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Saint BOTULPH, abbé bénédictin

June 17, 2015, 1:34 pm
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Saint Botolf

(✝ 655)

ou Botulphe. 

Originaire de Maestricht, il fut converti alors que son pays était encore païen. Il passa alors en Belgique, puis en Angleterre, pour trouver un lieu désertique et mieux se consacrer à Dieu. Les invasions danoises détruisirent son ermitage. Il fut très honoré en Angleterre, jusqu'au jour où celle-ci quitta l'Église romaine.



SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/6074/Saint-Botolf.html

Botulph, OSB Abbot (AC)

(also known as Botulf, Botolph)

Died c. 680; feast of his translation is December 1. Botulph and his brother, Saint Adulph, were two noble English brothers at the dawn of Christianity on that island. They were probably born in East Anglia. At some point they traveled into Belgian Gaul to learn more about Christian discipline in a monastery because they were then scarce in England. They progressed in the spiritual life to the point that Adulph is said to have been raised to the episcopate, though this is questioned. Botulph is said to have been chaplain to the convent where two of his king's sisters lived, possibly at Chelles. (Liobsynde, the first abbess of Wenlock (Salop), was from Chelles and Wenlock was initially dependent on Ikanhoe.)


Botulph returned to England with the treasure he had found and begged King Ethelmund of the South Saxons for land on which to set it. The king gave him the wilderness of Ikanhoe (Icanhoh), formerly thought to be near Boston (Botulf's stone) in Lincolnshire but now believed to be Iken in Suffolk. (Others relate that the land was provided by the king of East Anglia, either Ethelhere, 654, or more likely Ethelwold, 654-64.) There he built an abbey and taught the assembled brethren the rules of Christian perfection and the institutes of the holy fathers. He became one of the foremost missionaries of the 7th century.

Everyone loved Botulph: He was humble, mild, and affable. He always practiced what he preached, finding an upright example far more important than sermons. Nevertheless, Saint Ceolfrid travelled all the way from Wearmouth to converse with this man "of remarkable life and learning" before joining Saint Benedict Biscop at Wearmouth. Botulph thanked God in good times and in bad, knowing that God works all things to the good of those who love Him. He lived to a venerable age and was purified by a long illness before his happy death

Although his monastery was destroyed by the Danes, his relics were carried to Ely (the head) and Thorney Abbeys. It is said that when Ethelwold sent his disciple Ulfkitel to collect the relics of Botulph for Thorney Abbey, he found that he could not move them without also taking those of Adulph as well. Saint Edward the Confessor gave some of them to Westminster and others are at Bury Saint Edmunds. More than 70 English churches were dedicated to Saint Botulph, including four parishes in London. Name other place names also recall his sanctity including the town of Boston in Lincolnshire and Botulph's bridge, now Bottle-bride, in Huntingdonshire (Attwater, Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).

In art, Saint Adulph, bishop, and Saint Botulf, abbot, hold the Abbey of Ikanhoe, Suffolk, England. The four gates of the City of London are dedicated to them (Roeder).

June 17

St. Botulph, Abbot

SS. BOTULPH and ADULPH were two noble English brothers who opened their eyes to the light of faith in the first dawning of the day of the gospel upon our ancestors. Astonished at the great truths which they had learned and penetrated with the most profound sentiments which religion inspires, they travelled into the Belgic Gaul there to find some religious houses and schools of virtue, which were then scarce in England. Such was the progress of these holy men that they soon were judged fit to be themselves masters. Nor was it long before Adulph was advanced to the bishopric of Maestricht, which he administered in so holy a manner, that he is honoured in France among the saints on the 17th of June. St. Botulph returned to England to bring to his own country the treasure he had found. Addressing himself to king Ethelmund he begged some barren spot of ground to found a monastery. The king gave him the wilderness of Ikanho, where he built an abbey, and taught the brethren whom he assembled there the rules of Christian perfection, and the institutes of the holy fathers. He was beloved by every one, being humble, mild and affable. All his discourse was on things which tended to edification, and his example was still far more efficacious to instil the true spirit of every virtue. When he was oppressed with any sickness he never ceased thanking and praising God with holy Job. Thus he persevered to a good old age. He was purified by a long illness before his happy death, which happened in the same year with that of St. Hilda, 655. His monastery having been destroyed by the Danes, his relics were carried, part to the monastery of Ely, and part to that of Thorney. St. Edward the Confessor afterwards bestowed some portion of them on his own abbey of Westminster. Few English saints have been more honoured by our ancestors. Four parishes in London, and innumerable others throughout the country bear his name. Botulph’s town, now Boston, in Lincolnshire, and Botulph’s bridge, now Bottle-bridge, in Huntingdonshire, are so called from him. Leland and Bale will have his monastery of Ikanho to have been in one of those two places; Hickes says at Boston; others think it was towards Sussex; for Ethelmund seems to have been king of the South-Saxons. Thorney abbey was situated in Cambridgeshire, and was one of those whose abbots sat in parliament. It was founded in 972 in honour of St. Mary and St. Botulph. In its church lay interred St. Botulph, St. Athulf, St. Huna, St. Tancred, St. Tothred, St. Hereferth, St. Cissa, St. Bennet, St. Tova or Towa, to whose memory a fair chapel called Thoueham, half a mile off in the wood, was consecrated. Thorney was anciently called Ancarig, that is, the Isle of Anchorets. Part of the relics of St. Botulph was kept at Medesham, afterwards called Peterburgh. See Dr. Brown Willis, on mitred Abbeys, t. 1, p. 187, and the life of St. Botulph published by Mabillon, Act. Ben. t. 3, p. 1, and by Papebroke, t. 3, Junij, p. 398. The anonymous author of this piece declares he had received some things which he relates from the disciples of the saint who had lived under his direction. There is also in the Cottonian library, n. 111, a MS. life of St. Botulph compiled by Folcard, first a monk of St. Bertin’s at St. Omer, afterwards made by the Conqueror abbot of Thorney in 1068. See also Narratio de Sanctis qui in Anglia quiescunt, translated from the English-Saxon into Latin by Francis Junius, and published by Dr. Hickes, Diss. Epist. pp. 118, 119. Thesauri, t. 1.

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VI: June. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/6/172.html

St. Botulph

(Or BOTOLPH.)

Abbot, date of birth unknown; died c. 680. St. Botulph, the saint whose name is perpetuated in that of the American city of Boston, Massachusetts, was certainly an historical personage, though the story of his life is very confused and unsatisfactory. What information we possess about him is mainly derived from a short biography by Folcard, monk of St. Bertin and Abbot of Thorney, who wrote in the eleventh century (Hardy, Catalogue of Brit. Hist., I, 373). According to him Botulph was born of noble Saxon parents who were Christians, and was sent with his brother Adulph to the Continent for the purpose of study. Adulph remained abroad, where he is stated to have become Bishop of Utrecht, though his name does not occur in any of the ancient lists. Botulph, returning to England, found favour with a certain Ethelmund, "King of the southern Angles", whose sisters he had known in Germany, and was by him permitted to choose a tract of desolate land upon which to build a monastery. This place, surrounded by water and called Icanhoe (Ox-island), is commonly identified with the town of Boston in Lincolnshire, mainly on account of its name (Boston=Botulph's town). There is, however, something to suggest that the true spot may be the village of Iken in Suffolk which of old was almost encircled by the little river Alde, and in which the church is also dedicated to St. Botulph. In favour of Lincolnshire must be reckoned the fact that St. Botulph was much honoured in the North and in Scotland. Thus his feast was entered in the York calendar but not in that of Sarum. Moreover, even Folcard speaks of the Scots as Botulph's neighbours (vicini). In favour of Suffolk, on the other hand, may be quoted the tradition that St. Botulph, who is also called "bishop", was first buried at Grundisburgh, a village near Woodbridge, and afterwards translated to Bury St. Edmunds. This, however, may be another person, since he is always closely associated with a certain St. Jurmin (Arnold, Memorials of Bury, I, 352). That Botulph really did build a monastery at Icanhoe is attested by an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 654: Botulf ongan thæt mynster timbrian æt Yceanho, i.e. Botulph began to build the minster at Icanhoe. That the saint must have lived somewhere in the Eastern counties is proved by the indisputable evidence of the "Historia Abbatum" (Plummer's Bede, I, 389), where we learn that Ceolfrid, Bede's beloved master at Wearmouth, "journied to the East Angles in order that he might see the foundation of Abbot Botulphus, whom fame had proclaimed far and wide to be a man of remarkable life and learning, full of the grace of the Holy Spirit", and the account goes on to say that Ceolfrid "having been abundantly instructed, so far as was possible in a short time, returned home so well equipped that no one could be found more learned than he either in ecclesiastical or monastic traditions". Folcard represents St. Botulph as living and dying at Icanhoe in spite of the molestations of the evil spirits to which he was exposed at his first coming. Later accounts, e.g. the lessons of the Schleswig Breviary, suppose him to have changed his habitation more than once and to have built at one time a monastery upon the bank of the Thames in honour of St. Martin. His relics are said after the incursions of the Danes to have been recovered and divided by St. Aethelwold between Ely, Thorney Abbey, and King Edgar's private chapel. What is more certain is that St. Botulph was honoured by many dedications of churches, over fifty in all, especially in East Anglia and in the North. His name is perpetuated not only by the little town of Boston in Lincolnshire with its American homonym, but also by Bossal in Yorkshire, Botesdale in Suffolk, Botolph Bridge in Huntingdonshire, and Botolph in Sussex. In England his feast was kept on 17 June, in Scotland on 25 June.

Sources

STANTON, Menology, 271; Acta SS., June, III, 402; MABILLON, Acta SS. Benedict., III, 1; STUBBS in Dict. Christ. Biog.; GRANT, in Dict. Nat. Biog.; FORBES, Calendars of Scottish Saints(Edinburgh, 1872), 283; and especially ARNOLD-FORSTER, Church Dedications(London, 1899), II, 52-56.

Thurston, Herbert. "St. Botulph." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 17 Jun. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02709a.htm>.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02709a.htm


Botulphis a popular medieval saint whose name has been honoured in the dedication of many East Anglian churches. Owen Spencer-Thomas tells the story of this Saxon saint.

Botulph was one of the most popular British saints of the early Middle Ages. He was a nobleman who went to the Continent to become a Benedictine monk and returned to England to found a monastery in East Anglia. Although the life story of this humble affable man is sketchy, records show that he did exist in history and his story is more fact than legend.

Born into a Christian Saxon family in the early seventh century, Botulph and his brother Adulph were educated by Saint Fursey in Cnobersburg monastery, located at Burgh Castle near Great Yarmouth. When Mercian forces invaded the region, the boys were sent to Europe and became Benedictines. Botulph was sent back to England in 647 to establish the Benedictine Order, while Adulph remained in Europe and became a bishop.

On his return, Botulph approached the little known King of the southern Angles, Ethelmund, whose sisters he had known in Germany. The King offered Botulph part of the royal estate upon which to build a monastery. Instead he settled for a desolate, barren site, reported to be haunted by demons.

With the support of Saint Syre, Saint Aubierge, and their brother, King Anna of East Anglia, Botulph founded the monastery of Ikanhoe (Ox-island), which according to the Saxon Chronicle, was established in 654 AD as a Benedictine abbey.

The site was surrounded by water and endless work was needed to make this austere place viable. But Botulph attracted enough brother monks and hermits and soon, through their hard work and faith, the monastery grew. The monks built several structures, turned large areas of marsh and scrub into productive grazing and farm land, and dispelled the local people's fear of demons.

No one knows for sure where Ikanhoe was - the two modern contenders are Iken in Suffolk and Boston in Lincolnshire. For many years local historians believed that the developing area around the monastery came to be called Botulph's Town, then Botulphston, with the name finally contracted to Boston.
However, more recent research suggests that the actual spot may be the village of Iken, near Snape in east Suffolk which, centuries ago, was almost encircled by the River Alde. The church there is also dedicated to St. Botulph.

During his time at the monastary, Botulph also worked as a travelling missionary through rough, bandit-plagued areas of East Anglia, Kent and Sussex.

It is believed he died after a long illness while being carried to chapel for a compline service on 17 June 680 – the date his feast is commemorated. He was buried there at Ikanhoe.

A couple of centuries later his relics were removed to prevent them from being destroyed by invading Danes. It is believed they were transferred to Grundisburgh, a village near Woodbridge and later for safety distributed to the monasteries at Ely, Thorney and Bury St. Edmunds. According to legend, the relics destined for Bury were taken by night and the travellers were guided by a light that shone above the site of the new shrine. In the 11th century, a portion of Botulph’s relics were also taken to the Abbey of Westminster after it was rebuilt by Edward the Confessor. 


Although there is some uncertainty as to where Botulph’s relics lie, what is not in doubt is that he was honoured by many churches dedicated to his name - well over fifty, chiefly in East Anglia. They bear witness to his untiring work which strengthened the Benedictine movement for many centuries after his lifetime.


Some of these churches were built at the ancient city gates to serve as safe-havens for travellers in times when robbers and footpads lurked along the roadways. Botolph is regarded as the patron saint for travellers and itinerants, and also farmers and agricultural workers.

His name is perpetuated not only at Boston in Lincolnshire but also by the New World city of Boston in Massachusetts. He gave his name to several English villages including Bottlebridge near Peterborough. Originally called Botulph’s Bridge, the village lost its identity when it became part of Orton Longueville parish in 1762.

SOURCE : http://ely.anglican.org/about/good_and_great/botulph.html

Saint Botulph of Ikanhoe

Also known as
  • Botolph
  • Botulf
  • Botwulf
Profile

Born to a ChristianSaxon noble family. Brother of SaintAdolph of Utrecht. Educatedwith his brother at the monasteryof Cnobersburg (Burgh Castle), Suffolk under the direction of its founder, SaintFursey. When Mercian forces under KingPenda invaded the region, the boyswere sent to study at the monasteryat Bosanham, Sussex. He became a Benedictinemonkat Farmoutiere-en-Brie, Gaul(modern northeastern France), and was sent back to the British Isles in 647to establish the Benedictine Order there.

With the support of SaintSyre, SaintAubierge, and their brother, KingAnna of East Anglia, Botulph founded the monasteryof Ikanhoe in East Anglia, declining the offer of a part of the royal estate, and settling for a wild, barren site that was removed from people, reported to be haunted by demons, and which would require endless work to sustain the monks. For many years it was believed that the area that grew up around it came to be called Botulph’s Town, contracted to Botulphston, and later contracted to Boston in Lincolnshire, but recent reasearch has shown that the original site is another location. The Saxon Chronicleindicates that by 654Botulph had attracted enough brother monksand hermitsthat work begain on the monastery. Through hard work and faith, the monasterygrew in population; the monksbuilt several structures, turned large areas of marsh and scrub into productive farming and grazing lands, and dispelled the people’s fears of demons.

Botulph served as spiritual director for SaintCeolfrith, and worked as a travellingmissionarythrough rough, bandit-plagued areas of East Anglia, Kent and Sussex. His legacy continued for centuries in the strength of the Benedictinemovement in the Isles, and in the dozens of churches named for him, many of them built at city gates to serve as safe-haven for travellersin times when robbers roamed the roads, and many in port or river towns.

Born
  • 17 June680 of natural causes following a lengthy illness
  • he died while being carried to chapel for compline services
  • buried at Ikanhoe
  • relics moved in 870 to keep them from being destroyed by invading Danes
  • relics transferred to Grundisburgh in 983
  • relics later distributed to monasteries at Thornery, Westminster, and Edmundsburg, Suffolk
  • tradition says that for safety the cask of relics destined for Edmundsburg were taken there in the middle of the night, but the travellers were guided by a light that hovered above the relics‘ new shrine
  • processions of the relics through Edmundsburgh has ended droughts there
  • abbot holding a church in his hand
  • abbot holding a monastery in his hand
  • blue field with undulating silver lines superimposed with an inverted gold chevron with a gold cross at its point (his coat of arms)
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/saint-botulph-of-ikanhoe/

St Botolph was an English abbot who died in around the year 680. His feast day is on 17 June. Little is known of the saint, other than, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under 654, ‘Botulf ongan thoet mynster timbrian oet Yceanho’, ‘Botolph founded an abbey at Icanhoe’, meaning Ox-island. Some claim the abbey was at Iken in Essex, others in Lincolnshire, where Boston is a contraction of ‘Botolph’s town’.

As the patron saint of travellers, four churches at the gates of the city took his name, our neighbour St Botolph without Bishopsgate, St Botolph without Aldersgate at the other end of the City and St Botolph without Billingsgate, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. On their way to and from the City people would stop and pray and give thanks for travelling mercies.

O God, by whose grace the blessed Abbot Botolph,
enkindled with the fire of your love,
became a burning and a shining light in your church;
grant that we may be inflamed
with the same spirit of discipline and love,
and ever walk before you as children of the light,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.



SOURCE : http://www.stbotolphs.org.uk/who-was-st-botolph

Voir aussi : http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/print71898.htm
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Saint RAINERIUS SCACCERI (RAINIER de PISE), ermite et pèlerin bénédictin

June 17, 2015, 1:35 pm
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Saint Rainier

Prédicateur laïc (✝ 1160)

Joueur de lyre, il sacrifia ses talents artistiques pour l'amour de Dieu. C'était en effet un troubadour renommé qui allait de châteaux en châteaux, chantant ses chansons accompagné de sa viole. Il en profitait pour y passer quelques nuits de péché, car les occasions ne lui manquaient pas. Mais un jour, il rencontra un saint moine de qui il reçut la lumière sur sa vie et lui rendit la grâce de Dieu. Il jeta sa viole au feu, s'en fut marchant pour se rendre pèleriner aux Lieux Saints. Faute d'argent, il s'engagea comme rameur sur une galère, ramant, mangeant avec les galériens, priant aussi avec eux et les amusant par sa bonne humeur au point qu'ils trouvèrent la traversée trop courte. Revenu à Pise, il entra au monastère de Saint Guy pour le reste de sa vie, bienfaiteur de ses concitoyens par sa joie. Les consuls de la ville le portèrent eux-mêmes en terre. Il est également très vénéré en Provence en raison des liens de cette région de France à la ville de Pise.

À Pise en Toscane, l’an 1160, saint Raynier, qui vécut pauvre et pèlerin pour le Christ.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1337/Saint-Rainier.html

Rainerius Scacceri of Pisa, OSB Hermit (RM)

(also known as Raynerius, Rainerius, Rainier, Rainieri, Ranieri, Raniero, Regnier)

Born in Pisa, Italy, in 1117; died 1160; probably canonized by Pope Alexander III.


Among the saints were men of gay and exuberant spirit, one of whom was Rainerius, son of a prosperous merchant. As a youth Rainerius learned Latin, but he was not a scholar. Rainerius of the joyful spirit was a strolling minstrel. He sang his way with his fiddle from town to town, playing in the market places for people to dance to his tunes, and sleeping at night where he could, in a barn or under a hedge. Often he hardly slept at all, because he was playing the whole night long at a revel or feast.

One day, when performing in a castle where a great company was gathered, he met a holy man and he was so impressed that he paused in the singing of his ballads and asked him to pray for him. Afterwards he talked with him and, as a result, he was converted. Before the whole company, as a sign that he had finished for ever with his frivolous life, he threw his fiddle on the fire and wept for his sins. Those present were astonished at his action and to see the minstrel, of all men, weeping, and some indeed thought he was mad.

Rainerius was not so mad, however, as they supposed. He became a devoted Christian, and set himself up as a trader in order to earn money to enable him to travel to the Holy Land. He worked hard, selling his goods to the sailors in the harbor, rowing out in his boat to the vessels at anchor, and amusing all whom he met, for though he had thrown away his fiddle he had not lost his wit, and was a merry follower of our Lord.

In the course of time he amassed a fair sum of money; but one day when he opened his purse such a smell came from it that he thought it was of the devil. This made him give up all further thought of making money; he resolved to do without it and he embraced a life of poverty. Later he made his pilgrimage to Palestine, begging his way as he went, and when he had finished visiting the holy shrines in 1153, he returned to Pisa and entered Saint Andrew's monastery. Thereafter he migrated to San Vito (Saint Guy).

His early knowledge of Latin gave him access to the Bible and the Divine Office and enabled him to preach occasionally. His fame spread, for he had great wisdom and generosity; also innumerable cures were attributed to him. People came from far and wide to seek his counsel, and he became the philosopher and guide of many of his fellow citizens. In the monastery of San Vito, in the monk who had been a troubadour and who had thrown away his fiddle for Christ, they found one who understood their inner needs and who spoke to them wisely out of his own heart.

To the end he retained his high spirits and happy nature, which no doubt added to his fame and popularity, for they were wholly dedicated to his sacred calling. He was God's minstrel; God had put a new song into his mouth. With a glad and gay spirit he cared for the sick, set free the captive and exercised himself in countless other works of mercy and goodwill. We remember him among the happiest of the saints. He was held in the highest regard, and long after his death his name is venerated.
His acclaim was so great that he was immediately buried in Pisa cathedral, where it remains to this day. His name was entered in the Roman Martyrology in the 17th century. A contemporary vita was written by his confidant and counsellor Canon Benincasa (Benedictines, Farmer, Encyclopedia, Gill).
In art, Saint Raynerius is a bearded hermit in a hairshirt holding a rosary. He may also be portrayed (1) as a young pilgrim in a hairshirt carrying a banner with the Pisan cross; (2) being raised up by devils (like Saint Antony Abbot); or (3) dying in a hairshirt (Roeder). He is the patron of Pisa, Italy (Roeder).


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0617.shtml
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Bienheureuse MICHELINA METELLI de PESARO, tertiaire franciscaine

June 20, 2015, 6:13 pm
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Bienheureuse Micheline Mitelli

Tertiaire franciscaine à Pesaro (✝ 1356)

A douze ans, elle est l'épouse d'un duc italien, régnant à Rimini, Malatesta. A vingt ans, elle est veuve. Quelque temps après, elle perd son unique enfant et décide de devenir tertiaire franciscaine. Elle distribue ses biens aux pauvres, mendiant désormais son pain, recherchant d'être méprisée à l'exemple de son Sauveur. Ce qui ne manqua pas d'arriver. Sa belle-famille la fait enfermer dans une tour de son ancien château, les fers aux pieds, sous prétexte qu'elle est devenue folle et que c'était le seul moyen de la guérir. Mais elle n'y resta pas longtemps, ses gardiens ne voulant pas devenir les bourreaux d'une jeune femme si charmante et si bonne. Ils la libérèrent, racontant qu'elle avait été libérée par un ange, comme saint Pierre dans les Actes des Apôtres. La population de Pesaro prit alors parti pour elle. Le duc de Rimini, qui s'était fait beaucoup d'ennemis dans la population, ne voulut pas s'en faire davantage et il feignit de croire à l'histoire de l'ange et la laissa libre de se sanctifier à sa guise. Cela dura trente années. Au retour d'un pèlerinage en Terre Sainte, épuisée, elle partit pour le ciel.

À Pesaro dans la Marche d’Ancône, en 1356, la bienheureuse Micheline, veuve, qui distribua tous ses biens aux pauvres, prit l’habit du Tiers-Ordre de Saint-François et, en mendiant son pain, mena une vie humiliée, d’une extrême mortification.


Martyrologe romain



Blessed Michelina Metelli, OFM Tert. Widow (AC)

(also known as Michelina of Pesaro)

Born at Pesaro, Urbino, Italy, in 1300; died 1356; cultus confirmed in 1737. Michelina was born into the family of the counts of Pardi. When she was 12, she married Duke Malatesta, who left her a widow at the age of 20. Upon the death of her only child, she determined to change her life, but her parents, thinking that she was mad, locked her up. At last they gave her liberty. She then renounced her inheritance, became a Franciscan tertiary, and lived as one until her death (Benedictines). In art, Michelina is a young Franciscan tertiary kneeling in ecstasy in the midst of a storm with a pilgrim's hat and staff by her (Roeder).



SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0620.shtml

Blessed Michelina of Pesaro

Also known as

§  Michelina Metelli


§  20 June

Profile

Born to the Italian nobility. Married to Duke Malatesta at age 12. Widowed at age 20. Her only childdied, and she decided to take orders. Her family so strongly opposed this that they locked her up and declared her insane. When set free, she gave away her wealth and became a Franciscantertiary.

Born

§  1300 at Pesaro, Urbino, Italy


§  1356 of natural causes


§  13 April1737 by PopeClement XII (cultus confirmed)


§  against death of children
§  against insanity
§  against mental illness
§  in-law problems
§  mentally ill people
§  widows


§  young Franciscantertiary kneeling in ecstasyin the midst of a storm with a pilgrim‘s hatand staff beside her


SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/blessed-michelina-of-pesaro/

Blessed Michelina of Pesaro

(Beata Michelina de Pesaro)

Widow, Third Order

The town of Pesaro is situated on the shores of the Adriatic in Italy, not far from the famous shrine of Loreto. There, in 1300, a daughter was born to the wealthy and noble Metelli family, who received the name Michelina in baptism. The child was endowed with superior natural gifts, and in accordance with the tradition of the family she was brought up in the fear of the Lord.

When she was twelve years old, Blessed Michelina of Pesaro was married to a nobleman of the powerful family of Malatesta. Although Michelina was good and pious, it is said that her heart was divided between creatures and the Creator, as is often the case. Her husband and a son, with whom the marriage was blessed, occupied her heart more than was becoming to a Christian woman.

The Lord severed one of these ties by taking her husband to Himself when Michelina was only twenty years old. This was a severe trial for the young wife, but Blessed Michelina of Pesaro did not yet recognize the higher designs of God. Her maternal affections were now still more centered on her son.

About this time a pious Tertiary from Syria came to Pesaro, and edified the entire town by her fervor at prayer and the holiness of her life. Michelina also conceived a great veneration for this pious lady and invited her to take up her abode in her palace, promising to provide for all her needs so that she could serve God alone. The stranger gratefully accepted this hospitality, and almighty God rewarded Michelina by permitting her to learn to love God above all things, and all other things only in God.

Once on the feast of Pentecost she conversed with her Tertiary guest on the need of surrendering one’s heart to God. The latter spoke of it in glowing terms and declared it was necessary. “That may be true,” said Michelina, “but I cannot aspire to such perfection. My son, the tenderest object of my affections, occupies my heart too much, and my earthly possessions do not leave me free enough to offer by heart completely to God.”

“Let us then,” replied the Tertiary, “pray together that God may disengage your heart from those things which are an obstacle to your salvation and perfection.” The grace of the Holy Spirit was not wanting, and Michelina answered, “Ayes, let us. I, too, desire to serve God better than I have until now.”

The next morning both attended holy Mass and prayed fervently for this intention. At the close of Mass Blessed Michelina of Pesaro interiorly heard the voice of Our Lord: “I will set you free. I will take your son to Myself, and you shall henceforth belong to Me alone.”

When they arrived at home they found the child sick; and soon God took him from this world, in which he would have been in great danger because of the inordinate tenderness of his mother. The two women saw how the holy angels carried his soul to heaven.

The mother was now like one transformed. Her heart was no longer attached to temporal goods. She distributed them lavishly among the poor in spite of the remonstrances of her relatives. After a while she entered the Third Order of St Francis, and adopted the afflicted and the indigent as her new family. She became a mother to the orphans, the support of poor widows, the nurse of the sick, the comfort of the sorrowful; her house was the refuge of all unfortunate persons. She also practiced severe acts of penance in order to atone for her former life.

Toward the end of her life Blessed Michelina of Pesaro made a pilgrimage to the holy places, where she venerated the mysteries of Christ’s suffering so fervently that all present saw her in an ecstasy on Mount Calvary. Upon her return to her native country, she redoubled her prayers, practices of penance, and works of charity, until Our Lord called her to Himself on June 19, 1356. Her tomb in the Franciscan church was made glorious by numerous miracles. The Apostolic See approved her public veneration in 1737, whereupon the town of Pesaro chose her as its special patron.

From: The Franciscan Book of Saints, by Fr Habig, OFM


SOURCE : http://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/blessed-michelina-of-pesaro.html

Voir aussi : http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/misc/Angels_Demons/ANGES_pesaro.pdf
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Saint MAXIME de TURIN, évêque et confesseur

June 25, 2015, 6:48 am
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Saint Maxime de Turin

Évêque (✝ v. 423)

Il est le patron de cette ville. On pense qu'il serait né à Verceil en Italie. Il aurait assisté au concile de Milan où sa position dans la hiérarchie témoigne de son influence.

"Saint Maxime, Évêque de Turin (Italie). Il est cité en 398, alors que sa ville, dotée d'une garnison et menacée par des bandes barbares en déplacement vers les Alpes occidentales, servait de refuge à des populations rurales en fuite.

Devant une telle situation, Maxime, dont on connaît près de quatre-vingt-dix homélies, encourageait à réagir à cette dégradation du sens civique et à la désagrégation sociale. L'évêque n'hésitait pas à stigmatiser les fidèles profitant du malheur des temps, rappelant avec force le lien profond existant entre devoir du chrétien et devoir du citoyen. Saint Maxime rappelait aussi que l'amour traditionnel de la patrie inclut le devoir fiscal.

L'analyse historique et littéraire de ce grand personnage, a ajouté le Pape, "montre la croissante prise de responsabilité de l'autorité ecclésiastique dans un contexte où elle devait progressivement se substituer à une autorité civile disparaissant... Il est évident que si les choses sont très différentes aujourd'hui... les devoirs des croyants dans la société et envers leur pays demeurent valides. La convergence des devoirs de l'honnête citoyen et ceux du bon chrétien demeure des plus actuelles".

Source: VIS 071031 (320) Le 31 octobre 2007, catéchèse de Benoît XVI pour l'audience générale.

À Turin, entre 408 et 413, saint Maxime, premier évêque de cette ville. Par sa prédication toute paternelle, il amena les foules païennes à la foi du Christ et les dirigea par son enseignement plein de sagesse à la récompense du salut.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1389/Saint-Maxime-de-Turin.html

Saint Maxime de Turin
Il fut un des prédicateurs de l’Évangile les plus en vue de l’époque patristique, et tout ce que nous savons à son sujet nous est parvenu par son corpus d’homélies reconstitué de façon critique à l’époque contemporaine. 
Parmi les rares données biographiques certaines, on sait que Maxime n’était pas originaire de Turin mais qu’il y fut présent, comme Évêque de cette ville, lors d’un Concile qui s’y tint au début du V ème siècle. 
À ses capacités oratoires, fruit d’une lecture assidue des Écritures et de la fréquentation des vénérables Pères de son temps, Maxime joignait une nette sensibilité liturgique, qui lui permit de fournir des interprétations subtiles et originales sur les Sacrements, et plus généralement sur le Culte Chrétien.
Il voua son activité pastorale surtout à l’élimination de toute forme de syncrétisme et de tout résidu de paganisme dans la pratique des Chrétiens, et plus encore à la diffusion dans les campagnes du message évangélique qui, à cette époque, restait encore très circonscrit au monde urbain.
SOURCE : http://reflexionchretienne.e-monsite.com/pages/vie-des-saints/juin/saint-maxime-de-turin-1er-eveque-de-turin-fete-le-25-juin.html


Saint Maxime de Turin
Ier Évêque de la ville
Maxime, Ier Évêque de Turin, florissait dans le Ve siècle. On pense, d’après quelques passages de ses homélies, qu’il était né à Verceil. 
Il avait fait dans sa jeunesse une étude approfondie des Écritures et dès qu’il fut élevé au Sacerdoce, il signala son zèle pour la Foi Chrétienne par de continuelles prédications dans les diverses provinces de la Lombardie. 
Il assista, comme Évêque, au Concile de Milan en 451 et il souscrivit à celui de Rome en 465, immédiatement après le Pape Saint Hilaire, ce qui prouve qu’il était le plus âgé de tous les prélats ; on croit qu’il mourut peu de temps après son retour dan son diocèse.

Il nous reste de Saint Maxime de Turin un grand nombre de Sermons, dont  plusieurs avaient été attribuées à Saint Ambroise, à Saint Augustin, à Eusèbe d’Émèse, sur les principales Fêtes de l’année et sur différents sujet de morale.
SOURCE : http://reflexionchretienne.e-monsite.com/pages/vie-des-saints/juin/saint-maxime-de-turin-1er-eveque-de-turin-fete-le-25-juin.html




BENOÎT XVI

AUDIENCE GÉNÉRALE

Mercredi 31 octobre 2007



Saint Maxime de Turin


Chers frères et sœurs!

Entre la fin du quatrième siècle et le début du cinquième, un autre Père de l'Eglise, après saint Ambroise, contribua de manière décisive à la diffusion et à la consolidation du christianisme dans l'Italie du Nord:  il s'agit de saint Maxime, que nous retrouvons Evêque de Turin en 398, un an après la mort d'Ambroise. Les informations sur lui sont peu nombreuses; en revanche, un recueil d'environ quatre-vingt-dix Sermons est parvenu jusqu'à nous, d'où ressort le lien profond et vital de l'Evêque avec sa ville, qui atteste un point de contact évident entre le ministère épiscopal d'Ambroise et celui de Maxime.

A cette époque, de graves tensions troublaient le bon déroulement de la coexistence civile ordonnée. Dans ce contexte, Maxime réussit à rassembler le peuple chrétien autour de sa personne de pasteur et de maître. La ville était menacée par des groupes dispersés de barbares qui, entrés par les frontières de l'Est, avançaient jusqu'aux Alpes occidentales. C'est pourquoi Turin était protégée de manière stable par des garnisons militaires, et devenait, lors des moments critiques, le refuge des populations en fuite des campagnes et des centres urbains manquant de protection. Les interventions de Maxime, face à cette situation, témoignent de son engagement pour réagir à la dégradation civile et à la désagrégation. Même s'il reste difficile de déterminer la composition sociale des destinataires des Sermons, il semble que la prédication de Maxime - pour éviter le risque de rester générique - s'adressait de manière spécifique à un groupe sélectionné de la communauté chrétienne de Turin, constitué par de riches propriétaires terriens, dont les possessions se trouvaient dans la campagne turinoise et leur maison en ville. Ce fut un choix pastoral lucide de l'Evêque, qui entrevit dans ce type de prédication la voie la plus efficace pour conserver et renforcer son lien avec le peuple.

