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Feast of the Holy Name of Mary

9/12/2014

This feast was established by Pope Innocent XI in 1683, that the faithful may in a particular manner recommend to God on this day, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, the necessities of His Church, and return Him thanks for His gracious protection and numberless mercies.

What gave occasion to the institution of this feast was the desire of all Christendom for a solemn thanksgiving which would commemorate the deliverance of Vienna, obtained through the intercession of Our Lady, when the city was besieged by the Turks in 1683. An army of 550,000 invaders had reached the city walls and was threatening all of Europe. John Sobieski, King of Poland, came with a much smaller army to assist the besieged city during the octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, and made ready for a great battle. This religious prince began by having a Mass celebrated, which he himself desired to serve, his arms in a cross. After receiving Communion with fervor, he rose at the close of the sacrifice and cried out: "Let us march with confidence under the protection of Heaven and with the aid of the Most Holy Virgin!" His hope was not disappointed; the Turks were struck with a sudden panic and fled in disorder. From that time the feast day has been celebrated during the octave of the Nativity of Our Lady.

Saint for Today - St Stephen of Hungary

9/2/2014

SAINT STEPHEN
King of Hungary
(977-1038)

The fourth Duke of the Huns of Hungary, by the name of Geysa, was converted to the Faith and baptized with his wife and several ministers. With the Christian missionaries, he labored to convince his pagan subjects of the divinity of this religion. His wife saw in a vision the protomartyr Saint Stephen, who told her they would have a son who would perfect the work already begun. This son, born in the year 977, was given the name of Stephen.

The little prince was baptized by Saint Adalbert, bishop of Prague, who preached to the Hungarians for a time, and was educated under the care of that bishop and a pious count of Italy.

When he was fifteen years old, his father gave him the commandment of his armies, seeing his virtue and Christian ardor. Already Stephen was beginning to root out idolatry and transform the pagan customs still existing among the people. At twenty years of age, he succeeded his good father, who died in 997. He suppressed a rebellion of his pagan subjects, and founded monasteries and churches all over the land. He sent to Pope Sylvester, begging him to appoint bishops to the eleven sees he had endowed, and to bestow on him, for the greater success of his work, the title of king. The Pope granted his requests, and sent him a cross to be borne before him, saying that he regarded him as the true apostle of his people.

Saint Stephen's devotion was fervent. He placed his realms under the protection of our Blessed Lady, and kept the feast of Her Assumption with great affection. He established good laws, and saw to their execution. Throughout his life, we are told, he had Christ on his lips, Christ in his heart, and Christ in all he did. His only wars were wars of defense, and in them he was always successful. He married the sister of the Emperor Saint Henry, who was a worthy companion for him. God sent him many grievous trials amid his successes; one by one his children died.

He often went out in disguise to exercise his charities; and one day a troop of beggars, not satisfied with the alms they received, threw him down, tore out handfuls of his hair and beard, and took his purse. He prayed to the Lord and thanked Him for an insult he would not have suffered from enemies, but accepted gladly from the poor who, he said to Him, "are called Your own, and for whom I can have only indulgence and tenderness." He bore all reversals with perfect submission to the Will of God.

When Saint Stephen was about to die, he summoned the bishops and nobles, and told them to choose his successor. He urged them to nurture and cherish the Catholic Church, which was still a tender plant in Hungary, to follow justice, humility, and charity, to be obedient to the laws, and to show at all times a reverent submission to the Holy See. Then, raising his eyes towards heaven, he said: "O Queen of Heaven, August Restorer of a prostrate world, to Thy care I commend the Holy Church, my people, and my realm, and my own departing soul." It was on his favorite feast day, the Assumption, that he died in peace, in the year 1038.

Saint for Today - St Giles

9/1/2014

SAINT GILES
Abbot
(640-720)

Saint Giles, whose name has been held in great veneration for many centuries in France and England, was born in the year 640 in Athens, and was of noble extraction. Certain remarkable works of medicine and poetry are attributed to him, but his knowledge was primarily that of the Saints.

