721-691 B.C.
Righteous Hezekiah was the son of the impious king Ahaz. The life of Righteous
Hezekiah is described in the Bible (4/2 Kings 18-20); He became King of Judah at the age of twenty-five,
and reigned at Jerusalem for 29 years. A zealous worshipper of the True God,
Hezekiah reopened the Temple of Solomon (2 Chron. 20:3). At the time of the
celebration of the Passover, to which he summoned all the subjects of the
kingdom of Israel, Hezekiah gave orders to destroy the idols throughout his
kingdom, reminding the people of the punishments which befell their ancestors
for forsaking the True God. After this, idolatry ceased not only in the kingdom
of Judah, but also in many places in the kingdom of Israel.
Therefore, God delivered him from his enemies and fulfilled his petitions.
Thus, in the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, the Assyrian king
Sennacherib son of Salmanassar, having conquered Israel, gathered his forces
to make war upon Hezekiah. The Assyrian king took the fortress
of Lachis and sent an army towards Jerusalem, demanding that the Jewish king
surrender. Hezekiah turned to God in prayer, and an angel of the
Lord struck down 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp. Soon after the withdrawal
of Sennacherib, Hezekiah fell ill.
The Prophet Isaiah came to him through the will of God and told him to set
his affairs in order, since he would soon die. But the power of Hezekiah's
prayer was so great that God prolonged his life for another fifteen years.
His prayer was fervent when he besought God to help him. But even more ardent
was his prayer of thanks. Hezekiah died at age 54 and was buried with great
reverence at Jerusalem. memory of Righteous Hezekiah also celebrated Cheesefare
Saturday .
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Micah, the Prophet Departure
On this day, the great righteous prophet Micah, departed. He prophesied about
Samaria and Jerusalem during the time of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezkiah, kings
of Judeah. He prophesied about the incarnation of the Lord, to Whom is the
Glory, saying, "For behold, the Lord is coming out of His high place. He
will come down and tread on the high places of the earth." (Micah 1:3) He
prophesied about His birth in Bethlehem, saying, "But you Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall
come forth to Me. The one to be ruler in Israel. Whose goings forth have
been from of old, from everlasting." (Micah 5:2) He prophesied about the
futility of the Jewish temple and the going forth of the Law of the Gospel
from Zion, saying, "... For out of Zion the Law shall go forth, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Micah 4:2) He also prophesied about the perdition
of Ahab, king of Israel. (Micah 5:15,16) When this prophet finished his strife
in peace, he departed at a good old age. He preceded the Lord Christ by about
eight hundred years.
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Righteous
Anna the Prophetess; Righteous Anna led a strict and pious life, "not leaving
the Temple, and serving God both day and night in fasting and prayer" (Luke. 2: 37). When Righteous Anna was
84 years old, she saw the Infant Jesus Christ at the Temple of Jerusalem.
He was brought to be dedicated to God as a firstborn child according to the
Mosaic law.
Anna descended from the tribe of Aser, and was the daughter of
Phanuel. She lived with her husband for seven years until he died.
Righteous Anna also heard the prophetic words of St Simeon the
God-Receiver spoken to the Most Holy Theotokos. The Prophetess
Anna together with St Simeon glorified God, and told everyone that the Messiah
had come into the world (Luke. 2: 38).
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120
St. Hermes Martyr with companions in Rome
Romæ item natális sancti Hermétis, viri illústris,
qui (ut in Actis beáti Alexándri Papæ légitur),
prius carceráli custódiæ mancipátus, deínde,
cum áliis plúrimis, gládio cædénte, martyrium
complévit, sub Aureliáno Júdice.
At Rome, the birthday of St. Hermes, an illustrious man,
who, as we read in the Acts of blessed Pope Alexander, was first confined
in prison, and afterwards fulfilled his martyrdom by the sword, at the time
of the judge Aurelian.
Who suffered at the hands of a judge
named Aurelian.
They are mentioned in the Acts of Pope
St. Alexander I.
Their cult was confined to local calendars in 1969.
2nd v. ST HERMES, MARTYR
FOR the martyrdom of St Hermes at Rome and for his early cultus
there and elsewhere we have the fullest evidence. He is mentioned
in the Depositio martyrum of the year 354, and his name occurs in the “Martyrology of Jerome” and in
the itineraries of the pilgrims. But upon the Passion of St Hermes, which
forms part of the so-called acta of Pope Alexander I, no
reliance can be placed; “it is a romance, whose principal
heroes are martyrs known to history, but the plot and the parts therein attributed
to the different characters are the invention of the hagiographer” (Delehaye).
St Hermes was buried in the
cemetery of Basilla on the Old Salarian Way, where the remains of a large
basilica have been found over his tomb; there have also been
found fragments of an inscription put up there by Pope St Damasus, containing
the martyr’s name. What purported to be the relics of this St Hermes were
given by Pope St Leo IV to the Emperor Lothair I in 850, and
these eventually came to rest in the church of Renaix in Flanders, where
they are still an object of pilgrimage. This led to a certain diffusion of
cultus in western Europe. But by what process
St Hermes came to be the titular of three churches in Cornwall—Saint Erme,
Saint Ervan, Marazion—is not clear.
See Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. vi; CMH., pp. 472—473 ; and DAC.,
vol. vi, cc. 2303 seq. G. H. Doble
in his St Hermes (1935) Cornish Saints series) refers to
“an excellent little book” the cult of the saint at Renaix, by Abbe F. d’Hollander
(1934).
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283
St. Pelagius A child martyr put to death in Pannonia
Constántiæ, in Germánia, sancti Pelágii Mártyris,
qui sub Numeriáno Imperatóre et Evilásio Júdice,
cápite amputátus, martyrii corónam accépit.
At Constance, in Germany, St. Pelagius, martyr, who received
the crown of martyrdom under Emperor Numerian and the judge Evilasius.
During the persecution of Emperor Numerian
Maximian. He is revered as the patron saint of Constance, in Switzerland,
owing to the transfer of his relics to that place early in the tenth century.
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303
St. Fortunatus Martyr with Anthes and Gaius
Salérni sanctórum Mártyrum Fortunáti, Caji et
Anthis; qui, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre et Leóntio Procónsule,
decolláti sunt.
At Salerno, the holy martyrs Fortunatus, Caius, and Anthes,
beheaded under Emperor Diocletian and the proconsul Leontius.
Who suffered near Salerno, Italy, possibly
one of the “Three Holy Brothers.” Relics enshrined in Salerno in 940.
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304 St. Julian
of Auvergne Martyred Roman army officer
Briváte, apud Arvérnos, item pássio sancti Juliáni
Mártyris, qui, cum esset beáti Ferreóli Tribúni
comes et in hábitu militári occúlte Christo servíret,
in persecutióne Diocletiáni, a milítibus tentus est,
et, desécto gútture, morte horríbili necátus.
At Prinde in Auvergne, St. Julian, martyr, during the
persecution of Diocletian. He was the companion of the blessed tribune
Ferreol, and under a military garb he secretly served Christ until arrested
by the soldiers, and killed in a barbarous manner by having his throat cut.
Also called Julian of Brioude. He was
from France and retired to Auvergne when persecution started. Julian surrendered
to the authorities and was beheaded at Brioude.
3rd v. ST JULIAN OF BRIOUDE, MARTYR
THIS Julian was one of the most famous martyrs of Gaul; he is sometimes
called Julian of Auvergne. His unreliable passio tells us
that he was a soldier, who knew how to reconcile the profession of arms with
the teaching of the gospel. Crispin, governor of the province of Vienne, having
declared himself against the Christians, Julian withdrew to Auvergne; afterwards,
learning that he was sought by the persecutors, of his own accord he presented
himself before them, saying, “I have been too long in this bad world; I would
be with Jesus”. He had scarce uttered these words, when they fell upon him
and cut off his head. This is said to have happened near Brioude. Later a
church was built at Brioude (near Clermont-Ferrand) to shelter his relics,
and it became a great place of pilgrimage. St Gregory of Tours relates a
number of miracles wrought by St Julian’s intercession; he also mentions
a church dedicated at Paris under the invocation of the holy martyr: it is that which is now known as St Julien-le-Pauvre,
used by the Catholic Melkites of the city.
Apollinaris
Sidonius, Gregory of Tours, and the “Hieronymianum” sufficiently attest the
early cultus of this martyr, but Gregory also lets us know
that they were at first in doubt on what day he ought to he venerated. See
Delehaye, Les Origines du Culte des Martyrs, p. 357. The passio, printed
in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. vi, and also by E. Munding
(1918), is of little value, but E. C. Babut in the Revue d’histoire
et de littérature religieuses, vol. V (1914), pp. 96—116, has tried
to turn it to historical account.
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Venúsiæ, in Apúlia, pássio
sanctórum Septimíni, Januárii et Felícis, qui,
sanctórum Bonifátii et Theclæ fílii, a Valeriáno
Júdice, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre, jussi sunt decollári.
Ipsórum tamen ac reliquórum ex duódecim frátribus
festívitas ágitur Kaléndis Septémbris.
Saints Septiminus, Januarius, and Felix
At Venosa in Apulia, the passion
of Saints Septiminus, Januarius, and Felix. During the reign of Emperor
Maximian, the judge Valerian ordered these sons of Saints Boniface and Thecla
to be beheaded. Their feast, however, is observed with that of the
other Twelve Holy Brethren on the first of September.
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340 St. Alexander
of Constantinople Bishop apostle against Arianism
Constantinópoli sancti Alexándri Epíscopi, gloriósi
senis; ob cujus oratiónem Arius, divíno judício damnátus,
crépuit médius, et effúsa sunt víscera ejus.
At Constantinople, the holy bishop Alexander, an aged
and celebrated man, through whose efficacious prayers Arius, by the judgement
of God, burst asunder and his bowels were poured out.
He was elected the bishop of Byzantium in 317, at
age seventy-three. Alexander was well known for his wisdom and holiness.
