text:
Mary the Mother of Jesus
October is the month of the Rosary since 1868;
Day 2 of the UNITED tour
Saturday Saints of this Day October 01 Kaléndis Octóbris.
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins. Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!
(Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
Six Canonized on Feast of Christ the King Nov 23 2014
Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List Here
Acts of the Apostles
Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary .
Let us affirm the unborn by our language.
May the spirit and example of the Good Samaritan fill the hearts and minds of all our citizens.
What leper,
when he has been healed, turns again and deires to have his leprosy back?
Saint Therese of Lisieux "Don't worry about loving the Virgin Mary too much,
you could never love her too much and Jesus will be happy since the Blessed Virgin is His Mother."
Saint Therese of Lisieux 1873-1897
"I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul."
October 1st - OUR LADY OF PROKOV (The Protectress, Byzantine Slavonic Church) - Saint Therese of Lisieux
The Virgin Mary Rushes to My Side
"When I receive Holy Communion, I sometimes imagine my soul as if it were the soul of a three or four year-old child, dinted by play, with my clothes all soiled and my hair disheveled. - These misfortunes befall me whilst I wrestle with souls. - But the Virgin Mary rushes to my side in haste. No sooner has she rid me of my soiled, little apron, tied back my hair with a beautiful ribbon or just a little flower... and this is enough to make me lovely again and allow me sit down at the feast of the Angels without blushing." Saint Therese of the Child Jesus
October 1st - Slavic Byzantine Church, Our Lady of Prokov - Saint Romanos the Melodist (6th C.)
The Cantor of the Virgin Mary
The only authority for the life and date of this greatest of Greek hymn-writers is the account in the Menaion for October; his feast is October 1st in Orthodox Churches. Romanos served as deacon in the church at Berytus, and came to Constantinople during the reign of Anastasios. It was in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos that he received the charisma of sacred poetry from the Blessed Virgin.
One Christmas Eve, the Virgin Mary appeared to him in his sleep and gave him a piece of papyrus, saying, "Take it and eat it". (cf Ezk 3:1; Rv 10:9). He obeyed and swallowed it. When he awoke, it was Christmas Day, and he immediately marveled and glorified God. He went up to the ambo and began the strains of his he parthenos semeron ton hyperousion tiktei.
After this improvisation for the feast of the Nativity, he composed about one thousand kontakia for other feasts before he died. The autographs of several are preserved at the church "En Tois Kyrou," where Romanos was buried.It is there that his feast was celebrated.
Before this miraculous apparition, Romanos possessed a weak voice and had no talent whatsoever as a composer.
His voice became like gold and his words like honey. He is the author of the first Acathist Hymn.
See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13154a.htm
Elioz of Mtskheta and Longinoz of Karsani, Georgia; Robe of our Lord, it was acquired by them;
Christ revealed to His Mother
it was not His will for her to preach there. "You have been entrusted to
protect the Georgian nation," He said, "but the role of evangelizing that
land belongs to My disciple Andrew the First-called. Send him with an
image of your face "Not-Made-By- Hands" to protect the Georgian people
to the end of the ages!"
1st v. Ananias of the Seventy first Bishop of Damascus; The Lord ordered him to restore the sight of Saul, the former persecutor of Christians, then baptize him (Acts 9:10-19, 22:12). Saul became the great preacher and Apostle Paul. St Ananias boldly and openly confessed Christianity before the Jews and the pagans, despite the danger; went to preach at Eleutheropolis, where he healed many of their infirmities.
286 St. Piaton Martyr, also called Piat sent by the pope (283, to 22 April, 296 Pope Caius), to evangelize Chartres and the Tournai district of Belgium
302 St. Verissimus, Maxima, & Julia Portugal Priscus, Crescens and Evagrius Martyrs at Tomi on the Black Sea MM (RM)
Thessalonícæ sancti Domníni Mártyris, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre.
400 Aizan and Sazan Abyssinia chieftains zealous to spread the Word; friend of Saint Athanasius
505 St. Aretas and Companions Martyrs, numbering 504 others as first noted by Usuardus
520 Albaud (Aladius) of Toul B
530 St. Remigius Bishop The great apostle of the Franks, was illustrious for his learning, sanctity and miracles
540 Melorus Melar of Cornwall a child martyr son of an Armorican king in Cornwall; at fourteen his miracles earned him honour; martyred then several miracles including relics supernaturally prevented from moving
540 St. Romanus Greek hymnographer, known as "the Melodist"; the Mother of God appeared to the grief-stricken youth in a vision while he was praying before her Kyriotissa icon. She gave him a scroll and commanded him to eat it. Thus was he given the gift of understanding, composition, and hymnography; All hymns of St Romanus became known as kontakia--reference to the Virgin's scroll.St. Melorius Prince of Cornwall, England
654 St. Bavo famous hermit, was a nobleman
750 St. Dodo Benedictine abbot trained by St. Ursmar
762 St. Fidharleus Irish abbot who restored Rathin Abbey, Iredland
9th v. The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos: "Today the Virgin stands in the midst of the Church, and with choirs of Saints she invisibly prays to God for us. Angels and Bishops venerate Her, Apostles and prophets rejoice together, Since for our sake she prays to the Eternal God!"1000 St. Virila Benedictine abbot; a miracle worker, and his life has been the subject of many traditions
1030 Catholicos Melchizedek I; first Georgian Catholicos to be commemorated as Catholicos-Patriarch; Under his leadership Svetitskhoveli Cathedral was restored and adorned
11th v. Saint John Koukouzelis, a native of Dirrachia (Bulgaria); tonsured a monk at Mt. Athos; Church singers reverence St John Koukouzelis as their own special patron saint
1350 BD FRANCIS OF PESARO became known and loved far and wide for his goodness and benevolence; number of remarkable occurrences cultus confirmed by Pope Pius IX
1355 Saint Gregory Domesticus (leading chanter) was the contemporary of St John Koukouzelis
1449 Blessed Nicholas of Forca-Palena founded the Hermits of St. Jerome
1461 Saint Sava Monk of Vishera; From childhood noted for his piety; went to Mt. Athos worked on copying service books; lived as a stylite
1484 Blessed John of Dukla evangelized among the Ruthenian schismatics
1581 Pskov-Protection Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos from invading Polish Army; The Most Holy Virgin appeared to Elder Dorotheus with Russian Saints: holy Great Prince Vladimir and Pskov Princes Vsevolod-Gabriel, Dovmont-Timothy, St Anthony of Kiev Caves, Cornelius of Pskov, Euphrosynus of Spaso-Elazar and Sava of Krypetsk, Blessed Nicholas of Pskov, St Niphon, Archbishop of Novgorod, the organizer of the Pskov Spaso-Mirozh monastery.1588 Bl. Edward Campion English martyr
1588 Bl. Edward James English martyr
1588 Christopher Buxton priesthood 1586 served 2 years until death at Canterbury
1588 Robert Wilcox died for his priesthood at Canterbury
1588 Bl. John Robinson Priest Martyr of England
1588 St. Ralph Crockett Priest English martyr
1588 Bl. Robert Widmerpool English martyr
1617 Bl. Caspar Fisogiro Martyr of Japan
Terebovlya Icon of the Mother of God October 1 commemorates the transfer of the from the town of Terebovlya to Lvov in 1672.
1790 The Gerbovets Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God acknowledged as wonderworking in the year 1859, but it was revered by believers of the Kishinev diocese even earlier. According to Tradition, this icon was brought to the Gerbovets monastery (Bessarabia, Romania) in the year 1790.The Kasperov Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos
1897 Saint Thérèse of Lisieux; Dr. of the Church Since death she worked innumerable miracles; one of the patron saints of the missions; She was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1923, and in 1925 the same pope declared Teresa-of-the-Child-Jesus to have been a saint. Her feast was made obligatory for the whole Western church, and in 1927 she was named the heavenly patroness of all foreign missions, with St Francis Xavier, and of all works for Russia.
"The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: 'But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....' Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory" Exposition of the Orthodox Faith
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos). Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
2 of the UNITED tour
picked up right where Day 1 left off in the Mid-Atlantic states -- it was downright soggy! But the main thing to note about Thursday's tour stops is that the abortion facilities were all closed when we got there! Even howling flash-flood warning sirens weren't enough to keep prayer volunteers away from our stop outside Planned Parenthood in Dover, Delaware. The center was not open ... but Planned Parenthood supporters braved the weather to photograph the bus!
It was a similar picture at Planned Parenthood in Wilmington. This facility closed rather than staying open when we rolled into town for Delaware's statewide rally.
The abortion giant wasn't exactly happy to see us ... and before long, the police came. When they arrived, though, they said they were there to protect us and make sure nobody was giving us any trouble! When we drove up to the abortion center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, we found no one home there, either. The abortion facility's staff had already called it a day and emptied out.
Volunteers here report witnessing 25 babies saved from abortion during the last campaign. Praise God for these saved lives ... and for the faithful volunteers, including those who go out to pray all year long.
The day concluded with an incredible crowd at the statewide New Jersey rally in Morristown, along with -- you guessed it -- more rain!
We met Jenny, a prayer volunteer who had been indifferent toward abortion until she encountered her local 40 Days for Life campaign. She's now a regular vigil participant. We also heard a beautifully touching post-abortion testimony from Lana of Silent No More, who moved the crowd to tears with her story of heartbreak and healing.
We're now 520 miles into the tour. Onward to New York!
TODAY! Friday, September 30
9:15 AM - Newburgh, NY
1030 AM - Poughkeepsie, NY
12:45 PM - Albany, NY
1:45 PM - Schenectady, NY
4:00 PM - Utica, NY
6:00 PM - Syracuse, NY (New York upstate rally)
Saturday, October 1
12:00 PM - Williston, VT (Vermont statewide rally)
6:30 PM - Augusta, ME (Maine statewide rally)
Sunday, October 2
12:00 PM - Manchester, NH (New Hampshire statewide rally)
2:00 PM - Greenland, NH
4:30 PM - Boston, MA
7:00 PM - Worcester, MA (Massachusetts statewide rally)
See all upcoming tour stops at: 40daysunited.com
Columbia, Missouri
"We are very excited about our 15th 40 Days for Life vigil and some of the amazing things God has done in Columbia" ... [more]
Birmingham, England
"Let us pray that hearts and minds are converted and that many lives are saved," said one of the local volunteers ... [more] Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? --Matthew 6:25-26
Loving heavenly Father, help us to see the worth of all human beings by the way in which you provide for us. We would ask that you provide also the faith, grace and courage to enable us to protect that which is so precious to you. There are 367 from coast to coast in North America and around the world!
1st v. Ananias
of the Seventy, martyr; first Bishop
of Damascus; The Lord ordered him to restore the sight of Saul, the former
persecutor of Christians, then baptize him (Acts 9:10-19, 22:12). Saul
became the great preacher and Apostle Paul. St Ananias boldly and openly
confessed Christianity before the Jews and the pagans, despite the danger;
went to preach at Eleutheropolis,
where he healed many of their infirmities.
From Damascus he went to preach at Eleutheropolis, where he healed many of their infirmities. Lucian, the prefect of the city, tried to persuade the holy one to offer sacrifice to idols. Because of Ananias' staunch and solid confession of Christ, Lucian ordered that he be tortured. Harsh torments did not sway the witness of Truth. Then the torturers led him out beyond the city, where they stoned him. The saint prayed for those who put him to death. His relics were later transferred to Constantinople.
Elioz of Mtskheta and Longinoz of Karsani, Georgie; Robe of our
Lord, it was acquired by them; Christ revealed to His Mother it was not His
will for her to preach there. "You have been entrusted to protect the
Georgian nation," He said, "but the role of evangelizing that land belongs
to My disciple Andrew the First-called. Send him with an image of your face
"Not-Made-By- Hands" to protect the Georgian people to the end of the
Sidonia.jpgDuring the reign of King Aderki of Kartli, the Jewish diaspora in Mtskheta learned that a wondrous Child had been born in Jerusalem. Then, thirty years later, a man came from Jerusalem to deliver this message: "The youth has grown up. He calls Himself the Son of God and preaches to us the New Covenant. We have sent envoys to every Jewish diaspora to urge the scholars of the religion to come to Jerusalem and judge what measures should be taken in regard to this matter."
In response to the envoy's request and at the recommendation of the Jewish Sanhedrin, Elioz of Mtskheta and Longinoz of Karsani were chosen to journey to Jerusalem. Elioz of Mtskheta was born to a pious family, and as his mother prepared him for the journey, she tearfully begged him not to take any part in the spilling of the blood of the Messiah.
When the Roman soldiers were nailing our Savior to the Cross on Golgotha, Elioz's mother miraculously heard each strike of the hammer. She cried out in fear, "Farewell majesty of the Jews! For inasmuch as you have killed your Savior and Redeemer, henceforth you have become your own enemies!" With this she breathed her last.
After the soldiers had cast lots for the Robe of our Lord, it was acquired by Elioz and Longinoz, and with great honor they carried it back with them to Mtskheta. Upon their arrival, Elioz met his sister Sidonia, who took from him the Sacred Robe. With much grief she listened to the story of our Savior's Crucifixion, clutched the Robe to her breast, and immediately gave up her spirit.
Many miracles were worked by the Robe, and news of this flashed like lightning throughout Mtskheta.King Aderki had a great desire to possess the Robe but, frightened by the miracles, he did not attempt to free it from Sidonia's embrace. Elioz was obliged to bury his sister and the Precious Robe together. A cypress tree grew up on Sidonia's grave. When the disciples of Christ cast lots after Pentecost, the lot for evangelizing Georgia fell to the Most Holy Theotokos. But Christ revealed to His Mother that it was not His will for her to preach there. "You have been entrusted to protect the Georgian nation," He said, "but the role of evangelizing that land belongs to My disciple Andrew the First-called. Send him with an image of your face "Not-Made-By- Hands" to protect the Georgian people to the end of the ages!"
According to the will of God and the blessing of the Theotokos, St. Andrew the First-called set off for Georgia to preach the Christian Faith. He entered Georgia from the southwest, in the region of Atchara, and subsequently preached in every region of the nation. He established a hierarchy for the Georgian Church and then returned to Jerusalem for Pascha. When he visited Georgia for the second time, the Apostle Andrew was accompanied by the Apostles Matthias and Simon the Canaanite.
