1400 Our Lady of
the
Thorn (Châlons, France) Our Lady and the Burning Bush Saint
Joan of Arc visited the shrine in 1429
The night of the Annunciation of the year 1400, some
shepherds were
attracted by a bright light coming from the nearby Chapel of Saint John
the Baptist. As they approached the light they saw a thorn bush
engulfed in flames, and they discovered a statue of the Blessed Virgin
in the midst of the flames. The miracle continued all that night and
into the next day, and news of the miracle spread quickly.
The Bishop of Châlons, Charles de Poitiers, also
witnessed the
burning bush and the miraculous statue - both unaffected by the fire.
When the flames died down, the bishop reverently took the statue and
carried it in his own hands to the nearby Oratory of Saint John. On the
very site of the miracle, construction of a church was begun for the
enshrinement of the miraculous statue.
Since the church was built so
rapidly - in a little over 24 years - that a charming local legend
claims that angels continued the work at night after the laborers had
left for home.
Our Lady of the Thorn
became a place of pilgrimage very rapidly. Today,
a minor basilica, the shrine proved to be so beautiful that the people
considered it worthy place to venerate the Blessed Virgin. The
flamboyant Gothic church boasts majestic great doors, a splendid
rosette decorating the principle entrance and two chiseled stone
spires, rises high and imposing on the plain in Champagne. It is a
place of grandeur where Christian souls can expand in adoration of the
Son of God, and many are the pilgrims of all descriptions who have
visited the shrine over the years, including Saint Joan of Arc in 1429.
Adapted from
http://sanctuaire-lepine.cef.fr
|
 90 St.
Onesimus
Martyr former slave mentioned in St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon
Romæ
beáti Onésimi, de quo sanctus Paulus
Apóstolus ad Philémonem scribit; quem étiam, post
sanctum Timótheum, Ephesiórum Epíscopum
ordinávit, prædicationísque verbum illi
commisit. Ipse autem Onésimus, vinctus Romam
perdúctus ac pro fide Christi lapidátus, primo
ibídem sepúltus fuit; inde ad locum ubi Epíscopus
fúerat ordinátus, corpus ejus delátum est.
At Rome, blessed Onesimus,
concerning whom the apostle St. Paul wrote
to Philemon. He made him bishop of Ephesus after St. Timothy, and
committed to him the office of preaching. Being led a prisoner to
Rome, and stoned to death for the faith of Christ, he was first buried
there, but his body was afterwards taken to the place where he had been
bishop.
1st v. ST
ONESIMUS, MARTYR
ONESIMUS was a slave
of Philemon, a person of note of the city of Colossae in Phrygia who
had been
converted to the faith by St
Paul. Having robbed his master,
and being obliged to fly, he met with St Paul, then a prisoner for the
faith at
Rome, who converted and baptized him, and entrusted him with his
canonical
letter of recommendation to Philemon. By him, it seems, Onesimus was
pardoned,
set at liberty and sent back to his spiritual father, whom he
afterwards
faithfully served, for apparently St Paul made him, with Tychicus, the
bearer
of his epistle to the Colossians, and afterwards, as St Jerome and
other
fathers witness, a preacher of the gospel and a bishop. Baronius and
others
confound him with St Onesimus, the bishop of Ephesus some time after St
Timothy, who showed great respect and charity to St Ignatius when on
his
journey to Rome in 107, and is highly commended by him.
The Roman
Martyrology devotes a notice to Onesimus, identifying him with this
bishop of
Ephesus, consecrated to that see by St Paul (!) after the episcopate of
St
Timothy, and stating further that he was brought in chains to Rome, was
there
stoned to death, and that his remains were afterwards taken back to
Ephesus.
The so-called “Apostolic Constitutions”, an apocryphal document of the
end of
the fourth century (bk vii, c. 46), describes Onesimus as bishop of
Beroea in
Macedonia, and affirms at the same time that his former master Philemon
became
bishop of Colossae. Nothing of this clearly is any more worthy of
credit than
the fantastic story which represents him as being the companion in
Spain of the
supposed martyrs Xanthippe and Polyxena and as being the compiler of
the “acts”
of their martyrdom. The fact is that Onesimus was a very common name,
especially for those of servile condition, and that anyone bearing such
a name
who became prominent was likely to be identified with the Onesimus of
the New
Testament.
Nothing
is known of Onesimus except what can be
gleaned from the Epistle to Philemon and
the possible reference in Colossians IV 7—9.
As the slave of
Philemon in Colossae, Phrygia, who ran
away. Paul met Onesimus while the former was in a
Roman prison, and Paul baptized the slave and came to consider him his
own son. Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon with the epistle, asking
Philemon to accept him “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a
brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man in
the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would
me. And if he has done you any injustice or owes you anything, charge
it to me”. In Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, Onesimus is again
mentioned as accompanying Tychicus,
the bearer of the letter.
The pre-1970 Roman Martyrology incorrectly identifies
Onesimus with the
bishop of Ephesus who followed St.
Timothy as bishop of Ephesus and who was stoned to death in
Rome.
Onesimus M (RM) Died c. 90. Onesimus, meaning 'helpful' or
'profitable,' was a run-away slave who is the subject of Saint Paul's
shortest letter. Onesimus had been in the service of Philemon, to whom
Paul addresses the missive. Philemon, a leading citizen of Colossae,
Phrygia, was an intimate friend of Paul; indeed, the letter could only
have been written to one with whom he was on the closest terms of
friendship. Probably he was one of Saint Paul's converts. He was
obviously a rich man, of high and generous character and given to
hospitality, for Saint Paul asks him to prepare a lodging for him, and
he had a church in his home.
Behind the letter lies a painful story. Onesimus had run
away from
Philemon and over a matter of money. We can only conjecture that he had
been dishonest or had been under suspicion, for Saint Paul says: "If he
has wronged you at all or owes you anything, put that to my account. I,
Paul, write it with my own hand. I will repay it" (Philemon 1:18-19).
Whatever it was, Onesimus
had been in disgrace and had run away. He had
then come under the influence of Saint Paul, now an old man, and had
served him in his imprisonment. He had confessed his fault and been
converted, for Saint Paul says he begat him in Christ, and he had
become a true son of the Gospel. Indeed, he had found him so profitable
and helpful that he would like to keep him permanently with him, but
was constrained by a sense of duty, and by his regard for Philemon, to
return him. Saint Paul was thus faced with the difficult task of
writing this delicate letter.
He makes no attempt to condone the fault; on the contrary,
he lays open
the whole matter. "Perhaps this is why he was away from * you for a
while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but
more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more
so to you, as a man and in the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner,
welcome him as you would me" (vv. 15- 17).
Onesimus went back to Philemon and, no longer in
disgrace,
was accepted as a brother, because in Colossians (4:7-9) Paul mentions
Onesimus with Tychichus as the bearer of the epistle to the Colossians.
The further story of Onesimus is unknown, though Saint Jerome said that Onesimus
became a preacher of the Word and later a bishop, though probably not the Bishop
Onesimus of Ephesus who was the third successor to Timothy,
showed hospitality to Saint Ignatius
of Antioch, and was stoned to death in Rome, as stated in the
Roman Martyrology.
The Apostolic Constitutions account Onesimus
as bishop of Berea in Macedonia, and his former master Philemon, bishop of Colossae.
Some sources say Onesimus preached in Spain and suffered
martyrdom
(Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill, Husenbeth, White). Saint
Onesimus is pictured at the time of his martyrdom: He is a bishop being
stoned to death (Roeder, White).
