80
St. Quaratus named by St. Paul Letter to the Romans 16:23
Eódem die natális quoque sancti Quarti, Apostolórum
discípuli.
On the same day, the birthday of St. Quartus,
a disciple of the apostles.
An early Christian who
may have been mentioned in the New Testament. He was perhaps the Quartus
named by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans 16:23 with Erastus as
sending greetings to the Romans. Tradition also lists him among the
seventy two disciples of the Gospel of St. Luke, chapter 10.
Quartus (RM)1st century. The disciple of the apostles whom Saint
Paul (Rom. 16:23) mentions as “greeting the Christians of Rome.”
Some traditions describe Quartus as one of the 72 disciples (Luke 10),
others add that he was a bishop of Bayreuth (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
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250 St. Germanus
Martyr at Caesarea, in Cappadocia
Cæsaréæ, in Cappadócia, sanctórum
Mártyrum Germáni, Theóphili, Cæsárii
et Vitális; qui, in persecutióne Deciána, óptime
duxérunt martyrium.
At Caesarea in Cappadocia, the holy martyrs
Germanus, Theophilus, Caesarius, and Vitalis, who nobly endured martyrdom
in the Decian persecution.
with Theophilus, Caesarius,
and Vitalis.
Germanus, Theophilus, Caesareus, & Vitalis MM. Martyrs of
Caesarea in Cappadocia under Decius (Benedictines).
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300
St. Papulus Martyr and priest
who labored under St. Saturninus to evangelize southern Gaul. It is generally accepted that he
was put to death during the persecutions launched by Emperor Diocletian
in the early fourth century.
Papulus of Toulouse M (AC) (also known as Papoul). Saint Papulus,
a priest who worked as a missionary under Saint Saturninus in southern
France, was martyred like him under Diocletian. His shrine is at Toulouse,
but a church and abbey were built and enlarged by Blessed Charlemagne,
on the site of his martyrdom. The town is now called Saint-Papoul (Benedictines,
Husenbeth).
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304 Innumerable Martyrs
of Saragossa still great popular devotion to these martyrs (RM)
Cæsaraugústæ, in Hispánia, sanctórum
innumerabílium Mártyrum, qui, sub Hispaniárum
Præside Daciáno, mirabíliter occubuérunt
pro Christo.
At Saragossa in Spain, the countless holy
martyrs who lay down their lives with admirable fervour for the faith
of Christ under Dacian, governor of Spain.
An exceedingly large number
of martyrs (the Roman Martyrology uses the phrase innumerabilis multitudo)
put to death at Saragossa under Diocletian by the savage prefect Dacian,
who had been sent to Spain to enforce the decrees and whose residence was
at Saragossa. He published an edict banishing all Christians from the city,
and while they were leaving he ordered the soldiers to fall upon and massacre
them. There is still great popular devotion to these martyrs at Saragossa
(Benedictines).
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304 St. Valentine
priest & Hilary deacon Martyrs beheaded at Viterbo
Vitérbii
sanctórum Mártyrum Valentíni Presbyteri, et Hilárii
Diáconi, qui, in persecutióne Maximiáni, ob Christi
fidem, cum saxi póndere in Tíberim præcipitáti
et inde ab Angelo divínitus erépti, demum, abscíssis
cervícibus, corónam martyrii percepérunt.
At Viterbo, during the persecution of Maximian, the holy martyrs Valentine,
a priest, and Hilary, a deacon. For their attachment to the faith
of Christ, they were tied to a stone and cast into the Tiber, but being
miraculously delivered by an angel, they were beheaded, and thus crowned
with the glory of martyrdom.
Italy,
during the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305).
Valentine was a priest and Hilary his deacon.
Valentine and Hilary MM (RM).
Saint Valerian, a priest, and his deacon, Saint Hilary, were beheaded
at Viterbo, near Rome, under Diocletian (Benedictines).
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320
St. Acepsimas Bishop hermit for most of his life; Joseph the Presbyter and Aethalas the Deacon
of Persia were leaders of the Christian Church in the Persian city
of Naesson. His flock devotedly loved their hierarch for his ascetic
life and tireless pastoral work; Martyrs; Saint Snandulia of Persia is mentioned
in the account of the martyrdom of Sts Joseph the priest and Aithalas
the deacon. The historian Sozomen also describes their sufferings in his
CHURCH HISTORY (Book 2, ch. 13).
Martyrs Akepsimos the Bishop, Joseph the Presbyter and Haiphal
the Deacon (IV). Restoration of Church of Holy GreatMartyr George at
Lydda (IV). Martyrs Atticus, Agapius, Evdoxius, Caterius, Istucharius,
Pactovius, Niktopolion and their companions Marinus, Oceanus, Evstratius
(+ c. 320). Monk Akepsimos (IV). Righteous Snandulia (IV). Monk Theodore
the Confessor, Bishop of Ancyra, and the Holy Martyrs Dasias, Sebiros,
Androna, Theodotos and Theodota. Monk Ilias (IV). Saint Akhmenid the Persian
and Confessor (IV). WomenMartyrs Perpetua, Dictorina, Fotinia. Holy 9 Martyrs.
Holy 28 Martyrs. Monastic and Princess Anna Vsevolodovna (+ 1112).
Bishop Akepsimos headed the Christian
Church in the Persian city of Naesson. His flock devotedly loved their
hierarch for his ascetic life and tireless pastoral work. The emperor
Sapor gave orders to seek out and kill Christian clergy. Saint Akepsimos
also was arrested, being then already an eighty year old man. They took
him to the city of Arbela, where he came before the judge Ardarkh -- a
pagan-priest of the sun-god. The holy elder refused to offer sacrifice
to the Persian gods. For this he was fiercely beaten and thrown into prison,
where on the following day they threw in with him, after fierce beatings,
the seventy year old Presbyter Joseph and Deacon Haiphal. For three years
the saints were held in confinement, and worn down by hunger and thirst.
Emperor Sapor came to the temple of the god
of fire, located not far from Arbela, and wanted to take a look at
the three holy martyrs. Exhausted and covered with festering wounds,
the saints were brought before the emperor and at his demand they again
firmly refused to worship the pagan gods, instead confessing their faith
in Christ. The holy bishop was beheaded, but the presbyter and deacon
were sent off within the city and there to be stoned.
The execution of the presbyter Joseph was prolonged
for several hours. A guard was placed near the place of execution,
so that Christians would not take the body of the holy martyr. On the
fourth night a strong windstorm raged near the city, -- lightning killed
the guard, the wind threw about stones, and the body of Saint Joseph disappeared.
The deacon Haifal was taken to the village
of Patrias and there he was stoned. Christians secretly buried his body.
On the grave of the saint there grew a tree, the fruit of which brought healings.
The emperor Sapor ordered his men to seek out and
kill Christian clergy. St Akepsimas also was arrested, even though he
was already an eighty-year-old man. They took him to the city of Arbela,
where he came before the judge Ardarkh, a pagan priest of the sun god.
The holy Elder refused to offer sacrifice to the Persian gods. For this
he was fiercely beaten and thrown into prison, where on the following
day the seventy-year-old priest Joseph and the deacon Aethalas were severely
beaten and thrown into jail with him. For three years the saints were
held in confinement, and suffered from hunger and thirst.
Emperor Sapor came to the temple of the god of fire, located
not far from Arbela, and wanted to take a look at the three holy martyrs.
Exhausted and covered with festering wounds, the saints were brought before
the emperor. When he asked them to worship the pagan gods they firmly
refused, confessing their faith in Christ instead.
The holy bishop was beheaded,
but the presbyter and deacon were taken into the city to be stoned.
The execution of the presbyter Joseph was prolonged
for several hours. A guard was placed near the place of execution, so
that Christians would not take the body of the holy martyr. On the fourth
night a strong windstorm raged near the city, lightning killed the guard,
the wind tossed stones about, and the body of St Joseph disappeared.
Deacon Aethalas was taken to the village of Patrias, where he
was stoned. Christians secretly buried his body. A tree grew on the
saint's grave, and its fruit brought healings.
A hermit for most of his life, this saint always longed to be
a priest. He lived in a cave near Cyrohas, praying and doing penance
as a dedicated layman. After almost sixty years, Acepsimas was allowed
to study for the priesthood. He underwent the training and was ordained,
dying in a state of happiness just shortly after entering the priesthood.
Acepsimas of Cyrrhus, Hermit (AC). A hermit who lived for 60
years in a cave near Cyrrhus, Syria, in the time of Theodosius I. He died
shortly after his ordination to the priesthood (Benedictines).
Saint Snandulia of Persia is mentioned in the account
of the martyrdom of Sts Joseph the priest and Aithalas the deacon. The
historian Sozomen also describes their sufferings in his CHURCH HISTORY
(Book 2, ch. 13).
Snandulia was a devout Christian of the city of Arbela
who visited those who suffered in prison for the sake of Christ. When
she learned that Sts Joseph and Aithalas were in the prison, she went
with her servants by night and bribed the guards with gold. They allowed
her to take the saints to her home until daybreak. They were barely alive
and unable to speak. She took them home and put them to bed, tending their
wounds, and kissing their shattered hands and feet.
St Joseph recovered consciousness and saw Snandulia weeping.
He told her that the compassion she had shown for him and for Aithalas
was pleasing to God, but he thought that her bitter lamentations were
contrary to Christian hope.
She replied, "When one is moved by compassion, it is natural
to weep."
"Nevertheless," St Joseph said, "you should not weep for us,
for tortures born for the sake of Christ are followed by eternal joy."
The two saints were returned to prison the next morning, as
promised. After six months their wounds had healed to some extent.
They could stand and walk a little, but Aithalas's hands hung at his
side limp and useless.
Zerothus was appointed as a judge, and he entered the city offering
sacrifice to the gods in the various temples. Some of the priests told
him about Sts Joseph and Aithalas, who had been tortured on the orders
of Prince Ardasabor, the head of all the Magi of Persia. They explained
to Zerothus that their execution was being delayed until they recovered
from their wounds.
When he heard this, Zerothus ordered that the martyrs be brought
before him. He used flattery and then threats in an attempt to persuade
them to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. When this proved unsuccessful,
the judge had them beaten for a long time.
When they were brought before the judge again, Zerothus tried
to get the saints to eat food which had been offered to the idols, but
they refused. Then the judge had them beaten again, and ordered other
Christians to stone them. Soldiers went to the homes of the Christians
to force them to come to the judgment hall. They dug a hole and placed
St Joseph in it, then put stones in the hands of the Christians and compelled
them to stone him.
St Snandulia was among these Christians, but she refused to
throw stones at the aged priest. Then they gave her a lance and told
her to kill St Joseph. She said that she would rather drive the lance
into her own heart than to wound the saint with it.
St Joseph was eventually killed by all the stones that were
thrown at him, and the holy deacon Aithalas was also stoned in the same
way.
St Snandulia stretched forth her arms to needful works and opened
her hands to the needy (Proverbs 31:19-20), but she refused to lift
her hands to do evil against St Joseph.
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389 St. Florus
First bishop of Lodeve Saint Odilo abbey on his tomb bccame a Cathedral
Languedoc, France. He is venerated in the town
where his relics were enshrined and is sometimes listed as Florus of
Lodeve.
Florus of Lodève B (AC)(also known as Flour). Saint Florus,
first bishop of Lodève in Languedoc, France, has given his name
to the town where his relics are enshrined. Saint Odilo an abbey on the
site of his tomb, which later became the cathedral (Benedictines, Husenbeth). |
5th century Acepsimas of Cyrrhus, Hermit (AC) A hermit who
lived for 60 years in a cave near Cyrrhus, Syria, in the time of Theodosius
I. He died shortly after his ordination to the priesthood (Benedictines).
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500 St. Valentinian Bishop
of Salerno Italy
Valentinian of Salerno B (AC)
Died c. 500. Bishop of Salerno in southern Italy (Benedictines).
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527 Domnus of Vienne
most zealous in ransoming the captives taken in the incessant wars
of that period B (RM) \
Viénnæ, in Gállia, sancti
Domni, Epíscopi et Confessóris. At
Vienne in France, St. Domnus, bishop and confessor.
Domnus succeeded Saint Desiderius the martyr in the
bishopric of Vienne. He was most zealous in ransoming the captives taken
in the incessant wars of that period (Benedictines).
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550
St. Guenhael Abbot of Brittany “White Angel.”
\
France, whose name means
Also called Gwenhael. He was trained by St. Winelae at Landevnee, where
he served as abbot.
Guenhael of Landevenec, Abbot (AC). Guenhael, meaning “white
angel,” was born in Brittany and educated at Landevenec
under Saint Winwaloë (Guenole). In due course he became abbot there
(Benedictines).
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572 Sylvia of Rome
mother of Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the Church; Widow (RM)
Romæ sanctæ Sílviæ,
matris sancti Gregórii Papæ. At Rome, St.
Sylvia, mother of Pope St. Gregory.
Like all expectant mothers heavy
with child--Sylvia was expecting the great event, greater than a hurricane
or a revolution, the supreme phenomenon, the most extraordinary, historical,
magical, wonderful, fundamental event--great by the miracle of man
and great by the grace of God.
For what do we know about Saint Sylvia? That she was the mother
of Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the Church.
Aren't we to a great extent what our ancestors have made us,
a reincarnation (so to speak) of their flesh, a reflection of their thought?
How often have I felt the throb of some distant echo, some call from
ancient times, or sensed deep in the marrow of my bones the naked footstep
of some Celtic ancestor or the raucous cry of a Mongol horseman, or glimpsed
the furtive shadow of some pagan or primatial ancestor, as if my whole
life were made up of fragments of lives that were lived thousands of years
ago.
A man is what he brings into the world. Racine? The author of
Andromaque. Silvia? The mother of Saint Gregory.
What sudden emotion to feel everything germinating, everything
connecting with the vast and mysterious workings of the universe! Yesterday
still only a girl, but from now on a leading character on the stage of
life. Yesterday young and charming love, sweet nothings, carefree days,
and then suddenly "crossing the line" and entering another world--something
unknown, like a bird from strange islands, like the flutter of a palm tree
in the desert, a whole new feeling of life, a mysterious dance, a new wine...a
quickening in the womb, a son in the flesh.
To bear a child...as God bears mankind. In her womb and in her
mind, Sylvia feels responsible for her child. Her mission is not just
to give birth to the child but to compose the whole life of the man: his
body and soul, she will devote herself completely to him--for if the
mother gives birth to the body, does she not also wish to influence the
soul? She dreams about him while giving him her breast, she shapes him,
she gives him form with all the “desires”
of her body and all the charms of her soul."
And so for nine months Sylvia
waited and planned.
The child was to be a boy, no
doubt about that--though she cherished her whole family, it was the
son that stood out. She's already seen him: a vision, a positive, creative
vision. Will he be a senator, like his father Gordian, a consul, the
emperor? Will he be pope? A saint? There is no limit to the imagination
of a mother.
Now all this took place in Rome
in AD 540. Vigilius was pope and Vetegis was emperor--but who knows
anything about them? It was a world still in transition. On one side
were the invasions, on the other were the heresies. The child did brilliantly
in his studies. He received a fine Latin education that would serve to
rule men and defend dogmas. Already she saw him wearing the tri-colored
toga of a Roman praetor.
But of what importance is the toga of man when compared
with the robe of God? Suddenly Gregory divested himself of all his responsibilities
and wealth and became a monk. The six villas that he owned in Sicily
he turned into six monasteries. He was 35. And Sylvia felt in her body
that the whole delicate structure of history was trembling.
There was a plague and the pope died. Sylvia decided
that the next pope was to be Gregory. In vain did he refuse, escape
from Rome in a wicker basket, hide in the forests and Pontine marshes.
In the end of course he was found--or betrayed--and with great rejoicing
brought back to the fold, where on Sept. 3, 590, he was consecrated pope.
Gregory was pope, and Sylvia had been his prophet. "I have lost all the
pleasures of peace," he murmured.
It was to be an heroic pontificate. The Lombards,
who were devastating Italy, had to be checked. The emperor in Constantinople
had to be confronted. Gregory wrote several works (particularly the Morals),
reformed the Church, brought the Arian Visigoths back to the true faith,
and evangelized England.
It was he who invented the phrase: Servant of the
servants of God. His most characteristic victory was to stamp out the
heresy of Eutyches, the patriarch of Constantinople, who maintained that
the resurrection of the body would take place in a subtle form, in an
ethereal flesh. Gregory replied that we will be resurrected in flesh
and blood, as literally palpable as was the body of Christ to Saint Thomas.
"I shall be clothed again with my flesh," says the
Book of Job, and at the Last Supper Jesus said: "This is my Body." One
of the most moving aspects of the Catholic faith is the dominion of
the body, semi-incorruptible and eternal.
By the time Gregory became pope, Sylvia had already
entered a convent and her husband had become a priest--simultaneously,
like twins. It was a time when Christianity was flourishing and it was
the fashionable thing to do. But Sylvia's role had been consummated.
The mother blended, merged, and rejoiced with the son (from the Encyclopedia).
Over her former house on the
Coelian Hill in Rome a chapel was built in her honor (Benedictines).
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585 Saint Gaudiosus
of Tarazona Bishop monk of Asan in the Aragonese Pyrenees under
Saint Victorian B (AC)
A monk of Asan in the Aragonese
Pyrenees, near Benasque, under Saint Victorian. About the year 565
he was made bishop of Tarazona (not Tarragona) in the province of Saragossa
(Benedictines).
|
6th
v. St. Saint Elerius Welsh abbot
who was a companion of St. Winefred.
He was an abbot in a monastery in the north of Wales.
Elerius of Wales (AC). A Welsh
saint, mentioned in the legends concerning Saint Winefred. He is supposed
to have presided over a monastery in northern Wales (Benedictines).
|
650 Saint Rumwald
of Brackley 3-day-old prince pronounced the creed aloud immediately
after his baptism, preached a sermon on the Holy Trinity and the need
for virtuous living, and then died (AC)
(also known as Rumwold or Rumbald of Buckingham)
ALBAN BUTLER devotes a few
lines to the birth, death and burial of St Rumwald, without adverting
to the legend that makes his story an English hagiological curiosity.
He is said to have belonged to the royal house of Northumbria, generally
as a son of King Alchfrid and St Cyneburga. He was born at King’s Sutton,
six miles from Brackley in Northamptonshire, and was baptized by a bishop
called Widerin. Whereupon, says the legend, the baby pronounced his own
profession of faith in a clear voice, and died on the third day after his
birth after addressing a sermon to his parents. He was buried at King’s
Sutton and in consequence of the prodigy attributed to him a cultus sprang up locally. His relics were translated a few
months after his death to Brackley and two years later to Buckingham. The
feast of St Rumwald was formerly observed at these two places, on August
28, and in the hamlet of Astrop there is a well bearing his name: “St
Rumoaldes Welle, wher they say that, within a fewe dayes of his birth, he
prechid”, says Leland. November 3 is alleged to be the date of St Rumwald’s
death and August 28 of his translation to Brackley.
All
the available materials which bear upon this childish story have been
gathered up in the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. i. It
seems that John of Tynemouth and Capgrave have only reproduced a legend
of which the earliest text is found in an eleventh-century manuscript
at Corpus, Cambridge. St Rumwald is entered under November 2 in the calendar
of the Bosworth Psalter, dating from about the year 1000,
but few, if any, other calendars contain any mention of him, and his story
seems to have been practically unknown to the rest of Europe outside England.
For the so-called rumbal feast of the Folkestone fishermen,
see the Victoria County History of Kent, vol.
iii (1932), p. 428.
Born at Sutton (King's Sutton, Northants); date unknown;
feast day at Brackley was August 28 (probably the date of the translation
of his relics). Saint Rumwald, whose shrine existed at Buckingham before
the Norman Conquest, was said to be the maternal grandson of King Penda
of Mercia and the son of a pagan prince of Northumbria. His 11th-century
legend relates that, in 650, the 3-day-old prince pronounced the creed
aloud immediately after his baptism, preached a sermon on the Holy Trinity
and the need for virtuous living, and then died.
The year following his death, his relics were moved by Bishop
Widerin (who had baptized him) to Brackley in Northamptonshire. Two
years later, his bones were again translated to Buckingham. At one time
Rumwald was honored with a cultus, chiefly in Northantshire and Buckingham.
He was also revered at monasteries in Mercia, Wessex, and Sweden; however,
his name is omitted from monastic calendars after 1100. Churches were
dedicated to his memory in Kent, Essex, Northantshire, Lincolnshire, Dorset,
and North Yorkshire (where there is also a Romaldkirk). The well of Saint
Rumwald survives at Alstrop, Northantshire (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).
In art he is shown in the midst of this miraculous act (Roeder).
A statue of Rumwald at Boxley in Kent was destroyed during the Reformation.
He is invoked by the fishermen of Folkestone as their patron (Farmer).
|
7th v. Saint Cristiolus
of Wales Brother of Saint Sulian and founder of churches in Pembrokeshire
and Anglesey (AC) (Benedictines).
|
660
St. Winifred Abbess Tenoy had her head restored by Beuno
In Anglia sanctæ Wenefrídæ,
Vírginis et Mártyris. In England, St.
Winifred, virgin and martyr.
According to legend, she was
the daughter of a wealthy resident of Tegeingl, Flintshire, Wales, and the sister of St. Beuno. She was most impressed by Beuno,
was supposedly beheaded on June 22 by one Caradog when she refused
to submit to him, had her head restored by Beuno, and sometime later,
became a nun of the convent of a double monastery at Gwytherin in Denbigshire.
She succeeded an Abbess Tenoy, as Abbess and died there fifteen years
after her miraculous restoration to life. A spring supposedly springing
up where Winifred's head fell, is called Holy Well or St. Winifred's Well
and became a great pilgrimage center where many cures have been reported
over the centuries. She is also known as Gwenfrewi.
|
657
St. Domnus of Vienne Bishop of Vienne ransoming captives
France, successor of St. Desiderius, who was martyred. Domnus was
known for ransoming captives taken in local wars.
|
680 Winifred the
time of the persecution of Roman Catholics in England VM
(RM)
(also known as Winefride, Wenefrida, Gwenfrewi, Guinevra)
Winifred is evidently an historical
personage, but it is equally true that her true story can no longer
be reconstructed because the written information is too late and fanciful
to be reliable.
Throughout the time of the persecution of Roman Catholics in
England, miracles were wrought for the faithful who held tenaciously
to the belief in miracles. Many cures were worked through the prayers
of Saint Winefred at her tomb.
Winefred was the daughter of Trevith, one of the chief advisers
of the king of North Wales. Through her mother she is related to the
Welsh saint Beuno, a holy priest. Her parents put her under instruction
with this holy man, from whom she learned the heavenly doctrine with great
eagerness.
She grew daily in virtue and desired to shun all earthly things
so that she might devote herself entirely to God. With the consent of
her parents, she consecrated herself entirely to God by a vow of virginity,
choosing Jesus Christ as her Spouse.
Tradition says that a prince of that country named Caradoc (Caradog
of Hawarden or Penarlag or Tegeingl in Flintshire) fell violently in
love with her. One day finding her alone in the house where she was preparing
things for use at the altar, her parents having already gone to Mass,
he tried to seduce her. Winefred told him she was already espoused to
another, but he would not leave her alone.
Sensing his evil designs she excused herself on the plea that
she must first adorn herself more becomingly. When she was free of him
she escaped through her own chamber at the rear of the house and fled
toward the church with all speed. The prince, tired of waiting and suspecting
some kind of deceit, looking out of the house saw a figure hurrying along
the valley.
Violently angry at being deceived, he mounted his horse but
was not able to overtake Winefred until she reached the door of the
church. He was so angry that he raised his sword and struck her before
she could enter. Hearing the tumult outside, Saint Beuno and her parents
came out immediately, to find their dying child lying slain before them
at their feet.
The saint cursed the slayer,
some writers saying that the ground opened and swallowed him up. The
saint then praying to God, restored Winefred to life again. It was on
this spot where her blood had flowed that a fountain gushed forth from
the ground. On account of this blood-shedding she was always regarded
as a martyr, though she lived for many years thereafter.
The spot became known as Holywell, a place of pilgrimage for
many succeeding ages, even to the present. After the death of Saint Beuno,
having taken the veil, Saint Winefred went to live at the convent she
established at Guthurin (Gwytherin in Denbigshire); there, with other
holy virgins, she gave her life to God. (Another version says she succeeded
Abbess Tenoi at the convent of a double monastery already on the site.)
She died on June 24. In the 12th century (1138), her relics
were taken from Guthurin to Shrewsbury and deposited with great honor
in the Benedictine Abbey, founded there some 50 years earlier. Her cultus
spread to England as well. Miracles were attested at Guthurin, Shrewsbury,
as well as at Holywell (a.k.a. Treffynnon, Welltown).
Her story was recorded by a monk named Elerius as early as 660.
