St Stephen, King of Hungary

From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:

“Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. (Judges 14:14) The people with teeth of steel grinding the nations gives itself up as food to him, to whom was said: Kill and eat; (Acts 10:13) the mouth of the Huns, formerly vomiting foam and rage, now distills the honey of charity. Such, O Christ, are thy miracles; such are thy works, O our God!” (Baron, Annals. eccles.  Silvestri II) Thus does Baronius, on reaching in his history the year of Christ 1000, hail the arrival of the Hungarian deputies, who came to offer to the Roman Church the suzerainty of their land, and beseech the Vicar of Christ to confer the title of king upon their Duke Stephen.

We are carried back in thought a century earlier, when, led by Arpadus, the son of Almutz, under the banner of the hawk, the Magyars came down from the mountains of Transylvania into the plains watered by the Theiss and the Danube. Attila seemed to live again in these sons of his race, who poured like a torrent over Germany, Gaul and Italy. But the empire of the Huns over reconquered Pannonia was only to be lasting on condition of its ceasing to be the scourge of God, and becoming the rampart of his Church. In this world, while it is not yet time for eternal justice, the instruments of God’s anger are soon broken, unless they are amenable to love. Five centuries earlier, Attila in person was rushing like an overflowing river upon the capital of the world, when he was met by the Sovereign Pontiff. The Hungarian chronicles record the following message as having been then received from heaven by the universal devastator: “Hearken to the command of the Lord God, Jesus Christ. Thy pride shall not be suffered to enter into the holy city where lie the bodies of my Apostles. Return. Later on a descendent of thine will come to Rome with humility; and I will cause him there to receive a crown that shall last forever.” (Chartuicius, Chronica Hungarorum , De Victoria Aquile regis) Attila thereupon recrossed the Alps, and had only just time to reach the Danube before he died. In the days of St. Stephen the heavenly promise was fulfilled. Let the reader not be astonished that we do not discuss its authenticity. Legendary or not, as to the forms with which national traditions have clothed it, there is nothing in this divine engagement that the historian need reject: it is in accordance with the rules of God’s Providence, which governs history. God never forgets a service; nor does apostolic gratefulness wear out with years: the debt of gratitude which Leo the Great contracted, Sylvester II paid at the appointed time. From that tomb respected by the plunderer, a virtue came forth, changing the avenger into an apostle. The crown, placed on the brow of Attila’s successor by Peter’s successor, was destined to be his as long as he should be preceded by the Cross, that other mark of honor conferred upon him. Like the Holy Empire, to which Hungary was to be later on united without however being absorbed by it, the Hungarian monarchy was founded upon Peter; for his sake it subsisted, and he alone, under God, was the safeguard of its future.

Let not the sad forebodings of the present hour make us forget the marvelous power shown on this feast by the Lamb the Ruler of the earth. (Isaiah 16:1) Scarcely had the blood shed by the sons of Arpadus disappeared from the streets of the cities; scarcely had the smoke of burning ruins and the dust of crumbling walls been scattered; when their fierce energy, tempered like a choice blade in the waters of the sacred font, became the defense of Christianity in the East. A new sort of invasion began; the holiness sprung from Stephen put forth numerous branches, which, shedding their beautiful blossoms over the whole earth, filled all lands with perfumes for the Spouse.

Let us read the history of the apostolic king, as given in the Book of Holy Church.

Stephen introduced into Hungary both the faith of Christ and the regal dignity. He obtained his royal crown from the Roman Pontiff; and having been, by his command, anointed king, offered his kingdom to the Apostolic See. He built several houses of charity at Rome, Jerusalem, and Constantinople: and with a wonderfully munificent spirit of religion, he founded the archiepiscopal See of Gran and ten other bishoprics. His love for the poor was equaled only by his generosity towards them; for, seeing in them Christ himself, he never sent anyone away sad or empty-handed. So great indeed was his charity that, to relieve their necessities, after expending large sums of money, he often bestowed upon them his household goods. It was his custom to wash the feet of the poor with his own hands, and to visit the hospitals at night, alone and unknown, serving the sick and showing them every charity. As a reward for these good deeds his right hand remained incorrupt after death, when the rest of his body had returned to dust.

He was much given to prayer; and would spend almost entire nights without sleep, rapt in heavenly contemplation; at times he was seen ravished out of his senses and raised in the air. By the help of prayer, he more than once escaped in a wonderful manner from treasonable conspiracies and from the attacks of powerful enemies. Having married Ghisella of Bavaria, sister of the emperor St. Henry, he had by her a son Emeric, whom he brought up in such regularity and piety as to form him into a saint. He summoned wise and holy men from all parts to aid him in the government of his kingdom and undertook nothing without their advice. In sackcloth and ashes, he besought God with most humble prayer, that he might not depart this life without seeing the whole kingdom of Hungary Catholic. So great indeed was his zeal for the propagation of the Faith, that he was called the Apostle of his nation, and he received from the Roman Pontiff, both for himself and for his successors, the privilege of having the Cross borne before them.

He had the most ardent devotion towards the Mother of God, in whose honor he built a magnificent church, solemnly declaring her patroness of Hungary. In return the Blessed Virgin received him into heaven on the very day of her Assumption, which the Hungarians, by the appointment of their holy king, call “the day of the Great Lady.” His sacred body, exhaling a most fragrant odor and distilling a heavenly liquor, was, by order of the Roman Pontiff, translated, amidst many and divers miracles, to a more worthy resting place, and buried with great honor. Pope Innocent IX commanded his feast to be celebrated on the fourth of the Nones of September; on which day, Leopold I emperor elect of the Romans and king of Hungary, had, by the divine assistance, gained a remarkable victory over the Turks at the siege of Buda.

Apostle and king, protect thy people, assist the Church, succor us all. At the close of that tenth century, when anarchy had penetrated even into the sanctuary, hope sprang up once more on the day whereon the Holy Spirit, the Creator and Renovator, chose thy race, in all its native vigor, to renew the youth of the world. Satan, who thought that the Papacy was humiliated once for all, trembled with rage when he saw new laborers coming to Peter, as to the only foundation on which it is possible to build. The proudest family that had ever caused the empire of Romulus to shake, asked of Rome the right to be counted among the nations of the West. How true it is that the gates of hell shall never prevail against the rock, against the Church founded thereon, against the holy city prepared on the top of mountains to draw all nations to itself. In vain had the storm stirred up the very mire of the torrents of the abyss: it was the hour when God lifted up his hand, as the prophet says, towards the far-off lands, and kings came, bringing to the ever-holy Bride those unknown sons whom they themselves had educated for her. (Isaiah 49:12-23)

No, the Lord confoundeth not them that wait for him. And therefore, we will hope, even against hope, in the future of the noble nation established by thee upon the apostolic strength. A people justly proud of so many irreproachable heroes could not allow itself to be long led astray by a false liberty kept up by Jewish gold and extolled by all the enemies of the country’s traditions. Martin watches together with thee over the land of his birth; and the sovereign of Hungary, the august Queen of heaven, will not suffer her loyal subject to the listen to the proposals of the infernal spirit.

King St Stephen of Hungary: King or Not Your Duty is to Christ

A sermon for today. Please remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the Priest. 

