April 28
Liturgical Memorial of St. Paul of the Cross
Paul of the Cross was born at Ovada in Liguria [northern Italy], and was descended from a noble family of Castellazzo near Alessandria [Piedmont]. The brilliance of his future holiness was foreshown by a wonderful light which filled his mother's room at night while she was in labor, and by a remarkable favor of the august Queen of heaven who delivered him unhurt from certain destruction when he fell into a river when a child. From the dawn of reason he was filled with an ardent love for Jesus Christ crucified, and began to devote much time to contemplation of Him. He chastised his innocent flesh with watchings, scourgings, and fasting, on Fridays drank vinegar mingled with gall, and practiced all kinds of severe penances. Burning with desire for martyrdom, he enlisted in the army which was being raised at Venice to fight against the Turks. After he learned in prayer the will of God, he gave up the career of arms to serve in a nobler army, which was to defend the Church and strive with all its might for the eternal salvation of men. When he returned home he refused a very honorable marriage, and the inheritance left him by his uncle; he wished to enter upon the narrower way of the Cross and to receive a coarse tunic from his bishop. Then, by command of the bishop, because of his eminent holiness of life and knowledge of divine things, although not yet a cleric, he tilled the Lord's field by preaching the divine word, with great profit to souls.
He went to Rome, and after having studied the regular course in theology, he was ordained priest by command of the supreme Pontiff Benedict XIII, who also gave him permission to gather companions around him. He withdrew to the solitude of Mount Argentaro, where he had already been summoned by the Blessed Virgin, who had also shown him a black habit bearing the emblems of the Passion of her Son, and there he laid the foundations of a new congregation. In a short time by God's blessing it increased very much, sustained by his arduous labors, and attracted eminent men. It received the confirmation of the apostolic See more than once, together with the rules which Paul had himself received from God in prayer, and the addition of a fourth vow, to promote the blessed remembrance of the Passion of the Lord. He also founded a congregation of holy virgins, who would constantly meditate upon the surpassing love of the divine Spouse. In all these works, his untiring love of souls never caused him to weary in the preaching of the Gospel, and he led almost countless men, even the most abandoned, and those who had fallen into heresy, into the footpath of salvation. Wonderful was the power of his eloquence, especially when he spoke of the Passion of Christ, so that both he and his hearers would shed tears, and the most hardened hearts were moved to repentance.
The flame of the love God so burnt in breast, that the garment which was nearest to his heart often seemed to be scorched if by fire, and two of his ribs seemed to protrude. He could not restrain his tears, particularly when saying Mass; and he was seen to experience frequent ecstasies, during which there was a remarkable elevation of his body, and his face shone with light from heaven. Some times when he was preaching, a heavenly voice was heard promting him; and at other times his words could be heard at the distance of several miles. He was distinguished for gifts of prophecy, languages, reading the heart, power over evil spirits, diseases, and the elements. Though even the Supreme Pontiffs regarded him with affection and veneration, he looked upon himself as an unprofitable servant and a worthless sinner, upon whom devils might well trample.
#saints #april
Liturgical Memorial of St. Paul of the Cross
Paul of the Cross was born at Ovada in Liguria [northern Italy], and was descended from a noble family of Castellazzo near Alessandria [Piedmont]. The brilliance of his future holiness was foreshown by a wonderful light which filled his mother's room at night while she was in labor, and by a remarkable favor of the august Queen of heaven who delivered him unhurt from certain destruction when he fell into a river when a child. From the dawn of reason he was filled with an ardent love for Jesus Christ crucified, and began to devote much time to contemplation of Him. He chastised his innocent flesh with watchings, scourgings, and fasting, on Fridays drank vinegar mingled with gall, and practiced all kinds of severe penances. Burning with desire for martyrdom, he enlisted in the army which was being raised at Venice to fight against the Turks. After he learned in prayer the will of God, he gave up the career of arms to serve in a nobler army, which was to defend the Church and strive with all its might for the eternal salvation of men. When he returned home he refused a very honorable marriage, and the inheritance left him by his uncle; he wished to enter upon the narrower way of the Cross and to receive a coarse tunic from his bishop. Then, by command of the bishop, because of his eminent holiness of life and knowledge of divine things, although not yet a cleric, he tilled the Lord's field by preaching the divine word, with great profit to souls.
He went to Rome, and after having studied the regular course in theology, he was ordained priest by command of the supreme Pontiff Benedict XIII, who also gave him permission to gather companions around him. He withdrew to the solitude of Mount Argentaro, where he had already been summoned by the Blessed Virgin, who had also shown him a black habit bearing the emblems of the Passion of her Son, and there he laid the foundations of a new congregation. In a short time by God's blessing it increased very much, sustained by his arduous labors, and attracted eminent men. It received the confirmation of the apostolic See more than once, together with the rules which Paul had himself received from God in prayer, and the addition of a fourth vow, to promote the blessed remembrance of the Passion of the Lord. He also founded a congregation of holy virgins, who would constantly meditate upon the surpassing love of the divine Spouse. In all these works, his untiring love of souls never caused him to weary in the preaching of the Gospel, and he led almost countless men, even the most abandoned, and those who had fallen into heresy, into the footpath of salvation. Wonderful was the power of his eloquence, especially when he spoke of the Passion of Christ, so that both he and his hearers would shed tears, and the most hardened hearts were moved to repentance.
The flame of the love God so burnt in breast, that the garment which was nearest to his heart often seemed to be scorched if by fire, and two of his ribs seemed to protrude. He could not restrain his tears, particularly when saying Mass; and he was seen to experience frequent ecstasies, during which there was a remarkable elevation of his body, and his face shone with light from heaven. Some times when he was preaching, a heavenly voice was heard promting him; and at other times his words could be heard at the distance of several miles. He was distinguished for gifts of prophecy, languages, reading the heart, power over evil spirits, diseases, and the elements. Though even the Supreme Pontiffs regarded him with affection and veneration, he looked upon himself as an unprofitable servant and a worthless sinner, upon whom devils might well trample.
#saints #april
Ecce Verbum
April 28 Liturgical Memorial of St. Paul of the Cross Paul of the Cross was born at Ovada in Liguria [northern Italy], and was descended from a noble family of Castellazzo near Alessandria [Piedmont]. The brilliance of his future holiness was foreshown by…
At length, having persisted in his most austere mode of life until extreme old age, in 1775 at Rome he passed to heaven on the very day he had predicted, after he had addressed to his followers some most beatiful exhortations, as it were bequeathing them the heritage of his spirit, and fortified with the sacraments of the Church and with a heavenly vision. The Supreme Pontiff Pius IX enrolled him among the blessed, and after renewed signs and wonders, among the Saints.
#saints #april
#saints #april
"St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (2 May) ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger"
Practical Considerations
I. "This storm will soon pass over." With these words St. Athanasius comforted himself as well as others. The persecutions he compared to a storm which, although sometimes violent and fierce, does not last long. It is generally followed by cheerful weather and bright sunshine which last longer than the storm. The Saint had often had personal experience .of this. At last, however, the persecutions ceased, and he possessed his See in peace. But even had adversity followed him to the end of his days, still his words above mentioned would remain true. The trials would have passed, would soon have ended, because St. Jerome rightly says: "What ends with time is of short duration," in comparison with Eternity. May you also comfort yourself with the recollection of these words when a storm assails you. It will soon pass away; it will cease; it lasts not for ever. But still, during the storm, do not neglect to follow the example of the Apostles, who, while a tempest lashed the waves of the ! sea, cried :" Lord save us, we perish." Your God has still the power to calm wind and sea. "The winds and the sea obey him" (Math. viii.).
