St. Andrew--Apostle/Martyr

Today is the day of St. Andrew, Apostle and brother of St. Peter. We should remember that St. Andrew is the Apostle of the Cross. Peter was given the firmness of Faith; John, the warmth of love; and Andrew the mission to represent the Cross of his divine Master. Now it is by these three, Faith, love, and the Cross, that the Church renders herself worthy of her Spouse. Everything she has or is, bears these three-fold character. Let's hear a little about him: Saint Andrew was one of the fishermen of Bethsaida, and was the brother of Saint Peter. He became a disciple of Saint John the Baptist. He saw the Baptist point to Jesus as the One to come. St. John, pointing to Jesus, who was approaching, said: "Behold the Lamb of God!" No sooner had Andrew heard these words, than he and the other disciple followed Christ, and remained with Him that day. So, when Our Lord began His public life, Andrew was among the first to believe and follow. When called himself by Christ on the banks of the Jordan, his first thought was to go in search of his brother, and he said to Peter, "We have found the Messiah!" and brought him to Jesus.

It was Saint Andrew who, when Christ wished to feed the five thousand in the desert, pointed out a little lad with five loaves and a few fishes. When the Apostles separated, and went into the different countries of the world, to preach the Gospel of Christ to all nations, Andrew travelled into Scythia, Thrace, Galatia and other Pagan countries, where he converted many thousands by his sermons, and by the miracles he performed. At last he came to Patrae, the capital of Achaia, in Greece, and there, too, preached, with apostolic freedom, the Word of the Lord, and approved it by many miracles, which induced a great number of the inhabitants to embrace Christianity. Egeas, the governor, resisted him with all his might, and endeavored to defend idolatry. The holy Apostle, however, reproved him fearlessly, and said: "You desire that this people should recognize you as their judge; why, then, do you refuse to recognize Christ, the true God, as the Judge of all mankind; and why do you refuse to turn your heart from idolatry?"

"Be silent!" replied Egeas, "and speak not to me of your Christ. Was he not nailed by the Jews to a cross? How then can he be a true God? How can I worship him as God?" Andrew endeavored to explain the great mystery of the Redemption of the human race, and to show how Christ had, voluntarily, and for love of man, died the ignominious death of the cross; but, Egeas would not listen, and, interrupting him, commanded him immediately to sacrifice to the gods, or to prepare himself for a most cruel martyrdom. Andrew replied: "I offer daily, on the Altar, to the Almighty, who is the only true God, not the flesh of oxen, nor the blood of goats, but an unspotted Lamb, which, when the entire multitude of the faithful have partaken of its flesh, remains entire and living." The governor, full of wrath, ordered Andrew to be cast into a dungeon; but the people, who loved the Saint as a father, rose against the governor, and ran in crowds to the dungeon, determined to set the prisoner free. But the Apostle besought them to be quiet, and not seek to prevent him from receiving the crown of martyrdom, which he had so long desired.

The following day, St. Andrew was brought before the governor, who offered him the greatest honors, if he would consent to sacrifice to the gods; but threatened him with the most cruel torments, if he persisted in refusing. The Saint said fearlessly: "The honors you offer me have no value in my eyes, because they are temporal and pass away; the tortures you threaten me with, I despise, for the same reason; but you, O Egeas! have to fear torments which last for ever, if you do not abandon your idols, and recognize Jesus Christ for the true and only God, and worship Him as such."

After these words, the Saint continued to preach to the governor, and to all present, of the crucified Lord, and of the happiness of all those who suffer for Him. Egeas, enraged at the Apostle's fearlessness, ordered him to be most cruelly scourged, and then to be crucified, in order to make him resemble his God. This was meant by the governor in derision; but no manner of death could have been more welcome to St. Andrew. The cruel and unjust sentence was received with murmurs by the people, of whom some were heard saying aloud: "This man is just, and a friend of God: why must he be crucified?"

Andrew, addressing the people again, begged them not to deprive him of what he looked upon as an inestimable happiness.

He was martyred on an X-shaped cross in Achaia, in southern Greece. When Saint Andrew first caught sight of the gibbet on which he was to die, he greeted the precious wood with joy. "O good cross!" he cried, "made beautiful by the limbs of Christ, so long desired, now so happily found! Receive me into thy arms and present me to my Master, that He who redeemed me through thee may now accept me from thee!" After suffering a cruel scourging he was left, bound by cords, to die upon this diagonal cross. (Like his brother Peter, Andrew didn't feel worthy enough to die exactly as Jesus did; hence this cross) For two whole days the martyr remained hanging on it, alive, still preaching with outstretched arms from this chair of truth, to all who came near, and entreating them not to hinder his passion.

On the third day, when the people seemed determined to rescue him by force, he called to his Savior : " Do not permit, O Lord, that Thy servant, who, according to his own wish, hangs on the cross, be taken down from it; but do Thou take me from it to Thee, O my beloved Master, Jesus Christ, whom I have confessed and always loved, and whom, still confessing, I long to see. Take, O Lord Jesus, my spirit to Thee. I ardently desire to be united with Thee." During this prayer, a bright light streamed from heaven, and rested upon the Saint, whilst he breathed his last. The martyrdom of St. Andrew happened in the year of Our Lord 62, or, according to others, in 70. His holy body was transported to Constantinople in the time of Constantine the Great; but was afterwards brought to Rome, where it has its resting-place in the Church of St. Peter.

Reflection: If we would do good to others, we must, like Saint Andrew, receive our cross with loving gratitude and not desire to be separated from it, until God so wills. To "take up our cross" is Jesus' command; are we perhaps dragging ours?


Thy name, betokening beauty, befits thy life, foretells thy splendor in the glory of Thy holy cross. The cross exalts thee, the blessed cross loves thee, the bitter cross prepares for thee the joys of the light to come. The mystery of the cross shines in thee with a twofold beauty: for by the cross thou dost vanquish insults and dost preach to men the Divine blood shed on the cross. Give fervor to our languid hearts, and take us under thy care, that so, by the victory of the cross, we may reach our home in heaven. Amen

Pope St. Damasus

Following is part of a prayer by our beloved Abbot, Gueranger:

'Remember also, O blessed Andrew, the holy Church, of which thou wast the pillar, and which thou hast beautified by the shedding of thy blood: lift up thy hands for her to Him, whose battle she is forever fighting. Pray that the Cross she has to bear in this her pilgrimage may be lightened; that she may love this Cross, and that it may be the source of her power and her glory. Remember with especial love the Holy Roman Church, the mother and mistress of all Churches; and by reason of that fervent love she has for thee, obtain for her victory and peace by the Cross...' (Protestants say: "Take Christ from that cross, for He is risen." But, remember that Paul states that if he doesn't preach 'Christ crucified' his preaching is in vain. So, wear your crucifixes with pride and pass this on to those who are wrong..Remember, Christ dies every day for us.)


Novena to St. Andrew


Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.

(It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew (30th November) until Christmas will obtain what is asked.)


Imprimatur
† Michael Augustine,
Archbishop of New York
New York, February 6, 1897

1st Sunday of Advent

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday of the Liturgical Year in the Church. We are, once again, prepare for the coming of Christ, our Messiah. Once again, He is coming to make all things new. We, for our task, are to seek Him out.

First of all, I would like to tell you something. Remember in the 23rd Chapter of St. Matthew, when Jesus is berating the Jews for their blindness when treating the Prophets, how they killed them, and generally ignored everything the Prophets tried to tell them. He goes on to say that the temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed, and they will be left desolate. Then He gives them this notice: "For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say: 'Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord'" Then Chapter 24 starts with: 'And Jesus being come out of the temple, went away.' He is leaving the temple of the Jews in the dust and starting a new beginning for believers. Behold, He makes all things new.

The Masses for Advent strike a note of preparation and repentance mingled with joy and hope; hence, although the penitential color of violet is worn and the Gloria is omitted, the joyous Alleluia is retained. The readings from the Old Testament contained in the Introit, Gradual, Offertory, and Communion of the Masses, taken mostly from the prophecies of Isaias and from the Psalms, give eloquent expression to the longing of all nations for a Redeemer. We are impressed by repeated and urgent appeals to the Messias: "Come, delay no longer." The Lessons from St. Paul urge us to dispose ourselves fittingly for His coming. The Gospels describe the terrors of the Last Judgment, foretell the second coming, and tell of the preaching of St. John the Baptist 'to prepare the way of the Lord.' The idea of Advent is 'Prepare you for the coming of Christ.' Therefore the very appeals of the Patriarchs and Prophets are put in our mouths in Advent. Prepare for the coming of Christ, the Redeemer, Who comes to prepare us for His second coming as Judge. (Taken from the Missal of the Traditional Mass)

In the readings of this day, we will hear about the end of things once again. However, I am going to try to help us in this preparation. We are to fast, abstain, pray, and, moreover, to ready ourselves for the coming of our Lord.

