26 September 2026
Ss Cosmas & Damian, Martyrs
From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:
Honor the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the most High hath created him. For all healing is from God, and he shall receive gifts of the king. The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised. The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them. Was not bitter water made sweet with wood? The virtue of these things is come to the knowledge of hem, and the most High hath given knowledge to men, that he may be honored in his wonders. By these he shall cure and shall allay their pains, and of these the apothecary shall make sweet confections, and shall make up ointments of health, and of his works there shall be no end. For the peace of God is over the face of the earth. My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the Lord, and he shall heal thee. Turn away from sin and order thy hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all offense. Give a sweet savor, and a memorial of fine flour, and make a fat offering, and then give place to the physician. For the Lord created him: and let him not depart from thee, for his works are necessary. For there is a time when thou must fall into their hands: and they shall beseech the Lord, that he would prosper what they give for ease and remedy, for their conversation. These words of the Wise Man (Ecclesiasticus 38:1-6) are appropriate for this feast. The Church, obeying the inspired injunction, honors the medical profession in the persons of Cosmas and Damian, who not only, like many others (Dom A. M. Fournier, Notices sur les saints médecins), sanctified themselves in that career; but far beyond all others, demonstrated to the world how grand a part the physician may play in Christian society.
Cosmas and Damian had been Christians from their childhood. The study of Hippocrates and Galen developed their love of God, whose invisible perfections they admired reflected in the magnificences of creation, and especially in the human body his palace and his temple. To them, science was a hymn of praise to their Creator, and the exercise of their art a sacred ministry; they served God in his suffering members, and watched over his human sanctuary, to preserve it from injury or to repair its ruins. Such a life of religious charity was fittingly crowned by the perfect sacrifice of martyrdom.
East and West vied with each other in paying homage to the Anargyres, (Without fees) as our Saints were called on account of their receiving no fees for their services. Numerous churches were dedicated to them. The Emperor Justinian embellished and fortified the obscure town of Cyrus out of reverence for their sacred relics there preserved; and about the same time, Pope Felix IV built a church in their honor in the Roman Forum, thus substituting the memory of the twin martyrs for that of the less happy brothers Romulus and Remus. Not long before this, St. Benedict had dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian his first monastery at Subiaco, now known as St. Scholastica’s. But Rome rendered the highest of all honors to the holy Arabian brethren, by placing their names, in preference to so many thousands of her own heroes, in the solemn litanies and on the sacred diptychs of the Mass.
In the Middle Ages, the physicians and surgeons banded together into confraternities, whose object was the sanctification of the members by common prayer, charity towards the destitute, and the accomplishment of all the duties of their important vocation for the greater glory of God and the greater good of suffering humanity. The Society of Ss. Luke, Cosmas and Damian has now undertaken in France the renewal of these happy traditions.
The following is the Church’s account of the two brothers.
The brother Cosmas and Damian were Arabians of noble extraction, born in the town of Ægæ. They were physicians; and during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, healed even incurable maladies no less by Christ’s assistance than by their knowledge of medicine. The prefect Lysias, being informed of their religion, ordered them to be brought before him, and questioned them on their faith and their manner of life. They openly declared that they were Christians, and that the Christian faith is necessary to salvation; whereupon Lysias commanded them to adore the gods, threatening them, if they refused, with torture and a cruel death.
But as the prefect saw his threats were in vain: “Bind their hands and feet,” he cried, “and torture them with the utmost cruelty.” His commands were executed, but Cosmas and Damian remained firm. They were then thrown, chained as they were, into the sea, but came out safe and loosed from their bonds. The prefect attributing this to magical acts ordered them to prison. The next day, he commanded them to be led forth and thrown on a burning pile, but the flame refused to touch them. Finally, after several other cruel tortures, they were beheaded; and thus confessing Jesus Christ, they won the palm of martyrdom.
In you, O illustrious brethren, was fulfilled this saying of the Wise Man: The skill of the physician shall life up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be praised. (Ecclesiasticus 38:3) The great ones, in whose sight you are exalted, are the princes of the heavenly hierarchies, witnessing today the homage paid to you by the Church Militant. The glory that surrounds your heads is the glory of God himself, of that bountiful king, who rewards your former disinterestedness by bestowing upon you his own blessed life.
In the bosom of divine love, your charity cannot wax cold; help us, then, and heal the sick who confidently implore your assistance. Preserve the health of God’s children so that they may fulfill their obligations to the world, may courageously bear the light yoke of the Church’s precepts. Bless those physicians who are faithful to their baptism, and who seek your aid; and increase the number of such.
See how the study of medicine now so often leads astray into the paths of materialism and fatalism, to the great detriment of science and humanity. It is false to assert that simple nature is the explanation of suffering and death; and unfortunate are those whose physicians regard them as mere flesh and blood. Even the pagan school took a loftier view than that; and it was surely a higher ideal that inspired you to exercise your art with such religious reverence. By the virtue of your glorious death, O witnesses to the Lord, obtain for our sickly society a return to the faith, to the remembrance of God, and to that piety which is profitable to all things and all men, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. (1 Timothy 4:8)
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:
The Paralytic carrying his bed is the subject of this day’s Gospel, and gives the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost its title. It has been thought, by some, that its having the number it bears has caused it to be inserted in the Missal immediately after the Ember Days of autumn. We will not, like the Liturgists of the Middle Ages, (Berno Aug., Chap. 5, etc.) discuss the question as to whether we should consider it has having taken the place of the vacant Sunday, which formerly used always to follow the ordination of the sacred ministers, (Microlog., Chap 29) in the manner we have elsewhere described. (Gueranger, Advent: Ember Saturday) Manuscript Sacramentaries and Lectionaries, of very ancient date, give it the name which was so much in use of Dominica vacat/Sunday Time. (Thomasi Opp. Edit. Vezzosi, t.v., p. 148-149, 309) Whatever may be the conclusion arrived at, there is one interesting point for consideration, viz., that the Mass of this day is the only one in which is broken the order of the lessons taken from St. Paul, and which invariably form the subject of the Epistles, from the sixth Sunday after Pentecost: the Letter to the Ephesians—which we have had already before us, and will be afterwards continued—is today interrupted, and in its stead we have some verses from the first Epistle to the Corinthians, wherein the Apostle gives thanks to God for the manifold gratuitous gifts granted, in Christ Jesus, to the Church. Now, the powers conferred, by the imposition of the Bishop’s hands, on the ministers of the Church, are the most marvelous gift that is known on earth, yea, in heaven itself. The other portions of the Mass, too, are, as we shall see further on, most appropriate to the prerogatives of the new Priesthood. So that the Liturgy of the present Sunday is doubly telling, when it immediately follows the Ember Days of September. But this coincidence is far from being one of every year’s occurrence, at least as the Liturgy now stands; nor can we dwell longer on these subjects without seeming to be going too far into archæology, and exceeding the limits we have marked out for ourselves.