Pour illustrer dans cette perspective le ministère de Maxime dans sa ville, on peut s'appuyer par exemple sur les Sermons 17 et 18, consacrés à un thème toujours actuel, qui est celui de la richesse et de la pauvreté dans les communautés chrétiennes. Même dans ce domaine, la ville était parcourue par de graves tensions. Les richesses étaient accumulées et cachées. "Personne ne pense au besoin de l'autre", constate avec amertume l'Evêque dans son dix-septième Sermon. "En effet, de nombreux chrétiens non seulement ne distribuent pas les choses qui leur appartiennent, mais volent également celles des autres. Non seulement, disais-je, en recueillant leur argent, ils ne l'apportent pas aux pieds des apôtres, mais ils éloignent aussi des prêtres leurs frères qui cherchent de l'aide". Et il conclut:  "Dans notre ville, il y a beaucoup de visiteurs ou de pèlerins. Faites ce que vous avez promis" en adhérant à la foi, "pour que l'on ne vous dise pas à vous aussi ce qui fut dit à Ananie:  "Vous n'avez pas menti aux hommes, mais à Dieu"" (Sermon 17, 2-3).

Dans le Sermon suivant, le dix-huitième, Maxime dénonce des formes récurrentes  de  spéculations  sur  les malheurs d'autrui. "Dis-moi, chrétien", ainsi l'Evêque apostrophe-t-il ses fidèles, "dis-moi:  pourquoi as-tu pris la proie abandonnée par les pillards? Pourquoi as-tu introduit dans ta maison un "gain", comme tu le penses toi-même, déchiré et contaminé?". "Mais peut-être", poursuit-il, "dis-tu l'avoir acheté, et crois pour cette raison éviter l'accusation d'avarice. Mais ce n'est pas de cette façon que l'on peut faire correspondre l'achat à la vente. C'est une bonne chose d'acheter, mais en temps de paix, ce que l'on vend librement, et non au cours d'un pillage ce qui a été volé... Agis donc en chrétien et en citoyen qui achète pour restituer" (Sermon  18, 3). Sans en avoir l'air, Maxime arrive ainsi à prêcher une relation profonde entre les devoirs du chrétien et ceux du citoyen. A ses yeux, vivre la vie chrétienne signifie également assumer les engagements civils. Inversement, chaque chrétien qui, "bien que pouvant vivre de son travail, capture la proie d'autrui avec la fureur des fauves"; qui "menace son voisin, qui chaque jour tente de ronger les frontières d'autrui, de s'emparer des produits", ne lui apparaît même plus semblable au renard qui égorge les poules, mais au loup qui se jette sur les porcs (Sermon 41, 4).

Par rapport à l'attitude prudente de défense prise par Ambroise pour justifier sa célèbre initiative de racheter les prisonniers de guerre, apparaissent clairement les changements historiques intervenus dans la relation entre l'Evêque et les institutions de la ville. Désormais soutenu par une législation qui invitait les chrétiens à racheter les prisonniers, Maxime, face à l'écroulement des autorités civiles de l'Empire romain, se sentait pleinement autorisé à exercer dans ce sens un véritable pouvoir de contrôle sur la ville. Ce pouvoir serait ensuite devenu toujours plus vaste et efficace, jusqu'à remplacer l'absence des magistrats et des institutions civiles. Dans ce contexte, Maxime œuvre non seulement pour rallumer chez les fidèles l'amour traditionnel envers la patrie de la ville, mais il proclame également le devoir précis de faire face aux charges fiscales, aussi lourdes et désagréables que celles-ci puissent paraître" (Sermon 26, 2). En somme, le ton et la substance des Sermons cités semblent supposer une conscience accrue de la responsabilité politique de l'Evêque dans les circonstances historiques spécifiques. Il est la "sentinelle" placée dans la ville. Qui sont ces sentinelles, se demande en effet Maxime dans le Sermon 92, "sinon les bienheureux Evêques, qui, placés pour ainsi dire sur un rocher élevé de sagesse pour la défense des peuples, voient de loin les maux qui surviennent?". Et dans le Sermon 89, l'Evêque de Turin illustre aux fidèles ses tâches, utilisant une comparaison singulière entre la fonction épiscopale et celle des abeilles:  "Comme l'abeille", dit-il, les Evêques "observent la chasteté du corps, présentent la nourriture de la vie céleste, utilisent l'aiguillon de la loi. Ils sont purs pour sanctifier, doux pour restaurer, sévères pour punir". C'est ainsi que saint Maxime décrit la tâche de l'Evêque à son époque.

En définitive, l'analyse historique et littéraire révèle une conscience croissante de la responsabilité politique de l'autorité ecclésiastique, dans un contexte dans lequel celle-ci commençait, de fait, à remplacer l'autorité civile. Telle est, en effet, la ligne du développement du ministère de l'Evêque en Italie du nord-ouest, à partir d'Eusèbe, qui "comme un moine" habitait dans sa ville de Verceil, jusqu'à Maxime de Turin, placé "comme sentinelle" sur le rocher le plus haut de la ville. Il est évident que le contexte historique, culturel et social est aujourd'hui profondément différent. Le contexte actuel est plutôt celui qui est dessiné par mon vénéré prédécesseur, le Pape Jean-Paul II, dans l'Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa, dans laquelle il offre une analyse articulée des défis et des signes d'espérance pour l'Eglise en Europe aujourd'hui (6-22). Quoi qu'il en soit, en dehors des conditions différentes, les devoirs du croyant envers sa ville et sa patrie restent toujours valables. Le lien des engagements du "citoyen honnête" avec ceux du "bon chrétien" n'est pas du tout dépassé.

En conclusion, je voudrais rappeler ce que dit la Constitution pastorale Gaudium et spes, pour éclairer l'un des aspects les plus importants de l'unité de la vie du chrétien:  la cohérence entre foi et comportement, entre Evangile et culture. Le Concile exhorte les fidèles à "remplir avec zèle et fidélité leurs tâches terrestres, en se laissant conduire par l'esprit de l'Evangile. Ils s'éloignent de la vérité ceux qui, sachant que nous n'avons point ici-bas de cité permanente, mais que nous marchons vers la cité future, croient pouvoir, pour cela, négliger leurs tâches humaines, sans s'apercevoir que la foi même, compte tenu de la vocation de chacun, leur en fait un devoir plus pressant" (n. 43). En suivant le magistère de saint Maxime et de nombreux autres Pères, nous faisons nôtre le souhait du Concile, que les fidèles soient toujours plus désireux de "mener toutes leurs activités terrestres, en unissant dans une synthèse vitale tous les efforts humains, familiaux, professionnels, scientifiques, techniques, avec les valeurs religieuses, sous la souveraine ordonnance desquelles tout se trouve coordonné à la gloire de Dieu" (ibid.) et donc au bien de l'humanité.

* * *

Je salue les pèlerins francophones, tout particulièrement les jeunes servants de messe et les membres des aumôneries de lycées. En suivant l’enseignement de saint Maxime, je vous invite tous à vivre une cohérence toujours plus résolue entre la foi et la vie, entre l’Évangile et la culture.


© Copyright 2007 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

SOURCE : http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/fr/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20071031.html


« Voici le jour que le Seigneur a fait » (Ps 117,24)

Par Saint Maxime de Turin (?-v. 420),

évêque . Sermon 36 ; PL 57, 605 (trad. coll. Icthus t. 10, p. 262) 

Laissons éclater notre joie, mes frères, aujourd'hui comme hier.

Si les ombres de la nuit ont interrompu nos réjouissances, le jour saint n'est pas achevé :

-la clarté que répand la joie du Seigneur est éternelle. Le Christ nous illuminait hier ; aujourd'hui encore resplendit sa lumière.

« Jésus Christ est le même hier et aujourd'hui » dit le bienheureux apôtre Paul (He 13,8).

Oui, pour nous le Christ s'est fait le jour. Pour nous, il est né aujourd'hui, comme l'annonce Dieu son Père par la voix de David :

-« Tu es mon fils ; aujourd'hui je t'ai engendré » (Ps 2,7).

Qu'est-ce à dire ?

Qu'il n'a pas engendré son fils un jour, mais qu'il l'a engendré jour et lumière lui-même. 

Oui, le Christ est notre aujourd'hui : splendeur vivante et sans déclin, il ne cesse d'embraser le monde qu'il porte (He 1,3) et ce flamboiement éternel semble n'être qu'un jour.

« Mille ans sont à tes yeux comme un seul jour » s'écrie le prophète (Ps 89,4).

Oui, le Christ est ce jour unique, parce que unique est l'éternité de Dieu.

Il est notre aujourd'hui : le passé, enfui, ne lui échappe pas ; l'avenir, inconnu, n'a pas de secrets pour lui. Lumière souveraine, il étreint tout, il connaît tout, à tous les temps il est présent et il les possède tous.

Devant lui, le passé ne peut pas s'effondrer, ni l'avenir se dérober.

Cet aujourd'hui n'est pas le temps où selon la chair il est né de la Vierge Marie, ni celui où selon la divinité, il sort de la bouche de Dieu son Père, mais le temps où il est ressuscité d'entre les morts :

-« Il a ressuscité Jésus, dit l'apôtre Paul ; ainsi est-il écrit au psaume deuxième : ' Tu es mon fils ; aujourd'hui je t'ai engendré '» (Ac 13,33). 

Vraiment, il est notre aujourd'hui, quand, jailli de la nuit épaisse des enfers, il embrase les hommes.

Vraiment, il est notre jour, celui que les noirs complots de ses ennemis n'ont pas pu obscurcir.

Nul jour mieux que ce jour n'a su accueillir la lumière : à tous les morts, il a rendu et le jour et la vie.
La vieillesse avait étendu les hommes dans la mort ; il les a relevés dans la vigueur de son aujourd'hui.


SOURCE : http://paris.syro-orthodoxe-francophone.over-blog.fr/2015/04/voici-le-jour-que-le-seigneur-a-fait-saint-maxime-de-turin.html




BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Saint Peter's Square

Wednesday, 31 October 2007


Saint Maximus of Turin

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Between the end of the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth, another Father of the Church after St Ambrose made a great contribution to the spread and consolidation of Christianity in Northern Italy: St Maximus, whom we come across in 398 as Bishop of Turin, a year after St Ambrose's death. Very little is known about him; in compensation, we have inherited a collection of about 90 of his Sermons. It is possible to perceive in them the Bishop's profound and vital bond with his city, which attests to an evident point of contact between the episcopal ministry of Ambrose and that of Maximus.

At that time serious tensions were disturbing orderly civil coexistence. In this context, as pastor and teacher, Maximus succeeded in obtaining the Christian people's support. The city was threatened by various groups of barbarians. They entered by the Eastern passes, which went as far as the Western Alps. Turin was therefore permanently garrisoned by troops and at critical moments became a refuge for the populations fleeing from the countryside and urban centres where there was no protection. Maximus' interventions in the face of this situation testify to his commitment to respond to the civil degradation and disintegration. Although it is still difficult to determine the social composition of those for whom the Sermons were intended, it would seem that Maximus' preaching - to avoid the risk of vagueness - was specifically addressed to a chosen nucleus of the Christian community of Turin, consisting of rich landowners who had property in the Turinese countryside and a house in the city. This was a clear-sighted pastoral decision by the Bishop, who saw this type of preaching as the most effective way to preserve and strengthen his own ties with the people.

To illustrate this view of Maximus' ministry in his city, I would like to point out for example Sermons 17 and 18, dedicated to an ever timely topic: wealth and poverty in Christian communities. In this context too, the city was fraught with serious tensions. Riches were accumulated and hidden. "No one thinks about the needs of others", the Bishop remarked bitterly in his 17th Sermon. "In fact, not only do many Christians not share their own possessions but they also rob others of theirs. Not only, I say, do they not bring the money they collect to the feet of the apostles, but in addition, they drag from priests' feet their own brethren who are seeking help". And he concluded: "In our cities there are many guests or pilgrims. Do what you have promised", adhering to faith, "so that what was said to Ananias will not be said to you as well: "You have not lied to men, but to God'" (Sermon 17, 2-3).

In the next Sermon, the 18th, Maximus condemns the recurring forms of exploitation of others' misfortunes. "Tell me, Christian", the Bishop reprimands his faithful, "tell me why you snatched the booty abandoned by the plunderers? Why did you take home "ill-gotten gains' as you yourself think, torn apart and contaminated?". "But perhaps", he continues, "you say you have purchased them, and thereby believe you are avoiding the accusation of avarice. However, this is not the way to equate purchasing with selling. "It is a good thing to make purchases, but that means what is sold freely in times of peace, not goods looted during the sack of a city... So act as a Christian and a citizen who purchases in order to repay" (Sermon 18: 3). Without being too obvious, Maximus thus managed to preach a profound relationship between a Christian's and a citizen's duties. In his eyes, living a Christian life also meant assuming civil commitments. Vice-versa, every Christian who, "despite being able to live by his own work, seizes the booty of others with the ferocity of wild beasts"; who "tricks his neighbour, who tries every day to nibble away at the boundaries of others, to gain possession of their produce", does not compare to a fox biting off the heads of chickens but rather to a wolf savaging pigs (Sermon 41, 4).

In comparison with the cautious, defensive attitude that Ambrose adopted to justify his famous project of redeeming prisoners of war, the historical changes that occurred in the relationship between the Bishop and the municipal institutions are clearly evident. By now sustained through legislation that invited Christians to redeem prisoners, Maximus, with the collapse of the civil authority of the Roman Empire, felt fully authorized in this regard to exercise true control over the city. This control was to become increasingly extensive and effective until it replaced the irresponsible evasion of the magistrates and civil institutions. In this context, Maximus not only strove to rekindle in the faithful the traditional love for their hometown, but he also proclaimed the precise duty to pay taxes, however burdensome and unpleasant they might appear (cf. Sermon 26, 2). In short, the tone and substance of theSermons imply an increased awareness of the Bishop's political responsibility in the specific historical circumstances. He was "the lookout tower" posted in the city. Whoever could these watchmen be, Maximus wonders in Sermon 92, "other than the most blessed Bishops set on a lofty rock of wisdom, so to speak, to defend the peoples and to warn them about the evils approaching in the distance?". And in Sermon 89 the Bishop of Turin describes his tasks to his faithful, making a unique comparison between the Bishop's function and the function of bees: "Like the bee", he said, Bishops "observe bodily chastity, they offer the food of heavenly life using the sting of the law. They are pure in sanctifying, gentle in restoring and severe in punishing". With these words, St Maximus described the task of the Bishop in his time.

In short, historical and literary analysis show an increasing awareness of the political responsibility of the ecclesiastical authority in a context in which it continued de facto to replace the civil authority. 

Indeed, the ministry of the Bishop of Northwest Italy, starting with Eusebius who dwelled in his Vercelli "like a monk" to Maximus of Turin, positioned "like a sentinel" on the highest rock in the city, developed along these lines. It is obvious that the contemporary historical, cultural and social context is profoundly different. Today's context is rather the context outlined by my venerable Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa, in which he offers an articulate analysis of the challenges and signs of hope for the Church in Europe today (nn. 6-22). In any case, on the basis of the changed conditions, the believer's duties to his city and his homeland still remain effective. The combination of the commitments of the "honest citizen" with those of the "good Christian" has not in fact disappeared.

In conclusion, to highlight one of the most important aspects of the unity of Christian life, I would like to recall the words of the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes: consistency between faith and conduct, between Gospel and culture. The Council exhorts the faithful "to perform their duties faithfully in the spirit of the Gospel. It is a mistake to think that, because we have here no lasting city, but seek the city which is to come, we are entitled to shirk our earthly responsibilities; this is to forget that by our faith we are bound all the more to fulfil these responsibilities according to the vocation of each one" (n. 43). In following the Magisterium of St Maximus and of many other Fathers, let us make our own the Council's desire that the faithful may be increasingly anxious to "carry out their earthly activity in such a way as to integrate human, domestic, professional, scientific and technical enterprises with religious values, under whose supreme direction all things are ordered to the glory of God" (ibid.) and thus for humanity's good.


To special groups:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I warmly greet the Sisters of the Resurrection present in Rome for the Beatification of their Foundress Mother Celine Chludzinska Borzecka. May the Lord grant them the grace of following generously in her footsteps. I also welcome the members of the Risso Kossei-kai Buddhist group from Japan. Upon all the English-speaking visitors, including those from England, Wales, Ireland, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, the Philippines and the United States, I invoke God's abundant Blessings.

Lastly, I address my greeting to the young people, the sick and the newly-weds. May the forthcoming celebrations of the Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of All Souls be a favourable opportunity for each and every one to raise their gaze to Heaven and to contemplate the future, ultimate and definitive realities that await us.


© Copyright 2007 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

SOURCE : http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20071031.html

Maximus, Bishop of Turin

Maximus (16) , bp. of Turin, writer, reckoned as Maximus II., the third bishop, by Cappelletti (Le Chiese d’Ital. xiv. 12, 14, 76), who puts a Maximus I. in 390 as the first bishop. Ughelli ( Ital. Sac. iv. 1022) counts them as one (cf. Boll. Acta SS. 25 Jun. v. 48). He was present at the council of Milan in 451 and signed the letter to pope Leo (Leo, Ep. 97; Labbe, iv. 583). He was also at the council of Rome in 465, where his name appears next after pope Hilary's, apparently on account of his seniority (Labbe, v. 86). Gennadius of Massilia (d. 496) gives a sketch of his works, most of which are still extant, but strangely says that he died in the reign of Arcadius and Honorius, i.e.before 423. This has led some to think that there were two bishops of this name, but the early date given by Gennadius seems irreconcilable with the many allusions to Nestorian doctrines in the homilies on the Nativity, and the general opinion is that he is wrong (Gennad. de Scrip. Eccl. c. xl. in Patr. Lat. lviii. 1081). The works of Maximus are in vol. lvii. of Migne's Patrologia Latina . They consist of 117 homilies, 116 sermons, 3 tractates on baptism, 2 (of very doubtful authority) entitled respectively contra Paganosand contra Judaeos , and a collection of expositions de Capitulis Evangeliorum (also doubtful). Many of the sermons and homilies were formerly ascribed to St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Leo, etc. Several are on the great church festivals.

Points of interest in the homilies and sermons are: the notice of fixed lections (e.g. Hom, 36 and 37); abstinence from flesh meat in Lent (Hom. 44); no fasting or kneeling at prayer between Easter and Pentecost (Hom. 61). In Hom. 62, on the other hand, he mentions that the vigil of Pentecost was observed as a fast. This custom therefore probably originated in his time. St. Leo, mentioning the fast of Pentecost, makes it clear that he means the fast immediately following the festival. In Hom. 83 Maximus comments on the creed, which is exactly the same as the Roman creed given by Rufinus. Among contemporary events alluded to may be noticed the synod of Milan in 389, at which Jovinian was condemned (Hom. 9). Seven homilies (86–92) refer to the terror of the city at an impending barbaric invasion, apparently Attila's inroad, 452. Another homily (94) refers to the destruction of the church of Milan on the same occasion. He several times refers to superstitions in his diocese; their observance of the Calends of Jan. (16), their tumults during an eclipse (100), the idolatry still lurking among the lower orders (Serm. 101, 102). There are homilies on the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, on St. Lawrence, St. Cyprian, St. Agnes, and St. Eusebius of Vercelli, and several on the festival of SS. Peter and Paul which are worth particular attention. In some of these he uses very decided language on the supremacy of St. Peter, e.g. , speaking of him as the keystone of the church (Hom. 54), the "magister navis" (Serm. 114); and as entrusted with "totius Ecclesiae gubernacula" (Hom. 70). But in other places he speaks of St. Peter as supreme in discipline, St. Paul in doctrine, and remarks "inter ipsos quis cui praeponatur incertum est" (72). Nowhere does he allude to the church of Rome as inheriting exclusively the supremacy of St. Peter. Gennadius mentions a work of Maximus de Spiritali Baptismi Gratia , and three treatises on this subject, formerly ascribed to St. Augustine, are published by Migne with the works of Maximus, on the strength of three ancient MSS., one of which the church of Turin possesses. Nothing in their style is against Migne's conclusion. The first treatise dwells on the significance of the anointing of the ears before baptism; the second gives an interrogatory creed identical with the one mentioned above in the homilies, and alludes to the custom of baptizing on the third day after the profession of faith; the third speaks of the anointing of the head after baptism, by which is conferred the full regal and sacerdotal dignity spoken of by St. Peter, and of the custom of washing the feet at the same time, after the example of Christ. See F. Savio's Gli Antichi Veseovi d'Italia (Turin, 1899), p. 283.
[M.F.A.]

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Bibliography Information

Wace, Henry. Entry for 'Maximus, Bishop of Turin'. A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography. http://.studylight.org/dictionaries/hwd/view.cgi?n=554. 1911.

SOURCE : http://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hwd/view.cgi?n=554

June 25

St. Maximus, Bishop of Turin, Confessor

HE was one of the lights of the fifth century, and was indefatigable in preaching the word of God, as Gennadius takes notice; for which function he eminently qualified himself by making the holy scriptures the subject of his continual study and meditation. He assisted at the council of Milan in 451, and at that of Rome under Pope Hilary, in 465, in which latter he subscribed the first after the pope. He died soon after this year. We have a considerable number of his homilies extant on the principal festivals of the year, and on several saints, as St. Stephen, St. Agnes, St. Laurence, St. Cyprian, &c. In his homily on the holy martyrs Octavius, Aventius, and Solutor, whose relics were kept at Turin, where they had received their crowns, he says, “All the martyrs are to be honoured by us, but especially those whose relics we possess. They assist us by their prayers; they preserve us as to our bodies in this life, and receive us when we depart hence.” In his two homilies on Thanksgiving, 1 he earnestly inculcates the duty of paying daily the homage of praise to our Creator, for which he recommends the Psalms: he strongly insists that no one ought ever to neglect morning and evening prayer, or his thanksgiving before and after every meal; he exhorts all persons to make the sign of the cross before every action, saying, “that by the sign of Jesus Christ (devoutly used) a blessing is ensured to us in all things.” We have several other sermons of St. Maximus in the new edition of St. Ambrose’s works; and Mabillon 2 has published twelve others. In the fifth, the saint declaims against the abuses of New Year’s Day, reprehends the custom of making presents to the rich at that time without giving alms to the poor, and condemns hypocritical formalities of friendship in which the heart has no share. The tenth is written “Against heretics who sell the pardon of sins,” whose pretended priests exacted money for absolving penitents instead of bidding them do penance, and weep for their offences. M. Muratori, in his Anecdota, 3 has given us several other homilies of St. Maximus from a manuscript of the Ambrosian library above one thousand years old, written in Longobardic letters. From those on St. Eusebius of Vercelli it appears that the author was himself a native of Vercelli. 4 The name of St. Maximus occurs in the Roman Martyrology, and several lessons from his homilies are inserted in the Roman Breviary. See Cave, Labbe, de Script. Eccl. Ceillier.

Note 1. P. 43, 44. [back]

Note 2. Musæum Italicum, t. 1, p. 9. [back]

Note 3. Anecdot. t. 3, p. 6. [back]

Note 4. The whole collection of the sermons of St. Maximus which are extant, is most correctly given, with Muratori’s remarks, &c. by Polet, a printer at Venice, at the end of his edition of the works of St. Leo, anno 1748. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VI: June. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

 SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/6/252.html

Maximus of Turin B (RM)

Born in Vercelli, Italy; died c. 470. Bishop Saint Maximus of Turin (Italy) was indefatigable in his preaching. Many of his famous homilies about the primary feasts, several saints (Stephen, Agnes, Cyprian, Laurence, and others, especially the martyrs of Turin), and other associated writings are still available for our study. He writes: "All the martyrs are to be honored by us, but especially those whose relics we possess. They assist us by their prayers; they preserve us as to our bodies in this life, and receive us when we depart hence."


In his two homilies on thanksgiving, he earnestly inculcates the duty of praising God daily, especially using the Psalms. He strongly insists that no one ought ever to neglect morning and evening prayer, or his thanksgiving before and after every meal. This saintly bishop exhorts us to make the sign of the cross before every action, saying, "that by the sign of Jesus Christ (devoutly used) a blessing is ensured to us in all things." The saint criticizes the abuses of New Year's Day, especially the then prevalent custom of giving presents to the rich without at the same time giving alms to the poor, and the hypocritical formalities of friendship in which the heart has no share. He also wrote "Against heretics who sell the pardon of sins," whose pretended priests exacted money for absolving penitents instead of bidding them do penance, and weep for their offenses.

Maximus participated in the council of Milan in 451, and at that of Rome under Pope Saint Hilary, in 465, in which latter he subscribed just after the pope. He had to endure much during his episcopacy because of the barbarian incursions into Italy (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth). In art, Saint Maximus is a bishop with a hind near him (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0625.shtml
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Bienheureux DOMINIQUE HENARES, évêque dominicain et martyr, et bienheureux FRANCIS CHIEN, tertiaire dominicain et martyr

June 25, 2015, 6:53 am
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Blessed Dominic Henares, OP, and Francis Chien MM (AC)


Died in Tonkin (Vietnam) in 1838; beatified in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII; they may be included in the list of those canonized as Martyrs of Vietnam. Nearly 100 years after the death of Blessed Peter Sanz, two more Dominicans died for the faith, one of whom is celebrated today. Bishop Dominic Henares and the tertiary catechist Francis Chien died together with many others during the Annamite persecution.


Bishop Henares was born in Spain in 1765. He became bishop- coadjutor to Blessed Ignatius Delgado in 1803. In 1838, Bishop Henares, Bishop Ignatius Delgado, the apostolic-vicar of Tonkin, and Francis Chien were captured during a persecution stirred up by the mandarin. The prelates and a young priest had been hidden in the village of Kien-lao, and were accidentally betrayed by a little child who was cleverly questioned by a pagan teacher searching for the foreigners.

Alarmed at the sudden activities, the captors of Bishop Delgado put him into a small cage which was locked around him, and then put into jail with criminals. Delgado was tortured but refused to hint at the location of the others and was eventually killed. The young priest escaped.

Bishop Henares was captured at the same time. He had hidden himself in a boat, and the nervousness of the boatmen gave him away. Five hundred soldiers were detached to bring in the two dangerous criminals--the bishop and his catechist. They, too, were questioned endlessly. Two weeks after the death of Bishop Delgado, Henares was led out and beheaded in company with Chien.

The relics of all three martyrs were recovered in part, and were honorably buried by the next Dominicans to come on the scene-- Bishop Hermosilla and his companions, who would, as they knew, also be the next to die. Many of the records of these brave men were lost or deliberately destroyed, and many of them--we hope--may still be found in various neglected spots which war and trouble have caused to be overlooked (Benedictines, Dorcy).


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0625.shtml
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Saint ATHANASE l'ATHONITE, abbé et fondateur

July 5, 2015, 12:49 pm
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Saint Athanase l'Athonite

Fondateur de la Lavra au mont Athos (✝ v. 1004)

Abramios naît à Trébizonde, sur les bords de la Mer Noire, dans une famille de la haute aristocratie byzantine. Pour parfaire ses études, il se rend à Constantinople où il obtient un poste de professeur. Vient à passer par la capitale, saint Michel Maleïnos, higoumène d'un monastère de Bithynie. La rencontre du saint moine détermine la vocation du professeur Abramios qui repart en Bithynie avec Michel. Il reçoit le nom monastique d'Athanase et se lie d'amitié avec le neveu de Michel, Nicéphore Phocas, futur empereur byzantin. Au bout de quelques années, Athanase disparaît. On le retrouve, ermite incognito, sur le Mont Athos, cherchant la vie parfaite dans des cabanes de branchages. Athanase voulait rester seul avec le Seul. Mais le Seul et l'empereur byzantin en avaient décidé autrement. Le soutien impérial lui donne les moyens nécessaires pour fonder le grand monastère de Lavra sur la Sainte Montagne, puis d'autres monastères, malgré l'opposition des ermites pour qui la vie commune est une forme abâtardie du monachisme. Dans ces fondations de monastères, l'ami de l'empereur met la main à la pâte et se fait maçon, menuisier, charpentier. Il mourra écrasé par la coupole d'une église à laquelle il travaillait.

Au Mont Athos, vers 1004, saint Athanase, supérieur humble et pacifique, qui établit dans la Grande Laure la vie cénobitique, avec des cellules au voisinage de l’église.


Martyrologe romain


ATHANASE L'ATHONITE (entre 925 et 930-1002)
Abraamios, le futur Athanase, naît à Trébizonde, où, orphelin, il grandit, épris de vie intérieure, dans la meilleure société. Après 945, il fait à Constantinople une brillante carrière universitaire, mais rompt avec le siècle après avoir rencontré un grand spirituel, Michel Maléïnos, higoumène du mont Kymina, où Abraamios devient moine sous le nom d'Athanase (vers 952). Hésychaste accompli, il craint pour sa solitude devant l'afflux des moines et, vers 958, fuit à l'Athos où ne vivent alors que des ermites. Il entretient une amitié difficile avec le grand chef de guerre Nicéphore Phocas qui est un disciple laïc de Maléïnos et qui, ne pouvant arracher durablement Athanase à l'Athos, lui demande d'y construire une « laure » où lui-même compte se retirer. La Grande Laure (Lavra) s'élève ainsi de 961 à 963, destinée, semble-t-il, à favoriser une vie semi-érémitique. Mais, après l'accession à l'empire et l'assassinat de Nicéphore, Athanase, bouleversé, se rallie définitivement au cénobitisme : Lavra devient la première communauté de l'Athos, à laquelle d'autres s'ajoutent du vivant même d'Athanase, constituant la forte structure du monachismeathonite. Athanase meurt accidentellement en 1002, dans un effondrement, alors qu'il visite les travaux du catholicon.
Les règles (hypotypose et typicon), écrites par Athanase pour sa communauté, reprennent et accentuent dans le sens de l'ordre et de la régularité les dispositions du Stoudios. La journée du moine est partagée entre l'office, la lecture et le travail manuel ; l'idéal proposé est de fraternité évangélique, dans la soumission mutuelle (hypotagé). Toutefois, par rapport à la règle stoudite, l'insistance se déplace de l'hypotagéà l'obéissance au supérieur (hypakoé), où l'on trouve peut-être une réminiscence de la règle bénédictine. Athanase, d'autre part, a prévu que quelques moines pourraient vivre en hésychastes. Ainsi se fera, non sans tension, la synthèse athonite de l'érémitisme et du cénobitisme, avec un large éventail de vocations.
Olivier CLÉMENT, « ATHANASE L'ATHONITE (entre 925 et 930-1002) », Encyclopædia Universalis [en ligne], consulté le 5 juillet 2015. URL : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/athanase-l-athonite/

SOURCE : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/athanase-l-athonite/


Athanasius the Athonite, Abbot (AC)

Born at Trebizond c. 920; died c. 1003. Son of an Antiochene and baptized Abraham, Athanasius studied at Constantinople. He was successful in his studies and a safe career in the civil service was his for the asking. But instead he became a monk at Saint Michael's monastery at Kymina, Bithynia. This was a laura, i.e., a group of monasteries where the monks lived individual lives around their church.


To avoid being named abbot of Saint Michael's when the abbot, Saint Michael Maleinos, died, Athanasius hid in a cell at Karyes, changed his name, and pretended to be illiterate. He migrated to Mount Athos in Greece. Mount Athos, one of the three peaks on the Chalcedonian Peninsula which juts out into the Aegean Sea, is one of the most exquisitely lovely places in the world. It is a land of red and ocher and gold, of cypresses and begonias and bougainvilleas, of fantastic roofs and brilliant sunlight, of sparkling sea and arid mountain.

Saint Athanasius was not the first holy man to live on Mount Athos, for since the 9th century anchorites, such as Peter the Athonite and Euthymius the Thessalonian, had lived in caves among the rocks.

When he reached Mount Athos in 958, an old friend from Constantinople, Nicephorus Phocas, asked his help in preparing an expedition against the Saracens in 961. Phocas insisted on appointing him almoner of his fleet.

On its successful completion, Athanasius returned to Mount Athos and with money given him by a grateful Phocas began the first monastery on Athos in 961. Athanasius wanted to found a new kind of monastery, the so-called idiorhythmic monastery, where each inmate could follow his own rhythm and tempo. His hope was that anchorites, hermits, wandering monks, and cenobites could all live together in his laura.

When Nicephorus Phocas became emperor in 963, the year the monastery was dedicated, Athanasius fled to Cyprus to avoid being called to court, but the emperor found him, reassured him, and gave him money to continue his work on Athos.

Athanasius encountered great opposition from hermits living on the mountain long before he had arrived there as he attempted to install the laura system there. He escaped two murder attempts, and resistance ended only when Emperor John Tzimisces forbade any opposition to Athanasius.

In time he became superior over 58 communities of monks and hermits on the mount. Thousands of monks still live and pray there today in 20 monasteries; it is now and has been for centuries the center of Eastern Orthodox monasticism and not in communion with Rome since shortly after the saint's death. The monastery that Athanasius founded is still the largest.