Saint Onesimus, Apostle of the Seventy in his youth was a
servant of
Philemon, a Christian of distinguished lineage, living in the city of
Colossae, Phrygia. Guilty of an offense against his master and fearing
punishment, St Onesimus fled to Rome, but as a runaway slave he wound
up in prison. In prison he encountered the Apostle Paul, was
enlightened by him, and was baptized.
In prison St Onesimus served the Apostle Paul like a son. St
Paul was
personally acquainted with Philemon, and wrote him a letter filled with
love, asking him to forgive the runaway slave and to accept him like a
brother. He sent St Onesimus with this letter to his master, depriving
himself of help, of which he was very much in need.
After he received the letter, St Philemon not only forgave
Onesimus,
but also sent him back to Rome to the apostle. St Philemon was
afterwards consecrated bishop of the city of Gaza (January 4, February
19, and November 22).
After the death of the
Apostle Paul, St Onesimus served the apostles
until their end, and he was made a bishop. After the death of the holy
apostles he preached the Gospel in many lands and cities: in Spain,
Carpetania, Colossae, Patras. In his old age, St Onesimus occupied the
bishop's throne at Ephesus, after the Apostle Timothy. When they took
St Ignatius the God-Bearer (December 20) to Rome for execution, Bishop
Onesimus came to meet with him with other Christians, as St Ignatius
mentions in his Epistle to the Ephesians.
During the reign of the emperor Trajan (89-117), St Onesimus
was
arrested and brought to trial before the eparch Tertillus. He held the
saint in prison for eighteen days, and then sent him to prison in the
city of Puteoli. After a certain while, the eparch sent for the
prisoner and, convincing himself that St Onesimus maintained his faith
in Christ, had him stoned, after which they beheaded the saint with a
sword.
A certain illustrious woman took
the body of the martyr and placed it in a silver coffin. This took
place in the year 109.
|
270 St.
Honestus
Martyr disciple of St. Saturninus native of Nimes
France, he was sent to Spain, where he was slain in Pampeluna.
Honestus of Nîmes M (AC) Died 270. Saint Honestus, an ordained
priest, left his hometown of Nîmes under the sign of Jesus with
Saint Saturninus to preach the Good News in Spain. After a fruitful
ministry, he appears to have been martyred at Pamplona, Spain
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia). |
 305?
ST JULIANA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
THE Roman Martyrology under this date commemorates at Cumae in Campania
the translation of St Juliana, virgin and martyr, “who first was
grievously scourged at Nicomedia by her father Africanus under the
Emperor Maximian, and then tortured in divers ways by the prefect
Evilasius whom she had refused to marry. Afterwards she was cast into
prison where she openly fought with the Devil and then overcoming
flames of fire and a boiling cauldron she consummated her martyrdom by
having her head stricken off.” The story of St Juliana was popular in
the middle ages, as is attested by the fact that a long section is
devoted to her in the Golden Legend of
James of Voragine. It is at the same time quite unhistorical, brought
him
before the governor, though our
best manuscripts of the “Hieronymianum” point to some veneration of a
St
Juliana in the neighbourhood of Cumae and Naples. We also find St
Gregory the
Great writing to Fortunatus, Bishop of Naples, to ask him for sanctuaria (substitutional relics) of
this saint which might serve for the consecration of an oratory which a
lady
had erected on her estate in honour of St Juliana and St Severinus. The
martyrologies seem to have tried to reconcile the conflicting data
which they
found in their sources by the suggestion of a translation of the
martyr’s
remains from Nicomedia to Pozzuoli or Cumae. A prominent feature in the
“acts” is
a wordy contest between Juliana and the Devil, who, transforming
himself into an
angel of light, endeavours to persuade Juliana to comply with the
wishes of her
father and her suitor. From this she is often represented in medieval
art as
preparing to bind a winged devil with a chain or rope.
See Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii, and BHL., nn.
4522—4524. cf. Delehaye, Les Origines du culte des martyrs
(1933),
pp. 301—302 Detzel, Christliche Ikonographie, vol. ii,
|
305 St. Juliana of
Cumae
Christian virgin martyred for the faith refused Roman prefect marriage
Nicomedíæ
sanctæ Juliánæ,
Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ, sub Maximiáno
Imperatóre, primum a patre suo Africáno gráviter
cæsa, deínde ab Evilásio Præfécto, cui
núbere recusáverat, várie cruciáta, et
póstmodum in cárcerem detrúsa, ubi palam cum
diábolo conflíxit, demum, cum flammas ígnium et
ollam fervéntem superásset, cápitis
decollatióne martyrium consummávit. Ipsíus
autem corpus póstea Cumas, in Campánia translátum
est.
At Nicomedia, St. Juliana, virgin
and martyr. Under
Emperor
Maximian, she was first severely scourged by her own father, Africanus,
and then made to suffer many torments by the prefect Evilasius, whom
she had refused to marry. Later thrown into prison, she
encountered the evil spirit in a visible manner. Finally, because
the fiery furnace and a caldron of boiling oil could do her no injury,
her martyrdom was fulfilled by beheading. Her body was later
transferred to Cumi in Campania.
Cumae, Italy, martyred for the faith when she refused to
marry a
Roman prefect. She suffered terrible ordeals and was finally beheaded.
One tradition reports that Juliana actually suffered martyrdom at
Nicomedia and that her relics were transferred to Cumae. She is
depicted in liturgical art as surrounded by flames, or binding the
devil.
Juliana of Nicomedia VM (RM) Died at Cumae or Naples, 305.
Juliana's
struggle with the devil was one of the favorite stories of the medieval
Church. What still fascinates is its deep psychological meaning: for
the devil is said to have appeared to the saint as an angel of light.
His aim was to persuade her that what she had renounced in this world
was in fact good. On the face of it, the devil was right, for Juliana
had turned against both her father and her suitor, a Roman prefect
named Evilasius.
Her father, Africanus, an ambitious functionary in the Roman
legions,
despised her simply because she had become a Christian. When her suitor
realized that she would not become his wife, he decided that she should
be no one's bride. Her calling left her without a family of her own.
Both men, failing to get their own way with this determined saint,
treated her brutally: Juliana's father scourged and tortured her.
Evilasius flung her into jail where she was seen to be fighting with
the disguised devil, finally binding him and throwing him to the ground.
Juliana died a martyr's death. First she was partially
burned in
flames; then she was plunged into a boiling cauldron of oil; finally
the long-suffering saint was freed from the torments of this world by
the mercifully instantaneous act of beheading.
The Roman Martyrology
describes Juliana's suffering at Nicomedia in
Asia Minor, but it is more probable that she died in Naples, perhaps
Cumae, where her relics are said to be enshrined. Some of them are now
in Brussels, Belgium, in the church of Our Lady of Sablon. Though her
story was the source of many romantic tales, Juliana is clearly an
historical figure as attested by Saint Gregory the Great, who requested
relics of her from Bishop Fortunatus of Naples for an oratory that a
lady had built on her estate in Juliana's honor, and others. Her cultus
in England dates back to Bede's martyrology, and her feast was on the
Sarum Calendar (Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
In art, Saint Juliana is hung up naked by her hair.
Sometimes she may
be shown in a cauldron, leading the devil in chains, or crowned wearing
a cross on her breast. She is invoked against infectious diseases
(Roeder). In the paintings and stained glass of the Middle Ages, Saint
Juliana is frequently shown battling with a winged devil; usually she
carries a chain in order to bind him (Bentley). She may also be seen
with a dragon at her feet (as in stained glass at Martham and on
screens at Hampstead and North Elmham, Norfolk) (Farmer).
