Saints' Discussion Forums

Pope St. Innocent V, pray for us!
St. John the Baptist, pray for us!

 :D

Congratulations on a new thread!

 :violin: :kanpai: :violin:

       

"He will be great in the sight of the Lord
and will be filled with the Holy Spirit,
even from his mother's womb;
and many will rejoice at his birth. "

 Lk 1: 15, 14

St. Prosper of Aquitaine, pray for us!
St. Augustine, pray for us!
St. John Cassian, pray for us!
Pope St. Leo the Great, pray for us!

 :D

June 26

Memorial:
St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer
(1902-1975)
Founder of Opus Dei

I almost forgot !........



June 29

Happy Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

"These are the ones who, living in the flesh, planted the church with their blood;
they drank the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God." (Entrance Antiphon)

July 1

July 3


FEAST OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE

John 20:24-29
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But Thomas said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nail marks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Also on this day:

Bl. Joseph Peter Vyen
(1817-1838)

Born in East Tonkin (Vietnam), he was a Dominican
tertiary, catechist, prisoner and martyr. He died in
prison from the ill treatment he received there. He
was beatified in 1910.

St. Thomas, Apostle, pray for us!

St. Maria Goretti pray for us!

It's such a moving story!

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, keep us under the mantle of thy protection! Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!

One author describing St. Thomas Aquinas' life writes:

A few days before his death he told Fr. Reginald that Christ's dear Mother had appeared to him on several occasions, assuring him that his life and writings were pleasing to God, and that he would persevere in his state. St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Antoninus of Florence affirm that in his difficulties he used to turn to her as a child to a mother. Then she would stand visibly before him, and, turning with a smile to the Divine Babe in her arms, ask Him to bestow the enlightenment he sought.

Bl. James of Bevagna
(1220 - 1301)
Italian, Dominican priest, strenuous defender of orthodoxy, ascetic

(I have a short bio of James I'll share upon request.
  I'll have to type it out myself.  :D )

I would be glad to hear the bio James! :D

"....assured that Our Lady would come to meet him..."
 :principalities: :principalities: :principalities: :harp: :harp: :harp:

A truly blessed life!
Blessed James of Bevagna,
Pray for peace in the world today!

St.Monica, pray for us.
Amen.

She used her earthly inheritance to gain a heavenly one.  :crucifix:

On this feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, St. Helen, pray for us!

 :crucifix:

We adore You and we praise you!
Because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed The World!

Amen.

              For the feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Lift High the Cross would be an excellent hymn to sing.

      Saint Jerome     
The feastday of Saint Jerome is September 30th. He was born in 331 and died in 420.     
He is the patron saint of librarians. He read the literatures of Latin and Greek with great pleasure.     
                       He was enthusiastic to build up a religious library.

St. Louis Bertrand, pray for us!

He tended to the sick, he buried the dead with his own hands, and he left one half of the world to tend to the souls in the other!

Through God's intervention the poison had no effect! :D

              St. Florentius     
            Florentius was a Bishop of Orange in France.       
                    He was known for his patronage of monastic scholarship and his personal sancity.     
                             Florentius defended his see against heresies. He died in 526. His feast day is October 17.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, pray for us!

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us!

What a good example of the true Christian life -- to live austerely even when royalty.

                  The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is December 8th.       
                  Part of the First Verse of Sing We of the Blessed Mother:     
                         
                                   Sing we of the blessed Mother     
                                   Who received the angel's word,     
                                   And obedient to his summons     
                                   Bore in love the infant Lord

St. Raymond Penafort, pray for us!  :crucifix:

St. Hilary, Bishop of Poiters also known as:

Athanasius of the West
Doctor of the Divinity of Christ
Hammer against Arianism

Traditionally his feast is today.


'To those who wish to stand in God’s grace, neither the guardianship of saints nor the defenses of angels are wanting.'

St. Hilary

One reads that. . .

Her entire life was an unbroken chain of devotional exercises and penances. From early childhood she chastised herself unceasingly, wore hair garments, and an iron girdle around her waist, as well as shoes spiked with nails. She was frequently scourged and did the most menial work of the convent.

When St. Margaret was only 10 years old two Dominican friars came to visit. She wished them to stay longer but they refused and would leave at once, so she said, "I shall ask God that it may rain so hard that you cannot get away". And although they said no rain would stop them, it rained so hard it was impossible for them to depart. It is as if she were a young St. Scholastica, and you can see she was already being prepared by Providence with love to live under the care of St. Dominic's descendants.

S. Margaret of Hungary, ora pro nobis.

'What threats the executioner used to make her fear him, what allurements to persuade her, how many desired that she would come to them in marriage! But she answered: “It would be an injury to my spouse to look on any one as likely to please me. He who chose me first for Himself shall receive me. Why are you delaying, executioner? Let this body perish which can be loved by eyes which I would not.” She stood, she prayed, she bent down her neck. You could see the executioner tremble, as though he himself had been condemned, and his right hand shake, his face grow pale, as he feared the peril of another, while the maiden feared not for her own. You have then in one victim a twofold martyrdom, of modesty and of religion. She both remained a virgin and she obtained martyrdom.'

St. Ambrose of Milan

Thanks Shin. May we all have that kind of devotion............

St. Ansgar
(801-865)

The “apostle of the north” (Scandinavia) had enough frustrations to become a saint—and he did. He became a Benedictine at Corbie, France, where he had been educated. Three years later, when the king of Denmark became a convert, Ansgar went to that country for three years of missionary work, without noticeable success. Sweden asked for Christian missionaries, and he went there, suffering capture by pirates and other hardships on the way. Fewer than two years later, he was recalled, to become abbot of New Corbie (Corvey) and bishop of Hamburg. The pope made him legate for the Scandinavian missions. Funds for the northern apostolate stopped with Emperor Louis’s death. After 13 years’ work in Hamburg, Ansgar saw it burned to the ground by invading Northmen; Sweden and Denmark returned to paganism.

He directed new apostolic activities in the North, traveling to Denmark and being instrumental in the conversion of another king. By the strange device of casting lots, the king of Sweden allowed the Christian missionaries to return.

Ansgar’s biographers remark that he was an extraordinary preacher, a humble and ascetical priest. He was devoted to the poor and the sick, imitating the Lord in washing their feet and waiting on them at table. He died peacefully at Bremen, Germany, without achieving his wish to be a martyr.

Sweden became pagan again after his death, and remained so until the coming of missionaries two centuries later.[/size]

'The time having now come when, according to the law, Mary had to go to the Temple for her purification, and to present Jesus to the divine Father, behold she sets out in company with Joseph. Joseph carries the two turtle-doves that they are to offer to God, and Mary carries her dear Infant: she takes the Lamb of God to offer him to the Almighty, in token of the great sacrifice that this Son should one day accomplish on the cross.

Consider the holy Virgin entering the Temple; she makes an oblation of her Son on the part of the whole human race, and says: Behold, O Eternal Father, Thy beloved only-begotten One, who is Thy Son and mine also; I offer him to Thee as a victim to Thy divine justice, in order to appease Thy wrath against sinners. Accept him, O God of mercy! have pity on our miseries; for the love of this immaculate Lamb do Thou receive men into Thy grace.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Thanks Brother ! I thought my posting was a little weak on the Presentation. But gives a good insight on the "Candlemas".

I enjoyed reading it!

'Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make His spirit, His devotion, His affections, His desires, and His disposition live and reign there. All our religious exercises should be directed to this end. It is the work which God has given us to do unceasingly.'

St. Jean Eudes

'Get out of the filth of the horrible torrent of this world, the torrent of thorns that is whirling you into the abyss of eternal perdition. . . This torrent is the world, which resembles an impetuous torrent, full of garbage and evil odours, making a lot of noise but flowing swiftly passed, dragging the majority of men into the pit of perdition.'

St. Jean Eudes

St. Jean "John" Eudes Pray for us......

Blessed Nicholas of Paglia
Friar & Priest

Blessed Nicholas was born at Giovinazzo,
near Bari, Italy, in 1197. While pursuing studies at
Bologna, he was drawn to the Order by a sermon of
Saint Dominic who personally gave him the habit
and made him one of his traveling companions. He
was well known for his preaching throughout the
Roman Province and compiled a concordance of
sacred scripture. He died at Perugia in 1256.

A good way to live life! And live life well! :D

I am enjoying these readings! Thank you James!  ;D ;D ;D

Your very welcome my friend !

I have never heard of some of these saints before! 

What a great idea to share them with everyone!

Thank you!   :)

Welcome !  ;D

Folks who wear the Black Scapular, or the Five-Fold Scapular know the Servite Order!

Today in the Roman Martyrology:

IN Sicily, in the reign of Diocletian, the birthday - of seventy-nine holy martyrs, who deserved by various torments to receive an immortal crown for the confession of their faith.

At Adrumetum, in Africa, during the persecution of the Vandals, the holy martyrs Verulus, Secundinus, Syricius, Felix, Servulus, Saturninus, Fortunatus, and sixteen others, who were crowned with martyrdom for the confession of the Catholic faith.

At Scythopolis, in Palestine, St. Severian, bishop and martyr.

At Damascus, St. Peter Mavimenus, who was killed by some Arabs who visited him in his sickness, because he said to them: "Whoever does not embrace the Christian and Catholic faith is lost, like your false prophet Mahomet."

At Ravenna, St. Maximian, bishop and confessor. At Metz, St. Felix, bishop. At Brescia, St. Paterius, bishop.

Let us be led by their example .... May all the blessed Martyrs pray for us !

To find a saint for this day .. they're a bit scarce! St. Oswald, pray for us! :D

Thank you James!

