22 JUNE – SAINT ALBAN (First Martyr of England)

During the persecution of Christians under Diocletian and Maximian, Alban, a pagan, received into his house a priest fleeing persecution. When he saw how the priest persevered day and night in constant watching and prayer, he was touched by divine grace, so that he was fain to imitate the example of his faith and piety. Alban converted to the faith of Christ. The persecutors came to Alban’s house searching for the priest. Disguised in the priest’s clothes, Alban presented himself to the soldiers in place of his master and guest. They bound him with thongs and led him to the judge who, finding himself deceived, ordered that Alban be beaten. But seeing that he could not overcome him by torments, or win him over from the worship of the Christian religion, he commanded him to be beheaded. Alban having reached the brow of the neighbouring hill, the executioner who was to dispatch him, admonished by a divine inspiration, cast away his sword and threw himself at Alban, desiring to die with him, or instead of him. They were both beheaded.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Let the heavens rejoice, let the Island of Saints exult, and let all the universe shout with her a song of victory: for now indeed has Earth been everywhere purpled with the blood of testimony. Lo, Alban, Proto-Martyr of fruitful Britain, seals today the conquest of the far West. Already, doubtless, even from the earliest days, had Albion yielded abundant flowers beneath the footsteps of the Spouse whose giant stride (Psalms xviii. 6) had reached even to her. Later on Eleutherius and Lucius had added the fresh charm of other plants to this new garden in which far away from sterile Judah the Man-God could forget the haughty disdain of the daughter of Sion. But if Jesus loves flower-beds exhaling the fragrance of confession and praise (Canticles vi. 1), yet not of blossoms of peace alone must the garland be woven for the potent Son of the God of armies (Psalms xliv. 4). The beauty He received from His fair Mother (Canticles v. 10) He has enhanced by the gore He shed on the great Battle Field. So if the Bride would obtain favour in His eyes, let her mingle with her glistening lilies the crimson’s richer hue (Canticles vi. 6).

Glory, then, to our Proto-Martyr! Glory to him by whom Albion, fully arrayed for the Nuptials of the Lamb, advances side-by-side with the most illustrious Churches and takes her seat with them at the Banquet of the Strong! (Apocalypse xix. 7) From the heights of Heaven the glorious choir of Apostles and the white robed army of Martyrs are thrilling with joy, as in the most brilliant days of the 300 years’ struggle, prolonged perchance just on purpose to give ancient Britain a chance of sharing in their triumph. Persecution is nearing its close, and even from this British soil, the last to be touched by the tidal wave of martyrs’ blood, will deliverance come.

On the 22nd of June 303, Alban, our new Stephen, dies, breathing a prayer for his murderers beside the banks of an affluent of old Thames: on the 25th of of July, 306, Constantine, having just escaped the snares of Galerius, is proclaimed at York and he thence sets forth to unfurl throughout the world the standard of salvation. But presently the victorious combats of the cross were succeeded by heresy’s contesting struggle by which Satan wrested from God nations already won to Christ in holy baptism. While the East was going astray in a misconception of the Mystery of the Incarnate Word, the West began to carp at doctrines concerning Free will and Grace: that fatal stumbling-block which the enemy would again throw in the way later on.

Rejected by the Church, together with Pelagius who had cast it, but a passing shock was at that time felt. Once again, in this instance, was the curbing point of Hell’s efforts the tomb of Alban. Here were the final troubles caused by the Pelagian attack extinguished. Saint Lupus of Troyes and Saint Germanus of Auxerre, sent from the Continent to maintain beyond the Straits the cause of grace, ascribed to our British Martyr the whole honour of their victory by which peace was given to the Western Church. To show that this second defeat of Hell’s power was indeed the completion of that which a century previously had ended the era of blood, these two holy Bishops respectfully opened the glorious tomb and united to the remains of our noble Alban some relics of his predecessors, the Apostles and Martyrs, the fruit of whose triumph had just been definitively sealed.

For a thousand years were the depths of the abyss closed (Apocalypse xx. 3): years of power, years of honour for Alban, venerated alike by each race that succeeded one the other, on this British shore. The Anglo-Saxons outstripped the Britons in the magnificence of the structure they raised on the site of the Church formerly built over the Martyr’s tomb in the first era of his victory. The Danes even considered his holy body to be their noblest conquest. And under the Normans the Abbey founded by Offa of Mercia beheld Popes and Kings concert together, in raising its prerogatives and glory to the highest pitch. No monastic church on this side of the Channel could compare with Saint Alban’s in its privileges, and just as Alban is counted England’s first Martyr, so was the Abbot of his Monastery held first in dignity among all Abbots of this realm.

For a thousand years, Alban too had reigned with Christ (Apocalypse xx. 4). At last came the epoch when the depths of the abyss were to be let loose for a little time and Satan unchained would once again seduce nations. Erst vanquished by the Saints, power was now given him to make war with them, and to overcome them, in his turn (Apocalypse xiii. 7). The disciple is not above his Master (John xv. 18, 25): like his Lord, Alban too was rejected by his own. Hated without cause, he beheld the illustrious Monastery destroyed that had been Albion’s pride in the palmy days of her history. And scarce was even the venerable Church itself saved in which God’s athlete had so long reposed, shedding benefits around far and near. But after all, what could he do now in a profaned Sanctuary in which strange rites had banished those of our forefathers, and condemned the Faith for which Martyrs had bled and died? So Alban was ignominiously expelled, and his ashes scattered to the winds.

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“I was a stranger and you took me in,” (Matthew xxv. 25) will our Lord say to His Elect on the great Day of Judgement, and to the inquiries of the Elect as to the meaning of this word of His, Our Lord will explain that whatever they did to the least of their brethren, they did it to Him. But you, Alban, know all this beforehand: that last hour in which both the good and the wicked will hearken to their eternal doom will reveal to the world on this point only what you experienced in your very first steps along the path of salvation. By harbouring within your yet pagan house this unknown fugitive, you deemed that you were but yielding to the instincts of a heart naturally generous and faithful to the laws of hospitality! But, far other than you wisted was this unknown stranger that came knocking at your door, for ere he left you, it was manifest that Christ Himself had become your guest. Full soon did He invite you in return to come and dwell in His own Home, and the triumphal gate of martyrdom presently opened to you His heavenly palace.

The way to God traced in your blood lies opened wide in this great island. Long did the foe seem unable to cast his snares here, and your fellow-citizens of Earth were to be seen flocking in crowds along this blessed pathway. Yes, nations you never knew came in their turn also, esteeming it an honour to forget, as it were, diversity of origin and rights of conquest when uniting in your name, Alban, to do homage to you, glorious Proto-Martyr of this land. Thus were you both the stem of this supernatural efflorescence which made [this] to be the “Island of Saints,” and the link of national unity in the diverse phases of [its] history. You gathered together the sons of Saint Benedict around the couch on which you were reposing while awaiting the day of Resurrection. You assembled them in that splendid temple dedicated to you by a grateful people. You invited them to the ministry of divine praise by which, celebrating past benefits and daily blessings, they might also merit for your fatherland a continuation of Heaven’s favours.

Grand indeed were those ages in which God by His Saints thus ruled the world. And sadly misguided are those that think to serve the cause of the Lord and of nations by suppressing the homage of foregoing generations to these their illustrious protectors. Since you were treated, Alban, like your divine Master, the King of Saints, like Him also remember not the injuries we have inflicted on you. Rather, Proto-Martyr, exult in the triumph of all the other warriors who swell the ranks of the sacred phalanx, placed under your command in our eternal Home. If for a while the era of martyrs seems once again to be closed, consider those of your children whose constancy has survived so many rough assaults. Bless those families in which has ever been kept alive the Faith of the old times: a noble-hearted race are they whose forefathers exposed themselves like you, to death, in the harbouring of priests. Uphold the new sons of the Cloister in maintaining at a high standard those monastic traditions handed to them even in the very midst of the tempest.

