66 Saint
Evellius
of Pisa counsellor to Nero convert upon witnessing patience of
martyrs M (RM)
Ibídem sancti Evéllii Mártyris, qui, cum esset de
família Nerónis, ad
passiónem sancti Torpétis in Christum crédidit,
pro quo et decollátus
est.
In the same place, St. Evelius, martyr, who
belonged to the
household of Nero. By witnessing the martyrdom of St. Torpes, he
also
believed in Christ, and for him was beheaded.
Saint Evellius, reportedly a counsellor to Nero, converted to
Christianity upon witnessing the patience of the martyrs. He was
himself martyred at Pisa, Italy (Benedictines). |
Departure of St.
Jason,
one of the Seventy disciples accompanied St. Paul Acts 17:9) ordained
bishop by St. Paul over Tarsus God performed through him many miracles
and signs
On this day St. Jason, one of the seventy disciples who were
chosen by
the Lord, departed. He ministered with the disciples before the passion
of the Savior, and performed many signs and wonders. Then he was
supported by the grace and power on the day of Pentecost.
He was born in Tarsus, and was the first to believe from
this city. He
accompanied St. Paul on his evangelical missions, and journeyed with
him to many countries. He was arrested with St. Paul and Silas in
Thesalonica, and when they had taken security from Jason and the rest,
they let them go. (Acts 17:9)
He was ordained bishop by St. Paul over Tarsus where he
shepherded the
church of Christ with the best of care. He preached the Gospel also in
the city of Korkiras, many believed on his hands and he baptized them.
He built for them a church in the name of St. Stephen the Archdeacon.
When the Governor of the city knew about this, he arrested
him and
imprisoned him. He met seven thieves in the prison, taught them the
faith and baptized them. They confessed their faith in the Lord Christ
openly before the Governor who put them in a caldron filled with tar
and sulphur, they departed and were granted the crown of martyrdom.
Then, the Governor brought St. Jason from the prison, and
tortured him
with much torture but he was not harmed. The daughter of the Governor
watched this torture from her window and she believed in the Lord
Christ, the God of St. Jason. She took off her jewelry and ornaments
and distributed them among the poor, and confessed that she was
Christian and believed in the God of Jason. Her father became angry, he
threw her in prison, and ordered to throw arrows at her. She gave up
her pure spirit in the hand of Christ whom she loved.
The Governor sent St. Jason to one of the islands to be
tortured there.
He took a boat with some soldiers to this island, and God drowned them
all and saved St. Jason, who continued to teach and preach for many
years until another Governor was installed. The new Governor brought
him and the Christians who were with him, and tortured them much. When
the Governor saw that his torture did not harm their bodies, he and all
those in his city also believed in the Lord Christ Who only Has the
power to protect His chosen one. The Saint baptized them all, taught
them the commandments of the Gospel, and built for them churches.
God performed through him many
miracles and signs. He departed in a good old age. May his prayers be
with us. Amen.
|
251 St.
Anastasius
VII Martyr convert to
Christ tribune in the Roman
army martyred w/family & servants Theopista, Esodes, Aradius,
Calistus, Felix, Euphemia und Primitiva
He was a tribune in the Roman
army in the reign of Decius.
Forced to torture Christians as
part of the imperial persecution of the faithful, Anastasius was
impressed by their courage and loyalty. He became a convert, and when
his Christian faith was discovered he and his family, as well as all of
his servants, were beheaded.
Anastasius and Companions MM (RM) Died 251. We honor two SS Anastasius
today. This one was a tribune in the army of Emperor Decius. He
converted to Christianity upon witnessing the courage of the martyrs he
tortured to death in his capacity as tribune. A few days after his
conversion, he was arrested and beheaded with all his family and
servants. Their relics now lie in Camerino, Italy (Benedictines). |
 295
Saint
Mocius a presbyter in Macedonia in the city of Amphipolis miracles from
God created Christians from pagans seeing them
Mokios_and_Argyros_of_Seleuneia
During a persecution
against Christians under the emperor Diocletian
(284-305), St Mocius exhorted pagans assembled for the pagan festival
of Dionysus (Bacchus), to abandon iniquity and the vile customs, which
accompanied this celebration. He urged them to repent and be converted
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and be cleansed through holy Baptism.
The saint was brought to trial
before the governor of Laodicea.
When threatened with
torture, he replied, "My death for Christ is a
great accomplishment for me." St Mocius was subjected to torture, which
he bore with marvelous endurance, and did not cease to denounce the
idol-worshippers.
Taken to the pagan temple of
Dionysus, the saint shattered the idols when he called upon Jesus
Christ.
After this he was put into
a red-hot oven, where he remained unharmed,
but the flames coming out of the oven scorched the governor.
Again the commander subjected St Mocius to fierce torture,
which he
endured with the help of God. He was given to wild beasts to be eaten,
but they did not touch him. The lions lay down at his feet. The people,
seeing such miracles, urged that the saint be set free. The governor
ordered the saint to be sent to the city of Perinth, and from there to
Byzantium, where St Mocius was executed.
Before his death he gave thanks to the Lord for giving him
the strength
to persevere to the very end. His last words were, "Lord, receive my
spirit in peace." Then he was beheaded. St Mocius died about the year
295. Emperor Constantine built a church in honor of the hieromartyr
Mocius and transferred his holy passion-bearing relics into it.
Mokios Orthodoxe Kirche: 11. Mai Katholische
Kirche: 13. Mai
Mokios lebte unter Kaiser Diokletian (284-305) in Amphipolis
(Mazedonien). Während eines Dionysosfestes rief er die Heiden auf,
sich zu bekehren. Er wurde daraufhin gefangengenommen und gefoltert. Da
er alle Folterungen unbeschadet überstand, sandte ihn der
Gouverneur nach Konstantinopel. Hier wurde Mokios um 295 (oder 304)
geköpft. Kaiser Konstantin ließ eine Kirche zu seiner Ehre
erbauen und seine Gebeine dort beisetzen.
|
303 St.
Anthimus Priest rescued by an
angel then martyr of Rome led
the Church in Rome converting
many
Romæ, via
Salária, natális beáti
Anthimi Presbyteri, qui, post virtútum et
prædicatiónis insígnia, in
persecutióne Diocletiáni, in Tíberim
præcipitátus, et ab Angelo exínde
eréptus, oratório próprio restitútus est;
deínde, cápite punítus,
victor migrávit ad cælos.
At Rome, on the Salarian Way, the birthday of
blessed Anthimus,
priest, who, after having distinguished himself by his virtues and
preaching, was cast into the Tiber during the persecution of
Diocletian. He was rescued by an angel and restored to his
oratory.
Afterwards he was beheaded, and went victoriously to heaven.
Anthimus is not well
known. He is reported to have led the Church in Rome, converting many.
One of his converts, a Roman prefect, brought Anthimus to the attention
of the authorities. He was arrested and condemned to death by drowning.
Miraculously saved, Anthimus escaped briefly but was recaptured and
beheaded.
Saint Anthimus, a Roman priest, is said to have converted the pagan
husband of a Christian matron named Lucina, who was well-known for her
charity to imprisoned Christians. Saint Anthimus was thrown into the
Tiber, miraculously rescued by an angel, later recaptured, and beheaded
(Benedictines). |
304 Sisinius,
Diocletius, & Florentius stoned to death at the same time as the
better known Roman priest, Saint Anthimus MM (RM)
Auximi, in Picéno, sanctórum Mártyrum
Sisínii Diáconi, Dioclétii et
Floréntii, discipulórum sancti Anthimi Presbyteri; qui,
sub
Diocletiáno, lapídibus óbruti, martyrium
complevérunt.
At Osimo in Piceno, the holy martyrs
Sisinius, a deacon,
Diocletius and Florentius, disciples of the priest St. Anthimus, whose
martyrdom was completed under Diocletian by their being stoned.
Died at Osimo, near Ancona, Italy. These three suffered
martyrdom under
Diocletian. They were stoned to death at the same time as the better
known Roman priest, Saint Anthimus (Benedictines). |
304 St.
Maximus Martyr of Rome with Bassus and Fabius
Item Romæ sanctórum Mártyrum Máximi, Bassi
et Fábii; qui sub Diocletiáno, via Salária,
cæsi sunt.
Also at Rome, on the Salarian Way, the holy
martyrs Maximus,
Bassus, and Fabius, who were put to death during the reign of
Diocletian.
No details of
their sufferings under Emperor Diocletian are available
Maximus, Bassus, and Fabius MM (RM) Died 304. Romans martryed under
Diocletian (Benedictines). |
305 St.
Otimus Departure of the Priest martyred God revealed many
miracles in Church where he was buried after persecutions ceased
On this day also, St. Otimus the priest was martyred. He was born in
Fowwa, and because of his righteousness, he was ordained a priest for
his city. He taught and confirmed the faithful in the faith.
Afterwards, he moved to mount Ansena. When Emperor Diocletian incited
the persecution against the Christians, the account of this Saint
reached Arianus the governor of Ansena. He brought him and offered him
to worship the idols, and the Saint did not hearken to his orders. He
tortured him much, but the Lord strengthened him. When the Governor
became weary of his torturing, he ordered him to be burned. He was
burned and received the crown of martyrdom.
His body was taken by a God fearing priest, who shrouded the body and
hid it in a place until the end of the time of persecution. They built
him a church where God revealed many miracles. It is believed that his
body still exists in the city of Kalabsha near El-Santa. May his
prayers be with us. Amen.
|
330
CONSTANTINOPLE was placed under the protection of the Most Holy
Theotokos
In 324 the holy Emperor Constantine (May 21) decided that
the imperial
capital had to be closer to the Eastern provinces, and yet have direct
communication with the West. The city of Byzantium fulfilled these
requirements, and on November 8, 324 the site of the new capital was
consecrated.
Tradition tells us that the Emperor was tracing the
boundaries of the
city with a spear, when his courtiers became astonished by the
magnitude of the new dimensions of the capital. "Lord," they asked,
"how long will you keep going?"
Constantine replied, "I
shall keep going until the one who walks
ahead of me stops."
 Then they understood
that the emperor was being guided by some divine power. There is an
iconographic sketch by Rallis Kopsides showing an angel of the Lord
going before St Constantine as he traces the new boundaries of the
city.
Construction of the main buildings was begun in 325, and
pagan
monuments from Rome, Athens, and other cities were used to beautify the
new capital. The need for the new city is partially explained by the
changing requirements of government, the Germanic invasion of the West,
and commercial benefits, but the new city was also to be a Christian
capital. For this, a new foundation was required.
In 330, the work had progressed to the point where it was
possible for
Constantine to dedicate the new capital. The dedication took place on
May 11, followed by forty days of joyous celebration. Christian
Constantinople was placed under the protection of the Most Holy
Theotokos, and overshadowed pagan Byzantium.
St Constantine was the first
Emperor to submit voluntarily to Christ, and Constantinople became the
symbol of a Christian Empire which lasted for a thousand years.
|
300 St. Anastasius VI of Lérida (AC)
Patron saint of Lerida, Spain
Cameríni sanctórum Mártyrum Anastásii et
Sociórum; qui, in persecutióne Décii, sub
Antíocho Prǽside, cæsi sunt.
At Camerino, the holy martyrs Anastasius and his
companions who
were killed in the persecution of Decius, under the governor Antiochus.
Patron saint of Lerida, Spain.
Anastasius' life is not documented, though he could have been
any one of the martyred men of that name venerated by the Church.
Leridans, however, believe
that
their patron was born in the city.
Anastasius of Lérida (AC) The
people of
Lérida, Spain, insist that their patron was a native of this
Catalonian town. It is, however, unknown with which of the many
Anastasii martyrs he should be identified (Benedictines). Saint
Anastasius represented as young man hung on a gibbet pierced
with arrows. He is venerated at Lérida, Spain (Roeder). |
420 Saint
Principia
of Rome one of the holy women a Roman virginV (AC)
Saint Principia was one of the holy women, a Roman virgin, who
surrounded Saint Marcella(Died
August 410. Saint Marcella met Saint Athanasius when she was a child). |
475
St. Mamertius Archbishop of
Vienne originator of the
penitential practice of abrogation days known for his learning
Viénnæ, in
Gállia, sancti Mamérti
Epíscopi, qui, ob imminéntem cladem,
solémnes ante Ascensiónem Dómini triduánas
in ea urbe Litanías
instítuit; quem ritum póstea universális
Ecclésia recípiens comprobávit.
At
Vienne in France, St. Mamertus, bishop, who, to avert an
impending calamity, instituted in that city the three days' Litanies
immediately before the Ascension of our Lord. This rite was
afterwards
received and approved by the universal Church.
475 ST MAMERTUS, BISHOP OF
VIENNE his institution of the penitential processions on what we now
call the Rogation Days, the three days preceding the feast of the
Ascension
WE do not know much about the life of St Mamertus. He was
the elder brother of Claudian, the poet, author of De statu animae,
whom he ordained priest, and both brothers seem to have enjoyed a
deserved reputation for learning as well as piety. In 463 trouble arose
in connection with the consecration of a bishop to the see of Die,
which Pope St Leo I not long before had transferred from the province
of Vienne to that of Arles. It was complained to Pope St Hilarus that
Mamertus, without justification, had consecrated a new bishop for Die.