Though celibate--indeed every woman, every female animal and every smooth-faced creature is banned--they are not held to fasting or abstinence. They are obliged to obey an abbot, but they do not have to attend services except on major feast days. They provide their own food and are not bound to poverty, and in fact many of them keep their personal wealth.

It might perhaps sound as if they are indulgent to themselves and giving themselves too much personal freedom. But, in fact, the system confers heightened value on their virtuous acts, because they are done freely, and not out of constraint of obedience.

The idiorhythmic rule that Athanasius established was far in advance of his times--a radical departure from the customs of other monasteries. He made his monastery as little like a barracks as possible. He did, however, force his monks to read and study the Bible and one of his first concerns was to open a school next to the monastery.

Throughout his life he despised worldly honors as greatly as he despised ignorance. He had a particular contempt for gluttony, even going so far as to excommunicate those monks he found guilty of it. Since his day his monks have lived an independent existence, taking gifts from no one and providing their own simple needs themselves.

His memory is preserved not only in the rule that he established and the buildings that he erected but also in the hundreds of trees that he planted in the courtyards and on the terraces, in the imposing library he founded, and in the reliquaries of Nicephorus Phocas, whom he had served.

A Catholic one was being added to the monastery, a church in the form of a Greek cross where the "nikterinos" or night office was to be recited. Athanasius, who was supervising the work, and five of his monks were killed when the arch of a church on which they were working collapsed (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

An anonymous Russian icon of Athanasius with Saints Barlaam and Joasaph is available on the web.


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0705.shtml

Voir aussi : http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/moines/athanase.pdf
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Saint ISAÏE, prophète et martyr

July 6, 2015, 1:20 pm
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Saint Isaïe

prophète de l'Ancien Testament (8ème s. av JC.)

Il annonça le Christ, Messie et salut des nations. Il reçut sa vocation dans le Temple de Jérusalem où il eut la révélation de la sainteté de Dieu et de l'indignité de l'homme. Grand prophète messianique, il annonça la naissance mystérieuse de l'Emmanuel, descendant de David, qui ferait régner la paix et la justice et répandrait la connaissance de Dieu.


Lire dans la Bible, le Livre d'Isaïe, aelf.


Les Églises d'Orient fêtent le 9 mai celui qui prophétisa la Passion du Christ, "le serviteur souffrant", et la virginité de la Sainte Mère de Dieu, la toujours Vierge Marie. L'Église d'Occident le fête le 6 juillet.



Commémoraison de saint Isaïe, prophète, qui, au VIIIe siècle avant le Christ, aux jours d’Ozias, de Jotham, d’Achaz et d’Ézéchias, rois de Juda, fut envoyé pour révéler au peuple infidèle et pécheur un Seigneur fidèle et sauveur, qui accomplirait la promesse jurée par Dieu à David. Selon la tradition, il serait mort martyr, en Judée, sous le roi Manassé.


Martyrologe romain


Que sait-on d'Isaïe ?

Quand vivait Isaïe ? Comment vivait-on à son époque ? Quels furent les grands événements ? Quel est le cœur de son message ? Voici quelques éléments de réponse…

• Que sait-on d'Isaïe ? Quand est-il né ? 

La date de la naissance d'Isaïe nous est inconnue. Mais on connaît la date à laquelle il exerça son activité de prophète. C'était à peu près entre 740 et 700 avant Jésus Christ. On peut en déduire qu’il naquit vers 765-760. Nous ne savons pas grand-chose de sa vie privée. Son père s'appelait Amoç (Isaïe, 1,1). Isaïe était marié. Dans ses écrits, sa femme reçoit le nom de « prophétesse » (8,3). Deux de ses enfants y sont aussi désignés par des noms à portée symbolique : Shéar-Yashouv, ce qui veut dire « Un reste reviendra » (ou se convertira) et Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, ce qui veut dire « Proche est le pillage, imminente la déprédation » (7,3; 8,3). Ces noms serviront à exprimer le message du prophète à certains moments.

Isaïe parle très peu de lui, de ses sentiments. Une fois seulement, il donne libre cours à son désarroi face au comportement de ses contemporains (22,4). À deux reprises, on le voit aussi se démarquer de ses contemporains (7,13; 8, 11-18).

• Quelles étaient les grandes puissances de l'époque ?

Deux puissances occupent le devant de la scène : l'Assyrie et l'Égypte. L'Assyrie connaît un renouveau et une forte expansion à partir de 745, grâce à 1'arrivée sur le trône d'un roi qui fera beaucoup parler de lui : Tiglat-Piléser (ou Téglat-Phalasar) III. L'Égypte, elle, est alors plongée dans une situation presque anarchique qui durera jusqu'à la fin du 8° siècle. Cependant, pour les petits royaumes de Syrie et de Palestine, elle continue à être une puissance avec laquelle il faut compter. C'est vers elle qu'on se tournera, en vain d'ailleurs, pour chercher de l'aide contre les Assyriens. Quant à la Babylonie, elle sera annexée par Tiglat-Piléser III. Malgré quelques tentatives pour prendre la tête d'un vaste mouvement anti-assyrien incluant même le royaume de Juda (Is 39), elle restera très marginalisée.

• Connaît-on la situation intérieure du royaume de Juda où vivait Isaïe ? Et le royaume du Nord ?

La situation intérieure du royaume de Juda évolue au long de la vie du prophète. L'enfance et la jeunesse d'Isaïe se déroulent à un moment de grande prospérité. À partir de 735, cette prospérité est fortement limitée puisque Jérusalem se retrouve en situation de vassale de l'Assyrie. La plus grande partie du ministère prophétique d'Isaïe se déroule donc dans ce cadre de vassalité. Les tributs à payer aux Assyriens réduisent considérablement le niveau de vie des gens, car il faut bien trouver l'argent quelque part. À  partir de 701, la situation est encore plus catastrophique à la suite de la révolte du roi Ézékias : il doit payer un lourd tribut et perd une partie du territoire national (2 Rois 18,14-16).

Dans le Royaume du Nord, la situation est la même jusqu'à l'arrivée des Assyriens. Entre 734 et 722, la vie est précaire à cause de la perte d'une très grande partie du territoire, à cause aussi de la déportation de bon nombre d'habitants et du lourd tribut à payer aux Assyriens. Le Royaume du Nord disparaît en 722.

• Isaïe avait-il des liens avec les hommes politiques ? Quelle était l'importance d'un roi à cette époque ? Un prophète pouvait-il facilement le contredire?

Isaïe fréquentait certainement la cour royale. Il devait faire partie de l'aristocratie du royaume. Certains textes démontrent les liens étroits du prophète avec la cour, vu l'aisance avec laquelle il s'adresse au roi et à certains fonctionnaires, vu aussi les consultations dont il est l'objet (Is 7,1-7; 22,15-25; 37,1-7; 38-39). En outre, il est fort probable qu'Isaïe ait été le prophète officiel du roi Ézékias, ce qui expliquerait, entre autres, sa fréquentation de la cour.

Le roi à l'époque avait une importance capitale. Dans la mentalité du temps, il constituait la clé de voûte de l'ensemble du système socio-religieux. Il était le « fils » de Dieu, chargé de rendre la justice, de conduire la guerre, de gagner la paix et d'apporter le bien-être au peuple. Il avait aussi l'autorité suprême sur le temple, les prêtres étant ses fonctionnaires.

Le prophète qui critiquait le roi s'attirait inévitablement les foudres du pouvoir, car il mettait en cause le fonctionnement de ce bel édifice social, voire le système lui-même. Il suffit de lire Amos 7,10-17 pour s'en rendre compte. Mais c'est là justement que les prophètes reconnus comme authentiques représentants de la parole de Dieu donnent une des preuves de leur « véracité ». Ils refusent d'identifier la religion d'Israël avec la religion du roi; ils critiquent celui-ci en conséquence. C'est une des caractéristiques essentielles du prophétisme en Israël. Isaïe croyait fortement en la valeur de la monarchie comme médiation de salut pour Israël, mais cela ne l'empêchait pas de critiquer rudement le roi et la cour.

• Y avait-il des riches, des pauvres ? Les classes sociales étaient-elles très marquées ?

Amos, Osée, Isaïe et Michée, tous les quatre prophètes du 8° siècle, critiquent âprement la violence et l'oppression dont sont victimes les petits et les pauvres. La situation sociale s'est extrêmement dégradée à cette époque et la différence entre classes s'est donc renforcée. La critique sociale d'Isaïe, comme celle des trois autres prophètes cités, constitue un élément essentiel du ministère prophétique. La critique se porte aussi sur la pratique cultuelle, étant entendu que les prophètes ne délient jamais la pratique du culte de celle de la justice, celle-ci étant à leurs yeux essentielle.

• Est-il possible de résumer le cœur de son message en quelques lignes ?

Isaïe est un homme de son temps qui, en tant qu'envoyé du Dieu d'Israël, le Saint, va intervenir dans tous les domaines de la vie de son peuple. Son époque étant très mouvementée politiquement et socialement, il va dénoncer constamment le désir de la cour et du peuple de conduire leur vie en marge du plan du Dieu d'Israël : alliances politiques pour sauver le pouvoir (30,1-8), oppression des pauvres pour s'enrichir soi-même (1,21-28), tout cela accompagné d'un culte « des lèvres » (1,10-20). On pourrait citer bien des textes ! Pour Isaïe, la vie du peuple et des institutions qui sont à son service, roi, prophètes, sages, culte, n'a de sens qu'enracinée dans le Saint d'Israël qui a choisi Sion, son roi et son temple, pourvu que tous répondent par une foi sans concessions.

• Quel langage le prophète utilisait-il ?

Tout est bon pour faire passer le message prophétique. Chaque prophète a ses propres caractéristiques, mais on trouve souvent des oracles de jugement, avec le couple « accusation/sentence » (5,8-10; 30,15-17), des oracles de salut (7,3-9), des paraboles (5,17; 28,23-29), des lamentations (29,1-8), des poèmes de toutes sortes (9,1-6; 11,1-9), des actions symboliques (8,1-4; 20,1-6), des visions (6). Si les premiers prophètes avaient surtout une activité orale, ils commencèrent assez vite à mettre par écrit certains oracles (Is 8,16; 30,8), créant ensuite les premières collections d’oracles. Il n'est pas impossible que plus tard, Ézéchiel par exemple, ait écrit directement ses oracles sans passer par une proclamation orale préalable de son message.


© SBEV. Jésus Asurmendi

Note :

Isaïe : un livre... trois auteurs !

Le livre d’Isaïe est composé de trois parties rédigées à des époques différences et par des auteurs différents.

Les chapitres 1 à 39 sont en grande partie l'œuvre d'Isaïe lui-même, et c'est pourquoi on parle du “ livre d'Isaïe ” pour l’ensemble du livre. Mais, plus tard, de lointains disciples se réclameront de lui, et leurs œuvres seront ajoutées à la sienne : tout d’abord un disciple du temps de l'Exil, auteur des chapitres 40 à 55, puis un autre prophète anonyme, après l'Exil, auteur des derniers chapitres (56 à 66).

Le premier auteur (ch. 1 à 39) est donc Isaïe lui-même. C’est le “ premier Isaïe ”, ou “ proto-Isaïe ” (du grec prôtos, premier). Pour désigner le second auteur (ch. 40–55) on utilise l’expression de “ second-Isaïe ”, ou “ deutéro-Isaïe ” (du grec, deutéro“ deuxième ”), et pour le dernier rédacteur (ch. 56–66), les spécialistes parlent de “ troisième Isaïe ”, ou “ trito-Isaïe ” (du grec trito“ troisième ”).

• Les oracles du premier Isaïe se trouvent essentiellement dans les chapitres 1-12 (oracles sur Juda et Jérusalem); 13-12 (oracles sur les Nations);   et 28-33 (oracles sur Samarie et Jérusalem).

• Le second Isaïe s’adresse aux exilés et à Jérusalem durant l’exil (entre 5857 et 538), pour leur annoncer la libération prochaine et le retour.

• Les oracles du troisième Isaïe veulent réconforter le Communquté juive rentrée en Judée après l’Exil et qui doit faire face à bien des difficultés et des déceptions.

SOURCE : http://www.bible-service.net/extranet/current/pages/200067.html

Isaias (Isaiah), Prophet (RM)

Died c. 681 BC. Isaiah is the great poet and believer of the Old Testament, and one of the four major prophets of the Old Testament. He lived at a time when the people of Israel had settled in Canaan; David and Solomon had formed the Hebrew religion, the temple had been built and Josiah had just ended a long and useful reign.


In 740 BC, the year of Josiah's death, Isaiah had a vision of the Lord sitting on a throne surrounded by seraphim. Each had six wings: "And one cried to another, and said, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory"--words which today form part of the Mass. The God of Isaiah was a God of Holiness, and the beginnings of his vocation were marked by majesty, piety, and grandeur.


Tradition tells us that Isaiah was sawn in two by order of King Manassas of Judah, and buried under an oak tree. His tomb was still venerated in the 5th century AD (Benedictines). 


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0706.shtml

Isaias

Among the writers whom the Hebrew Bible styles the "Latter Prophets" foremost stands "Isaias, the holyprophet . . . the great prophet, and faithful in the sight of God" (Eccliasticus 48:23-25).

Life

The name Isaiassignifies"Yahwehis salvation". It assumes two different formsin the Hebrew Bible: for in the text of the Book of Isaias and in the historical writings of the Old Testament, for example in 2 Kings 19:2; 2 Chronicles 26:22; 32:20-32, it is read Yeshá'yahu, whereas the collection of the Prophet'sutterances is entitled Yeshá'yah, in Greek 'Esaías, and in Latinusually Isaias, but sometimes Esaias. Four other persons of the same name are mentioned in the Old Testament(Ezra 8:7; 8:19; Nehemiah 11:7; 1 Chronicles 26:25); while the names Jesaia (1 Chronicles 25:15), Jeseias (1 Chronicles 3:21; 25:3) may be regarded as mere variants. From the Prophethimself (i, 1; ii, 1) we learn that he was the son of Amos. Owing to the similarity between Latinand Greek forms of this name and that of the Shepherd-Prophet of Thecue, some Fathers mistook the ProphetAmos for the father of Isaias. St. Jerome in the preface to his "Commentary on Amos" (P.L., XXV, 989) points out this error. Of Isaias's ancestry we know nothing; but several passages of his prophecies(iii, 1-17, 24; iv, 1; viii, 2; xxxi, 16) lead us to believethat he belonged to one of the best families of Jerusalem. A Jewishtradition recorded in the Talmud(Tr. Megilla, 10b.) held him to be a nephew of King Amasias. As to the exact timeof the Prophet's birth we lack definite data; yet he is believed to have been about twenty years of age when he began his public ministry. He was a citizen, perhaps a native, of Jerusalem. His writings give unmistakable signsof high culture. From his prophecies(vii and viii) we learn that he marrieda woman whom he styles "the prophetess" and that he had two sons, She'ar-Yashub and Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Nothing whatever indicates that he was twice marriedas some fancy on the gratuitous and indefensible supposition that the 'almah of vii, 14, was his wife.

The propheticalministry of Isaias lasted wellnigh half a century, from the closing year of Ozias, King of Juda, possibly up to that of Manasses. This period was one of great propheticalactivity. Israel and Judaindeed were in sore need of guidance. After the death of Jeroboam II revolution followed upon revolution and the northern kingdom had sunk rapidly into an abject vassalage to the Assyrians. The petty nations of the West, however, recovering from the severe blows received in the beginning of the eighth century, were again manifesting aspirationsof independence. Soon Theglathphalasar III marched his armies towards Syria; heavy tributes were levied and utter ruin threatened on those who would show any hesitation to pay. In 725 Osee, the last King of Samaria, fell miserably under the onslaught of Salmanasar IV, and three years later Samariasuccumbed to the hands of the Assyrians. In the meantime the Kingdomof Juda hardly fared better. A long period of peace had enervated characters, and the young, inexperienced, and unprincipled Achaz was no match for the Syro-Israelitecoalition which confronted him. Panic-strickenhe, in spite of the remonstrances of Isaias, resolved to appealto Theglathphalasar. The help of Assyria was secured, but the independence of Judawas thereby practically forfeited. In order to explain clearly the political situation to which so many allusions are made in Isaias's writings there is here subjoined a briefchronologicalsketch of the period: 745, Theglathphalasar III, king of Assyria; Azarias (A. V. Uzziah), of Juda; Manahem(A. V. Menahem) of Samaria; and Sua of Egypt; 740, death of Azarias; Joatham (A. V. Jotham), king of Juda; capture of Arphad (A. V. Arpad) by Theglathphalasar III (Isaiah 10:9); 738, campaign of Theglathphalasar against Syria; capture of Calano (A. V. Calno) and Emath (A. V. Hamath); heavy tribute imposed upon Manahem (2 Kings 15:19-20); victorious wars of Joatham against the Ammonites(2 Chronicles 27:4-6); 736, Manahemsucceeded by Phaceia (A. V. Pekahiah); 735, Joatham succeeded by Achaz(2 Kings 16:1); Phaceiareplaced by Phacee (A. V. Pekah), son of Remelia (A. V. Remaliah), one of his captains; Jerusalem besieged by Phacee in alliance with Rasin (A. V. Rezin), king of Syria(2 Kings 16:5; Isaiah 7:1-2); 734, Theglathphalasar, replying to Achaz'request for aid, marches against Syria and Israel, takes several cities of North and EastIsrael(2 Kings 15:29), and banishes their inhabitants; the Assyrian allies devastate part of the territory of Judaand Jerusalem; Phacee slainduring a revolution in Samaria and succeeded by Osee(A. V. Hoshea); 733, unsuccessful expeditions of Achazagainst Edom(2 Chronicles 28:17) and the Philistines (20); 732, campaign of Theglathphalasar against Damascus; Rasin besieged in his capital, captured, and slain; Achaz goes to Damascusto pay homage to the Assyrianruler (2 Kings 16:10-19); 727, death of Achaz; accession of Ezechias(2 Kings 18:1); in AssyriaSalmanasar IV succeeds Theglathphalasar III, 726, campaign of Salmanasar against Osee (2 Kings 17:3); 725, Oseemakes alliance with Sua, king of Egypt(2 Kings 17:4); second campaign of Salmanasar IV, resulting in the capture and deportation of Osee(2 Kings 17:4); beginning of the siege of Samaria; 722, Sargon succeeds Salmanasar IV in Assyria; capture of Samaria by Sargon; 720, defeat of Egyptian army at Raphiaby Sargon; 717, Charcamis, the Hittitestronghold on the Euphrates, falls into the hands of Sargon (Isaiah 10:8); 713, sickness of Ezechias(2 Kings 20:1-11; Isaiah 38); embassy from Merodach Baladan to Ezechias(2 Kings 20:12-13; Isaiah 39); 711, invasion of Western Palestine by Sargon; siege and capture of Azotus(A. V. Ashdod; Isaiah 20); 709, Sargon defeats Merodach Baladan, seizes Babylon, and assumes title of king of Babylon; 705, death of Sargon; accession of Sennacherib; 701, expedition of Sennacherib against Egypt; defeat of latter at Elteqeh; capture of Accaron(A. V. Ekron); siege of Lachis; Ezechias'sembassy; the conditions laid down by Sennacherib being found too hard the king of Judaprepares to resist the Assyrians; destruction of part of the Assyrian army; hurried retreatof the rest (2 Kings 18; Isaiah 36:37); 698, Ezechiasis succeeded by his son Manasses. The wars of the ninth century and the peaceful security following them produced their effects in the latter part of the next century. Cities sprang up; new pursuits, although affording opportunities of easy wealth, brought about also an increase of poverty. The contrast between class and class became daily more marked, and the poorwere oppressed by the rich with the connivance of the judges. A socialstate founded on iniquity is doomed. But as Israel'ssocialcorruption was greater than Juda's, Israel was expected to succumb first. Greater likewise was her religiouscorruption. Not only did idolatrousworshipprevail there to the end, but we know from Oseewhat gross abuses and shameful practices obtained in Samaria and throughout the kingdom, whereas the religion of the people of Juda on the whole seems to have been a little better. We know, however, as regards these, that at the very timeof Isaias certainformsof idolatrousworship, like that of Nohestan and of Moloch, probably that also of Tammur and of the "host of heaven", were going on in the open or in secret.

Commentators are at variance as to when Isaias was called to the propheticaloffice. Some think that previous to the visionrelated in vi, 1, he had received communications from heaven. St. Jerome in his commentaryon the passage holds that chaptersi-v ought to be attributed to the last years of King Ozias, then ch. vi would commence a new series begun in the year of the death of that prince (740 B.C.; P.L., XXIV, 91; cf. St. Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. ix; P.G., XXXV, 820). It is more commonly held, however, that ch. vi refers to the first calling of the Prophet; St. Jerome himself, in a letter to Pope Damasus seems to adoptthis view (P.L., XXII, 371; cf. Hesychius"In Is.", P.G. XCIII, 1372), and St. John Chrysostom, commentingupon Isaiah 6:5, very aptly contrasts the promptness of the Prophet with the tergiversations of Mosesand Jeremias. On the other hand, since no prophecies appear to be later than 701 B.C., it is doubtful if Isaias saw the reign of Manassesat all; still a very old and widespread tradition, echoed by the Mishna (Tr. Yebamoth, 49b; cf. Sanhedr., 103b), has it that the Prophetsurvived Ezechias and was slainin the persecution of Manasses(2 Kings 21:16). This prince had him convicted of blasphemy, because he had dared say: "I saw the Lordsitting upon a throne" (vi, 1), a pretension in conflict with God's own assertion in Exodus 33:20: "Man shall not see me and live". He was accused, moreover, of having predicted the ruin of Jerusalem and called the holycity and the people of Juda by the accursed names of Sodomand Gomorrah. According to the "Ascension of Isaias", the Prophet'smartyrdom consisted in being sawed asunder. Traditionshows this to have been unhesitatingly believed. The Targum on 2 Kings 21:6, admits it; it is preserved in two treatises of the Talmud (Yebamoth, 49b; Sanhedr., 103b); St. Justin(Dialogue with Trypho 120), and many of the Fathersadopted it, taking as unmistakable allusions to Isaias those words of the Hebrews 11:37, "they (the ancients) were cut asunder" (cf. Tertullian, "De patient.", xiv; P.L., I, 1270; Orig., "In Is., Hom." I, 5, P.G., XIII, 223; "In Matt.", x, 18, P.G., XIII, 882; "In Matt.", Ser. 28, P.G., XIII, 1637; "Epist. ad Jul. Afr.", ix, P.G., XI, 65; St. Jerome, "In Is.", lvii, 1, P.L., XXIV, 546-548; etc.). However, little trustshould be put in the strange details mentioned in the "De Vit. Prophet." of pseudo-Epiphanius (P.G., XLIII, 397, 419). The dateof the Prophet's demise is not known. The RomanMartyrologycommemoratesIsaias on 6 July. His tomb is believed to have been in Paneas in Northern Palestine, whence his relics were taken to Constantinoplein A.D. 442.

The literaryactivity of Isaias is attested by the canonicalbook which bears his name; moreover allusion is made in 2 Chronicles 26:22, to "Acts of Ozias first and last . . . written by Isaias, the son of Amos, the prophet". Another passage of the same book informs us that "the rest of the actsof Ezechias and his mercies, are written in the Vision of Isaias, son of Amos, the prophet", in the Book of the Kingsof Juda and Israel. Such at least is the reading of the MassoreticBible, but its text here, if we may judgefrom the variants of the Greekand St. Jerome, is somewhat corrupt. Most commentatorswho believe the passage to be authenticthink that the writer refers to Isaiah 36-39. We must finally mention the "Ascension of Isaias", at one time attributed to the Prophet, but never admitted into the Canon.

The book of Isaias

The canonicalBook of Isaias is made up of two distinct collections of discourses, the one (chapters 1-35) called sometimes the "First Isaias"; the other (chapters 40-66) styled by many modern criticsthe "Deutero- (or Second) Isaias"; between these two comes a stretch of historicalnarrative; some authors, as Michaelis and Hengstenberg, holding with St. Jerome that the propheciesare placed in chronologicalorder; others, like Vitringa and Jahn, in a logical order; others finally, like Gesenius, Delitzsch, Keil, think the actual order is partly logical and partly chronological. No less disagreement prevails on the question of the collector. Those who believethat Isaias is the author of all the propheciescontained in the book generally fix upon the Prophethimself. But for the critics who question the genuineness of some of the parts, the compilation is by a late and unknown collector. It would be well, however, before suggesting a solution to analysecursorily the contents.

First Isaias

In the first collection(cc. i-xxxv) there seems to be a grouping of the discourses according to their subject-matter: (1) cc. i-xii, oraclesdealing with Juda and Israel; (2) cc. xiii-xxiii, propheciesconcerning (chiefly) foreign nations; (3) cc. xxiv-xxvii, an apocalypse; (4) cc. xxviii-xxxiii, discourses on the relationsof Juda to Assyria; (5) cc. xxxiv-xxxv, future of Edom and Israel.

First section

In the first group (i-xii) we may distinguish separate oracles. Ch. i arraigns Jerusalem for her ingratitude and unfaithfulness; severe chastisements have proved unavailing; yet forgiveness can be secured by a true change of life. The ravaging of Juda points to either the time of the Syro-Ephraimitecoalition (735) or the Assyrianinvasion (701). Ch. ii threatens judgmentupon pride and seems to be one of the earliest of the Prophet'sutterances. It is followed (iii-iv) by a severe arraignment of the nation's rulers for their injustice and a lampoon against the women of Sionfor their wanton luxury. The beautiful apologue of the vineyard serves as a preface to the announcement of the punishment due to the chief socialdisorders. These seem to point to the last days of Joatham, or the very beginning of the reign of Achaz(from 736-735 B.C.). The next chapter(vi), dated in the year of the death of Ozias (740), narrates the calling of the Prophet. With vii opens a series of utterances not inappropriately called "the Bookof Emmanuel"; it is made up of prophecies bearing on the Syro-Ephraimitewar, and ends in a glowing description (an independent oracle?) of what the country will be under a future sovereign (ix, 1-6). Ch. ix, 7-x, 4, in five strophes announces that Israel is foredoomed to utter ruin; the allusion to rivalries between Ephraim and Manassespossibly has to do with the revolutions which followed the death of Jeroboam II; in this case the prophecymight date some time between 743-734. Much later is the prophecyagainst Assur (x, 5-34), later than the capture of Arshad (740), Calano (738), or Charcamis(717). The historical situation therein described suggests the timeof Sennacherib's invasion (about 702 or 701 B.C.). Ch. xi depicts the happy reign to be of the ideal king, and a hymn of thanksgiving and praise (xii) closes this first division.

Second section

The first "burden" is aimed at Babylon(viii, 1-xiv, 23). The situation presupposed by the Prophetis that of the Exile; a fact that inclines some to dateit shortly before 549, against others who hold it was written on the death of Sargon (705). Ch. xiv, 24-27, foretelling the overthrow of the Assyrian army on the mountains of Juda, and regarded by some as a misplaced part of the prophecyagainst Assur (x, 5-34), belongs no doubt to the period of Sennacherib's campaign. The next passage (xiv, 28-32) was occasioned by the death of some foe of the Philistines: the names of Achaz(728), Theglathphalasar III (727), and Sargon (705) have been suggested, the last appearing more probable. Chaptersxv-xvi, "the burden of Moab", is regarded by many as referring to the reign of Jeroboam II, King of Israel (787-746); its dateis conjectural. The ensuing "burden of Damascus" (xvii, 1-11), directed against the Kingdom of Israel as well, should be assigned to about 735 B.C. Here follows a short utterance on Ethiopia (prob. 702 or 701). Next comes the remarkable prophecyabout Egypt (xix), the interestof which cannot but be enhanced by the recent discoveries at Elephantine (vv. 18, 19). The date presents a difficulty, the time ranging, according to diverse opinions, from 720 to 672 B.C.. The oracle following (xx), against Egypt and Ethiopia, is ascribed to the year in which Ashdodwas besieged by the Assyrians (711). Justwhat capture of Babylon is alluded to in "the burden of the desert of the sea" (xxi, 1-10) is not easy to determine, for during the lifetime of Isaias Babylonwas thrice besieged and taken (710, 703, 696 B.C.). Independent criticsseem inclined to see here a description of the taking of Babylonin 528 B.C., the same description being the work of an author living towards the close of the Babylonian Captivity. The two short prophecies, one on Edom (Duma; xxi, 11-12) and one on Arabia(xxi, 13-17), give no clue as to when they were uttered. Ch. xxii, 1-14, is a rebuke addressed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the rest of the chapterSobna (Shebna) is the object of the Prophet'sreproaches and threats (about 701 B.C.). The section closes with the announcement of the ruin and the restoration of Tyre (xxiii).

Third section

The third section of the first collection includes chapters xxiv-xxviii, sometimes called "the Apocalypse of Isaias". In the first part (xxiv-xxvi, 29) the Prophetannounces for an undetermined future the judgmentwhich shall precede the kingdom of God (xxiv); then in symbolicterms he describes the happiness of the goodand the punishment of the wicked(xxv). This is followed by the hymn of the elect(xxvi, 1-19). In the second part (xxvi, 20-xxvii) the Prophetdepicts the judgment hanging over Israel and its neighbours. The dateis most unsettled among modern critics, certain passages being attributed to 107 B.C., others even to a datelower than 79 B.C.. Let it be remarked, however, that both the ideas and the language of these four chapterssupport the traditionattributing this apocalypse to Isaias. The fourth division opens with a pronouncement of woe against Ephraim(and perhaps Juda; xxviii, 1-8), written prior to 722 B.C.; the historicalsituation implied in xxviii, 9-29, is a strong indication that this passage was written about 702 B.C. To the same date belong xxix-xxxii, propheciesconcerned with the campaign of Sennacherib. This series fittingly concludes with a triumphant hymn (xxxiii), the Prophetrejoicing in the deliverance of Jerusalem (701). Chaptersxxxi-xxxv, the last division, announce the devastation of Edom, and the enjoyment of bountiful blessings by ransomed Israel. These two chaptersare thought by several modern criticsto have been written during the captivityin the sixth century. The foregoing analysisdoes not enable us to assert indubitably that this first collectionas such is the work of Isaias; yet as the genuinenessof almost all these propheciescannot be seriously questioned, the collectionas a whole might still possibly be attributed to the last years of the Prophet'slife or shortly afterwards. If there really be passages reflecting a later epoch, they found their way into the book in the course of time on account of some analogyto the genuine writings of Isaias. Little need be said of xxxvii-xxxix. The first two chaptersnarrate the demand made by Sennacherib—the surrender of Jerusalem, and the fulfillment of Isaias's predictions of its deliverance; xxxviii tells of Ezechias'sillness, cure, and song of thanksgiving; lastly xxxix tells of the embassy sent by Merodach Baladan and the Prophet'sreproof of Ezechias.

Second Isaias

The second collection (xl-lvi) deals throughout with Israel's restoration from the Babylonian exile. The main lines of the division as proposed by the JesuitCondamineare as follows: a first section is concerned with the mission and work of Cyrus; it is made up of five pieces: (a) xl-xli: calling of Cyrus to be Yahweh's instrument in the restoration of Israel; (b) xlii, 8-xliv, 5: Israel's deliverance from exile; (c) xliv, 6-xlvi, 12: Cyrus shall free Israel and allow Jerusalemto be built; (d) xlvii: ruin of Babylon; (e) xlviii: past dealings of God with his people are an earnest for the future. Next to be taken up is another group of utterances, styled by Germanscholars "Ebed-Jahweh-Lieder"; it is made up of xlix-lv (to which xlii, 1-7, should be joined) together with lx-lxii. In this section we hear of the calling of Yahweh's servant (xlix, 1-li, 16); then of Israel'sglorioushome-coming (li, 17-lii, 12); afterwards is described the servant of Yahweh ransoming his people by his sufferings and death (xlii, 1-7; lii, 13-15; liii, 1-12); then follows a glowing visionof the new Jerusalem (liv, 1-lv, 13, and lx, 1-lxii, 12). Ch. lvi, 1-8, develops this idea, that all the upright of heart, no matter what their former legal status, will be admitted to Yahweh's new people. In lvi, 9-lvii, the Prophetinveighs against the idolatry and immoralityso rife among the Jews; the sham piety with which their fasts were observed (lvii). In lix the Prophetrepresents the people confessingtheir chief sins; this humble acknowledgment of their guilt prompts Yahweh to stoop to those who have "turned from rebellion". A dramatic description of God's vengeance (lxiii, 1-7) is followed by a prayer for mercy (lxiii, 7-lxiv, 11), and the book closes upon the picture of the punishment of the wickedand the happiness of the good. Many perplexing questions are raised by the exegesis of the "Second Isaias". The "Ebed-Jahweh-Lieder", in particular, suggest many difficulties. Who is this "servant of Yahweh"? Does the title apply to the same person throughout the ten chapters? Had the writer in view some historicalpersonage of past ages, or one belonging to his own time, or the Messias to come, or even some ideal person? Most commentatorssee in the "servant of Yahweh" an individual. But is that individual one of the great historical figures of Israel? No satisfactoryanswer has been given. The names of Moses, David, Ozias, Ezechias, Isaias, Jeremias, Josias, Zorobabel, Jechonias, and Eleazar have all been suggested as being the person. Catholicexegesis has always pointed out the fact that all the features of the "servant of Yahweh" found their complete realization in the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He therefore should be regarded as the one individual described by the Prophet. The "Second Isaias" gives rise to other more critical and less important problems. With the exception of one or two passages, the point of view throughout this section is that of the Babylonian Captivity; there is an unmistakable difference between the style of these twenty-seven chaptersand that of the "First Isaias"; moreover, the theologicalideas of xl-lxvi show a decided advance on those found in the first thirty-nine chapters. If this be true, does it not follow that xl-lxvi are not by the same author as the propheciesof the first collection, and may there not be good grounds for attributing the authorship of these chaptersto a "second Isaias" living towards the close of the Babylonian Captivity? Such is the contention of most of the modern non-Catholic scholars.

