The Hanscom Family Weblog

280 Birth of Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to be converted (ca. 312) to the Christian faith.
1526 Saxony & Hesse form League of Gotha (league of Protestant princes)
1531 Evangelical German monarchy/towns form Schmalkaldische Union
1563 William Byrd is appointed organist at Lincoln Cathedral
1670 Jews are expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I
1838 Birth of William J. Kirkpatrick, American Methodist sacred composer. He edited his first collection of hymns at age 21, and is still remembered today for composing the melodies to such hymns as: “He Hideth My Soul,” “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” “Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It” and “Lord, I’m Coming Home.”
1839 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: ‘Most of God’s people are content to be saved from the hell that is without. They are not so anxious to be saved from the hell that is within.’
1849 William Jewell College was chartered in Liberty, Missouri, under Baptist sponsorship.
1872 Charlotte Ray, 1st Black woman lawyer, graduated Harvard U
1938 English Bible expositor Arthur W. Pink wrote in a letter: ‘Slackness and carelessness are inexcusable in a child of God. He should ever present a model and example of conscientiousness, painstaking care, and exactness.’
1942 1st transport of French Jews to Nazi-Germany
1956 Female suffrage in Egypt
1973 Pope Paul VI publishes constitution motu proprio Quo aptius
1994 Maronite church near Beirut bombed, 10 killed

February 27

On this day in 1773, Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia, was completed after six years of construction.

February 27

On this day in 280, Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to be converted to the Christian faith, was born.

Feast Day:

St. Nestor, bishop in Pamphylia, martyr, 250.
Saints Julian, Chronion, and Besas, martyrs, 3rd century.
St. Thalilaeus, 5th century.
St. Leander, bishop of Seville, 596.
St. Galmier, of Lyons, about 650.
St. Alnoth, of England, martyr, about 7thcentury.

February 27

Alnoth, anchoret [BLS]
Alexander, martyr [WTS (Bruges)]
Baldomer, confessor [GTZ: Lyon]
Galmier [BLS]
Honorina, virgin, martyr [PCP (Paris); GTZ: Paris, Rouen]
Julian, Chronion, and Besas, martyrs [BLS]
Leander, bishop (of Seville), confessor [common]
Nestor, bishop, martyr [BLS]
Petronius, bishop, confessor [GTZ: Gnesen]
Thalilaeus [BLS]

GEORGE HERBERT
PRIEST AND POET (27 FEBRUARY 1633)

George Herbert was born in 1593, a cousin of the Earl of Pembroke. His mother was a friend of the poet John Donne. George attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and became the Public Orator of the University, responsible for giving speeches of welcome in Latin to famous visitors, and writing letters of thanks, also in Latin, to acknowledge gifts of books for the University Library. This brought him to the attention of King James I, who granted him an annual allowance, and seemed likely to make him an ambassador. However, in 1625 the king died, and George Hebert, who had originally gone to college with the intention of becoming a priest, but had head turned by the prospect of a career at Court, determined anew to seek ordination. In 1626 he was ordained, and became vicar and then rector of the parish of Bemerton and neighboring Fugglestone, not far from Salisbury.
He served faithfully as a parish priest, diligently visiting his parishioners and bringing them the sacraments when they were ill, and food and clothing when they were in want. He read Morning and Evening Prayer daily in the church, encouraging the congregation to join him when possible, and ringing the church bell before each service so that those who could not come might hear it and pause in their work to join their prayers with his. He used to go once a week to Salisbury to hear Evening Prayer sung there in the cathedral. On one occasion he was late because he had met a man whose horse had fallen with a heavy load, and he stopped, took off his coat, and helped the man to unload the cart, get the horse back on its feet, and then reload the cart. His spontaneous generosity and good will won him the affection of his parishioners.
Today, however, he is remembered chiefly for his book of poems, The Temple, which he sent shortly before his death to his friend Nicholas Ferrar, to publish if he thought them suitable. They were published after Herbert’s death, and have influenced the style of other poets, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Several of them have been used as hymns, in particular “Teach me, my God and King,” and “Let all the world in every corner sing.” Another of his poems contains the lines:

Prayer, the Church’s banquet, Angel’s age,
God’s breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, the heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth.

Two more of his poems follow:

THE FLOWER

How fresh, O Lord, how sweet and clean
are Thy returns! Even as the flowers in spring,
to which, besides their own demean,
the late-past frosts tributes of pleasure bring.
Grief melts away
like snow in May,
As if there were no such cold thing.

Who would have thought my shrivelled heart
could have recovered greenness? It was gone
quite underground, as flowers depart
to see their mother-root, when they have blown;
where they together
all the hard weather,
dead to the world, keep house unknown.

These are Thy wonders, Lord of power,
killing and quickening, bringing down to hell
and up to heaven in an hour;
making a chiming of a passing-bell.
We say amiss
this or that is;
Thy word is all, if we could spell.

Oh, that I once past changing were,
fast in Thy paradise, where no flower can wither!
Many a spring I shoot up fair,
offering at heaven, growing and groaning thither;
nor doth my flower
want a spring shower,
my sins and I joining together.

But while I grow in a straight line,
still upwards bent, as if heaven were mine own,
Thy anger comes, and I decline.
What frost to that? What pole is not the zone
where all things burn,
when Thou dost turn,
and the least frown of Thine is shown?

And now in age I bud again;
after so many deaths I love and write;
I once more smell the dew and rain,
and relish versing. O my only Light,
it cannot be
that I am he
on whom Thy tempests fell all night.

These are Thy wonders, Lord of love,
to make us see we are but flowers that glide;
which when we once can find and prove,
Thou hast a garden for us where to bide.
Who would be more,
swelling through store,
forfeit their paradise by their pride.

LOVE (III)

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
guilty of dust and sin. But quicked-ey’d Love, Observing me grow slack
from my first entrance in, Drew near to me, sweetly questioning,
if I lack’d any thing.

A guest, I answer’d, worthy to be here:
Love said, You should be he. I the unkinde, engrateful? ah my deare,
I can not look on thee. Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I hav marr’d them: let my shame
go where it doth deserve. And know you not, sayes Love, who bore the blame?
My deare, then I will serve. You must sit down, sayes love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.

Glory to God on High And on earth Peace good will toward man.

George Herbert
(1595-1633)

He also wrote a volume for parish clergy called A Priest to the Temple, or the Country Parson, [which you can get in hard copy or online].

He died on 1 March 1633, but is commemorated two days earlier, to avoid conflict with other commemorations.

Readings:

Psalm 1
Exodus 28:29-30
Philippians 4:4-9
Matthew 5:1-10

Preface of a Saint (1)

PRAYER (traditional language):

Our God and King, who didst call thy servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in thy temple: Give unto us the grace, we beseech thee, joyfully to perform the tasks thou givest us to do, knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for thy sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language):

Our God and King, who called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in your temple: Give us grace, we pray, joyfully to perform the tasks you give us to do, knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herbert

St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows
(1838-1862 )

Born in Italy into a large family and baptized Francis, he lost his mother when he was only four years old. He was educated by the Jesuits and, having been cured twice of serious illnesses, came to believe that God was calling him to the religious life. Young Francis wished to join the Jesuits but was turned down, probably because of his age, not yet 17. Following the death of a sister to cholera, his resolve to enter religious life became even stronger and he was accepted by the Passionists. Upon entering the novitiate he was given the name Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Ever popular and cheerful, Gabriel quickly was successful in his effort to be faithful in little things. His spirit of prayer, love for the poor, consideration of the feelings of others, exact observance of the Passionist Rule as well as his bodily penances—always subject to the will of his wise superiors— made a deep impression on everyone.

His superiors had great expectations of Gabriel as he prepared for the priesthood, but after only four years of religious life symptoms of tuberculosis appeared. Ever obedient, he patiently bore the painful effects of the disease and the restrictions it required, seeking no special notice. He died peacefully on February 27, 1862, at age 24, having been an example to both young and old.

Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows was canonized in 1920.

BLESSED MARIA CARIDAD BRADER
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010

Maria Caridad Brader was born in Kaltburn, Switzerland, in 1860. Raised in a pious family, she was very intelligent, and received the best education her parents could provide. There were high expectations for her continued study, but instead she joined the Franciscan convent in 1880, made final vows two years later, and worked as a teacher.

When it became possible for cloistered nuns to work as missionaries, Sr. Caridad volunteered to be one of the first six sisters to work in Ecuador in 1888. There she served as a teacher and catechist. In 1893, she was transferred to Colombia.

To prepare additional missionaries, she founded the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate in Tuquerres, Colombia, in 1893. She served as its superior general until 1919 and then again from 1928 to 1940.

Her congregation emphasized good education for the sisters and their students, and deep prayer lives for everyone.

Sr. Caridad died Feb. 27, 1943 in Pasto, Colombia. Her grave immediately became a site for pilgrimage and popular devotion. Sr. Caridad was beatified by Pope John Paul II in March 2003.

No Brainer Day

When : Always February 27th

No Brainer Day - now this day is for me!

By definition, a “No brainer” is dong something that is simple, easy, obvious, and/or totally logical. Therefore, today is the day for you to do all those “no brainer” tasks and activities. If a project requires thinking, study, or analysis of any kind, then its not the chore to do today.

Some people think that Christmas should be every day of the year. They even sing that theme in popular holiday songs. But, we think that No Brainer Day should be every day of the year.

We think you’ll quickly get the hang of the concept of the day. And, were certain you will excel at No Brainer Day!

Origin of No Brainer Day: