3rd
v. St. Florentius Martyr who
suffered at Trois-Chateaux, Burgundy
Apud castrum Tyle, in Gállia, sancti
Floréntii Mártyris.
At Tilchatel in France, St. Florentius, martyr.
Florentius of Burgundy M (RM) 3rd century. Saint Florentius
suffered martyrdom at Trois- Châteaux in Burgundy (Benedictines).
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303 St. Vincent, Sabina, &
Christeta Three martyrs executed at Avila
Abulæ, in Hispánia,
pássio sanctórum Vincéntii, Sabínæ et Christétæ.
Hi primum in equúleo ádeo sunt exténti, ut omnes membrórum
compáges laxaréntur; deínde cápita eórum,
lapídibus superpósita, usque ad cérebri excussiónem
válidis véctibus sunt contúsa, atque ita ipsi martyrium
complevérunt, sub Præside Daciáno.
At Avila
in Spain, under the governor Dacian, the Saints Vincent, Sabina, and Christeta.
They were first stretched on the rack in such a manner that all their limbs
were dislocated; then stones being laid on their heads, and their brains beaten
out with heavy bars, their martyrdom was fulfilled.
Spain, during the persecutions
of Emperor Diocletian (r.
284-305). Their Acts are considered dubious.
Vincent, Sabina & Christeta
MM (RM). Untrustworthy acta record that Vincent was a young Christian in Ávila,
Spain, when Governor Dacian ordered the suppression of all Christians during
the break up of the Roman Empire. Today there are some countries where the
Christians are so inoffensive that nobody bothers with them, and there are
other countries where they are persecuted because they are true Christians.
We should ask ourselves which of the two most deserves our pity.
Vincent's crime was his freedom and independence. He felt that
he was in the right, and so risked upsetting all the old traditional obsolete
beliefs. He was dangerous, but he was right to be dangerous as are all other
Christians of every place and every age.
They tried to set him on the "right" path: the path of apathy,
tradition, numbness, and idolatry. But in his eyes Jupiter was a scoundrel
deserving blows, not worship. He preferred the man who had been crucified
in Jerusalem and, brushing away the dust and mold of the old religion, he
let in the fresh air of the new. And even if the particular details of Vincent's
story are not absolutely authentic, his story is true in a wider sense, for
the powerful empire was crumbling and the new light of Christianity was inspiring
Vincent and many others--feebly at first but shining ever more brightly.
Vincent was condemned to death. We know from legends what happened
to him, but not what happened inside him, for only he and Jesus Christ know
that. It is the most essential part of a person's life, and yet one which
is only rarely mentioned by historians, critics, or writers. We cannot blame
them, for no one on earth can tell you about your life with Jesus Christ,
and that is as it should be. Therefore what we have to say about a person
is relatively unimportant; and if none of the things which are recorded of
Vincent ever actually happened, that would in no way alter the essential and
only truth, which is his life with Jesus Christ.
It is said that Vincent left
the imprint of his foot on a stone and that was enough to convert his guards.
His guards, however, were no more simple-minded than we are, and if they were
converted it was because they saw more in Vincent than a foot which could
leave its imprint on a stone: it was because they saw in him the imprint of
Jesus Christ. Wherever Vincent went he left the imprint of Jesus, his "odor"
as the old books used to call it. There are few of us today who leave an
imprint likely to inspire those around us to convert. Dacian has nothing to
worry about and can stay at home.
For a while everything went well for Vincent. His guards were
converted and with the help of his sisters Sabina and Christeta he was able
to escape. But Christ is not especially fond of those who win too easily.
They had barely arrived at Alba when all three were arrested. They were
scourged, beaten, quartered, and crushed between stones. This time they left
no imprint on the stones, but an enormous imprint on the whole of Spain (Benedictines,
Encyclopedia).
In art they are identified as a man and two women broken on
wheels. They are venerated at Ávila, Spain, where they were martyred
(Roeder).
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304 St. Capitolina
martyred woman of Cappadocia distributed her entire wealth to the poor with
her handmaid, Erotheis.
In Cappadócia sanctárum Mártyrum Capitolínæ,
ejúsque ancíllæ Erothéidis, quæ sub Diocletiáno
sunt passæ.
In Cappadocia, the holy martyrs Capitolina, and Erotheides,
her handmaid, who suffered under Diocletian.
They died in the persecutions conducted by Emperor Diocletian.
Capitolina and Erotheis MM (RM). Capitolina, a wealthy Cappadocian lady,
and her handmaid, were martyred under Diocletian, after Capitolina distributed
her entire wealth to the poor (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
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306 Nestor of Thessalonica The Holy Martyr suffered in the city of Thessalonica
together with the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica (October 26).
The name of St Nestor (not the Chronicler) is mentioned
in the General Service to the Monastics of the Far Caves: “The Word of God,
understood by man, instructed you not by written wisdom, O holy Nestor, but
from on high; you beheld it through the prayers of the angel, and you foresaw
your death. May we also be made partakers with you, we pray, in honoring your
memory.” His memory is celebrated also on August 28
and on the second Sunday of Great Lent.
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367 St. Abraham the
Poor Egypt holy hermit purity of heart simplicity of lifestyle
listed in some records as “the Poor”
or “the Child,” allusions to
his purity of heart and to the simplicity of his lifestyle ways. He was born
in Menuf “or Minuf”, Egypt, a site northwest of Cairo in the
Delta region of the Nile.
He became a disciple of St. Pachomius,
the founder of cenobitic monasticism.
Abraham spent almost two decades
in a cave near Pachomius' foundations in the Delta.
Abraham the Child, Hermit (RM) (also known as Abraham the Poor)
Born at Menuf, Egypt; died 366-377; feast day formerly on March 16. Abraham
became a disciple of Saint Pachomius. After 23 years he retired to a cave
where he spent 17 years. His cultus is widespread among the Copts (Benedictines,
Encyclopedia). Abraham is shown as an old man with a blowing beard clothed
in skins. Sometimes he is in his cell with his niece Mary in the adjoining
cell (Roeder).
