23 SEPTEMBER – EMBER WEDNESDAY IN SEPTEMBER

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Lesson – Mark ix. 16–28

And one of the multitude, answering, said: “Master, I have brought my son to you, having a dumb spirit. Who, wherever he takes him, dashes him, and he foams and gnashes with the teeth, and pines away; and I spoke to your disciples to cast him out and they could not”. Who answering them, said: “O incredulous generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me”. And they brought him. And when he had seen Him, immediately the spirit troubled him; and being thrown down upon the ground, he rolled about foaming. And He asked his father: “How long time is it since this has happened to him?” But he said: “From his infancy: And often he has cast him into the fire and into waters to destroy him. But if you can do any thing, help us, having compassion on us”. And Jesus saith to him: “If you believe, all things are possible to him that believes”. And immediately the father of the boy crying out with tears said: “I do believe, Lord: help my unbelief”. And when Jesus saw the multitude running together, He threatened the unclean spirit, saying to him: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, go out of him and enter not any more into him”. And crying out, and greatly tearing him, he went out of him, and he became as dead, so that many said: “He is dead”. But Jesus taking him by the hand, lifted him up; and he arose. And when He was come into the house, His disciples secretly asked Him: “Why could not we cast him out?” And He said to them: “This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting”.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

The Venerable St. Bede:

Concerning this possessed person whom the Lord healed, after that He was come down from the mount, Mark said that he was deaf and dumb, and Matthew (xvii. 15) that he was lunatic. He was a figure of them of whom it is said: “A fool changes as the moon” (Ecclesiastes xxvii. 12.) These are they who continue never in one stay, but change now to one sin, and now to another, waxing and waning — dumb, in that they confess not the faith; deaf, in that they have no ears for the word of truth. They foam at the mouth also, and pine away with folly. For it is the way with idiots, and swooners, and stupified, to foam their spittle out at their mouths. They gnash their teeth when they are inflamed with the heat of passion. They wither up in the paralysis of sloth and live nerveless lives unbraced by any strong exercise.

The father said: “And I spoke to your disciples, that they should cast him out, and they could not”. Here he makes a sort of accusation against the Apostles. But that cures cannot be wrought is sometimes owing not to the powerlessness of them that would heal, but to the want of faith in them that are to be healed — as says the Lord: “According to your faith be it done to you” (Matthew ix. 29.) He answereth him, and said: “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?” The meek and lowly One, Who, as a lamb before his shearers, is dumb, so opened not His Mouth, was not wearied out of patience, nor did He break out into words of passion, but He spoke as a physician might speak, who saw that the sick man did contrary to his commands: “Wherefore should I come to your house? How long am I to throw away the exercise of my skill, while I order one thing and you do another?”

And He said to them: “This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting”. While He teaches the Apostles how the very worst kind of devil must be driven out, He gives to all of us an instruction to life, that we may know that the most grievous trials, either from unclean spirits, or from men, are to be overcome by fasting and prayer. The wrath of the Lord also, when it is kindled to take vengeance of our sins, can be turned away by this remedy only. To fast, in a general sense, is not only to abstain from meats, but to restrain oneself from all the inticements of the flesh, and from all evil passions. So also, to pray, is not only to call in words for the mercy of God, but also, in all things which we do, in earnestness of faith to worship our Maker.

23 SEPTEMBER – SAINT THECLA (Virgin and Martyr)

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

While honouring the first successor of Saint Peter, Rome commemorates the proto-martyr of the female sex. Together with holy Church, then, let us unite in the concert of praise unanimously lavished upon Thecla by the fathers of East and West. When the martyr pontiff Methodius gave his ‘Banquet of virgins’ to the Church about the end of the third century, it is on the brow of the virgin of Iconium that he placed the fairest of the crowns distributed at the banquet of the Spouse. And justly so, for had not Thecla been trained by Paul who had made her more learned in the Gospel than she was before in philosophy and every science? Heroism in her kept pace with knowledge. Her magnanimity of purpose was equalled by her courage while, strong in the virginal purity of her soul and body, she triumphed over fire, wild beasts and sea monsters, and won the glory of a triple martyrdom. A fresh triumph is hers at the mysterious banquet. Wisdom has taken possession of her, and, like a divine harp, makes music in her soul, which is echoed on her lips in words of wondrous eloquence and sublime poetry. When the feast is over, and the virgins rise to give thanks to the Lord, Thecla leads the chorus, singing:

For you, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure, and with burning lamp I come to meet you.

I have fled from the bitter pleasures of mortals and the luxurious delights of life and its love. Under your life-giving arms I desire to be protected and to gaze forever on your beauty, O blessed One.

For you, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure, and with burning lamp I come to meet you.

I have contemned union with mortal man. I have left my golden home for you, O King. I have come in undefiled robes, that I may enter with you into your happy bridal chamber.

For you, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure, and, with burning lamp I come to meet you.

Having escaped the enchanting wiles of the serpent and triumphed over the flaming fire and the attacks of wild beasts, I await you from Heaven.

For you, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure, and with burning lamp I come to meet you.

Through love of you, O Word, I have forgotten the land of my birth. I have forgotten the virgins my companions, and even the desire of mother and of kindred, for you, O Christ, are all things to me.

For you, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure, and with burning lamp I come to meet you.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Campania, the commemoration of blessed Sosius, deacon of the church of Misenum. The holy bishop Januarius, seeing a flame arise from his head as he was reading the Gospel in the church, foretold that he would be a martyr, and not many days after, when he was thirty years of age, he and the holy bishop suffered martyrdom by decapitation.

In Africa, the holy martyrs Andrew, John, Peter and Anthony.

In the diocese of Coutances, St. Paternus, bishop and martyr.

At Ancona, St. Constantius, sacristan of the Church, renowned for the gift of miracles.

In Spain, the holy women Xantippa and Polyxena, who were disciples of the Apostles.

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

Thanks be to God.

23 SEPTEMBER – SAINT LINUS (Pope and Martyr)

Pope Linus was born at Volterra in Tuscany, and was the first to succeed Saint Peter in the government of the Church. His faith and holiness were so great that he not only cast out devils, but even raised the dead to life. He wrote the acts of blessed Peter, and in particular what he had done against Simon Magus. He decreed that no woman should enter a church with her head uncovered. On account of his constancy in confessing the Christian faith, this Pontiff was beheaded by command of Saturninus, a wicked and ungrateful ex-consul whose daughter he had delivered from the tyranny of the devils. He was buried on the Vatican, near the sepulchre of the prince of the apostles, on the ninth of the Calends of October. He governed the Church 11 years, 2 months and 23 days. In two ordinations in the month of December he consecrated 15 bishops and 18 priests.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The lives of the first Vicars of Christ are buried in a mysterious obscurity, just as the foundations of a monument built to defy the ravages of time are concealed from view. To be the supports of the everlasting Church is a sufficient glory: sufficient to justify our confidence in them, and to awaken our gratitude. As for ourselves, we will rejoice with the Church on this feast and pay our loving veneration to the humble and gentle Pontiff who was the first laid to rest beside Saint Peter in the Vatican crypts.

* * * * *

Simon Bar-Jonah was invested with the sovereign pontificate by our Lord in person, and openly before all. You, O blessed Pontiff, received in secret, yet none the less directly from Jesus, the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. In your person began the reign of pure faith. Henceforth the bride, though she hears not the Man-God repeat His injunction to Peter: “feed my lambs,” nevertheless acknowledges the continuance of His authority in the lawfully appointed representative of her divine Spouse. Obtain by your prayers that the shadows of Earth may never cause us to waver in our obedience and that hereafter we may merit, with you, to contemplate our divine Head in the light of eternal day.

 

22 SEPTEMBER – SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA (Bishop and Confessor)

Thomas was born at Fuenllana, a town in the diocese of Toledo in Spain, in 1488. From his earliest youth his excellent parents instilled into him piety and extraordinary charity to the poor. Of this virtue he gave while still a child many proofs, among the most remarkable of which was his more than once taking off his own garments to clothe the naked. As a youth he was sent to Alcala to study humanities in the great college of Saint Ildephonsus. He was recalled home by the death of his father, upon which he devoted his whole fortune to the support of destitute virgins and then returned to Alcala. Having completed his course of theology, he was promoted for his eminent learning to a chair in the University and taught philosophy and theology with wonderful success. Meanwhile he besought God, with assiduous prayers, to teach him the science of the saints, and a virtuous rule of life and conduct. He was therefore divinely inspired to embrace the institute of the hermits of Saint Augustine.