St Justus, Archbishop of Lyons, Confessor: Butler's Lives of the Saints

An audio reading of the entry on St Justus.

St Stephen, King of Hungary: Butler's Lives of the

St Justus, Archbishop of Lyons, Confessor

From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints: 

HIS virtues rendered him so conspicuous whilst he served the church of Vienne in quality of deacon, that he was advanced to the metropolitan see of Lyons about the year 350. In this exalted station he showed by the whole tenor of his conduct that he feared nothing but God, hoped for nothing but from God, and regarded not the applause or presents, but wants of those that approached him. His patience and temper were proof against every trial: the ardor of his zeal made him severe in reproving everything that deserved reproof. His attachment to discipline and good order was inviolable, and his love of peace, concord, and unity, sincere and constant. He was circumspect everywhere, and in all things. A great council of western prelates being assembled at Aquileia, in the reign of Gratian, in 381, Saint Justus of Lyons, with two other bishops from Gaul, assisted at it. The chief affairs there debated, regarded the Arians, and St. Ambrose managed everything in that venerable assembly. That holy bishop had a particular respect for our saint, as appears from two letters which he addressed to him concerning certain questions of the holy scripture.

It happened a little before this council, that at Lyons, a certain madman, who had stabbed some persons in the street, took sanctuary in the great church; and St. Justus, in order to appease the mob, delivered him into the hands of a public officer, upon the promise that the prisoner’s life should be spared. Notwithstanding this he was despatched by the populace. The good bishop was apprehensive that he had been accessary to his death, and was by that irregularity disqualified for the ministry of the altar; and having long desired to serve God in retirement, he made use of this occasion to resign the pastoral charge. The extreme opposition of his flock seemed an impediment to his design. But his journey to the council afforded him a favorable opportunity, and in his return he stole from his friends in the night at Torrente, and bending his course to Marseilles he there took shipping with a lector of his church named Viator, and sailed to Alexandria. Concealing his character he lived unknown in a numerous monastery in Egypt, surpassing the whole community in the fervor of his penance. After some years he happened to be discovered by one who came from Gaul, to visit the monasteries in Egypt. The whole house was much surprised at so extraordinary an example, and the Church of Lyons had no sooner notice, but a priest called Antiochus was sent to conjure him, in the name both of the clergy and people, to return; but he was not to be prevailed upon. Antiochus determined to bear him company in his solitude and penance, and the saint shortly after died in his arms, about the year 390. His body was soon after translated to Lyons. St. Justus is commemorated on this day in the Roman Martyrology, and in those of Bede, Ado, and Usuard. The village of St. Just in Cornwall takes its name from this saint. See his elegant and accurate ancient life, with the notes of Stilting the Bollandist, Sept. t. 1, p. 365. Tillemont, t. 8, 546, Fleury,1. 18, n. 10, Dom. Rivet, Hist. Littér. t. 1, part 2, p. 254. The two brothers of Ste. Marthe, Gallia Christiana Vet. edit. t. 1, p. 293.

St Stephen, King of Hungary & Confessor

From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints:

From his life written by Chartuiz and from the historians Bonfinius, in Hist. Hungar.1. 1. Hermanus Contractus, &c. See also Czuittinger, Specimen Hungariæ Litteratæ, p. 1, t. 1. The Elzivirian edit. of Resp. et Status Hungariæ, p. 117, 154. Antonius Pagi in Baron. and Gabriel de juxta Hornad, L. de Initiis Religionis Christianæ Inter Hungaros. Francofur. 1740.

A. D. 1038.

GEYSA, the fourth duke of the Hungarians,* by conversing with certain Christian captives, and afterward certain holy missionaries, as Piligrinus, bishop of Passaw, St. Wolfgand, bishop of Ratisbon, &c., or their disciples, became infinitely delighted with the sanctity of the maxims of our holy faith, and was convinced of its divine truth and original by the motives and arguments which are, as it were, the stamp which God has put upon his revelation in order to confirm it to us. And though he had reason to fear great disturbances from the ferocity of his people upon a change of religion, he despised such dangers, and was baptized together with his wife Sarloth, and several of his officers and courtiers. Sarloth was so penetrated with the wonderful mysteries of religion, and so strongly affected with the great ideas of eternity, that she walked in the paths of heroic perfection with a fervor not inferior to that of the saints. Being some time after with child, she was assured by St. Stephen, the protomartyr, in a dream, that she bore in her womb a son who should complete the work she and her husband had begun, and abolish idolatry in that nation. The child was born in 977 at Gran, the ancient Strigonium, at that time the metropolis of the country, and on account of the abovementioned vision was christened Stephen. St. Adalbert, bishop of Prague, who for some time preached the gospel to the Hungarians, and, according to the German historians, baptized St. Stephen, had certainly no small share in the honor of his education, and Theodatus, an Italian count of singular piety, was his tutor; these two holy persons by their example and instructions were, under God, the great instruments of his future sanctity. Geysa died in 997, and Stephen, who had been chosen waywode, that is, leader of the army or duke, some time before, then took the reins of the government into his hands.

His first care was to settle a firm peace with all the neighboring nations. This being done, he turned his thoughts wholly to root out idolatry, and as much as in him lay to make Christ reign in the hearts of all his subjects. Performing himself the part of a missionary, he often accompanied the preachers, and pathetically exhorted his people to open their eyes to the divine truth. Many, however, were so obstinately attached to the superstitions of their ancestors as to take up arms in defence of idolatry: and having at their head a count of great interest and valor named Zegzard, with a numerous army, they laid siege to Vesprin. St. Stephen placed his confidence in the Lord of Hosts, and prepared himself for the engagement by fasting, alms-deeds, and prayer, invoking particularly the intercession of St. Martin and St. George. Though inferior to the rebels in the number of his forces, by the divine assistance, he gave them a total overthrow, and slew their leader. To give to God the entire glory of this victory, he built near the place where the battle was fought, a great monastery in honor of St. Martin called the holy hill; and besides estates in land he bestowed on it one-third part of the spoils. It is immediately subject to the holy see, and is called in Hungary the Archabbacy. St. Stephen having quelled the rebels found himself at liberty to prosecute his design; which he did by inviting into his dominions many holy priests and religious men, who, by their exemplary lives and zealous preaching, sowed the seed of faith, civilized that savage nation by the precepts of the gospel, built churches and monasteries, and some of them obtained the crown of martyrdom.