I read in Butler's the entry for St. David:

ST. DAVID, in Welch Dewid, was son of Xantus, prince of Ceretica, now Cardiganshire. He was brought up in the service of God, and being ordained priest, retired into the Isle of Wight, and embraced an ascetic life, under the direction of Paulinus, a learned and holy man, who had been a disciple of St. Germanus of Auxerre. He is said by the sign of the cross to have restored sight to his master, which he had lost by old age, and excessive weeping in prayer. He studied a long time to prepare himself for the functions of the holy ministry. At length, coming out of his solitude, like the Baptist out of the desert, he preached the word of eternal life to the Britons. He built a chapel at Glastenbury, a place which had been consecrated to the divine worship by the first apostles of this island. He founded twelve monasteries, the principal of which was in the vale of Ross, 1 near Menevia, where he formed many great pastors and eminent servants of God. By his rule he obliged all his monks to assiduous manual labour in the spirit of penance: he allowed them the use of no cattle to ease them at their work in tilling the ground. They were never suffered to speak but on occasions of absolute necessity, and they never ceased to pray, at least mentally, during their labour. They returned late in the day to the monastery, to read, write, and pray. Their food was only bread and vegetables, with a little salt, and they never drank anything better than a little milk mingled with water. After their repast they spent three hours in prayer and adoration; then took a little rest, rose at cock-crowing, and continued in prayer till they went out to work. Their habit was of the skins of beasts. When any one petitioned to be admitted, he waited ten days at the door, during which time he was tried by harsh words, repeated refusals, and painful labours, that he might learn to die to himself. When he was admitted, he left all his worldly substance behind him, for the monastery never received anything on the score of admission. All the monks discovered their most secret thoughts and temptations to their abbot.

The Pelagian heresy springing forth a second time in Britain, the bishops, in order to suppress it, held a synod at Brevy, in Cardiganshire, in 512, or rather in 519. 2 St. David, being invited to it, went thither, and in that venerable assembly confuted and silenced the infernal monster by his eloquence, learning and miracles. On the spot where this council was held, a church was afterwards built called Llan-Devi-Brevi, or the church of St. David near the river Brevi. At the close of the synod, St. Dubritius, the archbishop of Caerleon, resigned his see to St. David, whose tears and opposition were only to be overcome by the absolute command of the synod; which however allowed him, at his request, the liberty to transfer his see from Caerleon, then a populous city, to Menevia, now called St. David’s, a retired place, formed by nature for solitude, being as it were almost cut off from the rest of the island, though now an intercourse is opened to it from Milford-Haven. Soon after the former synod, another was assembled by Saint David at a place called Victoria; in which the acts of the first were confirmed, and several canons added relating to discipline, which were afterwards confirmed by the authority of the Roman church; and these two synods were, as it were, the rule and standard of the British churches.

As for St. David, Giraldus adds, that he was the great ornament and pattern of his age. He spoke with great force and energy; but his example was more powerful than his eloquence; and he has in all succeeding ages been the glory of the British church. He continued in his last see many years; and having founded several monasteries, and been the spiritual father of many saints, both British and Irish, died about the year 544, in a very advanced age. St. Kentigern saw his soul born up by angels into heaven. He was buried in his church of St. Andrew, which hath since taken his name, with the town and the whole diocese.

Near the church stand several chapels, formerly resorted to with great devotion: the principal is that of Saint Nun, mother of Saint David, near which is a beautiful well, still frequented by pilgrims. Another chapel is sacred to St. Lily, surnamed Gwas-Dewy, that is, St. David’s man; for he was his beloved disciple and companion in his retirement. He is honoured there on the 3rd, and St. Nun, who lived and died the spiritual mother of many religious women, on the 2nd of March. The three first days of March were formerly holidays in South Wales in honour of these three saints; at present only the first is kept a festival throughout all Wales. John of Glastenbury informs us, that in the reign of King Edgar, in the year of Christ 962, the relics of St. David were translated with great solemnity from the vale of Ross to Glastenbury, together with a portion of the relics of St. Stephen the Protomartyr.

By singing assiduously the divine praises with pure and holy hearts, dead to the world and all inordinate passions, monks are styled angels of the earth. The divine praise is the primary act of the love of God; for a soul enamoured of his adorable goodness and perfections, summons up all her powers to express the complacency she takes in his infinite greatness and bliss, and sounds forth his praises with all her strength. In this entertainment she feels an insatiable delight and sweetness, and with longing desires aspires after that bliss in which she will love and praise without intermission or impediment. By each act of divine praise, the fervour of charity and its habit, and with it every spiritual good and every rich treasure, is increased in her: moreover, God in return heaps upon her the choicest blessings of his grace. Therefore, though the acts of divine praise seem directly to be no more than a tribute or homage of our affections, which we tender to God, the highest advantages accrue from these exercises to our souls. St. Stephen of Grandmont was once asked by a disciple, why we are so frequently exhorted in the scriptures to bless and praise God, who, being infinite, can receive no increase from our homages? To which the saint replied: “A man who blesses and praises God receives from thence the highest advantage imaginable; for God, in return, bestows on him all his blessings, and for every word that he repeats in these acts, says: ‘For the praises and blessings which you offer me, I bestow my blessings on you; what you present to me returns to yourself with an increase which becomes my liberality and greatness.’ It is the divine grace,” goes on this holy doctor, “which first excites a man to praise God, and he only returns to God his own gift: yet by his continually blessing God, the Lord pours forth his divine blessings upon him, which are so many new increases of charity in his soul.

. . .

St. David, pray for us!

For today, the 5th, from Butler's:

SS. Adrian and Eubulus, of Palestine, Martyrs
   
A.D. 309.

IN the seventh year of Dioclesian’s persecution, continued by Galerius Maximianus, when Firmilian, the most bloody governor of Palestine, had stained Cæsarea with the blood of many illustrious martyrs, Adrian and Eubulus came out of the country called Magantia to Cæsarea, in order to visit the holy confessors there. At the gates of the city they were asked, as others were, whither they were going, and upon what errand? They ingenuously confessed the truth, and were brought before the president, who ordered them to be tortured, and their sides to be torn with iron hooks, and then condemned them to be exposed to wild beasts. Two days after, when the pagans at Cæsarea celebrated the festival of the public genius, Adrian was exposed to a lion, and not being despatched by that beast, but only mangled, was at length killed by the sword. Eubulus was treated in the same manner, two days later. The judge offered him his liberty if he would sacrifice to idols; but the saint preferred a glorious death, and was the last who suffered in this persecution at Cæsarea, which had now continued twelve years under three successive governors, Flavian, Urban, and Firmilian. Divine vengeance pursuing the cruel Firmilian, he was that same year beheaded for his crimes, by the emperor’s order, as his predecessor Urban had been two years before.    

It is in vain that we take the name of Christians, or pretend to follow Christ, unless we carry our crosses after him. It is in vain that we hope to share in his glory, and in his kingdom, if we accept not the condition.  We cannot arrive at heaven by any other road but that which Christ walked, who bequeathed his cross to all his elect as their portion and inheritance in this world. None can be exempted from this rule, without renouncing his title to heaven. Let us sound our own hearts, and see if our sentiments are conformable to these principles of the holy religion which we profess.    

Are our lives a constant exercise of patience under all trials, and a continual renunciation of our senses and corrupt inclinations, by the practice of self-denial and penance? Are we not impatient under pain or sickness, fretful under disappointments, disturbed and uneasy at the least accidents which are disagreeable to our nature, harsh and peevish in reproving the faults of others, and slothful and unmortified in endeavouring to correct our own? What a monstrous contradiction is it not to call ourselves followers of Christ, yet to live irreconcilable enemies to his cross! We can never separate Christ from his cross, on which he sacrificed himself for us, that he might unite us on it eternally to himself. Let us courageously embrace it, and he will be our comfort and support, as he was of his martyrs.

St. Joseph, Husband of Mary
Feast Day: Saturday, March 19, 2016

The Bible pays Joseph the highest compliment: he was a “just” man. The quality meant a lot more than faithfulness in paying debts.

When the Bible speaks of God “justifying” someone, it means that God, the all-holy or “righteous” One, so transforms a person that the individual shares somehow in God’s own holiness, and hence it is really “right” for God to love him or her. In other words, God is not playing games, acting as if we were lovable when we are not.

By saying Joseph was “just,” the Bible means that he was one who was completely open to all that God wanted to do for him. He became holy by opening himself totally to God.

The rest we can easily surmise. Think of the kind of love with which he wooed and won Mary, and the depth of the love they shared during their marriage.

It is no contradiction of Joseph’s manly holiness that he decided to divorce Mary when she was found to be with child. The important words of the Bible are that he planned to do this “quietly” because he was “a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame” (Matthew 1:19).

The just man was simply, joyfully, wholeheartedly obedient to God—in marrying Mary, in naming Jesus, in shepherding the precious pair to Egypt, in bringing them to Nazareth, in the undetermined number of years of quiet faith and courage.

And from a biography:  :D

Before even this saint of miracles was born. . .

One night while his father slept he dreamed that he entered the church of the Dominicans at Valencia, when one of that Order was preaching to the multitude from the pulpit, and that the preacher turning to him, addressed him in these words: "I felicitate you, William; in a few days you will have a son who will become a prodigy of learning and sanctity; he will be the object of your delight and the honour of your house; the world will resound with the fame of his wondrous deeds; he will fill heaven with joy and hell with terror; he will put on the habit that I wear, and will be received in the Church with universal joy, as one of its first Apostles."