After his profession Thomas excelled in all virtues which should adorn a religious man: humility, patience and continence. But he was especially remarkable for ardent charity. In the midst of his many and varied labours, his unconquered spirit was ever intent on prayer and meditation of divine things. On account of his reputation for learning and holiness, he was commanded to undertake the duty of preaching and, by the assistance of heavenly grace, he led countless souls from the mire of vice to the way of salvation. In the government of the brethren to which he was next appointed he so united prudence, equity and sweetness, to zeal and severity, that in many places he restored or confirmed the ancient discipline of his Order. When elected to the archbishopric of Granada, he rejected that high dignity with wonderful firmness and humility. But not long after, he was obliged by his superiors to undertake the government of the Church of Valencia, which he ruled for about eleven years as a most holy and vigilant pastor.

Thomas changed nothing of his former manner of life but gave free scope to his insatiable charity, and distributed the rich revenues of his church among the needy, keeping not so much as a bed for himself. For the bed on which he was lying when called to Heaven was lent to him by the person to whom he had shortly before given it in alms. He fell asleep in our Lord on the sixth of the Ides of September at the age of 68. God was pleased to bear witness to his servant’s holiness by miracles both during life and after death. A barn which was almost empty, the grain having been distributed to the poor, was by his intercession suddenly filled, and a dead child was restored to life at his tomb. These and many other miracles having rendered his name illustrious, Pope Alexander VII enrolled him among the saints and commanded his feast to be celebrated on the fourteenth of the Calends of October.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

In 1517 a cruel blow fell upon the great Augustinian family. Luther, one of its members, raised the cry of revolt which was to be echoed for centuries by every passion. But the illustrious Order which had unwittingly nurtured this child of evil, was nonetheless acceptable to God and He deigned, before long, to demonstrate this for the consolation of institutes whose very excellence exposes unworthy subjects to more dangerous falls. It was at the First Vespers of All Saints that Luther broached, at Wittenburg, his famous theses against indulgences and the authority of the Roman Pontiff. Within a month, on November 25 of the same year, Thomas of Villanova pronounced his vows at Salamanca and filled up the place left vacant by the heresiarch. Amid the storms of social disorder and the noise of the world’s disturbances, the glory rendered by one saint to the ever-tranquil Trinity outweighs all the insults and blasphemies of Hell.

* * * * *

Your name, as well as your justice, will remain forever, O Thomas, because you have distributed and given to the poor (Psalm cxi.). All the church of the saints will declare your alms (Ecclesiasticus xxxi. 11). Teach us to show mercy to our brethren so that, by your prayers, we may obtain for ourselves the mercy of God. You have great power with the Queen of Heaven, whose praises you loved to celebrate and whose birthday on Earth was your birthday in Heaven. Give us an ever increasing knowledge of her, and an ever growing love. You are the glory of Spain. Watch over your country, over your Church of Valencia, and over the Order adorned with such saints as Nicholas of Tolentino, John of San Facundo, and yourself. Bless the religious women who have inherited your charity and who, for well-near [four] centuries, have caused your name, and that of your father Saint Augustine, to be held in veneration. May the preachers of the divine word throughout the world profit by the writings you have fortunately left us, monuments of that e1oquence which made you the oracle of princes, the light of the poor and the mouth-piece of the Holy Ghost.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Sion in Valais, at a place called Agaunum, the birthday of the holy martyrs Maurice, Ewuperius, Candidus, Victor, Innocent, and Vitalis, with their companions of the Theban legion who were massacred under Maximian for the name of Christ, and fitted the whole world with the renown of their martyrdom.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Let us unite with Rome in paying honour to these valiant soldiers, the glorious patrons of Christian armies as well as of numerous churches. “Emperor,” said they, “we are your soldiers, but we are also the servants of God. To Him we took our first oaths. If we break them, how can you trust us to keep our oaths to you?” No command, no discipline can overrule our baptismal engagements. Every soldier is bound, in honour and in conscience, to obey the Lord of hosts rather than all human commanders, who are but His subalterns.

At Rome, the martyrdom of the holy virgins and martyrs Digna and Emerita, under Valerian and Gallienus. Their relics are kept in the church of St. Marcellus.

At Arpajon near Paris, St. Jonas, priest and martyr, who went to France with St. Denis, and after being scourged by order of the prefect Julian, ended his martyrdom by the sword.

At Ratisbon in Bavaria, St. Emmeramus, bishop and martyr, who, to deliver others, endured patiently a most cruel death for the sake of Our Lord.

At Antinoopolis in Egypt, the holy martyrs Irais, an Alexandrian virgin, and her companions. Having gone out to draw water at a fountain near by, and seeing a boat loaded with Christian confessors, she immediately left her vessel and joined them. Being conducted to the city with them, after many torments, she was the first to have her head struck off, and after her, priests, deacons, virgins, and all others underwent the same kind of death.

At Meaux, blessed Sanctinus, bishop, a disciple of St. Denis, the Areopagite, who, being consecrated by him bishop of that city, was the first to preach the Gospel there.

In the territory of Coutances, St. Lauto, bishop.

In Poitou, the holy priest Florentius.

In the territory of Bourges, St. Sylvanus, confessor.

At Laon, St. Salaberga, abbess.

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

Thanks be to God.

21 SEPTEMBER – SAINT MATTHEW (Apostle, Evangelist and Martyr)

Matthew, also named Levi, was an apostle and evangelist. He was sitting in the custom house at Capharnaum when called by Jesus, whom he immediately followed and then made a feast for Him and His disciples. After the resurrection of Christ, and before setting out for the province which it was his lot to evangelise, Matthew was the first to write the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wrote it in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who had been converted. Soon after he went into Ethiopia where he preached the Gospel and confirmed his teaching by many miracles. One of the greatest of these was his raising to life the king’s daughter, by which he converted the king and his wife, and the whole country. After the king‘s death, his daughter Iphigenia was demanded in marriage by his successor Hirtacus who, finding that through Matthew’s exhortation she had vowed her virginity to God and now persevered in her holy resolution, ordered the apostle to be put to death, as he was celebrating the holy mysteries at the altar. Thus on the eleventh of the Calends of October, he crowned his apostolate with the glory of martyrdom. His body was translated to Salerno and in the time of Pope Gregory VII it was laid in a church dedicated in his name.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew i. 1). The Eagle and the Lion have already risen in the heavens of the holy liturgy. Today we salute the Man, and next month the Ox will appear to complete the number of the four living creatures who draw the chariot of God through the world (Ezechiel i.) and surround His throne in Heaven. These mysterious beings with their six seraph-wings are ever gazing with their innumerable eyes on the Lamb who stands on the throne as it were slain. And they rest not day and night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.” Saint John beheld them giving to the elect the signal to praise their Creator and Redeemer, and when all created beings in Heaven, on Earth, and under the Earth have adoringly proclaimed that the Lamb who was slain is worthy of power and divinity and glory and empire for ever, it is they that add to the world’s homage the seal of their testimony, saying: “Amen, so it is!” (Apocalypse iv., v.)

Great and singular, then, is the glory of the evangelists. The name of Matthew signifies one who is given. He gave himself when, at the word of Jesus “follow Me,” he rose up and followed Him. But far greater was the gift he received from God in return. The Most High, who looks down from Heaven on the low things of Earth, loves to choose the humble for the princes of His people. Levi occupied in a profession that was hated by the Jews, and despised by the Gentiles, belonged to the lowest rank of society. But still more humble was he in heart when, laying aside the delicate reserve shown in his regard by the other evangelists, he openly placed his former ignominious title beside the glorious one of apostle. By so doing, he published the magnificent mercy of Him who had come to heal the sick, not the healthy, and to call not the just, but sinners. For thus exalting the abundance of God’s grace, he merited its superabundance: Matthew was called to be the first evangelist. Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost he wrote, with that inimitable simplicity which speaks straight to the heart, the Gospel of the Messiah expected by Israel and announced by the prophets: of the Messiah the teacher and Saviour of His people, the descendant of its kings, and Himself the King of the daughter of Sion; of the Messiah who had come not to destroy the Law, but to bring it to its full completion in an everlasting, universal covenant.