MASS
The Introit of the Sunday Masses, since Pentecost, was always taken from the Psalms. From the 12th to the 118th, the Church, without ever changing the order of these sacred canticles, chose from each of them, as its own turn came, the Verses most appropriate to the Liturgy of each Sunday. But dating from today, she is going to select her Introits elsewhere, with one exception, however, when she will again turn to this the Book, by excellence, of divine praise. Her future opening-Anthems, for the Dominical Liturgy, to the end of the Year, will be taken from the various other books of the Old Testament. For this 18th Sunday, we have Jesus, son of Sirach, the inspired writer of Ecclesiastes, asking God to ratify, by the accomplishment of what they foretold, the fidelity of his Prophets. (Ecclesasticus 36:18) The interpreters of the divine oracles are now the Pastors whom the Church sends, in her own name, to preach the word of salvation and peace; let us, her children, pray with her, that their words may never be void.
Give peace, O Lord, to them who patiently wait for thee, that thy Prophets may be found faithful; hear the prayers of thy servant, and of thy people Israel.
Ps. I rejoiced at the things that were said unto me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. Glory, etc. Give peace.
The surest way to obtain grace is to be ever humbly acknowledging, to our God, our deep conviction that, of ourselves, we cannot please his divine Majesty. The Church continues to give us, in her Collects, the most admirable expressions of such an avowal.
COLLECT
May the working of thy mercy, O Lord, direct our hearts: for, without thee, we cannot please thee. Through, etc.
The other Collects, as in the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost.
EPISTLE
Lesson of the Epistle of St. Paul, the Apostle, to the Corinthians 1 1:4-8
Brethren: I give thanks to my God always for you, for the grace of God that is given you in Christ Jesus, That in all things you are made rich in him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; As the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, So that nothing is wanting to you in any grace, waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who also will confirm you unto the end without crime, in the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The last Coming of the Son of Man is no longer far off! The approach of that final event, which is to put the Church in full possession of her divine Spouse, redoubles her hopes; but the Last Judgment, which is also to pronounce the eternal perdition of so great a number of her children, mingles fear with her desire; and these two sentiments of hers will henceforth be continually brought forward in the holy Liturgy.
It is evident that Expectation has been, so to say, an essential characteristic of her existence. Separated as she is, at least as to the vision of his divine charms, she would have been sighing all day long in this vale of tears had not the love, which possesses her, driven her to spend herself, unselfishly and unreservedly, for Him who is absolute Master of her whole heart. She therefore devotes herself to labor and suffering, to prayers and tears. But her devotedness, unlimited as it has been, has not made her hopes less ardent. A love without desires is not a virtue of the Church; she condemns it in her children as being an insult to the Spouse.
So just, and at the same time so intense, were, and from the very first, these her aspirations, that Eternal Wisdom wished to spare his Bride by concealing from her the duration of her exile. The day and hour of his return is the one sole point upon which, when questioned by his Apostles, Jesus refused to enlighten his Church. (Matthew 24:3, 36) That secret constituted one of the designs of God’s government of the world; but besides that, it was also a proof of the compassion and affection of the Man-God: the trial would have been too cruel; and it was better to leave the Church under the impression, which after all was a true one, that the end was nigh in God’s sight, with whom a thousand years are as one day. (2 Peter 3:8)
It is this which explains how it was that the Apostles, who were the interpreters of the Church’s aspirations, are continually recurring to the subject of the near approach of our Lord’s coming. St. Paul has just been telling us, and that twice over in the same breath, that the Christian is he who waiteth for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the day of his Coming. In his Epistle to the Hebrews, he applies to the second Coming, the inflamed desires of the ancient Prophets for the first; and says: Yet a little, and a very little while, and He that is to come, will come, and will not delay. (Habakkuk 2:3, Hebrews 10:37) The reason is that under the New Covenant, as under the Old, the Man-God is called on account of his final manifestation, which is always being looked for, he that is coming, he that is to come. (Matthew 11:3, Apocalypse 1:8) The cry, which is to close the world’s history, is to be the announcement of his arrival: Behold! the Bridegroom is coming. (Matthew 25:6)
And St. Peter, too, says: “Having the loins of your mind girt up, think of the glory of that Day, whereon the Lord Jesus is to be revealed! Hope for it, with a perfect hope!” (1 Peter 1:5, 7, 13) The Prince of the Apostles foresaw the contemptuous way in which future false teachers would scoff at this long expected, but always put-off, coming; Where is his promise, or his Coming? For, since the fathers slept, all things continue so, from the beginning of creation! (2 Peter 3:3-4) Yes, he foresaw this, and forestalled their sarcasm by answering it in the words which his brother Paul (2 Peter 3:15) had previously used: (Romans 2:4) The Lord delayeth not his promise, as some imagine; but, beareth patiently, for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. But, the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence; and the elements shall be dissolved with heat; and the earth, and the works that are in it, shall be burnt up. Seeing, then, that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought ye to be in holy conversations and godliness, waiting for, and hastening unto, the coming of the day of the Lord, by which, the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the burning heat of fire? But, we look for new heavens and new earth, according to his promise, in which heavens and earth, justice dwelleth. Wherefore, dearly beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent that ye may be found, before Him, unspotted and blameless in peace … Wherefore, Brethren, knowing these things before, beware! lest, being led away by the error of the unwise, ye fall from the steadfastness, which is now yours. (2 Peter 3:9-17)
If, in those last days, danger is to be so great that the very powers of heaven shall be moved, (Matthew 24:29) our Lord, as we are told in our Epistle has providentially confirmed in us his testimony and our faith, by continual manifestations of his power. And, as it were to confirm that other word of the same Epistle, that he will thus confirm unto the end them that believe in him—he is almost prodigal of prodigies in these our times, as though they were precursors of the End. Miracles are forcing themselves on the world’s unwilling notice; and our modern facilities for propagating news are made to tell this glory of the Lord all over his earth! In the name of Jesus, in the name of one or other of his Saints, but especially in the name of his Immaculate Mother, who is preparing the final triumph of the Church—the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, every misery of both body and soul is suddenly made to yield. So incontestable, indeed, and so public, is the manifestation of supernatural power that business managers of all kinds, though they must, out of regard for incredulity, laugh at the facts, yet are they most serious in turning the occasion to their profit! Such very material agencies as Railway Companies have been but too glad to be obliged to put on extra Trains to accommodate the Faithful thousands, and carry them as quickly as they could to the favored sanctuaries, where the holy Mother of God has appeared. It is not in Catholic countries only that the divine power has made itself felt. Quite recently, in the very center of Mahometan infidelity—have we not read it in our papers how the City of the Sultans rejoiced at hearing of the marvels done by the Queen of heaven within its own walls? The water of the miraculous fountain has been carried even into the city of Mecca, where is the tomb of the founder of Islam, and into which, until but lately, it was death for any Christian to enter.
