The great psalm of
the Passion, Psalm 21, whose
first verse, "My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision:
"All the ends of the earth shall
remember and turn to the Lord; and
all the families of the nations
shall worship before him" (Psalm 21:28) |
 64 First Martyrs of the
See of Rome “Protomartyrs of
Rome.”
June 30, 2010 First
Martyrs of the Church of Rome (d. 68)
There were Christians in Rome within a dozen or so years after the
death of Jesus, though they were not the converts of the “Apostle of
the Gentiles” (Romans 15:20). Paul had not yet visited them at the time
he wrote his great letter in a.d. 57-58.
There was a large Jewish population in Rome. Probably as a result of
controversy between Jews and Jewish Christians, the Emperor Claudius
expelled all Jews from Rome in 49-50 A.D. Suetonius the historian says
that the expulsion was due to disturbances in the city “caused by the
certain Chrestus” [Christ]. Perhaps many came back after Claudius’s
death in 54 A.D. Paul’s letter was addressed to a Church with members
from Jewish and Gentile backgrounds.
In July of 64 A.D., more than half of Rome was destroyed by fire. Rumor
blamed the tragedy on Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace. He
shifted the blame by accusing the Christians. According to the
historian Tacitus, a “great multitude 8; of Christians was put to
death because of their “hatred of the human race.” Peter and Paul were
probably among the victims.
Threatened by an army revolt and condemned to death by the senate, Nero
committed suicide in 68 A.D. at the age of 31.
Comment: Wherever the
Good News of Jesus was preached, it met the same opposition as Jesus
did, and many of those who began to follow him shared his suffering and
death. But no human force could stop the power of the Spirit unleashed
upon the world. The blood of martyrs has always been, and will always
be, the seed of Christians.
Quote: From
Pope Clement I, successor of St. Peter: “It was through envy and
jealousy that the greatest and most upright pillars of the Church were
persecuted and struggled unto death.... First of all, Peter, who
because of unreasonable jealousy suffered not merely once or twice but
many times, and, having thus given his witness, went to the place of
glory that he deserved. It was through jealousy and conflict that Paul
showed the way to the prize for perseverance. He was put in chains
seven times, sent into exile, and stoned; a herald both in the east and
the wes t, he achieved a noble fame by his faith....”
“Around these men with their holy lives
there are gathered a great throng of the elect, who, though victims of
jealousy, gave us the finest example of endurance in the midst of many
indignities and tortures. Through jealousy women were tormented, like
Dirce or the daughters of Danaus, suffering terrible and unholy acts of
violence. But they courageously finished the course of faith and
despite their bodily weakness won a noble prize.”
The holy men and women are
also called the “Protomartyrs of Rome.”
They were
accused of burning Rome by Nero , who burned Rome to cover his own
crimes. Some martyrs were burned as living torches at evening banquets,
some crucified, others were fed to wild animals.
These martyrs died before
Sts. Peter and Paul, and are called
“disciples of the Apostles...whom the Holy Roman church sent to
their Lord before the Apostles’ death.”
First
Marytrs of Rome Neronian Martyrs
also termed the Protomartyrs of Rome
Many martyrs who suffered
death under Emperor Nero . Owing to their executions during the reign
of Emperor Nero, they are called the Neronian Martyrs, and they are
also termed the Protomartyrs of Rome, being honored by the site in
Vatican City called the Piazza of the Protomartyrs. These early
Christians were disciples of the Apostles, and they endured hideous
tortures and ghastly deaths following the burning of Rome in the
infamous fire of 62.Their dignity in suffering, and their fervor to the
end, did not provide Nero or the Romans with the public diversion
desired. Instead, the faith was firmly planted in the Eternal City.
Die ersten Märtyrer von Rom Märtyrer unter Nero
Katholische Kirche: Die
ersten
Märtyrer von Rom - 30. Juni Evangelische Kirche:
Märtyrer unter Nero - 30. Juni
In den ersten Jahren der
Kirche wurden die Christen in ihren kleinen
Gemeinden belächelt und verspottet. Je mehr die Gemeinden wuchsen
und christliches Gedankengut, das sich radikal von den heidnischen
Religionen unterschied, bekannt wurde, wuchs auch der Widerstand gegen
diese zunehmend staatsgefährdend erscheinende Religion. Der
römische Kaiser Nero (54-68) leitete die große über 250
Jahre andauernde Christenverfolgung ein. Nach dem Brand von Rom im Juli
64 beschuldigte Nero die Christen, das Feuer gelegt zu haben. Er wollte
wohl damit von den Gerüchten, er selbst habe das Feuer legen
lassen, ablenken. Die Christen, die festgenommen wurden, gestanden zwar
nicht die Brandstiftung, wohl aber ihren christlichen Glauben. Dieses
Geständnis genügte für ein Todesurteil. Nero ließ
die Christen nicht einfach hinrichten, sondern erdachte grausame
Martern und Todesarten. Tacitus berichtet in seinen Annalen über
diese Verfolgung, nach seinen Worten wurde eine gewaltige Schar
getötet. Nach Hieronymus wurden 979 Christen hingerichtet.
Twelve Apostles
of
Christ The Synaxis of the Glorious and All-Praiseworthy appears
to be an ancient Feast. The Church honors each of the Twelve Apostles
on separate dates during the year, and has established a general
commemoration for all of them on the day after the commemoration of the
Glorious and First-Ranked among the Apostles Peter and Paul.
The holy God-crowned Emperor Constantine the Great (May 21)
built a
church in Constantinople in honor of the Twelve Apostles. There are
instructions for celebrating this Feast which date from the fourth
century. For lists of the Apostles' names, see: Mt.10:2, Mark 3:14,
Luke 6:12, Acts 1:13, 26.
Orthodoxe Kirche: 30. Juni
-
Synaxis der 12 Apostel Katholische Kirche: 15. Juli -
Tag der Apostelteilung
Das griechische Wort
Synaxis (russisch sobor) wird oft als Versammlung
übersetzt. Gemeint ist aber bei diesen Heiligenfesten eine
Zusammenschau, also eine Kommemoration mehrerer Heiliger oder nach
großen Festtagen eine Betrachtung einzelner Heiliger im
Zusammenhang mit ihrer Bedeutung für diese Feste. In unserem
ökumenischen Kalender finden Sie:
|
The holy, glorious,
all-laudable
Apostle Andrew the First-called is also commemorated on November 30. He
was the brother of St Peter (June 29).
  The holy, glorious,
all-laudable Apostle James is also commemorated on
April 30.
He and his brother John are the sons of Zebedee, and were
called "sons of Thunder" (Mark 3: 17).
