"ST. FABIAN was bishop of Rome, and succeeded St. Anterus in the year 236. Eusebius relates that he was elected in consequence of a miraculous sign of a dove appearing over his head. He governed the Church sixteen years, and died a glorious martyr in the persecution of Decius, in the year 250. St. Cyprian calls him an incomparable man; and says that the glory of his death had answered the purity and holiness of his life. Pray for the present bishop of that holy see, that in piety and zeal for his flock, he may imitate his holy predecessors. Pray for yourself, that in all afflictions you may suffer with the meekness, submission, and patience of the martyrs.

St. Sebastian was chief commander under Dioclesian. For encouraging and assisting the persecuted Christians, he was, by order of the emperor, bound to a tree, shot with arrows, and left for dead. Irene, a pious widow, going to bury him, found him still alive, and took him to her lodgings; where by care, he recovered of his wounds, but refused to fly. He even reproached the emperor for his unjust cruelties to the Christians. This freedom of speech greatly astonished the emperor, especially from a person whom he supposed to have been dead. But recovering from his surprise, he gave orders for St. Sebastian to be beaten with cudgels, which finished his glorious martyrdom.

Pray for the spirit of charity so eminent in this saint; that according to your circumstances, you may be ever ready to counsel, comfort and relieve those who are in distress. It is the most effectual means of drawing down the divine assistance for your own help: for your charity to others opens God's hands to you. Pray for all soldiers, that they may be better prepared for death than too generally they are: and pray for their commanders, that they may keep up Christian, as well as military discipline." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

"He was bishop of Rome. Pray for the present Bishop of that Holy See; that God would please to assist him with His heavenly grace, answerable to the greatness of his charge. Pray for all other bishops and pastors of Christ's Church.

St. Marcellus, by enforcing the canons of holy penance, drew upon himself the contradictions and persecutions of many tepid and refractory Christians; and for his severity against a certain apostate, he was banished by the tyrant Maxentius. He died in 310, having sat one year, seven months, and twenty days; and is styled a martyr. Pray for a spirit like his, that you may be ready to embrace all kinds of humiliations. God may be served in all lawful states: be but faithful, and God will be so too. If your lot and manner of life be contemptible to the world, patience and humility will make it honorable in the sight of God. Grieve not therefore, nor be uneasy at your condition, whatever it be. The laborious Christian is much better than the idle one. He that eats by the sweat of his brow, is in a much safer way, than he that lives at ease. If your difficult circumstances will not allow you the time you desire to pray; remember that patience, and humble suffering and laboring, are all praying. God regards not the form, but a sincere heart. Pray what you can; and never doubt but your desires will be heard.

God makes every thing serve for the sanctification of His servants. He wonderfully ordains and directs all human events to their spiritual advancement, both in prosperity and adversity. In their persecutions and trials, especially, we shall discover, at the last day, the tenderness of His infinite love, the depth of His unsearchable wisdom, and the extent of His omnipotent power. In all His appointments, adore these His attributes, earnestly imploring His grace, that according to the designs of His mercy, you may make every thing, especially all afflictions, serve for your exercise and improvement in virtue, and progress in perfection." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother

DEATH RATHER THAN SIN.--The emperors Valerian and Gallianus raised against the Church a persecution so violent that the Christians for a time deemed that the reign of Antichrist had come. The persecution began in the year 259, and lasted three years and a half; it is reckoned as the eighth general persecution. The number of persons of every age and condition who preferred death to apostasy cannot be computed: the East, the West, Africa, and the world at large, were deluged with Christian blood; there were isolated slaughterings, as well as general massacres. The Martyrology mentions, on the 13th of January, the forty soldiers who suffered death on the same day, in these terms:-"At Rome, the triumph of the forty blessed soldiers who deserved to bear off the crown of martyrdom for their profession of faith, in the Lavinian Way, under the reign of Gallianus."

