19 NOVEMBER – SAINT ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY (Widow)

Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew king of Hungary, feared God from her infancy and increased in piety as she advanced in age. She was married to Lewis, landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia, and devoted herself to the service of God and of her husband. She used to rise in the night and spend a long time in prayer, and moreover she devoted herself to works of mercy, diligently caring for widows and orphans, the sick and the poor. In time of famine she freely distributed her store of grain. She received lepers into her house, and kissed their hands and feet. She also built a splendid hospital where the poor might be fed and cared for.

On the death of her husband, in order to serve God with greater freedom, Elizabeth laid aside all worldly ornaments, clothed herself in a rough tunic and entered the Order of Penance of Saint Francis. She was very remarkable for her patience and humility. Being despoiled of all her possessions and turned out of her own house, and abandoned by all, she bore insults, mockeries and reproaches with undaunted courage, rejoicing exceedingly to suffer thus for God’s sake. She humbled herself by performing the lowest offices for the poor and sick, and procured them all they needed, contenting herself with herbs and vegetables for her only food.

She was living in this holy manner, occupied with these and many other good works, when the end of her pilgrimage drew near as she had foretold to her companions. She was absorbed in divine contemplation, with her eyes fixed on Heaven. And after being wonderfully consoled by God, and strengthened with the Sacraments, she fell asleep in our Lord. Many miracles were immediately wrought at her tomb, and on their being duly proved, Pope Gregory IX enrolled her among the Saints.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Although the blessed in Heaven shine each with his own peculiar glory, God is pleased to group them in families, as He groups the stars in the material firmament. It is grace that presides over the arrangement of these constellations in the Heaven of the Saints, but sometimes it seems as if God wished to remind us that He is the sole Author of both grace and nature. And inviting them, in spite of the fall, to honour Him unitedly in his elect, He causes sanctity to become a glorious heirloom, handed down from generation to generation in the same family on Earth. Among these races none can compare with that royal line which, beginning in ancient Pannonia, spread its branches over the world in the most flourishing days of Christendom: “Rich in virtue and studying beautifulness” (Ecclesiasticus lxiv. 6) as Scripture says, it brought peace into all the royal houses of Europe, with which it was allied, and the many names it has inscribed in the golden book of the blessed perpetuate its glory.

Among these illustrious names, and surrounded by them as a diamond set in a circle of pearls, greatest, in the esteem of the Church and of the people, is that of the amiable Saint who was ripe for Heaven at the age of 24 years, and who ascended on this day into the company of Stephen, Emeric, and Ladislaus. Elizabeth was not inferior to them in manly virtues, but the simplicity of her loving soul added to the heroism of her race a sweetness whose fragrance drew after her along the path of sanctity her daughter Gertrude of Thuringia and her relatives Hedwige of Silesia, Agnes of Bohemia, Margaret of Hungary, Cunigund of Poland, and Elizabeth of Portugal. All the poetry of those chivalrous times appears in the beautiful pages of contemporaneous writers as they describe to us the innocent child, transplanted like a tender flower from the court of Hungary to that of Thuringia, and her life of devotedness there, with a bridegroom worthy to witness the ecstasies of her lofty but ingenuous piety, and to defend her heroic virtue against her slanderers. To the stewards who complained that during the absence of Duke Lewis she had, in spite of their remonstrances, exhausted the revenues upon the poor, he replied: “I desire that my Elizabeth be at liberty to act as she wishes, provided she leaves me Warteburg and Naumburg.” Our Lord opened the landgrave’s eyes to see transformed into beautiful roses the provisions Elizabeth was carrying to the poor. Jesus crucified appeared in the leper she had taken into her own apartments that she might the better tend Him. If it happened that illustrious visitors arrived unexpectedly, and the duchess having bestowed all her jewels in alms was unable to adorn herself becomingly to do them honour, the Angels so well supplied the deficiency that, according to the German chroniclers of the time, it seemed to the astonished guests that the Queen of France herself could not have appeared more strikingly beautiful or more richly attired. Elizabeth indeed was never wanting to any of the obligations or requirements of her position as a wife and as a sovereign princess. As graciously simple in her virtues as she was affable to all, she could not understand the gloomy moroseness which some affected in their prayers and austerities. “They look as if they wanted to frighten our Lord,” she would say, “whereas He loves the cheerful giver.”

