8 AUGUST – SAINT JEAN-BAPTISTE MARIE VIANNEY (Confessor)

The famous “Cure d’Ars” was born at Dardilly near Lyons in France in 1786 to Matthieu Vianney and Marie Beluze. He was ordained a priest after the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, and spent his life as a pastor in an obscure village (Ars) in Central France, converting sinners and guiding souls to God. His reputed sanctity drew crowds of people from all parts to seek help and spiritual comfort from him. He died in 1859, was beatified by Pope Saint Pius X in 1905 and was canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1925.

Almighty and merciful God, by whose working blessed Jean-Baptiste Marie became a marvel of pastoral solicitude and constant ardour in prayer and penitence, grant, we beseech you, that we, after his example, and through his intercession, may be enabled to win to Christ the souls of our brethren and with them attain to everlasting glory. Through the same ...

20 JUNE – SAINT SILVERIUS (Pope and Martyr)

Silverius, a native of Campania, was the son of Pope Saint Hormisdas who had been married before becoming a bishop. Silverius entered the Church as a subdeacon on the death of Saint Agapetus I and succeeded him to the See of Peter in 536. During his pontificate the emperor Justinian recovered Rome and most of Italy from the Ostrogoths. Silverius’ doctrine and holiness shone forth in his pursuing of the Monophysite heretics, and his strength of soul in his firmness regarding the upholding of the sentence passed by Agapitus, who had deposed Anthimus from the Patriarchate of Constantinople for defending the heresy of Eutyches. Silverius would never allow his restoration, although the Empress Theodora repeatedly asked him to do so. For that Silverius was expelled from Rome and persecuted. After having been taken to Constantinople, he was ordered by Belisaurius into exile to the Italian island of Pandataria (now Ponza), which had become infamous as a place of banishment to which the enemies of pre-Christian emperors had been sent. From there he wrote to Bishop Amator: “I am fed upon the bread of tribulation, and the water of affliction, but nevertheless, I have not given up, and I will not give up, doing my duty.” Silverius died in 538 AD and his body was taken to the Vatican for burial there.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Papal succession is one of the principal facts in which is demonstrated the working of the Holy Ghost from the very first day of His descent upon our Earth. The legitimacy of the Popes as successors of Peter is indeed closely linked with the legitimacy of the Church herself in her character of Bride of the Man-God, and therefore His mission being to lead the Bride to the Spouse, the Holy Ghost cannot suffer her to wander in the footprints of intruders. The inevitable play of human passions, interfering in the election of the Vicar of Christ, may perchance for a while render uncertain the transmission of spiritual power, but when it is proved that the Church still holding, or once more put in possession of her liberty, acknowledges in the person of a certain Pope, until then doubtful, the true Sovereign Pontiff, this her very recognition is a proof that, from that moment at least, the occupant of the Apostolic See is as such invested by God Himself. This doctrine the Holy Ghost confirms by giving thereunto, in the Pontiff we are celebrating today, the consecration of martyrdom.

Saint Agapitus I died at Constantinople to which Theodorat the Goth had persuaded him to go in order to appease the anger of Justinian excited against this king by reason of his treasons. Scarcely had the news of this death reached the Arian prince than he, in terror of perhaps seeing some one unfavourable to his pretentions, raised to the pontificate, imperatively designated as successor to the deceased Pope, the deacon Silverius. Two months later the Justice of God struck the tyrant and the Church was set free. Doubtless Rome would have but exercised her proper right had she rejected the Head thus imposed on her by main force, for not to earthly princes has the Lord consigned the election of His Vicar upon Earth. But Silverius who had been an utter stranger to the violence used on his personal account, was in reality a man in every way fitted to the Supreme Pontificate: therefore, when the Roman clergy became free to act, they had no wish to withdraw from him their adhesion, until then certainly disputable. From that moment undoubtedly Silverius could not but be Head of the Church, the true successor of Agapitus, the Lord’s Elect. In the midst of a period thronged with snares, he proved how well he understood the exigences of duty in his exalted office, and preferred an exile which would eventually cost him his life, to the abandoning of a post in which the Holy Ghost had truly placed him.