The zealous prince founded the archbishopric of Gran or Strigonium, and ten bishoprics, and sent Astricus or Anastasius, the new elected bishop of Coloctz, to Rome, to obtain of Pope Sylvester II. the confirmation of these foundations and of many other things which he had done for the honor of God and the exaltation of his holy Church, and, at the same time, to beseech his holiness to confer upon him the title of king, which his subjects had long pressed him to assume, and which he now only asked to satisfy their desires, and that he might with more majesty and authority accomplish his great designs for promoting the glory of God, and the good of his people. Miceslas, duke of Poland, upon marrying a Christian princess, the daughter of Boleslas duke of Bohemia, had embraced the faith in 965. About thirty-four years after this, he sent an embassy to Rome to obtain the title of king confirmed to him by the authority of the apostolic see. Sylvester II. who was then pope, was disposed to grant his request, and prepared a rich crown to send him with his blessing.* But the extraordinary zeal piety, and wisdom of St. Stephen deserving the preference, his holiness delivered this crown for him to his ambassador Astric, together with the present of a cross, granting, by a special privilege, that it should be carried before him in his armies. At the same time he, by a bull, confirmed all the religious foundations which our holy prince had made, and the elections of the bishops. St. Stephen went to meet his ambassador upon his return, listened standing, with great respect, to the pope’s bulls whilst they were read, and fell on his knees as often as the name of his holiness was repeated. To express his profound sense of religion, and to inspire all his subjects with a holy awe for whatever belonged to the divine worship, he treated the pastors of the Church with honor and respect. The same prelate who had brought the crown from Rome, anointed and crowned him king with great solemnity and pomp in the year 1000.†

The good prince, by a public act, and with extraordinary devotion, declared that he put all his dominions under the special patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and never ceased most earnestly offering his daily prayers to implore her powerful intercession for obtaining the divine blessing upon all his subjects. Whence, in many medals and coins of this kingdom, she is styled patroness of Hungary. It is incredible with what ardor the king exhorted his people, especially his domestics, to the practice of all virtues. With a view to propagate on earth the divine honor and praise beyond his own life, and to the end of time, he filled Hungary with pious foundations. At Alba he built a stately church in honor of the Mother of God, in which the kings of Hungary were afterward both crowned and buried. This city St. Stephen made his usual residence, whence it is called Royal Alba, to distinguish it from Alba Julia or Weissemberg in Transylvania. He founded, in old Buda, the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul and in Rome on mount Cœlio the church of St. Stephen, with a college of twelve priests; also an inn and hospital on the Vatican-hill for the entertainment of Hungarian pilgrims; and he built a church at Jerusalem; not to mention the magnificent monastery of St. Bennet, and many other churches in Hungary. Throughout all his dominions he commanded tithes to be paid to the churches, though these are redeemed to this day in many places by the noblemen for a certain sum of money.

St. Stephen, who would seek no alliance but by which piety might be strengthened in his realm and family, took to wife Gisela, sister to St. Henry, king of Germany, who was shortly after crowned emperor; and that holy prince admirably seconded and assisted our saint in all his pious designs. St. Stephen abolished many barbarous and superstitious customs derived from the ancient Scythians, and by severe punishments repressed blasphemy, murder, theft, adultery, and other public crimes. To put a stop to incontinence and idolatry he commanded all persons to marry except religious and churchmen, and forbade all marriages of Christians with idolaters. He was of most easy access to people of all ranks, and listened to every one’s complaints without distinction or preference, except that he appeared most willing to hear the poor, knowing them to be more easily oppressed, and considering that in them we honor Christ, who being no longer among men on earth in his mortal state to receive from us any corporal services, has substituted and recommended to us the poor in his place and right. The good king provided for their subsistence throughout his whole kingdom, and took them, especially the helpless orphans and widows, under his special protection declaring himself their patron and father. Not content with his genera charities and care for all the indigent, he frequently went privately about to discover more freely the necessities of any that might be overlooked by his officers. One day it happened, that, whilst he was dealing about his plentiful alms in disguise, a troop of beggars set upon him, threw him down, beat him, plucked him by the beard and hair, and took away his purse, seizing for themselves what he intended for the relief of many others. The king esteemed himself happy to suffer in the service of his Redeemer, and addressed himself in these words to the Blessed Virgin; “See, O queen of heaven, in what manner I am requited by those that belong to your Son, my Divine Saviour. As they are his friends, I receive with joy this treatment from their hands.” He learned, however, from this accident no more to expose his person, but he renewed his resolution never to refuse an alms to any poor person that asked him. His nobles rallied him on this occasion; but he rejoiced in all humiliations, and God was pleased to testify how agreeable his sincere and heroic piety was, by conferring on him many extraordinary graces; with the gifts of prophecy and many miraculous cures.

How difficult soever it may seem to practise extraordinary severities and humiliations in the midst of a court, and surrounded by the most flattering objects of softness and pride, where such gospel maxims are seldom heard, yet the extraordinary fervor of our saint found means for the exercise of both. He desired to serve and wash the feet of poor men in public; but the fear of giving offence to his subjects, whose minds were not yet framed to imbibe such ideas of a prince’s humility, made him only do it privately. He lost no part of his time in vain amusements or idle company; but divided himself between the duties of religion, and those of his station. To the former, he regularly allotted many hours every day; and the latter, he sanctified by religious motives, and by the constant recollection of his soul. Thus, if he was not able always to praise God with his tongue, he did it without intermission by his life, all his actions being directed to the same point of God’s holy will and greatest glory. His charitable and zealous application to all external duties of life, and to the government of his kingdom; his alms-deeds, mildness, temperance, patience, and other virtues, succeeding one another in their victories and repeated heroic acts, sanctified his whole life, and made it, as it were, one uninterrupted sacrifice to God. The least faults of frailty and inadvertence by which its perfection might be impaired, he labored to expiate by daily penance and tears. The shining example of his virtue was a continual most powerful sermon to those who conversed with him. His happy influence over his children was most sensible in the virtuous courses they pursued. St. Emeric, his eldest son, walked in his steps with so much fervor as to be in his youth the admiration of Christendom. Rising always at midnight he recited matins privately on his knees, pausing a little in devout meditation at the close of every psalm. Many wonderful things are related of his virtues and miracles; to comprise his character in one word, nothing could be more amiable, more pious, or more accomplished, than this young prince. His father trained him up not only in the perfect practice of the most heroic piety, but also formed him in the art of government.

St. Stephen’s excellent code of laws, to this day the basis of the laws of Hungary, are inscribed to his son duke Emeric. In fifty-five chapters the pious legislator has comprised the wisest and most holy regulations of the state. He pathetically exhorts his son to sincere humility (which he calls the sole exaltation of a king), to patience, meekness, assiduous and devout prayer, charity, compassion for the poor, the protection of all that are in distress, &c. He forbids, on pain of severe punishments, all grievous public crimes, especially of impiety and irreligion, as a violation of the Sunday or a fast-day, talking in the church, a culpable neglect to call in the priests to assist dying persons, &c. He commands the most religious respect to be paid to all holy things, and to the clergy.1 These wholesome laws he caused to be promulgated throughout his dominions, and had them always most strictly observed; as on the exact execution of the laws the tranquillity of the state depends.