The infidel may talk as he please but there being no God! (Psalm 13:1) If he hear not the divine testimony, it is because corruption or pride has more power over him than the light of reason—just as it was with the enemies of Jesus, during his life upon the earth. He is like to the asp of the Psalm, (Psalm 57:5-6) which maketh itself deaf; it stoppeth its ears that it may never hear the voice of the divine Enchanter, who speaketh that he may save. His life is one piece of madness (Psalm 57:5-6) and folly; (Psalm 13:1) he has done his best to drawn down vengeance upon himself.
Let us not be like him; but with the Apostle, let us thank God for the rich profusion of Grace, which he has so mercifully poured out upon us. Never were his gratuitous gifts more necessary than in these our miserable times. True, it is not a first promulgation that we stand in need of; but the efforts of hell against it have become so violent that in order to withstand them there is a need of a power from on high, equal in some sense to that we read of as being granted in the beginning of the Church. Let us beseech our Lord to bless us with men powerful in word and work. Let us, by the fervor of our fastings and prayers, obtain from his divine Majesty that the imposition of hands may produce, now more than ever, in them that are called to the Priesthood, its full result: that it may make them rich in all things, and especially in all utterance, and in all knowledge. May these days of ours, in which all principles are growing shadowy, find that the supernatural light, at least—the light of salvation—is kept up, in full splendor and purity, by the zeal of the Guides of the flock of Christ. May the compromises and flinchings of a generation, in which all truth is being etiolated and minced, never lead our newly ordained Priests, either themselves to shorten or permit anyone else to curtail, the measure of the perfect man, (Ephesians 4:13) which was put into their hands in order that they might apply it to every Christian who is desirous of observing the Gospel! In spite of all threats—in spite of the noisy passions which are boisterous against any Priest who dares to preach the truth—let their voice be just what it should be—that is, an echo of the Word: let it, that is, possess the holy firmness and vibration of the Saints!
In the Gradual, the Church repeats the Introit-Verse, to celebrate once more the joy felt by the Christian people at hearing the glad tiding, that they are soon to go into the House of the Lord. That House is Heaven, into which we are to enter, on the last day, our Lord Jesus Christ leading the way. But the House is also the temple, in which we are now assembled, and into which we are introduced by the representatives of that same Lord of ours—that is, by his Priests.
I rejoiced at the things that were said unto me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.
℣. Let peace be in thy strength, and abundance in thy towers.
Alleluia, alleluia.
℣. The Gentiles shall fear thy name, O Lord: and all the kings of the earth thy glory. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 9:1-8
At that time: Jesus entering into a boat, he passed over the water and came into his own city. And behold they brought to him one sick of the palsy lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy: Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee. And behold some of the scribes said within themselves: He blasphemeth. And Jesus seeing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee: or to say, Arise, and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then said he to the man sick of palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. And he arose and went into his house. And the multitude seeing it, feared, and glorified God that gave such power to men.
In the 13th Century, in many Churches of the West, the Gospel for today was that wherein our Lord speaks of the Scribes and Pharisees as seated on the chair of Moses. (Matthew 23:1-12) The Abbot Rupert, who gives us this detail in his book on the Divine Offices, shows how admirably this Gospel harmonized with the Offertory, which is the one we still have, and which alludes to Moses. “This Sunday’s Office,” says he, “eloquently points out to him who presides over the House of the Lord, and has received charge of souls, the manner in which he should comport himself in the high rank, where the divine call has placed him. Let him not imitate those men who unworthily sat on the Chair of Moses; but let him follow the example of Moses himself, who, in the Offertory and its verses, presents the heads of the Church with such a model of perfection. Pastors of souls ought, on no account, to be ignorant of the reason why they are placed higher than other men: it is not so much that they may govern others as that they may serve them.” (Rupert, Divine Office 12:18) Our Lord, speaking of the Jewish doctors, said: “All whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do; but according to their works, do ye not: for they say, and do not.” (Matthew 23:3) Contrariwise to these unworthy guardians of the Law, they who are seated on the Chair of doctrine “should teach and act conformably to their teaching,” as the same Abbot Rupert adds; “or rather,” says he, “let them first do what it is their duty to do, that they may afterwards teach with authority; let them not seek after honors and titles, but make this their one subject—to bear on themselves the sins of the people, and to merit to avert, from those who are confided to their care, the wrath of God, as we are told in the Offertory, is the example given them by Moses.” (Rupert, ubi supra.)
