SAINT GILES
Abbot and Confessor, c.-712

THE medieval mind was captivated by stories of Saint Giles, culled chiefly from a tenth-century Latin biography, and legends about him were written in romantic fashion.  An Athenian who fled his country to avoid the attention given his sanctity, Giles journeyed to France to become a hermit.  The king discovered him when, on a hunting trip, his hounds refused to approach Giles' cave, where the hind they were pursuing had taken refuge.  Later the king aided Giles in founding a monastery and asked for his spiritual counsel.  On a visit to Rome, the pope gave Giles two carved cedar-wood doors, which Giles is said to have thrown into the river Tiber to precede him back to France to manifest his trust in the providence of God.

 These legends are full of historical contradictions.  Giles was, most probably, a monk or hermit in a settlement at the mouth of the Rhone River; his relics were claimed by the monastery there that bore his name.  Perhaps Saint Giles owes his fame to this geographic position, for the village now known as Saint-Gilles is close to Arles, which throughout the Middle Ages was an important stage on the great pilgrimage routes to Rome and to Saint James of Compostella.

SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT
Pope, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, c.540-604
 

SIGHTS and sounds of war meet us on every side.  The cities are destroyed; the military defenses wiped out; the land is devastated; the earth depopulated.  No one remains in the country; scarcely any inhabitants are left in the towns; yet even the poor remains of humankind are still attacked daily and without intermission.  Before our eyes some are carried away captive, some are mutilated, some murdered.  Rome herself, who once was mistress of the world, we behold worn down by many and terrible distresses, the anguish of citizens, the attack of foes, the repetition of defeats.  "

Writing in the last years of the sixth century, this is how Saint Gregory the Great describes the terrible situation at the time in Italy, and in its chief city, Rome.  The devastation he describes was being wrought by the barbarian tribes, whose savage attacks had by this time destroyed the greater part of Roman civilization.  It was a period of violent change and destruction, coming between the death of one civilization and the birth of another, and Saint Gregory himself was one of those most responsible for bringing a new order of things into existence.  He was pope from September 3, 590, to his death on March 12, 604, only a little over thirteen years, but his reign was one of the most important in the history of the Church.

He had been born about 540, of one of the few wealthy families left in Rome, and grew up watching the city fall into ruin before his eyes.  During his early years he evidently spent his time in some kind of civic activity designed to improve the city's wretched condition, and he must have done well, since we find that, at thirty, he was appointed to the highest civil office in Rome-prefect of the city.  A short time later, however, he gave up the position, as well as the vast wealth he had inherited from his father, in order to seek fulfillment of what had always been his first desire, the religious life.  He entered a monastery by the simple method of turning his palatial home into one and joining the group of monks he had invited to live there.

In the monastic life Gregory found the kind of order all men-not only monks-needed in their lives.  He worked to establish similar order in the society of his time.  More important, he helped Christians in general to become more aware of the essential role played by the Church in creating this order among men.  He made Christians see the necessity of the Church to be efficiently organized, its teaching authority respected, and the pope's leadership unquestioned.  Gregory knew what the world needed because he had discovered what he himself needed, which was to live his life fully, developing a true sense of humility, making no plans for the future, moment by moment perfecting himself as a monk.  God had His own plans for this humble man who was wise enough to know where he belonged.

Gregory was soon removed from the monastery by his predecessor as pope, Pelagius II, who assigned the monk to Church affairs, first as papal ambassador to the imperial court at Constantinople and later as private secretary to the pope himself.  When Pelagius died during a plague that struck Rome in 590, no time was lost in choosing Gregory for the office.  Gregory was anything but happy at the selection.  He was horrified, in fact, and tried to avoid it, An appeal for aid to the emperor at Constantinople brought nothing but his congratulations on the good choice that had been made, and an attempt at flight from Rome was foiled by Gregory's being seized, taken to Saint Peter's, and consecrated pope before he could resist any further.

Gregory ceased to complain and began to work.  The barbarians were the most trying problem and missionaries were the answer.  The best known of them, Saint Augustine of Canterbury, went to the Angles and Saxons in Britain; others went to the Gauls and Franks in northern Europe and to the Lombards in Italy itself.  Nor did Gregory neglect the spiritual welfare of those who already possessed the faith.  Through constant writing and preaching, he kept before the clergy and the laity the ideal of the good Christian life; a life dedicated to the love of God aid by discipline and obedience, particularly obedience to the pope as the supreme head of the Church.  Reform of clerical abuses, revision of the Church's music and liturgy, reorganization of the Church's administrative system-these are a few of the measures undertaken by Gregory, a man whom no detail escaped.  Gregory also conducted the business of the civil government of Rome, since no one else was willing or capable enough to do it.  This involved him in such activities as organizing a relief system for the starving population of the city and making treaties with the barbarians who always stood ready to overrun Rome, as the y had done so often in the past.  A last fact that might help to indicate something of Gregory's claim to the title "the Great" is that for most of his reign as pope he was a desperately sick man; racked with pain, he gave orders from his bed much of the time.

After Gregory's death, Europe looked much the same as it had before he began his reign as pope.  The barbarians were still barbarians, society was still in a state of near-chaos, and the Church was still struggling to make its own state more secure.  Yet things were not the same: the seeds of faith, planted in countless places by the missionaries, were slowly growing in the midst of the barbarian masses; the Church had been organized in a manner that would enable it to meet the demands of the future; and society itself was becoming aware of the Church for what it was, the institution by which men are saved.  The Christian culture of the Middle Ages was to be built on this foundation and Gregory was the man who had laid it.

SAINT ROSE OF VITERBO
Virgin, c.1233-1251
 

THIS Italian girl made public speeches in the streets of Viterbo when she was only twelve years old.  It was the time when Emperor Frederick II was struggling to make Rome the civil as well as the ecclesiastical capital of the known world, with himself as the chieftain of a united empire of Germany and Italy.  Pope Gregory IX had entered an alliance with the Lombards and several other groups when Frederick attacked the Lombards, Gregory excommunicated him.  Frederick then set out to conquer the papal states and the independent cities of the north.  By 1240 he had occupied Viterbo, dividing the city into two noisy factions, Guelfs and Ghibellines.

 Such was the world into which Saint Rose of Viterbo was born, the child of poor parents.  She showed a degree of virtue unusual in a child, and a legend tells that at the age of three she raised her aunt from death by her prayers.  At seven, Rose wished to live a solitary life in a room in her parents' home but shortly afterward became ill and was believed near death.  After a vision of our Lady, who told her she was to receive the habit of Saint Francis, Rose recovered and became a Franciscan tertiary.