This is hardly the place for a discussion of so intricate a question. We therefore limit ourselves to stating the position of Catholic scholarship on this point. This is clearly set out in the decision issued by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, 28 June, 1908. (1) Admitting the existenceof trueprophecy; (2) There is no reason why "Isaias and the other Prophetsshould utter propheciesconcerning only those things which were about to take place immediately or after a short space of time" and not "things that should be fulfilled after many ages". (3) Nor does anything postulate that the Prophetsshould "always address as their hearers, not those who belonged to the future, but only those who were present and contemporary, so that they could be understood by them". Therefore it cannot be asserted that "the second part of the Book of Isaias (xl-lxvi), in which the Prophetaddresses as one living amongst them, not the Jewswho were the contemporaries of Isaias, but the Jews mourning in the Exile of Babylon, cannot have for its author Isaias himself, who was dead long before, but must be attributed to some unknown Prophetliving among the exiles". In other words, although the author of Isaias xl-lxvi does speak from the point of view of the Babylonian Captivity, yet this is no proof that he must have lived and written in those times. (4) "The philological argument from language and style against the identity of the author of the Bookof Isaias is not to be considered weighty enough to compel a man of judgment, familiar with Hebrew and criticism, to acknowledge in the same book a plurality of authors". Differences of language and style between the parts of the book are neither denied nor underrated; it is asserted only that such as they appear, they do not compel one to admit the plurality of authors. (5) "There are no solid arguments to the fore, even taken cumulatively, to provethat the book of Isaias is to be attributed not to Isaias himself alone, but to two or rather to many authors".

Appreciation of the work of Isaias

It may not be useless shortly to set forth the prominent features of the great Prophet, doubtless one of the most striking personalities in Hebrewhistory. Without holding any official position, it fell to the lot of Isaias to take an active part during well nigh forty troublesome years in controlling the policy of his country. His advice and rebukes were sometimes unheeded, but experience finally taught the rulers of Juda that to part from the Prophet's views meant always a set-back for the political situation of Juda. In order to understand the trend of his policy it is necessary to rememberby what principle it was animated. This principle he derived from his unshaken faith in God governing the world, and particularly His own people and the nations coming in contact with the latter. The people of Juda, forgetful of their God, given to idolatrous practices and socialdisorders of many kinds, had paid little heed to former warnings. One thing only alarmed them, namely that hostile nations were threatening Judaon all sides; but were they not the chosen people of God? Certainly He would not allow His own nation to be destroyed, even as others had been. In the meantime prudence dictated that the best possible means be taken to save themselves from present dangers. Syria and Israel were plotting against Judaand her king; Juda and her king would appeal to the mighty nation of the North, and later to the King of Egypt.

Isaias would not hear aught of this short-sighted policy, grounded only on humanprudence, or a falsereligiousconfidence, and refusing to look beyond the moment. Judawas in terrible straits; God alone could saveher; but the first conditionlaid down for the manifestation of His power was moraland social reformation. Syrians, Ephraimites, Assyrians, and all the rest were but the instruments of the judgment of God, the purpose of which is the overthrow of sinners. Certainly Yahweh will not allow His people to be utterly destroyed; His covenant He will keep; but it is vain to hopethat well-deserved chastisement may be escaped. From this view of the designs of God never did the faith of Isaias waver. He first proclaimed this message at the beginning of the reign of Achaz. The king and his counsellors saw no salvation for Judaexcept in an alliance with, that is an acknowledgment of vassalage to, Assyria. This the Prophet opposed with all his might. With his keen foresight he had clearly perceived that the real danger to Juda was not from Ephraimand Syria, and that the intervention of Assyria in the affairs of Palestine involved a complete overthrow of the balance of power along the Mediterranean coast. Moreover, the Prophetentertained no doubt but that sooner or later a conflict between the rival empires of the Euphrates and the Nile must arise, and then their hosts would swarm over the land of Juda. To him it was clear that the course proposed by Juda'sself-conceited politicians was like the madflight of "silly doves", throwing themselves headlong into the net. Isaias's advice was not followed and one by one the consequences he had foretold were realized. However, he continued to proclaim his propheticalviews of the current events. Every new event of importance is by him turned into a lesson not only to Judabut to all the neighbouring nations. Damascushas fallen; so will the drunkardsand revellers of Samariasee the ruin of their city. Tyre boasts of her wealthand impregnable position; her doom is no less decreed, and her fall will all the more astound the world. Assyriaherself, fattened with the spoils of all nations, Assyria"the rod of God'svengeance", when she will have accomplished her providentialdestiny, shall meet with her fate. God has thus decreedthe doom of all nations for the accomplishment of His purposes and the establishment of a new Israel cleansed from all past defilements.

Judean politicians towards the end of the reign of Ezechiashad planned an alliance with the King of Egypt against Assyriaand carefully concealed their purpose from the Prophet. When the latter came to know the preparations for rebellion, it was already too late to undo what had been done. But he could at least give vent to his anger (see Isaiah 30), and we know both from the Bible and Sennacherib's own account of the campaign of 701 how the Assyrian army routed the Egyptiansat Altaku (Elteqeh of Joshua 19:44), captured Accaron, and sent a detachment to ravage Juda; Jerusalem, closely invested, was savedonly by the payment of an enormous ransom. The vindication of Isaias's policy, however, was not yet complete. The Assyrian army withdrew; but Sennacherib, apparently thinking it unsafe to leave in his wake a fortified city like Jerusalem, demanded the immediate surrender of Ezechias'scapital. At the command of Ezechias, no answer was given to the message; but the king humblybade Isaias to intercedefor the city. The Prophet had for the king a reassuring message. But the respite in the Judeancapital was short. Soon a new Assyrianembassy arrived with a letter from the king containing an ultimatum. In the panic-stricken city there was a man of whom Sennacherib had taken no account; it was by him that the answer was to be given to the ultimatum of the proudAssyrians: "The virgin, the daughter of Sion hath despisedthee and laughed thee to scorn; . . . He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it. . . . By the way that he came, he shall return, and into this city he shall not come, saith the Lord" (xxxvii, 22, 33). We know in reality how a sudden catastrophe overtook the Assyrian army and God's promise was fulfilled. This crowningvindication of the Divinely inspiredpolicy of Isaias prepared the hearts of the Jews for the religiousreformation brought about by Ezechias, no doubt along lines laid down by the Prophet.

In reviewing the political side of Isaias's public life, we have already seen something of his religious and socialideas; all these view-pointswere indeed most intimately connected in his teaching. It may be well now to dwell a little more fully on this part of the Prophet'smessage. Isaias's description of the religiouscondition of Judain the latter part of the eighth century is anything but flattering. Jerusalem is compared to Sodomand Gomorrah; apparently the bulk of the people were superstitious rather than religious. Sacrifices were offeredout of routine; witchcraft and divinationwere in honour; nay more, foreign deities were openly invokedside by side with the true God, and in secret the immoral worshipof some of these idols was widely indulged in, the higher-classand the Court itself giving in this regard an abominable example. Throughout the kingdomthere was corruption of higher officials, ever-increasing luxury among the wealthy, wanton haughtiness of women, ostentation among the middle-class people, shameful partiality of the judges, unscrupulous greed of the owners of large estates, and oppression of the poor and lowly. The Assyrian suzerainty did not change anything in this woeful state of affairs. In the eyes of Isaias this order of things was intolerable; and he never tired repeating it could not last. The first condition of socialreformation was the downfall of the unjust and corrupt rulers; the Assyrians were the means appointed by God to level their pride and tyranny with the dust. With their mistaken ideas about God, the nation imaginedHe did not concern Himself about the dispositions of His worshippers. But Godloathessacrificesofferedby ". . . hands full of blood. Washyourselves, be clean, . . . relieve the oppressed, judgefor the fatherless, defend the widow. . . . But if you will not, . . . the sword shall devour you" (i, 15-20). God here appears as the avenger of disregarded humanjustice as much as of His Divine rights. He cannot and will not let injustice, crime, and idolatry go unpunished. The destruction of sinners willinaugurate an era of regeneration, and a little circle of menfaithfulto God will be the first-fruits of a new Israel free from past defilementsand ruled by a scion of David's House. With the reign of Ezechiasbegan a period of religiousrevival. Just how far the reform extended we are not able to state; local sanctuariesaround which heathenish abuses had gathered were suppressed, and many 'asherîm and masseboth were destroyed. It is true the times were not ripe for a radical change, and there was little response to the appealof the Prophet for moralamendment and redress of socialabuses.

The Fathers of the Church, echoing the eulogy of Jesus, son of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus 48:25-28), agree that Isaias was the greatest of the literaryProphets(Eusebius, "Præp. Evang.", v, 4, P.G., XXII, 370; "Synops. Script. S.", among the works of St. Athan., P.G., XXXVIII, 363; St. Cyril of Jerusalem, "In Is., Prooem.", P.G., LXX, 14; St. Isidore of Pelusium, "Epist.", i, 42, P.G., LXXVIII, 208; Theodoret., "In Is. Argum.", P.G., LXXXI, 216; St. Jerome, "Prol. in Is.", P.L., XXIV, 18; "Præf. ad Paul. et Eustoch.", P.L., XXXII, 769; City of God XVIII.29). Isaias's poetical genius was in every respect worthy of his lofty position as a Prophet. He is unsurpassed in poetry, descriptive, lyric, or elegiac. There is in his compositions an uncommon elevation and majesty of conception, and an unparalleled wealth of imagery, never departing, however, from the utmost propriety, elegance, and dignity. He possessed an extraordinary power of adapting his language both to occasions and audiences; sometimes he displays most exquisite tenderness, and at other times austere severity; he successively assumes a mother's pleading and irresistible tone, and the stern manner of an implacable judge, now making use of delicate irony to bring home to his hearers what he would have them understand, and then pitilessly shatteringtheir fondest illusions or wielding threats which strike like mighty thunderbolts. His rebukes are neither impetuous like those of Oseenor blustering like those of Amos; he never allows the conviction of his mindor the warmth of his heart to overdraw any feature or to overstep the limits assigned by the most exquisite taste. Exquisite taste indeed is one of the leading features of the Prophet'sstyle. This style is rapid, energetic, full of lifeand colour, and withal always chasteand dignified. It moreover manifests a wonderful command of language. It has been justly said that no Prophetever had the same command of noble thoughts; it may be as justlyadded that never perhaps did any manutter lofty thoughts in more beautiful language. St. Jerome rejected the idea that Isaias's prophecieswere true poetry in the full sense of the word (Præf. in Is., P.L., XXVIII, 772). Nevertheless the authority of the illustrious Robert Lowth, in his "Lectures on the SacredPoetry of the Hebrews" (1753), esteemed "the whole book of Isaiahto be poetical, a few passages excepted, which if brought together, would not at most exceed the bulk of five or six chapters". This opinion of Lowth, at first scarcely noticed, became more and more general in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and is now common among Biblicalscholars.

Sources

In addition to general and special commentaries consult: CHEYNE, Book of Isaiah chronologically arranged (London, 1870); IDEM, Prophecies of Isaiah (London, 1880); IDEM, Introd. to the Book of Isaiah(London, 1895); DRIVER, Isaiah: his life and times and the writings which bear his name (London, 1888); LOWTH, Isaiah, translation, dissert. and notes (London, 1778); SKINNER, Isaiah(Cambridge, 1896); G. A. SMITH, Book of Isaiah (Expositor's Bible, 1888-1890); W. R. SMITH, The Prophets of Israel and their place in history (London, 1882); KNABENBAUER, Comment. in Isaiam prophetam (Paris, 1887); CONDAMINE, Livre d'Isaie, trad. critique avec notes et comment. (Paris, 1905; a volume of introduction to the same is forthcoming); LE HIR, Les trois grandes prophètes, Isaïe, Jérémie, Ezéchiel (Paris, 1877); IDEM, Etudes Bibliques (Paris, 1878); DELITZSCH, Commentar über das Buch Jesaja; tr. (Edinburgh, 1890); DUHM, Das Buch Jesaia(Gottingen, 1892); GESENIUS, Der Prophet Jesaja (Leipzig, 1820-1821); EWALD, Die Propheten des Alten Bundes (Tübingen, 1840-1841); tr. by F. SMITH, (London, 1876—); HITZIG, Der Prophet Jesaja übers. und ausgelegt (Heidelberg, 1833); KITTEL, Der Prophet Jesaia, 6th ed. of DILLMANN's work of the same title (Leipzig, 1898); KNABENBAUER, Erklärung des Proph. Isaias (Freiburg, 1881); MARTI, Das Buch Jesaja (Tübingen, 1900).

Souvay, Charles. "Isaias."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 8.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910.12 Jul. 2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08179b.htm>.


SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08179b.htm


THE MARTYRDOM OF ISAIAH

[Chapter 1]


1 And it came to pass in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah that he
2 called Manasseh his son. Now he was his only one. And he called him into the presence of Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet; and into the presence of Josab the son of Isaiah.
6b, 7 And whilst he (Hezekiah) gave commands, Josab the son of Isaiah standing by, Isaiah said to Hezekiah the king, but not in the presence of Manasseh only did he say unto him: 'As the Lord liveth, whose name has not been sent into this world, [and as the Beloved of my Lord liveth], and as the Spirit which speaketh in me liveth, all these commands and these words shall be made of none effect by Manasseh thy son, and through the agency of his hands I shall depart mid the torture of
8 my body. And Sammael Malchira shall serve Manasseh, and execute all his desire, and he shall
9 become a follower of Beliar rather than of me. And many in Jerusalem and in Judaea he shall cause to abandon the true faith, and Beliar shall dwell in Manasseh, and by his hands I shall be
10 sawn asunder.' And when Hezekiah heard these words he wept very bitterly, and rent his garments,
11 and placed earth upon his head, and fell on his face. And Isaiah said unto him: 'The counsel of
12 Sammael against Manasseh is consummated: nought shall avail thee.' And on that day Hezekiah
13 resolved in his heart to slay Manasseh his son. And Isaiah said to Hezekiah: ['The Beloved hath made of none effect thy design, and] the purpose of thy heart shall not be accomplished, for with this calling have I been called [and I shall inherit the heritage of the Beloved].'

[Chapter 2]

1 And it came to pass after that Hezekiah died and Manasseh became king, that he did not remember the commands of Hezekiah his father but forgat them, and Sammael abode in Manasseh
2 and clung fast to him. And Manasseh forsook the service of the God of his father, and he served
3 Satan and his angels and his powers. And he turned aside the house of his father which had been
4 before the face of Hezekiah the words of wisdom and from the service of God. And Manasseh turned aside his heart to serve Beliar; for the angel of lawlessness, who is the ruler of this world, is Beliar, whose name is Matanbuchus. And he delighted in Jerusalem because of Manasseh, and he made him strong in apostatizing (Israel) and in the lawlessness which was spread abroad in Jerusalem
5 And witchcraft and magic increased and divination and augulation, and fornication, [and adultery], and the persecution of the righteous by Manasseh and [Belachira, and] Tobia the Canaanite, and John
6 of Anathoth, and by (Zadok> the chief of the works. And the rest of the acts, behold they are written
7 in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. And when Isaiah the soll of Amoz saw the lawlessness which was being perpetratcd in Jerusalem and the worship of Satan and his wantonness, he
8 withdrew from Jerusalem and settled in Bethlehem of Judah. And there also there was much
9 lawlessness, and withdrawing from Bethlehem he settled on a mountain in a desert place. [And Micaiah the prophet, and the aged Ananias, and Joel and Habakkuk, and his son Josab, and many of the faithful who believed in the ascension into heaven, withdrew and settled on the mountain.]
10 They were all clothed with garments of hair, and they were all prophets. And they had nothing with them but were naked, and they all lamented with a great lamentation because of the going
11 astray of Israel. And these eat nothing save wild herbs which they gathered on the mountains, and having cooked them, they lived thereon together with Isaiah the prophet. And they spent two years of
12 days on the mountains and hills. [And after this, whilst they were in thc desert, there was a certain man in Samaria named Belchlra, of the family of Zedekiah, the son of Chenaan, a false prophet whose dwelling was in Bethlehem. Now Hezekiah the son of Chanani, who was the brother of his father, and in the days of Ahab king of Israel had been the teacher of the 400 prophets of Baal,
13 had himself smitten and reproved Micaiah the son of Amada the prophet. And he, Micaiah, had been reproved by Ahab and cast into prison. (And he was) with Zedekiah the prophet: they were
14 with Ahaziah the son of Ahab, king in Samaria. And Elijah the prophet of Tebon of Gilead was reproving Ahaziah and Samaria, and prophesied regarding Ahaziah that he should die on his bed of sickness, and that Samaria should be delivered into the hand of Leba Nasr because he had slain
15 the prophets of God. And when the false prophets, who were with Ahaziah the son of Ahab and
16 their teacher Gemarias of Mount Joel had heard -now he was brother of Zedekiah -when they had heard, they persuaded Ahaziah the king of Aguaron and slew Micaiah.

[Chapter 3]

1 And Belchlra recognized and saw the place of Isaiah and the prophets who were with him; for he dwelt in the region of Bethlehem, and was an adherent of Manasseh. And he prophesied falsely in Jerusalem, and many belonging to Jerusalem were confederate with him, and he was a Samaritan.
2 And it came to pass when Alagar Zagar, king of Assyria, had come and captured Samaria and taken the nine (and a half) tribes captive, and led them away to the mountains of the Medes and the
3 rivers of Tazon; this (Belchira) while still a youth, had escaped and come to Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, but he walked not in the ways of his father of Samaria; for he feared
4 Hezekiah. And he was found in the days of Hezekiah speaking words of lawlessness in Jerusalem.
5 And the servants of Hezekiah accused him, and he made his escape to the region of Bethlehem.
6 And they persuaded . . . And Belchlra accused Isaiah and the prophets who were with him, saying: 'Isaiah and those who are with him prophesy against Jerusalem and against the cities of Judah that they shall be laid waste and (against the children of Judah and) Benjamin also that they shall go into captivity, and also against thee, O lord the king, that thou shalt go (bound) with hooks
8 and iron chains': But they prophesy falsely against Israel and Judah. And Isaiah himself hath
9 said: 'I see more than Moses the prophet.' But Moses said: 'No man can see God and live':
10 and Isaiah hath said: 'I have seen God and behold I live.' Know, therefore, O king, that he is lying. And Jerusalem also he hath called Sodom, and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem he hath declared to be the people of Gomorrah. And he brought many accusations against Isaiah and the
11 prophets before Manasseh. But Beliar dwelt in the heart of Manasseh and in the heart of the
12 princes of Judah and Benjamin and of the eunuchs and of the councillors of the king. And the words of Belchira pleased him [exceedingly], and he sent and seized Isaiah.

[Chapter 5]

1b, 2 And he sawed him asunder with a wood-saw. And when Isaiah was being sawn in sunder Balchlra stood up, accusing him, and all the false prophets stood up, laughing and rejoicing because
3 of Isaiah. And Balchlra, with the aid of Mechembechus, stood up before Isaiah, [laughing]
4 deriding; And Belchlra said to Isaiah: 'Say: "I have lied in all that I have spoken, and likewise
5 the ways of Manasseh are good and right. And the ways also of Balchlra and of his associates are
6, 7 good."' And this he said to him when he began to be sawn in sunder. But Isaiah was (absorbed)
8 in a vision of the Lord, and though his eyes were open, he saw them . And Balchlra spake thus to Isaiah: 'Say what I say unto thee and I will turn their heart, and I will compel Manasseh
9 and the princes of Judah and the people and all Jerusalem to reverence thee.' And Isaiah answered and said: 'So far as I have utterance (I say): Damned and accursed be thou and all thy powers and
10, 11 all thy house. For thou canst not take (from me) aught save the skin of my body.' And they
12 seized and sawed in sunder Isaiah, the son of Amoz, with a wood-saw. And Manasseh and
13 Balchlra and the false prophets and the princes and the people [and] all stood looking on. And to the prophets who were with him he said before he had been sawn in sunder: 'Go ye to the region
14 of Tyre and Sidon; for for me only hath God mingled the cup.' And when Isaiah was being sawn in sunder, he neither cried aloud nor wept, but his lips spake with the Holy Spirit until he was sawn in twain.

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913
Scanned and edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College, 1995

SOURCE : http://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/martisah.htm
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Saint WILLIBALD, évêque et confesseur

July 7, 2015, 5:32 am
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St. Willibald, Bishop of Aichstadt, Confessor

HE was son of the holy king St. Richard, and was born about the year 704 in the kingdom of the West-Saxons, about the place where Southampton now stands. When he was three years old his life was despaired of in a violent sickness; but when all natural remedies proved unsuccessful, his parents carried him and laid him at the foot of a great cross which was erected in a public place near their house, according to the custom in Catholic countries to this day. There they poured forth their prayers with great fervour, and made a promise to God that in case the child recovered they would consecrate him to the divine service. God accepted their pious offering, and the child was immediately restored to his health. St. Richard kept the child two years longer at home, but only regarded him as a sacred depositum committed to him by God; and when he was five years old placed him under the Abbot Egbald, and other holy tutors in the monastery of Waltheim. The young saint, from the first use of his reason, in all his thoughts and actions seemed to aspire only to heaven, and his heart seemed full only of God and his holy love. He left this monastery about the year 721, when he was seventeen years old, and his brother Winibald nineteen, to accompany his father and brother in a pilgrimage of devotion to the tombs of the apostles at Rome, and to the Holy Land. They visited many churches in France on their road; but St. Richard died at Lucca, where his relics are still venerated in the church of St. Fridian, and he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the 7th of February. The two sons went on to Rome, and there took the monastic habit.

Above two years after this, Winibald having been obliged to return to England, St. Wil libald, with two or three young Englishmen, set out to visit the holy places which Christ had sanctified by his sacred presence on earth. They added most severe mortifications to the incredible fatigues of their journey, living only on bread and water, and at land using no other bed than the bare ground. They sailed first to Cyprus and thence into Syria. At Emesa St. Willibald was taken by the Saracens for a spy, was loaded with irons, and suffered much in severe confinement for several months, till certain persons, who were charmed with his wonderful virtue, and moved with compassion for his disaster, satisfied the caliph of his innocence, and procured his enlargement. The holy pilgrims expressed their gratitude to their benefactors, and pursued their journey to the holy places. They resolved in visiting them to follow our Divine Redeemer in the course of his mortal life; and therefore they began their devotions at Nazareth. Our saint passed there some days with his companions in the continual contemplation of the infinite mercies of God in the great mystery of the incarnation; and the sight of the place in which it was wrought drew from his eyes streams of devout tears during all the time of his stay in that town. From Nazareth he went to Bethlehem, and thence into Egypt, making no account of the fatigues and hardships of his journey, and assiduously meditating on what our Blessed Redeemer had suffered in the same. He returned to Nazareth, and thence travelled to Cana, Capharnaum, and Jerusalem. In this last place he made a long stay to satisfy his fervour in adoring Christ in the places where he wrought so many great mysteries, particularly on the mountains of Calvary and Olivet, the theatres of his sacred death and ascension. He likewise visited all the famous monasteries, lauras, and hermitages in that country, with an ardent desire of learning and imitating all the most perfect practices of virtue, and whatever might seem most conducive to the sanctification of his soul. The tender and lively sentiments of devotion with which his fervent contemplation on the holy mysteries of our redemption inspired him at the sight of all those sacred places, filled his devout soul with heavenly consolations, and made on it strong and lasting impressions. In his return a severe sickness at Acon exercised his patience and resignation. After seven years employed in this pilgrimage he arrived safe with his companions in Italy.

The celebrated monastery of Mount Cassino having been lately repaired by Pope Gregory II., the saint chose that house for his residence, and his fervent example contributed very much to settle in it the primitive spirit of its holy institute during the ten years that he lived there. He was first appointed sacristan, afterwards dean or superior over ten monks, and during the last eight years porter, which was an office of great trust and importance, and required a rooted habit of virtue which might suffer no abatement by external employs and frequent commerce with seculars. It happened that in 738 St. Boniface, coming to Rome, begged of Pope Gregory III. that Willibald, who was his cousin, might be sent to assist him in his missions in Germany. The pope desired to see the monk, and was much delighted with the history of his travels, and edified with his virtue. In the close of their conversation, he acquainted him of Bishop Boniface’s request. Willibald desired to go back at least to obtain the leave and blessing of his abbot; but the pope told him his order sufficed, and commanded him to go without more ado into Germany. The saint replied that he was ready to go wheresoever his holiness should think fit. Accordingly he set out for Thuringia, where St. Boniface then was, by whom he was ordained priest. His labours in the country about Aichstadt, in Franconia and Bavaria, were crowned with incredible success, and he was no less powerful in words than in works.

In 746 he was consecrated by St. Boniface bishop of Aichstadt. This dignity gave his humility much to suffer, but it exceedingly excited his zeal. The cultivation of so rough a vineyard was a laborious and painful task; but his heroic patience and invincible meekness overcame all difficulties. His charity was most tender and compassionate, and he had a singular talent in comforting the afflicted. He founded a monastery which resembled in discipline that of Mount Cassino, to which he often retired. But his love of solitude diminished not his pastoral solicitude for his flock. He was attentive to all their spiritual necessities, he visited often every part of his charge, and instructed all his people with indefatigable zeal and charity. His fasts were most austere, nor did he allow himself any indulgence in them or in his labours on account of his great age, till his strength was entirely exhausted. Having laboured almost forty-five years in regulating and sanctifying his diocess, he died at Aichstadt on the 7th of June, 790, being eighty-seven years old. He was honoured with miracles, and buried in his own cathedral. Pope Leo VII. canonized him in 938. In 1270 the Bishop Hildebrand built a church in his honour, into which his relics were translated, and are honourably preserved to this day; but a portion is honoured at Furnec in Flanders. See the three lives of St. Willibald, written by contemporary authors, especially that by a nun of his sister St. Walburga’s monastery. She gives from the saint’s own relation a curious and useful description of the Holy Land, as it stood in that age; which is rendered more curious by the notes of Mabillon, and those of Basnage in his edition of Canisius’s Lect. Antiquæ. On St. Willibald, see Solier the Bollandist, t. 2. Julij, p. 485.

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.


SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/072.html
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Bienheureux BENOÏT XI, Pape et confesseur

July 7, 2015, 5:40 am
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Bienheureux Benoît XI

Pape (194 ème) de 1303 à 1304 (✝ 1304)

Il était le Maître général de l'Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs quand il fut créé cardinal-évêque d'Ostie. Élu pape en 1303, il fut remarquable par sa bienveillance et sa douceur, redresseur des querelles et ami de la paix. Il promut, pendant un bref pontificat, la paix de l’Église, la restauration de la discipline et le développement de la religion.

Béatifié par Clément XII en 1736.

À Pérouse en Ombrie, l’an 1304, le trépas du bienheureux Benoît XI, pape, de l’Ordre des Prêcheurs. Plein de bienveillance et de douceur, redresseur des querelles et ami de la paix, il promut, pendant un bref pontificat, la paix de l’Église, la restauration de la discipline et le développement de la religion.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1459/Bienheureux-Benoit-XI.html


Benoît XI


Nicolas Boccasini, Pape, Bienheureux



1240-1304


Fils d’un berger “sans grande fortune”, Nicolas Boccasini naquit en 1240, au bourg de Saint-Barthélemy, aux environs de Trévise. Un de ses oncles, prêtre, se chargea de l'instruire.
« Dès sa première jeunesse, Nicolas Boccasino fit preuve d'une haute intelligence et, ce qui vaut mieux, d’un grand cœur. Dieu permit que cette âme virile passât de bonne heure par l'épreuve de la pauvreté. A l'âge de douze ans environ, il fut mis en état de se suffire à lui-même. Ce jeune homme, cet enfant alla à Venise, et, plein d'un courage et d'une science précoces, se fit le précepteur de jeunes patriciens. Rude métier où les humiliations ne manquent pas ; métier voisin de la domesticité et dont plusieurs siècles n'ont pas corrigé la rudesse »[1].
Le même auteur nous dit encore que le jeune Nicolas « avait une piété ardente et un zèle singulier pour le salut des âmes ; il aimait, sur toutes choses, à entendre la parole de Dieu et avait quelque désir d'en être un jour le ministre. Sa vocation était toute marquée ».
En effet, à l’âge de quatorze ans il entra chez les dominicains où il fit sa profession, probablement en 1257.
« Nicolas de Trévise – c’est ainsi qu’on l’appelait désormais, explique Léon Gauthier ― avait attiré sur lui tous les yeux de ses frères. On parlait de lui dans tous les couvents de l'Ordre, comme d'un génie et comme d'un saint. Malgré sa modestie, l'admiration de ses frères le contraignit à recevoir, tour à tour, tous les honneurs, et à remplir toutes les fonctions de la famille dominicaine. Il fut d'abord sous-prieur, puis prieur conventuel, puis enfin provincial de Lombardie. Et, dans toutes ces dignités, la grâce divine lui communiqua le secret de demeurer humble, doux et discret ».
Mais, malgré cette discrétion et cette humilité exemplaire, il était devenu “l’homme de Dieu” que tous aimaient et voulaient honorer, voila pourquoi, « en 1296, le chapitre général de l'Ordre des Prêcheurs [qui se tenait] à Strasbourg, voulut, d'après la règle, donner un successeur au Maître, ou, comme nous dirions aujourd'hui, au général de l'Ordre, qui était alors Etienne de Besançon. Le provincial de Lombardie ― Nicolas de Trévise – fut élu par acclamation ».
Alors qu’il était encore Maître général de l’Ordre des Prêcheurs, il fut créé cardinal prêtre de la Sainte Église romaine, par une lettre de Boniface VIII en date du 5 décembre 1298, à lui remise par deux émissaires envoyés par le Pape lui-même. Il était nommé au diocèse d’Ostie.
« Le Pape ― poursuit Léon Gauthier ― avait un de ces regards qui percent les âmes, qui les analysent rapidement et qui en découvrent sans peine les qua• lités spécialement puissantes. 11 reconnut que la prudence était chez Boccasino la vertu, non pas la plus belle, mais la plus utile au gouvernement de l'Église, et il utilisa cette vertu. Il fit du nouveau cardinal ce que nous appelons aujourd'hui un diplomate ».
La diplomatie n’est pas une “science exacte” et souffre bien souvent de “détournements” qui ne sont pas toujours ni “honnêtes” ni appréciés de tous, voilà pourquoi la diplomatie de l’Église se veut honnête, sans mensonge et destinée à tous sans exception, ce qui ne veut pas dire pour autant qu’elle puisse être acceptée et appréciée par tous, mais, en tout état de cause elle doit être servie avec “prudence et au service de la Vérité”. Nicolas, malgré son humilité et son désire de rester “dans la solitude et dans le silence”, accepta par obéissance la charge qui lui était confiée, ne souhaitant plus désormais autre chose que de servir dignement le Souverain Pontife qui lui faisait confiance et l’Église universelle.
Pour mener à bien sa mission, le cardinal Dominicain dut s’absenter souvent de son diocèse et aller dans d’autres pays, dont certains étaient en guerre. C’est au retour de l’un de ses voyages épuisants et dangereux que Nicolas Boccasino put mesurer l’étendue des dégâts dont était victime l’Église, car “il ne retrouva point Boniface à Rome” car un “réseau de trahisons commençait à s'ourdir autour du Pontife”, dans le but de le faire périr ; réseau qui semble avoir pour organisateur secret le roi Philippe le Bel. C’était au début de l’année 1303.
« Il resta des amis à Boniface au plus fort de son infortune. Deux cardinaux, deux seulement, restèrent inébranlables au pied du trône pontifical. Ni la violence d'un Sciarra, ni la fourberie d'un Nogaret, ni les outrages d'une soldatesque en délire, n'écartèrent de leur maître outragé ces serviteurs fidèles. L'histoire a conservé les noms de ces deux derniers amis du grand Pontife : c'étaient Pierre d'Espagne et Nicolas Boccasino, évêque d'Ostie »[2].
Boniface VII ne s’est pas remis de cette mésaventure cruelle et le 11 octobre 1303 rejoignît la Maison du Père, laissant le siège romain vacant. Dès lors il fallait élire un nouveau pape. Le conclave fut donc ouvert à Pérouse et les cardinaux se souvinrent de celui qui avait été fidèle et qui avait été l’artisan des rapprochements récents entre l’Église et certains états de l’Europe, désignèrent, le 22 octobre 1303, Nicolas Boccasini pour succéder à Boniface VIII. Le 27 du même mois il fut intronisé et prit le nom de Benoît XI.
La période était chaotique et, « le premier regard que jeta sur son nouvel empire le successeur de Boniface, ce premier regard fut triste. En réalité, le nouveau Pape n'avait d'appui qu'au ciel, et c'est au ciel seulement qu'il pouvait trouver un sujet de joie. Sauf le roi Charles de Sicile et l'ancien capitaine général de Boniface VIII, Charles de Valois, il n'y avait pas alors un seul prince dans toute la chrétienté sur l'épée duquel le Souverain-Pontife eût le droit de compter »[3].
« Aussitôt après son couronnement – écrit encore Léon Gauthier ―, Benoît voulut faire cesser ces luttes, si fatales aux destinées de l'Église, auxquelles les factions se livraient dans Rome. Tout d'abord, il parut réussir : son aménité lui concilia l'amour des deux partis qu'il avait trouvés dans la plus dangereuse effervescence. Lorsqu'il avait fait son entrée à Rome, les poignards s'aiguisaient ; il y avait des haines féroces qui se dressaient l'une contre l'autre ; on craignait de nouvelles effusions de sang, de nouveaux incendies, de nouveaux crimes. Quelques jours après l'avènement du successeur de Boniface, Rome respirait en liberté et tout y était paisible ; mais en apparence, hélas ! »[4]
Malgré toutes ces difficultés, Benoit XI, au court de son pontificat qui ne dura que huit mois, “promut la paix de l’Église, la restauration de la discipline et le développement de la religion”.
Le roi de France, de cette France “fille aînée de l’Église”, prônait déjà une séparation entre l’Église et l’État, en affirmant solennellement :
« Il faut que l'Église n'ait au temporel aucun pouvoir sur la république chrétienne ; aux rois appartient une puissance sans contrôle et Jésus-Christ n'a point de droit sur les couronnes ».
Ne s’étant pas fait que des amis, il faut empoisonné et mourut le 7 juillet 1304, après un an de pontificat. Clément V lui succéda.
« Le 13 février 1734, la cause de sa canonisation fut admise par la sacrée Congrégation des Rites ; le pape Clément XII donna son approbation à ce décret qui fut reçu par l'Ordre de saint Dominique avec des acclamations de joie.
On sait, toutefois, avec quelle prudente lenteur le Saint-Siège a toujours voulu procéder en de semblables conjonctures. Plus de deux ans furent consacrés à préparer seulement les pièces relatives à la Béatification. Le 21 avril 1736, la Congrégation des Rites, après avoir consulté le cardinal Ansideo, évêque de Pérouse, et avoir entendu le promoteur de la foi, répondit affirmativement à cette question posée autrefois par le pape Urbain VIII sur une requête de l'évêque de Pérouse : “Est-il vrai qu'un culte ait été de temps immémorial rendu au bienheureux Benoît ?”
Par des décrets en date du 9 novembre et du 15 décembre 1738, une messe et un office furent accordés au saint successeur de Boniface ; mais, sans parler ici de son Ordre, dans les seuls diocèses de Trévise où il était né et de Pérouse où il était mort. On devait en son honneur célébrer la messe Statuit du Commun d'un confesseur pontife, avec une oraison propre.
Ce fut sans doute le 7 juillet 1739 que la fête du bienheureux Benoît fut célébrée pour la première fois. »[5]
Alphonse Rocha

[1] Léon Gautier : Benoît XI : Étude sur la papauté au commencement du XIVesiècle.
[2] Léon Gautier : Benoît XI : Étude sur la papauté au commencement du XIVe siècle, page 48.
[3]Ibidem, page 53.
[4] Léon Gautier : Benoît XI : Étude sur la papauté au commencement du XIVe siècle, pages 57-58.
[5]Ibidem : pages 198-199.