He attended the Council of Nicaea
in 325 and joined St. Alexander of Alexandria
in condemning Arius and his heretical teachings. In 336, Arius was sponsored
by Emperor Constantine the Great to be received into the Church. Alexander,
unable to be a party to such a disastrous enterprise, prayed that either
he or Arius be removed from the scene.
Arius died the day before Alexander
was exonerated in the court of Constantinople.
340,
577, 784 Ss. Alexander, John III And Paul IV, Patriarchs Of Constantinople
Alexander of Byzantium was already seventy-three years old when
he was elected to the episcopal throne of Constantinople, and he filled the
office for twenty-three years in the troubled days of the heresiarch Anus.
Soon after his election the Emperor Constantine ordered a conference between
the Christian theologians and a number of pagan philosophers, and the discussion
was thrown into confusion by all the philosophers trying to talk at the same
time. On St Alexander’s suggestion they then chose the most learned among
them to voice their views, and while one of them was speaking Alexander suddenly
exclaimed, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to be silent!” Whereupon,
it is said, the unfortunate man found his tongue was paralysed and his mouth
unable to utter a word until Alexander gave him leave, and by this manifestation
of divine power the Christian cause made more impression than by the most
solid arguments.
In 336 Anus arrived in triumph at Constantinople, with an order
from the emperor that St Alexander should receive him into communion. It
is said that Alexander shut himself in church and prayed, with St James of
Nisibis, that God would remove either himself or Anus. In any case, on the
night before the day appointed for his solemn reception, Anus suddenly died.
It was natural that many Christians should look on this as a divine intervention
at the intercession of St Alexander, and this view is expressed by the Roman
Martyrology, which refers to him as, “a glorious old man, on account of whose
prayers Anus, condemned by the judgement of God, brake in the middle and
his bowels poured out”.
The
Byzantine Catholics join in one commemoration with St Alexander two other
holy archbishops of Constantinople, John III and Paul IV, called “the
Young”. John was born near Antioch, and had been a lawyer before he was ordained.
He was sent as patriarchal legate from Antioch to Constantinople, where his
learning caused him to be known as “the Scholastic”; he had already made
a collection of canons of ecclesiastical law, which recommended him to the
Emperor Justinian I, and in the year 565 he was made patriarch of the imperial city. While he held
that office he revised and enlarged his collection of canons, which was the
first to be made systematically; this work grew eventually into the compendium
of Eastern church law called the Nomokanon. St. John the
Scholastic died in 577.
St
Paul the Young was a native of Salamis who became patriarch of Constantinople
in 780, during the last months of the Emperor Leo IV. Directly the Empress
Irene became regent he advocated the restoration of holy images and their
veneration; in 784 he withdrew to the monastery of Florus, avowedly as an
act of penance for his compromises and lack of boldness during the iconoclast
regime. Until his death shortly afterwards he encouraged the assembling of
a council for the condemnation of Iconoclasm; it eventually met in the year
787.
The
not entirely concordant stories of St Athanasius and the church historians
concerning St Alexander will be found sufficiently illustrated in the
Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. vi. Cf. also
DCB., s. nn.
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Item sancti Móysis Æthíopis,
qui, ex insígni latróne insígnis Anachoréta,
multos latrónes convértit et secum duxit ad monastérium.
St. Moses
the Ethiopian Also, who
gave up a life of robbery and became a renowned anchoret. He converted
many robbers, and led them to a monastery.
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400 Saint Moses Murin
and he was black of skin and therefore called
"Murin" (meaning "like an Ethiopian") Moses the brigand spent several years
leading a sinful life, but through the great mercy of God he repented, left
his band of robbers and went to one of the desert monasteries; the band of
robbers heard about the repentance of St Moses, then they also gave up their
thievery and became fervent monks. Received from the Lord power over demons.
405 ST MOSES THE BLACK
THIS Moses
was an Ethiopian and the most picturesque figure among those remarkable
men who are known as the Fathers of the Desert. At first he was a servant,
or slave, in the house of an Egyptian official; the general immorality of
his life, but particularly his continual thefts, caused his dismissal—in
those days he was lucky to have got off with his life—and he took to brigandage.
He was a man of huge stature, with corresponding strength and ferocity, and
he soon gathered a gang about him that was a terror to the district. Once
some contemplated villainy was spoiled by the
barking of a sheep-dog giving the alarm, and Moses swore to kill the shepherd.
To get at him he had to swim across the Nile with his sword in his teeth,
but the shepherd had hidden himself by burrowing into the sand; Moses could
not find him, so he made up for it by killing four rams, tying them together
and towing them back across the river. Then he flayed the rams, cooked and
ate the best parts, sold the skins for wine, and walked fifty miles to join
his fellows. That was the sort of man Moses was.
Unfortunately the circumstances
of his conversion are not known; it is possible that he hid himself among
the solitaries to avoid the law and was touched and conquered by their example,
for when next heard of he was at the monastery of Petra in the desert of
Skete. Here he was attacked in his cell by four robbers. Moses fought and
overpowered them, then tied them together, slung them across his back, and
went to the church, where he dumped them on the floor, saying to the astonished
monks, “I am not allowed to hurt anybody, so what do you want me to do with
these?” They are said to have reformed their ways and become monks themselves.
But Moses did not become well-behaved in a day and, despairing of overcoming
his violent passions, he consulted St Isidore. The abbot took him up to the
roof of the house at dawn: “See” he said, “the light only gradually drives
away the darkness. So it is with the soul.”
Eventually by hard physical
labour, especially in waiting on his brethren, hard physical mortification,
and persevering prayer he so conquered himself that Theophilus, Archbishop
of Alexandria, heard of his virtues and ordained him priest. Afterwards as
he stood in the basilica, anointed and vested in white, the archbishop said,
“Now, Father Moses, the black man is made white”. St Moses smiled ruefully.
“Only outside God knows that inwardly I am yet dark”, he replied.
When a raid on the monastery
by Berbers was threatened, Moses refused to allow his monks to defend themselves
but made them run away before it was too late: “All that take the sword shall
perish with the sword.” He remained, and seven with him, and all save one
were murdered by the infidels. St Moses was then seventy-five years old,
and he was buried at the monastery called Dair al-Baramus, which still
exists.
A Greek life,
said to have been written by Laurence, a monk in Calabria, is printed in
the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. vi, with a commentary. But
St Moses also figures in Palladius’s Historia Lausiaca and
in some of the early church historians.
Moses lived during the
fourth century in Egypt. He was an Ethiopian, and he was black of skin and
therefore called "Murin" (meaning "like an Ethiopian"). In his youth he was
the slave of an important man, but after he committed a murder, his master
banished him, and he joined a band of robbers. Because of his bad character
and great physical strength they chose him as their leader. Moses and his
band of brigands did many evil deeds, both murders and robberies. People
were afraid at the mere mention of his name. Moses the brigand spent
several years leading a sinful life, but through the great mercy of God he
repented, left his band of robbers and went to one of the desert monasteries.
Here he wept for a long time, begging to be admitted as one of the brethren.
The monks were not convinced of the sincerity of his repentance, but the
former robber would not be driven away nor silenced. He continued to ask
that they accept him. St Moses was completely obedient to
the igumen and the brethren, and he poured forth many tears of sorrow for
his sinful life. After a certain while St Moses withdrew to a solitary cell,
where he spent the time in prayer and the strictest fasting in a very austere
lifestyle.
Once, four of the robbers of his former band descended
upon the cell of St Moses. He had lost none of his great physical strength,
so he tied them all up. Throwing them over his shoulder, he brought them
to the monastery, where he asked the Elders what to do with them. The Elders
ordered that they be set free. The robbers, learning that they had chanced
upon their former ringleader, and that he had dealt kindly with them, followed
his example: they repented and became monks. Later, when the rest of the
band of robbers heard about the repentance of St Moses, then they also gave
up their thievery and became fervent monks.
St Moses was not quickly freed from the passions. He went often
to the igumen, Abba Isidore, seeking advice on how to be delivered from the
passions of profligacy. Being experienced in the spiritual struggle, the
Elder taught him never to eat too much food, to remain partly hungry while
observing the strictest moderation. But the passions did not cease to trouble
St Moses in his dreams. Then Abba Isidore taught him the all-night
vigil. The monk stood the whole night at prayer, so he would not fall asleep.
From his prolonged struggles St Moses fell into despondency, and when there
arose thoughts about leaving his solitary cell, Abba Isidore instead strengthened
the resolve of his disciple. In a vision he showed him many
demons in the west, prepared for battle, and in the east a still greater
quantity of holy angels, also ready for fighting. Abba Isidore explained
to St Moses that the power of the angels would prevail over the power of
the demons, and in the long struggle with the passions it was necessary for
him to become completely cleansed of his former sins.
St Moses undertook a new effort.
Making the rounds by night of the wilderness cells, he carried
water from the well to each brother. He did this especially for the Elders,
who lived far from the well and who were not easily able to carry their own
water. Once, kneeling over the well, St Moses felt a powerful blow upon his
back and he fell down at the well like one dead, laying there in that position
until dawn. Thus did the devils take revenge upon the monk for his victory
over them. In the morning the brethren carried him to his cell, and he lay
there a whole year crippled. Having recovered, the monk with firm resolve
confessed to the igumen, that he would continue to live in asceticism. But
the Lord Himself put limits to this struggle of many years: Abba Isidore
blessed his disciple and said to him that the passions had already gone from
him.
The Elder commanded him to receive
the Holy Mysteries, and to go to his own cell in peace. From that time, St
Moses received from the Lord power over demons.
Accounts about his exploits
spread among the monks and even beyond the bounds of the wilderness.
The governor of the land wanted to see the saint. When he heard
of this, St Moses decided to hide from any visitors, and he departed his own
cell. Along the way he met servants of the governor, who asked him how to
get to the cell of the desert-dweller Moses. The monk answered them: "Go
no farther to see this false and unworthy monk." The servants returned to
the monastery where the governor was waiting, and they told him the words
of the Elder they had chanced to meet. The brethren, hearing a description
of the Elder's appearance, told them that they had encountered St Moses himself.
After many years of monastic exploits, St Moses was ordained deacon.
The bishop clothed him in white vestments and said, "Now Abba Moses is entirely
white!" The saint replied, "Only outwardly, for God knows that I am still
dark within."
Through humility, the saint believed himself unworthy of the office
of deacon. Once, the bishop decided to test him and he bade the clergy to
drive him out of the altar, reviling him as an unworthy Ethiopian. In all
humility, the monk accepted the abuse. Having put him to the test, the bishop
then ordained St Moses to be presbyter. St Moses labored for fifteen years
in this rank, and gathered around himself 75 disciples.
When the saint reached age 75, he warned his monks that soon brigands
would descend upon the skete and murder all that were there. The saint blessed
his monks to leave, in order to avoid violent death. His disciples began
to beseech the monk to leave with them, but he replied: "For many years already
I have awaited the time when therethe words which my Master, the Lord Jesus
Christ, should be fulfilled: "All who take up the sword, shall perish by
the sword" (Mt. 26: 52). After this, seven of the brethren remained with
the monk, and one of them hid nearby during the attack of the robbers. The
robbers killed St Moses and the six monks who remained with him. Their death
occurred in about the year 400 .
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430
St. Augustine of Hippo is the patron of brewers; son of St. Monica
Hippóne Régio,
in Africa, natális sancti Augustíni Epíscopi, Confessóris
et Ecclésiæ Doctóris exímii, qui, beáti
Ambrósii Epíscopi ópera ad cathólicam fidem convérsus
et baptizátus, eam advérsus Manichæos aliósque
hæréticos acérrimus propugnátor deféndit,
multísque áliis pro Ecclésia Dei perfúnctus labóribus,
ad præmia migrávit in cælum. Ejus relíquiæ,
primo de sua civitáte propter bárbaros in Sardíniam advéctæ,
et póstea a Rege Longobardórum Luitprándo Papíam
translátæ, ibi honorífice cónditæ sunt.
At Hippo in Africa, the birthday of St. Augustine, bishop and famous doctor
of the Church. Converted and baptized by the blessed bishop Ambrose,
he defended the Catholic faith with the greatest zeal against the Manicheans
and other heretics, and after having sustained many other labours for the
Church of God, he went to his reward in heaven. His relics, owing to
the invasion of barbarians, were first brought from his own city into Sardinia,
and afterwards taken by Luitprand, king of the Lombards, to Pavia, where they
were deposited with due honours.
Because
of his conversion from a former life of loose living, which included parties,
entertainment, and worldly ambitions. His complete turnaround and conversion
has been an inspiration to many who struggle with a particular vice or habit
they long to break.
Augustinus
Orthodoxe
Kirche: 15. Juni Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche:
28. August Weitere Gedenktage: Gedenktag der Bekehrung: 5. Mai
(in Brügge) Überführung der Gebeine nach Pavia: 11. Oktober
ST AUGUSTINE, who used commonly
to be called Austin in English, was born on November 13 in the year 354 at
Tagaste, a small town of Numidia in north Africa, not far from Hippo, but
at some distance from the sea, which he had never seen till he was grown
up. His parents were of good position, but not rich; his father, Patricius,
was an idolater, and a violent disposition; but through the example and prudent
conduct of St Monica, his wife, he was baptized a little before his death.
She bore him several children; St Augustine speaks of his brother Navigius,
who left a family behind him, and of a sister who died a dedicated virgin.
He was entered in his infancy among the catechumens, baptism itself
being deferred, according to a common custom of the time; but in early youth
he fell into evil ways and until the age of thirty-two led a life morally
defiled by licence and intellectually by Manicheism. Of this time,
up to his conversion and the death of St Monica, Augustine speaks at large
in his Confessions, a book written for "a people curious to know the lives
of others, but careless to amend their own"; written not indeed to satisfy
such curiosity, but to show forth to his fellows the mercy of God.
His ways as exemplified in the life of one sinner, and to endeavour that
no one should think of him above that which he confessed himself to be.
As a child Monica instructed
him in the Christian religion and taught him to pray; falling dangerously
ill, he desired baptism and his mother got everything ready for it: but he
suddenly grew better, and it was put off. This custom of deferring
baptism for fear of sinning under the obligations of that sacrament, St Augustine
later very properly condemns; but the want of a sense of its sanctity and
the sacrileges of Christians in defiling it, by relapsing into sin, is an
abuse which no less calls for our tears. "And so I was put to school
to learn those things in which, poor boy, I knew no profit, and yet if I
was negligent in learning I was whipped: for this method was approved by
my elders, and many that had trod that life before us had chalked out unto
us these wearisome ways..."
Augustine thanks God that, though the persons who
pressed him to learn had no other end in view than, "penurious riches" and
"ignominious glory", yet divine Providence made a good use of their error,
and forced him to learn for his great profit and manifold advantage. He accuses
himself of often studying only by constraint, disobeying his parents and
masters, not writing, reading, or minding his lessons so much as was required
of him; and this he did, not for want of wit or memory, but out of love of
play. But he prayed to God with great earnestness that he might escape punishment
at school, for which dread he was laughed at by his masters and parents.
Nevertheless, "we were punished
for play by them that were doing no better; but the boys' play of them that
are grown up is named business. Who is he that, weighing things well will
justify my being beaten when I was a boy for playing at ball, because by
that play I was hindered from learning so quickly those arts with which,
when grown up, I should play far worse?" "No one does well what he
does against his will", he says, and takes notice that the master who corrected
him for a small fault "if overcome in some petty dispute by a fellow teacher,
was more envious and angry than the boy ever was when outdone by a playfellow
at ball." He liked Latin, having learned that language from his nurses,
and others withwhom he conversed; but not the Latin "which the first masters
teach; rather that which is taught by those who are called grammarians".
Whilst he was little he hated Greek, and, for want of understanding it sufficiently,
Homer was disagreeable to him; but Latin poets became his early delight.
Augustine went to Carthage
towards the end of 370, in the beginning of his seventeenth year. There
he took a foremost place in the school of rhetoric and applied himself to
his studies with eagerness and pleasure; but his motives were vanity and
ambition, and to them he jointed loose living, though it was acknowledged
that he always loved decency and good manners even in his excesses. Soon
he entered into relations with a woman, irregular but stable, to whom he remained
faithful until he sent her from him at Milan in 385; she bore him a son,
Adeodatus, in 372. His father, Patricius, died in 371 but Augustine
still continued at Carthage and, by reading the Hortensius of Cicero, his
mind was turned from rhetoric to philosophy; he also read the Christian sacred
writings, but he was offended with the simplicity of the style, and could
not relish their humility or penetrate their spirit. Then it was that he
fell into the error of the Manichees, that infirmity of noble mind troubled
by the "problem of evil", which seeks to solve the problem by teaching a metaphysical
and religious dualism, according to which there are two eternal first principles,
God, the cause of all good, and matter, the cause of all evil. The
darkening of the understanding and clumsiness in the use of the faculties
which wait on evil-living helped to betray him into this company, which he
kept till his twenty-eighth year; and pride did the rest.
"I sought with pride", he says,
"what only humility could make me find. Fool that I was, I left the nest,
imaginiag myself able to fly; and I fell to the ground."
For nine years Augustine had his own schools of rhetoric
and grammar at Tagaste and Carthage, while his devoted mother, spurred on
by the assurance of a holy bishop that "the son of so many tears could not
perish", never ceased by prayer and gentle persuasion to try to bring him
to conversion and reform. After meeting the leading Manichean teacher, Faustus,
he began to be disillusioned about that sect, and in 383 departed to Rome,
secretly, lest his mother should prevent him. He opened a school of
rhetoric there, but finding the scholars were accustomed frequently to change
their masters in order to cheat them of their fees he applied for and received
a post as master of rhetoric in Milan. Here he was well received and the
bishop, St Ambrose, gave him marks of respect.
Augustine was very desirous of knowing St Ambrose,
not as a teacher of the truth, but as a person of great learning and reputation.
He often went to his sermons, not so much with any expectation of profiting
by them as to gratify his curiosity and to enjoy the eloquence but he found
the discourses more learned than those of the heretic Faustus, and they began
to make impression on his heart and mind; at the same time he read Plato
and Plotinus: "Plato gave me knowledge of the true God, Jesus Christ showed
me the way." St Monica, having followed him to Milan, wished to see him married,
and the mother of Adeodatus returned to Africa, leaving the boy behind but
neither marriage nor single continence followed. And so the struggle,
spiritual, moral, intellectual, went on.
Augustine became
convinced of the truth and excellence of that virtue which the divine law
prescribes in the Catholic Church, but was haunted with an apprehension of
insuperable difficulties in its practice, that kept him from resolutely entering
upon it. And so, by listening to St Ambrose and reading the Bible he
was convinced of the truth of Christianity, but there was still wanting the
will to accept the grace of God.
He says of himself:
"I sighed and longed to be delivered but was kept fast bound, not with exterior
chains but with my own iron will. The Enemy held my will, and of it
he had made a chain with which be had fettered me fast for from a perverse
will was created wicked desire or lust, and the serving this lust produced
custom, and custom not resisted produced a kind of necessity, with which,
as with links fastened one to another, I was kept close shackled in this
cruel slavery. I had no excuse as I pretended formerly when I delayed to
serve Thee, because I had not yet certainly discovered thy truth: now I knew
it, yet I was still fettered...I had nothing now to reply to thee when thou
saidst to me, `Rise, thou that sleepest, and rise up from the dead, and Christ
shall enlighten thee`...I had nothing, I say, at all to reply, being now
convinced by thy faith, except lazy and drowsy words, `Presently, by and
by, let me alone a little while longer'; but this' presently did not presently
come; these delays had no bounds, and this `little while` stretched out to
a long time."