 Involved in the political disturbances of the time was an heretical faction called the Patareni, whose teachings were akin to the Albigensian heresy in France.  After a brief preparation in prayer and meditation on the Passion of Christ, Rose began to traverse the streets of Viterbo with a crucifix or other sacred image in her band, calling out the names of Jesus and Mary and urging the people to return to church-going.  She was only twelve years old!  Standing on a stone because of her short stature she would cry out against the vices and disorders of the day, explain the truths of the faith, and condemn the errors and false doctrines of the heretics.  This was a situation distressing enough to the government, but when her speeches were rumored to be attended by certain miracles, the crowds about her house increased until her father forbade her to appear in public under the penalty of being beaten.  Rose's answer was: "if Jesus could be beaten for me, I can be beaten for Him." She knew what God wanted her to do.  Through the intervention of the parish priest, Rose was permitted by her father to preach, and for two years she continued to preach fidelity to the faith and to the pope.  The ire of the heretics was unbounded and they finally persuaded the official who governed the city in the name of the emperor to banish Rose and her parents.  At Soriano, Rose continued her apostolic mission and on December 3, 1250, prophesied the death of Frederick, which took place eleven days later.

 After the death of Frederick, the papal forces regained control of Viterbo, and Rose and her parents returned.  She applied for admission to the convent of Saint Mary of the Roses but was refused by the abbess.  Rose took the refusal calmly: "You will not have me now, but perhaps you will be more willing when I am dead."
 Through the help of the parish priest a chapel near the convent was opened as a religious center for Rose and a few companions.  But the convent demanded the privilege that no other religious community of women should be situated within a given distance of their own, and an order was obtained from Pope Innocent IV for the closing of Rose's chapel.  She returned to her parent's home where she continued her life of prayer and penance, and died there a few months later at the age of eighteen.

 Once more God had used one of the weak ones of the world to vanquish the mighty.  The people of Viterbo still honor Rose as protectress of their city and there are two gay and colorful festivals every year to celebrate her life and miracles and remind men that prayer and penance can turn the tide of history.

THERE is a man here in Venice who begs for alms at his own house." Thus the people of the city spoke of Saint Lawrence Justinian.  The child of noble parents (the family name was Guistiniani), Lawrence was born in Venice in 1381 and reared with his brothers and sisters by his early widowed mother, a woman devoted to penance, works of charity, and piety.  Even as a child, Lawrence gave evidence of unusual devotion and at nineteen decided to enter the religious life.  Before taking the step, he asked advice of his uncle, a secular canon of Saint George's chapter.  The priest's advice was for Lawrence to test himself in the practice of austerities.  In spite of friends' fears for his health, he began his mortifications, and was admitted to the chapter of Saint George at Alga, an island about a mile from the city itself.

 So much did Lawrence abhor the worldliness he had left that he never again, from the time of his entrance into the order, entered his mother's house except to assist his mother and brothers at their deaths.  When he was ordered to go through the streets of Venice begging for alms, Lawrence would stand at the door of the family house and ask "an alms for God's sake." Though his mother was generous, he would refuse anything more than two loaves of bread and would depart like any other alms-seeker.

 Lawrence became a priest in 1406, and shortly afterward was made prior at Saint George's; he was later chosen superior general of the order.  His reform of discipline was so prudent that he was regarded as a second founder.  In times of war or of some other public distress, Lawrence would tell the rulers of the city that in order to receive any help from God in their present difficulties they must remember that they themselves were nothing, a doctrine seldom heard by the prosperous citizens of Venice.

 In 1433, Pope Eugenius IV named Lawrence bishop of Castello, an island in the Adriatic and a see which was later transferred and became the patriarchate of Venice.  Although not desiring the position, Lawrence took possession of his cathedral, but so quietly that his own friends were not aware of the fact until the ceremony was over.
 Lawrence's life as an ecclesiastical nobleman was as unassuming as it had been as a Venetian nobleman.  He slept on straw and a rough quilt and wore plain clothes.  In the days of lavish households, Lawrence had a household of five.  In his rule as bishop, he founded fifteen religious houses and many churches, besides reforming others in the celebration of the liturgy and the administration of the sacraments.

 In 1451, Pope Nicholas V made him patriarch of Venice, a title and rank comparable to that of an archbishop.  In spite of his duties as prior, superior general, bishop, and patriarch. and his work for the poor, Saint Lawrence Justinian had still found time to put his spiritual counsel on paper; he wrote many books and the last of these, The Fire of Divine Love, at the age of seventy-four.
 Lawrence died on January 8, 1456, and is buried in the Basilica of Saint Mark in Venice.

SAINT PETER CLAVER
Confessor

f you love the glory of God's house . . ." Peter Claver loved the glory of God's house above all else, and his answer to this exhortation of Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez sent him on an adventure that took him halfway around the world.  "If you love the glory of God's house, go to the Indies and save those perishing people."

 The objects of Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez' concern were Africans, snatched from their homes and society by enterprising Englishmen who were eager to get rich by means of the slave trade with the Spanish colonies of the New World.  The condition of these people, once brought to West Indian shores, was worse then abject.  At the same time, in the Old World, in Spain, there was a man who would love them more than he loved himself and would become a saint in proving it.

 Peter Claver was born at Verdu, in Catalonia, a province of Spain, about the year 1580.  The son of a farmer, he was sent to the University of Barcelona to study for the Church.  After receiving minor orders there, Peter Claver decided to join the Society of Jesus and entered the novitiate at Tarragona.  Later, he was sent to study philosophy at the College of Monte Sion at Palma on the island of Majorca.  It was here that his mission to the West Indies began, for it was here that he met Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez, who, at the time, was a porter at the college.

 Fired by Alphonsus' pleadings for the countless souls being lost because there was none to minister to them, Peter Claver offered himself to his provincial for work in the West Indies, whereupon he was told that all would be decided in due time.  He was sent back to Barcelona for theology studies.  Two years later he again petitioned his superiors, and at last was sent with a mission of Spanish Jesuits going to New Granada (a territory including present-day Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador).  Peter Claver saw his native Spain for the last time in April 1610.  He sailed for Cartagena, in what is now the South American republic of Colombia.

 After his arrival in Cartagena, he was sent to the Jesuit house in Bogota' to complete his studies for the priesthood and was ordained in Cartagena in 1615.  In this bustling seaport city, in a tropical climate, humid and unhealthy, Father Claver spent most of his priestly life.  When he made his final vows he added one: to be for life the slave of these miserable and degraded Negroes who were being exploited by his countrymen.
 Peter Claver worked a year under Father Alfonso de Sandoval, a Jesuit missionary who had already spent many years in aiding the slaves.  Peter would go with a small group of helpers to meet each slave ship as it arrived, and go among the slaves as they were herded into a small shed.  Peter Claver brought them medicine, food, and clothing, for, as he said, "We must speak to them with our hands, before we try to speak to them with our lips." But most of all, Peter brought them God.  To surmount the language barrier in his instructions, he brought with him a group of interpreters.  He used pictures to instruct the slaves in Christ's death and the other great truths of the faith.  He explained to them that they were loved by God more than they were abused by man, and that evil outraged God.  He offered them the only possible consolation, hope in the promises of God.  Prayers, even in simplified form, had to be drilled and redrilled with infinite patience for minds that very often were slow and unused to such thinking.  At baptism, each group of ten was given the same name-simply to help them remember it.