 The holy, glorious,
all-laudable Apostle and Evangelist, virgin, and
beloved friend of Christ, John the Theologian is also commemorated on
September 26 and May 8. He and his brother James are the sons of
Zebedee, and were called "sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17).
 The holy,
glorious,
all-laudable Apostle Philip is also commemorated on November 14.
 The holy,
glorious,
all-laudable Apostle Bartholomew is also commemorated on June 11 and
August 25.
|
 The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Thomas is
also
commemorated on October 6 and
on the Sunday after Pascha.
  The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle and
Evangelist
Matthew is also commemorated on November 16.
 The holy, glorious,
all-laudable Apostle James, the son of Alphaeus, is also commemorated
on Oct 9
|
  The
holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Jude is also commemorated on June
19. He is also known as Thaddeus (but should not be confused with St
Thaddeus of the Seventy, who is commemorated on August 21), and was the
brother of St James (October 23).
  The
holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Simon the Zealot is also
commemorated on May 10.
The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Matthias is also commemorated
on August 9. |
The Holy Apostle Peter SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net
(June 29)
The son of Jonah and brother of Andrew the First-Called, of
the tribe
of Simeon and the town of Bethsaida, he was a fisherman and was at
first called Simon, but the Lord was pleased to call him Cephas, or
Peter (Jn 1:42). He was the first of the disciples to give clear
expression to his faith in the Lord Jesus, saying: 'Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God' (Mt. 16:16). His love for the Lord
was very strong, and his faith in Him went from strength to strength.
When the Lord was put on trial, Peter denied Him three times, but it
needed only one look into the face of the Lord, and Peter's soul was
filled with shame and repentance. After the descent of the Holy Spirit,
Peter became a fearless and powerful preacher of the Gospel. After his
first sermon in Jerusalem, about 3,000 souls were converted to the
Faith. He preached the Gospel throughout Palestine and Asia Minor, in
Italy and in Illyria. He performed many wonders, healing the sick and
raising the dead, and even his shadow had the power of healing the
sick. He had a major struggle with Simon the Magician, who declared
himself to be from God but was actually a servant of the devil. He
finally put him to shame and overcame him. Peter was condemned to death
on the order of the wicked Emperor Nero, a friend of Simon's. After
installing Linus as Bishop of Rome and exhorting and encouraging the
flock of Christ there, Peter went to his death with joy. When he saw
the cross before him, he asked the executioner to crucify him
upside-down, because he felt himself to be unworthy to die in the same
way as his Lord. And so this great servant of the greatest Master went
to his rest and received a crown of eternal glory.
|
 The Holy Apostle Paul (June 29)
SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net
 Commemorátio sancti Pauli Apóstoli.
The commemoration of the holy apostle Paul.
THE COMMEMORATION OF ST PAUL
HE Mass and office of June 29 being principally concerned with St
Peter, it is followed the next day by a special commemoration of St
Paul. None the less June 29 is the feast-day of St Paul no less than of
St Peter, and the
notice of him herein therefore appears under that date.
Born in Tarsus and of the tribe of Benjamin, he was
formerly
called Saul and studied under Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee and a
persecutor of Christians. He was wondrously converted to the Christian
faith by the Lord Himself, who appeared to him on the road to Damascus.
He was baptised by the Apostle Ananias, named Paul and enrolled in the
work of the Great Apostles. He preached the Gospel everywhere with
burning zeal, from the borders of Arabia to the land of Spain, among
both the Jews and the heathen, and receiving the title of `the Apostle
to the Gentiles'. His fearful sufferings were matched only by his
superhuman endurance. Through all the years of his preaching, he hung
from day to day like a thread between life and death. Filling his days
and nights with toil and suffering for Christ, organising the Church in
many places and reaching a high level of perfection, he was able to
say: `I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me' (Gal. 2:20). He was
beheaded in Rome in the reign of Nero, at the same time as St Peter.
|
Saint
Lucina 1st century Martyr
mentioned in the Acts of Sts. Processus and
Martinianus
Romæ sanctæ Lucínæ, Apostolórum
discípulæ, quæ, de facultátibus suis
commúnicans Sanctórum necessitátibus,
Christiános in cárcere deténtos visitábat,
ac sepultúræ Mártyrum inserviébat; juxta
quos et ipsa, in crypta a se constrúcta, sepúlta est.
At Rome, St. Lucina, a disciple of the apostles, who
relieved the necessities of the saints with her goods, visited the
Christians detained in prison, buried the martyrs, and was laid by
their side in a crypt which she herself had constructed.
Other martyrs named Lucina were also recorded,
including
one who ministered to martyrs and died about 250, and another connected
to Saint Sebastian’s martyrdom. |
 205 Saint
Basilides
Martyr of Egypt, defender
of Saint Potomiana soldier
of
the guard of the prefect of Egypt
Alexandríæ pássio sancti Basílidis, qui, sub
Sevéro Imperatóre, cum sanctam Potamiœnam
Vírginem, quam ad supplícium ducébat, ab
impudicórum hóminum petulántia tutátus
esset, religiósi offícii mercédem ab ea
recépit; nam ipsa, post tríduum illi appárens et
ejus cápiti corónam impónens, non tantum
convértit eum ad Christum, sed étiam, brevi agóne
certántem, suis précibus Mártyrem gloriósum
effécit.
At Alexandria, the passion of St. Basilides, under
Emperor Severus. He protected the saintly virgin Potamioena from
the insults of shameless men when he was leading her to
execution. He was rewarded for his considerate action, for at the
end of three days she appeared to him, placed a crown on his head, not
only converting him to Christ, but by her prayers making him, after a
short combat, a glorious martyr.
When involved in the execution of
Saint Potomiana, he defended her against a mob. Receiving the faith,
Basilides was also martyred. |
250
Saint Martial Bishop of Limoges one of the first
apostles
of France
Lemóvicis, in Aquitánia, sancti Martiális
Epíscopi, cum duóbus Presbyteris Alpiniáno et
Austricliniáno; quorum vita signis miraculórum
ádmodum effúlsit.
At Limoges in France, St. Martial, bishop, and two
priests Alpinian and Austriclinian, whose lives were distinguished for
miracles.
Saint
Gregory of Tours
informs us, that he was one of the first
apostles
of France, whither Saint Martial was sent from Rome with Saint
Dionysius of
Paris, about the year 250. He was the first bishop of Limoges, and his
name is famous in ancient Martyrologies. Great miracles have been
wrought at his relics.
ST MARTIAL, BISHOP OF LIMOGES (c. A.D.
250)
ALL that is actually known about St Martial is that he was a bishop of
Limoges and that he has been venerated from a very early date as the
apostle of the Limousin and the founder of the see which he occupied.
