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.

21 SEPTEMBER – FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Epistle – Galatians v. 25‒26, vi. 1‒10

Brethren, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be made desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. And if a man be overtaken in any fault, you, who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens; and so you will fulfil the law of Christ. For if any man think himself to be some thing, whereas he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let every one prove his own work, and so he will have glory in himself only, and not in another. For everyone will bear his own burden. And let him that is instructed in the word, communicate to him that instructs him, in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man will sow, those also will he reap. For he that sows in his flesh, of the flesh also will reap corruption. But he that sows in the spirit, of the spirit will reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we will reap, not failing. Therefore, while we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Holy Church resumes the lesson of Saint Paul where she left it last Sunday. The Spiritual life, the life produced in our souls by the Holy Spirit in place of the former life of the flesh — this is still the subject of the Apostle’s teaching. When the flesh has been subdued, we must take care and not suppose that the structure of our perfection is completed. Not only must the combat be kept up after the victory under penalty of losing all we have won, but we must also be on the watch lest one or other of the heads of the triple concupiscence take advantage of the soul’s efforts being elsewhere directed to raise itself against us and sting us all the more terribly, because it is left to do just as it pleases. The Apostle warns us here of vain-glory, and well he may, for vain-glory is more than other enemies always in a menacing attitude, ready to infuse its subtle poison even into acts of humility and penance. Hence, the Christian who is desirous to serve God, and not his own gratification, by the virtues he practises, must keep up a specially active vigilance over this passion.

Just let us think, for a moment, on the madness that culprit would be guilty of who, having his sentence to death commuted for a severe flogging, should take pride in the stripes left on his body by the whip! May this madness never be ours! It would seem, however, as though it were far from being impossible, seeing how the Apostle, immediately after his telling us to mortify our flesh, bids us take heed of vainglory. In fact, we are not safe on this subject excepting inasmuch as the outward humiliation inflicted by us on our body has this for its principle, that our soul should voluntarily humble herself at the sight of her miseries. The ancient Philosophers, too, had their maxims about the restraint of the senses. But those among them who practised those admirably worded maxims found them a stepping-stone for their pride to mount up mountains high in self-conceit. It could not be otherwise, for they were totally devoid of anything like the sentiments which actuated our Fathers in the faith who, when they clad themselves in sackcloth and prostrated on the ground (1 Paralipomenon xxi. 16), cried out from the heart-felt conviction of the miseries of human nature: “Have mercy on me, God, according to your great mercy, for I was conceived in iniquities, and my sin is ever before me! (Psalm l.)

To practise bodily mortification with a view to get the reputation of being saints, is it not doing what Saint Paul here calls solving in the flesh, that, in due time, that is, on the day when the intentions of our hearts will be made manifest (1 Corinthians iv. 5) we may reap not life and glory everlasting, but endless disgrace and shame? Among the works of the flesh mentioned in last Sunday’s Epistle, we found contentions, dissensions and jealousies (Galatians v. 19‒21), all of which are the ordinary outcome of this vain-glory against which the Apostle is now warning us. The production of such rotten fruits would be an unmistakeable sign that the heavenly sap of grace had gone from our souls, and, that in its stead there had been brought the fermentation of sin; and that now, having made ourselves slaves, as of old, we must tremble because of the penalties threatened by God’s law. God is not mocked, and as to the confidence which generous fidelity of love imparts to those who live by the Spirit — it would, in the case we are now supposing, be but a hypocritical counterfeit of the holy liberty of the children of God. They alone are his children, whom the Holy Spirit leads (Romans viii. 14), and leads them in charity (Galatians iv. 13). Those others are led on by the flesh, and such cannot please God (Romans viii. 8).

If, on the contrary, we would have an equally unmistakeable sign which is quite compatible with the obscurities of faith, that we are really in possession of divine Union, let us not take occasion from the sight of other’s defects and faults to be puffed up with pride, but rather, from the consideration of our own miseries, be indulgent to every one else. If others fall, let us give them a helping and prudent hand. Let us bear one another’s burdens along the road of life and then, having thus fulfilled the law of Christ, we will know (and oh the joy there is in such knowing!) that we abide in Him, and He in us (1 John iv. 13). These most thrilling words which were made use of by our Lord to express the future intimacy He would have with whomsoever should eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood in Holy Communion (1 John vi. 57), Saint John, who had told them to us, takes them and uses them in his Epistles, and (let us mark the deep mystery of the application) applies them to whoever in the Holy Ghost observes the great commandment of loving his neighbour (1 John iii. 23, 24; iv. 12, 13).

Would to God we could ever have ringing in our ears the saying of the Apostle: “While we have time, let us work good to all men!” For the day will come, and it is not so very far off, when the Angel, carrying the mysterious Book, and having one foot on the earth and the other on the sea, will make his mighty voice as that of a lion he heard through the universe and, with his hand lifted up towards Heaven, will swear by Him that lives forever and ever, that time “will be no more!” (Apocalypse x. 1‒6) Then will man reap with joy what he will have sown in tears (Psalm cxxv. 5) he failed not, he grew not weary, of doing good while in the dreary land of his exile — still less will he ever tire of the everlasting harvest, which is to be in the living light of the Eternal Day.

Gospel – Luke vii. 11‒16

At that time, Jesus went into a city that is called Naim; and there went with Him His disciples, and a great multitude. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold a dead man was carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow: and a great multitude of the city was with her. Whom when the Lord had seen, being moved with mercy towards her, He said to her: “Weep not.” And He came near and touched the bier. And they that carried it, stood still. And He said: “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And he that was dead, sat up, and began to speak. And He gave him to his mother. And there came a fear on them all: and they glorified God, saying: “A great prophet is risen up among us,” and, “God has visited His people.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

This is the second time during the Year, holy Church offers this Gospel to our consideration. We cannot be surprised at this, for the Fathers selected by her as its interpreters tell us, on both of these occasions, that the afflicted mother, who follows her son to the grave is the Church herself. The first time we saw her under this symbol of a mother mourning for her child was in the penitential season of Lent. She was then, by her fasting and prayer (united as those were with her Jesus’ sufferings) preparing the resurrection of such of our brethren as were dead in sin. Their resurrection was realised and we had them, in all the fullness of their new life, seated, side by side with us at the Paschal Table. What exquisite joy on that Feast of Feasts inundated the Mother’s heart as she thus shared in the triumphant gladness of her divine Spouse! He, her Jesus was, by His one Resurrection, twice over the conqueror of death: He rose from the grave, and He gave back the child to the Mother. The Disciples of this Risen Lord who follow Him closely by their observance of the evangelical counsels, yes, they, and the whole multitude that associated themselves with the Church, glorified Jesus for His wonderful works, and sang the praises of that God who thus vouchsafed to visit His people.

The Mother ceased to weep. But since then the Spouse has again left her to return to His Father. She has resumed her widow’s weeds, and her sufferings are continually adding to the already well-near insupportable torture of her exile. And, from where these sufferings? From the relapses of so many of those ungrateful children of hers to whom she had given a second birth (Galatians iv. 12) and at the cost of such pains and tears! The countless cares she then spent over her sinners, and that new life she gave them in the presence of her dying Jesus, all this made each of the penitents during the Great Week as though he were the only son of that Mother. What an intense grief, says Saint John Chrysostom, that so loving a Mother should see them relapsing after the communion of such mysteries into sin which kills them! “Spare me,” as she may well say, in the words which the holy Doctor puts into the Apostle’s mouth, “Spare me! No other child, once born into this world, ever made his Mother suffer the pangs of childbirth over again!”

To repair the relapse of a sinner costs her no less travail, than the giving birth to such as had never believed.