In his simple-hearted gratitude, Levi made a feast for His divine Benefactor. It was at this banquet that Jesus, defending His disciple as well as Himself, replied to those who pretended to be scandalised: “Can the children of the Bridegroom mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matthew ix. 15). Clement of Alexandria bears witness to the apostle’s subsequent austerity, assuring us that he lived on nothing but vegetables and wild fruits. The legend tells us moreover of his zeal for the Master who had so sweetly touched his heart, and of his fidelity in preserving for Him souls inebriated with the “wine springing forth virgins” (Zacharias ix. 17). This fidelity, indeed, cost him his life: his martyrdom was in defence and confirmation of the duties and rights of holy virginity. To the end of time the Church, in consecrating her virgins, will make use of the beautiful blessing pronounced by him over the Ethiopian princess, which the blood of the apostle and evangelist bas imbued with a peculiar virtue.

* * * * *

How pleasing must your humility have been to our Lord: that humility which has raised you so high in the kingdom of Heaven and which made you, on Earth, the confidant of Incarnate Wisdom. The Son of God who hides His secrets from the wise and prudent and reveals them to little ones, renovated your soul by intimacy with Himself, and filled it with the new wine of His heavenly doctrine. So fully did you understand His love that He chose you to be the first historian of His life on Earth. The Man-God revealed Himself through you to the Church. She has inherited your glorious teaching as she calls it in her Secret, for the Synagogue refused to understand both the divine Master and the prophets His heralds. There is one teaching, indeed, which not all, even of the elect, can understand and receive: just as in Heaven not all follow the Lamb wherever He goes, nor can all sing the new canticle reserved to those whose love here on Earth has been undivided. O evangelist of holy virginity and martyr for its sake, watch over the choicest portion of our Lord’s flock. Remember also, O Levi, all those for whom, as you tell us, the Emmanuel received His beautiful name of Saviour. The whole redeemed world honours you and implores your assistance. You have recorded for us the admirable sermon on the mount: by the path of virtue there traced out, lead us to that kingdom of Heaven which is the ever-recurring theme of your inspired writing.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In the land of Saar, the holy prophet Jonas, who was buried in Geth.

At Rome, St. Pamphilus, martyr.

At twenty miles from Rome, on the Via Claudia, the martyrdom of St. Alexander, bishop, in the time of the emperor Antoninus. For the faith of Christ he was loaded with fetters scourged, tortured, burned with torches, torn with iron hooks, exposed to the beasts and cast into the flames, but having overcome all these torments, he was finally beheaded, and so attained the glory of eternal life. His body was afterwards carried into the city by the blessed Pope Damasus, on the twenty-sixth of November, on which day his feast is celebrated by order of the same Pontiff.

In Phoenicia, St. Eusebius, martyr, who, of his own accord, went to the prefect, and declaring himself a Christian, was subjected by him to many torments, and finally beheaded.

In Cyprus, St. Isacius, bishop and martyr.

In the same place, St. Meletius, bishop and confessor.

In Ethiopia, St. Iphigenia, virgin, who being baptised and consecrated to God by the blessed Apostle St. Matthew, ended her holy life in peace.

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

Thanks be to God.

20 SEPTEMBER – SAINT EUSTACE AND COMPANIONS (Martyrs)

Eustace (Eustachius), otherwise called Placid, was a Roman, illustrious for his birth, wealth and military renown so that under the emperor Trajan he became a general of the Roman army. Once while hunting, he was chasing a stag of remarkable size which suddenly halted and showed him between its horns a large and bright image of Christ our Lord hanging on the cross and inviting him to make everlasting life the object of his pursuit. Thereupon together with his wife Theopista and his two little sons Agapitus and Theopistus, he entered the ranks of the Christian warfare.

Some time afterwards Eustace returned to the place of the vision, in obedience to the command of our Lord, from whom he there heard how much he was to suffer for God’s glory. He underwent, with wonderful patience, such incredible losses that in a short time he was reduced to the utmost need and was obliged to retire privately. On the way he had the unhappiness to see first his wife, and then his two sons taken from him. Overwhelmed by all these misfortunes, he lived for a long time unknown in a distant country as a farm bailiff until at length a voice from Heaven comforted him and soon after, a fresh occasion of war arising, Trajan had him sought out and again placed at the head of the army.

During the expedition, he unexpectedly found his wife and children again. He returned to Rome in triumph amid universal congratulations, but was soon commanded to offer sacrifice to the false gods in thanksgiving for his victory. On his firm refusal, every art was tried to make him renounce the faith of Christ, but in vain. He was then, with his wife and sons, thrown to the lions. But the beasts showed nothing but gentleness. The emperor, in a rage, commanded the martyrs to be shut up in a brazen bull heated by a fire underneath it. There, singing the praises of God, they consummated their sacrifice and took their flight to eternal happiness on the twelfth of the Calends of October. Their bodies were found intact, and reverently buried by the faithful, but were afterwards translated with honour to a church erected to their names.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The twentieth of September marks one of the saddest events in history. At the height of her power, in the glorious days of Pepin and Charlemagne, the eldest daughter of the Church had crowned her mother, and the Church, in the person of her Head, reigned in reality as well as by right until, a thousand years later, Satan took advantage of the fallen state of France to despoil Peter of the patrimony which ensured his independence. The holy cross is still shedding its rays on us.

Today a group of martyrs, and this time a whole family, father, mother and sons, take up their position around the standard of salvation. While the antiquity of their cultus in both East and West rests on the best authority, the details of their life are extremely vague. Could Placid the tribune, whose exploits are recorded by Josephus in his Wars of the Jews, be the same as the Eustace we are celebrating today? Does the genealogy of our saint connect him with the Octavian family from which Augustus sprang? Again are we to recognise as his direct descendant the noble Tertullus who confided to Saint Benedict his son Placid, the favourite child of the holy patriarch and the proto-martyr of the Benedictine Order? Subiaco long possessed the mountain designated by ancient tradition as the site of the apparition of the mysterious stag. Tertullus may have bequeathed it to the monastery, as his son’s patrimony. But we have not space enough to do more than record the fact that these questions have been raised.

* * * * *

Our trials are light compared with yours, O blessed martyrs! Obtain for us the grace not to betray the confidence of our Lord when He calls us to suffer for Him in this world. It is thus we must win the glory of Heaven. How can we triumph with the God of armies unless we have marched under His standard? Now that standard is the cross. The Church knows it, and therefore she is not troubled even by the greatest calamities. She knows, too, that her Spouse is watching over her, even when He seems to sleep, and she looks to the protection of such of her sons as are already glorified.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The vigil of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist.

At Cyzicum on the sea of Marmora, the birthday of the holy martyrs Pausta, virgin, and Evilasius, in the time of the emperor Maximian. Fausta had her head shaved to shame her, and was hanged up and tortured by Evilasius, then a pagan priest, but when he wished to have her body cut in two, the executioners could not inflict any injury on her. Amazed at this prodigy, Evilasius believed in Christ, and while he was cruelly tortured by order of the emperor, Fausta had her head bored through, and her whole body pierced with nails. She was then laid on a burning pan, and being called by a celestial voice, went in company with Evilasius to enjoy the blessedness of heaven.

In Phrygia, the holy martyrs Denis and Privatus.

Also St. Priscus, martyr, who, after having had his body pierced all over with daggers, was beheaded.

At Pergen in Pamphylia, the Saints Theodore, his mother Philippa, and their fellow martyrs under the emperor Antoninus.

At Carthage, St. Candida, virgin and martyr, who, having all her body lacerated with whips, was crowned with martyrdom, under the emperor Maximian.

Also the holy martyr Susanna, daughter of Arthemius, a pagan priest, and Martha.