* * * * *

THE waters of tribulation passed indeed over your soul, holy Pontiff. Your persecutors were not pagan Caesars: nor was it even (as in the case of John I who so shortly preceded you on the papal throne and in the arena of martyrdom), a heretical prince that over-powered you with sectarian hatred. No, a worthless woman having in her service treason emanating from the very Sanctuary was your oppressor. Even before death had done its work in you, there was to be found a son of yours coveting your dominion, heavy though such a burden was. But how could man rend asunder the indissoluble bond that bound you to Holy Church? The usurper could but be an intruder until such time as the all-powerful merits of your glorious death had obtained the transformation of the hireling into the legitimate Pastor, and had made this Vigilius become the heir of your own courage. Thus did the Invisible Head of the Church permit to Hell’s confusion that ambition should carry scandals even into the very Holy of Holies. The unshaken Faith of nations, in the age in which you lived, suffered nothing from all this, and the light resulting from these lamentable facts would but all the better serve to teach future ages that the personal character of a Pope, no, even his faults, cannot in any way affect the heavenly prerogative assured by God to the Vicar of His Christ. Keep up within us, dear Saint, the fruit of these teachings. If the Faithful be but well penetrated with true principles, they will never see waning in them that respect due to God in His representatives, whoever or whatever they may be, and scandal, no matter from where it comes, will be powerless to trammel their faith.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the demise of St. Novatus, son of the blessed senator Pudens and brother of the saintly priest Timothy, and of the holy virgins of Christ Pudentiana and Praxedes, who were instructed in the faith by the Apostles. Their house was converted into a church and bore the title of Pastor.

At Tomis in Pontus, the holy martyrs Paul and Cyriacus.

At Petra in Palestine, St. Macarius, a bishop who suffered much from the Arians and was banished to Africa where he rested in the Lord.

At Seville in Spain, the holy virgin Florentina, sister of the holy bishops Leander and Isidore.

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

Thanks be to God.

18 JUNE – SAINT EPHREM OF SYRIA (Confessor and Doctor of the Church)

Ephrem was born in about 306 AD in Nisibis in Roman Mesopotamia. He was baptised as a youth and became a monk, being present at the the first Council of Nicea, probably as a deacon or attendant to Bishop Jacob of Nisibis who appointed him as a teacher. Ephrem taught principally in the schools of Edessa (modern day Urfa in Turkey) where he became famous for his skill as an orator. Ephrem is popularly credited as the founder of the School of Nisibis which later became the centre of learning of the Syriac Orthodox Church. Ephrem left a large body of writings, including hundreds of hymns, poems and sermons, and an exposition of the Bible. Ephrem died in 378 and was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.

29 APRIL – SAINT PETER OF VERONA (Martyr)

Peter was born at Verona of parents who were infected with the heresy of the Manichees. But he himself, almost from his very infancy, fought against heresies. When he was seven years old he was one day asked by an uncle, who was a heretic, what they taught him at the school he went to. He answered that they taught him the Symbol of the Christian Faith. His father and uncle did all they could, both by promises and threats, to shake the firmness of his faith, but all to no purpose. When old enough, he went to Bologna in order to prosecute his studies. While there he was called by the Holy Ghost to a life of perfection, and obeyed the call by entering into the Order of Saint Dominic. Great were his virtues as a religious man. So careful was he to keep both body and soul from whatever could sully their purity, that his conscience never accused him of committing a mortal sin.

He mortified his body by fasting and watching, and applied his mind to the contemplation of heavenly things. He laboured incessantly for the salvation of souls and was gifted with a special grace for refuting heretics. He was so earnest when preaching that people used to go in crowds to hear him and numerous were the conversions that ensued. The ardour of his faith was such that he wished he might die for it, and earnestly begged that favour from God. His death, which he foretold a short time before in one of his sermons, was inflicted on him by the heretics. While returning from Como to Milan in the discharge of the duties of the holy Inquisition, he was attacked by a wicked assassin who struck him twice on the head with a sword. The Symbol of Faith which he had confessed with manly courage when but a child, he now began to recite with his dying lips, and having received another wound in his side, he went to receive a martyr’s palm in Heaven in 1252. Numerous miracles attested his sanctity. He was canonised by Pope Innocent IV in 1253.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The hero deputed this day by the Church to greet our Risen Lord was so valiant in the Good Fight that martyrdom is part of his name. He is known as Peter the Martyr, so that we cannot speak of him without raising the echo of victory. He was put to death by heretics and is the grand tribute paid to our Redeemer by the thirteenth century. Never was there a triumph hailed with greater enthusiasm than this. The martyrdom of Saint Thomas of Canterbury excited the admiration of the faithful of the preceding century, for nothing was so dear to our forefathers as the Liberty of the Church. The martyrdom of Saint Peter was celebrated with a like intensity of praise and joy. Let us hearken to the fervid eloquence of the great Pontiff, Innocent IV, who thus begins the Bull of the martyr’s canonisation:

“The truth of the Christian Faith, manifested, as it has been, by great and frequent miracles, is now beautified by the new merit of a new Saint. Lo! a combatant of these our own times comes, bringing us new and great and triumphant signs. The voice of his blood shed (for Christ) is heard, and the fame of his martyrdom is trumpeted through the world. The land is not silent that sweats with his blood. The country that produced so noble warrior resounds with his praise. Yes, the very sword that did the deed of parricide proclaims his glory... Mother Church has great reason to rejoice, and abundant matter for gladness. She has cause to sing a new canticle to the Lord, and a hymn of fervent praise to her God: the Christian people has cause to give forth devout songs to its Creator. A sweet fruit, gathered in the garden of Faith, has been set upon the table of the Eternal King: a grape-bunch, taken from the vineyard of the Church, has filled the royal cup with new wine... The flourishing Order of Preachers has produced a red rose whose sweetness is most grateful to the King, and from the Church here on Earth there has been taken a stone which, after being cut and polished, has deserved a place of honour in the temple of Heaven.”

Such was the language wherewith the supreme Pontiff spoke of the new martyr, and the people responded by celebrating his feast with extraordinary devotion. It was kept as were the ancient festivals, that is, all servile work was forbidden upon it. The Churches served by the Fathers of the Dominican Order were crowded on his feast, and the faithful took little branches with them that they might be blessed in memory of the Triumph of Peter the Martyr. This custom is still observed, and the branches blessed by the Dominicans on this day are venerated as being a protection to the houses where they are kept.

How are we to account for all this fervent devotion of the people towards Saint Peter? It was because he died in defence of the Faith, and nothing was so dear to the Christians of those days as Faith. Peter had received the charge to take up all the heretics who, at that time, were causing great disturbance and scandal in the country round about Milan. They were called Cathari but in reality were Manicheans. Their teachings were detestable, and their lives of the most immoral kind. Peter fulfilled his duty with a firmness and equity which soon secured him the hatred of the heretics, and when he fell a victim to his holy courage a cry of admiration and gratitude was heard throughout Christendom. Nothing could be more devoid of truth than the accusations brought by the enemies of the Church and their indiscreet abettors, against the measures formerly decreed by the public law of Catholic nations, in order to foil the efforts made by evil-minded men to injure the true Faith. In those times no tribunal was so popular as that whose office it was to protect theFaith, and to put down all them that attacked it.

It was to the Order of Saint Dominic that this office was mainly entrusted, and well may they be proud of the honour of having so long held one so beneficial to the salvation of mankind. How many of its members have met with a glorious death in the exercise of their stern duty! Saint Peter is the first of the martyrs given by the Order for this holy cause: his name, however, heads a long list of others who were his brethren in religion, his successors in the defence of the Faith, and his followers to martyrdom. The coercive measures that were once, and successfully, used to defend the Faithful from heretical teachers have long since ceased to be used. But for us Catholics, our judge ent of them must surely be that of the Church. She bids us today honour as a martyr one of her Saints who was put to death while resisting the wolves that threatened the sheep of Christ’s fold. Should we not be guilty of disrespect to our Mother if we dared to condemn what she so highly approves? Far, then, be from us that cowardly truckling to the spirit of the age which would make us ashamed of the courageous efforts made by our forefathers for the preservation of the Faith! Far from us that childish readiness to believe the calumnies of Protestants against an institution which they naturally detest! Far from us that deplorable confusion of ideas which puts truth and error on an equality and, from the fact that error can have no rights, concludes that truth can claim none!

* * * * *

The victory was yours, Peter, and your zeal for the defence of holy Faith was rewarded. You ardently desired to shed your blood for the holiest of causes and by such a sacrifice to confirm the faithful of Christ in their religion. Our Lord satisfied your desire. He would even have your martyrdom be in the festive season of the Resurrection of our Divine Lamb that His glory might add lustre to the beauty of your holocaust. When the death-blow fell upon your venerable head and your generous blood was flowing from the wounds, you wrote on the ground the first words of the Creed for whose holy truth you were giving your life.

Protector of the Christian people, what other motive had you, in all your labours, but charity? What else but a desire to defend the weak from danger induced you not only to preach against error, but to drive its teachers from the flock? How many simple souls who were receiving divine truth from the teaching of the Church have been deceived by the lying sophistry of heretical doctrine, and have lost the Faith? Surely the Church would do her utmost to ward off such dangers from her children: she would do all she could to defend them from enemies who were bent on destroying the glorious inheritance which had been handed down to them by millions of martyrs! She knew the strange tendency that often exists in the heart of fallen man to love error, whereas Truth, though of itself unchanging, is not sure of its remaining firmly in the mind, unless it be defended by learning or by faith. As to learning, there are but few who possess it. And as to faith, error is ever conspiring against and, of course, with the appearance of truth. In the Christian Ages it would have been deemed not only criminal, but absurd, to grant to error the liberty which is due only to truth. And they that were in authority considered it a duty to keep the weak from danger by removing from them all occasions of a fall — just as the father of a family keeps his children from coming in contact with wicked companions who could easily impose on their inexperience and lead them to evil under the name of good.

