18 JANUARY – SAINT PRISCA (Virgin and Martyr)

 

Prisca, the thirteen year old daughter of a consul, was accused of being a Christian and was ordered by the emperor Claudius II to sacrifice to idols. On her steadfastly refusing, she was beaten and thrown into prison. The next day she was again urged to sacrifice but after refusing to do so she was beaten with rods and taken back to prison. On the third day she was exposed to a lion which however crouched at her feet, doing her no injury. After being tortured on the little horse with hooks and pincers, she was led outside of Rome and beheaded. An eagle is said to have defended her body from dogs until Christians came and buried it.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Pontus, the birthday of the holy martyrs Moseus and Ammonius, soldiers, who were first condemned to work in the metal mines, and then cast into the fire.

In the same country, St. Athenogenes, an aged divine, who, on the point of enduring martyrdom by fire, joyfully sang a hymn which he left in writing to his disciples.

At Tours in France, St. Volusian, bishop, who was made captive by the Goths, and in exile gave up his soul to God.

In the same place, St. Leobardus, anchoret, a man of wonderful abstinence and humility.

In Brittany, St. Deicola, abbot, a disciple of St. Columban.

At Como, St. Liberata, virgin.

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

Thanks be to God.

18 JANUARY – SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY (THE WEDDING AT CANA)

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The third Mystery of the Epiphany shows us the completion of the merciful designs of God on the world, at the same time that it manifests to us, for the third time, the glory of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The Star has led the soul to faith. The sanctified waters of the Jordan have conferred purity on her. The marriage feast unites her to her God. We have been considering, during this Octave, the Bridegroom revealing Himself to the Spouse. We have heard Him calling her to come to Him from the heights of Libanus. And now, after having enlightened and purified her, He invites her to the heavenly feast where she is to receive the wine of His divine love.

A feast is prepared (John ii). It is a marriage feast and the Mother of Jesus is present at it, for it is just that having co-operated in the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, she should take part in all that her Son does and in all the favours He bestows on His elect. But in the midst of the feast, the wine fails. Wine is the symbol of Charity or Love, and Charity had failed on the Earth, for the Gentiles had never tasted its sweetness. And as to the Synagogue, what had it produced but wild grapes? (Isaias v. 2) The True Vine is our Jesus, and He calls Himself by that name (John xv. 1). He alone could give that wine which gladdens the heart of man (Psalm ciii. 15). He alone could give us that chalice which inebriates (Psalm xxii. 5) and of which the Royal Psalmist prophesied.

Mary said to Jesus: “They have no wine.” It is the office of the Mother of God to tell Him of the wants of men, for she is also their Mother. But Jesus answers her in words, which are apparently harsh: “Woman! What is it to me and to you? My hour is not yet come.” The meaning of these words is that in this great Mystery He was about to act not as the Son of Mary, but as the Son of God. Later on the hour will come when, dying on the Cross, He will do a work in the presence of His Mother, and He will do it as man, that is, according to that human nature which He has received from her. Mary at once understands the words of her Son and she says to the waiters of the feast what she is now ever saying to her children: “Do whatever He will say to you.”

Now, there were six large water pots of stone there, and they were empty. The world was then in its Sixth Age, as Saint Augustine and other Holy Doctors tell us. During these six ages the Earth had been awaiting its Saviour who was to instruct and redeem it. Jesus commands these water pots to be filled with water, and yet water does not suit the Feast of the Spouse. The figures and the prophecies of the ancient world were this water, and until the opening of the Seventh Age when Christ, who is the Vine, was to be given to the world, no man had contracted an alliance with the Divine Word.

But, when the Emmanuel came He had but to say, “Now draw out,” and the water pots were seen to be filled with the wine of the New Covenant, the wine which had been kept to the end. When He assumed our human nature — a nature weak and unstable as water— He effected a change in it. He raised it up even to Himself, by making us partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter i. 4). He gave us the power to love Him, to be united to Him, to form that one Body of which He is the Head, that Church of which He is the Spouse, and which He loved from all eternity, and with such tender love, that He came down from Heaven to celebrate His nuptials with her.

O the wonderful dignity of man! God has vouchsafed, says the Apostle, to show the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which had no claim to, nay, were unworthy of such an honour. Jesus bids the waiters fill them with water, and the water of Baptism purifies us. But not satisfied with this, He fills these vessels, even to the brim, with that heavenly and new wine which was not to be drunk save in the kingdom of His Father (Romans ix. 23). This divine charity which dwells in the Sacrament of Love is communicated to us. And that we might not be unworthy of the espousals with Himself to which He called us, He raises us up even to Himself. Let us, therefore, prepare our souls for this wonderful union and, according to the advice of the Apostle, let us labour to present them to our Jesus with such purity as to resemble that chaste virgin who was presented to the spotless Lamb (2 Corinthians xi. 2).

Saint Matthew, the Evangelist of the Humanity of our Lord, has received from the Holy Ghost the commission to announce to us the Mystery of Faith by the Star. Saint Luke, the Evangelist of Jesus’ Priesthood, has been selected by the same Holy Spirit to instruct us in the Mystery of the Baptism in the Jordan. But the Mystery of the Marriage Feast was to be revealed to us by the Evangelist John, the Beloved Disciple. He suggests to the Church the object of this third Mystery by this expression: “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and He MANIFESTED His glory” (John ii. 11). At Bethlehem the gold of the Magi expressed the Divinity of the Babe. At the Jordan, the descent of the Holy Ghost and the voice of the Eternal Father proclaimed Jesus (known to the people as a carpenter of Nazareth) to be the Son of God. At Cana, it is Jesus Himself that acts, and He acts as God for, says Saint Augustine, He who changed the water into wine in the water pots could be no other than the same who every year works the same miracle in the vine. Hence it was that from that day, as Saint John tells us, His disciples believed in Him and the Apostolic College began to be formed.

Epistle – Romans xii. 6‒16

Brethren, having different gifts, according to the grace that is given us: either prophecy, to be used according to the rule of faith; or ministry, in ministering: or he that teaches, in doctrine; he that exhorts, in exhorting; he that gives, with simplicity; he that rules, with carefulness; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Hating that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good. Loving one another with the charity of brotherhood, in honour preventing one another. In carefulness, not slothful. In spirit fervent: Serving the Lord: Rejoicing in hope: Patient in tribulation: Instant in prayer: Communicating to the necessities of the Saints: Pursuing hospitality. Bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep. Being of one mind one towards another: not minding high things, but consenting to the humble.

Thanks be to God.