(1192-1258)
The establishment of the feast of Corpus Christi ("Body of
Christ," now
called the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ) was the particular
achievement of one Belgian woman, St. Juliana of Liege. As is so
often the case, the saint, to achieve her purpose, had to suffer much.
Juliana, orphaned at age five, was sent to be raised in the
Augustinian
monastery of Mount Cornillon. The monastery conducted a hospital,
particularly for lepers (of whom there were many in Europe in those
unhygienic days). To preserve her from possible infection, the
nuns sent her to live on a farm of theirs. Educated here by a
Sister Sapientia, she grew up a highly intelligent young woman,
feasting on the writings of the great saints shelved in the monastic
library. At the same time she became most devoted to the Blessed
Sacrament.
When she was 16, Juliana was haunted night and day by the
strange
appearance of a bright moon with a dark band running across it.
At first she feared this was a diabolical illusion. Then our Lord
appeared to her in a vision or a dream and explained the symbol.
The moon, He said, represented the cycle of feasts in the church
calendar. The dark band meant that there was still one important
feast missing from the annual calendar: one in honor of the Blessed
Sacrament.
Juliana eventually became a nun of Mount Cornillon.
For some time
she was in no position to do anything about the institution of a
Eucharistic feast. However, when elected prioress in 1225, she
began to undertake the project, enlisting first the support of two holy
women, Bl. Eva, a
recluse, and Sister Isabel,
one of her nuns. With their encouragement she now asked some
church authorities whether such a feast would be appropriate.
Several theologians, including
James Pantaleon, said that they saw no objections. The clergy of
St. Martin's church, Liege., to which Bl. Eva was attached, even began
celebrating such a feast.
Then came the fireworks.
A priest named Roger was installed as prior of the monastery
(by
bribery, it is said). He immediately launched an attack on
Juliana, whose piety he disliked, charging her with embezzlement of the
monastery funds and of promoting a devotion "which nobody wanted." He
so stirred up the local citizens that they demanded that the prioress
leave town. When the bishop investigated Roger's charges, he
found them groundless, and in 1248 he proclaimed the celebration of the
feast of Corpus Christi in the diocese of Liege.
After the bishop died, however, Roger returned, still
gunning for
Juliana. Exiled with three other sisters, she was finally given
shelter by the abbess of Salzinnes at Namur. Then Henry II of
Luxembourg laid siege to Namur, and this abbey was burned down.
Juliana fled. She escaped to Fosses, where she remained until her
death in 1258, living as a recluse in poverty and ill health.
Interestingly, she had foretold these various setbacks that had
befallen her.
Only after Juliana's death, thanks to the renewed efforts of
Bl.
Eva, was the feastday of Corpus Christi accepted by the Latin Rite of
the Church. The pope who authorized the festival was none other
than James Pantaleon, now Pope Urban IV, who had earlier confirmed
Juliana's inquiry whether such a feast was feasible. Urban
commissioned St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the office of the
feastday. Aquinas's beautiful composition included those
ever-popular Eucharistic hymns: the "Lauda Sion", the "Pange Lingua",
the "O Salutaris", and the "Tantum Ergo." This feast was long a holy
day of obligation.
When miracles were reported in connection with Juliana's
tomb, she came
to be venerated as a saint. A local feast in her honor was
allowed by Pius IX in 1869, but her feastday has not yet been extended
to the whole church.
Thanks to St. Juliana's reverence for the Holy Eucharist,
the dark line
on the moon of her vision was eliminated.
May we imitate her in our love--and respect--for the real
Eucharistic
presence of Christ in our tabernacles.
--Father Robert F. McNamara
|
309 St. Daniel
comforted Christians condemned in mines of Cilicia martyred with
6 others
Cæsaréæ,
in
Palæstína, sanctórum
Mártyrum Ægyptiórum Elíæ,
Jeremíæ, Isaíæ, Samuélis et
Daniélis; qui, cum spontánee ministrássent
Confessóribus in Cilícia ad metálla
damnátis, et inde reverteréntur, sunt comprehénsi,
et a Firmiliáno Præside, sub Galério
Maximiáno Imperatóre, sævíssime torti,
gládio demum percússi sunt. Post eos sanctus
Porphyrius, Pámphili Mártyris fámulus, et sanctus
Seléucus Cáppadox, qui iterátis
certamínibus sæpe vícerant, rursus cruciáti
sunt, atque alter incéndio, gládio alter corónam
martyrii accepérunt.
 At Caesarea, in
Palestine, the holy martyrs Elias, Jeremias, Isaias,
Samuel, and Daniel. These Egyptians of their own accord
ministered to the confessors condemned to labour in the mines of
Cilicia, but were arrested upon their return, and after being cruelly
tortured by the governor Firmilian, under Emperor Galerius Maximian,
were put to the sword. After them, St. Porphyry, servant of the
martyr Pamphilus, and St. Seleucus the Cappadocian, who had been
triumphant in several previous tests, being again tortured, now won the
crown of martyrdom, the one by fire, the other by the sword.
309 SS. ELIAS,
JEREMY AND THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
IN the year 309,
when the Emperors Galerius Maximian and Maximus were continuing the
persecution
begun by Diocletian, five Egyptians went to visit the confessors
condemned to
the mines in Cilicia, and on their return journey were stopped by the
guards of
the gates of Caesarea in Palestine. They readily declared themselves to
be
Christians and acknowledged the motive of their journey. Thereupon
they were
arrested, and on the following day, together with St Pamphilus and
others, were
brought before Firmilian the governor. The judge, as was his custom,
ordered
the five Egyptians to be stretched on the rack before beginning his
examination. After they had suffered all manner of torture, he
addressed the
one who appeared to be their chief and asked him his name and his
country. The
martyr, using the names which they had taken upon their conversion,
said that
he was called Elias and that his companions were Jeremy, Isaias, Samuel
and
Daniel. Firmilian asked him their country, and Elias answered that it
was
Jerusalem— meaning the heavenly Jerusalem, the true country of all
Christians.
Elias was then tortured again, his body being scourged whilst his hands
were
tied behind him, and his feet squeezed into wooden stocks. The judge
then commanded
that they should be beheaded, and his order was immediately carried out.
Porphyry, a youth
who was a servant of St Pamphilus and who heard the sentence
passed, exclaimed
that they ought not to be denied burial. Firmilian, angry at this
boldness,
ordered him to be apprehended, and, finding that he was a Christian and
that he
refused to sacrifice, ordered his sides to be so cruelly torn that his
very
bones and bowels were exposed. He underwent this without a sigh or a
groan. The
tyrant then gave orders that a great fire should be kindled with a
vacant space
in the middle in which the martyr should be placed when removed from
the rack.
This was accordingly done, and he lay there a considerable time,
surrounded by
the flames, singing the praises of God and invoking the name of Jesus
until at
length he achieved a slow but glorious martyrdom. Seleucus, an
eyewitness of
this victory, was heard by the soldiers applauding the martyr’s
constancy. They
who without more ado ordered his head to be struck off.
This
story is one of overwhelming interest for all who
are concerned with Christian hagiography, for it is the account given
by
Eusebius, the father of Church history, who was not only living in
Caesarea at
the time, but was the intimate friend of the St Pamphilus here named,
the
principal martyr who suffered on the same occasion. To mark his
devotion to his
friend, the historian loved to call himself “Eusebius (the disciple) of
Pamphilus”. St Pamphilus, however, is commemorated separately on June
1, and
will come before us again on that date. The Greek text of Eusebius,
with a
French translation en face, may
conveniently be consulted in the edition of E. Grapin (vol. iii,
pp. 259—283),
forming part of the series of Textes et
documents pour l’étude historique die Christianisme. It
forms the eleventh
chapter of the Book on the Martyrs of Palestine, of which there is an
English
version, with the Ecclesiastical History, by H. J.
Lawlor and J. E. L. Oulton (1929).
He and four
companions, Elias, Isaias, Jeremy and Samuel were Egyptians who visited
Christians condemned to work in the mines of Cilicia during Galerius Maximinus persecution,
to comfort them. Apprehended at the gates of Caesarea, Palestine, they
were brought before the governor, Firmilian and accused of being
Christinas. They were all tortured and then beheaded. When Porphyry, a servant of St. PamphilusSeleucus witnessed his death and
applauded his constancy in the face of his terrible death; whereupon he
was arrested by the soldiers involved in the execution, borught before
the governor and was beheaded at Firmilian's order.
Elias, Jeremy, Isaias,
Samuel, and Daniel MM (RM) Born in Egypt;
died at Caesarea Maritima in 309. The church historian Eusebius, who was living in Caesarea
at the time, recorded the acta of these saints. Out of Christian
kindness these five Egyptians visited and brought succor to some of
their brethren who were condemned to work in the mines of Cilicia
during the reign of Galerius Maximinus. On their return home Elias and
his four companions were stopped at the gates of Caesarea, Palestine,
and questioned. They gave as their names those of the prophets and
their city as Jerusalem (meaning the heavenly city). They were brought
before the governor, Firmilian, in an effort to extract more precise
information. They remained mute, were accused of being Christian,
tortured, then beheaded. demanded that the bodies be buried, he was
tortured and then burned to
death when it was found he was a Christian.
St. Jeremy Elias and four companions, Daniel, Isaias,
Jeremy, and
Samuel were Egyptians who visited Christians condemned to work in the
mines of Cilicia during Maximus' persecution, to comfort them.
Apprehended at the gates of Caesarea, Palestine, they were brought
before the governor Firmilian, and accused of being Christians. They
were all tortured and then beheaded. When Porphyry, a servant of St.
Pamphilus, demanded that the bodies be buried, he was tortured and then
burned to death when it was found that he was a Christian. Seleucus
witnessed his death and applauded his constancy in the face of this
terrible death; whereupon he was arrested by the soldiers involved in
the execution, brought before the governor, and was beheaded at
Firmilian's order.
The Holy Martyrs Pamphilius
the Presbyter, Valens the Deacon, Paul, Porphyrius, Seleucius, Theodulus, Julian, Samuel, Elias, Daniel, Jeremiah and Isaiah
suffered during the persecution against Christians, initiated by the
emperor Diocletian in the years 308-309 at Caesarea in Palestine.
The holy martyr Pamphilius, a
native of the city of Beirut, was
educated at Alexandria, after which he was made a priest at Caesarea.
He devoted much labor to collating manuscripts and correcting copyist
errors in the texts of the New Testament. The corrected texts of St
Pamphilius were copied and distributed to anyone who wanted them. Many
pagans were converted to Christ through them.
His works and concerned matters at Caesarea were gathered up
into the
extensive library of spiritual books available for the enlightening of
Christians. St Jerome (4th-5th century) deeply respected St Pamphilius
and considered himself fortunate to have located and acquired several
of his manuscripts. Actively assisting St Pamphilius in
proclaiming the faith in Christ were St Valens, deacon of the church at
Eleia, a man stooped with age and well-versed in the Holy Scriptures,
and St Paul, ardent in faith and love for Christ the Savior. All three
were imprisoned for two years by Urban, the governor of Palestinian
Caesarea.
During the rule of his successor Firmilian, 130 Christians
were
sentenced in Egypt and sent to Cilicia (Asia Minor) to work in the gold
mines. Five young brothers accompanied them to the place of exile. On
their return to Egypt they were detained at Caesarea and thrown into
prison for confessing Christ.
The youths appeared before Firmilian, together with those
imprisoned
earlier: Sts Pamphilius, Valens and Paul. The five Egyptian youths took
the names of Old Testament prophets, Elias,
Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel and Daniel. Asked
where they were from, the youths said that they were
citizens of Jerusalem, meaning the heavenly Jerusalem. Firmilian knew
nothing of such a city, since Jerusalem had been razed to the ground by
the emperor Titus in the year 70. The emperor Hadrian (117-138) built a
new city on the site, which was called Aelia Capitolina.
Firmilian tortured the
youths for a long time. He sought
to learn the
location of the unknown city, and he sought to persuade the youths to
apostatize. But nothing was accomplished, and the governor ordered them
to be beheaded by the sword with Pamphilius,
Valens and Paul.
Before this occurred, a servant of Pamphilius endured
suffering. This
was the eighteen-year-old youth Porphyrius,
meek and humble. He had
heard the sentence of death for the condemned martyrs, and asked the
governor's permission to bury the bodies after their execution. For
this he was sentenced to death, and thrown into a fire.
A witness of this
execution, the pious Christian Seleucius,
a former
soldier, in saluting the deeds of the sufferers, went to Pamphilius and
told him about the martyric death of St Porphyrius. He was seized by
soldiers and, on Firmilian's orders, was beheaded by the sword together
with the condemned.
One of the governor's servants, Theodulus,
a man of venerable age and a
secret Christian, met the martyrs being led to execution, embraced them
and asked them to pray for him. He was taken by soldiers to Firmilian,
on whose orders he was crucified.
The young Julian, a
native of
Cappadocia who had come to Caesarea, saw
the bodies of the saints which had been thrown to wild beasts without
burial. Julian went down on his knees and venerated the bodies of the
sufferers. Soldiers standing by at the wall seized him and took him to
the governor, who condemned him to burning. The bodies of all twelve
martyrs remained unburied for four days, but neither beasts nor birds
would touch them.
Embarrassed by this
situation, the pagans
permitted
Christians to take the bodies of the martyrs and bury them.
|
381 Faustinus
of
Brescia bishop invoked against plague B
(RM)
Bríxiæ
sancti Faustíni, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
At Brescia, St. Faustinus, bishop and
confessor.
Saint Faustinus succeeded Saint
Ursicinus about 360 as bishop of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy. He is
said to have been a collateral descendant of Saints Faustinus and Jovita and to have compiled their
acts (Benedictines). In art, Saint Faustinus is represented as a bishop
holding a bunch of arrows. He might also be shown interceding for
Brescia with Saints Faustinus and Jovita. Invoked against plague
(Roeder).
|
4th v Saint Flavian
Archbishop of Antioch attempted
pardon for citizens of Antioch
from emperor Theodosius (379-395)
A contemporary of St John Chrysostom. He attempted to obtain
from the
emperor Theodosius (379-395) a pardon for the citizens of Antioch, who
had angered the emperor by destroying his statue.
St Flavian's death was
peaceful
and without illness. He is also commemorated on September 27.
|
St.
Julian of Egypt Martyr
with companions
In
Ægypto
sancti Juliáni Mártyris, cum áliis quinque
míllibus. In
Egypt, St. Julian, martyr, with five
thousand other Christians.
Martyr of Egypt,
reportedly with five thousand companions, most likely
during the persecutions by the Roman Empire. The traditional number of
martyrs may be a mistranslation: the original account may denote five
soldiers , instead of five thousand.
Julian of Egypt and
Companions
MM (RM) Date unknown. It is said that
this Saint Julian was the leader of 5,000 martyrs who suffered in
Egypt. Nothing, however, is known of him and his fellow-sufferers. One
text substitutes militibus for millibus, i.e., five soldiers for five
thousand persons (Benedictines).
|
422 Saint
Maruthas
Bishop of Tagrith (Martyropolis) famed for knowledge piety works in
Syrian "Commentary on the Gospel," "Verses of Maruthas," "Liturgy of
Maruthas"
and "The 73 Canons of the Ecumenical Council at Nicea" (325) with an
account of the acts of the Council
Martyropolis - A city which he founded between the Byzantine
Empire and
Persia. He was famed for his knowledge and his piety, he wrote about
the martyrs, and he suffered for his faith in Christ under the Persian
emperor Sapor. He also left behind other works in the Syrian language,
among which the most famous are: "Commentary on the Gospel," "Verses of
Maruthas," "Liturgy of Maruthas" and "The 73 Canons of the Ecumenical
Council at Nicea" (325) with an account of the acts of the Council.
In 381 St Maruthas participated
in the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, convened against
the heresy of Macedonius: 383, attended the Council of Antioch against
the Messalians.
During the years 403-404
St Maruthas set off to Constantinople to plead
with the emperor Arcadius to protect Persian Christians.
He was twice sent by the emperor Theodosius
the Younger to
the Shah Izdegerd to
secure the
peace between the Empire and Persia.
In the year 414 St
Maruthas, having done his duty as envoy to the court
of Izdegerd, persuaded the Shah to a favorable disposition towards
Christians, and he assisted greatly in the freedom of Christians in
Persia. He rebuilt Christian churches razed during the persecution by
the Persian ruler Sapor. He also located relics of saints who had
suffered martyrdom and transferred them to Martyropolis.
He died there in 422. The relics
of St Maruthas were later transferred to Egypt and placed in a skete
monastery of the Mother of God.
|
1100 St.
Aganus
Benedictine abbot of St. Gabriel's in Campania Italy
Aganus of Airola, OSB Abbot (PC)
Born c. 1050; Aganus was
abbot of Saint Gabriel's monastery at Airola, Campania, Italy, in the
diocese of Saint Agatha dei Goti (Benedictines).
|
1189 St.
Gilbert
of Sempringham a priest chose to share his wealth with the poor
miracles wrought at his tomb were examined and approved built 13
monasteries (9 were double)
Born 1083 Despite rigors of
such a life he died at well over age 100
1189 ST GILBERT OF
SEMPRINGHAM, FOUNDER OF THE GILBERTINE ORDER
ST GILBERT was born
at Sempringham in Lincolnshire, and in due course was ordained priest.
For some
time he taught in a free school, but the advowson of the parsonages of
Sempringham and Terrington being in the gift of his father, he was
presented by
him to the united livings in 1123. He gave the revenues of them to the
poor,
reserving only a small sum for bare necessaries. By his care, his
parishioners
were led to sanctity of life, and he drew up a rule for seven young
women who
lived in strict enclosure in a house adjoining the parish church of St
Andrew
at Sempringham. This foundation grew, and Gilbert found it necessary to
add
first lay-sisters and then lay-brothers to work the nuns’ land. In 1147
he went
to Citeaux to ask the abbot to take over the foundation. This the
Cistercians
were unable to do, and Gilbert was encouraged by Pope Eugenius III
to
carry on the work himself. Finally Gilbert added a fourth element, of
canons
regular, as chaplains to the nuns.
Thus the Gilbertines
came into being, the only medieval religious order of English origin.
Except for one house
in Scotland, it never spread outside this country and became extinct at
the
dissolution, when there were twenty-six monasteries. The nuns had
the Rule of
St Benedict and the canons St Augustine’s. The houses were double, but
it was
mainly a women’s order, though at its head was a canon, the master
general. The
discipline of the order was severe and strongly influenced by Citeaux
and the
insistence on simplicity in church-furnishing and worship went to
the extent
of celebrating the choir office “in monotone in a spirit of humility,
rather
than to pervert the minds of the weak like the daughter of Herodias.”
Eventually
St Gilbert himself assumed the office of
master general of the order, but resigned the direction of it some time
before
his death, when the loss of his sight rendered adequate supervision
impossible.
So abstemious was he that others wondered how life could be supported
on such
slender fare. He always had at his table a dish which he called “the
plate of
the Lord Jesus”, into which he put all that was best of what was served
up, and
this was for the poor. He wore a hair-shirt, took his short rest
sitting, and
spent a great part of the night in prayer. During the exile of St
Thomas of
Canterbury, he and other superiors of his order were accused of having
sent him
assistance. The charge was untrue; yet the saint chose to suffer
imprisonment
and to run the risk of the suppression of his order rather than deny the
accusation, lest he should seem to condemn what would have been good
and
just. When nearly ninety he suffered from the slanders of some of the
lay
brothers, who were in revolt.
St Gilbert died in 1189
at the age of 106, and was canonized in 1202. His relics are said to
have been
taken by King Louis VIII to Toulouse, where what purports to be them
are still
kept in the church of St Sernin. His feast is kept in the dioceses of
Northampton and Nottingham today, and by the Canons Regular of the
Lateran on
February 4, the day on which he is named in the Roman Martyrology.
Most of
the materials for a biography of St Gilbert
have been printed in the 1830 edition of Dugdale’s Monasticon,
vol. vi, Pt 2. See also BHL., nn. 3524—3568. Much
useful information regarding him and his order may be found in the work
of Rose
Graham, St Gilbert of Sempringham and
the Gilbertines (1901). See
also R. Foreville, Le Livre de St Gilbert
de Sempringham ~ Capgrave’s Life
of St Gilbert has been edited by J. J. Munro for the E.E.T.S. Cf. D. Knowles, The Monastic Order in
England (1949), pp. 204-207, and references
there given.
Gilbert was born in Sempringham, England, into a wealthy
family, but he
followed a path quite different from that expected of him as the son of
a Norman knight. Sent to France for his higher education, he decided to
pursue seminary studies. He returned to England not yet ordained
a priest, and inherited several
estates from his father. But Gilbert avoided the easy life he could
have led under the circumstances.
Instead he lived a simple life
at a
parish, sharing as much as possible with the poor. Following his
ordination to the priesthood he served as parish priest at Sempringham.
Among the congregation
were seven young women who had expressed to him
their desire to live in religious life.
In response, Gilbert had a
house built for them adjacent to the Church. There they lived an
austere life, but one which attracted ever more numbers; eventually lay
sisters and lay brothers were added to work the land. The religious
order formed eventually became known as the Gilbertines, though Gilbert
had hoped the Cistercians or some other existing order would take on
the responsibility of establishing a rule of life for the new order.
The Gilbertines, the only
religious order of English origin founded
during the Middle Ages, continued to thrive. But the order came to an
end when King Henry VIII suppressed all Catholic monasteries.
Over the years a special
custom grew up in the houses of the order
called "the plate of the Lord Jesus." The best portions of the dinner
were put on a special plate and shared with the poor, reflecting
Gilbert's lifelong concern for less fortunate people.
Throughout his life Gilbert
lived simply, consumed little food and
spent a good portion of many nights in prayer. Despite the rigors of
such a life he died at well over age 100.
Comment: When
he came into his father’s wealth, Gilbert
could have lived a life of luxury, as many of his fellow priests did at
the time. Instead, he chose to share his wealth with the poor. The
charming habit of filling “the plate of the Lord Jesus” in the
monasteries he established reflected his concern.
Today’s Operation
Rice Bowl echoes that habit: eating a simpler meal and letting the
difference in the grocery bill help feed the hungry.
St. Gilbert of Sempringham
Gilbert was born at Sempringham, England,
son of Jocelin, a wealthy Norman knight. He was sent to France to study
and returned to England to receive the benefices of Sempringham and
Tirington from his father. He became a clerk in the household of Bishop
Robert Bloet of Lincoln and was ordained by Robert's successor,
Alexander. He returned to Sempringham as Lord on the death of his
father in 1131. In the same year he began acting as adviser for a group
of seven young women living in enclosure with lay sisters and brothers
and decided the community should be incorporated into an established
religious order. After several new foundations were established,
Gilbert went to Citeaux in 1148 to ask the Cistercians to take over the
Community. When the Cistercians declined to take on the governing of a
group of women, Gilbert, with the approval of Pope Eugene III,
continued the Community with the addition of Canons Regular for its
spiritual directors and Gilbert as Master General. The Community became
known as the Gilbertine Order, the only English religious order
originating in the medieval period; it eventually had twenty-six
monasteries which continued in existence until King Henry VIII
suppressed monasteries in England. Gilbert imposed a strict rule on his
Order and became noted for his own austerities and concern for the
poor. He was imprisoned in 1165 on a false charge of aiding Thomas of
Canterbury during the latter's exile but was exonerated of the charge.
He was faced with a revolt of some of his lay brothers when he was
ninety, but was sustained by Pope Alexander III. Gilbert resigned his
office late in life because of blindness and died at Sempringham. He
was canonized in 1202.
Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder (RM) Born at Sempringham,
Lincolnshire,
England, c. 1083-85; died there, February 4, 1189; canonized 1202 by
Pope Innocent III at Anagni; feast day formerly on February 4. Saint
Gilbert, son of Jocelin, a wealthy Norman knight, and his
Anglo-Saxon wife, was regarded as unfit for ordinary feudal life
because of some kind of physical deformity. For this reason, he was
sent to France to study and took a master's degree.
Upon his return to England, Gilbert started a school for
both boys and
girls. From his father, he received the hereditary benefices of
Sempringham and Torrington in Lincolnshire, but he gave all the
revenues from them to the poor, except a small sum for bare
necessities. As he was not yet ordained, he appointed a vicar for the
liturgies and lived in poverty in the vicarage.
In 1122, Gilbert became a clerk in the household of Bishop
Robert Bloet
of Lincoln and was ordained by Robert's successor Alexander, and was
offered, but refused, a rich archdeaconry. Instead, upon the death of
his father in 1131, Gilbert returned to Sempringham as lord of the
manor and parson. By his care his parishioners seemed to lead the lives
of religious men and, wherever they went, were known to be of his flock
by their conversation.
That same year of 1131, he organized a group of seven young
women of
the parish into a community under the Benedictine rule. They lived in
strict enclosure in a house adjoining Sempringham's parish church of
Saint Andrew. As the foundation grew, Gilbert added laysisters and, on
the advice of the Cistercian Abbot William of Rievaulx, lay brothers to
work the land. A second house was soon founded.
In 1148, Gilbert went to
the general chapter at Cîteaux to ask
the Cistercians to take on the governance of the community. When the
Cistercians declined because women were included, Gilbert provided
chaplains for his nuns by establishing a body of canons following the
Augustinian rule with the approval of Pope Eugene III, who was present
at the chapter. Saint Bernard helped Gilbert draw up the Institutes of
the Order of Sempringham, of which Eugenius made him the master. Thus,
the canons followed the Augustinian Rule and the lay brothers and
sisters that of Cîteaux. Women formed the majority of the order;
the men both governed them and ministered to their needs, temporal and
spiritual. The Gilbertines are the only specifically English order, and
except for one foundation in Scotland, never spread beyond its border.
This order grew rapidly to 13 foundations, including men's
and women's
houses side by side and also monasteries solely for canons. They also
ran leper hospitals and orphanages. Gilbert imposed a strict rule on
his order. An illustration of the enforced simplicity of life was the
fact that the choir office was celebrated without fanfare.
As master general of the order, Saint Gilbert set an
admirable example
of abstemious and devoted living and concern for the poor. Gilbert's
diet consisted primarily of roots and pulse in small amounts. He always
set a place at the table for Jesus, in which he put all the best of
what was served up, and this was for the poor. He wore a hair-shirt,
took his short rest in a sitting position, and spent most of each night
in prayer.
And, he was never idle. He
travelled frequently from house to house
(primarily in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire), forever active in copying
manuscripts, making furniture, and building.
The later years of his
long life were seriously disturbed. When he was
about 80, he was arrested and charged with assisting Saint Thomas
á Becket, who had taken refuge abroad from King Henry II after
the council at Northampton (1163). (Thomas, dressed as a Sempringham
lay brother, was said to have fled north to their houses in the
Lincolnshire Fens before doubling back on his tracks south to Kent.)
Though he was not guilty of this kindness, the saint chose to suffer
rather than seem to condemn that which would have been good and just.
Eventually the charge was dropped, although Gilbert still refused to
deny it on oath.
Later still there was a revolt among his laybrothers, who
grievously
slandered the 90-year-old man, saying that there was too much work and
not enough food. The rebellion was led by two skilled craftsmen who
slandered Gilbert, obtained funds and support from magnates in the
church and state, and took the case to Rome. There Pope Alexander III
decided in Gilbert's favor, but the living conditions were improved.
Saint Gilbert lived to be 106 and passed his last years
nearly blind,
as a simple member of the order he had founded and governed.
He had
built 13 monasteries (of which nine were double) and four dedicated
solely to canons encompassing about 1,500 religious. Contemporary
chroniclers highly praised both Gilbert and his nuns. His cultus was
spontaneous and immediate. Miracles wrought at his tomb were examined
and approved by Archbishop Hubert Walter of Canterbury (who ordered the
English bishops to celebrate Gilbert's feast) and the commissioners of
Pope Innocent III in 1201, leading to his canonization the following
year. His name was added to the calendar on the wall of the Roman
church of the Four Crowned Martyrs soon after his canonization. His
relics are said to have been taken by King Louis VIII to Toulouse,
France, where they are kept in the Church of Saint Sernin.
Because the Gilbertine
Order was contained within the borders of
England, it came to an end when its 26 houses were suppressed by King
Henry VIII (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer,
Graham, Husenbeth, Walsh, White).
|
1236
Blessed Philippa
Mareria, Poor Clare foundress (AC)
Born in Cicoli, Abruzzi, Italy; died at Rieti, Italy, 1236. Born into a
wealthy family, Philippa met Saint
Francis of Assisi in her parents' home. She decided to become a
hermit on a mountain above Mareria. Eventually, she founded and ruled
as first abbess a Franciscan convent at Rieti under the direction of
Blessed Roger of Todi (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1236 BD PHILIPPA
MARERI, VIRGIN
WONDERFUL things, of
which one would like to have better evidence, are reported as heralding
the
entrance into this world of Philippa Mareri. Wonderful things also are
told of
her beauty of feature, her preternatural gravity and precocious
learning in
childhood. She was born towards the close of the twelfth century at
Cicoli in
the diocese of Rieti, and the family to which she belonged were the
principal
landowners in that district of the Abruzzi.
Her father and
mother were devout Christians, and St Francis of Assisi, we are told,
was more
than once received in their house when he was preaching in the
neighbourhood.
From him Philippa imbibed a desire to aim at complete union with the
suffering
life of Christ our Lord. When her parents were anxious to arrange a
marriage
for her, she resisted the proposal with all her might, cut her hair
short, wore
the most unattractive clothes, and shut herself up in a corner of
the house
where she was hidden from the eyes of all. Her brother Thomas was
furious at
this conduct and did his best to break down her resolution; but the
only result
of his importunity was that she finally ran away from home, and with a
few
companions whom she had gained over to the same way of thinking set out
to lead
the life of an anchoress upon Mount Marerio. There, we are told—but the
evidence for all this seems far from satisfactory—they managed to
get a walled
enclosure built with a few huts inside and gave themselves up entirely
to
religious devotion and penance.
The determination
thus shown had the best effect upon her brother Thomas. Touched by
grace he now
came to ask his sister’s forgiveness. What was more, he offered her a
more
suitable place of retirement close to a church on an estate belonging
to him. A
deserted religious house was repaired and adapted to suit their needs,
while a
friar who had recently become a disciple of St Francis and who is now
venerated
as Bd Roger of Todi, was charged with the spiritual direction
of the
community. Other fervent souls joined them, a rule similar to that of
St Clare
was adopted, and Philippa was chosen abbess. The strictest poverty was
maintained,
and more than once the sisters seemed in danger of starving if it had
not been
for some supernatural intervention kindred to our Saviour’s
multiplication of
the loaves and fishes. God’s favour was also shown by other miraculous
incidents; but the nuns were not left long to enjoy the company of
their
foundress. In 1236 she was seized with a painful
illness, and
knowing that the time of her departure
was at
hand, she gathered her spiritual children around her and bade them a
most
touching farewell, exhorting them before all else to maintain peace
among
themselves. She passed away on February 13, 1236. Bd Roger preached at
her
funeral and made no secret of his conviction that her soul was already
in
bliss.
See
Mazzara, Leggendario
Francescano (1676), vol. i, pp. 233—235 Leon, Aureole
Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i and Constantini, Vita e miracoli della b. Philippa Mareri
|
1240 BD VERDIANA,
VIRGIN Wonderful miracles were ascribed lived for thirty-four years
in her cell, and all the communication she had with the outside world
was through a little window which opened into St Antony’s oratory.<>
VERDIANA, whose name
is variously written Viridiana and Veridiana, was born at
Castelfiorentino in
Tuscany of a noble family which had fallen from its high estate. When
she was
twelve years old, a well-to-do relation took her as a companion for his
wife,
who made her housekeeper. Even at that time she had a reputation for
sanctity,
and when she obtained permission to join a pilgrimage to St James of
Compostela
she had first to promise that she would come back to Castelfiorentino.
Upon her
return, her fellow pilgrims gave such an account of her holiness that
the
people begged her to stay permanently amongst them. This she consented
to do if
they would allow her to live the life of a recluse and would build her
a
hermitage. They erected one near the river Elsa, adjoining a little
oratory it
is reputed to have measured ten feet by four and to have been furnished
only
with a narrow stone ledge to serve as a seat. She lived for thirty-four
years
in her cell, and all the communication she had with the outside world
was
through a little window which opened into St Antony’s oratory.* [* Just
such a
window or hatchway can be seen at the site of an anchorhold at Lewes in
Sussex,
giving on to the church of St Anne.]
She ate once a day, mainly bread and water
with, occasionally, a few vegetables. She slept on the bare earth
except in
winter when she used a plank. She had a very great love for the poor,
to whom
she gave nearly everything which the piety of visitors brought to her,
and she
only cared to receive the poor and the afflicted.
Wonderful
miracles
were ascribed to Bd Verdiana. It was commonly reported that two
serpents had
entered her cell through the tiny window and that they remained with
her for
years, being allowed to torment her and even eating from her plate but
that the
saint kept their presence a secret, as she did not wish her sufferings
to be
known. She had a visit from St Francis of Assisi himself in 1221, The
two saints
talked together of heavenly things and he admitted her, it was said,
into his
third order.
She
was divinely
warned of her approaching death, and she closed her window and was
heard
reciting the penitential psalms. Tradition tells that her passing was
miraculously
announced by the sudden pealing of the bells of Castelfiorentino. In
Florentine
art Bd Verdiana appears in the habit of a Vallombrosan nun, carrying a
basket
with two snakes in it. It seems certain that she was associated with
the
Vallombrosan Order, but her connection with the Franciscan third order
is by no
means so clearly established. The cultus was
approved by Clement VII in 1533.
0.
Pogni, Vita
di S. Verdiana (1936), published
a Latin text written soon after her death. A later one, translated back
from an
Italian version, is in the Acta
Sanctorum, February, vol. i. Canon Pogni also published Canon M.
Cioni’s
account of the beata and her church
and hospital at Castelfiorentino (1932—34). See also Gonnelli, Vita di S. Verdiana (1613). There is a
notice in Leon, Aureole Séraphique (Eng.
trans.), vol. i.
|
< style="font-weight: bold;">1468
BD EUSTOCHIUM OF MESSINA, VIRGIN authority of her virtues was increased
by the fame of her miracles—the sick being healed even by the kerchief
which
had been bathed by her tears of penitence. She died at the age of
thirty-five
<>
WHEN St Matthew of
Girgenti was preaching in Messina, the young Countess Matilda of
Calafato came
under his direction and joined the Franciscan third order, giving
herself up to
good works. She was for some time childless, but a daughter was
vouchsafed to
her in answer to her prayers. Shortly before the child’s birth a
stranger told
the countess that she could only be delivered in a stable, so she was
taken to
one, and there in 1432 she gave birth to an infant who, because of her
beauty,
was named Smaragda.
Deeply
pious from
her earliest years, the child vowed herself to a life of virginity,
although
her father signed a marriage contract with a suitor, who died before
the
nuptials could be celebrated. After her father’s death in 1446 Smaragda
took
the habit of St Clare in the convent of Basico, where the second rule
was
followed under the direction of the Franciscan Conventuals, and she
then
assumed the name of Eustochium. She was distinguished for her love of
poverty,
her spirit of penitence and for her devotion to the passion of our
Lord. After
reading an itinerary of the Holy Land, she worked out for herself a
system
whereby she could visit all the Holy Places in spirit and could
visualize the
scenes in the life of our Lord and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She
regularly
tended the sick and devoted herself especially to nursing them when the
plague
visited Messina.
After
eleven years
spent at Basico, Bd Eustochium felt that she desired a stricter rule,
and Pope
Callistus III allowed her to found another convent to follow the
first rule
of St Francis under the Observants. In 1458—1459 her mother and sister
built
the convent which was called Maidens’ Hill (Monte Vergine). There she
received,
amongst others, her sister and her niece Paula, who was only eleven
years of
age. The foundation passed through many trials during its early years.
When
Eustochium became thirty—the legal age—she was elected abbess and
gathered
around her crowds of fervent souls. The authority of her virtues was
increased
by the fame of her miracles—the sick being healed even by the kerchief
which
had been bathed by her tears of penitence. She died at the age of
thirty-five,
her cultus being subsequently
approved in 1782.
The most
reliable account of Eustochium is to be found
in a narrative written by her first disciple, Jacopa Pollicino. It has
been printed
by G. Macri in the Archivio storico
Messinese, vols. iii and iv (1903), under the title of La
leggenda della b. Eustochia da Messina. See also Leon, Aureole
Seraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i.
|
1486 Blessed
Bernard
Scammacca gift of prophecy miracles spend his time in work of the
confessional OP (AC)
Born in Catania, Sicily; cultus approved 1825. Born of wealthy and
pious parents, Bernard was given a good education. In spite of this
good training, he spent a careless youth. Only after he was badly
injured in a duel was he brought back to his senses.
<>1486 BD BERNARD
SCAMMACCA
IT is unfortunate
that in regard to those servants of God who are publicly venerated in
virtue of
a confirmation of cult, reliable details are so often lacking which
would give
us any real insight into their lives. Of Bernard we are told that he
was born
of a noble family at Catania in Sicily, that he led a wild life as a
young man,
that his leg was seriously injured in a brawl, and that in the course
of the
illness and long convalescence thus occasioned he turned to God and
determined
to enter the Dominican Order. He is believed to have set a great
example of
obedience and humility and to have expiated the sins of his youth by
severe
penance. But for the embellishments added to this account we have no
guarantee.
It was said that the birds perched on his arms and sang to him, that he
prophesied the future, that he was seen raised from the ground in
prayer, and
on another occasion that his cell <>was irradiated with
brilliant light which came from a torch held by a child of heavenly
beauty who
stood beside him. After his death on February 9, 1486
other marvels were reported. After lying in the grave for
fifteen years he appeared to the prior and bade him remove his body to
a more
honourable resting-place. This was done his remains were found
incorrupt, and
during the translation the church bells rang of their own accord. Still
later a
nobleman organized a raid with the object of carrying off the body to
his own
castle. But Ed Bernard had no intention of allowing his relics to be
kidnapped.
Before the raiders could reach the church he knocked at the door of
every cell,
and when the sleeping friars were rather tardy in responding to this
unexpected
summons he rang the great bell, which proved an effective tocsin. The
good
Dominicans rushed to the church “where they found the tomb empty and
the sacred
body lying at the door, surrounded by armed men who were vainly
endeavouring
to raise it from the ground. It had miraculously become so heavy that
the
robbers were unable to move it.” So the raiders took to flight, and the
saint
without difficulty was restored to his shrine. The cultus of
Ed Bernard was confirmed in ‘825.
<>
See
Procter, Short
Lives of the Dominican Saints, pp. 21—23 Mortier, Maitres
Généraux OP., vol. iv, p. 648 M. Coniglioni, Vita del b. Bernardo Scammacca (1926)
Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus O.P., pp. 4546.
His long
convalescence gave him plenty of time to think, and once he was able to
go out of the house, he went to the Dominican convent of Catania and
begged to be admitted to the order.
Bernard, as a religious, was the exact opposite of what he
had been as
a young man. Now he made no effort to obtain the things he had valued
all his life, but spent his time in prayer, solitude, and continual
penance. There is little recorded of his life, except that he kept the
rule meticulously, and that he was particularly kind to sinners in the
confessional. Apparently, he did not attain fame as a preacher, but was
content to spend his time in the work of the confessional and the
private direction of souls.
One legend pictures Bernard as having great power over birds and
animals. When he walked outside in the gardens, praying, the birds
would flutter down around him, singing; but as soon as he went into
ecstasy, they kept still, for fear they would disturb him. Once, the
porter was sent to Bernard's room to call him, and saw a bright light
shining under the door. Peeking through the keyhole, he saw a beautiful
child shining with light and holding a book, from which Bernard was
reading. He hurried to get the prior to see the marvel.
Bernard had the gift of prophecy, which he used on several occasions to
try warning people to amend their lives. He prophesied his own death.
Fifteen years after his death, he appeared to the prior, telling his to
transfer his remains to the Rosary chapel. During this translation, a
man was cured of paralysis by touching the relics (Benedictines,
Dorcy).
|
1940 St. Philip Siphong seven Thai Catholics martyred for the
faith "white-robed army of martyrs."
Thailand (Siam) is the sole nation
in
southeast Asia not to have been the colony of another power. From
1940 to 1944 the Thais were at war with their Indo-China
neighbors. To achieve unity on the home front, this officially
Buddhist country expelled foreign missionaries and sought to pressure
its Catholics into apostasy.
The persecution was especially
strong at
Songkhon. When the Catholic priests were ousted, they left the Songkhon
mission parish in the charge of Philip Siphong. Philip, a married
man with five children, was a teacher in the parish school and a
topnotch catechist. Because he was so obviously a leader, the
government authorities decided to frighten the other parishioners into
submission by executing him. On December 16, 1940, they took him
outside the village and shot him.
Philip's death strengthened rather
than
weakened the faith of the parishioners. The sisters who taught in
the school now took over the leadership.
On Christmas, 1940, the local
policeman
ordered the Catholics to assemble in front of the church. He told
them that he had been commanded to suppress Christianity; therefore he
gave them a choice -between apostasy or death. At that, Cecilia
Butsi, a 16-year-old, spoke out, declaring that she was ready to accept
death.The policeman did not seem to hear her.
That same night, Sister Agnes Phila
(1909-1940) wrote a letter in her own name and the name of all who
resided in the convent, declaring that they would die rather than
abandon their faith. In the note she prayed, "We ask to be your
witnesses, O Lord, our God." Sister Agnes gave the letter to Cecilia to
deliver to the policeman.
On December 26, this officer called
at the
convent and addressed the sisters and layfolk present. All
reiterated their resolution not to apostatize. He therefore had
all six of them escorted to the cemetery and shot to death. Two
of the six were nuns: Sister Agnes Phila and Sister Lucy Khambang
(1917-1940). Four were laypersons: Agatha Phutta (a pious elderly
woman converted at 37 in 1918, and now the convent cook); Cecilia;
Bibiana Khamphai (a devout 15-year-old who often visited the convent)
and Maria Phon, aged only 14.
After the execution, the chief of
the village
somehow got hold of Sister Agnes' Christmas letter, an important
testimonial to the true martyrdom of the six. When priests were
readmitted to Thailand in 1943, the letter was handed over to Father
Cassetta, the first of them to return. A church investigation was
quickly started, and on the basis of this document and the other
evidence, the Holy See issued a decree on September 1, 1988, declaring
that Philip Sihong and the six women had indeed been murdered out of
hatred of their faith.
On October 22, 1989, Pope John Paul
II
formally beatified the seven Thai Catholics. Deeply touched by
their fidelity, the pope said that Blessed Philip ("the great tree" as
he was called at Songkhon) exemplified the missionary zeal that is
incumbent upon all of us by virtue of our baptism. He quoted
Sister Agnes' letter to the policeman: "We rejoice in giving back to
God the life that He has given us.... We beseech you to open to us the
doors of heaven… You are acting according to the orders of men, but we
act according to the commandments of God." Sentiments like these, said
John Paul II, resembled those of the Christian martyrs of
antiquity. Indeed, their very names were those of ancient saints:
Agnes, Lucy, Agatha, Cecilia, Bibiana....
The Blessed Martyrs of Thailand,
in "giving back to God the life that He had given them", were therefore
contemporary soldiers in the age-old "white-robed army of martyrs." -
-Father Robert R McNamara
|
Saints of this Day February
16 Quartodécimo Kaléndas Mártii
Saint_Maruthas 422 Bishop
of Tagrith
Clement VII in 1533 
Among the most important titles we have in
the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory
and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of
the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom.
The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our
Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for
the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope
Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City
praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing
the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in
using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require
spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had
its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.