[Rank]
S. Josaphat Episcopi Martyris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C2

[Rule]
vide C2;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
Stir up in thy Church, we beseech thee, O Lord, that Spirit which so filled blessed Josaphat, thy Martyr and Bishop, that he laid down his life for his flock; that by his intercession we, being likewise animated and strengthened by that same Spirit, may not fear to lay down our lives for our brethren. 
$Per Dominum eiusdem

[Lectio4]
Josaphat Kuncewitz was born of noble Catholic parents at Vladimir in Volhynia. Once as a child, as he listed to his mother tell the story of the Passion, a dart came forth from the side of Christ on the crucifix and wounded the boy in the heart. Set on fire with love of God, he devoted himself to prayer and works of charity with such zeal that he became the admiration and the model for youths far older than he. When Josaphat was twenty years old he was professed among the cloistered followers of the monastic rule of Saint Basil. Almost at once he made remarkable progress in evangelical perfection. He went barefoot, even in the severe winters of that country. He never ate meat, and drank wine only when obliged to do so under obedience. He disciplined his body by wearing rough hair-shirts until the day of his death. He kept unspotted the flower of chastity which in his youth he had dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God. He became so celebrated for virtue and learning that despite his youth he was made superior of the monastery at Byten, and the Archimandrite of Vilnius. Finally much against his will, but to the very great joy of the Catholic people, he was made Archbishop of Polotsk.

[Lectio5]
In the years following the promotion to this dignity, Josaphat did not relax in any way his austere mode of living. Nothing was so close to his heart as service to God and the salvation of the flock entrusted to his care. He was a vigorous champion of Catholic unity and truth. He laboured to the utmost of his ability to win back schismatics and heretics to unity with the See of blessed Peter. Both by preaching and writing he defended the Supreme Pontiff and the doctrine of the Pope's plenitude of power. He directed these works, full of piety and learning against most shameful calumnies and the errors of wicked men. Josaphat vindicated episcopal rights and restored ecclesiastical property seized by laymen. He won back an incredible number of heretics to the bosom of holy Mother Church. How successfully he laboured to re-establish communion between the Greek and Latin Churches is told in Papal commendations. He gladly spent the revenues set aside for his maintenance to rebuild God's house, to erect convents for consecrated virgins, and to carry on other charitable works. So generous was Josaphat towards the poor that in one instance when he did not have money enough to supply the needs of a certain widow, he pawned his omophorion, that is, his episcopal pallium.

[Lectio6]
The great progress made by the Catholic faith so stirred up the anger of certain of its wicked enemies that they conspired to murder this athlete of Christ. In a sermon he foretold to his people what was about to happen. As he was setting out for Vitebsk on a pastoral visit, these enemies broke into the episcopal palace, attacking and wounding every one they found. Undaunted, this most kindly man hurried out to the assassins of his own free will and addressed them mildly. My little children, he said, why do ye strike my servants? If ye have any complaint against me, I am here. Thereupon they rushed at him, overwhelmed him with blows and pierced him through with spears. Finally they slew him a stroke of a great axe and threw his body into the river. This happened on November 12th, 1632, when he was forty-three years old. Later his body, surrounded by a marvellous light, was raised from the deepest part of the river. The blood of this Martyr benefited first of all those murderers of their spiritual father. Sentenced to die for their crime, almost all abjured their schism and repented of their crime. Because this wonderful high priest became famous after his death for many miracles, the Supreme Pontiff, Urban VIII, honoured him with the title Blessed. On the 29th of June, 1867, during the solemn observance of the centenaries of the Princes of the Apostles, in the presence of the college of cardinals, of about five hundred others, patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops of every rite from all parts of the world, assembled in the Vatican basilica, with all solemn ceremonies, Pius IX canonized the first eastern Christian to uphold the unity of the Church. The Supreme Pontiff, Leo XIII, extended his Mass and Office to the universal Church.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to John
!John 10:11-16
In that time Jesus said to the pharisees: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. And so on.
_
Homily by St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch (of Constantinople.)
!59th on John.
Dearly beloved brethren, the Bishops of the Church hold a great office, an office that needeth much that wisdom and strength whereof Christ hath given us an example. We must learn of Him to lay down our lives for the sheep and never to leave them; and to fight bravely against the wolf. This is the difference between the true shepherd and the hireling. The one leaveth the sheep and seeketh his own safety, but the other recketh not of his own safety, so as he may watch over the sheep. Christ then having given us the pattern of a good shepherd, warneth us against two enemies; first, the thief that cometh not but to kill and to steal, and, secondly, the hireling that standeth by, and defendeth not them that are committed to his charge.

[Lectio8]
Ezechiel hath said of old time, (xxxiv. 2): Woe be to the shepherds of Israel! do they not feed themselves? Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? But they did the contrary, a great wickedness and the root of many evils. Therefore, he saith, they brought not back that which was gone astray neither did they search for that which was lost neither did they bind up that which was broken, nor strengthen that which was sick; for they fed themselves, and not the flock. And Paul hath the same in other words, where he saith, (Phil. ii. 21): All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.

[Lectio9]
Christ showeth Himself very different from either the thief or the hireling; whereas the thief cometh to destroy, He came that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. The hireling fleeth, but He layeth down His life for the sheep, that the sheep perish not. When then the Jews went about to kill Him, He ceased not to teach He gave not up them that believed in Him, but stood steadfast and died. Wherefore He hath good title often to say, I am the Good Shepherd. It was but a little while, and He showed us how He could lay down His life for the sheep. And if it appeareth not as yet how they have life, and have it more abundantly, (but it shall appear, in the world which is to come,) we may well be persuaded of the truth of the second promise, who have seen the fulfilment of the first.
&teDeum

[Lectio94]
Josaphat Kuncewitz was born of noble Catholic parents at Vladimir in Volhynia. As a child, when he heard his mother speaking of the passion of Christ, he received in his heart a wound from an arrow coming from the side of the image of Christ crucified. When he was twenty, he was professed among the cloistered monks of St. Basil. Soon he was made archimandrite of Vilna and than archbishop of Plolotzk, and showed himself a model of all virtues. A zealous promoter of the unity of the Greek with the Latin Church, he called innumerable heretics back to the bosom of their mother, the Church. Having gone to Vitebsk on pastoral visitation, of his own accord he went out to meet the schismatics, who were seeking to kill him and who had already invaded the archiepiscopal residence. "My children", he said, "if you have anything against me, here I am." With that they rushed at him, beat and stabbed him, delivered the death blow with an axe and threw his body into the river. The first to benefit from the Martyr's blood were those very parricides: condemned to death nearly all of them adjured their schism and repented of their crime. Pope Urban VIII gave Josaphat the honors of the Blessed, and Pius IX added to the number of Saints this first promoter of the unity of the Church among the Easterners.
&teDeum