 Romæ
sanctórum
Mártyrum ducentórum sexagínta, quos jussit primo
Cláudius, pro Christi nómine damnátos, extra
portam Saláriam arénam fódere, deínde in
amphitheátro sagíttis mílitum intérfici.
At Rome, two hundred and sixty holy martyrs condemned for the name of
Christ. Claudius ordered them to dig sand beyond the Salarian
Gate, then to have soldiers in the amphitheatre shoot them with arrows.
|
Item
natális sanctórum Mártyrum Leónis,
Donáti, Abundántii, Nicéphori et aliórum
novem.
Also, the birthday of the holy martyrs
Leo, Donatus, Abundantius, Nicephorus, and nine others.
|
 Heliópoli, apud
Líbanum, sanctæ Eudóciæ Mártyris,
quæ, in persecutióne Trajáni, a Theódoto
Epíscopo baptizáta et ad certámen muníta,
ibídem, Vincéntii Præsidis jussu percússa
gládio, martyrii corónam accépit.
At Heliopolis, St. Eudocia, martyr in
the persecution of Trajan. She was baptized by Bishop Theodotus,
and being fortified for the combat, was put to the sword at the command
of Vincent the governor, and thus received the crown of martyrdom.
|
290 St. Hermes
and
Adrian Martyrs with 24 companions
Massíliæ, in Gállia, sanctórum
Mártyrum Hermétis et Hadriáni.
At Marseilles in France, the holy
martyrs Hermes and Adrian.
probably the Massylitan
martyrs praised by St.
Augustine. They suffered in Massylis, or Marula, in Numidia.
|
300 St. Lupercus
Martyred bishop near Lourdes
venerated at Tarbes, near Lourdes, France. He was French or possibly
Spanish and is also listed as Luperculus.
|
 Eódem die sanctæ
Antonínæ Mártyris, quæ in persecutióne
Diocletiáni, cum Gentílium deos irrisísset,
ídeo, post vários cruciátus, in vase quodam
inclúsa, in palúdem urbis Ceæ demérsa est.
On the same day, St. Antonina,
martyr. For deriding the gods of the heathen, in the persecution
of Diocletian, she was, after various torments, shut up in a cask and
drowned in a marsh near the city of Cea.
|
 492
ST. FELIX III Pope helped to get the Church in Africa on its
feet
Romæ natális sancti Felícis Papæ
Tértii, qui sancti Gregórii Magni átavus fuit; qui
étiam (ut ipse Gregórius refert), sanctæ
Tharsíllæ nepti appárens, illam ad
cæléstia regna vocávit.
At Rome, the birthday of Pope St. Felix
III, ancestor of St. Gregory the Great, who relates of him that he
appeared to St. Tharsilla, his niece, and called her to the kingdom of
heaven.
<>492 ST FELIX II
(III), POPE 483 - 492
ACCORDING to the
Roman Martyrology this Pope Felix was an ancestor
(great-great-grandfather) of
Pope St Gregory the Great it recalls Gregory’s statement that when his
aunt, St
Tharsilla, lay dying, Felix appeared in vision and summoned her to
Heaven. The
martyrology Calls him Felix III, through the long-standing but
erroneous
numeration of the antipope Felix as Pope St Felix II (see July 29).
<>Little Certain is known
about him personally, but he was a straightforward, Courageous Roman of
the
type of Leo I, and he has his place in general church history in
connection
with the monophysite troubles. In 482 the Emperor Zero published a
document
called the Henotikon, which had been
devised by the patriarch of Constantinople, Acacius, to placate the
dissenting
monophysites by ignoring the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon. Two
years
later St Felix held a synod at the Lateran and excommunicated Acacius
and his
supporters for a betrayal of the Catholic faith. St Felix thus appears
in the
common role of the Roman pontiffs as an upholder of an oecumenical
council
against the secular power, while much of the East meekly accepted the
emperor’s
“line”. But the resulting “Acacian schism”
unhappily lasted for thirty-five years, and helped to pave the way for
the
eventual separation of the Byzantine church.
In the
west, Felix helped in the restoration of the
African church after its long persecution by the Arian Vandals. He died
in 492
after a pontificate of nearly nine years, and his feast is kept in
Rome.
St. Felix II has the extraordinary distinction of being not
only a pope
and saint himself, but the great-grandfather of another pope and saint,
Gregory the Great. Felix had been married, but his wife had died before
he became a priest. He was a member of an old Roman family of
senatorial rank.
No sooner was he elected pope than Felix faced the vexing problem posed
by Emperor Zeno's ill-considered attempt to unify the East by
compromise. One of the evils which result from politicians meddling in
church matters is the tendency to make a deal. And that is just what
Zeno did. Alarmed by the hold that the Monophysites had on Egypt and
Syria, Zeno issued his famous Henoticon (act of union) and ordered all
to subscribe to it. This Henoticon was a creed drawn up by Acacius, the
hitherto orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, and Peter, the
Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria. It was orthodox in what it said,
but implicitly it condoned the Monophysite heresy by omitting the
decision of the Council of Chalcedon and the letter of Pope Leo to
Flavian. Like so many compromises it pleased few. The more ardent
Monophysites refused to follow their leader, Peter, and Pope Felix
denounced it. With true spiritual independence, he warned the Emperor
not to interfere in theological matters and "to allow the Catholic
Church to govern itself by its own laws."