Multiply everywhere labourers called in to repair our ruins. The voice of the Lord is heard once more in Albion. The holy virtue of hospitality which was, in your case, the beginning of salvation, has proved to her also in these our own days an occasion for her return to the ancestral faith, just as though God willed that in this instance likewise, her history should be linked with yours. Like you, she has received priests from beyond the seas, driven to her coasts by the storm of persecution. Like you, has she not even already heard that word of divine approval: “I was a stranger and you took me in”? May she then go the whole length in her imitation of you, her protector and father, by following the heavenly invitation to the last, so as to conclude with the ancient writer of the acts of your martyrdom: “The known truth will be our island’s joy. Great will be our gladness when the fetters of falsehood are broken. For my part, without further delay, I will go to Rome, I will there cast off my error, there merit reconciliation and pardon of my faults. Yes, this very book I hold in my hands I will present to the revision of them that dwell in that City, so that should anything unseemly be written in it, the Lord Jesus Christ may vouchsafe to correct it by their means. He who reigns God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

21 JUNE – SAINT ALOYSIUS GONZAGA (Confessor)

Aloysius was born in 1568 in the castle of Castiglione near Brescia. His father was Ferdinand Gonzaga, the marquis of Castiglione delle Stivere, and his mother was a lady of honour to Queen Isabella, the wife of King Philip II of Spain. He was so hurriedly baptised on account of danger that he seemed to be born to Heaven almost before he was born to Earth, and he so faithfully kept this his first grace that he seemed to have been well near confirmed in it. From his first dawn of reason, which he used in offering himself to God, he led a more holy life by the day. At Florence, when he was nine years old, he made a vow of perpetual virginity before the altar of the Blessed Virgin on whom he always looked as a Mother, and by a remarkable mercy from God, he kept this vow wholly and without the slightest impure temptation, either of body or of mind, during his entire life.

At the age of 12 Aloysius was put under the spiritual guidance of Saint Charles Borromeo and received his first Holy Communion from him. In 1581 he went with his father and brother to Spain, and was made a page to the infante James, the son of King Philip II. He kept three days as fasts in every week, and that mostly upon a little bread and water. But indeed, he, as it were, fasted every day, for he hardly ever took so much as an ounce weight of food at his meal. Often also, even three times a day, he would, with cords or chains scourge himself to blood. Sometimes he would supply the place of a discipline or hair-shirt, by his own spurs or dog-thongs. He secretly strewed his soft bed with pieces of broken wood or potsherds, that he might find it easier to wake to pray. He passed great part of the night even in the depth of winter clad only in his shirt, either kneeling on the ground, or lying prostrate, when too weary to remain upright, occupied in heavenly contemplation. Sometimes he would keep himself thus immoveable up to five hours until he had spent at least one without any distraction of mind. Such constancy obtained for him the reward of being able to keep his understanding quite concentrated in prayer without any wandering of mind, as though rapt in God, in unbroken ecstasy.

In Spain Aloysius, called by a voice from Heaven, he resolved to join the Society of Jesus. In order that he might adhere to God alone, having overcome his father’s bitter resistance in a sharp contest of three years’ duration, and having procured the transfer of his right to the Marquessate to his brother, he took his vows in Rome in 1585 and received minor Orders. In his noviciate he began to be held as a master of all virtues. His obedience even to the most trifling rules was exact, his contempt of the world was extraordinary, and his hatred of self was implacable. His love of God was so ardent that it gradually undermined his bodily strength. Being commanded, therefore, to divert his mind for a while from divine things, he struggled vainly to distract himself from Him Who met him everywhere. He joyfully ministered to the sick in the public hospitals, and in the exercise of this charity he caught an infection and died in 1591 at the age of 23 years. He was beatified by Pope Gregory XV in 1621 and was canonised by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. Saint Aloysius is the patron of youth.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“O how exceeding great is the glory of Aloysius, Son of Ignatius! Never could I have believed it, had not my Jesus shown it to me. Never could I have believed that such glory as that was to be seen in Heaven!” Thus cries out Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, whose memory we were celebrating a month ago: she is speaking in ecstasy. From the heights of Carmel from which her ken may reach beyond the heavens, she reveals to Earth the splendour with which the youthful hero of this day shines amid the celestial phalanxes.

Yet short was the life of Aloysius, and nothing had it offered to the superficial gaze of a vast majority save the preliminaries, so to say, of a career broken off in its flower, ere bearing fruit of any kind. God does not account of things as men do: of very slight weight are their appreciations in His Judgement! Even in the case of the Saints themselves, the mere fractional number of years or brilliant deeds goes far less to the filling up of a lifetime, in His view, than does love. The usefulness of a human existence ought surely to be measured as a matter of fact by the amount produced in it of what is lasting. Now, beyond this present time, charity remains alone, fixed forever at that precise degree of growth attained during this life of passage. Little matters it, therefore, if without any long duration or any apparent works, one of God’s Elect have developed in himself a love as great or greater, than some others have done, in the midst of many toils, be they never so holy, and throughout a long career admired of men.

The illustrious Society that gave Aloysius Gonzaga to Holy Church owes the sanctity of her members and the benedictions poured on their works to the fidelity she has ever professed to this important truth which throws so much light on the Christian life. From the very first age of her history it would seem that our Lord Jesus, not content to allow her to assume His own blessed Name, has been lovingly determined so to arrange circumstances in her regard that she may never forget in what it is her real strength lies in the midst of the actively militant career which He has especially opened before her. The brilliant works of Saint Ignatius her Founder, of Saint Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies, of Saint Francis Borgia, the noble conquest of Christ’s Humility, manifested truly wondrous holiness in them, and to the eyes of all. But these works of theirs had no other spring nor basis than the hidden virtues of that other glorious triumvirate in which, under the Eye of God alone, by the sole strength of contemplative prayer, Saints Stanislaus Kostka, Aloysius Gonzaga and John Berchmans rose to such a degree of love, and consequently to the sanctity of their heroic Fathers.

Again, it is by Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, the depository of the secrets of the Spouse, that this mystery is revealed to us. In the rapture during which the glory of Aloysius was displayed before her eyes, she thus continues while still under the influence of the Holy Ghost: “Who could ever explain the value and the power of interior acts? The glory of Aloysius is so great, simply because he acted thus, interiorly. Between an interior act and that which is seen, there is no comparison possible. Aloysius, as long as he dwelt on Earth, kept his eye attentively fixed on the Word, and this is just why he is so splendid. Aloysius was a hidden martyr. Whoever loves you, my God, knows you to be so great, so infinitely amiable, that keen indeed is the martyrdom of such a one, to see clearly that he loves you not so much as he desires to love you, and that you are not loved by your creatures, but are offended!.. Thus he became a martyrdom to himself. Oh he did love, while on Earth, wherefore now in Heaven he possesses God in a sovereign plenitude of love. While still mortal, he discharged his bow at the Heart of the Word, and now that he is in Heaven his arrows are all lodged in his own heart. For this communication of the Divinity which he merited by the arrows of his acts of love and of union with God, he now verily and indeed possesses and clasps forever.”

To love God, to allow His grace to turn our heart towards Infinite Beauty which alone can fill it, such is then the true secret of highest perfection. Who can fail to see how this teaching of today’s feast answers to the end pursued by the Holy Ghost ever since His coming down at our glorious Pentecost? This sweet and silent teaching was given by Aloysius wherever he turned his steps during his short career. Born to Heaven in holy Baptism, almost before he was born to Earth, he was a very Angel from his cradle. Grace seemed to gush from him into those who bore him in their arms, filling them with heavenly sentiments. At four years of age he followed the Marquess, his father, into the camps, and thus some unconscious faults which had not so much as tarnished his innocence became for the rest of his life the object of a penitence that one would have thought rather beseemed some grievous sinner. He was but nine years old when, being taken to Florence there to be perfected in the Italian language, he became the edification of the Court of duke Francis: but though the most brilliant in Italy, it failed to have any attraction for him and rather served to detach him more decisively than ever from the world. During this period, likewise, at the feet of the miraculous picture of the Annunziata, he consecrated his virginity to Our Lady.

