5 OCTOBER – SAINT PLACIDUS AND COMPANIONS (Martyrs)

Placidus was born in 515 AD. A Roman by birth and son of Tertullus, he belonged to the noble family of the Anicii. Eutychius and Victorinus were brothers of Placidus and Flavia was their sister. Offered to God while still a child, Placidus was entrusted to Saint Benedict and made such progress in sanctity and in the monastic life as to become one of his principal disciples. He was present when the holy Father obtained from God by prayer a fountain of water in the solitude of Subiaco. While still a boy, being sent one day to draw water, he fell into the lake but was miraculously saved by the monk Maurus who at the command of the holy Father ran dry-shod over the water. Later on he accompanied Saint Benedict to Monte Cassino. At the age of 21 Placidus was sent into Sicily to defend, against certain covetous persons, the goods and lands which his father had given to Monte Cassino. On the way he performed so many great miracles, that he arrived at Messina with a reputation for sanctity. He built a monastery on his paternal estate not far from the harbour, and gathered together Donatus and Firmatus, deacons, Faustus and thirty other monks, being thus the first to introduce the monastic life into the island.

Nothing could be more placid or more humble than his behaviour, and he surpassed everyone in prudence, gravity, kindness and unruffled tranquillity of mind. He often spent whole nights in the contemplation of heavenly things, only sitting down for a short time when overpowered by the necessity of sleep. Placidus was most zealous in observing silence and when it was necessary to speak the subjects of his conversation were the contempt of the world and the imitation of Christ. His fasts were most severe, and he abstained all the year round from flesh and every kind of milk-meat. In Lent he took only bread and water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. The rest of the week he passed without any food. He never drank wine, and always wore a hair-shirt. So numerous and so remarkable were the miracles he worked, that the sick came to him in crowds to be cured, not only from the neighbourhood, but also from Etruria and Africa. But Placidus, in his great humility, worked all his miracles in the name of Saint Benedict, attributing them to his merits. His holy example and the wonders he wrought caused the Christian faith to spread rapidly.

In the fifth year after his arrival in Sicily, the Saracens made a sudden incursion, and seized upon Placidus and his thirty monks while they were singing the Night Office in the church. At the same time were taken Eutychius and Victorinus, his brothers, and his sister the virgin Flavia, who had all come from Rome to visit him, and also Donatus, Faustus and the deacon Firmatus. Donatus was beheaded on the spot. The rest were taken before Manucha, the chief of the pirates. And as they firmly refused to adore his idols, they were beaten with rods, and cast, bound hand and foot, into prison without food. Every day they were beaten afresh, but God supported them. After many days they were again led before the tyrant, and as they still stood firm in the faith, they were again repeatedly beaten, then stripped of their clothes and hung, head downwards, over thick smoke to suffocate. They were left for dead, but the next day were found alive and miraculously healed of their wounds. The tyrant then addressed himself to the virgin Flavia. But finding he could gain nothing by threats or promises, he ordered her to be stripped and hung by the feet from a high beam, insulting her meanwhile upon her nakedness.

But the virgin answered: “Man and woman have the same Author and Creator, God. Hence neither my sex, nor this nakedness which I endure for love of Him, will be any disadvantage to me in His eyes who for my sake chose not only to be stripped, but also to be nailed to a cross.” Manucha enraged at this reply ordered her to be beaten and tortured with the smoke, and then handed her over to be dishonoured. At the virgin’s prayer, God struck all who attempted to approach her with sudden stiffness and pain in all their limbs. The tyrant next attacked Placidus, the virgin’s brother, who tried to convince him of the vanity of his idols. Manucha thereupon commanded his mouth and teeth to be broken with stones, and his tongue to be cut out by the root. But the martyr spoke as clearly and easily as before. The barbarian grew more furious at this miracle and commanded that Placidus, with his sister and brethren should be crushed under an enormous weight of anchors and millstones. But even this torture was powerless to hurt them. Finally, 36 of Placidus’ family, with their leader and several others, were beheaded on the shore near Messina and gained the palm of martyrdom on the third of the Nones of October in 539. Gordian, a monk of that monastery, who had escaped by flight, found all their bodies entire after several days and buried them with tears. Not long afterwards the barbarians, in punishment of their crime, were swallowed up by the avenging waves of the sea. In 1588, the discovery of the martyrs’ relics at Messina confirmed the truth of their Acts. On this occasion Pope Sixtus V extended the celebration of their Feast to the universal Church.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The proto-martyr of the Benedictine Order stands before us today in his strength and his beauty. The empire had fallen, and the yoke of the Arian Goths lay heavy on Italy. Rome was no longer in the hands of the glorious races which had made her greatness. These, nevertheless, kept up their honourable traditions. They offered a great lesson for future times of revolution to other descendants of not less noble families: in lieu of the ensign of civic honour once committed to their fathers, the survivors of the old patrician ranks made it their duty to raise still higher the standard of true heroism of those virtues which alone are everlasting.

Thus Benedict of Nursia, fleeing into the desert, had rendered greater service than any mighty conqueror to Rome and her immortal destinies. The world soon discovered this fact and then began, as Saint Gregory tells us, the concourse of Roman nobles bringing their children to the Patriarch of monks to be educated by him for Almighty God. Placidus was the eldest son of the patrician Tertullus. The excellent qualities early discovered in the child led his worthy father to offer to God, without delay, this dear first-fruit of his paternity. In those days parents loved their children not for this passing world, but for eternity. Not for themselves, but for our Lord. The faith of Tertullus was well rewarded when, twenty years later, not only his first-born, but also his two other sons and their sister, were crowned with martyrdom. This was not the first holocaust of the kind in that heroic family, if it be true that they were relatives by blood, and heirs of the goods as well as the virtues, of the holy martyr Eustace who had been immolated four centuries earlier with his wife and sons.

Among the children of promise enlisted by the vanquished nobles of the ancient empire in the new militia of the holy Valley, Equitius brought to Subiaco his son Maurus, a boy some years older than Placidus. Henceforth the names of Maurus and Placidus became inseparable from that of Benedict, and the Patriarch acquired a new glory from his two sons, so united and yet so different. Equal in their love of their master and father, and themselves equally loved by him for their equal fidelity in good works, they experienced to the full that delight in virtue which makes its practice a second nature. However similar their zeal in using the most strong and bright armour of obedience in the service of Christ the King, it was wonderful to see the master accommodating himself to the age of his disciples, so adapting himself to their differences of character that there was nothing precipitate, nothing forced, in his education. It disciplined nature without crushing it, and followed the Holy Ghost without endeavouring to take the lead. In Maurus was especially reproduced Benedict’s austere gravity, in Placidus his simplicity and sweetness. Benedict took Maurus to witness the chastisement inflicted on the wandering monk who could not stay at prayer. But Placidus accompanied him to the mountain-top where his prayer obtained a spring of water to deliver from danger and fatigue the brethren dwelling on the rooks above the Anio. But when walking along the river side holding Placidus by the hand and leaning upon Maurus, the legislator of monks explained to them the code of perfection they were afterwards to propagate, the Angels knew not which most to admire: the candour of the one winning the father’s tenderest affection, or the precocious maturity of the other meriting the holy patriarch’s confidence and already sharing his burden.