Gospel – John ii. 1‒11

At that time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and His disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what is it to me and to you? My hour is not yet come.” His mother said to the waiters, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus said to them, “Draw put now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast.” And they carried it. And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not from where it came, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water: the chief steward called the bridegroom, and said to him, “Every man at first sets forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but you have kept the good wine until now.” This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee: and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Saint Augustine of Hippo:

Even setting aside any mystical interpretation, the fact that the Lord was pleased to be asked and to go to a marriage shows plainly enough that He is the Author and Blesser of marriage. There were yet to be those of whom the Apostle has warned us as “forbidding to marry” (1 Timothy iv. 3) who say that marriage is a bad thing in itself and a work of the devil. Yet we read in the Gospel that when the Lord was asked, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” (Matthew xix. 3) He answered that it was not lawful, except it were for fornication. In which answer you will remember that He used these words: “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” They who are well instructed in the Catholic religion know that God is the Author and Blesser of marriage and that, whereas joining together in marriage is of God, divorce is of the devil. But it is lawful for a man to put away his wife in case of fornication, for by not keeping a wife’s faith to her husband she herself has first willed not to be wife. They also who have made a vow of their virginity to God and have thereby attained to an higher degree of honour and holiness in the Church, are not unmarried, for they are a special part of the marriage of the whole Church, which is the Bride of Christ. The Lord, being asked, went to the marriage to strengthen the marriage tie and to shed light on the hidden meaning of matrimony. In that marriage feast the bridegroom to whom it was said, “You have kept the good wine until now,” was a figure of the Lord Christ who has kept until now the good wine, namely the Gospel.

17 JANUARY – SAINT ANTONY OF EGYPT (Abbot)

Antony was born in Egypt of noble and Christian parents who left him an orphan at an early age. Having one day entered a Church, he heard these words of the Gospel being read: “If you will be perfect, go and sell all you have and give to the poor.” He took them as addressed to himself and thought it his duty to obey these words of Christ his Lord. Selling therefore his possessions, he distributed all the money among the poor. Being freed from these obstacles, he resolved on leading on Earth a heavenly life. But at his entrance on the perils of such a combat, he felt that besides the shield of faith with which he was armed, he must needs fortify himself with the other virtues, and so ardent was his desire to possess them that whoever he saw excelling in any virtue, him did he study to imitate.

Nothing, therefore, could exceed his continence and vigilance. He surpassed all in patience, meekness, mercy, humility, manual labour and the study of the Sacred Scriptures. So great was his aversion for the company of, or conversation with, heretics, especially the Arians, that he used to say that we ought not even to go near them. He lay on the ground when necessity obliged him to sleep. As to fasting, he practised it with so much fervour that his only nourishment was bread seasoned with salt, and he quenched his thirst with water. Neither did he take this his food and drink until sunset, and frequently abstained from it altogether for two successive days. He very frequently spent the whole night in prayer. Antony became so valiant a soldier of God that the enemy of mankind, ill-brooking such extraordinary virtue, attacked him with manifold temptations. But the Saint overcame them all by fasting and prayer. Neither did his victories over Satan make him heedless, for he knew how innumerable are the devil’s artifices for injuring souls.

Knowing this, he took himself into one of the largest deserts of Egypt, where such was his progress in Christian perfection that the wicked spirits whose attacks grew more furious as Antony’s resistance grew more resolute became the object of his contempt, so much so, indeed, that he would sometimes taunt them for their weakness. When encouraging his disciples to fight against the devil and teaching them the arms with which they would vanquish him, he used often to say to them: “ Believe me, Brethren, Satan dreads the watchings of holy men, and their prayers, and fasts, and voluntary poverty, and works of mercy, and humility, and, above all, their ardent love for Christ our Lord, at the mere sign of whose most holy Cross, he is disabled, and put to flight.” So formidable was he to the devils that many persons in Egypt who were possessed by them were delivered by invoking Antony’s name. So great, too, was his reputation for sanctity, that Constantine the Great and his Sons wrote to him, commending themselves to his prayers.

At length, having reached the hundred and fifth year of his age and having received a countless number into his institute, he called his monks together. And having instructed them how to regulate their lives according to Christian perfection, he, venerated both for the miracles he had wrought and for the holiness of his life, departed from this world to Heaven, on the sixteenth of the Calends of February (January 17).

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The East and West unite today in honouring Saint Antony, the Father of Cenobites. The Monastic Life existed before his time, as we know from indisputable testimony. But he was the first Abbot because he was the first to bring monks under the permanent government of one Superior or Father. Antony began with seeking solely his own sanctification. He was known only as the wonderful Solitary against whom the wicked spirits waged an almost continued battle: but in the course of time men were attracted to him by his miracles and by the desire of their own perfection. This gave him disciples. He permitted them to cluster round his cell and monasteries thus began to be built in the desert. The age of the Martyrs was near its close. The persecution under Diocletian, which was to be the last, was over as Antony entered on the second half of his course, and God chose this time for organising a new force in the Church. The Monastic Life was brought to bear upon the Christian world. The Ascetics, as they were called, not even such of them as were consecrated — were not a sufficient element of power. Monasteries were built in every direction, in solitudes and in the very cities, and the Faithful had but to look at these communities living in the fervent and literal fulfilment of the counsels of Christ, and they felt themselves encouraged to obey the precepts.

The apostolic traditions of continual prayer and penance were perpetuated by the monastic system. It secured the study of the Sacred Scriptures and theology, and the Church herself would soon receive from these arsenals of intellect and piety her bravest defenders, her holiest Prelates and her most zealous Apostles. Yes, the Monastic Life was to be and give all this to the Christian world, for the example of Saint Antony had given her a bias to usefulness. If there ever were a monk to whom the charms of solitude and the sweetness of contemplation were dear, it was our Saint. And yet, they could not keep him in his desert when he could save souls by a few days spent in a noisy city. Thus we find him in the streets of Alexandria when the pagan persecution was at its height. He came to encourage the Christians in their martyrdom. Later on, when that still fiercer foe of Arianism was seducing the Faith of the people, we again meet the great Abbot in the same capital, this time, preaching to its inhabitants that the Word is consubstantial to the Father, proclaiming the Nicene faith, and keeping up the Catholics in orthodoxy and resolution. There is another incident in the life of Saint Antony which tells in the same direction, inasmuch as it shows how an intense interest in the Church must ever be where the Monastic Spirit is. We are alluding to our Saint’s affection for the great Saint Athanasius who, on his part, reverenced the Patriarch of the Desert, visited him, promoted the Monastic Life to the utmost of his power, used to say that he considered the great hope of the Church to be in the good discipline of nonasticism, and wrote the Life of his dear Saint Antony.

