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Saint Ribogert was born of illustrious parents, and in his youth entered the monastic life. The modesty of his life, his piety, and the simplicity of his manners, caused him to be nominated Archbishop of Rheims, which was his native town, on the death of Archbishop Reolus, during the old age of whom the Church of Rheims had lapsed into a very bad state. Piety had languished, Vice predominated, and both the clerics and the people seemed to be running wild when Rigobert was raised to the See. But he, by exhorting, by correcting, and by punishing the people, succeeded in bringing them to better manners.

Gaul was at this time governed by Pepin, for whom the Saint always showed great respect. One day, when King Pepin came to hunt in a wood near Rheims, the Archbishop sent him a present, and the King, turning to 'his friends, praised him to them, and then requested to ask what he would, and it should be given him. The Archbishop, with great modesty, asked only for the gift of a house in which he might exercise the cure of souls, and incite them to good works. The King was vexed that he had not asked for more, and told him he would give him with the house as much land as he could walk round while the King was at dinner. Rigobert accordingly walked round the land, and wherever his feet trod fresh grass was always afterwards to be seen, which was never injured, by summer's -heat or winter's storms.
But ; after the death of Pepin, Charles Martel, his son, treated the good Archbishop; who had baptized him, very badly, because when a great contest arose between Charles and a certain lord about the position of Mayor of the Palace, and they both went to the different towns to solicit votes, Rigobert. would not allow Charles to enter Rheims. Charles was furious, and after he had gained his cause, he drove the Archbishop from his See.

It happened one day that as Saint Rigobert was walking with his boy, he met a courtier of Charles Martel, who gave him a goose as a present. The boy took it in his arms to carry it home, but it escaped and flew away; The Archbishop laughed, but before he reached his house, the bird Hew back into the arms of the boy, Saint Rigobert, however, would not allow it to be killed. Saint Rigobert died in the year 773, and many miracles were wrought at his tomb.

Source: Saints of the order of St. Benedict

"1 . One of the most difficult things in the world is to submit to anything that lowers us in the opinion of men and tends to give them a false impression respecting us. Our self-love revolts against the wrongful suspicion, and nature is eager to prove its injustice. Our Lord in the circumcision submitted to a rite which seemed to imply that He was born in sin, in order to teach us, at the very opening of His life, a willingness to be misunderstood and judged guilty of faults we have never committed, and to be credited with natural disadvantages which we do
not really possess.

2. We cannot all aim as high as this, or at least we have not yet reached this love of being wrongly judged and despised without cause. But at least we can learn to recognize how utterly opposed to the spirit of Christ is any attempt to make ourselves out better than we are, and to try and lead others to attribute to us virtues or advantages that are not ours, whether it be generosity, or piety, or learning, or riches, or high birth, or wide influence, or a distinguished position in the world.

3. If we want to test our humility, we cannot have a safer touchstone than this willingness to be underrated or disesteemed without any fault of our own. Happy those who can rejoice to suffer shame without giving cause for it ! Am I one of these ? "

Meditations for Christmas . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891

"I will go peaceably and firmly to the Catholic Church: for if Faith is so important to our salvation, I will seek it where true Faith first began, seek it among those who received it from God Himself." St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Basilica de la santissima annunziata, Florence (Source: wikipedia)

"Passing through a curtain, my eye was struck with hundreds of persons kneeling; but the gloom of the chapel, which is lighted only by the wax tapers on the altar and a small window at the top darkened with green silk, made every object at first appear very indistinct, while that kind of soft and distant music which lifts the mind to a foretaste of heavenly pleasures called up in an instant every dear and tender idea of my soul; and forgetting Mrs. Fillicchi, companions, and all the surrounding scene, I sank on my knees in the first place I found vacant, and shed a torrent of tears at the recollection of how long I had been a stranger in the house of my God, and the accumulated sorrow that had separated me from it. I need not tell you that I said our dear service with my whole soul, as far as in its agitation I could recollect.

When the organ ceased, and Mass was over, we walked round the chapel. The elegance of ceilings in carved gold, altars loaded with gold, silver, and other precious ornaments, pictures of every sacred subject, and the dome a continued representation of different parts of Scripture - all this can never be conceived by description; nor my delight in seeing old men and women, young women and all sorts of people kneeling promiscuously about the altar, as inattentive to us and other passengers as if we were not there." p 131

"High Altar in the Medici Chapel, Florence which particularly impressed Mrs. Seton."

"A sensation of delight struck me so forcibly that as I approached the great altar, formed all of the most precious stones and marbles that could be produced, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior," came in my mind with a fervor which absorbed every other feeling. It recalled the ideas of the offerings of David and Solomon to the Lord, when the rich and valuable productions of nature and art were devoted to His Holy Temple and sanctified to His Service." p 132

St. Vincent de Paul said his Mass with such unction and fervor that all could see that his heart spoke through his lips. His modesty, the serenity of his countenance, his whole exterior appearance were calculated to impress the least susceptible of this audience. They observed in his person something so exceptionally noble and at the same time so humble that often some of them were heart to whisper to others: "How well that priest says Mass!"

On the other hand, it would be impossible to calculate the evil done to religion by inattentive, indevout, worldly looking priests, who, while celebrating, seem intent only on accomplishing their task in the shortest possible time, seemingly indifferent as to whether they offer God homage or insult. Seeing them, one would be tempted to ask, with Tertullian: " Sacrificat an insultat?" Let us suppose that St. Basil and the other ministers who served him at the altar in the church of Cesarea had been wont to celebrate Mass in a trivial, unbecoming manner, instead of that imposing solemnity which fills us with an awe-inspiring sense of God's presence in our sanctuaries; could they have so terrified the Emperor Valens as to make him turn pallid and tremble when he advanced toward the altar to present an offering which none would receive at his hands, because he was guilty of heresy?

We have read of a heretic who, after many conferences with a saint and learned religious, had resolved to embrace the true faith; but having observed priests offer the holy sacrifice without respect or devotion, he was so scandalized by their irreverence that he could not be convinced to the truth of Catholic doctrines, or that those priests themselves believed them, and he completely abandoned the idea of entering the true Church.

One of the most infallible means of preventing that routine indifference which too great familiarity with sacred things so often superinduces, of escaping the abysses of evil which it leads to, as well as of fostering in our souls that feeling of religious awe so essential to the most sublime and sacred of all ministries, is to habituate ourselves to an exact observance of the holy rubrics, and to perform as perfectly as possible each one of the prescribed ceremonies. This is of the highest practical importance.

Source: The Sacrifice of the Mass Worthily Celebrated by Rev. Pierre Chaignon S.J., 1897

 1. The Priest’s Saturday brings about an intimate union between priests and people. Surely the people will welcome with great joy the opportunity thus given to co-operate, by prayer and sacrifice, with the priest in all the work that he does for the parish. They will thus merit to have, and will efficaciously make, zealous and holy priests. Experience shows that also the children easily understand the Priest’s Saturday and enter with joy upon this apostolate.

2. Especially the sick, the convalescent, and the body disabled. Who are often so deeply pious and abounding in virtue, will find Priest’s Saturday a great and apostolic field of holy endeavor and their lonely days will take on a new and profound significance as they realize that a marvelous life-work lies open before them. Such unselfish and holy effort in behalf of priests, such prayers and sacrifices, will yield most glorious fruits and the world will soon feel the blessed influence of the Priest’s Saturday.

3. New vocations to the priesthood will be aroused and fostered, and surely in many a woman’s soul, as she prays and sacrifices for the sanctification of priests, the hidden wish will be felt: “ Oh, if I myself might become the mother of a priest!”

4. God grant that all take part in this great “apostolate to the apostles”! Surely it is a thing most pleasing to God and most fruitful in blessings here upon earth even as it redounds to the salvation of countless souls. Spread this idea wherever and whenever you can. Be a promoter. Get others to spread and promote it. Remember that concern for the sanctification of priests is most dear to the Sacred Heart of the Divine Savior and to the Sweet Heart of His Blessed Mother. It is their concerns. (Tr. W. H. , S.D.S.)

imprimatur: +Paulus Petrus, Epps. Sinus Viridis 22 Jan. 1935. The Salvatorian Fathers.

"The doctrines of Godliness are overturned; the rules of the Church are in confusion; the ambition of the unprincipled seizes upon places of authority; and the chief seat is now openly proposed as a reward for impiety; so that he whose blasphemies are the more shocking, is more eligible for the oversight of the people.

Priestly gravity has perished; there are none left to feed the Lordʼs flock with knowledge; ambitious men are ever spending, in purposes of self-indulgence and bribery, possessions which they hold in trust for the poor. The accurate observation of the canons are no more; there is no restraint upon sin.

Unbelievers laugh at what they see, and the weak are unsettled; faith is doubtful, ignorance is poured over their souls, because the adulterators of the word in wickedness imitate the truth. Religious people keep silence, but every blaspheming tongue is let loose. Sacred things are profaned; those of the laity who are sound in faith avoid the places of worship, as schools of impiety, and raise their hands in solitude with groans and tears to the Lord in heaven."

Source: St. Basil the Great, The Church of the Fathers, John Henry Newman 1868

"I. The week succeeding the birth of her Son had been to Mary a week of exquisite joy, one long ecstasy of heavenly delight, with no sorrow to mar the brightness of the sunshine of His presence. But on the octave of His Nativity all was changed. She began to realize the fact that Jesus had come to suffer — that He Who was infinitely dearer to her than the whole world was to be the Man of Sorrows — and Mary's joy was changed to bitter sorrow. Thus it is for all those who love God. The times when earth seems unable to contain the greatness of their joy are sure to be followed by sorrow and by pain.

2. It seemed but a trifle which thus changed the complexion of Mary's life. The pain that Jesus had to suffer had but a passing smart. Why should she thus grieve over it? It was because it betokened the indignities that He would have to suffer, the character of a victim for sin that He had taken upon Himself. Often a mere trifle destroys the brightness of our life. God uses matters seemingly trivial to teach us our weakness.

3. Yet Mary would not have had it otherwise. She knew it was the will of God, and that was enough for her. Would that I could learn this lesson more perfectly! Then nothing would destroy my peace, as nothing destroyed Mary's. "

Meditations for Christmas . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891