The Fourth Sunday
of Lent is dedicated to St John of the Ladder (Climacus), the author
of the work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent.
Abbot of St Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai (6th century)
stands as a witness to the violent effort needed for entrance into God's
Kingdom (Mt.10: 12).
The spiritual struggle of the Christian life is a real one,
"not against flesh and blood, but against ... the rulers of the present
darkness ... the hosts of wickedness in heavenly places ..." (Eph 6:12).
Saint John encourages the faithful in their efforts for, according
to the Lord, only "he who endures to the end will be saved" (Mt.24:13).
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251 St. Alexander Bishop
Martyr an individual of great mildness, especially in his sermons
Cæsaréæ,
in Palæstína, natális beáti Alexándri
Epíscopi, qui de Cappadócia, ex própria civitáte,
ubi erat Epíscopus, sanctórum locórum desidério
Hierosólymam pétiit; atque ibi, cum a Narcísso,
ejúsdem urbis Epíscopo, jam sene, illa regerétur
Ecclésia, ipsíus gubernácula, divína edóctus
revelatióne, suscépit. Póstmodum vero, in persecutióne
Décii, cum jam longævæ ætátis veneránda
canítie præfúlgeret, ductus est Cæsaréam,
et clausus in cárcere, ob confessiónem Christi, martyrium
complévit.
At Caesarea in Palestine, the birthday of
the blessed Bishop Alexander, who, from his own city in Cappadocia,
where he was bishop, coming to Jerusalem to visit the holy places, took
upon himself, by divine revelation, the government of that church in
place of the aged Narcissus. Sometime afterwards, when he had become
venerable by his age and gray hair, he was led to Caesarea and shut
up in prison, where he completed his martyrdom for the confession of
Christ during the persecution of Decius.
251 ST ALEXANDER, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM,
MARTYR
ST ALEXANDER
was a student with Origen in the great Christian school of Alexandria, at
first under St Pantaenus and then under his successor Clement. He
was chosen bishop of his native city in Cappadocia, and during the persecution
of Severus he made a good confession of his faith. Although not put to death,
he was imprisoned for several years, until the beginning of the reign of
Caracalla. His former master, Clement, who had been forced to leave Alexandria,
undertook to convey a letter to the church of Antioch, in which St Alexander
sent his congratulations upon the election of St Asclepiades—the news
of which, he said, had lightened the chains with which he was loaded.
When released from prison, he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and there
we read that moved by some celestial portent the people appointed him
coadjutor bishop of that see.
This event, which took place in 212, is the earliest recorded
instance of an episcopal translation and coadjutorship, and it had to
be ratified by the hierarchy of Palestine assembled in council. The two
bishops were still governing the church of Jerusalem when St Alexander
wrote to another see: “I salute you in the name of Narcissus who here,
in his 116th year,
implores you with me to live in inviolable peace and union.”
St
Alexander came into conflict with Bishop Demetrius of Alexandria, who
censured him for having taken part in the ordination of Origen and for
having encouraged him while still a layman to teach in the churches. We
have Origen‘s testimony that Alexander of Jerusalem excelled all other
prelates in mildness and in the sweetness of his discourses. Amongst
the benefits which he conferred on the city was the formation of a great
theological library which still existed when Eusebius wrote and of which
he made considerable use. In the persecution of Decius, St Alexander
was seized and made a second public confession. He was condemned to the
beasts, but they could not, we are told, be induced to attack him, and
he was taken back to prison in Caesarea where he died in chains. The Church
reckons him as a martyr.
Eusebius in
his Ecclesiastical History (bk vi) is the primary
source of information concerning St Alexander, from whose letters
he quotes a few extracts. See also the Acta Sanctorum,
March, vol. ii; and Bardenhewer, Geschichte der
altkirchlichen Literatur, vol. ii, pp. 271—273.
Alexander
was a student with Origen at the famous Christian school of Alexandria
in the late second century. He became bishop of Cappadocia and during
the persecution of Severus was imprisoned for several years (204-211).
Following his release from prison, he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and
was proclaimed coadjutor bishop there in the year 212.
Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria, censured Alexander
for participating in the ordination of Origen and for encouraging Origen
to teach in churches while still a layman. Despite this, Alexander received
Origen in exile. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Alexander developed a great
theological library. During the persecution of Decius, he was seized and again
imprisoned. After making a public confession of faith, he was condemned
and thrown to the wild beasts, but they refused to attack him. Alexander
was then taken to Caesarea where he died in chains in the year 251. The
Church recognizes him as a martyr. St. Alexander, despite his great learning
and important ecclesiastical positions, was known as an individual of
great mildness, especially in his sermons. When put to the test during
two persecutions, he remained steadfast in faith and was willing to suffer
death for the Faith.
Today when we are criticized
by friends and society for the moral tenets of our Faith,
St. Alexander is a prime example of how we should stand
fast in the face of ridicule and ostracism.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons,
writing in the latter quarter of the second century, reckons him as
the fifth pope in succession from the Apostles, though he says nothing
of his martyrdom. His pontificate is variously dated by critics, e. g.
106-115 (Duchesne) or 109-116 (Lightfoot). In Christian antiquity he was
credited with a pontificate of about ten years (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. IV, i,) and there is no
reason to doubt that he was on the "catalogue of bishops" drawn up at
Rome by Hegesippus (Eusebius, IV,
xxii, 3) before the death of Pope Eleutherius (c. 189). According
to a tradition extant in the Roman Church at the end of the fifth century,
and recorded in the Liber Pontificalis
he suffered a martyr's death by decapitation on the Via Nomentana in Rome,
3 May. The same tradition declares him to have been a Roman by birth and
to have ruled the Church in the reign of Trajan (98-117). It likewise attributes
to him, but scarcely with accuracy, the insertion in the canon of the
Qui Pridie, or words commemorative
of the institution of the Eucharist, such being certainly primitive
and original in the Mass. He is also said to have introduced the use
of blessing water mixed with salt for the purification of Christian homes
from evil influences (constituit aquam
sparsionis cum sale benedici in habitaculis hominum). Duchesne
(Lib. Pont., I, 127) calls attention
to the persistence of this early Roman custom by way of a blessing
in the Gelasian Sacramentary that recalls very forcibly the actual Asperges
prayer at the beginning of Mass. In 1855, a semi-subterranean cemetery
of the holy martyrs Sts. Alexander, Eventulus, and Theodulus was discovered
near Rome, at the spot where the above mentioned tradition declares the
Pope to have been martyred. According to some archaeologists, this Alexander
is identical with the Pope, and this ancient and important tomb marks
the actual site of the Pope's martyrdom. Duchesne, however (op. cit., I, xci-ii) denies the identity
of the martyr and the pope, while admitting that the confusion of both
personages is of ancient date, probably anterior to the beginning of
the sixth century when the Liber Pontificalis
was first compiled [Dufourcq, Gesta Martyrum Romains (Paris, 1900),
210-211]. The difficulties raised in recent times by Richard Lipsius
(Chronologie der römischen Bischofe,
Kiel, 1869) and Adolph Harnack (Die
Zeit des Ignatius u. die Chronologie der antiochenischen Bischofe,
1878) concerning the earliest successors of St. Peter are ably discussed
and answered by F. S. (Cardinal Francesco Segna) in his "De successione
priorum Romanorum Pontificum" (Rome 1897); with moderation and learning
by Bishop Lightfoot, in his "Apostolic Fathers: St. Clement ' (London,
1890) I, 201-345- especially by Duchesne in the introduction to his
edition of the "Liber Pontificalis" (Paris, 1886) I, i-xlviii and lxviii-lxxiii.
The letters ascribed to Alexander I by PseudoIsidore may be seen in
P. G., V, 1057 sq., and in Hinschius, "Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianae"
(Leipzig, 1863) 94-105. His remains are said to have been transferred
to Freising in Bavaria in 834 (Dummler, Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini, Berlin,
1884, II, 120). His so-called "Acts" are not genuine, and were compiled
at a much later date (Tillemont, Mem.
II, 590 sqq; Dufourcq, op. cit.,
210-211).
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Augústæ sancti Narcíssi Epíscopi,
qui primus in Rhǽtia Evangélium prædicávit; deínde
in Hispániam profectus est, et, cum Gerúndæ multos
ad Christi fidem convertísset, ibídem, in persecutióne
Diocletiáni Imperatóris, una cum Felíce Diácono,
martyrii palmam accépit.
At Augsburg, St. Narcissus,
bishop, who was the first to preach the Gospel in the Tyrol.
Afterwards, setting out for Spain, he converted many to the faith of
Christ at Gerona, and there, along with the deacon Felix, he received
the palm of martyrdom during the persecution of Diocletian.
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Nicomedíæ
sanctórum decem míllium Mártyrum, qui, pro Christi
confessióne, gládio percússi sunt.
At Nicomedia, ten thousand
holy martyrs, who were put to the sword for the confession of Christ.