God was pleased to work, while it was still in the maternal womb, by its mediation, a remarkable prodigy. His mother Constance went one day to visit a blind woman on whom she was wont to bestow a monthly alms, and having given it to her as usual she added, "My daughter, pray God that the child which I bear may arrive safe." The blind woman bent her head on the mother's bosom and said, "May God bestow that favour on you!" At the same instant her material blindness left her, and being suddenly illuminated in her soul with prophetic light, she exclaimed, "Madam, ti is an angel you have, and it is he who has cured me of my affliction."

The child, like another John the Baptist, applauded the words of the poor woman by leaping in the womb, and the mother herself gave testimony of it.

Such were the signs that preceded the birth of St. Vincent Ferrer.

The birth was an event for the whole city. The principle inhabitants made it a point of duty to accompany the new born to the  baptismal font. Besides a municipal deputation, three of the chief magistrates were present; and as they could not agree on the name that was to be given to this predestined child, the priest who administered the sacrament was divinely inspired to name him Vincent, a name that was in every was adapted to his future destiny. . .


'Try to convince yourself that there is no crime-laden sinner but would have served God better than you. . .  if he had received the same graces.'

St. Vincent Ferrer

'Do you desire to study to your advantage?  Let devotion accompany all your studies and study less to make yourself learned than to become a saint.'

St. Vincent Ferrer

'If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire.'

St. Vincent Ferrer

Thanks for adding the extra Info. on St Vincent Ferrer Brother !!! :)





:littlepigeons:

My mother has always loved the name -- St. Bernadette, pray for us!

'O Immaculate Mary! O glorious Saint Joseph! And you, Saint John, beloved disciple of the Divine Heart, teach me the great science of love! May it draw me powerfully! May I soar at last, may I take flight and hasten to lose myself, unite myself and disappear with you in the adorable heart of Jesus, and Jesus Crucified, the divine heart of Charity, purity, self-denial and perfect submission.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

'Jesus does not want us to be attached to possessions, to human honors, to creatures. He asks humility. But His love and His generosity make this detachment less difficult and less cruel to our nature. Nothing else matters to me anymore, nothing has any value for me but Jesus, no place, no thing, no person, no idea, no feeling, no honor, no suffering, nothing that can turn me away from Jesus. For me, Jesus Himself is my honor, my delight, my heart, my spirit, He whom I love, what I love, my home Heaven here on earth. Jesus is my treasure and my love and Jesus crucified is my only happiness.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

'For the greater glory of God, the important thing is not to do many things, but to do all things well.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

St. Justin, Martyr

ST. JUSTIN was born at Neapolis, now Naplosa, the ancient Sichem, and formerly the capital of the province of Samaria. Vespasian, having endowed its inhabitants with the privileges belonging to Roman citizens, gave it the name of Flavia. His son Titus sent thither a colony of Greeks, among whom were the father and grandfather of our saint. His father, a heathen, 1 brought him up in the errors and superstitions of paganism, but at the same time did not neglect to cultivate his mind by several branches of human literature. St. Justin accordingly informs us, that he spent his youth in reading the poets, orators, and historians. Having gone through the usual course of these studies, he gave himself up to that of philosophy in quest of truth, an ardent love of which was his predominant passion. He addressed himself first to a master who was a Stoic; and after having staid some time with him, seeing he could learn nothing of him concerning God, he left him, and went to a Peripatetic, a very subtle man in his own conceit; but Justin, being desired the second day after admission, to fix his master’s salary, that he might know what he was to be allowed for his pains in teaching him, he left him also, concluding that he was no philosopher. He then tried a Pythagorean, who had a great reputation, and who boasted much of his wisdom; but he required of his scholar, as a necessary preliminary to his admission, that he should have learned music, astronomy, and geometry. Justin could not bear such delays in the search of God, and preferred the school of an Academic, under whom he made great progress in the Platonic philosophy, and vainly flattered himself with the hope of arriving in a short time at the sight of God, which the Platonic philosophy seemed to have had chiefly in view.

Walking one day by the sea-side, for the advantage of a greater freedom from noise and tumult, he saw, as he turned about, an old man who followed him pretty close. His appearance was majestic, and had a great mixture in it of mildness and gravity. Justin looking on him very attentively, the man asked him if he knew him. Justin answered in the negative. “Why then,” said he, “do you look so steadfastly upon me?” Justin replied: “It is the effect of my surprise to meet any human creature in this remote and solitary place.” “What brought me hither,” said that old man, “was my concern for some of my friends. They are gone a journey, and I am come hither to look out for them.” They then fell into a long discourse concerning the excellency of philosophy in general, and of the Platonic in particular, which Justin asserted to be the only true way to happiness, and of knowing and seeing God. This the grave person refuted at large, and at length by the force of his arguments convinced him that those philosophers, whom he had the greatest esteem for, Plato and Pythagoras, had been mistaken in their principles, and had not a thorough knowledge of God and of the soul of man, nor could they in consequence communicate it to others. This drew from him the important query, Who were the likeliest persons to set him in the right way? The stranger answered, that long before the existence of these reputed philosophers, there were certain blessed men, lovers of God, and divinely inspired, called prophets, on account of their foretelling things which have since come to pass; whose books, yet extant, contain many solid instructions about the first cause and end of all things, and many other particulars becoming a philosopher to know. That their miracles and their predictions had procured them such credit, that they established truth by authority, and not by disputes and elaborate demonstrations of human reason, of which few men are capable. That they inculcated the belief of one only God, the Father and author of all things, and of his Son Jesus Christ, whom he had sent into the world. He concluded his discourse with this advice: “As for thyself, above all things, pray that the gates of life may be opened unto thee; for these are not things to be discerned, unless God and Christ grant to a man the knowledge of them.”

After these words he departed, and Justin saw him no more; but his conversation left a deep impression on the young philosopher’s soul, and kindled there an ardent affection for these true philosophers, the prophets. And upon a further inquiry into the credibility of the Christian religion, he embraced it soon after. What had also no small weight in persuading him of the truth of the Christian faith, was the innocence and true virtue of its professors; seeing with what courage and constancy, rather than to betray their religion, or commit the least sin, they suffered the sharpest tortures, and encountered, nay even courted death itself, in its most horrible shapes. “When I heard the Christians traduced and reproached,” says he, “yet saw them fearless and rushing on death and all things that are accounted most dreadful to human nature, I concluded with myself that it was impossible those men should wallow in vice, and be carried away with the love of lust and pleasure.”

. . .

St. Justin made a long stay in Rome, dwelling near the Timothin baths, on the Viminal hill. The Christians met in his house to perform their devotions, and he applied himself with great zeal to the instruction of all those who resorted to him. Evelpistus, who suffered with him, owned at his examination that he had heard with pleasure Justin’s discourses. The judge was acquainted with his zeal, when he asked him, in what place he assembled his disciples? Not content with labouring in the conversion of Jews and Gentiles, he exerted his endeavours in defending the Catholic faith against all the heresies of that age. His excellent volumes against Marcion, as they are styled by St. Jerom, are now lost, with several other works commended by the ancients. The martyr, after his first apology, left Rome, and probably performed the functions of an evangelist in many countries for several years. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, being at Ephesus, and casually meeting in the walks of Xistus Tryphon, whom Eusebius calls the most celebrated Jew of that age, and who was a famous philosopher, he fell into discourse with him, which brought on a disputation, which was held in the presence of several witnesses during two entire days. St. Justin afterwards committed to writing this dialogue with Tryphon, which work is a simple narrative of a familiar unstudied conversation. Tryphon seeing Justin in the philosopher’s cloak, addressed him on the excellency of philosophy. The saint answered, that he admired he should not rather study Moses and the prophets, in comparison of whom all the writings of the philosophers are empty jargon and foolish dreams. Then, in the first part of his dialogue, he showed that, according to the prophets, the old law was temporary, and to be abolished by the new: and in the second, that Christ was God before all ages, distinct from the Father—the same that appeared to Abraham, Moses, &c. the same that created man, and was himself made man, and crucified.

. . .

Justin and others that were with him were apprehended, and brought before Rusticus, prefect of Rome. . . [and after being interrogated and urged to deny the faith] . . .

. . .

The martyrs were forthwith led to the place where criminals were executed, and there, amidst the praises and thanksgivings which they did not cease to pour forth to God, were first scourged, and afterwards beheaded. After their martyrdom, certain Christians carried off their bodies privately, and gave them an honourable burial. St. Justin is one of the most ancient fathers of the church who has left us works of any considerable note. Tatian, his disciple, writes, that, of all men, he was the most worthy of admiration.  Eusebius, St. Jerom, St. Epiphanius, Theodoret, &c. bestow on him the highest praises.

[He suffered about the year of Our Lord 167, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.]

- from the Lives of the Saints

SS. Marcellinus and Peter, Martyrs

MARCELLINUS was a priest, and Peter an exorcist, both of the clergy of Rome, and eminent for their zeal and piety. In the persecution of Dioclesian, about the year of Our Lord 304, they were condemned to die for their faith: and by a secret order of the judge, the executioner led them into a forest, that the holy men being executed privately, no Christians might be acquainted with the place of their sepulchre.

When he had brought them into a thicket overgrown with thorns and briers, three miles from Rome, he declared to them his sanguinary commission. The saints cheerfully fell to work themselves, grubbed up the brambles, and cleared a spot fit for their sepulchre.

After they were beheaded, their bodies were buried in the same place. Some time after, Lucilla, a pious lady, being informed by revelation, and assisted by another devout lady named Firmina, took up their bodies, and honourably interred them near that of St. Tiburtius on the Lavican road in the Catacombs.

Pope Damasus assures us, that, when a child, he learned all these particulars from the mouth of the executioner himself, and he has inserted them in a Latin epitaph with which he adorned their tomb.