II. St. Athanasius is wrongfully accused of the most horrible vice. He defends himself, exposes the falsity of his calumniators, brings his innocence to light, but demands no vengeance of God, neither does he curse or hate his enemies. God permits you to defend yourself, if you are calumniated or falsely accused of wickedness, but he does not permit you to hate or curse your enemies, nor to demand or take vengeance on them. "Vengeance belongeth to me ; "says He, " and I will repay." "The Lord is a Lord of vengeance," says David, not man. If you desire to take vengeance on your enemy, you anticipate the Lord to your own great damage, as he says: "He that seeketh to revenge himself shall find vengeance from the Lord" (Eccles. xxviii.). Such a man harms himself much more than he can harm his neighbor with all his vengeance. St. Lawrence Justinian says: "Those who desire to take vengeance on others manifest clearly that they are children of hell, where the fire is never quenched."
#saints #may
https://youtu.be/aQRrDr4YpRw
Practical Considerations
I. "This storm will soon pass over." With these words St. Athanasius comforted himself as well as others. The persecutions he compared to a storm which, although sometimes violent and fierce, does not last long. It is generally followed by cheerful weather and bright sunshine which last longer than the storm. The Saint had often had personal experience .of this. At last, however, the persecutions ceased, and he possessed his See in peace. But even had adversity followed him to the end of his days, still his words above mentioned would remain true. The trials would have passed, would soon have ended, because St. Jerome rightly says: "What ends with time is of short duration," in comparison with Eternity. May you also comfort yourself with the recollection of these words when a storm assails you. It will soon pass away; it will cease; it lasts not for ever. But still, during the storm, do not neglect to follow the example of the Apostles, who, while a tempest lashed the waves of the ! sea, cried :" Lord save us, we perish." Your God has still the power to calm wind and sea. "The winds and the sea obey him" (Math. viii.).
II. St. Athanasius is wrongfully accused of the most horrible vice. He defends himself, exposes the falsity of his calumniators, brings his innocence to light, but demands no vengeance of God, neither does he curse or hate his enemies. God permits you to defend yourself, if you are calumniated or falsely accused of wickedness, but he does not permit you to hate or curse your enemies, nor to demand or take vengeance on them. "Vengeance belongeth to me ; "says He, " and I will repay." "The Lord is a Lord of vengeance," says David, not man. If you desire to take vengeance on your enemy, you anticipate the Lord to your own great damage, as he says: "He that seeketh to revenge himself shall find vengeance from the Lord" (Eccles. xxviii.). Such a man harms himself much more than he can harm his neighbor with all his vengeance. St. Lawrence Justinian says: "Those who desire to take vengeance on others manifest clearly that they are children of hell, where the fire is never quenched."
#saints #may
https://youtu.be/aQRrDr4YpRw
YouTube
St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (2 May) ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger
https://sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/may/may-2-st-athanasius-bishop-and-doctor-of-the-church/
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The Mother of St. Augustine.pdf
1.9 MB
May 4th- Remembrance day of St. Monica
The Mother of St. Augustine
by Louis Bougaud, Bishop of Laval,1868
"'Thus,' he added, 'it will be with your son, he will find out the folly of this heresy for himself.' And as Monica, who would not believe him, went on imploring him with tears to see Augustine and try to convince him, the bishop, touched by her importunity, exclaimed, 'Go in peace. It cannot be that the son of such tears should perish.'
In this thought we seem to see two things: first, that it is impossible to the eye of faith that earnest prayers offered by man to God should not be heard and answered in His own time and way; and secondly, that it is impossible that the child of such a mother should be lost, for in his heart she must have breathed some portion of the fire and love which consumes her own, and implanted in his breast that imperishable conscience which, though now it may sleep, will one day wake and speak with an irresistible force.
#saints #may
The Mother of St. Augustine
by Louis Bougaud, Bishop of Laval,1868
"'Thus,' he added, 'it will be with your son, he will find out the folly of this heresy for himself.' And as Monica, who would not believe him, went on imploring him with tears to see Augustine and try to convince him, the bishop, touched by her importunity, exclaimed, 'Go in peace. It cannot be that the son of such tears should perish.'
In this thought we seem to see two things: first, that it is impossible to the eye of faith that earnest prayers offered by man to God should not be heard and answered in His own time and way; and secondly, that it is impossible that the child of such a mother should be lost, for in his heart she must have breathed some portion of the fire and love which consumes her own, and implanted in his breast that imperishable conscience which, though now it may sleep, will one day wake and speak with an irresistible force.
#saints #may
01.06 - Saint Justin
He was born in Palestine around the year 100. He was well educated and became a professor of philosophy. He was interested in the meaning of life and why the world and people exist. He studied and taught about the great philosophers of his day, but nothing made sense to him until he followed the advice of a wise man who told him to study the Old Testament, especially the writings of the prophets who foretold the coming of Christ. Justin began to learn about Jesus's teachings, he was baptized and became the first Christian philosopher. He opened a school of Christian studies. He used the teachings of the Apostles that the Christian community shared with one another orally because the New Testament had not yet been written. He also relied on the example of the martyrs. He was arrested for being a Christian during the persecution that occured under Marcus Aurelius . He refused to offer a sacrifice to the pagan gods worhippe by the Romans and was executed around the year 165 with six other Christians. We owe Justin a great debt for being the first person to write about why and how the Christian community worhipped and his works help us to understand the early Church. We can ask St. Justin in prayer to help us to believe and live the truths of our faith.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/06/01/the-unapologetic-apologist-five-lessons-from-st-justin-martyr/
#apologetics #saints #june
He was born in Palestine around the year 100. He was well educated and became a professor of philosophy. He was interested in the meaning of life and why the world and people exist. He studied and taught about the great philosophers of his day, but nothing made sense to him until he followed the advice of a wise man who told him to study the Old Testament, especially the writings of the prophets who foretold the coming of Christ. Justin began to learn about Jesus's teachings, he was baptized and became the first Christian philosopher. He opened a school of Christian studies. He used the teachings of the Apostles that the Christian community shared with one another orally because the New Testament had not yet been written. He also relied on the example of the martyrs. He was arrested for being a Christian during the persecution that occured under Marcus Aurelius . He refused to offer a sacrifice to the pagan gods worhippe by the Romans and was executed around the year 165 with six other Christians. We owe Justin a great debt for being the first person to write about why and how the Christian community worhipped and his works help us to understand the early Church. We can ask St. Justin in prayer to help us to believe and live the truths of our faith.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/06/01/the-unapologetic-apologist-five-lessons-from-st-justin-martyr/
#apologetics #saints #june
Catholicworldreport
The Unapologetic Apologist: Five lessons from St. Justin Martyr
Our forebears in the Faith were much stronger than us morally and spiritually. Not for them the lax observance and flaccid sentimentality that characterize so
Ecce Verbum
Saint Anthony of Padua, Confessor from the Liturgical Year, 1904 "Rejoice thee, happy Padua, rich in thy priceless treasure (Ant. festi ad Benedictus, ap. Minores)!" Anthony, in bequeathing thee his body, has done more for thy glory than the heroes who founded…
What a sight! the scion of the illustrious family de Bouillon and of the kings of the Asturias completely overlooked in the throng of holy Poverty's sons! At the moment of departure, the Father Minister of the Bologna province, remarking the isolated condition of the young religious whom no one had received in charge, admitted him, out of charity, into his company. Accordingly having reached the hermitage of Monte Paolo, Anthony was deputed to help in the kitchen and in sweeping the house, being supposed quite unfitted for anything else. Meanwhile, the Augustinian Canons, on the contrary, were bitterly lamenting the loss of one whose remarkable learning and sanctity, far more even than his nobility, had up to this, been the glory of their Order.