The Gospel which speaks of the Scribes and Pharisees who were seated on the Chair of Moses has now been appointed for the Tuesday of the second week of Lent. But the one which is at present given for this Sunday equally directs our thoughts to the consideration of the superhuman powers of the Priesthood, which are the common boon of regenerated humanity. The Faithful, whose attention used formerly, on this Sunday, to be fixed on the right of Teaching, which is confided to the Pastors of the Church, are now invited to meditate upon the prerogative which these same men have—of forgiving sins and healing souls. As a conduct, in opposition with their teaching, would in no wise interfere with the authority of the sacred Chair, from which, for the Church and in her name, they dispense the bread of doctrine to her children—so whatever unworthiness there may happen to be on the soul of a Priest, it does not in the least lessen the Power of the Keys, which he has had put into his hands, and which open heaven and shut hell. For it is the Son of Man—it is Jesus—who, by the Priest, be he a saint or be he a sinner, rids of their sins His brethren and His creatures whose miseries He has taken upon Himself, and has atoned for their crimes by His Blood. (Hebrews 2:10-18)
The miracle of the cure of the Paralytic, which gave an occasion to Jesus of declaring his power of forgiving sins, inasmuch as he was Son of Man, has always been especially dear to the Church. Besides the narration she gives us of it from St. Matthew, in today’s Gospel she again, on the Ember Friday of Whitsuntide, relates it in the words of St. Luke. (Luke 5:17-26) The Catacomb frescoes, which has been preserved to the present day, equally attest the predilection for this subject, wherewith she inspired the Christian artists of the first centuries. From the very beginning of Christianity, heretics had risen up, denying that the Church had the power which her divine Head gave her of remitting sin: such false teaching was equivalent to the irretrievably condemning, to spiritual death, an immense number of Christians who, unhappily, had fallen after their baptism but who, according to Catholic dogma, might be restored to grace by the Sacrament of Penance. With what energy, then, would not our Mother the Church defend the treasure, we mean, the remedy, which gives life to her children! She uttered her anathemas upon, and drove from her communion, those Pharisees of the New Law who, like their Jewish predecessors, refused to acknowledge the infinite mercy and universality of the great mystery of the Redemption.
Like to her divine Master, who had worked under the eyes of the Scribes and his contradictors, the Church too, in proof of her consoling doctrine, had worked an undeniable and visible miracle in the presence of the false teachers; and yet she failed to convince them of the reality of the miracle of sanctification and grace invisibly wrought by her words of remission and pardon. The outward cure of the Paralytic was both the image and the proof of the cure of his soul, which previously had been in a state of moral paralysis; but he himself represented another sufferer: that other was the human race, which for ages had been a victim to the palsy of sin. Our Lord had left the earth when the faith of the Apostles achieved this their first prodigy, of bringing to the Church the world, grown old in its infirmity. Finding that the human race was docile to the teaching of the divine messengers and was already an imitator of their faith, the Church spoke as a Mother and said: Be of good heart, Son! thy sins are forgiven thee! At once, to the astonishment of the philosophers and skeptics, and to the confusion of hell, the world rose up from its long and deep humiliation; and to prove how thoroughly his strength had been restored to him, he was seen carrying on his shoulders, by the labor of penance and the mastery over his passions, the bed of his old exhaustion and feebleness, on which pride, lust, and covetousness had so long held him. From that time forward, complying with the word of Jesus, which was also said to him by the Church, he has been going on towards his house, which is heaven, where eternal joy awaits him! And the Angels, beholding such a spectacle on earth of conversion and holiness, (Luke 5:26) are in amazement, and sing glory to God, who gave such power to men.
Let us also give thanks to Jesus, whose marvelous dower, which is the Blood he shed for his Bride, suffices to satisfy, through all ages, the claims of eternal justice. It was at Easter Time that we saw our Lord instituting the great Sacrament, which, thus in one instant, restores the sinner to life and strength. (Wednesday, 5th Week after Easter) But how doubly wonderful does not its power seem when we see it working in these times of effeminacy and well-nigh universal ruin! Iniquity abounds; crimes are multiplied; and yet the life-restoring pool, kept full by the sacred stream which flows from the open Side of our crucified Lord, is ever absorbing and removing, as often as we permit it, and without leaving one single vestige of them, those mountains of sins, those hideous treasures of iniquity which had been amassed during long years by the united agency of the devil, the world, and man’s own self.
The Offertory speaks to us of the figurative altar, which was set up by Moses, for the reception of the oblations of the figurative Law, which oblations foreshadowed the great and only true Sacrifice, at which we are now present. After the Anthem which is still in use, we will append the Verses which were anciently added. Moses is there represented as the type of those faithful Prophets mentioned in the Introit; he is shown to us, as the model of those true leaders of God’s people, who devote themselves in procuring mercy and peace to those whom they guide. (Rup., ubi supra) God sometimes seems to resist them; but he always lets himself be overcome! and in return for their fidelity, he admits them into the most intimate manifestations of his light and his love. The first Verse shows us the Priest in his public life of intercession and devotedness for others; the second reveals to us his private life, of which prayer and contemplation are the main occupation. We shall not be surprised at the length of these Verses, the singing of which would far exceed the time for offering the Host and Chalice, such as is now the custom—if we remember how it was the ancient usage that the whole assembly of the Faithful, present at the Holy Sacrifice, took part in the oblation of the bread and wine needed for the Liturgy. So, likewise, the Communion, which at present consists of only a few lines, was originally nothing but the Antiphon to an entire Psalm, which in the ancient Antiphonaries was appointed for each day, when it was not the same as the Introit-Psalm; the Psalm was sung, repeating the Antiphon after each Verse, until the number of communicants was completed.
OFFERTORY
Moses consecrated an altar unto the Lord, offering whole burnt offerings thereon, and slaying victims: he made an evening sacrifice for a sweet odor unto the Lord God, in the sight of the children of Israel.
℣. The Lord spake unto Moses saying: Come up unto me, upon mount Sina, and thou shalt stand on the top thereof. Moses rising up, went up the mountain, where the Lord had appointed him: and the Lord came down unto him in a cloud, and stood before his face. Which Moses seeing, he fell down and adored, saying: I beseech thee, O Lord, forgive the sins of thy people. And the Lord said unto him: I will do according to thy word.
Then Moses made an evening sacrifice.
℣. II. Moses prayed to the Lord and said: If I have found favor in thy sight, show me thyself openly, that I may see thee. And the Lord spake unto him, saying: For man shall not see me, and live; but, be thou on the height of the rock, and my right hand shall protect thee, till I pass: whilst I pass I will take away my hand, and then shalt thou see my glory: but my face shall not be seen by thee; for I am God, showing wonderful things in the earth.
Then Moses made.
The sublime eloquence of the Secret is beyond all comment. Let us get thoroughly imbued with the high teaching, here so admirably summed up in a few short words: let us come to understand that our life and conduct should have a something divine about them, in order to our being true respondents to the mysteries which are revealed to our understandings, and incorporated into us, by the venerable “commercia” (it is our Mother’s word, and we presume not to alter it)—the veneranda commercia of this Sacrifice.
SECRET
O God, who, by the venerable participations of this sacrifice, makest us partakers of the one supreme divine nature: grant, we beseech thee, that as we know thy truth, so may we show it by a worthy conduct of life. Through, etc.
The other Secrets, as in the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost.
The Communion-Anthem is addressed to the Priests, and, at the same time, to us all; for if the Priest offers the Victim, which is the holiest that can be, we should not think of accompanying him into the Court of our God without bringing up, that it may be united to the divine Host, that other victim, which is our own selves. It is God’s injunction: Thou shalt not appear empty before me! (Exodus 23:15)
While giving thanks in the Postcommunion for the priceless gift of the sacred mysteries, let us beseech our God to perfect within us the grace of always receiving it worthily.
Bring up sacrifices, and come into his courts: adore ye the Lord in his holy court.
POSTCOMMUNION
Being fed, O Lord, with the sacred gift, we give thee thanks, humbly beseeching thy mercy, that thou wouldst make us worthy of its reception. Through, etc.
The other Postcommunions, as in the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost.
VESPERS
The psalms, capitulum, hymn, and versicle, as above.
ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT
The paralytic took up his bed, on which he had been lying, magnifying God; and all the people, as soon as they saw this, gave praise unto God.
LET US PRAY
May the influence of thy mercy, O Lord, direct our hearts: for, without Thy help, we cannot please Thee. Through, etc.
Why God Allows Suffering | 18th Sunday After Pentecost | On Faith, Suffering & Redemption
A sermon for today. Please remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the Priest.
Ss Cosmas & Damian | Brothers in Faith, Physicians & Martyrs for Christ
A sermon for today. Please remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the Priest.
St Elzear, Count of Arian, & Bld Delphina
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From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints:
ST. ELZEAR was descended of the ancient and illustrious family of Sabran in Provence; his father, Hermengaud of Sabran, was created count of Arian in the kingdom of Naples; his mother was Lauduna of Albes, a family no less distinguished for its nobility. The saint was born in 1295 at Ansois, a castle belonging to his father in the diocess of Apt. Immediately alter his birth, his mother, whose great piety and charity to the poor had procured her the name of The Good Countess, taking him in her arms, offered him to God with great fervor, begging that he might never offend his divine majesty, but might rather die in his infancy than live ever to be guilty of so dreadful an evil. The child seemed formed from his cradle to piety and virtue; nor could he by any means be satisfied if he saw any poor beggar, till he was relieved; for which reason his nurses and governess were obliged to have their pockets always furnished with bread and small money, in order to give something to every poor person they met when they took him abroad; and it was his delight to divide his dinner with poor children. The first impressions of virtue he received from his mother, but these were perfected by his religious uncle, William of Sabran, abbot of St. Victor’s at Marseilles, under whom he had his education in that monastery. In his tender age he wore a rough knotty cord, armed with sharp pricks, which galled his flesh, so that it was discovered by blood issuing from the wounds. The abbot severely chid him for this and some other extraordinary austerities which he practised, calling him a self-murderer; yet secretly admired so great fervor in a tender young lord.
The saint was only ten years old when Charles II., king of Sicily, and count of Provence, caused him to be affianced to Delphina of Glandeves, daughter to the lord of Pui-Michel, she being no more than twelve years of age. Three years after, in 1308, the marriage was solemnized at the castle of Pui-Michel: but, at the suggestion of the young lady, they both secretly agreed to live together as brother and sister. The austerity with which they kept Len, revived the example of the saints of the primitive ages; and they fasted almost in the same manner Advent and many other days in the year. They lived seven years at Ansois: after which they removed to the castle of Pui-Michel. Elzear had till that time lived with his parents in the most dutiful and respectful subjection to them. He left them, with their consent, only for the sake of greater solitude, and that he might be more at liberty to pursue his exercises of devotion and piety. The saint was twenty-three years old when, by their deaths, he inherited his father’s honors and estates; but these advantages he looked merely upon as talents and instruments put into his hands to be employed for the advancement of piety, the support of justice, and the relief and protection of the poor. By fervent and assiduous prayer, and meditation on heavenly things, he fortified his soul against the poison of all inordinate love of creatures; he perfectly understood the falsehood and illusion of all those things which flatter and dazzle the senses, and he had a sovereign contempt and distaste for all that can only serve to feed self-love. Eternal goods were the sole object of his desires. He recited every day the office of the Church, with many other devotions, and he communicated almost every day, striving to do it every time with greater devotion. He said one day to Delphina: “I do not think a man on earth can enjoy any pleasure equal to that which I feel in the holy communion. It is the greatest delight and comfort of a soul in her earthly pilgrimage, to receive most frequently this divine sacrament.” In prayer he was often favored with raptures and heavenly graces. By the constant habitual union of his soul with God he never found any difficulty in keeping it recollected in all places and at all times. He often watched great part of the nights on his knees in prayer. His devotion was not morose, because it was true and perfect; it rendered him always pleasant, mild, and agreeable to every one in conversation, though if in company the discourse turned on worldly trifles his thoughts took their flight so intensely toward God, that he was not able to listen to what was said, or he found some genteel excuse to withdraw to his closet.