And if we compare these times of ours with the period when sainted Pastors made her words be respected all over the world, is there a single Christian who is still faithful to the Church who does not feel impelled, by such contrast, to be more and more devoted to a Mother so abandoned as she now is? Let us listen to the eloquent words of Saint Laurence Justinian on this subject. “Then,” says he, “all resplendent with the mystic jewels with which the Bridegroom had beautified her on the wedding-day, she thrilled with joy at the increase of her children, both in merit and number. She urged them to ascend to ever greater heights. She offered them to God, she raised them in her arms up towards Heaven. Obeyed by them, she was, in all truth, the mother of fair love and fear (Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 24). She was beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array (Canticles vi. 9). She stretched out her branches as the turpentine tree, and beneath their shadow she sheltered them she had begotten against the heat, and the tempest, and the rain. So long, then, as she could, she laboured, feeding at her breasts all those she was able to assemble. But her zeal, great as it was, has redoubled from the time she perceived that many, yea very many, had lost their first fervour. Now for many years, she is mourning at the sight of how, each day, her Creator is offended, how great are the losses she sustains, and how so many of her children suffer death. She that was once robed in scarlet, has put on mourning garments. Her fragrance is no longer felt by the world. Instead of a golden girdle, she has but a cord, and instead of the rich ornament of her breast, she is vested in haircloth (Isaias iii. 24) Her lamentations and tears are ceaseless. Ceaseless is her prayer striving if, by some way, she may make the present as beautiful as in times past. And yet, as though it were impossible for her to call back that lovely past, she seems wearied at such supplication. The word of the prophet has come true: They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together. There is none that cloth good, no, not one!.. (Psalm xiii. 3) The manifold sins committed by the Church’s children against the divine precepts show that they who so sin are rotten members, members alien to the body of Christ. Nevertheless, the Church forgets not that she gave them birth in the laver of salvation. She forgets not the promises they then made to renounce the devil, and the pomps of the world, and all sin. Therefore does she weep over their fall, being their true mother and never losing the hope of winning their resurrection by her tears. What a flood of tears is thus every day shed before God! What fervent prayers does not this spotless virgin send by the ministry of the holy Angels up to Christ who is the salvation of sinners! In the secret of hearts, in lonely retreats, as well as in her public temples, she cries out to the divine mercy that they who are now buried in the filth of vice, may be all restored to life. Who will tell the joy of her heart when she receives back living, the children she mourned over as dead? If the conversion of sinners is such a joy to Heaven (Luke xv. 7), what must it be to such a Mother? According to the multitude of the sorrows of her heart so will be the consolations, giving joy to her soul (Psalm xciii. 19).

It is the duty of us Christians who, by God’s mercy, have been preserved from the general decay, to share in the anguish of our Mother, the Church. We should humbly but fervently co-operate with her in all her zealous endeavours to reclaim our fallen brethren. We surely can never be satisfied with not being of the number of those senseless sons who are a sorrow to their Mother (Proverbs xvii. 25), and despise the labour of her that bore them (Proverbs xxx. 17). Had we not the Holy Spirit to tell us how he that honours his Mother, is as one that lays up to himself a treasure? The thought of what our birth cost her (Ecclesiasticus iii. 5) would force us to do everything that lies in our power to comfort her. She is the dear Bride of the Incarnate Word, and our souls, too, aspire to union with Him. Let us prove that such Union is really ours by doing as the Church does, that is, by showing in our acts the one thought, the one love, which the divine Spouse always imparts to souls that enjoy holy intimacy with Him, because there is nothing He Himself has so much at heart — the thought of bringing the whole world to give glory to His Eternal Father, and the love of procuring salvation for sinners.

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.

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.