A council of bishops was held at Arles to inquire into the matter and a
report was sent to Rome. Though Hilarus wrote rather severely and
declared that Mamertus deserved to be deposed for his usurpation, no
change was, in fact, made, and the new bishop of Die was allowed to
retain his see after confirmation from Arles. Somewhat later than this
we learn that Mamertus translated to Vienne the remains of the martyr
Ferreolus, who had been put to death in that part of the country a
century or two earlier. But that which more than anything else has made
the name of St Mamertus well known in ecclesiastical history is his
institution of the penitential processions on what we now call the
Rogation Days, the three days preceding the feast of the Ascension.
These are the Litaniae Snores, which in the time of Pope St Leo III
(795—816) were adopted in Rome itself, Frankish influence, under the
Emperor Charlemagne, thus making itself felt throughout the whole of
western Christendom.
That St Mamertus was the real author of the Rogation
processions is proved by an abundance of early testimony. We have a
letter addressed to him by St Sidonius Apollinaris, in which he speaks
of these supplications which the bishop had instituted and which had
proved so efficacious a remedy in the panic which had seized upon the
populace. He enlarges at the same time on the courage this shepherd of
his people had shown by standing his ground when others were taking to
flight. St Avitus, who himself became bishop of Vienne only fifteen
years after Mamertus’s death, and who as a child had received baptism
at his hands, preached a homily, still preserved to us, on one of the
occasions when the Rogation processions came round. From him we learn
in some detail of the tribulations with which the country had been
afflicted at the time of their institution. He speaks of earthquake, of
repeated conflagrations and of the wild deer taking refuge in the busy
haunts of men. Very naturally, according to the ideas of the period, St
Mamertus had interpreted these calamities as the judgement of God upon
the sins of the people, and the remedy he proposed was entirely of a
penitential character. He obliged all to fast, and to join in a long
procession of young and old during which many psalms were sung. The
example set at Vienne was almost immediately followed in other parts of
France, and in time became universal in the West. At the first Council
of Orleans, held in 511, the twenty-seventh decree prescribes that all
churches are to celebrate these Rogation days before the feast of the
Ascension. A strict fast is to be kept on all three days as in the time
of Lent, and no work is to be done, even by those of servile condition,
in order that they may be free to be present in church and take part in
the processions in particular all clerics who absent themselves from
these offices are to be punished as the bishop may direct. From the
writings of contemporaries, or of such historians as St Gregory of
Tours, it is clear that Mamertus was looked upon not only as a holy and
self-sacrificing pastor of souls, but also as a leader who possessed
both tact and courage. St Avitus in his homily is full of admiration
for the sound judgement he displayed in reconciling both the secular
officials and the people to an observance which imposed so heavy a tax
upon their good will.
In the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. ii, nearly all the early
references to
St Mamertus
will be found collected. As to the Rogation Days, see K. A. Kellner, Heortology, pp. 189—594 but Edmund
Bishop does well to point out (Liturgica
Historica, pp. 128—130) that we
must be on our guard against attaching to the word “litanies” as used
in
connection with the Rogations, the meaning which it bears now. “So far
as I can
read”, he says, “there is no indication whatever that litanies were at
the
first institution sung on these three days at all.” “In a word” he
adds, “so
far as the original testimonies go, the substance of the devotion of
the
Rogations was psalm-singing, with, perhaps, the prayers or collects
which in
some quarters accompanied the singing of psalms.” Cf. also
Abbot Cabrol’s article “Litanies”, in DAC., as well as
what has previously been said herein under February 2 (Candlemas) and
April 25
(St Mark).
France, from 461
until his death, the originator of the
penitential practice of abrogation days. This practice is marked by
processions and Psalms for the three days
preceding the feast of the Ascension. Mamertius, also listed as
Mamertus, was known for his learning.
475
Mamertus of Vienne B (RM) (also known as Mamertius, Mammertus)
Mamertus of Vienne was responsible for the litanies and processions
that once marked the Rogation days of spring, the three days before
Ascension Day when solemn intercession was made for God's blessing on
the crops and other fruit of the earth. "Bless all farmers in all their
labors, and grant such seasonable weather that they may gather the
fruits of the earth and ever rejoice in Your goodness, to the praise of
Your holy Name."
Mamertus, the elder brother of the poet Claudian, lived in
France, was
known for his erudition, and was bishop of Vienne from 461 to 475. In
463, he was censured by Rome for consecrating, without the authority to
do so, a new bishop of Die, which had been transferred to the
jurisdiction of Arles; but no papal action seems to have been taken in
the matter.
During his episcopate the Goths invaded Gaul. The
countryside never
seemed free from the perils of the enemy, as well as from natural
dangers of pestilence, forest fires, and prowling wolves and bears, and
when every night brought its unknown fears and each day was threatened
with calamity.
During this period of catastrophe, Mamertus spent his days
prostrate
before the altar beseeching God to help his stricken people and
tirelessly visiting his flock to comfort them in their distress. As a
result of his prolonged vigils, he conceived the idea of an annual
procession and litany, called a Rogation, to take place every spring,
in which the whole community would together intercede with God to have
mercy on His people and to bless their crops throughout the year.
He made this decision one Easter night as he watched before
the altar,
when there came through the windows of the darkened church the lurid
reflection of flames from a fresh fire threatening to overwhelm Vienne.
In that hour of fearful conflagration, for it was the worst of all the
fires the village had known, he prayed to God to have pity. When he
next preached to his flock, he set forth his plan.
"We shall pray to
God," he said, "that He will turn away the plagues from us, and
preserve us from all ill, from hail and drought, fire and pestilence,
and from the fury of our enemies; to give us favorable seasons, that
our land may be fertile, good weather and good health, and that we may
have peace and tranquility, and obtain pardon for our sins."
Thus, out
of that night of fire and storm came the custom of Rogationtide
(Benedictines, Delaney, Gill).
In art, Saint Mamertius is shown as an archbishop walking in
a
procession with a lighted candle because he was the originator of
Rogation Days (Roeder).
|
485 Possessor of
Verdun Bishop Franks, Vandals, Goths, and others affected his
flock B (AC)
Possessor, magistrate of Verdun, was consecrated its bishop in 470. He
and his flock were greatly affected by the barbarian invasions as they
passed through in waves: Franks, Vandals, Goths, and other
(Benedictines). |
5th
v. St.
Tudy 5th century Abbot erernetic native
of Brittany disciple of St. Brioc preached in Cornwall
also called Tegwin and Tudinus. A native
of Brittany, France, he became
a disciple of St. Brioc and
embraced the erernetical life. Eventually,
he served as abbot of a community of monks near Landevennec, Brittany.
Later, he journeyed to England and preached in Cornwall. |
Blessed
Julian Cesarello
de Valle venerated there OFM (AC)
cultus approved in 1910. Not much is known of Julian except that he was
born and died in Valle in Istria, where he is venerated (Benedictines). |
600 Asaph of Wales
founded the church of Llanasa in Flintshire favorite pupil of Saint
David virtues and miracles B (RM) feast day formerly on
May 1.
7th v.
ST ASAPH, BISHOP
WHEN St Kentigern
returned to Glasgow from Llanelwy in Denbighshire (if indeed he was
ever
there), he is said to have left that monastery in charge of St Asaph.
Of this
Asaph very little is known, though there is evidence that he was an
important
person in North Wales, cousin of St Deiniol and St Tysilio and grandson
of Pabo
Post Prydyn, “the prop of Pictland”. When the Normans developed an
episcopal
see at Llanelwy, St Asaph was claimed as the successor of its first
bishop, St
Kentigern, and the see has ever since been known by his name. The
second
recorded bishop of the diocese of St Asaph was Geoffrey of Monmouth, in
whose History of the Kings of Britain there is
no mention of Llanelwy or any ancient see there.
What, if
anything, Asaph actually had to do with
Llanelwy is not certainly known: Llanasa in Flintshire may have been
the
principal scene of his activity. The Red
Book of Asaph, said to have been originally compiled early in the
fourteenth
century, refers to “the charm of his conversation, the symmetry, vigour
and
grace of his body, the holiness and virtue of his heart, and the
witness of his
miracles”.
Unexpectedly
enough, St Asaph’s name figures in
the Roman Martyrology on May i, where “ Elwy” is stated to be in
England. His
feast is observed to-day in the diocese of Menevia. The Bollandists, in
their
brief account of this saint (Acta Sanctorum, May,
vol. i, p. 84) draw mainly on the legends in the
Aberdeen Breviary. See
A. P. Forbes, KSS., pp. 271—272; LBS., vol. i, pp. 177—185; and A. W.
Wade-Evans, Welsh Christian Origins (1934),
pp. 191—194.
The small town of Saint Asaph in northern
Wales was once the scene of a busy and thriving monastery of Llanelwy
founded by Saint Kentigern of Scotland by the riverside. Kentigern was
probably built it after returning from a visit to Saint David. With him
was Asaph, his favorite pupil, whom he left behind at Llanelwy as abbot
to consolidate his work. Others say that it was Saint Asaph who founded
the abbey after having been trained by Kentigern--the truth is shrouded
by time. There is, however, certainty that Saint Asaph founded the
church of Llanasa in Flintshire.
An interesting account exists of Llanelwy's establishment. "There were
assembled in this monastery no fewer than 995 brethren, who all lived
under monastic discipline, serving God in great continence." A third of
these, who were illiterate, tilled the ground and herded the cattle; a
third were occupied with domestic tasks inside the monastery; and the
remainder, who were educated men, said the daily offices and performed
other religious duties.
A distinctive feature was its unbroken continuity of worship, for, like
the Sleepless Ones, the monks of Llanelwy divided themselves into
groups and maintained an unceasing vigil. "When one company had
finished the divine service in the church, another presently entered,
and began it anew; and these having ended, a third immediately
succeeded them." So that by this means prayer was offered up in the
church without intermission, and the praises of God were ever in their
mouths."
Among them, we are told, "was one named Asaph, more particularly
illustrious for his descent and his beauty, who from his childhood
shone forth brightly, both with virtues and miracles. He daily
endeavored to imitate his master, Saint Kentigern, in all sanctity and
abstinence; and to him the man of God bore ever a special affection,
insomuch that to his prudence he committed the care of the monastery."
A later medieval writer penned about Asaph's "charm of manners, grace
of body, holiness of heart, and witness of miracles." Still little is
actually known about him.
The story has been handed down to us that one bitter night in winter
when Kentigern, as was his custom, had been standing in the cold river
reciting from the Psalter, and had crawled back to his cell, frozen and
exhausted, Asaph ran to fetch hot coals to warm him. Finding no pan,
however, and being in great haste, fearing that the shivering abbot
might die, he raked the glowing coals into the skirt of his monk's
habit, and ran with them, at great risk and discomfort, and cast them
on the hearth of the saint.
That story is typical of his spirit, for he was devoted both to his
master and to the welfare of his monks. We are not surprised that
Kentigern, with every confidence, left the monastery in his care. Under
Asaph's leadership it flourished, and when Asaph was made bishop, it
became the seat of his diocese. The goodness of one man spread and
infected many others with holiness, including many of his kinsmen,
e.g., Deiniol (September 11) and Tysilo (November 8). Today on the
banks of the River Elwy stands the cathedral that bears his name (Attwater,
Benedictines, Gill). |
603 Comgall
Abbot
warrior as a young man priest founder he taught Saint Columban (AC)
603 ST COMGALL, ABBOT OF BANGOR
ST COMGALL, one of the founders of Irish monasticism, was born in
Ulster about the year 517, and spent some years under the direction of
St Fintan in the monastery of Cluain Eidnech or Cloneenagh at the foot
of the Slieve Bloom range. He was ordained priest by a certain Bishop
Lugid, who is said to have deterred him from dedicating himself to
missionary work in Britain. For a time he retired to an island in Lough
Erne where he and some companions practised such austerities that seven
of them died of hunger and cold. In response to the remonstrances of
Bishop Lugid, Comgall relaxed his rule for his disciples, though not
for himself. Emerging from his retreat, he founded the great abbey of
Bennchor, or Bangor, which became the largest and most famous monastery
in Ireland. No less than three thousand monks are said to have lived
under the government of St Comgall at Bangor and in its daughter houses.
The holiest men of the age sought the friendship of the Abbot of Bangor
and great saints owed their training to him—notably St Columban, who
afterwards carried the tradition of Bangor to France and Italy. St
Comgall seems to have carried out his early missionary aspirations by
accompanying St Colmcille on an expedition to Inverness, where they
preached the Gospel to a Pictish chieftain called Brude, and he is
stated to have founded a monastery in a place called the Land of Heth
(Tiree). St Comgall continued to rule Bangor until his death, although
during the last years of his life he endured terrible sufferings,
apparently as the result of his great austerities. He also became
totally deaf. He died in 603, and his feast is kept throughout Ireland.
A curious alphabetical hymn in honour of the saint (“Hymnus sancti
Comgalli abbatis nostri”) occurs in the Bangor Antiphonary. The D
stanza runs thus:
Doctus in Dei legibus: divinis dictionibus,
Ditatus sanctis opibus, Deo semper placentibus,
Dedicatus in moribus Dei Stephanus hagius
Docebat sic et caeteros Dicta docta operibus.