The book of Isaias, he foretells the falling away of the Faith,:

'...Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: "I have brought up children, and exalted them; but they have despised me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children. They have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards...'

We are in dire need of some kind of help, and our Lord has it all at our disposal, if we but ask and are sincere. Remember, all things and times are simultaneously happening forever in front of God, Who is in charge of all.


St. Bernard says there are three comings: "In the first coming, He comes in the Flesh and in weakness; in the second in Spirit and power; in the third, He comes in glory and in majesty; and the second coming is the means whereby we pass from the first to the third."

An explanation is given to us by Peter of Blois, when he gave his third sermon of Advent:

'There are three comings of our Lord; the first in the flesh, the second in the soul, the third at the judgment. The first was at midnight, according to those words of the Gospel: 'At midnight there was a cry made, Lo the Bridegroom cometh! But this first coming is long since past, for Christ has been seen on the earth and has conversed among men. We are now in the second coming, provided only we are such as that He may thus come to us; for He has said that if we love Him, He will come unto us and will take His abode with us. So that this second coming is full of uncertainty to us; for who, save the Spirit of God, knows them that are of God? They that are raised out of themselves by the desire of heavenly things, know indeed when He goeth, they know not. As for the third coming, it is most certain that it will be, most uncertain when it will be; for nothing is more sure than death, and nothing less sure than the hour of death. When they shall say, 'peace and security', says the Apostle, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as the pains upon her that is with child, and they shall not escape. So that the first coming was humble and hidden, the second is mysterious and full of love, the third will be majestic and terrible. In His first coming, Christ was judged by men unjustly; in His second, He renders us just by His grace; in His third, He will judge all things with justice. in His first, a lamb; in His last, a lion; in the one between the two, the tenderest of friends.'

Now, let us listen to our beloved Abbot Gueranger:

On His entering into this world, our divine Saviour first showed Himself under the form of a weak Babe, before attaining the fullness of the age of manhood, and this to the end that nothing might be wanting to His sacrifice, so does He intend to do in us; there is to be a progress in His growth within us. Now, it is at the feast of Christmas that He delights to be born in our souls, and that He pours out over the whole Church a grace of being born, to which, however, not all are faithful.

For this glorious solemnity, as often as it comes around, finds three classes of men. The first, and the smallest number, are those who live, in all its plenitude, the life of Jesus who is within them, and aspire incessantly after the increase of this life. The second class of souls is more numerous; they are living, it is true, because Jesus is in them; but they are sick and weakly, because they care not to grow in this divine life; their charity has become cold! The rest of men make up the third division, and are they that have no part of this life in them, and are dead; for Christ has said: "I am the Life."

St. Augustine, when, after a long resistance to the grace which pressed him to give himself to God, resolved to obey the voice which said to him: "Tolle lege"; "take and read." The words from this Sunday's Epistle from St. Paul to the Romans, decided his conversion; he immediately resolved to abandon the worldly life he had up to that point led, and to put on Christ Jesus. Let us begin this very day, and imitate this saint. Let us long for that dear and glorious clothing with which the mercy of our heavenly Father is so soon to cover us; and let us say with the Church these touching words, which we cannot repeat too often during this of the year:

'None of them that wait on thee shall be confounded, O Lord. Show, O Lord, thy ways to me: and teach me thy paths. Alleluia, alleluia. Show us, O Lord, thy mercy: and grant us thy salvation.'

So, during this Advent season, let's find some good reading material. Tolle lege, take and read.


I am going to try to incorporate some thoughts concerning the Advent this year from a book entitled 'Meditations for Advent', published in 1879, but written by Jacques Benigne (1627-1704). Maybe we all get something out of it. Have a fruitful Advent.

Thoughts of Mary

As we are about to enter the season of Advent, I thought I'd start out with somethings for us to think about. First, to start us off, a quote from St. Louis Marie de Montfort:

"Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been, or ever will be, which is the God-Man: and she will consequently produce the greatest things that there will be in the latter time. The formation and education of the great Saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for Mary."


And another quote; this time from D. Roberto in his writing 'The Love of Mary':

Mary is the true Mother of God; she conceived Him by the operation of the Holy Ghost; she formed His Body with her blood; she clothed God with her own flesh. She bore Him nine months in the most pure womb; she brought Him forth without stain of her virginal purity; she nursed and brought Him up, and He was subject to her, He obeyed her, loved her, and honored her, His true mother. She may well say to the God made man, 'Thy Flesh is my flesh, Thy Blood is my blood; I gave it to man, Thy Flesh is my flesh, Thy Blood is my blood; I gave it to Thee when I conceived Thee, when I nursed Thee.' "The Flesh of Jesus," says St. Augustine, "is the flesh of Mary; and although it was exalted by the glory of the Resurrection, it still remained the same as He had received from Mary."


Let us try to honor her this Advent season, just as the saints did (and still do).

TIME TO REFLECT--ADVENT

Hopefully, during this upcoming time of Advent, I will be entering some thoughts of a Bishop from France, Jacques-Benigne Bousset. He lived from 1627-1704. He wrote on a number of topics, since he was during the 'post-Reformation' period. He wrote a book on Advent, entitled 'Meditations for Advent', translated in 1879. Following is a prayer he inserted at the beginning for us to use during this time. Hope you can get something out of it.






PRAYER TO JESUS CHRIST

Jesus, my Saviour, true God and true Man, and the true Christ promised to the Patriarchs and the Prophets from the beginning of the world, and, in time, faithfully bestowed to the holy people you had chosen, you have said by your Holy and Divine Mouth: "This is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). Believing in these words, and with the help of your grace, I wish to be attentive to the task of knowing God and knowing you.

So do I draw as near to you as I can, with a lively Faith, to know God in you and by you, and to know Him in a manner worthy of God--that is, in a manner that leads me to love and to obey Him, in accord with the words of your beloved disciple: "He who says 'I know Him' but disobeys His commandments is a liar" (1 John 2:4), as well as your very own: "He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me" (John 14:21).

To know you well, O my God and dear Saviour, I wish always, with the help of your grace, to contemplate you in all that befalls you and in all of your mysteries, and at the same time to know your Father, Who gave you to us, and the Holy Spirit that you both sent to us. So do I wish to love you with true Faith, a 'Faith working through love' (Gal. 5:6). Amen.

THANKSGIVING

Tomorrow's post early.

Our Nation’s first Thanksgiving Day took place on November 26, 1789. It was a religious event.

To the chagrin of the anti-religionists among us today, on September 25, 1789, the first act of Congress after framing the Bill of Rights, which prohibited an establishment of religion, was to pass a resolution requesting that the President of the United States recommend to the people a “Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer.”

This Resolution is clear evidence that our Founding Fathers never imagined that the language of the Establishment Clause they had just adopted in the Bill of Rights would someday be interpreted by the Supreme Court as creating a “wall of separation between church and state” and used to ban God from the public square.

Washington enthusiastically agreed to the Resolution of both Houses of Congress. In his Proclamation dated October 3, 1789, he writes the following:

General Thanksgiving
By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America
A PROCLAMATION - 1789

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
(signed) G. Washington

Norman Rockwell, lower right corner


*Just a reminder. Pope Pius XII gave us Americans a dispensation for the Friday after Thanksgiving. On this day, we may eat turkey leftovers. But, remember, it's just for this Friday! And, pray for his soul that he be made a saint. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Give thanks for your family and for the Faith.

In regard to his scriptis, those who, out of pure devotion and sacrificial love for the Lord, still choose to abstain on Fridays could find in this now-defunct indult a permission to relax their abstinence – which in these USA does not bind under pain of sin – for a day in order to eat up some of the leftover turkey.

So, you can eat Turkey on Friday in the USA. But do some kind of penance on Friday, simply because it is a Friday.

Yum! Look at that! I can hardly wait! Enjoy!

St. Catharine of Alexandria

St. Catharine of Alexandria, Virgin and Martyr
Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876

St. Catharine was born at Alexandria, of pagan parents. She was gifted with great personal beauty, and possessed so extraordinary a mind, that she mastered all the sciences which, at that period, flourished in her native city. The only science of which she had no knowledge was that of eternal salvation; but this, too, she at last obtained in the following manner: It seemed to her, in her sleep, that the Queen of Heaven was standing before her in wondrous beauty, carrying her divine Son in her arms. But the latter, turning His face from her in displeasure, said that Catharine was ugly, because she had not been baptized. Catharine awoke, and, while thinking over her dream, she was inspired by Heaven to resolve to become a Christian.

When sufficiently instructed, she received holy baptism, after which the Blessed Virgin again appeared to her with Christ, who, looking tenderly at Catharine, placed a ring on her finger, as a sign that He had chosen her for His bride. On awaking, she found a ring on her finger, and, without delay, determined to consecrate her virginity to the Lord, and to become a more zealous Christian.

Maximin, the emperor, had appointed a certain day to celebrate a public sacrifice in honor of the false gods, and all the inhabitants of the city were commanded to take part in it. Catherine was deeply grieved to see that the people should thus honor the devil, and not have any knowledge of the true God. Arming herself with courage, she went fearlessly into the temple, where the emperor personally assisted at the sacrifice, and, addressing him with Christian freedom, she represented to him his blindness in worshipping idols, and endeavored to convince him of the truth of Christianity. The emperor was greatly surprised that a maiden should dare to speak thus to him, but was, at the same time, fascinated by the appearance and eloquence of Catherine. No sooner had he returned to his palace, than Catharine again appeared before him, and spoke so forcibly of the falsity of the heathen gods, and of the truth of the Christian religion, that the emperor knew not what to reply.

What he was unable to do, he thought others could do for him; therefore he summoned some of the most learned men into his presence, to answer Catharine's arguments, and persuade her to renounce the Christian faith. But the Almighty, Who, by a feeble maiden, could bring to naught the wisdom of the pagan sages, inspired St. Catharine with such eloquence, that she succeeded in convincing them of their error so completely, that they publicly renounced it, and proclaimed the Christian faith as the only true one. The emperor, enraged at so unexpected an issue, ordered these new confessors of Christ to be immediately executed. He then endeavored to win Catherine from her faith by flatteries and promises; and when he found that his words made no impression on the mind of the virgin, he began to threaten, and finally sent her away to be tortured. She was scourged so cruelly and so long, that her whole body was covered with wounds, from which the blood flowed in streams. The spectators wept with pity; but Catharine, strengthened by God, stood with her eyes raised to heaven, without giving a sign of suffering or fear.

After this cruel treatment she was dragged into a dungeon, and, by the command of the emperor, was left without food, in order that she might slowly pine away. But God sent an Angel, who healed her wounds and filled her heart with indescribable comfort. The Lord Himself appeared to her, encouraged her to fight bravely, and promised her the crown of everlasting glory. Some writers add, that the empress (Maximin's wife), having heard much of Catharine's wonderful learning, eloquence and fortitude, had deep compassion upon her, and secretly went at night with Porphyrius, the captain of the guard, to visit her in her dungeon. When she beheld Catharine's wounds healed, and the virgin resplendent with more than human beauty, she was speechless with surprise. Catharine made this miracle an occasion to speak to her of the omnipotence of the Most High, and of the falsity of the heathen gods. She spoke with such overwhelming eloquence, that the empress, as well as Porphyrius, promised to embrace Christianity. (They were all, including Maximin's wife, martyred because of this new-found Faith of theirs)

Some days later, when the emperor was informed that Catharine was not only still alive but in better health than ever, he had her brought before him, and again assailed her with promises and menaces. Finding, however, that she was as firm as before, he gave orders that she should be bound to a wheel studded with sharply-pointed spikes and knives. The Christian heroine was not horrified at this inhuman order, but called with unwavering trust on God. When the executioners had seized her, and bound her on the wheel, the Almighty sent an Angel, who loosened the fetters and broke the wheel to pieces. Many of the spectators, on beholding this miracle, cried aloud: "Great is the God of the Christians! He alone is the true God!"

Maximin remained blind (obstinate like Pharaoh), and was thinking of new torments, when the empress came forward, reproached him with his barbarity towards a weak and innocent maiden, and boldly confessed that she herself recognized and worshipped no other god but the God of the Christians. The tyrant, hearing these words, lost all control over himself, and ordered the empress and Porphyrius to be immediately beheaded, and Catherine, as an enemy of the gods, to be taken to the public market-place and put to death by the sword (beheaded). The fearless virgin went joyfully to the appointed place, exhorted all the people who had come to witness her death to abandon idolatry, prayed to God for their conversion, and then received the stroke that sent her soul to heaven, (and was adorned with the double crown of virginity and martyrdom). Ancient authors testify that milk flowed from the body of St. Catharine instead of blood, as had formerly happened at the death of St. Paul. Her body, they add, was miraculously carried by angels and buried on Mount Sinai, in Arabia. (Remember, Mt. Sinai was where Moses received the Ten Commandments)

The story of Saint Catharine continues with the discovery of the intact body of a young and beautiful girl on Mount Sinai in the ninth century, that is, four centuries later. The Church, in the Collect of her feast day, bears witness to the transport of her body. A number of proofs testified to the identity of her mortal remains found in the region of the famous monastery existing on that mountain since the fifth century. Her head is today conserved in Rome.

COLLECT
O God, You gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai, and later had the body of the blessed virgin Martyr Catharine miraculously carried to the same spot by Your holy angels. Grant that we may reach the mountain which is Christ, through the merits and intercession of this saint; who lives and rules with You . . .


St. Gertrude the Great, from her very infancy, felt a special attraction towards the glorious virgin Catharine. As she was desirous of knowing how great were her merits, our Lord showed her St. Catharine seated on a throne so lofty and so magnificent, that it seemed her glory was sufficient to have filled the courts of heaven had she been its sole queen; while from her crown a marvellous brightness was reflected on her devout clients. It is well known how the Maid of Orleans (St. Joan of Arc), entrusted by St. Michael to the guidance of Sainte-Catharine-de-Fierbois that she received her sword.

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Crusaders of the West experienced the powerful assistance of the Alexandrian martyr; and on their return from the East they introduced her cultus, which soon became extremely popular. An Order of knighthood was founded to protect the pilgrims visiting her holy body on Mt. Sinai. Her feast was raised to the rank of first class, and as observed was a holiday of obligation by many churches. (She probably doesn't even get an honorable mention today)

The holy and learned Baronius (Cardinal, 16th century) regretted that even in his day the Acts of the great martyr were open to discussion on certain points, which were eagerly seized upon by the extreme critics of the succeeding centuries in order to lessen popular devotion towards her. There remains, however, this glory to Christian virginity, that in the person of St. Catharine it was honored bu pupils and masters and became the guiding spirit in the development of human thought during the centuries illustrated by such brilliant suns of learning as Albert the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Bonaventure. 'Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.' St. Methodius, a Bishop and another martyr of the third century, thus speaks in his 'Banquet of Virgins': "The virgin must have a very great love of sound doctrine; and she ought to hold an honorable place among the wise."

Invocation of St. Catherine


St. Catherine, glorious virgin and martyr, resplendent in the luster of wisdom and purity; thy wisdom refuted the adversaries of divine truth and covered them with confusion; thy immaculate purity made thee a spouse of Christ, so that after thy glorious martyrdom angels carried thy body to Mount Sinai. Implore for me progress in the science of the saints and the virtue of holy purity, that vanquishing the enemies of my soul, I may be victorious in my last combat and after death be conducted by the angels into the eternal beatitude of heaven. Amen.

St. John of the Cross

SAINT JOHN of the CROSS
Doctor of the Church
(1542-1591)

Saint John of the Cross was born near Avila in Spain, in Fontiveros, a hamlet of old Castile,. As a child, he was playing near a pond one day. He slid into the depths of the water, but came up unharmed and did not sink again. A tall and beautiful Lady came to offer him Her hand. "No," said the child, "You are too beautiful; my hand will dirty Yours." Then an elderly gentleman appeared on the shore and extended his staff to the child to bring him to shore. These two were Mary and Joseph. Another time he fell into a well, and it was expected he would be retrieved lifeless. But he was seated and waiting peacefully. "A beautiful lady took me into Her cloak and sheltered me." Thus John grew up under the gaze of Mary.

