67 St. Plautilla
baptized by St. Peter witnessed execution of St. Paul. wife of Emperor Vespasian
Romæ sanctæ Plautíllæ,
féminæ Consuláris, quæ beatórum Mártyrum
Flávii Cleméntis Cónsulis soror et Fláviæ
Domitíllæ Vírginis mater éxstitit; atque, a sancto
Petro Apóstolo baptizáta, ómnium virtútum laude
refúlgens, quiévit in pace.
At Rome, St.
Plautilla, wife of a consul, sister of the consul Flavius Clemens, and mother
of the holy virgin Flavia Domitilla, both martyrs. She was baptized
by the apostle St. Peter, and after giving an example of all the virtues,
she rested in peace.
A Roman widow, reputedly the mother of St. Flavia Domitilla and
the wife of Emperor Vespasian, who was exiled by Emperor Domitian for being a
Christian. It is unlikely that Plautilla was Flavia’s mother, as history
records her mother to be Flavia Domitilla, wife of Vespasian. In legend,
Plautilla was also said to have been baptized by St. Peter and to have witnessed
the execution of St. Paul.
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297 St. Baudelius married
zealous missionary beheaded at Nimes for interrupting a festival in honor
of the Roman deity, Jupiter
Nemáusi, in Gálliis, sancti Baudélii Mártyris,
qui comprehénsus est a Pagánis, et cum sacrificáre nollet
idólis et in Christi fide inter vérbera et torménta
immóbilis persísteret, martyrii palmam pretiósa morte
suscépit.
At Nimes in France, St. Baudelius, martyr. Being
arrested, but refusing to sacrifice to idols, and remaining immovable in
the faith of Christ, despite blows and tortures, he gained the palm of martyrdom
by his praiseworthy death.
Patron of Nimes, France, a missionary born in Orleans. Married, he preached
throughout his region and was beheaded at Nimes for interrupting a festival
in honor of the Roman deity, Jupiter. There are some four hundred churches
in his honor in France and northern Spain.
Baudelius of Nîmes M (RM) 2nd or 3rd century. Born in Orléans,
Baudelius married and worked zealously to spread Christianity. He was martyred
at Nîmes. His cultus spread throughout France and northern Spain: there
are some 400 churches dedicated to him (Benedictines).
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284 St. Thalelaeus
Physician called 'the Merciful' for his gratis services to the sick poor
martyr with Alexander, Asterius, and companions son of a Roman general
Edéssæ, apud Ægas, in Cilícia, sanctórum
Mártyrum Thalelǽi, Astérii, Alexándri et Sociórum,
qui sub Numeriáno Imperatóre passi sunt.
At Edessa near Aegea in Cilicia, the holy martyrs Thalalaeus,
Asterius, Alexander, and their companions, who suffered under Emperor Numerian.
284 ST THALELAEUS, MARTYR
ON the ground that St Thalelaeus was a physician who gave his services gratis,
the Greeks call him “the Merciful”, and reckon him amongst their so-called
“Money-less” or disinterested saints. In the Roman Martyrology he is entered
as having suffered at Edessa in Syria, but this is a mistake the actual scene
of his martyrdom was Aegae in Cilicia. Said to have been a native of the
Lebanon and the son of a Roman general, he practised at Anazarbus. When persecution
broke out during the reign of the Emperor Numerian, he escaped to an olive
grove where he was captured. After being conveyed to the coast town of Aegae,
he was strung up on a rope and cast into the sea. He managed to swim to shore
and was beheaded. This, at least, is the story told in his quite unreliable
Greek “acts”. With him are associated a number of other martyrs, including
Alexander and Asterius, who were either officials charged with his execution
but converted by his fortitude, or else sympathizing bystanders.
Two Greek
texts have been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol.
v, and there is also an Armenian rendering, which F. C. Conybeare translated
into English in his Apology and Acts of Apollonius… (1894).
Delehaye (Origines du Guile des Martyrs, p. 165) shows that
there is no reason to question the fact of the martyrdom of St Thalelaeus,
and that there was a considerable cultus.
He earned the nickname "the merciful" owing to charitable service to the
poor and sick in the town of Anazarbus, in Cilicia (Asia Minor). He was martyred
at Aegae, in Cilicia, by beheading after drowning failed to kill him. Asterius
and Alexander were two Roman executioners or perhaps bystanders who were
put to death with him because of their display of compassion.
Thalelaeus and Companions MM (RM) Born in Lebanon; The son of a Roman
general, Thalelaeus became a physician at Anazarbus, Cilicia, where he was,
and fled to escape the persecution of Christians under Emperor Numerian.
Thalelaeus was captured, brought to Aegea, Cilicia (mistakenly called Edessa,
Syria, in the Roman Martyrology), and then beheaded when an attempt to drown
him failed. Also martyred with him were Alexander and Asterius, two bystanders,
who may have been the officers in charge of his execution, because of their
compassion for him, and other spectators who were converted by his constancy
(Benedictines, Delaney).
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300
St. Hilary century Bishop of Toulouse, France.
Hilary of Toulouse B (AC) 4th century. All that is known is that he was bishop
of Toulouse, France (Benedictines). In art, Hilary is a bearded bishop superintending
the building of a chapel for the relics of Saint Saturninus (Roeder).
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304 St. Basilissa beheaded for her faith
Item Romæ, via Salária,
natális sanctæ Basíllæ Vírginis, quæ,
cum esset ex régio génere, et illustríssimum sponsum
habéret illúmque dimisísset, accusáta fuit ab
eo quod esset Christiána, et mox decrétum est a Galliéno
Augústo ut aut sponsum recíperet, aut gládio interíret;
cumque ipsa Virgo, convénta de hoc, respondísset se Regem regum
habére sponsum, gládio transverberáta est.
Also at Rome,
on the Salarian Way, the birthday of St. Basilla, virgin, who was of a royal
family and betrothed to a nobleman. When she refused to marry him,
he accused her of being a Christian. Emperor Gallienus gave orders
that she should accept the person to whom she had been engaged, or die by
the sword. Being informed of this, and answering that she had for her
spouse the King of kings, she was pierced with a sword.