The hour at last came, chosen by Providence, to manifest Anthony to the world; and immediately, as was said of Christ himself, the whole world went after him. Around the pulpits where this humble friar preached, there were wrought endless prodigies, in the order of nature and of grace. At Rome, he earned the surname of Ark of the Covenant; in France, that of Hammer of heretics. It would be impossible for us here to follow him throughout his luminous course; but suffice it to say, that France as well as Italy, owes much to his zealous ministry.
St. Francis had yearned to be himself the bearer of the Gospel of peace, through all the fair realm of France, then sorely ravaged by heresy; but in his stead, he sent thither Anthony, his well beloved son, and, as it were, his living portrait. What St. Dominic had been in the first crusade against the Albigenses, Anthony was in the second.
At Toulouse was wrought that wondrous miracle of the famished mule turning aside from the proffered grain, in order to prostrate in homage before the Sacred Host. From the province of Berry, his burning word was heard thundering in various distant provinces; whilst Heaven lavished delicious favours on his soul, ever childlike amidst the marvellous victories achieved by him, and the intoxicating applause of an admiring crowd. Under the very eyes of his host, at a lonely house in Limousin, the Infant Jesus came to him radiant in beauty; and throwing Himself into his arms, covered him with sweetest caresses, pressing the humble Friar to lavish the like on Him. One feast of the Assumption, Anthony was sad, because of a phrase then to be found in the Office, seeming to throw a shade of discredit on the fact of Mary's body being assumed into heaven, together with her soul. Presently, Our Lady herself came to console her devoted servant, in his cell, assuring him of the truth of the doctrine of her glorious Assumption; and so left him, ravished with the sweet charms of her countenance and the melodious sound of her voice. Suddenly, as he was preaching at Montpellier, in a church of that city thronged with people, Anthony remembered that he had been appointed to chant the Alleluia at the conventual Mass in his own convent, and he had quite forgotten to get his place supplied. Deeply pained at this involuntary omission, he bent his head upon his breast: whilst standing thus motionless and silent in the pulpit, as though asleep, his brethren saw him enter their choir, sing his verse, and depart; at once, his auditory beheld him recover his animation, and continue his sermon with the same eloquence as before. In this same town of Montpellier, another well known incident occurred. When engaged in teaching a course of theology to his brethren, his commentary on the Psalms disappeared; but the thief was presently constrained, even by the fiend himself, to bring back the volume, the loss whereof had caused our saint so much regret. Such is commonly thought to be the origin of the popular devotion, whereby a special power of recovering lost things is ascribed to Saint Anthony. However this may be, it is certain, that from the very outset, this devotion rests on the testimony of startling miracles of this kind; and in our own day, constantly repeated favours of a similar nature still confirm the same.
#saints
The hour at last came, chosen by Providence, to manifest Anthony to the world; and immediately, as was said of Christ himself, the whole world went after him. Around the pulpits where this humble friar preached, there were wrought endless prodigies, in the order of nature and of grace. At Rome, he earned the surname of Ark of the Covenant; in France, that of Hammer of heretics. It would be impossible for us here to follow him throughout his luminous course; but suffice it to say, that France as well as Italy, owes much to his zealous ministry.
St. Francis had yearned to be himself the bearer of the Gospel of peace, through all the fair realm of France, then sorely ravaged by heresy; but in his stead, he sent thither Anthony, his well beloved son, and, as it were, his living portrait. What St. Dominic had been in the first crusade against the Albigenses, Anthony was in the second.
At Toulouse was wrought that wondrous miracle of the famished mule turning aside from the proffered grain, in order to prostrate in homage before the Sacred Host. From the province of Berry, his burning word was heard thundering in various distant provinces; whilst Heaven lavished delicious favours on his soul, ever childlike amidst the marvellous victories achieved by him, and the intoxicating applause of an admiring crowd. Under the very eyes of his host, at a lonely house in Limousin, the Infant Jesus came to him radiant in beauty; and throwing Himself into his arms, covered him with sweetest caresses, pressing the humble Friar to lavish the like on Him. One feast of the Assumption, Anthony was sad, because of a phrase then to be found in the Office, seeming to throw a shade of discredit on the fact of Mary's body being assumed into heaven, together with her soul. Presently, Our Lady herself came to console her devoted servant, in his cell, assuring him of the truth of the doctrine of her glorious Assumption; and so left him, ravished with the sweet charms of her countenance and the melodious sound of her voice. Suddenly, as he was preaching at Montpellier, in a church of that city thronged with people, Anthony remembered that he had been appointed to chant the Alleluia at the conventual Mass in his own convent, and he had quite forgotten to get his place supplied. Deeply pained at this involuntary omission, he bent his head upon his breast: whilst standing thus motionless and silent in the pulpit, as though asleep, his brethren saw him enter their choir, sing his verse, and depart; at once, his auditory beheld him recover his animation, and continue his sermon with the same eloquence as before. In this same town of Montpellier, another well known incident occurred. When engaged in teaching a course of theology to his brethren, his commentary on the Psalms disappeared; but the thief was presently constrained, even by the fiend himself, to bring back the volume, the loss whereof had caused our saint so much regret. Such is commonly thought to be the origin of the popular devotion, whereby a special power of recovering lost things is ascribed to Saint Anthony. However this may be, it is certain, that from the very outset, this devotion rests on the testimony of startling miracles of this kind; and in our own day, constantly repeated favours of a similar nature still confirm the same.
#saints
Saint of the Day, June 19th
St Romuald (c 951-1027)
Monk, Abbot, Ascetic, Founder of the Camaldolese order and a major figure in the eleventh-century “Renaissance of eremitical asceticism”.St Romuald was born in c 951 at Ravenna, Italy and died on 19 June 1027 at Val-di-Castro, Italy of natural causes.
Patronages – the Camaldolese order and Suwalki, Poland. St Romuald’s body is incorrupt.
According to the vita (life) by St Peter Damian O.S.B. (1007-1072), himself a Benedictine and Doctor of the Church , written about fifteen years after Romuald’s death, Romuald was born in Ravenna, in northeastern Italy, to the aristocratic Onesti family. As a youth, according to early accounts, Romuald indulged in the pleasures and sins of the world common to a tenth-century nobleman.