- From the Lives of the Saints

Blessed Sadoc
Friar & Priest, & Companions, Martyrs

According to tradition Bl. Sadoc received the
habit from St. Dominic himself at the General
Chapter of Bologna in 1221 was chosen to
accompany Master Paul of Hungary, who had
been commissioned to establish a province in
Hungary. Later Bl. Sadoc moved on to Poland
where he preached the gospel for nearly forty
years. In 1260 he and 48 members of the
Dominican community at Sandomierz were
martyred by the Tartars as they were singing the
Salve Regina at Compline. The custom of singing
the Salve Regina at the deathbed of Dominicans
stems from this incident.

How good to see you my friend! I pray your health is good!! :D

Blessed Sadoc pray for us!

All ye holy martyrs pray for us!

Health is good amen !!!

All the holy souls pray for us !!!!

Pray for us O holy virgins of Christ!

An interesting Blessed! I decided to look up further, and read from different sources that:

'Osanna Andreasi was born in Carbonarola, close to Mantua, in the magnificent palace of a very noble Italian family that originated in Hungary. Later the family moved to a smaller palace in Mantua. At age 5, while walking along the banks of the Po River, she heard a clear, firm voice that told her: “Life and death consist in loving God.” She entered into an ecstasy and was raised to Heaven by a splendorous Angel. He showed her the celestial hierarchy and told her, “To enter Heaven it is necessary to love God very much: See how all created things sing His glory and proclaim it to men.”'

'Soon afterwards our Lord Himself met her on the same spot in the form of a lovely child, with a crown of thorns upon His head, and bearing on His shoulders a heavy cross. "My beloved child," said He to Osanna, "I am the Son of the Virgin Mary and thy Creator. I have always loved children, because their hearts are pure. I willingly admit virgins as My spouses; I guard their virginity; and when they call upon me with the words, "O Good Jesus, I instantly come to their assistance." This vision was the call to Osanna to follow her Divine Spouse in the path of His sufferings, and she responded to it by an act of entire consecration of herself to His will.

It was her ardent desire to dedicate herself solemnly to God's service in some monastery ; but, after many negotiations for this object had failed, it was revealed to her that she was not to enter the cloister, but to sanctify herself in the world as a Tertiary of our Holy Order. This determination caused great grief to her parents ; nor was it until a dangerous illness had brought her to the brink of the grave that they would consent to her receiving the habit, which she at last did at the age of fourteen. It was not, however, permitted to her for a long series of years to make her solemn profession. She constantly longed for this happiness, but, understanding that the obstacles which were continually raised against it were ordained by God for her greater perfection, she humbly submitted herself to His Divine will. It was not until she had attained the age of fifty-five, that, in the last year of her life, she at length publicly bound herself by the vows of religion. She had, however, at the time of her clothing, made a private vow of obedience, and would never do the slightest thing without the leave of those who were placed over her.

Blessed Osanna was favoured with continual raptures and ecstasies in prayer, which she was unable to conceal from the busy eye of the curious, and these heavenly favours were made a constant subject of reproof and persecution. The other Tertiaries persisted in regarding them as nothing but a voluntary affectation of sanctity, and threatened to deprive her of the habit unless they ceased. They also murmured greatly because, as the fame of her sanctity spread, persons of rank thronged about her to ask her counsel or to gratify their curiosity. But Osanna's patience and humility were never in the least disturbed. Her Divine Spouse had made known to her, as in earlier times to Saint Catharine of Siena, and later to Blessed Margaret Mary, the secret of His Heart ; and we are expressly told that it was to that never-failing fountain of consolation that she had recourse whenever tribulation pressed heavily upon her. And, when prevented from approaching the Sacrament of Penance as often as she would have wished, she confessed her daily frailties to her good Jesus, as she loved to call Him.

The nuptials with the Beloved of her soul, which she so ardently desired to accomplish by her profession, and which were in that manner delayed for so many years, were mystically solemnized in the presence of the Mother of God and the whole court of Heaven.

This and other spiritual favours more and more increased the fire of Divine love which burnt within her and filled her with an equally ardent desire to suffer. Grieving that she could not be more conformed to the likeness of her crucified Lord, she one day cast herself at His feet, exclaiming : " O my only Love ! Must the thorns then be for Thee alone ; for Thee alone the nails and the cross ; and for me sweetness and consolation ? Ah ! not so. I will not share Thy glory unless Thou make me also share Thy pains." And thus for two years she incessantly besought the Eternal Goodness to grant her that which her soul longed after, a conformity of suffering. Then at length the crown of thorns was granted to her, and, later on, the sacred Stigmata. At each of these heavenly favours, the agony of her mortal frame increased to an almost inconceivable extent; yet still she was not satisfied. A longing arose in her heart to share in those unknown and awful sufferings which filled the heart of Jesus whilst He hung upon the Cross. Then, in answer to her prayer, her Divine Spouse plunged into her loving heart a long and terrible nail. The agony of this transfixion must have caused her death, had not the same Divine hand relieved her; but this cutting and dividing of her heart was often repeated in after years, in answer to her unsatisfied entreaties. During this life of mysterious suffering, Osanna ceased not to labour for the souls of others by prayer and works of charity, and often offered her body and soul to God to receive the chastisement due to inveterate sinners or to the poor souls in purgatory.

Her approaching death was announced to her four years previously by Blessed Columba of Rieti, who appeared to her in great glory at the moment of her own departure out of this life.

The death of Blessed Osanna took place on the 18th of June, A.D. 1505. Three years afterwards her body was still incorrupt. Leo X. gave permission for her feast to be celebrated in the diocese of Mantua, and this privilege was extended to the Dominican Order by Innocent XII.'

Prayer

Graciously hear us, O God our Saviour, that, as we rejoice in celebrating the memory of Blessed Osanna Thy Virgin, we may be instructed likewise in all feelings of tender devotion. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Great Bio info. on Bl. Ossana Shin !

James have you considered looking again for a better source for lives of the saints?

Ok,  whats wrong with that one ?

Besides the bad content in the last post, it's definitely new material and possibly under copyright, using too much would no longer be fair use -- and if it's from that 'St. Anthony's Messenger' magazine that's a bad source in general.

Do you remember when I referred you to Butler's? That's free, old enough, and online, and while not perfect the content is far better and can be normally used with simple prudence against any typical problems of the times such as emerging so called 'historical criticism'. It has the details of the lives of the saints which is good to have rather than reducing them to vague generalities that can obscure their real virtues and faith.

Perhaps you have not read or forgotten that I mentioned before for folks to use old sources here in general too.

I have been hoping for some time you would use a better source.

Okee Dokee. Then I shall start using and searching for other sources. Sorry about that !  :rainyday:  :bighanky:   :D

 :D  Thank you my friend! Sorry to mention it! 

 :fishie:  :fishie: :fishie: :fishie: :fishie: :fishie:

Today is the 3rd day of the seventh month of the year of Our Lord 2016.

The Feast of St. Phocas, Gardener, Martyr

            From his panegyric, written by St. Asterius, and another by St. Chrysostom, t. 2, ed. Ben. p. 704. Ruinart, p. 627.

A.D. 303.

ST. PHOCUS dwelt near the gate of Sinope, a city of Pontus, and lived by cultivating a garden, which yielded him a handsome subsistence, and wherewith plentifully to relieve the indigent. In his humble profession he imitated the virtue of the most holy anchorets, and seemed in part restored to the happy condition of our first parents in Eden. To prune the garden without labour and toil was their sweet employment and pleasure. Since their sin, the earth yields not its fruit but by the sweat of our brow. But still, no labour is more useful or necessary, or more natural to man, and better adapted to maintain in him vigour of mind or health of body than that of tillage; nor does any other part of the universe rival the innocent charms which a garden presents to all our senses, by the fragrancy of its flowers, by the riches of its produce, and the sweetness and variety of its fruits; by the melodious concert of its musicians, by the worlds of wonders which every stem, leaf, and fibre exhibit to the contemplation of the inquisitive philosopher, and by that beauty and variegated lustre of colours which clothe the numberless tribes of its smallest inhabitants, and adorn its shining landscapes, vying with the brightest splendour of the heavens, and in a single lily surpassing the dazzling lustre with which Solomon was surrounded on his throne in the midst of all his glory.

And what a field for contemplation does a garden offer to our view in every part, raising our souls to God in raptures of love and praise, stimulating us to fervour, by the fruitfulness with which it repays our labour, and multiplies the seed it receives; and exciting us to tears of compunction for our insensibility to God by the barrenness with which it is changed into a frightful desert, unless subdued by assiduous toil! Our saint joining prayer with his labour, found in his garden itself an instructive book, and an inexhausted fund of holy meditation. His house was open to all strangers and travellers who had no lodging in the place; and after having for many years most liberally bestowed the fruit of his labour on the poor, he was found worthy also to give his life for Christ. Though his profession was obscure, he was well known over the whole country by the reputation of his charity and virtue.    

When a cruel persecution, probably that of Dioclesian in 303, was suddenly raised in the church, Phocas was immediately impeached as a Christian, and such was the notoriety of his pretended crime, that the formality of a trial was superceded by the persecutors, and executioners were despatched with an order to kill him on the spot wherever they should find him. Arriving near Sinope, they would not enter the town, but stopping at his house without knowing it, at his kind invitation they took up their lodging with him. Being charmed with his courteous entertainment, they at supper disclosed to him the errand upon which they were sent, and desired him to inform them where this Phocas could be most easily met with? The servant of God, without the least surprise, told them he was well acquainted with the man, and would give them certain intelligence of him next morning.

After they were retired to bed he dug a grave, prepared everything for his burial, and spent the night in disposing his soul for his last hour. When it was day he went to his guests, and told them Phocas was found, and in their power whenever they pleased to apprehend him. Glad at this news, they inquired where he was. “He is here present,” said the martyr, “I myself am the man.” Struck at his undaunted resolution, and at the composure of his mind, they stood a considerable time as if they had been motionless, nor could they at first think of imbruing their hands in the blood of a person in whom they discovered so heroic a virtue, and by whom they had been so courteously entertained. He indirectly encouraged them, saying, that as for himself, he looked upon such a death as the greatest of favours, and his highest advantage. At length recovering themselves from their surprise, they struck off his head. The Christians of that city, after peace was restored to the church, built a stately church which bore his name, and was famous over all the East. In it were deposited the sacred relics, though some portions of them were dispersed in other churches.

July 3

Blessed Joseph Peter Vyen
(1817-1838)

Born in East Tonkin (Vietnam), he was a Dominican
tertiary, catechist, prisoner and martyr. He died in
prison from the ill treatment he received there. He
was beatified in 1910.

Blessed Joseph, pray for us!  :crucifix:

St. Philip Beniti, Confessor

ST. PHILIP BENITI or BENIZI, the principal ornament and propagator of the religious Order of the Servites in Italy, was descended of the noble family of Benizi in Florence, and a native of that city. His virtuous parents were well persuaded that the right or wrong state of human nature depends as necessarily upon the education of children, as that of a plant upon proper culture; and that the whole of this art consists, not only in strengthening the body by suitable exercise, and opening and improving the faculties of the mind by proper studies, but above all by forming in youth strong and lasting habits, and inspiring them with the most noble sentiments of all virtues.

Through their care, assisted by a special grace, Philip preserved his soul untainted by vice and the world, and daily advanced in the fear of God. Having gone through the studies of humanity in his own country, he was sent to Paris to apply himself to the study of medicine, in which charity was his motive; and Galen, though a heathen, was a strong spur to him in raising his heart continually from the contemplation of nature to the adoration and praise of its great Author. From Paris he removed to Padua, where he pursued the same studies, and took the degree of doctor, which then was the same in that faculty as in Arts.  After his return to Florence he took some time to deliberate with himself what course to steer, earnestly begging God to direct him into the path in which he should most perfectly fulfil his divine will.    

The religious Order of Servites, or servants of God under the special patronage of the Blessed Virgin, had been instituted in that country fifteen years before. Seven very rich merchants of Florence had laid the foundation of this institute, having by mutual agreement retired to Monte Senario, six miles from that city. They lived there in little cells, something like the hermits of Camaldoli, possessing nothing but in common, and professing obedience to Bonfilio Monaldi, whom they chose superior. The austerities which they practised were exceedingly great, and they lived in a great measure on alms. Bonfilio Monaldi, the first superior of this fervent company, at the request of certain pious persons, founded a small convent near one of the gates of Florence, with a chapel under the title of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. St. Philip happening to hear mass in this chapel in Easter week, was strongly affected with the words of the Holy Ghost to the deacon Philip, which were read in the epistle of that day, Draw near, and join thyself to the chariot. His name being Philip he applied to himself these words of the Holy Ghost, as an invitation to put himself under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin in that holy Order. The night following he seemed to himself, in a dream or vision, to be in a vast wilderness (representing the world) full of precipices, rocks, flint stones, briers, snares, and venomous serpents, so that he did not see how it was possible for him to escape so many dangers. Whilst he was in the utmost dread and consternation, he thought he beheld the Blessed Virgin seated in a chariot, calling him to this new Order. The next day Philip revolved in his mind, that great watchfulness and an extraordinary grace are requisite to discover every lurking rock or sand in the course of life in the world, and he was persuaded that God called him to this Order, established under the patronage of his Mother, as to a place of refuge. Accordingly he repaired to the little chapel where he had heard mass, and was admitted by F. Bonfilio to the habit, in quality of lay-brother, that state being more agreeable to his humility. He made his religious vows on the 8th of September in 1233, and was sent by his superior to Monte Senario, there to work at every kind of hard country labour.

The saint cheerfully applied himself to it in a perfect spirit of penance, but accompanied his work with constant recollection and fervent prayer; and all his spare hours he devoted to this holy exercise in a little cave behind the church; where, inebriated with heavenly delights, and in ecstasies of divine love he often forgot the care which he owed to his body. He most industriously concealed his learning and talents, till they were at length discovered; in the mean time those who conversed with him admired the heavenly prudence and light with which he spoke on spiritual things. He was charged with the care of a new convent that was founded at Sienna, where he undesignedly displayed his abilities in a discourse on certain controverted points, in presence of two learned Dominicans and others, to the great astonishment of those that heard him. The superiors of his Order were hereupon engaged by others to draw this bright light from under the bushel, and to place it on the candlestick. Having therefore obtained a dispensation of his holiness, they took care to have him promoted to holy orders, though nothing but their absolute command could extort the humble saint’s consent to such a step. He was soon after made definitor, then assistant to the general; and, in 1267, the fifth general of his Order.    
 
Upon the death of Clement IV. the cardinals assembled at Viterbo began to cast their eyes on him to raise him to the apostolic chair.

Having intelligence of this design, in the greatest alarm he retired into the mountains with only one religious companion, and lay concealed there till Gregory X. was chosen. He rejoiced to find in this retreat an opportunity of redoubling the macerations of his body, and giving himself up to the sweet exercise of heavenly contemplation. All this time he lived chiefly on dry herbs, and drank at a fountain, since esteemed miraculous, and called St. Philip’s bath, situate on a mountain named Montagnate. He returned from the desert glowing with holy zeal, to kindle in the hearts of Christians the fire of divine love.

After preaching in many parts of Italy he appointed a vicar-general there to govern his Order, and with two religious companions undertook an extensive mission, preaching with great fruit at Avignon, Toulouse, Paris, and in other great cities in France; also in Flanders, Friesland, Saxony, and Higher Germany. After two years’ absence he came back to hold the general chapter of his Order at Borgo in 1274, in which he used all his endeavours to be released from the burden of the generalship; but was so far from being heard that he was confirmed in that dignity for life. Indeed no one was more worthy of it than he who most sincerely judged himself to be, of all persons living, the most unworthy. In the same year he repaired to the second general council of Lyons, from which he obtained the confirmation of his Order, Pope Gregory X. presiding there in person. The saint announced the word of God wherever he came, and had an extraordinary talent in converting sinners, and in reconciling those who were at variance.

Italy was at that time horribly divided by intestine discords and hereditary factions, particularly those of the Guelphs and Gibellins. Holy men often sought to apply remedies to these quarrels, which had a happy effect upon some; but in many, these discords, like a wound ill cured, broke out again with worse symptoms than ever. St. Philip wonderfully pacified the factions when they were ready to tear each other to pieces at Pistoia, and in many other places. He succeeded at length also at Forli, but not without first exposing himself to many dangers. The seditious insulted and beat him in every part of the city; but his invincible patience at length disarmed their fury, and vanquished them. St. Peregrinus Latiozi, who was their ringleader, and had himself struck the saint, was so powerfully moved by the example of his meekness and sanctity, that he threw himself at his feet, and with many tears begged his pardon and prayers. Being become a perfect model of penitents he was received by him into the Order of Servites at Sienna, and continued his penance in sackcloth and ashes to his happy death in the eightieth year of his age. So evident were his miracles and other tokens of his heroic sanctity and perseverance, that he was canonized by Benedict XIII. in 1726.    

St. Philip made the sanctification of his religious brethren the primary object of his zeal, as it was the first part of his charge. Nor was he a stranger to the maxim which the zealous reformer of La Trappe so strenuously inculcated, that a religious community in which regular discipline is enervated, and those who profess the Order are strangers to its true spirit, is not a harbour or place of refuge, but a shipwreck of souls. Scarcely could a saint be able to resist such a torrent of example, or the poison of such an air, in which, as in the pest-house, every one is confined. Though gross crimes of the world are shut out, the want of the religious spirit, and a neglect of the particular duties of that heroic state, are enough to damn souls. To preserve his family from so fatal a misfortune, our saint never ceased to watch and pray.

Judging at length by the decay of his health that the end of his life drew near, he set out to make the visitation of the convents of his Order at Florence, Sienna, Perugia, and other places. Arriving at Todi, he went straight to the altar of our Lady, and falling prostrate on the ground prayed with great fervour, and said: “This is the place of my rest for ever.” The day following he made a moving sermon on the glory of the blessed.

His disorder manifested itself by a sharp fever on the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God. The time of his sickness he employed in admirable sentiments of compunction; and on the octave day, falling into his agony, he called for his book, by which word he usually meant his crucifix, and devoutly contemplating it, calmly expired. To give place to the octave of the Assumption, his feast is kept on the following day, the twenty-third of the month. He was canonized by Clement X. in 1671; but the bull was only published by Benedict XIII. in 1724.    

In the lives of the saints we see the happiness of a rooted virtue, which by repeated fervent exercises, is formed into strong and lasting habits of temperance, meekness, humility, charity, and holy zeal. Such a virtue is never warped by selfish views: it never belies or is inconsistent with itself; it vanquishes all enemies, discovers their snares, triumphs over their assaults, and is faithful to the end. If ours be not such, we have reason to fear it is false, and unworthy of a crown.

-- various sources

The flora for the Feast of St. Philip is . . .

Common tansey

A tall plant, with roundish, flat-topped, button-like, yellow flower heads, it is both medicinal and toxic, with many uses.

