"He was brought up to a working trade: but being mindful that he was to work for heaven, as well as for bread, his great care was to join the exercises of religious duties to his trade, as of prayer, fasting, watching, and alms-deeds; and as often as circumstances would permit, he had some good book open before him. Learn to sanctify your labours by his example. If you are of the number of those who work for a livelihood, endeavour to be faithful in what you have undertaken. And this, not only in regard of your neighbour, by carefully avoiding what is fraudulent, or may be to his prejudice, through your neglect; but likewise to God and your own soul, by a watchful care against all the suggestions of a covetous, worldly, or solicitous temper; that so you neither rob him of his honour, nor deprive yourself of what is necessary for your salvation. What will your gain profit you, if you lose your soul?

Saint Andrew Christmas Novena:

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment In which the Son of God was born Of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen. (15 times)

"The Feast of St. Andrew has been kept since the fourth century on November 30. St. Andrew was both and Apostle and a Martyr. The collect tells us that he was called to govern and teach the Church; and the Epistle and the Gospel deal with the Vocation of him who was the first among the Apostles to know Jesus Christ. When he was called he immediately left his nets to become a fisher of men, and "his sound hath gone forth into all the earth to preach the gospel of peace." After the coming of the Holy Ghost he preached in Palestine, and then taught in Scythia, Epirus and Thrace.

"But all have not obeyed the Gospel" (Epistle), and Saint Andrew ere long became the Apostle of the Cross. The priests of Achaia describe his martyrdom at Patras. He died on that special form of cross which has ever since been called after him, and "the Lord received his sacrifice in the odor of sweetness" (Alleluia). His body, having been fist taken to Constantinople, was in 1210 moved to the Cathedral at Amalfi, in the kingdom of Naples. In 1462, his head was placed by Pius II. in the basilica of St. Peter, his brother. His name is inscribed in the Canon of the Mass. Let us, with Saint Andrew, follow Christ even to the Cross." Daily Missal with Vespers for Sundays & Feasts

"ST. ANDREW was an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Impotence of the Demon: St. Saturninus, having been sent by the Pope St. Fabian into Gaul, together with St. Denis, in order to plant the faith there, established his see at Toulouse, and thence directed his efforts into the adjacent regions. The number of the Christians had already become considerable. The holy missionary was accustomed to pass every day near the foot of the Capitol, which contained a temple famous for its oracles. Now, as the latter had become mute, the pagans attributed this to the presence of the Christians, and especially to that of the bishop; they therefore dragged him to the Capitol in order to force him to adore their gods, or else to restore speech to the oracles. "Your gods," said Saturninus to them, "are only demons, and how can you expect that I shall adore them that dread me, and whom my mere presence reduces to silence?" At this reply the people became enraged beyond measure; Saturninus was horrible maltreated; he was trans-pierced with a lance, and then tied to the tail of an untamed bull, that tore him to pieces. This occurred about the year 250 of the Christian era.

Moral reflection: The spirit of darkness is only to be feared by those who yield consent to his suggestions. "Resist the devil," says St. James, "And he will fly from you." (James iv. 7.) Source: Pictorial half hours with the saints. Transl de Auguste Francois Lecanu (1865)

"O Mary! Conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

"It is true, that the day of triumph announced by the venerated Montfort, appears far distant; one might says that the kingdom of God on earth is more compromised than ever. The wicked make unexampled efforts to demolish the social edifice; they are numerous, powerful and possessed of incalculable resources. But for the Church, when all seems lost, then is her triumph at hand. God sometimes permits the malice of men to exceed all bounds, that His power may be the more manifest when the moment of their defeat arrives.

All the united efforts of the Church's enemies in the course of ages, all their errors, hatred and violence directed against her, the Spouse of Christ, are now concentrated in what is termed the Revolution - that is, anti-Christianity reduced to a system and propagated throughout the world, it is Satan usurping the place of Jesus Christ.

But He who has conquered the world, and put to flight the prince of the world, will not permit Himself to be dethroned. He will reign, and even now, before our eyes, is His kingdom being prepared, by the mediation of the Immaculate Mary, of whom the promise was made that she should crush the serpent's head, and to whom alone belongs the privilege of destroying all heresies arising upon earth." The miraculous medal : its origin, history, circulation, results by M. Aladel C.M.

"A NOBLE virgin of Alexandria; who in her youthful years sought satisfaction in the study of virtue, and in improving her mind in Christian learning. She became so inflamed with a zeal for truth, that meeting the emperor Maximinus II. she reproached him with injustice and cruelty, for persecuting the innocent Christians. By her reasoning she also triumphed over an assembly of the most acute philosophers; and persuaded them to sacrifice their lives for Christ, though they had undertaken, by the emperor's order, to reason her out of her faith. Upon which, Maximinus being enraged, and finding that no reasons or flatteries could prevail, commanded her to be scourged, to be kept in prison without friends or food, and to have her body torn on a wheel. Her constancy overcoming these torments, she was at length beheaded, and so finished a glorious martyrdom, in the year 302. In this saint, all virgins and other Christians have a lesson to condemn their reading of plays and romances, and all their usual vanities, which only dissipate and weaken their minds; and to encourage them to a better study, whereby they may come to the knowledge of God and themselves, and discover those ways, which lead to happiness.

