LIVES OF THE SAINTS,
AND THE FEASTS OF THE CHURCH
1 May
St. Joseph
Singularly
little is known about St. Joseph. If it is true that Matthew 1 and 2 is
dependent upon a source which ultimately stems from St. Joseph (as Luke
1 and 2 is based upon one stemming from Our Lady), Matthew in the event
tells us as little about him as Luke. The genealogy in both Gospels places
him in the line of David. At the beginning of our era this royal descent
was no longer a title to rank or riches, and everything we know about Joseph
(e.g. the substitute offering made at the Presentation in Luke 2:24) suggests
that he was one of the unprivileged poor. His family belonged to Bethlehem
in Judea (Luke 2:4), but he had removed to Nazareth in Galilee to take
up there the occupation of builder (the
word
used in Matthew 13:55 is wider than is suggested by the translation 'carpenter').
There is no reason to suppose that he was above the normal age of twenty to twenty-four when he married Mary, who would herself be between fifteen and twenty. Matthew mentions the annunciation to Joseph of Mary's miraculous conception, the visit of the Magi, the flight to Egypt and the return to Nazareth. Luke fills in the intermediate details of the birth, the circumcision, the presentation, and the temporary loss of the child in Jerusalem at the age of twelve. From this time Joseph disappears from the Gospel pages, and since there is no mention of him with Mary during the public ministry of Christ, it is probable that he died in the interval.
With
their concern to provide the information demanded by popular curiosity
and piety, the apocryphal
Gospels
are more than usually liberal in their treatment of Joseph, and expatiate
on the children of his first marriage, the death of his wife, his long
years of widowhood, his winning the guardianship of Mary in competition
against other suitors, the ordeal by which his chastity is proved, the
circumstances surrounding the birth of Christ, and finally his protracted
death and the consolation given him by Jesus and Mary. While some of these
details have great poetic beauty, others betray their origin and purpose
too clearly to be mistaken for history. Thus, Joseph's former marriage
has been invented to give some
explanation
of the 'brothers and sisters' of Jesus (Matthew 12:46; 13:55, etc.), and
his death at the age of 111, based on that of his Old Testament namesake,
in an attempt to compensate and account for his early disappearance from
the Gospels.
The Gospels
remain therefore as the only reliable source of information about Joseph.
Yet with all their
reticence
they have left a sharp outline of his character. Even if it is unsafe to
argue from the mere fact that they record no word of his, it is clearly
their purpose to present him as the patient instrument of God, who does
what is required of him with unquestioning faith. His pious observance
of the Jewish Law, his faithful protection of the family in his charge,
his willing acceptance of hardship, his prompt obedience to the demands
of God, his constancy under trial, his calm dignity at all times, these
mark him out as the 'just' or godly man, who can be proposed as a model
to all Christians, and to Christian working men in particular.
Christ's own attractive human character, with its forthrightness, courage and deep charity, was developed under the example and upbringing he received from Joseph. Yet Joseph's true greatness lies at a deeper level, and the customary description of him as the putative or foster-father of Jesus may here be a little misleading. The term suggests a purely metaphorical relationship to Christ, the merely extrinsic exercise of parental authority. It would be more accurate to say that Joseph was, in every way short of generation, the true father of Christ, a term which the Gospels do not hesitate to use constantly. Jesus was truly the fruit of the marriage in which Joseph played an indispensable role. If his fatherhood was virginal it was not thereby something less than physical fatherhood; by its spiritual nature it was an earthly reflection of the paternity of God himself. The relationship of the Virgin Father to Christ is therefore analogous to that of the Virgin Mother. Both Mary and Joseph are integral parts of the mystery of the incarnation; and in so far as this mystery is extended through time in the mystical body of the word made flesh, Joseph continues his role of fostering, protecting and guiding the church, not by any mere extrinsic title, but by the very nature of things.
