2 MARCH – QUINQUAGESIMA (SHROVE) SUNDAY

Epistle – 1 Corinthians xiii. 1‒13

Brethren, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and not have charity, it profits me nothing. Charity is patient; is kind: charity envies not; deals not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeks not her own; is not provoked to anger; thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never falls away: whether prophecies will be made void, or tongues will cease, or knowledge will be destroyed. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is, come, that which is in part will be done away. When, I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away the things of a child. We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I will know even as I am known. And now there remain faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

How appropriate for this Sunday is the magnificent eulogy of charity here given by our Apostle! This virtue, which comprises the love both of God and our neighbour, is the light of our souls. Without charity, we are in darkness and all our works are profitless. The very power of working miracles cannot give hope of salvation, unless he who does them has charity. Unless we are in charity the most heroic acts of other virtues are but one snare more for our souls. Let us beseech our Lord to give us this light. But let us not forget, that however richly He may bless us with it here below, the fullness of its brightness is reserved for when we are in Heaven, and that the sunniest day we can have in this world is but darkness when compared with the splendour of our eternal charity. Faith will then give place, for we will be face to face with all Truth. Hope will have no object, for we will possess all Good. Charity alone will continue and, for this reason, is greater than Faith and Hope, which must needs accompany her in this present life. This being the glorious destiny reserved for man when redeemed and enlightened by Jesus —is it to be wondered at that we should leave all things in order to follow such a Master? What should surprise us, and what proves how degraded is our nature by sin, is to see Christians who have been baptised in this Faith and this Hope, and have received the first-fruits of this Love, indulging during these days in every sort of worldliness which is only the more dangerous because it is fashionable. It would seem as though they were making it their occupation to extinguish within their souls the last ray of heavenly light like men that had made a covenant with darkness. If there be charity within our souls, it will make us feel these offences that are committed against our God, and inspire us to pray to Him to have mercy on these poor blind sinners, for they are our brethren.

Gospel – Luke xviii. 31‒43

At that time, Jesus took to Him the twelve, and said to them, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things will be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of man: for He will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon; and after they have scourged Him, they will put Him to death; and the third day He will rise again.” They understood none of these things, and this word was hidden from them, and they understood not the things that were said. Now it came to pass when He drew near to Jericho that a certain blind man sat by the wayside, begging. And when he heard the multitude passing by, he asked what this meant. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried put, saying, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” They that went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out much more, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” And Jesus standing commanded him to be brought to Him; and when he had come near, He asked him, saying, “What do you want me to I do to you?” But he said, “Lord, that I may see.” And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you whole.” Immediately he saw, and followed Him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Jesus tells His Apostles that His bitter Passion is at hand. It is a mark of His confidence in them, but they understand not what He says. They are as yet too carnal-minded to appreciate our Saviour’s mission. Still, they do not abandon Him. They love Him too much to think of separating from Him. Greater by far than this is the blindness of those false Christians who during these three days not only do not think of the God who shed His Blood and died for them, but are striving to efface from their souls every trace of the divine image! Let us adore that sweet Mercy which has drawn us, as it did Abraham, from the midst of a sinful people. And let us, like the blind man of our Gospel, cry out to our Lord, beseeching Him to grant us an increase of His holy light. This was his prayer: “Lord! that I may see.” God has given as His light but He gave it us in order to excite within us the desire of seeing more and more clearly. He promised Abraham that He would show him the place He had destined for him. May He grant us also to see the land of the living! But our first prayer must be that He show us Himself, as Saint Augustine has so beautifully expressed it, that we may love Him and show us our own selves that we may cease to love ourselves.

1 MARCH – ST. DAVID OF WALES (Bishop)

Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould:

St. David, or Dewi, as the Welsh call him, was born about 446, at Mynyw, which was named St David’s after him. His father was Sandde, son of Ceredig, who was the son of Cunedda, the great conqueror of North Wales. His mother's name was Non; she was the daughter of Gynyr of Caergawch. Giraldus says he was baptized at Forth Clais by Alveas, Bishop of Munster, “who by divine providence had arrived at that time from Ireland.” The same author says he was brought up at Henmenen, which is probably the Roman station Menapia.

St. David was educated under Iltyt at Caerworgon. He was afterward ordained priest, and studied the Scriptures for ten years with Paulinus at Ty-gwyn-ar Daf, or Whitland, in Caennarthenshire. He then retired for prayer and study to the Vale of Ewias, where he raised a chapel, and a cell on the site now occupied by Llanthony Abbey. The river Honddu furnished him with drink, the mountain pastures with meadow-leek for food. His legendary history states that he was advised by an angel to move from under the shadow of the Black Mountains to the vale of Rhos, and to found a monastery at Mynyw, his birth place.