The same day, Pope St. Agapitus, whose sanctity was attested by Pope St. Gregory.

At Milan, St. Clicerius, bishop and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

20 SEPTEMBER — SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Gospel which is now assigned to the Mass of the Seventeenth Sunday has given it the name of the Sunday of the Love of God, dating, that is, from the time when the Gospel of the cure of the dropsy and of the invitation to the wedding-feast was anticipated by eight days. Previously, even, to that change, and from the very first, there used to be read on this seventeenth Sunday another passage from the New Testament which is no longer found in this serial of Sundays: it was the Gospel which mentions the difficulty regarding the resurrection of the dead, which the Sadducees proposed to our Lord.

Epistle – Ephesians iv. 1–6

Brethren, I, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called, with all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity. Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Church, by thus giving these words from Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, again takes up the subject so dear to her — the dignity of her children. She beseeches them to correspond, in a becoming manner, to their high vocation. This vocation, this call, which God gives us is, as we have been so often told, the call or invitation made to the human family that it would come to the sacred nuptials of divine union. It is the vocation given to us to reign in Heaven with the Word who had made Himself our Spouse, and our Head (Ephesians ii. 5). The Gospel read to us eight days ago which was formerly the one appointed for this present Sunday, and was thus brought into close connection with our Epistle, that Gospel, we say, finds itself admirably commented by these words of Saint Paul to the Ephesians and it, in turn, throws light on the Apostle’s words about the vocation. When you are invited to a Wedding (“cum vocatus fueris”) sit down in the lowest place! These were our Lord’s words to us, last Sunday and now we have the Apostle saying to us: Walk worthy of the vocation in which youare called, yes, walk in that vocation with all humility.

Let us now attentively hearken to our Apostle telling us what we must do in order to prove ourselves worthy of the high honour offered to us by the Son of God. We must practise, among other virtues, these three: humility, mildness and patience. These are the means for gaining the end that is so generously proposed to us. And, what is this end? It is the unity of that immense body which the Son of God makes His own by the mystic nuptials He vouchsafes to celebrate with our human nature. This Man-God asks one condition from those whom He calls, whom He invites, to become, through the Church, His Bride, bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh (Ephesians v. 30). This one condition is that they maintain such harmony among them, that it will make one body and one spirit of them all, in the bond of peace. “Bond most glorious!” cries out Saint John Chrysostom, “bond most admirable, which unites us all mutually with one another, and then, thus united, unites us with God.” The strength of this bond is the strength of the Holy Spirit Himself, who is all holiness and love. For it is that Holy Spirit who forms these spiritual and divine ties.

He it is who, with the countless multitude of the Baptised, does the work which the soul does in the human body, that is, it gives it life, and it unites all the members into oneness of person. It is by the Holy Ghost that young and old, poor and rich, men and women, distinct as all these are in other respects, are made one, fused, so to say, in the fire which eternally burns in the blessed Trinity. But in order that the flame of infinite love may thus draw into its embrace our regenerated humanity, we must get rid of selfish rivalries, and grudges, and dissensions, which, so long as they exist among us, prove us to be carnal, and therefore that we are unfit material for either the divine flame to touch, or for the union which that flame produces. According to the beautiful comparison of Saint John Chrysostom, when fire lays hold of various species of wood which have been thrown into it, if it find the fuel properly dry, it makes one burning pile of all the several woods. But if they are damp and wet it cannot act on them separately, nor reduce the whole to one common blaze: so is it in the spiritual order. The unhealthy humidity of the passions neutralises the action of the sanctifying Spirit, and union, which is both the means and end of love, becomes an impossibility.

Let us, therefore, bind ourselves to our brethren by that blessed link of charity which, if it fetters at all, fetters only our bad tempers but in all other respects it dilates our hearts by the very fact of its giving free scope to the Holy Ghost to lead them safely to the realisation of that one hope of our common vocation and calling, which is to unite us to God by love. Of course, charity, even with the Saints is, so long as they are on this Earth, a laborious virtue because even with the best, grace seldom restores to a perfect equilibrium the faculties of man which were put out of order by original sin. From this it follows that the weaknesses of human nature will sometimes show themselves, either by excess or by deficiency. And when these weaknesses do crop up, it is not only the saint himself is humbled by their getting the better of him, but, as he is well aware, they who live with him have to practise kindness and patience towards him. God permits all this in order to increase the merit of us all, and make us long more and more for Heaven. For it is there alone that we will find ourselves not only totally, but without any effort, in perfect harmony with our fellow-men. And this, because of the perfect peaceful submissiveness of our entire being under the absolute sway of the thrice holy God who will then be all to all. In that happy land, it will be God Himself who will wipe away the tears of His elect, for their miseries will all be gone. And their miseries will be gone because their whole being will be renovated, because united with Him, who is its infinite source (1 Corinthians iii. 3).

The eternal Son of God having then conquered in each member of His mystical Body the hostile powers and death itself, will appear in the fullness of the mystery of His Incarnation as the true Head of humanity, sanctified, restored, and developed in Him. He will rejoice at seeing how, by the workings of the sanctifying Spirit, there has been wrought the destined degree of perfection in each of the several parts of that marvellous Body which He vouchsafed to aggregate to Himself by the bond of love. And all this in order that He might eternally celebrate, in a choir composed of Himself, the Incarnate Word and all creation, the glory of the ever adorable Trinity. How will not the sweetest music of Earth be then surpassed! How will not our most perfect choirs seem to us then to have been almost like the noise of children singing out of tune, compared with the concord and harmony of that eternal song! Let us get ourselves ready for that heavenly concert. Let us put our voices in order by now attuning our hearts to that plenitude of love which, alas, is not often enjoyed here below, but which we should ever be trying to realise by that patiently supporting the faults of our brethren and ourselves, which the Epistle so earnestly impresses upon us.

One would almost say that in the ecstasy of her delight, at hearing these few sounds of heaven’s music brought to her by such a singer as her Apostle, our Mother the Church feels herself carried away far beyond time, and boldly joins a short song of her own to that of her Jesus and His Paul. Yes, it looks like it, for by way of a conclusion to the text of our Epistle, she adds an ardent expression of praise, which is not in the original, and thus she forms a kind of doxology to the inspired words of her apostolic Chanter.

Gospel – Matthew xxii. 35–46

At that time, one of them, a doctor of the law, asked Him, tempting Him: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him: “You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like this: “You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets.” And the Pharisees being gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying: “What think you of Christ? whose son is he?” “They said to Him: “David’s” He said to them: “How then, does David in spirit call him Lord, saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no man was able to answer Him a word; neither did any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions.

Praise be to you, O Christ.
 

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The Man-God allowed temptation to approach His sacred person in the desert (Matthew iv. 1‒11). He disdained not to sustain the attacks which the devil’s spiteful cunning has from the world’s first beginning been suggesting to him as the surest means of working man’s perdition. Our Jesus permitted the demon thus to tempt Him, in order that He might show His faithful servants how they are to repel the assaults of the wicked spirit. Today our adorable Master, who would be a model to his children in all their trials (Hebrews ii. 17, 18; iv. 15) is represented to us as having to contend, not with Satan’s perfidy, but with the hypocrisy of His bitterest enemies, the Pharisees. They seek to ensnare Him in His speech (Matthew xxii. 15) just as the representatives of the world, which He has condemned (John xvi. 8‒11) will do to His Church, and that in all ages right to the end of time.

But as her divine Spouse triumphed, so will she, for He will enable her to continue His work on Earth, and amid the same temptations and the same snares. She is ever to come off with victory by maintaining a most inviolable fidelity to God’s law and truth. The tools of Satan, who are the heretics, and the princes of the world, chafing at the restraint put by Christianity on their ambition and lust, will always be studying how best to outwit the guardian of the divine oracles by their captious propositions or questions. When necessity requires her to speak, she is quite ready, for as Bride of that divine Word who is His Father’s eternal and substantial utterance, what can she be but a voice, either to announce Him on Earth, or sing Him in Heaven? That word of hers, endowed as it is with the power and penetration of God Himself, will not only never be taken by surprise but, like a two-edged sword, it will generally go much deeper than the crafty questioners of the Church anticipated. It will not only refute their sophistry, it will also expose the hypocrisy and wickedness of their intentions (Hebrews iv. 12). By their sacrilegious attempts they will have gained nothing but disgrace and shame, and the mortification of having occasioned a fresh lustre to Truth by the new light in which it has been put, and of having procured a clearer knowledge of dogma or morals for the devoted children of the Church.

