St.
Gaudentia A
virgin martyr of Rome
Item
Romæ sanctæ
Gaudéntiæ, Vírginis et Mártyris, cum
áliis tribus. Also at Rome, St. Gaudentia,
virgin and martyr, with 3 others.
She was
reportedly martyred with three companions.
Gaudentia and Companions VV MM (RM) Date unknown. Some believe that
Saint Gaudentia, a virgin, was martyred with three other Christians at
Rome; however, the most ancient martyrologies do not include her among
the martyrs (Benedictines).
|
250 Boniface and
Thecla and their 12 children were all
martyred at Hadrumetum in Africa MM (RM)
Adruméti, in Africa, sanctórum Bonifátii et
Theclæ, qui beatórum duódecim filiórum
Mártyrum paréntes fuérunt.
At Adrumetum, also in Africa, the Saints Boniface
and Thecla, who were the parents of twelve blessed sons, all martyrs.
Saint Boniface, his wife Thecla, and their 12
children
were all
martyred at Hadrumetum in Africa during the Decian persecution.
Reconciling the details of their acta is problematic. Some believe that
the 12 children may be the Twelve Holy Brothers (Benedictines). |
 304 St.
Felix priest and
Adauctus Roman martyrs
<felix.jpg
Romæ, via
Ostiénsi, pássio beáti
Felícis Presbyteri, sub Diocletiáno et Maximiáno Imperatóribus. Hic,
post equúlei vexatiónem,
data senténtia, cum ducerétur ad decollándum,
óbvius ei fuit quidam Christiánus, qui, dum se
Christiánum esse sponte profiterétur, mox cum
eódem páriter decollátus est; cujus nomen
ignorántes, Christiáni Adáuctum eum
appellavérunt, eo quod sancto Felíci auctus sit ad
corónam.
adauctus.jpg>
At Rome, on the Ostian Way, martyrdom of the blessed priest Felix,
under Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. After being racked he was
sentenced to death, and as they led him to execution, he met a man who
spontaneously declared himself a Christian, and was forthwith beheaded
with him. The Christians, not knowing his name, called him
Adauctus, because he was added to St. Felix and shared his crown.
Felix
was a priest and Adauctus, which means “the
added one” is unknown. He was a bystander who died with Felix,
impressed by his courage. Felix and Adauctus MM (RM)
St. Felix
was a holy priest in Rome, no less happy in his life and virtue than in
his name. Being apprehended in the beginning of Diocletian's
persecution, he was put to the torture, which he suffered with
constancy, and was condemned to lose his head. As he was going to
execution he was met by a stranger, who, being a Christian, was so
moved at the sight of the martyr and the glory to which he was
hastening that he cried out aloud, "I confess the same law which this
man professes; I confess the same Jesus Christ; and I also will lay
down my life in His cause The magistrates hearing this, caused him
forthwith to be seized, and the martyrs -were both beheaded
together. The name of this stranger not being known, he was
called by Christians Adauctus, i.e. the one added, because he was
joined to Felix in martyrdom.
This story, with sundry legendary embellishments, is
derived
from an inscription of Pope St Damasus, which ran: "0 how truly and
rightly named Felix, happy, you who, with faith untouched and despising
the prince of this world, have confessed Christ and sought the heavenly
kingdom. Know ye also, brethren, the truly precious faith by
which Adauctus too hastened, a victor, to Heaven." The priest
Verus, at the command of his ruler Damasus, restored the tomb, adorning
the thresholds of the saints." SS. Felix and Adauctus were buried
in the cemetery of Commodilla on the Ostian Way, where a church built
over their tomb was uncovered in 1905.
As Felix and Adauctus, in
cemetery of
Commodilla
on the Ostian Way" are registered in the Depositio martyrum of 354, we have
a solid guarantee for their early cultus,
which is further confirmed by the Leonine
sacramentary and many other records. See the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xvi
(1897), pp. 17-43, and the discussions by de Rossi, Wilpert, Marucchi,
Bonavenia, etc., to which Delehaye gives references in CMH., pp.
476-478. The passio is in the Acta
Sanctorum, August, vol. vi.
"Felix,
truly and rightly named, for you were happy
to have confessed Christ and looked for the kingdom of heaven,
despising the prince of this world and departing with you faith
unimpaired. Adauctus, too, another conqueror, reveals, my brothers, the
most precious faith which hastened his journey to heaven."--inscription
on the tomb of Saints Felix and Adauctus.
The priest Felix, the "happy one," was apprehended
in Rome
at the
beginning of the Diocletian persecution and underwent cruel tortures
with admirable constancy. Eventually he was condemned to beheading. En
route to his place of execution, his coming martyrdom so excited a
Christian stranger that the bystander was unable to contain himself. He
cried out, "I too follow and believe the same commandments that this
man professes; I too confess the same Jesus Christ; and it is also my
desire to lay down my life in this cause." The magistrates seized him
when they heard this and the two were decapitated. The second was
called "adauctus" or "the one added" because his name was unknown. Both
were reverently buried in the cemetery of Commodilla on the Ostian Way.
Later Pope Saint Damasus had their tomb restored and added the
inscription; Pope Saint Siricius added another epitaph. These martyrs
are commemorated in the Sacramentary of Saint Gregory the Great and
many ancient calendars, including the Deposito Martyrum (354). A church
built over their tomb was uncovered in 1905 (Attwater, Benedictines,
Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth) .
|
Tránsaquis,
ad lacum Fúcinum, in Marsis, natális quoque
sanctórum Mártyrum Cæsídii Presbyteri, et
Sociórum; qui martyrio coronáti sunt in
persecutióne Maximíni.
Caesidius, priest, and
his companions, At
Transaco, in
the Marches near Lake Fucino, the birthday of the holy martyrs who were
crowned with martyrdom in the persecution of Maximinus.
|
Colóniæ
Suffetulánæ, in Africa, beatórum sexagínta
Mártyrum, qui furóre Gentílium cæsi sunt.
sixty blessed martyrs At Colonia Suffetulana in Africa
, who were murdered by the
furious heathen.
|
Tréviris
item natális sancti Paulíni Epíscopi, qui,
témpore Ariánæ infestatiónis, ab
Ariáno Imperatóre Constántio ob cathólicam
fidem relegátus exsílio, et extra Christiánum
nomen usque ad mortem mutándo exsília fatigátus,
tandem, apud Phrygiam defúnctus, beátæ
passiónis corónam percépit a Dómino.