Who does not recollect the admirable scene of Maurus walking on the water and saving Placidus from drowning? Monastic traditions never weary of extolling the obedience of Maurus, Benedict’s humility and the sagacious simplicity of the child pronouncing sentence as judge of the prodigy. Of such children the Master could say from experience: “The Lord often reveals that which is best to him that is the younger.” And we may well believe that the recollections of the holy Valley prompted him later on to lay down in his Rule this prescription: “In all places whatsoever, let not age be taken into account as regards order, neither let it be to the prejudice of anyone: for Samuel and Daniel, while yet children, were judges over the elders.'”

“Placidus, my beloved son, why should I weep for you? You are taken from me, only that you may belong to all men. I will give thanks for this sacrifice of the fruit of my heart offered to Almighty God.” Thus, on hearing of this day’s triumph, spoke Benedict, your spiritual father, mingling tears with his joy. He did not survive you long: yet long enough to complete, of his own accord, the sacrifice of separations by sending into far off France the companion of your childhood, Maurus, who was destined not to rejoin you in Heaven for so many long years. Charity seeks not her own interests. She finds them by forgetting self and losing self in God. Placidus had disappeared. Maurus had been sent away. Benedict was about to die: human prudence would have believed the holy Patriarch’s work in danger of perishing, whereas at this critical moment it strengthened its roots and extended its branches over the whole world. Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground dies itself remains alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit (John xii. 24‒25). As heretofore the blood of martyrs was the seed of Christians, it now produced a rich harvest of monks.

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Blessed be you, O Placidus, far beyond your native Italy and Sicily, the scene of your combat. Blessed be you for the numberless ears of corn, for the abundant harvest sprung from the choice grain that fell to the earth on this day: faith bids us see in your immolation the secret of the success granted to the monastic mission of Maurus. Thus, despite the great diversity and the unequal length of your paths in life, you are ever united in the heart of your master and father. At the appointed hour he did not hesitate before the holocaust our Lord required of him, wherefore, he now in Heaven beholds the fulfilment of the hopes he had centred in his two beloved sons.

Deign, O Placidus, to continue your interest in the extension of Christ’s reign on Earth, in the progress of the perfect life in the Church, in the diffusion throughout the world of the monastic family on which you are the glory. Novices especially are confided to you: remembering the blessed education you were privileged to receive, watch over the aspirants to the better part. To them above all is applied the Gospel saying: “Unless you become as little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew xvii. 3), that kingdom of Heaven which consists in the anticipated possession of God here on Earth in the life of union attained by the way of the counsels. May they reproduce before the Angels your humble and sweet simplicity and show their gratitude for the maternal solicitude of their holy Order by the came filial docility with which you responded to the holy Legislator’s special tenderness. May they, in spite of the world’s opposition, increase in numbers and in merit, for the honour of God! The trials of the present must prepare the monastic Order, and indeed the whole religious state, for the trials of the future. It is around the monks that the martyrs of the last days will gather, as around thee assembled the Christians of Messina, and your two brothers, and the heroic Flavia, so truly worthy to be doubly your sister. May the chosen flock increase and be ever united, so as to be able to say with one voice to the persecutors both present and future: “Do what you mean to do, for we are all of one mind, one faith, one manner of life.”

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The birthday of blessed Thraseas, bishop of Eumenia, who ended his career by martyrdom at Smyrna.

At Treves, the holy martyrs Palmatius and his companions, who suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian under the governor Eictiovarus.

The same day, under the emperor Diocletian and the ex-consul Domitius, St. Charitina, a virgin, who was exposed to the fire and thrown into the sea, but escaping uninjured, she had her hands and feet cut off, her teeth plucked out, and finally she yielded her spirit in prayer.

At Auxerre, the departure from this life of the saintly deacon Firmatus and the virgin Flaviana, his sister.

At Ravenna, St. Marcellinus, bishop and confessor.

At Valence in France, St. Apollinaris, a bishop, who was renowned in life for virtues, and in death for miracles and prodigies.

The same day, St. Attilanus, bishop of Zamora, who was ranked among the saints by Pope Urban II.

At Leon in Spain, St. Froilanus, bishop of that city, renowned for his zeal in spreading the monastic life, for his liberality to the poor and other virtues, and for miracles.

At Rome, St. Galla, widow, daughter of the consul Symmachus, who, after the death of her husband, remained many years near the church of St. Peter, applying to prayer, alms-giving, fasting and other pious works. Her most happy death was described by Pope St. Gregory.

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

Thanks be to God.

4 OCTOBER – SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI (Deacon and Confessor)

“Il Povorello”, Saint Francis of Assisi, was born in Assisi, Italy, in 1182 to Pietro Bernardone, a wealthy cloth merchant and Pica, a woman belonging to a noble family of Provence, France. Francis was baptised with the name of John but his father soon afterwards changed it. One day, contrary to his custom, Francis repulsed a poor man who begged an alms of him for Christ’s sake, but immediately repenting of what he had done, he bestowed a large bounty upon the beggar, and at the same time made a promise to God never to refuse an alms to any one that asked him. After this he fell into a serious illness, and on his recovery, he devoted himself more eagerly than ever to works of charity, making such rapid progress in this virtue that, desirous of attaining evangelical perfection, he gave all he had to the poor. His father, angered by this, brought Francis before the Bishop of Assisi that, in his presence. he might formally renounce all claim to his patrimony. The Saint gave up all to his father, even stripping off his garments that he might, he said, for the future have more right to say: “Our Father who art in heaven”.

After hearing one day the passage of the Gospel “Do not possess gold nor silver, nor money in your purses. Nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes,” Francis took this for his rule of life, laid aside his shoes and kept but one tunic. He gathered together twelve disciples and founded the Order of Friars Minors. In salvation 1209 he went to Rome to obtain the confirmation of his rule and 0rder from the Apostolic See. Pope Innocent III at first refused to see him but having in his sleep beheld the man he had repulsed supporting with his shoulders the Lateran Basilica which was threatening to fall, he had him sought out and brought to him. Receiving him kindly, the Pope confirmed the whole system of his institute. Francis then sent his brethren into every part of the world to preach the Gospel. He himself, desirous of an opportunity of martyrdom sailed into Syria, but the Sultan treated him most kindly so that, unable to gain his end, he returned to Italy.

Francis built many convents of his Order and then retired into solitude on Mount Alvernia where he fasted forty days in honour of the Archangel Saint Michael. On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, he had a vision of a seraph bearing between his wings the figure of the Crucified, who impressed the sacred stigmata on his bands and feet and side. Saint Bonaventure said he heard Pope Alexander IV, while preaching, relate how he had himself seen these wounds. These signs of Christ’s exceeding love for His servant excited universal wonder and admiration. Two years later Francis grew very ill and was carried, at his own request, into the church of Saint Mary of the Angels, that he might give up his mortal life to God in the very place where he had commenced his life of grace. There, after exhorting the brethren to poverty and patience, and the preservation of the faith of the holy, Roman Church, he said the Psalm: “I cried to the Lord with my voice.” When he reached the verse: “The just wait for me, until you reward me,” he breathed forth his soul on the fourth of the Nones of October in 1226. He was canonised in 1228. Saint Francis is the patron of animals.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

And I saw another Angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four Angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying: ‘Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads’” (Apocalypse vii. 2, 3).

