Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

Saint Martin I,
Pope, Martyr
Martin was born at Todi, Tuscany (Italy). He was of noble birth and studied in Rome, acquiring great knowledge. He became a deacon at Rome. Due to his great learning and piety, he was appointed papal nuncio to Constantinople for Pope Theodore I.
On July 21, 649 he was elected pope.
Martin’s pontificate occurred during an extensive controversy that had strained relations between the Eastern and Western churches, namely monothelitism, a heresy maintaining that Christ had only one will. Martin called a council at the Lateran in his first year, condemning Heraclius and monothelitism in the face of the decree, the Typos, issued by the Byzantine emperor Constans II Pogonatus that commanded there be no discussion of the heresy.
On June 17, 653, the Pope, already sick, was seized by Byzantine soldiers and dragged to Constantinople. He was brutally treated along the way by the soldies and when they finally reached the Byzantine capital, he was in very poor physical condition.
He was jailed for three months. Eventually he was tried on a charge of ‘treason’, while his real offence had been his refusal to accept the Typos. He was condemned unheard, flogged and sentenced to death. At the intercession of the Patriarch of Constantinople, the emperor commuted the sentence to banishment, thereby sparing his life, but he was exiled to Chersonesus in the Crimea. He died in exile on 13 April, 655, the last pope to die a martyr.

Saint Martin I,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

14 April
Today is the Feast day of
Blessed Peter González
Among many others.

[Shin]

Pope St. Martin I ora pro nobis!

Nowadays monotheletism seems so far away. But back then, it shook the world.

A good example for Martin!   

[Shin]

James will like this next fellow, since he's a Dominican.

 

[odhiambo]

Saint Peter González
Also known as
Pedro González Telmo.
Saint Telmo.
Saint Elmo.
Erasmus.
Pietro Gonzales.

Peter was born in 1190 in Astorga, Spain. He was educated by his uncle, the Bishop of Astorga.
His becoming a priest was just a means to an end at the time as he had no true vocation then. His uncle made him the Canon of Palencia. For this, however, he had to obtained special papal dispensation as he was still too young for the position.
One day,during a grand Christmas Day entrance into the city, his horse was startled by the noise of the crowds. He was thrown and landed ,with all his fineries onto a dung-heap, much to the delight of the citizens who knew his was a political, not a spiritual appointment.
Humbled, Peter took a hard, long look at himself and it seems he did not like what he saw. He turned away from where he was heading, started on a new path, resigning his positio as Canon and entered the Dominican Order, where he became a renowned preacher. Multitudes gathered to hear him preach and there were numberless conversions.He was made court chaplain to King Saint Ferdinand III of Castile. Against the opposition of more worldly courtiers, he reformed court life around the king. Worked for the Crusade against the Muslims, accompanied Ferdinand into the battlefields, and
after King Ferdinand III and his troops defeated the Moors at Cordoba, Peter was successful in restraining the soldiers from pillaging and persuaded the king to treat the defeated Moors with compassion.

Peter’s real ambition, however, was to preach to the poor. After retiring from the court, he devoted the remainder of his life to the instruction and conversion of the ignorant and of the mariners in Galicia and along the coast of Spain.
Peter died on 15 April 1246 at Saintiago de Compostela, Tuy.
He is buried in the cathedral at Tuy.
He was beatified in 1254 by Pope Innocent IV and
Canonized on 13 December 1741 by Pope Benedict XIV (cultus confirmed)

He is the patron of sailors.
Saint Peter Gonzales,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

After he joined the Dominicans, family and friends tried to draw him back to his old life and their planned pursuit of position, but he responded:

"If you love me, follow me! If you cannot follow me, forget me!"

 

[odhiambo]

James will like this next fellow, since he's a Dominican.

 

I loved the grand entry into the city 

[odhiambo]

After he joined the Dominicans, family and friends tried to draw him back to his old life and their planned pursuit of position, but he responded:

"If you love me, follow me! If you cannot follow me, forget me!"

 

And that is the best response to "peer pressure".

[odhiambo]

James will like this next fellow, since he's a Dominican.

 

He is huh 
Better draw his attention to it then 

[odhiambo]

Pope St. Martin I ora pro nobis!

Nowadays monotheletism seems so far away. But back then, it shook the world.

A good example for Martin!   

I am happy that these days there are not so many heresies; if there are, I am not aware.

[odhiambo]

15 April
Today is the Feast day of
Blessed Cesar de Bus
Among many others

[odhiambo]

Blessed Cesar de Bus.

Cesar was born on 3 February 1544, at Cavaillon, France. He was the seventh of thirteen children.
After completing his Jesuit education he had difficulty settling between a military or a literary career. He wrote some plays but ultimately settled for life in the army and at court. For a while he was contented with his life. Then, he fell seriously ill and found himself reviewing his priorities, including his spiritual life. By the time he had recovered, Caesar had resolved to become a priest.
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1582. He distinguished himself by his works of charity and his zeal in preaching and teaching the catechism. Then he conceived the idea of instituting a congregation of priests who should devote themselves to nothing but the preaching of Christian Doctrine. Thus, in 1592, the Secular Priests of Christian Doctrine ( The Fathers of Christian Doctrine), was founded in the town of L'Isle and in the following year one was opened at Avignon. This institute's development into a religious congregation was approved by Pope Clement VIII, on 23 December 1597. Besides the Fathers, De Bus founded an order of women originally called "Daughters of Christian Doctrine", which later came to be called Ursulines (not, however, a part of the major religious Order of that same name); it died out in the 17th century. The Fathers were destroyed during the French Revolution, but an Italian branch, the Doctrinarian Fathers continues today with houses in Italy, France and Brazil.
Saint Francis de Sales called today's Saint "a star of the first magnitude in the firmament of Catechesis."

One of Caesar's works, Instructions for the Family on the Four Parts of the Roman Catechism, was published 60 years after his death.
Caesar died on Easter Sunday, 15 April 1607 in Avignon, France;. He was buried in the church of Saint Mary in Monticelli in Rome, Italy.
He was beatified on 27 April 1975 by Pope Paul VI.
Canonization is pending.
Blessed Caesar,
Pray for us!

[Patricia]

Blessed Cesar , pray for us! 

[Shin]

Amen.

'I was so beside myself and fired with such a longing to do something in imitation of him, that I would not give my eyes sleep or my days rest until I had given some beginning to this resolution of mine.'

Bl. Cesar de Bus, writing about Saint Charles Borromeo

'It is a certain, well established fact that no other crime so seriously offends God and provokes His greatest wrath as the vice of heresy. Nothing contributes more to the down fall of provinces and kingdoms than this frightful pest.'

St. Charles Borromeo

'We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: "I will pray, and then I will understand."  This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in others.'

St. Charles Borromeo

[Shin]

'Beginning from his earliest years to love and fear God, to practise virtue and avoid sin, St. Charles, when he came to the full use of reason, did not allow divine grace to lie idle in his soul, but strove to live in purity of conscience. He applied himself to prayer and self-examination, and frequently approached the Sacraments with self-denial and watchfulness over himself so as to avoid the least occasion of sin. He made such progress, that whereas at first he went to Confession and Communion once a week, he afterwards went every day. Thus by degrees he acquired the habit of continual prayer, and at first examined his conscience once or twice a day, but in time attained to such perfection that he not only made an examination of every particular action, but took care that his acts should be accompanied by all the conditions necessary to make them fruitful and give good example. He used to weigh well every word he uttered in order not to enter into useless conversation, or incur other faults. Those who were intimately acquainted with him for many years deposed upon oath that they never heard him utter an idle word: which is a remarkable testimony when his continual conferences and discussions are taken into account, as well as his daily occasions of falling into sins of the tongue. He entirely banished from his mouth all kinds of jokes and jests, and avoided vain and useless sayings and mere matters of curiosity: so that all his speech was about God or His service. As this holy custom of his was well known, no one spoke to him except upon business or things spiritual. To this he added another rule to be observed, which was never to lose a moment of time uselessly, so as not to have to accuse himself in confession of having wasted his time. These two things were admired in him, as having been noticed in but few servants of God; that plunged as he was in business and intercourse with the world, he should have so governed his tongue during the nineteen years of his active episcopate, that no one could say he had uttered an idle word or wasted a moment of time. He was so anxious, moreover, to spend his time fruitfully, that when he could, he would do two things at a time, such as making notes or studying at meal-times, which he did generally when fasting on bread and water. When in company with others, there was always during meal-times pious reading to which he paid great attention. He always read the Holy Scriptures, his constant study, on his knees, and used to be seen in tears, moved by the sacred subjects he was contemplating, and thus at one and the same time he would be eating, studying, and meditating.

He used to read, or had some one to read to him, while his hair was being cut. During his journeys, he generally prayed or studied, for which purpose he had a bag of books sent on before. The hour after dinner in order to employ it to good purpose he spent in giving audience to his Vicars-General and others, as not being a time for serious occupation of mind. In the distribution of his time, there was none set apart for recreation and relaxation of mind, which is commonly done even in strict religious orders.

As he had perfect control over his senses and governed his passions conscientiously, he was never elated by prosperity or depressed by adversity; never too lively or too sad, but preserved great equanimity under all circumstances. He was so sedate and circumspect in his actions, as to avoid any movement that might be noticeable as a defect; for instance, he sometimes rave audience leaning against a window, but was never seen to look into the street, whatever might occur there ; nor would he look about him when walking either alone or with others, considering it unbecoming to the gravity of a Bishop. He would never allow himself to be seen, except by his chamberlains, if he were not in his Cardinal's dress, in order to keep up his dignity, and he never left his private rooms in the morning except in his ordinary habit as ready to say Mass, for before Mass he never gave audience to any one unless on very urgent matters. He usually kept silence from the time of night prayers till after his Mass the next morning, out of reverence to that Divine Mystery.

In his every word and work he breathed sanctity and kept watch over his slightest actions, as he considered any failing to be of importance in a Bishop, not merely on its own account but because of his person, which ought to reflect a bright example of virtue. Being once asked by a man of mature years why ho would not listen to the news of what was going on in the world, which many who have the charge of important affairs would do as useful for them in their office, he replied that it was not fitting in a Bishop who should be engaged in meditating on the Divine law, and not in curiosity about worldly things. Wishing to point out how necessary it was for a person dedicated to God to be recollected and grave in all his actions, he quoted the example of St. Ambrose, who would not admit a young man into the ecclesiastical state because he observed something careless and unseemly in his gait. He used to censure his priests if he observed any deficiency in gravity of manner or outward bearing, and he effected so great a reform among ecclesiastics in his diocese, that they came to be greatly respected by seculars, whereas before they were a bye-word on account of the bad example they set.'

- from a life of St. Charles Borromeo

A model of virtues.  

[Patricia]

St. Charles Borromeo pray for us!  Pray for our priests!