28 JANUARY – SAINT PETER NOLASCO (Confessor)

Peter Nolasco was born at Recaud near Carcassonne in France of noble parents. His distinguishing virtue was the love of his neighbour which seemed to be presaged by this incident that when he was a baby in his cradle, a swarm of bees one day lighted upon him and formed a honeycomb on his right hand. He lost his parents early in life. The Albigensian heresy was at that time making way in France: Peter, out of the hatred he had for that sect, withdrew into Spain after having sold his estates. This gave him an opportunity of fulfilling a vow at our Lady’s of Mount Serrat which he had made some time previous. After this he went to Barcelona, and having there spent all his money in ransoming the Christian captives from the slavery of their enemies, he was often heard saying that he would willingly sell himself to redeem others, or become a slave in the stead of any captive. God showed him, by the following event, how meritorious in his sight was this desire. He was one night praying for the Christian captives and deliberating with himself how be might obtain their deliverance, when the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him and told him that he would render himself most dear to her Son and herself if he would institute, in her honour, an Order of Religious men, who should devote themselves to the ransoming Captives from the infidels. He delayed not to follow the heavenly suggestion and instituted the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the Redemption of Captives, in which he was aided by Saint Raymund of Pennafort and James I, King of Aragon, both of whom had on that same night received the like intimation from the Mother of God.

The Religious of this Order take a fourth vow, namely, to offer themselves as slaves to the Moors if they can in no other way obtain the ransom of the Christians. Having taken a vow of virginity, Peter spent his whole life in the most perfect purity. He excelled in every virtue, especially in patience, humility and abstinence. He foretold future events by the gift of prophecy with which God had favoured him. Thus, when king James was laying siege to Valencia, then in the possession of the Moors, he received assurance from the Saint that he would be blessed with victory. He was frequently consoled with the sight of his Angel Guardian and the Virgin-Mother of God. At length, being worn out with old age he received an intimation of his approaching death. When he was seized with his last sickness he received the holy Sacraments and exhorted his Religious brethren to love the captives. After which, he began most devoutly to recite the Psalm, “I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart,” and at these words: “He has sent Redemption to His people,” he breathed forth his soul into the hands of his Creator at Christmas midnight in 1256.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The Ransomer of Captives, Peter Nolasco, is thus brought before us by the Calendar a few days after having given us the Feast of his master, Raymund of Pennafort. Both of them offer to the Divine Redeemer the thousands of Christians they ransomed from slavery. It is an appropriate homage, for it was the result of the charity which first began in Bethlehem in the heart of the infant Jesus and was afterwards so fervently practised by these two Saints.

Peter was born in France but made Spain his adopted country because it offered him such grand opportunities for zeal and self-sacrifice. In imitation of our Redeemer, he devoted himself to the ransom of his brethren. He made himself a prisoner to procure them their liberty and remained in exile that they might once more enjoy the happiness of home. His devotedness was blessed by God. He founded a new Religious Order in the Church composed of generous hearted men who for 600 years prayed, toiled and spent their lives, in obtaining the blessing of liberty to countless captives who would else have led their whole lives in chains, exposed to the imminent danger of losing their faith.

Glory to the Blessed Mother of God, who raised up these Redeemers of Captives! Glory to the Catholic Church, whose children they were! But above all, glory be to our Emmanuel who, on His entrance into this world, thus spoke to his Eternal Father: “Sacrifice and oblation you wouldst not, neither are they pleasing to you; but a body you have fitted unto me. Then, said I, behold I come” (Psalm xxxix. 7, 8: cited by Saint Paul, Hebrews x. 5 and following) that is, “Behold, I come to offer myself as a Sacrifice.” The Divine Infant has infused this same spirit of love for mankind (for whom he so mercifully became the Ransom) into the hearts of such men as the Saint of today: they saw what God had done for man and they felt it a necessity to go and sacrifice themselves for the redemption of their suffering fellow creatures.

