DAY 35: Planned Parenthood
is getting desperate Business is off
October 31st, 2011 by admin
QUESTION: When can you tell Planned Parenthood is getting desperate?
ANSWER: When you see them launch a “pledge-a-picket” campaign.
This is one of the abortion chain’s typical reactions
to your dedication and faith throughout the campaign. It often shows up towards
the end of the 40 days. It has one goal — to discourage YOU. They
start putting up signs and sending out e-mails, asking supporters to pledge
a donation for each “picketer” or “protester” who shows up (that’s what they
call the 40 Days for Life prayer volunteers). They then say the pro-lifers
are HELPING Planned Parenthood raise money — but that’s just to convince
you to go home. The bottom line is that it’s confirmation from them that
business is off. In many cases, these attempts only last a few days, as they
don’t have the grassroots dedication to match your peaceful presence. If
this has happened in your community, take it as a compliment … and continue
to pray.
COLUMBIA, MISSOURI
Planned Parenthood in Missouri sent out one of
the e-mail messages I just mentioned. “You have seen them out in front of
Planned Parenthood,” reads the e-mail. “Protesters harassing and intimidating
patients. Protesters trying to keep patients from accessing the health care
services they need and deserve… But, Planned Parenthood is not going anywhere!”
The e-mail went on to talk about volunteer escorts who “provide a safe
passage for patients and protect them from the verbal insults.” “For
the record,” said one of the 40 Days for Life volunteers in Columbia, “we
are being very nice to the clients, workers and escorts. This is propaganda!
I cannot figure out who Planned Parenthood is talking about.”
It seems they only put the sign out when the weather is nice. “It has been
windy and rainy the last couple of days. However our signs are out no matter
the weather.”
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
It was warm when the 40 Days for Life team in
Sioux Falls took these pictures — but it didn’t stay that way long. Karen
wrote, “It was so cold at Planned Parenthood this morning at 9:00. It was
about 28 degrees. There was no one there but me, so I was feeling a little
alone.” There wasn’t a single car in the parking lot. “I was thinking
that I could have just stayed home and stayed warm. Then the sun shone on
my face.” It was as if God had said, “I will warm you up.” “As
I was wishing someone from my church would show up to pray with me, my pastor
called to thank me for being there, even though he had a meeting and couldn’t
come today. That also warmed me up.”
BUFFALO, NEW YORK
Joanne brought a friend to the 40 Days for Life vigil who was attending for
the first time. She stood by the abortion center’s driveway with a sign that
said, “Change your mind — adoption.” Near the other end of the building,
Cathy had brought her daughter for the first time. A young woman drove up,
got out of her car and walked up to Joanne. “Five years ago, I changed my
mind,” she said, “because of people standing here.” She then showed Joanne
a photo of her daughter. “I remember the woman who talked with me that
morning,” she said — and then she noticed Cathy, who was praying nearby.
“That’s her!” the young woman exclaimed, and ran over to Cathy and her daughter.
And she showed her child’s picture to the woman whom God had sent to help
her, just when she needed it the most.
Here’s the link to today’s devotional:
http://40daysforlife.com/docs/fall2011day35print.pdf
For Life,
Shawn Carney Campaign Director 40 Days for Life
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ALL SAINTS
IN those churches in which the Divine Office is recited in choir
the hour of Prime is followed by the reading of the martyrology for the day,
and this reading always ends with the words Et alibi aliorum
plurimorum sanctorum martyrum et confessorum atque sanctarum virginum:
“And in other places [the commemoration] of many other holy martyrs, confessors
and virgins.”
On the feast of All Saints the Church celebrates in the most solemn fashion,
as well as all those whom she has formally beatified and canonized and those
whose names are entered in the various martyrologies or whose cultus is of
local observance, these “many others” and not only the martyrs, confessors
and virgins in the technical sense of those words, but all, known to manor
known only to God, who, in whatever circumstances and whatever states of
life, have contended manfully in this life and now enjoy the blissful vision
of God for ever in Heaven.
The Church thus honours all the saints reigning together
in glory to give thanks to God for the graces and crowns of His servants
to move ourselves to strive after their virtues by considering their example;
to implore the divine mercy through this multitude of powerful intercessors;
and to repair any failure or insufficiency in not having duly honoured God
in His saints on their particular festivals, and to glorify Him in those
saints who are unknown to us or for whom no particular festivals are appointed.
Therefore our fervour on this day ought to be a reparation for our lukewarmness
in all the other feasts of the year; they being all comprised in this one
solemn commemoration, which is an image of that eternal great feast which
God continually celebrates in Heaven with all the righteous, whom we humbly
join in praising His goodness and mercies. In this, as in all other feasts
of the saints, God is our only object of supreme worship, and the whole of
that lesser and different veneration which is paid to them is directed to
give sovereign honour to Him alone, whose gifts their graces are; and our
prayers to them are only petitions to holy fellow-creatures for the assistance
of their prayers to God for us. When therefore we honour the saints, in them
and through them we honour God, and Christ, true God and true man, the redeemer
and saviour of mankind, the king of all the saints, the source of their holiness
and glory.
These glorious citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem God has chosen
out of all peoples and nations without any distinction; persons of all ages,
showing there is no age which is not ripe for Heaven, and out of all states
and conditions: amidst the pomp of worldly grandeur, in the cottage, in the
army, in trade, in the magistracy; clergy, monks, nuns, married persons and
widows, slaves and freemen. There is no state that has not been honoured
with its saints. And they were all made saints by the very occupations of
their state and by the ordinary occurrences of life: prosperity and adversity,
health and sickness, honour and contempt, riches and poverty—all these they
made the means of their sanctification. God does not require, then, that
men abandon their employments in the world, but that they hallow them by disengagement
of heart and religious motive or intention. Thus has every station in the
world been adorned with saints.
It is sometimes objected against the ideal of holiness held up by the Church
before all men indiscriminately that it is incompatible with that secular
life in which the overwhelming majority of men and women are, and are meant
to be, engaged. And in support of this objection it is alleged that more
clergy and members of religious orders of both sexes become saints than do
lay people, more not only relatively but absolutely. This is not known to
be so, and is impossible of proof. If it be a question of canonized and beatified
saints, then it is true that there are far more religious than lay people,
and also far more bishops than priests, and men than women. But canonization
and beatification are exterior marks, “certificates” if the expression may
be allowed, by which the Church honours certain individuals, a selection
from among those many holy ones who contribute to her sanctity. And in the
making of that selection some purely natural factors necessarily come into
play. A religious order has the means and the motive for forwarding the “cause”
of an individual who in other circumstances would have never been heard of
outside his own circle; the episcopal office brings its holder into greater
prominence, lends of itself a weight to his name, and carries with it the
means and influence to prosecute his cause; and men, as distinct from women,
have by their very sex greater opportunities of notable achievement and of
the fame of their virtues becoming widespread in this world. But even so
a modification is taking place.
Among those saints or candidates for canonization in our own
day whose cause, where it has been introduced, was or is the interest of
so many diverse people that it could almost be said to be proposed by the
Church herself, and not by a particular country, order or diocese, a greater
variety of “states of life” is exhibited: a pope, Pius X, and a country parson,
St John Vianney; St Teresa of Lisieux, a simple nun; Frederic Ozanam, Bd
Contardo Ferrini, Ludovic Necchi, Matt Talbot, laymen; Bd Anne Mary Taigi
was the wife of an obscure man-servant, but her recognition is probably due,
under God, to the interest of the Trinitarians, of which she was a tertiary.