The reticence
of the Gospels has helped to obscure this true dignity of Joseph. The cult
which grew up in the east in connection with the fourth century account
of his happy death, and which only slowly spread to the west through
the middle ages, was not acknowledge universally until the seventeenth
century, and did not receive its final crown until 1870, when Pius IX proclaimed
Joseph as the Patron of the Universal Church. This fact is commemorated
annually on March 19th. In 1955 Pius XII added a second feast of Joseph
the Worker, to be celebrated on the traditional Labor Day of May 1st.
|
For Any Special Intention Ever
blessed and glorious Joseph, kind and loving father, and helpful friend
of all in
Listen,
then, I beg you, with fatherly concern, to my earnest prayers, and obtain
for me
I
ask it by the infinite mercy of the eternal Son of God, which moved Him
to take our
I ask
it by the weariness and suffering you endured when you found no
I ask it by the loveliness and power of that sacred Name, Jesus, which you conferred on the adorable Infant. I ask
it by that painful torture you felt at the prophecy of holy Simeon, which
declared the Child Jesus
I ask
it through your sorrow and pain of soul when the angel declared to you
that the life of the Child Jesus
I ask
it by all your care to protect the Sacred Child and His Immaculate Mother
during your second
I ask
it by your great distress when the adorable Child was lost to you and His
Mother for three days. I ask
I ask
it by the perfect love and conformity you showed in accepting the Divine
order to depart from this
I ask
it through Mary's glorious Assumption, and through that endless happiness
you have with her in the
O good
father! I beg you, by all your sufferings, sorrows, and joys, to hear me
and obtain for me what I
Obtain
for all those who have asked my prayers everything that is useful to them
in the plan of God.
JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH "A blameless life, St. Joseph, may we lead, by your kind patronage from danger freed." This prayer may be said during any 30 days of the year. |
2 May
St. Athanasius of Alexandria (295-373)
St. Athanasius
was born some time about the year 295 and most probably at Alexandria.
His family was apparently of
some
wealth--years later he was to hide among their sepulchres. It is certain
that he received a fairly elaborate
and
conventional classical education; he quotes Euripides, Pindar and Homer,
and refers to 'great Plato.' Perhaps later
he studied
at a Christian catechetical school, possibly of Caesarea, for all his thought
is impregnated not only by a
knowledge
of all the Scriptures but of commentaries on Scripture and a sense of the
tradition of the Fathers. It is
known
that as a young man he taught as Lector, or Didaskalos, in the catechetical
school of Alexandira. Some time during the first crucial twenty-five years
he had been in the desert and known St. Antony the Abbot. Most probably
he had tried to live as a hermit, for all his life he would seem to have
been a contemplative. Perhaps that is the key to much in the character
of his sanctity and in his personality. Few saints seem to have changed
so little as Athanasius. He was fully formed when he first took part in
history about 320; everything that mattered most to him seems to have happened
before he was thirty.
About the year 320 St. Athanasius was deacon to Alexander, bishop of Alexandria. Arius, who was to give his name to Arianism, was then parish priest of Boucalis in the same city, a popular preacher, an admired ascetic and a director of consecrated virgins. He was already teaching that the Son of God had come 'into being out of non-existence' and that 'once he was not.' For Arius, the Son was a divine being and our Saviour, but he was the link between man and God, and pure eternal Godhead was the prerogative of the Father only. Arianism was to take many forms, sometimes more extreme, often more moderate than that which Arius had preached. Athanasius was to fight them all for more than fifty years. It is likely from the style and content that he was the true author of the encyclical against the new teaching which Bishop Alexander published in 322. It is certain that he attended the council of Nicaea three years later as Alexander's councillor and had at least some share in the final formulation of the definition there, that the Son was of the same substance as the Father. He came back to Egypt with his bishop and, in the summer of 328, succeeded him to the see of Alexandria.
During
the first seven years of his episcopate, St. Athanasius created for himself
a position in Egypt which was to prove ultimately impregnable. He visited,
taught and administered southward down the Nile valley. He sent the first
mission into inner Africa, and under the leadership of St. Frumentius it
converted the kingdom of Axum in Ethiopia. Everywhere he established close
relations with the monks and hermits who were to revere him as a wonder-worker
and to name him 'Truth-teaching Father' and 'Christ-Bearer.' No previous
bishop of Alexandria had ever had such power. It was perhaps political
as much as theological intrigue which led the Emperor Constantine to summon
him to Byzantium and then to exile
him
to Trier on the German border in 335.
He did
not return to Egypt till two years later, when he found that the Arian
factions were beginning to gain a rather hesitate patronage from the new
Emperor in the east, Constantine's son Constantius. From 337 to 366 his
life became primarily a struggle, at times almost single-handed, against
all those tendencies which would have led to the undoing of the work of
Nicaea. It is fairer to describe his opponents as anti-Nicene rather than
as Arians. They included bishops who were addicted to some variant of Arian
teaching, others of personal if lax orthodoxy who were ready to compromise
for the sake of peace, and others who were rigorously orthodox and old
fashioned, who abhorred the Nicene definition as a novelty and feared that
it might cloak the revival of heretical tendencies that had minimized the
distinction between the Father and the Son. Behind them all was the power
of the Emperor and of the great civil servants, probably quite uninterested
in doctrine but intent on enforcing unity in what was rapidly becoming
the state religion. It was the policy of Constantius to replace the definition
of Nicaea by a compromise formula which could be accepted by all and dictated
by the State. St. Athanasius was to be the
champion,
not only of the single substance of the Trinity, but of the autonomy of
the church.
