300 St. Carpophorus priest
& Abundius deacon Martyrs
Eódem die sanctórum
Mártyrum Carpóphori Presbyteri, et Abúndii Diáconi;
qui, in Diocletiáni persecutióne, primo fústibus crudelíssime
cæsi, deínde in cárcerem, negátio cibo et potu,
retrúsi, et rursum in equúleo torti, et post hæc diu
in cárcere maceráti, novíssime gládio percússi
sunt.
Also,
the holy martyrs Carpophorus, a priest, and Abundius, a deacon, in the persecution
of Diocletian. They were first cruelly beaten with rods, then imprisoned
and denied food and drink; being placed on the rack a second time and again
thrown into prison, they were finally beheaded.
They are
listed as dying in Spoleto, Italy, or in Seville, Spain under Diocletian |
300 St. Mercurius Martyred
soldiers /companions slain at Lentini Sicily
Apud Leontínos, in Sicília, sanctórum Mártyrum
Mercúrii et Sociórum mílitum; qui, sub Tertyllo Præside,
témpore Licínii Imperatóris, gládio cæsi
sunt.
At Lentini in Sicily, the holy martyrs Mercurius and his
soldier companions, who were slain by the sword under the governor Tertyllus,
in the reign of Emperor Licinius.
Mercurius and the others
were soldiers assigned to escort Christians to their deaths during the persecutions
launched by Emperor Diocletian.
Converted to
Christianity by the heroic
example of their prisoners, Mercurius and his troops
surrendered themselves up to suffer the same beheading inflicted upon their
newfound Christian friends
|
304 St. Eulalia of Merida;
Virgin Martyr; Also, in the same city, St. Julia, virgin and
martyr, the companion of the blessed Eulalia, who would not be separated
from her when the latter went to suffer.
Eméritæ,
in Hispánia, pássio sanctæ Euláliæ Vírginis,
quæ, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre, cum esset annórum
duódecim, ibi, jussu Daciáni Præsidis, pro confessióne
Christi, plúrima torménta est perpéssa; novíssime,
in equúleo suspénsa et exunguláta, fáculis ardéntibus
ex utróque látere appósitis, hausto igne, spíritum
réddidit.
At Merida in Spain, in the time of Maximian, the martyrdom
of the holy virgin Eulalia, who at twelve years of age suffered many torments
for the confession of Christ by order of the governor Dacian. She was
stretched on the rack, torn with iron claws, had her sides burned with flaming
torches, and swallowing the fire she expired.
Item ibídem sanctæ Júliæ,
Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ beátæ Euláliæ
sócia fuit, et illi ad passiónem properánti indivídua
comes adhæsit.
Eulalia of Merida was born in Spain
in the
last decade of the third century. It is almost universally accepted that
she suffered martyrdom for the Faith. What little else is known of her to
date is based mostly on legend. It is believed that Eulalia, as a twelve
year old girl, tried to remonstrate with Judge Dacian of Merida for forcing
Christians to worship false gods in accord with the edict of Diocletian.
Even though Dacian was at first amused and tried to flatter her, Eulalia
would not deny Christ. Finally, Dacian ordered that her body be torn by iron
hooks. Fire was applied to her wounds to increase her sufferings, and in
the process her hair caught fire. She was asphyxiated by the smoke and flames,
gaining the crown of martyrdom around the year 304.
304? St Eulalia of Mérida, Virgin and Martyr
For particulars of the passion of St Eulalia, the most celebrated virgin
martyr of Spain, we have a hymn written in her honour by Prudentius at the
end of the fourth century and her passio of a much later date. *{* Alban
Butler accords two and a half pages of text to St Eulalia and four and a
half pages of small-print footnote (including a paragraph on Sedulius) to
Prudentius, “the glory of the ancient Christian poets”.}
She was only twelve when edicts of Diocletian were issued by which it was
ordered all should offer sacrifice to the gods of the empire. Eulalia’s mother,
observing her ardour for martyrdom, took her into the country. But she found
means to make her escape by night, and arrived at Mérida before daybreak.
As soon as the court sat the same morning she presented herself before the
judge, Dacian, and reproached him with attempting to destroy souls by compelling
them to renounce the only true God. Dacian at first tried to flatter and
bribe her into withdrawing her words and observing the edicts. Then he threatened
and showed the instruments of torture, saying, “These you shall escape if
you will but touch a little salt and incense with the tip of your finger”.
But she trampled on the cake that was laid for the sacrifice, and spat at
the judge. Thereupon two executioners began to tear her body with iron hooks,
and lighted torches were applied to the wounds. The fire then caught her
hair, and Eulalia was stifled by the smoke and flame. Prudentius tells us
that a white dove seemed to come out of her mouth and fly away upward, at
which the executioners were so terrified that they fled.
Snow fell and covered the body and the whole forum where it lay, till her
relics were entombed by the Christians near the place of her martyrdom. A
church was built on the spot and the altar raised over them before Prudentius
wrote his hymn; he says that “pilgrims come to venerate her bones, and she,
near the throne of God, beholds them and protects those that sing hymns to
her”.
The veneration of St Eulalia spread to Africa, and there is a homily of St
Augustine for her feast day; the oldest existing French poem, the “Cantilène
de Sainte Eulalie”, of the later ninth century, relates her story; and she
is among the martyrs mentioned by Bede in his hymn in honour of St Etheldreda
and by St Aldhelm.
St Eulalia of Barcelona, named separately in the Roman Martyrology
on February 12, is greatly venerated throughout Catalonia, under the names
Aulaire, Aulazie, Olalla and other forms; but she is now generally recognized
as a double of St Eulalia of Mérida. The fact that Prudentius and
Venantius pay tribute to the heroism of one Spanish martyr named Eulalia,
making especial mention of Mérida, seems to constitute proof of the
genuineness of the cult in her case, but it constantly
happens that fictitious stories are afterwards written which cause a duplication
of the subject so honoured.
The passio printed by Florez (España Sagrada,
vol. xiii, pp. 392-398) must be as old as the sixth century because
it was known to St Gregory of Tours, but no dependence can be placed upon
the story it contains. Even the few details provided in the poem of Prudentius
are probably not much more reliable, but he mentions Mérida as also
does Fortunatus, though St Augustine in his sermon says nothing more than
that she suffered in Spain. Competent opinion is now definitely satisfied
that there was only one St Eulalia, the martyr of Mends. The Barcelona story
is a much later development, incorporating many features of the earlier legend.
See on this the convincing essay of H. Moretus in the Revue des
questions historiques, vol. lxxxix (1911), pp. 85-119; which investigation
is endorsed by Poncelet, Delehaye (CMH., p. 642), and Leclercq, in DAC.,
vol. v, cc. 705—732. In this last article the greater part of Moretus’ essay
is reprinted. The attempt of Z. Garcia Villada (Historia ecclesiastica
de España, vol. i, 1929, pp. 283—300) to vindicate the independent
existence of the Barcelona martyr is too plainly biased by patriotic conservatism.
The question of the notices of Eulalia in the early martyrologies has been
very fully dealt with by Dom Quentin in his Les martyrologes
historiques, pp. 75, 162—164, etc.
See also the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii, and BHL.,
nn. 2693—2698. There was a Eulalia abbess of Shaftesbury c. 1074.
|
312 St. Mennas Martyr
/Eugraphus /Hermogenes beheaded Alexandria
Egypt
Alexandríæ sanctórum Mártyrum Mennæ, Hermógenis
et Eugraphi; qui sub Galério Maximiáno passi sunt.
At Alexandria, the holy martyrs Mennas, Hermogenes, and
Eugraphus, who suffered under Galerius Maximian.
Mennas was an Athenian from Greece, sent to Alexandria on an imperial commission
by Emperor Galerius. Working successfully, he announced that he and his assistant,
Eugraphus, were Christians. They were taken before Hermogenes, a judge, where
Mennas sang a four-hour musical defense of Christianity. His eyes were gouged
out and his tongue cut off when he ended his defense. According to a highly
doubtful legend, Mennas’ eyes and tongue were miraculously restored, an event
that brought about the conversion of Hermogenes.
The Holy
Martyrs Menas, Hermogenes, and Eugraphus suffered for their faith in Christ
under the emperor Maximian (305-313).
St Menas
was sent by the emperor from Athens to Alexandria to suppress the riots that
had arisen between the Christians and the pagans. Distinguished for his gift
of eloquence, Menas instead openly began to preach the Christian Faith and
he converted many pagans to Christ. Learning of this, Maximian sent Hermogenes
to Alexandria to place the saints on trial. Moreover, he gave orders to purge
the city of Christians.
Hermogenes, although he
was a pagan, was distinguished by his reverent bearing. Struck by the endurance
of St Menas under torture and by his miraculous healing after the cruel torments,
he also came to believe in Christ. Maximian himself then arrived in Alexandria.
Neither the astonishing stoic endurance of Sts Menas and Hermogenes under
torture, nor even the miracles manifested by God in this city, mollified
the emperor. Instead, they vexed him all the more. The emperor personally
stabbed St Eugraphus, the secretary of St Menas, and then gave orders to
behead the holy Martyrs Menas and Hermogenes.
The relics
of the holy martyrs, cast into the sea in an iron chest, were afterwards
found (see February 17) and transferred to Constantinople in the ninth century.
The emperor Justinian built a church in the name of the holy Martyr Menas
of Alexandria. St Joseph the Hymnographer (April 4) composed a Canon in honor
of these holy martyrs.
SS. MENNAS, HERMOGENES, AND EUGRAPHUS, MARTYRS
MENNAS (Menas), an Athenian, called “of the beautiful voice “, was sent by
the Emperor Galerius to Alexandria to use his learning and eloquence for
the pacification of troubles among the citizens. Having carried out his commission
he publicly declared himself a Christian, and together with his subordinate,
Eugraphus, began to make many converts. The judge, Hermogenes, who on his
way to Alexandria had been assured in a vision that the voyage would turn
out for his own benefit, summoned the offenders before his tribunal; whereupon,
as the worthless passio of these martyrs, falsely ascribed to St Athanasius,
informs us, Mennas used his beautiful voice to make an address to the court
which lasted for four hours. Although this oration made a great impression,
it was ordered that his eyes and tongue should be plucked out and his feet
flayed. But the next day he was found fully recovered from these outrages,
at which miracle Hermogenes himself and many others were converted. Galerius
ordered that further tortures should be inflicted on
them, from all of which they immediately recovered, and all three were eventually
beheaded.
This hagiographical
fiction is printed in Migne, PG., vol. cxv, pp. 368—416, and there is at
least one other redaction of the same story still unpublished. Delehaye inclines
to the belief that the whole is a pure invention founded on the popularity
of the authentic St Mennas (November 11). The names of the
two companions, Hermogenes and Eugraphus, oddly enough, recur at Salona in
Dalmatia, a place that was especially connected with the veneration of the
Egyptian St Mennas. See the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xviii
(1899), pp. 406—407; vol. xxiii (1904), pp. 14—15; vol. xxix (1950),
pp. 144—145. There is a summary of the same legend
in the Constantinople Synaxary, December 10, CC. 293—294.
|
310 314 Miltiades or Melchiades,
pope and martyr
Sancti Melchíadis, Papæ et Mártyris, cujus dies natális
recensétur tértio Idus Januárii.
St. Melchiades, pope and martyr, whose birthday is mentioned
on the 11th of January.
During his reign, toleration
was granted to Christians by Constantine; labelled a martyr due to his sufferings
during the persecution of Maximian.
314 St Miltiades, Pope And Martyr
So little is known about St Miltiades (sometimes written Meichiades) that
he is now chiefly remembered on account of its having been during his pontificate
that the era of the general persecutions came to an end and the Emperor Constantine
gave peace to the Church. He was said native of Africa and elected to the
papacy on July 2, probably in 312. After the battle at the Milvian Bridge,
where Constantine defeated Maxentius on October 28, 312, the victorious emperor
marched into Rome, and early in 313 toleration was granted to Christians
(and other religions) throughout the empire; this was followed by the bestowal
of privileges on the Church and the removal of legal disabilities.*{*There
has been no little debate among the learned about the circumstances of this
victory and what followed it.}
Christian captives were released from the prisons and mines, and all
celebrated the victory of Christ with hymns of praise, honouring God day
and night with prayer that the peace, which had been granted after ten years
of violent persecution, might not be taken away.
But amidst these rejoicings the Church was disturbed by the beginnings of
the Donatist schism in Africa. It arose out of the appointment of Caecilian
as bishop of Carthage, whom the party of Donatus alleged to be invalidly
consecrated because (as was said) he had delivered up the sacred books under
persecution.*{*The Donatists held the erroneous doctrines that sacraments
given by an unworthy minister are invalid and that sinners cannot be members
of the Church.}
At the request of Constantine the pope called a synod of Italian and
Gaulish bishops at Rome, which decided that Caecilian’s election and consecration
were good and valid. St Augustine, speaking of the moderation, which the
pope used in this connection, calls Miltiades an excellent man, a true son
of peace and father of Christians. A commemoration is made of him in the
liturgy of December 10 as a martyr, because, says the Roman Martyrology,
he suffered many things during the persecution of Maximian (before he was
bishop of Rome).
This holy pope saw a door opened by the peace of the Church
to the conversion of many, and rejoiced at the triumph of the cross of Christ.
But with worldly prosperity a worldly spirit too often broke into the sanctuary
itself; insomuch that there was sometimes reason to complain with Isaias,
“Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy”.
Under the pressure of persecution the true spirit of religion
was maintained in many during the first ages; yet, amidst the most holy examples
and under the influence of strong motives and helps, sin corrupted the hearts
of some, who by abuse of grace became abandoned to wickedness. With temporal
honours and security love of the world gained the hearts of many more, and
they were by ignorance persuaded that they could serve both God and mammon.
Though material goods
and prosperity are a blessing, they are also a danger.
There is a
short account of Pope Miltiades in
the Liber Pontificalis, but it tells us little that is trustworthy.
A letter of the Emperor Constantine
to the pope as well as two other letters connected with the trouble of Bishop
Caecilian are preserved by Eusebius, Eccles. Hist. bk x,
ch. 5. But the beginnings of the Donatist schism belong rather to general
church history. It may suffice here to recommend the treatment of the subject
by J. R. Palanque in vol. iii of the Histoire de l’Eglise, ed.
Fliche et Martin. St Miltiades’ true date is January 10: cf.
CMH., pp. 34 and 428. On the pope’s alleged burial place in the
cemetery of Callistus, see Leclercq in DAC., vol. xi, cc. 1199—1203; and
on the Roman synod, E. Caspar in the Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte,
vol. xlvi (1927), pp. 333—346. For the Constantinian problems see
N. H. Baynes, Constantine the Great and the Christian Church
(1929).
|
362 St. Gemellus Martyr
Ancyra Turkey; priest baptized him and when emerged from water his wounds
were all healed
Ancyræ, in Galátia, sancti Gemélli Mártyris, qui,
post dira torménta, sub Juliáno Apóstata, crucis supplício
martyrium consummávit.
At Ancyra in Galatia, St. Gemellus, martyr, who, after
severe torments, fulfilled his martyrdom by being crucified in the time of
Julian the Apostate.
Gemellus was crucified
in the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate.
The Holy
Martyr Gemellus of Paphlagonia was subjected to cruel tortures for his staunch
denunciation of the emperor Juilan the Apostate (361-363) in the city of
Ancyra (Galatia). A red-hot iron belt was placed around his waist. Then he
was ordered to accompany the impious Julian on his journey. When they reached
Edessa in Mesopotamia, he was stretched out on the ground and his limbs were
pierced with wooden stakes. Then he was hung on a post and mutilated.
Enduring the
tortures, the saint continued to revile the emperor. After being subjected
to even more horrible torments, they let him go. He was still able to walk
and speak, so he went on his way until he met a priest. He entreated the
priest to baptize him, and when he emerged from the water, his wounds were
all healed.
Hearing of
this miracle, Julian ordered that St Gemellus be crucified. The victorious
athlete of Christ gave up his soul to God, and his body was secretly taken
down and buried by Christians.
|
700 St. Deusdedit Bishop
of Brescia
Bríxiæ sancti
Deúsdedit Epíscopi. At Brescia, St. Deusdedit,
bishop.
Italy;
an avid foe
of the Monothelite heresy, popular in some areas
at that time.
|
720 St. Thomas of Farfa
Benedictine abbot native of Savoy
France, he entered the
Benedictines and embarked upon a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Upon his return,
he embraced the life of a hermit, living near Farfa, Italy. Thomas is also
credited with restoring Farfa Abbey.
|
741 Pope Saint Gregory
III ( 731-741) protected images of Jesus
Mary & the saints
Romæ
beáti Gregórii Papæ Tértii, qui sanctitáte
meritísque præclárus migrávit in cælum.
At Rome,
Pope St. Gregory III, who departed for heaven renowned for his sanctity and
good works.
Gregory_III
He was just standing there,
not doing anything special. As a Syrian priest he must have felt a little
out of place among the Roman people mourning that day for the dead Pope.
As a good preacher, he must have wanted to speak to the funeral procession
about Christ's promise of resurrection. As a learned man, he must have wondered
who would follow the holy Saint Gregory II as Pope and where he would take
the Church. As a holy man, he must have been praying for Gregory II and for
all the people around him to find their place after death in God's arms.
But he was just one of the crowd.
Not to God.
And not to the people who recognized the well-known holy man in their midst.
Right in the middle of the funeral procession they singled him out. They
swept him away and clamored for him to be named the next bishop of Rome.
Then suddenly, unexpectedly, without his even lifting a finger, his whole
life changed and he could no longer just stand there and do nothing.
After he was proclaimed
Pope Gregory III, Emperor Leo II attacked the veneration of holy images.
Because Leo II thought
the honor paid to Jesus, Mary, and the saints by keeping statues and icons
was idolatry, he condemned them and wanted them destroyed. Gregory III didn't
just stand there but immediately sent a letter to Leo II. He couldn't get
the letter through because the priest-messenger was afraid to deliver it.
So instead, Gregory called a synod that approved strong measures against
anyone who would try to destroy images of Jesus, Mary, or the saints.
Gregory
took his stand and Leo II apparently thought the only way to move him was
through physical force. So Leo sent ships to kidnap Gregory and bring him
to Constantinople. Many people in Rome must have tried to get Gregory to
move -- but he just stood there. Once again God intervened.
A storm destroyed Leo's ships. The only thing Leo could do was capture some
of the papal lands. So Leo got a few acres
of land and we kept our wonderful reminders of the love of God, the protection
of Jesus, the prayers of Mary, and the examples of the saints. All because
Gregory knew when to take a stand -- and when to stand there and let God
work. Gregory III was Pope from
731-741.
In His
Footsteps: Where in your life do you need to take a stand? Take a stand:
The next time you here someone say something that indicates religious, racial,
gender, or any other kind of prejudice, take a stand and make it clear that
such prejudice is not tolerated by God or God's people.
Prayer:
Saint Gregory III, it's hard to stand still and wait for God to do his work.
Sometimes I doubt God's providence. I'm afraid that God's plan won't work
out unless I push it along. Help me, when I'm confused, to stop, pray, and
wait for God. Amen
741 ST
GREGORY III, POPE
AMONG the clergy
at the funeral of Pope St Gregory II, in the year 731, there was a priest
of Syrian nationality who was so well known for his holiness, learning and
ability that the people spontaneously carried him off from the procession
and elected him by acclamation to the vacant see; he accordingly became pope
as Gregory III. He inherited from his predecessor the problem of dealing
with the Emperor Leo III the Isaurian, who had begun a campaign against veneration
of holy images. One of Gregory’s first acts was to send a letter of protest.
But the bearer, George, a priest, got frightened and returned to Rome without
delivering it, to the indignation of the pope, who threatened to degrade
him. So George set out again, but was seized by the imperial officers in
Sicily and banished. Thereupon Gregory summoned a synod at Rome, wherein
bishops, lower clergy and lay-people approved the excommunication of any
who should condemn the veneration of images or destroy them.
Leo retorted as some of his predecessors had done in similar circumstances:
he sent ships to bring Gregory to Constantinople; but they were lost in a
storm, so the emperor contented himself with seizing the papal estates in
Calabria and Sicily and recognizing the jurisdiction of the patriarch of
Constantinople over eastern Illyricum.
After this
inauspicious beginning of his pontificate there was a period of peace, during
which St Gregory rebuilt and decorated a number of churches; in particular
he set up a row of pillars before the confessio of St Peter, with images
of our Lord and the saints thereon and lamps burning around them, a mute
but solid protest against Iconoclasm. He sent the pallium to St Boniface
in Germany, and when the English missionary made his third visit to Rome,
in 738, Gregory wrote an appeal to the “Old Saxons”: the letter consisted
chiefly of quotations from the Bible, which perhaps were not very meaningful
to its heathen recipients.
It was this pope who sent the English monk St Willibald to help Boniface.
Towards the
end of St Gregory’s life Lombards again threatened Rome. The pope sent a
famous appeal for help to Charles Martel and the Franks of the West, rather
than to the emperor in the East, but it was long before they could be induced
to act. To the bishops of Tuscany Gregory wrote urging them to work for
the recovery of four cities captured by the Lombards: if they did not, “I
myself, ill as I am, will make the journey, and save you from the responsibility
of being unfaithful to your duty”. Then, on October 22, 741, Charles Martel died,
and a few weeks later, on December 10, St Gregory III followed him to the
grave. “He was”, says the Liber Pontificalis, “a man of deep humility
and true wisdom. He had a good knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures and their
meaning, and knew the psalms by heart. He was a polished and successful preacher,
skilled in both Latin and Greek, and a stout upholder of the Catholic faith;
a lover of poverty and the poor, a protector of the widowed and the orphaned,
a friend to monks and nuns.”
There is nothing
that can be called an early biography of St Gregory III; the account in the
Liber Pontificalis is meagre. What we know of him is
gathered from the chroniclers and from the remnants of his correspondence.
See Mann, History of the Popes, vol. i, Pt 2, pp. 204—224, and Hartmann, Geschichte Italiens
im Mittelalter, vol. ii Pt 2, pp. 169 seq.
Pope Gregory
III (RM)The son of a Syrian named John, he became a priest in Rome, and his
reputation for learning and holiness was so great that he was acclaimed pope
on February 11, 731, while accompanying the funeral cortege of his predecessor,
Saint Gregory II.
He continued
Gregory II's opposition to iconoclasm and convoked two synods in Rome in
731, which condemned the heresy. In response, Emperor Leo the Iconoclast
seized papal patrimonies in Calabria and Sicily and transferred ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of those two provinces and Illyrium to the patriarch of Constantinople.
Gregory supported
the missionary activities of Saint
Boniface in
Germany and sent Saint
Willibald to
assist him. Gregory completed rebuilding the walls around Rome begun by Gregory
II and sought the assistance of Charles Martel against the attacks of Liutprand
and his Lombards on the exarchate of Ravenna, the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento,
and the duchy of Rome rather than from the Eastern Emperor, an appeal that
was to have far-reaching historical implications for the meddling of the
state in Church affairs, and by establishing a connection with the Franks.
In the midst of this turmoil, Gregory died (Benedictines, Delaney).
|
739 St. Lucerius Benedictine
abbot successor of St. Thomas of Maurienne
France. He
was young when he joined the Benedictines at Farfa, Italy.
|
765 St. Guitmarus 4th
Benedictine abbot of Saint Riquier Abbey France
|
844 St. Hildemar Benedictine
bishop Beauvais
France, consecrated
in 821. He had served as a monk at Corbie.
|
900 Saint Thomas Dephourkinos
The Lord glorified him with the gift of healing and prophecy
Born in Bithynia.
From his youth he was fond of monastic life and entered one of the area monasteries.
Later in life, when the Byzantine official Galoliktos had founded a monastery
at the River Sagarisa, St Thomas was already an experienced monk, and the
brethren chose him as head of the new monastery.
From there
St Thomas withdrew into the wilderness, where for a long time he labored
in solitude. The monk overcame many snares of the devil in the wilderness.
The Lord glorified him with the gift of healing and prophecy.
Once, the emperor
Leo the Wise (886-911) came to the monastery to St Thomas for advice. Not
finding the monk at the monastery, the emperor sent his messenger with a
letter for him. And just as the messenger arrived at the the Elder's hut,
the saint carried out to him a sealed answer, resolving the emperor's question.
It is not known when St Thomas reposed.
|
1156 St. Florentius of
Carracedo Benedictine abbot Cistercian rule
esteemed by
King Aiphonsus VII of Leon and Castile, Spain. The abbey adopted
the Cistercian rule after Florentius’ death.
|
1169 The Novgorod Icon
of the Mother of God
Written by St Peter, Metropolitan
of Moscow (December 21), during his stay as igumen of a monastery on the
River Rata at the boundary of the Malyi Dvorets. During a time of persecution,
the Uniates plundered the Novgorod monastery, and the icon was transferred
by the hieromonk James to the Eletsk Chernigov monastery.
Bishop Anthony (Stakovsky)
of Chernigov later blessed Simeon, the organizer of the Surozh monastery
(Chernigov diocese) with this icon. On August 14, 1677, during a church procession
from the old church to a new one, the icon manifested miraculous signs.
This is one of the oldest
miracle-working icons in Russia. The Novgorod version of the icon became
famous in 1169 when Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky of Suzdal sent a joint army
of warriors from various lands, headed by his son Mstislav on a campaign
against Novgorod. The city was surrounded in February. On the fourth day
of the siege a bloody battle began. The Novgorodians, not relying on their
own resources, appealed to God and the Most Holy Virgin Mary for Their protection.
Archbishop Ilia, who was praying to God in the cathedral church, suddenly
heard a voice which demanded thai an icon of the Most Holy Mother of God
should be taken from the Church of the Savior in Ilyin Streel and mounted
on the city wall. The men sent for the icon, however, could not move it even
a little. It was only after divine service was conducted by the Archbishop
himself that they could take the icon and put it on the wall of the city.
During the siege an arrow hit the icon and tears began to flow from the eyes
of the Most Holy Theotokos. This was interpreted as a sign that the Mother
of God tearfully requested the Savior to deliver the city from the enemy.
At that very instant the enemy warriors were struck with blindness. Full of
terror, they began to slay one another and soon afterwards they were defeated
by the Novgorodians. The marginal scenes on this copy depict the battle of
the Novgorodians against the warriors of Suzdal. The feast day in honor of
this icon was instituted by Archbishop Ilia two days after the defeat of
the Suzdal warriors, on November 27/December 10.
|
1287 Bl. Peter Tecelano
Franciscan mystic miracles at his tomb
A native of
Campi, Tuscany, Italy, he was trained as a
comb maker at Siena. After the death of his wife he entered the Franciscans
as a tertiary and served as nurse to the sick in a Franciscan hospital. He
also toiled making combs. In his lifetime, he was reputed to be a deeply
mystical and holy individual and was credited with miracles. He was beatified
in 1802, in part because of miracles reported as occurring at his tomb.
|
Saint_Angelina wife of
John
15th v. Saint John of
Serbia incorrupt relics his parents Saint Stephen glorified by many miracles
& St Angelina
The life
of the Serbian ruler Stephen Brankovich and his family was filled with instability
and misfortune.
After
Serbia was seized in 1457 by the Turks, the then Serbian ruler's middle son,
Stephen (October 9), distinguished by a meek disposition and fine knowledge
of Holy 
Scripture,
went to the capital of Turkey after his sister had been given to Sultan Murat
in marriage. Learning that the Turks had burned the Mileshevsk monastery
with fanatic cruelty, St Stephen rose up to defend Serbia from oppression.
When he
married Angelina (July 30), the daughter of the Prince of Albania, the Turks
threatened St Stephen and his family with punishment. With his wife and three
children he was forced to hide first in Albania, and then in Italy, where
he died.
St Angelina
transferred the incorrupt relics of her spouse to Kupinovo. At the end of
the fifteenth century a son of the Righteous Stephen and Angelina, St John,
became ruler of Serbia. The incorrupt relics of St John and his parents were
afterwards glorified by many miracles.
|
1591 St. Polydore Plasden
1/40 Martyrs of England b. 1563
A native of
London, he studied for the priesthood at Reims and Rome and was ordained
in 1586. Sent to England soon after, he worked for the reconversion of the
island until his arrest by English authorities. He was taken prisoner with
St.
Edmund Genings. Polydore was hanged,
drawn, and quartered at Tybum. Beatified in 1929, he was canonized in 1970
by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs.
|
1591 Bl. John Mason
England Martyr layman arrested for harboring St. Edmund Gennings priest
He was martyred
at Tyburn by being hanged, drawn, and quartered with Sts. Edmund
Gennings and palydore plasden. and With Blessed Sidney Hodgson. pope Pius Xl beatified
him in 1929.
|
1591 St. Edmund Genings
1/40 Martyrs of England /Wales
1591
THE LONDON MARTYRS OF 1591
ON October 18, 1591, a royal proclamation led to the stricter enforcement
of the laws against Catholics in England, the first fruits of which were
seven martyrdoms in London on the following December 10. The principal priest
concerned was BD EDMUND GENINGS, who had been born at Lichfield in 1567 and
brought up a Protestant.
As a boy he was of a serious turn of mind, much given, as his
brother tells us, to stargazing, both literally and figuratively. At the
age of sixteen he became page to a Catholic gentleman and was soon reconciled
to the Church, whereupon he went to the college at Rheims. It looked as if
ill-health would forestall his desires, but he made a marvellous recovery
and by dispensation was ordained at the, age of twenty-three. Mr Genings
was a confessor of the faith before he ever left France, for on their way
to the court, in April 1590, he and his companions were robbed and imprisoned
for three days by Huguenots. They made a dangerous landing near Whitby, and
Genings made his way home, only to find all his family dead except his brother
John, who was in London. He looked for him during a month, and had determined
to leave town the following day, when he met him on Ludgate Hill.
John was not particularly pleased to see Edmund, whom he strongly
suspected of being a priest, and warned him that if he were he would bring
death upon himself and discredit on his friends. Edmund accordingly decided
that it was not opportune then to attempt his brother’s conversion, and departed
into the country. *{* John Genings himself confesses that he “rather rejoiced
than any way bewailed the untimely and bloody end of his nearest kinsman,
hoping thereby to be rid of all persuasions, which he mistrusted he should
receive from him touching the Catholic religion”.}
But ten days after the martyrdom he underwent a sudden and very
remarkable change of heart and mind, as results of which he became a Catholic,
a friar minor, and the minister of the English Franciscan province. Fr John
Genings at Brussels in 1659—25, founded the convent of English tertiary sisters
formerly at Taunton.
He was back in London in the autumn of 1591, and offered Mass
at a house in Gray’s Inn Lane, the residence of BD SWITHIN WELLS.
Mr Wells was the sixth son of Thomas Wells, a gentleman of Brambridge,
near Winchester, and until middle age seems to have led a peaceful country
life, varied by travelling abroad and periods of service in noble houses.
“He was a witty man skilled in divers languages...something given to honest
and innocent diversions, yet always devout in prayer...”
For six years he gave himself “to a more profitable employment
of training up young gentlemen in virtue and learning”, in other words, he
kept a boys’ school at Monkton Farleigh in Wiltshire, and eventually came
with his wife Margaret to live in London in 1585.
He was in prison on account of his religion at least twice during
the next six years, and several times examined. On the morning of November
8, 1591, Mr Genings celebrated Mass in his house with a small congregation,
and during the celebration Topcliffe the priest-catcher arrived with his
officers. The men kept them at bay by force and cajolery until Mass was finished,
and then Bd Edmund was seized, together with BB. POLYDORE PLASDEN, also a
priest, JOHN MASON and SIDNEY HODGSON, laymen, Mrs Wells and others. Mr Wells
was not present but was arrested shortly after.
At their trial Edmund Genings and Polydore Plasden were found guilty of being
priests coming in to the realm, Wells of harbouring them, and Mrs Wells,
Mason and Hodgson of relieving them, contrary to 27 Eliz. C. 2, and sentenced
to death. *{* Mrs Wells was reprieved and died in prison eleven years later.
Her cause is postponed for further evidence.}
Bd Edmund was hanged, drawn and quartered, and Bd Swithin hanged, in
Gray’s Inn Fields, hard by the Wells’s house. On the way thither from Newgate
Swithin shouted to someone in the crowd, “Farewell, old friend! Farewell
all hawking and hunting and old pastimes—I am now going a better way!”
Edmund was still fully conscious when the butchery began and cried
out in his agony, to whom his companion responded, “Alas, sweet soul! your
pain is great, but it is almost past. Pray for me now, good saint, that mine
may come.”
The hangmen and others reported that he invoked St Gregory when
his heart and viscera were out of his body. Swithin complained of their keeping
him, an old man, standing about in his shirt on a cold day while the noose
was arranged, and said to the hangman, “I pray God make of you, a Saul, a
Paul”. When Topcliffe said to him, “See what your priests have brought you
to, Mr Wells”, he replied, “I am happy and thank God to have been allowed
to have so many and such saint-like priests under my roof”.
The other three, BB. Polydore, John and Sidney, were executed
on the same day, December 10, at Tyburn. With them suffered BD EUSTACE WHITE
and BD BRIAN LACEY.
Lacey, a Yorkshire gentleman was a cousin and assistant of the Ven. Montford
Scott and after torture was condemned to be hanged for aiding and abetting
this priest. Bd Brian’s own brother had informed against them. Eustace White
came from Louth, and was a priest ordained in Rome. His parents were Protestants
and at his conversion his father had deliberately cursed him. He laboured
on the mission in the west of England for three years, until a lawyer with
whom he had talked too freely of religion betrayed him at Blandford. During
his detention in Blandford he made so strong an impression on the local Protestants
that it was openly advocated that a petition should be sent to the queen
for his release. He was, however, taken to London and treated with extreme
barbarity in Bridewell: left closely chained for over six weeks, insufficiently
fed, and tortured by Topcliffe seven times, all in a vain hope of making
him divulge the names of those who had helped him or in whose houses he had
celebrated Mass. He was condemned for his priesthood, and the brutal details
of his martyrdom at Tyburn reproduce those of Bd Edmund Genings elsewhere
on the same day, whereas his fellow priest, Bd Polydore Plasden, was allowed
to hang till he was dead.
A life of Edmund Genings,
alias Ironmonger, was written by his brother John Genings and printed at
St Omers in 1614. Further sources throwing light upon all this group of martyrs
will be found in the publications of the Catholic Record Society, vol. v (1908);
see especially pp. 204 seq., 131 seq. and passim. Consult also the full
account in MMP., pp. 169—185; B. Camm, Tyburn and the English
Martyrs (1904),
pp. 60—72; and J. H. Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs, pp. 98—127.
Born in
Lichfield, England, he converted to the faith. He was ordained a priest at
Reims, France, in 1590. The following years, after working in England, he
was martyred at Gray’s Inn Fields in London.
|
1610
Bl. Thomas Somers And John Roberts English martyrs
1610 Bb.
John Roberts And Thomas Somers, Martyrs
Some miles
north by west of the Merionethshire town of Dolgelley, at the top of the
valley between the Rhinogs and the Arenigs, lays the village of Trawsfynydd,
near which John Roberts was born in 1577. His family and the exact
place of his birth are uncertain, but he seems to have been of ancient stock
on both sides, and he is one of the most distinguished figures among the
hundred and thirty-six martyrs declared blessed by Pope Pius XI on December 15, 1929.
He received
his early education from an aged priest and, though brought up nominally
a Protestant, he was, as he himself said, always a Catholic at heart. When
he was nineteen he went to St John’s College at Oxford, where William Laud
was still in residence, and Roberts shared the rooms of John Jones, Lianfrynach,
afterwards well known as Father Leander-of-St-Martin, O.S.B.
He
did not finish his course at Oxford, but in 1598 entered as student of law at Furnivall’s Inn. He did not stay
there long, for early in the same year he went abroad. The only object of
his journey was “amusement and recreation”, but in June he was formally reconciled
with the Church at Notre-Dame in Paris by Canon Louis Godebert. He at once
betook himself to the English College at Valladolid, where he was admitted
on October 18 “on account of his burning desire to become a worker in the
vineyard of the Lord”.
In
1599 John Roberts followed the example of Augustine (John) Bradshaw and,
in the face of many difficulties caused by the authorities at the college,
received the Benedictine habit at the royal monastery of San Benito at Valladolid.
His old friend John Jones soon joined him, and they were professed, together
with six others from the English College, before the end of the following
year at the monastery of St Martin at Compostela, Roberts being known in
religion as Brother John of Merioneth (Meirion; de Mervinia).
It seemed at the time that the young
Welshmen and Englishmen who took this step endangered their call to be missionaries
in their own land, for the Spanish Benedictines were bound by perpetual enclosure.
But they were justified in listening first to the call of the traditional
cloister by subsequent events.
On
February 27, 1601, Bd Mark Barkworth, who had been the originator and leader
of the Benedictine movement among the English students at Valladolid, was
martyred at Tyburn. Thereupon petitions were presented to the Holy See that
the English monks might be free to go on the mission, and on December 5, 1602, Pope Clement VIII granted this faculty to
those of both the Valladolid and Cassinese congregations.
Twenty-one
days later, on the feast of St Stephen the First Martyr, Father John Roberts
set out accompanied by Father Augustine Bradshaw. “Roberts”, says another
Welshman, Lewis Owen, a spy from Father John’s own neighbourhood and his
inveterate enemy, “was the first that had his mission from the pope and his
own Spanish prelate to go for England, which made him not a little proud
that he should be a second Augustine monk, to convert and reconcile his countrymen
to the Roman Antichrist.”
It
took the two monks three months to reach London, and although, unlike their
predecessors in 1597, they came disguised in plumed hats, doublets and
swords, they were soon arrested and deported.
On the testimony of Lewis Owen, Father
John did not “neglect his Lord and Master’s business, but bestirred himself
night and day in negotiating His affairs”. The history of his apostolate
is a record of repeated arrest, imprisonment, release and exile; nevertheless
the contemporary Dom Bucelin in his Benedictus Redivivus says
that: “Amid all the religious who have worked in that island this man may
almost be reckoned the chief, both as regards labour and fruitfulness of
preaching.”
In
a few weeks he was back in London, succouring victims of an epidemic so devastating
that over 30,000 died during its first
and worst year: all early writers who refer to
John Roberts mention his conduct at this time with especial admiration, and
he made many converts.
In spring
of 1604 he was arrested at some port in the south when about to embark to
attend a general chapter of his congregation, accompanied by four postulants.
His captors, however, failed to identify him as a priest, and he was released
to continue his labours until, during the round-up of Catholics on the day
of Gunpowder Plot, November 5, 1605, he was taken at
the house of Mr Knight, a scrivener, in Holborn by Chancery Lane, and was
committed to the Gatehouse prison at Westminster, within the precincts of
the abbey. Here he was kept for eight months and then, at the intervention
of the ambassador of France, released and banished.
This
time Father John remained abroad for over a year, during which time lie took
a principal part in the foundation, with Father Augustine Bradshaw, of a
monastery for English monks of the Valladolid congregation at Douay; this
became the headquarters of the wonderfully preserved English congregation,
and is now St Gregory’s Abbey at Downside.
He
returned to England and was arrested for the fourth time at the end of 1607.
After an examination at which he refused to take the oath of allegiance in
a condensed form (3 Jas. I, cc. 4, 5),
Father John escaped from prison, and was at large but in great
secrecy till May 1609, when he was first in the Gatehouse, and then Newgate.
Again
the French ambassador came to the rescue and again John was banished. He
went to Spain and then to St Gregory’s, Douay, and on a renewed outbreak
of plague came back to England for the last time early in 1610. Some Benedictine,
perhaps he, was arrested and escaped in July; but on December 2 he was certainly
seized for the last time. It was the first Sunday of Advent, and he was just
ending Mass, probably in Mrs Scott’s house, when the officers broke in and
carried him off, still in his vestments, to Newgate.
Father John Roberts was
arraigned, together with Bd Thomas Somers (alias Wilson), a secular priest
from Westmorland, before Coke, L.C.J., George Abbot, Bishop of London, and
others, charged with their priesthood under 27 Eliz. c. 2. They again refused the
oath, and Father John admitted under examination that he was a priest and
a monk who had come into the country “to work for the salvation of souls,
and would continue to do were I to live longer”. Abbot called him a disturber
and seducer of the people, to which Father John replied that if he were so
“then were our ancestors deceived by blessed St Augustine, the apostle of
the English, who was sent here by the pope of Rome, St Gregory the Great…I
am sent here by the same Apostolic See that sent him before me.” When ordered
to be silent, he exclaimed, “I must speak, as my mission is from Heaven.
St Matthew says in chapter 28: ‘Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them
and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.’
Your ministers do not do this, because they do not fulfil in their lives
and actions the command of Christ. They do not administer the sacrament of
penance or of extreme unction. I do. And withal I teach obedience to princes
as a matter of conscience, against the
false doctrine of Luther and his companions. All this I can prove to you.”
He rebuked the bishop for sitting with civil judges in the trial of a capital
cause, and appealed to the bench to decide the case themselves lest the jury,
simple and ignorant men unable to distinguish between a priest as such and
a man as a traitor, should incur blood-guiltiness. The appeal was disregarded,
the jury found both prisoners guilty, and they were condemned to death.
The next day the Spanish lady Luisa
de Carvajal bribed the jailer of Newgate to transfer the two priests from
the condemned cell to the company of other Catholic prisoners, and in the
evening was enacted a remarkable scene.
Twenty
confessors of the faith sat down together for supper: at the head of the
table was Doña Luisa, to her right and left Father Roberts and Mr
Somers. Both martyrs were joyous, and the monk had a scruple of conscience.
“Do you not think”, he asked his hostess, “that I may be causing disedification
by my great glee Had I not better withdraw and give myself to prayer?” “No,
certainly not,” she answered. “You cannot be better employed than in letting
them all see with what cheerful courage you are about to die for Christ.”
Before the party broke up Doña
Luisa washed the feet of the martyrs, an act of homage which greatly angered
the king (James I) when it was reported to him. The next morning they were
handed over to the sheriff of Middlesex, drawn on hurdles to Tyburn, and
there hanged with sixteen common felons. They were allowed to hang till they
were dead, owing to the sympathy and threatening attitude of the crowd. Their
heads were then displayed on London Bridge and their bodies buried at Tyburn,
from whence they were in great part recovered by Bd Maurus Scott and Doña
Luisa.
Some
relics of Bd Thomas Somers are now at Downside, but the rest have disappeared
in revolutionary upheavals. Bd John Roberts was only thirty-three years old,
and “the first who out of a monastery, after the suppression of monasteries
in England, attacked the gate of Hell and provoked the prince of darkness
in his usurped kingdom, which he overcame like his great Master, the prince
of martyrs, by losing his life in the conflict.”
A full biography of John
Roberts was published by Dom Bede Camm in 1897 and this embodies an exhaustive
account of the sources. Challoner’s narrative (MMP., pp. 317-323) is naturally
less complete. On certain subsidiary questions raised in the life consult
The Month,
December
1897, pp. 581-600; October 1898, pp. 364—377; October 1899, pp. 233—245;
and November, pp. 348—365. See also T. P. Ellis, Catholic Martyrs of Wales
(1933),
pp. 79—91, and Welsh Benedictines of
the Terror (1936),
pp. 43—54, 76—104 and passim; and cf. B. Camm, Nine Martyr Monks (1931). For Somers, see
MMP., pp. 321—323; and for the relics of both martyrs, B. Camm, Forgotten Shrines (1910), pp. 355—356, 373,
378.
Born in
Westmoreland, England, he worked for a time as a schoolmaster. Leaving England,
he went to Douai, France, where he studied for the priesthood and received
ordination before returning home under the alias of Wison to assist the Catholic
cause in London. Arrested for being a priest, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered
at Tyburn with Blessed
John Roberts.
|
1616
Bl. Sebastian Montanol Spanish Dominican missionary possible martyr
He was sent
to Mexico from Spain and there worked among the Indians in Zacateca until
his murder. He was apparently killed by local Indians for castigating some
natives for treating the Eucharist with disrespect, although he has never
been officially declared a martyr.
|
1754 Saint Joasaph Archimandrite
several times St Athanasius appeared to Igumen Joasaph as a sign of his patronal
protection
Born at
Proluka, in the former Poltava governance, on September 8, 1705, the Feast
of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. He was descended from the old
and venerable Little Russian (Ukrainian) lineage of the Gorlenkovi. At Baptism
he was named Joachim.
In 1712,
his father enrolled the seven-year-old Joachim in the Kiev Spiritual Academy.
Within the walls of the academy he felt attracted to monastic life. For seven
years he studied it further, and finally revealed his intention to his parents.
For a
long time his mother and father pleaded with their first-born son not to
accept monastic tonsure. But in 1725, unknown to them, he became a "rasophore"
("robe-wearing novice") with the name Hilarion at the Kiev Mezhigorsk monastery,
and on 21 November 1727 he was tonsured in the mantya with the name Joasaph
at the Kievo-Bratsk monastery. This event co-incided with the completion
of his studies at the spiritual academy.
After
the death of His Grace Barlaam, the See of Kiev was governed by Archbishop
Raphael Zaborovsky. Archbishop Raphael noticed the abilities of the young
ascetic and assigned him to greater service to the Church. He was entrusted
with the responsibility of the office of examiner of the Kiev archbishopric.
In November
1734, Archbishop Raphael ordained the hierodeacon Joasaph as hieromonk, and
he was transferred from the Bratsk monastery school to the Kiev-Sophia archbishop's
house. At the same time, he was appointed a member of the Kiev religious
consistory.
In fulfilling the office
of examiner, he exerted much effort towards the correction of moral deficiencies
among the parish clergy. The saint's service in the consistory office enabled
him to develop his administrative abilities. During this time, he made a
good study of the needs of clergy-servers, noting both the good points and
the failings of the diocese. His talent for administration was combined with
his great spiritual effort. He quickly ascended the ladder of spiritual perfection,
which can be seen in his work, "The Conflict of the Seven Venerable Virtues
with the Seven Deadly Sins."
On June
24, 1737 Hieromonk Joasaph was appointed head of the Holy Transfiguration
Mgarsk monastery, and elevated to the rank of igumen. Here he worked with
all his strength to put the monastery in good order, for it was an old bastion
of Orthodoxy in the struggle with the Unia. In this monastery were relics
of St Athanasius, Patriarch of Constantinople and Wonderworker of Lubny (May
2). Several times St Athanasius appeared to Igumen Joasaph, as a sign of
his patronal protection.
In 1744
Metropolitan Raphael elevated Igumen Joasaph to the dignity of archimandrite.
Towards the end of that same year he was called to Moscow and soon, at the
direction of the Most Holy Synod, he was appointed vicar of the Holy Trinity
Sergiev Lavra monastery. At this monastery of St Sergius he also unstintingly
fulfilled obedience to the Church (this year required much exertion for the
rebuilding of the monastery after a fire).
On June
2, 1748 at the Peter and Paul cathedral in Peterburg, Archimandrite Joasaph
was ordained Bishop of Belgorod. Ascending the archbishop's throne, St Joasaph
strictly concerned himself with piety and the condition of the churches,
with the proper celebration of divine services, and especially with the moral
condition of his flock.
The saint
devoted great attention to the education of the clergy, and the correct observance
of churchly norms and traditions. Just as before, the saint worked with all
his strength in his archpastoral service, without regard for his health.
On the
eve of his repose, the saint forbade his cell attendant Stephen to aspire
to the priesthood, and he predicted that if he did not obey him, he would
meet with an untimely end. To another cell attendant Basil, the saint indicated
that he would be a deacon, but would never become a priest. Later, this prediction
was fulfilled. St Joasaph died on December 10, 1754, and was glorified on
September 4, 1911.
|
1838 St. Peter Duong
Vietnamese martyr native
Peter
served as a catechist and, with Peter Truat, was martyred by anti-Christian
forces.
|
1865 Blessed Father Adolph
Kolping the Kolping Society, it emphasizes the sanctification of family life
and the dignity of labor
The rise of
the factory system in 19th-century Germany brought many single men into cities
where they faced new challenges to their faith. Father Adolph Kolping began
a ministry to them, hoping that they would not be lost to the Catholic faith
as was happening to workers elsewhere in industrialized Europe.
Born 1813 in the village of Kerpen,
Adolph became a shoemaker at an early age because of his family’s economic
situation. Ordained in 1845, he ministered to young workers in Cologne, establishing
a choir, which by 1849 had grown into the Young Workmen’s Society. A branch
of this began in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1856. Nine years later there were
over 400 Gesellenvereine (workman’s societies) around the world. Today this
group has over 400,000 members in 54 countries across the globe.
More commonly
called the Kolping Society, it emphasizes the sanctification of family life
and the dignity of labor. Father Kolping worked to improve conditions for
workers and greatly assisted those in need. He and St. John Bosco in Turin
had similar interests in working with young men in big cities. He told his
followers, “The needs of the times will teach you what to do.
”Father Kolping
once said, “The first thing that a person finds in life and the last to which
he holds out his hand, and the most precious that he possess, even if he
does not realize it, is family life.”
He and Blessed
John Duns Scotus are buried in Cologne’s Minoritenkirche, served by the Conventual
Franciscans. The Kolping Society’s international headquarters is at this
church.
Kolping members
journeyed to Rome from Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania for Father
Kolping’s beatification in 1991, the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s
revolutionary encyclical Rerum Novarum (On the Social Order). Father Kolping’s
personal witness and apostolate helped prepare for that encyclical.
Comment: Some people
thought that Father Kolping was wasting his time and talents on young working
men in industrialized cities. In some countries, the Catholic Church was
seen by many workers as the ally of owners and the enemy of workers. Men
like Adolph Kolping showed that was not true.
Quote: “Adolph Kolping
gathered skilled workers and factory laborers together. Thus he overcame
their isolation and defeatism. A faith society gave them the strength to
go out into their everyday lives as Christ’s witnesses before God and the
world. To come together, to become strengthened in the assembly, and thus
to scatter again is and still remains our duty today. We are not Christians
for ourselves alone, but always for others too” (Pope John Paul II, beatification
homily).
|
Viénnæ,
in Gállia, sancti Sindúlphi, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
At Vienne
in France, St. Sindulph, bishop and confessor.
|
Mary Mother of GOD 15
Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary 
Saints of this Day December
10 Quarto Idus Decémbris
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
June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: 
