1st v. Lydda Icon
The wonder-working Icon is mentioned
in the service for the Kazan Icon (July 8 & October 22) in the third Ode
of the Canon.
According to Tradition, the Apostles Peter and John were preaching in Lydda
(later called Diospolis) near Jerusalem. There they built a church dedicated
to the Most Holy Theotokos, then went to Jerusalem and asked her to come and
sanctify the church by her presence. She sent them back to Lydda and said,
"Go in peace, and I shall be there with you."
Arriving at Lydda, they found an icon of the Virgin imprinted in color
on the wall of the church (some sources say the image was on a pillar). Then
the Mother of God appeared and rejoiced at the number of people who had gathered
there. She blessed the icon and gave it the power to work miracles. This icon
was not made by the hand of man, but by a divine power.
Julian the Apostate (reigned 361-363) heard about the icon and tried to
eradicate it. Masons with sharp tools chipped away at the image, but the
paint and lines just seemed to penetrate deeper into the stone. Those whom
the emperor had sent were unable to destroy the icon. As word of this miracle
spread, millions of people came to venerate the icon.
In the eighth century, St Germanus, the future Patriarch of Constantinople
(May 12) passed through Lydda. He had a copy of the icon made, and sent it
to Rome during the iconoclastic controversy. It was placed in the church of
St Peter, and was the source of many healings. In 842, the reproduction was
returned to Constantinople and was known as the Roman Icon (June 26).
The oldest sources of information for the Lydda Icon are a document attributed
to St Andrew of Crete in 726, a letter written by three eastern Patriarchs
to the iconoclast emperor Theophilus in 839, and a work of George the Monk
in 886. The icon still existed as late as the ninth century. The Lydda
Icon of the Mother of God is also commemorated on March 12.
The "Seven Lakes"
Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos shone forth with many miracles in the seventeenth
century in the area of Kazan. It is similar to the Smolensk Icon (July 28).
"The Seven Lakes" Icon is also commemorated on July 28 and October 13.
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362 St. John &
Paul Martyred brothers of Rome commemorated in the first Eucharistic Prayer
Romæ, in monte Cælio,
sanctórum Mártyrum Joánnis et Pauli fratrum, quorum primus
erat præpósitus domus, secúndus primicérius Constántiæ
Vírginis, fíliæ Constantíni Imperatóris,
et ambo póstea, sub Juliáno Apóstata, martyrii palmam,
cædénte gládio, percepérunt.
At Rome
on Mt. Ceolius, the holy martyrs John and Paul, brothers. The former
was steward, the other secretary of the virgin Constantia, daughter of Emperor
Constantine. Afterwards, under Julian the Apostate, they received the
palm of martyrdom by being beheaded.
Honored by a basilica
on the Caelian Hill of Rome. Their cults are confined to their titular church.
John and Paul, brothers at the Court of Constantia, daughter of Constantine.
John and Paul MM (RM) There is debate as to whether or not the
stories about the two brothers named John and Paul are true or fiction. If
true, there is debate about the date. Their existing Passio is simply an
adaptation of the story of SS Juventinus and Maximinus, army officers who
were martyred at Antioch under Julian the Apostate in 363. Nevertheless, they
are named in the canon of the Mass.
Traditionally, it is said that they served as army officers
in the court of Constantia, daughter of Emperor Constantine. One became her
steward, the other the master of her household.
The emperor next sent them to
serve under his general Gallicanus, who was defending Thrace from the Scythians.
The Scythians were such formidable enemies that some of Gallicanus's army
surrendered. John and Paul told him that victory would be is if he would become
a Christian. He did so, and the Scythians were routed.
The two brothers prospered until shortly after 360 AD, when
Emperor Julian began a policy of systematically degrading Christianity and
promoting paganism. The two saints declared that they would no longer serve
him. Summoned to his court, they simply stayed away and reiterated their
dislike of his pagan ways. He gave them ten days to reconsider their attitude,
but they remained firm. Julian then sent a captain of his bodyguard, and
the two Christian brothers were executed on the Coelian Hill in Rome, in
their own home.
About 35 years later a wealthy senator named Pammachius built
a church dedicated to their honor on the site of their home. This church,
Santi Giovanni e Paolo, has been excavated, and underneath 12th century alterations
has been uncovered the original facade. One wall consists of a former pagan
house, several stories high. Usually burials were allowed only outside the
city walls, but here bodies of martyrs have been discovered--fitting in with
the legend that the captain of Julian's bodyguard secretly buried the bodies
of John and Paul in their own garden, announcing that they had gone into exile
(Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia).
SS. JOHN AND PAUL, MARTYRS
APART from their names, and the fact that they were Christian
martyrs of Rome, history can tell us nothing about the two saints, John and
Paul, who are commemorated together on this day. In some quarters, indeed,
their very existence is questioned. This much, however, is generally conceded,
viz. that at some time in the fourth century, relics, reputed to be theirs,
were deposited in the house on the Coelian Hill which Byzantius or his son,
St Jerome’s friend, St Pammachius, gave to be converted into a Christian church.
The basilica erected over the old foundations in the fifth century may have
been originally dedicated to the Apostles John and Paul, but it came to be
entirely associated in the popular mind with the two Romans whose tomb it
was supposed to contain and whose cultus was being propagated by means
of their widely-credited, but actually spurious, “acts “. As a result of
that cultus, the names of the “brothers “, John and Paul, were inserted in
the canon of the Mass, as well as in the litany of the Saints: they were accorded
a commemoration with a proper office and Mass in the sacramentaries known
as the Gelasianum and the Gregorianum, and they found their way into the
Gallican liturgy. In the Gelasianum we even find their feast preceded by
a vigil with fast, but this was abrogated, possibly because of its close proximity
to the fasts preceding the great fasts of the Birthday of St John Baptist
and Apostles Peter and Paul.
The fame of the two brothers reached our own country. Amongst
many medieval itineraries, which commend their shrine in the church on the
Coelian Hill to the special devotion of pilgrims to Rome, is one discovered
at Salisbury, in a collection of tenth-century manuscripts. William of Malmesbury,
them and calmly sallied out to meet the hostile party. One of the soldiers
upraised his arm to strike the abbot down with his sword. He found himself
unable to lower his arm: it remained as though paralyzed until St Maxentius
restored it through the application of blessed oil.
Following the example of his predecessor Agapitus, St Maxentius
laid down his office at the approach of old age and shut himself up in a
cell at a little distance from the monastery; and there he died at the age
of seventy, about the year 515.
Two texts or recensions of a medieval life of St Maxentius are
preserved. The shorter was printed by Mabillon, in his Acta Sanctorum O.S.B.
the longer by the Bollandists in vol. vii for June. Neither seems very reliable
as an historical document. Some time ago, the story of St Maxentius was the
subject of animated discussion in the Revue des Questions Historiques; see
the years 1883 and 1888.
362 SS. JOHN AND PAUL, MARTYRS
APART from their names, and the fact that they
were Christian martyrs of Rome, history can tell us nothing about the two
saints, John and Paul, who are commemorated together on this day. In some
quarters, indeed, their very existence is questioned. This much, however,
is generally conceded, viz. that at some time in the fourth
century, relics, reputed to be theirs, were deposited in the house on the
Coelian Hill which Byzantius or his son, St Jerome’s friend, St Pammachius,
gave to be converted into a Christian church. The basilica erected over the
old foundations in the filth century may have been originally dedicated to
the Apostles John and Paul, but it came to be entirely associated in the popular
mind with the two Romans whose tomb it was supposed to contain and whose
cultus was being propagated by means of their widely-credited,
but actually spurious, “acts”. As a result of that cultus, the
names of the brothers, John and Paul, were inserted in the canon of the Mass,
as well as in the litany of the Saints they were accorded a commemoration
with a proper office and Mass in the sacramentaries known as the Gelasianum
and the Gregorianum, and they found their way into the Gallican liturgy. In
the Gelasianum we even find their feast preceded by a vigil with fast, but
this was abrogated, possibly because of its close proximity to the fasts
preceding the great fasts of the Birthday of St John Baptist and of the
Apostles Peter and Paul. The fame of the two brothers reached our own country.