In reading the full-length biographies of the many recently
canonized or beatified foundresses of religious congregations it is noticeable
how much space is taken up by accounts of the spiritual and corporal works
of mercy which the subjects undertook or of which they were the cause. Full
information about their “inner life” often seems to be lacking (Bd Mary Teresa
de Soubiran is a notable exception) and is dealt with in general, or even
common-form, terms. These people attained holiness in the course of lives
which were full, “pressed down and running over”, with activities directed
immediately to the good of others, lives that were in a sense as much “in
the world” as those of lay people. This circumstance—no new one, of course—must
be of encouragement to those who are tempted to think that “a really Christian
life” can hardly be led outside a cloister, or at any rate outside some ecclesiastical
state. There is but one Gospel, one Sacrifice, one, Redeemer, one Heaven
and one way to Heaven. It has been traced out by Jesus Christ, the rule of
salvation laid down by Him is invariable and the same for all. It is an entirely
false idea that Christians in the world are not bound to aim at perfection,
or that they may be saved in a different path from that of the saints.
The saints are far from having simply ethical significance only, as patterns
of virtuous life they have also immense religious significance, not only
as living and functioning members of the mystical Body of Christ who by intercession
with Him are in vital contact with the Church militant and suffering, but
also as fruits of the Redemption who have attained their last end in the
vision of God “they who are come out of great tribulation and have washed
their robes and have made them white with the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
they are before the throne of God…”
“The feast of All Saints”, said the holy J. J. Olier, founder of Saint-Sulpice,
“seems to me to be in some sort a greater than that of Easter or the Ascension.
Our Lord is perfected in this mystery, because, as our head, He is only perfectly
fulfilled when He is united to all His members, the saints. [The feast] is
glorious because it manifests exteriorly the hidden life of Jesus Christ.
The greatness and perfection of the saints is entirely the work of His spirit
dwelling in them.”
There are considerable indications of the celebration in quite early times
of a collective feast of the martyrs—martyrs in those days being alone reckoned
as saints. Although certain passages which have been appealed to in Tertullian
and in St Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of St Gregory Thaumaturges are too vague
to be of much service, we are on firmer ground when, in the Carmina Nisibena
of St Ephraem (d. c 373), we find mention of a feast kept in honour of “the
martyrs of all the earth”. This was apparently fixed for May 13, a fact which
suggests the intervention of some oriental influence in the choice of precisely
May 13 for the dedication of the Pantheon in Rome, mentioned below.
Throughout the Syrian church in general, however, we know
that already in 411, or earlier, a “feast of all the martyrs” was celebrated
on the Friday of Easter week, for the Syriac Breviarium expressly records
this. Easter Friday is still thus distinguished by the Catholics of the Chaldean
rite and by the Nestorians.
On the other hand the Byzantine churches kept and still
keep a feast of all the saints on the Sunday after Pentecost, our Trinity
Sunday; Chrysostom at Constantinople tells his hearers, in a sermon entitled
“A Panegyric of all the Martyrs that have suffered throughout the world”,
that seven days have hardly passed since the feast of Pentecost.
How the celebration of All Saints began in the West still remains
somewhat of a problem. In both the Félire of Oengus and the Martyrology
of Tallaght we find on April 17 a commemoration of all the martyrs, and on
April 20 a feast “of all the Saints of the whole of Europe”. As the Tallaght
text phrases it, this day is the “communis sollemnitas omnium sanctorum et
virginum Hiberniae et Britanniae et totius Europae”.
Turning to England, we note that the primitive text of
Bede’s Martyrology contained no mention of All Saints, but in copies dating
from the close of the eighth century or the beginning of the ninth, we find
on November 1 the entry “Natale sancti Caesarii et festivitas
omnium sanctorum.” Dom Quentin has suggested that the idea that Pope St Boniface
IV intended by the dedication of the Pantheon (in honour of our Lady and
all martyrs, on May 13, c. 609; still commemorated in the Roman Martyrology)
to establish something in the nature of a feast of All Saints may have been
deduced by Ado and others from a phrase used by Bede, who has spoken of this
dedication both in his Ecclesiastical History
and in his De temporum ratione.
Bede says—what was not stated in the Liber
Pontificalis which he had before him—that the pope designed that “the
memory of all the saints might in future be honoured in the place which had
formerly been devoted to the worship, not of gods, but of demons”.
In any case it is certain that Alcuin in the year 800 was in the habit of
keeping the solemnitas sanctissima
of All Saints on November 1, with a previous three days’ fast. He knew that
his friend Arno, Bishop of Salzburg, shared his interest in the festival,
since Arno had a short time before presided over a Bavarian council which
included that day in its list of holy days. We also hear of a certain Cathwulf
who about the year 775 besought Charlemagne to institute a feast, with a
fasting vigil preceding, “in honour of the Trinity, the Unity, the angels
and all the saints”.
In the calendar in Bodley MS. Digby 63, ninth century, northern English,
All Saints is marked on November 1 as a principal feast. Rome seems finally
to have adopted that date under Gallican influence.
In support
of the above observations on the beginnings of this feast, see Tertullian,
De corona, cap. 3; Gregory of Nyssa in Migne, PG.,
vol. xlvi, c. 953; Ephraem Syrus, Carmina Nisibena, ed. Bicknell,
pp. 23, 84; Chrysostom in Migne PG.,
vol. 1, c. 705; D. Quentin, Martyrologes historiques, pp. 637-641; and the Revue
Benedictine, 1910, p. 58, and 1913, p. 44. On the general question consult
Abbot Cabrol in DAC., vol. v, cc. 1418—2419; and particularly the Acta Sanctorum, Propylaeum
decembris, pp. 488—489, from which it appears that a supposed reference
of Oengus to November 1 as All Saints’ day is a mistake.
Cf. also Duchesne, Liber pontificalis,
vol. i, pp. 417, 422—423;
and, for the oriental tradition, Nilles, Calendarium utriusque
ecclesiae, especially vol. i, p. 314, and vol. ii, pp. 334 and 424. The folklore
aspects of the feast are discussed by Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, vol. i, pp.
263 seq. A number of religious orders have the privilege
of a feast of all the saints of their respective orders. Many dioceses, especially
in France, formerly observed a collective feast of their local diocesan saints;
such feasts have now been abolished, though All Saints of Ireland is kept
in that country on November 6. In England the feast was formerly often called
All Hallows.
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DAY 41 INTENTION
Pray that the witness of 40 Days for
Life bears abundant fruit, and that we begin again each day to storm the
gates of hell until God welcomes us into the gates of heaven.
Dear Readers,
For Life, Shawn Carney Campaign
Director 40 Days for Life just got home. What a week! What a fall
it has been!
You have put in time, prayer and sweat ... and God has blessed
these efforts more than we could have ever expected back on September 22
when the campaign started. As we tally up the final results of this fall's
40 Days for Life campaign, we know that anything is possible with God ...
but this campaign is just the beginning.
In places where 40 Days for Life has been conducted for the first time ever
...... there is great hope and excitement.
In Zion, Illinois -- a community without an abortion center -- Joellyn overcame
a number of challenges and helped organize a campaign that has touched hearts
and reports at least one life saved from abortion.
"This morning at church, a lady approached me and said, 'Let's keep those
pray-to-end-abortion signs for the next prayer vigil in the spring!' That
was such wonderful news to me," she said, "since this fall was the first
time Zion had joined in as a part
of 40 Days for Life. Praise God!"
The first-time 40 Days for Life campaign in London, England touched many.
"It's the grand finale week, and wish it was the beginning of the 40 days,"
said Monde. "The experience of being at the vigil for UK's 40 Days for Life
has been consoling and strengthening to my soul. It's my prayer and hope
that God's grace will enable me to share this experience to be in practice
this time around next year in Zambia."
That's just one of a number of new countries that are ready to join the 40
Days for Life effort in 2011.
Because of your example, many others are now considering a leap of faith
and doing something they've never done before ...something uncomfortable
-- going to stand and pray in front of the places where innocent lives are
being lost.
"People do not realize the good they do just being there praying quietly,"
said one volunteer in St. Louis, Missouri. "People going inside see the people
praying peaceably and not shouting, and they want to be a part of that peace."