But, to whom is due the glory of the Monastic Institute with which the destinies of the Church were, from that time forward, to be so closely connected as that the period of her glory and power was to be when the monastic element flourished and the days of her affliction were to be those of its decay? Who was it that put into the heart of Antony and his disciples the love of that poor and unknown, yet ever productive, life? It is Jesus, the humble Babe of Bethlehem. To Him, then, wrapped in His swaddling clothes, and yet the omnipotent God, be all the glory!

*****

We unite, great Saint, with the universal Church in offering you the homage of our affectionate veneration, and in praising our Emmanuel for the gifts He bestowed on you. How sublime a life was yours, and how rich in fruit were your works! Verily, you are the Father of a great people and one of the most powerful auxiliaries of the Church of God. We beseech you, therefore, pray for the Monastic Order, that it may re-appear in all its ancient fervour, and pray for each member of the great Family. Fevers of the body have been often allayed by your intercession and we beg for a continuance of this your compassionate aid — but the fevers of our soul are more dangerous and we beg your pity and prayers that we may be delivered from them. Watch over us, in the temptations which the enemy is unceasingly putting in our way. Pray for us that we may be vigilant in the combat, prudent in avoiding dangerous occasions, courageous in the trial and humble in our victory.

The angel of darkness appeared to you in a visible shape, but he hides himself and his plots from us. Here again, we beg your prayers that we be not deceived by his craft. May the fear of God’s judgements and the thought of eternity penetrate into the depth of our souls. May prayer be our refuge in every necessity, and penance our safeguard against sin. But above all, pray that we may have that which you counselled above all —the love of Jesus — of that Jesus who, for love of us, deigned to be born into this world so that He might merit for us the graces with which we might triumph — of that Jesus who humbled Himself even so far as to suffer temptation that so He might show us how we were to resist and fight.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Langres, in the time of Marcus Aurelius, the saints Speusippus, Eleusippus and Meleusippus, born at one birth, who were crowned with martyrdom together with their grandmother Leonilla.

At Rome, the finding of the holy martyrs Diodorus, priest, Marian, deacon, and their companions. While they were commemorating the birthdays of the martyrs in a sand-pit, the entrance was closed by the persecutors, and the vault over them broken down, and they thus obtained the palm of martyrdom in the reign of Pope St. Stephen.

At Bourges, the demise of St. Sulpicius, surnamed Pius, whose life and precious death are adorned with glorious miracles.

At Rome, in the monastery of St. Andrew, the blessed monks Anthony, Merulus and John, of whom Pope St. Gregory speaks in his writings.

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

Thanks be to God.

15 JANUARY – SAINT MAURUS (Abbot)

 

Maurus was by birth a Roman. His father Eutychius, a Senator, placed him, when a little boy, under the care of Saint Benedict. Trained in the school of such and so great a Master of holiness, he attained to the highest degree of monastic perfection even before he had ceased to be a child, so that Benedict himself was in admiration and used to speak of his virtues to everyone, holding him forth to the rest of the house as a model of religious discipline. He subdued his flesh by austerities such as the wearing a hair-shirt, night watching and frequent fasting, giving, meanwhile, to his spirit the solace of assiduous prayer, holy compunction and reading the Sacred Scriptures. During Lent he took food but twice in the week, and that so sparingly as to seem rather to be tasting than taking it He slept standing, or, when excessive fatigue obliged him to it, sitting or, at times, lying down on a heap of lime and sand over which he threw his hair-shirt. His sleep was exceedingly short, for he always recited very long prayers, and often the whole of the Psalms before the midnight Office. He gave a proof of his admirable spirit of obedience on the occasion of Placid having fallen into the lake and being nearly drowned. Maurus, at the bidding of the Holy Father, ran to the lake, walked dry-shod on the water and, taking the child by the hair of his head, drew him safe to the bank, for Placid was to be slain by the sword as a martyr, and our Lord reserved him as a victim which should be offered to Him. On account of such signal virtues as these, the same Holy Father made Maurus share the cares of his duties for, from his very entrance into the monastic life, he had had a part in his miracles. He had been raised to the holy order of Deaconship by Saint Benedict’s command, and by placing the stole he wore on a dumb and lame boy, he gave him the power both to speak and walk.

Maurus was sent by his Holy Father into France. Scarcely had he set his foot on that land than he had a vision of the triumphant entrance of that great saint into Heaven. He promulgated in that country the Rule which Saint Benedict had written with his own hand and had given to him on his leaving Italy, though the labour and anxiety he had to go through in the accomplishment of his mission were exceedingly great. Having built the celebrated monastery which he governed for 40 years, so great was the reputation of his virtues that several of the noblest lords of King Theodobert’s court put themselves under Maurus’ direction and enrolled in the holier and more meritorious warfare of the monastic life. Two years before his death, he resigned the government of his monastery and retired into a cell near the Oratory of Saint Martin. There he exercised himself in most rigorous penance with which he fortified himself for the content he had to sustain against the enemy of mankind who threatened him with the death of his monks. In this combat a holy Angel was his comforter who, after revealing to him the snares of the wicked spirit and the designs of God, bade him and his disciples win the crown prepared for them. Having, therefore, sent to Heaven before him as so many forerunners, a hundred and more of his brave soldiers, and knowing that he, their leader, was soon to follow them, he signified his wish to be carried to the Oratory where, being strengthened by the Sacrament of Life and lying on his hair-shirt as a victim before the Altar, he died a saintly death. He was upwards of 70 years of age. It would be difficult to describe the success with which he propagated monastic discipline in France, or to tell the miracles which both before and after his death, rendered him glorious among men.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Saint Maurus — one of the greatest masters of the Cenobitical Life and the most illustrious of the Disciples of Saint Benedict, the Patriarch of the Monks of the West — shares with the First Hermit the honours of this fifteenth day of January. Faithful, like the holy Hermit, to the lessons taught at Bethlehem, Maurus has a claim to have his Feast kept during the 40 days which are sacred to the sweet babe Jesus. He comes to us each January to bear witness to the power of that babe’s humility. Who, forsooth, will dare to doubt of the triumphant power of the poverty and the obedience shown in the crib of our Emmanuel when he is told of the grand things done by those virtues in the cloisters of fair France? It was to Maurus that France was indebted for the introduction into her territory of that admirable Rule which produced the great saints and the great men, to whom she owes the best part of her glory. The children of Saint Benedict by Saint Maurus struggled against the barbarism of the Franks under the first race of her kings. Under the second they instructed, in sacred and profane literature, the people in whose civilisation they had so powerfully co-operated. Under the third — and even in modern times when the Benedictine Order, enslaved by the system of Commendatory-Abbots and decimated by political tyranny or violence, was dying out amid every kind of humiliation — they were the fathers of the poor by the charitable use of their large possessions and the ornaments of literature and science by their immense contributions to ecclesiastical science and archaeology, as also to the history of their own country.