The protection of his people engaged him sometimes in war, wherein he was always victorious. The prince of Transylvania, his cousin, invader his dominions; St. Stephen defeated him in battle, and made him prisoner; yet gave him his liberty, and restored him his dominions, requiring of him this only condition, that the gospel should be allowed to be freely preacher in them. The saint was never the aggressor in any war; that with the Bulgarians was obstinate; but they were at length overcome, and obliged to receive the laws which he prescribed them. There is no saint whose virtue is not exercised by tribulation. Sickness deprived St. Stephen of all his children. St. Emeric the eldest was carried off the last. He had then begun to sustain a great part of the burden of the state, and to be both a comfort and assistance to his father. The interest of the state, and that of the infant Church of his kingdom, conspired with nature to make this stroke more severe; but the good king bore the loss with entire resignation, adoring in it the holy will of God. St. Emeric was canonized by Benedict IX. and is honored among the saints on the 4th of November. This affliction weaned the king’s heart more and more from the world, and he desired, if it had been possible, to reserve to the care of his own soul the remaining part of his life, that being freed from all worldly concerns, he might be preparing for his last passage. But, as the affairs of both the Church and State did not allow this, he continued to endure the toil of business, knowing that he was accountable to God for the least neglect or omission in the particular duties of his station towards his Creator, his subjects, or himself. He endeavored, however, to redouble his fervor in all his religious exercises, and applied himself particularly to those which are more immediately preparatory for a happy death, to which he principally directed his devotions and charities.

Though brave and expert in war, he had always been a lover of peace; but, from this time, he took a resolution to spill no blood in war, in which he earnestly begged the interposition of Divine Providence, which did not fail him. For to hostilities he, after this, opposed no other arms than fasting, prayers, and tears, and by them alone was ever victorious. The Bessi, a fierce nation of Bulgarians, the most implacable enemies of the Hungarians, made a furious irruption into his territories; but, moved with veneration for the sanctity of the holy king, they on a sudden repented of their enterprise, begged, and easily obtained, his friendship, and returned peaceably home. St. Stephen, by an act of justice, caused some of his own subjects to be hanged on his frontiers, for having plundered them in their retreat. After the death of our saint’s good friend St. Henry, the emperor, his successor Conrad II. invaded Hungary with a powerful army in 1030, and advanced so far, that St. Stephen was compelled to lead out his army against him, though still trusting in God that the effusion of blood would be prevented. All things seemed to be disposed for a decisive battle, when St. Stephen again recommended himself and his earnest desire of peace to the Blessed Virgin; and to the surprise of all men, the emperor on a sudden turned his back with his army, and without having executed anything, marched home into Germany with as great precipitation as if he had been defeated.

St. Stephen labored three years under a complication of painful distempers. During this time four palatins, exasperated at the strict execution of justice which he caused to be observed, entered into a conspiracy to take away his life. One of them got into the king’s chamber in the night with a dagger under his cloak; but let it fall in a fright upon hearing the king ask, who was there. Seeing himself discovered, he threw himself at the feet of his sovereign, and obtained his pardon; but his accomplices were executed. The saint perceiving that his last hour drew near, assembled his nobles, and recommended to them the choice of a successor, obedience to the holy see, and the practice of Christian piety. He then again commended his kingdom to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, and after having received the sacraments of penance, the viaticum, and extreme-unction, happily expired on the feast of the Assumption of our Lady, the 15th of August, in 1038, being threescore years old, of which he had reigned forty-one from the death of his father, and thirty-eight from the time he had been crowned king. His sacred remains were honored with miracles, and forty-five years after his death, by an order of the pope at the request of the holy king St. Ladislas, were enshrined and placed in a rich chapel which bears his name within the great church of our Lady at Buda. He was canonized by Benedict IX. in the manner described by Benedict XIV.2 Innocent XI. appointed his festival on the 2d of September, in 1686, with an office for the whole Church, the emperor Leopold having on that day recovered Buda out of the hands of the Turks, after many signal victories over those infidels. In Hungary, his chief festival is kept on the 20th of August, the day of the translation of his relics.

Virtue is the most excellent dignity, and the only good of rational beings, as St. Austin observes.3 Genius, learning, power, riches, and whatever else a man enjoys, are only good when made subservient to virtue. Hence the ancient Stoics called such external goods conveniences, not good things, because, said they, virtue alone deserves the name of good.4 This is our glory, our riches, and our happiness in time and eternity. To acquire and continually improve in ourselves this inestimable treasure is the great business of our lives. Yet how careless are the generality of mankind in this particular! Many spare no pains to cultivate their minds with science, or to excel in accomplishments of the body, and in every qualification for the world, yet neglect to reform and regulate their heart. Half that attention which they give to their body or studies, would make them perfect in virtue. An hour, or half an hour a day, employed in holy meditation, pious reading, and self-examination, would be of infinite service in this most important and noble study. This would teach us the divine maxims of virtue, inspire us with its sublime sentiments, and instruct us in its exercises; and a constant attention and watchfulness in all our actions would inure us to the practice, and ground us in perfect habits of it. Were we but thus to learn well one virtue every year, we should soon be perfect saints. Holy kings upon the throne never suffered any avocations or business to be an impediment to this earnest application to the science of a Christian. Virtue no sooner gains the empire in the hearts of men but it rules and sanctifies the whole circle of their actions, makes all the employments of their state an uninterrupted exercise of its various acts, and advances daily in fervor and perfection.

Collect of St Justus of Lyon, Bishop & Confessor ~ Indulgenced on the Saint's Feast (See Note)

According to the Apostolic Penitentiary, a partial indulgence is granted to those who on the feast of any Saint recite in his honour the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.
We beseech Thee, O Lord, hear our prayers which we offerest on the festival of Blessed Justus, Thy Confessor & Bishop, and through his intercessory merits, who hadst the grace to serve Thee worthily, absolve us from all our sins.

Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

R. Amen. 

Nota bene - St Justus is not celebrated on the Universal Calendar, but according to the Martyrology, today is his Feast Day. The Collect is taken from the Common of Confessor Bishops. 

Collect of St Stephen of Hungary, King & Confessor - Indulgenced on the Saint's Feast

According to the Apostolic Penitentiary, a partial indulgence is granted to those who on the feast of any Saint recite in his honour the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that even as thy blessed Confessor Stephen, while he was a King upon earth, was her forwarder, so, now that he is a glorious Saint in heaven, he may be her defender.

Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

R. Amen.

Mahatma Gandhi - Combat Soldier?

Mahatma Gandhi was world famous for his efforts to achieve Indian independence from the British Empire, but did you also know that Gandhi was a soldier, twice, seeing action WITH the British Army in Africa and receiving medals for that service. Find out the full story here...

On Reading Literature: Thoughts for Pope Francis

'While the pope sees reading literature as a valuable counterbalance to “screens,” the truth is that a screens-based culture has undermined reading.'

From Crisis

By John M. Grodelski, PhD

Pope Francis recently wrote a letter on the role of literature in priestly formation, but a former associate dean of a Catholic seminary thinks it should have gone deeper.

Pope Francis wrote a letter July 17 “on the role of literature in formation.” He admits straightaway what he really has in mind is its role in priestly formation (#1) but recognizes it has a broader application. Long story short, the pope recommends reading literature as a way of understanding others, listening to “others’ voices,” engaging in discernment, and reflecting on faith and culture. No argument there.

In the letter, the pope thinks some seminaries have pursued this path in order to get students off screens (#4), with all the downsides they bring, including attenuated attention spans, diminished self-control caused by the “click-bait” phenomenon, and other toxic behaviors. Again, no argument.