The sixth seal of the Book of destinies had just been opened before the eyes of the prophet of Patmos. It was a time of anguish, the hour for the wicked to cry to the mountains: “Fall upon us.” The sun was darkened: an image of the Sun of Justice eclipsed by the night of iniquity. The moon, the figure of the Church, appeared red as blood, through the evils that defiled the sanctuary. The stars fell from heaven, as the fig-tree casts its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind. Who would appease the Lamb and retard the day of wrath? At the invitation of the Saints and of the Apostolic See, let us recognise the Angel who won for the world a delay of the judgement: the Angel with the impress of God upon a mortal Body, the Seraph with his sacred stigmata, the sight of which once more disarmed the justice of God. Dante thus sings of the elect of God under whose leadership took place on Earth as it were a repetition of the first and only Redemption:

Between Tupino, and the wave that falls

From blest Ubaldo’s chosen hill, there hangs

Rich slope of mountain high, whence heat and cold

Are wafted thro’ Perugia’s eastem gate:

And Nocera with Gualdo, in its rear,

Mourn for their heavy yoke. Upon that side,

Where it doth break its steepness most, arose

A sun upon the world, as duly this

From Ganges doth: therefore let none who speak,

Of that place say Assisi; for its name

Were lamely so delivered; but the East,

To call things rightly, be it henceforth styled.

He was not yet much distant from his rising,

When his good influence ’gan to bless the earth.

A dame to whom none openeth pleasure’s gate

More than to death, was, ’gainst his fathers will,

His stripling choice: and he did make her his,

Before the spiritual court, by nuptial bonds,

And in his father’s sight: from day to day

Then loved her most devoutly. She bereaved

Of her first husband, slighted and obscure,

Thousand and hundred years and more, remain’d

Without a single suitor, till he came

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The lovers’ titles — Poverty and Francis.

Their concord and glad looks, wonder and love,

And sweet regard gave birth to holy thoughts,

So much, that venerable Bernard first

Did bare his feet, and, in pursuit of peace

So heavenly, ran, yet deem’d his footing slow.

O hidden riches! O prolific good!

Egidius bares him next, and next Sylvester,

And follow, both, the Bridegroom: so the Bride

Can please them. Thenceforth goes he on his way

The father and the master, with his spouse,

And with that family, whom now the cord

Girt humbly: nor did abjectness of heart

Weigh down his eyelids, for that he was son

Of Pietro Bernadone, and by men

In wondrous sort despised. But royally

His hard intention he to Innocent

Set forth; and from him first received the seal

Of his religion.

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And when He had, thro’ thirst of martyrdom, stood up

In the proud Soldan’s presence, and there preached

Christ and his followers, but found the race

Unripen’d for conversion; back once more

He halted, (not to intermit his toil,)

And reap’d Auaonian lands. On the hard rook,

Twixt Arno and the Tiber, he from Christ

Took the last signet, which his limbs two years

Did carry. Then, the season come that he,

Who to such good had destined him, was pleased

To advance him to the meed, which he had earned

By his self-humbling; to his brotherhood,

As their just heritage, he gave in charge

His dearest lady: and enjoined their love

And faith to her; and, from her bosom, will’d

His goodly spirit shou1d move forth, returning

To its appointed kingdom; nor would have

His body laid upon another bier.

Dante’s Paradiso Canto xi (Cary’s Translation).

Francis took his flight, for his work was done. Innumerable souls were now treading the paths of penance. The Cross of Christ was set before the eyes of the whole world as the treasure of the Church, now that she was beginning her ascent of Calvary. How admirably had the sanctifying Spirit conducted this work!

At the age of four and twenty, Francis, who was destined not to see his forty-sixth year, was the head of a party of gay youths who filled Assisi day and night with their songs. Full of the poetry of France (from which country he borrowed his name), he dreamed of nothing but worldly renown and knightly prowess. One night he beheld in a prophetic dream a large assortment of arms and weapons. “For whom are all these?” he inquired, and on hearing the answer: “For you and your soldiers,” he hastened to join Gauthier de Brienne, who was at war with the Germans in the South of Italy. But God arrested him: in a series of manifestations to which the young man corresponded with all the generous ardour of his pure heart, our Lord revealed to him the object of his life’s labour, the standard he was to carry through the world, and the Lady in whose service he was to win his spurs.

The Church, ever under attack, yet hitherto ever victorious, seemed about to succumb, so undermined were her walls by heresy, so broken by the battering ram of the secular power: while, within the citadel, the ancient faith was sinking under prolonged scandals, leaving the field open to the enterprises of traitors, and multiplying defections in a society already beginning to feel the torpor of death. Nevertheless, it is written that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church. “Francis, see you not that my house is falling to decay? Go, then, and repair it for me.” There was need of a sudden surprise to disconcert the enemy, and of an energetic appeal to rouse the sleepy garrison and rally them around the too forgotten ensign of Christians, the Cross of Christ. Francis was to be, in his very flesh, the standard of the Crucified. The sacred wounds already pierced his soul and made his eyes two ceaseless fountains of tears: “I weep for the Passion of Jesus Christ my Master. Nor will I blush to go weeping all over the world.”

Avarice was the crying sin of the age. The hearts of men, too preoccupied with earthly affairs to have a desire of heaven, must be delivered from a slavery which crushed out all noble thoughts, all love, all devotedness. Holy Poverty, the mother of that true liberty which disarms Hell and laughs at tyrants, could alone achieve such a deliverance. Francis was take with the beauty of poverty in spite of the jeers and insults of the vulgar, and of his rejection by his own family. But his sublime folly was the salvation of his people, and he was blessed by our heavenly Father as a true brother of His eternal Son. As by nature the consubstantial Word receives His unbeginning Being from Him who begets Him eternally, so within the Holy Trinity He has nothing appropriated to Himself but the title of Son, to the glory of the Father, in the Holy Spirit who is their love. Such is God’s destitution of all things of which nothing created could give an idea, but which is reflected in the Incarnate Word’s sublime disappropriation in presence of that Father from whom He derived His all. Would it, then, be far wrong to consider the Poverty chosen by Saint Francis as no other than Eternal Wisdom, offering herself, even under the old Law, to the human race as bride (Wisdom viii. 2) and as sister? (Proverbs vii. 4). Once espoused in Mary’s womb at the Incarnation, how great has been her fidelity!I But whoever loves her, must become in Jesus like her.

“Lord Jesus,” said Francis, “show me the paths of your well-beloved Poverty. ’Tis she that accompanied you from your Mother’s womb to the crib in the stable and on the waysides of the world took care you should not have where to lay your head. By the combat which concluded the war of our Redemption, Poverty, adorned with all the privations which form her bridal attire, mounted with you upon the Cross, which even Mary could not ascend. She followed you to your borrowed tomb and as you yielded up your soul in her embrace, so in her arms you took it again in the glorious nakedness of the Resurrection. And together with her entered Heaven, leaving to the Earth all that was earthly. O who would not love this queen of the world which she tramples under her feet, my lady and my love? Most poor Jesus, my sweet Master, have pity on me. Without her I can taste no peace, and I die of desire.”

God cannot turn a deaf ear to such entreaties. If he contends, it is in order to add fresh wounds of love until the old man being destroyed, the new rises from the ruins, in all things conformed to the image of the heavenly Adam. Eighteen years later, after the prodigy on Mount Alvernia, Francis, impressed with the divine seal of Christ’s wounds, sang in heavenly language the sublime combat which had made up his life: “Love has cast me into a furnace, love has cast me into a furnace, I am cast into a furnace of love. My new Bridegroom, the loving Lamb, gave me the nuptial ring. Then having cast me into prison, He cleft my heart and my body fell to the ground. Those arrows propelled by love struck me and set me on fire. From peace He made war, and I am dying of sweetness. The darts rained so thick and fast that I was all in an agony. Then I took a buckler, but the shafts were so swift that it shielded me no more. They mangled my whole body, so strong was the arm that shot them. He shot them so powerfully that I despaired of " parrying them, and to escape death I cried with all my might: ‘You transgress the laws of the camp.’ But He only set up a new instrument of war which overwhelmed me with fresh blows. So true was His aim, that He never missed. I was lying on the ground, unable to move my limbs. My whole body was broken, and I had no more sense than a man deceased. Deceased, not by a true death, but through excess of joy. Then regaining possession of my body, I felt so strong that I could follow the guard who led me to the court of Heaven. Returning to myself, I took up arms and I made war upon Christ. I rode into His territory, and meeting Him, I engaged Him at once, and took my revenge on Him. Having had my revenge, I made a treaty with Him, for from the beginning Christ had loved me with a true love. And now my heart has become capable of the consolations of Christ.”

Around the standard-bearer of Christ were already gathered those whom he called his knights of the Round Table. However captivating he may have been when his fellow citizens proclaimed him the flower of their youth, and he presided at their feasts and games. Francis was much more attractive now in his life of self-renunciation. Scarcely ten years after his espousals with holy Poverty, he had so well avenged her for having been so long despised that she hold full court in the midst of five thousand Friars Minor encamped under the walls of Assisi, while Clare and her companions formed for her such a suite of honour as no empress could ever boast of. The enthusiasm soon became so general that Francis, in order to satisfy it without depopulating the State and the Churoh, gave to the world his Third Order into which, led by Louis IX of France and Elizabeth of Hungary, entered countless multitudes of every nation, and tribe, and tongue. Thanks to the three Seraphic Orders, as well as to the triple militia founded at the same time by Dominic de Gusman, devotedness to the Roman Church, and the spirit of penance and prayer everywhere triumphed for a time over the anticipated rationalism, the luxury, and all the other evils which had been threatening the speedy ruin of the world.

The influence of the Saints springs from their sanctity, as rays from the focus. No rich man ever possessed the earth to such a degree as this poor man who, seeking God and depending absolutely upon His Providence, had regained the condition of Adam in Eden. Thus, as he passed along, the flocks would welcome him. The fishes would follow his boat in the water. The birds would gather round him and joyfully obey him. And why? Francis drew all things to himself because all things drew him to God. With him there was no such thing as analysing love and making distinctions among those things which come from God and lead to God. To raise himself up to God, to compassionate with Christ, to be of service to his neighbour, to be in harmony with the whole universe like Adam when innocent, was for the seraphic father, says Saint Bonaventure, one and the same impulse of that true piety which ruled his whole being. The divine fire within him found fuel in everything. No touch of the Holy Spirit, whenever it came, did Francis let pass, so much he feared to frustrate the effect of a single grace. He did not despise the stream for not being the ocean, and it was with an unheard of tenderness of devotion, says his son and historian Bonaventure, that Francis relished God’s goodness in creation, contemplated His supreme beauty in every created beauty, and heard the echo of Heaven’s harmonies in the concert of beings sprung like man himself from the only source of existence.

Hence it was by the sweet name of brothers and sisters that he invited all creatures to praise with him that well-beloved Lord, whose every trace on earth was the dear object of his love and contemplation. Neither the progress nor the consummation of his holiness altered, in this respect, what would now be called his method of prayer. On hearing that his death was approaching, and again a few minutes before he passed away, he sang, and would have others sing to him, his favourite canticle: “Praised be God my Lord, for all creatures, and especially for our brother the sun, which gives us light, and is an image of you, my God! Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon, and for all the stars which He has created bright and beautiful in the heavens! Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind, and for the air, and the cloud, and the fine weather, and all the seasons. For our sister the water, which is very useful, humble, precious and pure. For our brother the fire, which is bright and strong. For our mother the earth, which bears us and produces the fruits and the flowers! Be praised, O my God, for those who pardon and who suffer for love of you! Be praised for our sister the death of the body, which no living man can escape. Unhappy is he who dies in mortal sin, but happy is he whom death finds conformed to your holy will! Praise and bless my Lord, give Him thanks, and serve Him in great humility.”

After having received the stigmata, Francis’ life was an unspeakable martyrdom in spite of which he continued to travel through towns and villages, riding, like Jesus of whom he was so touching an image, upon a poor little ass. And everywhere he preached the Cross, working miracles and wonders of grace. Assisi cherishes the memory of the blessing bequeathed to it by its glorious son when, gazing on it for the last time from the beautiful plain that stretches at its feet, he exclaimed with tears: “Be you blessed of the Lord, O city faithful to God, for in you and by you will many souls be saved!”

The humble Portiuncula, the cradle of the Order, where Clare too had exchanged the vain ornaments of the world for the poverty of the Cross: Saint Mary of the Angels, which awakens in the pilgrim a feeling of the nearness of heaven, and where the Great Pardon of the 2nd August proves the pleasure our Lord still takes in it: this was the appointed place of Francis’ death. He passed away on the 3rd October, towards eight o’clock in the evening , and although darkness had already set in, a flight of larks descended, singing the rising in heaven of the new sun which was mounting towards the Seraphim.

Francis had chosen to be buried in the place of public execution, called the Colte d’Inferno, near the west wall of his native city. But within two years Gregory IX enrolled him among the Saints and changed the name of the hill into Colle del Paradiso. James the German built over the bare rock, where lies the Poor Man of Assisi, a two-storied church, which the genius of Giotto has made to outshine in glory all the princely palaces on Earth.

* * * * *

MAY you be blessed by every living soul, O you whom our Saviour associated so closely with Himself in the work of Redemption. The world, created by God for Himself, subsists through the Saints, for it in in them He finds His glory. At the time of your birth the Saints were few. The enemy of God and man was daily extending his darksome reign, and when society was entirely lost faith and charity, light and heat, the human race must perish. You came to bring warmth to the wintry world, till the thirteenth century became like a spring time, rich in beautiful flowers. But alas, no summer was to follow in its wake. By you the Cross was forced on men’s notice. Not indeed, as heretofore, to be exalted in a permanent triumph, but to rally the elect in face of the enemy who would too soon afterwards regain the advantage. The Church lays aside the robe of glory which beseemed her in the days of our Lord’s undisputed royalty. Together with you she treads barefoot the path of trials which liken her to her divine Spouse suffering and dying for His Father’s honour. By you and by your sons, ever hold aloft before her the sacred ensign.

It is by identifying ourselves with Christ on the Cross that we will find Him again in the splendours of His glory: for, man, and God in man, cannot be separated. Ad both, you did say, must be contemplated by every soul. Yet no otherwise than by effective compassion with our suffering Head can we find the way of divine union and the sweet fruits of love. If the soul suffers herself to be led by the good pleasure of the Holy Ghost, this Master of masters will conduct her by no other way than that set forth by our Lord in the books of His humility, patience and suffering.

O Francis, cause the lessons of your amiable and heroic simplicity to fructify in us. May your children, to the great profit of the Church, increase in number and still more in sanctity. And never spare themselves in teaching both by word and example, knowing however, that the latter is of greater avail than the former. Raise them up again, with their former popularity in that country of France, which you loved on account of its generous aspirations, now stifled by the sordid vulgarity of money-makers. The whole Religious state looks on you as one of its most illustrious Fathers. Come to its assistance in the trials of the present time. Friend of Dominic, and his companion under our Lady’s mantle, keep up between your two families the fraternal love which delights the Angels. May the Benedictine Order never lose the affection which causes it to rejoice always on this day, and by your benefits to it, strengthen the bonds knit once for all by the gift of the Portiuncula!

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Corinth, the birthday of the Saints Crispus and Cams who are mentioned by the blessed Apostle St. Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians.

In Egypt, the holy martyrs Mark and Marcian, brothers, and an almost countless multitude of both sexes and of all ages who merited the blessed crown of martyrdom, some after being scourged, and others when they had suffered horrible torment, after being delivered to the flames. Some were precipitated into the sea, some others were beheaded, many were starved to death, others were fastened to gibbets, while others were suspended by the feet with their heads downward.

At Damascus, St. Peter, bishop and martyr, who, being accused before the king of the Agarenians of teaching the faith of Christ, had his tongue, hands and feet cut off, and being fastened to a cross, ended his martyrdom.

At Alexandria, the holy priests and deacons Caius, Faustus, Eusebius, Chseremon, Lucius and their companions. Some of them were martyred in the persecution of Valerian, others, for serving the martyrs, received the reward of martyrs.

At Athens, St. Hierotheus, a disciple of the blessed Apostle St. Paul.

At Bologna, St. Petronius, bishop and confessor, celebrated for learning, miracles and sanctity.

At Paris, St. Aurea, virgin.

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

Thanks be to God.

4 OCTOBER – NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The divine Leader of God’s people is their salvation and that in all their distress. Did we not last Sunday see Him prove Himself as such, and in a very telling way, by curing both body and soul of the poor paralytic who was a figure of the whole human race?

Epistle – Ephesians iv. 23–28

Brothers, be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth. Wherefore putting away lying, speak the truth every man with his neighbour; for we are members one of another. Be angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Give not place to the devil. He that stole, let him now steal no more; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffers need.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Epistle to the Ephesians, which was interrupted last Sunday, in the manner we then described, is continued today by the Church. The Apostle has already laid down the dogmatical principles of true holiness. He now deduces the moral consequences of those principles.

Let us call to mind how the holiness, which is in God, is His very Truth — Truth living and harmonious which is no other than the admirable concert of the Three divine Persons united in love. We have seen that holiness, as far as it exists in us men, is also Union by infinite love with the eternal and living Truth. The Word took a Body to Himself in order to manifest, in the Flesh this sanctifying and perfect Truth (John i. 14) of which He is the substantial expression (Hebrews i. 3) of His Humanity, sanctified directly by the plenitude of the divine life and truth which dwell within Him (Colossians ii. 3, 9, 10) became the model, as well as the means, the way, of all holiness to every creature (John xiv. 6). It was not sin alone, but it was moreover the finite nature of man, that kept him at a distance from the divine life (Ephesians iv. 18), but he finds, in Christ Jesus, just as they are in God, the two elements of that life: truth and love. In Jesus, as the complement of His Incarnation, Wisdom aspires at uniting with Herself all the members also of that human race, of which He is the Head (Ephesians i. 10) and the First-Born (Colossians i. 15‒20) by Him, the Holy Ghost, whose sacred fount He is (John iv. 14; vii. 37, 39), pours Himself out upon man by which to adapt him to his sublime vocation, and consummate, in infinite love (which is Himself) that union of every creature with the divine Word. Thus it is that we verily partake of that life of God whose existence and holiness are the knowledge and love of His own Word. Thus it is that we are sanctified in Truth (John xvii. 17) by the participation of that very holiness with which God is holy by nature.

But although the Son of Man, being God, participates for us His brethren in the life of union in the Truth which constitutes the holiness of the blessed Trinity, He communicates that Life, that Truth, that deifying Union, to none save but to those who are truly become His members and who, in Him, reproduce between one another, by the operation of the Spirit of Truth (John xv. 26) and love, that unity of which that sanctifying Spirit is the almighty bond in the Godhead. “May they all be one, as you, Father, in me, and I in you,” said this Jesus of ours, to His Eternal Father: “that they also may be one in us. I have given to them the glory, that is to say, the holiness which you have given to me, that they may be one as we, also, are one: I in them, and you in me, that they may be consummated (that is, be made perfect) in unity” (John xvii. 21‒23). Here we have, and formulised by our Lord Himself, the simple but fruitful axiom — the foundation — of Christian dogma and morals. By that sublime prayer He explained what He had previously been saying: “I sanctify myself for them that they, also, may be sanctified in Truth” (John xvii. 19).

Let us now understand the moral doctrine given us by Saint Paul in today’s Epistle, and what it is he means by that justice, and that holiness of truth, which is that of Christ (Romans viii. 14) of the new man whom every one must put on, who aspires to the possession of the riches spoken of in the passages already read to us from this magnificent Epistle. Let us re-read the Epistle for the 17th Sunday and we will find that all the rules of Christian asceticism, as well as of the mystic life, are to Saint Paul’s mind, summed up in those words: “Be careful to keep unity!” (Ephesians iv. 3). It is the principle he lays down for all, both beginners and the perfect. It is the crowning of the sublimest vocations in the order of grace, as well as the foundation and reason of all God’s commandments: so truly so, indeed, that if we be commanded to abstain from lying and speak the truth to them that live with us, the motive for it all is because we are members one of another.

There is a holy anger of which the Psalmist speaks (Psalm iv. 5) and which is the outcome, on certain occasions, of zeal for the divine law and charity. But the movement of irritation excited in the soul must, even then, be speedily calmed down. To foster it would be a giving place to the devil. That is, it would be the giving him an opportunity for weakening, or even destroying, within us, by bitterness and hatred, the structure of holy unity. Before our conversion, our neighbour, as well as God, was grieved by our sins. We cared little or nothing for injustice, provided it was not noticed. Egotism was our law, and it was proof enough of the reign of Satan over our souls. Now that the spirit of holiness has expelled the unworthy usurper, the strongest evidence of His being our rightful master is that not only the rights of others are sacred in our estimation, but that our toil and our labours are all full of the idea of how to make them serviceable to our neighbour. In a word, as the Apostle continues a little further on, we walk in love because, as most clear children, we are followers of God (Ephesians v. 1, 2).

It is by this means alone, says Saint Basil, that the Church manifests to this Earth of ours the many and great benefits bestowed on the world by the Incarnation. The Christian family which until then was split up into a thousand separate fragments is now made one, one in itself, and one in God. It is the repetition of what our Lord did by assuming Flesh and making it one with Himself.

Gospel – Matthew xxii. 1–14

Jesus answering, spoke again in parables to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my beeves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage. But they
neglected, and went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death. But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies he destroyed those murderers and burnt their city. Then he said to his servants: The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the highways and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage. And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good: and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him: Friend, how did you come here not having on a wedding garment? But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen”.

Praise to you, O Christ.

3 OCTOBER – SAINT TERESA OF LISIEUX (Virgin and Doctor of the Church)

 

Teresa, the “Little Flower of Jesus,” was born at Alençon in 1873 to the saintly Louis and Zélie Martin, both of whom had wished to consecrate their lives to God in the cloister. Five of their nine children became members of religious orders. At the age of 15 Teresa applied to join the Carmelites but was refused and went to Rome with her father to seek the consent of Pope Leo XIII. Consent was given in 1888 and Teresa entered the convent of Lisieux where two of her sisters were already nuns. Teresa died in 1897 and was canonised in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. She was declared a Doctor of the Church by Saint John Paul II in 1997.

O Lord who said “unless you become as little children you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven,” grant us, we beseech you, so to follow in humility and simplicity of heart, the footsteps of the blessed virgin Teresa, that we may obtain everlasting rewards.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, near the spot called Ursus Pileatus, St. Candidus, martyr.

The same day the holy martyrs Denis, Faustus, Cains, Peter, Paul and four others, who suffered much under Decius, and under Valerian, being a long time subjected to torments by the governor Æmilian, merited the palm of martyrdom.

Among the ancient Saxons in Westphalia, two holy martyrs of the name of Ewaldus, who being priests and preaching Christ in that country, were seized by pagans and put to death. During the night a great light appeared for a long time over their bodies showing where they were, and how distinguished were their merits.

In Africa, St. Maximian, bishop of Bagay, who, after having frequently endured great cruelties from the Donatists, was finally cast headlong from a high tower and left for dead. Illustrious by a glorious confession, he afterwards rested in the Lord.

In Palestine, St. Hesychius, confessor, a disciple of St. Hilarion, and the companion of his travels.

In Belgium, in the diocese of Namur, St. Gerard, abbot.

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

Thanks be to God.

2 OCTOBER – THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Although the solemnity of the 27th September celebrates the praises of all the nine glorious choirs, yet the piety of the faithful in the latter ages desired to have a special day consecrated to the Guardian Angels. Several churches having taken the initiative, and kept the Feast under various rites and on different days, Paul V (1608) authorised its celebration ad libitum. Clement X (1670) established it by precept as a Feast of double rite on the 2nd October, the first free day after Michaelmas, on which it thus remains in some way dependent.

It is of faith, on the testimony of the Scriptures and of unanimous tradition, that God commits to His Angels the guardianship of men, who are called to contemplate Him together with these blessed spirits in their common fatherland. Catholic theology teaches that this protection is extended to every member of the human race without any distinction of just and sinners, infidels and baptised. To ward off dangers, to uphold man in his struggle against the demons, to awaken in him holy thoughts, to prevent him from sinning and even at times to chastise him, to pray for him and present his prayers to God: such is the office of the Guardian Angel. So special is his mission that one Angel does not undertake the guardianship of several persons simultaneously. So diligent is his care that he follows his ward from the first day to the last of his mortal existence, receiving the soul as it quits this life and bearing it from the feet of the sovereign Judge to the place it bas merited in Heaven, or to its temporary sojourn in the place of expiation and purification.

It is from the lowest of the nine choirs, the nearest to ourselves, that the Guardian Angels are for the most part selected. God reserves to the Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones the honour of forming His own immediate court. The Dominations, from the steps of His throne, preside over the government of the universe. The Virtues watch over the course of nature’s laws, the preservation of species, and the movements of the heavens. The Powers hold the spirits of wickedness in subjection. The human race in its entirety, as also its great social bodies, the nations and the churches, are confided to the Principalities: while the Archangels, who preside over smaller communities, seem also to have the office of transmitting to the Angels the commands of God, together with the love and light which come down even to us from the first and highest hierarchy. O the depths of the wisdom of God! Thus, then, the admirable distribution of offices among the choirs of heavenly spirits terminates in the function committed to the lowest rank, the guardianship of man, for whom the universe subsists. Such is the teaching of the School, and the Apostle, in like manner, says: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who will receive the inheritance of salvation?” (Hebrews i. 14).

But God, magnificent as He is towards the whole human race, honours in a special manner the princes of His people, those who are most favoured by His grace, or who rule the Earth in His name. The Saints testify that a super-eminent perfection, or a higher mission in Church or State, ensures to the individual the assistance of a superior spirit without the Angel that was first deputed being necessarily removed from his charge. Moreover, with regard to the work of salvation, the Guardian Angel has no fear of being left alone at his post. At his request, and at God’s command, the troops of his blessed companions who fill Heaven and Earth are ever ready to lend him their aid. These noble spirits, acting under the eye of God whose love they desire to second by all possible means, have secret alliances between them which sometimes induce between their clients even on Earth, unions the mystery of which will be revealed in the light of eternity.

“How profound a mystery,” says Origen, “is the apportioning of souls to the Angels destined for their guardians! It is a divine secret, part of the universal economy centred in the Man-God. Nor is it without ineffable order that the ministries of Earth, the many departments of nature, are allotted to the heavenly Virtues: fountains and rivers, winds and forests, plants, living creatures of land and sea, whose various functions harmonise to gather, by the Angels directing them all to a common end.” Again, on these words of Jeremias: “How long will the lamb mourn? (Jeremias xii. 4) Origen, supported by the authority of his translator Saint Jerome, continues: “It is through each one of us that the earth rejoices or mourns, and not only the earth, but water, fire, air, all the elements: by which name we must here understand not insensible matter, but the Angels who are set over all things on Earth. There is an Angel of the land who, with his companions, mourns over our crimes. There is an Angel of the waters to whom are applied the words of the Psalm: The waters saw you, and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled. Great was the noise of the waters. The clouds sent out a sound, for your arrows pass” (Psalm lxxvi. 17, 18).

How grand is nature, viewed in this light! It is thus the ancients, more truthful as well as more poetical than our generation, always considered the universe. Their error lay in adoring these mysterious powers to the detriment of the only God, under whom they stoop that bear up the world (Job ix. 3). “Air and earth and ocean, everything is full of Angels,” says Saint Ambrose. “Eliseus, besieged by a whole army felt no fear, for he beheld invisible cohorts assisting him. May the prophet open your eyes also. May the enemy, be he legion, not terrify you. You think yourself hemmed in, and you are free: there are more with us than with them.” But let us return to our own specially deputed Angel, and meditate on this other testimony: “The noble guardian of each one of us sleeps not, nor can he be deceived. Close your door, and make the darkness of night. But remember, you are never alone. He has no need of daylight in order to see your actions.” And who is it that speaks thus? Not a Father of the Church, but a pagan, the slave philosopher Epiotetus.

In conclusion, let us listen to the Abbot of Clairvaux who here gives free rein to his eloquence: “In every place show respect to your Angel. Let gratitude for his benefits incite you to honour his greatness. Love this your future co-heir, the guardian appointed for you by the Father during your childhood. For though we are sons of God, we are as yet but children, and long and dangerous is our journey. But God ‘has given His Angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You will walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample under foot the lion and the dragon’ (Psalm xc. 11‒13). Where the road is smooth enough for a child, they will content themselves with guiding you, and sustaining your footsteps, as one does for children. But, if trials threaten to surpass your strength, they will bear you up in their hands. Oh those hands of Angels! Thanks to them, what fearful straits we have passed through, as it were without thinking, and with no other impression left upon us than that of a nightmare suddenly dispelled!”

And in his commentary on the Canticle of canticles, Saint Bernard thus describes the triumph of the Angel: “One of the companions of the Spouse, sent from Heaven to the chosen soul as mediator, on witnessing the mystery accomplished, how he exults, and says: ‘I give you thanks, O God of majesty, for having granted the desire of her heart!’ Now it was he that, as a persevering friend, had not ceased on the way to murmur into the soul’s ear: ‘Delight in the Lord, and He will give you the requests of your heart.’ And again: ‘Expect the Lord, and keep His way.’ And then: ‘If he make any delay, wait for him, for he will surely come and will not tarry.’ Meanwhile he represented to our Lord the soul’s desire, saying: ‘As the hart pants after the fountains of water, so this soul pants after you, O God.’ Have have pity on her, hear her cries, and visit her in her desolation. And now the faithful paranymph, the confidant of ineffable secrets, is not jealous. He goes from the Spouse to the bride, offering desires, bringing back gifts. He incites the one, he appeases the other. Sometimes, even in this world, he brings them into each other’s presence, either by raising up the Bride in ecstasy, or by bringing down the Bridegroom: for he is one of the household and well known in the palace, and he fears no rebuff, for every day he beholds the face of the Father.”

* * * * *

BLESSED be you, O holy Angels, for that your charity is not wearied out by the crimes of men. Among so many other benefits, we thank you for keeping the Earth habitable by deigning to dwell always there. Solitude often weighs heavily on the hearts of God’s children: in the great towns, and in the paths of the world where one meets only strangers or enemies. But if the number of the just grows less, yours never diminishes. In the midst of the excited multitude, as well as in the desert, not a human being that has not beside him an Angel, the representative of universal Providence over wicked and good alike. O blessed spirits, you and we have the same fatherland, the same thought, the same love. Why should the confused noises of a frivolous crowd disturb the heavenly life we may lead even now with you? Does the tumult of public places hinder you from holding your choirs there, or prevent the Most High from hearing your harmonies? We also, beholding by faith the face of our heavenly Father which you ever delightedly contemplate, we wish to sing in every place the praise of our Lord and to unite at all times our adorations with yours. Thus, when our manners have become altogether angelic, the present life will be full of peace, and we will be well prepared for eternity.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.

God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Queen of Angels, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my guardian, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my prince, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my monitor, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my counsellor, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my defender, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my steward, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my friend, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my negotiator, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my intercessor, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my patron, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my director, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my ruler, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my protector, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my comforter, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my brother, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my teacher, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my shepherd, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my witness, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my helper, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my watcher, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my conductor, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my preserver, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my instructor, pray for us.

Holy Angel, my enlightener, pray for us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O Lord.

V. Pray for us, O holy guardian angel.

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, who, in the counsel of your ineffable goodness, has appointed to all the faithful, from their mother's womb, a special guardian angel of their body and soul, grant that I may so love and honour him who you have so mercifully given me, that, protected by the bounty of your grace, and by his assistance, I may merit to behold, with him and all the angelic host, the glory of your countenance in the heavenly country. Who lives and reigns, world without end. Amen.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Nicomedia, St. Eleutherius, soldier and martyr, with numberless others. They were falsely accused of having set fire to the palace of Diocletian and, by order of this most cruel emperor, were barbarously massacred in groups. Some were put to the sword, some consumed by fire, while others were precipitated into the sea. But the principal one, Eleutherius, having endured long tortures, and being found stronger after each one, terminated his victorious martyrdom by fire, as well-tried gold.

In the vicinity of Arras, the martyrdom of blessed Leodegarius, bishop of Autun. After being subjected to various insults and torments for the truth, he was put to death by Ebroin, chief minister of Theodoric.

Also the holy martyr Gerinus, brother of the blessed Leodegarius, who was overwhelmed with stones in the same city.

At Antioch, the holy martyrs Primus, Cyril and Secundarius.

At Constantinople, St. Theophilus, a monk, who was most cruelly scourged by Leo the Isaurian for the defence of holy images, was driven into exile, and went gloriously to heaven.

At Hereford in England, St. Thomas, bishop and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

1 OCTOBER – SAINT REMIGIUS (Bishop and Confessor)

Saint Remigius baptising King Clovis of the Franks

Remigius (also called Remedius) was born in about 435 AD at Laon of noble parents, Emilius and Cylinia. They were far advanced in age and renowned among their own people for their virtue when the birth of this child was foretold to them by a blind hermit named Montanus who afterwards recovered his sight by applying to his eyes some of the milk with which the infant Remigius was nourished. His mother Cylinia is included in the Roman Martyrology as a saint with a feast on the 21st of October, and the translation of her relics is noted in some martyrologies on the 5th of April. The brother of Remigius was Saint Principius, the Bishop of Soissons. His nurse in infancy was Balsamia, venerated as a saint in the Church of Rheims.

Remigius devoted his youth to prayer and study in retirement, but the more he shrank from the company of men, the more his fame spread throughout the province. He was ordained in 457 and at the age of 22 became the Bishop of Rheims on the death of Bennadius. Remigius, who had the mature character of an old man, was unanimously elected, or rather forcibly installed as Archbishop. He endeavoured to escape the burden of the episcopate, but was obliged by the command of God to submit. Having been consecrated by the Bishops of the province, he governed his church with the wisdom of an experienced veteran. He was eloquent and learned in the Scriptures, and a pattern to his people, fulfilling in deed what he taught by word. According to Saint Gregory of Tours, Remigius was a man of great knowledge, imbued with love of rhetorical studies, and so illustrious for his sanctity, as to equal Pope Saint Silvester I.

He carefully and laboriously instructed his own flock in the mysteries of faith, and established discipline among his clergy. Then he undertook to spread the kingdom of Christ in Belgium, and having converted the people to the faith, he founded several new bishoprics and appointed them pastors: at Terouanne Saint Antimund or Aumont, at Arras Saint Vedast, and at Laon Saint Genebald. The wonderful works of Remigius, being divulged far and wide, filled with astonishment the minds of Clovis and his still pagan Franks. When Clovis, who had already conquered the Gauls, triumphed over the Alemanni at the battle of Tolbiac by the invocation of the name of Christ, he sent for Remigius and willingly listened to his explanation of the Christian doctrine. Remigius urged the king to embrace the faith, but he replied that he feared the opposition of his people. When this was reported to the Franks, they cried out with one voice: “We renounce mortal gods, O pious king, and are ready to follow the immortal God whom Remigius preaches.” Then the Bishop imposed a fast on them, according to the custom of the Church, and having, in the presence of the Queen Saint Clotilde, completed the king’s religious instruction, he baptised him on Christmas Day, addressing him in these words: “Bow down your head in meekness, O Sicambrian. Adore what you have until burnt, burn what you have adored.” After the baptism, he anointed him with holy chrism with the sign of the cross of Christ. Moro than three thousand of the army were baptised, as was Albofleda, Clovis’s sister, who died soon after. On this occasion Remigius wrote to console the king. His other sister, Lanthilda was reclaimed from the Arian heresy, anointed with sacred chrism, and reconciled to the Church.

Remigius was exceedingly liberal to the poor and merciful towards sinners. “God has not placed us here,” he would say, “to exercise wrath, but to take care of men.” During a council, he once by divine power struck an Arian bishop with dumbness until he begged forgiveness by signs, when he restored him his speech with these words: “In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, if you hold the right belief concerning Him, speak and confess the faith of the Catholic Church.” The bishop recovering his voice, protested that he believed and would die in that faith. Towards the end of his life Remigius lost his sight, but recovered it shortly before his death. Knowing the day of his departure, he celebrated Mass and fortified his flock with the sacred Body of Christ. Then he bade his clergy and people farewell, giving to each one the kiss of our Lord’s peace. Remigius died on the 13th of January 533 and has ever since been venerated as one of the greatest glories of the French Church. His festival is generally kept on this day which is the anniversary of the translation of his relics.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Scarcely had two centuries elapsed since the triumph of the Cross over Roman idolatry when Satan began to cry victory once more. While Eutychianism was crowned at Byzantium in the person of Anastasius the Silent, Arianism was rife in the West. Throughout the whole ancient territory of the empire, heresy was supreme, and almost everywhere was persecuting the Church, who had now none but the vanquished for her sons. “But fear not. Rather rejoice,” says Baronius at this point in his Annals: “it is Divine Wisdom still delighting to play in the world. The thoughts of men count for little before Him who holds the light in His hands, to hide it when He pleases and, when He wills, to bring it forth again. The darkness that now covers the earth marks the hour when the dawn is about to break in the hearts of the Franks, and the Catholic faith is to shine there in all its glory.”

Little known in our days is such a manner of writing history. Yet this was the view taken by the first historian of the Church, and the greatest. On such a feast as this we could not do better than repeat summarily his account of the Franks. “How,” says he “can we help admiring that Providence which is never wanting to the Church? From the midst of tribes still pagan, on the morrow of the irremediable fall of the Empire, God forms to Himself a new people, raises to Himself a prince: against these must break the rising tide of heretics and Barbarians. Such, in truth, appeared in the course of ages the divine mission of the Frankish kings. What energy has faith to uphold kingdoms, and what fatal power has heresy to uproot every plant that is not set by our heavenly Father! In proof hereof, see how the principalities of the Goths, Vandals, Heruli, Alani, Suevi and Gepidi have utterly disappeared, while the Franks behold their little spot of earth blessedly fertilised and encroaching far upon the surrounding territories.

Henceforth appeared the might of the Franks, when preceded to battle by the Cross. Hitherto obscure and struggling for existence, they were now everywhere victorious. They had only had to acknowledge Christ in order to reach the highest summit of glory, honour and renown. In so speaking I say nothing but what is known to the whole world. If they have been more favoured than other nations, it is because they were super-eminent in faith, and incomparable in piety, so that they were more eager to defend the Church than to protect their own frontiers. Moreover, a privilege unique and truly admirable was theirs: never did the sins of kings bring upon this people, as upon so many others, subjection to a foreign yoke. The promise of the Psalm would seem to have been renewed in favour of this nation: If his children forsake my law.. and keep not my commandments, I will visit their iniquities with a rod... but my mercy I will not take away from him.”

All honour, then, to the saintly Pontiff who merited to be the instrument of such heavenly benefits! According to the expression of the holy Pope Hormisdas, “Remigius converted the nation, and baptised Clovis, in the midst of prodigies similar to those of the apostolic age.” The prayers of Clotilde, the labours of Genevieve, the penances of the monks who peopled the forests of Gaul, had doubtless a great share in a conversion which brought such joy to the Angels. Did space allow, we might relate how it was also prepared by the great Bishops of the fifth century, Germanus of Auxerre, Lupus of Troyes, Anian of Orleans, Hilary of Arlee, Mamertus and Avitus of Vienne, Sidonius Apollinaris and so many others who, in that age of darkness, held up the Church to the light of day, and commanded the respect of the Barbarians. Remigius, contemporary and survivor of most of them, and their rival in eloquence, nobility and holiness, seemed to personify them all on that Christmas night forestalled by so many desires, and prayers, and sufferings.

In the baptistery of Saint Mary’s at Rheims, the Frankish nation was born to God. As heretofore on the banks of Jordan the dove was again seen over the waters honouring this title, not the Baptism of Jesus, but that of the Church’s eldest daughter, it brought a gift from Heaven, the holy vial containing the chrism which was to anoint the French kings in future ages into the most worthy of all the kings of the Earth. Two churches in the city of Rheims claim the honour of these glorious souvenirs: the grand church of our Lady, and the venerable basilica where Remigius lay, with the vial of chrism at his feet, and guarded by the twelve Peers surrounding his splendid mausoleum. This church of Saint Remigius bore the name of caput Francia, head of all France, until three days of October 1793when, from its desecrated pulpit was proclaimed the word that the days of darkness were at an end: when the holy ampulla was broken, and the relics of the Apostle of France were thrown into a common grave.

After an episcopate of seventy-four years, the longest ever recorded in history, Remigius took his flight to Heaven on the 13th January, the anniversary of his episcopal consecration and also of his birth. Yet in the same century, the first of October was chosen for his Feast, this being the day on which his relics were first translated to a more honourable place, in the midst of miracles such as those which had graced his life. The Translation of Saint Remigius is the name still given to this day by the church of Rheims which, by a special privilege, celebrates on the Octave day of the Epiphany the principal festival of its glorious patron.

Saint Leo IX said to his contemporaries, and we echo his words, concerning the land of France: “Be it known to your charity that you must solemnly celebrate the Feast of the blessed Remigius, for if to others he is not an Apostle, he is such with regard to you at least. Pay such honour, then, to your Apostle and Father, that you may merit, according to the divine promise, to live long upon the earth and, by his prayers, may obtain possession of eternal beatitude.” When he thus spoke, the sovereign Pontiff had just consecrated your church, then for the third time rebuilt with the magnificence required by the growing devotion of the people. The nine centuries since elapsed have augmented your claims to the gratitude of a nation, into which you infuse such vigorous life that no other has equalled it in duration. Accept our thanks, you who were as a new Sylvester to a new Constantine.

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Glory be to our Lord who showed forth His wonders in you! Remembering those gestes of God accomplished in all climes by her sons the Franks, the Church recognises the legitimacy of applying to you the beautiful words which announced the Messiah: “Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people,from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb... And He said: Behold I have given you to be the light of the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.” Truly it was a day of salvation, that Christmas day, on which it pleased our Lord to bless your labours and grant the desires of your long episcopate. By the holy faith you taught, you were then the covenant of the people, the new people composed of the conquerors and the conquered in that land of France which, when once itself raised up, soon restored to God the inheritances that had been destroyed.

O true Church, the one only Bride, captive and destitute, behold Remigius rises to say to your sons that are bound: “Come forth, and to them that are in darkness: Show yourselves!” From North and South, from beyond the sea, behold they come in multitudes: “all these are come to you. Therefore, give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice O earth, because the Lord has comforted His people.” After a whole century of heresy and barbarity, God has once more demonstrated that they will not be confounded that wait for Him. Our confidence in God will again be rewarded if you, O Remigius, deign to present to our Lord the prayer of the Franks who have remained faithful in honouring thy memory. The renegades sold over to Satan may tyrannise for a time over the deluded crowd, but they are not the nation. A day will come when Christ, who is ever King, will say to the Angels of His guard those words of His lieutenant Clovis: “It displeases me that these Goths possess the good land of France. Expel them, for it belongs to us.”

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, blessed Aretas and five hundred and four other martyrs.

At Tomis in Pontus, the holy martyrs Priscus, Crescens, and Evagrius.

At Lisbon in Portugal, the holy martyrs Verissimus, and his sisters, Maxima and Julia, who suffered in the persecution of Diocletian.

At Tournay, St. Piaton, priest and martyr, who, with blessed Quinctinus and his companions, went from Rome to Gaul to preach the faith and afterwards, in the persecution of Maximian, having consummated his martyrdom, passed from earth to heaven.

At Thessalonica, St. Domninus, martyr, under the same Maximian.

At Ghent, St. Bavo, confessor.

At Orvieto, St. Severus, priest and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.