He had been greatly impressed by hearing the conversion of Roman
neo-Platonist professor, Victorinus, related by St Simplician; and soon after
Pontitian, an African, came to visit Augustine and his friend Alipius. Finding
a book of St Paul's epistles lying on the table, he took occasion to speak
of the life of St Antony, and was surprised to find that his name was unknown
to them. Pontitian then went on to speak of two men who had been suddenly
turned to the service of God by reading a life of St Antony. His words
had a powerful influence on the mind of Augustine, and he saw, as it were
in a glass, his own filthiness and deformity. In his former half desires
of conversion he had been accustomed to beg of God the grace of continence,
but was at the same time in some measure afraid of being heard too soon.
"In the first dawning of my youth",
says he, "I had begged of thee chastity, but by halves, miserable wretch
that I am; and I said, `Give me chastity, but not yet awhile'; for I was
afraid lest thou shouldst hear me too soon, and heal me of the disease which
I rather wished to have satisfied than extinguished." He was ashamed his will
had been so weak, and directly Pontitian had gone he turned to Alipius
"What are we doing to let the unlearned seize Heaven by force, whilst we
with all our knowledge remain behind, cowardly and heartless, wallowing in
our sins? Because they have outstripped us and gone on before, are
we ashamed to follow them? Is it not more shameful not even to follow
them?"
He got up and went into the garden.
Alipius, astonished at his manner and emotion, followed, and they sat down
as far as they could from the house, Augustine under going a violent inward
conflict. He was torn between the voice of the Holy Ghost calling him to
chastity and the seductive memory of his former sins, and going alone further
into the garden he threw himself on the ground under a tree, crying out,
"How long, 0 Lord? Wilt
thou be angry for ever? Remember not my past iniquities!" He reproached
himself miserably: "How long? How long? To-morrow, to-morrow?
Why not now? Why does not this hour put an end to my filthiness?"
As he spoke these things
and wept with bitter contrition of heart, on a sudden he heard as it were
the voice of a child singing from a neighbouring house, which frequently
repeated these words, Tolle lege! Tolle
lege! "Take up and read Take up and read!" And he began to consider
whether in any game children were wont to sing any such words; and he could
not call to mind that he had ever heard them.
Whereupon he rose up, suppressing
his tears, and interpreted the voice to be a divine admonition, remembering
that St Antony was converted from the world by hearing a particular passage
of the gospel read. He returned to where Alipius was sitting with the book
of St Paul's epistles, opened it, and read in silence the words on which
he first cast his eyes: "Not in rioting and drunkenness; not in chambering
and impurities; not in contention and envy; but put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences."
All the darkness of his former hesitation was gone. He shut the book, and
with a serene countenance told Alipius what had passed. Alipius asked
to see the passage he had read, and found the next words to be: "Him that
is weak in faith, take unto you"; which he applied to himself, and joined
his friend in his resolution. They immediately went in and told St
Monica, who rejoiced and praised God, "who is able to do all things more
abundantly than we desire or understand". This was in September 386, and
Augustine was thirty-two.
He at once gave up his school and retired to a country house
at Cassiciacum, near Milan, which his friend Verecundus lent to him; he was
accompanied by his mother Monica, his brother Navigius, his son Adeodatus,
St Alipius, and several other friends, and they lived a community life together.
Augustine employed himself in prayer and study, and his study was a kind
of prayer by the devotion of his mind therein. Here he sought by austere
penance, by the strictest watchfulness over his heart and senses, and by
humble prayer, to control his passions, and to prepare himself for the grace
of leading a new life in Christ and becoming in Him a new creature.
"Too late", he prayed, "have I
loved thee, 0 Beauty so ancient and so new, too late have I loved thee I
Thou wast with me, and I was not with thee. I was abroad, running after those
beauties which thou hast made; those things which could have no being but
in thee kept me far from thee. Thou hast called, thou hast cried out, and
hast pierced my deafness. Thou hast enlightened, thou hast shone forth, and
my blindness is dispelled. I have tasted thee, and am hungry for thee.
Thou hast touched me, and I am afire with the desire of thy embraces."
From the conferences and conversations which
took place during these seven months St Augustine drew up his three dialogues,
Against the Academicians,
Of the Happy Life and Of Order,.
St Augustine was baptized by St Ambrose on Easter-eve in 387,
together with Alipius and his dearly loved son Adeodatus, who was about fifteen
years of age and was to die not long afterwards. In the autumn he resolved
to return to Africa. Accordingly he went to Ostia with his mother and several
friends, and there St Monica died in November 387. To her life and last days
Augustine devotes six moving chapters of his Confessions. He returned
for a short while to Rome, and went on to Africa in September 388, where
he hastened with his friends to his house at Tagaste. There he lived almost
three years, disengaged from temporal concerns, serving God in fasting, prayer,
good works, meditating upon His law and instructing others by his discourses
and books. All things were in common and were distributed according to everyone's
needs. St Augustine himself reserved nothing which he could call his own.
He had no idea of becoming a priest, but in 391 he was ordained as an assistant
to Valerius, Bishop of Hippo. So Augustine had to move to that city; and
in a house adjoining the church he established a sort of monastery, modelled
on his household at Tagaste, living there with St Alipius, St Evodius, St Possidius,
and others "according to the rule of the holy Apostles". Valerius, who was
a Greek, and had, moreover, an impediment in speaking, appointed him to preach
to the people in his own presence, as was customary for bishops to do in
the East, but till that time was unusual in the West; more unusual still,
he was given permission to preach "on his own"; he from that time never interrupted
the course of his sermons till his death.
We have nearly four hundred extant, though many were not written by him
but taken down by others as he delivered them. During these early days he
vigorously opposed the Manicheans and the beginnings of Donatism, as well
as effected such domestic reforms as the abolition of feasting in the chapels
of the martyrs and of family fights as a public amusement. St Augustine preached
always in Latin, though among the peasants of the country in certain parts
of his diocese some understood only the Punic tongue, and these he found
it difficult to furnish with priests.
In 395 he was consecrated bishop
as coadjutor to Valerius, and succeeded him in the see of Hippo on his death
soon after. Augustine established regular and common life in his episcopal
residence, and required all the priests, deacons, and subdeacons that lived
with him to renounce property and to follow the rule he established there;
nor did he admit any to holy orders who did not bind themselves to a similar
manner of life. His biographer, St Possidius, tells us that the clothes and
furniture were modest but decent, and not slovenly. No silver was used
in his house, except spoons; dishes were of earthenware or wood. He exercised
hospitality, but his table was frugal; nor was wine wanting, but the quantity
was regulated, which no guest was ever allowed to exceed. At meals
he preferred reading to secular conversation. All his clerks who lived
with him ate at the same table and were clothed out of the common stock.
Thus, in the words of Pope Paschal II, "The regular mode of
life recognized in the early Church as instituted by the Apostles was earnestly
adopted by the blessed Augustine, who provided it with new regulations".
He also founded a community of religious women to whom, on the
death of his sister, the first "abbess", he addressed a letter on the general
ascetic principles of the religious life. This letter, together with two
sermons on the subject, constitutes the so-called Rule of St Augustine, which
is the basis of the constitutions of many canons regular, friars and nuns.
St Augustine employed the revenues of his church in relieving the poor, as
he had before given his own patrimony, and Possidius says that he sometimes
melted down part of the sacred vessels to redeem captives in which he was
authorized by the example of St Ambrose. In several of his letters
and sermons mention is made of the custom he had got his flock to establish,
of clothing all the poor of each parish once a year, and he was not afraid
sometimes to contract considerable debts to help the distressed. Nor did
his zeal and charity for the spiritual welfare of others have bounds.
"I do not wish to be saved without
you", said he to his people, like another Moses or St Paul. "What shall
I desire? What shall I say? Why am I a bishop? Why am I in the world?
Only to live in Jesus Christ: but to live in Him with you. This is my passion,
my honour, my glory, my joy and my riches."
There were few men endowed by nature with a more affectionate
and friendly soul than St Augustine. He conversed freely with infidels, and
often invited them to his table; but generally refused to eat with Christians
whose conduct was publicly scandalous, and was severe in subjecting them
to canonical penance and to the censures of the Church. He never lacked courage
to oppose iniquity without respect of persons, though he never forgot charity,
meekness and good manners. He complains that some sins were by custom become
so common that, though he condemned them, he dare not oppose them too strongly
for fear of doing much harm and no good.
He observed the three rules of St Ambrose: never to make matches for any
persons, lest they should prove unhappy; never to persuade any to be soldiers;
and never to dine out in his own city, lest invitations should become frequent.
The letters of great men are generally interesting both for illustrating
their history and throwing light on their minds. Those of St Augustine are
particularly so. In his fifty-fourth to Januarius he says that they
do well who communicate daily, provided it be done worthily and with the humility
of Zaccheus when he received Christ under his roof; but that they are also
to be commended who sometimes imitate the humble centurion and set apart
Sundays and Saturdays or other days for communicating, in order to do it
with greater devotion.
He explains the duties of a wife towards her husband in his letter to Ecdicia,
telling her that she ought not to wear black clothes, seeing this gave him
offence, and she might be humble in mind in rich and gay dress if he should
insist upon her wearing such. He tells her she ought, in all things
reasonable, to agree with her husband as to the manner of educating their
son, and leave to him the chief care of it. In like manner did he impress
upon husbands the respect, tender affection and consideration which they
owe to their wives.
There is a good example of St Augustine's modesty and humility in his discussion
with St Jerome over the interpretation of a text of Galatians. Owing to the
miscarriage of a letter Jerome, not an easily patient man, deemed himself
publicly attacked. Augustine wrote to him, "I entreat you again and again
to correct me confidently when you perceive me to stand in need of it; for
though the office of a bishop be greater than that of a priest, yet in many
things Augustine is inferior to Jerome." He grieved at the violence with which
the controversy between St Jerome and Rufinus was carried on. He always feared
the deceit of vain-glory in such disputes, in which men love an opinion,
as he says, "Not because it is true, but because it is their own, and they
dispute, not for the truth, but for the victory".
Throughout his thirty-five years as bishop of Hippo St Augustine had to
defend the Catholic faith against one heresy or another. Serious trouble
was given by the Donatists, whose chief errors were that the Catholic Church
by holding communion with sinners had ceased to be the Church of Christ,
this being confined within the limits of their sect, and that no sacraments
can be validly conferred by those that are not in the true Church.