One day he was praying Our Lord to make known his vocation to him, and an interior voice said to him: "You will enter a religious Order, whose primitive fervor you will restore." He was twenty-one years old when he entered Carmel, and although he concealed his exceptional works, he outshone all his brethren. He dwelt in an obscure corner whose window opened upon the chapel, opposite the Most Blessed Sacrament. He wore around his waist an iron chain full of sharp points, and over it a tight vestment made of reeds joined by large knots. His disciplines were so cruel that his blood flowed in abundance. The priesthood only redoubled his desire for perfection. After he had taken the Carmelite habit, he was not satisfied with the penances then practiced in the convent, but endeavored to regulate his life in accordance with the first rules and ancient austerity of the Order. When he prepared himself to say his first holy Mass, he searched his conscience very carefully, but found no grievous fault. He then gave humble thanks to the Almighty, and during his Mass, begged for the grace to be kept in future free from all mortal sin. His prayer was accepted, and he heard the words: "I grant thee thy wish." From that time St. John never offended the Lord by a mortal sin, nor voluntarily by a venial one.

He thought of going to bury his existence in the Carthusian solitude, when Saint Teresa, whom God enlightened as to his merit, made him the confidant of her projects for the reform of Carmel and asked him to be her auxiliary. St. Teresa, who also lived at that period, said of him that he was a Saint, and had been one all his life. This renowned and holy virgin met St. John at Medina, and conferred with him about her desire to found houses for religious, who would live according to the original strict regulations of the Carmelites. John, who, in his eagerness to live in greater austerity, had thought of joining the Carthusian monks, asked St. Teresa's advice. She told him that it would be more agreeable to God, if he remained in his Order, and restored among the men the same primitive rigor which she was endeavoring to restore among the women. She added, that God had called him to this work. John took counsel with God and his confessor, and then resolved to follow St. Teresa's advice. He erected his first monastery on a farm which had been presented to him for this purpose; and God so visibly blest his undertaking, that he not only filled his house, in a short time, with zealous men, but was enabled also to found several other convents.


John retired alone to a poor and inadequate dwelling and began a new kind of life, conformed with the primitive Rules of the Order of Carmel. Shortly afterwards two companions came to join him; the reform was founded. It was not without storms that it developed, for hell seemed to rage and labor against it, and if the people venerated John as a Saint, he had to accept, from those who should have seconded him, incredible persecutions, insults, calumnies, and even prison. When Our Lord told him He was pleased with him, and asked him what reward he wished, the humble religious replied: "To suffer and to be scorned for You." Three things he used to ask of the Almighty:--first, much work and much suffering; secondly, not to depart this life as a superior; thirdly, that he might live and die despised. So unusual a desire to suffer and to be despised, was the result of his meditation on the Passion of Jesus Christ, and of his great love to God. This love was so intense, that his countenance was frequently seen radiant with a heavenly light, especially when he spoke of divine things. At the time of prayer, as well as during holy Mass, he often fell into ecstasy and was dissolved in tears. Our Lord once appeared to him in the same form as when He died for us on the Cross. This picture remained so indelibly imprinted on the Saint's memory, that it almost daily drew tears from his eyes. His reform, though approved by the General of the Order, was rejected by the older friars, who condemned the Saint as a fugitive and an apostate and cast him into prison, from which he only escaped, after nine months' suffering, with the help of Heaven and at the risk of his life. He took refuge with the Carmelite nuns for a time, saying his experience in prison had been an extraordinary grace for him. Twice again, before his death, he was shamefully persecuted by his brethren, and publicly disgraced.


God had already, some time previously, revealed to him the hour of his death; and the Blessed Virgin, whom the Saint had always especially honored, appeared to him on the eve of the Immaculate Conception, saying that she would come for him on the Sunday after the festival. When the physicians told him that his end was not far distant, he said, in the words of the Psalmist: "I was glad when they said unto me, We shall go up into the house of the Lord." Half an hour before his death, he called all his religious to him, exhorted them to persevere in their zeal, and said: "My parting hour draws near." After the usual prayers of the Church, he heard the bells ring for the midnight Matins. "I shall sing the Matins in Heaven," said he; after which, taking the Crucifix, he kissed it most devoutly, and calmly ended his holy life, saying: "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my soul." A large ball, as of fire, was seen above the dying Saint. After his death, his countenance beamed with a heavenly brightness, and was so beautiful that none grew weary of looking at him; while at the same time such delicious odor emanated from him, that the whole monastery was filled with it. The Almighty has carefully preserved his body incorrupt until this hour.


When he fell ill, he was given a choice of monasteries to which he might go; he chose the one governed by a religious whom he had once reprimanded and who could never pardon him for it. In effect, he was left untended most of the time, during his last illness. But at his death the room was filled with a marvelous light, and his unhappy Prior recognized his error, and that he had mistreated a Saint. After a first exhumation of his remains, they were found intact; many others followed, the last one in 1955. The body was at that time found to be entirely moist and flexible still.

Saint John wrote spiritual books of sublime elevation. A book printed in 1923 which has now become famous, authored by a Dominican theologian,* (maybe 'Dark Night of the Soul', I don't know, but it seems popular these days), was justly attributed to Saint John and to Saint Thomas Aquinas, whom the Carmelite Saint followed, the indisputable foundations for exact ascetic and mystical theology. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1926 by Pope Pius XI.




Prayer to St. John of the Cross


O glorious Saint John of the Cross, great Doctor of the Church, who, from very longing to be configured to Christ crucified, didst desire nothing more ardently, even to the last moment of thy holy life, than to suffer and to be despised and rejected of all men; and so great was thy thirst for suffering, that thy generous heart was filled with joy in the midst of most painful torments and afflictions; I beseech thee, dear Saint, by the glory thou didst merit by thy manifold sufferings, intercede for me with Almighty God and obtain for me love of suffering, together with grace and strength to endure all tribulations and adversities with dauntless courage; for these are the sure means of coming into the possession of that crown of glory which is prepared for me in heaven. Ah yes, dear Saint, from that high and glorious throne where thou sittest triumphant, hear, I beseech thee, my earnest entreaties, that, following thee, I may become a lover of the Cross and of suffering, and thus may merit to be thy companion in glory. Amen


(Indulgence 300 days)

St. Cecilia

There is indeed between the two worlds, visible and invisible, a strange but undeniable communication. Each of us, in investigating his own soul, will find there certain phenomena which have their origin neither in ourselves nor in the outer world: sadness from no apparent cause, inexplicable sensations of internal happiness, bursts of enthusiasm or sudden inspirations which Plato attributed to superior intelligences. Many of us, recalling some miraculously escaped danger, and profoundly touched by this heavenly protection, will bear willing witness, unless checked by dread of worldly criticism, to this influence of the saints and angels on our human career.


In the year 250 after Christ, in the reign of Septimus Severus, at a time when the Roman Empire was still the most formidable power of the world, there lived in Rome a young girl who will be famous when the imperial glories shall be forgotten.

Beauty, the reflection of heaven in the human countenance; grace, mysterious charm whose origin is invisible; modesty, that exquisite reserve of a virgin soul; nobility, precious perfume of the past; and, above all, the power of loving, the most magnificent and the most powerful present of the Creator to the created: all these gifts were united in the daughter of Caecilius. It was an illustrious family: in the records of the Republic it counted eighteen consuls and several conquerors, nor had it degenerated under the Empire. Today, when the traveller, weary from a day spent in the galleries of Rome, setting forth from the city towards sunset, wanders pensively down the long Appian Way, while he contemplates with emotion the outlines of the aqueducts with their broken arches, the Sabine mountains gilded by the light, and all that celebrated landscape of the environs of Rome, majestic and melancholy as a fallen queen, he finds upon his right, rising like a great tower, the tomb of Caecilia Metella. There slept of yore the long-forgotten ancestress of her who will render immortal, for time and for eternity, the name of Cascilius.

Cecilia was eighteen. The Roman poor knew her charity. Often had they seen her in the caves of the martyrs alone, or only accompanied by a faithful servant. Her father, although he respected her religion, did not share it: he hoped, indeed, at a suitable time to marry his daughter to some distinguished husband, and to see himself, through her, live again in her beloved children. But Cecilia had raised her heart above this world, and night and day prayed that the palm of virginity she had dreamed of should not be taken from her.

He whom her parents had chosen for her seemed not unworthy of the honor. Though still a pagan, Valerian possessed at least those natural gifts which prepare the soul for faith, hope, and charity, the supernatural gifts of Christ crucified. Nevertheless, who can express the fears of the young Christian? Had not God accepted all her heart as she had offered it? Could a pagan understand this mystery, and would not this union of the soul with an invisible spouse seem a strange folly to a man still living in the world of the senses? More than one Christian soul has felt these chaste doubts. It is honorable to hesitate before making for a mortal a sacrifice for which a young girl sometimes can never console herself. Cecilia felt these terrors most acutely, but she loved God well enough to feel perfect confidence in Him. So she poured forth her whole soul in prayer, and, against all hope, trusted in His aid.