It can be safely said, however, from the names of her contemporaries,
that she lived and died in the first half of the 7th century, about the
same time as Saint Eanswith of Kent (Murray).
At Holywell such vast quantities of water spring without interruption
that it is estimated 24 tons are raised every minute, or 240 tons in
less than 10 minutes. The water is always clear as crystal.
In 1131 the Cistercians founded a monastery at Basingwerk nearby,
which was enriched by Henry II. At that time the monks probably had
charge of the well, though the spot was a place of pilgrimage long before
that time.
No place was more famous for
pilgrimages in the age of faith, where the divine mercy was implored
through the intercession of Saint Winefred, who at that spot had glorified
God and sanctified her own soul.
Many extraordinary physical cures of leprosy, skin
diseases, and other ailments are recorded up to the time of the Reformation.
Many authentic records of cures during the 17th century are also extant,
so that the people still made pilgrimages there.
Part of the beautiful Gothic building erected by Henry VII and
his mother, the Countess of Derby, still remains. The people never forgot
this holy place or the saint whom they invoked. During the last century
the pilgrimages were revived. There is now a beautiful Catholic church
adjoining the well.
In his diary, Wilfrid Blunt (a well-known Catholic from the
1800's) tells us what he witnessed at Holywell. "Three men were being
passed through the water, a priest was reciting the 'Hail Marys' and
at the end of each, the name of Saint Winefred--this in an unbelieving
age--miraculous! There were lighted candles and flowers and the fervor
of these naked men (one a mere bag of skin and bone) was tremendous.
In the dim light of a foggy day, nothing at all congruous to the 19th
century was visible. It was a thing wholly of the Middle Ages--magnificent,
touching" (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Metcalf, Murray).
Pilgrimages to Saint Winefred's Well persisted after the Reformation,
and they do to this day. Two poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins are devoted
to this saint.
There is evidence that the abbot Saint Beuno was a man of importance,
but is story, too, as written in 1346, is legendary. His name is particularly
associated with Clynnog in Caernarvonshire, where sick people were
still brought to his supposed burying-place towards the end of the 18th
century. He may well have had a small monastery there (Attwater).
In art Winefred is depicted as a Celtic maiden with a sword,
fountain at her feet, and red ring around her neck where her head has
been severed and restored. Sometimes she is shown with her head being
restored by Saint Beuno, at others as an abbess with a ring around her
neck, standing near the fountain (Roeder).
She is venerated at Holywell, Wales. Reputed as abbess of Gwytherin,
Denbighshire. Saint Beuno, Abbot, is chiefly venerated at Clynnog, Carnarvonshire
(d. 630, AC April 21).
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704
St. Vulganius Irish or Welsh missionary and hermit
After working to evangelize the tribes of the Atrebati in France, he became a hermit at Arras.
Vulganius of Arras, OSB Hermit
(AC) (also known as Wulganus, Vulmar)
Saint Vulganius was an Irishman, Welshman, or Englishman (according
to a manuscript at Lens he was born at Canterbury) who crossed over
to France and evangelized the Atrebati. Finally he lived as a hermit
at Arras, under the obedience of the abbot of Saint Vedast. Some refer
to him as a bishop. A portion of his relics are kept at the abbey of
Liesse, others at Lens (near Douai) of which he is patron. A claim was
made that his body rested at Christ Church in Canterbury “in a chest on
the beam beyond the altar of Saint Stephen.” (Benedictines,
Farmer, Husenbeth).
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727 St. Hubert Bishop
of Maastricht noted for miracles; converting hundreds
Eódem
die sancti Hubérti, Tungrénsis Epíscopi.
On the same day, St. Hubert, bishop of Tongres.
Netherlands disciple of St. Lambert
727 ST HUBERT,
BISHOP OF LIEGE
“God called St
Hubert from a worldly life to his service in an extraordinary manner;
though the circumstances of this event are so obscured by popular inconsistent
relations that we have no authentic account of his actions before he was
engaged in the service of the church under the discipline of St Lambert,
Bishop of Maestricht”.
The “extraordinary manner” referred
to in Alban Butler’s commendably guarded statement is related to have
been as follows:
Hubert was very fond of hunting and one Good Friday went
out after a stag when everybody else was going to church. In a clearing
of the wood the beast turned, displaying a crucifix between its horns.
Hubert stopped in astonishment, and a voice came from the stag, saying,
“Unless you turn to the Lord, Hubert, you shall fall into Hell”. He cast
himself on his knees, asking what he should do, and the voice told him
to seek out Lambert, the bishop of Maestricht, who would guide him.
This, of course,
is the same as the legend of the conversion of St Eustace (September
20).
However the retirement of
Hubert from the world came about, he entered the service of St Lambert and
was ordained priest. When the bishop was murdered at Liege about the year
705 Hubert was selected to govern the see in his place. Some years later
he translated Lambert’s bones from Maestricht to Liege, then only a village
upon the banks of the Meuse, which from this grew into a flourishing
city. St Hubert placed the relics of the martyr in a church, which he built
upon the spot where he had suffered and made it his cathedral, removing
thither the episcopal see from Maestricht. Hence St Lambert is honoured
at Liege as principal patron of the
diocese and St Hubert as founder of the city and church, and its first bishop.
In those days the forest of
Ardenne stretched from the Meuse to the Rhine and in several parts
the gospel of Christ had not yet taken root. St Hubert penetrated into
the most remote and barbarous places of this country and abolished the
worship of idols; and as he performed the office of the apostles, God
bestowed on him a like gift of miracles.
Amongst others, the author of hss life relates as an eyewitness
that on the rogation-days the holy bishop went out of Maestricht in procession
through the fields and villages, with his clergy and people according
to custom, following the standard of the cross and the relics of the
saints, and singing the litany. A woman possessed by an evil spirit
disturbed this procession but St Hubert silenced her and restored her
to her health by signing her with the cross. Before his death he is said
to have been warned of it in a vision and given as it were a sight of
the place prepared for him in glory. Twelve months later he went into
Brabant to consecrate a new church. He was taken ill immediately after
at Tervueren, near Brussels. On the sixth day of his sickness he quietly
died, on May 30, in 727.
His body was
conveyed to Liege and laid in the church of St Peter. It was translated in
825 to the abbey of Andain, since called Saint-Hubert, in Ardenne, on the
frontiers of the duchy of Luxemburg. November 3, the date of St Hubert’s
feast, is probably the day of the enshrining of his relics at Liege sixteen
years after his death. St Hubert is, with St Eustace, patron saint of hunting-men,
and is invoked against hydrophobia.
St
Hubert was formerly, and perhaps is still, greatly venerated by the
people of Belgium. It is therefore not altogether surprising that Fr Charles
De Smedt, writing in 1887, devoted 171 pages of the
Acta Sanctorum (November, vol. i) to do him honour.
But the one short primitive memoir by a contemporary tells us nothing
of his origin, of his alleged time at the court of Austrasia, or of his
wife; and the “son”, Floribert, who became bishop, seems to have been his
son only in a spiritual sense. It is clearly manifest from the succession
of lives printed by Father De Smedt, and from his introduction, that the
details of St Hubert’s early career and conversion were not heard of before
the fourteenth century. But the story of the stag and the other miracles
attributed to the saint made his cult popular far beyond the confines of
the Netherlands. Two orders of chivalry, one in Lorraine and one in Bavaria,
were founded under his patronage, and there is a considerable literature,
dealing especially with his relics and with the folklore aspects of the
case. On this last subject see Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, vol. iv, pp.
425—434; E. Van Heurck, Saint Hubert et son culte en Belgique (1925) ; and L.
Huyghebaert, Sint Hubertus, patroon van de jagers…(1949). Consult
also A. Poncelet in the Revue Charlemagne, vol.
i (1911), pp. 129—145; the Analecta Bollandiana,
vol. xlv (1927), pp. 84—92 and 345-362.
H. Leclercq, in DAC., vol. ix (1930), cc. 630—631 and 655—656. A useful handbook is that of
Dom Réjalot, le culte et les reliques de S. Hubert
(1928). The best work from an historical point of view is by
F. Baix in La Terre Wallonne, vol. xvi (1927), et seq.;
see also “Une relation inédite de la conversion de S. Hubert”,
ed. M. Coens, in Analecta Bollandiana, vol.
xlv (1927), pp. 84—92.
Hubert was a married courtier serving Pepin
of Heristal, France. He reportedly had a vision of a crucifix between
the horns of a stag while hunting. Widowed, he is believed to have entered
Stavelot Monastery, Belgium, and was ordained by St. Lambert at Maastricht. He succeeded
St. Lambert about 705 as bishop. Hubert erected a shrine for St. Lambert’s
relics at Liege, France. He was noted for his miracles and for converting
hundreds. Hubert died at Tervueren, near Brussels, Belgium, on May 30.
He is a patron saint of hunters.
Hubert of Liège B (RM) Died at Tervueren (near Brussels),
Belgium, May 30, 727. Nothing reliable is known about Saint Hubert before
he became a cleric under Saint Lambert, whom he succeeded as bishop of
Tongres-Maestricht.
In medieval times many saints derived both the pleasure of sport
and some of their food from hunting. According to legend both Saint Eustace
and Saint Hubert came upon a stag with a crucifix between its antlers.
The stag's warning to Hubert was sterner than that to Saint Eustace, since
Hubert had been hunting on Good Friday. Stopped in his tracks by the sight
of the stag and crucifix, Hubert heard a voice warning him that unless
he turned to Christ he was destined for hell.
This was in the forest of Ardenne. Hubert had been a courtier
whose wife died giving birth to their son in the year 685. He retired
from the service of Pepin of Heristal and became a priestly servant
of Bishop Lambert. For 10 years Saint Lambert taught the future Saint
Hubert self-discipline by making him live alone as a hermit in the forest.
Around 705 Lambert publicly criticized King Pepin for his adultery
with the sister of his wife. The woman called on her brother and some
other men to murder Lambert in the tiny village of Liège. Hubert
was elected Lambert's successor.
Hubert courageously cherished the memory of Saint Lambert. Since
the saint had been murdered at Liège, Hubert decided that his
bones should not lie in the cathedral at Maestricht. He transferred them
to Liège and also made that village the seat of his diocese. In
consequence Liège grew to be a great city. There today Saint Lambert
is regarded as patron of the diocese and Saint Hubert as patron and founder
of the city.
In the 8th century, the forest of Ardenne was filled with men
and women to whom the Gospel had never been preached. They worshipped
idols. The saint assiduously worked to convert these people and destroy
their pagan gods. He loved to go in procession through the fields, chanting
Christian prayers and blessing the crops.
In 726, while fishing from a
boat in the Meuse, he met with an accident that caused him much suffering,
and he died fifteen months later, murmuring the Lord's Prayer on May
30, 727, while on a trip to consecrate a new church. His son succeeded
him as bishop of Liège (Attwater, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
In art Hubert is represented as a huntsman adoring a stag with
a crucifix in its horns. Variously, he may be shown (1) as a knight with
a banner showing the stag's head and crucifix; (2) as a young courtier
with two hounds; (3) kneeling in prayer, a hound before him; (4) kneeling
before a stag as an angel brings him his stole; (5) as a bishop holding
a stag with the crucifix on his book; (6) as a bishop with a hound, hunting
horn, and stag with a crucifix (not to be confused with Germanus of Auxerre);
(7) celebrating Mass as an angel brings him a scroll (very similar to the
Mass of Saint Giles) (Roeder).
Hubert is the patron of hunters and trappers, metal-workers,
and mathematicians (Roeder). It is believed that the 15th century legend
of his conversion developed because he was regarded as a patron of hunters
in Ardenne (Attwater).
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753
St. Pirmin Benedictine bishop foremost Benedictines in Germany
Item deposítio sancti Pirmíni,
Meldénsis Epíscopi. Also, the death
of St. Pirmin, bishop of Meaux.
753 ST PIRMINUS, BISHOP
THE early evangelization
of what was formerly the grand duchy of Baden was principally the work
of several monasteries, and St Pirminus was a prominent figure among
their founders. He probably came from southern Gaul or Spain, a refugee
from the Moors, and he rebuilt the abbey of Dissentis in the Grisons, it
having been destroyed by the Avars. But he is best known as the first
abbot of Reichenau, on an island in Lake Constance, which he founded—the
oldest Benedictine house on German soil, it is said—in 724 Reichenau
for a time was a rival of Saint
Gall in influence. But for political reasons the founder was subsequently
exiled and went to Alsace, where he founded the monastery of Murbach, between
Trier and Metz. He also founded the Benedictine house at Amorbach in Lower
Franconia, and to him is attributed a summary manual of popular instruction,
known as the Dicta Pirmini or Scarapsus,
which was very widely circulated in Carolingian times. St Pirminus
was a regionary bishop, but never bishop of Meaux, as stated in the Roman
Martyrology. He died in 753.
There
is a Latin Life of Pirminus, written in the ninth century, which has
been edited from a number of early manuscript copies both in MGH., Scriptores, vol. xv, and in the Acta Sanctorum,
November, vol. ii. Though very short and jejune, this memoir,
written by an unknown monk of Hornbach, was the principal source of
a later more diffuse biography and of a metrical life, both of which with
a full introduction are also printed in the Acta Sanctorum.
See further E. Egli, Kirchengeschichte Schweiz
(1893), pp. 72—82 J. Clauss, Die Heiligen des
Elsass (1935), pp. 246—247 G. Jecker in Die Kultur der
Abtei Reichenau, vol. i (1925), pp. 19—36, and his Die Heimat des hl. Pirmin (1927).
Born in Aragon, Spain,
he was of Visigothic descent and was forced to flee Spain when the Arabs
invaded in the eighth century. He journeyed to the Rhineland where he
founded abbeys at Reichenau, Amorbach, and Murbach, and rebuilt or restored
other churches and monastic communities including Dissentia Abbey, which
he brought under the Benedictine Rule. He was honored by the pope with
the rank of chorepiscopus, or regional prelate, adding to his reputation
as one of the foremost Benedictines in Germany. Pirmin wrote Dicta Pirinini,
a popular catechism.
Pirminius of Reichenau, OSB B (RM) (also known as Pirmin) Born
in Aragon. Pirmin was born in southern Aragon and became a monk at an
unnamed monastery. When the Saracens invaded Spain, he fled, and travelled
as far as the Rhineland where he established several abbeys--Reichenau,
Amorbach, and Murbach--and restored others, notably Dissentis (Switzerland)
in 711, introducing into them all the Benedictine Rule. In 724, he founded
and began his rule as abbot of Reichenau for which he acquired 50 books.
Amorbach and Murbach were founded when he was exiled to Alsace for political
reasons. He was ordained by the pope a chorepiscopus, or regionary bishop,
but he was never bishop of Meaux. He is one of the great Benedictine
apostles in German lands. It is believed that he may have authored the
Dicta Pirmini, which enjoyed popularity as a book of theology and ethics
against superstition (Benedictines, Farmer). In art, Saint Pirmin is depicted
as a monk with three dead snakes before him. Sometimes he is shown walking
with Count Sintlatz on the island of Reichenau while the abbey is being
built. He is invoked against snakes and vermin (Roeder).
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7th
v. St. Cristiolus Welsh confessor
the brother of St. Sulian. Cristiolus founded Christian churches,
including the parish in Anglesey.
|
860 Acheric and William
hermits diocese of Strasbourg OSB (PC)
Saint Acheric and William were
hermits, who later became monks in a monastery founded by Bidulph,
archdeacon of Metz, in the Vosges mountains in the diocese of Strasbourg
(Benedictines).
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966 St. Englatius
A Scottish bishop
also called Englat and Tanglen. He lived at Tarves, in Aberdeenshire,
Scotland.
Englatius of Scotland B (AC)(also
known as Englat, Tanglen). The Scottish Saint Englatius, said by some
to have been a bishop, lived at Tarves in Aberdeenshire (Benedictines).
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1035 St. Hermengaudis
Bishop of Urgell gave its canons a rule of life based on that of Saint
Augustine
Urgéllæ, in Hispánia
Tarraconénsi, sancti Hermengáudii Epíscopi.
At Urgel in Spain, Bishop St. Hermengaud.
in the Spanish Pyrenees.
Sometimes listed as Armengol and Ermengol, he built the cathedral there
and aided local monastics.
Hermengaudius of Urgell B (RM)
(also known as Armengol). Bishop of Urgell, in the Spanish Pyrenees,
from 1010 until 1035. He built the cathedral and gave its canons a rule
of life based on that of Saint Augustine (Benedictines).
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1045 Saint Amicus
Monk of Monte Cassino OSB (AC)
HE came of a good family of
the neighbourhood of Camerino, and was a secular priest in that town.
Then he became a hermit and afterwards a monk, his example inducing,
it is said, his father and mother, brothers and nephews also to embrace
the religious life. But St Amicus found the discipline of his monastery
insufficiently austere, and he again became a solitary, this time in
the Abruzzi. He lived here completely alone for three years, when disciples
began to gather round him. On one occasion he miraculously relieved a
famine. The last years of his life were passed at the monastery of Fonteavellana,
recently founded by St Dominic of Sora, where he died, it is said at the
age of 120 years. He is not the same person as the monk Amicus of whom
St Peter Damian writes in one of his letters.
Two Medieval
Latin lives of St Amicus are printed in the Acta Sanctorum,
November, vol. ii, a contemporary seemingly wrote one of which.
The contents, however, are mainly taken up with the saint’s miracles.
Born near Camerino, Italy; feast day formerly on
November 2. Saint Amicus was a secular priest, then a hermit and finally
a monk at Saint Peter's at Fonteavellana, founded by Saint Dominic of
Sora in 1025 (not the one governed by Saint Peter Damian). Saint Peter's
was a daughter-house of Monte Cassino; for this reason Saint Amicus is
often called a monk of Monte Cassino, and was held in special veneration
in that abbey (Benedictines).
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12th v Oda bore about
her the “odor
of God”
Oda was a young girl of a noble family who, indeed, bore about
her the "odor of God" (Encyclopedia).
|
1112 The Holy Princess Anna Vsevolodna; a virgin she took monastic tonsure in 1082 at
the Andreiev Yanchinov monastery built for her at Kiev, but later destroyed
under the Tatar invasion
Anna was daughter of the Kievan
Great Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich (1078-1093) whose wife was daughter
of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomachos. She did not wish to
marry, and as a virgin she took monastic tonsure in 1082 at the Andreiev
Yanchinov monastery built for her at Kiev, but later destroyed under
the Tatar invasion. The nun and princess Anna journeyed to Constantinople,
from which she returned in the company of the newly-consecrated Metropolitan
John the Eunuch. She died in the year 1112.
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1150 St. Malachy O' More famous Bishop; wrote prophecies of the popes; miracle
worker
In monastério Clarævallénsi, in Gállia,
deposítio sancti Malachíæ, Connerthénsis in
Hibérnia Epíscopi, qui multis virtútibus suo témpore
cláruit; cujus vitam sanctum Bernárdus Abbas conscrípsit.
In the monastery of Clairvaux in France,
the death of St. Malachy, bishop of Armagh in Ireland, who won renown
in his own days for his many virtues, and whose life was written by St.
Bernard the Abbot.
1148 ST MALACHY,
ARCHBISHOP OF ARMACH
DURING the ninth century
Ireland began to feel the effects, which had followed invasion in other
countries. Heathen barbarians who, under the general name of Ostmen,
ravaged the maritime districts, the Danes in particular making permanent
settlements at Dublin and elsewhere, infested it in its turn. Wherever
their power prevailed they massacred, demolished monasteries and burned
their libraries. In these confusions the civil power was weakened; local
kings contending with a foreign enemy and among themselves lost much
of their authority. Through long and unavoidable intercourse between the
natives and the oppressors of religion and law, relaxation of religion
and morals gradually took place; and Ireland, though doubtless not sunk
in iniquity to the degree which English and other foreign churchmen (including
St Bernard) supposed, had definitely become a very distressful country by
the time of the civil war which succeeded the final defeat of the Danes
at Clontarf in 1014.
It was in this state of the
nation that was born, in 1095, Mael Maedoc Ua Morgair, whose name is
anglicized as Malachy O’More. The boy was brought up at Armagh, where
his father taught in the school. Throughout his school-days Malachy was quiet and religious, and after the death of
his parents he put himself under a hermit, Eimar. St Celsus (Cellach),
Archbishop of Armagh, judged him worthy of holy orders and obliged him
to receive the priesthood when he was twenty-five. At the same time the
archbishop commissioned him to preach the word of God to the people and
to extirpate evil customs, which were many and grievous in that church.
It was a case of “setting fire to brambles and thorns and laying the axe
to the root of worthless trees”, says St Bernard in his life of the saint,
and great was the zeal with which St Malachy discharged this commission.
But fearing lest he was not sufficiently instructed in the canons of the
Church to carry on a thorough reformation of discipline and worship, he
went to St Malchus, Bishop of Lismore, who had been educated in England,
at Winchester, and was known for his learning and sanctity. Malachy was courteously
received by this good old man and diligently instructed by him in all things
belonging to the divine service and to the care of souls, and at the same
time he employed his ministry in that church.
The great Abbey of Bangor
in county Down lay at that time desolate, held with its revenues by an uncle
of St Malachy as lay-abbot and coarb of St Comgall.
This uncle in 1123 resigned it to his nephew that he might restore and
settle it in regular observance. But the lands of the abbey St Malachy
resigned to another, in spite of protests. St Bernard praises his spirit
of poverty herein shown, but observes that he “carried his disinterestedness
or spirit of holy poverty too far, as subsequent events proved”. With ten
members of Eimar’s community Malachy rebuilt the house, of wood in the Irish
manner, and governed it for a year; “a living rule and a bright mirror,
or as it were a book laid open, in which all might learn the true precepts
of the religious life”. Several miraculous cures, some of which St Bernard
recounts, added to his reputation. St Malachy in his thirtieth year was chosen
bishop of Connor, where he found that his flocks were Christians in not much
more than name (they had been right in the line of the Danish raids). He
spared no pains to turn these wolves into sheep. With his monks he preached
with an apostolic vigour, mingling sweetness with a wholesome severity; and
when the people would not come to church to hear him, he sought them in the
fields and in their houses. Some of the most savage hearts were softened
into humanity and a sense of religion; the saint restored the frequent
use of the sacraments, filled the diocese with zealous pastors, and settled
the regular celebration of the canonical hours, which since the Danish
invasion had been omitted even in cities, in which it was of service to
him that from his youth he had applied himself to the study of church music.
But in 1127 a chief from the north swept over Antrim
and Down, driving the community from Bangor, where the bishop still lived.
So St Malachy with some of his monks withdrew first to Lismore and then to
Iveragh in Kerry, and there settled down again to their monastic life.
In 1129 St Celsus of Armagh died. The metropolitan see had been hereditary
in his family for generations, and to break so bad a custom he ordained
on his deathbed that Malachy of Connor, sending him his pastoral staff,
should succeed him. But the kinsmen of Celsus proceeded to install his
cousin Murtagh and for three years Malachy refused to try and occupy the
see. St Malchus then overruled his objections, by the papal legate, Gilbert
of Limerick, and others, and protesting that when he had restored order
he would at once resign, he went from Iveragh to Armagh. So far as he
could he took over the government of the diocese, but he would not enter
his city and cathedral lest he should cause
disorder and bloodshed by so doing. Murtagh died in 1134, after naming
Niall, brother of St Celsus, to succeed him. Both sides were backed by
armed force, and Malachy’s determined to see him enthroned in his metropolitan
church. A gathering held for this purpose was surprised by a band of Niall’s
supporters, but they were scattered by a thunderstorm so violent that
twelve of his men were killed by lightning. But though he took possession
of his see, St Malachy could still not rule it in peace, for Niall when
he had to leave Armagh carried with him two relics held in great veneration;
the common people believed that he was true archbishop who had them in
his possession. These were a book (probably the “Book of Armagh”) and
a crozier, called the Staff of Jesus, both supposed to have belonged to
St Patrick. Therefore some still adhered to him, and his kindred violently
persecuted Malachy. One of the chief among them invited him to a conference,
with a design to murder him. The saint, against the advice of his friends,
went thither, offering himself to martyrdom for the sake of peace; but his
courage and calm dignity disarmed his enemies, and a peace was concluded.
Nevertheless it continued to be necessary for St Malachy to have an armed
bodyguard, until he recovered the Staff and the Book and was acknowledged
as archbishop by all. Having broken the tradition of hereditary succession
to the see and restored discipline and peace, he insisted upon resigning
the archiepiscopal dignity, and ordained Gelasius (Gilla), the abbot of
Derry, in his place. He then returned to his former see in 1137.
Here Malachy divided the diocese,
consecrated another bishop for Connor, and reserved to himself that
of Down. Either at Downpatrick or, more probably, on the ruins of the
Bangor monastery he established a community of regular canons, with whom
he lived as much as the external duties of his charge would permit him.
Two years later, to obtain the confirmation of many things, which he had
done, he undertook a journey to Rome. One of his motives was to procure
the pallium for the two archbishops namely,
for Armagh and for another metropolitical see which St Celsus had settled
at Cashel. St Malachy crossed to Scotland, made his way to York, where
he met St Waltheof of Kirkham (who gave him a horse), then came into France
and by way of Burgundy reached the abbey of Clairvaux. Here he met St Bernard,
who became his devoted friend and admirer and afterwards wrote his life.
Malachy was so edified with the spirit that he discovered in the Cistercian
monks that he desired to join them in their penance and contemplation
and to end his days in their company. At Ivrea in Piedmont he restored
to health the child of his host, who was at the point of death. Pope
Innocent II would not hear of his resigning his see. He confirmed all
Malachy had done in Ireland, made him his legate there, and promised the
pallia if they were applied for in solemn form.
On his way home he called again at Clairvaux, where, says St Bernard,
“he gave us his blessing a second time”. Not being able to remain himself
with those servants of God, he left there four of his companions who, taking
the Cistercian habit, came back to Ireland in 1142 and instituted the abbey of Mellifont of that order, the
parent of many others. St Malachy went home through Scotland, where King
David entreated him to heal his son Henry, who lay dangerously ill. The
saint said to the sick prince, “Be of good courage you will not die this
time.” Then he sprinkled him with holy
water, and the next day Henry was perfectly recovered.
At a great synod of bishops
and other clergy held on Inishpatrick, off Skerries, in 1148, it was
resolved to make formal application for pallia for the
two metropolitans, and St Malachy
himself set off to find Pope Eugenius III, who was then in France.
He was delayed by the political suspicions of King Stephen in England,
and when he reached France the pope had returned to Rome. So he turned
aside to visit Clairvaux, where St Bernard and his monks greeted him with
joy. Having celebrated Mass on the feast of St Luke, he was seized with
a fever and took to his bed. The monks were active in waiting on him; but
he assured them that all the pains they took were to no purpose, because
he would not recover. He insisted that he should go downstairs into the
church that he might there receive the last sacraments. He begged that
all would continue their prayers for him after his death, promising to
remember them before God, and he commended also to their prayers all
the souls which had been committed to his charge; then, on All Souls’
day, in the year 1148, he died in St Bernard’s arms. He was buried at Clairvaux.
St Bernard, in his second discourse on this saint, says
to his monks, “May he protect us by his merits, whom he has instructed
by his example and confirmed by his miracles”; and in the requiem Mass at
his funeral he boldly sang the post-communion prayer from the Mass of a
confessor-bishop. Pope Clement III in 1190, the first papal canonization
of an Irishman, confirmed this “canonization by a saint of a saint”. His
feast is kept by the Cistercians, the Canons Regular of the Lateran, and
throughout Ireland; St Malachy did for the unification of the Church in
his own land something of what St Theodore did for England 500 years earlier.
An
account of St Malachy would not be complete without a reference to the
so-called prophecies about the popes, attributed to him. They consist
of the attribution of certain conditions and characteristics to the popes,
from the time of Celestine II (1143—44) until the end of the world under
“Peter the Roman”, under the form of symbolical titles or mottoes. They were
first heard of, and given to the world by Dom Arnold de Wyon, O.S.B., in
1595, who attributed them to St Malachy but did not say on what grounds or
even where they had been found. A Jesuit in the seventeenth century maintained
they had been forged by a supporter of Cardinal Simoncelli during the conclave
of 1590, but in 1871 Abbé Cucherat wrote a book in which he said
that they had been revealed to St Malachy at Rome, who had communicated
them in writing to Pope Innocent II, and they had lain forgotten in the papal
archives for 450 years till they were found by Dom de Wyon. There can be
no doubt that these “prophecies” are in themselves spurious, and had nothing
to do with St Malachy. Even a cursory examination shows that the mottoes
for the popes up to Gregory XIV (1590) are precise in wording and unmistakably “fulfilled”,
often by reference to their Italian family names; while for the succeeding
popes they are vague and general, and cannot always be made to fit even
by ingenuity and distortion of words. The motto corresponding to Pope
Pius XII is Pastor angelicus, “angelic shepherd”,
which is sufficiently general; but St Pius V was a “woodland angel” and
Benedict XIV a “rustic animal”
Apart from the panegyrical
and perhaps at times rather misleading life written by St Bernard—a critical
text is printed in the Acta Sanctorum,
November, vol. ii—not much information regarding Malachy is obtainable
from other sources. There are, however, some letters of St Bernard addressed
to him, others describing his death, and two sermons of the same saint.
The Anglican dean of St Patrick’s, Dublin, published an excellent translation
of the life, with valuable notes. H. J. Lawlor, in 1920 J. F. Kenney in his Sources for the Early History
of Ireland describes this book as probably the best study of the
organization of the early church in that country. See also the lives
of St Malachy by O’Hanlon (1854), O’Laverty
(1899), A. J, Luddy (1930) and J. O’Boyle (1931), as well as L. Gougaud,
Christianity in Celtic Lands, pp. 401—408. On the alleged prophetic pope-mottoes, now completely
discredited, see Vacandard in the Revue apologétique
(1922), pp. 657—571, and Thurston, The War and the
Prophets (1915), pp. 120-161. Other spurious prophecies have
also been fathered upon St Malachy see in particular P. Grosjean in the
Analecta Bollandiana, vol. li (1933), pp. 318—324,
and vol. liv (1936), pp. 254—257. The best work on St Malachy is
Fr A. Gwynn’s study in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 5th series, vol. lxx (1948), pp. 961—978, and following
issues.
Also listed as Mael Maedoc ua Morgair or Maolrnhaodhog
ua Morgair, Malachy was born in Armagh, Ireland, in 1095. He was ordained
by St. Cellach or Celsus of Armagh in 1132 and studied under Bishop St.
Maichius of Lismore. Malachy reformed ecclesiastical discipline and
replaced the Celtic liturgy with the Roman when he served as abbot of
Bangor. In 1125 he was made bishop of Connor, using Bangor as his seat.
He also established a monastery at Iveragh, Kerry. He was named archbishop
of Armagh in 1129. In 1138, he resigned and made a pilgrimage to Rome. He
visited St. Bernard at Clairvaux, France, wanting to be a monk there, but
returned to Ireland to found Mellifont Abbey, also serving as papal legate
to Ireland. He returned to Clairvaux and died on November 2 in St. Bernard’s
arms. St. Bernard declared him a saint, an action confirmed in 1190 by
Pope Clement III. Malachy is known for many miracles, including healing
the son of King David I of Scotland. Malachy’s prophecies did not appear
until 1597. Tradition states that Malachy wrote them while in Rome and
that they were buried in papal archives until 1597, when Dom Arnold de
Wyon discovered them. Serious doubts remain as to the true authorship of
the prophecies.
Malachy O'More B (RM)
(also known as Maolmhaodhog ua Morgair)
Born in Armagh, County, Down,
Ireland, in 1094; died Clairvaux in 1148; canonized in 1190 by Pope
Clement IV--the first papal canonization of an Irish saint; feast day
in Ireland is November 4.
God, in His great goodness and mercy, has given us
the Sacraments to strengthen us all our days--from our birth and rebirth
in Baptism, to restoration in Reconciliation, to sustenance in the Eucharist,
and ultimately fortification for the final journey through the Anointing
of the Sick.
Our dear Lord has cared for us more tenderly than an earthly
mother does her child--for His love is constant. But God uses the instruments
of His holy priests to bring His Presence into the world in these life-giving
Sacraments. Saint Malachy was known for his devotion to the Sacraments.
Saint Bernard honored Malachy and regarded him as a special
friend. Saint Charles held him up before the eyes of his priests as
a model in administering the Sacraments to the dying, for like that zealous
pastor of souls, he sought out the needy in the remotest villages and
cottages of his diocese, giving the holy sacraments to all alike and
renewing the fervor of the people in receiving them.
Malachy was born Mael Maedoc Ua Morgair. His father's name was
O'Morgair (Irish: Maol-Maodhog). He was a teacher in the schools of his
native city. His father died in Limerick in 1102, when Malachy was seven.
His mother, who brought up her son in the love and fear of God, was a
most pious woman. Saint Bernard tells us:
"His parents, however, were great both by
descent and in power, like unto the name of the great men that are in
the earth (2 Samuel 7:9). Moreover, his mother, more noble in mind than
in blood, took pains at the very beginning of his way to show her child
the ways of life: esteeming this knowledge of more value to him than the
empty knowledge of the learning of this world. For both, however, he had
aptitude in proportion to his age."
He first studied at the schools
where his father had taught, making great progress in virtue and learning.
After the death of his parents, wishing more perfectly to learn the
art of dying to himself and living wholly for God, he put himself under
the discipline of Eimar (Imar O'Hagan), a holy recluse in a cell near
the cathedral.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux says of him: "He submitted himself
to the rule of man, condemning himself while alive to the grave, that
he might attain the true love of God. Not being like those who undertake
to teach others what they have never learned themselves, seeking to gather
and multiply scholars, without ever having been at school, becoming blind
guides of the blind. His obedience as a disciple, his love of silence,
his fervor in mortification and prayer, were the means and marks of his
spiritual progress."
When he had learned himself, he persuaded his master
to accept others to the same discipline, so that a large community grew
up around the church at Armagh. The archbishop, Ceolloch, judged him
worthy to receive Holy Orders and ordained him a priest at age 25, though
the canonical age at that time was 30.
Before fulfilling his preaching mission, he was instructed by
the 74-year-old Saint Malchus, the bishop of Waterford and Lismore.
Malachy acted as a minister in his church at the same time.
Malachy's sister had become wayward after the death of their
mother and he had sworn never to visit her while she lived in sin. At
this time she died and, according to Saint Bernard, Malachy began seeing
her spirit. He offered up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on hearing of
her death. Some thirty days after having ceased to offer up the Mass for
her:
"He heard in a dream by night the voice of one saying to him
that his sister was standing outside in the courtyard, having tasted
nothing for forty days. On awakening he soon realized the kind of food
for want of which she was pining away."
So, his prayers and Masses for her soul continued. Soon he saw
her at the threshold of the church; but clad in black. Later on he saw
her clad in grey; within the church, but not allowed to the altar. At
last she was seen a third time, with the throng of the white- robed and
in apparel that shone (McNabb).
Ireland had been converted from
paganism to Christianity in the 5th century. In the three succeeding
centuries the land became the principal seat of learning in the whole
of Europe. The great change was brought about during the period when
the Roman Empire was breaking up, when invasions of pagan nations seized
upon the greater part of Europe.
Ireland was remote and guarded by the seas: she was the only
country not overrun. For at least 300 years students flocked from the
continent to seek instruction in the science of the saints, as well as
in secular learning, so that she became known as the "Island of Saints
and Scholars." In the 9th century, however, the country was also invaded
in turn by the Danes, who burned and sacked the monasteries doing irreparable
damage.
The Normans followed these hordes of barbarians, ravaging on
their way the maritime districts of England and Scotland. Nothing seemed
to escape their depredations. The monks were put to the sword, the churches
demolished, the precious libraries committed to the flames.
The result of this long oppression showed itself in later years
by a great relaxation of piety and morals. Ignorance and vice succeeded
the Christian virtues and knowledge. At the beginning of the 11th century
the country had in some places, especially in the north and east, sunk
back to its former paganism and ignorance, through the accumulation of
so many evils.
The same thing happened in other parts of Europe,
where the relics of paganism lingered, in remote places, even into modern
times. The great abbey of Bangor, County Down, founded by Saint Comgall
in 550, lay in a desolate condition. In the days of its glory as many
as 3,000 monks were assembled at its schools. It was there that Saint Columban
had studied; from there many others like him had gone forth to France and
Italy, to set up religious houses and propagate the faith.
The archbishop appointed Malachy
his vicar, sending him to preach the word of God to the people, to
overcome superstition, to correct the many abuses that had grown up
over the years. Like a flame amid the forest, he swept forward to burn
out once more the noxious weeds, to plant in their place the belief and
practice of the faith. He made regulations in ecclesiastical discipline
and restored the recitation of the canonical hours, which had been omitted
since the Danish invasions.
More than all else, he gave back the Sacraments to the common
people, sending good priests among them to instruct the ignorant. He
visited Lismore, where the bishop had a great reputation for sanctity
and learning. Having learned all he needed and completed his plans,
he returned to Armagh in 1123.
His uncle, a lay-abbot of the Abbey of Bangor, County Down,
resigned the abbey to Malachy in the hopes that he might return it to
regular observance. Malachy, however, in a spirit of humility that cause
great objection, turned its lands and most of its revenues over to someone
else.
With ten members of Eimar's community of hermits, he rebuilt
the house and ruled it for a year, during which time miracles were attributed
to him. At Bangor he established a seminary for priests, though the abbey
never regained its former size or importance.
In all the monastic observances he was very zealous and a model
to his priests. Soon after this great work, at age 30, Malachy was chosen
to be bishop of the diocese of Down and Connor (Antrim). Malachy set about
to lead the see's nominal Christians to a genuine devotion, searching them
out on foot in their homes and fields to bring them to church.
He was now able to fill the diocese with well-instructed priests,
who revived the fervor of the people; in fact, he renewed all things
in Christ. In all his actions he breathed a spirit of patience and meekness;
both priests and people followed his lead as with Saint Charles in later
centuries.
When the Church was gaining
ground again, establishing once more her rightful position, the secular princes
made trouble in Ulster. The city of Connor was sacked; Malachy was obliged
to flee with his community of monks first to Lismore and then to the Iveragh
in Kerry. They made a settlement in the vicinity of Cork, which explains
how Malachy came to be venerated there, too.
On April 1, 1129, Saint Ceolloch, age 50, died at
Ardpatrick, Limerick. In a vision Saint Malachy saw a woman of great
stature and reverend mien, who on being asked, said she was the Bride
of Ceolloch. Then she gave to Malachy a bishop's staff and disappeared.
A few days later Saint Malachy received from the dying Ceolloch a letter
naming him archbishop of Armagh and sending him the bishop's staff, which
Saint Malachy recognized as the staff given to him in the vision.
As in England then the secular arm had great power, often forcing
unworthy men into positions of the Church to hold the revenues, causing
many evils, more especially the neglect of the common people. Ceolloch's
see had become hereditary over the years, and he wished to break that
tradition by leaving it to Malachy. Saint Ceolloch's relatives, however,
installed his cousin Murtagh. Malachy refused to make efforts to occupy
the see.
Still delaying after three years, declining the promotion because
he feared further bloodshed on the part of Ceolloch's kin, Malachy was
threatened with excommunication if he refused the appointment. The Papal
Legate Gillebert (Gilbert), who was also bishop of Limerick, and Malebus
(Saint Malchus), bishop of Lismore, assembled a synod.
When told he must obey, Malachy submitted saying, "You drag
me to death. I obey in the hopes of martyrdom, but on this condition:
that if the business succeeds and God frees His heritage from those
who are destroying it--all being then completed, and the Church at
peace, I may be allowed to go back to my former bride and friend, poverty,
and to put another in my place!"
In this way Malachy declared that he would stay only long enough
to restore order, and he refused to enter the city or the cathedral,
ruling from outside, because he did not wish to incite trouble by his
presence. This condition was agree to and Malachy set north again for
Ulster.
In 1134, Murtagh died, naming a layman Nigellus (Niall), Ceolloch's
brother, as successor. The secular authorities refused to recognize
the authority of the new archbishop. Both sides were supported by troops,
and armed conflict broke out between the followers of the two, but Malachy
finally obtained possession of his cathedral.
To give weight to his own authority
Nigellus seized two precious relics from the cathedral, the Crozier
of Saint Patrick, called the "staff of Jesus," made of gold studded with
precious stones, and the Book of the Gospels, which had been handed down
from the time of Ireland's patron saint. These men persecuted Saint Malachy,
putting obstacles in his way at every turn.
Twelve of Nigellus's supporters were killed by lightning when
they tried to surprise their adversaries during a thunderstorm. Two
years after Malachy returned to Armagh his opponents invited him to
a conference, and though the saint was warned of their evil designs, he
went with a few companions to meet his rivals.
His mildness and courage disarmed his enemies; they
who intended to threaten now rose up to do him honor. Peace was concluded
between them; Nigellus was deposed, the relics restored, and the saint
took possession of the see and its benefices. They happy event occurred
in 1133, when Malachy was 38--five years after the death of the former
incumbent.
Having rescued Armagh from oppression, restored discipline,
and peace, Malachy insisted on resigning according to the covenant made,
appointing a worthy prelate in his place. Though Down and Connor had been
united in one diocese, they were again divided in 1137, the saint taking
possession of his original see (in 1441 the two diocese were reunited).
As bishop of Down he established the community Ibracense, a
congregation of Augustinian canons, with whom he lived. This community
acted to spread the custom of following a regular way of life.
Now that more peaceful times blessed the country, our saint
decided to make a journey to Rome; he wished to receive confirmation
of the many works he had commenced, as well as to receive the pallium
for the archbishop of Armagh and for another see to be created (Cashel),
but had not received confirmation from Rome.
The next year the saint set
out for Rome, passing through England visiting York, then a great center
of learning, where he met Saint Waltheof of Kirkham, who gave him a horse.
Then he crossed to France where he broke his journey at Clairvaux to visit
Saint Bernard. The two saints became great friends. (Saint Bernard wrote
Malachy's biography.)
Saint Malachy was so taken with all that he saw, with the wonderful
spirit of piety and discipline of the monks, their large number, their
order and peace, that he wished to remain there for good but the pope
would not consent. Pope Innocent II received him with great honor; he
confirmed all his work in Ireland, appointed him legate and promised to
send the pallium to Armagh if they were applied for with all formality.
On his return journey, Malachy again visited Clairvaux, leaving
some of his companions there to learn the way of life and the rule of
the Cistercians. He would have them return later to establish the order
in their own country. The order was afterward established at Mellifont
(Millifont), County Louth, becoming the parent of many other houses.
Malachy took the shortest route to the north by way of Scotland,
where he miraculously restored to health Henry, the son of King David
(son of Saint Margaret). Malachy told the prince, "Be of good courage;
you will not die this time," and sprinkled him with holy water. The following
day the dangerously ill boy was well.
Arriving in Ireland again, he was welcomed by the
people and priests as their father returned. As the newly-appointed legate,
he discharged his office by holding synods and enforcing further regulations
for abolishing abuses. Malachy continued to work many miracles on the
sick and afflicted.
He added further to the abbey
of Bangor, building a stone church similar to what he had seen on the
continent. He repaired the cathedral at Down, which was famous for the
joint tomb of Saints Patrick, Columkille, and Brigid.
The pope died before the pallia were sent. Two other popes were
elected and died that year. Saint Malachy convened the bishops in a
synod in 1148 and received from them a commission to make a fresh application
to the Apostolic See to obtain pallia for the two metropolitans. Malachy
set off to see Pope Eugenius III, who was in France. Slowed by the political
strategies of King Stephen in England, by the time he reached France,
the pope had returned to Rome.
On his second journey to Rome, he passed through Clairvaux a
third time in 1148. As he approached the Alps in October, the weather
was hot and sultry; he fell ill with a fever. He was given medical attention
by the monks, who with Saint Bernard, loved him as a dear friend. As his
fever grew worse, he told them that their pains were in vain because he
would not recover. He demanded that he be taken downstairs to the church so
that he might receive the last sacraments. He died in Saint Bernard's arms
on November 2 at the age of 54.
The body of the saint was buried in the Lady Chapel at Clairvaux.
Saint Bernard exchanged Saint Malachy's tunic for one of his own. Thereafter
he wore this tunic of his dead friend whenever he chanted Mass on great
feasts. At Malachy's Requiem, Saint Bernard used the post-Communion prayer
for a Confessor Bishop, rather than for the dead--thus, one saint canonized
another.
Many miracles were worked at
the tomb in addition to the ones attributed to him as he walked the
earth. Saint Bernard records some after saying, "his first and greatest
miracle was himself. His inward beauty, strength, and purity are proved
by his life; there was nothing in his behavior that could offend anyone."
Nevertheless, many are the recorded miracles wrought by Malachy.
In Ivrea in the Piedmont, Italy, Malachy cured his host's child on his
return from Rome. He exorcised two women in Coleraine, and another at
Lismore. In Ulster a sick man was immediately cured by lying on the saint's
bed. A sick baby was healed instantly in Leinster. In Saul, County Down,
a woman whose madness was so great that she was tearing her limbs with
her teeth was cured when he laid hands on her. At Antrim a dying man recovered
the use of his tongue and his speech on receiving the holy Viaticum.
A paralyzed boy was cured in Cashel and another near Munster. At Cork
he raised from a sick bed one whom he named bishop of the city; in another
unnamed place a notorious scold was cured when she made her first confession
to Malachy. On an island where the fishermen had suffered for a lack of
fish, he knelt by the shore and prayed--the fish returned.
He succeeded in replacing the Celtic liturgy with
the Roman and is famous as a pioneer of Gregorian reform. His was the
first papal canonization of an Irish saint.
When the first Cistercian pope,
Blessed Eugenius III, asked his old abbot Saint Bernard for guidance
as the pontiff, the holy doctor answered that he should study the life
and follow the example of Saint Malachy:
"From the first day of his conversion to
the last of his life he lived without personal possessions.
"He had neither manservants nor maidservants;
nor villages nor hamlets; nor, in fact, any revenues, ecclesiastical
or secular, even when he was bishop.
"There was nothing whatever assigned for
his episcopal upkeep for he had not a house of his own. But he was
always going about all the parishes, preaching the Gospel and living
by the Gospel...When he went out to preach he was accompanied by others
on foot; bishop and legate that he was he too went on foot. That is the
apostolic rule; and it is the more to be admired in Malachy because it
is too rare in others...
"They lord
it over the clergy--he made himself the servant of all.
"They either do not preach the Gospel and
yet eat; or preach the Gospel in order to eat--Malachy imitating Paul,
eats that he may preach the Gospel.
"They suppose that arrogance and gain are
godliness--Malachy claims for himself by right only toil and a burden.
"They count themselves happy if they enlarge
their borders--Malachy glories in enlarging charity.
"They gather into barns and fill the wine-jars
that they may load their tables--Malachy foregathers men into deserts
and solitudes that he may fill heaven.
"They though
they receive tithes and first-fruits and oblations besides customs
and tribute by the gift of Caesar and countless other revenues, nevertheless
take counsel as to what they may eat and drink--Malachy having nothing
enriches many out of the store- houses of faith.
"Of their
desire and anxiety there is no end--Malachy, desiring nothing, knows
not how to be solicitous for tomorrow.
"They exact from the poor that they may give
to the rich--Malachy implores the rich to provide for the poor.
"They empty the purses of their subjects--he
for their sins loads altars with vows and peace offerings.
"They build lofty palaces, raise towers and
ramparts to the skies-- Malachy, not having whereon to lay his head,
does the work of an evangelist.
"They ride on horses with a throng of men
who eat bread for nought, and that is not theirs--Malachy girt around
by a throng of holy brethren goes on foot bearing the bread of angels.
"They do not even know their congregation--he
instructs them.
"They honor powerful men and tyrants--he
punishes them.
"O apostolic man! whom so many and such striking
signs of apostleship adorn. What wonder that he has wrought such wonder,
being so great a wonder himself." --Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
What is known as the "Prophecy
of Saint Malachy" consists of enigmatical oracles, taken from Scriptures,
each of which is supposed to contain some reference to the pope from
Celestine to the end of the world. The prophecy's symbolic terms are
very accurate until 1590, but extremely vague thereafter, leading to the
conclusion that it is a 16th forgery (Attwater, Delaney, Lawlor, Murray,
White).
He is portrayed in art presenting
an apple to a king, thus restoring his sight; or instructing a king
in a cell (White).
|
1197
Blessed Berthold of Engelberg excelled as a transcriber of books OSB
Abbot memory is liturgically celebrated at Einsiedeln
(PC)
A monk of Engelberg, Switzerland, Berthold excelled as a transcriber
of books. He became the third abbot of the monastery (1178). His memory
is liturgically celebrated at Einsiedeln and Engelberg (Benedictines).
|
1211 Blessed Alpais
of Cudot little girl leper patience and gentle; reputation for miracles
and ecstatic states V (AC)
1211 BD ALPAIS,
VIRGIN
ALPAIS was a peasant-girl,
born about 1150 at Cudot, now in the diocese of Orleans. She worked
in the fields, until a disease struck her, which may have been leprosy.
Her biographer, a Cistercian monk of Les Echarlis, who knew her personally,
avers that she was perfectly cured during a vision of our Lady which was
granted her. But Alpais lost the use of her limbs and was confined helpless
to her bed, though otherwise perfectly well. Nothing in the way of food
or drink, except the Blessed Sacrament, passed her lips for a long period.
When this was brought to the notice of Archbishop William of Sens, he appointed
a commission which examined and confirmed the truth of this fast. By his
order a church was built adjoining the lodging of Bd Alpais at Cudot, in
order that by means of a window she could assist at the religious offices
celebrated by a community of canons regular therein. The holiness of the
maiden and her reputation for miracles and ecstatic states made it a place
of pilgrimage, and prelates and nobles came from all parts to see her. Queen
Adela, wife of Louis VII of France, in 1180 made a benefaction to the canons
“for love of Alpais”. The cultus rendered to her from
the time of her death in 1211 was confirmed in 1874.
What
lends great interest to the account preserved of this maiden is the
fact that it was written, while she was yet living, by one who knew her
well, and that it finds confirmation in contemporary chronicles and in
some still existing public records. The text of the biography is printed
in the Acta Sanctorum (November, vol. ii) from a collation
of four manuscripts, and the editor has cited in full the passages referring
to Bd Alpais, which occur in the chronicles of Robert of Auxerre and
Ralph Coggeshall. Alpais seems to be the earliest person of whom it is
recorded on reliable evidence that she lived for years upon the Blessed
Eucharist alone. A careful and sober study was written by L. H. Tridon,
La vie merveilleuse de Ste Alpais de Cudot (1886).
See also the Analecta Juris Pontificii for 1874,
pp. 1029—1076, and two works by M. Blanchon (1893 and 1896).
Born in Cudot (diocese of Sens), France; died 1211;
cultus confirmed by Pius IX in 1874. Alpais was born into a peasant family,
she helped her parents in the fields until, still very young she became
bedridden with leprosy. For a long time her only food was the Eucharist.
Her patience and gentleness made a great impression on her contemporaries
(Benedictines).
|
1226 Blessed Ida of Toggenburg
a nun reading by the lights which spring from antlers of a stag OSB
(AC)
1226 BD IDA OF TOGGENBURG,
MATRON
THE fictitious
romance of Bd Ida is a story of innocence maligned and patiently suffering
undeserved punishment. She is presented as the childless wife of a Count
Henry of Toggenburg (who is unknown to history), a man of violent temper
whose anger and impatience made him as much feared and disliked, as
his gentle wife was loved. There was in his household an Italian named
Dominic who shared the general admiration for Countess Ida, but did not
confine it within the limits of virtue, and on one occasion he waylaid
her as she was passing through a wood. She cried for help, and was delivered
from Dominic’s attentions by a manservant, Cuno, who heard her call. She
bound him to silence about the incident, out of kindness to the Italian,
but Dominic was furious at his disappointment and revengefully hinted to
Count Henry that all was not as it should be between his wife and Cuno. Henry
kept his eyes open and said nothing. It so happened that Ida lost one of
her rings, which was picked up and
carried off by a jackdaw, and this ring was found in its nest by Cuno
when he was catching young birds. Not knowing whose it was, he slipped
it on his little finger and returned to the castle. Count Henry saw the
ring, recognized it as his wife’s, and, without waiting for any explanations,
had Cuno dragged at the tail of an unbroken horse till life was dashed
out of him. The count meanwhile, bursting with fury, ran upstairs to his
wife’s parlour and, seizing her round the middle, threw her out of the
window on to the rocks below. But Ida was not killed. Thick bushes broke
her fall, and when she recovered herself she determined to run away under
cover of night and hide in the mountains.
When
Count Henry cooled down his remorse was as strong as his anger. He looked
in vain for his wife’s mangled body, and found no comfort in the treacherous
Dominic’s assurance that Ida was a guilty woman, justly put to death.
She in the meantime was living in a cave, furnishing it with moss and
branches, and eating wild fruit and nuts. Seventeen years passed thus,
when one day one of Henry’s foresters stumbled across the cave, saw Ida,
and recognized her. When she learned that her husband was so contrite
that everybody knew of it, she told the man to go back and tell him where
she was. Henry hastened to the place and threw himself at Ida’s feet,
swearing that he knew her innocent, begging forgiveness, and entreating
her to return to him. She assured him of her forgiveness, but she would
not come back as his wife, for she had learned to love her solitude. Instead
she asked him to build her a cell near the castle chapel, and there she lived
until the crowds that flocked to see her drove her to seek refuge in a nunnery
at Fischingen. There she died in the year 1226. The popular
cultus of Bd Ida was confirmed in 1724, and her
feast is kept in Switzerland, though nothing is known of her except her
existence and veneration.
From the point of view of historical
evidence the legend of Bd Ida presents a striking contrast to the Life
of Alpais which here precedes it. The story of this Ida as recounted
above is pure fiction, an echo of the type of saga of which the best-known
example is perhaps the tale of Genevieve de Brabant. The fifteenth-century
liturgical material (lessons and hymns), which here does duty for sources,
has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol.
ii. The best study of the subject is that of Leo M. Kern in Thurgauische Beiträge zur vaterlandische Geschichte, parts
64—65 (1928), pp. 1—136. Reviewing this in the Analecta Bollandiana,
vol. xlvii (1929), pp. 444—446, Delehaye
says that we know only this much— that there was a holy woman named Ida
who was buried at Fischingen and whose anniversary was kept there on November
3. See also Fr Delehaye’s article on Ida in Nova et Vetera,
vol. iv (1929), pp. 359—365.
Born in 1156; Ida married a
Count Henry of Toggenburg, to whom she bore no children, and from whom she
suffered much persecution. She escaped, and at last succeeded in obtaining
her husband's consent to her becoming a nun in the Benedictine convent of
Fieshingen (Benedictines). In art, Blessed Ida is portrayed as a nun reading
by the lights which spring from antlers of a stag. She is sometimes shown
(1) with the stag's horns aflame; (2) with a raven with a ring in its beak;
(3) with a dove over her head; or (4) filling a tomb with food for the poor.
She is venerated at Fieshingen and Toggenburg (Roeder).
|
1304
Blessed Raynerius of Arezzo a Franciscan lay- brother OFM (AC)
(also known as Rasini or Raniero Mariani)
Born at Arezzo, Italy; died
at Borgo Sansepolero, cultus confirmed in 1802. Blessed Raniero Mariani was
a Franciscan lay- brother (Benedictines). He is portrayed as a Franciscan
with beads appearing to a sleeping cardinal and pointing to a jar of balm.
Venerated at Borgo San Sepolcro (Roeder).
|
1308
Saint Nicholas was the author
of many church services; one
of the greatest hymnographers and spiritual figures of his time; enriched the spiritual literature of Georgia
with his translations from Greek
to Georgian, manuscripts of the Iveron
Monastery on Mt. Athos
Little about his life is known. He lived in the second half
of the 13th century, and the last years of his life coincided with the
reign of King Vakhtang III (1298, 1302–1308), the son of the holy king
Demetre the Devoted.
St. Nicholas was one of the greatest hymnographers and spiritual
figures of his time, but few of his works have been preserved. Catholicos
Anton I writes that Nicholas composed numerous canons and services, including
a “Canon of Supplication for Rain.” St. Nicholas enriched the spiritual
literature of Georgia with his translations as well. Scholars and historians
believe that, as the greatest liturgist of his time, he was probably asked
to translate many prayers and services from Greek to Georgian.
Among them, they believe, was
the “Canon for the Blessing of Holy Water.”
The famous 19th-century historian Platon Ioseliani
writes that other church services belonging to the pen of St. Nicholas
are included among the manuscripts of the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos.
St. Nicholas reposed peacefully in the year 1308.
|
1319 Blessed Simon
Ballachi Dominican lay-brother at age 27 visitors came to him
in the silence of the night: Saint Catherine of Alexandria, to whom he
had a special devotion, Saint Dominic and Saint Peter Martyr, and sometimes
the Blessed Virgin herself. His little cell was radiant with heavenly lights,
and sometimes angelic voices could be heard within OP
(AC)
1319
BD SIMON OF RIMINI
SIMON BALLACHI at the
age of twenty-seven offered himself to God as a lay-brother in the Dominican
friary of Rimini, his native place. Not content with this humble position
he still further mortified himself by volunteering to do all the lowliest
tasks, and he disciplined his body with an iron chain, offering his pain
for the conversion of sinners. He is said to have suffered greatly from
diabolical visitations. Simon was principally employed in the garden,
but he was also entrusted with the cultivation of young human plants,
and would go through the streets with a cross in his hand calling the children
to catechism. When he was fifty-seven he was stricken with blindness,
and so lived for twelve years, during the last few of which he had to
keep to his bed entirely. Bd Simon bore these afflictions with courage and
cheerfulness, and was rewarded with the gift of miracles, so that from the day of his death he was venerated as a saint.
This cultus was confirmed in 1821.
See the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol ii, where a brief account has
been compiled from the very slender materials available and cf. Procter, Liver of Dominican Saints,
pp. 306-309.
Born at Sant'Arcangelo near Rimini, Italy, 1250;
died November 3, 1319; declared blessed in 1817 (cultus confirmed in
1821?).
The son of Count Ballachi, nephew of two archbishops of Rimini,
and brother of a priest, Simon Ballachi became a Dominican lay-brother
at age 27. His family was none too happy about this decision because
he was supposed to administer the family property and had been trained
as a soldier. They couldn't understand why he would abandon the many opportunities
life had provided for him. Not only was he throwing away a prestigious
position in society, he was not even becoming a priest, which would provide
him with a chance for ecclesiastical preferences.
Oblivious to the criticism of his family, Simon readily undertook
the life of a lay brother. His principal work, to his great delight,
was tending the garden. Having been preoccupied with military training,
Simon may never have seen a garden prior to entering the Dominicans.
He probably had to learn all the details of the art by trial and error.
But while he tended the friary garden, he continued to plant
prayers for his soul. He was adept at seeing God in everything. It is
written that he meditated on every act, "so that, while his hands cultivated
the herbs and flowers of the earth, his heart might be a paradise of sweet-smelling
flowers in the sight of God." He tried to find in everything he handled
in the garden some lesson it could teach him about the spiritual life.
When the weather was too bad for him to work outside, he swept and cleaned
the monastery. Wherever his work took him, he tried to do it well and
to efface himself completely, so that no one would even notice that he
was there.
Under the placid exterior of
a gardener, Simon concealed a spiritual life of extraordinary austerity
and prayer. He worked hard during the day yet he never excused himself
from rising for the night office, nor from severe penance. For 20 years
he wore an iron chain around his waist. In Lent, he lived on bread and
water. He found extra time for prayer by foregoing sleep. Like Saint Dominic,
he scourged himself every night. Of course, all this growth in holiness
attracted the devil, who would attempt to distract Simon.
Other visitors came to him in the silence of the night: Saint
Catherine of Alexandria, to whom he had a special devotion, Saint Dominic
and Saint Peter Martyr, and sometimes the Blessed Virgin herself. His
little cell was radiant with heavenly lights, and sometimes angelic voices
could be heard within.
Simon was blinded at age 57 and became helpless for
the last years of his life, yet he never despaired (Benedictines, Dorcy).
|
1639 St. Martin de Porres
Dominican resolving theological problems aerial
flights and bilocation
1639 ST MARTIN DE PORRES
AMONG the people to whom the epithet “half-caste” is often given
as a term of contempt, the first of whom it is recorded that he practised
Christian virtue in an heroic degree is this Dominican lay-brother.
He was born in Lima in Peru in 1579, the natural child of John de Porres
(Porras), a Spanish knight, and a coloured freed-woman from Panama, Anna
by baptism. Young Martin inherited the features and dark complexion of
his mother, which was a matter of vexation to the noble Porres, who nevertheless
acknowledged the boy and his sister as his children, but eventually left
Martin to the care of his mother. When he was twelve she apprenticed him
to a barber-surgeon; but three years later, having received the habit
of the third order of St Dominic, he was admitted to the Rosary convent
of the Friars Preachers at Lima, eventually becoming a professed lay-brother.
“Many were the offices to which the servant of
God, Brother Martin de Porres, attended, being barber, surgeon, wardrobe-keeper
and infirmarian. Each of these jobs was enough for any one man, but alone
he filled them all with great liberality, promptness and carefulness, without
being weighed down by any of them. It was most striking, and it made me
[Brother Fernando de Aragones] realize that, in that he clung to God in
his soul, all these things were effects of divine grace.”
Martin extended his care of the sick
to those of the city, and was instrumental in establishing an orphanage
and foundling-hospital, with other charitable institutions attached;
he was given the office of distributing the convent’s daily alms of food
to the poor (which he is said sometimes to have increased miraculously);
and he took upon himself to care for the miserable slaves who were brought
to Peru from Africa. He was greatly desirous of going to some foreign mission
where he might earn the crown of martyrdom, but this was impossible,
so he made a martyr of his own body; and as well as of his penances much
is said of his aerial flights, bilocations and other supernatural gifts.
Brother Martin’s charity embraced the lower animals (which seems to have surprised the Spaniards) and
even vermin, excusing the depredations of rats and mice on the ground
that the poor little things were insufficiently fed, and he kept a “cats’
and dogs’ home” at his sister’s house.
ST Martin’s protégé,
Juan Vasquez Parra, shows the lay-brother as eminently practical in
his charities, using carefully and methodically the money and goods he
collected, raising a dowry for his niece in three days (at the same time
getting as much and more for the poor), putting up the banns, showing Parra
how to sow camomile in the well-manured hoof-prints of cattle, buying a
Negro servant to work in the laundry, looking after those who needed blankets,
shirts, candles, sweets, miracles or prayers—the procurator apparently both
of the priory and the public. Don Balthasar Carasco, a jurist, wanted to
be Brother Martin’s “adopted son” and to call him “father”. Martin objected:
“Why do you want a mulatto for a father? That would not look well”.—“Why
not ? It would rather be said that you have a Spaniard for a son”, retorted
Don Balthasar. On one occasion when his priory was being dunned for a debt,
Martin offered himself in payment: “I am only
a poor mulatto; I’m the property of the order: sell me.”
ST Martin was a close friend
of St Rose of Lima as well as of Bd John Massias, who was a lay brother
at the Dominican priory of St Mary Magdalen in the same town. Martin
was at the Rosary priory, and he died there on November 3, 1639: prelates and noblemen carried him to his grave.
He was beatified in 1837, after long delays, and canonized on May 6,
1962. He is patron of social justice.
Fr
Van Ortroy adopted in this case a course unprecedented in earlier volumes
of the Acta Sanctorum, for he printed a tolerably full
account of the servant of God in a modern language. Fr B. de Medina
gave testimony regarding Martin de Porres before the apostolic commission
in 1683 his evidence was translated into Italian for the benefit of the
C.R.S. in Rome, and this version Fr Van Ortroy reproduced. But see also
With Bd Martin (1945), pp. 132—168, and the
Fifteenth Anniversary Book (1950), pp. 130—158, publications of the Blessed Martin Guild,
New York, edited by Fr Norbert Georges, where are printed translations
of the evidence of ten witnesses at the apostolic process. The appropriate
adoption of Bd Martin in America and elsewhere as patron of work for inter-racial
justice and harmony has led to the publication of several popular and
devotional works on him, such as that of J. C. Kearns (1950). There is
a life in French by S. Fumet (1933), rather uncritical. See Fr C. C. Martindale
in The Month, April 1920, pp. 300—313 and M. C. de Ganay
in Vie spirituelle, vol. ix (1923—24), notably pp. 54—61.
Born at Lima, Peru 1579 St. Martin de Porres'
father was a Spanish gentleman and his mother a coloured freed-woman
from Panama. At fifteen, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary
at Lima and spent his whole life there-as a barber, farm laborer, almoner,
and infirmarian among other things.
Martin had a great desire to go off to some foreign
mission and thus earn the palm of martyrdom. However, since this was
not possible, he made a martyr out of his body, devoting himself to ceaseless
and severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and wondrous
gifts, such as, aerial flights and bilocation.
St. Martin's love was all-embracing, shown equally to humans
and to animals, including vermin, and he maintained a cats and dogs hospital
at his sister's house. He also possessed spiritual wisdom, demonstrated
in his solving his sister's marriage problems, raising a dowry for his
niece inside of three day's time, and resolving theological problems
for the learned of his Order and for bishops. A close friend of St. Rose
of Lima, this saintly man died on November 3, 1639 and was canonized on
May 6, 1962. His feast day is November 3.
Martin de Porres, OP (AC)
Born at Lima, Peru, on November 9, 1579; died November 3, 1639;
beatified in 1837; canonized on May 5, 1962, by Pope John XXIII;
feast day formerly November 5.
Martin was the illegitimate child of Juan de Porres, a Spanish
knight (hidalgo) from Alcantara, and Anna Velasquez, a free Panamanian
mullato. Martin inherited his mother's features and dark skin, which
upset his father, but John acknowledged his paternity of Martin and his
sister while neglecting them. He was left to the care of his mother, and
at 12 he was apprenticed to a barber-surgeon, who taught him the healing
arts.
Martin's prayer life was rich
even in his youth. He had a deep devotion to the Passion of Our Lord,
and continually prayed to know what he could do in gratitude for the
immense blessings of redemption.
Martin de Porres
Deciding upon the religious life, at the age of 15, Martin received
the habit of the Third Order of Saint Dominic and was admitted to the
Dominican Rosary Convent at Lima as a servant. He gave himself the lowliest
duties of the house. Finally, his superiors commanded him to accept the
habit of a lay brother-- something Martin felt was too great an honor
for him--and he was professed.
He served in several offices in the convent--barber, infirmarian,
wardrobe keeper--as well as in the garden and as a counsellor. Soon
Martin's reputation as a healer spread abroad. He nursed the sick of
the city, including plague victims, regardless of race, and helped to
found an orphanage and foundling hospital with other charities attached
to them. He distributed the convent's alms of food (which he is said
sometimes to have increased miraculously) to the poor. Martin especially
ministered to the slaves that had been brought from Africa.
He cured as much through prayer as through his knowledge
of the medical arts. Among the countless many whose cures were attributed
to Martin were a priest dying from a badly infected leg and a young
student whose fingers were so damaged in an accident that his hopes for
ordination to the priesthood were nearly quenched.
Martin spent his nights in prayer
and penance, and he experienced visions and ecstasies. In addition
to these gifts, he was endowed with the gift of bilocation; he was seen
in Mexico, Central America, and even Japan, by people who knew him well,
whereas he had never physically been outside of Lima after entering the
order. One time Martin was on a picnic with the novices and they lost
track of time. Suddenly realizing that they would be late for their prayers,
Martin had them join hands. Before they knew what happened, they found
themselves standing in the monastery yard, unable to explain how they travelled
several miles in a few seconds.
He passed through locked doors by some means known only to himself
and God. In this way he appeared at the bedside of the sick without being
asked and always soothed the sick even when he did not completely heal
them.
St. Martin
Even sick animals came to Martin for healing. He demonstrated
a great control of and care for animals--a care that apparently was
inexplicable to the Spaniards--extending his love even to rats and mice,
whose scavenging he excused on the grounds that they were hungry. He
kept cats and dogs at his sister's house.
Great as his healing faculty was, Martin is probably best remembered
for the legend of the rats. It is said that the prior, a reasonable man,
objected to the rodents. He ordered Martin to set out poison for them.
Martin obeyed, but was very sorry for the rats. He went out into the
garden and called softly--and out came the rats. He reprimanded them for
their bad habits, telling them about the poison. He further assured them
that he would feed them every day in the garden, if they would refrain from
annoying the prior. This they agreed upon. He dismissed the rodents and
forever after, they never troubled the monastery.
His protege, Juan Vasquez Parra, reveals him to have
been a practical and capable man, attending to details ranging from
raising his sister's dowry in three days, to teaching Juan how to sow
chamomile in the manured hoofprints of cattle. He was eminently practical
in his charities, using carefully and methodically the money and goods
he collected. He was consulted on delicate matters by persons of consequence
in Lima.
Martin's close friends included
Saint Rose of Lima and Blessed John Massias, who was a lay-brother
at the Dominican priory of Saint Mary Magdalene in Lima. Although he
referred to himself as a "mulatto dog," his community called him the
"father of charity." They came to respect him so much that they accepted
his spiritual direction, even though he was but a lay brother.
He died of quatrain fever at Rosary Convent on November 3. The
Spanish viceroy, the count of Chinchón, came to kneel at his deathbed
and ask his blessing. Martin was carried to his grave by prelates and
noblemen.
The startling miracles, which caused Martin to be called a saint
in his own lifetime, continue today at his intercession. He lived a life
of almost constant prayer, and practiced remarkable austerities. He worked
at hard and menial tasks without ever losing a moment of union with God.
His charity, humility, and obedience were extraordinary--even for a saint.
Such was the veneration for Martin that the canonical inquiry into his
cause was begun in 1660 (Attwater, Cavallini, Delaney, Dorcy, Farmer, Walsh,
White).
He is the patron saint of interracial relations (because of
his universal charity to all men), social justice, public education,
and television in Peru, Spanish trade unionists (due to injustices workers
have suffered), Peru's public health service, people of mixed race, and
Italian barbers and hairdressers (White).
St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639)
"Father unknown" is the cold legal phrase sometimes used on
baptismal records. "Half-breed" or "war souvenir" is the cruel name
inflicted by those of "pure" blood. Like many others, Martin might have
grown to be a bitter man, but he did not. It was said that even as a child
he gave his heart and his goods to the poor and despised.
He was the illegitimate son of a freed woman of Panama, probably
black but also possibly of Native American stock, and a Spanish grandee
of Lima, Peru. He inherited the features and dark complexion of his mother.
That irked his father, who finally acknowledged his son after eight years.
After the birth of a sister, the father abandoned the family. Martin
was reared in poverty, locked into a low level of Lima’s society.
At 12 his mother apprenticed him to a barber-surgeon. He learned
how to cut hair and also how to draw blood (a standard medical treatment
then), care for wounds and prepare and administer medicines.
After a few years in this medical apostolate, Martin applied
to the Dominicans to be a "lay helper," not feeling himself worthy to
be a religious brother. After nine years, the example of his prayer and
penance, charity and humility led the community to request him to make
full religious profession. Many of his nights were spent in prayer and
penitential practices; his days were filled with nursing the sick and caring
for the poor. It was particularly impressive that he treated all people
regardless of their color, race or status. He was instrumental in founding
an orphanage, took care of slaves brought from Africa and managed the daily
alms of the priory with practicality as well as generosity. He became the
procurator for both priory and city, whether it was a matter of "blankets,
shirts, candles, candy, miracles or prayers!" When his priory was in debt,
he said, "I am only a poor mulatto. Sell me. I am the property of the order.
Sell me."
Side by side with his daily work in the kitchen, laundry and
infirmary, Martin’s life reflected God’s extraordinary gifts: ecstasies
that lifted him into the air, light filling the room where he prayed,
bilocation, miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures and a remarkable
rapport with animals. His charity extended to beasts of the field and even
to the vermin of the kitchen. He would excuse the raids of mice and rats
on the grounds that they were underfed; he kept stray cats and dogs at
his sister’s house.
He became a formidable fundraiser, obtaining thousands of dollars
for dowries for poor girls so that they could marry or enter a convent.
Many of his fellow religious took him as their spiritual director,
but he continued to call himself a "poor slave." He was a good friend
of another Dominican saint of Peru, Rose of Lima.
Comment: Racism is a sin almost nobody confesses. Like pollution,
it is a "sin of the world" that is everybody's responsibility but apparently
nobody's fault. One could hardly imagine a more fitting patron of Christian
forgiveness (on the part of those discriminated against) and Christian
justice (on the part of reformed racists) than Martin de Porres.
Quote: Pope John XXIII remarked at the canonization of Martin
(May 6, 1962), "He excused the faults of others. He forgave the bitterest
injuries, convinced that he deserved much severer punishments on account
of his own sins. He tried with all his might to redeem the guilty; lovingly
he comforted the sick; he provided food, clothing and medicine for the
poor; he helped, as best he could, farm laborers and Negroes, as well as
mulattoes, who were looked upon at that time as akin to slaves: thus he
deserved to be called by the name the people gave him: 'Martin of Charity.'"
|
1860 Blessed Peter-Francis
Néron worked in west Tonkin as director of the central seminary
until his martyrdom by beheading M (AC)
Born in Bornay, Jura; beatified
in 1919. Peter-Francis was admitted into the seminary of Foreign Missions
of Paris (1846), ordained priest (1848), and sent to Hong Kong. He
worked in west Tonkin as director of the central seminary until his
martyrdom by beheading (Benedictines).
|
1869
St. Peter Francis Neron martyr in Vietnam
Properly PierreFrancois
Neron. Born in Bornay, in the Jura region of France, in 1818, he joined the Foreign
Mission of Paris and was ordained a priest in 1848. Sent first to Hong Kong, he went to Vietnam and served
as the director of the main seminary in the kingdom until he was arrested
and beheaded by authorities.
|
salva-nos!)
2023
Goodbye Vern Bartholomew 1917-2017 on All Saints/All
Souls day Requiescat in pace
Let the
heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord: 
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.