304 ST BASILLA, or BASILISSA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
According to the Roman Martyrology St Basilla was a maiden related to the
imperial family who suffered in Rome about the middle of the third century.
Affianced in her childhood to a patrician named Pompeius, she refused after
her conversion to Christianity to carry out the contract, because she had
consecrated herself to our Lord at the time of her baptism. Pompeius denounced
her to the Emperor Gallienus, who left her free to choose between marriage
and death by the sword. She preferred the second, and was beheaded on the
Salarian Way. These details, and in particular the mention of Gallienus in
the third century, are probably wholly erroneous. In 1654 in the Catacomb
of St Cyriacus a tomb was discovered which bore the inscription “Basilla”,
together with a palm branch and a dove— the symbols of a virgin martyr. The
bones found within were translated with great pomp to the Hôtel-Dieu
at Bayeux in Normandy as being those of our third-century saint, but this
identification is now generally discredited, and the Bayeux relics are regarded
as being those of an unknown martyr.
Though we
have no detailed “acts” of Basilla, but only a passing reference in the quite
untrustworthy Passion of St Eugenia, there can be no question that Basilla
was an authentic martyr. Her name is entered with a date (= Ad. 304) in the
Roman Depositio Martyrum. Inscriptions invoking her have
been found in the catacombs, and there is mention of her in the Hieronymianum on this day. The only difficulty is that
the Depositio Martyrum assigns her martyrdom to September
22.
Basilla, also known as Basilissa, was a member of a noble Roman family.
She refused to marry Pompeius, a Roman patrician, after her conversion to
Christianity. She was beheaded for her faith when she was denounced to Emperor
Galienus by Pompeius and remained steadfast in her refusal to marry him.
The facts of the story are uncertain.
Basilla (Basilissa) of Rome VM (RM) 304. Basilla, a Roman maiden,
was betrothed to a pagan patrician. When she became a Christian, she refused
to marry him. Forced to choose between her bridegroom and death, she at once
chose the latter and was accordingly martyred for Christ (Benedictines).
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311 St. Aquila Egyptian
martyr prefect Arianus had ordered torture subsequently became Christian
and martyr
In Thebáide
sancti Aquilæ Mártyris, qui pectínibus pro Christo dilaniátus
fuit.
In Thebais, St. Aquila, martyr to the faith, whose body was
torn with iron combs.
An Egyptian martyr. In the persecution conducted by
co-Emperor Maximin Daia, Aquila was torn to pieces with iron combs. His death
was witnessed by the prefect Arianus, who became a Christian and a martyr.
Aquila of Nîmes M (RM) An Egyptian, torn to pieces with iron
combs under Maximinus Daza.
The prefect Arianus, who had ordered this torture, subsequently became a
Christian and a martyr in the same persecution (Benedictines).
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380? ST
BAUDELIUS, MARTYR
Nemáusi, in Gálliis, sancti Baudélii Mártyris,
qui comprehénsus est a Pagánis, et cum sacrificáre nollet
idólis et in Christi fide inter vérbera et torménta
immóbilis persísteret, martyrii palmam pretiósa morte
suscépit.
At Nimes in France, St. Baudelius, martyr. Being
arrested, but refusing to sacrifice to idols, and remaining immovable in
the faith of Christ, despite blows and tortures, he gained the palm of martyrdom
by his praiseworthy death.
IT is certain that a large number of churches in France and Spain have been
dedicated in honour of St Baudelius, whose tomb was formerly one of the most
venerated shrines in Provence, but little is actually known of his history
except that he perished for the faith at Nimes. Even the date of his martyrdom
is uncertain some authorities give it as 187, others as 297, and others place
it as late as the close of the fourth century. If we may put any trust in
his fabulous "acts", he was a married man who came with his wife from a foreign
land to evangelize southern Gaul. He arrived at Nimes one day when a feast
was being celebrated in honour of Jupiter, and was moved to harangue the
people on the truths of Christianity and the errors of paganism. He was arrested,
and his head was struck off with an axe. St Gregory of Tours, who wrote in
the sixth century, mentions the numerous miracles wrought at the tomb of
St Baudelius, adding that his cult had spread all over the Christian world.
He is the principal patron of Nimes, where he is called Baudille.
See the Acta
Sanctorum, May, vol. v; there are other Latin texts enumerated in BHL.,
nn. 1043--1047. St Baudelius is commemorated on this day in the Hieronymianum
and Delehaye’s commentary thereon furnishes references to the evidence for
early cultus.
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610 St. Anastasius XIII converted the Lombards
from the heresy of Arianism
Bríxiæ sancti Anastásii Epíscopi.
At Brescia, St. Anastasius, bishop.
Bishop of
Brescia, Lombardy Italy. Anastasius converted the Lombards from the heresy
of Arianism. His relics were solemnly translated by St. Charles Borromeo
in 1581.
Anastasius of Brescia B (RM) Bishop Anastasius of Brescia, Lombardy, greatly
contributed to the conversion of the Lombards from Arianism. Saint Charles Borromeo solemnly translated
his relics in 1581 (Benedictines).
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624 St. Austregisilus
knight priest Bishop and abbot
Apud Bitúrcias,
in Aquitánia, sancti Austregísili, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
At Bourges in France, St. Austregisil, bishop and confessor.
624 ST AUSTREGISILUS,
OR OUTRIL, BISHOP OF BOURGES
AT the court of King Guntramnus at Chalon-sur-Saône, the youth Austregisilus,
who was the son of an impoverished nobleman of Bourges, bore a high reputation.
He did not, however, escape the tongue of calumny, and was sentenced to face
his accuser in ordeal by battle in order to clear himself of a serious charge.
The death of his opponent by a fall from his horse just before the fight
was regarded as a special intervention of Providence. It confirmed Austregisilus
in an intention which he had previously formed of retiring from the world;
for when the king urged him to marry he had replied, "If I had a good wife
I should be afraid of losing her; if a bad one, I should be better with none".
Austregisilus was ordained priest by his friend St Aetherius, who also nominated
him abbot of Saint-Nizier at Lyons. As a superior he gained a reputation
for wisdom and miracles. In 612 he was elected bishop of Bourges and presided
in this his native city until his death, twelve years later. Amongst his
disciples was St Amandus, who as a young man came to Bourges and lived in
a cell near the cathedral under the direction of the bishop.
The life printed
in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol.
v, has also been critically edited in MGH, Scriptores Merov., vol. iv, pp. 188—208.
B. Krusch considers that the writer’s claim to be a contemporary is fictitious,
and that the text was really compiled a couple of centuries later. See also
Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux,
vol. i, p. 29.
Bishop and abbot, also called Outril. He was the son of a Bourges nobleman
who faced an ordeal by battle at the court of King Guntramnus. When his opponent
died just before the ordeal, Austregisilus turned from the world. He became
a priest and was ordained by St. Aetherius.
Entering Nazaire Abbey in Lyon, he became abbot, and in 612 was named bishop
of Bourges, France.
Austregisilus of Bourges B (RM) (also known as Outril(le), Aoustrille) Born
at Bourges; Saint Austregisilus was
educated as a courtier, but preferred the life of a monk and entered the
abbey of Saint-Nizier at Lyons, where he became abbot. In 612, he was elected
bishop of Bourges (Benedictines). In art, Saint Austregisilus is portrayed
as a knight on horseback, sometimes with a religious habit over his armor.
A man falls from a horse in front of him (Roeder).
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778 St. Theodore
of Pavia Bishop several
times banished from his diocese by the Arian Lombard kings B (RM)
Papíæ sancti Theodóri Epíscopi.
At Pavia, St. Theodore, bishop
Little is known of the early
life of St. Theodore of Pavia. We are first introduced to him as Bishop of
Pavia. Theodore headed the See of Pavia from 743 to 778. During his thiry-five
year service in Pavia he was subject to great opposition. Several times he
was banished from his diocese by the Arian Lombard kings. Undoubtedly Theodore
preached against the Arian heresy and was thus punished. Nonetheless, he remained
faithful to the end and was eventually canonized.
Theodore of Pavia B (RM) . Theodore was bishop of Pavia, Italy,
from 743 to 778. He had to endure much, including repeated banishment, at
the hands of the Arian Lombard kings (Benedictines).
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793 Ethelbert of East
Anglia a man of prayer from his childhood miracles revealed at his hidden
tomb M (AC)
Died near Hereford, England, in 793. King Ethelbert had a considerable cultus
during the middle ages, although some, such as William of Malmesbury, have
misgivings about the continuance of his veneration. He was murdered at Sutton
Walls in Herefordshire, apparently for dynastic reasons at the instigation
of the wife of Offa of Mercia.
His pious vita, written by Giraldus
Cambrensis, tells us that Ethelbert was a man of prayer from his childhood.
While still very young, he succeeded his father Ethelred as king of East
Anglia and ruled benevolently for 44 years. It is said that his usual maxim
is that the higher the station of man, the humbler he ought to be. This was
the rule for his own conduct.
Desiring to secure stability for his kingdom by an heir, he sought the hand
of the virtuous Alfreda, daughter of the powerful King Offa. With this in
mind, he visited Offa at Sutton-Wallis, four miles Hereford. He was courteously
entertained, but after some days, treacherously murdered by Grimbert, an
officer of king Offa, through the contrivance of queen Quendreda who wanted
to add his kingdom to their own.
His body was secretly buried at Maurdine of Marden, but miracles revealed
its hiding place. Soon it was moved to a church at Fernley (Heath of Fern),
now called Hereford. The town grew around the church bearing Ethelbert's
name after King Wilfrid of Mercia enlarged and enriched it.
Quendreda died miserably within three months after her crime. Her daughter
Alfreda became a hermit at Croyland. Offa made atonement for the sin of his
queen by a pilgrimage to Rome, where he founded a school for the English.
Egfrid, the only son of Offa, died after a reign of some months, and the
Mercian crown was translated into the family descended of Penda (Attwater,
Benedictines).
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1099 Blessed Guy
de Gherardescha led a solitary life at Campo in the diocese of Massa Maritima
Hermit (AC)
Born in Pisa, Italy; Guy led a solitary life at Campo in the diocese of Massa
Maritima, Italy (Benedictines).
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1242 Blessed Orlando
of Vallombrosa celebrated as an exorcist OSB Vall. Hermit (AC)
Orlando was a Vallombrosan lay-brother who was celebrated as an exorcist
(Benedictines).
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1245 Blessed Albert of
Bologna, OSB Vall. Abbot (AC)
Born in Bologna, Italy; died there in 1245. Albert was a member of the Parisi
family, who became a monk and later an abbot of the Vallombrosan abbey near
Bologna, which after his death was renamed S. Alberto (Benedictines).
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1444 St.
Bernardine of Siena He
was called the "People's Preacher" because his sermons were filled with lively
and realistic depictions of everything from a bachelor's household to women's
fashions throughout his life he was noted for his unfailing affability,
patience and courtesy; It is impossible to follow him on his missionary journeys,
for in them he covered nearly the whole of Italy; His tomb at Aquila was
honoured by many miracles
Aquilæ, in Vestínis,
sancti Bernardíni Senénsis, Sacerdótis ex Ordine Minórum
et Confessóris, qui verbo et exémplo Itáliam illustrávit.
At Aquila
in Abruzzi, St. Bernardin of Siena, priest of the Order of Friars Minor,
who added to the glory of Italy by his preaching and his example.