Three other times he was arrested and sent into exile--each time he returned. From 356 to 361 he was in hiding in Egypt, sometimes in desert hermitages, sometimes in cisterns and in tombs. There were short lulls, and, for the last few years of his life, he was left undisturbed in Alexandria. But he was never secure and when he died a little before dawn on May 2nd, 373, the struggle seemed still undecided; Valens, then emperor in the east, was anti-Nicene and many of the bishops supported the imperial policies. Five years later Valens was dead and the Nicene cause had triumphed.
St. Athanasius had written the greatest of his works during the thirty years of turmoil; his De Incarnatione Verbi seems to have been completed in 337. His De virginitate and his Orationes may date from about 357. The Contra Arianos may be later than 362. He had written so much, but again and again all his thought, like his life, centers in a double conception: the Son the manifestation of the Father, the church the manifestation of the Son. Perhaps no saint has been more like St. John; all later theology has been affected by him either directly or through St. Ambrose and Damascene. In the west he was remembered as the doctor of the Trinity, so that long afterwards the Latin, and probably African, 'Quicumque Vult' came to be called the Athanasian Creed. But primarily he was the doctor of the Incarnation and of grace. As he contemplated Christ, 'The invisible Godhead made visible,' he saw each member of His Body as a vine branch of the Vine: 'I say ye are gods and all sons of the Highest'; 'We are sons and gods by reason of the Word within us'; 'the Word became man so that we should be deified.' To St. Athanasius the church was not only a visible society linked by a single Faith, 'One House,' 'One Tunic,' 'One Sheepfold.' It was also 'the Sanctuary in which is shed the Blood of Christ.' Christ's presence rendered it unchangeable and indestructible. For St. Athanasius there was one retort to heresy: 'This is not the faith of the Catholic church, this is not the faith of the Fathers.' For him the Faith of the Catholic church was Christ as Light.
3 May
St.
Philip the Apostle
First
Century
The Gospels
of Sts. Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us nothing of Philip except our Lord's
choice of
him
as an Apostle. St. John, however, in youth his fellow townsman at Bethsaida,
and in old age his
neighbor
in Asia Minor, tells us more of him. It was he of whom Jesus asked how
sufficient bread
could
be provided to feed the five thousand, and who replied that 'two hundred
silver pieces
could
not buy enough.' The Greeks who wished to see Jesus approached Philip,
and, at the Last
Supper,
it was he who asked to be shown the Father.
St.
James the Less
First
Century
The only
direct information which the New Testament provides about the second apostle
who bore the
name
James is that he was the 'son of Alphaeus' (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke
6:15; Acts 1:13). In these
circumstances,
it is not surprising that attempts have been made to identify him with
one, or more, of the
several
people so named elsewhere in the New Testament. The most outstanding of
these is James, 'the
brother
of the Lord,' who is thus described by St. Paul (Galatians 1:19; cf. also
2:9 and 12). He is probably to
be identified
with the recipient of a vision of the Risen Christ (1 Corinthians 15:7),
and is, doubtless, the
same
James who is depicted as the leading Christian of the Church of Jerusalem
(Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18).
Finally,
it seems natural to identify him with the Lord's brother of that name mentioned
in the Gospels
(Matthew
13:55; Mark 6:3). It was the opinion of St. Jerome--an opinion for a long
time generally
accepted--that
James, son of Alphaeus, and James, the Lord's brother, are the same person;
but the tendency
among
biblical scholars nowadays is to distinguish between the two, and to be
content with regard to this
apostle,
as we have to be content in the case of others of the Twelve, with the
bare mention of his name.
The term
'brethren of the Lord' is used by New Testament writers to designate a
group of persons distinct
from
the Twelve (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:5; Acts 1:13 and 14). In their few appearances
in the Gospels, they are
shown
as incredulous with regard to Christ's preaching, even positively opposed
to him; and this at a time
when
the Apostolic College was already constituted (e.g. John 7:3-5; Mark 3:21
and 31-36). While no
completely
convincing argument can be found, it would appear more probable that neither
James nor any
other
of the brethren was a member of the Twelve.