Saint Maurus built his celebrated Monastery of Glanfeuil, and Glanfeuil may be considered as the mother house of the principal monasteries in France, Saint Germain and Saint Denis of Paris, Maimoutier, Saint Victor, Luxeuil, Jumieges, Fleury Corbie, Saint Vannes, Moyen-Moutier, Saint Wandrille, Saint Waast, La Chaise-Dieu, Tiron, Cheza: Benoit, Le Bee, and innumerable other monasteries in France gloried in being daughters of Monte Cassino by the favourite Disciple of Saint Benedict. Cluny, which gave several Popes to the Church —and among them, Saint Gregory the Seventh and Urban the Second — was indebted to Saint Maurus for that Rule which gave her her glory and her power. We must count up the Apostles, Martyrs, Bishops, Doctors, Confessors and Virgins who were formed, for 1200 years, in the Benedictine cloisters of France. We must calculate the services, both temporal and spiritual, done to this great country by the Benedictine monks during all that period, and we will have some idea of the results produced by the mission of Saint Maurus — results whose whole glory redounds to the Babe of Bethlehem and to the mysteries of His humility which are the source and model of the Monastic Life. When, therefore, we admire the greatness of the saints and recount their wonderful works, we are glorifying our Jesus, the King of all Saints.

*****

How blessed was your mission, O favourite and worthy disciple of the great Saint Benedict! How innumerable the Saints that sprang from you and your illustrious Patriarch! The Rule you promulgated was truly the salvation of that great country which you and your disciples evangelised, and the fruits of the Order you planted there have been indeed abundant. But now that from your throne in Heaven you behold that fair France which was once covered with monasteries and from which there mounted up to God the ceaseless voice of prayer and praise, and now you scarce find the ruins of these noble sanctuaries — turn towards our Lord and beseech Him that he make the wilderness bloom once more as of old. Oh what has become of those cloisters in which were trained Apostles of Nations, learned Pontiffs, intrepid defenders of the Liberty of the Church, holy Doctors and heroes of sanctity — all of whom call you their second Father? Who will bring back again those vigorous principles of poverty, obedience, hard work and penance which made the Monastic Life be the object of the people’s admiration and love and attracted tens of thousands of every class in society to embrace it? Instead of this holy enthusiasm of the ages of faith, we, alas, can show little else than cowardice of heart, love of this life, zeal for enjoyment, dread of the cross and, at best, comfortable and inactive piety. Pray, great Saint, that these days may be shortened, that the Christians of the present generation may grow earnest by reflecting on the sanctity to which they are called, that our sluggish hearts may put on the fortitude of knowing and doing, at least, our duty. Then, indeed, will the future glories of the Church be as great and bright as our love of her makes us picture them to ourselves — for, all the Church needs in order to fulfil her destinies, is courageous hearts. If our God hears your prayer and give us once more the Monastic Life in all its purity and vigour , we will be safe and the evil of faith without earnestness which is now producing such havoc in the spiritual world will be replaced by Christian energy. Teach us, O Maurus, to know the dear Babe of Bethlehem and to get well into our hearts His life and doctrine, for we will then understand the greatness of our Christian vocation, and that the only way to overcome our enemy the world is that which He, our Master and Guide, followed.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Judaea, the holy prophets Habacuc and Michaeas, whose bodies were found by divine revelation in the days of Theodosius the Elder.

At Anagni, St. Secundina, virgin and martyr, who suffered under the emperor Decius.

At Cagliari in Sardinia, St. Ephisius, martyr, who, in the persecution of Diocletian and under the judge Flavian, having, by the assistance of God, overcome many torments, was beheaded and ascended to heaven.

At Nola in Campania, St. Maximus, bishop.

At Clermont in Auvergne, St. Bonitus, bishop and confessor.

In Egypt, St. Macarius, abbot, a disciple of St. Anthony, very celebrated for his life and miracles.

Also blessed Isidore, renowned for holiness of life, faith and miracles.

At Rome, St. John Calybites. For some time living unknown to his parents in a corner of their house, and later in a hut on the Tibertine Island, he was recognised by them only at his death. Being renowned for miracles, he was buried where he had died and a church was subsequently erected in his honour in the same place.

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

Thanks be to God.

16 JANUARY – SAINT MARCELLUS (Pope and Martyr)

 

Marcellus, a Roman, governed the Church from the reign of Constantius and Galerius to that of Maxentius. It was by his counsel that a Roman matron named Lucina made the Church of God the heir of all her property. He established 25 Titles, as so many districts, for the administration of baptism and penance to pagans converted to the Christian religion and for the providing burial to the martyrs. All this irritated Maxentius and he threatened Marcellus with severe punishment unless he laid down his pontificate and offered sacrifice to the idols. Marcellus heeded not the senseless words of man and was therefore sent to stables, there to take care of the beasts which were kept at the public expense. In this place Marcellus spent 9 months, fasting and praying without ceasing, and visiting by his letters the Churches he could not visit in person. He thence was delivered by some of his clergy, and was harboured by the blessed Lucina in whose house he dedicated a Church which is now called the Church of Saint Marcellus. Here the Christians assembled for prayer and the blessed Marcellus preached. Maxentius, coming to hear these things, ordered that Church to be turned into the stable for the beasts and Marcellus to be made its keeper. Sickened by the foul atmosphere and worn out by his many cares, he slept in the Lord. The blessed Lucina had his body buried in the Cemetery of Priscilla cemetery on the Via Salaria on the 17th of the Calends of February (January 16.) He sat 5 years, 1 month and 25 days on the throne of Peter. He wrote a letter to the Bishops of the Antioch province concerning the primacy of the Church of Rome, which he proves ought to be called “the Head of the Churches.” In the same letter there occurs this passage that no Council maybe rightly celebrated without the authority of the Roman Pontiff. He ordained at Rome, in the month of December, 25 Priests, 2 Deacons and 21 Bishops for various places.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The name of Marcellus is brought before us by the Calendar today — he was a successor of the glorious Hyginus in the papacy and in martyrdom, and their Feasts fall in the same season of the year. Each Christmastide shows us these two Pontiffs offering their Keys in homage to our Jesus, the invisible Head of the Church they governed. In a few days hence we will find our Christmas list of Saints giving us the name of a third Pope and Martyr — Fabian. These three valiant Vicars of Christ are like the three generous Magi — they offered their richest presents to the Emmanuel, their blood and their lives.