1444 ST BERNARDINO OF
SIENA ,
ST BERNARDINO was born in the Tuscan town of Massa Marittima, in which his
father, a member of the noble Sienese family of the Albizeschi, occupied
the post of governor. The little boy lost both his parents before he was
seven and was entrusted to the care of a maternal aunt and her daughter—
both excellent women, who gave him a religious training and loved him as
though he had been their own child. Upon reaching the age of eleven or twelve
he was placed by his uncles at school in Siena, where he passed with great
credit through the course of studies deemed requisite for a boy of his rank.
He grew up a good-looking lad, so merry and entertaining that it was impossible
to be dull in his company; but a coarse or blasphemous remark would always
bring a blush to his cheek and generally a remonstrance to his lips. Once
when a man of position sought to lead him into vice, Bernardino struck him
in the face with his fists, and on a second and similar occasion he incited
his comrades to join him in pelting the tempter with mud and stones. Except
when thus moved by righteous indignation, Bernardino was singularly sweet-tempered;
indeed, throughout his life he was noted for his unfailing affability, patience
and courtesy.
At the age of seventeen he enrolled himself in a confraternity of our Lady,
the members of which pledged themselves to certain devotional practices as
well as to the relief of the sick; and he at once embarked upon a course
of severe bodily mortification. In 1400 Siena was visited by the plague in
a virulent form, So serious was its toll that from twelve to twenty persons
died daily in the famous hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, which found
itself bereft of almost all who tended the sick. In this extremity Bernardino
offered to take entire charge of the establishment, with the help of some
other young men whom he had fired with the determination to sacrifice their
lives if necessary to aid the sufferers. Their services were accepted, and
for four months the noble band worked tirelessly, day and night, under the
direction of Bernardino, who, besides nursing the patients and preparing
them for death, saw to everything and brought order as well as cleanliness
into the hospital. Though several of his companions died, Bernardino escaped
the contagion and returned home after the epidemic was over, lhe was, however,
so exhausted by his labours that he fell an easy prey to a fever which laid
him low for several months.
Upon his recovery he found that his immediate duty lay close at hand. An
aunt named Bartolomea, to whom he was much attached, had become blind as
well as bedridden, and to her he devoted himself as he had done to the plague-stricken
in the hospital. When, fourteen months later, God called the invalid to Himself,
it was in the arms of her nephew that she breathed her last. Free now from
all earthly ties, Bernardino set himself by prayer and fasting to learn God’s
will as to his future. By this means he was led to enter the Franciscan Order,
the habit of which he received shortly afterwards in Siena. The house, however,
proved too accessible to the novice’s many friends and relations, and with
the consent of his superiors he retired to the convent of Colombaio outside
the city, where the rule of St Francis was strictly observed. Here in 1403
he was professed and here he was ordained priest—exactly a year later, on
the feast of the Birthday of our Lady which was his birthday and the anniversary
of his baptism and of his clothing.
History has little to tell us about the saint during the next twelve years:
he preached occasionally, but his life was mainly spent in retirement. Gradually
he was being prepared by God for the twofold mission of apostle and reformer.
When at last his hour had come, the way was made clear in a singular manner.
A novice in the convent at Fiesole in which the saint was staying startled
the community on three consecutive nights after Matins by exclaiming, “Brother
Bernardino! Hide no longer the gift that is in you. Go to Lombardy, for all
are awaiting you there!” Reprimanded and questioned as to why he had thus
spoken, he replied, “Because I could not help it!” To Bernardino and his
superiors this seemed to be a call from on high, and he obeyed. He opened
his apostolic career at Milan to which he went as a complete stranger towards
the end of 1417, but soon his eloquence and zeal began to attract enormous
congregations. At the close of a course of Lenten sermons, before he was
allowed to leave the city to preach elsewhere in Lombardy, he was obliged
to promise that he would return the following year. At first he was hampered
in his delivery by hoarseness and inability to make himself heard, but afterwards,
as the result, he firmly believed, of fervent prayer to our Lady, his voice
became singularly clear and penetrating.
It is impossible to follow him on his missionary journeys, for in them he
covered nearly the whole of Italy with the exception of the kingdom of Naples.
He travelled always on foot, preached sometimes for three or four consecutive
hours and often delivered several sermons on the same day. In large cities
he frequently had to speak from an open-air pulpit because no church could
contain the multitudes who crowded to hear him. Everywhere he preached penance,
denounced the prevalent vices and kindled popular fervour by spreading devotion
to the Holy Name. At the end of every sermon he would hold up for veneration
a tablet upon which he had written the letters I.H.S., surrounded by rays,
and after telling the people to implore God’s mercy and to live in peace
he would give them a blessing with the Holy Name. In cities torn by faction
he would heal deadly feuds and would persuade men to substitute the sacred
monogram for the Guelf or Ghibelline emblems that too often surmounted their
front doors. In Bologna, which was overmuch addicted to games of hazard,
he preached with such effect that the citizens gave up gambling and brought
their cards and dice to be burnt in a public bonfire. A card-manufacturer
who complained that he was deprived of his only means of livelihood was told
by St Bernardino to manufacture tablets inscribed with the I.H.S., and so
great was the demand for them that they brought in more money than the playing-cards
had ever done. All over Italy men spoke of the wonderful fruit of St Bernardino’s
missions—the numerous conversions, the restoration of ill-gotten goods, the
reparation of injuries and the reform of morals. Nevertheless there were
some who took exception to his teaching and accused him of encouraging superstitious
practices. They went so far as to denounce him to Pope Martin V, who for
a time commanded him to keep silence. However, an examination of his doctrine
and conduct led to a complete vindication and he received permission to preach
wherever he liked. The same pope, in 1427, urged him to accept the bishopric
of Siena, but he refused it, as he afterwards declined the sees of Ferrara
and of Urbino. His excuse was that if he were confined to one diocese he
could no longer minister to so many souls.