At the age of twenty he served as second to his father, who killed a relative in a duel over property. Romuald was devastated and went to the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe to do 40 days of penance.
After some indecision, Romuald became a monk there.
San Apollinare had recently been reformed by St Maieul of Cluny Abbey (906-994) but still was not strict enough in its observance to satisfy Romuald.
His injudicious correction of the less zealous aroused such enmity against him that he applied for and was readily granted, permission to retire to Venice, where he placed himself under the direction of a hermit named Marinus and lived a life of extraordinary severity.
About 978, Pietro Orseolo I, Doge of Venice, who had obtained his office by acquiescence in the murder of his predecessor, began to suffer remorse for his crime.
On the advice of Guarinus, Abbot of San Miguel-de-Cuxa, in Catalonia and of Marinus and Romuald, he abandoned his office and relations and fled to Cuxa, where he took the habit of St Benedict, while Romuald and Marinus erected a hermitage close to the monastery. Romuald lived there for about ten years, taking advantage of the library of Cuxa to refine his ideas regarding monasticism.
After that he spent the next 30 years going about Italy, founding and reforming monasteries and hermitages.His reputation being known to advisers of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Romuald was persuaded by him to take the vacant office of abbot at Sant’Apollinare to help bring about a more dedicated way of life there.The monks, however, resisted his reforms and after a year, Romuald resigned, hurling his abbot’s staff at Otto’s feet in total frustration.He then again withdrew to the hermetical life.
In 1012 he arrived at the Diocese of Arezzo.
Here, according to the legend, a certain Maldolus, who had seen a vision of monks in white garments ascending into Heaven, gave him some land, afterwards known as the Campus Maldoli, or Camaldoli. St Romuald built on this land five cells for hermits, which, with the monastery at Fontebuono, built two years later, became the famous motherhouse of the Camaldolese Order.
Romuald’s daunting charisma awed Rainier of Tuscany, who was neither able to face Romuald nor to send him away.
Romuald founded several other monasteries, including the monastery of Val di Castro, where he died in 1027.
St Romuald’s Rule:
Romuald was able to integrate these different traditions in establishing his own monastic order.
The admonition in his rule places him in relation to the long Christian history of intellectual stillness and interior passivity in meditation also reflected in the nearly contemporary Byzantine ascetic practice known as Hesychasm.
Archbishop Cosmo Francesco Ruppi noted that, “Interiorisation of the spiritual dimension, the primacy of solitude and contemplation, slow penetration of the Word of God and calm meditation on the Psalms are the pillars of Camaldolese spirituality, which St Romuald gives as the essential core of his Rule.”
Romuald’s reforms provided a structural context to accommodate both the eremitic and cenobitic aspects of monastic life.
#saints #june
St Romuald (c 951-1027)
Monk, Abbot, Ascetic, Founder of the Camaldolese order and a major figure in the eleventh-century “Renaissance of eremitical asceticism”.St Romuald was born in c 951 at Ravenna, Italy and died on 19 June 1027 at Val-di-Castro, Italy of natural causes.
Patronages – the Camaldolese order and Suwalki, Poland. St Romuald’s body is incorrupt.
According to the vita (life) by St Peter Damian O.S.B. (1007-1072), himself a Benedictine and Doctor of the Church , written about fifteen years after Romuald’s death, Romuald was born in Ravenna, in northeastern Italy, to the aristocratic Onesti family. As a youth, according to early accounts, Romuald indulged in the pleasures and sins of the world common to a tenth-century nobleman.
At the age of twenty he served as second to his father, who killed a relative in a duel over property. Romuald was devastated and went to the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe to do 40 days of penance.
After some indecision, Romuald became a monk there.
San Apollinare had recently been reformed by St Maieul of Cluny Abbey (906-994) but still was not strict enough in its observance to satisfy Romuald.
His injudicious correction of the less zealous aroused such enmity against him that he applied for and was readily granted, permission to retire to Venice, where he placed himself under the direction of a hermit named Marinus and lived a life of extraordinary severity.
About 978, Pietro Orseolo I, Doge of Venice, who had obtained his office by acquiescence in the murder of his predecessor, began to suffer remorse for his crime.
On the advice of Guarinus, Abbot of San Miguel-de-Cuxa, in Catalonia and of Marinus and Romuald, he abandoned his office and relations and fled to Cuxa, where he took the habit of St Benedict, while Romuald and Marinus erected a hermitage close to the monastery. Romuald lived there for about ten years, taking advantage of the library of Cuxa to refine his ideas regarding monasticism.
After that he spent the next 30 years going about Italy, founding and reforming monasteries and hermitages.His reputation being known to advisers of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Romuald was persuaded by him to take the vacant office of abbot at Sant’Apollinare to help bring about a more dedicated way of life there.The monks, however, resisted his reforms and after a year, Romuald resigned, hurling his abbot’s staff at Otto’s feet in total frustration.He then again withdrew to the hermetical life.
In 1012 he arrived at the Diocese of Arezzo.
Here, according to the legend, a certain Maldolus, who had seen a vision of monks in white garments ascending into Heaven, gave him some land, afterwards known as the Campus Maldoli, or Camaldoli. St Romuald built on this land five cells for hermits, which, with the monastery at Fontebuono, built two years later, became the famous motherhouse of the Camaldolese Order.
Romuald’s daunting charisma awed Rainier of Tuscany, who was neither able to face Romuald nor to send him away.
Romuald founded several other monasteries, including the monastery of Val di Castro, where he died in 1027.
St Romuald’s Rule:
Romuald was able to integrate these different traditions in establishing his own monastic order.
The admonition in his rule places him in relation to the long Christian history of intellectual stillness and interior passivity in meditation also reflected in the nearly contemporary Byzantine ascetic practice known as Hesychasm.
Archbishop Cosmo Francesco Ruppi noted that, “Interiorisation of the spiritual dimension, the primacy of solitude and contemplation, slow penetration of the Word of God and calm meditation on the Psalms are the pillars of Camaldolese spirituality, which St Romuald gives as the essential core of his Rule.”
Romuald’s reforms provided a structural context to accommodate both the eremitic and cenobitic aspects of monastic life.
#saints #june
Blessed Bartolo Longo
- a lawyer, a sinner and a satanic high priest, who converted to Christianity, devoted his life to social work and became known as the "Apostle of the Rosary"
“I renounce spiritualism because it is nothing but a maze of error and falsehood.”
"Bartolo began to despair, and began to think that he was still damned. The lesson here is that satan, even though we are in good standing with the church, will always attack our scrupulosity – sending us thoughts of doubt and despair. God allows this to strengthen us, and to spur us on to higher things. In Bartolo’s case, he gave the devil a stiff uppercut. He remembered the words of a Friar: “One who propagates the Rosary SHALL be saved.” He fell down on his knees, and began to think that propagating the Rosary was his calling in life. At that very moment, the church bells rang out for the Angelus, and Bartolo took that as heaven’s confirmation that this was indeed his new mission on earth!"
"Bartolo lost no time. He made repeated trips to the Valley of Pompeii to teach the people how to pray the Rosary. Beginning in 1873, he organized a yearly Rosary feast, incorporating music, fireworks, races, and a lottery into it. In 1875, as part of a parish mission, he invited a group of priests to speak about devotion to the Rosary. To conclude the mission, he promised to display a painting of Our Lady of the Rosary, and the painting that he obtained has been the cause of numerous miracles of healing. He constructed a church to hold this image and then, around it, an entire city dedicated to helping orphans and the poor. He also wrote books about the Rosary and composed novenas and a prayer manual. In all of these works, he was assisted by the Countess. When evil rumors began to spread about the relationship between the widow and the handsome, intelligent lawyer, Bartolo and the Countess consulted their friend Pope Leo XIII, a great devotee of the Rosary. "Lawyer, you are free; Countess, you are a widow; get married and no one can say anything against you." So on April 7, 1885, they were married. In this chaste union, for Bartolo had taken a vow of chastity, the couple continued their charitable works until the Countess's death in 1924. The couple provided for orphaned children and the children of prisoners which for its time was revolutionary.
Bartolo was tireless in his work. He founded a congregation of Dominican nuns to help educate the orphans in his city and also brought in the Christian Brothers for the boys. He urged people to learn the catechism and worked to have defined by Rome the doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. After laboring fifty years for his "Lady," Bartolo was the object of calumny and slander as lies spread about his mishandling of funds. He bore these with resignation and was cleared of all charges. In 1906, Bartolo turned all his property, including his own personal property, over to the Holy See. He then assisted the new head of the administration and continued to work in the city he had built, but only as a humble employee."
Full text:
https://www.piercedhearts.org/theology_heart/life_saints/bartolo_longo.htm
#saints
- a lawyer, a sinner and a satanic high priest, who converted to Christianity, devoted his life to social work and became known as the "Apostle of the Rosary"
“I renounce spiritualism because it is nothing but a maze of error and falsehood.”
"Bartolo began to despair, and began to think that he was still damned. The lesson here is that satan, even though we are in good standing with the church, will always attack our scrupulosity – sending us thoughts of doubt and despair. God allows this to strengthen us, and to spur us on to higher things. In Bartolo’s case, he gave the devil a stiff uppercut. He remembered the words of a Friar: “One who propagates the Rosary SHALL be saved.” He fell down on his knees, and began to think that propagating the Rosary was his calling in life. At that very moment, the church bells rang out for the Angelus, and Bartolo took that as heaven’s confirmation that this was indeed his new mission on earth!"
"Bartolo lost no time. He made repeated trips to the Valley of Pompeii to teach the people how to pray the Rosary. Beginning in 1873, he organized a yearly Rosary feast, incorporating music, fireworks, races, and a lottery into it. In 1875, as part of a parish mission, he invited a group of priests to speak about devotion to the Rosary. To conclude the mission, he promised to display a painting of Our Lady of the Rosary, and the painting that he obtained has been the cause of numerous miracles of healing. He constructed a church to hold this image and then, around it, an entire city dedicated to helping orphans and the poor. He also wrote books about the Rosary and composed novenas and a prayer manual. In all of these works, he was assisted by the Countess. When evil rumors began to spread about the relationship between the widow and the handsome, intelligent lawyer, Bartolo and the Countess consulted their friend Pope Leo XIII, a great devotee of the Rosary. "Lawyer, you are free; Countess, you are a widow; get married and no one can say anything against you." So on April 7, 1885, they were married. In this chaste union, for Bartolo had taken a vow of chastity, the couple continued their charitable works until the Countess's death in 1924. The couple provided for orphaned children and the children of prisoners which for its time was revolutionary.
Bartolo was tireless in his work. He founded a congregation of Dominican nuns to help educate the orphans in his city and also brought in the Christian Brothers for the boys. He urged people to learn the catechism and worked to have defined by Rome the doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. After laboring fifty years for his "Lady," Bartolo was the object of calumny and slander as lies spread about his mishandling of funds. He bore these with resignation and was cleared of all charges. In 1906, Bartolo turned all his property, including his own personal property, over to the Holy See. He then assisted the new head of the administration and continued to work in the city he had built, but only as a humble employee."
Full text:
https://www.piercedhearts.org/theology_heart/life_saints/bartolo_longo.htm
#saints
Ecce Verbum
Prayer to St. Rita for Impossible Cases & Special Needs O God, who didst deign to communicate so great grace to Saint Rita that she imitated Thine example in the love of enemies and bore in her heart and on her countenance the sacred marks of Thy love and…
St. Rita of Cascia
by Msgr. Paul Guerin, 1882
Saint Rita was born in Italy in the late 14th century, near the little city of Cascia, of parents who though advancing in age had no children; she was the fruit of their pious prayers. At the age of twelve she resolved to consecrate herself to God by the vow of chastity, but her parents required her to marry. She obeyed; and God, who perhaps wished her to serve as an example for those having to bear with violent spouses, permitted that she be joined to a man of ferocious character, who terrified the region where he lived.
During eighteen years she succeeded so well in pacifying him that he eventually even became submissive to the laws of God. Nonetheless, his enemies killed him; and then the pious widow had to overcome her twin sons' desire for vengeance. Again she succeeded. When the two young men died not long afterwards, she was without any further bonds to keep her in the world, and she made application to a convent of Augustinian nuns at Cascia. Never had a widow been admitted there, but Saint John the Baptist, with Saint Augustine and Saint Nicholas, who had died during the 13th century in the nearby town of Tolentino, appeared to her to answer her fervent prayers. They transported her miraculously into the convent by night, despite all the locked doors. The Sisters, finding her there in the morning, could not refuse her request any longer.
Saint Rita practiced severe mortifications, eating but once a day and taking only bread and water for food. She was a model of perfect obedience; she meditated every night, from midnight until dawn, on the Passion of Our Lord, and begged to share His sufferings. On one of these nights she felt in her forehead the pain of sharp thorns, which made there an incurable wound. The festering wound isolated her from the other Sisters, and she lived thereafter almost as a hermit in the convent. The wound was cured once for a short time, when the entire group of Sisters were to go to Rome on the occasion of a universal jubilee; on their return her wound opened again.
It was discovered that Saint Rita had the gift of miracles when a young girl was cured during her mother's visit to the convent, to beg the Saint's prayers for that intention. Soon many visitors were coming even from distant regions to ask her charity. She expired peacefully in May of 1456. The wound of her forehead, until then very ugly, became brilliant at the moment of her death. The shrine of Saint Rita is still a favorite pilgrimage site in Italy.
#saints
by Msgr. Paul Guerin, 1882
Saint Rita was born in Italy in the late 14th century, near the little city of Cascia, of parents who though advancing in age had no children; she was the fruit of their pious prayers. At the age of twelve she resolved to consecrate herself to God by the vow of chastity, but her parents required her to marry. She obeyed; and God, who perhaps wished her to serve as an example for those having to bear with violent spouses, permitted that she be joined to a man of ferocious character, who terrified the region where he lived.
During eighteen years she succeeded so well in pacifying him that he eventually even became submissive to the laws of God. Nonetheless, his enemies killed him; and then the pious widow had to overcome her twin sons' desire for vengeance. Again she succeeded. When the two young men died not long afterwards, she was without any further bonds to keep her in the world, and she made application to a convent of Augustinian nuns at Cascia. Never had a widow been admitted there, but Saint John the Baptist, with Saint Augustine and Saint Nicholas, who had died during the 13th century in the nearby town of Tolentino, appeared to her to answer her fervent prayers. They transported her miraculously into the convent by night, despite all the locked doors. The Sisters, finding her there in the morning, could not refuse her request any longer.
Saint Rita practiced severe mortifications, eating but once a day and taking only bread and water for food. She was a model of perfect obedience; she meditated every night, from midnight until dawn, on the Passion of Our Lord, and begged to share His sufferings. On one of these nights she felt in her forehead the pain of sharp thorns, which made there an incurable wound. The festering wound isolated her from the other Sisters, and she lived thereafter almost as a hermit in the convent. The wound was cured once for a short time, when the entire group of Sisters were to go to Rome on the occasion of a universal jubilee; on their return her wound opened again.
It was discovered that Saint Rita had the gift of miracles when a young girl was cured during her mother's visit to the convent, to beg the Saint's prayers for that intention. Soon many visitors were coming even from distant regions to ask her charity. She expired peacefully in May of 1456. The wound of her forehead, until then very ugly, became brilliant at the moment of her death. The shrine of Saint Rita is still a favorite pilgrimage site in Italy.
#saints
A Calendar of Catholic Saints
This is a fantastic resource containing biographies of Saints for every day of the year.
http://catholicsaints.mobi/calendar/calendar.htm
#saints #calendar
This is a fantastic resource containing biographies of Saints for every day of the year.
http://catholicsaints.mobi/calendar/calendar.htm
#saints #calendar
St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe- a martyr of charity
8 January 1894 – 14 August 1941
As a child, St. Maximilian had a vision of Mary, in which the blessed Mother offered him two crowns. The first, the white crown of virginity. The second, the red crown of martyrdom. He rarely spoke of the encounter, and even then only obliquely. In 1941, after her son had perished in Auschwitz, Kolbe’s mother recollected her son’s childhood encounter with the Blessed Mother. Hiding under the family’s altar, Maria Dabrowska found her son, “trembling and with tears in his eyes, he told me, ‘When you said to me, ‘What will become of you?’
I prayed very hard to our Lady to tell me what would become of me. And later in Church I prayed again. Then the Virgin Mother appeared to me that night holding in her hands two crowns, one white and one red. She looked at me with love and she asked me if I would be willing to accept either of these crowns. The white meant that I would remain pure and the red one that I would be a martyr. I answered that I would accept them both. Then the Virgin looked at me tenderly and disappeared.'”
The fiat, the yes, of his childhood was confirmed over a life of practice. He made himself ready for the gift of martyrdom through the daily practice of attuning his heart to Christ through the Immaculata until the day came when he could freely offer himself as a sacrifice of love for another. Accepting the crowns offered to him as a child, Kolbe entrusted his love for Christ and His Sacred Heart to Mary and declared his desire to live and die for the Immaculata. The sacrifice of his whole life and the manner of his death affirmed the words of the Apostle John: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 Jn 3:16).
#august #kolbe #saints
8 January 1894 – 14 August 1941
As a child, St. Maximilian had a vision of Mary, in which the blessed Mother offered him two crowns. The first, the white crown of virginity. The second, the red crown of martyrdom. He rarely spoke of the encounter, and even then only obliquely. In 1941, after her son had perished in Auschwitz, Kolbe’s mother recollected her son’s childhood encounter with the Blessed Mother. Hiding under the family’s altar, Maria Dabrowska found her son, “trembling and with tears in his eyes, he told me, ‘When you said to me, ‘What will become of you?’
I prayed very hard to our Lady to tell me what would become of me. And later in Church I prayed again. Then the Virgin Mother appeared to me that night holding in her hands two crowns, one white and one red. She looked at me with love and she asked me if I would be willing to accept either of these crowns. The white meant that I would remain pure and the red one that I would be a martyr. I answered that I would accept them both. Then the Virgin looked at me tenderly and disappeared.'”
The fiat, the yes, of his childhood was confirmed over a life of practice. He made himself ready for the gift of martyrdom through the daily practice of attuning his heart to Christ through the Immaculata until the day came when he could freely offer himself as a sacrifice of love for another. Accepting the crowns offered to him as a child, Kolbe entrusted his love for Christ and His Sacred Heart to Mary and declared his desire to live and die for the Immaculata. The sacrifice of his whole life and the manner of his death affirmed the words of the Apostle John: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 Jn 3:16).
#august #kolbe #saints
Ecce Verbum
Saint Andrew Bobola- venator animarum of the Orthodox, a Saint for the difficult times (1591-1657) He gave his life during the conflict between Catholics and Orthodox that formed part of the war between Polish and Russian forces in the mid-seventeenth century.…
First they tried to permit Bobola to renounce his religion. When he refused, they stripped him and tied him to a hedge and whipped him cruelly. Mocking his faith, they placed a crown of twigs on his head and then dragged him to his place of execution, a butcher's shop. He still refused to apostatize, so they placed him on the butcher's table and tortured him cruelly, tearing the skin off his chest and back and cutting holes in the palms of his hands. They continued to torture him for two hours. before finally driving an awl into his heart. Then they strung him up by his feet and killed him with a saber blow.
Just as he died, a band of Poles arrived at Janów in a vain attempt to rescue him. They took his body back to Pinsk where they placed it in the crypt beneath the Jesuit church.
The cult of the saint grew, and crowds came to the grave. In the first half of the eighteenth century 300 graces and miracles took place.
In 1714, the Polish Jesuits began efforts to beatify their confrere. Reports of miraculous healings prompted the laity, including King August II, to send requests to Rome for the beatification of Fr. Bobola. In 1808, a coffin with the corpse of Fr. Bobola was transferred to Połock. In the meantime, Poland was annexed. Połock with the grave of Father Bobola was under Russian rule.
It was not until Pope Pius VII officially restored the Jesuit order that the martyr's beatification was renewed. Bobola was beatified by Pope Pius IX in Rome in 1853.
Meanwhile, on June 23rd, 1922, the Bolsheviks took away the body of St. Andrew Bobola from Polotsk to Moscow and after examination they put him on public display at the Museum of Hygiene. This insult outraged the Poles.
In 1924, the papal mission to help the starving Russians regained the relics of the martyr and transported them to Rome. There the body of St. Andrew was placed in the Jesuit church of the Gesù. Confirmed miracles contributed to the canonisation of St. Andrew in Rome by Pope Pius XI in 1938.
After the canonisation efforts were made to bring the relics of St. Andrew Bobola to Poland. On June 8th, 1938, the coffin in procession was transported through Slovenia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia to Poland. The Vatican Congregation for Sacred Rites and Ceremonies said that no martyrdom as cruel as this had been recorded in the history of the Church.