The date of this manuscript can be accurately fixed as between A.D. 680
and 691. One living word of St Comgall’s seems to have been preserved
in a gloss upon the Félire of
Oengus; in reference to the death of his confessor, he remarked: “My
soul-friend has died and I am headless, and ye, too, are headless, for
a man without a soul-friend is a body without a head”.
There is
a Latin life
of St Comgall which is printed in the Acta
Sanctorum, May, vol. ii, and also in C. Plummer’s VSH., vol. ii,
pp. 3—21.
The rule attributed to St Comgall, or what purports to be a metrical
version of
it, has been edited by J. Strachan in the periodical Eriu,
vol. (1904), pp. 191—208. See also J. Ryan, Irish
Monasticism (1931), and Dom
Gougaud, Christianity in Celtic Lands (1933),
in both of which works many references to St Comgall and his monks will
be
found in the index. In Forbes, KSS., there is a lengthy account of St
Comgall (pp.
308—31) drawn largely from the legends of the Aberdeen Breviary. See
also Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lii (1934),
pp. 343—356.
For the hymn referred to, see Henry
Bradshaw Society publications, vol. ii (1895), pp. 6—19 and notes.
Born in Ulster, Ireland, c. 517; died at Bangor, Ireland, in 603; some
list his feast as May 10. It is said that Comgall was a warrior as a
young man, but that he studied under Saint
Fintan at Cluain Eidnech Monastery, was ordained a priest before
he was 40, and with several companions became a hermit in Lough Erne.
The rule he imposed was so severe that seven of them died.
He left the island and founded a monastery at Bangor (Bennchor) on the
south shore of Lake Belfast, where he taught Saint Columban and a band of monks
who evangelized Central Europe. Two other of his monks actively
evangelized Scotland, Saint Moluag of Lismore in Argyll and Saint
Maelrubha of Applecross in Ross. In time, it became the most famous
monastery in Ireland, and Comgall is reported to have ruled over some
8,000 monks there and in houses founded from Bangor. Bangor was one of
the principal religious centers of Ireland until it was destroyed by
the Danes in 823.
Comgall went to Scotland for a time, where he lived in a monastery on
the island of Tiree. He also accompanied Saint Columba on a missionary
trip to Inverness to evangelize the Picts. There he founded a monastery
at Land of Heth. The manuscript called the Bangor Antiphonary, written
there less than a century after Saint Comgall's death, contains a long
hymn in his praise. Comgall died after years of suffering resultant
from his austerities (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney).
In art, Saint Comgall's emblem is a fish. Usually he is portrayed as an
abbot holding a stone, to whom an angel brings a fish (Roeder). |
7th v. Saint
Lua
of Killaloe founder His refuge on Friar's Island, County Tipperary a
pilgrim's destination even in the 20th century gave his name to the
ancient town of Killaloe (Church of Lua) (AC) Died
7th century
Saint Lua gave his name to the ancient town of Killaloe (Church of
Lua). He is said to have been born of noble parents in Limerick, and
educated at Bangor and Clonard. He founded a church and school on the
River Shannon, where one of his pupils was the future Bishop Flannan, who
succeeded Lua as abbot.
His refuge on Friar's Island, County Tipperary, was a pilgrim's
destination even in the 20th century--until a power dam raised the
level of the Shannon in 1929 and submerged the island. Lua's chapel had
been removed, its stones numbered, and reassembled on the former site
of Brian Boru's palace overlooking the Shannon.
A legend relates that the horse's hoof-prints in the rock of Friar's
Island were those of Saint Patrick's beast--left when the apostle of
Ireland was forced to leap one-eighth of a mile from one shore to the
other to escape hostile pagans. His charger rose to the challenge and
landed with such force on the island that his hoof prints sank deep
into the rock (D'Arcy, Montague). |
Saint Sophronius Relics were
buried in the Far Caves of the Kiev Caves monastery. In the Canon to
the monks of the Far Caves the saint's solitary ascetical struggles are
mentioned. He was deemed worthy to hear angels singing. The memory of
St Sophronius is also celebrated on March 11.
646 Saint
Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem From his youth he was distinguished
for his piety and his love for  classical studies
proficient in
philosophy of monasticism
Born in Damascus around 560. From his youth he was
distinguished for
his piety and his love for classical studies. He was especially
proficient in philosophy, and so he was known as Sophronius the Wise.
The future hierarch, however,
sought the true philosophy of monasticism, and conversations with the
desert-dwellers.
He arrived in Jerusalem at
the monastery of St Theodosius, and there he
became close with the hieromonk John Moschus, becoming his spiritual
son and submitting himself to him in obedience. They visited several
monasteries, writing down the lives and spiritual wisdom of the
ascetics they met. From these notes emerged their renowned book, the
LEIMONARION or SPIRITUAL MEADOW, which was highly esteemed at the
Seventh Ecumenical Council.
To save themselves from the devastating incursions of the
Persians, Sts
John and Sophronius left Palestine and went to Antioch, and from there
they went to Egypt. In Egypt, St Sophronius became seriously ill.
During this time he decided to become a monk and was tonsured by St
John Moschus.
After St Sophronius recovered his health, they both decided
to remain
in Alexandria. There they were received by the holy Patriarch John the
Merciful (November 12), to whom they rendered great aid in the struggle
against the Monophysite heresy. At Alexandria St Sophronius had an
affliction of the eyes, and he turned with prayer and faith to the holy
Unmercenaries Cyrus and John (January 31), and he received healing in a
church named for them. In gratitude, St Sophronius then wrote the Lives
of these holy Unmercenaries.
When the barbarians began to threaten Alexandria, Patriarch
John,
accompanied by Sts Sophronius and John Moschus, set out for
Constantinople, but he died along the way. Sts John Moschus and
Sophronius then set out for Rome with eighteen other monks. St John
Moschus died at Rome. His body was taken to Jerusalem by St Sophronius
and buried at the monastery of St Theodosius.
In the year 628, Patriarch Zacharias of Jerusalem (609-633)
returned
from his captivity in Persia. After his death, the patriarchal throne
was occupied for two years by St Modestus (December 18). After the
death of St Modestus, St Sophronius was chosen Patriarch.
St Sophronius toiled much for the welfare of the Jerusalem
Church as
its primate (634-644). Toward the end of his life, St Sophronius
and his flock lived through a two year siege of Jerusalem by the
Moslems. Worn down by hunger, the Christians finally agreed to open the
city gates, on the condition that the enemy spare the holy places. But
this condition was not fulfilled, and St Sophronius died in grief over
the desecration of the Christian holy places.
Written works by Patriarch Sophronius have come down to us
in the area
of dogmatics, and likewise his "Excursus on the Liturgy," the Life of
St Mary of Egypt (April 1), and also about 950 troparia and stikheras
from Pascha to the Ascension. While still a hieromonk, St
Sophronius reviewed and made corrections to the Rule of the monastery
of St Sava the Sanctified (December 5).
The saint's three Odes Canons
for the Holy Forty Day Great Fast are included in the the contemporary
Lenten Triodion. |
678
St.
Walbert vow of continence father
of Saints Waldetrudis and Alegundis and husband of St. Bertilia
Duke of Lorraine, France
count of Hainault Belgium also called Vaubert. He was the father
of Saints Waldetrudis and Alegundis
and husband of St. Bertilia.
Walbert of Hainault (AC) (also known as Vaubert). Walbert, duke of
Lorraine and count of Hainhault, is someone about whom we need to know
more. He was the husband of Saint Bertilia, with whom he took a vow of
continence. He is also the father of Saints Waldetrudis, the mother of
four more saints, and Aldegundis (Benedictines). |
Saint Credan
a
hogherder lived exemplary he was esteemed a saint (AC)
(also known as Credus, Credanus)
Evidence of the existence of this
obscure saint from Cornwall can be found in Counties Moyne and Wicklow
in Ireland, as well as in the church of Sancreed, which he founded.
According to Roscarrock, he "killed by misfortune his own father, with
which he was so moved as abandoning the world he became a hogherd, and
lived so exemplary as he was after esteemed a saint" (Farmer). |
760 St.
Gangulphus Martyred hermit prominent in Burgundian courtier until
retiring a recluse
Varénnis,
in Gállia, sancti Gangúlfi Mártyris. At
Varennes in France, St. Gangulphus, martyr
760
ST GENGULF, OR GENGOUL
ST GENGULF was a Burgundian knight, so greatly beloved by Pepin the
Short, at that time mayor of the palace, that he used to sleep in the
great man’s tent during his campaigns. Gengulf is said to have been
married to a woman of rank in whom for a long time he trusted, but she
proved scandalously unfaithful to him. Finding remonstrances and
appeals useless, he quietly withdrew from her to a castle of his at
Avallon (the birthplace of St Hugh of Lincoln, between Auxerre and
Autun), after making suitable provision for her maintenance. There he
spent his time in penitential exercises and his money in alms. He
died—so the legend avers—from a wound inflicted by his wife’s lover
who, at her instigation, broke in upon him one night to murder him as
he lay in bed. The fame of St Gengulf afterwards spread to Holland,
Belgium and Savoy as the result of the distribution of his relics and
the miracles with which he was credited.
The
short biography printed in the Acta Sanctorum, May,
vol. ii, seems to
be largely fabulous; it has been critically edited by W. Levison in
MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. vii, pp. 142 seq. The famous nun Hroswitha of
Gandersheim, at the close of the tenth century, wrote an account of the
martyrdom in elegiac verse (see Winterfeld’s edition of her works,
1902, pp. 32 seq.). The cultus of
St
Gengulf was widespread both in France and Germany.
For the folk-lore which has gathered round his
name see Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch
des deutschen Aberglaubens, vol. iii, pp. 289—290.
He
was a Burgundian of France,
who was prominent in the court until retiring to become a recluse. He
was slain by a lover of his wife.
Gangulphus of Burgundy M (RM) (also known as Gengoul, Gangulf). Saint
Gangulf was a Burgundian courtier, who retired to live the life of a
hermit and was killed by his wife's paramour (Benedictines). In art,
Gangulf is pictured as a Burgundian knight with a fountain springing
under his sword. He holds a shield with a cross.
He may also hold the
spear with which he was murdered. He is invoked by husbands unhappily
married (Roeder).
|
866 Fremund of
Dunstable Anglo-Saxon hermit relics many miracles are recorded M
(AC)
An unreliable, possibly fictitious account, relates that Fremund was
related to King Offa of Mercia and King Edmund of East Anglia. Although
Fremund was an Anglo-Saxon hermit, he was a possible claimant to the
throne of Mercia. Therefore, he was killed by his kinsman Oswy with the
help of the Danish invaders who had also murdered King Edmund. He is
honored as a martyr. His relics were first enshrined at at Offchurch in
Warwickshire and later (1212) translated to Dunstable, where many
miracles are recorded. Cropredy in Oxonshire also claimed his relics.
His feast is recorded in three medieval calendars including that of
Syon Abbey (Benedictines, Farmer). |
 885
Saints Cyril and Methodius, Equals of the Apostles, Enlighteners of the
Slavs miraculously discovered the relics of the hieromartyr Clement,
Pope of Rome
Orthodoxe Kirche:
14. Februar und 11.Mai (mit Methodius)
Katholische,
Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 14. Februar (mit Methodius)
St Methodius came from an illustrious and pious family
living in the
Greek city of Thessalonica. St Methodius was the oldest of seven
brothers, St Constantine [Cyril was his monastic name] was the
youngest. At first St Methodius was in the military and was governor in
one of the Slavic principalities dependent on the Byzantine Empire,
probably Bulgaria, which made it possible for him to learn the Slavic
language.
St Constantine distinguished
himself by his great aptitude, and he studied with the emperor Michael
under the finest teachers in Constantinople, including St Photius,
the future Patriarch of Constantinople (February 6). St Constantine
studied all the sciences of his time, and also knew several languages.
He also studied the works of St Gregory
the
Theologian. Because of his keen mind and penetrating intellect, St
Constantine was called "Philosopher" (wise). Upon the completion of his
education, St Constantine was ordained to the holy priesthood and was
apppriest
Discovered there, he returned to Constantinople, where he
was appointed
as instructor in philosophy. The young Constantine's wisdom and faith
were so great that he won a debate with Ananias,
the leader of the heretical iconclasts . After this victory Constantine
was sent by the emperor to discuss the Holy Trinity with the Saracens,
and again he gained the victory. When he returned, St Constantine went
to his brother St Methodius on Olympus, spending his time in unceasing
prayer and reading the works of the holy Fathers.
The emperor soon summoned both of the holy brothers from the
monastery
and sent them to preach the Gospel to the Khazars. Along the way they
stayed in the city of Korsun, making preparations for their missionary
activity. There the holy brothers miraculously discovered the relics of
the hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome (November 25).
There in Korsun St
Constantine found a Gospel and Psalter written in Russian letters [i.e.
Slavonic], and a man speaking the Slavic tongue, and he learned from
this man how to read and speak this language. After this, the holy
brothers went to the Khazars, where they won a debate with Jews and
Moslems by preaching the Gospel. On the way home, the brothers again
visited Korsun
and,
taking up the relics of St Clement, they returned to Constantinople. St
Constantine remained in the capital, but St Methodius was made igumen
of the small Polychronion monastery near Mount Olympus, where he lived
a life of asceticism as before. Soon messengers came to the
emperor from the Moravian prince Rostislav,
who was under pressure from German bishops, with a request to send
teachers to Moravia who would be able to preach in the Slavic tongue.