In 1430, nevertheless, he was obliged to give up missionary work to become
vicar general of the friars of the Strict Observance. This movement within
the Franciscan Order had originated about the middle of the fourteenth century
in the convent of Brogliano between Camerino and Assisi and had only maintained
a struggling existence until the coming of St Bernardino, who became its
organizer and its second founder. When he received the habit there were only
three hundred friars of the Observance in all Italy; when he died there were
four thousand. Wherever he went on his missionary tours, fervent young men
were drawn to the order with which he was identified, and pious persons desirous
of founding convents offered to bestow them upon the Observants. It was therefore
right and fitting that he should be officially empowered to consolidate and
regulate the reform. He accomplished this task with so much wisdom and tact
that many convents passed voluntarily and without friction from the Conventual
to the Observant rule. The original Observants had shunned scholarship as
they had shunned riches, but St Bernardino was aware of the danger of ignorance,
especially in face of the ever-increasing demand for Observant friars to
act as confessors. He therefore insisted upon instruction in theology and
Canon law as part of the regular curriculum. He was himself a learned man,
as may be judged from a series of Latin sermons which he wrote at Capriola
and which are still extant, and also by the fact that at the Council of Florence,
St Bernardino was able to address the Greek delegates in their own tongue.
Important as was the work with which he was now entrusted, the saint longed
to return to his apostolic labours which he regarded as his only vocation,
and in 1442 he obtained permission from the pope to resign his office as
vicar general. He then resumed his missionary journeys, which led him through
the Romagna, Ferrara and Lombardy. He was by this time in failing health,
and so emaciated that he looked like a skeleton, but the only concession
he would allow himself was the use of a donkey to convey him from one place
to another. At Massa Marittima in iw he preached on fifty consecutive days
a course of Lenten sermons, which he wound up by exhorting the inhabitants
to preserve harmony among themselves and by bidding a pathetic farewell to
his native town. Though obviously dying, he still continued his apostolic
work and set out for Naples, preaching as he went. He succeeded in reaching
Aquila, but there his strength gave out and he died on the eve of the Ascension,
May 20, 1444, in the monastery of the Conventuals. He had almost reached
the age of sixty-four years, forty-two of which he had spent as a religious.
His tomb at Aquila was honoured by many miracles and he was canonized within
six years of his death.
The number
of early Latin biographies of St Bernardino is considerable, and it must
suffice to note that a detailed enumeration is supplied in BHL, nn 188—201.
Some are given in full and extracts made from others in the Acta
Sanctorum, May, vol. v. Excellent modern
studies of the life and apostolate of the saint are numerous. The first edition
of that by P. Thureau-Dangin was published in 1896 (Eng. trans., 1911). Others
which deserve special notice were written by Dr K. Hefele, in German (1912)
by A. G. Ferrers Howell, in English (1913) by Father V. Facchinetti (1933)
and by Piero Bargellini (1933) both in Italian, but the number of such works
is great. A considerable amount of fresh material has been brought to light
and printed in modem times, for most of which see the Archivum
Franciscanum Historicum, more especially vols. vi, viii, xi, xii, xv,
etc. For a fuller bibliography consult B. Stasiewski, Der hl.
Bernardin von Elena (1931), and
V. Facchinetti, Bollettino Bibliografico (1930).
A very pleasant English sketch is that of M. Ward, St Bernardino,
the People’s Preacher (1914) The
fifth centenary of the saint’s death (1944) produced a number of new books,
mostly in Italian. See the life printed in Analecta Bollandiana,
vol. lxxi (1953), pp. 282—322.
In
the year 1400, a young man came to the door of the largest hospital in Siena.
A plague was raging through the city so horrible that as many as twenty people
died each day just in the hospital alone. And many of the people who died
were those who were needed to tend the ill. It was a desperate situation
-- more and more people were falling ill and fewer and fewer people were
there to help them.
The twenty-year-old man who stood there had not come because he
was ill but because he wanted to help. And he brought not new patients but
young men like himself willing to tend the dying. For four months Bernardine
and his companions worked day and night not only to comfort the patients
but to organize and clean the hospital. Only at the end of the plague did
Bernardine himself fall ill -- of exhaustion.
But that was Bernardine's way -- whatever he did, he put his whole
self into it. Immediately after he recovered he was back caring for the sick
-- but this time, he was responsible not for a whole hospital but one person
-- an invalid aunt. Yet for fourteen months she got his full attention. Throughout
his life, he put as much energy into caring for one person as for hundreds,
as much commitment into converting one citizen as to preaching to a whole
city.
After his aunt died, Bernardine started to think about where his
life should be going. The son of a noble family, he had been orphaned at seven
and raised by an aunt. We are told as a young person that he hated indecent
talk so much that he would blush when he heard it. Even his schoolmates hesitated
to make him so uncomfortable but apparently one adult citizen thought it
would be a great joke to needle Bernardine. In a public marketplace he stopped
Bernardine and started to talk to him in a shameful way. But if he had thought
to get away with his cruel trick, he was surprised when Bernardine slapped
him in the face. The man slunk away, shamed in front of the very crowd he'd
b een trying to impress.
Bernardine, who had come to Siena to study, threw himself into
prayer and fasting to discover what God wanted him to do. One might have expected
him to continue his work with the sick but in 1403 he joined the Franciscans
and in 1404 he was ordained a priest.
The Franciscans were known as missionary preachers, but Bernardine
did very little preaching with because of a voice that was weak and hoarse.
For twelve years he remained in the background, his energies going to prayer
or to his own spiritual conversion and preparation.
At the end of that time, he went to Milan on a mission. When he
got up to preach his voice was strong and commanding and his words so convincing
that the crowd would not let him leave unless he promised to come back.
Bernardino of Siena, OFM Priest
(RM) Born in Massa Marittima (near Siena), Tuscany, Italy, on September 8,
1380; died in Aquila, Italy, May 20, 1444; canonized in 1450 by Pope Nicholas
V.
"Jesus, crucified for me, with the nails of
Your love fasten my whole self to You."--Berardino of Siena.
Son of the governor of Massa Marittima (near Siena), Bernardino
degli Albizzeschi was placed in the care of an aunt when he was seven after
the death of his parents in 1386. She provided him with his religious education.