I don’t fundamentally disagree with where the pope wants to go. (I am surprised he does not cite Hans Urs von Balthasar who, more than Rahner and certainly Spadaro, has addressed questions of literature and faith). I still remember the valuable advice about reading literature that my graduate adviser at Fordham, Fr. Sabbas Kilian, O.F.M., gave me: reading literature also made one a better writer. I take the pope’s letter as an invitation to push this question further. 

Three thoughts:

Reading. While the pope sees reading literature as a valuable counterbalance to “screens,” the truth is that a screens-based culture has undermined reading. Screens are not just a different information “delivery mode.” They erode habits essential to reading books.  

I have always thought there to be a value in open-stacks libraries. Being able to wander the rows with no particular goal (or even a very particular one) always left the chance opportunity to discover some other path, another question. Algorithmic searches may pinpoint the immediate answer I want, but they do little to stimulate larger questions. “Knowledge” gained that way is useful but limited because satiating an immediate need does not kindle broader curiosity. And that’s before we talk about how algorithms steer supposedly “lifelong, independent inquirers” (some of the current pedagogical babble) down others’ predetermined narrow paths.  

Reading requires time. Screens consume time. They rarely foster the time habits essential to reading. Reading requires staying engaged, “sticking to” the text, even when the text goes on some descriptive detour. There’s a reason (apart from the vocabulary challenges) American students generally don’t read 19th-century literature: James Fenimore Cooper and Nathaniel Hawthorne just don’t write like they were bloggers.  

The screen never disappears in the way a book does. For books, the text is the thing, the paper product merely the vehicle. For screens, the medium is as important as the message. It structures how you approach the text. Books don’t entice you to skip around; clickable screens do. True, you can jump all around in a book (which is why I never review books for which I only get an electronic version) but, ordinarily, most people usually don’t. (On the flip side, when I want to compare thoughts in a book I’m reviewing, I want to open two or three pages simultaneously. Try that with your Kindle!)

So, yes—Pope Francis—get students off screens to read. But realize you are going to have to teach a screens generation a whole new way of reading.

Curricular Demands. I was the associate dean of a Catholic seminary. Seminary curricula are demanding. Most semesters in the four-year post-college seminary program we provided required 15-18 credits; 12 credits is considered a full-time load in normal graduate schools. 

The Program of Priestly Formation is detailed in what subject matter it expects to be covered. Add on top of that: spiritual formation (including liturgy and prayer); apostolic formation (time in parishes or learning to work with the sick, prisoners, etc.); normal community time (one reason you have a seminary is to form the normal human bonds priests in a diocese or religious community will need throughout their lives). None of these things can get short shrift, not just because that would be reflected in the dreaded “evaluation” but because they really are necessary. But—even for seminarians—the Lord God has only put 24 hours in a day. Where do you fit “literature reading”?

During my time as associate dean, we undertook one “curriculum reform.” Seminary professors are no different from their secular counterparts when it comes to defending turf in terms of required courses. We cut three: all taught by adjuncts.

Once upon a time, the Program of Priestly Formation anticipated seminarians entering major theology to have completed something of a liberal arts undergraduate program with at least 18 credits of philosophy. That is increasingly not the case. They need the philosophy to understand the theology. They need the liberal arts to be educated leaders. Where do you put that if it didn’t happen at the undergrad level?

I take an example from my university. As a private Catholic university, in theory we could be selective. But, as is commonplace across America, colleges and universities are getting high school graduates incapable of doing college-level mathematics or English writing. Many schools enroll 1/5 to 1/3 of their freshman class in remediation (i.e., extra coursework designed to provide what they should have had in grade or high school). 

Lament all you want; we have to repair what “should have” happened but didn’t before we can go on. The same is true in seminaries, compounded by increased numbers of foreign students who need English as a Second Language and American acculturation. Tell all that to the bishop who still wants his man in four years. One thing almost certain: that guy isn’t going to be reading T.S. Eliot.

Literary Availability. I am translating Roman Brandstaetter, a 20th-century canonical Polish author with a large literary religious corpus. A Jew who became a Christian, his writings are rife with allusions to the Old and New Testaments. He is also an accomplished novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer. I have to add a considerable number of footnotes because I fear the average Anglo-American reader—product of religiously sanitized schools—simply will not get the references.

Sometimes I ask myself: Why am I doing this? I’ve been at it for seven years. I have no idea who will eventually publish the translations. Fifty years ago, we had serious Catholic publishers that put out serious religious works, including Catholic fiction:  Image Books; Sheed and Ward; even our Catholic university presses.

Well, most of them are gone. The universities are advancing “diversity” by all focusing on a very narrow subset of subjects. The remaining Catholic publishers today largely focus on self-help books, superficial polemics of the kind Francis criticizes, or whatever the moment thinks “practical.”  

If Graham Greene wrote The Heart of the Matter 75 years later, in 2022 instead of 1948, it might get published (if it passed the “colonialist” criticism) because Americans have a thing for the English. But if Georges Bernanos wrote The Diary of a Country Priest or François Mauriac Vipers’ Tangle today, who would pay to translate, much less publish it? There are reprint specialists, but Francis needs to ask: How do we print the books he wants seminarians to read? 

Tolkien's Paradise

'The lands of the imaginary world created by [JRRT] contain vast symbols of the unseen world that synthesize the traits—beneficial or malevolent—of good and evil clashing in a conflict of cosmic proportions.'

From The European Conservative

By Robert Lazu Kmita, PhD

Photo by Jonny Clow on Unsplash

Tolkien’s work contains vast symbols of the cosmic conflict between good and evil.

Beginning with the exile of Adam and Eve from Eden after their fall into original sin, humanity has lived marked by an acute nostalgia for paradise. This is why even modern secular culture incessantly conveys—through advertisements, films, music, and all imaginable means—trivial and sometimes veiled references to Paradise. Emphasizing the omnipresence of these images, one of the most distinguished Romanian intellectuals, Horia-Roman Patapievici, stated that at the heart of Western culture lies “the principle of paradise.” As a refined connoisseur of the works of Dante Alighieri and other great classical writers and poets, Patapievici makes this assertion primarily considering the constant presence of paradisiacal themes and motifs in literature. But for someone to recognize them, he must first know the main features of Paradise.

By reading the multitude of texts recorded by the history of religions, we can describe them based on the hierarchy of senses that provide human beings with knowledge of the world. Thus, sight perceives a light of indescribable beauty that never fades; the colors are very vivid, beautiful, and much purer and brighter than we can conceive here and now. Hearing perceives the music of angelic choirs praising their Creator or the music of the cosmic spheres (Plato and Saint Hildegard); in some descriptions, even creatures have musical sounds (the waters, the branches of trees, etc.). Smell detects indescribable fragrances and aromas, especially those of unseen flowers and celestial fruits. Taste is satisfied by all the delights of a royal feast in which fruits—intended in Eden for Adam and Eve as food—occupy a central place. To all these are added immortality, mild climate, abundance, and the non-existence of enslaving work.