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Saint_Trophimus
304 St. Trophimus &
Eucarpius martyrs two pagan soldiers became converts while hunting
Christians
beheld within a cloud the image of a Radiant Man and a great multitude
standing about Him Saint_Eucarpion >
Ibídem
sanctórum Mártyrum Tróphimi et Eucárpii.
In the same place, the holy martyrs Trophimus and Eucarpius.
during the persecutions of Emperor
Diocletian.
They were two pagan soldiers in the Roman army
stationed in Nicomedia (modern Turkey) who were ordered to pursue Christians.
While hunting Christians, they
became converts and as a result, they were burned alive at Nicomedia.
Holy Martyrs Trophimus and Eucarpion
were soldiers at Nicomedia during the persecution against Christians
under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). They distinguished themselves
by their great ferocity in carrying out all of the emperor's decrees.
Once, when these soldiers had caught up with some
Christians, they suddenly saw a large fiery cloud which had come down
from the sky, thickening in form as it drew close to them. From out of
the cloud came forth a Voice: "Why are you so zealous in threatening My
servants? Don't be deluded! No one can suppress those believing in Me
through their own strength. It is better to join them and discover the Heavenly
Kingdom yourselves."
The soldiers fell to the ground in fright, not
daring to lift up their eyes, and only said to one another, "Truly
this is the great God, Who has manifested Himself to us. We would do
well to become His servants." The Lord then spoke saying, "Rise up,
repent, for your sins are forgiven." As they got up, they beheld within
the cloud the image of a Radiant Man and a great multitude standing about
Him.
The astonished soldiers cried out with one voice,
"Receive us, for our sins are inexpressibly wicked. There is no other
God but You, the Creator and true God, and we are not yet numbered among
Your servants." But just as they spoke this, the cloud receded and rose
up into the sky.
Spiritually reborn after this miracle, the soldiers
released all the jailed Christians from the prisons. For this Sts Trophimus
and Eucarpion were handed over to terrible torments: they suspended the
saints and tore their bodies with iron hooks. They gave thanks unto God,
certain that the Lord would forgive them their former sins.
When a fire had been lit, the
holy martyrs went willingly into the fire and there gave up their souls
to God.
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386
St. Cyril of Jerusalem Bishop seeing the poor starving to death he sold
some of the goods of the churches
Hierosólymis
sancti Cyrílli Epíscopi, Confessóris et Ecclésiæ
Doctóris; qui, ab Ariánis multas pro fidei causa perpéssus
injúrias et ex Ecclésia sua sæpe depúlsus,
tandem, sanctitátis glória clarus, in pace quiévit.
Ipsíus porro intemerátam fidem prima Constantinopolitána
Synodus œcuménica, sancto Dámaso Papæ scribens, præcláro
testimónio commendávit.
At Jerusalem, St. Cyril, bishop, {Confessor and Doctor of the Church}
who suffered many injuries from the Arians for the faith. Often
exiled from his church, he at length rested in peace with a great reputation
for sanctity. A magnificent testimony of the purity of his faith
is given by the first ecumenical Council of Constantinople in a letter
to Pope Damasus.
These were prophetic words for
Cyril was to be hounded by enemies and heretics for most of his life,
and although they could exile him from his diocese he never
left his beloved Church.
386 ST CYRIL, ARCHBISHOP OF JERUSALEM,
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
IT was the lot
of St Cyril of Jerusalem, a man of gentle and conciliatory disposition,
to live at a time of bitter religious Controversy. The DUC de Broglie
characterizes him as “forming the extreme right wing of Semi-Arianism,
touching on orthodoxy, or the extreme left wing of orthodoxy, bordering
on Semi-Arianism, but there is nothing heretical in his. Teaching”,
and Newman describes him more accurately when he says: “He seems to have
been afraid of the word Homoousios’ (consubstantial), to have been disinclined
to the friends of Athanasius and to the Arians, to have allowed the
tyranny of the latter, to have shared in the general reconciliation, and
at length, both in life and death, to have received honours from the Church
which, in spite of whatever objections may be made to them, appear, on
a closer examination of his history, not to be undeserved.” (Preface to the translation of Cyril’s Catecheses, p. ii).
If he was not born in Jerusalem (about 315), he was certainly
brought up there, and his parents, who were probably Christians, gave
him an excellent education. He acquired a wide knowledge of the
text of Holy Scripture, of which he made great use, some of his instructions
consisting almost entirely of biblical passages connected and interwoven
with each other. He seems to have been ordained priest by the bishop of
Jerusalem, St Maximus, who thought so highly of his abilities that he
charged him with the important duty of instructing the catechumens. His
catechetical lectures were delivered for several years—those to the
illuminandi, or candidates for baptism,
taking place in Constantine’s basilica of the Holy Cross, usually called
the Martyrion, and those to the newly-baptized being given during Easter
week in the circular Anastasis or church of the Resurrection. They were
delivered without book, and the nineteen catechetical discourses which
have come down to us are perhaps the only ones ever committed to writing.
They are most valuable as containing an exposition of the teaching and
ritual of the Church in the middle of the fourth century, and are said
to be “the earliest example extant of anything in the shape of a formal
system of theology”. We find in them also interesting allusions to the
discovery of the cross, to the proximity of the rock which closed the
Holy Sepulchre, to the weariness his hearers must be experiencing after
their long fast, and so on.
The circumstances under which
Cyril succeeded St Maximus in the see of Jerusalem are obscure. We
have two stories recorded by his opponents, but they are quite inconsistent
with each other, and St Jerome, who is responsible for one of them,
seems to have been prejudiced against him. In any case it is certain
that St Cyril was properly consecrated by the bishops of his province,
and if the Arian Acacius, who was one of them, expected to find in him
a pliable tool he was doomed to disappointment. The first year of his episcopate
was marked by a physical phenomenon which made a great impression on the
city, and of which he sent an account to the Emperor Constantius in a letter
which has been preserved. Its genuineness has been questioned, but the
style is undoubtedly his, and, though possibly interpolated, it has resisted
adverse criticism. The letter says
“On the nones of May, about the third
hour, a great luminous cross appeared in the heavens, just over Golgotha,
reaching as far as the holy mount of Olivet, seen, not by one or two
persons, but clearly and evidently by the whole city. This was not,
as might be thought, a fancy-bred and transient appearance but it continued
several hours together, visible to our eyes and brighter than the sun.
The whole city, penetrated alike with awe and with joy at this portent,
ran immediately to the church, all with one voice giving praise to our
Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.”
Not very long after Cyril’s
accession, misunderstandings began to arise between him and Acacius,
primarily about the precedence and jurisdiction of their respective
sees, but also over matters of faith, for Acacius had now become imbued
with the full Arian heresy. Cyril maintained the priority of his see as
possessing an “apostolic throne”, whilst Acacius, as metropolitan
of Caesarea, claimed control over it and pointed to a canon of the Council
Of Nicaea which ran, “Since a custom and old tradition has obtained that
the bishop of Aelia [Jerusalem] should receive honour, let him hold the
second place, the metropolitan [of Caesarea] being secured in his own
dignity”. Disagreement increased to open strife, and finally Acacius
called a small council of bishops of his own party, to which Cyril was
summoned, but before which he refused to appear. To the charge of contumacy
was added that of having sold church property during a famine to relieve
the poor. This he had certainly done, as it was also done by St Ambrose,
St Augustine and many other great prelates, who have been held fully justified.
However, the packed meeting condemned him and he was driven out of Jerusalem.
He made his way to Tarsus, where he was hospitably received by Silvanus,
the semi-Arian bishop, and where he remained pending the hearing of an
appeal which he had sent to a higher court. Two years after his deposition,
the appeal came before the Council of Seleucia, which consisted of semi-Arians,
Arians and a very few members of the strictly orthodox party—all from Egypt.
Cyril himself sat among the semi-Arians, the best of whom had befriended
and supported him during his exile. Acacius took violent exception to his
presence and departed in anger, though he soon returned and took a prominent
part in the subsequent debates. His party, however, was in the minority,
and he himself was deposed, whilst Cyril was vindicated and reinstated.
Acacius thereupon, making
his way to Constantinople, persuaded the Emperor Constantius to summon another
council. Fresh accusations were made in addition to the old ones,
and what particularly incensed the emperor was the information that
a gold-brocaded vestment presented by his father Constantine to Macarius
for administering baptism had been sold, and had been seen and recognized
on a comedian performing on the boards of a theatre. Acacius triumphed
and obtained a second decree of exile against Cyril within a year of
his vindication. But upon the death of Constantius in 361, his successor
Julian recalled all the bishops whom his predecessor had expelled, and
Cyril returned to his see with the rest.
Comparatively few martyrdoms
marked the reign of the Apostate, who recognized that the blood of
the martyrs is the seed of the Church, and who sought by other and more
insidious means to discredit the religion he had abandoned. One of the
schemes he evolved was the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem in order
to falsify the prophecy of our Lord, who had foretold its permanent and
utter ruin. The church historians Socrates, Theodoret and others expatiate
in great detail upon the attempt made by Julian to rebuild the Temple
and to appeal to the national sentiment of the Jews to further this scheme.