Amongst many medieval itineraries, which commend their shrine in the church
on the Coelian Hill to the special devotion of pilgrims to Rome, is one
discovered at Salisbury, in a collection of tenth-century manuscripts. William
of Malmesbury, who wrote during the reign
of King Stephen, also mentions it, and the Council of Oxford in 1222 enacted
that the feast of SS. John and Paul should be kept as a festival of the third
order, with obligation laid on the faithful to assist at Mass that day before
going to work.
The so-called “acts” are a pious fiction purporting to be a
report taken down from an account given by Terentian, the captain charged
with the execution of the two martyrs. According to this story, John and
Paul were brothers, army officers whom the Emperor Constantine assigned to
the household of his daughter, Constantia. She held them in great esteem
and appointed the one her steward and the other her major-domo. They were
afterwards recalled by the emperor and commissioned to serve under his general,
Gallicanus, in an expeditionary force sent to stem an invasion of Scythians
into Thrace. The barbarians proved to be such formidable opponents that at
one time the defeat of the imperial army seemed imminent. One wing had been
cut up and some of the officers had surrendered, when the two brothers approached
Gallicanus and assured him of certain victory if he would promise to become
a Christian. He gave the required undertaking and immediately a legion of
angels put the enemy to flight. As long as Constantine and his children were
alive, John and Paul continued to serve them and to be honoured by them,
but they would have no dealings with the Emperor Julian after his apostasy.
When he summoned them to court they refused to obey and expressed their detestation
of his disloyalty to the Christian faith. A respite of ten days was given
them in which to reconsider their refusal. Then Terentian, captain of the
imperial bodyguard, came with some of his men and superintended the execution
of the martyrs in their own house on the Coelian Hill. Their bodies were
buried in the garden, but it was given out that they had gone into exile.
The legend adds that the Emperor Jovian built the church dedicated in their
honour on the site of their own house.
The present basilica of SS Giovanni e Paolo, with its twelfth-century LombardRomanesque
belfry and colonnaded apse, was bestowed by Pope Clement XIV upon St Paul
- of-the-Cross, and is still served by the Passionists. Excavations made in
1887 revealed, beneath the church, rooms of the ancient dwelling-house, with
remains of frescoes, some of which belong to the third century.
Fr Delehaye has discussed the question
of these saints very thoroughly in his CMH., pp. 336—337. The spurious
passio the martyrs is printed
in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol.
vii, and elsewhere (cf. St Gallicanus, June 25). See also P. Franchi de' Cavalieri,
in Studi e Testi ix, pp. 55-65,
and xxvii, pp. 41—62; J. P. Kirsch, Die
römischen Titelkirchen, pp. 26—33, 120—124, 156—158; Lanzoni,
I Titoli presbiterali di Roma antica,
p. 46; Analecta Bollandiana, vol.
xlviii (1930), pp. 11-16 ; and DAC., vol. ii, cc. 2832— 2870, where
good pictures are given of the supposed “house of John and Paul” on the Coelian
Hill.
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405 St. Vigilius
Bishop of Trent (German for Trento) Italy martyr long labored aid poor resist
pernicious practice of usury most of all to promote conversions away from
paganism
Apud Tridéntum sancti Vigílii Epíscopi, qui, cum relíquias
idololatríæ pénitus exstirpáre conarétur,
ideo, pro Christi nómine, a feris et bárbaris homínibus
percússus lápidum imbre, martyrium implévit.
At Trent, St. Vigilius, bishop, who, while he endeavoured to root out the
remains of idolatry, was overwhelmed with a shower of stones by cruel and
barbarous men, and thus endured martyrdom for the name of Christ.
A member of the patricians (the Roman noble class), he was born at Trent.
He studied at Athens, Greece, and then returned to his native city, where
he was appointed bishop. Vigilius long labored to aid the poor, resist the
pernicious practice of usury, and most of all to promote conversions among
the populace away from paganism. When he commanded that a statue of Saturn
be hurled into a river, a group of irate pagans stoned Vigilius to death.
He is venerated as the patron of Trent and the Tyrol region of Austria.
Vigilius of Trent BM (RM) Saint Vigilius was a Roman patrician who studied
at Athens. Later he and his family settled in the Trentino. He was consecrated
bishop of Trent and succeeded in practically uprooting paganism from his diocese.
He was stoned to death near Lake Garda in the Val di Rendena for overturning
a statue of Saturn (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). Saint Vigilius is a bishop
holding a shoe.
405 ST VIGILIUS, BISHOP OF TRENT, MARTYR
THE principal patron of the Trentino and the Italian Tirol is St Vigilius,
who practically completed the conversion of those districts to Christianity.
By race a Roman, he appears to have been born at Trent, where his family through
long residence had acquired the rights of citizenship. He was educated in
Athens, but nothing else is known about his movements until after his return
to his native city, when in the year 385 he was chosen bishop of Trent at
an unusually early age. One letter addressed to him by his metropolitan, St
Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, is still extant. In it he is urged vigorously
to oppose usury, to discountenance the marriages of Christians with pagans,
and to exercise hospitality to strangers, especially to pilgrims. There were
still numerous heathen in the villages of the diocese of Trent: to them St
Vigilius went in person to preach the gospel. He also, through St Ambrose,
obtained the help of three other missionaries, SS. Sisinnius, Martyrius and
Alexander. They won the crown of martyrdom on May 29, 395, and St Vigilius
wrote an account of their death in a short letter addressed to Ambrose’s successor,
St Simplician, and in a longer one to St John Chrysostom, whom he had probably
known in Athens. In these epistles he expresses himself as envious of the
glory of these apostles, and he laments that his own unworthiness had precluded
him from sharing their martyrdom. The crown he desired, however, was
soon to be his. During a preaching mission in the remote valley of Rendena
he was moved, it is said, to overthrow a statue of Saturn; and the peasants
stoned him to death. Trent still claims to possess his relics, as well as
those of St Maxentia, St Claudian and St Majorian, who are reputed to have
been his mother and brothers.
See the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii, where a
passio is printed. This, or some such document, was
sent to Rome, and this seems to be the foundation for the statement of Benedict
XIV that St Vigilius was the first martyr to be canonized by the Holy See.
See also Perini, Cenni sulla Vita di S. Vigilio (1863), and
Scritti distoria e d’arte per
il 15 centenario di S. Vigilio (1905).
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515 St. Maxentius Abbot
miracle worker a monk in St. Severus’ abbey counselor to King Clovis I marauding
soldiers threatened the abbey Maxentius miraculously saved the site
In pago Pictaviénsi sancti Maxéntii,
Presbyteri et Confessóris; qui miráculis cláruit.
In the country of Poitiers, St. Maxentius, priest and confessor, renowned
for miracles.
He was born Adjutor at Agde,
France, and trained by St. Severus.
He became a monk in St. Severus’ abbey and left for two years to avoid the
acclaim given to him. In time, Maxentius entered the monastery at Poitou,
now called Saint-Maixent, where he took the name Maxentius. He was a counselor
to King Clovis I and he was elected abbot about 500 . When marauding soldiers
threatened the abbey, Maxentius miraculously saved the site. In his later
years, he lived as a hermit. Maxentius is called Maixent in some lists.
Maxentius (Maixent) of Poitou, Abbot (RM) Born at Agde, France;
Maxentius was educated under Saint Severus.
Abbot of the monastery in Poitou, which has since been named after him. He
is revered for his austerities and for protecting the district from barbarian
invaders (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
515 ST MAXENTIUS, ABBOT
THE French town of Saint-Maixent, in the department of Deux Sèvres,
covers the place once occupied by the cell of St Maxentius and the adjacent
monastery, which he ruled. The saint was born at Agde, on the Gulf of Lyons,
about the year 445, and received in baptism the name of Adjutor. Under the
watchful care of the abbot St Severus, to whom his parents entrusted him as
a child, he grew up a model of Christian virtue—extolled by most of his fellow
religious, but regarded with jealousy by a few. Praise was even more distasteful
to him than detraction, and to escape the prominence into which he was being
thrust, he quietly slipped away from Agde and remained in hiding for two
years. But when at the end of that time he came back to his home he found
himself in a position of far greater publicity. For his return happened to
coincide with a break in the weather after a prolonged drought, and he was
acclaimed as a saviour and a wonder-worker. Obviously, he must sever all
ties with the past if he was to lead a life of obscurity. A second time he
disappeared and this time he abandoned his native Narbonnaise for good. He
made his way as far as Poitou, where he entered a community in the valley
of Vauclair presided over by Abbot Agapitus. More completely to efface the
past, he changed his name to that of Maxentius.