St. Paulinus, a
bishop, the birthday of
At Treves, who was exiled
for the Catholic
faith by the Arian emperor Constantius, in the time of the Arian
persecution. By having to change the place of his exile, which
was beyond the limits of Christendom, he became wearied unto death, and
finally, dying in Phrygia, received a crown from the Lord for his
blessed martyrdom.
|
5th v. Loarn
of
Downpatrick disciple of Saint Patrick (AC)
Born in western Ireland, 5th century. Saint Loarn was a disciple of
Saint Patrick, whom some describe as a regionary bishop of Downpatrick
(Benedictines).
|
410 Pammachius the
Senator
Roman senator, proconsul, and scholar (RM)
Romæ
sancti Pammáchii Presbyteri, qui fuit doctrína et
sanctitáte conspícuus.
At Rome,
St Pammachius, priest, who was noteworthy
for learning and sanctity.
Died at Rome, Italy, in 410. The Roman senator, proconsul,
and scholar,
Pammachius, belonged to the house of the Furii. In 385, he married
Paulina, the second daughter of Saint Paula. He spent much of his time
in study and religious affairs. He was a great friend of Saint Jerome,
his former school fellow.
PAMMACHIUS was distinguished alike as a saint, a Roman
citizen, a man
of learning, and a friend of St Jerome, with whom he had studied in his
youth and maintained correspondence all his life. He belonged to
the house of the Furii and was a senator; in 385 he married Paulina,
the second daughter of St Paula, that other great friend of St
Jerome. Pammachius was probably one of the religious
men who denounced to Pope St Siricius a certain Jovinian, who
maintained among other errors that all sins and their punishments are
equal; he certainly sent copies of the heretic's writings to Jerome,
who replied to them in a long treatise. This reply did not
meet with the entire approval of St Pammachius: he found its language
too strong (a failing to which Jerome was very inclined) and that it
contained exaggerated praise of virginity and depreciation of marriage;
so he wrote and told him so, and St Jerome replied in two letters,
thanking him for his interest and defending what he had written.
Jovinian was condemned in a synod at Rome and by St Ambrose at Milan,
and nothing more is heard of him; St Jerome wrote a few years later
that he had "belched rather than breathed out his life amidst pheasants
and pork."
In 397 the
wife of St Pammachius died, and in a letter of
sympathy St Paulinus of Nola wrote to him: "Your wife is now a pledge
and an intercessor for you with Jesus Christ. She now
obtains for you as many blessings in Heaven as you have offered her
treasures from hence: not honouring her memory with fruitless tears
only, but making her a partner of your charities. She is honoured
by your virtues; she is fed by the bread you have given to the
poor"...St Jerome wrote in the same strain.
Pammachius
devoted the rest of his life to study and works of charity.
Together with St Fabiola he built at Porto a large hospice to shelter
pilgrims coming to Rome, especially the poor and the sick; this was the
first institution of its kind, technically called a xenodochium, in the west, and
received the hearty praise of St Jerome; Pammachius and Fabiola spent
much time thereat, personally looking after their
guests. The site of this building was discovered
and its plan laid bare. In his devotion to the suffering
Pammachius was following in the footsteps of his dead wife Paulina, and
the blind, the incapacitated and the moneyless were declared by St
Jerome to be her heirs; he never went out into the streets but they
flocked around him, knowing well that they would not be turned away.
St Pammachius was greatly disturbed by the
bitter
controversy between Jerome and Rufinus; he wrote to him urging that he
should undertake the translation of Origen's
De principiis, and gave Jerome very useful help in his
controversial writings: but abate the imprudence of expression of much
of them he could not. He also wrote to the people living on his
estates in Numidia urging them to abandon the Donatist schism and
return to the Church, and this action drew a letter of thanks from St
Augustine at Hippo in 401.
Pammachius had a church in
his house
on the Coelian hill, consequently called titulus Pammachii its site is
now occupied by the Passionist church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, beneath
which remains of the original house have been found. St
Pammachius died in 410 at the time Alaric and the Goths captured Rome;
he is often stated to have been a priest but this does not seem to have
been so. A fairly complete account of Pammachius, compiled
by
Father John
Pien, is printed in the Acta
Sanctorum, August, vol. vi. See also lives of St
Jerome.
Pammachius was probably one of the religious men who
denounced to Pope
Saint Siricius a certain man named Jovinian, who maintained
among other
errors that all sins and their punishments are equal; he certainly sent
copies of the heretic's writings to Jerome, who replied to them in a
long treatise. This reply did not meet with the entire approval of
Saint Pammachius: he found its language too strong (a failing to which
Jerome was generally very inclined) and that it contained exaggerated
praise of virginity and depreciation of marriage; so he wrote and told
him so. Jerome replied in two letters, thanking him for his interest
and defending what he had written. Meanwhile, Jovinian was condemned at
a synod at Rome in 390 and by Archbishop Saint Ambrose of Milan.
When Paulina died in
childbirth in 397, Pammachius provided a banquet
for all the poor of Rome following her funeral Mass. He received a long
letter of condolence from his friend Saint Paulinus of Nola, who
praised her goodness and her husband's faith and fortitude. The letter
ended: "Your spouse is now a pledge and a powerful intercessor for you
with Jesus Christ. She now obtains for you as many blessings in heaven
as you have sent her treasures [Masses] from hence, not honoring her
memory with fruitless tears, but making her partner of these living
gifts (i.e., by alms given for the repose of her soul); she is honored
by the merit of your virtues; she is fed by the bread you have given to
the poor." Saint Jerome tells us that Pammachius watered her ashes with
the balm of alms and mercy, which obtains the pardon of sins; that from
the time of her death he made the needy their coheirs.
Thus, Pammachius devoted the balance of his life to study,
prayer, and
works of charity. (Some say that he donned the monastic habit and
received ordination to the presbyteriate, but this seems unlikely.)
Together with Saint Fabiola he built at Porto a large hospice to
shelter pilgrims coming to Rome, especially the poor and the sick. This
was the first such enterprise in the West. Pammachius and Fabiola spent
much time there personally tending to their guests.