Marcellus governed the Church at the close of the last general Persecution. A few months after his death the tyrant Maxentius was vanquished by Constantine and the Cross of Christ glittered in triumph on the Labarum of the Roman Legions. The time for martyrdom was, therefore, very short, but Marcellus was in time. He shed his blood for Christ and won the honour of standing in Stephen’s company over the crib of the Divine Infant, waving his palm branch in his venerable hand. He withstood the tyrant Emperor who bade him abdicate the majesty of the supreme Pontificate, and this in the very city of Rome, for Rome was to be the capital of another King — of Christ — who, in the person of His Vicar, would take possession of it and her old Masters, the Caesars, were to make Byzantium their Rome. It is 300 years since the decree of Caesar Augustus ordered the census of the world to be taken which brought Mary to Bethlehem and where she gave birth to a humble babe, and now the Empire of that babe has out-grown the Empire of the Caesars, and its victory is upon the point of being proclaimed. After Marcellus, we will have Eusebius. After Eusebius, Melchiades, and Melchiades will see the triumph of the Church.

*****

What must have been your thoughts, glorious Marcellus, when imprisoned in a stable with poor dumb brutes for your companions! You thought upon Jesus, your Divine Master, how He was born in a stable and laid in a manger between two senseless animals. You appreciated the humiliations of Bethlehem and joyfully acknowledged that the Disciple is not above his Master (Matthew x. 24). But, from that stable in which the tyranny of an Emperor had thrust it, the majesty of the Apostolic See was soon to be set free and its glory made manifest to the whole Earth. Christian Rome, insulted in your person, was soon to receive an additional consecration by your martyrdom, and God was on the point of making over to your successors the palaces of that proud city which then knew not the glorious destiny that awaited her. Marcellus, you triumphed, like the Babe of Bethlehem, by your humiliations. Like Him, too, you had your cross and gave your life for your sheep. Forget not the Church of your unceasing love — bless that Rome which venerates so profoundly the spot where you suffered and died. Bless all the faithful children of Christ who keep your Feast during this holy Season, praying you to obtain for them the grace of profiting by the mystery of Bethlehem. Pray for them that they may imitate Jesus, conquer pride, love the Cross and be faithful in all their trials.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Morocco in Africa, the martyrdom of the holy martyrs of the Order of Friars Minor, Berard, Peter, Accursius, Adjutus and Otto.

At Arles, St. Honoratus, bishop and confessor, whose life was renowned for learning and miracles.

At Oderzo, St. Titian, bishop and confessor.

At Rhinocolura in Egypt, in the reign of the emperor Valens, the holy bishop Melas, who rested in peace after suffering exile and other painful trials for the Catholic faith.

At Fundi in Campania, St. Honoratus, abbot, mentioned by Pope St. Gregory.

In the monastery of Peronne, St. Fursey, confessor.

At Rome, St. Priscilla, who devoted herself and her goods to the service of the martyrs.

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

Thanks be to God.

15 JANUARY – SAINT PAUL OF EGYPT (First Hermit)

Paul, the institutor and master of hermits, was born in Lower Thebais in Egypt. He lost his parents when he was 15 years old. Not long after that, in order to escape the persecution of Decius and Valerian and serve God more freely, he withdrew into the desert where he made a cave his dwelling. A palm tree afforded him food and raiment, and there he lived to the age of 113. At about that time, he received a visit from Antony who was 90 years old. God bade him visit Paul. The two saints, though they had not previously known each other, saluted each other by their names. While holding a long conversation on the kingdom of God, a crow, which every day brought half a loaf of bread, carried them a whole one. When the crow had left them Paul said “See! our truly good and truly merciful Lord has sent us our repast. For sixty years I have daily received a half loaf. Now, because you have come to see me, Christ has doubled the portion for his soldiers.” They sat near the fountain and, giving thanks, they ate the bread. And when they were refreshed, they again returned the accustomed thanks to God and spent the night in the divine praises. At daybreak, Paul told Antony of his approaching death and begged him go and bring the cloak which Athanasius had given him, and wrap his corpse in it.

As Antony was returning from his cell, he saw Paul’s soul going up into Heaven amid choirs of Angels and a throng of Prophets and Apostles. When he had reached the hermit’s cell, he found the lifeless body: the knees were bent, the head erect and the hands stretched out and raised towards heaven. He wrapped it in the cloak and sang hymns and psalms over it according to the custom prescribed by Christian tradition. Not having a hoe with which to make a grave, two lions came at a rapid pace from the interior of the desert and stood over the body of the venerable Saint, showing how, in their own way, they lamented his death. They began to tear up the earth with their feet and seemed to strive to outdo each other in the work until they had made a hole large enough to receive the body of a man. When they had gone, Antony carried the holy corpse to the place, and covering it with the soil, he arranged the grave after the manner of the Christians. As to the tunic which Paul had woven for himself out of palm-leaves as baskets are usually made, Antony took it away with him and, as long as he lived, wore it on the great days of Easter and Pentecost.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

Today the Church honours the memory of one of those men who were expressly chosen by God to represent the sublime detachment from all things, which was taught to the world by the example of the Son of God born in a cave at Bethlehem. Paul the Hermit so prized the poverty of his Divine Master that he fled to the desert where he could find nothing to possess and nothing to covet. He had a mere cavern for his dwelling. A palm tree provided him with food and clothing, a fountain gave him with which to quench his thirst, and Heaven sent him his only luxury, a loaf of bread brought to him daily by a crow. For 60 years did Paul thus serve, in poverty and in solitude, that God who was denied a dwelling on the Earth He came to redeem and could have but a poor stable in which to be born. But God dwelt with Paul in his cavern, and in him began the Anchorites, that sublime race of men who, the better to enjoy the company of their God, denied themselves not only the society, but the very sight, of men. They were the Angels of Earth in whom God showed forth, for the instruction of the rest of men, that He is powerful enough and rich enough to supply the wants of His creatures who indeed have nothing but what they have from Him.

The Hermit, or Anchoret, is a prodigy in the Church, and it behoves us to glorify the God who has produced it. We ought to be filled with astonishment and gratitude at seeing how the Mystery of a God made Flesh has so elevated our human nature as to inspire a contempt and abandonment of those earthly goods which heretofore had been so eagerly sought after.