 After the slaves had left the port, it was nearly impossible to keep track of them all and to continue to confirm them in the faith, yet Peter Claver did all he could in this matter, too.  Each spring he would tour all the plantations surrounding Cartagena to minister to the needs of the slaves.  As much as possible on his tours, be lived in the quarters of the slaves themselves, refusing the hospitality of their masters.  His conversions were numerous, including not only Negroes but Anglicans, Turks, and Moors.  He would often spend a whole day in the city square of Cartagena preaching to anyone who would listen.

 People regarded his life, with its ceaseless labor and heroic fortitude, as a miracle, but Peter knew his strength was the fruit of prayer and penance as well as of effort.  Indeed, there does seem to be one miracle-that be never contracted any of the terrible diseases from which his Negroes suffered.
 While continuing his preaching among the Negroes in 1651, he finally broke down and his work ceased.  But he did not die.  He lingered on, weak and worn out for three years.  He spent much of his time in his cell, forgotten by all save a few friends who visited him when they could.  When word that his death was imminent spread though the streets of Cartagena, Peter Claver was suddenly remembered.  Crowds came to see him and to kiss his hands, carrying off nearly everything portable in his cell as relics.  He died on the birthday of our Lady, September 8, 1654.

 The civil authority which had frowned on his concern for simple slaves, and the clergy, and his own fellow Jesuits, who had judged his zeal as an indiscretion, now hastened to do him honor.  It was ordered that he be buried at public expense with his friends providing the coffin and lights; and the vicar general of the diocese officiated at the funeral.  Special Masses were sung by all the religious orders and the Negroes and natives had a special Mass of their own said.

 Peter Claver has never again been forgotten and never will be, for he was canonized with his friend, Alphonsus Rodriguez, in 1888, and made the patron of all missions among the Negroes in 1896.

SAINT NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO
Confessor, c.1245-1305

AT times God desires that the design for sanctity in a soul be etched early in life.  Born in 1245, in the town of Sant' Angelo, a town in the Italian Marches, a province east of the Central Appennines, Nicholas was the answer to the prayers of his middle-aged parents.  He displayed a desire for prayer and solitude at an early age, and at seven began various practices of penance and mortification.  He was tutored by a local priest and made rapid and gifted progress, which brought him to the attention of the bishop of Fermo.

 While still a boy, Nicholas received minor orders.  Refusing a career in the secular clergy, he desired a way of life in which he could consecrate himself completely to God.  He chose the order of Hermits of Saint Augustine after hearing one of the friars preach, and made his profession before he was eighteen.  He was sent to San Ginesio for his theological studies and while there was given the charge of distributing food to the poor at the gate of the monastery.  So great was his generosity with the food of the house that the procurator complained and reported him to the prior.  It was here, too, that Nicholas performed the first of his many miracles by placing his hand on the head of a sick child who had come to the gate.  Nicholas said, "The good God will heal you," and the child was cured.  Nicholas was ordained about 1270 and during his first Mass was rapt in ecstasy.  From this time on, he had the gift of conversions through his sermons and his instructions in the confessional.

 While visiting a relative who was the abbot of a monastery near Fermo, Nicholas was invited to give up the hard life he had chosen and stay at this more comfortable monastery, but while he was praying in the church, he seemed to hear a voice saying, "To Tolentino, to Tolentino.  Persevere there.  "
 And so Nicholas went to Tolentino.  Tolentino at this time was still suffering from the Guelf and Ghibelline struggle, and the weakening of religious faith that resulted from war and heresy.  A campaign of street preaching was necessary to revitalize Tolentino, and Nicholas was put to this work, making a great success of it.  Even those who tried to drown out his voice and disband the crowds that gathered to listen to him finally stayed to hear him and to repent their own sins.  Nicholas also worked in the slums of Tolentino, comforting and caring for the sick and appealing to sinners.  Miracles always accompanied this work.

 Less public than this apostolate to the sinners and to the suffering were the practices of penance and the long hours of prayer that were the source both of his success and of his sanctity.  Always exceptionally faithful to the community office in the monastery church, he added many more hours of prayer both day and night, in the church and in his own cold cell.  Only humble obedience to his superiors kept him from the strict fasts and harsh self-denial that threatened to make him an invalid.

 Nicholas died in 1305, and the miracles that followed were so numerous that the case for his canonization was immediately drawn up.  The grave difficulties of the Holy See that resulted from the transfer of the papacy to Avignon delayed any action on his cause until 1446, when he was canonized by Pope Eugenius IV.
 

SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church, 344-407
 

IT was Saint John's eloquence that earned for him the surname Chrysostom ("golden-mouthed").  This fourth -century Doctor of the Church was born about 344 in the city of Antioch, where he was reared by his mother and educated by Libanus, the most renowned orator of the period.  Baptized about 370 by Bishop Meletius, John went to a monastery and later became a hermit, living in the desert for two years until ill health forced him to return to the city.  In 386 he was ordained a priest.  This year marks the beginning of his importance in Church history.

During the next twelve years John matured as an orator and a writer.  He became prominent throughout the East during this time.  In 387 he delivered a series of sermons that settled a conflict between the emperor and the citizens of Antioch that arose over the levying of new taxes.  Most of his sermons, however, were explanations of Holy Scripture or exhortations to virtue.  To this period (386-397) belong most of his theological and ascetical works and his famous book, On the Priesthood, contributions which alone would warrant his high place among the first Doctors of the Church.  To this day, many Catholics of the East celebrate Mass "according to the liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.."

When the bishop of Constantinople died in 397, the course of John's life was suddenly changed.  To settle rivalry over succession to the vacant see, Emperor Arcadius selected John as bishop.  But the news was not made public until John could be safely escorted to Constantinople, for fear of protests from the citizens of Antioch.  He was consecrated bishop of the imperial city on February 26, 398.

After his appointment all Constantinople felt the force of his zeal.  He immediately enforced discipline among the clergy; then, turning his attention to the faithful, he preached against extravagance, lust, and avarice.  He erected hospitals and homes for the sick and poor, regulated Church affairs at Ephesus, and revised the Byzantine liturgy.

At first he was in great favor at court, but his uncompromising reforms laid the groundwork for his final banishment.  A sermon concerning the vanity of women was taken as a personal affront by Empress Eudoxia, who with the aid of John's enemies influenced her weak husband to send the bishop into exile.  Threats of the angered citizens, however, plus some now unknown accident in the palace, prevented the carrying out of this sentence.  A few months later, in 404, a more serious incident occurred.  A new statue of the empress was erected near the cathedral, and the celebrations that accompanied this event were so extreme that John complained about them, again provoking the empress.  This time his exile could not be prevented; he was banished to Cucusus, a city on the eastern frontier of Cilicia.  Then in 407, in defiance of Pope Innocent I, who strongly supported John, an order was given to send the saint to a more remote place between the Black and Caspian seas.  Exhausted by the journey and the maltreatment he suffered, John died on September 14, 407, near Comana in Cappadocia.

SAINT CYPRIAN
Bishop and Martyr, c.210-258

NOT all saints, as we know, spend their lives in seclusion.  Besides the hermits, monks, and nuns who lead a contemplative Christian life, there are many saints who were "men of action." Such a dynamic man was Saint Cyprian.  Cyprian had a many-faceted personality.  As a bishop he was perhaps the most illustrious figure of his age, and in the field of Church affairs and that of Christian morality, no one had a higher or more extensive influence than he.  As a writer, he dominated the religious literature of his time and was one of the most read Fathers of the Church throughout the Middle Ages.  As a man, he commanded great personal prestige.  Cyprian was a public orator, literary scholar, lawyer; and after his conversion a priest, a bishop, and finally a martyr, the first martyr-bishop of Africa.

 Born in Carthage about the year 210, Cyprian grew to manhood and became active in the pagan life of that city.  But when he was about 35 years old, he became weary of the vain ideals of his pagan world and disturbed at the uncertainties of its philosophy.  Then be made friends with an old priest named Caecilian, who answered his queries about Christianity and led him to the Church.  Not a man to do things half-way, the orator, teacher, and lawyer was completely changed.  He began his pursuit of Christianity by making a vow of chastity.  Selling his whole estate, he gave almost all he possessed for the support of the poor.  He assigned himself the task of learning all he could about God.

 Cyprian's rise in Christian ranks was astoundingly swift.  He was baptized, probably on the Vigil of Faster, in 246, and shortly after this was ordained a priest.  So manifest was his virtue and authority in Carthage that soon he was named bishop of that city.  His first reactions were refusal and an effort to escape, but the people surrounded his house.  After a vain attempt to get out by a window, Cyprian yielded and was consecrated bishop in the last months Of 248 or early in 249.

 All was peaceful for a short time, but when Emperor Decius ascended the Roman throne he began his reign by persecuting Christians.  A pagan mob stormed Carthage, capital of proconsular Africa, shouting "Cyprian to the lions!" The bishop, however, had already retired to a secret hiding place, from which he directed the clergy and laity.  Much adverse criticism was heaped upon him for leaving, but Cyprian felt justified in his action.  Remaining in Carthage would have been sure death; his survival meant he could maintain discipline and repair the persecution's damage to his flock.

 The bishop continued to lead his flock, substituting letters for his presence.  He exhorted Christians to pray without ceasing, urging prayer not only for individual persons but also for the unity and brotherhood of man.  The prayers were surely heard, for the persecution slackened in 251.
 Not a compromising man, Cyprian was adamant when a matter of religion came into question.  As a result of the great many apostasies that had taken place during the persecution, a serious disagreement arose among his priests and people in regard to the reconciliation of these lapsed Christians, many of whom had repented and now wanted to be reinstated in the Christian community.  When Cyprian upheld the necessity of canonical penance and the possible reconciliation of all, a group of his clergy defied him and set up a schismatic community, and one of them even went to Rome and joined an anti-papal campaign.  But the other African bishops upheld Cyprian at a synod, and approved the excommunication of the schismatic priests.

 Only a year after the persecution, Carthage was afflicted with a terrible plague.  The poor and sick were ever under Cyprian's watchful care, and the public affliction served to emphasize his kindness.
 Acontroversy of the time in which Cyprian was concerned in the last years of his life concerned the validity of baptism by heretics.  The Church in Africa had a traditional distrust of such rites, based upon a statement of Tertullian, and Cyprian reaffirmed this view.  In this Cyprian and the other bishops of Africa were mistaken, and Pope Saint Stephen sent a warning not to depart from the apostolic tradition, which held that one who had been baptized, even if by a heretic, must not be rebaptized.  Cyprian was unable to see the dogmatic significance of this question and, concerned about the unity and discipline of his own community, never did change his mind.  Nevertheless, the thing he always had at heart was the unity of the Church.

 Saint Cyprian was forewarned by God of the revival of persecution and of his own approaching martyrdom.  In August 257, the first edict of Valerian forbidding Christians to assemble for worship was promulgated.  The bishop of Carthage was tried and subsequently banished.  A second trial by the proconsul Galerius Maximus in 258 resulted in his condemnation; Cyprian was to be beheaded.  Texts of the trials show Cyprian calm and resolute, and when sentence was passed, he replied, "Thanks be to God."

 Atumultuous throng of Christians surrounded Cyprian at his death.  Even then, he set an example for them: showing Christ-like forgiveness, the saint asked a friend to give his executioner twenty-five pieces of gold.  After the beheading, his body was set up as an example or threat by the pagans.  When night came, a procession of Christians carried their good bishop's body away, chanting prayers and praises at his burial.  So ended the life of the versatile Cyprian, but not his name and fame.

WHEN Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the church door at Wittenberg, the "Protestant Reformation" was under way; since the theses were a denial of orthodox Catholic doctrine on indulgences, the movement started in error, and in error it continued.  Calvin, Zwingh, Knox, and dozens more followed Luther, all manufacturing religious doctrine to suit their own opinions, until Europe was swamped in a sea of contradictory religious pronouncements.  To the Catholic Church, of course, fell the laborious task of refuting this mass of error.  The undertaking was begun by the Council of Trent and has continued ever since, with many able men participating in it.  Of these, none has been more brilliant or effective than Saint Robert Bellarmine, who was born at Montepulciano, Italy, in 1542.

Robert, a member of an aristocratic family, was talented and likable; when, at the age of eighteen, he decided to become a Jesuit, many people, including his father, were shocked.  The young man knew what he wanted, however, and after a ten-year period of study was ordained in 1570.  His studies had been completed at the University of Louvain, in Belgium, and after his ordination he taught there for six years.  Lecturing on the Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Robert emphasized the topics of grace and free will to counteract the influence of the chancellor of the university, Michael Baius, who was spreading heretical views on those subjects.  Both in the classroom and in the pulpit, where he preached sermons in Latin for the university undergraduates, Robert was a respected and popular figure.  His weak health, however, forced his return to the warmer climate of Italy.  In 1576 he joined the faculty of the Jesuit Roman College.

In his new position, Robert soon became known for his skillful teaching of controversial theology, or theology in which the articles of faith denied by the Protestants were given special attention.  It was during this period that he produced his major work, the Disputations.  Here Bellarmine presented the whole range of Catholic dogma; using arguments based on Scripture, tradition, and reason, he conclusively refuted the various Protestant attacks.  When the Disputations appeared, they created a sensation in Europe; Bellarmine's work was so profound, complete, and brilliantly expressed that Catholics welcomed it as the best weapon yet produced for use in the struggle against heresy, and the Protestants quailed at its impact.  Many Protestants, in fact, were convinced that no one man could produce such a stupendous work and believed that a syndicate of Jesuits had written the Disputations!

Under Pope Sixtus V, in 1589, Robert went on a diplomatic mission to France; under Clement VIII he took a leading part in a papal commission appointed to produce a revised edition of the Latin, or Vulgate, Bible (a version still used today).  Also during Clement's reign, in 1597, Robert compiled his Catechism of the Christian faith, which in its two versions (large and small) has probably been the most widely used catechism in the history of the Church.
Many honors came to Robert during these years: he was named rector of the Roman College in 1592, head of the Jesuit's province in Naples in 1597 and in 1598 Clement VIII named him a cardinal.

