Tuesday, December 31, 2019

SAINT PLATONIDES & COMPANIONS

St. Platonides
Platonides & Companions
Feast day: April 6
Death: 308
Saint Platonides was a deaconess and the founder of a convent at Nisibis, Mesopotamia. The entry in the Roman Martyrology is apparently wrong. It describes her as a martyr and places her death in Ascalon. Nothing is known of her companions

BLESSED PIERINO MOROSINI

Bl. Pierino Morosini

Feast day: April 6
Birth: 1931
Death: 1957
Beatified: 4 October 1987 by Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy



Pierina Morosini was born into a poor family in the diocese of Bergamo, Italy. Pierina was trained as a seamstress, she began work in a fabric factory at age 15. A religious girl, she had made a private vow of chastity to God, and considered religious life, but continued to live at home to help her mother take care of her seven siblings. Pierina was attacked by a would-be rapist, and died soon after.

SAINT PAUL TINH

St. Paul Tinh
Born in Trinh-ha, Tonkin (Vietnam)
Feast day: April 6
Death: 1857
Beatified in 1909
Canonized: Pope John Paul II

Vietnamese martyr. Born in Vietnam, he was converted to the Catholic faith and was ordained a priest. Seized by anti-Catholic forces, Paul was beheaded. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.

SAINT FLORENTIUS

St. Florentius

Feastday: April 6
Death: 4th century
Martyr with Geminianus and Saturus. They suffered at Sirmium.

SAINT ELSTAN

St. Elstan
Elstan of Winchester,
Feast day: April 6
Death: 981
Bishop of Winchester, England, a Benedictine, celebrated as a model of blind obedience. E

. Saint Elstan was a model of obedience at Abingdon Abbey under the direction of its founder Saint Ethelwold, whose example he followed both as abbot and, from 970, as bishop of Winchester or Ramsbury. Before he attained these dignities, Elstan was the community's cook, who is reputed to have plunged his hands into boiling water at the command of Ethelwold-- and removed them unscathed! It may be that he cultus is not well documented because his see was poor

SAINT CELESTINE I

St. Celestine I

Celestine I, Pope
Feastday: April 6

Born in Campania, Italy;
Died at Rome, July 27, 432;
feast day formerly on July 27 and/or August 1.

Saint Celestine was a deacon in Rome when he was elected pope on September 20, 422, to succeed Saint Boniface. He was a staunch supporter of Saint Germanus of Auxerre in the fight against Pelagianism, and a friend of Saint Augustine with whom he corresponded, and which demonstrates that the bishop of Rome was the central authority even at that early date.

Augustine exhorts Celestine not to fall under the spell of Bishop Antony of Fussala, who had been convicted by a council at Numidia of tyranny and violence against his flock. Augustine was particularly concerned because he had originally nominated Antony for episcopal consecration. Antony appealed to Celestine's predecessor, who, unaware of the decision of the synod, pressed for Antony's reinstatement. The matter was not fully settled at Boniface's death, but at Augustine's urging, Celestine deposed the unseemly prelate.

Celestine also wrote to the bishops of Vienne and Narbonne in Gaul to correct several abuses, and ordered, among other things, that absolution should never be refused to the dying who sincerely asked for it. He stated that repentance does not depend on timing but rather on the heart. In the beginning of this letter he says: "By no limits of place is my pastoral vigilance confined: it extends itself to all places where Christ is adored."

After receiving two artful letters from Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople, and further information from Patriarch Saint Cyril of Alexandria regarding the errors proposed by the first, Celestine convened a council in Rome, in 430, to condemn Nestorianism. He threatened Nestorius with excommunication if he did not desist from his heretical teaching. In 431, Celestine sent three legates to and appointed Cyril president of the General Council of Ephesus, which formally condemned the heresy.

Saint Prosper of Aquitaine recorded that, acting on Saint Palladius's suggestion, Celestine sent Saint Germanus of Auxerre to Britain in 429 to deal with Pelagianism there. He also wrote a treatise against semi-Pelagianism and, in 431, sent Palladius to Ireland to evangelize that people. Some scholars think that Celestine may also have sent Patrick there, but this is unlikely.

Saint Celestine was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla in a tomb decorated with paintings representing the Council of Ephesus. Later his relics were translated into the church of Saint Praxedes. His ancient original epitaph testifies that he was an excellent bishop, honored and beloved of every one, who for the sanctity of his life now enjoys the sight of Jesus Christ, and the eternal honors of the saints; however, very little is known of person named Celestine

SAINT BRYCHAN

St. Brychan

Feast day: April 6
Death: unknown

King of Wales, undocumented but popular saint. Brychan is credited with having twenty-four children, all saints.

SAINT BERTHANE

St. Berthane

Feast day: April 6
Death: 840
A bishop of Scotland, called Ferda-Leithe , "the Man of Two Countries." Berthane was a monk of lona and the bishop of Kirkwall in the Orkneys, Scotland. He died in Ireland and was buried at Irishmore in Gaiway Bay, hence his name. He is sometimes listed as Berchan.

SAINT WILLIAM OF ESKILSOE

St. William of Eskilsoe
William of Eskhill,
Also known as William of Aebelholt or Eskilsoë
Born in Paris, France, . 1125;
Died in Denmark, on April 6, 1203;
canonized in 1224 by Pope Honorius III.
Feast day: April 6




William of Eskilsoë, the English equivalent of Eskiloë (Ise Fjord), a Danish town that once housed an abbey, was one of the most revered saints of Denmark, and his extant letters are a valuable source for the history of the Danish church. His early experiences stood him in good stead in Denmark. After being educated by the monks of Saint-Germain-des-Pres in Paris under the direction of his uncle Hugh, he became a canon of the church of Sainte-Geneviève-du-Mont. But his fellow-canons were lax, and frequently mocked their new recruit for his disciplined life. They so disliked him that William was forced to resign and take a living at Epinay outside Paris.

Fortunately, Pope Eugenius III visited Paris in 1148, perceived the laxity of the canons of Sainte-Geneviève-du-Mont, and replaced them with more devout men. William rejoined the canons and became the sub-prior, where he reputation for canonical discipline and holiness grew and reached the ears of Bishop Axel or Absalom of Roskilde, Denmark. About 1170, the bishop sent a young Dane, Saxo Grammaticus, who became a leading historian, to invite William to undertake the reformation of the monasteries in his diocese. William accepted the invitation.

His early trials in Paris fitted him for reforming the abbey of Eskilsoë. William first expelled two monks, setting about the reformation of the rest. His enemies tried to overcome his zeal by appealing to powerful lords, but for 30 years William unflinchingly persisted, in spite of inner strain and painful illnesses. He also founded the Abbey of St. Thomas in Aebelhold (Ebelholt), Zeeland.

William sanctified himself by a life of prayer and austere mortification, added to the suffering caused by extreme poverty and a severe climate. He wore a hair-shirt, lay on straw, and fasted every day. Imbued with a deep sense of the greatness and sanctity of our mysteries, he never approached the altar without watering it with his tears, offering himself to God in the spirit of adoration and sacrifice.

About 1194, William went to Rome on behalf of Ingelburga, sister of the Danish king, who had been repudiated by her husband, King Philip Augustus of France, but he returned to Eskilsoë to die 

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

BLESSED ANTONY FUSTER


Blessed Antony Fuster,
Feast day: April 5
14th century. A disciple of Saint Vincent Ferrer, Blessed Antony was called 'the Angel of Peace.' He is highly honored at Vich in Catalonia 

BLESSED BLAISE OF AUVERGNE

Blessed Blaise of Auvergne,
Feast day: April 5
14th century. Blaise was another disciple of Saint Vincent Ferrer and, like Vincent, an impassioned Dominican preacher

SAINT IRENE

Irene
Feast day: April 5
Died at Thessalonica, Macedonia, April 5, 304.
 The martyrdom of Irene's sisters Agape and Chionia is described on April 3. The story is based on an amplified version of genuine records. In 303, Emperor Diocletian issued a decree making it an offense punishable by death to possess any portion of sacred Christian writings. Irene and her siblings, daughters of pagan parents living in Salonika, owned and hid several of the forbidden volumes of Holy Scriptures.

The sisters were arrested and Chionia and Agape were sentenced by Governor Dulcitius to be burned alive because they refused to consume foods offered to pagan gods. Meanwhile, their house had been searched and the forbidden volumes discovered.

Irene was examined again, and said that when the emperor's decree against Christians was published, she and others fled to the mountains. She avoided implicating those who had helped them, and declared that nobody but themselves know they had the books: "We feared our own people as much as anybody."

Irene was sent to a soldiers' brothel, where she was stripped and chained but was miraculously protected from molestation. So, after again refusing a last chance to conform, she was sentenced to death. She died two days after her sisters either by being forced to throw herself into flames or, more likely, by being shot in the throat with an arrow. The books, including the Sacred Scripture, were publicly burned.