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380 St. Frumentius
Called “Abuna” or “the father ”of Ethiopia venerated as the first evangelizer
of Ethiopia
Apud Indos sancti Fruménti Epíscopi,
qui, primum ibi captívus, deínde, Epíscopus a sancto
Athanásio ordinátus, Evangélium in ea província
propagávit.
In India, St.
Frumentius, bishop. While he was a captive there he was consecrated
bishop by St. Athanasius, and propagated the Gospel in that country.
380 ST FRUMENTIUS, Bishop of Axsum
SOMEWHERE about
the year 330 a philosopher of Tyre,
named Meropius, out of curiosity and a wish to see the world and improve
his knowledge, undertook a voyage to the coasts of Arabia. He took with him
two young men, Frumentius and Aedesius, with whose education he was entrusted.
In the course of their voyage homeward the vessel touched at a certain port
of Ethiopia, or as it is now often called, Abyssinia. The natives fell out
with some of the sailors, attacked them, and put the whole crew and all the
passengers to the sword, except the two boys, who were studying their lessons
under a tree at some distance. When they were found they were carried to the
king, who resided at Aksum in the Tigre country. He was attracted by the
bearing and knowledge of the young Christians, and not long after made Aedesius
his cupbearer and Frumentius, who was the elder, his secretary. This prince
on his deathbed thanked them for their services and, in recompense, gave
them their liberty. The queen, who was left regent for her eldest son, entreated
them to remain and assist her, which they did.
Frumentius had the principal management of
affairs and induced several Christian merchants who traded there to settle
in the country. He procured them privileges and all conveniences for religious
worship, and by his own fervour and example strongly recommended the true
religion to the infidels. When the young king came of age and, with his brother,
took the reins of government into his own hands, the Tyrians resigned their
posts, though he urged them to stay.
Aedesius
went back to Tyre, where he was ordained priest and told his adventures
to Rufinus, who incorporated them in his Church History. But
Frumentius, having nothing so much at heart as the conversion of the whole
nation, took the route to Alexandria, and entreated the bishop, St Athanasius,
to send some pastor to that country. Whereupon Athanasius ordained Frumentius
himself bishop of the Ethiopians, judging no one more proper to finish the
work which he had begun. Thus began the association of the Christians of Abyssinia
with the church of Alexandria which has continued to this day.
The
consecration of St Frumentius took place probably just before the year 340 or just after 346 (or perhaps c. 355—356). He went back to Aksum and gained numbers to the
faith by his preaching and miracles the two royal brothers are said to have
themselves received baptism, and as Abreha and Asbeha are venerated as saints in the Ethiopic calendar. But the Arian emperor
Constantius conceived an implacable suspicion against St Frumentius, because
he was linked in faith and affection with St Athanasius; and when he found
that he was not even to be tempted, much less seduced by him, he wrote a letter
to the two kings, in which he urged them to send Frumentius to George, the
intruded bishop of Alexandria, who would be responsible for his “welfare”.
The emperor also warned them against Athanasius as guilty “of many crimes”.
The only result was that this letter was communicated to St Athanasius, who
has inserted it in his apologia against the Arians.
Conversion
even of the Aksumite kingdom was far from completed during the lifetime
of St Frumentius. After his death he was called Abuna, “Our father”, and Aba salama, “Father of
peace”, and abuna is still the title of the primate of the
dissident Church of Ethiopia.
The story told by Rufinus maybe read
with other matter in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. xii.
This other matter includes a copy of a long Greek inscription found at Aksum,
commemorating the exploits of Aïzanas, King of the Homeritae, and his
brother Saïzanas. Now it was precisely to Aïzanas and Saïzanas
that Constantius addressed his letter, of which St Athanasius has preserved
the text, demanding the surrender of Frumentius. There can consequently be
no doubt that the last-named really was at Aksum preaching the Christian faith.
Although the earlier adventures of Frumentius, as Rufinus recounts them,
may have been misunderstood or disfigured with legendary additions, his presence
in Aksum, as a bishop, consecrated for this mission by St Athanasius, is
a certain fact. See Professor Guidi in the Enciclopedia italiana,
vol. xiv, pp. 480—481, and in DHG., vol. i, cc. 210—212 Leclercq
in DAC., vol. v, cc. 586—594 Duchesne, Histoire ancienne de l’Église,
vol. iii, pp. 576—578 and cf. the account given
of St Frumentius in the Ethiopic Synaxarium
(ed. Budge, 1928), vol. iv, pp. 1164—1165. According to F. G. Holweck, the
old diocese of Louisiana, U.S.A. (erected 1787) observed the feast of St Frumentius:
was this a gesture towards the slaves of African origin in America ?
Frumentius was born in Tyre,
Lebanon. While on a voyage in the Red Sea with St. Aedesius, possibly his brother, only Frumentius
and Aedesius survived the shipwreck.
Taken to the Ethiopian royal court at Aksum, they soon attained high positions.
Aedesius was royal cup bearer, and Fruementius was a secretary. They introduced
Christianity to that land. When Abreha and Asbeha inherited the Ethiopian
throne from their father, Frumentius went to Alexandria, Egypt, to ask St.
Athanasius to send a missionary to Ethiopia. He was consecrated a bishop and
converted many more upon his return to Aksum. Frumentius and Aedesius are
considered the apostles of Ethiopia.
Frumentius of Ethiopia B (RM) (also known as Fremonat) . According to their
contemporary Rufinus, two young Christian brothers named Frumentius and Aedesius
(Aedisius) were studying philosophy in Tyre under Meropius (or Metrodorus),
who decided around the year 330 that he would like to take a voyage along
the coasts of Arabia. To the young men's overwhelming delight, he offered
to take them with him.
The journey went well, but on their homeward trip the ship docked at Adulis,
Abyssinia (Ethiopia), to take on fresh supplies. The sailors got into a fight
with the locals, leading to the murder of Meropius and everyone on ship. The
boys escaped because they were studying their lessons under a tree a distance
from the ship. When they were discovered, they were taken as slaves to the
court of the king of Aksum (Axum) in Tigre.
The king was impressed by their bearing and learning and the fortunes of
the young Christians prospered. Frumentius, the elder brother, was made the
king's chief secretary. Aedesius became his cup-bearer. They gained permission
even for Greek merchants to open some churches in Ethiopia and to try to convert
the people. And when the king died, he gave the two men their freedom. They
remained for a time at the request of the widowed queen to help rule the
country.
Eventually the two princes, named Abreha and Asbeha, came to the throne.
The Tyrian brothers resigned their posts although their new king urged them
to stay. Aedesius returned to Tyre where he was ordained and met Rufinus,
who incorporated their story into his Church History.
Frumentius, desiring to convert the whole of his adopted country, made
his way to Alexandria and explained the Ethiopian situation to Saint Athanasius.
He urgently asked Athanasius to send a bishop to Aksum to consolidate all
that had been done there for Christ. Either Athanasius or a synod unanimously
chose Frumentius for the work, ordained him bishop, and sent him back to plant
the Christian church in Ethiopia, which he did in Aksum.
"Apostolic signs accompanied his ministry, and great numbers of heathen
were won to the faith" (Rufinus). Among those converted were Abreha and Asbeha,
the two royal brothers, despite the attempts of the Arian Emperor Constantius
to discredit him because of his connection with Athanasius.
Whatever the exact details of the Tyrian youths' adventures, there is strong
confirmation of the presence in Ethiopia of a bishop named Frumentius, consecrated
by Saint Athanasius about the middle of the fourth century. After his
death the Abyssinians dubbed him Abuna (which means 'Our Father') and Aba
salama (which means 'Father of peace'). Abuna is still the title of the primate
of the Church of Ethiopia (Attwater, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Walsh).
In art Frumentius is represented as a bishop elevating a Host, sometimes
with Saint Athanasius, sometimes shipwrecked with his brother Saint Aedesius.
Saint Frumentius is venerated as the first evangelizer of Ethiopia (Roeder).
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455 St. Gaudiosus Bishop
called “the African.”
Neápoli, in Campánia,
sancti Gaudiósi, Epíscopi Africáni, qui ob Wandalórum
persecutiónem venit in Campániam, et, in monastério
apud eam urbem, sancto fine quiévit.
At Naples,
St. Gaudiosus, an African bishop who came to Campania because of the Vandal
persecution, and died a holy death in a monastery in that city.
He was the bishop of
Abitina in North Africa, exiled by Geiseric, the Vandal king, in 440. Gaudiosus
went to Naples, Italy, where he founded a monastery.
Gaudiosus of Naples B (RM) (also known as Gaudiosus the African). Saint
Gaudiosus, bishop of Abitina in northern Africa, was exiled by the Arian
Vandal king Genseric about 440. He took refuge at Naples where he founded
a monastery, which was later governed by Saint Agnellus (Benedictines).
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462
Saint Namatius ninth bishop of Clermont built the cathedral there B
(AC)
(also known as Namace) Saint Namatius, ninth bishop of Clermont, France,
built the cathedral there (Benedictines).
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5th
v. St. Abban of Murnevin Abbot and missionary
called Ewin, Evin, Neville, or Nevin. He is listed as a nephew of St. Kevin and is confused with St. Abban of
Magh-Armuidhe. Abban is best known for his association with the monastery
of Rosmic-Treoin of New Ross.
Abban of Wexford, Abbot (AC)
Born in Ireland, 6th century. Saint Abban, nephew of Saint Kevin, founded
many monasteries, mostly in southern Ireland. His name is especially connected
with that of Magh-Armuidhe, now Adamstown, Wexford. The lives of this saint
are hopelessly confused with that of Saint Abban of Leinster and others of
the same name (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
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555
St. Elesbaan Christian king of Ethiopia probably a Monophysite
In
Æthiópia sancti Elésbaan Regis, qui, Christi hóstibus
expugnátis, ac, témpore Justíni Imperatóris, misso
régio diadémate Hierosólymam, monásticam vitam,
ut vóverat agens, migrávit ad Dóminum.
In Ethiopia,
in the time of Emperor Justin, St. Elesbaan, king. After having defeated
the enemies of Christ and sent his royal diadem to Jerusalem, he led a monastic
life, as he had vowed, and went to his reward.
called Calam-Negus
by the Abyssinians. He fought the Jewish usurper Dunaan, who had committed
atrocities against Christians. Elesbaan was also guilty of dreadful revenges
against Dunaan’s followers. He resigned, leaving the throne to his son, and
ended his life as an eremite.
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563
St. Odhran Irish abbot monk 1/of 12 who accompanied Saint Columba to Iona
OTTERAN,
“noble and without sin”, was an abbot from Meath and one of the twelve who
sailed with St Columba out of Loch Foyle to Iona; Adamnan says he was a Briton.
Soon after their arrival St Otteran felt death to be upon him, and he said,
“I would be the first to die under the covenant of the kingdom of God in this
place”. “I will give you that kingdom”, replied Columba, “and moreover this
also, that whoever makes a request at my burial-place shall not get it until
he prays to you as well.”
Columba, unwilling to see his friend die, blessed
him and went out of the house, and as he was walking in the yard he stopped,
looking amazedly up to the heavens. Asked at what he gazed, Columba answered
that he saw strife in the upper air between good and evil spirits, and angels
carrying the soul of Otteran in triumph to Heaven. So he was the first by
his death and burial there to seal Iona to the Irish monks, and the place
of his burying, the only cemetery on the island, is still called Reilig Orain. This is said to be the Otteran who founded the
monastery at Leitrioch Odrain (Latteragh in Tipperary). Although this is all
that is known of St Otteran his feast (as a bishop) is kept today throughout
Ireland.