It is a dangerous mistake to imagine that one can be devout merely by spending much time in prayer, and that devout persons can fall into a slothful and careless neglect of their temporal concerns. On the contrary, only solid virtue is able to do business, and to despatch it well. It taught Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be careful housekeepers, and excellent masters of families; it taught Moses to be a great legislator and commander, Josue to be a brave general, David a wise king, and the Machabees invincible soldiers. In like manner St. Elzear was rendered by his piety itself most faithful, prudent, and dexterous in the management of temporal affairs, both domestic and public; valiant in war, active and prudent in peace, faithful in every duty and trust, and diligent in the care of his household. When he first began to keep house at Pui-Michel, he made the following regulations for his family, which he took care to see always observed.
“1. “Every one in my family shall daily hear mass, whatever business they may have. If God be well served in my house, nothing will be wanting. 2. Let no one swear, curse, or blaspheme, under pain of being severely chastised, and afterward shamefully dismissed. Can I hope that God will pour forth his heavenly blessings on my house, if it is filled with such miscreants who devote themselves to the devil? Or, can I endure stinking mouths which infect houses, and poison the souls of others? 3. Let all persons honor chastity, and let no one imagine that the least impurity in word or action shall ever go unpunished in Elzear’s house. It is never to be hoped for of me. 4. Let all men and women confess their sins every week: and et no one be so unhappy as not to communicate at least on all the principal festivals; namely, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and the feasts of our Lady. 5. Let no persons be idle in my house. In the morning, the first thing shall be, that every one raise his heart to God with fervent prayer and oblation of himself, and of all his action then let all go to their business, the men abroad, the women at home. In the morning a little more time shall be allowed for meditation; but away with those who are perpetually in the church to avoid the business of their employments. This they do, not because they love contemplation, but because they desire to have the work done for them. The life of the pious woman, as described by the Holy Ghost, is not only to pray well, but also to be modest and obedient, to ply her work diligently, and to take good care of the household. The ladies shall pray and read in the mornings, but shall spend the afternoons at some work. 6. I will have no playing at dice, or any games of hazard. There are a thousand innocent diversions, though time passes soon enough without being idly thrown away. Yet I desire not my castle to be a cloister, nor my people hermits. Let them be merry, and sometimes divert themselves; but never at the expense of conscience, or with danger of offending God. 7. Let peace be perpetually maintained in my family. Where peace reigns, there God dwells. Where envy, jealousy, suspicions, reports, and slanders are harbored in one family, two armies are formed, which are continually upon the watch and in ambush to surprise one another, and the master is besieged, wounded, and devoured by them both. Whoever will well serve God, he shall be dear to me; but I will never endure him who declares himself an enemy of God. Slanderers, detractors, and disorderly servants, tear one another to pieces. All such as do not fear God cannot be trusted by their master; but they will easily make a prey of his goods. Amidst such, he is in his house as in a trench, besieged on every side by enemies. 8. If any difference or quarrel happen, I will have the precept of the apostle inviolably observed, that the sun set not before it be appeased; but, in the instant that it falls out, let it be quashed, and all manner of bitterness laid in the tomb of forgetfulness. I know the impossibility of living among men, and not having something to suffer. Scarce is a man in tune with himself one whole day; and if a melancholy humor comes on him, he knows not well what he himself would have. Not to be willing to bear or pardon others, is diabolical; but to love enemies, and to render good for evil, is the true touchstone of the sons of God. To such servants my house, my purse, and heart, shall be always open: I am willing to regard them as my masters. 9. Every evening all my family shall assemble to a pious conference, in which they shall hear something spoken of God, the salvation of souls, and the gaining of paradise. What a shame is it, that though we are in this world only to gain heaven, we seldom seriously think of it; and scarce ever speak of it but at random! O life, how is it employed! O labors, how ill are they bestowed! For what follies do we sweat and toil! Discourses on heaven invite us to virtue, and inspire us with a disrelish of the dangerous pleasures of the world. By what means shall we learn to love God if we never speak of him?—Let none be absent from this conference upon pretence of attending my affairs. I have no business which so nearly toucheth my heart as the salvation of those that serve me. They have given themselves to me, and I resign all to God, master, servants, and all that is in my power. 10. I most strictly command that no officer or servant under my jurisdiction or authority injure any man in goods, honor, or reputation, or oppress any poor person, or ruin any one under color of doing my business. I will not have my coffers filled by emptying those of others, or by squeezing the blood out of the veins, and the marrow out of the bones of the poor. Such blood-sucking wicked servants, to enrich their masters, damn both masters and themselves. Do you imagine that a master who giveth five shillings in alms, wipeth away the theft of his servants who have torn out the entrails of the poor, whose cries for vengeance mount up to heaven? I had rather go naked to paradise, than, being clothed with gold and scarlet, be dragged with the impious rich man into hell. We shall be wealthy enough if we fear God. Any substance acquired by injustice or oppression will be like a fire hidden under the earth, which will rend, waste, and throw down or consume the whole. Let fourfold be restored if I be found to have anything which is another’s; and let my dealings be public, that all who have been aggrieved on my account, may find redress. Shall a man whose treasures are in heaven, be so fond of earthly dirt? I came naked out of the womb of my mother, and shall quickly return naked into the womb of our common mother, the earth. Shall I, for a moment of life between these two tombs, hazard the salvation of my soul for eternity? If so, faith, virtue, and reason, would be wholly eclipsed, and all understanding blasted.”
St. Elzear set himself the first example, in every point, which he prescribed to others. He was particularly careful that if any one let fall the least injurious or angry word against another, he should ask pardon, and make satisfaction, this humiliation being the most easy and effectual remedy of a passion which always takes its rise from pride. Delphina concurred with her husband in all his views, and was perfectly obedient to him. No coldness for so much as one moment ever interrupted the harmony or damped the affections of this holy couple. The pious countess was very sensible that the devotions of a married woman ought to be ordered in a different manner from those of a religious person; that contemplation is the sister of action, and that Martha and Mary must mutually help one another. Her time was so regulated, that she had certain hours allotted for spiritual exercises, and others for her household affairs and other duties. The care with which she looked into the economy of her house was a sensible proof of the interior order in which she kept her own soul. Nothing was more admirable than her attention to all her domestics, and her prudent application that peace should be observed, the fear of God and all virtues well entertained, and all brawling, tale-bearing, and other plagues of families banished. She loved her servants as her children, and she was honored by them as a mother and as a saint. In this example it appeared how truly it is said, that good and virtuous masters make good servants, and that the families of saints are God’s families. Alasia, sister to Delphina, lived with her, and was her faithful companion in all her pious exercises. It seemed that all that came under the roof of Elzear contracted a spirit of sincere piety; so great is the influence of good examples set by masters and mistresses.
The gate through which the rich must enter heaven is mercy and charity to the poor. St. Elzear often visited the hospitals, especially those of lepers, whose loathsome sores he frequently kissed, cleansed, and dressed with his own hands. He every day washed the feet of twelve poor men, and often served them himself, performing the office of a carver and cup-bearer. He was the common father of all that were in distress, and provided large granaries of corn and storehouses of all other provisions for their relief. Being one day asked, why he so tenderly loved beggars, he answered with great feeling: “Because the bosom of the poor is the treasury of Jesus Christ.” He used to say: “How can we ask God to bestow on us his kingdom, if we deny him a cup of water; how can we pray for his grace if we deny him what is his own? Does not he too much honor us in vouchsafing to accept anything from us?” In a time of scarcity, in 1310, his alms seemed to surpass all bounds. After his father’s death he was obliged to go into the kingdom of Naples, to take possession of the county of Arian. But the people being inclined to favor the house of Arragon against the French, and despising the meekness of the young prince, revolted, and refused to acknowledge him. Elzear opposed to their rebellion for three years no other arms than those of meekness and patience; which his friends reproachfully called indolence and cowardice. His cousin, the prince of Tarento, one day told him that his conduct hurt the common cause of his country, and said: “Allow me to take these rebels to task for you. I will hang up half a thousand, and make the rest as pliant as a glove. It is fit among the good to be a lamb, but with the wicked to play the lion. Such insolence must be curbed. Take your ease; say your prayers for me, and I will give so many blows for you, that this rabble shall give you no more trouble.” Elzear, smiling, replied; “What! would you have me begin my government with massacres and blood? I will overcome these men by good offices. It is no great matter for a lion to tear lambs; but for a lamb to pull a lion in pieces is admirable. Now, by God’s assistance, you will shortly see this miracle.” The prince could not relish such language; but the effect verified the prediction. For the citizens of Arian of their own accord became ashamed of their rebellion, and, with the greatest submission and respect, invited the saint to take possession of his territory, and ever after loved and honored him as their father. Elzear discovered the true motive why he bore so patiently these insults, and injuries, saying: “If I receive any affront, or feel any movement of impatience begin to arise in my breast, I turn all my thoughts towards Jesus Christ crucified, and say to myself: Can what I suffer bear any comparison with what Jesus Christ was pleased to undergo for me?” Thus to triumph over injuries was not want of courage, but the most heroic greatness of soul, and true Christian generosity. This was the constant conduct of our saint.
To mention one other instance: among the papers which his father left, the good count found the letters of a certain officer under his command, filled with outrageous calumnies against him, and persuading his father to disinherit him, as one fitter to be a monk than to bear arms. Delphina was moved to indignation upon reading such impudent invectives, and said she hoped he would crush, and never foster in his breast such a scorpion, who, whilst he looked and spoke fair, could bear such deadly poison in his tail. St. Elzear told her, that Christ commands us not to revenge, but to forgive injuries, and to overcome the venom of hatred by charity: that therefore he would destroy, and never make mention of those letters. He did so, and when this officer came to his chamber to wait upon him, he affectionately embraced him, made him a rich present, and so entirely gained his affection, that the captain offered himself afterward to be cut in a hundred pieces for his service. In like manner, on other occasions, he burnt or suppressed informations that were given of injuries which others had done him, that he might spare the parties the confusion of knowing that he had received intelligence of them. In his county of Arian he settled a rigorous administration of justice, and punished without mercy the least oppression in any of his officers. He visited malefactors that were condemned to die, and many who had persisted deaf to priests, were moved by his tender exhortations to sincere compunction, and to accept their punishment in a spirit of penance. When their goods were confiscated to him, he secretly restored them to their wives and children. Writing out of Italy to St. Delphina, he said: “You desire to hear often of me. Go often to visit our amiable Lord Jesus Christ in the holy sacrament. Enter in spirit his sacred heart. You know that to be my constant dwelling. You will always find me there.”
Elzear having settled his affairs in Italy, obtained leave of king Robert, the son and successor of Charles II. and brother of St. Louis, bishop of Toulouse, to return into Provence for two years. He was received at Ansoia with incredible joy. Not long after, Elzear being in the twenty-fifth year of his age, and Delphina, after receiving the communion, pronounced publicly, at the foot of the altar, in the chapel of the castle, mutual vows of perpetual chastity, which Elzear had till then kept unviolated without a vow though Delphina had before made a secret vow. In the lives of this holy couple, the world saw pious retirement in the midst of worldly pomp, silent contemplation amidst the noise of public scenes, and in conjugal friendship a holy emulation to outvie one another in piety, goodness, and charity. Such happy strifes are carried on with sweet tranquillity and peace, and are crowned with never-fading comfort and joy. The count had remained two years in Provence when king Robert recalled him into Italy, and conferred on him the honor of knighthood, of which he had approved himself worthy by many actions of uncommon valor and address, and notable feats of arms. The saint had, according to custom, spent the night before the ceremony in the church watching in prayer; he went to confession and communicated in the morning.* The king on this occasion shed tears of joy at the sight of his extraordinary devotion and piety; and the whole court admired a prince who was at once a great soldier, a courtier, a married man, a virgin, and a saint.