In 1602 his life turned in a new direction when he was appointed archbishop of the diocese of Capua.  Pastoral work was a new field for him, very different from his customary scholarly pursuits, and he plunged into it with a wholehearted zeal that brought him his usual success.  No longer a young man, he went out among the people of his diocese, preaching to them, helping them in their needs, and firing them with the example of his own devotion and selflessness.  In a short time the learned cardinal had captivated the whole diocese.  When he was recalled to Rome in 1605, he left a saddened flock behind.

Back in Rome, Robert was appointed head of the Vatican Library by Pope Paul V, who also appointed him to various other papal commissions.  Controversy once more surrounded him as he crossed swords with a variety of opponents, one of whom was the king of England, James I. The king, who had written a clumsy defense of his position as head of the English Church, had the honor of being answered by Bellarmine, who skillfully refuted the royal arguments.
Growing older, Robert began to leave controversy to others (to men trained by himself, in many cases), and concentrated on spiritual writing, his Art of Dying being one of the best known of these later works.  As the physical infirmities that had plagued him all his life grew worse, he retired to a Jesuit novitiate and on September 17, 1621, at the age of seventy-nine, he died.

Bellarmine's life had been a stormy one, but in spite of being under constant attack by Protestants and even at times by Catholics (his views on the temporal power of the pope have never been popular with some of the clergy), he managed to maintain an attitude of humility and charity in his polemical battles.  Robert fought the heretics only because he loved the faith and realized that the achievement of holiness was something far more important than the acquisition of knowledge.  Bellarmine's final honors came in our own century, when Pope Pius XI declared him a saint in 1930 and a Doctor of the Church in 1931.

THE life of Joseph of Cupertino is surely one of the most extraordinary and baffling among the accounts of holy men and women.  For one thing, Joseph could fly!

 Joseph Desa was born June 17, 1603, at Cupertino, a village in the heel of Italy.  He was an unhappy child.  His mother, poor and widowed, considered him a nuisance.  Running sores afflicted him.  Extremely absent-minded, Joseph sometimes even forgot his meals.  Because he wandered around aimlessly, the village people called him "the Gaper." He applied himself with no success when apprenticed to a shoemaker.  Only the things of God caught his attention.

 When Joseph was seventeen he tried to enter the Franciscans, but they refused to accept him because of his ignorance.  After eight months spent with the Capuchins he was dismissed; he was too absent-minded and clumsy to perform the duties assigned him.  Joseph's mother was unhappy because of his return to Cupertino, so she prevailed upon her brother, a Franciscan, to accept him into that order as a servant.  He was put to work in the stables.

 A change seemed to come over Joseph.  His duties were performed more successfully.  An attitude of cheerfulness pervaded even the most menial tasks.  He prayed continually and practiced rigid austerities, sleeping only three hours each night.  Seeing all this piety and austerity, the community agreed to admit him as a candidate for the priesthood.

 Joseph's novitiate was marked by constant prayer and contemplation.  He was ever patient and humble, but his virtues were not matched by his progress as a student-learning was hard for him.  But Joseph was fortunate.  Not eloquent, the only biblical text he could expound was, "Blessed is the womb that bore thee.  " When the examination for the promotion to deacon came, the bishop opened the Gospels at random and asked Joseph to explain that very text, which he did with brilliancy.  He was similarly fortunate when he was to be examined for the priesthood.  The first members of the class were so learned that the rest, Joseph included, were passed without examination.

 Ordained in 1628, Joseph continued his humble and penitential life.  He gave up everything the Rule permitted him to and, during Lent, took no food except on Thursdays and Sundays.  He performed his simple tasks with diligence, knowing that they were all he was capable of.

 Joseph's life of miracles began from the time of his ordination.  No other saint is credited with so many supernatural happenings.  He had a more marvelous command over animals than Saint Francis.  Anything referring to God would transform him into ecstasy.  Sometimes, especially during Mass, he would be lifted off his feet for a long time.  Over seventy instances are recorded of this levitation.  One Christmas Eve he rose in the air with a cry, flew to the high altar of the church, and knelt there praying for fifteen minutes.  When the friars, building a replica of Calvary, were unable to lift a thirty-six-foot cross, Joseph flew seventy yards, lifting and placing the cross.  When he was in ecstasy, not even burning his flesh or pricking it with needles had any effect on him.  Only the voice of his superior could bring Joseph back to the sense world.

 His life was filled with so many supernatural phenomena that he was not allowed to say Mass in public, eat with the other members of the community, or attend public functions.

 When Saint Joseph attracted crowds, he was taken to Naples to be examined, then to Rome, where he saw Pope Urban VIII.  He was then assigned to the Franciscan monastery at Assisi.  Yet he was not entirely secluded and a number of eminent persons visited him.  Among them was a German duke, whom Joseph led to the Catholic faith.  But his habitation soon became too well known and he was again removed by order of the Holy Office, this time to a Capuchin monastery in a more solitary place.  After several years he was permitted to rejoin his Franciscan brothers, at Osimo, a little town in the March of Ancona, a province on the Adriatic Sea.

 Joseph fell sick in August 1663.  On the Feast of the Assumption he said his last Mass, during which his last levitation occurred.  He died on September 18, 1663.

WALK down any street in Naples, Italy, and ask a native about Saint Januarius.  With many gestures and much enthusiasm, he will tell you about the city's patron saint.  At greater length, you will hear of the miracle of Saint Januarius-a miracle that has continued to the present day.

 Actually, the fame of this saint in modern times rests on the miracle, as we know little of his life history.  No accurate accounts have come down to us.  Some say he was born in Naples, others say in Benevento.  It is certain at least that a bishop named Januarius was martyred near Naples, and that he was venerated at an early date, for about the year 431 a priest mentions Januarius as a saint and a fifth-century painting at Naples depicts him with a halo and identifies him as a martyr.

 The legendary account of this saint describes him as bishop of Benevento at the time when Diocletian's harsh persecution occurred, between 302 and 304.  The story continues as follows.

 An intimate friend of Januarius, along with several others, had been imprisoned at Pozzuoli because he had confessed his faith.  When the bishop beard their fate, he decided to visit his friends in order to comfort and encourage them.  The prison guards informed the governor of the visit, and Januarius was subsequently arrested and imprisoned at Nola.  Festus and Desiderius, officials of his church, were taken as they came to visit their bishop.  They shared torments and interrogations with him.

 Having confessed their faith, the three Christians, loaded with heavy chains, were made to walk to Pozzuoli.  Condemned to be torn to pieces by wild beasts, they awaited fulfillment of the emperor's command.  When they were exposed to the savage animals in the amphitheater, none of the beasts would touch them.  The amazed and angry governor had the martyrs beheaded, and they were buried near Pozzuoli.

 In the ninth century, the relics of the saint were removed from Pozzuoli.  Naples claimed the remains of Januarius, but the claim went unfulfilled.  The relics were removed to Benevento during the wars of the Normans and afterwards to the abbey of Monte Vergine, but in 1497 they were triumphantly brought to Naples.  The city, seven miles from Mount Vesuvius, credits the martyr with its deliverance from the frequent and damaging eruptions of the volcano.