The emperor summoned St Constantine and said to him, "You must go
there, but it would be better if no one knows about this."
St
Constantine prepared for the new task with fasting and prayer. With the
help of his brother St Methodius and the disciples Gorazd, Clement,
Sava, Naum and Angelyar, he devised a Slavonic alphabet and translated
the books which were necessary for the celebration of the divine
services: the Gospel, Epistles, Psalter, and collected services, into
the Slavic tongue. This occurred in the year 863.
After
completing the translation, the holy brothers went to Moravia,
where they were received with great honor, and they began to teach the
services in the Slavic language. This aroused the malice of the German
bishops, who celebrated divine services in the Moravian churches in
Latin. They rose up against the holy brothers, convinced that divine
services must be done in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek or
Latin.
St Constantine said, "You only recognize three languages in
which God
may be glorified. But David sang, 'Praise the Lord, all nations, praise
the Lord all peoples (Ps 116/117:1).' And the Gospel of St Matthew
(28:18) says, 'Go and teach all nations....'" The German bishops were
humiliated, but they became bitter and complained to Rome.
The holy brothers were summoned to Rome for a decision on
this matter.
Taking with them the relics of St Clement, Sts Constantine and
Methodius set off to Rome. Knowing that the holy brothers were bringing
these relics with them, Pope Adrian met them along the way with his
clergy. The holy brothers were greeted with honor, the Pope gave
permission to have divine services in the Slavonic language, and he
ordered the books translated by the brothers to be placed in the Latin
churches, and to serve the Liturgy in the Slavonic language.
At Rome St Constantine fell ill, and the Lord revealed to
him his
approaching death. He was tonsured into the monastic schema with the
name of Cyril. On February 14, 869, fifty days after receiving the
schema, St Cyril died at the age of forty-two.
 St
Cyril commanded his brother St Methodius to continue with their task of
enlightening the Slavic peoples with the light of the true Faith. St
Methodius entreated the Pope to send the body of his brother for burial
in their native land, but the Pope ordered the relics of St Cyril to be
placed in the church of St Clement, where miracles began to occur from
them.
After the death of St Cyril, the Pope sent St Methodius to
Pannonia,
after consecrating him as Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, on the
ancient throne of St Andronicus (July 30). In Pannonia St Methodius and
his disciples continued to distribute services books written in the
Slavonic language. This again aroused the wrath of the German bishops.
They arrested and tried St Methodius, who was sent in chains to Swabia,
where he endured many sufferings for two and a half years.
After being set free by
order of Pope John VIII of Rome, and restored
to his archdiocese, St Methodius continued to preach the Gospel among
the Slavs. He baptized the Czech prince Borivoi and his wife Ludmilla
(September 16), and also one of the Polish princes. The German bishops
began to persecute the saint for a third time, because he did not
accept the erroneous teaching about the procession of the Holy Spirit
from both the Father and the Son. St Methodius was summoned to Rome,
but he justified himself before the Pope, and preserved the Orthodox
teaching in its purity, and was sent again to the capital of Moravia,
Velehrad.
Here in the remaining years of his life St Methodius,
assisted by two
of his former pupils, translated the entire Old Testament into
Slavonic, except for the Book of Maccabbees, and even the Nomocanon
(Rule of the holy Fathers) and Paterikon (book of the holy Fathers).
Sensing the nearness of death, St Methodius designated one
of his
students, Gorazd, as a worthy successor to himself. The holy bishop
predicted the day of his death and died on April 6, 885 when he was
about sixty years old. The saint's burial service was chanted in three
languages, Slavonic, Greek, and Latin. He was buried in the cathedral
church of Velehrad.
Cyrillus von Saloniki
Orthodoxe Kirche: 14. Februar und 11.Mai (mit Methodius)
Katholische,
Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 14. Februar (mit Methodius)
Kyrillos
Ikonenzentrum Saweljew Cyrillus wurde um 826 in Saloniki in
Griechenland geboren. Er hieß eigentlich Konstantinos, den Namen
Cyrillos nahme er erst kurz vor seinem Tode an. Gemeinsam mit seinem
Bruder Methodius wurde er von seinem Lehrer Patriarch Photios um 860 an
das Schwarze Meer gesandt, um unter den Slawen zu missionieren (vgl.
auch Niederlegung des Kleides in Blacherna).
862 wurde ihnen auf Wunsch des Fürsten Rotislaw
Mähren als
Missionsgebiet zugewiesen. Hier führten sie die slawische Sprache
ein und Cyrillus entwickelte eigene Schriftzeichen für die
slawische Sprache (allerdings nicht die erst später entstandene
kyrillische Schrift). Er übersetzte auch die Bibel ins Slawische.
Cyrillus wurde so zum Begründer der slawischen Literatur. Papst
Hadrian sagte den Brüdern 868 die Anerkennung des Slawischen als
liturgische Sprache zu. Cyrillus starb kurz darauf am 14.2.869 in
Rom.
|
994
ST MAJOLUS, OR MAYEUL,
ABBOT OF CLUNY
PROVENCE in the early part of the tenth century suffered terribly from
the incursions of the Saracens, and St Majolus, who at an early age was
left heir to large estates near Riez, was obliged to take refuge with
relatives who lived at Mâcon, in Burgundy. There he received the
tonsure and a canonry from his uncle Bishop Berno, by whom he was
afterwards sent to Lyons to study philosophy under a celebrated master,
Antony, abbot of L’Isle Barbe. Upon his return to Mâcon he was
made archdeacon, although he was still young, and when the see of
Besançon fell vacant he was selected to fill it. To avoid being
forcibly consecrated to a dignity for which he felt himself unfitted,
he fled to the abbey of Cluny, to which his father had been a
benefactor. There he received the habit and was appointed by Abbot
Aymard librarian and procurator. In this double capacity he not only
had direction of the studies and care of the treasury, but he also
conducted all important business outside the monastery. In the course
of the various journeys he was obliged to make, he won golden opinions
for his humility and wisdom. As St Berno,*[* Berno was not then an
uncommon name, and it may be well to point out that Berno, abbot of
Cluny, was quite a different person from the Berno, bishop of
Mâcon, mentioned before.]
The first abbot of Cluny, had chosen St Odo to be his coadjutor, and St
Odo in his turn had selected Aymard, so Aymard, when he lost his sight,
raised St Majolus to the dignity of joint abbot.
His wisdom and virtue gained him the respect of the great men of the
age. The Emperor Otto the Great placed entire confidence in him and
gave him supervision over all the monasteries in Germany and other
parts of the empire. The Empress St Adelaide and her son Otto II had no
less esteem for the holy abbot, who succeeded in reconciling them when
they were at variance. By virtue of the privileges bestowed upon the
congregation of which he was the head, Majolus was able to reform a
great number of monasteries, many of which adopted the Cluniac life.
Otto II was anxious that he should be chosen pope, but could not
overcome his opposition; to all that could be urged he replied that he
knew how little fitted he was to fill so high an office and how
different his manners were from those of the Romans. A man of great
scholarship, he did much to foster learning. Three years before his
death he appointed St Odilo his coadjutor, and from that time gave
himself up to the exercises of penance and contemplation. He could not,
however, disregard the express request of Hugh Capet King of France,
that he would undertake a journey to settle reforms in the abbey of St
Denis, near Paris. On the way thither he fell ill and died at the abbey
of Souvigny on May 11, 994. At his funeral in the church of St Peter at
Souvigny, the king of France himself was present.
There is
abundant material for the life of St
Majolus. Three separate biographies of early date are printed in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. ii, a
compendious account of which is furnished in BHL., nn. 5577—5587. Upon
the
complicated problem of the relations of these lives a valuable note was
contributed by L. Traube to the Neues
Archlv. . . ., vol. xvii (1892), pp. 402—407. See also J. H.
Pignot, Histoire de l’Ordre de Cluny, vol. i,
pp. 236—303 E. Sackur, Die Cluniacenser, vol.
i, pp. 205—256; S. Hilpisch, Geschichte
des Ben. Mönchtums, pp. 570 seq. A
hymn written by St Odilo on St Majolus has been printed by Dom G. Morin
in the Revue Bénédictine, vol. xxxviii
(1926),
pp. 56—57. See also Zimmermann,
Kalendarium
Benedictinum, vol. ii, pp. 171-173.
|
994 St.
Majolus Benedictine bishop of Besancon abbot abbey of Cluny
friend of emperors and popes refused the Papal See
Apud Silviníacum, in Gállia, deposítio sancti
Majóli, Abbátis Cluniacénsis, cujus vita sanctis
méritis fuit præclára.
At Souvigny in France, the
death of St. Maieul, abbot of Cluny, whose life was distinguished for
merits and sanctity.
Also called Maieul. He
was born at Avignon, France. A
Saracen invasion in the region of his estate near Rietz forced him to
go to Macon, Burgundy, and then to Lyons, where he received the rank of
arch-deacon and then became bishop of Besancon. In order to escape from
this position, Majolus entered
the Benedictine abbey of Cluny.
He became abbot there in 965. and he reformed monastic institutions for
Emperor Otto the Great.
He supposedly refused positions of honor,
including the papacy. Majolus mediated
a dispute between Empress St.
Adelaide and her son, Otto
II. In 991, Majolus named
St. Odilo his
coadjutor and retired to a life of prayer.
He died on the way to reform
St. Denis Abbey, near Paris, at the request of King Hugh Capet.
Majolus of Cluny, OSB Abbot (RM) (also known as Maieul,
Mayeule) Born
at Avignon, France, c. 906; died at Souvigny, on May 11, 994.
Invading Saracens forced Saint Majolus
to flee his large estates near Rietz to relatives at Mâcon. His
uncle, Bishop Berno, gave him a canonry and then sent Saint Majolus to study at Lyons
under Abbot Antony l'Isle Barbe. Upon his return and while still very
young, he was chosen to be archdeacon of Mâcon.
He was offered
the bishopric of Besançon, but declined in order to join the
monks of Cluny.
In 954, shortly after his profession, he was named
abbot-coadjutor to
the blind abbot, Saint Aymard.
In 965, he succeeded as head of the Cluniac congregation, which grew
and spread through Western Europe during his tenure. Emperor Otto the
Great entrusted the monasteries of Germany to him and Majolus reformed
many of them.
Majolus was a man of distinguished presence, devoted to learning and
the monastic life, and a peace-maker: He settled a disagreement between
Empress Saint Adelaide and her son, Emperor Otto II. Once Majolus was
captured by Saracens as he crossed the Saint Bernard Pass, and ransomed
by the monks of Cluny for a thousand pounds of silver. Majolus, friend
of emperors and popes, was several times offered and refused to be made
pope, preferring to remain a monk. In 991, he appointed Saint Odilo as his coadjutor and
devoted himself to prayer and penance. He died while on his way to make
a visitation of the abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris at the request of
King Hugh Capet (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Gill). |
1000
Illuminatus of San
Severino Benedictine monk of the abbey of San Mariano OSB (RM)
A Benedictine monk of the abbey of San Mariano in his home town of San
Severino in the Marches of Ancona (Benedictines). |
1010
Ansfrid of Utrecht
knight in service of Emperors Otto III and Henry II built convent
of Thorn OSB B (AC)
(also known as Ansfridus) feast day formerly May 3.
1010 ST ANSFRID, BISHOP OF UTRECHT
IN early life St Ansfrid was a warrior, noted for his success in
suppressing brigands and pirates, and for this reason high in the
favour of the Emperors Otto III and Henry II. He was count of Brabant
and when the see of Utrecht fell vacant at the death of Bishop Baldwin
the emperor suggested that he should be appointed to succeed him. In
spite of his opposition he was consecrated bishop in 994. He founded a
convent for nuns at Thorn near Roermond and the abbey of Hohorst, or
Heiligenberg, to which he retired when blindness came upon him. It was
there also he died. At the time of his burial a number of citizens of
Utrecht came to Heiligenberg; seizing their opportunity when the people
of the neighbourhood were busily engaged in extinguishing a
conflagration which had broken out at that moment (perhaps not
accidentally) they took possession of the venerated remains and carried
them off. When the Heiligen monks discovered their loss, a fierce
pursuit was on the point of taking place, but the Abbess of Thorn by
her prayerful entreaties succeeded in preventing the threatened rescue
by force of arms. St Ansfrid accordingly was peacefully interred in his
own episcopal cathedral at Utrecht.
What is
printed in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. i, as a
fragmentary life of St Ansfrid is
in reality merely an extract from the De
diversitate temporum of the Benedictine monk Albert of St
Symphorian at
Metz. He was a contemporary who wrote in 1022, and though he does not
tell us
very much, the substance of what he says is trustworthy.
Count
Ansfridus of Brabant was a knight in the service of Emperors Otto III
and Henry II. In 992, he built the convent of Thorn for his daughter
and wife, and wanted to become a monk himself.
His plans were foiled when he was appointed archbishop of Utrecht. In
that role, he founded the Benedictine abbey of Hohorst (Heiligenberg).
It was not until he was afflicted with blindness that he could realize
his dream of becoming a monk. He died in Heiligenberg Abbey (Benedictines). |
1049 St.
Odilo of Cluny Benedictine Abbot beloved throughout
Europe for deep austerities concem for poor sold Church treasures to
feed poor during famine
b. 962 A member of
a noble family
in Auvergne, France, he
entered the Benedictine monastery of Cluny about 990 and received
election as abbot in 994. He was beloved and respected throughout
Europe for his deep austerities and his concem for the poor.