When as a young man he met a poor beggar who was sick and half-naked, he was moved with compassion and gave him his splendid tunic; the moment the beggar put it on, he found himself in perfect health. By this miracle, Giles understood how pleasing almsgiving is to God, and shortly afterwards, he distributed all his goods to the poor and entered upon a life of poverty, suffering and humility. But Jesus Christ did not let Himself be outdone in generosity, and soon miracles multiplied so greatly in his wake, that the admiration of the world surrounded him. It became impossible for him to profit in his own country from obscurity and retirement, which he desired above all else. He therefore went to France and chose for his hermitage the open spaces of the south, near the mouth of the Rhone.

Soon he was known there, too, by the miracles his kindness brought down from heaven. He moved again, and this time Providence brought him near a hermit of Greek origin like himself; then the two rejoiced in a common life of the love of God. For two years they remained together, until the invasion of their solitude caused Giles to migrate to a deep forest of southeastern France, in the diocese of Nimes.

He passed many years in this intense solitude, living on wild herbs or roots and clear water, and conversing only with God. He was nourished there by a doe of the forest. One day, being pursued by Visigoths hunting in the forests, she fled for refuge to the Saint and lay down at his feet. Moved to tears, he prayed God to spare the life of the innocent animal. An arrow the hunters had sent in her direction came and lodged in his hand, making a wound which would never heal. When the hunters found the animal there and saw the bleeding wound of the gentle hermit, they begged his pardon on their knees, and the chase was ended. The Visigoth king, hearing of this, came to visit this holy hermit, accompanied by the bishop, who afterwards ordained Giles a priest.

The reputation of the sanctity of Saint Giles increased constantly by his many miracles, which rendered his name famous throughout France. He was highly esteemed by the pious king, but could not be prevailed upon to leave his solitude. He accepted several disciples, however, and established excellent discipline in the monastery which the king built for them. Destroyed during the invasions of the Moslems who had entered Spain, it was rebuilt during the lifetime of the founder and his disciples, when they returned after the torment. In succeeding ages, it became a flourishing abbey of the Benedictine Order, which bore his name.

Saint for Today - St Jerome

9/30/2013

Jerome was the son of one Eusebius, and was born at Sdrigni in Dalmatia, in the reign of the Emperor Constantius. He was baptized at Rome when a young boy, and studied there, under the instruction of Donatus and other very learned personages. He travelled in Gaul for the sake of improving his mind, and there sought the friendship of divers godly men learned in the Scriptures, and made with his own hand many copies of the holy books. He afterwards betook himself to Greece, where he attained eminence as a philosopher and orator, in the following of the most famous theologians. At Constantinople, in especial, he sat at the feet of Gregory of Nazianzus, from whom he professeth himself to have learnt his theology. Then, for godliness' sake, he went to see the home of the Lord Christ, and so throughout all Palestine. He witnesseth that this pilgrimage, where he got the help of the most learned of the Jews for the understanding of the Holy Scriptures, did him much good.

He withdrew himself into the wild deserts of Syria, where he passed four years in studying the Holy Scriptures and in considering the blessedness of heaven, afflicting his body by always denying himself, by bitter tears, and by chastisement of the flesh. He was ordained Priest by Paulinus, Patriarch of Antioch. He went to Rome on account of the quarrelling of certain Bishops with Paulinus and Epiphanius, and there helped Pope Damasus in the writing of his letters upon Church affairs. But the longing for his old solitude came upon him, and he went back to Palestine, where, in the monastery at Bethlehem, built beside the cradle of the Lord Christ by the Lady Paula of Rome, he set himself to enter on earth upon the life of heaven, serving God in reading and writing without ceasing, regardless of the sufferings of a body tormented by divers diseases and pains.