If he could thus conceal his identity, he could not long conceal his sanctity.
His austerity was such that he took no food but barley bread and water, he
prayed so constantly that his back became bent. Moreover, he was credited
with the gift of miracles. By the unanimous vote of his brethren he was elected
superior about the year 500. During the war that raged a few years later between
Clovis, King of the Franks, and Alaric the Visigoth, the inhabitants of Poitou
suffered much from the violence of soldiers and marauders. One day a band
of armed men advanced threateningly upon the monastery of Vauclair and struck
terror into the hearts of the monks, who implored St Maxentius to save them.
He reassured them and calmly sallied out to meet the hostile party. One of
the soldiers upraised his arm to strike the abbot down with his sword. He
found himself unable to lower his arm it remained as though paralysed until
St Maxentius restored it through the application of blessed oil.
Following the example of his predecessor Agapitus, St Maxentius laid down
his office at the approach of old age and shut himself up in a cell at a little
distance from the monastery and there he died at the age of seventy,
about the year 51.
Two
texts or recensions of a medieval life of St Maxentius are preserved. The
shorter was printed by Mabillon, in his Acta Sanctorum O.S.B.
the longer by the Bollandists in vol. vii for June. Neither seems very reliable
as an historical document. Some time ago, the story of St Maxentius was the
subject of animated discussion in the Revue des Questions Historiques
see the years 1883 and 1888. There have been several lives in French.
540
St. David Hermit of Thessalonika Greece remained in his small hermitage
for seventy years, attracting many followers gift of wonderworking,
and he healed many from sickness
He remained in his small hermitage for seventy years, attracting
many followers. Thus Llandewi marks the spot where St. David,
Bishop of Caerleon and then of Menevia (fifth century)
is said to have finally refuted Pelagius;
In 1054, David’s relics were translated to pavia, Italy. David
of Thessalonica, Hermit (RM) Born in Thessalonica, 5th century. Saint David
lived for 70 years as a hermit, but he also served as a spiritual director.
His relics were translated to Pavia, Italy, in 1054 (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Saint David of Thessalonica pursued asceticism at the monastery
of the holy Martyrs Theodore and Mercurius. Inspired by the example of the
holy stylites, he lived in an almond tree in constant prayer, keeping strict
fast, and enduring heat and cold. He remained there for three years until
an angel told him to come down.
St David received from God the gift of wonderworking, and he
healed many from sickness. The holy ascetic gave spiritual counsel to all
who came to him. Having attained to passionlessness, he was like an angel
in the flesh, and he was able to take hot coals into his hands without harm.
He died the year 540.
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677 Saint Babolenus
of Fossés monk at Luxeuil under Saint Columbanus Abbot (AC)
Babolenus migrated to France, where he became a monk at Luxeuil under Saint
Columbanus. Later he was appointed the first abbot of Saint Peter's near Paris,
which was renamed Saint-Maur-des-Fossés when the relics of Saint Maurus
where brought there from Anjou. He was helped by Saint Fursey in the erection of many churches
and hospitals in the diocese of Paris.
Together they served the whole diocese under Bishops Audebert and Saint Landry (Benedictines, Husenbeth)
.
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684 Pope St. Benedict
II distinguished knowledge of the Scriptures and by his singing, and as a
priest was remarkable for his humility, love of the poor, and generosity;
Many of the churches of Rome were restored by him; and its clergy, its deaconries
for the care of the poor, and its lay sacristans all benefited by his liberality
Date of birth unknown; died 8 May, 685; was a Roman, and the son of John.
Sent when young to the schola cantorum, he distinguished himself by his knowledge
of the Scriptures and by his singing, and as a priest was remarkable for his
humility, love of the poor, and generosity. He became pope 26 June, 684, after
an interval of over eleven months. To abridge the vacancies of the Holy See
which followed the deaths of the popes, he obtained from the Emperor Constantine
Pogonatus a decree which either abolished imperial confirmations altogether
or made them obtainable from the exarch in Italy [cf. "Liber Diurnus RR.
PP.", ed. Sickel (Vienna, 1889), and Duchesne's criticism, "Le Liber Diurnus"
(Paris, 1891)]. He adopted Constantine's two sons by receiving locks of their
hair sent him by the emperor. To help to suppress Monothelitism, he endeavoured
to secure the subscriptions of the Spanish bishops to the decrees of the
Sixth General Council (see ep. in P.L., XCVI, 423), and to bring about the
submission to them of Macarius, ex-Bishop of Antioch. He was one of the popes
who favoured the cause of St. Wilfred of York (Eddius, "Vita Wilfridi", ed.
Raine in "Historians of York", I, 62 sqq. Cf. Raine, "Lives of the Archbishops
of York", I, 55 sqq.). Many of the churches of Rome were restored by him;
and its clergy, its deaconries for the care of the poor, and its lay sacristans
all benefited by his liberality. He was buried in St. Peter's.
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7th v.Saint Salvius
bishop of Angoulême,
and Superius.
Apud Valencénas, in Gállia,
pássio sanctórum Mártyrum Sálvii, qui éxstitit
Engolisménsis Epíscopus, et Supérii.
At Valenciennes, they holy martyrs Salvius, bishop of
Angoulême, and Superius.
He served in the area around Angoukme, France, and was then sent to evangelize
the Flemish. Murdered by a local nobleman with an otherwise unknown companion
(St. Superius), they were hurriedly
buried; the bodies were discovered later.
Salvius (Sauvre) and Superius MM (RM) Salvius was a regionary bishop in
the district of Angoulême, who went to Valenciennes to evangelize Flemish.
The cupidity of a baron led to his death, and with a companion he was hastily
interred. When the bodies were discovered, the companion, Superius, was found
first (Benedictines).
His relics, however, are famous because they were given to Canterbury
Cathedral by William the Conqueror when Blessed Lanfranc rebuilt it after the
fire of 1069. Some think this is Bishop Saint Salvius of Amiens, who flourished
under Theodoric II and died in 625; however, those relics were translated
to Montreuil in Picardy.
Others have identified him as Saint Salvius of Valenciennes. It is ironic
that Lanfranc, who questioned the cultus of many reputably historic Anglo-Saxon
saints, should have introduced such uncertain relics into the rich collection
at Canterbury (Benedictines).
768 St. Salvius Benedictine
bishop missionary evangelize the Flemish
768 SS. SALVIUS, OR SAUVE, AND SUPERIUS
ABOUT the year 768, there arrived in Valenciennes a regionary bishop
called Salvius accompanied by a disciple. What authority he had and from whence
he came remains a mystery, but he was an ardent missionary and through the
sermons he preached in the church of St Martin he brought about many conversions.
According to the story told of him, the son of an oflicial for the sake
of his handsome cloak and expensive girdle murdered him and his companion.
This story is not well attested—but there is a lesson in it.
The bodies of the victims were taken from the pit into which they had been
cast to the church of St Vedast at Valenciennes. The disciple’s name was not
remembered...if it had ever been known—but because his body was found lying
above that of the bishop he was designated St Superus, or Superius. At a
later date the bodies of the two martyrs were translated to the village of
Brena, which stood on the site now occupied by the town of Saint-Sauve.
The
fact that SS. Salvius and Superius are commemorated on this day in the Roman
Martyrology unfortunately affords no guarantee for the reliability of this
story. There is a passio, met with in many manuscripts, which
has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii and
another version is to be found in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol.
ii. The writer professes to he a contemporary, but no evidence confirms this.
See, on the whole question, Van der Essen, Etude critique et
littéraire sur les Vitae des saints mérovingiens (1907), pp. 244-249.