Also Pope Pius XII, Andrew Bobola's apostolic zeal in his encyclical "The Invincible Mighty One of Christ", emphasized with the words: Swordsman of Christ, Soulmaker, that is, hunter of immortal souls, tireless Apostle of Christ, Holy Polish Martyr. Andrew Bobola was all his life on the road, in constant motion. He travelled vast distances, and this at a time when on trackless and dirt roads one travelled by horse-drawn carriage, and more often by cart. It took character and courage to cope with such a pilgrim life in times of constant war. An impetuous, proud nobleman from the Lesser Poland region with vices characteristic of his time and origin, he worked hard on his character, as Pope Pius XII reminded him: "Having in mind this so important admonition of Christ: <Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and, taking up his cross every day, let him follow me> (Lk 9:23), he set about earnestly acquiring Christian humility through self-denial. And because by nature he had a certain tendency to haughtiness and impatience and a touch of stubbornness, he gave himself an unrelenting battle. Through this struggle, as it were, he took the Cross of Christ on his shoulders and walked with it to Calvary, so that at its summit he might attain at the same time, by the grace of God, that perfection of humility longed for and fervently won by prayers, through which one attains to all the splendours of Christian holiness."
Andrew Bobola's desire to follow the way of Jesus, his stubbornness, his consistency, his courage, led him to the heights of Christian charity, to the point of sacrificing his life.
#saints #bobola
Just as he died, a band of Poles arrived at Janów in a vain attempt to rescue him. They took his body back to Pinsk where they placed it in the crypt beneath the Jesuit church.
The cult of the saint grew, and crowds came to the grave. In the first half of the eighteenth century 300 graces and miracles took place.
In 1714, the Polish Jesuits began efforts to beatify their confrere. Reports of miraculous healings prompted the laity, including King August II, to send requests to Rome for the beatification of Fr. Bobola. In 1808, a coffin with the corpse of Fr. Bobola was transferred to Połock. In the meantime, Poland was annexed. Połock with the grave of Father Bobola was under Russian rule.
It was not until Pope Pius VII officially restored the Jesuit order that the martyr's beatification was renewed. Bobola was beatified by Pope Pius IX in Rome in 1853.
Meanwhile, on June 23rd, 1922, the Bolsheviks took away the body of St. Andrew Bobola from Polotsk to Moscow and after examination they put him on public display at the Museum of Hygiene. This insult outraged the Poles.
In 1924, the papal mission to help the starving Russians regained the relics of the martyr and transported them to Rome. There the body of St. Andrew was placed in the Jesuit church of the Gesù. Confirmed miracles contributed to the canonisation of St. Andrew in Rome by Pope Pius XI in 1938.
After the canonisation efforts were made to bring the relics of St. Andrew Bobola to Poland. On June 8th, 1938, the coffin in procession was transported through Slovenia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia to Poland. The Vatican Congregation for Sacred Rites and Ceremonies said that no martyrdom as cruel as this had been recorded in the history of the Church.
Also Pope Pius XII, Andrew Bobola's apostolic zeal in his encyclical "The Invincible Mighty One of Christ", emphasized with the words: Swordsman of Christ, Soulmaker, that is, hunter of immortal souls, tireless Apostle of Christ, Holy Polish Martyr. Andrew Bobola was all his life on the road, in constant motion. He travelled vast distances, and this at a time when on trackless and dirt roads one travelled by horse-drawn carriage, and more often by cart. It took character and courage to cope with such a pilgrim life in times of constant war. An impetuous, proud nobleman from the Lesser Poland region with vices characteristic of his time and origin, he worked hard on his character, as Pope Pius XII reminded him: "Having in mind this so important admonition of Christ: <Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and, taking up his cross every day, let him follow me> (Lk 9:23), he set about earnestly acquiring Christian humility through self-denial. And because by nature he had a certain tendency to haughtiness and impatience and a touch of stubbornness, he gave himself an unrelenting battle. Through this struggle, as it were, he took the Cross of Christ on his shoulders and walked with it to Calvary, so that at its summit he might attain at the same time, by the grace of God, that perfection of humility longed for and fervently won by prayers, through which one attains to all the splendours of Christian holiness."
Andrew Bobola's desire to follow the way of Jesus, his stubbornness, his consistency, his courage, led him to the heights of Christian charity, to the point of sacrificing his life.
#saints #bobola
Ecce Verbum
St. Anthony and the mule who knelt down before the Eucharist There were many miracles that Saint Anthony performed throughout his life. One of the most famous miracles was the “Eucharistic Miracle of Rimini” or the so-called “Mule Miracle”. Saint Anthony…
St. Anthony of Padua Book.pdf
5.9 MB
St. Anthony de Padua- a Miracle Worker
His life is difficult to write for two reasons; the first of which is that it has so long been shrouded in the mists of legend that without critical study and a remorseless process of exclusion it is impossible to arrive at the real facts of his history. It is obvious at the outset that this process, involving as it does the testing of all known facts, especially miraculous facts, by the original thirteenth century documents, will be to many extremely painful, as by this means many of the more familiar stories of our Saint are relegated to the realm of legend. The first thing required of a biography which cannot for lack of material contain the whole truth is that it shall at least contain nothing but the truth. In studying history we need facts; in hagiography we need to study both history and tradition, for we cannot completely understand the character of a Saint, his psychology, his popularity, if we neglect at least to glance at legend, however apocryphal.
#saints
His life is difficult to write for two reasons; the first of which is that it has so long been shrouded in the mists of legend that without critical study and a remorseless process of exclusion it is impossible to arrive at the real facts of his history. It is obvious at the outset that this process, involving as it does the testing of all known facts, especially miraculous facts, by the original thirteenth century documents, will be to many extremely painful, as by this means many of the more familiar stories of our Saint are relegated to the realm of legend. The first thing required of a biography which cannot for lack of material contain the whole truth is that it shall at least contain nothing but the truth. In studying history we need facts; in hagiography we need to study both history and tradition, for we cannot completely understand the character of a Saint, his psychology, his popularity, if we neglect at least to glance at legend, however apocryphal.
#saints
On the necessity of looking up to the Saints
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, from the opening of his Life of St. Malachy:
"It is indeed always worth while to portray the illustrious lives of the saints, that they may serve as a mirror and an example, and give, as it were, a relish to the life of men on earth. For by this means in some sort they live among us, even after death, and many of those who are dead while they live are challenged and recalled by them to true life. But now especially is there need for it because holiness is rare, and it is plain that our age is lacking in men. So greatly, in truth, do we perceive that lack to have increased in our day that none can doubt that we are smitten by that saying, Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold; and, as I suppose, he has come or is at hand of whom it is written, Want shall go before his face. If I mistake not, Antichrist is he whom famine and sterility of all good both precedes and accompanies. Whether therefore it is the herald of one now present or the harbinger of one who shall come immediately, the want is evident. I speak not of the crowd, I speak not of the vile multitude of the children of this world: I would have you lift up your eyes upon the very pillars of the Church. Whom can you show me, even of the number of those who seem to be given for a light to the Gentiles, that in his lofty station is not rather a smoking wick than a blazing lamp? And, says One, if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! Unless perchance, which I do not believe, you will say that they shine who suppose that gain is godliness; who in the Lord's inheritance seek not the things which are the Lord's, but rather their own."