The Church herself, in the Breviary Lessons, will relate the other details of this sweet life in which, as is ever the case with souls fully docile to the Holy Ghost, heavenly piety never marred what was of duty in earthly things. It is just because he really was a model for all youth engaged in study that Aloysius has been proclaimed Protector thereof. Of a singularly quick intelligence, as faithful to work as to prayer in the midst of the gay turmoil of city life, he mastered all the sciences then exacted of one of his rank. Very intricate and ticklish negotiations of worldly interest were more than once confided to his management: and thus was opportunity afforded of realising to what a high degree he might have excelled in government affairs. Here again, he comes forward as an example to such as have friends and relatives who would fain hold them back when on the threshold of the religious state under pretense of the “great good they may do in the world, and how much evil they may prevent.” Just as though the Most High must be contented with useless non-entities in that select portion of men He reserves to Himself amid nations. Or, as though the aptitudes of the richest and most gifted natures may not be turned all the better, and all the more completely to God their very principle, precisely because they are the most perfect. On the other hand, neither State nor Church ever really loses anything by this fleeing to God, this apparent throwing away of the best subjects! If, in the old Law, Jehovah showed Himself jealous in having the very best of all kinds of goods offered at His altar, His intention was not to impoverish His people. Whether admitted or not, it is a certain fact that the chief strength of society, the fountain-head of benediction and protection to the world, is always to be found in holocausts well pleasing to the Lord.

*  *  * * 

VENERABLE old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years, but the understanding of man is grey hairs and a spotless life is old age (Wisdom iv. 8). And therefore, Aloysius, you hold a place of honour amid the ancients of your people. Glory be to the holy Society in the midst of which you, in so short a space, fulfilled a long course. Obtain that she may ever continue to treasure, both for herself and others, the teaching that flows from your life of innocence and love. Holiness is the one only thing when one’s career is ended that can be called true gain, and holiness is acquired from within. External works count with God only in as far as the interior breath that inspires them is pure. If occasion for exercising works be wanting, man can always supply that deficiency by drawing near to the Lord in the secret of his soul, as much and even more than he could have done by their means. Thus did you see and understand the question. And therefore prayer which held you absorbed in its ineffable delights succeeded in making you equal to the very martyrs. What a priceless treasure was not prayer in your eyes, what a Heaven-lent boon, and one that is indeed in our reach too, just as it was in yours!

But in order to find in it, as you expressed it, the short cut to perfection, perseverance is needed and a careful elimination from the soul, by a generous self repression, of every emotion which is not of God. For how could muddy or troubled waters mirror forth the image of Him who stands on their brink? Even so, a soul that is sullied, or a soul that without being quite a slave of passion, is not yet mistress of every earthly perturbation, can never reach the object of prayer, which is to reproduce within her the tranquil Image of her God. The reproduction of the one great Model was perfect in you, and hence it can be seen how nature (as regards what she has of good), far from losing or suffering anything, rather gains by this process of recasting in the divine crucible. Even in what touches the most legitimate affections you looked at things no longer from the earthly point of view, but beholding all in God, far were the things of sense transcended with all their deceptive feebleness, and wondrously did your love grow in consequence. For instance, what could be more touching than your sweet attentions, not only on Earth, but even from your throne in Heaven, for that admirable woman given to you by our Lord to be your earthly mother, where may tenderness be found equal to the affectionate effusions written to her by you in that letter of a Saint to the mother of a Saint, which you addressed to her shortly before quitting your earthly pilgrimage? And still more, what exquisite delicacy did you evince in making her the recipient of your first miracle, worked after your entrance into glory! Furthermore, the Holy Ghost by setting you on fire with the flame of divine charity, developed also within you immense love for your neighbour: necessarily so, because charity is essentially one, and well was this proved when you were seen sacrificing your life so blithely for the sick and the pestiferous.

Cease not, dearest Saint, to aid us in the midst of so many miseries. Lend a kindly hand to each and all. Christian youth has a special claim on your patronage, for it is by the Sovereign Pontiff himself that this precious portion of the flock are gathered around your throne. Direct their feeble steps along the right path, so often enticed as they are, to turn into dangerous by-roads. Be prayer and earnest toil for God’s dear sake, their stay and safeguard. Be they illumined in the serious matter before them of the choosing a state of life. We beseech you, dearest Saint, exert strong influence over them during this most critical period of their opening years so that they may truly experience all the potency of that fair privilege which is ever yours, of preserving in your devout clients the angelical virtue! Yes, furthermore, Aloysius, look compassionately on those who have not imitated your innocence, and obtain that they may yet follow you in the example of your penance: such is the petition of Holy Church this day.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, St. Demetria, virgin, who was crowned with martyrdom under Julian the Apostate.

At Syracuse in Sicily, the birthday of the holy martyrs Rufinus and Martia.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Cyriacus and Apollinaris.

At Mayence, St. Alban, martyr, who was made worthy of the crown of life after long labours and severe combats.

The same day, St. Eusebius, bishop of Samosata, who, in the time of the Arian emperor Constantius, disguised himself under a military dress and visited the churches of God to confirm them in the faith. By Valens he was banished into Thrace, but when peace was restored to the Church in the reign of Theodosius, he was recalled. As he again visited the churches, an Arian woman struck him with a tile, which fractured his skull and made him a martyr.

At Iconium in Lycaonia, St. Terentius, bishop and martyr.

At Pavia, St. Urciscenus, bishop and confessor.

At Tongres, St. Martin, bishop.

In the diocese of Evreux, St. Leutfrid, abbot.

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

Thanks be to God.

21 JUNE – FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

 

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The fourth Sunday after Pentecost was called for a long period in the West the Sunday of Mercy because, formerly, there was read upon it the passage from Saint Luke beginning with the words: “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.” But this Gospel having been since assigned to the Mass of the first Sunday after Pentecost, the Gospel of the fifth Sunday was made that of the fourth, the Gospel of the sixth became that of the fifth, and so on up to the twenty-third. The change we speak of was, however, not introduced into many Churches till a very late period, and it was not universally received till the sixteenth century.

While the Gospels were thus brought forward a week — in almost the whole series of these Sundays, the Epistles, Prayers and the other sung portions of the ancient Masses were, with a few exceptions, left as originally drawn up. The connection which the liturgists of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries had fancied they found between the Gospel and the rest of the Liturgy for these Sundays was broken. Thus the Church spared not those favourite views of explanations which were at times far-fetched, and yet she did not intend by that to condemn those writers, nor to discourage her children from perusing their treatises, for, as the holy reflections they contained were frequently suggested by the authority of the ancient Liturgies, such reading would edify and instruct. e are quite at liberty, then, to turn their labours to profit. Let us only keep this continually before us — that the chief connection existing between the several portions of the proper of each Mass for the Sundays after Pentecost consists in the unity of the Sacrifice itself.

In the Greek Church, there is even less pretension to anything approaching methodical arrangement in the Liturgy of these Sundays. On the morrow of Pentecost they begin the reading of the Gospel of Saint Matthew and continue it, chapter after chapter, up to the feast of the Exaltation of the holy Cross in September. Saint Luke follows Saint Matthew, and is read in the same way. The weeks and Sundays of this Season are simply named according to the Gospel of each day, or they take the name of the Evangelist whose text is being read: thus, our first Sunday after Pentecost is called by them the first Sunday of Saint Matthew. The one we are now keeping is their fourth of Saint Matthew.

In a former volume we have spoken of the importance of the eighth day as the Christian substitute for the seventh of the Jewish Sabbath, and as the holy day of the new people of God. The Synagogue, by God’s command, kept holy the Saturday, or the Sabbath —and this in honour of God’s resting after the six days of the creation. But the Church, the Bride of Jesus, is commanded to honour the work of her Spouse. She allows the Saturday to pass — it is the day of her Lord’s rest in the sepulchre: but now that she is illumined with the brightness of the Resurrection, she devotes to the contemplation of His work the first day of the week, the Sunday: it is the day of Light, for on it He called forth material Light (which was the first manifestation of order amid chaos) and, on the same day, He that is the Brightness of the Father (Hebrews i. 3) and the Light of the world (John viii. 12) rose from the darkness of the tomb.