How little
is known concerning St Odhran appears clearly from the glosses to the Filire of Oengus, which suggest more than one alternative as
to Odhran’s identity. A notice in very vague terms is printed in the Acta
Sanctorum, October, vol. xii. See also Forbes,
KSS., p. 426. In the Annals of Ulster we are told that he died in the year
548. Odhran is the correct form of the name.
Also Otteran and Oran. After serving as abbot of Meath, he journeyed
to Scotland with St. Columba to promote the faith and died at Lona. Odhran
was the first Irish monk to die at Lona. He may have founded Latteragh Abbey
in Tipperary He is considered the principal patron saint of Waterford, Ireland.
Otteran of Iona, Abbot (RM) (also
known as Odhran, Oran) Born in Britain. Otteran, abbot of Meath, was one
of the 12 who accompanied Saint Columba to Iona. Other historians say that
Otteran was at Iona before Columba, based on the fact that the ancient cemetery
there is called Reilig Oran. He died soon after their arrival, the first
of the monks from Ireland to die at Iona. Soon thereafter, Columba saw Otteran's
soul ascending to heaven following a battle between angels and devils. Otteran
may have founded the monastery at Leitrioch Odrain (Latteragh, Tipperary).
He has given his name to Oronsay. His feast is kept throughout Ireland (Benedictines,
Delaney, Farmer, Montague).
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606
Saint Cyriacus patriarch of Constantinople B (AC)
feast day in the Greek Church is celebrated on October 29. Cyriacus was
administrator and, later, patriarch of Constantinople (Benedictines).
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625 St. Desiderius
Bishop of Auxerre succeeded Saint Aunarius
France, the successor of St. Anacharius.
Desiderius of Auxerre B (AC). Saint Desiderius succeeded Saint Aunarius
(Aunaire) in the see of Auxerre, France. He has often been confused with
Saint Desiderius of Vienne (Benedictines).
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St.
Namatius Bishop of Clermont
sometimes listed as Namace. He founded the local cathedral.
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632 Colman of Senboth-Fola
associated with Bishop Saint Maidoc Abbot (AC)
Born in Ireland. Abbot Saint Colman of Senboth-Fola, in the diocese of
Ferns, was associated with Bishop Saint Maidoc of Ferns (January 31) (Benedictines).
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1114 Saint Nestor the Chronicler, of the Kiev Caves,
Near Caves “Great is
the benefit of book learning, for books point out and teach us the way to
repentance, since from the words of books we discover wisdom and temperance.
This is the stream, watering the universe, from which springs wisdom. In books
is a boundless depth, by them we are comforted in sorrows, and they are a
bridle for moderation. If you enter diligently into the books of wisdom, then
you shall discover great benefit for your soul. Therefore, the one who reads
books converses with God or the saints." The chief work in the life of St Nestor was compiling
in the years 1112-1113 The Russian Primary Chronicle. "Here is the account
of years past, how the Russian land came to be, who was the first prince at
Kiev and how the Russian land is arrayed.”
Nestor was born at Kiev in 1050. He came to
St Theodosius (May 3) as a young man, and became a novice. St Nestor took
monastic tonsure under the successor to St Theodosius, the igumen Stephen,
and under him was ordained a hierodeacon.
Concerning his lofty spiritual life it says that, with a number of other
monastic Fathers he participated in the casting out of a devil from Nikita
the Hermit (January 31), who had become fascinated by the Hebrew wisdom of
the Old Testament. St Nestor deeply appreciated true knowledge, along with
humility and penitence. “Great is the benefit of book
learning,” he said, “for books
point out and teach us the way to repentance, since from the words of books
we discover wisdom and temperance. This is the stream, watering the universe,
from which springs wisdom. In books is a boundless depth, by them we are comforted
in sorrows, and they are a bridle for moderation. If you enter diligently
into the books of wisdom, then you shall discover great benefit for your soul.
Therefore, the one who reads books converses with God or the saints.”
In the monastery St Nestor had the obedience of being the chronicler. In
the 1080s he wrote the “Account about the Life and Martyrdom
of the Blessed Passion Bearers Boris and Gleb” in connection
with the transfer of the relics of the saints to Vyshgorod in the year 1072
(May 2). In the 1080s St Nestor also compiled the Life of the Monk Theodosius
of the Kiev Caves. And in 1091, on the eve of the patronal Feast of the Kiev
Caves Monastery, he was entrusted by Igumen John to dig up the holy relics
of St Theodosius (August 14) for transfer to the church.
The chief work in the life of St Nestor was compiling in the years 1112-1113
The Russian Primary Chronicle. “Here is the account
of years past, how the Russian land came to be, who was the first prince at
Kiev and how the Russian land is arrayed.” The very
first line written by St Nestor set forth his purpose. St Nestor used an
extraordinarily wide circle of sources: prior Russian chronicles and sayings,
monastery records, the Byzantine Chronicles of John Malalos and George Amartolos,
various historical collections, the accounts of the boyar-Elder Ivan Vyshatich
and of tradesmen and soldiers, of journeymen and of those who knew. He drew
them together with a unified and strict ecclesiastical point of view. This
permitted him to write his history of Russia as an inclusive part of world
history, the history of the salvation of the human race.
The monk-patriot describes the history of the Russian Church in its significant
moments. He speaks about the first mention of the Russian nation in historical
sources in the year 866, in the time of St Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople.
He tells of the creation of the Slavonic alphabet and writing by Sts Cyril
and Methodius; and of the Baptism of St Olga at Constantinople. The Chronicle
of St Nestor has preserved for us an account of the first Orthodox church
in Kiev (under the year 945), and of the holy Varangian Martyrs (under the
year 983), of the "testing of the faiths" by St Vladimir (in 986) and the
Baptism of Rus (in 988).
We are indebted to the first Russian Church historian for details about
the first Metropolitans of the Russian Church, about the emergence of the
Kiev Caves monastery, and about its founders and ascetics. The times in which
St Nestor lived were not easy for the Russian land and the Russian Church.
Rus lay torn asunder by princely feuds; the Polovetsian nomads of the steppes
lay waste to both city and village with plundering raids. They led many Russian
people into slavery, and burned churches and monasteries. St Nestor was an
eyewitness to the devastation of the Kiev Caves monastery in the year 1096.