Gibbon and other more modern agnostics scoff at the record of preternatural
occurrences, the earthquakes, the visible balls of fire, the collapsing
walls, etc., which led to the abandonment of the enterprise, but even
Gibbon is constrained to admit that the story of these prodigies is confirmed
not only by such Christian writers as St John Chrysostom and St Ambrose,
but, “strange as it may seem, by the unexceptionable testimony of Ammianus
Marcellinus, the philosophic soldier”, and a heathen. St Cyril, we are
informed, looked on calmly at the vast preparations made for the rebuilding
of the Temple and prophesied that it would fail.
In 367 St Cyril was banished
for the third time, Valens having decreed the expulsion of all prelates
recalled by Julian, but about the date of the accession of Theodosius
he was finally reinstated and enjoyed undisturbed possession of his
see for the last eight years of his life. He was distressed on his return
to find Jerusalem torn with schisms and party strife, overrun with heresy
and stained by appalling crimes. The Council of Antioch to which he
appealed for help sent him St Gregory of Nyssa, who, however, found
himself unable to do much and soon departed, leaving to posterity in
his “Warning against Pilgrimages” a highly-coloured description of
the morals of the holy city at this period.
In 381 both Cyril and Gregory
were present at the great Council of Constantinople—the second
oecumenical council—and the bishop of Jerusalem on this occasion took
his place as a metropolitan with the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch.
At this gathering the Nicene Creed was promulgated in its amended form,
and Cyril, who subscribed to it with the rest, accepted the term “Homoousios”,
which had come to be regarded as the test word of orthodoxy. Socrates
and Sozomen have described this as an act of repentance. On the other
hand, in the letter written by the bishops who had been at Constantinople
to Pope St Damasus, Cyril is extolled as one who, had at various times,
been a champion of orthodox truth against the Arians; and the whole Catholic
Church, by including him among her doctors (in 1882) confirms the theory
that he had been, all along, one of those whom Athanasius calls “brothers,
who mean what we mean and only differ about the word”. He is thought
to have died in 386 at the age of nearly seventy, after an episcopate
of thirty-five years, sixteen of which were spent in exile. Of St Cyril’s
writings, the only ones which have survived are the Catechetical Lectures,
a sermon on the Pool of Bethesda, the letter to the Emperor Constantius,
and three small fragments.
Our
knowledge of St Cyril’s life’ and work is mainly derived from the church
historians and from the writings of his contemporaries. The Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii, and especially Dom Touttée
in his preface to the Benedictine edition of this father, have brought
together the most notable references. See also the articles devoted to
St Cyril in Bardenhewer’s
Patrology, the DCB. and the DTC. J. H. Newman’s
preface to the translation of the Catechetical Discourses
is still of value; see also the text and translation published
by Dr F. L. Cross in 1952. There is an excellent sketch of St Cyril in
A. Fortescue’s Greek Fathers (1908), pp. 150—168.
Cyril's life began a few years
before Arianism (the heresy that Jesus was not divine or one in being
with the Father) and he lived to see its suppression and condemnation
at the end of his life. In between he was the victim of many of the power
struggles that took place.
We know little about Cyril's
early life. Historians estimate he was born about 315 and that he
was brought up in Jerusalem. He speaks about the appearance of the
sites of the Nativity and Holy Sepulchre before they were "improved"
by human hands as if he were a witness. All we know of his family were
that his parents were probably Christians and he seemed to care for them
a great deal. He exhorted catechumens to honor parents "for however much
we may repay them, yet we can never be to them what they as parents
have been to us." We know he also had a sister and a nephew, Saint Gelasius, who became a bishop
and a saint.
He speaks as one who belonged
to a group called the Solitaries.
These were men who lived in
their own houses in the cities but practiced a life of complete chastity,
ascetism, and service.
After being ordained a deacon
and then a priest, his bishop Saint
Maximus respected him enough to put him in charge of the instruction
of catechumens. We still have these catechetical lectures of Cyril's
that were written down by someone in the congregation. When speaking
of so many mysteries, Cyril anticipated the question, "But some one will
say, If the Divine substance is incomprehensible, why then do you discourse
of these things? So then, because I cannot drink up all the river, am
I not even to take in moderation what is expedient for me? Because with
eyes so constituted as mine I cannot take in all the sun, am I not even
to look upon it enough to satisfy my wants? Or again, because I have
entered into a great garden, and cannot eat all the supply of fruits,
would you have me go away altogether hungry?.. I am attempting not to
glorify the Lord, but not to describe him, knowing nevertheless that
I shall fall short of glorifying God worthily, yet deeming it a work of
piety even to attempt it at all."
When Maximus died, Cyril was consecrated as bishop
of Jerusalem. Because he was supported by the Arian bishop of Caesarea,
Acacius, the orthodox criticized the appointment and the Arians thought
they had a friend. Both factions were wrong, but Cyril wound up in the
middle.
When a famine hit Jerusalem, the poor turned to
Cyril for help. Cyril, seeing the poor starving to death and having
no money, sold some of the goods of the churches. This was something
that other saints including Ambrose and Augustine had done and it probably
saved many lives. There were rumors, however, that some of the vestments
wound up as clothing for actors.
Actually, the initial cause of the falling out
between Acacius and Cyril was territory not beliefs. As bishop of
Caesarea, Acacia had authority over all the bishops of Palestine. Cyril
argued that his authority did not include Jerusalem because Jerusalem
was an "apostolic see" -- one of the original sees set up by the apostles.
When Cyril did not appear at councils that Acacius called, Acacius accused
him of selling church goods to raise money and had him banished.
Cyril stayed in Tarsus while
waiting for an appeal. Constantius called a council where the appeal
was supposed to take place. The council consisted of orthodox, Arians,
and semi-Arian bishops. When Acacius and his faction saw that Cyril and
other exiled orthodox bishops were attending, they demanded that the
persecuted bishops leave. Acacius walked out when the demand was not
met. The other bishops prevailed on Cyril and the others to give in to
this point because they didn't want Acacius to have reason to deny the
validity of the council. Acacius returned but left again for good when
his creed was rejected -- and refused to come back even to give testimony
against his enemy Cyril. The result of the council was the Acacius and
the other Arian bishops were condemned. There's no final judgment on Cyril's
case but it was probably thrown out when Acacius refused to testify
and Cyril returned to Jerusalem.
This was not the end of Cyril's
troubles because Acacius carried his story to the emperor -- embellishing
it with details that it was a gift of the emperor's that was sold
to a dancer who died wearing the robe. This brought about a new synod
run by Acacius who now had him banished again on the basis of what some
bishops of Tarsus had done while Cyril was there.
This exile lasted until Julian became emperor and
recalled all exiled bishops, orthodox or Arian. Some said this was to
exacerbate tension in the Church and increase his imperial power. So
Cyril returned to Jerusalem. When Acacius died, each faction nominated
their own replacement for Caesarea. Cyril appointed his nephew Gelasius
-- which may seem like nepotism, except that all orthodox sources spoke
of Gelasius' holiness. A year later both Cyril and Gelasius were driven
out of Palestine again as the new emperor's consul reversed Julian's ruling.
Eleven years later, Cyril was allowed to go back
to find a Jerusalem destroyed by heresy and strife. He was never able
to put things completely right. He did attend the Council at Constantinople
in 381 where the Nicene Creed and orthodoxy triumphed and Arianism
was finally condemned. Cyril received justice at the same Council who
cleared him of all previous rumors and commended him for fighting "a
good fight in various places against the Arians."
Cyril had eight years of peace
in Jerusalem before he died in 386, at about seventy years old.
Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem,
was born in Jerusalem in the year 315 and was raised in strict Christian
piety. Upon reaching the age of maturity, he became a monk, and in
the year 346 he became a presbyter. In the year 350, upon the death
of Archbishop Maximus, he succeeded him on the episcopal throne of Jerusalem.
As Patriarch of Jerusalem, St Cyril zealously fought
against the heresies of Arius and Macedonius. In so doing, he aroused
the animosity of the Arian bishops, who sought to have him deposed
and banished from Jerusalem.
There was a miraculous portent in 351 at Jerusalem:
at the third hour of the day on the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Cross
appeared in the heavens, shining with a radiant light. It stretched
from Golgotha above the Mount of Olives. St Cyril reported this portent
to the Arian emperor Constantius (351-363), hoping to convert him to Orthodoxy.
The heretic Acacius, deposed by the Council of
Sardica, was formerly the Metropolitan of Caesarea, and he collaborated
with the emperor to have St Cyril removed. An intense famine struck
Jerusalem, and St Cyril expended all his wealth in charity. But since
the famine did not abate, the saint pawned church utensils, and used the
money to buy wheat for the starving. The saint's enemies spread a scandalous
rumor that they had seen a woman in the city dancing around in clerical
garb. Taking advantage of this rumor, the heretics forcibly expelled the
saint.
The saint found shelter with Bishop Silvanus in
Tarsus. After this, a local Council at Seleucia, at which there were
about 150 bishops, and among them St Cyril. The heretical Metropolitan
Acacius did not want to allow him to take a seat, but the Council would
not consent to this. Acacius stormed out of the Council, and before the
emperor and the Arian patriarch Eudoxius, he denounced both the Council
and St Cyril. The emperor had the saint imprisoned.
When the emperor Julian the
Apostate (361-363) ascended the throne he repealed all the anti-Orthodox
decrees of Constantius, seemingly out of piety. St Cyril returned to his
own flock. But after a certain while, when Julian had become secure upon
the throne, he openly apostasized and renounced Christ. He permitted the
Jews to start rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem that had been destroyed
by the Romans, and he even provided them part of the funds for the building
from the state treasury.
St Cyril predicted that the
words of the Savior about the destruction of the Temple down to its very
stones (Luke. 21:6) would undoubtedly transpire, and the blasphemous intent
of Julian would come to naught. Soon there was such a powerful earthquake,
that even the solidly set foundation of the ancient Temple ofSolomon shifted
in its place, and what had been rebuilt fell down and shattered into dust.
When the Jews resumed construction, a fire came down from the heavens and
destroyed the tools of the workmen. Great terror seized everyone. On the
following night, the Sign of the Cross appeared on the clothing of the Jews,
which they could not remove by any means.
After this heavenly confirmation of St Cyril's
prediction, they banished him again, and the bishop's throne was occupied
by St Cyriacus. But St Cyriacus soon suffered a martyr's death (October
28).
After the emperor Julian perished in 363, St Cyril
returned to his See, but during the reign of the emperor Valens (364-378)
he was exiled for a third time. It was only under the holy emperor St
Theodosius the Great (379-395) that he finally returned to his archpastoral
activity. In 381 St Cyril participated in the Second Ecumenical Council,
which condemned the heresy of Macedonius and affirmed the Nicea-Constantinople
Symbol of Faith (Creed).
St Cyril's works include twenty-three Instructions
(Eighteen are Catechetical, intended for those preparing for Baptism,
and five are for the newly-baptized) and two discourses on Gospel themes:
"On the Paralytic," and "Concerning the Transformation of Water into
Wine at Cana."
At the heart of the Catechetical Instructions is
a detailed explanation of the Symbol of Faith. The saint suggests
that a Christian should inscribe the Symbol of Faith upon "the tablets
of the heart."
"The articles of the Faith," St Cyril teaches,
"were not written through human cleverness, but they contain everything
that is most important in all the Scriptures, in a single teaching
of faith. Just as the mustard seed contains all its plethora of branches
within its small kernel, so also does the Faith in its several declarations
combine all the pious teachings of the Old and the New Testaments."
March 18, 2010 St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315?-386)
The crises that the Church faces today may seem minor when
compared to the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ and
threatened to overcome Christinity in the fourth century. Cyril was to
be caught up in the controversy, accused (later) of Arianism by St. Jerome,
and ultimately vindicated both by the men of his own time and by being
declared a Doctor of the Church in 1822. Raised in Jerusalem, well-educated,
especially in the Scriptures, he was ordained a priest by the bishop
of Jerusalem and given the task of catechizing during Lent those preparing
for Baptism and during the Easter season the newly baptized. His Catecheses
remain valuable as examples of the ritual and theology of the Church in
the mid-fourth century.
There are conflicting reports about the circumstances of his
becoming bishop of Jerusalem. It is certain that he was validly consecrated
by bishops of the province. Since one of them was an Arian, Acacius,
it may have been expected that his “cooperation” would follow. Conflict
soon rose between Cyril and Acacius, bishop of the rival nearby see
of Caesarea. Cyril was summoned to a council, accused of insubordination
and of selling Church property to relieve the poor. Probably, however,
a theological difference was also involved. He was condemned, driven
from Jerusalem, and later vindicated, not without some assoc iation and
help of Semi-Arians. Half his episcopate was spent in exile (his first
experience was repeated twice). He finally returned to find Jerusalem
torn with heresy, schism and strife, and wracked with crime. Even St.
Gregory of Nyssa, sent to help, left in despair.
They both went to the (second ecumenical) Council of Constantinople,
where the amended form of the Nicene Creed was promulgated. Cyril accepted
the word consubstantial (that is, of Christ and the Father). Some said
it was an act of repentance, but the bishops of the Council praised him
as a champion of orthodoxy against the Arians. Though not friendly with
the greatest defender of orthodoxy against the Arians, Cyril may be counted
among those whom Athanasius called “brothers, who mean what we mean,
and differ only about the word [consubstantial].”
Comment: Those who imagine that
the lives of saints are simple and placid, untouched by the vulgar
breath of controversy, are rudely shocked by history. Yet it should
be no surprise that saints, indeed all Christians, will experience
the same difficulties as their Master. The definition of truth is an
endless, complex pursuit, and good men and women have suffered the pain
of both controversy and error. Intellectual, emotional and political
roadblocks may slow up people like Cyril for a time. But their lives taken
as a whole are monuments to honesty and courage.
Quote: “It is not only among
us, who are marked with the name of Christ, that the dignity of faith
is great; all the business of the world, even of those outside the Church,
is accomplished by faith. By faith, marriage laws join in union persons
who were strangers to one another. By faith, agriculture is sustained;
for a man does not endure the toil involved unless he believes he will
reap a harvest. By faith, seafaring men, entrusting themselves to a tiny
wooden craft, exchange the solid element of the land for the unstable motion
of the waves. Not only among us does this hold true but also, as I have
said, among those outside the fold. For though they do not accept the Scriptures
but advance certain doctrines of their own, yet even these they receive
on faith” (Catechesis V).
St Cyril, a great ascetic and
a champion of Orthodoxy, died in the year 386.
|
Saint
Aninas was born at Chalcedon into a Christian family
After the death of his parents, he withdrew at
age fifteen into a monastery, where he received monastic tonsure.
In search of complete solitude, he went off into the heart of the
desert where the River Euphrates separates Syria from Persia. There
he came upon an Elder named Maium and settled there with him. Both ascetics
led a very strict life. During the forty days of the Great Fast they ate
nothing, taking delight and joy instead in spiritual nourishment.
Every day St Aninas carried drinking water from
afar. Once, he returned with full water pitchers earlier than usual,
since an angel had filled the vessels with water. The Elder Maium realized
that his disciple had attained to high level of spiritual accomplishment,
and he in turn asled St Aninas to become his guide, but he refused out
of humility. Later, the Elder went to a monastery, and St Aninas remained
alone in the wilderness.
By constant struggles the saint conquered the passions
within himself, and he was granted gifts of healing and clairvoyance.
Even the wild beasts became docile and served him. Wherever the saint
went, two lions followed after him, one of which he had healed of a wound
on its paw.
Accounts of the saint spread
throughout all the surrounding area, and the sick and those afflicted
by evil spirits began to come to him, seeking healing. Several disciples
also gathered around the saint. Once, in his seventeenth year as an
ascetic, several men had come to the saint and asked for something to
quench their thirst. Relying on the power of God, the saint sent one
of his disciples to a dried-up well. The well miraculously filled up
to its very top, and this water remained for many days. When the water
ended, the saint did not dare to ask for a miracle for himself, and so
he began to carry water from the Euphrates at night.
Bishop Patrick of Neocaesarea repeatedly visited
the monk and ordained him presbyter, although the humble ascetic was
resolved not to accept the priestly office. When he learned that the
saint himself carried water from a distance, Bishop Patrick twice gave
him donkeys, but each time St Aninas gave them away to the poor and continued
to carry the water himself. Then the bishop ordered that a large well
be dug, which they filled from time to time, bringing donkeys from the
city.
St Aninas discerned the desire
of a certain stylite monk, who struggled far from him, to come down
off his pillar and make a complaint in court against a robber who had
hurt him with a stone. St Aninas wrote a letter to the stylite, advising
him not to carry out his intent. The letter was brought to the stylite
by a trusty lion, and it brought him to his senses.
A certain pious woman, who had fallen ill, went
to St Aninas to ask for his prayers. Along the way a robber chanced upon
her. Since the woman had no money, he decided to assault her and force
her into sin. The woman called on the saint's help and cried out, "St
Aninas, help me!" Terror suddenly overcame the robber, and he let go of
the woman.
The woman went to St Aninas and told him everything,
and she also received healing. The robber also came to the monk in
repentance, was baptized, and then tonsured as a monk. A spear which
he had thrust into the ground when he attacked the woman, grew into a
mighty oak.
At the age of 110 the saint predicted the time
of his death, and he directed his successor as igumen to assemble the
brethren.
Before his death, St Aninas conversed
with the holy Prophets Moses, Aaron and Or [or Hur: Ex. 24:14].
He fell asleep in the Lord saying, "O Lord, receive my soul."
|
588 St. Frediano Irish
bishop founded a group of eremetical canons Miraculously, the
river followed him.
Lucæ, in Túscia, natális sancti
Frigdiáni Epíscopi, virtúte miraculórum
illústris.
At Lucca in Tuscany, the birthday
of the holy bishop Fridian, who was illustrious by the power of working
miracles.
also called Frigidanus and Frigidian.