What an exemplar of holy modesty! This is the way of the Christian.. to make the beautiful face, plain or worse, rather than to seek the opposite. To sacrifice the superficial and troublesome, for the sake of the spiritual and truly good. To value virtue rather than appearance.  :D

'Our Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: “Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.” When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemd to place me in the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people of every age, sex and status: “Hear, O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: We cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions. We must heap trouble upon trouble to attain a deep participation in the divine nature, the glory of the sons of God and perfect happiness of soul.” “If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men.'

St. Rose of Lima

Today is the feast of St. Rosalia, Virgin.

"She was daughter of Sinibald, lord of Roses and Quisquina, who deduced his pedigree from the imperial family of Charlemagne.

When she had grown, she left her home, and was led by two angels to a cave. Upon its wall she wrote,

“I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses, and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ.”

She remained apart from the world, dedicated to prayer and works of penance for the sake of Jesus, and died alone.

Butler's says, "On her life and miracles, see the disquisitions of Stilting, the Bollandist, which fill one hundred and forty pages."

I should like to someday be able to find and peruse it!

St. Rosalia, pray for us!

From the 'Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center' I quote "Here is a short testimony of someone who was closely associated with Mother Teresa for 23 years: “I am a Hindu and I never saw the slightest evidence in all my 23 years of knowing Mother Teresa in the Missionaries of Charity, of converting."

When I asked her whether she converted, she answered, ‘Yes, I convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu, or a better Muslim, or a better Protestant, or a better Catholic, or a better Parsee, or a better Sikh, or a better Buddhist. . .'"

I cut short the quote as I don't wish to repeat such words, there is far worse and more. James, do you really think someone with beliefs like this is a saint and so a good example? These statements are not repented of -- they are celebrated.

My friend, do you recall what a mortal sin against the faith is? I hope you will learn a little more about the problems going on today my friend, so be safer from harm. Things are very bad, very, very bad.

Feast of St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD, called in Latin Chlodoardus, is the first and most illustrious saint among the princes of the royal family of the first race in France. He was son of Chlodomir, king of Orleans, the eldest son of St. Clotilda, and was born in 522. He was scarcely three years old when his father was killed in Burgundy in 524; but his grandmother, Clotilda, brought up him and his two brothers, Theobald and Gunthaire, at Paris, and loved them extremely. Their ambitious uncles, Childebert, king of Paris, and Clotaire, king of Soissons, divided the kingdom of Orleans between them, and stabbed with their own hands the two eldest of their nephews, Theobald and Gunthaire, the former being ten, the latter seven years old. Cloud, by a special providence, was saved from the massacre, and cut off his hair with his own hands, by that ceremony renouncing the world, and devoting himself to the service of God in a monastic state. He had many fair opportunities of recovering his father’s kingdom; but, young as he was, he saw by the light of grace that all that appears most dazzling in worldly greatness is no better than smoke, and that a Christian gains infinitely more by losing than by possessing it. In the true estimation of things, he most emphatically deserves to be styled a king who is master of himself, and has learned the art of ruling those passions to which kings are often miserably enslaved. This victory over himself the pious prince gained, and constantly maintained by humility, meekness, and patience, by austerity of life, watchfulness, assiduous prayer, and holy contemplation. By this means he enjoyed in a little cell a peace which was never interrupted by scenes of ambition or vanity, and he tasted in the service of God too solid a joy to think of exchanging it for the racking honours or bitter pleasures of a false world, or of converting the tranquillity and real delight which he possessed into the dangers, confusion, and perplexity of a court. Coarse clothing gave him more satisfaction than the richest purple could have done; he enjoyed in his own breast and in his cell all he desired to possess in this world, and he daily thanked God who had drawn him out of Babylon before he was infected with its corruption and intoxicating Circean wine. His contempt of all earthly things increased in proportion as he advanced in virtue and heavenly light.    

  After some time he removed from his first abode to put himself under the discipline of St. Severinus, a holy recluse who lived near Paris, from whose hands he received the monastic habit. Under this experienced master the fervent novice made great progress in Christian perfection; but the neighbourhood of Paris being a trouble to him who desired nothing so much as to live unknown to the world, he withdrew secretly into Provence, where he passed several years, and wrought many miracles. Seeing he gained nothing by the remoteness of his solitude, after his hermitage was once made public by many resorting to him, he at length returned to Paris, and was received with the greatest joy imaginable. At the earnest request of the people he was ordained priest by Eusebius, bishop of Paris, in 551, and served that church some time in the functions of the sacred ministry. He afterwards retired to Nogent, on the Seine, now called St. Cloud, two leagues below Paris, where he built a monastery dependent on the church of Paris. In this monastery he assembled many pious men, who fled out of the world for fear of losing their souls in it. St. Cloud was regarded by them as their superior, and he animated them to all virtue both by word and example. All his inheritance he bestowed on churches, or distributed among the poor. The village of Nogent he settled on the episcopal see of Paris, as is mentioned in the letters patent, by which this place was erected into a duchy and peerage in favour of the archbishop.  St. Cloud was indefatigable in instructing and exhorting the people of the neighbouring country, and piously ended his days at Nogent about the year 560. He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the 7th of September, which seems to have been the day of his death. The monastery has been since changed into a collegiate church of canons, where the relics of the saint are still kept, and the place bears his name.

- Lives of the Saints

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

As recounted in the Mystical City of God of Ven. Mary of Agreda:

The day destined for the parturition of saint Anne and for the birth of Her, who was consecrated and sanctified to be the Mother of God, had arrived: a day most fortunate for the world. This birth happened on the eighth day of September, fully nine months having elapsed since the Conception of the soul of our most holy Queen and Lady. Saint Anne was prepared by an interior voice of the Lord, informing Her, that the hour of her parturition had come. Full of the joy of the holy Spirit at this information, she prostrated herself before the Lord and besought the assistance of his grace and his protection for a happy deliverance. Presently she felt a movement in her womb similar to that which is proper to creatures being born to the light. The most blessed child Mary was at the same time by divine providence and power ravished into a most high ecstasy. Hence Mary was born into the world without perceiving it by her senses, for their operations and faculties were held in suspense. As She had the use of her reason, She would have perceived it by her senses, if they would have been left to operate in their natural manner at that time. However, the Almighty disposed otherwise, in order that the Princess of heaven might be spared the sensible experience otherwise connected with birth.

She was born pure and stainless, beautiful and full of grace, thereby demonstrating, that She was free from the law and the tribute of sin. Although She was born substantially like other daughters of Adam, yet her birth was accompanied by such circumstances and conditions of grace, that it was the most wonderful and miraculous birth in all creation and will eternally redound to the praise of her Maker. At twelve o clock in the night this divine Luminary issued forth, dividing the night of the ancient Law and its pristine darknesses from the new day of grace, which now was about to break into dawn. She was clothed, handled and dressed like other infants, though her soul dwelt in the Divinity; and She was treated as an infant, though She excelled all mortals and even all the angels in wisdom. Her mother did not allow Her to be touched by other hands than her own, but she herself wrapped Her in swaddling clothes: and in this Saint Anne was not hindered by her present state of childbirth; for she was free from the toils and labors, which other mothers usually endure in such circumstances.

So then saint Anne received in her arms Her, who was her Daughter, but at the same time the most exquisite Treasure of all the universe, inferior only to God and superior to all other creatures. With fervent tears of joy she offered this Treasure to his Majesty, saying interiorly:

"Lord of infinite wisdom and power, Creator of all that exists, this Fruit of my womb, which I have received of thy bounty, I offer to Thee with eternal thanks, for without any merit of mine Thou hast vouchsafed it to me. Dispose Thou of the mother and Child according to thy most holy will and look propitiously down upon our lowliness from thy exalted throne. Be Thou eternally blessed, because Thou hast enriched the world with a Creature so pleasing to thy bounty and because in Her Thou hast prepared a dwelling-place and a tabernacle for the eternal Word (Sap. 9, 8). I tender my congratulations to my holy forefathers and to the holy Prophets, and in them to the whole human race, for this sure pledge of Redemption, which Thou hast given them. But how shall I be able worthily to treat Her, whom Thou hast given me as a Daughter? I that am not worthy to be her servant? How shall I handle the true ark of the Testament? Give me, O my Lord and King, the necessary enlightenment to know thy will and to execute it according to thy pleasure in the service of my Daughter."

The Lord answered the holy matron interiorly, that she was to treat her heavenly Child outwardly as mothers treat their daughters, without any demonstration of reverence; but to retain this reverence inwardly, fulfilling the laws of a true mother toward Her, and rearing Her up with all motherly love and solicitude. All this the happy mother complied with; making use of this permission and her mother s rights without losing her reverence, she regaled herself with her most holy Daughter, embracing and caressing Her in the same way as other mothers do with their daughters.

But it was always done with a proper reverence and consciousness of the hidden and divine sacrament known only to the mother and Daughter. The guardian angels of the sweet Child with others in great multitudes showed their veneration and worship to Mary as She rested in the arms of her mother; they joined in heavenly music, some of which was audible also to blessed Anne. The thousand angels appointed as guardians of the great Queen offered themselves and dedicated themselves to her service. This was also the first time, in which the heavenly Mistress saw them in a corporeal form with their devises and habiliments, as I shall describe in another chapter (Ch. XXIII) and the Child asked them to join with Her in the praise of the Most High and to exalt Him in her name.

