1727 Sir Isaac Newton
died MARCH 20, devoted more time to the study of Scripture than to science
In A Short Scheme of the True Religion, Sir Isaac Newton wrote:
He wrote one of the most important
scientific books ever, Principia, 1687, in which he stated: “This
most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed
from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being...“All variety
of created objects which represent order and life in the universe could
happen only by the willful reasoning of its original Creator, whom I
call the Lord God.”
Sir Isaac Newton devoted more time to the study of Scripture
than to science:
“I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God,
written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.”
In Optics, 1704, Newton wrote: “God in the beginning formed
matter.”
Captivated by Bible prophecy, Sir Isaac Newton wrote, Observations
on the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (published
in 1733), in which he wrote:
“Daniel was in the greatest credit amongst
the Jews...And to reject his prophecies, is to reject the Christian religion.
For this religion is founded upon his prophecy
concerning the Messiah.”
Newton concluded his introductory chapter: “Daniel is
most distinct in order of time, and easiest to be understood, and therefore
in those things which relate to the last times, he must be made the
key to the rest.”
Regarding the Bible, Newton wrote: “The system of revealed
truth which this Book contains is like that of the universe, concealed
from common observation yet the labors of centuries has established
its Divine origin.”
Newton was a discoverer of calculus. He described universal
gravitation, the three laws of motion, and built one of the first practical
reflecting telescopes. Using a prism, Newton demonstrated that a beam
of light contained all the colors of the rainbow. Sir Isaac Newton was
the president of the Royal Society from 1703 till his death.
“Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never
had many professors.”
With his mother widowed twice, he was raised by his grandmother
before being sent off to grammar school and later Cambridge.
Get the book, MIRACLES in American History-32 Amazing Stories
of Answered Prayer
|
meditation_during_the_Great_Fast
“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites,
with a sad countenance.
For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to
men to be fasting.
Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your
face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your
Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret
will reward you openly.”
Matthew 6:16-18
|
In Judǽa natális
sancti Jóachim, patris immaculátæ Vírginis
Genitrícis Dei Maríæ, Confessóris.
Ipsíus tamen festum agitur décimo séptimo Kaléndas
Septémbris.
In Judea,
St. Joachim, the father of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of
God. His feast day is on the 16th of August.
|
1st v. St. Archippus
Bishop and companion of St. Paul
In Asia
item natális sancti Archíppi, qui beáti Pauli
Apóstoli éxstitit commílito, et cujus ipse
in Epístola ad Philémonem et ad Colossénses
méminit.
In Asia, the birthday of St. Archippus, fellow-labourer of the apostle
St. Paul, who is mentioned by him in his epistles to Philemon and the
Colossians.
who called him "my fellow soldier." Archippus is believed
to have been the first bishop of Colossne.
Archippus of Colossi (RM) 1st century. Traditionally,
Saint Archippus is considered the first bishop of Colossae. Saint
Paul calls Archippus 'my fellow- soldier' (Philem. 2) and admonished
him, "Remember the service that the Lord wants you to do and try to
carry it out" (Col. 4:17) (Benedictines, Delaney).
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66 The Holy Martyr
Photina (Svetlana) the Samaritan Woman, her sons Victor (named Photinus)
and Joses; and her sisters Anatola, Phota, Photis, Paraskeva,
Kyriake; Nero's daughter Domnina; and the Martyr Sebastian.
Eódem die sanctórum Photínæ
Samaritánæ, Joseph et Victóris filiórum,
itémque Sebastiáni Ducis, Anatólii, Phótii,
Phótidis, Parascéves et Cyríacæ germanárum;
qui omnes, Christum conféssi, martyrium sunt assecúti.
On the same day, the Saints Photina, a Samaritan, and her sons
Joseph and Victor; also, Sebastian, a military officer, Anatolius,
and Photius; Photides, Parasceves, and Cyriaca, sisters, all of whom
were put to death for the confession of the faith
Saint_Photius
According
to Greek tradition, Photiona was the Samaritan woman with whom Jesus
spoke at the well as was recounted in the Gospel of St. John, chapter
four. Deeply moved by the experience, she took to preaching the Gospel,
received imprisonment, and was finally martyred at Carthage.
Another tradition states that Photina was put to death in Rome after
converting the daughter of Emperor Nero and one hundred of her servants.
She supposedly died in Rome with her sons Joseph and Victor, along with
several other Christians, including Sebastian, Photius, Parasceve, Photis,
Cyriaca, and Victor. They were perhaps included in the Roman Martyrology
by Cardinal Cesare Baronius owing to the widely held view that the head
of Photina was preserved in the church of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.
Photina & Companions MM (RM). Greek
legend identifies Photina as the Samaritan woman of Sychar--the
woman at the well--with whom Jesus speaks in the Gospel of Saint John
(chapter 4). After telling her neighbors about Jesus, she continued
to preach the Gospel, was imprisoned for three years, and died for
her faith at Carthage. According to another legend she and her sons,
Joseph and Victor, as well as Sebastian, Anatolius, Photius, Photis,
Parasceve, and Cyriaca, were all martyred in Rome under Nero. Photina
also reputedly converted Emperor Nero's daughter Domnina and 100 of
her servants to Christianity before suffering martyrdom. Baronius
may have placed them in the Roman Martyrology because he believed that
the head of Saint Photina was preserved at Saint Paul's-Outside-the
Walls (Attwater2, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
The monk Michael of Saint Athos Monastery created a picture
of Saint Photini, as has Mario Sironi in Christ and the Samaritan
Woman.
The Holy Martyr Photina
(Svetlana) the Samaritan Woman, her sons Victor (named Photinus)
and Joses; and her sisters Anatola, Phota, Photis, Paraskeva, Kyriake;
Nero's daughter Domnina; and the Martyr Sebastian: The holy Martyr
Photina was the Samaritan Woman, with whom the Savior conversed at Jacob's
Well (John. 4:5-42).
During the time of the emperor Nero
(54-68), who displayed excessive cruelty against Christians, St
Photina lived in Carthage with her younger son Joses and fearlessly
preached the Gospel there. Her eldest son Victor fought bravely in
the Roman army against barbarians, and was appointed military commander
in the city of Attalia (Asia Minor). Later, Nero called him to Italy
to arrest and punish Christians.
Sebastian, an official in Italy, said
to St Victor, "I know that you, your mother and your brother, are
followers of Christ. As a friend I advise you to submit to the will
of the emperor. If you inform on any Christians, you will receive their
wealth. I shall write to your mother and brother, asking them not to
preach Christ in public. Let them practice their faith in secret."
St Victor replied, "I want to be a preacher
of Christianity like my mother and brother." Sebastian said, "O
Victor, we all know what woes await you, your mother and brother."
Then Sebastian suddenly felt a sharp pain in his eyes. He was dumbfounded,
and his face was somber.
For three days he lay there blind, without
uttering a word. On the fourth day he declared, "The God of the Christians
is the only true God." St Victor asked why Sebastian had suddenly
changed his mind. Sebastian replied, "Because Christ is calling me." Soon
he was baptized, and immediately regained his sight. St Sebastian's servants,
after witnessing the miracle, were also baptized.
Reports of this reached Nero, and he
commanded that the Christians be brought to him at Rome. Then the
Lord Himself appeared to the confessors and said, "Fear not, for I
am with you. Nero, and all who serve him, will be vanquished." The Lord
said to St Victor, "From this day forward, your name will be Photinus,
because through you, many will be enlightened and will believe in Me."
The Lord then told the Christians to strengthen and encourage St Sebastian
to peresevere until the end.
All these things, and even future events,
were revealed to St Photina. She left Carthage in the company of
several Christians and joined the confessors in Rome.
At Rome the emperor ordered
the saints to be brought before him and he asked them whether they
truly believed in Christ. All the confessors refused to renounce the
Savior. Then the emperor gave orders to smash the martyrs' finger joints.
During the torments, the confessors felt no pain, and their hands remained
unharmed.
Nero ordered that Sts Sebastian, Photinus
and Joses be blinded and locked up in prison, and St Photina and
her five sisters Anatola, Phota, Photis, Paraskeva and Kyriake were
sent to the imperial court under the supervision of Nero's daughter
Domnina. St Photina converted both Domnina and all her servants to
Christ. She also converted a sorcerer, who had brought her poisoned
food to kill her.
Three years passed, and Nero sent to
the prison for one of his servants, who had been locked up. The messengers
reported to him that Sts Sebastian, Photinus and Joses, who had been
blinded, had completely recovered, and that people were visiting them
to hear their preaching, and indeed the whole prison had been transformed
into a bright and fragrant place where God was glorified.
Nero then gave orders to crucify the
saints, and to beat their naked bodies with straps. On the fourth
day the emperor sent servants to see whether the martyrs were still alive.
But, approaching the place of the tortures, the servants fell blind.
An angel of the Lord freed the martyrs from their crosses and healed
them. The saints took pity on the blinded servants, and restored their
sight by their prayers to the Lord. Those who were healed came to believe
in Christ and were soon baptized.
In an impotent rage Nero gave orders
to flay the skin from St Photina and to throw the martyr down a well.
Sebastian, Photinus and Joses had their legs cut off, and they were
thrown to dogs, and then had their skin flayed off. The sisters of St
Photina also suffered terrible torments. Nero gave orders to cut off
their breasts and then to flay their skin. An expert in cruelty, the emperor
readied the fiercest execution for St Photis: they tied her by the feet
to the tops of two bent-over trees. When the ropes were cut the trees sprang
upright and tore the martyr apart. The emperor ordered the others beheaded.
St Photina was removed from the well and locked up in prison for twenty
days.
After this Nero had her brought to him
and asked if she would now relent and offer sacrifice to the idols.
St Photina spit in the face of the emperor, and laughing at him, said,
"O most impious of the blind, you profligate and stupid man! Do you
think me so deluded that I would consent to renounce my Lord Christ
and instead offer sacrifice to idols as blind as you?"
Hearing such words, Nero gave orders
to again throw the martyr down the well, where she surrendered her
soul to God (+ ca. 66). On the Greek Calendar, St
Photina is commemorated on February 26.
PHOTINA AND HER
COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
ACCORDING to the Roman
Martyrology, “Photina the Samaritan woman, Joseph and Victor her
sons, the army officer Sebastian, Anatolius, Photius, the sisters
Photis, Parasceve and Cyriaca, all confessed Christ and attained martyrdom”.
The story which is preserved by the Greeks is purely legendary. It
asserts that Photina was the Samaritan woman whom our Lord talked
with at the well. After preaching the gospel in various places she
went to Carthage, where she died after suffering three years’ imprisonment
for the faith. St Victor, an officer in the imperial army, was made
governor in Gaul and converted St Sebastian. The martyrs were brought
to Rome, where some of them were burned over a slow fire and then flayed,
whilst the rest were beheaded after being horribly tortured. A Spanish
legend states that St Photina converted and baptized Domnina (who was Nero’s
daughter) with one hundred of her servants.
See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii, and
Delehaye, Synax. Constant., cc. 549—552. It is
difficult to understand how Baronius could have included this entry
in the Roman Martyrology. He seems in his notes to suggest that this
commemoration had come to Rome by way of the monks of Monte Cassino.
The story, however, in its divergent forms had wide currency in the
East, and there was a Syrian convent of St Photina on Mount Sion at
Jerusalem. Cf. the
Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxviii,
pp. 197 and 406.
|
St. Paul and Companions
Seven martyrs in Syria including Cyril and Eugene.
In
Syria sanctórum Mártyrum Pauli, Cyrílli, Eugénii
et aliórum quátuor.
In Syria, the holy martyrs
Paul, Cyril, Eugene, and four others.
put to death during the Roman persecutions. They were
martyred in Syria, although almost nothing else is known of them.
|
Eódem die sanctórum Photínæ
Samaritánæ, Joseph et Victóris filiórum,
itémque Sebastiáni Ducis, Anatólii, Phótii,
Phótidis, Parascéves et Cyríacæ germanárum;
qui omnes, Christum conféssi, martyrium sunt assecúti.
On the same day, the Saints Photina, a Samaritan, and her sons
Joseph and Victor; also, Sebastian, a military officer, Anatolius,
and Photius; Photides, Parasceves, and Cyriaca, sisters, all of whom
were put to death for the confession of the faith. |
Saint_Claudia
300
St. Alexandra and Companions martyred in Amisus in Paphlagonia
(on the coastal region of the Black Sea)
Amísi, in Paphlagónia, sanctárum
septem mulíerum, scílicet Alexándræ, Cláudiæ,
Euphrásiæ, Matrónæ, Juliánæ,
Euphémiæ et Theodósiæ; quæ in fidei
confessióne sunt cæsæ, eásque secútæ
sunt Derphúta et soror ipsíus.
At Amisus in Paphlagonia, seven holy women, Alexandria,
Claudia, Euphrasia, Matrona, Juliana, Euphemia, and Theodosia, who
were put to death for the confession of the faith. They were
followed by Dephuta and her sister.
Christian women, Alexandra, Claudia,
Euphrasia, Matrona, Juliana, Euphemia, Theodosia, Derphuta, and her
sister, Saint_Kyriake, martyred in Amisus in Paphlagonia.
Saint_Kyriake
The women were burned to death in the
persecution of Emperor Diocletian.
Alexandra, Caldia & Comps. MM (RM)
Alexandra, Caldia, Euphrasia,
Matrona, Juliana, Euphemia, Theodosia, Derphuta, and a sister of
Derphuta were all Christian women of Amisus, Paphlagonia, burned to
death under Diocletian (Benedictines).
The Holy Virgin Martyrs Alexandra, Claudia, Euphrasia,
Matrona, Juliania, Euphemia and Theodosia were arrested in the city
of Amisa (on the coastal region of the Black Sea) during the persecution
against Christians under the emperor Maximian Galerius (305-311).
Under interrogation they confessed their faith and were subjected
to cruel tortures for this. The malefactors scourged and beat them
with rods, and cut off their breasts. After this, they were suspended
and torn with sharp hooks. Finally, the holy virgins were burned alive
in a red-hot oven (+ 310).
|
Apollóniæ sancti Nicétæ
Epíscopi, qui, pro sanctárum Imáginum cultu
ejéctus in exsílium, illic réddidit spíritum.
At Apollonia, Bishop
St. Nicetas, who died in exile where he had been sent for upholding
the veneration of sacred images.
|
420 St. Urbitius
Bishop of Metz France evangelizer
One of the evangelizers in the region, he was a patron
of monastic expansion who built a church in honor of St. Francis of Nola, which became St.
Clement Monastery.
Urbitius of Metz B (AC). As bishop of Metz, Saint Urbitius
built a church in honor of Saint Felix of Nola, which became the
abbey church of the monastery of Saint Clement (Benedictines).
|
572 St. Tetricus
Bishop of Langres uncle of St. Gregory of Tours
He was the uncle of St. Gregory
of Tours and the son of St. Gregory,
bishop of Langres. Tetricus succeeded to the see upon his father's
passing, a custom in that era.
Tetricus of Langres B (AC) Son of Bishop
Saint Gregory of Langres and uncle of Saint Gregory of Tours, Tetricus
succeeded his father in the see of Langres about 540. Beyond this geneological
information, nothing is known of him. Venantius Fortunatus wrote
a poem in his honor (Attwater2, Benedictines). |
580
St. Martin of Braga Bishop outstanding scholars of his age
evangelized Spain pagans and Arian Suevians
the converter of an Arian King of the
Visigoths in Spain. Born in Pannonia, along the Danube, he made
a pilgrimage to Palestine and then settled in Spain. Regarded as one
of the outstanding scholars of his age, he converted many Arians, built
Dumium Monastery, and then became bishop of Braga and metropolitan of
Galicia. Several of his treatises, including Formula Vitae Honestae
and De Correctione Rusticorum (On the Reform of Rustics) ,
are extant. He died at Dumium.