These Donatists were exceedingly numerous in Africa, and they carried their
fury to the greatest excesses, murdering Catholics and committing all sorts
of violence. By the learning and indefatigable zeal of St Augustine, supported
by the sanctity of his life, the Catholics began to gain ground; at which
the Donatists were so exasperated that some preached publicly that to kill
him would be doing service to their religion, and highly meritorious before
God. Augustine was obliged in 405 to invoke the civil power to restrain the
Donatists about Hippo from the outrages which they perpetrated, and in the
same year the Emperor Honorius published severe laws against them. Augustine
at first disapproved such measures, though he afterwards changed his opinion,
except that he would not countenance a death-penalty. A great conference between
the two parties at Carthage in 411 marked the beginning of the decline of
these heretics, but almost at once the Pelagian controversy began.
Pelagius is commonly called a Briton, but as St Jerome refers to him as
"big and fat, a fellow bloated with Scots porridge", he has been claimed
for Ireland he rejected the doctrine of original sin and taught therefore
that baptism was simply a title of admission to Heaven, and that grace is
not necessary to salvation. In 411 he left Rome for Africa with his friend
Caelestius, and during that year their doctrines were for the first time
condemned by a synod at Carthage. St Augustine was not at this council,
but from that time he began to oppose these errors in his sermons and letters.
Before the end of that year he was persuaded by the tribune St Marcellinus
to write his first treatises against them. This, however, he did without
naming the authors of the heresy, hoping thus more easily to gain them he
even praised Pelagius by name. "As I hear, he is a holy man, well exercised
in Christian virtue: a good man, and worthy of praise." But he was fixed
in his errors and throughout the series of disputations, condemnations and
subterfuges that followed, St Augustine pressed him relentlessly to
him is the Church indebted as the chief instrument of God in overthrowing
this heresy.
When Rome was plundered by Alaric the Goth in 410 the pagans renewed their
blasphemies against the Christian religion, to which they imputed the calamities
of the empire. To answer their slanders, St Augustine began his great
work Of the City of God in 413,
though he only finished it in 426, the work of his which is the most widely
read after his Confessions; it goes
far beyond simply answering the pagans to a development of his philosophy
of God-controlled history.
In the Confessions St. Augustine, with the most
sincere humility and contrition, lays open the errors of his conduct; in
his seventy-second year he began to do the like for his judgement.
In this work, his Retractations, he reviewed his writings, which were very
numerous, and corrected with candour and severity the mistakes he had made,
without seeking the least gloss or excuse to extenuate them. To have more
leisure to finish this and his other writings, and to provide against a trouble-some
election after his death, he proposed to his clergy and people to choose
for his coadjutor Heraclius, the youngest among his deacons, and his election
was confirmed with acclamation in 426. But in spite of this precaution Augustine's
last years were full of turmoil. Count Boniface, who had been the imperial
general in Africa, having unjustly incurred the suspicion of the regent Placidia
and being in disgrace, incited Genseric, King of the Vandals, to invade the
African provinces. Augustine wrote a wonderful letter to Boniface, recalling
him to his duty, and the count sought a reconciliation with Placidia, but
could not stay the Vandal invasion.
St Possidius, now bishop of Calama, describes the dreadful ravages by which
they[Vandals] scattered horror and desolation as they
marched. He saw the cities in ruin and the houses in the country razed
to the ground, the inhabitants either being slain or fled. The praises of
God had ceased in the churches, which had in many places been burnt. Mass
was offered up in private houses, or not at all, for in many parts there
were none left to demand the sacraments, nor was it easy elsewhere to find
any to minister to those who required them. The bishops and the rest of the
clergy who had escaped were stripped of everything, and reduced to beggary;
and of the great number of churches in Africa, there were hardly three remaining
(namely, Carthage, Hippo and Cirta) whose cities were yet standing. Count
Boniface fled to Hippo, and St Possidius and several neighbouring bishops
took refuge in the same place. The Vandals appeared before it about the end
of May 430, and the siege continued fourteen months. In the third month St
Augustine was seized with a fever, and from the first moment of his illness
knew that it was the summons of God to Himself. Ever since he retired,
death had been the chief subject of his meditations and in his last illness
he spoke of it with great cheerfulness, saying, "We have a merciful God".
He often spoke of the joy of St Ambrose in his last moments, and of the saying
of Christ to a certain bishop in a vision mentioned by St Cyprian. "You are
afraid to suffer here, and unwilling to go hence what shall I do with you?
What love of Christ can that be, to fear lest He, whom you say you love,
shall come? Brethren, are we not ashamed to say we love, when we add
that we are afraid lest He come."
In this last illness he asked for the penitential psalms to be written out
and hung in tablets upon the wall by his bed and as he there lay he read
them with tears. The strength of his body daily and hourly declined, yet
his senses and intellectual faculties continued sound to the last, and he
calmly resigned his spirit into the hands of God on August 28, 430, after
having lived seventy-six years and spent almost forty of them in the labours
of the ministry.
St Possidius adds, "We being present,
the Sacrifice was offered to God for his recommendation, and so he was buried",
in the same manner as St Augustine says was done for his mother. Whilst the
saint lay sick in bed, by the imposition of his hands he restored to health
a sick man, and Possidius says, "I know, both when he was priest and when
he was bishop, that being asked to pray for certain persons that were possessed,
he poured out supplications to our Lord, and the evil spirits departed from
them."
It is from St Augustine's own
writings, more particularly from his Confessions,
his De Civitate Dei, his correspondence,
and his sermons, that we obtain the fullest insight into his life and character.
All these are readily accessible both in the original and in translations.
The text of the Vienna Corpus scriptorum
ecciesiasticorum latinorum is generally reliable so far as it is available,
but for the Confessions that of Pierre
de Labriolle, published in 1926 with an excellent French translation, may
he preferred. The best English translation of this last work, among many,
is probably that of Gibb and Montgomery (1927) a more recent one is by F.
J. Sheed (1944). A convenient edition of the De Civitate Dei with English notes has
been published by Dean Welldon (1924); W. J. Sparrow Simpson has produced
a good translation of the Letters (1919),
as well as a sympathetic study, St Augustine's Conversion (1920). Of all modern contributions
to Augustinian literature the most outstanding is the publication, the merit
of which mainly rests with Dom Germain Morin, of a revised and much enlarged
collection of the sermons. This forms the first volume of the Miscelianea Agostiniana (1931) brought
out to commemorate the fifteenth centenary of the saint's death. The early
life of Augustine by his disciple St Possidius has also been re-edited and
translated into German by Adolf Harnack (1930). But the whole literature
is too vast for detailed discussion; to quote only the titles of books produced
in the past twenty years would fill several pages. It must suffice here to
mention A Monument to St Augustine (1930), a volume of essays by English
Catholic writers, H. Pope, St Augustine of Hippo (essays 1937), G.
Bardy, S. Augustin, l'homnie et l'oeuvre
(1940), E. Gilson, Introduction a l'etude
de S. Augustin (1943) and
a biography in French by J. D. Burger (1948). For a general account of both
life and writings, the article by Fr Portalié in DTC., vol. i, cc.
2208-2472, may be specially recommended as also Bardenhewer's Geschichte der altkirch. Literatur, vol.
iv, pp. 435-511. There are lives of a more popular character in English by
Bertrand and by Hatzfeld, and Mary Allies brought out or two or three volumes
of selections and translations from St Augustine's various works more recently
translations have begun to appear in USA., edited by competent scholars.
There is a translation of the vita by Possidius in F. R. Hoare, The Western Fathers (1954) and see J.
J. O'Meara, The Young Augustine (1954).
This famous son of St. Monica
was born in Africa and
spent many years of his life in wicked living and in false beliefs. Though
he was one of the most intelligent men who ever lived and though he had been
brought up a Christian, his sins of impurity and his pride darkened his mind
so much, that he could not see or understand the Divine Truth anymore. Through
the prayers of his holy mother and the marvelous preaching of St. Ambrose, Augustine finally became convinced
that Christianity was the one true religion. Yet he did not become a Christian
then, because he thought he could never live a pure life. One day, however,
he heard about two men who had suddenly been converted on reading the life
of St. Antony, and he felt terrible
ashamed of himself. "What are we doing?" he cried to his friend Alipius. "Unlearned
people are taking Heaven by force, while we, with all our knowledge, are
so cowardly that we keep rolling around in the mud of our sins!"
Full of bitter sorrow, Augustine flung himself out into the garden
and cried out to God, "How long more, O Lord? Why does not this hour put
an end to my sins?" Just then he heard a child singing, "Take up and read!"
Thinking that God intended him to hear those words, he picked up the book
of the Letters of St. Paul, and read the first passage his gaze fell on.
It was just what Augustine needed, for in it, St. Paul says to put away all
impurity and to live in imitation of Jesus. That did it! From then on, Augustine
began a new life.
He was baptized, became a priest,
a bishop, a famous Catholic writer, Founder of religious priests, and one
of the greatest saints that ever lived. He becam e very devout and charitable,
too. On the wall of his room he had the following sentence written in large
letters: "Here we do not speak evil of anyone." St. Augustine overcame strong
heresies, practiced great poverty and supported the poor, preached very often
and prayed with great fervor right up until his death. "Too late have I loved
You!" he once cried to God, but with his holy life he certainly made up for
the sins he committed before his conversion.
St. Augustine (354-430) A Christian at 33, a priest at 36, a bishop
at 41: many people are familiar with the biographical sketch of Augustine
of Hippo, sinner turned saint. But really to get to know the man is a rewarding
experience. There quickly surfaces the intensity with which he lived
his life, whether his path led away from or toward God. The tears of his
mother, the instructions of Ambrose and, most of all, God himself speaking
to him in the Scriptures redirected Augustine’s love of life to a life of
love.
Having been so deeply immersed in creature-pride of life in his
early days and having drunk deeply of its bitter dregs, it is not surprising
that Augustine should have turned, with a holy fierceness, against the many
demon-thrusts rampant in his day. His times were truly decadent—politically,
socially, morally. He was both feared and loved, like the Master. The perennial
criticism leveled against him: a fundamental rigorism.