Similarly,
if one keeps in mind the pre-eminent position occupied by James, the Lord's
brother, among the
Jewish
converts at Jerusalem, he would appear the most likely author of the Epistle
of James, a letter
addressed
primarily to the convert Jews of the Dispersion.
Early
Christian tradition agrees with Josephus in stating that James, the Lord's
brother, was put to death by
the
Jewish authorities (probably in the year 62). Hegesippus, writing in the
second century, describes James
as an
ascetic--'wine and strong drink he drank not, nor did he meat; he neither
shaved his head, nor
anointed
himself with oil ... and the skin of his knees was hardened like a camel's
through his much
praying.'
He was held in high repute for his sanctity, but gradually incurred the
envy and enmity of the
scribes
and pharisees because of his sway over the people, and this culminated
in their stoning him to
death
within the temple precincts, while he was addressing the crowd.
The very
large and involved question of the relationship between Christ and 'his
brethren' can only be
touched
on here. In the first place there can be no doubt that the Greek word in
the original texts means
'brother;
at the same time one should remember that, as used in the New Testament,
viz to designate a
well-defined
group of people (e.g. 1 Corinthians 9:5), the term must have taken its
rise among the
Aramaic-speaking
first Christians; that, therefore, our Greek term is merely a translation
of the current
Aramaic
word. Consequently, it is permissible to argue that, as in several verifiable
instances in the Old
Testament,
so here, 'brother' does not necessarily mean full-brother, nor even half-brother,
but may be used
to designate
remoter degrees of kinship, including cousins, since neither Hebrew nor
Aramaic had a word
for
'cousin.' If, then, Christ did have cousins, the only suitable word in
Aramaic to describe them would
have
been 'brethren.' Catholic belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary, while
resting largely on the basis of
a firm
tradition, still finds some support in the nuances of Scripture: Mary's
implied vow of virginity (Luke
1:34);
the family life of Mary and Joseph, as told by Luke, makes no mention of
other children; Christ alone
is 'son
of Mary'; the otherwise hardly comprehensible action of Christ in confiding
his mother to St. John's
care.
The theory which would make the 'brethren' sons of Joseph by a previous
marriage, likewise, has no
Scriptural
foundation. Conversely, the view which holds them to be Christ's
cousins by being the children
either
of a sister of his mother, or of a brother of St. Joseph, has only conjectural
value.
14 May
SAINT
MATTHIAS
Apostle
(New Testament)
A KISS twisted to become a mockery of love sealed the pact of Judas and the Jewish council. This was the treachery of one who had been close to Christ, who had received the most patient instruction, who was called particularly by our Lord. Of course, the other apostles were not too proud of their record during Christ's Passion, but it must have been difficult to fight down bitterness toward the traitor's appalling action. Several times the evangelists repeat the phrase, "one of the twelve" in reference to Judas, as if in honest amazement that he could have betrayed Christ. None of them could miss the lesson-that even the blessed fall if they fail to depend on God. "There, but for the grace of God, go I"-none of them could ever forget it. Similar thoughts must have crossed the mind of Matthias as he was chosen to fill the spot left vacant by Judas' suicide.
It is related in the Acts of the Apostles that after Christ's Ascension, the eleven, with Mary and some disciples, met in the Upper Room to wait and pray. There Peter opened the election for a replacement for Judas, "inasmuch as he had been numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry" (Acts 1:17). Two candidates were unanimously chosen for their loyalty and devotion to Christ: Joseph, surnamed Justus, and Matthias. Since naming a new apostle was no easy task, they begged God for guidance. Then they drew lots and the choice fell upon Matthias: "and he was numbered with the eleven apostles."
Matthias
remained with the others until after Pentecost and the descent of the Holy
Spirit. After that he seems to have spent a great deal of time working
in Judea; then he traveled east to Cappadocia (now Turkey), where it is
said that he was the vital instrument in bringing many pagans to the faith.
Clement of Alexandria wrote one of the most memorable lines about Matthias:
"He exhausted his body by mortification to make his spirit subject to the
Crucified."
There
is a tradition that Saint Matthias was martyred in much the same manner
as Christ, but his symbol is usually a lance or halberd. His death
took place about the year So in Colchis, an ancient country south of the
Caucasus Mountains, on the east coast of the Black Sea.
Matthias, like all the apostles, was chosen to become "a witness with us of Christ's resurrection." This was the primary task of the new apostle. It remains the primary task of every Christian today. In words and deeds, if we "seek the things that are above," we will be true preachers of the gospel and faithful witnesses to the love of Christ.
20 May
St. Bernardine of Siena 1380-1444
This
'star of Tuscany' came of the noble Sienese family of the Albizeschi. Born
at Massa Marttima, where his father was governor, on September 8th, 1380,
and left an orphan at six, he was brought up by his aunts. At school in
Siena he was
remarkable
for intelligence and a general popularity in no way lessened by outstanding
goodness and purity. When he was seventeen, he joined a Marian confraternity
at the La Scala hospital and began a secluded religious life. Yet in 1400,
he willingly emerged to become the successful organizer of the hospital
services during a severe outbreak of the plague. Although he escaped infection,
he fell ill through exhaustion and never entirely recovered.
In 1402 he joined the Franciscans, throwing in his lot with the 'Observant' reform-party. Their spectacular growth in the ensuing period owes much to his influence; for twelve years (1430-1442) he was to be their vicar general. His ordination in 1404 was followed by a dozen years hidden life, but the rest of his career is a record of indefatigable preaching journeys, usually afoot, all over Italy. He was the greatest popular preacher of his time, a worthy successor to St. Vincent Ferrer, a true 'apostle of Italy.'
His habitual topics were the need of penance and denunciation of prevalent vices, especially civil and political strife, usury, gambling and 'vanity' in dress and social behavior. He treated these worn themes in a fresh manner, using pregnant anecdotes and illustrations, holding vast crowds for hours and bringing about impressive conversions.
He will be remembered for his promotion of the cult of the Holy Name of Jesus, of Mary as dispenser of the graces merited by her divine Son, and of St. Joseph. He was accustomed to preach holding a board on which were the first three letters of the Savior's name in its Greek form--'IHS'--surrounded by rays, and he persuaded people to copy these plaques and erect them over their dwellings and public buildings. His last sermons--on Inspirations--show him to have been a profound psychologist on the mystical way and a liberal-minded teacher of the theory of contemplative prayer.
He died, worn out with missionary labours, on May 20th, 1444, at Aquila in the Abruzzi, and was buried there. The miracles at his tomb induced Nicholas V to canonize him only six years later. In the Roman rite both mass and office on his feast day are taken from the Common of Confessors, but the Franciscans have a proper mass and office, including the hymn Sidus Etruscis and a homily on apostolic poverty from one of his own sermons.
The preaching of St. Bernardine, especially the verbatim versions of his popular sermons in Italian, still deserves attention in an age no longer much addicted to pulpit oratory. Modern readers will at least admire the rugged forthrightness, often earthiness, of his style. They will applaud his social awareness and the eminently practical methods he adopted to drive his lessons home and make them permanent.
SAINT
BEDE THE VENERABLE
Confessor
and Doctor of the Church, 673-73S
THE strong, clear voice of Saint Bede, an eighth-century English monk, still speaks to us from the pages of his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Most of our knowledge of the saint himself is from this work, a monumental piece of historical literature. There we learn that Bede was orphaned at seven (he was born in 673), placed in the care of the Benedictine monks at the Abbey of Wearmouth in Northumbria, and a little later was sent to Jarrow, a nearby sisterabbey. At Jarrow, when he was thirty, he was ordained a priest, and there he remained until his death in 735. The wholesome Benedictine life with its peaceful rhythm of prayer and work was exactly suited to Bede, who distinguished himself in both its aspects. We know that he was especially conscientious in chanting the Divine Office the central act of monastic life-and that he was loved by all the monks of Jarrow for his tender, profound piety.
Bede's work in the monastery was that of a scholar, for as he says: ". . . amid the observance of the regular discipline and the daily charge of singing the Divine Office in church, my delight has always been in study, teaching, and writing. " His accomplishments in these fields were brilliant ones, fully earning him the description "father of English learning. " He thought of himself primarily as a student of the Bible and wrote commentaries on several of its books, as well as collaborating with his fellow monks on one of the best manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate ever produced. His Ecclesiastical History, however, is his masterpiece, and its account of the history of England from the earliest times to the author's own day still makes fascinating reading. Bede drew his facts, he tells us, from "ancient documents, from the traditions of our forebears, and from my own personal knowledge, " and his book is a rich mine of detailed, accurate information about every aspect of early English life, especially the missionary efforts of Augustine and the others who Christianized the country. He also wrote a history of the abbots of Wearmouth and jarrow.