Pammachius was enormously disturbed by the bitter
controversy between
Jerome and Saint Rufinus over the teachings of Origen. He wrote to
Jerome urging him to undertake the translation of Origen's De
principiis, and gave Jerome very useful help in his
controversial
writings, but he could not convince Jerome to tone down the language of
his works.
Pammachius also wrote to the people living on his estates in
Numidia in
North Africa to urge them to abandon the Donatist schism and return to
the Church. This action drew a letter of thanks from Saint Augustine in
401. Pammachius converted his home on the Coelian Hill into the present
Passionist church of Saint John and Saint Paul, which was called the
titulus Pammachii. Remains of the original house have been found
beneath the church (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia,
Husenbeth, Walsh).
405 St.
Pammachius
Roman senator and a friend of St. Jerome built a hospice at Porto for
poor and sick pilgrims coming to Rome (the first such in the West) and
had a church in his house (a site now occupied by the Passionists' SS.
Peter and Paul Church)
Of the
Furii family, Pammachius was a Roman senator
and a friend of St. Jerome.
Pammachius
married St. Paula's
daughter Paulina in 385. His denunciation to Pope St. Siricius of
Jovinian, who was later condemned at a synod at Rome, and by St. Ambrose at Milan, caused Jerome to
write a treatise against Jovinian's teachings that Pammachius
criticized, which led to two more letters from Jerome defending his
treatise.
Paulina died in 397, and Pammachius
devoted the rest
of his
life to study and charitable works. With Fabiola he built a hospice at
Porto for poor and sick pilgrims coming to Rome (the first such in the
West) and had a church in his house (a site now occupied by the
Passionists' SS. Peter and Paul Church). He often tried unsuccessfully,
to tone down the polemics of some of Jerome's controversial treatises
and particularly the bitterness of Jerome's controversy with Rufinus.
Pammachius urged Jerome to translate Origen's DE PRINCIPIIS, and
Pammachius' letter to tenants on his estate in Numidia in 401 to
abandon Donatism evoked a letter of thanks from St. Augustine.
Pammachius died in Rome.
|
483 St. Rumon believed
consecrated bishop by St. Patrick
St
Rumon, On
Ruan (Sixth Century?)
Before dissolution of the monasteries the
Benedictine
abbey of
Tavistock claimed to possess the relics of St Rumon, who in the
beginning of the 15th century was referred to by a monk of Glastonbury
as a brother of St Tudwal, bishop at Tréguier in the sixth
century. This Rumon, who gave their names to Romansleigh, Ruan
Lanihorne, and other places in Devon and Cornwall, has been believed to
be the St Ronan venerated in Brittany. Of his life there is likewise
nothing known, though there is a story that he had to defend himself
from the charge of being a werewolf and carrying off and eating a child
this charge was made by a young woman who feared that the missionary
(from Ireland, it was said) would make her husband a monk.
Ronan's humanness was demonstrated by wolf-hounds, which refused
to touch him. Arguments against the identification of the
British Rumon with the Breton Ronan are very strong, but what does seem
certain is that the legend of Ronan was borrowed to do duty for the
Rumon across the Channel. Canon Doble adduces reasons for the
suggestion that St Rumon and St Ken, who seems to have been the founder
of a monastery or hermitage at Street in Somerset, were native monks of
the British Glastonbury who went to make settlements in the Dumnonian
peninsula.
The best attempt to
disentangle the threads of this
complicated
problem is that of G. H. Doble in his Four
Saints of the Fal (1930) and his St Rumon and St Fonan (1939),
wherein he translates the Vita
Rurnonis (which may have emanated from the Glasney college at
Penryn) from the Gotha MS. The Breton Ronan's biography is
printed in the Bollandist catalogue of Paris hagiographical Latin MSS.,
vol. i, pp. 438-458. Ernest Renan, as he told the Cambrian
Archaeological Association in 1889, claimed him as a patron "Vous
connaissez mon patron Saint Renan sous sa vraie forme Ronan
(Locronan, les eaux de St Renan, etc.). "C'etait un irlandais, un
grand original." L. Gougaud in Les
saints irlandais hors d'Irlande (1936), pp. 159-166, expresses
the view Rumon and Ronan are not the same, and Rumon was not
of irish origin. For St Ronan, whose feast is on June 1,
see A. Thomas, S. Ronan et la Tronidnie (1893). The most recent
work on St Rumon is Fr P. Grosjean's long article in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxxi
(1953), pp. 359-414 it includes the text of the Gotha vita.
{387}
also
known as Ruan, Ronan, and Ruadan, was
probably a brother of Bishop
St. Tudwal of Trequier, but nothing else is known of him beyond that he
was probably an Irish missionary and many churches in Devon and
Cornwall in England were named after him. Some authorities believed he
is the same as the St. Ronan (June 1) venerated in Brittany and
believed consecrated bishop by St. Patrick, but others believe that he
and St. Kea were British monks who founded a monastery at Street
Somerset.
Rumon (Ruan) (AC) 6th
century. This patron of the abbey of Tavistock
and Romansleigh in Devonshire, and of Ruan Lanihorne, Ruan Major and
Minor in Cornwall is reputed to have been a brother of Saint Tudwal.
William of Malmesbury tells us that his vita was destroyed by the wars,
but that Rumon was a bishop of an unidentified see. About this time a
well- meaning canon provided a vita from Rumon by taking an abbreviated
life of the Breton Saint Ronan and changing the name to Rumon
throughout. It does, however, describe the translation of Rumon's
relics on January 5, 981, from Ruan Lanihorne, a Celtic monastery and
the most ancient center of his cultus, to Tavistock. Saint Rumon was
highly venerated at Tavistock, the earl Ordulf built a church under his
invocation in the 10th century and requested his relics, which remained
there throughout the Middle Ages. Glastonbury also claimed Rumon's
relics. He may have been a monk at Glastonbury, who founded a monastery
on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall. Also venerated in Norwich
and Ramsey (Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
|
5th v. St. Loaran bishop Irish disciple of St. Patrick
He is sometimes listed as the bishop of
Downpatrick, Ireland.
|
950 St.
Pelagius,
Arsenius, and Sylvanus Martyrs in Spain put to death by Moors
According to tradition, they were hermits who resided in the area
around Burgos, in Old Castile, who were put to death by Moors. They are
revered in Burgos.