So, when, towards evening, already married in the eyes of the world, she found herself alone with her husband, she said to him in that incomparable conversation whose charm has come down to us in her life:

"There is a secret, Valerian, that I wish to confide to you. I have a lover, an angel of God, who watches over me with jealous care. If you preserve inviolate my virginity, he will love you also as he loves me, and will overpower you with his favors."

Much astonished, Valerian wished to know this angel.

"You shall see him," said Cecilia, "when you are purified."

"How shall I become so?"

"Go to Urban (Pope, who was also hiding in the catacombs). When the poor hear my name, they will take you to his sanctuary: he will explain to you our mysteries."

Drawn by an unknown power, the young man consented to go. We know the result of this decision--his interview with the Pope in the catacombs, his conversion, and his baptism. Still dressed in his white robe, he returned to Cecilia. He could now understand the love of the angels, and its perfect beauty. In future, he loved Cecilia as his sister in God, to whom belong the heart and mind.

In those Christian ages others loved as he did. Undoubtedly most of them carried their secret with them to the tomb; but among those whose genius has made them famous, Dante had his Beatrice; Petrarch sang of Laura: and these pure loves, unknown to the ancient pagans, and scoffed at by our modern pagans, will remain an ornament to the soul, an act of faith in its immortality, and for us who read their history a breath of heaven on earth.

No one knows what conversation took place, in those hours of rapture and prayer, between this pair, whose marriage was to be perfected in heaven; what thanksgivings they rendered to God, who in a moment transforms hearts: nor would it be easy to describe. Of all the arts, music alone might perhaps dare to attempt it, and the revelation would require the genius of Handel or Beethoven.

In his ardent zeal, Valerian, like Cecilia, now understood the value of the soul. So, when the beloved brother Tiburtius sought them, what eloquence they displayed to prove to him that his gods were only idols! Subdued by the mysterious charm of the Christian virgin, conquered by the eagerness of the convert, Tiburtius also wished to see the angel who watched over Cecilia. If for this it was necessary to be purified, purified he would be; and thus became the first conquest of his brother, who had besought God for it.

Such souls were too beautiful for pagan Rome. In the absence of Septimus Severus, Almachius, the governor, summoned Valerian and Tiburtius before his tribunal. The two young patricians avowed their faith in Christ, to the great scandal of the worldly and prosperous. Valerian went to his martyrdom as to a triumph. He went to wait for Cecilia in heaven.

Tiburtius did not forsake him. On the Appian Way, four miles from the city, they were beheaded for having dared to worship a different God from those of the Empire. Cecilia piously reclaimed their bodies, and prepared to rejoin them. Called in her turn to answer for her conduct, she disconcerted the judge. Before such purity, innocence, and heroism, entreaties, artifices, and threats failed; the daughter of Caecilius, convicted of loving the poor and a crucified God, was instantly confined in the bath-room of her own house, there to be suffocated in a hot vapor bath. But in the midst of this fiery atmosphere she remained uninjured. The stupefied jailers related how they had discovered her singing the praises of God. Such a delusion could but provoke Almachius. The executioner was summoned. With a trembling hand, he inflicted three wounds on the neck of the virgin martyr, without succeeding in severing the head. Then, terrified himself, he fled. Stretched on the flags, bathed in her blood, Cecilia lived three days. For two days and nights Cecilia had to lie with her head half severed, on the pavement of her bath, fully sensible and joyfully awaiting her crown. When her neophytes came to bury her after the departure of the executioner, they found her alive and smiling. They surrounded her there, not daring to touch her, for three days, having collected the precious blood from her wounds. She was able to bid farewell to the poor, to whom she had bequeathed her property. Then, feeling her strength fail, while Urban was in the act of giving her his blessing, she drew her robe around her, and, turning her face away, gave back her soul to God.

According to her last desire, the Pope transformed the house that had witnessed her martyrdom into a church. The bath-room became a chapel; and by its arrangement bears witness today to the truth of the saint's life. One can still see the mouth of the pipes which let in the vapor, covered with a grating; and on the same flags where the Roman virgin expired, the kneeling Christian can ponder in his heart the example of heroism that she has given to the world. He who has not had the good fortune to pray on the tombs of the martyrs cannot appreciate the strength one finds there, or what precepts their relics give forth. The martyrs are the incontrovertible witnesses of the value of faith, of the power of love; and it is said that their beatified spirits lend to these bones, which were their bodies, an all-powerful eloquence.

Her tomb




Remember, she is one of the saints mentioned in the Traditional Mass.

Presentation of Mary to the Temple

And Anne conceived and brought forth a daughter, and named her Mary.
“when she had accomplished the time of three years, and had left sucking, they brought her to the temple with offerings. And there was about the temple, after the fifteen psalms of degrees, fifteen steps or degrees to ascend up to the temple, because the temple was high set. And no body might go to the altar of sacrifices that was without, but by the degrees. And then our Lady was set on the lowest step, and mounted up without any help as she had been of perfect age, and when they had performed their offering, they left their daughter in the temple with the other virgins, and they returned into their place. And the Virgin Mary profited every day in all holiness, and was visited daily of angels, and had every day divine visions.” (Golden Legend)

THE PRESENTATION
of the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Today's festival is called the Presentation of Mary, because on this day Joachim and Anna, the holy parents of the Blessed Virgin, consecrated their little daughter to the divine service in the temple at Jerusalem, and Mary consecrated herself to the Almighty. At that time, there were two ways of consecrating children: one was ordained by the law, which required every male child to be offered to God, forty days, and every female child, eighty days after its birth. This ceremony was called the consecration of the child and the purification of the mother. The second kind of consecration was a voluntary self-oblation by which some persons devoted themselves to the Almighty. There were also many parents who either before, or immediately after their child's birth, consecrated it to the service of the Lord, sometimes for a few years, sometimes for life. To this end several separate dwellings had been erected in connection with the Temple, for men, women, youths and maidens, where they remained for the time which had been fixed by themselves or their parents. Their occupations consisted in decorating the temple, and in making the garments which the priests and levites wore during their sacred functions. Thus we read in the first book of Kings, that Anne the spouse of Elkana, made a vow that if she gave birth to a male child, she would consecrate it to the Lord. The Lord blessed her and she brought forth a son, whom she named Samuel, and afterwards consecrated to the Most High, through the hands of the High Priest, Heli. In the second book of the Maccabees, we find mention of virgins, who lived and were educated in the Temple, that is, in a building annexed to it.

It is the belief of several holy Fathers, that Joachim and Anna, being already advanced in years and having no issue, made a vow to God that if He would bless them with a child, and thus take from them the dishonor of being barren, they would consecrate their offspring to His service in the Temple. God heard their prayer and blessed them so greatly that they became the parents of the most holy of all human beings, Mary, the ever Blessed Virgin. For three years they kept this sacred treasure at home, after which time, although Mary was their only comfort, they resigned her with pious fortitude, in fulfilment of their vow. Hence they went, with their daughter, to Jerusalem, presented her to the priest in the Temple and consecrated her, through his hands, to the service of the Almighty.


St. Bonaventure relates a vision in which the Divine Mother said to a holy person: "I arose always in the middle of the night, went to the Altar of the Temple, and presented my homage and desires to the Almighty." These desires were for the grace of loving God above all things and with her whole heart; of her neighbor for God's sake; of keeping the Commandments of the Lord, and of hating everything that was displeasing to Him. The same holy teacher says also: "Mary was very solicitous that none of her companions should in the least offend the Lord, but that they should always praise Him and never indulge in idle words." He writes further, that Mary occupied her thoughts with holy contemplations, her mouth with devout prayers; but, at the same time used her hands in sacred work, and admonished others to do the same. Several Holy Fathers write that the Blessed Virgin, soon after entering the Temple, consecrated her virginity to the Lord. Others, with greater reason, maintain that this had been done before, and as soon as she had been conceived, since she was gifted even then with the full use of her reason. The Holy Fathers Ambrose, Jerome, Rupert, Bernard, and many others, think that the Blessed Virgin was the first who made a vow of chastity, and thus set an example, which many thousands, desiring to serve the Lord more perfectly, have followed and are still following.