MORAL REFLECTION.-The abject spirits that have apostatized in order to save their lives are sighing away in utter darkness. The generous Christian souls that preferred death are dwelling with God in His glory. "For he that will save his life shall lose it, and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it," saith Jesus Christ. -(Matt. xvi. 25.)

Saint Arcadius

FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.-At the time of Valerian's persecution, about the year 257, a Christian of Cæsarea, named Arcadius, illustrious for his birth and riches, had betaken himself to flight, so as to avoid the risk of suffering; but on learning that one of his relatives had offered himself in his stead, he was deeply touched by such unwonted generosity, reproached himself as a coward, and returned to surrender himself to the judge who was to consign him to death. Unable to induce him by the most enticing promises or the most terrible threats to apostatize from the Christian religion, the judge condemned him to have his limbs amputated one after the other until death should put a term to his sufferings. Arcadius endured this protracted martyrdom with a constancy so marvellous, that the judge, tired out at last, ordered the executioners to end their cruelty by disembowelling the victim. Arcadius continued to pray for his tormentors: "My God, forgive them, they know not what they do!"

MORAL REFLECTION. -This is the example given by Jesus Christ upon the cross, and by St. Stephen while he was being stoned. Let us not lose sight of this injunction of the Divine Master: "Pray for those that hate you and persecute you." "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven."-(Matt. v. 44. Luke vi. 37.)

Saint Theodosius

BE MINDFUL OF DEATH.-Theodosius was born in Cappadocia towards the year 423, and was brought up in sentiments of tender piety. He first devoted himself to the priestly state; but feeling afterwards called to contemplation and retirement, he adopted the life of a cœnobite. His humility failed to hide from the eyes of the world at large the splendour of his sanctity; and a great throng of persons of every age having assembled round his cell, he withdrew into a solitude more retired still, with the intent to remain unknown to men. A few companions went to join him, and subsequently numerous disciples followed; so that he saw himself obliged to found a new monastery; for his charity exceeded all bounds. He never refused to receive any one, nor denied anything to any one. He often expended the last resources of the monastery in favour of strangers, pilgrims, and the poor. The thought ever-present to his mind was that of death; the first advice which he offered to his disciples was to prepare to die. Despite his great austerities and labours, his life was prolonged to the age of 106.

MORAL REFLECTION.-The Holy Spirit has told us by the lips of the Wise Man, "Have ever before thy eyes the remembrance of thy last end, and thou shalt never sin."-(Eccles. vii. 40.) (Pictorial half hours with the saints, by Abbe Auguste François Lecanu)

Saint Guillaume de Bourges

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. St. William, archbishop of Bourges, is chiefly remarkable for his fervent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. The tender piety which he practised from early youth led him to renounce the great wealth and rank which he might have enjoyed in the world. Having embraced the ecclesiastical state, he was made a canon of Soissons and, subsequently, of Paris. He afterwards entered the order of Grammont, and eventually that of Citeaux, whence he was drawn, against his will, to be raised to the archiepiscopal see of Bourges. His elevation to this high position caused his piety to shine forth more strikingly, and at the same time enabled him to display the treasure of zeal and charity that filled his soul, for the solacing of the unfortunate and the conversion of sinners. He was wont to style the poor "his creditors," and never deemed himself out of debt to them till he had not the wherewithal to give. St. William died on the 10th of January, 1209, after having addressed his flock from the pulpit, prophetic words of farewell.