In the Chronicle a theologically thought out patriotic history is presented.
The spiritual depth, historical fidelity and patriotism of the The Russian
Primary Chronicle establish it in the ranks of the significant creations of
world literature.
St Nestor died around the year
1114, having left to the other monastic chroniclers of the Kiev Caves the
continuation of his great work. His successors in the writing of the Chronicles
were: Igumen Sylvester, who added contemporary accounts to the The Russian
Primary Chronicle; Igumen Moses Vydubitsky brought it up to the year 1200;
and finally, Igumen Laurence, who in the year 1377 wrote the most ancient
of the surviving manuscripts that preserve the Chronicle of St Nestor (this
copy is known as the “Lavrentian Chronicle”).
The hagiographic tradition of the Kiev Caves ascetics was continued by St
Simon, Bishop of Vladimir (May 10), the compiler of the Kiev Caves Paterikon.
Narrating the events connected with the lives of the holy saints of God,
St Simon often quotes, among other sources, from the Chronicle of St Nestor.
St Nestor was buried in the Near Caves of St Anthony. The Church
also honors his memory in the Synaxis of the holy Fathers of the Near Caves
commemorated September 28 and on the second Sunday of Great Lent when is
celebrated the Synaxis of all the Fathers of the Kiev Caves. His works have
been published many times, including in English as “The
Russian Primary Chronicle”.
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1203
Blessed Goswin of Chemnion Cistercian monk OSB Cist. (AC)
Goswin was a Cistercian monk, first at Clairvaux and then at Chemnion (Benedictines).
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1271 Blessed Bartholomew
of Vicenza Dominican Cyprus bishop see also
Butlers October 23
Dominicans honor one of their
own today, Blessed Bartholomew of Vicenza. This was a man who used his skills
as a preacher to challenge the heresies of his day. Bartholomew was born in
Vicenza around 1200. At 20 he entered the Dominicans. Following his ordination
he served in various leadership positions. As a young priest he founded a
military order whose purpose was to keep civil peace in towns throughout Italy.
In 1248, Bartholomew was appointed a bishop. For most men, such
an appointment is an honor and a tribute to their holiness and their demonstrated
leadership skills. But for Bartholomew, it was a form of exile that had been
urged by an antipapal group that was only too happy to see him leave for Cyprus.
Not many years later, however, Bartholomew was transferred back to Vicenza.
Despite the antipapal feelings that were still evident, he worked diligently—especially
through his preaching—to rebuild his diocese and strengthen the people’s
loyalty to Rome.
During his years as bishop in Cyprus, Bartholomew befriended
King Louis the Ninth of France, who is said to have given the holy bishop
a relic of Christ’s Crown of Thorns. Bartholomew died in 1271. He was beatified
in 1793.
October 27, 2009 Blessed Bartholomew of Vicenza (c. 1200-1271)
Dominicans honor one of their own today, Blessed Bartholomew of Vicenza.
This was a man who used his skills as a preacher to challenge the heresies
of his day.
Bartholomew was born in Vicenza around 1200. At 20 he entered the Dominicans.
Following his ordination he served in various leadership positions. As a young
priest he founded a military order whose purpose was to keep civil peace
in towns throughout Italy. In 1248, Bartholomew was appointed a bishop. For
most men, such an appointment is an honor and a tribute to their holiness
and their demonstrated leadership skills. But for Bartholomew, it was a form
of exile that had been urged by an antipapal group that was only too happy
to see him leave for Cyprus. Not many years later, however, Bartholomew was
transferred back to Vicenza. Despite the antipapal feelings that were still
evident, he worked diligently—especially through his preaching—to rebuild
his diocese and strengthen the people’s loy alty to Rome.
During his years as bishop in Cyprus, Bartholomew befriended King Louis
the Ninth of France, who is said to have given the holy bishop a relic of
Christ’s Crown of Thorns. Bartholomew died in 1271. He was beatified
in 1793.
|
1507 Blessed Antonia of
Brescia trials with patience and humility OP V (PC)
Born 1407. Although Antonia entered the Dominican convent at Brescia as
a young girl, she was not chosen prioress until she was 66. She governed
Saint Catherine's Convent at Ferrara, Italy, rigorously but with justice.
She underwent deposition and other trials with patience and humility (Benedictines).
|
1539 Saint Andrew, Prince of Smolensk The Uncovering of the relics of at Pereslavl occurred
through the involvement of St Daniel of Pereslavl (April 7).
The holy Prince Andrew was the son of the Smolensk prince Theodore Fominsky.
While still in his youth, he was grieved by the disputes of his brothers,
and he left his native city going as a simple wanderer to Pereslavl Zalessk.
In humility and meekness he spent thirty years as church warden at the church
of St Nicholas, near which he is buried. After his death they discovered a
princely ring, a gold chain and an inscription with the words, “I
am Andrew, one of the Smolensk princes.” |
1902 Bd Contardo Ferrini;
Ferrini was concerned with
the whole vast field of law, but it was above all in Roman law (and especially
its Byzantine aspect) that he made his mark. When Professor von Ligenthal died in 1894
Ferrini, his favourite pupil, inherited not only his master’s manuscripts
but also his acknowledged leadership in these studies. Among those who in
one way or another contributed to the success of his work were Don Achille
Ratti, afterwards Pope Pius XI, and Dr John Mercati, later cardinal and librarian
and archivist of the Holy Roman Church.
Addressing an audience of professors, lecturers and other pilgrims
at this time, Pope Pius XII referred to Bd Contardo as a man who “gave an
emphatic ‘Yes’ to the possibility of holiness in these days”. “The history
and development of law and law-making”, he declared, “were for Ferrini simply
an application of the moral and divine law, without which human legislation
is useless for if they are separated from God, it is only a matter of time
before social organization and its juridical enactments degenerate into tyranny
and despotism…It should give us comfort that in Bd Contardo the Lord has given
the Church a beatus who was a master in the field of law and at the same
time a man of God, one whose exalted spirit and supremely righteous life
is a model for us all.”