In 735, four years after the completion of the History, Bede fell seriously ill. Realizing that he had not long to live, he distributed his few belongings to the other monks and then calmly continued, as well as he could, with his teaching and writing. On the eve of the Ascension be was dictating to a young monk his final corrections of some passages of Saint Isidore of Seville, and when the last sentence was finished he asked to be placed on the floor of his cell. There, after singing the Gloria Patri, Bede died. Remembered with respect for centuries as "the Venerable Bede," the good monk received a greater title in 1899, when Pope Leo XIII approved the popular veneration of Saint Bede and declared him a Doctor of the Church.
SAINT
GREGORY VII
Pope
and Confessor, c. 1015-1085
HILDEBRAND is one of the most famous--and most slandered--names in the history of the papacy. The man who bore the name was Pope Gregory VII. He ruled the Church from 1073 to 1085, a period when the most decisive action was needed to preserve the Church from both internal and external dangers; because Gregory supplied that action, he drew on himself, perhaps for all time, the criticism of those who invariably see a lust for power behind the actions of any man who acts resolutely in high office.
Born about 1015, Hildebrand, as he was called at baptism, was a Benedictine monk in Rome when his talents began to bring him to the attention of the popes. Serving under six different pontiffs, he came to be the most important figure in papal government and, on the death of Pope Alexander II, was himself chosen by acclamation for the papal throne. There was no man at the time better qualified for the papal responsibility. "On you, who have reached the summit of dignity, are fixed the eyes of all men," wrote William of Metz.
The new pope knew well the threats to the Church he faced: clerical morals had never been lower, married priests, or priests simply living with women, being almost the rule rather than the exception; simony, or the buying and selling of sacred offices, was also widespread; and underlying everything else was the system of lay investiture, which gave feudal monarchs almost complete control of the appointment of members of the hierarchy. Only strong measures could cope with the situation, and Gregory had the courage to take them.
In 1074 Gregory deposed a number of bishops who had bought their offices; he also forbade clergymen who were guilty of simony or unchaste living to perform any ecclesiastical functions and instructed the laity not to assist at services held by such men. The following year, at a synod held in Rome, Gregory ordered the lay-investiture system abolished, insisting at the same time on the principle of the pope's spiritual sovereignty over the monarchs. Besides issuing decrees, the pope sent his personal representatives, or legates, throughout Europe to see that they were strictly enforced. Obedience to the papacy was slow in coming, however. Everyone who had an interest in maintaining the old, corrupt ways showed more or less open defiance; these included the great kings of the day-William the Conqueror, king of England and Normandy, Philip I of France, Henry IV of Germany-as well as many clergymen.
Gregory made headway against his opposition by using a variety of weapons, including that of excommunication. When he imposed this penalty on Henry IV in 1077 and left for Augsburg to hold a council at which the king would be deposed, Henry traveled through the dead of winter to Canossa, where the pope had stopped, and there, barefoot in the snow, waited to beg the pope's forgiveness. Dramatic as the incident was, it showed no real change of heart on Henry's part; he was only worried about the political consequences of his excommunication. When Henry later became involved in a civil war and the pope took the part of the king's opposition, Henry marched to Rome with an army and drove the pope into exile at Salerno. It was there that Gregory died in 1085, murmuring, "I have loved justice and hated iniquity . . . therefore I have died in exile. "
Although Gregory's enemies seemed to have the upper hand at his death, his reforms bore fruit in succeeding years, as men who had been inspired by his inflexible demands for justice and morality came into control of the Church's affairs. The strength of the Church in the two following centuries was due largely to Pope Gregory VII, a man who thought nothing of the world's opinion, but who cared very much for the welfare of God's Church.
25 May
SAINT
MARY MAGDALENE DE PAZZI
Virgin,
1566-1607
WHO knows how a life lived for God alone may affect history or what graces may be won for the world through one person's holiness? In the sixteenth century Christianity was in a sad state; skepticism, the neo-paganism of the Renaissance, the Lutheran invasion, and much open sin and sacrilege were drawing thousands away from the Church. But the real triumph of Christianity is in men's souls, and it is never entirely lacking, no matter what the outer circumstances of Church and states may be. (Picture)
Saint
Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi was born in Florence in 1566, and at the age of
eighteen made her profession as a Carmelite nun in the convent of Saint
Mary of the Angels in that city. Immediately after her profession
she underwent a period of profound spiritual joy, but after forty days
this came to an abrupt end, and for the next five years she was assaulted
almost continually by frightful temptations to impurity, gluttony, and
blasphemy. What was worse, she had that experience known fully only
to the saints-the feeling of being abandoned by God. She endured
the trials with- a saint's fortitude, however, and at the end of them was
rewarded with the nearly constant possession of a gift that comes to very
few Christians: conscious union with God. Mary Magdalene filled various
positions in her convent and often carried out her duties in a state of
ecstasy. The words of advice on spiritual matters she uttered during
these periods were recorded by the other nuns and published after her death.