Three other women and a man were tried with these martyrs, of whom one woman was remanded because she was pregnant. It is not recorded what happened to the others

BLESSED JULIANA OF MOUNT CORNILLON

Blessed Juliana of Mount Cornillon,

Born in Retinnes, near Liège, Flanders, in 1192;
Died at Fosses on April 5, 1258;
Cultus confirmed in 1869;
 feast day was April 6. /Feast day: April 5

Orphaned when she was 5, Juliana and sister Agnes were placed in the care of the nuns of Mount Cornillon, where Juliana eventually became an Augustinian nun and, in 1225, prioress. While still young, Juliana experienced visions in which Jesus pointed out that there was no feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament.

As prioress she began to agitate for the institution of the feast called for in her vision. Some supported her but enough opposed her that she was removed from office and persecuted; she was driven from Cornillon by the lay directors, who accused her of mismanaging the funds of a hospital under her control. An inquiry by the bishop of Liège exonerated her and resulted in her recall in 1246, when he introduced the feast of Corpus Christi in Liège.

When the bishop died in 1248, Juliana was again driven from the convent and found refuge in the Cistercian convent of Salzinnes in Namur. Soon she found herself homeless again when the monastery was destroyed by fire during the siege of Namur by the troops of Henry II of Luxembourg. She then migrated to Fosses, where she spent the rest of her life as a recluse. At her request she was buried at the Cistercian abbey of Villiers as one of their own.

After Juliana's death, the movement for the establishment of Corpus Christi as a universal feast was carried on by her friend Blessed Eva of Liège. The feast was sanctioned by Pope Urban IV in 1264 and the office for the feast was composed by Saint Thomas Aquinas. By 1312, the feast was obligatory throughout the Western Church

MARTYRS OF AFRICA

Martyrs of Africa
Feast day: April 5
Died 459. A large group of Christians were martyred on Easter Sunday while hearing Mass, under the Arian King Genseric of the Vandals. The lector, who was at that moment intoning the Alleluia, had his throat pierced with an arrow

BLESSED PETER CERDAN



Blessed Peter Cerdan,
Feast day: April 5
Died at Grans near Barbastro, Aragon, Spain, in 1422.
Blessed Peter was still another of the Dominican friars who accompanied Saint Vincent Ferrer in his travels . Blessed Peter is venerated at Barbastro. In art he is usually shown in the company of Saint Vincent Ferrer

SAINT PROBUS ,SAINT GRACE

Probus and Grace
Feast day: April 5
Date unknown. Probus and Grace are traditionally considered to be a Welsh husband and wife duo. The church of Tressilian, or Probus, in Cornwall is dedicated in their honor

BLESSED SIGHARDUS OF BONLIEU

Blessed Sighardus of Bonlieu,
Feast day: April 5

Died 1162.
 Sighardus, Cistercian monk of Jouy, founded the abbey of Carbon-Blanc (Bonlieu) near Bordeaux in 1141 and became its first abbot 

SAINT ZENO

St. Zeno

Feast day: April 5
Death: unknown
A martyr who was put to death in an unknown date and an uncertain location. He was reportedly burned alive.

SAINT THEODORE , SAINT PAUSILIPPUS

St. Theodore and Pausilippus

Feast day: April 5
Death: 130
Martyrs slain during the reign of Hadrian at Byzantium.

MARTYRS OF LESBOS

Martyrs of Lesbos

Feast day: April 5
Five virgin Christian maidens who suffered martyrdom for the faith on the Greek island of Lesbos.

SAINT MARIA CRESCENTIA HOSS

St. Maria Crescentia Hoss

Feast day: April 5
Birth: 1682
Death: 1744
Beatified: 1900 by Pope Leo XIII
Canonized: November 25, 2001 by John Paul II



Maria Crescentia Höss (Höß), T.O.R., (1682-1744) is a Roman Catholic saint. She was a contemplative nun of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.

Maria Crescenzia Hoss was born in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria, in the Diocese of Augsburg on 20 October 1682, the seventh of the eight children of Matthias Höss and Lucia Hoermann. In 1703, in spite of family difficulties and the superior's reluctance, she was admitted to the Franciscan Tertiaries of Mayerhoff where she was professed in 1704 and remained until her death.

From 1709 to 1741 with the election of superiors who were favourably disposed to her, she fulfilled the most important positions of the monastery:  porter, novice mistress, and superior with the greatest dedication and generosity. She was novice mistress from 1726 to 1741. In 1741 sister Maria Crescenzia was elected superior of the community and, despite her attempts to refuse the post, was forced to accept the task. To her sisters she recommended observing silence, recollection, and spiritual reading, especially the Gospels. The teacher of their religious life had to be Jesus on the Cross.

Maria Höss was also a prudent and wise counsellor to all who turned to her for strength and comfort, as can be seen from her numerous letters.

In her three years as superior of the community of Mayerhoff she became its second foundress. She justified her selectivity regarding vocations saying, "God wants the convent rich in virtue, not in temporal goods". The principal points of her program for the renewal of the house were:  unlimited trust in divine providence, readiness in the acts of the common life, love of silence, devotion to Jesus crucified, and devotion to the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother.

She died on Easter in 1744 and her mortal remains are still very much venerated in the chapel of her monastery. 

SAINT GERALD OF SAUVE MAJEURE

St. Gerald of Sauve-Majeure
Gerald of Sauve-Majeure,
Also known as Geraud, Gerard
Feast day: April 5
Born in Corbie, Picardy; died 1095;
Death: 1095
Canonized: Canonized in 1197 by Pope Celestine III
 Saint Gerald was educated and became a monk and cellarer of the famous abbey of Corbie. He suffered from acute headaches until he was healed by Saint Adalhard on his return from a pilgrimage with his abbot to Monte Cassino and Rome, where he was ordained to the priesthood by Pope Leo IX. After some time in Corbie, he made a pilgrimage to Palestine.

Next, he was chosen abbot of Saint Vincent's at Laon, where the monks were unwilling to submit to proper discipline. Gerald resigned to become abbot of Saint Medard's at Soissons; but, being expelled by an usurper.

Then with three companions he founded and directed the Benedictine Abbey of Grande-Sauve (Gironde) near Bordeaux, which became the center of a powerful congregation. He instituted the practice of celebrating Mass and Office for the Dead for 30 days after the death of a community member. Gerald was also the author of a hagiology and up to his death he recommended that his monks flee all discussion 

SAINT ETHELBURGA

St. Ethelburga
Ethelburga of Lyminge, OSB Matron Abbess
Feast day: April 5
Death: 647

 Saint Ethelburga was the daughter of King Saint Ethelbert of Kent, who had been converted to Christianity by his wife Bertha [Tata] and Saint Augustine of Canterbury. Ethelburga married the pagan King Edwin of Northumbria. She and her chaplain Saint Paulinus helped persuade Edwin to become a Christian in 627 and a saint. He encouraged the advancement of Christianity in his kingdom, but on his death, paganism returned, and Ethelburga and Paulinus were forced to return to her native Kent. There she founded an abbey at Lyminge and was its abbess until her death

SAINT DERFERL GADARN

St. Derferl-Gadarn

Feast day: April 5
Death: 5th or 6th century


Welsh hermit, reported to have been in the battle of Camblan, where King Arthur died. He may have been a hermit before becoming a monk at Lianderfel, in Gwynedd, Wales. A carved-wood statue depicting Derfel-Gadarn as a mounted soldier was used to burn Blessed John Forest at Smithfield in 1538, by order of Thomas Cromwell..

SAINT BECAN


St. Becan
Becan of Kill-Beggan, Abbot
Also known as Began, Beggan
Feast day: April 5
Death: 6th century



 Saint Becan, named as one of the 12 Apostles of Ireland in the life of Saint Molossus, is said to be the son of Murchade and Cula, of the royal house of Munster and a blood relative of Saint Columba. Becan has been declared one of the three greatest champions of virtue, together with Saint Endeus and Saint Mochua, all of whom were leaders of saints in that fruitful age of holy men. He founded a monastery at Kill-Beggan, Westmeath, which centuries later became a Cistercian abbey. While building his church, he worked frequently on his knees, and while his hands were thus employed, he prayed with his lips and his eyes streamed with tears of devotion. He also gave his name to the church and parish of Imleach-Becain, Meath 

SAINT ALBERT OF MONTECORVINO

St. Albert of Montecorvino

Feast day: April 5
Born in Normandy
Death: 1127
Bishop and miracle worker. Born into a Norman family, Albert and his parents moved from Normandy to Montecorvino as a child. He demonstrated holiness at an early age and attracted many in the region. Blinded while still young, probably from some physical condition, Albert was nevertheless made bishop of Montecorvino. He was able to fulfill his duties and to perform many miracles. Albert was also known for his visions.

SAINT VINCENT FERRER

St. Vincent Ferrer
Vincent Ferrer, OP Priest
Facts
Feast day: April 5
Patron: of Builders


Born in Valencia, Spain, January 23, . 1350;
Died in Vannes, Brittany, France, April 5, 1418;
Canonized in 1455 by Pope Callistus III;
formal bull issued in 1458 by Pius II authorizing his feast on April 6,
 but it has always been celebrated on April 5.

"Whatever you do, think not of yourselves but of God."





Born into a noble, pious family headed by the Englishman William Ferrer and the Spanish woman Constantia Miguel, Saint Vincent's career of miracle-working began early. Prodigies attended his birth and baptism on the same day at Valencia, and, at age 5, he cured a neighbor child of a serious illness. These gifts and his natural beauty of person and character made him the center of attention very early in life.

His parents instilled into Vincent an intense devotion to our Lord and His Mother and a great love of the poor. He fasted regularly each Wednesday and Friday on bread and water from early childhood, abstained from meat, and learned to deny himself extravagances in order to provide alms for necessities. When his parents saw that Vincent looked upon the poor as the members of Christ and that he treated them with the greatest affection and charity, they made him the dispenser of their bountiful alms. They gave him for his portion a third part of their possessions, all of which he distributed among the poor in four days.

Vincent began his classical studies at the age of 8, philosophy at 12, and his theological studies at age 14. As everyone expected, he entered the Dominican priory of Valencia and received the habit on February 5, 1367. So angelic was his appearance and so holy his actions, that no other course seemed possible to him than to dedicate his life to God.

No sooner had he made his choice of vocation than the devil attacked him with the most dreadful temptations. Even his parents, who had encouraged his vocation, pleaded with him to leave the monastery and become a secular priest. By prayer and faith, especially prayer to Our Lady and his guardian angel, Vincent triumphed over his difficulties and finished his novitiate.

He was sent to Barcelona to study and was appointed reader in philosophy at Lerida, the most famous university in Catalonia, before he was 21. While there he published two treatises (Dialectic suppositions was one) that were well received.

In 1373, he was sent to Barcelona to preach, despite the fact that he held only deacon's orders. The city, laid low by a famine, was desperately awaiting overdue shipments of corn. Vincent foretold in a sermon that the ships would come before night, and although he was rebuked by his superior for making such a prediction, the ships arrived that day. The joyful people rushed to the priory to acclaim Vincent a prophet. The prior, however, thought it would be wise to transfer him away from such adulation.

Another story tells us that some street urchins drew his attention to one of their gang who was stretched out in the dust, pretending to be dead, near the port of Grao: "He's dead, bring him back to life!" they cried.

"Ah," replied Vincent, "he was playing dead but the, look, he did die." This is how one definitely nails a lie: by regarding it as a truth. And it turned out to be true, the boy was quite dead. Everyone was gripped with fear. They implored Vincent to do something. God did. He raised him up.

In 1376, Vincent was transferred to Toulouse for a year, and continued his education. Having made a particular study of Scripture and Hebrew, Vincent was well-equipped to preach to the Jews. He was ordained a priest at Barcelona in 1379, and became a member of Pedro (Peter) Cardinal de Luna's court--the beginning of a long friendship that was to end in grief for both of them. (Cardinal de Luna had voted for Pope Urban VI in 1378, but convinced that the election had been invalid, joined a group of cardinals who elected Robert of Geneva as Pope Clement VII later in the same year; thus, creating a schism and the line of Avignon popes.)

After being recalled to his own country, Vincent preached very successfully at the cathedral in Valencia from 1385-1390, and became famed for his eloquence and effectiveness at converting Jews--Rabbi Paul of Burgos, the future bishop of Cartagena was one of Vincent's 30,000 Jewish and Moorish converts--and reviving the faith of those who had lapsed. His numerous miracles, the strength and beauty of his voice, the purity and clarity of his doctrine, combined to make his preaching effective, based as it was on a firm foundation of prayer.

Of course, Vincent's success as a preacher drew the envy of others and earned him slander and calumny. His colleagues believed that they could make amends for the calumny by making him prior of their monastery in Valencia. He did withdraw for a time into obscurity. But he was recalled to preach the Lenten sermons of 1381 in Valencia, and he could not refuse to employ the gift of speech which drew to him the good and simple people as well as the captious pastors, the canons, and the skeptical savants of the Church.

Peter de Luna, a stubborn and ambitious cardinal, made Vincent part of his baggage, so to speak; because from 1390 on, Vincent preached wherever Peter de Luna happened to be, including the court of Avignon, where Vincent enjoyed the advantage of being confessor to the pope, when Peter de Luna became the antipope Benedict XIII in 1394.

Two evils cried out for remedy in Saint Vincent's day: the moral laxity left by the great plague, and the scandal of the papal schism. In regard to the first, he preached tirelessly against the evils of the time. That he espoused the cause of the wrong man in the papal disagreement is no argument against Vincent's sanctity; at the time, and in the midst of such confusion, it was almost impossible to tell who was right and who was wrong. The memorable thing is that he labored, with all the strength he could muster, to bring order out of chaos. Eventually, Vincent came to believe that his friend's claims were false and urged de Luna to reconcile himself to Urban VI.

He acted as confessor to Queen Yolanda of Aragon from 1391 to 1395. He was accused to the Inquisition of heresy because he taught that Judas had performed penance, but the charge was dismissed by the antipope Benedict XIII, who burned the Inquisition's dossier on Vincent and made him his confessor.

Benedict offered Vincent a bishopric, but refused it. Distressed by the great schism and by Benedict's unyielding position, he advised him to confer with his Roman rival. Benedict refused. Reluctantly, Vincent was obliged to abandon de Luna in 1398. The strain of this conflict between friendship and truth caused Vincent to become dangerously ill in 1398. During his illness, he experienced a vision in which Christ and Saints Dominic and Francis instructed him to preach penance whenever and wherever he was needed, and he was miraculously cured.

After recovering, he pleaded to be allowed to devote himself to missionary work. He preached in Carpetras, Arles, Aix, and Marseilles, with huge crowds in attendance. Between 1401 and 1403, the saint was preaching in the Dauphiné, in Savoy, and in the Alpine valleys: he continued on to Lucerne, Lausanne, Tarentaise, Grenoble, and Turin. He was such an effective speaker that, although he spoke only Spanish, he was thought by many to be multilingual (the gift of tongues?). His brother Boniface was the prior of the Grande Chartreuse, and as a result of Vincent's preaching, several notable subjects entered the monastery.

Miracles were attributed to him. In 1405, Vincent was in Genoa and preached against the fantastic head-dresses worn by the Ligurian ladies, and they were modified--"the greatest of all his marvelous deeds, reports one of his biographers. From Genoa, he caught a ship to Flanders. Later, in the Netherlands, an hour each day was scheduled for his cures. In Catalonia, his prayer restored the withered limbs of a crippled boy, deemed incurable by his physicians, named John Soler, who later became the bishop of Barcelona. In Salamanca in 1412, he raised a dead man to life. Perhaps the greatest miracle occurred in the Dauphiné, in an area called Vaupute, or Valley of Corruption. The natives there were so savage that no minister would visit them. Vincent, ever ready to suffer all things to gain souls, joyfully risked his life among these abandoned wretches, converted them all from their errors and vices. Thereafter, the name of the valley was changed to Valpure, or Valley of Purity, a name that it has retained.

He preached indefatigably, supplementing his natural gifts with the supernatural power of God, obtained through his fasting, prayers, and penance. Such was the fame of Vincent's missions, that King Henry IV of England sent a courtier to him with a letter entreating him to preach in his dominions. The king sent one of his own ships to fetch him from the coast of France, and received him with the greatest honors. The saint having employed some time in giving the king wholesome advice both for himself and his subjects, preached in the chief towns of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Returning to France, he did the same, from Gascony to Picardy.

The preaching of Saint Vincent became a strange but marvelously effective process. He attracted to himself hundreds of people--at one time, more than 10,000--who followed him from place to place in the garb of pilgrims. The priests of the company sang Mass daily, chanted the Divine Office, and dispensed the sacraments to those converted by Vincent's preaching. Men and women travelled in separate companies, chanting litanies and prayers as they went barefoot along the road from city to city. They taught catechism where needed, founded hospitals, and revived a faith that had all but perished in the time of the plague.

The message of his preaching was penance, the Last Judgment, and eternity. Like another John the Baptist--who was also likened to an angel, as Saint Vincent is in popular art--he went through the wilderness crying out to the people to make straight the paths of the Lord. Fearing the judgment, if for no other reason, sinners listened to his startling sermons, and the most obstinate were led by him to cast off sin and love God. He worked countless miracles, some of which are remembered today in the proverbs of Spain. Among his converts were Saint Bernardine of Siena and Margaret of Savoy.

He returned to Spain in 1407. Despite the fact that Granada was under Moorish rule, he preached successfully, and thousands of Jews and Moors were said to have been converted and requested baptism. His sermons were often held in the open air because the churches were too small for all those who wished to hear him.