It is quite certain that the Blessed Virgin, from the first use of her reason until the end of her life, always endeavored to do what she knew would make her more perfect, and thus unite her more closely with the Almighty. Hence it is easy to conclude, that she gathered such a treasure of merits, as no Saint ever did or will possess. St. Bonaventure and St. Bernardine of Sienna apply to her the words of the Proverbs of Solomon: "Many daughters have gathered riches, but thou hast surpassed them all." Many daughters, they say, means, many souls, many Saints have gathered riches in merits; but Mary surpasses them all, as well in grace, as in virtues and merits. Hence it follows that her glory in heaven is above that of all other Saints; for which reason she is called by the Catholic Church Queen of All Saints. Nothing is more just than that we duly honor so great a Queen, and invoke her with confidence; for the higher she stands above all other Saints, the more powerful is her intercession with God.


Religious parents never fail by devout prayer to consecrate their children to God, His divine service and love, both before and after their birth. Some among the Jews, not content with this general consecration of their children, offered them to God in their infancy, by the hands of the priests in the Temple, to be brought up in quarters attached to the Temple, attending the priests and Levites in their sacred ministry. There were special divisions in these lodgings for the women and children dedicated to the divine service. We have examples of this special consecration of children in the person of Samuel, for example. Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple of Jerusalem. Her parents, Joachim and Anne, present their daughter to the temple, as was the custom. She just had higher aspirations and insight than most. It is very probable that the holy prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna, who witnessed the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, as we read in the second chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke, had known Christ's Mother as a little girl in the Temple and observed her truly unique sanctity. (I believe that Anna is the one who helped and taught her while she was there)

It is an ancient and very trustworthy tradition that the Blessed Virgin was thus solemnly offered in the Temple to God at the age of three by Her parents, Saint Anne and Saint Joachim. The Gospel tells us nothing of the childhood of Mary; Her title, MOTHER OF GOD, eclipses all the rest. Where, better than in the Temple, could Mary be prepared for Her mission? Twelve years of recollection and prayer, contemplation and sufferings, were the preparation of the chosen one of God. The tender soul of Mary was adorned with the most precious graces and became an object of astonishment and praise for the holy Angels, as well as of the highest complacency for the adorable Trinity. The Father looked upon Her as His beloved Daughter, the Son as One set apart and prepared to become His Mother, and the Holy Ghost as His un-defiled Spouse.

Here is how Mary's day in the Temple was apportioned, according to Saint Jerome. From dawn until nine in the morning, She prayed; from 9:00 until 3:00 She applied Herself to manual work; then She turned again to prayer. She was always the first to undertake night watches, the One most applied to study, the most fervent in the chanting of Psalms, the most zealous in works of charity, the purest among the virgins, Her companions, the most perfect in the practice of every virtue. On this day She appears as the standard-bearer for Christian virginity: after Her will come countless legions of virgins consecrated to the Lord, both in the shadow of the altars or engaged in the charitable occupations of the Church in the world. Mary will be their eternal Model, their dedicated Patroness, their sure guide on the paths of perfection.

'She was', as St. Bernadine of Siena says, 'the happy completion of all the waiting and supplication for the coming of the Son of God; in her, as in their culminating-point, all the desires of the saints who had preceded her found their consummation and their term.'

The lovely Virgin being born according to the Divine decree, her holy parents led her to the temple, to fulfill their promise, and give her to her Creator. Anne in her joy cried out to the priest: "Receive this child, lead her into the most secluded parts of the temple, surround her with all care; for she was given to me as the fruit of my prayers, and in the joy of my faith I promised to devote her to God her Creator; she is the heavenly tabernacle." Taken from the 7th century from the strophes, which bear witness to the antiquity of this feast, DE B. VIRGINE IN TEMPLUM RECEPTA.

May she inspire in us what she had, the foresight to do the will of God in its entirety, as He wishes.

Holy Mary, Mother of God Himself, and our Mother, pray for us.

A little English

I am posting this today because I thought it nice. It is from a site I go to often, //http://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/. It is a lady from Oxford, England, and she has things on her site concerning English saints from way back. This was posted on Tuesday which, apparently, in England was the feast day of St. Hilda, who was in that area in the 5th century. She was an Abbotess, and founded monasteries and taught the Faith. She was also an seeress, had visions to help others, and it sounds like a very good Catholic. Anyway...this is just a short part of the post concerning St. Hilda. In their history, this Caedmon was an illiterate, who thought himself unworthy to participate in the rejoicing of the day, because he couldn't sing like the others. Hilda took him under her wing and taught him that singing God's praises was a worthy thing to do, and God doesn't care if you can sing or not.


St Hilda's day seems as good a reason as any to post a short extract from an Old English poem which I've been meaning to post here for a while. It comes from a text which rejoices in the modern title 'Instructions for Christians', but it's much less dull than that title makes it sound. It provides counsel on how to live a virtuous and holy life, and is particularly concerned with the proper use of wealth and of learning; the two seem to be associated in the poet's mind, as the first lines of the extract below demonstrate. The poem survives in a twelfth-century manuscript, and therefore comes from the very end of the Anglo-Saxon period, a good five hundred years after Hilda. But that makes it all the more a reminder of the strength and endurance of the poetic tradition for which Cædmon's story is such a powerful origin-legend - five centuries of English poetry of the kind fostered in Mother Hilda's monastery, and it would still be another two centuries before the birth of the man who's today called 'the Father of English poetry'.

The text comes from Old English Short Poems: vol. I, Religious and Didactic, ed. Christopher A. Jones (Cambridge, Mass., 2012), pp. 143-4, but the translation's mine.

Se forholena cræft and forhyded gold
ne bið ællunga ungelice.
Betere bið þe dusige, gif he on breostum can
his unwisdom inne belucan,
þonne se snotere ðe symle wile
æt his heah-þearfe forhelan his wisdom.
Ac þu scealt gelome gelæran and tæcan,
ða hwile þe ðe mihtig Godd mægnes unne,
þe læs hit þe on ende eft gereowe
æfter dæg-rime, þonne þu hit gedon ne miht.
Onlær þinum bearne bysne goda,
and eac swa some eallum leoda;
þonne ðu geearnost ece blisse
and æfter þisse weorlda weorðscipe mycelne.
Se ðe leornunge longe fyligeð
halgum bocum her on worulde,
heo ðone gelæredon longe gebetað,
and þone unlærdan eac gelæreð.
Heo geeadmodað eghwylcne kyng,
swilce þone earman eac aræreð
and þa saula swa some geclensað
and þæt mod gedeþ mycle ðe bliðre.
And heo eac æþelne gedeð þone ðe ær ne wæs;
eac heo þrah-mælum þeowne gefreolsað.


Concealed skill and hidden gold
are not entirely unalike.
Better the fool, if he can in his heart
seal up his lack of wisdom,
than the wise man who ever wishes
to hide his wisdom in his greatest time of need.
But you should always be teaching and instructing
for as long as mighty God grants you strength,
that you may regret it the less in the end,
after the course of your days, when you can do so no longer.
Teach your children with a good example,
and all peoples likewise;
then you will earn eternal joy
and great honour after this world is past.
He who long follows learning
in holy books here in the world,
she [i.e. learning] will always be improving the learned
and instructing the unlearned.
She humbles every king;
so too she raises up the poor,
and souls she cleanses,
and makes the mind much the happier;
and she makes a man noble who was not so before,
and many times she sets the handmaid free.

('handmaid' isn't a very good translation, but the word þeowne here means 'a female servant'. As Bede notes in apology for his translation of Cædmon, 'verses, though never so well composed, cannot be literally translated out of one language into another without losing much of their beauty...').


I hope you go to her site, as it is pretty interesting, at least to me. What I get from this is that nobody, even if they deem themselves unworthy of anything, can do all if they praise and honor God, and teach their children the Truth so that they can also grow up to be good Catholics.

YOU THINK?

All I'm saying is: "If it walks like a duck..."

He's not going to do much for killing his own.


"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch and do nothing" - Albert Einstein

St. Gregory the Thaumaturgus

Today we honor one who is called Thaumaturgus, which means miracle worker, Saint Gregory, Bishop and Confessor(†270)

St. Gregory was born in the Pontus (located in modern-day eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey.), of distinguished parents who were still engaged in the superstitions of paganism. He lost his father at the age of fourteen, and began to reflect on the folly of idolatry's fables. He recognized the unity of God and was becoming disposed to accept the truths of Christianity. His father had destined him for the legal profession, in which the art of oratory is very necessary, and in this pursuit he was succeeding very well, having learned Latin. He was counseled to apply himself to Roman law.