So important, indeed, is the Sunday’s liturgy which every week is entrusted to honour such profound mysteries, that for a long time the Roman Pontiffs kept down the number of Feasts which were above the rank of semi-doubles, that thus the Sunday, which is a semi-double, might not be disturbed. It was not till the second half of the seventeenth century that this discipline of reserve was relaxed. Then it was that it had to give way in order thereby to meet the attacks made by the Protestants and their allies the Jansenists, against the cult of the Saints. Need was of reminding the Faithful that the honour paid to the servants of God detracts not from the glory of their Master, that the cult of the Saints, the Members of Christ, is but the consequence and development of that which is due to Christ their Head. The Church owed it to her Spouse to make a protest against the narrow views of these innovators who were really aiming at lessening the glory of the Incarnation by thus denying its grandest consequences. It was, therefore, by a special inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the Apostolic See then permitted several feasts, both old and new, to be ranked as of a double rite. To strengthen the solemn condemnation she had pronounced against the heretics of that period, she wisely adopted the course of, from time to time, allowing the Feasts of Saints to be kept on Sundays, although these latter were considered as being especially reserved for the celebration of the leading mysteries of our Catholic faith, and for the obligatory attendance of the people.

The Sunday, or Dominical, Liturgy was not, however, altogether displaced by the celebration of any particular feast on the Lord’s Day. For no matter however solemn that feast, falling on a Sunday, may be, a commemoration must always he made of the Sunday by adding its Prayers to those of the occurring Feast, and by reading its proper Gospel, instead of that of Saint John at the end of Mass. Neither let us forget that after the assisting at the solemn Mass and the Canonical Hours, one of the best means for observing the precept of keeping holy the Sabbath day is our own private meditation on the Epistle and Gospel appointed by the Church for each Sunday.

Epistle – Romans viii. 18‒23

Brethren, the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared to the glory to come that will be revealed in us. For the expectation of the creature waits for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that made it subject, in hope: because the creature also itself will be delivered from the servitude of corruption, to the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that every creature groans and travails in pain even till now. And not only it, but ourselves also, who have the first, fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God; the redemption of our body.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The first fruits of the Spirit are the grace and virtues which He has put into our souls as the earnest of salvation and the germ of future glory. Our faith confirms our possession of these divine pledges and regenerate human nature, even amid all the trials of this life, is consoled at the very thought of the noble destiny to which it is called. Satan may use his fiercest efforts to regain his lost ground, and the soul may have many and frequent battles to fight for the holding what was once under the dominion of the enemy, but Christian hope is an armour of Heaven’s own making. Hope enters in even within the veil (Hebrews vi. 19), and then she comes telling the combatant about the disproportion here mentioned by the Apostle between the fatigues of the march here below, and the bliss which is to reward our fidelity in the happy land above. He has the promises of God, and the marvellous dealings of the Paraclete in his regard, both in the past and now — all justifying his expectations of the future glory that will then be revealed, be realised, in him. The very Earth he dwells on, which now so often tyrannises over him and deceives his senses — yes, this very Earth urges him to fix his heart on something far better than herself. She even seems to share in his hopes. Saint Paul tells us so in today’s Epistle: the wild upheavings, the restless changes of material creation, are so many voices clamouring for the destruction of sin, and for the final and total triumph over the corruption which followed sin.

The present condition of this world, therefore, furnishes a special and most telling motive inviting us to the holy virtue of hope. Only they can find anything strange in such teaching who have no idea of how man’s being raised up to the supernatural order was, from the beginning, a real ennobling of the world which was made for man’s service. Men of this stamp have each their own way of explaining God’s creation, but the truth which explains everything both on Earth and in Heaven — the divine axiom which is the principle and reason of everything that has been made — is this: that God, who, of necessity, does everything for His own glory, has, of His own free choice, appointed that the perfection of this His glory will consist in the triumph of His love by the ineffable mystery of divine union realised in His creature. To bring this divine union about is, consequently, by God’s gracious will, not only the one sole end, but, moreover, is the one only law, the vital and constitutive law, of creation.

When the Spirit moved over chaos He adapted the informal matter to the designs of infinite love. Thereby the various elements, and the countless atoms, of the world that was in preparation, really derived from this infinite love the principle of their future development and power. They received it as their one single mission to co-operate, each in its own way, with the Holy Spirit: that is, co-operate in leading man, the creature chosen by Eternal Wisdom, to the proposed glorious end — union with God. Sin broke the alliance and would have destroyed the world from the very fact of sin’s taking from it the purpose of its existence, had it not been for the incomprehensible patience of the God it outraged, and the marvellous renovations of the original plan achieved by the Spirit of love. A violent state, the state of struggle and expiation has now been substituted for what, in the primal design of the Creator, was to be the effortless advance of the king of creation to His grand destiny, the spontaneous growth of, what some one has called man, the god in the bud. Divine union is still offered to the world but, at what a cost of trouble and travail!

We may still enjoy the eternal music of triumph and all the joys of the divine nuptial banquet but what a long prelude of sighs and sobs must precede! Men, who recognise no other law than that of the flesh, may be as deaf and as indifferent as they please to the teachings of positive revelation, but mere matter will go on ever condemning their materialism. Nature, which they pretend to acknowledge as their only authority, will continue to preach the supernatural with her thousand mouths, and will preach it in every nook of the earth. And creation, disturbed though it be, and turned astray by the Fall of Adam, will still keep proclaiming all the louder because it is in suffering — that the fallen king whom it was intended to serve has a destiny far beyond all finite things. You mysterious sufferings of creatures, which the Apostle here calls your groanings, may we not name you, as one of the poets (Aeneas) did, and speak of you as the tears of things? Truly, you are like the soul of music of this land of trial. We have but to listen to your sweet plaintive sounds, and let you speak your eloquence, and you lead us to Him who is the source of all beauty and love. The pagan world heard your voice, but its philosophers would have it that you meant pantheism! The Holy Ghost had not yet begun His reign. He alone could explain to us the strange language of nature, and her vehement aspirations, all of which had been put into her by Himself. All is now made clear to us: the Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole earth (Wisdom i. 7), the divine Witness who giveth us assurance that we are the sons of God (Romans vii. 16) has carried His precious testimony to the furthest limits of creation, for all creation thrills with expectancy, impatient to see the coming of that glorious day which is to be the revelation of the glory that belongs to these sons of God. It is on their account that they too have had to suffer. Together with them they will be set free, and will share in the brightness of their coronation day. Saint John Chrysostom compares the Earth to “the nurse who has brought up the king’s son. When he succeeds to his father’s kingdom, she too is made all the better off... It is much the same with all men: when a son of theirs is to appear in the splendour of some new dignity, they let his very servants wear richer suits. So will God vest in incorruption every creature when the day of the deliverance and glory of His children will come.”

Gospel – Luke v. 1‒11

At that time, when the crowd pressed upon Jesus to hear the word of God, He stood by the Lake of Genesareth. And He saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets; and going up into one of the ships that was Simon’s, He desired him to draw back a little from the land: and sitting, He taught the multitudes out of the ship. Now when He had ceased to speak, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” And Simon, answering, said to Him, “Master, we have laboured all night and have taken nothing, but at your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes and their net broke, and they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship to come and help them; and they came and filled both the ships, so that they were almost sinking. Which, when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he was wholly astonished, and all who were with him, at the draught of fishes they had taken; and so were also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. And Jesus said to Simon, “Fear not: from now on you will catch men.” And having brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed Him.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Gueranger:

The prophecy and promise made by Jesus to Simon the son of John is now fulfilled. We were in amazement on the day when the Holy Ghost came down at the success which attended Peter’s first fishing for men. He cast in his nets, and it was the choicest of the sons of Israel that he took and offered them to the Lord Jesus. But the barque of Peter was not to be long confined within Jewish waters. Insignificant as it seems to human views, the ship is now sailing on the high seas. It rides on the deep waters, which are, so Saint John tells us, peoples and nations (Apocalypse xvii. 15). The boisterous wind, the surging billows, the storm, no longer terrifies the boat-man of Lake Tiberias, for he knows that he has on board Him who is the Master of the waves, Him, that is, who has given the deep as a garment to clothe the earth (Psalms ciii. 6). Endued with power from on high (Luke xxiv. 49), Peter has cast his net, the apostolic preaching, all over the great ocean: for it is large as is the world, and is to bring the sons of the great fish the divine ICTHUS to the eternal shore. Grand indeed is the work assigned to Peter. Though fellow-labourers have been joined to him in his divine enterprise, yet does he preside over them all as their undisputed head, as master of the ship where Jesus commands in person and directs all the operations to be done for the world’s salvation. Today’s Gospel very opportunely prepares us for and sums up the teachings included in the Feast of the Prince of the Apostles, which always comes close on the fourth Sunday after Pentecost. For that very reason, we leave for the Feast the detailed enumeration of the glories inherent in the Vicar of Christ and limit ourselves, for the present, to the consideration of the other mysteries contained in the text before us.