The two names, Paul and Antony, are not to be separated: they are the two Apostles of the Desert. Both are Fathers — Paul of Anchorites, and Antony of Cenobites. The two families are sisters, and both have the same source, the My stery of Bethlehem. The sacred Cycle of the Church’s year unites, with only a day between their two Feasts these two faithful disciples of Jesus in His crib.

*****

Father and Prince of Hermits, you are now contemplating in all His glory that God whose weakness and lowliness you studied and imitated during the sixty years of your desert-life: you are now with Him in the eternal union of the Vision. Instead of your cavern where you spent your life of unknown penance, you have the immensity of the Heaven for your dwelling. Instead of your tunic of palm leaves, you have the robe of Light. Instead of the pittance of material bread, you have the Bread of eternal life. Instead of your humble fountain, you have the waters which spring up to eternity, filling your soul with infinite delights. You imitated the silence of the Babe of Bethlehem by your holy life of seclusion. Now your tongue is for ever singing the praises of this God, and the music of infinite bliss is for ever falling on your ear. You did not know this world of ours, save by its deserts, but now you must compassionate and pray for us who live in it. Speak for us to our dear Jesus . Remind Him how He visited it in wonderful mercy and love. Pray His sweet blessing upon us, and the graces of perfect detachment from transitory things, love of poverty, love of prayer and love of our heavenly country.

14 JANUARY – SAINT HILARY OF POITERS (Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church)

Hilary was born of a noble family in Aquitaine, and was distinguished for his learning and eloquence. He was married but the life he led was almost that of a monk so that later on, on account of his great virtues, he was made Bishop of Poitiers, and so well did he discharge the episcopal office as to be the object of the deepest veneration on the part of the faithful. At that time the Emperor Constantius was inflicting every sort of harsh treatment, intimidation, confiscation of their property and banishment on the Catholics who refused to side with the Arians. Hilary set himself as a bulwark against the Arians, bringing on himself all their fury. On this account they many times sought to ensnare him, and at length, by the treachery of Saturninus, the Bishop of Aries, he was banished from the Council at Beziers into Phrygia. There he raised a dead man to life and wrote his twelve books On the Trinity, against the Arians. Four years later a Council was called at Seleucia, a town in Isauria, at which Hilary was compelled to assist. Thence he set out for Constantinople, where, seeing the extreme dangers to which the true faith had been exposed, he petitioned the Emperor, by three public petitions, to grant him an audience in order that he might obtain permission to hold a controversy with his adversaries concerning matters of faith. But Ursacius and Valens, two Arian Bishops, whom Hilary had refuted in his writings, were afraid of allowing so learned a man to continue there any longer, and persuaded Constantius to restore him to his episcopal see, under the pretence of showing him honour.

Then did the Church of Gaul open her arms, as Saint Jerome says, to receive Hilary on his return from battle with the heretics. Saint Martin, who was afterwards Bishop of Tours, followed the holy Doctor to Poitiers. How much he profited by the instructions of such a master is evidenced by the sanctity of his after-life. From that time he was left in perfect peace in the government of the Church of Poitiers. He led the whole of Gaul to condemn the Arian blasphemies. He composed a great many exceedingly learned books of which Saint Jerome, in a letter to Laeta, says that they may be all read without the slightest fear of meeting any false doctrine in them. He assures her that she may run through the books of Hilary without stumbling on anything dangerous. He passed from this Earth to Heaven on the Ides of January (January 13th), during the reign of the Emperors Valentinian and Valens, in the year of our Lord 369. Hilary was called by several Fathers and Councils, an illustrious Doctor of the Church and was publicly honoured as such in certain dioceses. At length, at the petition of the Council of Bordeaux, the Supreme Pontiff Blessed Pius IX Pius, after having consulted the Congregation of Sacred Rites, declared him to have been justly called, and to be in effect, a Doctor of the universal Church and ordered that on his Feast all should recite the Mass and Office Of Doctors.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

After having consecrated the joyous Octave of the Epiphany to the glory of the Emmanuel who was manifested to the Earth, the Church — incessantly occupied with the Divine Child and His august Mother during the whole time from Christmas Day to that on which Mary will bring Jesus to the Temple, there to be offered to God as the law prescribes — the Church, we say, has on her Calendar of this portion of the year the names of many glorious Saints who shine like so many stars on the path which leads us from the joys of the Nativity of our Lord to the sacred mystery of our Lady’s Purification. And firstly, there comes before us, on the very morrow of the day consecrated to the Baptism of Jesus, the faithful and courageous Hilary — the pride of the Churches of Gaul and the worthy associate of Athanasius and Eusebius of Vercelli in the battle fought for the Divinity of our Emmanuel.

Scarcely were the cruel persecutions of paganism over when there commenced the fierce contest with Arianism which had sworn to deprive of the glory and honours of His divinity that Jesus, who had conquered, by His Martyrs, over the violence and craft of the Roman Emperors. The Church had won her liberty by shedding her blood, and it was not likely that she would be less courageous on the new battlefield into which she was driven. Many were the Martyrs that were put to death by her new enemies — Christian, though heretical, Princes —it was for the Divinity of that Lord who had mercifully appeared on the Earth in the weakness of human flesh that they shed their blood. Side by side with these, there stood those holy and illustrious Doctors who, with the martyr-spirit within them, defended by their learning and eloquence the Nicene Faith which was the Faith of the Apostles. In the foremost rank of these latter we behold the Saint of today, covered with the rich laurels of his brave confessorship, Hilary — who, as Saint Jerome says of him, was brought up in the pompous school of Gaul, yet had culled the flowers of Grecian science and became the Rhone of Latin eloquence. Saint Augustine calls him the illustrious Doctor of the Churches.

Though gifted with the most extraordinary talents and one of the most learned men of the age, yet Saint Hilary’s greatest glory is his intense love for the Incarnate Word, and his zeal for the Liberty of the Church. His great soul thirsted after martyrdom and, by the unflinching love of truth which such a spirit gave him, he was the brave champion of the Church in that trying period when Faith, that had stood the brunt of persecution, seemed to be on the point of being betrayed by the craft of Princes, and the cowardice of temporising and un-orthodox Pastors.

*****

Glorious Hilary, you well deserved that your Church of Poitiers should, of old, address to you the magnificent praise given by the Roman Church to your illustrious disciple Saint Martin: “O blessed Pontiff who with his whole heart loved Christ our *' King and feared not the majesty of emperors! O most holy soul which, though not taken away by the sword of the persecutor, yet lost not the palm of martyrdom!” If the Palm of a Martyr is not in your, yet you had a Martyr’s spirit, and well might we add to your other titles of Confessor, Bishop and Doctor, the glorious one of Martyr, just as our holy Mother the Church has conferred it on your fellow-combatant Eusebius who was but Martyr in heart like yourself. Yes, your glory is great, but it is all due to you for your courage in confessing the Divinity of that Incarnate Word whose birth and infancy we are now celebrating. You had to stand before a Herod, as had the Magi, and, like them, you feared not: and when the Caesar of those times banished you to a foreign land, your soul found comfort in the thought that the infant Jesus too was exiled into Egypt. Oh that we could imitate you in the application of these Mysteries to ourselves!

Now that you are in Heaven, pray for our Churches that they may be firm in the Faith and may study to know and love Jesus, our Emmanuel. Pray for your Church of Poitiers which still loves you with the reverence and affection of a child, but since the ardour of your zeal embraced all the world, pray also for all the world. Pray that God may bless His Church with Bishops powerful in word and work, profound in sacred science, faithful in the guardianship of that which is entrusted to them and unswerving defenders of Ecclesiastical Liberty.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Nola in Campania, the birthday of St. Felix, priest, who (as is related by bishop St. Paulinus), after being subjected to torments by the persecutors, was cast into prison and extended, bound hand and foot, on (snail) shells and broken earthenware. In the night, however, his bonds were loosened and he was delivered by an angel. The persecution over, he brought many to the faith of Christ by his exemplary life and teaching and, renowned for miracles, rested in peace.

In Judaea, St. Malachi, prophet.

On Mount Sinai, thirty-eight holy monks, killed by the Saracens for the faith of Christ.

In the district of Raithy in Egypt forty-three holy monks, who were put to death by the Blemmians for the Christian religion.

At Milan, St. Datius, bishop and confessor, mentioned by Pope St. Gregory.

In Africa, St. Euphrasius, bishop.

In Syria, in the time of the emperor Valens, St. Julian Sabas the Elder who miraculously restored at Antioch the Catholic faith which was almost destroyed in that city.

At Neocaesarea in Pontus, St. Macrina, a disciple of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, and grandmother of St. Basil, who she brought up in the Christian faith.

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

Thanks be to God.

13 JANUARY – OCTAVE OF THE EPIPHANY (THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD)

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The thoughts of the Church today, are fixed on the Baptism of our Lord in the Jordan, which is the second of the three Mysteries of the Epiphany. The Emmanuel manifested Himself to the Magi after having shown Himself to the shepherds. But this manifestation was made within the narrow space of a stable at Bethlehem, and the world knew nothing of it. In the Mystery of the Jordan, Christ manifested Himself with greater publicity. His coming is proclaimed by the Precursor. The crowd that is flocking to the river for Baptism is witness of what happens. Jesus makes this the beginning of His public life.

But who could worthily explain the glorious circumstances of this second Epiphany? It resembles the first in this, that it is for the benefit and salvation of the human race. The Star has led the Magi to Christ. They had long waited for His coming, they had hoped for it. Now they believe. Faith in the Messiah having come into the world is beginning to take root among the Gentiles. But faith is not sufficient for salvation: the stain of sin must be washed away by water. “He that believes and is baptised, will be saved” (Mark xvi. 16). The time is come, then, for a new manifestation of the Son of God by which there will be inaugurated the great remedy which is to give to Faith the power of producing life eternal.

Now, the decrees of divine Wisdom had chosen water as the instrument of this sublime regeneration of the human race. Hence, in the beginning of the world we find the Spirit of God moving over the waters” (Genesis i. 2) in order that they might “even then conceive a principle of sanctifying power,” as the Church expresses it in her Office for Holy Saturday. But before being called to fulfil the designs of God’s mercy, this element of water had to be used by the divine justice for the chastisement of a sinful world. With the exception of one family, the whole human race perished by the terrible judgement of God in the waters of the Deluge.

A fresh indication of the future supernatural power of this chosen element was given by the dove which Noah sent forth from the Ark. It returned to him, bearing in its beak an olive-branch, the symbol that peace was given to the Earth by its having been buried in water. But this was only the announcement of the mystery. Its accomplishment was not to be for long ages to come. Meanwhile, God spoke to His people by many events which were figurative of the future Mystery of Baptism. Thus, for example, it was by passing through the waters of the Red Sea that they entered into the Promised Land, and during the miraculous passage a pillar of a cloud was seen covering both the Israelites, and the waters to which they owed their deliverance.

But, in order that water should have the power to purify man from his sins, it was necessary that it should be brought in contact with the Sacred Body of the Incarnate God. The Eternal Father had sent His Son into the world, not only that He might be its Lawgiver, and Redeemer, and the Victim of its salvation — but that He might also be the Sanctifier of water, and it was in this sacred element that He would divinely bear testimony to His being His Son and manifest Him to the world a second time.

Jesus, therefore, being now thirty years of age, comes to the Jordan, a river already celebrated for the prophetic miracles which had been wrought in its waters. The Jewish people, roused by the preaching of John the Baptist, were flocking there in order to receive a Baptism which could, indeed, excite a sorrow for sin, but could not effect its forgiveness. Our divine King approaches the river not, of course, to receive sanctification, for He Himself is the author of all Justice — but to impart to water the power of bringing forth, as the Church expresses the mystery, a new and heavenly progeny. He goes down into the stream, not, like Joshua, to walk dry-shod through its bed, but to let its waters encompass Him, and receive from Him, both for itself and for the waters of the whole Earth, the sanctifying power which they would retain for ever. The saintly Baptist places his trembling hand upon the sacred head of the Redeemer and bends it beneath the water. The Sun of Justice vivifies this his creature. He imparts to it the glow of life-giving fruitfulness and water thus becomes the prolific source of supernatural life.

But in this the commencement of a new creation we look for the intervention of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. All Three are there. The heavens open. The dove descends, not as a mere symbol prophetic of some future grace, but as the sign of the actual presence of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of love, who gives peace to men and changes their hearts. The dove hovers above the head of Jesus, overshadowing, at one and the same time, the Humanity of the Incarnate Word and the water which bathed His sacred Body. The manifestation is not complete. The Father’s voice is still to be heard speaking over the water and moving by its power the entire element throughout the Earth. Then was fulfilled the prophecy of David: “The Voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty has thundered. The Voice of the Lord breaks cedars (that is, the pride of the devils). The Voice of the Lord divides the flame of fire (that is, the anger of God). The Voice of the Lord shakes the desert, and makes the flood to dwell (that is, announces a new Deluge, the Deluge of divine Mercy)” (Psalm cxxviii. 3, 5, 7, 8, 10). And what says this Voice of the Father? “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew iii. 17).