Pope Felix sent legates to Constantinople to summon Acacius to Rome,
but to his dismay the Pope discovered that his legates had approved the
election of the Monophysite Peter as patriarch of Alexandria and had
communicated with heretics--in short, had sold him out. Felix held a
synod at Rome in 484 at which he excommunicated the untrustworthy
legates. He also excommunicated Acacius, but the patriarch remained
stubborn. Thus started the Acacian schism in which Constantinople was
officially separated from the Roman Church over the Henoticon. Even
after Acacius died, the schism dragged on until the next century.
In the last years of this pontificate Theodoric led his Ostrogoths into
Italy to defeat Odovakar and take over the rule of Italy--all in the
name of Emperor Zeno. Though an Arian, Theodoric treated the Church
well. It was different in Africa, where in the early years of his reign
Felix heard anguished cries for help from the hapless Catholics.
Hunneric, the Arian Vandal, ruthlessly harried the poor African
Catholics. Pope Felix got Emperor Zeno to bring his influence to bear
on the fierce Vandal, but this accomplished little. After Hunneric
died, the persecution slackened, and the Pope then helped to get the
Church in Africa on its feet. He followed the usual papal policy of
mildness towards weak brethren who had given way in the storm.
Pope St. Felix died March
1, 492. He is buried in St. Paul's on the Ostian Way.
See Duchesne's edition
of
the Liber pontificalis, vol. i, pp. 252-253;
DCB.,
vol. ii, pp. 482-485, s.v. Felix III; and works of
general
ecclesiastical history.
|
 549
St.
Herculaflus
Bishop of Perugia, Italy marthred by Ostrogoths
Perúsiæ Translátio sancti Herculáni,
Epíscopi et Mártyris, qui jussu Tótilæ,
Gothórum Regis, decollátus est. Ipsíus autem
corpus ita cápiti unítum atque sanum, quadragésimo
post abscissiónem die (ut scribit sanctus Gregórius
Papa), repértum est, ac si nulla ferri incísio illud
tetigísset.
At Perugia, the transferral of the body
of St. Herculanus, bishop and martyr, who was beheaded by order of
Totila, king of the Goths. Forty days after the decapitation,
Pope St. Gregory relates that the head had been rejoined to the body as
if it had never been touched by the sword.
beheaded by King Totila of the Ostrogoths. He
is probably the same
Herculanus sent to Perugia from Syria to evangelize the region |
 550 St Albinus, Or Aubin, Bishop Of
Angers many miracles attributed
during his life but more particularly after
his death
Andégavi,
in Gállia, sancti Albíni, Epíscopi et
Confessóris, viri præclaríssimæ
virtútis et sanctitátis.
At Angers in France, St. Albinus, bishop
and confessor, a man of most eminent virtue and piety.
THE great popularity of St Aubin appears to be due, not so
much to his career, which presents no remarkable features, as to the
many miracles attributed to him not only during his life but more
particularly after his death. His cultus spread over France, Italy,
Spain, Germany and even to distant Poland, and he became the titular
patron of an immense number of French parishes. Born in the diocese of
Vannes in Brittany, the saint belonged to a family said to have
originally come from England or Ireland. While still young he entered
the monastery of Tincillac, about which little is known, and there he
led a life of great devotion. At the age of about thirty-five he was
elected abbot, and, under his rule, the house flourished exceedingly
and became a garden of virtues. Consequently, when the see of Angers
fell vacant in 529 the clergy and citizens of Angers turned their eyes
to Aubin. Greatly against his will, but much to the joy of the bishop
of Rennes, St Melanius, he was appointed bishop of Angers and proved
himself a capable and enlightened pastor.
St Aubin preached daily, and whilst always generous. to the
sick and needy he was specially concerned with helping poor widows who
were struggling to bring up large families. The ransoming of slaves was
another good work very dear to his heart, and he spent large sums of
money in buying back prisoners who had been carried off in the numerous
raids of the barbarians. Tradition says that one of these captives was
ransomed, not from the pirates, but from King Childebert himself. This
was a lovely girl called Etheria upon whom the monarch had cast eyes.
He caused her to be carried off from her home and imprisoned in a
fortress. As soon as this came to the ears of the bishop, he went to
the castle to demand her release, and such was the respect he inspired
that the guards delivered her up at once. The legend adds that one
soldier tried to detain the maiden and used threats and violence, but
St Aubin breathed upon him and he fell down dead. The king made no
further attempt to recapture the girl, but was undignified enough to
demand a ransom which, we are told, was paid by the saint. Whether or
not there is any truth in the story, it is certain that King Childebert
had a great veneration for the bishop, but in other quarters he was
very unpopular because of the energy with which he enforced the decrees
of the Councils of Orleans in 538 and 541 against incestuous marriages.
St Aubin was credited with very many miracles. Besides
numerous cases of the healing of the sick and the restoration of sight
to the blind, we read of a youth called Alabald who was raised from the
dead by his intercession. Once, after he had pleaded in vain with a
judge to release some criminals, a great stone fell during the night
from the prison wall and thus enabled the prisoners to regain their
liberty. They immediately came to seek the saint and assured him that
they would in future lead reformed lives.