The Evangelists have left us the account of two miraculous fishings made by the Apostles in presence of their divine Lord: one of these is related by Saint Luke, and the Church proposes it to our considerations for this Sunday. The other, with its exquisite symbolism, was put before us by the Beloved Disciple on Easter Wednesday. The former of these, which took place while our Lord was still in the days of His mortal life, merely describes that the net was cast into the water just as it served the fishermen’s purpose. That it broke with the multitude of the draught, but no notice is taken, by the Evangelist, as to either the number or kind of the fish. in the second it is our Risen Lord who tells the fishermen, His disciples, that it is to be on the right side of their boat that the net must be let down. It catches, and without breaking, a hundred-and-fifty great fishes. These are brought to the shore where Jesus was waiting for them that He might join them with the mysterious bread and fish that He Himself had already got ready for His labourers (John xxi. 1-13).

The Fathers are unanimous in the interpretation of these two fishings — they represent the Church, first of all, the Church as she now is, and next, as she is to be in eternity. As she now is, the Church is the multitude without distinction between good and bad. But afterwards, that is, after the Resurrection, the good alone will compose the Church, and their number will be forever fixed. “The kingdom of Heaven,” says our Lord, “is like a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kind of fishes; which, when it was filled, they drew out, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth” (Matthew xiii. 47, 48).

To speak with Saint Augustine, the fishers of men have cast forth their nets. They have taken the multitude of Christians which we see in wonderment. They have filled the two ships with them, the two peoples, Jew and Gentile. But what is this we are told? The multitude weighs down the ships, even to the risk of sinking them. It is what we witness now, the pressing and mingled crowd of the Baptised is a burden to the Church. Many Christians there are who live badly: they are a trouble to, and keep back, the good. Worse than these, there are those who tear the nets by their schisms or their heresies: they are fish which are impatient of the yoke of unity and will not come to the banquet of Christ. They are pleased with themselves. Under pretext that they cannot live with the bad, they break the net which kept them in the apostolic track and they die far off the shore. In how many countries have they not thus broken the great net of salvation? The Donatists in Africa, the Arians in Egypt, Montanus in Phrygia, Manes in Persia. And since their times, how many others have excelled in the work of rupture! Let us not imitate their folly. If grace have made us holy, let us be patient with the bad while living in this world’s waters. Let the sight of them drive us neither to live as they do, nor to leave the Church. The shore is not far off, where those on the right, or the good, will alone be permitted to land, and from which the wicked will be repulsed, and cast into the abyss.

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Besançon in France, the holy martyrs Ferreol, priest, and Ferrution, deacon, who were sent by the blessed bishop Irenaeus to preach the word of God, and after being exposed to various torments under the judge Claudius, were put to the sword.

At Tarsus in Cilicia, in the reign of the emperor Diocletian, the holy martyrs Quiricus, and Julitta, his mother. Quiricus, a child of three years, seeing his mother cruelly scourged in the presence of the governor Alexander, and crying bitterly, was killed by being dashed against the steps of the tribunal. Julitta, after being subjected to severe stripes and grievous torments, closed the career of her martyrdom by decapitation.

At Mayence, the passion of the Saints Aurens, and Justina, his sister, and other martyrs, who, being at Mass in church, were massacred by the Huns then devastating Germany.

At Amathonte in Cyprus, St. Tychon, a bishop in the time of Theodosius the Younger.

At Lyons, the demise of blessed Aurelian, bishop of Arles.

At Nantes in Brittany, St. Similian, bishop and confessor.

At Meissen in Germany, St. Benno, bishop.

In the village of La Louvesc, formerly of the diocese of Vienne in Dauphiny, the decease of St. John Francis Regis, confessor, of the Society of Jesus, distinguished by his zeal for the salvation of souls, and by his patience. He was placed on the list of saints by Pope Clement XII.

In Brabant, St. Lutgard, virgin.

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

Thanks be to God.

19 JUNE – SAINT JULIANA FALCONIERI (Virgin)

Juliana of the noble family of Falconieri was the daughter of the illustrious nobles Chiarissimo and Reguardata Falconieri who founded and built the Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, still to be seen in Florence. When she was born in 1270 both were already advanced in years and up to this, quite childless. From her very cradle, she gave tokens of the holiness of life to which she afterwards attained. And from the lisping of her baby lips was caught the sweet sound of the names of Jesus and Mary. As she entered on her girlhood, she delivered herself up entirely to the pursuit of Christian virtues, and so excellently shone therein that her uncle, the blessed Alexius, scrupled not to tell her mother that she had given birth to an Angel rather than to a woman. So modest, indeed, was her countenance, and so pure her soul from the slightest speck of indiscretion, that she never in her whole life raised her eyes to a man’s face, and that the very mention of sin made her shiver; and when the story of a grievous crime was told her, she dropped down fainting and almost lifeless.

Before she had completed her fifteenth year, she renounced her inheritance, although a richone, and all prospect of earthly marriage, solemnly making to God a vow of virginity, in the hands of St.Philip Benizi, from whom .she was the first to receive the religious habit of what are called the “Mantellatoo”. Juliana’s example was followed by many young women of noble families, and even her own mother put herself under her daughter's instructions. Thus in a little while, their number increased, and she became foundress of the Order of the Mantellatffi, to whom she gave a rule of life, full of wisdom and holiness. St. Philip Benizi having thorough knowledge of her virtues, being at the point of death, thought that to none better than to her, could he leave the care not only of the women but of the whole Order of Servites, of which he was the propagator and head; yet of herself she ever deemed most lowly; even when she was the mistress of others, ministering to her sisters in the meanest offices of the household work. She passed whole days in incessant prayer, and was often rapt in spirit; and the remainder of her time, she toiled to make peace among the citizens, who were at variance amongst themselves; to recall sinners from evil courses; and to nurse the sick, to cure whom she would sometimes use even her tongue to remove the matter that ran from their sores, and so healed them. It was her custom to afflict her body with whips, knotted cords, iron girdles, watching, and sleeping upon the bare ground. Upon four days in the week, she ate very sparingly, and that only of the coarsest food; on the other two she contented herself with the Bread of Angels alone, except Saturday whereon she took only bread and water.