In his day, he providentially fulfilled the office of prophet.
Like Jeremiah and other greats, he was hard-pressed but could not keep quiet.
“I say to myself, I will not mention him,/I will speak in his name no more./But
then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,/imprisoned in my bones;/I
grow weary holding it in,/I cannot endure it” (Jeremiah 20:9).
Comment: Augustine is still
acclaimed and condemned in our day. He is a prophet for today, trumpeting
the need to scrap escapisms and stand face-to-face with personal responsibility
and dignity.
Quote: “Too late have I
loved you, O Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! Too late I loved you!
And behold, you were within, and I abroad, and there I searched for you;
I was deformed, plunging amid those fair forms, which you had made. You were
with me, but I was not with you. Things held me far from you—things which,
if they were not in you, were not at all. You called, and shouted, and burst
my deafness. You flashed and shone, and scattered my blindness. You breathed
odors and I drew in breath—and I pant for you. I tasted, and I hunger and
thirst. You touched me, and I burned for your peace” (St. Augustine, Confessions).
Augustinus Orthodoxe Kirche: 15.
Juni Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 28. August
Weitere Gedenktage:
Gedenktag der Bekehrung: 5. Mai (in Brügge) Überführung der
Gebeine nach Pavia: 11. Oktober
Augustinus Aurelius wurde am 23. 11 345 in Thagaste (Tunesien)
geboren. Er wurde von seiner frommen Mutter Monnica christlich erzogen, liess
sich aber nicht taufen sondern führte ein ausschweifendes Leben. Um
384 begann er als Lehrer für Rhetorik in Mailand zu arbeiten. Hier hörte
er sich die Predigten des Mailänder Bischofs Ambrosius regelmäßig
an, um dessen Rhetorik zu studieren. Er wurde aber auch von dem Inhalt der
Botschaft angerührt und bekehrte sich nach langem Glaubenskampf. In
der Osternacht 387 wurde er von Ambrosius getauft. Über diese Zeit hat
Augustinus in seinen "Bekenntnissen" ausführlich berichtet.
388 kehrte Augustinus nach Tagaste zurück, verkaufte seine
Besitzungen und gründete mit Freunden eine Klostergemeinschaft. Bischof
Valerius von Hippo ernannte Augustinus, der zunächst widerstrebte, 392
zum Priester und kurze Zeit später zu seinem Stellvertreter. Nach dem
Tode Valerius wurde Augustinus 396 Bischof von Hippo Regius (heute Annaba/Algerien).
Neben seinen Bekenntnissen und dem "Gottesstaat" schrieb er zahlreiche bedeutende
Werke. Es sollen über 1000 Schriften gewesen sein, erhalten sind über
800. Augustinus war auch ein großer Seelsorger und Lehrer. In der Auseinandersetzung
mit den geistigen Strömungen seiner Zeit, den Manichäern, Donatisten
und Pelagianern entwickelte er seine Theologie, die bis in die Reformationszeit
die Lehre beeinflußte. Augustinus schrieb außerdem für ein
Frauenkloster in Hippo eine Regel; sie ist die Grundlage für den Augustinerorden,
der sich schnell ausbreitete. Augustinus starb am 28.8.430 in Hippo Regius.
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460
St. Vivian Bishop of Saintes: invading Visigoths
Apud Sántonas, in Gállia, sancti Viviáni, Epíscopi
et Confessóris. At Saintes, St. Vivian, bishop and confessor.
France; dedicated
to relieving suffering of local people caused by invading Visigoths.
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475 Saint
Shushanik wife of the Georgian prince Varsken, ruler of Hereti (a province
of southeastern Georgia) under Persian control at that time; martyr for her
faith
Varsken was essentially the viceroy for the Persians. Having been
raised in a pious Christian family, she was deeply penetrated with love and
the fear of God.
At that time Kartli was under heavy political pressure from Persia,
and Prince Varsken visited the Persian king Peroz in hopes of encouraging
more friendly relations between the two countries. He willingly denied the
true Faith, converted to the worship of fire, and promised the king to convert
his wife and children upon his return to Hereti. Having approached
the border of Hereti, Varsken sent messengers to Tsurtavi, the city in which
he ruled, to ensure that his subjects met him with due respect. The blessed
Shushanik, having learned of her husband’s betrayal, fell to the ground and
wept over him with bitter tears. Then she took her four children, deserted
the palace, and sought refuge in a nearby church.
That evening Shushanik was visited by her spiritual father, the
elder Jacob, who predicted, “Varsken’s cruelty and mercilessness are unmistakable.
Know that terrible trials await you. Will you be firm and unbending in your
position?” “I would rather die than unite with him and destroy my soul!”
she answered.
Three days later the prince arrived in Tsurtavi. As promised,
he tried to persuade his wife to convert, but St. Shushanik firmly answered,
“As you have renounced your Creator,
so I am renouncing you. I will no longer take part in your affairs, no matter
what suffering I must endure!”
The next time, Varsken sent
his younger brother Jojik and Bishop Apots to convince Shushanik to return
to the palace. Shushanik refused for some time, but in the end she yielded
to their persuasion. She set off for the palace with the Holy Gospel and
the Lives of the holy martyrs, and when she arrived she locked herself in
a squalid cell. Two days later Varsken returned to the palace and invited
Shushanik, his brother Jojik, and his sister-in-law for supper. The queen,
however, could not bring herself to share a meal with one who had betrayed
Christ: she pushed away the cup that Jojik’s wife had offered her, thus further
angering her husband.
The furious Varsken beat his wife mercilessly, fettered her in
irons, locked her in prison, and forbade the guards to let anyone in to see
her. St. Shushanik spent six years in captivity. While she was serving
her sentence, she helped the poor that came to her. Through her prayers the
sick were healed and children were born to the childless. Before her death,
Holy Martyr Shushanik blessed those around her and requested that she be
buried at the place from which her unbelieving husband had dragged her out
of the palace. This happened in the year 475. The clergy and people
alike wept bitterly over Shushanik’s tragic fate. Her holy relics were buried
in accordance with her will.
In 578, with the blessing of Catholicos Kirion I, St. Shushanik’s
holy relics were translated to Tbilisi, where they remain today, in the Metekhi
Church of the Most Holy Theotokos.
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650 St. Rumwald
largely legendary saint
A prince, the son of King Aldfrith and Queen Cuneburga, in the kingdom of
Northumbria, England. He is said to have been only three days old when, upon
his Baptism, he declared the profession of faith and then died. While venerated
for centuries in parts of England, he is considered to be the subject of
highly dubious traditions.
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965 St. Gorman
Benedictine bishop of Schleswig
Denmark. He was a missionary in this region.
|
Synaxis of the Holy
Fathers of the Kiev Caves today we honor the whole assembly of these monastic
saints who were a light upon the 
earth, guiding us on the path
of salvation.
On this day the Church celebrates whose relics repose in the Far Caves of
St Theodosius. They have their own individual days of commemoration
Igumen Theodosius, the Founder (May 3, August 14, September 2) Monk Agathon
the Wonderworker (February 20) Archimandrite Acindynus (+1235) Monk Ammon
(October 4) Bishop Amphilochius of Vladimir, Volhynia (October 10) Monk Anatolius
the Recluse (July 3) Monk Aquila the Deacon (January 4) Monk Arsenius, Lover
of Labor (May 8) Monk Athanasius the Recluse (December 2) Monk Benjamin the
Recluse (October 13) Monk Cassian the Recluse (February 29, May 8) Elder
Daniel (14th Century) Hieromonk Dionysius the Recluse (October 3) Archimandrite
Dositheus (+ 1218) Elder Eulogius (14th Century) Hieroschemamonk Euthymius
(January 20) Monk Gerontius the Canonarch (April 1) Monk Gregory the Recluse
(January 8, August 8) Schemamonk Hilarion (October 21) Monk Hypatius the
Healer (March 31) Archimandrite Ignatius (December 20) Monk Isidore the Recluse
(12th-13th Centuries) Monk Joseph the Much-Ailing (April 4) Monk Laurence
the Recluse (January 20) Monk Leontius the Canonarch (April 1, June 18) Monk
Longinus the Gate-Keeper (October 16) Hieromartyr Lucian the Priest (October
15) Monk Macarius the Deacon (January 19) Monk Mardarius the Recluse (December
13) Monk Martyrius the Recluse (October 25) Monk Martyrius the Deacon (October
25) Monk Mercurius the Faster (November 4, 24) Monk Moses the Wonderworker
(July 26, 28) Monk Nestor the Unlearned (October 29) Monk Paisius (July 19)
Hieromonk Pambo the Recluse (July 18) Hieromonk Pancratius the Recluse (February
9) Monk Paphnutius the Recluse (February 15) Monk Paul the Obedient (September
10) Igumen Pimen the Faster (May 8, August 7) Monk Pior the Recluse (October
4) Monk Rufus the Obedient (April 8) Schemamonk Silvanus (June 10, July 10)
Schemamonk Sisoes (July 6) Monk Sophronius the Recluse (March 11, May 11)
Monk Theodore the Silent (February 17) Monk Theodosius (Prince Theodore)
(August 11) Archbishop Theophilus of Novgorod (October 26) Igumen Timothy
(+ 1132) Monk Titus the Soldier (January 27, February 27) Monk Zachariah
the Faster (March 24) Monk Zeno the Faster (January 30).
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1495 Saint Sava of Krypetsk
was tonsured at Athos, and from there he came to Pskov. He began to struggle
on Mount Snetna at the monastery of Mother of God near Pskov, and then he
went to a more remote spot along the River Tolva, at the monastery of St
Euphrosyne (May 15). Finally, he withdrew for complete solitude to the Krypetsk
wilderness, 15 versts from the Tolva, and he settled alone in a small cave
in the impenetrable forest.