Pelagius, Arsenius, and Silvanus MM (AC) Died at Burgos, Old Castile,
c. 950. According to an old tradition,
these hermits were killed by Saracens. Their cell became the foundation
of the Benedictine abbey of Artanza. They are still highly venerated in
the province of Burgos (Benedictines) . |
650 St.
Agilus
abbot of
Rebais near Paris advice of Saint Columbanus parents consecrated
him to God
Also called Ayeul, a missionary and abbot. He was from a noble family
and educated St. Columbanus at Luxeuil, France. He also served as
missionary in the region of Bavaria, Germany.
Agilus ended his career as the abbot of Rebais near Paris.
Agilus of Rebais, Abbot (AC) (also known as Aile, Ail, Aisle, Ayeul,
Ely) Born c. 580; died 650. Saint Agilus, son of Childebert II's
courtier Agnoald, followed the models of virtue found in his family.
Upon the advice of Saint Columbanus, his parents consecrated him to God
in the monastery of Luxeuil. After his father's death, Saint Columbanus
had no defender in the Austrasian court leaving the way open for
Brunehault to persecute the saint for refusing admittance of women into
his monastery.
Saint Agilus intervened by seeking an audience with King Thierry and
convinced him to leave the monks in peace. Eventually, however,
Columbanus was forced out and made his way to Bobbio, Italy. Saint
Agilus remained at Luxeuil even after Saint Eustatius succeeded its
founder. After studying Scripture and the ways to Christian perfection,
he and Saint Eustatius responded to the call of the bishops for
evangelists to preach the Gospel in Bavaria. After a successful
mission, Saint Agil returned to France and resumed his penitential
exercises, until he was called to undertake the governance of the
monastery of Rebais in diocese of Meaux near Paris, founded by Saint
Ouen, where he was abbot until death
(Benedictines, Husenbeth).
|
 670 St.
Fiacre
Abbot;
hermit; cured all manner of diseases
In
território Meldénsi
sancti Fiácrii Confessóris. In diocese of Meaux St.
Fiacre confessor.
Catholic
Encyclopedia: born in Ireland about
the end of the sixth century; died 18 August, 670.
Having been ordained priest, he retired to a hermitage on the banks of
the Nore of which the townland Kilfiachra, or Kilfera, County Kilkenny,
still preserves the memory. Disciples flocked to him, but, desirous of
greater solitude, he left his native land and arrived, in 628, at
Meaux, where St. Faro then held episcopal sway. He was generously
received by Faro, whose kindly feelings were engaged to the Irish monk
for blessings which he and his father's house had received from the
Irish missionary Columbanus. Faro granted him out of his own patrimony
a site at Brogillum (Breuil) surrounded by forests. Here Fiacre built
an oratory in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a hospice in which he
received strangers, and a cell in which he himself lived apart. He
lived a life of great mortification, in prayer, fast, vigil, and the
manual labour of the garden. Disciples gathered around him and soon
formed a monastery.
There is a legend that St. Faro allowed him as much land as he might
surround in one day with a furrow; that Fiacre turned up the earth with
the point of his crosier, and that an officious woman hastened to tell
Faro that he was being beguiled; that Faro coming to the wood
recognized that the wonderworker was a man of God and sought his
blessing, and that Fiacre henceforth excluded women, on pain of severe
bodily infirmity, from the precincts of his monastery. In reality, the
exclusion of women was a common rule in the Irish foundations. His fame
for miracles was widespread. He cured all manner of diseases by laying
on his hands; blindness, polypus, fevers are mentioned, and especially
a tumour or fistula since called "le fic de S. Fiacre".
His remains were interred in the church at Breuil, where his sanctity
was soon attested by the numerous cures wrought at his tomb. Many
churches and oratories have been dedicated to him throughout France.
His shrine at Breuil is still a resort for pilgrims with bodily
ailments. In 1234 his remains were placed in a shrine by Pierre, Bishop
of Meaux, his arm being encased in a separate reliquary. In 1479 the
relics of Sts. Fiacre and Kilian were placed in a silver shrine, which
was removed in 1568 to the cathedral church at Meaux for safety from
the destructive fanaticism of the Calvinists. In 1617 the Bishop of
Meaux gave part of the saint's body to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and
in 1637 the shrine was again opened and part of the vertebrae given to
Cardinal Richelieu. A mystery play of the fifteenth century celebrates
St. Fiacre's life and miracles. St. John of Matha, Louis XIII, and Anne
of Austria were among his most famous clients. He is the patron of
gardeners. The French cab derives its name from him. The Hôtel de
St-Fiacre, in the Rue St-Martin, Paris, in the middle of the
seventeenth century first let these coaches on hire. The sign of the
inn was an image of the saint, and coaches in time became
called by his name .
|
 980 Saint
Fantinus
of Calabria monk in Calabria at the Basilian monastery of Saint Mercury
Abbot moved to Salonika, where his miracles and virtues made him famous
Thessalonícæ sancti Fantíni Confessóris,
qui, multa a Saracénis perpéssus, atque e
monastério, in quo abstinéntia víxerat
admirábili, expúlsus, demum, cum plúrimos ad viam
salútis perduxísset, in senectúte bona
quiévit.
At Thessalonica, St. Fantinus, confessor, who
suffered much from the Saracens, and was driven from his monastery, in
which he had lived in great abstinence. After having brought many
to the way of salvation, he rested at last at an advanced age.
Tenth Century St Fantinus, Abbot
This Fantinus is said to have been abbot of the Greek monastery of St
Mercury in Calabria. After some years he claimed that the voice
of God was telling him to leave the monastery and he accordingly did
so, wandering about the countryside from place to place, sleeping in
the open, and living on fruit and herbs. When he came to a church or
monastery he lamented and prophesied woe; when he met a monk he wept
over him as though he were a dead man. When his friends, much
upset by this strange behaviour, tried to induce him to return to the
monastery, he only replied that there would soon be no monastery to
return to and that he would die in a foreign land. In due course
the Saracens devastated Calabria, the monastery of St Mercury was
destroyed, and St Fantinus with two disciples went overseas and landed
in the Peloponnesus. He lived for a time at Corinth and at Larissa in
Thessaly, and then moved to Salonika, where his miracles and virtues
made him famous. Here he died.