Never in good health, the saint suffered final trials of intense physical
torment, which she bore with her usual courage. Her heroic life ended
in 1607, and her body, untouched by corruption, is venerated in a beautiful
shrine in the church attached to her convent in Florence.
SAINT
PHILIP NERI
Confessor,
1515-1595
THE sound of laughter resounds through the life of Saint Philip Neri, giving the lie to those who, through ignorance or malice, paint saints as sad, dismal creatures whose only pleasure is in suffering. Philip was born in Florence in 1515, but spent most of his life in Rome, where he came in 1533. At that time, under the influence of Renaissance ideals, the ancient city was being considerably more wicked than usual, and Philip did so much to remedy this situation that he is remembered as the "Apostle of Rome."
The saint's special concern was for the youth of the city: with his high spirits and genuine holiness, the small, quick man (heavily bearded in later years) was always a fascinating figure for the young; they came to him in droves, happy merely to be in the presence of so delightful a person. Philip carefully channeled the energy of his disciples into projects that led, one way or another, to God. In 1548, while still a layman, he organized a confraternity of young men who did charitable work in the city's hospitals and met for religious discussion and prayer; after his ordination, in 1551, Philip expanded this group to include persons of both sexes and all ages. Religious instruction was the primary purpose of their meetings and, in 1564, in order to put the work on a permanent basis, Philip founded the Congregation of the Oratory. This was a society of secular priests (most of its first members were Philip's disciples) dedicated to saving souls through prayer, preaching, and parish work.
With his intense desire to bring God into the lives of his fellow men, Philip was the most accessible person in Rome. His rooms were always crowded with young people whose boisterous activities sometimes drew censorious murmurs from Philip's fellow priests; his own feelings about his exuberant guests and their antics were expressed in the following comment: "They can chop wood on my back so long as they keep from sin." All-day picnics, featuring sermons as well as food, wine, and entertainment (the best musicians in Rome were brought along) were another device used by the priest to accustom people to religion in their daily lives. The most potent means he used, however, was the confessional; he urged frequent confession and would make himself available for that purpose at any hour of the day or night. With his gift for reading mens' hearts, Philip brought many an astonished sinner to repentance by revealing to him sins that he had deliberately omitted from his confession.
The natural gaiety that was so attractive in Philip was accompanied in his later years by actions that struck the excessively sober-minded as outrageous, 'to say the least. Once while attending a solemn ceremony in the Vatican, Philip convulsed everyone present, including the pope, by strolling over to a tall papal guard and stroking the man's beard admiringly, comparing it regretfully with his own scantier growth. One of his most enchanting habits was to receive important visitors (cardinals, for example) with a cushion on his head and then entertain them with selections from his favorite joke book. Philip employed much of this fantastic humor in the hope of deluding people into thinking him a foolish old man, rather than the saint he was. His naive efforts at deception were of little use, however; everyone knew he was a saint and also were aware of the mystical phenomena that marked his life.
Because he went into ecstasy during Mass, Philip eventually obtained permission to celebrate his Masses in a private chapel; his server there would leave him alone after the Agnus Dei, lock the chapel door, and return in about two hours, when he would find Philip in a state of exhaustion, after what had obviously been a profoundly exalting experience. It also was noticeable that when Philip prayed his whole body would shake and tremble, sometimes with a terrifying violence. This phenomenon dated from the eve of Pentecost, 1544, when he had been praying in one of his favorite places, the catacombs of Saint Stephen. A globe of fire had appeared to him then, had entered his mouth and lodged in his breast, filling him with a nearly unbearable spiritual joy. A large swelling remained over his heart after this experience, and the simple act of praying almost always threw him into the same state of physical agitation and intense spiritual joy. After his death it was discovered that the two ribs over his heart had spread apart, thus allowing his heart more room in which to beat.