Years passed and, under threat from Persian fire-worshippers and other pagan communities, the memory of Christ faded from the minds of the Georgian people. Then, at the beginning of the 4th century, according to God's will and the blessing of the Most Holy Theotokos, the holy virgin Nino arrived in Kartli to preach the Christian Faith. She settled in the outskirts of Mtskheta, in the bramble bushes of the king's garden. St. Nino inquired as to the whereabouts of our Lord's Robe, but no one could remember where it had been preserved. In her quest for the Precious Robe, she became acquainted with Elioz's descendants, the Jewish priest Abiatar and his daughter, Sidonia. St. Nino converted them to Christianity.
St. Nino was blessed by God with the gift of healing. She healed the afflicted through the name of our crucified Savior and through the grace of the cross formed from grapevines by the Theotokos and bound with strands of St. Nino's hair.
At that time King Mirian ruled Kartli. Following in the footsteps of his ancestors, he worshiped the idol Armazi, but in the depth of his heart he was drawn to the Faith that the holy virgin was preaching. Mirian's wife, Queen Nana, was the daughter of a famous military leader of Pontus. Thus, the king had received some prior knowledge of the Faith of the Greeks.
Once Queen Nana fell deeply ill, and only through the prayers of St. Nino was she spared from death. After this miraculous healing, King Mirian became intrigued by the Faith that St. Nino was preaching, and he began asking the newly enlightened Abiatar about the Holy Scriptures.
Once, while he was hunting on Mt. Tkhoti near Mtskheta, King Mirian was suddenly gripped by an evil spirit, and he burned with a desire to destroy the Christian people of his land and—above all others— the virgin Nino. But suddenly the sun was eclipsed, and the king was surrounded by darkness. The frightened Mirian prayed to the pagan gods to save him from this terror, but his prayers went unanswered. Then, in utter despair, he began to pray to the Crucified God-man and a miracle occurred: the darkness scattered and the sun shone as before. Raising his hands to the east, Mirian cried out, "Truly Thou art the God preached by Nino, God of gods and King of kings!"
Having returned to the capital, King Mirian went immediately to the bramble bushes where St. Nino dwelt. He greeted her with great honor and spent several hours seeking her counsel. Upon her recommendation, he sent messengers to Emperor Constantine in Byzantium, requesting that he send priests to baptize the people of Kartli and architects to build churches.
This happened on June 24 of the year 324, which was a Saturday.
King Mirian began to construct a church so that the priests arriving from Constantinople would have a place to serve. Seven columns to support the church were formed from the wood of a cypress tree that had grown in the king's garden. Six of the columns were erected without a problem, but the seventh could not be moved from the place where it had been carved. St. Nino and her disciples prayed through the night, and at dawn they watched as a youth, encompassed by a brilliant light, descended from the heavens and raised the column. The miraculous column began to shine and stopped in mid-air at a height of twelve cubits.
Sweet-smelling myrrh began to flow from under the Holy Pillar's foundations, and the entire population of Mtskheta flocked to that place to receive its blessing. Approaching the Life-giving Pillar, the sick were healed, the blind received sight, and the paralyzed began to walk. By that time a certain Bishop John and his suite had arrived from Constantinople. St. Constantine the Great sent a cross, an icon of the Savior, a fragment from the Life-giving Cross of our Lord (from the place where His feet lay), and a nail from His Crucifixion as gifts to the newly enlightened King Mirian and his people.
At the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi Rivers in Mtskheta, the king and queen, the royal court, and all the people of Kartli were baptized into the Christian Faith. After the glorious baptism, Bishop John and his retinue from Constantinople set off toward southern Georgia, for the village of Erusheti. There they built churches and presented the Christian community with the nail from our Lord's Crucifixion. Soon after, they began to construct Manglisi Church and placed the fragment from the Life-giving Cross inside.
King Mirian wanted to keep some of the newly obtained sacred objects in the capital city, but St.Nino informed him that one of the holiest objects, the Robe of our Savior, was already located in Mtskheta. The king summoned the priest Abiatar and inquired about the Robe, then rejoiced greatly after Abiatar confirmed St. Nino's words that the Robe of the Lord was held in the embrace of Sidonia, who was buried under the stump of the cypress tree which now served as the pedestal for the Life-giving Pillar.
At that time a lush, sweet-smelling, wonder-working tree grew up on a mountain over Mtskheta and, at Bishop John's suggestion, Prince Revi, the son of King Mirian, ordered that the tree be chopped down and a cross formed from its wood. The tree was chopped down and replanted, without its roots, next to a church that was under construction. For thirty-seven days the tree retained its original appearance—even its leaves did not fade or wither. Then, after thirty-seven days had passed, three crosses were formed from its wood.
For many days after this miracle the people of Mtskheta saw a vision: during the night a fiery cross shone above the church, surrounded by stars. When morning came, two of the stars had moved away from the cross in opposite directions—one to the west and the other to the east. The fiery cross headed to the north, stopped for some time over the hill on the other side of the River Aragvi, then disappeared.
St. Nino advised King Mirian to erect one of the three crosses in the west, on Tkhoti Mountain, and another in the east, in the village of Ujarma. But it was unclear where the third cross should be erected, so King Mirian prayerfully beseeched the Lord to reveal to him the place. The Lord heard his prayers and sent an angel to show him the place: a rocky hill to the north of the capital, at the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari Rivers. Today this hill is called Jvari (Cross) and upon it towers the magnificent church of Jvari Monastery. At the moment the cross was erected on this hill, all the idols in Mtskheta fell and shattered to pieces.
Prior to his death King Mirian blessed his heir, Prince Bakar, and urged him to dedicate his life to the Holy Trinity and fight ceaselessly against idolaters. Then he peacefully reposed in the Lord.
According to his will, Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles King Mirian was buried in the upper church at Samtavro, where today a convent in honor of St. Nino is located. The king was too modest to be buried in the lower church, the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, in which the Life-giving Pillar had been preserved.
Queen Nana reposed two years later and was buried next to her husband.
St. Piaton Martyr, also called Piat sent by the poe (283, to 22 April, 296 Pope Caius) to evangelize Chartres and the
Tournai district of Belgium
Tornáci, in Gálliis, sancti Piatónis, Presbyteri et Mártyris; qui, prædicatiónis causa, cum beáto Quinctíno ejúsque Sóciis, ab urbe Roma in Gálliam perréxit, ac póstea, in persecutióne Maximiáni, consummáto martyrio, migrávit ad Dóminum.
At Tournai in France, St. Piaton, priest and martyr, who went from Rome to France to preach, together with blessed Quinctinus and his companions. Afterwards, his martyrdom was completed in the persecution of Maximian and he passed from earth to heaven.
Supposedly responsible for evangelizing the regions of Gaul, in modern Tours, and Chartres. He was martyred at Tournai by Roman officials.
Piaton (Piat, Piato) of Tournai M (RM) Born in Benevento, Italy; died in Belgium in 286. St. Piat was sent by the pope to evangelize Chartres and the Tournai district of Belgium, where he is thought to have been martyred under Maximian (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
St. Verissimus, Maxima, & Julia Portugal
Ulyssipóne, in Lusitánia, sanctórum Mártyrum Veríssimi, Máximæ et Júliæ, sorórum ejus; qui in Diocletiáni Imperatóris persecutióne passi sunt.
At Lisbon in Portugal, the holy martyrs Verissimus, and his sisters Maxima and Julia, who suffered in the persecution of Diocletian.
Three martyrs executed at Lisbon, Portugal, during the persecutions of the Church under Emperor Diocletian (r. 305).
Verissimus, Maxima, and Julia MM (RM) Died at Lisbon, Portugal. These martyrs under Diocletian are remembered with a full office in the Mozarabic breviary (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
sancti Domníni Mártyris, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre.
At Thessalonica, St. Domninus, martyr, under Emperor Maximian
|Urbe Véteri sancti
Sevéri, Presbyteri et Confessóris.
At Orvieto, St. Severus, priest and confessor.
|Priscus, Crescens and
Evagrius . Martyrs at Tomi on the Black Sea MM (RM)
Tomis, in Ponto, sanctórum Mártyrum Prisci, Crescéntis et Evágrii.
At Tomis in Pontus, the holy martyrs Priscus, Crescens, and Evagrius.
Date uncertain. Martyrs at Tomi on the Black Sea (Benedictines).
|400 Aizan and Sazan
Abyssinia chieftains zealous to spread the Word friend of Saint Athanasius
Saint Aizan and his brother Sazan were petty chieftains in Abyssinia, who were zealous to spread the Good News in their homeland. Their enthusiasm attracted the friendship of Saint Athanasius (Benedictines).
Aretas and Companions Martyrs, numbering 505
who suffered in Rome. They were listed in early martyrologies and were numbered by Usuardus.
Aretas and Companions MM (RM). Though mentioned in the Roman Martyrology on October 1, it is possible that this group of martyrs is identical to those honored on October 24 and known as the Martyrs of Nagran. The martyrology, however, states that Aretas suffered at Rome with 504 others (as first noted by Usuardus) (Benedictines) .
St. Melorius Prince of Cornwall, England; at fourteen his miracles earned him honour; martyred then several miracles including relics supernaturally prevented from moving
Medieval Life of Melons the Martyr, abridged from a French work and probably written at Amesbury, states he was son of Melianus, Duke of Cornouaille (in Brittany). When he was seven, his uncle Rivoldus murdered Melianus, usurped his power, and maiming Melons by cutting off his right hand and left foot, confined him in a monastery. By the time the boy was fourteen his miracles earned him such honour that Rivoldus began to fear him, and bargained with his guardian Cerialtanus to get rid of him. Accordingly Cerialtanus smote off his head. The dead body of Melons wrought several miracles, including the death of his murderers, and it was buried with honour.
After many years missionaries brought the relics to Amesbury, whence they were supernaturally prevented from removing them. The legend current in Cornwall in the middle ages was substantially the same, but as written down by Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter, the events are staged in Devon and Cornwall. The Breton legend, as it appears in the pages of Albert Le Grand in the seventeenth century, is longer and more detailed, many details being supplied out of the editor's head. Abbé Duine regarded this story of the "martyred" prince as a "fable worked up out of bits of folk-lore and Celtic pseudo-genealogies, after the taste of the hagiographical romances of the eleventh and twelfth centuries at the best it may have a quite forgotten foundation in fact in the murder of some innocent and noble youth.
During the reign of King Athelstan a number of relics of Breton saints were brought to churches in the south and west of England, and Canon G. H. Doble suggests that among them some of St Melons came to Amesbury and so established the connexion between the saint and that place. The same authority is of the opinion that the Mylor of Cornwall originally had reference not to Melons the martyr but to St Melorius (Mdloir), a Breton bishop. He gives his name to Trémdloir and was a companion of St Samson of Dol, and the situation of the three Cornish Mylor dedications are favourable both to voyaging to and from Brittany and to association with St Samson. The patronal feast of Mylor by Falmouth was on August 21 (and not October 1 or 3, St Mdlar's days), while that of Trdméloir is on the last Sunday in August. Both Mélar and Mdloir must be distinguished from St Magloire (October 24); philologically the names are. the same. The death of St Melons is localized by tradition at Lanmeur, in the diocese of Dol, and it is said that his severed members were replaced by a hand of silver and foot of brass, which were as useful as flesh and bone to him, even growing with the rest of his body. The idea is met with elsewhere in Celtic folk-lore. St Melons was represented in the pictures on the walls of the English College chapel at Rome.
Canon Doble's booklet on St Melor in his series "Cornish Saints" provides undoubtedly the most careful study that has been made of this rather obscure legend. He incorporates with his text a translation of an essay written by René Largillière. Notices of less value may be found in LBS., vol. ii, p. 467 and in Stanton's Menology, p. 468. See also the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlvi (1928), pp. 411—412.
Who was murdered as a child. Also listed as Mylor, Melar, and Melorus, he was the victim of an uncle's ambitions. He was venerated in Amesbury, England, in Brittany, and in Cornwall. The tale has several versions, most dating to the Middle Ages.
Albaud (Aladius) of Toul B (AC)
Bishop Albaud of Toul built the church of St. Aper (Epvre) in honor of his predecessor in the see. Later this became the church of the Benedictine Saint-Aper Abbey (Benedictines).
530 St. Remigius or Remi, Bishop of Rheims extraordinary gift of miracles
Sancti Remígii, Epíscopi Rheménsis et Confessóris, qui Idibus Januárii obdormívit in Dómino, sed hac die, ob Translatiónem córporis ejus, potíssimum cólitur.
St. Remigius, bishop of Rheims and confessor, who fell asleep in the Lord on the 13th of January, but is commemorated on this day because of the translation of his body.
REMIGIUS, the great apostle of the Franks, was illustrious for his learning, sanctity and miracles, which in his episcopacy of seventy and more years rendered his name famous in the Church. His father and his mother were both descended from Gaulish families, and lived at Laon. The boy made great progress in learning, and in the opinion of St Sidonius Apollinaris, who was acquainted with him in the earlier part of his life, he became the most eloquent person in that age. When only twenty-two, too young to be a priest, much less a bishop, he was chosen in 459 to fill the vacant see of Rheims. But he was ordained and consecrated in spite of his youth, and amply made up for lack of experience by his fervour and energy. Sidonius, who had considerable practice in the use of words of commendation, was at no loss to find terms to express his admiration of the charity and purity with which this bishop offered at the altar a fragrant incense to God, and of the zeal with which he subdued the wildest hearts and brought them under the yoke of virtue. Sidonius had a manuscript of his sermons from a man at Clermont ("I do not know how he got hold of it. Like a good citizen he gave it to me, instead of selling it"), and wrote to tell Remigius how much he admired them: the delicacy and beauty of thought and expression were so smooth that it might be compared to ice or crystal upon which a nail runs without meeting the least unevenness. With this equipment of eloquence (of which unfortunately there is no specimen extant for us to judge its quality for ourselves) allied to the yet more valuable quality of personal holiness, St Remigius set out to spread Christianity among the Franks.
Clovis, king of all northern Gaul, was himself yet a pagan, though not unfriendly to the Church. He had married St Clotildis, daughter of the Christian king of the Burgundians, Chilperic, and she made repeated attempts to convert her husband. He agreed to the baptism of their first-born, but when the child shortly after died he harshly reproached Clotildis, and said, "If he had been consecrated in the name of my gods, he had not died; but having been baptized in the name of yours, he could not live". The queen afterwards had another son, whom she had baptized, and he also fell sick. The king said in great anger, "It could not be otherwise. He will die as his brother did through having been baptized in the name of your Christ." This child recovered, but it required a more striking manifestation of the might of the Christian God to convert the rough Clovis. It came apparently in 496, when the Alemanni crossed the Rhine and the Franks marched out to drive them back. One account says that St Clotildis had said to him in taking leave, "My lord, to be victorious invoke the God of the Christians. If you call on Him with confidence, nothing can resist you"; and that the wary Clovis had promised that he would be a Christian if he were victorious. The battle was going badly against him when the king, either reminded of these words or moved by desperation, shouted to the heavens, "0 Christ, whom Clotildis invokes as son of the living God, I implore thy help! I have called upon my gods, and they have no power. I therefore call on thee. I believe in thee! Deliver me from my enemies and I will be baptized in thy name." The Franks rallied and turned the tide of battle; the Alemanni were overcome.
It is
said that Clovis, during his return from this expedition, passed by Toul,
and there took with him St Vedast, that he might be instructed by him
in the faith during his journey. But Queen St Clotildis was not trusting
to any enthusiasm of victory, and sent for St Remigius, telling him to touch
the heart of the king while he was well disposed. When Clovis saw her he
cried out, "Clovis has vanquished the Alemanni and you have triumphed over
Clovis. What you have so much at heart is done." The queen answered, "To
the God of hosts is the glory of both these triumphs due".
St Remigius afterwards baptized the king's two sisters and three thousand men of his army, as well as women and children, with the help of the other bishops and priests present. Hincmar of Rheims, who wrote a Life of St Remigius in the ninth century, is the first to mention a legend that at the baptism of Clovis the chrism for the anointing was found to be missing, whereupon St Remigius prayed and a dove appeared from the heavens, bearing in its beak an ampulla of chrism. A phial of oil, fabled to be the same, was preserved at the abbey of Saint-Remi and used in the consecration of the kings of France until Charles X in 1825. It was broken up at the Revolution, but a piece of La Sainte Ampoule and its contents were saved and are kept in Rheims Cathedral. St Remigius is also supposed to have conferred on Clovis the power of touching for the "king's evil" (scrofula), which was exercised by the kings of France at their coronation, again up to Charles X. This power was confirmed by the relics of St Marculf, who died about 538.
Under the protection of Clovis, St Remigius spread the gospel of Christ among the Franks, in which work God endowed him with an extraordinary gift of miracles, if we may trust his biographers on this point. The bishops who were assembled in a conference that was held at Lyons against the Arians in his time declared they were stirred to exert their zeal in defence of the Catholic faith by the example of Remigius, "who", say they, "has everywhere destroyed the altars of the idols by a multitude of miracles and signs".
He did his best to promote orthodoxy in Arian Burgundy, and at a synod in 517 converted an Arian bishop who came to it to argue with him. But the actions of St Remigius did not always meet with the approval of his brother bishops. Sometime after the death of Clovis the bishops of Paris, Sens and Auxerre wrote to him concerning a priest called Claudius, whom he had ordained at the request of the king. They blamed Remigius for ordaining a man whom they thought to be fit only for degradation, hinted that he had been bribed to do it, and accused him of condoning the financial malpractices of Claudius. St Remigius thought these bishops were full of spite and told them so, but his reply was a model of patience and charity. To their sneer at his great age he answered, "Rather should you rejoice lovingly with me, who am neither accused before you nor suing for mercy at your hands". Very different was his tone towards a bishop who had exercised jurisdiction outside his diocese. "If your Holiness was ignorant of the canons it was ill done of you to transgress the diocesan limits without learning them...Be careful lest in meddling with the rights of others you lose your own."
St Remigius,
whom St Gregory of Tours refers to as "a man of great learning, fond of
rhetorical studies,
Although the enthusiastic letter in which Sidonius Apollinaris (who has, not unfairly, been described as an "inveterate panegyrist") commends the discourses of St Remigius is authentic, most of the sources from which we derive our knowledge of the saint are, to say the least, unsatisfactory. The short biography attributed to Venantius Fortunatus is not his, but of later date, and the Vita Remigii, writtea by Hincmar of Rheims three centuries after his death, is full of marvels and open to grave suspicion. We have therefore to depend for our facts upon the scanty references in St Gregory of Tours (who declares that he had before him a Life of St Remigius) and to supplement these by a phrase or two in letters of St Avitus of Vienne, St Nicetius of Trier, etc., together with three or four letters written by Remigius himself. The question in particular of the date, place and occasion of the baptism of Clovis has given rise to protracted discussion in which such scholars as B. Krusch, W. Levison, L. Levillain, A. Hauck, G. Kurth, and A. Poncelet have all taken part. A detailed summary of the controversy, with bibliographical references will be found, under "Clovis" in DAC., vol. iii, cc. 2038—2052. It can safely be affirmed that no conclusive evidence has yet upset the traditional account given above, so far, at least, as regards the substantial fact that Clovis in 496, or soon after, after a victory over the Alemanni, was baptized at Rheims by St Remigius. As for more general matters, the principal texts, including the Liber Historiae, have been edited by B. Krusch; see BHL., nn. 7150—7173. Consult also 0. Kurth, Clovis (1901), especially vol. ii, pp. 262—265 and cf. A. Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, vol. i (1904), pp. 119, 548, 217, 595—599. There are popular but uncritical lives by Haudecoeur, Avenay, Carlier and others. For "touching" see Les rois thaumaturges (1924), by M. Bloch; and for the ampulla, F. Oppenheimer, The Legend of the Sainte Ampoule (1953).
great apostle of the Franks,
and was illustrious for his learning,
sanctity and miracles, which in his episcopacy of seventy and more
years, rendered his name famous in the church. As a boy he made great progress
in learning, and in the opinion of St. Sidonius Apollinaris, who was acquainted
with him in the earlier part of his life, he became the most eloquent person
in that age. When only twenty-two, too young to be a priest, much less
a bishop, he was chosen in 459 to fill the vacant See of Rheims. But he
was ordained and consecrated in spite of his youth, and amply made up for
lack of experience by his fervor and energy. Under the
protection of King Clovis, who was baptized by Remigius, St. Remigius spread
the gospel of Christ among the Franks, in which work God endowed him with
an extraordinary gift of miracles. The bishops who were assembled in a
conference that was held at Lyons against the Arians in his time, declared
they were stirred to exert their zeal in defense of the Catholic Faith
by the example of Remigius, "who", say they, "has everywhere destroyed the
altars of the idols by a multitude of miracles and signs." St. Remigius,
whom St. Gregory of Tours refers to as "a man of great learning, fond of
rhetorical studies, and equal in his holiness to St. Silvester", died about
the year 530.
The name St. Rémy is intimately connected with that of King Clovis of the Franks, the bloodthirsty general and collector of vases. Rémy was the son of Count Emilius of Laon and Saint Celina, daughter of Principius, bishop of Soissons. Even as a child Rémy was devoted to books and God. These two loves developed the future saint into a famous preacher. Saint Sidonius Apollinaris, who knew him, testified to his virtue and eloquence as a preacher. So great was his renown that, in 459, when he was only 22 and still a layman, he was elected bishop of Rheims. Hincmar, testifying that Rémy "was forced into being bishop rather than elected," adds to our impression of a virtuous man the added quality of modesty. Other sources note that the saint was refined, tall (over seven feet(!) in height), with an austere forehead, an aquiline nose, fair hair, a solemn walk, and stately bearing. After his ordination and consecration, he reigned for 74 years--all the time devoting himself to the evangelization of the Franks. It was said that "by his signs and miracles, Rémy brought low the heathen altars everywhere." Foregoing the alternative episcopal path, Rémy chose the way of self-sacrifice. He became a model for his clergy and was indefatigable in his good works. At some point between 481 and 486, Rémy wrote to the pagan King Clovis: "May the voice of justice be heard from your mouth...Respect your bishops and seek their advice...Be the protector of your subjects, the support of the afflicted, the comfort of widows, the father of orphans and the master of all, that they might learn to love you and fear you...Let your court fe open to all and let no one leave with the grief of not being heard...Divert yourself with young people, but if you wish truly to reign transact important matters with those who are older..."
Clovis must have respected Rémy's advice even if he did not follow it: During his march on Chalons and Troyes, Clovis bypassed Rheims, Rémy's see. It is possible, though, that only his wife's civilizing influence prevented him from burning Rheims. Clovis married the radiant and beautiful Christian, Saint Clotildis, by proxy at Chalons-sur- Saone, while she was still living in Lyons under the tutelage of Saint Blandine. It was not a peaceful union. Clovis, an ambitious autocrat, allowed his rage to lead to ill-planned actions. The young, pious Clotildis showed him how much wiser it was to struggle with this wild beast than to give way to his emotions. At first Clovis resisted being tamed by his wife.
In 496, Clovis, supposedly in response to a suggestion from his wife, invoked the Christian God when the invading Alemanni were on the verge of defeating his forces, whereupon the tide of battle turned and Clovis was victorious at Tolbiac. St. Rémy, aided by Saint Vedast, instructed him and his chieftains in Christianity. At the Easter Vigil (or Christmas Day) in 496, Rémy baptized Clovis, his two sisters, and 3,000 of his subjects. (Most seem to agree on the year, but not the day or place.)
Though he never took part in any of the councils held during his life, Rémy was a zealous proponent of orthodoxy, opposed Arianism, and converted an Arian bishop at a synod of Arian bishops in 517. He was censured by a group of bishops for ordaining one Claudius, whom they felt was unworthy of the priesthood, but St. Rémy was generally held in great veneration for his holiness, learning, and miracles. He is said to have healed a blind man. Another time, like Jesus, he was confronted with a host who ran out of wine at a dinner party. Rémy went down to the cellar, prayed, and at once wine began to spread over the floor!
Rémy's last act was to draw up a will in which he distributed all his lands and wealth and ordered that "generous alms be given the poor, that liberty be given to the serfs on his domain," and concluded by asking God to bless the family of the first Christian king. Because he was the most influential prelate of Gaul and is considered the apostle of the Franks, Rémy has been the subject of many tales. Rémy's notoriety sometimes difficult to distinguish the reliable from the untrustworthy in his biographies (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
In art, St. Remigius is generally portrayed as a bishop carrying holy oils, though he may have other representations. At times he may be shown (1) as a dove brings him the chrism to anoint Clovis; (2) with Clovis kneeling before him; (3) preaching before Clovis and his queen; (4) welcoming another saint led by an angel from prison; (5) exorcising; or (6) contemplating the veil of Saint Veronica (Roeder).
654 Bavo of Ghent conversion by sermon of Saint Amandus then led austere life OSB Hermit (RM)
In Portu Gandæ sancti Bavónis Confessóris. At the port of Ghent, St. Bavo, confessor(also known as Allowin, Bavon) Born in Brabant near Liege, c. 589; died near Ghent in 654 (according to the majority; dates range from 624 to 654).
This famous hermit, also called Allowin, was a nobleman, and native of that part of Brabant called Hesbaye. After having led a very irregular life he was left a widower, and was moved to conversion to God by a sermon which he heard St Amand preach at Ghent. Going home he distributed all his money among the poor, and went to the monastery at Ghent that was afterwards called by his name. Here Bavo received the tonsure at the hands of St Amand and was animated to advance daily in the fervour of his penance and the practice of virtue.
"It is a kind of apostasy", said his director to him, "for a soul which has had the happiness to see the nothingness of this world and the depth of her spiritual miseries not to raise herself daily more and more above them and to make continual approaches to God."
St Bavo is said on one occasion to have done penance for selling a man into serfdom by making the man lead him by a chain to the common lock-up.
The young Bavo, christened Allowin, led a wild life as a wealthy landowner. He married and fathered a daughter; otherwise, his life was totally disordered. His sole object was to satisfy his every desire without regard to justice or truth. When he needed more money, he would sell his servants as serfs to neighboring landowners. Then his beloved wife died. Only thereafter did he realize how selfish his life had been.
Upon hearing a sermon of Saint Amandus, his heart convicted of his sin. Bavo began his conversion to Christ by giving away all his property, including his estate at Ghent which he offered to Saint Amandus, who built a monastery there. Bavo begged to enter it, and began a course of canonical penance. So great was his self-mortification that after his death the name of the abbey was changed from St. Peter's to St. Bavo's.
By great good fortune Bavo came across one man he had sold as a serf many years before. Bavo begged the man to lead him by a chain in humiliation as far as the city jail. Similar humility marked everything he now did. Saint Amandus allowed him to become his companion on missionary expeditions throughout France and Flanders, during which Bavo's personal mortifications were the wonder of all who saw them.
The austerities even of monastic life soon were not enough to satisfy Saint Bavo's desire to discipline the body that he had once over-indulged. He begged Amandus to give him permission to live as a hermit. When permission was given, at first Bavo made his dwelling in a hollow tree. Later he built a tiny cell, near Ghent in the forest of Malmédun. He lived on vegetables and water, seeing only Amandus and another friend, the saintly Abbot Floribert, until his death. He was buried at Floribert's monastery nearby, which was later renamed after him--Saint-Bavon.
So great was the impression left by Saint Bavo that 900 years later when the diocese of Ghent was created, he was made its patron (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia).
In art, Bavo is sometimes represented as a hermit, but generally shown before his conversion: as a duke out hunting with a falcon or hawk on his wrist. He may also be shown: (1) with a purse or giving alms; (2) as a prince giving out alms in front of his palace; (3) with a sword and scepter; (4) as an old king in armor, with a book and broken tree trunk, a ship, and St. Bavo's monastery nearby; (5) with a hollow tree near him; (6) with staff and a glove; (7) near a wagon; (8) with a huge stone; or (9) with an angel holding a palm above him (Bentley, Roeder).Saint Bavo is still venerated at Ghent and Liege, where his feast is celebrated (Roeder).
654 St. Bavo famous hermit, was a nobleman b. 589
also called Allowin, and native of that part of Brabant called Hesbaye. After having led a very irregular life he was left a widower, and was moved to conversion to God by a sermon which he heard St. Amand preach at Ghent. Going home he distributed all his money among the poor, and went to the monastery at Ghent that was afterwards called by his name.
Here Bavo received the tonsure at the hand of St. Amand and was animated to advance daily in the fervor of his penance and the practice of virtue. St. Bavo seemed to have accompanied St. Amand on his missionary journeys in France and Flanders, setting an example by the humiliation of his heart, the mortification of his will, and the rigor of his austerities.
St. Amand after some time gave him leave to lead an eremitical life, and he is said first to have chosen for his abode a hollow trunk of a large tree, but afterward, built himself a cell at Mendonck, where vegetables and water were his chief subsistance. St. Bavo is said on one occasion to have done penance for selling a man into serfdom by making the man lead him by a chain to the common lockup. Bavo at length returned to the monastery at Ghent, where St. Amand had appointed St. Floribert Abbot; and with his approval Bavo built himself a new cell in a neighboring wood, where he lived a recluse until the end of his life. St. Amand and St. Floribert attended him on his death bed and his peaceful passage made a deep impression on all who were present. As in the diocese of Ghent so that in Haarlem in Holland, St. Bavo is titular of the Cathedral and patron of the diocese.
The earliest life of St Bavo-there are two or three printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. i-has been re-edited by B. Krusch in MGH., Scriptores merov., vol. iv, pp. 527--546. He assigns it to the latter part of the ninth century and deems it to be of little value as a historical source. See also Van der Essen, Étude ... sur les saints mérov. (1907), pp. 349-357; E. de Moreau, St Amand (1927), pp. 220 seq.; R. Podevijn, Bavo (1945); and Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxiii (1945), pp. 220-241, where Fr M. Coens discusses, inter alia, whether St Bavo was a bishop.
540 St. Romanus Greek hymnographer, known as "the Melodist"; the Mother of God appeared to the grief-stricken youth in a vision while he was praying before her Kyriotissa icon. She gave him a scroll and commanded him to eat it. Thus was he given the gift of understanding, composition, and hymnography; All hymns of St Romanus became known as kontakia- reference to the Virgin's scroll.
Sixth Century ST ROMANUS THE MELODIST
THE composition of liturgical poetry has naturally had an attraction for many holy men, and Romanus the Melodist, the greatest of the Greek hymn-writers, is recognized and venerated as a saint in the East. He was a Syrian of Emesa, who became a deacon in the church of Bairut. During the reign of the Emperor Anastasius I he came to Constantinople. Beyond the writing of many hymns (some in dialogue form), nothing else is known of his life, except a story in the Greek Menaion, which professes to give an account of his receiving the gift of sacred poetry at Constantinople. One eve of Christmas our Lady appeared to Romanus in his sleep and gave him a roll of paper, saying, Take this and eat it ". It appeared to him that he did so, and then he awoke and in great exaltation of spirit went down to the church of the All-holy Mother of God to assist at the Christmas liturgy. When the gospel-book was about to be carried solemnly into the sanctuary, he went up into the deacon's ambo and extemporized the hymn beginning "On this day the Virgin gives birth to Him who is transcendent, and the earth offers a shelter to the Unattainable. Angels join with shepherds to glorify Him and the Magi follow the star. For a new child is born to us, who was God before all ages." This kontakion summarizing the day's feast is still sung in the Christmas offices of the Byzantine rite.
Some eighty other hymns of St Romanus survive, whole or in part. They are vivid in feeling and dramatic in style, but sometimes spoiled by excessive length and too elaborate eloquence, like so much other Byzantine literary composition. They have a wide range of subjects, drawn from both Testaments and the feasts of the Church.
There has been discussion whether St Romanus lived under the Emperor Anastasius I (491—518) or under Anastasius II (713—715). Krumbacher, who at first favored the earlier date, later on inclined to the alternative view (see the Sitzungsberichte of the Munich Academy, 1899, vol. ii, pp. 3—156), but the more prevalent opinion connects Romanus with the sixth century. If he lived two hundred years later it would be strange that we find in his kontakia no reference to iconoclasm. Much interest has of late years been taken in St Romanus by Byzantinists. See especially G. Cammelii, Romano ii Melode: Inni (1930) E. Mioni, Romano il Melode (1937, with bibliography); and E. Wellesz, A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography (1949). In the Byzantinische Zeitschrift, vol. xi (1912), pp. 358—369, Father Petrides has printed a complete liturgical office of the Greek church composed in honour of St Romanus. The thousand hymns he is said to have composed seems a large number, and it has been suggested by Father Bousquet, in Échos d'Orient, vol. iii (1900), pp. 339-342, that his output was not really a thousand hymns but a thousand strophes. See also J. M. Neale, Hymns of the Eastern Church (1863); J. B. Pitra, L'hymnographie de L'Église Grecque (1867) and Analecta sacra vol. i (1876); and K. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (1897).
The foremost Greek hymnographer, known as "the Melodist" because of the thousand compositions which are attributed to him. A native of Syria, he was of Jewish descent and became a deacon in the church at Berytus and then a priest in Constantinople. He soon acquired a reputation for his brilliant and eloquent compositions, although only about eighty hymns sermons, some of which may not even be are extant. Some of the kontakia are considered genuine master works of religious literature, including On the Nativity, On the Presentation in the Temple, and On the Resurrection.
Romanus the Melodist (AC) Born in Homs, Syria; died c. . St. Romanus, one of the greatest and most original of the Byzantine hymn-writers, was a Jewish convert to Christianity. He served as a deacon in Beirut (Berytos) and then became a priest in Constantinople. Nothing else is known of his history. He is credited with the composition of about 1,000 hymns, of which some 80 have been handed down to us. They are vivid, inspired, dramatic liturgical poetry, but are apt to be too long and overly elaborate for modern tastes. Romanus gave the classical form to the type of hymn known as the kontakion, of which his first was traditionally held to be the one for Christmas: "On this day the Maiden gave birth to the Transcendent One..." Subjects for Romanus's poetry includes motifs from the Old and New Testaments, as well as Church festivals (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Saint Romanus the Melodist was born in the fifth century in the Syrian city of Emesa of Jewish parents. After moving to Constantinople, he became a church sacristan in the temple of Hagia Sophia. The monk spent his nights alone at prayer in a field or in the Blachernae church beyond the city.
St Romanus was not a talented reader or singer. Once, on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, he read the kathisma verses. He read so poorly that another reader had to take his place. The clergy ridiculed Romanus, which devastated him.
On the day of the Nativity, the Mother of God appeared to the grief-stricken youth in a vision while he was praying before her Kyriotissa icon. She gave him a scroll and commanded him to eat it. Thus was he given the gift of understanding, composition, and hymnography.
That evening at the all-night Vigil St Romanus sang, in a wondrous voice, his first Kontakion: "Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One..." All the hymns of St Romanus became known as kontakia, in reference to the Virgin's scroll. St Romanus was also the first to write in the form of the Oikos, which he incorporated into the all-night Vigil at his places of residence (In Greek, "oikos").
For his zealous service St Romanus was ordained as a deacon and became a teacher of song. Until his death, which occurred about the year 556, the hierodeacon Romanus the Melodist composed nearly a thousand hymns, many of which are still used by Christians to glorify the Lord. About eighty survive.
|750 St. Dodo
Benedictine abbot trained by St. Ursmar
A monk at Lobbes, Belgium, he became abbot of Wallers-en-Faigne, France.
Dodo of Wallers, OSB Abbot (AC) Born near Laon, France. As a child St. Dodo was placed under the care of Saint Ursmar. Dodo later became a monk at Lobbes and, eventually, abbot of Wallers-en-Faigne (Benedictines).
St. Fidharleus Irish abbot who restored Rathin Abbey, Iredland
Fidharleus of Rathin, Abbot (AC) Died 762. The Irish St. Fidharleus restored Rathin Abbey (Benedictines).
9th v.
The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos: "Today the Virgin stands in
the midst of the Church, and with choirs of Saints she invisibly prays
to God for us. Angels and Bishops venerate Her, Apostles and prophets rejoice
together, Since for our sake she prays to the Eternal God!"
This miraculous appearance of the Mother of God occurred in the mid-tenth century in Constantinople, in the Blachernae church where her robe, veil, and part of her belt were preserved after being transferred from Palestine in the fifth century.
On Sunday, October 1, during the All Night Vigil, when the church was overflowing with those at prayer, the Fool-for-Christ St Andrew (October 2), at the fourth hour, lifted up his eyes towards the heavens and beheld our most Holy Lady Theotokos coming through the air, resplendent with heavenly light and surrounded by an assembly of the Saints. St John the Baptist and the holy Apostle John the Theologian accompanied the Queen of Heaven. On bended knees the Most Holy Virgin tearfully prayed for Christians for a long time. Then, coming near the Bishop's Throne, she continued her prayer.
After completing her prayer she took her veil and spread it over the people praying in church, protecting them from enemies both visible and invisible. The Most Holy Lady Theotokos was resplendent with heavenly glory, and the protecting veil in her hands gleamed "more than the rays of the sun." St Andrew gazed trembling at the miraculous vision and he asked his disciple, the blessed Epiphanius standing beside him, "Do you see, brother, the Holy Theotokos, praying for all the world?" Epiphanius answered, "I do see, holy Father, and I am in awe."
The Ever-Blessed Mother of God implored the Lord Jesus Christ to accept the prayers of all the people calling on His Most Holy Name, and to respond speedily to her intercession, "O Heavenly King, accept all those who pray to You and call on my name for help. Do not let them not go away from my icon unheard."
Sts Andrew and Epiphanius were worthy to see the Mother of God at prayer, and "for a long time observed the Protecting Veil spread over the people and shining with flashes of glory. As long as the Most Holy Theotokos was there, the Protecting Veil was also visible, but with her departure it also became invisible. After taking it with her, she left behind the grace of her visitation."
At the Blachernae church, the memory of the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God was remembered. In the fourteenth century, the Russian pilgrim and clerk Alexander, saw in the church an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos praying for the world, depicting St Andrew in contemplation of her.
The Primary Chronicle of St Nestor reflects that the protective intercession of the Mother of God was needed because an attack of a large pagan Russian fleet under the leadership of Askole and Dir. The feast celebrates the divine destruction of the fleet which threatened Constantinople itself, sometime in the years 864-867 or according to the Russian historian Vasiliev, on June 18, 860. Ironically, this Feast is considered important by the Slavic Churches but not by the Greeks.
The Primary Chronicle of St Nestor also notes the miraculous deliverance followed an all-night Vigil and the dipping of the garment of the Mother of God into the waters of the sea at the Blachernae church, but does not mention Sts Andrew and Epiphanius and their vision of the Mother of God at prayer. These latter elements, and the beginnings of the celebrating of the Feast of the Protection, seem to postdate St Nestor and the Chronicle. A further historical complication might be noted under (October 2) dating St Andrew's death to the year 936.
The year of death might not be quite reliable, or the assertion that he survived to a ripe old age after the vision of his youth, or that his vision involved some later pagan Russian raid which met with the same fate. The suggestion that St Andrew was a Slav (or a Scythian according to other sources, such as S. V. Bulgakov) is interesting, but not necessarily accurate. The extent of Slavic expansion and repopulation into Greece is the topic of scholarly disputes.
In the PROLOGUE, a Russian book of the twelfth century, a description of the establishment of the special Feast marking this event states, "For when we heard, we realized how wondrous and merciful was the vision... and it transpired that Your holy Protection should not remain without festal celebration, O Ever-Blessed One!"
Therefore, in the festal celebration of the Protection of the Mother of God, the Russian Church sings, "With the choirs of the Angels, O Sovereign Lady, with the venerable and glorious prophets, with the First-Ranked Apostles and with the Hieromartyrs and Hierarchs, pray for us sinners, glorifying the Feast of your Protection in the Russian Land." Moreover, it would seem that St Andrew, contemplating the miraculous vision was a Slav, was taken captive, and became the slave of the local inhabitant of Constantinople named Theognostus.
Churches in honor of the Protection of the Mother of God began to appear in Russia in the twelfth century. Widely known for its architectural merit is the temple of the Protection at Nerl, which was built in the year 1165 by holy Prince Andrew Bogoliubsky. The efforts of this holy prince also established in the Russian Church the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, about the year 1164.
At Novgorod in the twelfth century there was a monastery of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (the so-called Zverin monastery) In Moscow also under Tsar Ivan the Terrible the cathedral of the Protection of the Mother of God was built at the church of the Holy Trinity (known as the church of St Basil the Blessed).
On the Feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos we implore the defense and assistance of the Queen of Heaven, "Remember us in your prayers, O Lady Virgin Mother of God, that we not perish by the increase of our sins. Protect us from every evil and from grievous woes, for in you do we hope, and venerating the Feast of your Protection, we magnify you."
St. Virila Benedictine abbot; a miracle worker, and his life has been
the subject of many traditions
Although known largely through legend, he was definitely abbot of the monastery of St. Saviour, Leyre, in Navarre, France. He was a miracle worker, and his life has been the subject of many traditions.
Virila of Leyre, OSB Abbot (AC) Died in Navarre, c. 1000. The history of St. Virila is shrouded in the layers of the legends that developed around his name. Not much verifiable evidence endures except that he was a Benedictine monk of the Navarrese abbey of Saint Savior, Leyre (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1030 Catholicos Melchizedek I; first Georgian Catholicos commemorated as Catholicos-Patriarch;
Under his leadership Svetitskhoveli
Cathedral was restored and adorned
After the repose of Catholicos Simeon, leadership of the Georgian Church passed to Catholicos Melchizedek I. St. Melchizedek led the Church from approximately 1010 to 1030, during the reigns of Kings Bagrat III, George I, and Bagrat IV.
It is believed that St. Melchizedek was the first Georgian Catholicos to be commemorated as Catholicos-Patriarch. According to historical sources, Catholicos Melchizedek was of a noble lineage and was a pupil of King Bagrat III.
Under his leadership Svetitskhoveli Cathedral was restored and adorned. He journeyed to Byzantium to raise funds for this project, and while he was there he visited Emperor Basil II (the Bulgar-slayer). St. Melchizedek returned to his motherland with generous gifts and began the greatest construction project of the century: the adornment of Svetitskhoveli Cathedral with gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones.
St. Melchizedek made several journeys to Byzantium during his life, and historians believe that during one of those visits the patriarchs of the East approved "Catholicos-Patriarch" as the official title of the chief shepherd of the Georgian Apostolic Orthodox Church.