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726 Saint Perseveranda of
Poitiers Spanish virgin who travelled to Poitiers with her sisters Macrina
and Columba V (RM)
(also known as Pecinna, Pezaine) Saint Perseveranda is said to have been
a Spanish virgin who travelled to Poitiers with her sisters Macrina and Columba.
There they founded a convent. While fleeing from the pirate Oliver, Perseveranda
died of exhaustion in a town now commemorating her, Sainte-Pezaine in Poitou
(Benedictines).
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775 St. Corbican Irish
recluse in Low Countries now Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
He gave his life to educating the local peasants.
8th v. Corbican Irish recluse in the Low Countries who spent part of his
day helping and instructing the peasants (AC) (Benedictines). |
790 St. John of the
Goths Bishop of Goths in southern Russia defended use of sacred images Iconoclast
Controversy
When the Khazars invaded the region, John was driven into permanent
exile.
John of the Goths B (AC) Saint John was bishop of the Goths
in southern Russia. He was noted for his defense of the veneration of images
against the depravation of the iconoclasts. Invading Khazars drove him from
his see into exile, where he died (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
800 ST JOHN, BISHOP OF THE Goths honoured in Eastern churches -- resistance he
opposed to Iconoclasm
THOUGH he has no particular cultus in the West, this St John
is honoured in the Eastern churches on account of the resistance he opposed
to Iconoclasm. He was a native of that district north of the Black Sea that
includes the Crimea, and his grandfather was an Armenian legionary. In 761
the then bishop of the Goths in those parts, to gratify the Emperor Constantine
Copronymus, who was attempting to abolish the use of sacred images, subscribed
to the iconoclastic edicts and was rewarded by being promoted to the more
desirable see of Heraclea. His flock, more orthodox than he, asked that John
should be appointed in his place. Their request was granted, but they had
to await his return from Jerusalem, where he spent three years.
He wrote a defence of the veneration paid to sacred images
and relics, and also of the practice of invoking the saints. His arguments
were supported by quotations from the Old and New Testaments, as well as
by references to the teaching of the fathers. Under the regency of the Empress
Irene the ban against sacred images was raised, and John came to Constantinople
to attend the synod summoned by St Tarasius; John was also present in 787
at the second Council of Nicaea, in which the Catholic doctrine with regard
to the cultus of sacred images was clearly defined.
After his return, John’s diocese was invaded by the Khazars,
and through treachery he became a captive in the hands of their chieftain.
He succeeded, however, in escaping and found a refuge at Amastris in Asia
Minor, where he was hospitably received by the bishop. He spent there the
last four years of his life. Upon being informed that the Khazar chief had
died, he turned to his friends and said, "And I, too, shall depart from hence
in forty days and will plead my cause with him before God". The first pan
of this prophecy was fulfilled to the letter, for on the fortieth day he peacefully
expired. His body was conveyed back to his country by Bishop George of Amastris
and was deposited in the monastery at Partheruti in the Crimea.
A sufficient account of his activities,
together with a Greek biography, is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii. There
is also mention of him on the same day in the Synaxary of Constantinople. See Delehaye’s
edition, cc. 772—773.
Saint John, Bishop of the Goths, lived during the
eighth century. The future saint was born in answer to the fervent prayer
of his parents. From an early age, he lived a life of asceticism.
The saint made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and spent three years
visiting all the holy places. Then he returned to his native country. At
that time the emperor Constantine Copronymos the Iconoclast (741-775) banished
the Gothic bishop, and the Goths fervently entreated St John to become their
bishop.
St John went to Georgia, which was isolated from the Iconoclast
heresy. There he was ordained. Upon his return to the Goths he was soon compelled
to depart from them. Hidden away from the pursuing Khazars, he settled at
Amastridia, where he dwelt for four years.
Hearing about the death of the Khazar kagan (ruler), the saint
said, "After forty days I shall go to be judged with him before Christ the
Savior." Indeed, the saint died forty days later. This took place when he
returned to his people, in the year 790.
The saint's body was conveyed to the Parthenit monastery in
the Crimea, at the foot of Mount Ayu-Dag, where the saint once lived in the
large church he built in honor of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
St John, Bishop of the Goths is also commemorated on May 19.
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925 St. Pelagius
Martyr in Cordoba Spain left by his uncle as a hostage to the Moors stubborn
refusal three years renounce his Christianity and become a Muslim
Córdubæ, in Hispánia,
natális sancti Pelágii adolescéntuli, qui, ob confessiónem
fídei, Regis Saracenórum Abdaraméni jussu forcípibus
férreis membrátim præcísus, martyrium suum glorióse
consummávit.
At Cordova
in Spain, under the Saracen king Abderaliman, the birthday of St. Pelagius,
a young man who gloriously completed his martyrdom for the faith by having
his flesh torn to pieces with iron pincers.
Also called Pelayo, he was a young boy of Asturias who was left
by his uncle as a hostage to the Moors of Cordoba. As he remained unransomed
for three years, the Cordoban ruler Emir Abd al-Rahman III offered to free
him if he would but renounce his Christianity and become a Muslim. He refused,
and the emir ordered him tortured. Pelagius died after six hours of agony.
Rhoswitha of Gandersheim, a Benedictine poetess, composed a poem in his honor.
Pelagius (Pelayo) of Oviedo M (RM) Born in Asturias c. 912;
died at Cordova, Spain, 925. Saint Pelayo was a young boy taken hostage by
the Moors. He was offered his freedom and other rewards if he would convert
to Islam and commit other shameful deeds. These inducements were repeatedly
placed before him during the three years that he was kept in prison. On his
stubborn refusal, he was put to the torture, which he endured for six hours,
finally dying. His relics were transferred to Leon in 967 and to Oviedo in
985. The Benedictine poetess Roswitha of Gandersheim (died 973) wrote a long
poem in his honor (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Saint Pelagius is depicted in art as a youth with a sword in
his left hand; his right arm dismembered. He might also be shown with red-hot
tongs. He is venerated in Cordova, Leon, and Orviedo (Roeder).
St Pelagius, Martyr The name of the boy martyr, Pelagius (Pelayo),
is still famous throughout Spain, and many churches have been dedicated in
his honour. He lived in the days when Abd-ar-Rahman III, the greatest of
the Omayyads, was ruling at Cordova, and was left as a hostage in the hands
of the Moors by his uncle. He was then a child of ten. Three years went by,
the expected exchanges never arrived, and Pelagius remained unredeemed. By
this time he had developed into a handsome lad, spirited, and entirely untainted
by the corrupt influence of his prison associates. Favorable reports of him
having reached Abd-ar-Rahman, he sent for the boy, and told him that he might
have his liberty, with horses to ride, fine clothes to wear, money and honors,
if he would renounce his faith and acknowledge the prophet Mohammed.
Pelagius, however, stood firm. “All that means nothing to me
“, he answered. A Christian I have been, Christian I am, and Christian I
shall continue to be.” Promises and threats proving equally unavailing, he
was eventually condemned to death. Accounts vary as to the manner of his
execution. According to one report he was sentenced to be racked on the iron
horse and to be swung up and down till he expired; according to another,
he was suspended from the forked gallows usually reserved for slaves and
criminals, and then dismembered, his limbs being thrown into the river Guadalquivir.
His remains were rescued by the faithful and preserved in Cordova until 967,
when they were translated to Leon; in 985 the relics were removed for safety
to Oviedo.
There is a
short Latin passio, which has been
printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June,
vol. vii, with a discussion of the historical data and subsequent cultus.
The story of little St Pelagius was sufficiently famous to rouse the enthusiasm
of the poetess, Hroswitha, Abbess of Gandersheim, who about the year 962 narrated
the incidents of the martyrdom in Latin verse. The best text of the poem
is that edited by P. von Winterfeld in Deut.
Dichter d. Lat. Mittelalters (1922). There is an English translation
of Hroswitha’s poems by Christopher St John (1923), and a German version
by H. Homeyer (1936).
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942 St. Hermogius Benedictine
bishop whose nephew St. Pelagius his hostage with the Moors
Born at Tuy, Spain, Hermogius founded Labrugia Monastery in Spanish Galicia,
Spain, in 915. Taken prisoner
by the Moors in Cordoba, he was released when St. Pelagius took his place. He retired
to Ribas del Sil where he died.