Not much that is reliable is
known of this saint, though the
Bollandists have devoted a few pages to him in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol.
vi. It is apparently this Fantinus who figures in the
Constantinople synaxaries on November 14; though in an
Italo-Greek synaxary he is assigned to August 30. See J. Rendel
Harris, Further Researches into the Ferrar Group (1900), with
Delehaye's comments in the Analecta
Bollandiana, vol. xxi (1902); pp. 23-28. The story seems
to be nothing but legend and confusion, including possibly confusion
between two holy men, both named Fantinus.
Saint Fantinus was a monk in Calabria at the Basilian
monastery of
Saint Mercury. He was an old man when his monastery was destroyed by
the Saracens, but he fled to the East and died there (Benedictines)
.
|
 1026 St.
Bononius
Benedictine missionary and abbot preach in Egypt and Syria
Bonóniæ
sancti
Bonónii Abbátis. At Bologna, St.
Bononius, abbot.
A
disciple of St. Romuald in
Bologna, Italy. He was sent by
Romuald to preach in Egypt and Syria. After this mission duty, Bononius
became the abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Lucedo, in the Piedmont
area of Italy.
Bononius of Locedio, OSB Cam. Abbot (RM) Born in Bologna, Italy.
Bononius, a Benedictine monk of Saint Stephen's in his hometown, became
a disciple of Saint Romuald. After preaching the Gospel in Syria and
Egypt, he became superior of the monastery of Lucedio in the Piedmont,
Italy (Encyclopedia) . |
1050 St. Peter of
Trevi Peacher and confessor a brilliant preacher among the
peasant communities of Anagni, Subiaco, and Tivoli. He died while still
a young man, at Trevi, near Subiaco
Trebis, in Látio, sancti Petri Confessóris, qui, multis
clarus virtútibus et miráculis, ibídem
migrávit ad Dóminum, et honorífice cólitur.
At Trevi in Lazio, St. Peter, confessor, who was
distinguished for many virtues and miracles. He is honoured in
that place from which he departed for heaven.
Born at Carsoli, Italy, Peter
entered the
priesthood and was ordained a
priest, soon distinguishing himself as a brilliant preacher among the
peasant communities of Anagni, Subiaco, and Tivoli. He died still
a young man, at Trevi, near Subiaco.
1060 Saint Peter of
Trevi successfully preached to the country folk in the areas of Tivoli,
Anagni, and Subiaco (RM)
Born at Carsoli, diocese of Marsi, Italy; died at Trevi, c. ; canonized
in 1215. After his ordination, Saint Peter successfully preached to the
country folk in the areas of Tivoli, Anagni, and Subiaco. He died at a
young age (Benedictines) .
|
1259 Blessed
Bronislava of Poland cousin of the Dominican Saint Hyacinth of Poland
O.Praem. V (AC)
Bd Bronislava, Virgin
It is related that Bd Bronislava was a cousin of St Hyacinth, and that on the day of
his death she saw our Lady in vision receive him into Heaven. She
had joined the Norbertine nuns near Cracow when she was about
twenty-five years old, and for some time led the ordinary life of her
order. But her gift of contemplation and consequent love of
solitude were so great that she was allowed to withdraw for long
periods to a cell in a cave not far from the monastery, and was
eventually permitted to live there permanently as a
solitary.
After death on January 18, 1259, her body was
buried in the convent church. When buildings were destroyed by
warfare it was lost but in the seventeenth century the relics
were discovered again, and carried from church to church throughout
Poland for the veneration of the people. The cultus of Bd Bronislava was
recognized in 1839, and her feast is observed by the Premonstratensian
canons regular.
Most of the accounts of this
rather obscure beata seem to
be written either in
Polish or in Flemish (Brabant being at present the stronghold of the
Premonstratensian Order) but there are short lives published in
French by Flambeau (1897) and Van Spielbeeck (1886).Bronislava is also one of the three
holy people whose story is told by J. Chrzaszcz in Drei schlesische Landesheilige
(1897). Cultus confirmed in
1839. Bronislava, a cousin of the Dominican Saint
Hyacinth of Poland, was a Premonstratensian nun who later became
a
hermit (Benedictines) .
|
1588 Margaret Ward
one
of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales M (RM)
Born at Congleton, Cheshire, England; died August 30, 1588; beatified
in 1929; canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs
of England and Wales. The gentlewoman Margaret was serving as a
companion in the home of the Whittle family in London when she was
arrested together with her servant, Blessed John Roche, for helping
Father Richard (William?) Watson to escape from Bridewell Prison. She
had smuggled a rope into the priest's cell so that he might climb down
from the roof. He was injured, but did escape with the help of John
Roche. The rope was traced back to Margaret, who was severely tortured.
They were tried at the Old Bailey on August 29, and offered their
freedom if they would reveal the whereabouts of Watson and convert to
the Protestant faith. Upon refusing, they were hanged, drawn, and
quartered at Tyburn, together with a priest and three other laymen
(Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Kalberer).
|
1588
Blessed John Roche
refused conditions executed M (AC)
Died August 30, 1588; beatified in 1929. John Roche (alias Neale),
the Irish manservant of Saint Margaret Ward. She smuggled a rope into
Bridewell Prison to assist Father Richard Watson in escaping. The
priest broke an arm and a leg in the process. John Roche exchanged
clothes with the priest, who managed to get away, but was himself
arrested. John and his mistress were promised immunity if they were
reveal the priest's hiding place and renounce their faith. They refused
both conditions and were executed (Benedictines, Delaney, Montague).
|
1588 Bl.
Edward
Shelley
English martyr of Warminghurst sheltered priests
He sheltered priests and was hung at Tyburn. Edward was beatified in
1929.
Blessed Edward Shelley M (AC); beatified in 1929. Edward Shelley, a
gentleman of Warminghurst in Sussex, England, was hanged at Tyburn for
giving refuge to priests (Benedictines).
|
1588
Bl. Richard Leigh English priest martyr
Born in London, circa 1561, he studied at Reims and Rome and was
ordained in 1586.