The
principal
source
for the life of St AIbinus is a short biography by Venantius
Fortunatus, the
most critical text of which is to be found in MGH., Auctores
antiquissimi, vol.
iv, “opera pedestria”, pp.
27-33. His name is entered in the “Hieronymianum”, and St
Gregory of Tours refers to the cultus paid
to him. See Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, pp.
347-349, 353-354;
DHG., vol. v. cc. 254-255 ; and the Acta Sanctorum, March,
vol. i.
Born to a noble family of Brittany. Pious child. Monk from
his mid-20's into his 60's at Timcillac, which later renamed itself
Saint Aubin's in honor of him. Abbot for 25 years, beginning in 504.
Bishop of Angers c.529. His episcopacy was known for his charity to the
poor, widows and orphans, for his ransoming of slaves from their
owners, his personal holiness, and the miracles he worked.
Custom of the day permitted consanguinity marriage. Albinus decried
this as incest, and fought against it, making enemies in many powerful
families who practiced it. Called councils at Orleans in 538 and 541,
which condemned this and other morals offenses.
Legend says that when he visited Etheria, a woman imprisoned by
King Childebert for bad debts, the woman threw herself at Albinus'
feet, and pled for help. A guard made a move to strike her, but Albinus
breathed in the man's face, and he fell dead. Etheria was soon released.
Another time Albinus passed a prison tower in Angers, and heard
the cries and moans of badly treated prisoners. He pled with the local
magistrate for their release, but was refused. He returned to the tower
and prayed in front of it; after several hours, a landslide brought
down part of the tower, the prisoners escaped, followed Albinus to the
church of Saint Maurichies, reformed their ways, and became model
citizens and Christians.
The abbey of Saint Aubin in Angers was erected in his
memory. Born: 469 at Vannes, Brittany, France Died: 1 March
549 of natural causes; relics at the Cathedral of Saint Germanus in
Paris Canonized: Pre-Congregation
|
589 ? St.
David of
Wales missionary priest monk; dove lift him high above the people
David is the patron saint of Wales and perhaps the most
famous of
British saints. Ironically, we have little reliable information about
him. It is known that he became a priest, engaged in 589 ? St.
David of Wales David, cousin of Cadoc and pupil of Illtyd.
David is the patron saint of Wales and perhaps the most
famous of
British saints.
It is known he engaged in missionary work
and founded many monasteries, including his principal abbey in
southwestern Wales. Many stories and legends sprang up about David and
his Welsh monks. Their austerity was extreme. They worked in silence
without the help of animals to till the soil. Their food was limited to
bread, vegetables and water.
St. David is pictured
standing on a mound with a dove on his
shoulder.
The legend is that once while he was preaching a dove descended to his
shoulder and the earth rose to lift him high above the people so that
he could be heard. Over 50 churches in South Wales were dedicated to
him in pre-Reformation days.
Comment: Were we
restricted to hard manual labor and a
diet of
bread, vegetables and water, most of us would find little reason to
rejoice. Yet joy is what David urged on his brothers as he lay dying.
Perhaps he could say that to them—and to us—because he lived in and
nurtured a constant awareness of God’s nearness. For, as someone once
said, “Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.” May his
intercession bless us with the same awareness, work and founded many
monasteries, including his principal abbey in southwestern Wales.
In about the year 550, David attended a synod where his
eloquence
impressed his fellow monks to such a degree that he was elected primate
of the region. The episcopal see was moved to Mynyw, where he had his
monastery (now called St. David's). He ruled his diocese until he had
reached a very old age. His last words to his monks and subjects were:
"Be joyful, brothers and sisters. Keep your faith, and do the little
things that you have seen and heard with me."
St. David According to
tradition was the son of King Sant of South
Wales and St. Non. He was ordained a priest and later studied under St. Paulinus. He was involved in
missionary work and founded a number of monasteries. The monastery he
founded at Menevia in Southwestern Wales was noted for extreme
asceticism. David and his monks drank neither wine nor beer - only
water - while putting in a full day of heavy manual labor and intense
study.
Around the year 550, David attended a synod at Brevi in
Cardiganshire.
His contributions at the synod are said to have been the major cause
for his election as primate of the Cambrian Church. He was reportedly
consecrated archbishop by the patriarch of Jerusalem while on a visit
to the Holy Land. He also is said to have invoked a council that ended
the last vestiges of Pelagianism. David died at his monastery in
Menevia around the year 589, and his cult was approved in 1120 by Pope
Callistus II. He is revered as the patron of Wales. Undoubtedly, St.
David was endowed with substantial qualities of spiritual leadership.
What is more, many monasteries flourished as a result of his leadership
and good example. His staunch adherence to monastic piety bespeaks a
fine example for modern Christians seeking order and form in their
prayer life.
David of Wales B (AC) also known as Dewi 5th or 6th century.
There is
no certainty about the date though we know that St. David was a real
personage, son of King Sant, a prince of Cardigan in far western Wales.