Obtain for us, O holy Martyr, a keen appreciation of the precious gift of Faith — that element which keeps us in the way of salvation. May we zealously do everything that lies in our power to preserve it, both in ourselves and in them that are under our care. The love of this holy Faith has grown cold in so many hearts, and frequent intercourse with heretics or free-thinkers has made them think and speak of matters of Faith in a very loose way. Pray for them, O Peter, that they may recover that fearless love of the Truths of Religion which should be one of the chief traits of the Christian character. If they be living in a country where the modern system is introduced of treating all religions alike, that is, of giving equal rights to error and to truth, let them be all the more courageous in professing the truth and detesting the errors opposed to the truth. Pray for us, O holy Martyr, that there may be kindled within us an ardent love of that Faith without which, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews xi. 6). Pray that we may become all earnestness in this duty which is of vital importance to salvation, that thus our Faith may daily gain strength within us, till at length we will merit to see in Heaven what we have believed unhesitatingly on Earth.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Paphos in Cyprus, St. Tychicus, a disciple of the blessed Apostle St. Paul, who called him in his epistles most dear brother, faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord.

At Cirtha in Numidia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Agapius and Secundinus, bishops, who, after a long exile in that city, added to the glory of their priesthood the crown of martyrdom. They suffered in the persecution of Valerian during which the enraged Gentiles made every effort to shake the faith of the just. In their company suffered Æmilian, soldier, Tertulla and Antonia, consecrated virgins, and a woman with her twin children.

The same day, seven robbers, who, being converted to Christ by St. Jason, attained to eternal life by martyrdom.

At Brescia, St. Paulinus, bishop and confessor.

In the monastery of Cluny, the abbot St. Hugh.

In the monastery of Molesmes, St. Robert, first abbot of the Cistercians.

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

Thanks be to God.

4 APRIL – SAINT ISIDORE OF SEVILLE (Bishop and Doctor of the Church)

Isidore, by birth a Spaniard, was an illustrious Doctor of the Church. He was born at Carthagena and his father Severianus was governor of that part of the country. He was solidly trained to piety and learning by his two brothers, Leander, Bishop of Seville, and Fulgentius, Bishop of Carthagena. He was taught Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He was put through a course of canon and civil law, and there was no science or virtue in which he did not excel. While yet a youth, he so courageously combated the Arian heresy which had long before infested the Goths who had entered Spain, that he with difficulty escaped being put to death by the heretics. After the death of Leander, he was, in spite of himself, raised to the episcopal See of Seville by the influence of king Eeccared, and with unanimous consent of both clergy and people. His election was not only confirmed by Apostolic authority, but Saint Gregory the Great, when sending him as usual, the Pallium, is said to have appointed him his own vicar, and that of the Apostolic See throughout all Spain.

It would be impossible to describe the virtues of Isidore as Bishop: how firm, humble, patient and merciful; how zealously he laboured for the restoration of Christian morals and ecclesiastical discipline, and how untiring he was in his efforts, both by word and writing, to establish them among his people; and, finally, how he excelled in every virtue. He was a fervent promoter of the monastic life in Spain and built several monasteries. He also built colleges in which he himself applied himself to the teaching the sacred sciences to the many disciples that flocked to him, among whom may be mentioned those two glorious Pontiffs, Ildephonsus Bishop of Toledo, and Braulio Bishop of Saragossa. In a Council held at Seville, he spoke with such power and eloquence that he may be said to have destroyed the heresy of the Acephali who were threatening to destroy the true faith in Spain. So great, indeed, was the universal reputation he had gained for piety and learning, that he had scarcely been dead sixteen years when, in a Council held at Toledo at which 52 bishops were present, Saint Ildephonsus himself among them, he was called the Illustrious Doctor, the new Glory of the Catholic Church, the most learned man who had been seen in those ages, and one whose name should never be mentioned but with great respect.

Saint Braulio not only compared him to Saint Gregory the Great, but said that he looked on him as having been sent by Heaven as a second Saint James the Apostle, to instruct the people of Spain. Isidore wrote a book On Etymologies, and another On Ecclesiastical Offices, and several others of such importance to Christian and ecclesial discipline that Pope Saint Leo IV hesitated not to say, in a letter addressed to the Bishops of Britain, that one ought to adhere to the words of Isidore with that same respect as is shown to those of Jerome and Augustine, as often as a difficult case should arise which could not be settled by Canon Law. Several sentences of his works have been inserted into the body of the Canon Law. He presided over the Fourth Council of Toledo, which is the most celebrated of all those that have been held in Spain. At length, after having driven the Arian heresy out of Spain, he publicly foretold the day of his death, and the devastation of the country by the Saracens. And having governed his See for about forty years, he died at Seville in 636. His body was first buried, as himself had requested, between those of his brother and sister, Leander and Florentina.

Afterwards, Ferdinand I, King of Castille and Leon, purchased it, for a large sum of money from Enetus, the Saracen governor of Seville, and had it translated to Leon. Here, a Church was built in his honour, and the miracles that are wrought by his intercession, have led the people to honour him with great devotion.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Church presents to us today, for our devout admiration, the memory of one of the holiest of her Bishops — Isidore, the Bishop of Seville, the most learned man of his age and, what is a still greater praise, the most zealous patriot and friend of his noble country. Let us study his virtues and confide in his patronage: both will help us to fervour during this holy Season.

Among Christian lands, there is one that has gained for herself the glorious name of the Catholic Kingdom. Towards the close of the seventh century Divine Providence subjected her to a most severe trial by permitting the Saracen hordes to invade her, so that her heroic children had to struggle for eight hundred years for the recovery of their country. Contemporaneously with Spain, Asia, also, and Africa fell under the Mussulman yoke, and have continued in their slavery up to the present day. Whence comes it that Spain has triumphed over her oppressors and that tyranny has never been able to make her children degenerate? The answer is easily given: Spain, at the period of her invasion, was Catholic, and Catholicity was the very spirit of the land: whereas those other nations that yielded themselves slaves to the Saracens were already separated from the Christian Church by heresy or schism. God abandoned them because they had rejected both the truth of Faith, and unity with the Church. They fell an easy prey to the infidel conqueror.

Nevertheless, Spain had incurred an immense risk. The race of the Goths, by their long invasion of her territory, had sowed the seeds of heresy: Arianism had set up its sacrilegious altars in Iberia. But God did not permit this privileged country to be long under the yoke of error. Before the Saracens came upon her, she had been reconciled to the Church, and God had chosen one family to be the glorious instrument in the completion of this great work. Even to this day, the traveller through Andalusia will find the squares of its cities adorned with four statues: they are those of three brothers and a sister: Saint Leander, Bishop of Seville; Saint Isidore, whose feast we are keeping today; Saint Fulgentius, Bishop of Carthagena; and their sister, Saint Florentina, a nun. It was by the zeal and eloquence of Saint Leander that King Reccared and his Goths were converted from Arianism to the Catholic Faith in 589. The learning and piety of our glorious Isidore consolidated the great work. Fulgentius gave it stability by his virtues and erudition, and Florentina co-operated in it by her life of sacrifice and prayer.

Let us unite with the Catholic Kingdom in honouring this family of Saints, and today in a special manner, let us pay the tribute of our devotion to Saint Isidore.

*****

Faithful Pastor! The Christian people honour your virtues and your services. They rejoice in the recompense with which God has crowned your merits. Hear the prayers that are offered to you during these the days of salvation. When on Earth your vigilance over the flock entrusted to thy care was untiring. Consider us as a part of it, and defend us from the ravenous wolves that cease not to seek our destruction. May your prayers obtain for us that fullness of graces needed for our worthily completing the holy Season which is so near its close. Keep up our courage. Incite us to fervour. Prepare us for the great mysteries we are about to celebrate. We have bewailed our sins, and though feebly, we have done penance for them. The work of our conversion has, therefore, made progress, and now we must perfect it by the contemplation of the Passion and Death of our Redeemer. Assist us, his faithful and loving Servant! Do thou, whose life was ever pure, take sinners under your care, and hear the prayers offered to you on this day by the Church. Look down from Heaven on your beloved Spain which honours thee with such earnest devotion. Revive her ancient ardour of Faith. Restore to her the vigour of Christian morality. Remove from her the tares that have sprung up among the good seed. The whole Church reveres your noble country for her staunch adhesion to the truths of Faith. Pray for her that she may come unhurt from the ordeal she is now being put through, and ever prove herself worthy of that glorious title of The Catholic Kingdom, which you helped her to gain.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Thessalonica, in the time of the emperor Maximian and the governor Faustinus, the holy martyrs Agathopodes, a deacon, and Theodulus, a lector, who, for the confession of the Christian faith, were thrown into the sea with stones tied to their necks.

At Milan, the demise of St. Ambrose, bishop and confessor, through whose labours, learning and miracles almost all Italy returned to the Catholic faith at the time when the perfidious Arian heresy was widely diffused.

At Constantinople, St. Plato, a monk, who for many years combated with invincible courage the heretics that were breaking sacred images.

In Palestine, the anchoret St. Zozimus, who buried the remains of St. Mary of Egypt.

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

Thanks be to God.

3 APRIL – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Taormina in Sicily, the bishop St. Pancratius, who sealed with a martyr’s blood the Gospel of Christ which the blessed Apostle St. Peter had sent him there to preach.

At Tomis in Scythia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Evagrius and Benignus.

At Thessalonica, the martyrdom of the holy virgins Agape and Chionia, under the emperor Diocletian. As they would not deny Christ, they were first detained in prison, then cast into the fire, but being untouched by the flames, they gave up their souls to their Creator while praying to Him.

At Tyre, the martyr St. Vulpian, who was sewn up in a sack with a serpent and a dog and drowned in the sea during the persecution of Maximian Galerius.

