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"He entered into a monastery very young, where he lived many years, and attained to an eminent degree of virtue and sacred learning. These qualities occasioned his being promoted to the see of Seville; but his change of condition made little or no alteration in his method of life, though it brought on him a great increase of care and solicitude for the salvation of those whom God had placed under his care, as well as for the necessities of the whole Church, and particularly of the Church of Spain. He was a man of that eminent piety and public spirit, that he forgot himself, when the service of God and his flock was before him. His great affliction was the errors of the Visigoths, who were all generally infected with Arianism. But his prayers and tears were so powerful with the divine mercy, that God in a short time made him the instrument of converting to the Catholic faith Hermenegild the king's son, who died a martyr by his father's cruelty. He also afterwards so far prevailed with the father, that the care of his other son was committed to him; by which means the whole nation soon after renounced its errors, to the great comfort of this prelate, and of the whole Church. Having seen the fruit of his labours, he departed this life, full of joy, in the sixth century.

Let the blessings which attended this prelate move you to pray that a like spirit may animate the prelates and pastors of God's Church. And let his zeal raise in you a compassion for all those, whose obstinacy in vice and errors keeps them out of the way of salvation. You have a horror of seeing a limb cut off, or witnessing a public execution; but what are these to the consideration of such vast numbers running into hell-fire? Pray that God would remove this blindness. Let no joy remove this misery of your neighbor from your heart; that you may be ever mindful of the compassion and charity due to him." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother

St. Alexander of Alexandria

"He was a man of apostolic doctrine and life, exceedingly charitable to the poor, and full of faith, zeal, and fervour. His promotion to the see of Alexandria so exasperated Arius, then a priest of that church, and reader of scripture, that he ever made an interest against him. As the saint's life and conduct were irreproachable, all his endeavours to oppose him were levelled at his doctrine, in opposition to which, Arius denied the divinity of Christ. Hence that grievous heresy had its first rise; which afterwards brought so much confusion to the Church. By the zeal of St. Alexander, Arius was condemned in a council assembled by him at Alexandria; and the saint had the comfort to see his sentence confirmed by the general council of Nice. Arius solicited still to be received again into the communion of the Church: but the holy bishop, who knew his dissimulation, defended his flock against this wolf. St. Alexander, after the triumph of the faith at the council of Nice, returned to Alexandria; where, having recommended St. Athanasius for his successor, he died in 326, on the 26th of February.

"He was brought up by his pious mother in the practice of the most eminent virtues. Above all things, she recommended him to keep no company but that of the most virtuous. The young man, by his talents and virtue, gained the esteem of all, and was raised to the greatest honours of the empire, being made consul, and afterwards secretary of state to the Emperor Constantine, and the Empress Irene, his mother. In the midst of the court, and of its highest honours, surrounded by all that could flatter pride, or gratify sensuality, he led a life like that of a religious man. Paul, patriarch of Constantinople, touched with the sense of his own weakness, in having conformed in some respects to the errors of the Iconoclasts, who opposed the pious veneration of holy images, quitted the patriarchal see, and determined to end his days in a monastery, that he might there do penance for his rashness. Being asked whom he thought equal to the charge of succeeding him in the see of Constantinople, he immediately named Tarasius, who was accordingly chosen patriarch, by the unanimous consent of the court, clergy, and people. Being consecrated bishop, his humility was remarkable, in his renouncing all manner of state and superfluity, both as to table and retinue, having that always in his mouth and practice, that he came not to be served, but to serve. His charity was great to the poor: his zeal for discipline and reforming abuses, both in clergy and people, wonderful; and his courage apostolic in opposing the errors of his time. He stood up against the iniquity of his prince, who cast off his empress for pretended crimes: for which he suffered confinement for some years; and by his patience in it prepared his soul for the liberty of heaven, to which he was called in the beginning of the ninth century.

Pray for all prelates and pastors; and beseech God that they may be imitators of this glorious saint." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

"He was an apostle: pray for all that are called to that holy function. And as he was chosen by heaven, pray that all of that character may be the choice of heaven.

He was chosen to fill the place of Judas. Conceive an humble distrust of yourself, and tremble at the fall of an apostle. Pray for heavenly strength, that by it you may be secured against the sad effects of human weakness.

Judas having fallen from the apostleship, one is to be chosen to fill his place. Two are proposed, Joseph called Barsabas, surnamed the just, and Mathias. The apostles join in prayer, and beg of God to determine the person; and the lot fell upon Mathias, who was numbered among the eleven. An excellent method and direction left to all succeeding ages, for the choice of persons to ecclesiastical functions, and for all places of trust. What wonder that there are so many abuses in all public employments both in church and state, when justice and duty are so generally neglected, God so commonly forgotten, and all things managed by the direction of private gain and interest?