His food was bread and water, and on Wednesdays and Fridays
he ate nothing. Living the life of a hermit he was assailed by unclean spirits,
but always he prevailed over them through prayer. After several years in
the solitary life, those zealous for wilderness life began to gather around
St Sava. They asked him to form a monastery and build a church in honor of
the Apostle John the Theologian. The monk refused to be igumen of the monastery
and entrusted its guidance to the monk Cassian. Many came out from Pskov
to the austere Elder, and he healed and admonished them, but never did he
accept gifts from them.
One time the Pskov prince Yaroslav Vasilievich Obolensky, who
frequently visited at the monastery, journeyed with his sick wife to see
the saint. St Sava sent him a message saying, "The Elder, the sinner Sava,
tells you, Prince, not to enter the monastery with the princess. Our rule
here states that women are not to enter the monastery. If you transgress
this fatherly command, your princess will not receive healing."
The prince asked forgiveness, since it was through ignorance that
he was on the point of violating the rule. St Sava came out through the monastery
gates with the brethren, and served a Molieben there. The princess was healed.
In 1487, through the mediation of the prince, Pskov received a deed to the
lands for the monastery.
The monk taught the laity to guard their purity, reminding them
of the injunction of the Apostle against the defilers of the body (I Cor.
6:9-10). He told the rich and the judges not to make their living at the
expense of the poor and to preserve righteous truth. He frequently reminded
everyone to avoid quarrels and enmity, to preserve love and peace and to
overlook the faults of others by courtesy, even as they in turn have forgiven
us.
At the monastery, a strict cenobitic life had been introduced
from the very beginning. Then, when sufficient brethren and means had been
gathered, there was nothing in the cell of the monk except for two icons,
his monk's garb and the cot upon which he lay down to take his rest.
Through such poverty he taught the brethren. The monk commanded
them to work the land with their own hands. He said, "How can we call the
ancient ascetics our Fathers, when we do not live their way of life? How
can we be counted as their children? They were homeless and poor, they spent
their time in caves and in the wilderness, and for the Lord with all their
strength they subjected their flesh to the spirit. They knew no respite by
day, or by night. We should love the good Lord, children, and show our love
for Him not only by words, nor by our manner of attire, but by deeds: by
love one for another, by tears, by fasting, by every manner of temperance,
just as the ancient Fathers did."
The grateful prince built a
bridge to the monastery through the fens and the swamps 1400 sazhen [1 sazhen
= 7 feet] in length. After his death (August 28, 1495), St Sava did not forsake
the monastery, and many times came to its defense.
Once, robbers approached the monastery at night, and they saw
an august Elder who held a staff in his hand and threateningly ordered them
to repent. In the morning, they learned that there was no such Elder at the
monastery, and they realized that it had been St Sava himself. The leader
of the robbers repented before the igumen and remained at the monastery.
St Sava was tall of stature, with a beard grey as snow, roundish
and thick and not very long. In this form he appeared to the monk Isaiah
in the mid-sixteenth century, and showed him where to find his incorrupt relics.
Later, in the year 1555, the Pskov priest Basil compiled the Life of St Sava
at the request of the Krypetsk brethren, and his Feastday was established.
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THE LONDON MARTYRS OF
1588
WHATEVER the attitude
of those on the continent, English Catholics at home did not lag behind in
opposition to the Great Armada of Spain or in preparation for defence against
it; nationalist patriotism as we know it today was not then matured, but,
even though one of Philip’s admitted objects was to re-establish the Church,
Catholics no more than anybody else wanted a Spanish invasion of England:
the queen persecuted them, but she was still the queen. Nevertheless the
defeat of the Armada at the end of July 1588 was followed at once by a more
severe persecution, of which the first victims suffered in London on
August 28 and 30. Six new gallows were set up in various parts of the city,
and each of these received its hallowing of innocent blood. At Mile End Green
was hanged BD WILLIAM DEAN, a Yorkshire man born at Linton in Craven. He
was a convert minister, who had been ordained at Rheims and already banished
once on pain of death if he returned to the country; but come back he did,
and was the first victim after the Armada. At the place of execution he began
to speak to the people, “but his mouth was stopped by some that were in the
cart, in such a violent manner, that they were like to have prevented the
hangman of his wages”. With this remarkably grave and learned man died the
Ven. Henry Webley, a layman who had befriended him. A short distance away,
at Shoreditch, was hanged BD WILLIAM GUNTER, a Welshman from Raglan in Monmouthshire.
He also was a priest from Rheims and had been ordained only the previous
year. BD ROBERT MORTON and BD HUGH MORE (see September 1) were both hanged
in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Mr Morton was born at Bawtry in Yorkshire, educated
and ordained at Rheims and Rome, and sent on the mission in 1587. Bd THOMAS
HOLFORD (alias Acton and Bude) was the son of a minister
of Aston in Cheshire. He became tutor in the household of Sir James Scudamore
at Holme Lacy in Herefordshire, where he was converted by Mr Davis, a very
zealous priest in those parts, who wrote an account of him. From it we learn
that he was ordained at Rheims and ministered in Cheshire and London, having
many narrow escapes, till he was seen coming out of the house of Bd Swithin
Wells after celebrating Mass there, when the pursuivant “dogged him into
his tailor’s house, and there apprehended him”. He was hanged at Clerkenwell.
BD
JAMES CLAXTON (or Clarkson) was sent on the mission from Rheims in 1582;
he was banished in 1585 but returned, and was hanged at Isleworth, together
with BD THOMAS FELTON. Bd Thomas was a Minim friar, the son of Bd John Felton,
only twenty years old and not yet a priest, and of him there is an account
from the hand of his sister, Mrs Frances Salisbury. She tells us that he
came into England to recover his health and was about to return to his monastery
when he was arrested and imprisoned for two years. He was twice released
and re-arrested, and in Bridewell was confined in the “little ease”, put
to labour at the mill, and finally tortured, in order to make him betray
the names of priests. When brought up at Newgate after the Armada and asked
whether he would have taken the queen’s side or that of the pope and the
Spaniards, he replied, “I would have taken part with God and my country”.
According to Mrs Salisbury he was condemned for denying the Queen’s ecclesiastical
supremacy: “I have read divers chronicles, but never read that God ordained
a woman should be supreme head of the Church”; but other accounts say it
was for being reconciled, and, as Mrs Salisbury certainly fell away from
the faith for a time, her brother may have done so too, in spite of their
martyred father.
On
August 30 six more martyrs were hanged, all at Tyburn. One only was a priest,
BD RICHARD LEIGH (alias Garth), a Londoner, who had made
his studies at Rheims and Rome, been sent to England in 1586, banished in
the same year, returned almost at once, and was committed for offering to
answer questions put to a Catholic gentleman on his examination by the Protestant
bishop of London. Mr Leigh and all the priests mentioned above were condemned
for their priesthood. BD EDWARD SHELLEY, BD RICHARD MARTIN, and the Ven. Richard
Flower (vere Lloyd) all suffered for harbouring or relieving
priests. Mr Shelley was a gentleman of Warminghurst in Sussex, son of that
Edward Shelley whose name is familiar to men-of-law from “the rule in Shelley’s
case”; Mr Martin, born in Shropshire and educated at Broadgates Hall, Oxford,
had had the infamy to pay sixpence for a supper for Bd Robert Morton; Flower
was from Anglesey. The other two victims at Tyburn on this day were BD MARGARET
WARD and BD JOHN ROCHE (alias Neale).
Bd Margaret was a gentlewoman, born at Congleton in Cheshire, in the service
of another gentlewoman, Mrs Whitall, in London. She had visited in the Bridewell
prison Mr Richard Watson, a secular priest; to him she smuggled a rope, but
in making use of it to escape Watson had fallen and broken an arm and a leg.
He was got away by Margaret's young Irish serving-man, John Roche, who, to
assist the priest's escape, changed clothes with him and so was himself arrested.
When charged, both Bd Margaret and Bd John refused to disclose Mr Watson's
whereabouts; they were offered their liberty if they would ask the queen's
pardon and promise to go to church: to which they replied that they had done
nothing that could reasonably offend her Majesty, and that it was against
their conscience to attend a Protestant church. And so they were condemned.
Father Ribadeneira, s.j., wrote that all these martyrs, who suffered with
such firm constancy and patience, were forbidden to speak to the people from
the scaffold because their persecutors were afraid of the impression they
would make; "but the very death of so many saint-like innocent men (whose
lives were unimpeachable), and of several young gentlemen, which they endured
with so much joy, strongly pleaded for the cause for which they died."
Three more beati achieved their
crowns on the following October 5. BD WILLIAM HARTLEY was of yeoman stock,
born about 1557 at Wilne, Derbyshire, in the same parish as Bd Edward James.
He was educated a Protestant and went up to St John's College, Oxford, where
he ultimately became a chaplain. He was ejected by the vice-chancellor in
1579, went to Rheims, was ordained in 1580, and came back to England in the
same year. For a time he helped Bd Edmund Campion and Father Persons in their
printing and publishing activities, but in eighteen months he was apprehended
in the house of the Lady Stonor. For three and a half years he was in prison
in London, the last twelve months in irons, having been caught celebrating
Mass before other prisoners in his cell. At the beginning of 1585 he was
deported, without trial, but he returned secretly to London. In September
1588, Bd William was arrested in Holborn, and a rumour was spread that he
had apostatized. This was effectually contradicted by the heroic way in which
he met his death, by hanging, "near the Theatre" in Shoreditch, and in the
presence of his own mother. "He was a man", says a contemporary, "of the
meekest disposition and naturally virtuous, modest, and grave, with a sober
and peaceful look."