He was reportedly a prince of Ireland who went on a pilgrimage to
Rome and settled into a hermitage on Mount Pisano, near Lucca. The
pope (Pelagius II
520-590) made him bishop of Lucca, but his see was attacked
by Lombards. Frediano is believed to have founded a group of eremetical
canons who merged with those of St. John Lateran in 1507.
588 ST FRIGIDIAN, OR FREDIANO, BISHOP
OF Lucca
ST FRIGIDIAN, or Frediano as he
is called in Italy, was an Irishman by birth or by extraction. He is
said to have been the son of a king of Ulster and to have been educated
in Ireland, where he was raised to the priesthood. Irish writers have
tried to identify him with St Finnian of Moville, but St Frediano lived
for over twenty-eight years in Lucca and died there, whereas Finnian ended
his days in Ireland, where he had spent the greater part of his life. On
a pilgrimage to Italy Frediano visited Lucca, and was so greatly attracted
by the hermitages on Monte Pisano that he decided to settle there himself
as an anchorite. His repute for sanctity caused him to be chosen for the
bishopric of Lucca; it required, however, the intervention of Pope John
II ( 533-535 )to induce Frediano
to give up his life of solitude.
After seven years of peaceful rule he was temporarily driven
out of the city by the Lombard invaders, who sacked and burnt the cathedral;
but the holy bishop returned, and when the ferocity of the invaders had
begun to abate he set to work to repair the damage. He rebuilt his cathedral
on a new site outside the north wall of the city. This church, which
now bears his own name, was by him dedicated to the Three Deacons (Stephen,
Vincent and Laurence). We are told that he showed goodwill and charity
to all, relieved the necessitous, clothed the naked, comforted the sorrowful
and visited the sick. His influence extended to the conquerors, many
of whom were converted. He never ceased to aspire to the solitary life,
and would retire from time to time to some lonely hermitage. It is stated
that he formed a community of clergy, with whom he lived, sharing their
austere discipline. This association continued after his death, and we
read that when relaxation had crept in among the canons of the Lateran,
Pope Alexander II (d. 1073), who had
been bishop of Lucci, “sent for some regular canons from San Frediano,
as from a house of strict observance”. It was not till 1507 that the congregation
of San Frediano was merged into that of St John Lateran.
One of the many miracles said
to have been worked by St Frediano has become specially famous, because
it is recorded in the Dialogues of St Gregory, who
writes:
“Nor shall I be silent on this also
which was related to me by the venerable Venantius, Bishop of Luni.
I learned from him two days ago that at Lucca there had lived a bishop
of marvellous power, by name Frediano, of whom the inhabitants relate
this great miracle that the river Auxer [Serchio] running close under
the walls of the city and often bursting from its bed with great force,
caused grievous damage to its inhabitants, so that they…strove to divert
its course…but failed in the attempt. Then the man of God Frediano made
them give him a little rake, and advancing to where the stream flowed,
he knelt in prayer. He then got up and ordered the river to follow him.
As he dragged the rake behind him, the waters left their usual course
and ran after it, making a new bed wherever the saint marked the way.
Whence thus ever following on, it ceased to do injury to the fields and
crops.”
When St Frediano felt his
death approaching he gathered his brethren round him, and while they were
singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving, he fell into a placid sleep and
passed to his rest. His relics were, it is said, miraculously rediscovered
during the reign of Charlemagne; in 1652 the bones were put together
and the skeleton now lies in a glass coffin under the high altar of the
cathedral at Lucca. As well as at Lucca the feast of St Frediano is
kept throughout Ireland (as St Frigidian) and by the Canons Regular
of the Lateran.
See Colgan,
Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, pp. 634-641, and especially
Guerra and Guidi, Compendio di storia ecclesiastica
Lucchese dalle origini . . . (1924). On St Finnian or Winnin, with
whom St Frediano has been wrongly identified, see KSS., pp. 465—466.
See also A. M. Tommasini, Irish Saints in Italy (1937),
pp. 360—377; A. Pedemonte, S. Frediano (1937), who denies
that the saint was Irish, and, with less reason, dates him in the third
century; and M; Giusti in Bollettino storico lucchese,
vol. xi, pp. 1—27.
Frigidian of Lucca B (RM) (also known as Frediano,
Frigdianus) Born in Ireland; died 588; feast day formerly March 15.
In spite of the Italian name Frediano, by which
he is usually called, St. Frigidian was an Irishman, the son of King
Ultach of Ulster. He was trained in Irish monasteries and ordained a priest.
His learning was imparted by such flowers of the 6th century Irish culture
as Saint Enda and Saint Colman.
St. Frigidian arrived in Italy on a pilgrimage
to Rome and decided to settle as a hermit on Mount Pisano. In 566,
he was elected bishop of Lucca and was persuaded by Pope John II him
to accept the position. Even thereafter the saint frequently left the
city to spend many days in prayer and solitude. As bishop he formed the
clergy of the city into a community of canons regular and rebuilt the
cathedral after it had been destroyed by fire by the Lombards.
His most famous miracle is certainly legendary.
The River Serchio frequently bursts its banks, causing great damage
to the city of Lucca. The citizens reputedly called on their bishop for
aid. He asked for an ordinary rake. Fortified by prayer, Frigidian commanded
the Serchio to follow his rake. He charted a new, safer course for the
water, avoiding the city walls, as well as the cultivated land outside.
Miraculously, the river followed him.
Sometimes there is confusion between Saint Finnian
of Moville and St. Frigidian. They could perhaps be the same person
but the links have never been well established. Frigidian is still greatly
venerated in Lucca (Attwater, Bentley, Encyclopedia).
In art, St. Frigidian walks in procession as the
Volto Santo crucifix is brought to Lucca on an ox cart. He may also
be shown changing the course of the Serchio River or as a bishop with
a crown at his feet (Roeder).
|
978
St. Edward the Martyr miracles reported from his tomb at Shaftesbury
In Británnia sancti Eduárdi Regis, qui,
dolis novércæ necátus, multis miráculis
cláruit.
In England, St. Edward, king,
who was assassinated by order of his treacherous stepmother, and became
celebrated for many miracles.
Edward was the eldest son of King
Edgar of England and his first wife, Ethelfleda who died shortly
after her son's birth. He was baptized by St. Dunstan and became King in 975 on
his father's death with the support of Dunstan but against the wishes of
his stepmother, Queen Elfrida, who wished the throne for her son Ethelred.
Edward ruled only three years when he was murdered on March
18 while hunting near Corfe Dastle, reportedly by adherents of Ethelred,
though William of Malmesbury, the English historian of the twelfth century,
said Elfrida was the actual murderer. In the end, Elfrida was seized
with remorse for her crime and, retiring from the world, she built the
monasteries of Amesbury and Wherwell, in the latter of which she died.
Edward was a martyr only in the broad sense of one who suffers an unjust
death, but his cultus was considerable, encouraged by
the miracles reported from his tomb at Shaftesbury; His feast day is March
18 and still observed in the diocese of Plymouth.
979 ST EDWARD THE MARTYR
ST EDWARD was the son of King Edgar, sovereign of all the English,
by his first wife, Ethelfleda, who did not long survive the birth of
her son; he was baptized by St Dunstan, then archbishop of Canterbury.
After Edgar’s death a party sought to set aside Edward in favour of
Ethelred, a boy hardly ten years old, who was Edgar’s son by his second
queen, Elfrida. Edward himself was but a youth when he came to the throne, and his reign lasted a brief
three years. The guidance of St Dunstan was unable to commend him to
the disaffected thegns, for which the young king’s violent temper was
perhaps partly responsible. The chroniclers, who are all agreed that
he was murdered, are not in accord as to the actual perpetrator of the
deed, but William of Malmesbury claims to describe the crime in detail.
He tells us that, from the moment of Edward’s accession, his stepmother
had sought an opportunity to slay him. One day, after hunting in Dorsetshire,
the king, who was weary and wished to see his little stepbrother, of
whom he was fond, determined to visit Corfe Castle, the residence of Elfrida,
which was close at hand. Apprised of his arrival, the queen went out
to meet him and noticed that he was alone, having outstripped his companions
and attendants. She feigned pleasure at seeing him and ordered a cup
to be brought to allay his thirst. As he drank, Elfrida made a sign to
one of her servants, who stabbed the young king with a dagger. Although
Edward immediately set spurs to his horse and tried to regain his escort,
he slipped from the saddle, his foot caught in the stirrup, and he was
dragged along till he died. “This year”, says the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
under 979, “was King Edward slain at eventide at Corfe-gate, and was buried
at Wareham without any kind of kingly honours.” William of Malmesbury says
that Elfrida had his body thrown into a marsh, thinking thus to dispose
of it, but a pillar of light caused it to be discovered, and it was taken
up and buried in the church at Wareham. His relics were afterwards removed
to Shaftesbury. Elfrida herself was in the end seized with remorse for
her crime and, retiring from the world, she built the monasteries of Amesbury
and Wherwell, in the latter of which she died.