In all probability he flourished about A.D. 250. According to the
tradition current in the sixth century, and recorded by St Gregory of
Tours, he was one of seven missionaries sent from Rome to Gaul shortly
before 250. St Gatian went to Tours, St Trophimus to Arles, St Paul to
Narbonne, St Martial to Limoges, St Dionysius (Denis) to Paris, St
Saturninus to Toulouse and St Austremonius to the Auvergne. Each one
evangelized the district he had selected and became its first bishop.
In the early litanies of Limoges, St Martial's name appears as a
confessor, but after a time the monks of the local abbey of St Martial
(who possessed his relics) began to contend that he must be honoured as
an apostle. His legend had by now developed considerably, and he was
being represented not only as the apostle of Aquitaine, but as one of
our Lord's immediate followers, the boy with the barley loaves and
fishes, and one of the seventy-two disciples. The question of his title
was considered important enough to be brought before several synods. In
the eleventh century St Martial's cultus received a great impetus in
consequence of the rebuilding of the abbey dedicated under his name,
the enshrining of his body, and the dissemination of a fantastic
narrative embodying and expanding the various current legends, but
purporting to be the saint's original authentic acts as compiled by his
immediate successor in the bishopric of Limoges, St Aurelian.
That this extravagant forgery, bristling with anachronisms and
improbabilities, should have imposed upon an uncritical age is perhaps
not to be wondered at: but it is surprising to find its genuineness
still upheld in certain quarters at this present day. Martial, we are
told, was converted at the age of fifteen by our Lord's preaching; he
was baptized by his kinsman, St Peter; he was present at the raising of
Lazarus: he waited on our Lord at the Last Supper, and he received the
Holy Ghost with the other disciples at Pentecost. St Peter, whom he
accompanied first to Antioch and then to Rome, sent him to preach the
gospel in Gaul. With St Peter's staff he raised to life his companion,
St Austriclinian, who had died on the journey. After their arrival at
Tulle, he delivered his host's daughter from an evil spirit, and
resuscitated the son of the Roman governor who had been strangled by a
demon. These miracles led to the conversion and baptism of 3600
persons. Pagan priests who ventured to attack him were smitten with
blindness, until the saint by his prayers restored the use of their
eyes. Others who beat and imprisoned him at Limoges were killed by a
thunderbolt, but were brought back to life by him in response to the
entreaties of the citizens. One of the priests thus resuscitated was
Aurelian, the reputed author of these so-called "acts". Mass
conversions followed these miracles also. Amongst St Martial's
penitents was a noble damsel called Valeria. She determined to
consecrate her virginity to our Lord, and was beheaded by order of Duke
Stephen to whom she had previously been betrothed. After the execution
she carried her head in her hands to the church where St Martial was.
Duke Stephen himself was subsequently converted, made a pilgrimage to
Rome, where he found St Peter engaged in giving instruction to the
people at a place called the Vatican. The duke was able to give him the
latest news of St Martial and made a favourable report of the progress
of the missions in Gaul. In the fortieth year after the
Resurrection-the seventy-fourth of our era-St Martial was warned
in a vision of his impending death, and fifteen days later he breathed
his last, surrounded by his brethren.
It is stated that Pope John XIX gave permission for the term “apostle"
to be applied to St Martial, but the Congregation of Rites in 1854
refused to ratify this, deciding that he was to be venerated in the
Mass, the litanies, and office as an ordinary bishop and confessor. It
would seem, however, that the bishop of Limoges, in answer to a
remonstrance and appeal addressed to Pius IX in the same year, was
gratified with a favourable answer permitting that in that diocese St
Martial should enjoy the style and precedence of an apostle.
We have three ancient
accounts of the life of St Martial. The first is the very short notice,
followed by a few miracles, which we find in the De gloria confessorum (cap.
xxvii-xxix, and cf. Hist. Francorum,
i, 28) of St Gregory of Tours. It fixes the coming of St Martial at
about A.D. 250. The second is considerably longer, and was written
probably in the ninth century. In this, St Martial is said to have been
sent to Limoges by St Peter, but his missionary efforts, though crowned
with instantaneous success and accompanied with marvels, are limited to
the diocese of Limoges. The best text of this was edited by C. F.
Bellet, in his book, L'ancienne vie
de St Martial et la prose rythmée (1897). The third and
most extravagant life claims to be written by the saint's successor
Aurelian, but borrows much from the Historia
apostolica, an apocryphal document which was first printed under
the name of Abdias. Here, as stated above, St Martial is represented as
preaching all over the south of France, with the support of Duke
Stephen. There is some reason to think that the story was fabricated by
Adhemar de Chabannes, with the object of enhancing the glory of the
abbey of Saint-Martial of Limoges, in which he had been brought up. It
seems certain that it was Adhemar who forged the supposed bull of Pope
John XIX, which authorized the cult of St Martial with all the marks of
honour belonging to the twelve authentic Apostles, and he is also
gravely suspected of producing other spurious documents of the same
kind. All this matter has been very fully investigated by Louis Saltet,
in the Bulletin de
littérature ecclés. (Toulouse, 1925), pp. 161-186,
and 279-302; 1926, pp. 117--139, and 145-160; and 1931, pp. 149-165.
See also Duchesne, in the Annales du
Midi, vol. iv (1892), pp. 289-339; as well as his Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii,
pp. 104-117; and, finally, a very long article by H. Leclercq in DAC.,
vol. ix, cc. 1063-1167, which is equipped with a vast and almost
bewildering bibliography. The statements made in this article, however,
as Saltet has pointed out (L.c.
1931, pp. 163-165), are in some respects open to criticism. The saint
is referred to as "apostle" in a Winchester litany of the eleventh
century (Arundel MS. 60). See Analecta
Bollandiana, vol. lxiv (1946), pp. 84-86; and cf. H. M. Colvin, The White Canons in England (1951),
pp. 51-52.
|
Marytrs
of Rome The groups of Christians who perished during cruel
persecutions in the
Eternal City
Item Romæ sanctæ Æmiliánæ Mártyris In the same city, St. Aemiliana,
martyr; Ipso die sanctórum Mártyrum Caji
Presbyteri, et Leónis Subdiáconi. The same day, the saints Caius,
priest, and Leo, subdeacon.
A group of 262 martyrs; details of their
suffering are not extant.
Feastday: March 25 (date unknown) A second group of 262 martyrs buried
on the Via Salaria. Feastday: June 17 (d.c. 67) Forty-seven martyrs
baptized by St. Peter. They also suffered under Nero and they are
listed in early Acts. Feastday: March 14 (d. 68) Three Roman soldiers
converted by the profound and moving experience of witnessing St.
