01-14.txt:[Lectio94]
Hilary, born of a noble family in Aquitaine, had few equals in teaching and eloquence. Made bishop of Poitiers, he exercised his ministry in such a way as to gain the highest praise from the faithful. His vigorous campaign for the Catholic faith led to a four year exile in Phrygia. There he raised a dead man to life and performed other miracles. He wrote twelve books on the Trinity against the Arians, and induced all Gaul to condemn the Arian blasphemy. He wrote many books showing wonderful learning; St. Jerome writing to Laeta, testifies in these words that they can be read with out the least fear of error: one can run through Hilary's works without stumbling. He went to heaven on the 13th of January in the year 369. Pius IX, at the request of the synod of Bordeaux, declared and confirmed him to be a Doctor of the universal Church.
01-15.txt:[Lectio94]
Paul, originator and master of the eremitic life, was born in the lower Thebaid. When the Persecution of Decius and Valerian was raging, he withdrew to a cave in the desert. Here, with a palm tree providing him with both food and clothing; he lived a most holy life. He had reached the age of a hundred and thirteen years when Anthony, then ninety years old came to visit him. Paul received him warmly. After they had spent the night in conversing about holy things, Paul said that his death was at hand and asked Anthony to go and get the cloak given him by Athanasius to use as a winding sheet. Anthony went to do this and, as he was on his way back he saw Paul's soul going up to heaven. His body he found in his cell, still in the attitude of prayer. When he had chanted the customary hymns, he wrapped the body in the cloak, but had nothing to dig a grave with. Thereupon two lions came from deep in the desert and hollowed out a place large enough to hold a men's body. Anthony buried the body arranged the grave and went away taking with him the tunic which Paul had woven for himself from palm-leaves. Thereafter he always wore this cloak on the great feasts of Easter and Pentecost.
01-16.txt:[Lectio94]
Marcellus of Rome was Pope from the reign of Constantius and Galerius to that of Maxentius. At his suggestion the Roman lady Lucina willed her property to God's Church. Because the number of the faithful in the city had increased, he set up new parishes and divided the City into various districts. This angered Maxentius and he threatened Marcellus with heavy punishments unless he would abandon his pontificate and sacrifice to idols. The Pope resisted steadfastly, and so Maxentius had him sent to the stable to take care of the beasts fed at the public expense. Marcellus spent nine months there, and since he could not be present in his parishes in person, he visited them by his letters. He was rescued from this place by some clerics and given hospitality by Lucina in whose house he dedicated a church where he preached to the faithful. Then Maxentius ordered the beasts moved from the stable to the church, so that Marcellus again had to take care of them. The foul atmosphere of the place and his hardships soon proved fatal to Marcellus. He died in the Lord, and was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Salarian Way by blessed Lucina, on January 16.
01-17.txt:[Lectio94]
When Anthony of Egypt entered a church and heard the words of the Gospel, "If you will be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor," he took them as if said to him personally, thinking that this is how Christ should be obeyed. And so, having sold his family possessions and distributed the money to the poor, he withdrew to the vast solitudes of Egypt. He was so fired with zeal for all virtues that, whenever he saw anyone praiseworthy for excelling in any virtue, he strove to imitate him. None was more disciplined than he, none more watchful. He was so great a terror to the demons that many persons throughout Egypt who were troubled by them were set free merely by invoking Anthony's name. And so, famous for his holiness and his miracles, when he had drawn innumerable other men and women to follow his example, he departed this life in the hundred and fifth Year of his age, on January 17.
01-20.txt:[Lectio94]
Fabian, a Roman, ruled the Church from the time of Maximian to that of Decius. He divided the City into seven districts and assigned a deacon to each to care for the poor. He appointed the same number of subdeacons to collect the Acts of the Martyrs from the records of the district notaries. He decreed that every year on Holy Thursday the old chrism be burned and new chrism consecrated. At length, on January 20, he was crowned with martyrdom and buried in the cemetery of Callistus on the Appian Way. Sebastian was a favorite with Diocletian for his noble birth and his bravery, and was made captain of the first company of the Praetorian guards. He aided the Christians, whose faith he secretly practiced, both by deeds and by material help and strengthened them in professing Christ. When all this was reported to Diocletian, he tried by every means to turn Sebastian away from faith in Christ. But when neither promises nor threats were successful, he ordered him to be tied to spot and shot through with arrows. The servant of God was then thought by all to be dead, but shortly afterwards, restored to health, he appeared in Diocletian's presence and boldly rebuked him for his wickedness. Then the tyrant ordered him beaten with rods until he expired.
01-21.txt:[Lectio94]
From the book of St. Ambrose, Bishop, on Virgins
!Book I, near the beginning
Today is the birthday of a Virgin; let us imitate her virginal innocence. It is the birthday of a Martyr; let us also bring sacrifice. It is the birthday of St. Agnes; let men look up in admiration and children not be disheartened. You married, be filled with wonder; you unmarried, follow in her footsteps. But where shall we find words of adequate praise, since her very name bespeaks her glory and renown? In her we see a devotion that far surpasses her age; a virtue that exceeds all Power of nature. Hence, it seems to me that she had not merely a human name, but, prophetically, she was given the name of a Martyr to indicate beforehand what she was to be. The name of our Virgin to a guarantee of her purity. If I call her Martyr, already I have praised enough. For, that is great praise indeed, which one does not need to seek but is freely given by others. No one can be more praised than one who is praised by all. As many men, so many encomiums. They have only to mention her name to praise her as a Martyr. According to tradition, it was in her thirteenth year that she suffered martyrdom. How despicable the cruelty that spared not even this tender age! But how great the power of faith that found even that age its witness.
01-22.txt:[Lectio94]
Vincent, born at Huesca in Spain. was an earnest student even as a child. He learned the sacred sciences from Valerius, Bishop of Saragossa. and then took over the work of preaching the Gospel since the bishop could not fulfill his preaching office because of an impediment of speech. For this reason Vincent was reported to the wicked prefect, Dacian, and brought to him in Valencia. He suffered imprisonment, hunger, racking and many other tortures; and gained the crown of martyrdom on the 22nd of January. Anastasius, a Persian monk, made a pilgrimage to the holy places in Jerusalem at the time of the emperor Heraclius. At Caesarea in Palestine he steadfastly endured imprisonment and scourging for professing his faith in Christ. Soon after, in Persia, he was afflicted by King Chosroes with many tortures for the same cause and was beheaded, together with seventy other Christians. His relics were first brought to Jerusalem, then taken to Rome, and finally placed in the monastery at Aquae Salviae.
01-23.txt:[Lectio94]
Raymond of Barcelona, of the noble family of Pennafort, zealously applied himself at Bologna to works of charity and to the study of ecclesiastical and civil law. When he had received his doctorate, he taught there, gaining great praise for interpreting the sacred canons. Soon Bishop Berengarius honoured him with the offices of canon and provost of the church of Barcelona, and he gave a shining example by his virtue, teaching and gentle ways, also striving with all his power to promote the cult of the Virgin Mother of God. At the age of forty-five, he was professed in the Order of Friars Preachers. It was at his instigation that St. Peter Nolasco, who was his penitent, together with James I, King of Aragon, founded the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the Redemption of Captives, and Raymond himself drew up admirable rules for its way of life. At the command of Gregory IX, he was summoned to Rome to collect the decrees of the various popes into one volume, called the Decretals. He consistently refused the archbishopric of Tarragona, and he resigned the office of master general of the Order of Preachers after exercising it in a most holy manner for two years. He was nearly an hundred years old when he fell asleep in the Lord in 1275. Clement VIII enrolled his name among those of the Saints.
01-24.txt:[Lectio94]
Timothy was born in Lystra in Lycaonia of a gentile father and a Jewish mother, and was a follower of the Christian religion when the Apostle Paul visited that city. Paul was so moved by what he repeatedly heard of Timothy's holiness that he took him with him as a companion on his journeys; yet, because of the Jews who had been converted to Christ and who knew that Timothy's father had been a Gentile, he had him circumcised. When they both arrived at Ephesus, the Apostle ordained him bishop to govern the Church there. The Apostle wrote him two letters, one from Laodicea, the other from Rome. Strengthened by these letters in the ministry of his pastoral office, he could not endure that the sacrifice which is due to God alone should be offered to the images of demons, and he strove to win over the people of Ephesus from the impiety of offering sacrifice to Diana on her feast day. He was stoned, and was nearly dead when the Christians rescued him and took him to a village on a neighboring mountain. There he died in the Lord on January 24.
01-27.txt:[Lectio94]
John came from Antioch and was called "Chrysostom" because of the golden flood of his eloquence. Ordained a priest of the Church of Antioch, he was later, against his will made archbishop of Constantinople to succeed Nectarius, through the influence of Arcadius the emperor. In this office, since he spoke out strongly against the degradation of public morals and the licentious lives of the nobility, he drew down on himself the hatred of many persons. He gravely offended Empress Eudoxia also, because he reprehended her for taking the money of the widow Callitropa and the land of another widow. For all these reasons he was forced into exile, while all the widows and the needy mourned at being deprived of their common father. It is beyond belief how many hardships he suffered in his exile and how many people he converted to the faith of Jesus Christ. The number, warmth and brilliance of his sermons and other writings are universally admired. He gave up his soul to God on September 14, and his body was buried in the Vatican basilica. This outstanding Doctor of the universal Church was appointed the heavenly patron of preachers by Pope Pius X.
01-28.txt:[Lectio94]
Peter Nolasco, born of a noble family at Recaudun near Carcassonne in France, was bereaved of his parents in his youth. Loathing the heresy of the Albigenses, he divided his patrimony and went to Spain. There, as he was praying one night, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and suggested that it would be most pleasing to her Son and to herself to have a religious order founded for the purpose of freeing those taken captive in the power of unbelievers. And so, together with St. Raymond of Pennafort and James I, king of Aragon, who had been told the same thing by the Mother of God on the very same night, he established the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the redemption of captives, the members taking a fourth vow to remain as hostages in the power of pagans if this were needed to free Christians. He was often cheered by apparitions of his guardian Angel and of the Virgin Mother of God; and when he had attained a good old age, he died a holy death in the middle of the night of the Vigil of Christmas, in the year 1256.
01-29.txt:[Lectio94]
Francis was born of devout and noble parents in the town of Sales, from which his family took its name. He was given a liberal education, devoted himself to the study of philosophy and theology at Paris and gained the degree of Doctor in civil and canon law at Padua. When he had been ordained priest and made provost of the church of Geneva, he carried out the duties of his office so well that Bishop de Granier sent him to preach the word of God in Chablais in order to win the inhabitants away from the heresy of Calvin. He undertook this mission with such great zeal and overcame so many dangers with the help of God that he is said to have brought back to the Catholic faith some seventy-two thousand heretics. When de Granier died, Francis was consecrated bishop. He founded a new order of nuns, named for the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, and enlightened the Church with writings filled with heavenly teaching. At Lyon, he was seized by a grave illness and departed to heaven in the year 1622. He was declared a Doctor of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX.
01-30.txt:[Lectio94]
Martina, a Roman virgin of an illustrious family, lost her parents while she was still young and distributed her vast fortune lavishly to the poor. Under the emperor Alexander, she was commanded to sacrifice to the imaginary gods, and refused to commit this great crime. First she was subjected to many kinds of tortures and, finally condemned to the beasts in the amphitheater, was left unharmed by divine protection. Then she was thrown into a burning furnace, and again was preserved safe. Some of her tormentors moved by this unheard-of miracle embraced the faith of Christ and received the crown of martyrdom. At Martina's prayers, God worked many marvels. Angered by these and confounded by the Virgin's constancy, the judge ordered her beheaded. All this took place when St. Urban I was pope. Under Urban VIII, her body was found in the old church named after her at the Mamertine Prison together with the bodies of the holy Martyrs Concordius, Epiphanius and their companions. When the place had been renovated and decorated, her body was solemnly reburied, amid the rejoicing of the whole City.
01-31.txt:[Lectio94]
The childhood of Don Bosco, who was born in a small village was marked both by its hardship and by his happy innocence of soul. He studied at Chieri, where in a short time he earned great praise for his brilliance and his virtue. Ordained priest, he went to Turin, where he made himself all things to all men, and undertook in particular the work of aiding poor and neglected boys. By providing them with teaching in the liberal arts and in trades and keeping them occupied on holidays, he strove with all his might to remove young people from poisonous sources of delinquency and vice. For this purpose, he established two congregations in the Church, one for men and one for women religious. He himself published many books filled with Christian wisdom. He also accomplished great things for the eternal salvation of unbelievers through the missionary enterprises of his congregations. With his mind constantly raised to God, this holy man never seemed to be terrified by threats, worn out by labors, oppressed by cares, or disturbed by adversities. He died in the year of salvation 1888 at the age of seventy-three, and was numbered among the Saints by Pope Pius XI.
02-01.txt:[Lectio94]
Ignatius, chosen to be the second successor of Peter as bishop of Antioch, was accused of being a Christian during Trajan's reign and condemned to be sent to the beasts in Rome. As he was being brought from Syria in chains, he kept teaching all the cities of Asia which he went through, exhorting them as a messenger of the Gospel and instructing the more distant ones by his letters. In one of these letters, which he wrote to the Romans from Smyrna while he was enjoying Polycarp's companionship, among other matters he said this about his own death sentence: "O helpful beasts that are being made ready for me! when will they come? When will they be sent out? When will they be allowed to devour my flesh And I hope that they will be made the more fierce, lest by chance, as has happened in the case of others, they may fear to touch my body. Now I am beginning to be Christ's disciple. Let fire, crosses, beasts, the tearing apart of my limbs, the torment of my whole body and all the sufferings prepared by the devil's art be heaped upon me all at once, if only I may attain Jesus Christ. When he had arrived in Rome, he heard the lions roaring and, burning with desire for martyrdom, he burst out, "I am the wheat of Christ; let me be ground by the teeth of the beasts so that I may be found pure bread." He suffered in the eleventh year of Trajan's reign.
02-04.txt:[Lectio94]
Andrew, of the noble family of the Corsini of Florence, was born in answer to his parents' prayer to God, and dedicated to the Mother of God. He was brought up devoutly in his youth, yet was inclined to evil ways and often rebuked by his mother. But when he realized that he had been dedicated to the Virgin by his parents' vow, he became fired with the love of God and joined the Carmelite Order, becoming its superior in Etruria. In the meantime, the Church of Fiesole had been widowed of its shepherd, and elected Andrew as its bishop. He finally agreed to undertake this office, lest he should go against the will of God, and carried it out with the greatest zeal for souls and with pastoral solicitude. Urban V sent him as his legate to Bologna to restore order among the seditious populace, and with the greatest prudence he managed to extinguish the mortal feuds among its citizens. Worn out with his unceasing toils and sufferings he slept in peace in the year 1377, at the age of seventy-one, and Urban VIII enrolled him among the Saints.
02-05.txt:[Lectio94]
Agatha, born in Sicily of noble parents, suffered a glorious martyrdom at Catania In the persecution of the emperor Decius. For when Quintianus, the praetor of Sicily, had vainly tried every means to tempt her from her virginity, he had her arrested as adhering to the Christian superstition. First she was beaten,then tortured on the rack with white hot iron plates laid on her; then one of her breasts was cut off. Next she was thrown into prison, where St. Peter the Apostle appeared to her by night and healed her. Again called before the praetor she persevered in confessing Christ, and he had her rolled over broken pottery and burning coals. But then a great earthquake violently shook the city, and Quintianus, afraid of a riot among the people, gave orders that Agatha, now half dead, secretly be taken back to prison. There after a short time she went to heaven on February 5.
02-06.txt:[Lectio94]
Titus, bishop of Crete, had the privilege of being associated with the disciples of the Doctor of the Gentiles. He was so particularly dear to Paul for his zeal in preaching the Gospel and for his faithfulness that, when Paul had gone to Troas for the sake of the Gospel of Christ, he declared that his spirit had no rest because he had not found his brother Titus there. And a little later, on his way to Macedonia, he confirmed his love for Titus by writing, "But God, who comforts the humble, comforted us by the arrival of Titus." The Apostle sent him to Corinth, and he carried out with great wisdom his commission there, which was particularly for the purpose of collecting alms to aid the needy Church of the Hebrews. In the meantime, to spread the seed of the divine word among peoples of different places and languages, after many journeys and toils under Paul's leadership, he reached the island of Crete. Later, when he was made bishop of this Church by the Apostle himself, he gave an example of good works. It is said that he went to Dalmatia and made great efforts there to unfurl the standard of the Cross. At length full of merits, he died in the Lord at the age of ninety-four years.
02-07.txt:[Lectio94]
Romuald was born of a noble family of Ravenna, his father's name being Sergius. As a young man, he withdrew to the neighboring monastery of Classis to lead a life of penance. There, fired with great eagerness for the love of God and encouraged by an apparition of St. Apollinaris, he became a monk. He exercised himself un-wearyingly in fasting and prayer, and such joy showed on his face that it gladdened all those who saw him. Burning with desire for martyrdom, he set out for Pannonia, but was taken ill and forced to return. He became the founder of the Order of Camaldolese monks, whom he had seen in a vision as Angels mounting a ladder that reached up to heaven. When he had reached the age of a hundred and twenty, having served God in the greatest austerity for a hundred of those years, he at length made his way to Him in the Year of salvation 1027, and was buried with honor in the church of his Order at Fabriano.
02-08.txt:[Lectio94]
John of Matha was born at Faucon in Provence of devout and noble parents. When he was celebrating his first Mass, he understood from a vision that he was to devote himself to ransoming those taken captives by the infidels. Because of this sign from God, he retired into the wilderness, where he found Felix of Valois, who had been living in that same place for many years. Here they both devoted themselves most fervently to prayer. After being advised three times in dreams, they went to Rome and obtained the approbation of Pope Innocent III for the new Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Ransoming of Captives. They then built their first monastery in the diocese of Meaux, and Felix remained there as superior. But John returned to Rome with some companions, where Innocent gave them the house, church, and hospital of St. Thomas in Formis on the Coelian Hill. He also gave them letters to present to Miramolin, King of Morocco, and thus the work of ransoming captives was auspiciously begun. Then John went to Spain, a great part of which was oppressed under the Saracen yoke. Having moved the hearts of all to pity the captives, he built hospitals and ransomed many prisoners. At length, he returned to Rome; there, broken in health by his toils and by illness, he died in the Lord on the 21st day of December, in the year 1213.
02-09.txt:[Lectio94]
Cyril of Alexandria was the nephew of Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, and even as a young man gave evidence of unusual brilliance. When Theophilus died, Cyril succeeded to his see and, "becoming from the heart a pattern to the flock," gained glory as the best of shepherds. He shone in a special way in his zeal for the integrity of the Catholic faith against Nestorius, the bishop of Constantinople, who asserted that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary was a man only and not as God, and that divinity had been added to Him for His merits. After trying in vain to persuade Nestorius of the truth, Cyril denounced him to pope St. Celestine. As the delegate of this pope he presided over many sessions of the Council of Ephesus. In the council the Nestorian heresy was completely condemned and Nestorius himself deposed from his see, while the Catholic doctrine was proclaimed that in Christ there is but one Person and that Person divine, and that the glorious Virgin Mary is the Mother of God. Solicitous only for the faith and, as a result, enduring many things, Cyril accomplished great works for God's Church and published many writings. Finally he died a holy death in the year 444, the thirty-second year of his episcopate.
02-10.txt:[Lectio94]
Scholastica, sister of the venerable Father, Benedict, had been consecrated to God in early childhood, as St. Gregory tells us in the second book of his Dialogue used to visit with Benedict once a year. On these occasions he would go down to meet her in a house belonging to the monastery a short distance from the entrance. On a certain day, a sudden downpour of rain, obtained from God by Scholastica just as darkness was setting in, made it impossible for her venerable brother to leave. And so they spent the entire night together and both of them derived great profit from the holy thoughts they exchanged about the interior life. The next morning Scholastica returned to her convent and Benedict to his monastery. Three days later he stood in his room looking up toward the sky, he beheld his sister's soul leaving her body and entering the heavenly court in the form of a dove. Then Benedict sent some of his brethren to bury her body in the tomb he had prepared for himself. The bodies of these two were now to share a common resting place, just as in their souls had always been one in God.
02-11.txt:[Lectio94]
About four years after the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, a girl named Bernadette asserted that she had seen the Immaculate Mother of God several times. The place of the apparition was a grotto of the cliff by the bank of the Gave river, near the town of Lourdes, France, in the diocese of Tarbes. The many great miracles which followed were evidence enough for any prudent and faithful Christian that the finger of God was there. The location of a hitherto unknown spring at the grotto had been revealed in one of the apparitions; and the miracles for which Lourdes became best known were those very frequent occasions when the sick regained their health after drinking the water of the spring. And so, as news of the benefits said to be received by the faithful at the holy grotto was spreading abroad and the number coming there was increasing day by day, the Bishop of Tarbes carried out an official investigation and then gave permission for the cult of the Immaculate Virgin at the grotto. Soon a church was built. Vast crowds of the faithful have come to Lourdes each year, and the name of the Immaculate Mother of God continueth to increase in glory all over the world. Adding to this glory are the events during the procession of the most Blessed Sacrament: year after year, among the sick brought to Lourdes from all parts of the world to ask health from the Lord through the intercession of his Immaculate Mother, many are immediately cured. Rightly influenced by these events, Pope Pius X extended to the Universal Church the feast already granted to certain places by Leo XIII.
02-12.txt:[Lectio94]
In the thirteenth century there were seven Florentine noblemen namely Buonfiglio Monaldo, Buonaiuncta Manetti, Manetto del Antella, Amadeus de Amadei, Hugo Lippi, Gerard Sostegni, and Alexis Falconieri, who withdrew to a little hut in the country to meditate on the Passion of Christ and the sorrows of His grieving Mother. The Blessed Virgin appeared to them on Good Friday holding out a dark habit which they were to wear; and she made it known that it would be most pleasing to her if they should found a new order of religious who would reverence and foster the memory of the sorrows which she had suffered as she stood beneath the Lord's Cross. Then these holy men, with the help of St. Peter the Martyr of the Order of Preachers, founded the Order of Servants of the Blessed Virgin and, with their companions, began to go about through cities and towns, everywhere preaching Christ crucified, by word and by example. And, as one love had united them in a true brotherhood during life, one grave received them when they died, and they were venerated as one by popular devotion. Clement XI and Benedict XIII, therefore, confirmed this common veneration which had been paid to them, and Leo XIII enrolled them among the Saints.
02-23.txt:[Lectio94]
Peter, born at Ravenna, lost both his parents. Under the care of his brother Damian he was educated in the liberal arts and sciences. From proficiency as a student he advanced to renown as a teacher. In order to lead a more perfect life, he joined the monastery of Avellana, of the Order of the monks of the Holy Cross of Fonte Avellana, founded by blessed Ludolph, a disciple of St. Romuald: Later on, Peter governed that monastery and developed it in such a way that he was rightly considered another founder of his Order and its shining ornament. Stephen IX made him a cardinal of the Roman Church and bishop of Ostia, although Peter was unwilling and opposed to the appointment. At a very difficult period, he was a wonderful help to the Popes by his teaching and by the many missions and other labors he undertook. He deterred Henry IV, king of Germany, from the evil deed of divorcing his wife. He finally died in the Lord, famous for his holy works, at Faenza, as he was returning from a mission at Ravenna.
02-27.txt:[Lectio94]
Gabriel, born at Assisi in Umbria, and called Francis in memory of his seraphic fellow-citizen, gave evidence of great intellectual gifts. As a young man, when by the gift of God's mercy he had already been called to a more perfect life, he fell ill and began to weary of the vanity of the world. Entering the Passionist congregation, he chose the name Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, in order to keep in mind continually both the joys and the sorrows of the Virgin Mary. Honouring her in every way, he was accustomed particularly to contemplating her as worn out and afflicted by Jesus' sufferings, with such sorrow that he shed a flood of tears. He kept his virginity intact, and, following the strict usage of his congregation, he lived wholly crucified to the world, for God alone. Thus he completed his short life in the exercise of all virtues; consumed by the fire of charity rather than by the force of his illness and refreshed by the aid of God's Mother, he went to heaven in the year 1862. Pope Pius X numbered him among the Blessed; Benedict XV, among the Saints; and Pius XI extended his Office and Mass to the Universal Church.
03-04.txt:[Lectio94]
Casimir, son of the king of Poland, was brought up from his childhood in the love of God and in learning. He tamed his youthful body by wearing a hair-shirt, and weakened it with continual fasting. Indefatigable in contemplating the Passion of Christ, he never slackened in the spirit of prayer. He was most zealous in promoting the Catholic faith and in doing away with the schism of the Ruthenians. So helpful and kind was he to the poor and to all those afflicted by any calamity that he earned the name of father and defender of the needy. He preserved his virginity intact all his life. Made perfect in a short time, filled with grace and merits, he gave up his spirit to God on the day which he had foretold, in the twenty-fifth year of his age. He was famous for many miracles, and Leo X numbered him among the Saints.
03-06.txt:[Lectio94]
Perpetua and Felicitas were arrested in Africa, together with Saturninus and Secundus, during the persecution of the emperor Severus, and were cast into a dark dungeon, where they were later joined by Saturus. There as they were still catechumens, they were baptized. Then they were condemned to the beasts. Felicitas was undergoing the pains of childbirth, and as she groaned, one of the gaolers asked her what she would do in the ampitheatre. She answered, Now it is I who suffer, but there it will be another within me who will suffer on my account, because I shall be suffering for him. They were brought into the ampitheatre, with all the people looking on, and were beaten with rods. Then they were tossed by a savage cow for some time, gored with its horns and dashed to the ground. Finally they were killed by the sword together with their companions who had been attacked by various wild beasts, on the sixth of March.
03-07.txt:[Lectio94]
Thomas Aquinas, born of noble parents, entered the Order of Preachers while he was still quite young, against the will of his mother and brothers, He was sent to Paris; but his brothers waylaid him on the journey and abducted him to the castle of San Giovanni. There the angelic youth put to flight with a firebrand a woman who had been brought in to cause him to lose his chastity. At Paris, he devoted himself to the study of philosophy and theology with such success that, when he was scarcely twenty-five years old, he gained the highest praise for his public commentaries on the works of the philosophers and the theologians. He never started to read or write without first having prayed. Once he heard: these words from Jesus crucified: “You have written well about Me, Thomas. What reward would you like to receive?" And he lovingly answered, "None but Yourself, Lord." There was no kind of writing in which he was not thoroughly versed. Summoned to Rome by Urban IV, at his command he composed the Office for the feast of Corpus Christi. On his way to the Council of Lyons, to which he had been sent by St. Gregory X, he was taken ill at the monastery of Fossa Nuova and, as he lay sick, he interpreted the Canticle of Canticles. He died there at the age of fifty years, on March 7, 1274. Leo XIII proclaimed and appointed him the heavenly patron of all Catholic schools.
03-08.txt:[Lectio94]
John of God was born of devout Catholic parents in the town of Montenor o Novo in Portugal, was chosen for a special destiny by the Lord. Recalled by divine grace from a lax way of life, he gave an example of great holiness. He built two large hospitals in the city of Granada from alms collected from the faithful and founded the Order of Brothers Hospitallers for the service of the sick. John was famous for his kindness toward the Poor and his contempt for himself. He excelled in a wonderful devotion to the Blessed Virgin and in the gift of tears. Seized with a grave illness, he clung with hands and heart to the Lord Christ hanging on the Cross.,and died in the Lord on March 8 in the year 1550. Pope Alexander VIII enrolled him among the Saints; and Leo XIII proclaimed him the heavenly Patron of all hospitals of the needy poor all over the world, and ordered his name to be invoked in the litany for the dying.
03-09.txt:[Lectio94]
Frances, who was to become a noble Roman matron, had resolved at the age of eleven to consecrate her virginity to God and enter a convent, but in obedience to her parents she married Lorenzo Ponziani, a wealthy young nobleman. In the married state she observed, as far as it was lawful for her to do so, the austerities oi the stricter life she had intended to lead; and her endurance in adversities.was wonderful to see. To counteract the trend toward worldly display and vanity among the married women of Rome, she founded a house for Oblates in the City. under the rule of St. Benedict and observed in the congregation of Monte Oliveto. When her husband died, she retired immediately to this. house and begged humbly to become a member of the community. Her petition was granted, and she was made superior of the group, but she preferred to call herself the handmaid of all and the most worthless of women. She thwarted the tricks by which the devil kept trying to entice her, and with the help of her guardian Angel turned every temptation into the occasion of a glorious triumph. Renowned for her virtues and miracles, she journeyed to the Lord at age of fifty-six. Pope Paul V added her name to the list of the Saints.
04-02.txt:[Lectio94]
Francis of Paula, born in Calabria, even as a young man burned with love of God and withdrew to an hermitage where, for six years, he lived a life hard in its austerity but sweetened by meditating on heavenly things. When the fame of his virtues spread abroad, many came to him to be trained in the love of God; and, emerging from his solitude for the sake of charity, he built a church near Paola, and there laid the first foundations of his Order. Her preserved his virginity all his life; and so cultivated humility that he called himself the least of all men and wished his followers to be named Minims. Clad in poor garments, he went about barefoot and slept on the ground. He cherished charity so greatly that he made it the motto of his Order. God witnessed to the holiness of his servant by many miracles, one of which is particularly famous: when he was refused passage on a ship by the sailors, he spread out his cloak on the waves and so crossed the straits of Sicily with his companion. He also predicted many things in the spirit of prophecy. At Tours, he went to the Lord, in the year of salvation 1507, in the ninety-first year of his age.
04-04.txt:[Lectio94]
Isidore of Spain was born at Carthagena, his father, Severianus, being governor of the province. His brothers, Leander of Seville and Fulgentius of Carthagena, both holy bishops, educated him in the love of God and in the liberal arts, and he became outstanding in all forms of knowledge and Christian virtue. When Leander died, Isidore was raised to the bishopric of Seville and made vicar apostolic for the whole of Spain. In his episcopal ministry he gave an example of all good works, and was especially concerned with the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline. When a Council was convoked at Seville, he broke up and stamped out the heresy of the Acephali, then threatening Spain, by the force and eloquence of his arguments. The fame of his holiness and teaching became so widespread that, hardly sixteen years after his death, he was called the illustrious Doctor. He wrote many useful books filled with learning, and presided over the fourth Council of Toledo, the most celebrated of those held in Spain. Finally, after he had ruled his church for about forty years, he died at Seville in the year 636.
04-05.txt:[Lectio94]
Born of a good family at Valencia in Spain, Vincent was clothed in the habit of the Friars Preachers at the age of eighteen. He applied himself zealously to sacred studies, and received the degree of Doctor of Theology with great distinction. Soon he began to preach the word of God with such force and effectiveness that he brought a vast number of unbelievers to the faith of Christ and called back many thousands of Christians from sin to repentance. He sang Mass every day and daily gave a sermon to the people, never ate meat, calmed quarrels and dissensions and, when the seamless garment of the Church was rent by harmful schism, laboured unceasingly to unite it and to preserve its unity. At length, worn out by old age and illness, famous for his miracles, he died a most holy death at Vannes in Britanny, and Pope Callistus III numbered him among the Saints.
04-11.txt:[Lectio94]
Leo I, an Etruscan, ruled over the Church at the time when Attila, King of the Huns and called the Scourge of God, was invading Italy; he had taken and burned Aquileia and was preparing his forces to attack Rome. Leo went out to meet him and, by God-given eloquence, persuaded him to withdraw; then Leo was welcomed back to Rome with great rejoicing. A little later, when Genseric was invading the city, Leo persuaded him, with the same forceful eloquence, to abstain from burning, outrages and slaughter. When Leo saw the Church harassed by many heresies, and especially by the Nestorians and the Eutychians, he called the Council of Chalcedon at which, with six hundred and thirty bishops assembled, Eutyches and Dioscorus were condemned and the condemnation of Nestorius repeated. The decrees of this Council were then confirmed by Leo's authority. He constructed many churches and built a monastery near the Basilica of St. Peter. After a life filled with these and other admirable works, including a great number of holy and eloquent writings, he fell asleep in the Lord on the tenth day of November, in the twenty-first year of his pontificate.
04-13.txt:[Lectio94]
From the Book of Dialogues written by Pope St. Gregory
!Book 3, chap. 31
King Hermenegild, son of Leovigild, King of the Visigoths, was converted from the Arian heresy to the Catholic faith by the preaching of that most worthy man, Leander, Bishop of Seville, and one of my greatest friends. Hermenegild's father was an Arian, and tried first to persuade him by promises and then to terrify him by threats to return to that heresy. But when Hermenegild continued to answer that he could never abandon the true faith now that he had come to know it, his angry father deprived him of his kingdom, took away all his possessions, and shut him up under strict guard, with his neck and hands chained. And so the young King Hermenegild began to despise the kingdom of earth and eagerly to seek the kingdom of heaven. Lying bound and in sackcloth, he poured forth prayers to Almighty God to give him strength. When Easter came, his treacherous father sent an Arian bishop to him in the middle of the night, to have Hermenegild receive sacrilegiously consecrated Communion from this bishop's hands and so be restored to his father's favour. But, as a man devoted to God, he gave the Arian bishop the rebuke he deserved and refused his treacherous offer with fitting indignation. When the bishop returned, Hermenegild's Arian father was enraged and at once sent his servants, who killed this staunch Confessor of God where he lay imprisoned.
04-14.txt:[Lectio94]
Justin, son of Priscus and of Greek extraction, was born at Nablus in Palestine. He was so possessed by love for philosophy that, in his search for truth, he enrolled in every philosophical school he could find. But in these he found nothing but fallacious wisdom, and, taught by enlightenment sent him from heaven, he embraced the philosophy of the Christian faith. Thereafter he studied the books of holy Scripture day and night and, when he had thus become learned in the supreme knowledge of Jesus Christ, he wrote many books to explain and to spread the Christian faith, among which his two Apologies are particularly well known. When he had presented these to the the emperors Antoninus Pius and his sons, and fought strenuously for the faith by disputations as well, he obtained a public edict from the princes to restrain the slaughter of Christians. But he himself was accused through the plotting of Crescens the Cynic, whose wicked ways he had criticized. He was taken prisoner by Crescens' followers and brought before Rusticus the prefect. When he firmly held to his confession of the faith, he was condemned to death, and went to his rest crowned with the glory of martyrdom.
04-21.txt:[Lectio94]
Anselm, born of noble Catholic parents at Aosta on the borders of Italy, as a young man abandoned his homeland and all his possessions and was professed at the Benedictine monastery of Bec, where he advanced in a most wonderful way in the attainment of learning and virtue. He was held in honour by kings and bishops, and was a friend of St. Gregory VII, at the time much troubled by persecutions, who wrote him letters filled with affection, commending himself and the Church to Anselm's prayers. After the death of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury and Anselm's former teacher, he was called to rule over that Church, and, by word and example, by writings and by holding councils, he restored it to its pristine state of piety and ecclesiastical discipline. But, soon after, when King William tried by force and threats to usurp the rights of the Church and Anselm steadfastly resisted, his possessions were confiscated and he himself exiled. He went to Urban II in Rome, who welcomed him with honour and the highest praise. At the Council of Bari, he defended against the errors of the Greeks the doctrine that the Holy Ghost proceedeth also from the Son, by countless proofs taken from the Scriptures and the holy Fathers. After King William's death, his brother Henry recalled Anselm to England, and there he fell asleep in the Lord.
04-22.txt:[Lectio94]
Soter, a countryman of Fondi in Campania, succeeded the holy martyr Anicetus. It was he who ordained that nuns should not touch the sacred vessels and linen of the Altar, nor serve with the incense in the Church. He ordained likewise, that on the anniversary of the Lord's Supper, every one should receive the Body of Christ, except those who were forbidden to do so on account of grievous sin. He was crowned with martyrdom under the Emperor Marcus Aurélius, and was buried in the Cemetery, which was afterwards called that of St. Calixtus. Caius was a Dalmatian and a kinsman of the Emperor Diocletian. It was he who ordained that the following should be the order of degrees in the Church through which all should pass before they be made bishop: first, Porter; second, Lector; third, Exorcist; fourth, Acolyte; fifth, Subdeacon; sixth, Deacon; seventh, Priest. Caius fled from the cruelties practiced by Diocletian against the Christians, and lay hid for a while in a cave, but after eight years he and his brother Gabinus won the crown of martyrdom, and was likewise buried in the Cemetery of Callistus.
04-23.txt:[Lectio94]
The martyr George beareth among the Easterns the title of the holy and glorious Archmartyr, He suffered a glorious death, for Christ's sake, in the persecution under Diocletian. When peace was given to the Church soon after, under Constantine, the memory of the martyr began to be celebrated, and churches were built under his invocation at Lydda in Palestine and at Constantinople. For thenceforth an extraordinary enthusiasm with regard to him grew up among the faithful, first in all parts of the East, and afterwards in the West. Of old time, when Christian armies had been about to fight, they have been used to call as patrons upon holy George, Maurice, and Sebastian. There had been already special honour paid in England to the holy martyr George, and the supreme Pontiff Benedict XIV. declared him the protector of the whole kingdom.
04-24.txt:[Lectio94]
Fidelis was born of a good family called Rey at Sigmaringen in Swabia, and gained a famous name for himself in legal work. But when experience shewed him its dangers, he abandoned it and, enlightened by a call from heaven, asked to be admitted among the Capuchins. When he had taken his vows, he was an inspiration and example to all by his observance of the rule and zealously promoted the cult of the Virgin Mother of God and of the Rosary. He asked God that he might die as a martyr for the Catholic faith, and this was granted him. For he was appointed leader of the missions which the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith had established at this time for the Grisons and, since he spared himself no toil and converted many heretics to Christ, he incurred the hatred of evil men. So, on the 24th of April in the year 1622, at a church in a place called Sevis, he was struck down with blows and wounds by some heretics who had deceitfully invited him to meet them, pretending to be converts. And thus he consecrated with his own blood the first-fruits of the Martyrs of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.
04-26.txt:[Lectio94]
Cletus was a Roman, and ruled the Church in the time of the Emperors Vespasian and Titus. In accordance with the precept of the Prince of the Apostles he ordained twenty-five priests for the City. He was the first Pope who made use in his letters of the phrase, Health and Apostolic Benediction. Having brought the Church into an excellent state of order, he was crowned with martyrdom in the reign of the Emperor Domitian, and the second persecution since the time of Nero, and was buried on the Vatican mount, hard by the body of blessed Peter. Marcellinus was a Roman; he ruled the Church during the savage persecution which was ordered by the Emperor Diocletian. He suffered through the false severity of those who blamed him as being too indulgent toward them who had fallen into idolatry, and for this reason also hath been slandered to the effect that he himself burnt incense to idols; but this blessed Pope, on account of his confession of the faith, was put to death along with three other Christians, whose names are Claudius, Cyrinus and Antoninus.
04-27.txt:[Lectio94]
Peter Canisius was born at Nijmegen in Gelderland, the Netherlands. After joining the Society of Jesus, he began at once to defend the Catholic faith against the wiles of the innovators by missions, sermons, and writing books. His one idea was to promote the greater glory of God and it would be impossible to relate how many labors and hardships he went through for more than forty years. He took part more than once in the Council of Trent, travelled on successful missions through many parts of Germany, instructed all classes of society with sound teaching, both public and private, and defended many cities and provinces against the contagion of heresy or brought back to the Catholic faith those tainted by heresy. He was made head of the province of Germany by St. Ignatius, and built houses and colleges in many places. Against the Centuriators of Magdeburg, he wrote two famous volumes, and brought out a summary of Christian doctrine highly approved both by the judgment of theologians and by its long continued use among the people, and many other works in the mother-tongue. From all this, he earned the title of Hammer of the Heretics and second Apostle of Germany. Finally, at Fribourg in Switzerland, at the age of seventy-seven, he rested in the Lord on the 21st day of December, 1597. Pius XI added him to the list of the Saints and at the same time proclaimed him a Doctor of the Universal Church.