Our Lord rewarded Saint Peter Nolasco by calling him to Heaven at that very hour in which, 1200 years before, He Himself had been born in Bethlehem. It was on Christmas Night that the Redeemer of Captives was united to Jesus, the Redeemer of Mankind. Peter’s last hymn on Earth was the 110th Psalm, and as his faltering voice uttered the words “He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever,” his soul took its flight to Heaven. The Church, in fixing a day for the Feast of our Saint, could not of course take the anniversary of his death which belongs so exclusively to her Jesus, but it was just that he who had been honoured with being born to Heaven at the very hour which God had chosen for the birth of His Son upon the Earth should receive the tribute of our festive commemoration on one of the forty days of Christmas.

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You, O Jesus, came to cast fire upon the Earth and your desire is that it be kindled in the hearts of men. Your desire was accomplished in Peter Nolasco and the children of his Order. Thus do you permit men to co-operate with you in the designs of your sweet mercy and, by thus restoring harmony between man and his Creator, you have once more given to the Earth the blessing of fraternal love between man and man. Sweet infant Jesus, we cannot love you without loving all mankind and you who are our Ransom and our Victim will that we, also, be ready to lay down our lives for one another.

You, O Peter, were the Apostle and the model of this fraternal charity, and our God rewarded you by calling you to Himself on the anniversary of the birth of Jesus. That sweet Mystery which so often encouraged you in your holy labours has now been revealed to you in all its glory. Your eyes now behold that Jesus as the great King, the Son of the Eternal Father, before whom the very Angels tremble. Mary is no longer the poor humble Mother leaning over the crib where lies her Son. She now delights your gaze with her queenly beauty, seated as she is on a throne nearest to that of the divine Majesty. You are at home amid all this glory, for Heaven was made for souls that love as yours did. Heaven is the land of love, and love so filled your heart even when on Earth that it was the principle of your whole life.

Pray for us that we may have a clearer knowledge of this love of God and our neighbour which makes us like God. It is written that “he that abides in charity, abides in God, and God in him” (1 John, iv. 16). Intercede for us that the Mystery of Charity, which we are now celebrating, may transform us into Him who is the one object of all our love during this season of grace. May we love our fellow-creatures as ourselves, bear with them, excuse their weaknesses and serve them. May our good example encourage them and our words edify them. May we comfort them and win them to the service of God by our kindness and our charities.

Pray for France, which is your country, and for Spain, where you instituted your grand Order. Protect the precious remnants of that Order by whose means you worked such miracles of charity. Console all prisoners and captives. Obtain for all men that holy liberty of Children of God, of which the Apostle speaks (Romans viii. 21) and which consists in obedience to the law of God. When this liberty is in man’s soul he never can be a slave, but when the inner man is enslaved, the outward man never can be free. Oh pray that the fetters of false doctrines and passions may be broken, and then the world will enjoy that true liberty which would soon put an end to tyranny and make tyrants impossible.

23 JANUARY – SAINT RAYMUND OF PENNAFORT (Confessor)

Raymund was born at Barcelona to a noble family. Having been imbued with the rudiments of the Christian faith, the admirable gifts he had received both of mind and body were such that even when quite a boy he seemed to promise great things in his later life. While still young he taught humanities in Barcelona. Later on he went to Bologna where he applied himself with much diligence to the exercises of a virtuous life and to the study of canon and civil law. He there received the Doctor’s cap and interpreted the sacred canons so ably that he was the admiration of his hearers. The holiness of his life becoming known far and wide, Berengarius, the Bishop of Barcelona, when returning to his diocese from Rome, took Bologna in his way in order to see him. And after most earnest entreaties, he induced Raymund to accompany him to Barcelona. He was shortly after made Canon and Provost of that Church and became a model to the clergy and people by his uprightness, modesty, learning and meekness. His tender devotion to the Holy Mother of God was extraordinary and he never neglected an opportunity of zealously promoting the devotion and honour which are due to her.

When he was about 45 years of age, Raymund made his solemn profession in the Order of the Friars Preachers. He then, as a soldier but just entered into service, devoted himself to the exercise of every virtue, but, above all, to charity to the poor, and this mainly to the captives who had been taken by the infidels. It was by his exhortation that Saint Peter Nolasco (who was his penitent) was induced to devote all his riches to this work of most meritorious charity. The Blessed VirginMary appeared to Peter, as also to Raymund and to James I, King of Arragon, telling them that it would be exceedingly pleasing to herself and her divine child if an Order of Religious men were instituted whose mission it should be to deliver captives from the tyranny of infidels. After deliberating together, they founded the Order of our Lady of Mercy for the Ransom of Captives and Raymund drew up certain rules of life which were admirably adapted to the spirit and vocation of the Order. Some years after, he obtained their approbation from Gregory IX and made Saint Peter Nolasco, to whom he gave the habit with his own hands, first General of the Order.

Raymund was called to Rome by the same Pope who appointed him to be his Chaplain, Penitentiary and Confessor. It was by Gregory’s order that he collected together in the volume called the Decretals the Decrees of the Roman Pontiffs which were to be found separately in the various Councils and Letters. He was most resolute in refusing the Archbishopric of Tarragon, which the same Pontiff offered to him and, of his own accord, resigned the Generalship of the Dominican Order, which office he had discharged in a most holy manner for the space of two years. He persuaded James, the King of Aragon, to establish in his dominions the Holy Office of the Inquisition. He worked many miracles, among which is that most celebrated one of his having, when returning to Barcelona from the island of Majorca, spread his cloak upon the sea and sailed upon it, in the space of six hours, the distance of 160 miles, and having reached his convent, he entered it through the closed doors. At length, when he had almost reached the hundredth year of his age and was full of virtue and merit, he slept in the Lord, in the year of the Incarnation 1275. He was canonised by Pope Clement VIII.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The glorious choir of Martyrs that stands round our Emmanuel till the day of His Presentation in the Temple opens its ranks, from time to time, to give admission to the Confessors whom divine Providence has willed should grace the Cycle during this sacred season. The Martyrs surpass all the other Saints in number but, still, the Confessors are well represented. After Hilary, Paul, Maurus and Antony comes Raymund of Pennafort, one of the glories of the Order of Saint Dominic and of the Church in the thirteenth century.

According to the saying of the Prophets, the Messiah is come to be our Lawgiver. Nay, He is Himself our Law. His words are to be the rule of mankind. He will leave with His Church the power of legislation, to the end that she may guide men in holiness and justice in all ages. As it is his Truth that presides over the teaching of the Faith, so is it His Wisdom that regulates Canonical Discipline. But the Church, in the compilation and arrangement of her laws, engages the services of men whom she judges to be the most competent for the work by their knowledge of Canon Law and the holiness of their lives.

Saint Raymund has the honour of having been entrusted to draw up the Church’s Code of Canon Law. It was he who in the year 1234 compiled, by order of Pope Gregory IX, the five Books of the Decretals. And his name will ever be associated with this great work which forms the basis of the actual discipline of the Church. Raymund was a faithful disciple of that God who came down from Heaven to save sinners by calling them to receive pardon. He has merited the beautiful title conferred on him by the Church, of excellent Minister of the Sacrament of Penance. He was the first who collected together into one body of doctrine the maxims of Christian morality which regulate the duties of the confessor with regard to the Faithful who confess their sins to him. The Sum of Penitential Cases opened the series of those important Treatises in which learned and holy men have carefully considered the claims of law and the obligations of man, in order to instruct the Priest how to pass judgement, as the Scripture says, between leprosy and leprosy. In fine, when the glorious Mother of God who is also the mother of men, raised up, for the Redemption of Captives, the generous Peter Nolasco whom we will meet a few days hence at the crib of our Redeemer, Raymund was an important instrument in this great work of mercy, and it is with good reason that the Order of Mercy looks upon him as one of its founders, and that so many thousands of captives who were ransomned by the Religious of that Order from the captivity of the Moors, have honoured him as one of the principal authors of their liberty.

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Faithful dispenser of the Mystery of reconciliation, it was from the Heart of an Incarnate God that you drew the sweet charity which made you the friend of the sinner. You loved your fellow men and laboured to supply all their wants, whether of soul or body. Enlightened by the rays of the Sun of Justice, you have taught us how to discern between good and evil, by giving us those rules by which our wounds are judged and healed. Rome was the admirer of your knowledge of her laws, and it is one of her glories that she received from your hand the sacred Code by which she governs the Churches of the world.

Excite in our hearts, Raymund, that sincere compunction which is the condition required of us when we seek our pardon in the Sacrament of Penance. Make us understand both the grievousness of mortal sin, which separates us from our God for all eternity, and the dangers of venial sin, which disposes the tepid soul to fall into mortal sin. Pray that there may abound in the Church men filled with charity and learning who may exercise that sublime ministry of healing souls. Preserve them from the two extremes, of rigourism which drives to despair, and of laxity which flatters into sloth. Revive among them the study of the holy Canons which can alone keep disorder and anarchy from the fold of Christ. Oh you that had such tender love for captives, console all that are pining now in exile or in prison. Pray for their deliverance, and pray that we all may be set loose from the ties of sin which but too often make them, who boast of their outward liberty, be slaves in their souls.

You were the confidant of the Heart of Mary, the Queen of Mercy, and she made you share with her in the work of the Redemption of Captives. You have great power with this Heart which, after the Heart of Jesus, is our hope. Pray for us to this incomparable Mother of God that we may have the grace to love the Divine Child she holds in her arms. May she be induced, by your prayers, to be our Star on the Sea of this world, more stormy far than that which you passed when sailing on your miraculous barque. Remember, too, your dear Spain where you passed your saintly life. Her Church is in mourning because she has lost the Religious Orders which made her so grand and so strong: pray that they may be speedily restored to her, and assist her as of old. Protect the Dominican Order, of whose Habit and Rule you were so bright an ornament. You governed it with great prudence while on Earth. Now that you are in Heaven, be a father to it by your love. May it repair its losses. May it once more flourish in the universal Church and produce, as in former days, those fruits of holiness and learning, which made it one of the chief glories of the Church of God.

10 JANUARY – FERIA

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Magi have reached Bethlehem. The humble dwelling of the King of the Jews has been thrown open to them. There, says Saint Matthew, “they found the child, with Mary His Mother” (Matthew ii. 11). Falling down, they adore the divine King they have so fervently sought after, and for whom the whole Earth has been longing.

Here we have the first commencement of the Christian Church. In this humble stable we have the Son of God, made Man, presiding as Head over His mystical body. Mary is present, as the co-operatrix in the world’s salvation, and as the Mother of Divine Grace. Judah is represented by this Holy Queen and her Spouse Saint Joseph. The Gentiles are adoring, in the person of the Magi, whose faith is perfect now that they have seen the child. It is not a Prophet that they are honouring, nor is it to an earthly King that they open their treasures. He, before whom they prostrate in adoration, is their God. “See, I pray you,” says Saint Bernard, “and attentively consider how keen is the eye of faith. It recognises the Son of God whether feeding at His Mother’s breasts, or hanging on the Cross, or dying in the midst of suffering, for the Good Thief recognises Him on the Cross and the Magi recognise Him in the stable. He, in spite of the nails which fasten Him, and they, in spite of the clouts which swathe Him.”

So that all is consummated. Bethlehem is not merely the birth-place of our Redeemer: it is the cradle of the Church. Well did the Prophet say of it: “And you, Bethlehem, are not the least among the princes of Judah” (Matthew ii. 6; Micheas v. 2). We can understand Saint Jerome leaving all the ambitions and comforts of Rome to go and bury himself in the seclusion of this cave where all these mysteries were accomplished. Who would not gladly live and die in this privileged place, sanctified as it is by the presence of our Jesus, embalmed with the fragrance of the Queen of Heaven, filled with the lingering echoes of the songs of Angels, and fresh, even yet, with the memory of those ancestors of our faith, the holy Magi!

These happy Kings are not scandalised at the sight they behold on entering the humble dwelling. They are not disappointed at finding, at the end of their long journey, a weak babe, a poor Mother, and a wretched stable. On the contrary, they rightly understand the mystery. Once believing in the promise that the Infinite God would visit His creature Man and show him how He loved him — they are not surprised at seeing Him humbling Himself, and taking on Himself all our miseries that He might be like us in all, save sin. Their own hearts told them that the wound inflicted on man by pride was too deep to be healed by anything short of an extreme remedy so that, to them, these strange humiliations at Bethlehem bespeak the design and action of a God. Israel, too, is in expectation of the Messiah, but he must be mighty and wealthy and exalted, above all other kings, in earthly glory. The Magi, on the contrary, see in the humility and poverty of this weak Babe of Bethlehem the indications of the true Messiah. The grace of God has triumphed in these faithful men. They fall down before Him and, full of admiration and love, they adore Him.

Who could describe the sweet conversations they held with His Blessed Mother? for, the King Himself, whom they were come in search of, broke not, even for their sakes, the voluntary silence He had imposed on Himself by becoming an infant. He accepted their homage, He sweetly smiled upon them, He blessed them: but He would not speak to them.  Mary alone was to satisfy, by her sublime communications, the holy curiosity of the three pilgrims who represented the entire human race. How amply must she not have rewarded their faith and love by announcing to them the Mystery of that virginal birth which was to bring salvation to the world; by telling them of the joys of her own maternal heart, and by describing to them the sweet perfections of the divine child. They themselves would fix their eyes on the Blessed Mother and listen to her every word with devout attention. And oh how sweetly must not divine grace  have penetrated their hearts through the words of Her whom God Himself has chosen as the means to lead men to the knowledge and the love of His sovereign Majesty! The Star, which but an hour ago had brightly shone for them in the heavens was replaced by another of a lovelier light and stronger influence. And it prepared them for the contemplation of that God who calls Himself the bright and morning Star! (Apocalypse xxii. 16). The whole world seemed now a mere nothing in their eyes. The stable of Bethlehem held within it all the riches of Heaven and earth. They had shared in that long expectation of the human race, the expectation of four thousand years — and now, it seemed but as a moment, so full and perfect was their joy at having found the God who alone can satisfy the desires of man’s heart.

They understood and entered into the merciful designs of their Emmanuel. They gratefully and humbly contracted with Him the alliance He so mercifully made, through them, with the human race. They adored the just judgements of God who was about to cast off an unbelieving people. They rejoiced at the glories of the Christian Church which had thus been begun in their persons. They prayed for us, their posterity in that same Church.

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We, dear Babe of Bethlehem! — we the Gentiles who, by our regeneration, have become the posterity of these first Christians — we adore you as they did. Since their entrance into Bethlehem, long ages have passed away, but there has been an unbroken procession of people and nations tending towards you under the guidance of the Star of Faith. We have been made members of your Church, and we adore you with the Magi. In one thing are we happier than these first-born of the Church. We have heard your sacred words and teachings, we have contemplated your sufferings and your Cross, we have been witnesses of your Resurrection, we have heard the whole universe from the rising to the setting of the sun hymning your blessed and glorious Name: well may we adore and love you as King of the Earth!The Sacrifice by which all your Mysteries are perpetuated and renewed, is now offered up daily in every part of the world. The voice of your Church is heard speaking to all men, and all this light and all these graces are ours! The Church, the ever-enduring Bethlehem, the House of the Bread of Life, gives you to us, and we are forever feasting on your adorable beauty. Yes, sweet Jesus, we adore you with the Magi. And you, O Mary, teach us as you taught teach the Magi. Unfold to us, and each year more clearly, the sweet Mystery of your Jesus, and, at length, win us over unreservedly to His service. You are our Mother — watch over us, and suffer us not to lose any of the lessons He teaches us. May Bethlehem in which we have entered in company with the holy Magi, work in us the renovation of our whole lives.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
 

At Cyprus, blessed Nicanor, one of the first seven deacons, a man of admirable faith and virtue who was most gloriously crowned.
 

At Rome, Pope St. Agatho, who terminated a life remarkable for sanctity and learning by a holy death.
 

At Bourges in Aquitaine, St. William, archbishop and confessor, renowned for miracles and virtues. He was canonised by Pope Honorius III.
 

At Milan, St. John the Good, bishop and confessor.
 

In Thebais, the birthday of St. Paul, the first hermit, who lived alone in the desert from the sixteenth to the one hundred and thirteenth year of his age. His soul was seen by St. Anthony carried by angels among the choirs of apostles and prophets. His feast is celebrated on the fifteenth of this month.
 

At Constantinople, St. Marcian, priest.
 

In the monastery of Cusani, the birthday of St. Peter Urseolus (Orsini), confessor, previously Doge of Venice, and afterwards monk of the Order of St. Benedict, renowned for piety and miracles. His festival is kept on the fourteenth of this month.
 

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

Thanks be to God.