Paul’s martyrdom. For the crime of converting, they were condemned and
executed. Feastday: July 2 (d.c. 115) A group baptized by Pope St.
Alexander I. They were taken to Ostia and put on a vessel that was sent
out to sea and then deliberately sunk. Feastday: April 10 (d. 219) A
large group of martyrs slain under Emperor Severus Alexander and the
prefect Ulpian. Feastday: March 2 (d. 250) Ten soldiers of Rome
martyred on the Via Lavicana in Rome under Emperor Gallienus. Feastday:
February 10 (d. 260) Nine hundred martyrs buried in the catacombs
of Callistus on the Appian Way. Feastday: March 4 (d. 262) Forty Roman
soldiers who suffered on the Via Lavicana under Emperor Gallienus.
Feastday: January 13 (d. 269) Two hundred and sixty martyrs ordered to
dig sand on the Via Salaria by Emperor Diocletian before being shot to
death with arrows in a Roman arena. Feastday: March 1 (d. 269)
Forty-six soldiers and 121 Christian citizens martyred by the Roman
government under Emperor Claudius II Gothicus. Feastday: October 25 (d.
274) One hundred sixty-five martyrs who died in Rome. Feastday: August
10 (d. 303) Twenty-three martyrs who suffered on the Via Salaria.
Feastday: August 5 (d. 303) A group of thirty martyrs buried “between
the two laurels” on the Via Lavicana, martyred by Emperor Diocletian.
Feastday: December22 (d.c. 303) Many martyrs who suffered because they
refused to surrender the Scriptures to the Roman authorities. Feast
day: January 2 (d.c. 304) Thirty martyrs, all soldiers, who suffered
under Emperor Diocletian. |
Departure of
St.
Abba Noub the Confessor {Coptic}
On this day, the holy and pure father Abba Noub the confessor,
departed. This Saint was a devoted monk in one of the monasteries of
Upper Egypt. That was during the time of Diocletian, who tortured the
martyrs severely and shed their blood.
One day, someone mentioned the name of the saint Abba Noub before
Arianus, governor of Ansena. Arianus brought him and asked him to
worship the idols. The Saint replied, "How can I abandon my Lord Jesus
Christ and worship the idols that are made of stones?" Arianus tortured
Abba Noub much then exiled him to the five western cities (Pentapolis).
Abba Noub stayed in prison there for seven years, until God had
perished Diocletian. When the righteous Emperor Constantine reigned, he
ordered the release of all those who were in prison for the Name of
Christ. Constantine also asked that they be brought to him, so that he
might be blessed by them, especially the honored ones as Zacharia
El-Ahnasy, Maximus El-Fayyumy, Agabius from the city of Dakhnin, and
Abba Noub from the city of Balaos. The envoy of the Emperor went to all
the countries releasing the prisoners, who left singing and praising
God.
The holy father Abba Noub returned from the five cities (Pentapolis)
and lived in mount Beshla (Sebla) near his hometown. The envoy of the
Emperor met Abba Noub, and took him with him to Ansena. There he met
the Christians and the bishops who ordained him a priest. While he was
consecrating the Offering and as he said, "Hollies for the Holy," he
saw the Lord Christ, to Him is the Glory, in His heavenly splendor, in
the altar forgiving the sins of the people who were repentant.
The envoy traveled back to the Emperor along with the holy fathers who
were seventy two in number. Every two of them rode a chariot. They
passed by a city, where there were convents for the virgins. Seven
hundred virgins went out to meet them with songs and hymns and they
sang to them until they were out of their sight. When the holy fathers
arrived and came before the Emperor, he asked them to change their
clothes with new ones, but they refused. He was blessed by them, kissed
their wounds and honored them. He offered them money, but they refused
to take any except what the churches needed for vestments and vessels.
The Emperor then embraced them and bid them farewell, and they returned
to their countries. St. Abba Noub went back to his monastery and when
he finished his strife he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us
and Glory be to God forever. Amen .
|
623
Saint Bertrand Bishop ordained by Saint Germanicus. Archdeacon of Paris
he
became bishop of Le Mans, France, in 587. Bertrand was an avid
agriculturalist, interested in grape growing. He supported the
Neustrian kings and was exiled, but reinstated by King Clotaire II, in
609. Bertrand founded a church, a monastery, and a hospice.
ST BERTRAND, BISHOP OF LE MANS (A.D. 623)
ST BERTRAND (Bertichramnus) was born about the middle of the sixth
century, but exactly where is uncertain. Eventually he went to Paris,
where he received holy orders at the hands of St Germanus and became
one of his clergy. Bertrand was conspicuous in the bishop's cathedral
school, and had attained the position of archdeacon when, in 587, he
was nominated to the bishopric of Le Mans. He was to find his position
an uneasy one. At that period, when France was distracted by the rival
factions of the kings of Neustria and Austrasia, it was difficult for
any prominent person to avoid taking sides, and Bertrand, who was a
partisan of the Neustrian princes, shared their changing fortunes. Two
or three times he was driven from his diocese, the see on one occasion
being occupied by a usurper. In 605, however, he was finally reinstated
by King Clotaire II.
He proved a great benefactor to the Church and to the poor. A number of
estates were made over to him by landowners, and he used them for the
endowment of religious foundations, for the foundation of new ones, and
for the enrichment of the church of Le Mans. Agriculture was a subject
in which he was greatly interested. In the most enlightened and
practical way he insisted on the development of land which came under
his control. He was particularly concerned with the planting of
vineyards, and from a few vines which had been given him by his friend,
St Licinius of Angers, he propagated with success a particularly choice
kind of grape. Amongst his foundations were the abbey of SS. Peter and
Paul, a large hospice for travellers and pilgrims, and a church which
he dedicated to St Germanus. He received the pallium from Rome at the
request of King Clotaire, although he was not an archbishop. His death
took place in the year 623, when he was about seventy years of age.
Perhaps the most interesting memorial which is left of this saint is
the text of his will, which seems to be accepted as an authentic
document and which disposes of large landed possessions. It also
enables us to correct in some details the statements too carelessly
made by the chronicler who compiled the account of his episcopate.
A short biography is
preserved in the Actus Pontificum Cenomannensium, edited by Mabillon in
his Vetera Analecta, vol. iii, pp. 109-112. There is also an account of
St Bertichram in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i, under June 6. But by
far the most thorough study of his life and episcopate is that which
has been published by Ambrose Ledru in La Province du Maine, vol. xiv
(1906), pp. 369-383, and vol. xv (1907), pp. 20-26, 97-108, 122-134,
142-162, 227-236, 267-271.
|
| Saint Airick
Hermit companion of
Saint Godric. Airick was a noted recluse in
England. Saint Godric is recorded as being his friend and deathbed
companion. |
714
Saint Clotsindis Benedictine
abbess
also
called Clotsend and Glodesind. She was born circa 635, the daughter of Sts. Adalbald and Rictrudis.