04-28.txt:[Lectio94]
Paul of the Cross was born at Ovada in Liguria and, as soon as he came to the use of reason, burned with love for Jesus Christ crucified. Fired with the desire for martyrdom, he joined the army which was being assembled in Venice to fight against the Turks. But when the will of God was made known to him, and he had refused a most honourable marriage and an inheritance left to him by his uncle, he received a coarse tunic as a habit from his bishop and, although not yet a cleric, cultivated the field of the Lord by preaching the word of God. In Rome, out of obedience to Pope Benedict XIII, he was raised to the priesthood. Then he retired into the solitude of Monte Argentario, where the Blessed Virgin had already invited him to go, at the same time shewing unto him a black habit adorned with the insignia of her Son's Passion. There he laid the foundations of a new congregation, whose members bind themselves by vow to promote the memory of the Lord's Passion, and he also established one for nuns to meditate continually upon this mystery. Renowned for his preaching, virtues, and divine charisms, he fell asleep in the Lord at Rome, in the year 1775. Pope Pius IX enrolled him among the Blessed and then among the Saints.
04-29.txt:[Lectio94]
Peter was born in Verona of parents infected with Manichaeism, but almost from his infancy fought against heresies, and no persuasions of his father or his uncle could move him from holding to the faith. As a young man he went to Bologna to study and there joined the Order of Preachers. As a religious he gave a shining example of virtue, especially by his purity of body and soul, never sullied by mortal sin, and excelled in his wonderful zeal for penance and contemplation. He devoted himself most fruitfully to gaining the salvation of souls, and was kindled with such zeal for the faith that he asked God for the grace of dying for it, a favour which was granted him. For, while he was carrying out the work of the Holy Inquisition and on his way back from Como to Milan, he was wounded in the head by the sword of a wicked assassin. Nearly dead, he repeated with his last breath the symbol of the faith which he had defended with manly fortitude from his childhood, and gained the palm of martyrdom in the year of salvation 1252. A year later, Innocent IV enrolled him among the holy Martyrs.
04-30.txt:[Lectio94]
Catharine, a virgin of Siena, born of devout parents, was granted the habit of St. Dominic worn by the Sisters of Penance. Her abstinence was most strict, and her whole life was one of marvellous austerity. When she was staying at Pisa on the Lord's Day, refreshed by the Bread of heaven and rapt in ecstasy, she saw the crucified Lord coming with a great light and, from the marks of his wounds, five rays coming down to the same places in her body. Aware of the mystery, she implored the Lord that the wounds would not be visible, and the colour of the rays immediately changed from that of blood to brightness, in the form of pure light touching her hands and feet and heart. But such was the pain she suffered, even though the signs of the bleeding wounds could not be seen, that she believed she would soon have died if God had not lessened it. Her learning was infused, not acquired. She went to Pope Gregory XI at Avignon and shewed him that she knew by divine means of the vow he had made to return to the City, a vow known to God alone, and she was the cause of the Pope's going to occupy in person his See at Rome. In about the thirty-third year of her age she went to her Bridegroom, and Pius II enrolled her among the holy Virgins.
05-02.txt:[Lectio94]
Athanasius was Bishop of Alexandria, and a most vigorous defender of the Catholic religion. When he was still a deacon, he refuted the impiety of Arius at the Council of Nicaea, and earned such hatred from the Arians that, from that time on, they never ceased to lay snares for him. Driven into exile, he went to Treves in Gaul. He endured unbelievable hardships and wandered over a great part of the world, being often driven from his Church, and often restored by the authority of Pope Julius and the decrees of the Councils of Sardica and Jerusalem. All this while, he was persecuted by the Arians. Finally, rescued, by the help of God, from so many great dangers, he died at Alexandria during the reign of Emperor Valens. His life and death are marked by great miracles. He wrote many works, both of devotion and of catechetics, and, with great holiness, he ruled the Church of Alexandria, in those most troubled times, for forty-six years.
05-04.txt:[Lectio94]
Monica, the devout mother of St. Augustine and a shining example to wives and mothers, followed her son to Milan when he become a Manichaean and, by her constant prayers, tears and fasting, gained him for Christ with the help of Ambrose the bishop. When she was returning with him to Africa, she fell ill of fever at Ostia on the Tiber, and, after nine days, died peacefully. After telling about her death, her sorrowing son adds: We did not think that hers was a death which it was seemly to mark with repining, or tears, or lamentations, seeing that she died not sorrowfully, nor at all as touching her best and noblest part. This we knew, because we knew what her life had been, her faith unfeigned, her sure and certain hope. And then, nevertheless, I remembered again what thine handmaid was used to be, her walk with thee, how godly and holy it was, and with us so gentle and long-suffering; and that it was all gone away from me now. And I wept, over her and for her. And if any man will make it blame to me that I wept for a little while, when I saw lying dead before mine eyes my mother, who had wept over me so many years, that she might see me live, I say, if any man will make it blame to me, I pray him not to sneer at me, but rather (if his charity be so great) himself to weep over my sins before thee, who art a Father to all them to whom thy Christ is a Brother. St. Monica's body was first buried in the Church of St. Aurea, but, long after, in the papacy of Martin V, it was carried to Rome and honourably buried again in the Church of St. Augustine.
05-05.txt:[Lectio94]
Pius, born at Bosco in Lombardy, entered the Order of Preachers at the age of fourteen. When he had been ordained to the priesthood, he preached in many churches, and his sermons bore much spiritual fruit. For a long time he carried out the office of Inquisitor in a way that was both vigorous and praiseworthy. He was promoted by Paul IV to the bishopric of Nepi and Sutri, and two years later he was enrolled among the Cardinals of the Church. Pius IV transferred him to the See of Mondóvi in Piedmont, where he visited his whole diocese and remedied many abuses. Thereafter, he returned to Rome, where he was engaged in many important affairs. When Pius IV died, he was elected Pope, contrary to all expectation; and thereafter he changed nothing in his way of life except his outer garments. Not so much by arms as by the prayers he poured out, he overcame Selim, the Sultan of the Turks, who had gathered together a huge fleet at Lepanto. In the year 1572, while preparing a new expedition against the Turks, he died peacefully in the Lord, at the age of sixty-eight. His body is venerated by the faithful in the basilica of St. Mary Major. Clement XI enrolled him among the Saints.
05-06.txt:[Lectio94]
The Lesson is taken from the Book of St. Jerome the Priest against Jovinian
The Apostle John was one of the first disciples of the Lord, and there is a tradition that he was the youngest of the Apostles. He was a virgin when the Faith of Christ found him, and he hath remained a virgin for ever. This is why he was the disciple whom Jesus loved more than any of the others, and why he leaned on Jesus' breast. When Peter, who had been married, wished to ask the Lord who it was that was about to betray him, he dared not ask for himself, but beckoned to John, that he should ask it. After the resurrection, when Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that the Lord was risen, Peter and John ran both together to the sepulchre, but John did outrun Peter. Later on, when the Apostles were on the Sea of Galilee, in a ship, fishing, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus, till virgin knew Virgin, and that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter: It is the Lord. John was both an Apostle and an Evangelist, and also a Prophet. Also Tertullian saith that when he was at Rome, he was put into a vessel of boiling oil, but that he came out cleaner and healthier than he went in.
05-07.txt:[Lectio94]
Stanislas was born of a noble family at Krakow. His birth was God's answer to the devout prayers of his parents, who in thirty years of marriage had remained childless. From his earliest days, he gave tokens of future holiness, and, as a young man, made great progress in the study of canon law and theology. When his parents died, he distributed his large inheritance to the poor, intending to embrace the monastic life. But God arranged otherwise, and he was made Canon and Preacher in Krakow by Bishop Lampert. Against his wishes, he later became Bishop Lampert's successor, and in this office he was a shining example of every pastoral virtue, especially of kindness to the poor. He excommunicated Boleslas, King of Poland, whom he had often rebuked in vain for his corrupt way of life. In a violent rage the King sent soldiers to the church to kill the holy Bishop. But when these were driven off by the power of God, the King with his own hand beheaded Bishop Stanislas as he was offering the immaculate Victim on the altar. God proclaimed the holiness of his servant by many miracles after his death; and on the strength of them Innocent IV enrolled him among the Saints.
05-08.txt:[Lectio94]
That the blessed Archangel Michael hath oftentimes been seen of men is attested on the authority of the Holy Bible, and also by the ancient traditions of the Saints. For this reason such visions are held in remembrance in many places. As of old time did the Synagogue of the Jews, so now doth the Church of God venerate Michael as her watcher and defender. But during the Popedom of Gelasius I, the summit of Mount Gargano in Apulia, at whose foot lieth the town of Siponto, was the scene of an extraordinary appearance of this same Archangel Michael. It was not long after these things that Pope Boniface IV hallowed the Church of St. Michael on Hadrian's Mole at Rome, on the 29th day of September, on the which day the Church also holdeth in remembrance All Angels. But this present day is hallowed in remembrance of the manifestation of the Archangel Michael.
05-09.txt:[Lectio94]
Gregory Nazianzus, a noble Cappadocian, earned the name of The Divine from his extraordinary knowledge of the sacred sciences. It was to these that he turned after being educated at Athens, together with St. Basil, in every branch of learning. He was first made Bishop of Sosima and then administered the Church of Nazianzus. Summoned to rule over the Church of Constantinople, he purged the city of heretical errors and brought it back to the Catholic faith. Although this deed should have won him the love of all, it earned him the hatred of many; so that, when a great quarrel had arisen among the bishops on his account, he resigned his See voluntarily, making his own the words of the prophet Jonah: If this storm hath arisen on my account, then throw me into the sea, that you may cease to be tossed about. He returned to Nazianzus, and having arranged that Eulalius should be its bishop, devoted himself wholly to prayer and the study of divine things. He wrote many famous works, both in prose and in verse, and was a most ardent defender of the doctrine of the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father. When Theodosius was emperor, Gregory, now grown old, departed to the life of heaven.
05-10.txt:[Lectio94]
Antoninus, born in Florence of good parents, from his boyhood gave remarkable evidence of his future sanctity. At the age of sixteen, he entered the Order of Friars Preachers, and from then on, he shone with the greatest virtues. His living was singularly abstemious, and he preserved his virginity intact. He was so skillful in giving advice that he was called Antoninus the Counsellor. Named Archbishop of Florence by Eugenius IV, he reluctantly accepted the post only at the Pope's insistence. In this office he excelled in prudence, piety, charity, gentleness and priestly zeal. With no teacher to help him, he gained a thorough mastery of almost all the sciences and wrote many famous books expounding them. He died in the Lord on May 2, 1459, and was canonized by Adrian VI.
05-12.txt:[Lectio94]
The brothers Nereus and Achilleus were eunuchs of Flavia Domitilla and were baptized by St. Peter at the same time as she herself and her mother Plautilla. Because they persuaded Domitilla to consecrate her virginity to God, they were accused of being Christians by Aurelian, who had been betrothed to her, and were sent to the island of Ponza. Soon afterwards, they were scourged in an effort to make them sacrifice to idols, and were taken to Terracina, where, after they had overcome the torture of the rack and flaming torches, they were beheaded. Their bodies were taken to Rome by their disciple Auspicius and buried on the Ardeatine Way. As for Flavia Domitilla, who had received the sacred veil of a virgin from Pope St. Clement, she also was deported to the island of Ponza, and after a long imprisonment was taken to Terracina. There, by the judge's orders, her dwelling was set on fire, and she won a glorious death, along with the virgins Theodora and Euphrosyna, her foster-sisters, on May 7, under Emperor Trajan. Their bodies were buried by the Deacon Caesarius. Pancras, born of a noble Phrygian family, was baptized in Rome at the age of fourteen. Under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, he was arrested; and when he firmly refused to sacrifice to the gods, he was beheaded and so won the glorious crown of martyrdom. His body was buried secretly on the Via Aurelia by the matron Octavilla.
05-13.txt:[Lectio94]
Robert was born at Montepulciano of the patrician family of Bellarmine, and had a most devout mother, Cynthia Cervini, the sister of Pope Marcellus II. Outstanding for his devotion and chastity, the young man entered the Society of Jesus at the age of eighteen, and until his death he was a model of the religious virtues for all his brethren. After his course in philosophy, he was first sent to Florence, then to Monreale, Padua, and Louvain; and he filled the offices of teacher and preacher in an admirable way, even though he was not yet a priest. Later he was ordained to the priesthood at Louvain; and he taught theology in such a way as soon to be considered the most famous theologian in all Europe. Recalled to Rome, he taught apologetics in the Roman College, where he was also appointed spiritual director, and led the angelic young Aloysius along the paths of holiness. Over his protests, he was made Cardinal by Pope Clement VIII, and soon after was consecrated bishop, ruling the archdiocese of Capua for three years in a most holy way. He resigned this office to become a counsellor of the highest integrity and loyalty to the Supreme Pontiff in Rome until, when he was almost eighty years old, on the 17th day of September, 1621, he died a holy death in the Lord. Besides his polemical works he wrote many other noteworthy books, among which his little golden Catechism remaineth famous. Pope Pius XI added the name of this strong defender of the Catholic faith to the number of the Saints and declared him a Doctor of the universal Church.
05-15.txt:[Lectio94]
John Baptist de La Salle was born of a noble family of Reims and as a young man studied literature and philosophy at the academy in that city. Having become a cleric, he was made a canon of Reims at the age of sixteen, and later he was received into the Sulpician seminary at Paris. After his ordination to the priesthood, he undertook the direction of the Sisters of the Child Jesus, whose work was the education of girls, and he guided and defended them most prudently. Turning his attention to the formation of boys from ordinary families in religious and good habits, after many difficulties he founded the Institute of Brothers of the Christian Schools. This institute was confirmed by Benedict XIII. John Baptist resigned his canonry, gave away his goods to the poor, and in humility also resigned the governance of the institute he had founded. Full of virtues and merits, he fell asleep in the Lord in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Pope Leo XIII first included him in the list of the Blessed and then in that of the Saints, and Pius XII appointed him the special heavenly patron of all teachers of boys and young men.
05-16.txt:[Lectio94]
St. Ubald was born of a noble family at Gubbio in Umbria, and was well trained, from his earliest years, in devotion and in letters. As a young man, he was often urged to marry, but he never gave up his determination to preserve his virginity. When he was made a priest, he distributed his patrimony to the poor and to churches. He entered the Institute of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine and brought it to his own country. Against his will, he was put over the Church of Gubbio by Pope Honorius II and given episcopal consecration. Making himself with his whole heart a model for his flock, he changed nothing in his way of life and became illustrious for every kind of virtue. Although he suffered from various infirmities for a long time, he never ceased to give thanks to God. When he had governed the Church entrusted to him for many years in a way deserving of the highest praise, he fell asleep in peace, famous for his works and miracles.
05-17.txt:[Lectio94]
Paschal Baylon was born of poor and devout parents in the town of Torre Hermosa in Aragon, and spent his boyhood and youth in herding sheep. When he had embraced an austere way of life by entering the Friars Minor, he thought ceaselessly of how he might conform ever more closely to Christ crucified. With daily filial devotion he honoured as mother the Virgin Mother of God, to whom he had consecrated himself from his earliest years. He burned with a tender and steady love for the Eucharist, a love which he manifested even in death, when, lying on his bier, he opened and closed his eyes twice at the elevation of the sacred Host, to the astonishment of all present. Full of merits, he went to the Lord in the year 1592. Leo XIII declared and appointed him the special heavenly patron of all Eucharistic congresses and of all associations in honour of the most holy Eucharist.
05-18.txt:[Lectio94]
At the age of fifteen, Venantius of Camerino was denounced for his Christian religion to Antiochus, who was Prefect of Camerino under the Emperor Decius. Venantius presented himself to the prefect at the city gates. For a long time the prefect tempted him by means of promises and threats, then commanded that he be beaten and chained. Miraculously freed by an angel, Venantius was then burned with torches and suspended face down over a smoking fire. Led back again to the governor, he had all his teeth and jaws broken and, thus mutilated, he was thrown into a pit of dung. Rescued from this pit by an Angel, he stood once more before the judge, who, even as Venantius was speaking to him, fell from his tribunal, crying out, “Venantius, his God is true, take away our gods!” and expired. At length, after new and exquisite torments, Venantius was beheaded, along with ten others, and so finished the course of his glorious struggle. The Christians gave honourable burial to the bodies of these martyrs, who now rest in Camerino, in the church dedicated to Venantius.
05-19.txt:[Lectio94]
Peter, who is called Peter Celestine, because when he became Pope he did so under the title of Celestine V, was the son of respectable Catholic parents, and was born at Isernia in Apulia. He was hardly entered on boyhood, when he withdrew into a desert, in order to keep his soul safe from the snares of the world. In solitude he fed his mind with heavenly meditation, and brought his body into subjection, even by wearing an iron chain next to his bare flesh. He founded, under the Rule of St. Benedict, that congregation which was afterwards known as the Celestines. His light, as of a candle set upon a candlestick, could not be kept hidden, and after the Church of Rome had for a long while been widowed of a shepherd, he was chosen without his knowledge and in his absence, to fill the chair of Peter. The news of his election filled himself with as great amazement, as it did all others with sudden joy. When, however, he was seated in the exalted place of the Papal dignity, he found that the many cares by which he was beset made it well-nigh impossible for him to give himself to his accustomed meditations; of his own free will, he resigned the burden and the honor together; and, while he sought to return to his old way of life, he fell asleep in the Lord. How precious his death was in his sight was gloriously manifested by a Cross which appeared shining in the air before the door of the cell. He was illustrious for miracles both during his life and after his death, and when these had been duly investigated, Clement V, in the eleventh year after his departure hence, enrolled his name among those of the Saints.
05-20.txt:[Lectio94]
St. Bernardin Albizeschi was born of a noble family of Siena. Even in his first years in school, he turned away from children's games and applied himself to exercises of devotion, especially those honouring the Blessed Virgin. Outstanding for his charity and mercy to the poor, he gave himself over to serving them at the hospital Santa Maria della Scala in Siena. When he came to think of entering the religious life, divine Providence led him to choose, in preference to others, the Franciscan Order, where he excelled in humility, patience, and the other virtues of a religious. His superiors imposed on him the duty of preaching; and, although he knew that his voice was too weak and too hoarse for a preacher's, he accepted the charge and implored the help of God. As a result, he was marvellously freed of his handicap. Going about the towns and villages in the Name of Jesus, which was always carried on his lips and in his heart, he everywhere put an end to the dissensions of the citizens, and by his word and example did much to restore their piety and morality, which had fallen to a low level. He also wrote devout and learned books. At the age of sixty-six, rich in merit and famous for his miracles, he died a happy death at the town of L'Aquila in the Abruzzi.
05-25.txt:[Lectio94]
Pope Gregory VII, the former Hildebrand, was born near Soana in Tuscany. As noble as any of the nobility in learning, in holiness and in every kind of virtue, he was a shining light to the whole Church of God. As a young man, he donned the religious habit at the monastery of Cluny, and served God with such zeal and devotion that he was chosen Prior by the holy religious of that monastery. Later, he was made Abbot of the monastery of St. Paul-outside-the-Walls, and then Cardinal of the Roman Church, performing noteworthy services and missions under Popes Leo IX, Victor II, Stephen IX, Nicholas II and Alexander II. At the death of Alexander, he was unanimously elected Pope, and stood out as a most zealous promoter and defender of the freedom of the Church, for which he suffered many things, even having to leave Rome. His last words, as he lay dying, were: “I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and therefore I am dying in exile.” He went to heaven in year of salvation 1085, and his body was buried with honour in the Cathedral of Salerno.
05-26.txt:[Lectio94]
Philip Neri was born in Florence of good and devout parents. Giving up a large inheritance from his uncle, he went to Rome, where he studied philosophy and the sacred sciences and dedicated himself wholly to Christ. He became a priest out of obedience and gave himself up completely to the saving of souls. Through hearing confessions, in which he persevered to the last day of his life, he brought forth innumerable sons for Christ. Desiring to nourish them with the daily bread of God's word, with frequent reception of the sacraments, with constant prayer, and with other exercises of piety, he founded the Congregation of the Oratory. His heart was wounded by the love of God, burning with such ardour that it could only be contained within his breast because the Lord miraculously enlarged the breast by breaking two of his ribs, and forming an arch over the heart. Philip was famed for the gift of prophecy and for his wonderful penetration of the thoughts of men's hearts. He kept his virginity always intact; and he had the gift of distinguishing those who cultivated purity by a good odour, and those who did not by a stench. At the age of eighty, in the year of salvation 1595, he fell asleep in the Lord.
05-27.txt:[Lectio94]
Bede the Priest first saw the light at Jarrow on the borders of Britain and Scotland. Becoming a monk, he so ordered his life that, though he spent himself wholly in study of the arts and learning, he never neglected any part of the Monastic discipline. Every branch of learning he studied diligently, but most of all he loved to meditate on the holy Scriptures, so that after he had been ordained priest he set himself to explain the sacred books. In this he so clave to the teachings of the Fathers that he put forth no opinion unless it was corrobrated by their judgment, even using almost their very words. Always a hater of idleness, he would pass from reading to prayer, and then back again
from prayer to reading. To amend the conduct of the faithful, and to vindicate and assert the Faith, he wrote many books, which gained him such high esteem that even while he was still living his writings were read publicly in the churches, and that was first how he became to be called, the Venerable. At last worn out by years and hard work, he fell asleep holily in the Lord. He was declared by Leo XIII Doctor of the Universal Church.
05-27.txt:[Lectio94]
Bede the priest was born at Jarrow, on the borders of England and Scotland. When a monk, he so arranged his life as to devote himself completely to the study of the liberal arts and sacred doctrine, without in any way relaxing the discipline of the Rule. There was no kind of learning in which he was not thoroughly versed; but his special interest was the study of the Scriptures; and when he was made a priest, he undertook the task of explaining the holy books. In doing so, he adhered to the teaching of the holy Fathers so closely that he would say nothing not already approved by their judgment, and he even made use of their very words. Abhorring laziness, he would go straight from reading to prayer and from prayer to reading. To raise the level of morality among Christians and to defend and spread the faith, he wrote many books, which gained him such a reputation with everyone that his writings were publicly read in churches during his own lifetime. At length, worn out with age and labours, he fell asleep peacefully in the Lord. Leo XIII declared him a Doctor of the universal Church.
05-28.txt:[Lectio94]
Augustine, a monk of the Lateran monastery in Rome, was sent by Gregory the Great in 597 to England with about forty monks as his companions. They were invited by King Ethelbert to Canterbury, the chief city of the kingdom, and they built an oratory nearby. Through preaching the doctrine of heaven, Augustine brought many of the islanders and the king himself to the Christian faith, to the great joy of the king's wife, Bertha, who was a Christian. By order of Pope Gregory, Augustine was ordained bishop and founded the see of Canterbury; by the same Pontiff he was granted the use of the pallium and the right to organize the hierarchy of England. At length, after suffering great hardships for Christ, having set Mellitus over the Church of London, Justus over that of Rochester, and Lawrence over his own Church, he made his journey to heaven on the 26th day of May. He was buried in the monastery of St. Peter, which then became the burial place of bishops of Canterbury and of several kings.
05-29.txt:[Lectio94]
Mary Magdalene was born of the famous family of the Pazzi in Florence, and almost from her cradle entered on the way of perfection. At ten years old, she made a vow of perpetual virginity, and when she had taken the habit in the monastery of the Carmelite sisters, she showed herself to be exemplary in all virtues. She was so chaste that she did not even know of anything that could harm purity. She burned with such a fire of divine love that she was unable to bear it, and had to cool her breast by pouring water over it. She was notable for her love of neighbor, often passing sleepless nights either in doing the work of the sisters, or in serving the sick, whose ulcers she sometimes cured by licking them. She frequently repeated this saying: “To suffer, not to die.” At length, worn out by a long and serious illness, she went to the Bridegroom in the year 1607, having completed her forty-first year. Clement IX numbered her among the Holy Virgins.
06-01.txt:[Lectio94]
Angela Merici was born of devout parents and from her earliest years gave evidence of great virtue, frequently using sackcloth and scourges, and praying unceasingly. She renounced her inheritance and embraced the rule of the Third Order of St. Francis. Uniting evangelical poverty with the glory of virginity, she withheld no service of kindness to her neighbour. She was frequently refreshed by the Holy Eucharist, and was carried up to God with such force of love as often to be rapt out of her senses. At Brescia, she founded a new society of Virgins, under a fixed discipline and a rule of life conducive to holiness, which she put under the patronage and name of St. Ursula. At last, when she was almost seventy years old, she went to heaven, in the year of the Lord 1540, on January 27th. Pope Clement XIII by a solemn decree ratified and confirmed the veneration which had already been offered her for a long time; and Pope Pius VII enrolled her in the list of holy Virgins.
06-04.txt:[Lectio94]
Francis, originally called Ascanio, came from the noble family of the Caracciolo, in the city of Santa Maria della Villa in the Abruzzi. During a severe illness in his youth, he resolved to give himself up completely to the service of God and neighbour. He went to Naples and was ordained priest, after which he devoted himself wholly to contemplation and the winning of souls; and he was always on hand to comfort prisoners condemned to death. By a wonderful disposition of God, he joined with John Augustine Adorno and Fabrizio Caracciolo in founding the Order of Clerks Regular Minor, adding to the three usual vows another: not to seek dignities. After the death of Adorno, Francis ruled the Order in a most holy way, and with the greatest zeal promoted it throughout Spain and Italy. He burned with such love for the Most Blessed Sacrament that he would spend almost the whole night in adoring it; and he established adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as a practice to be kept for ever in his Order, the peculiar mark thereof. He was enriched with the gifts of prophecy and the reading of hearts. At length, in his forty-fourth year, he was taken with a deadly fever in the town of Agnone, in the Abruzzi, and fell asleep in the Lord on the 4th day of June, 1608. His holy body was taken to Naples and buried in the church of his Order.
06-05.txt:[Lectio94]
Boniface, originally called Winfrid, was born in England towards the end of the seventh century. After entering a monastery and becoming a priest, he showed great skill in winning souls through preaching. Burning with zeal to spread the faith, he preached the Gospel among the Frisians. Then he returned to England, where he ruled his monastery for two years in a most holy manner. Having resigned the office of Superior, he went to Rome, where he received from Gregory II the name of Boniface and the commission to proclaim Christ to the peoples of Thuringia and Saxony. With holy Willibrord, he returned to the Frisians and preached the Gospel with great fruit. Soon he was summoned to Rome and invested with the episcopal dignity; after which, he set out once more for Germany. There he rid Hesse and Thuringia of almost the last vestiges of idolatry. He was made apostolic delegate and Archbishop of Mainz, and he built many churches, and administered them either personally or through his disciples. At length, he went back once again to the Frisians, who had lapsed into idolatry, to preach the Gospel to them. There, with Eobanus his fellow bishop and many others, he was killed in a bloody massacre near the River Born and received the crown of martyrdom. His body lieth in the monastery of Fulda. 
06-06.txt:[Lectio94]
Norbert was born of most noble parents and, as a young man, studied the liberal arts. Then, while serving in the court of the Emperor himself, he spurned the seductions of the world and decided to enroll among the soldiers of the Church. After receiving holy orders he devoted himself entirely to preaching the word of God. He brought back innumerable heretics to the faith, sinners to penance, quarrellers to peace and concord. He retired to a desert place called Prémontré in the diocese of Laon; and there, with thirteen companions, he founded the Praemonstratensian Order, which spread in a marvelous way. Against his will, he was made Archbishop of Magdeburg, and constantly defended ecclesiastical discipline and especially celibacy. At the Council of Reims, he was a strong champion of Innocent II; and going to Rome with other bishops, he put an end to the schism of Pierleone. He fell asleep in the Lord at Magdeburg on the 6th day of June in the year of salvation 1134.
06-10.txt:[Lectio94]
Margaret, of the royal house of England, was born in Hungary and spent her childhood there as an unusually devout and pious girl. When her father was called to high office in his own country by his uncle, St. Edward, King of England, she went to England and then to Scotland. There, upon instructions from her mother, she married King Malcolm III. The country was blessed by her holy life and by her deeds of charity for the next thirty years. The austerity of her life was exceedingly great, and her charity towards her neighbour most ardent and zealous, especially for those in need, for whom she not infrequently exhausted the treasury. At length, having most patiently endured bitter sorrows and long illness, she rendered her soul to God on the 16th day of November. At the moment of her death her features, emaciated and pale, bloomed again with unusual beauty. On the authority of Clement X she was chosen Patroness of Scotland, and is honoured with great devotion throughout the world.
06-11.txt:[Lectio94]
Barnabas the Levite, of the people of Cyprus, was sent with Paul the Apostle to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He sold a field he owned and brought the money from it to the Apostles. Sent to Antioch to preach, he gave new strength by his exhortations to many who had been converted to belief in Christ. Thence he set forth with St. Paul and travelled through many cities and countries, to the great benefit of his hearers. Finally he left Paul, and with John, surnamed Mark, he took ship to Cyprus. There, in the seventh year of Nero's reign, he added to the dignity of the apostolic office the crown of martyrdom.
06-13.txt:[Lectio94]
Anthony came of good and devout parents at Lisbon in Portugal. As a young man, he entered the Institute of Canons Regular, but, fired with the desire for martyrdom, he changed to the Franciscan Order. He was sent to the Saracens, but was forced to return because of ill-health. On the return voyage, strong winds blew the ship off course to Sicily. Anthony was soon given holy orders and took up the work of preaching, in which he aroused so much admiration that he was called to interpret Sacred Scriptures at Bologna and other places. He was put in charge of this brethren's studies, and was deservedly called the Ark of the Covenant. and Hammer of Heretics. After many travels, he came, a year before his death, to Padua, where left shining memories of his holiness. Famous for both merits and miracles, he fell asleep in the Lord on the 13th day of June in the year of salvation 1231, at the age of thirty-six. He was declared a Doctor of the universal Church by Pope Pius XII.
06-14.txt:[Lectio94]
Basil, a Cappodocian nobleman, studied profane letters at Athens together with his close friend, Gregory of Nazianzus, and took his sacred studies in a monastery. Becoming marvelously proficient in both, he soon attained such excellence in learning and in his way of life that from then on he was given the name of The Great. Summoned to preach the Gospel of Christ Jesus in Pontus, he called that province back to the way of salvation. Soon he was asked by Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, to aid him in teaching; and he succeeded Eusebius as bishop. Basil was among the first to defend the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father; and by his miracles he caused Emperor Valens, who was angry with him and threatening him with exile, to give up any such intentions. Basil's abstinence and continence were marvelled at; and he was constant in prayer, often spending the whole night in it. He built monasteries, ordering the monastic life so that it would best combine the advantages of the solitary life with those of the active life. He wrote many learned books; and, as Gregory of Nazianzus testifieth, no one hath explained the books of Holy Scripture more truly and fruitfully. He died on the 1st day of January.
06-18.txt:[Lectio94]
Ephraem was of Syrian stock, his father being a citizen of Nisibis. While he was still young, he went to the holy bishop James to be baptized. In a short time he advanced so much in holiness and learning that he was made master of a flourishing school at Nisibis, a city in Mesopotamia. Ordained deacon of the Church of Edessa, and refusing the priesthood out of humility, he shone with the splendour of all virtues, and sought to acquire devotion and religion by the profession of true wisdom. All his works, illuminated with the bright light of learning, caused this Saint to be treated with great honour as a Doctor of the Church even in his lifetime. He excelled, above all, in a wonderful and loving devotion to the Immaculate Virgin. Rich in merits, he died on the 18th day of June at Edessa in Mesopotamia, under the Emperor Valens. Pope Benedict XV, after consulting the Congregation of Sacred Rites, declared him a Doctor of the Universal Church.
06-19.txt:[Lectio94]
When Juliana, of the noble family of the Falconieri, was still in her cradle, her baby lips were heard to utter, without any prompting, the sweet names of Jesus and Mary. Before she was fifteen years old, she renounced a rich inheritance and an earthly wedding and took a solemn vow of virginity in the presence of St. Philip Benizi. She was the first to receive from him the habit of the religious called the Mantellates. When many noble ladies followed her example, and even her mother gave herself over to her daughter to be instructed in the religious life, Juliana founded the Order of the Mantellate Nuns. She excelled in a wonderful humility, a constant zeal for prayer and an amazing abstinence. When her health failed so that she could take and retain no food at all, and was therefore kept from the Eucharistic table, she asked the Priest to place the divine Bread on her breast, since she could not receive it with her mouth. When he did so, the holy Bread disappeared at once, and Juliana, smiling, departed this life.
06-21.txt:[Lectio94]
Aloysius, son of Ferdinand Gonzaga, Marquis of Castiglióne delle Stiviere, was in danger of death while he was being born. He was therefore baptized without delay, so that it seemed he was born to heaven even before he was born to earth. He retained this first grace so faithfully that he was believed to have been confirmed in it. When he was nine years old, he took a vow of virginity at Florence before the altar of the Blessed Virgin, whom he always thought of as his mother. By a singular blessing of God, he kept this vow without any rebellion of mind or body so that he was deservedly called a man without a body or an angel in the flesh. He handed over the right of succession to his brother and joined the Society of Jesus in Rome. Even in the novitiate he began to be considered a master of all the virtues. So ardent was the love of God in him that he would be rapt out of his body. Possessed by a wonderful charity for his neighbour, he zealously served in the public hospitals, and as a result he contacted a contagious fever. After slowly wasting away, he went to heaven on the 21st day of June, having just entered his twenty-fourth year. Benedict XIII enrolled him among the Saints and gave him to students as both a model of innocency and charity and their heavenly Patron.
06-22.txt:[Lectio94]
Paulinus, born in the year of restored salvation 353 of a very famous Roman family of Bordeaux, acquired the dignity of senator. He was made consul of Nola, but a divine light prompted him to renounce the consulship and return to Bordeaux, where he was baptized by St. Delphinus. Then, giving to the poor the large sum obtained by the sale of his goods, he went to Spain, where he was ordained priest. When he returned to Nola, he built a monastery near the grave of St. Felix and, with the companions who joined him, undertook a most austere cenobitical life. As the fame of his holiness grew, he was elevated to the bishopric of Nola, in which office he left an example of wonderful devotion, patience, and especially charity. He wrote many works on sacred doctrine and also gained a reputation for eloquence and poetry. When Campania was devastated by the Goths, he used all his goods to feed the poor and redeem captives. And later, when the Vandals infested the same region and he had nothing more to give, he gave himself into slavery for the son of a widow, and was taken to Africa. At length, restored to liberty, by the hand of God, he died a peaceful death in the Lord at Nola.
06-25.txt:[Lectio94]
William, born of noble parents at Vercelli, had scarcely finished his fourteenth year when he made a pilgrimage to Compostella in a wonderful spirit of penitence and devotional zeal. Then, having vainly attempted another, pilgrimage, to the tomb of Christ the Lord, he spent two years on a solitary mountain in constant prayer, in vigils and in fasting. Fleeing human renown after he had restored sight to a blind man, he built a monastery on Monte Virgiliáno, which was thereafter called Monte Vergine, in a wild and inaccessible spot. There companions joined him, and he formed them by fixed regulations taken largely from those of St. Benedict, by word, and by the example of a most holy life. Then he built other monasteries, and daily his fame as a holy man grew; so that many came to him from all parts, drawn by the report of his frequent miracles. Finally, having foretold the day of his death, he fell asleep in the Lord, in the year of salvation 1142.
06-26.txt:[Lectio94]
The Roman brothers John and Paul distributed to the poor the wealth they had been left by Constantia, the daughter of Constantine, whom they had served justly and faithfully. Invited by Julian the Apostate to join the members of his household, they boldly declared that they did not wish to live in the house of a man who had abandoned Jesus Christ. They were therefore given ten days in which to be persuaded to sacrifice to Jupiter. As they steadfastly refused to commit this sin, they were beheaded in their home, at the command of Terentian the judge, thus meriting the palm of martyrdom. The news of their glorious death was spread abroad by unclean spirits, who began tormenting the bodies of many persons, among them the son of Terentian. He was freed of his diabolical tormentor at the tomb of the Martyrs. This miracle led both him and his father, Terentian, to believe in Christ; and the latter is said to have written the life of the holy Martyrs.
06-28.txt:[Lectio94]
Irenaeus, born not far from the city of Smyrna, from his boyhood was the disciple of Polycarp, himself the disciple of John the Evangelist and the bishop of Smyrna. When Polycarp was taken up to heaven with the glory of martyrdom, Irenaeus strove with incredible zeal to learn what articles of belief the others who were instructed by the Apostles had received to be preserved in the deposit of faith. For this reason he brought together as many of these men as he could, and whatever he heard from them he carefully retained in his memory to bring out later at an opportune time against the heretics. He went to Gaul and was made priest at the church of Lyon by Photinus the bishop. When he succeeded Photinus he carried out the work of his bishopric most successfully: by his wisdom, prayer and example, in a short time, he had rid not only the citizens of Lyon, but also the inhabitants of many other cities of Gaul, from superstition and error, and had enrolled then in the army of Christ. He wrote many works, a great part of which had perished through the ravages of time. Five of his books against heretics are extant, in the third of which he gives to the Roman Church and to the succession of her bishops a testimony surpassing all others in weight and brilliancy, calling her the faithful, perpetual and sure guardian of divine tradition. For he said that it is necessary to the whole Church (that is, those who are of the faithful in all places) should agree with the Roman Church, because of its eminent primacy. Crowned with martyrdom, he went to heaven in the year of salvation 202.
06-30.txt:[Lectio94]
From the Book of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, touching Grace and Free-will.
!Chapter 6
The Apostle Paul was a man, who, when we first hear of him, had not only no merits, but a great many demerits. That man received the grace of God, Who returneth good for evil, and let us see in what sort of language, when the hour of his last sufferings was at hand, he wrote to Timothy. He saith: I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. (2 Tim. iii. 6.) Here he counteth his merits, whereon a crown was immediately to follow, just as grace had followed immediately on his demerits. Listen to what cometh next: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day. Unto whom would the Lord give a crown as a righteous Judge, if He had not first given grace, as a merciful Father? And how would that crown be a crown of righteousness, if there had not first come grace which justifieth the ungodly? How could a reward have been earned unless the power to earn had first been given unearned?
07-03.txt:[Lectio94]
Leo II, Supreme Pontiff, a Sicilian, was learned in sacred and profane letters in Greek and Latin, and was moreover an excellent musician; for he reduced to better harmony the sacred hymns and psalms used in the Church. He approved the acts of the sixth Council, which was held at Constantinople, and translated them into Latin. It was at this Council that Cyrus, Sergius, and Pyrrhus were condemned, for teaching that there is in Christ only one will and one operation. He was indeed a father to the poor; for not by money alone, but by his deeds, his labours, and his advice, he relieved the poverty and loneliness of needy widows and orphans. He fell asleep in the Lord on the 3rd day of July in the year 683, in the eleventh month of his pontificate, and was buried in the Basilica of St. Peter.
07-05.txt:[Lectio94]
Born at Cremona of a noble family, Anthony Mary Zacharias even from his boyhood shone by his virtuous character and his mercy to the poor. During his education in the humanities, philosophy and medicine, he excelled his companions both in holiness of life and in keenness of mind. At a sign from God, he zealously cultivated the sacred sciences. After his ordination, the zeal of his priestly life soon earned for him the titles of Father and Angel of his country, bestowed on him by his fellow-citizens. At Milan, with the holy men Bartholomew Ferrári and James Morigia, he founded the Society of Clerks Regular named after St. Paul, and the society of nuns called the Angelicals. He was zealous in adoration of the Holy Eucharist and strongly promoted the public exposition of the most holy Sacrament. Enriched by God with heavenly gifts and worn out by his great labours, he contracted a serious illness, and he died a most holy death on the 5th day of July, 1539, at Cremona. Leo XIII approved and confirmed the cult already paid to him and enrolled him in the list of the Saints.