Returning to England, he was arrested and banished. He returned and was
again arrested for being a priest and, with Blesseds Richard Martin, Edward Shelley, John Roche, Richard Flowers, and St. Margaret Ward, was executed at
Tybum. Richard was beatified in 1929. Blessed Richard Leigh and
Richard Martin MM (AC)
Died at Tyburn, England, August 30, 1588; beatified in 1929. Richard
Leigh, a native of London, was educated at Rheims and Rome and ordained
in 1586. The gentleman Richard Martin haled from Shropshire and was
educated at Broadgates Hall, Oxford. They were martyr with four others,
including Blessed John Roche and Saint Margaret Ward. Leigh suffered
for being a priest; Martin for harboring God's servants (Benedictines).
|
1588 St.
Richard
Martin English martyr shelter to priests
Born in Shropshire, he studied at Oxford and was a devout Catholic.
Arrested for giving shelter to priests, he was hanged, drawn, and
quartered at Tybum with Blesseds Richard Leigh, Edward Shelley, John
Roche, Richard Flowers, and St. Margaret Ward. He was beatified in
1929.
|
1617 St.
Rose
of
Lima patroness of Latin America and the Philippines
miracles
followed her death
Sanctæ Rosæ a
Sancta María, e tértio Ordine
sancti Domínici, Vírginis; cujus dies natális nono
Kaléndas Septémbris recensétur.
The
feast of St. Rose of St. Mary, virgin of the
Third Order of St. Dominic, whose birthday is recalled on the 24th of
August.
Virgin, born at
Lima, Peru 20 April, 1586; died there 30
August, 1617.
ST ROSE OF LIMA, VIRGIN
ASIA, Europe and Africa had been watered with the blood of
many martyrs
and adorned for ages with the shining example of innumerable saints,
whilst the vast regions of America lay barren till the faith of Christ
began to enlighten them in the sixteenth century, and this maiden
appeared in that land like a rose amidst thorns, the first-fruits of
its canonized saints. She was of Spanish extraction, born at
Lima, the capital of Peru, in 1584. Her parents, Caspar de Flores Maria
del Oliva, being decent folk of moderate means. She was
christened Isabel but was commonly called Rose, and she was confirmed
by St Toribio, Archbishop of Lima, in that name only.
When she
was grown up, she seems to have taken St Catherine of Siena for her
model, in spite of the objections and ridicule of her parents and
friends. One day her mother having put on her head a
garland of flowers, to show her off before some visitors, she stuck in
it a pin so deeply that she could not take off the garland without some
difficulty. Hearing others frequently commend her beauty, and
fearing lest it should be an occasion of temptation to anyone, she used
to rub her face with pepper, in order to disfigure her skin with
blotches. A woman happening cne day to admire the fineness of the
skin of her hands and her shapely fingers, she rubbed them with lime
and was unable to dress herself for a month in consequence. By
these and other even more surprising austerities she armed herself
against external danger and against the insurgence of her own
senses. But she knew that this would avail her
little unless she banished from her heart self-love, which is the
source of pride and seeks itself even in fasting and prayer. Rose
triumphed over this enemy by humility, obedience and denial
of her own
will. She didn't scruple to oppose her parents when
she thought they were mistaken, but never wilfully disobeyed them
or departed from scrupulous obedience and patience under all trouble
and contradictions, of which she experienced more than enough from
those who did not understand her.
Her parents having been reduced to straitened
circumstances by an unsuccessful mining venture, Rose by working all
day in the garden and late at night with her needle relieved their
necessities. These employments were agreeable to her, and
she probably would never have entertained any thoughts of a different
life if her parents had not tried to induce her to marry. She had
to struggle with them over this for ten years, and to strengthen
herself in her resolution she took a vow of virginity. Then,
having joined the third order of St Dominic, she chose for her dwelling
a little hut in the garden, where she becamepractically a
recluse.
She wore upon her head a thin circlet of silver,
studded on the inside with little sharp prickles, like a crown of
thorns. So ardent was her love of God that as often as she spoke
of Him the tone of her voice and the fire which sparkled in her face
showed the flame which consumed her soul. This appeared most
openly when she was in presence of the Blessed Sacrament and when in
receiving It she united her heart to her beloved in that fountain of
His love.
God favoured
St Rose with many great graces, but she also
suffered during fifteen years persecution from her friends and others,
and the even more severe trial of interior desolation and anguish in
her soul. The Devil also assaulted her with violent
temptations, but the only help she got from those she consulted was the
recommendation to eat and sleep more ; at length she was examined by a
commission of priests and physicians, who decided that her experiences,
good and bad, were supernatural. But it is permissible to
think that some of them, if correctly reported, were due to natural
physical and psychological causes.
The last three
years of her life were spent under the roof of Don Goazalo de Massa, a
government official, and his wife, who was fond of Rose. In their
house she was stricken by her last illness, and under long and painful
sickness it was her prayer, "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with
them increase thy love in my heart".
She died August
24, 1617, thirty-one years old. The chapter, senate, and
other honourable corporations of the city carried her body by turns to
the grave. She was canonized by Pope Clement X in
1671, being the first canonized saint of the New World.
The mode of life and ascetical practices of St
Rose of
Lima are suitable only for those few whom God calls to them; the
ordinary Christian may not seek to copy them, but must look to the
universal spirit of heroic sanctity behind them, for all the saints,
whether in the world, in the desert or in the cloister, studied to live
every moment to God. If we have a pure intention of always doing His
will we thus consecrate to Him all our time, even our meals, our rest,
our conversation and whatever else we do all our
works will thus be full.
The Bollandists in the Acta
Sanctorum, August, vol. v, after referring to one or two earlier
lives of St Bose, in particular that of John de Vargas Machuca in
Spanish, and that of D. M. Marchese in Italian, elected to print entire
the Latin biography of the saint by Fr Leonard Hansen,
O.P. This has been the backbone of nearly all that
has been subsequently written about her. Moreover, it is
supplemented in the Acta Sanctorum
by the text of Clement X's very ample bull of canonization, which gives
full details both of the life of the saint and of her miracles. In
English we have in the Oratorian series a translation of a
seventeenth-century French life by J. Fl Feuillet, and an attractive
sketch by F. M. Capes, The Flown of
the New World Rose of America
(1943) is spoiled by too much "sweetness". See also
Vicomte de Bussière, Le Perou
et Ste Rose de Lima (1863); Mortier, Maitres
Généraux O.P., vol. vii, pp. 76 seq., and the Monumenta OP. Historica, vol. xiii,
pp. 22 seq. There are several recent books in Spanish ; and
see Sheila Kaye-Smith, Quartet in
Heaven (1952). (1899); Sara Maynard's attempt to popularize the
saint.