BD JOHN HEWETT, who was hanged
on the same day at Mile End Green for his priesthood, was son of a York draper
and had been a student at Caius College, Cambridge. While yet a deacon he
was arrested and banished. After ordination to the priesthood at Rheims in
1586, he came back to London and was seized in Grays Inn Lane in the following
year. At that time he went under the name of John Weldon (alias Savell) and
in that name he was again sent into exile. But he was arrested on a false
charge in the Netherlands by the Earl of Leicester, who sent him to London
for trial. Here he was tried and sentenced (as John Weldon) for being a seminary
priest in England. BD ROBERT SUTTN, a schoolmaster of Paternoster Row, was
hanged at Clerkenwell for being reconciled to the Church, he having been brought
up a Protestant at his birthplace, Kegwell in Leicestershire. An eye-witness
of his martyrdom, William Naylor, wrote: ". . . the sheriff promised to procure
his pardon if he would but pronounce absolutely the word all: for he would
that he should acknowledge the queen to be supreme head in all causes without
any restriction ; but he would acknowledge her to be supreme head in all
causes temporal; and for that he would not pronounce the word all without
any restriction, he was executed. This I heard and saw."
There may also be mentioned with this group of martyrs BD WILLIAM
WAY (alias Flower). Though Challoner calls him a Cornishman he seems to have
been born in Exeter, in 1561. He was trained at Rheims, ordained, and sent
on the mission at the end of 1586. Six months later he was in jail in London;
and on September 23, 1588, he was hanged, drawn and quartered for his priesthood
at Kingston-on-Thames.
See MMP.,
pp. 133-146 and 150-151 ; Burton and Pollen, LEM., vol. i, pp. 351-430 and
508-536 ; and Publications of the Catholic Record Society, vol. v, pp. 150-159
and passim.
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1588 Blessed
John Roche & Margaret Ward John Roche London martyrs
Blessed Margaret Ward was a gentle woman born at Congleton in Cheshire, in
the service of another gentle woman, Whitall, in London. She had visited
in the Bridewell prison, Mr. Richard Watson, a secular priest; to him she
smuggled a rope, but in making use of it to escape, Watson had fallen and
broken an arm and a leg. He was gotten away by Margaret's young Irish serving-man,
John Roche, who, to assist the priest's escape, changed clothes with him
and so, was himself arrested. When charged, both Blessed Margaret and Blessed
John refused to disclose Mr. Watson's whereabouts. They were offered their
liberty if they would ask the Queen's pardon and promise to go to church;
to which they replied that they had done nothing that could reasonably offend
her Majesty, and that it was against their conscience to attend a protestant
church. So they were condemned. These martyrs, who suffered with such firm
constancy and patience, were forbidden to speak to the people from the scaffold
because their persecutors were afraid of the impression they would make;
"but the very death of so many saint-like innocent men (whose lives were
unimpeachable), and of several young gentlemen, which they endured with so
much joy, strongly pleaded for the cause for which they died."
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1588 Bl. William Dean
Martyr of England
Born at Linton in Craven, Yorkshire, he was originally a minister who was
converted to Catholicism. William left England and received ordination at
Reims, France, in 1581. Returning to England, he was arrested and exiled
but returned and was arrested again in London. William executed in Nile End
Green, London was beatified in 1929.
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1588 Bl. William
Guntei Martyr of Wales
A native of Raglan, Gwent, Wales, he was a Catholic who received ordination
at Reims, France, in 1587. He returned to England to work for the Catholic
mission. Captured, hanged at Shoreditch and beatified in 1929.
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1588 Bl. Thomas Felton
English martyr
The son of Blessed John Felton, he was born at Bermondsey, England, in 1568.
Leaving England to study at Reims, France, he entered the Friars Minim and
went home to England to recover from an illness. He was arrested and imprisoned
for two years. Released, he was again put in prison and hanged at lsleworth,
London.
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1588 Bl. Thomas
Holford English martyr
Also known as Thomas Acton, he was born at Aston, in Cheshire, England. Raised
a Protestant, he worked as a schoolmaster in Herefordshire until converting
to the Catholic faith. He left England and was ordained at Reims in 1583.
Going home, he labored in the areas around Cheshire and London until his
arrest. He was hanged at Clerkenwell in London.
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1588 Bl. Hugh More Martyr
of England
He was a native of Lincolnshire, educated at Oxford. After converting while
at Reims, Hugh was martyred at Lincoln’s Inn Fields by hanging. Pope Pius
XI beatified him in 1929.
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1588 Bl. Robert
Morton English martyr of London
Born in Bawtry, Yorkshire, he left England and studied for the priesthood at Reirns and Rome. After ordination
in 1587, he returned home immediately and was soon arrested. He was executed
at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. Robert was beatified in 1929 as one of the
Martyrs of London of 1588.
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1628 St. Edmund
Arrowsmith one of the Forty Martyrs
Edmund was the son of Robert
Arrowsmith, a farmer, and was born 1585 at Haydock, England. He was baptized
Brian, but always used his Confirmation name of Edmund. The family was constantly
harrassed for its adherence to Catholicism, and in 1605 Edmund left England
and went to Douai to study for the priesthood. He was ordained in 1612 and
sent on the English mission the following year. He ministered to the Catholics
of Lancashire without incident until about 1622, when he was arrested and
questioned by the Protestant bishop of Chester. He was released when King
James ordered all arrested priests
be freed, joined the Jesuits in 1624,
and in 1628 was arrested when betrayed by a young man he had censored for
an incestuous marriage. He was convicted of being a Catholic priest, sentenced
to death, and hanged, drawn, and quartered at Lancaster on August 28th. He
was canonized as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales by Pope Paul
VI in 1970.
1628 BD EDMUND ARROWSMITH, MARTYR
HE was born in 1585 at Haydock, near Saint Helens,
the son of Robert Arrowsmith, a yeoman farmer, and his wife Margery, a Gerard
of Bryn, both of families which had already suffered for the faith. He was
baptized Brian, but took the name of Edmund at confirmation and ever after
used it. The recusant Arrowsmiths were subjected to a good deal of persecution
on one occasion their house was searched for priests at night and the father
and mother taken off to Lancaster jail, leaving four small children shivering
in their shirts. When the father died, his widow confided young Edmund to
the care of an old priest who had him educated. The youth was of an unquestionably
religious disposition, and he managed to make his way out of the country
to Douay in December 1605. His studies there were interrupted by ill-health,
and he was not ordained till 1612, and sent to Lancashire in the following
year. For ten years he worked there fruitfully and without mishap, in spite
of the fact that his enthusiasm for controversy made him indifferent
to its dangers. “Though his presence was very mean, yet he was both zealous,
witty and fervent, and so forward in disputing with heretics that I often
wished him merrily to carry salt in his pocket to season his actions, lest
too much zeal without discretion might bring him too soon into danger, considering
the vehement and sudden storms of persecution that often assailed us.” “He
was a man”, says another contemporary, “of great innocency in his life, of
great sincerity in his nature, of great sweetness in his conversation and
of great industry in his function. And he was ever of a cheerful countenance—
a most probable sign of an upright and unspotted conscience” (Both quoted
by Challoner).
About 1622—23
Bd Edmund was taken up and examined before the Protestant bishop of Chester,
but King James being at that time interested in a Spanish match for his son,
all priests in custody were ordered to be released in order to make a good
impression on his Most Catholic Majesty. Dr Bridgeman, the bishop, a kindly
old man, was at supper with several ministers when he was brought in, and
apologized for eating meat on a Friday because of his age and infirmity.
“But who has dispensed these lusty gentlemen?” inquired Bd Edmund. He decided
to offer himself to the Jesuits, and after a retreat of several months in
Essex in lieu of a novitiate abroad he was admitted to the order. Five years
later he was betrayed to a magistrate by a young man whom he had reproved
for his irregular life, and at Lancaster assizes in August 1628 he was indicted
before Sir Henry Yelverton on charges of being a priest and a Jesuit and
of persuading the king’s subjects to join the Church of Rome. The charges, of course, were true, but
he was convicted on grossly insufficient evidence and sentenced to death.
At the express command of the judge he was heavily manacled and put into
a cell so small that he could not lie down; here he was left from two o’clock
on Tuesday afternoon till midday on Thursday, apparently without food and
with no one allowed to speak to him except a Protestant minister. When he
was passing through the courtyard on his way to execution, there was standing
at a window Bd John Southworth, who had been (temporarily) reprieved; Bd
Edmund lifted up his hands to him as a sign of humble contrition, and Bd
John gave him absolution before all the people, who had assembled in great
numbers. Up to the last moment before he was thrown off the ladder he was
pestered with offers of life and liberty if he would conform, that is, apostatize.
“Tempt me no more,” he replied, “I will not do it, in no case, on no condition.”
He was allowed to die before the rest of the sentence was carried out; his
last audible words were “Bone Iesu!”
A
relic of this martyr, known as the Holy Hand, is preserved in the church
of St Oswald at Ashton-in-Makerfield and is greatly venerated; it has been
and is the occasion of remarkable cures of sickness and disease and of the
granting of spiritual requests.
The fullest
account of this martyr is probably that preserved in a booklet entitled A Full and Exact Relation of the Death of Two Catholicks who suffered
for their Religion at Lancaster in 1628 (1737). It is
taken in large part from Henry More, s.j., Historia Provinciae
Anglicanae (1630). See also MMP., pp. 362—373 ; Bede Camm, Forgotten Shrines (1910), pp. 183—201 and G. Burns, Gibbets and Gallows (1944).
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1651 Saint Job of Pochaev
died October 28; his relics were transferred to the church of the Holy Trinity
on August 28, 1659; A second uncovering of the relics took place on August
28, 1833
In the year 1902, the Holy Synod decreed that on this day the holy relics
of St Job be carried around the Dormition cathedral of the Pochaev Lavra
after the Divine Liturgy .
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Mary Mother of GOD 
<105-116 Pope St. Alexander I Roman by birth ruled the
Church in reign of Trajan (98-117). attributes to him, but scarcely with
accuracy, insertion in the canon of the Qui Pridie, or words commemorative
of the institution of the Eucharist, such being certainly primitive and original
in the Mass. He is also said to have introduced the use of blessing water
mixed with salt for the purification of Christian homes from evil influences
(constituit aquam sparsionis cum sale benedici in habitaculis hominum). Duchesne
(Lib. Pont., I, 127) calls attention to the persistence of this early Roman
custom by way of a blessing in the Gelasian Sacramentary that recalls very
forcibly the actual Asperges prayer at the beginning of Mass.
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.