King Robert chose him among all the lords of his dominions to be governor to his son Charles, duke of Calabria. The young prince was sprightly, but understood too well his high extraction, was untractable, and had contracted the contagious air of the court. The count took notice of his pupil’s dangerous inclinations, but dissembled this for some time till he had won his affections, and gained sufficient credit with him. When he saw it a fit time, he made him tender remonstrances on his defects, on the necessity of a sublime virtue to support the dignity of his high rank, and on the life to come. The young prince was so penetrated with his discourses, that, leaping about his neck, he said: “It is not yet too late to begin: what then must I do?” Elzear explained to him the virtues of piety, magnanimity, justice, and clemency, showing that a prince who fears God, has always a sure comfort and protection in heaven, though earth should fail him, and that he who undertakes any business without first consulting God, deserves always to be unhappy and ruined; and is always impious. “Only assiduous devotion,” said he, “can be the safeguard against the dangers of vanity, flatterers, and the strong incentives of the passions. Go to confession and communion every great festival. Love the poor, and God will multiply his favors upon your house. When you are angry, speak not a word; otherwise you undo yourself. More princes are ruined by their tongues and anger, than by the edge of the sword. You must hate flatterers as a plague; if you do not banish them, they will ruin you. Honor good men, and the prelates of the Church; this will be your principal greatness, &c. Elzear by his diligence and instructions corrected the vices of his pupil, who became a grave and virtuous prince. King Robert, going into Provence, left his son regent of Naples under the tuition of Elzear, who was chief of the council, and despatched almost all the affairs of state. Elzear entreated the duke to declare him advocate for the poor, and their agent in court. The duke heartily laughing, said: “What kind of office do you beg? You will have no competitors in this ambition. I admit your request, and recommend to you all the poor of this kingdom.” Elzear made a low reverence, and thanked him heartily. For the discharge of this troublesome office he caused a great bag of purple velvet to be made, and with this passed through the streets, receiving in it all the requests and suits of the poor, with a cheerful countenance, full of commiseration, hearing grievances, dealing about alms, comforting all the world, so that he seemed another Joseph in Egypt. He pleaded the causes of widows and orphans with wonderful eloquence, and procured them justice and charitable relief. Whilst the chief authority of the state was lodged in his hands, many offered him rich presents, which he refused, saying to those that called him on that account churlish: “It is more safe and easy to refuse all presents than to discern which might be received without danger. Neither is it easy for one who begins to take any, afterward to know where to stop, for these things are apt to create an appetite.” The law of nature itself condemns as bribes all presents received by judges; they giving insensibly a bias and inclination to favor the party, as is evident by general experience. St. Elzear was so sincere a lover of truth that he was ready to die for it in the smallest points.
The emperor Henry VII. invaded Naples with a great army, nor was pope Clement V. able to divert him from his expedition. King Robert sent against him his brother John, and count Elzear with as great an army as he was able to raise. Two pitched battles were fought, in both which Henry was defeated, chiefly by the valor and conduct of Elzear, so that the emperor desired a peace, which was readily concluded. King Robert gave Elzear many great presents, which he accepted with one hand not to disoblige the king, but with the other distributed them all among the poor. This king sent Elzear ambassador to Paris, attended with the flower of the nobility of Naples, to demand of Charles IV. Mary, the daughter of the count of Valois, in marriage for the duke of Calabria. The negotiation was carried on with great success and the marriage concluded, and the good count was received at court not only with the greatest honor, but also with veneration, and as a living saint. In the meantime, the holy ambassador fell sick at Paris. He had made his will in 1317, at Toulon, by which he left his moveable goods to his wife Delphina, his real estates to his brother William of Sabran, and legacies to his relations and servants, and especially to many convents and hospitals. When the saint, three years before, made his public vow of chastity, he on the same day enrolled himself in the third Order of St. Francis, into which seculars or laymen are admitted, upon condition of their wearing a part of the Franciscan habit under their clothes, and saying certain prayers every day: but these conditions are not binding under sin. St. Elzear in his sickness made a general confession, with great compunction and many tears, to the provincial of the Franciscans, and he continued to confess almost every day of his illness, though he is said never to have offended God by any mortal sin. The history of Christ’s passion, which mystery had always been the favorite object of his devotion, was every day read to him, and in it he found exceeding great comfort amidst his pains. Receiving the holy viaticum he said with great joy, “This is my hope; in this I desire to die.” After extreme unction, and a painful agony, he happily expired on the 27th of September, in the year 1323, the twenty-eighth of his age. His death was exceedingly lamented by the kings of France and Naples, and by their whole courts. His body, according to his orders, was carried to Apt, and there interred in the church of the Franciscan Friars in that town, where it is still kept. Juridical informations were taken of his miracles by order of pope Clement VI. Urban V. signed the decree of his canonization, but it was only published by Gregory XI. in 1369, forty-six years after the saint’s death, Delphina being still living. The king and queen of Naples would by no means suffer her to leave their court, to which she was a perfect model of piety. King Robert dying in 1343, the queen whose name was Sancia, and who was daughter to the king of Majorca, wearied with the empty greatness of the world, and loathing its vanity, put on the habit of a poor Clare in a nunnery which she had founded a Naples. In this state she lived ten years with great fervor, and would still have her dear Delphina near her, learning from her all the exercises of a spiritual life. After her death, Delphina returned into Provence, and led the life of a recluse in the castle of Ansois, in the heroic practice of penance, charity, assiduous prayer, and all other virtues. She died at Apt, near that castle, in the year 1369, the seventy-sixth of her age, on the 26th of September; on which she is named in the Martyrology of the Franciscan Order. Her mortal remains were deposited in the same tomb with those of St. Elzear. See the life of St. Elzear published by Surius: also Fite delli Santi del Terz. Ordine di S. Francesco, c. 14, 15, 16. p. 30. Suysken, t. 7, Sept. p. 528.
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