The time soon came when she herself had to give generously without counting the cost. First there was the cruel separation from her husband, Duke Lewis, on his departure for the Crusade. Then the heart-rending scene when his death was announced to her, just as she was about to give birth to her fourth child. And thirdly the atrocious act of Henry Raspon, the landgrave’s unworthy brother who, thinking this a good opportunity for seizing the deceased’s estates, drove out his widow and children and forbade anyone to give them hospitality. Then in the very land where every misery had been succoured by her charity, Elizabeth was reduced to the necessity of begging, and not without many rebuffs, a little bread for her poor children, and of seeking shelter with them in a pig-sty. On the return of the knights who had accompanied Duke Lewis to the Holy Land, justice was at length done to our Saint. But Elizabeth, who had become the passionate lover of holy poverty, chose to remain among the poor. She was the first professed Tertiary of the Seraphic Order, and the mantle sent by Saint Francis to his very dear daughter became her only treasure.

The path of perfect self-renunciation soon brought her to the threshold of Heaven. She who 20 years before had been carried to her betrothed in a silver cradle, and robed in silk and gold, now took her flight to God from a wretched hovel, her only garment being a patched gown. The minstrels, whose gay competitions had signalised the year of her birth, were no longer there. But the Angels were heard singing as they bore her up to Heaven: “The kingdom of this world have I despised for the love of Jesus Christ my Lord, whom I have seen, whom I have loved, in whom I have believed, whom I have tenderly loved.” Four years later, Elizabeth, now declared a Saint by the Vicar of Christ, beheld all the nations of the holy Empire, with the emperor himself at their head, hastening to Marburg, where she lay at rest in the midst of the poor whose life she had imitated. Her holy body was committed to the care of the Teutonic Knights, who in return for the honour, made Marburg one of the head-quarters of their Order and raised to her name the first Gothic church in Germany.

Numerous miracles long attracted the Christian world to the spot. And now, though still standing, though still beautiful in its mourning, Saint Elizabeth’s at Marburg knows its glorious titular only by name. And at Warteburg, where the dear Saint went through the sweetest episodes of her life as a child and as a bride, the great memorial now shown to the traveller is the pulpit of an excommunicated monk, and the ink stain with which, in a fit of folly or drunkenness, he had soiled the wall, as he afterwards endeavoured with his pen to profane and sully everything in the Church of God.

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What a lesson you leave to the Earth, as you mount up to Heaven, O blessed Elizabeth! We ask with the Church, for ourselves and for all our brethren in the faith: may your glorious prayers obtain from the God of mercy that our hearts may open to the light of your life’s teaching, so that despising worldly prosperity we. may rejoice in heavenly consolations.

The Gospel read in your honour today tells us that the kingdom of Heaven is like a hidden treasure and a precious pearl: the wise and prudent man sells all he has to obtain the treasure or the pearl (Matthew xii.). You well understood this good traffic, as the Epistle calls it (Proverbs xxxi.) and it became the good fortune of all around you: of your happy subjects, who received from you succour and assistance for both soul and body, of your noble husband, who found an honourable place among those princes who knew how to exchange a perishable diadem for an eternal crown: in a word, of all who belonged to you. You were their boast, and several among them followed in your footsteps along the heavenward path of self-renunciation. How is it that others, in an age of destruction, could abjure their title of children of Saints and draw the people after them to deal so wantonly with the sweetest memorials and the noblest traditions? May our Lord restore to His Church and to you the country where you experienced His love. May your supplications, united with ours, revive the ancient faith in those branches of your stock which are no longer nourished with that life-giving sap, and may the glorious trunk continue, in its faithful branches, to give saints to the world.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The birthday of St. Pontian, pope and martyr, who, with the priest Hippolytus, was transported to Sardinia by the emperor Alexander, and there, being scourged to death with rods, consummated his martyrdom. His body was conveyed to Rome by the blessed Pope Fabian, and buried in the cemetery of Callistus.