MORAL REFLECTION. -Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament is the virtue of the predestined. "He who shall eat of this bread, shall live for ever," saith Jesus Christ.-(John vi. 59.) (Pictorial half hours with the saints By Abbe Auguste François Lecanu)

Saint Julian the Hospitaller with Christ the Redeemer (1451) by Andrea del Castagno

ALMSGIVING.--St. Julian had dedicated himself to God; but being compelled to marry in order to content his family, he was careful to inspire his young spouse, Basilissa, with an esteem for the virtue of continence equal to that which possessed his own soul, and on the day of their union they both pronounced the vow of which Mary and Joseph had given the example. They superadded a vow to devote both their life and property to the comforting of pilgrims, of the poor and the sick, and turned their abode into a hospital, becoming the first ministering servants thereof. Such great charity and devotion could not fail to attract the attention of the persecutors of the Christian faith. Basilissa was the first who had to encounter the ordeal; but she outlived the trial, and died peacefully in the midst of her good works. Julian, being denounced in his turn, underwent martyrdom some years afterwards, at Antioch, with many confessors of the faith, on the 9th day of January, 313. A miraculous cure effected by him at the very moment when he was to suffer failed to bend the minds of his judges, and he was beheaded.

MORAL REFLECTION.-In imitation of the holy martyr, we should know how to put in practice the injunction of the prophet Daniel, "Redeem your sins by almsgiving, and your iniquities by mercy to the poor."-(Dan. iv. 24.) (Pictorial half hours with the saints. by abbe Auguste François Lecanu)

Severin von Noricum, 1470

DO PENANCE. -St. Severinus quitted the solitudes of the East, where he had been devoting himself to the exercises of the cœnobitic life, in order to evangelize the population of Norica, a province which comprised the greater part of Austria and the Tyrol. He at first encountered great resistance, but soon effected wonders of conversion, as well by reason of his humble and mortified life, as because he announced to his hearers the calamities wherewith the rebellious nations would be afflicted. "Do penance," exclaimed he: "sin is the cause of all the woes that God scatters upon the earth!" Before consenting to pray for those who were afflicted, and before releasing them from their infirmities, he required that they should do penance. His own life showed forth the constant example thereof. He foretold to Odoacer, king of the Herules, that he was to lay waste Italy, by way of punishment for its crimes; and the prophecy was amply verified. Hence kings and nations and rulers ended by holding him in singular veneration, regarding him as the envoy of Heaven. He yielded up his spirit on the 8th January, 482.

MORAL REFLECTION. -If not out of tenderness towards God, let us, at least from charity for ourselves, repair our past guilt, and avoid committing fresh offences; for, "As by one man sin entered into the world, so death passes by sin."-(Rom. v. 12.)

THE STUDY OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES . -St. Lucian, who suffered martyrdom at Nicomedia, in 312, was a native of Samosata. Having been invested from early youth with full power of disposing of his worldly goods, he distributed them to the poor, and withdrew to Edessa, to live near a holy man, called Macarius, who imbued his mind with a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and led him to the practice of the Christian virtues. Having become a priest, his time was divided between the external duties of his holy state, the performance of works of charity, and the study of sacred literature. He revised the books of the Old and New Testament, expunging the errors which, through the negligence of copyists or the malice of heretics, had been insinuated into the text; thus preparing the way for the learned St. Jerome, who shortly after was to give to the world that Latin translation known as "The Vulgate." Having been denounced as a Christian, Lucian was put in chains and condemned to the torture, which was protracted for twelve whole days. Having been visited by Christians while in prison on the day of the Epiphany, he had bread and wine brought to him, consecrated the elements, communicated, and with his dying lips pronounced the words, "I am a Christian!"

MORAL REFLECTION.-Let us strengthen ourselves by "reading" and meditating upon the Holy Scriptures, conformably with the counsel of the great Apostle.-(1 Tim. iv. 13.)" Pictorial Half Hour Saints by Abbe Auguste Lecanu

"He made so rapid progress in his studies, that at the age of twenty he taught philosophy. He was a perfect model to the clergy, by his innocence, zeal, devotion, and boundless liberalities to the poor. He took the habit of the Dominicans, eight months after the death of their holy founder. To the exercises of his solitude, he joined the functions of an apostolical life, by labouring without intermission in preaching, instructing, hearing confessions with wonderful fruit, and converting heretics, Jews, and Moors. Except on Sundays, he never took more than one small refection in the day. Amidst honours and applause, he was ever little in his own eyes.