Giving evidence in the course of the process, the previous pope, Pius XI,
had said, “My relations with him were purely scientific or were concerned
with the beauties of high mountains. For him these were an inspiration to
holiness and almost a natural revelation of God.”
Ferrini’s appreciation of the material creation was indeed a salient characteristic,
and it was not confined to nature in her gentler aspects. “God also speaks
to man in the clouds on the mountain tops”, he wrote, “in the roaring of the
torrents, in the stark awfulness of the cliffs, in the dazzling splendour
of the unmelting snow, in the sun that splashes the west with blood, in the
wind that strips the trees bare. Nature lives by the breath of His omnipotence,
smiles in its joy of Him, hides from His wrath—yet greets Him, eternally young,
with the smile of its own youth. For the spirit of God by which nature lives
is a spirit for ever young, incessantly renewing itself, happy in its snow
and rain and mist, for out of these come birth and life, spring ever renewed
and undaunted hope, and all the blessed prerogatives of youth a thousand times
reborn.”
Bd Contardo Ferrini was in the true line of St Francis of Assisi.
Contardo Ferrini was born in 1859 in a modest apartment
in the Via Passerella at Milan. His father, Rinaldo Ferrini, was a teacher
of mathematics and physics, who had married Louisa Buccellati in the previous
year. Rinaldo had also graduated in civil engineering and architecture, and
his son inherited both his intellectual ability and scientific spirit.
Contardo indeed was a precocious lively child, and though he
first went to school when he was six years old, his schooling had already
begun with his father. According to a school-fellow, study and his religion
were the only things that young Contardo was interested in. As he grew
up he was not free from the emotional disturbances common to adolescence—an
echo of this can be detected in some verses he wrote for his mother’s name
day when he was sixteen. But he weathered the storm, with the help of a wise
and learned priest, Don Adalbert Catena, a friend of Manzoni and of Verdi.
While Don Catena guided him spiritually, another priest was watching over
him intellectually: this was Mgr Antony Ceriani, prefect of the Ambrosian
Library at Milan.
Contardo wanted to read the Bible
in its original languages, and it was to Mgr Ceriani that he turned to teach
him Hebrew. Here, too, he found his father’s insistence on a scientific approach
reinforced: “Don’t trust too much in second-hand information, even from the
learned”, Mgr Ceriani would say. “Go directly to the sources of the truth.”
A third priest to whom Contardo owed much was a
colleague of his father’s, Don Antony Stoppani, whose geological and other
learning chimed with that love of nature that distinguished Contardo throughout
his life.
In 1876 Contardo entered the law school of the Borromeo College
at Pavia. He was a very serious young man, and one gets the impression that
at this time he was not altogether free from what in England is called “priggishness”.
This might in a measure account for some of the ill treatment he experienced
at the hands of his fellow students. The patience with which he bore his trials
and his general bearing gained him the nickname of “St Aloysius of the Borromeo”,
used by some in respect and by others in derision. And an apostolic
flame was kindled in him: “To preach by example is good”, he wrote, “and
to preach by the word is good. But what is more effective than to preach
by prayer?”
He became enthusiastic for the formation of a university-students’
society, a thing then unheard of in Italy and of which he was a veritable
pioneer. Nothing actually came of it till the year in which he left Pavia
for Berlin; the society was then given the name of St Severinus Boethius and
it exists to this day. But the greater part of Ferrini’s youthful apostolic
ideals seem to have borne no fruit, at any rate visibly; only the results
of certain personal contacts were seen to be lasting. There was Ettore Cappa,
who never forgot that it was Ferrini who introduced him to the writings of
Cardinal Newman, and the life-long friendships with Count Paul Mapelli and
his brother, Count Victor. The letters that he wrote to the last-named are
one of the primary sources for Ferrini’s life and thought.
Contardo Ferrini gained his doctorate in 1880 and
was awarded a bursary for a year (later extended to two) in the University
of Berlin. Before setting out for this centre of Protestantism he drew up
a “Programme of Life” in the form of a letter to Victor Mapelli; the document
is a valuable testimony to his humble faith and the mystical trend of his
spirit. He was somewhat depressed at leaving home, but his first impressions
of Berlin cheered him: he found the Catholics there serious and observant,
and the Catholic students of the university were organized and active. In
his little book Un po’ d’infinito
he notes how vividly the universality of the Church was brought home to him
when he first went to confession in a foreign land. At the local conference
of the St Vincent de Paul Society (of which he had long been a member) he
became friendly with Professor Maximilian Westermaier, the botanist, and
he was in close contact with Alfred Pernice, Maurice Voigt and Zachary von
Ligenthal. It was the last-named he had in mind when he wrote, “Protestantism
makes a man a very worthy person where our religion would make him a saint”.
As was to be expected, Ferrini was not among Theodore Mommsen’s intimates,
but over twenty years later, talking with Bartholomew Nogara, then director
of the Etruscan Museum of the Vatican, Mommsen spoke of Ferrini with the greatest
respect, saying that he had removed the primacy in Roman legal studies from
Germany to Italy. “Nor are we jealous”, he added. But there was another side
to Berlin, and Ferrini was “nauseated by the sad sight of so corrupt a city”.
The proximity of wickedness deepened his own asceticism.
Ferrini was then twenty-two, and concerned about what was
his vocation in life. Marriage? The priesthood? The monastic state?
He heard no call to any of them; and towards the end of 1881 he made a vow
of lifelong celibacy.*{ *He spoke to none, even of his intimates, about this
vow. This led to occasional embarrassments, from which Ferrini extricated
himself by his wit, which could be mordant. On one occasion a woman was recommending
a girl to his notice as a suitable wife, emphasizing her expectations: “When
her father dies, she will have so much. When her mother dies, so much. And
when her uncle dies “Oh dear”, interrupted Ferrini,
“What a lot of corpses!”}
Ferrini returned to Italy in the summer of 1883. He was now engaged on
a critical edition of the Greek paraphrase of the Institutes of Justinian.