This vigil participant added, "I really appreciate what the 40 Days for Life
campaign does to set up such a program. I just regret that it only comes
twice a year."
You know ... it doesn't have to end.
We've always said that 40 Days for Life is but a first step. Now, it's time
to take the next step. What will that next step be? For you personally? For
your community? Others are already answering that question.
"In the wake of 40 Days for Life, we are forming four distinct teams of sidewalk
counselors and prayer warriors so that the work will not merely continue,
but will flourish," said Michael in Los Angeles, California. "We hope to
quadruple our effectiveness."
Some local teams have already done that, and they're seeing amazing results.
In Texas, for instance, the San Antonio Coalition for Life was formed right
after the first national 40 Days for Life campaign in 2007. "Since
that time," said Amy in San Antonio, "we have continued to be present, in
prayer, on the sidewalk for every abortion day and have seen, in less than
a year, the abortion rate at this clinic dropped by 46 percent!"
These things can be repeated in your community -- through faithful response
to God's call, through hard work -- and of course, through prayer. What are
we waiting for?
Here's today's "bonus" devotional from Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director
of Priests for Life.
DAY 41 INTENTION
Pray that the witness of 40 Days for
Life bears abundant fruit, and that we begin again each day to storm the
gates of hell until God welcomes us into the gates of heaven.
SCRIPTURE
On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail
against it. -- Matthew 16:18
REFLECTION by Fr. Frank Pavone
When we read this verse, we usually think that the Lord is promising that
the church, which is His Body, will withstand all the attacks launched against
it. Of course, that is true.
But when we think about it more carefully, we realize that in a battle, the
gates do not run out into the battlefield to attack the enemy. Rather, they
stand still to defend the city from the enemy attacking it. So when
the Lord says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church,
who is doing the attacking? It is the church storming the gates!
The church, all of God's people in Christ, is called to take the offensive,
to run into enemy territory, and to gain ground for Jesus Christ. We do not
wait for an invitation; we already have a command. We prepare, but we do
not wait for circumstances to be perfect; we already have one who has gone
before us.
During these 40 days, we have stormed the gates. We have taken the offensive.
We have pushed forward the boundaries of the kingdom. And we must keep doing
so, in numerous ways.
Indeed, the gates of hell will not prevail. The gates of falsehood will flee
in the presence of truth. The gates of sin will melt in the presence of grace.
The gates of death will fall in the presence of the church, the People of
Life!
PRAYER
Father, we praise you. We have heard the voice of your Son, and therefore
we can make our voices heard. We have done battle with the power of
evil, and therefore we can have compassion on those still within its grip.
We have been freed from the kingdom of darkness, and therefore we can bear
witness to your Kingdom of Light.
May the witness of all your people through these 40 Days for Life bear abundant
fruit, and may we begin again each day to storm the gates of hell until You
welcome us into the gates of heaven. We pray in the victorious name of Jesus
Christ our Lord, Amen.
PRINTABLE DEVOTIONAL
To download today's devotional as a formatted, printable PDF to share with
friends:
http://40daysforlife.com/docs/fall2010day41print.pdf
For Life, Shawn Carney Campaign Director 40 Days for Life
PS: What's next for you? For your community's 40 Days for Life effort? Please
share your story by leaving a comment at today's blog entry: http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=1398
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St. Caesarius
martyrs of Damascus & five other Companions
Damásci pássio sanctórum Cæsárii, Dácii
et aliórum quinque.
At Damascus, the martyrdom of the Saints Caesarius, Dacius,
and five others.
SS. Caesarius and Julian, martyrs
THE “acts” of
these martyrs are not authentic. Stripped of some common-form marvels they
are summarized by Alban Butler as follows: At
Terracina in Italy it was a barbarous custom on certain solemn occasions
for a young man to make himself a voluntary sacrifice to Apollo, the tutelar
deity of the city. After having been pampered for some months by the citizens,
he offered sacrifice to Apollo, and then threw himself headlong from a precipice
into the sea. Caesarius, a deacon from Africa, happened once to be present
at this impious scene and, not being able to contain his indignation, spoke
openly against so abominable a superstition. The priest of the temple caused
him to be apprehended, and accused him before the governor, by whose sentence
the deacon was, after nearly two years’ imprisonment, put into a sack and
cast into the sea, together with a Christian priest named Julian.
Whatever their true story,
SS. Caesarius and Julian are mentioned in the early martyrologies; and in
Rome there has been since the sixth century a church of San Cesareo, which
is now a cardinalitial title.
See the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. i, where four separate texts
of the passio are printed, together with a paraphrase of
one of them in Greek. The church of San Cesareo is on the Palatine and it
has been suggested that the adoption of this dedication in the imperial quarter
was due to the form of the saint’s name suggesting a connection with emperors.
Consult Delehaye, Origines du culte des martyrs, pp. 308,
409; Lanzoni in Rivista
di archeologia cristiana, vol. i, pp. 146—148; Duchesne in Nuovo
bullettino di arch. crist., 1900, pp. 17 seq.;
and J. P. Kirsch, Der stadtrömische Fest-Kalender,
p. 208.
With Dacius
and five other companions, Caesarius, Sabbas, Sabinian,
Agrippa, Adrian and Thomas at Damascus, martyrs
of Damascus, Syria
Caesarius & Julian (Lucian)
MM (RM). The names of both Caesarius, an African deacon, and Julian, a priest,
appear in the earliest martyrologies. They were both martyred at Terracina,
Italy, where it was the custom to periodically have a young man volunteer
to jump off a cliff into the sea as a sacrifice to the titular deity of the
city, Apollo. The citizens would treat the young man as a goose to be fattened--
he would be pampered, fed treats, and richly clothed before he gave himself
up to the sea. Witnessing the sacrifice, Caesarius shouted against the abominable
superstition. The priest of Apollo had him arrested and taken before the
governor, who sentenced the deacon and his priest to be sewn into a sack
and thrown into the sea.
The church of Saint Caesarius
of the Appian Way in Rome, now a title of one of the cardinal deacons, is
dedicated to Saint Caesarius the African. The church had fallen into ruins
and was magnificently rebuilt by Clement VIII for his nephew Cardinal Deacon
Sylvester Aldobrandini (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
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St.
Caesarius & Julian Martyrs of Terracina, Italy
Tarracínæ, in Campánia, natális sancti Cæsárii
Diáconi, qui, diébus multis in custódia macerátus,
póstea, cum sancto Juliáno Presbytero, in saccum missus et
in mare præcipitátus est.
At Terracina in Campania, the birthday of St. Caesarius,
deacon, who was detained many days in prison, afterwards put into a sack
with the priest St. Julian, and then thrown into the sea.
Caesarius
was a deacon from Africa visiting
Italy. Julian was a local priest.
During a sacrificial rite of the pagan god Apollo. Caesarius protested the
murder of a youth.
He was imprisoned and then drowned with Julian. The chinch of St. Caesarius
the African is on the Appian Way in Rome.
Caesarius, Decius (Dacius) & Companions MM (RM)
A group of seven martyrs who
suffered at Damascus, Syria (Benedictines).
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3rd v. Saint Benignus
of Dijon sent by Saint Polycarp to preach the Gospel in Gaul
M (RM)
In castro Divióne sancti
Benígni Presbyteri, qui a beáto Polycárpo missus est
in Gálliam ad prædicándum Evangélium; et, postquam,
sub Marco Aurélio Imperatóre, a Teréntio Júdice
gravíssimis torméntis multiplíciter est afflíctus,
tandem ejus collum vecte férreo tundi et corpus láncea perforári
jubétur.
At Dijon, St. Benignus, a priest, who was sent to France
by blessed Polycarp to preach the Gospel. After he had been subjected
to many grievous torments by the judge Terentius, under Emperor Marcus Aurelius,
he was finally condemned to have his neck struck with an iron bar and his
body pierced with a lance.