History has preserved St. Melchizedek's will, in which he bequeathed a long list of holy objects, monasteries, and villages to Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. In his will the chief shepherd of the Georgian Church is referred to as "Catholicos-Patriarch." Melchizedek's will also reveals that he specified the location where he wished to be buried. St. Melchizedek was canonized on October 17, 2002.
|11th v. Saint John Koukouzelis,
a native of Dirrachia (Bulgaria); tonsured a monk at Mt. Athos; Church singers reverence St John Koukouzelis as
their own special patron saint
He was orphaned in childhood. Endowed with a very fine voice, he entered the Constantinople court school. He found favor with the emperor John Comnenos (1118-1143) and became a chief court singer. The sumptuousness and luxury of the imperial court bothered the pious youth. Once, when asked what he had eaten for dinner, he replied, "Beans and peas." The name Koukouzelis (beans and peas) stuck with him ever after.
John began to seek ways to escape the enticements of the court, as well as a marriage arranged for him by the emperor. By the will of God, John met an igumen from Mt. Athos who had come to Constantinople on monastery business. John revealed to the Elder his desire to leave the court. The Elder blessed John to come to the Holy Mountain. There John was accepted and tonsured a monk.
He was given the obedience of tending the monastery's flock of goats. He took the flock to remote areas of the Holy Mountain to graze. There in the wilderness the youth was able to to pray, contemplate God, and sing the divine hymns in solitude. Charmed by the angelic beauty of his voice, the animals gathered around him and listened as though entranced. Out of modesty and humility the singer did not reveal his gift to the brethren. But once, a wilderness dweller overheard his moving pastoral song and informed the igumen. St John then revealed to the igumen that he had been a court singer. He tearfully implored him to remain in the wilderness with his flock.
The igumen was afraid that the emperor would find out that his favorite court singer was on the Holy Mountain and force him to return to court. Wishing to avoid the emperor's displeasure the igumen journeyed to Constantinople to explain what had become of John and begged him not to hinder the young man from his salvific path.
Thereafter John Koukouzelis sang on the right cleros in the cathedral on Sundays and feastdays. Once, after singing an Akathist before an icon of the Mother of God, John was granted a great mercy. The Mother of God appeared to him in a dream and said, "Rejoice, John, and do not cease to sing. For that, I shall not forsake you." With these works she placed into John's hand a golden coin, then became invisible. This coin was placed beneath the icon. Many miracles have been credited to the coin and the icon. The icon, named the "Koukouzelissa" in memory of St John is located in the Lavra monastery of St Athanasius. It is commemorated on October 1, and on the 10th Friday after Pascha.
The Mother of God appeared to St John again and healed him of a grievous affliction of his legs, caused by the long standing in church. St John's remaining days were spent in intense ascetic efforts. He also worked hard on the discipline of church singing, gaining the title of both master teacher and regent (overseer).
He arranged and compiled melodies for church stichera verses, troparia and kontakia. He edited texts of hymns and wrote his own troparia. Some of his compositions are also in the following manuscripts: "A Book, by the Will of God Encompassing All the Order of Progression of Church Services, Compiled by Master Teacher John Koukouzelis," "Progression of Services, Compiled by Master Teacher John Koukouzelis," "From the Beginning of Great Vespers through to the Completion of the Divine Liturgy," and "The Science of Song and Singing Signs with all the Legitimate Hand-Placement and with all the Arrangements of Song."
Foreseeing the hour of his death, St John took his leave of the brethren, and in his last wishes bade them to bury him in the Church of the Archangel that he built.
Church singers reverence St John Koukouzelis as their own special patron saint.
|1355 Saint Gregory Domesticus
(leading chanter) was the contemporary of St John Koukouzelis,
and lived in the Great Lavra of Mt. Athos in piety and asceticism. Like
St John, he also sang in the right choir in the Great Lavra, and was even
called Gregory Koukouzelis in honor of his instructor. St Gregory was known
for his technical skill and for the sweetness of his voice. He chanted the
Vigil service with great reverence and compunction, never sitting down in
Patriarch Callistus I (June 20) had started the practice of singing "All of creation rejoices" at the Liturgy of St Basil in place of "It is truly meet…." Patriarch Philotheus (October 8), who succeeded him, restored "It is truly meet" to St Basil's Liturgy. Soon after this St Gregory sang "All of creation rejoices" at Liturgy on the eve of Theophany in the presence of Patriarch Gregory of Alexandria. The Most Holy Theotokos appeared to St Gregory and thanked him for singing the hymn in her honor. She also handed him a gold coin. From that time forward, "All of creation" has been sung at the Liturgy of St Basil.
St Gregory fell asleep in the Lord in 1355.
|1449 Blessed Nicholas
of Forca-Palena founded the Hermits of St. Jerome (AC)
Born in Palena (near Sulmona), Italy, in 1349; cultus approved in 1771. Nicholas founded the Hermits of St. Jerome (Romitani di San Girolamo), which was later merged into the Hieronymites founded by Blessed Peter of Pisa. Nicholas established houses at Naples, Rome, and Florence (Benedictines).
|1461 Saint Sava Monk of Vishera;
From childhood noted for his piety; went to Mt. Athos worked on copying service
books; lived as a stylite
The son of the noble, John Borozda, of Kashin. From childhood, the monk was noted for his piety. He initially lived the ascetic life at the Tver Savvino wilderness monastery, where the brethren chose him to be the abbot.
Shunning honors, St Sava went to Mt. Athos, where he worked on copying service books. Upon his return from Athos, he selected a solitary place seven versts from Novgorod on the banks of the River Vishera for his ascetic efforts. Here, with the blessing of Archbishop Simon of Novogorod, the monk organized a small monastery in honor of the Ascension of the Lord in 1418. St Sava set up a pillar nearby the monastery and lived as a stylite. He died in 1461 at the age of 80. He appointed as his successor his disciple Andrew, who was known for his strict and ascetic life.
The local commemoration was established under Archbishop Jonah of Novgorod (+ 1470), in connection with the healing of the igumen of the Sava-Vishera monastery. Archbishop Jonah ordered an icon of the monk be painted and a Canon composed. The general church glorification of St Sava took place at the Moscow Council of 1549. The service to him was composed by Hieromonk Pachomius of Serbia.
|1484 Blessed John
of Dukla evangelized among the Ruthenian schismatics OFM (AC)
Born in Dukla, Galicia, Poland; cultus approved in 1739. John became a Franciscan Conventual at Lemberg. Saint John of Capistrano convinced him to become an Observant Franciscan. Thereafter, John of Dukla evangelized among the Ruthenian schismatics (Benedictines).
became known and loved far and wide for his goodness and
benevolence; number of remarkable occurrences cultus
confirmed by Pope Pius IX.
THIS Francis, commonly called Bd Cecco, was born in Pesaro and, his parents having left him well off, he determined while still a young man to devote his wealth to the needy and himself to God. Accordingly in the year 1300 he joined the third order of St Francis, and retired to a hermitage which he had built on the slope of Monte San Bartolo, by Pesaro. Here he soon had a number of disciples, to help support whom he begged from place to place, and so became known and loved far and wide for his goodness and benevolence.
Bd Francis lived thus for some fifty years, and a number of remarkable occurrences were associated with his name.
Having been with his disciples to Assisi to gain the Portiuncula indulgence, he was detained in Perugia and sent his companions on before him to their astonishment he was there waiting for them when they arrived at the hermitage. However, this does not necessarily mean anything more than that he had a good knowledge of short-cuts across the country such simple incidents as this in the lives of the saints have been too easily magnified into miracles by enthusiastic biographers.
Bd Francis was not at all "stand-offish " and would sometimes accept invitations to dine with people in the world ; but on these occasions he took care not to give way to any excessive pleasure in unaccustomed good food, and dealt mercilessly with any sign of gluttony in himself: nor was he slow in rebuking this failing in others. Once when he was ill he lost his appetite altogether, and his followers killed a cockerel, intending to cook it carefully in the hope of thereby coaxing him to eat. But Francis missed the bird's crowing and enquired after it, and when he was told that it had been killed, he rebuked them. "You ought ", he said, "to have been too grateful to it for its crowing at midnight and dawn to have taken its life away, even though it was out of your kind compassion to myself. Its voice in the morning was a reproach to my laziness and stirred me to be up and about in the Lord's service."
His biographer goes on to say that he prayed over the cockerel, which was not only dead but plucked, and its life was restored, together with its plumage.
Bd Francis helped Bd Michelina Metelli to found the Confraternity of Mercy at Pesaro and to build a hospice for tramps and pilgrims at Almetero. His body was laid in the cathedral of Pesaro and his ancient cultus confirmed by Pope Pius IX.
There is a short medieval biography printed in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. i. See also Mazzara, Leggendario Francescano (1679), vol. ii, pp. 199—202, and Léon, L'Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 547 seq.
Pskov-Protection Icon of the
Most Holy Theotokos from invading Polish Army; The Most Holy Virgin appeared to the Elder
Dorotheus with various Russian Saints: the holy Great Prince Vladimir
and the Pskov Princes Vsevolod-Gabriel and Dovmont-Timothy, St Anthony
of Kiev Caves, Cornelius of Pskov, Euphrosynus of Spaso-Elazar and Sava
of Krypetsk, Blessed Nicholas of Pskov and St Niphon, Archbishop of Novgorod,
the organizer of the Pskov Spaso-Mirozh monastery.
The Feast of the Pskov-Protection Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was established in memory of the miraculous deliverance of Pskov from the invading troops of the Polish king Stephen Bathory in 1581. During the siege, they carried forth the wonderworking Dormition Icon of the Mother of God in procession from the monastery.
On the eve of the decisive fighting, the pious blind Elder Dorotheus the Smith had a vision of the Most Holy Theotokos at the spot where the enemy had prepared to attack, at a corner of the fortress of the monastery in honor of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos.
The Most Holy Virgin appeared to the Elder Dorotheus with various Russian Saints: the holy Great Prince Vladimir and the Pskov Princes Vsevolod-Gabriel and Dovmont-Timothy, St Anthony of Kiev Caves, Cornelius of Pskov, Euphrosynus of Spaso-Elazar and Sava of Krypetsk, Blessed Nicholas of Pskov and St Niphon, Archbishop of Novgorod, the organizer of the Pskov Spaso-Mirozh monastery.
Proceeding from the Pechor side from the Spaso-Mirozhsk monastery across the River Velika, the Mother of God with the Saints entered the church of the Protection monastery. The Saints besought the All-Pure Virgin to have pity on the sinful citizens of Pskov and save the city "from the imposition of woes." The Most Holy Theotokos, having promised the city Her mercy, gave orders to set up the Pechersk icon at the place of Her appearance.
During the battle the Polish tried to breach the fortress wall, but through the intercession of the Mother of God and the Saints, they were not able to break through into the city. After their deliverance from the enemy, the grateful people of Pskov built a church in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos.
For the temple of the Protection Most Holy Theotokos, the Pskov-Pechersk icon of the Mother of God was painted, which has also been given the name, "Appearance of the Mother of God to the Elder Dorotheus." The appearance of the Most Holy Theotokos occurred on September 7, and celebration of the Pskov-Pechersk Icon was established on October 1. A special service was compiled for the Feast of the Most Holy Theotokos.
|1588 Bl. Edward
Campion English martyr
He was born at Ludlow and studied at Oxford, England. A convert, he studied at Reims, France, and was ordained in 1587. Edward returned to England and a year later he was martyred at Canterbury. He was beatified in 1929.
Bl. Robert Widmerpool English martyr
Originally from Nottingham, England, he studied at Oxford and worked as a tutor for the sons of the earl of Northumberland. He was arrested for giving aid to a Catholic priest. Robert was executed by being hanged, drawn, and quartered at Canterbury with Blessed Robert Wilcox, and they share the same feast day.
Robert Widmerpool, educated at Oxford, was a Nottingham gentleman schoolmaster, martyred at Canterbury with Fr. Wilcox.
|1588 Christopher Buxton
priesthood in 1586 and served two years until his death at Canterbury
beatified in 1929. Hanged, drawn and quartered in England.was born in Tideswell, Derbyshire. Following his education in Rheims and Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1586 and served two years until his death at Canterbury.
|1588 Robert Wilcox died for his priesthood at
was born at Chester and educated at Rheims, where he was ordained in 1585. He died for his priesthood at Canterbury (Benedictines)
Robert Wilcox was born at Chester and educated at Rheims, where he was ordained in 1585. He died for his priesthood at Canterbury (Benedictines).
|1588 Bl. Edward
James English martyr
He was born near Breaston, and studied at Oxford, England. Converting to the faith, Edward studied at Reims, France, and Rome, and was ordained in 1583. Returning as a missionary to England, he was arrested and martyred at Chichester. He was beatified in 1929.
Edward James was another Derbyshire native, born in Breaston. After completing his undergraduate studies at St. John's College in Oxford and converting to Catholicism, he studied for the priesthood at Rheims and Rome. He ministered to his flock for five years prior to his execution at Chichester .
Bl. John Robinson Martyr of England
He was from Ferrensby, Yorkshire, and a widower who went to Reims for ordination. Ordained in 1585, John went back to England and was executed at Ipswich, receiving beatification in 1929.
John Robinson, born in Ferrensby, Yorkshire, was a widower when he entered the seminary in Rheims. He was ordained there in 1585. Three years later he was executed for his priesthood at Ipswich.
|1588 St. Ralph
Crockett English martyr
Born at Barton on the Hill, in Cheshire, he was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, and Gloucester Hall, Oxford, and became a schoolmaster in Norfolk and Suffolk. Departing England, he went to Reims, France, and there studied for the priesthood, receiving ordination in 1586 . Returning home to undertake the hazardous work of reconverting the island, he was arrested with Blessed Edward James and was imprisoned for two and a half years in London before being taken to Chichester. Ralph was martyred at Chichester by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. He was beatified in 1929.
Ralph Crockett, like Edward James, was martyred at Chichester. He was born in Barton-on-the-Hill, Cheshire. Crockett was a schoolmaster in Norfolk and Suffolk after finishing his studies at Christ's College (Cambridge) and Gloucester Hall (Oxford). Later he prepared to serve God's people in the priesthood at Rheims. He, too, was ordained in 1586 and was martyred two years later.
|1617 Bl. Caspar
Fisogiro Martyr of Japan
A convert, he became a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. Arrested for befriending Blessed Alphonse Navarrete, O.P., Caspar was put to death at Nagasaki. He was beatified in 1867.
October 1 commemorates
the transfer of the Terebovlya Icon of the Mother of God from the town
of Terebovlya to Lvov in 1672.
This icon of the Most Holy Theotokos originally appeared in the principality of Galich during the time of the Terebovlya princes, in the thirteenth, or perhaps as early as the twelfth century. After the decline of the Galich principality in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Roman Catholics tried many times to seize the icon and bring it to their own church.
The Orthodox believers of Galich and Terebovlya always prayed fervently before the Terebovlya icon, asking the Mother of God to protect them whenever Russia was attacked by enemy forces, and its citizens were led into captivity.
In the spring of 1672, a Turkish army of 300,000 men took the town of Kamenets Podolski. This same army was defeated at Terebovlya, and was forced to retreat. The holy icon of the Mother of God was taken from the Church of the Protection in town and moved to the church in the ancient castle. There the people of Terebovlya thanked God for their deliverance.
On the Feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God in 1672, the Bishop of Lvov, with the clergy and the faithful, transferred the icon to the cathedral of St George in Lvov so that it would not be stolen. This translation took place when Bishop Joseph (Shumlyansky) of Lvov, who later became a Uniate, was still a hierarch of the Orthodox Church.
In 1973, when it was decided to celebrate the 300th anniversary of its translation, the icon was provided with a gilded cover, thanks to the efforts of Metropolitan Nicholas of Lvov and Ternopol.
|1790 The Gerbovets Icon of the Most Holy Mother of
God acknowledged as wonderworking in the year 1859, but it was revered
by believers of the Kishinev diocese even earlier. According to Tradition,
this icon was brought to the Gerbovets monastery (Bessarabia, Romania)
in the year 1790.
The Kasperov
Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos
during the Crimean War of 1853-1855 defended the city of Odessa against an incursion of hostile forces. Archbishop Innocent (Borisov) directed "that this event should not be forgotten in the teaching of posterity," and should be commemorated on October 1. The icon had already been acknowledged as wonderworking and glorified by the Holy Synod in 1840, after investigation of a whole series of miracles. Before this, the image had been kept by the landowner Juliana Ioannovna Kasperova, who received it as a sacred family heirloom in 1809.
An Akathist is served every Friday at the Dormition Cathedral of Odessa before the Kasperov Icon, which is also commemorated on June 29 and Bright Wednesday.
Saint Thérèse
of Lisieux;
Dr of the Church Since death she worked innumerable miracles one of the
patron saints of the missions
the Little Flower of Jesus, born at Alençon, France, 2 January, 1873; died at Lisieux 30 September, 1897.1897 ST TERESA OF LISIEUX, VIRGIN
Generations of Catholics have admired this young saint, called her the "Little Flower", and found in her short life more inspiration for own lives than in volumes by theologians.
THE spread and enthusiasm of the cultus of St Teresa-of-the-Child-Jesus, a young Carmelite nun not exteriorly distinguished from hundreds of others, is one of the most impressive and significant religious phenomena of contemporary times. Within a few years of her death in 1897 she became known throughout the world; her "little way" of simplicity and perfection in the doing of small things and discharge of daily duties has become a pattern to numberless "ordinary" folk; her autobiography, written at the command of her superiors, is a famous book; miracles and graces without number are attributed to her intercession. A contrast with a yet more famous Teresa forces itself: both were Carmelites and both were saints—and both have left long autobiographies in which may be traced the great external and temperamental and spiritual divergences and the inner common ground of their respective lives.
The parents of the saint were St.Louis Martin, a watchmaker of Alençon, son of an officer in the armies of Napoleon I, and St. Azélie-Marie Guérin, a maker of point d'Alençon in the same town, whose father had been a gendarme at Saint-Denis near Seez. Five of the children born to them survived to maturity, of whom Teresa was the youngest. She was born on January 2, 1873, and baptized Marie Françoise-Therèse. Her childhood was happy, ordinary and surrounded by good influences; "my earliest memories are of smiles and tender caresses". She had a quick intelligence and an open and impressionable mind, but there was no precocity or priggishness about the little Teresa; when the older sister Léonie offered a doll and other playthings to Céline and Teresa, Céline chose some silk braid, but Teresa said, "I'll have the lot". "My whole life could be summed up in this little incident. Later...I cried out, 'My God, I choose all! I don't want to be a saint by halves.'"
In 1877 Mrs Martin died. Mr Martin sold his business at Alençon
and went to live at Lisieux (Calvados), where his children might be under
the eye of their aunt, Mrs Guérin, an excellent woman. Mr Martin
had a particular affection for Teresa, but it was an elder sister, Mary,
who ran the household and the eldest, Pauline, who made herself responsible
for the religious upbringing of her sisters. During the winter evenings
she would read aloud to the family, and the staple was not some popular
manual or effervescent "pious book" but the Liturgical Year
of Dom Guéranger.
During the next year Teresa told her father her wish to become a Carmelite, and Mr Martin agreed; but both the Carmelite authorities and the bishop of Bayeux refused to hear of it on account of her lack of age. A few months later she was in Rome with her father and a French pilgrimage on the occasion of the sacerdotal jubilee of Pope Leo XIII. At the public audience, when her turn came to kneel for the pope's blessing, Teresa boldly broke the rule of silence on such occasions and asked him, "In honour of your jubilee, allow me to enter Carmel at fifteen". Leo was clearly impressed by her appearance and manner, but he upheld the decision of the immediate superiors. "You shall enter if it be God's will", he said, and dismissed her with great kindness. The pope's blessing and the earnest prayers made at many shrines during this pilgrimage bore their fruit in due season. At the end of the year the bishop, Mgr Hugonin, gave his permission, and on April 9, 1888, Teresa Martin entered the Carmel at Lisieux whither her two sisters had preceded her. "From her entrance deposed her novice mistress, "she surprised the community by her bearing, which was marked by a certain dignity that one would not expect in a child of fifteen."
her novitiate Father Pichon, s.j., gave a retreat to the nuns and he
testified in the cause of Teresa's beatification: "It was easy to direct
that child. The Holy Spirit was leading her and I do not think that I
ever had, either then or later on, to warn her against illusions...What
struck me during that retreat were the spiritual trials through which God
wished her to pass."
A few days before she wrote to Mother Agnes-of-Jesus (Pauline): "Before setting out my Betrothed asked me which way and through what country I would travel. I replied that I had one only wish; to reach the height of the mountain of Love...Then our Saviour took me by the hand and led me into a subterranean way, where it is neither hot nor cold, where the sun never shines, where neither rain nor wind find entrance: a tunnel where I see nothing but a half-veiled light, the brightness shining from the eyes of Jesus."
of the principal duties of a Carmelite nun is to pray for priests, a duty
which St Teresa discharged with great fervour at all times; something she
had seen or heard when visiting Italy had for the first time opened her eyes
to the fact that the clergy need prayers as much as anybody else, and she
never ceased in particular to pray for the good estate of the celebrated
ex-Carmelite Hyacinth Loyson, who had apostatized from the faith.
Although she was delicate she carried out all the practices of the austere Carmelite rule from the first, except that she was not allowed to fast. "A soul of such mettle", said the prioress, "must not be treated like a child. Dispensations are not meant for her."—"But it cost me a lot" admitted Teresa, "during my postulancy to perform some of the customary exterior penances. I did not yield to this repugnance because it seemed to me that the image of my crucified Lord looked at me with beseeching eyes, begging these sacrifices." However, the physical mortification which she felt more than any other was the cold of the Carmel in winter, which nobody suspected until she admitted it on her death-bed. "May Jesus grant me martyrdom either of the heart or of the body, or preferably of both" she had asked, and lived to say,"I have reached the point of not being able to suffer any more—because all suffering is sweet to me."
autobiography which St Teresa wrote at the command of her prioress, L'histoire d'une âme, is an unique and engaging document, written
with a delightful clarity and freshness, full of surprising turns of
phrase, hits of unexpected knowledge and unconscious self-revelation,
and, above all, of deep spiritual wisdom and beauty. She defines her prayer
and thereby tells us more about herself than pages of formal explanation
"With me prayer is a lifting-up of the heart a look towards Heaven; a cry of gratitude and love uttered equally in sorrow and in joy. In a word, something noble, supernatural, which enlarges my soul and unites it to God..Except the Divine Office, which in spite of my unworthiness is a daily joy, I have not the courage to look through books for beautiful prayers..I do as a child who has not learnt to read—I just tell our Lord all that I want and He understands." Her psychological insight is keen: "Each time that my enemy would provoke me to fight I behave like a brave soldier. I know that a duel is an act of cowardice, and so, without once looking him in the face, I turn my back on the foe, hasten to my Saviour, and vow that I am ready to shed my blood in witness of my belief in Heaven."
She passes over her own patience with a joke. During meditation in choir one of the sisters continually fidgeted with a rosary, till Teresa was sweating with the irritation.
At last, "instead of trying not to hear it, which was impossible, I set myself to listen as though it had been some delightful music, and my meditation—which was not the 'prayer of quiet'—was passed in offering this music to our Lord." The last chapter is a veritable paean of divine love, and concludes, "I entreat thee to let thy divine eyes rest upon a vast number of little souls; I entreat thee to choose in this world a legion of little victims of thy love looking down..I wish at all costs to win the palm of St Agnes. If it cannot be by blood it must be by love."
St Teresa numbered herself with these little souls: "I am a very little soul, who can only offer very little things to our Lord."
In 1893 Sister Teresa was appointed to assist the novice mistress and was in fact mistress in all but name. On her experience in this capacity she comments, "From afar it seems easy to do good to souls, to make them love God more, to mould them according to our own ideas and views. But coming closer we find, on the contrary, that to do good without God's help is as impossible as to make the sun shine at night...What costs me most is being obliged to observe every fault and smallest imperfection and wage deadly war against them." She was only twenty years old. In 1894 Mr Martin died and soon after Céline, who had been looking after him, made the fourth Martin sister in the Lisieux Carmel. Eighteen months later, during the night between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, St Teresa heard, "as it were, a far-off murmur announcing the coming of the Bridegroom" it was a haemorrhage at the mouth. At the time she was inclined to respond to the appeal of the Carmelites at Hanoi in Indo-China, who wished to have her, but her disease took a turn for the worse and the last eighteen months of her life was a time of bodily suffering and spiritual trials. The spirit of prophecy seemed to come upon her, and it was now that she made those three utterances that have gone round the world. "I have never given the good God aught but love, and it is with love that He will repay. After my death I will let fall a shower of roses." "I will spend my Heaven in doing good upon earth." "My 'little way' is the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute self-surrender." In June 1897 she was removed to the infirmary of the convent and never left it again; from August 16 on she could no longer receive Holy Communion because of frequent sickness. On September 30, with words of divine love on her lips, Sister Teresa of Lisieux died.
So unanimous, swift and impressive was the rise of the cultus of Teresa, miracles at whose intercession drew the eyes of the whole Catholic world upon her, that the Holy See, ever attentive to common convictions expressed by the acclamation of the whole visible Church, dispensed the period of fifty years which must ordinarily elapse before a cause of canonization is begun. She was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1923, and in 1925 the same pope declared Teresa-of-the-Child-Jesus to have been a saint. Her feast was made obligatory for the whole Western church, and in 1927 she was named the heavenly patroness of all foreign missions, with St Francis Xavier, and of all works for Russia. These recognitions were gratefully received and acclaimed not only by Catholics but by many non-Catholics, whose attention had been called to her hidden life and who had read her autobiography. In appearance St Teresa was slight, with golden hair and grey-blue eyes, eyebrows very slightly arched, a small mouth, delicate and regular features. Something of her quality can be seen in prints taken from original photographic negatives, beside which the current composite pictures of her are insipid and lacking in character.
St Teresa quite definitely and consciously set out to be a saint. Undismayed by the apparent impossibility of attaining so great a height of disinterestedness, she said to herself: "'The good God would not inspire unattainable desires. I may then, in spite of my littleness, aspire to holiness. I cannot make myself greater I must bear with myself just as I am with all my imperfections. But I want to seek a way to Heaven, a new way, very short, very straight, a little path. We live in an age of inventions. The trouble of walking upstairs no longer exists; in the houses of the rich there is a lift instead. I would like to find a lift to raise me to Jesus, for I am too little to go up the steep steps of perfection.' Then I sought in the Holy Scriptures for some indication of this lift, the object of my desire, and I read these words from the mouth of the Eternal Wisdom 'Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me'" (Isaias lxvi 13).
The books and articles devoted to St Teresa of Lisieux are well-nigh countless, but they are all based upon her autobiography and her letters, supplemented in some cases by the evidence given in the process of her beatification and canonization. These last documents, printed for the use of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, are very important, for they let us see that, even among religious pledged to the austerities of the Carmelite rule, the frailties of human nature may still betray themselves, and that part of the work of this innocent child was to be, by force of example, the silent reformer and restorer of strict observance in her own convent. Among the best biographies of the saint, though not by any means the longest, may be mentioned that of H. Petitot, St Thérèse of Lisieux a Spiritual Renaissance (1927) that of Baron Angot des Rotours in the series "Les Saints". F. Laudet, L'enfant cherie dui monde (1927); and H. Ghéon, The Secret of the Little Flower (1934). The more official publications, if one may so speak, are represented by the autobiography, L'histoire d'une âme, which has been translated into every civilized language, including Hebrew the first English translation was by Canon T. N. Taylor (reprinted 1947), and a new translation, by the Rev. A. M. Day, appeared in 1951 by Mgr Laveille's Ste Therèse après… les documents officiels du Carmel de Lisieux (Eng. trans., 1929); and by the Abbe Combes's edition of the saint's Collected Letters (Eng. trans., 1950) see also Le problème del'" Histoire d'une âme {et des oeuvres completes de ste Thérèse de Lisieux (1950). Among more recent works are biographies or studies in French by M. M. Philipon, A. Combes (1946 Eng. trans. in 3 vols.), and M. van der Meersch (1947)—the last criticized at length in La petite Ste Thérèse, by A. Combes and others: V. Sackville West, The Eagle and the Dove (1943) and J. Beevers, Storm of Glory (1949). As a curious demurrer to the enthusiasm evoked by the canonization mention may be made of the article in the Catalan journal Estudis Franciscans, vol. xxx, by Fr Ubald of Alençon; but this should not be read without reference to the reply published in the same periodical by the Vicar General of Bayeux. The latest book in English is H. Urs von Balthasar's Therese of Lisieux (1953), a theological study. It is now announced that the Histoire d'une âme is to be published in its original unedited form.
Yet Therese died when she was 24, after having lived as cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was an brief edited version of her journal called "Story of a Soul." (Collections of her letters and restored versions of her journals have been published recently.) But within 28 years of her death, the public demand was so great that she was canonized.
Over the years, some modern Catholics have turned away from her because they associate her with over- sentimentalized piety and yet the message she has for us is still as compelling and simple as it was almost a century ago.
Therese was born in France in 1873, the pampered daughter of a mother who had wanted to be a saint and a father who had wanted to be monk. The two had gotten married but determined they would be celibate until a priest told them that was not how God wanted a marriage to work! They must have followed his advice very well because they had nine children. The five children who lived were all daughters who were close all their lives.
Tragedy and loss came quickly to Therese when her mother died of breast cancer when she was four and a half years old. Her sixteen year old sister Pauline became her second mother -- which made the second loss even worse when Pauline entered the Carmelite convent five years later. A few months later, Therese became so ill with a fever that people thought she was dying.
The worst part of it for Therese was all the people sitting around her bed staring at her like, she said, "a string of onions." When Therese saw her sisters praying to statue of Mary in her room, Therese also prayed. She saw Mary smile at her and suddenly she was cured. She tried to keep the grace of the cure secret but people found out and badgered her with questions about what Mary was wearing, what she looked like. When she refused to give in to their curiosity, they passed the story that she had made the whole thing up.
Without realizing it, by the time she was eleven years old she had developed the habit of mental prayer. She would find a place between her bed and the wall and in that solitude think about God, life, eternity.
When her other sisters, Marie and Leonie, left to join religious orders (the Carmelites and Poor Clares, respectively), Therese was left alone with her last sister Celine and her father. Therese tells us that she wanted to be good but that she had an odd way of going about. This spoiled little Queen of her father's wouldn't do housework. She thought if she made the beds she was doing a great favor!
Every time Therese even imagined that someone was criticizing her or didn't appreciate her, she burst into tears. Then she would cry because she had cried! Any inner wall she built to contain her wild emotions crumpled immediately before the tiniest comment.
Therese wanted to enter the Carmelite convent to join Pauline and Marie but how could she convince others that she could handle the rigors of Carmelite life, if she couldn't handle her own emotional outbursts? She had prayed that Jesus would help her but there was no sign of an answer.
On Christmas day in 1886, the fourteen-year-old hurried home from church. In France, young children left their shoes by the hearth at Christmas, and then parents would fill them with gifts. By fourteen, most children outgrew this custom. But her sister Celine didn't want Therese to grow up. So they continued to leave presents in "baby" Therese's shoes.
As she and Celine climbed the stairs to take off their hats, their father's voice rose up from the parlor below. Standing over the shoes, he sighed, "Thank goodness that's the last time we shall have this kind of thing!"
Therese froze, and her sister looked at her helplessly. Celine knew that in a few minutes Therese would be in tears over what her father had said. But the tantrum never came. Something incredible had happened to Therese. Jesus had come into her heart and done what she could not do herself. He had made her more sensitive to her father's feelings than her own. She swallowed her tears, walked slowly down the stairs, and exclaimed over the gifts in the shoes, as if she had never heard a word her father said. The following year she entered the convent. In her autobiography she referred to this Christmas as her "conversion."
Therese be known as the Little Flower but she had a will of steel. When the superior of the Carmelite convent refused to take Therese because she was so young, the formerly shy little girl went to the bishop. When the bishop also said no, she decided to go over his head, as well.
Her father and sister took her on a pilgrimage to Rome to try to get her mind off this crazy idea. Therese loved it. It was the one time when being little worked to her advantage! Because she was young and small she could run everywhere, touch relics and tombs without being yelled at. Finally they went for an audience with the Pope. They had been forbidden to speak to him but that didn't stop Therese. As soon as she got near him, she begged that he let her enter the Carmelite convent. She had to be carried out by two of the guards!
But the Vicar General who had seen her courage was impressed and soon Therese was admitted to the Carmelite convent that her sisters Pauline and Marie had already joined. Her romantic ideas of convent life and suffering soon met up with reality in a way she had never expected. Her father suffered a series of strokes that left him affected not only physically but mentally. When he began hallucinating and grabbed for a gun as if going into battle, he was taken to an asylum for the insane. Horrified, Therese learned of the humiliation of the father she adored and admired and of the gossip and pity of their so-called friends. As a cloistered nun she couldn't even visit her father.
This began a horrible time of suffering when she experienced such dryness in prayer that she stated "Jesus isn't doing much to keep the conversation going." She was so grief-stricken that she often fell asleep in prayer. She consoled herself by saying that mothers loved children when they lie asleep in their arms so that God must love her when she slept during prayer.
She knew as a Carmelite nun she would never be able to perform great deeds. "Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."
She took every chance to sacrifice, no matter how small it would seem. She smiled at the sisters she didn't like. She ate everything she was given without complaining -- so that she was often given the worst leftovers. One time she was accused of breaking a vase when she was not at fault. Instead of arguing she sank to her knees and begged forgiveness. These little sacrifices cost her more than bigger ones, for these went unrecognized by others. No one told her how wonderful she was for these little secret humiliations and good deeds.
When Pauline was elected prioress, she asked Therese for the ultimate sacrifice.
Because of politics in the convent, many of the sisters feared that the family Martin would taken over the convent. Therefore Pauline asked Therese to remain a novice, in order to allay the fears of the others that the three sisters would push everyone else around. This meant she would never be a fully professed nun, that she would always have to ask permission for everything she did. This sacrifice was made a little sweeter when Celine entered the convent after her father's death. Four of the sisters were now together again.
Therese continued to worry about how she could achieve holiness in the life she led.
She didn't want to just be good, she wanted to be a saint. She thought there must be a way for people living hidden, little lives like hers. " I have always wanted to become a saint. Unfortunately when I have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that there is the same difference between the saints and me as there is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passers-by. Instead of being discouraged, I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new.
"We live in an age of inventions. We need no longer climb laboriously up flights of stairs; in well-to-do houses there are lifts. And I was determined to find a lift to carry me to Jesus, for I was far too small to climb the steep stairs of perfection. So I sought in holy Scripture some idea of what this life I wanted would be, and I read these words: "Whosoever is a little one, come to me." It is your arms, Jesus, that are the lift to carry me to heaven. And so there is no need for me to grow up: I must stay little and become less and less."
She worried about her vocation:
" I feel in me the vocation of the Priest. I have the vocation of the Apostle. Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me. Considering the mystical body of the Church, I desired to see myself in them all. Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was burning with love. I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love was everything, that it embraced all times and places...in a word, that it was eternal! Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love...my vocation, at last I have found it...My vocation is Love!"
When an antagonist was elected prioress, new political suspicions and plottings sprang up. The concern over the Martin sisters perhaps was not exaggerated. In this small convent they now made up one-fifth of the population. Despite this and the fact that Therese was a permanent novice they put her in charge of the other novices.
Then in 1896, she coughed up blood. She kept working without telling anyone until she became so sick a year later everyone knew it. Worst of all she had lost her joy and confidence and felt she would die young without leaving anything behind. Pauline had already had her writing down her memories for journal and now she wanted her to continue -- so they would have something to circulate on her life after her death.
Her pain was so great that she said that if she had not had faith she would have taken her own life without hesitation. But she tried to remain smiling and cheerful -- and succeeded so well that some thought she was only pretending to be ill. Her one dream as the work she would do after her death, helping those on earth. "I will return," she said. "My heaven will be spent on earth." She died on September 30, 1897 at the age of 24 years old. She herself felt it was a blessing God allowed her to die at exactly that age. She had always felt that she had a vocation to be a priest and felt God let her die at the age she would have been ordained if she had been a man so that she wouldn't have to suffer.
After she died, everything at the convent went back to normal.
One nun commented that there was nothing to say about Therese. But Pauline put together Therese's writings (and heavily edited them, unfortunately) and sent 2000 copies to other convents. But Therese's "little way" of trusting in Jesus to make her holy and relying on small daily sacrifices instead of great deeds appealed to the thousands of Catholics and others who were trying to find holiness in ordinary lives. Within two years, the Martin family had to move because her notoriety was so great and by 1925 she had been canonized.
Therese of Lisieux is one of the patron saints of the missions, not because she ever went anywhere, but because of her special love of the missions, and the prayers and letters she gave in support of missionaries. This is reminder to all of us who feel we can do nothing, that it is the little things that keep God's kingdom growing.
Teresa of the Child (Infant) Jesus V (RM) + (also known as Thérèse of Lisieux, Marie Francoise Martin)
Born in Alençon, France, January 2, 1873; died in Lisieux, Normandy, France, on September 30, 1897; canonized in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, who in 1927 declared patron of foreign missions (together with Saint Francis Xavier); in 1997, she was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II.
"I had offered myself to the Child Jesus as His little plaything. I told Him not to use me as a valuable toy but like a little ball of no value He let His little ball fall to the ground and He went to sleep. What did He do during His gentle sleep and what became of the abandoned ball? Jesus dreamed He was still playing with His toy, leaving it and taking it up in turns, and then, having seen it roll quite far, He pressed it to His heart, no longer allowing it to ever go far from His little hand." --St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Thérèse was the ninth child of Louis Martin, a watchmaker, and Azélie-Marie Geurin, a maker of point d'Alençon lace. She was baptized Marie-Françoise-Thérèse. Her mother died in 1877 when Thérèse was five, and the father moved the family to Lisieux, where the children could be overseen by their aunt.
Thérèse's two older sisters became Carmelite nuns at Lisieux. When she was 15, Thérèse told her father that she was so much devoted to Jesus that she wished to do the same but the Carmelites and her bishop thought that she was too young. A few months later during a pilgrimage to Rome for the jubilee of Pope Leo XIII, she met the pope. As she knelt before him, she broke the rule of silence and asked him, "In honor of your jubilee, allow me to enter Carmel at fifteen. . . ." The pope was impressed by her fervor, but upheld the decision to make her wait.
At the end of the year, she was received in the Carmel and took the name Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Her father suffered a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized for three years. Despite her fragile health, she lived the austere life faithfully. At 22, she was appointed assistant novice mistress, although in fact she fulfilled the duties of the novice mistress. After her father died in 1894, the fourth sister joined the convent.
Her prioress Mother Agnes (her blood-sister Pauline) requested the she write her autobiography, L'histoire d'une âme (The story of a soul). She began in 1894 to write the story of her childhood, and in 1897, after finishing it the previous year, she was ordered by the new prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague, to tell of her life in the convent. Both were combined in the final book, which was revised and circulated to all the Carmelite houses.
Thérèse of Lisieux's autobiography was three sections written specifically to her sister Pauline, her sister Marie, and her prioress. It was edited by Pauline (Sister Agnes) and made to appear as though written to her prioress. Highly edited book sold without notation until 1956. In 1952 the unedited manuscripts were published in their original form. The first English version, translated by Ronald Knox, appeared in 1958 under the title Autobiography of a saint. Thérèse was childlike, not polished, and she was sentimental. Surprisingly, Thérèse found it hard to say the rosary, which should be a comfort to those saints-in-the-making who find it difficult, too.
The appeal of the book was immediate and astonishing:
It had an instant appeal in every language into which it was translated. Her "little way" of searching for simplicity and perfection in everyday tasks became a model for ordinary people. The saint's nine years in the convent were uneventful and 'ordinary,' such as could be paralleled in the lives of numberless other young nuns: the daily life of prayer and work, faults of pride and obstinacy to be overcome, a certain moodiness to be fought, inward and outward trials to be faced. Sister Thérèse stuck bravely to her 'little way' of simple trust in and love for God.
Afflicted with tuberculosis, Thérèse hemorrhaged but endured her illness with patience and fortitude. She wished to join the Carmelites at Hanoi in Indochina at their invitation, but her illness became worse. She moved into the infirmary in 1897 and died at the age of 24. Her last words were, "I love him. My God I love you."
Since her death she has worked innumerable miracles, and her cultus has spread throughout the world. She had become the most popular saint of modern times: Thérèse had shown innumerable people that sainthood is attainable by anybody, however, obscure, lowly, untalented, by doing the small things and discharging daily duties in a perfected spirit of love for God. Her popularity was so great that a large church was built in Lisieux to accommodate the crowds of pilgrims to her shrine.
In contemplating her death, Thérèse said, "I will let fall a shower of roses," meaning favors through her intercession. From this we get the novena of St. Thérèse which requires the praying of 24 Our Fathers each day for nine days in honor of the 24 years of life that God granted the saint. It is said that when the prayer has been heard and answered, the petitioner will receive a rose from the heavenly garden as a sign. For this reason, she is called "the Little Flower of Jesus."
Thérèse's attraction is her utter simplicity. She was no scholar; no great student of the Bible or the Fathers. She simply longed to be a saint, as she believed her person could. "In my little way," she wrote, "are only very ordinary things. Little souls can do everything that I do."
She was full of fun. She drew a coat of arms for herself and Jesus, surmounted with her initials M.F.T., and the divine ones I.H.S. She made superbly innocent and happy jokes. She recorded that she would pretend she was at Nazareth in the Holy Family's home. "If I am offered salad, cold fish, wine or anything with a strong flavor, I give that to good Saint Joseph. I give the warm dishes and the ripest fruits to the Holy Virgin. I give the infant Jesus soup, rice, and jam. But if I am offered a bad meal, I say gaily to myself, 'My little girl, today it is all yours'."
Thérèse was a happy saint. Even as she suffered pain--physical and emotional (being scolded for pulling up flowers rather than weeds in the garden)--she always thanked God for everything (Attwater, von Balthasar, Benedictines, Bentley, Day, Delaney, Gorres, Robo, Sackville-West, Sheppard, White).
In art, St. Thérèse is a Discalced Carmelite holding a bouquet of roses or with roses at her feet. She is the patron saint of foreign missions (due to her prayers for and correspondence with missions), all works for Russia, France, florists and flower growers (White); aviators, and, in 1944, was named copatroness of France with Saint Joan of Arc (Delaney).
October 1, 2006 St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897)
"I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul."
These are the words of Theresa of the Child Jesus, a Carmelite nun called the "Little Flower," who lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux, France. [In French-speaking areas, she is known as Thérèse of Lisieux.] And her preference for hidden sacrifice did indeed convert souls. Few saints of God are more popular than this young nun.
Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, is read and loved throughout the world.
Thérèse Martin entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the age of 24. Life in a Carmelite convent is indeed uneventful and consists mainly of prayer and hard domestic work. But Thérèse possessed that holy insight that redeems the time, however dull that time may be. She saw in quiet suffering redemptive suffering, suffering that was indeed her apostolate. Thérèse said she came to the Carmel convent "to save souls and pray for priests." And shortly before she died, she wrote: "I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth."
[On October 19, 1997, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church, the third woman to be so recognized in light of her holiness and the influence of her teaching on spirituality in the Church.]
Comment: Thérèse has much to teach our age of the image, the appearance, the "sell." We have become a dangerously self-conscious people, painfully aware of the need to be fulfilled, yet knowing we are not. Thérèse, like so many saints, sought to serve others, to do something outside herself, to forget herself in quiet acts of love. She is one of the great examples of the gospel paradox that we gain our life by losing it, and that the seed that falls to the ground must die in order to live (see John 12).
Preoccupation with self separates modern men and women from God, from their fellow human beings and ultimately from themselves. We must relearn to forget ourselves, to contemplate a God who draws us out of ourselves and to serve others as the ultimate expression of selfhood. These are the insights of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and they are more valid today than ever.
Quote: All her life St. Thérèse suffered from illness. As a young girl she underwent a three-month malady characterized by violent crises, extended delirium and prolonged fainting spells. Afterwards she was ever frail and yet she worked hard in the laundry and refectory of the convent. Psychologically, she endured prolonged periods of darkness when the light of faith seemed all but extinguished. The last year of her life she slowly wasted away from tuberculosis. And yet shortly before her death on September 30 she murmured, "I would not suffer less."
Truly she was a valiant woman who did not whimper about her illnesses and anxieties. Here was a person who saw the power of love, that divine alchemy which can change everything, including weakness and illness, into service and redemptive power for others. Is it any wonder that she is patroness of the missions? Who else but those who embrace suffering with their love really convert the world?
St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897)
"I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul." These are the words of Theresa of the Child Jesus, a Carmelite nun called the "Little Flower," who lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux, France. [In French-speaking areas, she is known as Thérèse of Lisieux.] And her preference for hidden sacrifice did indeed convert souls. Few saints of God are more popular than this young nun. Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, is read and loved throughout the world. Thérèse Martin entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the age of 24.
Life in a Carmelite convent is indeed uneventful and consists mainly of prayer and hard domestic work. But Thérèse possessed that holy insight that redeems the time, however dull that time may be. She saw in quiet suffering redemptive suffering, suffering that was indeed her apostolate. Thérèse said she came to the Carmel convent "to save souls and pray for priests." And shortly before she died, she wrote: "I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth."
[On October 19, 1997, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church, the third woman to be so recognized in light of her holiness and the influence of her teaching on spirituality in the Church.]
Comment: Thérèse has much to teach our age of the image, the appearance, the "sell." We have become a dangerously self-conscious people, painfully aware of the need to be fulfilled, yet knowing we are not. Thérèse, like so many saints, sought to serve others, to do something outside herself, to forget herself in quiet acts of love. She is one of the great examples of the gospel paradox that we gain our life by losing it, and that the seed that falls to the ground must die in order to live (see John 12).
Preoccupation with self separates modern men and women from God, from their fellow human beings and ultimately from themselves. We must relearn to forget ourselves, to contemplate a God who draws us out of ourselves and to serve others as the ultimate expression of selfhood. These are the insights of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and they are more valid today than ever.
Quote: All her life St. Thérèse suffered from illness. As a young girl she underwent a three-month malady characterized by violent crises, extended delirium and prolonged fainting spells. Afterwards she was ever frail and yet she worked hard in the laundry and refectory of the convent. Psychologically, she endured prolonged periods of darkness when the light of faith seemed all but extinguished. The last year of her life she slowly wasted away from tuberculosis. And yet shortly before her death on September 30 she murmured, "I would not suffer less."
Truly she was a valiant woman who did not whimper about her illnesses and anxieties. Here was a person who saw the power of love, that divine alchemy which can change everything, including weakness and illness, into service and redemptive power for others. Is it any wonder that she is patroness of the missions? Who else but those who embrace suffering with their love really convert the world?
Saturday Saints of this Day October 01 Kaléndis Octóbris.
Pope Francis PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR October 2016
Universal: "Universal: Journalists
That journalists, in carrying out their work, may always be motivated by respect for truth and a strong sense of ethics."
Evangelization: " Evangelization: World Mission Day
That World Mission Day may renew within all Christian communities the joy of the Gospel and the responsibility to announce it. "
God Bless Mother Angelica 1923-2016
On Death and Life
"Man Needs Eternity -- and Every Other Hope, for Him, Is All Too Brief"
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас! (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
40 Days for Life 11,000+ saved lives in 2015
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40 days for Life Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com ,
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world
It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa
Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'
"Man Needs Eternity -- and Every Other Hope, for Him, Is All Too Brief"
It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
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The more we pray, the more we wish to pray. Like a fish which at first swims on the surface of the water, and afterwards plunges down, and is always going deeper; the soul plunges, dives, and loses itself in the sweetness of conversing with God. -- St. John Vianney
The Rosary html Mary Mother of GOD -- Her Rosary Here
Mary Mother of GOD Mary's Divine Motherhood: FEASTS OF OUR LADY
of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
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Months of Dedication
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July is the month of the Precious Blood since 1850;
August is the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary;
September is the month of Our Lady of Sorrows since 1857;
October is the month of the Rosary since 1868;
November is the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory since 1888;
December is the month of the Immaculate Conception.
In all, five months of the year are dedicated to Mary.
The idea of dedicating months came from Rome and promotion of the month of Mary owes much to the Jesuits. arras.catholique.fr
Pray that the witness of 40 Days for Life bears abundant fruit, and that we begin again each day to storm the gates of hell until God welcomes us into the gates of heaven.
either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid.
Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten;
he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth.-- St. Thomas Aquinas
We begin our day by seeing Christ in the consecrated bread, and throughout the day we continue to see Him in the torn bodies of our poor. We pray, that is, through our work, performing it with Jesus, for Jesus and upon Jesus.-- Mother Teresa
The poor are our prayer. They carry God in them. Prayer means praying everything, praying the work.We meet the Lord who hungers and thirsts, in the poor.....and the poor could be you or I or any person kind enough to show us his or her love and to come to our place.
Because we cannot see Christ, we cannot express our love to Him in person.
But our neighbor we can see, and we can do for him or her what we would love to do for Jesus if He were visible.
I believe,
I adore,
I trust
I love Thee.
I beg pardon
for those
who do
not believe,
do not
adore, do not
love Thee.
O most
Holy trinity,
Son and
Holy Spirit,
adore Thee
I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended,
and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I beg the conversion of poor sinners, Amen Fatima Prayer, Angel of PeaceMary's Divine Motherhood
Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI { 2013 } Catholic Church In China { article here}
1648 to1930 St. Augustine Zhao Rong and 120 Companions Christianity arrived in China by way of Syria -- 600s.
Depending on China's relations with outside world,
Christianity for centuries was free to grow or forced to operate secretly.
Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary AlacoqueHow do I start the Five First Saturdays?
From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
"The Blessed Virgin was eternally predestined, in conjunction with the incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. By decree of divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving mother of the divine Redeemer, an associate of unique nobility, and the Lord's humble handmaid. She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ."
of the Father
is heard,
Son enters
the water,
and the
Holy Spirit
in the
form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is geeral and binds all the followers of Christ.
Feasts of Our Lady.html January to December ICONS
stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/ usccb.org ewtn.com St Patricks 10 01
domcentral.org/life/martyr Dec syriac oca.org glaubenszeugen.de/tage/kai/10 01
Serbian http://www.copticchurch.net Melkite
Monthly Saints with pics here http://www.stfrancisenid.com/memorials.htm antiochian.org/AW-WomenSaints--wonderful icons
Lutheran Saints One Saint per day stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/index.htm stjohndc.org God's Humourous Saints
Join Mary of Nazareth
us build
the International
of Nazareth
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE BELIEVED POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATIONMorning Prayer and Hymn Meditation of the Day Prayer for Priests Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List Here
There are over 10,000 named saints beati from history
and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Miracles by Century 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 Miracles_BC Lay Saints
|We are
called upon with the whole
Church militant on earth
to join
in praising
for the
grace and
glory he has
on his
At the
same time
we earnestly
Him to exert
His almighty
mercy in
raising us from
our miseries
healing the
of our souls
and leading
us by the path
of repentance
to the company
of His saints,
to which
He has called
They were once what we are now, travellers on earth they had the same weaknesses, which we have. We have difficulties to encounter so had the saints, and many of them far greater than we can meet with; obstacles from kings and whole nations, sometimes from the prisons, racks and swords of persecutors. Yet they surmounted these difficulties, which they made the very means of their virtue and victories. It was by the strength they received from above, not by their own, that they triumphed. But the blood of Christ was shed for us as it was for them and the grace of our Redeemer is not wanting to us; if we fail, the failure is in ourselves.
THE saints and just, from the beginning of time and throughout the world, who have been made perfect, everlasting monuments of God's infinite power and clemency, praise His goodness without ceasing; casting their crowns before His throne they give to Him all the glory of their triumphs: "His gifts alone in us He crowns."
"The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: 'But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....' Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory" Exposition of the Orthodox Faith
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart ... From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
On Friday during Holy Communion, He said these words to me, His unworthy slave, if I mistake not:
"I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they will not die under my displeasure or without receiving their sacraments, my divine Heart making itself their assured refuge at the last moment."
Margaret Mary was inspired by Christ to establish the Holy Hour and to pray lying prostrate with her face to the ground from eleven till midnight on the eve of the first Friday of each month, to share in the mortal sadness.
He endured when abandoned by His Apostles in His Agony, and to receive holy Communion on the first Friday of every month. In the first great revelation, He made known to her His ardent desire to be loved by men and His design of manifesting His Heart with all Its treasures of love and mercy, of sanctification and salvation.
He appointed the Friday after the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi as the feast of the Sacred Heart; He called her "the Beloved Disciple of the Sacred Heart", and the heiress of all Its treasures. The love of the Sacred Heart was the fire which consumed her, and devotion to the Sacred Heart is the refrain of all her writings. In her last illness she refused all alleviation, repeating frequently: "What have I in heaven and what do I desire on earth, but Thee alone, O my God", and died pronouncing the Holy Name of Jesus.
With regard to this promise it may be remarked: (1) that our Lord required Communion to be received on a particular day chosen by Him; (2) that the nine Fridays must be consecutive; (3) that they must be made in honor of His Sacred Heart, which means that those who make the nine Fridays must practice the devotion and must have a great love for our Lord; (4) that our Lord does not say that those who make the nine Fridays will be dispensed from any of their obligations or from exercising the vigilance necessary to lead a good life and overcome temptation; rather He implicitly promises abundant graces to those who make the nine Fridays to help them to carry out these obligations and persevere to the end; (5) that perseverance in receiving Holy Communion for nine consecutive First Firdays helps the faithful to acquire the habit of frequent Communion, which our Lord eagerly desires; and (6) that the practice of the nine Fridays is very pleasing to our Lord He promises such great reward, and all Catholics should endeavor to make nine Fridays.
| How do I start the Five
Fr. Tom
On July 13,1917, Our Lady appeared for the third time to the three children of Fatima an showed them the vision of hell and made the now - famous thirteen prophecies. In this vision Our Lady said that 'GOD WISHES TO ESTABLISH IN THE WORLD DEVOTION to Her Immaculate Heart and that She would come TO ASK FOR THE COMMUNION OF REPARATION ON THE FIRST SATURDAYS...' Eight years later, on December 10, 1925, Our Lady did indeed come back. She appeared (with the Child Jesus) to Lucia in the convent of the Dorothean Sisters in Pontevedra.
The Child Jesus spoke first:
Our Lady then said: 'MY DAUGHTER LOOK AT MY HEART SURROUNDED WITH THORNS WITH WHICH UNGRATEFUL MEN PIERCE IT AT EVERY MOMENT BY THEIR BLASPHEMIES AND INGRATITUDE. YOU, AT LEAST, TRY TO CONSOLE ME, AND SAY THAT I PROMISE TO ASSIST AT THE HOUR OF DEATH WITH ALL THE GRACES NECESSARY FOR SALVATION, ALL THOSE WHO, ON THE FIRST SATURDAY OF FIVE CONSECUTIVE MONTHS GO TO CONFESSION AND RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION, RECITE FIVE DECADES OF THE ROSARY AND KEEP ME COMPANY FOR A QUARTER OF AN HOUR WHILE MEDITATING ON MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY, WITH THE INTENTION OF MAKING REPARATION TO ME.'
The Five Reasons
Lucia once asked this question of Our Lord and received as an answer: 'MY DAUGHTER, THE MOTIVE IS SIMPLE, THERE ARE FIVE KINDS OF OFFENCES AND BLASPHEMIES UTTERED AGAINST THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY: (1) BLASPHEMIES AGAINST THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: (2) BLASPHEMIES AGAINST HER VIRGINITY: (3) BLASPHEMIES AGAINST HER DIVINE MATERNITY: (4) BLASPHEMIES OF THOSE WHO OPENLY SEEK TO FOSTER IN THE HEARTS OF CHILDREN INDIFFERENCE OR EVEN HATRED FOR THIS IMMACULATE MOTHER: (5) THE OFFENCES OF THOSE WHO DIRECTLY OUTRAGE HER IN HOLY IMAGES.'
From the above, it is easy to see that each of the Five Saturdays can correspond to a specific offence. By offering the graces received during each First Saturday as reparation for the offence being prayed for, the participant can hope to help remove the thorns from Our Lady's Heart.
What Do I Have To Do?
The devotion of First Saturdays, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima, carries with it the assurance of salvation. However, to derive profit from such a great promise of Our Lady, the devotion must be properly understood and duly performed.
The requirements as stipulated by Our Lady are as follows:
(1) CONFESSION, (2) COMMUNION, (3) FIVE DECADES OF THE ROSARY, (4) MEDITATION ON ONE OR MORE OF THE ROSARY MYSTERIES FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES, (5) TO DO ALL THESE THINGS IN THE SPIRIT OF REPARATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, and (6) TO OBSERVE ALL THESE PRACTICES ON THE FIRST SATURDAY OF FIVE CONSECUTIVE MONTHS.