Hermogius of Tuy, OSB B (AC) Born in Tuy; Saint Hermogius founded the abbey
of Labrugia (Spanish Galicia) in 915. He was captured by the Moors and taken
to Cordova. Later he was given he freedom. His nephew, Saint Pelagius, however,
was kept as a hostage. Saint Hermogius resigned his see and retired to Ribas
del Sil (Benedictines).
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St. Marie Magdalen Fontaine
Martyred Sister of Charity
of St. Vincent de Paul
She was superior of the congregation’s house at Arras when the French Revolution
erupted in the country With three members of her community, Mary Magdalen
was guillotined at Cambrai, France. She was beatified in 1920.
|
1157 Blessed Bartholomew
de Vir helped Saint Norbert to found the Prémontré OSB
Cist. B (PC)
Bishop Bartholomew of Laon (1113-1151) helped Saint Norbert to found the Prémontré.
In 1121, he built the Cistercian abbey of Foigny, and entered it in 1151
(Benedictines).
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1178 St. Anthelm Carthusian monk and bishop defender
of papal authority
Bellícii, in Gállia,
sancti Anthélmi, qui ex majóris Carthúsiæ Prióre,
factus est ejúsdem civitátis Epíscopus.
At Belley
in France, St. Anthelmus, prior of the Grande Chartreuse, who became bishop
of that city.
Anthelm was born in 1107 in a castle near Chambery, in Savoy,
France. He was ordained a priest and visited the Carthusian Charterhouse at
Portes, where he entered the Order at the age of thirty. Two years later,
in 1139, he was appointed abbot of Le Grande Chartreuse, which had been damaged.
Anthelm made the monastery a worthy motherhouse of the Carthusians, constructing
a defensive wall and an aqueduct. As minister-general, Anthelm also united
the various charterhouses of the Order. Rules were standardized, and women
were given the opportunity to enter the Carthusians in their own charterhouses.
After a few years as a hermit, starting in 1152, Anthelm returned
to Le Grande Chartreuse and defended Pope Alexander III against the antipope
Victor IV. In 1163, the pope appointed him as bishop of Belley, France.
Anthelm reformed the clergy and regulated affairs, going as far as to excommunicate
a local noble, Count Humbert of Maurienne, who had taken one priest captive
and murdered another priest trying to free him. When Humbert appealed to Rome
and won a reversal, Anthelm left Belley in protest. Pope Alexander then sent
Anthelm to England to mediate the dispute between Henry II and St. Thomas
Becket. Anthelm was unable to undertake that journey. He returned to Belley
to care for the poor and for the local lepers. On his deathbed, Anthelm received
a penitent Count Humbert. Anthelm died on June 26, 1178. His feast has been
celebrated by the Carthusians since 1607. His relics were enshrined in Belley.
In liturgical art, Anthelm is depicted with a lamp lit by a divine hand
.
Anthelm(us) of Belley, O. Cart.
B (RM)
Born near Chambéry, Savoy, France, 1107; died June 26,
1178. Bishop Anthelm of Belley was a nobleman born in the castle of Chignin.
He became a priest early in life, but after visiting the tranquil Carthusian
monastery of Portes, decided to become a monk and joined the Carthusians about
1137. He eventually was elected as the 7th abbot of the Grande Chartreuse
in 1139. Anthelm was responsible for guiding the Carthusians to evolve into
a religious order separate from the Benedictine. Charter houses had previously
been separate and independent, subject only to local bishops. Not only did
he revitalize the order, he also restored the physical facilities of the
Charterhouse. He summoned the first general chapter, and Grande Chartreuse
became the motherhouse. Anthelm commissioned Blessed John the Spaniard to
draw up a constitution for a community of women who wished to live under
Carthusian rule. He resigned his abbacy in 1152 to live as a hermit but was
made prior of Portes. During this time (1154-56) he ordered the bounty that
had accumulated as a result of the monastery's prosperity to be distributed
to those in need. He returned to Grande Chartreuse, still wishing to live
a solitary life, but then he actively entered the conflict over the nomination
of Pope Alexander III, whom he supported, against Emperor Frederick Barbarossa's
choice, Victor IV. With the Cistercian abbot Geoffrey, Anthelm galvanized
support for Pope Alexander III, who then nominated him to the see of Belley
in 1163. There he set out to reform the clergy, a particular concern being
that of celibacy, because some priests practiced while being openly married.
He also punished evil-doers. So much did Anthelm endear himself to the people
that, after his death, the city was renamed Athelmopolis.
When Count Humbert III of Maurienne violated the Church's jurisdiction
over the clergy by imprisoning a priest, Anthelm sent a clergyman to handle
the matter. After the priest was killed in a scuffle to rearrest him, Anthelm
excommunicated the count. The pope invalidated the ban, but Anthelm would
not relent and returned to Portes in protest. Relations between the pope and
Anthelm remained open, however. He was asked by the pope to go to England
to try to bring about a reconciliation between King Henry II and Saint Thomas
a Becket, but unfortunately was unable to travel. Anthelm established
a community for women solitaries. To the end of his life, his heart was in
his beloved Charterhouse, which he visited on every possible occasion. The
good bishop spent his last years tending to the lepers and the poor. He was
distributing food in a famine when he was felled by fever. As Anthelm lay
dying, he was visited by Humbert who sought his forgiveness. Miracles are
said to have occurred at his tomb, one being that, as he was lowered into
the tomb, a lamp lit only for great festivals kindled spontaneously (Benedictines,
Delaney, White).
In art, Saint Anthelm, with a miter at his feet, is a Carthusian
with a lamp over him lit by a celestial hand. At times Saint Peter may point
out to him the place in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or
there may be a nobleman under his feet (Roeder).
St Anthelm, Bishop Of Belley
is justly regarded as one of the greatest ecclesiastics of his age on account
of the services he rendered to the Church as bishop of Belley, as minister
general of the Carthusian Order at a critical stage of its development, and
as an outstanding supporter of the true pope against a pretender backed by
all the forces of the emperor. He was born in 1107 at the castle of Chignin,
six miles from Chambéry. He was a high-principled young priest, hospitable
and generous, but interested primarily in the things of this world. However,
he had relatives among the Carthusians, and visits to the monastery of Portes
completely changed his outlook. What he saw of the life of the community and
what he learnt from the prior brought home to him a sense of his true vocation,
and he accordingly abandoned the world to assume the habit of St Bruno about
1137. Before he had completed his novitiate he was sent to the Grande Chartreuse,
which had recently lost the greater part of its buildings through the fall
of an avalanche; and Anthelm did much by his example and business-like qualities
to revive the fervor and restore the prosperity of the monastery. After the
resignation of Hugh I in 1139, he was elected seventh prior of the Grande
Chartreuse.
He made it his first care to repair the ruined buildings, which
he then encircled by a wall. He brought water through an aqueduct and renewed
the farm premises and sheepfolds, and all the time he was enforcing the
rule in its primitive simplicity, and had the satisfaction of seeing his
efforts crowned with success. Until his time all the charterhouses had been
independent of one another, each one being subject only to the bishop. He
was responsible for summoning the first general chapter. By it the Grande
Chartreuse was constituted the motherhouse, and he became, in fact if not
in name, the first minister general of the order.
It is not
surprising that his reputation for sanctity and wisdom brought him many recruits;
amongst those who received the habit at his hands were his own father, one
of his brothers, and William, Count of Nivernais, who became a lay- brother.
It was St Anthelm, too, who commissioned Blessed John the Spaniard to draw
up a constitution for a community of women who wished to live under Carthusian
rule.
After governing the Grande Chartreuse for
twelve years he succeeded in 1152, to his great satisfaction, in resigning
an office he had never desired. He was not allowed to remain long, however,
in the seclusion of a solitary cell. Old age had compelled Bernard, the founder
and first prior of Portes, to lay down his charge, and at his request Anthelm
was appointed his successor.
The toil of the monks had brought great prosperity to the monastery,
whose treasury and barns were full to overflowing. Such superfluity the new
prior regarded as incompatible with evangelical poverty, and in view of the
scarcity that prevailed in the surrounding countryside he ordered free distribution
to be made to all who were in need. He even sold some of the ornaments of
the church to provide alms. Two years later he returned to the Grande Chartreuse
to live for a while the contemplative life of a simple monk, but it was
then that there came to him the first call to deal with ecclesiastical matters
outside the order.