SOURCE : http://nova.evangelisation.free.fr/benoit11_pape.htm<

Benoît XI

Niccolo (Nicolas) Boccasino, fils d’un notaire impérial de Trévise, naît en 1240.

Il est instruit par son oncle, un prêtre.

A 14 ans il entre comme novice chez les Frères Prêcheurs.

En 1296, Nicolas de Trévise devient le Maître général de l'Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs.

Il écrit ses admirables Commentaires sur le Psautier, sur Job et sur l'Apocalypse, ses Commentaire sur saint Matthieu, son livre De Ritibus, trois lettres aux Frères de son ordre, les Actes de ses légations et le recueil de ses Sermons.

Il est nommé cardinal-prêtre de Sainte-Sabine par Boniface VIII le 5 décembre 1298.

En 1300 il est promu cardinal-évêque d'Ostie et de Velletri.

Le 13 mai 1301, il est fait légat de Hongrie.

Elu pape le 22-10-1303, il choisit le nom de "Benoît" en souvenir, dit-il, de son prédécesseur Benoît Cajetan (Boniface VIII) ; il est consacré le 27.

Dans une lettre écrite suite à son élection, l'Eglise de Perse le reconnaît comme "chef universel". 2

Benoît XI affermit la paix dans l’Eglise et restreint les pouvoirs de l’Inquisition.

Il tente de mettre un terme aux luttes intestines en Toscane.

Il réprime les scandales qui souillent les Églises de Dalmatie et de Serbie.

Il estime qu’on ne doit parler que du "bienheureux" Charlemagne, son nom ne figurant pas au martyrologe romain.

Il meurt à Pérouse en Ombrie le 7-7-1304 (peut-être empoisonné par des figues apportées par une inconnue ; on accusa également le frère mineur Bernard Délicieux, adversaire de l’inquisition, d’avoir empoisonné le pape dont il avait annoncé la mort).

Il est béatifié par Clément XII en 1736.

"(...) Il fut remarquable par sa bienveillance et sa douceur, redresseur des querelles et ami de la paix. Il promut, pendant un bref pontificat, la paix de l’Église, la restauration de la discipline et le développement de la religion."1

Prophétie de Malachie : Concionator patareus (Le prêcheur de Patare).

1303. 22 octobre, élection du pape (il est consacré le 27). Charles, roi de Sicile, bat les Sarrasins à Lucera que le pape rebaptise Sainte-Marie de la Victoire (16 novembre). 7 décembre, suite à l’attentat d’Anagni, "crime épouvantable" commis contre son prédécesseurBoniface VIII, Benoît XI excommunie par une bulle les fils de perdition, Nogaret et Sciarra Colonna (mais pas le roi de France Philippe IV le Bel). 23 décembre, le pape fait rentrer en grâce Pierre et Jacques Colonna en levant l'excommunication qui frappe la famille Colonna.

1303-1307. Comptant bientôt 4 000 partisans, Dolcino et sa compagne, Margarita de Trente, organisent la guérilla dans les régions de Novare et de Verceil ; le mouvement des apostoliquesdulcinistes prend une allure de jacquerie et résistera à plusieurs expéditions militaires que Clément V assimilera à des croisades et enrichira d’indulgences. Vaincus par la famine, les dolciniens seront écrasés le 23 mars 1307. Dolcino et Margarita subiront les supplices les plus odieux. Dolcino sera brûlé le 1er juin 1307.

1304. 14 janvier, le pape annule un certain nombre de décisions prises sans le consentement du Sacré-Collège par Boniface VIII. 25 mars, une bulle délie Philippe le Bel de toutes les censures ecclésiastiques et accorde le pardon à tous les Français compromis dans l'affaire d'Anagni, exception faite du chancelier Guillaume de Nogaret. 13 avril, le pape, menacé à Rome par les Colonna triomphants, se réfugie à Pérouse. 13 mai, le pape délivre officiellement le roi de France des "liens de l'excommunication" (la nouvelle parvient à Paris le 28 juin). 7 juin, le pape fulmine une bulle d'excommunication contre "Sciarra Colonna, Guillaume de Nogaret, et en général contre tous les impies" qui ont coopéré à l'attentat d'Anagni. 7 juillet, Pérouse, mort du pape.

Vacance du Saint-Siège

1304. 18 août, les Flamands sont battus à Mons-en-Pévèle près de Lille. 2 septembre, Rainier Ier Grimaldi, au service de Philippe IV le Bel, détruit la flotte flamande devant Zeriksee et reçoit le titre d’Amiral de France.

1305. 4 avril, mort de la reine Jeanne de Navarre : par son testament, elle fonde à Paris le Collège de Navarre pour les pauvres étudiants champenois ; son fils, Louis le Hutin, héritier de la couronne de France, devient roi de Navarre sous le nom de Louis Ier de Navarre. 5 juin, élection du pape CLÉMENT V.

Notes

1http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1459/Bienheureux-Benoit-XI.html

2http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/martyrologe_07.htm#7_juillet

Sources

Auteur : Jean-Paul Coudeyrette

Référence publication : Compilhistoire ; toute reproduction à but non lucratif est autorisée.

Date de mise à jour : 07/07/2015


SOURCE : http://compilhistoire.pagesperso-orange.fr/BenoitXI.html<

Blessed Benedict XI, OP Pope (RM)

Born in Treviso, Italy, 1240; died in Perugia, Italy, April 25, 1304; beatified by Pope Clement XII in 1736. Nicholas Boccasini was born into a poor family of which we know little else, though there are several different traditions concerning it. One claims that his father was a poor shepherd. Another that he was an impoverished nobleman. Whichever he was, he died when Nicholas was very small, and the little boy was put in the care of an uncle, a priest at Treviso.


The child proved to be very intelligent, so his uncle had him trained in Latin and other clerical subjects. When Nicholas was ten, his uncle got him a position as tutor to some noble children. He followed this vocation until he was old enough to enter the Dominican community at Venice in 1254. Here, and in various parts of Italy, Nicholas spent the next 14 years, completing his education. It is quite probable that he had Saint Thomas Aquinas for one of his teachers.

Nicholas was pre-eminently a teacher at Venice and Bologna. He did his work well according to several sources, including a testimonial from Saint Antoninus, who said that he had "a vast store of knowledge, a prodigious memory, a penetrating genius, and (that) everything about him endeared him to all." In 1295, he received the degree of master of theology.

The administrative career of Nicholas Boccasini began with his election as prior general of Lombardy and then as the ninth master general of the Order of Preachers in 1296. His work in this office came to the notice of the pope, who, after Nicholas had completed a delicate piece of diplomacy in Flanders, appointed him cardinal in 1298.

The Dominicans hurried to Rome to protest that he should not be given the dignity of a cardinal, only to receive from the pope the mystifying prophecy that God had reserved an even heavier burden for Nicholas. As papal legate Nicholas travelled to Hungary to try to settle a civil war there.

Boniface VIII did not always agree with the man he had appointed cardinal-bishop of Ostia and dean of the sacred college. But they respected one another, and in the tragic affair that was shaping up with Philip the Fair of France, Cardinal Boccasini was to be one of only two cardinals who defended the Holy Father, even to the point of offering his life.

Philip the Fair, like several other monarchs, discovered that his interests clashed with those of the papacy. His action was particularly odious in an age when the papal power had not yet been separated completely from temporal concerns.

The French monarch, who bitterly hated Boniface, besieged the pope in the Castle of Anagni, where he had taken refuge, and demanded that he resign the papacy. His soldiers even broke into the house and were met by the pope, dressed in full pontifical vestments and attended by two cardinals, one of whom was Cardinal Boccasini. For a short time it looked as though the soldiers, led by Philip's councilor William Nogaret, might kill all three of them, but they refrained from such a terrible crime and finally withdrew after Nicholas rallied the papal forces and rescued Boniface from Anagni.

Cardinal Boccasini set about the difficult task of swinging public opinion to the favor of the pope. Successful at this, he stood sorrowfully by when the pontiff died, broken-hearted by his treatment at the hands of the French soldiers. On October 22, 1303, at the conclave following the death of Boniface, the prophesied burden fell upon the shoulders of the cardinal-bishop of Ostia, who took the name Benedict XI.

The reign of Benedict XI was too short to give him time to work out any of his excellent plans for settling the troubles of the Church. Most of his reign was taken up with undoing the damage done by Philip the Fair. He lifted the interdict on the French people that had been laid down by his predecessor and made an uneasy peace with Philip. He worked to reconcile warring parties in Europe and the Church and to increase spirituality. His reign, short though it was, was noted for its leniency and kindness.
There are few personal anecdotes regarding Benedict, but at least one worth telling. Once, during his pontificate, his mother came to the papal court to see him. The court attendants decided that she was too poorly dressed to appear in the presence of the Holy Father, so they dressed her up in unaccustomed finery before allowing her to see her son. Benedict, sensing what had happened, told them he did not recognize this wealthy woman, and he asked them where was the little widow, pious and poorly dressed, whom he loved so dearly.

Benedict XI died suddenly in 1304. He had continued to the end with his religious observances and penances. Some people believed that he had been poisoned, but there has never been any evidence that this was the case. Many miracles were performed at his tomb, and there were several cures even before his burial (Benedictines, Delaney, Dorcy).

In art, Pope Benedict wears a Dominican habit and papal tiara, while holding the keys. He is venerated in Perugia (Roeder).

SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0707.shtml

July 7

St. Benedict XI., Pope and Confessor

HIS family name was Nicholas Bocasini. He was a native of Treviso, which city was then an independent commonwealth, but since the year 1336 is subject to that of Venice. He was born in 1240, and studied first at Treviso, and afterwards at Venice, where, at fourteen years of age, he took the habit of St. Dominick. He seemed desirous to set no bounds to his fervour and fidelity in the practice of every means of improving his soul daily in virtue; and, during fourteen years, enriched his mind with an uncommon store of sacred learning. After this term he was appointed professor and preacher at Venice and Bologna, and with incredible fruit communicated to others those spiritual riches which he had treasured up in silence and retirement, being always careful by the same means to preserve and increase his own stock. He wrote several sermons and comments on the holy scripture, which are still extant. He was chosen provincial of Lombardy, and, in 1296, the ninth general of his Order. On that occasion, by a pathetic circular letter, 1 he exhorted his brethren to a love of poverty, humility, retirement, prayer, charity, and obedience. In 1297 he was sent by Boniface VIII. nuncio into France, to be the mediator of peace between that nation and the English; and was created cardinal during his residence there in 1298. Nothing but the strict command of his Holiness could have obliged him to accept that dignity, which cost him many tears. He was made soon after bishop of Ostia, and dean of the sacred college; and in 1301 went legate a latere into Hungary, to endeavour to compose the differences which divided that nation into factions, and had already laid it waste by a dreadful civil war; in which cardinal Bocasini succeeded to a miracle. He also abolished in that country several superstitious practices, and other abuses and scandals. He afterwards exerted his zeal in Austria and at Venice, being successively legate in both those places.

Boniface VIII. dying on the 11th of October, 1303, the cardinals entered the conclave on the 21st of the same month, and on the day following unanimously chose our saint pope. He was seized with trembling at the news; but being compelled to acquiesce, was crowned on the following Sunday. He continued his former practices of humility, mortification, and penance. When his mother came to his court in rich attire, he refused to see her till she had put on again her former mean apparel. Rome was at that time torn by civil divisions, especially by the factions of the Colonnas against the late pope; but the moderation, meekness, and prudence of our saint soon restored the whole country to perfect tranquillity. He pardoned the Colonnas and other rebels, Sciarra Colonna and William of Nogaret excepted, who remained under the former sentence of proscription. He pacified Denmark, and other kingdoms of the North, and appeased the State and Church of France. He reconciled the cities of Venice and Padua without effusion of blood. He joined his zealous endeavours with Helena, queen of Servia, in the conversion of her son Orosius. This good pope died the martyr of peace, to make which reign over the whole Christian world he seemed only to have lived. Having sat only eight months and seventeen days, he departed this life at Perugia, on the 6th of July, in the year of our Lord, 1304, of his age sixty-three. Some say he died of poison secretly given him by the contrivance of certain wicked men who were enemies to the public tranquillity. He was honoured by miracles, examined and approved by the bishop of Perugia, and attested by Platina and other historians. See Conc. t. 10. also his life collected by Pagi, in his Annals, and in an express work by the late learned Dominican, F. Peter Thomas Campana; and Vie de S. Benoit XI. ou Caractère de la Sainteté du B. Benoit XI. à Toulouse, 1739. See also F. Touron, Hommes Illustres, t. 1. l. 7. p. 655. and Benedict XIV. de Canoniz, t. 4. Append. and in his new Roman Martyrology on the 7th of July.

Note 1. Published by Dom. Martenne, Anecdot. t. 4. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/076.html

Pope Benedict XI

(Nicholas Boccasini)


Born at Treviso, Italy, 1240; died at Perugia, 7 July, 1304. He entered the Dominican Order at the age of fourteen. After fourteen years of study, he became lector of theology, which office he filled for several years. In 1296 he was elected Master Generalof the Order. As at this time hostility to Boniface VIII was becoming more pronounced, the new general issued an ordinance forbidding his subjects to favour in any way the opponents of the reigning pontiff; he also enjoined on them to defend in their sermons, when opportune, the legitimacyof the election of Boniface. This loyalty of Boccasini, which remained unshaken to the end, was recognized by Boniface, who showed him many marks of favour and confidence. Thus with the two cardinal-legates, the DominicanGeneralformed the important embassy, the purpose of which was the concluding of an armistice between Edward I of England and Philip IV of France, then at war with each other. In the year 1298 Boccasiniwas elevated to the cardinalate; he was afterwards appointed Bishop of Ostia and Deanof the Sacred College. As at that time Hungary was rent by civil war, the cardinal-bishop was sent thither by the Holy See as legatea latere to labour for the restoration of peace. At the time of the return of the legate to Rome, the famous contest of Boniface VIII with Philip the Fair had reached its height. When, in 1303, the enemies of the pope had made themselves masters of the sacredpalace, of all the cardinals and prelates only the two Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Sabinaremained at the side of the venerable Pontiffto defend him from the violence of William of Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna.

A month after this scene of violence, Boniface having died, Boccasiniwas unanimously electedPope, 22 October, taking the name of BenedictXI. The principal event of his pontificate was the restoration of peace with the French court. Immediately after his electionPhilipsent three ambassadors to the pope bearing the royal letter of congratulation. The king, while professing his obedienceand devotion, recommended to the benevolence of the pope the Kingdomand Church of France. Benedict, judging a policy of indulgenceto be necessary for the restoration of peace with the French court, absolvedPhilip and his subjects from the censures they had incurred and restored the king and kingdom to the rights and privilegesof which they had been deprived by Boniface. The Colonnacardinals were also absolvedfrom their censures, but not reinstated in their former dignities. This policy of leniency Benedictcarried out without compromising the dignity of the Holy See or the memoryof Boniface VIII. Nogaret and Sciarra Colonnaand those implicated in the outrage of Anagni were declared excommunicated and summoned to appear before the pontificaltribunal. After a brief pontificate of eight months, Benedict died suddenly at Perugia. It was suspected, not altogether without reason, that his sudden death was caused by poisoning through the agency of William of Nogaret. BenedictXI was beatified in the year 1773. His feast is celebrated at Rome and throughout the Dominican Order on the 7th of July. He is the author of a volume of sermons and commentarieson a part of the Gospel of St. Matthew, on the Psalms, the Book of Job, and the Apocalypse.

Sources


PTOL. LUC., Hist. Eccl. III, 672; BERNARDUS GUIDONIS, Vit. pont. rom., IX, 1010; Script. Ord. Præd., I, 444; GRANDJEAN, Les registres de Benoît XI (Paris, 1883); FUNKE, Papst Benedikt XI (Münster, 1891); ARTAUD DE MONTOR, History of the Popes (New York, 1867), I, 481-484; Année Dominicaine,vii, 125-54; 874-77; and the monograph of FERRETON (Treviso, 1904).

Waldron, Martin Augustine."Pope Benedict XI."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 2.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1907.12 Jul. 2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02429c.htm>.


SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02429c.htm

Voir aussi : http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/mefr_0223-4874_1888_num_8_1_6543


 http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/mefr_0223-4874_1894_num_14_1_6785
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Sainte ETHELBURGE, vierge bénédictine et abbesse

July 7, 2015, 5:46 am
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Ethelburga of Faremoutiers, OSB Abbess (RM)

(also known as Aubierge, Ædilburh)

Died c. 664. The daughter of King Anna of the East Angles, Ethelburga longed to live the life of a nun. It seems that she lived in a family of saints that included her sister Saint Etheldreda.


Her eldest sister, Saint Sexburga, married King Erconbert of Kent. Sexburga influenced her husband a great deal. The Venerable Bede says that Erconbert was "the first English king to order the complete abandonment and destruction of idols throughout the kingdom." He also ordered everyone to observe the Lenten fasts. Their daughter, Saint Ercongota, entered a convent in Gaul with her aunts Ethelburga and Sethrida because, according to Bede, "as yet there were few monasteries in England."

About 660, Ethelburga succeeded her convent's founder, Saint Fara and her half-sister Sethrida, as abbess of the monastery of Faremoutier in the forest of Brie. She began to build a church there dedicated to all twelve Apostles, but she died before completing it and was buried in the half- finished building in 665. Later the nuns decided they could not afford to complete the church and Ethelburga's relics were reinterred in the nearby church of Saint Stephen the Martyr. At that time, her body was found to be incorrupt.

Ethelburga is mentioned in the Roman, French, and several English martyrologies (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).

In art, Saint Ethelburga is depicted as a Benedictine abbess carrying the instruments of the Passion. She is invoked to cure rheumatism (Roeder). 


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0707.shtml

July 7

St. Edelburga, Virgin

SHE was daughter to Anna king of the East Angles, and out of a desire of attaining to Christian perfection, went into France, and there consecrated herself to God in the monastery of Faremoutier, in the forest of Brie, in the government of which she succeeded its foundress St. Fara. After her death her body remained uncorrupt, as Bede testifies. 1 She is honoured in the Roman, French, and English Martyrologies on this day. 2In these latter her niece St. Earcongota is named with her. She was daughter to Earconbercht king of Kent, and of St. Sexburga; accompanied St. Edelburga to Faremoutier, and there taking the veil with her, lived a great example of all virtues, and was honoured after her happy death by many miracles, as Bede relates. Hereswide, the wife of king Anna, the mother of many saints, after the death of her husband, retired also into France, and consecrated herself to God in the famous monastery of Cale or Chelles, five leagues from Paris, near the Marne, (founded by St. Clotilda, but chiefly endowed by St. Bathildes,) where she persevered, advancing daily in holy fervour to her happy death. See the history of the monastery of Chelles in the sixth tome of the late history of the diocess of Paris, by Abbé Lebeuf, and Solier on this day, p. 481, &c.

Note 1. Bede, b. 3, c. 6. [back]

Note 2. On St. Edelburga, see Solier the Bollandist, ad diem 7 Julij, t. 2, p. 481. She is called in French St. Aubierge. See on her also Du Plessis, Hist. de Meaux. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.


SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/074.html
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Saint FÉLIX de NANTES, évêque et confesseur

July 7, 2015, 5:55 am
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Saint Félix

Évêque de Nantes (✝ 582)

Évêque de Nantes dontsaint Venance Fortunatvante les mérites dans ses poèmes. 

À Nantes, en 582, saint Félix, évêque, qui manifesta son zèle en réalisant d’importants travaux pour le bien de son peuple, en construisant l’église cathédrale et en veillant avec constance à l’évangélisation des populations rurales.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/7495/Saint-Felix.html

Saint Félix est une des grandes figures de l'épiscopat mérovingien. Il nous est connu par les vers de son ami Fortunat, qui lui décerne des éloges dithyrambiques, et par saint Grégoire de Tours, qui n'eut apparemment pas de bons rapports avec lui.

D'après Fortunat, Félix était issu d'une illustre famille d'Aquitaine. Il dut recevoir une éducation soignée, car Fortunat, lui fait mérite de son éloquence. Cette qualité était doublement nécessaire aux évêques de cette époque, qui n'avaient pas seulement à haranguer leurs fidèles, mais devaient aussi, en bien des cas, prendre la place des gouverneurs civils défaillants.

Ce fut, semble-t-il, le cas de Félix, qu'on voit intervenir à plusieurs reprises auprès des Bretons, ses voisins, tantôt pour sauver Macliavus, frère de Chanao, comte de Vannes, et poursuivi par ce dernier; tantôt pour leur envoyer une délégation en vue d'arrêter leurs ravages aux abords de Nantes (579). Fortunat célèbre aussi plusieurs travaux d'utilité publique accomplis par saint Félix, mais son texte n'est pas clair et il est difficile de savoir s'il fit draguer et rectifier le cours de la Loire ou creuser un canal.

Félix ne fait pas seulement figure d'administrateur et de defensor civitatis; les intérêts spirituels de son diocèse ne sont pas oubliés. Tout d'abord il achève la cathédrale, commencée par son prédécesseur Eumérius. D'après les vers de Fortunat et aussi d'après les rares vestiges retrouvés, il semble que l'édifice était fort beau. Il en fit la dédicace devant un nombreux groupe d'évêques. On le voit assister vers cette même époque à plusieurs conciles, notamment à Tours (567) et à Paris (573). Saint Félix mourut le 6 janvier 582, tandis qu'il essayait d'obtenir pour successeur son neveu Burgondio.

SOURCE : http://www.histoire-russie.fr/icone/saints_fetes/textes/felix_nantes.html

Felix of Nantes B (AC)


Died January 8, 584. Felix was a 37-year-old married man when he was called to became the 16th bishop of Nantes, France, about 549. He was born into an illustrious family of Aquitaine, perhaps in Bourges or possibly in Brittany. He was renowned for his virtue, eloquence, and erudition. His zeal for discipline was revealed in the regulations he made for his own diocese, and the decrees of the third council of Paris in 557, the second of Tours in 566, and the fourth of Paris in 573. His charity to the poor was boundless; he sold his own patrimony to enlarge monies available for their relief. Because he believed that no one should be left in distress, he considered the revenues of the church as the patrimony of the poor and administered them wisely for their use. He counted the poet Venantius Fortunatus as a friend, who mentions that Felix wrote a poetic panegyric on Queen Saint Radegund and completed the cathedral begun by his predecessor. Fortunatus describes the cathedral as composed of three naves, of which the middle was supported by great pillars. A great cupola was raised in the middle. The church was covered with tin, and within was only azure, gold, mosaic paintings, pilasters, foliage, various figures, and other ornaments.


Count Canao on Vannes had killed three of his brothers and imprisoned a fourth named Maclian. After Felix was consecrated, he interceded to save the prisoner's life and regain his freedom. Even Saint Gregory of Tours testified to Felix's eminent sanctity, although he had earlier complained that Bishop Felix had unjustly accused him of nepotism toward Gregory's nephew Peter. Felix is also credited with being a peace- maker. Count Guerech II of Vannes had plundered Rennes and Vannes and repulsed the troops of King Chilperic; yet he withdrew and made peace at the request of Felix. After governing the see of Nantes for 33 years, he died. Today is the anniversary of the translation of his relics (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth). 



SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0707.shtml

July 7

St. Felix, Bishop of Nantes, Confessor

THE MOST illustrious among the bishops of Nantes was saint Felix, a person of the first rank in Aquitain, some say of Bourges in the First Aquitain; others more probably think of the Second Aquitain on the sea-coast and nearer Brittany. In the world he was more illustrious by his virtue, his eloquence, and learning, than by his dignities and high birth. The Greek language was as familiar to him as his own; he was a poet and orator, and seems from Fortunatus’s expression to have written a panegyric on the queen St. Radegundes in verse. He had been married when he was called to succeed Evemer, the holy bishop of Nantes, toward the close of the year 549, in the 37th year of his age. His zeal for discipline and good order appeared in the regulations he made for his own diocess, and in the decrees of the third council of Paris in 557, in the second of Tours in 566, and the fourth of Paris in 573. His charity to the poor had no other bounds but those of their necessities, and considering that the revenues of the Church were the patrimony of the poor, he reserved to himself only the prudent and troublesome administration of them for their use. He sold for them and the Church his own patrimony, and made it his study and earnest endeavour that no one in his diocess should pass unrelieved in distress. His predecessor had formed a project of building a cathedral within the walls of the city of Nantes, which Felix executed in the most magnificent manner. Fortunatus describes it to have been composed of three naves, of which the middle was supported by great pillars. A great cupola was raised in the middle. The church was covered with tin, and within was only azure, gold, mosaic paintings, pilasters, foliages, various figures and other ornaments. Euphronius, archbishop of Tours, and the bishops of Angers, Mans, Rennes, Poitiers, and Angouleme performed the dedication; no bishop of the Britons was invited to the ceremony; from which it appears that their commerce with the French was not entirely free. The Britons were then possessed of no lands in the diocess of Nantes except the territory of Croisic, in which was the palace of Aula Quiriaca or Guerrande, vulgarly Warand, probably so called from Guerech I. the British count of Vannes, who resided there. Canao, one of his successors, when Felix was made bishop, had put to death three of his brothers, and held a fourth named Macliau in prison. St. Felix by his intercession saved his life, and obtained his liberty. St. Gregory of Tours complains that bishop Felix had been prepossessed by false informations against Peter, Gregory’s brother, and accused him of favouring an unworthy nephew; but in other places bears testimony to his eminent sanctity, which is much extolled by Fortunatus and others. Guerech II. count of Vannes, plundered the diocesses of Rennes and Vannes, and repulsed the troops which king Chilperic sent against him; but at the entreaties of St. Felix, withdrew his forces, and made peace. The holy prelate died on the 8th of January in 584, the seventieth year of his age, of his episcopal dignity thirty three.

He is honoured at Nantes, of which he was the sixteenth bishop from St. Clair, on the 7th of July, the day of the translation of his relics. See Fortunatus, l. 3. c. 4, 5, 6, 7. St. Gregory of Tours, l. 5. c. 5. Ceillier, t. 16. p. 562. M. Travers, Histoire abrégée des Evéques de Nantes, tome 7. part 2. des Mémoires de Littérature recueillis par P. Desmolets de l’Oratoire. Stilting the Bollandist, t. 2. Jul. p. 470. Lobineau, Vies des SS. de Bretagne, p. 121.

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/075.html


Voir aussi : http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/synaxair/juillet/felix.pdf
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Saint PANTANEUS d'ALEXANDRIE (ou PANTÈNE le Sicilien), Docteur de l'Église

July 7, 2015, 6:06 am
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Pantène, le sicilien

Père de l’Église, Saint
IIIe siècle

 Pantène, digne des temps apostoliques, florissait dans le second siècle de l'Église. Il était Sicilien de naissance et faisait profession de la philosophie stoïcienne. Son éloquence l'a fait appeler, par Clément d'Alexandrie, l’Abeille de Sicile. L'amour qu'il avait pour la vertu lui inspira de l'estime pour les chrétiens, et il se lia étroitement avec quelques-uns d'entre eux. Frappé de l'innocence et de la sainteté de leur vie, il se désabusa des superstitions du paganisme et ouvrit les yeux à la lumière de l'Évangile.
 Après sa conversion, il étudia les livres saints, sous les disciples des Apôtres. Pour en acquérir une plus parfaite intelligence, il alla fixer sa demeure à Alexandrie, en Égypte. Il y avait dans cette ville une célèbre école où l'on enseignait la doctrine chrétienne, et qui devait son établissement aux disciples de saint Mare.
 Pantène fit de rapides progrès dans la science des saintes lettres; mais il cachait par humilité ses rares talents. On les découvrit bientôt malgré lui, et on le tira de l'obscurité dans laquelle il avait cherché à vivre inconnu. Il fut mis à la tète de l'école des chrétiens, quelque temps avant l'an 179 de Jésus-Christ, qui était la première du règne de l'empereur Commode. Sa capacité, jointe à l'excellente méthode qu'il suivait en enseignant, lui acquit une réputation dont ne jouirent jamais les plus fameux philosophes. Ses leçons, qui étaient un composé du suc des fleurs qu'il ramassait dans les écrits des prophètes et dans ceux des Apôtres, portaient la lumière de la science et l'amour de la vertu dans les âmes de tous ceux qui venaient l'entendre. C'est le témoignage que lui rend Clément d'Alexandrie, un de ses disciples.
 Les Indiens que le commerce attirait à Alexandrie, eurent occasion de connaître saint Pantène. Ils le prièrent de passer dans leur pays pour y combattre la doctrine des brachmanes par celle de Jésus-Christ. Il se rendit à leurs instances , quitta son école, et partit pour les Indes, avec la permission de son évêque, qui l'établit prédicateur de l'Évangile pour les nations orientales. En arrivant dans les Indes, il y trouva quelques semences de la foi qui y avaient été jetées précédemment. Il y vit aussi un livre de l'Évangile de saint Matthieu, en hébreu, qui avait été laissé dans le pays par saint Barthélemy. Étant revenu à Alexandrie quelques années après, il y apporta ce livre avec lui.
 L'école de cette ville était alors gouvernée par le célèbre Clément. Saint Pantène continua toujours d'enseigner; mais il ne le lit plus qu'en particulier. Il exerça cet emploi jusqu'au règne de Caracalla, et, par conséquent, jusqu'avant l'année 216. On lit sou nom sous le 7 de juillet dans tous les martyrologes d'Occident.
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/pantene_le_sicilien.htm

Pantène ou Panthène : Philosophe stoïcien, il se convertit au christianisme puis fonda le célèbre centre d'enseignement de philosophie et de théologie connu sous le nom d'École d'Alexandrie ( avec Saint Clément d'Alexandrie et Origène ).

Nominis

Commémoraison de saint Panthène d’Alexandrie, homme apostolique, rempli de science et de sagesse ; il eut tant de zèle et d’amour pour la parole de Dieu qu’il alla, dit-on, prêcher l’Évangile du Christ, dans l’ardeur de sa foi et de son dévouement, jusqu’aux extrémités de l’Orient; puis revenu à Alexandrie, il y reposa dans la paix, sous Antonin Caracalla, vers 215.

Martyrologe romain


SOURCE : http://historia-ecclesiae.fr/content/saint-pant%C3%A8ne-dalexandrie

Pantaenus of Alexandria (RM)


Born in Sicily; died c. 216. Saint Pantaenus was a convert from Stoicism. He became the head of the catechetical school of Alexandria, which reached the height of its prestige under his direction. He is said to have ended his life as a missionary in India, but it is more likely that he worked in Ethiopia (Benedictines). In art, Saint Pantaenus is shown lecturing from the pulpit (Roeder).


