January 5 Saint Telesphorus, Pope and Martyr
by VP
Posted on Tuesday January 04, 2022 at 11:17PM in Saints
O Eternal Shepherd, who appointed blessed Telesphorus shepherd
of the whole Church, let the prayers of this martyr and supreme pontiff
move You to look with favor upon Your flock and to keep it under Your
continual protection.
As a Greek by birth, though some authors say that he was born in Terra Nova, in Calabria. It is by some affirmed that his father was an Anchorite, and that Telesphorus himself was Roman by birth. Some say that by his decrees he confirmed the observance of Lent; and others affirm that the quadragesimal Fast came down by tradition, as stated by Saint Ignatius, Saint Jerome, and Theophilus. This holy pope suffered martyrdom, A. D. 139.
In his four ordinations, Telesphorus created thirteen bishops, fifteen priests, and eight deacons. Some pious Christians removed his body after execution, and placed it near that of Saint Peter, in the Vatican.
It is said that this pope ordered that all priests should celebrate three Masses on Christmas day. But Novaes considers that this statement rests only upon an apochryphal Decretal (vol. i., p. 44). However, this observance was followed under Saint Gregory the Great.
Saint Telesphorus presided over the Holy See during eleven years, eight months, and eighteen days.
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PONTIFICATE OF ST. TELESPHORUS (A. D. 128–138).
1. St. TELESPHORUS succeeded St. Sixtus I. Before his elevation he had led the life of the anchorites, as we learn from the Liber Pontificalis, ex Anachoreta. To preside over the Christian assemblies in the catacombs; to ordain priests (* These ordinations were usually held about Christmas, mense decembri. The Church, from the earliest period, observed the practice of reserving fixed epochs for these important coremonies, which perpetuate the priesthood in the world.) and consecrate bishops, to take the place of those who had suffered from the sword of persecution; to confirm in faith and patience the churches shaken by the fury of tyrants; to regulate the order of the sacred ceremonies, and the forms of prayers or hymns that accompanied them; to place the ecclesiastical hierarchy on solid foundations; to watch over the maintenance of the holy doctrines and traditions; finally, to close a life of privations and pious toil by the torments of martyrdom ;—such were the glorious privileges of the earliest Roman Pontiffs.
1/. The Apostolic institution of Lent was maintained and confirmed by St. Telesphorus, who ordained a fast of seven weeks before Easter.
2/ The custom of celebrating Mass only at the hour of tierce-nine o'clock in the morning-was also maintained by this pope, who allowed no exception but on the feast of the Nativity, when it was celebrated in the night.
3/ He was the first who introduced into the liturgy the Gloria in Excelsis.
2. While Adrian visited the various provinces of his empire, he left behind him, together with shameful monuments of his passions, useful amelioration, and durable reforms. Athens was especially the object of his care; he did much for its embellishment, and gave it his name—the City of Adrian. During one of his visits there, St. Quadratus, whom Eusebius represents as a disciple of the Apostles, a man of brilliant genius and of apostolic zeal, availed himself of the occasion to address to him an apology, or defense, on behalf of the Christians, A.D. 126. This work, the first of its kind, was still extant in the time of St. Jerome, who mentions it with high eulogium. Only a fragment remains to us, on the reality of the miracles of Jesus Christ, as distinguished from the enchantments and transient impressions of magic. “The miracles of the Savior,” said the holy apologist, “ were always visible, because they were always true. Those whom He cured, those whom He recalled from death to life, were seen, not only at the moment of their cure, or of their resurrection, but long afterwards; not only during the lifetime of the Savior, but many years after He had ascended to heaven; some of them, indeed, are still living.'Aristides, a Christian philosopher of Athens, about the same time, presented another apology to Adrian, in which he relies on the testimony of the ancient philosophers to prove the sublimity of the Catholic faith. This work is also lost to us. The emperor, touched by these just representations, seems to have adopted sentiments more favorable to the Christian religion.