At the moment of the birth of our Princess Mary the Most High sent the archangel Gabriel as an envoy to bring this joyful news to the holy Fathers in limbo. Immediately the heavenly ambassador descended, illumining that deep cavern and rejoicing the just who were detained therein. He told them that already the dawn of eternal felicity had commenced and that the reparation of man, which was so earnestly desired and expected by the holy Patriarchs and foretold by the Prophets, had been begun, since She, who was to be the Mother of the Messias, had now been born; soon would they now see the salvation and the glory of the Most High. The holy prince gave them an understanding of the excellence of the most holy Mary and of what the Omnipotent had begun to work in Her, in order that they might better comprehend the happy beginning of the mystery, which was to end their prolonged imprisonment. Then all the holy Patriarchs and Prophets and the rest of the just in limbo rejoiced in spirit and in new canticles praised the Lord for this benefit.

All these happenings at the birth of our Queen succeeded each other in a short space of time. The first exercise of her senses in the light of the material sun, was to recognize her parents and other creatures. The arms of the Most High began to work new wonders in Her far above all conceptions of men, and the first and most stupendous one was to send innumerable angels to bring the Mother of the eternal Word body and soul into the empyrean heaven for the fulfilling of his further intentions regarding Her. The holy princes obeyed the divine mandate and receiving the child Mary from the arms of her holy Mother Anne, they arranged a new and solemn procession bearing heavenward with incomparable songs of joy the true Ark of the covenant, in order that for a short time it might rest, not in the house of Obededon, but in the temple of the King of kings and of the Lord of lords, where later on it was to be placed for all eternity.

This was the second step, which most holy Mary made in her life, namely, from this earth to the highest heaven.

Who can worthily extol this wonderful prodigy of the right hand of the Almighty? Who can describe the joy and the admiration of the celestial spirits, when they beheld this new and wonderful work of the Most High, and when they gathered to celebrate it in their songs?

St. John of God

Beatified
    21 September in the year of Our Lord 1630 by Pope Urban VIII
Canonized
    16 October in the year of Our Lord 1690 by Pope Alexander VIII

From the lives of the saints:

Saint John, surnamed of God, was born in Portugal, in 1495. His parents were of the lowest rank in the country, but devout and charitable. John spent a considerable part of his youth in service, under the mayoral or chief shepherd of the count of Oropeusa in Castile, and in great innocence and virtue. In 1522 he listed himself in a company of foot raised by the count, and served in the wars between the French and Spaniards; as he did afterwards in Hungary against the Turks whilst the emperor Charles V. was king of Spain. By the licentiousness of his companions he, by degrees, lost his fear of offending God, and laid aside the greater part of his practices of devotion. The troop which he belonged to being disbanded, he went into Andalusia in 1536, where he entered the service of a rich lady near Seville, in quality of shepherd. Being now about forty years of age, stung with remorse for his past misconduct, he began to entertain very serious thoughts of a change of life, and doing penance for his sins. He accordingly employed the greater part of his time, both by day and night, in the exercises of prayer and mortification; bewailing almost continually his ingratitude towards God, and deliberating how he could dedicate himself in the most perfect manner to his service. His compassion for the distressed moved him to take a resolution of leaving his place, and passing into Africa, that he might comfort and succour the poor slaves there, not without hopes of meeting with the crown of martyrdom. At Gibralter he met with a Portuguese gentleman condemned to banishment, and whose estate had also been confiscated by King John III. He was then in the hands of the king’s officers, together with his wife and children, and on his way to Ceuta in Barbary, the place of his exile. John, out of charity and compassion, served him without any wages. At Ceuta, the gentleman falling sick with grief and the change of air, was soon reduced to such straits as to be obliged to dispose of the small remains of his shattered fortune for the family’s support. John, not content to sell what little stock he was master of to relieve them, went to day-labour at the public works, to earn all he could for their subsistence. The apostasy of one of his companions alarmed him; and his confessor telling him that his going in quest of martyrdom was an illusion, he determined to return, to Spain. Coming back to Gibralter, his piety suggested to him to turn pedler, and sell little pictures and books of devotion, which might furnish him with opportunities of exhorting his customers to virtue. His stock increasing considerably, he settled in Granada, where he opened a shop in 1538, being then forty-three years of age.

The great preacher and servant of God, John D’Avila, surnamed the Apostle of Andalusia, preached that year at Granada, on Saint Sebastian’s day, which is there kept as a great festival. John, having heard his sermon, was so affected with it, that, melting into tears, he filled the whole church with his cries and lamentations; detesting his past life, beating his breast, and calling aloud for mercy. Not content with this, he ran about the streets like a distracted person, tearing his hair, and behaving in such a manner that he was followed every where by a rabble with sticks and stones, and came home all besmeared with dirt and blood. He then gave away all he had in the world, and having thus reduced himself to absolute poverty, that he might die to himself and crucify all the sentiments of the old man, he began again to counterfeit the madman, running about the streets as before, till some had the charity to take him to the venerable John D’Avila, covered with dirt and blood. The holy man, full of the Spirit of God, soon discovered in John the motions of extraordinary graces, spoke to him in private, heard his general confession, and gave him proper advice, and promised his assistance ever after. John, out of a desire of the greatest humiliations, returned soon after to his apparent madness and extravagances. He was, thereupon, taken up and put into a madhouse, on supposition of his being disordered in his senses, where the severest methods were used to bring him to himself, all which he underwent in the spirit of penance, and by way of atonement for the sins of his past life. D’Avila, being informed of his conduct, came to visit him, and found him reduced almost to the grave by weakness, and his body covered with wounds and sores; but his soul was still vigorous, and thirsting with the greatest ardour after new sufferings and humiliations. D’Avila however told him, that having now been sufficiently exercised in that so singular a method of penance and humiliation, he advised him to employ himself for the time to come in something more conducive to his own and the public good. His exhortation had its desired effect; and he grew instantly calm and sedate, to the great astonishment of his keepers. He continued, however, some time longer in the hospital, serving the sick, but left it entirely on Saint Ursula’s day, in 1539.

. . . He then thought of executing his design of doing something for the relief of the poor; and, after a pilgrimage to our Lady’s in Guadaloupa, to recommend himself and his undertaking to her intercession, in a place celebrated for devotion to her, he began by selling wood in the market place, to feed some poor by means of his labour. Soon after he hired a house to harbour poor sick persons in, whom he served and provided for with an ardour, prudence, economy and vigilance that surprised the whole city. This was the foundation of the order of charity, in 1540, which, by the benediction of heaven, has since been spread all over Christendom. John was occupied all day in serving his patients: in the night he went out to carry in new objects of charity, rather than to seek out provisions for them; for people, of their own accord, brought him in all necessaries for his little hospital.

The archbishop of Granada, taking notice of so excellent an establishment, and admiring the incomparable order observed in it, both for the spiritual and temporal care of the poor, furnished considerable sums to increase it, and favoured it with his protection. This excited all persons to vie with each other in contributing to it. Indeed the charity, patience, and modesty of Saint John, and his wonderful care and foresight, engaged every one to admire and favour the institute. The bishop of Tuy, president of the royal court of judicature in Granada, having invited the holy man to dinner, put several questions to him, to all which he answered in such a manner, as gave the bishop the highest esteem of his person. It was this prelate that gave him the name of John of God, and prescribed him a kind of habit, though Saint John never thought of founding a religious order: for the rules which bear his name were only drawn up in 1556, six years after his death; and religious vows were not introduced among his brethren before the year 1570.

To make trial of the saint’s disinterestedness, the marquess of Tarisa came to him in disguise to beg an alms, on pretence of a necessary law-suit, and he received from his hands twenty-five ducats, which was all he had. The marquess was so much edified by his charity, that, besides returning the sum, he bestowed on him one hundred and fifty crowns of gold, and sent to his hospital every day, during his stay at Granada, one hundred and fifty loaves, four sheep and six pullets. But the holy man gave a still more illustrious proof of his charity when the hospital was on fire, for he carried out most of the sick on his own back: and though he passed and repassed through the flames, and staid in the midst of them a considerable time, he received no hurt.

But his charity was not confined to his own hospital: he looked upon it as his own misfortune if the necessities of any distressed person in the whole country had remained unrelieved. He therefore made strict inquiry into the wants of the poor over the whole province, relieved many in their own houses, employed in a proper manner those who were able to work, and with wonderful sagacity laid himself out every way to comfort and assist all the afflicted members of Christ. He was particularly active and vigilant in settling and providing for young maidens in distress, to prevent the danger to which they are often exposed, of taking bad courses. He also reclaimed many who were already engaged in vice: for which purpose he sought out public sinners, and holding a crucifix in his hand, with many tears exhorted them to repentance.

Though his life seemed to be taken up in continual action, he accompanied it with perpetual prayer and incredible corporal austerities. And his tears of devotion, his frequent raptures, and his eminent spirit of contemplation, gave a lustre to his other virtues. But his sincere humility appeared most admirable in all his actions, even amidst the honours which he received at the court of Valladolid, whither business called him. The king and princes seemed to vie with each other who should show him the greatest courtesy, or put the largest alms in his hands; whose charitable contributions he employed with great prudence in Valladolid itself and the adjacent country. Only perfect virtue could stand the test of honours, amidst which he appeared the most humble. Humiliations seemed to be his delight: these he courted and sought, and always underwent them with great alacrity. One day, when a women called him hypocrite, and loaded him with invectives, he gave her privately a piece of money, and desired her to repeat all she had said in the market-place.

Worn out at last by ten years’ hard service in his hospital, he fell sick. The immediate occasion of his distemper seemed to be excess of fatigue in saving wood and other such things for the poor in a great flood, in which, seeing a person in danger of being drowned, he swam in his clothes to endeavour to rescue him, not without imminent hazard of his own life; but he could not see his Christian brother perish without endeavouring, at all hazards, to succour him. He at first concealed his sickness, that he might not be obliged to diminish his labours and extraordinary austerities; but, in the mean time, he carefully revised the inventories of all things belonging to his hospital and inspected all the accounts. He also reviewed all the excellent regulations which he had made for its administration, the distribution of time, and the exercises of piety to be observed in it. Upon a complaint that he harboured idle strollers and bad women, the archbishop sent for him, and laid open the charge against him. The man of God threw himself prostrate at his feet, and said: “The Son of God came for sinners and we are obliged to promote their conversion, to exhort them, and to sigh and pray for them. I am unfaithful to my vocation because I neglect this; and I confess that I know no other bad person in my hospital but myself; who, as I am obliged to own with extreme confusion, am a most base sinner, altogether unworthy to eat the bread of the poor.” This he spoke with so much feeling and humility that all present were much moved, and the archbishop dismissed him with respect, leaving all things to his discretion.

His illness increasing, the news of it was spread abroad. The lady Anne Ossorio was no sooner informed of his condition, but she came in her coach to the hospital to see him. The servant of God lay in his habit in his little cell, covered with a piece of an old coat instead of a blanket, and having under his head, not indeed a stone, as was his custom, but a basket, in which he used to beg alms in the city for his hospital. The poor and sick stood weeping round him. The lady, moved with compassion, despatched secretly a message to the archbishop, who sent immediately an order to Saint John to obey her as he would do himself, during his illness. By virtue of this authority she obliged him to leave his hospital. He named Anthony Martin superior in his place, and gave moving instructions to his brethren, recommending them, in particular, obedience and charity. In going out he visited the blessed sacrament, and poured forth his heart before it with extraordinary fervour; remaining there absorbed in his devotions so long, that the lady Anne Ossorio caused him to be taken up and carried into her coach, in which she conveyed him to her own house. She herself prepared with the help of her maids, and gave him with her own hands, his broths and other things, and often read to him the history of the passion of our divine Redeemer. He complained that whilst our Saviour, in his agony, drank gall, they gave him, a miserable sinner, broths.

The whole city was in tears; all the nobility visited him; the magistrates came to beg he would give his benediction to their city. He answered, that his sins rendered him the scandal and reproach of their country; but recommended to them his brethren the poor, and his religious that served them. At last, by order of the archbishop, he gave the city his dying benediction. His exhortations to all were most pathetic. His prayer consisted of most humble sentiments of compunction, and inflamed aspirations of divine love. The archbishop said mass in his chamber, heard his confession, gave him the viaticum and extreme unction, and promised to pay all his debts, and to provide for all his poor. The saint expired on his knees, before the altar, on the 8th of March, in 1550, being exactly fifty-five years old. He was buried by the archbishop at the head of all the clergy, both secular and regular, accompanied by all the court, nobles, and city, with the utmost pomp. He was honoured by many miracles, beatified by Urban VIII in 1630, and canonized by Alexander VIII in 1690. His relics were translated into the church of his brethren in 1664. His order of charity to serve the sick was approved of by Pope Pius V. The Spaniards have their own general; but the religious in France and Italy obey a general who resides at Rome. They follow the rule of Saint Austin.

One sermon perfectly converted one who had been long enslaved to the world and his passions, and made him a saint. How comes it that so many sermons and pious books produce so little fruit in our souls? It is altogether owing to our sloth and wilful hardness of heart, that we receive God’s omnipotent word in vain, and to our most grievous condemnation. The heavenly seed can take no root in hearts which receive it with indifference and insensibility, or it is trodden upon and destroyed by the dissipation and tumult of our disorderly affections, or it is choked by the briers and thorns of earthly concerns. To profit by it, we must listen to it with awe and respect, in the silence of all creatures, in interior solitude and peace, and must carefully nourish it in our hearts. The holy law of God is comprised in the precept of divine love; a precept so sweet, a virtue so glorious and so happy, as to carry along with it its present incomparable reward. Saint John, from the moment of his conversion, by the penitential austerities which he performed, was his own greatest persecutor; but it was chiefly by heroic works of charity that he endeavoured to offer to God the most acceptable sacrifice of compunction, gratitude, and love. What encouragement has Christ given us in every practice of this virtue, by declaring, that whatever we do to others he esteems as done to himself! To animate ourselves to fervour, we may often call to mind what Saint John frequently repeated to his disciples, “Labour without intermission to do all the good works in your power, whilst time is allowed you.” His spirit of penance, love, and fervour he inflamed by meditating assiduously on the sufferings of Christ, of which he often used to say: “Lord, thy thorns are my roses, and thy sufferings my paradise.”

St. William, Abbot of Eskille, Confessor
 
HE was born of an illustrious family in Paris, about the year 1105, and received his education in the abbey of St. Germain-des-Prez, under his uncle Hugh, the abbot. By the regularity of his conduct, and the sanctity of his manners, he was the admiration of the whole community. Having finished his studies, he was ordained sub-deacon, and installed canon in the church of St. Genevieve-du-Mont.

His assiduity in prayer, love of retirement and mortification, and exemplary life, seemed a troublesome censure of the slothful and worldly life of his colleagues; and what ought to have gained him their esteem and affection, served to provoke their envy and malice against him. Having in vain endeavoured to prevail on this reformer of their chapter, as they called him, to resign his canonry, in order to remove him at a distance, they presented him to the curacy of Epinay, a church five leagues from Paris, depending on their chapter.

But not long after, Pope Eugenius III., coming to Paris, in 1147, and being informed of the irregular conduct of these canons, he commissioned the celebrated Suger, abbot of St. Denys, and prime minister to King Lewis the Young, to expel them, and introduce in their room regular canons from the abbey of St. Victor: which was happily carried into execution, Eudo of St. Victor’s being made the first abbot.

St. William with joy embraced this institute, and was by his fervour and devotion a pattern to the most perfect. He was in a short time chosen sub-prior. The perfect spirit of religion and regularity which he established in that community, was an illustrious proof of the incredible influence which the example of a prudent superior has over docile religious minds.

His zeal for regular discipline he tempered with so much sweetness and modesty in his injunctions, that made all to love the precept itself, and to practise with cheerfulness whatever was prescribed them. The reputation of his wisdom and sanctity reached the ears of Absalon, bishop of Roschild, in Denmark, who, being one of the most holy prelates of his age, earnestly sought to allure him into his diocess. He sent the provost of his church, who seems to have been the learned historian Saxo the Grammarian, to Paris on this errand.

A prospect of labours and dangers for the glory of God was a powerful motive with the saint, and he cheerfully undertook the voyage. The bishop appointed him abbot of Eskille, a monastery of regular canons which he had reformed. Here St. William sanctified himself by a life of prayer and austere mortification; but had much to suffer from the persecutions of powerful men, from the extreme poverty of his house in a severe climate, and above all from a long succession of interior trials: but the most perfect victory over himself was the fruit of his constancy, patience, and meekness. — On prayer was his chief dependance, and it proved his constant support.

During the thirty years of his abbacy, he had the comfort to see many walk with fervour in his steps. He never left off wearing his hair-shirt, lay on straw, and fasted every day. Penetrated with a deep sense of the greatness and sanctity of our mysteries, he never approached the altar without watering it with his tears, making himself a victim to God in the spirit of adoration and sacrifice, together with, and through the merits of the holy victim offered thereon: the dispositions in which every Christian ought to assist at it.

- Lives of the Saints

St Murtagh aka Muredach was reputedly appointed first bishop of Lillala by St Patrick, but died while living as a hermit on the island of Inismurray.  He was believed to be a member of the royal family of King Laoghaire and met with St Columba at Ballysodare in 575.  St Murtagh please pray for us.
Recently I noticed in Foley's Saint of the Day this section:. 
"The highest class of liturgical celebration is the solemnity.  Two are solemnities of the Lord, two honor Mary, and three honor specific Saints. The next class consists of feasts...Memorials are divided into two classes (obligatory and optional)."  It seems apparent I have been consistently miss-applying the term feast, and I apologize.  Here at camp I have just my 1994 Daily Roman Missal which is inconsistent with Foley.  I resolve to try to get up to date.

   
Why is the 1994 Daily Roman Missal inconsistent with Foley?

I'm sorry to be slow in responding; I'm home for errand-running but have no answers to the variances in Calendars.  The USCCB calendar on the web is different from the others, and just as variant is my local parish calendar.  I have no explanations.  My first step in the morning after prayer and the Word is to read the Saint of the day in my current Saints book (now Foley).  Because I have both his fourth and sixth editions that sometimes raises questions, but usually I can't remember the changes unless I go look, which I seldom do.  More often, I go to Delaney to find a Saint of the day when no one is listed in Foley, and almost always I check here in Works for at least one of the entries by you, or Odhiambo, or James.  Praise and thanks to each of you.

Today is the Memorial according to Foley of both St Cornelius (d253) and St Cyprian (d258).  I found several other posts here about individuals named Cornelius, but am uncertain how and whether to copy them.  Cornelius' election to succeed Pope Fabian, who was killed in persecution ordered by Emperor Decian, was delayed 14 months, and when Cornelius went into hiding to escape persecution he was confronted with the first antipope, Novatus.  A synod of bishops condemned Novatianism and upheld Cornelius in 251, but the Pope was exiled and died under persecution renewed by Gallus in 253.  St Cornelius, please pray us.

St Andrew Kim Taegon (1821-1846) was the first native Korean anointed as priest.  At age 15 he travelled to seminary in Macao, China, was ordained in Shanghai after six years, and returned to Korea to help other Koreans travel to seminary when he was arrested, tortured and beheaded.  In 1984 Pope John Paul II visited Korea and canonized St Andrew, 99 other Koreans, and three French Missionaries martyred between 1839 and 1867.  Today is their memorial, please pray for us St Andrew.