The earliest account of the
murder attributes it to Ethelred’s retainers there is no good evidence
for Queen Elfrida’s alleged part in it, which is not mentioned till
over a hundred years after the event. Edward was a martyr only in the
broad sense of one who suffers an unjust death, but his cultus
was considerable, encouraged by the miracles reported from
his tomb at Shaftesbury and his feast is still observed in the diocese
of Plymouth.
Our principal
authorities are William of Malmesbury, Florence of Worcester, the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Osbern the hagiographer and, earliest of all,
the author of the Life of St Oswald in the Historians
of the Church of York (Rolls Series), vol. i, pp.
448—452. See also F.M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon
England (1943), pp. 366—369; and particularly K. M. Wilson,
Lost Literature of Medieval England
(1952), pp. 111—112.
|
1086
St. Anselm of Lucca Bishop held in high regard for his holiness austerity
Biblical knowledge learning
Mántuæ
sancti Ansélmi, Epíscopi Lucénsis et Confessóris.
At Mantua, St. Anselm, bishop and confessor.
1086 ST ANSELM,
BISHOP OF Lucca
IT was in 1036 that St Anselm was
born in Mantua, and in 1073 his uncle, Pope Alexander II ( 1061-1073 ) , nominated him to the bishopric of Lucca, left vacant by
his own elevation to the chair of St Peter, and sent him to Germany to
receive from the Emperor Henry IV the crozier and the ring— in accordance
with the regrettable custom of the time. Anselm, however, was so strongly
convinced that the secular power had no authority to confer ecclesiastical
dignities that he could not bring himself to accept investiture from the
emperor and returned to Italy without it. Only after he had been consecrated
by Alexander’s successor, Pope St Gregory VII (1073-1085), did he consent to accept from Henry the crozier and the
ring, and even then he felt scruples of conscience on the subject.
These doubts led him to leave his diocese and to withdraw to a
congregation of Cluniac monks at Polirone. A dignitary of such high-minded
views could ill be spared, and Pope Gregory recalled him from his retirement
and sent him back to Lucca to resume the government of his diocese.
Zealous with regard to discipline, he strove to enforce among his canons
the common life enjoined by the decree of Pope St Leo IX (1049-1054 ). In acute discordance with the edifying example accredited
to them above in our notice of St Frediano, the canons refused to obey,
although they were placed under an interdict by the pope and afterwards
excommunicated. Countess Matilda of Tuscany undertook to expel them,
but they raised a revolt and, being supported by the Emperor Henry, drove
the bishop out of the city in 1079.
St Anselm retired to Canossa,
to the Countess Matilda, whose director he became, and in all the
territories under her jurisdiction he established strict order among
the monks and the canons. He was wont to say that he would prefer that
the Church should have neither, rather than that they should live undisciplined
lives. He himself was most austere, and always spent several hours daily
in prayer: he never drank wine, and found some pretext for avoiding delicate
food at well-served tables. Although he used to celebrate every day,
he was moved to tears in saying Mass, and he lived so continually in the
presence of God that no secular affairs could banish the remembrance of
it.
As one of Pope Gregory’s most
faithful supporters, he drew upon himself much persecution. His chief
services to the pontiff were rendered in connection with investitures,
the suppression of which was at that period a matter of life or death
to the orderly government of the Church. This abuse had been gradually
increasing until it had become a grievous scandal, especially in Germany.
It had its roots in the feudal system, under which bishops and abbots
had become owners of lands and even of cities, for which they naturally
paid allegiance to the sovereign, receiving in exchange temporal authority
over the territories they governed. But the consequence was that in course
of time all sacred offices were shamelessly sold to the highest bidder
or bestowed on profligate courtiers. Gregory had no more vigorous supporter
than Anselm of Lucca, who had himself protested against receiving investiture
at secular hands. After the death of Gregory, the next pope nominated
St Anselm to be his legate in Lombardy—a post which entailed the administration
of several dioceses left vacant in consequence of the investitures quarrel.
Thus Anselm was apostolic visitor, but he was never actually made bishop
of Mantua, as some of his biographers have claimed.
We read that he was a man
of great learning, and had made a special study of the Bible and of its commentators
if questioned on the meaning of any passage of Holy Scripture—a great
part of which he knew by heart—he could cite at once the explanations
given by all the great fathers of the Church. Amongst his writings may
be mentioned an important collection of canons and a commentary on the
Psalms which he began at the request of the Countess Matilda, but which
he did not live to complete. The holy bishop died in his native town of
Mantua, and the city has since adopted him as its principal patron saint.
The
main source of information is the life of the saint, formerly attributed
to Bardo, primicerius of the cathedral of Lucca, though
Mgr Guidi has shown that the true author must have been a priest belonging
to the suite of the Countess Matilda (see Analecta Bollandiana,
vol. xlviii, p. 203). This “Bardo” life has been many times
printed, e.g. by Mabillon, the Bollandists, and in MGH., Scriptores, vol. xii. But there is also a long poem
by Ranierius (7300 lines), first printed by La Fuente (1870), on which
cf. Overmann in the Neues Archiv,
vol. xxi (1897). See also the Acta Sanctorum, March,
vol. ii, and P. Schmeidler in the Neues Archiv., vol. xliii.
Anselm’s Collectio Canonum has been critically edited
in recent times by Thaner.
Nephew of Pope Alexander II called Anselm the Younger
by his contemporaries. He was born in Mantua, Italy, in 1036, and was
named bishop of Lucca by his uncle. He accepted the symbols of office
from Emperor Henry IV, repenting immediately because of the Church's stand
against allowing secular rulers to perform such acts. Anselm resigned his
office and became a Benedictine monk. Pope Gregory VII, Alexander II's successor,
placed him back in Lucca, but a quarrel with the priests of that city forced
him to leave. Anselm went to Canossa, Italy, where he became the spiritual
advisor to Countess Matilda. He was also named a papal legate, with wide-ranging
jurisdictions over the local religious institutions. Pope Victor III made
him papal legate of all Lombardy, Italy. Anselm was well versed in Scripture
and wrote some important treatises. He died in Mantua on March 18, 1086.
Anselm of Lucca, OSB B (RM) Born in Mantua, Italy, 1036; died
there in 1086. St. Anselm was named bishop of Lucca in 1073 by his
uncle Pope Alexander II, who had just vacated the see. Anselm immediately
became embroiled in a dispute about imperial investiture and refused to
accept the symbols of his office from Emperor Henry IV. Later counselled
by Gregory VII, Anselm accepted investiture, took possession of his see,
but then had scruples and retired to the Cluniac monastery at Polirone,
where he became a Benedictine monk.
Recalled by Pope Gregory VII, of whom Anselm was a faithful
supporter, he soon became involved with his canons over their lack
of observance of an austere life. When they were placed under an interdict
by the pope and excommunicated, they revolted, were supported by the
emperor, and, in 1079, drove Anselm from his see.
He retired to Canossa, became spiritual director of Countess
Matilda and reformed the monks and canons in the territory she controlled.
A man of great learning, Anselm excelled as a canonist and was a firm
supporter of Pope Gregory's struggle to end lay investiture. After Gregory's
death, Pope Victor III appointed him apostolic visitor to administer
several dioceses in Lombardy, Italy, which were vacant because of the investiture
struggle.
St. Anselm was held in high regard
for his holiness, austerity,
Biblical knowledge, and learning (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
|
1186 Bl. Christian
Abbot of the first Cistercian monastery ever established in Ireland
1186 BD CHRISTIAN, ABBOT
OF MELLIFONT
BEYOND the fact that he was abbot of the first Cistercian
monastery ever established in Ireland, practically nothing at all
can be stated with certainty about Bd Christian, otherwise called Christian
O’Conarchy or Giolla Criost Ua Condoirche. The various traditions and
legends are confused and conflicting. According to. some accounts, he
was born at Bangor in Ulster, and Colgan says that he was the disciple
and afterwards the archdeacon of St Malachy of Armagh, and that he probably
accompanied that prelate on a visit to Rome, staying at Clairvaux on his
way there. He would appear to -have been one of the four disciples who
remained behind at Clairvaux on the homeward journey and who received
the habit from St Bernard himself. Upon his return to Ireland, St Malachy
was anxious to introduce the Cistercian Order into his country, and
at his prompting Donough O’Carroll set about building Mellifont. Malachy
applied to the founder for a superior and some monks to start the new
foundation, and St Bernard sent Christian and several French brothers
in 1142.
Abbot Christian is said by
some writers to have become bishop of Lismore and papal legate for
Ireland. An ancient anonymous Irish annalist notes the year 1186 as
the date of the death of Christian, the illustrious prelate of Lismore,
“formerly legate of Ireland, emulator of the virtues which he saw and
heard from his holy father St Bernard and from the Supreme Pontiff, the
venerable man Eugenius, with whom he was in the novitiate at Clairvaux.”
See Colgan,
Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, and LIS., vol. iii,
p. 839.