At 17, he joined a confraternity of Our Lady.
When the plague came to Siena in 1400, Bernardino offered to take
charge of the hospital, recalling the gentleness and virtue his pious aunt
had taught him. He also gathered round him twelve young friends who were
willing to risk their lives to share this duty. For the four months of the
pestilence, they worked tirelessly. Bernardino also organized an effective
service of welfare and relief. Although several of his companions died, he
did not contract the disease (one source said he did and came close to death).
He then cared for his blind, bedridden 90-year-old aunt, Bartholomea.
After her death, he set himself to prayer and fasting to learn God's will
for his future. While praying before his crucifix, he was impressed and reproached,
like Saint Francis, by the suffering of Our Lord, who seemed to step down
from the Cross and appear before him in His nakedness and sorrow. He could
not resist the pleading in his Savior's eyes and surrendered all he had.
He took the habit on September 8, 1402, entered the Franciscan
monastery of strict observance at Colombaio outside Siena in 1403. He was
ordained on September 8, 1404--the Feast of the Birth of Our Lady and his
birthday as well. Later he moved to Fiesole near Florence.
Over the next 12 years he preached only occasionally, preferring
to live as a solitary. He went to Milan and on September 8, 1417, he preached
his first sermon as a missioner. Despite being a stranger to the city, his
eloquence and fiery sermons soon attracted huge congregations. The people
made him promise to return the following year before they allowed him to
leave to preach in Lombardy. He covered nearly all of Italy, usually on foot,
preaching for two and three hours at a time, and often giving several speeches
in a day-- generally at a pulpit in the open air because the crowds were
so huge.
He attacked usury relentlessly, and denounced the party strife
of the Italian cities as a fundamental evil of the age and place. On the
other hand, he did not rise above such contemporary characteristics as hostility
toward Jews and belief in widespread witchcraft.
He would castigate vice and then hold up a placard with the sign
of the name of Jesus, "IHS," written on it, urging the congregation to turn
to the one symbolized by those letters. People became so enthused that they
even had IHS painted on houses. Throughout Italy people spoke of the wonderful
benefits of his preaching. Once a man whose livelihood came from making playing
cards complained that Bernardino had so successfully fought against gambling
that the trade was ruined. Bernardino gave him a new, even more profitable
trade, printing cards with the sign IHS.
Some of his preaching was criticized
by the University of Bologna, but this controversy, which troubled him for
eight years, ended in his favor. His detractors accused him of encouraging
superstitious practices. They said that he carried on his person a piece
of paper on which the Name of Jesus was written, that when he pleaded with
sinners he showed it to them and it gave out rays of light, and denounced
him to Pope Martin V. He was cleared of the charges after an examination
of his doctrine and conduct. It may well be that the light symbolized that
which flowed from his devoted spirit and the grace and passion of his eager
witness.
Pope Martin V offered him the bishopric in Siena in 1427, but
he declined, as he later declined the bishoprics of Ferrara and Urbino. In
1430, the "Apostle of the Holy Name" became vicar general of the Friars of
the Strict Observance. He reformed the rule to involve the friars more as
preachers and teachers and many convents passed easily from the Conventual
to the Observant rule. In fact, the number of friars under the rule grew
from 300 to over 4,000. The original Observants had shunned scholarship (as
riches), but Bernardino insisted upon instruction in theology and canon law
as part of the regular curriculum.
From 1430, he wrote theological works in both Latin and Italian.
These covered the principal doctrinal and moral elements of Christianity,
as well as treatises on the Blessed Mother. He established theological schools
at Perugia and Monteripido.
In 1442, he obtained permission from the pope to resign his office,
although Bernardino assisted at the Council of Florence. His health was failing,
but Bernardino was insistent upon a final missionary journey. He began it
at Massa Marittima in 1444 where he preached on fifty consecutive days. Although
dying, he continued his apostolic travels, setting out for Naples and preaching
as he went. He got as far as Aquila in the Abruzzi, where he died.
His tomb at Aquila was said to be the site of miracles. He was
the most prominent missioner of the 15th century, and he was canonized within
six years of his death.
It has been said that the 'People's Preacher' inaugurated in Italy
'one of those rare periods in history when the rule of Jesus made visible
progress in society.' He was called the "People's Preacher" because his sermons
were filled with lively and realistic depictions of everything from a bachelor's
household to women's fashions (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney,
Farmer, Gill, Origo, White).
Bernardino is represented in art as an old, toothless Franciscan
holding up a sign bearing the legend "IHS," from which rays shine forth.
Medieval and Renaissance painters depicted him as small and emaciated, with
deep burning eyes. He may also be seen (1) preaching before the Palazzo Communale
in Siena with IHS held before him; (2) with a banner bearing IHS and a star
over his head; (3) with three mounds surmounted by a banner with a cross
(possibly these mounds may really represent the three miters he refused--
Siena, Urbino, and Ferrara); with a trumpet as a sign of his power as a preacher,
or (5) in a painting by El Greco, bearded and habited, or four mitres at
his feet, IHS on his staff (Farmer, Gill, Roeder, White).
Bernardino was made the patron
saint of advertisers and advertising in 1956 by Pope Pius XII because of
his ability to illuminate the Catholic faith to audiences by the use of simple
language and telling symbols. He is invoked against hoarseness, which he
suffered in his early days of preaching, and is believed to have been cured
by a prayer to the Blessed Virgin (White). He is also the patron of wool-weavers
and invoked against diseases of the chest and lungs (Roeder).
|
1501 Blessed Columba
of Rieti pious mystics of the third order of Saint Dominic raising of a dead
child to life especially devoted to Our Lady modeled after Saint Catherine
of Siena to OP Tert. V (AC)
1501 BD COLUMBA OF RIETI, VIRGIN
IN the chronicles of Perugia we find many references to Bd Columba, a Dominican
tertiary who, by virtue of her sanctity and spiritual gifts, became whilst
yet living so completely the city's patroness that her mediation was officially
sought by the magistrates in times of danger and perplexity. She was a native,
not of Perugia, but of Rieti, where her father and mother earned a modest
livelihood as weavers and tailors. Although her angelic looks as a baby led
her parents to choose for her the name of Angiolella, she was always called
Columba, in allusion to a dove which made its appearance during her baptism
and alighted on her head. As she grew in years so she grew in beauty of soul
and body. From the Dominican nuns who taught her to read she acquired a great
veneration for St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena, and during her life
they often appeared in visions to encourage or direct her. At the age often
she secretly dedicated herself to God, and when her parents urged that she
should be betrothed to a wealthy young man, she cut off her hair, declaring
that her whole heart belonged to Jesus Christ. She now gave herself up to
austerities, hidden as far as possible from the eyes of men, and she strove
to tread in the footsteps of St Catherine. On one occasion, after a cataleptic
trance in which she had lain as though dead for five days, she described
the holy places of Palestine which she had been visiting in spirit. But it
was at the age of nineteen, when she had been invested with the Dominican
tertiary habit which she had long desired, that she emerged from her retirement
and entered upon what may almost be described as her public life.
A resident of Rieti lay under sentence of death for murder, and Columba's
prayers were asked on his behalf. She visited him in prison, brought him
to repentance and, after he had made a good confession, assured him that
his execution would not take place. Her prophecy was fulfilled when at the
eleventh hour a reprieve arrived. Her reputation was further enhanced by
miracles and by her almost complete abstention from food. At Viterbo, where
she cured a demoniac, and also at Narni, the inhabitants sought to detain
her by force, but she eluded them. She was not, however, to remain long at
Rieti. It was revealed to her that her mission lay elsewhere, and accordingly
early one morning she slipped out of the house in secular clothes-bound she
knew not whither. Upon her arrival at Foligno she was arrested on suspicion
that she was a fugitive for whom the authorities were searching, and her
relations were communicated with. Joined by her father, her brother, and
an elderly matron, she was then able to pursue her mysterious journey which
led finally to the gates of Perugia-perhaps the most turbulent city in Italy.
She was received in a humble dwelling already occupied by several tertiaries,
and immediately seems to have been made the object of a popular demonstration.
Her fame, no doubt, had preceded her. Not only the poor, but many of the
rich, including the ladies of the Baglioni family then in power, welcomed
her with open arms. On the other hand, certain excellent persons-notably
the Franciscan and Dominican friars-were openly suspicious of a young woman
who was said to subsist on a few berries and who was constantly falling into
ecstasies. Amongst them was Father Sebastian Angeli, afterwards her confessor
and biographer. In his book he confesses his early doubts and the incredulity
with which he received the information that she had resuscitated a child.
"Wait for ten years", he said to young Cesare Borgia, who suggested ringing
the city bells, "and then if her conduct has not belied her reputation we
can reckon her a saint." The citizens generally, however, had no such doubts,
and they offered to provide her with a convent. On January 2, 1490, Columba
with a few companions took the vows of a Dominican religious of the third
order. A few years later, on the outbreak of plague, her position was so
well established that the magistrates applied to her for advice and adopted
her suggestion of penitential processions. Many of the sick were healed by
her touch, some in her convent where they were tended by her nuns, some outside.
She had offered herself to God as a victim; and when in answer to her prayers
the plague abated, she contracted it in a virulent form. Her recovery she
attributed to St Catherine, in whose honour the magistrates decreed an annual
procession which was continued for a hundred years. In the bitter quarrels
that rent the city Columba invariably acted as an angel of peace, and once
she warned the rulers of a projected attack from outside which they were
consequently able to frustrate.
Pope Alexander VI when he came to Perugia asked specially to see her, and
was so impressed that at a later date he sent his treasurer to consult her
on certain secret projects-only to receive reproaches and warnings the details
of which were never made public. But if the pontiff himself was favourably
disposed, it was otherwise with his daughter, Lucrezia Borgia, whom Columba
had refused to meet and who, it is said, became her bitter enemy. Apparently
as the result of her hostile influence, Bd Columba was subjected to a period
of persecution, when a decree issued from Rome accused her of magic and deprived
her of her confessor. She uttered no complaint and bore all in patience until
the attack passed. Towards the end of her life she suffered much bodily pain,
but her interest in Perugia continued to the end. To the city fathers who
came to visit her in her last illness she gave an exhortation to observe
Christian charity and to do justice to the poor. She died at the age of thirty-four,
early in the morning on the feast of the Ascension, 1501. The magistrates
contributed to provide for her a public funeral, which was attended by the
whole city.
In the Acta Sanctorum,
May, vol. v, the Bollandists have published a Latin biography of Bd Columba
which was written by her confessor, Father Sebastian degli Angeli, a Dominican
friar of Perugia. Very little other material seems to have been available
from Dominican sources, and Father Leander Alberti, who produced an Italian
life in 1521, did little more than translate the Latin text of Father Sebastian.
It must be confessed that there are many points in his rather surprising narrative
which one would have liked to see presented from another angle. Bd Columba
has never been canonized, but her cult was formally confirmed in 1627. In
view of this confirmation, or of the continuation of the cause, a summary
statement with a brief catalogue of miracles was presented to the Congregation
of Rites, and this also may be found in the same volume of the Bollandists.
The Dominican Father D. Viretti, Using these sources, compiled in 1777 a
Vita de la B. Colomba da Rieti, which was translated into English for
the Oratorian Series and edited by Father Faber in 1847. The best modern
biography of this interesting beata seems to be that of Ettore Ricci, Storia
della A. Colomba da Rieti (1901) but see also M. C. de Ganay,
Les Bienheureuses Dominicaines (1913), pp. 305—354. A short
sketch in English will be found in Procter, Dominican Saints, pp. 133--136.
