St. Odo of Cluny
by VP
Posted on Monday November 18, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
St. Odo of Cluny" On Christmas-eve, A.D. 877, a noble of Aquitaine implored Our Lady to grant him a son. His prayer was heard; Odo was born, and his grateful father offered him to St. Martin. Odo grew in wisdom and in virtue, and his father longed to see him shine at court. But the attraction of grace was too strong. Odo's heart was sad and his health failed, until he forsook the world and sought refuge under the shadow of St. Martin at Tours. Later on he took the habit of St. Benedict at Baume, and was compelled to become abbot of the great abbey of Cluny, which was then building. He ruled it with the hand of a master and the winningness of a Saint. The Pope sent for him often to aot as peacemaker between contending princes, and it was on one of those missions of mercy that he was taken ill at Rome. At his urgent entreaty he was borne back to Tours, where he died at the feet of "his own St. Martin," A.D. 942.
Reflection." It needs only," says Father Newman, "for a Catholic to show devotion to any-Saint, in order to receive special benefits from his intercession."
"The Mass" says St. Odo, Abbot of Cluny, "is the act on which is based the salvation of the World." The Holy Mass: The Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead, by Rev. Fr Michael Müller 1875 p 288.
"When and how was this yearly commemoration of the
departed introduced? The time of the introduction of this commemoration
cannot be determined; for as easily as the time of Tertullian he
mentions that the Christians of his day held a yearly commemoration of
the dead. Towards the end of the tenth century St. Odo, abbot of the
Benedictines, at Cluny, directed this feast to be celebrated yearly, on
the 2nd of November in all the convents of his Order, which usage was
afterwards enjoined upon the whole Christian world by Pope John XVI. The
feast of this day was probably established in order that, after having
on day before rejoiced over the glory of the saints in heaven, we should
this day remember in love those who are sighing in purgatory for
deliverance.
Prayer: O God, the Creator and Redeemer of
all the faithful, grant to the souls of Thy servants departed the
remission of all their sins, that, by our pious supplications, they may
obtain the pardon which they have always desires. Who livest and
reignest,etc. All Souls' Day. p456 Devout Instructions on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holydays Front Cover Leonhard Goffiné Benziger, 1896