At Samaria, the holy prophet Abdias.

At Rome, on the Via Appia, the birthday of St. Maximus, priest and martyr, who suffered in the persecution of Valerian, and was buried near Pope St. Sixtus.

At Caesarea in Cappadocia, St. Barlaam, martyr, who, though unpolished and ignorant, yet armed with the wisdom of Christ, overcame the tyrant, and by the constancy of his faith subdued fire itself. On his birthday, St. Basil the Great delivered a celebrated discourse.

At Ecijo, the blessed bishop Oispinus, who obtained the glory of martyrdom by decapitation.

At Vienne, the holy martyrs Severinus, Exuperius and Felician. Their bodies, after the lapse of many years, were found through their own revelation, and being taken up with due honours by the bishop, clergy and people of that city, were buried with becoming solemnity.

The same day, St. Faustus, deacon of Alexandria, who was first banished with St. Denis in the persecution of Valerian. Later, in the persecution of Diocletian, being far advanced in age, he consummated his martyrdom by the sword.

In Isauria, the martyrdom of Saint Azas and his military companions, to the number of one hundred and fifty, under the emperor Diocletian and the tribune Aquilinus.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

13 NOVEMBER – TWENTY SIX SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Epistle – 1 Thessalonians i. 2‒10

Brethren, we give thanks to God for you all, making a remembrance of you in our prayers without ceasing; being mindful of the work of your faith, and labour and charity, and of the enduring of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father: knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election; for our gospel has not been unto you in word only, but in power also, and in the Holy Ghost, and in such fullness, as you know what manner of men we have been among you for your sakes. And you became followers of us and of the Lord; receiving the word in much tribulation, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that you were made a pattern to all that believe, in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you was spread abroad the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but also in every place, your faith, which is towards God, is gone forth; so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves relate of us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven (whom He raised from the dead), Jesus, who has delivered us from the wrath to come.

Thanks be to God.

Gospel – Matthew xiii. 31–35

At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to the multitude: “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becomes a tree; so that the thirds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof.” Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.” All these things Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes, and without parables He did not speak to them; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

6 NOVEMBER – TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Epistle – Colossians iii. 12‒17

Brethren, put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another, even as the Lord has forgiven you, so do you also. But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

Thanks be to God.

Gospel – Matthew xiii. 24‒30

At that time, Jesus spoke another parable to the multitudes: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and over-sowed cockle among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade had sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the good man of the house coming said to him: “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? From where then has it cockle?” And he said to them: “An enemy has done this.” And the servants said to him: “Do you want us to go and gather it up?” And he said: “No, lest perhaps gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather into my barn.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Tunis in Africa, the birthday of St. Felix, martyr, who, having confessed Christ, was sent to prison, his execution being deferred. But the next day he was found dead, as is related by St. Augustine, in his exposition of a psalm to the people on the feast of the saint.

At Theopolis, ten holy martyrs, who are reported to have been put to death by the Saracens.

At Barcelona, St. Severus, bishop and martyr, who had his head pierced with a nail, and thus received the crown of martyrdom for the faith.

In Phrygia, St. Atticus.

At Berg, the departure from this life of St. Winoc, abbot, who was renowned for virtues and miracles, and for a long time served his brethren, even those who were subject to him.

At Fundi in Campania, St. Felix, monk.