Educated by her mother, the abbess of
Machiennes Abbey in Flanders, in Belgium and France, she became the abbess there
688. |
718 ST ERENTRUDE, VIRGIN St Rupert appealed particularly for
the aid of devoted men and women
to occupy religious houses in the new city of Salzburg, and
amongst those who responded to the call was his kinswoman, Erentrude,
or Erentrudis
WHEN St Rupert had been engaged for some years in the task
of preaching the gospel in Bavaria, he paid a visit to his native land,
which was in the diocese of Worms, in order to enlist fresh helpers. He
appealed particularly for the aid of devoted men and women, prepared to
occupy religious houses in the new city of Salzburg, and amongst those
who responded to the call was his kinswoman, Erentrude, or Erentrudis.
She was probably his niece, the daughter of his brother, but may
possibly have been his sister. For her and for the women who
accompanied her to Salzburg, or rallied round her after her arrival, he
erected a convent on a hill which is still known by the name of
Nonnberg. She governed the community as abbess, and by her instruction
and example trained them to great piety.
One day, shortly before St Rupert's death, Erentrude went to visit him
at his special request. After pledging her to secrecy, he told her that
he was about to die, and asked her to promise that she would continue
to intercede for him when he had departed. Overcome with emotion, she
besought him to pray that she might be taken first, and not be left
orphaned in a strange land. It was at his bidding, she reminded him,
that she had abandoned her own country. St Rupert replied with a gentle
reproof. The disposal of the end of our lives is in the hands of God,
he told her, and it is not right to wish to die before the appointed
time. She accepted the rebuke, and modified her petition. Would he at
least undertake to ask God, after his death, to allow her soon to
follow? This he promised to do. "When they had conversed for a long
time on the sweetness of eternal life, amid tears shed by both, they
sadly bade each other a last farewell." Erentrude's desire was granted.
One night, shortly after St Rupert's death, she was praying earnestly
for his soul, when he appeared to her and said, "Come, dear sister,
come to the kingdom you have so long been striving to reach." She fell
ill almost immediately, and the end came within a few days. She is
believed to have died on June 30, 718. Three hundred years later, her
convent and church, which had fallen into ruins, were rebuilt by the
Emperor St Henry, as a thank-offering for a cure which he attributed to
her intervention. St Erentrude's relics, which have been carefully
treasured through the centuries, now rest in the crypt of the church on
the Nonnberg.
There is a short Latin
biography printed by Mabillon, Acta
Sanctorum O.S.B., vol. iii, pp. 348-349. In some modern
reference books the name is mistakenly given as Ermentrude.
|
757
Saint Marcian Bishop of Pamplona, very close to Jaca
Saint Marcian reposed in
around
757 and is commemorated on 30 June. |
 10th v. The
Russian Church has preserved chronicles of the life of Queen Dinar, a
woman who achieved much on behalf of the Christian Faith.
For years scholars have disputed about the historical figure
discussed
in great depth in the Russian Church. Many believed that the sources
described Holy Queen Tamar, but the period of Tamar’s rule does not
match that of the figure described in the chronicles. The Georgian
chronicle Life of Kartli, however, has preserved information about a
certain Dinar, Queen of Hereti (southeastern Georgia), who, along with
her son Ishkhanik, converted Hereti to the Orthodox Faith and delivered
its people from the Monophysite heresy in the 10th century. Queen
Dinar’s story resembles that recounted in the Russian Chronicles more
closely than any other.
According to the Armenian historian Moses of Kalankaytuk,
Slavic tribes
that carried out incursions in the southernmost Caucasus often
journeyed through the Transcaucasus, and it was with these tribes that
the story of Queen Dinar made its way to Russia. The Georgian Church
renders great honor to Holy Queen Dinar. As a result of her zealous
labors and achievements, a large part of the eastern Transcaucasus was
saved from the Monophysite heresy that dominated the region.
Today, on the north wall of the Throne Hall in the Moscow
Kremlin,
there hangs an image of Holy Queen Dinar mounted on a white horse,
victorious over the enemy .
|
1066
Saint Theobald Camaldolese hermit and monk priest; sanctity attracted
many disciples,
Salánicæ, in território Vicentíno, sancti
Theobáldi, Presbyteri et Eremítæ, ex
Campániæ Gállicæ Comítibus; quem
Alexánder Papa Tértius, ob sanctitátis et
miraculórum famam, Sanctórum cánoni
adjúnxit.
At Salanica, in the district of Vicenza, St.
Theobald, priest and hermit, one of the counts of Champagne. He
was added to the number of the saints by Alexander III because of his
holiness and miracles.
ST THEOBALD, OR THIBAUD, OF PROVINS (A.D. 1066)
THIS Theobald was of the family of the counts of Champagne, son of
Count Arnoul, and was born at Provins in Brie in 1017. In his youth he
read the lives of the fathers of the desert, and was much struck by the
examples of self-denial, contemplation and Christian perfection which
were set before him: the lives of St John the Baptist, of St Paul the
Hermit, St Antony and St Arsenius in their wildernesses, charmed him,
and he greatly desired to imitate them. And when he was ordered to lead
a body of troops in the field, he represented so respectfully to Count
Arnoul the obligation of a vow by which he had bound himself to quit
the world, that he at length obtained his consent.
With another young nobleman, called Walter, he went to the abbey of St
Remi at Rheims, and thence they set out in the clothes of beggars.
First to Suxy in Ardenne, and then in the forest of Pettingen in
Luxemburg they found a convenient solitude for their purpose, and built
themselves there two little cells. Manual labour is a necessary duty of
an ascetic or penitential life, and not being skilled in the making of
mats or baskets or similar work, they went into the neighbouring
villages, and there hired themselves by the day to serve the masons, or
to work in the fields, to carry stones and mortar, to load and unload
wagons, to muck out the stables of the farmers, or to blow the bellows
and make charcoal for the forges. With their wages they bought coarse
bread, which was their whole subsistence. Whilst they worked with their
hands, their hearts were employed in prayer; and at night they watched
long, singing together the divine praises. The reputation of their
sanctity became a nuisance to them, so they resolved to leave a place
where they were no longer able to live in obscurity. They went on
pilgrimage, first to Compostela and then to Rome, and after they had
visited all the holy places in Italy, they chose for their retirement a
woody place called Salanigo, near Vicenza. Here, after two years, God
called Walter to Himself. Theobald looked upon this loss as a warning
that he had not long to live, and he redoubled his austerities. A
number of disciples gathered round him, and the bishop of Vicenza
promoted him to priest's orders, so that they might the more profit by
his direction.