Beyond the fact that he was Abbot of the first Cistercian
monastery ever established in Ireland, practically nothing at all
can be stated with certainty about Blessed Christian, otherwise called
Christian O'Conarchy or Giolla Criost Ua Condoirche. The various traditions
and legends are confused and conflicting. According to some accounts,
he was born at Bangor in Ulster, and Colgan says that he was the disciple
and afterwards the archdeacon of St. Malachy of Armagh, and that he probably
accompanied the prelate on a visit to Rome, staying at Clairvaux on his
way there. He would appear to have been one of the four disciples who remained
behind at Clairvaux on the homeward journey and who received the habit from
St. Bernard himself. Upon his return to Ireland, St. Malachy was anxious
to introduce the Cistercian Order into his country, and at his prompting
Donouth O'Carroll set about building Mellifont. Malachy applied to the
founder for a superior and some monks to start the new foundation, and
St. Bernard sent Christian and several French brothers in 1142. Abbot
Christian is said by some writers to have become bishop of Lismore and
papal legate for Ireland. An ancient anonymous Irish analyst notes the
year 1186 as the date of the death of Christian, the illustrious prelate
of Lismore, "formally legate of Ireland, emulator of the virtues which he
saw and heard from his holy father St. Bernard and from the supreme pontiff,
the venerable man Eugenius, with whom he was in the novitiate at Clairvaux".
|
St.
Narcissus bishop and Felix, his deacon Martyrs
While it is certain that Narcissus, a bishop, and Felix, his
deacon, were martyred in Spain, little else is known. Legends are associated
with them, including their supposed escape to Germany or Switzerland.
|
1455 Blessed Fra
Angelico priest artist frescoes unfaded loveliness after 400 years
" nothing--painting, statue, sermon, poem, or building--should obstruct
one's view of God" , OP (PC)
Born in Mugello near Florence, Italy, in 1386 or
1387; died in Rome, Italy, in 1455.
Guido da Vicchio's innate talent for art was supplemented
by the natural beauty of his native Tuscany. He studied under several
master artists when Italy was most conscious of the spirit of Giotto
and Cimabue, and their influence was always to give a certain unearthly
aspect to his paintings.
When he was still quite young, and already a recognized
artist, he entered the Dominican monastery at Fiesole with his brother
Benedetto in 1407. It is a tribute to the ability and sanctity of both
brothers that their names stand out in such distinguished company, for
some of the greatest men of the order were housed in the same priory: Blesseds
John Dominici, Peter Capucci, and Lawrence of Ripafratta (f.d. September
28), and St. Antoninus of Florence. The latter, when he was appointed
archbishop, was to commission some of the two artists' finest work.
Few personal details are known about Brother John
of the Angels, who is known as Fra Angelico in secular history. He was
a priest. His painting in Florence was sufficiently well-known and
admired to merit his being called to Rome to decorate the Chapel of
Nicholas V at the Vatican. In 1449, he was appointed prior of San Marco,
which he decorated with his wonderful paintings, and held that office
for three years.
He may have been recalled to Rome in 1454; he died
there in 1455 at the Dominican friary of La Minerva. In much the same
way as St. Thomas Aquinas was obscured by his writings for centuries,
Fra Angelico seems to have disappeared behind his art. We know that
he was the painter par excellence of the Queen of Angels and of her
court.
St. Antoninus, who must have known him well, said:
"No one could paint like that without first having been to heaven."
The sincerity of his paintings and the depth of their theological and
devotional teaching makes this statement believable.
Fra Angelico and Fra Benedetto were both artists
of skill and originality. Perhaps God wished them to work together
to make Fiesole and San Marco treasure houses of art, where some innocence
and beauty might remain untouched by the storm of Renaissance humanism
loomed on the horizon. Benedetto painted and illuminated an exquisite
set of choir books, reputed to be the loveliest in the world. If he had
lived out his career, he might have rivalled his famous brother, but he
was accidentally killed in a street battle during one of the frequent
political upheavals in Florence, and his work was left unfinished.
Fra Angelico himself did some illumination; in
fact, he probably began his career as an illuminator. There is in his
altarpieces a definite touch of the illuminator's talent for extracting
the gist of the matter and leaving out extraneous details. His work is
never cluttered, which might, of course, be the result of a mind trained
in theology, as well as of a hand trained in illuminating.
His frescoes were done on wet
plaster, with clay colors, which means that he could not see any exact
color relationship until the wall had dried, and it was too late to
touch it up. This makes it all the more remarkable that his colors are
so exquisitely blended, and that they still glow with such unfaded loveliness
after 400 years. Some of his best works are in the convent of San Marco,
which is now a state museum.
Here in Washington, D.C., we have a wonderful wood
panel enamelled by Fra Angelico, "The Madonna of Humility," which
shows, much better than the prints we are accustomed to seeing, the
almost heavenly radiance that glowed through his paintings. The figures
of the Madonna and Child have a quaint, awkward attitude; yet no one looking
at them can possibly mistake that fact that he is depicting the Queen
of Heaven.
Part of the ethereal look of his Madonna comes
from the fact that Fra Angelico did not use models for his pictures.
This alone was remarkable in a time when painters were flinging themselves
into the study of anatomy, sometimes at the cost of other qualities. Perhaps
he was revolted by the practice of some of his contemporary painters who
chose beautiful women with bad reputations to pose for their Madonnas.
Perhaps it was simply that he saw, with the clear vision of a theologian,
that nothing--painting, statue, sermon, poem, or building--should obstruct
one's view of God, drawing the attention away from that vision.
Fra Angelico's greatest complete work was his "Life
of Christ," a series of 35 paintings in Fiesole. They began with the
vision of the Prophet Ezekiel and ended with the lovely Coronation of
the Virgin, which we sometimes see reproduced in print. These pictures
tell us what the records leave unsaid: that Brother John of the Angels
was a capable theologian and a splendid Scripture scholar. He was also a
devoted son of St. Dominic, whom he dearly loved and never tired of painting.
In America, we are most familiar with his paintings
of the Annunciation, which was obviously one of his favorite subjects,
since he painted it dozens of times. Most of his subjects were chosen
from the life of Our Lord; the famous "angels," which one so often sees,
are parts of much larger altarpieces, having much more serious subjects
than the colorful and joyful angels decorating them.
Some have said that Fra Angelico
in art, Dante in poetry, and St. Thomas in the Summa Theologica, have
each presented the same truth in three different ways. Whether or not
this is completely true, it is an indication of the veneration in which
history has held this man. His motto was: "To paint Christ, one must live
Christ." He is the best example we have of one who preaches with a brush
as eloquently as his brothers do with voice or pen. Today he still preaches,
in places where no other would be heard. Perhaps his mission is still
alive, to help bring into the fold those who love art but know nothing
of God.
The cause of Fra Angelico was resumed on the 500th
anniversary of his death and has been active since then. Although
he is usually called il Beato Angelico, he has never officially been
beatified (Benedictines, Dorcy).
Click here for a look at Thebaid at the Uffizi
Gallery in Florence, Italy; St. Anthony the Abbot Tempted by a Lump
of Gold; and St. Benedict. From the San Marco altarpiece: The Healing
of Palladia by Saints Cosmas and Damian; Sts. Cosmas and Damian Before
Lisius; Sts. Cosmas and Damian Being Saved; Sts. Cosmas and Damian Being
Condemned; Sts. Cosmas and Damian Crucified and Stoned; Sts. Cosmas and
Damian Being Beheaded; Burial of Sts. Cosmas and Damian; and Healing of
Justinian by Sts. Cosmas and Damian. Other works include Glorification of
St. Dominic; St. Dominic Adoring the Crucifixion; The Naming of St. John
the Baptist; St. Lawrence Distributing Food to the Poor; St. Lawrence Receiving
the Treasures of the Church; The Ordination of St. Lawrence; St. Lawrence
before Valerianus (Detail of St. Lawrence in Justice and his Martyrdom);
St. Lawrence in Justice and his Martyrdom; Noli Me Tangere; The Adoration
of the Magi; The Adoration of the Magi; and St. Romuald. From the Perugia
Triptych: Birth of St. Nicholas; St. Nicholas meets the king's messengers;
St. Nicholas saves the ship; Vocation of St. Nicholas; and Death of St.
Nicholas
|
1567
St. Salvatore Franciscan of the Observance specially devoted to our
Lady and to St. Paul who appeared to him on several occasions many
and severe austerities given by God the gift of performing outstanding
miracles
Cárali,
in Sardínia, sancti Salvatóris ab Horta Confessóris,
ex Ordine Fratrum Minórum, qui virtútibus et singulári
miraculórum dono cláruit, et a Pio Papa Undécimo
inter sanctos Cǽlites adnumerátus est.
At Cagliari in Sardinia, St.
Salvatore of Orte, confessor, a member of the Order of Friars Minor,
who was numbered among the heavenly saints by Pope Pius XI (1922-1939 ),
because he was graced with every virtue and had been given by God the
gift of performing outstanding miracles.