This hardship of life caused her to fall ill of a stomach complaint, which increasing,brought her to the point of death, when she was seventy years of age. She bore the daily sufferings of this long illness with a smiling face and a brave heart; the only thing of which she was heard to complain being, that her stomach was so weak, that unable to retain food, she was withheld, by reverence for the holy Sacrament, from the Eucharistic Table. Finding herself in these straits she begged the Priest to bring her the Divine Bread, and as she dared not take It into her mouth, to put It as near as possible to her heart exteriorly. The Priest did as she wished, and to the amazement of all present, the Divine Bread at once disappeared from sight, and at the same instant, a smile of joyous peace crossed the face of Juliana, and she gave up the ghost. This matter seemed beyond all belief, until the virginal body was being laid out in the accustomed manner; for then there was found, upon the left side of the bosom, a mark like the stamp of a seal, reproducing the form of the Sacred Host, the mould of which was one of those that bear a figure of Christ crucified. The report of this and of other wonders procured for Juliana a reverence not only from Florence, but from all parts of the Christian world, which reverence so increased through the course of four hundred years, that Pope Benedict XIII commanded a proper Office in her honour to be celebrated by the whole Order of Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Clement XII. the munificent Protector of the same Order, finding new signs and wonders shedding lustre upon her glory every day, inscribed the name of Juliana upon the catalogue of holy virgins in 1737.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This day witnesses the close of the pilgrimage of one, who was miraculously supplied with the divine Viaticum: Juliana presents herself at heaven’s gate, showing upon her heart, the impress of the Sacred Host. The lily emblazoned on the city escutcheon of Florence, glistens with fresh radiance today, for it was she gave birth to our Saint, as well as to so many others, some of whom have already beamed across our path, and some are about to follow,—all of them brilliant in sublime virtues practised within the ancient walls of this “City of flowers”, under the delighted glance and the urging influence of the Spirit of Love. But what shall we say of the glory of yonder mountains, that nobly crown this fair city, —a diadem lovely in men’s eyes and still more so, to Angels’ gaze? What, of Vallombrosa, and further in the blue distance, of Camaldoli, of Alberno? —all sacred fortresses, at whose foot hell trembling howls—all sacred reservoirs of choicest grace, guarded by Seraphim, whence flow in gushing streams more abundant and more pure than Arno’s tide, living waters of salvation on all the smiling land around! In 1233, just thirty seven years previous to Juliana’s birth, Florence seemed destined to be, under the holy influence of such a neighbourhood, a very paradise of sanctity; so common did the higher Christian life become—of such everyday occurrence were supernatural prodigies. The Mother of Divine Grace was then multiplying her gifts. Once on a certain festival of the Assumption, seven of the citizens the most distinguished for nobility of blood, fortune, and public offices of trust, were suddenly inflamed by a heavenly desire to consecrate themselves unreservedly to the service of Our Lady. Presently, as these men passed along, bidding adieu to the world, babes at the breast cried out, all over the city: “Behold the Servants of the Virgin Mary!” Among the innocents whose tongue was thus unloosed to announce divine mysteries, was the new-born son of the illustrious family of Benizii, he was named Philip and had first seen the light on the very feast of the Assumption, whereon Mary had just founded for her glory and that of her Divine Son, the Order of the Servites. We shall have to return to this child, who was to be the chief propagator of the new order; for holy Church celebrates his birthday into heaven, on the morrow of the Octave of the Assumption. He was destined to be Juliana’s spiritual father. In the meanwhile, the Seven invited by Mary to the festival of penitence, who all persevering faithful unto death, are inscribed on the catalogue of the Saints—had retired three leagues from Florence to the desert of Monte Senario. There Our Lady, during seven years, formed them to the great work, of which they were the predestined though unwitting instruments.

According to His wont, the Holy Ghost, during all this preparatory season, though of long duration, —kept from them every idea save that of their own santification, employing them in the mortification of the senses, and in a spirit of exclusive contemplation of the sufferings of Our Lord and those of His divine Mother. Two amongst them, daily came down to the city to beg bread for themselves and their companions. One of these illustrious mendicants was Alexius Falconieri, the most eager for humiliations, amongst all the seven. His brother who, still continuing in the world, held one of the highest positions amongst the citizens, was in every way worthy of this blessed man, and paid homage to his heroic self-abasement. He likewise took an honourable share in the united gift bestowed, with the concurrence of all classes of these religious citizens, upon the solitaries of Monte Senario, whereby a magnificent Church was added to the poor retreat, they had been induced to accept, for greater convenience, at the gates of Florence. To honour the mystery wherein their Sovereign Lady declared herself to be the humble servant of the Lord,—this church and monastery of the Servites of Mary received the title of the “Annunziata.” Among the marvels which wealth and art, in succeeding ages, have lavished upon its interior, the principal treasure which puts all the rest in the shade, is a primitive fresco of the angelical salutation, dating from the lifetime of the founders—the painter whereof, more devout to Mary, than skilful with his pencil, deserved to be aided by the hands of Angels. Signal favours obtained without interruption, from this sacred picture, still attract flocks of devout visitors. If the city of the Medici and of the Tuscan Grand Dukes, though swallowed up by the universal brigandage of the house of Savoy, has preserved better than many others, the lively piety of better days—she owes it to this her ancient Madonna, as well as to her numerous saints, who seem gathered within her walls, to serve as a cortege of honour for Our Lady.

These details seem necessary to throw light on the abridged account given in the Liturgy, regarding our Saint. Juliana, born of a sterile mother and of a father advanced in years, was the reward of the zeal displayed for the Annunziata, by her father, Carissimo Falconieri. Beside this picture of the Madonna was she to spend her life and to yield up her last breath; close by, her sacred relics now repose. Educated by her uncle, Saint Alexius, in the love of Mary and of humility, she devoted herself from her very youth to the Order founded by Our Lady; ambitioning no title save one, that of Oblate, which would entail upon her the serving, in the lowest rank, the Servites of God’s Mother: for this reason, she was later on, acknowledged to be the foundress of the Third Order of the Servites, and was Superioress of the first community of these female tertiaries, surnamed “Mantellatae.” But her influence extended further still, so that the whole Order, both the men and the women, alike hail her as their Mother; for it was indeed she who put the finishing stroke to the work of its foundation, and gave it the stability it has been possessed of for centuries.

The Order which had become marvellously extended during forty years of miraculous existence and under the government of Saint Philip Benizi, was at that moment passing through a dangerous crisis, the more to be feared because the storm had taken rise in Rome itself. There was question of everywhere carrying into effect, the canons of. The Councils of Lateran and Lyons, prohibiting the introduction of new Orders into the Church; now,. the institute of the Servites being posterior to the first of these Councils, Innocent V was resolved on its suppression. The superiors had already been forbidden to receive any novice to Profession or to Clothing; and whilst awaiting the definitive sentence, the goods of the Order were considered, beforehand, as already devolved on the Holy See. Philip Benizi was about to die, and Juliana was but fifteen years of age. Nevertheless, enlightened from on high, the Saint hesitated not: he confided the Order to Juliana’s hands, and so slept in the peace of our Lord. The event justified his hopes: after various catastrophes which it were long to relate, Benedict XI, in 1304, gave to the Servites the definitive sanction of the Church. So true is it, that in the Counsels of Divine Providence, nor rank, nor age, nor sex, count for aught! The simplicity of a soul that has wounded the Heart of the Spouse, is stronger in her humble submission, than highest authority; and her unknown prayer prevails over powers established by God Himself.

* * * * *

To serve Mary, was the only nobility that had any attraction in your eyes, Juliana! to share her Dolours, was the only recompense which your generous soul in its lowliness, could ambition. Your desires were granted: but from that lofty Throne where She reigns as Queen of Angels and of men, She who confessed Herself the Handmaid of the Lord and beheld God to have regard to her humility—was also pleased to exalt you, like herself, above all the mighty ones. Counteracting that hidden silence wherein you would fain have had the human brilliancy of your pedigree forgotten and lost for ever —she has made your holy glory eclipse the fair honour of your sires, in Florence; so that if the name of Falconieri has now a world-wide fame, it is on your account, humble Tertiary, lowly Servant of the Servites of Our Lady! Further still: in that fair Home of true Nobility, in yonder City of God, where ranks are distinguished by the varying degree of radiance shed by the Lamb on the brow of each one of the Elect—you shine resplendent with an aureola, which is nothing less than a participation of Mary’s glory. Just as she acted in regard of Holy Church, after the Ascension of our Lord, so did you in respect of the Servite Order; for while leaving to others, such action as appears externally, and such authority as must rule souls—you were nonetheless, in your lowliness, the real mistress and mother of the new Family, formed of the men and the women chosen by God for that Order. More than once, in other centuries likewise, has the divine Mother been pleased thus to glorify her faithful imitatrices, by making them become, beyond all calculation of their own, faithful copies of herself. Just, as in the family confided to Peter by her Divine Son, Our Lady was the most submissive of all others to the rule of Christ’s Vicar and that of the other Apostles; whereas all knew right well that she was their Queen, and the very fountain-head of the graces of consolidation and growth, that were inundating the Church—so, Juliana, the weakness of your sex and age in no way restrained a strong religious Order, from proclaiming you its light and its glory. This was because the Most High, ever liberal in His gifts, was pleased to grant to your youthfulness, results which He refused to the greater maturity, to the genius—yes, to the sanctity of your Father, Saint Philip Benizi!