3.But that which chiefly contributed to put an end to the persecution was the letter which, nearly at the same time, Serenius Granianus, proconsul of Asia, addressed to Adrian on the subject of the cruelties practiced by the multitude upon the Christians. It was a custom at the public festivals, that the people of Rome, or of the provinces present, should have liberty to ask of the prince or proconsuls any thing which their passions, excited by the bloody spectacle, could suggest. “ The Christians to the lions” was the cry in every amphitheater, and without interrogatory, or process of law, or any valid judgment, Christians, by thousands, were cast to the wild beasts. Serenius, in his letter to the emperor, did not hesitate to pronounce upon these proceedings as monstrous iniquities. To sacrifice to the clamor of the populace a multitude of victims of every age and rank, of both sexes, when they were not even accused of any judicial crime, seemed to him a barbarism unworthy of Rome and of Adrian.
4. The reply of the emperor was not addressed to Serenius Granianus, who, in the interval, had probably relinquished the government of Asia, but to his successor, Minucius Fundanus. It is thus recorded by Eusebius : “I have received the letter addressed to me by the illustrious Serenius Granianus, your predecessor. The affair appears to merit serious attention, in order to protect these men (the Christians) from similar vexations, and that pretenses may be withdrawn from informers for future calumnies. If the inhabitants of any district have charges to make against the Christians, which they are able in person to sustain before your tribunal, let them have recourse to this judicial mode; but they must not be permitted to pursue them with foolish or tumultuous clamor. Reason demands that if there be any ground of accusation, you should have cognizance of it. If they are convicted of actions contrary to the laws, decide the case according to the gravity of the crime. If, on the contrary, the accusation proves to be calumnious, let the informer suffer merited punishment.”
This re-script was sent to other governors of provinces, and the fury of persecution was relaxed, though not entirely extinguished; for, on the one hand, the passions of the populace, and, on the other, the hatred of the proconsuls for the very name of Christian, together with the progressive decline of respect and obedience towards the central authority, continued still to leave multitudes of Christians a prey to the blind passions of the populace, or to judges misguided by their prejudices.
5. The Jews, always conquered, and always rebellious, availed themselves of the absence of the emperor in distant provinces to attempt a new insurrection. They were embittered against the sovereignty of Adrian by a double motive. This prince, who had undertaken to raise all the cities of his vast empire from their ruins, had sent a pagan colony to rebuild and inhabit Jerusalem. He also changed the name of the ancient City of David to that of Ælia Capitolina. The Jews could not endure without indignation the presence of these idolaters, who raised altars to false gods in the very places where the God of Abraham had been so long invoked by their fathers. Another measure, too, had outraged their devoted attachment to the law of Moses. Adrian had prohibited, under pain of death, the circumcision of their infants. This was to take away the seal of their covenant with God—the sacred sign which distinguished them from the pagans. A sullen discontent soon became apparent among them. They assembled in the vast subterranean cavities near their cities, and secretly organized a revolt. A cunning impostor contrived to turn these hostile inclinations to the profit of his own ambition. He was Barchocebas, or the Son of the Star. He announced himself as the envoy of God, to deliver the Jewish people from the oppression of their enemies. The star of Jacob, predicted by Balaam, was the sign of his advent; he was the Messiah promised by the prophets, and expected by the patriarchs. The rabbi Akiba placed the resources of his science and influence at the service of the false prophet, and Barchocebas was hailed as the Savior of Jerusalem. He soon found him. self at the head of a multitude of partisans, and the first use he made of his power was to persecute with the greatest cruelty the Christians who refused to abjure their faith in Jesus Christ, and to enter into the league which he formed against the Roman domination. The tortures to which he condemned these victims surpassed in barbarity and cruelty all that pagan rage had hitherto invented. Meanwhile he extended his intrigues throughout the East among the Jews, and sought for the enemies of the empire in all directions. In the neighboring tribes he found a multitude greedy for pillage, ready to swell the number of his troops. The Romans, at first, despised this insurrectionist movement in a nation which they had so often conquered, and its importance was only discovered when the extent of its ramifications became apparent. The governor of Judea, Tinnius Rufus, began by sending to execution a crowd of persons, without distinction of age or sex. This act of cruel severity served only to excite the insurgents to greater fury. Their revolt at once, in every point in Syria, alarmed the governor, who called on the emperor for re-enforcement. Adrian summoned from Great Britain Julius Severus, reputed to be the greatest general of his time, and dispatched him to the aid of Tinnius Rufus. Seeing the numbers of his enemies, Severus avoided a general attack, preferring a slower mode of warfare to the dangers of an uncertain combat. He therefore attacked them separately, to force them into narrower limits, and to cut off their supplies. His skillful manæuvres were completely successful. Within two years he captured, in succession, every fortified place in Judea, and destroyed more than six hundred thousand Jews, without including those who perished by famine, fire, or want. An immense multitude were sold in the markets of Terebinth and Gaza. Such as were not sold in those cities were transported into Egypt. This frightful disaster surpassed those which Nabuchodonosor and Titus had inflicted upon Judea. Barchocebas lost his life at the siege of Bether, where the rebels had fixed the center of their operations. Jerusalem no longer preserved any traces of her past glories. The stones which had served in the erection of the temple, were now employed to build a theater. Over one of the gates was placed a marble hog, to the Jews the most impure of animals. A statue of Jupiter was set upon the Holy Sepulcher; and one of Venus was raised upon Calvary. A sacred wood for pagan sacrifices was planted at Bethlehem The consecration to Adonis of the grotto where Jesus was born, profaned this holy place. The dispersed Israelite were prohibited from entering Jerusalem-neither were they allowed to approach it-however strong might be their love of Sion. They were obliged to purchase at a great price the per mission, on one day of the year, to bathe with their tears the places upon which, in other times, their religion had shed such splendor. St. Jerome, who, in his time, was a witness of this lugubrious ceremony, says: “After having purchased the blood of the Savior, they purchase their own tears; they pay a ransom for the privilege of weeping. What a dismal spectacle, on the anniversary of the day when Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by the Romans,'to see the approach, in mournful attire, of a multitude of people—of women and men, bending under the weight of years, and covered with rags, whose bearing attests the anger of the Lord, in the exhaustion of their bodies, and in their torn garments !"
This catastrophe was advantageous, however, to the Christian Church in Jerusalem, which hitherto had been governed by bishops converted from Judaism, and was consequently attached to the observances of the Mosaic law. A residence in this city being now permitted only to the Gentiles, the Church was recruited chiefly by her conquests among them. Besides, in the utter dispersion of a people condemned by God, this last tempest gave a new force to the proofs of Christianity, which, according to the prophets, was to succeed Judaism, and rise on its ruins, A. D. 134.
6. Far from confessing their offenses in the presence of these terrible judgments of Heaven, the Jewish doctors sought more diligently, than ever to blind themselves, and to lead their unhappy compatriots into the same errors. From hatred to Christianity, and in order to weaken the proofs of the divinity of Jesus Christ, which is made so evident in the prophecies, they began the composition of the Talmud, or doctrine, an enormous compilation of their oral traditions. This work is divided into two parts; the Mischna, or law, which is the text, and the Ghemur, or complement, which is a commentary on the other. The entire collection forins twelve volumes in folio. Among its fables and puerile inventions there is a hatred of the name of Christian, which is not even dissembled. This book is perhaps the greatest obstacle to the conversion of the Jews.
7. At this epoch, a work of another class, but with the same object, was undertaken by an apostate Christian. Aquila, a native of Sinope, in Pontus, was first a pagan. The miracles which he saw performed among the Christians converted him, and he was baptized; but his attachment to astrology, which, in spite of the counsels of the bishops, he refused to abandon, caused his excommunication, and he was excluded from the Church. To avenge this injury, he was circumcised, and openly embraced Judaism. Carrying his hatred still further, he applied himself to the study of the Hebrew tongue; and after acquiring a thorough knowledge of it, he commenced a new Greek version of the Scriptures, to correct that of the Septuagint. He endeavored especially to make it literal, and succeeded so well that even St. Jerome pronounces his translation very exact. But the same Father reproaches him for having designedly weakened the passages which serve to establish the divinity of Jesus Christ.
8. All these desperate efforts to hinder the progressive advancement of the Catholic Church ended by imparting to it new strength. The dispersed Jews carried everywhere the testimony of the victory of Christianity, and the heretics, in yielding to the disorders of an infamous life, condemned themselves; in fine, the emperors achieved the ruin of their own authority by the excesses of every description to which they abandoned themselves. Adrian expired A. D. 138. Towards the close of his life, this prince became melancholy and cruel. He condemned to death his brother-in-law Servienus, and Fuercus, his grand-nephew. He was suspected of poisoning his wife Sabina, whom he afterwards placed among the divinities of the empire. He complained that he, who at his will had sent so many to execution, could not die himself. Finally he expired, suffocated by an excess in eating, cursing the physicians, and jesting upon his soul. Antoninus Pius, his adopted son, a prince worthy of the surname which his virtues and his gratitude towards his benefactor had gained for him, succeeded to the throne. His fine qualities endeared him to the Romans and made him venerable to strangers, even to the barbarian sovereigns, who chose him more than once for arbiter in their disputes.
9. The same year Pope St. Telesphorus ended his Apostolic career by a glorious martyrdom. He had governed the Church ten years. St. Hyginus, converted from philosophism-ex philosopho—was his successor.
Saint Rigobert, Archbishop of Rheims
by VP
Posted on Monday January 03, 2022 at 11:50PM in Saints
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
St. John Vianney: Priestly Saint
by VP
Posted on Sunday October 31, 2021 at 12:00AM in Saints
Pope John has chosen the centenary of the death of St. John Vianney as the occasion for his second encyclical letter, to present the Cure of Ars to the world as an example of a true priest. When John Vianney went home to God on August 4,1859, his native France and even distant places had heard of the saintly virtues of this wonderful little priest, but it was certainly beyond the fondest imagination of the saintly Cure that one day he would be chosen as the patron saint of all priests.
Apart from the outstanding qualities of his priestly ministrations at Ars, there is something especially appealing in this humble and holy man, something that stands out to emphasize how the finger of God reaches down from heaven and works in the life of every priest, and in such a special manner in the life of John Vianney. “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you ...” are words that take on meaning in the life and work of every priest.
Weak human nature is raised up at ordination and given powers that were denied to the Angels, and even to the Mother of God. The power to consecrate bread and wine, to transform them into the Body and Blood of Christ; the power to forgive sins; the power to preach and to guide souls; all the wondrous powers of the priesthood are gifts of God to His chosen ones.
The exercise of these powers by St. John Vianney takes on added meaning when one understands his personal qualifications. The famed Cure of Ars was known as a man of rather meager mental attainments. He completed his seminary training only in the face of gravest difficulties. His later priestly work made it clear that God chooses His own ministers, and works through them— John Vianney was to be Christ’s priest, Christ would work through him as a willing instrument. And what blessed achievements resulted! It could well be that St. John Vianney was chosen as the patron of all priests by Pope Pius XI in 1925— he had already been named the patron of French parish priests by St. Pius X when beatified by St. Pius X in 1905—not only because of his exemplary qualities as a parish priest, but in order to emphasize the fact that all the ministrations of every priest are done in the name of the Great High Priest, Christ Himself, Who can raise up even the least of men and give them His powers in the priesthood. The Holy Father's encyclical carries this theme; priests must do all In their power to be effective instruments of God, but it is God Who then blesses the harvest.
Saint Eugenius, Bishop of Carthage
by VP
Posted on Tuesday July 13, 2021 at 11:03AM in Saints
St. Eugenius, Source: wikipedia
"His virtue gained him the respect and esteem even of the Arians; but at length envy and blind zeal got the ascendant in their breasts, and the king sent him an order never to sit on the episcopal throne, preach to the people, or admit into his chapel any Vandals, among whom several were Catholics. The saint boldly answered that the laws of God commanded him not to shut the door of His church to any that desired to serve Him in it. Huneric, enraged at this answer, persecuted the Catholics in various ways. Many nuns were so cruelly tortured that they died on the rack. Great numbers of bishops, priests, deacons, and eminent Catholic laymen were banished to a desert filled with scorpions and venomous serpents. The people followed their bishops and priests with lighted tapers in their hands, and mothers carried their little babes in their arms and laid them at the feet of the confessors, all crying out with tears, "Going yourselves to your crowns, to whom do you leave us? Who will baptize our children? Who will impart to us the benefit of penance, and discharge us from the bonds of sin by the favor of reconciliation and pardon? Who will bury us with solemn supplications at our death? By whom will the Divine Sacrifice be made?" The bishop Eugenius was spared in the first storm, but afterwards was carried into the uninhabited desert country in the province of Tripoli, and committed to the guard of Antony, an inhuman Arian bishop, who treated him with the utmost barbarity. Under (Thrasimund) Saint Eugenius was again banished, and died in exile, on the 18th of July, 505, in a monastery which he built and governed, near Albi." Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints
Prayer for Holy Bishops
Lord, according to Your promise that the
Gospel should be preached throughout the whole world, raise up men fit
for such work.
The Apostles were but soft and yielding clay till they were baked hard
by the fire of the Holy Ghost.
So, Good Lord, do now in like manner again with Thy Church Militant;
change and make the soft and slippery earth into hard stones;
set in Thy Church strong and mighty pillars, that may suffer and endure
great labors, watching, poverty, thirst, hunger, cold and heat;
which also shall not hear the threatenings of princes, persecution,
neither death but always persuade and think with themselves to
suffer with a good will, slanders, shame, and all kinds of torments,
for the glory and laud of Thy Holy Name. By this manner, good Lord,
the truth of Thy Gospel shall be preached throughout all the world.
Therefore, merciful Lord, exercise Thy mercy, show it indeed upon Thy
Church.
Saint John Fisher (Sermon in 1508) from Saint John Fisher Forum
Saint Goar, Priest.
by VP
Posted on Tuesday July 06, 2021 at 11:50AM in Saints
For Zealous Priests
Sanctify to Thyself, O my Lord, the
hearts of Thy priests, that, by the merits of Thy sacred humanity, they
may become living images of Thee, children of Mary, and full of the fire
of the Holy Ghost, that they may guard Thy house, and defend Thy glory,
and that through their ministry the face of the earth may be renewed,
and they may save those souls which have costs Thee all Thy blood. Amen
Queen of the Apostles, pray thy Son, the Lord of the Harvest, to send laborers into His harvest, and to spare His people.
The Prayer Book. Imprimatur Samuel Cardinal Stritch
Archbishop of Chicago, May 10, 1954.
Saint Vincent Ferrer,
by VP
Posted on Monday April 05, 2021 at 11:18AM in Saints
This wonderful apostle, the "Angel of the Judgment," was born in Valencia in Spain, in 1350, and at the age of eighteen professed in the Order of Saint Dominic. After a brilliant course of study he became master of sacred theology. For three years he read only the Scriptures, and knew the whole Bible by heart. He converted the Jews of Valencia, and their synagogue became a church. Grief at the great schism then afflicting the Church reduced him to the point of death; but Our Lord Himself in glory bade him go forth to convert sinners, " for My judgment is nigh." This miraculous apostolate lasted twenty-one years. He preached throughout Europe, in the towns and villages of Spain, Switzerland, France, Italy, England, Ireland, Scotland. Everywhere tens of thousands of sinners were reformed; Jews, infidels, and heretics were converted. Stupendous miracles enforced his words. Twice each day the "miracle bell" summoned the sick, the blind, the lame to be cured. Sinners the most obdurate became saints speaking only his native Spanish, he was understood in all tongues. Processions of ten thousand penitents followed him in perfect order. Convents, orphanages, hospitals, arose in his path. Amidst all, his humility remained profound, his prayer constant. He always prepared for preaching by prayer. Once, however, when a person of high rank was to be present at his sermon he neglected prayer for study. The nobleman was not particularly struck by the discourse which had been thus carefully worked up; but coming again to hear the Saint, unknown to the latter, the second sermon made a deep impression on his soul. When Saint Vincent heard of the difference, he remarked that in the first sermon it was Vincent who had preached, but in the second, Jesus Christ. He fell ill at Vannes in Brittany, and received the crown of everlasting glory in 1419.
Reflection: "Whatever you do," said Saint Vincent, "think not of yourself, but of God." In this spirit, he preached, and God spoke by him; in this spirit, if we listen, we shall hear the voice of God.
Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, 1925
March 20: St. Cuthbert (Bishop)
by VP
Posted on Saturday March 20, 2021 at 11:30AM in Saints
So devout and zealous was he in his desire after heavenly things, that when saying Mass, he could never come to the conclusion thereof without a plentiful shedding of tears. When celebrating the mysteries of our Lord's Passion, he would, very appropriately, imitate the action that he was performing, ie. in contrition of heart he would sacrifice himself to the Lord; and he exhorted those present to "lift up their hears," and " to give thanks to the Lord," more by raising up his heart than his voice, and more by his groans then his singing.
A Prayer to Saint Cuthbert
Hail, father of thy country! hail, man of renown! hail, thou who often bestowest upon the miserable the comforts of health! hail, lovely glory! hail, great hope of thy servants! Farewell merit of our own! do thou act, thou man of piety! To thee be praise! to thee let worthy honour, to thee let thanks be given! who frequently bestowest blessings upon me, undeserving though I be. Thou art my mighty help; often hast thou been my glory. Always dost thou cherish me with thy sweetly-flowing love. Oh from how many evils, from what enemies and dangers, my father, hast thou rescued me, and still nourishest thou me in prosperity! What worthy return can I make to thee, my father? Oh thou pious Bishop! Oh father! Oh merciful Pastor! give me thy aid. As it pleases thee, O father, and as thou knowest my wants, give help to thy petitioner. I pray thee to remember me, thou sweet friend of God.
Saint. Lucian of Antioch, PRIEST AND MARTYR. (Jan. 7th)
by VP
Posted on Wednesday January 06, 2021 at 11:00PM in Saints
A.D. 312. ST. LUCIAN, surnamed of Antioch, was born at Samosata, in Syria. He lost his parents whilst very young; and being come to the possession of his estate, which was very considerable, he distributed all among the poor. He became a great proficient in rhetoric and philosophy, and applied himself to the study of the holy scriptures under one Macarius at Edessa. Convinced of the obligation annexed to the character of priesthood, which was that of devoting himself entirely to the service of God and the good of his neighbor, he did not content himself with inculcating the practice of virtue both by word and example ; he also undertook to purge the scriptures, that is, both the Old and New Testament, from the several faults that had crept into them, either by reason of the inaccuracy of transcribers, or the malice of heretics. Some are of opinion, that as to the Old Testament, he only revised it, by comparing different editions of the Septuagint: others contend, that he corrected it upon the Hebrew text, being well versed in that language. Certain, however, it is that St. Lucian's edition of the scriptures was much esteemed, and was of great use to St. Jerome.
St. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, says, that Lucian remained some years separated from the Catholic communion, at Antioch, under three successive bishops, namely, Domnus, Timæus, and Cyril. If it was for too much favouring Paul o. Samosata, condemned at Antioch in the year 269, he must have been deceived, for want of a sufficient penetration into the impiety of that dissembling heretic. It is certain, at least, that he died in the Catholic communion; which also appears fragment from a letter written by him to the church of Antioch, and still extant in the Alexandrian Chronicle. Though a priest of Antioch, we find him at Nicomedia, in the year 303, when Dioclesian first published his edicts against the Christians. He there suffered a long imprisonment for the faith ; for the Paschal Chronicles quotes these words from a letter which he wrote out of his dungeon to Antioch: “All the martyrs salute you. I inform you that the pope Anthimus (bishop of Nicomedia) has finished his course of martyrdom.” This happened in 303. Yet Eusebius informs us, that St. Lucian did not arrive himself at the crown of martyrdom till after the death of St. Peter of Alexandria, in 311, so that he seems to have continued nine years in prison, At length he was brought before the governor, or, as the acts intimate, the emperor himself, for the word which Eusebius uses, may imply either. On his trial, he presented to the judge an excellent apology for the Christian faith. Being remanded to prison, an order was given that no food should be allowed him; but, when almost dead with hunger, dainty meats that had been offered to idols, were set before him, which he would not touch. It was not in itself unlawful to eat of such meats, as St. Paul teaches, except where it would give scandal to the weak, or when it was exacted as an action of idolatrous superstition, as was the case here. Being brought a second time before the tribunal, he would give no other answer to all the questions put to him, but this : "I am a Christian." He repeated the same whilst on the rack, and he finished his glorious course in prison, either by famine, or according to St. Chrysostom, by the sword. His acts relate many of his miracles, with other particulars; as that, when bound and chained down on his back in prison, he consecrated the divine mysteries upon his own breast, and communicated the faithful that were present: this we also read in Philostorgius, the Arian historian. St. Lucian suffered at Nicomedia, where Maximinus II. resided.
His body was interred at Drepanum, in Bithynia, which, in honor of him, Constantine the Great soon after made a large city, which he exempted from all taxes, and honored with the name of Helenopolis, from his mother. St. Lucian was crowned in 312, on the 7th of January, on which day his festival was kept at Antioch immediately after his death, as appears from St. Chrysostom.t It is the tradition of the church of Arles, that the body of St. Lucian was sent out of the East to Charlemagne, who built a church under his invocation at Arles, in which his relics are preserved.
The first thing that is necessary in the service of God, is earnestly to search his holy will, by devoutly reading, listening to, and meditating on his eternal truths. This will set the divine law in a clear and full light, and conduct us by unerring rules, to discover and accomplish every duty. It will awake and continually increase a necessary tenderness of conscience, which will add light and life to its convictions, oblige us to a more careful trial and examination of all our actions, keep us not only from evil, but from every appearance of it, render us steadfast and immovable in every virtuous practice, and always preserve a quick and nice sense of good and evil. For this reason, the word of God is called in holy scripture, Light, because it distinguisheth between good and evil, and, like a lamp, manifesteth the path which we are to choose, and disperseth that mist with which the subtlety of our enemy and the Iusts of our heart have covered it. At the same time, a daily repetition of contrition and compunction washes off the stains which we discover in our souls, and strongly incites us, by the fervor and fruitfulness of our following life, to repair the sloth and barrenness of the past. Prayer must be made our main assistant in every step of this spiritual progress. We must pray that God would enable us to search out and discover our own hearts, and reform whatever is amiss in them. If we do this sincerely, God will undoubtedly grant our requests; will lay open to us all our defects and infirmities, and, showing us now far short we come of the perfection of true holiness of life, will not suffer any latent corruptions in our affections to continue undiscovered, nor permit us to forget the stains and ruins which the sins of our life past have left behind them.
Source: The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume 1
By Alban Butler
Leprosy of the soul
by VP
Posted on Friday May 15, 2020 at 12:00AM in Saints
"Ignorance is the leprosy of the soul. How many such lepers exist in the Catholic Church, even in Rome, where many men do not even know what is necessary for their salvation. It must be our business to try to cure this disease. In old times conversions of whole cities and countries were not unusual, for the zeal and faith of our predecessors in the ministry worked miracles; they were filled with the Spirit of God. Are we less strong than they were, that we are so easily tired, and so slack in our labors among the poor? Spiritum nolite extinguere.
Have we, then, hopelessly degenerated? But we need not go back to past centuries for examples. Vaselli and his fellow-missionaries did wonders in the Campagna. Let us try and deserve the like graces. Besides, if we neglect to labor for the salvation of our neighbors, let us tremble for our own. The conversion of our brethren is the object of our mission, the only real reason of our existence. It is enough for a layman to keep the commandments of God, Who will not require more at his hands. But for us it is different; as faithful imitators of our Lord, we must give our lives for the brethren. Let no fatigue, then discourage or slacken our zeal; never let us mind the hardness, or the indifference, or the rudeness of the poor. Only let us persevere, and if we have the right spirit we shall triumph over all obstacles with the grace of God, and obtain our own salvation as well as theirs."
Source: The life of st. John Baptist de Rossi by E. Mougeot
Called for the Sanctification of souls
by VP
Posted on Thursday May 14, 2020 at 12:00AM in Saints
"We are called by God Himself for the sanctification of souls. How many among the common people are lost for want of instruction! if we do not do this, laymen certainly will not; and yet, if many of these laymen were in our place, what would they not do? Even as it is, do not they often shame us by their activity and their zeal? is it not disgraceful to think that very often they labor harder than ourselves, and contribute more to the sanctification of souls? Gospel adds that after the departure of St. John the Baptist's messengers our Lord said to His disciples, " Quid exiistis in desertem videre, arundinem vento agitatam?" ( Matt. xi.8.) No, the precursor was not a feeble reed driven by the wind; his strength and courage were great, and equally remarkable was his constancy. Although in prison, he did not fear to tell Herod, Non licet tibi habere eam. He neither dreaded the anger of the tyrant, not the prison, nor the death which were in store for him; and so our Saviour adds: "Non Surrexit inter natos mulierum major Joanne Baptista."
"A generous constancy, therefore, is as necessary to us as to St. John. But how often does a slight obstacle suffice to make us give up a work we have begun, or stop us as we are beginning to undertake some useful scheme to help others?
Our predecessors were far more zealous. Persecution, ridicule, cold, heat, rain, rebuffs, nothing discouraged them, however much they might have to suffer. And so their works were accomplished, and God blessed and rewarded their constancy. Remember that we are the inheritors, not only of their position, but of their labours. We are priests, chosen by God for the salvation of His people; not to seek our own ease and comfort. let us, then, be known by our works, and may men say of us as our Lord did of St. John, "Pauperes evangelizantur."
Source: The Life of St. John Baptist de Rossi by E Mougeot