In 1414 the Council of Constance attempted the end the Great Schism, which had grown since 1409 with three claimants to the papal throne. The council deposed John XXIII, and demanded the resignation of Benedict XIII and Gregory XII so that a new election could be held. Gregory was willing, but Benedict was stubborn. Again, Vincent tried to persuade Benedict to abdicate. Again, he failed. But Vincent, who acted as a judge in the Compromise of Caspe to resolve the royal succession, influenced the election of Ferdinand as king of Castile. Still a friend of Benedict (Peter de Luna), King Ferdinand, basing his actions on Vincent's opinion on the issue, engineered Benedict's deposition in 1416, which ended the Western Schism.

(It is interesting to note that the edicts of the Council of Constance were thrown out by the succeeding pope. The council had mandated councils every ten years and claimed that such convocations had precedence over the pope.)

His book, Treatise on the Spiritual Life is still of value to earnest souls. In it he writes: "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. Consult God more than your books, and ask him, with humility, to make you understand what you read. Study fatigues and drains the mind and heart. Go from time to time to refresh them at the feet of Jesus Christ under his cross. Some moments of repose in his sacred wounds give fresh vigor and new lights. Interrupt your application by short, but fervent and ejaculatory prayers: never begin or end your study but by prayer. Science is a gift of the Father of lights; do not therefore consider it as barely the work of your own mind or industry."

It seems that Vincent practiced what he preached. He always composed his sermons at the foot of a crucifix, both to beg light from Christ crucified, and to draw from that object sentiments with which to animate his listeners to penance and the love of God.

Saint Vincent also preached to Saint Colette and her nuns, and it was she who told him that he would die in France. Indeed, Vincent spent his last three years in France, mainly in Normandy and Brittany, and he died on the Wednesday of Holy Week in Vannes, Brittany, after returning from a preaching trip to Nantes. The day of his burial was a great popular feast with a procession, music, sermons, songs, miracles, and even minor brawls .

Note: I highly recommend reading the entry for Vincent Ferrer in Butler's Lives of the Saints. It's more accurate than many of his biographies and much more detailed about the saints travels and miracles than presented here.

Saint Vincent is the patron of orphanages in Spain. And Breton fishermen still invoke his aid in storms (Dorcy). He is also the patron of lead founders and invoked against epilepsy, fever, and headache

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

BLESSED ALETH OF DIJON

Blessed Aleth of Dijon,

Also known as Alethe, Aleidis, Aleydis, Alice
Feast day: April 4
Died 1105.
 Mother of Saint Bernard and many other holy children, Aleth was the daughter of the lord of Montbard and wife of Tecolin . Her relics were at the Abbey of Saint Benignus in Dijon, France, in 1110, and transferred to Clairvaux in 1250 . In art, Christ appears to Saint Aleth as she receives viaticum. Sometimes she is shown standing with her son, Saint Bernard 

BLESSED HENRY OF GHEEST



Blessed Henry of Gheest,

Also known as Henry of Villers
Feast day: April 4
Died . 1190.
 The relics of the Cistercian monk Henry of Villers in the diocese of Namur were solemnly raised in 1599

SAINT ZOSIMAS OF PALESTINE

St. Zosimas of Palestine

Feast day: April 4
Birth: 460
Death: 560


Zosimus Hermit. From Palestine, he settled on the Jordan River as a hermit. According to tradition, he was a close friend and the biographer of St. Mary of Egypt, the farned anchoress. 

SAINT TIGERNACH

St. Tigernach
Tigernach of Clogher
Also known as Tigernake, Tierney, Tierry
Feast day: April 4

Died 549.

 Abbot Saint Tigernach of Cluanois (Clones) Abbey in Monaghan succeeded Saint Macartan as bishop of Clogher, Ireland. While the details of his life are unreliable because they were written from tradition centuries after his death, he is said to have had a tragic childhood and to have died blind. They say that he was the son of a famous general named Corbre and Dearfraych, the daughter of an Irish king named Eochod. He was baptized by Bishop Saint Conleth of Kildare with Saint Brigid as his godmother. While still a youth, he was captured by pirates and taken to the British king, who placed him in the monastery of Rosnat. There he learned to serve God with his whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. When he returned to Ireland, he was reluctantly consecrated bishop, and, upon the death of Macartan in 506, took over that see 

SAINT THEONAS OF EGYPT

St. Theonas of Egypt

Feast day: April 4
Death: 395
A monk in Egypt who was a famous recluse in the Thebaid, Egypt. He lived in Oxyrinchus (modern el-Bahnasa).

SAINT PLATO OF SAKKUDION

St. Plato
Plato of Sakkudion,
Feast day: April 4


Born in Constantinople,  734;
Died on March 19, 813.
Saint Plato was younger than 13 when his parents were killed by a plague afflicting Constantinople. At that time, his uncle, the high treasurer of the empire, took over his education and Plato acted as his apprentice. He was accomplished at taking down business affairs in shorthand, yet even more advanced in affairs of the spirit.

Because of his high birth, virtue, and skill, he came to be regarded as a prize catch for those seeking a husband for their daughters. Plato, however, was more attracted to prayer and seclusion than marriage. He convinced his three brothers to devote themselves to God, and live in a state of celibacy. Then, seeking to free himself from worldly attachments, he freed all his slaves and sold his large estates. Before retiring to Symboleon on Mount Olympus, Bithynia, he used some of the money to obtain spouses for his two sisters--who became the mothers of saints--and distributed the rest among the poor.

Having discharged his duties, Plato bid adieu to his family, friends, and country and travelled with one servant to Bithynia (now in Turkey). There he sent his servant back to Constantinople with all his clothes except the coarse ones that he was wearing and entered the monastery Symboleon. There Plato made great progress in his spiritual growth through the practice of humility, devotion, and obedience under the guidance of the holy abbot Theoctistus.

Prayer and pious reading were the delight of his soul. In the hours allotted to labor he rejoiced to see the meanest employments assigned to him from making bread to fertilizing the fields with manure, though his skills were usually employed in copying manuscripts. When Theoctistus died in 770, the 36-year-old Plato was chosen abbot against his will. In order to ensure that such power would not corrupt him, he increased the severity of his penances: He never drank anything but water (sometimes only once in two days); his diet was bread, beans, or herbs without oil. He would never eat or wear anything which was not purchased by the labor of his own hands; by which he also maintained several poor.

After the death of the tyrant Constantine Copronymus, Saint Plato went to Constantinople on business and was received with great honor. He used this opportunity to encourage others to grow in holiness and love of virtue. The patriarch unsuccessfully tried to convince Plato to receive episcopal consecration, but Plato escaped back to his refuge at Symboleon.

In 782, his family prevailed upon him to leave Symboleon and take over the governance of Sakkudion Monastery near Constantinople, which was founded by his sister Theoctista. Her whole family embraced the religious state and it was fitting that Plato should join them. After directing Sakkudion for 12 years, he resigned in favor of his nephew, Saint Theodore Studites.

Life became difficult for Saint Plato when he opposed the actions of Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who repudiated his empress, Mary, and took to his bed Theodota, a relative of Saint Plato. Patriarch Saint Tarasius unsuccessfully threatened and exhorted the emperor against this action; Plato went further. He published a sentence of excommunication against the emperor among the monks. Joseph, the treasurer of the church, and several other mercenary priests and monks, tried to convince Plato to approve the emperor's divorce; but he resisted their solicitations and the emperor's own plea. Instead he suffered imprisonment and other hardships till the death of Constantine in 797.

When the Saracens invaded Byzantium, the monks of Sakkudion abandoned their monastery and moved to the Studium, which had been almost destroyed by the persecution of Constantine Copronymus. There Saint Plato vowed obedience to his nephew Theodore and retired to a narrow cell so that he could engage in perpetual prayer and manual labor. He chained one foot to the ground with a heavy iron chain that he carefully hid with his cloak when anyone came to see him.

When Saint Nicephorus, a layman of great virtue, was appointed patriarch of Constantinople in 806, Saint Plato opposed it because of the irregularity of naming a layman as bishop. Opposition to Plato increased when, in 807, Emperor Nicephorus appointed Joseph, the priest who had married the adulteress to the emperor Constantine, was restored his position as treasurer of the church. Plato loudly condemned the emperor's action as contrary to the discipline of the church. The emperor retaliated by placing him under house arrest for a year, before calling him to account at a council of court bishops. Then he was unjustly convicted of fictitious crimes and sentenced to banishment on an island in the Bosphorus for four years.