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0707.shtml

Pantænus

Head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria about 180 (Eusebius, Church History V.10), still alive in 193 (Eusebius, "Chron."Abr., 2210). As he was succeeded by Clementwho left Alexandria about 203, the probable date of his death would be about 200. He was trained in the Stoicphilosophy; as a Christian missionary, he reached India (probably South Arabia), and found there Christianspossessingthe Gospel of St. Matthew in Hebrew, which they had received from St. Bartholomew. All this is given by Eusebius as what was "said" (Church History V.11). Eusebius continues: "In his 'Hypotyposes' he [Clement] speaks of Pantænus by name as his teacher. It seems to me that he alludes to the same person also in his 'Stromata'." In the passage of the "Stromata" (I.1), which Eusebius proceeds to quote, Clementenumerates his principal teachers, giving their nationality but not their names. The last, with whom Eusebius would identify Pantænus, was "a Hebrew of Palestine, greater than all the others [in ability], whom having huntedout in his concealment in Egypt, I found rest." These teachers "preserving the truetraditionof the blesseddoctrine from the HolyApostlesPeterand James, Johnand Paul . . . came, by God'swill, even to us" etc. Against Eusebius's conjecture it may be suggested that a Hebrewof Palestine was not likely to be trained in Stoicphilosophy. In its favour are the facts that the teacher was met in Egypt, and that Pantænus endeavoured to press the Greekphilosophers into the service of Christianity. It may well be that a mindlike Clement's"found rest" in this feature of his teaching.

Eusebius (VI, xiii) says again that Clementin his "Hypotyposes" mentioned Pantænus, and further adds that he gave "his opinions and traditions". The inference commonly drawn from this statement is that, in the extant fragments of the "Hypotyposes" where he quotes "the elders", Clement had Pantænus in mind; and one opinion or traditionin particular, assigned to "the blessedelder" (Eusebius, Church History VI.14), is unhesitatingly ascribed to Pantænus. But this is incautious, for we cannot be sure that Clementwould have reckoned Pantænus among the elders; and if he did so, there were other elders whom he had known(Church History VI.13). Origen, defending his use of Greekphilosophers, appealsto the example of Pantænus, "who benefited many before our timeby his thorough preparation in such things" (Church History VI.19). That Pantænus anticipated Clementand Origen in the study of Greekphilosophy, as an aid to theology, is the most important fact we know concerning him. Photius(cod. 118) states, in his account of the "Apology for Origen" by Pamphilus and Eusebius (see SAINT PAMPHILUS OF CÆSAREA), that they said Pantænus had been a hearer of men who had seen the Apostles, nay, even had heard them himself. The second statement may have been a conjecture based upon the identification of Pantænus with one of the teachers described in Stromata I.1, and a too literal interpretation of what is said about these teachers deriving their doctrine direct from the Apostles. The first statement may well have been made by Clement; it explains why he should mention Pantænus in his "Hypotyposes", a book apparently made up of traditionsreceived from the elders. Pantænus is quoted;
  • (a) in the "Eclogæ ex Prophetis" (Migne, "Clem. Alex.", II, 723) and
  • (b) in the "Scholia in Greg. Theolog." of St. Maximus Confessor.
But these quotations may have been taken from the "Hypotyposes". The last named in his prologue to "Dionys. Areop." (ed. Corder, p. 36) speaks casually of his writings, but he merely seems to assume he must have written. A conjecture has been hazarded by Lightfoot (Apost. Fathers, 488), and followed up by Batiffol ("L'glise naissante", 3rd ed., 213 sqq.), that Pantænus was the writer of the concluding chaptersof the "Epistle to Diognetus". The chief, though not the only ground for this suggestion, is that Anastasius Sinaita in two passages (ed. Migne, pp. 860, 892) singles out Pantænus with two or three other early Fathersas interpreting the six days of Creationand the Garden of Eden as figuring Christ and the Church— a line of thought pursued in the fragment.

Sources

BARDENHEWER, Gesch. der altkirch. Lit., II, 13 sqq.; HARNACK, Altchrist. Lit., 291 sqq.; TILLEMONT, Hist. ecclés., III, 170 sqq.; CEILLIER, Hist. des aut., II, 237 sqq.; ROUTH, Relig. sac., I, 237 sqq.

Bacchus, Francis Joseph."Pantænus."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 11.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1911.7 Jul. 2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11446b.htm>.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11446b.htm

July 7

St. Pantænus, Father of the Church

See St. Jerom, Catal. Clem. Alex. and Eusebius. Also Ceillier, t. 2, p. 237

THIS learned father and apostolic man flourished in the second age. He was by birth a Sicilian, and by profession a stoic philosopher. For his eloquence he is styled by St. Clement of Alexandria the Sicilian Bee. His esteem for virtue led him into an acquaintance with the Christians, and being charmed with the innocence and sanctity of their conversation he opened his eyes to the truth. He studied the holy scriptures under the disciples of the apostles, and his thirst after sacred learning brought him to Alexandria in Egypt, where the disciples of St. Mark had instituted a celebrated school of the Christian doctrine. Pantænus sought not to display his talents in that great mart of literature and commerce; but his great progress in sacred learning was after some time discovered, and he was drawn out of that obscurity in which his humility sought to live buried. Being placed at the head of the Christian school some time before the year 179, which was the first of Commodus, by his learning and excellent manner of teaching he raised its reputation above all the schools of the philosophers, and the lessons which he read, and which were gathered from the flowers of the prophets and apostles, conveyed light and knowledge into the minds of all his hearers, as St. Clement of Alexandria, his eminent scholar, says of him. The Indians who traded to Alexandria, entreated him to pay their country a visit, in order to confute their Brachmans. Hereupon he forsook his school, and was established by Demetrius, who was made bishop of Alexandria in 189, preacher of the gospel to the Eastern nations. Eusebius tells us that St. Pantænus found some seeds of the faith already sown in the Indies, and a book of the gospel of St. Matthew in Hebrew, which St. Bartholomew had carried thither. He brought it back with him to Alexandria, whither he returned after he had zealously employed some years in instructing the Indians in the faith. The public school was at that time governed by St. Clement, but St. Pantænus continued to teach in private till in the reign of Caracalla, consequently before the year 216, he closed a noble and excellent life by a happy death, as Rufinus writes. 1 His name is inserted in all western martyrologies on the 7th of July

The beauty of the Christian morality, and the sanctity of its faithful professors, which by their charms converted this true philosopher, appear no where to greater advantage than when they are compared with the imperfect and often false virtue of the most famous sages of the heathen world. 2 Into what contradictions and gross errors did they fall, even about the divinity itself and the sovereign good! To how many vices did they give the name of virtues! How many crimes did they canonize! It is true they showed indeed a zeal for justice, a contempt of riches and pleasures, moderation in prosperity, patience in adversities, generosity, courage, and disinterestedness. But these were rather shadows and phantoms than real virtues, if they sprang from a principle of vanity and pride, or were infected with the poison of interestedness or any other vitiated intention, which they often betrayed, nay sometimes openly avowed, and made a subject of their vain boasts.

Note 1. Rufin. b. 5, c. 10. [back]

Note 2. Socrates in all things he said, used to add this form of speech, “By my Demon’s leave.” Just upon the point of expiring, he ordered a cock to be sacrificed to Esculapius. (Plato’s Phædo sub finem.) And in his trial we read one article of his impeachment to have been a charge of unnatural lust. Thales, the prince of naturalists, being asked by Crœsus what God was, put off that prince from time to time, saying, “I will consider on it.” But the meanest mechanic among the Christians can explain himself intelligibly on the Creator of the Universe. Diogenes could not be contented in his tub without gratifying his passions. And when with his dirty feet he trod upon Plato’s costly carpets, crying that he trampled upon the pride of Plato, he did this, as Plato answered him, with greater pride. Pythagoras affected tyranny at Thurium, and Zeno at Pyrene. Lycurgus made away with himself because he was unable to bear the thought of the Lacedæmonians correcting the severity of his laws. Anaxagoras had not fidelity enough to restore to strangers the goods which they had committed to his trust. Aristotle could not sit easy till he proudly made his friend Hermias sit below him; and he was as gross a flatterer of Alexander for the sake of vanity, as Plato was of Dionysius for his belly. From Plato and Socrates the stoics derived their proud maxim, “The wise man is self-sufficient.” Epictetus himself allows “to be proud of the conquest of any vice.” Aristotle (Ethic ad Nicom. l. 10, c. 7,) and Cicero patronize revenge. See B. Cumberland of the Laws of Nature, c. 9, p. 346. Abbé Batteux demonstrates the impiety and vices of Epicurus mingled with some virtues and great moral truths. (La Morale d’Epicure, à Paris, 1758.) The like blemishes may be found in the doctrine and lives of all the other boasted philosophers of paganism. See Theodoret. De curandis Græcor. affectibus, &c. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints.  1866

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/071.html

Voir aussi : http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/synaxair/juillet/pantene.pdf


http://www.nasrani.net/2007/02/13/saint-bartholomew-mission-in-india/
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Saint PROCOPE d'ANTIOCHE (ou de SCYTHOPOLIS), martyr

July 8, 2015, 5:39 am
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Saint Procope d'Antioche

Martyr en Palestine (✝ 303)

Procope est né à Jérusalem. Dès sa jeunesse, nous dit-on, il se consacra à Dieu, vivant de pain et d'eau et méditant les Saintes Écritures. Il va se fixer à Scythopolis où il s'agrège au clergé de la ville comme lecteur, interprète de syriaque et exorciste. Arrive la persécution ordonnée contre les chrétiens par l'empereur romain Dioclétien. Il refuse de sacrifier aux idoles. Bon bougre, le gouverneur, à la place de l'encens, se contenterait de libations partagées avec Procope, en l'honneur des quatre empereurs qui alors gouvernaient l'empire. Procope refuse également en citant avec humour une parole du poète Homère: "Il n'est pas bon qu'il y ait plusieurs chefs. Qu'il y ait donc un seul chef, un seul roi." Et il ajouta: "le Christ." Il fut décapité.

À Césarée de Palestine, saint Procope, martyr. Conduit de Scythopolis à Césarée, vers 303, sous l’empereur Dioclétien, il y fut décapité sur l’ordre du juge Fabien, quand celui-ci eut constaté la fermeté de sa première réponse.


Martyrologe romain

"Le premier des martyrs en Palestine fut Procope. Avant de faire l’expérience de la prison, immédiatement dès son arrivée, il fut amené au tribunal du gouverneur et reçut l’ordre de sacrifier aux soi-disant dieux. Il dit qu’il ne connaissait qu’un seul Dieu." 

(Eusèbe de Césarée – Les martyrs de Palestine)





PASSION DE SAINT PROCOPE, A CÉSARÉE DE PALESTINE, LE 7 JUILLET 303

 La ville de Césarée de Palestine reçut pendant la persécution un grand nombre de membres appartenant à tous les rangs de la hiérarchie et amenés de tous les points de la province. Parmi eux se trouvait le lecteur Procope, de l'Eglise de Scythopolis, dont Eusèbe a dit quelques mots dans son livre sur les martyrs de Palestine, et dont les actes complets faisaient partie du recueil original d'Eusèbe. Ces actes sont certainement contemporains.

BOLL., Act. SS., 8/VII, Julii II, 551-576. — RUINART, Acta sinc., p. 372 et suiv. — P. ALLARD; Hist. des perséc., t. IV, p. 230 et suiv. [Cf. la bibliographie du livre d'Eusèbe t Sur les martyrs de Palestine.]

LES ACTES DU MARTYRE DE SAINT PROCOPE.

Procope fut le premier des martyrs de Palestine. C'était un homme d'une grâce toute céleste. Dès sa première enfance jusqu'au martyre il avait recherché toute sa vie la chasteté et toutes les vertus. Son corps était tellement émacié qu'on l'eût cru sans vie ; mais son âme si vaillante sous l'action des paroles divines qu'on eût pensé qu'elle soutenait seule la vie du corps. Il vivait de pain et d'eau, encore ne mangeait-il que tous les deux ou trois jours, quelquefois même une fois par semaine. Sa contemplation se prolongeait jour et nuit.

Toute son étude était celle des Livres saints. En dehors de là il savait peu. Né à Jérusalem, il s'était fixé à Scythopolis, où il remplissait l'office de lecteur, d'exorciste et de traducteur officiel des Écritures, ce qu'il faisait en récitant au peuple en langue vulgaire le passage des Livres saints lu en grec dans la liturgie.

Transféré avec ses collègues de Scythopolis à Césarée, il fut pris à la porte de la ville et conduit directement devant le gouverneur Flavien, qui lui commanda de sacrifier aux dieux : « Il n'y a pas plusieurs dieux, mais un seul, créateur de toutes choses. »

Le gouverneur, touché, se contenta de la réponse et chercha autre chose; il demanda à Procope d'offrir de l'encens aux empereurs.
« Écoute, dit Procope, ce vers d'Homère :

Il n'est pas bon d'avoir tant de maîtres
Qu'il y ait un seul seigneur, un seul roi. »

A ces paroles, le juge crut voir quelque intention désobligeante pour les empereurs et prononça la peine de mort. Ainsi Procope pénétra dans la gloire. On était au 7 du mois de juillet, le jour des Nones, comme disent les Latins, de la première année de la persécution.

Ce fut le premier martyre à Césarée. Jésus-Christ règne. A Lui soit honneur et gloire dans tous les siècles. Amen.

LES MARTYRS, TOME II : LE TROISIÈME SIÈCLE– DIOCLÉTIEN. Recueil de pièces authentiques sur les martre depuis les origines du christianisme jusqu'au XXe siècle. Traduites et publiées par le B. P. DOM H. LECLERCQ, Moine bénédictin de Saint-Michel de Farnborough. Imprimi potest FR. FERDINANDUS CABROL, Abbas Sancti Michaelis Farnborough. Die 15 Martii 1903.


SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/martyrs/martyrs0002.htm#_Toc90634935


Procopius of Scythopolis M (RM)

Born in Jerusalem; died at Sycthopolis (Bethshan), July 7, 303. Saint Procopius was one of the first victims of Emperor Diocletian's persecution of the Christians in Palestine. The church historian Eusebius was bishop of Caesarea, where Procopius suffered, at the time of the martyrdom. Eusebius left this simple account of Procopius's martyrdom:


"The first of the martyrs of Palestine was Procopius, a man filled with divine grace, who form his childhood had devoted himself to chastity and the practice of all virtues. He had mortified his flesh until his body seemed to be like that of one who was dead, but his soul drew such strength from the word of God that the body itself was refreshed by it. He lived on bread and water, and ate only every second or third day, and sometimes prolonged his fast for a whole week.

"Meditation on the divine work so filled his being that he remained absorbed in it day and night without fatigue. Filled with gentleness and goodness, holding himself to be the least of men, he edified all who heard him by his discourses. The word of God was his only study, and of other matters he had but little knowledge.

"He was born at Jerusalem, but had gone to live in Scythopolis, where he held three ecclesiastical offices. He was reader and interpreter in the Syriac language, and cured those possessed of evil spirits.

"Sent with his companions from Scythopolis to Caesarea [Maritima], he had barely passed through the city gates when he was brought before the governor; and even before being put in chains and taken to the prison he was urged by the judge Flavian to sacrifice to the gods. But in a loud voice Procopius said that there are not several gods, but One only, the creator and author of all things.

"Finding nothing to say in answer, the judge tried to persuade him at least to sacrifice to the emperors, but the martyr of God scorned his pleas. 'Listen,' he said, 'to this verse from Homer: It is not good to have several masters; let there be only one ruler and one king.'

"At these words, as though he had spoken threats against the emperors, the judge ordered him to be executed. His head was cut off, and he passed happily to eternal life by the shortest road. This was the first martyrdom that took place at Caesarea."

This simple, reliable account was not enough to satisfy the legend makers. In later stories Procopius is made a soldier, then an ascetic, then a Persian, and then a prince of Alexandria--sometimes he was said to be all four of these at once. In each case, his conversion was made to bear a remarkable resemblance to that of Saint Paul.

When he was imprisoned in these legends, he is supposed to have converted his guards. When brought before the judges, he was said to have astounded them with a string of quotations from Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Homer, and Socrates. When subjected to the most horrible and fantastic tortures, he emerged unscathed. And when approached by his would-be executioners, he is said to have paralyzed them on the spot. At some point in the story, he is reputed to have slain no fewer than 6,000 barbarian invaders simply by confronting them with a wonder-working cross.

In the most popular of these legends, Procopius was originally named Neanias. He was born at Jerusalem, then made duke of Alexandria by Diocletian, who sent him to proceed against the Christians there. On the way from Antioch Neanias experiences a vision similar to that of Saint Paul on the road to Damascus, as a consequence of which he declares himself a Christian.

He is taken in chains to Caesarea, where the governor Oulcion has him tortured and imprisoned. He is then baptized in a vision by Christ himself, and given the name Procopius. Oulcion dies suddenly, and is succeeded by Flavian, with whom Procopius has long arguments, interspersed with bouts of unbelievable torture. At last Flavian pronounces sentence, and Procopius is executed. The narrative is decorated with marvels throughout the tale: the miraculous cross mentioned above; his mother, Theodosia, and 12 other noble ladies suddenly converted and martyred; etc.

Notice that of Eusebius's historical particulars only the names of some persons and places survives in the legends. Even the hero himself is no longer a humble cleric but a young heathen officer. The legends are sheer invention, and such was the confusion engendered by them that some compilers of calendars produced three martyrs named Procopius--the cleric, the officer, and the unexplained Saint Procopius of Persia.

That the martyr described by Eusebius was publicly venerated is proven by the existence of shrines in his honor at Caesarea and Scythopolis from at least the 5th and 6th centuries. Thank God that we have a contemporary account of what actually happened! (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delehaye, Encyclopedia).


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0708.shtml

July 8

St. Procopius, Martyr

HE was a native of Jerusalem, but lived at Bethsan, otherwise called Scythopolis, where he was reader in the church, and also performed the function of exorcist, in dispossessing demoniacs, and that of interpreter of the Greek tongue into the Syro-Chaldaic. 1He was a divine man, say his acts, and had always lived in the practice of great austerity, and patience, and in perpetual chastity. He took no other sustenance than bread and water, and usually abstained from all food two or three days together. He was well skilled in the sciences of the Greeks, but much more in that of the holy scriptures; the assiduous meditation on which nourished his soul, and seemed also to give vigour and strength to his emaciated body. He was admirable in all virtues, particularly in a heavenly meekness and humility. Dioclesian’s bloody edicts against the Christians reached Palestine in April, 303, and Procopius was the first person who received the crown of martyrdom in that country, in the aforesaid persecution. He was apprehended at Bethsan, and led, with several others, bound to Cæsarea, our city, say the acts, and was hurried straight before Paulinus, prefect of the province. 2 The judge commanded the martyr to sacrifice to the gods. The servant of Christ answered he never could do it; and this he declared with a firmness and resolution that seemed to wound the heart of the prefect as if it had been pierced with a dagger. The martyr added, there is no God but one, who is the author and preserver of the world. The prefect then bade him sacrifice to the four emperors, namely Dioclesian, Herculius, Galerius, and Constantius. This the saint again refused to do, and had scarcely returned his answer than the judge passed sentence upon him, and he was immediately led to execution and beheaded. He is honoured by the Greeks with the title of The Great Martyr. See his original Chaldaic Acts, published by Steph. Assemani, t. 2, p. 166, and a less accurate old Latin translation, given by Ruinart, and by Henry Valois, Not. in Euseb. l. 8. The author of these acts was Eusebius of Cæsarea, an eye-witness.

Note 1. Grotius and others demonstrate the Greek language to have been, in the first ages of Christianity, common in Palestine; but this cannot be extended to all the country people, as this passage and other proofs clearly show. Hence Eusebius wrote his Acts of the Martyrs of Palestine in Syro-Chaldaic; but abridged the same in Greek, in the eighth book of his Church History. [back]

Note 2. The old Latin Acts write his name Flavian, and some Fabian, by mistaking the Syriac name, which is written without vowels. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/082.html

Greatmartyr Procopius of Caesarea, in Palestine


The Holy Great Martyr Procopius, in the world Neanius, a native of Jerusalem, lived and suffered during the reign of the emperor Diocletian (284-305). His father, an eminent Roman by the name of Christopher, was a Christian, but the mother of the saint, Theodosia, remained a pagan. He was early deprived of his father, and the young child was raised by his mother. Having received an excellent secular education, he was introduced to Diocletian in the very first year of the emperor’s accession to the throne, and he quickly advanced in government service. Towards the year 303, when open persecution against Christians began, Neanius was sent as a proconsul to Alexandria with orders to mercilessly persecute the Church of God.


On the way to Egypt, near the Syrian city of Apamea, Neanius had a vision of the Lord Jesus, similar to the vision of Saul on the road to Damascus. A divine voice exclaimed, “Neanius, why do you persecute Me?”

Neanius asked, “Who are you, Lord?”
“I am the crucified Jesus, the Son of God.”

At that moment a radiant Cross appeared in the air. Neanius felt an inexpressible joy and spiritual happiness in his heart and he was transformed from being a persecutor into a zealous follower of Christ. From this point in time Neanius became favorably disposed towards Christians and fought victoriously against the barbarians.

The words of the Savior came true for the saint, “A man’s foes shall be those of his own household” (Mt. 10:36). His mother, a pagan herself, went to the emperor to complain that her son did not worship the ancestral gods. Neanius was summoned to the procurator Judaeus Justus, where he was solemnly handed the decree of Diocletian. Having read through the blasphemous directive, Neanius quietly tore it up before the eyes of everyone. This was a crime, which the Romans regarded as an “insult to authority.” Neanius was held under guard and in chains sent to Caesarea of Palestine, where the Apostle Paul once languished. After terrible torments, they threw the saint into a dank prison. That night, a light shone in the prison, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself baptized the suffering confessor, and gave him the name Procopius.

Repeatedly they led St Procopius to the courtroom, demanding that he renounce Christ, and they subjected him to more tortures. The stolidity of the martyr and his fiery faith brought down God’s abundant grace on those who witnessed the execution.

Inspired by the example of Procopius, many of the holy martyr’s former guards and Roman soldiers went beneath the executioner’s sword together with their tribunes Nikostrates and Antiochus. Twelve Christian women received martyr’s crowns, after they came to the gates of the Caesarea Praetorium.
Struck by the great faith and courage of the Christians, and seeing the firmness of her son in bearing terrible sufferings, Theodosia became repentant and stood in the line of confessors and was executed. Finally the new procurator, Flavian, convinced of the futility of the tortures, sentenced the holy Great Martyr Procopius to beheading by the sword. By night Christians took up his much-tortured body, and with tears and prayers, they committed it to the earth. This was the first martyrdom at Caesarea (303).

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Saint KILIAN, évêque et martyr, saint COLMAN, prêtre et martyr, et saint TOTNAN, diacre et martyr

July 8, 2015, 5:57 am
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Saint Kilien

Évêque et martyr en Thuringe (✝ 689)

ou Kilian.

Probalement d'origine irlandaise, il serait venu, avec onze compagnons, en Thuringe. Ces migrations évangélisatrices venues d'Irlande furent fréquentes à cette époque. Devenu évêque de Wurzbourg, il convertit le duc de Thuringe qui accepte de rompre l'union illégitime qu'il avait contractée avec sa belle-sœur. Mais celle-ci, furieuse, fait massacrer Kilien et deux de ses compagnons. Cinquante ans plus tard, lorsque saint Bonifaceentreprendra l'évangélisation de cette partie de la Germanie, les traces de l'évangélisation de saint Kilien seront encore vivantes.

D'origine irlandaise, il résolut d'évangéliser la Bavière, encore païenne. Il prêche d'abord en Thuringe et en Franconie, puis parvint à Wurtzbourg. Le duc Guzbert lui réserva le meilleur accueil. Pour son baptême il fallait régulariser sa situation matrimoniale. Kilien se rendit à Rome pour plaider la séparation du couple illégitime. L'épouse qui ne voulait quitter le duc résolut à faire disparaître Kilien lors d'un voyage du duc. Elle fit enterrer Kilien et ses collaborateurs avec tous leurs ornements et objets du culte... A son retour le duc crut que Kilien avait définitivement quitté le pays. Le pays sera évangélisé 50 ans plus tard par Boniface. (source:Saints du Pas de Calais - diocèse d'Arras)

Des internautes nous signalent:

- "St Kilian (Mullagh en Irlande +689(?) Würzburg en Allemagne) était un moine irlandais parti évangéliser la Franconnie (l'actuelle Franken annexée à la Bavière). Il est le patron des viticulteurs."
- "Ce Moine Irlandais a évangélisé l'Alsace et la Lorraine, St Kilien est le patron de la paroisse de Dingsheim en Alsace (67)."

À Wurtzbourg en Germanie, vers 689, saint Kilian, évêque et martyr. Originaire d’Irlande, il parvint en cette région pour y annoncer l’Évangile et, à cause des exigences morales du christianisme qu’il rappelait, il fut massacré avec ses compagnons, le prêtre Coloman et le diacre Totnan.


Martyrologe romain



Kilian, Colman, and Totnan MM (RM)

(also known as Chillien or Chilianus, Colman, and Tadhg)

Died c. 689. Kilian, an Irish monk from Mullagh, County Cavan, was consecrated bishop and set out to evangelize Germany with eleven companions. They arrived at Aschaffenburg on the Rhein and then sailed up to the River Main and Würzburg. With the able, zealous assistance of Colman, a priest, and Totnan, a deacon, he was successful in his missionary endeavors, especially after he converted the local lord, Duke Gosbert (Gospert) of Würzburg.


Somewhat anachronistically, about 686, he went to Rome and received permission from Pope Conon to evangelize Franconia (Baden and Bavaria) and East Thuringia. Upon his return his mission ran into a roadblock, Duke Gosbert had married Geilana, his brother's widow. Like most Irish missionaries, the trio spoke out fearlessly against any breach of faith or morals. In this case Kilian openly rebuked the duke for his irregular marriage to his brother's widow. According to legend, while Gosbert was away on a military expedition, Geilana had the three missionaries beheaded when she found that Gosbert was going to leave her because their marriage was forbidden by the Church.

A strong cultus was immediately established in Germany and spread as far as Vienna, Austria, and Ireland. Even today, the Kilianfest is one of the better known festivals of the German peoples, including German-Americans. Kilian's Bible is exposed on the high altar of Würzburg cathedral on his feast and an annual mystery play of his life is produced. Kilian's relics were translated in 752 by Saint Burchard. The strength of the cultus of the three martyrs drew the attention of Pope Saint Zachary, who permitted public veneration of the martyrs in 752. From the time of Blessed Charlemagne, it was common for emperors to make a pilgrimage to their shrine at Würzburg, which Saint Boniface established as a bishopric in honor of Saint Kilian. Kilian's name is also found with that of Saint Boniface in the calendar of Godescale (c. 782).

Kilian, Colman, and Totnan are also unusual in that the Irish themselves have shown veneration for the expatriates, rather than showing their usual disinterest. Many illustrious Irishmen have visited Würzburg over the centuries to honor the saints. In 1134, one of the 12 Irish monasteries governed by that in Regensburg was established in Würzburg. In 1650, Father Stephen White, SJ, a famous Irish historian, chose the city as the center for his studies of Irish antiquities in Germany (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Montague).

In art, Saint Kilian is a bishop holding a sword (often large) and standing between two priests. Sometimes all three are shown assassinated at the command of the duchess or the Kilian is shown between Colman and Totnan buried in a stable as a blind priest is cured at their grave (Roeder). Kilian's image appears on seals and coins of the region. Some old hymns in Latin and German survive that honor him (Farmer). They are venerated at Aschaffenburg, Würzburg, Münnerstadt, and as the patrons of whitewashers. They are invoked against gout and rheumatism (Roeder). 


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0708.shtml




St. Kilian

(Killena, Cillíne).

Apostle of Franconia and martyr, born about 640 of noble parents probably in Ireland (according to others in Scotland though Scottica tellus, as it is called by the elder "Passio", may also in medieval times have meant Ireland. The later "Passio" says: "Scotia quæ et Hibernia dicitur"); died 8 July, probably in 689. He was distinguished from his youth for his piety and love of study, and, according to the later "Passio", embraced the monastic life. Trithemius and later writers say that he was a monk in the celebrated monastery of Hy: that he was later the abbot of this monastery is also held by Trithemius; however, that, a supposition, cannot be proved. The statement in the older "Passio" that Kilian was raised to the purple before leaving his native land may be accepted as trustworthy, although the later "Passio" refers this event to his sojourn in Rome. In accordance with the customthen prevailing in the IrishChurch, he was assigned to no particular diocese, but was district bishop or travelling bishop. One day he made up his mindto be a missionary, left his native country with eleven companions, travelled through Gaul, thence across the Rhine, and finally reached the castle of Würzburg, inhabited by the Thuringian(Frankish) DukeGozbert, who was, like his people, still pagan. Kilian resolved to preach the Gospelhere, but first journeyed with his companions to Rome to receive missionary facultiesfrom the pope. John V, whom he expected to find, had died meanwhile (2 August, 686), and was succeeded by Conon from whom Kilian obtained his faculties. From the sources already cited, we learn that the arrival of St. Kilian and his companions at Würzburg and the journey to Rome occurred in the summer of 686, that they arrived in the latter city in the late autumn, and that their labours at Würzburg continued during 687 and the following years. The original group separated on the return journey — some departing to seek other fields of missionary work, while St. Kilian with two companions, the priestColomanand the deaconTotnan, came back to Würzburg. He took this town as the base of his activity, which extended over an ever-increasing area in EastFranconia and Thuringia, and convertedDuke Gozbert with a large part of his subjects to Christianity. Concerning the causeof the martyrdom of the three missionaries, the early documents supply the following information: After DukeGozbert had become a Christian, St. Kilian explained to him that his marriage with Geilana, his brother's widow, was unlawful under the Christian dispensation, and secured the duke's promise to separate from her. In consequence of this action, Geilana plotted vengeance against the saint, and causedhim and his two companions to be secretly murdered in the absence of the duke, their corpses being immediately buried at the scene of the crime together with the sacred vessels, vestments, and holy writings. This is generally held to have happened on 8 July, 689, although opinions vary as to the exact year. The early documents relate further that, after the duke's return, Geilana at first denied any knowledge of what had become of the missionaries; the murderer, however, went mad, confessed his crime, and died miserably, Geilana also dying insane. Recent critics, especially Hauck and Riezler (see bibliography), question without sufficient grounds the authenticityof these statements in the matterof detail, especially as regards the causeand the immediate circumstances of the martyrdom of the three missionaries. Through prejudice against the IrishChurchthe Protestant party has also disputed the absolutely reliable information about the journey to Rome undertaken by St. Kilian and his assistants. His missionary labours through EasternFranconia and his martyrdom are, however, accepted without question by everyone. Although Kilian'swork was not continued after his death, St. Boniface on his arrival in Thuringiafound at least evidence of his predecessor's influence. The relics of the three martyrs, after wonderful cures had brought renown to their burial place, were transferred in 743 by SaintBurchard, first Bishop of Würzburg, to the Church of Our Lady, where they were temporarily interred. Later, when Burchardhad obtained Pope Zachary's permission for their public veneration, they were solemnly transferred — probably on 8 July, 752 — to the newly finished Cathedralof the Saviour. Still later they were buriedin St. Kilian's vault in the new cathedral erected on the spot where traditionaffirms the martyrdom to have taken place. The New Testament belonging to St. Kilian was preserved among the treasures of WürzburgCathedral until 1803, and since then has been in the universitylibrary. Kilian is the patron saint of the diocese, and his feast is celebrated in Würzburg on 8 July with great solemnity.

The chief source of information is the older and shorter "Passio" (which begins "Fuit vir vitæ venerabilis Killena nomine"), formerly considered to date from the tenth or ninth century. Emmerich(after the example of the "Histoire littéraire de la France", IV, Paris, 1738, p. 86), and Hefner (see below) on very goodgrounds now connect the appearance of this chronicle with the solemntranslation of the relics in 752, which raises its historicvalue beyond the reach of attack. The later and more voluminous "Passio" is an amplified and embellished version of the earlier one and cannot be relied upon when the accounts differ. Both have been published by H. Canisius, "Antiquae lectiones", IV, pt. ii (Ingolstadt, 1603), pp. 625-47; by Mabillon, "Acta Sanctorum O.S.B.", II (Paris, 1669), p. 991-3; in the "Acta Sanctorum" for 8 July (see below), and finally, with a collection of later sources and with the office of St. Kilian of the WürzburgChurch, by Emmerich (see below).

Sources

Acta SS., II, July (Paris and Rome, 1867), 599-619; Eckhart, Commentarii de rebus Franciæ orientalis, I (Würzburg, 1729), 270-83, 451 sqq.; Gropp, Lebensbeschreibung des hl. Kiliani und dessen Gesellen (Würzburg, 1738); Stamminger, Franconia sancta, I (Würzburg, 1881), 58-133; Emmerich, Der heilige Kilian, Regionarbischof u. Martyrer (Würzburg, 1896; Göpfert, St. Kilianus-Büchlein (Würzburg, 1877; 2nd ed., 1902); Bellesheim, Gesch. der kath. Kirche in Irland, I (Mainz, 1890), 168-71; Schrödl in Kirchenlex., s.v.; O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints, VII (Dublin, s.d.), 122-43; Moore in Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v. Cilian. The authenticity of the older "Passio" is combated by: Hauck, Kirchengesch. Deutschlands, I (3rd and 4th ed.), 386 sq.; Riezler, Die Vita Kiliani in Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde, XXVIII (1903), 232-4. In opposition to the views put forward in these works, the authenticity of the document is upheld in Hefner, Das Leben des hl. Burchard in Archiv des historischen Vereins von Unterfranken u. Aschaffenburg, XLV — published separately (Würzburg, 1904), pp. 33, 57; cf. also Hagiographischer Jahresbericht für die Jahre 1904-1906 (Kempten and Munich, 1908), 110.

Lauchert, Friedrich."St. Kilian."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 8.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910.8 Jul. 2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08639a.htm>.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08639a.htm

July 8

SS. Kilian, Bishop, Colman, Priest, and Totnan, Deacon, Martyrs

KILIAN or Kuln was a holy Irish monk, of noble Scottish extraction. With two zealous companions he travelled to Rome in 686, and obtained of Pope Conon a commission to preach the gospel to the German idolaters in Franconia; upon which occasion Kilian was invested with episcopal authority. The missionaries converted and baptized great numbers at Wurtzburg, and among others Gosbert, the duke of that name. This prince had taken to wife Geilana, the relict of his deceased brother; and though he loved her tenderly, being put in mind by St. Kilian that such a marriage was condemned and void by the law of the gospel, he promised to dismiss her, saying that we are bound to love God above father, mother, or wife. Geilana was tormented in mind beyond measure at this resolution; jealousy and ambition equally inflaming her breast; and, as the vengeance of a wicked woman has no bounds, during the absence of the duke in a military expedition, she sent assassins, who privately murdered the three holy missionaries in 688. The ruffians were themselves pursued by divine vengeance, and all perished miserably. St. Burchard, who in the following century was placed by St. Boniface in the episcopal see of Wurtzburg, translated their relics into his cathedral. A portion of those of St. Kilian, in a rich shrine, was preserved in the treasury of the elector of Brunswic-Lunenburgh in 1713, as appears from the printed description of that cabinet: See the acts of these martyrs compiled by Egilward, monk of St. Burchard’s at Wurtzburg, extant imperfect in the eleventh century, in Surius, t. 4, entire in Canisius, t. 4, par. 2, p. 628, and t. 3, ed. Basn. p. 174. Also among the Opuscula of Serrarius, printed at Mentz in 1611, in the collection of the writers of Wurtzburg published by Ludewig, p. 966, and in Mabillon and the Bollandists. See also Thesaurus reliquiarum Electoralis Brunsvico-Luneburgicus. Hanoveræ, 1713, and Solier, t. 2, Julij, p. 600.

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.


SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/083.html

Voir aussi : http://www.saintkilian.org/about_patronsaint.htm
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Saint ADRIEN III, Pape

July 8, 2015, 6:07 am
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Saint Adrien III

Pape (109 ème) de 884 à 885 (✝ 885)

Il ne ménagea pas son zèle à entretenir de bienveillantes relations avec le patriarcat de Constantinople et avec Carloman, le roi de la Francie naissante. Il ne fut pape que dix-huit mois: le temps d’écrire une lettre à Photius et de partir rejoindre l’empereur germanique Charles le Gros, mais saint Adrien meurt en cours de route.


Au diocèse de Modène en Émilie, l’an 885, le trépas de saint Adrien III, pape. Il mit tous ses efforts à réconcilier l’Église de Constantinople avec l’Église romaine et, alors qu’il se rendait en France, il fut atteint d’une grave maladie et mourut très saintement au bourg de Spilamberto et fut enterré au monastère de Nonantola.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/2145/Saint-Adrien-III.html

Ad rien III

Agapet, fils de Benoît, est Romain.

Elu le 17-5-884, il choisit le nom de "Adrien" ; il est intronisé à la fin du mois.

Adrien III meurt début juillet 885 dans l'abbaye de Nonantula près de Modène (peut-être assassiné).

Il eut à déplorer les ravages exercés par le schisme de Photiuset par une famine à Rome.

On lui attribue un décret portant que le pape élu pourrait être consacré sans le consentement de l'empereur 1.

Saint Adrien III est fêté le 8 juillet.

"Il ne ménagea pas son zèle à entretenir de bienveillantes relations avec le patriarcat de Constantinople et avec Carloman, le roi de la Francie naissante. Il ne fut pape que dix-huit mois : le temps d’écrire une lettre à Photius et de partir rejoindre l’empereur germanique Charles le Gros, mais saint Adrien mourut en cours de route"2.

884. 17 mai, élection du pape. En juin, en Espagne, début de la révolte de Omar ben Hafsun qui regroupe autour de lui chrétiens et convertis forcés (fin de la révolte en 928). 6 décembre, mort de Carloman blessé par un sanglier au cours d’une chasse en forêt aux Andelys ; son seul héritier est son demi-frère Charles II le Simple, âgé de 5 ans. 12 décembre, les grands du royaume proclament Charles III le Gros (roi d’Allemagne, de Lorraine et d’Italie) roi de Francie Occidentale. L'Aquitaine redevient un duché. Guerre entre Byzance et les Turcs.

885. 6 avril, en Moravie, mort de Méthode, évangélisateur des Slaves. En mai, assassinat du Normand Godfried, duc de Frise Occidentale, sur ordre de Charles le Gros pour trahison à la parole donnée ; Hugues, fils de Lothaire II a les yeux crevés sur l'ordre de Charles III le Gros qui le fait enfermer à l'abbaye de Prüm. Les Normands remontent la Seine et prennent Rouen. Début juillet, dans l'abbaye de Nonantula près de Modène, mort du pape (peut-être assassiné) alors qu'il se rend à la diète de Worms ; les moines de l’abbaye emportent ses objets de valeurs, tandis que la populace pille la basilique du Latran.

Notes
1Dictionnaire alphabétique et chronologique des saints et saintes de l'Eglise universelle, Librairie d'Alexis Eymery, Paris, 1818

2http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/2145/Saint-Adrien-III.html

Sources

Liste des papes


Auteur : Jean-Paul Coudeyrette
Référence publication : Compilhistoire ; toute reproduction à but non lucratif est autorisée.

Date de mise à jour : 29/05/2015

SOURCE : http://compilhistoire.pagesperso-orange.fr/AdrienIII.htm

Adrian III, Pope (RM)

Died 885; cultus confirmed 1892. Little is known of Adrian or his pontificate and why he is venerated as a saint, though it is known he worked to mitigate the rigors of a famine in Rome. Of Roman descent, he was elected pope probably on May 17, 884. He opposed the aristocratic faction in Rome led by Formosus, bishop of Porto, had George of the Aventine, a member of the Formosan group and notorious for several murders he committed, tried, condemned, and blinded, and had a widow of one of the opposing nobility whipped naked through the streets of Rome. He died either in early September or on July 8 near Modena while on the way to a diet in Worms, Germany, at the invitation of Emperor Charles the Fat, probably to settle the question of Charles' succession and to seek help against the Saracens. He is buried at Nonantola (Benedictines, Delaney).


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0708.shtml

Pope St. Adrian III

Pope St. Adrian III, of Roman extraction, was elected in the beginning of the year 884, and died near Modena in the summer of the following year, while on his way to the diet summoned by Charles the Fat to determine the succession to the Empire. He was buried in the monastery of Nonantula, where his memory has ever since been held in local veneration. By decree of Pope Leo XIII the clergy of Rome and Modena celebrate his Mass and officeritu duplicion 7 September.

Loughlin, James."Pope St. Adrian III."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 1.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1907.12 Jul. 2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01156b.htm>.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01156b.htm
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Bienheureux EUGÈNE III, Pape

July 8, 2015, 6:09 am
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Bienheureux Eugène III

Pape (165 ème) de 1145 à 1153 (✝ 1153)

D'abord moine cistercien à Clairvaux, puis au monastère des Saints Vincent et Anastase, à Tre Fontane, aux portes de Rome, il fut élu pape à une époque de pleine évolution politique. Il resta fidèle à son père spirituel,saint Bernardà qui il demanda de prêcher une croisade, qui d'ailleurs échoua. Nous trouvons Eugène III à Paris en 1147, à Trèves, et dans bien d'autres régions. Il intervient en Angleterre, réglemente l'Église d'Irlande, met sur pied l'organisation ecclésiastique de la Suède et de la Norvège, assure sa primauté devant l'empereur Frédéric Barberousse. Il vécut pauvrement, plein de bienveillance et de justice. Théologien, il fit traduire les homélies desaint Jean Chrysostome. Trois des cardinaux qu'il avait nommés devinrent papes : Adrien IV, Alexandre III et Victor IV. Très tôt le petit peuple romain le considéra comme un saint en raison de sa manière de vivre et de concevoir le rôle de la Papauté.

Voir aussi sur le site de l'Ordre cistercien de la Stricte Observance: leBienheureux Eugène III.

Saint Bernard écrivit pour lui le Traité «de Consideratione», où sont évoqués les devoirs du pontife. Jean de Salisbury le décrit comme 'une âme pleine de délicatesse et d’autorité, de grandeur et d’humilité'.

"Le diocèse donne alors à l'Église un grand pape,Calixte II(1119-1124), originaire de Quingey. Les abbayes nouvelles, surtout cisterciennes, se multiplient: elles seront les principaux foyers de résistance au schisme de Frédéric Barberousse; saintPierre de Tarentaise, défenseur de l'orthodoxie, mourra à Bellevaux en 1174, et le pape Eugène III, cistercien également, viendra en 1148 consacrer la cathédrale reconstruite sous le titre de saint Jean l'Évangéliste." (Histoire du diocèse de Besançon)

À Tivoli près de Rome, en 1153, le trépas du bienheureux Eugène III, pape. Disciple de saint Bernard et premier abbé du monastère cistercien des Saints Vincent et Anastase aux Eaux Salviennes (Saint-Paul aux Trois Fontaines), il fut élu au siège de Rome, alors que la ville était dans l’effervescence politique; il s’employa avec bonheur à défendre le peuple de la cité des incursions des infidèles et à améliorer la discipline ecclésiastique.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1467/Bienheureux-Eugene-III.html

Eugène III (1145)

Bernardo Paganelli di Montemagno, né à Pise, mort à Tivoli en 1153. Bienheureux.

Il parvint à mettre sur pied la deuxième croisade, mais celle-ci échoua.

Eugène III approuva le Souverain Ordre Militaire de Malte.

SOURCE : http://eglise.de.dieu.free.fr/liste_des_papes_11.htm
EUGÈNE III, 
BERNARDO PAGANELLI DI MONTEMAGNO (mort en 1153) pape (1145-1153)
Pape italien né près de Pise à une date inconnue et mort le 8 juillet 1153 à Tivoli, non loin de Rome. Bernardo Paganelli di Montemagno est un disciple de saint Bernard de Clairvau. Il est abbé du monastère cistercien de Saint-Vincent-et-Saint-Anastase à Rome (aujourd'hui l'abbayede Tre Fontane) lorsqu'il est élu pape le 15 février 1145, puis intronisé le 18 février sous le nom d'Eugène III. L'élection inhabituelle d'un ecclésiastique extérieur au conclave provoque une émeute populaire à Rome, obligeant le nouveau pontife à fuir la cité. En 1144, comme tant d'autres en Europe occidentale, c'est avec consternation qu'il apprend la chute du comté d'Édesse, capitale du premier royaume latin d'Orient fondé par les croisés, tombé aux mains des Turcs. Profitant de l'état d'anarchie qui règne à Rome, Arnaud de Brescia, le réformateur extrémiste italien qui s'oppose depuis toujours au pouvoir temporel de la papauté, entre dans la ville et contraint le pape à s'exiler au début de 1146. Alors qu'il est en France (1147), Eugène III presse le roi Louis VII le Jeune de mener une croisade pour la libération d'Édesse, et invite saint Bernard de Clairvauxà la prêcher. Cette deuxième croisade, impressionnante entre toutes par son ampleur, se soldera pourtant par un échec retentissant.
Rentré en Italie en juin 1148, Eugène III excommunie Arnaud de Brescia en juillet de la même année au motif que celui-ci avait dénoncé le pape comme étant « un homme de sang » et fomenté la révolte contre la papauté. Siégeant hors de Rome pendant la plus grande partie de son pontificat à cause de l'hostilité du nouveau sénat restauré au Capitole, Eugène III tient de nombreux conciles régionaux. En 1153, il signe le traité de Constance avec Frédéric Ier Barberousse, successeur de Conrad III sur le trône du Saint Empire romain germanique, fixant les conditions du couronnement à Rome de celui-ci. Le pape mourra avant que Frédéric ait pu se rendre en Italie. Il sera béatifié le 3 octobre 1872.

Universalis, « EUGÈNE III, BERNARDO PAGANELLI DI MONTEMAGNO (mort en 1153) pape (1145-1153) », Encyclopædia Universalis [en ligne], consulté le 13 juillet 2015. URL : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/eugene-iii-bernardo-paganelli-di-montemagno-pape/


SOURCE : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/eugene-iii-bernardo-paganelli-di-montemagno-pape/


Blessed Eugene III, OSB Cist. Pope (RM)

Born at Montemagno, between Lucca and Pisa, Italy; died at Tivoli, July 8, 1153; cultus approved 1872. Pietro Paganelli became a canon at the Pisa cathedral and an official in the ecclesiastical curia of Pisa. After meeting Saint Bernard joined the Cistercians at Clairvaux in 1135, taking the name Bernard. His namesake professed him. He became abbot of Saint Athanasius (then Tre Fontane) in Rome and was unexpectedly elected pope on February 15, 1145, taking the name Eugene.


Forced to flee the city when he refused to recognize the sovereignty of the Roman Senate and Arnold of Brescia, heading the opposition to his election, seized temporal power, he was secretly consecrated at Farfa Abbey on February 18. Eugene moved to Viterbo and then returned to Rome under a truce, which the rebels immediately broke, pillaging churches and turning Saint Peter's into an armory.

At the invitation of King Louis VII, he went to France in 1147 and proclaimed the Second Crusade, which ended in failure, despite the efforts of Saint Bernard, who preached it, when the armies of King Louis VII and Emperor Conrad II of Germany were defeated.

Eugene held synods at Paris and Trier in 1147 and the following year at Rheims, where he condemned Gilbert de la Porree, and at Cremona, where he excommunicated Arnold and threatened to use force against the Roman rebels. Terms were arranged and Eugene returned to Rome in 1149 but was again forced to leave the following year.

He took up residence at Tivoli, concluded the Treaty of Constance in 1153 with Emperor Frederick I, guaranteeing the rights of the Church. Eugene labored throughout a tumultuous pontificate to reunite the Eastern churches to Rome, to reform clerical conduct and discipline, removed unworthy clergymen (among them the archbishops of Mainz and York), fought the recurrence of Manichaeism, was known for his courage and simplicity, and lived according to the spiritual counsels of Saint Bernard, who wrote De consideratione for his guidance.


Saint Antoninus fittingly called him "one of the greatest and one of the most afflicted of popes" (Benedictines, Delaney). 


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0708.shtml



Pope Blessed Eugene III

Bernardo Pignatelli, born in the neighbourhood of Pisa, elected15 Feb., 1145; d. at Tivoli, 8 July, 1153. On the very day that Pope Lucius II succumbed, either to illness or wounds, the Sacred College, foreseeing that the Romanpopulace would make a determined effort to force the new pontiffto abdicate his temporal power and swear allegiance to the Senatus Populusque Romanus,hastily buried the deceased pope in the Lateranand withdrew to the remote cloister of St. Cæsariuson the Appian Way. Here, for reasons unascertained, they sought a candidate outside their body, and unanimously chose the Cistercianmonk, Bernardof Pisa, abbot of the monastery of Tre Fontane, on the site of St. Paul'smartyrdom. He was enthroned as Eugene III without delay in St. JohnLateran, and since residence in the rebellious city was impossible, the pope and his cardinals fled to the country. Their rendezvous was the monastery of Farfa, where Eugenereceived the episcopalconsecration. The city of Viterbo, the hospitable refuge of so many of the afflicted medievalpopes, opened its gates to welcome him; and thither he proceeded to await developments. Though powerless in face of the Romanmob, he was assured by embassies from all the European powers that he possessed the sympathy and affectionate homage of the entire Christian world.


Concerning the parentage, birth-place, and even the original name of Eugene, each of his biographers has advanced a different opinion. All that can be affirmedas certain is that he was of the noble family of Pignatelli, and whether he received the name of Bernardo in baptism or only upon entering religion, must remain uncertain. He was educated in Pisa, and after his ordination was made a canonof the cathedral. Later he held the office of vice-dominus or steward of the temporalities of the diocese. In 1130 he came under the magnetic influence of St. Bernard of Clairvaux; five years later when the saint returned home from the Synodof Pisa, the vice dominus accompanied him as a novice. In course of time he was employed by his order on several important affiars; and lastly was sent with a colony of monks to repeople the ancient Abbey of Farfa; but Innocent II placed them instead at the Tre Fontane.

St. Bernardreceived the intelligence of the elevation of his disciple with astonishment and pleasure, and gave expression to his feelings in a paternal letter addressed to the new pope, in which occurs the famous passage so often quoted by reformers, true and false: "Who willgrant me to see, before I die, the Church of God as in the days of old when the Apostleslet down their nets for a draught, not of silver and gold, but of souls?" The saint, moreover, proceeded to compose in his few moments of leisure that admirable handbook for popes called "De Consideratione". Whilst Eugene sojourned at Viterbo, Arnold of Brescia, who had been condemned by the Councilof 1139 to exile from Italy, ventured to return at the beginning of the new pontificate and threw himself on the clemency of the pope. Believing in the sincerity of his repentance, Eugeneabsolvedhim and enjoined on him as penancefasting and a visit to the tombs of the Apostles. If the veteran demagogue entered Rome in a penitentialmood, the sight of democracybased on his own principles soon caused him to revert to his former self. He placed himself at the head of the movement, and his incendiary philippicsagainst the bishops, cardinals, and even the asceticpontiff who treated him with extreme lenity, worked his hearers into such fury that Rome resembled a city captured by barbarians. The palaces of the cardinals and of such of the nobility as held with the pope were razed to the ground; churchesand monasteries were pillaged; St. Peter's church was turned into an arsenal; and piouspilgrims were plundered and maltreated.

But the storm was too violent to last. Only an idiot could fail to understand that medievalRome without he pope had no means of subsistence. A strong party was formed in Rome and the vicinity consisting of the principal families and their adherents, in the interests of order and the papacy, and the democrats were induced to listen to words of moderation. A treaty was entered into with Eugeneby which the Senate was preserved but subject to the papal sovereignty and swearingallegiance to the supreme pontiff. The senators were to be chosen annually by popular election and in a committee of their body the executive power was lodged. The pope and the senate should have separate courts, and an appeal could be made from the decisions of either court to the other. By virtue of this treaty Eugenemade a solemn entry into Rome a few days before Christmas, and was greeted by the fickle populace with boundless enthusiasm. But the dual system of government proved unworkable. The Romansdemanded the destruction of Tivoli. This town had been faithfulto Eugene during the rebellion of the Romans and meritedhis protection. He therefore refused to permit it to be destroyed. The Romansgrowing more and more turbulent, he retired to Castel S. Angelo, thence to Viterbo, and finally crossed the Alps, early in 1146.

Problems lay before the popeof vastly greater importance than the maintenance of order in Rome. The Christian principalities in Palestine and Syria were threatened with extinction. The fall of Edessa (1144) had aroused consternation throughout the West, and already from ViterboEugenehad addressed a stirring appealto the chivalry of Europe to hasten to the defence of the Holy Places. St. Bernard was commissioned to preach the Second Crusade, and he acquitted himself of the task with such success that within a couple of years two magnificent armies, commanded by the King of the Romansand the King of France, were on their way to Palestine. That the Second Crusade was a wretched failure cannot be ascribed to the saint or the pope; but it is one of those phenomena so frequently met with in the historyof the papacy, that a pope who was made to subdue a handful of rebellious subjects could hurl all Europe against the Saracens. Eugenespent three busy and fruitful years in France, intenton the propagation of the Faith, the correction of errors and abuses, and the maintenance of discipline. He sent Cardinal Breakspear (afterwards Adrian IV) as legate to Scandinavia; he entered into relationswith the Orientals with a view to reunion; he proceeded with vigour against the nascent Manichean heresies. In several synods (Paris, 1147, Trier, 1148), notably in the great Synod of Reims (1148), canonswere enacted regarding the dress and conduct of the clergy. To ensure the strict executionof these canons, the bishops who should neglect to enforce them were threatened with suspension. Eugenewas inexorable in punishing the unworthy. He deposedthe metropolitans of Yorkand Mainz, and he for a causewhich St. Bernard thought not sufficiently grave, he withdrew the pallium from the Archbishop of Reims. But if the saintlypontiff could at times be severe, this was not his naturaldisposition.

"Never", wrote Ven. Peter of Clunyto St. Bernard, "have I found a truer friend, a sincerer brother, a purer father. His ear is ever ready to hear, his tongue is swift and mighty to advise. Nor does he comport himself as one's superior, but rather as an equal or an inferior… I have never made him a request which he has not either granted, or so refused that I could not reasonably complain." On the occasion of a visit which he paid to Clairvaux, his former companions discovered to their joy that "he who externally shone in the pontificalrobes remained in his heart an observant monk".

The prolonged sojourn of the pope in France was of great advantage to the FrenchChurch in many ways and enhanced the prestige of the papacy. Eugenealso encouraged the new intellectual movement to which Peter Lombard had given a strong impulse. With the aid of Cardinal Pullus, his chancellor, who had established the University of Oxford on a lasting basis, he reduced the schools of theology and philosophyto better form. He encouraged Gratianin his herculean task of arranging the Decretals, and we owe to him various useful regulations bearing on academic degrees. In the spring of 1148, the pope returned by easy stages to Italy. On 7 July, he met the Italianbishops at Cremona, promulgated the canonsof Reims for Italy, and solemnlyexcommunicatedArnold of Brescia, who still reigned over the Romanmob. Eugene, having brought with him considerable financial aid, began to gather his vassals and advanced to Viterbo and thence to Tusculum. Here he was visited by King Louisof France, whom he reconciled to his queen, Eleanor. With the assistance of Roger of Sicily, he forced his way into Rome (1149), and celebrated Christmas in the Lateran. His stay was not of long duration. During the next three years the Romancourt wandered in exile through the Campagna while both sides looked for the intervention of Conrad of Germany, offeringhim the imperial crown. Arousedby the earnest exhortations of St. Bernard, Conrad finally decided to descend into Italy and put an end to the anarchy in Rome. Death overtook him in the midst of his preparations on 15 Feb., 1152, leaving the task to his more energetic nephew, Frederick Barbarossa. The envoys of Eugenehaving concluded with Frederickat Constance, in the spring of 1153, a treaty favourable to the interests of the Church and the empire, the more moderate of the Romans, seeing that the days of democracywere numbered, joined with the nobles in putting down the Arnoldists, and the pontiff was enabled to spend his concluding days in peace.

Eugene is said to have gained the affection of the people by his affability and generosity. He died at Tivoli, whither he had gone to avoid the summer heats, and was buried in front of the high altar in St. Peters, Rome. St. Bernardfollowed him to the grave (20 Aug.). "The unassuming but astute pupil of St. Bernard", says Gregorovius, "had always continued to wear the coarse habit of Clairvauxbeneath the purple; the stoic virtuesof monasticism accompanied him through his stormy career, and invested him with that power of passive resistance which has always remained the most effectual weapon of the popes."St. Antoninus pronounces Eugene III "one of the greatest and most afflicted of the popes". Pius IX by a decreedof 28 Dec., 1872, approved the cult which from time immemorial the Pisans have rendered to their countryman, and ordered him to be honoured with Mass and Officeritu duplicion the anniversary of his death.

Sources


     For the earlier lives by BOSO, JOHN OF SALISBURY, BERNHARD GUIDONIS, and AMALRICUS AUGERII see MURATORI, SS. Rer. Ital., III, 439 sqq. Cf. Lib. Pont., ed DUCHESNE, II, 386; HEFELE, Conciliengesch., v, 494; his letters are in P.L., CLXXX, 1009 sqq. (JAFFÉ, II, 20 sqq.). See also SAINATI, Vita de beato Eugenio III (Monza, 1874); Annal. Bolland. (1891), X, 455; and histories of the city of Rome by VON REUMONT and GREGOROVIUS.

Loughlin, James."Pope Blessed Eugene III."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 5.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1909.12 Jul. 2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05599a.htm>.


SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05599a.htm

Blessed Pope Eugene III

Also known as
  • Peter dei Paganelli di Montemagno
  • Bernard of Pisa
  • Bernardo Pignatelli
Profile

Prominent Cistercianmonk. Friend of SaintBernard of Clairvaux. Abbotof the monastery of Tre Fontaine. Elected pope unanimously on day of his predecessor’s funeral; the cardinalswanted a quick election to prevent the interference of secular authorities. Promoted the disastrous Second Crusade. In 1146, the agitation of Arnold of Brescia and the republicans drove the pope from Rome. While in exile from 1146 to 1149 and again from 1150 to 1152, Eugene worked to reform clerical discipline.

Born
  • at Montemagno, Pisa, Italy as Peter dei Paganelli di Montemagno
Papal Ascension

SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/blessed-pope-eugene-iii/


After the death of Lucius the cardinals withdrew to the Monastery of St. Caesarius where, protected by Frangipani swords, they could elect a pope in peace. The election was speedy and surprising.

Quickly the cardinals chose, not one of their own number, but Bernard, the Cistercian abbot of St. Anastasius. He took the name Eugene III. Bernard Paganelli was born in Pisa. He was a canon of the cathedral there and a high official when he met St. Bernard. This meant a radical change. He resigned his high offices to follow St. Bernard, that spiritual pied piper, into a Cistercian monastery. When Innocent II asked St. Bernard to send Cistercians to Rome, it was Bernard Paganelli who led the monks to St. Anastasius. There he attracted many vocations and the monastery was flourishing when Bernard was elected pope.

Eugene was a man of real holiness, humble, kindly, and cheerful. If he was severe, he was severe on principle as when he deposed the archbishops of Mainz and York. He accomplished much for the church. He might have done more if he had not been so troubled by the perennial Roman problem. Eugene had to go to Farfa to be consecrated in peace. But soon, tired of the excesses of Jordan, the Patrician, the Romans welcomed the Pope back and agreed to a compromise. The office of Patrician was abolished. The senate was to remain but to acknowledge the lordship of the Pope. This did not work well and soon the disgusted Pope once more left the city. The fall of Edessa. a bastion of the crusader kingdom, had alarmed Europe. Eugene proclaimed the second crusade. St. Bernard preached it. Louis VII of France and Emperor Conrad III were its leaders. Weak leaders they proved to be. The Germans were cut up in Asia Minor, the French butchered in a mountain defile. Louis and Conrad reached Jerusalem indeed, but rather as pilgrims than war leaders. The crusade which had begun in hope ended in disillusionment. So keenly did Eugene feel this that he left France.

The Pope was active in promoting the spiritual welfare of the church. He received an embassy from the Catholic Armenians and sent those good people a letter of instruction. He arranged discussions with the Greeks. He held a council at Rheims at which the Trinitarian vagaries of Gilbert de la Porree were condemned. On the other hand the pope approved of the visions of the holy mystic Hildegarde. Though he had actually been guardian of France during the crusade, Eugene could not control his own city. Arnold of Brescia, whom the pope had once pardoned, was now the idol of the factious Romans. Diplomacy and a show of force enabled Eugene to enter Rome once more in 1149, but he had so hard a time keeping order that he appealed to Conrad to come down and settle matters. The Emperor died before he could do so. His nephew and successor agreed to come into Italy. He was to come many times and the popes would not be pleased. Conrad's successor was Frederick Barbarossa. Blessed Eugene died at Tivoli July 8, 1153. He was buried in St. Peter's with great marks of veneration.

Excerpted from "Popes Through the Ages" by Joseph Brusher, S.J.
SOURCE : http://www.stsmarthaandmary.org/popes/Eugene%20III.htm
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Sainte WITHBURGE de DEREHAM, vierge bénédictine et abbesse

July 8, 2015, 6:19 am
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Sainte Withburge de Dereham

Religieuse à Dereham

Fête le 17 mars

OSB

† 17 mars v. 743

Autre mention : 8 juillet

Autres mentions : Withburge, Withburgh, Witburh ou Withburga

Fille la plus jeune d’Anna, roi de l’Est-Anglie, elle forma autour d’elle une communauté à East Dereham, dans le comté de Norfolk, mais elle mourut avant que la communauté ne fût complètement organisée. Fondatrice de l’église de Dereham, une chapelle s’élève sur le site de sa tombe. D’autres fêtes sont célébrées le 18 avril à Cambridge et le 8 juillet ; aujourd’hui la fête commémore la translation de ses reliques.

SOURCE : http://www.martyretsaint.com/withburge-de-dereham/

Withburga of Dereham, OSB V (AC)
(also known as Withburge, Witburh) 


Died March 17, c. 743; other feasts are celebrated on April 18 at Cambridge and on March 17; today's feast commemorates her translation. She was the youngest daughter of King Anna of the East Angles. Like her holy sisters, she devoted herself to the divine service, and led an austere life in solitude for several years at Holkham, near the sea-coast in Norfolk, where a church dedicated to her was afterwards built. After the death of her father she changed her abode to East Dereham, now a market-town in Norfolk, but then an obscure place of retirement.


Withburga assembled there some devout maidens, and laid the foundation of a church and convent, but did not live to finish the buildings. Her body was interred in the churchyard at East Dereham and 50 years later was found incorrupt and translated into the church. In 974, with soldiers and under the cover of night but with the blessing of King Edgar and Saint Ethelwold, Abbot Brithnoth of Ely removed it to Ely. They moved the body to wagons, drove 20 miles to Brandun River, and continued their journey by boat--much to the dismay of the men of Dereham who had pursued them by land and could only watch helplessly as their treasure drifted away. At Ely Brithnoth deposited Withburga's relics near the bodies of her two sisters.

In 1102, Withburga's relics were moved into a new part of the church. In 1106, the remains of four saints were translated into the new church and laid near the high altar. The bodies of Saints Sexburga and Ermenilda were reduced to dust, except the bones. That of Saint Etheldreda was entire, and that of Saint Withburga was not only sound but also fresh, and the limbs flexible. This is related by Thomas, monk of Ely, in his history of Ely, which he wrote the following year.

He also tells us that in the place where Saint Withburga was first buried, in the churchyard at Dereham, a spring of clear water gushed forth when her body was first exhumed: it is to this day called Saint Withburga's well. The church at Holkham is dedicated to her honor (Benedictines, Farmer, Walsh).

In art, Saint Withburga is portrayed as an abbess with two hinds at her feet because William of Malmesbury described her as being provided milk in her solitude by a doe. She may be holding a church inscribed Ecclia de Estderham. She is venerated at Barham, Burlingham, and Dereham in Norfolk (Roeder). 



SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0708.shtml


St. Withburge, Virgin

SHE was the youngest of the four sisters, all saints, daughters of Annas the holy king of the East-Angles. In her tender years she devoted herself to the divine service, and led an austere life in close solitude for several years at Holkham, an estate of the king her father, near the sea-coast in Norfolk, where a church, afterwards called Withburgstow, was built. After the death of her father she changed her dwelling to another estate of the crown called Dereham. This is at present a considerable market town in Norfolk, but was then an obscure retired place. Withburge assembled there many devout virgins, and laid the foundation of a great church and nunnery, but did not live to finish the buildings. Her holy death happened on the 17th of March, 743. Her body was interred in the church-yard at Dereham, and fifty-five years after, found uncorrupt, and translated into the church. One hundred and seventy-six years after this, in 974, Brithnoth, (the first abbot of Ely, after that house, which had been destroyed by the Danes, was rebuilt,) with the consent of King Edgar, removed it to Ely, and deposited it near the bodies of her two sisters. In 1106 the remains of the four saints were translated into the new church and laid near the high altar. The bodies of SS. Sexburga and Ermenilda were reduced to dust, except the bones. That of St. Audry was entire, and that of St. Withburge was not only sound but also fresh, and the limbs perfectly flexible. Warner, a monk of Westminster, showed this to all the people, by lifting up and moving several ways the hands, arms, and feet. Herbert, bishop of Thetford, who in 1094 translated his see to Norwich, and many other persons of distinction were eyewitnesses hereof. This is related by Thomas, a monk of Ely, 1 which he wrote the year following, 1107. This author tells us, that in the place where St. Withburge was first buried, in the church-yard of Dereham, a large fine spring of most clear water gushes forth. 2 It is to this day called St. Withburge’s well, was formerly very famous, and is paved, covered and inclosed; a stream from it forms another small well without the church-yard. See her life, and Leland, Collect, vol. iii. p. 167.

Note 1. Anglia Sacra, t. 1, p. 613, published by Wharton. [back]

Note 2. Ib. p. 606. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/084.html

Today, July 8, we celebrate the feast of Saint Withburga (died 643), sister of Saint Etheldreda, miracle worker, foundress of the Convent at East Dereham, and Abbess. The simple and obedient life of Saint Withburga inspires us to discern the will of God in our own lives, following His plan to our best ability.

Born the youngest daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia, Withburga grew up in a privileged class, considered a princess. Upon her father’s death, while she was still quite young, Withburga was sent with her nurse to live in a small town near Norfolk called Dereham. There, she grew in piety and love for the Lord, and established a small nunnery with the help of her sister, Etheldreda. She served as Abbess of the fledgling community, which grew considerably under her direction. As the community grew, Withburga eventually began construction of a church.

It is at that point that miracles began to occur, spreading her notoriety and drawing pilgrims to her construction site. As construction of the church continued, money was short. At times, Withburga had little more than bread to feed her workers. One night Our Blessed Mother appeared to Withburga, saying “Send two of your women down to the stream every morning, where two does will stand to be milked.”This she did without question, and the two nuns found the deer waiting, as promised. As a result, there was butter and cheese for all to add to their diet, and the construction progressed with great speed.