Thus was the Holiness of the Emmanuel manifested by the presence of the dove and by the voice of the Father, as His kingly character had been previously manifested by the mute testimony of the Star. The mystery is accomplished, the waters are invested with a spiritual purifying power, and Jesus comes from the Jordan and ascends the bank, raising up with Himself the world, regenerated and sanctified, with all its crimes and defilements drowned in the stream. Such is the interpretation and language of the Holy Fathers of the Church regarding this great event of our Lord’s Life. The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates this wonderful mystery of Jesus’ Baptism, and we cannot be surprised at the Eastern Church having selected this Day for one of the solemn administrations of the sacrament of Baptism. The same custom was observed, as we learn from ancient documents, in certain Churches in the West. John Mosch tells us that as regards the Oriental Church, the Font was more than once miraculously filled with water on the Feast of the Epiphany, and that immediately after having administered the Sacrament, the people saw the water disappear. The Roman Church, even so early as the time of Saint Leo, decreed that Easter and Pentecost should be the only two days for the solemn administration of Baptism. But the custom of blessing the baptismal water with great solemnity on the Epiphany was still retained, and is observed even now in some parts of the West.

The Eastern Church has always religiously observed it. Amidst all the pomp of sacred rites, accompanied by his Priests and Ministers who are clothed in the richest vestments and followed by the whole people, the Bishop repairs to the banks of a river. After reciting certain beautiful prayers, which we regret not being able to offer to our readers, the Bishop plunges into the water a Cross richly adorned with precious stones. It represents our Lord being baptised by Saint John. At Saint Petersburg, the ceremony takes place on the river Neva, and it is through a hole made on the ice that the Metropolitan dips the Cross into the water. This same ceremony is observed by those Churches in the West which have retained the custom of blessing the baptismal water on this Feast. The faithful are very anxious to carry home with them the water of the stream thus sanctified, and Saint John Chrysostom, in his twenty-fourth Homily on the Baptism of Christ, speaks to his audience of the circumstance which was well known by all of them, of this water never turning corrupt. The same has been often seen in the Western Church.

Let us honour our Lord in this second Manifestation of His divinity, and thank Him, with the Church for His having given us both the Star of Faith which enlightens us, and the Water of Baptism which cleanses us from our iniquities. Let us lovingly appreciate the humility of our Jesus who permits Himself to be weighed down by the hand of a mortal man in order, as He says Himself, that He might fulfil all justice (Matthew iii. 15), for having taken on Himself the likeness of sin, it was requisite that He should bear its humiliation that so He might raise us from our debasement. Let us thank Him for this grace of Baptism which has opened to us the gates of the Church both of Heaven and Earth. And let us renew the engagements we made at the holy Font, for they were the terms on which we were regenerated to our new life in God.

* * * * *

O Lamb of God, you entered into the stream to purify it. The dove came down from Heaven, for your sweet meekness attracted the Spirit of love. And having sanctified the waters, the mystery of your Baptism was over. But, what tongue can express the prodigy of mercy effected by it! Men have gone down after you into the stream made sacred by contact with you. They return regenerated. They were wolves, and Baptism has transformed them into lambs. We were defiled by sin and were unworthy to stand near you, the spotless Lamb, but the waters of the holy Font have been poured upon us, and we are made as the sheep of the Canticle which come up from the washing fruitful, and none is barren among them (Canticles iv. 2), or as doves upon the brooks of water, white and spotless as though they had been washed with milk, sitting near the plentiful streams! (Canticles v. 12). Preserve us, O Jesus, in this white robe which you have put upon us. If, alas, we have tarnished its purity, cleanse us by that second Baptism, the Baptism of Penance. Permit us, too, dear Lord, to intercede for those countries to whom your Gospel has not yet been preached. Let this river of peace (Isaias lxvi.12), the waters of Baptism, flow out upon them and inundate the whole Earth. We beseech you, by the glory of your manifestation at your Baptism, forget the crimes of men which have hitherto caused the Gospel to be kept from those unhappy countries. Your heavenly Father bids every creature hear you: speak, dear Jesus, to every creature!

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, on the Via Labicana, the crowning of forty holy soldiers, a reward they merited by confessing the true faith under the emperor Gallienus.

In Sardinia, St. Potitus, martyr, who, having suffered much under the emperor Antoninus and the governor Gelasius, was at last put to death by the sword.

At Singidonum (now Belgrade) in Upper Moesia, of the holy martyrs Hermylus and Stratonicus, who were severely tormented and drowned in the river Danube under the emperor Licinius.

At Cordova, the holy martyrs Gumesindus, priest, and Servideus, monk.

At Poitiers in France, the birthday of St. Hilary, bishop and confessor of the Catholic faith, which he courageously defended, and for which he was banished four years to Phrygia, where, among other miracles, he raised a man from the dead. Blessed Pius IX declared him Doctor of the Church. His festival is celebrated on the fourteenth of this month.

At Caesarea in Cappadocia, St. Leontius, a bishop, who strongly opposed the Gentiles under Licinius, and the Arians under Constantine.

At Treves, St. Agritius, bishop.

In the monastery of Verzy, St. Viventius, confessor.

At Amasea in Pontus, St. Glaphyra, virgin.

At Milan, in the monastery of St. Martha, blessed Veronica of Binasco, virgin of the Order of St. Augustine.

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

Thanks be to God.

12 JANUARY – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, of Saint Tatiana, martyr, who under Alexander the emperor, being first torn with iron hooks and combs, then thrown unto beasts, and cast into the fire, but receiving no harm, was at last beheaded.

In Achaia, of Saint Satyrus, martyr, who as he passed before an idol, and blowing upon it, signed himself in the forehead with the cross, forthwith the idol fell to the ground; for which cause he was beheaded.

The same day, of Saint Arcadius, martyr, famous for his noble extraction, and miracles.

In Africa, of the martyrdom of Zoticus, Rigatus, Modestus, Castulus, and of forty soldiers.

At Constantinople, of the Saints Tygrius, priest, and Eutropius, reader, who suffered in the days of Arcadius the emperor.

At Tinoli, of Saint Zoticus, martyr.

At Ephesus, the passion of forty-and-two holy monks, who for the worship of holy images, under Constantinus Copronymus, having been most cruelly tormented, accomplished their martyrdom.

At Ravenna, of Saint John, bishop and confessor.

At Verona, of Saint Probus, bishop.

In England, of Saint Benedict, abbot and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.