Although
frequently ill during his life (he was cured on one occasion by a vision
of the Blessed Virgin) Philip lived for almost eighty years. When
at last he told his friends that he was soon to die, they hardly listened
to him, since they saw him still bounding about with his usual energy.
On the evening of the day he had named, however, he retired saying, "Last
of all, we must die." It was the twenty-fifth of May, 1595, and during
that night Saint Philip died. To awaken a desire for God in other
men had been the paramount concern of his life, and in doing all he could
to effect that end he had reached the heights of sanctity himself.
SAINT
AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY
Bishop
and Confessor,-605
IN 596 a group of forty Benedictine monks left Rome for England to attempt that country's conversion to Christianity. The monks had been dispatched by Pope Gregory the Great and were under the leadership of Augustine, a man whose former life is unknown except that he had been prior at the monastery of Saint Andrew in Rome. After a short time Augustine was back in Rome bearing the group's request to the pope that they be allowed to abandon the mission; his inexperienced monks had been overwhelmed by travelers' tales about the savage land of Britain, and had quite lost their courage. Gregory would have none of this and sent Augustine back with a letter in which the reluctant apostles were told kindly, but firmly, to go on with their mission in England.
Between the urgings of their pope and their leader, the missionaries regained their spirit and in the spring of 597 landed off the east coast of England on the Isle of Thanet, which was controlled by the Saxon king, Ethelbert of Kent. In a now famous scene, the king met the missionaries under a huge oak tree, and there Augustine preached the "good news" of the gospel to him. Ethelbert, whose wife Bertha was already a Christian, announced himself ready to help the monks establish themselves, and on Pentecost of 597 he was baptized. The monks built a church and a monastery in Canterbury, the king's chief city, and then turned to their work of converting the Saxon tribes. This was no easy task, for the Saxons, who had only recently invaded England to conquer the native Celts, were fierce, primitive people who very often preferred the dark attractions of magic and idolatry to the clear truths of Christianity. Besides the Saxons, Augustine was responsible for the-remaining Celts, who had been Christians before the Saxon invasion and now had no wish to exchange certain local customs (such as the date on which they kept Easter) for the different Roman observances that Augustine was introducing.
To gain
the authority he needed, Augustine went to France late in 597 to be consecrated
bishop by Vergilius, bishop of Arles. Additional help came in 601,
when twelve more missionaries arrived from Rome, bringing the pope's permission
for Augustine to consecrate his own bishops and confirming his jurisdiction
over the English clergy, Celts and all. In 603 Augustine had two
meetings with the Celts, trying to obtain their submission to his authority,
but the attempts failed and the problem was left to be solved in later
times. The Saxons were less hard-headed, and in his seven years in
England Augustine converted almost the whole of Ethelbert's kingdom, as
well as portions of adjoining territories. In 604 he established
two sees and sent Mellitus to London and Justus to Rochester-they were
the foremost of those who carried on Augustine's work after him, and they
too were destined to become canonized saints. Augustine died in 605,
and was buried at Canterbury in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, which
had been founded by him.
31 May
THE VISITATION OF THE VIRGIN MARY
THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. The gospel account shows that this meeting of Mary and Elizabeth when both were with child was already the subject of much reverent reflection in the apostolic church; but the scene became increasingly popular as the setting for the Magnificat of vespers, the origin of a portion of the Hail Mary, and as one of the mysteries of the rosary. The feast was first observed in the thirteenth century by the Franciscans and extended to the Western church in the fourteenth.
The visit of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth after the Annunciation to Mary that she was to be the mother of Christ (Luke 1:39-56). Mary desired to see Elizabeth and rejoice with her over the fact that Elizabeth too was to bear a child, John the Baptist. Mary left Nazareth in Galilee, traveled south to the town in Juda where Elizabeth lived. The Bible does not name this town. Some have proposed Jerusalem as the location; others Hebron. However, it seems that the small town of Ain Karim, about six miles west of Jerusalem, was the home of Elizabeth.
The meeting of Mary and Elizabeth is described in Scripture: "And it came to pass, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe in her womb leapt. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb!"' Catholic commentators commonly teach that at the time that the infant John leapt in the womb of Elizabeth his soul was freed from original sin and given sanctifying grace. The words of Elizabeth at this meeting have been adopted by the Church as part of the text of the Hail Mary, Mary's response to the greeting of Elizabeth was the Magnificat. Mary remained at the home of Elizabeth three months. It is not known whether or not she remained for the birth of John the Baptist.
The Visitation is the Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary.