis about
this he took some time to recommend the matter to God, and at length in 1607
he unfolded his project of forming a new establishment, a congregation of
the Visitation of the Virgin Mary. St Jane welcomed the proposal with
joy; but the grief of her aged father, requirements of her children, and
the situation of the affairs of her family, raised great obstacles and gave
her much suffering. To the objection that the obligation which Madame
de Chantal owed her children could not be complied with unless she remained
with them in the world, St Francis replied that they were no longer infants
and that in a cloister she would be able to watch over them with no less
vigilance, and perhaps even with greater advantage to them, than by continuing
always with them, especially as the two eldest were about to go "into the
world"; and these and other objections were eventually overcome.
Before she left the world St Jane Frances
married her eldest daughter to St Francis's brother, the young Baron de
Thorens. Her two younger daughters she determined to take with her one died
in a short time; the other she afterwards married to M. de Toulonjon.
Her son, Celse-Bdnigne, was fifteen years old, and him she left under the
care of her father and of tutors. At Dijon she had to bid adieu
to all her friends, and as she came to leave the room Celse-Bdnigne, who
had tried in vain to shake her resolution at the last moment, threw himself
to the ground across the doorway in a paroxysm of grief.
Here was a last inducement to choose the easier way, and stay ; she chose
the harder-and stepped over his body. In the porch her aged father
was waiting. She fell on her knees with streaming eyes and asked him to bless
her. He laid his hands on her head and said, "I cannot blame you for
what you do. You go with my consent, and I offer you to God,
a daughter dear to me as ever Isaac was to Abraham. Go where God calls
you. I shall be happy, knowing you are in His house. Pray for me."
St Francis having provided a house, called the Gallery House, on the edge
of the lake at Annecy, he inaugurated his convent on Trinity Sunday, 1610.
With St Jane Frances were clothed two other sisters, Mary Favre and Charlotte
de Bréchard, and a servant, Anne Coste, and they were soon joined by
ten others. So far the institute had no name, and indeed the founder had no
certain idea of its scope, except that it was to be a haven for those whose
health, age or other considerations debarred them from the already established
orders, and that he wished the sisters to be unenclosed and so more free
to undertake work for souls and bodies.
It encountered
much opposition, from the usual failure of the narrow and unimaginative to
understand anything new. St Francis changed the plan of the congregation
so far as to make it an enclosed religious order, under the Rule of St Augustine,
to which he added constitutions admirable in their wisdom and moderation,
"not too easy for the strong, nor too hard for the weak". But he refused
to give up the name, "of the Visitation of Our Lady", which he had chosen
for his nuns, and St Jane Frances urged him to make no concessions at all.
St Francis would have the two sister virtues of humility and meekness to be
the basis of the rule. "In the practice of virtues", said he to St
Jane Frances and her religious sisters, "let humility be the source of all
the rest; let it be without bounds; make it the reigning principle of all
your actions. Let an unalterable meekness and sweetness on all occasions become
by habit natural to you." He wrote specifically for St Jane and her
more experienced sisters his famous treatise On the Love of God. One
saint so far profited by the direction of the other saint that Mother de
Chantal, who was fast progressing on the mystical road, was allowed to make
a vow always to do what was the more perfect in the sight of God. And
she faithfully and prudently governed her community in the spirit of their
founder and director.
Affairs of her children and the foundation of new
convents obliged her often to leave Annecy. The year after she took the habit,
upon the death of her father, she went to Dijon and stayed there some months
to settle his affairs and place her son in a college. While at Dijon
St Jane Frances was tormented by her relatives to return to the world.
"Why do you bury yourself like that under two yards of bombasine? "That ridiculous
veil should be torn to bits" exclaimed one excitable lady. St Francis
de Sales wrote the last word "If you had married again, some gentleman
from the farthest end of Gascony or Brittany, you would have had to leave
your family-and no one would have made a single objection..."
After convents had been established at Lyons, Moulins, Grenoble
and Bourges, St Francis from Paris sent for Mother de Chantal to see about
a foundation there, which she was able to bring about in 1619 in the face
of open hostility and underhand intriguing; God strengthened and comforted
her under it, and her meekness and patience gained her the admiration of
those who had been her bitter adversaries.
She governed her convent at Paris for three years, during which
St Vincent de Paul directed it at the request of St Francis, and she made
the acquaintance of Angélique Arnauld, abbess of Port-Royal, who failed
to get permission to resign her office and join the Visitation Order.
In 1622 the death
of St Francis was a grievous affliction to her, which her resignation to the
divine will made her hear with unshaken constancy; his body was buried in
the church of her convent at Annecy.
In 1627 her son was killed fighting against the English and the
Huguenots in the isle of Re, in his thirty-first year, leaving his wife with
a daughter not a year old, who became the celebrated Madame de Sévigné.
St Jane received this news with heroic fortitude; she offered her heart to
God, saying, "Destroy, cut, burn, whatever opposes thy holy will."
During the following year a terrible plague ravaged France, Savoy
and Piedmont, causing great suffering to several Visitation convents. When
it reached Annecy St Jane Frances refused to leave the town, put all resources
of her convent at the disposal of the sick, and whipped up the local authorities
to greater efforts on behalf of the sufferers.
In 1632 came the news of the death of Celse-Bénigne's widow,
and then of her much-loved son-in-law, Antony de Toulonjon, and of Michael
Favre, the confessor of St Francis and a close and devoted friend of the Visitandines.
To these bereavements were added interior anguish, darkness and spiritual
dryness which she sometimes experienced to a terrible degree, as appears
from several of her letters. Thus does God suffer those souls which
are most dear to Him seemingly to lose themselves and wander in mists and
darkness, amid disturbance of mind. Yet these are certain and direct
paths to happiness, and lead to the source and centre of all light.
During the years 1635-36 St Jane Frances
made a visitation of the convents of the order, which now numbered sixty-five
and many of which had never seen their spiritual mother; and in 1641 she went
into France on an errand of charity to Madame de Montmorency. It was
her last journey.
She was invited to Paris by the queen, Anne of Austria, and to her
distress was treated there with great distinction and honour. On her return
she fell ill on the road, in her convent at Moulins. There it was that she
died on December 13, 1641, being sixty-nine years old. Her body
was taken to Annecy and buried near St Francis de Sales. She was canonized
in 1767.
St Vincent de Paul said of her, "She was full of faith, and yet
all her life tong had been tormented by thoughts against it. While apparently
enjoying that peace and easiness of mind of souls who have reached a high
state of virtue, she suffered such interior trials that she often told me
her mind was so filled with all sorts of temptations and abominations that
she had to strive not to look within herself, for she could not bear it: the
sight of her own soul horrified her as if it were an image of Hell."
"But for all that suffering her face never lost its serenity, nor
did she once relax in the fidelity God asked of her. And so I regard her as
one of the holiest souls I have ever met on this earth."
Apart from
her own writings and correspondence and the letters of St Francis de Sales,
by far the most important source for any biography of St Jane Frances is the
volume of Mémoires of Mother
de Chaugy. This book rightly forms the first of the eight volumes which make
up the collection Sainte Chantal,
sa vie et ses oeuvres (1874-79).
St Francis's letters have been completely edited in the imposing series of
his works (20 vols.) published by the Visitation nuns at Annecy, and these,
of course, are of great importance in the light they shed upon the origins
of the order. Moreover, the foundress has been fortunate in finding an almost
ideal biographer in modern times: the Chantal et des Histoire de Sainte origines de la Visitation
by Mgr Bougaud (Eng. trans., 1895), is generally acknowledged to be a chef d' oeuvre in hagiographical literature.
Besides this there is an able sketch, Sainte Chantal, in the series "Les Saints",
by Henri Bremond and the same author has devoted many pages to the saint's
spiritual influence and inspiration in his Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux
en France; see especially vol. i, pp. 68-127, and vol. ii, pp. 537-584.
An interesting episode in St Chantal's story has been treated by A. Gazier,
Jeanne de Chantal et Angelique Arnauld
d'après leur correspondance (1915). See also a selection of
her letters published in English in 1918, a short biography by Emily Bowies
in the Quarterly Series, a life by E. K. Sanders (1918), and popular accounts
by Janet M. Scott and H. J. Heagney (1950).
|
1840 St. Joseph
Nien Vien Martyr of Vietnam refuse to deny Christ
He was beheaded by anti-Christian officials for refusing to deny Christ.
Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.
|
1914 St.
Pius X "I was born poor, I have lived in poverty, and I wish to die poor"
On June 2, 1835, Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto saw the light of
earth at Riesi, Province of Treviso, in Venice; on August 20, 1914, he saw
the light of heaven; and on May 29, 1954,
he who had become the two hundred fifty-ninth pope was canonized St. Pius X. (Italian "Pope
of the Blessed Sacrament," reigned 1903-1914)
Two of the most outstanding accomplishments
of this saintly Pope were the inauguration
of the liturgical renewal and the restoration of frequent communion from childhood.
He also waged an unwavering war against
the heresy and evils of Modernism,
gave great impetus to
biblical studies,
and brought about the
codification of Canon Law.
His overriding concern was
to renew all things in Christ.
Above all, his holiness shown forth conspicuously. From St.
Pius X we learn again that "the folly of the Cross", simplicity of life,
and humility of heart are still the highest wisdom and the indispensable
conditions of a perfect Christian life, for they are the very source of all
apostolic fruitfulness.
His last will and testament bears the striking sentence:
"I was born poor, I have lived
in poverty, and I wish to die poor."
Pope Pius X is perhaps best remembered
for his encouragement of the frequent reception of Holy Communion, especially
by children. The second of 10 children in a poor Italian family, Joseph Sarto
became Pius X at 68, one of the twentieth century’s greatest popes. Ever
mindful of his humble origin, he stated, “I was born poor, I lived poor,
I will die poor.” He was embarrassed by some of the pomp of the papal court.
“Look how they have dressed me up,” he said in tears to
an old friend. To another, “It is a penance to be forced to accept
all these practices. They lead me around surrounded by soldiers like Jesus
when he was seized in Gethsemani.”
Interested in politics, he encouraged Italian Catholics to become
more politically involved. One of his first papal acts was to end the supposed
right of governments to interfere by veto in papal elections—a practice that
reduced the freedom of the conclave which elected him.
In 1905, when France renounced its agreement with the Holy See
and threatened confiscation of Church property if governmental control of
Church affairs were not granted, Pius X courageously rejected the demand.
While he did not author a famous social encyclical as his predecessor
had done, he denounced the ill treatment of the Indians on the plantations
of Peru, sent a relief commission to Messina after an earthquake and sheltered
refugees at his own expense.
On the eleventh anniversary of his election as pope, Europe
was plunged into World War I. Pius had foreseen it, but it killed him. “This
is the last affliction the Lord will visit on me. I would gladly give my life
to save my poor children from this ghastly scourge.” He died a few weeks after
the war began.
Comment: His humble background was no obstacle
in relating to a personal God and to people whom he loved genuinely. He gained
his strength, his gentleness and warmth for people from the source of all
gifts, the Spirit of Jesus. In contrast, we often feel embarrassed by our
backgrounds. Shame makes us prefer to remain aloof from people whom we perceive
as superior. If we are in a superior position, on the other hand, we often
ignore simpler people. Yet we, too, have to help “restore all things in Christ,”
especially the wounded people of God.
Quote: Describing Pius X, a historian wrote that he was “a man
of God who knew the unhappiness of the world and the hardships of life, and
in the greatness of his heart wanted to comfort everyone.”
Sancti Pii Papæ Décimi, cujus natális
dies tertiodécimo Kaléndas Septémbris recensétur.
Pope St. Pius X,
whose birthday is mentioned on the 20th of August .
1914 ST PIUS X, POPE
THAT distinguished historian of earlier popes, Baron von Pastor, has written
of Pope Pius X:
He was one of those chosen few men whose personality is irresistible. Everyone
was moved by his simplicity and his angelic kindness. Yet it was something
more that carried him into all hearts: and that “something” is best defined
by saying that all who were ever admitted to his presence had a deep conviction
of being face to face with a saint. And the more one knows about him the
stronger this Conviction becomes.
He was born in 1835, son of the municipal messenger and postman of the big
village of Riese in Venetia, and was then known as Giuseppe Sarto (i.e. “Joseph Taylor “); he was the second of ten children,
and the circumstances of the family were very poor. Young Joseph went to the
local elementary school, from thence, through the encouragement of his parish
priest, to the “grammar school” at Castelfranco, walking five miles there
and back every day, and then by bursary to the seminary at Padua. He was
ordained priest by dispensation at the age of twenty-three, and for seventeen
years gave himself wholeheartedly to the pastoral ministry; then he became
a canon of Treviso, where his hard work and generous charities were very marked,
and in 1884 bishop of Mantua, a diocese then in a very low state, with a
negligent clergy and two towns in schism. So brilliantly successful was he
in handling this charge that in 1892 Pope Leo XIII appointed Mgr Sarto cardinal-priest
of St Bernard-at-the-Baths and promoted him to the metropolitan see of Venice,
which carries with it the honorary title of patriarch. Here he became a veritable
apostle of Venetia, his simplicity and forthrightness standing out in a
see that rather prided itself on its pomp and magnificence.
On the death of Leo XIII in 1903 it was generally believed that Cardinal
Rampolla del Tindaro would succeed him, and the first three ballots of the
conclave so far bore this out that Cardinal Puzyna, Archbishop of Cracow,
communicated to the electors the formal veto against Rampolla of the Emperor
Francis Joseph of Austria. There was a profound sensation, and the cardinals
solemnly protested against the interference: but Rampolla withdrew his candidature
with great dignity, and after four more ballots Cardinal Sarto was elected.*[* It seems now to be generally agreed that Rampolla would
not have been elected anyhow.]
Thus there came to the chair of Peter a man of obscure birth, of no outstanding
intellectual attainments, and with no experience of ecclesiastical diplomacy,
but one who, if ever man did, radiated goodness: “a man of God who knew the
unhappiness of the world and the hardships of life, and in the greatness
of his heart wanted to comfort everybody.”
One of the new pope’s earliest
acts, by the constitution “Commissum nobis”, was to put an end once for all
to any supposed right of any civil power to interfere in a papal election,
by veto or in any other way; and later he took a cautious but definite step
towards reconciliation between church and state in Italy by relaxing in practice
the “Non expedit”.+ [+ i.e. the Holy See’s ruling that it
was inexpedient for faithful Catholics to associate themselves publicly
with the despoilers of the papal states,. e.g. by voting
in parliamentary elections. For what a wise man thought about this policy,
cf. Bd Contardo Ferrini (October 17).]
His way of dealing with the most critical
situation that soon arose in France was more direct and assuredly not less
effective than ordinary diplomatic methods would have been. After a number
of incidents the French government in 1905 denounced the concordat of 1801,
decreed the separation of church and state, and entered on an aggressive
campaign against the Church. For dealing with ecclesiastical property it
proposed an organization called associations cultuelles,
to which many prominent French Catholics wanted to give a trial;
but, after consultation with the French episcopate, Pope Pius in two strong
and dignified pronouncements condemned the law of separation and forbade
the associations as uncanonical. Of those who complained
that he had sacrificed all the possessions of the Church in France he said,
“They are too concerned about material goods, and not enough about spiritual”.
A good aspect of the separation was that the Holy See could now appoint French
bishops direct, without nomination by the civil power. “Pius X”, declared
the bishop of Nevers, Mgr Gauthey, “at the cost of sacrificing our property
emancipated us from slavery. May he be blessed for ever for not shrinking
from imposing that sacrifice on us.” The pope’s strong action caused the
French government such difficulties that twenty years later it agreed to
another and canonical arrangement for the administration of church property.
The name of Pius X is commonly and rightly associated with the purging
of the Church of that “synthesis of all heresies”, somewhat unhappily called
Modernism. A decree of the Holy Office in 1907 condemned certain writers
and propositions, and it was soon followed by the encyclical letter “Pascendi
dominici gregis”, wherein the far-reaching dangerous tendencies were set
out and examined, and manifestations of Modernism in every field were pointed
out and condemned. Strong disciplinary measures were also taken and, though
there was some fierce opposition, Modernism was practically killed in the
Church at one blow. It had made considerable headway among
Catholics, but there were not wanting those even among the orthodox who thought
the pope’s condemnation was excessive to the verge of an obscurantist narrowness.*
[* Partly because of the excesses of the, inevitable groups of those who
were “more Catholic than the pope”. These had on their lists of “suspects”
Cardinal della Chiesa, who was to become Benedict XV.]
How far he could be from that was seen when in 1910 his encyclical on St Charles Borromeo had been
misunderstood and given offence to Protestants in Germany Pius had his official
explanation of the misunderstood passages published in the Osservatore Romano, and recommended the German bishops not to give
the encyclical any further publication in pulpit or press.
In his first encyclical letter Pius X had announced his aim to be to “renew
all things in Christ”, and nothing was better calculated to do that than
his decrees concerning the sacrament of the Eucharist. These formally recommended
daily communion when possible, +[+ In the middle ages, and later under the
influence of Jansenism, communion was a rare occurrence for the ordinary
Catholic. Daily or very frequent communion was looked on as extraordinary,
and even improper. When the Catholics of the west of England rose against
Protestant innovations in 1549 one of their expressed grievances was being
expected to communicate more often than at Easter or thereabouts.] directed
that children should be allowed to approach the altar upon attaining, the
use of reason, and facilitated the communion of the sick. But there is a
ministry of the word as well as of the altar, and he also strongly urged daily
reading of the Bible—but here the pope’s words did not receive so much heed.
With the object of increasing the worthiness of divine worship he in 1903
issued on his own initiative (motu
proprio) an instruction on church
music which struck at current abuses and aimed at the restoration of congregational
singing of the Roman plainchant.
He encouraged the work of the commission for the codifying of canon law,
and was responsible for a thorough reorganization of the tribunals, offices
and congregations of the Holy See. Pius also set up a commission for the
revision and correction of the Vulgate text of the Bible (this work was entrusted
to the monks of St Benedict), and in 1909 founded the Biblical Institute for scriptural studies in charge
of the Society of Jesus.
Pius X was ever actively concerned for the weak and oppressed. He strongly
denounced the foul ill-treatment of the Indians on the rubber-plantations
of Peru, and greatly encouraged the Indian missions in that country. He sent
a commission of relief after the earthquake at Messina, and sheltered refugees
at his own expense in the hospice of Santa Marta by St Peter’s, while his
general charities, in Rome and throughout the world, were so great that people
wondered where all the money came from. The quiet simplicity of his personal
habits and the impressive holiness of his character were both exemplified
in his custom of preaching publicly on the day’s gospel in one of the Vatican
courtyards every Sunday.
Pius was embarrassed—perhaps a little shocked—by
the ceremoniousness and some of the observances of the papal court. At Venice
he had refused to let anyone but his sisters cook for him, and now he declined
to observe the custom of conferring titles of nobility on his relatives. “The
Lord has made them sisters of the pope”, he said, “that should suffice”. “Look
how they have dressed me up”, he exclaimed to an old friend, and burst into
tears. And to another he said, “It is indeed a penance to be forced to accept
all these practices. They lead me about surrounded by soldiers like Jesus
when he was seized. in Gethsemane.”
Those are not merely entertaining anecdotes. They go right to the heart of
Pius’s single-minded goodness. To an English convert who wished to be a monk
but had made few studies, he said, “To praise God well it is not necessary
to be learned”. At Mantua infamous charges were made against him in print.
He refused to take any action; and when the writer went bankrupt, the bishop
privately sent him money: “So unfortunate a man needs prayers more than punishment.”Already during his lifetime Almighty God used Pope Pius as an instrument
of miracles, and these occurrences are stamped with the same perfection of
modest simplicity. A man at a public audience pointed to his paralysed arm,
saying, “Cure me, holy Father”. The pope smiled, stroking the arm gently:
“Yes, yes, yes”, he said. And the man was healed. A paralysed child, 11-years
old, at a private audience, suddenly and unprompted asked the same thing.
“May God grant your wish”, said Pius. She got up and walked. A nun, in an
advanced stage of tuberculosis, made the same request. “Yes”, was all Pius
replied, laying his hands on her head. That evening her doctor verified her
recovery.
In June 24, 1914, the Holy See signed a concordat with Serbia;
four days later the Archduke Francis of Austria and his wife were assassinated
at Sarajevo by the midnight of August 4 Germany, France, Austria, Russia,
Great Britain, Serbia, Belgium were at war: it was the eleventh anniversary
of the pope’s election. Pius X had not merely foreseen this European war—many
people had done that— he had foretold it definitely for the summer of 1914,
but its outbreak was nevertheless a blow that killed him: “This is the
last affliction that the Lord will visit on me. I would gladly give my life
to save my poor children from this ghastly scourge.” After a few days’ illness
he developed bronchitis on August 19: next day he was dead—the first great
victim of a war called great. “I was born poor, I have lived poor and I wish
to die poor”, he said in his will: and its contents bore out the truth of
his words, so that even the anti-clerical press was moved to admiration.
After the funeral in St Peter’s Mgr Cascioli wrote, “I have no doubt whatever
that this corner of the crypt will before long become a shrine and place
of pilgrimage...God will glorify to the world this pope whose triple
crown was poverty, humility and gentleness.” And so indeed it came about.
The pontificate of Pius X had not been a quiet one, and the pope had been
resolute in his policies. If he had no enemies—for it takes two to make an
enemy—he had many critics, inside the Church as well as outside. But now the
voice was unanimous: from all quarters, from high and low, came a call for
the recognition of the sanctity of Pius X, once Joseph Sarto, the postman’s
little boy. In 1923 the cardinals in curia decreed that his cause be introduced,
Cardinal Aidan Gasquet representing England among the twenty-eight signatories;
and in 1954 Pope Pius XII solemnly canonized his predecessor before a vast
multitude in St Peter’s Square at Rome— the first canonized pope since Pius
V in 1672.
On Pope St. Pius X A Pontificate
"Characterized by a Notable Effort of Reform"
CASTEL GANDOLFO,
Italy, AUG. 18, 2010 (Zenit.org).
Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today during
the general audience held at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today I would like to reflect on the figure of my predecessor St. Pius
X, whose liturgical memorial will be observed Saturday, to emphasize some
of his characteristics that can also be useful for the pastors and faithful
of our time.
Giuseppe Sarto -- that was his name -- was born in Riese, Treviso, in 1835
to a peasant family. After studying in the Seminary of Padua, he was ordained
a priest at age 23. First he was vice-parish priest in Tombolo, then parish
priest in Salzano, then canon of the cathedral of Treviso with the office
of episcopal chancellor and spiritual director of the diocesan seminary. During
those years of rich and generous pastoral experience, the future Pontiff showed
that profound love of Christ and of the Church, that humility and simplicity
and that great charity toward the neediest, which were characteristics of
his whole life.
In 1884 he was appointed bishop of Mantua and in 1893 patriarch of Venice.
On Aug. 4, 1903, he was elected Pope, a ministry that he accepted with hesitation,
because he did not think he measured up to the loftiness of such a task.
St. Pius X's pontificate has left an indelible mark on the history of the
Church, and was characterized by a notable effort of reform, synthesized in
the motto "Instaurare omnia in Christo," (To Renew All Things in Christ.)
His intervention, in fact, embraced various ecclesial ambits. From the beginning
he dedicated himself to the reorganization of the Roman Curia; then he gave
a green light to the work of writing the Code of Canon Law, promulgated by
his successor, Benedict XV. Moreover, he promoted the revision of studies
and of the iter of formation for future priests; he also founded several regional
seminaries, equipped with good libraries and competent professors.
Another important sector was the doctrinal formation of the
People of God. In the years he was a parish priest, he himself wrote a catechism,
and during his episcopacy in Mantua he worked to establish a single catechism,
if not universal, at least Italian. As a genuine pastor, he understood that
the situation of the age, also because of the phenomenon of emigration, made
necessary a catechism that all the faithful could refer to, regardless of
the place and circumstances of life. As Pontiff he prepared a text of Christian
doctrine for the Diocese of Rome, which later spread to the whole of Italy
and the world. The catechism called "of Pius X" was for many a sure guide
in learning the truths of the faith because of its simple, clear and precise
language and its explanatory effectiveness.
He dedicated notable attention to the reform of the liturgy, in particular
sacred music, to lead the faithful to a life of more profound prayer and to
fuller participation in the sacraments. In the motu proprio "Tra le sollecitudini"
(1931), he stated that the true Christian spirit has its first and indispensable
source in active participation in the sacred mysteries and in the public and
solemn prayer of the Church (cf. ASS 36 [1903], 531). That is why he recommended
the frequent reception of the sacraments, fostering daily, well-prepared reception
of Holy Communion, and opportunely moving earlier children's First Communion
to around 7 years of age, "when," he said, "the child begins to reason."
(cf. S. Congr. de Sacramentis, Decretum Quam singulari: ASS 2 [1910], 582).
Faithful to the task of confirming brethren in the faith, St. Pius X intervened
with determination in the face of tendencies that manifested themselves in
the theological realm at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the
20th, condemning Modernism, to defend the faithful from erroneous concepts
and to promote scientific reflection on revelation in harmony with the tradition
of the Church. On May 7, 1909, with the apostolic letter "Vinea electa," he
founded the Pontifical Biblical Institute. The last months of his life were
embittered by the outbreak of the War. An appeal to the Catholics of the
world launched on Aug. 2, 1914, to express "the acute grief" of that hour,
was the suffering cry of a father who sees his children confront one another.
He died shortly after, on Aug. 20, and his reputation for sanctity soon began
to spread among the Christian people.
Dear brothers and sisters, St. Pius X teaches all of us that,
at the foundation of our apostolic action, in the various fields in which
we work, there must always be an intimate personal union with Christ, which
must be cultivated and enhanced day after day. This is the kernel of all his
teaching, of all his pastoral commitment. Only if we are enamored of the
Lord will we be able to lead men to God and open them to his merciful love,
and thus open the world to God's mercy.
[In English, he said:]
My dear brothers and sisters, today we recall Pope Saint Pius the Tenth,
whose feast we celebrate this coming Saturday. He left an indelible mark in
very many aspects of the Church’s life and activity, his overarching goal
being to "renew all things in Christ" through our intimate personal union
with our Saviour. By Pope Saint Pius’s prayers, may we grow daily in love
for Christ and help open others to his love. God’s abundant blessings upon
you all! © Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
[At the end of the audience, the Pope made this final appeal:]
My thoughts go at this moment to the beloved peoples of Pakistan, affected
recently by great floods, which have caused numerous victims and left many
families homeless.
While I entrust to the merciful goodness of God all those who have passed
away so tragically, I express my spiritual closeness to their families and
to all those suffering because of this calamity. May these brothers of ours,
so harshly tested, not lack our solidarity and the concrete aid of international
solidarity.
It
is not to be expected that there should be a full and frank biography of
a pontiff who died so lately as 1914. A short life by Abbot Pierami, the postulator
of the cause, was published in 1928: it
was written in a “devotional” style that the English translation did little
to modify, but it is valuable as a reliable factual record. See also
Cardinal Merry del Val, Memories of Pope Pius X (1939); R.
M. Huben, Symposium of the Life and Work of Pius X (1947); V. Marmoiton, Pie X
(1951); and for good popular accounts in English,
Katherine Burton, The Great Mantle (1951), and E. A. Forbes,
Pope St Pius X (1954).
See also the 2-volume work in French by Professor Fernessole (1953),
and the life by H. Dal-Gal, published in English in 1954. There were of course
a number of other new works in various languages during those years.
August 21, 2010 St. Pius X (1835-1914)
Pope Pius X is perhaps best remembered for his encouragement of the frequent
reception of Holy Communion, especially by children.
The second of 10 children in a poor Italian family, Joseph Sarto became
Pius X at 68, one of the twentieth century's greatest popes.
Ever mindful of his humble origin, he stated, "I was born poor, I lived
poor, I will die poor." He was embarrassed by some of the pomp of the papal
court. "Look how they have dressed me up," he said in tears to an old friend.
To another, "It is a penance to be forced to accept all these practices.
They lead me around surrounded by soldiers like Jesus when he was seized
in Gethsemani."
Interested in politics, he encouraged Italian Catholics to become more
politically involved. One of his first papal acts was to end the supposed
right of governments to interfere by veto in papal elections—a practice that
reduced the freedom of the conclave which elected him.
In 1905, when France renounced its agreement with the Holy See and threatened
confiscation of Church property if governmental control of Church affairs
were not granted, Pius X courageously rejected the demand.
While he did not author a famous social encyclical as his predecessor had
done, he denounced the ill treatment of the Indians on the plantations of
Peru, sent a relief commission to Messina after an earthquake and sheltered
refugees at his own expense.
On the eleventh anniversary of his election as pope, Europe was plunged
into World War I. Pius had foreseen it, but it killed him. "This is the last
affliction the Lord will visit on me. I would gladly give my life to save
my poor children from this ghastly scourge." He died a few weeks after the
war began.
Comment: His humble background
was no obstacle in relating to a personal God and to people whom he loved
genuinely. He gained his strength, his gentleness and warmth for people from
the source of all gifts, the Spirit of Jesus. In contrast, we often feel embarrassed
by our backgrounds. Shame makes us prefer to remain aloof from people whom
we perceive as superior. If we are in a superior position, on the other hand,
we often ignore simpler people. Yet we, too, have to help "restore all things
in Christ," especially the wounded people of God.Quote: Describing Pius X,
a historian wrote that he was "a man of God who knew the unhappiness of the
world and the hardships of life, and in the greatness of his heart wanted
to comfort everyone."
|
St.
Hardulph hermit of Leicester, England
A hermit of Leicester,
England, possibly the recluse of Breedon, mentioned in the life of St. Modwenna.
A church was dedicated in his honor.
|
Mary Mother of GOD 
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.