It was thus with the Pharisees of today’s Gospel. As the Homily upon it tells us, they wanted to see if Jesus, who had declared Himself to be God, would not consequently make some addition to the commandment of divine love. And if He did, they would be justified in condemning Him as having tried to change the letter of the law in its greatest commandment. Our Lord disappoints them. He met their question by giving it a longer answer than they had asked for: that is, having first recited the text of the great commandment as given in the Scripture, He continued the quotation and, by so doing, showed them that He was not ignorant of the intention which had induced them to question Him: He continued the quotation by reminding them of the second commandment which is like the first — the commandment, that is, of love of the neighbour, and that condemned their intended crime of deicide. Thus were they convicted of loving neither their neighbour, nor God Himself, for the first commandment cannot be observed if the second, which flows from, and completes it, be broken.

But, our Lord does not stop there. He obliges them to acknowledge, at least, implicitly, the divinity of the Messiah. He puts a question, in His turn, to them, and they answer it by saying, as they were obliged to do, that the Christ was to be of the family of David. But if he be His Son, how comes it that David calls him “his Lord,” just as he calls God Himself, as we have it in the 109th Psalm, where he celebrates the glories of the Messiah? The only possible explanation is, that the Messiah, who in due time and as Man, was to be born of David’s house, was God and Son of God even before time existed, according to the same Psalm: “From my womb, before the day-star, I begot you” (cix. 3). This answer would have condemned the Pharisees, so they refuse to give it. But their silence was an avowal and, before very long, the eternal Father’s vengeance on these vile enemies of His Son will fulfil the prophecy of making them His footstool in blood and shame: that time is to be the terrible day when the justice of God will fall on the deicide city.

Let us Christians, out of contempt for Satan, who stirred up the expiring Synagogue to thus lay snares for the Son of God — let us turn these efforts of hatred into an instruction which will warm up our love. The Jews, by rejecting Christ Jesus, sinned against both of the commandments which constitute charity and embody the whole law. And we, on the contrary, by loving that same Jesus, fulfil the whole law. This Jesus of ours is the brightness of eternal glory (Hebrews i. 3) one, by nature, with the Father and the Holy Ghost. He is the God whom the first commandment bids us love. And it is in Him also that the second has its truest and adequate application. For, not only is He as truly Man as He is truly God, but He is the Man by excellence (John xix. 5) the perfect Man, on whose type, and for whom, all other men were formed (Romans viii. 29). He is the model and brother to all of them (Hebrews ii. 17). He is, at the same time, the leader who governs them as their King (John xviii. 37) and offers them to God as their High Priest (Hebrews x. 14). He is the Head who communicates to all the members of the human family both beauty and life, and movement and light. He is the Redeemer of that human family when it fell, and on that account He is, twice over, the source of all right, and the ultimate and highest motive, even when not the direct Object, of every love that deserves to be called love here below. Nothing counts with God, excepting so far as it has reference to this Jesus. As Saint Augustine says, “God only loves men inasmuch as they either are, or may one day become, members of His Son. It is his Son that He loves in them. Thus He loves, with one same love, though not equally, both His Word and the Flesh of His Word, and the members of His Incarnate Word. Now, Charity is love — love such as it is in God, communicated to us creatures by the Holy Ghost. Therefore what we should love by charity, both in our own selves and in others, is the divine Word as either being, or, as another expression of the same Saint Augustine adds, “that it may be,” in others and in ourselves.

Let us take care, also, as a consequence of this same truth, not to exclude any human being from our love, excepting the damned who are thereby absolutely and eternally cut off from the body of the Man-God. Who can boast that he has the Charity of Christ if he do not embrace His Unity? The question is Saint Augustine’s again. Who can love Christ without loving, with Him, the Church which is His Body? Without loving all His members? What we do, be it to the least or be it to the worthiest, be it of evil or of good, it is to Him we do it, for he tells us so (Matthew xxv. 404‒45). Then, let us love our neighbour as ourselves because of Christ, who is in each of us, and gives, to us all union and increase in Charity (Ephesians iv. 15, 16).

That same Apostle who says: “The end of the law is charity” (1 Timothy i. 5) says also “The end of the law is Christ” (Romans x. 4) 6 and we now see the harmony existing between these two distinct propositions. We understand, also, the connection there is between the word of the Gospel: “On these two commandments depends the whole law and the prophets,” and that other saying of our Lord: “Search the Scriptures, for the same are they that give testimony of me” (John v. 39). The fullness of the law, which is the rule of men’s conduct, is in Charity (Romans xiii. 10), of which Christ is the end, just as the Object of the revealed Scriptures is no other than the Man-God who embodies in His own adorable unity, for us His followers, all moral teaching, and all dogma. He is our faith and our love, “the end of all our resolutions,” says Saint Augustine, “for all our efforts tend but to this — to perfect ourselves in Him. And this is our perfection — to reach Him: having reached Him, seek no farther, for he is your End.” The holy Doctor gives us, when we have reached this point, the best instruction as to how we are to live in the divine union: “Let us cling to One, let us enjoy One, let us all be one in Him:” hoereamus Uni, fruamur Uno, permaneamus unum.

19 SEPTEMBER – SAINT JANARIUS (Bishop and Martyr) AND COMPANIONS (Martyrs)

During the persecution of Christians under Diocletian and Maximian, Januarius, bishop of Beneventum (Benevento), was brought before Timothy, president of Campania, at Nola, for the profession of the Christian faith. There his constancy was tried in various ways. He was cast into a burning furnace, but escaped unhurt, not even his garments or a hair of his head being injured by the flames. This enraged the president who commanded the martyr’s body to be so stretched that all his joints and nerves were displaced. Meanwhile, Festus his deacon, and Desiderius a lector, were seized, loaded with chains and dragged, together with the bishop, before the president’s chariot to Pozzuolo. There they were cast into a dungeon where they found the deacons Sosius of Misenum and Proculus of Pozzuolo, with Eutyches and Acutius laymen all condemned to be thrown to wild beasts. The following day they were all exposed in the amphitheatre, but the animals forgetting their natural ferocity, crouched at the feet of Janarius. Timothy attributed this to magical arts and condemned the martyrs of Christ to be beheaded, but as he was pronouncing the sentence, he was suddenly struck blind. However, at the prayer of Januarius he soon recovered his sight, on account of which miracle about 5,000 men embraced the faith. The ungrateful judge was in no way softened by the benefit conferred on him. Rather, enraged by so many conversions and fearing the emperor’s edicts, he ordered the holy bishop and his companions to be beheaded.

Eager to secure, each for itself, a patron before God among these holy martyrs, the neighbouring towns provided burial places for their bodies. In obedience to a warning from Heaven, the Neapolitans took the body of Saint Januarius and placed it first at Beneventum, then in the monastery of Monte Vergine, and finally in the principal church at Naples where it became illustrious for many miracles. One of the most remarkable of these was the extinction of a fiery eruption of Mount Vesuvius, when the terrible flames threatened with destruction not only the neighbourhood but even distant parts. Another remarkable miracle is seen even to the present day, namely: when the martyr’s blood, which is preserved congealed in a glass vial, is brought in presence of his head, it liquefies and boils up in a wonderful manner, as if it had been but recently shed. In Italy Saint Janarius is known as San Gennaro.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Janarius is ever preaching the Gospel to every creature, for his miraculous blood perpetuates the testimony he bore to Christ. Let those who say they cannot believe unless they see, go to Naples. There they will behold the martyr’s blood, when placed near his head which was cut off [seventeen] hundred years ago, to liquefy and boil as at the moment it escaped from his sacred veins. No, miracles are not lacking in the Church at the present day. True, God cannot subject Himself to the fanciful requirements of those proud men who would dictate to Him the conditions of the prodigies they must needs witness ere they will bow before His infinite Majesty. Nevertheless, His intervention in interrupting the laws of nature framed by Him and by Him alone to be suspended, has never yet failed the man of good faith in any period of history. At present there is less dearth than ever of such manifestations.

* * * * *

O holy martyrs, and you especially, O Januarius, the leader no less by your courage than by your pontifical dignity, your present glory increases our longing for Heaven. Your past combats animate us to fight the good fight. Your continual miracles confirm us in the faith. Praise and gratitude are therefore due to you on this day of your triumph. And, we pay this our debt in the joy of our hearts. In return, extend to us the protection of which the fortunate cities placed under your powerful patronage are so justly proud. Defend those faithful towns against the assaults of the evil one. In compensation for the falling away of society at large, offer to Christ our King the growing faith of all who pay you honour.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Nocera, the birthday of the holy martyrs Felix and Constantia who suffered under Nero.

In Palestine, the holy martyrs Peleus, Nilus and Elias, bishops in Egypt, who were, with many others of the clergy, consumed by fire for the sake of Christ during the persecution of Diocletian.

The same day, the holy martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius and Dorymedon, senator, under the emperor Probus. By command of the governor Atticus, at Antioch, Sabbatius was scourged until he expired. Trophimus was sent to the governor Perennius at Synnada, where he and the senator Dorymedon consummated their martyrdom by decapitation after enduring many torments.

At Cordova, in the Arabian persecution, St. Pomposa, virgin and martyr.

At Canterbury, the holy bishop Theodore, who was sent to England by Pope Vitalian, and was renowned for learning and holiness.

At Tours, St. Eustochius, bishop, a man of great virtue.

In the diocese of Langres, St. Sequanus, priest and confessor.

At Barcelona in Spain, blessed Mary de Cervellione, virgin, of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom. She is commonly called Mary of Help on account of the prompt assistance she renders to those who invoke her.

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

Thanks be to God.

18 SEPTEMBER – SAINT JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO (Confessor)

Joseph was born of pious parents at Cupertino, a town of the Salentines in the diocese of Nardo, in 1603. He spent his boyhood and youth in the greatest simplicity and innocence. The Virgin Mother of God delivered him from a long and painful malady which he had borne with the greatest patience, upon which he devoted himself entirely to works of piety and the practice of virtue. But God called him to something higher, and in order to attain to closer union with Him, Joseph determined to enter the Seraphic Order. After several trials he obtained his desire and was admitted among the Minor Conventuals in the convent called Grotella, first as a lay-brother, on account of his lack of learning, but afterwards, God so disposing, he was raised to the rank of a cleric. After making his solemn vows he was ordained a priest and began a new life of greater perfection. Utterly renouncing all earthly affections and everything of this world almost to the very necessaries of life, he afflicted his body with hair-shirts, chains, disciplines and every kind of austerity and penance: while he assiduously nourished his spirit with the sweetness of holy prayer, and the highest contemplation. By this means, the love of God, which had been poured out in his heart from his childhood, daily in creased in a most wonderful manner.

His burning charity shone forth most remarkably in the sweet ecstasies which raised his soul to God, and the wonderful raptures he frequently experienced. Yet, marvellous to tell, however rapt he was in God, obedience would immediately recall him to the use of his senses. He was exceedingly zealous in the practice of obedience and used to say that he was led by it like a blind man, and that he would rather die than disobey. He emulated the poverty of the seraphic patriarch to such a degree that on his deathbed he could truthfully tell his superior he had nothing which, according to custom, he could relinquish. Thus dead to the world and to himself Joseph showed forth in his flesh the life of Jesus. While in others he perceived the vice of impurity by an evil odour, his own body exhaled a most sweet fragrance, a sign of the spotless purity which be preserved unsullied in spite of long and violent temptations from the devil. This victory he gained by strict custody of his senses, by continual mortification of the body, and especially by the protection of the most pure Virgin Mary, whom he called his Mother, and whom he venerated with tenderest affection as the sweetest of mothers, desiring to see her venerated by others, that they might, said he, together with her patronage gain all good things.

Blessed Joseph’s solicitude in this respect sprang from his love for his neighbour, for he was consumed with zeal for souls, urging him to seek the salvation of all. His love embraced the poor, the sick and all in affliction whom he comforted as far as lay in his power, not excluding those who pursued him with reproaches and insults, and every kind of injury. He bore all this with the same patience, sweetness and cheerfulness of countenance as were remarked in him when he was obliged frequently to change his residence by the command of the superiors of his Order, or of the holy Inquisition. People and princes admired his wonderful holiness and heavenly gifts. Yet, such was his humility that, thinking himself a great sinner, he earnestly begged God to remove from him his admirable gifts: while he begged men to cast his body after death in a place where his memory might utterly perish. But God, who exalts the humble and had richly adorned His servant during life with heavenly wisdom, prophecy, the reading of hearts, the grace of healing and other gifts, also rendered his death precious and his sepulchre glorious. Joseph died at the place and time he had foretold, at Osimo in Picenum, at the age of 61.

Joseph was famous for miracles after his death and was enrolled among the blessed by Pope Benedict XIV and among the saints by Pope Clement XIII. Pope Clement XIV, who was of the same Order, extended his Office and Mass to the universal Church.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

While in France the rising spirit of Jansenism was driving God from the hearts of the people, a humble son of Saint Francis in southern Italy was showing how easily love may span the distance between Earth and Heaven. “And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth, will draw all things to Myself,” (John xii. 32) said our Lord, and time has proved it to be the most universal of His prophecies. On the Feast of the Holy Cross we witnessed its truth, even in the domain of social and political claims. We will experience it in our very bodies on the great day when we will be taken up in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air (1 Thessalonians iv. 16). But Joseph of Cupertino had experience of it without waiting for the resurrection: innumerable witnesses have home testimony to his life of continual ecstasies in which he was frequently seen raised high in the air. And these facts took place in what men are pleased to call the noonday of history.

* * * * *

While praising God for the marvellous He bestowed on you, we acknowledge that your virtues were yet more wonderful. Otherwise your ecstasies would be regarded with suspicion by the Church, who usually withholds her judgement until long after the world has begun to admire and applaud. Obedience, patience and charity, increasing under trial, were in contestable guarantees for the divine authorship of these marvels which the enemy is sometimes permitted to mimic to a certain extent. Satan may raise a Simon Magus into the air: he cannot make a humble man. O worthy son of the seraph of Assisi, may we, after your example, be raised up, not into the air, but into those regions of true light, where far above the Earth and its passions, our life, like yours, may be hidden with Christ in God! (Colossians iii. 3).

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

The birthday of St. Methodius, bishop of Olympius in Lycia, and afterwards of Tyre, most renowned for eloquence and learning. St. Jerome says that he won the martyr’s crown at Chalcis in Greece at the end of the last persecution.

In the diocese of Vienne, the holy martyr Ferreol, a tribune, who was arrested by order of the impious governor Crispinus, most cruelly scourged, then loaded with heavy chains, and cast into a dark dungeon. A miracle having broken his bonds and opened the doors of the prison, he made his escape, but being taken again by his pursuers he received the palm of martyrdom by being beheaded.

Also the Saints Sophia and Irene, martyrs.

At Milan, St. Eustorgius, first bishop of that city, highly commended by St. Ambrose.

At Gortyna, in Crete, St. Eumenus, bishop and confessor.

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

Thanks be to God.

17 SEPTEMBER – SAINT HILDEGARD OF BINGEN (Abbess and Virgin)

Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould:

This extraordinary woman, who stands out amidst the miseries and ruin of temporal and spiritual affairs in the twelfth century, like the figure of Huldah the prophetess when the kingdom of Judah was tottering to its fall, or like Cassandra in ancient Troy, properly deserves to be studied in connection with the political and ecclesiastical history of her times, with which she was intimately mixed up, and which she influenced by her prophecies, her warnings, and exhortations. But space forbids us giving her as full an article as she deserves.

She was born in 1098. Her father was a knight in attendance on Meginhard, Count of Spanheim. His name was Hildebert, and the place of her birth Bockelheim. At the age of 8 she was placed under the charge of Jutta, Abbess of Saint Disibod, a sister of the Count of Spanheim. From her sixth year the child was subject to visions, which appeared to her, as she describes, not externally, but within her soul. They continued till she was 15, without her venturing to publish them. On the death of Jutta in 1136, Hildegard, then aged 38, succeeded her. Her visions had attracted so much attention that numerous women came to place themselves under her direction, and finding the buildings too small, she erected a new convent on the Rupertsberg near Bingen, in 1147, and moved into it with 18 sisters.

Saint Hildegard was known throughout Europe by her writings: not that she could write in Latin herself, but she dotted down her visions and communications to various people of the town, in a jumble of German and Latin, and her secretary Gottfried put them for her into shape. She denounced the vices of society, of kings, nobles, of bishops and priests in unmeasured terms. If a prelate, even a Pope, wrote to her, however humbly, she sent him a stinging lecture in reply. She told home truths without varnishing them, so plainly as to make every one wince. She was courted by emperors and bishops, but she never yielded to their fascinations. No one approached her without receiving a rap over the knuckles, and, what was more, it was felt to be well deserved. In 1148 Pope Eugenius III was at Treves, when he heard every one talking of the prophecies of the famous abbess of Saint Rupert. He sent Adelbert, Bishop of Verdun, to examine her, and he studied her writings himself whilst at Treves. He even wrote her a letter, and received in return a lecture. About this time she completed the first part of her work called Scivias, a fantastic name corrupted from nosce vias, — know the ways (of the Lord), — which gives us the measure of her knowledge of Latin. The entire work was not completed till 1151.

Saint Hildegard thus describes her gift of visions: “I raise my hands to God, and then I am wafted by Him, like a feather without weight, before the wind, as far as it lists... Even from my childhood, when my limbs were not full-grown, to now in my seventieth year, my soul has seen visions. My spirit is, as God chooses, borne into the highest firmament, or among all sorts of peoples, and into the furthest lands, far away from my body. And when my inner eye by this means sees the truth, the sights which appear to me vary according to the nature of the vapours and creatures presented to me. These things I see not with my bodily eyes, nor through my understanding or thoughts, but through my spirit, yet with open eyes, and so that they never stir in me an emotion, but I see these sights waking by day or by night alike.”

Saint Bernard, who had the greatest respect for her, and valued her influence, urged her repeatedly to exert herself to stir up enthusiasm for the Crusade which he preached. She caught the flame, prophesied and exhorted, and contributed not a little towards sending to humiliation and death the thousands of Germans who started on that most unfortunate and disgraceful of all the Crusades. Whilst Bernard preached on the Rhine, she ascended the Feldberg, the highest peak of the Rhenish hills, and prayed on its summit, with outstretched arms, for the success of the undertaking. She held her arms so long extended that at last she fainted with exhaustion. The condition of the Church in Germany was deplorable to the last degree. Charlemagne and the Frank Emperors had made the bishops into electoral princes, with vast territories. They were, therefore, at the same time temporal and spiritual sovereigns. This caused the position of bishop to be sought by men of rank utterly unqualified for filling a spiritual office. The bishops were constantly at war with their neighbours, or rising in armed revolt against the Emperors. They kept splendid retinues, rode in armour at the head of their troops, and had the turbulence and ambition of temporal princes.

An instance must suffice. Henry I had been a gentle but feeble ruler of the archiepiscopal see of Mainz, in which was situated the convent of Saint Hildegard. A party in the chapter, moved by ambition and disgusted at his un-warlike character, raised some paltry accusations against him, which they carried to Rome. Archbishop Henry had a friend and confidant, the provost of Saint. Peter’s, named Arnold von Selnhoven, who owed his advancement to the favour of the archbishop. Henry gave Arnold a large sum of money, and sent him to Rome to plead his cause. Arnold secretly visited the Emperor Frederick I, secured his sanction to his treachery, and then, hastening to Rome, used the gold Archbishop Henry had given him to bribe those around the Pope to persuade his Holiness to depose Henry, and elevate him (Arnold) to the archiepiscopal throne in his room. Two cardinals were sent to Mainz to investigate the case. Henry saw that they had prejudged it, having been bribed by Arnold. He said to them, “I might appeal from your judgement to the Pope in person, but I appeal to a higher Judge — to Jesus Christ Himself — and I summon you both before His throne to answer for this injustice.” They answered scoffingly, “You lead the way, and we will follow.”

Both cardinals died suddenly before the close of the year. Arnold now returned in triumph to assume the office of his friend and benefactor, whom he had so treacherously supplanted. His arrogance knew no bounds. The people of Mainz writhed under his harsh rule, and the insolence with which he treated the nobles in his diocese embittered them against him. He waged incessant war with all the neighbouring princes, especially with the Palatine Herman II, of the Rhine. The Emperor interfered, and the Archbishop and the Palatine were ordered, as disturbers of the public peace, to carry a dog through the camp. The Archbishop escaped as being an ecclesiastic, but the Prince Palatine was obliged to submit to the ignominious and ridiculous sentence. This stirred up against the Archbishop numerous and implacable enemies. The people of Mainz, unable to endure his tyranny, plotted revolt. Saint Hildegard wrote him a letter of warning: “The Living Light says to you, Why are you not strong in fear? You have a sort of zeal, trampling down all that opposes you. But I warn you, cleanse the iniquity from the eye of your soul. Cut off the injustice with which you afflict your people. Turn to the Lord, for your time is at hand.” A friend also of the Archbishop, the Abbot of Erbach, cautioned him against incensing his subjects beyond endurance. “The Mainzers,” said Arnold, “are dogs that bark, but bite not.” When Saint Hildegard heard this, she sent word to him, “The dogs are slipped, and will tear you to pieces.” This prophecy came true. In 1160 the Archbishop was besieged in the Abbey of Saint James, outside Mainz, by a party of the citizens. The monastery was broken into, and a butcher cut the Archbishop down with his axe. The body was flung into a ditch, and the market women as they passed pelted it with eggs.

It was in sight of all this violence that Hildegard uttered her denunciations of the pride and lawlessness of the German prelates:

“He who was, and is, and will be, speaks to the shepherds of His Church. He who was sought to form His creatures after His own likeness, that man might obey His will. He that is has brought all creatures into being, in token that all proceeds from His will. He that will be will search out all that is hidden, and will renew all things. O my sons, says the Lord, you who pasture my sheep, why do you blush not at the warning voice of your Master? The ignorant creatures fulfil their Master’s commands, but you do not. I have called you, as the sun, to illumine men, but you are dark as black night. Woe to you! You should resemble Mount Zion, on which God dwells, but instead you are lostrels who do not that which is right, but that which pleases your fancies, and you follow but your own lusts. Instead of being like apostles, you are so sunk in worldly indolence that your time is spent in waging wars, or with buffoons and singers, or in chasing flies. You ought to be pillars of the Church, learned in Scripture, filled with the Spirit. But, instead, you ruin the Church by grinding down your subjects to satisfy your avarice and ambition. Therefore will the people rise, and will turn from you to the lay-princes, and will cry to them. We can no more endure these men, who befoul the land with every crime. They are drunkards and lovers of pleasure, who are sapping the foundations of the Church. Now, when the cries of the people have entered into the ears of the great Judge, then will He execute His wrath on these despisers of His laws, and give them over to the will of their enemies, who cry. How long shall we endure these ravening wolves? They should be the physicians of our souls, but they heal us not. They are given the power to bind and loose, but they bind us down as if we were wild beasts. Their sins rise up and make the Church to stink.

They teach not, but rend the sheep. Although they are drunkards, adulterers, and fornicators, they judge us harshly. How does it become these shaven heads, with stole and chasuble, to call out better harnessed and larger armies than we? The priest should not be a soldier, nor the soldier a priest. Therefore will we take from them what they hold against right and decency, and only leave them what is necessary for the welfare of souls. At that time the honour, power, and authority of the German Emperor, whereby the empire is protected, will be lessened by their fault, because they rule so basely and neglectfully, and do not live as heretofore. They will continue to exact from their subjects obedience, but not peaceableness and uprightness. Wherefore many kings, and princes, and peoples, who were before subject to the Roman empire, will separate from it, and submit no longer. Every land, every nation, will choose its own prince, and obey him, saying. The Empire is a burden and not an honour to us. And when the Roman empire is thus broken up, so will also the power of the papal throne be shattered; for when princes and other men find no more religion in Rome, they will despise the papal dignity, and will choose their priests and bishops, giving them other names, so that only a small part of Germany will remain subject to the Popes — namely, that nearest to his seat and diocese. And this will come to pass partly through war, partly through the energy of those who exhort the princes to rule their people themselves, and the bishops to hold their subjects in better order.”

The clear intelligence of Saint Hildegard no doubt foresaw that some events such as the Reformation and the Thirty Years’ War must ensue, if matters were not mended. The falling away of the greater part of Germany from the Church three centuries later was caused by the political situation rather than by desire of religious change. German exasperation, which had brooded long, burst into a flame, not against the Catholic religion so much as against the misgovernment of the episcopal electors and princely abbots. The Catholic religion was rejected only because it was entangled with the cause of these bishops. Of the frightful misgovernment and subordination of ecclesiastical character to that of temporal sovereignty there can be no doubt. Caesarius of Heisterbach, who lived in the same age as Saint Hildegard, quotes with approval the saying of a monk, “I can believe in any miracle and marvel except one — I cannot believe in the possibility of the salvation of a German bishop.”

Saint Hildegard wrote to Conrad I, Bishop of Worms, “You sit in the throne of Christ, but you hold a rod of iron for the controlling of the sheep.” To the Bishop of Spires, “Rise, O man, wallowing in blackness, rise, and build up the ruins, lay up store in heaven, that the black and filthy may blush at your elevation when you rise out of your filth; for your soul scarce lives on account of your evil deeds.” To the Archbishop of Treves, “Watch, and restrain yourself with an iron rod, and anoint your wounds that you may live.” She wrote to Popes Eugenius II, Anastasius IV, and Adrian IV, advising them of the dire state in which spiritual affairs stood in Germany. She wrote to the Emperors Frederick I, and Conrad III. There is scarcely a person of note throughout the empire to whom she did not address letters. She studied theology and medicine; she was consulted on questions of divinity and on cases of conscience. Her writings on medical science have attracted the attention of recent writers.

Saint Hildegard was engaged in a singular controversy with the choir-bishop of Mainz, was acted in spiritual affairs for the archbishop. During the quarrel between the Emperor Conrad III and Pope Alexander III there were rival archbishops claiming the see — Cuno, supported by the Pope, and Christian, nominated by the Emperor. In 1179 peace was made between Conrad and Alexander, and the Pope then confirmed Christian in the see. Before the Lateran Council of 1179, which saw the close of the schism, a certain youth died who had been excommunicated by one of the archbishops, probably Christian. He was buried in the cemetery attached to Saint Rupert’s convent. The choir bishop and chapter of Mainz at once wrote to Saint Hildegard, ordering her to dig up the body and eject it from consecrated ground. She refused, alleging that she had seen a vision in which Our Lord Himself had forbidden her. Moreover, as she said, the young man had confessed, been anointed, and had communicated before his death. And lest force should be used to disturb and throw out the body, she went to the cemetery, and removed all external traces of where the grave was. An interdict was launched against the convent. She abstained therefore from singing the offices in the chapel, and was debarred from receiving the Holy Communion. This went on for more than a month, and she began to be impatient. She wrote to the ecclesiastical directors of the see a glowing account of the advantage of choral hymnody and psalmody, which put devils to flight, and not obscurely hinted that she would not submit much longer to an unjust sentence, for she had heard a voice from heaven enjoining song. She went to Mainz herself, and appeared before the chapter, but could obtain no redress. Then she turned to the Archbishop of Cologne, and by his intervention the interdict was removed. However, Archbishop Christian, then in Italy, heard of the affair, and not pleased at the inter-meddling of a neighbouring archbishop, and perhaps moved by rancour against Hildegard, who had supported Cuno against him before his recognition by the Pope, he renewed the interdict.

Saint Hildegard then wrote him a long letter, arguing the case of the young man, who, as she asserted, certainly had been absolved and communicated by the parish priest of Bingen, when he lay on his deathbed, and pointing out the piteousness of her case, deprived of the sacraments and of the recitation of the daily offices. The archbishop accepted her act of submission, thought that she had been punished sufficiently, and removed the interdict. Christian was not a man of a religious spirit; he had invaded the see at the head of a body of armed retainers in 1165, and expelled Cuno the rightful archbishop. When he was acknowledged by the Pope, he took up his residence in Italy; Hildegard in vain wrote to him, entreating him to return to his see and rule it as its bishop; he never revisited it, but remained fighting in Italy, was taken prisoner, and died in captivity in 1183.

Saint Hildegard travelled about a great deal. She visited the Emperor Frederic I at Ingelheim, and traversed a portion of Germany preaching and prophesying to the people. She is known to have been at Treves, Metz, in Swabia, Franconia, at Paris and Tours. Saint Hildegard died in 1179, and was buried in her convent church. But this convent was destroyed by the Swedes in 1632, when her relics were removed to Eibingen.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Let us salute the “great prophetess of the new Testament.” What Saint Bernard’s influence over his contemporaries was in the first half of the twelfth century, that in the second half was Hildegard’s, when the humble virgin became the oracle of popes and emperors, of princes and prelates. Multitudes from far and near flocked to Mount Saint Rupert where the doubts of ordinary life were solved and the questions of doctors answered. At length, by God’s command, Hildegard went forth from her monastery to administer to all alike, monks, clerics and laymen, the word of correction and salvation. The Spirit indeed breathes where He will (John iii. 8). To the massy pillars that support His royal palace, God preferred the poor little feather floating in the air, and blown about, at His pleasure, to here and there, in the light. In spite of labours, sicknesses and trials the holy abbess lived to the advanced age of 82, “in the shadow of the living light.” Her precious relics are now at Eibingen. The writings handed down to us from the pen of this illiterate virgin are a series of sublime visions embracing the whole range of contemporary science, physical and theological, from the creation of the world to its final consummation. May Hildegard deign to send us an interpreter of her works and an historian of her life such as they merit!

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, on the road to Tivoli, the birthday of St. Justin, priest and martyr, who distinguished himself by a glorious confession of the faith during the persecution of Valerian and Gallienus. He buried the bodies of the blessed pontiff, Sixtus, of Lawrence, Hippolytus, and many other saints, and finally consummated his martyrdom under Claudius.

Also at Rome, the holy martyrs Narcissus and Crescentio.

In Phrygia, St. Ariadna, martyr, under the emperor Hadrian.

In England, the holy martyrs Socrates and Stephen.

At Nevers, the holy martyrs Valerian, Macrinus, and Gordian.

At Autun, under the emperor Antoninus and the governor Valerian, St. Flocellus, a boy, who, after many sufferings, was torn to pieces by wild beasts, and thus won the crown of martyrs.

At Liege, blessed Lambert, bishop of Maestricht. Having, through zeal for religion, rebuked the royal family, he was undeservedly put to death by the guilty, and thus entered the court of the heavenly kingdom to enjoy it forever.

At Saragossa in Spain, St. Peter of Arbues, first inquisitor of the faith in the kingdom of Aragon, who received the palm of martyrdom by being barbarously massacred by apostate Jews, for defending courageously the Catholic faith according to the duties of his office. He was canonised by Blessed Pius IX in 1867.

The same day, St. Agathoclia, servant of an infidel woman, who was for a long time subjected by her to blows and other afflictions, that she might deny Christ. She was finally presented to the judge and cruelly lacerated, and as she persisted in confessing the faith, they cut off her tongue and threw her into the flames.

At Cordova, St. Columba, virgin and martyr.

At Milan, the departure from this world of St. Satyrus, confessor, whose distinguished merits are mentioned by his brother St. Ambrose.

At Rome, in the persecution of Diocletian, St. Theodora, a matron, who carefully ministered to the martyrs.

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

Thanks be to God.