And because there is a like danger in all other christian duties; and there is no security, as St. Bernard observes, either in heaven, or paradise, or on earth; since the angels fell from heaven, Adam from paradise, and Judas from the very school of Christ; let the memory of this day inspire all with a salutary distrust of themselves. Let it put them upon working out their salvation with fear and trembling; and most earnestly on importuning Him to come to their assistance, whose grace alone is able to secure them against the dangers of their own weakness, and of all snares set before them. O Lord, save us, or we perish. Thus let this day's devotion be concluded with acts of most profound humility and fear, and an entire confidence in God." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother

"He was the youngest of many children, and losing his parents when very young, was very cruelly treated by one of his brothers, and when grown up was sent to keep swine. Another of his brothers however treated him kindly, and gave him an education. He was soon qualified to teach others, which he did with great applause. To arm himself against the allurements of pleasure and the artifices of the devil, he wore a rough hair shirt, and inured himself to fasting, watching, and prayer. At length he resolved entirely to leave the world, and embrace a monastic life; and soon after this, he became a religious of the order of St. Benedict, in an hermitage at the foot of the Apennines. His obedience was so perfect, that the least word of any superior made him run that moment to discharge what was enjoined, with the utmost exactness. After some time he was commanded by his abbot to take upon himself the government of the hermitage, which he governed with great wisdom and sanctity.

St. Peter Damian was much employed for twelve years in the service of the Church, by many bishops and by four popes successively. At length Pope Stephen IX. prevailed on him to quit his desert, and made him cardinal bishop of Ostia. Having rendered great services to the Church in this dignity for some years, he begged with great importunity to be allowed to resign it, and return to his solitude. Pope Alexander II. out of affection for the holy man, allowed him to do so. In his retirement he edified the Church by his penance and compunction, and by his numerous writings. God was pleased to call him to the crown of his labours in the year 1072, when he was 83 years old.

This day is also the Vigil of St. Mathias; and those who expect the favours of heaven are required to fit themselves for them by spending it in a suitable manner. Our great indispositions are pride and self-love; and these are best cured by penance and humiliation. There are many kinds of mortification, by which you may answer the design of the Church. Make not this day, at least, a day of liberty and diversion, but let these give place to recollection and prayer." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

"A DAY in memory of St. Peter's fixing his episcopal see at Antioch; where, as St. Luke informs us, the followers of Christ were first called Christians. It was just that the prince of the apostles should take this city under his particular care and inspection, which was then the capital of the East, and in which the faith took so early and deep root. St. Chrysos tom says that St. Peter made a long stay at Antioch. St. Gregory the Great, that he was seven years bishop of that Church. St. Leo says that we ought to celebrate the chair of St. Peter with no less joy than the day of his martyrdom, for as in this he was exalted to a throne of glory in heaven, so by the former he was installed head of the Church on earth.

On this festival, adore and thank the divine goodness for the establishment and propagation of his Church; and earnestly pray that in his mercy he would preserve the same and extend it, that his name may be glorified by all nations and by all hearts to the boundaries of the earth. The Church of Christ is his spiritual kingdom. He not only founded it, but continues to govern it, and by his spirit to animate its members to the end of the world as its visible head; though he has left St. Peter and his successors as a visible head for its exterior government.

Give thanks on this day for the propagation of the gospel among the Gentiles; and pray that it may be still more and more enlarged, for the enlightening all those who sit in darkness, and know not God. Pray in particular for the people of the East. Pray for all the prelates in Christ's Church, that as they succeed the apostles, they may be animated with an apostolic spirit in renouncing the world and its ways, and applying themselves wholly to the good of their flock. Pray that none may be admitted to that dignity, but such as are truly qualified for the charge, and called by God, as the apostles were. Pray likewise for the peace and unity of the Church, for the remedying all abuses, and that there may be one pastor and one fold." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

"He was bishop of Scythopolis, and a zealous assertor of the Catholic faith against the errors of Eutyches. Theodosius, an ignorant Eutychian monk, and a man of a most tyrannical temper, perverted many among the monks themselves, and obliged Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem, to withdraw. He then unjustly possessed himself of that important see, and in a cruel persecution which he raised, filled Jerusalem with blood. Then, at the head of a band of soldiers, he carried desolation over the country. Many however had the courage to stand their ground; but no one resisted him with greater zeal and resolution than St. Severianus, and his recompense was the crown of martyrdom. The furious soldiers seized him, dragged him out of the city, and put him to death.

St. Eucher

RETIREMENT.- God has oftentimes selected from the retirement and silence of the cloister the eminent men whom He would place in the Church as a shining light. In retirement it is that the soul collects and concentrates its strength; there it gets attempered, like true steel in the water. Eucherius, of an illustrious family of Orleans, and nephew of Savarius, the bishop of that town, lived retired for some years in the abbey of Jumièges, which he was edifying by his virtues and never meant to quit, when the inhabitants of Orleans came to draw him, despite all opposition on his side, from his retreat, in order that he might replace his uncle. Their calculations were well founded, for they gained a pastor according to God's own heart. Charles Martel, who was fond of lavishing upon his warriors the property of the Church, found Eucherius wanting in compliance, for the bishop regarded it as the patrimony of the poor. He was driven into exile, and dragged from town to town by the satellites of Charles. The persecution lasted for six years, and Eucherius died, in 793, worn but with fatigue and suffering, though in nowise wroth nor failing in courage, after having borne the episcopal charge for twenty-two years.

MORAL REFLECTION.-Nothing softens the soul and weakens piety so much as frivolous indulgence. God has revealed what high store He sets by "Retirement," in these words: "I will lead her into solitude, and I will speak to her heart."-(Osea ii. 14.)