The Hanscom Family Weblog

0417 Zosimus becomes bishop of Rome
0537 Goths lay siege to Rome
0843 Icon worship officially re-instated in Aya Sofia Constantinople
1513 Giovanni de’ Medici chosen Pope Leo X
1665 New York approves new code guaranteeing Protestants religious rights. New York’s English Deputies approved a new legal code, which guaranteed all Protestants the right to practice their religious observances unhindered. (There were currently a host of Protestant groups thriving within this now_English colony, acquired only seven months earlier from the Dutch.)
1738 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in his journal: ‘Suffering times are a Christian’s best improving times; for they break the will, wean us from the creature, prove the heart.’
1812 Citizenship granted to Prussian Jews
1845 Wittenberg College was chartered in Springfield, Ohio, under Lutheran auspices.
1860 Birth of H. Frances Davidson, pioneer missionary. In 1892 she became the first woman from the Brethren in Christ Church to earn an M.A. degree, and in 1897 became one of her denomination’s first missionaries to travel to the African continent.
1923 Death of Mary Ann Thomson, 89, American hymnwriter. Among her most enduring contributions to the Church were the lyrics to “O Zion, Haste, Thy Mission High Fulfilling,” which she wrote at age 34.
1977 Moslems hold 130 hostages in Washington DC

March 11

On this day in 1979, Constancio B. Manguramas, Bishop of Southern Philippines, was installed as Prime Bishop of the Philippine Episcopal Church at the Cathedral of St. Mary.

Feast Day:

St. Constantine, of Scotland, martyr, 6th century.
St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, 639.
St. Angus, the Culdee, bishop in Ireland, 824.
St. Eulogius, of Cordova, 859.

March 11

Aengus (the Culdee), bishop, confessor [BLS]
Agapitus [WTS (Bruges)]
Blanchart [PCP (Paris)]
Constantine (II), king, martyr [BLS; GTZ: Scotland]
Eulogius (of Cordova), priest, martyr [BLS]
Forty martyrs [GTZ: Gnesen]
Gorgonius (and Dorothy), martyrs (Advent) [GTZ: Minden; HCC, without Dorothy]
Gumpert, confessor (Death) [GTZ: Würzburg]
John the Baptist (Invention of his head) [GTZ: Arles]
Oswin, king, martyr (Translation) [GTZ: York]
Sophronius, bishop (of Jerusalem) [BLS]
Vigilius, bishop (of Auxerre) [GTZ: Auxerre]

On This Day

Aengus the Culdee,
Alberta of Agen,
Aurea of San,
Millán,
Blessed John Righi,
Sophronius,
Vindician

In History

1930 - Gandhi’s Salt March begins, from Ahmadabad to Delhi, in protest against salt tax

March 11, 2010

St. John Ogilvie
(c. 1579-1615)

John Ogilvie’s noble Scottish family was partly Catholic and partly Presbyterian. His father raised him as a Calvinist, sending him to the continent to be educated. There John became interested in the popular debates going on between Catholic and Calvinist scholars. Confused by the arguments of Catholic scholars whom he sought out, he turned to Scripture. Two texts particularly struck him: “God wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth,” and “Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you.”

Slowly, John came to see that the Catholic Church could embrace all kinds of people. Among these, he noted, were many martyrs. He decided to become Catholic and was received into the Church at Louvain, Belgium, in 1596 at the age of 17.

John continued his studies, first with the Benedictines, then as a student at the Jesuit College at Olmutz. He joined the Jesuits and for the next 10 years underwent their rigorous intellectual and spiritual training. Ordained a priest in France in 1610, he met two Jesuits who had just returned from Scotland after suffering arrest and imprisonment. They saw little hope for any successful work there in view of the tightening of the penal laws. But a fire had been lit within John. For the next two and a half years he pleaded to be missioned there.

Sent by his superiors, he secretly entered Scotland posing as a horse trader or a soldier returning from the wars in Europe. Unable to do significant work among the relatively few Catholics in Scotland, John made his way back to Paris to consult his superiors. Rebuked for having left his assignment in Scotland, he was sent back. He warmed to the task before him and had some success in making converts and in secretly serving Scottish Catholics. But he was soon betrayed, arrested and brought before the court. His trial dragged on until he had been without food for 26 hours. He was imprisoned and deprived of sleep. For eight days and nights he was dragged around, prodded with sharp sticks, his hair pulled out. Still, he refused to reveal the names of Catholics or to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the king in spiritual affairs. He underwent a second and third trial but held firm. At his final trial he assured his judges: “In all that concerns the king, I will be slavishly obedient; if any attack his temporal power, I will shed my last drop of blood for him. But in the things of spiritual jurisdiction which a king unjustly seizes I cannot and must not obey.”

Condemned to death as a traitor, he was faithful to the end, even when on the scaffold he was offered his freedom and a fine living if he would deny his faith. His courage in prison and in his martyrdom was reported throughout Scotland.

John Ogilvie was canonized in 1976, becoming the first Scottish saint since 1250.

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/mar_11_-_st._sophronios_patriarch_of_jerusalem#6940

ST. AUREA
THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010

St. Aurea was born around the year 1042 in the village of Villavelayo, Spain, in a region controlled by Moors. As a youth, Aurea studied the Scriptures and the lives of the early martyrs of the Church. Her favorite saints to meditate upon and try to copy were Agatha, Eulalia and Cecilia.

As a young woman, Aurea decided to leave home and join a religious convent. She was welcomed into the convent of San Millan de la Cogolla and completely applied herself to monastic life. Soon after joining the convent, Aurea received a vision of her three favorite saints and was encouraged to follow her chosen lifestyle with more zeal. God used St. Aurea to work many miracles and many people began to seek her advice and prayers.

Aurea spent only a few years of her life in the monastery. Around the year 1069 she contracted a painful disease and died. At the time of her death, Aurea was twenty-seven years old.

THE WITCHES OF BELVOIR

On the 11th of March 1618-19, two women named Margaret and Philippa Flower, were burnt at Lincoln for the alleged crime of witch-craft. With their mother, Joan Flower, they had been confidential servants of the Earl and Countess of Rutland, at Belvoir Castle.

Dissatisfaction with their employers seems to have gradually seduced these three women into the practice of hidden arts in order to obtain revenge. According to their own confession, they had entered into communion with familiar spirits, by which they were assisted in their wicked designs. Joan Flower, the mother, had hers in the bodily form of a cat, which she called Rutterkin. They used to get the hair of a member of the family and burn it: they would steal one of his gloves and plunge it in boiling water, or rub it on the back of Rutterkin, in order to effect bodily harm to its owner. They would also use frightful imprecations of wrath and malice towards the objects of their hatred. In these ways they were believed to have accomplished the death of Lord Ross, the Earl of Rutland’s son, besides inflicting frightful sicknesses upon other members of the family.

It was long before the earl and countess, who were an amiable couple, suspected any harm in these servants, although we are told that for some years there was a manifest change in the countenance of the mother, a diabolic expression being assumed. At length, at Christmas, 1618, the noble pair became convinced that they were the victims of a hellish plot, and the three women were apprehended, taken to Lincoln jail, and examined. The mother loudly protested innocence, and, calling for bread and butter, wished it might choke her if she were guilty of the offences laid to her charge. Immediately, taking a piece into her mouth, she fell down dead, probably, as we may allowably conjecture, overpowered by consciousness of the contrariety between these protestations and the guilty design which she had entertained in her mind.

Margaret Flower, on being examined, acknowledged that she had stolen the glove of the young heir of the family, and given it to her mother, who stroked Rutterkin with it, dipped it in hot water, and pricked it: whereupon Lord Ross fell ill and suffered extremely. In order to prevent Lord and Lady Rutland from having any more children, they had taken some feathers from their bed, and a pair of gloves, which they boiled in water, mingled with a little blood. In all these particulars, Philippa corroborated her sister. Both women admitted that they had familiar spirits, which came and sucked them at various parts of their bodies: and they also described visions of devils in various forms which they had had from time to time.

Associated with the Flowers in their horrible practices were three other women, of the like grade in life,—Anne Baker, of Bottesford: Joan Willimot, of Goodby: and Ellen Greene, of Stathorne, all in the county of Leicester, whose confessions were to much the same purpose. Each had her own familiar spirits to assist in working out her malignant designs against her neighbours.

That of Joan Willimot was called Pretty. It had been blown into her mouth by her master, William Berry, in the form of a fairy, and immediately after came forth again and stood on the floor in the shape of a woman, to whom she forthwith promised that her soul should be enlisted in the infernal service. On one occasion, at Joan Flower’s house, she saw two spirits, one like an owl, the other like a rat, one of which sucked her under the ear. This woman, however, protested that, for her part, she only employed her spirit in inquiring after the health of persons whom she had undertaken to cure.

Greene confessed to having had a meeting with Willimot in the woods, when the latter called two spirits into their company, one like a kitten, the other like a mole, which, on her being left alone, mounted on her shoulders and sucked her under the ears. She had then sent them to bewitch a man and woman who had reviled her, and who, accordingly, died within a fortnight. Anne Baker seems to have been more of a visionary than any of the rest. She once saw a hand, and heard a voice from the air: she had been visited with a flash of fire: all of them ordinary occurrences in the annals of hallucination. She also had a spirit, but, as she alleged, a beneficent one, in the form of a white dog.

From the frontispiece of a contemporary pamphlet giving an account of this group of witches, we transfer a homely picture of Baker, Willimot, and Greene, attended each by her familiar spirit. The entire publication is reprinted inNichols’s Leicestershire.

The examinations of these wretched women were taken by magistrates of rank and credit, and when the judges came to Lincoln the two surviving Flowers were duly tried, and on their own confessions condemned to death by the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Sir Henry Hobbert

Johnny Appleseed Day

When : March 11th and/or September 26th. Why two dates?……read on

Johnny Appleseed Day honors one of America’s great legends. Johnny Appleseed was a real person. John Chapman was among the American settlers who were captivated by the movement west across the continent. As Johnny Appleseed travelled west, he planted apple trees along the way, and sold trees to settlers. With every apple tree that was planted, the legend grew.

A Little About the Legend:

John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) was born on September 26, 1774.
He was a nurseryman who started out planting trees in western New York and Pennsylvania.
During the life of John Chapman, the “West” was places like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois.
John Chapman was a deeply religious person He was known to preach during his travels.
According to legend, Johny Appleseed led a simple life and wanted little. He rarely accepted money and often donated any money he received.
It is believed that he died on March 11, 1845, from what was referred to as the “winter plague”. The actual date of his death has been disputed.
There is a lot of “legend” in stories written about Johny Appleseed. By it’s definition, over the years, legends grow bigger than life. It also appears that there is some link between Johny Appleseed and very early Arbor Day celebrations.

Celebrate today with an apple rich menu. Include fresh apples for snacks, and some applesauce or apple pie for dessert. And, make plans to plant an apple tree.

Origin of “Johnny Appleseed Day”:

There is plenty of documentation to support claims for Johnny Appleseed Day on March 11th and on September 26th. We found no one who claims to have created this special day.

So, here’s the skinny on the two dates:

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.

1452 Pope Nicolaas I crowns Frederik III Roman Catholic-German emperor
1496 Jews are expelled from Carintha Austria
1497 Nicolaus Copernicus 1st recorded astronomical observation
1522 Marten Luther preaches his Invocavit
1562 Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death)
1839 Birth of Phoebe Palmer Knapp, American Methodist hymnwriter. She published more than 500 hymn tunes during her lifetime; her most famous melody comprises the tune to Fanny Crosby’s hymn, “Blessed Assurance.”
1841 US Supreme Court rules Negroes are free (Amistad Incident)
1843 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: ‘You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm.’
1907 1st involuntary sterilization law enacted, Indiana
1918 Ukrainian mobs massacre Jews of Seredino Buda
1930 Pioneer linguist Frank Laubach wrote in a letter: ‘It seems to me…that the very Bible cannot be read as a substitute for meeting God soul to soul and face to face.’
1931 The World Radio Missionary Fellowship (WRMF) was incorporated in Lima, Ohio, by co_founders Clarence W. Jones and Reuben Larson. Today, this interdenominational mission agency broadcasts the Gospel in 15 languages to South America and throughout Europe.
1943 Greek Jews of Salonika are transported to Nazi extermination camps
1956 Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus arrested & exiled to Seychelles
1965 Three white Unitarian ministers, including the Rev. James J. Reeb, were attacked with clubs on the streets of Selma, Alabama, while participating in a civil rights demonstration. Reeb later died in a Birmingham, Alabama hospital.
1977 Hanafi Moslems invade 3 buildings in Washington DC, siege ended March 11th

March 9

On this day in 1995, the Committee for a New Dialogue on Sexuality met at General Seminary in New York City.

Feast Day:

St. Pacian, Bishop of Barcelona, 4th century.
St. Gregory, of Nyssa, bishop, 400.
St. Frances, widow, of Rome, foundress of the Collatines, 1440.
St. Catherine, of Bologna, virgin, 1463.

March 9

Botulph [PCP (Paris)]
Catherine (of Bologna), abbess [BLS]
Cyril and Methodius, bishops, confessors [GTZ: Prague, Gnesen]
Forty Martyrs [common; 6082, in red]
Frances (of Rome), widow [common]
Gregory (of Nyssa) [BLS]
Pacian, bishop (of Barcelona) [BLS]
Poncius, martyr [WTS (Bruges)]

On This Day

Dominic Savio,
Forty Martyrs of Sebaste,
Frances of Rome,
Gregory of Nyssa,
Pacian

In History

1841 -US Supreme Court frees slaves who seized slave ship Amisted
1945 - “Foodless Lunch” to publicize plight of hungry people of Europe held at Waldorf hotel in London

GREGORY OF NYSSA
(9 MAR 395)

Gregory of Nyssa, his brother Basil the Great (14 June), and Basil’s best friend Gregory of Nazianzus (9 May), are known collectively as the Cappadocian Fathers. They were a major force in the triumph of the Athanasian position at the Council of Constantinople in 381. Gregory of Nyssa tends to be overshadowed by the other two.

Gregory of Nyssa was born in Caesarea, the capital of Cappadocia (central Turkey) in about 334, the younger brother of Basil the Great and of Macrina (19 July), and of several other distinguished persons. As a youth, he was at best a lukewarm Christian. However, when he was twenty, some of the relics of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (10 March) were transferred to a chapel near his home, and their presence made a deep impression on him, confronting him with the fact that to acknowledge God at all is to acknowledge His right to demand a total commitment. Gregory became an active and fervent Christian. He considered the priesthood, decided it was not for him, became a professional orator like his father, married, and settled down to the life of a Christian layman. However, his brother Basil and his friend Gregory of Nazianzus persuaded him to reconsider, and he became a priest in about 362. (This did not affect his marriage.)

His brother Basil, who had become archbishop of Caesarea in 370, was engaged in a struggle with the Arian Emperor Valens, who was trying to stamp out belief in the deity of Christ. Basil desperately needed the votes and support of Athanasian bishops, and he maneuvered his friend Gregory into the bishopric of Sasima, and (in about 371) his brother Gregory into the bishopric of Nyssa, a small town about ten miles from Caesarea. Neither one wanted to be a bishop, neither was suited to be a bishop, and both were furious with Basil.) Gregory did not get along well with his flock, was falsely accused of embezzling church funds, fled the scene in about 376, and did not return until after the death of Valens about two years later.

In 379, Basil died, having lived to see the death of Valens and the end of the persecution. Shortly thereafter, Macrina died. Gregory was with her in the last few days of her life. Afterwards, he took to writing sermons and treatises on theology and philosophy. His philosophy was a form of Christian Platonism. In his approach to the Scriptures, he was heavily influenced by Origen, and his writings on the Trinity and the Incarnation build on and develop insights found in germ in the writings of his brother Basil. But he is chiefly remembered as a writer on the spiritual life, on the contemplation of God, not only in private prayer and meditation, but in corporate worship and in the sacramental life of the Church.

His treatise On the Making of Man deals with God as Creator, and with the world as a good thing, as something that God takes delight in, and that ought to delight us. His Great Catechism is esteemed as a work of systematic theology. His Commentary on the Song of Songs is a work of contemplative, devotional, mystical theology.

His book The Life of Moses is available from the Paulist Press in the series The Classics of Western Spirituality. The reader who is expecting a straightforward biography will be startled — not necessarily disappointed. An example of his treatment is the following:

In Numbers 13 and 14 we read that when Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt and to the borders of Canaan, he sent twelve spies into the land to look it over. They returned to report two things: (1) The inhabitants of the land were fierce warriors and would prove a formidable enemy. (2) The land was a good land, with fertile soil and an abundance of natural resources. As proof, they brought back a cluster of grapes so large that they hung it from a wooden pole that two men carried horizontally between them. Ten of the spies said that the enemy was too strong to be defeated, and that the Israelites ought to turn back, but the remaining two, Joshua and Caleb, urged the people to remember that the LORD was with them, and had shown Himself mighty to save. The people listened to the ten and prepared to turn back. At this the LORD was angry and said, “Very well, you shall wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the men of this generation have died, except for Joshua and Caleb. Only then shall the next generation go in to possess the homeland that I promised to Abraham for his descendants.” Hence the well-known child’s nursery rhyme that goes in part:

Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh
Were the only two who ever got thru to the land of milk and honey.

Gregory (following the example of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10) treats the Exodus as a type of our deliverance from the bondage of sin, and the Promised Land as a type of Heaven. He comments that the Israelites had been guilty of idolatry, of fornication, of repeated rebellions against Moses, of various disobediences to the commands of God, but that none of these moved God to deny them entrance into the Promised Land. It was only when they came to the Land, and God showed them what a good land He had prepared for them, and gave them a token of that goodness in the form of the cluster of grapes, hanging from a wooden pole between two spies, and they refused to trust in the promise of God to save them from their enemies, that they were turned back (indeed, that they turned themselves back). So, it is not failure to live virtuous lives that can keep us out of Heaven, but a refusal to believe in the mercy of God, and to trust His gracious declarations of His good will toward us, concretely expressed in the saving blood of Christ, Who is the True Vine, and Who for our sakes hung on the wood of the cross between two thieves, as the grape cluster hung on the wood of the pole between two spies, showing forth in His own Person the sign of God’s good will to us and His assurance that He is ready to overcome all our enemies.

As you see, it is not really a biography of Moses, and it will not be to everyone’s taste, not even to every Christian’s taste. And even Christians who find this approach helpful will grant that it has its pitfalls. Clearly anyone who follows Gregory’s example runs the risk of being led on a random walk by the will-o-the-wisp of his own imagination. But many Christians have received spiritual nourishment from this way of reading the Scriptures, and the example of St. Paul, as aforesaid, favors the view that this approach is at least sometimes of legitimate value.

Readings:

Psalm 19:7-11(12-14)
Wisdom 7:24-28
Ephesians 2:17-22
John 14:23-26

Preface of the Trinity

PRAYER (traditional language)

Almighty God, who hast revealed to thy Church thine eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like thy bishop Gregory of Nyssa, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who livest and reignest now and for ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Almighty God, who have revealed to your Church your eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like your bishop Gregory of Nyssa, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who live and reign for ever and ever.

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

ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA
TUESDAY, MARCH 09, 2010

The son of two saints, Basil and Emmilia, young Gregory was raised by his older brother, St. Basil the Great, and his sister, Macrina, in modern-day Turkey. Gregory’s success in his studies suggested great things were ahead for him. After becoming a professor of rhetoric, he was persuaded to devote his learning and efforts to the Church. By then married, Gregory went on to study for the priesthood and become ordained (this at a time when celibacy was not a matter of law for priests).

He was elected Bishop of Nyssa (in Lower Armenia) in 372, a period of great tension over the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. He was briefly arrested after being falsely accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory was restored to his see in 378, an act met with great joy by his people.

It was after the death of his beloved brother, Basil, that Gregory really came into his own. He wrote with great effectiveness against Arianism and other questionable doctrines, gaining a reputation as a defender of orthodoxy. He was sent on missions to counter other heresies and held a position of prominence at the Council of Constantinople. His fine reputation stayed with him for the remainder of his life, but over the centuries it gradually declined as the authorship of his writings became less and less certain. But, thanks to the work of scholars in the 20th century, his stature is once again appreciated. Indeed, St. Gregory of Nyssa is seen not simply as a pillar of orthodoxy but as one of the great contributors to the mystical tradition in Christian spirituality and to monasticism itself.

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/mar_09_-_st._caesarius#6943

St. Frances of Rome
(1384-1440)

Frances’s life combines aspects of secular and religious life. A devoted and loving wife, she longed for a lifestyle of prayer and service, so she organized a group of women to minister to the needs of Rome’s poor.

Born of wealthy parents, Frances found herself attracted to the religious life during her youth. But her parents objected and a young nobleman was selected to be her husband.

As she became acquainted with her new relatives, Frances soon discovered that the wife of her husband’s brother also wished to live a life of service and prayer. So the two, Frances and Vannozza, set out together—with their husbands’ blessings—to help the poor.

Frances fell ill for a time, but this apparently only deepened her commitment to the suffering people she met. The years passed, and Frances gave birth to two sons and a daughter. With the new responsibilities of family life, the young mother turned her attention more to the needs of her own household. The family flourished under Frances’s care, but within a few years a great plague began to sweep across Italy. It struck Rome with devastating cruelty and left Frances’s second son dead. In an effort to help alleviate some of the suffering, Frances used all her money and sold her possessions to buy whatever the sick might possibly need. When all the resources had been exhausted, Frances and Vannozza went door to door begging. Later, Frances’s daughter died, and the saint opened a section of her house as a hospital.

Frances became more and more convinced that this way of life was so necessary for the world, and it was not long before she requested and was given permission to found a society of women bound by no vows. They simply offered themselves to God and to the service of the poor. Once the society was established, Frances chose not to live at the community residence, but rather at home with her husband. She did this for seven years, until her husband passed away, and then came to live the remainder of her life with the society—serving the poorest of the poor.

DEATH OF CARDINAL MAZARIN

Mazarin, an Italian by birth, and a pupil of Richelieu, but inferior to his master, was the minister of the Regency during the minority of Louis XIV. He was more successful at the close of his career in his treaties of peace than he had been in his wars and former negotiations. In February 1661, he had concluded at Vincennes a third and last treaty with Charles, duke of Lorraine, by which Strasburg, Phalsburg, Stenai, and other places were given up to France.

A fatal malady had seized on the Cardinal whilst engaged in the conferences of the treaty, and, worn by mental agony, he brought it home with him to the Louvre. He consulted Grenaud, the great physician, who told him that he had two months to live. This sad assurance troubled the Cardinal greatly; his pecuniary wealth, his valuables and pictures, were immense. He was fond of hoarding, and his love of pictures was as strong as his love of power—perhaps even stronger. Soon after his physician had told him how short a time he had to live, Brienne perceived the Cardinal in night-cap and dressing-gown tottering along his gallery, pointing to his pictures, and exclaiming, ‘Must I quit all these?’ He saw Brienne, and seized him: ‘Look!’ he exclaimed, ‘look at that Correggio! this Venus of Titian! that incomparable Deluge of Caracci! Ah! my friend, I must quit all these! Farewell, clear pictures, that I loved so dearly, and that cost me so much!’

On this day in 1698, British missionary Thomas Bray and four laymen founded the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) “to advance the honor of God and the good of mankind by promoting Christian knowledge both at home and in the other parts of the world by the best methods that should offer.”

March 8

Apollonius, Philemon, and companions, martyrs [BLS]
Duthac, bishop, confessor [BLS; GTZ: Scotland]
Felix, bishop (of Dunwich, Suffolk), martyr [BLS; PRI: England]
Gay, martyr [WTS (Bruges)]
Hunfrid, bishop (of Thérouanne) [GTZ: Thérouanne]
John (of Avila) [BLS]
John (of God), confessor [common]
Julian, abbot (of Toledo) [BLS]
Psalmod, anchoret [BLS]
Pudentiana [PCP (Paris)]
Rose (of Viterbo) [BLS]
Senan, abbot, bishop [BLS]

On This Day

John of God,
Philemon the actor

International Women’s Day (United Nations)

In History

1908 - Thousands of workers in NY needle trades (primarily women) demonstrate & begin a strike for higher wages, shorter workday & an end to child labour

1955 - World Peace Council launches drive to ban all nuclear weapons

1965 - Anti Apartheid movement held mass lobby of House of Commons

GEOFFREY ANKETELL STUDDERT KENNEDY
PRIEST, 1929

Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy (June 27, 1883 - March 8, 1929), was an Anglican priest and poet. He was nicknamed ‘Woodbine Willie’ during World War I for giving Woodbine cigarettes along with spiritual aid to injured and dying soldiers.

Born in Leeds in 1883, Kennedy was the seventh of nine children born to Jeanette Anketell and William Studdert Kennedy, a vicar in Leeds. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School and Trinity College, Dublin, where he gained a degree in classics and divinity in 1904.

After a year’s training, he became a curate in Rugby and then, in 1914, the vicar of St. Pauls, Worcester. On the outbreak of war, Kennedy volunteered as a chaplain to the armed forces on the Western Front, where he gained the nickname ‘Woodbine Willie’, for his practice of giving out Woodbine cigarettes to soldiers. In 1917, he won the Military Cross at Messines Ridge after running into no man’s land to help the wounded during an attack on the German frontline. He wrote a number of poems about his experiences, and these appeared in the books Rough Rhymes of a Padre(1918), and More Rough Rhymes (1919).

Readings:

Psalm 69:15-20
2 Samuel 22:1-7 (8-16) 17-19
1 Corinthians 15:50-58
Luke 10:25-37

Preface of a Saint (2)

PRAYER (traditional language)

Glorious God, we give thanks not merely for high and holy things, but for the common things of earth which thou hast created: Wake us to love and work, that Jesus, the Lord of life, may set our hearts ablaze and that we, like Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, may recognize thee in thy people and in thy creation, serving the holy and undivided Trinity; who livest and reignest throughout all ages of ages. Amen.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Glorious God, we give thanks not merely for high and holy things, but for the common things of earth which you have created: Wake us to love and work, that Jesus, the Lord of life, may set our hearts ablaze and that we, like Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, may recognize you in your people and in your creation, serving the holy and undivided Trinity; who lives and reigns throughout all ages of ages. Amen.

After the war, Kennedy was given charge of St. Edmund King and Martyr in Lombard Street, London. Having been converted to Christian socialism and pacifism during the war, he wrote Lies (1919), Democracy and the Dog-Collar (1921) (featuring such chapters as “The Church Is Not a Movement but a Mob,” “Capitalism is Nothing But Greed, Grab, and Profit-Mongering,” and “So-Called Religious Education Worse than Useless”),Food for the Fed Up (1921), The Wicket Gate (1923), and The Word and the Work (1925). He moved to work for the Industrial Christian Fellowship, for whom he went on speaking tours of Britain. It was on one of these tours that he was taken ill, and died in Liverpool.

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

Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln

The first thing I ever read about King was a remark by a Roman Catholic priest from England, who said: “Of course I do not believe that no Protestant can go to Heaven. I have known many Protestants whom I firmly believe to be in Heaven, and I have known some that I believe went straight to Heaven without passing through Purgatory. Edward King is the one that comes first to mind.”

Edward King was born in 1829, son of a clergyman. He was educated at home by his father and a private tutor, and when he was 19, he went to Oxford and entered Oriel College, the headquarters, as it were, of the Oxford (or Tractarian, or Anglo-Catholic) Movement. Academically, he was at best an average student. In 1854 he was ordained and made curate of Wheatley, a village near Oxford. There he began to be known as a remarkably effective pastor and counsellor. In 1862-3 he was appointed Principal of Cuddesdon, a recently founded (1854) theological college near Oxford. He served there for ten years, and under his pastorship the college became a worshipping community, where individual and communal spiritual life flourished. On the academic side, students at Cuddesdon read about the problems of pastoral work, not in contemporary manuals, but in the writings of Ambrose, Basil, and Gregory the Great. They read the sermons of Chrysostom, Augustine, and Bernard. But King insisted that preaching could never be effective or worthwhile unless it was rooted in a life of prayer and of love for one’s parishioners. A priest must pray regularly for every member of his parish, individually and by name. He must call on every member once every two months, and must get to know them well enough to understand their problems and know where they stood in need of prayer. He said:

Christ lives in his saints. We know his life in them. St
Paul prayed to know the Power of the Resurrection, though he
knew the fact.
If you are to preach, you must make up your minds that you
are sent, and sent by God.
Without the gift of love, you will never be a preacher.
Nothing anonymous will ever persuade—the faith and conduct
of the preacher give life and power to his message. Thus
preaching is different from mere feeling. You may teach
mathematics or geography without being fully convinced. But in
delivering the Gospel message, if it is to be a living
life-giving message, there must be in the preacher a sense of
message and the desire to deliver it.
However, he did not fall, or permit his students to fall, into the trap of supposing that a Christian ought to strive to have no interests other than religious ones. He said:

It is not necessary to be always thinking directly of God. Indeed, it is not possible. Sometimes, of course, we ought to, and can do this, but at other times we must give our minds to what we are doing, even if it is playing and amusement. We may, of course, commit the chief periods of our time and of our occupation to God by a short prayer, as we do before and after meals, and before reading the Bible. So also before any study, and after any study, and such a word of prayer to bless our games that they may be innocent and refreshing to us, and those with whom we play. In this way we can carry out the words “I have set God always before me,” and adopt the motto, “Laborare est orare (to work is to pray)”. A brief prayer is also possible during work and play, but in the main you should be satisfied with commending your work or play to God, and then yourself into it heartily.

King transformed the school, and the lives of those attending it, not so much by the content of his speeches as by his own life and personality. He seemed to make those around him aware of the presence and love of God. One of his students wrote afterwards of King’s influence as follows:

It was light he carried with him—light that shone through
Him—light that flowed from him. The room was lit into which he
entered. It was as if we had fallen under a streak of sunlight,
that flickered, and danced, and laughed, and turned all to
color and gold. …
The whole place was alive with him. His look, his voice, his
gaiety, his beauty, his charm, his holiness, filled it and
possessed it. There was an air about it, a tone in it, a
quality, a delicacy, a depth, which were his creation…. All
was human, natural, and free.