In 1159 western
Christendom was split into two camps, the one favoring the claims of the true
pope, Alexander III, the other supporting the antipope “Victor IV , who was
the nominee of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Anthelm threw himself into
the fray in conjunction with Geoffrey, the learned Cistercian abbot of
Hautecombe. They succeeded in recruiting their own brethren and the religious
of other communities, who declared for Alexander and organized his cause
in France, in Spain, and even in England. Partly no doubt in recognition
of these services, Pope Alexander listened to an appeal made to him regarding
the vacant see of Belley, to set aside the selected candidates and to nominate
Anthelm. In vain did the Carthusian entreat—even with tears—to be excused:
the pope was insistent, and Anthelm was obliged to consent. He was consecrated
on September 8, 1163.
There was much in
his diocese that called for reform, and he set to work with characteristic
thoroughness. In his first synod he made an impassioned appeal to his clergy
to live up to their high calling; the observance of clerical celibacy had
largely fallen into abeyance and not a few priests openly lived as married
men. At first the bishop used only persuasion and warnings, but after two
years, finding that his injunctions were still being disregarded in certain
quarters, he made an example of the worst offenders by depriving them of their
benefices.
He was equally firm in dealing with disorder and oppression
among the laity: no previous bishop of Belley had ever been so fearless or
so uncompromising. When Humbert III, Count of Maurienne, violating the Church’s
right of jurisdiction over her clergy, imprisoned a priest accused of misdemeanor,
Anthelm sent a prelate to free the prisoner. The priest was killed in the
scuffle that followed Humbert’s attempt to rearrest him, and the threatened
excommunication was pronounced. Not even at the pope’s bidding would Anthelm
relent; and when he learnt that Alexander III, with whom the count was somewhat
of a favorite, had himself raised the ban, he retired to Portes, indignantly
protesting that the pope was acting ultra vires,
for St Peter himself would not
have power to release the impenitent from censure.
He was persuaded with difficulty to return to his diocese—but
he could not be persuaded to admit Humbert to communion. Nevertheless, his
relations with Rome remained so excellent that he was soon chosen for a mission
as legate to England, to attempt to bring about a reconciliation between Henry
II and St Thomas Becket; but circumstances prevented him from going.
More remarkable still was the favor shown him by
his former opponent, the emperor. But neither honors from the heads of church
and state, nor yet the pastoral duties he so adequately fulfilled, could wean
his heart from his community or lead him to live otherwise than in Carthusian
simplicity. Any leisure time he could secure was spent at the Grande Chartreuse
and the houses of his order. Two other institutions were especially dear to
him: the one was a community of women solitaries at a place called Bons, the
other a leper house where he loved to tend the sufferers with his own hands.
Advancing age in no way affected his activities, and he was busily engaged
in making a distribution of food during a famine when he was seized with
the fever that was to prove fatal. As he lay dying he had the satisfaction
of receiving a visit from Count Humbert who had come to beg his forgiveness
and to promise amendment. St Anthelm passed away on June 26, 1178, at the
age of seventy-two. St Hugh of Lincoln in the last year of his life, returning
from a final visit to the Grande Chartreuse, passed through Belley and there
venerated the earthly remains of his old friend Anthelm, who was already famous
for the miracles wrought at his shrine.
The Bollandists, in the
Acta Sanctorum, June, vol.
vii, have printed a life of St Anthelm, written apparently by a contemporary,
a copy of which they obtained from the Grande Chartreuse. The virtues and
activities of Anthelm are discussed also in much detail in the Annales Ordinis Cartusiensis, compiled
by Dom Le Couteulx, vols. i and ii; as well as in Le Vasseur, Ephemerides Ordinis Cartusiensis,
vol. iii, pp. 375—406. A very full and satisfactory life of the saint is available
in French: Vie de St Anthelme, by
the Abbé C. Marchal (1878). Consult further DHG., vol. iii, cc. 523—525.
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Today is the Transfer of
the relics of Tikhon_of_Luchov_Kostroma.jpg |
1315 Blessed Raymond
Lull dedicate life working for conversion of Muslims North Africa
Raymond worked all his life to promote the missions and died
a missionary to North Africa.
Raymond was born 1235 at Palma
on the island of Mallorca
in the Mediterranean Sea. He earned a position in the king’s court there.
One day a sermon inspired him to dedicate his life to working for the conversion
of the Muslims in North Africa. He became a Secular Franciscan and founded a college
where missionaries could learn the Arabic they would need in the missions.
Retiring to solitude, he spent nine years as a hermit. During that time he
wrote on all branches of knowledge, a work which earned him the title "Enlightened
Doctor."
1316 BD
RAYMUND LULL, MARTYR
AMONG the few really human documents which are attributable to the hagiographers
of medieval times, the contemporary life of Ramón Lull may claim exceptional
recognition. We do not know the name of the author; we cannot even be quite
sure whether the Latin or the Catalan text is the original; we learn that
the facts were communicated by himself at the solicitation of his followers,
though we are not told when or how they were taken down. Still, no one who
reads the narrative can fail to be impressed by the absolute candour of the
revelation. We see into the soul of the man therein depicted. There is boundless
generosity and courage, but also somewhat of extravagance. It is a veritable
Don Quixote who stands before us, animated only by the holiest and most unselfish
purposes, but paying, to judge from the human standpoint, a pitifully heavy
price for all his indiscretions. He is restless, like St Francis Xavier or
like Charles de Foucauld, but his energy never flags. The great conceptions
which fill his mind are seen so clearly and open out so wonderful a vision
that he has not time to reflect. The obstacles which stand in his way are
dwarfed, if indeed they are not obliterated altogether.
The
limits of this notice do not permit of more than the barest summary of Ramón’s
strange career. Born in 1232, he was apparently
the son of one of the military chiefs who in the first part of the thirteenth
century succeeded in reconquering the island of Majorca from its Moslem
invaders. He was wealthy, talented, enthusiastic; he married young, but
though at the age of thirty he had a little son and daughter and a charming
wife, he was shameless in his pursuit of any new face that attracted him.
One night, about 1263, when he was busied in composing an ode to his latest
inamorata, he suddenly saw beside him the figure
of Jesus Christ hanging on the Cross. He was so startled that he could not
shake off the impression or go on writing, but had to take refuge in his
bed. It was not, however, until this experience had been renewed five separate
times that his heart was touched; but, being the man he was, the conversion
was thorough. Reflecting on the words “greater love than this no man hath,
that a man lay down his life for his friends”, his mind, from his uninterrupted
contact with the Moors, turned to the thought of winning them to the service
of Christ Jesus. Here was a cause worthy of the sacrifice of all things,
even of life itself. He went on a pilgrimage to Compostela and to Rocamadour
to obtain the divine guidance. For such a task systematic preparation was
needed. He had first of all to make provision for those dependent on him.
He gave the rest of his wealth to the poor, and then, after a period of
seclusion and prayer, he set about acquiring the knowledge necessary for
an intellectual crusade against Moslem philosophy and religion, against Averroes
and the Koran. Nine years were spent in learning Arabic and in making other
preliminary studies. From the very beginning he had seen the necessity of
establishing Catholic religious centres to train missionaries and disputants
for the new campaign. This was, he convinced himself, the only way to cope
with an outlandish culture of which the average theologian of western Europe
knew next to nothing. But though a foundation of this sort—the first missionary
college—was later on (in 1276) begun in Majorca at the charges of his good
friend, King James II, and confided to the Friars Minor, it seems to have
achieved very little.
Meanwhile Ramón pursued his studies and wrote endless books—one
of them, a sort of spiritual romance called Blanquerna, has
been translated into English. He visited Rome in 1277, in the hope of enlisting
the sympathies of the pope, then Paris in 1286, and Genoa in 1290, but always
with the purpose of finding at last an opportunity to cross over to Africa
himself and begin preaching in Tunis. His fluctuations of mind and resolution
are marvellously depicted in the “Contemporary Life”.