#saints
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, from the opening of his Life of St. Malachy:
"It is indeed always worth while to portray the illustrious lives of the saints, that they may serve as a mirror and an example, and give, as it were, a relish to the life of men on earth. For by this means in some sort they live among us, even after death, and many of those who are dead while they live are challenged and recalled by them to true life. But now especially is there need for it because holiness is rare, and it is plain that our age is lacking in men. So greatly, in truth, do we perceive that lack to have increased in our day that none can doubt that we are smitten by that saying, Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold; and, as I suppose, he has come or is at hand of whom it is written, Want shall go before his face. If I mistake not, Antichrist is he whom famine and sterility of all good both precedes and accompanies. Whether therefore it is the herald of one now present or the harbinger of one who shall come immediately, the want is evident. I speak not of the crowd, I speak not of the vile multitude of the children of this world: I would have you lift up your eyes upon the very pillars of the Church. Whom can you show me, even of the number of those who seem to be given for a light to the Gentiles, that in his lofty station is not rather a smoking wick than a blazing lamp? And, says One, if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! Unless perchance, which I do not believe, you will say that they shine who suppose that gain is godliness; who in the Lord's inheritance seek not the things which are the Lord's, but rather their own."
#saints
Ecce Verbum
On the necessity of looking up to the Saints St. Bernard of Clairvaux, from the opening of his Life of St. Malachy: "It is indeed always worth while to portray the illustrious lives of the saints, that they may serve as a mirror and an example, and give,…
Even for the Blessed in heaven God remains in a certain sense incomprehensible
Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Providence 🔗
(Part II The Perfections of God, section 11. The Divine Incomprehensibility, the light and shade in the mysteries of God’s life)
#saints
Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Providence 🔗
(Part II The Perfections of God, section 11. The Divine Incomprehensibility, the light and shade in the mysteries of God’s life)
#saints
St. Augustine on devotion to the Saints and the nature of latria (what is worship?)
"As to our paying honor to the memory of the martyrs, and the accusation of Faustus, that we worship them instead of idols, I should not care to answer such a charge, were it not for the sake of showing how Faustus, in his desire to cast reproach on us, has overstepped the Manichæan inventions, and has fallen heedlessly into a popular notion found in Pagan poetry, although he is so anxious to be distinguished from the Pagans."
"It is true that Christians pay religious honor to the memory of the martyrs, both to excite us to imitate them and to obtain a share in their merits, and the assistance of their prayers. But we build altars not to any martyr, but to the God of martyrs, although it is to the memory of the martyrs."
"No one officiating at the altar in the saints’ burying-place ever says, We bring an offering to thee, O Peter! or O Paul! or O Cyprian! The offering is made to God, who gave the crown of martyrdom, while it is in memory of those thus crowned. The emotion is increased by the associations of the place, and love is excited both towards those who are our examples, and towards Him by whose help we may follow such examples.
We regard the martyrs with the same affectionate intimacy that we feel towards holy men of God in this life, when we know that their hearts are prepared to endure the same suffering for the truth of the gospel. There is more devotion in our feeling towards the martyrs, because we know that their conflict is over; and we can speak with greater confidence in praise of those already victors in heaven, than of those still combating here.
What is properly divine worship, which the Greeks call latria, and for which there is no word in Latin, both in doctrine and in practice, we give only to God. To this worship belongs the offering of sacrifices; as we see in the word idolatry, which means the giving of this worship to idols. Accordingly we never offer, or require any one to offer, sacrifice to a martyr, or to a holy soul, or to any angel."
source:
🔗Against Faustus, Book XX, section 21, Writings against the Manicheans
🔗 Against Faustus, Book XX, section 21; NPNF 1, Vol. IV), NE
#saints
"As to our paying honor to the memory of the martyrs, and the accusation of Faustus, that we worship them instead of idols, I should not care to answer such a charge, were it not for the sake of showing how Faustus, in his desire to cast reproach on us, has overstepped the Manichæan inventions, and has fallen heedlessly into a popular notion found in Pagan poetry, although he is so anxious to be distinguished from the Pagans."
"It is true that Christians pay religious honor to the memory of the martyrs, both to excite us to imitate them and to obtain a share in their merits, and the assistance of their prayers. But we build altars not to any martyr, but to the God of martyrs, although it is to the memory of the martyrs."
"No one officiating at the altar in the saints’ burying-place ever says, We bring an offering to thee, O Peter! or O Paul! or O Cyprian! The offering is made to God, who gave the crown of martyrdom, while it is in memory of those thus crowned. The emotion is increased by the associations of the place, and love is excited both towards those who are our examples, and towards Him by whose help we may follow such examples.
We regard the martyrs with the same affectionate intimacy that we feel towards holy men of God in this life, when we know that their hearts are prepared to endure the same suffering for the truth of the gospel. There is more devotion in our feeling towards the martyrs, because we know that their conflict is over; and we can speak with greater confidence in praise of those already victors in heaven, than of those still combating here.
What is properly divine worship, which the Greeks call latria, and for which there is no word in Latin, both in doctrine and in practice, we give only to God. To this worship belongs the offering of sacrifices; as we see in the word idolatry, which means the giving of this worship to idols. Accordingly we never offer, or require any one to offer, sacrifice to a martyr, or to a holy soul, or to any angel."
source:
🔗Against Faustus, Book XX, section 21, Writings against the Manicheans
🔗 Against Faustus, Book XX, section 21; NPNF 1, Vol. IV), NE
#saints
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Ecce Verbum
St. Augustine on devotion to the Saints and the nature of latria (what is worship?) "As to our paying honor to the memory of the martyrs, and the accusation of Faustus, that we worship them instead of idols, I should not care to answer such a charge, were…
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Ecce Verbum
God Sharing Some of His Glory with His Creatures
Psalm 8:5 Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor.
Psalm 149:4-5, 9 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory. Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.. . . This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the Lord!
Proverbs 16:31 A hoary head is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.
Isaiah 60:1-2 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.
Isaiah 60:4 . . . the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
Lamentations 3:17-18 my soul is bereft of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, "Gone is my glory, and my expectation from the Lord."
Ezekiel 10:19 And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight as they went forth, with the wheels beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the house of the LORD; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.
Ezekiel 11:22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.
Daniel 2:37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory,
Mark 10:37 And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
John 5:44 How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Romans 2:6-7, 9-10 For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;.. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.
Romans 5:2 Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
Romans 9:22-23 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory,
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Ephesians 3:16-19 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.
2 Thessalonians 2:14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 5:1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. (cf. 5:4)
2 Peter 1:3-4 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature
#saints
Psalm 8:5 Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor.
Psalm 149:4-5, 9 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory. Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.. . . This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the Lord!
Proverbs 16:31 A hoary head is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.
Isaiah 60:1-2 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.
Isaiah 60:4 . . . the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
Lamentations 3:17-18 my soul is bereft of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, "Gone is my glory, and my expectation from the Lord."
Ezekiel 10:19 And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight as they went forth, with the wheels beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the house of the LORD; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.
Ezekiel 11:22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.
Daniel 2:37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory,
Mark 10:37 And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
John 5:44 How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Romans 2:6-7, 9-10 For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;.. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.
Romans 5:2 Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
Romans 9:22-23 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory,
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Ephesians 3:16-19 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.
2 Thessalonians 2:14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 5:1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. (cf. 5:4)
2 Peter 1:3-4 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature
#saints
Ecce Verbum
St. Augustine on devotion to the Saints and the nature of latria (what is worship?) "As to our paying honor to the memory of the martyrs, and the accusation of Faustus, that we worship them instead of idols, I should not care to answer such a charge, were…
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