Father Corapi's Biography

OCTAVE OF BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

So far as our liturgical evidence goes the earliest recognition of the feast is to be found in the Lectionary of Victor of Capua. This, which bears witness to the usage of southern Italy in the year 546, has an entry De circumcisione Domini, and indicates as a reading for that day the passage from St Paul to the Romans (xv. 4—14) in which our Lord is spoken of as “Minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers”. Only a very little later we find in the 17th canon of the second Council of Tours (A.D. 567) a statement that from Christmas to the Epiphany each day was treated as a feast except that triduum (apparently from January 1 to January 3) “during which our fathers, to stamp out the custom of the pagans, imposed a private celebration of litanies on the first of January, in order that psalmody might be carried on in the churches, and that on the day itself Mass of the Circumcision might be offered to God at the eighth hour”. Here, besides the reference to the Mass of the Circumcision, all the associations of the word litaniae were distinctly connected by the usage of the times with penitential practices.

Further, in the archetype of the martyrology known as the Hieronymianum, which dates from about the year 600, the Circumcision is again mentioned, and this is also the case with the majority of the calendars, martyrologies, lectionaries and other service-books of the seventh and following centuries. Although in the present Roman liturgy no trace remains of the early efforts made to wean Christian converts from taking part in the pagan idolatries and debaucheries which ushered in the new year, still the so-called “Gelasian” sacramentaries, more or less modified by the uses which prevailed in Gaul, Germany and Spain, constantly provide a second Mass for this day which is headed “ad prohibendum ab idolis”—i.e. against idolatrous practices. In this Mass all the prayers echoed the petition that those who had been brought to the pure worship of the Christian faith might have the courage utterly to turn their backs upon the old, profane and evil ways of paganism. It is to be noted that even before any special church celebration can be connected with new year’s day, we find St Augustine, in a sermon preached on that morning, exhorting his hearers to behave as Christians amid the excesses of their gentile neighbours at that season.

It is certain, then, that a wish to rescue the weaker members of the Christian community from the contamination of the new-year celebrations played a great part in the institution of a church festival on that day. St Augustine’s words suggest that he realized how hopeless it was to impose a general fast upon an occasion that was a holiday for the rest of the world. Ordinary human nature would have rebelled if too much had been exacted of it. All that could be done in practice was to carry out the principles enunciated by such wise pastors as St Gregory Thaumaturgus and St Gregory the Great, that when pagan observances were ineradicably fixed in the customs of a people, the evil must be neutralized by establishing a Christian celebration in place of the heathen one.

On the whole it would seem that outside Rome—in Gaul, Germany, Spain, and even at Milan and in the south of Italy—an effort was made to exalt the mystery of the Circumcision in the hope that it might fill the popular mind and win the revelers from their pagan superstitions. In Rome itself, however, there is no trace of any reference to the Circumcision until a relatively late period. What our actual missal preserves for us, even down to the present day, is a liturgy, which, while echoing, as the octave naturally would, the sentiments proper to Christmas, refers in a very marked way to the Mother of God, e.g. in the collect for the feast. How comes it that our Lady is thus appealed to on the first day of the year? This may, as mentioned above, be simply the result of her intimate connection with the mystery of the Incarnation, but there is some evidence that the liturgy for to-day represents the service for the octave of Christmas as solemnized in the ancient Roman basilica of our Lady, Old St Mary’s (cf. D. Bünner in the bibliography). But whether or not a feast of special solemnity was observed on January 1 in this ancient church to serve as an antidote to pagan licence, it is unfortunately certain that the expedient was only partially successful, and that the riotous excesses of the season still survived in the “Feast of Fools” and other abuses, against which the better sort of ecclesiastics protested throughout the middle ages, but often protested in vain.

See Abbot Cabrol, Les origines liturgiques (1906), pp. 203—210; also in the Revue du clergé français, January, 1906, pp. 262 seq., and in DAC., s.v. “Circoncision”; F. Bünger, Geschicte der Neujahrsfeier in der Kirche (1909); D. Bünner, “La fête ancienne de la Circoncision”, in La Vie et les Arts Liturgiques, January, 1924; G. Morin in Anecdota Maredsolana, vol. i, pp. 426—428. See also Mansi, Concilia, vol. ix, p. 796; Maasen, Concilia Merov., p. 526; St Augustine, sermon 198 in Migne, PL., vol. xxxviii, c. 1025; and W. de Grüneisen, Ste Marie Antique, pp. 94, 493. There occurs above a reference to the Hieronymianum, which will be frequently mentioned in these notes. The “Martyrology of Jerome”, so called because it was erroneously attributed to St Jerome, was the foundation of all similar Western calendars of martyrs and other saints. It was compiled in Italy during the second half of the fifth century the archetype on which all existing manuscripts of it are based is a recension made in Gaul about the year 600. Father Delehaye’s Commentary on the Hieronymianum (CMH) is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. ii, part 2. 

See his acts in the Acta Sanctorum, January 1; and Tillemont, Mémoires…, vol. ii, p.439. 

228 St. Martina Virgin martyr of Rome

Despite these attestations, the very existence of St Martina remains doubtful. Though she is represented as suffering in the City itself, there is no early Roman tradition regarding her. The “acts” of her martyrdom are full of preposter­ous miracles—for example, when she is wounded, milk flows from her body in place of blood—and are extravagant to the last degree. The one thing certain about them is that they bear the closest resemblance, as was long ago pointed out, both to those attributed to St Tatiana and those of St Prisca. Pio Franchi de’ Cavalieri has shown with considerable probability that of these three sets, all apocryphal, those belonging to St Tatiana have formed the model for the others.

St. Telemachus an Eastern ascetic martyred separating gladiators he caused abolishing of contests
 Romæ sancti Almáchii Mártyris, qui, cum díceret: « Hódie Octávæ Domínici diéi sunt, cessáte a superstitiónibus idolórum et a sacrifíciis pollútis », proptérea, jubénte Præfécto Urbis Alípio, a gladiatóribus occísus est.
       At Rome, St. Almachius, martyr, who, by the command of Alipius, governor of the city, was killed by the gladiators for saying, 

400 ST ALMACHIUS, OR TELEMACHUS, MARTYR

In the Hieronymianum the notice, preserved to the present day in the Roman Martyrology, reads: “January 1st...the feast of Almachius, who, when he said ‘To-day is the octave day of the Lord, cease from the superstitions of idols and from polluted sacrifices’, was slain by gladiators at the command of Alipius, prefect of the city.”

As against Dom Germain Morin, who is inclined to regard this alleged martyrdom as only an echo of the fantastic legend of the dragon of the Roman Forum, Father H. Delehaye, the Bollandist, believes the incident to be historical, and, in spite of certain difficulties, considers that the martyr’s name was really Almachius, and that he perished about A.D. 400.

 The great abbey of Condat, seven leagues from Geneva, received from this saint the name of Saint-Oyend, till in the thirteenth century it exchanged it for that of Saint-Claude, after the bishop of Besançon who is honoured on June 6.

His new dignity made no alteration in his manners. He never wore the orarium, a kind of stole then used by bishops, nor other clothes than his usual coarse garb, which was the same in winter and summer. He went sometimes barefoot; he never undressed to take rest, and always rose for prayer before the midnight office. It was only when ill that he suffered a little wine to be mingled with the water, which he drank; and he never could be prevailed upon to eat flesh-meat.

His modesty, meekness and humility gained him the affections of all, even of an ambitious deacon Felix, who had opposed his election and whom the saint treated with cordial charity. His love of retirement induced him to build a monastery near his house at Ruspe; but before the building could be completed, orders were issued from King Thrasi­mund for his banishment to Sardinia, with others, to the number of sixty orthodox bishops.