It was at Genoa that, after receiving somewhat of a rebuff in an
application to join the Friars Preachers, he finally offered himself to
and was accepted by the Franciscans as a tertiary. He was then very ill,
but recovered miraculously when in 1292 he caused himself to be carried
on board a galley bound for Africa. He realized his dream of preaching in
the streets of Tunis, but after imprisonment and much rough treatment at
the hands of the Moslems he was soon forcibly deported out of the country
and found himself in Naples. Appeals to Pope Boniface VIII at Rome
and subsequently to Clement V at Avignon to obtain papal support for
his campaign met with very little response. A journey to Cyprus, under a
false impression that the khan of Tartary had made himself master of the
Saracens in Syria and Palestine, was equally disappointing. Ramón
lectured for a while in Paris and then made a second attempt to gain a hearing
among the Moors themselves at Bougie in Barbary, but once more, after much
ill-usage and a cruel imprisonment, he was deported, and incidentally suffered
shipwreck before he reached Italy. Further appeals to the Holy See and to
the Council of Vienne in 1311 brought him no encouragement.
He spent some time lecturing at Paris, and finally on a third visit to Africa
he was stoned at Bougie and left for dead; he was rescued by Genoese sailors,
but died on shipboard, within sight of Majorca, on June 29, 1316.
Although Ramón’s whole life was a record of disappointment,
his literary activity was incredible. Three hundred and thirteen different
treatises are attributed to him, most of them in Latin or Catalan, but
not a few are in Arabic. Some of his writings have been thought to deserve
a note of theological censure, but there is also difficulty in determining
in certain cases what is authentically his composition. Nearly all of
it gives proof of a tender piety, but he speaks fearlessly of the abuses then
prevalent in the Church. Lull is celebrated liturgically by the Friars Minor
and others, and Pope Pius XI speaks highly of him in his encyclical letter “Orientalium rerum” (1928), but without according him the title
Blessed.
The
fullest and most satisfactory bibliography of the subject is the contribution
of Fr E. Longpre, in DTC., vol. ix (1926), cc. 1072—1141. The more important
biographical material may still he found in the Acta Sanctorum,
July, vol. ii, and it is to be noticed that a critical revision
of the Latin text of the “Contemporary Life” has
appeared in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlviii (1930),
pp. 530—178. An admirable translation of the Catalan text has been published
in English by E. Allison Peers who has also translated Blanquerna
and issued a full biography (Ramón Lull,
1929). The complete works were published in Spain, ed. by P. M.
Bataillon and M. Caldentey, in 1948.
Raymond then made many trips through Europe to interest popes,
kings and princes in establishing special colleges to prepare future missionaries.
He achieved his goal in 1311 when the Council of Vienne ordered the creation
of chairs of Hebrew, Arabic and Chaldean at the universities of Bologna, Oxford,
Paris and Salamanca. At the age of 79, Raymond went to North Africa in 1314
to be a missionary himself. An angry crowd of Muslims stoned him in the city
of Bougie. Genoese merchants took him back to Mallorca where he died. Raymond
was beatified in 1514.
Comment: Raymond worked most
of his life to help spread the gospel. Indifference on the part of some Christian
leaders and opposition in North Africa did not turn him from his goal.
Three hundred years later Raymond’s work began to have an influence in the
Americas. When the Spanish began to spread the gospel in the New World, they
set up missionary colleges to aid the work. Blessed Junipero Serra belonged
to such a college.
Quote: Thomas of Celano wrote
of St. Francis: "In vain does the wicked man persecute one striving after
virtue, for the more he is buffeted, the more strongly will he triumph. As
someone says, indignity strengthens a generous spirit" (I Celano, #11)
.
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1383 According
to ancient tradition, the wonderworking icon of Tikhvin is one of several
painted by St Luke the Evangelist. The icon was taken from Jerusalem to
Constantinople in the fifth century, where it was enshrined in the Church
of Blachernae, which was built especially for this purpose.
In 1383, seventy years before the fall of Constantinople at
the hands of the Turks, fishermen on Lake Ladoga in the principality of Novgorod
the Great witnessed the icon miraculously hovering over the lake's waters
amidst a radiant light. According to an early sixteenth century Russian manuscript,
"The Tale of Miracles of the Icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God," the Theotokos
herself decided that her image should leave Constantinople, perhaps in anticipation
of the impending fall of the Byzantine Empire.
Shortly after its miraculous appearance, the icon was discovered
in several neighboring towns, including the village of Motchenitsy on the
bank of the Tikhvinka River, before it finally appeared near the town of
Tikhvin. A wooden church dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos was built
on the site of the icon's final resting place. Miraculously, the icon survived
a number of fires.
In the early sixteenth century, through the zeal of Great Prince
Basil Ivanovich, a stone church was built to replace the original wooden
structure. In 1560, by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, a men's monastery
was established near the church and enclosed with a stone wall.
In 1613-1614, the Swedish army, having seized Novgorod, made
several attempts to destroy the monastery. The countless prayers offered
to the Theotokos before the icon were heard, and the monastery was spared.
On one occasion, after monks had been alerted to the approaching Swedish
army, they decided to flee and to take the icon with them. But the monks
soon discovered that they could not remove the icon from its shrine. Seeing
this as a sign of the Theotokos' protection, the monks decided not to abandon
the monastery, begging the Theotokos to spare them and their beloved spiritual
home. To their amazement, a large Muscovite army appeared to defend the monastery.
When the Swedes encountered the army, they retreated immediately.
Word of this miracle spread rapidly, and imperial emissaries soon visited
the monastery. Accompanied by a copy of the wonderworking icon, they set
off for the village of Stolbovo, 33 miles from Tikhvin, where they concluded
a peace treaty with the Swedes on February 10, 1617. Afterwards, the copy
of the icon was taken to Moscow and enshrined in the Kremlin's Dormition Cathedral.
Later, the same icon was placed in the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) cathedral
in Novgorod at the request of the city's faithful, who also found themselves
under attack by the Swedes. Once again, through the intercession of the Theotokos,
the city was spared.
Over the centuries, the icon's fame spread far and wide. Copies
of the wonderworking icon began to adorn churches throughout the land. Some
of these copies also proved to be sources of miracles, and it was not uncommon
to find the faithful praying before the icon to seek healing for children
who were ill.
No fewer than 24 processions
with the icon were celebrated each year at the Tikhvin Monastery, where the
icon was enshrined. A decorative cover, or "riza," adorned the icon, exposing
only the faces and hands of the Holy Virgin and Christ child. Numerous precious
stones studded the riza, and many of the faithful, desiring to express thanksgiving
for prayers answered through the Theotokos' intercession, affixed precious
jewelry to the riza.
Most miraculous is the fact that the icon was preserved from
destruction or sale after the Russian Revolution, which ushered in a 74-year
persecution of the Church. During the 1920s, the communist government demanded
that the Russian Orthodox Church turn over countless icons and other precious
liturgical items, which through the nationalization of private property were
considered the property of "the people." Many of these sacred items were
sold, allegedly to raise money to feed the Russian and Ukrainian population
which was afflicted by famine.
During the World War II German occupation, the Nazis removed
the icon from the Tikhvin Monastery, from where it was taken to Pskov and
subsequently to Riga, Latvia. When the city was evacuated, Bishop John [Garklavs]
of Riga, in whose care the icon was placed, took the icon to Bavaria, where
it was venerated by Orthodox faithful who had been displaced because of the
war. While Soviet agents had spotted the icon, Bishop John was permitted
to take the icon to the United States in 1949, under the pretext that the
icon in his care was a reproduction, the work of a simple monk, and that
it was of little historic or monetary value. Shortly after his arrival in
the United States, Bishop John, who was later elevated to the rank of Archbishop,
was elected to oversee the Diocese of Chicago, and the icon was regularly
displayed and venerated in Chicago's Holy Trinity Cathedral.
Bishop John frequently took the icon on pilgrimage to various
places throughout the United States and Canada. After his retirement in the
late 1970s and death on Palm Sunday in 1982, Archpriest Sergei Garklavs,
Bishop John's adopted son, became the caretaker of the icon. In 2003, over
a decade after the fall of communism and the resurrection of the Russian Orthodox
Church, the decision was made to return the precious icon to its original
home.