He built a monastery on the boggy land which forms nearly the lowest point of that basin-shaped glen: on, or near its site stands the present Cathedral of St. David. He practised the same rigorous austerities as before. Water was his only drink, and he rigorously abstained from animal food. He devoted himself wholly to prayer, study, and to the training of his disciples. He, like many other abbots at that time, was promoted to the episcopate. A wild legend makes him to have started on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and to have received consecration at the hands of the patriarch John III. This tale was invented by some British monk to show that the Welsh bishops traced their succession to the oldest, if not the most powerful, of the patriarchates. Except when compelled by unavoidable necessity he kept aloof from all temporal concerns. He was reluctant even to attend the Synod of Brefi. This was convened by Dubricius about 519 at Llandewi Brefi, in Cardiganshire, to suppress the Pelagian heresy, which was once more raising its head. The synod was composed of bishops, abbots, and religious of different orders, together with princes and laymen. Giraldus says, “When many discourses had been delivered in public, and were ineffectual to reclaim the Pelagians from their error, at length Paulinus, a bishop with whom David had studied in his youth, very earnestly entreated that the holy, discreet, and eloquent man might be sent for. Messengers were therefore despatched to desire his attendance: but their importunity was unavailing with the holy man, he being so fully and intently given up to contemplation, that urgent necessity alone could induce him to pay any regard to temporal or secular concerns. At last two holy men, Daniel and Dubricius, persuaded him to come. After his arrival, such was the grace and eloquence with which he spoke, that he silenced the opponents, and they were utterly vanquished. But Father David, by common consent of all, whether clergy or laity, (Dubricius having resigned in his favour), was elected primate of the Cambrian Church.” Dubricius retired to the Isle of Bardsey.

A beautiful yet wild legend tells us:—“While St. David’s speech continued, a snow white dove descending from heaven sat upon his shoulders; and moreover the earth on which he stood raised itself under him till it became a hill, from whence his voice was heard like a trumpet, and was understood by all, both near and far off: on the top of which hill a church was afterwards built, and remains to this day.”

St. David at first strenuously declined the primacy; at last he accepted it on the condition that he was to be allowed to transfer the archiepiscopal chair from the busy city of Caerleon upon the Usk—the former capital of Britannia Secunda—to the quiet retreat of Mynyw. Arthur, the famous king, and Pendragon, who is said to have been a nephew of our saint, assented to this. Doubtless the advances westward which the heathen English were making, filled St. David with dread lest the seat of the primacy should one day fall into their hands. So he thought it prudent to remove it to the iron-bound shores of Pembroke, where the English could not so easily land. After his elevation, St. David, in spite of his retiring disposition, proved a vigorous and hard-working prelate. He occasionally resided at Caerleon, and in 529 he convened a synod, which exterminated the Pelagian heresy, and was in consequence named “The Synod of Victory.” It ratified the canons and decrees of Brefi, as well as a code of rules which he had drawn up for the regulation of the British Church, a copy of which remained in the Cathedral of St. David’s until it was lost in an incursion of pirates. Giraldus says, “In his times, in Cambria, the Church of God flourished exceedingly, and ripened with much fruit every day. Monasteries were built everywhere; many congregations of the faithful of various orders were collected to celebrate with fervent devotion the Sacrifice of Christ. But to all of them Father David, as if placed on a lofty eminence, was a mirror and pattern of life. He informed them by words, and he instructed them by example; as a preacher he was most powerful through his eloquence, but more so in his works. He was a doctrine to his hearers, a guide to the religious, a light to the poor, a support to the orphans, a protection to widows, a father to the fatherless, a rule to monks, and a path to seculars, being made all things to all men that he might bring all to God.”

He founded several churches and monasteries. It is also generally agreed that Wales was first divided into dioceses in his time.