His lineage and quality being discovered, his parents were informed
that their son was alive, and that the hermit of Salanigo, of whom such
stories of sanctity, prophecies and miracles were told, was he whose
absence had been the cause of so long a mourning; and, aged as they
were, they journeyed into Italy to see him. Gisela, the saint's mother,
obtained her husband's consent to finish her life near her son, who
made her a little hut at some distance from his own. St Theobald was
shortly after stricken with his last sickness: a painful and repulsive
disease which he bore with great patience. A little before his death he
sent for an abbot of the Camaldolese hermits from whose hands he had
already received the religious habit. To him he made his profession,
recommended his mother and his disciples, and, having received
viaticum, died in peace on the last day of June, 1066. He was canonized
within less than seven years by Pope Alexander II.
A full contemporary
biography by Peter, abbot of Vangadizza, has been printed by Mabillon,
and by the Bollandists in the Acta
Sanctorum, June, vol. vii. By some curious confusion Theobald
has been erroneously honoured as founder of the church and town of
Thann in Alsace. See the Analecta
Bollandiana, vol. xxiv (1905), p. 159; and R. Thompson, Two Old
French Poems on St Thibaut (1936). The saint is patron of
charcoal-burners, and is sometimes called “le Charbonnier."
Born in Provins, Brie, France, he was the son of Count Arnoul of
Champagne and was raised as a soldier.
From the age of eighteen, however, he abandoned the martial career of
the males of the family and, with his father's permission, became a
pilgrim and then a hermit at Pettingen, Luxembourg, with a companion
named Walter. After several years, he settled at Salanigo, near
Vicenza, Italy, where he was ordained a priest Other hermits
gathered
around him, and his fame reached his own family. His parents eventually
visited him, and his mother, Gisela, became a hermitess near his place
of retreat. Before his death, Theobald became a member of the
Camaldolese order. He was canonized in 1073 by Pope Alexander II (r.
1061-1073).
Theobald (Thibaud) of Provins, OSB Cam. Hermit (RM) +
Born at Provins, Brie, France, 1017; died Salanigo, Italy, on June 30,
1066; canonized by Pope Alexander II in 1073.
St. Theobald was the son of Count Arnoul of Champagne and raised to be
a soldier, but at age 18, filled with a desire for greater perfection
as a result of reading the lives of the saints, he decided that he
wanted to lead an ascetic life. He left the military, with his father's
permission, and after a time at St. Remy Abbey in Rheims, he and
another nobleman named Walter became hermits at Suxy, Ardennes. In
1135, they moved to Pettingen Forest in Luxembourg, where they worked
as masons and field hands during the day to earn their keep and spent
the night in prayer.
In search of greater solitude, they went on pilgrimage to Compostella
and Rome and then resumed their eremitical life at Salanigo near
Vicenza, Italy. Walter died two years later.
Theobald's sanctity attracted many disciples, and he was ordained and
became a Camaldolese. His fame spread and reached his parents, who came
to visit him. His mother became a hermitess nearby (Benedictines,
Delaney).
|
1139
Otto von Bamberg
Katholische und Evangelische
Kirche: 30. Juni
Otto von Mistelbach wurde um 1060 in Franken geboren.
Er wirkte als
Kaplan am Hof des polnischen Königs. 1101 wurde er von Heinrich
IV. zum Reichskanzler berufen und 1102 zum Bischof von Bamberg ernannt.
Hier förderte er die Prämonstratenser und Ziserzienser und
setzte sich für eine Reform der bestehenden Klöster ein. Aus
dem Kirchenvermögen und aus Schenkungen, die ihm der Kaiser
machte, konnte Otto mehr als 20 Klöster gründen oder
erneuern. Er ließ auch den Dom in Bamberg vollnden und viele
weitere Kirchen bauen.
Um 1120 bat der polnische Herzog Boleslaw Otto, in Pommern zu
missionieren. Alle bisherigen Missionsversuche waren erfolglos
geblieben, da die Pommern meinten, ein mächtiger Gott könne
keine armen Boten haben. Otto reiste 1124 mit
fürstbischöflichem Gepränge durch Pommern und errichtete
in kurzer Zeit zahlreiche Gemeinden, in denen er Priester
zurückließ. Er legte bei diesem Missionszug Wert auf den
Mitvollzug des Gottesdienstes und die Einhaltung christlicher Sitten.
Otto soll während dieses Missionszuges 20.000 Menschen getauft
haben.
Als die Missionsbemühungen Rückschläge erlitten, ging er
1128 noch einmal nach Pommern und erhielt von den Adligen des Landes
die Erlaubnis, daß das Evangelium gepredigt werde. Er sandte aus
seinem Bistum Mönche und Bauern nach Pommern, die das Land
geistlich und wirtschaftlich belebten. Otto starb am 30.6.1139 in
Bamberg. Sein Gedächtnis wurde in Pommern lange in Ehren gehalten.
Ott ist Mitpatron des Bistums Berlin; im Bistum Bamberg wird er am
30.9. gefeiert
|
1228 BD ARNULF OF VILLERS he had the gifts of miracles and of
prophecy; heroic mortifications
and penitential exercises he practised as a lay-brother in the
Cistercian abbey of Villers in Brabant
THE story of Bd Arnulf (Arnoul) Cornebout is mainly the
history of the heroic mortifications and penitential exercises he
practised as a lay-brother in the Cistercian abbey of Villers in
Brabant. Born of middle-class parents at Brussels about the year 1180,
he had grown up a careless, pleasure-loving youth, when a sudden
conversion completely transformed him. Every morning he rose betimes to
attend Mass, and if by a rare chance he overslept himself, he atoned
for his lapse by standing outside the church, however inclement the
weather might be. At the age of twenty-two he received the
lay-brother's habit at Villers. The desire for mortifications greater
than those prescribed led him, while still a novice, to gird himself
tightly with a horse-hair rope, which cut into his flesh, causing it to
become septic; but he humbly submitted to authority when it was pointed
out to him that nothing of the kind must be undertaken without
permission. After his probation was over and his virtue had been
tested, Abbot Charles and his successors recognized that Brother Arnulf
had a special vocation to penance, and they not only sanctioned his
austerities, but also relieved him of some of the manual work incumbent
on laybrothers, in order to allow him ample time for prayer.
