[Rank]
Octava S. Laurentii Martyris;;Duplex;;3;;vide Sancti/08-10

[Rule]
vide Sancti/08-10;
9 lectiones

[Lectio4]
From one of the Tracts upon John, written by St. Augustine, Bishop (of Hippo.)
!(21th.)
Brethren, we know that all we who are in the body of the Lord, and abide in Him that He also may abide in us, must needs in this world live even unto the end among the wicked; by the wicked I mean not such as blaspheme Christ, for it is now but few who are found who blaspheme Him with their tongue, but many there be who do it by their lives. Among such we must needs live, even unto the end. But what is it that He said, He that abideth in Me and I in him? (John xv. 5.) Is it not that whereunto the Martyrs gave ear, He that endureth to the end shall be saved? (Matth. x. 22.)

[Lectio5]
In what wise abode in Him the holy Lawrence whose Feast-day we keep to-day? He abode in Him until trial came; he abode in Him until He was browbeaten by the tyrant; he abode in Him until his fearful sentence came; he abode in Him even unto death. That is saying but a little of him; he abode in Him even in savage torture. He was not slain quickly, but tortured in the fire. He was allowed to remain long alive, and yet not allowed to remain long alive, but slowly put to death. During that long death, in all that agony, since he had well eaten and well drunk, filled with that Food, and drunken with that Cup, he felt not the torture.

[Lectio6]
Nor the holy Martyr Xystus, whose day we kept five days ago, had said unto him: Be not sorrowful, my son (for he was the Bishop and Lawrence the Deacon,) be not sorrowful, said he, yet three days and thou shalt follow me. These three days of which he spake were the three clear days which elapse between the day of the passion of holy Xystus, and this day, the day of the passion of holy Lawrence. The three days are those between. O what a strange comfort! He saith not: Be not sorrowful, my son; the persecution will come to an end, and thou wilt be safe, but Be not sorrowful, whither I go, thither shalt thou follow me, and the time will not be long. Three clear days shall pass, and then thou shalt be with me. Lawrence received the prophecy, conquered the devil, and entered into his triumph.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to John
!John 12:24-28
At that time: Jesus said unto His disciples: Amen, Amen, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. And so on.
_
Homily by St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch (of Constantinople.)
!66th on John.
This present life is sweet, and full of many pleasures, not indeed for all, but for those who love it. But if one should have cast his looks heavenward, and studied the excellent things that are there, he will forthwith despise this present life and hold it of no moment. So is bodily comeliness esteemed, only as long as we see none fairer, but as soon as a comelier appeareth, the first is held cheap. And thus if we will look at the beauty above, and study the loveliness of the kingdom in heaven, we shall forthwith loose the ties that bind us to this world.

[Lectio8]
The ties that bind us to this world are the love of earthly things. Listen to what Christ saith, to draw us to loosen these ties. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. This hath the sound of a puzzle, and yet it is full of the most excellent wisdom. How shall he that loveth his life lose it? He shall lose it by yielding to its senseless lusts, by indulging any of its lusts more than he ought. Whereas he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal, by not obeying it when it demandeth things hurtful.

[Lectio9]
Christ saith not, He that obeyeth it not, but, He that hateth it. For even as we cannot bear to hear the voice or see the face of them whom we hate, so doth it behove us to turn angrily away from our own life, if it demand from us anything contrary to the will of God. He was about to speak to them touching death, even His Own death, and He foresaw their grief and faintness, and spake in strong expressions, as though He said: What shall I say, if ye take not My death bravely? Unless ye also die, ye shall gain no profit.

[Lectio93]
!Commemoratio for Blessed Hyacinth Confessor
Hyacinth was a Pole, and was born (in the year 1185) of the noble and Christian family (of the Counts of Odrowatz,) in the town of Camien, in the diocese of Wratislaw. He was trained up in learning from his youth, and after studying law and theology, became a Canon of Crakow, where he was eminent above his fellows by the singular godliness of his life and the depth of his learning. Being at Rome, (in 1218,) he was received into the Order of Friars Preachers by the Founder, St. Dominick, himself, and kept in holiness to the end of his life the rule of perfect living which he had learnt from him. He remained always a virgin, and loved modesty, long-suffering, lowliness, self- restraint, and all other good graces as his heritage in the life of a Friar. In the heat of his love for God, he sometimes passed whole nights in pouring forth prayers and chastising his body, to which he never gave rest but in leaning against a stone or lying upon the ground. He was sent back to his own country, and, on the way, founded a very large house of his Order at Friesach and soon afterwards another at Crakow. In other provinces of the kingdom of Poland he founded four others, and it passeth belief what success he had with all kinds of men, by his preaching of the Word of God, and the innocency of his life. Not a day passed wherein he did not display some bright gift of faith, godliness, or innocency. The zeal of this most holy man for the salvation of his neighbours was that which God marked by His greatest miracles. Among these is famous the time when coming to the River Vistula near Wisgrade, and finding it in flood, he crossed it without a boat, drawing over also his three companions standing upon the waves upon his outspread mantle. He led a wonderful life for nearly forty years after his profession, and then foretold to his brethren the day of his death. Upon the very day of the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, he finished the recitation of the Office of the Church, received the Sacraments with the utmost reverence, and then with the words, Into thy hands, O Lord, gave up his soul to God in the year of salvation 1257. He was illustrious for miracles even after his death, and Pope Clement VIII. numbered him among the saints.