In 1006, he even sold treasures of the Church to feed the poor during a
famine. Through his efforts, the monasteries belonging to Cluny
increased from thirty seven to sixty five. He also helped bring about
the Truce of God and the feast of All Soul’s Day, and was a trusted
advisor to popes and kings.
He was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Incarnation.
Fulbert of Chartres called him Archangelus Monachorum, Archangel of
Monks. Odilo died on January 1 while touring his monasteries.
Majolus of Cluny, OSB Abbot (RM) also known as Maieul, Mayeule)
Born at Avignon, France, c. 906; died at Souvigny, on May 11, 994.
Invading Saracens forced Saint Majolus to flee his large estates near
Rietz to relatives at Mâcon. His uncle, Bishop Berno, gave him a
canonry and then sent Saint Majolus to study at Lyons under Abbot
Antony l'Isle Barbe. Upon his return and while still very young, he was
chosen to be archdeacon of Mâcon. He was offered the bishopric of
Besançon, but declined in order to join the monks of Cluny. In
954, shortly after his profession, he was named abbot-coadjutor to the
blind abbot, Saint Aymard. In 965, he succeeded as head of the Cluniac
congregation, which grew and spread through Western Europe during his
tenure. Emperor Otto the Great entrusted the monasteries of Germany to
him and Majolus reformed many of them. Majolus was a man of
distinguished presence, devoted to learning and the monastic life, and
a peace-maker: He settled a disagreement between Empress Saint Adelaide
and her son, Emperor Otto II. Once Majolus was captured by Saracens as
he crossed the Saint Bernard Pass, and ransomed by the monks of Cluny
for a thousand pounds of silver. Majolus, friend of emperors and popes,
was several times offered and refused to be made pope, preferring to
remain a monk. In 991, he appointed Saint Odilo as his coadjutor and
devoted himself to prayer and penance. He died while on his way to make
a visitation of the abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris at the request of
King Hugh Capet (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Gill). |
1070 St.
Walter Augustinian abbot for thirty-eight years of L'Esterp famed as
confessor also gentle
in the region of
Limousin France
1070 ST WALTER OF L’ESTERP, ABBOT had an ardent zeal for souls:
Walter is repeatedly referred to by the chroniclers of that age as a
man of outstanding holiness, whose undertakings were marvellously
blessed by Heaven
ST WALTER (Gautier) was born at the castle of Conflans on the Vienne,
the chief seat of his family, which was one of the foremost in
Aquitaine. For his education he was sent to the Augustinian canons at
Dorat where he had Bd Israel as his master and where he received the
habit. The ill-will of an unreasonable superior led him to retire to
Conflans, but he was soon afterwards elected abbot of L’Esterp, a
position he held for thirty-eight years. He had an ardent zeal for
souls, and his influence spread far beyond the walls of his monastery.
So great was his reputation for converting sinners that Pope Victor II
granted him special faculties for dealing with penitents—including the
right to excommunicate and to restore to communion. For the last seven
years of his life he was blind, but he continued his activities until
his death.
His biographer tells us that while yet a young monk St Walter made a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, in the course of which journey rumour seems to
have credited him with some remarkable miracles. Driven to land on a
desolate shore, he and his companions had nothing to eat, but a strange
bird flew over them and dropped at his feet a fish which was so large
that Walter by himself could not even lift it from the ground. This
gentle saint’s compassion for human infirmity and error was unbounded;
and when his companions, absorbed in external tasks, forgot that a day
was Friday and had prepared a meal of meat, he not only allowed them to
eat it, saying that they might Count on the indulgence of the great St
Martin whose feast it was, but he set them the example by partaking of
it himself. One of the company, scandalized and rigorist, hotly
denounced this concession, but immediately after lost the whole sum of
money he was carrying in his purse, a calamity which the writer treats
as a divine rebuke to his self-righteousness. What is certain is that
Abbot Walter is repeatedly referred to by the chroniclers of that age
as a man of outstanding holiness, whose undertakings were marvellously
blessed by Heaven.
The
biography, ascribed to the famous Bishop Marbod, who was a
contemporary, is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. ii.
He was born
to a noble family in Conflans Castle in Aquitaine, and studied under
the Augustinians at Dorat, where he entered a monastery. Then when he
returned to Conflans Castle, he was elected the abbot of L'Esterp. He
held the post for thirty-eight years and was famed as a confessor.
Walter of L'Esterp, OSA Abbot (AC). Walter was abbot of
L'Esterp Abbey
in Limousin, France for 38 years until his death. Even when he went
blind in 1062, the saint's fellow-monks begged him to continue in
office. So wise were his judgments that Pope Victor II granted the
abbot the power even to excommunicate those whom he considered were
insufficiently penitent for their sins.
Yet he was also gentle. One day the monks of L'Esterp to a
man forgot
that it was Friday and cooked meat for their midday meal. When they
remembered the rule about abstaining from meat on the day that Christ
was crucified, they were horrified. Walter told them that they would be
forgiven. To show that he genuinely believed this, he himself sat down
and ate some meat, which relieved them greatly (Benedictines,
Bentley).
|
1156 Bl.
Peter the Venerable Abbot of Cluny “the Venerable” owing to his
holiness and
wisdom suggestion
the Koran be translated into Latin to assist conversions of Muslims
Also known as Peter of
Montboissier and called “the Venerable” owing to his holiness and
wisdom. Born into a French noble family, he entered the Congregation of
Cluny and held a number of posts in several houses until his election
in 1122 as eighth abbot of Cluny.
Peter brought a variety of reforms to
the educational system of the order and to its finances, using two
general chapters to win approval of his constitution. His support of
education caused a controversy with his friend St.
Bernard of Clairvaux, who desired the monastic life to be of
prayer
and labor:
On behalf of his order, Peter traveled extensively, going
six times to Rome and to England and Spain.
In between these journeys,
Peter retired to a hermitage to pray and study. To assist the
conversions of Muslims, Peter made the then unprecedented suggestion
that the Koran be translated into Latin.
He also authored treatises
against the heretical priest Peter de Bruys and the Jews, as well as
poems and sermons; his writings reveal a deep knowledge of Scripture.
Peter also gave sanctuary to Peter Ahelard after his condemnation by
the Council of Sens in 1140. While never formally canonized, he has
long been venerated as a blessed. |
1230
Illuminatus
disciple of Saint Francis of Assisi OFM (AC)Apud Septempedános,
in Picéno, sancti Illumináti Confessóris.
At San Severino in Piceno, St. Illuminatus, confessor.
This saint is often confused with Illuminatus of San
Severino Benedictine monk. He is said to have
been a disciple of Saint Francis of Assisi (Benedictines). |
1279 Bl.
Albert of Bergamo Dominican tertiary pious farmer miracle worker to
benefit
others
1279 BD ALBERT OF BERGAMO
BD ALBERT OF BERGAMO was a peasant farmer who lived an exemplary life
amongst his neighbours in the Valle d’Ogna and became a Dominican
tertiary. Though married he had no children, and he had much to bear
from a shrewish wife, as well as from other relations who resented his
liberality to the poor. In later life he went on pilgrimages to Rome
and Jerusalem and is said to have visited Compostela eight times,
always supporting himself on the way by the work of his hands.
Eventually he settled in Cremona, where he became closely associated
with another holy man, Bd Homobonus, and where he died in the year
1279. He was famous in Cremona for his miracles. Some of the wonders
which he is said to have worked in his lifetime are certainly of a very
remarkable and unusual character. For example, in the Short Lives of
Dominican Saints, edited by Fr John Proctor, o.p., we read:
“One day he was carrying a barrel of wine to the house of a poor woman,
when it accidentally slipped from his shoulder and broke to pieces on
the road. ‘King of Glory, come to my assistance’, exclaimed the holy
man, according to his wont in all difficulties. Then he gathered up the
broken pieces of wood, adjusted them in their
proper places, and collected the spilt wine in his hands so that
not a drop was lost.”
In the Prato
edition of the Opera Omnia of Pope Benedict XIV, vol.
vi (1842), pp. 35—36, will be found a summary of the evidence presented
to
establish the fact of the immemorial cultus paid to Bd Albert
of
Bergamo. The documents submitted at that time were printed for the
Congregation
of Rites, and the decree of confirmation is dated May 9, 1748. See also
the Année
Dominicaine (1891), pp. 375—385. A short notice of Bd Albert will
also be
found in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. ii.
Albert was a farmer living near
Bergamo, Italy, where he
became a Dominican Third Order member. Married, he was a champion of
the poor in his hometown of Ogna. Sometime in his adult life, Albert
went on a pilgrimage to the famous shrine at Santiago de Compostela in
Spain.
He also visited Rome and Jerusalem, perilous journeys in his era. After
his pilgrimages, Albert settled in Cremona, Italy, where he became
known for his piety and for his many miraculous works to benefit
others. |
1300 Blessed
Vivaldus nursed Bartholomew for twenty years, OFM Tert. (AC)
(also known as Ubaldo, Gualdo); cultus confirmed in 1909.
1300 BD VIVALDO
VIVALDO, or Ubaldo, was a disciple and fellow townsman of Bd Bartolo of
San Gemignano whom he nursed for twenty years through a particularly
distressing form of leprosy. Afterwards he lived as a solitary inside a
hollow chestnut-tree at Montajone, in Tuscany. One day as a huntsman
was seeking game in the mountains, his hounds discovered the hermit,
who was kneeling in his retreat in an attitude of prayer, but was quite
dead. It is stated that at the moment his soul passed to God the bells
of Montajone began ringing of themselves and never ceased pealing until
the huntsman came in with the news of the discovery of the body. Bd
Vivaldo had been attached to the third order of St Francis, and the
Observants built a convent on the site where he had lived and died.
The brief account printed in
the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol.
i, seems to contain all that has been recorded of Bd Vivaldo. The
decree by which Pope Pius X confirmed his cultus may be read in the Analecta Ecclesiastica for 1908, p.
145, but it adds nothing material to the facts mentioned above. Neither
is anything further to be learnt from the article of Father Ghilardi in
the Miscellanea Storica della
Valdelsa, vol. xi (1903), pp. 38—42.
The
Franciscan tertiary Vivaldus is a saint in my books. He did not abandon
his role model and friend Blessed Bartholomew Buonpedoni (twenty years
ministering to the lepers of his region) when the latter
contracted leprosy. Instead he nursed his companion for twenty years (Benedictines). |
1325
Sainted Nikodim,
Archbishop of Serbia, was hegumen of the Khilendaria monastery elevated
to the dignity of bishop in 1316 translated into the Slavonic language
and ordered into use in Serbia
the Typikon (Ustav) of Saint Sava the Sanctified, of Jerusalem
wonderworking relics
Especially noteworthy is this, that in the year 1319 he translated into
the Slavonic language and ordered into use in Serbia the Typikon
(Ustav) of Saint Sava the Sanctified, of Jerusalem.
Sainted Nikodim died in the year 1325.
St Nicodemus, Archbishop of Pec (May 11)
SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net
This great hierarch was a Serb by birth. He lived in asceticism on the
Holy Mountain, and was abbot of Hilandar. After the death of Sava the
Third, he was chosen as archbishop of `all the Serbian lands and those
bordering the sea', in 1317. He crowned King Milutin in 1321. He also
translated the Jerusalem Typikon* into Serbian. In the Preface of this
book he says: `Almighty God, who knows our weak-nesses, will give us
spiritual strength, but only if we first make an effort.' He sincerely
loved the ascetic life, and laboured to deepen it in the land of
Serbia. He laboured tirelessly to uproot the Bogomil heresy and confirm
the Orthodox faith. He entered into rest in the Lord in 1325 and his
wonderworking relics are preserved in the monastery at Pec.
*A Typikon is a book of rubrics for the ordering of church services and
of monastic life -Translator.
SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net* "The Prologue from Ochrid", by Bishop
Nikolai Velimirovic-Lazarica Press-Birmingham 1985 4 Book
Edition-Translated by
Mother Maria-Dates based on old church calendar
|
1378 Pope
Gabriel IV
Departure of, the 86th. Patriarch of Alexandria.
On this day also of the year 1094 A.M. (April 1378 A.D.), Pope Gabriel
the fourth, the 86th Patriarch, departed. He was the abbot of the
monastery of El-Moharrak. He sat on the apostolic throne on the 11th
day of Tubah, 1086 A.M. (January 6th, 1370 A.D.).
He was a great scholar and righteous ascetic. During his time, in the
year 1370 A.D., a great light appeared during the night which looked
like a day light and lingered until dawn. In 1371 A.D., there was a
great flood in the river Nile valley which threatened to drown all the
land.
He was contemporary of El-Sultan Shabaan and El-Sultan Ali Ebn-Shabaan
El Mansour. He sat on the throne for 8 years, three months, and twenty
two days. He was buried beside Simeon the shoe maker.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
|
1426 Blessed Benincasa of Montechiello
Servite hermit OSM (AC)
1426 BD BENINCASA
BD BENINCASA, a member of one of the great Florentine families, entered
the Servite Order at a very early age and when twenty-five was
permitted to embrace the life of a hermit on the mountain of
Montagnata, near Siena. There he gave himself up to prayer, but was
greatly tried by diabolical assaults. Through a little window he gave
spiritual advice to the men who resorted to him—with women he would
have no dealings—and healed the sick by the sign of the cross or by
holy water. Realizing, however, that the Devil was tempting him to
pride, he retired to another spot much more difficult of access. His
death is said to have been announced to the people in the plain by the
spontaneous ringing of the church bells and by a light which streamed
from his cave.
