Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2

[odhiambo]

Saint Lawrence O’Toole
Also known as Laurence O’Toole.
Lawrence was born in 1128 near Castledermot, Kildare, Ireland. He was the son of Murtagh, chief of the great clan of Murrays in Castledermot. In 1138, when he was ten years old, Lawrence was taken hostage  during a raid by King Dermot McMurrogh of Leinster. After two years of rather inhumane treatment by the King, Lawrence was surrendered to the Bishop of Glendalough.  He was raised and educated by the monks there. He later became a monk at Glendalough and on the death of the Bishop, he was named Abbot In 1153. He ruled well although there were some objections to his strict rule.
In 1162, Lawrence was named archbishop of Dublin. He instituted reforms among the clergy and imposed strict disciplines on his canons.
Then a revolt occurred which drove King Dermot McMurrogh from Ireland. The King sought the help of King Henry II of England who  dispatched an army of his nobles headed by Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke. The group landed in Ireland in 1170 and marched on to Dublin. Without going into the complicated details of how the invasion of Ireland by the British came about, which, if truth be told, I know next to nothing about, suffice to say that King Henry II of England himself went to Ireland in 1171 and received the submissions of most of the Irish chieftains.
In 1171 while Lawrence was in Canterbury, England on matters relating to his office, he was attacked
by a crazy man while he was visiting the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket.
The attacker reportedly wanted to make a martyr of Lawrence just like Saint Thomas Beckett. Another account found in SQPN is that the attack occurred while he was preparing for Mass. All who were there thought the blow on the head had killed him, but Lawrence reportedly asked for water, blessed it and washed the wound on his head. The bleeding stopped and he went on to celebrate Mass.
In 1175, Lawrence again went to England, this time, to negotiate a treaty between the two monarchs, Henry II of England and Rory O’Connor (? Roderick of Ireland).
In 1179, he attended the General Lateran Council in Rome and was appointed papal legate to Ireland. On his way home, he stopped in England for further negotiations on behalf of Rory O’Connor. From England, Lawrence traveled to Normandy, France. On his way back from there, he died at Eu, near Rouen, on 14 November 1180.
He was canonized on 1225 by Pope Honorius III.
Saint Lawrence O’Toole,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

Shin, my prayer book has a number of prayers by Lancelot Andrews.
Could it be the same saint. On line there are prayers also but from Lancelot Andrewes which looks like Eastern Orthodox. Can you shade some light? Is it the same saint?

Well, I don't know, I'm sorry. Just looking it up briefly, it looks like there's a Lancelet Andrews who was one of the first Anglicans, involved with the creation of the KJV and the Anti-Catholicism of that time.

One has to be careful sometimes certain Anglican works pass themselves off as Catholic, these especially those tending towards the so-called 'high church' part of Anglicanism.

[odhiambo]

Shin, my prayer book has a number of prayers by Lancelot Andrews.
Could it be the same saint. On line there are prayers also but from Lancelot Andrewes which looks like Eastern Orthodox. Can you shade some light? Is it the same saint?

Well, I don't know, I'm sorry. Just looking it up briefly, it looks like there's a Lancelet Andrews who was one of the first Anglicans, involved with the creation of the KJV and the Anti-Catholicism of that time.

One has to be careful sometimes certain Anglican works pass themselves off as Catholic, these especially those tending towards the so-called 'high church' part of Anglicanism.

It appears there is "danger" everywhere these days.

[odhiambo]

November 15
Today is the Memorial of
Saint Leopold III
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Leopold III
Grandson of Emperor Henry III.
Known variously as: Leopold the Good; Leopold the Valiant; Leopold of Austria and Leopold the Saint.
He was born in 1073 at Melk , Austria. He was educated by bishop Altman of Passau, Germany . At the age of 23, Leopold succeeded his father as margrave or military governor of Austria.
He married Agnes, widowed daughter of Emperor Henry IV and fathered eighteen children.
In 1106, Leopold founded the monasteries of Heiligenkreuz in the Wienerwald, Klosternburg, near Vienna and Mariazell in Styria. Saint Leopold was known for his piety and charity. When his brother in law Henry V died in 1125, Leopold refused the imperial crown.
He died in 1136 at the abbey of Klosternburg, after reigning as margrave for forty years.
Surnamed “the Good” by his people, Leopold was canonized in 1486 by Pope Innocent VIII.
Saint Leopold III
Pray for us!

[Shin]

Shin, my prayer book has a number of prayers by Lancelot Andrews.
Could it be the same saint. On line there are prayers also but from Lancelot Andrewes which looks like Eastern Orthodox. Can you shade some light? Is it the same saint?

Well, I don't know, I'm sorry. Just looking it up briefly, it looks like there's a Lancelet Andrews who was one of the first Anglicans, involved with the creation of the KJV and the Anti-Catholicism of that time.

One has to be careful sometimes certain Anglican works pass themselves off as Catholic, these especially those tending towards the so-called 'high church' part of Anglicanism.

It appears there is "danger" everywhere these days.

It's an opportunity to practice virtue!

I was thinking as I was cleaning the other day. There's a good way to clean and there's a bad way to clean. There's making a fuss over it, complaining about it, upset about it, and then there's happy because one has the opportunity to clean -- to do a virtuous action, that's the way to do it. The more to clean then, the better! To have an opportunity to be virtuous, one is pleasing God!

I have to be as careful as my lack of virtue allows with the books in particular provided here -- and add a disclaimer due to that lack of ability to review them as perfectly as I should prefer. Choosing holy works by the saints and near to them is very helpful in protecting oneself, what could be more? but there are still some things to be careful about. If we could only have holy translations by the best of Catholics of each book -- but no, at times it's a translation by someone lacking, with commentary the same, and if the book is provided the commentary has to be carefully excised, because it is misleading. But still, what remains better than nothing at all, until there is such a thing.

Sometimes there's bad religious art too, to be removed. I think folks in the world think there's practically no such thing as it -- if it's in a church somewhere, famous somewhere, been around awhile, especially if the secular art critics love it -- it must be good religious art. Far from it, there's a great deal of religious art that's no good at all, but persists for one reason or another.

It's all an opportunity for growth in virtue.

[odhiambo]

November 16
Today is the Feast day of
Saint Agnes of Assisi
Among many other Saints.

[odhiambo]

Saint Agnes of Assisi
Abbess and Miracle Worker.
Agnes was born in 1197 at Assisi, Italy. She was the youngest daughter of Count Favorino Scifi and Blessed Hortulana; the younger sister of Saint Clare of Assisi. Sixteen days after Clare's departure from home, Agnes, then aged fifteen, joined her sister at the Benedictins convent of Sant' Angelo di Panzo, thereby becoming her first follower.
Determined to follow her sister's life of poverty and penance, Agnes resisted her relatives' attempt to force her to return home. She was eventually given the habit by Saint Francis and sent to San Damiano with Clare,. This was the, founding of the Poor Clares. She was made abbess of the Poor Clare convent at Monticelli near Florence by Saint Francis in 1219. Agnes established convents at Mantua, Venice, and Padua and supported her sister's struggle for poverty in their order.
Agnes was with Clare at her death. She died three months later, reportedly as her sister Clare had predicted, on 16 November 1253 at the monastery of San Damiano.
Many miracles have been reported at her tomb in Santa Chiara church in Assisi.
She was canonized in 1753 by Pope Benedict XIV
Saint Agnes of Assisi,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

St. Agnes pray for us!

Imagine being there at that time! St. Francis, St. Clare, St. Agnes!

St. Dominic!

[odhiambo]

Let us also remember
Saint Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe.
One of the Martyrs of Uganda. His Memorial is also today November 16
He was the majordomo in the court of King( Kabaka) Mwanga of Buganda, a kingdom within Uganda.
Slain for his faith, Mukasa became the first Catholic martyr in Uganda on November 15, 1885, when he was first beheaded and then burnt at a place called Nakivubo.
He was declared "Blessed" by Pope Benedict XV in 1920 together with twenty-one fellow martyrs. They were proclaimed canonized saints by Pope Paul VI in 1964.
Saint Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

November 17
Today is the Memorial of
Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus
He is also known by other names and titles as follows:
Gregory of Neo Caesarea; Gregory of Neocaesarea; Gregory of Pontus; Gregory the Wonder Worker and lastly, he is also known as Theodorus.
Gregory was born in 213 in a place called Neocaesarea at Pontus, (modern Turkey). His given name was Theodorus. He was born into a distinguished pagan family. He studied Law.
About the year 223, Gregory and his brother Athenodorus, accompanied their sister who was joining her husband, the Roman governor of Palestine, in Caesarea. The plan was for them to continue on to Beirut to continue their law studies. In Caesarea, they met Origen, head of the catechetical school in Alexandria, Egypt. Instead of going to Beirut, the two brothers entered his school at Caesarea , studied theology and were converted to Christianity by Origen and became his disciples. Theodore changed his name to Gregory.
Around 238, he returned home intending to practice law but was elected bishop by the seventeen Christians of the city.
It soon became very apparent that Gregory was gifted with remarkable powers.
He reportedly converted most of his bishopric and tradition has it that he started as bishop with only seventeen Christians in the city and died with only seventeen pagans in residence in the city!
He was an eloquent preacher. He was able to build a church and was soon so renowned for his miracles that he was named Thaumaturgus (the wonder worker).
In the persecution of Christians under Emperor Trajanus Decius, Gregory and his people fled to the desert. He returned to care for the city during a plague and also during an invasion of Goths.
Gregory took part in the Synod of Antioch, Turkey, (264-265.) According to Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Thaumaturgus received the first ever recorded vision of the BVM.
He is invoked against floods; earthquakes and desperate or lost causes.
Gregory died in 270 at Pontus. His remains are in Calabria, Italy.
His canonization was Pre-Congregation
Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus,
Pray for us!

[Patricia]

Saint Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe and Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, pray for us!!

[Patricia]

St Philomena also has been called Thaumaturga (wonder worker). Is it Latin?

[Patricia]

He reportedly converted most of his bishopric and tradition has it that he started as bishop with only seventeen Christians in the city and died with only seventeen pagans in residence in the city!

According to Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Thaumaturgus received the first ever recorded vision of the BVM.

Amazing!

[Shin]

St Philomena also has been called Thaumaturga (wonder worker). Is it Latin?

Hmm, I don't know, but it sounds like it!

St. Gregory and St. Philomena, wonder workers, prayer for us!