If this were an isolated quotation, we might be inclined to dismiss it as indicating an over-susceptibility on the part of the student. However, it seems to state the impression that King made on many of those he met.

In 1885, he was appointed Bishop of Lincoln, succeeding Christopher Wordsworth (nephew of the poet William Wordsworth, and himself the author of several hymns that are still in general use). He noted with satisfaction that it was the original home of John Wesley, whom he greatly admired. As a bishop-pastor, he was outstandingly effective. One writer of his day called him “the most loved man in Lincolnshire.” The private letters of his contemporaries contain many testimonies to his personal holiness and to his loving concern for others. He sought out those whom the Church had failed to reach, and spoke with them about the Good News of God’s love declared in Jesus Christ. Whenever possible, he did the work of a prison chaplain, speaking with everyone from pickpockets to murderers. In 1887 a young fisherman from Grimsby killed his sweetheart in a jealous quarrel, and was sentenced to hang. The prison chaplain was at a loss what to say to him, and King took over. He spoke to the young man, instructed him in Christian belief, preached to him the Good news of salvation in Christ, and reconciled him with God. (He also waged a vigorous but unsuccessful campaign to have the sentence commuted.)

On one occasion he was caught up in the controversies of his day. Different parties within the Church had come to regard various ceremonial usages as a mark of where the user stood theologically, and in 1887 Bishop King was denounced as celebrating the Liturgy with practices not permitted by the directives in the Book of Common Prayer and elsewhere governing Anglican worship. Specifically, the charges were

(1) having lighted candles on the altar;
(2) facing “eastward” (that is, toward the altar and with his
Back to the congregation) during most prayers; (3) mixing a little water with the wine in the chalice (done chiefly because the ancients—Jews, Greeks, and Romans alike—regularly diluted their wine with water just before drinking it, but also understood by many as a symbol of human nature being incorporated into the Divine Nature as we are united with Christ through the Sacrament); (4) using the Agnus Dei (“O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us”) as a hymn just before the receiving of the Holy Communion (this hymn is traditional, but had been omitted from the Book of Common Prayer in 1549 because Cranmer transferred the Gloria to a position at the end of the service, and the words of the Agnus Dei are included in the Gloria, so that it seemed repetitious to have them both within a few minutes of each other); (5) making the sign of the Cross when blessing the congregation; and (6) making a ceremony of cleansing the Communion vessels after the service. None of these practices is particularly controversial today, but they were then thought by some to be signs of inclination to the views—and the company—of the Pope. King was tried by a Church Court presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The decision of the Court forbade some of these practices, but permitted others while specifying that they had no theological significance. Thus, lighted candles were to be permitted on the altar, but only when needed for purposes of illumination. The Times wrote of the judgement:
The Ritualists are to have their way in the chief practices Impugned—the other party are diligently assured that there is no such significance as has hitherto been supposed in such practices. The Ritualists…are given the shells they have been fighting for, and the Evangelicals are consoled with the gravest assurances that there were no kernels inside them.

It is ironic that King appears in reference works chiefly as the defendent in the Lincoln Trial, since most of those who knew him would have regarded this as a brief and peripheral episode in a life devoted chiefly to preaching and exemplifying the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

PRAYER (traditional language):

O God, our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful Servant Edward to be a bishop and pastor in thy Church and to feed thy flock: Give abundantly to all pastors the gifts of thy Holy Spirit, that they may minister in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language):

O God, our heavenly Father, who raised up your faithful servant Edward to be a bishop and pastor in your Church and to feed your flock: Give abundantly to all pastors the gifts of your Holy Spirit, that they may minister in your household as true servants of Christ and stewards of your divine mysteries; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

St. John of God
(1495-1550)

Having given up active Christian belief while a soldier, John was 40 before the depth of his sinfulness began to dawn on him. He decided to give the rest of his life to God’s service, and headed at once for Africa, where he hoped to free captive Christians and, possibly, be martyred.

He was soon advised that his desire for martyrdom was not spiritually well based, and returned to Spain and the relatively prosaic activity of a religious goods store. Yet he was still not settled. Moved initially by a sermon of Blessed John of Avila, he one day engaged in a public beating of himself, begging mercy and wildly repenting for his past life.

Committed to a mental hospital for these actions, John was visited by Blessed John, who advised him to be more actively involved in tending to the needs of others rather than in enduring personal hardships. John gained peace of heart, and shortly after left the hospital to begin work among the poor.

He established a house where he wisely tended to the needs of the sick poor, at first doing his own begging. But excited by the saint’s great work and inspired by his devotion, many people began to back him up with money and provisions. Among them were the archbishop and marquis of Tarifa.

Behind John’s outward acts of total concern and love for Christ’s sick poor was a deep interior prayer life which was reflected in his spirit of humility. These qualities attracted helpers who, 20 years after John’s death, formed the Brothers Hospitallers, now a worldwide religious order.

John became ill after 10 years of service but tried to disguise his ill health. He began to put the hospital’s administrative work into order and appointed a leader for his helpers. He died under the care of a spiritual friend and admirer, Lady Anne Ossorio.

ST. JOHN OF GOD, CONFESSOR
MONDAY, MARCH 08, 2010

St. John of God was born in Portugal in 1495 of a devout and charitable Christian family. St. John’s family was poor, so when it was time for John to set out on his own, he decided to leave his parents and join the military. John spent a considerable part of his life in the army, but in the process he fell away from the faith of his birth. Around the age of 40, John’s troop was disbanded and he was forced to seek other employment.

John managed to get a job as a shepherd at a rich woman’s farm. Slowly, as John became accustomed to life outside of the military, he began to realize the depth of his sinfulness and began to repent. After receiving some excellent spiritual direction, John began to direct his energies toward the service of others. John established a house devoted to the service of the sick and began to work one on one with the poor of the area. St. John raised money for his charitable work by door to door begging.

Soon, many people began to realize the goodness of John and the holiness of his work and donated generously to him with both money and provisions. John’s goodness and holiness also attracted followers and the group became the foundation of a religious order. After ten years of intense work, John began to weaken and become ill. After several more years of reduced work, John died in 1550 at the age of 55. He is the patron of hospitals, the sick, nurses and booksellers.

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/mar_08_-_st._theophylactus_bishop_of_nicomedia#6942

International (Working) Women’s Day

When : March 8th

International Women’s Day is sponsored worldwide by the United Nations. The roots of this celebration goes back to the late 1800’s to early 1900s. It grew from women’s socialist movements and early women’s trade union groups.

The first International Women’s Day was held March 19, 1911. Women socialists and trade unions held an earlier Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February, 1908. The event grew from there and has been celebrated annually since. The focus is upon women workers, and advancing women’s rights in the workforce, politics and society.

More Information:

UN’s International Women’s Day

The History of IWD

International Women in Australia

1698 The first meeting convened of the British group which later formed the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK).
1711 In this date’s edition of “The Spectator,” English essayist Joseph Addison wrote: ‘To be an atheist requires an infinitely greater measure of faith than to receive all the great truths which atheism would deny.’
1740 Colonial revivalist Gilbert Tennent, 37, preached his famous sermon, “The Danger of An Unconverted Ministry.” The message, assaulting opponents of the Great Awakening, contributed to the first schism within the American Presbyterian Church between the Old Side and New Side. (In 1758 the two divisions were reunited.)
1887 Death of Henry Ward Beecher, 73, American clergyman and social reformer. His last words were: ‘Going out into life” that is dying.’
1921 The United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia was organized at Ebenezer, in South Australia. In 1966 the UELCA united with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia (ELCA) to form the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA).
1930 Mahatma Gandhi starts civil disobedience in India

March 7

On this day 1530, Pope Clement VII rejected Henry VIII’s request to divorce Catherine of Aragon.

Feast Day:

Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, martyrs at Carthage, 203.
St. Paul the Simple, anchoret, about 330.
St. Thomas of Aquino, Doctor of the Church and Confessor, 1274.

March 7

German Gardiner, John Ireland, and John Larke, martyrs [BLS]
Paul (the Simple), anchoret [BLS]
Perpetua, Felicitas, and companions, virgins, martyrs [common]
Thomas Aquinas, confessor, Doctor of the Church [common]
Victorinus, martyr [GTZ: Augsburg]

PERPETUA AND HER COMPANIONS
MARTYRS AT CARTHAGE (7 MAR 202)

During a persecution of Christians under the emperor Septimius Severus, a group of Christians died together in the arena at Carthage. Their final days have been recorded for us in a document that is partly in their own words, and partly in those of an anonymous narrator (sometimes thought to be Tertullian). What follow are extracts, sometimes condensed, from that document.

Vivia Perpetua was a catechumen (i.e. a convert not yet baptized), well educated and from a prosperous family, about 22 years old, married and apparently recently widowed, with a child at her breast, and with two brothers and both parents still living. (Her father was not a Christian.) Felicity (Latin: Felicitas) was a slave woman in advanced pregnancy. With them were Revocatus (also a slave), Saturninus, and Secundus.

They were arrested and placed in a dungeon, but after a few days two deacons visited the prison and by a gift of money to the jailers arranged (1) that they should have an interval in the better part of the prison to refresh themselves, and (2) that Perpetua should be allowed to keep her child with her.

Perpetua had a vision in which she saw a golden ladder, guarded by a fierce dragon, but she climbed it, stepping on the dragon’s head to do so. At the top, she found herself in a green meadow, with many white-robed figures, and in their midst a shepherd, who welcomed her and gave her a morsel of cheese from the sheep-milk. She awakened and understood that their martyrdom was certain.

Perpetua writes:

After a few days there was a report that we were to have a hearing in court. And my father came to me from the city, worn out with anxiety. He came up to me, that he might cast me down, saying: “Have pity, my daughter, on my grey hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called a father by you. If with these hands I have brought you up to this flower of your age, if I have preferred you to all your brothers, do not deliver me up to the scorn of men. Have regard to your brothers, have regard to your mother and your aunt, have regard to your son, who will not be able to live after you. Lay aside your courage, and do not bring us all to destruction; for none of us will speak in freedom if you should suffer anything.”

These things said my father in his affection, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my feet, and with tears he called me not Daughter, but Lady. And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father, that he alone of all my kindred would have no joy in my death. And I comforted him, saying, “On that scaffold, whatever God wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our own power but in that of God.” And he departed from me in sorrow.

Perpetua had had a brother who died of cancer when he was eight years old. She prayed for him, and received assurance in a vision that all was well with him.

Her narrative continues:

After a few days, Pudens, an assistant overseer of the prison, began to hold us in high esteem, seeing that God was with us, and he admitted many of the brethren to see us, that we and they might be mutually refreshed.

Perpetua had another vision, in which she saw herself fighting against a gladiator in the arena, and winning. She understood this to signify victory over the devil.
Saturus also had a vision, which he records in his own words, in which he and the others, having died in the arena, are borne by angels into a beautiful garden, where they greet other martyrs who have gone before them, and are brought before the throne of God, surrounded by twenty-four elders (see Revelation 4), who greet them and say, “Enter into joy.” Perpetua says to Saturus: “I was joyful in the flesh, and here I am more joyful still.”

The narrator writes:

Now Felicitas was eight months pregnant, and the law did not allow a pregnant woman to be executed. She was accordingly fearful that her death would be postponed, and instead of dying with her fellow Christians she would be put to death later in the company of some group of criminals. She and her companions accordingly prayed, and Felicity went into labor, with the pains normal to an eight-month delivery. And a servant of the jailers said to her, “If you cry out like that now, what will you do when you are thrown to the beasts, which you despised when you refused to sacrifice?” And she replied: “Now it is I that suffer what I suffer; but then Another will be in me, who will suffer for me, because I also am about to suffer for Him.” Thus she brought forth a little girl, whom a certain sister brought up as her own.
The day of their victory shone forth, and they proceeded from the prison to the amphitheater, as if to an assembly, joyous and of brilliant countenance. At the gate, the guards were going to dress them in the robes of those dedicated to Saturn and to Ceres. But that noble-minded woman [Perpetua?] said: “We are here precisely for refusing to honor your gods. By our deaths we earn the right not to wear such garments.” The guards recognized the justice of her words, and let them wear their own clothing.

The men of their company were scheduled to be killed by beasts, but the wild boar turned on its keeper instead, and the bear refused to leave its cage. The leopard, however, attacked Saturus and mortally wounded him. He bade farewell to his guard, Pudens, encouraging him to obey God rather than man, and then fell unconscious.

For the young women there was prepared a fierce cow. Perpetua was first led in. She was tossed, and when she saw her tunic torn from her side, she drew it as a veil over her middle, rather mindful of her modesty than of her sufferings. Then she was called up again, and bound up her dishevelled hair, for it is not becoming for a martyr to die with dishevelled hair, which is a sign of mourning. She saw Felicity wounded, and took her hand and raised her up, and at the demand of the populace they were given a respite.

Now all the prisoners were to be slain with the sword, and they went to the center of the arena, first exchanging a farewell kiss of peace. The others died unmoving and silent, but when the awkward hand of the young executioner bungled her death-stroke, Perpetua cried out in pain, and herself guided his hand to her throat. Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit.

Readings:

Psalm 124
Daniel 6:10-16
Hebrews 10:32-39
Matthew 24:9-14

Preface of a Saint (3)

PRAYER (traditional language)

O God the King of saints, who didst strengthen thy servants Perpetua and Felicitas and their companions to make a good confession, staunchly resisting, for the cause of Christ, the claims of human affection, and encouraging one another in their time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith, and win with them the palm of victory; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

O God the King of saints, who strengthened your servants Perpetua and Felicitas and their companions to make a good confession, staunchly resisting, for the cause of Christ, the claims of human affection, and encouraging one another in their time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith, and win with them the palm of victory; 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/Perpetua_and_Felicity

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
(d. 203?)

“When my father in his affection for me was trying to turn me from my purpose by arguments and thus weaken my faith, I said to him, ‘Do you see this vessel—waterpot or whatever it may be? Can it be called by any other name than what it is?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘So also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am—a Christian.’”

So writes Perpetua, young, beautiful, well-educated, a noblewoman of Carthage, mother of an infant son and chronicler of the persecution of the Christians by Emperor Septimius Severus.

Despite threats of persecution and death, Perpetua, Felicity (a slavewoman and expectant mother) and three companions, Revocatus, Secundulus and Saturninus, refused to renounce their Christian faith. For their unwillingness, all were sent to the public games in the amphitheater. There, Perpetua and Felicity were beheaded, and the others killed by beasts.

Perpetua’s mother was a Christian and her father a pagan. He continually pleaded with her to deny her faith. She refused and was imprisoned at 22.

In her diary, Perpetua describes her period of captivity: “What a day of horror! Terrible heat, owing to the crowds! Rough treatment by the soldiers! To crown all, I was tormented with anxiety for my baby…. Such anxieties I suffered for many days, but I obtained leave for my baby to remain in the prison with me, and being relieved of my trouble and anxiety for him, I at once recovered my health, and my prison became a palace to me and I would rather have been there than anywhere else.”