Fulgentius, though the youngest of the band, was their oracle when in doubt and their tongue and pen upon all occasions. Pope St Symmachus, out of his fatherly charity, every year sent provisions in money and clothes to these champions of Christ. A letter of this pope to them is still extant, in which he en­courages and comforts them; and it was at the same time that he sent them certain relics of SS. Nazarius and Romanus, “that the example and patronage (patrocinia),” as he expresses it,” of those generous soldiers of Christ might animate the confessors to fight valiantly the battles of the Lord”.

St Fulgentius with some companions converted a house at Cagliari into a monastery, which immediately became the resort of all in affliction and of all who sought counsel. In this retirement the saint composed many learned treatises for the instruction of the faithful in Africa. King Thrasimund, hearing that he was their principal support and advocate, sent for him. The Arian king then drew up a set of objections, to which he required his answer; the saint complied with the demand: and this is supposed to be his book entitled An Answer to Ten Objections. The king admired his humility and learning, and the orthodox triumphed in the advantage their cause gained by this rejoinder. To prevent the same effect a second time, the king, when he sent him new objections, ordered them to be only read to him. Fulgentius refused to give answers in writing unless he was allowed to take a copy of them. He addressed, however, to the king an ample and modest con­futation of Arianism, which we have under the title of his Three Books to King Thrasimund, The prince was pleased with the work, and granted him permission to reside at Carthage till, upon repeated complaints from the Arian bishops of the success of his preaching, he was sent back to Sardinia in 520. Being ready to go aboard the ship, he said to a Catholic whom he saw weeping, “ Grieve not; I shall shortly return, and we shall see the true faith of Christ flourish again in this kingdom with full liberty; but divulge not this secret to any.” The event confirmed the truth of the prediction. His humility concealed the multiplicity of miracles that he wrought; and he was wont to say, “A person may be endowed with the gift of miracles, and yet may lose his soul. Miracles insure not salvation; they may indeed procure esteem and applause; but what will it avail a man to be esteemed on earth and afterwards be delivered up to torments?” Having returned to Cagliari, he erected a new monastery near that city, and was careful to supply his monks with all necessaries, especially in sickness; but would not suffer them to ask for anything, alleging that “We ought to receive all things as from the hand of God, with resignation and gratitude”.

King Thrasimund died in 523, having nominated Hilderic his successor, and in Africa the professors of the true faith called home their pastors. The ship, which brought them back, was received at Carthage with great demonstrations of joy, more particularly when Fulgentius appeared on the upper-deck of the vessel. The confessors went straight to the church of St Agileus to return thanks to God; on their way, being surprised by a sudden storm, the people, to show their singular regard for Fulgentius, made a kind of umbrella over his head with their cloaks to defend him from the downpour.

The saint hastened to Ruspe and immediately set about reforming abuses that had crept in during the seventy years of perse­cution; but this reformation was carried on with a sweetness that won sooner or later the hearts of the most obdurate. St Fulgentius had a wonderful gift of oratory; and Boniface, Archbishop of Carthage, never heard him without tears, thanking God for having given so great a pastor to His Church.

About a year before his death, Fulgentius retired into a monastery on the little island called Circinia to prepare himself for his passage to eternity. The impor­tunities of his flock, however, recalled him to Ruspe a little before the end. He bore the pain of his last illness with admirable patience, having this prayer almost always upon his lips: “Lord, grant me patience now, and hereafter mercy and pardon.” The physicians advised him to take baths, to whom he answered, “Can baths make a mortal man escape death, when his life has reached its term?”

Summoning his clergy and monks, who were all in tears, he begged their forgiveness if he had ever offended any one of them; he comforted them, gave them some moving instructions, and calmly breathed forth his soul in the year 533, of his age the sixty-fifth, on January 1, on which day his name occurs in many calendars. In some few churches his feast is kept on May 16, perhaps the day on which his relics were translated, about 714, to Bourges, in France, where they were destroyed in the Revolution. The veneration for his virtues was such that he was interred within the church, contrary to the law and custom of that age, as is remarked by the author of his life. St Fulgentius had chosen the great St Augustine for his model; and as a true disciple, imitated him in his conduct, faithfully imbibing his spirit and expounding his doctrine.

There is a trustworthy biography of this saint, written by a contemporary, whom many believe to have been his disciple, Fulgentius Ferrandus. It has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, January 1, and elsewhere. See the important work of G. G. Lapeyre, St Fulgence de Ruspe (1929), which includes the vita in a separate volume. For an account of the theo­logical and controversial writings of St Fulgentius reference may be made to Bardenhewer’s Patrology, pp. 616—618 in the English translation (1908) or to DTC., vol. vi, cc. 968 seq. See also Abbot Chapman in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. vi, pp. 316—317; and Dr H. R. Reynolds in DCB., vol. ii, pp. 576—583 .

He was the eldest of three children, and was christened Theophylact, and nobody was surprised when, at the age of eighteen, he decided to be a monk. Directed, it is said, by the All-holy Mother of God, he joined St Paul the Hesychast (Recluse) at his hermitage at Crypta in Phrygia, who clothed Theophylact with the holy habit and gave him the name of Peter. Immediately after his ordination to the priest­hood at Zygos some years later, at the very door of the church, there happened the first wonder recorded of him, when he cured a man possessed by an unclean spirit.

Shortly afterwards St Peter accompanied his spiritual father on his first pil­grimage, when they directed their steps towards Jerusalem; but God in a vision turned them aside, telling them to go to the Bithynian Olympus, where St Paul was to establish a monastery at the chapel of St Zachary on the edge of the Atroa. This accordingly was done, the monastery flourished, and before his death in 805 Paul named Peter as his successor. He was then thirty-two years old, and the access of responsibility made him redouble his fervour and his extreme austerities.

1031 St William of Saint Benignus, Abbot; character was great zeal and firmness joined with tender affection for his subjects;  did not hesitate to oppose, both by action and writings, the most powerful rulers of his time, like Emperor St Henry, Robert, King of France, and Pope John XIX, when he felt the cause of justice was at stake; In interests of the Cluniac reform he was constantly active, making many journeys and travelling as far as Rome.

St William, who must be regarded as one of the remarkable men of his age, was born in the castle of the island of San Giuglio, near Novara, in 962, at the very time when this stronghold was being defended by his father, Count Robert of Volpiano, against the besieging forces of the Emperor Otto. The garrison was eventually forced to capitulate upon honourable terms, and the emperor and his consort, laying aside all resentment, acted as sponsors to the newly born infant.

He was educated in a monastery, and later became a monk at Locadio, near Vercelli. In 987 he met St Majolus, and followed him to join the already famous abbey over which the latter ruled at Cluny. The Cluniac reform was then rapidly extending its sphere of influence, and William, after being sent for a while to reorganize the monastery of Saint-Sernin on the Rhone, was finally chosen to go with twelve other monks to revive the ancient foundation of Saint Benignus at Dijon. William now received the priesthood and was blessed as abbot. In a short time the whole abbey underwent a transformation both materially and spiritually. The edifice was enlarged, a great minster was built, schools were opened, and the arts encouraged, hospitality developed, and works of charity in every form set on foot. Ultimately the community of Saint Benignus became the centre of a great network of associated monasteries, either reformed or newly founded, in Burgundy, Lorraine and Italy.

St William’s own character was one in which great zeal and firmness were joined with tender affection for his subjects. He did not hesitate on occasion to oppose, both by action and by his writings, the most powerful rulers of his time, men like the Emperor St Henry, Robert, King of France, and Pope John XIX, when he felt the cause of justice was at stake. In the interests of the Cluniac reform he was constantly active, making many journeys and travelling as far as Rome. His biographer claims that he inspired St Odilo, who is also commemorated on this day, with the love of high perfection, and amongst his other works he refounded Fécamp in Normandy, a monastic institution that afterwards had an important influence on the religious life in England. It was at Fécamp that St William breathed his last, as day was dawning, on Sunday, January 1, 1031.

The life of William, written by his disciple Ralph Glaber shortly after his death, has been printed by the Bollandists, by Mabillon, and others. See also E. Sackur, Die Cluniacenser; Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, vol. iii; G. Chevallier, Le Vénérable Guillaume (1875); and B.H.L., n. 1284. 

962 - 1031 St. William of Dijon abbot 40 monasteries
William of Dijon is also known as William of St. Benignus. He was the son of Count Robert of Volpiano. William was born in the family castle on San Giuglio island in lake Orta near Nocera while his father was defending the island against the attacking Emperor Otto, who became his sponsor when he captured the island. William was entered into the Benedictine Abbey of Locadio when he was seven, became a monk there, and joined St. Majolus at Cluny in 987. He reorganized St. Sernin Abbey on the Rhone, was ordained in 990, named abbot of St. Benignus at Dijon, and built the Abbey into a great center of spirituality, education, and culture, and the mother monastery of some forty monasteries in Burgundy, Lorraine, Normandy, and Northern Italy. He traveled widely, spreading the Cluniac reform. He died at Fe'camp Monastery in Normandy which he had rebuilt on January 1.

He was already looked upon as a saint in Rome. At the very sight of him quarrels and disputes, unkind or loose talk ceased. But Don Joseph, like all the chosen of God, passed through a time of bitter spiritual trial and desolation. In 1675 he writes to Maria Crocifissa imploring her prayers. She answered exhorting him to patience and humility in accepting his cross from the hand of God, telling him that she, too, was not without her spiritual trials. He answered that the days of actual physical martyrdom are over, and that we are now in the days of hidden martyrdom, seen only by God; the lesson of it all being trust in God. He was at this time so scrupulous that he could not be allowed to hear confessions or preach.

Don Joseph’s life was almost that of a hermit, devoted to prayer and study.
He made a special study of Greek philosophy, Holy Scripture and the Breviary. Knowledge of eastern languages was a necessity, and his Hebrew teacher, Rabbi Moses da Cave, owed his conversion from Judaism in 1698, at the age of seventy and after long years of resistance, to the prayers of Don Giuseppe and his sisters.

   His first book was an edition of the Speculum of St Augustine. In 1680 appeared the Codices Sacramentorum, being four texts of the most ancient liturgies he could meet with. These precious documents had been stolen from the library of Fleury Abbey, and dispersed by the Calvinists in the sixteenth century. They had been gradually collected together again in Rome, partly by Queen Christina of Sweden. Tommasi’s work became celebrated and Mabillon transcribed a great part of it in his Liturgia Gallicana. Out of modesty his next book, the Psalterium, was pub­lished under the name of Giuseppe Caro. It was a work of very great learning, giving an account of the two most important translations of the psalms, the Roman and the Gallican, and it opened up for liturgists a whole new field of research. There were many other treatises of the same class, particularly on the Antiphonarium, all displaying great erudition and fervent piety. His work on the psalms attracted the notice of Pope Innocent XII, and in 1697 Tommasi entered the Vatican, under obedience, for the first time. 

The year 1704 saw him appointed theologian to the Congregation of Discipline of Regulars. In this latter capacity he laboured for the reform of the orders, and all who came in contact with him were impressed with his zeal and holiness.  Don Tommasi, having been chosen as confessor by Cardinal Albani, had required his penitent in 1700 to accept the papacy under pain of mortal sin. Soon after, Clement XI insisted on raising the Theatine scholar to the cardinalate, saying, Tommasi l’ha fatto a Noi, e Noi lo faremo a lui. (“What Tommasi did to us, we will do to him.”) It was promptly refused, and the whole day was spent in discussion between Don Tommasi and the high ecclesiastics. Eventually he wrote the pope a grateful letter of thanks, “representing to your Holiness the obstacles and impediments, my grave sins, my passions ill-controlled, my ignorance and want of ability, and my conscience bound by vows never to accept any dignity, which make it imperative to implore from your Holiness the permission to refuse the honour”. This letter was read to the Congregation of the Holy Office, and Cardinal Ferrari was deputed by Clement to tell Tommasi that the same reasons applied to him as to the pope, whom he had urged to accept the still more onerous burden of the papacy. Being finally persuaded that it was the will of God, he submitted, saying, Oh via! sara per pochi mese (“ Well it will only be for a few Months”), and went to receive the hat from his Holiness. He wrote to Maria Crocifissa to implore her prayers, saying that Saul among the prophets fell terribly, and that Judas was an apostle and perished.

Joseph Tommasi continued his simple life, going to choir with his brethren, and as much as possible avoiding all ceremony. The members of his household were dressed as poor people; amongst them was an old beggar, a converted Jew. His food was of the plainest, and even of that he ate so little that his doctor remon­strated. The new cardinal took the title of San Martino ai Monti, remembering that he had left home to begin his religious life on St Martin’s day, and also because it had been the title of St Charles Borromeo, who was his great pattern in his life as cardinal. He found it necessary to leave his monastery in order to live near his church, which belonged to the Carmelites, with whom he frequently joined in their offices as one of themselves. People flocked from all over Rome to be present at his Mass, whereat he allowed nothing but plainsong, accompanied by the organ only. At the classes of Christian doctrine on Sunday he himself instructed the smallest children, explaining the catechism and singing hymns with them. Owing to the extreme moral laxity of the day, he, with the pope’s approval and following the example of Borromeo, insisted on the separation of the sexes in the church and in approaching the altar. This raised a storm of opposition and abuse, but he persevered quietly in what he thought to be right.*{* Separation of men from women at public worship is normal in most parts of the East, and is considered theoretically desirable in the West too: cf. the Code of Canon Law, canon 1262, § 1.}

Bd Joseph was absorbed in the love of God, and often walked about hardly knowing what he was doing. Those who served his Mass bore witness to the extraordinary graces vouchsafed to him, and he was several times found in ecstasy before the Blessed Sacrament or his crucifix. He showed his love for God’s creatures by his almsgiving and care for all who came to him in need—not even allowing the birds to go hungry. The poor and suffering besieged his house and pressed round him when he went out, just as long ago they pressed round his Master. His humility had even, at times, been exaggerated, and his uncle Don Carlo once reproved him for calling himself a ne’er-do-well, telling him not to be abject but humble. To Maria Crocifissa he once called himself a tristo, which may mean scoundrel, to which she replied that she must decline to correspond with such a character. We read also of his patience in bearing constant bad health; of his very severe bodily mortifications, and of the wise moderation of the advice he gave to all who sought his help. He more than once foretold his own death, and when in December 1712 Pope Clement fell ill, the cardinal observed, “The pope will recover; I shall die.” He chose the spot where he should be buried in the crypt of his church, to which he went for the last time on St Thomas’s day and joined the friars at Compline. After the office, he made arrangements with the prior about the alms to be given to the poor, advising him to keep back the coal as the cold would increase after Christmas.

On Christmas Eve he was very ill, but insisted on attending the services at St Peter’s, and offered his three Masses in his own chapel. He suffered greatly from cold, and, refusing all food, could only sit crouching over the fire. After two days he took to his bed. Hearing the lamentations of his famiglia and of the poor people who were crowding into the lower part of the house, he sent them word that he had asked the pope to provide for them. At times he was delirious, but his confessor repeating the name of Jesus he recovered consciousness at once. He would not have the prayers for the dying said until he asked for them. Very shortly before his death he received viaticum, and thus strengthened by the Lord he had so dearly loved, he passed quietly through the janua caeli of death on January 1, 1713. Even before his death the sick were healed through touching his clothing, and when the end had come cures multiplied round his bier. Bd Joseph Tommasi was beatified in 1803.