In the monastery of Medicion, in the East, the abbot St. Nicetas, who suffered much for the worship of holy images in the time of Leo the Armenian.

In England, St. Richard, bishop of Chichester, celebrated for holiness and glorious miracles. In the same country, St. Burgundofora, abbess and virgin.

At Palermo, St. Benedict, of St. Philadelphus, confessor, surnamed the Black, on account of his colour. He was of the Order of Friars Minor, and rested in the Lord on the third of April, with a reputation for miracles. Pope Pius VII placed him in the number of the saints.

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

Thanks be to God.

2 APRIL – SAINT FRANCIS OF PAOLA (Confessor)

Francis was born at Paula in Calabria, Italy. His parents, who were for a long time without children, obtained him from Heaven after having made a vow and prayed to Saint Francis. Then very young, being inflamed with the love of God, Francis withdrew into a desert where for six years he led an austere life, but one that was sweetened by heavenly contemplations. The fame of his virtues having spread abroad, many persons went to him out of a desire to be trained in virtue. Out of a motive of fraternal charity, he left his solitude, built a Church near Paula and there laid the foundation of his Order. He had a wonderful gift of preaching. He observed virginity during his whole life. Such was his love for humility that he called himself the last of all men, and would have his disciples named Minims. His dress was of the coarsest kind. He always walked barefooted and his bed was the ground. His abstinence was extraordinary: he ate only once in the day and not until after sunset. His food consisted of bread and water to which he scarcely ever added those viands which are permitted even in Lent. And this practice he would have kept up by his Religious under the obligation of a fourth vow. God bore witness to the holiness of His servant by many miracles, of which this is the most celebrated: that when he was rejected by the sailors, he and his companion passed over the straits of Sicily on his cloak, which he spread out on the water. He also prophesied many future events. King Louis XI France had a great desire to see the Saint and treated him with great respect. Having reached his ninety-first year, he died at Tours in 1507. His body, which was unburied for eleven days, so far from becoming corrupt, yielded a sweet fragrance. He was canonised by Pope Leo X.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The founder of a Religious Order, whose distinguishing characteristics were humility and penance comes before us to-day: it is Francis of Paula. Let us study his virtues and beg his intercession. His whole life was one of great innocence, and yet we find him embracing, from his earliest youth, mortifications which nowadays, would not be expected from the very worst sinners. How was it that he could do so much? And we, who have so often sinned, do so little? The claims of Divine Justice are as strong now as ever they were, for God never changes, nor can the offence we have committed against Him by our sins be pardoned unless we make atonement. The Saints punished themselves with life-long and austere penances for the slightest sins, and the Church can scarcely induce us to observe the law of Lent, though it is now reduced to the lowest degree of severity.

What is the cause of this want of the spirit of expiation and penance? It is that our Faith is weak, and our love of God is cold because our thoughts and affections are so set upon this present life that we seldom if ever consider things in the light of eternity? How many of us are like the King of France, who having obtained permission from the Pope that Saint Francis of Paula should come and live near him, threw himself at the Saint’s feet and besought him to obtain of God that he, the King, might have a long life! Louis XI had led a most wicked life, but his anxiety was, not to do penance for his sins, but to obtain, by the Saint’s prayers, a prolongation of a career which had been little better than a storing up wrath for the day of wrath. We, too, love this present life. We love it to excess. The laws of Fasting and Abstinence are broken not because the obeying them would endanger life or even seriously injure health, for where either of these is to be feared, the Church does not enforce her Lenten penances: but people dispense themselves from Fasting and Abstinence because the spirit of immortification renders every privation intolerable, and every interruption of an easy comfortable life insupportable. They have strength enough for any fatigue that business or pleasure calls for, but the moment there is question of observing those laws which the Church has instituted for the interest of the body as well as of the soul, all seems impossible. The conscience gets accustomed to these annual transgressions and ends by persuading the sinner that he may be saved without doing penance.

*****

Apostle of penance! Your life was always that of a Saint and we are sinners: yet do we presume during these days to beg your powerful intercession in order to obtain of God that this holy Season may not pass without having produced within us a true spirit of penance which may give us a reasonable hope of receiving His pardon. We admire the wondrous works which filled your life — a life that resembled in duration that of the Patriarchs, and prolonged the privilege the world enjoyed of having such a Saint to teach and edify it. Now that you are enjoying in Heaven the fruits of your labours on Earth, think upon us and hearken to the prayers addressed to you by the faithful. Get us the spirit of compunction which will add earnestness to our works of penance. Bless and preserve the Order you have founded. Your holy relics have been destroyed by the fury of heretics. Avenge the injury thus offered to your name by praying for the conversion of heretics and sinners, and drawing down upon the world those heavenly graces which will revive among us the fervour of the Ages of Faith.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Caesarea in Palestine, during the persecution of Galerius Maximian, the birthday of the martyr St. Amphian, who, because he reproved the governor Urban for sacrificing to idols, was cruelly lacerated and, with his feet wrapped in a cloth saturated with oil, was set on fire. After these painful tortures, he was plunged into the sea. Thus through fire and water he reached everlasting repose.

In the same city, the passion of St. Theodosia, a virgin of Tyre, who, in the same persecution, for having publicly saluted the holy confessors as they stood before the tribunal and begged of them to remember her when they should be with God, was arrested and led to the governor Urban. By his order, her sides and breasts were lacerated to the very vitals and she was thrown into the sea.

At Lyons, St. Nizier, bishop of that city, renowned for his saintly life and miracles.

At Como, St. Abundius, bishop and confessor.

At Langres, St. Urban, bishop.

In Palestine, the decease of St. Mary of Egypt, surnamed the Sinner.

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

Thanks be to God.

1 APRIL – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the passion of St. Theodora, sister of the illustrious martyr Hermes, who underwent martyrdom in the time of the emperor Hadrian under the judge Aurelian, and was buried by the side of her brother, on the Via Salaria, a short distance from the city.

The same day, St. Venantius, bishop and martyr.

In Egypt, the holy martyrs Victor and Stephen.

In Armenia, the holy martyrs Quinctian and Irenaeus.

At Constantinople, under the emperor Leo, St. Macarius, confessor, who ended his life in exile for the defence of the honour paid to sacred images.

At Grenoble, the bishop St. Hugh, who spent many years of his life in solitude and departed for heaven with a reputation for miracles.

At Amiens, the abbot St. Valery, whose tomb is made illustrious by frequent miracles.

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

Thanks be to God.

31 MARCH – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Thecua in Palestine, the holy prophet Amos, whom the priest Amasias frequently scourged, and whose temples Ozias, that priest’s son, pierced with an iron spike. Being carried half dead to his native place, he expired there and was buried with his forefathers.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Theodulus, Anesius, Felix, Cornelia and their companions.

In Persia, during the reign of king Isdegerdes, St. Benjamin, deacon. Because he would not cease to preach the word of God, sharp-pointed reeds were forced under his nails, a thorny stake driven through his entrails, and thus he consummated his martyrdom.

At Rome, the holy virgin Balbina, daughter of the blessed martyr Quirinus, who was baptised by Pope St. Alexander, and after overcoming the world, was buried on the Via Appia at her father’s side.

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

Thanks be to God.

30 MARCH – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, on the Via Appia, the martyrdom of blessed Quirinus, tribune, baptised with all his household by Pope St. Alexander who was imprisoned in his house. Under the emperor Hadrian he was delivered to the judge Aurelian, and, as he persevered in the confession of the faith, his tongue was plucked out, he was stretched on the rack, his hands and feet were cut off, and the sword terminated the course of his martyrdom.

At Thessalonica, the birthday of the holy martyrs Domninus, Victor and their companions.

At Constantinople, the commemoration of many holy martyrs of the Catholic communion, whom the heresiarch Macedonius in the time of Constantius put to death by unheard-of kinds of torments. For among other tortures, he cut off the breasts of Christian women by pressing them between the lids of chests, and seared the wounds with hot iron.

At Senlis, the demise of St. Regulus, bishop of Aries.

At Orleans in France, St. Pastor, bishop.

At Syracuse, St. Zosimus, bishop and confessor.

On Mount Sinai, St. John Climacus, abbot.

At Aquino, St. Clinius, confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

26 MARCH – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, on the Via Labicana, St. Castulus, martyr, chamberlain in the palace of the emperor. For harbouring Christians he was three times suspended by the hands, three times cited before the tribunals, and as he persevered in the confession of the Lord, he was thrown into a pit, overwhelmed with a mass of sand, and thus obtained the crown of martyrdom.

In the same city, the crowning of the holy martyrs Peter, Marcian, Jovinus, Thecla, Cassian and others.

At Pentapolis in Lybia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Theodore, bishop, Irenaeus, deacon, Serapion and Ammonius, lectors.

At Sirmium, the holy martyrs Montanus, priest, and Maxima, who were cast into a river for the faith of Christ.

Also the holy martyrs Quadratus, Theodosius, Emmanuel and forty others.

At Alexandria, the holy martyrs Eutychius and others, who died by the sword for the Catholic faith in the time of Constantine under the Arian bishop George.

The same day, St. Ludger, bishop of Munster, who preached the Gospel to the Saxons.

At Saragossa in Spain, St. Braulio, bishop and confessor.

At Treves, St. Felix, bishop.

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

Thanks be to God.

23 MARCH – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Africa, the holy martyrs Victorian, pro-consul of Carthage, and two brothers, of Aquaregia. Also two merchants, named Frementius, who, bishop Victor Africanus tells us, were subjected to most atrocious torments for their courageous confession of the Catholic faith, and gloriously crowned under the Arian king Hunneric, during the persecution of the Vandals.