 The details of the life and martyrdom of Saint Januarius are not certain, but the "miracle of Januarius" has a worldwide fame; it is the liquefaction of his blood.  Preserved in the chapel of the Treasury in the cathedral of Naples is a small glass vial fixed in a metal reliquary.  The vial contains a dark, opaque, solid substance.  Eighteen times a year the relic is held in the presence of the martyr's head by a priest, who occasionally turns the vial upside down.  Prayers are said by the people.  After a time, usually from two minutes to an hour, the dark substance, before immovable, becomes liquid, reddish in color, and froths and bubbles.  The priest announces the completion of the miracle, and the congregation venerates the relic.

 There is no doubt that the blood in the vial actually becomes liquid.  Records show that the liquefaction has occurred for the last four hundred years.  No scientific explanation for the happening has yet been made.  Certain facts concerning the substance are the following: it does not always occupy the same volume; there is a variation in weight; the liquefaction bears no relationship to temperature changes.

 On the other hand, there are reasons to dispute the liquefaction as a miracle.  Other blood relics are found in the neighborhood of Naples which seem to behave similarly.

 We have no proof that the blood in the vial is actually that of Januarius.  The blood has liquefied several times while a jeweler was repairing the reliquary.  Furthermore, there seems to be no purpose to the miracle.

 The Church has made no commitment as to this alleged miracle.  We are not bound to believe that this liquefaction is a miracle.  Neither the obscurity of his life history nor the legend of his miraculous relic are of any great importance, but we do not doubt that Saint Januarius did exist, that he was martyred for the love of God, and that he is honored by the Church as a saint

SAINT MATTHEW
Apostle and Evangelist (New Testament)
 

God chooses whom He wills, and is not influenced by the prejudices of man.  Christ too made His own choice of friends without regard to the opinions of His fellow Jews.  He received into His companionship, even into the intimate circle of the twelve who were later to found His faith and spread His truth over the earth, a publican.  The despised publican did not need to beg or entreat admittance to Christ's association; the Son of God invited him.  Matthew, also called Levi, was that publican.

 A publican was one who collected taxes from the Jews for their Roman conquerors, or for Herod Antipas.  Each year a certain amount had to be collected.  The authorities did not care how the publican collected his money, how much he demanded of the Jews, or how much he kept for himself, so long as the requested amount was sent to the treasury.  Thus the publican had what we might term a "racket"-he could collect from the Jews an unlimited amount of tax and send only a small percentage of it to the treasury.

 No one was more shunned by the Jews than a collector of taxes, and understandably so, since this was one of their own people working for the Roman administration, robbing them, while making a large personal profit.  Publicans were not allowed to trade, eat, or even pray with other Jews.  The Jews even refused to marry into a family that had a tax-collector among its members.

 Saint Matthew's place of business was at Capharnaum, on the Sea of Galilee.  He must have seen our Lord there more than once, had heard of His miracles, and perhaps had heard Him preach in the synagogue, but had probably never even thought of speaking to Him-he was used to being scorned.  One day, he looked up from his table of books and money to see Christ standing before him.  The Son of God had only to look at Matthew and say two words: "Follow me." This was all that was needed to make him rise, leaving his pieces of silver to follow Christ.  Joyfully he arranged a dinner party for Christ and His companions and invited his fellow tax-collectors.  He was saying farewell to his business , and celebrating his entry into a new employment.  A whole new existence was now opened up to the publican.  His name, Levi, was changed to Matthew, meaning "the gift of God." Sharing in the poverty and work, the sufferings and the conversions, he followed Jesus throughout His earthly life.

 After Christ had ascended into heaven, Matthew wrote his Gospel, inspired by the Holy Ghost.  The Gospel is a short history of Christ in which Matthew intended to demonstrate that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of David, whom the Jews awaited.  It was the first of the Gospels to be written and was written in Aramaic, probably while Matthew was still in Palestine.
 Matthew remained with Peter and the others for some time, preaching in Judea.  After the apostles separated, each going a different way to spread the new faith, he is said to have brought Christianity to the Persians and to other Eastern nations.  Some authorities say he died a natural death; others say he suffered martyrdom.  The Church venerates him as a martyr, and portions of his relics are claimed by the cathedral at Salerno, Italy.

 Christ's words, "Follow me," echo down the centuries.  The heart of Jesus, burning with love for men, seeks others who will rise and follow Him.  We, like Matthew, do not need to beg association with the Son of God-all we need do is to accept His invitation.

 In the traditional symbolization of the evangelists, based on Eze. 1:5-10 and Rev. 4:6-7, the image of the winged man is accorded to Matthew because his Gospel begins with the human genealogy of Christ.

SAINT COSMAS AND DAMIAN
Martyrs, c.-303
 

COSMAS AND DAMIAN, always honored together, have since ancient times had a widespread cult in both East and West.  All that can be said about them with certainty is that they were martyred under Diocletian and were buried at Cyrrhus in Syria.  Their origin and true history is beyond recall, but from among the extravagant and historically worthless 'fragments of tales about them a story can be reconstructed. it goes as follows.

 Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers who were born in Arabia and who studied the sciences in Syria.  They settled down to practice medicine at Aegeae, a town on the Gulf of Issus in Asia Minor.  Very active Christians, they propagated their faith whenever possible.  They treated the sick without ever accepting any money for their services.  Loved by all with whom they came in contact, they were called the "holy moneyless ones."

 They were too well known as Christians to go unnoticed when Diocletian began his persecution.  The governor of Cilicia apprehended them and, after inflicting various torments, beheaded the doctors.  Their bodies were transported back to northern Syria and buried at Cyrrhus.

 Legend attributes many miracles to Cosmas and Damian.  They are said to have defied death by water, fire, and crucifixion before they were beheaded.  Many miracles of healing were credited to the pair after their death, the saints appearing to the sick and either prescribing a medicine for them or effecting a direct cure.  Emperor Justinian I attributed recovery from an illness to them and rebuilt a church in Constantinople in their honor.  Other churches under their patronage were built in Pamphylia and Cappadocia, provinces of Asia Minor, at Aegeae, Jerusalem, and Rome.

 The "moneyless ones" are still honored today.  They are the patron saints of physicians and surgeons.  They are likewise the patrons of prescription druggists and apothecaries.

SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL
Confessor, c.1581-1660
 

SAINT, social worker, reformer, he was a man who changed the face of France and, in a large measure, the thinking of the world.  This is the picture the world paints of Monsieur Vincent.  If anything, this picture is an understatement.  It is incredible that one man's life should have had such scope.

 This is not to say that all legends concerning him are true.  It is true that he established a home for orphans, for example, but this happened late in his life, and it is only one of the many results of his virtue and generosity.  Monsieur Vincent was a man who spread his nobility of character in several directions.

 Vincent was born at Pouy in France, in 1581 , of a peasant family, and through the sacrifices of his father, jean de Paul, he was educated at the University of Toulouse.  He was not without ambition and, after his ordination in 1600, he obtained a patron, tried for a good ecclesiastical benefice, and went as far as Marseilles to prosecute a debtor.  They were perfectly legal acts, but nothing about them indicated his future sancity.