In furtherance of this work he visited libraries at Copenhagen, Paris, Rome
and Florence, and perfected that remarkable knowledge of languages that was
so valuable to him in his studies. German, Latin and Greek he spoke and wrote
fluently, and with varying degrees of facility he knew French, Spanish, English,
Dutch, Hebrew, Syriac, with a smattering of Coptic and Sanskrit. Such qualifications
could not be overlooked, and a year after returning home he was appointed
to a readership in Roman criminal law at the University of Pavia. Eighteen
months later he was promoted to the chair of exegesis of the sources of Roman
law. One of his pupils remembers that the new professor was very strict but
friendly, kind and encouraging with them, witty in private conversation and
never sarcastic. There was a distinction in his manner and bearing, quite
free from hauteur, which well became the dignity of his position. His life
was indeed entirely devoted to his Maker, but in the natural order his work,
as he used to tell his friends, was his wife; Roman law was his passion, and
he made of his research, his teaching and his erudition “a hymn of praise
to the Lord of all learning”. It was during this period that Ferrini became
a Franciscan tertiary.
In 1887 he was appointed to the professorship of Roman law in the University
of Messina, and for the next seven years he was teaching there and at Modena,
always working with unremitting application and growing in reputation with
each successive publication. But though he was very happy in Sicily he wanted
to get back permanently to the north, to be near his home and the Ambrosian
Library. When therefore he was invited in 1894 to return to Pavia as successor
to Professor Mariani, he accepted with joy. Thus began the
last and most fruitful period of his career.
Ferrini was concerned with
the whole vast field of law, but it was above all in Roman law (and especially
its Byzantine aspect) that he made his mark. When
Professor von Ligenthal died in 1894 Ferrini, his favourite pupil, inherited
not only his master’s manuscripts but also his acknowledged leadership in
these studies. Among those who in one way or another contributed to the success
of his work were Don Achille Ratti, afterwards
Pope Pius XI, and Dr John Mercati, later cardinal and librarian and archivist
of the Holy Roman Church.
His output was very large during his short life he was responsible
for over two hundred monographs, which make five stout volumes, as well as
several text books.
But
he found time to interest himself in public affairs too. After the Piedmontese
occupied Rome in 1870 the Holy See had decided that it was inexpedient for
faithful Catholics to associate themselves publicly with the new régime,
e.g. by voting in elections of deputies. Ferrini
loyally observed this ruling, while deploring that “our abstention from the
legislative assembly leaves our legislation unprotected from the most deplorable
influences.” This may have encouraged
his own activity in social matters. He was delighted when Pope Leo XIII published
his encyclical letter “Rerum Novarum”, on the condition of
the working classes. In 1895 he allowed himself to be elected to the municipal
council of Milan; * his duties upon which he took most seriously. {* A member
of the council drew caricatures of all his fellow members. That of Ferrini
he adorned with a halo of sainthood. It would be interesting to know if the
drawing is still in existence, for caricatures of saints must be rare—unless
Bellarmine jugs can be considered such, (Literary caricatures—unintended——are
of course another matter they are only too common.)}
In the following years he continued his charitable and public
work, doing all he could to combat the errors of materialistic socialism,
to defend the Italian legal tradition of the indissolubility of marriage,
and to uphold the religion of Christ wherever it was threatened.
Bd Contardo used to spend his vacations at Suna, on Lake Maggiore,
where his father had a small house. He was prostrated by his work in the heat
of the summer of 1902, and in the early
autumn sought to refresh himself with his favourite recreation, mountaineering.
{There has been argument among the experts about whether Ferrini was “an
alpinist in the true sense of the word “—whatever that may be. He certainly
loved mountains and climbed them.}With a friend he
climbed San Martino in Valle Anzasca, and came back to Suna feeling worse
rather than better. On October 5, a very wet Sunday, he went to Mass, and
on his return he collapsed. The doctor’s report was grave, but not alarmingly
so but Bd Contardo got worse, and after some days of delirium he died, of
typhus, on October 27. He was only forty-three years old. At his bedside
was his father, the first and greatest of his friends. {They used to work
at Suns both in the same bare room, their desks facing one another.}
Dr Oggioni has recollected that he was once walking in Pavia
with Ludovic Necchi when they passed Professor Ferrini, a wide browed, bearded
man in a frock coat. He returned their greeting with his usual courtesy and
characteristic sweet smile. Necchi stopped and exclaimed to his companion,
“What is it about that man? He’s a saint!” Father Augustine Gemelli records that many students
frequented Ferrini’s lectures not simply because of his reputation as a jurist
but also because here, at the dawn of the twentieth century, was a professor
who still believed in God. “Learning is not the road to God”, he wrote in
Un po’ d’infinito, and “his
letters and private papers all show a single purpose, the search for perfection,
which he pursued with a serenity and simplicity of heart that was echoed by
all and sundry after his quiet spirit was carried away”. Don Achille
Ratti was one of the first publicly to eulogize the dead professor, and
he was one of the promoters of the movement for introducing the cause of
Contardo Ferrini, of which the moving spirit was his old friend Professor
Olivi. In 1947 the beatification took place, and his feast day has been assigned
to October 27.
Addressing an audience of professors, lecturers and other pilgrims at this
time, Pope Pius XII referred to Bd Contardo as a man who “gave an emphatic
‘Yes’ to the possibility of holiness in these days”. “The history and development
of law and law-making”, he declared, “were for Ferrini simply an application
of the moral and divine law, without which human legislation is useless for
if they are separated from God, it is only a matter of time before social
organization and its juridical enactments degenerate into tyranny and despotism…It
should give us comfort that in Bd Contardo the Lord has given the Church a
beatus who was a master in the field of law and at the same time a man of
God, one whose exalted spirit and supremely righteous life is a model for
us all.”
Giving
evidence in the course of the process, the previous pope, Pius XI, had said,
“My relations with him were purely scientific or were concerned with the beauties
of high mountains. For him these were an inspiration to holiness and almost
a natural revelation of God.”