Every day he scourged himself severely, now with rods, now with thorny
branches, now with a stick covered with a hedgehog's skin. Brothers
whose duties took them near the cell adjoining the fruit-barn which was
Arnulf's favourite retreat, asserted that, as each lash descended upon
his body he would ejaculate the name of a member of the community, or
of some outside person, on behalf of whom he was beseeching God's
mercy. He appeared never to weary of devising fresh forms of
discipline, but another side of his character was revealed in his love
for the poor. His greatest joy was to relieve them, and he wished he
could be sold as a slave to provide money to be spent in alms. An
anecdote is related by his fellow monk Goswin, who became his
biographer. On a certain occasion he had obtained permission from the
abbot to give away forty-two loaves to the poor. It became known to the
community, who cited him to appear before the abbot on a charge of
excessive prodigality. Anxious to screen his superior from adverse
criticism, Brother Arnulf refrained from referring the responsibility
to him, and took the whole blame on his own shoulders, apologized for
his fault, and asked for a punishment. It took the form of eleven days'
exile to an exterior cell situated between the two gates of the abbey.
He received the sentence with satisfaction, and congratulated himself
upon becoming a doorkeeper, like St Peter. (But why did not the abbot
“own up"?)
From the strain imposed upon his nervous system by his austerities,
Arnulf developed in his later years symptoms of chorea, or St Vitus's
Dance. He would laugh and dance while scourging himself and sometimes
would laugh hysterically in church-scandalizing the young novices who
did not know him and were not aware that he had the gifts of miracles
and of prophecy. He died on June 30, 1228, and in 1269 his relics were
enshrined, at the same time as those of Bd Juliana of Cornillon and
others.
All that we know of Bd
Arnulf seems to be derived from the life by Goswin de Bossut, who was
also a Cistercian at Villers and a contemporary. His biography is
printed in the Acta Sanctorum,
June, vol. vii. A second notice forms part of the Gesta sanctorum Villariensium, for
which see Pertz, MGH., Scriptores,
vol. xxv, p. 234.
|
1290 Saint Peter,
Prince of the Horde, nephew of Bergai Khan of the Golden Horde
distinguished himself with a love for silence, contemplation, and
prayer. After a miraculous appearance to him of the Apostles Peter and
Paul he built a monastery near Lake Nera in their honor embraced
monasticism at the monastery
In the year 1253 St Cyril, Bishop of Rostov (May 21), went
to the Horde
to petition for church needs in his diocese and he told the khan about
the Christian Faith, and of the miracles and healings worked by the
relics of St Leontius of Rostov (May 23). Among the retinue was the
young nephew of the khan, upon whom the holy bishop made a very strong
impression. After some length of time the son of Bergai fell ill.
Remembering the account of the Russian bishop about the healings, he
summoned St Cyril, and through his prayers the sick one was healed. The
khan richly rewarded St Cyril and sent him off to his diocese.
Along the way the lad, the nephew of Bergai Khan, overtook
the holy
hierarch, and entreated him to take him along to Rostov. At Rostov the
boy was baptized with the name Peter, and he married. St Peter
distinguished himself with a love for silence, contemplation, and
prayer. After a miraculous appearance to him of the Apostles Peter and
Paul he built a monastery near Lake Nera in their honor. After the
death of his wife, shortly before his own death in 1290, the saint
embraced monasticism at the monastery he had founded.
Local veneration of the holy
Prince Peter began in the 14th century. A general celebration was
established at Council of 1547
|
1315 Bl. Raymond
Lull 5 Christ Visions one of the military leaders who reconquered
Majorca from the Moslems
Raymond was the son of one of the military leaders who reconquered
Majorca from the Moslems. He was born at Palma, Majorca. He entered the
service of King James I of
Aragon, was appointed grand
senechal by James and in 1257 married Blanca Picany.
Despite his marriage and two children, he led a dissolute life, but
changed his lifestyle in 1263 when
he had a vision
of Christ while writing to a woman with whom he was having an
affair, followed
by five
more visions. After pilgrimages to Compostela and
Rocamadour, he became a Franciscan tertiary, provided for his family,
gave the rest of his wealth to the poor, and determined to devote the
rest of his life to converting the Mohammedans. He spent the next nine
years learning all he could of Moslem philosophy, religion, and
culture, and learning Arabic. He founded the short-lived Trinity
College on Majorca in 1276 to put into effect his idea of a missionary
college, visited Rome in 1277 to enlist the Pope's support, went to
Paris in 1286, and in 1290 joined the Friars Minor at Genoa. After a
serious illness, he went to Tunis in 1292, began preaching, but was
almost immediately forcibly deported by the Moors. Further appeals to
Popes Boniface VIII and Clement V for aid in his mission to the
Mohammedans were fruitless, as was a visit to Cypress. After lecturing
at Paris on Arabic metaphysics for a time, he was successful in getting
to Bougie in Barbary in 1306 but was again imprisoned and deported. He
continued his appeals for aid to the Pope and to the Council Vienne in
1311 but with no success, resumed lecturing at Paris, and again return
to Bougie in 1315. This time he was stoned and left for dead but was
rescued by the Genoese sailors and died on board ship near Majorca on
September 29th. He wrote voluminously - more than 300 treatises (many
in Arabic) on philosophy, music, navigation, law, astronomy,
mathematics, and theology, chief among his writings being Arbre de
philosophia de armor. He also wrote mystical poetry of the
highest
order and is considered the forerunner of Teresa of Avila and John of
the Cross; his Blanquera is the first novel written in Catalan. His
cult was confirmed in 1858 by Pope Pius IX. |
1646
Bl. Philip Powell Benedictine English martyr spent two decades in the
area of
Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall before being arrested served as
a chaplain in the Civil War
BD PHILIP POWELL, MARTYR (A.D. 1646)
BD PHILIP POWELL was born at Trallwng, near Brecon, in 1594 and
received his education at the grammar school of Abergavenny. At the age
of sixteen he was sent to London to study law under the distinguished
lawyer who was afterwards to become still more famous as Father
Augustine Baker, the Benedictine writer and director of souls. Between
two and three years later Powell had occasion to go to Douai to
transact some business, and there he himself became attracted to the
Benedictines. In 1619 he received the habit in the monastery of St
Gregory at Douai, and on March 7, 1622, he was sent on the English
mission. As a precaution against spies it was customary in penal times
for English seminarists and missionary priests to bear an alias, and
Father Powell throughout his later career was usually known by his
mother's name of Morgan. After staying for sixteen months with Father
Baker he proceeded to Devonshire with an introduction to a Catholic
family. For the next twenty years or more he laboured as a priest,
administering the sacraments, reconciling the lapsed and converting
heretics in the counties of Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. During that
time he made his headquarters first with his original host, Mr Risdon,
at Bableigh, and then with the family of Mr Risdon's daughter, Mrs
Poyntz, at Leighland Barton in Somersetshire.