This South American
Saint's real name was Isabel, but she was such a
beautiful baby that she was called Rose, and that name remained. As she
grew older, she became more and more beautiful,
and one day, her mother put a wreath of flowers on her head to show off
her loveliness to friends. But Rose had no desire to be admired, for
her heart had been given to Jesus. So she put a long pin into that
wreath and it pierced her so deeply, that she had a hard time getting
the wreath off afterward. Another time she became afraid that her
beauty might be a temptation to someone, since people could not take
their eyes off her. Therefore, she rubbed her face with pepper until it
was all red and blistered.
St. Rose worked hard to support her poor parents and she
humbly obeyed
them, except when they tried to get her to marry. That she would not
do. Her love of Jesus was so great that when she talked about Him, her
face glowed and her eyes sparkled.
Rose had many temptations from the devil, and there were
also many
times when she had to suffer a feeling of terrible loneliness and
sadness, for God seemed far away. Yet she cheerfully offered all these
troubles to Him. In fact, in her last long, painful sickness, this
heroic young woman use to pray: "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with
them increase Your love in my heart."
Many miracles followed her death. She was beatified by
Clement IX, in
1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, the first American to be so
honoured. She is represented wearing a crown of roses.
|
 1879 St. Jeanne Jugan ( Sister Mary of the Cross) developed special love for aged,
particularly poor widows; At
age 47 several other women moved into Jeanne’s home, where
they became an informal prayer community and eventually elected Jeanne
as superior. They supported themselves through domestic work; in their
free time they catechized children and aided the poor as best they
could. Over time the community came to be known as the congregation of
the Little Sisters of the Poor. Their members, who begged for the needs
of the elderly in their care, took vows of poverty, chastity, obedience
and hospitality.
(1792-1879)
Being of humble origins needn’t keep us from doing great things for
God. Blessed Jeanne Jugan is proof of that.
Born to a poor family in Brittany, France, she learned the meaning of
hard work at an early age. She also learned the beauty of the faith
passed on to her by her widowed mother. At the age of 16, Jeanne became
a kitchen maid for a family whose mistress often took the young girl on
visits to the sick and poor.
Over time Jeanne developed
a special love for the aged, particularly
poor widows.
She did hospital work and
domestic service for years. At age 47 several
other women moved into Jeanne’s home, where they became an informal
prayer community and eventually elected Jeanne as superior. They
supported themselves through domestic work; in their free time they
catechized children and aided the poor as best they could. Over time
the community came to be known as the congregation of the Little
Sisters of the Poor. Their members, who begged for the needs of the
elderly in their care, took vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and
hospitality.
A benefactor provided the growing community of women with a
convent;
other houses were soon established. Members begged for the needs of the
elderly in their care and ate only leftovers. Sister Mary of the Cross,
as she was known, proved to be a talented organizer and fundraiser, but
jealousies and squabbles forced her to step down as superior. Her
spiritual director instructed her to “remain in a hidden life behind
the walls of the motherhouse.” Her last 27 years were spent in
obscurity. She quietly supervised the manual work of the postulants,
who were unaware of the real story behind the humble, elderly nun who
loved and encouraged them. She lived to see Pope Leo XIII approve the
constitutions for the Little Sisters of the Poor in 1879. But Jeanne
Jugan was not officially recognized as the founder of the congregation
until 14 years after her death.
Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1982. Quote: Charles Dickens,
a contemporary of Jeanne Jugan, said of her: “There is in this woman
something so calm, and so holy, that in seeing her I know myself to be
in the presence of a superior being. Her words went straight to my
heart, so that my eyes, I know not how, filled with tears.”
Humility Made Sister Jugan a Saint Little Sisters of the Poor Founder
to Be Canonized Sunday
Por Carmen Elena Villa VATICAN CITY, OCT. 8, 2009 Zenit.org
Blessed Marie de la Croix Jugan never sought worldly recognition, not
even to be known as the founder of the Congregation of the Little
Sisters of the Poor. On Sunday, 10/9/11 however, she will be
recognized worldwide as a saint in a canonization ceremony celebrated
in Rome by Benedict XVI.
"The true measure of sanctity is humility," she constantly repeated,
quoting St. John Eudes, for whom she had a great devotion in her
earthly life.
The town of Cancale in northern France, on the coast of Brittany, is
where Jeanne Jugan was born in 1792. Her childhood was not easy.
In addition to the historical context in which she grew up -- the
French Revolution broke out three years before her birth -- her family
had many financial difficulties.
Her father, a simple fisherman, disappeared at sea when she was four
years old. "This death marked her also in the area of acceptance of
suffering and sensitivity for those who suffer," the postulator of her
canonization cause, Spanish Dominican Father Vito Gomez, told ZENIT.
At age 16, she took a job as a kitchen maid, something she continued to
do for nine years. "She worked hard, and in that work forged a very
solid personality," said Father Vito.
He noted that Blessed Jugan's spirituality was centered on Christ. She
read and meditated on the writings of some of the French masters of
spirituality, such as St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul.
This enhanced her special devotion to the Eucharist and to the Virgin
Mary.
Charity
Jeanne Jugan was anxious to serve the poorest. She invited beggars into
her home and even gave them her bed. "I would say that this virtue of
charity is like the constellation around which all her other virtues
rotated," noted Father Vito.
On Oct. 15, 1840 she decided to found a small charitable association
headed by a parish priest, Father Augusto Le Pailleur, vicar of
Saint-Servan. From this community was born the Congregation of the
Little Sisters of the Poor.
The first young women made
their vows of obedience on December 8, 1842.
This new community lived with the objective of
"participating in the happiness of spiritual poverty, directed to total
despoliation which raises the soul to God," as its constitution
directs.
The community elected her as its first superior, a post she held for
only two weeks as Father Le Pailleur decided to revoke the election.
Years later the priest ordered her to live a more retired life,
involved only in domestic tasks, and removed from her benefactors, a
decision she accepted without protest. She lived in this way for 27
years.
"She put into practice the dictum that 'your left hand should not know
what your right hand is doing,' to the point of disappearing into the
group of which she was really the founder," said the postulator.