All the information we have about him is based on the unreliable 11th
century biography written by Rhygyfarch, the son of Bishop Sulien of
St. David's. Rhygyfarch's main purpose was to uphold the claim of the
Welsh bishopric to be independent of Canterbury, so little reliance can
be placed on the document.
David, who may have been born at Henfynw in Cardigan, lived
during the
golden age of Celtic Christianity when saints were plentiful, many of
them of noble rank--kings, princes, and chieftain--who lived the
monastic life, built oratories and churches, and preached the Gospel.
Saint Cadoc founded
the
great monastery of Llancarfan. Saint
Illtyd turned from the life of a soldier to that of a mystic and
established the abbey of Llantwit, where tradition links his name to
that of Sir Galahad. But greatest among them was David, cousin of Cadoc
and pupil of Illtyd, who was educated in the White House of Carmarathen
and who founded the monastery of Menevia in the place that now bears
his name.
According to his biography, David became a priest, studied
under Saint
Paulinus, the disciple of Saint Germanus of Auxerre, on an unidentified
island for several years. He then engaged in missionary activities,
founded 12 monasteries from Croyland to Pembrokeshire, the last of
which, at Mynyw (Menevia) in southwestern Wales, was known for the
extreme asceticism of its rule, which was based on that of the Egyptian
monks.
Here in this lovely and lonely outpost he gathered his
followers. The
Rule was strict, with but one daily meal, frequent fasts, and hours of
unbroken silence. Their days were filled with hard manual labor and no
plough was permitted in the work of the fields. "Every man his own ox,"
said St. David. Nor did David exempt himself from the same rigorous
discipline: he drank nothing but water and so came to be known as David
the Waterman; and long after vespers, when the last of his monks had
retired to bed, he prayed on alone through the night.
We are told that he was of
a lovable and happy disposition, and an
attractive and persuasive preacher. It was perhaps his mother, the
saintly Non, who had nurtured him carefully in the Christian faith,
that he owed so many of his own fine qualities. It was not surprising,
therefore, that when the time came for the appointment of a new
archbishop of Wales the choice fell upon him.
At Brevi, in Cardiganshire, a great synod had been convened
about 550,
attended by a thousand members, but David, who kept aloof from temporal
concerns, remained in his retreat at Menevia. The synod, however,
insisted on sending for him. So great was the crowd and so intense the
excitement that the voice of the aged and retiring archbishop Saint
Dubricius could hardly be heard when he named David as his successor.
David, who at first refused, came forward reluctantly, but when he
spoke his voice was like a silver trumpet, and all could hear and were
deeply moved; and in that hour of his succession a white dove was seen
to settle upon his shoulders as if it were a sign of God's grace and
blessing.
Without any facts to support the event, it is said that
David was
consecrated archbishop by the patriarch of Jerusalem while on
pilgrimage to the Holy Land. But he loved Menevia and could not bring
himself to leave it for Caerleon, the seat of the archbishopric, which
he transferred to his own monastery by the wild headlands of the
western sea, and which to this day is known by his name and remains a
place of pilgrimage.
Again according to unsubstantiated legend, David convened a
council,
called the Synod of Victory, because it marked the final demise of
Pelagianism, ratified the edicts of Brevi, and drew up regulations for
the British Church.
"He opened," we are told, "many fountains in dry places, and
across the
centuries his words spoken in the hour of death still reach us:
"Brothers and sisters, be joyful and keep your faith."
He died at Menevia and his cultus was reputedly approved by
Pope
Callistus II about 1120. Even his birth and death dates are uncertain,
ranging from c. 454 to 520 for the former and from 560 to 601 for the
latter (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Gill, Wade- Evans).
In art, St. David is a Celtic bishop with long hair and a
beard, and a
dove perched on his shoulder. He may be shown preaching on a hill, or
holding his cathedral. He is the patron saint of Wales and especially
venerated in Pembrokeshire (Roeder). No one seems to have a
satisfactory explanation regarding the association of leeks with St.
David's Day as in Shakespeare's Henry V, IV, 1 (Attwater).
589 ST DAVID, OR DEWI, BISHOP IN MYNYW, PATRON OF WALES
IT is certainly unfortunate that we have no early history of St David
(as we anglicize his name Dewi), the patron of Wales and perhaps the
most celebrated of British saints. All the accounts preserved to us are
based on the biography written about 1090 by Rhygyfarch (Ricemarch),
son of Bishop Sulien of Saint Davids. Rhygyfarch was a learned man and
his claim to have drawn on old written sources is probably justified;
but he was concerned to uphold the fabulous primacy of the see of Saint
Davids and he appears incapable of distinguishing historical facts from
the wildest fables.
According to the legend David was the son of Sant, of princely family
in Ceredigion, and of St Non (March 3), grand-daughter of Brychan of
Brecknock ; and he was born perhaps about the year 520. "The place
where holy David was educated ", says Rhygyfarch, "was called Vetus
Rubus [Henfynyw in Cardigan] and he grew up full of grace and lovely to
behold. And there it was that holy David learnt the alphabet, the
psalms, the lessons for the whole year and the divine office; and there
his fellow disciples saw a dove with a golden beak playing at his lips
and teaching him to sing the praise of God." Ordained priest in due
course, he afterwards retired to study for several years under the
Welsh St Paulinus, who lived on an island, which has not been
identified. He is said to have restored sight to his master, who had
become blind through much weeping. Upon emerging from the monastery,
David seems to have embarked upon a period of great activity, the
details of which, however, are at least for the most part pure
invention. To quote again from his biographer: "He founded twelve
monasteries to the glory of God: first, upon arriving at Glastonbury,
he built a church there; then he came to Bath, and there, causing
deadly water to become healing by a blessing, he endowed it with
perpetual heat, rendering it fit for people to bathe in; afterwards he
came to Croyland and to Repton; then to Colfan and Glascwm, and he had
with him a two-headed altar; after that he founded the monastery of
Leominster. Afterwards, in the region of Gwent, in a place that is
called Raglan, he built a church; then he founded a monastery in a
place which is called Llangyfelach in the region of Gower." Finally,
and here we are on surer ground, he settled in the extreme southwest
corner of Wales, at Mynyw (Menevia), with a number of disciples and
founded the principal of his many abbeys.
The community lived a life of extreme austerity. Hard manual labour was
obligatory for all, and they were allowed no cattle to relieve them in
tilling the ground. They might never speak without necessity, and they
never ceased praying mentally, even when at work. Their food was bread,
with vegetables and salt, and they drank only water, sometimes mingled
with a little milk. For this reason ancient tradition begun upon an
honourable respect", but no adequate explanation of the usage is
forthcoming. There is no mention of leeks in St David's life. Pope
Callistus II is said to have approved the cult of St David about the
year 1120 and to have granted an indulgence to those who should visit
his shrine-" two visits to Menevia being reckoned equal to one visit to
Rome" -but this is doubtful. There can, however, be no question that he
was a highly popular saint in his own country. More than fifty
pre-Reformation churches in South Wales are known to have been
dedicated in his honour. Moreover, even in England, Archbishop Arundel
in 1398 ordered his feast to be kept in every church throughout the
province of Canterbury. His feast is now observed in Wales and in the
dioceses of Westminster and Portsmouth.
The earliest surviving
mention of St David's name occurs in the Catalogue of Saints of
Ireland (c. 730?) and
in the Martyrology of Oengus (c. 800), but no details are added. The text of Rhygyfarch's
Life has been accurately edited by A. W. Wade-Evans in Y Cymmrodor,
vol.
xxiv, and the same scholar has published a translation in English,
abundantly
annotated, together with some other relevant documents, in the Life
of St
David (1923); the
Latin text is printed also in his Vitae
Sanctorum Britanniae (1944). The
adaptation of Rhygyfarch by Giraldus Cambrensis may be found in vol.
iii of his
works in the Rolls Series. See also LBS., vol. ii, pp. 285-32; J. E.
Lloyd, History of Wales (1939), vol. i, pp. 152-159; S. M. Harris, St David in the Liturgy (1940); J. Barrett
Davies in Blackfriars, vol. xxix (1948),
pp. 121-126. For
David's influence on the Irish church, see J. Ryan, Irish
Monasticism (1931), pp.
113-114, 160-164 and
passim; and on the alleged
canonization, Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlix (1931), pp. 211-213.
An
extremely full bibliography of all materials relating to St David has
been
published by Wyndham Morgan in connection with the Cardiff Public
Library. See
also the very beautiful volume printed at the Gregynog.Press in 1927, Ernest Rhys, The Life of St
David; and
Diana Latham, The Story of St David (1952).
|
St. Monan
martyred monk at St. Andrew's under St. Adrian
Monan worked as a missionary in the Firth of Forth area in Scotland
until he and a large number of Christians were murdered by marauding
Danes.
|
 713 St Swithbert
(Suidbert) was 1 of a band of 12 missionaries who, headed by St
Willibrord, started in 690 evangelize Friesland
Apud civitátem Werdam sancti Suitbérti
Epíscopi, qui, témpore sancti Sérgii Papæ
Primi, apud Frísones, Bátavos et álios
Germániæ pópulos Evangélium
prædicávit.
At Kaiserswerdt, Bishop St. Swidbert,
who, in the time of Pope Sergius, preached the Gospel among the
Frisians, Batavians, and other Germanic peoples.
713 ST SWITHBERT, BISHOP
ST
SWITHBERT (Suidbert) was one of a band of twelve
missionaries who, headed by St Willibrord, started in 690 to evangelize
the
pagans of Friesland. A Northumbrian
by birth, and brought up as a monk near the Scottish border, Swithbert,
like so
many other Englishmen of his period, had crossed over to Ireland in
search of
higher perfection. Here he had come under the direction and influence
of St
Egbert, who, though long consumed with zeal for the conversion of Lower
Germany, had been restrained by divine command when he prepared a ship
and was
on the point of embarking in person. His place had then been taken by
his
disciple and devoted friend St Wigbert, but the mission was a complete
failure,
and after labouring for two years Wigbert returned home. Egbert,
however,
refused to be discouraged and never slackened in his appeal for
volunteers,
until he succeeded in collecting and training this second mission which
he
despatched. By this time the conditions had become much more
favourable. The
missionaries landed at the mouth of the Rhine and, according to Alcuin,
made
their way as far as Utrecht, where they set to work to preach and to
teach.
Swithbert
laboured
mainly in Hither Friesland, which comprised the southern part of
Holland, the
northern portion of Brabant and the provinces of Guelderland and
Cleves. His
efforts were successful and multitudes were converted to the faith by
his
eloquence and zeal. His fellow labourers pressed him to obtain
consecration
that he might the better preside over his converts, and he returned to
England
for that purpose and also probably to collect more workers. There in
693 he was
consecrated regionary bishop by St Wilfrid who, banished from his own
see of
York, was preaching the faith in Mercia. Bede tells us that this took
place at
the time when the see of Canterbury was still vacant after the death of
St Theodore,
and doubtless St Swithbert was well known to St Wilfrid, who hailed
from his
own country of Northumbria. The newly appointed bishop then returned to
his
flock, but did not long remain with them-possibly because Pepin of
Herstal was
not satisfied at his election, but more likely simply to extend the
missionary
field. After settling the churches he had founded, he left them in the
care of
St Willibrord and his companions and penetrated further into the
country, up
the right bank of the Rhine, where he converted to the faith a
considerable
number of the Boructuari, who inhabited the district between the Ems
and the
Lippe. A few years later, however, the Saxons invaded the country,
which they
devastated and occupied, and the saint, finding his work undone,
withdrew into
Frankish territory where he resolved to retire from the world and
prepare his
soul for death. Pepin, at the request of his wife Plectrudis, bestowed
upon him
a small island in the Rhine where he built a monastery which flourished
for
many years. Round this monastery grew up the town of Kaiserswerth, six
miles
north of Dusseldorf, but it is now united to the mainland, a channel of
the
Rhine having changed its course.
St
Swithbert died in
his abbey about the year 713, and has ever since been held in great
veneration
in Holland and the other places where he laboured. He is joint patron
of St
Peter's, Kaiserswerth, where his relics, which were found in 1626 in a
silver
shrine, are still preserved and honoured. Many miracles were ascribed
to him
and he is appealed to as a patron against angina. He is sometimes
spoken of as
St Swithbert the Elder, to distinguish him from St Swithbert the
Younger,
Bishop of Werden, with whom he was formerly often confused. One very
interesting memorial of St Swithbert which still survives is a
manuscript of
Livy now preserved in Vienna. This codex of fifth-century date seems to
have
belonged to him, for it bears his name and he is described in
it as bishop of Dorostat, now Wijk-bij-Duurstede on the Rhine.
The
principal source for the life of St Swithbert is Bede's Ecclesiastical
History (bk v, chs. 1)-11) with Plummer's notes, but see also
Alcuin, De
Sanctis Ebor. (v, 1073, in Jaffe's edition). The life by
Marcellinus,
printed in Surius, is a shameless fabrication. A panegyric and hymn by
Radbod,
Bishop of Utrecht, may be consulted in Migne, PL., vol. cxxxii, cc.
547-559. Cf. also the
Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i, and
Bouterwek, Der
Apostel des Bergischen Landes; BHL., 7939-7942; Van der Essen, Étude
sur
les saints mérovingiens, pp. 428.seq.; and W.
Levison, England
and the Continent .. (1946), pp. 57-58
|
900 St. Leo Luke
Basilian monastery Abbot of Corleone
on Sicily. He spent eight decades as a monk.
|
977
St. Rudesind
Benedictine abbot; bishop; performing miracles
listed also as Rosendo. Born in Galicia, Spain, in 907 to a noble family, he
was appointed bishop of Mondonedo at the age of eighteen and against
his personal wishes. Soon after, he was given the duty of replacing the
dissolute bishop of Compostela, his cousin Sisnand. He distinguished
himselfwith his military skills by leading armies in the field against
invading Norsemen and Moors. When Sisnand escaped from imprisonment, he
drove Rudesind from his office as bishop under threat of murder.
Rudesind retired to the monastery of St. John Caveiro which he had
built, and founded the abbey of Celanova at Villar, where he lived as a
monk. He built several other monastic communities, installing in each
strict observance of the Benedictine rule. Elected abbot of Celanova to
succeed the first abbot, Franquila, he became a leading figure of his
time, receiving visits from Church leaders throughout Portugal who
sought his spiritual advice. A relative of St. Senorina, Rudesind earned a
reputation for performing miracles. He died at Celanova and was
canonized in 1195
977 St Rudesind, or Rosendo, Bishop of
Dumium
St Rudesind, or San Rosendo as he is called by his Spanish fellow
countrymen, came of a noble Galician family. According to his
biographer, Brother Stephen of Celanova, his mother was praying in St
Saviour's church on Mount Cordoba when the birth of this son was
divinely foretold to her. Rudesind grew up a serious and saintly youth,
and when the see of Dumium (now Mondofledo) fell vacant, the people
demanded that he should be appointed. In vain did he plead that he was
only eighteen and quite unsuitable: they insisted, and eventually he
had to accept consecration. As a bishop he was a great contrast to his
cousin Sisnand, Bishop of Compostela, who neglected his duties and
spent all his time in sports and dissipation. This caused such scandal
that King Sancho put him in prison, and requested Rudesind to take over
the diocese, which he did very reluctantly. On one occasion, when King
Sancho was away, the Northmen descended upon Galicia, whilst at the
same time the Moors invaded Portugal. Bishop Rudesind gathered together
an army and, with the battle-cry, “Some put their trust in chariots
and some in horses, but we will call on the name of the Lord”,
he led
his men first against the Northmen whom he drove back to their ships,
and then against the Moors whom he forced to retire into their own
territories.
But at the death of King Sancho in 967 Sisnand
broke out of prison and
on Christmas night attacked Rudesind, whom he threatened with death
unless he Vacated the see. The holy man made no resistance and retired
into the monastery of St John of Caveiro which he had founded, and here
he remained until he was instructed in a vision to build another abbey
in a place that would be shown him. To his joy he found the place of
his dream at Villar-a valley owned by his forefathers-“full
of springs
and streams and suitable for flowers, grain and herbs, as well as for
fruit trees”. Here he began to build and in eight
years he completed
the monastery, which he called Celanova. Over it he placed a saintly
monk named Franquila, under whose obedience he chose to serve. With the
help of this abbot he continued to build more monasteries as well as to
enforce in those already founded a stricter observance of the Rule of
St Benedict. After the death of Franquila, he was elected abbot, and so
great was his influence that bishops and abbots came to him for advice
and instruction and other religious houses placed themselves under his
jurisdiction.
Many miracles are related by his biographer
Stephen as having been
wrought through St Rudesind-demoniacs and epileptics were healed, the
blind cured, stolen property restored and captives liberated; and he
prefaces his catalogue with a simple little personal experience of his
own. “When I was at a tender age”,
he says, “my parents delivered me
over to study letters. In order to escape from the toil of study and
also from canings (which are the common lot of boys) I used to hide in
the woods. As I could not be made amenable, even when I was securely
tied up, my master, moved by a divine inspiration, went to the tomb of
St Rudesind, lit a candle and prayed that if I were destined by the
Just Judge for the order of the clergy, He would constrain me by the
bonds of His virtue and would open my heart to learn. After this I
became more docile, as I have often heard him say, and not so very long
afterwards I received the religious habit in that very monastery.”
St
Rudesind was canonized in 1195.
It
is not certain whether the life attributed to the monk Stephen was
really
written by him, and in any case he lived nearly two centuries after the
saint
he commemorates. By far the greater part of the documents printed in
the
Bollandist Acta
Sanctorum are
taken up with the miracles after Rudesind's death. Much obscurity
envelops his
connection with the two sees, Dumium and Compostela, and whether he did
not
retire to Celanova before he was called away to take his cousin's
place. See A.
Lopez y Carballeira, San Rosendo (1909); and Gams, Kirchengeschichte
Spaniens, vol. ii, pt 2,
pp. 405-406. In Antony de
Yepes, Coronica
General de la Orden de San Benito, vol. v,
pp. 14-16, is printed a Spanish translation
of the bulls of beatification and canonization of San Rosendo. Ano Cristiano, by Justo
Perez de Urbel (5
vols., 1933-1935) is useful for this and other Spanish saints, but it
makes no
claim to be a critical work.
|
1367 Bd Roger Le Fort,
Archbishop Of Bourges immediately
after death tomb a place of pilgrimage many miracles worked.
Roger Le For finds recognition in the Bollandist Acta
Sanctorum on this day, though his cult has never been formally
approved. He is said to have owed his elevation to the bishopric of
Orleans to a jest. On the day of the election he had been criticizing
the unseemly eagerness of the canons in pushing their claims without
any thought of the responsibilities and difficulties involved in such a
dignity. In mock earnest he said to one of those who were entering the
chapter-house, " I hope the electors will think of me on the present
occasion, for I too should like to be a bishop!" The canon, taking the
words seriously, informed the rest, and the whole gathering acclaimed
the name of the new candidate. The presiding prelate then rose and
said, " Brethren, Heaven and earth are witnesses that you have made
choice of Messire Roger for your bishop. Concurring as I do with your
judgement, I declare that he upon whom your votes have fallen is the
preordained pontiff of this city, for he is a man of eminent sanctity
and wisdom. Assuredly this is the decision of the Holy Spirit, whom we
cannot resist without guilt." Thereupon Roger was unanimously elected.
It was in vain that he protested that he had only spoken in jest and
that he had neither the desire nor the ability to undertake such a
charge: the voice of the people came to ratify the choice of the
clergy, and he was compelled to submit. On his entry into Orleans at
his consecration an ancient custom was revived and all the prisoners in
the city prison were released.
Roger was afterwards translated to Limoges, and in 1343 he
became archbishop of Bourges. He is perhaps best remembered in
connection with the feast of the Conception of our Lady, which he
established in his diocese and which he did much to popularize. When he
died, at the age of ninety, it was found that he had left all his
possessions to enable poor boys to receive a good education. The
archbishop's unsullied reputation and piety had caused him to be
greatly venerated during his life, and immediately after his death his
tomb became a place of pilgrimage where many miracles were said to be
worked.
See
the Acta
Sanctorum, March,
vol. i,
and
Cochard, Saints
de
l'É glise
d'Orléans, pp.