The outbreak of the Civil War scattered the two households. Father
Powell, after some vicissitudes, joined General Goring and served as
chaplain to the Catholics in his army until it was disbanded. He was on
his way to Wales when the vessel in which he was sailing was boarded
and searched by an officer of the Parliamentarian vice-admiral in those
seas, Captain Crowther. Two members of the crew recognized Father
Powell and denounced him as a Catholic priest who had, as they
declared, "seduced the greater part of the parishioners of Yarnscombe
and Parkham, in Devonshire, from their allegiance to the Protestant
Church". When Captain Crowther questioned him, off Penarth, he frankly
admitted that he was a priest. Thereupon he was consigned to the lower
deck, where the sailors stripped him of his upper garments and dressed
him in dirty rags. Two months later he was conveyed by sea to London.
He was confined for a short time under fairly humane conditions; but in
the common gaol of the King's Bench prison, to which he was afterwards
transferred, he suffered much and contracted pleurisy. Two or three
times he was brought up before the King's Bench to be examined and
tried on a charge based entirely on his own admission that he was a
Catholic priest.
In an able and spirited defence he contended that the law against
priests did not extend to the high seas, that when his Majesty's flag
is flying in civil war all trials of life and death cease, and that the
king's person being absent no plot could be executed by anyone against
it. But when the verdict was given against him and he was condemned to
death he gave thanks to God in the presence of the whole court. His
personality and his conduct in prison had so impressed his fellow
captives that they drew up a kind of testimonial or memorandum of his
virtues. It was signed by twenty-three Protestants and by six
Catholics, whom he had reconciled in the gaol. The officials themselves
seem to have regarded him with favour. The man who came to announce the
date of his execution was too much overcome to be able to read the
notice, but Father Powell, looking over his shoulder, prompted him and
then called for a glass of sack in which to drink his health: "Oh what
am I", he cried, "that God thus honours me and will have me to die for
His sake?" In the course of a short address on the scaffold he said
that it was the happiest day of his life and that he was suffering for
no other reason than that he was a priest and a monk. After a short
prayer he made a sign and received absolution from a priest, Dom Robert
Anderton, in the crowd. He was then strung up. He was allowed to hang
until he was dead and his body was buried in the churchyard at
Moorfields. One of his brethren bought his bloodstained clothes for
£4.
There is a full account in
Bede Camm, Nine Martyr Monks
(1931), pp. 318-343; and see Challoner, MMP., pp. 474-481; and T. P.
Ellis, Catholic Martyrs of Wales
(1933), pp. 100-102, and Welsh
Benedictines of the Terror (1936), pp. 166-179.
Born 1594 in the Gwent district, southeast
Wales, or at Tralon, England, he was educated in London and then
entered the Benedictines in Douni in 1614. Ordained in 1621, he was
sent to assist the English mission and spent two decades in the area of
Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall before being arrested. He also served as
a chaplain in the Civil War. Philip was executed at Tyburn by being
hanged, drawn, and quartered; he was beatified in 1929. |
Saint
Ostianus French saint. He was a priest in some uncertain year and is
still
venerated at Viviers
In território Vivariénsi, in Gálliis, sancti
Ostiáni, Presbyteri et Confessóris.
In the territory of Vivers, St. Ostian, priest and
confessor.
|
 Saint Gelasius igumen of
the Rimet Monastery in
Transylvania
He lived as a solitary near Rimet creek, and he was
granted the grace of working miracles.
The saint fasted on weekdays, eating only on Saturdays and Sundays, and
his only food was the Eucharist. During the day he fulfilled his
monastic obediences, and at night he kept vigil.
St Gelasius was the spiritual Father of many hermits of Rimet Mountain,
whom he would visit during Great Lent. He healed the sick, and cast out
demons from those who were possessed. It is said that a spring of water
appeared through his holy prayers.
His later years were spent as a bishop, and he departed to the Lord
after many labors on behalf of his flock.
St Gelasius was glorified by the Orthodox Church of Romania in 1992.
|
1770 The Martyr
Michael the Gardener suffered under the Turks for confessing the
Christian faith at Athens
|
 1771 Saint
Sophronius, Bishop of Irkutsk and All Siberia relics were seen to be
incorrupt, and a source of grace-filled miracles
He reposed on March 30, 1771, the second day of Holy Pascha. While they
awaited a decision of the Holy Synod concerning the burial, his body
remained unburied for six months, and during this time it was not
subject to decay. Then, in view of this circumstance, and also knowing
about the strict ascetic life of St Sophronius, the flock began to
venerate him as a saint of God. Frequently (in 1833, 1854, 1870, 1909)
his relics were seen to be incorrupt, and a source of grace-filled
miracles. A fire occurring on April 18, 1917 at the Theophany Cathedral
at Irkutsk left only the bones of the holy bishop. This did not
diminish, but on the contrary, it increased the reverent veneration of
the saint by the faithful of the nation. A local Council of the Russian
Orthodox Church in its deliberations of April 10/23, 1918 decided to
glorify Bishop Sophronius, numbering him among the holy saints of God.
This solemnity of adding St Sophronius to the list of the saints was
done on June 30. At a second session of this Council under the
presidency of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon (now St Tikhon) a Service
to St Sophronius was approved, with a Troparion composed by Archbishop
John, who at that time guided the Irkutsk diocese, so that all
believers would have the possibility of adding prayer to the holy saint
into the voice of the Siberian churches, deeply venerating the memory
of their illuminator and intercessor. And at the present time believers
turn for help to St Sophronius. Prayers witness to this, having been
composed on the day of the 40th year celebration of the glorification
of the holy hierarch on July 13,1958, by Metropolitan Nestor
(Anisimov), then Metropolitan of Novosibirsk and Barnaulsk, and a
solemn feast of the 200 year anniversary of the day of death of St
Sophronius took place at the Zolotonoshsk Krasnogorsk women's monastery
and in the Irkutsk diocese (Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1971,
No. 9), and he is venerated by all believers of the Russian Orthodox
Church.
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1838
Saint Vincent Yen Dominican
native
Vietnamese martyr
Entered Dominicans in 1808; worked
as missionary in the country. Seized in anti-Christian
persecutions; he was beheaded after spending six
years in hiding. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.
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Mary Mother of GOD
Saint of the Day June 30 Prídie Kaléndas
Júlii
The Holy Apostle Peter
The Holy Apostle Paul
(June 29) SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net
Among the most important titles we have in
the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory
and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of
the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom.
The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our
Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for
the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope
Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City
praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing
the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in
using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require
spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had
its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.