Gregory and his brother Athenodorus, later to be a bishop like himself, had a sister living in Palestine at Caesarea. Not far from that city was a school of law, and in Caesarea itself, another which the famous Origen had opened in the year 231 and in which he was teaching philosophy. The two brothers heard Origen there, and that master discovered in them a remarkable capacity for knowledge, and more important still, rare dispositions for virtue. He strove to inspire love for truth in them and an ardent desire to attain greater knowledge and the possession of the Supreme Good; and the two brothers soon put aside their intentions to study law. Gregory studied also in Alexandria for three years, after a persecution drove his master, Origen, from Palestine, but returned there with the famous exegete (a Scripture genius) in 238. He was then baptized, and in the presence of a large audience delivered a speech in which he testified to his gratitude towards his teacher, praising his methods, and thanking God for so excellent a professor.

It was said that he resembled Moses, since he was from that race (Israelis). His friends and enemies agreed in saying that he resembled the Hebrew legislator in the excellence of his virtue, and in the splendour of the prodigies wrought by his word. Both were actuated by the desire of knowing God, and manifesting Him to the men they were called to lead: the fullness of Doctrine is the gift most necessary to the guides of the people, and their want of it the greatest penury (need). "I AM WHO AM" was the answer to Moses' inquiry; and this sublime formula, confided to him from the midst of the burning bush, authenticated the mission which called him forth from the desert. When Gregory was commanded by God to go out into the world, the Blessed Virgin, of whom the burning bush was a figure, appeared before his dazzled eyes in the dark of night when he was praying for light. And, St. John, following the Mother of God, let fall from his lips this other formula completing the former for the disciples of the Law of love:

'One only God, Father of the living Word, of that substantial and mighty Wisdom who is the eternal expression of Himself; the perfect principle of the only and perfect Son begotten by Him. One only Lord, sole-begotten of the Only One; God of God, efficacious Word, Wisdom embracing and containing the world, creative power of all creation, true Son of a true Father. One only Holy Spirit, holding of God His divine existence, revealed to men by the Son of whom He is the perfect likeness, life-giving, holy and imparting holiness. The perfect Trinity, immutable, inseparable in glory, in eternity, in dominion.'

Having received these instructions, St. Gregory left his solitude, comforted and strengthened, and began to labor for the conversion of the heathens. The miracles he wrought had the happiest results. Before he entered the city, he was obliged to take shelter, with his companion, in the most celebrated heathen temple, where Satan, speaking through the idols, answered various questions. Gregory passed the whole night in prayer, and, making the sign of the cross over the whole building, he drove Satan away. When the chief of the idolatrous priests came, on the following day, with his sacrifice, he heard before the temple a terrible howling of the devils, who lamented that, driven away by Gregory, they could not return into their old dwelling. The heathens ran after the bishop and complained of what he had done. Gregory improved the opportunity, to explain to them the power of the Christian God, in whose name he had driven away Satan and his legions, but could also force him to return. Of this the heathen priest desired a proof. Gregory wrote on the tablet the word " Enter", gave it to the idolatrous priest, and told him to lay it on the Altar, and then, he added, the devils will be obliged to return to the temple, in the name of Jesus. The heathen did as he was told, and as all happened as the bishop had said, he recognized the power of the Christian God, was converted with his wife and children, and received holy baptism.

This first conversion was daily followed by others. As the number of the Christians greatly increased in this manner, the Saint resolved to build a church. The place was selected, but a high mountain prevented him from giving the building the dimensions he desired. In this emergency, the bishop had recourse to prayer, and the mountain, by the power of God, moved, in the presence of a multitude of heathens and Christians, as far back as was needed for the Church to be built. This and many other miracles which the Saint almost daily wrought, had such influence over the minds of the pagans, that they came in crowds to be baptized, and in all their troubles they asked his advice. The river Lycus, which flowed by the city, was frequently so swollen, that the surrounding fields were overflowed, with great damage. Some of the sufferers came and asked the bishop to help them. Going with them, he first prayed; then he stuck his staff into the ground near the bank of the river. The staff took root immediately, and since that time, the river has never overstepped the place thus marked. Two brothers quarreled on account of a pond abounding in fishes. Each desired to be the possessor of it, and they became so embittered, that they intended to kill each other. Gregory succeeded several times in calming them, but on seeing that this never lasted long, he prayed to God to end the contention, and in the same night, the whole pond so thoroughly dried up, that neither water nor fishes were to be seen. In this manner, peace was restored between the brothers.

How highly the Saint was esteemed for these and other miracles can easily be supposed, although he endeavored to decline all honors, by ascribing his wonders to a holy relic which he always carried with him. But the more he fled from human praise, the more was he venerated and loved. Still there were some who disliked him and who even dared to mock him. Among these were two Jews, one of whom, pretending to be dead, laid himself down in a place where the Saint was to pass. The other remained standing there also, and when Gregory came, he began to weep and lament for his dear dead friend, begging the Saint to give him an alms to enable him to bury him. The intention of these deceivers was to deride the bishop on account of his miracles, and to make others laugh at him. Gregory, who had no money with him, gave the man his cloak and went on. Rejoiced at having thus deceived the Saint, the man called his pretended dead companion, telling him to rise ; but found, to his horror, that the man was really dead. (Don't mock God or His defenders) Many volumes would hardly suffice to contain all the miracles wrought by the holy man on the possessed and the sick, and to recount the labors he undertook to propagate the True Faith.

God grants the gift of miracles to many of His saints. It is a way God chooses to prove that the Catholic Church is divine. It is also a means to show the whole Church how He is united with a particular saint, and that He wants to be particularly glorified through him. But very rarely does He grant to a single person the capacity to work one miracle after another, each one more extraordinary than the other. This is what He did with St. Gregory Thaumaturgus.

An interesting thing about the miracles St. Gregory worked is that they are not open to discussion or contesting. An atheist or any other enemy of the Church can revolt against a miracle of Lourdes and assert that the person was cured by self-suggestion. But no one, except a crazy man, can say that a mountain moved from one place to another due to the self-suggestion of the onlookers, or that a lake dried up overnight for the same reason.


Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876, adds these words:

I will take this occasion to give you another instruction. Many who are not Catholics refuse to be converted, because they are told that they must not break their baptismal vows. But they ought to know that they do not break them by becoming Catholics; for, by their baptism they made an alliance with the true Christ and the true Church. This true Church is the Catholic Church only ; hence by becoming Catholics, they only fulfill the vow they made. They broke it when, after coming to the use of reason, they gave their free consent to a false religion, and thus fell into heresy. By turning from this error and becoming Catholics, they renew their first alliance with the true Church of Christ, and thus fulfill the first promise made for them when they were baptized. (I believe this whole heartedly. I believe a correctly baptized person IS a member of the Catholic Church. However, when they become adults, they need to seek the Truth, and become Catholics proper)



Baptismal Vows
by Bishop Richard Challoner (18th Century)

This solemn renouncing of Satan, and his works, raid his pomps, in the receiving of baptism, is a practice as ancient as the Church itself, and in a particular manner requires our attention: because it is a promise and vow that we make to God, by which we engage ourselves to abandon the party of the devil, to have nothing to do with his works, that is, with the works of darkness and sin; and to cast away from us his pomps, that is, the maxims and vanities of the world. It is a covenant we make with God, by which we, on our parts, promise him our allegiance, and to fight against His enemies: and He, on His part, promises us life everlasting if we are faithful to our engagements. But in the moment we break this solemn covenant by willful sin, we lose both the grace of baptism, and all that title to an eternal inheritance which we received in baptism, together with the dignity of (being) children of God; and become immediately slaves to the devil, and children of hell.


It is believed that Saint Gregory died in the year 270, on the 17th of November. Before his death he asked how many pagans still remained in the city, and was told there were only seventeen. He thanked God for the graces He had bestowed on the population, for when he arrived, there had been only seventeen Christians. He had completely reversed the situation. It was his way to say to God: “I have fulfilled my mission.”



Devotion to the Blessed Mother of God is the sure guarantee of Faith in Her Divine Son. Every time we invoke Her, we renew our Faith in the Incarnate God, we reverse the sin and unbelief of our first parents, and we establish communion with the One who was blessed because She believed.



May St. Gregory help us and our leaders to come to the reality of the True Faith, and tell everyone about it. It's our job also.

St. Gertrude

ALL FOR JESUS!