An
account of Bd
Benincasa is given in the Acta
Sanctorum, May, vol. vii, supplement. This is
almost entirely based on Father A. Giani, Annales Ordinis Servorum.
In
the seventeenth century the local veneration of Bd Benincasa at
Montechielo,
where he was buried, seems almost to have died out. This was explained
at the
time by the fact that a rumour was in circulation that his authentic
relics had
been stolen. The cultus was, however, officially sanctioned in 1829.
There is a
short life by L. Raffaelli (1927).
Born in Florence, Italy, 1376; cultus confirmed in 1829. Blessed
Benincasa joined the Servites at Montepulciano and spent the rest of
his life as a hermit, first at Montagnata near Siena and later in the
almost inaccessible cave of Montechiello (Benedictines). |
1490 Blessed Aloysius Rabata Carmelite
friar of Randazzo monastery Sicily OC (AC)
Born c. 1430 cultus confirmed by Gregory XVI. Blessed Aloysius was a.
He died, though not immediately, from a blow on the head from an
assailant whom he refused to bring to justice (Benedictines).
1490 BD ALOYSIUS RABATA
FEW incidents seem to have marked the life of Bd Aloysius Rabata.
Admitted to the Carmelite Order as a young man at Trapani, in Sicily,
he was afterwards prior of the friary at Randazzo. He lived on bread
and water and was remarkable for his humility, his patience and his
zeal for souls. As superior he insisted upon performing such tasks as
road-mending and begging for alms. He took the sins of his penitents so
much to heart that when a poor man confessed to a theft for which he
was unable to make restitution, his ghostly father himself approached
the injured party and with tears continued to implore forgiveness until
it was granted. He died from the after-effects of a blow on the head
inflicted by a scoundrel whom he refused to bring to justice; he would
not even disclose the identity of the perpetrator of the outrage.
A
tolerably full notice is printed in the Acta
Sanctorum, May, vol. ii. It is mainly derived from the materials
which were
collected in 1533 and 1573 with a view to canonization, which never
took place.
The cultus was confirmed in
the nineteenth century under Pope Gregory XVI.
|
1505
BD LADISLAUS OF GIELNIOW
ONE of the principal patrons of Poland, Galicia and Lithuania is Bd
Ladislaus of Gielniow, a Pole born in the year 1440, who, after being
educated in the University of Warsaw, entered the Franciscan convent of
the strict observance founded in that city by St John Capistran. He was
several times elected provincial and drew up a revised constitution
which received the approbation of the general chapter held in Urbino in
1498. At the request of Duke Alexander, Ladislaus sent out a picked
body of friars to evangelize Lithuania. Before they started he warned
them that the example of personal holiness must always precede the
preaching of the gospel. The mission was greatly blessed: not only were
thousands of pagans baptized, but many schismatics were reconciled. Bd
Ladislaus himself was an ardent missioner and a man of great eloquence,
and when he became guardian at Warsaw he was in great request as a
preacher. He delivered sermons in every part of Poland, and wrote both
in Latin and in Polish; he also composed hymns which were sung by the
people at evening services. His favourite topic was the Passion and his
best-loved text, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”.
In 1498 Poland was in great danger: the Tartars had made a league with
the Turks and were advancing with an army of 70,000 men. Ladislaus
called upon the panic-stricken population to pray and to put their
trust in God, who alone could deliver them. The invading army was
encamped between the Pruth and the Dniester when suddenly the waters of
both rose up in flood, inundating the country. This was followed by an
intense frost and then by a blinding snowstorm. Thousands of the
enemy’s men and horses were drowned, thousands more perished of cold,
and the miserable remnant was easily defeated and almost exterminated
by the Wallachian Prince Stephen. The victory was generally ascribed to
the prayers of Bd Ladislaus, whose prestige was enormously enhanced.
His brethren often beheld him raised from the ground in ecstasy and on
the Good Friday before his death, as he was preaching to an immense
congregation, he was seen to be lifted into the air and to hang there
as though crucified. Afterwards when he slowly sank to the ground he
was so weak that he had to be carried to the convent infirmary, where
he died a month later, mourned by the whole city. He was beatified in
1586.
A very
ample life, published in Latin by the
Franciscan Father Vincent Morawski, at the beginning of the seventeenth
century, has been reprinted in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. i.
There is
also a brief account by Fr Leon in his Aureole Séraphique
(Eng. trans.),
vol. iv, pp. 335—337. The Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche
mentions two
modern writers, C. Bogdalski and K. Kantak, who in recent works dealing
with
the Franciscan missions in Poland have specially called attention to Bd
Ladislaus. These books, however, arc written in Polish.
|
1537 Bl.
John of Rochester Carthusian martyr of England with Blessed James
Walworth refused the Oath of Supremacy
1535-1540 THE ENGLISH CARTHUSIAN MARTYRS, WITH BB. RICHARD REYNOLDS AND
JOHN HAILE
To the Carthusian Order belongs the honour of having furnished the
first martyr of the Tudor persecution in the person of JOHN HOUGHTON,
prior of the London Charterhouse. After him, on the same day and at the
same place, were martyred two other Carthusian priors, as well as JOHN
HAILE, vicar of Isleworth, and a Bridgettine monk named RICHARD
REYNOLDS.
John Houghton, who was a native of Essex and a graduate of Cambridge
University, had been a secular priest for four years when he entered
the London Charterhouse. There he spent twenty years of religious life,
being conspicuous even amongst his austere brethren for his
mortification, his patience and his humility. Maurice Chauncy, a fellow
monk, has left us an edifying record of his heroic virtues, together
with an interesting description of his person and bearing. He was short
of stature, we read, graceful, venerable of countenance, modest in
demeanour and winning of speech. In spite of his ardent desire to
remain hidden, he was marked out for preferment, and was elected prior
of the Charterhouse of Beauvale, in Nottinghamshire. Upon the death of
John Batmanson a few months later, he was recalled by the unanimous
vote of the brethren to become prior of the London Charterhouse, and
shortly afterwards he was nominated visitor of the English province of
the order.
In the summer of 1533 a royal proclamation was issued ordering the
adhesion by oath of every person over the age of sixteen to the Act of
Succession, which recognized Anne Boleyn as the lawful queen and her
children as heirs to the throne. The cloistered monks of the
Charterhouse may well have thought that, as politics were outside their
province, the edict did not affect them. For about eight months they
actually seem to have remained unmolested. Their great reputation,
however, and the influence they wielded as directors of souls then
decided King Henry and his officials to demand their assent. Royal
commissioners accordingly presented themselves at the Charterhouse and
questioned the superiors.In his reply, the prior, whilst disclaiming
any desire or intention of interfering with the king’s affairs,
admitted that he could not see how the marriage with Catherine of
Aragon, properly solemnized as it had been, and for so many years
unquestioned, could suddenly have become invalid. On the strength of
this remark he was summarily arrested and imprisoned in the Tower with
his procurator, HUMPHREY MIDDLEMORE. A month later, in deference to the
decision of learned and devout men who deemed that the succession to
the throne was not a cause for which they should sacrifice their lives,
the two prisoners agreed to take the oath with the added proviso, “as
far as the law of God permits”. Thereupon they were allowed to return
to the Charterhouse, where, after a little hesitation on the part of
several of the monks, the whole community made the required declaration
in its modified form. During the short period of peace which followed,
Houghton was under no illusion as to his future; the night before his
release from the Tower it had been revealed to him in a dream that he
would return within a twelvemonth and would end his days in prison.
On February i of the following year there came into force another act
of Parliament—much more far-reaching than the Act of Succession. It was
called the Act of Supremacy and declared it to be high treason to deny
that the King was the sole and supreme head of the Church in England.
That this was a very different thing from a question of mere temporal
succession to the English throne, Prior Houghton fully realized.
Summoning his spiritual sons to the chapter-house, he warned them that
they would probably all be shortly faced with the alternative between
death and apostasy. He then declared a solemn triduum, during which
they were to prepare for the approaching trial; and on the third day,
while their prior was celebrating the holy Mysteries, there came “a
soft whisper of air, which some perceived with their bodily senses,
while all experienced its sweet influence upon their hearts”.
John Houghton determined to make a personal appeal to Thomas Cromwell,
the king’s chief secretary, in the hope of obtaining exemption from the
oath of supremacy, or at least a mitigation of it. He took with him two
priors who had come to London to consult him about the affairs of their
monasteries: they were ROBERT LAWRENCE, a London monk, Houghton’s
successor at Beauvale, and AUGUSTINE WEBSTER, trained at Sheen, but now
prior of the charterhouse in the Isle of Axholme. Cromwell, who was
aware that King Henry was greatly incensed against the Carthusians,
received them roughly, and summarily cutting short Prior Houghton’s
opening remarks, ordered them all three to be committed to the Tower,
although Lawrence and Webster had not opened their lips. An
interrogatory at the Rolls three weeks later was followed by a visit to
the Tower of Cromwell himself and the king’s commissaries, bearing with
them a copy of the oath. By this time the priors had been joined in
their captivity by Richard Reynolds, a distinguished and learned
Bridgettine monk from the monastery of Syon, whose singular holiness
was reflected in the angelic beauty of his countenance. Cardinal Pole,
who was his intimate friend, declared that he was the only religious in
England well versed in the three languages “in which all liberal
learning is comprised”. Called upon to take the oath, the prisoners
said they would do so if they might add the saving clause “as far as
the law of God allows”. “I admit of no condition”, was Cromwell’s
reply. “Whether the law of God permits or not, you must take the oath
without reservation.” This they absolutely refused to do, and they were
accordingly committed for trial.
When, on April 29, they came before the court at Westminster Hall, they
were accused of denying that Henry VIII was supreme head on earth of
the Church of England. To this charge they made no defence, but the
jury showed the utmost reluctance to condemn them, only consenting to
declare them guilty of high treason when Cromwell appeared in person
and terrified them into submission. Sentence of death was then passed
upon the four monks and upon an aged secular priest, John Haile, vicar
of Isleworth, who was accused of uttering slanderous words against the
king, the queen and the council. Their execution was fixed to take
place at Tyburn on May 4, every expedient being adopted to degrade them
in the eyes of the populace. They were dragged to the scaffold, lying
on their backs on hurdles, still wearing their habits—a thing hitherto
unheard of in a Christian country. Arrived at the foot of the gallows,
Bd John Houghton embraced his executioner, who craved his forgiveness,
and having testified that he was suffering for conscience because he
was unwilling to deny a doctrine of the Church, he met his death with
the utmost fortitude. After being strung up, he was cut down and
disembowelled while still alive. In fact he was conscious and still
able to speak when his heart was torn out. The rest of the martyrs
showed the same courage. All refused a pardon proffered at the last
moment at the price of acknowledging the king’s supremacy. Special
efforts had been made to break down the constancy of Bd RICHARD
REYNOLDS, who, as he was the last to be executed, was obliged to
witness the barbarities inflicted on his companions. Their remains were
parboiled, divided, and exposed in various parts of the city, an arm of
Bd John Houghton being posted over the chief entrance of his monastery.
On the very day of the execution of the priors, one of the commissaries
visited the Charterhouse to interrogate and examine the three monks who
had taken over the government, namely, HUMPHREY MIDDLEMORE, WILLIAM
EXMEW, the late prior’s confessor, and SEBASTIAN NEWDIGATE, once a
favourite courtier in the palace of Henry VIII. Their replies were
deemed unsatisfactory and three weeks later they were committed to the
Marshalsea prison, where for over a fortnight they were chained to
columns by the neck and feet, unable to sit or lie down, and never
released for a moment. Newdigate had a special trial to undergo, for
King Henry came to the prison in disguise and tried to win him over.
All three came up for trial on June iz, were convicted of high treason,
and were executed on June 19.
No further executions took place for some time, but the monks were not
left to themselves. Resident commissioners were placed over them, their
books were taken away, and in the words of Maurice Chauncy, “they never
knew what it was to be free from vexation for a single hour “. A monk
from Sheen, who had taken the oath of supremacy, was placed over them
as prior, whilst several of the most resolute of the monks were sent to
other houses. Amongst these were two priests, JOHN ROCHESTER and
WILLIAM WALWORTH, who were transferred to Hull. In consequence of an
imprudent letter which the former addressed from there to the Duke of
Norfolk, he and his brother monk were arrested, tried at York,
condemned and executed on May ii, 1537, two years after the death of Bd
John Houghton.
In the meantime the constant pressure brought to bear upon the London
community had been gradually breaking down the constancy of the
majority, and on May 18, 1537, nineteen of the monks, besides the
prior, consented to take the oath. There still, however, remained a
heroic minority of ten who continued staunch. Three of them were
priests—THOMAS JOHNSON, RICHARD BEER and THOMAS GREEN or Greenwood; one
was a deacon, JOHN DAVY, and the rest were the lay brothers ROBERT
SALT, WILLIAM GREENWOOD, THOMAS REDING, THOMAS SCRYVEN, WALTER PIERSON
and WILLIAM HORN. They were imprisoned in the Marshalsea, tied to posts
and left to starve to death. For a time they were kept alive by the
heroism of Sir Thomas More’s adopted daughter, Margaret Clement, who,
after bribing the gaoler, obtained access to the prison in the disguise
of a milkmaid and fed the prisoners by placing food in their mouths.
The warder, however, became alarmed when the king expressed surprise
that the captives were still alive, and Margaret was refused admission.
One after the other the monks died of neglect and starvation, until
only William Horn remained. He was removed to the Tower, where he was
treated with less inhumanity, but three years later he was attainted,
condemned for denying the royal supremacy, and executed at Tyburn on
August 4, 1540. He was the last of the eighteen who make up the roll of
the English Carthusian martyrs.
A general feast of these martyrs is kept to-day in the archdiocese of
Westminster and by the Carthusians. Bd John Houghton is celebrated in
the diocese of Brentwood, BB. John Rochester and William Walworth in
Leeds and Middlesbrough, Bd Richard Reynolds separately in Westminster
(May 14), Bd John Haile in Brentwood (May 21), and BB. Sebastian
Newdigate and Humphrey Middlemore in Birmingham (June 19).
Apart
from the state papers in Record Office and
elsewhere, all of which are calendared in the Letters and Papers,
Foreign and
Domestic the Reign of Henry VIII, our principal authority is the
narrative of
Dom Maurice Chauncy, Historia aliquot nostri saeculi Martyrum.
Fr
Van Ortroy, in the Analecta Bollandiana, vols. vi, xiv, and
xxii, has
studied the slight variations in the different recensions of Chauncy’s
work.
The story is also retold with supplementary details by L. Hendriks, The
London Charterhouse (1889), and by V. Doreau, Henri VIII et les
Martyrs
de la Chartreuse (1890). See also Fr. John Morris, s.j., Troubles
of our
Catholic Forefathers, vol. i, pp. 3—29; Camm, LEM., vol. i, pp.
5—46; and
E. M. Thompson, The Carthusian Order in England (1930). The
same writer
contributes an introduction to an unpublished manuscript of Chauncy’s, Brevis
et fidelis narratio, edited by G. W. S. Curtis (1935). For Bd
Richard
Reynolds see A. Hamilton, The Angel of Syon (1905) and M. J. R.
Fletcher, The Story of . . . Syon Abbey (1933). D. B.
Christie, While
the World Revolves (1932), is a popular account of Bd John
Houghton. There
is an admirable brief summary in R. W. Chambers, Thomas More
(1935), pp.
320—332.
He was born in Terling, Essex, and became a monk in the
London Charterhouse. John was implicated in Blessed James Walworth’s
correspondence with the duke of Norfolk. He and James refused to take
the Oath of Supremacy and were martyred at York and beatified in 1886.
Blessed James Walworth & John Rochester, O. Cart. MM (AC) Died
York, England, 1537; beatified in 1886. James Walworth and John
Rochester were Carthusian monks of the London Charterhouse. Together
they were hanged in chains at York at the command of King Henry VIII.
Rochester was born at Terling, Essex (Benedictines). |
 1672
Joseph The Hieromartyr First Metropolitan of Astrakhan relics glorified
by miracles
Joseph was born at Astrakhan in 1579. After becoming a monk, St
Joseph
was made Archimandrite of the Astrakhan Trinity monastery at the age of
fifty-two.
In 1656 he was at Moscow, after which he was chosen to be Metropolitan
of Astrakhan. On May 11, 1672, during an uprising of the townspeople,
St Joseph suffered martyrdom at Astrakhan. This sad event was recorded
in detail by two eyewitnesses, priests of the Astrakhan cathedral,
Cyril and Peter.
The priests took the body of the martyr, dressed it in bishop's
vestments, and placed it in a prepared grave. On the following day,
after serving a Panikhida, the saint's body was taken to a chapel, and
it remained unburied for nine days. The relics of the holy hierarch
were placed into the grave, and were soon glorified by miracles.
St Joseph was glorified at the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church
in April 1918. |
1716 St. Francis
Jerome famous Jesuit preacher credited with miracles, attributing
numerous cures to the intercession of Saint Cyrus (Jan 31) From the
outset his preaching attracted huge congregations and was rewarded by
such excellent results that he was set to train other missionaries. In
the provinces he conducted at least 100 missions, but the people of
Naples would never allow him to be long absent from their city.
Wherever he went, men and women hung upon his lips and crowded to his
confessional; and it was confidently asserted that at least four
hundred hardened sinners were annually reclaimed through his efforts.
He would visit the prisons, the hospitals and even the galleys, in one
of which—a Spanish one—he brought to the faith twenty Turkish
prisoners. Moreover, he did not hesitate to track down sinners to the
very haunts of vice, in which it sometimes happened that he was very
roughly handled. Often he would preach in the streets—occasionally on
the spur of the moment.
Neápoli, in Campánia, sancti Francísci de
Hierónymo, in Tarentínæ
diœcésis óppido Cryptaleárum orti,
Sacerdótis e Societáte Jesu et
Confessóris, exímiæ in salúte
animárum procuránda caritátis et
patiéntiæ viri; quem Gregórius Papa Décimus
sextus in Sanctórum cánonem
rétulit.
At Naples in Campania, St.
Francis of Jerome, priest of the
Society of Jesus, and confessor. He was born in the town of
Grottaglia, in the diocese of Taranto. Having been a man of great
patience and zeal for the salvation of souls, he was canonized by Pope
Gregory XVI.
1716 ST FRANCIS DI GIROLAMO
A BOUNDLESS zeal for the conversion of sinners and a tender love for
the poor, the sick and the oppressed were the outstanding
characteristics of St Francis di Girolamo, the eloquent Jesuit
missioner whom the inhabitants of the Two Sicilies venerate to this day
as, in a special sense, the apostle of Naples. The eldest of a family
of eleven, he was born in 1642 at Grottaglie, near Taranto. After he
had made his first communion, at the age of twelve, he was received
into the house of some secular priests in the neighbourhood who lived a
community life. The good fathers were not slow to perceive that their
young charge was no ordinary boy from leaving him in charge of their
church they promoted him to teaching the catechism, and he received the
tonsure when he was barely sixteen. With a view to learning canon and
civil law, he went to Naples in the company of a brother who desired to
study under an eminent painter. In 1666 Francis was ordained priest,
for which a dispensation had to be obtained as he was not yet
twenty-four. For the next five years he taught at Naples in the Jesuit
Collegio dei Nobili. The impression he made there upon his pupils may
be gauged from the fact that the boys habitually spoke of him among
themselves as “the holy priest”. At the age of twenty-eight, having
overcome the opposition of his parents, he entered the Society of Jesus.
During the first year of novitiate Francis was subjected to
exceptionally severe tests by his superiors, who were so completely
satisfied that at its close they sent him to help the celebrated
preacher Father Agnello Bruno in his mission work. From 1671 till 1674,
the two priests laboured untiringly and with great success, mainly
amongst the peasants of the province of Otranto. At the close of that
mission Francis was recalled to Naples where he completed his
theological studies and was professed. He was now appointed preacher at
the Neapolitan church known as the Gesu Nuovo. It was his ardent desire
to be sent to Japan, when there was talk of attempting a new missionary
effort in that land which had ruthlessly exterminated every Christian
teacher who landed on its shores, but he was told by his superiors that
he must regard the kingdom of Naples as his India and Japan. It was,
indeed, to be the scene of his untiring activities for the remaining
forty years of his life.
From the outset his preaching attracted huge congregations and was
rewarded by such excellent results that he was set to train other
missionaries. In the provinces he conducted at least 100 missions, but
the people of Naples would never allow him to be long absent from their
city. Wherever he went, men and women hung upon his lips and crowded to
his confessional; and it was confidently asserted that at least four
hundred hardened sinners were annually reclaimed through his efforts.
He would visit the prisons, the hospitals and even the galleys, in one
of which—a Spanish one—he brought to the faith twenty Turkish
prisoners. Moreover, he did not hesitate to track down sinners to the
very haunts of vice, in which it sometimes happened that he was very
roughly handled. Often he would preach in the streets—occasionally on
the spur of the moment. Once, in the middle of a stormy night, he felt
irresistibly moved to turn out and preach in the dark in an apparently
deserted part of the town. The following day there came to his
confessional a young woman who had been living a sinful life, but had
been conscience-stricken when through her open window she had heard his
stirring appeal of the previous evening. Amid his numerous penitents of
all classes, perhaps the most remarkable was a woman, French by birth,
called Mary Alvira Cassier. She had murdered her father and had
afterwards served in the Spanish army, disguised as a man. Under the
direction of St Francis she not only was brought to penitence, but
attained to a high degree of holiness.
The effects of the preaching of the holy Jesuit were enhanced by his
reputation as a wonder-worker, but he consistently disclaimed any
extraordinary powers, attributing the numerous cures which attended his
ministrations to the intercession of St Cyrus (January 31), for whom he
had a special veneration. St Francis di Girolamo died at the age of
seventy-four, after much suffering, and his remains were interred in
the Jesuit church of Naples where they still lie. He was canonized in
1839.
There is
a valuable report drawn up by the saint
himself to acquaint his superiors with the more striking manifestations
of
God’s grace during fifteen years of his missionary labours. These
“Brevi
Notizie” have been printed by Father Boero in his book S. Francesco
di
Girolamo e le sue Missioni (1882). We have also two Italian lives
written
by fellow Jesuits who had known the saint intimately; that by
Stradiotti
appeared in 1719, and that by Bagnati in 1725. Among more modern
contributions,
the Vita di San Francesco di Girolamo, by Father degli
Oddi, has
been perhaps the most widely circulated, but J. Bach’s Histoire de
S. François
de Geronimo (1867), is the most complete. See further the
convenient Raccolta
di Avvenimenti singolari e Documenti autentici, collected by Canon
Alfonso
Muzzarelli (1806), as well as the life by C. de Bonis. In English there
is a
biography by A. M. Clarke which appeared in the “Quarterly Series” in
1891, and
an admirable article by the Bollandist Father Van Ortroy in the Catholic
Encyclopedia.
Also known as Francis de Geronimo. Born near Taranto, Italy, he was ordained in 1666 and
became a Jesuit in 1670. Francis Jerome was famous as a preacher. He
was canonized in 1839.
Francis di Girolama, SJ (RM) (also known as Francis Jerome) Born at
Grottaglie, near Taranto, Italy, in 1642; died 1716; canonized in 1839.
Francis was the oldest of 11 children. Once he had received his first
communion at age 12, he was received into the house of some secular
priests. Recognizing his intelligence, the fathers promoted him to
teaching catechism, and he received the tonsure at 16.
He accompanied
one of his brothers to Naples. While his brother wanted to study under
an eminent painter, Francis went learn canon and civil law.
In 1666, he was ordained a priest under a special
dispensation because
he was under 24. He taught in the Jesuit Collegio dei Nobili for five
years. At 28, having persuaded his family to consent, he entered the
Society of Jesus. During his first year of novitiate, he was severely
tested by his superiors, but he received their complete approval by the
time he finished, and they sent to help the preacher Father Agnello
Bruno in his mission work. For three years the two worked
tirelessly
and with great success, primarily among the peasants in the province of
Otranto.
Francis was then recalled to
Naples, finished his theological
studies, and was professed.
He was appointed preacher at the church known as the Gesu
Nuovo in
Naples. From the start, he attracted huge crowds. He was commissioned
to train other missionaries and conducted at least one hundred missions
in the provinces. His very effective preaching was marked by brevity
and vigor: He was, it is said, 'a lamb when he talks and a lion when he
preaches.' In search of sinners he penetrated into prisons, the
brothels, and the galleys, and continued his missions in hamlets, back
lanes, and at street corners. He converted 20 Turkish prisoners on a
Spanish galley.
One of his most interesting penitents was a Frenchwoman, Mary Alvira
Cassier. She had murdered her father and served in the Spanish army,
impersonating a man. Under Francis, she repented and became very devout.
He rescued many children from dangerous surroundings, opened a
charitable pawnshop, and organized an association of workingmen to help
the Jesuit fathers in their work.
Although Francis was credited with miracles, he disclaimed that they
were due to his own powers, attributing numerous cures to the
intercession of Saint Cyrus,
for whom he had a special devotion. He
died at age 74, after a painful illness, and at his funeral all the
poor of Naples thronged around his coffin.
His remains were interred in
the Jesuit Church of Naples (Attwater, Benedictines, Walsh,
White). |
 1771 Blessed
Christesia from Egrisi in western Georgia withdrew to the Monastery of
St. John the Baptist in the Davit-Gareji Wilderness bright light
appeared before him to light the way
Blessed Christesia’s family was from Egrisi in western
Georgia.
From his youth Christesia longed for the divine services and the
solitary life, but he was forced by his master to marry, and by this
marriage he begot a son. Later, when both his wife and son had died,
his master insisted that he marry again, but the pious Christesia would
not heed his master’s order. Instead he related the order to his
spiritual father, who advised him to depart from the world and journey
to the Davit-Gareji Wilderness. Deeply inspired by his spiritual
father’s counsel, Christesia abandoned his possessions and his life in
the world and withdrew to the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in the
Davit-Gareji Wilderness.