Saint Salvator of Horta (Salvador d'Horta, Salvatore da Horta)
(1520—March 18, 1567) is a Catalan saint. His feast day is celebrated
on March 18. He was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, near Girona (Catalonia),
and worked as a shepherd and shoemaker. Franciscan lay brother at Barcelona
and worked as a cook, beggar, and porter at the friary of Horta.
Salvator acquired a reputation as a healer, and his cell became a destination
for sick pilgrims.
1567 ST SALVATOR OF HORTA
ST SALVATOR is usually described
as “of Horta” because he spent many years in the Franciscan friary of
that place, although he was born at Santa Columba in the diocese of
Gerona in Spain. He came of a poor family, and lost both his parents
while still a child, Migrating to the town, he worked as a shoemaker
in Barcelona, but at the age of twenty, as his heart was set on the
religious life, he became a Franciscan of the Observance. Employed
the kitchen, his virtue quickly matured in these humble surroundings,
but he thirsted for greater austerity, and passed on, first to the
convent of St Mary of Jesus at Tortosa, and then to the solitude of
St Mary of the Angels at Horta in the same diocese. In that house of
very strict observance. He made a protracted stay, but eventually he
returned to Barcelona, where his supernatural gifts attracted much notice,
and where the blind, lame and deaf came to him to be healed. He always
walked barefoot, scourged himself daily, and kept long and rigorous fasts.
He was specially devoted to our Lady and to St Paul, who appeared
to him on several occasions, notably on his death-bed. St Salvator had
gone to Sardinia in compliance with the orders of his superiors when he
was seized with an illness which proved fatal. He died at Cagliari, being
forty-seven years of age, in 1567 . He was venerated as a saint during his
lifetime, and was eventually canonized in 1938.
A full biography
by Father Serpi, who was the promoter of the cause of St Salvator
in the process of beatification, is printed in the Acta
Sanctorum, March, vol. ii. See also Léon, Auréole
Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i, pp. 470—483.
|
1956
Saint Nicholas of Zhicha Ph.D "the Serbian Chrysostom," renowned for
his sermons fearless critic of the Nazis survived Dachau establishing
orphanages and helping the poor in Serbia taught philosophy, logic, history,
foreign languages at the seminary spoke 7 languages
Born in Lelich in western Serbia on January 4,
1881 (December 23, 1880 O.S.). His parents were Dragomir and Katherine
Velimirovich, who lived on a farm where they raised a large family.
His pious mother was a major influence on his spiritual development,
teaching him by word and especially by example. As a small child, Nicholas
often walked three miles to the Chelije Monastery with his mother to
attend services there.
Sickly as a child, Nicholas was not physically
strong as an adult. He failed his physical requirements when he applied
to the military academy, but his excellent academic qualifications
allowed him to enter the St Sava Seminary in Belgrade, even before he
finished preparatory school. After graduating from the seminary
in 1905, he earned doctoral degrees from the University of Berne in 1908,
and from King's College, Oxford in 1909. When he returned home, he fell
ill with dysentery.
Vowing to serve God for the rest
of his life if he recovered, tonsured at the Rakovica Monastery on
December 20, 1909 also ordained to the holy priesthood.
In 1910 he went to study in
Russia to prepare himself for a teaching position at the seminary in Belgrade.
At the Theological Academy in St Petersburg, the Provost asked him why he
had come. He replied, "I wanted to be a shepherd. As a child, I tended my
father's sheep. Now that I am a man, I wish to tend the rational flock of
my heavenly Father. I believe that is the way that has been shown to me."
The Provost smiled, pleased by this response, then
showed the young man to his quarters.
After completing his studies,
he returned to Belgrade and taught philosophy, logic, history, and
foreign languages at the seminary. He spoke seven languages, and this
ability proved very useful to him throughout his life. St Nicholas
was renowned for his sermons, which never lasted more than twenty minutes,
and focused on just three main points.
He taught people the theology of the Church in
a language they could understand, and inspired them to repentance.
At the start of World War I,
Archimandrite Nicholas was sent to England on a diplomatic mission
to seek help in the struggle of the Serbs against Austria. His doctorate
from Oxford gained him an invitation to speak at Westminster Abbey.
He remained in England for three short months, but St Nicholas left a
lasting impression on those who heard him. His writings "The Lord's Commandments,"
and "Meditations on the Lord's Prayer" impressed many in the Church of
England.
Archimandrite Nicholas left England and went to
America, where he proved to be a good ambassador for his nation and
his Church.
The future saint returned to
Serbia in 1919, where he was consecrated as Bishop of Zhicha, and
was later transferred to Ochrid. The new hierarch assisted those who
were suffering from the ravages of war by establishing orphanages and
helping the poor.
Bishop Nicholas took over as leader of Bogomljcki
Pokret, a popular movement for spiritual revival which encouraged people
to pray and read the Bible. Under the bishop's direction, it also contributed
to a renewal of monasticisml. Monasteries were restored and reopened,
and this in turn revitalized the spiritual life of the Serbian people.
In 1921, Bishop Nicholas was
invited to visit America again and spent two years as a missionary
bishop. He gave more than a hundred talks in less than six months,
raising funds for his orphanages. Over the next twenty years, he lectured
in various churches and universities.
When Germany invaded Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941,
Bishop Nicholas, a fearless critic of the Nazis, was arrested and confined
in Ljubostir Vojlovici Monastery. In 1944, he and Patriarch Gavrilo
were sent to the death camp at Dachau. There he witnessed many atrocities
and was tortured himself. When American troops liberated the prisoners
in May 1945, the patriarch returned to Yugoslavia, but Bishop Nicholas
went to England.
The Communist leader Tito was just coming to power
in Yugoslavia, where he persecuted the Church and crushed those who
opposed him. Therefore, Bishop Nicholas believed he could serve the
Serbian people more effectively by remaining abroad. He went to America
in 1946, following a hectic schedule in spite of his health problems
which were exacerbated by his time in Dachau. He taught for three years
at St Sava's Seminary in Libertyville, IL before he settled at St Tikhon's
Monastery in South Canaan, PA in 1951. He taught at St Tikhon's
and also served as the seminary's Dean and Rector. He was also a guest
lecturer at St Vladimir's Seminary in NY, and at Holy Trinity Monastery
in Jordanville, NY.
On Saturday March 17, 1956 Bishop
Nicholas served his last Liturgy. After the service he went to the
trapeza and gave a short talk. As he was leaving, he bowed low and
said, "Forgive me, brothers." This was something unusual which he had
not done before.
On March 18, 1956 St Nicholas fell asleep in the
Lord Whom he had served throughout his life. He was found in his room
kneeling in an attitude of prayer. Though he was buried at St Sava's
Monastery in Libertyville, IL, he had always expressed a desire to be
buried in his homeland. In April of 1991 his relics were transferred
to the Chetinje Monastery in Lelich. There he was buried next to his
friend and disciple Fr Justin Popovich (+ 1979).
English readers are familiar with St Nicholas's
PROLOGUE FROM OCHRID, THE LIFE OF ST SAVA, A TREASURY OF SERBIAN SPIRITUALITY,
and other writings which are of great benefit for the whole Church.
He thought of his writings as silent sermons addressed to people who would
never hear him preach. In his life and writings, the grace of the Holy
Spirit shone forth for all to see, but in his humility he considered himself
the least of men.
Though he was a native of Serbia, St Nicholas has
a universal significance for Orthodox Christians in all countries.
He was like a candle set upon a candlestick giving light to all (MT 5:15).
A spiritual guide and teacher with a magnetic personality, he attracted
many people to himself. He also loved them, seeing the image of God in
each person he met. He had a special love for children, who hastened to
receive his blessing whenever they saw him in the street.
He was a man of compunctionate prayer, and possessesed
the gift of tears which purify the soul (St John Climacus, LADDER,
Step 7). He was a true pastor to his flock protecting them from spiritual
wolves, and guiding them on the path to salvation. He has left behind
many soul-profiting writings which proclaim the truth of Christ to
modern man. In them he exhorts people to love God, and to live a life
of virtue and holiness.
May we also be found worthy of
the Kingdom of Heaven through the prayers of St Nicholas,
and by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be
glory forever. Amen.
|
2023 24
Christian
council
held
at
Among
the
most important
titles
we have
in the
Catholic
Church
for the
Blessed
Virgin
Mary
are Our
Lady
of Victory
and Our
Lady of
the
Rosary.
These
titles
can
be traced
back to one
of the
most decisive
times
in the history
of
the world
and Christendom.
The
Battle
of Lepanto
took
place on
October
7 (date
of feast
of Our Lady
of Rosary),
1571. This
proved
to be the most
crucial
battle
for
the Christian
forces
against
the
radical
Muslim
navy of Turkey.
Pope Pius
V led a procession
around
St. Peter’s
Square
in
Vatican City
praying
the Rosary.
He showed
true
pastoral
leadership
in recognizing
the danger
posed
to Christendom
by the radical
Muslim
forces,
and in
using the
means necessary
to defeat
it. Spiritual
battles
require
spiritual
weapons,
and
this more
than anything
was a
battle that
had
its origins in
the spiritual
order—a true
battle
between good
and evil.