This is pretty much the motto of St. Gertrude, whose day we celebrate today. She contemplated constantly on the Divine Love of Jesus. Saint Gertrude of Eisleben is the most celebrated of several Saints of the same name, and for this reason the ancient authors named her Gertrude the Great. She was born in the year 1264 of a noble Saxon family, and placed at the age of five for education with the Benedictines of Helfta. She dwelt there as a simple religious, very mistrustful of herself, under the direction of an Abbess having the same name as herself. The Abbess' sister was Saint Mechtilde of Hackeborn; and she was the mistress and friend of the young Saint Gertrude, who consulted her excellent teacher whenever she was tempted by vain and useless thoughts, or troubled by doubts suggested by the ancient enemy. (To the right is the prayer to this great saint, to be said everyday)

Saint Gertrude learned Latin in her youth, as in those days was customary for persons of her sex who consecrated themselves to God, and she wrote Latin with unusual elegance and force. She also had an uncommon knowledge of Holy Scripture and of all the branches of learning having religion as their object; but one day Our Lord reproached her with having too great a taste for her studies. Afterwards she could find in them nothing but bitterness; but soon Our Lord came to instruct her Himself. For many years she never lost His amiable Presence, save for eleven days when He decided to test her fidelity. Prayer and contemplation were her principal exercise, and to those she consecrated the greater part of her time. She so lived in the liturgy of the Church that we continually find in her 'Revelations' that the Saviour discloses to her the mysteries of heaven, and the Mother of God herself and the saints hold conversations with her on some antiphon, or response, or introit, which the saint is singing with delight, and of which she is striving to feel all the force and the sweetness.

Zeal for the salvation of souls was ardent in the heart of Gertrude. Thinking of the souls of sinners, she would shed torrents of tears at the foot of the cross and before the Blessed Sacrament. She especially loved to meditate on the Passion and the Eucharist, and at those times, too, could not restrain the tears that flowed in abundance from her eyes. When she spoke of Jesus Christ and His mysteries, she ravished those who heard her. One day while in church the Sisters were singing, I have seen the Lord face to face, Saint Gertrude beheld what appeared to be the divine Face, brilliant in beauty; His eyes pierced her heart and filled her soul and flesh with inexpressible delights. Divine love, ever the unique principle of her affections and her actions, was the principle by which she was crucified to the world and all its vanities.

She was the object of a great number of extraordinary graces; Jesus Christ engraved His wounds in the heart of His holy spouse, placed rings on her fingers, presented Himself to her in the company of His Mother, and in her spirit acted as though He had exchanged hearts with her. All these astonishing graces only developed her love for suffering. It was impossible for her to live without some kind of pain; the time she spent without suffering seemed to her to be wasted.

During the long illness of five months from which she would die, she gave not the slightest sign of impatience or sadness; her joy, on the contrary, increased with her pains. When the day of her death arrived in 1334, she saw the Most Blessed Virgin descend from heaven to assist her, and one of her Sisters perceived her soul going straight to the Heart of Jesus, which opened to receive it. Saint Gertrude is one of the great mystics of the Church; the book of her Revelations, recorded out of obedience, remains celebrated. In it she traces in words of indescribable beauty the intimate converse of her soul with Jesus and Mary. She was gentle to all, most gentle to sinners; filled with devotion to the Saints of God, to the souls in purgatory, and above all to the Passion of Our Lord and to His Sacred Heart.

The nearer the hour of her death approached the more zealous St. Gertrude became in the service of God. Many persons are aware when their lives are drawing to a close, either because they are very old, or because they perceive that their strength leaves them, or because God visits them with a mortal sickness. If these persons wish to act sensibly they will endeavor to employ the time left to them to the best advantage. They ought to prepare themselves carefully and in time for death; bear the pains they suffer patiently, in the spirit of penance, and offer them to the Almighty; practice good works daily; repent daily and hourly of the sins of their past life, in order to atone, at least in some measure, for their former negligence, and yet gather some treasures for eternity, during the few days of life that still remain.

St. John Chrysostom says: "At the eleventh hour are called those who are advanced in age. This parable is intended to encourage those who do not reform until they are old, that they may not think that their happiness in heaven will not be as great as that of others." But Christ gave this parable to comfort not only the aged, but all those who have been negligent in the service of the Most High. Such people especially when they feel that their end draws near, should employ all their strength to serve the Lord, in order to repair, in a short time, what they have neglected. They will surely gain eternal life by acting thus. St. Chrysostom says: "The older we are or the nearer we are, for other reasons, to eternity, the more eagerly must we run along the way to Heaven."

"He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins," says the Prophet. (Isaiah liii.) "See, O man!" says St. Bernard, "the greatness of your wounds, in the awful suffering of the Lord." And if you recognize the enormity of sin, tell me, how can you dare to sin again? "The son of God died for our sins;" says Origen: "and canst thou, O Christian, delight in sinning?" You know that Christ, true God and Man, sweat blood for your crimes, in the garden of Olives; that He was made a prisoner, was derided, scourged, crowned with thorns, and finally crucified; and you dare to sin anew? Is then hell itself enough to punish such abominable wickedness? The holy Apostle curses all those who do not love our Lord Jesus Christ. What then does he deserve who even dares to offend Him anew? "If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maranatha." (1 Cor. xvi.)


From the Exercises of Saint Gertrude
by Prosper Gueranger, 1863 (This is just a small portion concerning this great saint which follows)

The fidelity of Gertrude merited for her many sublime favors, some of which we will mention. Once, when she was pouring out her whole heart in love to its divine Spouse, it received the impression of the five wounds of the divine Redeemer; and Gertrude felt them continually to the moment of her death, with an ever-increasing anguish and love. On another occasion, on the Feast of the Annunciation, the Mother of God fastened on her breast a heavenly jewel, wherein were seven precious stones, which expressed by their symbolical colors the seven principal virtues which had drawn down upon the lowly virgin the complacency of the heavenly Spouse. Again, on the Feast of the Ascension, while she was gazing on the crucifix with loving emotion, a ray was darted from the holy image swift as an arrow, and pierced her heart through and through.

Christmas Day was to her more than once marked by wonderful graces. Once she received in her heart the divine Infant, who sprang from His crib to attach Himself to her. Another time the Blessed Mother condescended to lay Him in her arms. One day, on the Purification of our Lady, when her whole being was, as it were, melted in an ecstasy of love, our Lord impressed Himself upon her as a divine seal, which could never be obliterated. And on very many other occasions the Son of God deigned to disclose to Gertrude His ineffable beauty, to ravish her heart with His divine caress, to make her feel the constant care with which He adorned and embellished her soul, and to teach her how she should think and speak and act, to be always pleasing in His sight.

But the especial characteristic of the piety of St. Gertrude towards the incarnate Word is her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The mystery of mercy and of love contained in that divine Heart had been disclosed to her by the Son of God Himself, some centuries before it became an object of special devotion to the Church at large. St. Mechtilde shared with her sister (Gertrude) this glorious privilege; and the Heart of Jesus had already been long an object of adoration and love to the sons and daughters of St. Benedict, when, in the seventeenth century, it pleased God to claim for it, by the instrumentality of the venerable sister Margaret Mary, and of the Order of the Visitation, that more solemn worship with which it is now surrounded.

Everything concurred to draw St. Gertrude towards that adorable centre and source of the divine love; and, moreover, our Lord Himself continually excited her to this devotion. Again and again He presented to her view His Sacred Heart, in token of the intimate union which He willed to maintain with her; and He even vouchsafed, in one ineffable revelation, to exchange it for that of the holy virgin, who thus felt her divine Spouse live and love within her. At the moment when Gertrude was about to expire and to rejoin the supreme object of her love, Jesus appeared to her, visible even to some of the pious nuns who were about the deathbed of their mother; and when the last moment came, they saw her soul spring towards the God-man and disappear in his bosom, and thus borne up to heaven.



No preparation for death can be better than to offer and resign ourselves constantly to the Divine Will, humbly, lovingly, and with unbounded confidence in the infinite mercy and goodness of God. Let us immolate St. Gertrude, who taught us how to do this.


Prayer of St. Gertrude to the Sacred Heart


SANCTITY of the Heart of Jesus, consecrate my heart; providence of the Heart of Jesus, watch over my heart; unchangeableness of the Heart of Jesus, strengthen my heart; purity of the Heart of Jesus, purify my heart; obedience of the Heart of Jesus, subjugate my heart; amiability of the Heart of Jesus, make Thyself known to my heart; Divine attractions of the Heart of Jesus, captivate my heart; riches of the Heart of Jesus, do ye suffice for my heart; floods of grace and blessing that flow from the Heart of Jesus, inundate my heart. O Heart of Jesus! be Thou my joy, my peace, my repose in this world and in the next. O Heart of Jesus! adored in Heaven, invoked on earth, feared in Hell, reign over all hearts, reign throughout all ages, reign forever in celestial g1ory. Amen.