The holy father spent many years in humble service to the
Lord. He was
assigned to gather firewood and bring water for the monastery, and he
performed these tasks obediently and in perfect meekness. Every day he
walked over four miles to fill a pitcher with water and then carried it
to a small hut nearby. He hung the pitcher at the entrance to make it
visible from a distance, and travelers who passed by would come to
quench their thirst.
He also kept a small vegetable garden to feed the
passers-by. Every
Saturday he prepared kolio (a dish of wheat and honey traditionally
offered to commemorate the departed) and divided it in three parts: one
part commemorated the family and loved ones of those who had donated
the wheat and honey; the second, the deceased fathers of the monastery;
and the last, all departed Orthodox Christians.
It always disturbed St. Christesia to see his brothers and
sisters at
odds with one another, so when he heard that two people were
quarreling, he would go and reconcile them. “My children!” he would
say, “If you do not heed my words, I will leave in sorrow, and the
devil, who is always resistant to peace, will rejoice and send more
tribulations upon you. I came to you hungry, and I will depart hungry!”
His words warmed the hearts of those whom he counseled and helped them
to be reconciled with one another.
One hot evening after Vespers, St. Christesia set off on
foot for a
certain village. He left during twilight, and when night fell the sky
was without a moon and extraordinarily dark. Before long it became
difficult to walk any farther, so St. Christesia stopped to pray, and a
bright light appeared before him to light the way. The divine light
guided him all through the night, until he reached the village of
Sartichala.
St. Christesia’s cell was
poor and cramped. He slept on a bed of wooden
planks that he covered in sheepskin, and instead of a pillow he rested
his head on a stone. The pious ascetic wore a sheepskin coat and
sandals made of bark. Whatever he received he gave to the poor. Having
placed complete trust in God, he would not permit himself to worry
about the morrow, nor did he bother to store up food or supplies for
the harsh winter months.
Father Christesia was already
advanced in age when he was tonsured a monk and given the new name
Christopher. He reposed peacefully in 1771, at the age of eighty.
|
 1781 Saint
Ignatius
of Laconi Capuchin questor for 40 years as a child found daily at
church doors before dawn waiting in prayer to be opened levitation in
prayer gifts of prophecy and miracles of healing (AC)
Cálari, in Sardínia, sancti Ignátii a
Lacóni, Confessóris, ex Ordine
Minórum Capuccinórum, humilitáte, caritáte
et miráculis præclári; quem
Pius Papa Duodécimus Sanctórum honóribus
decorávit.
At Cagliari in Sardinia, St. Ignatius of Laconi,
confessor, of the Minor Order of Capuchins, distinguished for his
humility, charity and miracles. He was accorded the honour of
canonization by Pope Pius XII.
1781 ST IGNATIUS OF LACONI
LACONI is beautifully situated a little south of the middle of the
island of Sardinia. Two hundred and fifty years ago it was little more
than a large village, with narrow winding streets between the peasant
cottages, adjoining the park and mansion of the local nobleman, the
Marquis of Laconi. Living in the Via Prezzu was a man named Matthew
Cadello Peis, who was married to Ann Mary Sanna Casu. They were
respectable people, very hard-working and very poor, and they had three
sons and six daughters. One who knew them personally said they were “a
household of saints”; that, no doubt, must not be taken too literally;
but one of the children, the second born, was in fact to be raised to
the Church’s altars.
This boy was born on December 17, 1701. He was christened Francis
Ignatius Vincent, and was known at home by his last name. Little is
known of his early years, except that he was a “child of the fields”,
early becoming acquainted with hard work on his father’s land.
Physically, Vincent was delicate and his healthy life failed to
strengthen him; all the witnesses speak of his being thin and pale. It
was precisely this poor health that was the occasion of his seriously
determining to “enter religion”. Vincent’s mother is said to have
promised her son to St Francis of Assisi at birth, and she certainly
used to speak to him of one day wearing the habit of Il Poverello.
Accordingly when, being about seventeen or eighteen years old, he was
taken seriously ill, he offered himself to St Francis should he
recover. But on regaining his health, his father was unwilling to part
with him: “We did not promise to do anything in a hurry”, said the
prudent Matthew. “To-day or to-morrow, this year or later on, it all
comes to the same thing. There’s no need to keep your promise at once.”
But on an autumn day in 1721 something happened to strengthen Vincent’s
determination. He was riding out to look at his father’s cattle when,
at a rather dangerous part of the road, his horse bolted. Vincent lost
control altogether and thought he would certainly be killed; but for no
apparent reason the horse pulled up suddenly, and then jogged on
quietly as before. In this the young man saw the finger of God.
A few days later, in spite of his father’s expostulations, Vincent made
his way to Buoncammino, near Cagliari, and there asked to be admitted
to the Capuchin branch of the Order of Friars Minor. After some delay
he was clothed in the habit of St Francis, as Brother Ignatius, at St
Benedict’s friary. It was one of those beautiful homely little houses
of friars such as are still to be found in parts of Italy.
At first Brother Ignatius got on well, under the eye of a sympathetic
and discerning novice-master. But his successor in office was less
understanding: he suspected Brother Ignatius of insincerity, and was of
the opinion that he was not physically strong enough for Franciscan
life. As the end of his novitiate approached it looked as if Brother
Ignatius would be rejected for profession, but he redoubled his efforts
to carry out all he was called on to do: and so at the end of 1722 he
was allowed to make his vows. Brother Ignatius was specially attached
to St Benedict’s; but after profession he was sent for short periods to
other neighbouring houses, the bigger friary, St Antony’s, at
Buoncammino, Cagliari, Iglesias. It was at the last-named place that
rumours of wonders began to be associated with the young laybrother,
and when he was sent out to collect alms people not only gave to him
but asked him to come again. Near the village of Sant’ Antioco there is
a hillock called to this day Brother Ignatius’s Hill, though why is not
known. From Iglesias he was sent back to Cagliari, where for fifteen
years he worked in the weaving-shed. The life of a laybrother is likely
in any case to be uneventful, and during this period practically
nothing is known of Brother Ignatius beyond his steady progress in the
love of God.
Then came a change which gave him opportunity more widely to extend
this love in terms of his human fellows. He was already a “friar”; he
had now to be a “brother” as well. A man of solitude and silence,
working quietly within monastery walls, he had to go out into the
world, travel around on foot, and commend himself and his mission to
all and sundry. In 1741 he was sent out from St Antony’s at Buoncammino
to quest for alms, and that proved to be the chief external occupation
of the remaining forty years of his life. It is easy enough to dress up
a “begging son of St Francis” in a spurious romanticism: the reality is
rather different. You are liable to have the door slammed in your face,
to be assailed with abuse; you are at the mercy of the weather and the
miles no less than of the moods and whims of men and women. Brother
Ignatius made of this humbling task a real apostolate: he was consulted
by those in difficulties, he visited the sick and reproved sinners and
taught the ignorant, enemies were reconciled, he took back alms to
support his brethren, and God was glorified. For people loved Brother
Ignatius. And outstandingly children loved him and he loved them. More
than one happy mother claimed that her barrenness had been taken away
through the prayers of Ignatius of Laconi.
A Capuchiness, who well remembered him coming to her home when she was
seven years old, recorded that St Ignatius was of medium height, with
slight features, his hair and beard white. He carried a forked stick
and was upright in his gait, easy in manner, and “gentle and caressing
with children”. His simplicity was truly Franciscan, and the
measuredness of his speech reflected the serene calm of his mind. His
daily activity was sufficiently trying, but the solitude he lacked then
he found at night, when contemplation of divine things often reduced
sleep to a few hours, and that on a shake-down bed with a log for
pillow.
There is the testimony of an onlooker, Brother Francis Mary of
Iglesias, for St Ignatius being lifted from the ground in prayer, and
the account bears the stamp of accuracy: “Then it was time for the
night office”, it ends, “and at the sound of the bell Brother Ignatius
slowly moved down to the ground and went into choir with the others.”
Numerous marvels are attributed to him, and attested in the process of
beatification. Many of them were cures of ill-health, so much so that
Father Emmanuel of Iglesias and others said that Brother Ignatius
seemed to be the general medical practitioner of the whole
neighbourhood, and the laybrother had often to protest that “I am not a
doctor. What can I do?” What he did was to recommend some simple
remedy, to exhort to trust in God, or to pray, “If it be God’s will,
may you be healed”.
There was in Cagliari a rich and unscrupulous money-lender, named
Franchino, at whose house St Ignatius deliberately never called in his
quest for alms. Regarding this as a public slight, Franchino complained
to the father guardian of St Antony’s, who, not knowing the reason for
the omission, told Brother Ignatius to remedy it. He obeyed without
argument, and came back from Franchino’s house with a sack full of
food. This he brought to the guardian and poured out at his feet—when
it was seen to be dripping with blood. “What is the meaning of this?”
asked the guardian in astonishment. “Father guardian”, explained
Brother Ignatius “this is the blood of the poor. And that is why I ask
for nothing from that house.”
From the early spring of 1781, when he was in his eightieth year, the
health of St Ignatius began seriously to fail, and he visited his
beloved sister Mary Agnes, a Poor Clare, telling her it was the last
time they would meet on earth. He took to his bed, and on May 11, at
the hour of our Lord’s agony on the cross, he put his hands together,
murmured, “It is the Agony!” and died. St Ignatius of Laconi was
canonized in 1951.
A Vita del Ven. Fra Ignazio da Laconi,
by F. Sequi, was published at Cagliari in 1870. Another, by Father G.
de Dominicis, in 1929, was based on documents of the process and local
research. Another, by R. Branca, appeared at Turin in 1932. The
official biography, published in 1940, was written by Father Samuel of
Chiaramonte and gathers ins convenient form all that is of general
interest about St Ignatius; but the work is somewhat verbose, spun out
and repetitive for English taste. A German Protestant minister, Joseph
Fues, who was in Sardinia in 1773—76, published a series of descriptive
letters (Leipzig, 1780) which contain very valuable contemporary
information about Ignatius; they were translated into Italian in 1899.
A life in French by Father Majella was published in Belgium in 1946.
Born in Laconi, Sardinia, in 1701; died at
Cagliari,
Italy, in 1781;
canonized in 1951; feast day formerly May 12. Vincent Peis'
parents were of modest means, but his was not a modest
devotion to God. In fact, his childlike devotion was so remarkable that
he would be found daily at the church doors before dawn, waiting in
prayer, for them to be opened.
Saint Ignatius
With some difficulty he was received into the Capuchin branch of the
Franciscan Order at Buoncammino (near Cagliari) in 1722 as a
lay-brother, taking the name Ignatius. He passed his life doing mundane
tasks and, at age 40 (1741), was entrusted with the work of questor,
that is, begging for his convent at Cagliari. This office, which was
his occupation for 40 years, gave him an opportunity to exercise his
gentle love of children, the poor, and the sick. He travelled about on
foot in all kinds of weather, meeting with refusals and contradictions
but he never gave up.
An unusual legend tells us that he would never beg alms
from an
unscrupulous moneylender, who complained of this neglect. The local
guardian ordered Ignatius to call upon him. The saint returned with a
sack of food, but when it was opened, it dripped with blood. More
reliable accounts tell of his levitation in prayer and miracles of
healing wrought through his intercession.
Though he was illiterate, he loved to listen to the Gospels,
especially
the Passion accounts, and was favored with the gifts of prophecy and
miracles. He would pass whole hours in prayer before the tabernacle.
The particulars about his Christ-centered life that have survived show
a determined, gentle character like those in the Little Flowers of
Saint Francis. A contemporary portrait of the saint at Cagliari
confirms a written description of him as medium height with slight
features, a white beard and hair, upright in gait, and easy in manner
(Attwater, Benedictines, Farmer) |
Feast of Our Lady of Aparecida,
Patroness of Brazil
Saints_of_this_Day May11 Quinto Idus Maji. 
1055-157
Pope Victor II With
untiring zeal he combated, like his predecessor, against
simony and clerical concubinage. Being well supported by the emperor,
he often succeeded where Leo IX had failed. On Pentecost Sunday, June
4, 1055, he held a large synod at Florence, in presence of the emperor
and 120 bishops, where former decrees against simony and incontinence
were confirmed and several offending bishops deposed. To King Ferdinand
of Spain he sent messengers with threats of excommunication if he
should continue in his refusal to acknowledge Henry III as Roman
Emperor. Ferdinand submitted to the papal demands. Before the emperor
returned to Germany he transferred to the pope the duchies of Spoleto
and Camerino. Early in 1056 Victor II sent Hildebrand back to France to
resume his labours against simony and concubinage, which he had begun
under Leo IX. He appointed the archbishops Raimbaud of Arles and
Pontius of Aix papal legates to battle against the same vices in
Southern France.
Quote: Pope
Paul
VI’s 1969 
Benedict XVI
met with Aram I Catholicos of Cilicia,
the highest authority of the Orthodox Church. The
Pope remembered the martyrs of the Armenian Church and the Armenian
genocide, without explicitly mentioning it, and denounced the
persecution of Christians in modern times. Benedict
XVI
As
we watch the
spectacle of the world
seeming to self-destruct before our eyes, we can’t help but be saddened
and even frightened by so much evil run rampant. Iraq, Lebanon,
Afghanistan, Somalia, North Korea—It is all a disaster of epic
proportions displayed in living color on our television screens.