Blessed Marie de la Croix, as she was called after entering religious
life, died in August 1879 when the congregation had some 2,488 women
religious and 177 homes for the elderly. Months earlier, Pope Leo XIII had approved the
congregation's statutes.
The future saint was recognized as the official founder of the Little
Sisters of the Poor only at the beginning of the 20th century, when
members of the order decided to write the history of the community,
said Father Vito.
"She never rebelled against her marginalization; on the contrary, she
dedicated herself more intensely to her congregation," the priest
affirmed.
Be little
Blessed Jugan left nothing in writing; instead, she repeated words that
today illuminate the charism of the Little Sisters of the Poor.
She would say: "Jesus awaits
you in the chapel. Go to meet him when you are at the limit of your
patience and strength, when you feel alone and weak."
The founder urged her
sisters: "Tell him: 'You know what is happening to me, good Jesus. I
have nothing else but you. Come to my help [...].' And then go. And
don't be worried about what you will do. It is enough that you spoke
about it to the good God. He has a good memory!"
Today the Little
Sisters of the Poor are active in 31 countries worldwide. In
addition to vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, they dedicate
their lives to caring for the elderly. In this way, they aim to
transmit their joy and spirituality as well as to learn from the wisdom
of those who are in the last stage of their lives, preparing them for
their encounter with God in eternity. The congregation's statutes
affirm, "To be a Little Sister of the Poor reminds us of our desire to
always go out to the poorest, to create a current of apostolic
collaboration and fraternal charity to help Christ in the poor."
In the homily at Blessed
Jugan's beatification in 1982, Pope
John Paul II told the sisters: "Be little, very little! Guard
that spirit of humility and simplicity! If we were to think that we are
something, the congregation would no longer bless the good God, it
would be our end."
|
 1869 St. Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran Narcisa
de Jesús Martillo (Narcisa de Jesús Martillo y
Morán; 29 October 1832 – 8 December 1869) is a saint from Nobol,
Ecuador. She was a laywoman known for her charitable giving and strict
devotion, becoming a consecrated virgin. She was beatified by Pope John
Paul II on October 25, 1992 and canonized on October 12, 2008 by Pope
Benedict XVI. Today her body lies in repose at the Santuario de Santa
Narcisa de Jesus Martillo y Morán in Nobol, Ecuador.
1832-1869
Orphaned at an early age, Narcisa Martillo Moran, of Nobol, Ecuador,
worked as a seamstress to contribute to the support of her brothers and sisters. Supported by the guidance of
several spiritual directors, she resolved to consecrate her virginity
to Christ and to spend the rest of her life offering prayers and
penances to God in expiation for mankind’s sins. Although she remained
a laywoman, Narcisa followed a demanding daily schedule of eight hours
of prayer, offered in silence and solitude. In addition to imposing
upon herself an austere diet and very humble living quarters, she
devoted four hours of the night to various forms of mortification,
including the wearing of a crown of thorns. Narcisa was frequently seen
in a state of ecstasy. She spent the concluding months of her life in
Lima, Peru, where she died on December 8, 1869 at the age of
thirty-seven.
Canonization
Following Narcisa's death, the city of Lima acclaimed her as a saint,
as did the people of Guayaquil and Nobol. The Dominican sisters of
Patrocinio venerated her by guarding the memory of her virtues and
careful preservation of her body. In 1955, her practically uncorrupted
body was transferred from Peru to Guayaquil, and in 1972 her remains
were returned to Nobol. The documents of the diocesan process of
canonization were handed over to the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints in 1964. Pope John Paul II beatified her on October 25, 1992. On
August 22, 1998, a shrine in her honour was dedicated in Nobol, where
her uncorrupt body remains to this day.
On January 19, 2007, the Congregation voted in favor of recognizing a
miracle that took place through the then Blessed Narcisa’s
intercession, an important step in the canonization process. The case
that was brought forth was that of Edelmina Arellano, who was cured
from a congenital defect in 1992 and was determined to be “unforeseen,
complete, lasting, and scientifically inexplicable.” Edelmina was born
without genital organs, and at the age of 7 she was inexplicably cured
after her mother took her to the shrine dedicated to Narcisa and prayed
for her intercession. Later the same day, the child had an appointment
with her doctor who testified that, suddenly and without any medical
explanation, the girl was completely normal.
Pope Benedict XVI canonized her on October 12, 2008.
Biography
Narcisa de Jesús Martillo was born on October 29, 1832 in the
small village of St. Joseph in Nobol, Daule, Ecuador. She was the sixth
of nine children born to Peter Martillo and Josephine Morán, who
were wealthy landowners. Her mother died in 1838 when she was the age
of six and as result took up much of the domestic chores. She had a
clear perception of her call to sanctity from an early age and was
confirmed on September 16, 1839 at the age of seven. She frequented a
small wood near her home for prayer and contemplation in solitude. The
guayabo tree near which she prayed, is today the destination for large
pilgrimages. She chose Saint Mariana de Jesus as her patron with
whom she identified and strived to imitate.
After her father died in 1852, Narcisa moved to Guayaquil at the age of
19 where she lived with a very prominent family. It is here where
Narcisa began her mission of helping the poor and the sick and caring
for abandoned children. She took a job as a seamstress to fund
her mission as well as supporting her eight brothers and sisters.
Narcisa then moved to the city of Cuenca where she went from home to
home, living with whoever would take her including the Blessed Mercedes
de Jesús Molina to allow herself greater privacy for prayer and
penance.
In June 1868, Narcisa moved to Lima, Peru at the advise of a
Franciscan, where she lived as a lay person in the Dominican convent of
Patrocinio. Here, Narcisa followed a demanding daily schedule of eight
hours of prayer, offered in silence and solitude. In addition,
she devoted four hours of the night to various forms of mortification,
including flagellation and the wearing of a crown of thorns. She
fasted on bread and water and took the Eucharist as her only forms of
sustenance and was frequently seen in a state of ecstasy. Towards the
end of 1869, Narcisa developed high fevers for which medical remedies
could do little. She died on December 8, 1869.
|
Mary Mother of GOD 
384 Pope
Saint Damasus I commissioned Saint
Jerome to translate Scriptures in Latin
20 February, 1878; 20 July, 1903; Pope
Leo XIII Gioacchino Vincenzo
Raffaele Luigi Pecci doctorate
of theology; 
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.