Geoffrey of Monmouth states that he died in his monastery at Mynyw, St. David’s, where he was honourably buried by order of Maelgwn Gvvynedd. This event is recorded by him as if it happened soon after the death of Arthur, who died 542. According to the computations of Archbishop Usher, St. David died 544, aged 82. The Bollandists agree with Usher on the date of his death, but they put his birth back as far as 446, so that according to their calculation he lived to the age of 98. Numerous legends have gathered round the history of St. David. Thus an angel is said to have foretold his birth thirty years before to his father in a dream. “On the morrow, said the angelic voice, thou wilt slay a stag by a river side, and wild find three gifts there, to wit, the stag, a fish, and a honeycomb. Thou shalt give part of these to the son who shall be born thirty years hence. The honeycomb proclaims his honied wisdom, the fish, his life on bread and water, the stag his dominion over the old serpent.” The mention of the stag doubtless arose from the old fancy that that animal kills serpents by trampling on them: thus did David trample the Pelagian heresy under foot. When St. Patrick settled in the vale of Rhos, a voice bade him depart, for it was reserved for the abode of a child who should be born thirty years after. At his baptism, St. David splashed some water on to the blind eyes of the bishop who was baptizing him, and restored their power of sight. His schoolfellows at Henmenen saw a dove teaching him, and singing hymns with him. After studying with Paulinus, he journeyed to Glastonbury. He was intending to dedicate afresh the church which had been re-built, when the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and told him that He had already dedicated it: as a sign that He had spoken unto him He pierced the saint’s hand with His fingers. So our saint contented himself with building a Lady Chapel at the east end. He is said to have founded twelve monasteries on this journey. He returned to Wales, and then established a monastery at Mynyw, which was soon filled with monks and disciples. They worked hard with their own hands in the fields; they harnessed themselves to the plough instead of using oxen for that purpose; they tended bees that they might have some honey to give to the sick and the poor. The bees became so attached to one monk, Modemnoc, that they followed him on board ship when he was about to set sail for Ireland. He returned to the monastery and made several attempts to embark unobserved by his winged friends; but all his efforts failed. So at last he asked St. David’s leave to take them with him; the saint blessed the bees, and bade them depart in peace, and be fruitful and multiply in their new home. Thus Ireland, where bees had been hitherto unable to live, was enriched by their honey.

He opened many fountains in dry places, healed many brackish streams, raised many dead to life, and had many visions of God and of Angels. In one of these visions he was warned that he should depart, March 1st. Thenceforth he was more zealous in the discharge of his duty: on the Sunday before his death he preached a sermon to the assembled people, and after consecrating and receiving the Lord’s Body, he was seized with a sudden pain: then turning to the people he said, “Brethren, persevere in the things which ye have heard of me: on the third day hence I go the way of my fathers.” On that day, while the clergy were singing the Matin Office, he had a vision of his Lord; then, exulting in spirit, he exclaimed, “Raise me after Thee.” With these words he breathed his last. He was canonized by Pope Callixtus II, A.D. 1120; who is also said to have granted an indulgence to all those who made a pilgrimage to his shrine. Three kings of England—William the Conqueror, Henry II., and Edward I.—are said to have undertaken the journey, which when twice repeated was deemed equal to one pilgrimage to Rome; whence arose this saying:— Roma semel quantum, dat bis Menevia tantum. A noble English matron, Elswida, in the reign of Edgar, transferred his relics, probably in 964, from St. David’s to Glastonbury. St. David’s plain but empty shrine stands now in the choir of St. David’s Cathedral to the north of Edward Tudor’s altar tomb.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, two hundred and sixty holy martyrs condemned for the name of Christ. Claudius II ordered them to dig sand beyond the Porta Salaria, and then to be shot dead with arrows by soldiers in the amphitheatre.

Also the birthday of the holy martyrs Leo, Donatus, Abundantius, Nicephorus and nine others.

At Marseilles, the holy martyrs Hermes and Adrian.

At Heliopolis, in the persecution of Trajan, St. Eudoxia, martyr, who, being baptised by bishop Theodotus and fortified for the combat, was put to the sword by the command of the governor Vincent and thus received the crown of martyrdom.

The same day, St. Antonina, martyr. For deriding the gods of the Gentiles in the persecution of Diocletian, she was, after various torments, shut up in a cask and drowned in a marsh near the city of Cea.

At Kaiserswerth, the bishop St. Swithbert, who, in the time of Pope Sergius, preached the Gospel to the inhabitants of Friesland and Holland, and to other Germanic peoples.

At Angers, St. Albinus, bishop and confessor, a man of most eminent virtue and piety.

At Le Mans, St. Siviard, abbot.

At Perugia, the translation of St. Herculanus, bishop and martyr, who was beheaded by order of Totila, king of the Goths. Forty days after his decapitation his body, as Pope St. Gregory relates, was found as sound and as firmly joined to the head as if it had never been touched by the sword.

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

Thanks be to God.