07-07.txt:[Lectio94]
Cyril and Methodius were brothers, born of a distinguished family in Thessalonica. The Emperor Michael III sent them into Moravia, where in a short time they brought the nation to the faith of Christ. When a favourable report of what they had done was brought to Rome, Pope St. Nicholas I ordered the brothers to come there. At Rome they were consecrated bishops by Adrian, Nicholas's successor. A short time later, however, Cyril died a most holy death in Rome, and Methodius went back to Moravia and increased his efforts on behalf of Catholicism. Moreover, he confirmed the Bohemians, the Pannonians, the Bulgarians and the Dalmatians in the Christian faith, and worked hard to bring the Corinthians to the worship of the one true God. He also brought the light of the Gospel to Poland and, as some writers say, founded the bishopric of Lemberg. Then he went to Muscovy properly so called and established the pontifical see of Kiev. At length he came back to Moravia, exhorted the clergy and people to virtue with his last words, and died peacefully. The feast day of Cyril and Methodius, already celebrated by the Slavic peoples, was extended to the universal Church by Leo XIII.
07-08.txt:[Lectio94]
Elizabeth was born of the royal family of Aragon in the year of our Lord 1271. The joy of her birth put an end to the unhappy quarrels between her grandfather and her father, thus making it clear from the outset that she would be a blessed peacemaker between kings and kingdoms. She was remarkable for the way in which she chastised her body, for her constancy in prayer, and for her exercise of the works of charity. When she was married to Denis, King of Portugal, she devoted herself no less to the work of cultivating virtue than to that of educating her children, striving to please her husband, but still more to please God. She not only had monasteries, colleges and churches built, but gave them magnificent endowments. She was wonderful in settling the disputes of kings, unwearied in relieving the private and public calamities of her fellow-men, and famous for her miracles. When King Denis had died, she put on the habit of the Seraphic Order, and whatever she had that was dear and precious to her she offered at the church of Compostella for the soul of the king and used for works of devotion and mercy. Finally, having fallen ill as a result of a journey she made to establish peace between two kings, her son and her grandson, she died a most holy death, after receiving a visit from the Virgin Mother of God. Famous for miracles, she was enrolled among the Saints by Urban VIII.
07-10.txt:[Lectio94]
At Rome, in the persecution of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, seven brothers, the sons of St. Felicity, were tempted in vain by the Prefect Publius to venerate idols. On the 10th of July, encouraged by their brave mother, they were put to death in various ways: Januarius was scourged with leaded whips; Felix and Philip were beaten with clubs; Silvanus was thrown headlong from a high place; Alexander, Vitalis, and Martialis were beheaded. Finally, four months afterwards, their mother gained the same palm of martyrdom. The Roman virgins Rufina and Secunda were sisters, and since they refused to marry Armentarius and Verinus because they had vowed their virginity to Christ, they were arrested during the reigns of the emperors Valerian and Gallienus. Junius the Prefect was unsuccessful in winning them from their determination by promises and threats, and so they were afflicted with various tortures. Protected by Angels, they persevered in their holy resolution, and they were finally beheaded at the tenth milestone on the Aurelian Way. Their bodies were buried by the matron Plautilla on her estate outside the City and later laid in the Basilica of Constantine near the baptistery.
07-12.txt:[Lectio94]
John Gualbert, born of a noble Florentine family, took up a military career at his father's wish. His only brother, Hugh, was slain by a relative, and it happened that on Good Friday, attended by armed soldiers, John met the slayer alone and unarmed on the road where they could not avoid each other. Because of John's reverence for the sign of the holy Cross, which his enemy, seeing death at hand, made with his arms in supplication, John graciously spared him and received him as a brother. Then he went to the Church of St. Minias, where, as he adored the Crucified, the image bent its head to him. Moved by this, he gave up the military life and, at the persuasion of St. Romuald, then living in the hermitage of Camaldoli, he put on the monastic habit. Later he founded a monastic Order under the Rule of St. Benedict in Vallombrosa, which had as its primary aims to do away with the stain of simony and to promulgate the apostolic faith. Full of virtues and merits and blessed with the companionship of Angels, he went to the Lord in his seventy-eighth year, the 12th day of July, 1073, at Passignano.
07-13.txt:[Lectio94]
Anacletus was an Athenian who governed the Church in the time of the Emperor Trajan. He ordained that a Bishop should be consecrated by three Bishops and no less, that clerks should be publicly ordained to Holy Orders by their own Bishop, and that in the Mass, after the Consecration, all should afterwards communicate. He adorned the grave of Blessed Peter, and ordered a place for burying the Popes in. He held two ordinations in the month of December, wherein he ordained five Priests, three Deacons, and six Bishops. He sat as Pope nine years, three months, and ten days. He received the crown of his testimony, and was buried on the Vatican Hill.
07-14.txt:[Lectio94]
Born at Bagnorea in Tuscany, Bonaventure entered the Order of St. Francis of Assisi as a young man. Here he gave himself to study, and made such progress under his teacher. Alexander of Hales, that after seven years he publicly interpreted the book of Sentences at Paris, and gained the highest praise. He was a man of the greatest sweetness and humility, with a most ardent devotion to the Passion of Christ the Lord. When he was only thirty-five he was made Minister General of the whole Order. He carried out this office so prudently that he gained fame not only for his learning and holiness, but also for his diplomacy and skill. Because of this fame, Pope Gregory X made him Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He wrote many very learned works, not the least of which were his commentaries on the four books of the Sentences. He died at Lyons while the Council was in progress, at the age of forty-three. He was enrolled among the Saints by Sixtus IV, and Sixtus V gave him the title of Seraphic Doctor.
07-15.txt:[Lectio94]
Henry, surnamed the Pious, was first Duke of Bavaria, then King of Germany, and finally Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He devoted himself zealously to the spread of religion. The bishopric of Bamberg, which he had founded with his family wealth, he made tributary of St. Peter and the Roman Pontiff. He received Benedict VIII when he was a fugitive and restored him to his See. To protect the Roman Church, he undertook a war against the Greeks and recovered Apulia, which they had held for a long time. Protected by divine aid, he fought the barbarian nations more with prayers than with force of arms. When Hungary was still pagan, he gave his sister in marriage to its king, Stephen, who was baptized and brought the whole kingdom to the faith. Henry joined matrimony with holy virginity, and when he was near death he restored St. Cunegunda, his wife, as a virgin to her family. Finally, even more famous for his holiness than for his temporal rule, he was called to the reward of the heavenly kingdom in the year 1024, and was added to the number of the Saints by Eugene III.
07-16.txt:[Lectio94]
On the holy day of Pentecost, it is said that many men, who were walking in the footsteps of the holy prophets Elias and Eliseus, embraced the faith of the Gospel, and began to build a chapel to that purest of Virgins on that very spot of Mount Carmel where Elias of old had seen a cloud arising, a remarkable symbol of the Virgin. Honouring this same Most Blessed Virgin as the special protectress of their Order, they were thenceforth called the brethren of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The special protection of the Most Blessed Virgin hath never failed their Order, which Honorius III was dissuaded by a dream from abolishing, and to which she granted the badge of the holy scapular with the promise that those who are enrolled and observe the slight abstinence and say the few prayers prescribed, will be taken as soon as possible from the fire of Purgatory to the heavenly fatherland. Therefore the Order, laden with so many and such great favours, hath instituted a solemn Commemoration of the Most Blessed Virgin, to be celebrated year by year.
07-17.txt:[Lectio94]
Alexius was a member of one of the noblest Roman families. Through his exceeding great love for Jesus Christ, he received a particular command from God to leave his bride untouched upon his wedding night, and to undertake a pilgrimage to the most famous churches of the world. For seventeen years he remained occupied in these journeys and utterly unknown. At the end of that time, his name was spoken from an image of the most holy Virgin Mary in the city of Edessa, in Syria, and when he found himself recognised he took ship from thence. He landed at Porto near Rome, and fared to the house of his own father, who gave him shelter as a strange beggar. He lived there unrecognised by any for seventeen years more, and then passed away to heaven, in the time of Pope Innocent I, leaving behind him a writing giving his name, family, and the story of his life.
07-18.txt:[Lectio94]
Camillus, of the noble family of the Lelli, was born at Bucchianico in the diocese of Chieti. As a young man he entered the army and gave himself up for a time to worldly vices. But he was seized with sorrow at having offended God, and, going at once to the Friars Minor, called Capuchins, he earnestly pleaded to be admitted among them. His desire was granted this time, and again later on, when he had been out of the Order and had sought re-admission. But on both occasions an infected ulcer on his leg, which had afflicted him for some time, broke out, and he submitted himself humbly to his superiors, twice putting off the habit of the Order which he had twice asked for and received. He went to Rome and was ordained to the priesthood. Then he laid the first foundations of the Congregation of Clerks Regular for ministering to the sick, whose members bind themselves by a fourth and difficult vow to serve the sick even when they are infected by the plague. Worn out by repeated fasts and constant toil, and by five long and trying illnesses which he called the mercies of the Lord and bore with great fortitude, he died in the Lord on the 14th of July, 1614, at the age of sixty-five. Leo XIII proclaimed him the heavenly patron of all hospitals and of the sick, and ordered that his name be invoked in the litany for the dying.
07-19.txt:[Lectio94]
From his very boyhood, Vincent de Paul, born at Puy in Gascony, was remarkable for his great charity toward the poor. Called from the care of his father's flock to the study of letters and then ordained to the priesthood, he fell into the hands of the Turks, who took him captive into Africa. With his master, an apostate whom he had won back to the faith of Christ, he escaped and went back to France. In the parishes entrusted to him and then as chaplain of the galleys, he zealously undertook the work of the salvation of souls. As director of the Visitation nuns for about forty years, he governed them most wisely. Even in his old age, he worked untiringly for the evangelization of the poor, especially of those who lived in the country. He had founded a Congregation under the name of the Secular Priests of the Missions, and he bound them to this apostolic work by a perpetual vow confirmed by the Holy See. He established many associations for seeking out and aiding the unfortunate and for the education of girls. At length, worn out by bodily mortification, labours and old age, he peacefully fell asleep in the Lord in the year of salvation 1660. Famous for his miracles, he was placed among the Saints by Clement XII, and Leo XIII declared and appointed him the special heavenly patron of all charitable associations in the whole Catholic world which trace their origin in some way to him.
07-20.txt:[Lectio94]
Born at Venice of the patrician family of the Emiliani, Jerome in early youth took up a military career. When the republic was in great difficulties, he was made commander of Castelnuovo, near Quero, in the mountains of Treviso. The citadel was taken by the enemy and he himself thrown into a foul dungeon, from which he was freed by the help of the Blessed Virgin. At Venice, he began to devote himself with great zeal to works of charity, having pity particularly on the orphan boys wandering about the city, whom he took into houses which he hired, where he fed them at his own expense and trained them in Christian living. At that time, blessed Cajetan and Peter Carafa, later Paul IV, landed at Venice. Approving Jerome's spirit, they took him to the hospital for incurables, where he could both educate orphans and serve the sick. Soon, at their urging, he went to the continent and, first at Brescia and then at Bergamo and Como, founded orphanages and other charitable institutions. Finally, he settled at Somasca, a little village in the territory of Bergamo, and made it the headquarters of a new congregation, consequently called that of Somasca, which was approved by St. Pius V. Finally he contracted a contagious disease while serving the sick and laid down his life for his brethren in the fifty-seventh year of his age, in the year 1537.
07-22.txt:[Lectio94]
@:Lectio4
07-23.txt:[Lectio94]
Apollinaris came from Antioch to Rome with the Prince of the Apostles, who ordained him a bishop and sent him to Ravenna to preach the Gospel of the Lord Christ. Here, when Apollinaris had converted many pagans to faith in Christ, he was seized by the priests of the idols and beaten severely. When his prayers brought the gift of speech to a nobleman named Boniface who had been dumb for a long time and freed his daughter from an unclean spirit, a commotion was again raised against Apollinaris, and he suffered many kinds of torments. Afterwards, preaching the Gospel throughout Emilia, he turned many of the people away from the worship of idols. He came back to Ravenna, exhorted the Christians to constancy in the faith and died the glorious death of a martyr. His body was buried near the city wall.
07-28.txt:[Lectio94]
Nazarius was baptized by the blessed Pope Linus, and afterwards went to Gaul. There he met with the boy Celsus, whom he instructed in the Christian law, and baptized. Later on, they both came to Milan, where they spread the Faith of Christ, and as they remained firm in declaring that he is God, the Prefect Anolinus had them beheaded. Their bodies were found by Blessed Ambrose. On the same day is commemorated Pope St. Victor, who governed the Church in the time of the Emperor Severus, refuted Theodotus the tanner, and wrote upon the subject of the Passover. He received the crown of martyrdom, and was buried at the Vatican on the 28th day of July. Also on the same day is commemorated Pope St. Innocent, who condemned Pelagius and Celestius, and issued a decree against their heresy. His body is buried in the cemetery known as the Place of the Bear-and-the-Cap.
07-29.txt:[Lectio94]
Martha was born of noble and wealthy parents, but is most renowned for her hospitality to Christ the Lord. Tradition says that after his Ascension she was arrested by the Jews, together with her brother and sister, and many other Christians, and put into a boat without sail or oars, which came to harbour in Marseilles. Because of this miracle and their preaching, the people of Marseilles and the neighbouring tribes believed in Christ. Martha won the love and admiration of all the people of Marseilles by her wonderful holiness of life and her charity. She retired with other good women to a place far removed from men. There she lived for a long time, highly renowned for her piety and her prudence. At length, famous for miracles, she went to the Lord, having foretold her death long before it occurred.
07-31.txt:[Lectio94]
A Spaniard, born at Loyola in Cantabria, Ignatius first served in the court of the Most Catholic King and then in the army. In the defence of Pampeluna, he was wounded. As he lay in a long convalescence, the chance reading of some holy books gave him a burning desire to follow in the footsteps of Christ and the Saints. He went to Montserrat, hung up his arms before the Altar of the Blessed Virgin, and spent a whole night in prayer, thus entering on his new profession of holy warfare. The austerity of his life was extraordinary. He was ignorant of letters but, refreshed by brilliant illuminations from God, he composed the Exercises, a wonderful book approved by the Apostolic See and also by its usefulness to everyone. At Paris he was joined by nine companions of different nations all studying at the university, and there at Montmartre he laid the first foundations of the Society of Jesus which were later completed at Rome. To the three customary vows was added one to carry out the command of the Apostolic See concerning the Missions. Ignatius gave aid in increasing the beauty of churches, in teaching catechism, and in fostering attendance at sermons and the reception of the sacraments. He was most zealous for the spread of the Christian religion everywhere, and exercised a wonderful power over demons. In the sixty-fifth year of his age, he went to receive the embrace of his Lord, whose greater glory he had always sought in all things. Pius XI appointed and declared him the heavenly patron of all spiritual exercises or retreats.
08-01.txt:[Lectio94]
In the reign of the Emperor Theodosius the younger, his wife Eudocia was gifted in Jerusalem with, among other things, an iron chain, which they affirmed to be the same wherewith the Apostle Peter had been bound by King Herod. Eudocia, with godly reverence, sent this chain to her daughter Eudoxia in Rome, where it was placed by the Pope with another chain wherewith the same blessed Apostle had been shackled under the Emperor Nero. The two chains got so entangled the one with the other that they seemed no longer two but one chain made by a single workman. The very touch of these holy fetters often healed the sick and drave out devils, and so they began to receive such honour, that Eudoxia's Church of St. Peter on the Esquiline Mount was dedicated under the name of St. Peter-in-Chains, and a Feastday in its memory instituted upon the first day of August, replacing the profane festívity of the pagans held on that day.
08-02.txt:[Lectio94]
Born at Naples of noble parents, Alphonsus Mary Liguori as very young man took delight in caring for the sick in the public hospitals and in devoting his spare time to prayer in churches. In obedience to his father he became a lawyer; but when he had experienced the dangers of this kind of career, he abandoned the profession. He renounced his right of inheritance as oldest son and became a priest, attacking vice with such zeal that he obtained the conversions of a great number of sinners. He took special pity on the poor and those living in rural districts and founded the Congregation of Priests of the Most Holy Redeemer to preach the Gospel to them. Lest anything should turn him from his determination, he bound himself by a perpetual vow never to waste any time. Constant in contemplating the Passion of the Lord and the holy Eucharist, he was outstanding in his devotion to the holy Mother of God, being more than once refreshed by signs of her heavenly protection. He wrote many books of religious instruction and of devotion by which he strove to gain souls for Christ. He consistently refused the ecclesiastical honours offered to him, but was compelled by the Holy See to accept the Bishopric of the Church of Santa Agata dei Goti, where he was generous to the poor and made himself all things to all men. He also brought nuns back to a more perfect form of life. Serious chronic illnessses led him to resign the episcopal office and return to his disciples. Finally, at the age of ninety years, radiant with innocence of life and penance, he died a most peaceful death in the year 1787. Pope Pius IX declared him a Doctor of the universal Church, and Pius XII established him as the heavenly patron before God of all confessors and moral theologians.
08-03.txt:[Lectio94]
The bodies of the Saints Stephen the Protomartyr, Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Abibon, were found near Jerusalem, a right sweet savour flowing forth from them, by John, Patriarch of Jerusalem. The thing being noised abroad, a great multitude of people came together, and many that were sick and weak of diverse diseases returned home whole. The sacred body of holy Stephen was then carried with great pomp to the holy Church of Sion. Under the Emperor Theodosius the Younger it was taken to Constantinople; and during the Popedom of Pelagius I it was brought to Rome, where it hath been laid in the sepulchre of the holy Martyr Lawrence in the Veranian Field.
08-04.txt:[Lectio94]
Born at Calaruega in Spain of the noble family of Guzman, Dominic studied the liberal arts and theology at Palencia. At first he was made a canon of the church of Osma; later he became the founder of the Order of Preachers. His genius and virtue were most conspicuous in the conversion of the heretics who were trying to pervert the people of Toulouse. He went to Rome and asked Pope Innocent III to approve and confirm his Order, and obtained this approval from his successor Honorius III. After seeing his efforts bring innumerable men to a religious and holy life, he bequeathed charity, humility and poverty as a solid heritage to his disciples, and fell asleep in the Lord at Bologna on the 6th day of August, 1221, while these words were being said: Come ye to help him, O ye Saints of God! run ye to meet him, O ye Angels! Pope Gregory IX enrolled him among the Saints.
08-05.txt:[Lectio94]
When Liberius was Pope, a Roman patrician named John, and his wife, also of noble birth, having no children to inherit their goods, vowed their inheritance to the most holy Virgin Mother of God. The Blessed Virgin heard their prayers and approved their vow by a miracle. On the 5th of August, which is that time when the heat of summer waxeth greatest in the City, a part of the Esquiline Hill was covered by night with snow. And on that same night, the Mother of God told John and his wife separately in dreams that they should build a church on that place. When John told this to Pope Liberius, he said that he had had the same dream. The Pope therefore went to the snow-covered hill and there marked out a site. The church was built with the money given by John and his wife, and was later restored by Sixtus III. It hath been given various names; but, so that its title may indicate its excellence, it is called the Church of St. Mary Major.
08-07.txt:[Lectio94]
Cajetan was born at Vicenza of the noble family of Tiene, and was at once dedicated by his mother to the Virgin Mother of God. He won his degree in civil and canon law at Padua and went to Rome, where he was appointed a prelate by Julius II and later ordained to the priesthood. He founded hospitals with his own money, and with his own hands served the sick, even those stricken with contagious diseases. He worked so zealously for the salvation of others that he came to be called Hunter of souls. The discipline of the clergy had fallen to a low state; with the aim of restoring it after the pattern of the apostolic life, Cajetan founded the Order of Clerks Regular. They were to give up all involvement in worldly affairs; they were not to possess any revenues or to beg for their subsistence from the faithful, but to live only on alms spontaneously offered. And so, with the approval of Clement VII, Cajetan took solemn vows at the High Altar of the Vatican Basilica, together with John Peter Carafa, Bishop of Chieti and afterwards Paul IV, and two other men of outstandingly holy lives. He was a great advancer of care in the worship of God, of splendour in the house of God, of exactness in the holy ceremonies, and of the frequent reception of the most holy Eucharist. Full of merits, he went to his heavenly reward at Naples, and there his body is highly venerated in the Church of St. Paul.
08-08.txt:[Lectio94]
Cyriacus the Deacon was long kept in prison with Sisinius, Largus, and Smaragdus, and wrought many wonderful works. Among other things he by his prayers freed from a devil Arthemia, a daughter of Diocletian, and being sent to Sapor, King of the Persians, also delivered his daughter Jobia from a foul spirit. He baptized the King, her father, and four hundred and thirty others, and afterwards returned to Rome. He was arrested by command of the Emperor Maximian, and dragged in chains before his chariot. Then after four days he was brought forth from prison, had boiling pitch poured upon him, was stretched on a block, and at last was slain with the axe, along with Largus, Smaragdus, and twenty others, at the the gardens of Sallust, on the Salarian Way. On this Way were their bodies buried by John the Priest, on the 16th day of March, but afterwards, on the 8th of August, Pope Marcellus and the noble lady Lucina took them and wrapped them in linen, and embalmed them with costly ointments, and carried them to the farm belonging to the said lady Lucina, at the seventh milestone from Rome on the road to Ostia.
08-09.txt:[Lectio94]
John Mary Vianney was born of devout farming-people in the village of Dardilly in the diocese of Lyons, and gave many indications of his future sanctity. As an eight-year-old boy, keeping sheep, he would lead the other children to kneel before the image of the Mother of God, teaching them the Rosary by word and example; and he loved to work in the fields and meditate on divine things. He was a great lover of the poor and took delight in helping them in every way. He was slow to learn; but, after imploring God's help and working hard to complete his course in theology, he was judged fit to be ordained. Receiving an appointment as pastor, he made spiritual flowers bloom again in a parish that had been nothing but a dried-up wasteland. Busy every day hearing confessions and giving spiritual counsel, he bore patiently the most horrible attacks of Satan. He established the practice of making missions in more than an hundred parishes. The faithful came flocking to his parish, even from distant places, in a holy desire to see him; but he did not share their high opinion of him at all, and more than once he tried to slip away. Worn out by his labours rather than by old age, he rested in the Lord at the age of seventy-three on the day he had foretold, the 4th of August, 1859. Famous for many miracles, he was enrolled among the Blessed by Pius X and among the Saints by Pius XI who, on the fiftieth anniversary of his own priesthood, appointed him the heavenly patron of all parish priests.
08-12.txt:[Lectio94]
Clare was a virgin of noble birth, born at Assisi in Umbria. Imitating St. Francis, her fellow-citizen, she gave all her goods in alms to aid the poor. Fleeing from the noise of the world, she went to a country chapel and there received the tonsure from St. Francis, strongly resisting her kindred who were trying to bring her back. Then he led her to the church of St. Damian, where she founded an Order of nuns, the government of which she undertook, yielding to the repeated requests of St. Francis. She governed her monastery with care and prudence for forty-two years. When the Saracens tried to invade it, she commanded that the Blessed Sacrament be brought and prayed most humbly, and they at once took to flight. She went to heaven on the 12th day of August, and was enrolled among the holy Virgins by Pope Alexander IV.
08-17.txt:[Lectio94]
Hyacinth was a Pole, born of noble Christian parents at the villa of Kamin in the Bishopric of Breslau. He was enrolled among the canons of Krakow and excelled them all in his singularly devout way of life and in his learning. At Rome, he was received into the Order of Preachers by its founder, St. Dominic; and to the end of his days, his virginity intact, he held to the perfect rule of life which he had learned from St. Dominic. He was sent back to his own country and built six monasteries of his Order. It is unbelievable how much he accomplished by preaching the word of God and by the innocency of his life, made illustrious by numerous miracles. Among these is this particularly remarkable miracle: he crossed over the river Vistula near Visograd when it was in flood, taking his companions with him, not by boat but on his cloak spread out over the waters. He persevered in his wonderful way of life for nearly forty years after his profession. On the day of the Virgin's Assumption in the year of salvation 1257, he gave up his soul to God. He was numbered among the Saints by Clement VIII.
08-17.txt:[Lectio94]
Hyacinth was a Pole, born of noble Christian parents at the villa of Kamin in the Bishopric of Breslau. He was enrolled among the canons of Krakow and excelled them all in his singularly devout way of life and in his learning. At Rome, he was received into the Order of Preachers by its founder, St. Dominic; and to the end of his days, his virginity intact, he held to the perfect rule of life which he had learned from St. Dominic. He was sent back to his own country and built six monasteries of his Order. It is unbelievable how much he accomplished by preaching the word of God and by the innocency of his life, made illustrious by numerous miracles. Among these is this particularly remarkable miracle: he crossed over the river Vistula near Visograd when it was in flood, taking his companions with him, not by boat but on his cloak spread out over the waters. He persevered in his wonderful way of life for nearly forty years after his profession. On the day of the Virgin's Assumption in the year of salvation 1257, he gave up his soul to God. He was numbered among the Saints by Clement VIII.
08-19.txt:[Lectio94]
John was born in 1601 of good, devout parents at the village of Ri in the diocese of Seez. While yet a boy, when he was refreshed with the Bread of Angels, he vowed perpetual virginity. In the schools, where he pursued his studies in a praiseworthy way, he shone for his wonderful piety. He loved the Blessed Virgin above all, and burned with great charity for his neighbour. Having joined the Berullian Congregation of the Oratory, he was ordained priest at Paris. He was made rector of the house of the Oratory at Caen, but left it, though sadly, to educate suitable young men for the ministry of the Church. To this end, with five companions, he founded the congregation of priests to which he gave the most holy Names of Jesus and Mary, and opened the first seminary at Caen, which was followed later by many others. In order to call sinful women back to a Christian life, he founded the Order of Our Lady of Charity. Of this noble tree, the Congregation of the Good Shepherd of Angers is a branch. He also founded the Society of the Admirable Heart of the Mother of God and other charitable institutions. Burning with a singular love for the most sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, he was the first to think, not without some inspiration from God, of offering them a liturgical cult. As an Apostolic Missionary, he preached the Gospel to many villages and towns. Worn out with his great labours, he died peacefully on the 19th of August, 1680. Famous for many miracles, he was numbered among the Blessed by Pope Pius X, and among the Saints by Pope Pius XI on the day of Pentecost in the holy year, and his Office and Mass were extended to the universal Church.
08-20.txt:[Lectio94]
Born of a good family at Fontaines in Burgundy, Bernard carefully cherished his chastity from his very boyhood. At the age of twenty-two he entered the monastery of Citeaux, from which the Cistercian Order taketh its name, and brought with him his brothers and many others to undertake the same religious life. He applied himself to vigils and prayer in a wonderful way. The virtues of humility, mercy, kindness, prudence shone out in him, together with constant zeal for meditating on divine things. He was made Abbot of Clairvaux and built monasteries in many places where his principles and discipline flourished for a long time. He also wrote many works in which it is clear that he had been instructed by teaching given him from heaven rather than by his own labour. Because he was implored by great princes to settle their disputes and to arrange the affairs of the Church, he went often to Italy, and was of great assistance to Pope Innocent II in confuting the schism of Peter de Leone. At the age of sixty-three, he fell asleep in the Lord, having earned great honour from the Church.
08-21.txt:[Lectio94]
Born of noble parents at Dijon in Burgundy, Jane Frances Frémiot de Chantal lost her mother while she was still a girl, and commended herself to the care of the Virgin Mother of God. Her father gave her in marriage to the Baron de Chantal, and she shewed herself to be a valiant woman above all others, making herself all things to all persons. When her husband was killed while hunting, she made a vow of continence, and she so mastered herself that she did not hesitate to act as godmother to the son of the man who killed her husband. Lest later on she should be moved from her determination to observe chastity, she renewed her vow and inscribed the most holy Name of Jesus on her breast with a hot iron. With St. Francis de Sales as her spiritual director, who taught her the divine will, she laid the foundations of the religious Institute of the Visitation of Holy Mary, which she spread far and wide. Finally she bound herself by a vow always to do what she understood to be most perfect. Full of merits, she went to the Lord on the 13th day of December, 1641, at Moulins, and was enrolled among the Saints by Clement XIII.
08-23.txt:[Lectio94]
From the noble family of the Benizi, Philip was called by the most Blessed Virgin, in an extraordinary vision, to enter the recently established Order of her Servants. First he withdrew to a cave on Monte Senario, where he led a life made hard by continual castigation of the body, but sweetened by meditation on the sufferings of Christ the Lord. Then he established sodalities of the Seven Sorrows of the Mother of God throughout almost all Europe and a great part of Asia. He was named General of his Order against his will and, burning eagerly with the ardor of divine love, he traveled about through many of the cities of Italy, settling the disputes which flared up among the citizens, calling back many men to the obedience of the Roman Pontiff and leading even the most abandoned men to repentance. Finally at Todi in the year 1285, embracing the image of Christ the Lord hanging on the Cross, which he used to call his 'book', he died a most holy death. Pope Clement X added him to the number of Saints.
08-25.txt:[Lectio94]
Louis IX, King of France, was brought up under the most holy care of his mother Blanche. To regain possession of Jerusalem, he crossed the sea with a great army and put the Saracens to flight in the first battle. But, when a great many of his soldiers had perished in the plague, he was defeated and taken captive. Upon conclusion of a treaty, he was set free. He redeemed many Christians in the East from enslavement to the barbarians, and also converted many infidels to the faith of Christ. Returning to France, he built many monasteries and hospitals for the poor. He helped the needy by his beneficence, and he often visited the sick and served them himself. He wore plain clothing and constantly afflicted his body by wearing a hair shirt and by fasting. When he had crossed the sea again to make war against the Saracens and had pitched camp within sight of them, he died of the plague, saying this prayer: I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy Name.
08-27.txt:[Lectio94]
Joseph Calasanctius was born at Petralta in Aragon. While he was still a child he used to call his companions together and teach them the mysteries of the faith and prayers. He became a Priest because of a vow, and led a life of great austerity, chastising his body with vigils and fasting, and spending day and night in prayer and the contemplation of heavenly things. When he had received from God the commission to devote himself to forming boys, especially poor boys, in the knowledge and love of God, he founded the Order of the Poor Regular Clerks of the Pious Schools of the Mother of God, who took as their special work the task of teaching boys. Because of this work, he underwent innumerable labours and hardships with an invincible spirit, and in his ninety-second year he fell asleep in the Lord, on the 25th of August, 1648.
08-28.txt:[Lectio94]
Augustine was born of good parents at Tagaste in Africa, and in a short time surpassed all his companions in learning. As a young man, when in Carthage, he fell into the Manichean heresy. Later he went to Rome and was sent from there to Milan to teach rhetoric. At Milan, he was persuaded by Monica, his most devout mother, to become a frequent listener to the Bishop Ambrose. Ambrose brought it about that Augustine was fired with a desire for the Catholic faith, and baptized him when he was thirty-three years old. Going back to Africa, Augustine led a life governed by religion and holiness, and was made priest by Valerius, Bishop of Hippo, renowned for his sanctity. At this same period, he founded a religious community with whom he lived, taking part in their life and worship while he trained them very carefully to the apostolic life and to learning. Moved by his devotion, Valerius made him his coadjutor bishop. He wrote many works remarkable for their devotion, subtlety and diffuseness, to combat heresies and throw light on Christian teaching. When the Vandals were laying Africa waste and Hippo had been besieged for three months, he was taken with a fever and went to the Lord in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His body was buried first in Sardinia and then in Pavia, where it is venerated with honour.
08-29.txt:[Lectio94]
From the Treatise concerning Virgins, by St. Ambrose the Bishop
_
We must not hurry past the record of blessed Baptist John. We must ask what he was; by whom he was slain; and why and how. He was a righteous man, murdered for his righteousness by adulterers. He was a judge, who suffered condemnation to death by the guilty ones because he had justly judged their guilt. He was the prophet whose death was a fee paid to a dancing-girl for a lascivious dance. And lastly a thing from which even savages would shrink his head was served up as a dish at a banquet. For the order to commit the atrocity was given amid the merriment of a dinner-party; and the servants of the murderer introduced the murder amid the courses of the meal, running from banquet to prison, and from prison to banquet! See how many infamies are contained in this one crime.
08-30.txt:[Lectio94]
The first flower of holiness in South America was the maiden Rose. She was born of Christian parents at Lima and in her cradle early gave signs of her future sanctity, for the child's face was wonderfully transformed into the likeness of a rose, and this gave her her name. Lest she be compelled by her parents to marry, she secretly cut off her lovely hair. The austerity of her life was most singular. She took the habit of the Third Order of St. Dominic and followed the difficult path of St. Catherine of Siena. For fifteen years, she would suffer terribly for hours at a time from desolation of spirit and from aridity, and bravely bore agonies more bitter than any death. Through frequent apparitions, she enjoyed a wonderful companionship with her Guardian Angel, St. Catherine of Siena, and the Virgin Mother of God, and she was privileged to hear Christ say these words, Rose of my Heart, be thou my bride. Famous for many miracles both before and after her death, she was enrolled in the list of holy Virgins by Pope Clement X.
08-31.txt:[Lectio94]
Raymund was called Nonnatus, or Unborn, because he was brought into life from the side of his dead mother contrary to the common law of nature. He scorned childish games and the temptations of the world and gave himself to works of devotion so that all admired the boy as having the virtues of a mature man. He loved the Mother of God above all and constantly prayed to her. He entered the religious Order called that of Ransom, or of Mercy, for the ransom of captives. He perpetually kept his virginity, which he had already consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, and shone with the other virtues, especially with charity toward the Christians who were living wretched lives under the power of pagans. Gregory IX enrolled him among the Cardinals; but the man of God shrank from all pomp and always held most firmly to the humility proper to a religious. At Cardona, worn out by his last illness and fortified by the Sacraments of the Church, he went to the Lord on the last Sunday of August in the year 1240.
09-02.txt:[Lectio94]
Stephen, King of Hungary, brought the faith of Christ and the title of kingdom to his country. He obtained his royal crown from the Pope, and, when he had been anointed King at the Pope's command, he offered his kingdom to the Apostolic See. He founded various religious houses at Rome, at Jerusalem, and at Constantinople. In Hungary, with wonderful devotion and generosity, he established the archiepiscopal See of Esztergom and ten other bishoprics. He was famous for his great love of the poor and his constancy in prayer. He ardently venerated the Mother of God, declaring her the Patroness of Hungary and building a very large church in her honour. In turn, he was received into heaven by the Virgin on the Feast of her Assumption, which in Hungary, by edict of the Holy King, was called the Day of the Great Lady. By decree of Pope Innocent XI, however, the Feast of this saintly King is kept on the day on which, with his help, the Christian army, in a hard-fought engagement, recovered the strongly fortified citadel of Buda.
09-05.txt:[Lectio94]
Born at Venice of the illustrious family of the Giustiniani, from his youth Lawrence was disinguished for his wonderful zeal in chastising his body. He scorned the pleasures of the world and the marriage his mother had arranged for him, and was received among the Canons of St. George's-in-Alga. He was appointed Bishop of his own city by Eugene IV and changed nothing in his way of life; he never ceased relieving the needs of the poor, even borrowing money to do so, trusting in divine Providence, which always gave him aid in an unexpected way. He founded many monasteries of nuns or established them in a more perfect way of life. He was an outstanding example of Christian humility and was particularly zealous for the reform of ecclesiastical discipline and habits. He deserved the title given him by the Popes, the Glory of the Episcopate, and was named first Patriarch of Venice, the title having been transferred from the city of Grado. Famous for the gift of tears, of prophecy, and of healing, he also wrote books outstanding for heavenly teaching and devotion, though he had little training in composition. He fell asleep in the Lord on the 8th of January, but his Feast is celebrated on the day on which the man of God was raised to the episcopal chair.
09-10.txt:[Lectio94]
Nicholas, called of Tolentino because he lived for a long time in that city, was born in the town of Sant'Angelo in Ancona of devout parents who obtained him from God by prayer and the intercession of St. Nicholas. The boy gave evidence of many virtues, especially of abstinence. He was enrolled in the ranks of the clergy and was made a canon. One day he heard a preacher of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine preaching on the contempt of the world, and, fired by this sermon, he at once entered the same Order. Here he carried out the rule of the religious life so strictly that by fasting, rough clothing, scourging and chains he conquered his body and was outstanding in all other virtues. He never slackened in his constant zeal for prayer, even though he was tormented in various ways by the wiles of the devil, who sometimes even dealt him blows. Each night for six months before his death, he heard angelic melodies; and at length, having foretold the day of his death, he fell asleep in the Lord. He was famous for miracles both before and after his death, and was enrolled among the Saints by Eugene IV.
09-12.txt:[Lectio94]
The honoured name of the Virgin Mary, which is said to mean Star of the Sea, is most fitting for the Virgin Mother. She may well be compared to a star; for, as a star beameth forth its rays without any diminution of its own lustre, so too the Virgin gave birth to a Son with no loss to her virginity. The departing rays do not lessen the star's brightness, nor Mary's Son her ínviolate maidenhood. She is, therefore, that noble star risen from Jacob and raised by nature above this great and wide sea. She shineth with merits, she enlighteneth with her example. Ye, all ye that are cast about upon sea of temporalities in storms and tempests more than ye walk on solid land, turn ye not your eyes away from the brightness of this star. Think of Mary, call on Mary, so that ye may experience for yourself how fittingly it was said, And the Virgin's name was Mary. - Pope Innocent XI ordered the Feast of this most holy name, which had already been honoured with a special rite in some parts of the Christian world, to be celebrated each year by the universal Church as a perpetual memorial of the great blessing of that signal victory won at Vienna in Austria over the cruel Turkish tyrant who had been grinding down the Christian people.
09-14.txt:[Lectio94]
The holy Cross of the Lord, which Helen had put upon Mount Calvary, and which was carried off to Persia by Chosroës, King of Persia, was taken back by the Emperor Heraclius, after a threefold victory over the Persians, and borne with solemn pomp unto the Mount whereunto the Saviour had borne it. This event was marked by a famous miracle. Heraclius, who was adorned with gold and jewels, stayed perforce at the gateway which leadeth unto Mount Calvary, and the harder he strove to go forward, the harder he seemed to be held back, whereat both himself and all they that stood by were sore amazed. Then spake Zacharias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, saying: See, O Emperor, that it be not that in carrying the Cross attired in the guise of a Conqueror thou shewest too little of the poverty and lowliness of Jesus Christ. Then Heraclius cast away his princely raiment and took off his shoes from his feet, and in the garb of a countryman easily finished his journey. And thus the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross began to be celebrated annually on this day in memorial of these events.
09-16.txt:[Lectio94]
Cornelius, a Roman, was Pope under the Emperors Gallus and Volusianus. He strongly resisted the heresy of Novatian, wrote many things with great charity concerning those who had fallen away; and we possess eight letters addressed to him by St. Cyprian. In exile at Civitavecchia, worn out with hardships, he died a martyr. Cyprian, an African, was first a famous teacher of Rhetoric; then, at the persuasion of the priest Cecilius, from whom he took his surname, he became a Christian and gave all his substance away to the poor. After a short time he was made priest and then appointed Bishop of Carthage. He also wrote much against the schism of Novatian and tried in every way to repair the injuries suffered by the Church. It would be needless to give an account of his wisdom, for his works outshine the sun. He suffered in the eighth persecution under the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus.
09-17.txt:[Lectio94]
Francis, by a singular privilege, was adorned with the holy marks of the Lord Jesus, whereon living man for twelve centuries had not been allowed to look. He came down from the mount bearing in himself the form of Jesus Crucified, not pourtrayed upon tables of stone or wood by the hand of any earthly craftsman, but drawn upon his flesh by the finger of the living God. The dying Seraph knew well that it is good to keep close the secret of a king, and knowing the secret of his King, he strove as far as in him lay to keep the sacred marks hidden from men. Nevertheless, forasmuch as it is the will of the Lord God for his own glory to make manifest the greatness of his own works, he openly shewed forth diverse wonders through these wounds which he had himself made in secret, so that the hidden and wondrous power of the marks might become known by the fame of the miracles. - The foregoing marvellous but thoroughly witnessed facts, which were already spoken of in Papal documents with especial praise and joy, were made, by the pleasure of Pope Benedict XI, the subject of a yearly memorial, which was afterwards extended by Paul V to the whole Church, in the hope of fanning in the hearts of the faithful the love of Christ Crucified.
09-18.txt:[Lectio94]
Born of devout parents, as a young man Joseph of Cupertino was outstanding for his purity. In the convent of the Friars Minor at Grotella, he was first enrolled among the lay-brothers because of his lack of learning, and then, by a disposition of divine Providence, he joined the clerics and was ordained. He chastised his body with a hair-shirt, with scourgings and all kinds of austerities, and nourished his spirit continually with the food of holy prayer, so that he was called by God to the highest degree of contemplation. Outstanding for obedience and poverty, he cultivated chastity above all, and preserved in unharmed, conquering great temptations. He honoured the Virgin Mary with a wonderful love and shone for his great charity toward the poor. His humility was so deep that he thought himself a great sinner and earnestly prayed God to take away the remarkable gifts he had been given. He journeyed through many places at the command of the superior of the Order and of the holy Inquisition; finally, at Osimo in Piceno, in the sixty-first year of his age, he made the last journey, to heaven.
09-19.txt:[Lectio94]
Januarius was Bishop of Benevento when Diocletian and Maximian were fiercely persecuting the Christians. For his profession of the Christian faith, he was submitted in vain to the tortures of fire and of the rack by Timotheus, Governor of Campania. Soon after, with Festus his deacon and Desiderius, a lector, he was dragged in chains ahead of the Governor's chariot to Pozzuoli. The next day, he and his companions were thrown to the beasts, together with the deacons Sosius of Misenum and Proculus of Pozzuoli and the laymen Eutyches and Acutius. But when the beasts left them unharmed and nearly five thousand persons received faith in Christ, the Governor was enraged and commanded the holy Bishop and his companions to be beheaded. The Christians attended to their burial. The body of Januarius was first placed at Benevento, then in the monastery of Monte Vergine, and finally in the principal church of Naples, and is famous for many miracles. His blood is kept in a glass vial and, even in our days, when it is placed in sight of the head of the holy Martyr, it is used to melt and bubble in a very strange way.
09-22.txt:[Lectio94]
Thomas was born of good parents in the town of Fuentellana in the diocese of Toledo, Spain. From his earliest years, he showed the greatest devotion and the singular kindness toward the poor of which his whole future life was to give such shining examples. For, as a boy, more than once he took off his own garments to clothe the naked; and as a young man, after his father's death, he gave his whole inheritance for the support of needy girls. When he had finished his course in theology, by a divine inspiration he embraced the Institute of the Hermits of St. Augustine. He was adorned with all virtues and excelled particularly in charity toward the poor and toward sinners, whom he strove to lead out of the mire of vice. His charity was most evident when, called by obedience to rule the church of Valencia, he carried out the duties of a most watchful shepherd and distributed the large revenues of the church to the needy, leaving himself not even a bed. He fell asleep in the Lord on the 8th day of September in his sixty-eighth year.
09-23.txt:[Lectio94]
Pope Linus was by birth a native of Velletri in Tuscany, and was the immediate successor of Peter in the government of the Church. His faith and holiness were such that he not only cast out devils, but also raised the dead. He wrote the acts of Blessed Peter, and especially the history of his strife with Simon Magus. He forbade women to enter the Church without having a veil upon their heads. His own head was cut off, on account of his firmness in confessing Christ, by command of the godless Consul Saturninus, an unthankful wretch whose own daughter he had delivered from being tormented by a devil. He was buried upon the Vatican Mount, hard by the grave of the Prince of the Apostles, upon the 23rd day of September. He sat as Pope eleven years, two months, and twenty-three days. He held two December ordinations, wherein he made fifteen Bishops, and eighteen Priests.
09-24.txt:[Lectio94]
At a time when countless numbers of the faithful were held in brutal slavery under the yoke of the Saracens, and , with the most lively danger of being made to deny the Christian faith and of losing everlasting salvation, the most Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in the night to St. Peter Nolasco, St. Raymund de Pennafort, and to James, King of Aragon, and bade them know that it would be well-pleasing in her own sight, and in the sight of her Only-begotten Son, that an Order of Religious men should be founded in her honour, whose work it should be to redeem prisoners from Mohammedan slavery. The three took counsel together, and all with one consent entered upon the institution of an Order in honour of the said Virgin Mother, to be placed under the invocation of St. Mary of Ransom, for the Redemption of Captives, and whose brethren take a fourth vow, whereby they bind themselves to remain in pawn with the unbelievers, if need so require, for the liberation of Christians. The King granted them the right to bear on their breasts his own Royal blazon, and obtained from Gregory IX the confirmation of this Institute and Order so nobly marked by brotherly charity. That due thanks might be rendered to God and to the Virgin Mother for the great blessing of this Institute, the See Apostolic permitted that this special Feastday should be kept.
09-27.txt:[Lectio94]
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 diverse 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.
09-28.txt:[Lectio94]
Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia, was the son of Wratislas, who was a Christian, and Drahomira, a pagan, and was brought up in a devout way by his grandmother, Ludmilla, a most holy woman. He was famed for all kinds of virtue and took great care to keep his virginity intact throughout his life. The brutal murder of his grandmother, Ludmilla, left his mother secure in the administration of the kingdom. The irreligious life of Drahomira and her younger son, Boleslas, aroused the indignation of the nobles. Weary of this godless rule, they threw off the yoke of Drahomira and Boleslas and hailed Wenceslas as ruler in the city of Prague. He ruled the kingdom more by love than by power, and was careful and constant in relieving the needy and the afflicted. He honoured Priests with the highest veneration, and with his own hands sowed the wheat and pressed the wine to be used for the Sacrifice of the Mass. When he had been decorated by the Emperor with royal insígnia, his wicked brother, at the instigation of his mother, killed him while he was praying in a church. His blood may still be seen sprinkled upon the walls.
09-30.txt:[Lectio94]
Jerome, born at Stridon in Dalmatia, was baptized at Rome as a young man and studied the liberal arts with Donatus and other very learned men. In the service of religion, he travelled all over Palestine. Then he retired to the vast Syrian desert, where he spent four years in reading sacred Scripture and in the contemplation of the blessedness of heaven. Ordained priest by Paulinus, Bishop of Antioch, he went back to Palestine. There, near the crib of the Lord Christ in Bethlehem, he led a life patterned after that of heaven itself. He conquered the wiles of the devil with works of devotion and continual reading and writing. Questions on Holy Scripture were referred for explanation to him as to an oracle, being sent to him from all over the world. Pope Damasus and St. Augustine often consulted him on difficult passages in Scripture because of his singular learning and his knowledge not only of Latin and Greek but also of Hebrew and Chaldaic. He translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew; and by command of Pope Damasus, he revised the translation of the New Testament to make it faithful to the Greek text and explained a great part of it. In extreme old age, he made the journey to heaven. His body was buried at Bethlehem and later taken to Rome and buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
10-03.txt:[Lectio94]
Theresa of the Child Jesus was born of good and devout parents at Alencon in France. When she was five years old and had lost her mother, she committed herself completely to God's providence under the care of her loving father and older sisters, and with such teachers "rejoiced as a giant to run the way" of perfection. When she was nine, she was sent to the Benedictine nuns at Lisieux to be educated. Then, at the age of ten, she was tormented by an unknown and serious illness, from which she was divinely freed by the aid of Our Lady of Victory. When, filled with angelic fervor, she went to the holy banquet for the first time, she seemed to daw from it an insatiable hunger for this food. She desired to enter the Order of Discalced Carmelites but, because of her youth, met with many difficulties in embracing the religious life. These difficulties she courageously overcame and happily entered the Carmel of Lisieux at the age of fifteen There she burned with love for God and neighbor. She followed the spiritual way of childhood according to the teaching of the Gospels, and taught it to others, especially to the novices. Inflamed with desire for suffering, she offered herself two years before her death as a victim to the merciful love of God. At the age of twenty-four, on September 30, 1897 she hastened to her heavenly Bridegroom. Pius XI, enrolled her as a Virgin among the Blessed, and, two years later on the occasion of the great jubilee, solemnly placed her among the Saints appointed and declared her the special Patroness of all Missions.
10-04.txt:[Lectio94]
Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria and, following his fathers example, as a young man became a merchant. After recovering from a very serious illness he began most eagerly to undertake works of charity and, since his father indignantly objected, he gave up to him everything he had, adding that henceforth he had a better right to say, "Our Father who art in heaven." Having heard the Gospel. words concerning the poverty of Apostles, he took off his sandals and kept only one cloak and, when he had gained twelve disciples, founded the Order of Friars Minor. This was confirmed by Pope Innocent III, who had been divinely forewarned, and it spread in a wonderful way. Later Francis went to the solitude of Mount Alvernia where, on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, he received the stigmata from a Seraph carrying between his wings the image of the Crucified; the traces of the nails and the lance then appeared in his hands, feet and side. Two years afterwards he fell very ill and, in the Church of St. Mary of the Angels where he had received the spirit of grace from God, he exhorted the brothers to poverty, patience and the preservation of the faith of the holy Roman Church and, on October 4, most lovingly breathed forth his soul.
10-06.txt:[Lectio94]
Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian Order, was born at Cologne. From his boyhood he excelled in the soberness of his ways and his desire for solitude parents sent him to Paris, and there he made such progress in the study of philosophy and theology that he earned the degree of doctor and master in both faculties. Not long after, because of outstanding virtues he was anointed a Canon of the church of Reims. Having founded the Carthusian Order and having led a hermit's life in this Order for some years, he was summoned to Rome by Urban II, who had been his disciple. In those calamitous times, the Pope made use of Bruno's counsel and learning for several years. Finally the man of God, who had refused the archbishopric of Reims, was allowed to depart. He again sought a place of solitude, and there, full of virtues and merits, he fell asleep in the Lord.
10-08.txt:[Lectio94]
Born in Sweden of noble and devout parents, Bridget lived a very holy life. She was so affected by meditating on the Passion of the Lord that she could not think thereon without tears. She was given in marriage to Ulpho, Prince of Nericia, and urged him to godly works, as well by her noble example as by her earnest words. She educated her children most devoutly and served the poor and the sick. Her husband became a Cistercian monk and died soon after, and Bridget thereupon adopted a more austere way of life. Many secret things were then divinely revealed to her. She founded the monastery of Vadstena under the Rule of the Holy Saviour, and went to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage. Finally at Rome, when she had suffered for a whole year from a grave illness, she went to heaven. Renowned for miracles, she was enrolled among the Saints by Boniface IX.
10-09.txt:[Lectio94]
John Leonard, born near the city of Lucca, showed himself from early youth grave and mature beyond his years. At twenty-six he was called by God to enter the ranks of the clergy. He began by studying the rudiments of Latin with young boys, but made such progress in letters and in the disciplines of philosophy and theology, that scarcely four years later he was under obedience, promoted to priesthood. He founded the congregation of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, by whose work and zeal a great change of attitude was effected in the republic of Lucca. This aroused against John the bitter complaints of wicked men, but he bore everything with serenity of mind, obtaining the confirmation of his congregation from Gregory XIII. He was very sorrowful over the multitudes in distant parts who lacked the light of the Gospel and, having taken counsel with the devout leader Vives, he founded an institute of Priests whose work was to form young men who would be sent to propagate the faith in far countries. Finally, having carried out his sacred ministry so perfectly, clad in sackcloth and ashes, he went to the Lord at Rome on October 9 in the year 1609, and was numbered among the Saints by Pope Pius XI.
10-10.txt:[Lectio94]
Francis, fourth duke of Gandia, was first famed for the holiness of his life at the court of Emperor Charles V. But when he was sent to Granada to the Burial of Queen Isabella, and read in her face, changed by decay, the fate of all things mortal, he bound himself by vow to leave everything and serve only the King of heaven. Accordingly, after the death of his wife, Eleanor of Castile, he entered the Society of Jesus. St. Ignatius made him Commissary General in Spain and a little later he was chosen, although against his will, to be the third general of whole Society. St. Pius V appointed him as an aid to his legate, Cardinal Alessandrino, in a mission to unite the Christian princes against the Turks. Out of obedience he undertook the difficult journey; but it was at Rome, as he had wished, that he had happily completed the course of his life in the year of Salvation 1572. Clement X numbered him among the Saints.
10-13.txt:[Lectio94]
Edward, called the Confessor, nephew of St. Edward the King and Martyr, was the last of the Saxon Kings. When he was ten tears old the Danes who were devastating England sought to kill him. He was forced to go exile at the court of his uncle, the duke of Normandy. There the innocence of Edward's life was the admiration of all. With the destruction of the tyrants, who had killed his brothers and usurped their kingdom, he was called back to his own country, where he devoted himself to wiping out all traces of the enemy's occupation. He began with the restoration of the churches. Famous for the gift of prophecy, he foresaw in a heavenly way a great deal about the future state of England. He was wonderfully devoted to John the Evangelist, and on the day which the Evangelist predicted to him, January 5, 1066, he died a most holy death. Alexander III enrolled him among the Saints.
10-14.txt:[Lectio94]
Callistus, a Roman, was head of the Church while Antonius Heliogabalus was emperor. He fixed the four periods of the year for the Ember days, on which the custom of fasting, handed down by tradition from the Apostolic times, was to be observed by all. He built the Basilica of St. Mary across the Tiber. Because he enlarged the old cemetery on the Appian Way, where many holy priests and martyrs were buried, it is now called the cemetery of St. Callistus. He reigned for five years one month and twelve days. After long starvation and many scourging he was thrown headforemost into a well, and so won the crown of martyrdom under the emperor Alexander. His body was buried in the cemetery of Calepodius in the Aurelian Way at the third milestone from the city, on October 14. Later it was placed under the high altar of the Basilica of St. Mary across the Tiber, where it is venerated with great honor.
10-15.txt:[Lectio94]
Theresa was born of devout and noble parents at Avila in Spain. While still a child, burning with the desire of martyrdom, she ran away from home, and tried to go to Africa, but was brought back. After the death of her mother, she commended herself completely to the protection of the Blessed Virgin. When she was twenty, she professed the rule of the nuns of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Eager for the salvation of souls, she restored the observance of the ancient Carmelite rule by both men and women and built many monasteries. She continually offered God the sufferings of her own body voluntarily assumed for the sake of infidels and heretics. And when burning with divine love she had made the very difficult vow always to do what she thought the most perfect, she was privileged to have her heart pierced by an Angel with a fiery lance. She wrote many works filled with lessons of heavenly wisdom and taught a great deal by word and by example, often having this saying on her lips: "Lord, either to suffer, or die". She gave back her most pure soul to God at Alba at the sixty-seventh year of her age, on October 15, 1582.
10-16.txt:[Lectio94]
Hedwig was illustrious for her royal birth, being the maternal aunt of St. Elisabeth, daughter of the King of Hungary. At the age of twelve she was given in marriage to Henry, duke of Poland, and brought up the children of their marriage in the fear of God. In order to devote herself more closely to the service of God, she persuaded her husband to agree to a vow of continence for both of them. Upon the death of her husband she took the Cistercian habit in the monastery of Trebnitz, where she was intent on contemplation and took her delight in continually assisting at Divine Office and at Mass. Adorned with the highest virtue, most severe penance, wise counsel and candor of soul, she became an example of highest religious perfection. She was accustomed to make herself subject to all and to undertake the most menial tasks, ministering to the poor on her knees, and washing and kissing the feet of lepers. Her wonderful patience and constancy of soul were shown especially at the death of Henry, the duke of Silesia, her son, who was killed in battle by the Tatars. She was famous for miracles, especially after her death, and was enrolled among the Saints by Clement IV.
10-17.txt:[Lectio94]
Margaret Mary Alacoque was born of good parents in a village of the diocese of Autun, and even from her early years gave signs of her future sanctity. Burning with love for the Virgin Mother of God and for the august Sacrament of the Eucharist, as young woman she vowed her virginity to God. When she had entered the Order of the Visitation, she began to shine at once with the brightness of the religious life. She was adorned by God with the highest gifts of prayer, with other gifts of grace and with frequent visions. The most celebrated was this: when she was praying before the Eucharist, Jesus shewed himself to her with his Heart burning with flames and encircled with thorns, in his open breast, and he commanded that, in return for such love and to expiate the injuries of ungrateful men, she was to strive to institute the public cult of this Heart, promising in return great treasures of heavenly grace. She was famous for her religious perfection and, by the contemplation of divine things, each day she became more united with her heavenly Bridegroom. To him she went in the forty-third year of her age, in 1690. Renowned for miracles, she was numbered among the Saints by Benedict XV. Pope Pius XI extended her Office to the universal Church.
10-19.txt:[Lectio94]
Born of noble parents at Alcantara in Spain, Peter entered the Order of Friars minor when he was sixteen. He showed himself a model of all virtues, especially poverty and chastity, and brought numberless men from vice to repentance, by preaching the word of God. Eager to restore the original observance of St. Francis, he built a very small and very poor monastery near Pedroso. The way of life there was of the strictest, and from this auspicious beginning it spread in a remarkable way. He was a help to St. Teresa in promoting the Carmelite reform, having approved the spirit in which she begun it. Teresa often referred to him as a saint even while he was still living; and we learn from her, that he was famous for the grace of contemplation and miracles, and was imbued with the gift of prophecy and of the discernment of spirits. Finally he went to heaven in his sixty-third year, and blessed Teresa saw him in vision, shining with wonderful glory.
10-20.txt:[Lectio94]
John was born at Kenty, (whence the surname Cantius), a town in the diocese of Cracow. His parents Stanislaus and Anna, were devout honorable people. From his very infancy John gave promise of the greatest virtue by the sweetness and innocence of his way. After his ordination to the priesthood he redoubled his efforts to the Christian perfection. He administered the parish of Olkusz for several years with notable success, and then returned to teaching. Part of the time left him from this occupation he gave to the salvation of his neighbor, especially through preaching, and the rest to prayer. He came four times to the Apostolic See traveling on foot and carrying his own baggage, both to honor the Apostolic See, and as he said, to save himself from the punishments of purgatory, by the indulgences offered there daily. He watchfully preserved a virginal purity, and before his death he had abstained from meat for about thirty-five years. On Christmas Eve he went to the heavenly reward. He was enrolled among the Saints by Pope Clement XIII, and is honored as one of the primary Patrons of Poland and Lithuania.
11-04.txt:[Lectio94]
Charles was born at Milan of the noble Borromeo family. Before he was twenty-three, his uncle, Pius IV, made him a member of the sacred college of cardinals. Soon the same pope made him archbishop of Milan. In office he applied himself particularly to the task of conforming the church entrusted to him to the decrees of the holy council of Trent. It was largely through his efforts that the council's work had just been completed. When plague was raging at Milan, he gave even the furnishings of his house to provide for the needy, and he constantly visited the dying, consoling them in a wonderful way and giving them the sacraments of the Church with his own hands. He was a most zealous fighter for the freedom of the Church, and he wrote much that is useful particularly for the instruction of bishops; a catechism for parish priests also produced by his efforts, He died at Milan on November 3 in the forty-seventh year of his age. Famous for miracles, he was enrolled among the Saints by Paul V.
11-10.txt:[Lectio94]
Andrew Avellino, previously called Lancelot, was born at Castro Nuovo, a village in Lucania. He learned jurisprudence at Naples, was ordained priest, and began to practice law, though only in ecclesiastical courts. But once, when he was presenting a case, he let slip a small lie, and then happened upon the words of Scripture: "A lying mouth slays the soul". He was seized with remorse and sorrow, abandoned the practice of law, and begged to be admitted among the Clerks Regular. Successful in this petition, he also obtained by prayer, on account of the great love of Cross, with which he burned, the favor of being given the name Andrew. He was outstanding for his abstinence, patience, humility and contempt of self. He caused the Order of Clerks to spread in wonderful way. He honored the Virgin Mother of God, with a singular love and reverence. After giving heroic examples of virtue, worn with old age and broken by his labors, as he was beginning the celebration of Mass, after the third repetition of the words, "I will go into the altar of God", he suffered a stroke and apoplexy and died peacefully soon afterwards fortified by the sacraments. 
11-11.txt:[Lectio94]
Martin, born in Sabaria at Pannonia, was ten years old, when against his parents' wishes he went to a Church and asked to be enrolled amongst the catechumens. At fifteen he enlisted as a soldier, and served first in the army of Constantius, and then in that of Julian. At eighteen, when he had given part of his cloak to a poor man at Amiens, he was strengthened by a wonderful apparition of Jesus Christ and eagerly received baptism. Then leaving the military life, he was received among the acolytes of Hilary, the bishop of Poitiers. Later made bishop of Tours, he built a monastery, where with eighty monks he lived in a most holy way for some time. When he was seized with severe fever at Candes, a village of his diocese, he had pity on his disciples, and thus prayed to God: "Lord, if I am still necessary for your people, I will not refuse the labor." Shortly after, when death was imminent, the enemy of mankind appeared him. "Why are you here, cruel beast?", said Martin. "You will find no deadly sin in me." With those words he gave back his soul to God at the age of eighty one, famous for many miracles. 
11-12.txt:[Lectio94]
Born at Todi in Umbria, Martin accepted at the beginning of his pontificate to recall Paul of Constantinople, a heretic to the Catholic faith, by sending letters and legates. But Paul, supported by the emperor Constans, banished the legates of the Apostolic See to various islands. The Pope aroused by this crime, gathered at Rome a council of one hundred and five bishops, who condemned Paul. During the council the emperor sent the exarch Olympius to Italy, to depose the Pope. But Olympius died a miserable death, after failing to harm Martin in any way. Then, on the emperor’s orders, Theodore Kalliopes took over the Lateran Basilica and the nearby residence of the pope, and arrested Martin, first sending him to the island of Naxos, and then bringing him to Constantinople. Here the holy pope was chained and suffered mockery and insults. Exiled to the Chersonesus, he departed his life in the beginning of the eighth year of his pontificate, worn out with hardship and destitution for the sake of the Catholic faith. His body was later taken to Rome and was buried in the Church dedicated to SS. Sylvester and Martin.
11-13.txt:[Lectio94]
Didacus was a Spaniard from the town of San Nicolas del Puerto in the diocese of Seville. From his early youth he served his apprenticeship in the life of holiness under the guidance of a good priest. Then, in order to unite himself more closely with God, he was professed as lay brother in the convent of Arizafa under the rule of St. Francis of Assisi. There he submitted eagerly to the yoke of humble obedience and regular observance, devoting himself primarily to contemplation. And God's life was so wonderfully poured on him that, although he was unlettered, he used to speak of heavenly things in remarkable way which was clearly due to divine inspiration. At a mission in the Canary Islands he endured many hardships, burning with the desire for martyrdom, and brought many unbelievers by his words and example to faith in Christ. He was sent to care for the sick at the convent of Ara Coeli at Rome, and carried out this work in a wonderful spirit of charity, the grace of healing shining out from him. Finally at Alcala he departed this life, in most holy way in the year 1463. Famous for miracles, he was numbered among Saints by Sixtus V.
11-14.txt:[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.
11-15.txt:[Lectio94]
Albert, called the Great, because of his unusual learning, was was born at Lauingen on the Danube in Swabia and carefully educated from his boyhood. He left his country to study in Padua. While he was there he applied to entrance to the Dominicans. His uncle protested futilely against this step, but Blessed Jordan, master general of the Order of Preachers, encouraged it. When Albert had joined the friars, he was shining example of religious observance and devotion. He loved the Blessed Virgin Mary above all and burned with zeal for souls. To complete his studies he was sent to Cologne. Then he was made professor at Hildesheim, at Freiburg and Ratisbon and at Strasbourg. In the master's chair at Paris, he earned a high reputation. He had Thomas Aquinas for his beloved disciple and was the first to perceive and predict the loftiness of his intellect. At Anagni, in the presence of the Pope Alexander IV, he refuted William, who had wickedly attacked the mendicant orders. Later he was made bishop of Ratisbon, where, in giving counsel and in settling disputes, he worked such wonders, as to deserve the title of peacemaker. He wrote many things about almost all branches of learning, especially the sacred sciences, and composed some famous works about the wonderful Sacrament of the altar. Famous for his virtues and for his miracles, he died in the Lord in the year 1280. By the authority of the pope a cult had long since been granted him in many dioceses and in the Order of Preachers, when Pius XI, willingly acceding to the desire of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, gave him also the title of Doctor and extended his feast to the Universal Church. Pius XII appointed him the heavenly patron with God of all those who study the natural sciences.
11-16.txt:[Lectio94]
Born at Eisleben in Saxony, Gertrude offered her virginity and herself to Jesus Christ in the Benedictine monastery of Rossdorf, when she was five. She had St. Mechtilde for her teacher, and under this guidance attained the highest gifts of contemplation. She burned with such love for the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist and the Passion of the Lord that when she thought of them she shed tears in profusion. She wrote many things to foster devotion, and was known for the gift of divine revelation and of prophecy. Finally, consumed more by her burning love of God than by sickness, she departed this life, famous for miracles both before and after her death.
11-17.txt:[Lectio94]
Gregory, bishop of Neo-Caesarea in Pontus, was famous for his holiness and learning, but still most famous for his signs and miracles. These were so numerous and outstanding that he was called Thaumaturgus, the Wonderworker. St. Basil compares him to Moses, the Prophets and the Apostles. By his prayer he changed the location of a mountain which was obstructing the building of a church. He dried up a swamp which was a cause of discord between two brothers. When the river Lycus was destructively flooding the fields, he drove his staff into the bank, where it grew into a green tree; and he compelled the river never afterwards to go beyond that spot. He very frequently cast out demons from the images of idols and from the bodies of men, and did many other wonderful things by which innumerable men were drawn to the faith of Jesus Christ. He also had the prophetic spirit of predicting future events. When he was about to depart this life, he asked how many unbelievers still remained in the city of Neo-Caesarea. When he was told that there were only seventeen, he thanked God and said, "There was just that number of believers when I became bishop." His many writings, as well as his miracles, enlightened the Church of God.
11-19.txt:[Lectio94]
From her childhood Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew, king of Hungary, began to fear God; and she grew in holiness as she grew in age. When she was married to Ludwig, Landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia, she devoted herself no less to the service of God than to the welfare of her husband. She was constant in prayer and in the works of mercy, zealously serving widows, orphans, the sick and the needy, for whom she built a fine hospital. When her husband died, she put on a coarse garment and, in order to serve God more freely, entered the Order of Penitents of St. Francis, where she shone most especially with the virtues of patience and humility. These virtues she showed when she was despoiled of her possessions, driven from her home and abandoned by all. With unconquered spirit she endured insults, derision and detractions, even rejoicing greatly that she could suffer such things for God. Having passed her life most religiously in holy works, she fell asleep in the Lord. Famous for miracles, she was enrolled among the Saints by Gregory IX.
11-20.txt:[Lectio94]
Felix, previously called Hugh, of the royal family of Valois in France, from his youth began to seek solitude from the desire for heavenly contemplation. When he was ordained priest, he withdrew to a hermitage, where he lived for some years with St. John of Matha. Then God told them both through an Angel's message to go to Rome to obtain from Pope Innocent III, who had also been advised from heaven, the approbation of a new order for the redemption of captives. Because of the white habit adorned with a cross in two colors which they had received from the Angel, the same pontiff gave this order the name of the Most Holy Trinity. They soon built the first house of the Order in the diocese of Meaux at a place called Cerfroi. There Felix received a great favor from the Blessed Virgin Mary: he saw her in the middle of the choir clothed in the habit of the Order with its cross. Full of merits, he died at an advanced age in the Lord in the year 1212.
11-21.txt:[Lectio94]
@:Lectio4
11-22.txt:[Lectio94]
Cecilia, a Roman virgin of noble birth, vowed her virginity to God at a very early age. Given in marriage against her will to Valerian, she persuaded him to leave her untouched and go to blessed Urban, the Pope, that when he had been baptized he might be worthy to see Cecilia's angelic protector. When Valerian had obtained this favor, he converted his brother Tiburtius to Christ, and a little later both were martyred under the prefect Almachius. But Cecilia was seized by the same prefect because she had distributed the two brothers' wealth to the poor, and orders were given to have her suffocated in a bath. When the heat dared not harm her, she was struck three times with an axe, and left half dead. After three days she received the palm of virginity and of martyrdom, and was buried in the cemetery of Callistus. Her body and those of Popes Urban and Lucius, and of Tiburtius, Valerian and Maximus were transferred by Pope Paschal I to the church in the City dedicated to St. Cecilia.
11-23.txt:[Lectio94]
Clement, a Roman and disciple of blessed Peter, assigned each of the seven districts of the City to a notary who was to investigate carefully the sufferings of the Martyrs and their deeds and to write them down. He himself wrote a great deal to explain the Christian religion rightly for the salvation of others. Because he was converting many to the faith of Christ by his teaching, and the holiness of his life, he was exiled by the emperor Trajan to the wilderness near the city of Cherson across the Black Sea. There, he found two thousand Christians who had been similarly condemned by the emperor. When he had converted many nonbelievers in that region to the faith of Christ, at the command of the same emperor he was cast into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck, and won the crown of martyrdom. His body was later brought to Rome by Pope Nicholas I and honorably buried in the Church which had already been dedicated to him.
11-24.txt:[Lectio94]
John of the Cross was born of devout parents at Fontiveros in Spain. In his earliest years it became known how dear he would be to the Virgin Mother of God; for, when he was five years old, he fell into a well and, lifted out by her hand, escaped unharmed. As a young man he made himself a most loving servant to the sick poor in the hospital of Medina del Campo. Then he entered the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and, ordained priest out of obedience, professed the primitive rule. Burning with zeal to promote the stricter discipline, he was given by God as a companion to St. Teresa, who considered him among the purest and best souls in the Church of God at that time, to restore the primitive Carmelite observance among the brethren. When he had laboured earnestly at this task and suffered many things, he was asked by Christ what reward he would ask for so many toils, and he answered: Lord, to suffer and be despised for thee. He wrote books of mystical theology, full of heavenly wisdom. At length, having most patiently endured a severe illness, he fell asleep in the Lord at Ubeda in 1591, in the forty-ninth year of his age. Pius XI, on the advice of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, declared him a Doctor of the universal Church.
11-25.txt:[Lectio94]
Catherine was a noble virgin of Alexandria who united a zeal for the liberal arts with an ardent faith. When she saw many Christians given up to torture by Maximin, she went to him and strongly stated the necessity of faith in Christ for salvation. Wondering at her wisdom, the tyrant commanded her to be held, and, assembling the most learned men from all sides, he tried to persuade her to turn to the worship of idols. But the opposite happened; many of those men were convinced by Catherine's wise reasoning and embraced the faith of Christ and did not hesitate to die for it. Because of this, Maximin tried promises first and then threats to win Catherine from her conviction; but, when nothing succeeded, he had her beheaded with an axe.
11-26.txt:[Lectio94]
Born of a noble family at Osimo in Picenum, Sylvester was remarkable even as a boy for his scholarship and his good character. Having duly studied the sacred sciences and been made a canon, he benefited the people by his example and his preaching. When, at the funeral of a certain dead nobleman, he saw the decaying corpse of the handsome man who had been his neighbor, he said, "I am what this man was; what he is, I shall be"; and soon, from a desire for greater perfection, he withdrew into solitude and there devoted himself to vigils, prayers and fasting. That he might hide more completely from men's eyes, he changed his location several times. Finally he went to Monte Fano; a place deserted at that time, where he built a church in honor of St. Benedict and laid the foundation of the Congregation of the Sylvestrines. There his monks saw in him a wonderful model of holiness; he was famous for the spirit of prophecy, for power over demons and for other gifts, which in his deep humility he always kept hidden. He fell asleep in the Lord in the year of salvation 1267.
12-02.txt:[Lectio94]
Bibiana, a Roman virgin, was born of noble parents but was of still nobler race by reason of her Christian faith. Her parents, Flavian and Dafrosa, suffered martyrdom under Julian the Apostate. Then Bibiana and her sister, Demetria, were deprived of all their possessions, and Apronianus, praetor of the City, attempted, both by promises and by threats, to make them abandon the true faith. But they resisted him and his wickedness with great constancy. In this struggle, Demetria suddenly collapsed before Bibiana's eyes, and died in the Lord. Next Bibiana herself was handed over to a very crafty woman called Rufina, who was to have her seduced. But Bibiana was victorious over all her wiles, and thwarted the praetor's evil designs. Then he commanded that she be beaten with leaded whips, and at length she breathed out her soul. Her sacred body, left exposed to the dogs for two days, was preserved unharmed by divine power. John the priest buried it by night next to the grave of her sister and mother, near the palace of Licinius, where now stands a church dedicated to God and named after St. Bibiana.
12-03.txt:[Lectio94]
Francis was born of noble family at Xavier in the diocese of Pamplona. In Paris, he joined the companions and disciples of St. Ignatius, and in a short time became a shining example of austerity of life and untiring contemplation of divine things. Paul III made him apostolic nuncio to India, and he traveled about through countless provinces, always on foot and often barefoot. He brought the faith to Japan and six other regions. In India he converted many hundreds of thousands to Christianity, cleansing many princes and kings in the holy waters of baptism. His humility was so great that, when he wrote to St. Ignatius, his general, he always did so on his knees. By many and wonderful miracles, the Lord confirmed his zealous work in spreading the Gospel. Finally, on the Chinese island of Sancian, he died on the 2nd of December, rich in merits and worn out with his labors. Gregory XV enrolled him among the Saints, and Pius X, appointed him the heavenly patron of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith and of its work.
12-04.txt:[Lectio94]
Peter named 'Chrysologus', because of his golden quality of his eloquence, was born of good parents at Imola in Aemelia. Turning to religion from his earliest youth, he put himself under Cornelius of Rome, at that time bishop of Imola, who recognized his worth and ordained him deacon. In spite of his protests, Sixtus III proclaimed him archbishop of Ravenna, where he was received by the people with the greatest reverence. He was outstanding for his pastoral work and, in a sermon designed to put a stop to the customary games and masques, he made the famous statement: "The man who wants to play with the devil will not be able to rejoice with Christ." Divinely forewarned that the end of his life was approaching, he went back to his native town and, going into the church of St. Cassian, offered gifts and humbly begged God and his holy patron mercifully to receive his soul. He departed this life on December 2, in the eighteenth year of his episcopate, His holy body was buried with great honor next to that of St, Cassian.
12-06.txt:[Lectio94]
Nicolas was born in the famous city of Patar in Lycia. From his childhood he fasted every Wednesday and Friday, and maintained this custom throughout his life. Deprived of his parents in early youth, he distributed his possessions to the poor. One example of his marvelous charity is this: he came to the aid of three girls whose virtue was endangered by providing a sum of money sufficient for their dowries. While on a pilgrimage to Palestine, he went on God’s command to Mira, the metropolitan see of Lycia, where the bishop had died. Here, contrary to all expectation he was elected to the see by a marvelous consensus of all the assembled bishops of the province. In the work of his episcopate he stood out as an example of all virtues. But when he defied the edict of Diocletian and Maximian by continuing to preach the truth of the Christian faith, he was thrown into prison, where he remained until Constantine became Emperor. He took part in the Council of Nicea, at which the Arian heresy was condemned. Returning to his own country, he died a holy death in Mira. His body transferred to Bari in Apulia and is there venerated as a most famous relic.
12-07.txt:[Lectio94]
Ambrose, bishop of Milan, son of Ambrose, who was a Roman citizen, was educated in the City in the liberal arts. Appointed by the prefect Probus to govern Liguria and Aemilia at his order and with his authority. Ambrose went to Milan, where Auxentius, the Arian bishop, had died and the people were quarreling about the choice of a successor. In the exercise of his official duty, Ambrose went into the church to quell the riot that had arisen and, when he had spoken at length and eloquently on the peace and tranquility of the state, suddenly a boy's voice exclaimed, "Ambrose bishop!" Then the whole populace with one voice demanded that he be elected. And so he received baptism (for he had been only a catechumen), the other sacraments of the Christian initiation, all the degrees of orders according to the custom of the Church, and was raised to the dignity of the episcopate. In carrying of his office, he courageously defended the Catholic faith and the discipline of the Church both in speech and in writing, and converted many Arians and other heretics to the faith, among whom was St. Augustine, whom he begot to Christ Jesus as his spiritual child. Worn out by all his labors and cares for the Church of God, he died on April 4 in the year 397.
12-11.txt:[Lectio94]
Damasus was a Spaniard of great eminence and learned in the Sacred Scriptures. He called the first Council of Constantinople, in which he abolished the evil heresy of Eunomius and Macedonius. He repeated the condemnation, already pronounced by Liberius, of the Council of Rimini. A proclamation of that council, chiefly due, as writeth St. Jerome, to the intrigues of Valens and Ursacius, had condemned the faith of Nicea. Damasus built two basilicas: one dedicated to St. Lawrence near the theatre of Pompey, the other on the Ardeatine Way at the Catacombs. He decreed that, as was already the custom in many places, Psalms should be sung day and night in all churches by alternate choirs, and that at the end of each Psalm should be repeated the words: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost." It was at his command that St. Jerome revised the translation of the New Testament to make it faithful to the Greek text. He discovered many bodies of holy Martyrs and celebrated their memory in verses. When he was nearly eighty years old and famous for his virtue, learning and prudence, he fell asleep in the Lord, during the reign of Theodosius the Great.
12-12.txt:[Lectio94]
In the year 1531, according the religious tradition of Mexico, Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, appeared on Mount Tepeyac to a recently baptized Christian, Juan Diego, and gave him a message for Bishop Juan de Zumarraga - a commission which she urgently repeated that a church was to be built there in her honor. The bishop, however, asked for a sign. Two days later, the neophyte set out to get a priest to administer the Last Sacraments to his and he took a route that not bring him too near the place of the apparitions. But his loving Mother favored him with a third visit, assured him of his uncles good health, and had him gather some roses which had sprung out of season. These she arranged in his tilma or cloak, and she told him to take them to the bishop As the roses cascaded to the floor of the bishop's audience chain (so the story continues), the picture of Mary, miraculously imprinted on the tilma, was revealed to those present. The image was ut first kept in the bishop's oratory then moved to the hermitage that had been built on Mount Tepceyac, and finally placed in the great basilica which became the goal of crowds of Mexican pilgrims, drawn there by their devotion to Mary and by the reports ol frequent miracles. Having the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe as an ever present protectress, the Mexican bishops, with the approval of all the people, chose her as the primary Patron of the Mexican nation; and this choice was duly approved by the apostolic authority of Pope Benedict XIV. On Columbus Day, October 12, 1895, Pope Leo XIII, acting through the archbishop of Mexico, adorned the holy image with a golden crown. And St. Pius X declared Our Lady of Guadalupe Patroness of all of Latin America.
12-13.txt:[Lectio94]
Lucy, a virgin of Syracuse, noble by birth and by her Christian faith, went to the tomb of St. Agatha at Catheria and obtained the cure of her mother, Eutychia, who was suffering from a hemorrhage. Soon after, she gained her mother's permission to distribute to the poor all the possessions which were to have served as her dowry. As a result of this charitable action, she was accused of being a Christian and brought before Paschasius the Prefect. When neither promises nor threats could induce her to sacrifice the idols, Paschasius became enraged and commanded Lucy to be taken to a place where her virginity would be violated. But the power of God gave the virgin a strength that matched the firmness of her resolution, so that no force could move her where she stood. And so the prefect commanded a fire to be kindled all around here, but the flames did not harm her. After she had suffered many torments, therefore her throat was pierced through with a sword. So wounded she foretold that the Church would have peace after the deaths of Diocletian and Maximilian, and on December 13 she gave up her spirit to God. Her body was first buried at Syracuse, than taken to Constantinople, and finally transferred to Venice.
12-16.txt:[Lectio94]
Eusebius was born in Sardinia a lector at Rome, and later bishop of Vercelli, fought so bravely against Arianism that his unconquerable faith supplied encouragement and new life to the Pope. Because of his profession of the Catholic faith, Eusebius was sent to Scythopolis by emperor Constantius, where he suffered hunger, thirst, beatings and many other kinds of torment. From there he was sent away to Cappadocia and endured hardships of exile until Constantius' death. When he was allowed to return to his own Church, Italy put off her garments of mourning. Here he published his own expurgated Latin translation of the Greek commentaries of Origen and those of Eusebius of Cesarea on all the psalms. At Vercelli, during the reign of Valentinian and Valens, he went to the Lord to receive the unfading crown of glory earned by his great labors and hardship.