 The only interruption to his climb to power was his capture-on returning from his trip to Marseilles-by Barbary pirates who sold him as a slave in Tunis.  After his escape, he continued to use his extraordinary charm and appeal to further his career.  In 1610 Vincent was in Paris, almoner to Queen Marguerite, first wife of Henry IV.  He was made pastor of Clichy in 1611, and became tutor to the children of Philippe de Gondi, count of Joigny, in 1613.

 It was while working among the serfs of the Gondi estate that the ambitious young priest turned toward sanctity.  He had, perhaps for the first time, become aware of the true state of the common people of war-torn France, their spiritual and economic destitution.  His personal solution to the problem was the gift of himself.  From that time forward, Vincent belonged entirely to the poor.

 The ignorance of the people stemmed from the ignorance of the clergy.  It was required of a village priest only that he know enough Latin to say Mass.  The knowledge of doctrine was almost nonexistent and the administration of the sacraments was, to say the least, eccentric.  The Council of Trent had ordered the establishment of seminaries, but the country was torn by war.  Of the twenty that had been founded, ten had not even survived until 1625.

 With the help of Madame de Gondi and other influential friends, Vincent founded a congregation of secular priests who devoted themselves to the conversion of sinners and the training of the clergy.  The rules of the Congregation of the Mission were approved by Pope Urban VIII in 1632, and its members were given the priory of Saint Lazarus, thus gaining their popular name "Lazarists." They were employed in missions, teaching catechism, preaching, hearing confessions, and performing all other works of charity.  They undertook the direction of seminaries, gave retreats and courses to the seminarians.  Saint Vincent lived to see twenty-five houses of the order founded, and today his order has spread throughout the world.

 The influence he had previously gained among the wealthy he now put to good use.  He asked for and received incredible sums of money for his poor, and when that was gone, he asked for more.  He procured and directed the foundation of several hospitals for the sick, for foundlings, and for the aged.  He cared for more than four thousand children a year, and as many old people.  At Marseilles he established a hospital for galley-slaves.

 During the wars in Lorraine he collected alms among the pious persons of Paris, to be sent to the aid of the suffering.  He founded societies to bury the dead and distributed seed among the farmers.  At the same time, in order to remove them from the brutality of the soldiers, he brought to Paris two hundred young women for whom he found shelter.

 Vincent never forgot that he had been a slave; during his lifetime he was able to raise the money to ransom twelve hundred Christian slaves in North Africa.  He created an asylum where forty thousand poor were given useful work.

Not only did Vincent expect large sums of money from his friends, but also their time and effort.  His influence among the ladies of society led to the organization of the Ladies of Charity to help in the distribution of alms.  But these women had never in their lives soiled their fingers with real work.  Monsieur Vincent was a realist; he knew that he could not make draft horses out of butterflies.  If they were suddenly asked to scrub floors, he would soon be left with no ladies at all.

 The difficulty was solved when he met Louise de Marillac, now canonized herself.  Louise organized an auxiliary force of another type, one used to any amount of hard work, and with no social position to lose.  From these beginnings rose the order of the Daughters of Charity, which is now spread throughout the world.

 This humble peasant, concerned only with the poor, made his influence felt in the highest circles.  Vincent had some influence with Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal de Retz, and was sent for by King Louis XIII as he lay dying.  He was in high favor with the queen regent, Anne of Austria, who nominated him to the young king's Council of Conscience.  Anne consulted Vincent in ecclesiastical affairs.

 Vincent was so indifferent about personal appearance that he usually appeared at court dressed in old clothes.  This was not eccentricity, nor even absentmindedness: Saint Vincent could not see why he should be extravagantly dressed to enter the royal presence when millions were hungry and in rags.

 Vincent was able to be many things to many men because, first of all, he was a man of prayer.  In the midst of so much activity, the awareness of God was always present, and this was the secret of his power.

 On September 27, 1660, having received the last sacraments and having given his last advice, Vincent died quietly in his chair.  Because of him, it is no longer so easy for a man to pass as a Christian without extending his charity, his love, and his help to the unfortunate.  Never had a man more deserved to hear the words: "Come, blessed of my Father ... for I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked and you covered me; sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me" (Matt. 25:34-37).

SAINT MICHAEL
Archangel
 

WE usually picture an angel as a human being with wings and Saint Michael becomes a human being with wings and a sword.  In reality, an angel has no body whatsoever, and Michael has no sword.
 In the scale of being, angels are infinitely above men, being pure spirits.  The angels are perfectly holy creatures who obey, love, and glorify God at all times, and serve as His messengers.  The angels carry our prayers to God and bring back His blessings to us.  That the blessed angels intercede with God for us and that we may invoke their patronage is an article of the Catholic faith.

 The word "angel" means messenger.  Archangels are so called because they are considered chiefs or leaders entrusted by God with important missions.  Only three are known by name: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.
 The name Michael means "who is like God?"; it is like a war cry against those rebellious angels who refused to serve.  Most of us think of Michael only as the one who overcame Satan, as Saint John describes him in the Apocalypse (12:7).  Saint John also sees him as defender of the Church.  Michael is mentioned by the prophet Daniel as one of the chiefs of the heavenly hosts and the guardian of the people of both covenants, the Hebrew people and the Church Militant.  Both the liturgy and popular devotion call upon Michael the Archangel.  His intercession is asked for at the incensing in solemn Mass, in the prayers for the dying, in the Confiteor, and in the prayer after Mass beginning "Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle." He is also specially invoked as the protector of soldiers.

 The first center of devotion to Saint Michael was in Asia Minor near the city of Colossae; it seems to go back to the first century.  Constantine built a church in his honor in Constantinople; there were others in Alexandria, in Egypt, and in Milan, Genoa, Ravenna, and other Italian cities by the end of the fifth century.  One of the greatest centers of devotion to Saint Michael to be seen today is Mont-Saint Michel in Normandy, founded in 709.  September 29 celebrates the dedication at Rome of a basilica on the Salarian 'Way, before the sixth century.  Saint Michael has been venerated on this day since that time.  Besides Michael, we honor all angels on this day: we thank God for the glory which they enjoy; we thank Him for giving us the aid of the angels In our struggle for salvation; we join the angels in adoring God; and we implore their intercession.

SAINT GABRIEL
Archangel

An Archangel whose name means "the Power of God." He appeared under the form of a man to the prophet Daniel (Dan. 8:16; 9:21), to the priest Zachary to announce the forthcoming birth of Saint John the Baptist (Luke 1:11, 19), and to the Blessed Virgin Mary to announce the birth of Our Savior (Luke 1:26 ff.). He is honored with a feast in the Roman calendar on September 29.

SAINT RAPHAEL
Archangel
 

 JUST when God created the angels is not known, but perhaps it was before our world was made and before light and darkness established what we know as time.  To man's mind they are creatures of mystery; by nature angels are contemplatives with the ability to seize upon truth quickly and with ease, unhampered by the laborious process we call learning.  Yet, despite their natural abilities, angels, like men, depended on God's free gift of grace to merit heaven.  And given this grace, the angels could still sin.  Lucifer and his fallen legion, for all their natural ability and despite the supernatural gift of grace, did turn from charity-from God.

 What was the fault?  Pride seems to be the answer, and Saint Thomas Aquinas hints that perhaps the angels were given a glimpse of the Word-made-man, which was too much for some of them to accept.  Naturally, because the angels were given so much in the way of wisdom, much was expected of them.  Some failed, but the heroic angels who chose to worship God, not themselves, were rewarded with the eternal vision and possession of Him in heaven.  Like the saints, they are our comrades for, in God's plan, angels are to assist man in his journey to heaven.

 One of the most gifted and most glorious of angels is Raphael.  He is "one of the seven who stand before the Lord" -an archangel.  Yet he is also a humble servant of God, whose very name means "God heals." He is presented in the Book of Tobias in the Old Testament as a heater and guardian, and the story is told of his curing the blindness of old Tobias, guiding young Tobias on a long journey, and saving the youth's bride, Sara, from the curse of the devil.  It is also thought that Raphael is the angel who moved the healing waters in the pool in Saint John's Gospel.  And, as he offered prayers for Tobias before the throne of God, he can continue to intercede for us, his fellow creatures.  Raphael is the patron of travelers.

SAINT JEROME is very much a part of our everyday life.  Most of us are affected by his chief work.  This work, the Vulgate Bible, a translation of Scripture into Latin, which became and still remains the approved Catholic version, is undoubtedly one of the greatest accomplishments of history.  It has had a tremendous influence on the evolution of Christian culture, and it is for this reason that all of us owe much to Saint Jerome.

 Jerome was born about 342, at Stridonium, a little village in Dalmatia, near the borders of present-day Hungary.  Its exact site is unknown, as it was wiped out in a Gothic invasion.  His parents were Christians; Christians in the fashion of a time when pagan and Christian were socially fused.  Because they were wealthy and because Jerome was a precocious boy, and had succeeded well in his studies at home, they sent him to Rome to complete his education.  He remained there for several years.  He was an eager scholar and soon was deep in the study of the Greek and Latin classics of literature, history, and philosophy.  In addition to his studies, the young man began a life-long project-building a library of his own.  This did not mean the purchase of books, but copying the works himself.  Besides enjoying the intellectual pleasures of literature, Jerome joined in the other pleasures of Rome and delighted in games and spectacles.

 At the age of twenty, Jerome was baptized by Pope Liberius.  The sacrament had been deferred until this time so that the sins of youth would be taken away, a common abuse of the time.  The young man had become aware of Christianity in the Eternal City.  Two things impressed him: the fervor of congregations in the churches and the tombs of the apostles and martyrs which he visited.

 Eager for knowledge, Jerome made a journey to Gaul with a friend, searching for the centers of learning and opportunities to learn what they had to offer.  He sojourned for some time at Trier (in present-day Germany, one of the oldest cities in Europe and in Jerome's time a seat of the imperial court) where he transcribed some of the works of Saint Hilary of Poitiers.  It was probably while he was in Gaul that Jerome began to think of renouncing the world for a life entirely devoted to Christ.  He returned to his own province, to the city of Aquilea, and remained there for some time, in the company of a group of devout men who had been brought together by a local priest.  Soon some troubles arose and with three friends and all his precious manuscripts, Jerome set out eastward.  Perhaps he intended to go to Palestine, but he arranged his route to take in many cities of Asia Minor on the way.  When he reached Antioch, an important cultural center, his health required him to remain for several months.

 At Antioch, an event occurred that turned Jerome's love for literature from the pagan classics to Christian writings.  He had a dream.  In the dream, he was brought before the great judge.  Asked who he was, he answered that he was a Christian.  "You lie," said the judge, "you are a Ciceronian.  Where your treasure is, there is your heart." Jerome re solved never again to read the literary works he had loved so well, but to devote himself to Scripture.

 Jerome now desired a more solitary life, and went to the desert of Chalcis, about fifty miles southeast of Antioch.  Here he lived the penitential life of a hermit, but instead of occupying a narrow hut as the others did, Jerome lived in a room spacious enough to hold his library.  He spent his days in prayer, study of the Scripture, and copying books.

 The delights of Rome were not easy to forget; Jerome was plagued by unchaste thoughts and was homesick also for the world of thought, study, and discussion.  To dispel his unhappy state of mind, he decided to study Hebrew with the help of a monk who was a Jew by birth.  The knowledge of this language enabled him to translate the Scriptures from more direct sources.  He also organized a workshop of copyists, and began to write letters to his friends in the West.

 Unfortunately, this pleasant solitude was disrupted by the theological disputes of quarreling monks, and Jerome in exasperation went back to Antioch.  Here after some resistance he allowed himself to be ordained a priest by the bishop Paulinus, but reserved the right to remain unattached to any particular diocese.  He went to Constantinople in 380 to meet Saint Gregory Nazianzen and then to Rome in 382.

 When Saint Jerome spoke at a council there, Pope Damasus was impressed by his learning and the sureness of his doctrine, and took him as secretary.  This gave Jerome many opportunities to exercise his talents.  Almost immediately the pope commissioned him to revise the New Testament.  He revised, in accordance with the Greek text, the Latin New Testament, which had been disfigured by clumsy correction.

 In fostering Christian asceticism, he sought the assistance of a group of holy women influenced by Saint Athanasius, members of Rome's first convent.  Among the women were Saint Marcella and Saint Paula, with Paula's daughters, Saints Blesilla and Eustochium.

 During this time, Rome was at Jerome's feet.  He was spoken of as the next pope.  But one cannot be so well-liked and have such definite ideas (and express them with such vigor) and not gain enemies.  In 384 Pope Damasus died and Jerome lost his protector.  Those who hated Jerome influenced the people and shouted against him, attacking his reputation with slander.
 Jerome, with Paula and Eustochium and a group of other women who wanted to lead a dedicated life, went to the Holy Land where they traveled about for some time, and finally settled in Bethlehem, where two monasteries were built, one for Jerome and his monks, the other for Paula and her companions.  Education and care of the needy were not neglected, but the most important work of the Bethlehem group was continued work on the Scriptures.  Jerome now translated most of the books of the Old Testament from Hebrew, and some from the Greek Septuagint.  He had sought the help of a Jewish rabbi to improve his knowledge of Hebrew.  Not content with this, be wrote many scriptural commentaries, two biographies, and a history of ecclesiastical writers, and kept up a vast correspondence.  Besides all this there were sermons or conferences for monks, and lessons for young people.

 For thirty-six years the scholar lived at Bethlehem.  Most of these years were not peaceful there was much confusion in the Church.  Jerome seems to have been involved in most of the quarrels over doctrine.  He disputed with Saint Augustine, with the heretic Jovinian, with the bishop of Jerusalem, and with his friend Rufinus over the writings of Origen.
 Jerome died peacefully in 420, worn out by a lifetime of study and austerity and of labor and combat.  He had worked for the Church in an heroic manner, for doctrine, for scriptural science, for monastic ideals.  With Saint Augustine, Saint Ambrose, and Saint Gregory the Great, he is one of the four great Doctors of the Western Church.