Although the repentant emperor died before mitigating Plato's sentence, his successor, Michael I, immediately restored the saint to grace and received him with great respect. Plato retired again to his cell and perceiving that he was near death, he asked that his grave to be dug, and himself to be carried to it and laid down by it. Here he was visited by Constantinople's dignitaries, including Patriarch Saint Nicephorus, who had been reconciled to Plato and who performed his funeral rites. Plato's vita was written by his nephew, Saint Theodore

BLESSED PETER POITIERS

Bl. Peter of Poitiers

Feast day: April 4
Birth: 1130
Death: 1215

Bishop of Poitiers. Not to be confused with the French theologian of the same name, Peter was named bishop in 1087 and distinguished himself for his willingness to stand firm against the counts of Poitou on issues of morality and proper conduct. He was quite outspoken in condemning the behavior of King Philip I and Count William IV Count William exiled Peter to the castle of Chauvigny in 1113 where the bishop died two years later. He was also a friend and patron of Blessed Robert d'Arbriselle, encouraging Robert in the founding of Fontevrault Abbey. While considered Blessed, Peter has technically never been beatified.

SAINT HILDEBERT

St. Hildebert
Hildebert of Ghent,
Feast day: April 4
Death: 752
 Abbot Hildebert of the Benedictine monastery of Saint Peter's in Ghent was killed by some fanatics for his defense o;f holy images; therefore, he is venerated as a martyr 

SAINT GUIER

St. Guier
Gwerir of Liskeard,
Also known as Guier
Feast day: April 4
Death: unknown

9th century.
A taciturn hermit monk in Liskeard, Cornwall, England, at whose grave King Alfred is said to have been cured of a serious illness. Saint Gwerir's cell was occupied after his death by Saint Neot

SAINT GAETANO CATANOSO

St. Gaetano Catanoso

Feast day: April 4
Birth: 1879
Death: 1963
Beatified: 4 May 1997 by John Paul II
Canonized: 23 October 2005, Rome, Italy by Pope Benedict XVI



Gaetano Catanoso was born on 14 February 1879 in Chorio di San Lorenzo, Reggio Calabria, Italy. His parents were wealthy landowners and exemplary Christians.

Gaetano was ordained a priest in 1902, and from 1904 to 1921 he served in the rural parish of Pentidattilo.

Fr Catanoso had a great devotion to The Holy Face of Jesus, and began "The Holy Face" Bulletin and established the "Confraternity of the Holy Face" in 1920. He once wrote:  "The Holy Face is my life. He is my strength".

Versatility, openness to God's will

On 2 February 1921, he was transferred to the large parish of Santa Maria de la Candelaria, where he remained until 1940. He was very versatile and his ability to peacefully and diligently serve in such contradictory parish realities earned him the reputation of holiness.

Because he was not conditioned by exterior factors, positive or negative, Fr Gaetano worked well in all situations and settings, striving always to deepen his union with Christ and to do God's will for the good of those entrusted to his pastoral care. He desired nothing more than to serve at the country parish of Pentidattilo, and his appointment to Candelaria did not make him "puffed up".

As parish priest of Candelaria, he drew people to Christ by reviving Eucharistic and Marian devotions. He opened institutions, promoted catechetical instruction and crusaded against blasphemy and the profanation of feast days.

Fr Gaetano felt it his duty as a priest to help children and youth who lacked role models and risked being corrupted, as well as abandoned older persons and priests who were isolated and without support. He even helped restore churches and Tabernacles left to decay.

In short, he saw the Face of Christ in all who suffered and would say: "Let us all work to defend and save the orphans, those who are abandoned. There are too many dangers and there is too much misery. With Jesus let us turn our gaze to the abandoned children and youth:  today, humanity is more morally sick than ever".

Fr Catanoso often spent hours or entire days in prayer before the Tabernacle, and in the parish and beyond he promoted Eucharistic Adoration. He also set up so-called "flying-squads", teams of priests willing to cooperate in the parishes by giving homilies and hearing confession on these occasions.

From 1921 to 1950 he served as confessor at religious institutes and in the Reggio Calabria prison. He was also hospital chaplain and spiritual director of the Archiepiscopal Seminary.

In 1934, Fr Catanoso founded the "Congregation of the Daughters of St Veronica, Missionaries of the Holy Face"; its mission: constant prayer of reparation, humble service in worship, catechesis, assistance to children, youth, priests and the elderly. The first convent was opened in Riparo, Reggio Calabria.

When the Archbishop curtailed the activities of the Congregation, Fr Catanoso showed great docility in accepting this decision.

Finally, however, on 25 March 1958, the Constitutions he had written received diocesan approval.
Fr Catanoso died on 4 April 1963, after an exemplary life. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 4 May 1997.

SAINT BENEDICT THE BLACK OFM

St. Benedict the Black
Benedict the Black, OFM
Also known as Benedict the Moor
Feast day: April 4
Patron: of African missions; African American; black missions; black people; Palermo, Sicily San Fratello, Sicily

Born near Messina, Italy, in 1526;
Died at Palermo, Italy, April 4, 1589;
Beatified in 1743; canonized in 1807.
Benedict was the son of freed negro slaves of Sicily. He was about 21 when he was publicly insulted on account of his race, and his patient and dignified demeanor on that occasion was observed by the leader of a group of Franciscan hermits. Benedict was invited to join the group at Montepellegrino. When their superior died, he was made superior of the community. When he was about 38 (1564), Pope Pius IV disbanded communities of hermits and they were absorbed into the Friars Minor of Observance. Thus, Benedict became a Franciscan lay brother and the cook at Saint Mary's monastery near Palermo.

In 1578, Benedict was appointed superior (guardian) of the convent when it opted for the reform, though he was an illiterate laybrother. With understandable reluctance he accepted the office, and, rule with many evidences of direct supernatural aid, successfully carried through the adoption of a stricter interpretation of the Franciscan.

After serving as superior, he became novice master but asked to be relieved of this post and returned to his former position as cook. Benedict's reputation for holiness, working miracles, and as a sympathetic and understanding religious counsellor brought hordes of visitors to see the obscure and humble cook.

Saint Benedict is the patron of African-Americans in the United States. The surname 'the Moor' is a misnomer originating from the Italian il moro

SAINT AGERANUS

St. Ageranus

Feast day: April 4
Death: 303
Martyr, caught up in the Norman invasion of his era. A Benedictine monk in the monastery of the Order of Beze Côte-d'Or, France, Ageranus chose to defend the sacred precincts of the monastery when a Norman army arrived on the scene. He was accompanied by four other monks, Gerard, Genesius, Rodron, and Silfrard, and by a young lad, probably a novice, named AdaIric. The other monks had fled the monastery. All of the remaining custodians were murdered defending the altars.

SAINT AGATHOPUS , SAINT THEODULUS

St. Agathopus (Agathopedes) & Theodulus
Feast day: April 4
Death: 303



 In Thessalonica, Saint Agathopus, a deacon, and Saint Theodulus, a young lector, were thrown into the sea at Salonika with a stone around their necks during the reign of Maximinian Herculius for refusing to give up the sacred books

SAINT ISIDORE OF SEVILLE

St. Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville , Doctor
Feast day: April 4




Born at Cartagena, Spain, . 560;
Died in Seville, Spain, in April 4, 636;
Canonized by Pope Clement VIII in 1598;
Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Innocent XIII in 1722.

Saint Isidore was born into a noble Hispano-Roman family, which also produced SS. Leander, Fulgentius, and Florentina. Their father was Severian, a Roman from Cartagena, who was closely connected to the Visigothic kings. Though Isidore became one of the most erudite men of his age, as a boy he hated his studies, perhaps because his elder brother, Saint Leander, who taught him, was a strict task master.

It is probably that Isidore assisted Leander in governing his diocese, because, in 601, Saint Isidore succeeded his brother Leander to the archiepiscopal see of Seville. During his long episcopate, Isidore strengthened the Spanish church by organizing councils, establishing schools and religious houses, and continuing to turn the Visigoths from Arianism. He presided over the Council of Seville in 619 and that of Toledo in 633, where he was given precedence over the archbishop of Toledo on the ground of his exceptional merit as the greatest teacher in Spain.

Aware of the great boon of education, Isidore insisted that a cathedral school should be established in every diocese in Spain-- centuries before Charlemagne issued a similar decree. He thought that students should be taught law and medicine, Hebrew and Greek, as well as the classics. These schools were similar to contemporary seminaries.

For centuries Isidore was known as 'the schoolmaster of the middle ages,' because he wrote a 20-volume Etymologies or Origins, an encyclopedia of everything that was known in 7th century Europe. His Chronica Majora summarized all the events in the world from creation to his own time drawn from other church historians but with the addition of Spanish history. Another book completed Saint Jerome's work of biographies of every great man and woman mentioned in the Bible plus those of many Spanish notables. His history of the Goths and Vandals is very valuable today. He also wrote new rules for monasteries, including one that bears his name and was generally followed throughout Spain, and books about astronomy, geography, and theology.

While not an original or critical thinker, Saint Isidore's works were highly influential in the middle ages as demonstrated by the very large number of manuscripts of his writings. Dante mentions him in the Paradiso (x, 130), in the company of the Venerable Bede and the Scottish Richard of Saint-Victor. In fact, at the time of his death, Bede was working on a translation of extracts from Isidore's book On the wonders of nature (De natura rerum).

Isidore longed to convert the Spanish Goths, who were Arians. He rewrote the liturgies and breviaries of the Church for their use (known as the Mozarabic Rite, which had been began by Leander), and never wearied of preaching and teaching those in error during his 37 years as archbishop. He also sought to convert the local Jews, but by highly questionable methods.

This extraordinary man loved to give to the poor, and towards the end of his life scarcely anyone could get into his house in Seville, crowded as it was with beggars and the unfortunate from the surrounding countryside.

When he felt that death was near, he invited two bishops to visit. Together they went to the church where one of them covered him with sackcloth and the other put ashes upon his head. Thus clad in the habit of a penitent, he raised his hands to heaven and prayed earnestly for forgiveness. Then he received the viaticum, asked for the prayers of those present, forgave those who had sinned against him, exhorted all to charity, bequeathed his earthly possessions to the poor, and gave up his soul to God.

The archbishop of Seville was considered the most learned man of his century. Not only for the reason that the Church was able to proclaim him Doctor a short time after his death, or because he is the author of the Etymologies, but because knowledge permeated his whole being. The nexus of sanctity and learning gladdens this heart.

Learning did not turn Saint Isidore away from sanctity. Indeed, it was sanctity that surely made such a learned man of him. The saint, possessed by God, is full of gifts of the Holy Spirit; and learning is one of them. This learning, the true science which contains all other sciences, favors new discoveries and multiplies it in every domain that is approached.

Saints are most exclusively the savants of God and their private works are no less important. And savants are a type of saint because any discovery discloses something of God. The philosopher as well as the painter, the seeker as well as the poet, is a savant.

Recall another Spanish saint, John of the Cross, whose works nearly brought a contemporary philosopher to the edges of sanctity. The bird in Braque's last painting is a figure of grace. This revelation leads me to believe that the patient hand that was the means of painting could not have been anything other than that of a man on the way to sanctity. One can paint birds without making them suggest such a presence as Braque's painting does. This presence is not that of the artist, he has absolutely effaced himself; it is the presence of that which finally transcends him, the presence of God.

The most learned persons have perceived the richness, the 'odor' of sanctity. Our age may see it flower; how could it have a taste for anything else after having plumbed the depths of nothingness and despair, if, of course, it still wants something to which it can aspire. Our generation needs something solid, substantial. It is dying of weariness and thirst.

A life-giving stream is still running, all we need to do is bend down to drink it in order to renew the ancient gestures and enter humbly, without hesitation or compromise, into that which does not go out of fashion and does not age: into this Church in which today we pray to Saint Isidore, who is the patron of savants. Saint Isidore, pray for us and for them

BLESSED ALEXANDRINA DI LETTO

Blessed Alexandrina di Letto, Poor Clare
Feast day: April 3
Born at Sulmona, Italy in 1385;
Died 1458. At age 15,
 Alexandrina joined the Poor Clares. After 23 years as a nun she founded a convent of her order at Foligno of which she became its first abbess. Here she initiated a new Franciscan reform, which was blessed and encouraged by Pope Martin V

BLESSED GANDULPHUS OF BINASCO

Blessed Gandulphus of Binasco, OFM
Feast day: April 3
Also known as Gandulf
Born in Binasco (near Milan), Lombardy, Italy; died 1260. Gandulphus became a member of the Franciscan Order while Saint Francis was still alive and spent his life praying and preaching in Sicily. Later in life, he left the friary at Palermo to become a hermit. He is highly venerated in Sicily 

BLESSED JOHN OF PENNA

Blessed John of Penna, OFM
Feast day: April 3
Born at Penna San Giovanni (near Fermo), Ancona, Italy, 1193;
Died at Recanati, Italy, April 3, 1271;
Cultus approved 1806 by Pope Pius VII.
Blessed John joined the Franciscans at Recanati about 1213, was ordained a priest, and was sent to France, where he worked for about 25 years in Provence, founding several Franciscan houses. About 1242, he returned to Italy, where he spent his last 30 years mainly in retirement, although he did serve as guardian several times. He experienced visions and had the gift of prophecy, but was also afflicted with extended periods of spiritual aridity. His life is described in chapter 45 of The Little Flowers of Saint Francis

SAINT PANCRAS OF TAORMINA

Pancras of Taormina

Also known as Pancratius
Feast day: April 3
1st century; also July 8. Saint Pancras is the subject of a bizarre Greek legend. According to the story, he was an Antiochene by birth, whom Saint Peter consecrated bishop and sent to Taormina (Tauromenium) in Sicily, where he was stoned to death by brigands after a career of preaching and miracle-working. Saint Pancras was immensely popular in Sicily, and his cultus spread early to England and Georgia

SIXTUS 1, POPE

Sixtus I, Pope
Feast day: April 3
Also known as Xystus
Born at Rome;
Died 127.

After the death of Pope Alexander I, when the emperor Trajan ruled the Roman Empire, it was virtually certain that anyone who succeeded the pope would suffer martyrdom, for this was an age when Christians were savagely persecuted. Sixtus I took the office c. 117 knowing this, and survived as pope for about 10 years before being killed by the Roman authorities.

As well as displaying great bravery, Sixtus I must have been much concerned with the liturgy of the church as the Liber Pontificalis details three ordinances. It anachronistically says that at the Eucharist when the priests came to the words 'Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might; heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest,' Sixtus decreed that all the people in the church should join in as well. (Unfortunately, this cannot be true because the Sanctus was not added to the liturgy until a much later date: it was not included in the Mass of Hippolytus. Therefore, it is unclear how accurate the balance of the entry is.) It relates that he issued a decree that only the clergy should touch the sacred vessels and that bishops called to Rome should not be received back by their diocese unless they present Apostolic papers.

The Roman Martyrology says that Sixtus I was killed by the pagan Romans in the year 127 under Antonius the Pious, but there are no acta

SAINT VULPIAN

St. Vulpian
Vulpian of Tyre
Also known as Ulpian
Feast day: April 3
Death: 304
Martyr. A Syrian, he was executed at Tyre, Lebanon, during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian (n 284-305).
 Because he firmly confessed Jesus as Lord before the judge Urbanus, his joints were dislocated on the rack. Thereafter, he was sewn into a leather sack with a dog and a wasp or serpent, and drowned in the sea, according to Eusebius

SAINT NICETAS

St. Nicetas
Nicetas of Medikion, Abbot
Feast day: April 3

Born in Caesarea, Bithynia; died at Constantinople on April 3, 824. The father of Saint Nicetas entered a monastery a few years after his mother died when he was just a week old, and he was raised in the monastery. He became a monk at Medikion Monastery at the foot of Mount Olympus, Bithynia, was ordained in 790 by Saint Tarasius, and in time became abbot.

When Nicetas and a group of other abbots refused the demand of the iconoclastic Emperor Leo the Armenian that they recognize the intruded Theodotus as patriarch of Constantinople, who Leo had appointed to replace the exiled Patriarch Nicephorus, Nicetas was exiled to Anatolia (Turkey), where he was subjected to ill treatment.

When he was brought back to Constantinople, he accepted Theodotus as patriarch and was returned to his monastery. He soon repented publicly, withdrew his allegiance to the patriarch, and denounced iconoclasm. He was then exiled to the isle of Glyceria in 813, released when Michael the Stammerer became emperor in 820, and lived as a hermit near Constantinople until his death there

SAINT BURGUNDOFARA

St. Fara

Feast day: April 3

Burgundofara,
(also known as Fare, Fara)

Born near Meaux; died at Faremoutiers in Brie, France, on April 3, c. 655-657. Sister of Saint Cagnoald, Saint Faro, and Agnetrudis, Fare had been blessed by Saint Columbanus in her infancy during his stay with the family on his way into exile from Luxeuil. Some chroniclers say say was 10 or 15 at the time Columbanus consecrated her to God in a particular manner.
She developed a religious vocation early in spite of the fierce opposition of her father, Count Agneric, one of the principal courtiers of King Theodebert II. He arranged an honorable match for his daughter, which so upset her that she became mortally ill. Still Agneric demanded that she marry.
When Saint Eustace was returning to the court with her brother Cagnoald from his embassy to Columbanus, he stayed in the home of Agneric. Fare disclosed to him her vocation. Eustace told her father that Fare was deathly ill because he opposed her pious inclinations. The saintly man prostrated himself for a time in prayer, rose, and made the sign of the cross upon Fare's eyes. Immediately her health was restored.
Eustace asked her mother, Leodegonda, to prepare Fare to receive the veil when he returned to court. As soon as the saint left, Agneric again began to harass his daughter. She sought sanctuary in the church when he threatened to kill her if she did not comply with this wishes. Eustace returned and reconciled father and daughter. He then arranged for Fare to be professed before Bishop Gondoald of Meaux in 614.
A year or two later, Fare convinced her father to build her a double monastery, originally named Brige (Brie, which is Celtic for "bridge") or Evoriacum, now called Faremoutiers (Fare's monastery). The chronicler Jonas, a monk in that abbey, wrote about many of the holy people he knew there, including Saint Cagnoald and Saint Walbert.
Although Fare was still very young, she was appointed its first abbess and governed the monastery under the Rule of Saint Columbanus for 37 years. The rule was severe. The use of wine and milk was forbidden (at least during penitential seasons). The inhabitants confessed three times each day to encourage a habitual watchfulness for the attainment of purity of heart. Masses were said daily in the monastery for 30 days for the soul of those religious who died.
Fare was apparently an excellent directress of souls. Many English princess-nuns and nun-saints were trained under her, including Saints Gibitrudis, Sethrida, Ethelburga, Ercongotha, Hildelid, Sisetrudis, Hercantrudis, and others. Once when her younger brother, Saint Faro, was visiting, he was so moved by her heavenly discourses that he resigned the great offices which he held at court, persuaded his fiancé to become a nun, and took the clerical tonsure. After he succeeded Gondoald as bishop, Faro supported his sister against attempts to mitigate the severity of the Rule.
A reference is made to Fare by Bede led long afterwards to the mistaken idea that she died in England; however, she died at Faremoutiers after a painful, lingering illness. Her will bequeathed some of her lands to her siblings, but the rest to the monastery, includng her lands at Champeaux on which a monastery was later erected.
Fare's relics were enshrined in 695 and many miracles were attributed to her intercession. Among them is the restoration of sight to Dame Charlotte le Bret, daughter to the first president and treasurer-general of finance in the district of Paris. At the age of seven (1602), her left eye was put out. She became a nun at Faremoutiers in 1609 and lost the sight in her remaining eye in 1617 due to an irreversible eye disease. Because she suffered terrible pain in her eyes and the adjacent nerves, remedies were applied to destroy all feeling in the area. In 1622, she kissed one of the exposed bones of Saint Fare and touched it to both eyes. She had feeling again. Upon repeating the action, her sight was restored--instantly and perfectly. Physicians and witnesses testified in writing to her state before and after this miracle, which was certified as such be Bishop John de Vieupont of Meaux on December 9, 1622.
The affidavit of the abbess, Frances de la Chastre, and the community also mentioned two other miraculous cures of palsy and rheumatism. Other miracles wrought at the intercession of Saint Fare are recorded by Carcat and du Plessis 

SAINT EVAGRIUS , SAINT BENIGNUS

St. Evagrius & Benignus

Feast day: April 3
Death: unknown
Martyrs at Tomion the Black Sea . Nothing is known of their martyrdom.

SAINT ATTALA

St. Attala
Attala of Taormina
Also known as Attalus
Feast day: April 3
Death: 800
 The Benedictine Saint Attala was monk and abbot of a monastery at Taormina, Sicily

SAINT AGAPE, SAINT CHIONIA, SAINT IRENE

St. Agape
Agape, Chionia (Chione) & Irene
Feast
day: April 3
Death: 304

Agape and her sisters Chionia and Irene, Christians of Thessalonica, Macedonia, were convicted of possessing texts of the Scriptures despite a decree issued in 303 by Emperor Diocletian naming such possessions a crime punishable by death. When they further refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, the governor, Dulcitius, had Agape and Chionia burned alive. When Irene still refused to recant, Dulcitius ordered her sent to a house of prostitution. There she was unmolested after being exposed naked and chained, she was put to death either by burning or by an arrow through her throat.


Died at Thessalonica, Macedonia, April 3, 304. The martyrdom of these three sisters is related in a document that is a somewhat more amplified version of genuine records.

In 303, Emperor Diocletian issued a decree making it an offense punishable by death to possess any portion of sacred Christian writings. Irene and her sisters, Agape and Chionia, daughters of pagan parents living in Salonika, owned several volumes of Holy Scriptures, which they hid. This made the girls very unhappy because they could not read them at all hours as was their wont.

The sisters were arrested on another charge--that of refusing to eat food that had been offered to the gods--and taken before the governor, Dulcetius (Dulcitius). He asked each in turn why they had refused and if they would still refuse. Agape answered: "I believe in the living God, and will not by an evil action lose all the merit of my past life." Some of the transcript follows:

Dulcetius: "Why didn't you obey the most pious command of our emperors and Caesars?"

Irene: "For fear of offending God."

Dulcetius: "But what say you, Casia?"

Casia: "I desire to save my soul."

Dulcetius: "Will not you partake of the sacred offerings?"

Casia: "By no means."

Dulcetius: "But you, Philippa, what do you say?"

Philippa: "I say the same thing."

Dulcetius: "What is that?"

Philippa: "That I had rather die than eat of your sacrifices."

Dulcetius: "And you, Eutychia, what do you say?"

Eutychia: "I say the same thing: that I had rather die than do what you command." Dulcetius: "Are you married?"

Eutychia: "My husband has been dead almost seven months."

Dulcetius: "By whom are you with child?"

Eutychia: "By him whom God gave me for my husband."

Dulcetius: "I advise you, Eutychia, to leave this folly, and resume a reasonable way of thinking; what do you say? will you obey the imperial edict?"

Eutychia: "No: for I am a Christian, and serve the Almighty God."

Dulcetius: "Eutychia being big with child, let her be kept in prison. Agape, what is your resolution? will you do as we do, who are obedient and dutiful to the emperors?"

Agape: "It is not proper to obey Satan; my soul is not to be overcome by these discourses."

Dulcetius: "And you, Chionia, what is your final answer?"

Chionia: "Nothing can change me."

Dulcetius: "Have you not some books, papers, or other writings, relating to the religion of the impious Christians?"

Chionia: "We have none: the emperors now reigning have taken them all from us."

Dulcetius: "Who drew you into this persuasion?"

Chionia: "Almighty God."

Dulcetius: "Who induced you to embrace this folly?"

Chionia: "Almighty God, and his only Son our Lord Jesus Christ."

Dulcetius: "You are all bound to obey our most puissant emperors and Caesars. But because you have so long obstinately despised their just commands, and so many edicts, admonitions, and threats, and have had the boldness and rashness to despise our orders, retaining the impious name of Christians; and since to this very time you have not obeyed the stationers and officers who solicited you to renounce Jesus Christ in writing, you shall receive the punishment you deserve.

"I condemn Agape and Chionia to be burnt alive. for having out of malice and obstinacy acted in contradiction to the divine edicts of our lords the emperors and Caesars, and who at present profess the rash and false religion of Christians, which all pious persons abhor. As for the other four, let them be confined in close prison during my pleasure."

Thus, Chionia and Agape were condemned to be burned alive, but, because of her youth, Irene was to be imprisoned. After the execution of her older sisters, their house had been searched and the forbidden volumes discovered. Irene was examined again:

Dulcetius: "Your madness is plain, since you have kept to this day so many books, parchments, codicils, and papers of the scriptures of the impious Christians. You were forced to acknowledge them when they were produced before you, though you had before denied you had any. You will not take warning from the punishment of your sisters, neither have you the fear of death before your eyes your punishment therefore is unavoidable. In the mean time I do not refuse even now to make some condescension in your behalf. Notwithstanding your crime, you may find pardon and be freed from punishment, if you will yet worship the gods. What say you then? Will you obey the orders of the emperors? Are you ready to sacrifice to the gods, and eat of the victims?"

Irene: "By no means: for those that renounce Jesus Christ, the Son of God, are threatened with eternal fire."

Dulcetius: "Who persuaded you to conceal those books and papers so long?"

Irene: "Almighty God, who has commanded us to love Him even unto death; on which account we dare not betray Him, but rather choose to be burnt alive, or suffer any thing whatsoever than discover such writings."

Dulcetius: "Who knew that those writings were in the house?"

Irene: "Nobody but the Almighty, from Whom nothing is hid: for we concealed them even from our own domestics, lest they should accuse us."

During the questioning Irene told him that when the emperor's decree against Christians was published, she and others fled to the mountains without her father's knowledge. She avoided implicating those who had helped them, and declared that nobody but themselves know they had the books:

Dulcetius: "Where did you hide yourselves last year, when the pious edict of our emperors was first published?"

Irene: "Where it pleased God, in the mountains."

Dulcetius: "With whom did you live?

Irene: "We were in the open air, sometimes on one mountain, sometimes on another."

Dulcetius: "Who supplied you with bread?"

Irene: "God, Who gives food to all flesh."

Dulcetius: "Was your father privy to it?

Irene: "No; he had not the least knowledge of it."

Dulcetius: "Which of your neighbors knew it?"

Irene: "Inquire in the neighborhood, and make your search."

Dulcetius: "After you returned from the mountains, as you say, did you read those books to anybody?"

Irene: "They were hid at our own house, and we dared not produce them; and we were in great trouble, because we could not read them night and day, as we had been accustomed to do."

Dulcetius: "Your sisters have already suffered the punishments to which they were condemned. As for you, Irene, though you were condemned to death before your flight for having hid these writings, I will not have you die so suddenly, but I order that you be exposed naked in a brothel, and be allowed one loaf a day, to be sent you from the palace; and that the guards do not suffer you to stir out of it one moment, under pain of death to them."

Irene was sent to a soldiers' brothel, where she was stripped and chained. There she was miraculously protected from molestation. So, after again refusing a last chance to conform, she was sentenced to death. She died either by being forced to throw herself into flames or, more likely, by being shot in the throat with an arrow. The books, including the Sacred Scripture, were publicly burned.

The one expanded version of the story relates that Irene was taken to a rising ground, where she mounted a large, lighted pile. While signing psalms and celebrating the glory of the Lord, she threw herself on the pile and was consumed.

Three other women Casia, Philippa, Eutychia and a man Agatho were tried with these martyrs. Eutychia was remanded because she was pregnant. It is not recorded what happened to the others. Agape and Chionia died on April 3; Irene on April 5, which is her actual feast day


In art, this trio is represented generally as three maidens carrying pitchers, though they may be shown being burned at the stake

Monday, December 23, 2019

SAINT RICHARD OF WYCHE OR SAINT RICHARD BACKEDINE

St. Richard of Wyche

Richard Backedine
Also known as Richard of Wyche, of Droitwich, of Chichester, of Burford
Born at Droitwich formerly called Wyche, Worchestershire, England, in 1197;
Died at Dover, England, 1253;
canonized 1262.

Feast day: April 3
Patron: of Coachmen; Diocese of Chichester; Sussex, England





"Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ
For all the benefits Thou hast given me,
For all the pains and insults
Which Thou has borne for me.
O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother,
May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly,
Day by day. Amen."
--Saint Richard of Chichester.

Richard's surname was Backedine, but he is better known as Richard Wyche or 'of Wich.' He was born into a family who held property and were counted among the minor nobility. Even as a toddler Richard haunted holy Mass. At five, standing on a chair, he was already preaching sermons: "Be good; if you are good, God will love you; if you are not good, God will not love you." A little simplistic but what do you expect of a five-year old? His knowledge of Latin amazed the pastor and the fervor of his prayers confounded his mother. His parents decided that the fruits of the earth would go to the eldest son, but those of heaven would go to the youngest--he would belong to the Church.

Richard's parents died while he was still small, and the heavily mortgaged family estate was left to his elder brother, who had no gift for management. The brother allowed the land to fall into ruin. When Richard was old enough, he served his brother out of kindness as a laborer to help rebuild the estate. He actually tilled the land for a time, and directed the replanting of the ruined gardens.

In time his management paid off, and the property was restored to its former value. His brother wanted to give it to Richard, but Richard only wanted to spend time with his books. Abandoning the estates and the possibility of a marriage to a wealthy bride, Richard went off to the newly opened Oxford University to finish his studies. At Oxford he became acquainted with the Dominicans who had arrived in 1221, Franciscans such as Grosseteste, and Saint Edmund Rich, who was then chancellor of the university and became one of Richard's lifelong friends.

Later, he went to Paris as a student of theology, and was so poor that he shared a room with two others. They lived on bread and porridge, and having only one good coat between them, they could only go one at a time to lectures, wearing it in turn, while the others remained at home. After taking his degree in Paris and finishing his master's degree at Oxford, he studied Roman and canon law at Bologna for seven years. There he received his doctorate and the esteem of many.

When one of his tutors offered to make Richard his heir and give him his daughter in marriage, Richard, who felt called to a celibate life, made a courteous excuse and returned to Oxford at age 38. In 1235, he was appointed chancellor of the university and then of the diocese of Oxford by Saint Edmund, who had become archbishop of Canterbury.

Richard remained in close contact with Saint Edmund during the long years of Edmund's conflict with the English king and, in fact, followed him into exile in France and nursed him until Edmund's death in 1240 at the Cistercian monastery of Pontigny. After Edmund died, he taught at the Dominican house of studies in Orléans for two years, where he was ordained a priest in 1242 and lived in the Dominican community until his return to England in 1243. At which time he served briefly as a parish priest at Charing and at Deal.

Those were the days when Henry III created great difficulties for the Church by encroaching on her liberties, seizing her revenues, and appointing to ecclesiastical vacancies his own relatives and followers. Crowned at the age of nine, when the barons had made an impetuous attack on his power, the Church had come to the aid of the frail child because God establishes all authority. Henry had acknowledged this service until he reached manhood. Then the king forgot his debt to the Church. He surrounded himself with favorites from the Continent: Bretons, Provençals, Savoyards, and natives of Poitou to "protect himself from the felony of his own subjects."

In 1244, Ralph Neville, bishop of Chichester died. Thus it came about that the king nominated a courtier, Robert Passelewe, to the bishopric of Chichester and pressured the canons to elect him. However, the new archbishop, Blessed Boniface of Savoy, refused to confirm appointment and called a chapter of his suffragans, who declared the election invalid. Instead they chose Richard Backedine, who had been chancellor to archbishops Edmund Rich and Boniface of Savoy and who was the primate's nominee, to fill the vacant see.

This roused the anger of the king, who retaliated by confiscating the cathedral revenues. It was a case in which retreat would be pure cowardice, so Richard accepted the unwelcome office and set about doing his best with it. At first he was almost starved out of office because the king, who already had the church revenues, forbade anyone to give Richard food or shelter. No bishop dared to consecrate him and, after a year of mendicant existence, he went to receive episcopal consecration from Pope Innocent IV, who was presiding over the Council of Lyons, on March 5, 1245.

But Richard, receiving the powerful support of the pope, though deprived of the use both of the cathedral and the bishop's palace, took up his residence at Chichester, and on a borrowed horse travelled through his diocese. He was given shelter in a country rectory by Father Simon of Tarring, and from this modest center Bishop Richard worked for two years like a missionary bishop, visiting fisherfolk and peasants, and cultivating figs in his spare time.

He called many synods during his travels, and drew up what are known as the Constitutions of Saint Richard, statutes that address the various abuses that he noticed in his travels. The sacraments were to be administered without payment, Mass celebrated with dignity, and the clergy to remain celibate, practice residence, and wear clerical garb. The laity were obliged to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days and to memorize the Hail Mary, Our Father, and Creed. With great charity and humility he carried on his work until the king reluctantly yielded to a peremptory order of the pope to restore the revenues of the bishopric.

With his temporalities restored, Richard had the means to become a great alms-giver. "It will never do," he said, "to eat out of gold and silver plates and bowls, while Christ is suffering in the person of His poor," and he ate and drank always out of common crockery. His early poverty and recent experiences made him eschew riches. Whenever he heard of any fire or damage to his property, Saint Richard would say to his stewards, "Do not grieve. This is a lesson to us. God is teaching us that we do not give enough away to the poor. Let us increase our almsgiving."

Nor would he allow any quarrels over money or privilege to stand in the way of fellowship and charity. When an enemy came to see him, he received him in the friendliest manner and invited him to his table, but in matters of scandal and corruption he was stern and unyielding. "Never," he said of one of his priests who was immoral, "shall a ribald exercise any cure of souls in my diocese of Chichester."

And always he rose early, long before his clergy were awake, passing through their dormitory to say his morning office by himself. He encouraged the Dominicans and Franciscans in his diocese, who aided him in reforming it.

His final task was a commission from the pope to undertake a preaching mission for the Crusade throughout the kingdom. He saw this as a call to a new life, which would also reopen the Holy Land to pilgrims, not as a political expedition. He began preaching the Crusade in his own church at Chichester and proceeded as far as Dover, where, after he had dedicated a church to his friend Saint Edmund and sung matins, he was taken ill, and died at the Maison- Dieu, a house of poor priests and pilgrims, in his 56th year. Among his last words, as he turned his face, lit up with peace, to an old friend, were: "I was glad when they said to me, We will go into the house of the Lord."

If Richard was a thorn in the side of an avaricious king, he was a saint to his flock, whose affection he won during his eight-year episcopate. Many miracles of healing were recorded during his lifetime, and many more after his death. Richard was deep in the hearts of his people, the sort of saint that anyone can recognize by his simplicity, holiness, and endless charity to the poor.

Richard built a magnificent tomb for his friend, Saint Edmund, and was himself buried there after his death. In 1276, his body was translated to a separate tomb that erected for him behind the high altar of Chichester cathedral, which became one of the most popular pilgrimage places in England. It was utterly destroyed in 1538 by the Reformers, and his body was buried secretly.

Legend says that Richard Backedine was a third order Dominican, though there is no positive proof. One tradition says that he was actually on his way to join the Dominican house in Orléans, when the letters came appointing him bishop. In the early days of the Order of Preachers, the name of Saint Richard was inserted as a saint to be commemorated among their feasts, a fact that offers strong evidence that Richard himself was a member of the order. His biography was written by one of his clergy, Ralph Bocking