The icon began its year-long journey to Russia at the 99th annual
Pilgrimage to St Tikhon Monastery, South Canaan, Pennsylvania, May 23-26,
2003. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, Primate of the Orthodox Church in
America, together with members of the Holy Synod of Bishops and guest hierarchs,
greeted the icon, which was available for veneration by the faithful.
The icon follows the "Hodigitria" model and is similar in style
to the ancient Iveron icon of Our Lady. It differs in that the Christ child's
legs are crossed, while the sole of His foot is turned to the viewer. Several
historic sources note that several other Hodigitria icons of the Theotokos
had been brought to Russia in the 1380s, during the rule of the saintly prince
Demetrius Donskoy. -- Archpriest John Matusiak
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1385 Dionysius, Archbishop
of Suzdal; sublime spiritual frame of mind and his profound knowledge
of Holy Scripture. Patriarch Nilus, having termed the saint "a warrior of
God and a spiritual man," wrote that he himself saw him "at fasting and charity,
and vigil, and prayers, and tears, and every other virtue." A "wonderworking
monk".
In the world David, was tonsured at the Kiev Caves monastery.
He arrived at the Volga with an icon of the Mother of God that he had received
as a blessing from Sts Anthony and Theodosius. St Dionysius dug out a cave
not far from Nizhni-Novgorod and struggled in total solitude. Brethren constantly
thronged to the holy ascetic and in the year 1335 he founded a monastery in
honor of the Ascension of the Lord. Among his students of St Dionysius were
Sts Euthymius of Suzdal (April 1) and Macarius of Zheltovod and Unzha (July
25). In the year 1352 the holy Elder sent twelve of his brethren to "the
upper cities and countryside, whom God would bless" for the spiritual enlightenment
of the people and the organizing of new monasteries. The monastery of St
Dionysius exerted a deep charitable influence on the inhabitants of Nizhni-Novgorod.
In the year 1371 the saint tonsured into monasticism the forty-year-old widow
of Prince Andrew Constantinovich, an example of how he accepted into monasticism
"various dignitaries: women, widowers, and virgins."
In the year 1374 St Dionysius
was deemed worthy of the office of bishop. His years of service as bishop
occurred during a remarkable period, for Russia was rising to cast off the
Mongol-Tatar Yoke. On March 31, 1375 the Tatar military-chief, having been
shown to the bishop's court by the enslaved inhabitants of Nizhni-Novgorod,
shot an arrow at St Dionysius, but the Lord preserved his chosen one, and
the arrow struck only the bishop's mantle. In 1377, through the blessing of
St Dionysius (who may have edited the document), the Lavrentian Chronicle
was compiled by St Laurence, inspiring Russia in its struggle for freedom.
In 1379, preserving the integrity of the first hierarch's cathedra,
St Dionysius was one of the bishops gathered in Moscow by order of the prince,
and he came out against the election of the prince's protegee, the ill-reputed
archimandrite Mityaya as Metropolitan.
In the same year of 1379 St Dionysius journeyed to Constantinople
with a protest against the choice of Mityaya on grounds of his complicity
with the heretical Strigolniki. The saint made a strong impression upon
the Greeks by his sublime spiritual frame of mind and his profound knowledge
of Holy Scripture. Patriarch Nilus, having termed the saint "a warrior of
God and a spiritual man," wrote that he himself saw him "at fasting and charity,
and vigil, and prayers, and tears, and every other virtue." From Constantinople
St Dionysius sent two copies of the Hodigitria Icon of the Mother of God to
a Council at Suzdal. In 1382 the bishop received the title of archbishop from
the patriarch. Returning to Russia, the saint travelled to Pskov and Novgorod
to struggle against the heresy of the Strigolniki.
He visited Constantinople a second time in 1383 for discussion
with the patriarch on questions about the governance of the Russian metropolitanate.
In the year 1384 St Dionysius was made"metropolitan for Russia" by Patriarch
Nilus. But upon his return to Kiev the saint was arrested on orders of the
Kiev prince Vladimir Olgerdovich and subjected to imprisonment, where he died
on October 15, 1385. The burial of the saint was in "the Kiev Cave of the
Great Anthony." St Dionysius is commemorated on June 26 because it is the
Feast of his patron saint, St David of Thessalonica, whose name he was given
in Baptism. In the Synodikon of the 1552 Nizhni-Novgorod Caves monastery,
St Dionysius is called a "wonderworking monk" .
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1391 BD GUY MARAMALDI
he became a great theologian and preacher; After teaching theology and philosophy
at Naples, he went to Ragusa, where the success of his preaching and his fame
as a wonder-worker caused him to be acclaimed as an apostle.
AMONG the Dominicans who preached and taught in Italy during the second
half of the fourteenth century, Guy Maramaldi deserves a prominent place.
He came of a Neapolitan family, and each of his three brothers—like himself—was
a man of mark. Guy was still a mere stripling when he presented himself at
the Neapolitan house of the Order of Preachers, and asked for the habit. His
request was granted, after some hesitation due to the fear that his delicate
upbringing would unfit him for the stem discipline of a friary. The apprehension
proved groundless, and in his austerities and obedience, as well as in his
studies, he soon outstripped his fellow novices. In later life he became
a great theologian and preacher. After teaching theology and philosophy at
Naples, he went to Ragusa, where the success of his preaching and his fame
as a wonder-worker caused him to be acclaimed as an apostle. Upon his return
home he was appointed inquisitor general for the kingdom of Naples—a post
that brought him on several occasions into serious danger. He died in the
year 1391, and his cultus was approved in 1612.
A short account is found in the Acta Sanctorum,
June, vol. vii. See also Touron, Hommes illustres dominicains (i745),
vol. ii, pp. 627—631 ; and Année dominicaine, vol. vi (i8ç),
pp. 534—536.
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1399 The Neamts Icon
of the Mother of God was given as a gift by the Byzantine emperor Andronicus
Paleologos to the Moldavian ruler Alexander the Voevod, and then placed into
the Moldavian Neamts Ascension monastery.
One of the Moldavian princes gave a copy of the icon to a Russian landowner
by the name of Chertkov. One of Chertkov's descendants presented this copy
to his village church in 1846. An inscription on the icon says that this is
a faithful copy of the icon sent by the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus. However,
the Emperor in 1399 was Manuel II Paleologos. One of his sons was named Andronicus,
and perhaps he sent the icon to Moldavia.
At this place, many ascetics of the Russian Church became saints under
the holy Elder, schema-archimandrite Paisius Velichkovsky (November 15),
and also through the guidance of the Mother of God.
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1794 Bl. Teresa Fantou
French martyr member Sisters of Charity in Arras during the French Revolution
She was arrested by republican authorities and guillotined at Cambrai.Teresa
and her three companions, Francoise Lanel, Madeleine Fontaine, and Joan Gerard
were beatified in 1920.
Blessed Jane Gerard M (AC) beatified in 1920. Blessed Jane is one of the
Sisters of Charity of Arras, France, who were arrested in 1792, and guillotined
at Cambrai (Benedictines) .
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1794 Blessed Mary
Magdalen Fontaine and Companions superior of the house of that institute at
Arras (AC)
Born in Etrépagny (Eure),
France, in 1723; died at Cambrai; beatified in 1920. Blessed Mary Magdalen
entered the novitiate of the sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in
1748, and from 1767 was the superior of the house of that institute at Arras.
She was guillotined at Cambrai during the French Revolution together with
three religious of her community (Benedictines).
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Mary Mother of GOD
Saint of the Day June 26 Sexto Kaléndas Júlii 
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969
Benedict XVI met with Aram
I Catholicos of Cilicia, the highest authority of the Orthodox
Church. The Pope remembered the martyrs
of the Armenian Church and the Armenian genocide, without explicitly
mentioning it, and denounced the persecution of Christians in
modern times. Benedict XVI
As we watch the spectacle of
the world seeming to self-destruct before our eyes, we can’t
help but be saddened and even frightened by so much evil run
rampant. Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, North Korea—It
is all a disaster of epic proportions displayed in living color
on our television screens.