Continue, then, to shield your devout family of Servites of Mary: stretch forth your protecting mantle over every religious Order severely tried in these our days. May Florence, through your aid, ever hold in most precious remembrance the favours lavished on her by Our Lady and the Saints, because of her Faith, in the good days of old. May Holy Church ever have more and more cause to sing your power, as a Bride, over the Heart of the Divine Spouse. In return for the signal grace He bestowed on you, as the crown of your life, and the consummation of His Love in you, be propitious to us in our last struggle: obtain for us that we may not die unhelped by the reception of the holy Viaticum. The whole of this portion of the Cycle is illumined with the rays of the adorable Host, proposed to our prostrate worship in so special a manner, at this season, by another Juliana: Oh may that sweet Host be the one Love of our life’s career; may It be our strong bulwark in life’s final combat! Yes, may our death be nothing else than a passing from the divine Banquet of Earth’s land of shadows, up to the delicious Festal Board of Eternal Union.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Milan, the holy martyrs Gervasius and Protasius, brothers. The former, by order of the judge Astasius, was so long scourged with leaded whips, that he expired. The latter, after being scourged with rods, was beheaded. Through divine revelation their bodies were found by St. Ambrose. They were partly covered with blood, and as free from corruption as if they had been put to death that very day. When the translation took place, a blind man recovered his sight by touching their relics and many persons possessed by demons were delivered.

At Ravenna, St. Ursicinus, martyr, who remained firm through many torments in the confession of the Lord, and consummated his martyrdom by capital punishment under the judge Paulinus.

At Sozopolis, under the governor Domitian, during the persecution of Trajan, St. Zosimus, martyr, who suffered bitter tortures, was beheaded and thus triumphantly went to heaven.

At Arezzo in Tuscany, the holy martyrs Gaudentius, bishop, and Culmatius, deacon, who were murdered by furious Gentiles during the reign of Valentinian.

The same day, St. Boniface, martyr, a disciple of blessed Romuald, who was sent by the Roman Pontiff to preach the Gospel in Russia. Having passed through fire uninjured, and baptised the king and his people, he was killed by the enraged brother of the king and thus gained the palm of martyrdom which he ardently desired.

At Ravenna, St. Romuald, anchoret, founder of the monks of Carnaldoli, who restored and greatly extended monastic discipline which was much relaxed in Italy. He is also mentioned on the seventh of February.

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

Thanks be to God.

18 JUNE – SAINTS MARK AND MARCELLIAN (Martyrs)

 

Mark and Marcellian were twin brothers born to a noble family in Rome. They were baptised in their youth and were secretly Christians for many years before being denounced. They were arrested and condemned to be beheaded, but their execution was delayed, their friends obtaining a respite of 30 days in the hope that they could convince them to renounce their faith and worship the state gods. Their parents Tranquillinus and Maria, and their wives and children visited them, in an attempt to break their constancy, but Saint Sebastian also visited them and encouraged them to remain true to Christ. He also succeeded in converting Tranquillinus and Maria, and afterwards by loosening the tongue of Zöe, the wife of Nicostratus (the registrar), converted him also, and Chromatius (an officer of the Prefect of Rome), who set Mark and Marcellian free and resigned his position. Marcus and Marcellian were hidden by a Christian officer named Castulus in his apartments in the palace of Diocletian, but were betrayed by the false Christian Torquatus and were arrested again. They were tortured and killed in 286 AD.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

We have already met with these noble athletes of today’s feast, for on January 20th, when celebrating Saint Sebastian, the brave defender of holy Church, Mark and Marcellian, appeared at his side as the noblest conquest won by the sainted head of the praetorian guards. There are other heroes likewise gained over by his zealous intrepidity whose names gild the pages of the Martyrology. But these two whose festival we are keeping were the immediate occasion of Sebastian’s leading to God so goodly a troop of valiant Christians. Their conversion prepared Sebastian’s martyrdom by reason of his apostolate in their regard, and their glory eternally redounds to him, around whom in Heaven, they form a resplendent phalanx.

Captivity, torments, and even the sentence of death pronounced on them, had failed to shake the courage of these two brethren. A trial yet more terrible awaited them, namely the sight forced on them of the heart-broken grief caused to all they loved on Earth, by this their sentence of condemnation. For their family not being Christian knew no bounds to sorrow. Their father and mother bent down by years, the wife of each, leading by the hand or in her arms a group of weeping children, all uttering bitterest reproaches against these soldiers of Christ for the destitution in which their coming death would plunge the survivors, such was the dire attack!

Sebastian, profiting by the liberty his position afforded to approach the Christians in prison, was ever their comfort and encourager. He failed not to be present at this scene, for his noble heart fully realised how dangerously severe such a trial must be for souls as yet unscathed by any personal peril. The danger he knew might be imminent at that moment. Wherefore scorning his own safety, he there and then revealed himself a Christian in order to hold out a strengthening hand to the two brethren. Moreover, God lent such wondrous efficacy to his words that they converted even the pagans there assembled. Thus Mark and Marcellian had the joy of beholding those whose piteous complaints had a moment before so painfully thrilled their souls, now applauding their constancy and demanding Baptism.

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THE Holy Ghost filled you with strength, glorious martyrs, and the love which He poured into your hearts changed into exquisite delights, torments that terrify our cowardice. Yet, after all, of how much less account are those tortures that touched but your perishable body, compared with that intense anguish of soul over which you so nobly triumphed! The dire grief of those whom you held dearer far than life, and whom, to all appearance, you needs must leave in hopeless woe, was verily the culminating pitch of your martyrdom. Only such can fail to realise this, who deserve the reproach cast by Saint Paul on the pagans of his day, that they are without affection (Romans i. 32). Yes, when the world once more presents such a hateful spectacle as this, then will be the sign of the last day’s near approach, so says the same Apostle (2 Timothy iii. 1, 3). Nevertheless, human love must needs cede to that of God: “He that loves father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me: and he who loves son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew x. 3, 7). You understood all this, dear martyrs. Your relatives who would separate you from our Lord became but enemies in your eyes (Matthew x. 36). At that very instant, our Jesus who can never let Himself be outdone in generosity, restored these dear ones to you by taking them, through a miracle of grace, together with you and because of your example, to Himself. Thus do you complete for us, the instructions already given by a Julitta and her boy, by a Vitus and his glorious companions. Obtain for us, you victors in such keen trials, an ever growing courage and love proportionate to our increase in the light and knowledge of our duty to God.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Malaga in Spain, the holy martyrs Cyriacus, and the virgin Paula, who were overwhelmed with stones and yielded up their souls to God.

At Tripoli in Phoenicia, in the time of the governor Hadrian, St. Leontius, a soldier, who, through bitter torments, attained to the crown of martyrdom, together with the tribune Hypatius and Theodulus, who he had converted to Christ.

The same day, St. Jetherius, martyr, in the persecution of Diocletian. After enduring fire and other torments he was put to death with the sword.

At Alexandria, the passion of St. Marina, virgin.

At Bordeaux, St. Amandus, bishop and confessor.

At Sacca in Sicily, St. Calogerus, hermit, whose holiness is principally manifested by the deliverance of possessed persons.

At Schongau, St. Elizabeth, virgin, celebrated for her observance of monastic discipline.

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

Thanks be to God.

17 JUNE – SAINT GREGORY LUIGI BARBARIGO (Bishop and Confessor)

Gregory Luigi Barbarigo was born in Venice in 1625 to the Venetian Senator Giovanni Francesco Barbarigo and his wife Lucrezia Leoni. After serving as a diplomat, Gregory was ordained a priest in 1655 and became a prelate to Pope Alexander VII. In 1567 he became Bishop of Bergamo and in 1660 he became a Cardinal. In 1664 he became Bishop of Padua and took Saint Charles Borromeo as his model. He died in 1697, was beatified by Pope Clement XIII in 1761 and was canonised by Pope John XXIII in 1960.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, during the persecution of Diocletian, the birthday of 262 holy martyrs who were put to death for the faith of Christ and buried on the old Via Salaria, at the foot of Cucumer hill.

At Terracina, St. Montanus, a soldier, who received the crown of martyrdom after suffering many torments in the time of the emperor Hadrian and the ex-consul Leontius.

At Venafro, the holy martyrs Meander and Marcian who were beheaded in the persecution of Maximian.

At Chalcedon, the holy martyrs Manuel, Sabel, and Ismael, who the king of Persia sent as ambassadors to Julian the Apostate to treat of peace. Having firmly refused to worship idols as they had been commanded by the emperor, they were put to the sword.

At Apollonia, in Macedonia, the holy martyrs Isaurus, deacon, Innocent, Felix, Jeremiah and Peregrinus, natives of Athens, who were tortured in different manners by the tribune Tripontius, and finally decapitated.