ALTHOUGH the Roman Martyrology
lends its authority to the statement that St Benignus was a disciple of St
Polycarp at Smyrna and was martyred at Dijon in the reign of Marcus Aurelius,
Alban Butler only ventures that he was a Roman missionary who suffered near
Dijon, “probably in the reign of Aurelian”. Even this is going too far, as
his nationality is not known, and the suggested date is perhaps too late:
he may have been a disciple of St Irenaeus of Lyons, martyred at Épagny.
He came to be venerated in the neighbourhood of Dijon, but at the beginning
of the sixth century nothing was known about him locally.
St Gregory of Tours says that at this time the people of Dijon
honoured a certain tomb, which his great-grandfather, St Gregory, Bishop
of Langres, believed to be the grave of a pagan. He was warned in a dream
and by a miracle that it was actually the resting-place of the martyred St
Benignus. Gregory of Langres accordingly restored the tomb and built a basilica
over it. He had no particulars of the life and death of the martyr, but in
due course some pilgrims returning from Italy put him in possession of a
passio Sancti Benigni. That this document had its origin
in Rome is not likely, and it is manifest that in its present form (which
seems to be contemporaneous with St Gregory of Langres) it has at the very
least been edited in Dijon and is completely spurious.
This passio
relates that St Polycarp of Smyrna had a vision of St Irenaeus, then
dead (in fact he did not die until some fifty years after Polycarp), in consequence
of which he sent two priests, Benignus and Andochius, and the deacon Thyrsus
to preach the gospel in Gaul. After being wrecked on Corsica, where they
picked up St Andeolus, they landed at Marseilles and made their way to the
Côte d’Or. At Autun they were received into the house of one Faustus,
whose son St Symphorian was baptized by St Benignus. The missionaries then
separated and at Langres Benignus converted St Leonilla and her three twin
grandsons (see St Speusippus, etc., on January 17). He went
on to Dijon and there preached with great effect, and wrought many miracles.
Persecution of Christians having broken out, the judge
Terence denounced Benignus to the Emperor Aurelian, who was in Gaul (so he
was, about a hundred years after the death of St Polycarp). The missionary
was arrested at Épagny, near Dijon, and after many trials and torments,
which he opposed by no less startling miracles, his head was crushed with
an iron bar and his heart pierced. The body was buried in a tomb that was
made to look like a pagan monument in order to deceive the persecutors.
Mgr Duchesne has shown that this tale is the first link in a
chain of religious romances written during the early part of the sixth century
to describe the beginnings of the churches of Autun, Besançon, Langres
and Valence (SS. Andochius and Thyrsus, Ferreolus and Ferrutio, Benignus,
Felix, Achilleus and Fortunatus); no reliance whatever can be placed on them
and the very existence of some of these martyrs is doubtful.
Here
again five separate texts of the passio will be found in
the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. i. Besides the commentary
of the Bollandists, see also Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux,
vol. i, pp. 51-62, and Leclercq in DAC., vol. iv, cc. 835—849.
The cultus of this martyr
began in the early 6th century with the discovery of an ancient tomb at Dijon.
Subsequently, a Passio of Saint Benignus made its appearance; it was said
to have had its origin in Italy, but the story it tells is manifestly spurious
in all its versions. There is a remote possibility that Benignus was a missionary
priest from Lyons, martyred at Epagny, near Dijon, in the late second century
(probably under Aurelian, 270-275).
According to the 6th century legend, Saint Benignus, along with
another priest and a deacon, were sent by Saint Polycarp to preach the Gospel
in Gaul. Their adventures included being shipwrecked at Corsica, landing
at Marseilles and making their way perilously up the rivers Rhone and Saone.
They reached Autun, where Benignus converted a nobleman who later was martyred
(Saint Symphorianus).
He and his companions separated, to evangelize different parts
of Gaul. He worked openly, despite the danger to Christians. Inevitably Benignus
was denounced to the authorities and put on trial. He refused to sacrifice
to pagan idols or to Caesar. He refused to deny Christ. Attempts were made
to make him change his mind by savage tortures. Eventually he was put to
death.
His impressive sarcophagus can still be seen in the crypt under
the cathedral at Dijon in what was a large Roman cemetery. In the 6th century,
Saint Gregory of Langres built a basilica and monastery on the site. William
of Volpiano built a larger church there for his Cluniac monastery, which
revived monasticism in Normandy in the 11th century. The church and the tomb
of Saint Benignus have survived an earthquake (1280) and the French Revolution
(Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Farmer).
Roeder says there it is difficult to sort out the graphic attributes
of several Benignus's. It appears, however, the Benignus of Dijon, on the
seal of the abbey, is represented as having a dog by him and holding a key
(Roeder). A late medieval carved cantor's staff of Benignus, depicting his
fingers as damaged during his martyrdom, remains at Dijon (Farmer).
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300 St. Mary the Slave
Martyr slave of a Roman patrician named Tertullus
Eódem die sanctæ Maríæ ancíllæ, quæ,
Christiánæ religiónis nómine accusáta,
hinc, sub Hadriáno Imperatóre, diris verbéribus afflícta,
equúlei extensiónem et ungulárum laceratiónem
passa, martyrium complévit.
On the same day, St. Mary, a servant girl. Being
accused of professing the Christian religion in the time of Emperor Hadrian,
she was subjected to cruel scourging, to torture on the rack, and the lacerating
of her body with iron hooks, and thus completed her martyrdom
Delivered to the local
prefect on charges of being a Christian, despite Tertullus’ effort to save
her, Mary suffered unspeakable tortures. Spectators demanded her release,
and the prefect turned her over to the custody of a soldier. He aided her
escape. She died a natural death but is venerated as a martyr because of
the intensity of her sufferings.
Mary the Slave VM (RM).
Saint Mary was a slave girl in the household of a Roman patrician, Senator
Tertullus. Mary, a cradle Catholic, prayed constantly and fasted frequently,
especially during pagan festivals, which displeased her superstitious mistress.
Her master, however, highly valued her fidelity to duty. When Diocletian
issued his edicts against Christians, Tertullus repeatedly tried to convince
Mary to renounce her faith, including whipping her unmercifully then locking
her in a dark cellar for 30 days with nothing but bread and water. Nothing
could shake her constancy. In the meantime, judgement had been rendered against
Tertullus for having hidden a Christian and she had to be surrendered. The
mob hearing her modest confession before the judge demanded that Mary be
burned to death. She responded: "God, whom I serve, is with me; and I do
not fear your torments, which can only take away a life which I desire to
lay down for Jesus Christ." She was then tortured until the crowd begged
for her release. The judge gave her into the custody of a soldier from whom
she escaped into the mountains, where she died a happy death. She is venerated
as a martyr because of her suffering during the persecution of Diocletian
(Benedictines).
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306 St. Cyrenia
& Juliana Martyred women burned to death at Tarsus Turkey
Tarsi, in Cilícia, sanctárum Cyréniæ et Juliánæ
Mártyrum, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre.
At Tarsus in Cilicia, under Emperor Maximian, the Saints
Cyrenia and Juliana.
in the reign of co-Emperor Galerius.
Cyrenia and Juliana MM (RM). Two Christian women burnt to death at Tarsus
in Asia Minor under Diocletian (Benedictines).
|
Tarracínæ, in Campánia, natális
sancti Cæsárii Diáconi, qui, diébus multis in
custódia macerátus, póstea, cum sancto Juliáno
Presbytero, in saccum missus et in mare præcipitátus est.
St. Caesarius, deacon, with the priest St. Julian at Terracina in Campania, the birthday of St.
Caesarius, who was detained many days in prison, afterwards put into a sack,
and then thrown into the sea.
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344 St. John &
James Persian martyrs executed by King Shapur II
In Pérside sanctórum Mártyrum Joánnis Epíscopi,
et Jacóbi Presbyteri, sub Sápore Rege.
In Persia, the holy martyrs John, a bishop, and James,
a priest, under King Sapor.
Tradition states that John was a
bishop.
John and James MM (RM). Persian martyrs who suffered under King
Shapur II. John is described as a bishop (Benedictines).
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3rd century St. Austremonius Bishop one of 7
missionaries to evangelize Gaul
Arvérnis, in Gállia, sancti Austremónii, qui fuit
primus ejúsdem civitátis Epíscopus.
At Auvergne in France, St. Austremonius, first bishop
of Clermont.
4th v, ? ST AUSTREMONIUS,
Bishop of CLERMONT
NOTHING very
certain is known of this saint except that he was a missionary in Auvergne
where, as St Stremoine, he is venerated as the apostle and first bishop of Clermont. Even the time during which he flourished is a matter
of some discussion. According to St Gregory of Tours he was one of the
seven bishops sent from Rome into Gaul about the middle of the third century.
His cultus having become popular owing to a vision seen by
a deacon of his reputed tomb at Issoire, a legendary account of St Austremonius
evolved during the sixth and following centuries. This made him one of the
seventy-two disciples of our Lord, and attributed his death to a Jewish rabbi
whose son the saint had converted the rabbi killed him and cut off his head,
throwing it down a well to which it was afterwards traced by the trail of
blood. St Austremonius was (and is, at Clermont) accordingly revered as a
martyr. His body was first buried at Issoire. There is no reason to suppose
that St Austremonius was a martyr, and he is not recognized as such in the
Roman Martyrology.
Three
legendary lives of St Austremonius, the third of which has been attributed
without reason to St Praejectus, arc printed in the Acta Sanctorum,
November, vol. i. With these the Bollandists have edited other texts
relating to the translations of the saint’s supposed relics and his miracles.
See further Duchesne, Fastes Episcopaux, vol. ii, pp. 119—122
Poncelet in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xiii (1894), pp. 33—46
Leclercq in DAC., vol. iii, cc. 1906—1914; and L. Levillain in Le Moyen-Age (on the translations) for 1904, pp. 281—337. it
seems true shat St Praejectus (Prix) did complete an account of his predecessor
Austremonius, but it has perished.
Also
called St. Stremoine, in Clermont, France. Austremonius was sent with six
other missionaries from Rome to evangelize Gaul. Another tradition states
that Austremonius was martyred. He was supposedly slain by a Jewish rabbi
for converting the man's son.
|
|
4th
v.? ST MARY, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
MARY
was slave to Tertullus, a Roman official, and a Christian from her cradle,
the only one in the household. She prayed much and fasted frequently, especially
on idolatrous festivals. This devotion displeased her mistress, but her fidelity
and diligence were appreciated. When persecution broke out Tertullus tried
to induce Mary to renounce her faith, but he could not shake her constancy.
Fearing to lose her if she fell into the hands of the prefect, he had her
unmercifully whipped and then hidden in a dark room. The matter became known,
and the prefect made a charge against Tertullus that he had concealed a Christian
in his house; the slave was forthwith delivered up. The mob in the court,
hearing her confess the name of Christ, demanded that she should be burnt
alive. Mary stood praying that God would give her constancy, and said to
the judge, “The God whom I serve is with me. I fear not your torments, which
can only take away a life that I am ready to lay down for Jesus Christ.” The
judge commanded her to be tortured, which was done with such cruelty that
the bystanders now cried out that they could not bear so horrible a sight
and entreated that she might be released. The judge handed her over to a soldier,
who, however, respected her helplessness and allowed her to escape. St Mary
eventually died a natural death, but she is called a martyr in the Roman Martyrology
on account of her sufferings for Christ.
The Bollandist Father Van Hooff, in
agreement with E. Le Blant, was inclined to believe that some traces of an
authentic story are preserved in the passio of this
martyr. It is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol.
i. But the text, as we possess it, has certainly been rewritten to suit the
taste of later times. It contains extravagances borrowed from other hagiographical
fictions, and the writer, moreover, assigns the martyrdom to the time of
Marcus Aurelius, which is quite unlikely. There is a doubtful mention of
Maria in the Hieronymianum, and in this manner, as
Dom Quentin (Lu Martyrologes historiques, p. 180) explains,
Mary, the Ancilla, has, by way of Ado and Usuard, found a
place in the Roman Martyrology.
|
388 Saint Maturinus of Sens
sold everything he owned to possess the pearl of great price (RM)
Lyricánti, in Wastinénsi Gálliæ território,
sancti Maturíni Confessóris.
In Gatinais in France, St. Mathurin, confessor.
(also known as Mathurin) Born near Montargis, France.
As soon as Saint Maturinus heard the Good News, his heart was entirely converted
to Christ. He sold everything he owned to possess the pearl of great price.
Whole-heartedly devoting himself to God, he was ordained a priest by Bishop
Polycarp of Sens. In his turn he converted his own parents and evangelized
his native district with signal success. He is honored as the apostle and
patron of the province of Gatinois. Upon his death, his remains were deposited
at Sens. Later the majority of them were translated to Larchant near Nemours,
which began a site of pilgrimage until it was destroyed by the Huguenots
in 1568. Saint Maturinus is the titular patron of two churches in Paris,
one of which was given to the Trinitarians, who were thereafter called Mathurins
in France. The other possesses considerable relics of the saint (Benedictines,
Husenbeth).
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| 4th v. ST MATURINUS,
OR MATHURIN
THE entirely legendary
Life of St Maturinus says he was the son of pagan parents at Larchant in
the territory of Sens. Unlike his father, who was a persecutor, Maturinus
listened to the Christian gospel, and at the age of twelve was judged worthy
to receive baptism. His first converts were his own parents. He became a priest
at twenty, with a great gift of casting out evil spirits, and was so trusted
by his bishop that when he had to go to Rome he left Maturinus in charge.
The saint preached in the Gâtinais and made many converts, until, his
reputation as an exorcist having travelled; he also was sent for to Rome,
to deliver a noble maiden who was grievously tormented. There, says the legend,
he died. His body was brought back to Sens and then to his native place,
where the Huguenots destroyed the relics. The cultus seems never to have been
extensive, and his name is most familiar, in “Mathurins”, as the colloquial
name in France of the Trinitarian friars, to whom was given a church in Paris
dedicated in honour of St Mathurin.
See the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. i, where the Latin texts of
the legend are printed with a commentary. The local bearings of the cult
have been fully studied by E. Thoison in a series of articles contributed
to the Annales de la Société hist.-archéol.
Gâtinais from 1886 to 1888. Cf. also H. Gaidox
in Mélusine, vol. v (1890),
pp. 151—152.
Sometimes called Maturinus.
He was born in a pagan family at Larchant, France. Baptized at age twelve,
he was ordained a priest by St. Polycarp. A successful missionary, Mathurin
was also an exorcist. He died in Rome. |
430 St. Marcellus of Paris
From his youth he exhibited the virtues of purity, modesty, meekness, and
charity miracle worker B (RM)
Lutétiæ Parisiórum deposítio sancti Marcélli
Epíscopi.
At Paris, the death of St. Marcellus, bishop.
410? ST MARCELLUS, BISHOP OF PARIS
IT is stated that this Marcellus was born at Paris
of parents not conspicuous for rank in the world but on whom his holiness
reflected the greatest honour: he gave himself entirely to the discipline
of virtue and prayer, so as to seem disengaged both from the world and the
flesh, says the author of his life. The uncommon gravity of his character
and his progress in sacred learning recommended him to Prudentius, Bishop
of Paris, who ordained him reader and later made him his archdeacon. From
this time the saint is said to have given frequent proofs of a wonderful
gift of miracles, and upon the decease of Prudentius was unanimously chosen
bishop of Paris. It is related that by his prayers and authority he defended
his flock from the raids of barbarians, and some surprising marvels (including
victory over a great serpent or dragon) are attributed to him by his biographer.