487-495.
|
1375 BD
BONAVITA A
BLACKSMITH by trade and a Franciscan
tertiary
Bd Bonavita lived and died in the little town of Lugo,
fourteen miles
west of Ravenna. It is recorded of him that whether walking or sitting,
at work or at leisure, indoors or out of doors, he was liable to become
so rapt in contemplation as to be oblivious to all that was round about
him. He had the true Franciscan spirit, and when one bitter winter's
day he found a poor wretch half frozen outside the church he stripped
and gave the man his own clothes. The little urchins of the town
pursued the nearly naked blacksmith with abuse and stones, but he
reached home unhurt and unperturbed. Upon another beggar he bestowed
his newly-mended shoes, and he made it his regular practice not only to
feed the hungry, but to visit the prison and to help bury the dead.
A disastrous fire broke out which destroyed many of the
houses in Lugo,
but although nearly the whole population turned out in the hope of
arresting its progress, Bonavita appears not even to have noticed it.
When his attention was at last aroused he proceeded to the spot where
the conflagration was raging, and as soon as he made the sign of the
cross the fire was totally extinguished. We are told that through the
same holy sign he also wrought many other wonders, but it must be
admitted that the evidence for these marvels is not very satisfactory.
The cult of this good tertiary seems never to have been formally
approved.
See
the Acta Sanctorum, March,
vol. i, where the details given are derived mainly
from Wadding, Annales,
s.a, 1375.
|
1484 Bd Christopher
Of Milan the apostle of Liguria great success in evangelizing that part
of Italy, Dominican endowed with the gift of prophecy
Bd Christopher who is called the apostle of Liguria because
of his great success in evangelizing that part of Italy, received the
Dominican
habit at Milan, early in the fifteenth century. Soon after his
ordination he
began to be known as a great preacher, and his fame afterwards spread
far and
wide. His biographers record that his sermons, which brought about
conversions
and improvement of morals wherever he went, were always based on the
Bible, the
theology of St Thomas and the writings of the fathers, and that he
denounced
those preachers who, in their attempts to be popular and up-to-date,
aired
new-fangled notions and scorned to preach on the gospel for the day.
Like a
true missionary he wandered fearlessly and untiringly over dangerous
passes and
difficult country in his labours for souls. At Taggia, where he was
particularly successful, the grateful inhabitants built Father
Christopher a
church and a monastery of which he became prior. He was endowed with
the gift
of prophecy. One day, as he was watching the people of Castellano
dancing in
the square, he exclaimed, ."You are now dancing merrily, but your ruin
is
nigh and your joy will be changed into sorrow" -a forecast which was
fulfilled a few years later when the plague carried off most of the
inhabitants. He also foresaw the destruction of Trioria by the French,
and he
warned the population of Taggia that they would flee from their city
though not
pursued, and that their river would leave its banks and destroy their
gardens-prophecies which came true in every particular. When his last
illness
came upon him, he was preaching the Lent at Pigna. He had himself
carried to
his beloved Taggia and there breathed his last. His cult was confirmed
in 1875.
See L.
Brétaudeau, Un Martyr de la Revolution á Vanne, (1908) M.
Misermont, Le
bx P. R. Rogue (1937), and the
decrees in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol.
xxi (1929), pp. 564—567, and
vol. xxvi (1934), pp. 304-308
and 292—296, which include a biographical summary.
|
|
1796 Bd Peter Rene Roque,
Martyr ordained 1782
professor of theology in his native town Vannes
refused the Constitutional Oath On
being sentenced to death, Father Roque
fell on his knees and gave fervent thanks to God guillotined on March
1, 1796
This devoted Breton priest was born at Vannes in 1758. After
his studies in the seminary of that city he was ordained in 1782, and
for a
while became chaplain to the Dames de la Retraite; but four years later
he made
his way to Paris to join the Lazarists, or Congregation of the Mission
of St
Vincent de Paul.
Even before his noviceship was completed he was sent
to act as
professor of theology in his native town, and there when the Revolution
broke
out he showed the utmost heroism in devoting himself to every form of
apostolic
work. He refused to take the Constitutional Oath which was tendered him
and for
some time lived disguised and in hiding. In the end, having been
betrayed by
some miscreant, he was arrested by the revolutionaries; but even
confinement in
gaol did not put an end to his activities, for he found means to write
in
defence of religion and to render numberless services, both bodily and
spiritual, to his fellow-prisoners. On being sentenced to death, Father
Roque
fell on his knees and gave fervent thanks to God. He was guillotined on
March
1, 1796, and as soon as peace was restored to the Church an episcopal
process
was begun with a view to his beatification. This came about in 1934,
and in the
same year his remains were enshrined in Vannes cathedral.
See L. Brétaudeau, Un Martyr
de la Revolution à Vannes (1908); M. Misermont, Le
bx P. R. Rogue (1937), and the
decrees in the Acta
Apostolicae Sedis, vol. xxi
(1929), pp. 564-567, and vol. xxvi (1934), pp. 304-308 and 292-296,
which
include a biographical summary.
|
Saints of this Day March 01 Kaléndis Mártii.
492 ST. FELIX III
Pope helped to get the Church in
Africa on its
feet
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.