The Hanscom Family Weblog

0418 Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire
0483 St Simplicius ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1528 Martyrdom of Balthaser Hubmaier, 48, German reformer and chief writer for the Anabaptist movement. Arrested in Moravia, Hubmaier was later condemned at Vienna and burned at the stake.
1535 Bishop Tomás de Berlanga discovers Galápagos Islands
1681 English Quaker William Penn receives charter from Charles II, making him sole proprietor of colonial American territory Pennsylvania. English Quaker William Penn, 26, received a charter from Charles II, making him sole proprietor of the colonial American territory known today as the state of Pennsylvania.
1748 [O.S.] Slave-ship Captain John Newton, 22, was converted to a saving Christian faith. Newton later became an Anglican clergyman, and (as the author of “Amazing Grace”) a greatly respected hymnwriter as well.
1791 Pope condemns France’s Civil Constitution’s treatment of the clergy
1880 Salvation Army of England sets up US welfare & religious activity
1937 English historian Arnold J. Toynbee wrote: ‘In this really very brief period of less than 2,000 years Christianity has, in fact, produced greater spiritual effects in the world than have been produced in a comparable space of time by any other spiritual movement that we know of in history.’
1972 1st black US political convention opens (Gary IN)
1987 Vatican formal opposition to test-tube fertilization & embryo transfer. The Vatican declared its formal opposition to test-tube fertilization, embryo transfer and most other forms of scientific interference in human procreation.

March 10

On this day in 1748, John Newton, captain of a slave ship, was converted to Christianity during a huge storm at sea. After becoming an Anglican priest, Newton became a zealous abolitionist and wrote the famous hymn “Amazing Grace.”

Feast Day:

The Forty Martyrs of St. Sebaste, 320.
St. Mackessog (or Kessog), Bishop in Scotland, 560.
St. Droctovaeus, Abbot, about 580.

March 10

Alexander [PCP (Paris)]
Clodonius, abbot [HCC]
Droctoveus, abbot (of St.-Germain-des-Pres, Paris) [BLS; GTZ: Paris]
Forty Martyrs of Sebaste [BLS]
Gordian [WTS (Bruges)]
Kessog, bishop (of Lerin and Boin, Scotland), confessor [BLS; GTZ: Scotland]
Mary Magdalene (Conversion) [GTZ: Augsburg, Magdeburg]
Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia, martyrs (Translation) [GTZ: Paderborn, Riga]

On This Day

Anastasia the Patrician,
Himelin, John Ogilvie,
Macharius,
Pope Simplicius

In History

1959 - Tibetan uprising: Fearing abduction attempt by China, 300,000 Tibetans surround Dalai Lama’s palace to prevent removal
1986 - 500,000 demonstrate against affiliation with NATO, Madrid

St. Dominic Savio
(1842-1857)

So many holy persons seem to die young. Among them was Dominic Savio, the patron of choirboys.

Born into a peasant family at Riva, Italy, young Dominic joined St. John Bosco as a student at the Oratory in Turin at the age of 12. He impressed John with his desire to be a priest and to help him in his work with neglected boys. A peacemaker and an organizer, young Dominic founded a group he called the Company of the Immaculate Conception which, besides being devotional, aided John Bosco with the boys and with manual work. All the members save one, Dominic, would in 1859 join John in the beginnings of his Salesian congregation. By that time, Dominic had been called home to heaven.

As a youth, Dominic spent hours rapt in prayer. His raptures he called “my distractions.” Even in play, he said that at times “It seems heaven is opening just above me. I am afraid I may say or do something that will make the other boys laugh.” Dominic would say, “I can’t do big things. But I want all I do, even the smallest thing, to be for the greater glory of God.”

Dominic’s health, always frail, led to lung problems and he was sent home to recuperate. As was the custom of the day, he was bled in the thought that this would help, but it only worsened his condition. He died on March 9, 1857, after receiving the Last Sacraments. St. John Bosco himself wrote the account of his life.

Some thought that Dominic was too young to be considered a saint. St. Pius X declared that just the opposite was true, and went ahead with his cause. Dominic was canonized in 1954.

The 40 Martyrs Of Sebaste

In the year 320, Constantine was Emperor of the West and Licinius of the East. Licinius, under pressure from Constantine, had agreed to legalize Christianity in his territory, and the two made an alliance (cemented by the marriage of Licinius to Constantia the sister of Constantine), but now Licinius broke the alliance and made a new attempt to suppress Christianity. He ordered his soldiers to repudiate it on pain of death. In the “Thundering Legion,” stationed near Sebaste in Armenia (now Sivas in Turkey), forty soldiers refused, and when promises, threats, and beatings failed to shake them, they were stripped naked one evening and herded onto the middle of a frozen lake, and told, “You may come ashore when you are ready to deny your faith.” To tempt them, fires were built on shore, with warm baths, blankets, clothing, and hot food and drink close by. As night deepened, thirty-nine men stood firm, while one broke and ran to the shore. However, one of the soldiers standing guard on shore was so moved by the steadfastness of the Christians that he stripped off his clothes and ran out to join them. They welcomed him into their company, and so the number of the martyrs remained at forty, and by morning, all were dead of exposure. (One source says that the few in whom a little life remained were stabbed to death at dawn.)

PRAYER (traditional language)

O Almighty God, by whose grace and power thy holy martyrs of Sebaste triumphed over suffering and were faithful even unto death: Grant us, who now remember them with thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to thee in this world, that we may receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

O Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyrs of Sebaste triumphed over suffering and were faithful even unto death: Grant us, who now remember them with thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

ST. JOHN OGILVIE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2010

St. John Ogilvie was born of a noble Scottish family in 1579 and was raised a Calvinist. The wealth of his family allowed him to be educated on the continent, and there he became exposed to the religious conflict of the Reformation and Counter Reformation. After learning about both sides he decided to become a Catholic, this was in part because of his respect for the martyrs and saints. St. John attended a variety of Catholic educational institutions and soon discovered a call to join the Jesuits. After his admission to the Society, John petitioned to return to Scotland and work to convert souls there.

John’s petition was accepted, and he first began to work to convert the souls of the nobles to Catholicism. He met with great resistance and returned to mainland Europe. After a brief rest, he returned to Scotland and began to work to convert the souls of the common people. He was greatly successful, but found many enemies in Protestant England. Eventually he was betrayed and turned into the authorities as a Catholic and insurrectionist. St. John was tried on the charges of treason and was convicted after three trials. John was sentenced to death by hanging and in 1615 was martyred.

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/mar_10_-_martyr_codratus_and_those_with_him#6939

GOOD BISHOP DUPPA

As you ascend Richmond. Hill, by the roadside, near the Terrace, you see an old pile of red brick which testifies the benevolence of a good Bishop, who lived in troublous times, but ended his days in peace, one of his latest works being the erection and endowment of the above edifice. The following inscription is on a stone tablet, over the outer entrance:

‘Votiva Tabula, I will pay my vows which I made to God in my trouble.’

It was founded by Dr. Brian Duppa, towards the close of his life. He had been chaplain to Charles I, and tutor to his children, the Prince of Wales and Duke of York. After thedecapitation of his royal master, he retired to Richmond, where he led a solitary life until the Restoration; soon after which he was made Bishop of Winchester, and Lord almoner. He died at Richmond, in 1662; having been visited, when on his deathbed, by Charles II, a few hours only before he expired.

In the previous year the good bishop had founded the above almshouse, endowing it for ten poor women, unmarried, and of the age of fifty years and upwards; for whose support he settled the rentals of certain properties in the county. The almswomen are elected by the minister and vestry of Richmond; and are each allowed £1 monthly, and a further £1 at Midsummer and Christmas; together with a gown of substantial cloth, called Bishop’s blue, every other year. They have each, also, a Christmas dinner of a barn-door fowl and a pound of bacon, secured to them by the lease of a farm at Shepperton.