“But”, as Alban Butler remarks, “the circumstances depend upon the authority
of one who wrote over a hundred years after the time, and who, being a foreigner,
took them upon trust and probably upon popular reports.” The saint died early
in the fifth century. His body was buried in the catacomb known by his name
on the left bank of the Seine, a district now joined to the city and called
the suburb of Saint-Marceau.
Modern criticism
seems agreed that the Life of this saint may without hesitation be assigned
to the authorship of St Venantius Fortunatus, who, pace Alban
Butler, can hardly be regarded as a foreigner in Gaul, except technically.
It has been critically edited both by B. Krusch in MGH., Auctores
antiquissimi, vol. iv, pt 2, pp. 49—54, and in the Acta Sanctorum,
November, vol. i. See also Duchesne, Fastes Episcopaux, vol. ii, p. 470.
(also known as Marceau) Born
in Paris; died November 1, c. 430. Bishop Marcellus of Paris was born of
common, but obviously virtuous, parents. From his youth he exhibited the
virtues of purity, modesty, meekness, and charity. He attempted to live in
the world without being a part of it, keeping his eyes
focussed on the heavenly Jerusalem. His progress in this regard led to his
appointment as reader in the cathedral of Paris. From that time, he was known
as a miracle worker and soon ordained to the priesthood. Upon the death of
Bishop Prudentius, Marcellus was chosen to succeed him. As bishop he was
careful and indefatigable. An unreliable report by a foreigner tell us that
Marcellus freed the country from a great serpent that lived in the sepulcher
of an adulteress. Saint Marcellus was buried in the old Christian cemetery
outside the walls of the city, where now is the suburb of Saint-Marceau that
was named in his honor. His relics are venerated in the cathedral (Benedictines,
Husenbeth).
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475 St. Amabilis reputation
for holiness and Patron effectiveness against fire and snakes
Amabilis served
at the Clermont Cathedral and then Auvergne.
He gained a
reputation for holiness and effectiveness against fire and snakes.
Amabilis of
Auvergne (of Riom) (AC). It seems that Amabilis was precentor of the cathedral
at Clermont and afterwards parish priest of Riom in Auvergne (Benedictines).
Saint Amabilis is portrayed as a bishop with an angel playing music to him.
He is venerated at Auvergne and Riom. Invoked against fire, snake-bite, poison,
wild beasts, possession, and madness (Roeder). |
5th century St. Dingad Reportedly
the hermit son of Chieftain Brychan
of Brecknock.
He lived in Llangingad, Llangovery, in Dyfed, Wales.
Dingad of Wales
(AC) (also
known as Digat) Died 5th century. Saint Dingad was another son of the chieftain
Brychan of Brecknock. He led a monastic or eremitical life at Llandingad
(Llandovery, Dyfed) in Monmouthshire, southern Wales. The patron of Dingestow
(Gwent) may be today's saint or Dingad ab Nudd Hael, king of Bryn Buga (Benedictines,
Bowen, Farmer).
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5th v. Cledwyn of Wales Patron saint of
Llangledwyn in Carmarthenshire (AC)
(also known as Clydwyn)
Patron saint of Llangledwyn in Carmarthenshire. Alleged to have
been the eldest son of King Saint Brychan, and to have succeeded him as ruler
of part of his dominions (Benedictines).
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5th or 6th century.
Pabiali of Wales (AC)
(also known as Partypallai) Pabiali, another son of the British prince
Brychan by his Spanish wife Proistri, is said to have gone to Spain. He is
patron of a chapel called Partypallai in Wales (Benedictines).
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537 St. Vigor Bishop and
missionary opposed paganism
Bajócis, in Gállia, sancti Vigóris Epíscopi,
témpore Childebérti, Francórum Regis.
At Bayeux, in the reign of the Frankish king Childebert,
St. Vigor, bishop.
Vigor was born in Artois
and was active during the reign of King Childebert I. His education was entrusted
to St Vedast at Arras, but Vigor feared his father would not
approve of his desire to be a priest, so he ran away with a companion and
concealed himself at the village of Ravière, near Bayeux. Here they
preached and instructed the people, and after he had been ordained Vigor
extended his missionary labours. In 513 the bishop of Bayeux died
and St Vigor was put in his place. He found that some people still gave religious
worship to a stone figure on a hill near the city. He therefore threw down
the idol, and built a church in its place, renaming it the Hill of Anointing.
When Count Bertulf fell from his horse and broke his neck, it was regarded
as a judgement on him for having laid claim to this newly sanctified hill.
Saint-Vigeur-le-Grand, near Bayeux, takes its name from this bishop, who founded
a monastery there: two or three churches in England were dedicated
in his honour by the Normans.
See the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. i, where a short Latin life,
probably of the eighth century, has been critically edited from a variety
of manuscripts. See also Corblet, Hagiographie d’Amiens, vol.
iv, pp. 657—664, and Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol.
ii, p 220.
Born at
Artois, France, he studied at Arras under St.Vedast
and considered the idea of becoming a priest so overwhelmmg that he ran away
when his father expressed his opposition to his ordination. Subsequently
ordained, he preached at Raviere and worked as a missionary until 513 when
he was named bishop of Baycux. As bishop, he opposed paganism and founded
a church on the site of a one-time pagan idol. He also founded a monastery
nearby, later known as St. Vigeur le Grand.
Vigor
of Bayeux B (RM)Born at Artois; died c. 537. Vigor was a disciple of Saint
Vedastus under whom he was educated at Arras. He started to serve God as
a preaching hermit at Ravière near Bayeux but his zeal carried him
further. In 513, Vigor was consecrated bishop of Bayeux and distinguished
himself by his fervor in suppressing idolatry. He destroyed a large idol
and built a church on the site. He is the titular patron of the town of Saint-Vigeur-le-Grand
near his episcopal seat, where he founded a monastery. Saint Vigor is mentioned
in the vita of Saint Paternus. Under the influence of the Normans, two churches
in England bear dedications to Saint Vigor, whose feast is often moved in
deference to the Solemnity of All Saints (Benedictines, Farmer).
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5th and 6th century St. Pabiali Welsh patron
saint
He is believed
to have been one of the saintly descendant of a local Welsh king. A chapel
in Wales is dedicated in his honor.
|
6th v. St. Ceitho
of Wales One of five brothers, saints of the great Welsh family of Cunedda
(AC)
One of five brothers, saints of the great Welsh family of Cunedda. A church
at Pumpsant was dedicated to the five brothers. That at Llangeith in Cardiganshire,
was founded by Saint Ceitho (Benedictines).
|
Saint Gwythian patron
of a church in northern Cornwall
(Gwithian, Gothian) (AC) Date unknown. Saint Gwythian, patron of a church
in northern Cornwall and a nearby ruined chapel, settled at Towednack and
was probably associated with Saint Winwaloë (Farmer).
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6th century St. Cadfan Missionary
to Wales
6th v.
ST CADFAN, ABBOT
DURING the
second half of the fifth century settlements were made in north and west
Wales by emigrants from Letavia, which is commonly understood to be Brittany
but there is not wanting some evidence that it was a district somewhere in
southeast Wales. Cadfan, grandson of Emyr Llydaw, led one of the companies.
Among those with him was his cousin St Padarn, who went to Cardigan-shire,
while Cadfan founded the church at Towyn in Merioneth. His monastery there
persisted into the Middle Ages as a college of priests (the prebendaries
were often laymen), which helped to keep his memory green when British saints
became of little account. A twelfth-century bard speaks of “Cadfan’s high
church near the shore of the blue sea”, wherein were “three magnificent altars,
famous for miracles”, dedicated in honour of our Lady, St Peter and St Cadfan
himself. It was “the glory of Merioneth”, and was a place of sanctuary whither
many fled for protection. His holy well there was a place of resort—but apparently
on purely natural grounds—until into the nineteenth century, but is now enclosed
within a stable. But St Cadfan’s name is at least as well known in connection
with the monastic island of Bardsey (Ynys Enlli), to which he later went,
according to tradition, and became the first abbot there. He was venerated
as the founder of this resort of “20,000 monks”, which even in the
time of Pennant, the third quarter of the eighteenth century, was still regarded
with such reverence that the local fishermen as they approached it “made
a full stop, pulled off their hats, and offered up a short prayer”.
In the medieval poem just
referred to St Cadfan is called the “protector in battle”, he was a patron
of warriors, and in a chapel near Quimper is a statue, said to be of him,
dressed as a soldier, with a sword. From this it may be inferred that before
he was a missionary and monk he had distinguished himself as a fighting-man;
but it may all be a misunderstanding, as his cousin and fellow-missionary
in Powysland, St Tydecho, is referred to as “one of Heaven’s warriors” in
a poem of the fifteenth century or it is possible that the tendency to regard
St Cadfan as a military patron may be due to some confusion with Cadfan, King
of Gwynedd, who was a Welsh leader in the wars against Ethelfrith, King of
Northumbria. St Cadfan is usually said to have died and been buried on Bardsey,
but his burying-place is claimed
for Towyn as well. His other principal foundation is Llangadfan in Montgomeryshire.
There is no
formal life of St Cadfan, and we have to be content with casual references
as they have been gathered up in It. Rees, Essay on the Welsh
Saints (1836), pp. 2I3-214 LBS., vol. ii, pp. 1—9 and A. W. Wade-Evans,
Welsh Christian Origins (19M), pp. 161—164. For Bardsey,
see 0. H. Jones, Celtic Britain and the Pilgrim Movement, pp.
354—362 and for the Cadfan stone at Towyn, V. E. Nash-Williams, Early Christian Monuments of Wales (1950). Bardsey seems to have survived until
the dissolution of the monasteries as a Celtic settlement outside the normal
later medieval monastic patterns. See B. (3. Bowen, Settlements
of the Celtic Saints in Wales (1954.).
Venerated
in Owynedd and Bardsey Island as a companion of Towyn. He was a native of Brittany,
France, and founded monasteries in Wales.
Cadfan of Wales,
Abbot (AC) (also known as Catamanu, Catman)
Died probably
at Bardsey in the early 6th century. A missionary from Letavia (probably
in Brittany but possibly in southeastern Wales) to Wales, Cadfan founded
monasteries at Towyn in Merionethshire and Llangadfan in Montgomeryshire,
and later a monastic center on the island of Bardsey (Ynys Enlli), where
he was first abbot. Bardsey developed into a great center of monasticism.
It is said that as he went from Towyn to Llangadfan he passed through Pistyll
Gadfan, Eisteddfa Gadfa, and Llwbyr Gadfan.
His holy well
could be found in the churchyard at Towyn, near his chapel (since destroyed),
where many were cured of rheumatism, scrofula, and skin diseases. It continued
to attract pilgrims long after the Reformation. Baths and changing-rooms
were added until it went into disuse about 1894.
In the church
at Towyn, there is a stone pillar, called the Cadfan stone, with an ancient
inscription that marks the place of his burial: "Beneath a similar mound
lies Cadfan, sad it should enclose the praise of the earth. May he rest without
blemish."
A Cadfan also
has an active cultus in Finistère and Côtes du Nord, Brittany.
While it is generally held that this is the same Cadfan (the reason for thinking
that he was a Breton), there are still problems in making the connection
between the two. The question may never be settled. The Breton Cadfan is
the patron of a church at Poullan, near Douarnenez. There is an extant statue
of him in military garb at Briec (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer).
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627 Caesarius of Clermont
B (AC)
The 19th or 22nd bishop of Clermont (Benedictines).
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6th century St. Ceitho Welsh saint
one of 5 brothers of Cunedda
A church at
Pumpsant was dedicated to the brothers. Ceitho founded a church in Liangeith,
in Dyfed.
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660 St. Floribert Benedictine
abbot of Ghent
Belgium, also called Florbert.
He was appointed abbot of Mont-Bladin and Saint-Bavon by St. Amandus.
Floribert of Ghent, OSB
Abbot (AC)(also known as Florbert). Floribert was appointed abbot of the
new Belgium monasteries of Ghent Mont-Blandin and Saint-Bavon by Saint Amadus
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
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609 St. Severinus Benedictine
monk and hermit
Tíbure sancti Severíni
Mónachi. At Tivoli, St. Severinus, monk.
He lived
at Tivoli, near Rome, and his relies are enshrined
in that city.
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616 St. Licinius Bishop
and Frankish nobleman
Andégavi, in Gállia, deposítio sancti Licínii
Epíscopi, venerábilis sanctitátis viri.
At Angers in France, the death of the aged holy man, St.
Licinius, bishop.
The Count of Anjou under
the Merovingian king Chilperic, he gave up his title and became a monk. However,
after a number of years, he was chosen bishop of Angers, receiving ordination
at the hands of St. Gregory
of Tours.
According to tradition,
Licinius desired to retire from his office, but was prevented from doing
so by the people of Angers.
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679 Genesius of
Fontenelle 658 raised to the see of Lyons OSB B (AC)
After being prior at Fontenelle, Genesius was chosen abbot-chaplain of the
palace by Queen Saint Bathildis, and in 658 raised to the see of Lyons. He
died at the nunnery of Chelles while on a visit there (Benedictines).
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699 St. Severinus of Tivoli, OSB Hermit (RM)
The relics of Saint Severinus, a Benedictine hermit at Tivoli,
are in the church of Saint Laurence in that city (Benedictines).
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1000 Germanus of Montfort
relics were elevated by Saint Francis de Sales in 1621 OSB Monk (AC)
Born at Montfort, Germanus studied at Paris and was ordained a priest.
Afterwards he entered the abbey of Savigny and was made prior of Talloires.
He ended his life as a recluse.
His relics were elevated by Saint
Francis de Sales in 1621 (Benedictines).
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1358
St. Salaun Confessor poor man spiritual attainment was recognized
also called
Salomon. He was a poor man who lived at Leseven, in Brittany. For years he
was the object of contempt and disdain from his local community for being
a fool. Later his level of spiritual attainment was recognized and he was
venerated as a saint.
Salaun of Brittany
(AC)(also known as Salomon)Born in Lesneven, Brittany; died 1358. Salaun
was a poor man, who was content to be despised and considered "a fool for
Christ's sake." He reached a high degree of contemplation. Salaun is venerated
at Notre Dame de Folgoet in Brittany (Benedictines).
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1429 Blessed Conradin
of Brescia model Dominican friar just as he was formerly a model student
of purity and charity OP (PC)
Born at Bornato (near Brescia),
Italy; died . During the time of the Western Schism, Conradin was born to
staunch Catholics of nobility and wealth. His parents provided their children
with a thoroughly Catholic education and upbringing, which paid dividends
in the lives of their offspring. Conradin studied civil and canon law at
the University of Padua, where he became acquainted with the Dominicans.
He was professed a Dominican in 1413, finished his studies, was ordained,
and became a model friar just as he was formerly a model student of purity
and charity.
After being chosen prior of
his friary in Brescia at a young age, he was appointed prior of the larger
house at Bologna, sent there to restore primitive observance of the Rule
of Saint Dominic. It was a difficult task because plague and schism had infected
the order, the country, and the Church. Few were entering religious life,
so even the most idealistic felt it might be good to rewrite the rule to
relax the discipline and shorten the training period to keep the novitiate
alive. Conradin held the line and continued to enforce the primitive form
of the rule.
Twice Conradin was imprisoned
for defending the pope. Plague had stricken Bologna forcefully during Conradin's
abbacy. The situation was especially bleak for Bologna, which was under a
published papal interdict because the populace had rebelled against papal
authority. The interdict was ignored by most. Conradin tried to sway the
people to repentance before it was too late, hoping that the interdict might
be lifted. The Bolognese refused to listen, even as they were dying of the
plague. Tired of his hounding, Conradin was captured, badly beaten, and imprisoned.