Without exception, all the mentioned traits can be found in the stories of J.R.R. Tolkien. The lands of the imaginary world created by the master of Faërie contain vast symbols of the unseen world that synthesize the traits—beneficial or malevolent—of good and evil clashing in a conflict of cosmic proportions. Tolkien’s vision is an apocalyptic one, revealing the unseen war that has been unfolding since the beginnings of creation between God-Ilúvatar and the rebellious angelic forces led by the satanic Melkor. But as the apocalypse cannot be devoid of the two antagonistic cities—Babylon (the city of the devil) and Jerusalem (the city of God)—Tolkien’s work is not devoid of terrifying fortresses embodying the malevolence of evil and rebellion, opposed by the bright, luminous cities of forces adhering to the divine imperative of good. To convince ourselves of this, I will analyze the descriptive elements of a few of the lands representing the luminous pole of Middle-Earth.

No land in Arda can compare with the country where the Valar dwell. Named Valinor or “The Guarded Realm,” it fully proves the influence of the paradisiacal archetype on Tolkien’s stories, especially as it bears the rare attribute of eternity:

Behind the walls of the Pelori the Valar established their domain in that region which is called Valinor; and there were their houses, their gardens, and their towers. In that guarded land the Valar gathered great store of light and all the fairest things that were saved from the ruin; and many others yet fairer they made anew, and Valinor became more beautiful even than Middle-Earth in the Spring of Arda; and it was blessed, for the Deathless dwelt there, and there naught faded nor withered, neither was there any stain upon flower or leaf in that land, nor any corruption or sickness in anything that lived; for the very stones and waters were hallowed.

If the most prominent feature of heaven is immortality, at the level of the fallen world this is prefigured by a characteristic sign of those who live here: a life much longer than that of ordinary beings. The most well-known land in all of Middle-Earth, the Shire, will experience a state similar to that of paradise after the defeat of the dark sorcerer, Sauron.

Located in the northwest of Middle-Earth, the homeland of Samwise Gamgee is bordered to the north by the North Farthing and the Twilight Hills, to the west by the Westfarthing, to the south by the Sarn Ford, and to the east by the Old Forest. It is the place where the hobbits live, among whom were the two Ring-bearers, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Although not much is known about the circumstances in which their race settled here, it is very likely that they came from the upper valleys of the Anduin River, from where they left when men began to settle in their lands. Not only was this the reason for their relocation, but also the growing shadow that fell over the forest. In the year 1601, King Argeleb II granted land to the hobbits who came from Bree, thus establishing their right over the land. The spoken language was Westron or “the common tongue.” The entire land was under the authority of a Thain, who had more of a ceremonial role than a real one, as the inhabitants were both peaceful and good stewards. 

The most disturbing event in the Shire was the invasion of orcs in the year 2747, when Bandobras Took distinguished himself by leading his small army to victory. The last historical page of the Shire was written in November of the year 3019, when Frodo and his companions, freshly returned from the great adventure of the Ring, defeated Saruman’s henchmen who had tried to forcibly occupy their small country. After this final confrontation with evil, the Shire undergoes a transformation that makes the indescribable goodness and beauties of Paradise visible, as they are found in the descriptions of the Judeo-Christian tradition:

His trees began to sprout and grow, as if time was in a hurry and wished to make one year do for twenty. In the Party Field a beautiful young sapling leaped up: it had silver bark and long leaves and burst into golden flowers in April. It was indeed a mallorn, and it was the wonder of the neighbourhood. In after years, as it grew in grace and beauty, it was known far and wide and people would come long journeys to see it: the only mallorn west of the Mountains and east of the Sea, and one of the finest in the world.

Altogether 1420 in the Shire was a marvelous year. Not only was there wonderful sunshine and delicious rain, in due times and perfect measure, but there seemed something more: an air of richness and growth, and a gleam of a beauty beyond that of mortal summers that flicker and pass upon this Middle-Earth. All the children born or begotten in that year, and there were many, were fair to see and strong, and most of them had a rich golden hair that had before been rare among hobbits. The fruit was so plentiful that young hobbits very nearly bathed in strawberries and cream; and later they sat on the lawns under the plum-trees and ate, until they had made piles of stones like small pyramids or the heaped skulls of a conqueror, and then they moved on. And no one was ill, and everyone was pleased, except those who had to mow the grass.

A rich and fertile land, adorned with flowers, fruit trees, and clear rivers, whose distinctive color is the green of the grass and trees, the Shire is a true prefiguration of the heavenly Jerusalem seen by St. John in his mystical vision. Sometimes troubled by dangers, the land of the hobbits remains, nonetheless, a luminous symbol of Paradise. Marked by the nostalgia of a childhood spent in a pre-industrial world, unaffected by pollution and mechanical artifacts, Tolkien encrypted some of his own memories into the idyllic image of the Shire.

Both in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, one of the most beautiful lands is that ruled by Elrond, known as Rivendell—“The Last Homely House.” Bilbo is the first hobbit to know its celestial beauties while he was—along with Thorin and his company—on the way to Smaug’s fortress. The descriptions make our words superfluous:

Bilbo never forgot the way they slithered and slipped in the dusk down the steep zigzag path into the secret valley of Rivendell. The air grew warmer as they got lower, and the smell of the pine-trees made him drowsy, so that every now and again he nodded and nearly fell off, or bumped his nose on the pony’s neck. Their spirits rose as they went down and down. The trees changed to beech and oak, and there was a comfortable feeling in the twilight. The last green had almost faded out of the grass, when they came at length to an open glade not far above the banks of the stream.

A place of rest and a life seemingly beyond history, it was said that evil never penetrated the valley of Rivendell. Recovering after nearly perishing from a wound inflicted by the leader of the Nazgûl, the Witch-King of Angmar, Frodo Baggins fully experiences the blessings of the Last Homely House, which presents itself to him as a true fragment of paradise: 

The light of the clear autumn morning was now glowing in the valley. The noise of bubbling waters came up from the foaming river-bed. Birds were singing, and a wholesome peace lay on the land.

Equally fragrant and enchanting with the light and music that enveloped it is the dwelling of the wood elves, led by Celeborn and Galadriel, when the members of the Fellowship of the Ring reach Lothlórien. Endowed by God-Ilúvatar with the gift of immortality, the elves impart something of their eternity to all the places and creatures they govern; the forests, rivers, flowers, trees, and animals around them all seem to come from another world, one of unfading light: 

Day came pale from the East. As the light grew it filtered through the yellow leaves of the Mallorn, and it seemed to the hobbits that the early sun of a cool summer’s morning was shining. Pale-blue sky peeped among the moving branches. Looking through an opening on the south side of the flet Frodo saw all the valley of the Silverlode lying like a sea of fallow gold tossing gently in the breeze.

However, nothing is as striking in Lothlórien as the feeling of eternity, of immortality, of that nunc stans of which Saint Augustine speaks. It is precisely this feeling that allows access to the past, to the primordial times of Middle-Earth’s origins, just as later, before Galadriel’s Mirror, it will allow Frodo a glimpse into the future:

As soon as he set foot upon the far bank of Silverlode a strange feeling had come upon him, and it deepened as he walked on into the Naith: it seemed to him that he had stepped over a bridge of time into a corner of the Elder Days, and was now walking in a world that was no more. In Rivendell there was memory of ancient things; in Lorien the ancient things still lived on in the waking world.

After leaving those miraculous lands, Frodo, Legolas, and Sam become increasingly aware that where things are perfect, and where beauty, goodness, and truth reign, time flows more slowly.

Although not entirely free from the burden of time’s passage, the elvish realm of Lothlórien represents an image of the earthly paradise. The abode of Queen Galadriel seems to be the Eden of Middle-Earth, that place where the primordial parents Adam and Eve experienced the early joy of divine grace, as well as the sorrow caused by the first sin. The beauty of Lothlórien, the perfection of its forms, and especially the absence of any imperfection, show us that we are dealing with a heavenly realm:

The others cast themselves down upon the fragrant grass, but Frodo stood awhile still lost in wonder. It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured forever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lorien there was no stain.

If we consider the characteristics of Paradise present in various religious traditions, we can easily compare and identify them with the features of the wondrous lands in Middle-Earth. The eyes are always delighted by a gentle and radiant light. The ears are enchanted by the melodious murmur of waters or the songs of birds of all kinds. The nostrils are thrilled by pleasant scents, dominated by the fragrance of inviting flowers and fruits. If Plato spoke of the more vivid colors of the celestial world compared to which the colors of our world pale, Tolkien’s descriptions also depict colors much more beautiful and intense than anything the hobbits and their companions had known. 

Adding the sense of eternity, manifested also through very long lifespans, undisturbed by illness or other sufferings, we find a complete picture of the Kingdom of Heaven towards which, consciously or unconsciously, every person—whether ancient or modern—yearns. J.R.R. Tolkien described things this way not only due to literary and mytho-religious influences, but also because of his desire to make the essence of his novels as transparent as possible: in short, it is about the struggle between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of Darkness, between the benign forces of good serving God and the malevolent forces subjected to fallen angels. And the battleground is none other than the world of men and other races, aptly named by the author, Middle-Earth.

Bishop Challoner's Meditations ~ September 2nd

ON POVERTY OF SPIRIT

Consider first, that the first of the eight beatitudes is expressed in these words: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. v. 2. This beatitude or happiness, which brings with it a title to the kingdom of heaven, belongs in the first place to them that are poor by condition and in effect, Luke vi. 20, provided they be contented with their poverty, and cordially embrace it as the beloved companion and favourite of Christ and his saints. The Son of God came down from heaven to seek poverty upon earth: he was born in poverty, he lived in poverty, and he died in poverty, and shall we, my soul, disdain, shall we fly and abhor what the wisdom of God made choice of for him and his? especially since he has declared, that to be poor here is the true way to be rich hereafter, and that the men of riches, who have their consolation here, after they have slept out their short sleep, shall find their hands empty; whilst the poor, after their short sufferings, shall be admitted to the immense treasures of a happy eternity. 

Consider 2ndly, that this beatitude belongs in the second place to them that are poor in affection; that is, who set not their heart on their worldly wealth, but are in readiness of mind to part with their riches, whenever God shall call for all, or any part of them; and in effect, willingly resign them up, when he by any occasion is pleased to take them away: as also to all such as are poor by choice, for the love of Christ, who, when they understand such to be the will of God, actually relinquish all they have to follow him. In fine, to all such as have their affections disengaged from all perishable things; from all worldly honours, possessions and pleasures; from all that is earthly and temporal; in a word, form all that is not God; for such as these, and only such as these, are in a proper disposition to fly up to the kingdom of heaven. There is no flying thither as long as we are tied down by affection to any thing upon earth. O who will give me the wings of a dove, that is, of simplicity and purity in all my intentions and affections, that being let loose from this wretched earth by this true poverty of spirit, I may fly up freely to my God, and eternally repose in him!

Consider 3rdly, that this beatitude belongs in a particular manner to the humble; for such as they are truly poor in spirit; for such as they have not their spirit puffed up with windy pride, nor with any conceit of any ability of their own; like him to whom it is said, Apoc. iii. 17. 'Thou sayest, I am rich and made wealthy, and I have need of nothing, and thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked:' nor are they high-spirited or high-minded - which is being rich in spirit - but are poor, mean, little in their own eyes, and therefore exalted by God: who to such little ones as these gives his grace in this world, and his heavenly kingdom in the next. O teach us, dear Lord, to be thus poor in spirit; teach us to be little and humble.

Conclude to begin thy study of true wisdom by applying thyself to learn well this first lesson of poverty of spirit; especially since thy great master expects, and requires of all his disciples that they should enter into his school with a disengagement of their heart and affection at least from every thing else - that they should leave all to follow him.

2 September, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

Intimacy with Jesus

1. In his memoirs written while in exile, Napoleon says: “Many have desired and endeavoured to be obeyed, revered and honoured by all; only Jesus Christ has demanded this, because He is God.”

“As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you,” we read in the Gospel of St. John. “Abide in my love.” (John 15:9) Jesus therefore asks each of us not only to love Him but to remain intimately united with Him in love. He has a perfect right to demand this, because as God He is our Creator, and as God-Man He is our Redeemer, Who out of love for us has given Himself entirely.

2. The union of love which should exist between Jesus and us is modelled on the mysterious union between Him and His heavenly Father. (1) This intimacy between us and Jesus should be first of all in the mind. Our thoughts will be good when we think like God, and with the mind of Jesus, Who is “the true light that enlightens every man who comes into the world.” (John 1:9) If we stray away from that light, darkness overwhelms us even as it pervaded the earth during the agony of Jesus Christ. Our intelligence is a ray of light which comes from God; we should take care not to allow this ray to be separated from its divine source. This heavenly ray always shone on the faces of the saints, because they were clean of heart and close to God. That is how we should all be. (2) In the second place, we should be united intimately with Jesus in our sentiments. “Have this mind in you which was also in Jesus Christ,” (Phil. 2:5) says St. Paul. Our love must not be abstract or partial, but must be all-absorbing. Jesus calls us friends, and friendship unites two hearts as one. We must give ourselves completely to Jesus without reserving anything for ourselves. True holiness is found when God and man are united like two faithful, constant friends. (3) In the third place, there must be intimacy in action. It is not possible for a man who truly loves God to do anything which would offend Him. Jesus compares the love which we should have for Him with the love which He has for His Heavenly Father, so we should model our lives continuously on the life of Jesus. Jesus must work in us, as He did in St. Paul and in all the Saints.

St. Francis de Sales writes that Jesus should always be in our minds, in our hearts, in our eyes, and on our tongue. We should be living images of Jesus; and we must therefore live and act for Him, with Him, and in Him.

3. Do not imagine that this intimate union of the human heart with that of Jesus is the privilege and vocation of a few, that is, something reserved for priests, religious, mystics, and saints. Do we think that this privilege is only for saints? But we must all be saints. “You shall be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16) “You therefore are to be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt. 5:48) This does not mean that we all have the same vocation and that we should all be priests or religious. Sanctity is nothing other than this intimate, loving, and active union with Jesus. It must be practised in different ways in accordance with the positions which men occupy. For one it will be the sanctity of the workman, for another the sanctity of the student or of the clerk, of the professor or of the statesman, because the duties of each differ. But all must renounce their evil inclinations and their personal egoism. They must also, as the Gospel insists, renounce themselves in order to have the life of Jesus. They must love God above all things and also more than themselves, and they must love their neighbour as themselves. The goal is certainly hard and difficult; but if at present we are not able to reach it, we must at least have the strong and active desire to strive for it.