Also in Africa, St. Fidelis, martyr.

In the same country, St. Felix, and twenty others.

At Caesarea in Palestine, the holy martyrs Nicon, and twenty-nine others.

Also the crowning of the holy martyrs Domitius, Pelagia, Aquila, Eparchius and Theodosia.

At Lima in Peru, the archbishop St. Turibius, through whose labours faith and ecclesiastical discipline were diffused through America.

At Antioch, St. Theodulus, priest.

At Caesarea, St. Julian, confessor.

In Campania, St. Benedict, a monk, who was shut up by the Goths in a burning furnace, but was the next day found uninjured.

At Barcelona, in Spain, St. Joseph Oriol, priest and beneficiary of the church of St. Mary of the Kings. He was remarkable for his love of poverty and his charity towards the needy and the infirm. Distinguished both in life and after death by the working of miracles, he was placed in the Martyrology by Pope St. Pius X.

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

Thanks be to God.

14 MARCH – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the birthday of forty-seven holy martyrs who were baptised by the blessed Apostle St. Peter while he was kept in the Mamertine Prison with his fellow blessed Apostle St. Paul. After a detention of nine months they all fell by the sword of Nero, after most generously confessing the faith.

Also at Rome, St. Leo, bishop and martyr.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Peter and Aphrodisius, who obtained the crown of martyrdom in the persecution of the Vandals.

At Carrhae in Mesopotamia, the patrician St. Eutychius and his companions, who were killed by Evelid, king of Arabia, for the confession of the faith.

In the province of Valeria, two saintly monks, who were hanged on a tree by the Lombards, and though dead, were heard singing psalms even by their enemies. In the same persecution, a deacon of the church of Marsico was beheaded for the confession of the faith.

At Halberstadt in Germany, the demise of the blessed queen Matilda, mother of the emperor Otho I, celebrated for her humility and patience.

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

Thanks be to God.

28 FEBRUARY – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the birthday of the holy martyrs Macarius, Rufinus, Justus and Theophilus.

At Alexandria, the passion of the Saints Caerealis, Pupulus, Caius and Serapion. In the same city, in the reign of the emperor Valerian, the commemoration of the holy priests, deacons and other Christians in great number who encountered death most willingly by nursing the victims of a most deadly pestilence then raging. They have been generally revered as martyrs by the pious faithful.

In the territory of Lyons, on Mount Jura, the demise of St. Romanus, abbot, who was the first to lead the heremitical life there. His reputation for virtues and miracles brought under his guidance numerous monks.

At Pavia, the translation, from the island of Sardinia, of the body of St. Augustine, bishop, by Luitprand, king of the Lombards.

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

Thanks be to God.

21 FEBRUARY – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Sicily, in the reign of Diocletian, the birthday of seventy-nine holy martyrs who deserved by various torments to receive an immortal crown for the confession of their faith.

At Adrumetum in Africa, during the persecution of the Vandals, the holy martyrs Verulus, Secundinus, Syricius, Felix, Servulus, Saturninus, Fortunatus and sixteen others who were crowned with martyrdom for the confession of the Catholic faith.

At Scythopolis in Palestine, St. Severian, bishop and martyr.

At Damascus, St. Peter Mavimenus, who was killed by some Arabs who visited him in his sickness because he said to them, “Whoever does not embrace the Christian and Catholic faith is lost, like your false prophet Muhammed.”

At Ravenna, St. Maximian, bishop and confessor.

At Metz, St. Felix, bishop.

At Brescia, St. Paterius, bishop.

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

Thanks be to God.

17 FEBRUARY – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the passion of St. Faustinus, whom forty-four others followed to receive the crown of martyrdom.

In Persia, during the persecution of Decius, the birthday of blessed Polychronius, bishop of Babylon, who, being struck in the mouth with stones, stretched out his hands, lifted up his eyes to heaven and expired.

At Concordia, the holy martyrs Donatus, Secundian, and Romulus, with eighty-six others, partakers of the same crown.

At Caesarea in Palestine, St. Theodulus, an aged man, in the service of the governor Firmilian. Moved by the example of the martyrs, he confessed Christ with constancy, was fastened to a cross, and thus by a noble victory merited the palm of martyrdom.

In the same place, St. Julian, a Cappadocian, who, because he had kissed the relics of the martyrs, was denounced as a Christian and led to the governor who had him consumed with a slow fire.

In the territory of Terouanne, St. Silvinus, bishop of Toulouse.

In Ireland, St. Fintan, priest and confessor.

At Florence, blessed Alexius Falconieri, confessor, one of the seven Founders of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, in the one hundred and tenth year of his age, terminated his blessed career in the consoling presence of Jesus Christ and the angels.

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

Thanks be to God.

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.

*****

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.

* * * * *

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.

* * * * *

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.