Later, the prior prevailed and the city submitted to the pope.
In recognition of his work as mediator, Pope Martin V intended
to name Conradin a cardinal, but the prior refused. In 1429, when a fresh
outbreak of the plague called all the friars once more to the streets to
assist the dying, Conradin also fell victim to the disease (Benedictines,
Dorcy).
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1622 Bl. Paul
Navarro Martyr of Japan
A native of Laino, Cassano, Italy,
Paul received an excellent education before becoming a Jesuit in 1587. He
was sent to India where he was ordained,
and subsequently went to Japan where he helped to build the rapidly growing
Catholic community there, holding the post of superior. Arrested by Japanese
authorities, he was burned alive at Shimabara along with two other Jesuits
and an assistant. Blessed Paul Shinsuki
was his catechist.
Blessed Paul Navarro, SJ, & Companions MM (AC)
Born at Laino (diocese of Cassano), Italy, in 1560; died at Ximabara, Japan,
in 1622. Blessed Paul became a Jesuit in 1587 and while still a scholastic
was sent to India where he was ordained. He then went on to Japan. He worked
with great success as superior of Amanguchi. He was burnt alive with three
Japanese laymen (Benedictines).
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Bl 1622
Peter Onizuko Japanese martyr native of Arima Japan
Peter was converted to Christianity and became a Jesuit postulant. With Blessed Paul Navarro,
whom he assisted in his work, he was seized by Japanese authorities and burned
alive at Shimabara.
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1861
St. Valentine Berrio-Ochoa Dominican Bishop Vietnam martyr
A native of Ellorio, Spain,
he entered the Dominican Order and was sent to the Philippines. From there he went to Vietnam
in 1858, serving as a vicar apostolic and titular bishop until betrayed by
an apostate. He was martyred by beheading with St. Jerome Hermosilla and Blessed Peter Amato, by enemies of the Church.
He was canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
1861 Blessed Jerome Hermosilla and Companions, OP MM (AC)
beatified in 1906 by Pope Pius X. Little is known of the early
lives of Bishop Jerome Hermosilla or Bishop Valentine Berrio-Ochoa. That
they were chosen for the Oriental mission is evidence that they were courageous
and resourceful men, adept in language.
Jerome was a native of La Calzada, in Old Castile (Spain), who
after his profession in the Dominican Order, was sent to Manila, where he
was ordained priest and, in 1828, appointed to the mission of East Tonkin.
He succeeded Blessed Ignatius Delgado as vicar-apostolic and was consecrated
bishop in April 1841. Like the early office of pontiff, this position was
practically synonymous with martyrdom; several of those appointed as bishop
of Tonkin did not even live to be consecrated.
Bishop Hermosilla made it his first task to gather the relics
of his two immediate predecessors. Bishop Delgado had been thrown into the
sea, but some of the relics were recovered by a fisherman. These and the
remains of other martyrs were carefully preserved by Hermosilla, who also
committed to paper their passios according to the accounts of eye witnesses.
This took real courage--to carefully record the terrible tortures that he
well knew were awaiting him.
The twenty years of Bishop Hermosilla's life in Tonkin were comprised
of constant heroism, flight, and unswerving faith. He had to hold his flock
together, while some of his finest assistants fell at his side. His work
had to be accomplished entirely in secret. There was always the possibility
that a recent convert or his pagan family might betray the hiding place of
the priest, perhaps under torture. It was a weak Christian who finally betrayed
Hermosilla and Valentine.
The two bishops had been hidden
on board a ship en route to a place where they were needed to give the sacraments.
The betrayer identified them to the ship's captain, who summoned the soldiers.
A group of Christians almost succeeded in rescuing them, but they were betrayed
a second time and placed in chains. Three hundred men were sent to escort
them to the capital.
When the arrived, they saw that they would be required to step
upon a crucifix laid in the road. Heavily manacled and weak from torture,
the two bishops fought so vigorously against committing this sacrilege that
the soldiers finally relented and removed the cross. Shortly thereafter the
bishops, two other Spanish Dominicans, and a number of native Christians
were led in triumphant procession to the place of their execution, where
they were put in cages. Christian witnesses reported that the martyrs were
so rapt in prayer that they seemed unaware of the screaming crowds, trumpeting
elephants, and other noisy animals surrounding them. In turn, each of the
martyrs was bound, tied to stakes in the ground, and beheaded. Their remains
were guarded for several days to prevent other Christians from claiming their
relics.
Peter Almató, OP, was born at Sassera, diocese of Vich,
Spain. He became a Dominican and was sent to the Philippines then to Ximabara
under Bishop Hermosilla with whom he was beheaded.
Also beheaded with the above beatae was Blessed Valentine, who
was born in 1827 at Ellorio, diocese of Vitoria, Spain. After his profession
as a Dominican also went to the Philippines then to Tonkin as a bishop titular
and vicar-apostolic. Due to a number of miracles attributed to Bishop Valentine
Berrio-Ochoa, his cause has been separated from the group. He was beatified
in 1909, rather than 1906, and since 1952 canonization has been sought for
him (Benedictines, Dorcy).
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In
Honor of mother Bernadette Loraine Elchlepp
Bartholomew her birthday today
Saints of this Day November
01 Prídie Kaléndas Novémbris.
One year on November 1,
Salaün was found dead near a tree trunk, by the edge of the woods, at
the far end of the parish of Guic-Elleau in France and the townspeople buried
him immediately on the spot. Later, a beautifully smelling lily grew up from
his grave, with this inscription on it written in gold letters, the only
two words he had pronounced all his life: “Ave Maria.”
The air which we breathe,
the bread which we eat, the heart which throbs in our bosoms, are not more
necessary for man that he may live as a human being, than is prayer for the
Christian that he may live as a Christian.-- St. John Eudes
“'Be holy as I am holy,' says the Lord. As Christians we are all called to
holiness because we are His children. Every Christian should be a saint. Indeed,
for a Christian to live in a state of sin is a monstrous contradiction”. --Curé
d'Ars.
The friendship that binds us to all the saints, and which is encouraged and
commemorated by the feast-days of the Church, is not the invention of a handful
of bigots or a commercial stunt manufactured by merchants of religious medallions.
The communion of saints answers a definite need, and insofar as we neglect
any one of the forms of spiritual life we are cutting ourselves off from
a source of divine grace and making ourselves just a little blinder than
we are already.
The Venerable Bede (673-735) says that the pope designed that “the
memory of all the saints might in future be honored in the place which had
formerly been devoted to the worship, not of gods, but of demons.”
the Byzantine
churches have kept a feast of all the martyrs on the Sunday after Pentecost
(Chrysostom, A panegyric of all the
martyrs that have suffered throughout the world)
honor of all the saints in the West. We do know that by AD 800, Blessed Alcuin of York was in the habit of keeping
the solemnitas sanctissima of All Saints on November 1, preceded by a three-day
fast. His friend Bishop Arno of Salzburg had presided over a synod in Bavaria
(Germany) which included that day in its list of holy days (Walsh).
“The remembrance of each
one among the saints is, as it were, a new spark, or rather torch, which
sets our souls more vehemently on fire, and makes us ardently sigh to behold
and embrace them, so that we seem to ourselves even now to be amongst them.
And from this distant place of banishment we dart
our affections sometimes towards the whole assembly, sometimes towards this,
and sometimes that happy spirit. What sloth is it that we do not launch our
souls into the midst of those happy troops, and burst hence by continual
sighs! The church of the first-born waits for us; yet we loiter. The saints
earnestly long for our arrival; yet we despise them. Let us with all the
ardor of our souls prevent those who are expecting us; let us hasten to those
who are waiting for us.”