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"All Ecclesiastical matters throughout the world are, by divine right, to be referred to the apostolic see, that to St. Peter, the author of its name and honor" Pope Innocent I

Source: The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Butler

French furniture patrimony of the French ministry of culture, under the reference PM35002875.

The Guardianship of God: There is no protection comparable with that of God and his Saints; the life of St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, is about to afford us an example thereof. Lupus had been raised, despite all opposition on his part, and by reason of his sanctity, to the see of Troyes. He had been directed by the bishop of Gaul to proceed in company with St. Germain of Auxerre to England, in order to combat the Pelagian heresy, and had the glory of entirely uprooting it there. Having returned to his diocese, he was surprised in the midst of his apostolic labors by the invasion of Attila. Thrace, Syria, and Greece, had been laid waste; Rheims, Cambrai, Besancon, Auxerre, and Langres were merely heaps of ruin; the turn of the town of Troyes had come. Lupus prayed himself, and got his people to pray during three days and three nights; he placed his flock under the protection of God, and went forward to meet the ferocious conqueror. "I am the scourge of God!" said the king of the Huns, "and am come to destroy you." "Beware!" replied the bishop; "God crushes the instruments He has made use of." Attila, astonished at such boldness, turned his army aside from its onward march, and was defeated in the plains of Mery. St. Lupus died in 478.

Moral reflection: "God is wonderful in His saints, and will give power and strength to His people." (Psalm LXVII. 36)

Source: Pictorial half hours with the saints, Abbe Auguste François Lecanu

St. Felicity and her Seven Sons

"The Christian Mother: A mother has not done her entire duty when she has trained for the world, and according to the spirit prevailing in the world, her children as honorable citizens. A Roman matron, name Felicitas, has inspired her seven sons with sentiments of the purest Christianity, and the example of this excellent family exercised so great an influence, that many pagans, at the sight thereof, became Christians. The pagan priests denounced her to the emperor Antoninus, and Felicitas and her sons were soon cited to appear before the prefect Publius. No manner of remonstrance, threat, or promise did he refrain from making to each one separately, but all in vain; and when the generous mother beheld the moment of their sentence approaching, she thus addressed her sons: "Look heavenward, my children, behold Jesus Christ stretching forth His arms and battling for your souls!" They were condemned to difference kinds of torture, and martyred at intervals. Felicitas died with the last of her children, four months after the death of the first who had suffered martyrdom. This glorious event occurred in the year 164 of the Christian era.

Moral reflection: A Christian mother should ever keep before her eyes this example, as also that of the mother of the Maccabees, ever "to be admired above measure, and worthy to be remembered by good men." (2 Mach.7.20) Pictorial half hours with the saints by Auguste François Lecanu

A Motherʼs Prayer

O God, grant that one of my sons may become a priest! I myself want to live as a good Christian and want to guide my children always to do what is right, so that I may receive the grace, O God, to be allowed to give you a holy priest!  Amen. Mothers of Lu (Italy)

A Mother’s Prayer for a Seminarian

O Jesus, eternal High Priest, Who hast entrusted to priests the important work of saving souls, and Who has deigned to inspire my child, my own flesh and blood, to strive after the high office of the Priesthood, I pray Thee most fervently to bless and assist him, and to make him more worthy day by day. Give him success and perseverance in his studies and constant growth in virtue and holiness. Help him, O Jesus, overcome all temptations arising from the world, the flesh and the devil, which seek to frustrate his holy vocation. Fill his heart with burning love for God and for souls redeemed by Thy most Precious Blood.

Grant me, O Lord, the unmerited grace one day to behold my own child in priestly garb ascending the holy altar of God, and to receive from his consecrated hands the priestly blessing and the Bread of Life Eternal.

As long as I live, O Jesus, I shall every day offer Thee, through the hands of Mary, the Mother of priests, all my prayers, works and sacrifices, to call down God’s blessing upon the work of priests, and especially upon my son. The Catholic Standard and Times, Volume 61, Number 32, 4 May 1956