Born in Rieti, Umbria, Italy, in 1467; died in Perugia, Italy,
in 1501; beatified in 1697 (or 1627). Columba of Rieti is one of many pious
mystics of the third order of Saint Dominic. According to legend, angels
sang around the house when Columba
was born. She was originally to be called Angelica, but a white dove
appeared over the baptismal font, and it was decided to change the name to
Columba (another source says that her name was Angelella Guardagnoli). Her
parents were too charitable to save any money, and the little girl learned
to be hungry gracefully with them. Early in life, she learned to spin and
sew, and she and her mother took upon themselves the task of doing the mending
for the Dominican fathers in her Rieti.
Columba soon picked up the art of reading from the sisters at
Rieti, and learned the Little Office from hearing it chanted. She was especially
devoted to Our Lady, and, as soon as she had read a life of Saint Catherine of Siena, she began to
model her life on that of the great Dominican tertiary. Columba's parents
seem to have had a very casual attitude towards the goods of this world,
and, apparently, she and they worked only at odd times, when it was absolutely
necessary. They devoted the rest of their time to prayer and good works among
the poor.
At 12, Columba was self-supporting and, furthermore, she had learned
that charming truth: "It is better to need less than to have more." Earnestly
praying to know her vocation, she was favored with a vision in which she saw Our Lord on a golden
throne, attended by SS Dominic, Jerome, and Peter Martyr of Verona.
Columba interpreted the vision to mean that she was to dedicate herself to
God, and she pronounced a private vow of virginity and made plans to live
a solitary life.
Unfortunately, she did not think to mention this to her parents,
who were busy arranging a marriage for her. The night before the engagement
was to be publicly announced, they suddenly told her that the young man they
had arranged for her to marry was waiting in the parlor to see her. Forewarned
by a vision, Columba had made up her mind what to do. She quickly cut off
her hair and sent it in to him, which seems to be the accepted Dominican
way of declining a suitor. He took the hint and departed, to the fury of
Columba's brothers, who perhaps had felt that the family finances were about
to be put on a solid basis.
Columba, following Saint Catherine's
example, settled down to live the life of a recluse in her father's house.
She worked skillfully at whatever her mother suggested, which softened the
good lady's annoyance at her daughter's peculiar choice of life. An uncle
and one of her brothers persecuted her continually, and one time her brother
tried to kill her.
All in all, one would hardly say that these were comfortable surroundings
for a mystic. In the midst of all this, Columba set sturdily about her program
of spirituality: she kept five Lents a year, fasted on bread and water, and
went to Mass and to Communion as often as she was allowed in those days of
infrequent Communion.
Columba had a special devotion
to the Holy Infancy, and she longed to visit the Holy Land and see the places
sanctified by the Incarnate Christ. Never able to make the trip in actuality,
she made it spiritually, and once, in an ecstasy that lasted five days, she
was conducted to all the holy places in Palestine.
On one occasion, her confessor, who was something of an artist,
had promised to make her a set of crib figures to use at Christmas time.
He forgot to do so, and she was desolate until the Christ- Child himself appeared
to her. Then she had no need of wooden figures. Once, when she was meditating
on the Passion, she was so affected by what she saw that she begged our Lord
never to let her see such suffering again, for fear she would die of its
intensity.
At age 19, Columba was received into the third order of Saint
Dominic. She had been favored with a vision telling her that she should join
this group, and, as soon as she was clothed with the habit, she led a pilgrimage
to the Dominican shrine of Our Lady of the Oak in Viterbo.
Her fame had already begun to spread; as they went along the road,
people crowded to get close to her and hailed her as a saint. Columba was
embarrassed by such attention, but she proceeded to Viterbo. Here she prayed
that a devil might be cast out of a young woman who had been possessed for
18 years. When the woman was healed, the word spread all over the region
that Columba was a real saint.
The citizens of Narni determined to trap her and keep her as she
passed through that city on her return home. Warned of their intention, Columba
and her little party crept out by night and fled from those overly enthusiastic
citizens, who would one day wage a bloody battle to gain custody of another
saintly Dominican--Lucy of Narni.
It is unknown why Columba moved to Foligno; perhaps the fame of
her miracles--including the raising of a dead child to life--was beginning
to press down upon her. In 1488, she moved to the convent of the Poor Clares.
The bishop soon heard about her, and, unexpectedly, Columba found
herself in the role of foundress for a community of Dominican tertiaries
that the bishop wished to establish in Perugia. The bishop sent word for
her to go to Perugia, and at the same time the master general told her to
return to Rieti.
The good people of Foligno blocked all the roads, and said quite
plainly that Columba was going nowhere. When the master general's envoy came
to get her, she was in ecstasy, and he had to shake her awake to give her
the message. She went along very obediently. Eventually, however, the master
general changed his mind, and she was sent to Perugia.
Columba took her solemn vows in the convent of Perugia on Pentecost
in 1490. She lived there happily, frequently lost in prayer, until her death
11 years later. Bishops, priests, and magistrates came to consult her about
their various problems, and to ask her prayers. When the plague was decimating
the peninsula in 1494, she told the people to dedicate the city to Saint
Dominic and Saint Catherine. Her request was executed and the plague immediately
ceased. She is said to have been ruthlessly persecuted by Lucrezia Borgia,
but no details are available.
Despite all this heavenly activity,
Columba was a very kind superior, who never expected any of her charges to
imitate her extreme penances. She claimed, "No sister dead to grace can remain
in a convent; for either she will repent of her sins, or she will be cast
out on the cold shores of the world, or, of her own free will, she will leave
the blessed retreat of the cloister."
Columba of Rieti died on the eve of the Feast of the Ascension
at the age of 34. At the moment of her death, her soul appeared radiant in
glory, to her spiritual friend, Blessed Osanna of Mantua (Benedictines, Dorcy).
In art, Columba is a Dominican tertiary to whom an angel brings
the Eucharist. At times a hand may reach down from heaven to give her the
Host, with a wreath of roses, cross, lily, and rosary; or with a dove, lily,
and book (Roeder).
|
Saints of May 20 Tertiodécimo Kaléndas Júnii
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.