At Amelia in Umbria, the bishop St. Himerius, whose body was translated to Cremona.

In the territory of Bourges, St. Gundulphus, bishop.

At Orleans, St. Avitus, priest and confessor.

In Phrygia, St. Hypatius, confessor. Also St. Bessarion, anchorite.

At Pisa in Tuscany, St. Rainerius, confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

16 JUNE – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Besançon in France, the holy martyrs Ferreol, priest, and Ferrution, deacon, who were sent by the blessed bishop Irenaeus to preach the word of God, and after being exposed to various torments under the judge Claudius, were put to the sword.

At Tarsus in Cilicia, in the reign of the emperor Diocletian, the holy martyrs Quiricus, and Julitta, his mother. Quiricus, a child of three years, seeing his mother cruelly scourged in the presence of the governor Alexander, and crying bitterly, was killed by being dashed against the steps of the tribunal. Julitta, after being subjected to severe stripes and grievous torments, closed the career of her martyrdom by decapitation.

At Mayence, the passion of the Saints Aurens, and Justina, his sister, and other martyrs, who, being at Mass in church, were massacred by the Huns then devastating Germany.

At Amathonte in Cyprus, St. Tychon, a bishop in the time of Theodosius the Younger.

At Lyons, the demise of blessed Aurelian, bishop of Arles.

At Nantes in Brittany, St. Similian, bishop and confessor.

At Meissen in Germany, St. Benno, bishop.

In the village of La Louvesc, formerly of the diocese of Vienne in Dauphiny, the decease of St. John Francis Regis, confessor, of the Society of Jesus, distinguished by his zeal for the salvation of souls, and by his patience. He was placed on the list of saints by Pope Clement XII.

In Brabant, St. Lutgard, virgin.

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

Thanks be to God.

15 JUNE – SAINTS VITUS, MODESTUS AND CRESCENTIA (Martyrs)

Unknown to his pagan father, Vitus (or Guy) was baptised as a child. When his father found out, he used his best endeavours to dissuade Vitus from the Christian religion, but as he persisted in it, he he handed him over to the judge Valerian to be whipped. Remaining unshaken as before, he was given back to his father. But while his father was turning over in his mind to what severe discipline to subject him, Vitus, being warned by an Angel, fled to another country with Crescentia (his nurse) and her husband Modestus, who had brought him up. There he gained great praise for holiness so that his fame reached Diocletian. The Emperor, therefore, sent for him to deliver his own child that was vexed by a devil. Vitus delivered him, but when Diocletian found that with all his gifts, he could not bring him to worship the gods, he cast him, Crescentia and Modestus into prison. When they were found in the prison more faithful than ever to their confession, the Emperor commanded them to be thrown into a great vessel full of burning resin, pitch and melted lead. There, like the three Hebrew Children in the fiery furnace, they sang praise to God. They were dragged out and cast to a lion, but he only lay down before them and licked their feet. Then, Diocletian being filled with fury, more especially because he saw that the crowd looking on were stirred up by the miracles, he ordered Vitus, Crescentia and Modestus to be stretched on a block and their limbs crushed so that their bones were broken. While they were dying, there came thunder, lightning and earthquakes so that the temples of the gods fell down and many men were killed. Their remains were gathered up by a noble lady named Florentia who gave them honourable burial.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

One of the titles of this Divine Spirit who is reigning so specially over this portion of the Cycle is the Witness of the Word (John xv. 26). Thus was He announced to the world by the Man-God Himself when about to quit it in order to return to His Father after having on His part rendered His own great testimony to Sovereign Truth (John xviii. 37). Formed by the Holy Ghost on the type of Jesus Christ, the faithful too are witnesses whose mission is to trample on lying error, the enemy of God, by expressing the Truth, not in words only but in deeds. There is a testimony however, that is not given to all to render: this is the Testimony of blood. The martyrs hold this privilege, this is the special stand granted to them in the ceaseless battle ever being waged betwixt Truth and Falsehood, and this battle is the sum total of all History. Hence Martyrs come crowding on the brilliant heavens of Holy Church at this season. In a few days the Church will be all thrilling with gladness at the birth of Saint John the Baptist, that man great beyond all men (Matthew xi. 11), and whose greatness specially consists in that he was sent by God to be a witness, to give testimony of the Light (John i. 6, 8). We will then meditate at leisure on these thoughts for which we seem to be prepared by the ever swelling groups of joyous martyrs who cross our path as it were to announce the near approach of the Friend of the Bridegroom (John iii. 29).

Today we have Vitus, accompanied by his faithful foster-parents, Modestus and Crescentia. He is but a child, yet he comes teaching us the price of Baptism and the fidelity we owe to our Father in Heaven despite all else beside. Great is his glory, both on Earth and in Heaven. The demons who used to tremble before him in life still continue their dread of him. His name remains ineffacably inscribed on the memory of the Christian people, just as that of a Saint Elmo or Erasmus, among their most potent “helpers” in daily needs. Saint Vitus, or more commonly Saint Guy, is invoked to deliver those who are attacked by that lamentable sickness which is named from him, as also to neutralise bad effects from the bite of a mad dog, and his beneficence is evinced even to the dumb brutes also. He is likewise implored in cases of lethargy, or unduly prolonged sleep. For this reason, the cock is his distinctive attribute in Christian art, as well as because recourse is usually had to this Saint when one wants to awake at some particular hour.

* * * * *

You have won the battle, glorious Martyrs! The struggle was not long, but it gained for you an eternal crown! You have purchased to yourselves, O Modestus and Crescentia, the everlasting gratitude of your God Himself, for to Him you faithfully gave back the precious charge committed to your keeping in the person of that dear child who became your very own through Faith and Baptism. And you too, noble boy, who preferred your Father in Heaven to your earthly parent, who may tell the caressing tenderness lavished on you eternally by Him whom before men you did so unflinchingly own to be your true Father? Even here below He is pleased to load you with striking marks of His munificence, for to you he confides, on a large scale, the exercise of His merciful power. Because of that holy liberty which reigned in your soul from reason’s earliest dawn by which your body was subjected to your soul’s control, you now hold over fallen nature a marvellous power. Unhappy sufferers whose distorted limbs are worked violently at the caprice of a cruel malady, and are no longer mastered by the will or, on the other hand, those who are rendered powerless and no longer free to act by reason of resistless sleep: all these recover at your feet, that perfect harmony of soul and body, that needful docility of the material to the spiritual, by which man may freely attend to the duties incumbent on him, whether as regards God or his neighbour. Vouchsafe to be ever more and more lavish in the granting of these favours, which are the precious gifts specially at your disposal, for the good of suffering mankind, and for the greater glory of your God who has given you an eternal crown. We implore you, in the words of the Church and by your merits, that God may destroy in us that pride which spoils the equilibrium of man himself and makes him deviate from his path. May it be granted us to have a thorough contempt of evil for thus is restored to man, liberty in love: superbe non sapere, sed placita humilitate proficere, ut prava despiciens, quoecumque recta sunt libera exerceat charitate.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Dorostorum in Mysia, St. Hesychius, a soldier, who was arrested with blessed Julius and after him crowned with martyrdom under the governor Maximus.

At Cordova in Spain, St. Benildes, martyr.

At Zephirium in Cilicia, St. Dulas, martyr, who, under the governor Maximus was, for the name of Christ, scourged, laid on the gridiron, scalded with boiling oil, and after enduring other trials, received for his victory the palm of martyrdom.

At Palmyra in Syria, the holy martyrs Libya and Leonides, sisters, and Eutropia, a girl of twelve years, who won the crown of martyrdom by various torments.

At Valenciennes, the decease of St. Landelin, abbot.

At Clermont in Auvergne, St. Abraham, confessor, illustrious by his holiness and miracles.

In Switzerland, on Mount Jou, St. Bernard of Menthon, confessor.

At Pibrac, in the diocese of Toulouse, St. Germana Cousin, virgin. After a life of poverty, humility and patient suffering amid many trials in the care of her flocks, she went to her heavenly spouse and became renowned for numerous miracles after her death. Blessed Pius IX placed her in the number of holy virgins.

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

Thanks be to God.