Ferrini’s appreciation
of the material creation was indeed a salient characteristic, and it was not
confined to nature in her gentler aspects. “God also speaks to man in the
clouds on the mountain tops”, he wrote, “in the roaring of the torrents, in
the stark awfulness of the cliffs, in the dazzling splendour of the unmelting
snow, in the sun that splashes the west with blood, in the wind that strips
the trees bare. Nature lives by the breath of His omnipotence, smiles in its
joy of Him, hides from His wrath—yet greets Him, eternally young, with the
smile of its own youth. For the spirit of God by which nature lives is a
spirit for ever young, incessantly renewing itself, happy in its snow and
rain and mist, for out of these come birth and life, spring ever renewed and
undaunted hope, and all the blessed prerogatives of youth a thousand times
reborn.”
Bd Contardo Ferrini was in the true line of St Francis of Assisi.
A biography
of Contardo Ferrini by J. Fanciulli was published in 1931, and
another, Contardo Ferrini Santo d’Oggi, by C. Caminada, in
1947. But the standard life is
by Mgr C. Pellegrini (1928), of which Father Bede Jarrett says, “The only
criticism to be made of it is that it is too monumental. Still, the book
is a perfect quarry from which to hew stones for erecting a shrine to build
in his memory.” And such a small shrine Father Jarrett himself built in his
short biographical study of Ferrini (1933). Bd Contardo’s own Pensieri
e Preghiere has been edited by Father Gemelli, himself “one of the most striking examples of the influence
of Ferrini in Milan and in Italy generally”. See also the Miscellanea
Contardo Ferrini, published at Rome in 1947 and 1948.
|
1907 Alexander The holy hierarch; tonsured a monk at the Tbilisi Monastery of the
Transfiguration; traveled to Kazan theological
academy graduated with honors returned home; taught the Holy Scriptures, Latin,
moral theology, and archaeology at Tbilisi Seminary until July 27, 1851;
appointed dean of the Abkhazeti theological school; active as a pedagogue, then as an archimandrite,
and a bishop; beloved throughout all of Georgian society as he was by the
local population--many called him the “Second Apostle to Abkhazeti.”; hrough his efforts alone 2 Sokhumi churches restored, renewed the magnificent monasteries
of Shio-Mgvime, Zedazeni, Davit-Gareji, and Shemokmedi, restored Jvari Church,
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Disevi Church, and many other churches in Guria-Samegrelo,
Atchara, and Imereti; devoted special attention to the Shio-Mgvime Monastery
and the surrounding area, which had been devastated by that time, & founded
diocesan school for women in
Tbilisi;
Alexi Okropiridze in the world was born in 1824, in the
village of Disevi in the Gori district, to the family of the village priest.
Growing up around the church, he received his primary education at Gori Theological
School and later continued his education at Tbilisi Seminary.
Having completed his course of study at the seminary in 1845, he was tonsured
a monk at the Tbilisi Monastery of the Transfiguration and given the new name
Alexander. From Tbilisi the young monk Alexander traveled to the theological
academy in Kazan to continue his studies. He graduated with honors and returned
to his homeland. Hieromonk Alexander taught the Holy Scriptures, Latin, moral
theology, and archaeology at Tbilisi Seminary until July 27, 1851.
Then, at the order of the Holy Synod, he was appointed dean of the theological
school in Abkhazeti on September 21, 1851. He was also entrusted with overseeing
monastic life in the Abkhazeti diocese and with supervising the instruction
at Kutaisi Theological School.
Alexander considered a broadening of the network of theological institutions
most essential to the strengthening of the Christian Faith in his country.
From the very beginning of his labors in Abkhazeti, he exerted an enormous
amount of effort to improve the Ilori Theological School in Ochamchire. At
first Alexander was active as a pedagogue, then from February 29, 1856, as
an archimandrite, and from March 4, 1862, as a bishop. He was as beloved throughout
all of Georgian society as he was by the local population, and many called
him the “Second Apostle to Abkhazeti.”
Alexander’s pastoral activity coincided with a difficult period in Georgian
history. The divine services were no longer being celebrated in the Georgian
language, and as a result many of the people began to drift away from the
Church. Many Georgian churches and monasteries, considered cultural and academic
centers from ancient times, were deserted. (By this time Georgia had been
incorporated into the Russian Empire, and the tsarist government had initiated
a policy of forced Russification.) The Georgian language was no longer being
taught in schools, and the poorest families could not afford to educate their
children.
The learned and erudite Bishop Alexander considered the revival of spiritual
life and learning, firmly rooted in the national consciousness, the principle
means by which to reinvigorate the national spirit and encourage cultural
advance.
Alexander’s efforts on behalf of the revival of the churches and monasteries
in Abkhazeti are, among his many labors, most worthy of note. Through his
efforts alone two churches were restored in Sokhumi. Outside of Abkhazeti,
Alexander renewed the magnificent monasteries of Shio-Mgvime, Zedazeni, Davit-Gareji,
and Shemokmedi. He restored Jvari Church, Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Disevi
Church, and many other churches in Guria-Samegrelo, Atchara, and Imereti.
He devoted special attention to the Shio-Mgvime Monastery and the surrounding
area, which had been devastated by that time.
Owing to St. Alexander’s generous financial contributions, a diocesan school
for women was founded in Tbilisi in 1878.
By his initiative and personal contributions, a great number of spiritual
and historical books, textbooks and collections of sacred hymns were published.
Not a single God-pleasing project was undertaken without Alexander’s support.
St. Alexander spent the remainder of his days at the Shio-Mgvime Monastery,
which he himself had restored. Only once—on September 9, 1907, the day his
spiritual son St. Ilia the Righteous was buried— did he step outside the monastery
walls. The eighty-three year-old Alexander outlived the great son of Georgia
by two months and fell asleep in the Lord on October 27 of the same year.
St. Alexander is buried at Shio-Mgvime Monastery.
|
Saints of this Day October 27 Sexto Kaléndas Novémbris
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.