Eastern Rite ~ Feasts of 2 September AM 7533

Today is the Feasts of the Holy Martyr Mamas and of Our Venerable Father John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople.

✠✠✠✠✠

The Holy Great Martyr Mamas was born in Paphlagonia, Asia Minor in the third century of pious and illustrious parents, the Christians Theodotus and Rufina. The parents of the saint were arrested by the pagans for their open confession of their faith and locked up in prison in Caesarea in Cappadocia.

Knowing his own bodily weakness, Theodotus prayed that the Lord would take him before being subjected to tortures. The Lord heard his prayer and he died in prison. Saint Rufina died also after him, after giving birth to a premature son. She entrusted him to God, beseeching Him to be the Protector and Defender of the orphaned infant.

God heard the dying prayer of Saint Rufina: a rich Christian widow named Ammia reverently buried the bodies of Saints Theodotus and Rufina, and she took the boy into her own home and raised him as her own son. Saint Mamas grew up in the Christian Faith. His foster mother concerned herself with the development of his natural abilities, and early on she sent him off to study his grammar.

The boy learned easily and willingly. He was not of an age of mature judgment but distinguished himself by the maturity of mind and of heart. By means of prudent conversations and personal example young Mamas converted many of his own peers to Christianity.

The governor, Democritus, was informed of this, and the fifteen-year-old Mamas was arrested and brought to trial. In deference to his illustrious parentage, Democritus decided not to subject him to torture but instead sent him off to the emperor Aurelian (270-275). The emperor tried at first kindly, but then with threats to turn Saint Mamas back to the pagan faith, but all in vain. The saint bravely confessed himself a Christian and pointed out the madness of the pagans in their worship of lifeless idols.

Infuriated, the emperor subjected the youth to cruel tortures. They tried to drown the saint, but an angel of the Lord saved Saint Mamas and bade him live on a high mountain in the wilderness, not far from Caesarea. Bowing to the will of God, the saint built a small church there and began to lead a life of strict temperance, in exploits of fasting and prayer.

Soon he received a remarkable power over the forces of nature: wild beasts inhabiting the surrounding wilderness gathered at his abode and listened to the reading of the Holy Gospel. Saint Mamas nourished himself on the milk of wild goats and deer.

The saint did not ignore the needs of his neighbours. Preparing cheese from this milk, he gave it away freely to the poor. Soon the fame of Saint Mamas’s life spread throughout all of Caesarea.

The governor sent a detachment of soldiers to arrest him. When they encountered Saint Mamas on the mountain, the soldiers did not recognize him and mistook him for a simple shepherd. The saint then invited them to his dwelling, gave them a drink of milk and then told them his name, knowing that death for Christ awaited him. The servant of God told the servant of the Emperor to go on ahead of him into Caesaria, promising that he would soon follow. The soldiers waited for him at the gates of the city, and Saint Mamas, accompanied by a lion, met them there.

Surrendering himself into the hands of the torturers, Saint Mamas was brought to trial under a deputy governor named Alexander, who subjected him to intense and prolonged tortures. They did not break the saint’s will, however. He was strengthened by the words addressed to him from above: “Be strong and take courage, Mamas.”

When they threw Saint Mamas to the wild beasts, these creatures would not touch him. Finally, one of the pagan priests struck him with a trident. Mortally wounded, Saint Mamas went out beyond the city limits. There, in a small stone cave, he gave up his spirit to God, Who in the hearing of all summoned the holy Martyr Mamas into His heavenly habitation. He was buried by believers at the place of his death.

Christians soon began to receive help from him in their afflictions and sorrows. Saint Basil the Great speaks thus about the holy Martyr Mamas in a sermon to the people: “Remember the holy martyr, you who live here and have him as a helper. You who call on his name have been helped by him. Those in error he has guided into life. Those whom he has healed of infirmity, those whose dead children he has restored to life, those whose life he has prolonged: let us all come together as one, and praise the martyr!”

Troparion — Tone 3

Divine offshoot of the Martyrs, / you followed their steps with longing, / and while proclaiming the Savior's Name, you were marvellous in the contest, / O wise and glorious Mámas; / entreat Christ God to grant us great mercy.

Kontakion — Tone 3

(Podoben: “Today the Virgin...”)
With the staff given to you by God, O Saint, / shepherd your people in life-giving pastures, / and crush unseen and fierce enemies beneath the feet of those who praise you; / for all those who are in danger have you as a fervent intercessor, O Mámas.

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Our Holy Father John was born in Constantinople, the Queen of Cities. At first, he worked as a goldsmith, and everyone expected him to continue in that occupation. From his youth, however, he was inclined toward the monastic life. He also possessed a rare gift for continence and a natural love for fasting, and thus he was known as “the Faster.” Because of his reputation for virtue, he was ordained as a deacon by Patriarch John III, and later he received the grace of the priesthood. Saint John was found worthy to behold a vision which showed that he would become be a worthy recipient of God’s grace, for the spiritual enlightenment of his flock. He read the Holy Scriptures and other ecclesiastical books every day, thereby enriching his knowledge.

Once, when he was a young man, John was walking with Eusebius, an old monk from Palestine. Suddenly, a bodiless voice spoke to Eusebius: “Abba, do not walk to the right of the great John.” It was the voice of God, foretelling the great service to which John would shortly be called.

After the death of Patriarch Eutychius, Saint John was chosen to succeed him. He did not want to accept the office, but he was frightened by a heavenly vision, and so he consented. By the example of his own life, he taught all believers to restrain their capricious desires and to control themselves. The hierarch was unable to abide his flock’s blatant disregard for the institutions of the Church. When the citizens of Constantinople decided to give in to their passions by attending a horse show in the Hippodrome on eve of the Feast of Pentecost, the hierarch fell on his knees before God and fervently prayed that the Lord would thwart their impious intention. As soon as the people began to make their way to the Hippodrome, a terrible storm arose with thunder, rain and hailstones so that everyone dispersed in fear and came to realize the inappropriateness of such entertainment.

St John was Patriarch of Constantinople from 582 - 595, and was the first to use the title “Ecumenical Patriarch.”

He was a great faster, intercessor and wonderworker right up to the time of his death. Distinguished for his abstinence and prayer, Saint John had such a love for the poor that he refused them nothing from his estate. After his death, his only personal possessions were found to be a wooden spoon, a linen shirt and an old garment. His writings on repentance and Confession are well known.

After a virtuous life of piety, during which he performed many miracles, Saint John reposed on September 2, 595. His grace-filled relics were entombed in the Church of the Holy Apostles.

Saint John is also commemorated on August 30.

Troparion — Tone 4

In truth, you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, / an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence; / your humility exalted you; / your poverty enriched you. / Hierarch Father John, / entreat Christ our God / that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion — Tone 4

You became like your namesake, the Forerunner, O John, / for you were radiant with fasting and purity; / and Christ has revealed you / as a worthy shepherd of his flock: / Now pray for those who honor your holy memory!

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