Saint Withburga came to be recognized for her great piety, patience, and advice. She was sought out be locals, as well as by leaders from far away. The local official, jealous of the positive attention she was receiving, set off with his hounds to kill the miraculous deer, but was instead thrown from his horse and died of a broken neck. All present reported this as miraculous, which only increased the stream of pilgrims to the area—visiting the stream, the church, and hoping for an audience with Withburga herself.

Saint Withburga died prior to the completion of the church. Pilgrims continued to flock to her graveside, where numerous miracles were reported. Upon exhumation (55 years after her death), her body was discovered to be incorrupt, and moved into a shrine contained within the completed church. Having consecrated herself a virgin while alive, Saint Withburga’s corpse is said to have blushed when one of the men who exhumed the body brushed her check with his finger. Years later, the saint’s relics were stolen from her tomb (by a well-intentioned bishop), and translated to Ely, to be placed next to her sisters. Where her body had been, fresh water sprang forth, and continues to flow freely today. Saint Withburga’s Well has never run dry (despite drought), and some have claimed miraculous healing due to prayer and imbibing of the clear water.

Saint Withburga’s simple faith and obedience allowed her to create an active religious community, offer healing and advice to believers, and feed those who were hungry. Her life is remembered as one of purity and hard work, turning from a privileged life and dedicating herself to the Lord. We look to her for inspiration—just as the pilgrims of her day did-- in making our daily life choices. What advice might Saint Withburga give each of us, were we to ask her today?

SOURCE : http://365rosaries.blogspot.ca/2011/07/july-8-saint-withburga-of-dereham.html

St. Withburga of Dereham, 

Abbess of Dereham

(Died AD 743)

Withburga was the youngest of the saintly daughters of Anna, King of East Anglia. Her sisters were SS. Ethedreda and Sexburga; they had an elder half-sister St. Saethrith and an illegitimate half-sister, St. Ethelburgaof Faremoutier-en-Brie. Withburga was also aunt of St. Ermengild. When a young girl, she was sent to live with her nurse at Holkham in Norfolk where, in process of time, a church was built in her honour and the place called Withburgstowe. After her father's death, she built a convent at East Dereham. While she was building it, she had, at one time, nothing but dry bread to give her workmen. She applied for assistance to the Blessed Virgin Mary who directed her to send her maids to a certain fountain every morning. There, they found two wild does which yielded plenty of milk. In this way, the workmen were fed and the work prospered until the overseer of those lands, in contempt or dislike of the saint and her miracles, hunted the does, with dogs, and made them leave off coming to the fountain to be milked. He was punished for his cruelty, for his horse threw him and he broke his neck.

Withburga died on 17th March AD 743 and was buried in the cemetery of the Abbey of Dereham and her body, being found uncorrupted fifty-five years afterwards, was translated into the church which she herself had built. In AD 974, Brithnoth, Abbot of Ely, determined to lay the body beside those of her sisters. He went, with armed followers, to Dereham where he invited the townsmen to a feast and made them drunk. He carried off the body. They awoke and went in pursuit, and the men of Ely and the men of Dereham fought lustily for their treasure. Javelins wore thrown and hard blows were exchanged. At last, however, Brithnoth triumphantly carried off the saint and deposited her at Ely.

Edited from Agnes Dunbar's "A Dictionary of Saintly Women" (1904).


SOURCE : http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/adversaries/bios/withburga.html
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Bienheureux HUMBERT de ROMANS, prêtre dominicain et maître général de l'Odre des dominicains

July 14, 2015, 6:56 am
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Vénérable Humbert de Romans

Maître général de l'ordre des Dominicains (✝ 1277)

Né vers 1200, originaire de Romans, en Isère, il rejoint l'ordre des dominicains à Paris et devint Maître général de l'ordre en 1254. Il produit de nombreux ouvrages concernant les rites liturgiques dominicains, la prédication, les homélies... Il se retire en 1263 à Valence où il mourut le 14 juillet 1277.

Humbert de Romans, troisième successeur de saint Dominiqueà la tête de l'Ordre, maître de l'ordre de 1254 à 1263: le vénérable Humbertus de Romans (France)

"Puisque l'effort humain ne peut rien accomplir sans l'aide de Dieu", écrit-il, "la chose la plus importante pour un prêcheur est qu'il ait recours à la prière".

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11011/Venerable-Humbert-de-Romans.html

Vénérable Humbert de Romans
Fils d’un couple fortuné de la ville de Romans (Isère). Après avoir obtenu un doctorat en droit civil à Paris, il songe dans un premier temps à entrer dans l’Ordre des Chartreux, mais choisit finalement l’Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs, dont il prend l’habit au Couvent de Saint-Jacques en 1224. 
Il effectue ensuite un pèlerinage en Terre Sainte, et dès son retour est nommé gouverneur de la province romaine. 
Il gravit ensuite graduellement les échelons de son Ordre jusqu’à en atteindre le sommet en 1254 en devenant le cinquième général.

Il entreprend alors plusieurs missions en Europe en débutant par une visite en Hongrie. En 1258, il est admis à siéger au conseil du roi Saint-Louis afin de juger un conflit entre les seigneurs de Clermont, d’Anjou et de Poitiers.
Quelque temps après, il s’associe à Albert le Grand, Saint-Thomas d’Aquin et Pierre de Tarentaise pour tenter de préserver les populations du Hainaut des ravages causés par les incursions tartares.

En 1263, il quitte sa charge et se retire dans la solitude près de Valence, où il passe les quatorze dernières années de sa vie.
Humbert est aussi l’auteur de nombreux ouvrages théologiques, parmi lesquels figurent un traité sur les vœux de Religion, une histoire de la vie de Saint-Dominique et une petite chronique de son Ordre (+ 1277).
SOURCE : http://reflexionchretienne.e-monsite.com/pages/vie-des-saints/juillet/saint-humbert-de-romans-dominicain-1277-fete-le-14-juillet.html

Blessed Humbert of Romans, OP (PC)


Born at Romans, Dauphiné, France, in 1193; died there in 1277. The contribution of Humbert of the Romans to Dominican life can never be overestimated. While he has never been formally beatified, he has been given the popular title of "blessed" since his death. His name is associated with the foundation of the order and the clarification of its rule and constitutions, which reveals the sure touch of his saintly and logical mind.


Humbert came from a large family, several of whom became religious; one of them was a Carthusian. He met the Dominicans at the University of Paris, where he was teaching on the faculty of arts and studying theology in 1224.

There is a charming story concerning his choice of a vocation to the Dominicans. He was kneeling one day in the cathedral of Notre Dame during the Office of the Dead being chanted by the canons. His mind kept wandering to the choice of a vocation, for his family had been friendly with the Carthusians for many years, and his brother had already joined them.

As he debated with himself, an old priest wandered down from the choir and engaged him in quiet conversation. He asked Humbert where he came from, and Humbert replied that he was a parishioner. The old priest regarded him shrewdly and said, "Do you remember what you promised at your baptism--to renounce the devil and all his pomps? Why don't you become a Friar Preacher?"

Humbert could hardly keep his mind off the priest's words, and at the responsory for the lesson, "Where shall I fly if not to You?," he decided once and for all that he would become a friar. He went to consult with his professor of theology, Hugh of Saint Cher, who was planning to become a Dominican himself as soon as he could arrange his affairs. On the feast of Saint Andrew, Humbert knelt at the feet of Blessed Jordan of Saxony and asked for the habit of the Dominicans.

The first task of the new brother was teaching at Lyons. His profound knowledge of Scripture recommended him for the highest teaching posts in the order. In 1240, when he was elected provincial of Lombardy, he began his administrative career.

From that time until his death, there was scarcely an event of any importance to the order in which he did not play a part. As provincial of France, from 1244 to 1254, he worked steadily to stabilize relations of the order and the university, perhaps foreseeing that there would one day be a showdown between the two great forces there. He was offered the patriarchate of Jerusalem, which he refused, and at the election of Gregory IX he received nearly enough votes to be elected pope.

Humbert was a careful canonist, and he carried around a master copy of the Dominican Constitutions in order that a copy could be made in the various houses. In his time the order had begun to feel the need for uniformity more than ever before, for its members were spreading to the far parts of the earth, and local regulations differed.

This was nowhere more clearly seen than in the liturgy, which differed not only with each diocese but with each basilica. When the brethren of various provinces got together for a general chapter, it was harrowing to try to chant the office. Humbert, along with several others, was appointed to begin work on a unification of the liturgy, even before he became master general in 1254. After his election as the fifth master general of the order, he intensified his efforts in this behalf.

Most of the regulations of the Dominican liturgy that have come down to us are in the words of Humbert. His principal contribution appears to be the unification of the liturgy. He set up a norm and insisted that all the varying elements conform to it, apologizing to the brethren meekly for the fact that some of them would be disappointed in the forms chosen ("since one cannot please everyone").

Many distinguishing features of the Dominican Mass can trace their definite form to this talented and sincere man who devoted his energies to the quiet task of building a structure that would wear through the centuries.

The dignity and clarity of the Dominican Constitutions likewise owe a debt to this man who wrote so clearly and unequivocally of the spirit that Dominic had left to his children, and which was in Humbert's day just being recorded for posterity. Humbert was also successful in the development of the foreign missions, and in the definitive planning of the studies of the Dominicans (Benedictines, Dorcy). 


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0714.shtml

Humbert of Romans

(DE ROMANIS).

Fifth master general of the Dominican Order, b. at Romansin the Diocese of Vienne about 1194; d. 14 July, 1277 or 15 January, 1274, at Valence. He is mentioned as a student at Paris in 1215. In 1224 he entered the Order of St. Dominic, was professor of theology at the school of his order at Lyons in 1226, and priorat the same place from 1236 to 1239. In 1240 he became provincial of the Roman, and in 1244 of the Frenchprovinceof Dominicans. After holding the latter office ten years he was elected master general of his order at the general chapterheld at Budapest in 1254. In 1263 he voluntarily resigned this office at the general chapter held in London, and retired to the monastery of Valence where he spent the rest of his life. During his generalate the liturgy of the Dominican Order received its permanent form. Humbert'shumility did not permit him to accept the Patriarchateof Jerusalem, which was offeredhim after he had resigned as master general. He is the author of various ascetical treatises, some of which were collected and edited by Berthier: "Opera B. Humberti" (2 vols., Paris, 1889). In a treatise entitled: "Liber de tractandis in concilio Lugdunensi 1274" he severely criticizesthe faults of the clergy. Parts of it were edited by Martènein "Veterum Script. et monument. ecclesiasticorum et dogmaticorum ampl. collectio" (Paris, 1724-33), VII, 174-98.

Sources

MORTIER, Histoire des Maîtres généraux de l'ordre des Frères-Prêcheurs, I (Paris, 1903-5), 415-664; L'Année Dominicaine, VII (Lyons, 1896), 283-342; DE WARESQUIL, Le bienhereux Humbert de Romans (Paris, 1901).

Ott, Michael."Humbert of Romans."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 7.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910.15 Jul. 2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07542a.htm>.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07542a.htm

Humbert of Romans (Humbertus de Romanis, c.1200-1277), the fifth master general of the Order of Preachers, 1254-1263. Humbert was born at Romans-sur-Isère in south-eastern France (c.80 kms south of Lyons). As a young man, he went to Paris to study theology and canon law, becoming a Master of Arts before joining the Order of Preachers in 1224. In 1226, Humbert was appointed lector of theology for the convent in Lyons, for which he was conventual prior in 1237. Around 1238, he was elected prior provincial for the province of Romana, he received several votes at a papal election in 1241, in 1244-45 he was elected prior provincial of Francia, and finally, in 1254, the general chapter elected him master general of the Order. During his generalate, which lasted to 1263, Humbert contributed significantly to a re-organization and homogenization of the Order, an improved relation to the Franciscan Order, and a joined mendicant defense against their many secular critics. After leaving the office of master general in 1263, he went back to his old convent of Lyons, where he continued his series of numerous writings. Humbert died on 14 July 1277 and was buried in Valence (near Romans). He became venerated as Blessed within the Order, but was never officially beautified. 

Humbert has left us a number of written works of various kinds. These include a commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine and the Dominican constitutions (Exposito regulae beati Augustini Episcopi et super constitutiones fratrum praedicatorum), a treatise on the formation of preachers (De eruditione praedicatorum), supplemented with a series of model sermons, a treatise on the various officials in Dominican convents (Instructiones de officiis ordinis), a manual for preachers of the crusade (De predicatione crucis contra Saracenos), a short comment on the ways in which the brethren were bound by Dominican constitutions and decrees (Epistola de regularis observantia disciplinae), and finally the work Opus tripartitum with competent analyses of the state of the Western Church, relations between Greeks and Latins, and conditions of the Holy Land. Humbert also functioned as collector and publisher of earlier Dominican material, such as Fr. Gerald de Frachet’s famous “Life of the Brethren” (Vitae fratrum) and a Legenda sancti Dominici.

Lit.: William A. Hinnebusch OP, The History of the Dominican Order, vol. 2, New York 1973, 288-294;Simon Tugwell OP, ‘Introduction’, in Early Dominicans : Selected Writings, New York 1982, 31-35; Edward Tracy Brett, Humbert of Romans : His life and views of thirteenth-century society, Toronto 1984.

De predicatione crucis contra Saracenos (“On Preaching the Cross against the Saracens”).

Written by Humbert soon after the Saracens had taken Sephed in 1266 as a tool of assistance for the friars, whom the pope had commisioned to preach a new crusade to the Holy Land. In 46 chapters, Humbert prepares the friars for the task and provides them with ideas and materials for their sermons. Apparently, the crusade preaching manual was still considered highly valuable in fifteenth-century Germany. A summary is published by Lecoy de la Marche in “La prédication de la croisade au XIIIe S.”, Revue des questions historique vol. 48 (1890), 5-28.

De predicatione crucis contra Saracenosis now available in extenso online in an edition by Kurt Villads Jensen, University of Southern Denmark 2007.

SOURCE : http://www.jggj.dk/Humbert.htm

Blessed Humbert of Romans

Profile

Studied in Paris, France. Doctor of civil law. Joined the Dominicansin 1224. Pilgrim to the Holy Lands. Provincial of the DominicanRoman province in 1240. Dominicanprovincial of France in 1244. Fifth master-general of the Dominicansin 1254. Formed and sponsored several successful foreign missions, supported the education of Dominicans, and approved the final revision of the DominicanLiturgy. He stepped down from his position in 1263, and retired to the prioryof Valence, France. Came briefly out of solitude at the request of PopeClement IV to settle a dispute among members of the Cistercians.

Born

SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/blessed-humbert-of-romans/


Humbert of Romans, Fifth Master General of the Order of Preachers.TREATISE ON PREACHING. Translated by the Dominican Students Province of St. Joseph
Edited by WALTER M. CONLON, O.P. : http://dominicanidaho.org/humbert.html


Voir aussi : http://www.dominicains.ca/Documents/documents_gen/maitres.htm
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Saint PLECHELM de GUELDERLAND, évêque et confesseur

July 15, 2015, 11:47 am
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Plechelm of Guelderland B (RM)

Born in Northumberland; died c. 730. Plechelm was ordained a priest. He went to Rome with another Northumbrian priest, Saint Wiro, and a deacon named Otger. In Rome, Wiro and Plechelm were consecrated regionary bishops. After doing missionary work in Northumbria, they went to the Friesland area of the Netherlands, where they evangelized the inhabitants of the lower Meuse Valley under Saint Willibrord or Saint Swithbert, and built a church and cells at Odilienberg on land granted to them by Blessed Pepin of Herstal. They were martyred while preaching the Gospel (Benedictines, Delaney).




St. Plechelm, Bishop and Confessor

[Apostle of Guelderland.]  HE was by birth a noble English Saxon, but born in the southern part of Scotland; for Lothian and the rest of the Lowlands as far as Edinburgh frith belonged for several ages to the Northumbrian English. Having received holy orders in his own country he made a pilgrimage to Rome, whence he returned home enriched with holy relics. Some time after, in company with the holy bishop St. Wiro, and St. Otger a deacon, he passed into those parts of Lower Germany which had not then received the light of faith. Having obtained the protection of Pepin, mayor of the palace in Austrasia, he converted the country now called Guelderland, Cleves, Juliers, and several neighbouring provinces lying chiefly between the Rhine, the Wahal, and the Meuse. When he had planted the gospel there with great success he retired to St. Peter’s Mount near Ruremund, but continued to make frequent missions among the remaining infidels. Prince Pepin, who though he had formerly fallen into adultery, led afterwards a penitential and Christian holy life, went every year from his castle of Herstal to confess his sins to this holy pastor after the death of St. Wiro, which the author of St. Plechelm’s life relates in the following words: 1“Pepin, the king of the French, (that is, mayor with royal authority,) had him in great veneration, and every year, in the beginning of Lent, having laid aside his purple, went from his palace barefoot to the said mount of Peter where the saint lived, and took his advice how he ought to govern his kingdom according to the holy will and law of God, and by what means he might promote the faith of Christ and every advantage of virtue. There also having made the confession of his sins to the high priest of the Lord, and received penance, he washed away with his tears the offences which through human frailty he had contracted.” F. Bosch, the Bollandist, observes, this prince must have been Pepin, surnamed of Herstal, or the Fat, who though he never enjoyed the title of king, reigned in Austrasia with regal power, and with equal piety and valour. He died in 714, in the castle of Jopil on the Meuse, near Liege, which was his paternal estate, St. Pepin of Landon his grandfather being son of Carloman, the first mayor of this family, grandson of Charles count of Hesbay near Liege, the descendant of Ferreol, formerly præfectus-prætorio of the Gauls. St. Plechelm survived Pepin of Herstal seventeen years, is called by Bollandus bishop of Oldenzel and Ruremund, and died on the 15th of July, 732. He was buried in our lady’s chapel in the church, on the mountain of St. Peter, now called of St. Odilia, near Ruremund. His relics were honoured with many miracles. The principal portion of them is now possessed by the collegiate church of Oldenzel, in the province of Over-Yssel, part at Ruremund. His name is famous in the Belgic and other Martyrologies. His ancient life testifies that he was ordained bishop in his own country before he undertook a missionary life. Bede, in the year 731, mentions Pechthelm, who having been formerly a disciple of St. Aldhelm, in the kingdom of the West-Saxons, returning to his own country was ordained bishop to preach the gospel with more authority. He afterwards fixed his see at Candida Casa, now a parliamentary town of Galloway in Scotland, called Whitehorn. The Bollandists in several parts of their work contend this Pechthelm to have been a different person from St. Plechelm, whom Stilting demonstrates to have been at Mount St. Peter, whilst the other, somewhat elder according to Bede, was in North-Britain at Candida Casa; though Antony Pagi 2 and the author of Batavia Sacra endeavour to prove him, against F. Bosch and his colleagues, to have been the same. See his authentic life with the remarks of Bollandus and his colleagues, Julij, t. 4, p. 58, and Batavia Sacra, p. 50. 3

Note 1. N. 11, p. 69. [back]

Note 2. Critic. Hist. Chron. ad an. 734, n. 4. [back]


Note 3. Our saint’s colleague St. Wiro (in Irish Bearaidhe) is honoured on the 8th of May. By the Four Masters he is styled Abbot of Dublin; but with the Irish annalists, bishop and abbot are generally synonymous terms. He died in 650. See Ware.


  St. Plechelm’s other fellow-missionary, St. Otger, is honoured on the 10th of September; he is always styled deacon, by which it appears that he was never promoted to the priesthood. From his name and other circumstances it is thought he was an English-Saxon, though from the north, probably the southern parts of Scotland anciently subject to the kings of the Northumbers. Being desirous to accompany SS. Wiro and Plechelm to Rome, and in their apostolic missions into Germany, when Pepin gave the Mount of St. Peter or of St. Odilia to St. Wiro, the three saints settled there together, and ended their days in that monastery. Whether St. Otger outlived St. Plechelm is uncertain. All three were buried in the monastery of Berg, or of Mount St. Peter or St. Odilia; and their bodies remained there till, in 858, that monastery was given by King Lothaire to Hunger, bishop of Utrecht, when the greater part of these relics was translated to Utrecht. Part still remained in the church of Berg till, with the chapter of canons, it was removed to Ruremund. These relics were hid some time in the civil wars for fear of the Calvinists, but discovered in 1594, and placed again above the high altar. The portion at Utrecht was also hid for a time for fear of the Normans; but found and exposed to public veneration again by Bishop Baldric. See the life of St. Otger, with notes by Bollandus, and the additional disquisitions of Stilting, ad 10 Sept. t. 2, p. 612. [back]


Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/7/152.html

Saint Plechelm of Guelderland

Also known as
  • Plechelm of Utrecht
  • Plechelmus of….
  • Apostle of Guelderland
Profile

Benedictinemonk. Priest. Pilgrim to Rome, Italy with SaintWiro and SaintOtger. Regional missionarybishop to Northumberland, England. Missionary to Friesland, in the modern Netherlands; may have worked with SaintWillibrord of Echternach. Helped found Saint Peter’s monastery at Roermond, Netherlands near modern Odilienberg c.700 on land given them by BlessedPepin of Herstal.

Born

SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/saint-plechelm-of-guelderland/
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Saint SWITHUN de WINCHESTER, religieux bénédictin, évêque et confesseur

July 15, 2015, 4:27 pm
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Swithun (Swithin) of Winchester, OSB B (RM)

Born in Wessex, England; died at Winchester, England, July 2, 862. Saint Swithun was educated at the Old Abbey, Winchester, and was ordained (it is uncertain whether or not he was a monk). He became chaplain to King Egbert of the West Saxons, who appointed him tutor of his son Ethelwulf, and was one of the king's counselors. Swithun was named bishop of Winchester in 852 when Ethelwulf succeeded his father as king. Swithun built several churches and was known for his humility and his aid to the poor and needy. His veneration as a saint appears to date from the removal of his bones from the churchyard into the cathedral a century after his death. A long-held superstition declares it will rain for 40 days if it rains on his feast day, but the reason for and origin of this belief are unknown (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney).




July 15

St. Swithin or Swithun, Bishop and Patron of Winchester, Confessor

THIS city had been famous in the time of the Romans, and a station of their troops being called by Ptolemy and Antoninus, Venta. It became afterwards the chief seat of the West-Saxon kings. Among these, Kynegils, having received the faith about the year 635, gave to St. Birinus the city of Dorcester for his episcopal see, but founded a church at Winchester, which was dedicated by St. Birinus to St. Peter, according to the Saxon Chronicle, or to the Holy Trinity, according to Thomas Rudburn. Wini, the third bishop of the West-Saxons, fixed his see at Winchester, and this church became one of the most flourishing cathedrals of all Britain. St. Swithun, called in the original Saxon language Swithum, received in this church the clerical tonsure, and put on the monastic habit in the Old Monastery, which had been founded by king Kynegils. He was of noble parentage, passed his youth in innocent simplicity, and in the study of grammar, philosophy, and the holy scriptures. He was an accomplished model of all virtues when he was promoted to holy orders by Helinstan or Helmstan, bishop of Winchester.

Being ordained priest, he was made provost or dean of the Old Monastery. His learning, piety, and prudence moved Egbert, king of the West-Saxons, to make him his priest, under which title the saint subscribed a charter granted to the abbey of Croyland in 833. That great prince committed to his care the education of his son Ethelwolf, and made use of his counsels in the government of his kingdom. A degeneracy of manners had crept into the courts of the Mercians and Northumbrians, and their government was weakened by intestine divisions and several revolutions. Egbert having first vanquished Swithred king of the East-Saxons, and added his kingdom to his own, upon several provocations, invaded Mercia, and conquered it in 828, but soon after restored Withlaf, whom he had expelled, to the throne of that kingdom on condition he should hold the crown of him, and pay him an annual tribute. He treated in the same manner Eandred, the last king of the Northumbers, and made him tributary, after he had with a great army laid waste that province. The kingdom of the East Angles submitted to him about the same time with Mercia, with which it had been long engaged in war, and was thereby reduced to extreme poverty. Kent being at that time tributary to Mercia, it fell also to the share of the conqueror. After this Egbert assembled all the great men of his kingdom both clergy and laity, in a council at Wincester, in which he enacted that this kingdom should ever after be called England, and all its subjects Englishmen. At the same time he was again crowned and from that year, 829, was styled king of England. Thus were the names of Saxons and Jutes abolished among us, and an end was put to the heptarchy, or division of this nation into seven kingdoms, which began to be formed by Hengist in 457, when he took the title of king, seven years after his arrival in this island, in 449. Towards the latter end of Egbert’s reign the Danes first began to infest England. This general name historians give to those shoals of pirates which were composed not only of Danes, but also of Norwegians, Goths, Sweones or Swedes, and Vandals, as Eginhard, Henry of Huntingdon, and others assure us. 1

King Egbert reigned thirty-seven years over the West Saxons, and nine years over all England, dying in the year 838, or according to others in 837. Ethelwolf, his only surviving son, had been educated in piety and learning under the care of St. Swithin, then provost of the Old Monastery in Winchester, 2 and had been ordained subdeacon by bishop Helmstan, as Rudburn, Huntingdon, and others relate. But upon the death of his elder brother, whose name is not known, he was dispensed with by Pope Leo to marry, and returning again to a secular life, helped his father in his wars, and after his death was advanced to the throne. He married Osberge, a lady of remarkable piety, and had four sons by her, Ethelbald, Ethelbright, Ethelred, and Alfred. He governed his kingdom by the prudent advice of Alstan bishop of Shirborne, in temporal affairs; and by that of St. Swithin in ecclesiastical matters, especially those which concerned his own soul. And though the king was of a slow disposition, yet by the assistance of these worthy counsellors, he reigned prudently and happily; the Danes were often repulsed, and many noble designs for the good of the church and state were begun, and prosperously executed. Bearing always the greatest reverence to St. Swithin, whom he called his master and teacher, he procured him, upon the death of Helmstan, to be chosen bishop of Winchester, to which see he was consecrated by Ceolnoth, archbishop of Canterbury, in 852. Hearne has given us the profession of faith which he made on that occasion, according to custom, in the hands of the archbishop. 3 William of Malmesbury says, that though this good bishop was a rich treasure of all virtues, those in which he took most delight were humility and charity to the poor; and in the discharge of his episcopal functions he omitted nothing belonging to a true pastor. He built divers churches, and repaired others; and made his journeys on foot, accompanied with his clerks, and often by night to avoid ostentation. Being to dedicate any church, he with all humility used to go barefoot to the place. His feasting was not with the rich, but with the needy and the poor. His mouth was always open to invite sinners to repentance, and to admonish those who stood to beware of falling. He was most severe to himself, and abstemious in his diet, never eating to satisfy his appetite, but barely to sustain nature; and as to sleep, he admitted no more than what after long watching and much labour was absolutely necessary. He was always delighted with psalms and spiritual canticles, and in conversation would bear no discourse but what tended to edification.

By his counsel and advice King Ethelwolf, in a Mycel synod, or great council of the nation, in 854, enacted a new law by which he gave the tithes, or tenth part of his land, throughout the kingdom to the church, exempt and free from all taxations and burthens, with an obligation of prayers in all churches for ever for his own soul, on every Wednesday, &c. This charter, to give it a more sacred sanction, he offered on the altar of St. Peter at Rome in the pilgrimage which he made to that city in 855. He likewise procured it to be confirmed by the pope. 4 He carried with him to Rome his youngest and best beloved son, Alfred, rebuilt there the school for the English, and ordered to be sent every year to Rome one hundred mancuses 5 for the pope, one hundred for the church of St. Peter, and as much for that of St. Paul, to furnish them with lights on Easter Eve. He extended the Romescot, or Peterpence, to his whole kingdom. He reigned two years after his return from Rome, and died in 857. He ordained that throughout all his own hereditary lands every ten families shall maintain one poor person with meat, drink, and apparel; from whence came the corrodies, which still remain in divers places. St. Swithin departed to eternal bliss, which he had always thirsted after, on the 2d of July, 862, in the reign of King Ethelbert. His body was buried, according to his order, in the churchyard, where his grave might be trodden on by passengers.

About one hundred years after, in the days of King Edgar his relics were taken up by St. Ethelwold, then bishop of Winchester, and translated into the church in 964. On which occasion Malmesbury affirms that such a number of miraculous cures of all kinds were wrought, as was never in the memory of man known to have been in any other place. Lanfrid, in the original Saxon Lantfred, called by Leland an illustrious doctor, being then a monk at Winchester, wrote, in 980, a history of this translation, and of the miraculous cures of a blind man, and many others, through the intercession of this saint, which history has never been printed: though we have two beautiful fair manuscript copies of it, the one in the Cotton, the other in the king’s library in the inclosure of Westminster Abbey. 6 In the reign of William the Conqueror, Walkelyn, bishop of Winchester, a Norman, and the king’s relation, laid the foundation of the new church in 1079, which he lived to finish with the abbey, so that in 1093, the monks, in the presence of almost all the bishops and abbots of England, came in great joy from the old to the new monastery, and on the feast of St. Swithin, the shrine of this saint was in another solemn procession translated from the old to the new church; and on the next day the bishop’s men began to demolish the old abbey. William of Wickham, the celebrated chancellor of England in the reign of Edward III., and founder of a great college in Oxford, in 1379, added the nave and west front to this cathedral, which is now standing. This church was first dedicated to the Holy Trinity, under the patronage of St. Peter; afterwards by St. Ethelwold, in presence of King Etheldred, St. Dunstan, and eight other bishops, to St. Swithin, as Redburn relates, in 980. 7 King Henry VIII., in 1540, commanded this cathedral to be called no longer St. Swithin’s, but of the Holy Trinity. 8

St. Swithin is commemorated in the Roman martyrology on the 2d of July, which was the day of his death; but his chief festival in England was on the 15th of the same month, the day of the translation of his relics. See the calendar prefixed to the chronicle entitled Scala Mundi in a fair MS. in folio in the library of the English college at Douay; also the Sarum breviary and missal. An arm of St. Swithin was kept in the abbey of Peterborough, as is mentioned by Hugh Candidus, or White, in his accurate history of that monastery, published by Mr. Spark, p. 1723. The abbey of Hyde was first built within the precincts of the cathedral by King Edward the Elder, in pursuance of his father, Alfred’s, will, for secular canons, over whom St. Grimbald was intended to preside, had not his death prevented it. These canons, after sixty years’ continuance, yielded this church to the monks whom, in 964, St. Ethelwold brought in; from which time this abbey was called Newminster till it was translated by King Henry I. and the Bishop William Giffard, to a place near the walls of the city called Hyde. Of this magnificent abbey not so much as the walls are left standing, though in it lay the remains of King Edward, his son Alfred, his daughter St. Eadburga, &c. Its church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, St. Peter, and St. Grimbald. See the short life of St. Swithin, written by Wolstan, a monk of Winchester, dedicated to St. Elphege, then bishop of that city, in 1001, but translated to Canterbury in 1006. It is published by Mabillon, sæc. 5. Ben. p. 628. See also Malmesbury, t. 2. de Pontif. Robert of Glocester’s Chronicle in verse, published by Mr. Herne. Thomas Rudburn, Historia Major Wintoniensis, published by Wharton, t. 1. p. 200. Lord Clarendon, and Sam. Gale, on the Antiquities of Winchester, and Pinius the Bollandist, t. 1. Julij, ad diem 2. p. 321. Also, S. Swithuni vita et miracula per Lamfridum monachum Winton. MSS. in Bibl. Regia Londini, xv. c. vii. 1.

Note 1. The barbarians who inhabited the northern coasts of the Baltic were called by one general name, Normans; and the Sclavi, Vandals, and divers other nations were settled on the southern coast, as Eginhard, Helmold, and others testify. [back]

Note 2. The authorities produced by Tho. Rudburn, a monk of the Old Monastery in Winchester, in 1450, to prove St. Swithun to have been some time public professor of divinity at Cambridge, are generally esteemed suppositions. See Rudburn, l. 3, c. 2, Hist. Maj. Wintoniensis, apud Wharton, Anglia Sacra, and the History of the University of Cambridge. [back]

Note 3. Hearne, Teat. Roffens, p. 269. [back]

Note 4. See Ingulph. Asser. Redborne. [back]

Note 5. The value of a mancuse is not known; it is thought to have been about the same with that of a mark. [back]

Note 6. Casleu and B. Nicholson falsely call this the life of St. Swithin; and it appears from Leland that Lantfred never wrote his life, which himself sufficiently declares in the history of his miracles. The contrary seems a mistake in Pits, Bale, and Thomas Rudburn, p. 223. Rudburn manifestly confounds Wolstan with Lantfred. [back]

Note 7. Hist. Major. Wintom. p. 223. Vita metrice S. Swithuni per Wolstanum monachum Winton. ib. 2. [back]

Note 8. At the east end of this cathedral is the place which in ancient times was esteemed most sacred, underneath which was the cemetery or resting place of many saints and kings who were interred there with great honour. At present behind the high altar there is a transverse wall, against which we see the marks where several of their statues, being very small, were placed, with their names under each pedestal in a row; “Kinglisus Rex. S. Birinus Ep. Kingwald Rex. Egbertus R. Adulphus (i. e. Ethelwolphus) R. Elured R. filius ejus. Edwardus R. junior Adhelstanus R. filius ejus (Sta. Maria D. Jesus in the middle.) Edredus R. Edgarus R. Alwynus Ep. Ethelred R. Cnutus R. Hardecanutus R. filius ejus,” &c. Underneath, upon a fillet were written these verses:

 “Corpora Sanctorum hic sunt in pace sepulta;
  Ex Meritis quorum fulgent miracula multa.”

At the foot of these, a little eastwards, is a large flat grave-stone, which had the effigies of a bishop in brass, said to be that of St. Swithin. See Lord Clarendon, and Samuel Gale, On the Antiquities of Winchester pp. 29, 30. [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

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