Felicity gave birth to a girl a few days before the games commenced.

Perpetua’s record of her trial and imprisonment ends the day before the games. “Of what was done in the games themselves, let him write who will.” The diary was finished by an eyewitness.

STS. PERPETUA AND FELICITY AND THEIR COMPANIONS
SUNDAY, MARCH 07, 2010

Saints Perpetua and Felicity were martyrs who died for the faith around the year 203.

St. Perpetua was a young, well-educated, noblewoman and mother living in the city of Carthage in North Africa. Her mother was a Christian and her father was a pagan. In terms of her faith, Perpetua followed the example of her mother. Despite the pleas of her father to deny her faith, Perpetua did the very opposite, and fearlessly proclaimed it. At the age of 22, she was imprisoned for her faith. While in prison she continued to care for her infant child and put up with the tortures designed to make her renounce her faith. Perpetua remained steadfast until the end. St. Perpetua was sacrificed at the games as a public spectacle for not renouncing her faith.

St. Felicity was a pregnant slave girl who was imprisoned with St. Perpetua. Little is known about the life of St. Felicity because, unlike Perpetua, she did not keep a dairy of her life. After imprisonment and torture, Felicity was condemned to die at the games. Only a few days before her execution Felicity gave birth to a daughter who was secretly taken away to be cared for by some of the Faithful.

BISHOP WILSON

The benign and saintly Thomas Wilson was born at Burton, in Cheshire, on the 20th of December 1663. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, whither most of the young gentlemen of Lancashire and Cheshire were at that time sent. In 1692, the Earl of Derby chose him for his domestic chaplain, and tutor to his son, Lord Strange, and in 1697 appointed him to the bishopric of Sodor and Man, then in the gift of the Derby family. The episcopal revenue was only £300 a-year, and he found his palace in ruins, the house having been uninhabited for eight years. The people of the island were ignorant and very poor; but the bishop at once took measures to improve their condition, He taught them to work, to plant, dig, and drain, and make roads; he opened schools, chapels, and libraries; he had studied medicine, and was able to cure the sick. Nearly all that Oberlin did in the Ban-de-la-Roche, Wilson anticipated in the Isle of Man. His whole income, after providing for the modest needs of his household, he expended in alms and improvements. It was said that ‘he kept beggars from every door in Man but his own.’

He published several devotional works and sermons, which are to this day widely read and admired. Queen Anne offered him an English bishopric, which he declined; George I repeated the offer, with the same result. Queen Caroline was very anxious to keep him in London, and one day, when she had several prelates with her, she said, pointing to Wilson, ‘See, here, my lords, is a bishop who does not come for translation.’ ‘No, indeed, and please your Majesty,’ said Wilson, ‘I will not leave my wife in my old age because she is poor.’ Cardinal Fleury wanted much to see him, and invited him to France, saying he believed that they were the two oldest and poorest bishops in Europe, and he obtained an order from the government that no French privateer should ravage the Isle of Man. Wilson’s goodness, like Oberlin’s, overcame all differences of creed. Catholics and Dissenters came to hear him preach, and Quakers visited at his palace. He died at the age of ninety-three, and in the fifty-eighth year of his tenure of the office of bishop.

1079 Omar ibn Ibrahim al-Chajjam completes Jalali-calendar
1205 Aken, [Philips van Zwaben], crowned Roman-Catholic German King
1447 Tommaso Parentucelli succeeds Pope Eugene IV as Nicolas V
1629 In Germany, the Edict of Restitution ordered that all church property secularized since 1552 be restored to the Roman Catholic Church.
1735 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: ‘The renewal of our natures is a work of great importance. It is not to be done in a day. We have not only a new house to build up, but an old one to pull down.’
1759 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: ‘There is a wonderful mystery in the manner and circumstances of that mighty working, whereby God subdues all things to himself, and leaves nothing in the heart but his pure love alone.’
1775 1st Negro Mason in US initiated, Boston
1816 Jews are expelled from Free city of Lubeck Germany
1857 Dred Scott Decision: Supreme Court rules slaves cannot be citizens
1919 Death of Julia H. Johnston, 70, American Presbyterian Sunday School leader. She penned about 500 hymns during her lifetime, one of which is still sung today: “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” (a.k.a. “Marvelous Grace of our Loving Lord”).
1921 Police in Sunbury PA issue an edict requiring Women to wear skirts at least 4 inches below the knee
1933 Death of Amos R. Wells, 71, pioneer U.S. Christian educator. From l901 until his death, he was editor of “Peloubet’s Notes for the International Sunday School Lessons.”

March 6

On this day in 1976, John Shelby Spong was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark at a Special Convention.

Feast Day:

St. Fridolin, abbot, 538.
St Baldred, of Scotland, about 608.
Saints Kyneburge, Kyneswide, and Tibba, 7th century.
St. Chrodegang, bishop of Metz, 766.
St. Cadroe, about 975.
Colette, virgin and abbess, 1447.

March 6

Baldred, bishop (of Glasgow), confessor [BLS; GTZ: Scotland]
Cadroe [BLS]
Chrodegang, bishop (of Metz), confessor [BLS]
Colette, abbess [BLS]
Claudianus, confessor [GTZ: Trent]
Cyril, confessor [GTZ: Carmelites]
Felicitas [PCP (Paris), as Felix]
Fridolin, abbot, confessor [common]
Kineburge, Kineswide, and Tibba [BLS]
Quiriacus, confessor (at Trier) [GTZ: Trier]

WILLIAM W. MAYO, CHARLES MENNINGER, and their SONS
PIONEERS IN MEDICINE, 1911, 1953

William Worrall Mayo (May 31, 1819 – March 6, 1911) was an English born medical doctor and chemist, best known for establishing the private medical practice that later evolved into the Mayo Clinic. His sons, William James Mayo and Charles Horace Mayo, joined the private practice in Rochester, Minnesota in the 1880s.

Dr. William Worall Mayo was born in Eccles, near Salford, Lancashire, England and studied science and medicine in Manchester, Glasgow, and London before leaving for the U.S. in 1845. Mayo received his medical degree at Indiana Medical College in La Porte, Indiana in 1850. While the training there would be considered poor by modern standards, the school did have a microscope, an uncommon tool at the time. Knowledge of this instrument proved to be useful in Mayo’s future practice.

Mayo worked at a numer of jobs in a number of places before settling in LeSeur, Minn., where his first children (including oldest son William James) were born.

In 1863, he opened a medical practice in Rochester, also spending time as a city mayor, alderman, and member of the school board.

The event where the Mayo Clinic story usually begins happened in 1883, when a tornado devastated Rochester. With the assistance of his sons, other doctors who came to help, and the local Sisters of Saint Francis of Rochester, Minnesota, he organized treatment of the injured. Mother Alfred Moes of the Sisters of St. Francis convinced him to help her establish a new hospital under her direction, forming St. Marys Hospital in 1889. At the time, only three people were on the surgical staff: William Worrall Mayo as chief, and his two sons as the medical practitioners (their father was 70 by this time). No other doctors accepted invitations to join at the time, perhaps because St. Marys was a Catholic Hospital. The alliance between the Episcopalian Mayos and the Roman Catholic Franciscan religious order caused some controversy at the time.

In 1892, William Worrall Mayo asked Dr. Augustus Stinchfield to join the Mayo practice, as a partner sharing in the profits. Once Stinchfield accepted the offer, W. W. Mayo promptly retired at age 73. As the practice grew, Drs. Christopher Graham, E. Starr Judd, Henry Stanley Plummer, Melvin Millet, and Donald Balfour were also invited to join the practice as partners. In 1919, the remaining partners of the private practice created the Mayo Properties Association and established the Mayo Clinc as a not-for-profit entity.

William James Mayo (June 29, 1861 – July 28, 1939) was a physician in the United States and one of the seven founders of the Mayo Clinic. He and his brother, Charles Horace Mayo, both joined their father’s private medical practice in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, after graduating from medical school at the Univ. of michigan in 1883. In 1919, this private medical practice became the not-for-profit Mayo Clinic.

Charles Horace Mayo (July 19, 1865 – May 26, 1939) was an American medical practitioner and was one of the founders of the Mayo Clinic along with his brother, William James Mayo, and others. He graduated from the medical school of Northwestern University (now called the Feinberg School of Medicine) in 1888 and joined his father, William Worrall Mayo, and older brother, William James Mayo, in their private medical practice in Rochester.

The Mayo Clinic came to be regarded as one of the foremost medical treatment and research institutions in the world. Within Mayo’s lifetime it registered one million patients. The idea of medical specialization was developed by this group of medical pioneers.

Charles F. Menninger (July 11, 1862 - Nov. 28, 1953), with his two sons, founded theMenninger Clinic in 1925 in Topeka, Kansas. This was one of the first places which sought to treat psychiatric maladies as illnesses which could be cured, rather than simply providing custodial care.

Menninger was born in Tell City, Indiana, and received his initial medical degree from Hahnemann (homeopathic) Medical School in Chicago. He later moved to Kansas, teaching at Kansas Medical College. He set up a general medical practice in Topeka, gradually becoming interested in psychiatry. He sought collaboration with local Topeka doctors, who tended to reject him due to his homeopathic background. As a consequence, he became enamored of collaborative group practice, such as he saw at the Mayo Clinic. This would later strongly influence his own clinic.

Karl Augustus Menninger (July 22, 1893 - July 18, 1990), born in Topeka, Kansas, was an American psychiatrist and a member of the famous Menninger family of psychiatrists who founded the Menninger Foundation and the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas.

Karl attended Washburn University, Indiana University, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Medical School in 1917. Beginning with an internship in Kansas City, he worked at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital and taught at Harvard Medical School. In 1919 Menninger returned to Topeka and together with his father, Charles Frederick Menninger, he founded the Menninger Clinic. After World War II, Karl Menninger was instrumental in founding the Winter Veterans Administration Hospital, in Topeka. It became the largest psychiatric training center in the world.

During his career, Menninger wrote a number of influential books. In his first book, The Human Mind, Menninger argued that psychiatry was a science and that the mentally ill were only slightly different than healthy individuals. In The Crime of Punishment, Menninger argued that crime was preventable through psychiatric treatment; punishment was a brutal and inefficient relic of the past. He advocated treating offenders like the mentally ill.

His subsequent books include The Vital Balance, Man Against Himself, Love Against Hate and Whatever Became of Sin?.

William Claire Menninger (Oct. 15, 1899 - Sept. 6, 1966) was a co-founder with his brother Karl and his father of The Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas.

William Claire Menninger was born in Topeka, Kansas. He graduated from Washburn University in 1919 and entered the Cornell University College of Medicine, graduating in 1924. After completing a two-year internship at Bellvue Hospital, he studied psychiatry at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. in 1927.

That same year, he returned to Topeka and joined his father and older brother, Karl, in their medical practice, which by that time had already begun to specialize in psychiatry. With his contributions, the Menninger Clinic evolved into the Menninger Sanitarium, and eventually into the Menninger Foundation, a non-profit organization which provided not only clinical services to in- and out-patients, but also engaged in research, education, and social outreach.

At the outset of World War II, he left the Menninger Foundation to become the Director of the Psychiatry Consultants Division in the office of the Surgeon General of the United States Army. He chaired the committee which produced document “Medical 203”, a major revision of existing US classifications of mental disorders. It was adopted by all the armed services and, following the war, had a substantial influence on the first mental disorders section of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases published in 1949 and, even more so, on the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published in 1952.

Readings:

Psalm 91:9-14
Sirach 38:1-8
Acts 5:12-16
Luke 8:40-56

Preface of the Epiphany

PRAYER (traditional language)

Divine Physician, your Name is blessed for the work and witness of the Mayos and the Menningers, and the revolutionary developments that they brought to the practice of medicine. As Jesus went about healing the sick as a sign of the reign of God come near, bless and guide all those inspired to the work of healing by thy Holy Spirit, that they may follow his example for the sake of thy kingdom and the health of thy people; through the same Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Divine Physician, we bless your Name for the work and witness of the Mayos and the Menningers, and the revolutionary developments that they brought to the practice of medicine. As Jesus went about healing the sick as a sign of the reign of God come near, bless and guide all those inspired to the work of healing by your Holy Spirit, that they may follow his example for the sake of your kingdom and the health of your people; through the same Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_W._Mayo

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

Servant of God Sylvester of Assisi
(d. 1240)

Sylvester was one of the first 12 followers of St. Francis of Assisi and was the first priest in the Franciscan Order. A descendant of a noble family, Sylvester once sold Francis stones which were to be used to rebuild a church. When, a short while later, he saw Francis and Bernard of Quintavalle distributing Bernard’s wealth to the poor, Sylvester complained that he had been poorly paid for the stones and asked for more money.

Though Francis obliged, the handful of money he gave Sylvester soon filled him with guilt. He sold all of his goods, began a life of penance and joined Francis and the others. Sylvester became a holy and prayerful man, and a favorite of Francis—a companion on his journeys, the one Francis went to for advice. It was Sylvester and Clare who answered Francis’ query with the response that he should serve God by going out to preach rather than by devoting himself to prayer.

Once in a city where civil war was raging, Sylvester was commanded by Francis to drive the devils out. At the city gate Sylvester cried out: “In the name of almighty God and by virtue of the command of his servant Francis, depart from here, all you evil spirits.” The devils departed and peace returned to the city.

Sylvester lived 14 more years after the death of Francis and is buried near him in the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.

ST. COLETTE
SATURDAY, MARCH 06, 2010

St. Colette was the founder of the Colettine Poor Clares (Clarisses)

Colette was born, January 13 1381, the daughter of a carpenter named DeBoilet at Corby Abbey in Picardy, France. Orphaned at seventeen, she distributed her inheritance to the poor.

She became a Franciscan tertiary, and lived at Corby as a solitary. She soon became well known for her holiness and spiritual wisdom, but left her cell in 1406 in response to a dream directing her to reform the Poor Clares. She received the Poor Clares habit from Peter de Luna, whom the French recognized as Pope under the name of Benedict XIII, with orders to reform the Order and appointing her Superior of all convents she reformed. Despite great opposition, she persisted in her efforts. She founded seventeen convents with the reformed rule and reformed several older convents. She was reknowned for her sanctity, ecstacies, and visions of the Passion, and prophesied her own death in her convent at Ghent, Belgium. A branch of the Poor Clares is still known as the Collettines.

Collete was canonized in 1807. Her feast day is March 6th.

BISHOP ATTERBURY

In Atterbury we find one of the numerous shipwrecks of history. Learned, able, eloquent, the Bishop of Rochester lost all through hasty, incorrect thinking, and an impetuous and arrogant temper. He had convinced himself that the exiled Stuart princes might be restored to the throne by the simple process of bringing up the next heir as a Protestant, failing to see that the contingency on which he rested was unattainable. One, after all, admires the courage which prompted the fiery prelate, at the death of Queen Anne, to offer to go out in his lawn sleeves and proclaim the son of James II, which would have been a directly treasonable act: we must also admit that, though he doubtless was guilty of treason in favour of the Stuarts, the bill by which he lost his position and was condemned to exile, proceeded on imperfect evidence, and was a dangerous kind of measure. To consider Atterbury as afterwards attached to the service of the so-called Pretender,—wasting bright faculties on the petty intrigues of a mock court, and gradually undergoing the stern correction of Fact and Truth for the illusory political visions to which he had sacrificed so much,—is a reflection not without its pathos, or its lesson. Atterbury ultimately felt the full weight of the desolation which he had brought upon himself. He died at Paris, on the 15th of February 1732.

A specimen of the dexterous wit of Atterbury in debate is related in connection with the history of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Bills, December 1718. On that occasion, Lord Coningsby rebuked the Bishop for having, the day before, assumed the character of a prophet. ‘In Scripture,’ said this simple peer, ‘I find a prophet very like him, namely Balaam, who, like the right reverend lord, drove so very furiously, that the ass he rode upon was constrained to open his mouth and reprove him.’

The luckless lord having sat down, the bishop rose with a demure and humble look, and having him, went on to say that ‘the application of Balaam to him, though severe, was certainly very happy, the terms prophet and priest being often promiscuously used. There wanted, however, the application of the ass: and it seemed as if his lordship, being the only person who had reproved him, must needs take that character upon himself.’ From that day, Lord Coningsby was commonly recognised by the appellation of ‘Atterbury’s Pad.’

MIDLENT, OR MOTHERING SUNDAY

In the year 1864 the 6th of March is the fourth Sunday in Lent, commonly called Midlent Sunday. Another popular name for the day is Mothering Sunday, from an ancient observance connected with it.

The harshness and general painfulness of life in old times must have been much relieved by certain simple and affectionate customs which modern people have learned to dispense with. Amongst these was a practice of going to see parents, and especially the female one, on the present, such as a cake or a trinket. A youth engaged in this amiable act of duty was said to go a-mothering, and thence the day itself came to be called Mothering Sunday. One can readily imagine how, after a stripling or maiden had gone to service, or launched in independent housekeeping, the old bonds of filial love would be brightened by this pleasant annual visit, signalised, as custom demanded it should be, by the excitement attending some novel and perhaps surprising gift. There was also a cheering and peculiar festivity appropriate to the day, the prominent dish being furmety—which we have to interpret as wheat grains boiled in sweet milk, sugared and spiced. In the northern parts of England, and in Scotland, there seems to have been a greater leaning to steeped pease fried in butter, with pepper and salt. Pancakes so composed passed by the name of carlings: and so conspicuous was this article, that from it Carling Sunday became a local name for the day.

‘Tid, Mid, and Misera,
Carling, Palm, Pase-egg day,’

remains in the north of England as an enumeration of the Sundays of Lent, the first three terms probably taken from words in obsolete services for the respective days, and the fourth being the name of Midlent Sunday from the cakes by which it was distinguished.

Herrick, in a canzonet addressed to Dianeme, says

I’ll to thee a simnel bring,
‘Gainst thou go a-mothering:
So that, when she blesses thee,
Half that blessing thou’lt give me.’

He here obviously alludes to the sweet cake which the young person brought to the female parent as a gift: but it would appear that the term ‘simnel’ was in reality applicable to cakes which were in use all through the time of Lent. We are favoured by an antiquarian friend with the following general account of Simnel Cakes.

It is an old custom in Shropshire and Herefordshire, and especially at Shrewsbury, to make during Lent and Easter, and also at Christmas, a sort of rich and expensive cakes, which are called Simnel Cakes. They are raised cakes, the crust of which is made of fine flour and water, with sufficient saffron to give it a deep yellow colour, and the interior is filled with the materials of a very rich plum-cake, with plenty of candied lemon peel, and other good things. They are made up very stiff; tied up in a cloth, and boiled for several hours, after which they are brushed over with egg, and then baked. When ready for sale the crust is as hard as if made of wood, a circumstance which has given rise to various stories of the manner in which they have at times been treated by persons to whom they were sent as presents, and who had never seen one before, one ordering his simnel to be boiled to soften it, and a lady taking hers for a footstool. They are made of different sizes, and, as may be supposed from the ingredients, are rather expensive, some large ones selling for as much as half-a-guinea, or even, we believe, a guinea, while smaller ones may be had for half-a-crown. Their form, which as well as the ornamentation is nearly uniform, will be best understood by the accompanying engraving, representing largo and small cakes as now on sale in Shrewsbury.

The usage of these cakes is evidently one of great antiquity. It appears from one of the epigrams of the poet Herrick, that at the beginning of the seventeenth century it was the custom at Gloucester for young people to carry simnels as presents to their mothers on Midlent Sunday (or Mothering Sunday).

It appears also from some other writers of this age, that these simnels, like the modern ones, were boiled as well as baked. The name is found in early English and also in very old French, and it appears in mediæval Latin under the form simanellus orsiminellus. It is considered to be derived from the Latin simile, fine flour, and is usually interpreted as meaning the finest quality of white bread made in the middle ages. It is evidently used, however, by the mediæval writers in the sense of a cake, which they called in Latin of that time artocopus, which is constantly explained by simnel in the Latin-English vocabularies. In three of these, printed in Mr. Wright’sVolume of Vocabularies, all belonging to the fifteenth century, we have ‘Hic artocopus, anglice symnelle,’ ‘Hic artocopus, a symnylle,’ and ‘artocopus, anglice a symnella;’ and in the latter place it is further explained by a contemporary pen-and-ink drawing in the margin, representing the simnel as seen from above and sideways, of which we give below a fac-simile.

It is quite evident that it is a rude representation of a cake exactly like those still made in Shropshire. The ornamental border, which is clearly identical with that of the modern cake, is, perhaps, what the authorities quoted by Ducange v. simila, mean when they spoke of the cake as being foliata. In the Dictionaries of John de Garlande, compiled at Paris in the thirteenth century, the word simineus or simnenels, is used as the equivalent to the Latin placentæ, which are described as cakes exposed in the windows of the hucksters to sell to the scholars of the University and others. We learn from Ducange that it was usual in early times to mark the simnels with a figure of Christ or of the Virgin Mary, which would seem to shew that they had a religious signification. We know that the Anglo-Saxon, and indeed the German race in general, were in the habit of eating consecrated cakes at their religious festivals. Our hot cross buns at Easter are only the cakes which the pagan Saxons ate in honour of their goddess Eastre, and from which the Christian clergy, who were unable to prevent people from eating, sought to expel the paganism by marking them with the cross.

It is curious that the use of these cakes should have been preserved so long in this locality, and still more curious are the tales which have arisen to explain the meaning of the name, which had been long forgotten. Some pretend that the father of Lambert Simnel, the well-known pretender in the reign of Henry VII, was a baker, and the first maker of simnels, and that in consequence of the celebrity he gained by the acts of his son, his cakes have retained his name. There is another story current in Shropshire, which is much more picturesque, and which we tell as nearly as possible in the words in which it was related to us. Long ago there lived an honest old couple, boasting the names of Simon and Nelly, but their surnames are not known. It was their custom at Easter to gather their children about them, and thus meet together once a year under the old homestead.

The fasting season of Lent was just ending, but they had still left some of the unleavened dough which had been from time to time converted into bread during the forty days. Nelly was a careful woman, and it grieved her to waste anything, so she suggested that they should use the remains of the Lenten dough for the basis of a cake to regale the assembled family. Simon readily agreed to the proposal, and further reminded his partner that there were still some remains of their Christmas plum pudding hoarded up in the cupboard, and that this might form the interior, and be an agreeable surprise to the young people when they had made their way through the less tasty crust. So far, all things went on harmoniously; but when the cake was made, a subject of violent discord arose, Sim insisting that it should be boiled, while Nell no less obstinately contended that it should be baked.

The dispute ran from words to blows, for Nell, not choosing to let her province in the household be thus interfered with, jumped up, and threw the stool she was sitting on at Sim, who on his part seized a besom, and applied it with right good will to the head and shoulders of his spouse. She now seized the broom, and the battle became so warm, that it might have had a very serious result, had not Nell proposed as a compromise that the cake should be boiled first, and afterwards baked. This Sim acceded to, for he had no wish for further acquaintance with the heavy end of the broom. Accordingly, the big pot was set on the fire, and the stool broken up and thrown on to boil it, whilst the besom and broom furnished fuel for the oven. Some eggs, which had been broken in the scuffle, were used to coat the outside of the pudding when boiled, which gave it the shining gloss it possesses as a cake. This new and remarkable production in the art of confectionery became known by the name of the cake of Simon and Nelly, but soon only the first half of each name was alone pre-served and joined together, and it has ever since been known as the cake of Sim-Nel, or Simnel!

CANTERBURY PILGRIM-SIGNS

The Thames, like the Tiber, has been the conservator of many minor objects of antiquity, very useful in aiding us to obtain a more correct knowledge of the habits and manners of those who in former times dwelt upon its banks. Whenever digging or dredging disturbs the bed of the river, some antique is sure to be exhumed. The largest amount of discovery took place when old London-bridge was removed, but other causes have led to the finding of much that is curious. Among these varied objects not the least interesting are a variety of small figures cast in lead, which. prove to be the ‘signs’ worn by the pilgrims returned from visiting the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury, and who wore them in their hats, or as brooches upon some portion of their dress, in token of their successful journey.

The custom of wearing these brooches is noted by Giraldus Cambrensis as early as the twelfth century. That ecclesiastic returned from a continental journey by way of Canterbury, and stayed some days to visit Becket’s shrine; on his arrival in London he had an interview with the Bishop of Winchester, and he tells us that the Bishop, seeing him and his companions with signs of St. Thomas hanging about their necks, remarked that he perceived they had just come from Canterbury. Erasmus, in his colloquy on pilgrimages, notes that pilgrims are ‘covered on every side with images of tin and lead.’ The cruel and superstitions Louis XI. of France, customarily wore such signs stuck around his hat. The anonymous author of the Supplement to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, described that famed party of pilgrims upon their arrival at the archiepiscopal city, and says:

Then, as manner and custom is, signs there they bought,
For men or contre’ should know whom they had sought.
Each man set his silver in such thing as he liked,
And in the meanwhile, the matter had y-piked
His bosom full of Canterbery brooches.’

The rest of the party, we are afterwards told, ‘Set their signs upon their heads, and some upon their cap.’

They were a considerable source of revenue to the clergy who officiated at celebrated shrines, and have been found abroad in great numbers, bearing the figures of saints to whom it was customary to do honour by pilgrimages in the middle ages. The shells worn by the older pilgrims to Compostella, may have originated the practice; which still survives in Catholic countries, under the form of the medalets, sold on saints’ days, which have touched sacred relics, or been consecrated by ecclesiastics.

The first specimen of these Canterbury brooches we engrave, and which appears to be a work of the fourteenth century, has a full length of St. Thomas in pontificals in the act of giving the pastoral benediction. The pin which was used to attach it to the person, will be perceived behind the figure; it seems best fitted to be secured to, and stand upright upon, the hat or cap of the pilgrim.

Our second specimen takes the ordinary form of a brooch, and has in the centre the head only of Becket; upon the rim are inscribed the words Caput Thome. The skull of the saint was made a separate exhibition in the reign of Edward III, and so continued until the days of Henry VIII. The monks of Canterbury thus made the most of their saint, by exhibiting his shrine at one part of the cathedral, his skull at another, and the point of the sword of Richard Brito, which fractured it, in a third place. The wealth of the church naturally became great, and no richer prize fell into the rapacious hands of the Royal suppressor of monasteries than Canterbury.

These signs were worn, not only as indications of pilgrimage performed, but as charms or protections against accidents in the journey; and it would appear that the horses of the pilgrims were supplied with small bells inscribed with the words Campana Thorne, and of which also we give a specimen. All these curious little articles have been found at various times in the Thames, and are valuable illustrative records, not only of the most popular of the English pilgrimages, bat of the immortal poem of Geoffrey Chaucer, who has done so much toward giving it an undying celebrity.

National Frozen Food Day

When : Always March 6th

National Frozen Food Day celebrates all those yummy foods and snacks in your freezer. Sure, the invention of the freezer made this day possible. But, the methods and techniques of preparing and freezing foods is what makes frozen foods taste great, look great and store in a frozen state until you need them.

Imagine how your busy life would be if you didn’t have a frozen dinner to pop into the microwave in between a late day at work and your evening event. You’d have to stop and make a dinner from scratch!

Thanks to the frozen food industry, you can (and should ) celebrate Frozen Food Day in true frozen food manner:

Start your day with by popping a frozen breakfast into the microwave.
For lunch, select among a wide array of frozen lunch treats.
Take a trip to the grocery store to buy some frozen food, any will do.
Dinner: If you are in a hurry, you’re in luck. The selection of dinner entrees is seemingly endless.
Snack time is the perfect time for ……ice cream!
Did you know? Frozen foods first hit store shelves in 1930 in Springfield, Ma. Who developed the process? …… Clarence Birdseye.

Origin of “National Frozen Food Day”:

Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 193, designated March 6, 1984, as “Frozen Food Day” and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation upon this occasion.

In Proclamation #5157, President Ronald Reagan said: “Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim March 6, 1984, as Frozen Food Day, and I call upon the American people to observe such day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.” And, so this became a true National day of recognition and celebration.

0254 St Lucius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1179 3rd Lateran Council (11th ecumenical council) opens in Rome under Alexander III. It was attended by 300 bishops who enacted measures against the Waldenses and Albigensians. Lateran III also mandated that popes were to be elected by two-thirds vote from the assembled cardinals.
1555 French-born Swiss reformer John Calvin wrote in a letter to Philip Melanchthon: ‘It behooves us to accomplish what God requires of us, even when we are in the greatest despair respecting the results.’
1616 Copernicus’ “de Revolutionibus” placed on Catholic Forbidden index
1623 1st American temperance law enacted, Virginia
1743 1st US religious journal, The Christian History, published, Boston
1850 Birth of Daniel B. Towner, American music evangelist. An associate of D.L. Moody, Towner composed over 2,000 hymn tunes, including AT CALVARY (“Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride”), MOODY (“Marvelous Grace of our Loving Lord”) and TRUST AND OBEY (“When We Walk With the Lord”).
1897 American Negro Academy forms
1951 The religious program “Circuit Rider” debuted over ABC television. The broadcast featured music selections and biographies of evangelists, and was produced by Franklin W. Dyson.

March 5

On this day in 1518, Desiderius Erasmus sent a copy of Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses to Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England during Henry VIII’s schism with Rome.

On This Day

Ciarán of Saigir, patron of the Diocese of Ossory (Irish calendar)
Olivia,
Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea

In History

1970  Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations

March 5

Adrian and Eubulus (of Palestine), martyrs [BLS]
Drausius, bishop (of Soissons), confessor [GTZ: Soissons]
Phocas, martyr [HCC]
Kieran [BLS: Ireland]
Keranus, bishop, confessor [GTZ: Exeter; Hereford (as Piran)]
Roger [BLS]
Saturninus [PCP (Paris)]
Timothy, apostle, martyr (Advent) [GTZ: Minden]
Victor, martyr [WTS (Bruges)]

St. John Joseph of the Cross
(1654-1734)

Self-denial is never an end in itself but is only a help toward greater charity—as the life of Saint John Joseph shows.

John Joseph was very ascetic even as a young man. At 16 he joined the Franciscans in Naples; he was the first Italian to follow the reform movement of Saint Peter Alcantara. John’s reputation for holiness prompted his superiors to put him in charge of establishing a new friary even before he was ordained.

Obedience moved John to accept appointments as novice master, guardian and, finally, provincial. His years of mortification enabled him to offer these services to the friars with great charity. As guardian he was not above working in the kitchen or carrying the wood and water needed by the friars.

When his term as provincial expired, John Joseph dedicated himself to hearing confessions and practicing mortification, two concerns contrary to the spirit of the dawning Age of Enlightenment. John Joseph was canonized in 1839.

ST. JOHN JOSEPH OF THE CROSS
FRIDAY, MARCH 05, 2010

Self-denial is never an end in itself but is only a help toward greater charity—as the life of Saint John Joseph shows.

John Joseph was very ascetic even as a young man. He devoted himself even at his youngest years to a life of poverty and fasting. At 16 he joined the Franciscans in Naples; he was the first Italian to follow the reform movement of Saint Peter Alcantara. John’s reputation for holiness prompted his superiors to put him in charge of establishing a new friary even before he was ordained.

Obedience moved John to accept appointments as novice master, guardian and, finally, provincial. His years of mortification enabled him to offer these services to the friars with great charity. As guardian, he saw himslef with no higher priveledge and insisted on working in the kitchen or carrying the wood and water needed by the friars.

When his term as provincial expired, John Joseph dedicated himself to hearing confessions and practicing mortification, two concerns contrary to the spirit of the dawning Age of Enlightenment. John Joseph was canonized in 1839 and he is the patron saint of Ischilia, Italy, the place where he was born.

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/mar_05_-_st._mark_of_athens#6885

Arrival of First Missionaries French Polynesia

Employee Appreciation Day

When : First Friday in March

If the boss can get a Bosses Day, then it’s only fair and appropriate that you, the employee, gets a day in your honor. Employee Appreciation Day honors employees everywhere.

Celebrations today should be created and executed by your company. Recognitions vary widely, and may include a lunch, snack, cakes, or other munchies, and small recognition gifts. Don’t expect a day off. Chances are, it just won’t happen.

As we researched this day, we wondered if it was a coincidence that Employee’s Day and Bosses Day are six months apart…..hmmmmmm.

Origin of “Employee Appreciation Day”:

According to David Nuualiitia “Employee Appreciation Day first arrived on calendars in 1995. One of Recognition Professionals International’s founding Board members, Bob Nelson, together with his publishing company, Workman Publishing, created Employee Appreciation Day as a way of focusing the attention of all employers, in all industries on employee recognition.”

There are a lot of local and company specific celebrations for Employee Day and week. They are spread across the year.

National Salesperson Day

When : First Friday of March

National Salesperson Day is established to recognize the value of the truely professional salesperson. This day also recognizes the hard work performed by professional sales people.

Who is a salesperson? This is a huge part of the workforce. Some examples include:

Register clerks at the grocery store
Clerks at your convenience store
Door to door sales people
Car salesman
Life Insurance agents
Mortgage brokers and loan officers
Travelling salesman
Manufacturer’s reps
The list goes on and on
Celebrate today by offering thanks and appreciation to any sales people you come in contact with today.

Origin of “National Salesperson Day”:

National Salesperson’s Day was founded by Maura Schreier-Fleming, President of Best@Selling, in March 2000. She is an author, consultant, and speaker for….you guessed it, salesperson training.

1540 Protestant count Philip of Hessen marries 2nd wife
1611 George Abbot appointed archbishop of Canterbury
1699 Jews are expelled from Lubeck Germany
1738 Moravian missionary Peter Bohler, 26, advised future English founder of Methodism John Wesley, 34: ‘Preach faith until you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.’
1791 1st Jewish member of US Congress, Israel Jacobs (Pennsylvania), takes office
1798 Catholic women force to do penance for kindling sabbath fire for Jews
1804 The British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) was founded at a large interdenominational meeting in London. Its purpose was “to promote the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, without note or comment, both at home and in foreign lands.”
1850 Future statesman James A. Garfield, at age 18, was “buried with Christ in baptism.” Thirty_one years, to the day! after his conversion, Garfield took the oath of office as 20th President of the United States.
1853 Pope Pius IX recovers Catholic hierarchy in Netherlands
1934 Easter Cross on Mount Davidson (San Francisco) dedicated
1942 Birth of Gloria Gaither, wife of songwriter Bill Gaither, and female vocalist in the Bill Gaither Trio. Gloria is also co-author of the contemporary Christian songs, “Because He Lives,” “Something Beautiful” and “The King is Coming.”
1966 London’s “Evening Standard” newspaper published an interview with Beatle John Lennon in which he remarked: ‘Christianity will… vanish and shrink… We’re more popular than Jesus Christ right now.’ The quote touched off a storm of international protest, resulting in burnings and boycotts of the Beatles’ records.
1968 Martin Luther King Jr announces plans for Poor People’s Campaign

March 4

On this day in 1827, Abdul Masih (servant of Christ) died. Abdul Masih adopted this name after his conversion by Anglican missionary Henry Martyn.

Feast Day:

St. Lucius, pope and martyr, 253.
St. Adrian, bishop of St. Andrew’s, martyr in Scotland, 874.
St. Casimir, Prince of Poland, 1482.

On This Day

Adrian of Nicomedia,
Basinus,
Benedictine bishop of Trier (705)
Blessed Humbert III of Savoy (Roman Catholic Church)
Casimir,
Peter of Pappacarbone

In History

1215  King John makes oath to Pope as crusader to gain the support of Innocent III

March 4

Adrian, bishop (of St. Andrews), martyr [BLS; GTZ: northern Germany]
Basinus, bishop (of Trier) [GTZ: Trier]
Casimir, prince (of Poland) [common]
David, confessor [HCC]
Focus, bishop, martyr [WTS (Bruges)]
Lucius, pope, martyr [BLS; GTZ: Sleswig, Scandinavia]
Nicholas Horner, martyr [BLS]
Nine Hundred Martyrs [GTZ: Brixen]
Wenceslas, king, martyr (Translation) [GTZ: Prague]

PAUL CUFFEE
WITNESS TO THE FAITH AMONG THE SHINNECOCK, 1812

A little west of the junction of the old road to Riverhead is a small tract of land owned by the Shinnecock tribe of Indians, although how it came into their possession is unknown. Upon this tract is a plain marble tombstone, surrounded by a neat fence. This marks the last resting place of Rev. Paul Cuffee. The tombstone tells its own story: “Erected by the New York Missionary Society, in memory of the Rev. Paul Cuffee, an Indian of the Shinnecock tribe, who was employed by the Society for the last thriteeen years of his life, on the Eastern part of Long Island, where he labored the fidelity and success. Humble, pious and indefatigable in testifying the gospel of the grace of God, he finished his course with joy on the 7th of March, 1812, aged 55 years and 3 days”… . The journeyings of Paul Cuffee extended from Poosepatuck to Montauk, and were made on foot.

— from A History of Long Island, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. 2, by William S Pelletreau (1905).

Note that this Paul Cuffee shold not be confused with a far better known, contemporaneous Paul Cuffee, who lived in the same general area (Westport, Mass.). This Paul Cuffee was a devout Quaker of mixed Indian / Black ancestry who worked to repatriate African-Americans to Sierra Leone.

Readings:

Psalm 100
Isaiah 55:1-5
Colossians 3:12-17
John 16:16-24

Preface of Apostles

PRAYER (traditional language)

Almighty God, who didst empower Paul Cuffee to be a powerful evangelist and preacher and so to win many souls for Christ among the Native Americans of Long Island: Help us to proclaim thy Word with power, in the Name of the same Jesus Christ; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Almighty God, you empowered Paul Cuffee to be a powerful evangelist and preacher and so to win many souls for Christ among the Native Americans of Long Island: Help us to proclaim your Word with power, in the Name of the same Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Casimir
(1458-1483)

Casimir, born of kings and in line (third among 13 children) to be a king himself, was filled with exceptional values and learning by a great teacher, John Dlugosz. Even his critics could not say that his conscientious objection indicated softness. Even as a teenager, Casimir lived a highly disciplined, even severe life, sleeping on the ground, spending a great part of the night in prayer and dedicating himself to lifelong celibacy.

When nobles in Hungary became dissatisfied with their king, they prevailed upon Casimir’s father, the king of Poland, to send his son to take over the country. Casimir obeyed his father, as many young men over the centuries have obeyed their government. The army he was supposed to lead was clearly outnumbered by the “enemy”; some of his troops were deserting because they were not paid. At the advice of his officers, Casimir decided to return home. His father was irked at the failure of his plans, and confined his 15-year-old son for three months. The lad made up his mind never again to become involved in the wars of his day, and no amount of persuasion could change his mind. He returned to prayer and study, maintaining his decision to remain celibate even under pressure to marry the emperor’s daughter. He reigned briefly as king of Poland during his father’s absence. He died of lung trouble at 23 while visiting Lithuania, of which he was also Grand Duke. He was buried in Vilnius, Lithuania.

ST. CASIMIR OF POLAND
THURSDAY, MARCH 04, 2010

Casimir grew up in a world where his life was not his own. As a prince of Poland, the second son of King Casimir IV and Elizabeth of Austria, his life was scheduled to cement his father’s authority and increase Poland’s power.

Casimir realized from an early age that his life belonged to someone else, but to a much higher King than his father. Despite pressure, humiliation, and rejection, he stood by that loyalty through his whole life.

Born the third of thirteen children in 1461, Casimir was committed to God from childhood. Some of that commitment was the result of a tutor, John Dlugosz, whose holiness encouraged Casimir on his own journey.

It may be hard for us to imagine royal luxury as a pressure. But for Casimir, the riches around him were temptations to forget his true loyalties. Rebelling against the rich, fashionable clothes he was expected to enjoy, he wore the plainest of clothes.

Rejecting even ordinary comforts, he slept little, spending his nights in prayer. And when he did sleep, he lay on the floor not on a royal bed. Even though he was a prince, many of those around him must have laughed and joked at his choices. Yet, in the face of any pressure, Casimir was always friendly and calm.

Though his father must have wondered about him, he must have seen and admired Casimir’s strength. He showed that he misunderstood this strength when he sent Casimir as head of an army to take over the throne of Hungary at the request of some nobles there. Casimir felt the whole expedition was wrong but was convinced to go out of obedience to his father. He could not help but feel at every step that it was disobedient to his other Father. So when soldiers started deserting, he was only too glad to listen to the advice of his officers and turn back home. His feelings were confirmed when he discovered that Pope Sixtus IV had opposed the move.

His father, however, was furious at being deterred from his plans and banished Casimir to a castle in Dobzki, hoping that imprisonment would change Casimir’s mind. Casimir’s commitment to what he believed was right only grew stronger in his exile and he refused to cooperate with his father’s plans any more despite the pressure to give in. He even rejected a marriage alliance his father tried to form. He participated in his true King’s plans wholeheartedly by praying, studying, and helping the poor.

He died at the age of 23 in 1484 from lung disease. He was buried with his favorite song, a Latin hymn to Mary called “Omni die dic Mariae” which we know as “Daily, Daily Sing to Mary.” Because of his love for the song, it is known as the Hymn of St. Casimir though he didn’t write it.

Casimir is patron saint of Poland and Lithuania.

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/mar_04_-_st._gerasimus_of_the_jordan#6881

SALADIN

The famous sultan of Egypt and Syria, who overthrew the short-lived Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, and successfully bore the brunt of the third crusade, was very much a soldier of fortune after the type of the modern Mehemet Ali. It was in the course of a career of connest, beginning with Egypt and going on to Syria, that he fought Guy de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, at Tiberias, in 1187, and obtained possession of that city. Then did Philip Augustus of France and Richard I of England deem themselves called upon by Christian duty to fly to the rescue of the holy sepulchre. The energies of this third crusade were concentrated on a two years’ siege of Acre, which they took, not-withstanding the efforts of Saladin for its rescue; but they vainly endeavoured to force a way to Jerusalem, and were finally obliged to rest satisfied with leaving the Christians in possession of a strip of the coast between Tyre and Jaffa.

In this contest between Europeans and Asiatics, there was a wonderful display of valour on both sides; but the struggle is mainly interesting to us through the magnanimity of Saladin. The lion-hearted King of England, being one day on the point of being taken prisoner, was saved from that fate by the generosity of a Norman gentleman, Guillaume de Preau, who called out, ‘I am the king,’ in a voice expressive of a wish to secure good treatment. Guillaume was instantly surrounded and taken, and he was quickly brought before Saladin, who at once knew that he was not Richard. On the stratagem being explained, the Sultan could only praise him for the self-devotion he had displayed.

On entering Jerusalem, after a successful battle, the people surrounded him, clamouring for their fathers, brothers, and sons whom he had taken prisoners. He could not resist this sad spectacle, but at once ordered the prisoners to be released.

Having established good laws in his territories, he was determined that they should be executed without respect of persons. His own nephew being cited in judgment, he compelled him to appear. Nay, a merchant venturing to accuse Saladin himself of some wrong, and the cadi having come to the sultan to ask what should be done, ‘That which is just,’ answered he. He went to the court, pleaded his own cause, and so far from punishing the plaintiff, thanked and rewarded him for shewing so much confidence in his integrity.

Though Saladin was a usurper, with the stain of ingratitude to his early masters, there must have been splendid qualities in a man who, born a Khoord in a moderate rank of life, raised himself to be the ruler of Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia, and the finest tracts of Asia Minor, all in the course of a life of fifty-seven years.

0468 St Simplicius elected to succeed Catholic Pope Hilarius
0561 Pelagius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1431 Bishop Gabriele Condulmer elected as Pope Eugene IV
1547 The Seventh Session of the Council of Trent declared: ‘If anyone says that one baptized cannot, even if he wishes, lose grace, however much he may sin, unless he is unwilling to believe, let him be anathema.’
1744 Colonial missionary to the American Indians, David Brainerd wrote in his journal: ‘In the morning, spent an hour in prayer. Prayer was so sweet an exercise to me that I knew not how to cease, lest I lose the spirit of prayer.’
1794 Richard Allen founded AME Church
1801 1st US Jewish Governor, David Emanuel, takes office in Georgia
1820 Missouri Compromise passes, allowing slavery in Missouri
1879 1st female lawyer heard by Supreme Court (Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood)
1885 Congress passes Indian Appropriations Act (Indians wards of federal government)
1887 American Protective Association forms (anti-Catholic) in Clinton IA
1931 American linguistic pioneer Frank Laubach wrote in a letter: ‘If we only let God have his full chance he will break our hearts with the glory of his revelation. That is the privilege which the preacher can have. It is his business to look into the very face of God until he aches with bliss.’
1950 Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote in “Sign of Jonas”: ‘The Christian life…is a continual discovery of Christ in new and unexpected places. And these discoveries are sometimes most profitable when you find him in something you had tended to overlook or even despise.’
1959 By a vote taken in both bodies, the Unitarian Church and the Universalist Church, along with their fellowships __ the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged into a single denomination.

March 3

On this day in 1883, Leighton George Hayne, hymnist, died.

Feast Day:

St. Marinas and Asterius, martyrs in Palestine, about 272.
Saints Emeterius and Chelidonius, martyrs in Spain.
St. Winwaloc, abbot in Armorica, about 529.
St. Lamalisse, of Scotland, 7th century.
St. Cunegundes, empress, 1040.

On This Day

Cunigunde of Luxembourg

In History

1912 - Suffragists, walking single file in Knightsbridge, smash windows to protest government inaction

March 3

Aelred, abbot [BLS]
Callistus, pope, martyr [GTZ: Switzerland]
Camilla, virgin [GTZ: Auxerre]
Cunigundis, empress [common]
Emeterius and Chelidonius, martyrs [BLS]
Eusebius, martyr [WTS (Bruges)]
Guingualeus, abbot [GTZ: Brittany]
John, bishop (of Holar), confessor (Translation) [GTZ: Norway]
Lamalisse [BLS: Scotland]
Marinus and Asterius, martyrs [BLS; PCP (Paris), without Asterius]
Winwaloe, monk [BLS]

JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY
RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH (3 MAR 1791)

(Charles Wesley died 29 March 1788. John Wesley died 2 March 1791. Because Chad is remembered on 2 March, the Wesleys are remembered on 3 March.)

The Wesley brothers, John born in 1703 and Charles in 1707, were leaders of the evangelical revival in the Church of England in the eighteenth century. They both attended Oxford University, and there they gathered a few friends with whom they undertook a strict adherence to the worship and discipline of the Book of Common Prayer, from which strict observance they received the nickname, “Methodists.” Having been ordained, they went to the American colony of Georgia in 1735, John as a missionary and Charles as secretary to Governor Oglethorpe. They found the experience disheartening, and returned home in a few years. There, three days apart, they underwent a conversion experience. John, present with a group of Moravians who were reading Martin Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, received a strong emotional awareness of the love of Christ displayed in freely forgiving his sins and granting him eternal life.

Following this experience, John and Charles, with others, set about to stir up in others a like awareness of and response to the saving love of God. Of the two, John was the more powerful preacher, and averaged 8000 miles of travel a year, mostly on horseback. At the time of his death he was probably the best known and best loved man in England.

(Albert C. Outler, John Wesley’s Sermons: An Introduction, p 79f)

Wesley’s biblical world was, however, no enclave. Sola Scriptura was never a displacement of, or substitute for, classical learning: and this was natural enough in view of the fact that he had mastered the baseline curriculum of his Oxford education and had come to cherish the classical tradition as the font of Western civilization. In the sermons (and elsewhere, too) Wesley’s favourite classical source was Horace; there are twenty-seven quotations from him in the sermons alone, some repeated in different contexts. One senses that he read Virgil with more personal pleasure, but he quotes from him only twenty-one times. Ovid follows with ten, Circero with nine, Juvenal with seven. Thirteen others are quoted at least once: Aristophanes, Hadrian, Homer, Lucan, Lucretius, Persius, Pindar, Sophocles, Suetonius, Symmachus, Terence, Velleius Paterculus.

This display was more than mere ornamentation; (My comment: this would have violated Wesley’s doctrine of ‘plain preaching’.) within these borrowings we find the germs of some of Wesley’s most distinctive general ideas (e.g. his participation theme, his mind-body dualism, and his ideas about psycho-physical parallelism). These are major sources for his ideas about human nature, human volition, and the human passions. Out of this heritage had come his predilection for form over raw feelings, his concept of conscience as a universal moral sense. Plato had bolstered his convictions about the ontological primacy of good over evil. The whole of the Greco-Roman tradition had stressed coherence as a criterion of rationality. Besides, these ancient authors were shrewd critics of human folly; thus Wesley found in them discerning witnesses to the flaws in contemporary proposals about ‘natural’ theology and ethics. It was in this sense that his long dialogue with the ancients was a genuine preparatio evangelica; one might even suppose that he might still commend it as such.

But, although Wesley found it natural to approach the Gospel with habits of thought formed by a classical education, he was quick to recognize the value of other approaches. The early Methodist meetings were often led by lay preachers with very limited education. On one occasion, such a preacher took as his text Luke 19:21, “Lord, I feared thee, because thou art an austere man.” Not knowing the word “austere,” he thought that the text spoke of “an oyster man.” He spoke about the work of those who retrieve oysters from the sea-bed. The diver plunges down from the surface, cut off from his natural environment, into bone-chilling water. He gropes in the dark, cutting his hands on the sharp edges of the shells. Now he has the oyster, and kicks back up to the surface, up to the warmth and light and air, clutching in his torn and bleeding hands the object of his search. So Christ descended from the glory of heaven into the squalor of earth, into sinful human society, in order to retrieve humans and bring them back up with Him to the glory of heaven, His torn and bleeding hands a sign of the value He has placed on the object of His quest. Twelve men were converted that evening. Afterwards, someone complained to Wesley about the inappropriateness of allowing preachers who were too ignorant to know the meaning of the texts they were preaching on. Wesley, simply said, “Never mind, the Lord got a dozen oysters tonight.” Charles was the better hymn-writer of the two. He wrote over 6000 hymns, including about 600 for the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Some of the better known are the following:

A charge to keep I have
And can it be that I should gain
Author of life divine
Christ the Lord is risen today
Christ, whose glory fills the skies
Come, Holy Ghost, our hearts inspire
Come, O Thou Traveller unknown
Come, thou long expected Jesus
Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild
Hail the day that sees Him rise
Hark, the herald angels sing,
Jesus, Lover of my soul
Let saints on earth in concert sing
Lo, He comes with clouds descending
Love Divine, all loves excelling
O Jesus, full of pardoning grace
O Love Divine, how sweet Thou art!
O Thou who camest from above.
Oh for a heart to praise my God
Oh for a thousand tongues to sing
Our Lord is risen from the dead
Rejoice! the Lord is King
Soldiers of Christ, arise!
Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim

Here are two of his hymns printed out at length:

Oh for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer’s praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread through all the earth abroad
the honors of thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
that bids our sorrows cease;
‘tis music in the sinner’s ears,
‘tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
he sets the prisoner free;
his blood can make the foulest clean;
his blood availed for me.

He speaks, and listening to his voice,
new life the dead receive;
the mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
the humble poor believe.

In Christ, your head, you then shall know,
shall feel your sins forgiven,
anticipate your heaven below,
and own that love in heaven.

[Note that in the second line of this next hymn, the word “interest” is used in the older sense of “benefit” or “advantage.” (Thus, in some contest, anuninterested person is one who is bored by the proceedings, but a disinterested person is one who has nothing to gain or lose personally by the outcome. We want a referee or judge to be disinterested, but not to be uninterested. The word “interested” is ambiguous, being the opposite of both.) Instead of “an interest in” in the second line, an editor seeking to modernize the language of this hymn might write “my healing from” or “redemption from” or “salvation from” or “a cleansing from” or the like.]

And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
for me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

‘Tis mystery all! Th’ Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the first-born seraph tries
to sound the depths of love divine.
‘Tis mercy all! let earth adore,
let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above,—
so free, so infinite His grace—
emptied Himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race:
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free;
for, O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
and claim the crown, thorugh Christ my own.

It was the intention of the Wesleys and their colleagues that their “Methodist Societies” should be a group within the existing structure of the Anglican Church, but after their deaths the Societies in America, and to a lesser extent in England, developed a separate status.

by James Kiefer

More information, and many links concerning the Wesleys may be found on the United Methodist Church website.

Readings:

Psalm 103:1-4,13-18
Isaiah 49:5-6
Romans 12:11-17
Luke 9:2-6

Preface of Pentecost

PRAYER (traditional language):

Lord God, who didst inspire thy servants John and Charles Wesley with burning zeal for the sanctification of souls, and didst endow them with eloquence in speech and song: Kindle in thy Church, we beseech thee, such fervor, that those whose faith has cooled may be warmed, and those who have not known thy Christ may turn to him and be saved; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language):

Lord God, who inspired your servants John and Charles Wesley with burning zeal for the sanctification of souls, and endowed them with eloquence in speech and song: Kindle in your Church, we entreat you, such fervor, that those whose faith has cooled may be warmed, and those who have not known Christ may turn to him and be saved; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

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

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

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/mar_03_-_holy_martyrs_eutropius_cleonicus_and_basiliscus#6880

ST. KATHARINE DREXEL
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 03, 2010

St. Katherine Drexel was the daughter of a Catholic, wealthy Philadelphian family and born in the year 1858. Benefiting from the wealth of her family, she received an excellent education and was widely traveled. Her education also included instruction in charity and prayer. Her mother opened up the family house three times a week to feed and care for the poor and her father had a deep personal prayer life. Katherine’s early life was not all easy for her, while she was still young, she nursed her dying stepmother and realized the transitory nature the wealth of the earth. After the death of her stepmother, Katherine’s life began to turn from social circles to spiritual circles.

While traveling in Europe, Katherine met Pope Leo XIII and while in audience with him asked if he would send more missionaries to Wyoming. The pope responded by asking her to look at the missionary life. After much discernment, Katherine followed the advice of the pope. She traveled to the Dakotas, began giving aid to the American Indian missions, and set out to give up her life and wealth to American Indians and African-Americans. After her decision, newspapers reported that she gave more than seven million dollars to charities.

After three-and-a-half years of training, she and some followers opened a boarding school in Santa Fe. This began the growth of the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and the foundation of many new schools and other institutions. One of the most renowned establishments that Sister Katherine began was St. Francis Xavier University in New Orleans.

At the age of 77, Katherine suffered a heart attack and was forced to step back from her active duties. She devoted the rest of her life to prayer and spiritual writing. St. Katherine died at the age of 96 in 1955 and was beatified in 1988 by Pope John Paul II. St. Katharine Drexel was canonized on October 12.

St. Katharine Drexel
(1858-1955)

If your father is an international banker and you ride in a private railroad car, you are not likely to be drawn into a life of voluntary poverty. But if your mother opens your home to the poor three days each week and your father spends half an hour each evening in prayer, it is not impossible that you will devote your life to the poor and give away millions of dollars. Katharine Drexel did that.

She was born in Philadelphia in 1858. She had an excellent education and traveled widely. As a rich girl, she had a grand debut into society. But when she nursed her stepmother through a three-year terminal illness, she saw that all the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain or death, and her life took a profound turn.

She had always been interested in the plight of the Indians, having been appalled by reading Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor. While on a European tour, she met Pope Leo XIII and asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming for her friend Bishop James O’Connor. The pope replied, “Why don’t you become a missionary?” His answer shocked her into considering new possibilities.

Back home, she visited the Dakotas, met the Sioux leader Red Cloud and began her systematic aid to Indian missions.

She could easily have married. But after much discussion with Bishop O’Connor, she wrote in 1889, “The feast of St. Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored.” Newspaper headlines screamed “Gives Up Seven Million!”

After three and a half years of training, she and her first band of nuns (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored) opened a boarding school in Santa Fe. A string of foundations followed. By 1942 she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states, plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools. Segregationists harassed her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania. In all, she established 50 missions for Indians in 16 states.

Two saints met when she was advised by Mother Cabrini about the “politics” of getting her Order’s Rule approved in Rome. Her crowning achievement was the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic university in the United States for blacks.

At 77, she suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Apparently her life was over. But now came almost 20 years of quiet, intense prayer from a small room overlooking the sanctuary. Small notebooks and slips of paper record her various prayers, ceaseless aspirations and meditation. She died at 96 and was canonized in 2000

National Anthem Day

When : Always March 3rd

The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States of America. It was written by Francis Scott Key. National Anthem Day celebrates this song, and the rich history behind its creation. The song officially became our national anthem on March 3, 1931.

Celebrate today by proudly flying the flag. Also listen to and sing the Star-Spangled Banner.

A rich history……….

Many people think the Star Spangled Banner was written during the Revolutionary War. It was actually written during the war of 1812 (1812-1814).

In August 1814, the British army detained Dr. William Beanes as a prisoner of war. He was a friend of Francis Scott Key. On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key and a U.S. negotiator boarded a British vessel where Beanes was being held. He negotiated his friends’ release. But then, Francis Scott Key was detained that day along with the negotiator. They were held until after the attack on Fort McHenry, which guarded the harbor and city of Baltimore.

He watched the bombardment of the fort from the ship. The next morning, he was ecstatic to see that the American flag was still flying over Fort McHenry. This historic event inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner” the following day (September 14, 1814).

Correcting the confusion………

A few people incorrectly assumed that National Anthem Day is September 14, the day the song was written. This is incorrect. National Anthem Day is every March 3rd, in celebration of the day that congress made the Star-Spangled Banner our national anthem.

1458 Hussite George van Podiebrad chosen king of Bohemia
1817 1st Evangelical church building dedicated, New Berlin PA
1930 American missionary Gustav Schmidt, 39, opened the Danzig Instytut Biblijny in the Free City of Danzig (Gdansk), Poland. It was the first Pentecostal Bible institute established in Eastern Europe.
1934 Birthday of Dottie Rambo, contemporary gospel singer and songwriter. She has authored such country gospel favorites as “In the Valley He Restoreth My Soul,” “Build My Mansion Next Door to Jesus” and “I Just Came to Talk With You, Lord.”
1939 Eugenio Pacelli chosen as Pope Pius XII
1948 U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: ‘O God, forgive the poverty and the pettiness of our prayers. Listen not to our words but to the yearnings of our hearts. Hear beneath our petitions the crying of our need.’
1959 American Presbyterian apologist Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: ‘Christianity is the greatest intellectual system the mind of man has ever touched.’
1979 Over 1,100 Christian organizations combined to form the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). This oversight agency was created to demonstrate to the public that religious groups wanted to make themselves accountable for the funds they raise and spend.

March 2

On this day in 1811, John S. B. Monsell, Anglican priest and hymnist, was born in Londonderry, Ireland.

March 2

On this day in 1985, Frank T. Griswold, III, was consecrated as bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago.

Feast Day:

St. Simplicius, Pope, buried 483. Martyrs under the Lombards, 6th century.
St. Joavan, or Joevin, bishop in Armorica, 6th century.
St. Marnan, of Scotland, 620.
St Ceadda, or Chad, bishop of Lichfield, 673.
St. Charles the Good, Earl of Flanders, martyr, 1124.

On This Day

Agnes of Bohemia,
Blessed Charles the Good, Count of Flanders,
Chad of Mercia (Church of England)
Jovinus

In History

1990  Nelson Mandela elected deputy President of African National Congress

March 2

Chad, bishop, confessor [BLS; PRI: England]
Cedd, bishop, confessor [GTZ: England]
Charles, earl (of Flanders), martyr [BLS]
Joavan, bishop [BLS]
Lucius, bishop [HCC]
Macra, virgin, martyr [GTZ: Reims]
Marman, bishop [BLS]
Martyrs under the Lombards [BLS]
Prime (Primitivus?) [PCP (Paris)]
Sabinianus, martyr (at Troyes) (Translation) [GTZ: Troyes]
Simplicius, pope [BLS]
Supplicius [sic], pope, martyr [WTS (Bruges)]

CHAD OF LICHFIELD
(2 MAR 672)

Chad, Bishop of Lichfield, is perhaps best known for NOT being Archbishop of York. He was elected and duly installed, but various persons raised objections, and rather than cause division in the Church he withdrew in favor of the other candidate, Wilfrid (see 12 Oct). (The objection was that some of the bishops who had consecrated him—although not Chad himself—were holdouts who, even after the Synod of Whitby had supposedly settled the question in 663, insisted on preserving Celtic customs on the date of celebrating Easter and similar questions, instead of conforming to the customs of the remainder of Western Christendom.) He was soon after made Bishop of Lichfield in Mercia. There he travelled about as he had when Archbishop of York, always on foot (until the Archbishop of Canterbury gave him a horse and ordered him to ride it, at least on long journeys), preaching and teaching wherever he went. He served there for only two and a half years before his death, but he made a deep impression. In the following decades, many chapels, and many wells, were constructed in Mercia and named for him. (It was an old custom to dig a well where one was needed, and to mark it with one’s own name or another’s, that thirsty travellers and others might drink and remember the name with gratitude.)

Readings:

Psalm 95:1-7
Proverbs 16:1-3
Philippians 4:10-13
Luke 14:1,7-14

Preface of a Saint (2)

PRAYER (traditional language)

Almighty God, whose servant Chad, for the peace of the Church, relinquished cheerfully the honors that had been thrust upon him, only to be rewarded with equal responsibility: Keep us, we pray thee, from thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, and ready at all times to give place to others, (in honor preferring one another,) that the cause of Christ may be advanced; in the name of him who washed his disciples’ feet, even the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)

Almighty God, whose servant Chad, for the peace of the Church, relinquished cheerfully the honors that had been thrust upon him, only to be rewarded with equal responsibility: Keep us, we pray, from thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, and ready at all times to step aside for others, (in honor preferring one another,) that the cause of Christ may be advanced; in the name of him who washed his disciples’ feet, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

St Chad, bishop of Mercia (Lichfield) d. 672
Feast day, 2nd March

St Chad was the first bishop of Mercia and Lindsey at Lichfield. He was the brother of Cedd, whom he succeeded as Abbot of Lastingham, North Yorkshire, and a disciple of Aidan who sent him to Ireland as part of his education. Chad was chosen by Oswi, king of Northumbria, as bishop of the Northumbrian see, while Wilfrid, who had been chosen for Deira by the sub-king Alcfrith, was absent in Gaul seeking consecration shortly after the Synod of Whitby (663/4). Faced with a dearth of bishops in England, Chad was unwise enough to be consecrated by the simoniacal Wine of Dorchester, assisted by two dubious British bishops. Wilfrid on his return to England in 666, found that Alcfrith was dead or exiled and retired to Ripon, leaving Chad in occupation. But in 669 Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, restored Wilfrid to York and deposed Chad (who retired to Lastingham), but soon reconsecrated him to be bishop of the Mercians. This unusual step was due both to the new opening for Christianity in Mercia and to the excellent character of Chad himself, whom both Eddius and Bede recognised as being unusually humble, devout, zealous and apostolic. Chad’s episcopate of three years laid the foundations of the see of Lichfield according to the decrees of Theodore’s council at Hertford, which established diocesan organisation. Wulfhere, king of Mercia, gave him fifty hides of land for a monastery at Barow (Lincolnshire); he also established a monastery close to Lichfield Cathedral.

Chad died on March 2nd 672 and was buried in the Church of St Mary. At once, according to Bede, he was venerated as a saint and his relics were translated to the Cathedral Church of St Peter. Cures were claimed in both churches. Bede described his first shrine as ‘a wooden coffin in the shape of a little house with an aperture in the side through which the devout can…take out some of the dust, which they put into water and give to sick cattle or men to drink, upon which they are presently eased of their infirmity and restored to health’.

His relics were translated in 1148 and moved to the Lady Chapel in 1296. An even more splendid shrine was built by Robert Stretton, bishop of Lichfield (1360-85) of marble substructure with feretory adorned with gold and precious stones. Rowland Lee, bishop of Lichfield (1534-43), pleaded with Henry VIII to spare the shrine: this was done, but only for a time. At some unknown date the head and some other bones had been separated from the main shrine. Some of these, it was claimed, were preserved by recusants, and four large bones, believed to be Chad’s are in the Roman Catholic cathedral of Birmingham. A fine Mercian illuminated Gospel Book of the 8th century called the Gospels of St Chad was probably associated with his shrine, as the Lindisfarne Gospels were associated with the shrine of St Cuthbert; it is now in Lichfield Cathedral Library. The 11th century shrine list mentions the relics of Cedd and Hedda resting at Lichfield with Chad. Thirty-three ancient churches and several wells were dedicated to St Chad, mainly in the Midlands. There are also several modern dedications.

From the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, by David Hugh Farmer, 3rd edition, 1992

(c) David Hugh Farmer 1978, 1987, 1992 by permission of Oxford University Press

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

ST. CEADDA, OR CHAD

St. Chad is regarded as the missionary who introduced Christianity among the East Saxons. He was educated at the monastery of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, of which. he became the bishop. He exercised at the same time the like jurisdiction over the extensive diocese of Mercia, first fixing that see at Lichfield, so called from the great number of martyrs slain and buried there, under Maximinanus Herudeus; the name signifying the field of carcases.’ Bede assures us that St. Chad zealously devoted himself to all the laborious functions of his charge, visiting his diocese on foot, preaching the gospel, and seeking out the poorest and most abandoned persons in the meanest cottages and in the fields, that he might instruct them. When old age compelled him to retire, he settled with seven or eight monks near Lichfield. Tradition described him as greatly affected by storms; he called thunder ‘the voice of God,’ regarding it as designed to call men to repentance, and lower their self-sufficiency. On these occasions, he would go into the church, and continue in prayer until the storm had abated; it is related that seven days before his death, a monk named Arvinus, who was outside the building in which he lay, heard a sound as of heavenly music attendant upon a company of angels, who visited the saint to forewarn him of his end.

Upon his canonization, St. Chad became the patron saint of medicinal springs. His bones were removed from Stow, where he died, to the site, of Lichfield cathedral, about the year. 700, and were enclosed in a rich shrine, which, being resorted to by multitudes of pilgrims, caused the gradual rise of the city of Lichfield from a small village. The whole place is rich with memorials of the good St. Chad; there is a small church dedicated to him, being erected on the site of St. Mary’s church, which he built, and hard by which he was buried. It is related that the saint’s tomb here had a hole in it, through which the pilgrims used to take out portions of the dust, which, mixed with holy water, they gave to men and animals to drink.

The history of the cathedral has this romantic episode: in 1643, the Royalists, under the Earl of Chesterfield, fortified the close. They were attacked by the Parliamentary troops under Lord Brooke, of whom it is told that, on approaching the city, he prayed, if his cause was unjust, he might presently be cut off: whereupon he was killed by a brace of bullets from a musket, or wall piece, discharged by a deaf and dumb gentleman named Dyott, from the middle tower of the church, and fell at a spot now marked by an inscription:

“Twas levelled when fanatic Brooke
The fair cathedral stormed and took;
But thanks to heaven and good St. Chad,
A guerdon meet the spoiler had!
Marmion, vi. 36.

This occurring on the 2nd of March, the anniversary of St. Chad, was looked upon by the Royalists as a signal interference of Providence.

On the cast side of the town is St. Chad’s Well, which Leland describes as ‘a spring of pure water, with a stone in the bottom of it, on which, some say, St. Chad was wont, naked, to stand in the water and pray; at this stone St. Chad had his oratory in the time of Wulfere, King of the Mercians.’ Sir John Floyer, the celebrated physician, of Lichfield, who, in 1702, published a curious essay To Prove Cold Bathing both Safe and Useful, describes St. Chad as ‘one of the first converters of our nation, who used immersion in the baptism of the Saxons. And the well near Stow, which may bear his name, was probably his baptistery, it being deep enough for immersion, and conveniently seated near the church; and that has the reputation of curing sore eyes, &c., as most holy wells in England do, which got that name from the baptizing the first Christians in them, and to the memory of the holy bishops who baptized in them they were commonly dedicated, and called by their name.’

Sir John gives a table of diseases for which St. Chad’s bath is efficacious, ‘with some directions to the common people;’ and he finds diseases for nearly every letter in the alphabet. A small temple like edifice has been erected over the well, in memory of St. Chad. Sir John Floyer, it should be added, set up a sort of rival bath, the water of which he shews to be the coldest in the neighbourhood, the success of which he foretells when he has ‘prevailed over the prejudices of the common people, who usually despise all cheap and coalmen remedies, which have ordinarily the greatest effects.’

In London we possessed a St. Chad’s Well, on the east side of the Gray’s Inn-road, near King’s Cross, in Fifteen-foot lane. Here a tenement was, about a century ago, called St. Chad’s Well-house, from the medicinal spring there, which was strongly recommended by the medical racially of the day. It long remained one of the favourite spas of the metropolis, with Bagnigge Wells, and the spring which gave name to Spa-fields. Two of these spas have almost gone out of recollection; but St. Chad’s remained to our time, with its neat garden, and economical medicine at a half penny per glass.

Old Joseph Mundell, the comedian, when he resided at Kentish Town, was for many years in the habit of visiting St. Child’s three times a-week, and drinking its waters; as did the judge, Sir Allan Chanibre, when he lived at Prospect-house, Highgate. Mr. Alexander Mensall, who, for fifty years, kept the Gordon House Academy at Kentish Town, used to walk, with his pupils, once a week, to St. Chad’s, to drink its waters, as a means of ‘keeping the doctor out of the house.’ In. 1825, Mr. Hone wrote:

‘The miraculous water is aperient, and was some years ago quaffed by the bilious, and other invalids, who flocked thither in crowds A few years, and it will be with its water, as with the water of St. Pancras Well, which is inclosed in the garden of a private house, near old St. Pancras churchyard.’

London is, however, still more extensively associated with St. Chad, through its excellent citizen Sir Hugh Myddelton; for the New River takes its rise from Chad’s Well springs, situated in the meadows, about midway between Hertford and Ware; and when this water reached the north of London, it there gave name to Chadwell-street.

ST. AGNES OF BOHEMIA
TUESDAY, MARCH 02, 2010

Foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of the Company of the Cross.

Born on 30 January 1846 in Seville, Spain, and given the baptismal name “Maria of the Angels” Guerrero Gonzalez, the future saint was affectionately known as “Angelita”. Her father worked as a cook in the convent of the Trinitarian Fathers, where her mother also worked in the laundry. They had 14 children, with only six reaching adulthood.

Angelita was greatly influenced by the teaching and example of her pious parents, and was taught from an early age how to pray the Rosary. She could often be found in the parish church praying before the image of “Our Lady of Good Health”, while her mother prepared a nearby altar. In their own home, a simple altar was erected in honour of the Virgin Mary during the month of May, where the family would recite the Rosary and give special honour to Our Lady.

Angelita made her First Communion when she was eight, and her Confirmation when she was nine. She had little formal education, beginning work as a young girl in a shoeshop. Her boss and teacher of shoe repair, Antonia Maldonado, was a holy woman; every day the employees prayed the Rosary together and read the lives of the saints. Canon José Torres Padilla of Seville was Antonia’s spiritual director and had a reputation of “forming saints”. Angelita was 16 years old when she met Fr Torres and was put under his direction.

Angelita’s desire to enter religious life was growing, and when she was 19, she asked to enter the Discalced Carmelites in Santa Cruz but was refused admission because of her poor health. Instead, following the advice of Fr Torres, she began caring for destitute cholera patients, because a cholera epidemic was quickly spreading among the poor.

In 1868 Angelita tried once again to enter the convent, this time the Daughters of Charity of Seville. Although her health was still frail, she was admitted. The sisters tried to improve her health and sent her to Cuenca and Valencia, but to no avail. She left the Daughters of Charity during the novitiate and returned home to continue working in the shoeshop.

Fr Torres believed that God had a plan for Angelita, but this plan was still a mystery. On 1 November 1871, at the foot of the Cross, she made a private vow to live the evangelical counsels, and in 1873 she received the call from God that would mark the beginning of her “new mission”. During prayer, Angelita saw an empty cross standing directly in front of the one upon which Jesus was hanging. She understood immediately that God was asking her to hang from the empty cross, to be “poor with the poor in order to bring them to Christ”.

Angelita continued to work in the shoeshop, but under obedience to Fr Torres she dedicated her free time to writing a detailed spiritual diary that revealed the style and ideal of life she was being called to live. On 2 August 1875 three other women joined Angelita, beginning community life together in a room they rented in Seville. From that day on, they began their visits and gave assistance to the poor, day and night.

These Sisters of the Company of the Cross, under the guidance of Angelita, named “Mother Angela of the Cross”, lived an authentically recluse contemplative life when they were not among the poor. Once they returned to their home, they dedicated themselves to prayer and silence, but were always ready when needed to go out and serve the poor and dying. Mother Angela saw the sisters as “angels”, called to help and love the poor and sick in their homes who otherwise would have been abandoned.

In 1877 a second community was founded in Utrera, in the province of Seville, and a year later one in Ayamonte. Fr Torres died that same year, and Fr José María Alvarez was appointed as the second director of the Institute.

While Mother Angela was alive, another 23 convents were established, with the sisters edifying everyone they served by their example of charity, poverty and humility. In fact, Mother Angela herself was known by all as “Mother of the Poor”.

Mother Angela of the Cross died on 2 March 1932 in Seville. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 5 November 1982.

With her characteristic humility, she once wrote these words: “The nothing keeps silent, the nothing does not want to be, the nothing suffers all…. The nothing does not impose itself, the nothing does not command with authority, and finally, the nothing in the creature is practical humility”.

St. Agnes of Bohemia
(1205-1282)

Agnes had no children of her own but was certainly life-giving for all who knew her.

Agnes was the daughter of Queen Constance and King Ottokar I of Bohemia. At the age of three, she was betrothed to the Duke of Silesia, who died three years later. As she grew up, she decided she wanted to enter the religious life.

After declining marriages to King Henry VII of Germany and Henry III of England, Agnes was faced with a proposal from Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor. She appealed to Pope Gregory IX for help. The pope was persuasive; Frederick magnanimously said that he could not be offended if Agnes preferred the King of Heaven to him.

After Agnes built a hospital for the poor and a residence for the friars, she financed the construction of a Poor Clare monastery in Prague. In 1236, she and seven other noblewomen entered this monastery. Saint Clare sent five sisters from San Damiano to join them, and wrote Agnes four letters advising her on the beauty of her vocation and her duties as abbess.

Agnes became known for prayer, obedience and mortification. Papal pressure forced her to accept her election as abbess; nevertheless, the title she preferred was “senior sister.” Her position did not prevent her from cooking for the other sisters and mending the clothes of lepers. The sisters found her kind but very strict regarding the observance of poverty; she declined her royal brother’s offer to set up an endowment for the monastery.

Devotion to Agnes arose soon after her death on March 6, 1282. She was canonized in 1989.

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/mar_02_-_the_440_martyrs_of_lombardy_and_holy_martyr_euthalia#6884

The Fast of Nineteen Days Baha’i