579 ST MARTIN, ARCHBISHOP
OF BRAGA
ST MARTIN OF BRAGA is
said by St Gregory of Tours to have surpassed in learning all
the scholars of his age, and the Christian poet Fortunatus described
him as having inherited the merits as well as the name of St Martin
of Tours. His early history is uncertain. The story that he was a
native of Pannonia is possibly the mistake of some scribe who confused
him with St Martin of Tours. He is said to have made a pilgrimage to Palestine,
and it was perhaps with returning pilgrims that he made his way to Galicia
in Spain. There the Suevi held the mastery and had propagated Arian doctrines.
St Martin, however, by his earnest preaching brought Galicia back to
the Catholic Church. He began by converting and instructing King Theodomir,
and subsequently reconciled many other Arians and lapsed Catholics. He
built several monasteries, the principal among which, Dumium, served him
as a centre for his missionary efforts.
The Suevian monarchs
out of regard for him made Dumium the seat of a bishopric (now
Mondoñedo), of which he became the first occupant, and so
closely did they attach Martin to their court that he was called
“the Bishop of the Royal Family”. Nevertheless he never relaxed his
own severe monastic rule of life, and maintained strict discipline
in the government of his monks. He was afterwards promoted to the see
of Braga, which made him metropolitan of the whole of Galicia, and
he held that dignity until his death.
Besides his main work
as a missionary, St Martin rendered great service to the Church by
his writings. The chief of these are a collection of eighty-four canons,
a Formula vitae honestae, written as a guide
to a good life at the request of King Miro, a description of superstitious
peasant customs entitled De correctione rusticorum, a
symposium of moral maxims, and a selection of the sayings of the Egyptian
solitaries. St Martin died in 579 at his monastery at Dumium, and his
body was translated to Braga in 1606.
Our principal authorities are here Gregory of Tours and Venantius
Fortunatus. See the Acta Sanctorum, March,
vol. iii; Florez, España Sagrada, vol. iv,
pp. 1511—158 Gams, Kirchengeschichte Spaniens, vol.
ii, Pt 1, pp. 472—475. A cordial appreciation of the work and scholarship
of St Martin of Braga may be found in the Cambridge Medieval
History, vol. iii, pp. 489—490. Prominence is also given
to him in Ebert’s Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalter,
vol. i, and ed. pp. 579—584. There is an account of
his life in Martini Episcopi Bracarensis Opera Omnia
(1950), ed. C. W. Barlow.
Martin of Braga B (AC) Born in Pannonia
(Hungary) c. 515; died at Braga, Spain, 580. While Martin's origin
and early history are uncertain, he was known as a zealous missionary,
who evangelized Spain. Around 550, Saint Martin introduced communal monasticism
to Galicia (northwestern part of the Iberian peninsula) which he may
have learned as a monk in Palestine. His principal foundation was the
abbey of Dumium (Mondoñedo) of which he became bishop before
his appointment to the see of Braga. He also travelled widely to evangelize
the pagans and Arian Suevians (converting their king). Fortunatus compared
the bishop of Braga, who was a writer of some importance, with his patron,
Saint Martin of Tours.
His extant
works include a sermon which gives interesting particulars about
the rural superstitions he encountered (Attwater,
Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
|
640 Saints John, Sergius,
Patrick and others were slain in the Monastery of Saint Sava.
During the eighth century the area around
Jerusalem was subjected to frequent incursions of the Saracens.
The monastery of St Chariton was devastated and fell into ruin. Twice
the Saracens tried to plunder the Lavra of St Sava the Sanctified,
but God's Providence protected the monastery. The monks would have
been able to escape the barbarians by going to Jerusalem, but they decided
not to forsake the place where they had sought salvation for so many years.
On March 13, the Saracens broke into
the monastery and demanded all the valuables. The monks told them
that there was nothing in the monastery but a meager supply of food
and old clothing. Then the Saracens began to shoot arrows at the monks.
Thirteen men were killed and many wounded,
and monastery cells were set afire. The Saracens intended also to
torch the monastery church, but seeing a throng of people in the distance,
they mistook this for an army sent from Jerusalem. The Saracens managed
to get away, carrying off the little they were able to plunder. After
the enemy fled, Father Thomas, an experienced physician, began to help
those who remained alive.
On Great Thursday, March 20, the Saracens
again descended upon the Lavra with a larger force and began to
beat up the monks. The survivors were driven into the church, where
they were tortured in order to force them to reveal where any treasure
might be hidden. The monastery was surrounded, so no one could save
himself by fleeing. The barbarians seized St John, a young monk, who had
cared for vagrants. They beat him fiercely, then they cut the sinews of
his hands and feet and dragged him over stones by his feet, which tore the
skin from the martyr's back.
The keeper of the church
vessels, St Sergius, hid the church vessels and attempted to flee,
but he was captured and beheaded. Several of the monks nevertheless
managed to hide themselves outside the monastery in a cave, but they
were spotted by a sentry on a hill, and they ordered everyone to come
out. Inside the cave St Patrick whispered to the brethren huddled with
him, "Fear not, I will go alone and meet my death. Meanwhile, sit and pray."
The Saracens asked whether there was
anyone else in the cave, and Patrick said that he was alone. They led
him to the Lavra, where the captives awaited their fate. The Saracens
demanded of them a ransom of 4,000 gold pieces and the sacred vessels.
The monks were not able to give such a ransom. Then they led them into
the cave of St Sava inside the monastery walls. They lit a fire on which
they piled up dung in front of the entrance to the cave, hoping to suffocate
the monks with the poisonous fumes. Eighteen men perished in the cave,
among whom were Sts John and Patrick. The Saracens continued to torture
those who were still alive, but got nothing out of them. Finally, they
left the monastery.
Later, on the night of Great Friday,
the monks hidden in the hills returned to the Lavra, they took up
the bodies of the murdered Fathers to the church and buried them there.
The barbarians who plundered the monastery
were punished by God. They were stricken with a sudden illness, and
they all perished. Their bodies were devoured by wild beasts.
The martyrs of St Sava's Lavra commemorated
on May 16 suffered in the seventh century, during the reign of Heraclius
(610-641).
|
687 St. Herbert
Hermit of England friend of St. Cuthbert had asked to die on same
day as St. Cuthbert granted by God
A priest, Herbert lived as a recluse on an island in
Lake Derwentwater, England. His island became St. Herbert’s in his
honor. Herbert had asked to die on the same day as St. Cuthbert, a
desire that was granted by God.
687 ST HERBERT
ST HERBERT’S Island on
Lake Derwentwater derives its name from the holy anchoret and priest
who lived and died there in the seventh century. He was the disciple
and close friend of St Cuthbert, and it was his custom every year
to visit his master at Lindisfarne and thus to renew his fervour.
St Cuthbert in the year before he died had occasion to come to Carlisle,
and St Herbert repaired to him there instead of going all the way to
Lindisfarne. They talked together for some time, and then St Cuthbert
told his friend that if he had anything to ask he must ask it at once,
because the time of his own departure was at hand and they would meet
no more in this world. St Herbert wept bitterly, beseeching his spiritual
father not to abandon him, but to pray that, as they had served God
together in this life, they might be allowed at the same moment to behold
His glory in heaven. St Cuthbert paused for a moment in prayer, and
then replied, “Weep no more, but rather rejoice, dear brother, for God
in His mercy has heard our prayer and has granted our petition”. Almost
immediately afterwards St Herbert was seized with a painful illness
which lasted until March 20 of the following year, when both saints were
called from this world to enter Heaven together. In the fourteenth century
an indulgence was granted to pilgrims who should visit St Herbert’s Island,
and the present Catholic church at Windermere is dedicated in his honour.
St Herbert is best remembered in these days through Wordsworth’s lines,
beginning
“If thou in the dear
love of some one friend.”
See the Lives
of St Cuthbert, prose and metrical, by Bede, and the Acta
Sanctorum, March, vol. iii. There is a brief account
of St Herbert in the “Lives of the English Saints”, edited by J. H. Newman.
This was written by John Barrow, of Kendal, principal of St Edmund’s Hall,
who, when he became a Jesuit in 1867, changed his name to William Bernard.
Herbert, OSB Hermit (AC) Died March
20, 687. Saint Herbert was the priestly disciple and good friend
of Saint Cuthbert. He lived alone on the island on Lake Derwentwater,
later called Saint Herbert's. Each year Herbert would visit Saint
Cuthbert at Lindisfarne. In 686, the year before Saint Cuthbert died,
he travelled to Carlisle, and Herbert visited him there instead.
Saint Cuthbert told Herbert on this visit that if he
had anything to ask he must do so at this time because he foresaw
that he would die and the Herbert would not see him again in this world.
Herbert wept and begged him not to abandon him, but to pray that since
they had served God together in the world, they be taken at the same
time. Saint Cuthbert prayed for a moment and then predicted that this
would be so. Soon afterward Herbert fell ill and his illness lasted until
March 20 of the following year, when both saints died.
In 1374, Bishop Thomas Appleby of Carlisle ordered the
vicar of Crosthwaite to celebrate a sun Mass on St. Herbert's Isle
each year on his feast, and granted 40 days' indulgence to all who
visited it on this day. Ruins of a circular stone building there may
be connected with him (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia,
Farmer, White).
|
687 St. Cuthbert
biographer, Saint Bede missionary hermit gifted with
the ability to prophesy vision of angels conducting the
soul of Saint Aidan to heaven body incorrupt for several centuries
In
Británnia deposítio sancti Cuthbérti, Epíscopi
Lindisfarnénsis, qui, a puerítia ad óbitum
usque, sanctis opéribus et miraculórum signis effúlsit.
In England, the death of St. Cuthbert, bishop
of Lindisfarne, who from his childhood until his death was renowned
for good works and miracles. Cuthbert
was thought by some to be Irish and by others, a Scot. Bede, the noted
historian, says he was a Briton (note: see below).
687 ST CUTHBERT,
Bishop OF LINDISFARNE
NOTHING authentic is
known about the parentage and birthplace of St Cuthbert. Irish hagiographers
claim him as an Irishman, whereas all the Saxon chroniclers maintain
that he was born in the Lowlands of Scotland. According to Bede’s
metrical biography he was a Briton, and Bede in the preface to his
prose History of St Cuthbert distinctly states that he has written
nothing which is not well attested. The name Cuthbert is undoubtedly
Saxon and not Celtic. We first make his acquaintance when he was about
eight and was under the charge of a widow named Kenswith, whom he regarded
as a mother and who treated him as her son. He was then a healthy, lively
little lad, full of fun, and the ringleader of the boys of the countryside,
all of whom he could beat in running, jumping and wrestling. One day,
in the midst of their play, one child burst into tears, and exclaimed,
“Oh, Cuthbert, how can you waste your time in idle sport—you whom God
has set apart to be a priest and a bishop?” These words made so deep an
impression on his mind that, from that moment, he developed a gravity beyond
his years. The occupation to which he was bred—that of a shepherd—gave
him ample opportunities of quiet communing with God on the great pasturages
or folklands of Northumbria. It was at the end of August 651 that Cuthbert,
then about fifteen years of age, had a vision which decided him to consecrate
his life to God. The summer day was followed by a dark night without moon
or stars, and Cuthbert was alone and in prayer. Suddenly a beam of dazzling
light shone across the black sky, and in it appeared a host of angels carrying,
as though in a globe of fire, a soul to heaven. Later he learnt that the
holy bishop St Aidan had died that night at Bamborough. Although this was
actually the turning-point in his life, he does not appear at once to have
given up the world. It has been suggested that he may have been called upon
to fight against the Mercians, for it was on horseback and armed with
a spear that he eventually appeared at the gate of Melrose Abbey and asked
to be admitted amongst the brethren. We are not told whether St Boisil
the prior had any previous knowledge of him, or whether he instantaneously
read the thoughts of his heart, but, as Cuthbert dismounted, he turned
to one of the monks and said, “Behold a servant of the Lord!”
In the year 660 the
abbot of Melrose received land for another monastery, and upon an elevation
at the confluence of the rivers Ure and Skell was built the abbey of Ripon,
to which St Eata came in 661, bringing with him Cuthbert as guest-master. We read that on one cold winter’s morning, as
he entered the guest-chamber, he found a stranger already installed
there. Fetching water he was afterwards built to mark the spot, and
the name of the town, Kirkcudbright,washed
the visitor’s hands and feet and offered refreshment. The guest courteously
declined, saying that he could not wait because the home to which he
was hastening lay at some distance. Cuthbert nevertheless insisted and
went off to fetch some food. At his return he found the cell untenanted,
but upon the table lay three loaves of singular whiteness and excellence.
There was no footprint on the snow which surrounded the abbey, and St
Cuthbert felt sure that he had indeed entertained an angel. The stay
of Eata and Cuthbert at Ripon was of short duration. A year later
King Alcfrid transferred the abbey to St Wilfrid, and, in the words of Bede,
“Eata with Cuthbert and the rest of the brethren whom he hnd brought with
him was driven home and the site of the monastery he had founded was given
for a habitation to other monks
Cuthbert returned to
Melrose. The whole country was being ravaged by a disease known
as “the yellow plague”, and it prostrated Cuthbert. When, however, he was told
that the monks had spent the whole night in prayer for his recovery, he
cried, “What am I doing in bed? It is impossible that God should close
His ears to such men! Give me my staff and my shoes.” Getting up
he immediately began to walk his will at the time seemed to triumph
over his disease, but he never really regained his health.
Under the infliction
men and women were again, as Bede tells us, putting faith in charms
and amulets. To assist the stricken people and to revive Christianity
St Cuthbert now entered upon a strenuous missionary effort which extended
over the years that he was prior, first at Melrose, and afterwards
at Lindisfarne. Over hill and dale he travelled, sometimes on horseback,
sometimes on foot, ever preferring the remoter hamlets because they had
less chance of being visited. Like Aidan he taught from house to house,
but whereas Aidan, who did not know the dialect, was always accompanied
by an interpreter, Cuthbert could talk to the peasants in their own tongue
and with their own Northumbrian accent. He knew the topography, having
wandered over the lowlands with his flocks, and he could enter into the
lives of his hearers and was content with their simple fare. Of pleasing
appearance moreover and of cheery, winning address, he made his way at
once to the hearts of his hosts, so that his teaching was extraordinarily
successful. From the coast of Berwick to the Solway Firth he carried the
gospel message, and everywhere he was a welcome and honoured guest.
At Coldingham, where
he visited the monastery, a monk who watched him reported that
he used to rise quietly at night from amongst the sleeping brethren,
and making his way to the beach would enter the sea, and with the water
up to his armpits would chant praises to God. A legend still current
amongst the border peasantry tells of two otters—more probably seals—
which followed the holy man back over the rocks and licked his half-numbed
feet and wiped them with their coats until warmth was restored. If we
may believe the tradition of St Cuthbert’s visit to the Picts of Galloway,
it was from Coldingham that he sailed with two companions, landing at
the estuary of the Nith on the day after Christmas. Snow-drifts prevented
them from penetrating inland, whilst a succession of storms made re-embarkation
impracticable, and they seemed in danger of dying from hunger. The
two companions were discouraged and depressed, but Cuthbert’s faith
never wavered. He assured them that all would be well, and presently
they discovered, at the foot of a cliff, slices of dolphin’s flesh which
sustained them until the storm abated and they were able to take once more
to the sea. It is said that a church which grew up near it, has preserved
the memory of St Cuthbert’s visit.
Meanwhile great changes
were taking place at Lindisfarne, and it seemed at one moment as
though Holy Island might lose altogether the famous community which
had made it the most venerable sanctuary in the north. The disputes
over the date of Easter had culminated in the celebrated Council of Whitby,
at which King Oswy decided for the Roman use. St Colman returned to
Lindisfarne, but soon decided that he could not conform and preferred
to resign. Followed by all the Irish monks and thirty of the English,
and bearing the body of St Aidan, he left England and made new homes in
Ireland. To fill his place St Eata was recalled from Melrose and given
the rank of bishop, and Cuthbert accompanied him again to act as his prior.
Their task was no easy one, for many of the remaining monks were set against
the innovations, whilst Eata and Cuthbert, whatever their private feelings
may have been, were determined to enforce the decisions of the Council
of Whitby. They had to face opposition and even insult, but Cuthbert’s
conduct was beyond praise never once did he lose patience or self-control,
but, when the malcontents became too offensive, he would quietly rise
and close the discussion, only to resume it when passion had subsided.
The life St Cuthbert led at Lindisfarne was similar to that
at Melrose. He carried on his apostolic labours amongst the people, preaching
and teaching and ministering not only to their souls but also to their
bodies, by virtue of the gift of healing which was bestowed upon him. Wherever
he went crowds flocked to hear him, to open their hearts to him, and
to beg him to heal their sick. The days were not long enough, and he would
sometimes forgo sleep on three nights out of four that he might
spend the time in prayer by the sea-shore, or in the recitation of psalms
as he paced up and down the church, or in meditation and manual work in
his cell.
After some years at
Lindisfarne, the longing to lead a life of still closer union with God led
him with his abbot’s consent to seek solitude. His first hermitage was at
no great distance from the abbey—probably in the islet off Holy Island which
local tradition associates with him and calls St Cuthbert’s Isle. The place,
wherever it may have been, appears not to have been sufficiently secluded,
for in 676 he moved to a bleak and desolate island of the Farne group, two
miles from Bamborough. The spot was then uninhabited, and afforded
him at first neither water nor corn, but he found a spring and though the
first crop which he planted failed entirely the second crop—which was barley—yielded
sufficient to sustain him. In spite of the storms which then, as at all times,
were wont to rage round the islands, visitors persisted in coming, and St
Cuthbert build a guest-house near the landing-stage to lodge them. Only once
did he leave his retreat, and that was at the request of the abbess St Elfleda,
King Oswy’s daughter. This meeting took place on Coquet Island, and
Elfleda urged him on that occasion to accept a bishopric which King
Egfrid was anxious to bestow upon him. Shortly afterwards he was elected
bishop of Hexham. He refused to leave his island cell, and was only
induced to consent when King Egfrid came in person to Farne, accompanied
by Bishop Trumwin. Very reluctantly Cuthbert gave way, but stipulated
to be allowed to remain in his hermitage for the six months that would
elapse before his consecration. During that period he visited
St Eata and arranged for an exchange of dioceses, whereby Eata would
take Hexham and Cuthbert would have the see of Lindisfarne with charge
of the monastery.
On Easter day 685 he
was consecrated in York Minster by St Theodore, Archbishop
of Canterbury. As a bishop the saint “continued to be the same man
that he was before”—to quote his anonymous biographer. The two years
of his episcopate were mainly spent in visiting his diocese, which extended
far to the west and included Cumberland. He preached, taught, distributed
alms, and wrought so many miracles of healing that he won during his
lifetime the name of the “Wonderworker of Britain”, which the remarkable
cures effected at his tomb caused him to retain after his death. He was
making his first visitation of Carlisle, a few weeks after his consecration,
when, by some strange telepathic gift or by divine revelation, he was
apprised of the overthrow of the Northumbrian army and of the death
in battle of King Egfrid. Defeat in war was followed by a recurrence
of the plague, which was so severe that many villages were entirely
deserted. The good bishop went fearlessly amongst his people ministering
to the sick and dying, his very presence inspiring hope and often restoring
health. On one occasion he revived with a kiss a widow’s son in whom
life appeared to be extinct.
But labours and austerities
had sapped St Cuthbert’s constitution, and he realized that he had
not long to live. Upon his second visit to Carlisle he told his former
disciple St Herbert, the hermit of Derwentwater, that they would meet
on earth no more, consoling his afflicted friend by obtaining from Heaven
the promise that they would die on the same day. After a farewell visitation
through the diocese, he laid down the pastoral staff, and after celebrating
the Christmas of 686 with the monks in Holy Island, he withdrew to
his beloved Farne to prepare for his end. “Tell us, my lord bishop”,
said one of the monks who assembled to bid him farewell, “when we may
hope for your return.”—“When you shall bring back my body”, was the
reply. His brethren often visited him during the last three months, although
he would not allow anyone to stay and minister to him in his growing weakness.
Fever set in and he endured terrible trials from the spirits of evil during
a stormy period of five days, when no one could approach the island. He
wanted to be buried in his retreat, but yielded to the entreaties of his
monks who wished that his bones should rest amongst them at the abbey.
“You will bury me”, he said, “wrapped in the linen which I have kept for my
shroud, out of love for the Abbess Werca, the friend of God, who gave
it to me.” His last instructions were given to Abbot Herefrid who sat beside
him and asked for a message to the brethren. “Be of one mind in your
councils, live in concord with the other servants of God : despise none
of the faithful who seek your hospitality: treat
them with kindly charity, not esteeming yourselves better than others
who have the same faith and often live the same life. But hold no communion
with those who err from the unity of the Catholic faith. Study diligently,
carefully observe the canons of the fathers, and practise with zeal
that monastic rule which God has deigned to give you by my hands. I know
that many have despised me, but after my death it will be found that my
teaching has not deserved contempt.”
These were St Cuthbert’s
last words as Bede learnt them from the lips of Herefrid. He then
received the last sacraments and died peacefully, seated, with his
hands uplifted and his eyes gazing heavenwards. A monk immediately
climbed the rock on which now stands the lighthouse and waved two lighted
torches—for it was night—to announce to the brethren at Lindisfarne that
the great saint had passed to his rest. His body, which at first was laid
in the abbey and remained at Lindisfarne for 188 years, was removed when
the Northmen began to descend upon the coast, and after many translations
was deposited in a magnificent shrine in Durham Cathedral, which continued
to be a favourite place of pilgrimage for the north of England until the
Reformation. In the reign of Henry VIII the shrine was desecrated and plundered,
but the monks secretly buried the relics. In 1827 St Cuthbert’s body was
again discovered, and the various articles through which it was identified
were removed to the cathedral library. Although the genuineness of the relics
is generally admitted, yet there is another tradition, according to which
St Cuthbert’s remains still lie interred in another part of the cathedral,
known only to three members of the English Benedictine Congregation, who
hand on the secret before they die.
St Cuthbert is usually
represented as carrying in his hands the head of King Oswald. This
was buried with him for safety, and was found when the bishop’s coffin
was opened and examined at Durham in 1104. Sometimes the compassionate
otters appear at his feet, but more often he is accompanied by a bird—probably
representing one of the wild fowl, known as St Cuthbert’s birds, which
once swarmed in the Farne Islands. Several beautiful legends are told
about the saint’s friendship with these creatures whom he tamed and to
whom he promised that they should never be disturbed. Two ancient copies
of the gospels are specially connected with the saint. One is the famous
eighth-century Lindisfarne Gospels, which the scribe who
wrote it laid on St Cuthbert’s tomb and which was beautifully adorned
by St Bilfrid. It was accidentally dropped overboard by monks who were
taking it to Ireland, but was washed up on the shore practically
undamaged, and is now at the British Museum. The other is the seventh-century
Gospel of St John which was buried with St Cuthbert and is one of the
most cherished possessions of Stonyhurst College. His ring is treasured
at Ushaw.
St Cuthbert’s life was
one of almost continuous prayer. All that he saw spoke to him of
God, and his conversation was habitually about heavenly things. Bede
says, “He was aflame with the fire of divine charity; and to give counsel
and help to the weak he considered equal to an act of prayer—knowing
that He who said ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God’, also said ‘Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself’.” As well as in several northern English
dioceses, the feast of this great saint is kept in Saint Andrews and in
Meath. Hexham has a second, translation, feast on September 4.
Our sources of information concerning St Cuthbert are in an
exceptional degree authentic and reliable. No medieval historian
commands more respect than Bede, and supplementary details
of later date—notably in the account of the translations, etc., by
Simeon of Durham (his complete works have been edited in the Rolls Series)
and in the discoveries made when the tomb was opened in 1827 (for which
see Raine, who did not like monks, Saint Cuthbert,
1828)—also confirm the earlier narratives. Much incidental
information will be found in the notes to Plummer’s edition of Bede’s
Ecclesiastical History. The archaeological
aspects of the question may be best studied in the catalogue of Haverfield
and Canon Greenwell, Inscribed Stones, etc., and in the
Durham vol. i of the Victoria County History. The
Irish account of St Cuthbert was printed in the eighth volume of the publications
of the Surtees Society. The early anonymous life of the saint was
edited with that written by Bede by Fr Stevenson, who also has printed
a convenient English translation (1887) of the Bede life. There is a
very full biography by Abp C. Eyre (1849) which is specially useful for
its plans and maps another by Provost Consitt (1887) and an excellent
popular sketch by Mrs H. Colgrave (1947). A new edition of the anon,
and Bede lives is by B. Colgrave, Two Lives
of St Cuthbert (1940)
and for some miracles at Fame see Analecta Bollandiana,
vol. lxx (1952), pp. 5—19. See also Craster in the English Historical Review, April 1954 (important
for the translations of the relics).
Orphaned when a young child, he was
a shepherd for a time, possibly fought against the Mercians, and
became a monk at Melrose Abbey. In 661, he accompanied St. Eata to Ripon Abbey, which the
abbot of Melrose had built, but returned to Melrose the following
year when King Alcfrid turned the abbey over to St. Wilfrid, and then became Prior of Melrose.
Cuthbert engaged in missionary
work and when St. Colman
refused to accept the decision of the Council of Whitby in favor of
the Roman liturgical practices and immigrated with most of the monks
of Lindisfarn to Ireland, St. Eata was appointed bishop in his place
and named Cuthbert Prior of Lindisfarn.
He resumed his missionary activities
and attracted huge crowds until he received his abbot's permission
to live as a hermit, at first on a nearby island and then in 676, at
one of the Farnes Islands near Bamborough. Against his will, he was
elected bishop of Hexham in 685, arranged with St. Eata to swap Sees,
and became bishop of Lindisfarn but without the monastery. He
spent the last two years of his life administering his See, caring for
the sick of the plague that dessimated his diocese, working numerous miracles
of healing, and gifted with the ability to prophesy. He died at Lindisfarn.
Saint Cuthbert, the wonderworker of Britain,
was born in Northumbria around 634. Very little information has
come down to us about Cuthbert's early life, but there is a remarkable
story of him when he was eight. As a child, Cuthbert enjoyed
games and playing with other children. He could beat anyone his own
age, and even some who were older, at running, jumping, wrestling, and
other exercises. One day he and some other boys were amusing themselves
by standing on their heads with their feet up in the air. A little boy
who was about three years old chided Cuthbert for his inappropriate behavior.
"Be sensible," he said, "and give up these foolish pranks."
Cuthbert and the others ignored him,
but the boy began to weep so piteously that it was impossible to quiet
him. When they asked him what the matter was, he shouted, "O holy bishop
and priest Cuthbert, these unseemly stunts in order to show off your
athletic ability do not become you or the dignity of your office." Cuthbert
immediately stopped what he was doing and attempted to comfort the boy.
On the way home, he pondered the meaning
of those strange words. From that time forward, Cuthbert became more
thoughtful and serious.This incident reveals St Cuthbert as God's
chosen vessel (2 Tim. 2:20-21), just like Samuel, David, Jeremiah, John
the Baptist, and others who, from an early age, were destined to serve
the Lord.
On another occasion, he was suffering
from an injured knee. It was quite swollen and the muscles were so
contracted that he limped and could scarcely place his foot on the
ground. One day a handsome stranger of noble bearing, dressed in white,
rode up on horseback to the place where Cuthbert was sitting in the
sun beside the house. The stranger asked courteously if the boy would
receive him as a guest. Cuthbert said that if only he were not hampered
by his injuries, he would not be slow to offer hospitality to his guest.
The man got down from his horse and
examined Cuthbert's knee, advising him to cook up some wheat flour
with milk, and to spread the warm paste on his sore knee. After the
stranger had gone, it occurred to him that the man was really an angel
who had been sent by God. A few days later, he was completely well.
From that time forward, as St Cuthbert revealed in later years to a
few trusted friends, he always received help from angels whenever he
prayed to God in desperate situations.
In his prose Life of St Cuthbert, St
Bede of Jarrow (May 27) reminds skeptics that it is not unknown for
an angel to appear on horseback, citing 2 Maccabees 11:6-10 and 4 Maccabees
4:10.
While the saint was still
young, he would tend his master's sheep in the Lammermuir hills south
of Edinburgh near the River Leader. One night while he was praying,
he had a vision of angels taking the soul of St Aidan (August 31) to heaven
in a fiery sphere. Cuthbert awakened the other shepherds and told them
what he had seen. He said that this must have been the soul of a holy
bishop or some other great person. A few days later they learned that
Bishop Aidan of Lindisfarne had reposed at the very hour that Cuthbert
had seen his vision.
As an adult, St Cuthbert decided to
give up his life in the world and advanced to better things. He entered
the monastery at Melrose in the valley of the Tweed, where he was received
by the abbot St Boisil (February 23). St Cuthbert was accepted into
the community and devoted himself to serving God. His fasting and vigils
were so extraordinary that the other monks marveled at him. He often
spent entire nights in prayer, and would not eat anything for days at a
time.
Who can describe his angelic life, his
purity or his virtue? Much of this is known only to God, for St Cuthbert
labored in secret in order to avoid the praise of men.
A few years later, St Eata (October
26) chose some monks of Melrose to live at the new monastery at
Ripon. Among them was St Cuthbert. Both Eata and Cuthbert were expelled
from Ripon and sent back to Melrose in 661 because they (and some other
monks) refused to follow the Roman calculation for the date of Pascha.
The Celtic Church, which followed a different, older reckoning, resisted
Roman practices for a long time. However, in 664 the Synod of Whitby determined
that the Roman customs were superior to those of the Celtic Church, and
should be adopted by all. St Bede discusses this question in his HISTORY
OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND PEOPLE (Book III, 25).
St Cuthbert was chosen to be abbot of
Melrose after the death of St Boisil, guiding the brethren by his
words and by his example. He made journeys throughout the surrounding
area to encourage Christians and to preach the Gospel to those who
had never heard it. Sometimes he would be away from the monastery for
a month at a time, teaching and preaching. He also worked many miracles,
healing the sick and freeing those who were possessed by demons.
In 664, Cuthbert went with St Eata to
Lindisfarne, and extended his territory to include the inhabitants
of Northumberland and Durham. Soon St Eata appointed Cuthbert as
prior of Lindisfarne (Holy Island). At that time both monasteries were
under the jurisdiction of St Eata. While at Lindisfarne, St Cuthbert
continued his habit of visiting the common people in order to inspire
them to seek the Kingdom of Heaven.
Though some of the monks prefered their
negligent way of life to the monastic rule, St Cuthbert gradually
brought them around to a better state of mind. At first he had to endure
many arguments and insults, but eventually he brought them to obedience
through his patience and gentle admonition. He had a great thirst for
righteousness, and so he did not hesitate to correct those who did wrong.
However, his gentleness made him quick to forgive those who repented.
When people confessed to him, he often wept in sympathy with their weakness.
He also showed them how to make up for their sins by doing their penances
himself.
St Cuthbert was a true
father to his monks, but his soul longed for complete solitude, so
he went to live on a small island (St Cuthbert's Isle), a short distance
from Lindisfarne. After gaining victory over the demons through prayer
and fasting, the saint decided to move even farther away from his
fellow men. In 676, he retired to Inner Farne, an even more remote
location. St Cuthbert built a small cell which could not be seen from
the mainland. A few yards away, he built a guest house for visitors from
Lindisfarne. Here he remained for nearly nine years.
A synod at Twyford, with the holy Archbishop
Theodore (September 19) presiding, elected Cuthbert Bishop of Hexham
in 684. Letters and messengers were sent to inform him of the synod's
decision, but he refused to leave his solitude. King Ecgfrith and Bishop
Trumwine (February 10) went to him in person, entreating him in Christ's
name to accept. At last, St Cuthbert came forth and went with them to
the synod. With great reluctance, he submitted to the will of the synod
and accepted the office of bishop. Almost immediately, he exchanged Sees
with St Eata, and became Bishop of Lindisfarne while St Eata went to Hexham.
Bishop Cuthbert remained as humble as
he had been before his consecration, avoiding finery and dressing
in simple clothing. He fulfilled his office with dignity and graciousness,
while continuing to live as a monk. His virtue and holiness of life
only served to enhance the authority of his position.
His life as Bishop of Lindisfarne was
quite similar to what it had been when he was prior of that monastery.
He devoted himself to his flock, preaching and visiting people throughout
his diocese, casting out demons, and healing all manner of diseases.
He served as a bishop for only two years, however.
Once, St Cuthbert was invited to Carlisle
to ordain seven deacons to the holy priesthood. The holy priest Hereberht
was living in solitude on an island in that vicinity. Hearing that
his spiritual friend Cuthbert was staying at Carlisle, he went to see
him in order to discuss spiritual matters with him. St Cuthbert told
him that he should ask him whatever he needed to ask, for they would not
see one another in this life again. When he heard that St Cuthbert would
die soon, Hereberht fell at his feet and wept. By God's dispensation, the
two men would die on the very same day.
Though he was only in his early fifties,
St Cuthbert felt the time of his death was approaching. He laid aside
his archpastoral duties, retiring to the solitude of Inner Farne
shortly after the Feast of the Lord's Nativity in 686 to prepare himself.
He was able to receive visitors from Lindisfarne at first, but gradually
he weakened and was unable to walk down to the landing stage to greet
them.
His last illness came upon him on February
27, 687. The pious priest Herefrith (later the abbot of Lindisfarne)
came to visit him that morning. When he was ready to go back, he asked
St Cuthbert for his blessing to return. The saint replied, "Do as
you intend. Get into your boat and return safely home."
St Cuthbert also gave Father Herefrith
instructions for his burial. He asked to be laid to rest east of the
cross that he himself had set up. He told him where to find a stone
coffin hidden under the turf. "Put my body in it," he said, "and wrap
it in the cloth you will find there." The cloth was a gift from Abbess
Verca, but St Cuthbert thought it was too fine for him to wear. Out of affection
for her, he kept it to be used as his winding sheet.
Father Herefrith wanted
to send some of the brethren to look after the dying bishop, but
St Cuthbert would not permit this. "Go now, and come back at the proper
time."
When Herefrith asked when that time
might be, St Cuthbert replied, "When God wishes. He will show you."
Herefrith returned to Lindisfarne and
told the brethren to pray for the ailing Cuthbert. Storms prevented
the brethren from returning to Inner Farne for five days. When they
did land there, they found the saint sitting on the beach by the guest
house. He told them he had come out so that when they arrived to take
care of him they would not have to go to his cell to find him. He had
been sitting there for five days and nights, eating nothing but onions.
He also revealed that during those five days he had been more severely
assailed by demons than ever before.
This time, St Cuthbert consented to
have some of the brethren attend him. One of these was his personal
servant, the priest Bede. He asked particularly for the monk Walhstod
to remain with him to help Bede take care of him. Father Herefrith
returned to Lindisfarne and informed the brethren of Cuthbert's wish
to be buried on his island.
Herefrith and the others, however, wanted
to bury him in their church with proper honor. Therefore, Herefrith
went back to Cuthbert and asked for permission to do this. St Cuthbert
said that he wanted to be buried there at the site of his spiritual struggles,
and he pointed out that the peace of the brethren would be disturbed
by the number of pilgrims who would come to Lindisfarne to venerate his
tomb.
Herefrith insisted that they would gladly
endure the inconvenience out of love for Cuthbert. Finally, the
bishop agreed to be buried in the church on Lindisfarne so the monks
would always have him with them, and they would also be able to decide
which outsiders would be allowed to visit his tomb.
St Cuthbert grew weaker and weaker,
so the monks carried him back into his cell. No one had ever been
inside, so they paused at the door and asked that at least one of them
be permitted to see to his needs. Cuthbert asked for Wahlstod to come
in with him. Now Wahlstod had suffered from dysentery for a long time.
Even though he was sick, he agreed to care for Cuthbert. As soon as he
touched the holy bishop, his illness left him. Although he was sick and
dying, St Cuthbert healed his servant Wahlstod. Remarkably, the holy man's
spiritual power was not impaired by his bodily weakness. About three o'clock
in the afternoon Wahlstod came out and announced that the bishop wanted
them to come inside.
Father Herefrith asked Cuthbert if he
had any final instructions for the monks. He spoke of peace and
harmony, warning them to be on guard against those who fostered
pride and discord. Although he encouraged them to welcome visitors
and offer them hospitality, he also admonished them to have no dealings
with heretics or with those who lived evil lives. He told them to learn
the teachings of the Fathers and put them into practice, and to adhere
to the monastic rule which he had taught them.
After passing the evening
in prayer, St Cuthbert sat up and received Holy Communion from Father
Herefrith. He surrendered his holy soul to God on March 20, 687at
the time appointed for the night office
Eleven years later, St Cuthbert's tomb
was opened and his relics were found to be incorrupt. In the ninth
century, the relics were moved to Norham, then back to Lindisfarne.
Because of the threat of Viking raids, St Cuthbert's body was moved from
place to place for seven years so that it would not be destroyed by the
invaders.
St Cuthbert's relics were moved to Chester-le-Street
in 995. They were moved again because of another Viking invasion,
and then brought to Durham for safekeeping. Around 1020 the relics
of Sts Bede (May 27), Aidan (August 31), Boisil (February 23), Aebbe
(August 25), Eadberht (May 6), Aethilwald (February 12), and other saints
associated with St Cuthbert were also brought to Durham.
The tomb was opened again on August
24, 1104, and the incorrupt and fragrant relics were placed in the
newly-completed cathedral. Relics of the other saints mentioned
above were placed in various places around the church. The head of
St Oswald of Northumbria (August 5), however, was left in St Cuthbert's
coffin.
In 1537 three commissioners of King
Henry VIII came to plunder the tomb and desecrate the relics. St
Cuthbert's body was still incorrupt, and was later reburied. The tomb
was opened again in 1827. A pile of bones was found in the outer casket,
probably the relics of the various saints which had been collected
seven centuries before, then replaced after the Protestant commissioners
had completed their work.
In the inner casket was a skeleton wrapped
in a linen shroud and five robes. In the vestments a gold and garnet
cross was found, probably St Cuthbert's pectoral cross. Also found
were an ivory comb, a portable wood and silver altar, a stole (epitrachilion),
pieces of a carved wooden coffin, and other items. These may be seen
today in the Dean and Chapter library of Durham Cathedral. The tomb was
opened again in 1899, and a scientific examination determined that the
bones were those of a man in his fifties, Cuthbert's age when he died.
Today St Cuthbert's relics (and the
head of St Oswald) lie beneath a simple stone slab on the site of
the original medieval shrine in the Chapel of the Nine Altars, and
St Bede's relics rest at the other end of the cathedral. The relics
and the treasures in the Library make Durham an appropriate place for
pilgrims to visit.
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne,
OSB B (RM) Born in Northumbria, England (?) or Ireland, c. 634; died
on Inner Farne in March 20, 687; feast of his translation to Durham,
September 4. Saint Cuthbert is possibly the most venerated saint
in England, especially in the northern part of the country, where
he was a very active missionary. Yet his real nationality is debated.
His biographer, Saint Bede, did not specify it. Of course, the English
claim him, but so do the Scottish.
There is a good likelihood the he was
an Irishman named Mulloche, great-grandson of the High King Muircertagh
of Ireland because, according to Moran citing documents in Durham
Cathedral, the rood screen bore the inscription: "Saint Cuthbert, Patron
of Church, City and Liberty of Durham, an Irishman by birth of royal
parentage who was led by God's Providence to England." The cathedral's
stained glass windows, which had been registered but destroyed during the
reign of Henry VI, depicted the saint's life begin with his birth "at
Kells" in Meath. This fact is corroborated by an ancient manuscript viewed
by Alban Butler at Cottonian Library. One tradition relates that his mother,
the Irish princess Saba, set out on a pilgrimage to Rome, left Cuthbert
in the care of Kenswith, and died in Rome.
Thus, Cuthbert, like David, was a shepherd
boy on the hills above Leader Water or the valley of the Tweed. Of
unknown parentage, he was reared in the Scottish lowlands by a poor
widow named Kenswith, and was a cripple because of an abscess on the
knee made worse by an attempted cure. But despite this disability he
was boisterous and high-spirited, and so physically strong that after
he became a monk, on a visit to the monastery at Coldingham, he spent
a whole night upon the shore in prayer, and strode into the cold sea
praising God.
According to one of Saint Bede's two
vitae of the saint, when Cuthbert was about 15, he had a vision of
angels conducting the soul of Saint Aidan to heaven. Later, while still
a youth, he became a monk under Saint Eata at Melrose Abbey on the
Tweed River. The prior of Melrose, Saint Boisil, taught Cuthbert Scripture
and the pattern of a devout life. Cuthbert went with Eata to the newly-founded
abbey of Ripon in 661 as guest steward. He returned to Melrose, still
just a mission station of log shanties, when King Alcfrid turned Ripon
over to Saint Wilfrid. It was from Melrose that Cuthbert began his missionary
efforts throughout Northumbria.
Cuthbert attended Boisil when the latter
contracted the plague. The book of the Scriptures from which he read
the Gospel of John to the dying prior was laid on the altar at Durham
in the 13th century on Saint Cuthbert's feast. Thus, in 664, Cuthbert
became prior of Melrose at the death of Boisil. Soon thereafter Cuthbert
fell deathly ill with the same epidemic. Upon hearing that the brethren
had prayed throughout the night for his recovery, he called for his staff,
dressed, and undertook his duties (but he never fully recovered his
health thereafter).
In 664, when Saint Colman refused to
accept the decision of the Synod of Whitby in favor of Roman liturgical
custom and migrated to Ireland with his monks, Saint Tuda was consecrated bishop
in his place, while Eata was named abbot and Cuthbert prior of Lindisfarne,
a small island joined to the coast at low tide. From Lindisfarne Cuthbert
extended his work southward to the people of Northumberland and Durham.
Afterwards Cuthbert was
made abbot of Lindisfarne, where he grew to love the wild rocks and
sea, and where the birds and beasts came at his call. Then for eight
years beginning in 676, Cuthbert followed his solitary nature by removing
himself to the solitude of the isolated, infertile island of Farne,
where it was believed that he was fed by the angels. There built an
oratory and a cell with only a single small window for communication with
the outside world. But he was still sought after, and twice the king of
Northumberland implored him to accept election as bishop of Hexham, to
which he finally agreed in 684, though unwillingly and with tears.
Almost immediately Cuthbert exchanged
his see with Eata for that of Lindisfarne, which Cuthbert preferred.
Thus, on Easter Sunday 685, Cuthbert was consecrated bishop of Lindisfarne
by Saint Theodore
archbishop of Canterbury, with six bishops in attendance at York.
For two years Cuthbert was bishop of Lindisfarne, still maintaining
his frugal ways and "first doing himself what he taught others." He
administered his see, cared for the sick of the plague that decimated
his see, distributed alms liberally, and worked so many miracles of healing
that he was known in his lifetime as the "Wonder-Worker of Britain."
Then at Christmas in 686, in failing health and knowing that his end
was near, he resigned his office and retired again to his island cell;
but though seriously ill and suffering intensely, he refused all aid,
allowing none to nurse him, and finished his course alone.
In the very act of lifting his hands
in prayer "his soul sped its way to the joys of the heavenly kingdom."
News of his death was flashed by lantern to the watchers at Lindisfarne.
Bede reports: "As the tiny gleam flashed over the dark reach of sea,
and the watchman hurried with his news into the church, the brethren
of the Holy Island were singing the words of the Psalmist: "Thou hast
cast us out and scattered us abroad . . . Thou hast shown thy people heavy
things."
He was buried at Lindisfarne, where
they remained incorrupt for several centuries, but after the Viking
raids began his remains wandered with the displaced monks for about
100 years until they were translated to Durham cathedral in 1104. Until
its desecration under Henry VIII, his shrine at Durham was one of the
most frequented places of pilgrimage for the power of healing that Cuthbert
possessed during his lifetime lived on after him. The bones discovered
in 1827 beneath the site of the medieval shrine are probably his. He is
said to have had supernatural gifts of healing and insight, and people
thronged to consult him, so that he became known as the wonder-worker of
Britain. He had great qualities as a preacher, and made many missionary
journeys. Bede wrote that "Cuthbert was so great a speaker and had such
a light in his angelic face. He also had such a love for proclaiming his
good news, that none hid their innermost secrets from him." Year after year,
on horseback and on foot, he ventured into the remotest territories between
Berwick and Galloway. He built the first oratory at Dull, Scotland, with
a large stone cross before it and a little cell for himself. Here a monastery
arose that became Saint Andrew's University.
His task was not easy, for he lived
in an area of vast solitude, of wild moors and sedgy marshes crossed
only by boggy tracts, with widely scattered groups of huts and hovels
inhabited by a wild and heathen peasantry full of fears and superstitions
and haunted by terror of pagan gods. His days were filled with incessant
activity in an attempt to keep the spirit of Christianity alive and each
night he kept vigil with God.
But unlike the Celtic missionaries,
he spoke their language and knew their ways, for he had lived like them in
a peasant's home. Once, when a snowstorm drove his boat onto the coast of
Fife, he cried to his companions in the storm: "The snow closes the road
along the shore; the storm bars our way over the sea. But there is still
the way of Heaven that lies open."
Cuthbert was the Apostle of the Lowlands,
renowned for his vigor and good-humor; he outstripped his fellow
monks in visiting the loneliest and most dangerous outposts from
cottage to cottage from Berwick to Solway Firth to bring the Good News
of Christ. Selflessly he entered the houses of those stricken by the
plague. And he was the most lovable of saints. His patience and humility
persuaded the reluctant monks of Lindisfarne to adopt the Benedictine
Rule.
He is especially appealing to us today
because he was a keenly observant man, interested in the ways of birds
and beasts. In fact, the Farne Islands, which served as a hermitage
to the monks of Durham, are now a bird and wildlife sanctuary appropriately
under the protection of Cuthbert. In his own time he was famed as a worker
of miracles in God's name. On one occasion he healed a woman's dying baby
with a kiss.
Tiny seashells found only on his Farne
Island are traditionally called Saint Cuthbert's Beads, and are said
by sailors to have been made by him. This tradition is incorporated
in Sir Walter Scott's Marmion.
The ample sources for his life and character
show a man of extraordinary charm and practical ability, who attracted
people deeply by the beauty of holiness.
His cultus is recalled in places names,
such as Kirkcudbright (Galloway), Cotherstone (Yorkshire), Cubert
(Cornwall), and more than 135 church dedications in England as well
as an additional 17 in Scotland. A chapel in the crypt of Fulda was
dedicated to him at its consecration (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines,
Bentley, Colgrave, D'Arcy, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Fitzpatrick, Gill,
Montague, Montalembert2, Moran, Skene, Tabor, Webb).
The following legends about Saint Cuthbert
reveal as much about their author, the Venerable Bede as they do about
Saint Cuthbert. Though they repeat in detail some of what is outlined
above, they show the historian's care to note source and authority and
show his quick eye that observes nature in detail. The complete biography
can be found at the Medieval Sourcebook.
"One day as he rode his solitary way
about the third hour after sunrise, he came by chance upon a hamlet
a spear's cast from the track, and turned off the road to it. The woman
of the house that he went into was the pious mother of a family, and
he was anxious to rest there a little while, and to ask some provision
for the horse that carried him rather than for himself, for it was the
oncoming of winter.
"The woman brought him
kindly in, and was earnest with him that he would let her get ready
a meal, for his own comfort, but the man of God denied her. 'I must
not eat yet,' said he, 'because today is a fast.' It was indeed Friday
when the faithful for the most part prolong their fast until the third
hour before sunset, for reverence of the Lord's Passion.
"The woman, full of hospitable zeal,
insisted. 'See now,' said she, 'the road that you are going, you will
find never a clachan or a single house upon it, and indeed you have
a long way yet before you, and you will not be at the end of it before
sundown. So do, I ask you, take some food before you go, or you will
have to keep your fast the whole day, and maybe even till the morrow.'
But though she pressed him hard, devotion to his religion overcame her
entreating, and he went through the day fasting, until evening.
"But as twilight fell and he began to
see that he could not come to the end of the journey he had planned
that day, and that there was no human habitation near where he could
stay the night, suddenly as he rode he saw close by a huddle of shepherds'
huts, built ramshackle for the summer, and now lying open and deserted.
"Thither he went in search of shelter,
tethered his horse to the inside wall, gathered up a bundle of hay
that the wind had torn from the thatch, and set it before him for fodder.
Himself had begun to say his hours, when suddenly in the midst of his
chanting of the Psalms he saw his horse rear up his head and begin cropping
the thatch of the hovel and dragging it down, and in the middle of
the falling thatch came tumbling a linen cloth lapped up; curious to
know what it might be, he finished his prayer, came up and found wrapped
in the linen cloth a piece of loaf still hot, and meat, enough for one
man's meal.
"And chanting his thanks for heaven's
grace, 'I thank God,' said he, 'Who has stooped to make a feast for
me that was fasting for love of His Passion, and for my comrade.' So
he divided the piece of loaf that he had found and gave half to the
horse, and the rest he kept for himself to eat, and from that day he
was the readier to fasting because he understood that the meal had been
prepared for him in the solitude by His gift Who of old fed Elijah the
solitary in like fashion by the birds, when there was no man near to minister
to him; Whose eyes are on them that fear Him and that hope in His mercy,
that He will snatch their souls from death and cherish them in their
hunger.
"And this story I had from a brother
of our monastery which is at the mouth of the river Wear, a priest,
Ingwald by name, who has the grace of his great age rather to contemplate
things eternal with a pure heart than things temporal with the eyes
of earth; and he said that he had it from Cuthbert himself, the time
that he was bishop."
And a second story recorded
by Bede: "It was his way for the most part to wander in those
places and to preach in those remote hamlets, perched on steep rugged
mountain sides, where other men would have a dread of going, and whose
poverty and rude ignorance gave no welcome to any scholar. . . . Often
for a whole week, sometimes for two or three, and even for a full month,
he would not return home, but would abide in the mountains, and call these
simple folk to heavenly things by his word and his ways. . . ."
[He was, moreover, easily entreated,
and came to stay at the abbey of Coldingham on a cliff above the sea.]
"As was his habit, at night
while other men took their rest, he would go out to pray; and after long
vigils kept far into the night, he would come home when the hour of common
prayer drew near. One night, a brother of this same monastery saw him go
silently out, and stealthily followed on his track, to see where he was going
or what he would do.
"And so he went out from the monastery
and, his spy following him went down to the sea, above which the monastery
was built; and wading into the depths till the waves swelled up to
his neck and arms, kept his vigil through the dark with chanting voiced
like the sea. As the twilight of dawn drew near, he waded back up the
beach, and kneeling there, again began to pray; and as he prayed, straight
from the depths of the sea came two four-footed beasts which are called
by the common people otters.
"These, prostrate before him on the
sand, began to busy themselves warming his feet with pantings, and
trying to dry them with their fur; and when this good office was rendered,
and they had his benediction, they slipped back again beneath their
native waters. He himself returned home, and sang the hymns of the
office with the brethren at the appointed hour. But the brother who
had stood watching him from the cliffs was seized with such panic
that he could hardly make his way home, tottering on his feet; and early
in the morning came to him and fell at his feet, begging forgiveness with
his tears for his foolish attempt, never doubting but that his behavior
of the nights was known and discovered.
"To whom Cuthbert: 'What ails you, my
brother? What have you done? Have you been out and about to try to
come at the truth of this night wandering of mine? I forgive you, on
this one condition: That you promise to tell no man what you saw,
until my death.' . . . And the promise given, he blessed the brother
and absolved him alike of the fault and the annoyance his foolish boldness
had given:
The brother kept silence on the piece
of valor that he had seen, until after the Saint's death, when he
took pains to tell it to many"
Bede relates another story:
After many years at Lindisfarne Abbey, Cuthbert set out to become
a hermit on an island called Farne, which unlike Lindisfarne, "which
twice a day by the upswelling of the ocean tide . . . becomes an island,
and twice a day, its shore again bared by the tide outgoing, is restored
to its neighbor the land. . . . No man, before God's servant Cuthbert,
had been able to make his dwelling here alone, for the phantoms of demons
that haunted it; but at the coming of Christ's soldier, armed with the
helmet of salvation, the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit which
is the word of God, the fiery darts of the wicked fell quenched, and the
foul Enemy himself, with all his satellite mob, was put to flight."
Cuthbert built himself a cell on the
island by cutting away the living rock of a cave. He constructed a
wall out of rough boulders and turf. Some of the boulders were so large
that "one would hardly think four men could lift them, and yet he is
known to have carried them thither with angelic help and set them into
the wall. He had two houses in his enclosure, one an oratory, the other
a dwelling place. . . . At the harbor of the island was a larger house
in which the brethren when they came to visit him could be received and
take their rest. . . ."
At first he accepted bread
from Lindisfarne, "but after a while he felt it was more fit that
he should live by the work of his own hand, after the example of the
Fathers. So he asked them to bring him tools to dig the ground with,
and wheat to sow; but the grain that he had sown in spring showed no
sign of a crop even by the middle of the summer. So when the brethren
as usual were visiting him the man of God said, 'It may be the nature
of the soil, or it may be it is not the will of God that any wheat should
grow for me in this place: So bring me, I pray you, barley, and perhaps
I may raise some harvest from it.
But if God will give it no increase,
it would be better for me to go back to the community than be supported
here on other men's labors.'
"They brought him the barley,
and he committed it to the ground, far past the time of sowing, and past
all hope of springing: and soon there appeared an abundant crop. When it
began to ripen, then came the birds, and its was who among them should devour
the most. So up comes God's good servant, as he would afterwards tell--for
many a time, with his benign and joyous regard, he would tell in
company some of the things that he himself had won by faith, and so
strengthen the faith of his hearers--'And why,' says he, 'are you touching
a crop you did not sow? Or is it, maybe, that you have more need of it
than I? If you have God's leave, do what He allows you: but if not, be
off, and do no more damage to what is not your own.'
He spoke, and at the first word of command,
the birds were off in a body and come what might for ever after
they contained themselves from any trespass on his harvests. . .
.
"And here might be told
a miracle done by the blessed Cuthbert in the fashion of the aforesaid
Father, Benedict, wherein the obedience and humility of the birds
put to shame the obstinacy and arrogance of men. Upon that island for
a great while back a pair of ravens had made their dwelling: And one day
at their nesting time the man of God spied them tearing with their beaks
at the thatch on the brethren's hospice of which I have spoken, and carrying
off pieces of it in their bills to build their nest.
"He thrust at them gently with his hand,
and bade them give over this damage to the brethren. And when they
scoffed at his command, 'In the name of Jesus Christ,' said he, 'be
off with you as quick as ye may, and never more presume to abide in the
place which ye have spoiled.' And scarcely had he spoken, when they flew
dismally away.
"But toward the end of the third day,
one of the two came back, and finding Christ's servant busy digging,
comes with his wings lamentably trailing and his head bowed to his
feet, and his voice low and humble, and begs pardon with such signs
as he might: which the good father well understanding, gives him permission
to return.
"As for the other, leave once obtained,
he straight off goes to fetch his mae, and with no tarrying, back
they both come, and carrying along with them a suitable present, no
less than a good- sized hunk of hog's lard such as one greases axles
with: Many a time thereafter the man of God would show it the brethren
who came to see him, and would offer it to grease their shoes, and he
would urge on them how obedient and humble men should be, when the proudest
of birds made haste with prayers and lamentation and presents to atone
for the insult he had given to man.
And so, for an example of reformed life
to men, these did abide for many years thereafter on that same island,
and built their nest, nor ever wrought annoyance upon any" (Bede).
In art, Saint Cuthbert
is dressed in episcopal vestments bearing the crowned head of Saint Oswald (Seal of Lindisfarne). At
times he may be shown (1) with pillars of light above him; (2) with
swans tending him; (3) as a hermit with a tau staff being fed by an
eagle; (4) rebuking crows; (5) rebuilding a hut and driving out devils;
(6) praying by the sea; (7) with a Benedictine monk kissing his feet;
(8) when his incorrupt body was found with a chalice on his breast (Roeder);
or (9) tended by sea otters, which signifies either his living in the
midst of waters, or alludes to a legend. It is said that one night as he
lay on the cold shore, exhausted from his penances, two otters revived his
numb limbs by licking them (Tabor). There is a stained-glass icon of Cuthbert
in York Minster from the late Middle Ages, as well as paintings on the
backs of the stalls at Carlisle cathedral (Farmer).
The shrine of Saint Cuthbert is at Durham,
but he is also venerated at Ripon and Melrose. His feast is still
kept at Meath, Saint Andrews, and the northern dioceses of England
(Attwater2). He is the patron of shepherds and seafarers, and invoked
against the plague (Roeder). His patronage of sailors was the result
of his appearance in the midst of violent storms at sea, wearing his mitre,
as late as the 12th century. He is said to have used his crozier sometimes
as an oar and at other times as a helm to save the struggling sailors
from shipwreck. He is also said to have appeared to King Alfred, the
conquering Canute the Dane, William the Conqueror, and others at critical
moments. Thus, until the time of Henry VIII, soldiers marched under a
sacred standard containing the corporal Cuthbert had used at Mass (D'Arcy).
|
720
St. Wulfram Bishop missionary preach among the Frisians several
miracle
In
monastério Fontanéllæ, in Gállia, sancti
Wulfránni, Epíscopi Senonénsis, qui, relícto
Episcopátu, ibídem, clarus miráculis, decéssit
e vita.
In the monastery of Fontanelle in France, St. Wulfran, bishop
of Sens, who resigned his bishopric, and after having performed miracles,
departed out of this life.
703 ST WULFRAM,
ARCHBISHOP OF SENS
THE father of St Wulfram was an officer of King Dagobert,
and the saint himself, though early raised to the priesthood, was
summoned to the court. When Lambert, the occupant of the archiepiscopal
seat of Sens, died, Wulfram was elected to succeed him, and discharged
his episcopal duties very devotedly for two and a half years. He then
made a solemn abdication, moved by a desire to labour among the heathen
Frisians, coupled probably with doubts as to the canonicity of his appointment,
for St Amatus (Amé), the rightful archbishop, was still alive.
He had been unjustly banished by Thierry III and had survived both Méry
and Lambert who had been installed in his place. In preparation for his
missionary labours Wulfram retired to the abbey of Fontenelle and there
obtained monks to assist him in his mission.
They travelled by sea
and, upon landing in Friesland, they were successful in converting
a number of people, including one of King Radbod’s sons, and strove
to wean the natives from the practice of offering human sacrifices. In
reply to St Wulfram’s remonstrances King Radbod declared that it was the
custom of the country, and that he could not and would not interfere. It
had become the practice to cast lots for the victim, who was usually a
child of noble birth. A boy called Ovon was chosen in this way, and St Wulfram
begged that he might be spared. The king replied that Wulfram was at liberty
to rescue the child by the power of his God— if he could. The saint betook
himself to prayer, and after the boy had been left hanging for two hours,
the rope broke and the lad fell to the ground. He was still alive and was given to Wulfram, who sent him to
Fontenelle, where he became a monk and a priest and in later life supplied
the details of the saint’s mission to Friesland.
St Wulfram also, in a wonderful way, rescued two children who were
being drowned as victims to the sea-goddess. According to a story, which,
however, is not to be found in the earliest manuscripts of his life,
King Radbod was so impressed by the saint’s miracles that he consented,
half unwillingly, to be baptized. But at the last moment he suddenly asked
where his ancestors were, and was informed by St Wulfram that Hell was
the portion of all idolaters. Upon hearing these words Radbod drew back,
declaring that he chose Hell with his ancestors rather than Heaven without
them. After working for many years among the Frisians St Wulfram went back
to Fontenelle, where he died. His relics were translated first to Blandigny
and then to Abbeville, where they are still venerated.
The Latin Life
of St Wulfram (printed by Mabillon, vol. iii, pt 1, and critically edited
by W. Levison in MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. v)
professes to be written by Jonas, monk of Fontenelle, and a contemporary
of the saint. Despite the attempted vindication by Abbé Legris
(Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xvii, pp. 265—306)
it seems certain that it must have been compiled nearly a hundred years
later (see Analecta Bollandiana, vol.
xix, p. 234 vol. xxix, p. 450) and that it is not historically trustworthy.
There is a short account of St Wulfram by W. Glaister in English, and in
French by Sauvage and La Vieille (1876). Cf.
Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux,
vol. ii, p. 413.
Wulfram (d. early eighth century) + Bishop and missionary
Born at Milly. France, he was the son of Fuldert, a courtier in the
service of the Frankish king Dagobert (r. 623-639). Wulfram served
in the Court of King Thierry (r. 670-687) of Neustria (parts of France).
Ordained a priest, he was appointed bishop of Sens, replacing the
rightful occupant of the see, St. Amatus, who was then in exile. Owing
to the controversy, Wulfram resigned after two-and-one-half years and
set out to preach among the Frisians.
Wulfram of Fontenelle,
OSB B (RM) (also known as Wolfram, Wulfrannus) Died at Fontenelle,
France, April 20, c. 703 (or 720?); feast of his translation, October
15. The story of Saint Wulfram takes us back to the days of the Franks
and the dark gods of the north, and of the wild Teutonic tribes and
old Norse sagas, when a handful of devoted men sailed into the northern
night with the Cross at their prow and challenged the power of Odin and
Thor.
Wulfram came of a gentler race, born
and bred in a civilized land, nurtured in the wealthy home of his
father, an official of King Dagobert. He found his first employment
in the French court under Clotaire III, and, in 682, was rewarded with
the archbishopric of Sens in place of its rightful bishop, Saint Amatus.
But, strangely moved by God's Spirit to acknowledge the see's licit
bishop and by the challenge of the pagan lands, within three years he
laid aside his high employments and gave his property of Maurilly to
the Church. In order to prepare himself to take the Gospel to the Frisians
and obtain the help of monks, he retired for a time at Fontenelle.
Then he set sail for Scandinavia with a small group of followers.
Longfellow in his poem, The Saga of
King Olaf, vividly describes how during the voyage Wulfram, surrounded
by his choristers chanting into the night, held service on deck:
To the ship's bow he ascended,
By his choristers attended, Round him were the tapers lighted, And
the sacred incense rose. On the bow stood Bishop Sigurd,
In his robes as one transfigured, And the Crucifix he planted
It was a hard and evil
time, and only with great difficulty did his enterprise make headway.
The son of king Radbod was converted. Wulfram, however, was allowed
to settle and to preach the Gospel.
The missionaries had some success, but
as in other parts of Europe during the period, the attitude of the
king was likely to be decisive.
Wulfram found that children
were sacrificed to appease their heathen gods, hung on roadside gibbets,
or fastened to posts on the shore and left to drown with the tide.
On great pagan festivals, the people would cast lots to see who should
be sacrificed. Immediately the chosen one would be hanged or cut into
pieces. In vain he appealed to Radbod to prohibit such inhuman practices,
but the king replied that it was the custom of the country and he could
not alter it.
He even cynically challenged Wulfram
to rescue the victims if he could, whereupon Wulfram, taking him at
his word, strode into the raging sea to save two children who were helpless
and almost submerged.
At other times he cut down
the bodies of those who were nearly dead from the gallows to which they were
tied and restored them as in the case of Ovon. The lot decided that Ovon
should be sacrificed. Wulfram earnestly begged King Radbod to save him: but
the people ran to the palace, outraged at such a sacrilege. After much discussion
they agreed that if Wulfram's God should save Ovon's life, he should ever
serve him and be Wulfram's slave. The saint went into prayer. After hanging
on the gibbet for two hours, the man was left for dead. The cord hanging
him broke.
When the body fell to the ground, Ovon
was found to be alive. He was given to the saint and became a monk
and priest at Fontenelle.
The missionaries and their
miracles so impressed the inhabitants that, filled with fear and
wonder, they renounced their false gods and were baptized, and even
Radbod himself was converted. But at the point of baptism, Radbod asked
where his ancestors were. Wulfram answered that hell was the destiny
of idolators. Radbod then declared: "I will go to hell with my ancestors
rather than be in heaven without them."
Radbod later sent for Saint Willibrord to baptize him, but when
the saint arrived the king was already dead. Thus, he was never
experienced the mercy of the sacrament.
For twenty years Wulfram
continued his arduous missionary activity until failing health compelled
him to return to France; but always he is remembered as the captain
of a Christian crew, who "bore the White Christ" through the vapors of
the northern night.
His relics were translated from Fontenelle
to Abbeville, where Wulfram is venerated as patron and where several
miracles occurred.
In 1062, his relics were
moved to Rouen. Both his feasts are celebrated in Croyland Abbey
(Lincolnshire), England, probably because their abbot Ingulfph (1086-1109)
was a monk of Fontenelle.
The vita of Wulfram was written by the
monk Jonas of Fontenelle eleven years after his death (Attwater2,
Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth).
Saint Wulfram is depicted
in art as baptizing a young king. Sometimes (1) the young king is
near him; (2) he is shown arriving by ship with monks and baptizing
the king; or (3) he is shown baptizing the son of King Radbod (Roeder).
Wulfram is venerated at Fontenelle, Frisia, and Sens (Roeder).
|
725
St. Benignus Benedictine abbot superior of Fontenelle
in France, Benignus was exiled by political factions,
returning to Flay, where he was elected abbot.
When Charles Martel gained control of
France, Benignus returned to Fontenelle, remaining the abbot of
Flay.
Benignus of Flay, OSB Abbot (AC) Died
725. Abbot of the monastery of Fontenelle, Saint Benignus was exiled
from the abbey and retired to Flay, where the monks asked him to
be their abbot. After the victory of Charles Martel, he returned to
Fontenelle, retaining the government of Flay, and died shortly thereafter
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
|
735 St. Nicetas
Bishop of Apollonias in Bithynia modern Turkey opposed iconoclasts
He suffered under the Iconoclast
Byzantine Emperor
Leo III and was exiled to Anatolia for opposing imperial prohibitions
on the veneration of icons. He died in exile.
Nicetas of Bithynia B (RM) Nicetas
was the bishop of Apollonias in Bithynia. He was persecuted by the
iconoclastic emperor Leo III and died in exile in Anatolia (now Turkey)
(Benedictines).
Saint Nicetas the Confessor, Archbishop of Apollonias
in Bithynia, was noted for his profound knowledge of Holy Scripture,
and was a pious and kindly man. During the reign of the Iconoclast
emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820), the saint championed the veneration
of holy icons, and so was exiled and died in prison.
|
783 Blessed Remigius
of Strasburg bishop OSB B (AC)
Sometimes styled either a saint or a
beatae, Remigius was a son of Duke Hugh of Alsace and a nephew of
Saint Ottilien. He was
educated at Münster Abbey near Colmar, and later was its abbot.
In 776, Remigius was consecrated bishop
of Strasburg. Pope Leo IX authorized his feast for the abbey
of Münster (Benedictines).
|
796
St. John Sergius, & Companions monastery of St. Sabas
near Jerusalem martyred by a band of Arabs
A group of monks who resided in the laura, or an eremetical
monastery, of St. Sabas, near Jerusalem. They were martyred by a band
of Arabs who devastated the community. One of the wounded monks, named
Stephen, composed a poem in honor of the martyred and to commemorate
the event.
796 THE MARTYRS OF MAR SABA
THE story of the sufferings of the monks of Mar Saba,
between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, has been graphically told by one
of themselves, Stephen the Wonder-worker, known also as “the Poet”,
from the hymns which he composed. The Arabs had been devastating Palestine
for some time, burning monasteries as well as despoiling churches,
and the monks of the laura of St Sabas doubted whether to remain or
to fly. Coming to the conclusion that their home would assuredly be destroyed
if they left, they decided to remain, hoping that through their poverty
they might be spared. Soon afterwards a party of Arabs rode down from the
hills and, when some of the monks went forth to beg to be left in peace,
demanded money. In vain did the brethren assure them that they were pledged
to poverty and owned nothing. The new-comers drove them back into the
settlement, and followed them there to ransack their cells and church.
They could find nothing of value, and after desecrating the church and
burning some of the hermitages, they withdrew. About thirty of the monks
had been wounded, but Thomas, the leech, bound up their wounds. The monks
repaired the other damage as best they could and resumed their customary
life. A week later, as they were keeping their Saturday vigil in church,
an aged white-haired brother from the monastery of St Euthymius brought
a letter advising them that the marauders were about to return. In their
terror the hermits tried to find hiding-places, and Sergius, the sacristan,
concealed the sacred vessels—the only treasure which the laura possessed.
The marauders did not fail to reappear, and at once searched
for the monks, many of whom they drove from their hiding-places.
The first to suffer death was the sacristan, who had escaped, fearing
lest under torture he might reveal the place where he had secreted
the sacred vessels. When ordered to return he refused, and bared his
neck to the executioner’s sword. John, the hospitaller, they found
at the top of the hill, near the guest-house of which he had charge.
He was stoned, hamstrung and then dragged by
the feet over the rocks down into the church, where the Arabs hoped to
force him to disclose hidden valuables. They failed, but he was suffocated
with smoke as he lay there. Patricius tried to save those who were concealed
with him by giving himself up when the enemy discovered the entrance to
their hiding-place. He and others were then driven into a winding cavern
and the Arabs blocked up the entrance with thorns and brushwood, which
they set on fire. The dense smoke entered the cave, choking and blinding
the poor victims. At intervals their tormentors would summon them to come
out through the smouldering embers, question them, and drive them back.
They would then pile on more fuel. Finally, after having pillaged and burnt
the settlement and its church, they departed, taking with them everything
that was portable. Of the monks who had been driven into the cavern, eighteen
had died of suffocation and most of the others were at their last gasp.
The Greek narrative
is printed in full in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii.
See also Delehaye, Synax. Constant., p. 548, in which text the marauders are called “Ethiopians”.
|
797
St. Anastasius XVI Martyr and archimandrite, or superior, of St.
Sabas in Jerusalem.
The monks of St. Sabas were attacked by a band of brigands
who slew Anastasius and his company.
|
826 Saint Clement
of the Paris Schools (AC) monk of Saint Gall classical learning Blessed
Emperor Charlemagne held "the Irish in special esteem"
Switzerland possibly Notker Balbulus, reports that Irish
Saint Clement came with Albinus to France and announced in the market
that they had learning for sale at a time when classical learning
was all but forgotten in the West. Their price: food and shelter- -and
pupils.
Upon hearing this, Blessed Emperor Charlemagne,
who held "the Irish in special esteem" (according to Einhard), engaged
their services.
Albinus was sent to Pavia to head the
monastery of Saint Augustine, while he established Clement in his
Paris School. There Clement became one of the most famous scholars
of the Carolingian court. He succeeded Blessed Alcuin as the head of the
Paris Schools when the latter retired to the monastery at Tours.
Among those influenced by him was the future emperor, Lothair, who
was noted for his interest in the schools of Italy (D'Arcy, Gougaud,
Fitzpatrick, Kenney, Montague, O'Hanlon, Tommasini).
|
1042
St. William of Penacorada Benedictine founder
A monk in the monastery of Sathgun, in Leon, Spain, he
fled with companions from the house in 988 when the monastery was
under danger of Saracen attack.
They settled at Penacorada and
established the monastery of Santa Maria de los Valles, which was
later named San Guillermo de Penacorda.
William of Peñacorada,
OSB Hermit (AC). William was a monk of the Benedictine (Cluniac)
monastery of Satagún, León, Spain. In 998, he fled
with the other monks from the Saracens and settled in the solitude
of Peñacorada, where he eventually built the monastery of Santa
Maria de los Valles, later named after him San Guillermo de Peñacorada
(Benedictines).
|
1250 Blessed Evangelist
& Peregrinus friends endowed with similar miraculous gifts
OSA (AC)
Born in Verona, Italy; cultus approved
in 1837. Evangelist and Peregrinus shared everything from the time
that they became friends at schools. Together they joined the Augustinian
order.
Both were endowed with similar miraculous
gifts, and died within a few hours of each other (Attwater2, Benedictines).
1250 BD. EVANGELIST’
AND PEREGRINE
DURING their school days
in Verona, two boys, afterwards known as Evangelist and Peregrine,
struck up a friendship which was to last throughout their lives and
to extend beyond the grave. Both wished to give themselves to God
in religion, and whilst uncertain what order to enter, they were favoured
with a vision which led them to join a community of the Hermits of St
Augustine outside Verona.
Their conduct was exemplary, but the prior asked them one day why
they usually prayed out of doors, with their eyes fixed on the sky. They
replied that it was because they always saw our Lady there with her
divine Son and with St Anne, as they had appeared in the vision which
had brought them to join the hermits.
The supernatural favours
which they received, far from elating the two friends, only rendered
them the more humble, and they were always eager to perform the most
menial duties, as well as to do any good service to their brethren. They
were both of them endowed with the gift of healing, and cured the sick
people who came to them from all sides. Evangelist was warned by an angel
of his approaching death, and passed peacefully away while upon his knees.
Peregrine besought God that He would allow him to join his friend and,
as he prayed, Evangelist appeared to him in glory and assured him that
he was about to follow him. A few hours later he breathed his last, and
the two were buried in the same grave. Their cultus
was confirmed in 1837.
See the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. vi.
|
1287 Blessed
Ambrose Sansedoni a miracle when a baby distinctly
pronounced the sacred name of Jesus. At once, all deformity left him,
and he became a normal child. and reported at his tomb humble levitated
OP (RM)
Senis,
in Túscia, Beáti Ambrósii, ex Ordine Prædicatórum,
sanctitáte, prædicatióne et miráculis
clari.
1286 BD AMBROSE
OF SIENA
SIENA venerates on this day the memory of one of the
noblest of her sons, Ambrose Sansedoni. His parents belonged to
two of the most distinguished Sienese families, and his father, nicknamed
for his valour “Buonattaco”, was foremost in all schemes for the defence
of Christendom against the Moors. The boy was born with an abnormally
large head and apparently without having the use of his arms and legs.
One day, when his nurse had taken him to the Dominican church of St Mary
Magdalen, he was seen to struggle, and upon being extricated from the
swathing bands in which he was wrapped like a Della Robbia
bambino, it was found that his
limbs were as vigorous as those of any other child. Many instances of
his precocious piety are given by his biographers, and as he grew older
he developed a great devotion for the sick and poor, visiting the hospital
every Sunday and the prison every Friday.
At seventeen Ambrose
decided to join the Order of Preachers. His superiors were not
slow in recognizing his ability, and they sent him to Cologne, where
he had St Albert the Great as his master and St Thomas Aquinas
as a fellow student. So intelligent a pupil could not fail to make
progress under such a teacher, and before long he was besieged in
his cell by applicants asking for help in their difficulties. This popularity
was distasteful to him, and he besought his superiors to allow him to
retire into solitude. Having won their consent he withdrew from
public life—but not for long. Influential people urged the Dominicans
to recall him and to set him to preach. For three years he taught theology
in Paris, where the students crowded to his lectures. He was sent to
preach in Germany, France and Italy, and we are told that his sermons
seemed inspired. Sinners were converted and enemies settled their differences
amicably; some of his hearers declared that while he stood in the pulpit
they had seen the Holy Spirit descend upon his head in the form of a
dove.
Like many other Italian
saints, men and women, the eloquent friar did not confine his energies
to spiritual exhortations, but was called upon to take part in important
public affairs. By his persuasive words he managed to reconcile the
prince electors, who in their private quarrels were on the eve of kindling
civil war. He arrested a new heresy in Bohemia which was causing strange
disorder, and when charged by Bd Pope Gregory X to preach the
crusade he obtained a generous response to his appeals. Twice did he
reconcile with the Holy See the people of Siena, who, having taken the
part of Manfred, the bastard son of Frederic II, had been placed under
an interdict. Several writers assert that when Ambrose entered the consistory
to plead for his fellow-townsmen, his face was illuminated with so supernatural
a light that the pope exclaimed, “Father Ambrose, you need not explain
your mission; I grant whatever you wish”.
In spite of all the
important missions with which he was entrusted, and of the, success which
attended his efforts, Ambrose ever remained singularly humble.
The pope wished to make
him a bishop, but he never could be induced to consent, although
he filled the office of master of the sacred palace. After the death
of Gregory he sought retirement in one of the houses of his order. Here
he often swept out the church, the dormitories and the cloisters, and
never gave more than four hours to sleep. After Matins he prayed for
two hours in choir and studied the rest of the night until Prime. During
the forty-five years that he was a religious Ambrose ate meat once—out
of obedience—and on Fridays he took nothing but bread and water. Even
to old age he continued to preach, and his sermons lost none of their
fire and eloquence. At the beginning of Lent 1286, when preaching one day
against usury, he spoke with such vehemence that he broke a blood-vessel.
The following morning, as the haemorrhage had stopped, he tried to continue
his sermon, but the trouble began again, and it was evident that his days
were numbered. He died in his sixty-sixth year, and the cultus
which had been paid to him in Siena from the time of his
death was confirmed in 1622.
Ample materials for the biography of Bd Ambrose will be found
in Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii, and they include
a very interesting collection of contemporary testimonies to the numerous
miracles worked at his tomb. Departing from the usual practice, Pope
Clement VIII seems to have ordered his name to be inserted in
the Roman Martyrology before any
formal Canonization or confirmatio cultus had taken
place; but Baronius in his note upon this eulogium supplies a number of
references to Dominican and other writers who bore testimony to the
sanctity of Ambrose and the miracles he had worked. For a fuller bibliography
see Taurisano; Catalogus Hagiographicus OP., p.
22.
At Sienna
in Tuscany, blessed Ambrose of the Order of Preachers, celebrated
for sanctity, eloquence, and miracles.
(also known as Ambrose of Siena or Ambrose
Sassedoni) Born in Siena, Italy, in 1220; cultus confirmed in 1622.
Although his birth was attended by the prodigies also associated with
Blessed James of Bevagna (of Mevania)--that of three brilliant stars
bearing the image of a friar preacher--Ambrose Sansedoni got off to a
very bad start by the world's account. He was so badly deformed and so
ugly that his own mother could hardly bear to look at him.
He was given into the care of a nurse,
who daily took him with her to the Dominican church where she attended
Mass. Here it was remarked that the baby, who fretted most of the time,
was quiet and content when the nurse would hold him near the altar
of relics, and that he cried violently when taken away.
One day, as the nurse was kneeling there
with the baby's face covered with a scarf, a pilgrim approached and
said to her, "Do not cover that child's face. He will one day be the
glory of this city." A few days later, at this same altar, a miracle occurred.
The unfortunate child suddenly reached out his twisted limbs and quite
distinctly pronounced the sacred name of Jesus. At once, all deformity
left him, and he became a normal child.
So early marked with the favor of God,
it was only natural that Ambrose would be pious. As a child of seven
he would rise at night to pray and meditate, and he daily recited
the Little Office of
the Blessed Virgin. While still a child, he was charitable
to a heroic degree, and busied himself with the poor, the abandoned,
and the sick. When he was only two or three years old, his father, who
was an illuminator of books, made two little books for him. One was
on secular subjects, the other on the saints. Ambrose made no hesitation
about choosing the latter as his favorite, and throughout his life he
was to exhibit this same choice of the things of God.
Being a handsome and talented young
man, Ambrose was beset with difficulties when he expressed his intention
of becoming a member of the preaching friars. Parents and friends
tried to change his mind, and the devil appeared in several different
forms to counsel him against such a step. Ambrose courageously overcame
all the obstacles in his path and joined the friars on his 17th birthday.
After his profession in 1237, Ambrose
was sent to Paris to study
under Saint Albert
the Great. With his fellow pupil, Saint Thomas Aquinas, he returned
to Cologne with Saint Albert, and thus was associated for some years
with the two finest minds of the century. It is said that the humility
of Ambrose, and his recognition of the true greatness of Saint Thomas's
writings, led him to devote his time to preaching rather than writing.
He was sent on many peace-making missions during his 30 years of preaching,
and was highly regarded by both popes and Dominicans.
Despite a very active apostolate
of preaching in Germany, France, and Italy, Ambrose lived a life of almost
uninterrupted prayer. He was often in ecstasy, and, shortly before his death,
he was favored with several visions of great beauty. It is said that his
death was hastened by the vehemence of his preaching. Sometimes when he preached
he levitated and a circle of glory, in which birds of brilliant plumage flitted,
surrounded him. Many miracles were reported at his tomb, and he has been
popularly called "Saint Ambrose of Siena" since the time of his death (Benedictines,
Dorcy).
In art, Blessed Ambrose is a Dominican
with a dove at his ear (Roeder). He may also be represented as (1)
holding in his hand a model of his native Siena (Benedictines), (2)
holding a book, or (3) preaching (Roeder). Ambrose is the patron of betrothed
couples and especially venerated in Siena (Roeder).
|
1289 Bl. John of Parma
many miracles were soon reported at his tomb 7th minister
general of the Franciscans.
1289 BD JOHN OF
PARMA
JOHN BURALLI, the seventh minister general of the Franciscans,
was born at Parma in 1209, and he was already teaching logic there
when at the age of twenty-five he joined the Franciscans. He was sent
to Paris to prosecute his studies and, after he had been ordained,
to teach and to preach in Bologna, Naples and Rome. His eloquence drew
crowds to his sermons, and great personages flocked to listen to him.
It has been stated that in 1245, when Pope Innocent IV convoked
the first general council of Lyons, John was deputed to represent Crescentius,
the minister general, who owing to his infirmities was unable to attend,
but this is incorrect; the friar who went to the council was Bonaventure
of Isco. John, however, that same year journeyed to Paris to lecture
on the “Sentences” in the university, and in 1247 he was chosen minister
general of the order.
The work that lay before
him was exceedingly difficult, for many abuses and a spirit of strife
had crept in owing to the lax observance of Brother Elias. We are
fortunate in having a firsthand description of Bd John’s activities,
written by his fellow townsman Brother Salimbene, who was closely associated
with him for a long time. We learn that he was strong and robust, so
that he could bear great fatigue, of a sweet and smiling countenance,
with polished manners, and full of charity. He was the first among the
ministers general to visit the whole order, and he travelled always on
foot. Outside the friaries he would never allow his dignity to be known,
and he was so humble and unassuming that on coming to a house he often
helped the brothers to wash vegetables in the kitchen. A lover of silence
and recollection, he was never heard to utter an idle word, and when dying
he admitted that he would have more to answer for in respect of his silence
than of his speech.
He began his general
visitation with England, and when King Henry III heard that he
was at hand to pay his respects, he rose from table and came out of
doors to embrace the humble friar. In France John was at Sens visited
by St Louis IX who, on the eve of his departure for the crusades, came
to ask his prayers and blessing on the enterprise. The king, who arrived
in pilgrim guise, staff in hand, struck Brother Salimbene as looking
delicate and frail. He took food with the brothers in the refectory,
but could not persuade John of Parma to sit beside him. Burgundy and Provence
were next visited. At Arles, a friar from Parma, John of Ollis, came to
ask a favour. Would the minister deign to give to him and to Salimbene
a commission to preach? John, however, was not going to make favourites
of his compatriots. “Of a truth, if you were my blood-brothers”, he
replied, “you would not obtain that office from me without an examination.”
John of Ollis was not easily snubbed. “Then if we must be examined, will you call on Brother
Hugh to examine us?” Hugh of Digne, the former provincial, was actually
in the house. “No” said the minister promptly. “Brother Hugh is your friend
and he might spare you, but call hither the lecturer and tutor of the house.”
Brother Salimbene cannot resist telling us that he himself passed the
test, but that John of Ollis was sent back to do some more studies.
Soon after John of Parma’s
return from a mission as papal legate to the Eastern emperor, trouble
broke out in Paris, whither he had sent St Bonaventure, as one of
the greatest scholars of the Friars Minor. William of Saint-Amour, a
secular doctor of the university, had raised a storm against the mendicant
orders and attacked them in a scurrilous libel. Bd John went to Paris,
and is said to have addressed the university professors in terms so persuasive
and humble that all were moved, and the doctor who was to have replied
could only say, “Blessed alt thou, and blessed are thy words”. The storm
abated, and the minister general then applied himself to the restoration
of discipline. Even before he had gone to the East he had held a general
chapter at Metz, where measures were taken to secure the proper observance
of the rule and constitutions and to insist upon the Roman Missal and
Breviary being strictly adhered to. He obtained several papal bulls which
assisted him, and Pope Innocent IV bestowed on the order the convent of the
Ara Coeli in Rome, which became the residence of the minister general.
In spite of all his
efforts Blessed John met with bitter opposition, partly caused by his Joachimite
leanings. He became convinced that he was not capable of carrying
through the reforms which he felt were essential. Whether he acted
spontaneously or in obedience to pressure put upon him by the papal
curia is not clear, but he resigned office in Rome in 1257, and when
asked to nominate a successor chose St Bonaventure. The selection
was a happy one, and St Bonaventure is sometimes spoken of as the Second
Founder; but the way had been prepared for him by his predecessor’s firm
government. John now retired to the hermitage of Greccio, the place where
St Francis had prepared the first Christmas crib. He spent the last thirty
years of his life there in retirement from which he only emerged two
or three times when summoned by the pope. When, as a very old man of eighty,
he heard that the Greeks had relapsed into schism, he begged that he
might be allowed to go again to plead with them. He obtained the pope’s
consent and started off, but as he entered Camerino he realized he
was dying, and said to his companions, “This is the place of my rest”.
He went to his reward on March 19, 1289, and many miracles were soon
after reported at his tomb. His cultus was
approved in 1777.
John of Parma
played so considerable a part in the early developments of the troubles
which culminated in the Fraticelli revolt that his name figures more
or less prominently in a multitude of books dealing with the Franciscan
movement. Salimbene’s picture of him, even as transmitted through the
distorted medium of Dr Coulton’s From St Francis
to Dante, is unforgettable. Salimbene’s text is published
in MGH., Scriptores, vol. xxxii.
We have no ancient biography, but two or three modern ones in Italian,
notably by B. Affó (1777) and
by Luigi da Parma (1909). See also Leon, Aureole
Seraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i, pp. 493—512, and
Edouard d’Alençon in DTC., vol. viii, cc. 794—796. Although the
Joachimite Introductorius evangelii
aeterni was at one time attributed to John
of Parma, it certainly was not written by him but by Gerard of Borgo-San-Donnino;
and even the authorship of the Sacrum commercium
beati Francisci cum domina paupertate commonly assigned
to him is uncertain; see the critical edition of this latter brought out
by Edouard d’Alençon in 1900.
John Buralli, the seventh minister general
of the Franciscans, was born at Parma in the year 1209, and he was
already teaching logic there when at the age of twenty-five, he joined
the Franciscans. He was sent to Paris to study and, after he had been
ordained, to teach and preach in Bologna, Naples and Rome. He preached
so well that crowds of people came to hear his sermons, even very important
persons flocked to hear him.
In the year 1247, John was chosen Minister General of
the Order of Franciscans. He had a very difficult task because the
members of his community were not living up to their duties, due to
the poor leadership of Brother Elias. Brother Salimbene, a fellow townsman
who worked closely with John, kept an accurate record of Johns activities.
From this record, we learn that John was strong and robust, so that
he was always kind and pleasant no matter how tired he was. He was the
first among the Ministers General to visit the whole Order, and he traveled
always on foot. He was so humble that when he visited the different
houses of the Order, he would often help the Brother wash vegetables
in the kitchen.
He loved silence so that he could think of God and he
never spoke an idle word. When he began visiting the various houses
of his Order, he went to England first. When King Henry III heard that
John came to see him, the King went out to meet him and embraced the
humble Friar. When John was in France, he was visited by St. Louis IX who, on the eve of his departure
for the Crusades, came to ask John's prayers and blessing on his journey.
The next place John visited was Burgundy and Provence. At Arles, a friar
from Parma, John of Ollis, came to ask a favor. He asked John if he and
Brother Salimbene could be allowed to preach. John, however, did not
want to make favorites of his Brothers. He said, "even if you were my
blood brothers, I would not give you that permission without an examination."
John of Ollis then said, "Then if we must be examined, will you call on
Brother Hugh to examine us?" Hugh, the former provincial was in the house,
but since he was a friend of John of Ollis and Salimbene, he would not
allow it. Instead, he called the lecturer and tutor of the house. Brother
Salimbene passed the test, but John of Ollis was sent back to take more
studies.
Trouble broke out in Paris where John had sent St. Bonaventure who was one of the greatest
scholars of the Friars Minor. Blessed John went to Paris and was
so humble and persuasive that the University Doctor who had caused
the trouble, could only reply, "Blessed are you, and blessed are your
words". Then John went back to his work at restoring discipline to his
Order. Measures were taken to make sure the Friars obeyed the Rules of
the Order. In spite of all his efforts, Blessed John was bitterly opposed.
He became convinced that he was not capable of carrying out the reforms
that he felt was necessary. So he resigned his office and nominated St.
Bonaventure as his successor. John retired to the hermitage of Greccio,
the place where St. Francis
had prepared the first Christmas crib. He spent the last thirty years
of his life there in retirement. He died on March 19, 1289 and many miracles
were soon reported at his tomb.
Blessed John Buralli, OFM (AC) (also known as Blessed
John of Parma) Born in Parma, Italy, in 1209; died 1289; cultus approved
in 1777. After John was professed and ordained as a Franciscan, he
taught theology at Bologna and Naples. In 1247, he was elected the
7th minister general of the Franciscans and held the office for ten
years. He visited the Franciscan provinces of different countries,
including England, and went to Constantinople as papal legate. He lived
out his final 30 years in retirement at the hermitage of Greccio (Attwater2,
Benedictines).
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1336
Blessed Maurice Csaky earnest, pious priest gift of prophecy
miracles of healing were reported at his grave OP (PC) (also
known as Blessed Maurice of Hungary)
1336 BD MAURICE OF HUNGARY
MAURICE CSAKY
belonged to the royal Hungarian dynasty, his father being count
of Csak, but the exact place of his birth is not known. From childhood he
was seriously disposed, and loved to hear and read the lives of the saints,
and he wished to enter a monastery; but his aspirations were overruled,
and at the age of twenty he was married to the daughter of the Palatine
Prince Amadeus. His bride was in
every way worthy of him, and they were tenderly attached to each other
but after some years they agreed to part and to retire into the cloister.
Maurice chose the Order of Preachers, and entered the friary on the island
of St Margaret. The step taken by the young couple created a great sensation,
and Ladislaus, governor of Budapest, actually caused Maurice to be imprisoned
for five months to test his resolution. He emerged from captivity with
his intention unshaken, but his superiors in the order thought it wise
to transfer him from Hungary to Bologna. Later the young friar returned
to his own country as an emissary of peace. So eager was he to avert strife
that he would rush in between combatants and exhort them to come
to terms. When he was appointed sacristan he made this office an opportunity
for almost unbroken devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. A great love for
the poor was another characteristic of a singularly winning personality.
Maurice died at Raab and was buried in the monastery of Javarin.
A Latin Life
of Bd Maurice is printed by the Bollandists in the Acta
Sanctorum, March, vol. iii. See also F. Kaindl in
Archiv. österreichische Geschichte, vol.
xci (1902), Pp. 53—58. Although there seems never to have been any
formal beatification or confirmatio cultus, Bd
Maurice is, or at any rate was, honoured liturgically in his native
country.
Maurice, Prince of Hungary, was persecuted
by his father-in-law for his desire to remain in the Dominican Order.
He was born into the royal house of Hungary. There had been many heavenly
signs before his birth that he was to be an unusual favorite of God,
but for the first few years of his life he was so sickly that no one
believed he would survive. By the time he was five, he was a delicate,
dreamy child who played at saying Mass and leading family prayers. The
little chapel in his father's castle was his favorite haunt, and he was
always to be found there between sessions in the schoolroom.
When he was still quite small, an old
Dominican came one day to visit his parents, and took a great fancy
to the handsome little boy. He told the child the story of Saint Alexis, which greatly impressed
him. When Maurice knelt to ask the old priest's blessing, the Dominican
said prophetically, "This child will one day enter our holy Order
and will be one of its joys."
In spite of the several indications
that God had designs on Maurice, circumstances conspired against
him. His parents died when he was still quite young, leaving him immensely
wealthy and solely in charge of his father's estates. A brother, who
had entered the Dominican novitiate, died very young. Relatives prevailed
upon Maurice to marry. Against all his wishes, he did so.
However, he and his young wife, the
daughter of the Count of Palatine, made a vow of continence, and
both resolved to became Dominicans as soon as it was possible to dispose
of the estates. When his wife fled to the Isle of Margaret in the
Danube, and took the veil in Saint Margaret's convent, her father was
furious. He went in search of the young husband and found that he,
too, had gone to the Dominicans. He settled the matter in the forthright
fashion of the times by kidnapping Maurice and locking him in a tower.
Here, like another Thomas Aquinas,
the young novice settled down to wait until someone tired of the arrangement.
After three months of unfruitful punishment,
Maurice was released as incorrigible, and his relatives devoted their
attention to getting hold of his estates instead. He went happily
off to Bologna to complete his studies, where he remained for three
years.
For 32 years, Maurice ignored the throne
and the luxuries of the world to live in obscurity and poverty. The
picture of him left us by the chroniclers is an engaging one: an
earnest, pious priest who made no effort to capitalize on his birth
or social graces; a zealous addict of poverty, who managed, by a series
of sagacious trades, to have the oldest habit in the house and the
dreariest cell. He is said to have said the whole Psalter daily, plus
the Penitential Psalms, and the Litany of the Saints.
A number of curious stories are told
about him. Once, when he was staying with a Benedictine friend, the
friend noticed that he went in and out of locked doors with no trouble
at all, and that the rooms lighted up by themselves when he entered.
Maurice is supposed to have had the gift of prophecy. A relative of
his had cheated the sisters out of some property that Maurice had left
them. Maurice told him that the goods would be taken away from him, and
that another man, more generous, would give it back to the sisters. The
man died shortly thereafter, and the prophecy was fulfilled.
After Maurice's death
at least two miracles of healing were reported at his grave: one
was a cure from fever, another from blindness. Butler's Lives of
the Saints lists him as "Blessed Maurice" and he is still venerated
in Hungary, although his cultus has never been formally approved (Attwater2,
Benedictines, Dorcy).
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1497
Blessed Mark of Montegallo preaching and establishing charitable
pawnshops for the poor OFM (AC)
Born in Montegallo, diocese of Ascoli Piceno, in 1426;
died 1497. Blessed Mark became a physician and married, but later,
by mutual consent, both he and his wife joined the Franciscans. He
entered the order at Fabriano. Blessed Mark was ordained a priest
and travelled throughout Italy preaching and establishing charitable
pawnshops for the poor, known in Italy as Monti di Pietá (Attwater2,
Benedictines).
1497 BD MARK OF MONTEGALLO
THIS great promoter, if he was not the originator, of
those charitable loan-banks known as monti di pietà,
was born in the town of Santa Maria di Montegallo, in
the diocese of Ascoli. He studied with distinction at Perugia and Bologna,
and after qualifying as a doctor he married. Before long, however,
both he and his wife realized vocations to the religious life and separated
by mutual consent, she to become a Poor Clare at Ascoli and he to enter
a Franciscan community at Fabriano. Soon he was launched upon a preaching
and missionary career which was to last for forty years. Once, as he
knelt in prayer, a voice had murmured in his ear: “Brother Mark, preach
love”, and love had become his favourite theme as he tramped up and down
the country from Sicily to the valley of the Po. He seemed absolutely
indefatigable in his zeal for souls, and often combined the healing
of their bodies with that of their consciences.
Out of compassion for
the poor who fell into the clutches of usurers Mark established houses
where the impoverished could borrow the money they needed on very
small security, and sometimes on no security at all. To found one
such bank in Vicenza he preached with such eloquence that the money
required was collected in one day, and the office was built and launched
within a year.
Pitiful and kind as
Bd Mark was to others, he was merciless to himself. Even on his journeys
he omitted nothing of the scourgings, night-watches and mortifications he
practised in the friary. Dawn often found him deep in prayer which had begun
at midnight. At Camerino, where the plague was rife, he prophesied the cessation
of the pestilence if the people would repent. Believing his words they crowded
to the tribunal of penance, confessing their sins, and the scourge was stayed.
Besides the house at Vicenza, other loan-banks and hostels were
started at Bd Mark’s instigation, notably one at Fabriano which a
friend of his built, and another at Perugia, founded by St James of
the Marches. When he lay dying at Vicenza he asked that the Passion
should be read to him, and as the reader pronounced the words, “It is
consummated”, he breathed his last. In some Italian cities Bd Mark of
Montegallo was called “A new star of love”, and the description seemed
singularly appropriate to one who was all aglow with the fire of charity.
See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii, where
the Bollandists have printed extracts from Wadding’s Annales together with a rhythmical Latin
eulogy written by a contemporary. Cf. Leon,
Aureole Séraphique (Eng.
trans.), vol. i, p. 530.
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1516 Blessed John Baptist
Spagnuolo profound gift of counsel 50,000 lines of Latin verse eminent
representatives of Christian Humanism in Italy, on the day of his burial,
and a number of miracles, ascribed to his intercession, established
his cultus immediately after
his death. He was beatified in 1885. OC (AC)
(also known as Baptista Mantuanus, Baptista Spagnuolo)
Born in Mantua, Italy, in 1448; died 1516; beatified in 1885.
1516 BD BAPTIST
OF MANTUA
BD BAPTIST came of a Spanish family on his father’s side,
but his mother was a native of Brescia in northern Italy, and he
himself was born at Mantua. Because of his ancestry he, like his father,
was known by the nickname, or possibly the surname, of Spagnuolo—the
Spaniard. As a child he displayed great ability, and while still young
he received a good grounding in philosophy and rhetoric. There were
irregularities in his youth which led to trouble at home; but in the
end Baptist felt himself called to the religious life, and he joined
the Carmelite community at Ferrara. From the outset he sought
to follow the path of perfection, but he also devoted himself to literature
and sacred science with such success that in his Latin composition and
verse he was accounted the equal of the most famous humanists of the age.
God bestowed on him in a remarkable degree the gift of counsel, which
was widely recognized, especially among the Carmelites of Mantua, by whom
he was six times re-elected vicar general of the Reform. It was not
only in the cloister that he gave inspiration and help, but he endeared
himself to many people living in the world, and to the poor and destitute
to whom he was a father.
Princes and popes held
him in the utmost esteem, partly for his scholarship and partly for
the tact he displayed in dealing with delicate negotiations. When away
from his convent and in secular surroundings never did he abate any
of the rules of his order or depart from that poverty to which he had
pledged himself; on several occasions he was visited with illness when
a little relaxation would have been permissible, yet he continued all
his customary mortifications and practices of devotion in spite of
ill-health.
Sorely against his wish
Bd Baptist was elected prior general of the Carmelite Order, but
the special command of the pope was required before he could be induced
to accept the office. In spite of his humble opinion of his own capacities,
he proved himself a most able and exemplary superior. He had a great
devotion to our Lady and lost no opportunity of extolling her and extending
her veneration. His incredibly vast output of Latin verse (55,000 lines)
was nearly all animated by some religious purpose. He glorified the marvels
of Loreto and sang of the feasts of the Church, desiring above all things
to prove that good literature need not necessarily be associated with
paganism. His fellow-townsmen of Mantua thought so highly of his merits
as a poet that they set up a bust of him in rivalry with that of Virgil.
Baptist dedicated one of his longest effusions to that great connoisseur
of letters, Pope Leo X, but he did not hesitate to
tell him that one of the gravest needs of the time was the reform of the
Roman curia, “which was infected by a deep corruption disseminating poison
throughout all countries”.
“Help, holy father Leo”, the poet exclaimed, “for Christendom
is nigh its fall.”
Returning to Mantua
at the end of his days, Baptist endured with exemplary patience a painful
illness, to which he succumbed, passing peacefully to his eternal reward
in the spring of 1516. The whole city turned out to honour him on the day of his burial, and a number of miracles, ascribed to his
intercession, established his cultus immediately
after his death. He was beatified in 1885.
See F. Ambrosio,
De rebus gestis ... Baptistae
Mantuani (1784) G. Fanucci, Della vita
di Battista Spagnoli (1887); Villiers, Bibliotheca
Carmelitana, i, pp. 2 17—240 B. Zimmerman, Monumenta Historica Carmelitana (1907), pp. 261 and 483—504,
where several interesting letters of Bd Baptist are printed.
Cf. also Pastor, History of
the Popes, vol. viii, pp. 204—207.
Usually called Baptista Mantuanus, his
family name Spagnuolo denotes his Spanish origin. He was, however,
born in Mantua and studied in Padua. In 1464, he joined the Carmelites.
His gift of counsel was so profound that he was elected vicar general
of Mantua six consecutive times by his friars, and, in 1513, elected
prior-general of the order. He is famous as a Latin poet, having written
over 50,000 lines of Latin verse, and is considered one of the most eminent
representatives of Christian Humanism in Italy (Attwater2, Benedictines).
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1567 St. Salvator
of Horta known for his asceticism, humility and simplicity healed
the sick with the Sign of the Cross
b. 1520 A reputation for
holiness does have some drawbacks. Public recognition can be a nuisance
at times—as the confreres of Salvator found out.
Salvator was born during Spain’s Golden
Age. Art, politics and wealth were flourishing. So was religion.
Ignatius of Loyola founded
the Society
of Jesus in 1540.
Salvator’s parents were
poor. At the age of 21 he entered the Franciscans as a brother and
was soon known for his asceticism, humility and simplicity.
As cook, porter and later the official
beggar for the friars in Tortosa, he became well known for his charity.
He healed the sick with the Sign of the Cross. When crowds of sick
people began coming to the friary to see Salvator, the friars transferred
him to Horta. Again the sick flocked to ask his intercession; one person
estimated that two thousand people a week came to see Salvator.
He told them to examine their consciences,
to go to confession and to receive Holy Communion worthily.
He refused to pray for
those who would not receive those sacraments.
The public attention given to Salvator
was relentless. The crowds would sometimes tear off pieces of his
habit as relics. Two years before his death, Salvator was moved again,
this time to Cagliari on the island of Sardinia. He died at Cagliari saying,
"Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." He was canonized in 1938.
Comment: Medical science is now
seeing more clearly the relation of some diseases to one’s emotional
and spiritual life. In Healing Life’s Hurts, Matthew and Dennis Linn
report that sometimes people experience relief from illness only when
they have decided to forgive others. Salvator prayed that people might
be healed, and many were. Surely not all diseases can be treated this
way; medical help should not be abandoned. But notice that Salvator
urged his petitioners to reestablish their priorities in life before
they asked for healing.
Quote: "Then Jesus summoned his
twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to
cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness" (Matthew
10:1).
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1612 Saint
Euphrosynus of Blue Jay Lake incorrupt relics "We vowed to live and
die in the wilderness. We must be faithful to our word, given before
the Lord. In such a case, death results in peace"
in the world Ephraim, born in
Karelia near Lake Ladoga in the second half of the sixteenth century.
In his youth he lived near the Valaamo monastery, and later he moved
to Novgorod the Great. After he spent some time there, the saint then
withdrew to one of the Novgorod outskirts, the Bezhetsk "pentary" [one
fifth of the "Pyatiny Novgorodskiya," comprising five outlying districts
of Novgorod the Great].
He became helper at church services
in the village of Doloska, twenty versts from the city of Ustiuzhna
of Zhelezopolska. He was tonsured at the Tikhvin Dormition monastery.
Unexpectedly, people from
neighboring villages found him, and they began coming to him for
guidance, and several remained to live with him. In 1612, when Polish
military detachments were laying waste to Russia, many people were
saved by hiding at his wilderness monastery.
St Euphrosynus predicted that the Poles
would come into this wilderness, and he advised everyone to flee.
Many did not believe him. "Why then don't you leave this place yourself?"
they asked. The Elder replied, "I have come here to die for Christ."
Those who obeyed the saint and left
the monastery were spared, but all those who stayed died a horrible
death.
St Jonah had also been one of the inhabitants
of the monastery. Terrified by the prediction of St Euphrosynus,
he wanted to flee with the others.
But St Euphrosynus held him back, inspiring
the monk with zeal for the house of God and a readiness to remain
in the monastery until his death.
"Brother Jonah," said St
Euphrosynus, "why this cowardly fear in your soul? When the battle begins,
then courage must be shown. We vowed to live and die in the wilderness.
We must be faithful to our word, given before the Lord. In such a
case, death results in peace. It is another matter for the laity. They
are not bound by their word, and they must spare themselves for the sake
of their children."
After this St Euphrosynus dressed himself
in the schema, and spent the whole night in prayer. On the following
day, March 20, Polish forces fell upon the monastery.
Attired as a schemamonk, the saint emerged
from his cell and stood with upraised cross. The enemy said to him,
"Old man, give us the monastery's valuables."
"All my possessions, and
those of this monastery, are in the church of the All-Pure Mother
of God," he replied. He was referring to spiritual treasures which
cannot be stolen. Not understanding this, the thugs rushed to the church,
and one of them drew a sword and struck St Euphrosynus on the neck. His
neck was cut half way through, and the holy Elder fell to the ground dead.
When the Poles returned, angered that they had found nothing in the church,
one of them struck the saint's head with an axe. St Jonah also perished
in the attack.
A certain pious Christian, Ioann Suma,
had also stayed at the monastery with the monks. When the Poles burst
onto the scene, he was in the saint's cell.
Despite the grievous wounds he received
from these ruffians, Ioann remained alive, but unconscious. After
the departure of the Poles, he regained his senses and told his son
Emilian what had transpired.
The nearby inhabitants
learned from them about the destruction of the monastery and the
martyric death of St Euphrosynus. The saint's body was reverently
buried on March 28. On this same day they also buried St Jonah and all
the others who had perished under the sword.
Thirty-four years after the death of
the saint, a new church was built by a certain Moses, and dedicated
to the Most Holy Trinity. With the blessing of Metropolitan Macarius
of Novgorod, the incorrupt relics of St Euphrosynus were transferred
to a new reliquary beneath the belfry on March 25, 1655.
St Euphrosynus was glorified by the
Russian Orthodox Church on June 29, 1912.
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1619 Blessed Hippolytus
Galantini From age 12 assisted priests in teaching children catechism
(AC)
Born in Florence, Italy, in 1565; died
1619; beatified in 1825. Hippolytus was a silk-weaver by trade. From
age 12 he assisted the priests in teaching children their catechism.
This practice was imitated by others,
whom Bless Hippolytus formed into the congregation of Italian Doctrinarians,
which soon spread throughout Italy (Attwater2, Benedictines).
1619 BD HIPPOLYTUS GALANTINI
HIPPOLYTUS GALANTINI
was one of those who have attained to great holiness amid the cares
of a secular life. The son of a worthy Florentine silk-weaver, he
learnt and followed his father’s trade, by which he earned his living.
He was only twelve years old when he attracted the notice of Archbishop
Alexander de’ Medici— afterwards Pope Leo XI—who
allowed him to help the priests in instructing children. He would fain
have entered a religious order, but was debarred by ill-health, and adopted
in his father’s house a rule of life which was a counterpart of that
of the cloister. By fasts, scourgings and long night-watches he obtained
complete mastery over rebellious nature, and acquired a spiritual discernment
which more than compensated for his lack of secular education. Without influence,
without money and without book-learning Hippolytus succeeded in founding
a secular institute devoted to teaching the main principles of religion
and Christian duty to ignorant children of both sexes and even to uninstructed
adults. For his associates he composed a rule about the year 1602, and
his example inspired others all over Italy to imitate his work. The Institute
of Christian Doctrine was the name given to the congregation thus founded,
but they were popularly known as the “Vanchetoni”. Hippolytus had only
reached the age of fifty-five when he was seized with a painful and serious
illness which proved fatal. His sufferings were alleviated by celestial
visions, and he passed away whilst kissing a picture of his crucified Lord.
His name is still greatly venerated in Tuscany and among the Franciscans,
who reckon him as one of their tertiaries. He was beatified in 1824.
See D. A. Marsella,
De B. Hippolyto Galantinio (1826) Moroni,
Dizionario di erudizione, vol. xx, pp. 262 seq., and xxxvi, 75—77 Léon, Auréole
Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i, pp. 513—5 16.
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|
2024
Saint_Photina the Samaritan Woman
Christian
council
held
at
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.