St. Norbert, ARCHBISHOP OF MAGDEBURG, CONFESSOR, A.D. 1134.
by VP
Posted on Thursday June 06, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
Saint Norbert overcoming the heretic Tanchelm by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)
"O, Priest! You are not of yourself because you are of God. You are not of yourself because you are the servant and minister of Christ. You are not your own because you are the spouse of the Church. You are not of yourself because you are the mediator between God and man. You are not from yourself because you are nothing. What then are you? Nothing and everything. O Priest! Take care lest what was said to Christ on the cross be said to you: "He saved others, himself he cannot save!" -- St. Norbert
"He was born in the duchy of Cleves, and brought up in the court of the Emperor Henry IV. His excellent natural abilities made him acceptable to all, and engaged him in all the distractions and liberties of a court life. But the divine grace opening his eyes to see the vanity of those follies, to which, with so much satisfaction, he had abandoned himself, he at once renounced them all. Having applied himself to the study of virtue, he received holy orders, and sought no other comfort but in works of charity, in rigorous mortification and frequent prayer. After some time he founded the religious Order of the Premonstratenses, called also from their holy founder, Norbertines. When he had completed the establishment of his Order, he was obliged to quit his monastery, to be placed in a more exalted station, as archbishop of Magdeburg. There, having discharged all the duties of a good pastor, eminent in all virtue, he died in the year 1134. Pray for all the religious of his Order, that they may keep up the spirit of their founder. Pray for all who are engaged in the vanities and deceitful liberties of the world; that God would make them sensible how contrary such a life is to the life of Christ and His Gospel, and give them grace to overcome themselves and the world. Happy is that day to Christians, when touched with the sense of their
offences, they begin to lament their misery, and by necessary
self-denials to master those passions, which have carried them away from
their duty. Under such exercises nature will mourn; but it is that
mourning which has the promise of a
blessing, and will one day be turned into joy; at that day, when short
pleasures and sinful follies shall begin an unhappy eternity. Examine
yourself, see how your affections stand, resolve upon mortifying
whatever passion leads you to sin. Make choice of the better part, and let no present satisfactions make you hazard those which are eternal. Pray for all the bishops and pastors of Christ's Church, that they may be faithful in every part of their charge, and not seek themselves, but God's honour, and the good of their flock." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