Saint John of the Cross, by Zurbaran

"Live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul. Cast your care upon God for you are His and He will not forget you. Do not think that He is leaving you alone, for that would be to wrong Him." St. John of the Cross.

Saint Cecilia, Public Domain

"A NOBLE virgin of Rome; who being instructed in the faith of Christ, gave her heart to him from her tender years, chose him for her spouse, and took holy resolutions of living ever a virgin. But being afterwards, against her will, given in marriage to Valerian, a heathen, she informed him of her resolutions; likewise of her being in custody of an angel. This strange language surprising Valerian, he promised to acquiesce in her proposals, upon condition that he might see the angel. Being baptized for this end, he saw the angel, and was so confirmed in the Christian faith, that soon after, he suffered martyrdom for the same, together with his brother Tiburtius, who had been gained to Christ, by the discourse of St. Cecily. Upon this, she was apprehended; and having stood out with constancy against all the arguments of the governor, she was commanded to be burnt. The flames, however, not touching her, an executioner was ordered to behead her; who, after three strokes, leaving her half dead, she, on the third day, gave up her soul to the heavenly spouse, under Alexander the emperor, in the year 230. Pray for all in the state of virginity; especially those, who by vow have engaged themselves to God; that he would be their protector, and deliver them from all snares and violence.

Pray for those, who have any thoughts of changing their state; that they may advance nothing in it, but by consulting Heaven, and taking the advice of those, whom God has placed over them for their direction, and by whom he speaks to them. Pray for a clean heart; and that you may be preserved from all that might defile it. Have courage under such trials and temptations, as fall to your portion. While you are ever on your guard to resist, yet submit with as much patience to the trouble, as you would desire to do to the torments of a persecutor. If you can hold out without dejection, and glorify God in your sufferings, the devil, envious of your good, will leave you in peace." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

"Let's pray to Saint Cecilia on her feast day, so that music in our churches will once again be an instrument of elevation to God, not a profanation of the sacred." Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Nov. 22. 20200

"In the early Church. We known very little concerning the music of the primitive Christian Church. On account of many circumstances that Church was restricted in its religious manifestations, for the greater part of the first three centuries was a time of bitter persecution, when Christians worshiped God in t and in peril of their lives. Tertullian tells us, however, that in his day psalms were sung in the divine service, and the pagan Pliny knew that Christians honored their God before dawn by the chanting of hymns. The extensive use of music in church ceremonies came later, and is to be largely attributed to St. Ambrose, the great Bishop of Milan, who introduced the singing of psalms "after the manner of the East." Under the fostering care of our Church sacred music developed most wonderfully during the succeeding centuries.

St. Jerome, who seldom failed to criticize when criticism was needed, speaks of singers of his day in words to which some of our modern choirs and church soloists may well hearken: "Let the servant of God sing in such manner that the words of the text rather than the voice of the singer may cause delight, and that the evil spirit of Saul may depart from those that are under its dominion, and may not enter into those who make a theater of the house of the Lord." Can it be possible that the prophetic soul of the Saint foresaw the evils of some of the church music of today, wherein hymns to the Blessed Sacrament are chanted to the dulcet strains of "Juanita," and the sublime words of the Credo are sung to the liveliest melodies of Offenbach?

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The Gregorian Chant: This is the distinctive song of the Church, the interpreter in melody of her prayerful devotion. It is so called from its great founder, St. Gregory the Great, and is also known by the names of Plain, Roman or Choral Chant. It is a grave melody, usually solemn in nature, sung in unison, that is, without harmonizing parts, set to the rhythm of the words, and without strictly measured time.

As a prayer is an utterance by the believing heart, expressing its faith, so the chant, which is the more solemn mode of liturgical prayer, owes to faith its power and its beauty.

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The Beauty of the Chant: As regards the tone used, the ecclesiastical chant is full of variety, for it was created for the purpose of beautifying the Church's services, which are of many kinds. Adoration, thanksgiving, supplication, sorrow, joy, and triumph find in the Gregorian tones their fitting expression. The melody accommodates itself to the word and phrase, to the spirit of the Church, and to the nature of the prayer and praise which are being offered to God. Whether it be the Gloria, the jubilant song of the Angels - The Sanctus, in which we here on earth join in adoration with the celestial spirits - the Agnus Dei, the appeal for mercy addressed to Him Who has taken away sin - the Libera, which is the intercessory prayer for the faithful departed - in each of these the spirit of the words and the devotion of the Church are brought out clearly by the grand and simple melodies of the Gregorian Chant. How beautiful in its solemn and reverential strains is the Preface of the Mass, in which the priest offers the Church's thanksgiving and homage before the throne of God! How replete with sadness and sorrow is the chant of the Lamentations in the office of Holy Week! How expressive of fear and desolation are the mournful notes of the "Dies Irae"! All there varying moods of the Church's praise and prayer are portrayed in the Gregorian Chant without any of the artifices of vocal or instrumental harmonizing that are employed in secular music. Its melodies have sprung from the minds of Saints, singing from the Spirit of God." The Externals of the Catholic Church: Her Government, Ceremonies, Festivals by Rev. Fr. John F. Sullivan 1917