Hard questions upon the interpretation of the Holy Scripture were sent to him from all parts of the earth, as to an oracle. He was oftentimes consulted by Pope Damasus and by the holy Augustine upon the meaning of the most obscure passages of the Scripture, because of his extraordinary learning, and that he knew not the Latin and Greek tongues only, but also the Hebrew and Chaldee, and, as the same Augustine testifieth, had read nearly all writers. He attacked heretics with keen publications, and ever undertook the defence of the godly and Catholic. He translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Latin, and, at the command of Damasus, reformed, according to the original Greek, the existing version of the New. Upon great part of the Scriptures he wrote commentaries. He translated likewise into Latin the works of many learned men, and himself contributed to the Christian life many monuments of his own wit. He lived to an extreme old age, and passed away to heaven, famous for learning and holiness, in the reign of the Emperor Honorius. His body was buried at Bethlehem, but hath since been brought to Rome, where it lieth in the Church of St. Mary-at-the-Manger.

Saint for Today - St Michael the Archangel

9/28/2013

The Lesson is taken from the Sermons of St. Gregory the Pope

We say that there are nine orders or choirs of Angels, for, by the witness of the holy Word, we know that there be Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim. Nearly every page of the holy Word witnesseth that there be Angels and Archangels. The books of the Prophets, as is well known, do often-times make mention of Cherubim and Seraphim. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesians, counteth up the names of four orders, where he saith: Far above all Principality, and Power, and Virtue, and Dominion. And the same, again, writing to the Colossians, saith: Whether they be Thrones, or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers. If, then, we add the Thrones to the four orders of which he spoke unto the Ephesians, we have five orders; and when we add unto them the Angels and the Archangels, the Cherubim and the Seraphim, we find that the orders of Angels are beyond all doubt nine.

But we must know that the word Angel is the designation, not of a nature, but of an office. Those holy spirits in the heavenly fatherland are always spirits, but they may in nowise be always called Angels. For they are Angels only when they are sent as Messengers. Hence also it is said by the Psalmist: Who makest spirits thine Angels! as if it were: Of them who are always with him as spirits, he doth sometimes make use as Messengers. They who go on the lesser messages are called Angels: they who go on the greater Archangels. Hence it is that unto the Virgin Mary was sent no common Angel, but the Archangel Gabriel. For the delivery of this, the highest message, it was meet that there should be sent the highest Angel. Their individual names also are so given as to signify the kind of ministry wherein each is powerful. Michael signifieth Who is like unto God? Gabriel, The Strength of God. And Raphael, The Medicine of God.

As often as anything very mighty is to be done, we see that Michael is sent, that by that very thing, and by his name, we may remember that none is able to do as God doeth. Hence that old enemy whose pride hath puffed him up to be fain to be like unto God, even he who said: I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the Most High, this old enemy, when at the end of the world he is about to perish in the last death, having no strength but his own, is shown unto us a-fighting with Michael the Archangel, even as saith John: There was a war in heaven: Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. Unto Mary is sent Gabriel, whose name is interpreted The Strength of God, for he came to herald the appearing of him who was content to appear lowly that he might fight down the powers of the air. Raphael, also, as we have said, signifieth The Medicine of God, and it is the name of him who touched as a physician the eyes of Tobias, and cleared away his blindness.

O glorious Archangel St. Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, defend us in battle, and in the struggle which is ours against the principalities and Powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against spirits of evil in high places (Eph 6:12). Come to the aid of men, whom God created immortal, made in his own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil (Wis 2:23-24, 1 Cor 6:20).
Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in Heaven. But that cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan, who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with all his angels (Rev 12:7-9).
Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of man has taken courage, Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God and of his Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.
These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions (Lam 3:15).
In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered.
Arise then, O invincible prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and bring them the victory.
The Church venerates thee as protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of this world and of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude.
Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations.
(Rituale Romanum, 6th ed. post typicam, (Ratisbon: Pustet 1898), 163ff).

Saint for Today - St Wenceslas

9/28/2013

Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia, was the son of a Christian father, Duke Wratislas I, and an heathen mother named Drahomira. He had for his grandmother a most holy woman, named Ludmilla, who trained him up in godliness. He was a man eminent in all graces, and one who carefully held his virginity unsullied throughout the whole course of his life. His mother seized the supreme power by the foul murder of Ludmilla, and lived foully with her younger son Boleslas, and the nobles roused thereby to indignation, and wearied with her tyranny and wicked government, cast off the yoke of both of them, and hailed Wenceslas in the city of Prague as their King.

He ruled his kingdom by his virtues rather than by force. To the orphaned, the widowed, and the destitute he was very charitable, so that some whiles in the winter he carried firewood to the needy on his own shoulders. He helped oftentimes to bury the poor, he set captives free, and went many times to the prisons at the dead of night to comfort with money and advice them that were detained therein. To a Prince of so tender an heart it was a great grief to be behoven to condemn any to death, however guilty. For Priests he had a most earnest respect, and with his own hands sowed the corn and pressed the grapes for the bread and wine which they were to use for the Sacrifice. He would walk around the Church at night with bare feet upon the snow and ice, leaving behind him bloody footprints that warmed the ground.

For his Bodyguard he had angels. For when Radislas, Prince of Gurinna, invaded Bohemia, and Wenceslas, to save the effusion of his people's blood, went out to meet him in single combat, two angels were seen serving him with arms, and heard to say to the adversary: Strike not. Therefore, his enemy was stricken with terror, fell down in reverence before him, and begged his forgiveness. When he went to Germany, the Emperor saw two angels carrying a golden Cross before him as he drew night him, and arose from his throne, embraced him in his arms, created him a King, and gifted him with the arm of the holy Martyr Vitus. Nevertheless, his godless brother, at the exhortation of their mother, bade him to a feast, and when Wenceslas, with a foreboding of the death prepared for him, went afterwards into the Church, and was praying there, Boleslas followed him thither, together with some accomplices of his crime, and when they had wounded him, despatched him with a lance. The stains of his blood may still be seen upon the walls. By the judgment of God, his unnatural mother was swallowed up by the earth, and his murderers, in divers ways, perished miserably.

Saints for Today - Sts. Cosmas and Damian

9/27/2013

Cosmas and Damian, who were eminent physicians in the time of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, were brothers, and Arabs by race, but born in the city of Aegea in Cilicia. Not more by their knowledge of medicine than by the power of Christ they healed diseases which had been hopeless for others. When the Prefect Lysias learnt to what faith they belonged, he commanded them to be brought before him, and questioned them as to their way of life, and the confession of their religion; and then, forasmuch as they freely owned themselves Christians and the Christian faith needful to salvation, he commanded them to worship the gods, under threats of torments and a most cruel death.

But when he found that it was but in vain to lay such things before them, he said: Bind their hands and feet together, and put them to the sharpest of the question. And he was obeyed, but nevertheless Cosmas and Damian abode still of the same mind. Therefore they were cast into the depth of the sea, bound as they were, but they came forth again, whole and unbound. The Prefect, therefore, who would have it that it came to pass so by force of art magic, cast them into prison. On the morrow he haled them forth again, and bade cast them upon a great fire, but the flame turned away from them. He was pleased then to have them tormented in divers and cruel sorts, and lastly, smitten with the axe. Thus did they bear witness for Christ Jesus even until they grasped the palm of their testimony.

Saint for Today - St Cyprian and Justina

9/26/2013

Cyprian was firstly a warlock and lastly a Martyr. A certain young man having a violent lust after a Christian maiden named Justina, employed him to excite her to join in this lewdness, by dint of incantations and philters. Cyprian thereupon asked counsel of the devil, how he might best gain that end. But the devil answered him that these arts are only thrown away upon true worshippers of Christ. This answer troubled Cyprian, and he began to repent heartily of the course of life he had hitherto led. And then he forsook his arts magic, and gave himself wholly up to the faith of the Lord Christ. For this cause, he and the Virgin Justina were arrested together, beaten with blows and scourging, and cast into prison, if haply they might change their mind. Being brought out of the prison, but still standing fast in their Christian religion, they were dipped in a vessel full of hot pitch, fat, and wax, and in the end beheaded, at Nicomedia. Their bodies were thrown out, and lay unburied for the space of six days, at the end of which time some sailors took them secretly by night on board a ship, and carried them to Rome. They were first buried on the farm of the noble lady Rufina, but afterwards brought into the city, where they lie hard by the Baptistery in the Church of the Saviour, built by Constantine.

Saint for Today - St Finbar

9/25/2013

Patron of Cork, Diocese of Cork
550 - 620

He was the son of an artisan and a lady of the Irish royal court. Born in Connaught, Ireland, and baptized Lochan, he was educated at Kilmacahil, Kilkenny, where the monks named him Fionnbharr (white head) because of his light hair; he is also known as Bairre and Barr. He went on pilgrimage to Rome with some of the monks, visiting St. David in Wales on the way back. Supposedly, on another visit to Rome the Pope wanted to consecrate him a bishop but was deterred by a vision, notifying the pope that God had reserved that honor to Himself, and Finbar was consecrated from heaven and then returned to Ireland. At any rate, he may have preached in Scotland, definitely did in southern Ireland, lived as a hermit on a small island at Lough Eiroe, and then, on the river Lee, founded a monastery that developed into the city of Cork, of which he was the first bishop. His monastery became famous in southern Ireland and attracted numerous disciples. Many miracles are attributed to him, and supposedly, the sun did not set for two weeks after he died at Cloyne about the year 633. His feast day is September 25th.

Blessed Herman the Cripple

9/25/2013

Chronicler, mathematician, and poet; b. 18 February, 1013, at Altshausen (Swabia); d. on the island of Reichenau, Lake Constance, 21 September, 1054.

He was the son of Count Wolverad II von Altshausen. Being a cripple from birth (hence the surname Contractus) he was powerless to move without assistance, and it was only by the greatest effort that he was able to read and write; but he was so highly gifted intellectually, that when he was but seven years of age his parents confided him to the learned Abbot Berno, on the island of Reichenau. Here he took the monastic vows in 1043, and probably spent his entire life. His iron will overcame all obstacles, and it was not long before his brilliant attainments made him a shining light in the most diversified branches of learning, including, besides theology, mathematics, astronomy, music, the Latin, Greek, and Arabic tongues. Students soon flocked to him from all parts, attracted not only by the fame of his scholarship, but also by his monastic virtue and his lovable personality. We are indebted to him chiefly for a chronicle of the most important events from the birth of Christ to his day. It is the earliest of the medieval universal chronicles now extant, and was compiled from numerous sources, being a monument to his great industry as well as to his extraordinary erudition and strict regard for accuracy. While it is not improbable that this work was based on a previous state chronicle of Swabia, since lost (called "Chronicum Universale Suevicum", or "Epitome Sangallensis"), it has nevertheless a significance entirely its own. But the full measure of his genius appears from the objectivity and clearness with which he wrote the history of his own time, the materials of which were accessible to him only by means of verbal tradition.

He also wrote mathematico-astronomical works. Of his poems the most successful was the "De octo vitiis principalibus", which he addressed to nuns, and in which he gave proof of uncommon skill in the handling of different kinds of metres, as well as in the charm with which he contrived to blend earnestness with a happy mirth. He composed religious hymns, and is not infrequently credited with the authorship of the "Alma Redemptoris Mater", and the "Salve Regina". Finally, it may be mentioned that Hermann constructed astronomical and musical instruments.

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Feast of the Holy Name of Mary

Saint for Today - St Stephen of Hungary

Saint for Today - St Giles

Saint for Today - St Jerome

Saint for Today - St Michael the Archangel

Saint for Today - St Wenceslas

Saints for Today - Sts. Cosmas and Damian

Saint for Today - St Cyprian and Justina

Saint for Today - St Finbar

Blessed Herman the Cripple

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