At Limoges in Aquitaine, St. Leonard, confessor, disciple of the blessed bishop Remigius, who was born of a noble family, and chose to lead a solitary life. He was celebrated for holiness and miracles, but his miraculous gift shone particularly in the deliverance of captives.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

5 NOVEMBER – FEAST OF THE HOLY RELICS

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Had we Angels’ eyes we should see the Earth as a vast field sown with seed for the resurrection. The death of Abel opened the first furrow and ever since the sowing has gone on unceasingly the wide world over. This land of labour and of suffering, what treasures it already holds laid up in its bosom! And what a harvest for Heaven when the Sun of Justice, suddenly darting forth His rays, will cause to spring up as suddenly from the soil the elect ears ripe for glory! No wonder that the Church herself blesses and superintends the laying of the precious grain in the Earth.

But the Church is not content to be always sowing. Sometimes, as though impatient of delay, she raises from the ground the chosen seed she had sown in it. Her infallible discernment preserves her from error and, disengaging from the soil the immortal germ, she forestalls the glory of the future. She encloses the treasure in gold or precious stuffs, carries it in triumph, invites the multitudes to come and reverence it. Or she raises new temples to the name of the blessed one, and assigns him the highest honour of reposing under the Altar on which she offers to God the tremendous Sacrifice.

“Let your charity understand,” explains Saint Augustine: “it is not to Stephen we raise an altar in this place, but of Stephen’s relics we make an altar to God. God loves these altars, and if you ask the reason: ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints’ (Psalm cxv. 15). In obedience to God the invisible soul has quitted its visible dwelling. But God preserves this dwelling. He is glorified by the honour we pay to this lifeless flesh and, clothing it with the might of His divinity, he gives it the power of working miracles.” Hence the origin of pilgrimages to the shrines of the Saints. “Christian people,” says Saint Gregory of Nyssa, “wherefore are you assembled here? A tomb has no attractions. Nay, the sight of its contents inspires horror. Yet, see what eagerness to approach this sepulchre! So great an object of desire is it that a little of the dust from around it is esteemed a gift of great price. As to beholding the remains it conceals, that is a rare favour, and an enviable one, as those can testify who enjoy the privilege: they embrace the holy body as though it were yet alive, they press their lips and their eyes upon it, shedding tears of love and devotion. What emperor ever received such honour?”

“Emperors!” rejoins Saint John Chrysostom, “as the porters at their gates, such have they become with regard to poor fishers. The son of the great Constantine deemed he could not pay a higher honour to his father than to procure him a place of sepulture in the porch of the fisherman of Galilee.” And again, concluding his commentary on Saint Paul’s admirable Epistle to the Romans, the golden-mouthed Doctor exclaims: “And now, who will grant me to prostrate myself at Paul’s sepulchre, to contemplate the ashes of that body which, suffering for us, filled up what was wanting of the sufferings of Christ? The dust of that mouth which spoke boldly before kings and, showing what Paul was, revealed the Lord of Paul? The dust of that heart, truly the heart of the world, more lofty than the heavens, more vast than the universe, as much the heart of Christ as of Paul, and in which might be read the book of grace, graven by the Holy Spirit? Oh I that I might see the remains of the hands which wrote those Epistles, of the eyes which were struck with blindness and recovered their sight for our salvation, of the feet which traversed the whole earth! Yes, I would fain contemplate the tomb where repose these instruments of justice and of light, these members of Christ, this temple of the Holy Ghost. O venerable body, which, together with that of Peter, protect Rome more securely than all ramparts!”

In spite of such teachings as these, the heretics of the sixteenth century profaned the tombs of the Saints under pretext of bringing us back to the doctrine of our forefathers. In contradiction to these strange reformers, the Council of Trent expressed the unanimous testimony of Tradition in the following definition which sets forth the theological reasons of the honour paid by the Church to the relics of Saints:

“Veneration ought to be shown by the faithful to the bodies of the Martyrs and other Saints who live with Jesus Christ. For they were His living members and the temples of the Holy Ghost. He will raise them up again to eternal life and glory, and through them God grants many blessings to mankind. Therefore, those who say that the relics of the Saints are not worthy of veneration, that it is useless for the faithful to honour them, that it is vain to visit the memorials or monuments of the Saints in order to obtain their aid, are absolutely to be condemned, And, as they have already been long ago condemned, the Church now condemns them once more.”

Our ancestors looked upon holy relics as their greatest riches, the treasure by excellence of their cities. Dew of Heaven and fatness of the Earth, the blessings of this world and of the next seemed to distil from the bodies of the Saints. Their presence was a check to hostile armies, as well as to the legions of Hell. It guarded morals, fostered faith, and encouraged prayer in the heart of cities, to which they attracted as great crowds as now flock to our centres of pleasure. And with what vigilance was cherished the blessed deposit, the loss of which would have been considered the greatest of public calamities! “I have here, my brethren,” says Cardinal Pie, “to unfold to you a marvellous desire of the God whom Scripture calls wonderful in His Saints. The Lord Jesus who said to his disciples: ‘Go ye and teach,’ euntes ergo docete, frequently takes pleasure in sending them forth again after their death, and He makes use of their apostolate from beyond the tomb to carry the blessings of grace to other nations besides those whom they evangelised in life. ‘I have appointed you,’ He said, ‘that you should go and should bring forth fruit:’ Posui cosut eatis et fructum atferatis. In obedience to this command, the Saints, even after having reached the blessed term of their mortal pilgrimage, consent to become wayfarers once more. Had I leisure to recount to you all the posthumous wanderings of our illustrious pontiffs and thaumaturgi, for instance the repeated journeys of our own Hilary and Martin during more than ten centuries, I should, though captivating your attention by narratives full of interest, run the risk of wearying you by the length of my discourse.”

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

St. Zachary, priest and prophet, father of St. John the Baptist.

Also St. Elizabeth, mother of the same most holy precursor.

At Terracina in Campania, the birthday of the holy martyrs, Felix, priest, and Eusebius, monk. The latter having buried the holy martyrs Julian and Caesarius, and converted to the faith of Christ many who the priest St. Felix baptised, was arrested with him, and both being led to the tribunal of the judge who could not succeed in intimidating them, they were shut up in prison, and as they refused to offer sacrifice, were beheaded that same night.

At Emesa in Phoenicia, during the persecution of Decius, the holy martyrs Galation, and Epistemis, his wife, who were scourged, had their hands, feet and tongue severed from their bodies, and finally consummated their martyrdom by decapitation.

Also the holy martyrs Domninus, Theotimus, Philotheus, Silvanus and their companions, under the emperor Maximinus.

At Milan, St. Magnus, bishop and confessor.

At Brescia, St. Dominator, bishop.

At Treves, St. Fibitius, who was made bishop of that city while filling the office of abbot.

At Orleans in France, St. Laetus, priest and confessor.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.

1 NOVEMBER – VIGIL OF ALL SOULS

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Truly this day is grand and beautiful. Earth, midway between Heaven and Purgatory, has united them together. The wonderful mystery of the Communion of Saints is revealed in all its fullness. The immense family of the sons of God is shown to be one in love, while distinct in its three states of beatitude, trial and purifying expiation: the trial and expiation being but temporary, the beatitude eternal. It is the fitting completion of the teaching given us through the entire year, and every day within the octave we will see the light increase. Meanwhile every soul is recollected, pondering over the dearest and noblest memories. On leaving the home of God, let our thoughts linger lovingly on those who have the best claim to them. It is the feast of our beloved dead. Let us hear their suppliant voices in the plaintive tones that, from belfry to belfry throughout the Christian world, are ushering in this dark November night. This evening or tomorrow they will expect us to visit them at the tombs where their mortal remains rest in peace.

Let us pray for them, and let us also pray to them: we need never be afraid to speak to them of the interests that were dear to them before God. For God loves them, and, as His justice keeps them in an utter inability to help themselves, He makes amends to His goodness by hearing them all the more willingly on behalf of others.