17 SEPTEMBER – THE STIGMATA OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Two years before his death Francis retired alone on Mount Alvernia to fast for forty days in honour of the Archangel Saint Michael. The sweetness of heavenly contemplation was poured out on him more abundantly than usual until, burning with the flame of celestial desires, he began to feel an increasing overflow of these divine favours. While the seraphic ardour of his desires thus raised him up to God, and the tenderness of his love and compassion was transforming him into Christ the crucified victim of excessive love, one morning he saw what appeared to be a Seraph with six shining and fiery wings coming down from Heaven. The vision flew swiftly through the air and approached him who then perceived that it was not only winged, but also crucified: the hands and feet were stretched out and fastened to a cross, while the wings were arranged in a wondrous manner. Two were raised above the head, two were outstretched in flight, and the remaining two were crossed over and veiled the whole body. Francis was much astonished and his soul was filled with mingled joy and sorrow. The gracious aspect of Him who appeared in so wonderful and loving a manner, rejoiced him exceedingly, while the sight of His cruel crucifixion pierced his heart with a sword of sorrowing compassion.

He, who appeared outwardly to Francis, taught him inwardly that, although weakness and suffering are incompatible with the immortal life of a seraph, yet this vision had been shown to him to the end that he, Christ’s lover, might learn how his whole being was to be transformed into a living image of Christ crucified, not by martyrdom of the flesh, but by the burning ardour of his soul. After a mysterious and familiar colloquy the vision disappeared, leaving the saint’s mind burning with seraphic ardour and his flesh impressed with an exact image of the Crucified, as though, after the melting power of that fire, it had next been stamped with a seal. For immediately the marks of nails began to appear in his hands and feet, their heads showing in the palms of his hands and the upper part of his feet, and their points visible on the other side. There was also a red scar on his right side, as if it had been wounded by a lance, and from which blood often flowed staining his tunic and underclothing.

Francis, now a new man, honoured by this new and amazing miracle, and, by a hitherto unheard of privilege, adorned with the sacred stigmata, came down from the mountain bearing with him the image of the Crucified, not carved in wood or stone by the hand of an artist, but engraved on his flesh by the finger of the living God. The seraphic man well knew that it is good to hide the secret of the king. Thus, having been thus admitted into his king’s confidence, he strove, as far as in him lay, to conceal the sacred marks. But it belongs to God to reveal the great things which He Himself has done and hence, after impressing those signs on Francis in secret, He publicly worked miracles by means of them, revealing the hidden and wondrous power of the stigmata by the signs wrought through them. Pope Benedict XI willed that this wonderful event, which is so well attested and in pontifical diplomas has been honoured with the greatest praises and favours, should be celebrated by a yearly solemnity. Afterwards, Pope Paul V, wishing the hearts of all the faithful to be kindled with the love of Christ crucified, extended the feast to the whole Church.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The great patriarch of Assisi will soon appear a second time in the holy liturgy, and we will praise God for the marvels wrought in him by divine grace. The subject of today’s feast, while a personal glory to Saint Francis, is of greater importance for its mystical signification. The Man-God still lives in the Church by the continual reproduction of His mysteries in this His bride, making her a faithful copy of Himself. In the thirteenth century, while the charity of the many had grown cold, the divine fire burned with redoubled ardour in the hearts of a chosen few. It was the hour of the Church’s passion, the beginning of that series of social defections, with their train of denials, treasons and derisions which ended in the prescription we now witness. The cross had been exalted before the eyes of the world: the bride was now to be nailed thereto with her divine Spouse, after having stood with Him in the Praetorium exposed to the insults and blows of the multitude.

Like an artist selecting a precious marble, the Holy Spirit chose the flesh of the Assisian seraph as the medium for the expression of His divine thought. He thereby manifested to the world the special direction He intended to give to the sanctity of souls. He offered to Heaven a first and complete model of the new work He was meditating, viz: the perfect union, upon the very cross, of the mystical body with its divine Head. Francis was the first to be chosen for this honour but others were to follow, and hence forward, here and there through the world, the stigmata of our blessed Lord will ever be visible in the Church.

* * * * *

Standard-bearer of Christ and of His Church, we would fain, with the Apostle and with you, glory in nothing save the cross of our Lord Jesus. We would fain bear in our souls the sacred stigmata which adorned your holy body. To him whose whole ambition is to return love for love, every suffering is a gain, persecution has no terrors, for the effect of persecutions and sufferings is to assimilate him, together with his mother the Church, to Christ persecuted, scourged, and crucified. It is with our whole hearts that we pray, with the Church: “O Lord Jesus Christ, who, when the world was growing cold, renewed the sacred marks of your Passion in the flesh of the most blessed Francis to inflame our hearts with the fire of your love, mercifully grant, that by his merits and prayers we may always carry the cross, and bring forth worthy fruits of penance. Who lives and reigns with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.”

16 SEPTEMBER – SAINTS CORNELIUS (Pope and Martyr) AND CYPRIAN (Bishop and Martyr)

 

Cornelius, a Roman by birth, was sovereign Pontiff during the reign of the emperors Gallus and Volusianus. In concert with a holy lady named Lucina he translated the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul from the catacombs to a more honourable resting place. Saint Paul’s body was entombed by Lucina on an estate of hers on the Via Ostensis, close to the spot where he had been beheaded, while Cornelius laid the body of the Prince of the apostles near the place of his crucifixion. When this became known to the emperors, and they were moreover informed that by the advice of the Pontiff, many became Christians, Cornelius was exiled to Centumcellae where Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, wrote to him to console him. The frequency of this Christian and charitable intercourse between the two saints gave great displeasure to the emperors, and accordingly Cornelius was summoned to Rome where, as if guilty of treason, he was beaten with scourges tipped with lead. He was next dragged before an image of Mars and commanded to sacrifice to it. But indignantly refusing to commit such an act of impiety, he was beheaded on the eighteenth of the Calends of October. The blessed Lucina, aided by some clerics, buried his body in a sandpit on her estate near the cemetery of Callixtus. His pontificate lasted about two years.

Cyprian was a native of Africa, and at first taught rhetoric there with great applause. The priest Caecilius, from whom he adopted his surname, having persuaded him to become a Christian, he thereupon distributed all his goods among the poor. Not long afterwards, having been made priest, he was chosen bishop of Carthage. It would be useless to enlarge upon his genius, since his works outshine the sun. He suffered under the emperors Valerian and Gallienus, in the eighth persecution, on the same day as Cornelius was martyred at Rome, but not in the same year.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

There is a peculiar beauty in the meeting of these two saints upon the sacred cycle. Cyprian, in a famous dispute, was once opposed to the apostolic See: eternal Wisdom now offers him to the homage of the world in company with one of the most illustrious successors of Saint Peter.

Cornelius was by birth of the highest nobility. Witness his tomb, lately discovered in the family crypt, surrounded by the most honourable names in the patrician ranks. The elevation of a descendant of the Scipios to the sovereign pontificate linked the last grandeurs of Rome to her future greatness. Decius, who “would more easily have suffered a competitor in his empire than a bishop in Rome,” had just issued the edict for the seventh general persecution. But the Caesar bestowed on the world’s capital by a village of Pannonia could not stay the destinies of the Eternal City. Beside this bloodthirsty emperor and others like him, whose fathers were known in the city only as slaves or conquered enemies, the true Roman, the descendant of the Cornelii, might be recognised by his native simplicity, by the calmness of his strength of soul, by the intrepid firmness belonging to his race, with which he first triumphed over the usurper, who was soon to surrender to the Goths on the borders of the Danube.

And yet, O holy Pontiff, you are even greater by the humility which Cyprian, your illustrious friend, admired in you, and by that ‘purity of your virginal soul,’ through which, according to him, you became become the elect of God and of His Christ. At your side, how great is Cyprian himself! What a path of light is traced across the heavens of holy Church by this convert of the priest Caecilius! In the generosity of his soul, when once conquered to Christ, he relinquished honours and riches, his family inheritance and the glory acquired in the field of eloquence. All marvelled to see in him, as his historian says, the harvest gathered before the seed was sown. By a justifiable exception he became a pontiff while yet a neophyte. During the ten years of his episcopate, all men, not only in Carthage and Africa, but in the whole world had their eyes fixed on him. The pagans crying: “Cyprian to the lions!” the Christians awaiting but his word of command in order to obey. Those ten years represent one of the most troubled periods of history. In the empire anarchy was rife. The frontiers were the scene of repeated invasions. Pestilence was raging everywhere: in the Church a long peace which had lulled men’s souls to sleep was followed by the persecutions of Decius, Gallus and Valerian. The first of these, suddenly bursting like a thunderstorm, caused the fall of many, which evil in its turn led to schisms on account of the too great indulgence of some, and the excessive rigour of others, towards the lapsed.

Who, then, was to teach repentance to the fallen, the truth to the heretics, unity to the schismatics and to the sons of God prayer and peace? Who was to bring back the virgins to the rules of a holy life? Who was to turn back against the Gentiles their blasphemous sophisms? Under the sword of death, who would speak of future happiness and bring consolation to souls? Who would teach them mercy, patience and the secret of changing the venom of envy into the sweetness of salvation? Who would assist the martyrs to rise to the height of their divine vocation? Who would uphold the confessors under torture, in prison, in exile? Who would preserve the survivors of martyrdom from the dangers of their regained liberty?

Cyprian, ever ready, seemed in his incomparable calmness to defy the powers of Earth and of Hell. Never had a flock a surer hand to defend it under a sudden attack, and to put to flight the wild hear of the forest. And how proud the shepherd was of the dignity of that Christian family which God had entrusted to his guidance and protection! Love for the Church was, so to say, the distinguishing feature of the bishop of Carthage. In his immortal letters to his ‘most brave and most happy brethren,’ confessors of Christ and the honour of the Church, he exclaims: “Oh truly blessed is our mother the Church, whom the divine condescension has so honoured, who is made illustrious in our days by the glorious blood of the triumphant martyrs. Formerly white by the good works of our brethren, she is now adorned with purple from the veins of her heroes. Among her flowers, neither roses nor lilies are wanting.”

Unfortunately this very love, this legitimate, though falsely applied, jealousy for the noble bride of our Saviour, led Cyprian to err on the serious question of the validity of heretical baptism. “The only one,” he said, “alone possesses the keys, the power of the Spouse. We are defending her honour when we repudiate the polluted water of the heretics.” He was forgetting that although, through our Lord’s merciful liberality, the most indispensable of the Sacraments does not lose its virtue when administered by a stranger, or even by an enemy of the Church, nevertheless it derives its fecundity, even then, from and through the bride, being valid only through union with what she herself does. How true it is, that neither holiness nor learning confers upon man that gift of infallibility which was promised by our Lord to none but the successor of Saint Peter. It was, perhaps, as a demonstration of this truth that God suffered this passing cloud to darken so lofty an intellect as Cyprian’s. The danger could not be serious, or the error lasting, in one whose ruling thought is expressed in these words: “He that keeps not the unity of the Church, does he think to keep the faith? He that abandons the See of Peter on which the Church is founded, can he flatter himself that he is still in the Church?”

Great in his life, Cyprian was still greater in death. Valerian had given orders for the extermination of the principal clergy. And in Rome, Sixtus II, followed by Laurence, had led the way to martyrdom. Galerius Maximus, proconsul of Africa, was then holding his assizes at Utica, and commanded Thascius Cyprian to be brought before him. But the bishop would not allow “the honour of his Church to be mutilated,” by dying at a distance from his episcopal city. He therefore waited till the proconsul had returned to Carthage, and then delivered himself up by making a public entrance into the town.

In the house which served for a few hours as his prison, Cyprian, calm and unmoved, gathered his friends and family for the last time round his table. The Christians hastened from all parts to spend the night with their pastor and father. Thus, while he yet lived, they kept the first vigil of his future feast. When, in the morning, he was led before the proconsul, they offered him an arm-chair draped like a bishop’s seat. It was indeed the beginning of an episcopal function, the pontiff’s own peculiar office being to give his life for the Church, in union with the eternal High Priest. The interrogatory was short, for there was no hope of shaking his constancy, and the judge pronounced sentence that Thascius Cyprian must die by the sword. On the way to the place of execution the soldiers formed a guard of honour to the bishop, who advanced calmly, surrounded by his clergy as on days of solemnity. Deep emotion stirred the immense crowd of friends and enemies who had assembled to assist at the sacrifice. The hour had come. The pontiff prayed prostrate upon the ground. Then rising, he ordered twenty-five gold pieces to be given to the executioner, and taking off his tunic, handed it to the deacons. He himself tied the bandage over his eyes. A priest, assisted by a subdeacon, bound his hands while the people spread linen cloths around him to receive his blood. Not until the bishop himself had given the word of command did the trembling executioner lower his sword. In the evening, the faithful came with torches and with hymns to bury Cyprian. It was September 14, in the year 258.

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Holy Pontiffs, united now in glory as you once were by friendship and in martyrdom, preserve with in us the fruit of your example and doctrine. Your life teaches us to despise honours and fortune for Christ’s sake, and to give to the Church all our devotedness of which the world is unworthy. May this be understood by those countless descendants of noble races who are led astray by a misguided society. May they learn from you gloriously to confound the impious conspiracy that seeks to exterminate them in shameful oblivion and enforced idleness. If their fathers deserved well of mankind, they themselves may now enter on a higher career of usefulness where decadence is unknown and the fruit once produced is everlasting. Remind the lowly as well as the great in the city of God that peace and war alike have flowers to crown the soldier of Christ: the white wreath of good works is offered to those who cannot aspire to the rosy diadem of martyrdom.

16 SEPTEMBER – SAINTS EUPHEMIA (Virgin) AND LUCY AND GEMINIANUS (Martyrs)

On this day at Chalcedon, the virgin Euphemia was martyred under the emperor Diocletian and the proconsul Priscus. For faith in Our Lord she was subjected to tortures, imprisonment, blows, the torment of the wheel, fire, the crushing weight of stones, the teeth of beasts, scourging with rods, the cutting of sharp saws, burning pans, all of which she survived. But when she was again exposed to the beasts in the amphitheatre, praying to our Lord to receive her spirit, one of the animals having inflicted a bite on her sacred body, while the rest licked her feet, she yielded her unspotted soul to God.

At Rome, Lucy, a noble matron, and Geminian, were subjected to most grievous afflictions and a long time tortured, by the command of the emperor Diocletian. Finally, being put to the sword, they obtained the glorious victory of martyrdom.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The fourth Ecumenical Council was held at Chalcedon in the church of Saint Euphemia. Beside the tomb of this holy virgin, the impious Eutyches was condemned and the twofold nature of the God-Man was vindicated. The ‘great martyr’ seems to have shown a predilection for the study of sacred doctrine: the faculty of theology in Paris chose her for its special patroness, and the ancient Sorbonne treasured with singular veneration a notable portion of her blessed relics. Let us recommend ourselves to her prayers, and to those of the holy widow Lucy and the noble Geminian, whom the Church associates with her.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, at a place on Via Flaminia, ten miles from the city, the holy martyrs Abundius, priest, and Abundantius, deacon, who the emperor Diocletian caused to be struck with the sword, together with Marcian, an illustrious man, and his son John, who they had raised from the dead.

At Heraclea in Thrace, St. Sebastiana, martyr, under the emperor Domitian and the governor Sergius. Being brought to the faith of Christ by the blessed Apostle St. Paul, she was tormented in various ways and finally beheaded.

At Cordova, the holy martyrs Rogellus and Servideus, who were decapitated after their hands and feet had been cut off.

In Scotland, St. Ninian, bishop and confessor.

In England, St. Editha, virgin, daughter of the English king Edgar, who was consecrated to God in a monastery from her tender years, where she may be said to have been ignorant of the world rather than to have forsaken it.

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

Thanks be to God.